North Korea Missile Alert After Japan Blunder

A Japanese official mistakenly announced the launch of a North Korean missile instead of sending an alert about a strong earthquake.

An official at the western Osaka aviation bureau emailed 87 airport offices to say a North Korean missile had been launched, Japan's transport ministry said.

The official was trying to send a message to check on possible airport damage immediately after the 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck near the southwestern city of Kobe, injuring dozens of people and destroying several homes.

But instead the official dispatched a pre-prepared alert ready to go in the event of a North Korean missile launch.

The incorrect message was retracted six minutes later but at least one domestic flight was delayed due to the mistake.

Japan is on full alert ahead of an expected mid-range missile launch by North Korea, with Patriot missiles stationed in its capital to protect the 30 million people who live there.

In addition to PAC-3 batteries, Aegis destroyers equipped with sea-based interceptor missiles have been deployed in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

On Wednesday officials in the Japanese city of Yokohama were left red-faced after mistakenly announcing the launch of a North Korean missile to 40,000 followers on Twitter.

Saturday night's earthquake was in the area where a magnitude 7.2 quake killed more than 6,400 people in 1995.

The Meteorological Agency warned there may be aftershocks for about a week.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Thatcher: Daughter Carol's Personal Tribute

Baroness Thatcher's daughter Carol has spoken of the "tough and tearful week" ahead as she prepares for the former prime minister's funeral.

Ms Thatcher spoke publicly about her mother's death for the first time as she appeared outside the ex-leader's home in London.

With her brother Mark standing behind her, she thanked those who had sent messages which she said had given her strength.

But she admitted that the days ahead and the funeral on Wednesday would be difficult "even for the daughter of the Iron Lady".

Ms Thatcher wore a black shawl and black trousers and clutched a pair of sunglasses as she delivered the statement.

Mark Thatcher, wife Sarah, Carol Thatcher and her boyfriend Marco Grass

She said: "I would just like to say that I feel like anyone else who has just lost a second parent. It's a deeply sad and rather thought-provoking moment in life.

"My mother once said to me: 'Carol, I think my place in history is assured'.

"The magnificent tributes this week, the wonderful words of President Obama, and others of colleagues who once worked alongside her, have proved her right."

She thanked those who had sent messages of "sympathy and support", adding: "These have given me strength.

However, she admitted: "But I know this is going to be a tough and tearful week, even for the daughter of the Iron Lady."

Carol Thatcher with her mother at Wimbledon ladies' singles finals in 2006

Lady Thatcher died at The Ritz last Monday after suffering a stroke. She had been staying at the hotel since January.

Ms Thatcher flew in from Switzerland with her boyfriend ski instructor Marco Grass on Friday night after spending some days grieving privately.

Her brother Mark arrived earlier in the week and spoke of how his mother would have been "humbled" that the Queen would be at her funeral.

Police, ministers and family representatives have been meeting regularly to finalise arrangements for the ceremony.

Operation True Blue, as it has been dubbed, will see a huge security presence amid fears of anti-Thatcher protests.

Lady Thatcher with her husband Denis and their children in 1976

It has emerged that the former politician left very specific instructions for the service, to which more than 2,000 people have been invited.

She chose the hymns - including I Vow To Thee My Country - and selected the Bible readings, according to the Daily Telegraph.

She reportedly also made clear that she wanted the current prime minister to read a lesson from the Gospels. Another lesson will be read by her granddaughter Amanda.

It is officially a ceremonial funeral but the Queen's presence effectively elevates it to a state ceremony.

She has broken with protocol by deciding to attend.

The last former prime minister's funeral the monarch went to was Sir Winston Churchill's in 1965 which was a state event.

Other guests will include Lady Thatcher's old Cabinet foes, former prime ministers, TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson and singer Dame Shirley Bassey.

Some key players - including former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan's wife Nancy - cannot attend.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Five Dead In Crash Between Lorry And Car

Police have confirmed that five people who died in a head-on crash between a car and a lorry were from the same family.

The victims, who included a baby, were all from the Durham area, according to Humberside Police who are investigating.

Three of the family died at the scene after the smash on the A18 near Grimbsy on Friday lunchtime.

Two were taken to the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital but died later.

They had been on their way to Skegness with friends, travelling in a Nissan Primera.

Three ambulances and an air ambulance rushed to the spot in Laceby, which was then closed until late on Friday night.

The driver of the lorry - a light goods vehicle - is thought to have sustained minor injuries.

The accident happened on the A18 near Grimsby

A Humberside Police spokesman said: "Police officers investigating the serious collision which happened on the A18 near Laceby on Friday 12 April 2013 are now able to confirm that all five people who tragically died were from the same family who were from the Durham area.

"The family, which included a baby, are thought to have been driving to Skegness with friends when the collision happened."

Operations Superintendent Tracy Bradley said: "Our deepest thoughts go out to the family and friends of those who were tragically killed in this collision.

"We are working closely with relatives of those who lost their lives and are supporting them through what will be a very difficult time.

"Roads policing officers are working closely with our collision investigation team to piece together the evidence we have gathered in order to try and determine what led to this tragic incident taking place and took the lives of those travelling in the Nissan at the time.

"We have spoken to a number of key witnesses already, however, if anyone saw the incident but has not come forward I would ask them to do so."

The Grimsby stretch of the A18 featured in a BBC television programme, Britain's Most Dangerous Roads, in 2011.

The show, which aired two years ago, claimed the stretch of road was 25 times more dangerous than the average British motorway, with 20 crashes in the previous three years.

It was also found to be the UK's highest-risk stretch of road for car drivers in a nationwide survey conducted by the Road Safety Foundation in 2010.

After the crash, Jason Abrams, a golfer at the nearby Laceby Manor Golf Club, told ITV News: "All we know is that there's been four adults and one baby killed in the accident.

"It's a bendy road but people do go at a great lick along it. It's 60mph at the moment but the council are looking at changing it to 50 and hopefully this will make a difference.

"A car went into an articulated lorry. All we know is what the police have said - that the car tried to overtake something or the car hit a kerb which has sent it spinning out of control and obviously gone head-on into a lorry."

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Plane Plunges Into Water Near Bali Airport

A plane with more than 100 people onboard has overshot a runway on the island of Bali and plunged into the sea.

Despite dramatic pictures showing the Lion Air jet with a broken fuselage, officials said everyone on board had survived.

The brand new Boeing 737-800 came to rest in shallow water and bright yellow life jackets could be seen littering the shore.

Passengers spoke of screaming in terror it hit the water and "chaos" erupting amid fears they would drown before escaping.

"There was no sign at all it would fall but then suddenly it dropped into the water," Tantri Widiastuti, 60, told Metro TV.

Tourists and locals gathered on the shoreline after the crash

Dewi, who suffered head wounds, added: "The aircraft was in landing position when suddenly I saw it getting closer to the sea, and finally it hit the water.

"All of the passengers were screaming in panic in fear they would drown. I left behind my belongings and went to an emergency door. I got out of the plane and swam before rescuers jumped in to help me."

Passengers in life jackets could be seen in the water as police in rubber dinghies rowed out from the shore.

The plane came to rest just yards beyond the airport edge

Lion Air said there were 95 adults, five children and a baby on board - as well as seven crew. They included three foreigners - a Frenchman, a Singaporean woman and a Singaporean man.

Bali police chief Arif Wahyunadi told local TV One that everyone had been evacuated and taken inside Denpasar airport.

He said the jet had flown in from Bandung, the capital of West Java province.

Some 40 people were treated for injuries including broken legs, head wounds and shock, though only four were admitted to hospital, officials said.

Ignatius Juan Sinduk, 45, was treated for breathing difficulties after his chest was injured in the crash.

A passenger being attended to a hospital in Kedongan, near Denpasar

Speaking from his hospital bed, he said: "The plane plunged into the sea at high speed. Everybody screamed and water suddenly surged into the plane.

"Passengers panicked and scrambled for life jackets. Some passengers fell, some ran into others, it was chaos. I managed to grab one (a lifejacket) and slowly swam out of the plane and to the shore."

The twin-engined aircraft was operated by local carrier Lion Air, a budget airline whose operating base is in Bandung.

Company spokesman Edward Sirait said the jet had been delivered to Lion Air in Indonesia on March 18 and had come "straight from the factory".

It started operations a week later and the pilot had been flying for the airline for six years, the firm added.

He refused to comment on the cause of the crash but said: "The plane broke into two pieces," adding that "judging from visual observation, the plane cannot be used any more."

Lion Air - the first private airline in Indonesia was founded in 1999 by multi-millionaire brothers Kusnan and Rusdi Kirana.

Bali is a popular tourist destination in Indonesia

It started operating in 2000 with just one aircraft in its fleet but quickly expanded operations to more than 36 locations across the sprawling archiplego nation.

The airline also flies to foreign locations including Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam and used a fleet Boeing 737 aircraft.

Last month, it signed a $24bn (£18bn) deal with Airbus for 234 passenger jets and two years ago, it signed a contract with Boeing for 230 planes.

However, the rapidly-expanding carrier is reportedly banned from US and European airspace due to safety concerns.

Between 2004 and 2006, Lion Air suffered a series of six accidents which all involved planes overshooting or missing the runway - but no-one died. 

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

'We Stand With Allies': US Warns North Korea

US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned North Korea it would defend its allies after holding talks in the South Korean capital Seoul.

Speaking at a joint news conference with South Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se, Mr Kerry said the US would never accept North Korea as a nuclear power and described rhetoric from Pyongyang as "unacceptable".

He added that a missile test would be another "unwanted contribution to an already volatile situation" and a "huge mistake".

He said: "It would indicate who was being provactive with an exclamation point again.

"We will defend our allies. We will stand with South Korea, Japan and others. We will defend ourselves.

"Kim Jong Un needs to understand, as I think he probably does, what the outcome of a conflict would be."

A US agency believes that Kim Jong Un does have nuclear weapons

Intelligence reports from the Japanese, South Koreans and Americans have indicated that a North Korean missile test could take place at any time, though there has been silence from the leadership in Pyongyang.

The focus in the North Korean capital has been on a weekend of celebrations to mark a year in office for Kim Jong Un, which fell yesterday, and the anniversary of Mr Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Song, the founder of the nation.

The level of rhetoric to emerge from North Korea is unprecedented.

Over several weeks, the regime has declared itself to be in a "state of war" with the South, announced that a mothballed nuclear site is to be reopened and threatened to carry out nuclear attacks against the US.

Mr Kerry arrived in the region as confusion surfaced in Washington over the true status of North Korea's nuclear capability.

North Korea is celebrating a year in office for Kim Jong Un

The broad consensus is that while Kim Jong Un does possess nuclear devices and has crossed the "nuclear threshold", he does not have the capability to launch a nuclear missile.

However, at a congressional hearing on Thursday night, it emerged that one US government agency believes that Kim Jong Un does have nuclear weapons which could be placed inside a ballistic missile and fired.

Republican US Representative Doug Lamborn, quoting from a March 2013 DIA report which was inadvertently labelled "unclassified", said: "(The) Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) assesses with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles, however the reliability will be low."

The Pentagon was quick to issue a written clarification on the matter.

Spokesman George Little said: "In today's House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of Defence budget, a member of the committee read an unclassified passage in a classified report on North Korea's nuclear capabilities.

Flower displays for the anniversary of Kim Il Sung's death feature missiles

"While I cannot speak to all the details of a report that is classified in its entirety, it would be inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed, or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced in the passage."

Washington added it was concerned about unexpected developments linked to the inexperience of 30-year-old Kim Jong Un.

One official said: "Kim Jong Un's youth and inexperience make him very vulnerable to miscalculation. Our greatest concern is a miscalculation and where that may lead.

"We have seen no indications of massive troop movements, or troops massing on the border, or massive exercises or anything like that that would back up any of the rhetoric that is going on."

North Korea has said that it does possess advanced nuclear devices.

President Barack Obama, speaking after White House talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, said "nobody wants to see a conflict".

He added: "We both agree that now is the time for North Korea to end the kind of belligerent approach that they've been taking.

"It's important for North Korea, like every other country in the world, to observe basic rules and norms."

This whole crisis stems from Pyongyang's desire to pursue a nuclear programme which it says it needs to defend itself from "American aggression".

By manufacturing this crisis, Kim Jong Un is likely to be demonstrating strength domestically and thus bolstering his legitimacy.

Internationally, he is determined that his country is taken seriously as a nuclear power.

He would want an acceptance from the Americans that he is part of the 'nuclear club' as a pretext to any negotiations to end this crisis.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ex-Apprentice Winner Loses Sugar Job Case

Former Apprentice winner Stella English has lost her claim of constructive dismissal against millionaire businessman Lord Sugar.

Ms English, 34, sued the Labour peer after resigning from the £100,000-a-year job that was her prize for winning series six of the BBC1 show in 2010.

She had complained her role at Lord Sugar's Viglen division was that of an "overpaid lackey", which her former boss strongly denied.

Ms English also claimed the job was "a sham" and a "PR construct", a tribunal heard last month.

The businessman insisted he had no case to answer and that Ms English was a "chancer" and a "money-grabber" who brought the case with the intention of settling out of court.

"I'm afraid she underestimated me and her reputation is now in tatters," Lord Sugar said.

In a written judgment, tribunal judge John Warren said: "This was a claim which should never have been brought."

Ms English and Lord Sugar pictured after she won The Apprentice

Lord Sugar has now vowed to take on the so-called claim culture as a "personal crusade".

He said: "She picked on the wrong person here and I do hope that, apart from it being a victory for me, that other business people will start to realise they shouldn't succumb to this type of blackmail and they should fight it."

After winning the TV series, Ms English was given a job at Viglen, supplying IT equipment to academy schools.

But she claimed that when the business mogul told her he would not be renewing her contract she was given no choice but to resign.

Ms English, who quit Viglen in May 2011, said she had no real role there and was not taken seriously by her colleagues.

She said she did not feel like Lord Sugar's "apprentice" as she only saw him five times during her 13-month employment.

Ms English had fought back tears in court as she said she was given no guidance about what she was meant to be doing, and was "ostracised" by her colleagues.

She claimed her employment was a "sham" and that she had been relegated to administrative tasks.

Lord Sugar said Ms English tried to 'extract money' from him

Ms English, of Whitstable, Kent, also said she felt pressurised into taking up a new position at Lord Sugar's internet set-top box company YouView, but the tribunal panel said this was unfounded.

In September 2011, Ms English was told that her contract was not being renewed and she then quit.

However, the peer said at the time there was no long-term position available at YouView and that she had already made it clear she did not want to work at Viglen.

Lord Sugar said during the case that Ms English wrongly believed he was "scared" of articles about him or The Apprentice appearing in the press and that he would pay her off to avoid a hearing.

The tribunal judgment said it was made "abundantly clear" to Ms English that she would not be working directly under Lord Sugar.

It said she had the wrong idea about how glamorous, or otherwise, the role would be and that she had stated in her evidence that she believed previous winners of The Apprentice "had accompanied Lord Sugar in his private jet".

Lord Sugar said afterwards: "There was never a case for us to answer but her need for money and fame meant that the whole system was subjected to this charade.

"I have been cleared of a derisory attempt to smear my name and extract money from me.

"The allegations were without substance, and I believe this case was brought with one intention in mind - the presumption that I would not attend the tribunal, that I would not testify and that I would settle out of court, sending Ms English on her way with a tidy settlement."

He added: "This case was a sham and a total abuse of a tribunal system, which is there to protect employees who have been mistreated.

"It is not there to aid those chancing their arm at landing a big payday. I hope that other companies will learn from this example and also fight off derisory claims."

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Thatcher: Officer Resigns Over Offensive Tweets

A police officer who reportedly posted a series of offensive messages online following the death of Baroness Thatcher has resigned from the Met.

Sergeant Jeremy Scott, who worked in a back-office role for the Metropolitan Police, is understood to have written on social networking website Twitter that he hoped Lady Thatcher's death was "painful and degrading".

Scotland Yard confirmed Sergeant Scott had submitted his resignation and it was accepted with immediate effect.

Commander Allan Gibson added: "This officer's behaviour was completely unacceptable and it is right that he has resigned."

Under the Twitter handle @thinbluespeck, which has since been taken down, Sergeant Scott said Baroness Thatcher's death was "87 years too late" and added that the world was a "better place".

Before resigning on Friday, Sergeant Scott, reported the matter himself to the Directorate of Professional Standards, which is responsible for investigating complaints against officers' professional conduct.

According to Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt the 52-year-old officer was about to be suspended but quit his post instead. By doing so, he will keep his police pension.    

An example of one of the police officer's anti-Thatcher tweets

His resignation comes after figures from Scotland Yard revealed that three police officers have been sacked for misusing social media over the past five years.

Allegations linked to the use of sites including Facebook and Twitter have been recorded against 75 Metropolitan Police officers since 2009, with 38 of the claims substantiated.

Prime Minister David Cameron has already branded some reaction to the death of Baroness Thatcher as "pretty distasteful".

Several "death parties" were held on the day she died, while an online campaign has driven sales of the song Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead to number four in the official chart.

Commenting on the so-called death parties, Sergeant Scott reportedly tweeted: "Marvellous stuff! Margaret Thatcher's death greeted with street parties in Brixton and Glasgow."

Asked if he was disappointed about animosity towards the former prime minister, Mr Cameron said: "I think the overwhelming sense across the country ... is that we are mourning the loss of someone who gave a huge amount to this country, that was an extraordinary leader."

Meanwhile, a council leader has joked that his authority should fly a flag bearing "a happy smiling face" to mark Baroness Thatcher's funeral next week.

The comment in an internal email to Labour colleagues was made by Coventry City Council's leader, John Mutton, as they debated whether to lower the Union Flag to half-mast on Wednesday.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Hounslow Slasher' Jailed For Knife Attacks

By Siobhan Robbins, Sky News Reporter

A man dubbed the "Hounslow Slasher" after he knifed two women in random attacks in London has been jailed for 18 years.

Sasha Masamba, 21, from Hounslow, grabbed both women from behind before cutting them in random attacks 10 days apart last August.

He was sentenced at the Old Bailey for two offences of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm following the attacks on Kaja Zablocka, 19, and Deserilyn Aurelio, 26.

He had previously pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.

The knife wounds were near arteries and the victims could easily have died

Speaking in court, Bobby Cheema QC said Masamba was "every woman's nightmare, a man that arms himself with a knife, prowls around in public places waiting for a lone female to attack".

One reason for the length of the sentence was the apparent lack of motive behind the attacks.

On sentencing, Recorder of London Judge Brian Barker said: "This is a most disturbing case. Noticeably, there was no request for money or sexual intent. The deep concern is a lack of any rational explanation for these acts.

"The victims could easily have died because the knife wounds were near arteries."

After the sentencing, DCI Amanda Hargreaves said: "This lengthy sentence reflects the nature of the offences.

"Masamba was caught before he potentially killed someone, which I believe was only a matter of time."

Police later released a statement from one of the victims, in which Ms Aurelio said: "The night I was attacked it just felt like a small cut to my chin at first, but the next day I realised how serious it was and became more and more scared.

"I have lost my confidence and avoid being outside alone at night.

"I have an awful scar on my face, it is very visible on my chin, this is a constant reminder of the attack and how close I came to being killed.

"I am still waiting for plastic surgery on the scar so I can then hopefully begin to look at myself as normal again.

"I am still very self-conscious of the scar. People stare at it and often ask what happened. This always upsets me as it reminds me of that horrible night."

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Driver's Unfinished Text Is Warning To Others

The parents of a driver killed after crashing while texting say they want his final unfinished message to be a warning to others.

Alexander Heit's family have released a photograph of the text which is cut off mid-sentence.

"Sounds good my man, seeya soon, ill tw ... ," it read.

Before he could send it, the 22-year-old University of Northern Colorado student drifted into oncoming traffic, jerked the steering wheel and rolled his car.

He died shortly after the crash on April 3, but his parents and police are hoping the photo of the mundane text on his iPhone will serve as a stark reminder to drivers.

His mother does not want anyone else to lose someone to texting while driving.

"In a split second you could ruin your future, injure or kill others, and tear a hole in the heart of everyone who loves you," Sharon Heit said in a statement.

Witnesses told police the young man appeared to have his head down when he began drifting into the oncoming lane in the outskirts of Greeley.

Police said he had a spotless record and was not speeding at the time of the crash.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

South Africa Rhinos Under Threat From Poaching

By Alex Crawford, At Kruger National Park, South Africa

Officials at South Africa's National Parks say they are "under siege" from rhino poachers and if the killings go on at the current rate the animal will be extinct within decades.

Despite a range of tactics like deploying the army, mounting helicopter patrols and even using drones in the past few months to try to pinpoint the poachers, the killing of rhinos for their horns is continuing at an alarming rate.

More than 200 rhinos were killed in South Africa in the first three months of this year.

The total for 2013 therefore looks set to top last year's figure, which was a record with more than 600 rhinos being slaughtered. And the 2012 figure was a dramatic increase on the previous year's record of 448.

The worst hit by far is the country's flagship Kruger National Park which shares a long 221-mile (356km) border with Mozambique, from where the vast majority of the poachers come.

Kruger saw more than 70 incursions last month by heavily-armed teams of poachers crossing from Mozambique.

Typically the teams are made up of between two and five hunters who find it very easy to slip across the border illegally.

About 20,000 white rhinos are believed to remain in the wild

They arrive carrying multiple weapons according to SANParks (South African National Parks) officials and can spend up to a week in the park, which is more than two million hectares - roughly the same size as Israel.

Ken Maggs, Chief of Staff of Operation Rhino at Kruger told Sky News: "This is a war we are fighting - against an enemy which has no rules."

He was talking whilst overseeing a training exercise which involved teams of armed rangers in camouflage gear using sniffer dogs to track down the poachers.

"We have very specific rules of engagement and we do not operate a shoot-to-kill policy. We are not allowed to just shoot at a poacher. We have to physically grab him and bring him in for arrest," he said.

The poachers are becoming more sophisticated and audacious - using silencers on their weapons to try to avoid detection and recruiting help from within the park to establish where the rhinos are.

The increase in rhino poaching has been driven by demand from the Far East for rhino horn which is believed to have healing and other properties - and is now more expensive than gold on the black market.

"We want to get the message across that rhino horn is just keratin, like our finger nails," Ranger Andrew Desmet said.

"It has no such qualities at all."

Rangers search the carcasses for bullets to use as evidence

We trekked more than two hours into the bush with one of the Kruger's investigation teams who had been alerted to more dead rhinos. The animals had lain undiscovered in the park for four days.

We saw the vultures first, circling overhead, and then as we approached, we noticed the odour.

"That is the smell of a dead rhino," one of the rangers said.

The two carcasses lay 300m apart. We came across the bones of the calf first, stripped bare by scavengers, its hide left like a folded mat.

It did not take the investigations team long to find the cartridge of a bullet hidden among the bones. It was swiftly bagged. It could be crucial in securing a conviction later. The cartridge will be sent to the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Veterinary Science which is building up a rhino DNA bank which could link the suspects to the dead animals.

Senior investigator Frik Rossouw moved onto the other carcass. This one was virtually intact - apart from a gaping hole where its horn had been.

Again, his colleagues used metal detectors in a circle around the dead animal, then over the animal itself. A beeping noise indicated metal inside the rhino's shoulder.

It took two of the investigations team, using knives to cut through the hide. They found what they were looking for: more evidence - this time a bullet which had remained lodged inside the animal.

"This animal didn't die instantly," Mr Rossouw said.

"The rangers who found them said there were marks indicating the rhino had probably been hit with her calf. She ran for her life before they caught up with her and fired again.

"These poachers just don't care. They want to get out of here as quickly as possible. They know if they get caught, they're in trouble."

The South African judiciary has handed out some tough penalties for rhino poaching recently.

Last year a Thai man was sentenced to a 40-year jail term for overseeing a racket which involved women posing as hunters so he could sell the rhino horn in powder form in the Far East.

SANParks is offering huge rewards, 100,000 South African rand (£7,300), for any information which could lead to the arrest of a poacher and one million rand if you can give police information which could bust a syndicate.

But so far, even the lure of a reward has not done enough to curb the poaching.

"When the sheer numbers keep going up daily, weekly, monthly, sometimes I am not so sure we are winning," special operations ranger Bruce Leslie said.

"It's a lot of pressure on us, our families, everybody involved in this war, but we have to do something and keep going because if we don't, if the world doesn't help, then the rhino will be gone forever."

Donations can be made to help protect rhinos at www.sanparks.org.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Korea's Missiles 'In Upright Position'

Visiting Secretive North Korea

Updated: 11:52am UK, Wednesday 10 April 2013

Despite the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula, tourists have been able to travel to North Korea.

A Sky News employee has just returned from a four-day trip. Journalists are strictly banned from the county without visas, which are rarely issued, so we are not revealing her name, but here is her story:

I flew from Beijing to Pyongyang. On the flight with me were lots of North Koreans with plenty of excess baggage: TVs, vegetables and meat.

Nothing felt abnormal. There was no feeling of tension.

Only when I arrived at the Demilitarised Zone were we prevented access to some of the buildings because of the current situation.

Throughout the four-day trip, which was organised by a Chinese travel company, we were assigned two North Korean minders.

One of them was more senior than the other. She watched us and watched her colleague too.

They did not want the war but were also determined to fight if the country decided to start a war. They emphasised to us that they believed in the country from their hearts.

We were not allowed to move freely. We could only do tourist things according to the guidance of the tour "guards".

We were not allowed to take photographs in the car or anywhere without the minder's permission. We were told not to photograph anything that looked bad or makes North Korea look bad.

"Don't bring bad impressions out of Pyongyang," they said.

People were very friendly. There was little traffic, so people would stare at our bus wherever we drove.

People there are very aware of the potential war.

Every time we arrived at the places of interest, the tour guides would always ask us in Korean (the minders would translate into Chinese) about the latest situation and our opinions about the situation, particularly our opinions about the US, as they all believe the tensions are the fault of America.

When we asked the minders what would happen if the war breaks out tomorrow, they said: "If the war breaks tomorrow, until midnight tonight, we are still building the socialist constructions."

We also asked them whether they know where Kim Jong-Un lives and works, as we explained to them that in Beijing, all the top leaders work and live in a place called Zhongnanhai. They all said they had no idea.

The two minders liked to sing. One of the songs they sang was apparently written by a South Korean musician to express his admiration toward Kim Jong-Il.

On one of the days we went to Myohyang San, a North Korean mountain. The six of us on the tour were locked in the restaurant because the North Koreans were so afraid that we would wander around.

There is a museum near the mountain, where gifts from foreign countries are displayed. A lot of them came from Japan.

We asked them how could they receive so many gifts from Japan given that North Korea considers the Japanese as enemies. They told us that the Japanese really admire the leaders, so they gave us many gifts.

We stayed in the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where we could watch international TV channels including the BBC, NHK, (Japanese TV), Phoenix (Hong Kong TV) and CCTV (Chinese TV).

The minders live on a specific floor where they only have three North Korean channels to watch. They never ate with us and when we asked what they had eaten, they always refused to tell us.

We were not allowed to use the local currency, and they never showed us their money. We could use Chinese RMB, US dollars or euros.

There were not many opportunities to see any ordinary North Korean people apart from the shopkeepers, tour guides or waitresses in the hotel.

There is a casino on the underground floor of the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where most of the staff members come from Liaoning Province over the northern border in China, and North Koreans are not allowed to enter.

The casino is managed by people from Macau. The staff there told us it was empty because the tensions mean far fewer people are travelling to North Korea.

Staff at the casino are all Chinese. When we asked to go to the casino, one of the minders said to us: "You must be non-communists, because communist members don't go to casinos."

Wherever we go to visit, they always asked us if we think their places or things are pretty. They only wanted to show us the good side of the country.

As soon as we travelled outside the capital city, it felt very like the real North Korea: rural, no tall buildings, only farmland.

We never felt the tension of war on our trip. On the streets, on our tour, in the hotel and even at a school we visited, the students were studying as normal.

The people we spoke to asked us if it was true that living in Beijing is hard. They think living in North Korea is the happiest thing in the world.

It feels as though those North Koreans who have travelled outside the country have never mentioned what the outside world really looks like.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Margaret Thatcher: 2,000 Invited To Funeral

More than 2,000 people have been invited to Baroness Thatcher's funeral, although some key players have already said they cannot attend.

Details of who is on the list for what will be one of the biggest funerals in Britain in decades have been released by Downing Street.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will head a congregation of former leaders, current politicians and a string of celebrities at the ceremony next Wednesday.

But former Labour leader Lord Kinnock, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan's wife Nancy all cannot attend.

David Cameron, talking to Sky's political editor Adam Boulton, insisted it was right to have such a lavish service and defended its multi-million pound cost.

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock is at another funeral in Wales

"I think people would find us a pretty extraordinary country if we didn't commemorate with dignity, with seriousness but also with some fanfare ... the passing of this extraordinary woman," he said.

Family, friends, colleagues and aides of the politician during her time in power have all been invited to the ceremonial funeral, where she will also be given full military honours.

All surviving former prime ministers and former US presidents, along with Hillary Clinton, are also on the list.

Tony and Cherie Blair, and Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah, have already confirmed they will attend.

Any members of Lady Thatcher's Cabinet who are still alive are invited, along with the current Cabinet and Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Mikhail Gorbachev, here with Lady Thatcher in 1987, can't make the service

Invites are also being sent to former press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham, European Commission President Manuel Barroso, author Frederick Forsyth and a representative of Nelson Mandela.

No10 said Michael Portillo, singer Shirley Bassey, TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeffrey Archer are among the guests already confirmed.

FW de Klerk, the last president of apartheid South Africa, will also be there as a guest of the Thatcher family.

Lord Kinnock cannot go because he is at another funeral in Wales. Mr Gorbachev and Mrs Reagan are both not fit enough to travel.

Mrs Reagan's spokesman said: "Mrs Reagan is heartbroken over Baroness Thatcher's death and would really like to be there in person to pay her respects.

Lady Thatcher's ashes will be buried at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea

"Unfortunately, she is no longer able to make that kind of a trip, so will not be attending the funeral."

Argentinian president Cristina Kirchner, who has repeatedly called for the Falkland Islands to be handed to Argentina, is unsurprisingly not invited.

It has been reported that Lady Thatcher's children Mark and Carol also vetoed the presence of any Argentine officials.

The service, which starts at 11am, will involve more than 700 members of the armed forces in recognition of Lady Thatcher's success in the Falklands.

She is not being given a state funeral but the Queen's presence effectively elevates the event to that level.

Preparations for the ceremony and huge security operation have been dubbed Operation True Blue and ministers and organisers are meeting daily to finalise the arrangements.

It has also emerged that Lady Thatcher's ashes will be buried next to her husband Denis' in the cemetery of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.

The former prime minister was a long-term supporter of the hospital, where the Chelsea Pensioners live, and an infirmary on the site is named after her.

Meanwhile, claims have emerged that Speaker John Bercow and Mr Cameron's own chief whip Sir George Young were against recalling Parliament from the Easter break.

A further row appears to be brewing over arrangements for the funeral, with Mr Cameron pushing for PMQs to be cancelled and the Commons to sit later. 

Mr Bercow is said to have insisted the Government tables a motion to change the timetable, which will now be put to the vote when Parliament returns on Monday.

The Prime Minister led the tributes in the Commons on Wednesday, calling Lady Thatcher an "extraordinary leader and an extraordinary woman".

Choking up with emotion, he said: "She made the political weather, she made history, and - let this be her epitaph - she made our country great again."

Labour leader Ed Miliband hailed her as a "unique and towering figure" who had "defined the politics of a generation", while making clear his opposition to some of her work.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg appeared the most uncomfortable of the three men as he insisted it was possible to reject the tenets of Thatcherism and still respect her achievements.

The Labour benches were sparsely populated for the session, despite the party urging members to attend as a mark of respect, and there were some bitter contributions.

Former minister Michael Meacher said her "scorched earth" tactics had "polarised" the nation, while veteran David Winnick referred to the "immense pain and suffering" she caused to ordinary people.

Labour backbencher Glenda Jackson sparked howls of protest from Conservatives as she launched a full frontal assault on the "heinous" Thatcher record.

"The first Prime Minister of female gender, OK. But a woman? Not on my terms," she said.

In the Lords, speakers included Lord Tebbit who expressed sadness that he had not been able to stop her being ejected from Downing Street in 1990.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Australia: Dead Nurses 'Tied To Tree For Days'

An inquest into the death of two nurses who were found bound and beaten in a Queensland bush four decades ago has heard how they were tied to a tree for days.

A second inquest into the 1974 killings of hitch-hikers Lorraine Wilson, 20, and Wendy Evans, 18, has reopened.

In one of the country's most shocking unsolved crimes - the women's skeletal remains were discovered near the town of Murphy's Creek in 1976.

Their skulls were crushed and their bones tangled with cord from venetian blinds.

Betty Staid, who gave evidence via phone, said one of the key persons of interest - now deceased, Donald "Donny" Laurie - lived with her for five weeks in the 1970s and made some shocking admissions at the time.

While they were watching a crime show about the murders, she said Mr Laurie told her he had wanted to give the women water when they were tied to a tree for two or three days.

"I was in shock and said: 'How did you know that, Laurie?'," said Ms Staid. "He looked at me like he'd said too much and said: 'I hear things.'"

Ms Staid said her housemate once offered to take her to the crime scene but she refused.

Two of the only three surviving persons of interest in the case - who were named for the first time last year - have given evidence at the inquest while the third, Desmond Roy Hilton is due to take the stand.

Allan Neil "Ungie" Laurie, 63, and Terrence James "Jimmy" O'Neill insisted they had nothing to do with the murders.

The inquest was told the men had a habit of abducting women, taking them to the bush, beating them and raping them - which they also deny.

Trevor Hilton, the uncle of key suspect Wayne "Boogie" Hilton, said his nephew and his friends would ambush young women in Toowoomba's main street on a weekly basis.

Mr Hilton said the group of men, which included now deceased Allan John "Shorty" Laurie, Donald "Donny" Laurie, and Larry Charles, were notorious about town.

Ms Wilson and Ms Evans were last seen leaving a relative's home in the Brisbane suburb of Camp Hill in October 1974 to hitch-hike to Goondiwindi where they were to pick up a car and drive to Sydney.

An inquest held in 1985 found the women had met foul play, but no charges were laid.

20.49 | 0 komentar | Read More

Thatcher Football Silence Idea 'A Disgrace'

By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent

Calls for a minute's silence at football matches to mark the death of Margaret Thatcher have been dismissed as "a disgrace" by the Hillsborough Family Support Group.

Two Premier League chairmen, Reading's John Madejski and Wigan's Dave Whelan, have called for the former prime minister's death to be commemorated this weekend.

But Margaret Aspinall, chair of the group that campaigned for more than 20 years for justice for the 96 Liverpool fans who died in 1989, said it would be wholly inappropriate.

Monday sees the 24th anniversary of the disaster, and the first since an independent inquiry revealed the extent of a cover-up by South Yorkshire police that sought to blame Liverpool fans for the deaths.

Wigan Athletic owner Dave Whelan also wanted a minute's silence

The Hillsborough Independent Panel report, published last autumn, also revealed Lady Thatcher's reluctance to endorse criticism of the police despite the government being aware of "damning" evidence of their role.

Adding to sensitivities around the issue, Liverpool play at Madjeski's Reading on Saturday, where a minute's silence for the victims of Hillsborough is already planned.

Mrs Aspinall, whose teenage son James died in the tragedy, told Sky News a silence at any fixtures would be "an insult".

"I think if they have a minute's silence for her at any football ground it would be an insult to all fans. We all know that Margaret Thatcher was no friend of football, everyone knew her feelings," she said.

"I do not want to speak ill of the dead because we have to consider the feelings of her family, but she was part and parcel of what we [the bereaved families] have gone through.

"I think it is a disgrace that they would want to have a minute's silence for her, an absolute disgrace."

Margaret Aspinall (R) lost her son in the Hillsborough disaster

Despite Mr Madjeski and Mr Whelan's comments, the Premier League and the FA have said there will not be silences either at league fixtures or the two FA Cup semi-finals staged at Wembley.

An FA spokesman said there was "no precedent" for silences following the death of prime ministers and that it wanted the games to remain apolitical.

The FA and Premier League position has been endorsed by the Football Supporters' Federation.

Chairman Malcolm Clarke said: "We believe the football authorities have made the right decision in not holding minute's silences this weekend.

Margaret Thatcher's death has been recognised across the world

"I think that most fans will be more concerned with marking the Hillsborough anniversary than the passing of Margaret Thatcher."

Privately, the football authorities also doubt that any silence would be respected given the antipathy that existed between the Thatcher government and football during the 1980s.

She was in power when hooliganism was at its height but her attempts to curb it, most notably the football ID cards scheme, were deeply unpopular and eventually rejected.

20.49 | 0 komentar | Read More

Prestatyn Fire: 'Accused Made Threats To Kill'

By Nick Martin, North of England Correspondent

Court hears a woman accused of starting a fire in a flat that killed two adults and three small children had made death threats.

Melanie Smith, 42, denies five counts of murder following the fatal house fire in Prestatyn, north Wales, on October 19 last year.

Lee Anna Shiers, 20, her 15-month old son Charlie, her nephew Bailey Allen, aged four and her niece Sky Allen, two, and partner Liam Trimble, 23, died as a result of the fire.

Five died in the fire on October 19, 2012

Ot the first day of the trial at Mold Crown Court, the jury heard how Smith had "demonstrated anger and hostility" towards her neighbour Ms Shiers. 

Jurors were told Smith had threatened to "set the house on fire and everyone inside" following a row with Ms Shiers over noise and cigarette butts left on the front step of the property.

More follows...

20.49 | 0 komentar | Read More

Margaret Thatcher's Son: Family Overwhelmed

Baroness Thatcher would be "humbled" that the Queen is attending her funeral, her son has declared as he spoke of her death for the first time.

Sir Mark Thatcher gave a statement on the steps of the former prime minister's home in London after flying in to help arrange next week's ceremony.

He said his mother had been blessed with "a long life, and a very full one" but that her death was "without doubt a very sad moment".

He also expressed gratitude for the messages the family had received "from far and wide", which he said would be a source of strength in the days ahead.

Margaret Thatcher died on Monday

Sir Mark is the first member of the family to speak publicly about Lady Thatcher since she died on Monday at the Ritz in central London.

His statement came moments before a special Parliamentary session allowing MPs and peers to pay tribute began.

And it followed a release of fresh details about her ceremonial funeral, which will be held next Wednesday at St Paul's Cathedral.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are breaking with protocol by attending the service, which is not an official state ceremony.

Sir Mark said: "I would like to say how enormously proud and deeply grateful we are that Her Majesty has agreed to attend the service next week at St Paul's and I know my mother would be greatly honoured as well as humbled by her presence.

"By any measure my mother was blessed with a long life and a very full one. However, the inevitability or the inevitable conclusion may appear of the recent illness that she suffered, it is no easier for us to bear in what is without doubt a very sad moment.

"We have quite simply been overwhelmed by messages of support and condolence of every type, from far and wide, and I know that my mother would be pleased they have come from people of all walks of life."

He said many of the messages contained personal stories related to "the journey of my mother's life".

"We are all enormously grateful for the warmth that these messages convey and they will be a source of encouragement and strength as we face the inevitable days ahead," he said.

Britain's longest-serving prime minister and the only woman ever to hold the role is being given a ceremonial funeral, one below a state occasion,

Tony and Cherie Blair will be at the funeral next week

More 700 members of the armed forces, from all three services, including those with links to the Falklands war will take part.

Members of the Honourable Artillery Company will fire procession minute guns from Tower Wharf at the Tower of London.

Representatives of all three services will also line the funeral route, while three military bands play - their drums draped in black as a mark of respect.

A huge security operation costing millions is expected in central London during the ceremony amid fears of protests and disruption.

Lady Thatcher's estate will contribute but the rest of the money will be provided from the public purse. Downing Street is refusing to give details ahead of the service.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "The rebate she negotiated for this country from the EU has brought us so far £75 billion - which is twice the size of our annual defence budget."

"I think that puts money in perspective ... so I think we can afford to contribute to a funeral."

Plans for the ceremony have been dubbed Operation True Blue and Lady Thatcher is to be given full military honours.

Tony Blair and his wife Cherie as well as Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah will be at the ceremony, which will be one of the largest public funerals of recent decades.

Lady Thatcher's coffin will be transferred to the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday ahead of the cermony.

There will be a short service following its arrival before the coffin rests in the chapel overnight.

The streets will then be cleared for a procession taking the former leader's body from parliament to Church of St Clement Danes, the RAF Chapel on the Strand.

At the church, it will be transferred to a gun carriage drawn by the King's Troop Royal Artillery.

The streets will be cleared for the procession on to St Paul's and members of all three services will line the route, as well as bands from each.

Units linked to the Falklands war will play key roles at the ceremony

The Gun Carriage will be drawn by six horses, three of which are mounted, with a sergeant riding alongside, an officer riding in front and three dismounted troops on foot.

A Bearer Party made up of all three services will walk alongside the coffin, and will include those from ships, units and stations notable for their service during the Falklands campaign.

Outside St Paul's there will be a Guard of Honour of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, as well as the Welsh Guards Band.

For the coffin's arrival, there will also be a Step Lining party made up of 18 personnel from all three services.

These will include six Navy, six members of the Blues and Royals, Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, and six RAF, plus Chelsea Pensioners of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

Ten members of staff from the Ritz, where Lady Thatcher had been staying since Christmas, have also been invited to her funeral as thanks for the care she received.

The public will not be able to attend the funeral service itself but will be able to line the route of the procession.

20.49 | 0 komentar | Read More

Margaret Thatcher: Critics Party In Brixton

Police were called to Brixton in South London after people celebrating the death of Margaret Thatcher gathered in the streets.

Some revellers climbed onto the Ritzy cinema building and rearranged letters on its film listings board to spell out the words: "Margaret Thatchers (sic) dead LOL".

Britain's first and only female prime minister died on Monday after suffering a stroke at the age of 87.

Other critics gathered in Windrush Square celebrated with cheers of "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dead, dead, dead".

A banner celebrating Margaret Thatcher's death hangs from the Ritzy cinema

The area was the scene of fierce riots in 1981, two years into Lady Thatcher's first term in office.

Pictures of anti-Thatcher graffiti scrawled on walls in Brixton also appeared on Twitter, with one reading: "You snatched my milk! & our hope"

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said extra officers were brought in to control the crowds, who "caused low level disorder" and threw "a small number of missiles" at officers.

There were no reports of any arrests and the group dispersed in the early hours of the morning, acccording to police.

Some revellers sprayed champagne as they celebrated in Brixton

A spokesman for Ritzy said there was some damage to its building, adding that staff helped clear up the streets after the demonstration.

Meanwhile in Glasgow, up to 300 people gathered in George Square, 24 years after poll tax protests were held there.

Some anti-capitalist campaigners wore party hats and launched streamers into the air, while a bottle of champagne was sprayed.

Earlier, David Hopper, general secretary of Durham Miners' Association, said he was celebrating on his 70th birthday after learning of Baroness Thatcher's death.

"She was a heartless woman who tore the heart out of the mining communities of the North," he said.

George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bradford West, wrote on Twitter: "Thatcher described Nelson Mandela as a 'terrorist'. I was there. I saw her lips move. May she burn in the hellfires."

Parliament is being recalled on Wednesday for a special session to allow politicians to pay tribute to Lady Thatcher.

A full ceremonial funeral will take place at St Paul's Cathedral next week.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Margaret Thatcher: Funeral Next Wednesday

Baroness Thatcher's funeral will be held at St Paul's Cathedral next Wednesday and attended by the Queen, it has been announced.

Britain's longest serving prime minister and the only woman so far to hold the role will be given a ceremonial funeral with full military honours.

It is the same status as that accorded to the Queen Mother and Diana, Princess of Wales, although some Tories want a full state ceremony.

The funeral will be the first ceremonial funeral for a former prime minister the Queen has ever attended. She attended Sir Winston Churchill's state ceremony in 1965.

The Queen will attend Lady Thatcher's funeral next Wednesday

She will be accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, and other heads of state and foreign dignitaries from around the world are expected to attend.

Lady Thatcher died at The Ritz in central London on Monday morning after suffering a stroke. She had battled ill health for a number of years.

Downing Street said the date of her funeral was agreed at a meeting attended by her family and officials from Buckingham Palace.

The day before the ceremony, Lady Thatcher's coffin will be transferred to the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster.

Newspaper front pages were dominated by the former PM's death

There will be a short service following its arrival before the coffin rests in the chapel overnight.

The streets will then be cleared for a procession taking the former leader's body from parliament to Church of St Clement Danes, the RAF Chapel on the Strand.

At the church, it will be transferred to a gun carriage drawn by the King's Troop Royal Artillery. The streets will be cleared for the procession on to St Paul's.

There the coffin will be met by a guard of honour as members of the armed services and pensioners of the Royal Hospital Chelsea line the steps.

A private ambulance taking Lady Thatcher's body from the Ritz

The public will not be able to attend the funeral service itself but will be able to line the route of the procession.

Parliament is expected to be suspended for the event, which means the first Prime Minister's Questions since the Easter break could be cancelled.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, who is in charge of some of the funeral arrangements, said: "There's already a huge amount of interest.

"There's a guest list and people will be invited over the coming days. It will be a big event. I think there's a huge amount of people - not just in Britain, but around the world - who will want to pay their respects to her."

A flag flying at half-mast over the Houses of Parliament

Some Tory MPs have expressed disappointment that the 87-year-old has not been granted a state funeral, as wartime leader Churchill was.

Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough, said she should have "the highest kind of funeral that can be allowed".

"I would have thought a state funeral would be very appropriate. She was the first female prime minister. She was also the greatest peacetime prime minister we ever had," he told the Daily Mail.

However, her friends have indicated she did not want such treatment. She did not want to lie in state and thought a fly-past would be a waste of money.

The former PM sitting for a 70th birthday photograph

For a state funeral to be granted to a non-royal, a parliamentary vote would have to be passed to permit the release of public funds.

Parliament is being recalled on Wednesday to allow MPs to voice their tributes, although the decision has angered some MPs.

Labour's John Mann questioned why taxpayers' money was being spent on bringing back MPs when tributes could have been paid next week, when parliament was due to resume.

"It is perfectly valid that, when a prime minister dies, MPs can pay tribute, but this could be perfectly properly done on Monday," the MP said.

Mrs Thatcher in a tank on a British base in Germany in 1986

He added that he would not be attending the session tomorrow, saying: "I will be at the dentist's."

Prime Minister David Cameron, who has already hailed Lady Thatcher as "a great Briton", is expected to give a statement to the Commons, followed by Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Mr Miliband said on Monday that while he "disagreed with much of what she did", he respected "her extraordinary achievements and her extraordinary personal strength".

The former Tory leader was hailed across the world as a towering politician, although there was also jubilation at her death from critics angry at some of her most controversial actions in office.

Flowers outside her home in Belgravia, London

While some mourners laid flowers in tribute outside her home in Belgravia, London, others took to the streets to celebrate her demise.

Some 200 revellers took to the streets in Bristol, where six police officers were injured in a scuffle as bottles and cans were thrown.

There were similar scenes in south London, where more than 100 people gathered in Brixton - the scene of fierce riots in 1981, two years into Lady Thatcher's first term in office.

A crowd of 300 also gathered in Glasgow's George Square, where in 1989 protests at the introduction of the infamous poll tax took place.

Crowds celebrating the death of the former Tory PM in Brixton

Many on the Left have condemned the social impacts of Lady Thatcher's policies encouraging the free market and stripping power from unions during her 11 years in power.

Her death was also welcomed by veterans of the Falklands conflict in Argentina, who blamed her for the deaths of the 649 troops who died during the 74-day war.

But the news was received with "great sadness" by islanders on the Falklands, who flew the union flags at half mast and hailed her intervention 31 years ago.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Korea: Japan Deploys Missile Defence

By Mark Stone, on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea

Japan has deployed missile-defence systems in its capital as North Korea warned foreigners in the South to take evacuation measures in case of war.

The interceptors were set up as a precautionary measure, and the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun reported that North Korea would launch a missile test on Wednesday.

Two Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air missile launchers were stationed at the defence ministry in Tokyo before dawn, and other batteries are to be installed in the semi-tropical island chain of Okinawa, officials said.

The deployment isn't unusual. Japan has responded to North Korea tests in the past by positioning interceptor missiles.

"The government is making utmost efforts to protect our people's lives and ensure their safety," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

In addition to the PAC-3, Aegis destroyers equipped with sea-based interceptor missiles have been deployed in the Sea of Japan.

A Musudan missile, pictured in 2010

North Korea's latest warning to foreigners intensified the threat of an imminent conflict, keeping up the fiery rhetoric employed for weeks by officials in Pyongyang.

"The situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermo-nuclear war," said the statement by the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee.

"Once a war is ignited on the peninsula, it will be an all-out war, a merciless, sacred, retaliatory war waged by the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)," it went on to say.

"We do not wish harm on foreigners in South Korea should there be a war."

Last week, the North Korean government told embassies in the capital it could not guarantee the safety of their staff.

However, US and South Korean defence officials have said they have seen nothing to indicate that Pyongyang is preparing for a major military action, in which it would be heavily outgunned.

North Korea has also suspended its operations at the Kaesong industrial complex, its last major economic link with the South, and recalled all 53,000 of its workers.

North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong-Un, is seen as unpredictable

The work stoppage at a key source of hard cash for the North suggests Pyongyang is willing to hurt its own shaky economy in order to display its anger with South Korea and the US.

Amid rising tensions on the peninsula, the US and South Korea have also raised their defence postures.

North Korea is believed to have moved two missiles - possibly the medium-range Musudan - to its eastern coast on the Sea of Japan, loading them on to mobile launchers.

The Musudan missile has a range of about 3,000km (1,800 miles), meaning it is capable of reaching South Korea and Japan and perhaps also the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

There has been speculation that Pyongyang might schedule a missile launch to coincide with the birthday of the country's late founder Kim Il-Sung - the current leader's grandfather - in mid-April.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has said the threat posed by North Korea must be treated "very seriously" and the US has delayed the testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in an effort to defuse the situation.

US Secretary of State John Kerry visits Seoul this week

North Korea is furious at UN sanctions imposed after Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test in February, and at joint military exercises between the US and South Korea, with B-2 stealth bombers dispatched from US bases.

Seoul and Washington say those exercises are routine but Pyongyang has unleashed a torrent of threats against the allies.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Weatherman Fred Talbot Held Over 'Sex Abuse'

TV weatherman Fred Talbot has been arrested by police investigating historic sexual abuse at a school where he taught.

The 63-year-old is being held on suspicion of three counts of indecent assault and four counts of inciting a child to commit acts of gross indecency.

The alleged offences relate to his time as a biology teacher at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in Trafford, Greater Manchester, between the early 1970s to early 1980s, where four alleged victims were pupils.

Mr Talbot's home in Bowdon, Cheshire, was raided by police last December while he was out of the country.

He is best known for his colourful appearances on the weather map for ITV's This Morning programme when hosted by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan at Liverpool's Albert Dock.

Mr Talbot remains the weatherman on the station's North West regional news programme Granada Reports.

The school at the centre of sex abuse allegations

Detective Chief Inspector Sellars said: "Since allegations were made to police in December, we have made good progress with this investigation and with tracing and speaking to former pupils of Altrincham Grammar school.

"However, as part of our ongoing enquiry I am eager to trace anyone who attended the school between the early 1970s and 1980s, who feel they may have information to assist the police investigation."

Mr Talbot remains in police custody.

The police inquiry was prompted following media reports of another probe into historic sexual abuse at a Catholic boys' school in Altrincham.

Last month, a 63-year-old former teacher at St Ambrose College in Hale Barns was held on suspicion of indecent assault of an ex-pupil and possession of indecent images dating back to the early 1980s.

He was later bailed pending further inquiries.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Margaret Thatcher Dies After Stroke

How Thatcher Changed History

Updated: 2:45pm UK, Monday 08 April 2013

By Adam Boulton, Political Editor

Margaret Thatcher was Britain's first, and so far only, female Prime Minister. She was a transformative leader who reversed conventional wisdom that Great Britain's national decline was inevitable.

She will be remembered for curbing the trade unions, privatising state-owned industries, leading Britain to victory in the Falklands War, and as US President Ronald Reagan's staunch ally in confronting the Soviet Empire.

Mrs Thatcher is now ranked alongside Sir Winston Churchill (her hero) and Clement Attlee as one of Britain's most important 20th century prime ministers, but the "Iron Lady", as she was nicknamed, was a deeply divisive figure, openly hated by many, especially those from industrial heartlands, which she sent to the wall.

She ended her 11-year premiership quite literally in tears, thrown out not by the voters but by the very Conservative MPs she had led to three successive general election victories.

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on October 13, 1925, the daughter of a grocer and alderman from Grantham in Lincolnshire. She idolised her father but seldom even mentioned her mother.

A clever and ambitious grammar school girl, she won a place at Oxford University to study chemistry, going on to work in industry as a research chemist.

She had determined political ambitions as well, fighting Dartford for the Conservatives unsuccessfully in the 1950 and 1951 general elections.

Her consolation was to meet and marry Denis Thatcher, a prosperous businessman and Tory activist.

With typical efficiency, Mrs Thatcher gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, Mark and Carol. She did not enter parliament until 1959 as the member for Finchley, a North London constituency she held for 23 years until her retirement.

In 1967 Tory leader Edward Heath invited her to join his shadow cabinet and made her education secretary following his unexpected triumph over Harold Wilson in the 1970 general election.

The rising star told a television interviewer that she did not expect to see a woman prime minister in her lifetime but she attracted less favourable publicity when she cancelled free school milk, becoming known as Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher.

Ted Heath lost the two elections in 1974 and was forced out as leader after a protracted period of party infighting.

Margaret Thatcher only stood against him after her mentor Sir Keith Joseph declined to run. An outsider in many ways, she was nonetheless elected Conservative Party Leader in 1975.

Prime Minister Callaghan took over from Wilson, but Labour's left-right tensions spilt over into protracted industrial unrest.

Mrs Thatcher stormed into Downing Street on May 4, 1979, following a Conservative election campaign which focused on the economic paralysis of the nation during the so-called Winter of Discontent.

On the steps of Number 10 she quoted St Francis and promised to bring unity. But the British economy plunged still further, unemployment trebled to more than three million. London and Liverpool suffered inner city riots.

After two years in office, Margaret Thatcher was one of the most unpopular Prime Ministers ever. She was rescued by Argentina's military junta in 1982.

Against the advice of her ministers and most military commanders she ordered a task force 3,000 miles into the South Atlantic to recapture the Falkland Islands from Argentine invaders. 

The Conservatives returned to power in the 1983 general election with an increased majority.

Mrs Thatcher moved on to confront what she called the "enemy within", eventually defeating a bitter and confrontational year-long miners' strike over pit closures, unwisely called by NUM leader Arthur Scargill without a ballot of his members.

Irish Republican terrorists murdered two of Mrs Thatcher's closest political colleagues Airey Neave and Ian Gow. And in October 1984 five friends and colleagues were killed when the IRA blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference.

Margaret, the wife of her close political ally Norman Tebbit, was among those victims crippled for life.

Yet a year later Mrs Thatcher and her counterpart Garret Fitzgerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which would ultimately provide the diplomatic basis for the end of The Troubles.

Mrs Thatcher also became a prominent and pugnacious figure on the world stage. She secured the rebate on Britain's contribution to the European Community and pressed for an open market.

Her decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Britain led to the Greenham Common protest but it was also part of the arms build-up which ultimately broke the Soviet Union and brought down the Iron Curtain.

Mrs Thatcher was quick to spot the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as "a man I can do business with". But for his two terms as American President Ronald Reagan was Mrs Thatcher's closest ally - on foreign affairs and on economic and social policy.

Her economic ideology was unswerving. She believed in a smaller state, lower taxes, self-reliance and people being left to spend "their own money".

Her government sold or "privatised" state-owned "nationalised" assets - first council houses then shares in gas, electricity, water and telecommunications and "the big bang" de-regulating banking and the City of London.

She won a third election in 1987 with another huge majority but like many long-serving successful leaders, she began to believe her own publicity, epitomised in her most famous quotation: "The Lady is not for turning".

Domineering and unwilling to listen, she alienated many of her ministers and MPs.

By now Michael Heseltine had resigned from government and established himself as a leader-in-waiting. He exploited growing discontent over two issues: the proposed Community Charge or Poll Tax, and hostility to Europe.

Anti-poll tax demonstrations brought some of the worst street violence in living memory.

Her stubborn opposition to further European integration provoked first the resignation of her chancellor Nigel Lawson, then, fatally, of her deputy prime minister Sir Geoffrey Howe.

She stood down in November 1990, after failing to secure the overwhelming support of MPs in yet another Heseltine-inspired leadership contest on the very night European leaders were celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall.

One of Prime Minister Thatcher's last achievements was persuading the new US President George Bush senior not to "go wobbly" following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.

Mr Heseltine failed to seize the crown and instead the Conservative party united around John Major, Thatcher's relatively obscure preferred successor.

In 1992, Mr Major led the Tories to victory over Neil Kinnock's Labour yet again.

In her retirement, the Queen made Mrs Thatcher a member of the Order of the Garter and appointed her Baroness in the House of Lords. Her husband Denis received a hereditary knighthood.

Sir John Major sometimes complained of "back seat driving" as the former PM relished the movie title "The Mummy Returns".

The next Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair never bothered to hide his admiration for her decisive style of leadership but there was widespread astonishment when the newly-elected Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown invited her back to Downing Street for tea in her honour.

More recently, Meryl Streep won an Oscar for a portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the Hollywood movie 'The Iron Lady'. But the film also depicted unflinchingly the politician's descent into senile dementia, hastened by the death of her beloved husband, Denis.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Margaret Thatcher: Falklands Was Defining

When the strutting head of a military junta General Leopold Galtieri invaded the Falkland Islands, most Britons had to rush to their atlases to find out just where the islands were.

The government appeared to be equally taken by surprise - so much so that the Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington resigned.

There followed a frantic round of shuttle diplomacy, brokered by the Americans.

To the astonishment of people in Britain, to the dismay of the Argentinians, and to the amazement of the Americans and the rest of the world, Britain assembled a task force to sail to the South Atlantic.

It looked like Lord Palmerston's Gunboat Diplomacy had returned, that Britain was somehow trying to recapture its colonial past, a final hurrah of an Empire on which the sun had set decades before.

The crisis became a defining moment of Margaret Thatcher's premiership, and changed her image and her political fortunes.

Before April 2, 1982, when the junta in Buenos Aires ordered the invasion of the Falkland islands - called Las Malvinas by the Argentines - opinion polls showed her to be the most unpopular Prime Minister ever.

After British forces recaptured the Falkland islands and South Georgia her popularity soared, allowing her to call a general election in 1983 which she won by a landslide.

Margaret Thatcher and husband Denis in Stanley in 1983

As so often in military conflict, the line between triumph and disaster was thin.

Had things gone wrong, her time in office would have come to a hasty end and modern British political history would have taken an alternative course - leading to a very different present.

Mrs Thatcher established and chaired a small war cabinet, officially called the ODSA Overseas and Defence committee, South Atlantic, to take charge of the conduct of the war.

Within days of the invasion, the ODSA had authorised and dispatched a naval task force to retake the islands.

Despite the effectiveness of the Argentine air force with its Exocet missiles and some serious military setbacks for the British, including the sinking of the Sir Galahad which was carrying the Welsh Guards in San Carlos Water, British troops first took back South Georgia, and then the Falklands.

Fortunately for the British, many of the French-made Exocets failed to detonate.

In bloody night-time hand-to-hand fighting, the Argentine army conscripts proved little match for the highly-trained British Paras and Royal Marine Commandos.

The Gurkhas, in particular, struck terror into the hearts of Argentine troops who were cold, wet, miserable and demoralised, dug in on the windswept Falklands hills.

Argentina surrendered on June 14, and the Union Jack was hoisted in the Falklands capital Port Stanley by exhausted but jubilant troops.

The conflict cost the lives of  255 British servicemen and 3 Falkland Islanders.

Some 649 Argentinians died, half of them after the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror torpedoed and sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano on May 2 in the most controversial military action of the war.

British troops fighting in the Falklands during the conflict

Mrs Thatcher was criticised in parliament and, famously, on television by a member of the public for the decision to sink the Belgrano, which reports said was sailing away from the Falklands at the time.

She maintained that the Argentine cruiser had posed a threat to British forces.

She was also criticised for neglecting the defence of the Falklands , allowing the Argentinian junta the opportunity to invade in the first place - neglect which led Lord Carrington to resign.

Overall, however, she was perceived as a highly capable, committed, and above all successful war leader, and the "Falklands factor" , along with a bitterly divided Labour Party, undoubtedly paved the way for her subsequent general election victory.

In the years after the conflict, Mrs Thatcher often referred in public and in private to the "Falklands spirit", reflecting her nostalgia not only for her popularity at the time, but also her preference for the streamlined and efficient decision-making of the military and a small war cabinet rather than the drawn-out and often painstaking deal-making of cabinet government in peacetime.

The Falklands revealed many of the qualities that marked Mrs Thatcher's time in office - her determination, her conviction that she was right, and her abrasive dismissal of anyone who questioned that conviction.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Margaret Thatcher Dies: Tributes Pour In

How Thatcher Changed History

Updated: 2:45pm UK, Monday 08 April 2013

By Adam Boulton, Political Editor

Margaret Thatcher was Britain's first, and so far only, female Prime Minister. She was a transformative leader who reversed conventional wisdom that Great Britain's national decline was inevitable.

She will be remembered for curbing the trade unions, privatising state-owned industries, leading Britain to victory in the Falklands War, and as US President Ronald Reagan's staunch ally in confronting the Soviet Empire.

Mrs Thatcher is now ranked alongside Sir Winston Churchill (her hero) and Clement Attlee as one of Britain's most important 20th century prime ministers, but the "Iron Lady", as she was nicknamed, was a deeply divisive figure, openly hated by many, especially those from industrial heartlands, which she sent to the wall.

She ended her 11-year premiership quite literally in tears, thrown out not by the voters but by the very Conservative MPs she had led to three successive general election victories.

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on October 13, 1925, the daughter of a grocer and alderman from Grantham in Lincolnshire. She idolised her father but seldom even mentioned her mother.

A clever and ambitious grammar school girl, she won a place at Oxford University to study chemistry, going on to work in industry as a research chemist.

She had determined political ambitions as well, fighting Dartford for the Conservatives unsuccessfully in the 1950 and 1951 general elections.

Her consolation was to meet and marry Denis Thatcher, a prosperous businessman and Tory activist.

With typical efficiency, Mrs Thatcher gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, Mark and Carol. She did not enter parliament until 1959 as the member for Finchley, a North London constituency she held for 23 years until her retirement.

In 1967 Tory leader Edward Heath invited her to join his shadow cabinet and made her education secretary following his unexpected triumph over Harold Wilson in the 1970 general election.

The rising star told a television interviewer that she did not expect to see a woman prime minister in her lifetime but she attracted less favourable publicity when she cancelled free school milk, becoming known as Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher.

Ted Heath lost the two elections in 1974 and was forced out as leader after a protracted period of party infighting.

Margaret Thatcher only stood against him after her mentor Sir Keith Joseph declined to run. An outsider in many ways, she was nonetheless elected Conservative Party Leader in 1975.

Prime Minister Callaghan took over from Wilson, but Labour's left-right tensions spilt over into protracted industrial unrest.

Mrs Thatcher stormed into Downing Street on May 4, 1979, following a Conservative election campaign which focused on the economic paralysis of the nation during the so-called Winter of Discontent.

On the steps of Number 10 she quoted St Francis and promised to bring unity. But the British economy plunged still further, unemployment trebled to more than three million. London and Liverpool suffered inner city riots.

After two years in office, Margaret Thatcher was one of the most unpopular Prime Ministers ever. She was rescued by Argentina's military junta in 1982.

Against the advice of her ministers and most military commanders she ordered a task force 3,000 miles into the South Atlantic to recapture the Falkland Islands from Argentine invaders. 

The Conservatives returned to power in the 1983 general election with an increased majority.

Mrs Thatcher moved on to confront what she called the "enemy within", eventually defeating a bitter and confrontational year-long miners' strike over pit closures, unwisely called by NUM leader Arthur Scargill without a ballot of his members.

Irish Republican terrorists murdered two of Mrs Thatcher's closest political colleagues Airey Neave and Ian Gow. And in October 1984 five friends and colleagues were killed when the IRA blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference.

Margaret, the wife of her close political ally Norman Tebbit, was among those victims crippled for life.

Yet a year later Mrs Thatcher and her counterpart Garret Fitzgerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which would ultimately provide the diplomatic basis for the end of The Troubles.

Mrs Thatcher also became a prominent and pugnacious figure on the world stage. She secured the rebate on Britain's contribution to the European Community and pressed for an open market.

Her decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Britain led to the Greenham Common protest but it was also part of the arms build-up which ultimately broke the Soviet Union and brought down the Iron Curtain.

Mrs Thatcher was quick to spot the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as "a man I can do business with". But for his two terms as American President Ronald Reagan was Mrs Thatcher's closest ally - on foreign affairs and on economic and social policy.

Her economic ideology was unswerving. She believed in a smaller state, lower taxes, self-reliance and people being left to spend "their own money".

Her government sold or "privatised" state-owned "nationalised" assets - first council houses then shares in gas, electricity, water and telecommunications and "the big bang" de-regulating banking and the City of London.

She won a third election in 1987 with another huge majority but like many long-serving successful leaders, she began to believe her own publicity, epitomised in her most famous quotation: "The Lady is not for turning".

Domineering and unwilling to listen, she alienated many of her ministers and MPs.

By now Michael Heseltine had resigned from government and established himself as a leader-in-waiting. He exploited growing discontent over two issues: the proposed Community Charge or Poll Tax, and hostility to Europe.

Anti-poll tax demonstrations brought some of the worst street violence in living memory.

Her stubborn opposition to further European integration provoked first the resignation of her chancellor Nigel Lawson, then, fatally, of her deputy prime minister Sir Geoffrey Howe.

She stood down in November 1990, after failing to secure the overwhelming support of MPs in yet another Heseltine-inspired leadership contest on the very night European leaders were celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall.

One of Prime Minister Thatcher's last achievements was persuading the new US President George Bush senior not to "go wobbly" following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.

Mr Heseltine failed to seize the crown and instead the Conservative party united around John Major, Thatcher's relatively obscure preferred successor.

In 1992, Mr Major led the Tories to victory over Neil Kinnock's Labour yet again.

In her retirement, the Queen made Mrs Thatcher a member of the Order of the Garter and appointed her Baroness in the House of Lords. Her husband Denis received a hereditary knighthood.

Sir John Major sometimes complained of "back seat driving" as the former PM relished the movie title "The Mummy Returns".

The next Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair never bothered to hide his admiration for her decisive style of leadership but there was widespread astonishment when the newly-elected Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown invited her back to Downing Street for tea in her honour.

More recently, Meryl Streep won an Oscar for a portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the Hollywood movie 'The Iron Lady'. But the film also depicted unflinchingly the politician's descent into senile dementia, hastened by the death of her beloved husband, Denis.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More

Margaret Thatcher: Obituary Of 'Iron Lady'

By Adam Boulton, Political Editor

Margaret Thatcher was Britain's first, and so far only, female Prime Minister. She was a transformative leader who reversed conventional wisdom that Great Britain's national decline was inevitable.

She will be remembered for curbing the trade unions, privatising state-owned industries, leading Britain to victory in the Falklands War, and as US President Ronald Reagan's staunch ally in confronting the Soviet Empire.

Mrs Thatcher is now ranked alongside Sir Winston Churchill (her hero) and Clement Attlee as one of Britain's most important 20th century prime ministers, but the "Iron Lady", as she was nicknamed, was a deeply divisive figure, openly hated by many, especially those from industrial heartlands, which she sent to the wall.

She ended her 11-year premiership quite literally in tears, thrown out not by the voters but by the very Conservative MPs she had led to three successive general election victories.

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on October 13, 1925, the daughter of a grocer and alderman from Grantham in Lincolnshire. She idolised her father but seldom even mentioned her mother.

A clever and ambitious grammar school girl, she won a place at Oxford University to study chemistry, going on to work in industry as a research chemist.

She had determined political ambitions as well, fighting Dartford for the Conservatives unsuccessfully in the 1950 and 1951 general elections.

She became Conservative Party leader in 1975 and won the election in 1979

Her consolation was to meet and marry Denis Thatcher, a prosperous businessman and Tory activist.

With typical efficiency, Mrs Thatcher gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, Mark and Carol. She did not enter parliament until 1959 as the member for Finchley, a North London constituency she held for 23 years until her retirement.

In 1967 Tory leader Edward Heath invited her to join his shadow cabinet and made her education secretary following his unexpected triumph over Harold Wilson in the 1970 general election.

The rising star told a television interviewer that she did not expect to see a woman prime minister in her lifetime but she attracted less favourable publicity when she cancelled free school milk, becoming known as Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher.

Ted Heath lost the two elections in 1974 and was forced out as leader after a protracted period of party infighting.

Margaret Thatcher only stood against him after her mentor Sir Keith Joseph declined to run. An outsider in many ways, she was nonetheless elected Conservative Party Leader in 1975.

Prime Minister Callaghan took over from Wilson, but Labour's left-right tensions spilt over into protracted industrial unrest.

Mrs Thatcher stormed into Downing Street on May 4, 1979, following a Conservative election campaign which focused on the economic paralysis of the nation during the so-called Winter of Discontent.

On the steps of Number 10 she quoted St Francis and promised to bring unity. But the British economy plunged still further, unemployment trebled to more than three million. London and Liverpool suffered inner city riots.

Mrs Thatcher with US President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1987

After two years in office, Margaret Thatcher was one of the most unpopular Prime Ministers ever. She was rescued by Argentina's military junta in 1982.

Against the advice of her ministers and most military commanders she ordered a task force 3,000 miles into the South Atlantic to recapture the Falkland Islands from Argentine invaders. 

The Conservatives returned to power in the 1983 general election with an increased majority.

Mrs Thatcher moved on to confront what she called the "enemy within", eventually defeating a bitter and confrontational year-long miners' strike over pit closures, unwisely called by NUM leader Arthur Scargill without a ballot of his members.

Irish Republican terrorists murdered two of Mrs Thatcher's closest political colleagues Airey Neave and Ian Gow. And in October 1984 five friends and colleagues were killed when the IRA blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference.

Margaret, the wife of her close political ally Norman Tebbit, was among those victims crippled for life.

Yet a year later Mrs Thatcher and her counterpart Garret Fitzgerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which would ultimately provide the diplomatic basis for the end of The Troubles.

Mrs Thatcher also became a prominent and pugnacious figure on the world stage. She secured the rebate on Britain's contribution to the European Community and pressed for an open market.

Her decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Britain led to the Greenham Common protest but it was also part of the arms build-up which ultimately broke the Soviet Union and brought down the Iron Curtain.

Mrs Thatcher was quick to spot the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as "a man I can do business with". But for his two terms as American President Ronald Reagan was Mrs Thatcher's closest ally - on foreign affairs and on economic and social policy.

She set BT on the road to privatisation

Her economic ideology was unswerving. She believed in a smaller state, lower taxes, self-reliance and people being left to spend "their own money".

Her government sold or "privatised" state-owned "nationalised" assets - first council houses then shares in gas, electricity, water and telecommunications and "the big bang" de-regulating banking and the City of London.

She won a third election in 1987 with another huge majority but like many long-serving successful leaders, she began to believe her own publicity, epitomised in her most famous quotation: "The Lady is not for turning".

Domineering and unwilling to listen, she alienated many of her ministers and MPs.

By now Michael Heseltine had resigned from government and established himself as a leader-in-waiting. He exploited growing discontent over two issues: the proposed Community Charge or Poll Tax, and hostility to Europe.

Anti-poll tax demonstrations brought some of the worst street violence in living memory.

Her stubborn opposition to further European integration provoked first the resignation of her chancellor Nigel Lawson, then, fatally, of her deputy prime minister Sir Geoffrey Howe.

She stood down in November 1990, after failing to secure the overwhelming support of MPs in yet another Heseltine-inspired leadership contest on the very night European leaders were celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall.

One of Prime Minister Thatcher's last achievements was persuading the new US President George Bush senior not to "go wobbly" following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.

Mr Heseltine failed to seize the crown and instead the Conservative party united around John Major, Thatcher's relatively obscure preferred successor.

Leaving Downing Street for the last time in 1990

In 1992, Mr Major led the Tories to victory over Neil Kinnock's Labour yet again.

In her retirement, the Queen made Mrs Thatcher a member of the Order of the Garter and appointed her Baroness in the House of Lords. Her husband Denis received a hereditary knighthood.

Sir John Major sometimes complained of "back seat driving" as the former PM relished the movie title "The Mummy Returns".

The next Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair never bothered to hide his admiration for her decisive style of leadership but there was widespread astonishment when the newly-elected Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown invited her back to Downing Street for tea in her honour.

More recently, Meryl Streep won an Oscar for a portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the Hollywood movie 'The Iron Lady'. But the film also depicted unflinchingly the politician's descent into senile dementia, hastened by the death of her beloved husband, Denis.

20.48 | 0 komentar | Read More