Vol. 29 No. 3 June 2011 R New Floating Walkway To Be Built In Time For London Fortunes Of Olympics 2012 – See Page 3 President Obama Britain’s Super Rich Climb TTHEHE HHEADLINESEADLINES Scores Points By Cassandra Vinograd R UK To Provide Police THE FORTUNES of many Britain’s Uniforms To Libya’s Rebels wealthiest individuals appear to have BRITAIN will supply police offi cers in With PM turned. rebel-held eastern Libya with uniforms The 1,000 richest people in Britain and body armor, and help establish a increased their collective wealth by public radio station, Prime Minister Da- 18 percent in the past vid Cameron’s offi ce said last month. year and are now worth Following talks with Mustafa Abdul- £395.8bn, according to a Jalil, head of Libya’s National Transi- list published by the Sun- tional Council, Cameron said he had day Times newspaper. invited the rebels to open a permanent The newspaper was offi ce in London to cement contacts to later release its an- with Britain. nual rundown of Britain’s However, the UK has not followed Duke of 1,000 richest individuals Westminster France and Italy in recognizing the and families. council as Libya’s legitimate govern- Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal’s family ment. members held onto their position as the “These steps continue our very clear wealthiest people in Britain with a fortune intention to work with the council to en- of £17.5bn – but they are 22 percent poorer sure Libya has a safe and stable future, than a year earlier thanks to a drop in the free from the tyranny of the Gadhafi share price of ArcelorMittal. regime,” Cameron said, following talks Fellow metals mogul Alisher Usmanov, at his Downing Street residence. a Russian who has a stake in English Cameron’s offi ce said Britain would football club Arsenal, saw the biggest PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA and British Prime Minister company of Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Continued on page 4 David Cameron took in a game of table tennis with Philip and other royal family members. increase in wealth. He climbed six spots London students. The two leaders shared Obama’s limo for the ride to on the list to No 2 after adding £7.7bn to The two powerful world leaders had challenged the Globe Academy in London’s Southwark neighbor- his fortune. He is now worth 12.4bn, ac- R Tweets Allegedly Reveal UK students Jason Do and Jamiyu Mojaj to a game of hood. The school has more than 900 students, ages cording to the list. Celebrities’ Gag Orders ping-pong at the Globe Academy in Southwark, South 3 to 16. ADDING A TWITTER user has set up an account London, and both looked serious about it, the Daily Obama and Cameron saw some science exhibits, The Duke of Westminster fell out of claiming to expose celebrities who have Mail reported. then rolled up their sleeves for a match against two the top three for the fi rst time since 1999 obtained court-issued gag orders in Obama met Cameron at his official 10 Downing St teenage boys. After a handful of winning shots and the despite adding £250m to his fortune. The Britain to protect their privacy. residence after the president and his wife, Michelle, handshakes were over, it was revealed that Cameron Briton owns huge parcels of land in central The account posted six tweets and spent much of May 24 at Buckingham Palace in the and Obama appeared to have taken a sound beating. London and elsewhere. attracted nearly 25,000 followers since For the fi rst time, more than 100 women its fi rst message hit the Internet last made the cut – a feat that this year required month. UK Retail Sales Boosted In April By Royal Wedding a fortune of at least £70m. In 2010, the bar The tweets touched off a fi restorm was set at 63 million while in 2008 it was in the British media last month, raising RETAIL sales in Britain grew 1.1 tistics said. early last year, as the impact of auster- 55 million. further questions about the effectiveness percent in April, above forecasts of 0.8 The agency said sales volume for ity measures hit consumer confi dence,” The study shows that the number of of the gag orders in the Internet age. percent, as warm weather and an extra supermarkets and food stores was up 1.4 said Chris Williamson, chief economist billionnaires in the UK now stands at 73 One of Britain’s top judges is mulling holiday for the wedding of Prince Wil- percent compared with a year earlier, the at Markit. – up from 53 a year earlier but just shy of new curbs on the use of so-called super liam and the former Kate Middleton fi rst year-on-year growth in 15 months. For the fi rst four months of the year, the record of 75 set in the pre-crisis List injunctions, which critics say stifl e the boosted shopping, offi cial data showed “The big question is whether this UK car production is up seven percent of 2008, when the collective wealth of the media. last month. represents the start of a brighter mood compared with a year ago, thanks to a top 1,000 was £413bn. In terms of value, rather than volume, on the high street or merely a temporary 23 percent jump in output for export. R Scottish Schoolgirl Allowed sales were 1.6 percent higher compared respite in a downward trend in consumer Production for the home market is down Clegg Proposes with March, the Offi ce for National Sta- spending that has been evident since 35 percent. To Use Ipod During Exams Elected Upper Chamber A YEAR six schoolgirl in Scotland BRITAIN’S government last month pub- has won the right to use an iPod dur- lished proposals to reform the country’s ing her examination, saying she can’t Queen Completes Historic, centuries-old House of Lords, including concentrate unless she listens to her the fi rst direct elections for members. favorite music. The 700-year-old upper chamber – The decision came after her parents which does not make laws, but has the threatened legal action against the Successful Trip To Ireland power to amend legislation – currently has school and examination authorities. 792 active members, a mix of appointed, A schoolteacher was compelled to THE QUEEN, on a landmark trip to the hereditary and religious peers. The mem- buy a new iPod loaded with the girl’s Republic of Ireland last month, visited the bers are appointed for life. choice of music to ensure that no site of the massacre of 14 Irish citizens by A draft bill published by Nick Clegg, answers are hidden among the music British troops in 1920. the deputy prime minister, outlined how tracks. Later, the Queen’s visit to Dublin’s the chamber can be slimmed down to 300 Initially the school staff of Mary Croke Park was seen as a symbol of bet- members, with 80 percent elected and each Erskine School for girls in Edinburgh ter relations between the two countries. member serving fi xed 15-year terms. The refused the request, fearing a possibil- Ireland won its independence from Britain other 20 percent – 60 members – would ity of cheating. However, they agreed in 1922 after a bloody 30-month war. be appointed. after the girl’s parents took her case to Earlier in the day, the British monarch The bill was published together with a the court. paper setting out other options, including The Scottish Qualifi cations Authority making the chamber entirely elected. That (SQA) examination board ruled out that plan is favored by Clegg, but will likely such a request could be accepted. face strong opposition from the chamber. But, it was forced to back down after Both documents will be considered by reportedly being threatened with legal lawmakers from the House of Lords and Continued on page 5 the House of Commons. R Two Face Trial On 1993 Youth Survives 90-Foot Lawrence Murder Fall, Lands In A Sunbed TWO MEN face trial in Britain for the A BRITISH teenager survived a 90-foot murder of a black student in 1993, a fall at a hotel when he landed on a sun case which drew widespread attention lounger, while vacationing in Majorca, it to the nation’s problems with racially The Queen Lays a wreath in memory of Irish soldiers who died in WWI. was reported by The Sun newspaper. motivated crime. laid a wreath in memory of the 49,400 “deep sympathy” to all who had suffered Nineteen-year-old Jacob Evans suf- Police and prosecutors said last Irish soldiers who died fi ghting alongside as a result of the troubled relations between fered a broken arm and ankle after he fell month the two white men, 35-year-old British troops in World War I. England and Ireland. from the seventh fl oor hotel room on the Gary Dobson and 34-year-old David On a lighter note, during her historic CONFLICTS Spanish island. Norris, were arrested in September four-day visit, Elizabeth and her husband, She did not apologize for any British Police suspect that he may have been and have been charged with the fatal the Duke of Edinburgh, visited the Guin- actions during the bitter confl icts between trying to jump from the balcony into the stabbing of 18-year-old Stephen Law- ness brewery, where they were shown how the two neighbors but said it is clear mis- hotel’s pool.