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Michael Jackson is still remarkably popular in London. In the same freakish way, we assume, that the Elephant Man would still be popular in London. Jackson scheduled a series of “final” concerts in the English capital. Demented Englishmen snapped them up so quickly that more concerts were hastily scheduled. Fifty of them. And they sold out. 750,000 tickets in all. That’s an average of 40,000 tickets an hour. More than 650 per minute. More than 11 per second. Fans from Japan, Belgium and Dubai lined up to to buy the tickets. One lunatic stood in line for two days. According...

I still don't know who wanted me dead. I was sitting in my car one day last november, not far from my house in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, when a group of strangers walked up. One of them pointed a pistol through my window. I remember he wore a turban and shalwar kameez—the tunic and baggy pants common in the area—and he had a long beard, dyed red with henna. He shot me in the chest, hand and arm, and then fled with his friends. Miraculously, none of the bullets hit any arteries or vital organs, and as...

For years the London operation for Bernard Madoff's firm was a little-known outpost of his New York trading group. Now, authorities said it played a role in how Mr. Madoff carried out his alleged fraud. The development, disclosed in the government's criminal charges against Mr. Madoff on Tuesday, draws a more-direct connection between the alleged fraud and the trading operation in London, where directors and shareholders included family members and associates of Mr. Madoff.Mr. Madoff, the government alleges, used the London operation to launder client money. He carried out the alleged fraud by transferring client money from the investment-advisory business...

Danielle Scutt The recession had affected most of the fashion weeks, but the effects stood out the most in London. Compared to Paris, Milan and New York, London is much less high profile, not about big names, and more about creativity and expression. This season lacked the inspiration and excitement that is usually palpable in London. Josh Goot

Credit Crunch, Global Recession Encourages Rent Of Cost-Effective Virtual Office Space By Monique Lester and Joel LeydenUnited Kingdom News Agency London --- March 2, 2009...... As the worlds financial markets collapse, owners and renters of virtual office space are looking at a brighter, healthier future. While world governments from London, New York and Tokyo to Toronto, Paris and Jerusalem stream billions into the financial and banking systems to avoid a financial catastrophe and with all the uncertainty, doom and gloom surrounding the markets, Simeon Howard, sales manager of City Office remains confident about the future. “The world is more connected...

The entire crew of a South African Airways flight have been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling - for the second time in a month. Fifteen members of the flight crew, including the pilot, were detained today at London's Heathrow after customs officers found five kilos of cocaine in a bag.  They were being held by officers after the class A drug, with an estimated street value of £250,000, was discovered as the crew tried to clear customs following a 12-hour flight from Johannesburg. Bob Gaiger, spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs, said the drugs were discovered after the...

(video) They say Barack Obama inspired millions around the world. But the inspiration doesn’t stop there. No siree, bob. “Obama on My Mind,” an Obama-inspired musical, opens at in London in March. Teddy Hayes, a U.S.-born writer, wrote the music and lyrics. The “humorous romp” takes place in an Obama campaign office, complete with songs that mix pop, gospel, jazz, Motown, and even tango. Luckily, the producers don’t have to find a singing Commander In Chief look-alike, because the Obama character never appears onstage. “Nobody can really impersonate Obama, can they?” Hayes quipped. “He’s a one-off.” Our toes are tappin’...

Here is the video of demonstration by muslims in London. It ended up when demonstrators chased the police which began withdrew quietly, and then began to run off the street. In Eurabia, the police will flee in front of jihadists, not the contrary.

MELANIE PHILLIPS, WRITING EXCLUSIVELY FOR MAIL ONLINE Worried that Britain is going bankrupt? Cheer up – we’re about to be bought up by the Islamic world. A report by International Financial Services London reveals that Britain’s Islamic banking sector is now bigger than that of Pakistan. The study says that the UK has by far the largest number of banks for Muslims of any western country. The UK now has five fully ‘sharia-compliant’ banks – providing products which prohibit interest payments and investment in alcohol or gambling firms in accordance with Islamic sharia law – while another 17 leading institutions...

A British gym is trying to add human interest to otherwise dreary workouts by replacing traditional dumbbell weights with human ones. The Gymbox chain gym in central London says fitness enthusiasts can now swap their usual lumps of metal for human beings in a range of shapes and sizes.

The heaviest snowfall in 20 years closed thousands of schools and caused transportation chaos up the eastern side of Britain, with London and the surrounding areas the hardest hit. Six million bus passengers were stranded as all London's bus services were halted because of dangerous driving conditions, and almost every subway line was at least partially suspended. Most commuter rail services were also cancelled or seriously delayed, and flights at London's airports were decimated, with both of Heathrow's runways shut, Luton and London City closed, and Gatwick and Stansted flights subject to delays and short-notice cancellations. Similar conditions were reported...

Video footage posted on a website shows police officers running way from chanting demonstrators who took part in a violent protest in London against Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip. The ten-minute amateur film shows 30 officers being chased by a crowd of up to 3,000 people who broke away from an official protest march last month. The video, posted on YouTube, shows protesters chanting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest) and 'Fatwa', a death threat under Islamic law. Watch the protesters chase the police...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "London - The Jewish community in Golders Green has been the target of further anti-Semitic attacks, in the form of more offensive graffiti. Graffiti reading "Kill the filthy Jews" was daubed on walls and pavements near Golders Green tube station and vandals wrote "Jihad 4 Israel" on top of Holocaust Memorial Day adverts." SNIPPET: "Joseph Haziza, 27, manager of Menachem Kosher butchers which is next to Sinclair Grove on Golders Green road, said: "In this area of Golders Green the graffiti hasn't been as bad. Further up the Golders Green Road they have been affected, with...

Israel's air force fired around 20 missiles at targets in Gaza City on Saturday, causing heavy damage, a Reuters witness said. The IDF has confirmed the report. (Hanan Greenberg and Reuters)

A Saudi Al Qaeda operative suspected of involvement in the London 7/7 attacks has been arrested in northwestern Pakistan, FOX News has confirmed. The operative, Zabi-ul-Taifi, was arrested with six other militants on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, Reuters reported. "Taifi is among those arrested today," an intelligence official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The nationalities of the other militants arrested are being established. One intelligence official told Reuters that it is believed Taifi was the "mastermind" of the July 7, 2005 bombings that rocked the London transportation system when homicide bombers set off explosions...

Must see footage of the action by Muslims and Liberals in Britain over the recent weeks/days, this was sent to me by a family friend who is more right wing than I, but nevertheless, I decided to have a look anyway. You probably won't see this footage anywhere else via British TV sources. http://bnp.org.uk/2009/01/the-muslim-march-the-bbc-didn%E2%80%99t-let-you-see-2/ I know from reading other posts the British National Party is an unwelcome entity on FR, so I will not post a direct link. I won't shoot the messenger, if you don't want to visit, then please don't. The videos from undercover people are well worth...

Protesters clash with police as 100,000 strong London Gaza demo descends into violence By DAILY MAIL REPORTER Violent clashes occurred between police and around 20,000 protesters outside the Israeli Embassy in London - with an estimated 100,000 protesters airing their views around the city. Windows were smashed and policemen were injured - with one officer knocked unconscious in the running battles and two requiring treatment for facial injuries. The protesters - mainly young men - knocked down barriers threw missiles including eggs, red paint, sticks and shoes as 300 officers in full riot gear tried to maintain the peace.

Violent clashes occurred between police and around 20,000 protesters outside the Israeli Embassy in London - with an estimated 100,000 protesters airing their views around the city. Windows were smashed and policemen were injured - with one officer knocked unconscious in the running battles and two requiring treatment for facial injuries. The protesters - mainly young men - knocked down barriers threw missiles including eggs, red paint, sticks and shoes as 300 officers in full riot gear tried to maintain the peace. There were reports that some protesters had tried to set fire to police vans. The violence, which broke...

"Summary of Overnight Events, 03 January 2009"

Not sure if you guys can view whats happening in London right now, 6.30 pm in London. FYI, the anti Gaza war protesters have turned voilent here in London, and are current;y massing against the Police, and have started setting fires. It appears they are trying to get to the Israeli embassy. UK LINK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/video_and_audio/news_channel_live/7459669.stm You could view it via a UK proxy if you could find a working one here: http://www.freewebproxylist.com/UK_WebProxies.html although, you probably could get a better news feed from a US source, that may be less censored!

Violent confrontations broke out at the Israeli Embassy in London today as up to 1,500 protesters against Israel's Gaza campaign gathered in a vociferous demonstration. Campaign supporters, Palestinians and British Muslims stood on the pavement of High Street Kensington, west London, and chanted in unison: “Five, six, seven, eight - Israel is a terror state.” Riot police were brought in to control the crowd, some of whom turned violent. Witnesses said some protestors were forcibly removed and others were seen with bloodied faces as violence erupted. One campaigner was seen throwing a bag and what appeared to be a book...

The death of a model who learned that her husband was already married has shone a light into the world of Muslim polygamy in Britain. Sahar Daftary, 23, fell 150 feet from the twelfth story of a block of apartments where she had gone to collect her belongings at the home of a businessman whom she had married in a religious ceremony last year. Her husband, Rashid Jamil, 33, was arrested on suspicion of murder but bailed by police after they found no evidence that the death was anything other than an accident or suicide. Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the head of...

The run up to Christmas, 2008 has seen e-commerce become the focus for retailers across the UK. In the light of rising costs and consumers reigning in their spending to save money, the Internet is now seen as the place of choice for consumers, for comparisons and significant savings. Internet marketing for e-commerce sites has become the chosen method of promoting retail businesses. “With Internet marketing and digital advertising budgets increasing, traditional advertising is being replaced by cost-effective, targeted, digital advertising and marketing campaigns”, states Joel Leyden, President of London SEO Marketing. Leyden, who has provided commercial, non-profit and governmental...

The good doctor on the day of his grand jihad Cambridge alum guilty of plotting the jihad deaths of untold numbers. Poverty Causes Terrorism Update: "Iraqi doctor found guilty of Glasgow airport bomb plot," by Steve Bird in the Times, December 16 (thanks to all who sent this in): An NHS doctor who waged a terrorist car-bomb campaign intended to kill and maim hundreds of people in London and Glasgow has been found guilty of conspiracy to murder. Dr Bilal Abdulla was part of a cell that set up a bomb-making factory and bought five cars to convert into firebombs...

More evil and violence from the ‘religion’ of ‘piece’. No wonder muslim kids grow up so full of hate and venom, the very people charged with protecting them are beating them down in the name of allah. Gee what a shocker there… Muslim children are being beaten and abused regularly by teachers at some British madrassas - Islamic evening classes - an investigation by The Times has found. Students have been slapped, punched and had their ears twisted, according to an unpublished report by an imam based on interviews with victims in the north of England. One was “picked up...

The horrific story of the latest adventure conducted by the religion of peace in Bombay riveted the public’s attention to such an extent that one of the most egregious violations of political freedom in a Western democracy has, at least on this side of the Atlantic, gone almost without comment. I mean the sudden arrest in London last week of of Damian Green, a conservative MP and Shadow Minister for Immigration, who was seized by anti-terrorist personnel from the Metropolitan police, held for questioning for 9 hours, and whose private papers and computer files in his home and office in...

In 2006, Thailand announced it was blocking access to YouTube for anyone with a Thai I.P address, and then identified 20 offensive videos for Google to remove as a condition of unblocking the site. ‘If your whole game is to increase market share,’ says Lawrence Lessig, speaking of Google, ‘it’s hard to . . . gather data in ways that don’t raise privacy concerns or in ways that might help repressive governments to block controversial content.’ In March of last year, Nicole Wong, the deputy general counsel of Google, was notified that there had been a precipitous drop in activity...

LONDON — For sale: a vast tunnel complex in central London. Former tenants include Britain’s secret service, the famous hot line between America and the Soviet Union during the cold war and 400 tons of government documents. The asking price is $7.4 million. After years of lying unused beneath the traffic-jammed streets of the city, the tunnel complex — one mile of underground corridors and adjacent rooms — is now for sale by the BT Group, Britain’s largest phone company. BT hopes the site’s special features will attract buyers even as the property market above ground is going through its...

Finding An Honest SEO International Internet Marketing Company In London By Joel Leyden United Kingdom News Agency Tel Aviv -----October 14, 2006......One of the greatest challenges facing any international export or import business in London today is being found on the Internet. The Internet has changed the fundamental means for how we conduct international business. It provides instant, real time answers to many of our daily commercial and personal questions. But now that you have a Website, can your site be found when one performs a search on Google, Yahoo, Live.com or AOL for your company's product or service? Chances...

A recently released propaganda video by the Islamic extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir is quite revealing. Not only does the video demonstrate the group’s growing effort to package arguments in a manner designed to appeal to Westerners on the political left, but it also serves as a barometer of radical Muslim groups’ broader shift in rhetorical strategy. The video, “Iraq: Past and Present Colonialism,” appears for the first twenty-seven minutes to be a standard leftist critique of the Iraq war, indistinguishable from Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. The slickly-produced video begins with the history of past colonialism in Iraq—including the Mongol conquest...

Embassy guard accuses Obama of doing deals with terrorists Rashid Razaq A SENIOR security officer at the US embassy in London is being investigated after accusing Barack Obama of brokering secret deals with terrorists. Joe Hubbard, a security supervisor who is in charge of patrolling the Grosvenor Square building, claims the President-elect secured backing from terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Colombian guerrilla group FARC, in return for changing US policy. In a vitriolic tirade in an online blog, Mr Hubbard, an American, accuses Obama of having a hidden Muslim agenda and claims his election campaign was funded by anonymous Middle...

Interpal the controversial UK-based Palestinian charity, is facing closure after Lloyds TSB instructed the Islamic Bank of Britain to shut its bank account. Interpal (pictured), which is on a list of banned organisations in the US because of suspected links with terrorists, is also under investigation by the UK Charity Commission for the third time. The first two investigations by the Commission, which concluded in 1996 and 2003, found no evidence of any wrongdoing by the charity. The latest one, which opened in December 2006, is examining fresh concerns about the potential for inappropriate links between the charity and terrorist...

Police have recovered a so-called 'coffee jar bomb' following a security alert in west Belfast on Wednesday....

“I first began to fathom the extent of Nadhmi Auchi's reach and corrupting influence when I was given responsibility for monitoring illegal transfers of technology and munitions to Iraq as well as overseeing all coalition transportation and communications reconstruction in Iraq." ### Barack Obama has been appropriately strident in his condemnation of the mortgage-based financial corruption which nearly led to the collapse of the investment banking system in the United States. But there are some strong smelling financial skeletons in his own closet. Obama has his own personal housing crisis that is tied not into Fanny Mae, but into a...

An NHS doctor accused of the Glasgow airport attack today admitted planning to set cars on fire to give Britain a "taste of fear". Bilal Abdulla, 29, an Iraqi, said he had wanted the incendiary devices to throw the spotlight back on the devastating effect of war on his homeland. He branded the British government "democratically elected murderers" and said he wanted Muslims to escape oppression and leave Britain. But Abdulla told Woolwich crown court in London that he knew the "horror and terror" of the July 7 attacks and had not wanted to injure or kill anyone. Going into...

The document, which was drawn up by the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Defence, MI5 and Special Branch, states that "some thousands" of extremists are active in the UK. They are predominantly UK-born and aged between 18 and 30, and many are believed to have been trained in overseas terrorist camps. Under the heading "International Terrorism", the report, which is marked "restricted" states: "For the foreseeable future the UK will continue to be a high-priority target for international terrorists aligned with al-Qaeda. It will face a threat from British nationals, including Muslim converts, and UK-based foreign terrorists, as...

London’s proposed ‘mega-mosque’ has been allowed to complete its application for planning permission, despite calls from one councillor to remove the “illegal and irresponsible” mosque. At Newham Council meeting last Monday night, Cllr Alan Craig asked the Mayor, Sir Robin Wales, to enforce a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to reclaim the site from the Abbey Mills Mosque Trust, members of Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat. Cllr Craig said: “Tablighi Jamaat intend that the mega-mosque will be their new international headquarters, yet the current temporary mosque on the Abbey Mills site has now been operating illegally and irresponsibly without planning permission for...

LONDON – British police charged a 43-year-old man Thursday with plotting an act of terrorism and having two improvised explosive devices, chemicals, timers, and a Nazi-themed handbook. Neil Christopher Lewington was first arrested last week after police discovered a suspected explosive device when they searched him at a railway station in Lowestoft, a coastal city in eastern England. --snip-- Scotland Yard said in a statement that Lewington carried two improvised explosive devices to Lowestoft from Reading, a city near London where he lives, on Oct. 30. --snip-- The police statement said Lewington had four containers of weed killer, seven timers,...

Election fever is sweeping across America with the highest turnout in a century expected in today's presidential election. People began queuing to cast their votes before 5am and voters are being warned that they may have to wait for more than two hours to cast their ballots. The unprecedented queues formed despite heavy rain in many areas on the east coast. Officials are anticipating a record turnout of between 130 million and 140 million people following the longest and most expensive campaign for the White House in the country's history. Barack Obama is said to have one million people out...

FBI Warns of Potential Terror Attacks The FBI and Department of Homeland Security today issued an analytical "note" to U.S. law-enforcement officials cautioning that al-Qaida terrorists have in the past expressed interest in attacking public buildings using a dozen suicide bombers each carrying 20 kilograms of explosives. Authors with the U.S. Office of Intelligence and Analysis added that they have "no credible or specific information that terrorists are planning operations against public buildings in the United States." The FBI and DHS analysts said they were releasing the note because "it is important for local authorities and building owners and...

OTTAWA - Momin Khawaja, the Ottawa computer specialist who plotted jihad from his government desk at foreign affairs, has been found guilty of five terrorism related charges. Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Rutherford ruled Wednesday that Mr. Khawaja, 29, played a significant role in a plot to bomb sites in London, England in 2004. Mr. Khawaja, the judge concluded in his verdict, was not guilty of the two most serious terrorism offences connected to his building of a radio-frequency device for London terror cell. The judge, however, found Mr. Khawaja guilty of two related, lesser Criminal Code offences. Mr. Khawaja,...

Fearing a US strike on Iran during President George W. Bush's last months in office, a senior Iranian official has suggested the Islamic regime should target London to deter such an attack. Iran's embassy in London. Photo: Courtesy Slideshow: Pictures of the week In an article on the Iranian Web site Aftab last week - translated by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute - the head of the Europe and US Department in the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Wahid Karimi, said that an attack on London would deter the US from attacking Teheran. "The most appropriate means of deterrence that...

A historian has discovered film footage of Edwardian London that includes fascinating snapshots of people going about their everyday lives. The film was shot in 1904 as a 'travelogue' for Australians curious about life in what was "one of the most exciting cities anywhere", according to Professor Ian Christie. He discovered the 12 minute reel while trawling through archives in Canberra. Prof Christie said: "It's a rather clever mixture of what we would expect to see - such as the Embankment, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square - but it also has these wonderful close ups of individuals.

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time: movie footage of London shot in 1904. This clip is an excerpt from a 12-minute long video that was made as a travelogue to lure visitors from Australia. It is a fascinating and all too brief glimpse into the vibrant, teeming London of Sherlock Holmes:

LONDON — London buses have God on their side — but not for long, if atheists have their way. The sides of some of London's red buses will soon carry ads asserting there is "probably no God," as nonbelievers fight what they say is the preferential treatment given to religion in British society.

So Boris Johnson, hot on the heels of Colin Powell, has now endorsed Barack Obama for president in his Telegraph column. Barack Obama: Why can't we judge him on his policies alone? As usual - and notwithstanding the brilliant writer and impressive politician that he is - it's unclear quite how seriously one should take the Mayor of London. After all, it was only last year, in another rather ill-judged article, that the then Conservative Member of Parliament for Henley endorsed one Hillary Clinton.

LONDON – The mayor of London, a member of the British political party that is a traditional ally of U.S. Republicans, says Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama "visibly incarnates change and hope, at a time when America desperately needs both." In an article for Tuesday's edition of The Daily Telegraph newspaper, London Mayor Boris Johnson of the center-right Conservative Party was blunt in his assessment of President Bush's legacy and how an Obama presidency would break from it. Johnson's endorsement of the Democratic candidate came after McCain declared in a radio address Saturday that "socialist leaders" in Europe admire Obama....

Senior Iranian Official Recommends that Iran Mark London as a Target – In Order to Deter Bush from Attacking Iran in Last Months of Presidency In an October 18, 2008 article on the Iranian website Aftab, Wahid Karimi, director of the Europe and U.S. department in Iran's Foreign Ministry, recommends that Iran mark London as a target, since it is the capital of the country that is the U.S.'s closest ally in Europe. This, says Karimi, would be with the aim of ensuring that the Bush administration does not attack Iran in its final weeks, after the U.S. presidential election...

It is for the American people to choose the next president of the United States. Anyone who is not a citizen should proffer advice on the question only with the greatest humility and tact. The price paid in money or in blood for the decisions of the president falls mainly, even if not exclusively, on Americans. And the nuances of political discussion, so important in selecting leaders, are often hard for outsiders to grasp. Yet it would be naive to think that readers of a British newspaper have no stake in the outcome of the contest between Barack Obama and...

The London shows are always the ones to watch for trends. The city is universally known for being years ahead of others, fashion and trend wise. This season the London shows brought a sensible whimsy to troubled times. GilesGiles Deacon is usually known for being forward, avant garde and whimsical all at once. While this season was no exception, there was also a mature sensibility to Giles’ work. Call it the recession effect, but what we are left with are beautiful and wearable clothes. Giles still kept the element of surprise we have come to know and love him for...