Scotland Yard arrests man near UK Parliament
LONDON: Armed police have arrested a man believed to have been carrying knives in Whitehall, central London, close to parliament. Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command was leading the investigation into the man and why he was allegedly in possession of knives.
Police said in a statement giving the first official details: “A man has been arrested in Whitehall this afternoon, at approximately 14.22, following a stop and search as part of an ongoing operation.
“The man was arrested in Parliament Street, junction with Parliament Square, by armed officers from the Met’s specialist firearms command.
“The man, aged in his late 20s, was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism. Knives have been recovered from him. “He is being detained under the Terrorism Act and is in custody in a south London police station. “Detectives from the counter-terrorism command are continuing their investigation, and as a result of this arrest there is no immediate known threat.” The operation that led to the daylight arrest was believed to have followed an intelligence operation that had earlier identified the man detained as being of concern to counter-terrorism investigators.
No one is thought to have been injured.
Security is especially tight around Whitehall following last month’s terrorist attack in Westminster in which five people died. The suspect was held on Parliament Street for more than half an hour, without speaking or struggling. While two officers detained him, around two dozen heavily armed police blocked off the traffic and pedestrians on one side of the road with tape.
He was led away into a police car at around 3.15pm, while scenes of crime officers examined knives and a rucksack on the traffic island in the middle of Parliament Street at the junction with Parliament Square. Few MPS were in the Palace of Westminster because parliament is winding down before the election and Theresa May has already headed out on to the campaign trail. WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has told the leaders of Canada and Mexico that he was not immediately planning to end the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), but warned that the US would still pull out if he could not negotiate a better deal, the White House said.
Trump, in phone calls with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday, agreed to proceed swiftly to enable the renegotiation of the Nafta deal to the benefit of all three countries.
The White House said the phone conversations were “pleasant and productive”.
“It is my privilege to bring Nafta up to date through renegotiation,” Trump said in a written statement that accompanied the readout of his phone calls. “It is an honour to deal with both President Peña Nieto and Prime Minister Trudeau, and I believe that the end result will make all three countries stronger and better,” he said.
Trump reiterated those points Thursday morning, tweeting, “if we do not reach a fair deal for all, we will then terminate Nafta.” He also claimed that the two leaders reached out to him. The US President railed against the trade accord as a presidential candidate and last week called it as harmful to US workers. As he approaches his 100th day in office on Saturday, Trump and his advisers are hurriedly working to check off promises made during the campaign, one of which was to renegotiate or withdraw from Nafta, CNN reported. Trump has already removed the US from another massive trade pact, the Trans Pacific Partnership, which was negotiated under former President Barack Obama. Trump’s decision to remain in Nafta came the same day a senior administration official revealed the White House was considering an executive order to withdraw from the trade accord.
Many Republicans, including Senator John Mccain, had cautioned Trump not to pull out from Nafta. “It will devastate the economy in my state,” Mccain said on Wednesday. “I hope he doesn’t do that.” “Scrapping Nafta would be a disastrously bad idea. It would hurt American families at the checkout, and it would cripple American producers in the field and the office,” said Senator Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican. During his run for office last year, Trump made his disdain for Nafta a central component of a populist message to gain support.