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Britain on alert for long weekend

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LONDON: British emergency services are prepared for possible attacks on public events over an upcoming holiday weekend but have no information on specific threats after Monday's bomb attack in Manchester which killed 22, a government minister said.

Monday is a public holiday (spring bank holiday) in Britain, and the weekend sees a number of high-profile events such as the football FA Cup final in London today.

Security Minister Ben Wallace said reports that hospitals had been told to be prepared for the weekend were part of a general heightened sense of security and not a response to specific intelligence.

"That is predominantly precautionary... There is no specific threat against an individual event," Mr Wallace said on BBC radio.

He also said police are confident of rolling up a network of people involved in Monday's attack and the government needs tools to force companies such as Facebook to remove dangerous online material more quickly. - REUTERS

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