Britain – News Stories About Britain - Page 85

UK Security Chief Warns of Long Haul Against Terror

Jul 8, 2007 11:40 AM CDT

UK Security Chief Warns of Long Haul Against Terror

Britain should expect '10 to 15 year' struggle

(Newser) - Saying that fighting terrorists is "a daunting task," England's new security minister urged Britons to be "un-British" and "snitch" to the authorities if they suspect something, the BBC reports. Sir Alan West, a former Navy admiral, said "we're talking about such a big change" ...

British Firm
Bags Samsonite for $1.7B

Jul 5, 2007 4:57 PM CDT

British Firm Bags Samsonite for $1.7B

Private equity group gets in on American buyout frenzy

(Newser) - CVC Capital, a British private equity firm, has bought out Samsonite, the American luggage line, in an all-cash deal worth $1.7B, BBC reports. CVC will pay $1.49 a share--12% more than the stock was worth Tuesday. Samonsite has had five owners in the last 21 years, as luggage...

UK Tightens Screening of Foreign Docs

Jul 4, 2007 3:13 PM CDT

UK Tightens Screening of Foreign Docs

PM orders review of recruiting in wake of attempted bombings

(Newser) - The UK is scaling up background checks on foreign doctors and other health workers in response to the revelation that eight suspects in the attempted London and Glasgow car bombings last weekend worked for the National Health Service, the Telegraph reports. PM Gordon Brown, in his first Question Time in...

Johnston Release Boosts Hamas

Jul 4, 2007 8:40 AM CDT

Johnston Release Boosts Hamas

Freeing BBC reporter is attempt to send message

(Newser) - Alan Johnston's release after 12 weeks in captivity was used by Hamas today to separate itself from the al-Qaeda-inspired kidnappers, and to assert its ability to secure order in Gaza, the BBC reports. The freed reporter was taken to the home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, who was outsted as...

BBC Reporter Freed in Gaza

Jul 4, 2007 4:28 AM CDT

BBC Reporter Freed in Gaza

Alan Johnston handed over to Hamas after 114 days in captivity

(Newser) - Alan Johnston, the BBC reporter held by an Islamist faction in Gaza for 114 days, was released early today, saying it was "fantastic" to be free. The reporter was handed over to officials of Hamas, now in control of the Gaza Strip, by his captors, a militant splinter group...

Same 2 Men Suspected in Airport, Car Bombings

Jul 2, 2007 8:53 AM CDT

Same 2 Men Suspected in Airport, Car Bombings

Officials were on trail before Glasgow attack

(Newser) - The two men who rammed a flaming Jeep into a Glasgow airport terminal Saturday are suspected of being the same people who parked two explosives-packed cars in London the day before, sources tell CNN. One is a doctor who is being treated for severe burns in the hospital where he...

London Security Crackdown Targets Transit

Jul 2, 2007 4:55 AM CDT

London Security Crackdown Targets Transit

Travelers in for increased delays

(Newser) - British police are cracking down on security at rail services and airports to thwart terror attacks in the wake of a trio of car bomb attempts over the weekend. No specific intelligence warns of an attack on the subway system or the rail network, but the increased patrols and security...

Princess Di Tribute Rocks On

Jul 2, 2007 4:50 AM CDT

Princess Di Tribute Rocks On

Princes' concert celebrates mom's 46th birthday

(Newser) - Nostalgic performances by Elton John and Duran Duran highlighted a concert packed with 68,000 fans yesterday to honor Princess Diana on what would have been her 46th birthday. The spectacle, which flashed giant-screen archival footage of the much-loved "People's Princess," was organized at Wembley stadium amid tight...

5 Arrests in Glasgow Attack

Jul 1, 2007 8:26 AM CDT

5 Arrests in Glasgow Attack

The UK is on highest alert after Glasgow attack linked to attempted London car bombs

(Newser) - The UK is on highest terror alert and five suspects are in custody in the aftermath of yesterday's attempted attack on the Glasgow airport. Two were the drivers of the flaming car driven into the main terminal building; two were picked up in home searches nearby in Glasgow, and one...

London Car Bomb Disarmed

Jun 29, 2007 6:33 AM CDT

London Car Bomb Disarmed

Mercedes left near Piccadilly Circus was packed with gasoline, gas cylinders, nails

(Newser) - A car bomb was found and disarmed in busy central London today. The police were tipped off by an ambulance crew who saw smoke coming from a silver Mercedes in Haymarket. The car was packed with gasoline, gas cannisters, and nails, and could have caused serious damage if it had...

Exit Blair

Jun 27, 2007 8:30 AM CDT

Exit Blair

PM takes final questions; queen asks Brown to form government

(Newser) - Tony Blair handed his resignation to the queen at 1:15 this afternoon, ending a decade as prime minister of the United Kingdom marked by unprecedented prosperity but marred by a deeply unpopular war in Iraq. In a choreographed ritual, Elizabeth II asked Chancellor Gordon Brown, who has been waiting...

UK Change of Guard Today

Jun 27, 2007 4:23 AM CDT

UK Change of Guard Today

Blair will quit Parliament as Brown begins government shakeup

(Newser) - Tony Blair is expected to resign from Parliament today as he vacates 10 Downing Street and is confirmed as the new international envoy to the Mideast. Gordon Brown, whose luggage is waiting curbside, will begin his shakeup of the government, with at least six ministers targeted for replacement, the Guardian...

Captors Threaten to
Kill Kidnapped BBC Reporter

Jun 25, 2007 7:15 AM CDT

Captors Threaten to Kill Kidnapped BBC Reporter

Video shows Johnston wearing explosive belt

(Newser) - A newly released video shows kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston wearing an explosive belt that his captors say will be detonated if a rescue attempt is made. The video deflates hope that Hamas would be able to negotiate Johnston's release after taking control of the chaotic Gaza strip. Johnston's family...

Brown Vows to Lead New Era

Jun 25, 2007 5:22 AM CDT

Brown Vows to Lead New Era

Blair successor as Labour chief pledges to 'learn lessons' of Iraq

(Newser) - Vowing to "heed and lead the call of change," Gordon Brown yesterday took the reins of Britain's ruling Labour Party before stepping into his new role as prime minister Wednesday. Brown is expected to loosen the close ties to Bush foreign policy that marked the Blair era and...

Police Bust Huge Global Pedophile Ring

Jun 19, 2007 5:04 AM CDT

Police Bust Huge Global Pedophile Ring

31 children, babies rescued; chatroom showed live video of sexual abuse

(Newser) - Detectives in 36 countries have busted a global pedophile ring, rescuing 31 young children and babies who were sexually abused live on the Internet, and identifying 700 suspects. "You could go and if you were in the club, arrange a time and a place when online you could view...

Rushdie Honor Sparks Furor

Jun 18, 2007 1:05 PM CDT

Rushdie Honor Sparks Furor

Novelist's knighthood prompts uproar from some corners of the Muslim world

(Newser) - Pakistan wants Britain to revoke Salman Rushdie's just-granted knighthood—and the UK should prepare for suicide attacks if it doesn't, a Pakistani cabinet minister said today. "If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the...

UK Gingers
See Red Over Harassment

Jun 6, 2007 4:13 PM CDT

UK Gingers See Red Over Harassment

Hair-color discrimination a burning issue, say British carrot tops

(Newser) - The UK is ignoring a vicious form of discrimination, the BBC reports—one based not on skin color but hair color. Britain's red-headed schoolkids face bullying, women feel stereotyped, and auburn-haired Britons report harassment with epithets like carrot-top, copper-top, ginger-nut, and even Ronald McDonald.

UK TV Won't Pull Pix of Diana's Crash

Jun 5, 2007 1:59 PM CDT

UK TV Won't Pull Pix of Diana's Crash

Princes make plea to cut images of mom's wreck, to no avail

(Newser) - Britain's Ch. 4 turned down a plea from Princes William and Harry to excise footage of the crash that killed Princess Diana from a documentary that will be shown this week. Instead, the channel will air a program that debates the issues raised by the decision.

UK to Patients Who Smoke: Put That Out

Jun 4, 2007 3:49 PM CDT

UK to Patients Who Smoke: Put That Out

National Health Service imposes four-week window before surgery

(Newser) - Smokers in Britain must kick the habit for at least four weeks before undergoing routine surgery or the National Health Service will deny them the operations, the Daily Mail reports. Doctors will use blood tests to enforce the new policy, which could affect up to 500,000 smokers awaiting procedures...

Blair Looks Back on Tenure as PM

Jun 1, 2007 12:23 PM CDT

Blair Looks Back on Tenure as PM

"We will not succeed simply by military or security means. It is a political challenge."

(Newser) - In a wide-ranging essay that offers few apologies, Tony Blair reflects on his decade as prime minister and argues that Britain must stand in the world as “a player not a spectator.” Writing in the Economist, Blair discusses the shifting landscape of his time in office, the challenges...