Baroness Warsi set to take on British National Party

October 5th, 2009 LONDON - Former MI5 chief Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller has said at the time of the 7/7 terror strike in London, the fear was that the service would not be able to cope with continuing terror attacks. She said investigators did not immediately know the attack on the capital's public transport system - which killed 52 people - was carried out by suicide bombers.

September 25th, 2009 NEW YORK - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed that Indian-origin business minister Shriti Vadera is leaving the Government to take up her new role as Britain's representative with the G20 group of leading nations. Baroness Vadera, who had been central to Brown's economic plans during the economic downturn, has been asked to work closely with South Korea who takes over the leadership of the G20 after Britain.

July 21st, 2009 LONDON - An increasing number of non-Muslims are turning to Sharia courts to resolve commercial disputes and other civil matters. A report in The Times has quoted the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) as saying that five per cent of its cases involved non-Muslims who were using the courts because they were less cumbersome and more informal than the English legal system.

June 19th, 2009 Margaret Thatcher's operation successful in LondonLONDON — Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had a successful operation Friday to insert a pin in her broken arm, her son said. Mark Thatcher said he was delighted the operation had gone well, but that his 83-year-old mother would remain in a London hospital at least until Wednesday.

June 12th, 2009 Ex-British PM Margaret Thatcher breaks arm in fallLONDON — Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher broke her arm in a fall Friday and was being kept in hospital for observation, her office said. Thatcher's office said the 83-year-old politician fractured a bone in her upper arm after tripping at home.

June 9th, 2009 Demonstrators stop BNP news conferenceLONDON — Demonstrators in Britain threw eggs Tuesday at the leader of a far-right political party, forcing him to abandon a news conference outside Parliament. The protesters, many of whom carried signs reading "Stop the Fascist BNP," chased British National Party leader Nick Griffin from the area.

June 4th, 2009 LONDON - Members of the world's oldest parliament have been hearing some mind-boggling facts and figures about the recent general elections in India - the world's largest democratic exercise. India's electorate of 714 million is larger than those of all of the 50 countries of Europe put together, all of Africa's 54, North America's 41, North and South America combined, and the entire Commonwealth minus India, Election Commissioner S.Y.

May 3rd, 2009 LONDON - A Bangladeshi-origin politician who became Britain's first Muslim woman member of the upper house of parliament is facing inquiry calls after allegations she claimed around 100,000 pounds in official expenses on a flat she does not live in. Baroness Paula Uddin, who became a Labour member of the House of Lords in 1998, has been claiming allowances intended for peers living outside London although she resides only four miles from the Lords, the Sunday Times reported.

April 29th, 2009 LONDON - The British Parliament's Home Affairs Committee has slammed new rules that deny heroic Gurkha veterans their right to stay in the country. The Gordon Brown Government faces a Commons defeat thanks to a growing Labour revolt.

March 28th, 2009 LONDON - British security and intelligence officers have expressed their concerns over the mistreatment of detained terror suspects, interviewed while in US custody abroad. Military Intelligence-Section 5 (MI5) and Military Intelligence-Section 6 (MI6) recently set up an inquiry to look into the allegations.

March 25th, 2009 LONDON - The Equalities and Human Rights Comission has named Baroness Sayeeda Warsi as the most powerful British Muslim woman of the country. The launch of the EHRC Power List is part of a wider project to raise the profile of Muslim women working in the UK.

March 22nd, 2009 LONDON - More Muslim women than ever are in leading positions in British society. There are more than 100,000 Muslim women currently working in Britain, yet many feel misunderstood and misrepresented.

February 27th, 2009 LONDON - Dipankar De Sarkar, the European bureau chief of Indo-Asian News Service , was named Journalist of the Year by the Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards at a ceremony here. The award was presented Thursday night by Minister for Europe Caroline Flint in the House of Commons, Britain's lower house of parliament.

February 21st, 2009 LONDON - A leading female Muslim politician in Britain said Friday she wants the government to make it compulsory to register all religious marriages so Muslim men stop taking more than one wife. Baroness Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, who belongs to the opposition Conservative Party, said the Labour government had ignored tackling polygamy because of the 'cultural sensitivity' surrounding the issue.

January 14th, 2009 LONDON - A senior economic aide to British Premier Gordon Brown has been criticised after saying she sees 'green shoots' of recovery amid the current economic downturn. 'It's a very uncertain world right now globally but I wouldn't want to be the one predicting it.