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Anti-terrorist officers suspect they came from the Bosnian Serb and Yugoslav armies. Caches have included rifles, machine-guns, grenades, pistols and rocket launchers.The rendezvous followed meetings over previous weeks in several European capitals. Three MI5 men reportedly met the suspects in a private villa on the outskirts of Piestany before 20 of the Slovak police officers pounced.As news of the extradition came through, the Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, said republicans had “destroyed” their credibility with the arrest of three Irishmen in Colombia.”Very senior members of the republican movement, including those who have graced Sinn Fein platforms in the past, were engaged with Farc, one of the most vicious terrorist organisations in the world What that does is destroy their credibility. The mountain that republicans have to climb will now be greater.”. A trendy Church of England advertising campaign designed to appeal to young people has run into controversy for its “blasphemous” references to body piercing and drug-taking.

A trendy Church of England advertising campaign designed to appeal to young people has run into controversy for its “blasphemous” references to body piercing and drug-taking.
The posters, to be displayed in bus shelters in the Midlands this winter, broach youth-orientated subjects as part of a “realistic” Anglican campaign to fill empty pews. One reads: “Body piercing? Jesus had his done 2,000 years ago.” Another asks: “Life gone to pot? Made a hash of things. Things not too E-asy? Love is the drug.” Another, a play on the National Canine Defence League slogan, jokes: “The Church is for life, not just for Christians.”The campaign, sanctioned by the Church of England, was defended by local church officials in Birmingham as a serious attempt to reach the 18-30 market. But traditional elements of the Church branded the posters “blasphemous.”David Hilsley, director of the National Council for Christian Standards, said: “Jesus suffered a form of torture and to then make it sound like a piercing is, quite frankly, disgusting.”. Soldiers have been drafted in to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease after three new cases were confirmed today in the Hexham area of Northumberland..

After three decades and a million miles of history, the Boeing 707 that once ferried President Richard Nixon to California after his resignation has flown its last flight as Air Force One. After three decades and a million miles of history, the Boeing 707 that once ferried President Richard Nixon to California after his resignation has flown its last flight as Air Force One.
The aircraft, known by its tail number 27000, was the plane that took former President Jimmy Carter to meet released Iran hostages and it carried Ronald Reagan to Berlin for his famous “tear down this wall” speech.President George W Bush took two brief flights on it on Wednesday, then officially retired 27000 as Air Force One, sending it to the Reagan Presidential Library in California.”Any Air Force plane that carries the president bears the name Air Force One,” said Bush. “Today, this plane carried a president for the last time, and soon it will be taking its last flight. It will carry no more presidents, but it will carry forever the spirit of American democracy.”The specially-configured Boeing 707-353B entered service in December, 1972, and Nixon was the first president to fly aboard.

Since then, the plane has flown 444 missions and more than one million miles. Seven presidents have flown aboard the plane – more than any presidential aircraft.In August 1974, it took off from Washington as Air Force One with Nixon aboard, but changed call signs midway across the country when Gerald Ford was sworn in as president.Its replacement, a Boeing 747-200B, flies faster and longer and has modernised facilities.. The British Government will not condemn the 300 years of the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity at the United Nations conference on racism that begins in South Africa on Friday, Baroness Valerie Amos said on Thursday. The British Government will not condemn the 300 years of the transatlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity at the United Nations conference on racism that begins in South Africa on Friday, Baroness Valerie Amos said on Thursday.
Outlining a position that she said was in line with that of other EU countries ­ all of whom have sent low-level delegations to Durban ­ Baroness Amos, the Foreign Office minister for Africa, the Caribbean and Overseas Territories, said Britain “is prepared to agree to strong wording on the slave trade, like ‘regret’, ‘abhorrence’ ­ that kind of language” in the final declaration expected next week.But she said that only contemporary slavery would be condemned as a crime against humanity.She spoke as some 6,000 delegates, including Fidel Castro, the Cuban President, and the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, began arriving in the South African port for a United Nations conference that is already mired in conflict over issues such as Zionism and slavery, as well as the wording of the final declaration and a proposed action plan against racism, xenophobia and discrimination.Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, decided not to attend the conference, in protest at language in the draft declaration, proposed by Arab and Islamic nations, equating Zionism with racism.Mary Robinson, the high commissioner for human rights and the secretary general of the conference, said: “Zionism will not be on the agenda. There is no text on this in the draft declaration and where it exists there is a commitment to change it.” Despite her pledge, it is clear that America will send only a low-grade delegation.In Thursday’s parallel forum for campaign groups, a news conference planned by some 20 Jewish organisations was disrupted by Arab and Islamic delegates who noisily denounced them as racist..

Australia has asked United Nations officials on East Timor if they can process the asylum applications of 460 refugees stranded on a cargo ship off a remote Australian island. The small and poor country of East Timor is willing to help the impasse over 460 refugees stranded on a cargo ship in Australian waters, saying it would consider giving them temporary shelter.But there was confusion about the willingness of Australia to co-operate – even though they insist the ship that rescued them must leave their territorial waters off Christmas Island.Despite approaching officials in Dili about the proposal, Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer later said that his country was unlikely to send the refugees to East Timor because the country still has no formal government. “It would be a gross overstatement for there to be a focus on East Timor,” he said “We are having discussions with a number of countries. It’s much less likely to be East Timor than somewhere else.” Bernard Kerblat, head of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in East Timor had said: “We have the capability of dealing with 15,000 refugees. “The sooner this crisis is resolved through the most intelligent solution, the better for the individuals involved.” East Timor’s de facto foreign minister Jose Ramos-Horta said the tiny half-island territory that won independence from Indonesia would be happy to house the refugees as long as they did not stay too long and the UN agreed to pay all costs “We would look upon it favourably,” he said. As the refugees began their fifth day in sweltering temperatures on the deck of Tampa, a Norwegian container ship off remote Christmas Island, Prime Minister John Howard said he saw no early resolution to the standoff.