Britain

Stories 1741 - 1760 | << Prev   Next >>

British Army Grounds Harry
British Army Grounds Harry

British Army Grounds Harry

In official about-face, young royal won't deploy to Iraq for fear of assassination

(Newser) - British brass have dashed 22-year-old Prince Harry's dreams of fighting in Iraq, citing fears of a targeted assassination. The head of Britain’s army made today’s announcement—a reversal from earlier promises that Harry would fight—after a visit to Iraq last week revealed direct threats against the prince.

British Man Is Suspect in Kidnapping

Expat living in nearby villa was questioned, released

(Newser) - Police searching for a four-year-old British girl missing on a family vacation in Portugal have named a 33-year-old British expat as a suspect. Robert Murat lives less than 150 metres from where Madeleine McCann vanished 12 days ago, the Guardian reports. Murat was questioned for more than 16 hours yesterday,...

Brown Outlines Post-Blair Era
Brown Outlines Post-Blair Era

Brown Outlines Post-Blair Era

Proposes major initiatives - including transfer of war powers to Parliament

(Newser) - Gordon Brown is about to put some distance between himself and his former boss with a series of proposals laying out his vision, including giving Parliament the right to approve war powers, reports The Observer. With Blair pilloried for pusuing a profoundly unpopualr war almost single-handedly from Number 10, Brown...

Reward for Lost Girl Reaches £2.6 Million

Madeleine McCann, kidnapped in Portugal, turned 4 yesterday

(Newser) - JK Rowling, Richard Branson and other British business figures have contributed to a £1.5 million reward offered by the tabloid News of the World for the safe return of Madeleine McCann. The British 4-year-old was kidnapped in Portugal 10 days ago; the new offer raises the total reward...

For Blair, Iraq Was No Anomaly
For Blair,
Iraq Was No Anomaly

For Blair, Iraq Was No Anomaly

Brooks: War he co-authored was a disaster, but consistent with his values

(Newser) - As Tony Blair prepares his exit from No. 10, the British left is already eulogizing the PM as a good man consigned by circumstance to a bad war. Not so, says David Brooks: The crux of Blair's political philosophy was a radical, religious communitarianism, which sired both his leftist leanings...

Who Is Gordon Brown?
Who Is Gordon Brown?

Who Is Gordon Brown?

(Newser) - As Gordon Brown prepares to succeed Tony Blair, the current chancellor of the exchequer's plans for Britain's future are unclear. Brown's dour, brusque style is a sharp contrast to Blair's slick verbosity, but some see that as an advantage. “He’s not regarded as a prince of spin or...

Tony Blair Ends 10-Year Era
Tony Blair Ends 10-Year Era

Tony Blair Ends 10-Year Era

"The party will now select a new leader."

(Newser) - It's official: Tony Blair will step down on June 27, as soon as a new Labour leader is chosen. Blair publicly announced his decision in his home constituency of Sedgefield, having told his cabinet earlier in the day. Blair's words prompted "much thumping of tables" by the cabinet, says...

Blair Will Resign Tomorrow
Blair Will
Resign Tomorrow

Blair Will Resign Tomorrow

British PM to back Brown Friday, step down in July

(Newser) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to formally announce his resignation tomorrow and anoint Chancellor Gordon Brown as his successor Friday. The Guardian reports he won't actually step down until July, but the announcement will signal the end of the Blair era and begin a divisive process of choosing...

Blair Ally to Step Down
Blair Ally
to Step Down

Blair Ally to Step Down

Home secretary's surprise announcement frees new PM to overhaul cabinet

(Newser) - British Home Secretary John Reid will stand down, he announced yesterday, giving PM apparent Gordon Brown space to rejigger the cabinet when he succeeds Tony Blair. Tensions have run high between the old and new Labour leaders' supporters, but Reid stressed that his surprise departure was personal; the Guardian reports...

Sunset for Blair&rsquo;s New Dawn
Sunset for Blair’s New Dawn

Sunset for Blair’s New Dawn

(Newser) - With Tony Blair about to step down, Alan Cowell considers the departing PM's most important accomplishments and failures. The former: moving Britain’s poiltical center of gravity away from Margaret Thatcher’s rugged individualism and toward a more compassionate society. 

Labour Party Escapes Election Catastrophe

Pro-independence faction takes control of Scottish parliament

(Newser) - Tony Blair's Labour Party took a beating in yesterday's local elections, winning just 27 percent of the vote. But both the party—wildly unpopular because of Blair's Iraq war stance and several recent scandals—and pundits scored the result a minor victory because Labour lost only 410 local council seats...

Hoon Admits Iraq Screwups
Hoon Admits
Iraq Screwups

Hoon Admits Iraq Screwups

British defense minister regrets mistakes, underestimating Dick Cheney

(Newser) - In a confessional interview about his Iraq war regrets, the former British defense secretary tells the Guardian that the Brits' biggest miscalculation was underestimating Dick Cheney. Geoff Hoon said he and other senior ministers would air disagreements with Bush, Rumsfeld, and Powell, and they'd come away thinking they'd made their...

U.S. May Reqire Visas From Brits
U.S. May Reqire Visas From Brits

U.S. May Reqire Visas From Brits

Radicalism among Britons of Pakistani descent worries Homeland Security

(Newser) - Immigration officials are considering making British citizens apply for visas to enter the U.S., the New York Times reports. The aim is to screen out potential terrorists among Brits of Pakistani descent who might slip through because of the longstanding waiver of visas between the two countries.  An...

Blair Points To Successor
Blair Points
To Successor

Blair Points To Successor

After 10 years at No. 10, PM says he'll pass torch to Brown within weeks

(Newser) - As he marked a decade in power, British prime minister Tony Blair said yesterday he'll step down within weeks. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is expected to succeed Blair, who stopped short of officially anointing Brown but told a Labour rally, "In all probability, a Scot will become...

Hitler Youth HQ to Become Posh Club
Hitler Youth HQ to Become Posh Club

Hitler Youth HQ to Become Posh Club

British investor will remodel and reopen long-fallow building

(Newser) - An idling behemoth in Berlin that has housed both the Hitler Youth and the East German Communist Party will soon become a swanky media club, complete with a 42-seat theater, a swimming pool and upscale bars. A secretive British investor recently bought the Bauhaus landmark, and hopes to open a...

Wills and Kate Have Split
Wills and Kate Have Split

Wills and Kate Have Split

Brits mourn fairtytale marriage of Prince William to commoner Kate Middleton

(Newser) - Prince William's four-year romance with shopgirl Kate Middleton is off, the Sun reported in a "world exclusive" today. Though palace-watchers had been betting on another fairytale wedding at St. Paul's, the couple has been growing apart since Wills started his military service, and seemed to prefer carousing with army...

MySpace Crashers Trash British Teen's House

Story fulfills parents' fears about unsavory lurkers online

(Newser) - After a British teenager invited a few friends to a party on MySpace, over 200 non-virtual revelers trashed her family's house. In a story being circulated by alarmed parents all over the Commonwealth, 17-year-old Rachael Bell's parents came back from vacation to find $48,000 worth of damage to their...

Billionaire Plots New Russian Revolution

London emigre says he's bankrolling coup, conspiring with elites

(Newser) - An exiled Russian billionaire says he is bankrolling a coup to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin. Boris Berezovsky tells the Guardian: "It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There can be no change without force, pressure." Asked if he is fomenting a revolution, he responds:...

Blair Blames Crime Wave on Black Culture

Stop 'pretending it's not young black kids doing it,' PM says

(Newser) - Black culture is responsible for a recent rash of teenage murders in Britain, Tony Blair said yesterday in a burst of un-PC criminology that outraged black leaders. The violence, which has killed seven teens in recent weeks, won't let up unless Britons stop “pretending it is not young black...

Don't Mind Us, We're British!
Don't Mind Us, We're British!

Don't Mind Us, We're British!

Rowdy brides and grooms Invade Eastern Europe for their "stag and hen dos"

(Newser) - Forget lap dancing at the local strip joint: British bridegrooms, brides and their wedding parties are descending on Eastern European capitals for cheap, drunken bachelor and bachelorette binges that last a week or more, the Journal reports. They're lured by low-cost air fares and rock-bottom prices on booze, but it's...

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