British journalists are concerned about the pre-Olympic militarization in London and the incursion on individual rights that is strengthened by the likes of the so-called hostage-taking incident over a failed drivers' license on Friday.
Stories of the incident spread like wild fire in media and reports of a "crisis" involving an "armed" hostage-taker put the public on the alert that they may be facing a serious security risk.

However, the incident turned out to be much less dramatic after it emerged that the so-called hostage-taker was only a client of a training company, enraged after failing a drivers' test three times and that there were no hostages involved.

The police were also quick to dismiss any terror-related risks to the upcoming Olympics.

Olympics organizers have announced 23,000 guards will be watching the games venues as the world sports spotlight turns to London between July 27 and August 12, while another 13,000 soldiers will hit the streets.

A missile-bearing aircraft carrier will be also on standby on the river Thames, unmanned drones will keep a watch and an 11-mile electrified security barrier will cordon off unwanted disturbance.

That, coupled with the Friday incident, raises questions on where the real risks to the games are, risks that warrant the use of an army larger than the British force in Afghanistan to secure the games, and such massive extra protective measures.

The ancient practice of child marriage - reviled in much of the world - remains in force across the Indian subcontinent.Child marriage is defined as the union of two people, at least one whom is below the age of 18.

However, a recent landmark development in India may finally begin the process to bring this evil to an end. Laxmi Sargara, an 18-year-old girl in Rajasthan in northern India, was able to get her "marriage" annulled by a court.

Laxmi had been "betrothed" to a boy named Rakesh when she was only one year old and her "groom" was three. She was not even aware of this matrimonial arrangement until her in-laws came to fetch her earlier this month.

"I was unhappy about the marriage. I told my parents who did not agree with me, then I sought help," Laxmi told Agence France Presse (AFP).

A non-governmental organization that safeguards children's rights, the Sarathi Trust, in the city of Jodhpur, took up her case after her parent refused to help.

"[Laxmi] got depressed. She did not like the boy and was not ready to go ahead with her parents' decision," Kriti Bharti of Sarathi told AFP.

Bharti also said this might have been the first time such a marriage was officially annulled in India.

Child-marriages have been illegal in India since the 2006 passage of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, but the practice persists unabated, particularly among the rural poor. (India officially raised the legal marriage age to 18 in 1978, although the law was actually enacted in 1973).

In a stroke of powerful irony, the day of Laxmi's annulment coincided with the Akshaya Tritiya festival, a tradition where thousands of child weddings are conducted (in defiance of the law).

The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) estimates that 40 percent of all child marriages in the world take place in India.

However, child marriage is also a serious problem in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Yemen and parts of sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, in some these countries, the rates of child marriage are higher than in India. Given India's huge population, in absolute terms, it accounts for the largest number of these marriages.

Early marriages can lead to numerous medical and psychological problems, particularly in relation to early child-births where the mother is not physically mature.

A mother featured in the TLC series Toddlers & Tiaras has been shown encouraging her two-year-old daughter to watch her model a G-string bikini during a calendar photo shoot.

Tricia, a mother of four from Oklahoma, was shown on tonight's episode wearing a leopard print bikini bottom and a stringy black bikini top while SamiJo, her daughter was placed one meter away in order to watch her.

The mother told the cameras: 'My style of parenting is extremely different. I think exposing your child to whatever you can is just a really great way to be culturally diverse.'

She added that she had entered SamiJo, who has become 'obsessed with bras' and 'loves Victoria's Secret', into a toddler's swimsuit competition before she had turned age one.

Tricia told the cameras: 'I still say she's 17, she's far from two.'

A Delta Plane has been quarantined at Chicago Midway Airport.

CBS local reports that "serious medical problem with a passenger" has led to the quarantine.

Sources told CBS that the flight may have been traveling from Ghana and a passenger may have "some sort or rash and contagious disease".

The six-year-old boy who went missing from the Soho area of New York City in 1979 is back in the news. Police and the FBI are investigating a possible lead into the 33-year-old case of Etan Patz, the first missing child to appear on the side of a milk carton.

The child disappeared on the way to school on the morning of May 25, 1979. It was the first time he was allowed to walk the two blocks to the bus stop alone.

A tip apparently has led officials to the basement of a building on the corner of Prince and Wooster streets, about a block and a half from where Etan had lived with his family.

The name Etan Patz has become a trending topic on Twitter as people weigh in on the case. Shirley Brady noted: "As mom to a 6 y.o. in Soho, it's still held out by locals as cautionary tale." Another wrote, "Boy who disappeared on his way to school in 1979 has been REOPENED! Crazy." One wondered, "Why is fbi and nypd searchin for a kid that disappeared in 1979?"

The United States and Afghanistan have agreed to "give safe passage" to representatives of the Afghan Taliban to help them to enter future peace talks, officials announced Friday.

It may represent a significant step forward towards the resumption of peace talks that were suspended in Qatar last month, and comes just weeks ahead of a NATO summit in Chicago on the future of Afghanistan.

Speaking at a joint press conference with U.S. Special Envoy Marc Grossman and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani, Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Javed Ludin said: "Time is short, peace is urgent."

"We need to find and encourage and create safe passage for peace talks," with the Afghan Taliban, he added.

His comments came after the three countries held their sixth meeting aimed at political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Police snipers and heavily armed officers put several blocks of central London's shopping district into lockdown Friday after a man allegedly armed with gas canisters entered an office building and threatened to blow himself up.

Police said a 49-year-old man was arrested hours after a stand off with police at Advantage, a training company near London's Tottenham Court Road that offers tests for truck drivers.

A shirtless man in green khaki pants was seen being led out with his hands behind his back by two unarmed officers. Armed officers followed behind.

British media had claimed that the man was holding people captive, but police said they were "not aware of any hostages at this stage." Police and security personnel said the incident was not terror-related and presented no risk to the upcoming 2012 summer Olympics.

An Advantage employee interviewed by The Huffington Post identified the suspect as a former customer and said he had come in "strapped up in gasoline cylinders."

In the summer of 2010, I saw him several times a week: a portly gentleman, leaning against a pillar in Penn Station and holding out two fistfuls of pamphlets to the disinterested commuters. He wore glasses and earbuds connected to an MP3 player in his coat pocket, and always had a serene, almost bored expression that was in sharp contrast to the urgency of his message:

He was one of the devotees of Harold Camping, a formerly obscure Christian preacher who started making headlines in 2009, when he announced his discovery of a numerological code hidden in the Bible that foretold the exact date of the end of the world. As the appointed date grew nearer, Camping's devotees became increasingly zealous in their race to get the message out. In addition to their leafletting volunteers, I saw billboards and subway ads. Their Web site had a form you could fill out to request free literature, bumperstickers and desk calendars for 2011 that ended the third week of May.

One day, I stopped for a brief chat with the fellow.

"May 2011," I observed. "That's soon."

"Uh-huh," he said, uncertain whether I was making fun of him.

"What happens on that day?" I asked.

"The universe will cease to exist," he explained, as calm as if he were delivering a weather forecast. (I have to admit, I was hoping for something more dramatic: boiling oceans, rains of fire, rivers turned to blood, that sort of thing.)

"What happens if that date comes and you're still here?" I persisted.

"I'll be in big trouble," he said calmly.

Spanish unemployment has hit a new record high, official figures have shown.

The number of unemployed people reached 5,639,500 at the end of March, with the unemployment rate hitting 24.4%, the national statistics agency said.

The figures came hours after rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Spanish sovereign debt.

Official figures due out on Monday are expected to confirm that Spain has fallen back into recession.

Earlier this week, the Bank of Spain said the economy contracted by 0.4% in first three months of this year, after shrinking by 0.3% in the final quarter of last year.

Other figures released on Friday showed that Spanish retail sales were down 3.7% in March from the same point a year ago, the 21st month in row sales have fallen.

Christianity is like the Titanic - sinking fast and panic is every where!

Ever since God revealed himself to Abraham at the burning bush, four thousand years ago God has been investing himself in mankind. Two thousand years ago he sacrificed himself for us. But he still continues to lose on his investment. This year alone potentially at least 4.5 billion people are going to hell, some of them will be unborn foetuses, some of them will be Muslim children, Hindu children, Atheists etc that don't care anything about differences between religions. This figure does not count Christians that Jesus does not "know", even though, they cast out demons in his name or those that are "Luke warm" that he will spew out of his mouth and send them straight to hell.

Christians make up one third of the worlds population. But they are totally confused and the reason is easy to find. It is in the interpretation of the scriptural text; it is so ambiguous and weak, that it is open to any, interpretation you would like to give it, according to your own fancy or pet theory. This observation is true, for if it was false, there would be fewer denominations, and more Christians in the world. Gods return on his investment would increase. That is not the case and there are 33,000 Denominations.

As defined by World Christian Encyclopaedia by Barrett, Kurian, Johnson Oxford Univ Press, 2nd edition, 2001 world Christianity consists of 6 major ecclesiastic-cultural blocs, divided into 300 major ecclesiastical traditions, composed of over 33,000 distinct denominations in 238 countries, these denominations themselves being composed of over 3,400,000 worship centres, churches or congregations.

God has been in the red since day one and is nearly bankrupt as the once mighty unsinkable ship of Christianity begins to list after it has hit some huge icebergs that have rubbished the claim that it is unsinkable. Liberal Christianity has jettisoned many obsolete doctrines (weights) in order to keep afloat and stay relevant; Genesis creation account, Original sin, Virgin birth, Hell, New Testament miracles and the Resurrection etc. have all been dumped.

However conservative Christianity, especially some Charismatics and Pentecostals have clung to the Bible with all their might and have even frantically added new - seeker - friendly doctrines; to cover up the ones they do not want you to know about (till you are hooked). The doctrines of Biblical Hell, Judgement, Exclusivity, Wrath, Suffering, Pain, Back sliding etc. have been overshadowed by doctrines of Love, Health, Wealth, Prosperity, Miracles, Eternal security, Tithing, Seed planting and a more humane depiction of hell (as separation from god) etc. This has caused a movement of disillusioned and disgruntled Christians seeking excitement and miracles away from boring historical churches to the new exciting and dynamic mega churches all across the land. There they are welcomed with big smiles directly in relation to the cars that they drive - a tiny smile for a VW, a larger one for a BMW and the biggest smile is reserved for those that drive Mercs.

This is just a rearranging of the deck chairs on the stricken ship as there are not nearly enough, if any, atheists, agnostics, secular, people from other religions etc added to Christianity in order to keep it out of the red. Every day we hear about another preacher/minister/clergy that leaves Christianity to become an agnostic or atheists and every second we hear about another Christian lay person that does the same. The ship is sinking and the enlightened are jumping ship. But when it comes to Christianity the less you know the better. Just believe. Don't question anything. Just have faith. Don't doubt. Doubt is Satan's way of leading people astray and oh before I forget "Jesus loves you". However Atheism is growing at an alarming rate. There are all ready over one billion atheists and counting. Not that atheism is a religion it is just a way of grouping rational thinkers that have adopted the attitude that there does not need to be a god to explain any thing; therefore there is not a god.