Archive 11
UkTabloid
The People's News Portal
Sunday 3rd August 2008
If you had any doubt, today's news items should verify the sort of 'Police state' society we now live in!
From Police kicking down a 76 year old pensioners door to manipulating television for their own propaganda, welcome to George Orwell's 1984.
State surveillance, council snooping using laws designed for Terrorism to invade our privacy and to socially engineer our society, are but a few measures the government uses to manipulate us.
As you read on you should reach a conclusion that these are not simply accusations or ranting's of paranoid individuals, but a very dangerous and a very real reality we now live in.
Take for example how Labour are moving the goal posts and trampling democracy (but claiming a democracy by the way of a referendum) in Stoke because of the possibility of a BNP Major being elected. A referendum?, if labour are that democratic why didn't they give us a referendum on the Lisbon treaty?
We mentioned State surveillance and council snooping but lets not forget Chipping our bins, chipping of prisoners (the next stage will be to chip all UK citizens (You mark our words) and of course Propaganda masquerading as documentaries is the latest expose of a fascist government and it's dark hidden agenda.
If you think you are paranoid by your concerns, don't be! You are probably right to be concerned because we wouldn't put anything pass the state anymore! Watch out for propaganda deliberately injected into popular soaps too! (Ed)
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British Muslims are helping the Taliban in their war against UK soldiers in southern Afghanistan, according to the former commander of Britain's forces in Afghanistan.
Brig. Ed Butler, who spent six months commanding British forces in Afghanistan, also revealed fears that militant Islamic groups in south-east Asia are supporting terrorist plots in the UK.
The brigadier, a former head of the SAS, spoke exclusively to the Daily Telegraph in the week when the British death toll in Afghanistan reached 114, with 17 fatalities in the last two months.
UK forces have uncovered evidence that British Muslims are actively supporting the Taliban and al-Qa'eda in attacks on coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, Brig Butler said.
He said: "There are British passport holders who live in the U.K. who are being found in places like Kandahar."
Earlier this year, it was revealed that RAF Nimrod spyplanes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan had heard militants speaking with Yorkshire and Midlands accents.
Privately, British officers in Afghanistan estimate that several thousand Taliban fighters have been killed since 2006, among them people from outside the country.
One officer said: "While my troops have not actually found British passports on enemy dead there has been a suspicion that with the high number of Taliban casualties they have needed to recruit a lot of foreign fighters and some of these are likely to be of British-Muslim descent."
Disturbingly, Brig Butler suggested the traffic between Britain and Afghanistan may flow in both directions, with some British Muslims returning from the region and posing a domestic security threat.
Brig Butler, 46, said he had seen evidence that terror groups based in southern Afghanistan were plotting with Muslim extremists in Britain to carry out terror attacks in the UK.
"There is a link between Kandahar and urban conurbations in the UK," said Brig. Butler. "This is something the military understands but the British public does not."
Western intelligence agencies are increasingly concerned that Afghanistan and its lawless border with Pakistan are now home to many training camps used by Jihadi groups to prepare radicals for attacks in the West.
A Whitehall source confirmed that the security services are aware of some radicalized British Muslims returning to the UK from Afghanstan. Continued
See Also - same report by other media:
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Caroline
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You David
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Melanie
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Steve
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A spokesman said that Taliban sympathisers had to be rooted out of the ISI.
But allegations by United States intelligence officials that Pakistani agents had helped plan a bombing at the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan last month were rejected.
Sherry Rehman, the government spokesman, said there are 'probably' still individual agents whose ideological convictions were formed in the 1980s, when the ISI marshalled armed opposition to Soviet troops in Afghanistan, with US support.
The statement was the first acknowledgement by Pakistan's new government that there may be pro-Taliban sympathisers in the intelligence service.
The conclusion of the American officials was based on intercepted communications linking the ISI with the attack, the New York Times reported.
It said that the findings were the clearest evidence to date that Pakistani intelligence officers are actively undermining American efforts to combat militants in the region.
US officials believe the embassy attack was conducted by forces loyal to the Afghan Taliban commander, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is associated with al-Qaeda and based in Pakistan's tribal belt, the paper said. It not specify what kind of assistance the ISI provided, but said that those involved were not rogue elements as Pakistan has tried to suggest in the past.
"It confirmed some suspicions that I think were widely held," one US State Department official told the paper.
"It was sort of this 'aha' moment. There was a sense that there was finally direct proof."
Officials also told the paper that the ISI was supplying information to militants in the tribal areas to help them avoid US missile strikes.
President George W. Bush confronted the Pakistani prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani with the allegations in talks on Monday. Continued
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AnN Iraqi terror boss is demanding legal aid to sue the MoD — over PORN left in his jail toilet.
Ahmed Al-Fartoosi — blamed for the deaths of dozens of Brits — is to sue the Government for tens of thousands of pounds.
On top of the loo claim, Fartoosi — accused of leading the fanatic Mehdi Army and masterminding a bombing campaign against Our Boys in Basra — wants substantial damages for:
- HEARING porn videos being played on a soldier’s laptop;
- BUMPING his arm and thigh when being put in an armoured vehicle; and
- LOSING sleep in his cell due to noise and lights from a corridor.
Fartoosi — represented by anti-war lawyer Phil Shiner — also moaned his solitary confinement room was too hot.
MoD officials said there was no record of Fartoosi making any complaints while in jail. The MoD is investi-gating.
As many as 25 British troops had died in Mehdi Army attacks in southern Iraq before Fartoosi, in has 40s, was jailed for two years in 2005.
He is suing for false imprisonment and violations of new European human rights laws.
In the claim to Defence Secretary Des Browne his lawyers say: The claimant was deprived of sleep by UK soldiers knocking on the door regularly or shining a strong light in his face.
A senior military source said: This maniac’s claims are preposterous. It’s an insult to the British soldiers who died in Basra.
Birmingham-based civil rights lawyer Phil Shiner has sparked outrage with legal aid-funded cases for suspected Iraqi insurgents. News Source
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Immigrants in Spain who lose their jobs would be offered lump sum payments to return home as part of a package of planned reforms aimed at softening the impact on the labour market of the country’s economic downturn.
Celestino Corbacho, the employment and immigration minister, said on Tuesday he hoped the incentive would attract an initial “15 or 20? per cent of the 100,000 foreign workers who currently qualify. The measures are directed mainly at low-skilled workers from Latin America and northern Africa.
Under the proposed scheme, legal immigrants from outside the European Union who became jobless would be offered 40 per cent of their unemployment entitlement on renouncing their residency and work permits.
The rest would be paid once the person was back in his or her country of origin. A typical pay-out for an immigrant worker with six years’ legal service and no children would be about €20,000.
Unemployment among non-Spanish workers surged 24 per cent in the first quarter this year. Officially, about 15 per cent of the immigrant community’s active population is out of work, compared with a national average of 9.6 per cent.
Immigrant associations say the figure is probably more than 20 per cent after accounting for illegal workers.
Spain’s move comes as the EU is expected to agree minimum rules for the deportation of immigrants who outstay their visas or have asylum claims rejected. The European parliament should back the so-called returns directive on Wednesday.
BNP policies are therefore becoming mainstream in Europe - and it is about time that Britain also starts taking these very sensible measures - including implementing existing schemes, which are simply never implemented. News Source
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Homes for Immigrants but no homes set aside for emergencies!
A couple are sleeping rough in an allotment shed after their home was repossessed.
Debbie Galloway, 31, and her husband Philip, 42, lost their home after they failed to keep up mortgage payments on their three-bedroomed semi-detached house.
The couple, the latest to have fallen foul of the credit crunch, have resorted to sleeping in an allotment site owned by a relative, while their four children, aged between four and 14, are staying with other family members.
The Galloways, who lived in their own home in Hartlepool for 13 years, fell behind on their repayments after Mrs Galloway, a former check-out assistant, changed jobs. The house was repossessed in early June.
Hartlepool Borough Council has offered the couple temporary accommodation but the Galloways said the properties on offer were in such a desperate state of disrepair that they were better off in the shed.
Mrs Galloway said the houses offered to her family were completely run down with either no running water, caved-in ceilings, holes in the kitchen floor or tiles falling off the wall.
She said: 'All of them have been in a bad way. The allotment is cleaner than half the houses they have sent us to.'
The couple's children, Philip, 14, Liam, 12, Jak, 10, Thomas, eight, Sophie, seven, and Millee, four, have been staying with relatives.
Mrs Galloway, who is on income support, and her husband, who gets incapacity benefit and disability living allowance for a lung condition, are staying on the Nicholson's Field allotment site, in West View, Hartlepool, which is owned by Philip's father.
A Hartlepool Borough Council spokesman said: 'Given that Mrs Galloway has been classified as intentionally homeless, social housing is not a realistic option. Mrs Galloway has been offered at least ten private sector properties but none has proved acceptable to her. We feel there is little else that we can do.'
Meanwhile a family with a baby on the way are living in their car after their home was repossessed because they couldn't make spiralling mortgage repayments.
Laura Whitney, aged 28, who is four months pregnant and her partner Richard Webster, 32, have spent the last two weeks crammed in their family saloon with children Jessica, seven, and Jack, two.
The couple could no longer afford to pay their £62,500 mortgage which has an interest rate of 10.9 per cent, when their sub-prime lender increased payments from £373 a month to £553.
They were forced from their maisonette at Batemoor, Sheffield, and moved straight into their V-reg Vauxhall Vextra.
Laura claims her family had not been given priority for rehousing by the local council because they were also deemed 'intentionally homeless'.
They were turned down for private-rented housing because the repossession gave them a bad credit rating.
Laura said: 'We've been living in the car for two weeks because relatives can't accommodate us all and we don't want to be split up or move into a bed and breakfast. We are making do with tinned food and we drive to different relatives houses. They let us use their facilities, we can have a bath or shower and we wash our clothes and the children sometimes have a bed to sleep in.
All we need is a home. We're willing to pay full rent and don't want a council tax rebate. Richard works full time as a driver for Royal Mail. I was managing a card shop until recently and I will be happy to work again. '
Richard said: 'Sheffield Council offered us temporary accommodation but because I am working we have to find pay £130 a week, which we cannot afford.
'They don't want to help us when we need it most. We are not scroungers. We've always worked, we don't smoke, we have only been out twice in the last year and we don't want anything for nothing.'
Sheffield Council leader Councillor Paul Scriven said housing officials told him the family was not given priority as staff were not aware they were living in a car. He added: 'Clearly, this is very serious and I have instructed the case to be reviewed.' News Source
Some sympathetic and some disgusting accusations in the comments section, We must however ask the question why are immigrants getting social homes? Immigration is a economic state and immigrants should not qualify for social homes. Asylum is a different kettle of fish based on persecution. So once again we ask, why are immigrants getting social homes and jumping queues ahead of native Britons? Surely homes would have been kept for this type of emergency instead of being allocated to immigrants as a incentive for imported votes!!! (Ed)
Disclaimer: This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
See Also: Recent news items 2007 / 2008
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Propaganda mixed in with regular viewing!
Subliminal programming and Brainwashing next?
The Government has spent almost £2 million to fund programmes that are all but indistinguishable from regular shows, The Sunday Telegraph has established.
But unlike normal documentaries, the programmes are commissioned by ministers with the purpose of showing their policies or activities in a sympathetic light.
The media watchdog Ofcom has disclosed that it had opened an investigation into one of the programmes, Beat: Life on the Street — about the Government’s controversial Police Community Support Officers, to see whether it breached its broadcasting code.
Media freedom campaigners, broadcasters and opposition politicians expressed alarm over the Government-funded documentaries.
The Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow said: “I find it extraordinary. So the Government is funding commercial television productions highlighting government policy? Presumably they don’t criticise government policy.”
The Government has funded at least eight television series or individual programmes in the past five years.
Subjects range from an Army expedition to climb Everest to advice for small businessmen on how to improve their company’s fortunes.
However, the show about PCSOs and a newly commissioned programme about Customs and Immigration officers are particularly controversial because they deal with sensitive political issues and policies.
Beat: Life on the Street, which was supported with £800,000 of funding by the Home Office for its first two series, portrayed PCSOs as dedicated, helpful and an effective adjunct to the police — despite the controversy about their role.
One Whitehall source admitted of the documentary: “It allows the Government to have more air time and get its message across to people.”
Ministers are so pleased with the way the series, which drew in audiences of three million people on ITV and changed the public’s perception of the officers, that they commissioned a third series, to be broadcast next year.
But The Sunday Telegraph established that the programmes appeared to break Ofcom’s broadcasting code by not making it clear that they were funded by the Home Office.
In a further apparent breach of Ofcom rules, this time on independence, Home Office officials were directly involved in the making of the series.
They were allowed to view a second edit of individual programmes and were able to suggest changes to some of the “terminology” and “language” used in the narration.
The Conservatives condemned the Government funding of programmes as an inappropriate use of taxpayers’ money.
David Ruffley, the shadow police minister, said: “People want the Government to put police on our streets, not propaganda on our television sets.”
The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom said that it was a disturbing trend in Government attempts to influence television programming.
But a Home Office spokesman said: “Documentaries of this nature play an important role in informing the public, openly and transparently, about the work of the police and UK Border Agency.
“The Home Office do not influence the content of these programmes after they are commissioned and they adhere to Ofcom’s strict guidelines on this kind of programme.”
A spokesman for ITV said: “As with all advertiser-funded programmes, Beat: Life On The Street is subject to a strict process to ensure it meets all the regulatory requirements set out under the Ofcom code on sponsorship, to ensure transparency and editorial independence by the broadcaster.” News Source
Disclaimer: This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
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You fund the Government to LIE to YOU!
Our revelation that the Government has been funding television documentary series, and monitoring the content before it is broadcast, will come as a shock to many viewers.
Certainly, it raises serious questions about the extraordinary readiness of Labour politicians effectively to hijack "documentaries" for use as a propaganda tool. It also highlights the worrying eagerness of television companies to be thus used in exchange for a handsome injection of cash and access.
The money for this duplicitous exercise, of course, flows direct from the pockets of the unwitting British taxpayer.
Perhaps the most extreme example uncovered is the ITV documentary series Beat: Life On The Street, which dealt with the experience of police community support officers.
Two series have already been broadcast, largely funded by the Home Office at a cost of £400,000 each. During the editing process of the second series the programmes were scrutinised by the Home Office, which suggested changes to language and terminology.
The sole reference to the Government department's role was a flash of its logo on an advertisement broadcast before each programme warning viewers of mobile phone theft.
In terms of the Home Office's short-term goals, it worked wonderfully. The effectiveness of community support officers had been widely questioned, but this show took the very best officers - as the programme-maker has since admitted - and portrayed them in a favourable light.
Better still, the programme was a ratings hit, to the extent that a third series will be screened next year.
The department's behaviour, however, appears to have broken a number of Ofcom guidelines on "advertiser-funded" programmes.
The Home Office was not only directly involved in monitoring the programme's content, contrary to the rules, but also seemingly failed to render transparent its relationship with the programme-makers.
As Ofcom announced an investigation, however, a spokeswoman for the Government's Central Office of Information (COI) defended the practice thus: "COI aims to help Government departments communicate their services for citizens, achieving maximum communication effectiveness and value for money."
Even if we leave to one side the decidedly Stalinist ring to that statement, it is clear that it refuses point-blank to engage with the issues at stake.
George Orwell's 1984 Fulfilled (Ed)
It is all very well for a Government department to communicate its "services for citizens". The question is whether it is ethical to do so by using taxpayers' money to fund television programmes that foster every appearance of being independently created. At least six additional television shows have been Government-funded in recent years, at a total cost of £2 million.
This is not the first time that the Government has overstepped the line between honest persuasion and manipulation.
In the run-up to the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, a strategy document was leaked from Tom Kelly, then director of communications in the Northern Ireland Office and later a Downing Street press spokesman. Although the Government was ostensibly neutral, Mr Kelly's memo advocated commissioning opinion polls and actively suppressing those that were not "helpful to our cause" of a "yes" vote.
He also recommended that the Government encourage opinion polling by newspapers and current affairs programmes "where we believe the results are likely to be supportive".
It is, of course, the job of an independent media to resist overt attempts at government control, in particular if they are accompanied by a hefty cash hand-out. But in their headlong rush for high ratings, ample profits and the Holy Grail of "good telly", television companies are frequently willing to treat their viewers as hapless dupes, as became evident in the recent viewer phone-in scandals.
The audience response to television documentaries is based on trust, and trust is once again what has been damaged. The British public will surely be entitled to conclude, with some bitterness, that the most recent revelations discredit our Government and our broadcasters alike. News Source
Disclaimer: This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
See Also:
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Radical plans to restructure governance at Stoke City Council are to go ahead in an obvious and blatant attempt by Labour to prevent the BNP from winning the next mayoral election in that city.
The media has already been speculating that Labour was concerned about the BNP scoring a damaging victory in next year’s mayoral election at Stoke. The city was previously a Labour heartland with the party boasting all 60 elected members.
This dropped to just 16 in the May elections, with nine parties represented on the current council, and Labour has been forced into an unprecedented power-sharing coalition with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The BNP became the third largest party in the city with nine councillors.
Local government minister John Healey, who commissioned the review into Stoke’s political landscape, denies it was an attempt to thwart the BNP despite the fact that it could result in a return to the traditional council leader system.
Crucially, a council leader can be voted out of office by fellow councillors whereas an elected mayor can only be removed by the electorate.
Councillors have backed the review recommendation for single-member wards, cutting the number of councillors to 20. This would disproportionately hit the BNP.
Last year, Audit Commission inspectors rated Stoke as a three-star authority and the fastest improving council in the country.
But Healey says: “The problems of governance remain. There have long been concerns about civic leadership there. The city has suffered from a collapse of industry and has not pulled itself through the problems of deprivation.”
A referendum to decide whether to retain the mayoral system is expected in the autumn. News Source
News Item Credit goes to: The British National Party
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Your Future!
Are you waking up to the Lib Lab Con EU Police State yet?
A Pensioner was ordered to pay almost £600 in repairs – after police smashed their way into his house.
John Hadley, 67, came home to find the door to his sheltered housing flat, in Charter House, Vange, had been kicked in.
At first he thought it was a break-in, but then found a note inside asking him to attend Southend police station.
It turned out the police wanted to interview him over accusations he had made racist comments to another man.
He was charged with racially aggravated assault, but the case was dropped when it came before Southend Magistrates Court in November last year.
Mr Hadley was then shocked to receive a written request two weeks ago from St George’s Housing asking him to pay £590 to replace the door and frame.
Mr Hadley said: “I have absolutely nothing against the police and know they’ve got their job to do, but they went over the top breaking down my door.
“They must have thought I was inside hiding, but I was out all the time.
“You worry having the police smash down your door will give you a bad reputation with the neighbours and there’s no way I should have to pay for the door.”
Mr Hadley’s friend Stan Dyson, 63, has written to St George’s Housing, which runs Basildon Council’s housing stock on its behalf, complaining he should not be charged.
Billericay MP John Baron has also penned a stern letter to Essex Police.
Mr Baron said: “I have complained their tactics were too heavy-handed, presented them with the bill for the door, and asked them to cover the cost.
“I have also requested an apology for Mr Hadley.”
Donna Veasey, spokesman for Essex Police, said officers broke into the flat because they thought Mr Hadley was hiding inside to avoid being questioned.
She said: “Police officers are granted permission to enter properties without a warrant under the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
“We are waiting to receive Mr Baron’s letter. The question of who should pay for the door will be dealt with accordingly.”
Ray McKay, spokesman for St George’s Housing, said: “We are investigating this matter.” News Source
This is a disgrace and shows the sort of future we are heading for. The police could have phoned or even wrote to him in the first place that they require him to attend a police station to answer questions to a alleged allegation, afterall what did they think he would do? Flee the country?
As it was the case was dropped. Anyone can now become a victim of the fascist police state on the hearsay or accusation of someone else! Isn't it time that racial laws be looked at and reviewed? Afterall even terrorist suspects don't get this kind of treatment! but seems our pensioners do.
Gawd only knows, if the pensioner was at home at the time he could have had a heart attack or died of fright! (Ed)
Disclaimer:
This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information.
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No End to Labour scams and fiddles?
FAILED party gimmickry?
Will the prize plasma be claimed on expenses as MP's already do? In other words YOU the taxpayer have already paid for it!
Voters who go to the polls in local elections could win prizes worth £1,000, it was revealed yesterday.
Such an incentive would be much bigger than anything suggested so far under the 'votes-mean-prizes' scheme being considered by Justice Secretary Jack Straw.
Whitehall officials had previously hinted the prizes would be relatively modest, such as free entry to council-run gyms and swimming pools.
The new prize, which would be awarded to the winner of a draw open only to those who voted, could take the form of a large plasma television.
Other possibilities include an annual subscription to a plush private gym.
Alternatively, ministers could follow the example of incentive-voting trials carried out in California.
There, a free doughnut is handed out to the first 8,000 voters to arrive at the polling
station.
The votes-mean-prizes plan was unveiled last month by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears in a White Paper on increasing participation in local democracy.
It put forward the idea of incentives to increase turnouts in local elections.
In this year's polls in May, only 35 per cent of the electorate voted. The amount of money on offer to winning voters was disclosed by Communities Minister Parmjit Dhanda in a written answer to MPs. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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Mayhem erupted in court when a woman pulled two human fingers from her handbag and claimed they fell of one of her children due to a voodoo curse.
Remi Fakorede, 46, of Hackney, told Snaresbrook Crown Court the same bad magic had caused her to commit a £925,000 tax credit fraud between August 1, 2002, and June 26, 2007.
The judge immediately adjourned the case for the rest of the day after one juror broke down in tears.
Police were called to the court and took a statement from the Nigerian-born defendant.
Social Services and the Child Protection Agency were also contacted.
DNA test results are now awaited to determine who the body parts belonged to.
However, it is understood one of Fakorede’s six children lost part of her hand after developing gangrene following renal problems. News Source
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Thirty-five illegal migrants were reported to be free in the north-east last night after immigration officials at Aberdeen Airport granted them emergency admission to the UK.
It is understood 37 new arrivals from Bolivia in South America were released on condition they returned the following day to have immigration papers processed.
But only two came back and both were allowed to stay.
One MSP last night called for the “fullest possible inquiry” into what happened.
But the UK Border Agency downplayed it, claiming its officials had checked the names of those involved against their “watch-lists”.
It was reported that 42 Bolivian men and women arrived at Aberdeen Airport last week from Amsterdam.
Five were refused admission straight away due to problems with their papers.
It is believed there was no room to keep the other 37 because almost 40 people were already being held from another flight.
Grampian Police yesterday confirmed they were called due to the high number involved but said it was left in the hands of the agency.
The agency would not confirm whether it was actively seeking those missing.
North-east Tory MSP Alex Johnstone called the circumstances “astonishing”.
He said: “The situation appears to be a deliberate attempt to flood the facilities at Aberdeen Airport.
And somebody somewhere surely must have been a bit naive to release so many people on the condition they come back. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Les
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An illegal immigrant worked as an interpreter with Northamptonshire County Council while she and her husband laundered more than £120,000, a court heard.
Since being refused asylum in 2001, Albanians Vojsava Stena, aged 27, and her husband Altin Fusha, aged 32, moved thousands of pounds to foreign bank accounts to buy property and also snapped up a luxury BMW car while paying almost nothing in tax.
The pair funded their criminal lifestyle through Stena's job as an interpreter for the county council and Fusha's work as a runner for a local property firm.
Birmingham Crown Court heard how Stena had earned nearly £30,000 over five years and claimed £20,000 in working and child tax benefits.
They were both handed nine-month suspended sentences and an order to be deported after pleading guilty to several counts of converting criminal possessions by deception, concealing criminal property, and money laundering. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Les
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The killer who hacked to death British teen Cara Marie Burke last night confessed to The Sun: I’m a monster.
Evil Mohammed D’Ali Carvalho dos Santos revealed every horrific detail of how he killed and cut up Cara’s body.
The remains of Londoner Cara, 17, were found in a suitcase next to a motorway in Brazil.
Santos met Cara when he was living in Hackney, East London. When his visa ran out after two years, she flew to Brazil with him and moved in.
On Saturday Santos killed Cara during an argument at his flat — then he left her body in his bath and went to a party.
The next day he hacked up her body with a large butcher’s knife.
Santos told The Sun: ?There was blood but she was in the shower so it all went down the drain.
I started getting worried about the body. It was smelling strong.
I tried to put the body into the suitcase but she wouldn’t fit, so I had to cut her body.
I know I’m a monster for doing it. I was just so desperate to get that body out.
The sick killer even filmed himself grinning while chopping up her corpse.
Santos drove to a bridge at 5am and threw Cara’s mutilated abdomen into the river Meia Ponte.
He threw other body parts in a river 60km away.
Divers yesterday hunted for Cara’s arms, legs and head near Bonfinopolis.
Self-pityingly Santos said: I feel sorry for her family and for myself.
I’m going to jail for a long time but what’s in my head is much worse.
Santos told cops that dismembering her corpse was like cutting beef
Cara’s distraught mum Ann Marie Burke, 53, yesterday collapsed in grief in Southfields, South West London, crying: I want my baby back. She didn’t hurt anyone. Continued
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Town hall snoopers obtained the details of more than 270,000 motorists from the DVLA database last year in a bid to trap people for 'environmental crimes'.
The officials wanted to link car owners via their number plates to offences such as littering, dog fouling and noisy stereos.
Critics say the scale of the inquiries is a 'terrifying' example of the lurch towards a Big Brother society.
Councils were originally given 24-hour access to the DVLA's huge database, via a computer link called the Web Enabled Enquiry System (WEES), to make it easier to trace the owners of abandoned cars.
But a document produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs reveals this access has recently been 'enhanced' to allow authorised council staff to police environmental crimes.
The DVLA said WEES was accessed last year by a total of 271,563 by local councils - at the rate of more than 700 checks every day.
In some cases, officials use the system to obtain the details of people who have been spotted by council staff committing an offence.
But it can also be used to check tips from members of the public, who take down a car registration after spotting litter being thrown from the window, or an owner letting a dog out of the car and not clearing up any mess.
Shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: 'State intrusion is becoming the norm not the exception as we witness the slow death of our privacy.
'We never condone breaking the law and recognise the need for tough measures to tackle the wave of violent crime sweeping the country. What we don’t need is the systematic abuse of state powers by town halls - there must be a proportionate use of powers that fit the offence'. [must include]
Phil Booth, of the NO2ID campaign, said of the DVLA database: ' This is incredible and terrifying. What we are seeing are powers which are brought in for one purpose being abused time and again for relatively minor offences.
'This is massively disproportionate. I don't think it is reasonable or proportionate to expose the names of every driver in the country to potentially hundreds or thousands of people.' Continued
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A Tory MP fingerprinted after the murder of his 80-year-old uncle claimed last night that he is an innocent victim of Labour’s ‘Big Brother’ surveillance state.
Police visited the Commons to take fingerprints and a DNA sample from London MP Greg Hands after the killing last year.
But Mr Hands, 42, is now demanding to know why, one year on and despite repeated requests, his details have not been removed from the national DNA database.
He said that he and hundreds of thousands of other innocent Britons were being ‘stigmatised’ by the database, which is estimated to contain the records of more than four million individuals, including about 900,000 not convicted of any crime.
‘I accept it is helping to solve crimes,’ Mr Hands added, ‘but it seems to me the Home Office and police are building up a national, universal DNA database by stealth. They are trying to get all 60million of us by hook or by crook on to it.
‘They are using every possible reason to collect data from people like me whose links with crime in particular or general are extremely tenuous. Parliament has never approved a universal DNA database.’ Continued
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Prisoners across the country are being supplied with computer games consoles costing thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money.
The Prison Service has spent £221,726 on PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo systems and software to keep jailed criminals entertained. Ministers have previously admitted spending only £10,000 on the machines.
An audit carried out last month on Justice Secretary Jack Straw’s orders turned up 12,948 game consoles in prisons and young-offender institutions in England and Wales, showing how widespread their use is among the 83,600 prison population.
While most of them were bought by inmates themselves, a total of 1,715, costing between £100 and £300 each, was provided by the Prison Service.
The Ministry of Justice recently announced restrictions on the use of the games but critics said this was because the extent of their use was going to be made public.
Officials at the department admitted that there was nothing to stop violent 18-rated games being played on taxpayer-funded machines and conceded that prison authorities may have purchased violent titles for some inmates.
Tory MP Nigel Evans, to whom Mr Straw disclosed the figures in a letter, said: ‘Does being sent down for five years of hard PlayStation playing serve as rehabilitation or punishment?
‘This is rewarding criminal behaviour with equipment which many victims of crime could only dream of affording for their children. People will be outraged by this revelation.’
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said: ‘While Ministers protest that there is no money for prison places or rehabilitation schemes, they waste taxpayers’ funds on luxuries which prisoners shouldn’t have. Continued
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They don't practise what they Preach!
Labour's latest crusade against sick-note Britain has been undermined by the revelation that civil servants at the Ministry charged with getting people back to work took more than a million days off sick last year.
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell unveiled a clampdown on the workshy last week with tough-sounding welfare reform plans, including abolishing incapacity benefit and retesting the 2.7million existing recipients to see if they are genuinely unfit to work.
But official figures show that sickies cost his own Department for Work and Pensions £65.8million in 2007-2008 – bringing the total cost to the public purse in the past three years to £228million, although officials point out that it fell last year from £77.4million in 2006-2007 and £84.6million in 2005-2006.
The cost is calculated from the actual salaries of people who took sick days.
The figures show that on average each of the DWP’s 114,000 staff took 10.1 sick days a year, nearly double the private-sector average of 5.8 days.
Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly’s department was another poor performer. Although costing the taxpayer far less than the DWP in paid sick days, £12.9million, its 19,000 workers still managed to overtake it for the most sick days per head, with 10.8 for each worker.
The Home Office, under Jacqui Smith, clocked up a total of 338,713 sick days last year, 6.9 per employee, at a cost of £25.1million. Continued
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No End of Lies to the Public!
One of Britain’s most controversial police chiefs was involved in a new row last night over his account of how he ‘broke in’ to his own police HQ.
A secret police report on the incident obtained by The Mail on Sunday shows the official version of the bizarre stunt by North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom was not true.
At the time, police said action man Mr Brunstrom climbed builders’ scaffolding and clambered in through an unlocked window to expose lax security. The full circumstances have never been explained.
But the police have now admitted the real reason was less heroic, though equally bizarre: Mr Brunstrom climbed in because his keyring fob access pass did not work and the headquarters’ reception is not manned at weekends.
In addition, secret papers concerning Mr Brunstrom’s reaction when news of the incident leaked out were mysteriously destroyed.
And separately, The Mail on Sunday has been told that his ‘break-in’ at the police HQ in Colwyn Bay was detected by a security guard who alerted police. Officers rushed to the scene to find the ‘intruder’ was their own chief constable.
Last night, Tory MP David Jones, whose Clwyd West constituency includes Colwyn Bay, called for an inquiry by the North Wales Police Authority.
He said: ‘If this is correct an immediate inquiry is called for. I propose to write to the Police Authority demanding just that.’
Mr Brunstrom was nicknamed the Mad Mullah of the Traffic Taliban because of his extreme enthusiasm for speed cameras.
Ever since his ‘break-in’ at the police HQ was first reported, rumours have circulated among North Wales Police and politicians that the full story was not disclosed.
On December 14, when the media first heard of the incident, North Wales Police Press office issued a statement after discussing the matter with Mr Brunstrom and senior police management. They presented it as a public-spirited act by the police chief intended to expose lax security.
However, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show this was false. They reveal the incident hap-pened on Saturday, December 1, two weeks before it was first reported in the media.
The confidential police report of the security incident states baldly: ‘Chief Constable attempts to gain access to HQ but due to a fault on the fob access system is denied access.
‘As this occurs at the weekend there is no reception staff available. He then scales the erected scaffolding and gains entry via an open/unlocked window into an unspecified office.’ Continued
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Drivers still oppose turning British speed limits and road signs metric even though fuel is sold in litres, a survey showed yesterday.
Two-thirds want to stick to miles for speeds, distances and fuel consumption and feet and inches to show heights and widths.
And most drivers still work out how much petrol costs in gallons.
Surprisingly the most resistance to change was among young drivers aged 18 to 24, the poll for AA/Populus found.
AA chief Edmund King said: Going metric would not go down well with the motoring public. News Source
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As thousands of former Land Girls received special badges of honour in recognition of their contribution during the Second World War, one Trowbridge woman has recollected her own experience of the halcyon days and hard work.
Winnie Sykes, 91, of The Croft, was just 24 when she went to work on a farm, first looking after poultry and later a herd of dairy cows.
She received the medal and certificate on Friday, just two days before her 91st birthday.
Miss Sykes said: "I wanted to do something for the war and I couldn't join the forces because I'm deaf.
"So I joined the Land Army I wanted to wear the breeches. They were corduroy, rather like plus fours, and you had to wear long socks with them."
Originally from Kent, Miss Sykes had to go to college for two months to learn the skills of the trade before beginning work on a poultry farm.
She said: "I hated it, looking after hens they're cannibals.
"The only good thing was going home at the weekends when you got to take what you wanted eggs, butter, cheese and of course, chicken.
"One thing I had to do was to kill one. It was terrible, I finally managed to do it but I hated it."
She then moved back to her home town of Whitstable where she worked on a dairy farm for four years, and later moved to a fruit farm in Faversham tending hops and picking fruit, pruning fruit trees and growing tomatoes in a large greenhouse. Continued
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The Foreign Secretary’s provocative move at Labour’s annual conference will be seen as “phase two” of his attempt to present himself as Labour’s leader-in-waiting.
It will be a deliberate attempt to offer an alternative vision of Labour’s future to the one given by Mr Brown in his own keynote speech to the conference in Manchester.
Last night the battle between the Brown and Miliband camps showed no sign of letting up, despite claims the Prime Minister had ordered a truce.
Allies of the Foreign Secretary signalled that wealthy private individuals who had stopped giving Labour money under Mr Brown were likely to be persuaded to reopen their cheque books if Mr Miliband became leader.
Supporters of the Prime Minister, meanwhile, accused some in the Miliband camp of telling “barefaced lies” about the handling of the Foreign Secretary’s explosive newspaper article last week and his subsequent refusal to rule out a direct leadership challenge. Continued
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A billion pound fortune buys you many things, it seems, including, as we learned last week, immunity from prosecution for possessing crack, cocaine and heroin.
Tetra Pak heir Hans Kristian Rausing and his wife Eva were let off with cautions because their personal wealth is so great compared with the value of the drugs with which they were caught that the Ministry of Justice says it’s not worth pursuing them.
The Rausings might argue, like many who enjoy hard drugs instead of an After Eight at the end of a dinner party, that they are different from street junkies.
After all, their drugs are delivered to their door and paid for with legitimately earned cash.
They do not burgle a house or turn a trick before haggling for their next fix with a gun-toting dealer on a dark corner.
But I argue that we should be as concerned about social drug users as we are about desperate drug addicts.
They are served by the same supply network, the same import and distribution chains, they fund the same Mr Big and middle-men and, ultimately, they take the same drugs.
The reason why cocaine partygoers and desperate crack addicts continue to indulge their habits is because the ‘war on drugs’ is not working, the enforcement we have in this country is ineffectual.
It’s a waste not just of manpower and money but of opportunity as well.
Why? In three words: Government performance targets.
Police chiefs are rewarded and promoted on whether they reduce the number of crimes reported and on the basis of the number of offenders they bring to justice.
Last week a report published by the UK Drug Policy Commission concluded that the millions of pounds spent annually on enforcement do little to disrupt markets and reduce drug availability.
It was of the view, wrongly in my opinion, that as we are losing the war, we should surrender the campaign against drug-dealing and restrict the battles to minimising the collateral damage, the crime that is driven by drugs and the street-dealing that blights the lives of many law-abiding citizens.
The report showed that between 7 and 12 per cent of Britain’s illegal drugs are seized during import. In order to hurt supply that figure would need to be closer to 60 to 80 per cent. Continued
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Tony Blair has delivered a savage attack on Gordon Brown in a secret memo accusing him of playing into David Cameron’s hands by his ‘lamentable’ and ‘vacuous’ performance as Prime Minister.
The former Prime Minister boasts that Mr Cameron was ‘in trouble’ before he resigned a year ago.
And he claims Mr Brown’s incompetence has made the Tories look like the party of the future and on course to win the next Election.
The memo reveals Mr Blair’s fury at the way Mr Brown turned his back on his predecessor’s achievements, accusing him of ‘dissing our own record’.
He pours scorn on Mr Brown for claiming he would turn his back on the ‘spin’ of Mr Blair’s ten years in power and replace it with a more ‘honest’ style.
He says Mr Brown ‘junked the TB [Tony Blair] policy agenda but had nothing to put in its place’.
The bombshell disclosure comes as it emerged that Mr Blair has had regular talks with his close friend and political ally, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who challenged Mr Brown’s leadership last week.
The memo shows that Mr Blair backs many of Blairite Mr Miliband’s private views about Mr Brown’s failings.
And it blows the lid off public assertions that Mr Blair supports his successor, claiming Mr Brown has made ‘fatal’ blunders by disowning Mr Blair’s record; failing to produce new policies; distancing himself from the Iraq War; and leaving the political landscape ‘wide open’ for the Tories to take the lead.
The Mail on Sunday has also learned that Mr Brown may be forced to call off his plan to reshuffle the Cabinet in September, which carries his last hopes of reviving the Government. Continued
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The Government’s equality chief has been attacked by his own organisation for being paid by Channel 4 to advise them following the Big Brother racism scandal involving Indian actress Shilpa Shetty.
The future of Trevor Phillips, the £110,000-a-year chairman of Labour’s new Equality and Human Rights Commission ‘super quango’, was in question last night after it was revealed his conduct had been challenged both by the Commission and the Government.
Mr Phillips came under fire after The Mail on Sunday disclosed in June that he was hired by Channel 4 in the wake of the furore over the treatment of Ms Shetty. He denied any wrongdoing.
But today it can be revealed that:
- A secret review ordered by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) suggests he was guilty of a conflict of interest.
- He faced a revolt by fellow commissioners at a recent EHRC board meeting.
- Whitehall’s anti-sleaze mandarin has launched an investigation into the matter.
The row over Mr Phillips erupted two months ago when it was reported that he was paid by Channel 4 through the Equate Organisation, which he co-founded with media entrepreneur Charles Armitage, and in which he owns 70 per cent of the shares.
The company charges corporate clients a substantial fee for a ‘discreet, customised service’ on how to handle the sort of equality issues that are investigated by the Commission that, in turn, is responsible for making firms and public bodies obey anti-discrimination laws.
Publicly, the Commission backed Mr Phillips. However, this newspaper has learned that, behind closed doors, his conduct caused serious concerns in the organisation. As a result it ordered a secret legal review by human rights lawyer Robin Allen QC.
To spare Mr Phillips’s blushes, Mr Allen was asked to focus on the general issue of commissioners who take on commercial work.
However, his conclusions are clear. The report says commissioners should not work privately for organisations regulated by the EHRC. The Race Relations Act specifically includes Channel 4 as one of those bodies. Continued
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The Olympic president Jacques Rogge has rebutted accusations that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed to Chinese internet censorship during the coming Games.
"I am adamant in saying there has been no deal whatsoever to accept restrictions," he said at a press conference, denying media reports of a deal.
Western journalists in China have discovered that a number of websites they hoped to open remain filtered by the authorities, despite earlier Chinese promises of transparency.
After protests this week, some previously blocked websites have now been made available to foreign media, but others are still censored. The BBC Mandarin site, Wikipedia and some human rights sites have now become accessible.
"I am not going to make an apology for something that the IOC is not responsible for," Mr Rogge said. "We are not running the internet in China."
"There has been no change in the IOC's position," said the body's spokeswoman Giselle Davies. "The IOC would like to see open access."
The Chinese President Hu Jintao obliquely criticised the attacks on his country's transparency by asking media not to "politicise" the Games.
While reporters will have special access to the internet, ordinary Chinese people will have no more than the limited access to international sites they are normally allowed. Continued
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Controversial polyclinics will be forced upon towns and villages across the country!
Ministers have repeatedly insisted that government plans for 300 super-surgeries, housing up to 25 GPs, will not be imposed, but agreed through consultations with local communities.
However, information gathered from primary care trusts (PCTs) leaves those pledges in tatters.
Half of the PCTs that responded said they would not consult on plans to build centres and some cited advice from the Department of Health as the reason for their decision.
The disclosures, from 100 of England’s 152 PCTs, appear to render meaningless recent promises by Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, who said last month he would “insist” that all decisions on the centres be “taken in consultation with local people”, later adding that there was “no argument for imposing” the plans.
Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said the new information, gathered by the Conservatives under the Freedom of Information Act, demonstrated the Health Secretary’s pledges to be “no more than spin”. Continued
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The number of firms going bust has shot up 130 per cent in the past year as the economy slows down.
Yesterday figures from the Government's Insolvency Service showed that 177 businesses went into receivership in England and Wales.
This compares with just 77 in the same period last year, a 129 per cent rise.
Receivership is when a receiver is appointed to sell off the firm's assets to pay back creditors.
Another type of corporate collapse, known as administration, has also rocketed as companies feel the pinch.
This holds off creditors while an administrator restructures the firm and assesses what can be sold or saved.
The figures show 938 firms went into administration, 60 per cent more than last year.
It comes after the British Chambers of Commerce warned the outlook is 'grim' and said a recession could start within months.
Its dismal report, published last month, said it had uncovered evidence of a 'menacing deterioration' in the outlook.
For every firm which collapse, it is a personal tragedy for each of its workers who could face a tough battle trying to get a new job.
Many bosses saying they are cutting back on recruitment as they try to cut costs to cope with the slowing economy.
The accountants Baker Tilly said it expects the number of firms which are going under will end up around 20 per cent higher than last year.
Geoff Carton-Kelly, head of restructuring and recovery, predicts around 280 firms every week will become insolvent. Continued
The society the Lib Lab Cons created!
A couple who fled to Walsall after cutting off the head of a Chinese graduate and then dumping her body in the Thames have been jailed for 37 years.
Xing Xing Xie had her head cut off while she was still alive in a killing so brutal it stunned hardened detectives.
Noor Mohd-Yusoff, a jealous girlfriend known as “princess”, had sent the 23-year-old a text message threatening to kill her just days earlier, the Old Bailey heard.
She was possessive of her boyfriend Trach Lon Gian and told friends they were husband and wife.
Mohd-Yusoff, a 22-year-old Malaysian prostitute, collapsed sobbing in the dock yesterday as she and Belfast-born Gian, 27 and of Vietnamese origin, were both found guilty of murder. Gian, who was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice by disposing of the body and had a previous conviction for wounding, was told he must serve at least 22 years. Mohd-Yusoff was given a minimum of 15 years. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Les
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Three young people have been stabbed in an attack on a city street in the middle of the afternoon.
Friends said one victim had to have his T-shirt cut away after being stabbed in the back, while another suffered head injuries. It is thought the third was stabbed in the stomach.
It is believed all three victims are teenagers - two aged 16 and one 18.
Large spatters of blood could be seen on the side of a silver car parked at the crime scene, in Belgrave, Leicester.
Police say they believe a knife was used in yesterday's attack, although they have not yet recovered a weapon.
All three victims were taken by ambulance to Leicester Royal Infirmary.
Officers say their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Emergency services were called to Harrison Road just after 3pm, and police immediately cordoned off an area between Melrose Street and Doncaster Road.
Dozens of residents gathered at both ends of the taped-off area as police officers began to carry out their investigations.
Friends of the victims said that they were shocked by the attack. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Les
Saturday 2nd August 2008
Democracy trampled for Political Gain
Radical plans to restructure governance at Stoke City Council are to go ahead, but local government minister John Healey, in an exclusive interview with Public Servant, denies they are aimed at blocking extremists and preventing the election of the country's first BNP mayor.
Commentators suggested that Labour was concerned about the BNP scoring a damaging victory in next year's mayoral election at Stoke. The city was previously a Labour heartland with the party boasting all 60 elected members.
This dropped to just 16 in the May elections, with nine parties represented on the current council, and Labour has been forced into an unprecedented power-sharing coalition with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
The BNP became the third largest party in the city with nine councillors.
It sees Stoke as a key strategic battleground and has committed party activists to the area.
Healey, who commissioned the review into Stoke's political landscape, denies it was an attempt to thwart the BNP despite the fact that it could result in a return to the traditional council leader system. Crucially, a council leader can be voted out of office by fellow councillors whereas an elected mayor can only be removed by the electorate.
Councillors have backed the review recommendation for single-member wards, cutting the number of councillors to 20. This would disproportionately hit the BNP.
Last year, Audit Commission inspectors rated Stoke as a three-star authority and the fastest improving council in the country. But Healey says: "The problems of governance remain.
There have long been concerns about civic leadership there. The city has suffered from a collapse of industry and has not pulled itself through the problems of deprivation."
Councillor Brian Ward of the City Independents Group claimed the review was "biased".
"The Labour party is trying everything possible to hang onto power even though the public are electing other parties," said Ward.
"Our group is just one behind on 15 seats. The coalition is obviously against the wishes of the people. No wonder people don't bother to vote."
A referendum to decide whether to retain the mayoral system is expected in the autumn. Leaflets circulated by the council warn that the elected mayor system "could be hijacked by extremists".
Stoke community engagement portfolio holder Labour councillor Mohammed Pervez claimed a BNP mayor would be detrimental to the city, adding: "We can avoid disaster by ensuring all mainstream political parties work together in ensuring that people don't turn to extreme politics. The elected mayor system gives people the opportunity to elect a figurehead."
Local Labour MP Joan Walley says the existing model confused citizens as it allowed for the existence of a ceremonial mayor and an elected mayor. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Les
What's confusing about it? This is nothing more than the usual un-democratic practises to remain in power whatever the costs. Talk about moving the goalposts! (Ed)
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Friday, 12.30pm: THE Conservative Party has retained its political hold on a vast swathe of the Wolds by winning the county council by-election staged yesterday, Thursday.
Hugo Marfleet's 1,013 votes secured an enormous majority in the county council's Louth Wolds division.
In fourth place was the British National Party's Rob West, from Holbeach, whose 219 votes knocked Labour's Michael Preen into fifth place (75 votes) but was not far adrift from second placed Independent Daniel Simpson (361 votes) or Eric Nedham who polled 304 for the Liberal Democrats.
Barry Gleeson for the UK Independence Party polled 59 of the 2,037 votes cast in a 31.86 per cent turnout.
The election was called following the death of Sheila Roy and now Mr Marfleet from Tetford will represent an electorate of 6,393 people across more than 20 villages including Binbrook, Ludford, South Willingham and Donington on Bain. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Les
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The Italian government’s decision to declare a state of emergency over the immigration invasion being suffered by that country has been proven correct with the news that a tiny Italian island has been brought to is knees after more than 800 illegal immigrants arrived by boat from Africa within a space of 24 hours.
The migrants, all from Africa, arrived on Lampedusa, south of Sicily, pushing its services to breaking point. Government officials said the huge influx underlined the need to issue a state of emergency over the problem of illegal immigration which has become a key concern of the new Italian government.
The island’s mayor, Bernardino De Rubeis, said: “Lampedusa is on its knees and we need an urgent visit from the interior minister Roberto Maroni, so he can see the dilemma we face.
“The time has come for this to stop and for a solution to this problem to be found once and for all, the needs of the people of Lampedusa are being forgotten.
“We have seen a 30 per cent drop in tourism and we have also down to just one daily flight between the island and Lampedusa and we have other pressing problems such as drainage and sanitation which are not being dealt with.”
He added that by the weekend he expected the number of illegal immigrants on the island to be 1,500 - more than double the capacity of the island’s holding centre. News Source
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A chance to stop the 7/7 bombers may have been missed when a secret services fax to police went missing.
A damning report is expected to reveal that the MI5 document, sent to West Yorkshire police, raised suspicions about ringleader Mohammed Sidique Khan and accomplice Shehzad Tanweer.
But the information was either lost or not followed up and the opportunity to monitor the men was missed.
Survivors of the attacks have been told the findings of the Intelligence and Security Committee are 'devastating' and suggest the men could have been stopped long before their bombs tore through three Tube trains and a bus.
News of the report, which has already been sent to Gordon Brown, emerged as the three-month trial of the only three people charged in connection with the 2005 attacks ended dramatically at Kingston Crown Court yesterday.
After 15 days of deliberation the jury of eight women and four men were unable to agree a verdict on a charge of conspiracy to cause an explosion. More than three years on from the atrocity, which left 52 dead and hundreds injured, and after a painstaking police investigation which has cost almost £100million, the victims are no closer to justice.
July 7 survivor Rachel North said last night: 'A fax was sent from the security services to West Yorkshire police flagging up the bombers. They are at fault because they didn't phone and follow the fax up, but West Yorkshire police are also at fault because what happened to that fax? Did it just fall on the floor or something?
'So although West Yorkshire police will be criticised, there will be some blow-back to the security services. The report will be very critical. The interesting thing will be to find out when the fax was sent.
'If they had investigated Khan after he returned from Pakistan in spring 2005 they would have found him and the other three up to their elbows in explosives.'
The jury's failure to reach a decision and the revelations in the report reinforce calls by families of the dead and survivors for an independent public inquiry.
They are still pursuing a judicial review into why the government has refused to hold one.
The outcome of the Kingston trial - a retrial is expected next year - has left relatives facing months more agony until inquests on their loved ones can be held. They are also worried the release of the ISC report will be postponed further.
Mr Brown has had it on his desk for more than three weeks but a decision was made not to publish it before the end of the Kingston trial. News Source
Disclaimer: This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
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As sympathy in Serbia grows for the alleged war criminal, ultra-nationalist protestors were involved in running battles with riot police after a Belgrade rally in support of Radovan Karadzic.
Hundreds of Partizan Football Club hooligans attacked police in what appeared to be an organised assault at the back end of the rally.
The violence began at the same time as president of the nationalist Serbian Radical Party, Tomislav Nikolic, took the stage on Republic Square.
The hooligans used fireworks, flares and rocks from concrete rubbish bins and plant holders to launch a barrage of debris against police, who initially retreated from the fierce and massive hooligan assault.
Police responded with tear gas and a counter assault. As the conflict in the streets escalated, Radical Party President Nikolic appealed in vain for calm. His speech was interspersed with the sounds of street violence, which cut short the rally that was supposed to end in a march through Belgrade.
Speakers at the rally cast the current government as a "dictatorship", and Serbian President Boris Tadic as a traitor because he ordered the arrest of Karadzic.
At least nine police officers received medical treatment for injuries, including one with a concusion, while some dozens of citizens sought medical care. Continued
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A "thrill-seeking rich kid" who helped run the biggest gun-running gang ever uncovered in the UK has been jailed for 20 years.
Kaleem Akhtar, 29, flooded the underworld with "ballistic bling" in the form of "assassin's armoury" kits, which comprised handguns, silencers and ammunition, and sold for £1,700, the court heard.
Akhtar, whose uncle is a member of the Pakistan parliament, led a double life: as a dutiful son helping to manage his family's clothing empire and as a gangster selling weapons for "street cred and glory".
His illegal weapons kits became a status symbol favoured by violent street gangs and were used in crimes in Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford and in Scotland.
Police said the sales were so effective that Akhtar and his associates were directly responsible for a sharp increase in gun crime figures.
Akhtar's family, however, are respectable millionaire businesspeople who run a shopping and warehouse empire in the north west, the court heard.
Yesterday, the seven members of the gang were sentenced to a total of 86 years at Manchester Crown Court.
Judge Clement Golstone QC, said Akhtar, who called himself 'Big K', was attracted by the "glamour and notoriety" of heavy criminals and gangs.
He added, "You were drawn to this conspiracy out of greed and a desire for street cred and glory. You have not brought glory to your family, which is well respected here and in Pakistan, you have brought shame and disgrace."
Akhtar, who drove an expensive Range Rover, helped import dozens of Russian-made Baikal handguns from Lithuania to Essex, before they were taken in batches to Manchester. News Source
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Two sisters suffered a terrifying kidnap ordeal after being held at gunpoint by a man dressed as a police officer.
The women, aged 21 and 27, were held up after attending the Hard Rock Calling concert in Hyde Park featuring Eric Clapton. They were approached as they sat in their purple VW Polo car in Campden Hill Road, Holland Park.
Detectives said the man identified himself as a police officer but when challenged to produce identification he said that under terrorism laws he was entitled to search their vehicle. The man, described as black, aged about 30 and with cropped hair, then got into the car, told them they were under arrest and ordered them to drive to Streatham police station.
As they drove along Sloane Street the man produced a handgun, threatened them and demanded they hand over their credit cards.
At one point the 27-year-old was ordered to bind her sister's wrists with electrical tape. But when they arrived at Streatham, the pair bravely took on the bogus officer and the elder sister snatched the gun, which she realised was a toy. The kidnapper then dragged the pair from the car before speeding off, leaving onlookers to call the real police after the attack on 28 June.
Police today said the man was about 5ft 9in and had facial stubble or a moustache. Detective constable Kristina Godwin, of Notting Hill CID, said: "It is vital we catch this man as soon as possible as he is dangerous, and by posing as a police officer is able to make any potential victims believe he is genuine." News Source
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A gangsta-rapper who glorified gun murders in his lyrics was jailed for life for shooting a rival dead in a cold-blooded execution.
Jermaine Callum, 18, who used the street name 'Killa,' styled himself as a streetwise thug and boasted of shooting his enemies in his sickening rap songs.
In October last year Callum, armed himself with a Mac 10 machine-gun, blasted Robel Tewelde, 21, in the heart at a block of flats in south London.
He then rode off from the scene on a push bike.
After his arrest, police found violent lyrics stored on his mobile phone in which mentioned 'Macs' and 'Chrome nines' - two types of gun.
Callum remained silent as Judge Paul Worsley QC said he could find no motive for such a 'cowardly and deadly act.'
He said: 'This was an execution of a young man of 21, for reasons I know not. The minimum term you must serve is 19 years. That is longer than you have yet lived.
'You were responsible for the wholly unnecessary loss of life of a young man of 21, who had his life ahead of him.
'You have deprived his family of a son and a brother. You have not only destroyed their lives but also the lives of those who are dear to you as well.'
The court heard Robel was visiting friends at Jephson Court on the Studley Estate, Stockwell when Callum arrived with a friend shortly before midnight.
Callum whipped the machine gun from the front of his jacket and pointed the weapon at the group.
Prosecutor Nicholas Hilliard QC said: 'Those who were in the staircase ran up the stairs and away from him. Callum chased after them and fired a gun on two occasions.
'Robel was found on the third floor by the others and he had been bit by both bullets. One of them hit him in the leg but the other went into his back and through his liver, lungs and heart.' Continued
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A Romanian man has been cleared of raping a student at her Cambridge home - but has been rearrested for a knife attack in his home country.
Iustin Gherasimescu was detained on an Interpol arrest warrant immediately after his acquittal at Cambridge Crown Court on two rape charges.
He is to be returned to Romania to serve a two-year jail sentence imposed in his absence for the stabbing of a fellowcountryman and criminal damage.
Police arrived at the court to re-arrest the 29-year-old - who has been held in custody while awaiting trial on the rape charges - immediately after the jury returned its verdicts.
Gherasimescu had denied raping a Spanish woman on two occasions on the same night in February after she allegedly spurned his advances.
The rape allegations related to an episode four nights later after Gherasimescu made several calls to the woman then paid a visit to her home.
She claimed he arrived uninvited in the early hours of February 8 and forced her into sex twice. Afterwards, the hysterical woman made a call to a friend.
The friend spotted a man matching Gherasimescu's description at the Soul Tree club a few days later and alerted police. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Mark
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He is accused of butchering his British girlfriend and dumping her mutilated remains.
But when Mohammed Dali Carvalho dos Santos appeared in public today he seemed not to have a care in the world.
Instead, as he accompanied police on a desperate hunt to find the rest of Cara Marie Burke's body, he had a huge grin plastered across his face and appeared relaxed.
Increasingly lurid details of the murder has emerged, including reports that dos Santos claimed chopping up the teenager was 'just like cutting beef.'
Miss Burke's torso was found in a suitcase earlier this week but her head, arms and legs are still missing.
Santos has also apparently claimed he took photos of her dismembered corpse to send to a Brazilian friend living in the UK.
A reporter from local newspaper Hoje Noticia, asked: 'How did you feel while you were mutilating her?' Dos Santos allegedly replied: 'Nothing, just like cutting beef, except for the bleeding.'
Asked why he took photographs of himself dismembering the body, he is quoted as saying: 'I took them to send to a Brazilian friend in England, who she (Cara) had stolen money from. He said he was going to kill her.
'I was going to send them to him by email to show that although he didn't have the courage to do it, someone here did.'
The 20-year-old also said he made a mistake by leaving the suitcase containing Cara's torso by a river bank.
He said: "I made a mistake, the suitcase was supposed to fall in the river. If it had fallen in the river nobody would have found it, as they haven't found the head and the other parts."Continued
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A top lawyer punched his frail mother in the face after she refused to lend him £5, a court has heard.
John Cank, 34, caused pensioner Dorothy Cank’s lip to bleed ‘uncontrollably’ for two hours during a visit to her sheltered accommodation.
She feared the solicitor, whose career was faltering after he moved 240 miles to look after her, would spend the money on alcohol if she loaned him cash.
Cank, who was yesterday convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, twice assaulted his 64-year-old mother.
But he escaped jail with a 36 week sentence suspended for two years following the three-day trial.
He was also ordered to keep away from his mother and pay £250 prosecution costs.
Sentencing Cank, Judge Christopher Cornwall told him the evidence against him had been ‘utterly overwhelming’ and the jury’s verdict was ‘unquestionably correct.’
He added: ‘Your behaviour is intolerable and must stop.
‘You caused her what mercifully was relatively slight harm but it was an assault on an extremely vulnerable person who is entitled to expect more from her own son.’ Continued
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John McCain has accused his rival for the White House, Barack Obama, of 'playing the race card' in his bid to win the presidency.
The Republican candidate's attack came after Obama told voters in Missouri: 'Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face.
'So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me.'
The Democrat candidate, who could become America's first black president, said his rivals will say of him: 'You know, "he's not patriotic enough, he's got a funny name," 'he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."'
In response to Obama's comments, McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis said in a statement today: "Obama played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck."
He called Obama's remarks 'divisive, negative, shameful and wrong'.
But Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the Democrat senator's comments were not about race but the fact he is younger than most previous presidents.
Mr Gibbs said: 'What Barack Obama was talking about was that he didn't get here after spending decades in Washington.'
'There is nothing more to this than the fact that he was describing that he was new to the political scene. He was referring to the fact that he didn't come into the presidential race with the history of others. It is not about race.'
During his visit to Missouri, an economically challenged key election state, Obama sought to discredit his opponent by saying McCain would serve the equivalent of a third Bush term if elected.
He said the country can't afford more of the same and expects different results.
'That's a definition of madness, but that's what John McCain is offering. He's offering Bush economic policies and Karl Rove politics,' Obama said.
He warned voters not to play it safe for fear of change. Continued
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Two terrorists and eight sex offenders have been freed early as part of a scheme to tackle prison overcrowding.
Some 31,549 criminals were released in the first year — a quarter more than estimated.
And nearly 100 are on the run despite being recalled to jail, the Government admitted yesterday.
Now the Tories want to scrap the end of custody licence scheme.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has revealed a rape was allegedly committed by a lag released early. And five more have committed sex offences.
Tory spokesman Nick Herbert said: This incompetent Government is failing in its most basic duty to protect the public. They refused to provide the necessary jail places and freed thousands of violent offenders.
Magistrates and solicitors last night accused cops of giving serious criminals a slap on the wrist with just a caution or fixed penalty fine.
Even senior officers admitted penalty notices were dished out like confetti under Government pressure.
Tories called it a damning indictment of a target-driven approach. News Source
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Foreign prisoners now make up almost one in six of Britain’s jail population and are costing the taxpayer almost £400 million a year to keep, according to figures published by the Home Office.
The overcrowding crisis has caused the government to order the early release of more than 31,500 criminals in England and Wales in the first year of a scheme to free up overcrowded jails. Among the 31,549 people released were nearly 6,000 violent offenders, eight sex offenders, two convicted terrorists and 739 robbers.
There were also nearly 2,900 burglars released early and more than 7,100 criminals convicted of other theft and handling offences. More than 1,300 prisoners who were convicted of drugs offences were also let out of prison before all of their sentence was served.
The figures also showed that nearly 100 of the prisoners freed under the scheme are on the run after being recalled to jail.
Earlier this year Gordon Brown said the scheme will run until September next year, by which time nearly 70,000 criminals will have been released early at current rates.
The prison population has risen sharply since the end of 2007, and last month exceeded 83,000 for the first time. The explosion in the number of overseas inmates has been the main driver behind the overcrowding crisis that has pushed the total above 80,000.
Figures published by the Home Office show there are now 12,122 foreign prisoners compared to around 10,000 just a year ago. Over the past five years, while the number of British prisoners has gone up by about 10 per cent, there has been an 80 per cent increase in foreigners, taking up 4,000 more prison places than anticipated.
The prison population is now made up of people from 164 different countries, with the largest number from Jamaica (1,490), followed by Nigeria (1,070).
If there were not so many foreign inmates, there would not even be a crisis. In 1996, there were fewer than 5,000 overseas prisoners.
Research by the Prison Reform Trust found that at two prisons - Verne, in Dorset, and Morton Hall, Lincs - foreign nationals made up half of the population and were a quarter of the total in 16 jails.
Prison Service figures show that the vast majority of foreign national prisoners have committed drugs offences. Eight in 10 jailed foreign women have been convicted of drug offences.
The Government’s latest figures show that the annual cost per prisoner place was £32,888 in 2005-06. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Melanie
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An Algerian journalist has been jailed after spending nearly 20 years living in the UK using a false passport.
Reda Kebaili, of Floathaven Close, Thamesmead, was sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of a false identity document at Woolwich Crown Court.
The 42-year-old fled Algeria in 1989 in fear of his life after working as a journalist on a newspaper.
He entered Britain using a forged French passport in a false name, which he bought for £40 in Holland.
The court heard he found work as a labourer, paid tax and national insurance and got married.
He was exposed in March when he applied to Greenwich Council for housing and council tax benefits, and was arrested on May 14. Continued
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Seven youths attacked a man as he cycled home.
The 40-year-old was on the Mirfield to Birkby cycle route and was behind Birkby Junior School when a youth stepped out in front of him.
He tapped the man on his helmet and when the rider stopped he was set upon by this youth and six others.
They escaped after the motiveless attack, leaving him with cuts and bruises.
The first youth is Asian, about 16 and 5ft 8in tall. He has dark hair and wore a light top and dark bottoms.
The gang struck at 7.25pm last Wednesday.
Any witnesses or anyone with information should ring Pc Katrina Skeath on 01484 436793. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Phil
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With its twisting country lanes and weathered stone cottages, it could be a scene from a real-life episode of Postman Pat.
But deliveries of mail have become a thing of the past in a tiny hamlet in the Yorkshire Dales because the road up to it is too steep for postal vans.
Residents of Booze - which despite its name has no pub, or indeed any other amenities - said the decision, taken in the name of health and safety, had cut off a vital lifeline.
Throughout living memory, postmen have scrambled or driven up the slopes of Arkengarthdale to deliver to the scattering of houses and farms that make up the historic former lead mining community in all weathers.
But now Royal Mail bosses have written to all 11 households telling them the only road that links Booze with the outside world is too narrow for its vans to negotiate safely.
Carrying the mail up on foot is also out of the question because the postman has a 'bad back', residents have been told.
Unless they can make alternative arrangements, they face having to collect their post from the sorting office in Richmond - a 45-minute drive away.
The threat of losing postal deliveries is just the latest blow facing Britain's isolated rural communities, already suffering from soaring fuel prices and the closure of shops and post offices. Continued
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Boris Johnson today broke political convention by backing Barack Obama for President of the United States.
The Mayor said an election victory for the Democrat senator would be a "fantastic" boost for black people everywhere.
His remarks break the convention that politicians do not become involved in other countries' elections. They also threaten to put Mr Johnson at odds with Tory leader David Cameron who praised Mr Obama's Republican rival John McCain earlier this year.
The Tories have traditionally supported the Republicans and Mr McCain spoke at the party's annual conference in Bournemouth two years ago.
Mr Johnson said an Obama win could boost the self-image of young black Londoners. In an interview for the August edition of Square Mile magazine, he said: "John McCain has many, many wonderful qualities, but I think a Barack Obama victory would do fantastic things for the confidence and the feelings of black people around the world."
Asked whether his words constituted an endorsement, he replied: "Yes."
While Mr Cameron met Mr Obama on his visit to London last weekend he has also held talks with Mr McCain, who described him as a future Tory JFK. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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Children do not learn how to cope with life's setbacks because a 'cotton wool' culture stops them experiencing hardships, an education expert claimed yesterday.
Sandy MacLean says there is a link between a rise in mental health problems and a culture of entitlement which promotes the belief that success and celebrity do not need effort and hard work.
She said youngsters must experience adversity so they develop resilience, but are increasingly protected from life's hard knocks.
Miss MacLean, an adviser to teachers and lecturers on mental health problems among students, blamed a tendency to treat young people like infants who cannot handle responsibility. But this only encourages them to behave like infants, she said.
Society has become too focused on the feelings of the individual, meaning young people 'think that they are the centre of the world and blow out of proportion any setbacks or challenges in life', she added.
'Young people are not fragile - they can be likened to springs or balls,' she said. 'People can bounce back psychologically after being knocked out of shape, just like in nature.'
Miss MacLean said mental illness is on the increase, with 11 per cent of the UK's 16 to 24-year-olds having a major depressive disorder.
One in ten children between the ages of five and 16 is said to have a 'clinically recognisable' mental disorder. And there is evidence from the Institute of Psychiatry that the number of teenagers with emotional and behavioural problems doubled between 1974 and 1999. Continued
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Around three million people who bought a home in the last two years have seen its value plummet below what they paid for it, research revealed yesterday.
Britain's biggest building society Nationwide said prices have dropped 4.5 per cent since May – the fastest fall in three months since records began in 1973.
Since prices peaked in October, the cost of the average home has plunged by around £17,000 to £169,316. This is the lowest since August 2006, a cruel blow for the millions who bought a home over the last two years.
Every day, hundreds are being plunged into negative equity by what is likely to be the worst property crash ever seen in Britain.
In July, 45,000 homeowners saw the value of their property fall below the sum they borrowed to buy it.
This represents a rise of almost two-thirds in a single month, taking the total to 115,000, according to the ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
If prices keep on falling, as they are widely predicted to, Standard & Poor's expects 1.7million to be in negative equity within a year.
Since October, prices have fallen by around £60 a day – the cost of filling a car with unleaded petrol.
But economists warned yesterday the worst could be yet to come.
Ed Stansfield, property economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said: 'With the economy weakening and few signs of an end to the credit squeeze, the pace of the house price correction is likely to continue to gather momentum over the remainder of this year.' Continued
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The Conservative party's attempts to make itself appealing to the gay community continue this weekend with a float at tomorrow's Brighton Pride parade.
David Bull, TV doctor and Tory candidate for Brighton Pavilion, is behind the float. It is the second year the party has participated in Brighton Pride.
Nancy Platts, the Labour party candidate for Brighton Pavillion, said: "If the Tories want gay and lesbian people to vote for them in elections, they should vote for gay and lesbian rights in Parliament.
"The strength of Brighton Pride is that it is open to all; the same cannot be said of the Conservatives. Tory floats won’t buy our votes." Earlier this year LGBTory, a new group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans Conservative activists, was founded.
Its members took part in Pride London where the Tory Mayor Boris Johnson led the parade. The Sun newspaper reported on Dr Bull's float last year, which featured topless dancing boys.
It was unclear if any of them were members of the Tory Party.
Dr Bull said:
"Four years ago if someone said the Conservative Party were going to do a float for Pride, we would have been laughed out of the city.
"Last year we were amazed at the positive response and that’s why all the team here in Brighton and Hove wanted to put together a float that represents the fact that Brighton is the best place to be in the world.
"It’s somewhere that everyone can be themselves."
This year's parade theme is "Pride around the World."
150,000 people are expected to take part in tomorrow's Pride.
After the parade the festivities continue in Preston Park, where there will be fairground rides, dance tents and food stalls. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Les
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Nurseries should ban staff from wearing open-toed shoes because they are a safety hazard, a former teachers' leader has said
Sandals and flip-flops endanger both nurses and toddlers, according to Deborah Lawson, a former chairman of Voice, a union for teachers.
Mrs Lawson said that nursery staff are vulnerable to having bikes ridden over their toes or being tripped by small children standing on the backs of their shoes.
And the fingers of crawling and inquisitive toddlers are easily caught by passing sandals, she said.
Mrs Lawson, who has also called for a minimum entry standard to raise the quality of nursery nurses, said: "We are not saying nursery nurses should wear flat, fuddyduddy shoes that are anti-fashion. It is about wearing clothing and footwear that is appropriate to the job you are doing.
"You don't see many rubbish collectors in sling-backs. You see some students wearing these huge clumpy, chunky shoes, flip-flops or heels. Continued
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Bungling benefits staff have paid out 8million in tax credits to DEAD PEOPLE, it was revealed yesterday.
They kept pumping cash into bank accounts — then asked grieving relatives to pay it back.
Ministers admit the payments went out due to computer glitches and mistakes by officials.
Last year 180,000 Brits were asked to give back payments to dead loved ones — five-figure sums in some cases.
Tories said the figures exposed serious flaws in the Prime Minister’s flagship tax credits system.
Shadow Treasury chief secretary Philip Hammond said: Gordon Brown hands out cash to the dead and takes it away from the living at a time when poverty is rising. News Source
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A Former Suffolk County councillor has escaped a jail term today after pleading guilty to sex assault and a string of child pornography offences.
Ben Redsell was today sentenced to a three year community supervision order at Norwich Crown Court.
His Honour Alasdair Darrock told the former Tory councillor: “It is quite clear you took advantage of this young woman in a disgraceful way.
“You knew perfectly well she could not possibly be consenting to your sexual advances.”
He added: “You have more of a sexual problem than you are prepared to admit.”
Redsell, 28, of Melton Meadow Road, Melton, near Woodbridge, admitted sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman, seven counts of making indecent pictures of children and three counts of possessing indecent pictures of children.
He was arrested for rape in August 2007, but the court heard how forensic scientists had ruled out rape.
Redsell declined to comment after the case today. News Source
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A group of chanting Cistercian monks have become this year's most unlikely chart sensation.
The monks, from the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Austria, have spent two months in the UK top 20, alongside the likes of Winehouse.
In their homeland, their album of Gregorian chants reached number one in the pop, classical and download charts simultaneously, dislodged only when Coldplay released their long-awaited new album.
They topped the Billboard classical chart in the US, and have also found success across Europe and as far away as New Zealand.
Next week, the group - who count Pope Benedict XVI among their fans - will visit the UK where they will be presented with a gold disc by their British-based record label, Universal Classics. They have sold more than 400,000 copies and are on track to reach platinum status. Continued
Watch video here
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At least one body in our solar system, other than Earth, has a liquid lake on its surface.
Using an instrument on board the Cassini orbiter, a black lake-like feature in the south polar region of Saturn's moon, Titan, has been shown to be truly wet.
Titan is a mysterious place, with a thick atmosphere rich in organic compound and the building blocks of life, similar to that of the primordial Earth.
The lake is about 150 miles, long and by peering through gaps in the haze around Titan the "visual and infrared mapping spectrometer", an instrument run from The University Arizona, can identify the chemical composition by the way the lake, called Ontario Lacus, reflects light.
The signals suggest that the lake is mostly ethane, a simple hydrocarbon that Titan experts have long been searching for, and there is also methane, nitrogen and other hydrocarbons present. Continued
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Nasa’s Phoenix Mars Lander has confirmed there is water on the Red Planet.
Last month the spacecraft uncovered a bright white layer just two inches below the surface, which disappeared four days after it was exposed to sunlight, leading scientists to believe it was ice.
After exmaining a soil sample from a trench approximately two inches deep, the claim has been confirmed.
In a Nasa statement, William Boynton of the University of Arizona said: “We have water.
“We’ve seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted.”
Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith, of the University of Arizona, said: “Mars is giving us some surprises.
“We’re excited because surprises are where discoveries come from.” Continued
Watch Video Here
Friday 1st August 2008
More than 31,000 prisoners have been released early in the past year to free up jail cells – 24 per cent more than the Government predicted.
Figures will today show that the first year of the early release programme has far exceeded promises.
But the Ministry of Justice last night admitted there are no plans to end the policy while prison numbers remain at record levels.
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said: “This incompetent Government is failing in its most basic duty to protect the public.
“They refused to provide the necessary jail places and now they have released more than 30,000 prisoners early on to the streets in a single year, including thousands of violent offenders.
“Gordon Brown won’t even consider ending this scheme until September next year, by which time almost 70,000 criminals will have been let out early. It should be scrapped immediately.”
Jack Straw will today publish the first full-year statistics of the so-called End of Custody Licence scheme, which frees prisoners up to 18 days in advance of their normal release date.
The policy was introduced at the end of June last year as an emergency measure to ease overcrowding. Freed inmates were then given up to £170 until their benefits kicked in.
The Government predicted that around 25,500 would be released in the first year but that milestone was passed in April. With an average of 2,600 being let out each month, today’s total is expected to be 24 per cent higher.
from absolute capacity – and means some inmates are still being held temporarily in police cells at huge cost to the public.
Those let out early include around 6,000 violent offenders, 700 robbers and almost 3,000 burglars.
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “The End of Custody Licence scheme is only available to prisoners whose offences are not considered serious enough by the court to justify a long term of imprisonment.
“Prisoners who present the highest risk to the public are excluded from consideration, so those serving a sentence for a serious violent offence are excluded from ECL. Of those released on ECL just one per cent have been notified to us as allegedly offending during the ECL period.” News Source
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It's unusual behaviour for any motorist, let alone one in police uniform.
For the rest of us, stopping on double yellow lines in London's Oxford Street for a few minutes' shopping would more than likely result in a £120 fine, if not a towaway.
As our picture shows, the woman police officer was hardly shy about the 'offence'.
She stuck her tongue out at photographer Nigel Howard after returning, having picked up what appeared to be a new pair of trainers in a carrier bag.
The parked van caused buses and other vehicles on the busy street to struggle to get by.
A Met spokesman said the officer was picking up vital evidence connected to a shoplifting case. News Source
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Miliband has unexpectedly cancelled a trip abroad, fuelling rumours that he is to resign as Foreign Secretary to launch a leadership challenge against Gordon Brown, it has been reported.
Mr Miliband, who has been the subject of intense speculation regarding his future intentions in the Labour party, announced the trip cancellation this morning after weeks of planning.
The trip's sudden cancellation has added to speculation that he is to leave the post after he published an article in the Guardian revealing his future plans for Labour, but failed to mention the Prime Minister.
According to the Times, Mr Miliband also held a meeting in his office and thanked several close aides for all their work.
'Out of the blue, he pulled his closest people in for a meeting and told them how wonderful it had been to work with them,' a Foreign Office source revealed.
'They said it was a leaving speech in everything but name. He definitely gave the impression that he was going somewhere.'
Brown was urged to sack David Miliband today as the Foreign Secretary again refused to rule out standing for the Labour leadership.
Mr Miliband said simply he planned to 'stick to the day job' and not plot his career on 'the back of an envelope'.
Taking calls from listeners for an hour on Radio 2, Mr Miliband told one she was 'very nice' after she told him he was the 'sort of person we need as Prime Minister'.
Mr Miliband, 43, added: 'I promise you, this is not my mum.'
The Foreign Secretary, the most senior Blairite in the Cabinet, insisted that he was not 'running a leadership campaign' and said he believed Mr Brown could hang on as leader.
But he failed to take what had been billed by allies of Mr Brown as his 'final chance' to give a categoric assurance that hat he thought the Prime Minister would lead Labour into the next election.
Mr Miliband defended his decision to publish an article in yesterday's Guardian setting out his personal manifesto for taking on the Tories.
It was universally seen as the opening salvo in a campaign to replace the Prime Minister. Continued
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Officially the event was a doubleheader with Italy's foreign minister, one Franco Frattini.
But Anglo-Italian relations was not the reason the elegant venue was packed to a hot crush.
The Fleet Street political snouts and the TV boys (even a Channel Four News presenter) were there because Mr Midshipman Miliband, as he darn well knew, had just let rip with a cannon from the foreland, signalling his hunger for Labour's leadership.
Oh, the dodging, the dissembling, the sheer, glorious porky pies politicians tell on these occasions.
'Can Gordon lead us into the next general election and win? Yes, I'm certain about that,' he snapped.
Note 'can'. It is not the same as 'will' or 'should'.
He was asked why he had not mentioned the Prime Minister by name in that Guardian article. It had been obvious this would come up.
Talking beforehand to a chap from one of the news wires I said 'betcha he says he didn't mention Gordon because 'it's about policies not personalities.'
Sure enough, Mr Miliband: 'The debate has to be about issues, not personalities.' Ha!
The true answer - that he did not want to have to state loyalty to Mr Brown in print - was understood by all in the room. Continued
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A Frail grandad was murdered by having his walking stick rammed down his THROAT.
The cane was forced eight inches into the gullet of mild-mannered Alan Bowles, 64, as he sat in his armchair.
The loving dad-of-two choked to death in agony in the horrific attack by his lodger and two evil pals — one a woman — a court heard yesterday.
Cops found his body days later.
He also had five broken ribs — consistent with being kicked.
Prosecutor Richard Potts told a jury: He was subjected to violence which some of you may find almost unimaginable — the forcing of his walking stick into his mouth, down his throat and into his body cavity.
Mr Bowles was described by pals as a ?bubbly character — and easy prey for ?drunks and junkies on his estate in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
He ended up living in terror after bullying David Comer, 39, moved into his flat, Norwich Crown Court heard.
Comer’s pals Paul Slack, 46, and Kathleen Johnson, 57, became regular visitors.
The grandad complained to his family he was scared, saying: You don’t know what they do when you’re not there.
Mr Potts told the court: He said his money was being taken from him and Slack would hurt him and lock him in his bedroom.
Mr Bowles’s brother Ronald saw him with black eyes and marks on his face in the week before he died.
A friend who visited him on the day he was thought to have been killed described him as a gibbering wreck.
Slack, who later went boozing, is said to have told his sister: I’ve killed someone.
Mr Potts told the jury: Comer said Johnson had beaten Mr Bowles and Slack shoved the stick down his throat while he just sat on the sofa watching. All three deny murder. The trial continues. News Source
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The number of violent attacks by women has doubled in just five years in the age of the 'ladette' binge-drinking culture.
Last year 87,200 women and girls were arrested for attacks – the equivalent of 240 every day. It is the first time in history that violence has been the most common crime among women and girls, taking over from theft.
The category includes every violent offence from street brawls and assault to grievous bodily harm and murder.
The shocking Government figures showed a rise of 8,300 in the number of women arrested for violence compared to 2005-2006 – an increase of 11 per cent.
Critics said there are clear links between the epidemic of loutish behaviour and heavy drinking, which they accused the Government of fuelling through 24-hour licensing.
The Ministry of Justice report, released quietly on to the internet yesterday after MPs had left for the summer recess, also includes alarming figures on the scale of violence by children.
Youngsters between ten and 17 were arrested for more than 230 violent attacks or muggings every day last year. The number of muggings alone leapt by 22 per cent, compared to the previous year, to 17,900 arrests.
Violence against the person – which includes knife crime – was up by almost four per cent, to 67,000 arrests.
The results will fuel concerns that Britain is in the grip of an epidemic of youth violence. Continued
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This is the moment a girl was punched off her feet during a water fight in a park in which nine people were arrested.
Nine people were arrested for assaulting police and affray at the event, which attracted 250 youngsters to Kensington Gardens, close to Princess Diana's former home.
It was intended as a fun way to cool down in the blistering heat, but tempers flared after the girl doused a young man with a fizzy drink.
After covering his T-shirt with the red liquid she ran away laughing, but her victim failed to see the funny side.
He chased her and punched her in the face, knocking her off her feet and leaving her helpless on the ground.
The attack happened at around lunchtime yesterday near the Serpentine in London's Hyde Park.
Gangs of youths then ran amok, threatening the public, flashing knives and causing riding school children as young as five to be thrown from their horses.
Police feared others were carrying knives after park users reported seeing men "flashing" their weapons.
One man, aged in his early 20s, was shot by police with an electric stun gun after he set his pitbull-type dog on an officer. He and eight others were arrested for offences including attacking police, public disorder, affray and handling stolen goods.
Three children, aged between five and 12, who were riding past the brawl, were thrown when their horses became frightened. They suffered broken bones.
Paramedics took all three to hospital for injuries including suspected broken bones and concussion.
The terrifying scenes came two weeks after teenager Frederick Moody-Boateng was murdered having attended a similar water pistol fight in Holland Park. Continued
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“This outrageous abuse of taxpayers’ money must stop!” was the reaction of London BNP Greater London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook after his office revealed that official GLA figures show that the Tories, Labour and Lib-Dems took in excess of £30,000 for themselves for the mysterious purpose of “promoting the GLA” - at their OWN party conferences!
This latest revelation follows on reports that Conservative GLA member Brian Coleman spent £8,231 of taxpayer’s money on cabs between April 2007 and March this year — despite having free a Travelcard.
However, it has now transpired that all three old gang parties have been receiving ridiculous payments directly to themselves for ‘promoting the GLA’. Last week, details of GLA Payments made for the first two quarters of the year were released.
In the first quarter of this year payments were made to the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives for having a “GLA stall” at their own internal party conferences.
Well, these stalls must have been very impressive. The Conservatives received £10,050.00 for their stall at their own conference and the Liberal Democrats took £10,292.00. The most impressive stall must have been Labour’s, as they were paid a whopping £11,521.28.
This came to light in the same week that Tory Mayor Boris Johnston refused to help the much-needed Air ambulance, justifying his actions by saying that “I do not believe it would be appropriate to use GLA funds for this service.”
“It’s ludicrous that this type of thing is allowed to happen,” said Richard Barnbrook. “These old gang parties have been given more money to fund their own internal party conferences than what many hard working Londoners get paid in a whole year! We demand an explanation for this gross abuse of the public purse, and will continue to expose the old party corruption until they are brought to a fall.” News Source
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Fifteen million patients cannot book appointments with their GPs when they need them, according to the healthcare watchdog.
Ten million adults in England cannot book an appointment more than three days in advance, despite pledges from Tony Blair to fix the problem over three years ago.
Five million people cannot see a GP within the target of two working days and 55 per cent of people - more than 22m across England - say they have problems getting through to their surgery on the phone, according to a survey of patients.
A quarter of patients surveyed - equivalent to more than 10m people - said they had been put off going to their GP or health centre because of inconvenient opening hours.
The Healthcare Commission also found serious problems with access to NHS dentistry with 16m adults reporting that they would like to be treated on the NHS but can't find a dentist.
Access to primary healthcare varies significantly around the country with access to NHS dentists better in the north of England and worst in the south and more patients complaining of inconvenient GP opening hours around London and the South East. Continued
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Fewer than a fifth of people charged with knife offences are jailed, according to figures released by Scotland Yard yesterday.
Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair said he was concerned at how the courts are dealing with knife crime. He ordered his staff to monitor 103 individuals charged with possessing a knife during one week in June.
They found that of 24 youths who had been dealt with in court by July 28, just one was jailed.
Of the 29 adults sentenced by the same date, eight were given custodial sentences, including one man jailed for just a day.
Sir Ian said the figures meant 17 per cent – or fewer than one in five – offenders were being jailed.
There were six suspended sentences, including one for a man who had committed his fifth knife offence.
Two adults were fined and other punishments included community orders, taggings and curfews.
Sir Ian said that those caught with a blade or who are involved in knife violence should expect to be jailed, though he stopped short of demanding that every knife-carrying thug is put behind bars.
'I am not satisfied at the moment that the courts are yet taking sufficient account of community concern around knife crime,' he said.
'I want to make clear that I am not saying everybody who has a knife should be locked up, because the numbers are inconceivable.
'But I do think that we are starting from that position that it is a likely sentence and individual cases will be dealt with individually by the court.
'I cannot criticise individual magistrates about individual cases because I do not know what the facts are.
'But the court needs to take sufficient account of community concerns and, with this set of figures, so far that is not showing through.'
Sir Ian added that the figures present an incomplete picture because the most serious cases are waiting to be dealt with at Crown Courts. Continued
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Serious offenders are not appearing in court because police are too concerned about meeting performance targets, magistrates and solicitors have warned.
Instead of taking criminals to court, cautions and on-the-spot fines are being overused to increase conviction rates, organisations representing the legal profession claimed.
The Magistrates' Association, which has more than 28,000 members, claimed the situation was getting worse while police conceded that penalty notices are now "dished out like confetti".
Magistrates were growing increasingly anxious that police were undercharging criminals, so that more offenders were being handed fixed penalties instead of being brought to court.
Cindy Barnett, the association's chairman, said: "We have always had grave reservations about criminal offences other than very minor infringements being dealt with out of court.
"Anyone who has broken the law so as to merit a punishment should be dealt with in court with efficient use of resources to prevent reoffending."
Digby Johnson, a solicitor with the Johnson Partnership in Nottingham, told the BBC: "Offenders who would normally face court and serious sentences are walking away with a ticket in their back pocket. I've known a caution for a serious offence of actual bodily harm where the victim required stitches."
The Police Federation of England and Wales admitted that penalty notices were being "dished out like confetti" claiming there was intense pressure on frontline officers to hand out fines and achieve a "quick fix solution". Continued
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Brent Council has used controversial spying laws to monitor more than 300 residents without their knowledge, the Wembley Observer can reveal.
Local authority spooks have employed a variety of covert surveillance techniques to spy on noisy neighbours, people who let their dogs foul in parks, benefit cheats, underage drinkers and businesses that flout trading standards laws.
And in most cases, targets are totally oblivious to the fact they are being watched by undercover officers, or tracked on CCTV and mobile cameras.
The news will come as a shock to the people of Brent and MPs have slammed the actions, saying they have no regard for the privacy of ordinary people.
Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat), MP for Brent East said: "Quite simply, the only excuse for spying on innocent people is if there is a serious risk to public safety.
"Local people will be understandably concerned to hear the full consequences of these surveillance laws."
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, confirmed that over the past six years, Brent Council departments made a staggering 313 spying requests under The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA).
The surveillance powers were introduced by the Labour Government in 2002, to tackle terrorism and matters of national security.
But local authorities across the county have used the legislation to catch out oblivious residents on a regular basis.
Brent Council confirmed departments including audit and investigations, trading standards, street care, environmental health, housing and social services had all used the RIPA powers.
It admitted councillors were not informed when the powers were put into practice.
A local authority spokesman said: "Councillors are not advised specifically of the use of these powers although all have received the new and previous versions of the anti-fraud framework, which states that surveillance is used for the investigation of fraud. "
The council's environmental health department said covert surveillance had been used to conduct investigations into allegations of noise nuisance, illegal livestock slaughter and the provision of unlicensed beauty treatments, as well as to combat dog fouling.
While trading standards admitting using the powers for criminal investigations into the sale of counterfeit goods, clocked cars and age restricted products such as alcohol and knives.
Phil Booth, from NO2ID, a group campaigning to stop government intrusion into privacy, said the council were abusing their position.
He said: "It is appalling that anti-terrorism powers are being deployed on unknowing members of the public just because they are suspected of a minor offence."
But Councillor Hayley Matthews (Liberal Democrats), responsible for community safety in Brent, defended the local authority's actions.
She said: "The council has only used these powers since they came in to make Brent cleaner greener and safer - something most local residents support." Continued
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Google has been given permission to launch its StreetView service in the UK despite concerns that it could infringe people's privacy.
The service, which will give viewers pictures of every British street online, has faced opposition from privacy advocates who expressed fears that it would be a "burglars' charter" allowing criminals to pinpoint potential victims on the web.
The ground-level views are photographed by a black Google car, which has been seen driving around Britain with a camera on its roof.
Privacy International, a London-based watchdog, had written to Google asking for information about how identification details such as car registration numbers would be hidden on the Street View site.
But the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's independent authority set up to protect personal information, has said it is satisfied that Google is putting in place "adequate safeguards to avoid any risk to the privacy or safety of individuals".
The safeguards include "the blurring of vehcile registration marks and the faces of anyone included in street view images."
The statement added: "Although it is possible that in certain limited circumstances an image may allow identification of an individual, it is clear that Google are keen to capture images of streets and not individuals." Continued
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An outcry over privacy and security erupted today after council snoopers searched household rubbish bins in streets where residents include Mayor of London Boris Johnson and several High Court judges.
A total of 1,000 households in 53 streets across Islington, North London, had their rubbish inspected.
Following a request under the Freedom of Information Act, a council officer admitted: 'No permission was sought from residents as none is required.'
The exercise was part of an in-depth analysis that the council says helps it improve recycling, the officer said.
Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, said the bin snooping raised grave security concerns.
She warned that raided streets included the homes of some of the most powerful judges in the land 'whose bins might have contained ultra-sensitive documents'.
Then in that case it would show the irresponsibility and downright incompetence of these judges if they throw sensitive material into their bins rather then having documents shredded! This also should not let them be above the law, if we are snooped upon why should they be exempt? (Ed)
Ms Thornberry said: 'High Court judges and High Court appeal judges live in those streets. I am sure they are careful, but a sheet of paper can easily go amiss.
'My concerns are who authorised this and what they do with the stuff. They should have told people what they are going to do.'
Other residents include Birds Of A Feather star Linda Robson, who lives in a street near Angel Tube station.
She said today: 'That's terrible. How dare they? I recycle but there may have been private things I was throwing away.
'It is really intrusive. Is nothing sacred?'
Hi-De-Hi! actress Su Pollard, who lives in nearby Barnsbury, said: 'I am quite incensed. It smacks of Big Brother.
'One feels like a suspect in some way. There is nothing in my bins that would incriminate me in any way - it's mostly yoghurt pots - but I am terribly uneasy about it.'
She added: 'It will make you think twice before leaving rubbish out.'
Birds of a Feather star Linda Robson, whose former luxury townhouse was in one of the spied-on streets, added: 'That is terrible. How dare they?
'I recycle but there may have been private things I was throwing away. It is really intrusive. Is nothing sacred?'
Kim Andrews, 23, a live-in nanny from New Zealand working for neighbours of Mr Johnson, said: 'It does seem very intrusive.
'My boss works from home and has lots of work papers she would not want other people looking at. It wouldn't happen in New Zealand.'
Mr Johnson declined to comment. Continued
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An 83 year grandmother who faces going blind is being refused treatment on the NHS, which will save her sight - while the Labour/Tory-supported illegal and immoral Iraq war costs in excess of £1 billion per year.
Anneliese Cheslin from Old Swinford suffers from dry and wet Age Related Macular Degeneration, an eye condition which results in the loss of vision and can affect people as young as 50. Mrs Cheslin needs the drug Lucentis which will prevent her from going blind, but currently under Dudley PCT guidelines this treatment is not offered on the NHS.
In order to save her sight Mrs Cheslin will have to pay £1,800 for one injection and will have to have an injection every month for three months, followed by another injection every six months.
The news has left the pensioner angry. She said: ” I have worked all my life and I have had never needed anything before from the NHS and when you suddenly need something, you expect the NHS to give it you.
“I can’t afford this treatment, I haven’t got the money to pay for it.” She added: “It is not very nice, I have already lost 50 per cent of my vision if I don’t have the treatment I will lose it all together. “If I lose my sight it will be terrible, my life will not be worth living.
A Dudley PCT spokesperson said: “Following a review of ICaps by the Area Medicines Management Committee, the decision was taken not to include the supplement in the Trust’s Drug Formulary, this decision was based on both clinical and cost effectiveness.”
The total cost on the UK defence budget since the invasion of Iraq exceeds £5.3bn, and costs continue to spiral month on month. News Source
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- Unions call for windfall tax as Shell announces £8 billion profits
- British Gas' parent company makes £992 million in six months
- Shareholders set to get increased dividend as energy bills soar by 35%
- Water firms compound misery by announcing price hikes
British Gas bosses are set to share a £250,000 windfall just one day after the firm announced record-breaking price rises of up to 35 per cent.
British Gas's parent company Centrica today unveiled half-year profits of nearly £1 billion which will see this year's payouts to shareholders top £500 million.
Consumer groups reacted with anger after both Centrica and Shell announced massive combined profits of almost £9 billion, while a Labour MP branded the energy firms 'greedy'.
Shell racked up profits of almost £8 billion during the first six months of this year, its results showed today.
Even more galling for British families will be the news that British Gas bosses are now in line to receive massive bonuses in the wake of a successful six months.
Jake Ulrich, the Centrica executive who famously advised customers to wear a second jumper and turn down the heating if they are struggling to pay bills, is in line to receive total dividend payments of £116,000 on his shareholdings.
British Gas’s managing director Phil Bentley, who told Britons to do something about energy waste, is to pick up dividend cheques for £84,500 — supplementing his annual pay of £1.1 million.
The group, which has 16million customers, said the price increases were necessary to restore 'reasonable profitability' to British Gas and invest in additional gas and power assets. Continued
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A flasher who left a 29-year-old woman “very distressed” after exposing himself to her on a train to New Malden is being hunted by British Transport Police The Asian male, believed to be in his 50s, sat down next to the woman with his briefcase on his lap before lifting it to expose himself a short time later.
The woman immediately moved away from the flasher - who was 5ft 7ins, of heavy build and bald with flecks of white hair - and alerted another female passenger who escorted her from the train.
British Transport Police (BTP) have released a CCTV image of the man they would like to speak to, showing him on the train wearing square-rimmed glasses, a knee-length dark coat and dark-coloured trousers.
Anyone with information about the incident, which happened about 9.15pm between Wimbledon and New Malden on April 3, can contact BTP on 0800 405 040 or the Witness Appeal Line on 020 7391 5275. News Source
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An illegal gun factory supplied weapons used in some of the most serious crimes in Britain, a court heard yesterday.
They included eight murders and another 24 shootings, prosecutor John Price told Reading Crown Court.
He said it was 'impossible to overstate the significance' of the factory, uncovered in a police swoop alongside the M4 in Berkshire.
One of its organisers had convinced a legitimate arms dealer to sell him 90 replica Mac-10 machine guns by claiming he was working on a James Bond, it was alleged.
He and his accomplice then converted the replicas to real weapons which were sold to criminals, the jury was told.
Mr Price said the Mac-10 was designed and manufactured exclusively as a military weapon.
He said: 'It is used by specialist troops such as paratroopers and commandos. It is designed for the close-quarters killing or maiming of human beings and it has no other purpose.'
He said 41 of the Mac-10s had been recovered, but at least 38 were still in circulation.
Mr Price said the murders dated from the late summer of 2004.
One gun, recovered by police in South London, had been used to kill two people, and featured in three other incidents where shots were fired.
In all, there were 51 incidents where guns were fired in public and investigations revealed that they or the ammunition came from the M4 factory. They happened in London, Birmingham and Manchester
Gary Lewis, 38, of Bourne End, near Maidenhead, and Grant Wilkinson, 33, of no fixed abode, deny nine charges including conspiracy to convert an imitation firearm into a firearm, conspiracy to sell and transfer firearms and ammunition and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
The jury was told the two men worked in what appeared to be a disused outbuilding. But police found a well-equipped a workshop, testing room and firing range. News Source
Thursday 31st July 2008
Ministers have shown ‘hidden agendas’ in their handling of the DNA database and ‘are not to be trusted’, the Citizens’ Inquiry found.
Really?!!! The government 'always' has a hidden agenda, we should be used to it by now when we are told it's for 'our protection' or for 'the good of society', it always turns out to be only good for the government! Period! (Ed)
It is unsurprising that the panel reached such a damning conclusion.
When it started life in the mid-Nineties, the database was a simple register of those convicted of a crime.
Samples taken from those charged but later cleared were automatically destroyed.
But in 2000, under the direct instruction of Tony Blair and with little parliamentary debate, this rule was swept away. Officers no longer had to erase any data taken from those who were later cleared.
In 2004, the power to take DNA was extended to cover anybody arrested for a significant crime - regardless of whether they were later charged or not.
The result is the world’s largest DNA database, containing 4.2million samples.
In 2006-2007 alone, 661,433 profiles were added. This amounts to 75 genetic records being created every hour.
Even its harshest critics would concede that the database has a role to play in solving crime.
That year, there were 41,717 offences with DNA matches, including 452 homicides and 644 rapes.
But what sticks in the public’s craw, as this inquiry made clear, is the treatment of the million innocent citizens who are stuck on the database for life.
They include about 100,000 children.
Ministers claim that many of those cleared of the offence which first landed them on the database were later trapped by their DNA when committing another.
But the public mistrusts this argument, which appears to rest on the grounds that when someone is arrested there is ‘no smoke without fire’.
Ministers have failed to explain why they cannot follow Scotland’s lead. There, samples of those cleared of wrongdoing are routinely deleted.
In 2005-2006, 21,748 samples were destroyed north of the border, with little noticeable impact in the fight against crime.
But are ministers likely to take heed of the inquiry’s demand that the samples of innocents be deleted?
The answer is almost certainly No. Too much as been invested in the database, which ministers consider a cheaper and more effective tool than flooding the streets with police.
It costs about £4.50 to store someone’s DNA sample. By contrast, putting an officer on the beat costs about £50,000 a year.
The police, too, are determined to keep the DNA of the innocent at all costs.
They are increasingly reliant on the technique to increase their record of solving one in every four recorded offences.
And so, the public’s best hope is in a test case being considered by the European courts.
Two innocent men from Yorkshire, one who was 11 when his DNA was taken, are claiming that this is a breach of their human rights.
A judgment is due later this year. If they win, the Government’s march towards an even larger Big Brother database will be halted in its tracks, and hundreds of thousands of samples will be deleted.
If they lose, the practice of stigmatising the innocent for life will continue indefinitely. News Source
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The Hindu Forum of Britain has asked the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, to escalate investigations into reports about British charities suspected of sending funds to terrorist groups in Pakistan.
The HFB appeal comes immediately after 45 people were killed in a serial bomb blast in the Indian city of Ahmedabad by suspected Islamic militants, styling themselves as the ‘Indian Mujahideen’. Indian authorities have stated that the Indian Mujahideen seems to be a front for terrorist organisations operating out of Pakistan.
"India has been suffering from terror attacks by Islamic militants for many years. The Ahmedabad blasts that killed 45 people yesterday are not isolated. There have been several other blasts that have taken place recently in Jaipur, Bangalore and other places,” said Ramesh Kallidai, secretary general of the Hindu Forum of Britain. “But what is of great concern to British Indians is that there have been several reports of British charities sending money to Pakistan that are being diverted to terrorism against India”
According to Tahseen Ullah Khan of the National Research and Development Foundation, a Peshawar-based NGO that promotes madrasa reform, militant funding also comes from donors in the UK. In a statement, she had earlier said. "If I go to the UK as a cleric and tell people that Islam is under attack, I can come back with lot of funding."
Two years ago, investigators in Pakistan believed that £50 million was siphoned off from genuine relief groups for terrorists. Intelligence services had tried to trace the cash which came from several British charities. After a call for investigation into funds sent by British charities, the Charity Commission had said, “We take the issue of allegations about charities and terrorism very seriously. We are aware of the speculation suggesting links between UK charities and the bomb plot."
“However our community need to be reassured that enough is being done enough is being done to prevent siphoning of charity fundis to terrorist causes,” said Ramesh Kallidai. “In light of the continuing loss of human life in India by Islamic militants, the British government has a moral obligation to increase its efforts in tracking such charities. We hope the Home Secretary and intelligence agencies in Britain will take note and do something about it. This is particularly important because we do not wish to have the sub-continental issues spilling over into Britain and affecting community cohesion and good relations here in our country.” News Source
Disclaimer: This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
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Householders are paying more than £50 extra a year for electricity thanks to climate change policies, campaigners claim.
But the Government's 'preoccupation' with green policies is said to have made only small reductions to harmful greenhouse gases.
The TaxPayers' Alliance said the average domestic electricity bill for 2007-2008 was £367 - with £51.38 of this attributed to the cost of climate change policies.
Families paid an average bill of £557 for gas in the same year - £16.71 of which was said to be due to green initiatives.
The total of £68.09 per household will rise to £76.97 in 2008-2009, according to the alliance.
Its chief executive Matthew Elliott said: 'These are tough times for ordinary families and the Government's climate change measures are making life even more difficult.
'Not only are they a costly extra burden on household bills but they are an expensive way of pursuing the Government's emissions targets.'
The EU Emissions Trading Scheme is partly responsible for the increases. In a bid to cut carbon emissions, the scheme puts a price on the pollution caused by electricity generators and heavy industry - increasing generation costs which feeds through to the customer.
Price rises are also due to the Government's 'renewables obligation', which forces electricity suppliers to find an increasing amount of energy from renewable sources. Continued
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Motorists who park ‘inconsiderately’ could be fined £70 under a ruling that eliminates the need for warning signs or road-markings.
The AA said last night that the new rules mean drivers could unwittingly incur a parking fine and have no chance of a successful appeal.
The motoring group condemned the move as ‘unfair’ and ‘very dodgy’.
The changes were announced yesterday by the Government in what it termed a crackdown on ‘ inconsiderate parking’.
Councils are to be given new powers to issue tickets to drivers who park 18in from the pavement – called double-parking – or who block driveways or obstruct pavements lowered for wheelchairs or prams.
The changes mean that drivers can be prosecuted for such infringements even if there is no sign or road marking alerting them to any potential offence.
The Government paper says: ‘The police may take action against a vehicle that is parked causing an unnecessary obstruction whether or not this is indicated. Continued
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Food prices are rising more quickly in Britain than in similar economies across the globe.
A study published yesterday puts the food inflation rate at 9.5 per cent in June.
That is almost 65 per cent higher than in France, where the figure is 5.77 per cent, and a third higher than Germany's 7.12 per cent.
The cost of energy - petrol, gas and electricity - is also racing ahead, imposing a crippling burden on families and pensioners.
Some of the biggest increases in shopping bills are being seen on fresh produce, such as beef, pork, veal, chicken, milk and eggs, as well as bread, pasta and rice.
Supermarkets claim they are protecting customers against the worst effects of commodity price rises.
However, the figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development study suggest otherwise.
Critics will argue that grocers on the Continent and beyond are doing a much better job at shielding shoppers.
In Western Europe only Iceland has a higher food inflation rate, of 16.6 per cent. But Iceland has particular problems in that it relies on expensive imports. The 9.5 per cent annual increase in the UK compares to 7.31 per cent in Ireland, 7.2 per cent in Spain, 7 per cent in Belgium, 6.55 per cent in the Netherlands and 6.12 per cent in Italy.
Food bills in former Eastern bloc countries are rising sharply, but this is from a very low base.
The Daily Mail Cost of Living index, which looks at shopping basket essentials, shows an even higher annual increase in the UK of 17.8 per cent.
That means a household spending £100 a week on food a year ago now needs to find an extra £17.80 a week - or £925 a year.
The OECD's figures on energy prices are equally alarming with an annual rise of 19.09 per cent in the UK. That compares to 14.59 per cent in Germany and 18.64 per cent in France.
The British Retail Consortium claims food price rises would be far steeper but for the efforts of the supermarkets.
Looking further afield, food inflation is just 6.08 per cent in the U.S., 4.23 per cent in Japan and only 3.01 per cent in Canada.
Its director general, Stephen Robertson, said: 'Although their own costs are going up, food retailers are running high-profile price cuts and promotions.
'They are keeping prices to customers down by cutting costs and increasing sales.' News Source
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Plans to increase the charge for Muslim burials in Derby have been put back after the city council was criticised for failing to consult.
The cabinet was last night due to decide if it should scrap a £1,100 subsidy it says it pays towards the cost of concrete-lined vaults, which are used in Muslim burials.
But it deferred the decision after criticism that there had not been a proper consultation with the Muslim community.
Muslim families currently pay £300 towards the £1,400 cost of the vault they use to bury loved ones as part of their faith. But officers have recommended that Muslims now pay the full cost.
On top of the £1,400, there is a further £1,100 charge in land and burial costs, taking the total charge to £2,500.
Councillor Mike Carr, cabinet member for direct and internal services, initially wanted to consult members of the Muslim community at a later date. Continued
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Can You Believe This?
A crackdown on sham marriages is 'in tatters' after the House of Lords ruled that it breaches the human rights of immigrants.
Law Lords said forcing a migrant to prove a relationship is genuine is 'arbitrary and unjust', even if they were getting married only weeks before their permission to stay in Britain ran out.
Foreigners will now once again be free to prolong their stay in the UK by getting married at the last minute to a person who already has permission to live here.
The crackdown was introduced by Labour in February 2005 after the number of suspected sham ceremonies - often arranged by criminal gangs who could earn £10,000 a time - reached 3,700. It cut this to around 300 a year.
It was targeted at those who marry Britons, or EU citizens with full residency rights, in order to gain permission to live here indefinitely.
Migrants were forced to seek a special certificate to marry if they lived outside the EU, or had only limited rights to live in the UK.
Those with only three months leave to stay remaining were routinely refused on the grounds that the ceremony was intended only to avoid removal from the country.
Today's ruling demolished this law, on the grounds that it is a breach of Section 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to marry.
The Home Office will now be forced to consider the merits of a union being made even at the very last moment before a migrant is due to leave the UK.
Three couples who had initially been refused the right to marry by the Home Office brought the cases to the courts.
Habib Rahman, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, declared: 'The Government's policy is now in tatters. It will have to go back to the drawing board.'
The Lords were upholding a judgment by the Appeal Court. News Source
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Are we learning yet? One Law for THEM and another Law for YOU!
A fabulously wealthy couple caught with a huge haul of cocaine, crack and heroin are to escape prosecution.
Eva Rausing, whose 45-year-old husband Hans is an heir to the multi-billion-pound Tetra Pak drinks carton empire, was caught trying to smuggle heroin and crack into a function at the American Embassy in London.
When police searched the couple’s £10million home in exclusive Cadogan Place, Chelsea, they found more crack and heroin – and £2,000 worth of cocaine.
Typically, addicts caught with such huge quantities of drugs will face a prison sentence.
But at Westminster magistrates’ court yesterday, it was revealed that all charges are being dropped after a ‘protracted correspondence’ between their lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Instead, they will each accept a ‘conditional caution’, which will probably involve them promising to attend drug misuse programmes.
They will not even have criminal records, although the cautions will be recorded on police files.
Critics said the move adds to the belief among many observers that the rich and famous are ignoring drugs laws with impunity.
When he took office, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair announced that middle-class addicts who snort cocaine at dinner parties are not above the law. Continued
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Police and customs are fighting a losing battle against the illegal drugs trade despite billions of pounds being spent every year on fighting it, according to a new report.
The price of cocaine has halved in some areas since 2000 while heroin has fallen in price by 35 pc and the "extremely resilient" drugs industry is now worth 41 per cent of the legal alcohol market, it says.
A crackdown that has seen seizures of class A drugs more than double since 2006 to nearly 40,000 has had little impact on the supply of or demand for drugs.
An estimated 60 to 80 pc of all drugs would need to be regularly removed from the streets in order to put major traffickers out of business, the report by the UK Drug Policy Commission warns.
Seizure rates on this scale have never been achieved in Britain, with an estimated 12 pc of heroin and 9 pc of cocaine in Britain being impounded between 1996 and 2005, or anywhere else.
Last year 1.5 tonnes of heroin and 4.4m ectsasy tablets were sezied by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, according to the report.
But each year 20 tonnes of heroin, 18 tonnes of cocaine and 16 tonnes of crack change hands on the British drugs market, while 412 tonnes of cannabis and 60 million ecstasy tablets are thought to be bought and sold.
The Commission suggests that traditional crime-fighting tactics are simply not working and that the £5.3bn British drugs market is "too fluid" for law enforcement agencies to deal with.
It also claims that even high-profile swoops on "drugs factories" and significant convictions of leading dealers usually fail to have a noticeable impact on supply, due to the industry's ability to adapt quickly to disruption. Dealers simply reduce purity to maintain their profit margins, the report says.
In 2005/06, the Government spent £380m just on reducing supply in England, the report says, while the annual cost to the criminal justice system of dealing with Class A drug alone is thought to be more than £4 billion.
Tim McSweeney, one of the authors of the report, said: "We were struck by just how little evidence there is to show that the hundreds of millions of pounds spent on UK enforcement each year has made a sustainable impact and represents value for money." Continued
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Two men have been arrested in connection with the alleged abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl.
The youngster is said to have been attacked in a car parked in Barden Road, Accrington, at around 6.30am on Saturday morning.
Police said the girl, who is from the Blackburn area, is being helped through her ordeal by officers from the Engage team, which works with children and teenagers who have been groomed for sexual exploitation.
Officers became involved after a young friend of the girl alerted them to the situation.
On Monday a 27-year-old man from the Accrington area was arrested on suspicion of child abduction and rape, while a 24-year-old man, also from Accrington, was arrested on suspicion of child abduction.
The Engage team was set up early this year and includes members from the police, council, the Blackburn with Darwen Safeguarding Children Board and other young people's organisations.
Engage is a successor to the police campaign, Operation Engage, which targeted teenagers who were being groomed into sexual exploitation.
The issue has been highlighted in the Lancashire Telegraph's high profile Keep Them Safe campaign, which began in 2006 and raised the issue of older men grooming young girls by giving them presents, alcohol and drugs in return for sex.
Police are now appealing for anyone who may have information about the alleged incident to come forward.
DI Jill Johnston, Blackburn Police, said: "These inquiries form part of our multi-agency Engage project and we are offering support to both the girl and her family.
"We would like to reassure the public that we are treating this incident very seriously and have dedicated resources in order to specifically target those suspected of grooming and exploiting children. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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New EU Police Force
European force looks like an army of repression
Hartley, Irving Terrace
Sir Norman Bettison, West Yorkshire Chief Constable, told us (Yorkshire Post, July 17) that police leaders "care passionately about delivering a service that enjoys the trust and confidence of the local people we serve". He called for "the tide of bureaucracy" to be abated.
I have in front of me photographs of the European Gendarmerie Force said to be reproduced from the force's own official website. The Eurogendarmes, made up of contingents from France, Spain, Holland and Portugal, are shown training in barracks in Vicenza, Italy.
The officers wear steel helmets, carry interlocking shields and heavy automatic weapons.
They are organised as a military force. Having different nationalities drilling side by side is clearly part of a plan to create a unified EU force.
The armband each man wears bears the EU flag and the ominous image of a flaming grenade. The Treaty of Velsen gives the force a legal basis under EU auspices.
How different this is from the tradition of British policing. Far from speaking of service and inspiring confidence, the photograph of the force evokes fear of repression.
Could this force be deployed in Britain?
Justice and home affairs are still an EU member state's prerogative. But under the Lisbon Treaty they will be EU "competence".
Our Government's "red lines" are supposed to safeguard our national autonomy; but parliamentary committees have said they could be of little worth. Many of our powers of veto have been lost.
The Government and much of our media keep silent about the EU domination under which we live.
Article 6.3 of the Treaty of Velsen allows the EU Gendarmerie to be deployed in any country with that state's consent.
During Parliamentary debates, an MP and a member of the Lords asked to be assured that, in Britain, such consent will never be given. No such assurance was forthcoming.
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For those of you who are alarmed by this letter and want to know a bit more, try this web site, written by Iris Binstead and Torquil Dick-Erikson (both of whom are known to me!) - I have not yet had a chance to find other photos, which are as rare as hen's teeth! The Euro Gendarmerie understandably train in secret!:
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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Business and consumer confidence plunged in the 15 countries using the euro in July, hitting the lowest level in more than five years, the European Commission said today.
The European economy is slowing as soaring fuel and food prices slam the brakes on growth, and amid tight borrowing conditions triggered by the global credit crisis and a slowdown in major trading partners, Britain and the United States.
The EU figures add pressure on the European Central Bank to hold off from further interest rate increases. In an effort to cool record-high inflation, it raised its key borrowing rate from 4 percent to 4.25 percent in June.
Central banks usually cut rates to boost growth and raise them to calm inflation. But Europe and many other regions are seeing their economies lose pace while prices shoot up.
And worse may lie ahead. Consumer confidence worsened again in July, the EU survey showed. This hits household spending, once the main engine of the euro-zone's economic expansion as people shell out for fewer big items or luxury goods as they spend more on gas and groceries.
Consumers are also far more worried about unemployment in the near future, according to the survey. The euro jobless rate started in April to climb above a record low, lengthening welfare lineups that are among the longest in the industrialized world.
The results were "even more dismal than expected," said Holger Schmieding, chief European economist at Bank of America.
"The euro-zone economy has fallen into semi-stagnation," he said. "The risk of a recession later this year is no longer negligible." Continued
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As we look at the way our country is governed now and compare it with the situation around the time of the Second World War, we can see many changes and none for the better.
In this paper it is explained how successive British governments have surrendered our democracy to layers of international bureaucracy which have acquired completely unaccountable power over our legal, political, economic and social decisions. The largest of these transnational bureaucracies is the United Nations and the most powerful is the European Union, whose aim it is to turn itself into a post-national state.
This process has, Kenneth Minogue argues, deprived our elected politicians of real power and taken away their opportunity to behave in a genuinely statesmanlike manner, leaving them to become involved in make-believe changes to society, expenses manipulation and general nest-feathering.
Professor Minogue analyses the transnational bureaucracies that add to the burden of regulation and increasingly control so much of our lives. This increased meddling, he argues, is creating a feedback loop where ever more regulations are required in an attempt to undo the damage caused by the initial unnecessary state interference.
At the heart of the matter, Professor Minogue argues, is the curious form of idealism that disdains pride in Britain and British culture, preferring to give allegiance to a far more vaguely defined ideology of internationalism. This rejection of national sovereignty, and the subsequent embracing of unaccountable transnational institutions, as advocated by our political establishment, has led to the British people submitting to more and more authority which comes dressed as virtue.
Click here to read the full publication online
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CREC believes that one important issue relating to Britain’s membership of the European Union is the sheer cost of it to the ordinary taxpayer. Here’s just a few facts which illustrate the scale of the problem:
- The Royal Family costs each of us 66p a year, according to recent figures.
- The EU costs each and every one of us £1500 a year. That’s over 2000 times as much.
- The vast amount we pay to the European Union is made up of separate sets of financial obligations the United Kingdom accepted when we joined:
a) some £14 billion a year is, in effect, our annual subscription - our ‘membership fee’ - paid for by British taxpayers. That’s £1.5 million every hour
b) another £65 billion is spent every year by industry and commerce as the cost of compliance with all EU regulations and directives. That £65 billion is then added to the costs of goods and services sold by British industry and commerce to consumers.
c) finally, E.U. customs duties on imported food add about £600 a year on the food bill for a family of four.
So, one way or another, the EU hits every pocket - old and young, taxpayer or not.
- In addition, the UK has lost some £400 billion in trade with the E.U. since we joined, because we buy more from them than they do from us. That is the equivalent of another £200 a year for every man, woman and child in Britain today. It may not have come out of our pockets directly, but it is certainly a loss to the U.K.’s total wealth.
Derek Norman, Chairman of CREC, comments: “The financial costs of our membership of the E.U. are staggering. We spend billions of pounds, in return for which we suffer endless interference in our British way of life, and endure thousands of regulations, many of them unnecessary and some of which flout common sense.
“The development of the E.U. may be a pet project of the European political elite, but it is costing taxpayers a fortune. More and more taxpayers are now asking why we ever joined this expensive and wasteful club - and are supporting our call for a national referendum on whether it is now time to leave it. Until 1973, we ran our own country without ‘help’ from other E.U. countries. Surely we can, and should, do so once again”.
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The Irish government is considering calling a second Lisbon treaty referendum in autumn 2009 after securing concessions on the number of commissioners, abortion, taxation and military neutrality, a major Irish daily reports.
Under the plan, the re-vote in September or October next year would come after the June 2009 European Parliament elections, meaning the total number of MEPs would go down from 785 to 736, instead of 751 as envisaged by Lisbon.
The mandate of the current European Commission would be extended until after the new treaty is in place and EU states would issue a "solemn declaration" that each EU member will keep its own commissioner in the future.
The EU would also annex new statements to Lisbon guaranteeing that small print could not be used to force Ireland to relax its anti-abortion laws, increase corporate taxes or take part in European military integration.
The plan is one of several under discussion by Dublin according to a "senior government source" quoted by The Independent on Wednesday (30 July). "It's shaping that way. It's being kicked around," the contact said.
Ireland has promised to find a solution by the end of the year after some 53 percent of Irish people voted No to the treaty in June.
A July survey showed that 62 percent would reject Lisbon if the referendum was held today and that 71 percent don't want to vote on the subject again.
Dublin risks being isolated on the treaty, with 23 EU member states' parliaments having already given their assent and with the Italian lower chamber also set to approve the document in a vote on Wednesday afternoon.
The Ganley project
Ireland's most prominent No campaigner, Declan Ganley, is currently touring Europe to try and establish a new anti-Lisbon political group in time for the 2009 European elections.
If elected, the wealthy businessman plans to write a reader-friendly, 20-page EU treaty based on the US constitution to replace the esoteric, 400-page long Lisbon text, he said in an interview with Polish newspaper Dziennik.
Mr Ganley told French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Dublin last week that French people would also have rejected the treaty if France had held a referendum. "You may be surprised to hear that he agreed with me," the Irishman said. News Source
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The Irish government is considering calling a second Lisbon treaty referendum in autumn 2009 after securing concessions on the number of commissioners, abortion, taxation and military neutrality, a major Irish daily reports.
Under the plan, the re-vote in September or October next year would come after the June 2009 European Parliament elections, meaning the total number of MEPs would go down from 785 to 736, instead of 751 as envisaged by Lisbon.
The mandate of the current European Commission would be extended until after the new treaty is in place and EU states would issue a "solemn declaration" that each EU member will keep its own commissioner in the future.
The EU would also annex new statements to Lisbon guaranteeing that small print could not be used to force Ireland to relax its anti-abortion laws, increase corporate taxes or take part in European military integration.
The plan is one of several under discussion by Dublin according to a "senior government source" quoted by The Independent on Wednesday (30 July). "It's shaping that way. It's being kicked around," the contact said.
Ireland has promised to find a solution by the end of the year after some 53 percent of Irish people voted No to the treaty in June.
A July survey showed that 62 percent would reject Lisbon if the referendum was held today and that 71 percent don't want to vote on the subject again.
Dublin risks being isolated on the treaty, with 23 EU member states' parliaments having already given their assent and with the Italian lower chamber also set to approve the document in a vote on Wednesday afternoon.
The Ganley project
Ireland's most prominent No campaigner, Declan Ganley, is currently touring Europe to try and establish a new anti-Lisbon political group in time for the 2009 European elections.
If elected, the wealthy businessman plans to write a reader-friendly, 20-page EU treaty based on the US constitution to replace the esoteric, 400-page long Lisbon text, he said in an interview with Polish newspaper Dziennik.
Mr Ganley told French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Dublin last week that French people would also have rejected the treaty if France had held a referendum. "You may be surprised to hear that he agreed with me," the Irishman said. News Source
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A controversial decision by Britain's anti-fraud agency to halt an inquiry into whether one of the world's largest arms dealers offered bribes in exchange for lucrative contracts in Saudi Arabia was upheld by the country's highest court Wednesday.
The House of Lords committee decided unanimously that the Serious Fraud Office had acted lawfully when it decided to end the inquiry into whether BAE Systems PLC offered the Saudis bribes in a major contract for fighter jets and arms - a victory for the government and the Saudis, who threatened to withhold crucial cooperation on anti-terrorism intelligence and efforts.
BAE, however, is still under investigation in the United States and Switzerland, while the Serious Fraud Office continues to look into possible BAE bribes to Tanzania, Romania, Chile and the Czech Republic in other arms contracts.
The anti-fraud agency halted the bribery investigation in 2006, citing national security concerns. Critics felt the agency was giving in to financial and political pressure from the Saudis, who threatened to cancel some arms deals and withdraw cooperation on security issues.
The House of Lords decision Wednesday overturned an earlier victory for the Campaign Against Arms Trade and the social lobby group Corner House in the High Court. In that earlier ruling, High Court judges had sharply criticized the anti-fraud agency, the British government and the Saudi royal family, saying the agency's decision represented an ''abject surrender'' to pressure from a foreign government.
BAE said in a statement Wednesday the case involved the agency's decision and ''BAE Systems played no part in that decision.''
The Saudi Embassy in London declined to comment. Telephones at the Saudi Foreign Ministry rang but were not answered. Continued
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One of Britain's best beaches has been left coated in a thick black sludge from thousands of tonnes of rotting seaweed after council officials were told they could be breaking EU rules if they remove it.
Holidaymakers are being forced to wade through the foul smelling mass at Blue Flag-rated Minnis Bay beach in Kent, because of fears that shifting the substance would endanger nearby chalk reefs which are protected by a special European designation.
Environment Agency officials have warned Thanet District Council that it risks prosecution if it causes damage to the reefs - an important feeding ground for migrating seabirds - by dumping the estimated 6,000 tonnes of decomposing seaweed nearby.
The only other options include building a dedicated composting plant or persuading local farmers to take it on - something which would entail them applying for a special waste licence themselves.
Despite the recent hot spell and a resurgence in all-British holidays because of the economic slowdown, the beach has been left virtually deserted.
Alison Saunders, 39 from Canterbury, who attempted to take her daughters Evie, seven, and Bea, four, for a day on the beach said: "Even if you could find a sandy bit of beach not overtaken by the seaweed, the smell still overpowers you."
Roger and Eileen Graham, both 54, from Rotherham, South Yorks, had hoped to spend their week's holiday on the beach.
"It looks like something from outer space," Mr Graham said. "It's certainly not what we came here for."
In the past the council simply disposed of encroaching seaweed on nearby fields.
But that option was severely curtailed two years ago when the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) decided that seaweed could no longer be dumped without a licence.
Efforts to move the sludge down to the low water mark for the tide to take it away have had little effect so council officials had hoped to dump the substance in nearby water.
But much of the local coastline has been designated as a Special Protection Area under the European Habitats Directive because of the reefs.
Conservative Councillor Shirley Tomlinson said: "We're experiencing the highest levels of seaweed that we've seen in the last 20 years at Minnis Bay. We cannot legally move it anywhere."
Andrew Ogden, area environment manager for the Environment Agency, said the organisation was working with the council to find a solution but would consider prosecution if the reefs were damaged.
"We have advised Thanet Council on where the environmental damage could occur and it is up to them how they would best manage that," he said. News Source
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The true scale of Labour's reliance on the unions was revealed yesterday as the debt-ridden party published its accounts.
In the last year alone, the trade unions donated more than £10 million to the party, saving it from bankruptcy.
Latest figures show that almost 93 per cent of Labour party funding now comes from the trade unions, compared to 29 per cent just six years ago.
Business leaders and individual donors have deserted the party in recent months, in response to the cash for peerages affair and Labour's slump in the polls.
The Tories say the unions are taking advantage of Gordon Brown's financial dependence on them by squeezing out policy concessions which add up to a massive lurch to the left.
Last week at a meeting in Warwick between ministers and union leaders to draw up a draft manifesto, Mr Brown conceded a lower age limit for the full minimum wage, new rights for agency workers, and measures to make it easier for workers to take unpaid leave.
Conservative party chairwoman Caroline Spelman said: 'These accounts highlight the extent to which Labour is in hock to the unions.
'Mired in debt, Gordon Brown and the Labour Party have only been able to stave off bankruptcy by doing deals with union barons.'
Labour's accounts, published yesterday by the Electoral Commission, revealed the party has more than £15 million in outstanding loans and must find almost £26 million this year to pay off creditors. Continued
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Brown is facing a bitter showdown with Labour’s trade union paymasters over below-inflation pay rises for millions of public sector workers.
Union chiefs will use their annual congress in September to push for a series of one-day strikes.
Labour is more dependent than ever on union cash, with 93 per cent of money donated to party HQ in the first three months of this year coming from union coffers.
The party’s accounts, to be published today, are expected to show a continued collapse in donations from wealthy individual backers.
The Government’s public sector pay policy has already triggered a wave of industrial action this year.
At the TUC’s annual conference in September, unions representing teachers and civil servants will call for more action.
The National Union of Teachers and Public and Commercial Services union are to urge support for coordinated industrial action, according to a draft agenda for the conference.
The congress will also discuss plans for industrial action over ‘restrictive anti-trade union legislation’ which union barons want removed from the statute book. Continued
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Parents should introduce their children to alcohol at home to help prevent them binge drinking in the future, David Cameron said today.
The Tory leader said his friends with the biggest alcohol problems were those who were 'never allowed to drink anything at home'.
Those who had been allowed small amounts to drink at mealtimes were now the most responsible drinkers, he said.
His stance is at odds with that of the Government, which is planning to set a new age limit telling parents when it is acceptable to give their children alcohol at home.
Currently, the law allows parents to give any child over the age of five alcohol in a private setting.
But experts expect Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson to recommend an advisory age limit of 12 or more at which children can be offered their first taste of alcohol.
Breaking off from his holiday in Cornwall to speak to a group of young listeners of Radio 1's Newsbeat programme, Mr Cameron said: 'Some of the friends I had, the ones who had the biggest problems, were the ones who actually were never allowed to drink anything at home - whereas the ones who drink responsibly were the ones who were given a glass of wine or a small glass of beer or a shandy or something.
'That's the right way to do it - in the home.'
sked when he first got drunk, Mr Cameron said: 'I can't remember but yes, when I was a teenager, I did do some things I shouldn't have done - we all do.'
The Tory leader said children should be introduced to the idea 'that drinking is something you can do socially, and something you can do with a meal, and something that is part of life'. Continued
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Britain's banks were rocked today when Lloyds TSB reported a plunge in profits of £1.4billion - a 70 per cent fall.
The result was far worse than a pessimistic City was expecting and raised fears for high street rivals. HBOS, which owns Halifax, reports tomorrow and Alliance & Leicester the day after.
Lloyds TSB blamed the global credit crunch and losses in its insurance business. The figures will heighten government fears that more small banks could collapse like Northern Rock.
A spokesperson today said: "Lloyds TSB’s business model is completely different to Northern Rock.
"During a period of considerable turbulence for the financial services sector and a slow down in the UK economy, Lloyds TSB continued to deliver a strong underlying performance in all its core business and is well positioned for a lower growth environment.
"Lloyds TSB believes that it has the right business model to perform well in the current environment and excluding the impact of market dislocation, profit before tax increased by 11 per cent to £2,158 million." Continued
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Seven teenagers convicted of battering a Wiltshire boy close to death with a claw hammer could have their sentences reconsidered.
Henry Webster, 16, was left fighting for his life after the attack at Ridgeway School in Wroughton in 2007.
The Attorney General has referred the cases of Nazrul Amin, Amjad Qazi and four juveniles back to the Court of Appeal, requesting harsher sentences.
Wasif Khan is to appeal separately to have his sentence cut.
Henry Webster's mother Liz has welcomed the application for longer sentences, due to be made at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
The attack on Henry Webster, who was 15 at the time, was carried out by 18-year-old Wasif Khan, Amjad Qazi, Nazrul Amin, both 19, and four others who cannot be identified.
They were all convicted of GBH and were given jail terms ranging from eight months to eight years.
A fight had been arranged after Henry had "barged" into a group of boys in a school corridor.
It was supposed to be a one-on-one fight, but when Henry arrived at the playground he was attacked by the group. News Source
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Toddlers are being held back at nursery by childcare staff who cannot string a sentence together and lack common sense, a union warned today.
Minimum entry requirements to the profession are abysmal with some new recruits resembling the comedy teenager Vicky Pollard, it was claimed.
The Voice teaching union warned that growing numbers of new nursery nurses were poor role models for young children because they behaved inappropriately.
Two years ago, the union, formerly the Professional Association of Teachers, warned that illiterate nursery staff who wear unsuitable clothes and discuss their social lives in front of toddlers risked creating a generation of Vicky Pollards - the Little Britain character known for her yeah-but no-but catchphrase.
At its annual conference today, Gail Holland, a nursery nurse from Leicestershire said there had been no improvement.
'We as professionals are increasingly finding that the educational entry level for trainees is abysmal, some being unable to string a coherent sentence together let alone write one.
'Is this because colleges are anxious to fill their places with little or no regard to the effect it will have on the next generation?'
She added: 'Common sense is blatantly lacking in many so called nursery nurses or parents today.
'They do not appreciate that children regard them as a role model and that teaching is not just restricted to the three R's but should include a fourth, i.e. respect for self, other and property.' Continued
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Britain's top policeman is set on a collision course with Boris Johnson after rejecting the London Mayor's call to have powers to "hire and fire" the chief of Scotland Yard.
Ian Blair said he was aware of Mr Johnson's wish for him to be made more accountable but added that he was concerned the office of Metropolitan Police Commissioner had become one of "high politics".
Leaked emails have shown that the Mayor's team at City Hall had recently investigated whether the Mr Johnson could suspend Sir Ian pending an investigation over his friendship with a businessman who won £3 million of Scotland Yard contracts.
In a veiled rebuff to the Mayor and his aides, the Commissioner said yesterday he was "disappointed but scarcely surprised" at the leaking of information "because that seems to be the world in which we are all operating".
Sir Ian also rejected calls by Mr Johnson for the Home Office to examine whether the Met should keep its national responsibilities such as counter-terrorism, calling it a "poor bargain".
However the Commissioner played down suggestions of a rift with the Mayor, with whom he said he "gets on extremely well".
At present, only the Home Secretary has the power to appoint and sack the Commissioner. Mr Johnson has said it is wrong there is no "democratic mechanism" to hold the head of Scotland Yard to account.
Kit Malthouse, London's deputy mayor for policing, said yesterday: "We have made no secret of our view that governance arrangements in policing are confused and lack accountability."
The Metropolitan Police Authority announced an inquiry on Monday into the awarding of £3 million worth of police contracts to the company of his friend and skiing companion, Andrew Millar, in 2002.
Speaking at a monthly press briefing, Sir Ian said: "I believe I acted with probity and on good advice and I will co-operate fully with the inquiry." Continued
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Patients could be denied the new generation of Alzheimer's drugs, which can reverse the symptoms of the disease, unless the NHS changes how it approves medicines, experts have warned.
Alzheimer's charities said that a new drug, hailed as a major breakthrough in the treatment of the disease, could be withheld from patients because of the way the health service assesses what it will and will not pay for.
Early trials have suggested that the new drug, called rember, can bring the worst affected parts of the brain back to life.
If further tests of rember are successful researchers predict that the drug could be available within four to five years, when it will then be assessed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the Government's drugs watchdog, to decide if the drug, which is likely to be around £2.50 a day per patient, it is "cost effective" for the NHS.
Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said that Nice's calculations were flawed and did not take into account the £17 billion a year that caring for Alzheimer's patients costs the economy every year.
Other criteria, such as the impact the drug could have on a sufferer's quality of life, were difficult to put a price on, she added.
She said: "Nice is looking at the wrong criteria and unless that changes patients could suffer both with this new drug and with future breakthroughs in how we treat this devastating disease".
Nice considers the cost of the drug against its benefits to patients to decide whether they can be used by the NHS.
The watchdog controversially decided that one £2.50-a-day cost of one drug, Aricept, should be available to patients only in the later stages of the disease because it did not make enough of a difference to those in the early stages of the disease.
A spokesman for the Alzheimer's Society said: "It is too early to tell how much rember may cost on the NHS.
"However, unless Nice methodology changes significantly all Alzheimer's drug treatments will continue to be evaluated by the same flawed process that has seen current treatments which cost just £2.50 per person day restricted on the NHS. Continued
Wednesday 30th July 2008
Hijackers stole thousands of blank British passports when a delivery driver pulled up outside a shop and nipped in to buy some chocolate and a paper.
The raiders struck as the delivery van was parked up. A passenger waiting in the vehicle was attacked before the offender spend off with the haul.
Around 3,000 passports worth more than £1,000 each destined for British embassies around the world were in the van when it was stolen yesterday morning.
Newsagent Yogesh Patel, 25, served the driver at around 6.45am yesterday morning.
'He walked in and got a few things. He came in and bought chocolate and a newspaper - I think it was a Mail or a Mirror,' he said.
'He just bought the paper and came back an hour later with a police officer. I didn't know what had gone on - the van was not stopped outside my shop.
'The driver just said the van got robbed but we can't tell you what got robbed. The policeman just said it was valuable.
'They didn't talk about what got robbed - they came to see if I had CCTV. I have cameras but the tape was not running.
'The driver was not talking really but by the look on his face he went dead pale, he must have been shocked and scared.
'I just thought it is a daily thing, vans get robbed, but when I found out it was passports I knew why he looked so rattled.'
A policewoman returned to the shop this morning at the same time as the raid to see if there were any witnesses.
Mr Patel said a customer told him her sister had seen it from the car: 'She just said her sister saw it from her car. A couple of guys jumped in the van and pushed someone out and then drove off with the van.'
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office admitted there had been a serious breach of security but she said 'preventative action' had been taken to guard against forgeries. Continued
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WARNING: THE LISBON TREATY
Because this Item is quite lengthy, you will find it at the bottom of this column.
Please take the time to read it, we guarantee it will open your eyes, Wide Open!
Here is the Introduction (Ed)
Introduction
This Document is deadly. It means Surrender, surrendering the independence of your country and surrendering your personal freedoms. The European Union will become, "legally", a police-state Empire.
Sections in this Report:
"Background Information" (describing what we already know, in historical fact, about the EU)
"Lisbon Treaty Deceptions".
"Anschluss-'Warsaw Pact' Clauses" (which allow the EU to use an Army to invade and occupy Member States of the EU);
the "Militarisation" section (which. among other things, forces Member States to militarise);
the section on "Further Centralisation of Power", abolishing many crucial Veto powers of the Member States; and making the unelected, unaccountable European Commission a fully-empowered Dictatorship.
"Gestapo clauses", making the EU into a police state where no courts of law have jurisdiction over the Police, and there is no protection for personal freedoms or democratic processes.
"Final Provisions" (stating that the Treaty runs for an "unlimited period" --- That spells the end of Freedom in Europe) Continued at the bottom of this column
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Immigration has topped the list of factors most likely to influence how people will vote in the next UK general election.
Thirty per cent of people rank immigration as their priority election issue – beating concerns over crime, health and education. And despite the gloomy economic outlook, personal tax still ranks far behind immigration as a voting priority – with just 20 per cent ranking it number one.
But the issue falling behind all others polled is the environment. Whilst the Government continues to promote the green agenda, the majority of voters now see this as their lowest priority. Just one in 12 people (8 per cent) puts the environment at the top of the list of factors which will sway their vote – suggesting Britain has a long way to go if it hopes to convince people to act against global warming.
The results, from a TNS study of 13,000 consumers, highlight the gulf between the Government’s perceptions and the reality of what issues are really concerning Britain. This is echoed by the fact that, when asked to rank UK politicians in terms of their commitment to ‘green’ issues, Ken Livingston wins an impressive 41 per cent of first place votes – despite recently being ousted as the people’s preferred candidate for London mayor.
Boris Johnson, the successful mayoral candidate, is seen as significantly less committed to green issues by the respondents in the TNS study, with just 31 per cent of people voting him top.
Ironically, despite Gordon Brown’s pledge to meet the G8’s environmental targets, the British people see Labour as the UK political party that is worst for the environment – again pointing to the Labour’s failure to engage people through the green agenda.
Andrew Czarnowski, managing director of TNS UK, comments: “These figures suggest that the Government really needs to be turning its attention to voting issues closer to home. People know they need to be environmentally friendly, but when it comes to choosing who will lead our country, there are clearly much bigger concerns. The ‘green vote’ is not going to win Labour another term – and social and political events of recent years appear to have had an impact on voters’ priorities. It will be interesting to see whether the credit crunch weakens the environmental lobby further.”
A low regard for environmental issues is found across the UK, but there are significant regional differences in what will most drive people to the polls.
Voters in England and Wales are most concerned by immigration, while in Scotland, crime tops the tables; it is named as the priority issue by 29 per cent of people. And whilst a quarter of Midlanders are most concerned by tax issues, the Scots see this as far less crucial (13 per cent). News Source
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A detailed poll of Muslim students conducted by the Centre for Social Cohesion has produced evidence of horrifying attitudes amongst a remarkably high proportion of them.
Almost one in three says that killing in the name of religion is justified. With 90,000 Muslim students at British universities that’s almost 30,000 individuals who think this. Virtually no non-Muslim students do so. And people say we haven’t got an appalling problem in Britain?
There’s much more. Four out of 10 say they support the introduction of sharia into UK law. That figure is broadly in line with previous surveys, and is again a shocking indication of the numbers who do not support the core belief of a western democracy that the law of the land is the law for everyone. Four out of ten say it is unacceptable for Muslim men and women to associate freely; nearly a quarter do not think that men and women are equal in the eyes of Allah; more than half think British Muslim servicemen should be allowed to opt out of hostilities with Muslim countries with a further 25% who are ‘not sure’; one in three third doesn’t think or doesn’t know whether Islam is compatible with the western notion of democracy; and a third say they are in favour of a worldwide Islamic caliphate based on sharia.
The report also notes the presence of extreme Islamist books in some campus prayer rooms, appearances by militant Islamist speakers, and links between militant Islamists and the Federation of Student Islamic Societies.
The report also notes that the majority of Muslim students support secularism and democratic values and are broadly tolerant of others. But these numbers are clearly insupportable and deeply alarming. As has been noted many times before, Islamism is actually increasing among British Muslim youths – and British university campuses, far from educating them in to the values of enlightened thought, are a major recruiting ground for the jihad. A number of British Muslim university students and former students have been linked to terrorist attacks. Professor Antony Glees has been banging on about all this for years. Yet with a few isolated and grave exceptions, nothing has been done.
The government refuses to ban Hizb ut Tahrir, one of the most significant campus recruiters to the jihad. Shamefully, most university authorities have refused to take action against radicals on campus. As for the media, if there’s any shock or concern about the prevalence of such attitudes there’s precious little sign of it. Yes, the poll itself has been reported reasonably prominently in a number of papers. But as far as I can see only Minette Marrin in the Sunday Times actually commented on how shocking and alarming these findings were. No newspaper put the report on its front page. No newspaper thought it merited a leading article. Instead, what certain people have found alarming is the CSC rather than the attitudes it has revealed. The Press Association reports:
Liberal Democrat youth and equality spokeswoman Lynne Featherstone attacked the ‘biased’ survey, while National Union of Students (NUS) president Wes Streeting said it was a ‘reflection of the biases and prejudices of a right-wing think tank’ and not the views of Muslim students across Britain.
One in three Muslim students thinks it’s ok to kill in the name of religion -- and this clown dismisses it as ‘right-wing prejudice’? News Source
Disclaimer: This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
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Sir Salman Rushdie has criticised what he called an "air of appeasement" towards Islamic fundamentalism in Britain.
The Booker Prize-winning author, whose novel the Satanic Verses incensed the Islamic world, told BBC's Newsnight: "There's no such thing as a perfect culture. I think sometimes there's an air of appeasement in this country which I don't like."
In an interview to promote his latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence, Sir Salman said Iran 'might well be' trying to make a nuclear bomb.
The writer also spoke of how 'soft power' including the internet and websites such as YouTube can defeat global tyranny, by bringing people and cultures together.
"The thing I was trying to say in this book, is the things we have in common are greater than the things which divide us," he added.
Sir Salman, who spent almost a decade underground with a fatwa - or death threat - on his head from Islamic clerics, said he may write about the period in a future novel.
Asked whether it was appropriate for him to have accepted a knighthood from the Queen, he added: "I accepted an honour from the French - it would be absurd not to accept one from my own country. This is just what we give in this country. If it was another country, it would be another form of honour." News Source
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Women who kill abusive partners in cold blood could escape a murder conviction if they prove they feared more violence.
Under a major government review, they will be punished for the lesser offence of manslaughter, sparing them a mandatory life sentence.
They must establish only that they were responding to a 'slow burn' of abuse.
The change sweeps aside the existing requirement in any defence of provocation that they killed on the spur of the moment after a 'sudden' loss of control.
In cases where a husband kills, the existing 'partial defence' of provocation if a wife was having an affair is scrapped altogether.
The Ministry of Justice said this was in response to long-standing concerns that the centuries- old measure impacts differently on men and women.
In the first major changes to homicide laws in 50 years, ministers have ruled that other categories of killer, as well as domestic violence victims, should be offered new partial defences of provocation.
They include those 'seriously wronged' by an insult.
Beneficiaries of this change may include those who strike out after long and bitter disputes with neighbours, or victims of a serious crime who are taunted at a later date by the attacker.
Instead of receiving a mandatory life sentence for murder, they too could escape with a manslaughter conviction. Continued
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Maps will be released to the public showing how many violent attacks have taken place on every street, including how close they were to schools, pubs and cash points.
The maps, which will use Google-style images of actual streets and parks, will also detail the precise locations of a raft of other offences - such as car crime and yobbish behaviour.
The Home Office said the project would for the first time give residents a true picture of the state of their community.
But experts warned it could cause huge damage to neighbourhoods which are blighted by crime - knocking thousands from house prices overnight.
So we have to pretend it dosen't exist? or are they frightened more 'no go' ghettos will be created? (Ed)
It could also lead to schools in high-crime areas struggling to attract children.
James Scott-Lee, of the Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors, said: 'Whilst RICS fully supports efforts by the government to reduce instances of crime, publishing this information will no doubt have an effect on local house prices - not to dissimilar to school and hospital league tables.
'In the current economic climate, publicising in a sensational manner high crime areas in such detail could literally wipe thousands of pounds off of house prices over night, further disadvantaging those who are already struggling to make ends meet.
The maps, which will be available nationwide by the end of the year, are intended to make local police more accountable.
Ministers also argue that, if residents become aware their area is plagued by crime, they can also do something to help, such as set up neighbourhood watch.
Initially, the maps will be available online and in leaflet form. They can be searched by postcode and are backed up by graphs showing crime trends, month-on-month comparisons, and information broken down into specific types of offence.
Cabinet Office papers reveal the final plan intends to go even further. It will use images from Google, which show aerial pictures of every street and park in the country.
The locations where crimes have taken place can then be detailed on the maps. The precise locations of schools, cash points and pubs will also be detailed.
It will allow residents to, in theory, spot areas where action is needed - or which should be avoided. Continued
It shouldn't have come to this in the first place!!! We never had this scale of crime twenty years ago and we shouldn't have it now! The Lib-Lab-Con-EU has a lot to answer for!!! Political correctness, Human Rights and mamby pamby fluffy pink legislation is to blame, why on earth we can't return to our old values, morality and tradition of law I don't know, crooks were frightened of prison, today they embrace it as a break!! (Ed)
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Up to 10 junior ministers are willing to resign to force Gordon Brown to stand down, it was reported today.
The bombshell claim means the Prime Minister could face a mass resignation before Labour's conference in September.
The danger level to Mr Brown also increased following reports that David Miliband and Alan Johnson are being urged to forge a 'dream ticket' in any leadership contest.
A former minister told the London Evening Standard: "Brown is proving an unmitigated failure and there is no shortage of MPs who are willing to go public with that view.
'I have spoken to several members of the Government who say they will resign if it proves necessary to provoke a change of leader before it is too late. There are probably at least 10.
He continued: "There are other MPs, like me, who will sign a letter asking the Prime Minister to stand down. We cannot go on to the general election with the Government in such a hopeless state.'
Ministers and MPs who want the beleaguered Prime Minister to quit appear to be coalescing around the idea of Foreign Secretary Mr Miliband as Prime Minister with Health Secretary Mr Johnson as his deputy.
The pair would aim for a General Election next spring, arguing that they need time to set out their stall.
The charismatic Mr Johnson - the leader the Tories fear most - has insisted publicly he does not have the 'capabilities' for the top job.
But Labour sources said he may be willing to team up with Mr Miliband if Mr Brown is forced out.
One party grandee told the Daily Mail: 'It is still very early but a Miliband- Johnson ticket is one option being spoken about.
'There is a large group of MPs who know the situation is pretty dire but believe there is not an awful lot to do other than go down to defeat at the next election with Gordon Brown as leader. Continued
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A judge issued an arrest warrant for a Liberal Democrat party donor today after he failed to show up at court.
Millionaire Michael Brown, 42, is due to face trial later this year in connection with a series of multi-million pound frauds.
He is facing a string of allegations relating to obtaining money transfer by deception, transferring criminal property, theft, furnishing false information and perverting the course of justice.
The Glasgow-born businessman, who donated a total of £2.4million to the political party, has denied 16 separate charges.
He was due to appear at Southwark Crown Court today for a short administrative hearing but failed to attend.
Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC issued a bench warrant for Brown's arrest and adjourned the hearing until August 11.
The theft charges against Brown, a former bonds trader, relate to his company 5th Avenue Partners Ltd.
The charges of transferring criminal property involve a Spanish bank and HSBC accounts.
He is also alleged to have sent an email to a third party asking them ensure allegations were withdrawn.
Brown, of Templewood Avenue, Hampstead, North West London, is facing six counts of theft, six of transferring criminal property, two of furnishing false information, one of obtaining a money transfer by deception, and one of perverting the course of justice between February 9, 2005 and September 6, 2005.
The perverting the course of justice offence is said to have taken place on April 17, 2006. A trial date has been fixed for September 8 this year. News Source
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Freak of Nature? or a product of Genetic Engineering?
A piglet with the face of a monkey has been born in a remote Chinese village, astonishing local residents.
The animal has a simian jaw, bulging forehead, small snout and eyes that are so close together that they appear almost attached.
Its front legs are much shorter than its back legs, causing it top hop rather than walk on all fours like a normal piglet.
The animal was one of five piglets recently born to a sow owned by a family in Fengzhang village, Xiping township.
“It’s hideous. No one will be willing to buy it, and it scares the family to even look at it,” owner Feng Changlin told the Oriental Today newspaper.
But the monkey-piglet has become something of a local tourist attraction, with people coming from across the area to photograph its remarkable features.
And not everyone in the family is disgusted by its appearance.
“Our son likes to play with it, and he stopped us from getting rid of it. He even feeds it milk,” said Mr Feng’s wife.
The piglet’s rare condition is thought to be caused by a form of holoprosencephaly, a brain development disorder that can cause cyclopia, the failure of eyes to properly separate. News Source
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A 14-year-old boy has been assaulted in William Street in Northampton.
The incident took place between 9pm and 10pm on Wednesday 23 July when the teenager was approached by the offender who punched him in the face in an unprovoked attack.
The offender also made a racist remark to the victim.
The victim suffered a split lip in the attack, which police are treating as racially aggravated. The offender is described as Asian, of stocky build with black short hair.
Witnesses to this incident, or anyone with information, should call Northamptonshire police on 08453 700700 - alternatively, information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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Daniel Powell (18) needed more than 50 staples in his head and suffered bleeding on the brain when he was brutally set upon after becoming separated from his friends in Yorkshire Street in the early hours of July 20
Police believe Daniel, from Newton Heath, was approached by a group of men while he was on his own and, without provocation, was hit over the head with the butt of a glass bottle by one of the gang.
He was taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital and later to Hope Hospital, where he was treated for a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain and received 51 staples to his head following surgery.
He remains in hospital where his condition is stable.
Police released the gruesome images, on today’s front page, in the hope that the public will come forward and help them piece together the events of that night.
Daniel’s injuries are so severe that he remembers little of what happened and cannot recall which bar he was in or give a description of his attackers. He does, however, remember a woman giving him first aid and police are keen to trace this woman.
Det Con Jed Stubbs, from Oldham CID said: “The victim was enjoying a night out with his friends when he was brutally assaulted with a glass bottle. He was left with nasty injuries to his skull and it will be a long time before he fully recovers.
“Because the victim cannot remember what happened, we need the public’s help in piecing together exactly what happened and where so we can trace the offender and bring him to justice.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Oldham CID on 0161-856 8951 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Continued
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A man had paintstripper thrown in his face when he answered the front door of his Northampton home.
The 55-year-old victim opened the door and was stood on the doorstep of his home in Greatmeadow, Blackthorn, Northampton when the attacker threw the liquid into his face.
A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said: "The man's injuries are not serious and he will not lose his sight.
"However, his eyes are bloodshot and sore and he may need further treatment. We believe the incident was unprovoked."
Witnesses to the attack, which took place at about 6am today, can call police on 08453 700700 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111 News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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Police are hunting a violent sexual predator who attacked a woman in her home in front of her three-year-old son.
The 35-year-old was entering a property in Warner Road, Walthamstow, when a man burst through the open door.
He grabbed her by the throat, pushed her to the floor and indecently assaulted her.
The victim screamed and manage to fight off her attacker, who ran off towards Palmerston Road.
The suspect is described as Oriental, aged about 35, 5ft9ins tall, with black shoulder length hair. He was wearing a grey vest top, blue baggy jeans, and was carrying a blue carrier bag.
The assault happened on Monday July 14, at about 1pm.
Anyone with any information regarding this assault are asked to contact PC Victoria Groom in the Sapphire Unit at Walthamstow Police Station on 0208 345 3276 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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Schools should have police stationed permanently on site to search pupils for knives, ministers said yesterday.
In the latest measure to crack down on spiralling youth crime, police chiefs have been asked to free up enough officers to work in every school that requests one.
They would patrol corridors, playgrounds and surrounding streets to tackle truancy and indiscipline and frisk pupils for knives and other weapons.
Schools minister Lord Adonis said head teachers who already have officers in their schools as part of a pilot scheme are 'warmly supportive' of the move.
He told the annual conference of the teaching union Voice yesterday that ministers favour a major expansion of the Safer Schools Partnerships scheme.
Last year teachers were given powers to search pupils for weapons but school discipline tsar Sir Alan Steer revealed this month that they rarely use them.
He said he believed many schools instead took a 'common sense' approach and called in the police. Continued
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Marxist rule brings Anarchy and Despair
This is why Britain has been allowed to spiral out of control
The perfect excuse to introduce draconian laws in the near future!
Lawless thugs take turns to boot an unconscious man in the head - while a teenage GIRL causally rifles his pockets.
The five feral thugs are seen battering the defenceless victim to the floor in the street in this sickening CCTV footage, before kicking his head like a football.
Their heartless girl pal goads them on throughout the onslaught, then sits astride the 27-year-old and searches him as he lies face down in the road.
Amazingly the young blonde later claimed she was so drunk she couldn’t even remember the booze-fuelled assault in Rochdale town centre, Greater Manchester.
Cops released the grim video last night to illustrate the wanton violence blighting broken Britain as the robbery gang were jailed for a total of 15 years.
The victim - who cops say survived by “sheer luck” - got into a row with Gemma Stafford, 18, and her baying gang pals in March.
He pretended to ring the police to scare them off - but the mob circled him and savagely punched him to the floor before aiming kicks at his motionless head, even as blood formed a pool around his face.
Chilling
Stafford then climbed on his back to rifle for fags and cash while Stuart Shaw, 20, continued to put the boot in.
He aimed one last chilling blow - this time taking a run-up - before leaving the victim for dead.
When cops arrived Stafford, of Rochdale, claimed she was tending to the victims’ wounds but admitted violent disorder and robbery after the crystal clear footage emerged. Continued
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People with learning disabilities face unnecessary suffering and even death because of failings in the health service, an independent report warns.
Patients are being ignored and their conditions left undiagnosed or untreated because some parts of the NHS see only their disability and not their illness, the results of a year-long inquiry ordered by the Government concluded.
It recommends that all of the 1.5 million Britons with learning disabilities should receive a check up from their GP at least once a year, to pick up underlying health problems.
Health service staff should also receive extra training on how to treat people with learning disabilities.
The inquiry was ordered by ministers last year after a report by Mencap, the charity, highlighted a number of cases involving patients with learning disabilities, including that of Emma Kemp, from Newbury.
Her family claim that she did not receive any treatment for cancer, despite being given a 50 per cent chance of surviving the disease, because it was judged that she would be uncooperative.
She died a few weeks later at the age of 26.
Also highlighted was the experience of a 43-year-old stroke victim who went without food in a hospital for 26 days.
Because he could not speak, staff did not realise what was happening. He also later died.
The cases "were not isolated incidents", the report, published today, concluded.
Sir Jonathan Michael, a former chief executive of Guy's and St Thomas' hospital trust in London, who led the inquiry, said: "It is clear what the NHS should be doing.
"The challenge is to make the health service as accessible to people with learning disabilities as it is to the rest of us."
All organisations across the NHS should provide patients with learning disabilities "reasonably adjusted" services, to take account of their extra needs, he said. Continued
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Thousands of pubs have ditched a drive to curb cheap drinks promotions after government lawyers warned it could breach EU competition law.
The move comes only days after Ministers urged the drinks industry to do more to limit 'happy hours' and other irresponsible cut-price offers.
They have been blamed for fuelling the damaging binge-drinking epidemic.
But now the BBPA, whose members own around 29,000 pubs, has withdrawn the guidance, which was drawn up in 2005, after its lawyers claimed is in breach of European competition law.
The group’s decision came after its own figures showed beer sales in pubs have reached their lowest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In total 107 million fewer pints were sold in April to June this year compared with the same period last year - a fall of 1.2 million pints a day.
The scheme for pubs to work together over such promotions was introduced by the British Beer and Pub Association. which represents more than half the UK's 57,000 pubs.
But it has now been suspended after documents from Department for Business and Enterprise suggested that pubs could face legal action and heavy fines for breach of competition rules.
MPs accused the Government, which introduced 24-hour drinking less than three years ago, of presiding over a shambles.
Tory spokesman Jeremy Hunt said: 'Large parts of the industry want to act responsibly and the Government should be helping them, not getting in their way.
'It is ridiculous that one week the Government slams the industry for not doing enough and then the next week they clamp down on them for trying to act. This highlights the complete confusion across government on how to tackle alcohol-related problems.' Continued
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BP sparked anger today with profits of £6.75 billion - the equivalent of £37million a day.
Unions and motorists accused the oil giant of cashing in on surging energy prices amid calls for a windfall tax.
The company insisted that the 23 rise in half-yearly profits compared with the same period last year was a legitimate reward for its efforts.
Shell is expected to post high profits later this week.
BP said it obtained the bulk of its earnings from exploration and oil production, rather than sales at the pumps where it makes less than 1p in profit on every litre of petrol it sells at its 1,300 UK filling stations.
But the explanation cut little ice with critics. Tony Woodley, joint leader of the union Unite, said: 'While ordinary people struggle to make ends meet, BP's boardroom is wading through knee-deep profits.
'It is high time our government moved to stop the fuel corporates picking the pockets of the poor and needy.
'A windfall tax now would ensure the money was there to help the old and vulnerable through these tough times.'
Neil Greig, director of the Institute of Advanced Motorists Motoring Trust, added: 'Many will find it hard to accept the continued huge profits being made.'
Petrol prices have soared since the start of the year, rising from an average of 102.8p per litre at the start of January to 118.2p at the end of June - a rise of 15 per cent.
Diesel prices leapt 22 per cent over the same period. Continued
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Food prices in Britain are rising more quickly than similar economies across the globe.
A study published by the OECD today puts the UK's food inflation rate at 9.5 per cent in June.
That is almost 65 per cent higher than in France, where the figure is 5.77 per cent, and almost a third faster than the 7.12 per cent in Germany.
The cost of energy - petrol, gas and electricity - is also racing ahead, imposing a crippling burden on the nation's families and pensioners.
Some of the biggest increases in shopping bills are being seen on fresh food and meat, including beef, pork, veal, chicken, milk and eggs, as well as bread, pasta and rice.
The OECD figures will trigger questions as to why the cost of food in Britain is rising so much faster than every other similar economy.
Supermarkets claim they are protecting customers against the worst effects of commodity price rises on everything from wheat and corn to milk, meat and rice.
However, the evidence of the OECD study is that grocers on the Continent and beyond are doing a much better job at shielding customers.
Looking at Western Europe, only Iceland has a higher food inflation rate of 16.6 per cent. It has particular problems in that it relies on expensive imports.
The 9.5 per cent annual increase in the UK compares to 7.3 per cent in Ireland, 7.2 per cent in Spain, 7 per cent in Belgium, 6.55 per cent in the Netherlands and 6.1 per cent in Italy.
Looking further afield, food inflation is a much lower 6 per cent in the USA, 4.2 per cent in Japan and only 3 per cent in Canada. Continued
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As the dustmen were striking on collection day, it was no surprise that by the next week Stephen Walton's wheelie bin was full to bursting.
However, the father of four was taken aback when council staff returned to work - and wouldn't collect his rubbish because the bin was too full.
The two- day walkout by refuse staff had prevented a collection planned for July 17.
So last Thursday, Mr Walton was looking forward to getting rid of the rubbish accumulating outside his home in Mirfield, Kirklees, West Yorkshire.
But when the binmen came round, they left his bin untouched - the only one in his street.
He called Kirklees Council to find out why, and was told that as the lid would not close, binmen were under orders not to empty it.
'It's ridiculous,' the 37-year- old accountant said. 'I completely admit that my bin lid wouldn't shut properly, but that is purely because of the strike.'
Yesterday, three weeks' worth of refuse was still piling up near his home. 'It's a mountain of rubbish - it's probably 21/2ft clear of the rim now - and with all the hot weather we're probably going to end up with rats,' said Mr Walton, who lives with his wife Jane, also 37, and their children, Charlotte, 11, Laura, nine, Amy, seven, and 18-month- old Zachary.
'There are a lot of us so we probably produce more waste than the average home, but that is not why the bin was overfilled.
'It's a total farce that the council workers can go on strike and then blame you for having too much rubbish. If they did what they are paid to do, then we wouldn't be in this situation.' Continued
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Brown's leadership crisis has deepened as his deputy Harriet Harman was forced to deny plotting to replace him.
Miss Harman took the extraordinary step of declaring that it was 'not over' for Mr Brown amid persistent speculation that she is preparing a campaign to take over at Number Ten.
She denied claims that as she watched the Glasgow East by-election defeat unfold on television she was overheard telling aides: 'This is my moment.'
But in an increasingly febrile atmosphere, Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Miss Harman were said to be squaring up for a contest if Mr Brown is forced out.
Labour MPs claimed that up to ten junior ministers are willing to quit to force Mr Brown to step down.
And hundreds of Labour activists backed the idea of a 'stalking horse' challenge to the Prime Minister.
Many in the party now believe that a full-scale revolt against Mr Brown is likely and could come as soon as the start of September. Continued
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Millions of families face an extra £15 on their council tax bills after a court ordered higher wages for women working in the public sector.
The equal pay ruling in the Court of Appeal means local authorities will have to find £250 million or more for an immediate rise for tens of thousands of workers in jobs dominated by women.
It adds to a burden of £2.5 billion already faced by council tax payers as a result of a legal saga that goes back more than a decade.
Council chiefs hinted today that they may cut back services - such as rubbish collections or home help for the elderly - rather than shift the pay increase on to council tax bills.
The pay ruling and its cost to taxpayers stem from a deal struck between councils and their trade unions in 1997 that would mean employees like school dinner ladies and care workers - jobs almost entirely done by women - would gradually have their pay increased to match rates in jobs mainly done by men - such as refuse collectors.
But a series of claims encouraged by ambulance-chasing legal firms have persuaded the courts to unpick the deal and award higher sums to women workers.
Today's decision means a system called 'pay protection' - under which the pay of groups like dustmen was to be cut down gradually over a three year period while pay in female jobs was to be gradually raised to match - must be dropped. Continued
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A nurse claimed he was forced to resign after reporting a colleague for an alleged sexual assault of a patient at a Northampton hospital.
Glenn Robinson, aged 38, told an employment tribunal in Bedford yesterday he complained after allegedly seeing a male nurse kissing a patient on a ward for vulnerable adults at the Jennings Unit of Princess Marina Hospital in Duston.
The nurse was later cleared after a five-month investigation.
Mr Robinson, of Montague Crescent, Briar Hill, Northampton, made the complaint on April 28, 2005 and said that in the months afterwards he was "targeted, singled out and bullied" in an ordeal which amounted to "constructive unfair dismissal".
He said a separate complaint he had made about a drugs error was "brushed under the carpet".
After making the complaints, Mr Robinson, who had been working as a qualified staff nurse for 20 years, claimed his employers waged a campaign against him, leading to his resignation on March 5, 2006.
He said he was subjected to disciplinary action, monitored for his attendance and made leader for 12 shifts after coming back from three weeks sick leave, which he felt created "undue stress".
He added he was subjected to criticism for wearing a cotton tunic during a heatwave, something which other colleagues had not been pulled up on.
Mr Robinson was also investigated for swearing, sending inappropriate text messages to a colleague on a work phone and failing to pass on a message.
Mr Robinson said: "I was very clear about what I saw. Because of the patient's condition, she was unable to give consent which amounted to sexual assault. I reported it immediately. I acted in good faith, I have a duty of care for the patients. As a result of the whistleblowing, the trust set about removing me from the workplace. I knew after returning from sickness leave I would be scrutinised for everything I did."
But Tracey Dodds, Mr Robinson's manager, said his attendance had been poor before making the complaint.
The nurse about whom Mr Robinson made the original complaint was suspended for five months but eventually returned after an investigation found no evidence against him. The hearing continues. News Source
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Three illegal immigrants living in Oldbury who ran a large scale cannabis farm containing plants valued at £50,000 have been jailed for a total of more than five and a half years.
Thang Nguyen and Hoc Pham, both aged 41, and 29-year-old Duyen Le, all of Birmingham New Road, admitted producing cannabis at a house in Smethwick.
Edward Soulsby, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court how police were alerted by the men's landlord and when they went to the house found over 300 "strong" growing cannabis plants.
The officers also recovered "sophisticated" equipment to heat and water the plants, with the electricity supply tampered with to obtain free power.
Recorder Barbara Carter told the men: "This was clearly a commercial enterprise."
She added: "You have all been exploited by traffickers who asked you to look after the operation."
Pham, who further admitted illegally abstracting electricity to run the farm, was jailed for 32 months.
Le was jailed for 20 months while Nguyen, who played a smaller role in the operation, received a 16 month sentence.
Barristers defending the three men stressed they were way down the chain of command and had acted simply as gardeners for the growing plants.
The court was told they had all been caring for the plants under the instructions of other men.
The Recorder, passing sentence, told the three men their status in this country would have to be examined by the immigration authorities. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Les
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A chronic shortage of manpower is threatening the operational capability of the armed forces, MPs said last night.
Family lives are also under threat as servicemen are not given enough time off between deployments, according to a damning report.
Sections of the forces, such as medical staff, are so undermanned there is not enough capacity to give people time off.
The Government has faced criticism over claims the forces are overstretched by the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The report from the all-party Commons select committee, released last night, said the forces were reaching crisis point as the number of personnel joining the front line is failing and the number leaving early is increasing.
Staffing shortages mean that personnel are having to spend increasingly long periods away from their families, and gaps between deployments are narrowing.
This is breaking 'Harmony Guidelines', designed to help servicemen rest and recuperate, putting families under 'intense pressure'.
The report said: 'The impact of armed service life on personal and family lives is one of the main reasons that personnel leave.'
Committee chairman James Arbuthnot said: 'Our armed forces are being worked extremely hard to support current operations and it is vital the pressures on our service personnel and their families is minimised.
'However, recruitment and retention targets are being consistently missed, resulting in increased pressure on those who remain. The MoD must respond with sufficient flexibility and imagination if it is to recruit the number of new personnel required to enable our forces to operate effectively.'
Operational capability is particularly threatened by shortages in what are known as the 'pinch point trades' - specialities where there is insufficient trained staff to properly perform operational tasks.
Trades significantly undermanned include submariners, medical staff, aircrew, mechanics and engineers. In some areas, the manning shortfall is as high as 70 per cent. News Source
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The mother of a girl of 15 targeted by an American paedophile last night urged the authorities: “Kick him out of Britain.”
Pervert Ian Smith, 30, walked free from court last Thursday despite being convicted of a cybersex charge.
The furious mum said her daughter, now 16, had gone into hiding fearing Smith would try to find her.
She said: “He was found guilty but is allowed to roam around and that leaves my daughter living in fear that he’s going to turn up. He should be kicked out of the country.”
Smith of Reno, Nevada, met the girl on a computer games website. He sent her nearly 17,000 messages and emailed a video of himself performing a sex act.
The bachelor sent her an air ticket so she could join him. She was stopped at Birmingham Airport in April.
He flew to Britain in May to find her but was arrested in Doncaster, South Yorks. He had air tickets on him, one thought to be for the girl.
Computer geek Smith was convicted of emailing the girl images of a sex act. He was jailed for four weeks by Doncaster JPs but no order was made for his deportation.
He was let out minutes after his case due to the time he’d spent in custody before trial. The mum of the girl added: “I’m staggered that he’s been allowed to stay in this country. It’s madness.
“My daughter could have ended up in some sort of sex cult if she’d flown off to meet him. She was completely taken in by him. “Thankfully she now realises how dangerous he is.”
Smith, in the UK on a six-month tourist visa, may face an FBI probe because of laws he may have broken in his pursuit of the teenager. He was picked up last night at Doncaster railway station by Immigration officers. A source said: “He is being held in custody.” News Source
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David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, is positioning himself for a potential leadership bid with a national tour to meet voters.
Amid mounting speculation that Gordon Brown will be forced to step down in September, Mr Miliband is to conduct a series of 'outreach' meetings around the time of Labour's party conference.
Mr Miliband insists the tour is designed to inform the public about the work of the Foreign Office. But his plans have irritated senior colleagues, one of whom described the visits as “blatant manoeuvring,” adding: “whoever heard of a Foreign Secretary touring the UK?”
Mr Miliband will use a newspaper article to call for Labour to develop radical policies to take on the Conservatives. However, it is thought to contain no words of support for the beleaguered Prime Minister.
The piece is certain to raise eyebrows in Westminster where speculation surrounding Mr Brown's future has reached fever pitch.
At least 10 ministers were said today to be preparing to quit the Government unless he resigned. Continued
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Millions of Alzheimer’s sufferers have been given fresh hope after a new generation of drugs were shown to reverse the symptoms of the disease.
The treatment can bring the “worst affected parts of the brain back to life” and scientists say it is twice as effective as any medication currently available.
They even suggested the drug works so well it might be given to patients in the future to prevent the onset of the illness.
The results of the human trials were hailed a “major new development” in the fight against the disease, which threatens to overwhelm the NHS within decades.
Alzheimer’s currently affects more than 400,000 people in Britain and the number of sufferers is expected to rise rapidly as the population ages.
The cost of treating the condition will double from £17billion to £35billion by 2026.
The researchers say that if further tests of the drug, called rember, are successful it could be available within four to five years.
“We appear to be bringing the worst affected parts of the brain functionally back to life,” said Prof Claude Wischik of Aberdeen University, who carried out the trials on 321 people with the illness.
He added: “It’s an aspiration for us to develop a drug that we could give preventatively from a certain stage.” Continued
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The battle to get a loan to buy a home has never been such a nightmare, the Bank of England have warned.
Just 36,000 people were given mortgages to buy a home in June, the lowest figures since records began in 1993.
Over the last year, Britain's mortgage meltdown has paralysed the market, causing numbers to plunge by an almost unbelievable 70 per cent.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at the consultancy Global Insight, described the mortgage collapse as 'massive' and 'staggering.'
The scale of the meltdown is eyewatering, and is a major worry for millions of people who need to remortgage or buy a home in the next few years.
It comes as a Government-funded report warned yesterday the mortgage drought will continue until the end of 2010. Continued
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This Document is deadly
(Dr.)Mike Stagman
www.MyronStagman.com
Frankfurt, Germany
THE LISBON TREATY
Introduction
This Document is deadly. It means Surrender, surrendering the independence of your country and surrendering your personal freedoms. The European Union will become, "legally", a police-state Empire.
Sections in this Report:
"Background Information" (describing what we already know, in historical fact, about the EU)
"Lisbon Treaty Deceptions".
"Anschluss-'Warsaw Pact' Clauses" (which allow the EU to use an Army to invade and occupy Member States of the EU);
the "Militarisation" section (which. among other things, forces Member States to militarise);
the section on "Further Centralisation of Power", abolishing many crucial Veto powers of the Member States; and making the unelected, unaccountable European Commission a fully-empowered Dictatorship.
"Gestapo clauses", making the EU into a police state where no courts of law have jurisdiction over the Police, and there is no protection for personal freedoms or democratic processes.
"Final Provisions" (stating that the Treaty runs for an "unlimited period" --- That spells the end of Freedom in Europe)
I Background Information to the Treaty:
In evaluating any Treaty (or Contract), it is elementary to evaluate first the Institution (or person) that offers you the Treaty to sign. This is especially true in the case of the European Union where the EU and the Governments that support it do not want the Sovereign People to have a referendum. This alone is extremely suspicious, and tyrannical.
What is the moral and political Character of the European Union?
The EU is:
(a) an undemocratic, dictatorial Empire in which real power lies in the corrupt, unelected, unaccountable (except to its corporate Masters) European Commission (one year, the entire Commission resigned because the corruption was so heavy and obvious).
(b) the Parliament, always the governmental branch closest to the People and most democratic, is a virtually powerless talking shop -- a joke;
(c) the power behind the EU (and European Commission) are corporate Cartels (especially the Chemical-Drug-Biotechnology Cartel, Banking Cartel, and American-British Oil Cartel. Also important is the Military-Industrial Complex; all of the Cartels are closely related through interlocking stock ownership, directorates, and mutual interests)
(The former Prime Minister of Britain, Harold Wilson, referred to the Treaty of Rome as "the Magna Carta of the Western European Multinationals". Recently, the Labour MP Alan Simpson described the EU as the "handmaiden of Corporate interests".)
(So powerful is the Corporate Cartel thrust to betray their individual countries to the EU Empire that not even Margaret Thatcher, prime minister of Britain for 11 years, could oppose it.
At the height of her long period of Conservative-rightwing corporate political leadership, the darling of Britain's corporate cartel Oligarchy, she gave an anti-EU speech in Bruges and was ousted from power in an internal Conservative Party coup.)
c) Germany and its secret partner, the superpower United States (its giant corporations & the U.S. Government which is dominated by these Corporations), form a crucial Axis of Power in the EU.
((Note: Contrary to popular misconception derived from subtle EU propaganda claiming that the EU is a counterweight to the United States, the EU and USA are not opponents, but partners in a New fascistic World Order.
That's the reason the CIA spent a decade working for the establishment of the European Union, why Pres. George W. Bush offered PM Blair to come to England and campaign for the EU Constitution, why Bush welcomed EU expansion, the reason the EU aided the CIA 'renditions' of kidnapped persons, and why David Rockefeller (the most powerful Rockefeller since the death of Nelson Rockefeller) has been such a staunch proponent of the EU. The EU and USA only differ over strategy and tactics, and the division of the spoils.))
(d) these corporate Cartels and German-American Axis hide themselves behind a faceless bureaucracy in Brussels
(e) the European Union operates behind closed doors, with secret, hidden processes; there is little transparency (if any) in the operations of the dominant European Commission.
(f) And there is much to hide: the EU has never passed an Audit (because of Corruption), and, a few years ago, the woman in charge of auditing was fired for refusing to pass the Audit; indeed, a journalist who exposed EU corrupt dealings was arrested by the police and his computer, etc., confiscated.
(g) Major Policies of the EU include
--- Genetic Engineering (GM, GMOs) and the unconscionable, sacrilegious Patents on Life -- endangering food safety and threatening the livelihoods of Farmers everywhere in the world
--- the diminishing of democratic institutions and personal freedoms, often in the false name of "counter-terrorism"; but when EU officials label environmental protestors (protesting against Corporate Policies) "terrorists" and "potential terrorists", you should understand what -- and who -- lies behind such slander.
--- the rights of the Member States have already been severely diminished by the EU. In Britain, for example, the EU has issued over 100,000 directives and regulations to the British government, and 70% of British laws implement these EU Directives -- a terrible loss of Sovereignty;
--- Member States have already lost much control of their Economies, having lost their currency, and also are subject to the overriding power of the European Central Bank (in Frankfurt, Germany, headquarters of Europe's biggest bank, the Deutsche Bank).
These critical economic and financial losses were NOT democratically decided, but the result of secret, illicit deals between puppet-governments and the EU.
--- a variety of policies which favour giant corporations and discriminate against small- and medium-sized businesses;
--- a variety of policies which assist the corporate Cartels to dominate and exploit the Third World, policies particularly harmful to hundreds of millions of small-family farmers; Note that many thousands of farmers in Europe lose their livelihoods every year.
--- increasing Militarisation, by the EU itself and by means of EU support for American military invasions; Germany, one of the Axis Powers in the EU, has been re-militarising.
German soldiers are now in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Sudan, Djibouti, Congo (a mineral-rich land where the EU has sent a military force) and Lebanon. In the newspaper Independent (UK), 27 October 2006, we read: "German troops pose with skull and NATO forces kill 85 civilians in Afghanistan".
In the Independent of 25 October 2006, we read, "German ministers knew about CIA torture cells . . . . . German Special Forces ((in Afghanistan)) assisted in interrogation", evidently involving torture.
--- the EU has rendered assistance to the American secret police in its kidnapping of people and sending them out for imprisonment (and torture) in secret places.
This is what we know of the European Union to date.
Therefore, QUESTION: Without looking at the Lisbon Treaty, how would you evaluate the moral and political Character of the Institution that authors this Treaty, and wants YOU to be bound and obligated to obey it?
NOTE: Giant Corporations & Cartels have two principal methods for dominating Governments and Societies: (1) bribery of the political system, and (2) corporate mass media Thought Control.
So these are the primary reasons that Governments in Europe have been willing to betray their country and countrymen to the EU Empire, and the primary reasons that the People have not effectively opposed this tyrannical and growing Empire.
(That is why we must create our own Grassroots Mass Media to educate and political activate (mobilise) the People.) ***
II. LISBON TREATY DECEPTIONS
The Lisbon Treaty is a Surrender document. The authors of the Treaty have attempted to hide the dark, sinister character of this Treaty in a number of ways.
1. The Treaty is NOT more democratic and freedom-loving than the previous Surrender Document called the "Constitution". (Words like "democracy", "freedom", "equality", "justice" are placed here-and-there in the Preamble and Provisions with no substance whatever to these glittering words.) The Lisbon Treaty is essentially the same as the lethal Constitution, but even worse.
2. The menacing character of the text is obscured by having a long, long treaty (250 pages) that few people will carefully read.
3. The Treaty amends previous treaties. The Lisbon Treaty makes the task of understanding it unusually difficult by stating the amendment to Articles of the previous treaty, but not quoting the text that is being amended.
4. Subtle phrasing has a cosmetic look or neutral sound, but a close look reveals the dark meaning. For example, "The European Parliament shall be kept fully informed." -- this hides the fact that the Parliament has been made helpless, and may only be "informed".
5. EU-obligated Ministers have been signing the Treaty in the name of the People of the country, but working against the People actually having a voice by referendum. Also, Member State spokesmen favouring the Lisbon Treaty have made hundreds of false public statements about the so-called 'progressive' nature of this repulsive, traitorous Treaty.
6. "The Treaty at a Glance" prologue (only an introductory statement) to the Treaty says, "Withdrawal from the Union: the Treaty of Lisbon explicitly recognises for the first time the possibility for a Member State to withdraw from the Union."
This is a boldfaced propaganda lie. The text nowhere explicitly recognises, nowhere recognises even by inference, that a Member State may withdraw from the Union. In fact, there are powerful provisions which starkly remind of the Warsaw Pact's invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia.
This false statement is a lure, a 'come-on', and typical of the deceit practised by the European Union since its inception.
III. Anschluss--'Warsaw Pact' Clauses
I mean the term Anschluss in its 1938 sense. The European Union has been trying to accomplish what Nazi Germany in fact accomplished in 1938 --- destroying the independence of Austria, and putting an end to Austrian democracy and personal freedoms.
The Lisbon Treaty surrenders a nation-state to the European Union empire.
(Note to German readers: The page number of the English text that I quote is the same in the German text of the Treaty. Please turn to the German text of the Treaty. Google search: Europa-EU vertrag von Lissabon )
1. EU law is superior to Member State law.
Clause 236 (page 114), Article 249 C (1) "Member States shall adopt all measures of national law necessary to implement legally binding Union acts."
The Member States must obey all EU Directives.
2. Qualified Majority Voting. The Lisbon Treaty, in many many important areas, abolishes the Veto that Member States had. Instead of requiring Unanimity, the EU extends Qualified Majority Voting (QMV).
This means that little more than one-half of the votes of the European Council, constituting little more than 50% of the population of the EU, need be obtained by the unelected, unaccountable, dictatorial European Commission in order to become law.