Camerons sidelined in royal protocol
London: British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha had a taste of the royal protocol when they were reportedly forced to sing the national anthem from the sidelines of the royal box at the Queen’s Balmoral Castle. The Camerons, who are guests of the Queen at Balmoral Castle this weekend, failed to make it into the royal box on time to sing the national anthem.
The couple were so busy meeting and greeting guests at the annual Highland games in Aberdeenshire, they missed the royals’ formal entrance and were forced to sing God Save The Queen from the sidelines, the ‘Sunday Express’ reported. An onlooker said: “They looked a little embarrassed. The royal party arrived together but soon split up to shake hands.
The Queen went ahead and before the Camerons knew it, she was in the royal box facing the crowd.
“Suddenly the national anthem started, before the Camerons could get to their seats. They were forced to sing where they’re standing, which made them look rather awkward.” When they finally took their seats, Samantha talked animatedly with Prince Philip. David Cameron is the first Prime Minister to attend the Braemar Gathering since Cherie Blair was famously photographed yawning during the caber tossing and the tug-o’-war in 2003. Despite being Scottish, Gordon Brown used to bypass Braemar and head straight for the castle with wife Sarah and their sons John and Fraser for their annual weekends away with the royals.
This year it was a low-key royal turnout with Prince Charles and Princess Anne committed to engagements elsewhere. (PTI)
Spies to root out Muslim extremism from British schools
London: The British government has recruited former MI5 spies in schools as a measure to root out Islamic extremism and extremists.
Ministers in Britain are understood to be so worried about the influence of Muslim preachers of hate and other extremists in the classrooms that a new unit has been set up. They have recruited former members of the secret service with expertise in the Islamist terrorist threat to investigate, Daily Express reported.
Education Secretary Michael Gove is concerned that comprehensive schools and the government’s new generation of “free schools” may be targeted by extremists.
“We have been working with people who have been in the Intelligence Services in order to ensure that there is no-one from the wrong sort of background involved in education,” said Gove.
“And, I should add, not just with the free schools,” Gove told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
Whitehall sources confirmed that a “due diligence unit” with former MI5 staff had been set up within the Department for Education to probe for extremists in schools.
Gove insisted that he was determined not to allow anyone wishing to establish a “free school” which are designed to be formed by local communities and funded by the government.
All applicants desiring to set up the new educational establishments, which are free from local council control and can be run by parents or voluntary groups, would be vetted by the new investigation unit.
Gove said: “I’ve been crystal clear we should not have schools set up by extremists whether they’re Christian fundamentalists, Islamic fundamentalists or any other sort of outrageous and beyond-the-pale organisation.”
“We’ve set up a unit within the Department explicitly to monitor anyone who comes forward with a proposal for extremism.”
“In the last government, we had money going to extremist groups that was supposed to go to fight terrorism. Now we have a unit in place to prevent that,” the minister stated. (IANS)
Rare freshwater jellyfish found in China
Beijing: A rare type of freshwater jellyfish has been found to be thriving in a river in south China.
Schools of the endangered freshwater jellyfish were discovered by police officers conducting a dive-training session in a river in Du’an Yao county of Guangxi Zhuang region, Xinhua reported.
Wei Qinghua, a police diving coach who first noticed the jellyfish, found thousands of the creatures in an underwater cave and took pictures and sent them to biologists at the Chinese Academy of Science.
The biologists concluded that the creatures Wei saw were freshwater jellyfish, also known as “peach blossom jellyfish” for their resemblance to the flower, said Lan Qifu, chief of the regional tourism bureau.
Tong Xiaoli, an environmental professor at the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou, said: “They look very unique and beautiful, but it is hard to tell what specific species they belong to.”
” We will need to work with foreign experts in order to determine their species.”
Freshwater jellyfish are occasionally found in Guangdong, Fujian and Shandong provinces, Tong said, adding that the jellyfish found in Guangxi look different from those found in other provinces.
“If they are confirmed to be a new species, they will have tremendous research value,” he said. (IANS)