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Thatcher Funeral: Body Moved To Westminster

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 16 April 2013 | 23.17

The body of Baroness Thatcher has arrived at the Houses of Parliament for a private family service.

Draped in a Union flag, her coffin was brought by hearse to the Palace of Westminster, to be laid in the crypt chapel of St Mary Undercroft before her ceremonial funeral at St Paul's Cathedral tomorrow.

Topped by a large bouquet of white flowers, it was lifted from the hearse and carried into Parliament by four pall-bearers in black ties.

Lady Thatcher's son and daughter, Sir Mark and Carol Thatcher, arrived to pay their respects shortly after the coffin.

A short private service to receive the body into the chapel was being led by the Dean of Westminster and attended by close relatives and senior figures from both Houses of Parliament who worked closely with Britain's first and so far only woman Prime Minister.

Baroness Thatcher Funeral

After the service, the Chapel will remain open for MPs, peers and parliamentary staff to pay their respects to the woman who dominated Westminster as Prime Minister from 1979-90 and served as an MP and peer for more than half a century from 1959 until her death aged 87 last week.

The Speaker's Chaplain, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, will then maintain a vigil through the night.

As her body lies in the chapel, MPs will later take part in a potentially bitter debate about her legacy - and the cancellation of Wednesday's PMQs to allow politicians to attend the funeral.

Respect MP George Galloway and Labour veteran Dennis Skinner have objected to move, which means the proposed change in sitting time will now be voted on after a debate lasting up to three hours.

MPs had the chance to pay tribute to Lady Thatcher when Parliament was recalled at the request of David Cameron last week.

But Bradford West MP Mr Galloway said he was prevented from making a "disrespectful" contribution and would relish the chance to give his verdict on her time in office.

"This was a wicked and divisive woman who was hated by half of the country and did great damage to a society she said didn't exist," he said.

George Galloway MP George Galloway called Lady Thatcher a "wicked and divisive woman"

He also hit out at plans to silence the bells of Big Ben and the Great Clock at Westminster.

"The muffling of the chimes of Big Ben is a step too far and now Mr Cameron will miss Prime Minister's Questions for four weeks. It is unconscionable.

"It was indicated to me that no disrespectful contributions would be tolerated in the debate last week so ... I will have a lot to say."

The decision was taken to silence the famous London landmarks as a mark of respect to the UK's first and so far only female prime minister, who died last week aged 87.

The last time the chimes of Westminster's Great Clock were halted in this way was for the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.

Ladt Thatcher's coffin will leave the Palace of Westminster by hearse tomorrow before being transferred to a gun carriage for the final leg of its journey to St Paul's during the ceremonial funeral service.

The international guestlist for the ceremony, particularly attendees from the United States, has been growing.

Former US vice president Dick Cheney and ex-secretary of state Henry Kissinger have confirmed their attendance.

Thatcher Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger said they will be attending the service

The two former top US politicians join an increasing congregation of former leaders, current politicians, Falklands veterans and a string of celebrities who will pay their respects to the former prime minister.

The pair do not form part of Barack Obama's official presidential delegation, which will be led by George Shultz and James Baker, who both served as secretary of states during the Thatcher era.

No members of the current White House administration are expected to attend.

Also on the increasing list of attendees were King Constantine and Queen Anne Marie of Greece, two-time US presidential candidate Ross Perot and Olympics supremo Lord Coe.

However, there will be no official representative from Argentina.

Its president Cristina Kirchner was not invited. But, in keeping with diplomatic protocol, an invitation was sent to the Argentine Ambassador to the UK, Alicia Castro, who declined.

Former South African president FW de Klerk is among the 2,000 guests attending the funeral.

In an interview with Sky News on Tuesday, he hailed Lady Thatcher's "honest, open and purposeful leadership" and her ability to convince the majority to "follow that lead and to embrace that vision".

"This she did for Britain, and she changed around the history of Britain," he said.


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Warmer Weather Brings Garden Slug Invasion

Warmer weather in the UK is set to bring an invasion of slugs to gardens, experts have warned.

Spring has been held back by the cold conditions but now longer days and rising temperatures are bringing out blooms, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) said.

After last year's washout summer provided perfect conditions for slugs, there is also likely to be an unusually large number around this year according to RHS chief horticultural adviser Guy Barter.

He said: "Last year slugs had a field day. Slugs wander around on a trail of slime and can't stand dryness.

"It set in to rain last April and carried on raining throughout the breeding time for slugs."

As a result, slugs had a booming breeding year in 2012 and although they will have had a "thin time" of it in winter, when there is little to eat, many will still have survived.

Mr Barter added: "There were so many slugs, an unusually large number are bound to have survived."

Gardeners should expect to find the warmer weather brings out the slugs, along with the blooms, especially if it is a showery April.

The RHS recommends various ways of tackling the invasion, including using nematodes, microscopic worms which can be watered over the garden, infect the slugs and kill them.


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London Marathon Security Review After Boston

British police are reviewing security arrangements for the London Marathon this Sunday after the bombs in Boston.

Marathon organisers and officers are working together to find out whether there is an international threat and if they should change any arrangements.

The security operation for Baroness Thatcher's funeral on Wednesday is also being reviewed.

Athletes run in front of Big Ben during the men's marathon in London. The London Marathon passes some of the capital's top tourist attractions

Chief Superintendent Julia Pendry, police commander for the London Marathon, said: "A security plan is in place. We will be reviewing our security arrangements in partnership with marathon organisers."

Nick Bitel, London Marathon Chief Executive, vowed to look at whether extra steps need to be taken to safeguard the race and runners.

"We are deeply saddened and shocked by the news from Boston," he said. "Our immediate thoughts are with the people there and their families.

"When an incident of this nature occurs you can't be complacent. You have to see if more needs to be done. That's what we'll be doing in the coming hours and days."

Nick Bitel, London Marathon Chief Executive Nick Bitel: "It's a sad day for athletics"

The London Marathon is the world's largest but turnout for the event could now be affected because of the attacks in Boston.

Half a million spectators were expected to line the streets of the capital to watch more than 30,000 runners, but it is possible some will pull out.

The course, starting in Blackheath and finishing in front of Buckingham Palace, takes in some of the capital's top tourist attractions, including Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf, Big Ben and Parliament Square.

As well as the threat of disruption from Irish republican groups and left-wing protesters, police will now be preparing for the possibility of copycat attacks after the blasts in Massachusetts.

Richard Barrett, who analyses terror threats for the United Nations, said they would need to balance the needs of security with the need to allow public events to continue.

"They'll be concerned about copycat attacks and about other sporting events and public galleries," he said.

"The Boston Marathon was a very soft target with 26 miles of spectators and lots of cars and people moving around.

"Security services are used to dealing with these issues but they'll be looking at things again in the light of this attack."

The Bearer Party formed from members of Britain's armed forces, rehearses for the funeral of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, at St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London Soldiers rehearsing on Monday for Baroness Thatcher's funeral

Meanwhile, Lord Reid has said experts will be keen to review security arrangements for Lady Thatcher's funeral, which is also due to pass major London landmarks.

He said: "Everyone will have been appalled at the terrible events in Boston. While the culprits and motivation behind the US terror attacks are still unclear, this will obviously entail a review of security arrangements for both Lady Thatcher's funeral and the London Marathon.

"They will require extra vigilance from everyone involved and it is also to be hoped that everyone recognises the added responsibility of co-operating with the police and the authorities at both events."


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Terror Suspect Haroon Aswat - No Extradition

European judges have blocked the extradition of terror suspect Haroon Aswat, ruling that sending him to the US would breach his human rights.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided that Broadmoor patient Aswat's probable incarceration in a high security prison could "exacerbate his condition of paranoid schizophrenia".

The terror suspect and suspected ally of Abu Hamza is wanted by US prosecutors for allegedly plotting with Hamza to set up a terror training camp in Bly, Oregon.

Radical Cleric Abu Hamza Preaching Aswat is a suspected ally of Abu Hamza

Hamza and four other terror suspects were extradited last year after the court rejected their appeal against the move - but Aswat's case was adjourned to allow judges more time to consider his mental health.

Aswat, who was born in 1974 and is being treated for schizophrenia, claimed that he would be at risk of ill-treatment inside the so-called supermax prison ADX Florence, in Colorado, if he was sent to America.

The Strasbourg court's decision came after it adjourned the case last April to obtain further submissions on the relevance of Aswat's schizophrenia to his claim.

Last year, the court ruled that five men, including Hamza, would not face ill-treatment if they were extradited to the US.

Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Seyla Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled Al-Fawwaz were all removed from the country.

Hamza, who was serving a seven-year sentence in Britain for soliciting to murder and inciting racial hatred when he was extradited, has denied 11 counts of criminal conduct related to the taking of 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998 and advocating violent jihad in Afghanistan in 2001.

He is also accused of conspiring to establish the Oregon-based jihad training camp between June 2000 and December 2001. Aswat was charged with being Hamza's "co-conspirator".

:: Meanwhile, three members of an al Qaeda-inspired group that plotted to bomb the London Stock Exchange and build a terrorist training camp have had their  indeterminate sentences quashed at the Court of Appeal.

Instead, the three judges imposed "determinate" custodial sentences of 17 years and eight months in the case of one of the men and 16 years in relation to the two others.

The Islamist extremists originally received the indeterminate sentences for public protection at London's Woolwich Crown Court in February last year.

Mohammed Shahjahan, now 29, was then ordered to serve a minimum term of eight years and 10 months, while fellow Stoke-on-Trent-based radicals Usman Khan, 22, and Nazam Hussain, 27, were ordered to serve at least eight years behind bars.


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Boston Marathon Explosions: Britons On Attacks

No British nationals appear to have been injured in the deadly Boston terror attacks, but the Foreign Office says it is continuing to monitor the situation.

Some 347 of the 25,000 runners taking part in the race were British and several have spoken of the aftermath of the twin blasts, which killed three people.

The Foreign Office tweeted: "We're in close contact with local authorities in Boston. Not aware of any British nationals injured but will continue to monitor situation."

One marathon runner from Cardiff told how she heard explosions moments after crossing the finishing line.

Arriving back at Heathrow Airport still wearing her running gear, Sarah Morris, 46, told Sky's Rachel Younger: "People were running towards us. There was a lot of blood and screaming."

Bombings at end of Boston Marathon Shattered windows in buildings lining the route of the marathon

Mrs Morris had just met up with her husband, Brian, when the explosions happened. He said: "There was a lot of panic. A man said a little boy had his leg blown off."

Abi Griffiths, from London, crossed the finishing line around 10 minutes before the explosions.

The 34-year-old told Sky News she heard the blast while collecting her bag.

She said: "The ground shook and immediately people sort of looked around - it was just too loud to be something that wasn't serious.

"People kind of didn't know what to do. Then all of a sudden it went into a state of chaos. Police were everywhere, we were being evacuated out of the area and it was really eerie.

"It was very, very scary and what should be a major celebration of the achievement of running 26.2 miles suddenly became a frightening scene."

She said police had swung into action quickly.

Boston Marathon bomb blasts An injured man with shredded clothes

"This is just such an awful scene to have happened," Ms Griffiths continued. "It felt like it may have come from the inside of a shop.

"Suddenly you looked around and there was this cloud of smoke and then people went into gear. There were police everywhere."

Jez Hughes, a firefighter from Morley, west Yorkshire, was walking to the subway with his wife when they heard two explosions.

He had been standing only 100 yards from the finish line with other competitors after completing his 10th marathon but walked around the corner to meet his wife.

He said: "While we were going to the subway we heard two explosions. I said straight away that sounds like a bomb and then we heard a second one.

"My wife is very shook up but we are out here until Thursday evening and no terrorists are going to spoil our day. Don't let them get the better of you."

Darren Foy, 40, from Southampton, his wife Sandra and their two children, missed the explosions by just half an hour after he finished the marathon in three and a half hours.

The chartered surveyor, who is chairman of the Lordshill Road Runners in Southampton and was competing in his fourth marathon, said: "There are reports here that the explosions came from a hotel at the finish line and I walked past there a few days ago to pick up my race number.

"It's such a soft target. There are hundreds of thousands spectators on the streets and 27,000 runners, so we got off lightly."

Mark Jenkin, a 34-year-old sports writer from Barnstaple in Devon, said the explosion had put the race into perspective.

After finishing 138th in a time of 2 hours 24 minutes, he told his paper, the North Devon Journal: "It's a beautiful spring afternoon in Boston.

"The people of the city put on a great race and it's such a tragedy this has happened.

"I was feeling tired and a bit disappointed with my time in the race but all that seems irrelevant now. I just feel grateful to be ok."


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Catherine Wells-Burr: Polish Trio On Trial

A cheating Polish factory worker hatched a plot to kill his British girlfriend with his jealous secret lover and her uncle, a court has heard.

Rafal Nowak is accused of killing Catherine Wells-Burr, 23, as she slept at the couple's new home in Chard, Somerset, last September.

His former partner Anna Lagwinowicz and her uncle Tadevsz Dmytryszyn allegedly dumped the business analyst's body at a roadside and set fire to it.

Bristol Crown Court was told that the trio created a fake trail of text messages with a "mystery man" to imply that Miss Wells-Burr was having an affair with an unidentified man who had killed her.

But the trial was told police quickly identified clues pointing to Nowak, the "bitter" and "jealous" Lagwinowicz and her doting uncle.

130912 Catherine Wells-Burr met her boyfriend at work

Opening the trial, prosecutor Richard Smith QC said Miss Wells-Burr had met Nowak at Numatic International, the company known for Henry vacuum cleaners which is based in Chard.

The court was told that Nowak - who had already left a wife and child in Poland after moving to the UK in 2008 - broke off his relationship with Lagwinowicz and got together with the recent graduate.

"Catherine Wells-Burr had a caring and close family, who loved and supported her. She thought that, in the defendant Nowak, she had a caring partner to share the new house with, to share potentially that bright future with. How very sadly wrong she was," Mr Smith said.

He told the jury that the trio had embarked on a course of "heartless, careful planning", before killing Miss Wells-Burr in the early hours of September 12.

By this time, Nowak had rekindled his relationship with Lagwinowicz and was seeing her "behind Catherine's back", the court heard.

"They planned the murder together with the input and help of Lagwinowicz's uncle. By killing Catherine in those early hours, they knew they would secure a life insurance policy as a result, the home for Nowak - Catherine would be removed from their lives," Mr Smith said.

He described how Lagwinowicz was "bitterly spiteful" when she and Nowak split up. "She never got over it," he said. "She never got over the loss of her Polish boyfriend to his English girlfriend. She wanted him back.

"It seems she embarked on a path of jealousy, vindictiveness. She tried to unsettle the relationship with the new English girlfriend. Texts were sent, things were said - all designed, it seemed, to drive a wedge between Nowak and Catherine.

"It is that simmering discontent, a fatal attraction, that never disappeared. It is a theme of this case."

The QC said Miss Wells-Burr was killed by Nowak in her bed, possibly by suffocation, so as to leave no trace.

"Catherine's body was then taken to a roadside location in Chard by Lagwinowicz and Dmytryszyn," he said. "There, at the roadside, Catherine's body was burned in her own car using petrol to ignite the flames.

"The car was deemed to be set alight at 6am on that Wednesday, by which time those three knew that Nowak would have time to leave the house, clock in at the local factory where he worked, and as the flames engulfed the car, he would be able to say 'Not me, I'm here at work'."

Polish nationals Nowak, from Chard, Lagwinowicz, from Taunton, and Dmytryszyn, also from Taunton, all deny murder.

The trial continues ...
 


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Lowestoft: Tributes Paid To Dead Mum And Kids

By Emma Birchley, East Of England Correspondent

The father of three children found dead in a Lowestoft flat wept in his mother's arms after returning to the scene.

Craig McLelland pored over the growing pile of cuddly toys and read the cards left in memory of Levina, aged three, Addy, two, and 11-month-old Kyden.

Levina Levina

The police made the discovery on Monday morning, three hours after the children's heavily pregnant mother was found at the foot of a multi-storey car park in the town.

The air ambulance attended but the woman, named locally as Fiona Anderson, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Addy Addy

Mr McLelland was too upset to comment. Earlier his mother Mandy spoke only to say that she had lost everything, her whole family.

Karleigh Burlingham had been good friends with Ms Anderson and she and the children used to stay overnight.

Kyden Kyden

She said: "I''m devastated. It still hasn't sunk in. She must have been the lowest of the low to do something like that because those children were her life.

"They were brilliant kids. They were so polite."

Just hours before her body was found, Ms Anderson had written desperate messages on Facebook.

Craig McLelland Craig McLelland

"Levina, Addy, Kyden, Evalie. Mummy loves you so much and I'll always be there looking after you all."

It is believed she and Craig had recently split up. She wrote: "Craig was all we had. Now he's gone."

The final words she posted said simply: "I'll keep them safe."

Ms Anderson also added single pictures of each of her children as well as a scan of her unborn child. Ms Burlingham said she had not spotted the messages in time.

Lowestoft children deaths flowers Flowers laid at the scene

She said: "I just wish I had seen them so that I could have gone round there and helped her and spoken to her."

Leon Cook, 18, said the pair had lived with his family after Levina was born.

He said: "I never thought she would do it. I wouldn't know what she was going through."

Lowestoft children deaths flowers Messages of condolence have been left at the scene

He added that Mr McLelland had always been a good dad.

Post-mortem examinations are being carried out at James Paget Hospital in nearby Gorleston. Formal identification of the bodies will then follow.

Det Supt John Brocklebank, who is leading the investigation, said there is no definitive explanation of the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Lowestoft Bodies Of Mum And Children Discovered Tributes paid to the children

He said: "We are developing a picture. There is the collection of witness statements, the collection of CCTV and house-to-house.

"We keep an open mind because we don't know exactly what has happened."


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Sally Bercow 'Not Some Kitchen Table Blogger'

Speaker's wife Sally Bercow, who is being sued by Tory peer Lord McAlpine over an allegedly libellous tweet she posted, was not "some kitchen table blogger", the High Court has heard.

The former Conservative party treasurer is seeking damages over a posting on Twitter which he claims named him as a paedophile who was guilty of sexually abusing boys living in care.

Mrs Bercow, a former Celebrity Big Brother contestant, has always denied that her November 4 tweet, "Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *Innocent face*", was defamatory.

It followed a Newsnight report that wrongly implicated Lord McAlpine in child sex abuse allegations.

Lord McAlpine's QC, Sir Edward Garnier, told Mr Justice Tugendhat that Mrs Bercow had 60,000 followers on the social media site so her readership was bigger than some local newspapers.

"We are not talking about some kitchen table blogger addressing perhaps herself and one other person," he said. "We are talking about a pretty widespread readership."

Lord McAlpine BBC Lord McAlpine was wrongly implicated in child sex abuse allegations

Representing Mrs Bercow, William McCormick QC, said she had promptly tweeted her apologies, provided letters apologising for the distress caused and made clear that the underlying allegations were untrue, as well as an offer to settle the case which had not been withdrawn.

The last thing the litigation needed was a preliminary issue which would cause delay, he said, adding that what was required was a swift timetable to a single final hearing at the end of July.

Sir Edward told the court that in the context of the Newsnight broadcast - and given the media storm and frenzy going on at that time - it was Lord McAlpine's case that the tweet identified him as the subject of the allegations.

One would have to have been "a moron in a hurry" or an "anchorite in a sealed cave" not to have known the circumstances surrounding the tweet, he said.

Neither Lord McAlpine nor Mrs Bercow were in court for the peer's contested application for the trial to be split in two - a hearing to decide the meaning of the tweet and, if that goes in his favour, a second hearing on the appropriate level of damages.

Granting the application, the judge directed that there should be a preliminary hearing on what was the actual meaning of the words complained of - both a natural and ordinary meaning, and an innuendo meaning.

He said he would give his reasons at a later date.

Lord McAlpine was mistakenly implicated by Newsnight's November 2 broadcast about a paedophile ring that targeted children at a care home in Wrexham.

His name was then widely mentioned on the internet, including social networking site Twitter, by users including Mrs Bercow, wife of John Bewcow.

In February, Lord McAlpine, who has already received six-figure payouts from the BBC and ITV, announced he was dropping defamation claims against Twitter users with fewer than 500 followers and instead asked for a charitable donation to BBC Children In Need.


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Measles: Thousands Of Children 'Still At Risk'

By Isabel Webster, West of England Correspondent

Five thousand children are still at risk of measles in Swansea as the outbreak in South Wales becomes one of the largest seen in Great Britain for a decade.

Public Health Wales have recorded 72 new cases of the virus over the past five days - 765 have now been affected since the start of the outbreak in November.

Seventeen of the most recently infected had to receive hospital treatment, bringing the total number of measles-related admissions to 77.

The Welsh Government remains "concerned" and warns that the number of children with measles in the Swansea area will continue to rise over coming weeks before the spread of the disease peaks.

Four schools in Swansea and one in Neath Port Talbot will be offering the MMR jab to 2,033 "at risk" children between Wednesday and Friday this week.

Neath Port Talbot Hospital will also be offering drop-in vaccinations on Saturday and the Abertawe Bro Morganwg University Health Board are expecting thousands of parents to bring their children.

"Vaccinations are being offered to parents in the Swansea area on a scale never seen before both to try to end the outbreak and to ensure that all children of all ages are equally protected against these three viral illnesses," a spokesperson for Public Health Wales said.

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has also urged parents to come forward.

Speaking in the Commons, he reassured parents about a global scare, which was sparked by the claims of a doctor 15 years ago.

"What Andrew Wakefield said had absolutely no scientific basis and has caused huge damage and huge worry to many thousands of parents," he said.

"It is very important to reiterate that the scientific way to prevent measles, which can be a horrible, even fatal disease, is to make sure that you have had two doses of MMR.

"Parents of children who have not had those doses, parents of children of any age, should contact their GP if they have not had those two doses, particularly in the current circumstances."


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Alps Coach Crash Kills One: Britons On Board

A coach carrying Britons has crashed in the Alps killing one person and seriously injuring three, according to police.

Local paper Le dauphine said the bus was transporting 50 passengers - including youngsters - from the Alpe d'Huez resort after a week's holiday.

Media reports said the bus appeared to have hit a cliff and burst into flames after the "brakes failed" on bend 21 at around 1.30pm.

Alps Alpe d'Huez is a popular ski resort

People were believed to have been trapped inside the vehicle, including the dead passenger, who is thought to be bus driver.

Some managed to get out themselves while others were helped out by emergency crews. A helicopter evacuated the seriously injured while 17 with minor injuries were treated on the road.

The route, which has been used in the Tour de France race, is infamous for its treacherous hairpin bends.

In a statement the Foreign & Commonwealth Office said: "We are aware of a tragic incident involving British nationals in the Isere region of southern France.

"We are in touch with the local authorities and are providing consular assistance."

British travel organisation Abta and the Ski Club of Great Britain were attempting to get more details on the incident.

A Ski Club of Great Britain spokeswoman said: "We don't know if they were travelling with a tour operator or not.

"Alpe d'Huez is one of the largest French ski resorts and welcomes quite a few British tourists."

Sir Peter Ricketts, the British Ambassador to France, was travelling to the scene of the crash this afternoon.

He wrote: "Our thoughts are with those involved in the coach crash in Isere.

"On my way with consular support."


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