Britain

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Stars Making Half a Million a Year via Twitter

Celebs making up to $50K per month pitching products to fans

(Newser) - American celebrities are raking in up to $50,000 a month for tweeting on behalf of brands. A single shout-out from 50 Cent or Snoop Dogg, for instance, can earn them $5,000, finds the Sun . The pay-per-tweet model is now heading across the pond, and UK celebs won't be...

BBC Reporter Attacks Anti-War Sign
 Reporter Attacks Anti-War Sign 
Oct 22, 2010 4:00 AM CDT

Reporter Attacks Anti-War Sign

BBC political editor Nick Robinson loses his cool with protester

(Newser) - Mild-mannered BBC political editor Nick Robinson was transformed into a ball of rage by an anti-war sign being waved in the background as he broadcast from Westminster. Robinson delivered his broadcast calmly, then turned around, grabbed the sign from the protester, tried to rip it apart, and stamped on it,...

Britain Shrinks Government With Big Spending Cuts

About 500,000 public sector jobs could go

(Newser) - We already knew they were scrapping the harrier jet , but Britain's new spending cuts go much, much further than that: the government announced reductions of an average of 19% across all departments, the Christian Science Monitor reports. They add up to about $128 billion in cuts. Big hits were made...

US Charity Pays UK Addict to Get Vasectomy

Start of 'cash for vasectomy' program in Britain

(Newser) - Here's an odd bit of international relations: An American charity has paid a British heroin addict to undergo a vasectomy. The group, called Project Prevention , paid the man about $315 dollars in the hope of preventing him from passing his addiction on to the next generation. The man, John, said...

Owner Tosses Live Chicken Into Trash

Freddie the cockerel saved in the nick of time

(Newser) - The list of animals Brits are abandoning in wheelie trash bins is growing. First, it was a cat (captured on surveillance video), now an anxiously clucking chicken, whose owner apparently planned to toss the bird out with the trash without killing it. Freddie the cockerel was saved in the nick...

Brit Prisoners May Work to Compensate Victims

Justice chief wants to replace 'enforced idleness' with full-time work

(Newser) - Britain's justice secretary is looking for jobs—and a massive pay raise—for the country's 85,000 prison inmates. Ken Clarke wants companies to outsource work to the nation's prisons, and to pay inmates the national minimum wage of $9.39 an hour instead of the current maximum prison wage...

Britain Recognizes Druidry as a Religion

It's gaining converts because of an emphasis on nature

(Newser) - Druidry has been officially recognized as a religion in Britain, complete with charitable status and tax breaks. The UK government acknowledged that the Celtic pagan faith, which originated in Ireland and Britain thousands of years ago, is a religion in its own right and deserves the same benefits as the...

Euro Terror Plot Hatched By Germans, Brits in Pakistan

Intel officials intercepting their phone calls

(Newser) - Eight Germans and two British brothers are using Pakistan as a safe haven from which to plan Mumbai-style terror shootings across Europe, a Pakistani security official tells the AP . The group is coordinating the plot by phone with acquaintances in Germany and London. Pakistani, British, and German intelligence officials are...

UK, France May Combine Nukes in Budget Move

Nations might collaborate on single nuclear sub patrol

(Newser) - Sweeping cuts to military budgets in both countries are forcing old rivals Britain and France to consider adopting history's first nuke-share program. The idea of a shared nuclear deterrent—dismissed as politically unfeasible earlier this year—will be back on the table at the annual Franco-British summit next month, according...

Brit Spies Used Semen as Invisible Ink
 Brit Spies 
 Used Semen 
 as Invisible Ink 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 26, 2010 9:31 AM CDT

Brit Spies Used Semen as Invisible Ink

Intelligence chief 'delighted' by discovery

(Newser) - More from the secret world of Britain's MI6: The spy agency apparently used semen as invisible ink during World War I. A new history claims that Chief Mansfield Cumming advised an intelligence officer that the substance makes "the best invisible ink," notes the Telegraph . Another staff member recalls...

Ed Miliband Edges Brother to Take Over Labour Party

40-year-old replaces former Britain PM Gordon Brown

(Newser) - Britain's opposition Labour Party elected young lawmaker Ed Miliband as its new leader today after he narrowly defeated his older and better-known brother in a contest to replace former prime minister Gordon Brown. Miliband, the 40-year-old ex-climate change secretary, squeaked by David Miliband, the 45-year-old former foreign secretary, in the...

Queen Sought Poverty Money to Heat Palaces

Palace applied for funds earmarked for low-income families

(Newser) - An elderly British woman struggling with her heating bills who sought help from a government program to aid low-income families was told that, as queen, she wasn't the kind of individual the program was meant to assist. Ministers apologetically rejected Buckingham Palace's request for funds earmarked to help housing associations...

Strapped Queen Surrendered Royal Finances to Gov't

Government gains veto power over how $60M allowance is spent

(Newser) - The British government now has the final say over how Queen Elizabeth II spends her annual $60 million allowance from the government. The monarch signed over official control of her spending in 2006, following cash-flow problems that saw her borrow another $3 million from the government, reports the Independent , which...

MI6 History Reveals Real James Bond

Author reveals Ian Fleming's inspiration

(Newser) - An author given license to go through MI6's pre-1949 files says he's uncovered a few real-life inspirations for James Bond in the British spy agency's history, including the most likely devil-may care candidate. Commander Wilfred Dunderdale, "had a penchant for pretty women and fast cars" while heading up the...

Man Caught on Video Ditching Limping Dog

Latest CCTV episode of Brits being cruel to animals

(Newser) - In the continuing saga of Brits being cruel to animals on surveillance video, a man has been nabbed on CCTV dumping a limping dog and driving away. The dog eagerly follows his master to a park area in Dorset, then stands, stunned, as the man speeds off. "The dog...

Abbey 'Sorry' for Nick Cage Sorcery Filming

Worshipers blast 'black magic' promo on sacred ground

(Newser) - Sorcery and abbeys apparently don't mix. Managers of Britain's 7th Century Glastonbury Abbey have apologized to an angry public for letting Nicolas Cage film an interview at the church to promote his movie The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Cage, who owns a home nearby, personally requested the site for an interview on...

Brits Warned of 'New Wave of Terror'

Militants from different nations appear to be joining forces

(Newser) - Britain should brace for a "new wave of terror" as the threat from both dissident Irish Republicans and Islamic radicals rises, the chief of the MI5 security agency warns. Militant Irish groups—one of which has threatened to blow up banks in Britain and Ireland—are showing worrying "...

Treasure Hunter Unearths $460K Roman Helmet

Rare British find expected to fetch a fortune at auction

(Newser) - An amateur treasure hunter in Britain has unearthed a Roman helmet expected to fetch at least $460,000 at auction. The bronze helmet—only the third of its kind ever found in Britain—has a face mask and is topped with a griffin. Experts say the helmet, found in a...

Murdered Spy Helped Foil al-Qaeda Plot

And he wasn't a transvestite killed by a lover

(Newser) - The British spy found stuffed into a duffel bag in his London apartment last week was a math genius codebreaker who worked with the American NSA as well as UK intelligence, in part helping to decode emails that were used to convict three men connected to an al-Qaeda bigwig who...

Murdered British Spy Found in Sports Bag

Body of murdered agent found in his London flat

(Newser) - A man believed to have been a British spy has been found dead, and stuffed into a sports bag left in the bathtub of his London apartment. The man, in his 30s, is thought to have been working as a communication officer at the nearby headquarters of Britain's MI6...

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