Britain

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Britain Hit By Massive Public Worker Strike

Hundreds of thousands leave jobs over pensions

(Newser) - Britain’s public sector ground to a halt today as hundreds of thousands of workers walked off the job in protest of changes to their pension plans. Roughly a third of the country’s schools had to close, with many of the rest running on skeleton staffs, the New York ...

Hair Fetishist Guilty of Murder

Danilo Restivo a suspect in several similar killings

(Newser) - An Italian who committed a bizarre hair ritual murder has been convicted by a British court of killing a young mother of two, and may be responsible for several similar deaths. Danilo Restivo will be sent today to prison for life for killing neighbor Heather Barnett nine years ago in...

Prince Charles' Public Subsidy Leaps 18%

Royal accounts reveal surge in spending

(Newser) - Anti-monarchists in Britain are wondering why public spending on Prince Charles and his household shot up 18% at a time when most government departments are grappling with major cutbacks. The prince's annual accounts show that government grants to cover things like his official travel and the upkeep of his...

Cop Attempts Suicide After Dogs Die in Hot Car

Brit handler forgot about dogs as temperatures soared

(Newser) - One of the most experienced police dog trainers in Britain slashed his wrists in an apparent suicide attempt after accidentally leaving two dogs to roast to death in a locked car on one of the hottest days of the year. Sergeant Ian Craven didn't remember leaving the dogs, a...

France Backs Obama's Afghan Drawdown, Plans Its Own

Sarkozy has 4,000 troops there

(Newser) - A mere 12 hours after President Obama spoke on his Afghanistan drawdown, France offered its support for the plan. It will also begin a pullout of its 4,000 troops next month, “in a proportional manner and in a timeframe similar to the pullback of the American reinforcements,”...

LulzSec Takes Down British Police Site

Attack is part of campaign on government, security sites

(Newser) - If Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency wasn't already taking an interest in Lulz Security, it is now. The group of hackers has knocked the agency's website offline. The agency took its website offline after a denial of service attack, reports the BBC . Sensitive information was never at...

Man Being Deported Cuts Own Throat on Plane

Jamaican makes desperate attempt to stay in UK

(Newser) - In a desperate attempt to avoid being deported from Britain, a Jamaican man slashed his own throat on board a plane that was about to take off. The illegal immigrant, who had smuggled a small razor on board, was treated for what authorities describe as "superficial injuries" before being...

UK Docs, Nurses Face Cleavage Ban

Crackdown follows patients' complaints

(Newser) - Following patient complaints, health care workers outside London have been warned to rein in “excessive cleavage” and cover midriffs, the Telegraph reports. The national health care service has also barred shorts, mini-skirts, denim, and unkempt beards. The goal: a “professional and consistent” appearance. “There had been complaints...

It's Official: Germans Least Funny in the World

But Americans aren't so amusing, either

(Newser) - Maybe something’s just lost in translation: A poll of 30,000 people in 15 countries found Germany to be the world’s most unfunny country. But we’re not so amusing either: Russia and Turkey came in as the second and third least-funny, while Britain and the US rounded...

Thieves Make Off With $1.6M in Vintage Wine

Thieves used a forklift to steal 400 cases of vintage vino

(Newser) - Call it theft by forklift: Scotland Yard is searching for $1.6 million worth of vintage wine stolen from an east London warehouse on Sunday. Thieves disabled alarms and security cameras before breaking into the warehouse and using a forklift to load up about 400 cases of the precious cargo,...

Denmark: Don't Try to Spread This on Your Toast

Danes ban Marmite, and Brits are outraged

(Newser) - Denmark has been compiling quite a blacklist of illicit products in recent years, and another culprit has just been added—Britain's beloved Marmite. The potent, dark brown spread made from brewer's yeast has a high amount of vitamin B, which means it runs afoul of a 2004 Danish...

Obama's UK Code-Name: 'Smart Alec'

'Chalaque' arrives in Britain ahead of schedule

(Newser) - The code-name British police have given President Obama for his three-day visit to the country has raised some eyebrows among Punjabi speakers. "Chalaque" means "smart alec" in the language, and is "sometimes used when we want to denigrate someone who we think is too clever for their...

UK Police Roll Out Copters to Hunt ... Stuffed Tiger

Police were ready with helicopters, tranquilizers ... to hunt a stuffed tiger

(Newser) - Police scrambled helicopters and ordered tranquilizers to hunt what they feared was an escaped wild animal in southern England—but what turned out to be a stuffed toy. Hampshire Police responded after several residents called in to say they'd seen a white tiger sitting in a field near Southampton....

Queen Elizabeth II Passes on Guinness in Ireland

 In Ireland, 
 Queen Passes 
 on Guinness 
SCANDAL dept
May 18, 2011 4:34 PM CDT

In Ireland, Queen Passes on Guinness

Guinness may be good for you , but she'll skip Ireland's famous export

(Newser) - Queen Elizabeth II's journey of reconciliation to Ireland this week has been serious business—given the violent history between the two countries—which is why one might've expected Her Majesty and Prince Phillip to welcome a fresh pint of Guinness with open arms. But even the expert preparation...

UK Secretary: Not All Rape Is Equal

Seeks to halve sentences, says rapes 'vary enormously'

(Newser) - British justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has sparked a furious argument today over the definition of rape after saying he believed date rapes "vary enormously," according to the AP . Clarke was discussing government proposals to halve the sentences of some rapists who plead guilty when he suggested that some...

Irish Militants Issue London Bomb Threat

Warning comes day before queen's visit to Ireland

(Newser) - Irish militants called in a bomb threat targeting central London today, a day ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Ireland—the first visit by a British monarch in more than a century, Reuters reports. A source says the threat has some credibility because the caller uttered a codeword known...

UK Overrun by Thousands of Parakeets

No one knows exactly why population exploded

(Newser) - The parakeet population in Britain has exploded in recent years, up from 1,500 in 1995 to 30,000 a few years ago. The result? Scenes that could be straight out of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, like one recent evening at a suburban park that saw hundreds of parakeets...

Queen's Reign 2nd-Longest in British History

Reign surpasses that of King George III today

(Newser) - Queen Elizabeth II has become the second-longest reigning monarch in the last 1,000 years of British royal history. The queen today passes King George III in terms of total days served. She has been queen for 21,645 days, to the 21,644 days George racked up between 1760...

Topless Pippa Photos Ignite Fresh Paparazzi Debate

Middleton family files legal complaint over topless sunbathing pictures

(Newser) - As Prince William and Kate Middleton honeymoon in a secluded spot, the paparazzi who stalk them are back in the spotlight. The Middleton family, prompted by the publication of 5-year-old photos of bridesmaid Pippa Middleton sunbathing topless with Kate and Prince William on a yacht (not to be confused with...

UK Offers FarmVille ... on Actual Farm

Please, try not to kill the cows

(Newser) - Addicted to FarmVille? Now you can play the game on an actual farm—without leaving home. Britain’s National Trust is offering up an estate to be run by gamers, using a program called MyFarm . Users—there’s room for 10,000—make choices on which crops to plant, what...

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