MP: Spy attack was an act of war

suspects, both aged 18, had been held in connection with racially aggravated public order offences.

The video, which was posted on Twitter, captured at least two males chanting “we hate blacks”. MOTHER’S DAY shoppers tempted to use counterfeit websites to buy goods more cheaply run the risk of injury and identity theft, police have warned.

The City of London Police’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit said it has suspended around 38,000 counterfeit websites since its launch in September 2013. Typical Mother’s Day gifts such as jewellery, handbags and perfume are some of the most commonly counterfeited items. MEGHAN Markle became the queen of hugs when she embraced young school girls as she celebrated International Women’s Day with Prince Harry yesterday.

Meghan hugged the youngsters – including one who has dreams of being an actress – as she began an away day to Birmingham with her fiance. The couple were cheered by crowds when they stepped from their chauffeur driven four-by-four at the city’s Millennium Point.

Before going inside the venue, to celebrate the efforts of girls at secondary school who are following a technology and science career path, the prince and the Suits THE police officer who rushed to the aid of a Russian ex-spy targeted with a nerve agent is talking in his hospital bed as detectives race to discover who was responsible.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the use of a chemical weapon on UK soil was a “brazen and reckless act” and the Government stood ready to act as a clearer picture emerged.

The policeman was not in intensive care but was still in a serious condition following the attack, in which a nerve agent, described by Ms Rudd as “very rare”, was used in an attempt on the lives Sergei Skripal, 66, and 33-year-old daughter Yulia.

Counter-terror police are working to unravel what is now feared to be a sophisticated chemical weapon plot amid heightened tensions between Britain and the Kremlin. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said Russia was becoming an “evergreater threat”, while a senior general warned the state was “capable of anything”.

Ms Rudd refused to say whether she regarded Russia as responsible, saying the investigation should be based on “facts, not rumour”.

Addressing the House of Commons, Ms star went on a walkabout meeting the crowds who had braved wet and cold conditions.

When Harry spoke to Sophie Richards, 10, who said she wanted to be an actress, he took her over to meet Meghan. The pupil said after: “It was a dream come true. I will never forget this day.” Rudd said: “The use of a nerve agent on UK soil is a brazen and reckless act.

“This was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way. People are right to want to know who to hold to account.

“We are committed to doing all we can to bring the perpetrators to justice – whoever they are and wherever they may be.”

Responding to a suggestion from Sir Edward Leigh, a Conservative former minister, that if Russia was responsible it amounted to an “act of war”, Ms Rudd said: “There will come a time for attribution and there will be, then, consequences and there will be further information that follows.”

Ms Rudd, who named the victims publicly for the first time, said Mr Skripal and his daughter “remain unconscious and in a critical but stable condition”.

Mr Williamson told ITV1’s Good Morning Britain the Kremlin had become more aggressive, including in the north Atlantic, adding: “Russia’s being assertive, Russia’s being more aggressive, and we have to change the way that we deal with it because we can’t be in a situation in these areas of conflict where we are being pushed around by another nation.”

And General Sir Chris Deverell, who oversees military intelligence as head of the Joint Forces Command, said in a speech at the defence academy in Shrivenham yesterday that Russia could seek to control systems such as traffic signals and the power grid.

In his address he said: “They care only about what is in the interests of their elites. They don’t care about innocent people going about their lives. They are quite honestly capable of anything.”

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the head of counter-terrorism policing, revealed that the incident was being treated as attempted murder and the pair had been “targeted specifically”.