Screaming hate and brandishing vile placards, Muslim extremists and far-Right groups clashed yesterday in ugly scenes that marred a parade by soldiers.
Around 40 members of a group called Muslims Against the Crusades (MAC) arrived with inflammatory banners featuring slogans such as ‘Butchers return’ and ‘What are you dying for? £18k’.
They were soon confronted by 100 people, some wearing English Defence League T-shirts, who shouted ‘scum’ and ‘Muslim bombers off our streets’.
German anger at the 750billion Euro Greek bailout is swelling as world markets slid after initial excitement at the bailout fizzled.
The headline on the front page of Germany’s biggest newspaper, Bild, summed up the national mood, declaring: ‘We are once again the schmucks of Europe!’
Meanwhile world stocks and the Euro dropped sharply today as the massive relief rally triggered by the plan to contain Europe’s debt crisis fizzled out.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 107.88 points, or 2 per cent, at 5,279.54 while Germany’s DAX fell 52.95 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 5,964.96.
A top secret space plane developed by the US military has blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its maiden voyage.
Billed as a small shuttle, the unmanned X-37B heralds the next generation of space exploration. It will be the first craft to carry out an autonomous re-entry in the history of the US programme.
But its mission – and its cost – remain shrouded in secrecy. The Air Force said the launch was a success but would give no further details.
However, experts have said the spacecraft was intended to speed up development of combat-support systems and weapons systems.
There have already been accusations that the programme could lead to the ‘weaponisation’ of space.
The freed Lockerbie bomber will today celebrate his birthday in a Libyan mansion – almost eight months after the ‘dying’ man was released from prison.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi is said to have made a ‘remarkable recovery’ after being allowed to return home from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds last year.
The prostate cancer sufferer will ‘quietly mark’ his 58th birthday in Tripoli with family, friends and Libyan government officials who will be ‘enjoying a dignified celebration and thanking God for his survival’.
Belgium is on the verge of becoming the first European nation to ban the burka.
A parliamentary committee agreed yesterday to outlaw the wearing of face-covering veils in public. The full Parliament will vote later this month.
Under the proposals, women could face a week in prison or a fine for wearing a veil in public.
There are an estimated 650,000 Muslims in Belgium – 6 per cent of the population.
The text of the new law does not specifically mention burkas but makes it illegal for anyone to wear clothing ‘that covers all or most of the face’ in any public place.
A single mother-of-six is getting more than £80,000 a year from the taxpayer to live in a £2million mansion in an exclusive London suburb.
Essma Marjam, 34, is given almost £7,000 a month in housing benefits to pay the rent on the five-bedroom villa just yards from Sir Paul McCartney’s house and Lord’s cricket ground.
She also receives an estimated £15,000 a year in other payouts, such as child benefit, to help look after her children, aged from five months to 14.
The four-storey house in Maida Vale has five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a double living room, large fitted kitchen-diner with French doors on to the landscaped garden and a state-of-the art buzzer entry system.
Iran is now a ‘nuclear state’, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced this morning.
He spoke as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Tehran to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
There are fears of violence as opposition and pro-government supporters are expected to meet at rallies in a show of popular strength unmatched since the revolution itself.
Today Ahmadinejad told scores of cheering Iranians that the Islamic Republic is capable of producing weapons-grade uranium.
Scientist at the heart of the ‘Climategate’ email scandal broke the law when they refused to give raw data to the public, the privacy watchdog has ruled.
The Information Commissioner’s office said University of East Anglia researchers breached the Freedom of Information Act when handling requests from climate change sceptics.
But the scientists will escape prosecution because the offences took place more than six months ago.
The revelation comes after a string of embarrassing blunders and gaffes for climate scientists and will fuel concerns that key researchers are too secretive and too arrogant.
