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Most articles about scientific subjects start by telling you what people have discovered about something. This one is mainly about what people have not discovered about something. "There's not much known about these creatures - where they live, their lifestyle," says Ted Cranford from San Diego State University in California, US. "In fact, they might be the least understood group of large mammals on Earth."

New gay rights law are forcing the Church to pull out of adoption services in every diocese in Wales.The St David's Children's Society, which covers the three Welsh dioceses of Cardiff, Menevia and Wrexham, will cut ties with the bishops and become an independent charity so it can comply with the Sexual Orientation Regulations. It is the third largest of the 13 Catholic adoption agencies in England and Wales and finds new families for about 35 children a year - about 14 per cent of all cases in Wales.Its loss will be a massive blow to the Church, which founded...

Draconian rules imposed by the Chinese authorities mean that flags of any non-competing nation are likely to be confiscated from fans, who could be barred from venues if they refuse to comply. Athletes could even be disqualified from competing if they break the rules. Because Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland are not individually represented at the games, only the Union Flag of Great Britain will be allowed inside the stadiums. The regulation is widely believed to be aimed at preventing supporters of an independent Tibet from making political statements by waving its flag, but it will be enforced...

    Major gongs for heroic Our Boys   Award ... Captain Paul Britton is congratulated by Major General Gary Robison    By TOM NEWTON DUNN Defence Editor Published: Today     AN Army officer who led a battle despite a lump of burning shrapnel in his shoulder was one of 19 forces heroes awarded the Military Cross yesterday.   Praise ... Lieutenant General Graeme Lamb  Captain Paul Britton, 28, refused morphine so he could control artillery and air strikes to beat off Taliban attackers in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The Royal Artillery officer was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade...

Minister calls for children to be locked in school to stop them buying junk food Last updated at 16:47pm on 06.07.08   Children's Minister Kevin Brennan has called for secondary school children to be locked inside school grounds during breaks to stop them buying unhealthy food Children should be locked inside school grounds to stop them buying unhealthy food from shops and takeaways, a minister said yesterday.The drastic proposal comes amid new evidence that the Jamie Oliver-inspired drive to ensure school canteens offer more nutritious meals is being shunned by pupils.Children's Minister Kevin Brennan said secondary school children should...

The moon was mistaken for a "bright, stationary" UFO which had been loitering for at least half an hour, by a confused local in South Wales who made a 999 call to the police. Today officers released a transcript in order to highlight the time wasted by unnecessary 999 calls. The bizzare conversation ran as follows: Control: "South Wales Police, what's your emergency?" Caller: "It's not really. I just need to inform you that across the mountain there's a bright stationary object." Control: "Right." Caller: "If you've got a couple of minutes perhaps you could find out what it is?...

Sharia law could play a role in some parts of the legal system, the most senior judge in England and Wales has said. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, emphatically ruled out the possibility of sharia courts sitting in this country or deciding penalties. But in a speech at the East London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel he said there was no reason why sharia principles could not be used in "mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution". Sharia - a set of principles governing the way that many Muslims believe one should live one's life -...

UFO enthusiasts got a boost Friday when Welsh police confirmed that one of their helicopter crews had spotted an "unusual aircraft" flying over Cardiff earlier this month. An investigation into the sighting had been launched, they said. The police clarification came after The Sun reported a UFO had "attacked" a police helicopter, following it for several miles over the Bristol Channel. "The pilot banked sharply to avoid being hit, then launched into a high-speed pursuit. But he was forced to give up the chase as the helicopter's fuel ran low -- and the UFO escaped," the tabloid reported. The helicopter...

Archaeologists from Cardiff University today began excavating part of the remains of the 2,000 year old Roman Fortress in Caerleon, Newport. Led by Dr Peter Guest, of the School of History and Archaeology, the team of 50 archaeologists from Cardiff and University College London will excavate the remains of a monumental courtyard building in the south-western corner of the fortress. The building's existence was discovered during geophysical surveys undertaken by staff and students from the University and was investigated during trial excavations in 2007. This year's excavation will open a large trench over the building, which is believed to be...

(IsraelNN.com) Dafydd Elis-Thomas, the Muslim speaker of the Welsh Assembly, said he will boycott a meeting with Ron Prosor, the Israeli Ambassador to Britain. He explained that Israel has failed "to meet its international obligations to the Palestinian people." Prosor said he is not changing his plans for the meeting that was initiated by another Muslim assembly member. "The voices calling for a boycott of such discussion are missing an opportunity to encourage mutual understanding and are clearly acting in a non-constructive way," said Prosor, who last week wrote in a British newspaper that Britain has become a "hotbed for...

Latin Mass to return to England and Wales By Damian Thompson Last updated: 1:47 PM BST 14/06/2008The traditional Latin Mass – effectively banned by Rome for 40 years – is to be reintroduced into every Roman Catholic parish in England and Wales, the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy said at a press conference in London today. In addition, all English seminaries must teach trainee priests how to say the old Mass so that they can celebrate it in all parishes. Catholic congregations throughout the world will receive special instruction on how to appreciate the old services, formerly...

A man posing as Darth Vader attacked a Star Wars fan, who had founded a Jedi Church, a court has heard. Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, from Holyhead, Anglesey, admitted assaulting Barney Jones and cousin Michael with a metal crutch. They suffered minor injuries. Hughes, who was drunk and dressed in a black bin bag, shouted "Darth Vader!" Earlier, when Hughes failed to arrive on time, District Judge Andrew Shaw issued an arrest warrant, adding: "I hope the force will soon be with him." In the event, Hughes turned up and the case at Holyhead magistrates court resumed. The court heard...

William Shakespeare's plays were penned by a little known Welsh law clerk, Dyfed ap Davis, it was revealed today. Because Welshmen were out of favour at the court of Queen Elizabeth 1, Monmouth-born ap Davis bribed the actor William Shakespeare to put his name to what are fallaciously known as the works of the great Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon. They shared the royalties and were often seen drunk together in Covent Garden and Cardiff Bay. Many of the plays were originally set in Wales but, because of the Queen's preferences, had to be transferred to more exotic climes. The character Hamlet...

London - You might want to take that vacation in England just as soon as you can – before its 1,000-year run as a sovereign nation comes to an end. This winter, 27 nations of the European Union (EU) signed the Treaty of Lisbon. You may think, "Innocuous enough," as Portuguese-inspired visions of the Tagus River and chicken piri-piri swirl before your eyes. But for England (Britain, actually) the Treaty of Lisbon isn't that appetizing. That's because, if ratified, it will become the decisive act in this creation of a federal European superstate with its capital in Brussels. Britain would...

Is jawbone the ancient souvenir ancestor of the humble snow globe? Mar 19 2008 by Sally Williams, Western Mail IT is the 14,000-year-old version of a snow dome. Travellers during the late Ice Age would pick up an etched horse jawbone as a souvenir of their time in Europe. Arriving in Wales they would then display the trinket in their cave as a memento of their time abroad. And now experts believe this 11,500BC example is the “oldest ever piece of Welsh artwork”. With an intricate zig-zag pattern the keepsake could also signal an important evolutionary step in communication, they...

A BRITISH soldier who almost single-handedly took on 150 Taliban after he and his 50-man convoy were ambushed in Afghanistan has been awarded the Military Cross. Fusilier Damien Hields used his grenade machinegun to destroy seven Taliban positions before his ambushers realised he was their main threat. After peppering his vehicle with bullets, they hit the 24-year-old soldier. He had to be dragged off for treatment by his driver after he tried to continue fighting.

According to Welsh mythology the Land of the Dead - or Annwn: Celtic Underworld - was ruled over by Gwynn ap Nudd. He escorted the souls of the dead there, and led a pack of supernatural hounds... experts say there is a grain of truth in the story from which it developed, with the evidence now pointing to Ruabon and Halkyn Mountains. Steve Blake, author of the Keys to Avalon, which argued the myths of King Arthur are firmly rooted in North Wales, said: "Llangollen and the Dee Valley are rich in this piece of Celtic folklore. Central to this...

When Ian Lucas, a Welsh Labour MP, suggested the Union flag be redrawn to incorporate the Welsh dragon, he could not have imagined that this would be the "popular" choice. Even at the height of Cool Britannia surely Tony Blair would have baulked at adopting this sunglasses-wearing, flame-haired cartoon dragon as our national emblem. And to make matters worse it was designed not by a patriotic Briton, but a Norwegian. But the internet has spoken. After Mr Lucas issued his appeal for new flag, the Telegraph was deluged with designs sent in by readers. Some were serious, some scurrilous, some...

NEW YORK - Sixty-five years after an American P-38 fighter plane ran out of gas and crash-landed on a beach in Wales, the long-forgotten World War II relic has emerged from the surf and sand where it lay buried. Beach strollers, sunbathers and swimmers often frolicked within a few yards of the aircraft, unaware of its existence until last summer, when unusual weather caused the sand to shift and erode. The revelation of the Lockheed "Lightning" fighter, with its distinctive twin-boom design, has stirred interest in British aviation circles and among officials of the country's aircraft museums, ready to reclaim...

WASHINGTON, DC, October 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons published a study yesterday entitled, "The Breast Cancer Epidemic." It showed that, among seven risk factors, abortion is the "best predictor of breast cancer," and fertility is also a useful predictor.  The study by Patrick Carroll of PAPRI in London showed that countries with higher abortion rates, such as England & Wales, could expect a substantial increase in breast cancer incidence. Where abortion rates are low (i.e., Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic) a smaller increase is expected. Where a decline in abortion has taken place,...

THE Conservatives will propose banning plasma screens and other energy-guzzling electrical goods in a report to be unveiled next week. The proposals target white goods like fridges and freezers, as well as TVs, personal computers and DVD players that use too much energy or operate on stand-by. The ideas come from a Conservative group set up by David Cameron to develop policies to protect the environment and although the measures to make household electrical appliances more energy efficient are not binding on Mr Cameron, they are thought likely to be warmly received by the Tory leader. The group will also...

Britain's face is changing. More than half of all babies born in London last year were the children of foreign-born mothers. Across England and Wales, the figure was approaching a quarter. Recent polls... have put immigration at number one in the public's list of concerns. This used to be a polite way for people to tell pollsters that they were racists. The asylum amnesty will apply to some of the backlog ...of economic migrants rather than refugees... Calls for an amnesty have won the backing of church leaders and more than 80 MPs, led by Jon Cruddas, the former Labour...

A 36-YEAR-OLD dentally challenged cellphone salesman wins a nationally televised talent contest in Britain, and suddenly, all sorts of questions are raised about the role of classical music in our world. That is because the winner, Paul Potts, from Wales, triumphed with a rendition of “Nessun dorma,” the tenor aria from Puccini’s “Turandot,” at a contest with the trappings and audience — seemingly — of the mass entertainment world. By the standards of music critics who ply their trade in opera houses and concert halls, it wasn’t a particularly earth-shaking performance. “Mr. Potts is the sort of bog-standard tenor to...

Teenage abortions hit all-time high By Caroline Davies  Last Updated: 5:37pm BST 19/06/2007 Q&A: When can women have abortions? NHS launches one-stop-shop websiteMore teenagers are having abortions than ever before, fuelling a significant rise in the number of terminations in England and Wales.   The total number of abortions was 193,700 in 2006   Despite huge Government spending on contraception education, 19-year-olds are now the most likely of any age group to have an abortion, with 35 in every 1,000 undergoing the procedure, according to official Department of Health figures. Previously the highest rate was among women aged 20-24 years.The...

A HARDY band of Welshmen in red, who took on the might of the Italians 2,000 years ago, could prove inspirational for tomorrow's Welsh Six Nations warriors. A leading historian has documented the exploits of the ancient Silures tribe, who fought a long campaign against the Romans two millennia ago. Dr Ray Howell from the University of Wales, Newport, even says our penchant for wearing red may spring from the tribe's favourite battle colour. Dr Howell, a reader at the university's School of Education, has published an examination of the South-East Wales tribe, who came close to thwarting the Roman...

Saint David and Saint David's Day Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus! Happy St David's Day! Adapted from a talk given at OICCU Meeting Point, in Regent's Park College, Monday, 28th February 1994 If you were lucky enough to be in Wales on March the first, you would find the country in a festive mood. Every self-respecting man, woman and child would be celebrating St. David's Day in one way or another. But who was St. David, and why is he so important to the Welsh? And just how is St. David's Day celebrated in Wales today? Well, Saint David, or...

Hain not sorry for his slavery apology  The Northern Ireland Office has said Peter Hain will not be apologising for clouding the issue over Ulster's role in the slave trade. The Secretary of State said his reason for attending an event in New York on Wednesday to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery was to apologise for "the role Wales and Northern Ireland played in the slave trade". "We acknowledge that. We take responsibility for it and we now are going to try and at least say that that historical legacy must be recognised and we...

A BEACHCOMBER claims he has found ancient human footprints dating back 8,000 years, embedded in an ancient Welsh peat bed. Steve Maitland Thomas was walking on Kenfig Beach, Porthcawl, with his friend John Blundell, when they found a number of ancient size-eight footprints. He said, "We found the first on January 19, the day after storms had whipped up the sand revealing the bedrock below. The peat beds were formed from the floor of a vast forest, which once stretched right across the valley which now forms the Bristol Channel, until sea levels rose approximately 8,000 years ago." The next...

<p>A federal grand jury has added another firearms-related felony charge against a Bellevue gun dealer once arrested as a material witness in the 2001 slaying of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales.</p> <p>Albert Kwok-Leung Kwan was charged Wednesday with unlawful possession of a short-barreled rifle, which carries a potential prison term of up to 10 years.</p>

A Brief History of the Cause of the English and Welsh MartyrsThe BeginningsThe first official movement for the canonization of the 'great cloud of witnesses' (cf. Hebrews 12:1) who gave their lives in defence of the Catholic religion, from the time of the schism under Henry VIII (1534) until the end of the seventeenth century, began during the pontificate of Urban VIII (1623-44). In 1643, at the request of the English Benedictines in exile, the Pope appointed the Archbishop of Cambrai in northern France (in default of the existence of Catholic Bishops in England and Wales) to set up an...

The subject of community cohesion, for understandable reasons, has become prominent in our national conversation over the past few years. But it is a challenge we have faced before: the question of how we live together is as old as humanity itself. Throughout history, there have been periods when Britain has not been entirely comfortable with itself or individual communities within it. Who would now question the contribution made by Jewish people to British society - or even talk about there being a conflict between being British and Jewish? And yet, only 50 years ago, this was exactly the debate...

New research has identified the first genetic evidence of Africans having lived amongst "indigenous" British people for centuries. Their descendants, living across the UK today, were unaware of their black ancestry. The University of Leicester study, funded by the Wellcome Trust and published today in the journal European Journal of Human Genetics, found that one third of men with a rare Yorkshire surname carry a rare Y chromosome type previously found only amongst people of West African origin. The researchers, led by Professor Mark Jobling, of the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester, first spotted the rare Y...

Mohammed, and its most common alternative spelling Muhammad, are now more popular babies' names in England and Wales than George, reflecting the diverse ethnic mix of the population. The Office for National Statistics said there were 2,833 baby boys called Mohammed in 2006. The name is 22nd in the list of most popular boys' names, moving up a place from last year. Spelled Muhammad, it is the 44th most popular name and enters the top 50 for the first time along with Noah, Oscar, Lucas and Rhys. There were 2,833 babies called Mohammed born in 2006 and 1,422 called Muhammad....

Nearly 900 police stations have closed in England and Wales in the past 14 years, according to government figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph, while the vast majority of those still operating are only open to the public for limited hours. A survey of opening times on the websites of a dozen forces, with more than 400 stations, shows that only 24 — fewer than six per cent — are advertised as open 24 hours a day. Most close during the night. The police service's retreat from open-door access at the times when criminals, particularly drunken thugs, are most active...

ALMOST two-thirds of English voters want full independence for Scotland, a dramatic new poll revealed last night. A clear majority on both sides of the Border are in favour of Scotland breaking away from the United Kingdom, according to the survey by ICM. It finds that 59% of English voters want Scotland to go it alone, while independence is backed by 52% of Scots. There is also strong support in both nations for England breaking away completely from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - backed by 48% in England and 45% in Scotland. Meanwhile, 68% of English voters and 58%...

A man with a metal detector who came across a hoard of prehistoric bronze tools and weapons has handed over his find to the National Museum Wales. Phil Smith came across the Bronze Age haul on land in Llanbadoc in Monmouthshire and reported his find. Dating between 1,000 and 800 BC, the haul contains axes, fragments of swords and a spearhead as well knives and harvesting tools. The 3,000-year-old pieces are being studied by experts. The treasure was thought to have been buried together in the ground, probably in a small pit, as a ritual gift to the pagan gods...

The makers of Welsh Dragon Sausages were warned they could face legal action if they did not specify which meat they were using."I don't think any of our customers actually believe that we use dragon meat," said Jon Carthew, of the Black Mountains Smokery at Crickhowell, after receiving a warning letter from trading standards officers. Mr Carthew has now added the word pork to labels for the 200,000 sausages he makes a year from pork, leek and chilli and he has been told that no further action will be taken. "We use the word dragon because it is synonymous with...

The Joneses set a record in Wales (where else?) By Richard Savill Last Updated: 1:10am GMT 04/11/2006 It was the ultimate in keeping up with the Joneses - 1,224 of them arrived in Cardiff last night to claim a record for the largest gathering of people with one surname. They came from as far as Australia and America to beat the record held in Sweden by 583 people called Noberg. "My mother always said that if you were called Jones you would never be alone in this world," said Simon Jones, 43, who flew with his wife Becky from Kentucky...

LONDON (AFP) - Police have revealed they were investigating the dumping of a pig's head outside a mosque on the first full day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The head was found outside the Jamia Mosque in Newport, southeast Wales, on Saturday. The Koran strictly forbids Muslims to eat pork. "We treat all incidents of hate crime seriously and are pursuing a number of lines of inquiry to identify the offender," said Gwent Police Superintendent Simon Prince on Friday. Nobody at the mosque was available for comment but Sheikh Mohammad Thair Ullah, the chairman of the nearby Shah...

Robin Hood was really a Welsh freedom fighter who never even set foot in Nottingham let alone Sherwood Forest, a historian has claimed. The medieval outlaw - said to have robbed from the rich to give to the poor - never once met Maid Marian nor the Sheriff of Nottingham, according to Stephen Lawhead. The American blows apart the widely accepted version of the legend in his new book, Hood, arguing that Robin Hood was really a hardened Guerrilla based in the Valleys. But tourism chiefs in Nottingham have rubbished the theory, warning: "Hands off our Robin!" Lawhead, 56, believes...

If our cultural past isn't worth defending, why should our future be? ---------------------- Five years after the (a) all too predictable blowback to U.S. foreign policy born of decades of poverty and desperation or (b) controlled explosion by Bush-Cheney-Halliburton-Zionist agents (delete according to taste), I get a lot of mail on the lines of: C'mon, man, cut to the chase--are we gonna win or lose? Well, let me come at that in an evasive non-chase-cutting manner and circle around to it very gradually. I gave a speech in Sydney last month and among the audience was a lady called Pauline...

The U.K.'s proven it will fight the radical Islamist threat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why not in London? The Prime Minister made a great impression on his recent trip to London. I don't mean just the number of times I was told what a splendid chap this Simon Harper/ Stephen Cooper fellow was. My favourite proximation, by the way, was "Stephen Howard": there's no higher praise than being taken for John Howard's cousin. But, aside from that, I was struck by the way every speech was more robust than the circumstances required. For example, in an all but unreported address...

NICOSIA (Reuters) - The six-year-old mascot for a British army battalion has been demoted in disgrace for acting the goat during a parade in full view of dignitaries. Billy Goat has been a mascot of the First Battalion, the Royal Welsh regiment, since he was six months old and had the official rank of lance-corporal before his frisky antics during a parade marking Queen Elizabeth's official birthday earlier this month. The army said he had been demoted to fusilier (private) as a result of his behavior. "The goat major had a hard time keeping him in line, he was bouncing...

NICOSIA (Reuters) - The six-year-old mascot for a British army battalion has been demoted in disgrace for acting the goat during a parade in full view of dignitaries. Billy Goat has been a mascot of the First Battalion, the Royal Welsh regiment, since he was six months old and had the official rank of lance-corporal before his frisky antics during a parade marking Queen Elizabeth's official birthday earlier this month. The army said he had been demoted to fusilier (private) as a result of his behavior. "The goat major had a hard time keeping him in line, he was bouncing...

Is it just me," wondered Linda McQuaig in The Toronto Star, "or does anyone else find it ominous that Harper says 'God bless Canada'?" You don't have to do the full Jaws orchestral accompaniment to concede that Linda has a point: Whether or not it's "ominous," it is a little weird in contemporary public discourse to hear Stephen Harper say "God bless Canada." The question then arises: Why should it be so weird?

Bishop Mark Jabalé of Menevia in Wales has authorised a new Saturday afternoon Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite. The Mass will be celebrated every second Saturday at 4 pm by Canon Michael Lewis at Our Lady of Ransom Church, Victoria Road, Llandrindod Wells. The Latin Mass Society records its grateful thanks to Bishop Mark and Canon Lewis for their pastoral concern in authorising this Mass. The first Mass was celebrated on Saturday May 13 with an enthusiastic congregation of about 35, which is a good congregation for a weekday Mass in this thinly-populated part of Wales. This Mass joins...

At the height of the morning commute on March 11, 2004, ten bombs exploded in and around four train stations in Madrid. Almost 200 Spaniards were killed, and some 2,000 wounded. The next day, Spain seemed to be standing firm against terror, with demonstrators around the country wielding signs denouncing the “murderers” and “assassins.” Yet things did not hold. Seventy-two hours after the bombs had strewn arms, legs, heads, and other body parts over three train stations and a marshaling yard, the Spanish government of José María Aznar, a staunch ally of the United States and Great Britain in Iraq,...

EUROPE DAY Did you know there was a "Europe Day"? A day to celebrate the EU? Me neither. But May 9th is it. Here's some thoughts of mine on the poor doomed European Union: Question: What do you get when you take two world wars, add the two most malign ideologies of the century, throw in genocide, the collapse of religious institutions, radical secularism, a political elite sealed off from opinions it finds distasteful, spiraling social costs, deathbed demographics and growing numbers of an unassimilated immigrant population? Answer: You get Europe in the new millennium - mired in aggressive pacifism,...

Two days before Christmas, I was in a store in Vermont buying a last-minute gift when the owner’s twentysomething daughter walked in. “Thanks for the sweater, mom,” she said. “Kevin really liked his present, too.” “But it’s only the 23rd,” said the bewildered lady. “Mom,” sighed the kid, wearily. “How many times do I have to tell you? We always open our presents on the solstice.” A couple of weeks later, a neighbor of mine in New Hampshire got married. He’s a biker and a tattooist, and he’s deeply spiritual. So he and his bride were married in the middle...

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Morten Messerschmidt, a member of the Council of Europe and of Denmark's Parliament for the Danish People's Party. He is involved in the debate about the effects of Muslim immigration to Europe, Islam and terrorism. FP: Morten Messerschmidt, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Messerschmidt: Thanks. FP: Tell us the impact that Muslim immigration is having on Europe. Messerschmidt: We are seeing over the entire continent how the extreme groups of Islam are trying to impose their fundamentalist ideology, which has created awful results in the Middle East, to our part of the world. We see it...