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Police Hunt Mugger Who Punched Two-Year-Old Girl In The Face And Injured Her Twin Brother GRAHAM SMITH 20th November 2009. A cowardly mugger who punched a two-year-old girl in the face when her mother refused to give up her handbag was being hunted by police today. Maria Sharma, 28, was pushing her twins Paris and Sunny along a busy road in Slough, Berkshire, when the vile attack took place in broad daylight. A man, who Mrs Sharma described as 'looking possessed', tried to snatch her handbag, which was hanging from the toddlers' pushchair. When the single mother-of-four fought back, he...

Britain was embroiled in a diplomatic row today after the Royal Navy was accused of using a Spanish flag as a machine-gun target. Giles Paxman, the UK's new ambassador in Madrid, was forced to apologise after sailors fired at a red-and-yellow flag affixed to a buoy while patrolling off Gibraltar.

A man who strangled his wife during a nightmare in which he dreamed he was attacking an intruder has been freed. Brian Thomas, 59, was released after the prosecution withdrew the case against him at Swansea Crown Court. It had been seeking a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity but said later there would be no purpose in sending Mr Thomas to a psychiatric hospital. Family members who were in court for the hearing, greeted the news with a jubilant cry of "yes". Mr Thomas' brother Raymond spoke of his relief as he left court. "Family and...

More than one in three children never see their father again after their parents split up, research into family breakdown shows. And nearly one in ten is so traumatised by the separation that they have considered suicide. Children are often used as ‘emotional footballs’ and left feeling ‘used, isolated and alone’, with many turning to drink, drugs and truanting. Sandra Davis, head of family law at Mishcon de Reya, which carried out the survey of more than 4,000 people, said: ‘This research highlights that despite their best intentions, parents are often using their children as emotional footballs. ‘They can be...

A muslim who threatened to kill his wife and cut out her tongue after she blocked an arranged marriage for their daughter has been banned from seeing his family. In the first prosecution of its kind, Aurang Zeb has been convicted of breaching a Forced Marriage Protection Order taken out to stop him taking Rozina Akhtar out of Britain to marry. But despite his chilling threats he escaped imprisonment and was given community service. Last night campaigners condemned the sentence, saying it sent out the wrong message. 'There's clear evidence that this man threatened to kill his wife, so how...

Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman faces prosecution for her involvement in a car smash in which she allegedly used her mobile phone, the Crown Prosecution Service said tonight. A court summons will be served on the MP for Camberwell and Peckham after a police investigation into the crash in Dulwich, south-east London on the afternoon of July 3.

As American Thinker's self-appointed "correspondent" in the outpost that is the United Kingdom, I am filing a report on what the man in the street here really thinks of your President. The description most often used by those of us when gathered in the local pub is: "a dangerous wanker." For my American cousins, the definition of that most English of insults is: "a highly offensive term for somebody considered unpleasant, self indulgent, pretentious or arrogant" Admittedly many of us Brits fell for the same "hope and change" mantra that ensnared so many of you. God knows we have ample...

As the new hunting season begins today, animal rights activists are threatening to disrupt meets as "observers", as well as joining hunts undercover. The saboteurs will film constantly using new telescopic lenses so hunts can be monitored from a distance. They will also use hidden cameras in clothing and time-delay devices dotted around the countryside. (edit) Hunting was banned in 2005 but since then the number of people taking part in the sport has continued to increase, with 50,000 mounted followers expected this year compared to 40,000 in 2004. This year there are expected to be a further 50,000...

London, England, Nov 18, 2009 / 03:44 am (CNA).- Invoking the example of St. Monica, a British bishop and a woman leading a mother’s prayer group program have invited all Catholics and especially Catholic mothers to pray for those who are removed from parish life.Bishop Kieran Conry, who is responsible for evangelization in England and Wales, made his remarks to coincide with the launch of the annual “Come Home for Christmas” campaign.He described St. Monica as the patron saint of inactive Catholics. “She was a faithful wife and mother who prayed for years for her son to embrace the Christian...

British forces should buy off potential Taleban recruits with “bags of gold”, according to a new army field manual published yesterday. Army commanders should also talk to insurgent leaders with “blood on their hands” in order to hasten the end of the conflict in Afghanistan. The edicts, which are contained in rewritten counter-insurgency guidelines, will be taught to all new army officers. They mark a strategic rethink after three years in which British and Nato forces have failed to defeat the Taleban. The manual is also a recognition that the Army’s previous doctrine for success against insurgents, which was based...

The man believed to be Britain's most notorious serial sex attacker was arrested by the Metropolitan Police last night. Known as the ‘Night Stalker’, the man is thought to be responsible for 108 offences in south and south-east London, including four rapes and 24 indecent assaults. He breaks into homes and sexually assaults his elderly victims. Yesterday morning a 52-year-old man was arrested in south London — the area where most of the attacks took place. He is being held at a police station in the capital

The makers of a hit Hollywood film are at the centre of a race controversy after removing two black actors from a poster being used to promote it in Britain. The American advert for Couples Retreat, a comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Kristin Davis, show all eight principal actors – six of whom are white and two black. But the poster in Britain, where the film is on general release, omits actors Faizon Love and Kali Hawk. Couples Retreat, about four couples who go on holiday together and receive therapy to improve their relationships, has taken more than

Anti-war protesters and train spotters arrested under anti-terror laws could have their DNA kept for life under Home Office plans. In contrast, those innocent of any other suspected crime will be kept for a maximum of six years. The proposals have been drawn up in the wake of a European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that a blanket policy of retaining profiles of innocent people indefinitely was illegal. Up to a million innocent people are currently held on the national database. As part of a climb-down, the Home Office now plans to keep the profiles of children innocent...

The British warship that India wants: quantum leap on the high seas November 16th, 2009 Dipankar De Sarkar London, Nov 16 (IANS) A futuristic aircraft carrier that India is reported to be keen on buying from Britain is envisaged as a giant guardian of the high seas, capable of travelling thousands of kilometres from home and wreaking massive destruction on enemy targets, experts said Monday. India has reportedly “lodged a firm expression of interest” in buying one of two huge aircraft carriers that are currently under construction - the largest warships ever built by Britain, and designed to be the...

MoD may sell aircraft carrier to India to limit cuts Sale would leave Royal Navy with just one replacement Tim Webb The Observer, Sunday 15 November 2009 Article historyOne of Britain's new £2bn aircraft carriers could be sold off under cost-cutting plans being considered by the Ministry of Defence. India has lodged a firm expression of interest, the Observer has learned. The sale of one of the two 65,000-tonne vessels would leave the Royal Navy with a single carrier and could force Britain to borrow from the French fleet, which itself has only one carrier and is reluctant to build...

BULLETIN -- NEW YORK POLICE AND FBI RAID HOMES IN QUEENS IN TERRORISM INVESTIGATION.6 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters

Gordon Brown will fire the starting gun this week for a general election campaign that could run for six months. He will outline a programme of populist measures in the Queen’s Speech and challenge David Cameron to support them. The Prime Minister is to emphasise his determination to carry on governing with a political programme designed to exploit Labour’s differences with the Conservatives. ~snip~ The new legislation will give NHS patients the right to go private free of charge if they are not treated within 18 weeks, guarantees for parents and pupils of one-to-one tuition and free home treatment for...

I observed the two minutes of silence on November 11. I bought a poppy and thought of my Dad, someone I always miss at this time of year. He wasn’t killed in action, but he served in the Second World War – he was a captain in a tank regiment – and lost many friends. .... The Army made him brave, and that bravery stood him in good stead when it came to facing loss, illness, mediocrity... ..... His memories, good and bad, kept him alive, alert, proud. He knew he had really lived, seen the world and made a...

SNIPPET: "TERROR mastermind Rashid Rauf has been linked to a fresh Al Qaida plot to launch attacks on the US. The Birmingham-born extremist has been named by witnesses due to testify against Najibullah Zazi, who was arrested for plotting suicide bombings in New York. MI6 officers have linked the plot to a complex terror network said to be directed from Pakistan by Rauf and fellow jihadists. Zazi, 24, was identified through an intercepted communication, and was further implicated by US national Bryant Neal Vinas, who was captured in Pakistan last November. Vinas, 26, allegedly admits meeting Rauf and receiving training...

Just like the hatred that is being preached in the UK Sharia Courts, the hatred stemming from Islam is circulating throughout the UK prison system. This is no surprise though, but if this were not such a serious issue this article could be deemed comical. The authorities have stated that they have it all under control. Meanwhile hate preaching Muslims are actually getting themselves on Islamic TV shows while still in prison. Does reality exist anymore over there?

Two-year-old children are being exposed to dangerous levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals in domestic products such as rubber clogs and sun creams, according to an EU investigation being studied by the government. The 327-page report says that while risks from "anti-androgen" and "oestrogen-like" substances in individual items have been recognised, the cumulative impact of such chemicals, particularly on boys, is being ignored. The EU's environment council of ministers is due to agree on a regulatory approach to the use of so-called "gender-bender" compounds before Christmas. On Monday, EU officials will try to work out a strategy for creating risk assessments of...

Detectives are hunting a convicted murderer who absconded while out on an escorted shopping trip. Patricia Gillette, 41, escaped at around 3pm on Friday while visiting shops in West Wickham High Street, near Bromley, south east London. Gillette, of Streatham, south London, was being held at the nearby Bethlem Royal Hospital. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1227788/Dangerous-murderer-escapes-shopping-trip-prison.html#comments#ixzz0WvpECzWW

SNIPPET: "An Irish jihadist living in Pakistan’s Swat valley says he is preparing to wage war against British and allied troops in Afghanistan. Khalid Kelly, a former altar boy from the Liberties area of Dublin who used to be known as Terry, told The Sunday Times he is undergoing weapons training in Pakistan’s mountainous tribal region in order to fight jihad against the enemies of Islam. His dream is to face a British soldier in combat, although he would “settle” for an American, he said. “I’m already on the path to jihad. I’ve already picked up a gun and done...

Everyone in Britain should have an annual carbon ration and be penalised if they use too much fuel, the head of the Environment Agency will say. Lord Smith of Finsbury believes that implementing individual carbon allowances for every person will be the most effective way of meeting the targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It would involve people being issued with a unique number which they would hand over when purchasing products that contribute to their carbon footprint, such as fuel, airline tickets and electricity.

Al-Qaeda runs jihad from British prisons David Leppard Protected by high curving walls and set in open fields in the featureless Vale of Evesham in Worcestershire, Long Lartin prison should be one of the most secure buildings in the country. Its “supermax” segregation wing, built at the height of the IRA’s bombing campaign, was designed to house dangerous inmates. The IRA’s place as the main threat to Britain’s security has now been taken by Al-Qaeda and a new breed of terrorist is being held inside Long Lartin’s supermax isolation unit. The most prominent today is Abu Qatada, a radical Islamist...

Kidnapped by Pirates Military officials insisted the crew members could not have acted without endangering the lives of Paul Chandler, 59, and his wife, Rachel, 55. The 75 merchant seamen and 25 Royal Navy sailors were aboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary replenishment tanker Wave Knight. The Chandlers were seized in the early hours of Oct. 23 when armed Somali pirates boarded their yacht, the Lynn Rival. The yacht was heading from the Seychelles towards Tanzania. The couple was forced to sail towards Somalia before being moved onto a container ship, the Kota Wajar, which was previously taken by the pirates....

Some 33 cases of alleged abuse have been reported, including claims of rape. Other civilians say they were stripped naked, abused and photographed. In one of the worst alleged cases, British soldiers are accused of piling Iraqi prisoners on top of each others and then subjecting them to electric shocks. One of the soldiers is then said to have stood on the pile of men, and started shouting and laughing. Female British soldiers - as well as male soldiers - are alleged to have taken part in the abuse. The new allegations date back to 2003 when US and British...

What was once venerated is now, in many ways, dismissed and even despised. Matthew Arnold, the great Victorian poet, marked the turning moment. He had early intimations of “the way we live now,” a way largely evacuated of its Christian allegiances, certainly – in the public sphere – evacuated of the regard and respect that the profession of Christianity once automatically evoked. “The Sea of Faith/ Was once, too, at the full,” he wrote, before going on in lines of immense power to record: But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the...

Government seeks secrecy on cleft palate abortions The Government has launched a High Court bid to maintain secrecy over the abortion of babies with cleft palate and club feet. Published: 7:00AM GMT 13 Nov 2009 In an extraordinary move, the Department of Health is taking the Government's own Information Tribunal to court to overturn a landmark Freedom of Information Act ruling. The case, which is set to cost the taxpayer thousands, aims to prevent the publication of controversial statistics including late terminations for disabled babies, which are legal under Ground E of the Abortion Act, right up to birth. Last...

AN ANIMAL charity is stumping up an award to find the culprits of a sickening firework attack on a cat. PETA are offering £1000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the vile attack. The terrified cat suffered horrific burns and had to be put down. Thugs held the female tabby down while they tied an explosive to her back. She was in agony for up to a week before she was discovered near Dalduff Farm Shop at Crosshill. Suzanne Barnard, from PETA, said: "We are urging residents to keep a watchful eye on their...

Ex-soldier faces jail for handing in gun Thursday, November 12, 2009, 10:30 A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty".Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year. The jury took 20 minutes to make its conviction, and Mr Clarke now faces a minimum of five year's imprisonment for handing in the weapon. In a statement read out in court, Mr Clarke said:...

Ex-soldier faces jail for handing in gun Thursday, November 12, 2009, 10:30 A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty".Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year.The jury took 20 minutes to make its conviction, and Mr Clarke now faces a minimum of five year's imprisonment for handing in the weapon. In a statement read out in court, Mr Clarke said: "I...

Increasing numbers of women are having cosmetic surgery to achieve a “designer vagina” but doctors warn that the operation may be unsafe. No studies have looked at the long-term safety of labiaplasty, an operation to make the labia smaller, experts said. The irreversible operation, which can cost £3,000 privately, is often carried out for cosmetic reasons. Once considered the special domain of glamour models, female genital cosmetic surgery is becoming more common in wealthy nations and is being advertised to healthy women, according to researchers from University College London (UCL). (snip) The authors said “all reports claimed high levels of...

Civil servants at the Ministry of Defence have been paid £47 million in performance bonuses this year, it can be disclosed. The figure, which covers just the first seven months of the current financial year, has been revealed as the Government faces charges of failing to provide British troops with adequate support and equipment on the front line in Afghanistan. Additional bonus payments for the rest of year could take the total above the £53 million paid out to MoD officials in 2008/09.

Libel tourism isn’t just a matter for the media elite. Freedom of speech for everyone is in danger Britain is a pariah state, shunned by its allies and exploited by the unsavoury. The state of English libel laws (Scotland’s provisions are a little better) is so embarrassing that a number of US states have enacted legislation to protect their citizens from our courts. London is the global centre of libel tourism. From Middle Eastern potentates to Russian oligarchs, the rich and powerful use our legal system to bully people who try to hold them to account. Sometimes cases make the...

A British man who got 12 women pregnant after meeting them on Facebook has been dubbed "The Sperminator" by the UK press and his victims. Dominic Baronet had been wooing young women for years with his smooth internet chatter, the News of the World reports. Five women are now mothers to his children, another five have had abortions and two are expecting. Adding to Baronet's shady past is a criminal record for supplying ecstasy and cocaine. Kerry Martin, 24, told the News of the World she discovered Baronet's cheating ways by keeping a watch on his Facebook page after he...

A 27-YEAR-old asylum seeker who exposed himself to female paramedics as they were taking him to Selly Oak Hospital has been jailed for 12 months. The paramedics picked up Adam Mohammed ...after a heavy drinking session. He said the year-long sentence would normally result in automatic deportation, but ruled it was unsatisfactory because Mohammed could not be sent back to the Sudan because of the political situation in that country. Mohammed ...had made earlier court appearances

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is under fire over his hand-written letter to a grieving mother who lost her son in Afghanistan. In the letter, which Jacqui Janes sent to tabloid newspaper The Sun, Mr Brown misspells her name and makes at least 20 other spelling errors. Mrs Janes said it was an insult to her son. When the Prime Minister called her to apologise, she recorded the conversation and maintained her rage. Her son, Jamie Janes, joined the Grenadier Guards shortly after his 16th birthday and was on his second tour of Afghanistan when he was killed by a...

"It sounds yucky, but it may be well worth doing if it's going to lead to a cure for something horrible," said Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell expert at Britain's National Institute for Medical Research, and a member of the group conducting the study. At a media briefing in London, Lovell-Badge said there were two main types of experiments: altering an animal's genes by adding human DNA or replacing a specific animal sequence with its human counterpart. Several years ago, human genes were added to a mouse to create a model of Down's syndrome for scientists to study how the...

Gold Slips To $1100 As UK Faces Potential Credit Ratings Downgrade Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009 Nov 10, 2009 - 07:43 AM By: Adrian_Ash THE PRICE OF WHOLESALE gold slipped 1% from Monday's new record high early in London today, briefly drifting through $1100 an ounce as Asian stock markets closed the day higher but European shares held flat. Crude oil ticked back down to $80 per barrel, but remained higher by one-third from this time last year. The US Dollar held steady after Monday's sharp losses. Ten-year Treasury bonds offered 3.45% in yield. "A correction is reasonable after...

All telecoms companies and internet service providers will be required by law to keep a record of every customer’s personal communications, showing who they have contacted, when and where, as well as the websites they have visited. Despite widespread opposition to the increasing amount of surveillance in Britain, 653 public bodies will be given access to the information, including police, local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the ambulance service, fire authorities and even prison governors. They will not require the permission of a judge or a magistrate to obtain the information, but simply the authorisation of a senior police officer...

David Miliband accused by Jewish leaders of using anti-semitism" as "political football" David Miliband, the foreign secretary, has been accused by leaders of the British Jewish community of using anti-semitism as a “political football”. By Andrew Pierce Published: 7:00AM GMT 09 Nov 2009 Mr Miliband has made a series of attacks on Michael Kaminski who leads the antifederalist Law and Justice group in the European Parliament which David Cameron’s Conservatives have forged a new alliance with. In his speech at the Labour Party conference the Foreign Secretary said Mr Kaminski’s “anti-semitic, Neo-Nazi” past made him “feel sick”. He quoted Poland’s...

Britain will face a serious energy crisis unless plans to build new nuclear power plants are speeded through without having obstacles placed in their way, the Government will warn next week. Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, will give the go-ahead for a new generation of power stations and explain how new planning guidelines will speed up the time it takes for them to come into operation. In a major series of policy statements on Monday Mr Miliband will say that “saying no” to nuclear is no longer an option.The move is certain to arouse opposition in Labour...

A senior police chief spoke out tonight about the worrying rise in gang rapes, as disturbing figures showed almost 100 attacks in the capital within the last year. Meanwhile the age of victims has fallen, with 64 per cent aged 19 or younger in the last financial year compared with 48 per cent in 1998-9. The Metropolitan Police has commissioned research from Dr Miranda Horvath, a lecturer in forensic psychology at the University of Surrey. She is focusing on the 'cultural context' of gang rape and speaking to officers from forces across Britain and the United States. Jennette Arnold, who...

A heavily pregnant woman and her fiance have gone on the run after social workers threatened to take away their baby at birth. Kerry Robertson, 17, and Mark McDougall, 25, had been told that she was not bright enough to raise their child and that they would have to give him up. It was another blow for the couple, whose wedding this year was halted just 48 hours before the ceremony in a row over whether Miss Robertson was intelligent enough to marry.   Miss Robertson, who is 29 weeks pregnant, has since been told the couple will be...

FEARS are emerging that vulnerable children might be groomed for religious extremism or even terrorism at taxpayers’ expense. Muslim pupils are being taken out of classes and sent to study at Islamic schools, or madrassas. A pilot scheme, the Open Madrasah Network, has received a £550,000 government grant to pay for under-achievers to attend lessons in Arabic, Urdu and religion. The classes, described as booster lessons for primary and GCSE age pupils, are already running at four madrassas in Bradford, West Yorkshire. If pupils show improvement, the scheme is likely to be rolled out nationally. But critics say it will...

Proof of what can happen if a wife or girlfriend drags her husband or boyfriend along shopping This letter was actually sent by Tesco's Head Office to a customer in Oxford, UK : Dear Mrs. Murray, Whilst we would like to thank you for your valued custom and use of the Tesco Loyalty Card, the Manager of our store in Banbury is considering banning you and your family from shopping with us, unless your husband stops his antics. Below is a list of his actions over the past few months all verified by our surveillance cameras: 1. June 15: Took...

A disturbing new report by the Centre for Social Cohesion, a British think tank, makes a strong case that Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) is not the "peaceful" Islamist group it purports to be. In a study published Monday, the center - quoting extensively from the statements and writings of HT leaders and party organs – shows that the group actually advocates hijacking planes and other forms of jihadist violence in order to annex all Muslim-majority nations and colonize non-Muslim-majority ones. Representatives of HT, which seeks to establish a global Islamic state (a Caliphate), have long claimed that they oppose violence.

Harriet Harman was yesterday slapped down by national statisticians over her claims that women are paid a fifth less than men. The Women and Equality Minister was told she must no longer use a single figure to describe the complex differences in the earnings of men and women. Instead she will have to give three measures - among them one which shows that far from earning less than men, women in part-time jobs are actually paid more on average than their male counterparts.