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Wow, Thanks For This OMEN
Thanks for posting.
Thanks for this.
I'm glad he managed to save everyone, thanks.
Hundreds of activists opposed to a third runway at Heathrow have staged a "flash mob" protest at Terminal Five.
The action, which saw environmentalists gather with local residents and climate change groups at the airport, was the first major demonstration since the Government controversially gave the go-ahead for the expansion.
In a show of solidarity for the village of Sipson, campaigners said they were ready to move into homes facing destruction to pave the way for the new runway.
Leila Dean, 29, of campaign group Plane Stupid, said: "We came here because we are supporting the 700 villagers who will lose their homes if the plans go ahead."
The charity worker, from Kennington, south London, added: "We are ready to move into their houses if the runway goes ahead but we don't think it's going to come to that because no one wants the runway."
Demonstrators wearing red T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Stop airport expansion" gathered at airport departures carrying banners and chanting: "No third runway."
Hemmed in by police, a group of female campaigners wearing red body-paint lay down on the ground with the words, "simply no slaughter" printed on their stomachs.
Other demonstrators pelted a man dressed as transport secretary Geoff Hoon with sponges as he stood in make-shift stocks.
Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon announced the Government's decision on Thursday.
But campaigners said they would continue to fight on, vowing to win the "political war".
-Nova
Gordon Brown has demanded the banks come clean over their losses amid signs the Government is preparing a second bail-out of the banking sector.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the Prime Minister said the "toxic assets" held by the banks as a result of the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States must be dealt with.
The paper said he refused to rule out a full-scale nationalisation of the banks or a further injection of taxpayer funding in order to restore lending to business.
"One of the necessary elements for the next stage is for people to have a clear understanding that bad assets have been written off," Mr Brown said.
"We have got to be clear that where we have got clearly bad assets, I expect them to be dealt with."
Mr Brown and Chancellor Alastair Darling held talks on Friday with the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, and Financial Services Authority chairman Lord Turner of Ecchinswell.
However, the meeting took place as it emerged the Government could use billions of pounds of public money to buy up "toxic" assets from banks, in the latest bid to tackle the financial crisis.
Ministers are considering creating a so-called "bad bank" in order to cleanse the books of private institutions and free them to lend again.
Mr Brown and Mr Darling were expected to discuss the idea, which has been circulating for some months, with senior bankers over the next few days.
They are also believed to be examining an alternative of "ring-fencing" such assets within banks' balance sheets. A package could be announced as early as next week, according to reports.
-Nova
Sainsbury's is to become the first of the big four supermarkets to stop selling eggs from battery caged hens.
From February 5, three years before an EU ban on battery produced eggs comes into force, the supermarket will only sell eggs from uncaged birds.
Sainsbury's had promised to stop selling the eggs next year but in bringing forward its plans, poultry campaigners say it has marked itself out from Asda, Tesco and Morrisons.
Sainsbury's said more than half a million hens would no longer be kept in battery cages while 2.5 million fewer battery farmed eggs would go on sale each week in the UK.
Rowen West-Henzell, food business manager for Compassion in World Farming, said: "It's fantastic news. When Sainsbury's makes a move like this it has huge impact, making animal welfare more mainstream.
"They are doing the right thing on behalf of the consumer. My question to the other retailers is why aren't they responding? They've got a lot of catching up to do."
Under new European legislation conventional battery cages will be banned in 2012. Poultry farmers will be allowed to build larger "enriched" cages which give hens more space.
But Sainsbury's is doing away with cages altogether.
Sainsbury's decision follows similar moves by Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and the Co-op.
The supermarket also aims to stop using caged eggs as ingredients in own-label food and drink by 2012. Its Kids and Taste the Difference ranges already use only free range eggs.
-Nova
Plane crash investigators are due to attempt to recover the wreckage of a passenger jet that landed in New York's Hudson River, miraculously leaving no-one seriously hurt.
In what has been dubbed "The Miracle on the Hudson", all 155 passengers and crew survived after the pilot successfully attempted an emergency water landing on Thursday evening.
Captain Chesley Sullenberger - who has since been hailed as a hero for his actions - is also due to be interviewed, as experts attempt to discover why his plane failed.
Kitty Higgins, board member of the US National Transportation Safety Board, said that strong currents and adverse weather conditions had so far hampered progress to salvage the aircraft.
Once out of the water, the plane's black box recorders will be removed and taken away for examination. Meanwhile, police sonar equipment will be used to search for the plane's engine which came apart from the craft's body, Ms Higgins said.
Early indications, based on eyewitness accounts, suggest that the plane could have been downed as a result of a bird strike.
Passengers on the US Airways aircraft said the plane got into difficulties shortly after take-off from LaGuardia Airport.
After landing the Airbus A320 plane perfectly on the river, commercial and rescue vessels raced to the scene to take on the passengers - some of whom were lined up along the aircraft's wing.
New York governor David Paterson described the emergency landing and the plane's successful evacuation as the "miracle on the Hudson".
As an official transport safety team investigated the crash, there was worldwide praise for Mr Sullenberger, who aviation experts said had "done everything right".
-Nova
The Pakistani soldier at the centre of the Prince Harry race row has come to the Prince's defence, claiming he is not racist.
Platoon member Ahmed Raza Khan reportedly told Harry to "forget about it" when the Prince phoned to apologise.
Harry was caught on film three years ago referring to Khan as "our little Paki friend".
But Khan told The Sun the Prince was his friend and that he had no hard feelings towards him in the wake of the incident.
He said: "The Prince called me by a nickname which is usually very insulting but I know he didn't mean it that way," the newspaper reported. "We were close friends when we were training and I know he is not a racist."
The two soldiers were said to have exchanged stories with each other about fighting the Taliban when Harry rang Khan to apologise.
The Ministry of Defence said the Chief of the General Staff had directed the Royal Military Police to investigate how the material entered the public domain.
A spokeswoman said: "If that investigation reveals any other breach, that will be investigated." She added that the Adjutant General was writing to the army to remind them of their policy on equality and diversity.
Palace officials have said the 24-year-old Prince was "extremely sorry" for the comment and stressed that Harry had been speaking to a friend without malice.
The video footage was made while the Prince was a cadet at Sandhurst and released by the News of the World newspaper last weekend.
-Nova
The global economic crisis has cost Arab countries $2,500bn (£1,690bn) in the last four months alone, according to Kuwait's foreign minister.
Sheikh Mohammed al-Sabah told reporters in Kuwait City that oil-rich Gulf Arab states had postponed or cancelled 60% of development projects.
He did not give details for his figures, which were released days before an Arab Economic Summit.
Stock market falls and a low oil price have contributed to the losses.
The biggest loss was an estimated 40% drop in the value of Arab investments abroad, which had previously totalled around $2.5tn, AFP news agency reports.
"The Arab world has lost $2.5 trillion in the past four months," Mr Sabah said after meeting fellow foreign and finance ministers.
Kuwait City is due to open a two-day Arab Economic Summit on Monday, the first of its kind.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa earlier described the meeting of 22 heads of state as "the largest and most important" Arab event of 2009.
-BBC News