Free Republic

The bankruptcy of Iceland, now receiving a $2.1 billion two-year loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “to support an economic recovery program,” has been depicted as something that could never happen to America. Is the U.S. too big to fail? Or is the U.S. going through the same process, albeit on a slower basis? The bankruptcy of Iceland, now receiving a $2.1 billion two-year loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “to support an economic recovery program,” has been depicted as something that could never happen to America. Is the U.S. too big to fail? Or is the U.S....

A TEENAGER was brutally murdered by her boyfriend's Muslim flatmate because he did not approve of him going out with a Catholic. Lidia Motylska, 19, was strangled in an alleyway in Leeds by Iraqi immigrant Abobakir Jabari who objected to his Kurdish flatmate's relationship with her. Yesterday Jabari, 39, who was given British citizenship in 2005, pleaded guilty at Sheffield Crown Court to murdering the petite Polish teenager. The court heard he garrotted her from behind, using the cord from his tracksuit bottoms, before inflicting "gratuitous" wounds on her lifeless body. He stabbed

The Royal Navy described the boarding as 'compliant' Michael Evans, Defence Editor and Rob Crilly Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles. In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the...

Margaret Thatcher named as 'Great Briton' By Andrew Porter, Political Editor Last Updated: 12:51am GMT 01/02/2008 Margaret Thatcher has been hailed as a Great Briton who transformed the country and left an indelible and lasting mark on politics. David Cameron said Margaret Thatcher 'made the landscape we live in today' Conservative leader David Cameron heaped praise on the former Prime Minister in a sign that he is determined to be seen as her heir. At a prestigious dinner in her honour she was awarded the Morgan Stanley Great Britons Lifetime Achievement Award at the Guildhall in London. The awards are...

UK tycoon 'arrested in Zimbabwe' Mr van Hoogstraten is accused of charging rent in foreign currency British property developer Nicholas van Hoogstraten has been arrested in Zimbabwe, according to local media. The state-run Herald newspaper said Mr van Hoogstraten, 63, was charged with breaking foreign exchange laws after a night raid at his Harare home. He is accused of demanding rent in overseas currency, contrary to Zimbabwean law, the newspaper said. A police spokesman told it that Mr van Hoogstraten, of Uckfield, East Sussex, owns about 200 properties in Zimbabwe. Bundles of money Officers recovered 20 billion Zimbabwe dollars (£335,883;...

LONDON - A British oil trader was arrested Thursday on U.S. charges of paying bribes to Saddam Hussein as part of the discredited U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq. Metropolitan Police said John Irving, 52, was detained in central London on a U.S. extradition warrant. He appeared at the city's Westminster Magistrates Court and was released on bail until his next hearing on July 20. Irving was one of three men charged in New York in 2005 with cheating the United Nations of at least $100 million that should have gone to humanitarian aid for Iraqis. The other two — Texas...

David Perks, a science teacher for 20 years and head of physics at Graveney School, Tooting, south London, said that the redesign was further evidence of the "dumbing down" of science to create "critically aware" consumers, rather than future scientists.New science A-levels are being "dumbed down" to such an extent that some courses will demand no prior knowledge of the subject. Draft syllabuses for chemistry and biology published by one exam board state that the first part of the qualification, the AS-level, can be tackled without the candidate having studied the subject before. The changes, part of a general redesign...

BAGHDAD — The Basra police commander on Friday said the roadside bomb used in an attack that killed four British soldiers had not been used in southern Iraq before, and his description of the deadly weapon indicated it was a feared Iranian-designed explosively formed projectile. Anbar province has been a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency but many tribes in the region recently switched allegiance, with large numbers of military-age men joining the police force and Iraqi army in a bid to expel Al Qaeda in Iraq fighters. The U.S. military has claimed Iran is supplying Shiite militia fighters in Iraq...

Briton 'could stage another September 11' By Toby Harnden Last Updated: 1:59am BST 04/04/2007 Interview: America's new homeland security chief tells Toby Harnden of his fears of 'clean skin' terrorists The United States fears that the next September 11-style attack on America could be launched by Muslims from Britain or Europe who feel "second-class citizens" and alienated by a "colonial legacy", according to the US Homeland Security chief. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Michael Chertoff, who arrives in Britain tomorrow for talks with John Reid, the Home Secretary, said the US was determined to build extra defences against...

The Iranian navy has seized up to 15 British sailors, the Ministry of Defence confirmed today, sparking a diplomatic standoff between the UK and Iran. ...Commodore Kevin Aandahl, of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet - which operates jointly with the British forces off the coast of Iraq - said the UK crew members had been intercepted by several larger patrol boats. The boats were operated by Iranian sailors belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, a radical force operating separately from the country's usual navy. Iran has captured British service personnel on the Shatt al-waterway before. Eight crew members...

Find of Roman coin shows ancient Britons in a new light By Daily Telegraph Reporter Last Updated: 1:34am GMT 26/02/2007 Experts are excited about a rare coin unearthed by an amateur treasure hunter which could change the accepted ancient history of Britain. The silver denarius which dates back to the Roman Republic — before Julius Caesar made Rome an empire — was unearthed near Fowey in Cornwall. Dating from 146 BC, it shows how ancient Britons were trading with the Romans well before the country was conquered in AD 43. "It proves that there was a lot more going on...

Extremist Muslims who force vulnerable teenage girls to convert to Islam are being targeted by police, Met chief Sir Ian Blair has revealed. Police are working with universities to clamp down on "aggressive conversions" during which girls are beaten up and forced to abandon university courses. The Hindu Forum of Britain claims hundreds of mostly Sikh and Hindu girls have been intimidated by Muslim men who take them out on dates before terrorising them until they convert. Sir Ian spoke about the problem at a conference organised by the forum. A Met spokesman said: "Neighbourhood officers work with university authorities...

LONDON - A 22-year-old man suffered internal injuries after lighting a small firecracker he had inserted into his buttocks, paramedics said Thursday. The incident took place Sunday, when Britain celebrated Bonfire Night, traditionally marked with fireworks to celebrate the Guy Fawkes? gunpowder plot to blow up Parliament in the 17th century. The man suffered burns and other unspecified internal injuries in the incident in Sunderland, 275 miles north of London.

The British fanatic who plotted to kill thousandsBy Duncan Gardham Last Updated: 11:12am GMT 07/11/2006 Read Dhiren Barot's book: The Army of Madinah in Kashmir (pdf) A British al-Qa'eda fanatic plotted to murder thousands of innocent people on both sides of the Atlantic, a court heard yesterday. The detailed plans presented to terrorist handlers by Muslim convert Dhiren Barot revealed his goal of striking at major buildings and railway stations with gas bombs in cars, detonating a radioactive dirty bomb and blowing up a train under the Thames in London. Dhiren Barot, from London, plotted explosions Woolwich Crown Court heard...

rom pin numbers to people's names, most Britons have a tough time remembering everyday things, a survey said. In total 87% of Britons have difficulty remembering everyday things, while a third of women admitted forgetting where they have put things and 30% of men struggled to remember people's names. The results are part of Alzheimer's Society's Million Memories campaign which includes a website - www.millionmemories.org.uk - to help store people's memories and raise awareness of memory loss. Remembering where they put things was a problem for 42% of 16-24 year olds compared to 23% of the over 65s. Alzheimer's Society...

Briton 'shot dead' in Amman Monday September 4, 2006 A gunman has killed a British man and injured five western tourists and a local guide, at a Roman amphitheatre in Amman, according to the Jordanian government. Reuters is reporting that the gunman chanted as he fired at the tourists visiting the popular site, which is in the centre of the Jordanian capital. Nasser Joudeh, from the Jordanian government, said the wounded were three Britons, one Dutch, one New Zealander and the Jordanian guide Jordanian police have cordoned off the site. "I was walking when I saw someone pull out a...

More British people than ever before want to turn dreams of a foreign life into reality, a poll for the BBC suggests. About 1,000 people were questioned for the survey and a majority said they had considered emigrating, little change from a similar 2003 poll. However, the number hoping to move in the near future has almost doubled. The BBC is appealing for information on Britons abroad as part of a major project to count expats accurately. According to the national poll, more than half of British people have considered emigrating in their life time. But when asked about whether...

<p>New York: Deputy Secretary-General of the U.N. was on Wednesday night accused of making ``a very, very grave mistake'' after calling the Bush administration hypocrites who were feeding a right-wing anti-U.N. frenzy in middle America.</p> <p>Washington's Ambassador to the U.N. responded with undisguised fury to a speech by Mark Malloch Brown, the Deputy Secretary-General, in which he accused Washington of using the international body ``almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool'' while failing to defend it at home.</p>

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - After spending half his life in a Pakistani jail, Tahir Mirza Hussain is scheduled to hang on his 36th birthday for killing a taxi driver _ even though a court acquitted him 10 years ago. Hussain, a British-Pakistani, claims he is innocent. He was cleared by a secular court but retried and found guilty in an Islamic one. He now faces execution June 1 unless President Gen. Pervez Musharraf intervenes. His muddled case, spanning two decades, is emblematic of Pakistan's corrupt and bifurcated legal system, described by a leading rights activist as "flawed" and in desperate need...

Briton Thanks Soldiers Who Rescued HimBy THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 21 minutes ago Norman Kember the freed British Christian peace campaigner smiles as he reads a statement after arriving at London's Heathrow airport Saturday March 25, 2006. Kember on Saturday thanked the soldiers who rescued him from kidnappers in Iraq, in a statement made shortly after flying into London. (AP Photo/Luke MacGregor, Pool) LONDON - Freed British hostage Norman Kember returned home Saturday after four months in captivity in Iraq and thanked the soldiers who saved him and two other peace activists. Kember, 74, arrived on a...