Free Republic

Iran is ready to take "real and decisive" action if Israel attacks its nuclear facilities, a senior Iranian parliamentary official says. The remarks by Alaeddin Broujerdi, the head of Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, came after US Vice President Joe Biden signalled that Washington would not try to prevent any such Israeli assault. "Both the US and Israel are aware of the consequence of an erroneous decision," Broujerdi told reporters at the Iranian Embassy in Tokyo on Monday. "I believe our response will be real and decisive," Broujerdi said. He declined to elaborate. Israel fears Iran...

The boys in green are coming as the Environment Agency sets up a squad to police companies generating excessive CO2 emissions. The agency is creating a unit of about 50 auditors and inspectors, complete with warrant cards and the power to search company premises to enforce the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), which comes into effect next year. Decked out in green jackets, the enforcers will be able to demand access to company property, view power meters, call up electricity and gas bills and examine carbon-trading records for an estimated 6,000 British businesses. Ed Mitchell, head of business performance and regulation...

An active pensioner admitted to hospital for routine treatment for a stomach bug died six weeks later following a series of 'blunders' by overworked staff. Betty Dunn, 79, was taken to Tameside General Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyme, Greater Manchester, to be rehydrated with saline. But her horrified family watched helplessly as the widow's condition deteriorated over six weeks before she died after contracting the superbug C-diff. At one point her relatives, who battled to communicate with staff who apparently didn't speak English, were so concerned for the former Land Girl's welfare they called in police. Doctors then transferred the great-grandmother to...

Ryanair is considering proposals to make some of its customers stand during flights. Michael O'Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, plans to make some passengers stand. The low-cost airline would charge passengers less on "bar stools" with seat belts around their waists. Michael O'Leary, the chief executive, has already held talks with US plane manufacturer Boeing about designing an aircraft with standing room. He is now seeking approval from the Irish Aviation Authority before ordering a new fleet of carriers, according to The Sun. A Ryanair spokesman told the newspaper: "If they approve it, we'll be doing it." Mr O'Leary...

A senior Church of England bishop has angered gay-rights campaigners by saying homosexuals should repent. Archbishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that the Bible defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He said the church welcomed gay people, "but we want them to repent and be changed." Nazir-Ali is a leading member of the conservative wing of the global Anglican Communion, which is riven by divisions over homosexuality and the ordination of women. Gay groups condemned the bishop's remarks. Campaigner Peter Tatchell said Nazir-Ali's view "goes against Christ's gospel of love and...

The wife of the new head of Britain's spy agency posted pictures of her husband, family and friends on Internet networking site Facebook, prompting astonishment among security experts and calls for an enquiry. Sir John Sawers was appointed last month to take over as head of the Secret Intelligence Service in November. The agency, popularly known as M16, has emerged from the shadows in recent years but its employees are still bound by strict secrecy rules. In what the Mail on Sunday called an "extraordinary lapse", the new spy chief's wife, Lady Shelley Sawers, posted family pictures and details of...

BRITAIN'S row with Iran deepened last night after the Tehran government threatened to put British Embassy staff on trial. The Muslim clerics who call the shots in Iran accuse local workers at the embassy of fanning the anti-government protests which followed last month's disputed election. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was urgently trying to speak to his counterpart in Tehran over the legal threat to the staff. Earlier, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of Iran's powerful Guardian Council, claimed embassy workers had confessed to involvement in the protests. Jannati said: "In these events, their embassy had a presence. "Some people...

SNIPPET: "British militants are pushing for the overthrow of the Pakistani state. Followers of the fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir have called for a “bloodless military coup” in Islamabad and the creation of the caliphate in which strict Islamic laws would be rigorously enforced. Members of the group, which describes itself as the Liberation party in Britain but is banned in Pakistan, revealed last week that it had targeted the country as a base from which to spread Islamic rule across the world. The Sunday Times has obtained the names of a dozen British Hizb ut-Tahrir activists based in Lahore and...

Childhood obesity revealed in fat map One in six children are obese by the time they start school in some parts of the country, a new "fat map" of Britain has revealed. By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent 04 Jul 2009 The findings highlight the contrast between areas, with under-fives in the worst-affected districts four times more likely to be obese as those in the districts with the best records. One in six children in Stockton-on-Tees, in north-east England, is so overweight that their health is endangered by the time they start school. Four-year-olds in North East England four times as...

Sharia law UK: Mail on Sunday gets exclusive access to a British Muslim court EDNA FERNANDES 04th July 2009. In a shabby converted sweetshop in Leyton, East London, a group of burka-clad Muslim women sit in a waiting room. They have an appointment with Dr Suhaib Hasan at his twice-weekly surgery. The women look worried. There is no talking in the airless reception area - the only sound is a fan purring quietly in the corner as temperatures outside exceed 80F. Inside, the atmosphere is just as stifling. There are no magazines, television or other diversions. The beige walls are...

Oh this is rich... An article explaining the rise in forced marriages in the last few years in the UK and you have to take a gander at the photo that was used. This is too good. Obviously, evil white men are kidnapping white women and forcing them into marriage! Oh noes! It's an epidemic!

Parents were banned from attending an inter-school sports day to protect pupils from kidnappers and paedophiles. The host school said they could not prevent 'unsavoury' characters from sneaking in. More than 270 pupils from four local primaries took part in the East Beds School Sports Partnership Athletics Day at Sandy Upper School in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire last week.

Cancer patients who face long waits in the NHS will be given cash to go private, in a radical shift of Government policy. Gordon Brown will unveil a significant expansion of private sector involvement in health provision as part of his much-hyped relaunch next week. For the first time, if a primary care trust (PCT) cannot give cancer patients a specialist appointment within two weeks of referral from a GP, it will have to provide equivalent funding for a private consultation. However, the principle of involving the private sector in acute treatment is regarded as a major change of approach....

London, July 02(ANI): Johnny Depp is keen on teaching his children to handle guns. The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star, who learnt shooting at the age of six in Kentucky where he grew up, wants to pass on his experience to his kids. "We would just go out and line up a bunch of cans and shoot with rifles, handguns and at times, submachine guns," the Daily Star quoted him as saying...

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2009 – U.S. Marines and Afghan security forces are continuing Operation Khanjar in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, NATO officials said today. Almost 4,000 personnel from the Marine Expeditionary Brigade Afghanistan have moved into cities and towns along the Helmand River and are digging in for the long haul. The addition of nearly 22,000 American personnel in Afghanistan will allow the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to institute a “clear, hold, build” counterinsurgency strategy. Before, small numbers of coalition forces would enter an area and clear it of Taliban, but the shortage of forces meant that when they pulled...

A major fire has broken out in a tower block in south-east London and 25 people are feared trapped. The fire has swept through Lakanal House in Havil Street, Camberwell More than 100 firefighters are battling the blaze which started on the 4th floor of the 12-storey building in Camberwell. A fire brigade spokesman said seven floors of Lakanal House in Havil Street are on fire. "Floors five to 11 are involved in fire and heavy smoke logging," he said. "Twenty-five persons are believed involved. Efforts are being made to rescue them. Ten people have been taken to hospital, the...

Martin Jones is now able to see his wife for the first time - after having a tooth implanted into his eye. The formerly blind man, from South Yorkshire, Great Britain, had one of his front teeth removed and turned into a lens holder that was then inserted in his right eye.

The number of forced marriages has increased more than ten-fold in just four years... More than 770 suspected cases were reported to the Forced Marriage Unit this year, up from 152 in 2005. If the trend continues, by the end of this year more than 1,540 Britons will have been coerced into a marriage they do not want to enter - an increase of more than 913 per cent. The practice affects mainly young Asian women, with more than a third of cases involving those aged under 18. One in six victims are under 16. Advisors said they are dealing...

The Government has been accused of fixing the outcome of public consultations on health policy after it emerged that reviews were flooded with block votes from groups funded entirely by the taxpayer. Earlier this month the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, announced that the display of cigarettes and tobacco in shops would be banned in England and Wales from 2011. He added that people wanting to buy cigarettes from vending machines would in future have to show proof of age to obtain a token to activate the machine, and machines could be banned altogether in the future. Mr Johnson boasted that...

Pope Benedict XVI today announced the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman. The declaration means that the Anglican vicar, who shocked Victorian England by converting to Catholicism, will be given the title 'Blessed'. It also puts Newman just one stage away from becoming the first English saint in about 40 years.

Chris Bryant, who once posed in his underpants on a gay dating website, said he wanted clergy to be "much more open" to the idea of treating civil partnership ceremonies like traditional marriages. However, his suggestion goes directly against the rules of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, which state that only the union of a man and a woman can be celebrated by a priest in church.

The Girls Aloud singer has been chosen by her co-presenter on the British hit show, Simon Cowell, to host the show, it is claimed. The revelation came as the Newcastle-raised star celebrated her 26th birthday with friends in an attention-grabbing Alexander McQueen dress with her husband, the footballer Ashley Cole, at her side.

A top Iranian cleric says some of the detained Iranian staffers of the British Embassy in Tehran will be put on trial. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who is close to Iran’s supreme leader, has made the announcement in a Friday prayer sermon. He says the detained staffers “made confessions.” Jannati does not say how many staffers will be tried or on what charges. Earlier Iranian officials said all but one of the eight embassy personnel arrested on June 27 had been released, but European Union officials said they believed more than one was still being held. Jannati is the head of...

Swine flu cannot be stopped as 100,000 new cases per day feared David Rose More than 100,000 swine flu cases could be diagnosed every day by the end of next month, the Health Secretary has warned. Britain has moved past the stage of trying to contain the spread of the virus and into the “treatment phase”, Andy Burnham told the House of Commons. Cases of the H1N1 virus were doubling each week in Britain and could reach six figures daily by the end of August if current trends continued, he added. Anyone with flu-like symptoms will be advised to stay...

The most senior British officer to die in action since the Falklands has been killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was commander of a Battle Group spearheading the fight against the Taliban. His command vehicle was blown up by an improvised explosives device. He is the most senior British officer to die in combat since Lieutenant Colonel 'H' Jones, commander of 2 Para, was shot dead by Argentine forces during the battle of Goose Green in the Falklands War of 1982. A soldier of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment,...

NHS trusts have for the first time barred women from routinely having elective caesareans because they cost too much. The procedure, which costs twice as much as a natural birth, will be rationed in Greater Manchester so that it is only available to women with specific medical conditions. Some top obstetricians condemn the decision, arguing that, while it will curb the fashion for choosing caesareans to reduce the pain of childbirth, it will also penalise those who opt for them on the grounds that they are safer for the mother. Caesareans have been placed on the same lists for rationing...

EIGHT operations in the Lothians are cancelled every week because of equipment failures, bed shortages and staffing levels, it has emerged. In the last year, 420 elective procedures were cancelled, a significant rise on previous years. The ERI suffered the most cancellations, with hundreds also being postponed at the Sick Kids, the Western General and St John's Hospital in Livingston. Critics said not enough bed space was provided in hospitals for times of need, although NHS chiefs pointed out that the cancellations equated to little over 0.5 per cent of all operations in the area – 65,000 operations in total...

London, England (LifeNews.com) -- The British Medical Association reaffirmed its opposition to assisted suicide at its annual conference yesterday. Despite an attempt by MPs to legalize the practice or allow so-called suicide tourism, doctors rejected a call from BMA member Kailash Chand to change its long-held views. Chand hoped to get the BMA to support a position allowing assisted suicide in cases where a patient is terminally ill and has the mental capacity to consent to killing himself. Doctors also rejected calls to support a position against prosecuting physicians who break the law by participating in an assisted suicide. The...

The NHS was told today to stop relying on charities to fill funding gaps after figures revealed many trusts would not pay the full cost of electric wheelchairs for disabled children. Freedom of information figures obtained by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign found children were subject to a postcode lottery in terms of equipment. Statistics from 54% of NHS trusts in England and Scotland revealed that disabled children in England are forced to wait five months on average for a wheelchair. The worst performing primary care trust (PCT), East Lancashire, in the north-west of England, had an average wait of two...

Like the wool sweater that emerges from the dryer a size too small, global warming seems to be shrinking sheep.

Children in Britain are being failed by a culture that gives them low priority, exposing them to poor healthcare, knife crime and sexually transmitted diseases, according to the outgoing head of the Healthcare Commission. Sir Ian Kennedy, appointed to lead the watchdog after his 2001 report into child deaths after heart surgery in Bristol, said that despite the regulatory body's successes, progress on the care of children had not been as great as he would have liked. "What is getting in the way of doing what almost all right-minded people would think was a fundamental social obligation to its next...

WAITING times for cancer treatment need to be cut, the Scottish Government was told yesterday. The Scotland Against Cancer conference in Glasgow heard Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, setting out what was being done to improve cancer care for Scottish patients. But one cancer survivor, who spoke at the Cancer Research UK event, challenged ministers to be more ambitious in reducing the time patients have to wait before starting treatment. Cancer experts later said that patients elsewhere in Europe would be "outraged" by having to wait two months to start treatment, with most being seen within two weeks. The current...

A three-year-old girl awaiting heart surgery has had her operation cancelled three times this month because of a shortage of beds. Ella Cotterell was due to have aorta-widening surgery on Monday at the Children’s Hospital, Bristol. But 48 hours beforehand, the operation was cancelled for the third time as all 15 beds in the intensive care unit were occupied, her parents said. A hospital spokesman said that procedures would be reviewed, but the case highlights a growing problem of cancelled operations in the NHS. More than 57,000 surgeries were postponed for non-clinical reasons, including a lack of beds, last...

Thousands of kidney cancer patients are likely to lose out on life-prolonging drugs. The NHS rationing body, NICE, has confirmed a ban on three out of four new treatments. It has reversed its position on just one, Sutent, which will now be allowed for patients with advanced cancer. But campaigners who fought NICE's original blanket ban said this was not enough. They said some patients with heart problems cannot tolerate Sutent. Kate Spall, head of the Pamela Northcott Fund campaign group, said the ruling meant that fewer than half of newly diagnosed patients would be eligible for therapy. She added:...

The rising number of swine flu cases mean trying to contain the virus is no longer an option, the government says. Ministers said the emergency response would now move to a new "treatment" phase across the UK as there may soon be 100,000 new cases a day. It means anti-flu drugs will no longer be given to the close contacts of those infected nor will lab testing be done to confirm cases. The move has been made to relieve the pressure on the health service. The announcement, which comes into effect immediately, has long been expected. It does not mean...

A rare copy of the United States Declaration of Independence worth thousands of pounds has been discovered in Britain. The document, which is in perfect condition, is believed to be one of only 200 ever printed and was found among files at the National Archives in Kew. An American antiquarian bookseller carrying out research found the Dunlap print of the declaration which was printed on July 4, 1776. The discovery brings the total of known surviving copies worldwide to 26. The last discovery of a Dunlap print was at a flea market in 1989, and it sold at auction in...

The Queen is to honour the families of Britain's war dead with a new award in her name. Those who have lost loved ones on the frontline or in terrorist attacks will be presented with the Elizabeth Cross. In a radio message to the armed forces on the British Forces Broadcasting Service the Queen said: 'I greatly hope that the Elizabeth Cross will give further meaning to the nation's debt of gratitude to the families and loved ones of those who have died in the service of our country.'

The Government has nationalised the East Coast main line after stripping National Express, the troubled bus and rail operator, of the franchise. Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, said he had been forced into the drastic move to "ensure continuity of service to passengers, with no disruption or diminution of service standards". The struggling transport group reported on Wednesday that Richard Bowker, its chief executive, had quit and it warned on profits in a trading update. Lord Adonis, speaking on the BBC Today programme said: "I am simply not prepared to bail out companies that are unable to fulfil their commitments....

Britain's violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it is revealed today. Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries. The figures comes on the day new Home Secretary Alan Johnson makes his first major speech on crime, promising to be tough on loutish behaviour. The Tories said Labour had presided over a decade of spiralling violence. In the decade following the party's election in 1997, the number of...

"Comedy actress Mollie Sugden, best known for her role as Betty Slocombe in the hit TV series Are You Being Served?, has died in hospital at the age of 86 after a long illness. The popular television star shot to fame in the 1970s comedy show packed with double-entendres, as the panto-like character of Mrs Slocombe"

An utter lack of remorse last night condemned Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs to an almost certain death behind bars. Jack Straw ruled that - despite the Parole Board saying the frail 79-year-old was safe to be released - he must stay in jail. The Justice Secretary, whose shock decision divided MPs and legal experts, said Biggs had been 'wholly unrepentant' and did not deserve to be granted parole. Insiders admitted it was rare if not unprecedented for a minister to reject the advice of the Parole Board in such circumstances. It prompted immediate accusations that Mr Straw was chasing...

July 2, 2009 Vicar charged over 'sham marriages for illegal migrants plot' Father Alex Brown had worked in the parish in Sussex for almost 20 years Fran Yeoman A 60-year-old vicar was charged yesterday with involvement in an alleged criminal conspiracy to organise “sham marriages” for illegal immigrants. The Rev Alex Brown was one of four people arrested after a series of dawn raids in the Hastings area of East Sussex on Tuesday, which came after an 18-month investigation by Sussex Police and the UK Border Agency’s immigration crime team. Police searched the offices of St Peter and St Paul...

CoE school bans girl from wearing crucifix - but allows Sikh pupils to wear bangles A school told a child to remove a Christian cross she was wearing even though it lets Sikh children wear bangles as part of their religion. Lauren Grimshaw-Brown was told to take off a necklace with a cross on it because of health and safety fears. But the eight-year-old's furious mother has accused the school of double standards because they allow children following other faiths to wear jewellery on religious grounds. The mother-of-two says Lauren and brother Callan, five, have always worn crosses at St...

Cameron Apologises To Gays For Section 28: Law To Ban Promotion Of Homosexuality In Schools Was Wrong, Says Tory Leader By JAMES CHAPMAN 02nd July 2009 David Cameron has issued an extraordinary apology on behalf of the Conservative Party for legislation banning the promotion of homosexuality in schools. He said the party had 'got it wrong' when it introduced Section 28 in the late 1980s. It is one of a series of apologies Mr Cameron has made for his party's actions in government. The Scots received one in 2006 for having the poll tax imposed on them a year before...

A generation of teenagers know almost nothing about the history of Britain because schools are sidelining knowledge in favour of trendy topics and generic skills, a university academic has warned. Professor Derek Matthews, an economics lecturer at Cardiff University, was so concerned at his students' lack of historical knowledge that he decided to investigate by setting them five simple questions.

So Michael Jackson's body was going to be returned to his ranch at Neverland, where it would lie in state in a glass coffin for his helplessly grieving fans to say their goodbyes. It would be borne there in a white 'fairyland' horse-drawn coach as sobbing crowds line the route. Then would come the bad-taste funeral to end all bad-taste funerals, an orgy of saccharine camp with yet more artificially whipped-up sentiment.

There are many reasons to find problems with sharia law. In its full form, it contains numerous provisions that are barbaric and irreconcilable with any advanced society: stoning married adulterers, flogging the unmarried, throwing homosexuals from roofs or steep hills, amputating limbs for theft, and much more. But sharia is much wider than that. It moves seamlessly from the public to the private realm, and it is in the latter that we find demands that a measure of sharia be introduced to this country. Such demands have been made, not just by Muslims, but even by an astonishingly naïve...

Assumptions that the US will always come to Britain's rescue are complacent and it is "delusional" to believe that the UK can act alone without closer European defence co-operation, a leading thinktank warns today. A root and branch review of Britain's security interests, including options to avoid renewing the Trident nuclear missile system, is urgently needed, the Institute for Public Policy Research says. "If we do not strengthen Nato by reinforcing its European pillar, not just on defence but on wider security issues, the result will be neither the status quo nor some other fantasy of wider collective security co-operation,"...

There are many reasons to find problems with sharia law. In its full form, it contains numerous provisions that are barbaric and irreconcilable with any advanced society: stoning married adulterers, flogging the unmarried, throwing homosexuals from roofs or steep hills, amputating limbs for theft, and much more. But sharia is much wider than that. It moves seamlessly from the public to the private realm, and it is in the latter that we find demands that a measure of sharia be introduced to this country. Such demands have been made, not just by Muslims, but even by an astonishingly naïve Archbishop...

James Bond screeches around hairpin bends in them with a beautiful woman at his side, while they are the car of choice for European royalty in which to parade themselves around the Continent’s more opulent capitals. Now, at last, the opportunity to pop out to the supermarket behind the wheel of an Aston Martin will be opened to the more conventional motorist. The Aston Martin Cygnet — a new “luxury commuter concept” car, according to its marketeers — is to be built on the base of Toyota’s existing iQ city car and is likely to be available for less than...