London - Nationalized Northern Rock mortgage lender was Friday accused of being the "most aggressive" among British banks on the sensitive issue of home repossessions, a charge it immediately rejected.

A BBC report, based on information gained from charities linked to mortgage lending, said Northern Rock, Britain's fifth-biggest lender, was twice as likely as other banks to move to repossess a home.

"There's not a lot of flexibility being shown by Northern Rock," Chris Tapp, director of the charity Credit Action, said. "They are not giving people a lot of time, they seem to be moving for repossessions quite quickly as a resort."

London/Belfast - Police in Northern Ireland said Friday they discovered a huge cache of weapons and ammunition linked to a formerly mainstream Protestant paramilitary group.

The more than 70 weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition were found during the search of a home in Belfast which led to further discoveries in lock-up premises in the city, police said.

The discovery was linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a mainstream Protestant paramilitary group, which in May 2007 declared an end to its campaign of violence by announcing the organization was adopting a non-military and civilian role.

The UVF said it had ceased recruitment and military training and had placed all its guns "beyond reach."

London - The lavish gardens of Buckingham Palace, accessible only to those invited by Queen Elizabeth II, will be open to the public for the first time in their 200-year-history next year, it was announced Friday.

At 16 hectares, the space is the biggest private garden in the heart of London, open only to invited guests at summer garden parties and other celebratory events.

But from 2009, groups of up to 25 people will be able to book a tour on selected dates in April, May and June for 20 pounds (35 dollars) per head.

Attractions include a wisteria-clad summer house, a rose garden, a romantic lake, wild flowers and mature trees. The garden is home to 30 species of birds and a quarter of the total British list of moths and butterflies.

London - A British general who is believed to be backing a major troop "surge" in Afghanistan was Friday named the new head of the British army.

General David Richards, a former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, was reported by the Independent newspaper Friday as advocating a troop "surge" of 30,000 to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.

London, Oct 17 : An American couple has become proud parents of rare identical triplets.

Desmond and Kerry Lyons, who live in New York, revealed that they feel blessed and are thankful for the bliss.

The couple, who already has two children aged two and four, revealed that the triplets were born through Caesarean.

"We just feel lucky and blessed that we have these three amazing little babies and they''re healthy and, frankly, kinda cute, to boot, which we weren''t expecting," The Telegraph quoted the proud parents, as saying.

Desmond, a lawyer, admitted that when he learned he and his wife were expecting triplets eight weeks into her pregnancy. At that time he uttered just one word: "Wow."

London, Oct 17 : A string of police raids in Britain and across the Continent has established a link between terrorism plots and hardcore child pornography.

The Times has discovered that images of child abuse have been found during Scotland Yard anti-terrorism swoops and in big inquiries in Italy and Spain.

Secret coded messages are being embedded into child pornographic images, and paedophile websites are being exploited as a secure way of passing information between terrorists.

British security services are also aware of the trend and believe that it requires further investigation to improve understanding of terrorists’ methods and mindsets.