Free Republic

An Israeli man forgot he was carrying a loaded pistol in his hand luggage when he flew into Britain for a holiday, a court has heard. Benjamin Lehman, 48, from the West Bank, managed to pass security checks at Tel Aviv and Heathrow without the weapon being discovered. But he was eventually caught when he returned to Heathrow for a flight to New York a few days later. Lehman denies two counts of "having a dangerous article at an aerodrome." Loaded weapon London's Isleworth Crown Court heard that the 9mm Steyr M9 pistol, which contained 10 rounds of ammunition, was...

A Lorry driver was kicked unconscious and more than a dozen cars wrecked in a road rage confrontation in a narrow Bristol street. People living in Hinton Road, Greenbank, watched in horror as a flat-bed lorry twice rammed a Fiat car after the drivers of both vehicles were involved in a stand-off, neither willing to back up and make room to let the other pass. Witnesses said three men in the Fiat attacked the lorry driver after he tried to run away. Some 12 residents' cars that had been parked at the side of the street were hit during the...

People poking themselves in the eye with Christmas trees and stepping on glass baubles are just some of the injuries doctors in the East Midlands (England) are dealing with this Christmas. Nationally more than 80,000 people are expected to turn up at accident and emergency departments over the 12 days of Christmas (in the UK). Decorations are the worst culprits, with 2,350 people injured trying to get their homes into the festive spirit. Christmas trees are also a dangerous weapon with as many as 1,000 people expected to be injured by them.

In recent months there has been an explosion in the availability of magic mushrooms available for sale in Britain. The hallucinogens have been appearing in ever greater numbers in High Streets and market stalls across the country, after it became known that their sale was legal if they were fresh.

Three British soldiers, seriously hurt after claiming a US tank convoy ran them off a road in Iraq, have spoken for the first time about the incident. Cpl Jane McLaughlan, Staff Sgt James Rogerson and Cpl Stephen Smith, were left with horrific injuries when their Land Rover crashed in May 2003. They are suing the US Army for £1.2m in the first action of its kind involving coalition allies in the Iraq war. The trio say they have been let down by US allies in the war-torn country. The US Army claims no record of the incident, despite a British...