Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

03 Jan 2010 10:41

tags

U.S., World: The U.S. and U.K. say “screw it,” close embassies in Yemen

  • There are indications that al-Qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against a target inside of Sanaa, possibly our embassy. And what we do is to take every measure possible to ensure the safety of our diplomats and citizens abroad, so the decision was made to close the embassy.
  • Assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism John Brennan • Regarding the government’s decision to close its Yemeni base. (Britain did the same, by the way.) The country, which is becoming a large hub for terrorism, has been the scene of a major battlefront in the war on al-Qaeda in the last few weeks, and the U.S. isn’t taking any chances. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2010 21:51

tags

World: Drunks overwhelming the British health care system, probably drunk

  • 50p minimum price for alcohol recommended source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Dec 2009 08:37

tags

World: Fighting words: Britain’s climate secretary blames China for failures

  • Ed Miliband sounds frustrated here. But in other comments he made about the giant ball of failure that was the Copenhagen summit, the British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change sounded pissed off specifically at China, which he argued used its power to veto a stronger climate agreement despite the fact that the strongest restrictions would not have directly affected them (but would have affected the countries suggesting them). Miliband and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are the leading voices in saying that the process of diplomacy on climate change is broken and needs to be fixed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Oct 2009 09:11

tags

World: The Royal Mail is makes a really good argument for e-mail

The postal service in the U.K. has widespread support for a strike. It’s bad enough that Amazon has a backup plan in case they do strike. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2009 09:40

tags

World: Conservatives in the U.K. want everyone to “feel the pain”

  • £7 billion in budget cuts by cutting from just about everyone big time source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Sep 2009 10:02

tags

World: People are pointing fingers in the Stephen Farrell rescue

  • Gordon Brown’s hearing it after people died. On the plus side, New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell was rescued after just a few days of captivity in Afghanistan. But it came at a deadly cost – beyond Farrell’s interpreter and two Afghan civilians, a British paratrooper was killed. Which means that, since Prime Minister Gordon Brown reportedly gave the final OK, he’s also getting the drama over it. After the fact, though, Brown’s denying it – he says he was only consulted. Hmmmmmmm. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Sep 2009 11:20

tags

World: A far-right U.K. protest against Islamic extremism gets violent

  • 90+ were arrested after protesters and anti-protesters fought source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Sep 2009 21:31

tags

World: Libya was threatening the U.K. to release the Lockerbie bomber

  • The U.K.’s trying to dispel bomber-for-oil rumors. Libya warned the United Kingdom that there would be “catastrophic effects” to the relationship between the two countries if the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi were allowed to die in prison, dozens of pages of documents released by the U.K. say. From the sounds of things, Libya twisted Scotland’s arm really hard, and to grease the skids further, Britain and Libya have had warm relations of late. All of which likely helped along his release. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Aug 2009 09:54

tags

World: Was an oil deal behind the Lockerbie bomber’s release?

  • If so, expect a lot of angry people. The Sunday Times is reporting this morning that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was released to Libya “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom.” Apparently the Brits and Libya had some negotiations about oil that stalled, and a prisoner-transfer deal with Libya greased the wheels. Sounds sketchy to us. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

21 Aug 2009 09:30

tags

World: Britain: We shouldn’t have released the Lockerbie bomber

  • The sight of a mass murderer getting a hero’s welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, deeply distressing, above all for the 270 families who grieve every day for the loss of their loved ones 21 years ago.
  • British Foreign Secretary David Miliband • Criticizing Scotland’s decision to let Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi go early. Many were critical of the U.S.’ why-didya-let-him-go feelings on the matter, until they saw that the Libyan government allowed for a rare public gathering outside of Meghrai’s plane to celebrate his release. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>