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A flight from Krakow to Dublin was forced to land after a note was discovered in a toilet claiming there were explosives on board.

The Ryanair flight was diverted to Stansted Airport to allow Essex Police officers to carry out checks. Two RAF jets escorted the plane which landed at about 18:40 BST on Monday.

Police said nothing suspicious was found and two men have been arrested on suspicion of making threats to endanger an aircraft. The men, aged 26 and 47, remain in custody and the plane has been handed back to Stansted Airport and the operator.

A spokeswoman for the airline said: “The plane landed normally, but was taxied to a remote stand where passengers disembarked safely.” Footage of the RAF jets scrambling was shared on Twitter.

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German police backed by helicopters are hunting a homeless man in the Black Forest, who is reportedly armed with pistols and a bow and arrows.

The manhunt was launched on Sunday in Oppenau, south-west Germany, about 25km (16 miles) from the French border. Media reports say Yves Rausch, 31, wearing camouflage gear, disarmed four police officers on Sunday after threatening them with a pistol.

Police have warned the public and aircraft to avoid the area. The police warning says “Beware!… The wanted man has several guns!” Local drivers have been warned against picking up hitch-hikers.

Earlier a police spokesman said the suspect had appeared co-operative on Sunday, after police tracked him down, but then “suddenly he pulled out his pistol and aimed at the officers”. “They were totally stunned,” he said, and “they had no chance to react to the dangerous situation.” The suspect is known to the police for previous offences, including illegal possession of firearms, AFP news agency reports.
Some reports have nicknamed him “Rambo” after the fictional, violent Vietnam war veteran who goes on the run from US police.

The first federal execution in the United States for more than 17 years is set to go ahead in Indiana on Monday following a ruling by an appeal court.

Daniel Lewis Lee and an accomplice were convicted of killing three members of the same family in 1996. Some of the victims’ relatives oppose his execution and sought to have it delayed, saying attending it could expose them to coronavirus. But the ruling means the execution by lethal injection will now proceed.

The appeal court overturned a decision by a lower court that put the execution of 47-year-old Lee on hold, saying no federal statute or regulation gave the victims the right to attend the execution. In its ruling, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said the family’s claim “lacks any arguable legal basis and is therefore frivolous”. The relatives are going to appeal to the Supreme Court. It will have to act before 16:00 Monday local time (20:00 GMT) to stop the execution, the New York Times reports.

Lee, who tortured and killed a family of three before dumping their bodies in a lake, had originally been scheduled for execution in December. His case was delayed after the courts blocked the death sentence from being carried out.

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A probationary Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with being a member of a banned neo-Nazi group.

Benjamin Hannam, 21, has been charged with five offences following an investigation by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command. Scotland Yard says he has been suspended from duty.

Mr Hannam, from North London, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court next month. Charges include possession of an indecent photograph of a child in 2018 and possession of a prohibited image of a child in 2016.

In relation to far-right activity, it is alleged that between December 2016 and January 2018 Mr Hannam belonged or professed to belong to a proscribed organisation, namely National Action, contrary to section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000. He is also accused of falsely representing in his application to join the Met Police that he had not been a member of an organisation similar to the BNP, namely National Action, intending to make a gain for himself.

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The UK is to resume arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite concerns they could be used against civilians in Yemen, in violation of international humanitarian law.

Sales were suspended last year after a legal challenge by campaigners. A subsequent review found “isolated incidents” of possible violations but no pattern of non-compliance and “no clear risk” of future serious breaches. The Campaign Against the Arms Trade said it was a “morally bankrupt” move. It accused the government of “rank hypocrisy” after, on Monday, it banned 20 senior Saudi officials from entering the UK and frozen their assets in connection with the 2018 killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Labour said the government’s “mixed messages…undermined the UK’s claim to be human rights defenders”.

The UK’s support for the Saudi-led international coalition in Yemen, which is backing the country’s government in its battle against a long-running Houthi insurgency, has proved highly controversial.

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