07/01/2007 | 08:59 PM
GLASGOW, Scotland - Police searched
several houses near Glasgow International Airport on Sunday in
connection with a fiery attack on its main terminal and a foiled car
bomb plot in London, and police arrested a fifth suspect in the case.
Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, said the country was
dealing with terrorists associated with al-Qaeda. And Lord Stevens,
Brown's new terrorism adviser, said the two attacks in Britain indicate
that "al-Qaeda has imported the tactics of Baghdad and Bali to the
streets of the UK."
Four suspects were in police custody Sunday ? and a fifth man was under
guard in hospital ? after a flaming Jeep crashed into a Scottish
airport on Saturday and two car bomb plots were foiled in central
London on Friday. <
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/49095/UK-police-make-fifth-terror-arrest>
Police avert car bomb 'carnage'
A car bomb planted in central London
would have caused "carnage" if it had exploded, police sources have
said. A controlled explosion was carried out on the car, packed with 60
litres of petrol, gas cylinders and nails, in the early hours in
Haymarket. Police were alerted by an ambulance crew who saw smoke
coming from the silver Mercedes, parked near the Tiger Tiger nightclub.
"International elements" are believed to be involved, the BBC has been
told. Police sources say it is quite possible the device failed to
ignite - and might have been minutes away from exploding. Deputy
Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's
counter-terrorism command, said: "It is obvious that if the device had
detonated there could have been serious injury or loss of life." The
ambulance had been called to the nightclub to treat a sick man, when
they saw smoke, now believed to be vapour, inside the car. Bomb experts
manually disabled the "potentially viable explosive device". <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6252276.stm>
Brown urges security 'vigilance'
Gordon Brown's second Cabinet as prime
minister has been overshadowed by the discovery of a car bomb in
London. Mr Brown has urged "vigilance" and will be briefed on the
situation by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who has chaired the Cobra
emergency planning committee. He is still expected to unveil dozens of
new government appointments later, including more non-Labour figures.
Conservative leader David Cameron has pledged to work with Mr Brown on
combating the terror threat. Sources said Friday's Cabinet meeting was
longer than normal as ministers discussed the discovery of a car bomb
outside a West End nightclub. But there was still time to discuss
Justice Secretary Jack Straw's proposals to revamp the constitution and
restore trust in politics, expected to be unveiled later. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6251788.stm>
Police hunting London car bombers
Anti-terrorism police have launched a
huge manhunt for the people who planted two car bombs in central
London. Police, who have described events as "troubling", are studying
hours of CCTV footage in the search for suspects. The cars - both
Mercedes - were packed with nails, petrol and gas cylinders, but the
devices were not detonated. One car was found outside a nightclub near
Piccadilly Circus early on Friday, while the second was towed to a Park
Lane pound before its device was found. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6255452.stm>
MPs warn over air security checks
Heightened security checks at airports
could create a potential new target for terrorists, MPs have warned. A
report by the Commons transport select committee said queues of
hundreds of passengers in cramped spaces could become a security
hazard. The committee recommended that reducing queues at security and
speeding up check-in times should be a priority. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6916739.stm>
Haneef terrorism charges dropped
The Australian authorities have dropped
terror charges against an Indian-born doctor over the failed car bomb
attacks in the UK. Mohamed Haneef had been accused of giving "reckless
support" to terrorism by providing a relative in Britain with his
mobile phone SIM card. Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg
said, following a review of the case, that "a mistake has been made".
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said Dr Haneef will be given home
detention. The 27-year-old doctor had been in custody since he was
detained by police on 2 July at Brisbane airport. Mr Andrews cancelled
his visa on 16 July - just hours after a magistrate granted him bail -
on character grounds, which effectively kept him in detention. That
decision, as well as disputed prosecution evidence and a lengthy
detention without charge under new anti-terror laws, triggered concern
from both legal and civil rights groups. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6918569.stm>
Judge delays Haneef visa ruling
An Australian judge has delayed making a ruling on the appeal by Indian
doctor Mohamed Haneef over a decision to cancel his working visa.
Judge Jeffrey Spender told the federal
court in Brisbane that he would give his ruling on 21 August.
Dr Haneef was detained for several weeks in Australia, before a terror
charge against him was dropped.
However Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews refused to reverse his
decision to cancel Dr Haneef's visa.
Mr Andrews maintained that the Indian doctor had failed what is called
the character test, because of his association with alleged criminals.
He also said he still had suspicions about the doctor, even though the
charges had been dropped.
Dr Haneef is back in India and did not attend the two-day hearing in
Brisbane. He is seeking the option of returning to work in Australia
one day.
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6938205.stm>
Prints reveal immigration cheats
Some 6,000 potential immigration cheats
have been caught by a new scheme to fingerprint visa applicants before
they travel to the UK.
UKvisas said that more than 500,000 sets of prints had been taken since
the scheme was introduced last year with 6,000 matched to "people of
concern".
Compulsory fingerprinting forms part of the UK visa application process
in just under 50% of countries.
The government hopes to collect prints from every applicant by April
2008.
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6936139.stm>
Army ending its operation in NI
A
soldier clears up after a loyalist riot
Soldiers
have spent the last 38 years in action in Northern Ireland
The British army's operation in
Northern Ireland will come to an end at midnight on Tuesday after 38
years.
Operation Banner - the Army's support role for the police - has been
its longest continuous campaign, with more than 300,000 personnel
taking part.
A garrison of 5,000 troops will remain but security will be entirely
the responsibility of the police.
British troops were sent to Northern Ireland in 1969 after violent
clashes between Catholics and Protestants.
When the first soldiers were deployed in August 1969, commanders
believed they would be in Northern Ireland for just a few weeks.
<>
The Army melted away, rather than marched away
Kevin Connolly, BBC Ireland
correspondent
No fanfare for Operation Banner
But the Army quickly became involved in
what came to be known as Operation Banner.
A total of 763 military personnel were killed during the campaign.
At the height of the Troubles, there were about 27,000 soldiers in
Northern Ireland. From Wednesday, there will be no more than 5,000.
The head of the Army in Northern Ireland, General Nick Parker, said the
operation helped create the conditions for a political solution.
"What I believe the military have done here is make a significant
contribution to the security in Northern Ireland that has allowed other
people to make the difference through politics, social programmes and
economics," he said. It is intended that the soldiers based in Northern
Ireland in future will be deployed in foreign trouble spots, not the
streets of Northern Ireland. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6923342.stm>
Brown talks of terror 'struggle'
Mr Brown and Mr Bush vowed cooperation
in counter-terrorism. The threat posed by terrorism is a "struggle for
the soul of the 21st Century", Gordon Brown has said. "It is a war. We
have had to fight a very big campaign," he said in an interview with
NBC Nightly News. Mr Brown, who was on his first official visit to the
US since becoming UK prime minister in June, had been asked why he did
not use the phrase "war on terror". He has denied that his view of
terrorism differs greatly from that of US President George W Bush. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6924843.stm>
There were "serious weaknesses" in the
Metropolitan Police's handling of information after the shooting of
Jean Charles de Menezes, a report has found. Assistant Commissioner
Andy Hayman "misled" the public, the Independent Police Complaints
Commission ruled. The IPCC has examined statements issued by police
after the 27-year-old was mistakenly shot dead by officers at Stockwell
Tube station on 22 July 2005. Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said Mr
Hayman "retains my full support". <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6927140.stm>
1975: Balcombe Street siege ends
(On
this day)
A six-day siege has
ended peacefully in London after four IRA gunmen freed their two
hostages and gave themselves up to police.
They are in custody at Paddington Green Police Station after what has
become known as the Balcombe Street siege.
Police are also questioning them about a further 100 incidents which
have taken place across the south east of Britain relating to the IRA.
|
In Context
|
|
The collapse of
the IRA's 1974-1975 ceasefire triggered
a wave of bombings by the four men who became known as the "Balcombe
Street Gang" - Martin O'Connell, Edward Butler, Harry Duggan and Hugh
Doherty.
They detonated their
first 10 devices in five
days and killed Ross McWhirter, the co-editor of the Guinness Book of
Records, after he offered £50,000 for information leading to
their
arrest.
When they were
forced to surrender to
police after the failed Balcombe Street siege they were charged with 10
murders and 20 bombings and jailed for life.
They were freed in
April 1999 under the
terms of the multi-party peace deal for Northern Ireland, known as the
Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998.
|
The government wants to restrict the types of
weapons available
|
The announcement
that samurai swords are to be banned in England and
Wales has been welcomed by those who have campaigned against their
sale.
But collectors and martial arts enthusiasts are concerned legitimate
owners may fall foul of the law.
Barbara Dunne hopes the announcement is vindication for
years of campaigning against bladed weapons, and samurai swords in
particular.
In 2003, her son Robert from Middlesbrough was killed by a teenager
wielding a samurai sword. The weapon punctured his heart.
Jason Kelly is currently serving a life sentence for murder.
 |
Genuine
and reproduction swords look similar. But they're not really the same.
It's like comparing an oil painting to a photographic print
Mark Hawkins
Lanes Armoury
|
Ms Dunne believed her son would have wanted her to
campaign against such weapons and she has done so with gusto. She took
a petition to Downing Street, wrote to MPs and compiled a dossier of
other weapons.
She believes this is a reward for her efforts. "It's an
achievement to get the weapons banned. I don't want children to keep
seeing them in shop windows and thinking it's normal."
Ms Dunne was one of those who responded to a government
consultation on the issue earlier this year. Despite her opposition to
the swords, she agrees there should be an exemption for genuine martial
arts enthusiasts. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7138735.stm>
More calls to ditch terror plans
The government says more time is needed to foil
complex plots
|
Ministers have been
urged to drop proposals to extend the limit on
holding terror suspects without charge, by a second Parliamentary
committee.
A day after an MPs' committee ruled there was no
evidence to support an extension from 28 to 42 days, a joint committee
of MPs and peers has agreed.
The joint committee on human rights (JCHR) also said proposed
safeguards in the plan would be "virtually usele
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she would
continue to seek a consensus.
The JCHR report comes a day after the home affairs
committee ruled that ministers had not made a convincing case for
extending the limit.
Both sides have dug
themselves into heavily fortified positions over the past month from
which they are refusing to shift.
The British Council has refused to close two
regional offices
|
It has become a test of wills and it is now a question
of who will blink first.
Or alternatively, whether the Russian government will
decide to use force to close the British Council's office in St
Petersburg.
There was no way the Russians would tolerate such open
defiance of a clear order issued last month for the St Petersburg and
Yekaterinburg offices to shut down by the New Year.
The anger of the government was fully expressed in the
abrupt summons of the British ambassador Sir Anthony Brenton to the
foreign ministry in Moscow on Monday.
And then in the statement issued afterwards by the
ministry, in which it described the British Council's failure to comply
with the order as a "premeditated provocation aimed at inflaming
tensions in Russian-British relations".
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7188285.stm>
Terror law plans to be unveiled
The government says more time is needed to foil
complex plots
|
The government is
pressing ahead with plans to allow the police to
hold terrorism suspects for up to 42 days before they are charged.
The Counter Terrorism Bill, due to be published later,
will propose to extend the limit beyond the current 28 days.
Some senior police officers support the move but it faces opposition
from Tory, Liberal Democrat and some Labour MPs.
Attempts to extend the limit to 90 days in
2005 ended in then prime minister Tony Blair's first Commons defeat.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, mindful of a potential
backbench rebellion by Labour MPs, has been meeting them to press her
case.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7205939.stm>
Bristol police plan second blast
Evacuated residents will likely remain out of
their homes until Saturday
|
Bomb disposal experts in Bristol are to carry out a second
controlled explosion at a terror suspect's home after discovering more
"suspect" materials.
It comes after police were granted a further seven days to question a
19-year-old man arrested under the Terrorism Act.
The suspect was named as Andrew Ibrahim, a British Muslim convert.
On Friday police conducted a controlled
explosion in a cul-de-sac in the Westbury-on-Trym area of the city.
A police spokeswoman said the second detonation, originally intended
for Friday evening, was postponed as officers awaited the delivery of
sandbags to minimise the impact of the blast.
Mr Ibrahim, who moved into the area three weeks ago, is understood to
have recently converted to Islam.
He was arrested on Thursday after covert inquiries prompted by an
intelligence tip-off.
The controlled blast, in the early hours of Friday morning, was carried
out after a raid on the suspect's home in Comb Paddock.
The materials blown up are to be analysed as part of what police
described as a "long and complex" investigation.
Residents were evacuated and some were expected to be kept out of their
homes until at least Saturday.
BBC correspondent Andy Moore said a bomb disposal team was due to
arrive at the address, and that more people in the wider surrounding
area may be asked to evacuate their homes temporarily while the second
explosion takes place. <
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7355402.stm>
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