Brussels - The European Union (EU) has no plans to abolish England, officials in Brussels insisted after two British newspapers accused the EU of wanting to "wipe England off the map."
"There are no secret plans to carve up the continent in a way that makes England disappear. There is no goal of creating a United States of Europe," a European Commission spokeswoman said.
The comments came after two popular British tabloids, the Sun and the Daily Mail, celebrated the day of England's national saint, St George, by revealing the existence of "EU plots to carve up Britain."
"Secret plans" drawn up in Brussels included maps "wiping out" England and the English name of the body of water separating Britain from Europe, "the English Channel," in favour of the unpatriotic "Channel Sea," the papers claimed.
Reproductions of the maps provided by the newspapers divided Britain into "North Sea," "Atlantic" and "Trans-Manche" regions - the latter referring to the French name for the Channel, "la Manche."
"The words 'England' and 'Britain' are left off official maps of each area," the Daily Mail stormed, accusing the British government of being "fully behind the project" nevertheless.
But EU officials denied absolutely the existence ...   more »

Officials say automatic screening more accurate than checks by humans
Owen Bowcott The Guardian, Friday April 25 2008 About this articleClose This article appeared in the Guardian on Friday April 25 2008 on p1 of the Top stories section. It was last updated at 01:00 on April 25 2008.  
A face recognition system will scan faces and match them to biometric chips on passports. Photograph: Image Source/Getty
Airline passengers are to be screened with facial recognition technology rather than checks by passport officers, in an attempt to improve security and ease congestion, the Guardian can reveal.
From summer, unmanned clearance gates will be phased in to scan passengers' faces and match the image to the record on the computer chip in their biometric passports.
Border security officials believe the machines can do a better job than humans of screening passports and preventing identity fraud. The pilot project will be open to UK and EU citizens holding new biometric passports.
But there is concern that passengers will react badly to being rejected by an automated gate. To ensure no one on a police watch list is incorrectly let through, the technology will err on the side of caution and is ...   more »

Court filing seeks elimination of penalties for Christian art
By Bob Unruh
A court in Wisconsin has been asked to suspend immediately a policy in the Tomah Area School District that bans Christian symbols in students' artwork, but allows Hindu, Buddhist and satanic representations.
The motion was filed yesterday by the Alliance Defense Fund, which has taken on the case of a student identified by the initials A.P.
The ADF launched a lawsuit on the student's behalf after a teacher refused to give him a grade on a project because his work included "John 3:16" as well as "As sign of love."
Artwork banned because of the inclusion of a biblical reference and the message: "A sign of love"
The school district, however, openly acknowledged and publicized various pieces of art representing Buddhism, and Hinduism as well as several demon faces that appeared satanic.
The school defended its actions:
"Respect for the beliefs of a diverse student population … requires that the district treat all students equitable and fairly regardless of their faith," it said in a website statement.
"To meet our responsibilities, students are required to follow the rules of conduct for their classrooms and the instructions that their ...   more »

InfoWars
Steve Watson
Federal law enforcement agencies co-opted sheriffs offices as well state and local police forces in three states last weekend for a vast round up operation that one sheriff’s deputy has described as "martial law training".
Law-enforcement agencies in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas took part in what was described by local media as "an anti-crime and anti-terrorism initiative" involving officers from more than 50 federal, state and local agencies.
Given the military style name "Operation Sudden Impact", the initiative saw officers from six counties rounding up fugitives, conducting traffic checkpoints, climbing on boats on the Mississippi River and doing other "crime-abatement" programs all under the label of "anti-terrorism".
WREG Memphis news channel 3 reported that the Sheriff’s Department arrested 332 people, 142 of whom were fugitives, or "terrorists" as they now seem to be known.
Hundreds of dollars were seized and drugs recovered, and 1,292 traffic violations were handed out to speeding terrorists and illegally parked terrorists.
Click here to watch a WREG Memphis news report
The authorities even raided businesses and store owners, confiscating computers and paperwork in an effort to "track down possible terrorists before something big happens".
The Sheriff’s Department is determining if and when ...   more »

Baghdad locale, slated to be completed in 2007, to be largest of its kind
The Associated Press
updated 4:45 p.m. CT, Fri., April. 14, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq’s turbulent future.
The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome.
“We can’t talk about it. Security reasons,” Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project.
A British tabloid even told readers the location was being kept secret — news that would surprise Baghdadis who for months have watched the forest of construction cranes at work across the winding Tigris, at the very center of their city and within easy mortar range of anti-U.S. forces in the capital, though fewer explode there these days.
The embassy complex — 21 buildings on 104 acres, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report — is taking shape on riverside parkland in ...   more »