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Sally Bedell Smith, dogged biographer and author of Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, out this week from Penguin Random House, has collected an exhaustive file of facts about the future king of England. Unlike his mother, Charles is not what you might call a beloved figure. And while Bedell Smith doesn't spare the touchy-feely, parapsychology loving, Dumbo-eared Charles, her portrait is also rich with sympathy, even affection. Bullied as a youth by his overbearing father (“Philip was the original alpha male,” Smith says), Charles spent his whole life seeking approval. Cowed by a sense of...

The 450-strong amphibious Maritime Operations Commando team will be sent on emergency missions amid fears jihadis will attack vessels and ports The Maritime Operations Commando will also be sent on global raids against enemy ships or terrorist vessels. Ports are also under threat, as jihadists may try to smuggle armed terrorists into the UK. And Somali pirates are a risk, with at least six attacks on ships off the Horn of Africa in the past month. Troops for the new unit will be formed from the Royal Marines ’ 42 Commando battalion in Plymouth.

The British Guardian posted a report on April 13 claiming that its sources now admit that the British spy agency GCHQ was digitally wiretapping Trump associates, going back to late 2015. This was presumably when the December 2015 Moscow meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lt. General Michael Flynn took place. This runs contrary to the blanket nature of the denial insinuated in GCHQ’s carefully-crafted statement of March 17 claiming it was all “nonsense” and “utterly ridiculous” that they conducted surveillance of “then president-elect” Donald Trump (emphasis added). The surveillance went back a year before he became “president-elect.”

A three-month old baby was summoned to the US embassy in London for an interview after his grandfather mistakenly identified him as a terrorist. Harvey Kenyon-Cairns had been due to fly to Orlando in Florida for his first overseas holiday, until his grandfather Paul Kenyon made the error on a visa waiver form. On the part of the Esta form which reads “Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?” Kenyon ticked yes instead of no. He only learned of his error when his grandson’s travel was refused. “I couldn’t...

... Meanwhile, it has emerged that Britain failed to secure the backing of any of the 27 countries for its case that trade talks should start early in the two years of negotiations allowed by article 50 of the Lisbon treaty. The position will be announced at a Brussels summit on 29 April. Despite a recent whistlestop tour of EU capitals by the Brexit secretary, David Davis, diplomats concluded unanimously that the European commission was right to block any talks about a future comprehensive trade deal until the UK agrees to settle its divorce bill – which some estimate could...

GPs are being paid millions by the NHS to ration referrals for operations, scans and even cancer tests, an investigation reveals today. Family doctors are being offered the financial incentives in a bid to slash the number of patients they send to hospital for a variety of procedures. The incentives mostly cover non-urgent referrals for hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery, hearing tests and abdomen scans. But two health trusts have included urgent cancer scans in their schemes, and another two covered heart tests. Patient groups said the payments were ‘profoundly wrong’, while one MP likened them to ‘bribes’. Doctors’...

Learner drivers will now have to be able to follow directions from a sat nav and drive into a parking space to pass their test.

LONDON, England, April 13, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — A UK judge has ruled it is in a child's best interest to “die with dignity” rather than to allow his parents to seek additional medical treatment. Connie Yates and Chris Gard want to take eight-month-old son Charlie to the United States for treatment of a rare disease. A GoFundMe account has given them enough money to do so. But Charlie needs to remain on life support to make the trip and Justice Francis determined it is in the "best interests of the child" to withdraw his feeding tube and breathing machine. Charlie...

Gun crime offences in London surged by 42% in the last year, according to official statistics. The Met Police's figures showed there were 2,544 gun crime offences from April 2016 to April 2017 compared to 1,793 offences from 2015 until 2016. Knife crime also increased by 24% with 12,074 recorded offences from 2016 to 2017. The Met said although crime rates were rising they remained at a much lower level than five years ago. Scotland Yard registered annual rises across a number of serious offence categories in the past 12 months, following several years of falls. The total number of...

Heads bowed, they stood in silent respect on the pavements of Wootton Bassett and tossed roses onto the hearses carrying soldiers who fell in Afghanistan. This week, London was stilled and many moved to tears as the last post was played on a bugle over the casket of PC Keith Palmer. After the attack on Westminster, in which he gave his life defending parliament against a knife-wielding lunatic, flags were at half-mast while mountains of flowers marked the spot where he and others died. These are moments when the British agree, as a nation, to "Silence the pianos and with...

Nigeria's security services said Wednesday that they had thwarted a plan by Boko Haram militants to attack the British and US embassies in the capital Abuja. A statement from the Department of State Services said that it broke up a cell late last month that had "perfected plans to attack" the embassies along with "other Western interests" in Nigeria's capital. The statement said five suspects who had been based in Benue State and the Federal Capital Territory were arrested. The US State Department issued an updated travel warning for Nigeria on April 5, warning that Boko Haram had targeted government...

Social Democrat (SPD) general secretary Katarina Barley said a second vote over whether to stay in the European Union (EU) should be held once the conditions of Brexit are clear. She has joined remainers including Tim Farron, Nick Clegg and Tony Blair who have been consistently slapped down when calling for a second vote, claiming British people and politicians didn’t really know what leaving would “be about”. Ms Barley said: “When the referendum was held, nobody really knew what it would be about - not the British people, not even the political class.

As uncertainty looms over Britain’s economic stability post-Brexit, leaders of the former colonial empire are looking to secure trade ties with its Gulf allies. Political and economic experts in the UK state that cultivating a perception that Britain is a global player with strong links outside the EU will be a substantial political strategy for the British Prime Minister Theresa May. The British government has said it is keen to start preparatory work so deals could be reached quickly after it leaves the EU. Britain is looking to strike new trade deals after May formally activated Article 50 of the...

Judge rules Great Ormond Street hospital can withdraw life support for Charlie Gard after doctors say he has brain damageDoctors can withdraw life-support treatment from a sick baby boy against his parents’ wishes, a high court judge has ruled. Specialists at Great Ormond Street hospital (GOSH) in central London had told the court they believed it was time to stop providing life support for eight-month-old Charlie Gard, who has a rare genetic condition. Doctors treating the infant say he has brain damage and should be moved on to a palliative care regime. His parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, of...

As they plough through their GCSE revision, UK students planning to take politics A-level in the autumn can comfort themselves with this thought: come September, they will be studying one thinker who does not belong in the dusty archives of ancient political theory but is achingly on trend. For the curriculum includes a new addition: the work of Ayn Rand.

ROYAL Navy flagship HMS Ocean could soon be sailing under a different flag – as part of the Brazilian fleet. Defence chiefs have confirmed the 28,000-ton helicopter carrier is for up for sale and that they are in talks with foreign governments. Brazil’s naval chiefs are keen to buy the vessel, which has seen active service in the Iraq War and an SAS rescue operation in Sierra Leone. Its sale will leave the Royal Navy without a carrier of any kind until 2023, when HMS Queen Elizabeth becomes operational. Brazilian officials say they believe the asking price – a closely-guarded...

A spitfire shot down over France in 1944 has flown for the first time since the Second World War after a £3 million restoration. The NH341 took part in 27 combat missions between June and July 1944 and was flown by nine pilots in the Royal Canadian Air Force's 411 (Grizzly Bear) squadron. Pilot John Romain flew the historic aircraft over Duxford, Cambridge, after a 30-month restoration project, which was declared a 'huge success'.

The significance of Vimy has shifted through the decades as new generations ponder the sacrifice There were many people in chilly, war-weary London who wanted to shake Canadian prime minister Robert Borden's hand on April 9, 1917. The first accounts of "Canada's victorious day" on Vimy Ridge filtered through the imperial war cabinet within hours of the battle and well-wishers sought out the prime minister to offer congratulations. His diary bursts with pride. "I hope that this victory is only the augury of further triumphs," he wrote. Events may have moved quickly in those day, but news moved slowly. At...

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has criticized a charity for allegedly downplaying references to Easter for seasonal egg hunts as being "absolutely ridiculous." The National Trust, which works to preserve landscapes and buildings in the U.K., has a partnership with Mondelez-owned Cadbury to run chocolate Easter egg hunts on its land. A logo promoting the events features a white rabbit and purple egg with the words "Join the Cadbury egg hunt," and a website states: "Join us over the Easter holidays to run through muddy woodlands, around mystical lakes and along nature trails on a Cadbury Egg Hunt." But this...

Andreea Cristea, Who Fell Into Thames During U.K. Attack, Dies By DAN BILEFSKYAPRIL 7, 2017 Continue reading the main story Share This PageContinue reading the main story LONDON — A 31-year-old Romanian architect who plunged into the River Thames when a terrorist plowed a vehicle into pedestrians in London became the fifth victim to die as a result of the attack last month, the police said on Friday.PhotoAndreea Cristea Credit London Metropolitan Police, via European Pressphoto Agency