Optimus in Omnis

Ten plots foiled: another one looming

2005-10-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

Ten attacks on cities across the world were disclosed as having been disrupted since September 11, 2001, just as the New York mayor was declaring a heightened level of security amid the most specific, yet least likely, threat to the most famous city in America yesterday. As President Bush was proclaiming the successes of breaking up plots by terrorist groups to recreate the events of 9/11, Michael Bloomberg was assuring New York citizens to go about their everyday lives, fogging off the threats revealed by a recently-captured insurgent in Iraq as highly unlikely.

The ten putsches that have been released to the press are chilling in their bluntness: amongst the plots were two attacks in two years in an attempt to revive the legacy of the events of September 11, when two planes crashed almost simultaneously into the two high-rise towers of the World Trade Centre, sending them crashing to the ground and killing over 3,000. One attack, broken up in 2002, was to be focused upon West Coast cities, with the distinct possibility that Los Angeles, CA, the 'New York of the West Coast' would have been a target. Another disrupted plot involved hijacking planes and bearing down on East Coast landmarks, rubbing salt in the wounds that still smarted just two years after the worst terrorist attacks the United States had ever seen. A third terrorist horror was to take the form of a nuclear - or 'dirty' bomb - being exploded in a major city, in what would possibly be more damaging than any number of transport-based attacks. According to intelligence gathered, a 2003 plot to use airplanes to divebomb Heathrow airport was also broken up by British and American forces working together.

It is public transport that is the focus of concerns in New York City today, however, the third month after the July 7 bombings in London, which left tens of people dead. It is the worry of intelligence officials that US terrorist cells seek to emulate the successes of the London bombers, and information released indicates that a plan had been hatched to simultaneously bomb the New York subway network, stretching across 468 under-and-overground stations, with 19 bombs concealed underneath prams and pushchairs. These innocuous props would hide the instruments of sheer horror that would be detonated, affecting a large number of the 4.6 million people who use the subway system each and every day.

New York sits and waits to see whether such an attack will materialise: until that point, it will carry on.

Four die in 'Great' North Run

2005-09-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

While the pride of the North East was broadcast the length and breadth of the country, a staggering 50,000 people convering together on the central motorway dissecting the Town Moor in central Newcastle, for four men, the oldest of whom was just fifty-two, were preparing for what would end up being their final steps, pounding the tarmac of the most famous half-marathon known to the world.

While a highlight video of the tens of thousands of fun-runners, or masses, in their wild and wacky uniforms, was being televised to the backdrop of inspirational music, showing everything that is right about this rapidly reforming community in what was one of the most impoverished regions in the United Kingdom, four families, from the south coast to the far reaches of the north east, were mourning their losses.

The former mining town of Consett in Country Durham, set on the steep embankment of a hill, is the closest thing to a tight-knit community that one can get in this day of modern living. Most of the people who live in the town know each other; almost certainly their relatives worked together down the coal pits, or on the shipyards nearby. Housing a golf club and a small shopping precinct, Consett is a community where pensioners come to wind down their lives and young families come to raise their children away from the hubub of city life, but close enough to be close to all amenities. Today, those children who attended the local comprehensive school where one of the four men who died while running the Great North Run, celebrating it's twenty-fifth birthday yesterday, taught, were wondering just how a healthy 52-year-old Physics teacher, competing in his twenty-fourth Great North Run, could collapse and die.

For one sixteen year old who had left the confines of his old comprehensive, it was all too much. He broke down and cried in front of myself, and his friends, when he called his old school, having heard a half-rumour that someone had died as a result of the run.

According to those who ran the world-famous race, there was not a single water stop for the first five miles of the race. On a day when the temperatures rose to 20c, and while running a 13.1 mile race, this was a disastrous oversight.

One of the dead men, in his late 20s, was left lying on the road in South Shields for three-quarters of an hour before any help arrived for him.

Although the organisers of the race maintain that there were two rapid response motorbikes running the route, accompanied by 23 ambulances equipped with defibulators, that will be little consolation to the families of those who died.

In a year during which the north east has officially welcomed the Sage music centre, the Tall Ships Race and the 25th anniversary of the Great North Run, this news comes as a bitter reminder that for all the region's efforts, we are still criminally underprepared for a major occurence in the region.

On anniversary of 9/11, those countries liberated hit stumbling blocks

2005-09-11T02:32:00.000-07:00

As the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. is observed across the civilised world, the situation in the countries which were taken to task as part of Britain and America's war on terror has only worsened, with the news of an attempted assassination attempt on the Afghani Defence Minister yesterday, coupled with a helicopter crash in which everyone survived and another assassination attempt on an election candidate, both also in the supposedly liberated country of Afghanistan, the first pin bowled over by the war on terror which was put into place as America finally began to realise the horrors that had reached their shores on September 11, 2001.

For the families of the three-thousand plus that perished in the co-ordinated attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, deep in the heart of the financial district of New York; the Pentagon, where another hijacked jet was sent careering into one of the boundary walls, leaving a burning gash in the civil defences of the governmental building; and those on board the passenger plane that crashed above fields in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia, September 11 is a memorial to those who were so coldly killed in a disgusting attack by terrorist groups hell-bent on bringing the western world to its knees. As memorial events are held from Anchorage, Alaska, to upstate Utica, NY, the world will fall silent in remembrance of the few hours of hell where planes were directed towards key buildings in America's democracy, then eventually fell to the ground, sending dust and debris scattering across Manhattan island, which would linger for days, only beaten by the overwhelming sense of greiving that still hangs over the relatives of the dead on this, the fourth anniversary of the attacks.

Yet still, despite President George Bush promising to wreak vengeance on the perpetrators of the attack since September 12, 2001, Osama Bin Laden is still missing, presumed well and truly alive, and Al'Qaeda and the Taliban have been displaced from their preferred places but still have a foothold in the countries which have been supposdely freed from suppressive rule by Allied forces. In Iraq, members of the National Guard have been refused a reprieve in their task to keep the peace in order to mourn the dead in the terrorist attacks of four years ago, or even to search for relatives still missing, now presumed dead in Louisana, which was rocked by a category four hurricane two weeks ago tomorrow.

In Kabul, Afghanistan, Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak was the victim of a presumed assassination attempt when his motorcade came under fire, a bullet shattering the window at which he was supposed to be sitting near. Luckily, Wardack was not in fact inside the car, which was heading for a memorial service of an opposition leader to the Taliban, Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was killed September 9, 2001. His murderers were believed to be part of Al'Qaeda. Nine men, all wearing battle fatigues, were arrested under suspicion of an attempt on the life of the minister, but the Defence Ministry believe now that the shooting was not specificially aimed at Wardak, but was instead a result of an argument between the men. Whether this is the truth or an attempt to cover-up more deep-set problems in keeping law and order in Afghanistan, now more than three years free from the rule of the Taliban, is unknown.

What is known is that there were two more serious incidents in Afghanistan yesterday, including what could have been a fatal helicopter crash involving more high-profile ministers, and the chief of the military in the country. The helicopter, leaving the ceremony of remembrance for Massoud in the Panjshir Valley, lost control and burst into flames upon colliding with a tree - all aboard were able to escape without serious injury.

One was killed in the third incident on Saturday, slightly more than one week before Afghani elections, when a candidate for election, Ghulam Nabi Balouch was pinned down under a hail of bullets from several attackers. One was shot and arrested, and will be put on trial for attempt to murder Mr. Balouch as well as the murder of one of his bodyguards, who died in the exchange of shots.

Sixth aircrash in three months hits Indonesia

2005-09-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

While planes transported supplies to the disaster zone in New Orleans, they created yet another one in the city of Medan this morning. The Boeing 737's flight path was to be from Medan to Jakarta, but it was barely a minute towards the Indonesian capital when it nosedived into a group of houses, its forward momentum carrying it through the residential area, flattening houses, before travelling across a busy main road. In addition to the 100 killed on the flight, including the governor of Northern Sumatra and another high-ranking official who used to be the governor, 31 were killed on the ground as the flaming fireball tore through ten or more houses and businesses.

Sixteen people managed to escape death on the doomed flight, the majority of whom were seated at the rear of the plane, which had 24 years of service and was expected to stay in circluation for another eleven years before being decomissioned.

As Indonesia was reeling from the pictures from the southern states of America, which were so similar to the scenes broadcast across the world as most celebrated the dawning of a new year nine months ago, it has suffered from what is the sixth major air accident in three months. Boeing, who has been involved in more than half of the accidents, five of which resulted in massive deaths, is coming under fire for its ageing fleet which seemingly becomes unreliable as it reaches its half-life.

Five days after disaster, aid wagons roll

2005-09-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

The most far-reaching point of the Asian Tsunami at the back end of 2004 had a faster response than this.

Five days after the waters crushed several points in Asia, American help had extended to the most unknown towns in the most unknown countries. Five days after the Gulf Coast was flattened, only the very first shipments of aid packages, food, and water tentatively waded their way through the waters in New Orleans, heading for the completely forgotten refugees that made their home at the Convention Centre in downtown New Orleans. This is only the start of the aid operation, we are told. Nine months ago, the smallest hamlets in southern Asia were feeling the benefits of the first aid drops. Towns such as Gulfport and Slidell still remain untouched by FEMA officers.

The United States have been inundated with offers of aid from foreign countries, with the strangest bedfellows stepping forward to offer their services to George Bush, who, much maligned over the past five days, is desperately trying to make up for lost time spent at his ranch in Crawford, TX. The usual suspects are there, giving aid: Russia, Great Britain, Germany and the likes, but it is the most unusual sources that show the extent to which this natural disaster, and the fallout of it, has touched the hearts of the world. Taiwan has stepped forward, offering three Chinooks and 38 servicemen to help deliver food and water to those who have gone without any staples of life since their homes and possessions were swept away in several feet of water, much of which still lies stagnant over their homes, now concrete and wooden shells. Most touchingly, Sri Lanka, a country plauged by debt who rely on aid from other countries to keep their population alive, offered all they could: $25,000 to the American Red Cross. While this may be little more than a tiny crack in the towering concrete wall of $15billion to rebuild and repair the Big Easy, it is something.

As of yet, the United States have refused all offers of help. President Bush made a short stop-off at Biloxi, MS, but will not make a visit to New Orleans, instead choosing to view the destruction in the second city of Louisiana from the immunity of Air Force One.

President Bush will see the charred remnants of a chemical fire in the Railway Quarter of New Orleans, opposite the French Quarter, separated by the Mississippi River. That fire raged for several hours without a single fire truck being sent to the scene: those in the emergency services are too busy trying to tend to the starving, hungry, gun-toting crowds that have been abandoned because they could not afford to escape what quickly became a oversized lake.

The average annual income of an Afro-American family living in the state of Louisiana is just $11,000. The majority of those still stuck in the city are of African-American descent, and it is not a coincidence that the two figures are interlinked.

Another fire still burns, in the Financial District, which started at midday local time.

Those who managed to escape the burning, flooded city were not granted a reprieve from the immense stress they have felt over the past five days, however. Upon arriving at Houston, TX, having been bussed across the state line, they found that the Houston Astrodome was filled to capacity, and had been since late last night. Still the buses came, piling yet more people onto the tarmac outside the giant stadium. Some were relieved to just be out of the state of Louisiana. Others were still angry.

With some refugees now outside the confines of the Superdome, a clearer picture of what occured inside the concrete superstructure began to form. Feces littered the floor of the Superdome, and the story of the child raped in the Superdome was confirmed, and clarified further. She was just seven years old, and the man who molested her in the bathrooms of the dome was arrested. White English tourists have been taunted by the overwhelmingly large black population inside the arena; they took the first opportunity to escape to a nearby shopping mall before being put onto the Greyhound buses and taken to the Astrodome.

Those that cannot fit into the decomissioned stadium in Houston are being placed in the nearby Reliant Centre. When that is filled, people will be bussed to other areas of Texas. People who have settled into the Astrodome are now seeking loved ones who they have been separated from, and some are even buying newspapers to find a job, to try and earn a wage to feed their family. Evidently these people foresee a long wait before they will be able to return to their home state and try and salvage a life from the wreckage of their homes and workplaces.

A refugee at the New Orleans Convention Centre, overlooked by the authorities and denied to be holding any people until this afternoon by FEMA, described the situation as "a genocide." National Guard troops have entered the city with supplies and one of their first stops is the Convention Centre to deliver food and water to those that have been ignored by the same people that advised them that this would be a place of support. These troops have been ordered by the Washington commander put in charge of tightening up the morality of the city to keep their guns low: now that the Capitol has become embroiled in the situation, they dread the thought that these troops, veterans of Iraq, display in any way the same sort of manners that befell the citizens of the invaded country.

Ray Nagin, New Orleans mayor, is furious at the long-standing inaction and current attempts, which he sees as too little, too late. Talking to WWL radio last night, he spoke about the statement issued by Washington yesterday saying that help had arrived: "my answer to that is 'B.S'." He said that he "needs troops man, I need buses" to take away the stranded Louisianians caught up in "a national disaster...this is crazy!"

In the most obvious sign of ineptitude and misorganisation, the sick of New Orleans have been left high and dry by those organising the rescue efforts. At one hospital, over 100 patients were carried out onto the tarmac surrounding the building, waiting for a helicopter to constantly come to and fro, airlifting them to safety. No such helicopter arrived. Charity Hospital did manage to transport patients to Louis Armstrong Airport yesterday, the base for all medical operations in New Orleans. Upon arrival, they were told they were not wanted. In an interview on television this morning, staff at the airport said they were willing to accept the patients from Charity Hospital. No-one knew how to get in touch with the hospital to inform them that they could, in fact, bring patients back to the airport. No-one knew whether they would get the most rare of things in New Orleans on this fifth day of the disaster: a bus travelling out of the centre of the city.

As some wave flags to attract attention, others steal

2005-09-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

As the chiefs of New Orleans ordered a mass evacuation, the world wondered what would taint minds during such a disatrous occurence to take to the streets and steal from the businesses which, months from now, will be expected to set up shop once again and rebuild a tourist industry under one giant rotating cloud mass that was Hurricane Katrina and the doubts that it implanted in minds the world over about the safety of staying in a city entirely below sea level.

The juxtaposition of families, waving flags and umbrellas, holding up shoddily made signs saying "help us," and common criminals, armed and dangerous taking to the streets in packs, was a most disturbing one - more disturbing than the sight of mangled buildings swept up under a wave of water which still lies stagnant over a huge proportion of the city, and is ever rising. These vigilantes, despite their most ardent of protests, are not taking vital supplies for their families, such as food and water, but instead gold Rolex watches and jeans, selling them on at an astronomical profit. These criminals have been joined by some police officers, who, in the time of crisis, have fallen to their knees and taken the stance of 'if you can't beat them, join them.'

All the while New Orleans looks more and more like a scene from a disaster movie, or a real-life retelling of Lord of the Flies with a modern-day twist.

Carrying boxes of Nike trainers and American football jerseys, clothes hangers and all, they wade out into the polluted water. Police officers see them, and, despite their commanding to shoot those who take advantage of a city at it's most weakest, they ignore them. Some join in, taking their own profit. 10,000 National Guard members have been drafted in to replace those who defect in the face of animosity.

While the military were busy airlifting and driving people out of the New Orleans Superdome, towards their new temporary home in Houston, the forty-year old Astrodome, shots were fired at helicopters and fires were started near the Greyhound buses assigned with the task of herding over 10,000 from a warzone to the relative safety of a stadium which has laid derelict for four years. Within minutes, the operation was halted, and those still remaining in the Superdome were stranded for another day.

Inside that stadium the scenes of horror even topped those outside on the streets.

Three people have died; one comitting suicide by freefalling 50 feet. Stealing is rife, and rape is burgeoning. As the emergency generators are powered down at night to conserve energy, those with perverted minds see their opportunity to attack. One child has been sexually molested. It is not known if the perpetrator was caught - it is not known whether those inside the Superdome know who committed such an inhumane crime. Alarm bells are constantly ringing, and, with thousands upon thousands of people to keep alive, and the lawlessness seen outside the concrete boundaries of the american football stadium starting to creep in, along with firearms, it is the last priority.

One reporter, broadcasting from Biloxi, MS, another city crippled and overlooked, summed it all up. "I have seen better rescue missions in Africa," he said.

Governor of Louisiana has no answers, only tears

2005-08-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, could only manage to say the words "it's heartbreaking" before breaking into tears at a press conference yesterday. Indeed, the fate that has befallen the Gulf Coast at the hands of Hurricane Katrina is heartbreaking.

The category four storm, which ripped a 500 foot wide gash in the tidal defence systems of Louisiana, has now claimed at least 100 lives. Many more will without doubt be named as dead in the upcoming days and weeks - for now, though, the priority is saving those who still have a chance of survivng the most horrific natural disaster to sweep this part of America in years.

Numerous bodies that are floating down unwanted and unplanned extensions to the Mississippi River are being ignored by the emergency services, who, aside from having to remove water from the city, clean up wreckage and save the lives of those stranded on rooftops of collapsed houses, will also have to contend with the logistical nightmare of transferring 1,000 patients, many of whom are critical, from various hospitals in the region. Also a key priority are the 10,000 or more who still stay stranded in the New Orleans Superdome, which is providing little comfort and, with a gaping hole in its roof, is no place for refugees and orphans of the greatest hurricane to hit Louisiana to stay while the water still billows around them.

Martial law has been introduced, with looters stopped at gunpoint and ordered to return their stolen goods. Most of these people, however, are generally law abiding citizens, and have been forced by the most extraordinary of circumstances to loot businesses, supermarkets and pharmacies for vital rations which they are not getting from the authorities.

Bodies line the streets of the Big Easy - more to come

2005-08-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

As the storm subsided and headed north, and daybreak came in Louisiana and Mississippi, it was time for the authorities to begin the clear-up work which will cost nearly $15billion. With the hopeful news that all may have escaped death as a result of the storm nothing more than a memory, it was left to officials to identify the dead - no-one knows exactly how many lives Hurricane Katrina took, but the reports that 40 died in one Mississippi county alone, with current totals running at around 80 dead, are a fearful sign of what may be to come.

The looters set in on New Orleans as those who dared venture out from what remained of the city saw the incredible damage that the force of nature can cause: whole homes levelled to the ground, cars becoming feather-light buoys, bobbing around on several feet of water, only revealing their destructive weight as a cannonball when they collide with the buildings already weakened by the pounding rain and vicious winds that befell the city in what was several hours of terror. Those houses that remain standing are waterlogged on first and second floors, and will be without power for several days to come.

Many of those seeking shelter at the New Orleans Superdome are too scared to come out, seeing the massive gash in the roof that was meant to protect them from the elements. New Orleans officials had yet to carry out tests on the effects of hurricane damage on the building - it seems as if they have their answers. Having been advised to pack three days worth of supplies, those who could muster together enough food and drink have been told that their stay will likely last twice as long. The news is clear, and it is bleak. These people have no homes to go back to.

Conservative estimates put the date at six months from now when the city will be completely purged of the water, brought in by the constant barrage of rain from the Gulf of Mexico. More extreme advisors peg June 2006 as the date that all Louisianans will be able to return to what is left of their homes without stepping in puddles of water.

In the harsh light of day, what appeared yesterday to be a lucky escape was, in fact, only the start of a massive operation to restore a beautiful, roaming city to its former self. Along the way, more bodies are likely to be uncovered in the stinking, waterlogged rubble. Raw sewage lines the streets of New Orleans, and poisonous snakes have been brought out from their hiding holes in the underground system by the waves of water which rocked this city. Many may die from infections or bites, only adding to the ever-increasing total of victims of Katrina's wrath.

The Mayor of New Orleans said that roughly 80% of the city was submerged in water, including both airports and the major route in and out of the city, the I-10. Patients in Tulane Hospital are being airlifted from the hospital because of a secondary major breach of the levee system by waters from Lake Pontchatrain. Currently, the water level in New Orleans is rising by an inch every five minutes. Some areas of the city are underneath 20 feet of water, combined with sewage and the remnants of buildings.

Hurricane Katrina has decimated a city of one million people.

Hurricane Katrina lashes Louisiana, Mississippi and more

2005-08-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

For the infirm and unwilling of New Orleans, the towns' Superdome was meant to be a haven away from the fierce winds that escalated to 145 miles per hour and driving rain that most predicted would submerge the sub-sea level city, Louisiana's second city, but first in notoriety. The 77,000 seat jumbo stadium was used by 10,000 families, old people and those who simply could not, or rather, did not, want to leave their beloved city. A further 79,000 stayed at home, deciding that, for better or worse, they were going to weather the storm. Nearly half a million locals evacuated the city, between three and ten feet below sea level for the comparatively higher ground of Baton Rouge. Sadly, no-one could escape the severity of this most potent of category four hurricanes, not even those residing in the state-approved shelter.

The New Orleans Superdome, when built, was puported to be stronger than Rome's Coliseum. While the marvel of the ancient world is worn, it is still left standing, and, moreover, it was dependable to what people expected of it. The Superdome was relieved of roughly one-twelfth of its roof, according to sources inside the supposed safe haven, by Hurricane Katrina, only the fourth category four hurricane to hit mainland America.

When the last, Hurricane Andrew, hit Florida in 1992, it caused insurmountable damage with a value in the billions of dollars. It seems likely that Katrina has done much the same. A press release was rushed out to the news networks before midday, informing those who listened that the New Orleans Metropolitan area had suffered "total structural failure." Essentially, most buildings were razed. This was not even near the eye of the storm, which, thanks to an overnight kink north-eastwards, avoided most of Baton Rouge and New Orleans, instead focusing mainly on small towns further east in Louisiana and on neighbouring states, including Mississippi. While most of Louisiana was spared with paltry 100mph gusts, Mississippi and eastern stretches of the state were clobbered with full-force 120mph gusts, and a constant, sustained barrage of winds nearing 90mph.

The quotes in the media that Katrina had been slowed in any way from a lethal category five storm to a category four are misnomers: the storm dropped somewhere between five and ten miles per hour in windspeed from Sunday night to Monday morning, when it hit land 110 miles south east of New Orleans; it was only five miles per hour away from being bumped back up to a category five. The muddy marshland of the southeastern tip of Louisiana did little to slow down the speed of the winds inside the hurricane, and, travelling due north at 15mph, it was worried that the relatively slow moving yet extremely powerful hurricane would both flood rivers and lakes and create storm surges which could make water hurdle the 28 feet high levees that surround the city of New Orleans, bringing the home of Creole to a legacy befitting that of Atlantis. The pump system installed to help divert water in these situations was also useless - able as it was to only shift two inches of water in the first hour of operation, and a further inch every hour after, it quickly became only another broken thing that the people of Louisiana will have to fix. Needless to say, water quickly backed up: drainage systems in downtown New Orleans could not handle the sudden influx of water brought in by the storm which gathered up a plentiful supply as it hovered over the Gulf of Mexico, causing countless offshore oil floats to close and bringing the price of oil to $70.80 a barrel, and soon the city was covered in a foot-deep puddle.

The Mississippi River had risen by fifteen feet from Sunday evening to Monday morning, and the increased water level coupled with monumental winds meant that a barge was quickly untethered from its mooring and was banging with dangerous force against the support beams of a passenger bridge. In Biloxi, MS, the winds were so strong that a tourist at a Comfort Inn lost half her index finger from the force of her hotel door slamming against it. A nurse who was staying at the hotel gave first aid but it seems unlikely that her finger was saved: emergency services announced they would not be responding to calls, possibly concerned by the sight of boats travelling along a nearby Interstate route on a wave of rainwater.

It seems incredible, then, that at the time these events occured, the eye of the storm was still between 40 and 90 miles away.

As members of the National Guard ushered the inhabitants of the Superdome away from the green grass of the american football field, rapidly becoming a quagmire from the rain teeming in through the gaping hole in the roof of the impenetrable building, their city was surviving the brunt of the greatest storm they had faced in 40 years. As the helpless, probably homeless, victims of nature's terror were led towards covered areas of the stadium, experts were more worried about the storm surges which will only intensify as the night draws in on those in Creole Country. What about Katrina?

It moved on eastwards, through Alabama and Mississippi, leaving a trail of destruction much like that in Louisiana. Slowly moving down through the categories to a category two, it turned northwards, and is expected to fizzle out some time tomorrow morning. Luckily, it seems there are no fatalities. Unluckily, the rebuilding program starts tomorrow.

Less than 2% of nation immune from impending bird flu

2005-08-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

The vaccine for H5N1 avian influenza is in such short supply that less than two percent of the population will be immunised for less than seven days, and no further delivery of a preventative, rather than complete immunisation, drug, named Tamiflu is expected until well into 2007. The vast majority of those two percent will consist of high-ranking Government officials, medical staff and undertakers: a rather macabre sign of what to expect from this most unknown of virii, which, if the survival plan for the select few of importance to the nation is to believed, will waylay men, women and children in their thousands. It is no coincidence that undertakers are included in the plan of those to be saved - with the possibility of deaths totalling in the hundreds of thousands, people will be needed to bury our dead - but are these preparations overcompensation of a mediocre danger just one step away from outright scaremongering?

Sadly it seems like neither. This is a very real problem, and we as a nation; we as a continent and now, with the advent of a jet set world, we as a planet, are on the brink of a global pandemic. In 1918 a strain of flu virus wreaked havoc the world over, killing upwards of fifty million people worldwide in the space of a year and a half. That was before the age of mass transportation to far-fetched corners of the globe; before budget airlines and before the greatest movement of population in the civilised history of the Earth. If such a great number could be killed in the era of comparatively restrained transport, how many hundreds of thousands, or even millions, could be killed today?

One can take solace in the fact that the H5 strain of influenza is believed to have the most difficulty transporting itself into humans, and mutating to become a human transmitted illness. However, with the recent news that this particular strain of bird flu has been officially found in pigs, our nearest relatives on the agricultural food chain, and the possibility of three cases in Thailand of human transmission, it seems eminently possible that our last saving grace has been quashed.

For those 900,000 people assured of getting an immunisation jab, it is not even definitive that they will not stand a chance of catching the disease. One of the reasons that the common cold still plagues the lives of millions every year is that, like all forms of influenza, it is a virus, and not a bacterium-based illness. Virii can not be treated effectively by active or passive immunisation, and the fact that they so willingly mutate into more deadly, medicine-resistant strains makes the chance of escaping the reaches of the virus yet smaller. The stockpile which the Government has is woefully small, and the stockpile which they are building is still not enough to immunise even half of the British population. Just over fourteen and a half million jabs have been ordered, at an expense of £100 million, and when they arrive in March 2007, it will be either too little, or too late.

According to experts, if bird flu is transmitted to humans, somewhere between five and ten percent of the population will die. One must ask why, exactly, when the most abhorrent disease in nearly 100 years is just weeks - or days - away from landing on our shores, we have not followed the lead of the Dutch authorities, and isolated our fowl to try and create a stopgap in the hope of avoiding deaths reaching up into the thousands, or indeed, millions.

"Muslim insurgents" to blame for ferry bomb, injuring 30

2005-08-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

An improvised explosive device placed next to containers filled with Liquified Petroleum Gas tore through a ferry docked at a port in the Philippines, just hours after the Philippines national security advisor said that a terrorist cell numbering ten people willing to act as suicide bombers was currently making their home in the capital, with two known to be residing in Manilla, the nations' capital city.

The perpetrators of the attack are believed to be either Al'Qaeda operatives, or the more localised branch of terrorists named Abu Sayyaf. The ten terrorists believed to be in the country are affiliated to the Jemaah Islamiyah group of terrorists, who make their home in Indonesia and have strong connections to Al'Qaeda. The Philippines acts as a stop-off for money traffickers who travel from the Middle Eastern states towards the West, where the funds go towards creating terrorist missions in mainland Europe and North America. All three terrorist groups are believed to be working together, with strong ties towards bringing down the vast majority of the population in the Philippines, 92% of whom are Roman Catholic or Protestant. Only five percent of the Philippino population are practising Muslims.

Of the thirty people injured, six have serious burns, and nine children were amongst the casualties. One of those who suffered the most serious burns injuries was an armed soldier posted to watch guard over the passengers entering the ferry with any weapons. A UH-1H helicopter transported the most seriously injured to nearby hospitals, while less serious ailments were treated near the scene.

The port itself was only opened days earlier, having been built using money from the United States, by US Affairs Secretary to the Philippines Darryl Johnson. It is not yet known whether the attack was aimed specifically at an American-funded port or if it was a more generalised attack, the likes of which have haunted the Philippines this year, including an attack not more than eighteen days ago, which injured 26. Three of the bombers on that day were released less than a week before this latest incident. This believed same group was also responsible for the 2002 attack on a Bali nightclub which killed over 200, many of whom were tourists.

41 dead in fifth plane crash this month

2005-08-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

With eerie nods toward the other plane crashes that have occurred during the summer months across the world, 41 people were killed in a plane crash in the north Peruvian jungle Tuesday, with the remaining 57 people treated in local hospitals for varying injuries, with the distinct possibility that the number of dead could rise in the upcoming days.

The Boeing 737, operated by Tans Airlines, was carrying 16 foreigners amongst its 92 passengers, with 6 crew members serving them on their flight, which crashed deep in the swamps of the Peruvian jungle, just 5 miles away from the airport at which it was scheduled to land. Struck from the sky by a severe storm, the incident is scarily reminiscent to the original fears behind the Toronto air crash a month ago, where initial thoughts were that lightning had hit the plane and sent it falling from the sky. This latest incident brings into question the judgement of pilots and air traffic controllers in deciding whether to fly or not in inclement weather, especially when it seems as if there is such a serious risk of being affected by gathering storms.

As rescuers continued their hunt today, not for bodies, but for charred remains of those passengers already known as dead, parts of them lying in one of two local morgues being used for crash victims, the officials concerned with identifying the remains were not optimistic about matching names on the list of those known to be dead to their body parts. Tans spokesperson Jorge Belevan believes that the crash, while aided by the poor conditions, could have been the result of wind shear, in which a quick change of air direction makes the air pressure flowing below the wings, keeping the plane in the air, suddenly decrease, leaving a huge resultant force towards the ground, causing the plane to quite literally drop out of the air. In the minutes before the crash, the pilot was known to be considering a controlled crash landing in the marsh areas where several bodies were found.

Wearing their best wedding clothes, they were tried in court

2005-08-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

A $45 million smuggling ring into the United States was interrupted Sunday by the promise of a marriage in holy matrimony - between two undercover FBI agents. Nearly 90 American and Asian men and women were arrested just minutes before they thought they were heading for a luxury yacht to watch a wedding that would have cost in the region of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One of the arrested guests had with him a pair of pure gold Rolex watches, an example of the selubrious lifestyle that the peddlers of vice live. Of the $45 million net worth obtained, $4.5 million was counterfeit US Dollars; several hundred thousand dollars worth of drugs and fake Viagra, and over $40 million worth of fake cigarettes, some branded as Malboro. All three of the above goods were manufactured in North Korean or Chinese sweatshops, where unskilled workers toil in long days for a pittance, giving those who pass on the counterfeit goods tremendous profit margins, especially when selling to the comparatively rich Western civilisation.

Immediately following the arrests on the American shore, there were additional follow-up raids on properties from East coast to West, detaining a further fifty nine. Appearing in court the following day, many of the wedding guests were still wearing their tuxedo and ballgowns.

Clutching at the flag of a nation that killed her son

2005-08-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

With £1.20 in his pocket, on his way to help a friend fix a lightbulb, Jean Charles de Menezes was shot down by armed officers on July 22. The furore which has erupted following the shooting of an innocent man is possibly even more shocking than the cold execution itself.

The harrowing footage of Maria de Menezes, clutching at a Union Jack while trying to stave off tears, shown tonight on ITV News, will forever be imprinted in the minds of anyone who viewed it. In this age of orbiting satellites, where 30-second flashes of video can be sent worldwide in an instant, this is the picture that will define a generation - will define a change in the mentality of a nation, and, more importantly, will define the future of the de Menezes family.

That very same Union Jack that Maria de Menezes held to tightly onto was paid for out of the pocket of a man scrimping enough money to return to his homeland so that he could provide for his family. To lose a son is a bad enough experience; to lose a son to a catastrophic mistake which was only the beginning of a farcical cover-up by the British police state is yet more disturbing.

Metropolitan Police officals are adamant that there was no CCTV footage to try and acertain exactly what happened, and to confirm the witness reports leaked last week. London Underground workers beg to differ.

Quite who is telling the truth is not obvious, but one thing is for sure: this is the absolute last thing that is needed for a police force who have lied to a nation, have been accused of a cover-up in an attempt to downplay their blunders, and have confirmed that they have offered anywhere from £15,000 to £50,000 in what the de Menezes family called "blood money."

It would be a godsend for Sir Ian Blair if the CCTV footage does exist, not because it will put his officers in the clear, but because it will provide definitive information about the events of July 22. For Maria de Menezes, it would provide one last view of her son, before he was so brutally killed.

Two Brazilian investigators arrived at Heathrow today to launch their own inquiry. One can only hope they don't fall into the same traps our investigators have.

Modern-day Bonnie and Clyde return to Tennessee

2005-08-20T06:02:00.000-07:00

The Bonnie and Clyde for the 21st Century have been returned back to the state in which they started their two day chase from the federal authorities after shooting dead a Tennessee policeman in a daring escape from the long hand of the law, and a 41-year prison sentence.

Kingston, Tennessee is the epitome of a Southern town - warm hospitality is brought about by a tight-knit community who give each other nicknames. The Kingston police force was no different, dubbing Wayne Morgan, aged 56, 'Cotton'. Morgan was working at the Kingston courthouse on a sunny Tuesday, August 9, when George Hyatte, a moderately well-known criminal who had escaped from jail five times previous, was brought in for sentencing on robbery and aggravated assault charges. It was as Hyatte was being led out of the courthouse towards the prison van which was waiting for him and other inmates that his crazed wife attempted one of the most audacious breakouts that middle America has seen in the past twenty years.

Jennifer Hyatte, beau of George, had worked herself for the Tennessee justice system; it was a cruel twist of irony that she met her husband-to-be in jail, where she was working as a health advisor, and he was serving a short-term sentence. She was fired from her job at the Northwest Correctional Facility just five months after starting work there because she was sneaking in food to her lover, to whom she had fallen in a whirlwind romance.

After applying for permission to marry the inmate, Jennifer and George Hyatte became man and wife in May of this year, and it is likely that they quickly planned their attempt to break from the shackles that separated Jennifer, then on the right side of the law, and her husband.

Jennifer Hyatte had, possibly with the help of an accomplice, set up a second escape vehicle, a gold minivan, to accompany the first, an SUV, from which Hyatte burst out, unloading gunfire on the helpless correctional officers outside the Roane County Courthouse in Tennessee. 'Cotton' Morgan was left dead from a hail of bullets and another officer narrowly missed being hit. Luckily for the police officers, they managed to return fire at Hyatte as she smuggled the shackled man into the SUV, hitting her once in the right leg.

What followed was a chase across three state lines, involving the FBI as they searched for a known criminal who often deferred to violence when put under pressure and a newly-minted killer, infatuated with her husband to the point of taking a bullet in order to achieve his temporary freedom.

The fugitive couple switched vehicles quarter of a mile from the courthouse and headed towards the Kentucky border. From there they travelled the length of the state in the gold minivan before stopping at a motel in Erlanger, KY, just miles away from the Ohio River, within close proximity of a major international airport. The police imposed restrictions of departures from the airport, which gave the couple precious hours to make their escape from the motel before the police raided it, finding only the abandoned minivan. By this point the couple had travelled 217 miles, and been on the run for over 24 hours.

A cabbie accepted $200 in cash to drive the Hyattes from Erlanger, KY to "the cheapest hotel you can find" in Columbus, Ohio. George and Jennifer, who was now badly limping from the gunshot wound to her leg, said they had lost all forms of identification and needed the driver to check-in a room on their behalf at the Columbus branch of America's Best Value Inn chain of hotels. Not knowing the seriousness of the situation, he did so and the Hyattes were now three states away from the starting point of their manic flee from the law.

It was only later that the driver, coaxed on by a friend, would call the police to inform them that he may, in fact, have driven two of America's most wanted to their possible safe haven from the police.

Officers acted quickly on this information, the disappointment of missing the couple in Kentucky half a day earlier still fresh in their mind and quickly surrounded the room the couple were believed to be staying in, commandeering both the car park of the hotel and the adjoining rooms. Calmly, one female officer called the Hyatte's room and informed them they were surrounded. Minutes later, Jennifer Hyatte came out of her room and surrendered, with her husband shortly following her. Police were relieved that the shootout which they believed would be inevitable had been avoided.

Both were taken to a local jail, with an appearance in court set for the following day. Jennifer was examined by a medical officer and her wound was found not to be fatal. After sentencing on August 11, an extradition hearing was set for August 19.

At that hearing, the two Hyattes snidely said to the presiding judge "send me to Tennessee," in what was a ten minute hearing. George Hyatte, upon his return to Tennessee, will continue his 41-year sentence. Jennifer Hyatte will face charges of murder and aiding the escape of a convict.

The call of nature leads to the death of an innocent man

2005-08-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

A soldier-cum-police officer has the most important decision any man - anyone, mortal or immortal - could possibly make: the distinction between life and death. With an armed band of policemen and women giving him support, waiting for his single command to shoot, he crouches behind a wall next to a block of flats. A man exits from a flat suspected of giving a punishment-free solace to men who wished to inflict death upon their fellow countrymen. The man has to make a decision.

Instead, he is busy making patterns on the wall with his own urine.

The real reason Jean Charles de Menezes, the 27-year old electrician from Brazil died was that the man given the responsibility of identifying him as he left his home was caught short. While concentrating on peeing, the officer claimed he could not get a positive (or, as it would have been, negative) identification. Therefore, it would be reasonable to assume, at least one of the many officers who were tracking de Menezes that morning would have to identify the man as one of the terror suspects.

Apparently not.

During the time in which de Menezes walked to a bus stop, boarded two buses in the space of a few minutes and then made his way to Stockwell tube station, not one of the undercover police officers shadowing him even thought of taking a look at his face to see if he was actually the man he was accused of being. Seemingly, the only sane officer on the Metropolitan police force (a man named only as Hotel 3) was bowled over by a wave of ineptitude and stubbornness that a dead terrorist was better than an alive terrorist. Hotel 3 asked to take de Menezes into custody. Quietly. Without bullets. His higher-ups refused, seemingly wanting this confrontation where they could bring down one of the supposed lynchpins of the attempted attacks on the capital a day earlier. With this public arrest, people would be reassured: we would be winning this war on terrorists. We would, as the leaders of our police force and our nation, along with various truly good-meaning souls who have become entwined with deceitful characters, not be afraid.

Tell me why, then, I was looking twice at everyone who boarded buses I was on in the weeks after 7/7? Why, when I got on seven planes in sixteen days, I was praying that we would not be blown out of the sky or flown into the ground? Why have I become so xenophobic that I carefully watched a young woman of Arab descent who was so cold onboard our plane to Gatwick that she insisted on covering her whole body with a wooly blanket, worrying that she would never return from her hiding place and her rucksack, stowed above her head, would signal the end for all aboard that flight?

I am afraid. I am really, very afraid and these turn of events have made me into a worse person. I get a twinge of guilt every time I look for a second longer at someone who is acting suspiciously, not because I think it is unnecessary but because with each glance I sink lower and lower into moral depravity.

Hotel 3, shot down on his request, then had to fall back and allow de Menezes on the tube. It is at this point that the lies the British public have been spun over the past three weeks really start to snowball.

Jean Charles de Menezes vaulted the ticket barrier, much like Yassin Hassan Omar was seen doing on CCTV one day earlier.

False. Just like any other law-abiding citizen, he paid for his last ride. Indeed, showing this "we are not afraid" attitude that those living in Britain are said to have in abundance, he was taking public transport just a day after the attempted bombings.

Jean Charles de Menezes had clothing that could have resembled a bomb belt, or was wearing a backpack.

Absolutely false, as the pictures of his dead body on the floor of the train, stained red with blood, shows.

Yes, he ran for the train, like any good commuter worth his salt does. The fact of whether de Menezes did these things or not is not even the problem - the unarmed, undercover officers following him were not seriously alarmed at this point, instead three of them taking their places on the train, including the ever-present Hotel 3. It should be pointed out at this stage that the police force still had absolutely no idea of whether this man they were following was a terrorist or an electrician. The four armed police officers from SO19 who had trailed de Menezes "as a precaution," according to PC Cressida Dick, made their way to the platform of Stockwell station. Hotel 3 pointed out de Menezes (in what would be the single mistake he made) before trying to detain the Brazilian, who had left his seat in the confusion of four armed police officers storming the train he was on.

Hotel 3 managed to pin de Menezes down on his seat, to the point that he could not move. This was seemingly not enough for some trigger-happy SO19 officers, who decided to unload eight bullets into his head and chest, and three into the seat behind him, from what one eyewitness referenced in the leaked report as "twelve inches." Hotel 3 narrowly dodged the hail of bullets, which left de Menezes stone cold dead.

Just three weeks ago, I was a staunch supporter of the Metropolitan Police and their shoot to kill policy, under the pretence that the suspect had been acting suspiciously, was wearing what looked like a bomb belt and had evaded police officers. I still am a supporter of the policy, as long as the person in question actually does any of those three things. If, as happened here, none of those suspicions were raised, and if, as happened here, any kind of identification was forgone, I am totally against it.

It certainly does not help to be lied to in the aftermath, that is for sure.

Second air accident in three days leaves questions

2005-08-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

For the third time in two weeks a passenger plane was left in flames, and for the second time all on board that plane were killed, denting the image of airflight as the safest form of transport in the world. Today, in West Venezuela, in the Sierra de Perija mountain range, the McDonnell Douglas 82 plane, operated by West Carribean Airways crashlanded just minutes after sending an SOS message to air traffic control, in which he requested an emergency landing at an airport inside the Venezuela/Columbia border. The flight was planned to land in Martinique, taking off from Panama.

All 160 people on board, including 8 crew members, are believed to have not survived the crash, deep in the jungle of Venezuela. Most of the passengers were believed to be from Martinique, according to French civil aviation spokespersons. The passengers on the flight had chartered the aircraft for a week-long holiday in Panama. When the emergency request to land was first received, the pilot relayed to air traffic controllers that one of the engines on the twin-engined aircraft had stopped - while an aircraft such as the MD82 can survive capably on one engine, if, as seems to have happened here, the second engine gave way, the plane quickly loses altitude and, above a heavy mountainous area, would be in peril.

This comes as a blow to Boeing who now have to face the blame for two malfunctioning aircraft crashing in just three days. Boeing, who bought the McDonnell Douglas line of aircraft in 1997, were also the makers of the Boeing 737 involved in the crash over Greek airspace on Sunday. These two crashes come just days after the miraculous escape of over 200 passengers on board an Air France Airbus plane which spontaneously burst into flames after overshooting the runway and falling into a chasm at Toronto's Pearson Airport. Luckily on that day, all passengers and crew were able to escape the plane without harm.

Disgustingly, it emerged yesterday that the person who claimed he was sent a text message from one of the passengers on the grounded Greek flight saying "farewell cousin" was in fact a hoaxer. Greek authorities arrested him last night, at the same time as they raided the offices of Helios Airlines as a result of claims that this was not the first time that a Helios plane had experienced problems regarding its air conditioning units.

Whether this recent outburst of plane-related accidents, coupled with the troublesome times at Heathrow regarding industrial action by Gate Gourmet, the company providing British Airways with in-flight food, will discourage the general public is unknown. It should be noted, however, that air travel is still the safest form of transport.

Cypriot Airliner crashes, terrorism possible

2005-08-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

115 passengers and 6 crew members aboard a Helios Airlines plane are thought to be dead and the circumstances surrounding the crashing of the plane near mountains north of Athens are suspicious today, with terrorism a distinct possibility.

The airliner, a Boeing 737, which was travelling from Cyrpus to Prague, was being accompanied by two Greek F-16 fighter jets before it fell from the air, as a result of Greek air traffic control losing contact with the pilot. Reports from the jets claim that one of the two pilots aboard the airliner was unseen; the other was slumped over in his chair. Upon crashlanding in woodland north of the Greek capital, fire crews were dispatched immediately in order to put out the "fire, [and move] lots of debris," said Fire Commander Nikos Papamichos. Eyewitnesses are saying that it is unlikely that there are any survivors, with the plane being engulfed in flames.

Speculation is rife that this may, however, have been a freak accident. Unconfirmed reports claim that the pilot, earlier in the flight, sent a message citing problems with the air conditioning aboard the plane, which could have resulted in a dirty airflow, poisoning the pilots and the passengers aboard.

12:10pm A text message sent by one of the passengers aboard the plane to his cousin just moments before the crash seems to have determined the cause of this horrible accident: "the pilot has turned blue [due to the cold.]" What followed was a sombre message of "cousin farewell" before the passenger jet hit ground.

5:58pm: Not a single life was spared in the indescriminate fire which still rages around the crumpled remains of flight ZU522, a harsh contrast with the rejoiceful aftermath of the Air France jet which crashed at Toronto's Pearson Airport just weeks ago. Of the 121 people on board, 48 were children, travelling on their way to Prague from Larnaca in Cyprus. Various sources have emerged which differ on key facts: Haris Thrasou, the Cypriot Transport Minister, claimed that the 737s used by Helios Airlines have had decompression problems in the past, where the pressure surrounding the plane far outweighs that in the cabin, resulting in a lack of oxygen, a problem exacerbated by the news that the plane was flying over 30,000 feet, which only shortens the time one can survive if such a thing occurs. Representatives of Helios Airlines refute that fact.

Another disputed point is the sources from some Greek news agencies, but not all, that at least one of the fighter pilots who flew alongside the aircraft saw oxygen masks dangling from the ceiling of the cockpit, which would suggest that the cause of this crash was indeed decompression of a serious nature.

This time the decision was wrong, but there will be a time when it is right

2005-07-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year old electrician orginally from the slums of Brazil, is the latest victim of the terrorist atrocities that have plagued London over the past two-and-a-half weeks; he was, however, not killed by a bomb. Instead, in a case of mistaken identity, three plain-clothed police officers hunted him down and killed him with five gunshots to the head.

While undoubtedly the police are partly to blame for this terrible faux-pas, one must also ask why exactly Menezes ran from officers when challenged. Some believe because of his upbringing in the state of Minas Gerais, Menezes had become wary of anyone wielding a gun, believing that because of their casual clothes that they may have been criminals; others say that he may have thought he was part of another attack on the London Underground, and fled in fear, trying to avoid the merciless killing that would have ensued.

Of course, this terrible killing of an innocent man will only add further fuel to the fire that is the 'us vs. them' mentality that is in the minds of many British muslims, already concerned about the imposing of a police affidavit that any suspicious people with possible connections to terrorism must be 'shot to kill.' The terrorist groups already in Britain, planning their next foray into the realm of destruction, will now only be further enraged that a whole religion has been seemingly pigeon-holed, and there will surely be recompense for the Metropolitan police's actions which will be more vicious than even before. Those who sit on the fence, especially young Muslims, disappointed by the fact that their society as a whole has been painted as one which harbours bringers of grief and death secretly, may very well be pushed over the edge towards the side of extremists, and side with the cause of the jihad that a select few are waging against our people on our shores.

There was, however, no other way that the police could have handled the situation. This man was seen coming from a suspected terrorist haven, wearing unusual clothing and acting in a most suspicious manner. If Menezes was indeed a terrorist, and beneath his blue jacket was a pack of explosives, with yet more 'mother of Satan' languishing in a bathtub in the London flat which he came from, waiting for another extremist willing to give his life to his cause, there would have been an uproar that a third attack had been allowed to go ahead. The police would have come under severe scrutiny for their oversight in observing these suspects.

Sadly, there is no right or wrong way to handle situations of this kind - the police must be praised for their assurance that this man was a threat to society, but, by the same token, they must be admonished for killing an innocent man based on completely incorrect surveillance information. 'Suspicion' is not a word that can be used when dealing with a threat such as this: a decision must be made, and it must be made quickly. Unfortunately, this time it was the wrong one. There may come a time in the near future when a decision like this needs to be made again, and this time, turns out to be made correctly.

Mile End tube station alert

2005-07-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

11:17am: An incident at Mile End tube station - traffic halted around the station, with the police believing that this incident is not, in fact, related to the events on the 21st or 22nd. Earlier this morning, a second man connected to the previous incidents was arrested in London. Roughly 100 people were spotted walking east, possibly from an evacuation of the station.

11:28am: Due to a "customer incident" at Mile End underground station various sections of the London Underground were shut down, including sections of the Central line. Various passengers reported smelling a foul smell before being evacuated.

11:32am: Mile End station was reopened after a man was taken away for questioning: police stated that the man voluntarily gave himself up to questioning, and has not been arrested.

And it continues... (22/7 Journal)

2005-07-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

11:07am: With at least three, possibly four would-be suicide bombers currently on the run, no doubt angered by their failure to injure or kill anybody with their actions yesterday, it seemed inevitable that there would be another strike within a short time. Knowing that because of their attempts to flee from the tube stations yesterday, and the overwhelming number of CCTV cameras that patrol the entire city, that they were most likely to be identified within days, it seems obvious that the police were in a chase with the terrorists. The net closing in on the attackers, they only had a few days in which to cause maximumdamage which they aimed to do yesterday. Whether they were killed or not in accomplishing their acts of destruction, death at the expense of others would be a better fate in their eyes than being arrested after days on the run in London.

At Stockwell station, a little after 10am, witnesses reported five shots fired from armed police officers towards a man who had been chased by plain clothes officers into the station itself. According to first-hand accounts, as the man reached the doors of the Underground train, he was shot down, presumably for fear that he would detonate a bomb that he may have been carrying. Within minutes, an air ambulance was dispatched to the scene and various sections of the Underground, but it appears that this suspect was dead at the scene.

11:11am: Through the press wires came the news that armed police surrounded a mosque in East London, with rumours rife that inside may be at least some of the bombers who so badly bungled their attempt to bring the transport scheme of London crashing down around them yesterday lunchtime.

11:14am: Mark Whitby, a key witness to the shooting at Stockwell station, described the shot man as "asian", saying he stumbled upon reaching the doors before being set upon by police and shot five times, leaving him dead. Kennington Underground station, north of Stockwell, was closed as a result of an alert which at first also encompassed Vauxhall station, but was shortened to be only Kennington and Stockwell itself. An embargo on CCTV footage by the police was enforced, leaving the description of the situation to only eyewitnesses. A second-hand account from a man on the tube station described an "asian man" being pursued by "three plain-clothes officers," who tripped and was shot "in [the] head" three times.

11:20am: Two ambulances, three police vans announced as being positioned outside Stockwell station. A media photographer was ushered away from the scene upon taking photographs of the Underground station. The East London mosque, near Whitechapel Road was "totally cut-off" by a cordon, comprising over fifteen police officers surrounding the scene. The Stockwell station situation was described as "very surreal" by an eyewitness, with passengers on the tube acting "very calm."

11:29am: Regarding the Stockwell station incident, Chris Martin, a journalist, gave a report to the wires saying that "it sounded like a silencer gun going off," contradicting Mark Whitby's earlier report. Given the reports of witnesses yesterday, it could be speculated that this sound was yet another detonator going off. Scotland Yard confirmed the shooting of "a male at Stockwell station." Unconfirmed reports say that the man shot (and killed) may have indeed been one of the failed suicide bombers who escaped yesterday.

11:33am: The media cordon surrounding Stockwell station was moved 50 metres further towards the station, signifying a possible police relaxation, with the man who was shot confirmed as wearing a large jacket. By 11:35am, the East London mosque situation had cooled, with the police announcing to the press that they had given the all-clear for that situation on Whitechapel Road, which was a bomb scare. The Stockwell incident was reported as beginning at Kennington station, which is intersected from Stockwell station by Oval station, one of the four areas affected by yesterday's attempted bombings. It is believed that no innocent bystanders were injured or killed by either the would-be bomber or the undercover police.

11:44am: A group claiming links to Al'Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attempted bombings that occurred yesterday, July 21. At Stockwell station, Mark Whitby gave further details of the situation - three plain-clothes police officers followed the man, one carrying "a black handgun in his left hand," and, while two officers held down the man who seems to have tripped on his way onto the train, the third fired five shots into the suspect, who was just "three or four yards" away from Mr. Whitby.

12:05pm: Beliefs that the Stockwell shooting was an intellegence-led operation were strengthened thanks to the thought that the three armed, plain-clothed officers who followed him were part of the Metropolitan Police and had been following the suspect all morning. The man was confronted and told to stop before officers opened fire on him.

12:11pm: Yet more reports came in to the various newsrooms around the country claiming that passengers on the tube where the asian man was shot dead smelt burning rubber and saw smoke, much like those involved in the bomb attacks yesterday. According to eyewitness Ben Anderson, the doors of the train were open for "three or four minutes" at Stockwell station, before there was a commotion on the carriage next to his, followed by screams of 'get out!' from police officers. Footage was shown of police officers, Underground officials and, rather curiously, people in casual uniform, such as ties and suits. These people were believed to be plain-clothed police officers, who evidently had a rather large prescence both outside and inside Stockwell tube station.

12:17pm: Shops and businesses immediately surrounding Stockwell station were closed as a result of the cordoning off of the area where the earlier incident took place. Forensics officers began to slowly make their way into the station, with some carrying videocameras. In videotaped footage, an army van was seen driving through a police cordon.

1:36pm: According to various reports collated together, the man who was shot on the tube train at Stockwell station was of asian descent, quite large, with short cropped hair, wearing a black baseball cap, blue fleece and baggy trousers. By one account, the man, after a commotion on the Stockwell platform, ran onto the train, where he was pursued by officers, who then ordered other passengers off the train. During this, the man was shot somewhere between three and six times. Several experts and commentators noticed the clothes the man was wearing did not make sense for a person during the height of what is an unusually hot British summer. Some people were pointing towards the unconfirmed description that surrounded one of the bombers yesterday - who was rumoured to take shelter in University College Hospital - which included a blue jacket, with a hole in the back and wires hanging out of it. A police conference was expected at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre shortly. In the previous hour, TUC representatives reported to the media that "hundreds" of tube workers refused to work last night following the second wave of attacks, which luckily failed.

1:48pm: Due to "ongoing operations," the press conference held by the police was delayed for a further hour. Another alert on the Underground, at Watford station, filtered through, and the line through that station was closed to passengers. In other occurrences throughout the country, a cordon was raised around Canary Wharf; and a Southampton-London mainline train has been stopped mid-journey due to a suspicious package. Further confusing the situation, another report of smoke moving through a train in transit between Stockwell and Vauxhall stations from a burning black rucksack, with a "strange, putrid smell" was filed, with those involved claiming this had occurred at around 9:20am.

The suicide bombers trying to cause chaos and confusion could only wish that their actions would have such an effect as the rumours surrounding the shooting of this supposed bomber: only one thing could be confirmed by the Metropolitan police; they had, indeed, shot a man at Stockwell station dead.

2:22pm: Roughly forty minutes ago a small section of Harrow Road was cordoned off and police snipers stationed around the area, in preparation for dealing with some sort of incident. There were several plain-clothed police officers at the event, including some rumoured to be forensics officers and bomb disposal teams. Police did not ask residents on the Harrow Road to evacuate their premises, and it was thought that a house on the road may be a 'bomb factory' the likes of which were seen in Leeds and used to build the bombs involved in the 7 July attacks. The police conference was moved back a further hour.

21/7: Two weeks on, more of a whimper than a bang

2005-07-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

Supposed terrorist bombers today attacked London for the second time in two weeks as a ceremony was held to commemorate those 56 people who died (inclusive of the 7/7 bombers themselves), the final names of whom were released to the press just hours before the four bombs shocked the City of London, but left it unharmed, with the exception of one minor casualty and broken windows on a double-decker bus.

Retrospective: 7/7 journal

2005-07-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

12:58pm: The city of London was brought to a standstill with a staggering seven blasts on a combination of the London Underground and Bus services, which caused serious death and destruction as Tony Blair opened the second day of the G8 Conference with a working breakfast with George W. Bush. The seven explosions, the vast majority of which were on the London Underground, occurred in a 45-minute period from 8:50am onwards, the height of the morning rush hour. At first there were reports from the Underground that a power surge had caused a failure throughout the tube system, but it quickly became clear that there was, in fact, a series of mass explosions. The trains were plunged into darkness as pieces of carriages were charred greatly by explosions, some being strewn across the tracks in the tunnels. According to eye-witnesses, a thick black smoke filled both the tunnel and the train, and passengers were forced to wait upwards of 30 minute before they were tended to by Underground workers. As the bigger picture began to unveil itself, passers-by above ground were forced into buildings by police and ordered to close all doors and windows in case of secondary explosions, all part of the mammoth response by emergency services and the army towards a most terrible of terrorist attacks.

At the Royal London Hospital, over 100 casualties have been admitted after being evaluated at various makeshift triages (including the Hilton Hotel and local schools) upon being evacuated from the Underground stations. Of those, only ten were serious injuries. In various other hospitals, the proportion of serious injuries was much the same; however, the sight of victims missing limbs, some having emergency CPR performed on them was a distressing one broadcast to the whole country through several national media outlets.

Sniffer dogs were immediately despatched to search for other, possibly undetonated bombs around the capital which could possibly explode, causing further horrors as Londoners began to fully understand the levity of the situation they faced just one day after being awarded the Olympic Games: the most joyous of occasions being contrasted with the most hellish.

Central London was brought to a standstill with security cordons only opening to allow a slew of both off-duty and on emergency response teams in to tube stations, and several double-decker buses out to hospitals, carrying the lesser seriously injured patients. All Underground services across the city were stopped, with buses halted in zone 1, encompassing all the blast sites. The emergency services capably carried out their work without panic while those around them struggled, and must be applauded for such an excellent response in the most difficult of conditions.

At midday, Tony Blair announced that the G8 summit would continue, but that he would return to the nation's capital to organise the freshly-implemented Operation Cobra. In the Commons, Charles Clarke expressed his deepest regret at the "criminal and appalling acts," and announced that only four incidents could be confirmed. As the ministers crammed themselves into the pews for this emergency meeting, some overflowing, taking their seats on the steps, Clarke announced that he had taken part in Operation Cobra. David Davies, the opposition minister, added his respects towards the emergency services and the victims of the attacks, calling "this mornings explosions...acts of deliberate intention to take lives." He then pledged that he was ready to aid the Government in whatever way possible, but expressed concern at possible follow-up attacks on other major cities throughout the country.

The most horrific of accidents was the only one which could be seen by the mass media at first; the bus explosion in Tavistock Place, a red double-decker bus ripped apart with the roof thrown in whole in front of the stationary bus, the sides bent at an awkward angle, the rear of the second deck of the bus fading away to nothing, showing the impact of such an explosion in such a confined space. It seems unlikely that anyone could survive such a massive explosion which could cause such damage to a huge structure as a bus.

By 1pm, the Secret Organisation Group of Al'Qaeda of Jihad, a European organisation, claimed responsibility for the attack - at the time it was not known of the validity of the claim, as many Islamic terrorist groups often flock to take credit for such a disgusting act - and, as the rain began to fall in London, the meeting of Operation Cobra was paused, deciding to regroup upon the arrival of the Prime Minister from Gleneagles. Nearly four hours after the explosions began, it was still unclear exactly what had happened, and what would be the consequences of this most awful incidents.

1:06pm: A controlled explosion was heard during the morning, signifying that this already monstrous attack was planned to be yet more dangerous and disgusting. Sadly, a number of people were announced as dying at Edgware Road, further increasing the now-ballooning death rate as more and more serious casualties were brought out of the wrecked carriages of the Underground trains. In London hospitals, the majority of casualties were treated for cuts caused by the shattering glass, and burns by the extreme heat resulting from a large explosion. The Royal London Hospital announced that 183 people had been admitted: of those, 60 still remain in hospital, several critical, including six undergoing emergency operations.

At Gleneagles, a second statement by the Prime Minister "condemned these barbaric attacks", with George Bush, and Jacque Chirac at his right and left-hand shoulders, the rest of the G8 leaders, the most powerful leaders of the world surrounding him, providing a united front against the extreme funamentalists who are believed to have been responsible for this attack. The rescue missions began to slowly wind down at some sites, but the number of casualties increased exponentially. Beginning to form a complete picture of the horrible events of July 7, 2005, it emerged that there were several Underground attacks and three bus bombs focused around the central London area which seriously injured over 150 and caused cuts and bruises to countless others.

1:20pm: The number of incidents throughout the day decreased as it became apparent that the victims of these attacks were emerging from separate Underground stations, lowering from seven to four. Local schools became a security target for possible immediate follow-up attacks, with headteachers being regularly updated with the orders that no child or staff should leave school premises for fear of a security breach.

A military helicopter looked starkly out-of-place on the green lawn of Gleneagles, but this was a day for extraordinary sights: as Tony Blair entered the helicopter, the blades started spinning and the G8 leaders took their seats to continue negotiations of combatting Third World debt, Jack Straw taking the place of the Prime Minister as he rushed to the capital to take his place as the leader of the country, now united under a strength to prevail against the terrorist forces which threaten to upset our democracy in Great Britain.