Britain welcomed in 2016 on Friday with giant fireworks shows in London and Edinburgh as hundreds of thousands of revellers hit the streets to see in the New Year.

Some 12,000 fireworks filled the clear night sky in London, watched by 113,000 ticket-holders lining the banks of the River Thames and thousands of others craning for a view from vantage points around the city.

As Big Ben in the Houses of Parliament's clock tower chimed in the New Year, fireworks exploded around the London Eye ferris wheel on the opposite side of the River Thames.

That kicked off an 11-minute salvo set to music from the likes of David Bowie and Lenny Kravitz.

The smoke from the fireworks drifted downstream, engulfing landmarks like Tower Bridge, Saint Paul's Cathedral, and The Shard, Western Europe's tallest tower.

Boats on the river honked their horns and smaller, back garden fireworks parties could be seen all across the city.

On the main BBC television channel, the fireworks show was bracketed by a live concert from Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, watched by millions at home.

Published: 04 January 2016

Read more ...

Zookeepers armed with clipboards, calculators and cameras fanned out across London Zoo on Monday to start its annual animal stocktake.

The keepers face the daunting task of totting up every mammal, bird, reptile, fish and invertebrate -- around 17,000 creatures across 750 different species -- during the week-long count.

Last year saw the arrival of many new animals at the central London zoo, from the world's first zoo-bred Lake Oku clawed frogs to a litter of 11 endangered African hunting dogs.

Published: 04 January 2016

Read more ...

Published: 31 December 2015

Read more ...

As much of northern Britain braced itself for further flooding on Wednesday, the chief of the country's Environment Agency came under fire after it emerged he had spent the last two weeks in Barbados.

Philip Dilley, 60, was set to meet with flood victims on Wednesday shortly after returning to Britain, saying that he had arrived "at the appropriate time".

The agency and the government have been criticised after thousands were forced to leave their homes during an unusually wet December, with officials blamed for failing to build adequate flood defences.

The agency has been also accused of misleading the public after releasing a statement saying that Dilley, a former business adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, was "at home with his family" during floods that hit a day after Christmas.

A tanned Dilley spoke to reporters as he arrived at his London flat on Wednesday, saying he would be "very happy to speak" with those affected.

Former engineer Dilley defended the agency's response, saying "we've been very effective and efficient in what we've been doing."

"Everybody can't be everywhere at the same time," he said of his whereabouts during the most recent wave of flooding, which struck northern England over the Christmas holidays.

Published: 30 December 2015

Read more ...

A husband and his ex-wife convicted of planning a major attack to mark the 10th anniversary of the London suicide bombings were both sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.

Mohammed Rehman, 25, who used the Twitter name "Silent Bomber" and asked users whether he should bomb a shopping centre or the London Underground train network, will serve a minimum of 27 years.

Judge Jeremy Baker ruled that Sana Ahmed Khan, 24, who was Rehman's wife at the time of the crime but who revealed during the trial that the pair had divorced, must serve a minimum of 25 years after being found guilty on Tuesday.

On sentencing, Baker said the intended act "specifically included a suicide bombing; an act which envisaged martyrdom, a notion specifically resurrected by Islamic State in order to encourage this type of venture."

Rehman was arrested in May after posting a tweet saying: "Westfield shopping centre or London underground? Any advice would be greatly appreciated."

The tweet linked to an Al-Qaeda statement about the July 2005 bombings in which four suicide bombers targeted London's transport system, killing 52 people.

The couple were accused of planning their attack for around May 28.

Police seized more than 10 kilogrammes (22 pounds) of urea nitrate, which can be used to manufacture a large bomb, from Rehman's house.

Published: 30 December 2015

Read more ...

Prime Minister David Cameron was urged to intervene Wednesday after a British Muslim family was prevented from flying to the United States for a visit to Disneyland.

The family of 11 was stopped from boarding their flight to Los Angeles at London's Gatwick airport on Tuesday last week by immigration officials.

Mohammad Tariq Mahmood, who was travelling with his brother and nine of their children, said the officials gave no reason for blocking their travel plans.

But he told the Guardian newspaper he believed it was because US officials "think every Muslim poses a threat".

"Because I have a beard and sometimes wear Islamic dress, I get stopped and asked questions," Mahmood added in comments to the BBC. "I feel that is part of the deal of flying."

Published: 27 December 2015

Read more ...

Anglican leader Justin Welby on Friday said Christians faced "elimination" in the Middle East by Islamic State (IS) jihadists, labelling the group a modern-day version of the tyrannical biblical king Herod.

IS has attacked Christians, Yazidis, Shiites and other minorities across the region, killing thousands and uprooting ancient communities from ancestral lands.

"They hate difference, whether it is Muslims who think differently, Yazidis or Christians, and because of them the Christians face elimination in the very region in which Christian faith began," the archbishop of Canterbury said in his Christmas Day sermon.

Published: 27 December 2015

Read more ...

Apple has warned that a British plan to give intelligence agencies extra online surveillance powers could weaken the security of personal data for millions of people and paralyse the tech sector.

Britain unveiled proposals for new online powers last month that it said were needed to keep the country safe from criminals, fraudsters and militants, including the right to find out which websites people visit.

Critics however say the Investigatory Powers Bill gives British spies authority beyond those available in other Western countries, including the United States, and that it constitutes an assault on personal freedom.

"We believe it is wrong to weaken security for hundreds of millions of law-abiding customers so that it will also be weaker for the very few who pose a threat," the iPhone maker said.

Apple submitted its response to a British parliamentary committee that is scrutinising the new bill in the latest clash between Western governments seeking to monitor the threat from Islamist militants and online companies working to maintain security.

Apple said the draft laws could weaken data encryption, sanction interference with its products, force non-UK companies to break the laws of their home countries, and spark similar legislation in other countries that could paralyse firms under the weight of dozens of contradictory laws.

Lending support to Apple's view, Microsoft also said an international approach would keep people more secure than competing measures from different countries.

"The legislation must avoid conflicts with the laws of other nations and contribute to a system where likeminded governments work together, not in competition, to keep people more secure," a spokeswoman said.

Published: 22 December 2015

Read more ...

A man was taken to hospital after he repeatedly stabbed himself in the head on Wednesday at London's Heathrow airport, police and British media said, triggering panic among passengers.

"Sitting at Fortnum and Mason Heathrow T5 when a man runs past stabbing himself in the head -- security has contained the situation," tweeted passenger Neerav Valiram.

An unnamed passenger quoted in Britain's Guardian newspaper said: "I quite quickly saw a Middle Eastern or north African looking gentleman constantly stabbing the side of his head with a knife and blood all down him."

"He never tried to attack anyone apart from himself so I don't think it was a terrorist attack."

Another passenger quoted by the newspaper, Tamara Lynch, said the man was trying to stab himself in the neck, then opened his jacket to try and stab himself in the chest.

"I couldn't see what he was using but he was really trying to ram it in. There was blood all the way down the side of his face and down his shirt," she said.

Published: 17 December 2015

Read more ...

The Scottish government sacked US presidential hopeful Donald Trump as a business ambassador and a university revoked his honorary degree on Wednesday after he called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.

A petition to bar the Republican frontrunner from Britain reached more than 358,000 signatures amid an outcry over comments by the tycoon, who owns golf courses in Scotland and has family links to the country.

"Mr Trump's recent remarks have shown that he is no longer fit to be a business ambassador for Scotland," a spokesman for the regional government said as he was dropped as a "GlobalScot" ambassador, a position he took up in 2006.

Trump had called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" following a shooting last week that left 14 people dead in California.

Published: 10 December 2015

Read more ...