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John Downey, 61, has been arrested and charged with detonating a nail bomb in Hyde Park on July 20, 1982, that killed four soldiers. The bomb was the first of two explosions that killed a total of eleven soldiers and seven army horses. The four soldiers in Hyde Park served with the Blues and Royals regiment. A second bomb, detonated two hours later, killed seven military bandsmen. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) claimed responsibility for both attacks. Sue Hemming, Head of Special Crime and Counter-Terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "The Metropolitan Police Service has been investigating the...

'Trevor Bolder, the bassist in David Bowie's legendary 1970s backing band Spiders From Mars, has died from cancer at the age of 62. Rock band Uriah Heep, whom Bolder joined in 1976, announced the death of "a world-class bass player" and "world-class friend" on their website. He stopped playing with the band a few months ago because of poor health. Bolder appeared on classic Bowie albums including The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. "Trevor was an all-time great, one of the outstanding musicians of his generation and one of the finest and most influential...

A new analysis of the 2011 census shows that a decade of mass immigration helped mask the scale of decline in Christian affiliation among the British-born population – while driving a dramatic increase in Islam, particularly among the young. It suggests that only a minority of people will describe themselves as Christians within the next decade, for first time. Meanwhile almost one in 10 under 25s in Britain is now a Muslim. The proportion of young people who describe themselves as even nominal Christians has dropped below half for the first time. Initial results from the 2011 census published last...

U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (NNS) -- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) (IKE) is one of several U.S. Navy ships training British Sailors on large-deck flight operations as the United Kingdom prepares to launch the first Royal Navy aircraft carrier in more than 30 years. The US-UK Long Lead Specialist Skills Program (LLSSP) commenced in early 2013 with British Sailors aboard IKE and Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3). The program is an opportunity for British Sailors to regain operational experience at sea while their carriers are under construction. "The training the guys have received on board...

Senior members of the Church of Scotland voted Monday to let some congregations choose ministers who are in same-sex relationships—an important compromise that must still pass further hurdles before it can become church law. The church’s General Assembly backed a motion affirming a traditional conservative view on homosexuality, but permitted liberal congregations to ordain openly gay men or women if they wish. … Monday’s decision came after a lengthy debate on the issue, which has divided the church of about 400,000 members for years. Two congregations have split from the church over the issue. …

Barbara Hewson, a London barrister, has made the call for lowering the age of sexual consent in the United Kingdom from 16 to 13. Her reasoning (if one may call it that) is that the current age of consent leads to the harassment and “persecution of old men.” She also believes that underage victims should have no right to anonymity, and that law based on the best interests of the child should not trump the “rights” of men who like to kiss a 13-year-old, or put one’s hand up a 16-year-old’s skirt. time to end this prurient charade, which has...

The terrible story of the Oxford child sex ring has brought shame not only on the city of dreaming spires, but also on the local Muslim community. It is a sense of repulsion and outrage that I feel particularly strongly, working as a Muslim leader and Imam in this neighbourhood and trying to promote genuine cultural integration. There is no doubt that the evil deeds of these men have badly set back the cause of cross-community harmony. In its harrowing details, this grim saga of exploitation, misogyny, perversion and cruelty fills me not only with desperate sorrow for those girls...

Ukip is now within touching distance of the Conservatives, with the eurosceptic organisation polling just two per cent behind the governing party. A Survation poll put the Conservatives on 24%, down five points, Labour on 35%, down one point, the Liberal Democrats on 11%, down one point, and Ukip on 22%, up six points. Because of the oddities of the first-past-the-post electoral system, the poll would give Labour 377 seats, Tories 205 seats, Lib Dems 39 seats and Ukip one seat if replicated at a general election. The result is likely to worsen the chaotic debate which has dominated the...

The UK Independence Party — the anti-European Union, tough-on-immigration party that has bedeviled Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative party in recent years — is riding high following its best-ever showing in nationwide elections. As sure as night follows day, when UKIP does well it means the issue of Britain’s relationship with the EU is pushed to the top of the political agenda.UKIP secured 23% of the national popular vote in local government elections earlier this month, just two points behind the Conservatives. The left-wing Labour party came in narrowly ahead with 29% — a pitiful showing...

Those who grew up during the Hungry Thirties, and fought in World War II, were called “the greatest generation” in a 1968 book by U.S. author and broadcaster Tom Brokaw. … Now it’s suggested that Tory David Cameron’s 2010 coalition with Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats won’t last as long. In an interview, the PM mentions the possibility of it ending prematurely, and facing the new circumstances “in whatever way we should”. In 70 years, have we gone from the greatest to the weakest? In 1943, our coalition government was threatened by a Germany dedicated to our destruction. The 2013 coalition...

Police have come under fire for asking homeowners whether they were gay or bisexual—in a Neighborhood Watch survey. The questionnaire by West Midlands Police asked residents in Birmingham questions about their sexual orientation so they could help officers “detect crime and antisocial behavior.” The force claim that by asking whether people were straight, gay or bisexual it would help them decide where certain information about police initiatives should be best sent. But residents and politicians in the city have accused the police of being too politically correct. …

Since 1998, there has been an unexplained "standstill" in the heating of the Earth's atmosphere. Writing in Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this will reduce predicted warming in the coming decades. But long-term, the expected temperature rises will not alter significantly. The slowdown in the expected rate of global warming has been studied for several years now. Earlier this year, the UK Met Office lowered their five-year temperature forecast. But this new paper gives the clearest picture yet of how any slowdown is likely to affect temperatures in both the short-term and long-term. An international team of researchers looked at...

A rising star in Britain’s Labour Party, described by some as the “British Barack Obama,” Chuka Umunna urged the United Kingdom to more aggressively forge ties with West Africa's fast-growing economies. During a trade mission to West Africa last week that included a stop in his father’s home country Nigeria, Umunna, a member of the British Parliament, dismissed the comparison to the United States president. … Umunna, 34, grew up in Streatham and worked as a lawyer before being elected to parliament in 2010. The son of an Irish mother and Nigerian father, he said he made seven or eight...

Local Conservative party campaigners, including the chairman of one constituency association, will this week pledge their support for Nigel Farage after one of David Cameron’s allies described grassroots Tories as “mad, swivel-eyed loons”. Mr Farage uses an advertisement in Monday's Daily Telegraph to urge Conservative voters to back Ukip. The “loons” description, he says, is “the ultimate insult” from a party leadership that has betrayed the trust of its own supporters. He writes in the advertisement: “Only an administration run by a bunch of college kids, none of whom have ever had a proper job in their lives, could so...

Given the battering President Obama took this past week on a trio of political scandals, any public opinion survey results that aren’t dreadful probably are viewed with some relief at the White House. That may be the clearest message from a CNN/ORC poll released Sunday morning. According to the survey, which was conducted Friday and Saturday, 53 percent of Americans say they approve of the job the president is doing, with 45 percent saying they disapprove, CNN reports. That’s actually a tick better than the 51 percent approval rating Obama had in early April – but not enough to break...

The city council of a tiny rural hamlet in Somerset, England, has vetoed a plan to fly the flag of St. George because its links to the Christian Crusades in the Middle Ages may offend the town's Muslim residents. ... John Clements, vice president of the Royal Society of St. George, a patriotic organization, called the Radstock councilors' decision “nonsense” and a form of “censoring” of the national flag.

By a wide margin, but not quite a majority (yet), Let's quit EU say 46 per cent of voters in poll. Asked the exact question Conservatives want to put the public in the 2017 referendum – “Do you think that the UK should remain a member of the EU� – 46 per cent opt to come out, a higher figure than in other recent surveys. Just 30 per cent say they want to remain. In a further boost for the eurosceptic cause, 44 per cent want an “in/out� referendum immediately, although 29 per cent are prepared to wait until 2017,...

One of the victims who gave evidence in court against the Oxford child sexual exploitation ring has told the Guardian how she was groomed, raped and trafficked while in the care of Oxfordshire county council. Girl C's abuse began just after her 13th birthday. By the age of 14, the gang had got her addicted to hard drugs and was regularly trafficking the teenager across the country to be raped by strangers. By 16, Girl C was pregnant, not by one of the convicted men. She finally managed to escape only after her son was born, when the gang threatened...

A new investigation released by Wall Street Daily just revealed a disturbing pattern of price manipulation in the energy markets. The six-month investigation, conducted by renowned energy analyst, Karim Rahemtulla, was triggered by the incredible disparity in gas prices between the United States and Europe. The price of natural gas in the United States is presently about $4/mcf. Yet the price in Europe is upwards of $15/mcf. “Such mispricing simply cannot occur in an efficient market,” says Rahemtulla. For the global economy to function properly, the energy markets must be priced efficiently. It can be no other way. Any malfeasance...

According to Diane Abbott, Britain is facing a crisis of masculinity. In a speech made on Thursday under the auspices of the thinktank Demos, the shadow health minister warned of a generation of angry, inarticulate young men who had no idea of their role in society. Raised on a diet of pornography and consumerism, they were "caught between the stiff-upper-lip approach of previous generations" and the "pornified ideals" of a youth culture that featured Viagra as a party drug and promoted sexism and homophobia.More prone to depression and less well educated than young women, and perhaps jobless despite a degree,...

A FORMER Google executive has blown the whistle on a massive and “immoral” tax avoidance scheme that has “cheated” British taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of pounds over the past decade. Barney Jones, 34, who worked for the internet search giant between 2002 and 2006, has lifted the lid on an elaborate structure which diverts British profits through Ireland to the Bermuda tax haven. Although Google’s London sales staff would negotiate and sign contracts with British customers, and cash was paid into a UK bank account, deals were technically booked through its Dublin office to minimise its liabilities here....

Move over, Chris Matthews; there’s a new flip-flopping liberal “journalist” in town and his name is Piers Morgan. Morgan has had a revelation: Maybe, just maybe, government can become tyrannical after all. In a conversation with Penn Jillette, CNN’s anti-gun zealot – who has spent the last six months deriding the suggestion that the American government can’t be trusted when it comes to gun control – has had a change of heart after watching the IRS and DOJ/APP scandals unfold. Yep, Morgan went all Chris Matthews (the flip-flopping one) on Jillette when he came to the

'In May 1943, an audacious raid by the RAF's 617 squadron destroyed the industrial heart of Nazi Germany. Twelve years later, it was immortalised on film. Now, never-before-seen photographs from the set of classic movie The Dam Busters have emerged ahead of the 70th anniversary, on Thursday, of the legendary World War II mission. The backstage images give a new insight into how the famous attack on the Ruhr dams was recreated for the 1955 film.'

Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the 'war', in limitless form, will continue for 'at least' another decade - or two Last October, senior Obama officials anonymously unveiled to the Washington Post their newly minted "disposition matrix", a complex computer system that will be used to determine how a terrorist suspect will be "disposed of": indefinite detention, prosecution in a real court, assassination-by-CIA-drones, etc. Their rationale for why this was needed now, a full 12 years after the 9/11 attack: Among senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at...

This is the emotional moment a British soldier who survived the worst ever battlefield injuries while serving in Afghanistan collected his MBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson lost both legs and suffered more than 40 injuries, including brain damage which affected his memory and speech, in a bomb attack in 2006. The paratrooper has since defied medical opinion by teaching himself to walk again for short distances using crutches. And his determination was exemplified today as was he able to proudly stand to receive his honour.

'Two of the surviving Dambuster airmen have attended a ceremony after a flypast to mark the 70th anniversary of the World War II raid on German dams. Hundreds of onlookers gathered as a Lancaster bomber flew over Derwent reservoir - one of the practice sites used ahead of the top-secret mission. More than a third of the men never returned from the raids, when they had to fly just 60ft above ground. RAF Scampton later hosted a sunset service. The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and 617 Squadron flew over the dam in Derbyshire's Hope Valley on Thursday lunchtime....

'A controversial Church of Scotland report which questioned the divine right of Jews to the land of Israel has been rewritten. The 10-page discussion paper is due to be debated and voted on at the Kirk's general assembly next week. Last week Israel's ambassador to the UK described it as "truly hurtful". The Kirk said its revised version of The Inheritance of Abraham? paid attention to the concern over some of the language in the earlier report. The Church of Scotland made the changes following a meeting with representatives of the Jewish community in Britain facilitated by the Council of...

In an age of terrorism, we have become used to seeing armed police at major railway stations and airports, or guarding other potential targets such as embassies. But when officers with guns are needed to patrol the streets of an English town because of an upsurge in gang shootings, it seems we have reached something of a watershed in our national life. The images of paramilitary-style policemen with assault rifles escorting parents and children to school in Luton are a shocking confirmation that law and order has collapsed in parts of our country. In the past four months, there have...

A CROWD of 15,000 wellwishers cheer proud Royal Marines at a homecoming parade yesterday. They paid tribute to 700 men of 40 Commando who have completed THREE tours of Afghanistan. The unit has lost 18 out of the 61 Marines killed battling the Taliban. Heroes marched in Taunton, Somerset, then picked up medals from their captain general, the Duke of Edinburgh. Sue Cherry, welcoming home son Sam, 19, said: “We’re here to celebrate, but also to think of those who didn’t return.”

What a god-awful mess this country has got itself into over multiculturalism, and once again our fear of racism will lead to the betrayal of hundreds of young girls In a particularly warped twist, the pimp will teach his victim that her parents are racist towards Asians, which is why they disapprove of their relationship – absolutely nothing, of course, to do with him being a violent, controlling thug Rochdale, Rotherham, Derby, Oxford. The towns change, but the pattern is always the same. Gangs of men, mainly of Pakistani Muslim heritage, lure white girls as young as 10 with gifts...

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been escorted away from demonstrators in a police riot van during a campaign trip in Edinburgh. Mr Farage was heckled by protesters as he was promoting the UKIP candidate in a Scottish by-election. As he was holding a news conference inside the Canons' Gait pub on the Royal Mile, just yards from the Scottish Parliament, he was surrounded by dozens of protesters shouting insults at him - some calling him "racist" and "scum". Bar staff were forced to clear the pub and the protest spilled outside, obstructing Mr Farage's exit. The UKIP leader attempted to...

A blast of wet and chilly weather left some hilly areas of the UK cloaked in snow as well as spring blossom on Wednesday.... Among areas affected was the hamlet of Anchor, close to the border between Shropshire and Wales. Landlord Mike Steedman, who has run the Anchor Inn for the past 17 years, said he could not remember snow falling in the area during May....

Wolfgang Münchau writing for the Financial Times correctly asserts Lord Lawson is right – Britain does not need Europe In discussing the pros and cons of Britain’s membership of the EU, the most important point to remember is this: the terms of an exit are freely negotiable. This means that the economic consequences will depend to a large extent on those exit terms. In his article in the Times last week, Lord Lawson, a former UK chancellor, argued that the regulatory costs of the single market for the British economy exceed the economic costs of an exit. As a consequence...

A Fighter With Naval DNA By Romulo Sobral Besides Brazil, Saab identified future demand for naval fighters in countries like India, Italy and the UK, which, in the coming years will be commissioning new aircraft carriers in their navies. According to Saab, there is a real and viable market for this type of aircraft. Aiming this market, the company is already developing a naval version of JAS-39 Gripen, which aims to be a variant of its newest product, the Gripen NG (Next Generation). This new version was named Sea Gripen. According to Saab, the requirements established by the Swedish Air...

The temporary marriage, or nikah mut'ah, is an ancient Islamic practice that unites man and woman as husband and wife for a limited time. Historically it was used so that a man could have a wife for a short while when travelling long distances. So why are young British Muslims adopting the practice now? "It allowed us to meet without breaking the bounds of Sharia [Islamic law]. We both wanted to date, to go out for dinner or go shopping and just get to know each other better before getting married, which we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise,"...

A 68-year-old councillor who said disabled children should be ‘put down’ sparked further controversy today by comparing them to deformed lambs who need to be culled. Cornwall Council veteran member Collin Brewer said children with disabilities should only be allowed to live after the cost has been evaluated - much like farmers who kill the runt of the litter. Independent Mr Brewer stood down earlier this year after he claimed disabled children could be put to death to save taxpayers’ money. He later apologised and quit the council - but then won back his seat in this month's local elections...

Two senior British ministers have said they would vote to leave the EU if there was a referendum now. Speaking on BBC TV on Sunday (12 May), the ruling Conservative Party’s education minister Michael Gove said: “My ideal is exactly what the majority of the population think, which is that the present situation is no good, to say that life outside [the EU] would be perfectly tolerable. We could contemplate it; there would be certain advantages.” Defense minister Philip Hammond told BBC radio later the same day: “If the choice is between a European Union written exactly as it is...

Women on UK university campuses are being discriminated against as more and more events force separate attendance and seating arrangements. ... The events in question have been primarily hosted by Islamic societies on campuses, who often use separate telephone numbers for men and women to book their attendance, and either advertise each individual event as segregated, or have blanket policies enforcing the move. Events with speakers such as Zahir Mahmood, Abu Usamah, Lauren Booth, Hamza Tzortzis and Adnan Rashid have all been segregated.

How many of you have flower or vegetable gardens at your home? I know many people are growing their own herbs to use for cooking as well as indoor and outdoor vegetable gardens. Others have flowers in pots, window boxes, hanging baskets, in flower beds and outdoor gardens.My wife and I have a number of vegetables and fruit growing outside which include apples (2 varieties), beans (purple and wax), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cantaloupes, carrots, cherries, cucumbers (bush), grapes (5 varieties), onions (red), peas (green and snap), potatoes (3 varieties), sage, radishes, tomatoes (6 varieties), and watermelons (3 varieties). We also...

Anjem Choudary and his fellow protestors can be seen fighting with what was reported as other Muslim groups on London's Edgware Road. ... Protestors marched with hard-line Salafist placards and flags, many of which read, "Support Jund Al Sham". ... The protestors were marching in opposition to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who they are known to deplore for his Alawite religion. Protestors also took up the cause against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah, who they deem as "Shia Enemies of Allah" for their Shi'ite Muslim backgrounds. The protestors are thought to be hard-line Salafists, who have...

Former US President Jimmy Carter has once again expressed his blatantly anti-Israel allegiances by calling on the European Union to “introduce proper labeling of goods produced on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.” Carter was in Dublin together with former Irish president Mary Robinson and former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso for talks with Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore and diplomats from some 20 European countries on revitalizing the peace process in the Middle East. “With the Middle East peace process making no significant progress, we call on Europe to play a stronger and more independent role in...

DUBLIN -Former US President Jimmy Carter said in Dublin “the EU should move to introduce proper labelling of goods produced on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.” (snip)It could therefore introduce a clear labelling of products made in Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law,” he added. Ireland currently holds the rotating EU presidency until end of June. Mary Robinson said this was not “an anti-Israel move,” but rather “a concrete step, supported by many of our Israeli friends, to revive the hope of a future state of Palestine

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President Hollande of France recently got a whiff of what is coming from an open letter addressed to him by a 20-year old student named Clara G. “This will probably shock you, but it is mainly for fiscal reasons,… simply because I do not feel like working all my life to pay taxes, a large part of which will only service the 1.9 trillion Euros of debt that your generation has kindly left us. If these borrowings had at least been invested to prepare the future of the country, if I was getting a small benefit from them, it would...

On Sunday, an estimated 150,000 people marched in Paris and gathered in the Place de la Bastille to listen to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the Left Front. Afterwards , the Socialist Party officials were prompt to call the event highly divisive for the left. Accusations of populism and gauchisme (unrealistic policies) also rapidly surfaced from Solférino, the Socialist headquarters. To paraphrase Bertolt Brecht: would it not be easier for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?

Critics said that the previous Labour Government’s ‘open-door’ immigration policy had created ‘huge’ problems for integration, which was now threatening the country’s social cohesion..... ....The new figures follow a study published earlier this month by the Left-leaning think tank Demos which showed white Britons are moving out of areas where they are in a minority at the same time as the ethnic minority population was growing..

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested by police investigating an acid attack that left a woman with horrific injuries to her face and upper body. The 28-year-old victim was sprayed in the face on her own doorstep in Romford, northeast London. (snip) Police said the suspect was described as white, short, about 20 years old, with dark complexion and dark hair. He was wearing black clothing and spoke with an English accent.

Even as President Obama is following in Eurosocialist footsteps, the 14-year utopian experiment on a single currency is collapsing. The architect of the euro just ran up the white flag on the biggest policy mistakes in history. Former German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine called his own brainchild a "catastrophe". "The economic situation is worsening from month to month," he wrote on his Left party blog. "unemployment has reached a level that puts democratic structures ever more in doubt." "Catastrophe" is the right word. Today Greece is suffering more than 50% unemployment. That's worse than the Great Depression in the US....

WASHINGTON – Nearly 12 years after 9/11, Americans are still waiting for the U.S. government to release key information about the attack that killed more than 3,000 of their countrymen. Related topics Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Peter King, R-N.Y., introduced legislation in 2011 to review the original 9/11 Commission findings. Their bill passed the House Homeland Security Committee and was referred to three additional committees: the House Committees on Energy and Commerce, Space Science and Technology, and Transportation and Infrastructure. But the measure has yet to be acted upon by the House as a whole. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.,...

Unrest on the streets of Libya's capital, Tripoli, has forced Britain to evacuate some diplomats from its embassy, the Foreign Office disclosed on Friday. Members of the Libyan security forces and civilians check one of the two police stations that were attacked on Friday Photo: AFP