Britain – News Stories About Britain - Page 75

Aug 11, 2008 12:55 PM CDT

Gnome Tours World, Returns

Cliché comes to life for one British woman

(Newser) - Months after her lawn gnome went missing, a woman in England got a huge surprise when it returned, accompanied by a photo album and immigration stamps from all over the world, the Gloucestershire Echo reports. Accompanying the prodigal lawn ornament was a note describing his adventures "across three continents,...

Leaked Blair Memo Blasts Brown 'Vacuity'

Aug 4, 2008 6:42 AM CDT

Leaked Blair Memo Blasts Brown 'Vacuity'

Leadership challenge gains steam as ex-PM slams successor

(Newser) - Gordon Brown took further lashed from his own party over the weekend as allies of Tony Blair leaked an old memo from the former prime minister bashing Brown's tenure. In the memo, written last year after Brown called off a mooted snap election, Blair accuses his successor of "hubris...

Doctors Fume Over Website Selling Fake
Sick Notes

Jul 31, 2008 5:14 PM CDT

Doctors Fume Over Website Selling Fake Sick Notes

Australian physicians want it shut down

(Newser) - In an Internet version of a classic schoolboy trick, a website is peddling fake doctors' notes to Australians looking to get some paid time off, reports news.com.au. The $40 certificates have infuriated the medical community, which wants the police to step in. Two backpackers reportedly set up the...

Queen Victoria's Giant Knickers Fetch $9K

Jul 31, 2008 4:14 AM CDT

Queen Victoria's Giant Knickers Fetch $9K

1890s bloomers with 50-inch waist auctioned for princely sum

(Newser) - A pair of bloomers that belonged to Queen Victoria were auctioned off yesterday for $9,000, almost ten times the expected price, the BBC reports. The royal knickers, which sport a 50-inch waist and a "VR" monogram, date from the 1890s. The queen was apparently "a very big...

Facebook Pulls Stabbing App Amid UK Knife Deaths

Jul 30, 2008 12:07 PM CDT

Facebook Pulls Stabbing App Amid UK Knife Deaths

Britain concerned about spate of knife violence

(Newser) - A surge in knife crime has shaken Britain, ABC News reports. Twelve people—six of them teenagers—were stabbed to death in a single week this month. Public concern has caused Facebook to yank a third-party application where users could send each other "virtual stabs," and Nike has...

Obama Wraps Up Tour
in London, Defends Trip

Jul 26, 2008 11:05 AM CDT

Obama Wraps Up Tour in London, Defends Trip

Candidate meets with Brown to close international tour

(Newser) - Barack Obama wrapped up his international tour today in London, chatting for two hours with PM Gordon Brown on Iraq, the economy, and the "special relationship" between the US and Britain. Obama, preparing to head home to Chicago, defended his trip to Europe and the Mideast as polls in...

Obama Brother Surfaces
in Britain

Jul 26, 2008 10:53 AM CDT

Obama Brother Surfaces in Britain

Kenyan Bernard 'so proud' of candidate

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s Kenyan half-brother Bernard has emerged in England after a British tabloid tracked him down. Bernard Obama told the Sun he was “proud of my brother” and said he was sure Barack would win the White House. “He will be a breath of fresh air for...

Barack: Don't
Tell Europe What
It Wants to Hear

OPINION

Jul 21, 2008 7:51 AM CDT

Barack: Don't Tell Europe What It Wants to Hear

Careful change is what Europe wants to believe in

(Newser) - The vast majority of Europeans are hoping Barack Obama will be elected president, according to polls that give him as much as 86% support among voters in France, Britain, and Germany. The overwhelming support reflects a hope for a new era of unity with the US, writes Roger Cohen in...

Maddy 'Suspect' Wins
Libel Damages

Jul 17, 2008 6:47 AM CDT

Maddy 'Suspect' Wins Libel Damages

Brit lived near resort where toddler went missing

(Newser) - A man named by police as a suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann will collect $1 million in libel damages from a number of British newspapers in a deal expected to be announced today. Brit Robert Murat, 34, lived near the Portuguese resort where Maddy disappeared during...

UK Immigration Rules
Would Exclude
This Man

Jul 16, 2008 4:19 PM CDT

UK Immigration Rules Would Exclude This Man

Without college degree, Gates wouldn't qualify for visa aimed to bring skilled labor

(Newser) - Strict new immigration rules aimed at attracting highly skilled workers to Britain would keep tech icons Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell from getting top-tier visas, Bloomberg notes, because they don't have college degrees. "It's a dumbing-down,'' one opponent says. "If you're a 20-something American with...

From Britain With Love: MI6 Seeks Minorities

Jul 13, 2008 4:32 PM CDT

From Britain With Love: MI6 Seeks Minorities

Spy agency wants women, Asians, Arabs, to help fight terrorism

(Newser) - Next year's 007's may look more like Charlie's Angels than James Bond, as MI6 seeks to recruit more women and minority agents, the AP reports. The drive, which has netted 20,000 résumés over the past 12 months, welcomes Asian and Middle Eastern language speakers, the disabled, and...

Could Murray Finally Do UK Proud at Home?

OPINION

Jul 1, 2008 2:22 PM CDT

Could Murray Finally Do UK Proud at Home?

Britain hasn't boasted Wimbledon champ since Perry in '36

(Newser) - In last night's match between the world's 10th- and 11th-best tennis players, Andy Murray's drive to defeat Richard Gasquet had some extra steam. Murray is the UK's last hope for seeing a local win at Wimbledon, and in dispatching the Frenchman in five sets, the Scotsman keeps that dream alive,...

BBC Airs Lost Beatles Interview

Jul 1, 2008 11:00 AM CDT

BBC Airs Lost Beatles Interview

Lennon and McCartney talk about first meeting

(Newser) - BBC Radio today aired a long lost Beatles interview featuring John Lennon and Paul McCartney talking about the day they met and their songwriting partnership. The precious film sat forgotten for 44 years in a garage in south London until film fan Richard Jeffs realized a piece of pop history...

Windsor Bills
a Royal Pain
for Taxpayers

Jun 30, 2008 7:49 AM CDT

Windsor Bills a Royal Pain for Taxpayers

Monarchy subsists on $80M in public money each year

(Newser) - Britain’s royal family is facing the effects of tough financial times, ABC News reports—but it's easier to cope when you have taxpayers to foot the monarchy's $80 million in annual expenses. While that’s just $1.30 per taxpayer, Buckingham Palace says, critics note unnecessary expenses, like a...

Back on Stage,
Wacky Winehouse
Lurches Into Fan

Jun 29, 2008 8:12 AM CDT

Back on Stage, Wacky Winehouse Lurches Into Fan

Mutters between songs at first UK performance in months

(Newser) - Whacked out singer Amy Winehouse appeared to lunge for an audience member in the pit yesterday in her first British gig in 7 months, reports the Daily Telegraph. She also blasted headliner Jay-Z, saying he’s “got some front to come here with tunes you don’t even remember,...

Mugabe Targets Opposition—
in Britain, Too

Jun 28, 2008 3:05 PM CDT

Mugabe Targets Opposition— in Britain, Too

Zimbabwean agents harass dissidents raising funds

(Newser) - Robert Mugabe has agents in Britain harassing dissidents and disrupting opposition fundraising, the Independent reports. British security sources confirmed that Zimbabwean government supporters in England are terrorizing the nearly 4,000 supporters of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the UK as Mugabe seeks to keep his grip on power. A...

Humiliating Defeat for UK Ruling Party

Jun 27, 2008 6:45 AM CDT

Humiliating Defeat for UK Ruling Party

Labour comes in 5th place in election on Brown's anniversary

(Newser) - On the first anniversary of Gordon Brown's premiership, the Labour Party went down to a humiliating fifth-place finish in a special election near Oxford, reports the Times of London. Although the Tories had been expected to retain the seat vacated by new London mayor Boris Johnson, the ruling party came...

Britons: New Trash
Laws Are Rubbish

Jun 27, 2008 4:32 AM CDT

Britons: New Trash Laws Are Rubbish

Controversial UK measures get tough on waste

(Newser) - In the midst of a garbage overload, the UK is cracking down on trash with strict new rules, sparking a backlash among Britons, the New York Times reports. Many areas now pick up trash only biweekly, and accept only regulation amounts. Some reject recycling bins tainted with garbage. In response,...

One Year On,
a Prime Minister Diminished

ANALYSIS

Jun 26, 2008 10:11 AM CDT

One Year On, a Prime Minister Diminished

How Gordon Brown went from powerhouse to pushover

(Newser) - Gordon Brown has seen his reputation collapse in his year as UK prime minister: once the colossus of the Labour Party who enjoyed buoyant poll ratings, he is now so diminished that many in his own party want him to resign. To mark the first anniversary of his elevation to...

Cigar Woes Snare Another Politician

Jun 24, 2008 2:40 PM CDT

Cigar Woes Snare Another Politician

London mayor under investigation for case grabbed in Iraq in '03

(Newser) - London's mayor found out yesterday that he is “the one and only Western politician to be brought to justice for crimes committed in Iraq.” Boris Johnson's misdeed? Taking a cigar case as a souvenir from the smashed villa of Iraq’s former deputy prime minister while on assignment...