Odd bans: "Britain's main airport operator, BAA, has banned all cosmetics and liquids from passengers' hand luggage at the country's biggest airports, unless the items were bought at duty-free shops in the departure lounge. Under the new Department of Transport restrictions imposed at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and four other major airports from yesterday, all make-up - including items previously exempted such as lipstick, eyeliner and mascara - will be confiscated at security control. Travellers bound for the US will not be allowed to take liquids or cosmetics on board, regardless of where they were purchased. However, there remains concern that airport employees are able to evade this security and may be able to get contraband goods on to planes, which could include the types of raw materials required for the alleged bomb plot foiled by the August 10 arrests in Britain. One of the 23 people arrested, Amin Asmin Tariq, is an airline employee who has a 24-hour, all-areas pass at Heathrow airport".


Huge increase in migration to Britain: "More than a million foreigners have been given the right to settle in Britain since Labour came to power, after a sudden surge in numbers last year, according to figures published yesterday. Foreign settlement is three times the rate it was when Tony Blair entered Downing Street, and the number soared by almost 30 per cent last year... The number of migrants given settlement last year increased by 40,000 to a record figure of 179,120, compared with 58,700 in 1997. The figures do not include arrivals from the EU. More than 70 per cent of those given settlement rights were from Africa, Asia and the Indian sub-continent, with a further 20 per cent from North and South America and European states outside the European Economic Area. Sudden increases of people being granted settlement were recorded from a number of areas, including a rise of almost 100 per cent in citizens of Asian countries outside the Indian sub-continent, a 37 per cent rise in nationals from African countries and a 20 per cent increase in nationals from the Indian sub-continent. In contrast, there was a decline of 22 per cent in settlement by citizens from European countries and a 2 per cent drop in those from North and South America."