The Simon community is running a fundraising event this Friday in which they send a number of local business leaders and celebrities to jail.
The aim is to raise money for their work with homeless individuals and families throughout Northern Ireland. The bulk of this money will be raised by the ‘inmates’ using mobile phones from their cells to raise ‘bail’.
This seems like a very original idea and because of this a nice way to raise money for this charity, that helps the homeless.
Originally the Simon Community was set up in London in 1963 by Anton Wallich-Clifford. In his work with offenders and those on probation, Anton saw many people re-offending because they had nowhere to stay. In setting up the first Simon Community in his own home, he aimed to draw public attention to the needs of homeless people and to develop an experimental approach to their care and support.
This shows a bit that they have a history with (ex)prisoners and this kind of fundraising event would fit them well.
However their is something that makes me raise my eyebrows about this whole thing. That is that the Simon community is currently in a legal struggle about discrimination with a couple of their ex employees, who had been fired by the Simon community just because they were ex (political) prisoners, who had been prisoned without trial during the troubles in Northern Ireland.
This way of not allowing ex prisoners to work for them shows the Simon community actually has little trust in ex prisoners to change into people who want to do something good for the community, and now they want to send people to jail for them.
I can't help that this seems like a very weird thing, specially because the reason why they were once set up and the way they do not allow ex prisoners change their future by working for them is so contradictive.

Gem call centres deal with queries in 26 languages

A total of 900 new jobs are to be created in Northern Ireland by the call centre company, Gem.

Gem, which currently employs 1,000 people, will fill the new posts by 2012.

It has three sites - Lanyon Place and East Bridge Street in Belfast and at Claremont International Business Centre in Londonderry.

But the additional jobs, aided by a £5.5m contribution from Invest NI, are to be created in other locations.

The new posts will include customer service agents, sales agents, technical support and managerial positions. The company said it would generate £14m annually in salaries.

Gem has a site at Lanyon Place, Belfast

Managing director Philip Cassidy said the additional staff would handle accounts from within the financial services, technology and retail sectors.

He said the company expected to secure new business from the Republic of Ireland.

"Gem has proved to be a home grown success and we intend to continue to build on that," he said.

"We also plan to maximise opportunities within the 'euro zone' which is why we have been extensively targeting the Republic."

Gem currently works with the local universities to target graduates as part of its recruitment programme.

A while ago I wrote a blog about the cause of the credit crunch, mentioning the most important reasons behind what has caused the economic situation we are in now.
I promised to continue this and I have decided that now the time is right to do that.

There is another big issue that is an important cause of the so called crisis which I haven’t mentioned yet.
This is the Neo-liberal politics that we see in most “developed” countries.
For a number of years I have already been aware that photos are usually more developed than countries, and the misery that the so called developed countries create in the world nowadays show that this statement is probably true.
What exactly is it that I mean?

The “western” world, or the “developed” countries, or “the axis of evil” or whatever you prefer to call them, has had some hidden agenda for decades already.
Just like in my previous blog about the credit crunch, the USA plays a major role in this, but since the rest of the countries that are part of the group of countries that I am talking about follow in the footsteps of the USA I don’t just want to focus on them and prefer to pretend it all is one big organisation.

It already started ages ago, but I am not too good at history so I can’t really give much examples, until the events from 27 February 1933.
On that day, the Reichstag in Berlin was burned down, and the next day already, Adolf Hitler got the so called Reichstag Fire Decree signed by President Hindenburg, which enabled the Nazis to ban publications which were not considered friendly to their cause, for which the Dutch bricklayer Marinus van der Lubbe was found guilty and executed by beheading on 10 January 1934, just three days before his 25th birthday.
However, knowing that Hitler had only been sworn in as chancellor and head of the coalition government 4 weeks earlier, and that his Nazi party greatly benefited from this event, it is worth having a look at the Counter-trial, which was held in London and started on 21 September 1933. At this trial Hermann Göring was found guilty, and he has given evidence himself, as William L. Shirer writes on page 193 in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, was confirmed by General Franz Halder at Nuremberg:

On the occasion of a lunch on the Führer's birthday in 1942, the people around the Führer turned the conversation to the Reichstag building and its artistic value. I heard with my own ears how Göring broke into the conversation and shouted: 'The only one who really knows about the Reichstag building is I, for I set fire to it.' And saying this he slapped his thigh.

Of course Göring was cross-examined at Nuremberg, and in his defence he stated this:

I had no reason or motive for setting fire to the Reichstag. From the artistic point of view I did not at all regret that the assembly chamber was burned; I hoped to build a better one. But I did regret very much that I was forced to find a new meeting place for the Reichstag and, not being able to find one, I had to give up my Kroll Opera House … for that purpose. The opera seemed to me much more important than the Reichstag.

Which proves that he had little respect for the building, and most likely not more for the people working in it.

Another quotation that makes the truth in Göring’s comments very doubtful can be found in the trial, on 4 November 1933, where the following argument took place between Göring and Georgi Dimitrov (one of the accused):

Dimitrov: Herr Prime Minister Göring stated on February 28 that, when arrested, the "Dutch Communist Van der Lubbe had on his person his passport and a membership card of the Communist Party". From whom was this information taken?

Göring: The police search all common criminals, and report the result to me.

Dimitrov: The three officials who arrested and examined Van der Lubbe all agreed that no membership card of the Communist Party was found on him. I should like to know where the report that such a card had been found came from.

Göring: I was told by an official. Things which were reported to me on the night of the fire…could not be tested or proven. The report was made to me by a responsible official, and was accepted as a fact, and as it could not be tested immediately it was announced as a fact. When I issued the first report to the press on the morning after the fire the interrogation of Van der Lubbe had not been concluded. In any case I do not see that anyone has any right to complain because it seems proved in this trial that Van der Lubbe had no such card on him.

Dimitrov: I would like to ask the Minister of the Interior what steps he took to make sure that Van der Lubbe's route to Hennigsdorf, his stay and his meetings with other people there were investigated by the police to assist them in tracking down Van der Lubbe's accomplices?

Göring: As I am not an official myself, but a responsible Minister it was not important that I should trouble myself with such petty, minor matters. It was my task to expose the Party, and the mentality, which was responsible for the crime.

Dimitrov: Is the Reichsminister aware of the fact that those that possess this alleged criminal mentality today control the destiny of a sixth part of the world - the Soviet Union?

Göring: I don't care what happens in Russia! I know that the Russians pay with bills, and I should prefer to know that their bills are paid! I care about the Communist Party here in Germany and about Communist crooks who come here to set the Reichstag on fire!

Dimitrov: This criminal mentality rules the Soviet Union, the greatest and best country in the world. Is Herr Prime Minister aware of that?

Göring: I shall tell you what the German people already know. They know that you are behaving in a disgraceful manner! They know that you are a Communist crook who came to Germany to set the Reichstag on fire! In my eyes you are nothing, but a scoundrel, a crook who belongs on the gallows!"

As you will probably know, just over a week after the fire, on 5 March 1933, there were elections in which Hitler’s Nazi party and their allies won a majority of 52%, and we all know what came from that.

After reading this you probably wonder what this has to do with today’s financial situation.
Let me try to explain, by first setting a few pointers on this historic event…

- The fire was immediate reason for setting up a new law, which included censorship over publications that would create a negative image for one political side
- The court case was a fraud, as proved by the fact that in 1981 the verdict was overruled, which posthumously overturned Van der Lubbe’s 1933 conviction and found him not guilty. This ruling was subsequently overturned, but in January 2008 he was finally pardoned under a 1998 law for the crime on grounds that laws under which Van der Lubbe was convicted were unconstitutional. (so the laws were unlawful)
- The fire and the publications after that caused a change in the public opinion, which the Nazi party needed to get control over the country and start their attempts to create the third reich.


Throughout history the world has seen several similar things that looked like they were an attempt to gain political benefits for a party with a particular view, where the facts that have been raised to oppose these things have either been pushed away as conspiracy theories, or have been silenced by the censorship of the ruling class.

Of course in the 21st century a fire wouldn’t be of so much influence as it was in 1933, so the party that wanted to gain control used something which would have a similar kind of impact on the people as the fire had in 1933, and so they did on 11 September 2001, when according to the news of that day, four planes were hijacked by Muslim extremists and used to cause death and destruction in New York and Washington.
However there are loads of reasons to raise questions about what really happened that day.

Of course the biggest thing is the WTC “attacks”, but I want to start with the hit on the Pentagon.
This is supposed to be one of the best protected places in the world, however when an airplane flies in to the building the only security camera is one that saves a single still image every few seconds. The “hole” in the building is too narrow to be caused by the kind of plane that is supposed to have flown in there, there are hardly any witnesses at a place that is usually packed with tourists in early September and there is no evidence of any remains from a plane in the demolished part of the Pentagon.

Ok, is this not enough to make you think something weird was happening on September 11th?
How about the collapse of the twin towers? What really caused that?
The towers were designed to survive the impact of planes (why has this ever been considered by the architect, was there already some suspicion at that time?). And the investigators said that the fire was so severe that it caused the steel construction to melt, which resulted in the towers to collapse. However there has never before been any incident where a fire caused the construction of a building made out of steel to melt, and the temperature that burning Kerosene (airplane fuel) reaches is not near high enough to cause steel to melt.
This explanation would also be weird, because from the same scene the investigators have managed to find passports from the “hijackers” while the flight recorders or the “black boxes” where too much damaged by the intense heat.
There are also images of a woman standing in one of the towers in the “hole” caused by the impact of the plane, which would not be possible if the heat was so intense that steel would melt.

Then there are the explosions that have been heard when the towers came down. Was it really just the floors falling on top of each other, or were explosives used to bring the towers down? If not, why did the NYC mayor say in an interview they “pulled” the buildings?

Ok, you’re not convinced yet? How about WTC7?
This was another building that collapsed on September 11th, and there is still no clear explanation how this happened. This building was host to the US Secret Service and the New York City Office of Emergency Management as well as to the Department of Defence, and the CIA who shared the 25th floor with the IRS.
The official story tells that debris from the North tower’s collapse hit the number 7 tower, causing fires on several floors in the building. However while the twin towers collapsed in a way that can be described as implosion the amount of debris crossing a wide range from the buildings was limited, which is also clear from the little damage that was caused to other buildings closest to it, so it is very surprising if some debris did cross all the way to WTC7 and caused so much fire and devastation that later also that building collapsed. Just as likely is the event that the plans for what was happening on that day were in that building and that they had to be destroyed.

During the time following the events from September 11th there have been numerous investigations, however a lot of information had been stopped by the Bush administration from becoming public, official investigations by the 9/11 commission began more than a year after the incident, and no investigations were allowed on most of the debris.

Maybe these are conspiracy theories, but if they are, why were there no proper and full investigations allowed, and why were there never any images from the thousands of other security camera’s around the Pentagon that would show what really happened?
If the truth has to come out the government should not hide the truth and enable things that happen to be thoroughly investigated.

But hey, I mention all this, which is clearly bothering me, but what does it have to do with today’s financial situation? These buildings were destroyed nearly 8 years ago.

Well, I think it has everything to do with today’s situation.

Just like the Reichstag fire, the incidents from September 11th caused a great change in the public opinion, which George W. Bush really needed at that time, because after he became president while losing the elections and stopping a re-count of the votes in Florida, with the help of brother Jeb Bush, his popularity was decreasing rapidly.
After September 11th, Bush declared the war on terror, which meant that the US army would go into a guerrilla war like they did in Vietnam, but on a much larger scale. They first invaded Afghanistan on 7 October 2001, where they would capture Osama bin Laden.

He is the Van der Lubbe of 2001, but isn’t it surprising that the USA first allowed all his relatives to fly out of the country on September 12th, while all other air traffic had been completely stopped? The only links they would have to find the person they so much wanted to find were sent away, so how much of a suspect is Bin Laden really in this case? I have to admit I become even more unsure about his involvement when I look at the fact that now, more than 7 years later, he is still not arrested.

Not long after the invasion of Afghanistan, Bush also invaded Iraq. Somehow there were already rumours that this was planned long before September 11th, but the public opinion was against it. However, after the “attacks” the Bush administration started spreading stories that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, showed satellite images of where these weapons were located and even of where they were made, and the public opinion changed and on 20 March 2003 the USA invaded Iraq.

Up until today both Iraq and Afghanistan are still occupied by the US.
In Afghanistan they still haven’t captured Osama bin Laden, and in Iraq they only caused death and destruction while in the meantime they had to admit that there were no weapons of mass destruction at all, but they did murder Saddam Hussein, who had become vice president of Iraq with US backing after the the coup in 1968, and later became president, also greatly supported by the US around the war between Iraq and Iran (1980-1988).

Another surprising fact here is that after more than 7 years in Afghanistan the US have still not found Osama bin Laden, but Saddam Hussein was found hiding in a very small underground shelter, with just enough room for one person, just 9 months after the invasion of Iraq. Does this mean there is no priority at all in trying to find Bin Laden? I would think so…

But hey, Pascal, you still haven’t explained what this has to do with the credit crunch!
Well ok, maybe you don’t see it yet, but do you know that apart from starting wars there have also been new laws implemented, which put censorship in place where people speak their mind against the ruling opinion, and enables anyone who is suspected of terrorist activities can be imprisoned without trial?
One of these laws is the Patriot act, but also other countries than the USA have changed their laws, even international laws are bended to fit the will of the big brother. The international war tribunal in The Hague cannot start any case against American soldiers, because the US has said they will free the soldiers, with force if necessary, so they give their soldiers the freedom to ignore international laws and human rights issues.

At least I hope this clarifies a bit why I compare the Reichstag fire with the September 11th happenings.
Still there is a bit more explanation needed why I use this for the cause of the credit crunch.
As I described here, there has been a war started after September 11th, in Afghanistan and Iraq, a lot of countries around the globe are participating in this, so it would be fair to say it is world war 3 that is going on.
Apart from (innocent) human lives that are lost in this war, a lot of money is wasted to keep this war going for so many years, while there is no result and we also can’t expect any result in the (near) future. Slightly interesting fact is that the factories that make weapons and ammunition were also greatly involved in the funding of the lost race for the white house from George W. Bush in 1990, and this whole war seems to be a bit his way to give them back what they gave him.

However, money is disappearing into weapons and with that into the very big hands of some of the most corrupt top-managers in the world, who care more about their personal profit than about the economy, so the money really disappears and is not put back into the economy by them. And in the meantime innocent people are jailed and tortured in Guantanamo Bay, while all over the US there are enough weapons of mass destruction to destroy planet earth several times (why are there no inspections yet, to show where these weapons really are after they have not been found in Iraq?).

Now after 8 years of terror with Bush in the white house we should get some relief with the new US president, Obama (doesn’t his name sound very similar to Osama?).
Many of his views and politics seem very promising, and hopefully he will manage to make a change for the better, but he has also announced to send 17000 more troops to Afghanistan, which is a step that will not help in resolving the issues he wants to resolve. Instead of sending 17.000 soldiers in, he should pull 51.000 soldiers (including those from other countries than the US) out, because there is no reason at all to be there, apart from funding the ammunition manufacturers.

Maybe this goes a bit too deep for some of you, and further explanation would be necessary, in that case I will be happy to provide some links to additional information which would show these things are all related. Just leave me a message, and if you feel like it even challenge my opinion if you have good arguments against this. I am open for a fair debate.

However I hope I have given you a closer look into some big events in history and shown some similarities that you were as yet not aware of and made you at least think about what is going on in the world, and not just accepting the explanation that the ruling class gives, but looking at the situation with your own eyes and making up your own mind.

Thanks for your undivided attention, and maybe more will follow later…

In 1986, the world enacted a global ban on whaling.
This year Japan will once again illegally and inhumanely use grenade tipped harpoons to brutally kill more than 1,000 whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary near Antarctica, using a loophole in the international moratorium on whaling that allows catching whales for so called "research" purposes.
Japan has threatened to include 50 humpback whales, which are considered "endangered" in some regions of the world. The Japanese expedition will also be killing 50 endangered fin whales - the world's second largest animal & oldest living Mammal - as well as 935 smaller minke whales.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/outrage-as-whaling-fleet-heads-for-antarctic/2007/11/18/1195321608560.html
Don’t buy the argument that Japan’s motivation to continue whaling is about maintaining their culture or conducting scientific research as they claim……
QUOTE: “The Japanese have no tradition of crossing 3 oceans and two hemispheres in factory ships to slaughter these highly intelligent and defenceless creatures. The Japanese tradition was no different to that of many maritime nations (including Australia) in previous centuries that conducted whaling off their coasts and used the whale product for fuel and food”.
- Quote by Ian Campbell (Former environment minister of Australia - 19th August 2008)
Consumption peaked just after world war 2 and it was actually the Americans who suggested Japan take up commercial whaling to feed its citizens - Food was scarce & the population was starving. Whaling was initiated as a temporary emergency measure.
Nowadays whale meat is hardly a popular food in Japan. Roughly, only 1% of the population has ever tried it and even fewer regularly eat it (Japan Today Newspaper). They have so much excess meat due to the lack of demand, they tried to introduce it to children via a 'School lunchtime program'. The kids emphatically made it clear, they did not like the taste of it & prefer not to eat it.
In 2007, Japan had over 4, 000 tons of whale meat in frozen storage, uneaten, unsold and UNWANTED!
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/whaling/whaling_myths
Running boats into the Southern Ocean each year is costly and inefficient work for the Japanese for little financial gain. It is estimated the whalers are now $50M in debt & would be bankrupt if the Japanese government didnt fund their sham 'science' program.
As for the science argument, scientists globally have affirmed over and over again that any research could be, and in fact is, conducted without actually hacking these remarkable creatures to death in our oceans… Ask any reputable scientist and they will tell you; "You can learn far more from studying a living specimen than you can from a dead one!"
SO WHERE IS THIS "SCIENCE" JAPAN..... ???
The big secret is what the Australian Broadcasting Corporation uncovered in 2006 with their Science show “Catalyst”. They discovered of the 18year scientific research JARPA 1 program, which lethally obtained samples from over 6800 whales, less than 55 peer reviewed papers were produced, 14 that could be relevant to goals of the JARPA program and ONLY 4 that would require lethal sampling.
Watch the Catalyst video here uncover Japan's SHAM whale 'scientific research' program....
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1657789.htm
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=7251222651&topic=5175
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GRISLY WHALING VIDEO FROM AUS CUSTOMS 2008 .
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080207-whaling-video-ap.html
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WHERE WE HAVE GONE WRONG
The IWC, the body charged with governing whaling internationally, is a mess & needs an urgent Overhaul. It allocates equal voting power to all members, with decisions made on a three-quarters majority vote.
This ‘democratic’ nature of the Commission however has allowed Japan to buy the votes of weaker developing countries with aid packages and other financial incentives.
Even land locked developing countries such as Mongolia are joining the IWC & voting alongside Japan in favour of whaling. Japan has almost bought out enough votes in this way to overturn the Moratorium on Whaling, which would allow it to again conduct commercial whaling that once culled 90% of all whales!
http://www.iwcoffice.org/commission/iwcmain.htm
Clearly we need to think outside the IWC to put a stop to this tragic and archaic practice. PETITIONS TO SIGN!

By far the most popular Anti Whaling Petition Internationally (with a staggering 840,000 signatures from over 239 countries) is the Whales Revenge petition.

http://www.whalesrevenge.com/


One of the most popular in Australia (over 60,000 ppl have signed) is the Greenpeace endorsed joint Daily Telegraph/Today petition:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22874082-5014144,00.html


Another good one especially for our New Zealand members (over 10,300 signatures) is the Dominion Post Anti Whaling Petition:

http://www.gopetition.com/online/15815.html


Due to the larger number of British Citizens joining this group the following petition would be good to sign. (it is new and only has 180 signatures so needs the support)

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/HaltWhaling/


IFAW's (International Fund for Animal Welfare) Anti- Whaling site and Petition

http://www.stopwhaling.com.au


The International Whale Protection Organisation has just started a new petition. Please support it.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/IWPO-memberlist-petition


All 6 petitions will be forwarded onto Japanese government officials. Have your say in stopping these illegal whaling incursions into Australian & New Zealand territorial waters.



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A reward of $250,000 (£172,000) has been offered by Microsoft to find who is behind the Downadup/Conficker virus.

Since it started circulating in October 2008 the Conficker worm has managed to infect millions of computers worldwide.

The software giant is offering the cash reward because it views the Conficker worm as a criminal attack.

"People who write this malware have to be held accountable," said George Stathakopulos, of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group.

He told BBC News the company was "not prepared to sit back and let this kind of activity go unchecked".

"Our message is very clear - whoever wrote this caused significant pain to our customers and we are sending a message that we will do everything we can to help with your arrest," said Mr Stathakopulos.

Arbor Networks said as many as 12 million computers could be affected globally by Conficker/Downadup since it began prowling the web looking for vulnerable machines to infect in October.

Malicious payload

The Conficker worm is a self-replicating program that takes advantage of networks or computers that have not kept up to date with Windows security patches.

It can infect machines via a net connection or by hiding on USB memory drives used to ferry data from one computer to another. Once in a computer it digs deep, setting up defences that make it hard to extract.

The worm can also spread via USB flash drives.

The worm slithers through networks by guessing usernames and passwords. Security specialists recommend hardening passwords by mixing in numbers, punctuation marks and capital letters.

The virus reports in to its creators for updates by visiting a web domain. It generates the name of the domain itself using a complicated code which security firms have cracked to track the growth of the worm and block its progress.

Malware such as Downadup can be triggered to steal data or turn control of infected computers over to malicious hackers which pool them into larger armies of so-called botnets.

These networks of compromised machines can be used to send spam, as dead drops for stolen or pirated data and to launch attacks on other machines.

Although Downadup is widespread its creators have yet to activate its payload to steal data or launch other attacks.

It has caused costly headaches for network administrators dealing with users locked out of their accounts when the worm correctly guesses a password.

While Microsoft says it does not know the intention of the worm's creator, it wants to ensure it does not wreak any more havoc.

Experts say users should have up-to-date anti-virus software and install Microsoft's MS08-067 patch - also known as KB958644.

Global response

Microsoft has also partnered with security companies, domain name providers, academia, internet companies such as AOL and others on a co-ordinated global response to the worm.

Millions of computers have been hit by Conficker

Also included is the US Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.

"The best way to defeat potential botnets like Conficker/Downadup is by the security and Domain Name System communities working together," said Greg Rattray, chief internet security adviser at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).

"Icann represents a community that's all about co-ordinating those kinds of efforts to keep the internet globally secure and stable."

Sasser worm

In 2003 Microsoft created its reward programme with $5m (£3.4m) in funding to help law enforcement agencies bring computer virus and worm authors to justice.

This reward for help in tracking the creators of Downadup is the first time in four years that the company has put up some cash in response to a worm outbreak.

Microsoft hopes its bounty has started the countdown to finding its creator

"We have not seen this type of worm or one of its class since 2004," said Mr Stathakopulos.

In 2005 Microsoft paid out $250,000 (£171,000) to two individuals who helped identify the creator of the notorious Sasser worm. The author was arrested and sentenced by the German authorities.

Rewards of $250,000 were offered over three other major computer worm threats known as Blaster, MyDoom and Sobig worms.

Those perpetrators have never been caught

A South African TV station mistakenly broadcast that former US President George Bush had died during one of its news bulletins.

For three seconds ETV News ran a moving banner headline across the screen saying "George Bush is dead".

The "misbroadcast" happened when a technician pressed the "broadcast live for transmission" button instead of the one for a test-run.

The station said test banners would now be done in "gobbledegook".

The mistake happened when a senior staff member wanted to see how a rolling banner headline looked.

'Wrong button'

"The technical director pressed the wrong button, it took a second for the words to appear and then the words were on screen for only three seconds before they were taken off," said spokesman Vasili Vass.

He said he could not comment on whether the person responsible would face disciplinary action.

"We've learned from it, all test banners will now be done in gobbledegook," he added.

The mistake was first reported on by the Afrikaans language newspaper Beeld, and on the media group's website, News24.com.

"Its unfortunate, because we never comment on their mistakes," said Mr Vass.

Police chiefs in China have been slammed for hiring actors to rob a bank as a training exercise - without telling anyone else.

Only the director and the deputy director of the Zhenzhou police department knew it was a drill - everyone else, including the bank, thought it was a real raid.

Four 'robbers' rushed into the Post Office Bank, disarmed security and demanded all the people inside drop to the floor. They even snatched a customer's bag containing £20,000, reports Guangzhou Daily.

Critics said police officers, unaware that it was a training drill, could easily have used their guns on the fleeing robbers.

They were also concerned about the psychological effect on bank cashiers and customers who had been put through a traumatic situation.

The four robbers ran out of the bank in four different directions. But within two hours, all had been caught by different police divisions in the city.

A police spokesman said later that police didn't have a preset plan for the drill and all timing, location, and method of robbery were decided on the spot.

"The goal was to test different divisions' reaction and coordination," he said.

Mr Wilders has threatened to defy the ban on him

A Dutch MP who described the Koran as a "fascist book" has been banned from entering the UK amid fears his presence would endanger public security.

Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders was invited to show his controversial film - which links the Islamic holy book to terrorism - in the UK's House of Lords.

But Mr Wilders, who faces trial in his own country for inciting hatred, has been denied entry by the Home Office.

Mr Wilders said the move was "cowardly" but one peer said it was "welcome".

'Offensive'

Mr Wilders' film Fitna caused outrage across the Muslim world when it was posted on the internet last year.

Its opening scenes show a copy of the Koran followed by footage of the 9/11 attacks in the US and the bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005.

The Dutch prime minister has said the film served "no purpose other than to offend".

Mr Wilders was asked to show the film at the House of Lords by UK Independence Party peer Lord Pearson.

It would be unwise to have him in the UK because this man's presence would cause hatred

Lord Ahmend

Profile: Geert Wilders

However, he received a letter from the British Embassy in the Netherlands telling him he would not be allowed into the UK.

The Home Office said there was a blanket ban on Mr Wilders entering the UK under EU laws enabling member states to exclude someone whose presence could threaten public security.

"The government opposes extremism in all forms," it said in a statement, adding that it had tightened up rules on excluding those engaging in "unacceptable behaviour" in October.

"It will stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred, and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country."

Mr Wilders described the decision as "cowardly" and said he still intends to travel to the UK on Thursday to take part in the event.

The Dutch government is reported to be trying to overturn the ban.

In the past, Mr Wilders has called for the Koran to be banned and compared it to Mein Kampf.

'Cowardly decision'

Earlier this year, a Dutch court ordered prosecutors to put Mr Wilders on trial for inciting hatred and discrimination by making anti-Islamic statements.

Labour peer Lord Ahmed, who expressed his concerns to the Parliamentary authorities about Mr Wilders' visit, said he welcomed the decision to ban the MP.

"It would be unwise to have him in the UK because this man's presence would cause hatred," he said.

"He has a case against him in the Amsterdam court for inciting hatred."

Lord Ahmed, who said other Muslim peers shared his concerns, stressed that Mr Wilders' views would certainly present a threat to public order.

"When Muslims are attacked obviously you will see people react to that."

But Lord Pearson said the decision to bar him was "weak and unacceptable in the extreme".

"The Home Office is guilty of appeasement on this, clearly."

The peer said the screening would still go ahead on Thursday whether Mr Wilders was present or not.

He said the Parliamentary authorities were happy for the event to take place but had ordered extra security for it.

"The film does not threaten anyone," he said, adding that it simply showed how violent extremists justified their actions.

He said the screening would be followed by a debate on issues relating to the Koran, extremism and freedom of speech.

By Belinda Goldsmith

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A love story between two badly burnt koalas rescued from Australia's deadliest bushfires has provided some heart-warming relief after days of devastation and the loss of over 180 lives.

The story of Sam and her new boyfriend Bob emerged after volunteer fire-fighter Dave Tree used a mobile phone to film the rescue of the bewildered female found cowering in a burnt out forest at Mirboo North, 150 km (90 miles) southeast of Melbourne.

Photos and a video of Tree, 44, approaching Sam while talking gently to her, and feeding her water from a plastic bottle as she put her burnt claw in his cold, wet hand quickly hit video sharing website YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XSPx7S4jr4), making her an Internet sensation.

But it was after reaching a wildlife shelter that Sam met and befriended Bob, who was saved by wildlife workers on Friday, two days before Sam, in Boolarra, about 180 km from Melbourne.

Tree, who has been a volunteer fire-fighter for 26 years, said it was extremely rare to get so close to a koala so he asked his colleague Brayden Groen, 20, to film him.

"You can how she stops and moves forward and looks at me. It was like a look saying "I can't run, I'm weak and sore, put me out of my misery,"" Tree told Reuters.

"I yelled out for some water and I sat down with her and tipped the water up. It was in my hand and she reached for the bottle then put her right claw into my left hand which was cold so it must have given her some pain relief and she just left it there. It was just amazing."

INSPIRING LOVE STORY

Sam was taken to the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter in Rawson. Her story was reminiscent of a koala named Lucky who survived the 2003 bushfires that destroyed about 500 homes and killed four people in the capital of Canberra. Lucky became a symbol of hope.

Colleen Wood from the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter that is caring for Sam and Bob said both koalas were doing well while other animals like possums, kangaroos, and wallabies were also starting to emerge from the debris.

She said Sam had suffered second degree burns to her paws and would take seven to eight months to recover while Bob had three burnt paws with third degree burns and should be well enough to return to the bush in about four months.

"They keep putting their arms around each other and giving each other hugs. They really have made friends and it is quite beautiful to see after all this. It's been horrific," said Wood.

"Sam is probably aged between two to four going by her teeth and Bob is about four so they have a muchness with each other."

Wood said about 20 koalas had been brought into her shelter in recent days, several of whom had bonded as koalas are known to clump together, but none had garnered the same attention as the new Internet star Sam.

Tree, a volunteer with the Country Fire Authority Victoria, has visited Sam since her rescue and was delighted to see she had found a boyfriend in Bob.

"They've really taken a shine to each other as they are both burnt and share the same burnt smell," he said.

"My heart goes out to the people in these fires and this was so innocent so people have used this to distract them from all the sad stuff that has gone on. It gives people a bit of hope."

Donations for bushfire support can be made to the Country Fire Authority Victoria via their website here

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Remarkable footage of elusive narwhal has been captured.

A BBC team used aerial cameras to film the creatures during their epic summer migration, as they navigated through cracks in the melting Arctic sea ice.

They believe the footage, which forms part of the BBC Natural History Unit's new series Nature's Great Events, is the first of its kind.

Narwhal are sometimes called "Arctic unicorns" because of the long, spiral tusk that protrudes from their jaws.

The appendages can reach more than 2m (7ft) in length; scientists believe males use them to attract potential mates.

'An amazing sight'

The BBC crew headed to the Arctic in June 2008, to film the tusked animals' summer migration.

At this time of year, temperatures begin to rise above freezing and the thick sea ice starts to melt, creating a complex network of cracks that cover the white expanse.

These animals are just so completely unreal - they are like something from mythology Justin Anderson, BBC producer

Every year, thousands of narwhal use these narrow fissures to travel thousands of kilometres, from the south of Baffin Bay to the high Arctic fjords.

But tracking these animals down is not easy.

Justin Anderson, who produced the programme, said: "Even though they are quite large animals, the area we had to cover was enormous - the size of Scotland.

"It is like finding a needle in a haystack."

A "dive" crew, equipped with underwater cameras, spent four weeks on the ice trying to locate the mysterious whales. But just as they caught a glimpse of them, the sea ice had become so dangerously thin that filming was forced to halt.

However, an "aerial" team arrived by helicopter to take up the mantle.

Mr Anderson explained: "It took us seven days to travel to the place where the whales had been spotted [Lancaster Sound] - we were stuck by possibly the worse thing you can encounter in a helicopter in the Arctic - fog.

They are following the retreat of the sea ice as they have done for thousands of years Mads Pieter Heide-Jorgensen

"But then we got there, we 'lucked out'; the skies cleared and we had eight days of 24-hour summer sunshine."

Using a special mount, cameraman Simon Werry filmed the creatures from the helicopter, as the narwhal swam through the melt-water leads.

Mr Anderson said: "This is the first time the narwhal migration has been filmed this way. It has been filmed from the ice, but this is the first time it has been filmed from the air.

"It was an amazing sight. These animals are just so completely unreal - they are like something from mythology - and we were all just completely gobsmacked when we saw them."

Thanks to their elusive nature, narwhal can prove difficult to study and there is still much to learn about these Arctic mammals.

Mads Pieter Heide-Jorgensen, from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, said the purpose of the creatures' summer migration remained a mystery.

He explained: "The interesting thing is that these creatures feed in the deep water in the central part of Baffin Bay during the winter.

"But when they are in the summer grounds, they hardly feed at all.

"They are following the retreat of the sea ice as they have done for thousands of years, and spending summer in front of glaciers for reasons we do not really understand."

With such a connection to the Arctic ice, researchers are trying to establish whether narwhal will be affected by changes in the Arctic ice cover.

Professor Heide-Jorgensen has been using satellite tags, which, as well as keeping track of the whereabouts of narwhal, are also able to monitor the temperature of the waters where the whales swim.

He said: "They give us the temperature profiles in the wintering grounds and we can see the temperature of the deep areas has been increasing over the past 50 years.

"However, we cannot yet see any direct effects of climate change on the narwhal."

Nature's Great Events: The Great Melt is on Wednesday 11 February on BBC One at 2100 GMT

Scientists say they may have found out why the great British chip smells so irresistible: a complex blend of scents that includes butterscotch, cocoa, cheese and flowers.

The aroma has been unpicked by food scientists at Leeds University.

"Whether oven-cooked or fried, the humble chip doesn't smell of just chips -- the aroma is much more complex and probably explains why chips are everyone's favourite," said Dr. Graham Clayton, who led the research for National Chip Week that started on Monday.

"Aromas including butterscotch, cocoa, onion, cheese and would you believe ...ironing boards, all combine to help make chips one of Britain's iconic dishes," he said.

The Leeds scientists collected the aroma from cooked chips, then separated the different compounds for analysis by an "aroma-meter" machine.

Those that could be detected by the human nose were sniffed, and the type and strength of smell recorded.

The findings showed that chips that are cooked twice have more complex aromas, comprising bitter cocoa, butterscotch, cheese, earthy potatoes, onions, and flowers.

"Perhaps these findings will see chips treated like wine in the future -- with chip fans turning into buffs as they impress their friends with eloquent descriptions of their favourite fries," Clayton said.