Margaret Thatcher: Critics Party In Brixton

Police were called to Brixton in South London after people celebrating the death of Margaret Thatcher gathered in the streets.

Some revellers climbed onto the Ritzy cinema building and rearranged letters on its film listings board to spell out the words: "Margaret Thatchers (sic) dead LOL".

Britain's first and only female prime minister died on Monday after suffering a stroke at the age of 87.

Other critics gathered in Windrush Square celebrated with cheers of "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dead, dead, dead".

A banner celebrating Margaret Thatcher's death hangs from the Ritzy cinema

The area was the scene of fierce riots in 1981, two years into Lady Thatcher's first term in office.

Pictures of anti-Thatcher graffiti scrawled on walls in Brixton also appeared on Twitter, with one reading: "You snatched my milk! & our hope"

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said extra officers were brought in to control the crowds, who "caused low level disorder" and threw "a small number of missiles" at officers.

There were no reports of any arrests and the group dispersed in the early hours of the morning, acccording to police.

Some revellers sprayed champagne as they celebrated in Brixton

A spokesman for Ritzy said there was some damage to its building, adding that staff helped clear up the streets after the demonstration.

Meanwhile in Glasgow, up to 300 people gathered in George Square, 24 years after poll tax protests were held there.

Some anti-capitalist campaigners wore party hats and launched streamers into the air, while a bottle of champagne was sprayed.

Earlier, David Hopper, general secretary of Durham Miners' Association, said he was celebrating on his 70th birthday after learning of Baroness Thatcher's death.

"She was a heartless woman who tore the heart out of the mining communities of the North," he said.

George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bradford West, wrote on Twitter: "Thatcher described Nelson Mandela as a 'terrorist'. I was there. I saw her lips move. May she burn in the hellfires."

Parliament is being recalled on Wednesday for a special session to allow politicians to pay tribute to Lady Thatcher.

A full ceremonial funeral will take place at St Paul's Cathedral next week.

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Margaret Thatcher: Funeral Preparations Begin

Thatcher In Her Own Words

Updated: 3:57pm UK, Monday 08 April 2013

Margaret Thatcher was renowned for her no-nonsense turn of phrase. Here are some of her memorable quotes.

:: "I wasn't lucky. I deserved it" - on receiving a school prize, aged nine

:: "There is no alternative" - about economic policing giving rise to her nickname "Tina"

:: "I am not hard, I'm frightfully soft. But I will not be hounded" - an interview in 1972

:: "It will be years - and not in my time - before a woman will lead the party or become Prime Minister" - speech in 1974

:: "Let our children grow tall, and some taller than others if they have it in them to do so" - speech in the US in 1975

:: "I've got a woman's ability to stick to a job and get on with it when everyone else walks off and leaves it" - in 1975

:: "I stand before you tonight in my green chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved. The Iron Lady of the Western World? Me? A cold war warrior? Well, yes - if that is how they wish to interpret my defence of values and freedoms fundamental to our way of life" - after the Kremlin dubbed her the Iron Lady in 1976

:: "Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country" - election campaign in 1979

:: "Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope" - on becoming PM in 1979

:: "If a woman like Eva Peron with no ideals can get that far, think how far I can go with all the ideals that I have" - an interview in 1980

:: "To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say, you turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning" - Tory Party conference in 1980

:: "A crime is a crime is a crime" - news conference in Saudi Arabia, rejecting any view that there could be political reasons for IRA terrorism in 1981

:: "We knew what we had to do and we went about it and did it. Great Britain is great again" - after the Falklands conflict in 1982

:: "In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman" - speech in 1982

:: "The battle for women's rights has been largely won" - an interview in 1982

:: "I owe nothing to women's lib" - an interview in 1982

:: "Victorian values were the values when our country became great" - a TV interview in 1982

:: "I am painted as the greatest little dictator, which is ridiculous - you always take some consultations" - an interview in 1983

:: "This is a man I can do business with" - after her first meeting with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev

:: "This is a day I was not meant to see" - after the Brighton bomb that nearly killed her in 1984

:: "I think, historically, the term 'Thatcherism' will be seen as a compliment" - speech in 1985

:: "Why, Marks and Spencer of course. Doesn't everyone?" - when asked where she bought her underwear in 1986

:: "There is no such thing as Society. There are individual men and women, and there are families" -  an interview in 1987

:: "We are a grandmother" - on the birth of her grandson, Michael, in 1989

:: "I fight on. I fight to win" - after she was forced into a second ballot in the leadership battle in November 1990

:: "It's a funny old world" - After her decision to quit in November 1990, pointing out that she had never lost an election in her life yet had been forced to stand down

:: "The Mummy returns" - During the general election campaign in 2001 after passing a poster publicising the film of that name

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North Korea: 'Signs' Nuclear Test Being Prepared

World Waits For North Korea's Move

Updated: 8:21am UK, Monday 08 April 2013

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in South Korea

The latest propaganda offering from North Korean state television is as bizarre as the rest of them.

Angry soldiers unleash German Shepherd dogs to attack mannequins representing South Korea's Defence Minister.

In another clip, the minister's face is pinned to a target, which the soldiers fire repeatedly at.

"Kim Kwan-jin is such a b****** and a defective human being. He doesn't even deserve to be our target," one of them screams.

This sort of propaganda loops on television sets in the northern half of the Korean peninsula.

It is designed primarily for domestic consumption: all part of the North Korean regime's attempt to justify its existence and shore up its own legitimacy by creating an external threat that doesn't exist.

To the outside world, the video offerings of soldiers and their museum-worthy equipment forms the less convincing part of Kim Jong-Un's game to be taken seriously.

Yet the country's December rocket launch and February nuclear test proved beyond doubt that North Korea is over the nuclear threshold. That prompted the UN sanctions in March. Mr Kim responded with rhetorical threats, propelling this crisis to where it is now.

And so the world waits for Mr Kim's next move.

The coming seven days will probably be critical. Several dates seem to hold significance.

April 10 was the date Western diplomats were told their safety couldn't be guaranteed from. It was also the deadline given for South Korean workers in the joint industrial plant at Kaesong to leave.

April 15 is the anniversary of the birthday of Mr Kim's grandfather and the founder of the nation, Kim Il-Sung.

So what is North Korea planning? An all-out assault or attempted invasion of the South is entirely improbable. That would signal a massive American military response and the end of a regime whose overriding aim is survival not suicide.

Much more likely is another missile test. Intelligence agencies tracked the movement of two mid-to-long range missiles last week. They believe they are now at a launch pad in the far north-east of the country.

So here is the most likely scenario: Mr Kim fires off a missile with great fanfare between now and next Monday. It soars into the skies east of the Korean peninsula, and then drops into the sea.

That will prompt the world to condemn the launch and the UN will levy yet more sanctions on the country.

Crucially though with this scenario, neither side will lose much face. Mr Kim survives and proves to his army and his people that he is strong and can launch missiles as he pleases.

America and her allies can claim that they avoided war and contained an extremely volatile situation.

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Disability Benefits: New System Rolled Out

By Siobhan Robbins, Sky Reporter

Major changes to disability benefits, which critics say will leave many worse off, are beginning to be rolled out today.

New claimants in parts of northern England will now receive Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in place of the old Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

The new system which includes face-to-face assessments and regular reviews will take at least two years to roll out across the rest of the country.

Steven Sumpter from Worcestershire, who suffers from ME and diabetes so finds walking painful, told Sky News he was worried about the future.

Previously, to get disability benefit he had to prove he was unable to walk 50m, but that will be changed to 20m.

He said he fears in the future he will lose half of the money he receives and the subsidised car he relies on.

"It means every single trip to the shops and the doctor will turn into maybe three hours of effort and that will leave me in bed, exhausted and in pain for days afterwards," he said.

The Government insists DLA was outdated and the changes mean those who really need support will now receive it.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has described the previous system as "ridiculous".

Iain Duncan Smith: Old system is "ridiculous"

"We've seen a rise in the run-up to PIP. And you know why? They know PIP has a health check. They want to get in early, get ahead of it. It's a case of 'get your claim in early'," he told the Daily Mail.

He added that rigorous new health checks for claimants were "common sense".

Some charities have already expressed concerns that it will mean 600,000 people miss out on support.

Chief Executive of Scope, Richard Hawkes admitted changes were needed but claimed the Government was motivated by cost cutting.

"The Government has already announced how much the Disability Living Allowance budget is going to be reduced, they've already announced how many people are going to lose DLA and they're introducing a test which is going to provide them with the results they want to reduce those costs. It's not right, it's not fair," he told Sky News.

PIP will initially be introduce for new claimants in northwest England, Cumbria, Cheshire, northeast England and Merseyside.

As the new scheme is being rolled out, welfare reform campaigners will present a petition calling for Mr Duncan Smith to live off £53 a week to his office.

Musician and part-time shop worker Dominic Aversano, who started the petition on campaigning website Change.org, said: "When I started this petition I never imagined the level of support it would get, and the amount of encouragement people would give me.

"It has sent a powerful message to this Government, showing the level of opposition to their vicious welfare cuts."

George Osborne has defended the changes

Mr Duncan Smith was challenged to live on £53 a week after a market trader on a radio show said that was all he had to live on despite working 50 to 70 hours a week.

Asked whether he could live on £53 a week, the former army officer who now earns around £1,600-a-week after tax replied: "If I had to I would."

As well as the Personal Independence Payments, other reforms including a below inflation 1% cap on working-age benefits and tax credit rises for three years, have already come into force.

Around 660,000 social housing tenants deemed to have a spare room will lose an average of £14-a-week in what critics have dubbed a "bedroom tax".

Trials of a £500-a-week cap on household benefits are also due to begin in four London boroughs.

Chancellor George Osborne insisted on Sunday that the public was behind his changes to the benefits system.

Mr Osborne also said he felt "angry" that too much money was being "spent in the wrong way in our welfare system".

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North Korea: US Missile Test Delayed Amid Row

The US has delayed the testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile over the growing tensions with North Korea, according to a defence official.

A Pentagon source said the Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to postpone the long-planned Minuteman 3 launch until next month because of concerns it would exacerbate the crisis.

North Korea's military warned this week it was authorised to attack the US using "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons.

The US brought forward deployment of a Global Hawk spy plane to Japan

South Korean officials said the North has moved at least one missile with "considerable range" to its east coast - possibly the untested Musudan missile, believed to have a range of 1,800 miles.

The US has been carrying out joint military exercises in the area with South Korea involving warships and bombers.

Mr Hagel's decision comes as China's Foreign Ministry expressed "grave concern" about escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula and asked for assurances about the safety of its diplomats.

And Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to up the pressure on Pyongyang when he said in a speech that no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".

North Korea held its most recent nuclear test in February and in December launched a long-range rocket that potentially could hit the continental US.

It has been angered by increasing sanctions and the exercises which are scheduled to continue to the end of the month.

This week, the US said two of its missile-defence ships were being moved closer to the Korean peninsula and a land-based system was being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month.

And deployment of an unmanned spy plane to northern Japan was brought forward to boost US surveillance after North Korean threats.

The Global Hawk will be stationed at the US airbase in Misawa, northern Japan, according to the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun.

Japan will further boost its defences by ordering its armed forces to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards its territory, according to press reports.

The order may be issued by Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera in the coming days but would reportedly be kept secret so as not to alarm the public.

It comes after North Korea warned foreign diplomats they may not be safe in the country if war breaks out.

Pyongyang asked foreign embassies whether they were considering evacuating staff, saying the government could not guarantee their safety in the event of conflict from April 10.

The British Foreign Office dismissed the warning as "rhetoric".

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India Houseboat Murder: 'Dutch Man Confesses'

By Alex Rossi, India Correspondent, in Kashmir

Police sources tell Sky News that a Dutch man they have been questioning over the murder of a British woman has now confessed.

Sarah Groves, 24, was found in a pool of blood inside the houseboat she had been living on for up to two months on the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir.

Officers have named the suspect as Richard de Wit, 43, and said he claimed to have been under the influence of drugs.

He had been staying on a neighbouring boat. When he was arrested 60 miles away he was carrying only his passport and was not wearing shoes.

The victim was staying on a houseboat on picturesque Dal Lake

Local police said Miss Groves, from Guernsey, had been stabbed at least 25 times with what was described as a "mountain knife".

The door to her room had also been forced open.

Her body is being sent for medical examination to determine whether she was sexually assaulted before being killed.

Deputy General Inspector Ahafadul Mujtaba told Sky News: "He has told us he killed the girl - we don't know why. He also says he had taken drugs, cannabis.

Shoes sit outside the door of the houseboat where Sarah Groves was staying

"We have taken his blood samples and have sent them away for testing. We have also not ruled out a sexual motive but there was no direct evidence at the scene. We are awaiting medical results."

Under Indian law a confession to a police officer is not admissible in a court of law.

The police say de Wit will be held in custody for the next 14 days whilst they continue to gather evidence.

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Man Dies Making Documentary About Homeless

A young documentary maker has been found dead while sleeping rough in freezing temperatures to highlight the plight of the homeless.

Lee Halpin, 26, had planned to spend a week living on the streets in his home city of Newcastle.

He began the project on Sunday but was apparently found dead three days later in a derelict building in the West End of the city.

How he died has not yet been confirmed but it is believed he may have died from hypothermia.

Speaking earlier on a YouTube video, he said the project was part of an application for an investigative journalism course to give an example of fearless reporting.

He said he had spoken to a homeless charity about the rise in the number of people on the streets and the possible repercussions of the bedroom tax.

"I'm about to go and spend a week being homeless in the West End of Newcastle.

"I will sleep rough for a week, scrounge for my food, access the services that other homeless individuals use," he said.

"I will interact with as many homeless people as possible and immerse myself in that lifestyle as deeply as I can."

He concluded the video by saying he hoped it showed his willingness to get to the heart of a story.

Mr Halpin's friend Daniel Lake told the Evening Chronicle: "No-one knows how he passed away, but we think it could have been hypothermia.

"He made the ultimate sacrifice trying to raise awareness about what was happening to other people."

A statement from Northumbria Police said: "Officers have arrested two men aged 26 and 30 on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of a controlled drug. They have been bailed pending further enquiries. A report is being prepared for the coroner into the death of the man."

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