Outrage as orders issued aimed at hitting targets not solving crimes

Officers in Britain's biggest police force face disciplinary action unless they stop and search at least 15 people a month, it has been claimed.

The Met also orders officers to arrest eight people a month, which has raised fears some officers may let other "things go" in pursuit of hitting their targets.

Yesterday one police source said: "If the public knew the police service had to arrest by numbers rather than crimes there would be a national outcry."

Stop and search is one of the most controversial powers in policing, with people from a black or minority ethnic background seven times more likely to be stopped than white people.

Britain's top cop, Bernard Hogan-Howe, recently claimed stop and search was only used where officers have "intelligence".

But our insider provided evidence that indicated Met officers are being told they have to use the power at least 15 times a month or face disciplinary action.

He said that officers were told to stop and search people at incidents they were called to to keep up their numbers.

Janine Richardson couldn't believe it when she and her husband went to bring in some firewood to heat their home and it was all gone.

"We don't use oil at all," said Richardson. "We heat by wood solely so it was cold, it was cold that night, luckily we had little scraps around so we burnt that for the night."

Police in Candia New Hampshire says it's happened at least twice this month. Heavy piles of firewood have been stolen from people's property.

"I haven't seen that in this area," said Candia Police Chief Mike McGillen. "I can't recall having many investigations like this."

A cord of wood can be worth up to $250, and police are not sure if the wood is being stolen by people who want to sell it, or if they need the wood to keep warm.

Get ready for the next era in retail - one that will be characterized by far fewer shops and smaller stores.

On Tuesday, Sears said that it will shutter its flagship store in downtown Chicago in April. It's the latest of about 300 store closures in the U.S. that Sears has made since 2010. The news follows announcements earlier this month of multiple store closings from major department stores J.C. Penney and Macy's.

Further signs of cuts in the industry came Wednesday, when Target said that it will eliminate 475 jobs worldwide, including some at its Minnesota headquarters, and not fill 700 empty positions.

Experts said these headlines are only the tip of the iceberg for the industry, which is set to undergo a multiyear period of shuttering stores and trimming square footage.

Shoppers will likely see an average decrease in overall retail square footage of between one-third and one-half within the next five to 10 years, as a shift to e-commerce brings with it fewer mall visits and a lesser need to keep inventory stocked in-store, said Michael Burden, a principal with Excess Space Retail Services.

It's not every day that you meet someone who has set himself on fire. One reason for this is because it's pretty much the most awful and insane thing imaginable. Another reason is that people who light themselves ablaze usually die soon afterward. Surprisingly, it's not always the burns that kill them. Often, flames will enter a self-immolator's lungs through his mouth, causing him to asphyxiate.

On a recent trip to Bulgaria, I met not one but two people who had survived suicide attempts by fire. "Solving problems with gasoline has become the new trend," Georgi Kostov told me in the burn-victim unit of St. George hospital in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city. He was still in shock, so his wife, Donka, did most of the talking.

She explained how the couple were unemployed, in debt, and struggling to feed their children, when, two weeks before my visit, Georgi disappeared into his bedroom at their apartment in the industrial city of Dimitrovgrad. He came out doused in gasoline, convinced that the Mafia was outside his front door to collect on his debts and kill him. Standing in front of his family, he flicked on his lighter and burst into flames. Donka leapt onto him to put out the blaze while his sister threw water on him. They succeeded in saving Georgi, but his wife suffered third-degree burns all over her arms in the process. "He was so depressed," she said. "He didn't know how to make anyone notice our poverty. So he did this horrible thing."

Disturbing footage from Ukraine shows violence spiraling out of control during anti-government protests, with rioters attacking and capturing policemen standing their ground. The Interior Ministry has hinted at a tough response if the unrest continues.

Western media exploded with outrage at the abuse of a Ukrainian rioter who was stripped naked and mocked by the police for "particularly accurate" petrol bomb throwing. However, few outlets have highlighted the violence coming from those on the other side of the barricades.

On Saturday, protesters in the city of Vinnitsa occupied the city council building, breaking a feeble cordon of interior troops. A triumphant mob cheered and poured into the building as the doors flung open, only to find that more police were blocking the stairs to the upper floors.

A propane shortage is affecting millions of Americans this week as brutal cold exposes the vulnerabilities of a network responsible for heating homes, schools and businesses across wide swathes of the United States.

Prices of the fuel have rocketed to all-time highs in some regions, distributors are rationing supplies, and some schools have shut due to a lack of fuel during this year's second bout of Arctic weather.

The National Propane Gas Association said on Thursday the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri are worst hit and that it has heard that some retailers have run out of supplies.

Indonesians in Jakarta are still reeling from the massive flooding brought on by the rainy season. While logistics and food supplies are being distributed to evacuation sites, some evacuees in small shelters claim they are being left out.

Indonesians in the capital city of Jakarta are still reeling from the massive flooding brought on by the rainy season.

Home to nine million people, the capital has already seen some 62,000 being displaced.

While logistics and food supplies are being distributed to evacuation sites, some evacuees who have sought refuge in small shelters are claiming they are being left out.

One flood victim, Tuti Mahyanti and her family have been staying at a shelter in East Jakarta for the past week.

Living in close proximity to a river and having to seek temporary shelter from the floods is not her first experience.

But it is an experience one can never get used to.

For now, her family of four have to contend with sleeping on a small carpet laid out on a carton.

Texas - Another Dallas police officer is under investigation for shooting an unarmed man as he surrendered with both hands in the air.

Witness Scottie Smith II said he watched as a Dallas police officer shot carjacking suspect Kelvion Walker, 19, who had both hands in the air. The incident occurred on December 9th, 2013.

The officer was identified as Senior Cpl. Amy Wilburn, who was hired in 2001 and is a veteran officer. Walker was not charged with a crime and was put into critical condition at a Dallas hospital following the shooting.

The Dallas Police Department issued a news release late Tuesday about the shooting. The statement said that no weapons were found in the car. It also said police were reviewing dash cam video from the squad cars and were attempting to enhance the video in order to assist in the investigation.

The statement did say that investigators had spoken to an independent witness who told them that Walker had both his hands in the air.

"He was screaming," said Robert Rogers, who is representing Walker. "It was clear to her that there wasn't a threat once she could see both hands. He was obviously incapacitated."

In order to stop contaminated groundwater from leaking at the Fukushima nuclear power station, the Japanese are planning to use artificial permafrost there. They're going to drill 30-metre-deep pipes with liquid nitrogen. The construction of the huge underground fridge will start soon and is scheduled to end next year.

The situation with the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors still remains very serious. Three years have passed since the time when an earthquake and tsunami caused a disaster at the power plant, but a great deal of experts still describes the situation as a crisis which might transform into a catastrophe if continuous leaks of radioactive water are not stopped.

At the moment, the radiation level at the power station and in its neighborhood breaks all the records. In fact it's so high that can kill a person over a period of a few hours.

The amount of radioactive substances in water samples collected on January 17 from a well, situated on the territory of the second unit of the Fukushima power plant, exceeded 24 million Bq per liter with the standard of 150 million Bq per liter. In order to put an end to the leaks at the wrecked power station, Japanese want to freeze earth around all four damaged reactor buildings.

The ice wall will run circa 1.5 kilometers. Vertical pipes with coolant will be drilled into the radioactive ground. This technology is rather costly and hasn't been used on such a large scale ever, Oleg Dvoynikov, the editor-in-chief of Pro atom magazine, told the Voice of Russia.

"As far as the cooling of earth is concerned, surely, it's possible to do it from a technical point of view. But they will need a nitrogen unit, practically, a plant working non-stop. It's bad the Japanese won't let any foreign experts visit the station. And there were offers of help, not only from Russia but from many other countries too," he says.

At first it seems like there is no way the woman and child seen mown down in this video could possibly survive the incident.

In footage which played out on local Brazilian TV and has since been viewed thousands of times online, Vilma Nascimento and her five-year-old grandson Joao can be seen walking along the street hand-in-hand.

Up ahead of them a car tries to pull out of a side road at the same time as another vehicle comes speeding towards the camera - and as the two crash, the second is sent swerving out of control.

It crashes into a parked Chevrolet, making it plough strait into the woman and child as they try to run to the side.