Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
The devolution of policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland marks the final end to decades of strife, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said.Out of the 105 votes cast in the NI Assembly, a total of 88 supported the move, while 17 voted against it. Mr Brown said the politics of progress had now replaced politics of division. "It sends the most powerful message to those who would return to violence: that democracy and tolerance will prevail," he said. "The courage and leadership of the parties who voted to complete devolution at Stormont will be noted around the world." Policing and justice powers will now be devolved on 12 April after a 38 year gap.
The devolution of policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland marks the final end to decades of strife, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said.
Out of the 105 votes cast in the NI Assembly, a total of 88 supported the move, while 17 voted against it.
Mr Brown said the politics of progress had now replaced politics of division.
"It sends the most powerful message to those who would return to violence: that democracy and tolerance will prevail," he said.
"The courage and leadership of the parties who voted to complete devolution at Stormont will be noted around the world."
Policing and justice powers will now be devolved on 12 April after a 38 year gap.
As expected, the Ulster Unionist Party voted against the powers being devolved...DUP leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson accused the UUP of seeking political advantage by voting against the devolution plans. "I believe it is time for us all to move forward," he said. "There must be no going back to the bad old days of the past. "Throughout history there are times of challenge and defining moments. This is such a time. This is such a moment." UUP leader Sir Reg Empey said his party did not believe the time was right for policing and justice powers to be devolved. "We are a party for the devolution of justice, but it is the conditions to which we are coming," he said. "We have not had a single solitary discussion at leadership level of what we are going to do with policing and justice. "It is a bit like doing your driving test without doing your driving lessons."
As expected, the Ulster Unionist Party voted against the powers being devolved...
DUP leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson accused the UUP of seeking political advantage by voting against the devolution plans.
"I believe it is time for us all to move forward," he said.
"There must be no going back to the bad old days of the past.
"Throughout history there are times of challenge and defining moments. This is such a time. This is such a moment."
UUP leader Sir Reg Empey said his party did not believe the time was right for policing and justice powers to be devolved.
"We are a party for the devolution of justice, but it is the conditions to which we are coming," he said.
"We have not had a single solitary discussion at leadership level of what we are going to do with policing and justice.
"It is a bit like doing your driving test without doing your driving lessons."
What's this? Does the UUP want to overtake the DUP towards the right? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Dutch religious leaders have ordered an inquiry into alleged sexual abuses of children by Roman Catholic priests.Earlier, the Vatican defended its response to child sex abuse allegations in a number of European states, saying it reacted rapidly and decisively. In the latest revelations, an Austrian monastery head offered to resign for abusing a boy more than 40 years ago. Separately, Pope Benedict's brother said in an interview he slapped pupils in the face at a German choir school.
Dutch religious leaders have ordered an inquiry into alleged sexual abuses of children by Roman Catholic priests.
Earlier, the Vatican defended its response to child sex abuse allegations in a number of European states, saying it reacted rapidly and decisively.
In the latest revelations, an Austrian monastery head offered to resign for abusing a boy more than 40 years ago.
Separately, Pope Benedict's brother said in an interview he slapped pupils in the face at a German choir school.
I think somebody had better acquaint them with the reality that such behaviors, which might have worked 30 or 40 years ago, now lead to a constant stream of revelations which invariably suggest a certain collusion between predators and the church hierarchy.
They have to stop pretending that they can hide this stuff and all will turn out for the best. It won't. But do they have sufficient faith in their people to clean the stables. Personally I doubt it. keep to the Fen Causeway
Seven people have been arrested in the Irish Republic over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist for depicting the Prophet Muhammad, police say.The four men and three women are all Muslim immigrants, according to media reports, though a police statement did not confirm this. Cartoonist Lars Vilks had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog in the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper. Islamic militants put a $100,000 (£67,000) bounty on his head. Mr Vilks was quoted as saying he was unfazed by the arrests, which he said he thought could be linked to two death threats he had received by telephone in January.
Seven people have been arrested in the Irish Republic over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist for depicting the Prophet Muhammad, police say.
The four men and three women are all Muslim immigrants, according to media reports, though a police statement did not confirm this.
Cartoonist Lars Vilks had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog in the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper.
Islamic militants put a $100,000 (£67,000) bounty on his head.
Mr Vilks was quoted as saying he was unfazed by the arrests, which he said he thought could be linked to two death threats he had received by telephone in January.
In a bid to divert attention away from the Ashcroft scandal, the Conservatives and their allies in the media are today attacking Labour's financial links with the trade union movement, most notably with Unite.It's no secret that Labour has become increasingly reliant on the trade unions for money as donations from the rich, who bankrolled the party throughout the Blair years, have dried up. I first reported on this issue back in January and predicted that Labour's financial dependence on the unions would become a campaign issue.The brothers were responsible for 64 per cent (£9.8m) of all donations to the party last year, with Unite, Britain's biggest union, responsible for 25 per cent (£3.6m). By contrast, when Tony Blair became Labour leader in 1994, the unions accounted for less than a third of all donations.It's never healthy for a political party to become reliant on only a few sources of income and I'd be surprised if any Labour figure argued otherwise.
In a bid to divert attention away from the Ashcroft scandal, the Conservatives and their allies in the media are today attacking Labour's financial links with the trade union movement, most notably with Unite.
It's no secret that Labour has become increasingly reliant on the trade unions for money as donations from the rich, who bankrolled the party throughout the Blair years, have dried up. I first reported on this issue back in January and predicted that Labour's financial dependence on the unions would become a campaign issue.
The brothers were responsible for 64 per cent (£9.8m) of all donations to the party last year, with Unite, Britain's biggest union, responsible for 25 per cent (£3.6m). By contrast, when Tony Blair became Labour leader in 1994, the unions accounted for less than a third of all donations.
It's never healthy for a political party to become reliant on only a few sources of income and I'd be surprised if any Labour figure argued otherwise.
Right now being a member of a political party is an exercise in futility. You are just there as leaflet fodder; your opinions, your input, your creativity count for nothing as university and old school chums of the already senior are parachuted in with their vacuous opinions listened to attentively. keep to the Fen Causeway
Cypriot police say three men have been arrested over the theft of the corpse of former president Tasos Papadopoulos. Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos says the suspects were arrested late Tuesday. He said they will appear in court Wednesday, and police will request their detention to assist with the investigation. Papadopoulos' body was found late Monday, three months after it was stolen from a Nicosia cemetery. The country's justice minister said it had been held for ransom. But two spokesmen for Papadopoulos' family insisted his relatives had never received a demand for money.
Cypriot police say three men have been arrested over the theft of the corpse of former president Tasos Papadopoulos.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos says the suspects were arrested late Tuesday. He said they will appear in court Wednesday, and police will request their detention to assist with the investigation.
Papadopoulos' body was found late Monday, three months after it was stolen from a Nicosia cemetery. The country's justice minister said it had been held for ransom. But two spokesmen for Papadopoulos' family insisted his relatives had never received a demand for money.
The former head of MI5 reveals she had no idea US intelligence agencies were using torture techniques to obtain information. Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of the MI5 between 2002 and 2007, told an audience at the House of Lords tonight she knew nothing of the controversial practices. Speaking at a question and answer session organised by the Mile End Group she said she discovered from the media that information on UK terrorism from 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was only obtained after he was repeatedly water boarded. Our home affairs correspondent Simon Israel commented: "The Baroness says that she had no knowledge at all about what the Americans were doing - how they were treating their captives both in Afghanistan and Guantanamo. "Tonight she simply says she only discovered these things after the media started reporting it, and presumably after the security and intelligence committee were beginning their investigations into what was going on.
The former head of MI5 reveals she had no idea US intelligence agencies were using torture techniques to obtain information.
Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of the MI5 between 2002 and 2007, told an audience at the House of Lords tonight she knew nothing of the controversial practices.
Speaking at a question and answer session organised by the Mile End Group she said she discovered from the media that information on UK terrorism from 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was only obtained after he was repeatedly water boarded.
Our home affairs correspondent Simon Israel commented: "The Baroness says that she had no knowledge at all about what the Americans were doing - how they were treating their captives both in Afghanistan and Guantanamo.
"Tonight she simply says she only discovered these things after the media started reporting it, and presumably after the security and intelligence committee were beginning their investigations into what was going on.
I call bullshit.
How special.
Hundreds of people in eastern Turkey have been sheltering in tents after a deadly earthquake left many homeless and exposed the region's poor construction standards. Recep Akdag, the health minister, said the mud-brick homes typical of Turkey'simpoverished villages "topple down at the slightest of jolts, and those caught beneath die from lack of air". "It has been this way for a hundred years, and we have to beat this," he said on Tuesday. At least 51 people were killed in the 6.0 magnitude quake early on Monday in six villages near the town of Kovancilar in Elazig province. "The number of deaths is related directly to the construction quality," Okan Tuysuz, a geologists from Istanbul University, said. "Unfortunately, Turkey is a country poorly prepared for earthquakes in terms of building quality."
Hundreds of people in eastern Turkey have been sheltering in tents after a deadly earthquake left many homeless and exposed the region's poor construction standards.
Recep Akdag, the health minister, said the mud-brick homes typical of Turkey'simpoverished villages "topple down at the slightest of jolts, and those caught beneath die from lack of air".
"It has been this way for a hundred years, and we have to beat this," he said on Tuesday.
At least 51 people were killed in the 6.0 magnitude quake early on Monday in six villages near the town of Kovancilar in Elazig province.
"The number of deaths is related directly to the construction quality," Okan Tuysuz, a geologists from Istanbul University, said.
"Unfortunately, Turkey is a country poorly prepared for earthquakes in terms of building quality."
All the children in Ayrfield, Dublin, knew fun-loving Father Bill Carney - not just the altar boys and those who met him through school, but members of the Scout troop he ran and the groups of local children he took swimming. His door was always open, there was a ready supply of Coke in the fridge and in the 1980s he had the very latest thing to lure youngsters in - a video player. Adults disapproved of his swearing and crazy driving, but the Catholic Church was still so trusted, no-one suspected the truth about him. Bridie Dwyer still lives in Ayrfield. Above the fireplace, with other family photographs is a picture of her youngest child, Paul, on his first Communion day. At the age of 13 Paul went with other boys to watch videos at Father Carney's house and to have a sleepover, Mrs Dwyer told me. But at 2am Paul unexpectedly returned home
All the children in Ayrfield, Dublin, knew fun-loving Father Bill Carney - not just the altar boys and those who met him through school, but members of the Scout troop he ran and the groups of local children he took swimming.
His door was always open, there was a ready supply of Coke in the fridge and in the 1980s he had the very latest thing to lure youngsters in - a video player.
Adults disapproved of his swearing and crazy driving, but the Catholic Church was still so trusted, no-one suspected the truth about him.
Bridie Dwyer still lives in Ayrfield. Above the fireplace, with other family photographs is a picture of her youngest child, Paul, on his first Communion day.
At the age of 13 Paul went with other boys to watch videos at Father Carney's house and to have a sleepover, Mrs Dwyer told me. But at 2am Paul unexpectedly returned home
Hundreds of local records which would reveal the extent of Lord Ashcroft's donations to Conservative Party candidates during the crucial last few weeks of the 2005 general election campaign have been destroyed the Electoral Commission has confirmed. Although the Electoral Commission publishes records of donations made to political parties, donations made specifically to individual candidates during an election campaign are recorded separately. Those separate records are submitted with candidates' election expense return forms and stored locally after an election before subsequently being destroyed by the local council. The Electoral Commission also takes in copies of all these returns for its national analysis of election expenditure, but the Commission confirmed to me yesterday that it too has destroyed its copies of the records.
Hundreds of local records which would reveal the extent of Lord Ashcroft's donations to Conservative Party candidates during the crucial last few weeks of the 2005 general election campaign have been destroyed the Electoral Commission has confirmed.
Although the Electoral Commission publishes records of donations made to political parties, donations made specifically to individual candidates during an election campaign are recorded separately.
Those separate records are submitted with candidates' election expense return forms and stored locally after an election before subsequently being destroyed by the local council. The Electoral Commission also takes in copies of all these returns for its national analysis of election expenditure, but the Commission confirmed to me yesterday that it too has destroyed its copies of the records.
