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Hamburg airport in Germany was briefly evacuated and at least 50 people were hurt by an irritant gas that was released in the air.

Both terminals were cleared and flights halted after people complained of eye irritation and breathing problems.

Firefighters later found an empty cartridge, thought to have contained pepper spray, at the scene. They say a « prankster » may have released the pepper spray, which then spread through the ventilation system. Pepper spray is legal, and readily available, in Germany.

The alarm was raised on Sunday after reports of a strong smell in the airport.

Fire crews set up treatment centres for people complaining of irritation. Hundreds of passengers waited outside as airport terminals were evacuated and officials tried to establish the cause.

The airport reopened about an hour later and flight operations resumed. Officials say they are not treating the incident as a terrorist act.

Chaos in one of the biggest prisons in the country has been revealed in secret filming for the BBC.

An undercover reporter spent two months at HMP Northumberland, which houses up to 1,348 male inmates, for Panorama. He discovered widespread drug use, a lack of control, door alarms that did not go off in one block and a hole in an internal security fence.

The Ministry of Justice said it would investigate the « extremely serious allegations » at the Acklington jail.

Prison officers also found balaclavas, blackout clothing and wire-cutting tools at the category C jail. It is believed inmates had been sneaking out to collect drugs or other contraband thrown over the perimeter fence. These discoveries were made in a block where inmates preparing to transfer to open prisons were not locked in their cells at night.

In one of the most disturbing episodes of the undercover investigation, footage shows a prison officer having convulsions on the floor after accidentally inhaling spice, a cheap and stronger synthetic alternative to cannabis, which is rife in the jail.

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The commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan has said he needs a « few thousand » more troops to break a stalemate in the war with the Taliban.

Gen John Nicholson told the US Senate Armed Services Committee he had enough forces for counter-terror operations. But he stressed extra troops were needed to help train the Afghan military. The soldiers, he said, could be American or from other Nato nations.

He accused Russia and Iran of trying to undermine Nato in Afghanistan.

Testifying before the Senate committee on Thursday, Gen Nicholson said: « We have a shortfall of a few thousand. » He said he had already discussed the issue with President Donald Trump’s new Defence Secretary, James Mattis.

There are currently about 8,400 US troops in Afghanistan in the 13,300-strong Nato contingent.

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A suspected would-be suicide bomber was one of four people arrested in the southern French city of Montpellier by anti-terrorist police.

Home-made explosives similar to those used in the Paris attacks of November 2015 were also discovered, police and judicial sources said. A girl of 16 was arrested along with three young men.

Since the beginning of 2015, at least 230 people have been killed in jihadist attacks in France.

Last month, a soldier received minor injuries when a machete-wielding man tried to enter the Louvre museum in Paris. The man, a 29-year-old Egyptian named as Abdullah Hamamy, was shot and critically injured.

The four suspects in Montpellier were arrested after buying acetone, a police source told AFP news agency. Acetone is an ingredient used in the making of triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a high explosive.

TATP, the same explosive used in bomb vests worn by militants in the Paris attacks, was found in the city along with the acetone, a judicial source said. According to AFP, the female suspect had been spotted on social networks saying she wanted to leave for the Syria-Iraq conflict zone or mount an attack in France instead.

Meanwhile, the country’s top constitutional court struck down a law which penalised those who consult jihadist websites. The Constitutional Council found that the law infringed on people’s freedom of communication unnecessarily.

US forces killed 11 members of al-Qaeda in two air strikes near Idlib in Syria, this month, including a former ally of Osama Bin Laden, the Pentagon says.

Captain Jeff Davis, a spokesman, said 10 operatives had been killed in a single strike last Friday. A second strike on Saturday killed Abu Hani al-Masri, who had close ties to the late al-Qaeda leader, he added.

Masri is said to have set up and run al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan during the 1980s and 1990s. He also had close ties to Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became the leader of al-Qaeda when Bin Laden was killed by US forces in 2011. « These strikes disrupt al-Qaeda’s ability to plot and direct external attacks targeting the US and our interests worldwide, » said Capt Davis.

Al-Qaeda’s influence in Syria operates largely through an affiliate jihadist group, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), formerly known as al-Nusra Front.

The group announced in mid-2016 that it was no longer affiliated with any external group, prompting speculation that it had cut ties with al-Qaeda, although the latter group was not mentioned by name. It is thought that the JFS leadership structure is still intertwined with al-Qaeda.

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