• Report: Britain spied on world leaders at G-20 summit

    A new report based on the information leaked by Edward Snowden is suggesting Britain spied on world leaders at two London summits in 2009. Meanwhile, protestors are demonstrating in support of Snowden in China. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

    LONDON -- British spies intercepted the phone calls of foreign politicians and delegates at the G-20 summit in 2009, according to documents provided to The Guardian by self-declared NSA leaker Edward Snowden, the newspaper reported Monday.

    U.K. intelligence agency GCHQ also monitored the computers of delegates at the London conference and tried to capture their passwords, the newspaper said.

    Among the foreign politicians targeted were then-President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, and Turkish finance minister, Mehmet Simsek, the newspaper said.

    Sen. Lindsey Graham says leaker Edward Snowden's actions "compromised our national security" and elaborates on his definition of justice in locating Snowden.

    The report came hours before President Barack Obama and other world leaders from the G-8 countries - all of which are in the G-20 – were due to attend a two-day summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.

    Although espionage at international conferences has often been rumored, it is rare for evidence to be uncovered, The Guardian said.

    It said the evidence was contained in classified documents shown to its reporters by Snowden, a U.S. citizen who worked for a private defense contractor and now faces a federal investigation into a string of embarrassing leaks about the National Security Agency and the PRISM surveillance program.

    Snowden is reportedly in Hong Kong, where he told The Guardian that he was hoping to fight the U.S. government in the courts.

    A spokesman for Britain’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the report. A spokesman for GCHQ said the agency never commented on intelligence matters.

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    This story was originally published on Mon Jun 17, 2013 8:29 AM EDT

  • One of New York's most-wanted fugitives found living in small English town

    Interpol

    Sean Lopes, 47, was arrested in Chatham, England, on Monday.

    By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A fugitive wanted in New York after vanishing in the wake of a 2004 hostage taking has been arrested in England, where he had been working in a supermarket.

    Sean Lopes, 47, had been living in Chatham, about 30 miles southeast of London, when he was arrested Monday, Kent Police said in a statement.

    He was "wanted on charges of attempted murder and kidnapping in the United States" involving a 22-year-old woman dating June 2004, according to Kent Police.

    Kent Police said Lopes was charged in the U.S. with the offense but went missing after being released on bail. He was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in May 2005.

    A 2012 news release from U.S. authorities said Lopes entered the home of an ex-girlfriend -- both were employed by New York City public schools -- and waited for her to come home. When she did, he confronted her with a gun and a knife and held her hostage until police were able to get into the apartment and free her, according to a 2012 statement from the U.S. Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago, where Lopes was mistakenly thought to have been living.

    Lopes was believed to have fled to the island nation using his brother's travel documents, the embassy said.

    Lopes had been working at a Sainsbury's grocery store in Gravesend, Kent, the company said Thursday. 

    “We can confirm that a member of staff from our Pepper Hill store was arrested on Monday," a Sainsbury's spokeswoman said. "We are helping the police with their investigations but are unable to comment further.”

    He had been listed as one of the NYPD's 10 most-wanted suspects.

    Kent Police said a resident of the area raised concerns about Lopes to police, who launched an investigation that included investigators from New York and London. He was then tracked down and arrested.

    Lopes appeared in a London court on Tuesday and was ordered to be detained as extradition proceedings got under way, Kent Police said.

    According to Interpol, Lopes is a native of Guyana. The U.S. Embassy said he also had ties to Canada, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.

    This story was originally published on Thu May 9, 2013 7:04 AM EDT

  • How to protect 500,000 along a 26-mile route? London beefs up marathon security

    Authorities around the world, from Los Angeles and Chicago to London, which is preparing for its own marathon this weekend, are taking a closer look at their security plans for major events. NBC's Tom Costello reports.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Andy Eckardt and Keir Simmons, NBC News

    LONDON -- British authorities ordered more police on the streets for Sunday's London Marathon in the wake of the Boston bombings, but experts warned it was "virtually impossible" to guarantee the safety of the hundreds of thousands who will attend the event. 

    A police source said additional patrols by uniformed officers were planned to reassure the public in the wake of deadly attack.

    While British security officials have been in contact with their counterparts in the U.S. following Monday's blasts, the U.K.'s threat level for international terrorism hasn't been changed from "substantial" -- the third of five categories on the scale.

    At least 500,000 spectators are expected to watch Sunday’s race and Prince Harry is due to hand medals to the winners.

    NBC's Keir Simmons reports on how nations from the United Kingdom to China have been offering their support and condemning the apparent act of terrorism that rocked the Boston Marathon.

    The course takes the 36,000 runners right past major sites - including Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace – as well as through Canary Wharf, the giant riverside financial district targeted twice by the Irish militants in the 1990s.

    Even in a city that has spent recent decades under the threat of bombs – first from Irish Republicans, more recently jihadists – such a public event poses a security headache.

    Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, said that the force was "taking more more precautions than we might have done otherwise."

    "We will make sure we've got more officers on the street looking after people, making sure they're kept safe, but we've no reason to think they'd be any less safe than before the terrible events in Boston,." he said. "We'd be professionally irresponsible if we didn't take some reasonable steps."

    Sang Tan / AP

    Backdropped by Buckingham Palace, a jogger crosses the Mall in London on Tuesday. It will be transformed into the finishing area for Sunday's London Marathon.

    Metropolitan Police Commander Christine Jones declined to give details of what changes might be made, if any, to the event's security plan. She said officers would “continue to review all the intelligence” available.

    London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel insisted the event would go ahead. “We will be reviewing our security in the coming days, in the light of what has happened in Boston," Bitel told ITV News.

    "I don't want to talk about specifics of what security we have had in the past, or will have on Sunday. All I can say is that it will be of an appropriate level to meet whatever threat assessment is made, in conjunction with the police," he added.

    Hugh Robertson, a British government minister, called for crowds and runners to attend in London as normal.

    “The very best way to show solidarity with Boston is to get out there on the streets of London to cheer the runners on and to show that we won’t be defeated by this sort of activity,” he told the London Evening Standard newspaper.

    Runners will be encouraged to wear a black ribbon at the start of the race to honor victims of the Boston bombing, and a 30-second silence will be observed, organizers said Wednesday. 

    NBC News national security analyst Michael Leiter said it was “virtually impossible” to make a marathon completely secure because of its 26.2-mile long route.

    “You just have to do the best you can to keep people safe and maintain resilience," he said. “It’s important we don’t alter our lives because that provides the terrorist – domestic, international, whoever it may be – with a huge victory.”

    Helmut Spahn, executive director of the International Centre for Sport Security, told Reuters: "There has to be a clear analysis of the situation and certainly no over-reaction. More police, more military is not always the best solution. To have a 100 percent security is very, very difficult if not near impossible.”

    Sang Tan / AP

    A sign warns of road closures linked to the forthcoming London Marathon.

    The German port city of Hamburg is also hosting a marathon Sunday. More than 400 police officers will be on duty.

    Organizer Frank Thaleiser said about 22,000 athletes were registered for the event.

    "It is impossible to fully control the entire 42 kilometers along the running course, but we have also advised our 3,000 helpers to be extra vigilant and to watch out for abandoned bags or suspicious packages," he said.

    "But it does not make sense to position 100 police officers at the finish line, that would only generate panic," he added.

    Professor Richard English, director of  the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at Britain's University of St. Andrews, urged people to not be rattled by the Boston attack.

    "The chances of people being killed or injured by terrorism are statistically very slight, despite the appalling nature of what happened [on Monday] in Boston," he said. "Continuing normal life makes sense ... In the absence of a well-grounded threat to specific races, the likelihood is that marathons, and most other public occasions, will continue to be safe in the U.S."

    NBC News' Ian Johnston contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Full coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings from NBC News

     

     

    This story was originally published on Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:29 AM EDT

  • Alleged al-Qaida operative extradited to US over subway bomb plot

    Metropolitan Police

    Abid Naseer, 26, was extradited from Britain to the United States on Thursday.

    By Reuters

    LONDON -- A Pakistani man accused by U.K. authorities of being an al-Qaida operative who took part in a plot to bomb U.S. and British targets was extradited to the United States on Thursday to face terrorism charges.

    Abid Naseer, 26, was one of a dozen men arrested in April 2009 on suspicion of preparing to cause mass casualties by bombing Manchester city center in northern England.

    He and the other suspects were never charged, but Britain said in addition to the alleged Manchester plot, Naseer was part of a wider al-Qaida cell bent on staging attacks in the United States and Norway.

    On Thursday, he was taken by counter-terrorism police from a high security prison in east London to Luton airport, north of the British capital, and handed over to U.S. officials.

    He is wanted for trial in the United States for his alleged role in planned suicide bomb attacks on New York City subways in 2009, for which a number of men have already been convicted.

    He faces three charges: providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization; conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization; and conspiracy to use a destructive device.

    Full international coverage from NBC News

    Naseer and 11 others, mostly students from Pakistan, were arrested in daylight raids in 2009 after Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer was photographed openly carrying details about the operation.

    'Very big terrorist plot'
    Britain's then-prime minister, Gordon Brown, said officers were dealing with a "very big terrorist plot," but no explosives were found and all the men were later released as there was not enough evidence to charge them.

    Britain's case against them had been based around emails exchanged between Naseer and a Pakistan account believed to be registered to an al-Qaida operative.


    British authorities said the emails, which appeared to be discussions about girlfriends and wedding plans, in fact related to ingredients for explosives and they said Naseer posed a serious threat to national security.

    The men were ordered to be deported to Pakistan but Naseer won an appeal against the decision because of fears he would be mistreated if he was returned.

    He was arrested again in July 2010 when the U.S. warrant was issued, and last month European Court of Human Rights rejected his appeal against the extradition.

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  • Hail to the chief: Americans eyed in search for Britain's top rabbi

    David Karp / AP, file

    Although the official selection committee for a new chief rabbi remains mum, the Jewish press has put Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, the leader of a thriving congregation in the Bronx on the most recent short list. Rosenblatt denies that he is a contender for the position.

    By Rachel Elbaum, NBC News

    LONDON — Time consuming, costly and agonizingly difficult: No matter what the scale — from the American presidency to a local youth organization — choosing a new leader is never easy. Throw in a dose of religion, and the process only gets more complicated.

    Britain’s Jewish community is currently in the midst of a once-in-a-generation process to select a new chief rabbi. The candidates are numerous, the process secretive and the role wide-ranging.

    Whoever follows has big shoes to fill. In a country that has become increasingly secular, the current chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, is an internationally recognized spiritual figure. His influence reaches far beyond the boundaries of the rather small community of several hundred thousand Jews he represents.  In his time as chief over the past 21 years, he has earned a reputation as a national treasure due in part to his frequent contributions to U.K. newspapers and radio programs.

    Sacks, who announced he would be stepping down in September 2013, is a widely respected scholar, prolific author, and sought-after speaker. Like his predecessor, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and appointed to the House of Lords, a post that he will hold long after he steps down as chief rabbi.

    Full international coverage from NBC News

    Toby Melville / Reuters, file

    Britain's Jewish community is currently in the midst of a once-in-a-generation process to select a new chief rabbi to replace highly respected Jonathan Sacks.

    When he was appointed, he was widely acknowledged to be the front-running candidate thanks in part to his rabbinic credentials and high-level secular university degrees from Cambridge, Oxford and King’s College London.

    This time around however, there are few obvious candidates and speculation in the U.K. Jewish press has been rife as to who will succeed the well-respected Sacks.

    Will it be one of three London rabbis, each well respected as scholars and leaders of thriving congregations? Or will the powerful selection committee turn to a candidate from abroad — most likely the United States — and opt for a leader with little local experience, but with fresh ideas and little local baggage?

    "We are only looking for the 11th chief rabbi since 1704," says Steve Pack, president of the United Synagogue, the organization spearheading the appointment process. "Out of the 10 who have served, a high proportion was born outside the U.K. While it’s important that the future chief understand Anglo Jewry, being from here or born here isn’t a requirement."

    'No choice but to look abroad'
    Jewish community insiders acknowledge that there is a very small pool of locally educated rabbis with respected religious and secular degrees.

    "Britain has failed to educate a new generation of younger, well qualified rabbis," said Geoffrey Alderman, who writes a weekly column for the U.K. Jewish newspaper, The Jewish Chronicle. "The country’s main yeshivot [rabbinical seminaries] that are producing Orthodox rabbis are deemed to be too far to the right. Therefore to find someone who has impeccable Orthodox credentials, who can be relied upon to stand up to the extreme right and who also has a good secular education, you have no choice but to look abroad."

    Although the official selection committee remains mum, the Jewish press has put Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, the leader of a thriving congregation in the Bronx, on the most recent short list. Yet Rosenblatt, who reportedly visited London in August, denies that he is a contender for the position.

    "I am not involved in the CR [chief rabbi] search," wrote Rosenblatt in an email to NBC News. "Like everyone else I will be waiting with interest to learn who will fill the gargantuan shoes of my mentor and friend, Lord Sacks. I hope the next CR will be blessed in his work."

    Other Americans bandied about in the press over the last few months include Rabbi Michael Broyde, a law professor at Atlanta’s Emory University and judge on the rabbinical court of America, as well as Manhattan-based Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, a 35-year-old scholar who has made his mark not only in the Jewish world, but also as a GOP supporter who gave the blessing at the opening of the Republican National Convention in August.

    Secret selection
    Officially, the chief rabbi is the religious head of the United Hebrew Congregations of the U.K. and Commonwealth, made up of about 140 synagogues, along with schools and other community organizations. He is also head of the beit din, the religious court whose responsibilities include granting divorces, issuing conversions and settling disputes. Perhaps most importantly, the chief is an ambassador, attending state functions and taking part in interfaith dialogue. Sacks even got a coveted invitation to the 2011 royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

    A blindfolded child's weighty task: Pick a new pope

    Despite the high-profile nature of the position, the selection process itself is shrouded with secrecy. The eight selection committee members and two rabbinical advisers were required to sign confidentiality agreements - to protect the identity of rabbis that may want to keep their candidacy under-wraps, according to Pack. The committee won’t reveal how many applications it received, or how many candidates it is seriously considering, only saying that there are a "significant number" of applicants from the U.K. and overseas.


    "The idea that through this secret process a leader will be chosen to whom the rest of British Jewry will defer is lunacy," said a skeptical Alderman. "This is a peculiar office that was fashioned in the Victorian era when the Jews were fighting for social and legal recognition and they wanted someone to front for them. Over the years, the office evolved and matured to fulfil a certain function, but we now need to move on. The thought of a chief rabbi in the U.S. is laughable."

    The notion of having a single leader for all of Britain's Jews is increasingly questioned by a growing proportion of the community. However, the high profile nature of the position forces many to accept that the role does impact their lives, if in no other way than in how British Jews are perceived in the outside world.

    "Although he isn’t the chief rabbi of the whole community, he is perceived as having a central role — if not the central voice — and therefore it matters to have someone who is a good communicator, who relates to contemporary issues and who has a voice of wisdom, compassion and intelligence," said Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, a leader of the left-leaning Masorti Movement and the rabbi of the New North London Synagogue.

    The selection committee hopes to have a candidate in place in the next few months. It is no question that Sacks' successor will face tough challenges in the coming years, from uniting the divided community to battling anti-Semitic currents in Europe, to name but a few.

    "The main challenge of the incoming chief will be to keep up the high standards his predecessor has set," said Pack. "We have good candidates, and it will be up to the individual who takes on this role to command the space and speak on behalf of Anglo Jewry."

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  • Jury: Florida man guilty in killing of ex-wife's British husband in front of her, kids

    View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

    By NBC News

    A Florida jury has convicted Cristobal Palacio of second-degree murder and two counts of child abuse in the October 2008 shooting death of his ex-wife's British husband, Paul Winter, in front of her children, NBCMiami.com reported.

    Palacio, 46, was charged with first-degree murder in Winter's killing in Palacio's Kendall driveway.

    But the jury Friday night opted to convict him of the lesser murder charge instead, as well as child abuse. Palacio shot Winter six times, including twice in the back, in a jealous rage in front of his 6-year-old twins and his ex-wife, Jennifer Winter, according to authorities.

    Jurors deliberated for almost 20 hours over two days before coming back with their decision.

    See the original story at NBCMiami.com | More from NBCMiami.com

    "I don't know what case they watched," defense attorney Michael Walsh said. "I don't know what facts they listened to."

    On the last day of his trial on Wednesday, Palacio tearfully told the jury he acted in self-defense.

    He said he thought Winter, who wasn't armed, was going for a gun.

    "He comes out like he’s so pissed, angry, I mean, you could see the veins,” Palacio said. “I hadn't done nothing to this guy. He starts coming at me."

    Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com 

    When the verdicts were read Friday, Palacio did not show emotion. He looked forward and blinked.

    "He's just in shock," Walsh said. "He doesn't even know what just happened."

    Walsh also explained why his client shot six times.

    "When you squeeze that trigger, you can fire 10 bullets in less than three seconds, so in three seconds when your life is threatened, you're not really counting bullets, you're just squeezing," he said.

    Winter, originally from Tunbridge Wells, had moved to Miami in 2007 and married the ex-wife of Palacio, a fraud investigator for Citibank, the Daily Telegraph reported.

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    The graphic designer, 42, was in the process of applying for U.S. residency and had planned to open a bed and breakfast with his American wife, whom he met through an online gaming website, the Telegraph reported.

    During the trial, Jennifer Winter told the court: "He walked up to my husband after he was laying face down and he shot him more in the back, after he was already dead – he shot him more in the back."

    She wept as she described the moment after the shooting, and said: "Why did you do this? Why did you kill my husband? How could you do this? Then he just smiled like he was so proud of himself."

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  • UK won't extradite sex offender accused of raping, molesting girls in US

    Interpol via AP

    Britain's High Court on Thursday blocked a U.S. bid to extradite Shawn Sullivan to Minnesota, saying the state's restrictive treatment program for sex offenders was too draconian.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    LONDON -- Minnesota prosecutors' efforts to have a convicted sexual predator brought to trial in the United States were thwarted on Thursday when Britain's High Court dropped extradition proceedings, saying the U.S. hadn't guaranteed the suspect would be kept out a program some deem draconian. 

    Shawn Sullivan, 43, is accused of molesting two girls and raping a third in the 1990s in Minnesota. Sullivan fled the United States and eventually ended up in London, where authorities caught up to him two years ago. 

    Judges Alan Moses and David Eady said in a ruling finalized Thursday that if Sullivan were returned to the U.S., he could face a real risk of being placed in the state's civil commitment program -- which provides for the indefinite detention of people found to be sexually dangerous -- and suffer "a flagrant denial of his rights." 

    'Slap in the face'
    One of Sullivan's accusers called the decision "a slap in the face." 

    "That whole argument is just irrational," Jessica Schaefer, 29, told The Associated Press. Sullivan allegedly molested her and her cousin when they were both 11.

    "It's just another loophole in the justice system that caters to the criminals. All they have to do is find a loophole or a technicality and they walk. ... "I feel like I'm just pleading for justice, and I'm not getting anywhere." 

    UK court backs extradition of Assange in sex case

    The AP does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault without their consent. The Minnesota women Sullivan is accused of attacking as children agreed to let the AP use their names. 

    Two Minnesota prosecutors in the counties where Sullivan faces charges defended their decision not to guarantee Sullivan would be kept out of the program, saying it was "not in the interests of public safety." 

    "I think it's way beyond reasonableness for them to interfere in how we conduct business," said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. 

    Irish conviction
    Sullivan escaped to Ireland as prosecutors prepared to file charges, and while staying there was convicted of sexually assaulting two 12-year-old girls. Sullivan, a dual U.S.-Irish citizen, moved to London using an Irish passport that spelled his last name in Gaelic as "O'Suilleabhain." 

    The British judges made clear in an earlier decision that they would have supported Sullivan's extradition had it not been for the sex treatment program, which they described as among the toughest in the U.S. 

    America's only female chain gang toils in Phoenix

    The program, which began in its current form in the mid-1990s, allows courts to commit a person for sex offender treatment if a judge decides the person is sexually psychopathic or sexually dangerous. As of April 1, 641 people were in Minnesota's program. 

    The program faces constitutional challenges by some who say it holds people indefinitely after their prison sentences. One 64-year-old man received a provisional discharge earlier this year when he was allowed to move into a Minneapolis-area halfway house. Only one other person was ever released from the program, and was soon taken back into custody on a violation. 

    The justices in London outlined a litany of concerns in their June 20 decision, noting offenders don't have to be mentally ill to be committed; their offenses don't have to be recent; and in some cases, they don't even have to have been convicted of a crime. 

    UK judge Moses said on Thursday that "the United States will not provide an assurance," thus allowing Sullivan's appeal, according to The Independent newspaper.

    "The appellant will be discharged from the proceedings," the judge said, according to the paper.

    'Open the floodgates'
    Officials with the Minnesota Department of Human Services said they don't know of any instances where someone without a criminal conviction has been placed in the program, though they acknowledged it's theoretically possible. 

    Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, who charged Sullivan with molesting the 11-year-old girls, said authorities hadn't decided whether to pursue civil commitment. However, he said making such a guarantee "could open the floodgates." 

    "It's a very slippery slope to go down once you start making agreements," Backstrom said.

    NJ man returning to stand trial over girl's killing

    Peter Wold, Sullivan's criminal defense attorney in Minnesota, said the British judges balked at the prospect of indefinite detention. "That offended them, and it should offend a lot of people, to have the prospect of people being committed with no end in sight," he said. 

    Human rights concerns periodically complicate efforts by U.S. prosecutors to extradite suspects. For example, European Union countries typically won't extradite suspects who could face capital punishment to the U.S. unless American prosecutors give assurances they won't seek the death penalty. 

    Still, Bruce Zagaris, a Washington, D.C.,-based attorney specializing in international criminal law, said this was one of the first cases he had seen in which the U.K. has said no to extradition. 

    "I think foreign courts no longer give us the benefit of the doubt," Zagaris said.

    Cops hunt 'predator' who killed six-year-old girl, dumped her body in Utah canal

    Sullivan still faces a civil case in Minnesota, and Michael Hall III, the attorney representing the three alleged victims, said he expects that to go forward. He said significant punitive damages are possible. 

    Sullivan's attorney in the civil case was out of the office Thursday and did not return a message. 

    Hannah Treziok, who was 14 when she says Sullivan raped her, said she was disappointed with the British court's ruling but that she had prepared herself for this possibility. 

    "The reality is, we, the victims, have for 18 years been fighting the good fight, and there is no shame in that," she said. "Even though it is not the exact outcome that we desired ... we brought him out of the shadows and exposed him for who and what he really is." 

    The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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  • Rev. Jesse Jackson to London protesters: 'Jesus was an Occupier'

    Oli Scarff / Getty Images

    Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks to Occupy activists outside of London's St. Paul's Cathedral on Thursday.

    By F. Brinley Bruton, msnbc.com

    LONDON -- Veteran activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson compared the global anti-capitalist movement to the U.S. civil rights struggle, the battle against apartheid in South Africa and the fight for Indian independence during a visit to an Occupy camp in London on Thursday.

    "Jesus was an Occupier, born under a death warrant, a Jew by religion, born in poverty under Roman occupation," the two-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination told a crowd near Saint Paul’s Cathedral. "Gandhi was an Occupier, Martin Luther King was an Occupier, (Nelson) Mandela was an Occupier."

    A man dressed in a well-tailored dark wool jacket and crisp checked shirt – not your stereotypical Occupy protester – cried as he watched Jackson. "He is my hero," he said.

    While the crowd enthusiastically joined Jackson for a chant, not everybody was supportive and a few heckles punctuated his speech. 

    One man who shouted that the Occupy movement wasn't addressing the needs of the homeless was detained before he reached the podium where Jackson was standing.

    F. Brinley Bruton / msnbc.com

    John, 34, who has been camped next to London's Saint Paul's Cathedral since Oct. 15, waits for Rev. Jesse Jackson to address Occupy protesters on Thursday.

    Another Occupier, who said he's been camped out since the protest began on Oct. 15, said he welcomed Jackson. However, he remained skeptical.

    "I have mixed feelings – someone told me he's quite a wealthy person," said John, 34, who declined to give a last name. "You don't know his agenda."

    F. Brinley Bruton is a senior writer for msnbc.com based in London

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