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A man has admitted planning a bomb attack on a south London mosque.

Steven Bishop, 41, admitted buying fireworks and possessing instructions on how to make an explosive.

Bishop, of Thornton Heath, was believed to have been targeting Morden Mosque when his home was raided by police on 29 October last year. He will be sentenced on Wednesday after changing his plea on the opening day of his trial at Kingston Crown Court.

He initially denied one count of possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or cause damage to property.

Bishop previously pleaded guilty to possession of information likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism, specifically a handwritten note on how to make explosives.

When he was arrested he told the police he wanted revenge for the death of eight-year-old Saffie Roussos who died in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. The court heard Bishop has a history of mental health problems and a number of psychiatric reports had been prepared ahead of his trial.

He was remanded in custody until Wednesday,

Four police officers were « savagely attacked » by a knifeman who lured them to a property with a false 999 call, a court heard.

Alex Traykov, 20, allegedly used the alias Solomon to report a fight in Islington, north London, on 6 October. When officers arrived at Liverpool Road, Mr Traykov was holding a knife behind his back, the Old Bailey heard.

Mr Traykov, of Redhill, Surrey, denies four charges of attempted murder and three charges of wounding with intent.

« Nothing could have prepared [the officers] for what awaited them or the fact that rather than seeking to break up violence against others they were about to be subjected to extreme violence themselves, » prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC said.

Mr Traykov first attacked PC Istarlin Said-Ali, 31, bringing the blade down in her head, cutting her hand as she warded off a second blow, jurors heard. He then ran at the other officers, lunging at PC Rafal Zedziora, 34, inflicting a 4cm cut to his face and slashed the back of his neck, Mr Atkinson said.

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An armed gang burst into one of the swankiest hotels in Paris on Wednesday night, seizing jewellery and clothing worth at least €350,000 (£300,000; $390,000), reports say.

Two masked attackers took part in the raid on the historic Peninsula Hotel, a stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe.

One held up staff while the other used an axe to break the glass in three cases where the jewels and clothing were on display. No-one was hurt and the burglars fled.

A third member of the gang was waiting in a getaway car, which was found on a road half an hour later completely destroyed by fire, French news website Le Point reported.

Hotels in Paris and other major French cities have been targeted before. Jewels worth €4.5m were stolen from a shop at the Ritz last year, although they were later recovered. In 2013, an armed man stole jewels worth €40m from an exhibition at a hotel in Cannes.

The luxury Peninsula Hotel, on the Avenue Kléber in Paris’s 16th district, dates back over 100 years. Earlier this year it featured a Louis Vuitton installation in its lobby. It hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping and his entourage during a visit last week.

Formerly known as the Majestic, it was seized by occupying German forces in World War Two and used as their military command headquarters.

The Ministry of Defence has been criticised over its failure to dispose of 20 obsolete nuclear submarines.

Nine of the vessels still contain nuclear fuel, according to the government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO).

Failing to get rid of them risked the UK’s reputation as a responsible nuclear power, the chairwoman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee said. The MoD said it would dispose of them « as soon as practically possible ».

According to the NAO, the department has not dismantled any of the submarines it has decommissioned since 1980. In that time, the government has spent an estimated £500m storing the retired vessels in Rosyth, Fife, and Devonport, Devon.

The estimated cost of fully disposing of a submarine is £96m, the NAO said.

Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said the MoD must « get a grip » of the « spiralling » costs to the taxpayer. « For more than 20 years the MoD has been promising to dismantle its out-of-service nuclear submarines and told my committee last year that it would now address this dismal lack of progress, » she said. « The disposal programmes have been beset by lengthy delays and spiralling costs, with taxpayers footing the bill. »

The report is the latest in a string of warnings to the MoD over its finances, with the PAC in February calling the MoD a « repeat offender » when it came to « poor financial planning ».

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A man has been stabbed in the same north London area as four people who were attacked at the weekend.

The Met Police said the man, in his 30s, was in a life-threatening condition in hospital. The attack happened at 05:00 BST on Tuesday on Fairfield Road, Edmonton. The victim was found in the same street as the first weekend stabbing.

A man in his 30s has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm over the latest attack. Police said the attacks had not been formally linked, but the description of the knifeman was similar.

The victim is said to have been walking with a friend when he was attacked. He then made his way to Aberdeen Road, where he was found by police officers. The friend was not injured.

Police arrested a man at about 10:00 at Edmonton Green.

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