Home news in brief
Police raid £1m nuclear bunker cannabis farm
Six people were arrested yesterday after police discovered a cannabis farm in an underground nuclear bunker. Police carried out a midnight raid on RGHQ Chilmark, an underground bunker constructed in the 1980s in Wiltshire to house and protect government officials and dignitaries in the event of a nuclear attack.
The site is no longer owned by the Ministry of Defence but the bunker is still intact and the nuclear blast doors are in place. A spokesman said officers knew the bunker was "almost completely impenetrable" so they waited outside for three people to leave.
The three men, aged 27, 30 and 45, from Somerset, were detained and officers used their keys to enter the bunker, where they found three more males, aged 15, 19 and 37, all of no fixed address, believed to be working as gardeners. They discovered several thousand cannabis plants at various stages of growth, worth
more than £1m.
Smoke alarms fail to wake up all children, study finds
Smoke alarms fail to wake up most children in an emergency, a study has found. More than 80 per cent of the 34 children aged between two and 13 who were tested did not respond to the alarm when it was sounding. Only two children woke up every time and none of the 14 boys woke up at all.
Researcher David Coss said he started the academic study after six children died in Derby in a blaze started by their parents. Mick Philpott was jailed for life with a minimum of 15 years after being convicted of manslaughter. His wife Mairead was handed a 17-year sentence.
Mr Coss told BBC News: "When we investigated this tragic case we thought the children may have been incapacitated in some way and prevented from getting up, as all were found in their beds." He said that since toxicology reports were negative, the only other explanation was that the children "did not respond to the smoke detector and just carried on sleeping".
Net migration to UK falls to 273,000
Net long-term migration to the UK has fallen to its lowest level in more than two years after a jump in numbers of eastern Europeans leaving the country, figures have revealed. The measure – the difference between the numbers of people arriving and leaving the country – was estimated to be 273,000 in the year to the end of September.
This was a fall of 49,000 on the previous 12 months, the lowest level since the year to June 2014, and the first time net migration has dipped below 300,000 in two years. It was also revealed that, for the first time, both immigration and net migration from the EU were higher than that for the rest of the world.
The figures are the first to include several weeks after the EU referendum in June and represent a boon for the Government, which has repeatedly faced criticism over its immigration target. However, the net figure remains well above ministers' aim of fewer than 100,000.
Man, 23, detained over ‘murder’ of pensioner
A man was detained yesterday by police investigating the alleged murder of a pensioner in Aberdeenshire almost a year ago. Brian McKandie, 67, was found dead at his Fairview Cottages home in Badenscoth, Rothienorman, on Saturday 12 March last year. Police Scotland said a 23-year-old man has been detained and is assisting officers with their inquiries. Earlier this week, the force reiterated an appeal for information over the death of the self-employed mechanic.
Police have not said how the women were able to apply the nerve agent to Kim's face and also avoid becoming ill themselves. It is not known if they were wearing some sort of thin gloves or if washing their hands quickly removed the danger. Police had said earlier that the two attackers rubbed a liquid on Kim Jong Nam's face before walking away and quickly washing their hands. He sought help from airport staff but died before he reached the hospital.