Britain

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Tory Poll Surge Batters Brown
Tory Poll Surge Batters Brown
Oct 14, 2007 12:32 PM CDT

Tory Poll Surge Batters Brown

PM accused of cowardice, lack of vision as opponents soar in polls

(Newser) - British PM Gordon Brown took a beating this week as a new poll showed the opposition Tories surging to their highest levels of popular support in 15 years, and even some Labourites came out of the woodwork to attack his vision for the future. Support for the Conservatives rose 5...

Britain Launches Wi-Fi Health Investigation

Study to examine wireless effects in schools, offices

(Newser) - Great Britain’s Health Protection Agency has launched a two-year comprehensive study into the health risks of wireless Internet connections, responding to rising fears from advocates and educators – but they don’t expect to find anything. There’s no evidence suggesting health risks, the Agency says, and it's likely...

Brit Tourists' DNA Sought in Maddy Case

Investigators aim to match evidence to possible kidnapper

(Newser) - British tourists staying at the same resort where toddler Madeleine McCann disappeared have been told to provide fingerprints and DNA samples to aid the ongoing investigation by Portuguese police, reports the London Times. The move is an attempt to help investigators identify evidence found in the McCann's Portugal apartment that...

Brown Under Fire for U-Turn on Elections

PM ditched snap vote when it looked like Labour would lose

(Newser) - Gordon Brown has a new nickname: “bottler,” British slang for someone who’s lost their nerve at the last minute. He's facing heavy criticism for the unpopular decision not to hold a snap general election this autumn after learning that his Labor party lags 6 points behind the...

Britain Opens Doors to Iraqi Interpreters

In danger if they stay in Iraq, British supporters may settle in the UK

(Newser) - Britain will allow and aid hundreds of Iraqi interpreters and their families to relocate to the UK when British forces withdraw, reports the Times of London. Interpreters and other support staff who helped coalition forces in Iraq are often targeted by death squads; dozens have been kidnapped, tortured or killed....

The New English Commute: via the Channel

UK buyers say oui oui to working in London, living in France

(Newser) - The Independent reports on the rise of a new phenomenon of Britons commuting to work in London—from France. Middle-class buyers, priced out of "character" English homes and stuck in cookie-cutter subdivisions, are increasingly purchasing properties in Normandy and other parts of France's north—where prices are as much...

Bluetongue Means Crisis for UK Farmers

PM signals possible compensation for crippled industry

(Newser) - Bluetongue cases will keep infecting UK cattle and mire farmers in a financial crisis, possibly for years, the Guardian reports. Almost a dozen cows have been hit so far, the first tremor of UK bluetongue after 3,000 cattle were hit this summer in Northern Europe. So far Gordon Brown...

Bluetongue Outbreak Declared
Bluetongue Outbreak Declared
Sep 28, 2007 4:38 PM CDT

Bluetongue Outbreak Declared

Five cases are confirmed; quarantine measures in place

(Newser) - An outbreak of bluetongue disease is affecting livestock in Suffolk, UK government vets confirmed today. The devastating and often deadly ailment, for which there is no vaccine, has never before been reported in the country. Authorities set up a quarantine zone of 93 miles around farms known to have had...

Flemish Recycling Runs to Chicken Feed

Flanders pioneers pay-as-you-dispose policy, reuse centers

(Newser) - The Belgian region of Flanders is attracting international attention with novel recycling schemes that include reuse centers, pay-per-bag garbage collection, and omnivorous chickens. The Russians, the Chinese and the British have come calling to see how Flanders has managed to hold its total waste generation steady even as its population...

Case of Bluetongue Has UK Farmers on High Alert

One more 'body blow' to the industry

(Newser) - The discovery of bluetongue—an insect-borne illness that has killed livestock throughout Europe—in a cow on a rare breed farm in Britain yesterday was devastating news to a cattle industry already staggering from waves of foot-and-mouth outbreaks.Tests are underway to determine if England's first case had spread to...

An Absolut Blockbuster
An Absolut Blockbuster
Sep 20, 2007 11:35 AM CDT

An Absolut Blockbuster

Maker of top-selling Smirnoff eyes second-place Swedish brand

(Newser) - British beverage conglomerate Diageo, maker of best-selling vodka Smirnoff, is “very interested” in acquiring Sweden’s Absolut, the world’s second-largest vodka. Diageo says it isn’t worried about anti-trust problems, although its CEO tells Reuters “complexity will vary from market to market.” One easy market would...

UK Bank Chief Takes Heat After U-Turn

Rescue of Northern Rock leads to calls for resignation

(Newser) - The leader of the Bank of England, the Fed's counterpart in the UK, is facing substantial pressure to resign. Only last week Mervyn King had declined to offer loans for inter-bank trading to ease credit markets, vowing to discourage the "moral hazard" of risk-taking that led to Northern Rock's...

Britain Boycotts African Summit
Britain Boycotts African Summit
Sep 20, 2007 4:45 AM CDT

Britain Boycotts African Summit

Brown takes stand against torture, intimidation in Mugabe's Zimbabwe

(Newser) - Britain will boycott a summit bringing together leaders of the European Union and  African states because of the expected presence of  Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the Independent  he wants to send a powerful message of concern to the leader responsible for widespread torture and the...

British Bank Rebounds as Panic Wears Off

Financial stocks see gains on Northern Rock guarantees

(Newser) - As the lines of people waiting to make withdrawals from Northern Rock bank dwindled today, the British lender’s stock rose, bringing with it other hard-hit British financials. Northern Rock's huge losses in the mortgage market sparked a sell-off, drawing emergency funds from the Bank of England. But the government's...

Bank Meltdown Wallops the British Market

Thousands still lining up outside branches; spiral could hurt PM

(Newser) - Shares of British mortgage lender Northern Rock crashed again today, causing heavy losses in other banks and deflating the FTSE 100 index by more than 100 points by midday. The bank's stock fell 36%, bringing the loss to 78% of its value in the past year. The spreading malaise is...

Big Brother Making Strides in Technology

America's top minds are devoted to 'gait DNA' and new spy drones

(Newser) - Top researchers are developing new surveillance technology, the BBC reports - including "gait DNA" to identify a person by their walk and advanced spy drones that can fly overhead for years. The Pentagon plans to continue its tech supremacy, which includes inventing the Internet in the 1970s and satellite...

Brits Panic Over Credit Crisis
Brits Panic Over Credit Crisis
Sep 16, 2007 11:17 AM CDT

Brits Panic Over Credit Crisis

UK is extra vulnerable to the credit crunch

(Newser) - The US credit crisis is sending Britain's buy-now-pay-later economy into apoplexy, with Brits lining up by the thousands outside branches of troubled bank Northern Rock to withdraw their savings in spite of an unprecedented government bailout. Analysts say that the nation's borrowing habits leave the economy vulnerable. "I think...

Maddy's Family Plans Ad Blitz
Maddy's Family Plans Ad Blitz
Sep 15, 2007 1:06 PM CDT

Maddy's Family Plans Ad Blitz

Campaign will 'remind everyone that Madeleine is still missing'

(Newser) - Madeleine's McCann's family will launch an aggressive advertising campaign to boost the search for the missing 4 year old, even as investigators have turned their attention to her parents themselves. Ads will run in newspapers and on billboards and TV in Portugal, Spain, and other European sites. The blitz, slated...

Tarantino Recuts Flop for Euro Release

'Grindhouse' is now violent, chatty chick flick 'Death Proof'

(Newser) - Quentin Tarantino has taken the first flop of his career, the violent schlock-fest Grindhouse, and shaved it down to a lean slasher-film with a lot of girl talk and car chases tossed in. Death Proof,  the story of a Texas DJ  and her posse, has done well in France,...

Bank of England Props Up Mortgage Lender

Northern Rock shares dive, panicking patrons

(Newser) - Shares of Northern Rock fell 25% today on news that the group, Britain's fifth-largest mortgage lender, got an emergency shot of cash from the Bank of England last night. As worried customers lined up outside Northern Rock branches, the central bank's chancellor urged calm. "At the moment there is...

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