Britain – News Stories About Britain - Page 80

Brits Hatch Secret Plan
to Bail Out Northern Rock

Dec 18, 2007 2:05 PM CST

Brits Hatch Secret Plan to Bail Out Northern Rock

No good options for struggling bank

(Newser) - Worried that the state might be stuck nationalizing Northern Rock, Britain has worked up a contingency plan behind closed doors to divide the troubled bank among the country’s commercial banks. A private buyout is still preferable, the Guardian reports, but some now fear the main bidders will back out,...

UK Bomb Plot Suspect Escapes

UPDATED

Dec 17, 2007 8:57 AM CST

UK Bomb Plot Suspect Escapes

Botched extradition deep embarrassment to Musharraf government

(Newser) - The escape in Pakistan last night of a British terror suspect has set off a nationwide manhunt and further strained precarious diplomatic relations between Britain and Pakistan, reports AFP. Guards returning Rashid Rauf, 26, to jail from a court appearance allowed him to stop for burgers and prayers, where Rauf...

Sex Slaves Win Cash Damages

Dec 16, 2007 12:46 PM CST

Sex Slaves Win Cash Damages

Ruling could open floodgates of compensation for thousands of others

(Newser) - In a groundbreaking decision, Britain has awarded four women smuggled from eastern Europe to the UK and subjected by their captors to "forced prostitution, multiple rapes and beatings" more than £140,000. The decision, the first to consider false imprisonment and forced prostitution as categories for awarding damages,...

Britain Tops US in Funding for World Bank

Dec 14, 2007 3:15 PM CST

Britain Tops US in Funding for World Bank

Institution raises record $25.1B for globe's poorest countries

(Newser) - Great Britain has supplanted the United States as the largest contributor to the World Bank, pledging $4.2 billion of the total $25.1 billion raised for the world's poorest nations, a record high. The shift in power reflects both the dollar's waning dominance as well as an end to...

Gauguin Sculpture a Fake

Dec 12, 2007 12:03 PM CST

Gauguin Sculpture a Fake

'The Faun' outed as impostor after decade in Chicago art museum

(Newser) - After a decade on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, a ceramic figure allegedly sculpted by Paul Gauguin was revealed yesterday to be a fake. The museum discovered 'The Faun,' a half-man, half-goat figure, to be the work not of the 19th century French artist, but of a...

Bobbies Warn of Wildcat Strike Over
Pay Row

Dec 12, 2007 11:22 AM CST

Bobbies Warn of Wildcat Strike Over Pay Row

Police fume over delay in date of annual raise

(Newser) - A furious row over a pay raise for police officers erupted in Britain last night, with the Labour government divided against itself and constables threatening a wildcat strike. The Times of London reports that the home secretary's decision not to backdate a 2.5% pay increase by 3 months, as...

UK Proposes Wind Power Investment

Dec 11, 2007 12:22 PM CST

UK Proposes Wind Power Investment

7,000 turbines planned to 'power the equivalent of all the UK's homes'

(Newser) - The UK intends to boost their production of wind power 60-fold by 2020, under plans released yesterda by business secretary John Hutton, the BBC reports. The secretary proposed an investment into the construction of 7,000 mostly off-shore wind turbines to produce a target of 33 gigawatts that could "...

British PM Gives Troops Surprise Visit

Dec 9, 2007 3:35 PM CST

British PM Gives Troops Surprise Visit

Vows Basra pullout in 2 weeks; mum on link to kidnappings

(Newser) - UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown surprised his troops with a visit in Iraq today and declared that Britain will cede control of Basra within two weeks, the Times of London reports. He told 300 soldiers that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki had advised the quick pull-out "so Iraq can...

Britain Frees Guantanamo Four

Dec 8, 2007 5:54 AM CST

Britain Frees Guantanamo Four

After months of negotiations, four of five prisoners will be freed

(Newser) - Four British residents imprisoned for years at Guantanamo Bay will be released, the BBC reports. US and UK officials involved in negotiations since August came to a compromise on the fates of five men the US claimed were connected to al-Qaeda. Of the four released, three will return to the...

UK Court Bans Teen's Insults From Web

Dec 7, 2007 3:29 PM CST

UK Court Bans Teen's Insults From Web

First-of-its-kind order forbids him to post abusive comments

(Newser) - A British court has put a low-tech law to high-tech use in a bid to keep a teenager from writing abusive comments about police on the internet. The court issued an Anti-Social Behavior Order—usually used to keep hooligans out of certain parts of town—against a 17-year-old to prevent...

Iran Praises
Nuke Report; Israel Skeptical

Dec 4, 2007 8:15 AM CST

Iran Praises Nuke Report; Israel Skeptical

Barak says Tehran hasn't stopped, urges more US pressure

(Newser) - Iran trumpeted a US intelligence report released yesterday that said it suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003, but Israel expressed skepticism, Reuters reports. "The condition of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities is becoming clear to the world," an Iranian official said of the report. Not so fast, said...

'Terrified' Teddy Bear Teacher Happy to Be Home

Dec 4, 2007 5:15 AM CST

'Terrified' Teddy Bear Teacher Happy to Be Home

Shocked adventure-seeker got 'more than I bargained for'

(Newser) - Safely home after a "terrifying" ordeal in a Sudanese jail for allowing a class Teddy bear to be named Muhammad, teacher Gillian Gibbons was delighted to be back with family today. "I went out there to have a bit of an adventure and I got more than I...

Teddy Bear Teacher
Goes Free

Dec 3, 2007 11:36 AM CST

Teddy Bear Teacher Goes Free

Amid protests over pardon, educator to head home to UK

(Newser) - Gillian Gibbons was released today after a week behind Sudanese bars and apologized "if I have caused any distress," the Guardian reports. Though some called for her death, Gibbons wasn’t bearing a grudge. “I have encountered nothing but kindness from the Sudanese people,” she said...

Brits Accuse China of Web Espionage

Dec 1, 2007 1:30 PM CST

Brits Accuse China of Web Espionage

Spy chief warns businesses Beijing is infiltrating sites

(Newser) - UK spy agency MI5 has sent an unprecedented letter to 300 British business leaders, warning them that vital sectors of the country's economy are under attack from Chinese state-sponsored electronic espionage. The Chinese "use every means at their disposal" to dig up information about British companies, a letter recipient...

Brown Sinks Deeper Into Fund Scandal

Nov 30, 2007 8:15 AM CST

Brown Sinks Deeper Into Fund Scandal

Flap over illegal donations has Labour reeling

(Newser) - The British scandal over political donations deepened today with PM Gordon Brown implicated in the affair and facing possible questioning from police, reports the Times of London. Accusations of illegal proxy donations are engulfing the Labour Party, which only last year faced down a police inquiry over the so-called "...

Sudan Will Jail, Deport Teddy Bear Teacher

UPDATED

Nov 29, 2007 1:08 PM CST

Sudan Will Jail, Deport Teddy Bear Teacher

Gibbons gets 15 days and the boot for bear named 'Muhammad'

(Newser) - A Sudanese court sentenced British schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons to 15 days in prison and deportation from Sudan for inciting religious hatred by allowing her students to name a class teddy bear Muhammad, the Guardian reports. The sentence represented something of a success for British officials, who had said they would...

British Teacher Charged in Teddy Bear Flap

Nov 28, 2007 3:35 PM CST

British Teacher Charged in Teddy Bear Flap

Jail, lashes could be punishment for 'insult to Islam' in Sudan

(Newser) - The British teacher held in Sudan for committing blasphemy by naming a teddy bear “Muhammed” has been charged with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, the BBC reports. The UK Foreign Secretary said he would summon the Sudanese ambassador; Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he...

Faith Doesn't Play in British Politics

Nov 25, 2007 6:18 PM CST

Faith Doesn't Play in British Politics

Blair complains that any UK pol who cites God is considered 'a nutter'

(Newser) - Soon-to-be-Catholic Tony Blair has confessed that faith was "hugely important" in decisions he made as Britain's prime minister, and he wished he could, like President Bush, have been open about it at the time. But Britons are suspicious of religion, Blair said in a TV interview reported in...

Iran Warns Against UN Sanctions

Nov 23, 2007 5:44 PM CST

Iran Warns Against UN Sanctions

US, Europe allies call for penalties after inspectors' report

(Newser) - Iran warned today that UN sanctions might bring a halt to its cooperation with nuclear inspectors, Reuters reports. The warning comes a day after Britain, France, and Germany joined the US in calling for such sanctions because a report by international inspectors gave Tehran mixed marks on its openness. "...

UK Teens Guilty of Cocaine Smuggling in Ghana

Nov 21, 2007 5:05 PM CST

UK Teens Guilty of Cocaine Smuggling in Ghana

16-year-olds may spend three years in detention

(Newser) - Two 16-year-olds were found guilty today of attempting to sneak $600,000 of cocaine from Ghana to Britain, the Times reports. The conviction could mean up to three years in a Ghanaian juvenile detention center for the British girls, who claimed they had been set up when they were arrested...