Bombing suspect fled in a burkha
As Britain's most high-profile terrorist trial for decades began at high-security Woolwich Crown Court, it emerged that one of the alleged bombers was able to escape capture for days after fleeing London disguised as a woman in a burka. It was also revealed that all but one of six men said to be involved in the plot of July 21, 2005 had been secretly filmed by police when they attended a weekend camp in the Lake District 14 months earlier.
The Independent reports that
London carnage avoided 'only because plotters got bomb mix wrong'
the plot had been hatched as early as March 2005 and was not "some hastily arranged copycat" of the July 7 bombings, despite the fact that one of the bombs had been deployed on a bus sometime after the others. Neither was it, as one of the defendants had suggested after his arrest, a deliberate hoax designed to make a political point, he said. The reason the bombs, made from a mixture of chemicals and chapatti flour, had not exploded, said Mr Sweeney, was because the plotters had failed to make the correct concentration of explosive material.
The Guardian reports that
The would-be suicide bombers gathered the night before July 21 in a flat in north Kensington in London; everything was ready for an attack that had been planned for weeks and was to be carried out with explosive devices cooked up on a kitchen stove, mixing high-strength hair bleach, nail varnish remover, acid, lightbulbs, batteries and chapati flour, the jury at Woolwich crown court heard.
When the five men walked out of 14 Dalgarno Gardens the next day, Ramzi Mohammed left the remnants of a draft suicide note to his two children; evidence found later suggested a suicide video had been also filmed, the jury heard.
The same paper leads on the same story as yesterday
MI6 and Blair at odds over Saudi deals
Britain's secret intelligence service, MI6, has challenged the government's claim that a major corruption inquiry into Saudi Arabian arms deals was threatening national security.
The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, told parliament before Christmas that the intelligence agencies "agreed with the assessment" of Tony Blair that national security was in jeopardy because the Saudis intended to pull out of intelligence cooperation with Britain. But John Scarlett, the head of MI6, has now refused to sign up to a government dossier which says MI6 endorses this view.
The Independent meanwhile focuses on a new threat from Europe on its front page
Gypsy-haters, holocaust-deniers, xenophobes, homophobes, anti-semites: the EU's new political force
Claiming the backing of 23 million Europeans, ultra-nationalists secured enough MEPs to make a formal political grouping, underlining the growing challenge posed by the far right across the continent. For the first time since the Second World War a series of elections has swept nationalistic, far-right parties into office in municipal, regional, national and European parliament elections. The admission of Romania and Bulgaria in January of this year brought in enough far-right MEPs to form a bloc.
According to the Times,
Allies 'go after' Iran as beefed-up naval force sails for Gulf
Britain is joining an American military campaign to blunt Iranian influence in Iraq and the Gulf.
In a move likely to heighten tension in an already volatile part of the world, US forces have been ordered to detain Iranian agents in Iraq and to strengthen substantially America’s military presence in the Gulf.
Two Royal Navy minehunters have arrived in the Gulf to reinforce a naval frigate on patrol in the area.
Whilst the Telegraph reports that
Iran 'taking control of Basra by stealth'
Iranian intelligence is preparing for complete dominance of southern Iraq when the British withdraw by penetrating Basra's security network and political parties, it can be revealed.
Iraqi intelligence sources disclosed to The Daily Telegraph that Iran plans to reap the huge financial rewards presented by the southern oil fields and prevent Western businesses from gaining a foothold inside Basra.
The Mystery deepens about the 15 year old found after 4 years in Missouri,The Indy reports that
one of the boys, who was held prisoner for more than four years, had a website - raising new questions about why he did not try to get help earlier.
The Times reporting that
According to the True Crime Blog for amateur sleuths, at least three websites claiming to be internet profiles of “Shawn Devlin” contain photos of Shawn Hornbeck. A web page on a Yahoo! group lists his hometown as St Louis, his hobbies as “listen to music, hanging with friends, talking to ppl on the computer” and his nicknames as “devil, vampire”. A second Yahoo! page says his nickname is “kyo”.
A “Shawn Devlin” also posted comments on December 1, 2005, on a family web page for the missing Shawn Hornbeck, asking: “How long are you planning to look for your son?” An hour later, he posted another comment appearing to apologise for the first.
“I write poems and i was wounding if it would be ok to write a poem for the Hornbeck fam. And they son ‘shawn Hornbeck’ it would be cool if i could but if you dont want me to I can understan why i guess but i was wounding i guess if i could write a poem in his honer (sorry I don’t know how to spell that last word.)”
The Express leads with
Holiday air strike chaos
A series of three-day walk-outs over pay and time off sick could ground hundreds of flights as families plan to jet off in the first big getaway of the year.The threat will pile more misery on holidaymakers, who have already endured airport misery over cancelled flights due to fog as well as long queues for extra security checks.
The papers are turning against Big Brother this morning,the Guardian reports that
Big Brother accused of racism
Celebrity Big Brother was facing further censure last night as it emerged that media watchdog Ofcom has received 200 complaints about alleged racism in the reality show. Viewers believe that Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty is being targeted by housemates Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara because she is Indian.
The front page of the Mirror describes it as
BIGOT BROTHER
Viewer Rabyia Patel said: "It's pure racism and they must not be allowed to get away with it."
The outrage was fuelled by reports that Jade's boyfriend Jack Tweed called Shilpa "a Paki" during a bleeped-out chat. Channel 4 denied it - but admitted he used a disgusting four-letter word.
Jade was last night dumped as patron of an anti-bullying charity after it was swamped with protests.
Finally the story that emerged yesterday about a move to merge France and England in 1956 recieves much attention in the papers,The Telegraph reports that:
Mon Dieu! the Queen as La Reine de la France? C'est impossible, n'est ce pas? Not entirely, according to documents housed at the National Archives in Kew.
They show that in 1956 Britain and France considered a "union" and the possibility of our Queen as the first regal head of this avowedly republican country since previous occupants of the post literally lost theirs.
Yesterday the prospect rendered one eminent French historian almost speechless. "Really, I am stuttering because this idea is so preposterous," stammered Prof Henri Soutou, from the Sorbonne.
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