The United States has banned its 12Â 000 air-force personnel stationed in the United Kingdom from travelling to London to ”ensure their safety and security” in the aftermath of last week’s bombings in the capital. A directive was issued to all United States Air Force staff just 24 hours after the terrorist attacks.
Millions of Londoners returned to work on Monday riding rush hour trains and buses, trading fretful glances amid security warnings that new attacks could occur as long as the bombers remained at large. The police also closed central streets, including Downing Street, after a suspect package was found in the Whitehall area.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has warned his English Premiership rivals to improve or finish second again. Chelsea romped to the title by 12 points last season, and Mourinho says unless Arsenal and Manchester United raise their game, they will be left with the consolation prizes again.
More and more people will cycle into London this week as the fear of being caught in a terrorist attack on public transport overrides concerns of being knocked off their bike by a car, experts say. Sales of bikes — from fold-away models to multi-gear machines — have rocketed at cycle shops across the capital since last Thursday.
Londoners were gritting their teeth for the return to work on Monday even as police searched crumpled underground train wreckage for clues to track the terror bombers, spurred by fear of a new attack. The police said 49 bodies have been hauled out of the four blast sites, and said they hoped to find no more.
Bunches of flowers and an array of candles sat above London’s ”Underground Zero” site on Sunday, where deep beneath the earth the twisted wreckage of a train lay buried with up to 20 bodies still onboard.
Three bombs that spread carnage in packed London underground trains exploded almost simultaneously at 8.50am local time, police said on Saturday, revealing a chillingly precise attack by suspected al-Qaeda fanatics. Meanwhile, a group linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network has claimed responsibility for the blasts.
An Islamic leader warned in a Portuguese newspaper interview 15 months ago that a London-based group, al-Qaeda Europe, was on the verge of a major attack. Meanwhile, police in London searched for clues to the attackers as the city’s mayor vowed it will bounce back from carnage that left at least 50 dead.
Two South Africans were among the 700 people injured in Thursday’s bomb blasts in London, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. More than 50 people were killed in the attacks, London police said on Friday.
The death toll from the bomb attacks on the London transport system has risen to 52, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday. The Australia leader’s remarks point to a far higher toll than the latest official British estimate of 37. He did not say where the information came from.
Rich Western countries spend up to 25 times as much on defence as they do on overseas aid and have increased their assistance to the poorest African countries by just a head since 1990, according to United Nations figures. Research to be shows that every country in Western Europe and North America has a bigger military budget than overseas development budget.
The first G7 gathering took place in 1975, the start of a history of broken pledges, verbose communiqués and intangible commitments by the rich world to do something about Africa. At the last British G8 in Birmingham in 1998, Tony Blair sounded hopeful. The final communiqué said: ”We are encouraged by the new spirit of hope and progress in Africa.”
Four blasts tore through London’s transport system during the morning rush hour in a choreographed series of terrorist attacks. Police said at least 37 people were killed, 21 near King’s Cross station, and the ambulance service said it had treated around 350 people, with more than 40 of those in a serious condition.
The stock market in London tumbled on Thursday after deadly blasts on London’s transport network which British Prime Minister Tony Blair said were the work of terrorists. London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed down 1,38% to 5Â 158,30 points after falling more than 3% in the immediate aftermath of the explosions.
London’s entire underground railway network was closed down on Thursday after a series of explosions that caused a ”large number of casualties” and at least 33 deaths, police said. An explosion ripped through a double-decker bus just minutes after blasts rocked the underground. British Home Secretary Charles Clarke said there had been ”terrible injuries” in the attacks.
Explosions rocked the London subway and a double-decker bus on Thursday, causing at least two deaths, injuring scores of riders and sending victims fleeing from blast sites. British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the explosions a "series of terrorist attacks". A group calling itself "The Secret Organisation of al-Qaeda in Europe" has claimed responsibility for the blasts in a web statement, reports said.
Steven Gerrard changed his mind and made his peace with Champions League winners Liverpool on Wednesday. If he signs a new deal on Friday and plays when Liverpool begin their defence against Welsh champion Total Network Solutions next Wednesday, then Chelsea and Real Madrid may as well put away their chequebooks.
Chelsea have confirmed that Argentine striker Hernan Crespo will return to Stamford Bridge for the new Premiership season. Crespo had been expected to extend his stay with AC Milan, either on a new year-long loan or permanently, but negotiations between the two clubs broke down.
Expensive international call roaming charges, long the bane of overseas travellers, could soon become a thing of the past. Since April, a few thousand pioneering owners of palmtop computers have avoided the additional fees charged by cellphone operators when they travel abroad by making free — or extremely low-cost — calls over the internet.
A senior British judge on Wednesday called on the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair to halt all deportations of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe pending a further High Court hearing. The comments came as scores of Zimbabwean asylum seekers continued a hunger strike to protest against being forced to return to their troubled country.
World oil prices pushed through per barrel again in New York on Wednesday on mounting concerns that two tropical storms could threaten US oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, dealers said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, rose by 51 cents to ,10 per barrel in electronic deals after earlier hitting ,13.
England midfielder Steven Gerrard insisted on Tuesday he wasn’t to blame after refusing to sign a new contract with Champions League winners Liverpool. He said: ”The past six weeks have been the toughest of my life, and the decision I have come to has been the hardest I have ever had to make.”
British bank Barclays said on Tuesday that South Africa’s High Court had postponed a ruling on its bid to buy a majority stake in peer Absa after an apartheid reparations group filed for an injunction. The injunction by Jubilee South Africa had pushed the court’s decision back one day, to Wednesday.
Shared combs and brushes have been banned from Britain’s lower House of Commons in a bid to thwart headlice, a newspaper said on Wednesday. The Sun reported that communal hairbrushes and combs are being axed under health and safety regulations.
British newspapers on Tuesday condemned French President Jacques Chirac as a ”nasty, petty racist creep” and someone who ”has lost his marbles” amid reports saying he scoffed at British food. Chirac reportedly said British cuisine is the worst in the world after Finland’s at a French-German-Russian summit on Sunday in Russia.
International athletes competing in a triathlon in Scotland later this month are to be insured for up to £1-million (R12-million) in case of an attack by Nessie, the legendary Loch Ness monster. An insurance company is providing the cover for more than 100 people who are taking part in the event being staged at Loch Ness.
Chelsea were reported on Tuesday to have lodged a staggering £32-million (R384-million) bid for Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard. Liverpool directors were believed to be trying to convince Gerrard to stay, despite Gerrard’s agent Struan Marshall insisting that contract talks had broken off.
If English wickets tumble in Thursday’s one-day international against Australia, captain Michael Vaughan is likely to send a bowler packing and tell substitute Matt Prior to pad up. And Australia captain Ricky Ponting interprets the law changes that will be trialled in the three-match series, beginning in Leeds Thursday, in much the same way.
Playwright Christopher Fry, a Christian humanist who helped TS Eliot revive verse drama in the 1940s and wrote a number of epic films including Ben Hur, has died at the age of 97, his son said. Fry died on June 30 in the hospital in Chichester, southern England, Tam Fry said.
A day after Bob Geldof’s dazzling Live 8 concerts, his tie-in Sail 8 appeared a total disaster as just four boats — carrying a grand total of zero demonstrators — made it back to Britain from France. Participants admitted the stunt, designed to aid masses of continental protesters to reach the G8 summit demonstrations in Edinburgh, ”didn’t work” and was ”disappointing”.
English league footballers admit they could have a different girl every night in their celebrity lifestyles. ”It wasn’t as often as a different girl every night, but it could have been,” Scotland striker Frank McAvennie recounts in a new book, Playing Away: The A-Z of Soccer Sex Scandals.
Venus Williams leaned against the wall behind the baseline for several seconds, gasping for air. At the other end of the court, Lindsay Davenport doubled over, using her racket like a cane to rest a bothersome back. Williams had just hit a forehand to win a 25-shot exchange in the third set and neither she nor Davenport looked particularly eager to resume play.