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(IsraelNN.com) Boris Johnson defeated Ken Livingstone, who was running for a third term of mayor and won wide support from the city's growing Muslim community. Johnson, a member of the Conservative party, was backed by 53.2 percent of the voters. Livingstone frequently has collided with Jewish community in London, previously accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and once refused to apologize for comparing a Jewish reporter with a Nazi concentration camp guard. Johnson has been more favorable towards Israel and opposed last year's movement by academics to boycott the Jewish state

Boris Johnson has been elected Mayor of London, adding to Labour's misery after disastrous local elections. The Conservative candidate beat Ken Livingstone with Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick in third place. Mr Johnson polled 1,168,738 votes to Mr Livingstone's 1,028,966. After second preferences were allocated, Mr Johnson achieved around 53% to Mr Livingstone's 47%. The result put further pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown after his party suffered its worst council election results in four decades. After the result was announced, the new mayor thanked his team and praised his opponents, particularly Mr Livingstone who he described as a "very considerable...

Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls looking for endorsements can cross one potential backer off their list: Iran. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini earlier this week announced that Iran's leaders will not support any U.S. candidate running for president, according to a report posted on IRNA, the country's official news agency. Hosseini added that Iran hoped the presidential elections "would bring about serious changes in the incorrect approach of the present administration." Meanwhile, London Mayor Ken Livingstone probably can cross Iran off his list of political supporters, too, after telling a gathering of Jewish community leaders that the idea of a...

Cameron: Ken Livingstone has dismissed and insulted Britain's JewsLast night speaking to the Community Security Trust, David Cameron launched a very strong attack on Ken Livingstone: "In the 1980s he invited IRA apologists to County Hall. Today he not only plays host to Qaradawi but publicly embraces him. And through all of this his attitude to British Jews has bordered on the dismissive and insulting. He’s not a minor politician. In fact, he is a rather powerful one. He is the mayor of this great city. And I hope that on May 1st people of all parties and none. Of...

LONDON: Mayor Ken Livingstone urged Britons on Saturday to refrain from demonising Muslims after a double car bomb plot was foiled here amid fears of an Islamist terror threat. He also criticised Britain over its ties with Saudi Arabia, which he said had fuelled intolerance in the past through its Wahhabist form of Islam. “In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding than non-Muslims and less likely to support the use of violence to achieve political ends,” he told BBC Radio. He said various groups had carried out terrorist acts in London over the years, including far-right groups...

Koran: Surah 2: The Cow 12. Kill disbelievers wherever you find them. If they attack you, then kill them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. 191 13. War is ordained by Allah. 216” London Mayor Ken Livingstone commended Muslims by and large for being civil. In that commendation, however, he should have called on civil Muslims to speak out vigorously, daily against Allah fanatics. It is not enough to commend those Muslims who are attempting to make a new life in free nations. Those Muslims must now be told to speak up on behalf of those free nations in which...

LONDON - The mayor of London on Tuesday announced the city's first comprehensive plan to cut carbon emissions, stressing that global warming must be tackled locally. Cities must seize the initiative on climate change, given the sluggish behavior of national governments, said Mayor Ken Livingstone. "The fight to tackle climate change will either be won in cities such as London or will not be won at all," he said. "Cities are responsible for 75 percent of all the world's carbon emissions, and what London does to cut its emissions — and by working with other cities to do the same...

London Mayor 'Red Ken' Announces Oil Deal With Chavez By Kevin McCandless CNSNews.com Correspondent February 20, 2007 London (CNSNews.com) - A deal signed in London Tuesday will secure a 20 percent discount on Venezuelan oil, in exchange for the capital city's assistance to Venezuelan cities in areas such as transport, tourism, town planning and environmental protection. Announcing the agreement, London's left-wing mayor, Ken Livingstone, said the cheaper oil will enable London to offer a 50 percent discount on bus and tram travel to residents who are living on government assistance. "It is a good deal for Venezuela," said Livingstone, a...

Radical Islam vs. Civilization http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=2/a/v/040220071 Text of Speech at Debate with London Mayor Ken Livingstone, 20 January 2007 By Daniel Pipes Thank you so much. I'd like to begin by thanking Mayor Livingstone for his kind invitation to join you today and I thank the Greater London Authority for the hard work it put into what is obviously a successful event. I am delighted by the interest that you, the audience, has shown. And I'm grateful to my supporters who have come from four different countries to be with me today. The Mayor is an optimistic man. I'm generally invited...

The Clinton White House's beleaguered director of personnel security, Craig Livingstone, announced his resignation yesterday, saying he took responsibility for the unjustified collection of FBI files on hundreds of Republicans. But he denied any malign intent. .... The testimony of Livingstone and four others about how the White House personnel security office improperly collected hundreds of confidential FBI background files in 1993-1994 was an embarrassing occasion for the White House, which has endured three weeks of building criticism over the affair. Livingstone and his aide, Anthony B. Marceca, were portrayed as incompetent, inexperienced and wholly unsuited to their sensitive work....

London mayor blasts US during Cuba trip Reuters    Havana: Like many events in communist Cuba, a cricket match for children on Saturday turned into a denunciation of the United States, but this time from London's leftist Mayor Ken Livingstone, not Cuban leader Fidel Castro.While Cubans played a game that is a novelty in their baseball-mad homeland, Livingstone praised Castro and blasted US policy toward the small nation 145km off its shores."What's amazing here is you've got a country that's suffered an illegal economic blockade by the United States for almost half a century and yet it's been able...

The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today said the row over whether Muslims should wear veils had parallels with the hounding of Jews in Nazi Germany. Speaking at the launch of the first ever report into Muslims living in London, Mr Livingstone said much of the ongoing debate about Muslim dress implied the community "was somehow at fault" for being at the centre of the storm.... It is quite clear that the problems we have in Britain are not because Muslims wish to be separate ... I think the entire debate has been totally lopsided as though Muslims were somehow...

The Mayor of London has condemned what he said was greater publicity given to Muslim extremists over and above non-Islamic groups. Ken Livingstone told BBC radio too much emphasis was placed on Muslim extremism while the vast majority of faiths wanted to live together in harmony. He said a situation had been reached where any comment by politicians on Muslims had "front page coverage". His claims were endorsed by a spokesman from the London Muslim Centre. The Mayor told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "There's a small - we're talking about a couple of hundred, no more than that...

To her admirers — and there are many — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is everything you would want in a president: brilliant attorney, skilled politician, able lawmaker and devoted mother. To her detractors — and there seem to be just as many — Clinton is everything you don’t want in a president: vindictive, a social liberal who deviously portrays herself a moderate and an avid proponent of increasing the power of the federal government. But as the former first lady speaks today in Columbus before a liberal group, those critics and supporters would agree that she is the favorite to...

London Mayor criticises Moscow Gay Pride violence 30-May-2006 Marc Shoffman The Mayor of London has condemned the violence and religious and nationalist protests that marred gay pride celebrations in Moscow last weekend. Gay activists who chose to defy a gay pride ban in the Russian capital were met with violence from religious and nationalist protesters chanting anti gay slogans and 1000 riot police aiming to stop demonstrations in the Red Square. Ken Livingstone said: 'The Russian people suffered greater casualties than any other country from Nazism - whose targets were not only Jews and Soviet citizens but also homosexuals. To...

I cannot find it now, but I saw on Netscape about thirty minutes ago a story about an editor for Hustler magazine. This efitor has a book coming out soon. In it he tells the story of the “forced” resignation of Senator Robert Livingstone over sexual indiscretions. When Flynnt and his fellow goons went out to dig up dirt on Republicans in order to deflect attention from Bill Clinton and Monica, Hustler said they had the goods on Livingstone. They put out feelers and got a name. They called “the girlfriend” on the phone to get those goods, and she...

LONDON, England (AP) -- The U.S. ambassador to Britain was behaving "like some chiseling little crook" in a dispute over whether embassy cars should pay the capital's £8 ($14) toll, London's mayor said Monday. The embassy stopped paying the fee last July, shortly before Ambassador Robert Tuttle took up his post. It argues that the toll on those driving in central London during business hours is a tax that diplomats should not have to pay. Mayor Ken Livingstone's office says the fee, known as the "congestion charge" and aimed at cutting traffic, is a payment for a service, not a...

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has been found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute by comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard. Mr Livingstone was suspended from duty for four weeks from March 1 after being found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute. The three-man Adjudication Panel for England unanimously ruled that Mr Livingstone had been "unnecessarily insensitive and offensive" to Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold in February last year. David Laverick, chairman of the disciplinary panel sitting in central London, said: "His treatment of the journalist was unnecessarily insensitive and offensive. He persisted with a...

A leading Islamic organisation was today kicking off its nationwide awareness week in the capital in an effort to promote better understanding of the religion and its historical links with Britain. Mayor Ken Livingstone was launching Islam Awareness Week at a ceremony at City Hall with the message "One London". Guest speakers at the ceremony include author and leading historian Professor Nabil Matar and secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain Sir Iqbal Sacranie. Shafeeq Sadiq, national co-ordinator of Islam Awareness Week, said: "We need to remember the positive spirit that embraced the nation, and especially the capital, after London...

MAYOR Ken Livingstone faced calls to quit last night after trying to justify suicide bombings. He said: “Given that the Palestinians don’t have jet fighters and don’t have tanks, they only have their bodies to use as weapons. “In that unfair balance, that is what people use.” Last night Lord Janner of the World Jewish Congress said: “His sad attempt to justify Middle Eastern suicide bombers is a betrayal of the hundreds of innocent people who suffered from this terrorist barbarism in London.” The Board of Deputies of British Jews added: “It is absurd he should parrot this apology...

  HILLARY'S TRIPLE PLAYthe clinton putsch + filegate + the gorelick wall by MIa T, 7.11.05   resident's Bush's failure to purge the ranks of clintonoid infestation and the resultant Joe Wilson bed-bug bite beg a reexamination of the clinton Putsch, the firing and replacement of every U.S. attorney extant. The clinton putsch mustn't be examined in isolation, however. This purge wasn't about simple housekeeping. Rather, it was one of three parts, the Filegate-clinton putsch-Gorelick Wall triple play, a grand scheme that would enable the clintons to methodically and seditiously and with impunity auction off America's security, sovereignty and economy...

...Certainly some Democrats and many others are trying their level best to convince Americans that the Iraq fighting is a distraction from the war against al Qaeda and other terrorist networks. Indeed, that Operation Iraqi Freedom somehow caused all the trouble in the first place. But 9/11 came first. And, anyway, finding Osama bin Laden and bringing him to trial — or simply killing him — won't end the terrorist threat. That's why the coalition efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries are deeply related — not just militarily, but in the increasingly successful endeavor to spread...

It is precisely Hillary’s penchant for witch hunts and enemy lists, as revealed, for instance, in the Filegate and Travelgate scandals, which disqualify her from high office, Klein argues. Unfortunately, that same Machiavellian ruthlessness may well carry her to victory in 2008...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The mayor of London told a gathering of world mayors Friday that they could unclog city streets and fight global warming by charging hefty fees to drive in congested areas of their communities. Mayor Ken Livingstone said making drivers pay a "congestion charge" to drive in central London has improved traffic flow and reduced emissions of "greenhouse gases" blamed for raising temperatures and changing weather patterns worldwide. The $9 fee has forced people out of their cars and filled city buses, subways and sidewalks, he told mayors assembled here for the United Nations World Environment Day...

London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone today blamed the press for the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dr David Kelly, the Government scientist at the centre of the row over the Iraq war dossiers. Mr Livingstone, speaking during a phone-in on the LBC 97.3 FM Nick Ferrari programme, said: “The best of reporters are great and courageous people, many of them give their lives to bring us the truth. “There’s a downside: the real underbelly of British reporting are the scum of the earth and they destroy lives. “I think if we had better reporting standards in this country David...

Ken Livingstone has reignited his dispute with Britain's Jewish leaders by launching a provocative attack on the "war criminal" Ariel Sharon. In a riposte to criticism from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the London mayor accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and said its prime minister should be imprisoned. He also accused Israel of demonising Muslims. Writing in the Guardian, he again rejected accusations of anti-semitism arising from his confrontation two weeks ago with the Jewish newspaper reporter he likened to a German concentration camp guard. But while stressing his steadfast opposition to racism and his regard for...

LONDON (AP) - The mayor of London refused to apologize Tuesday for comparing a Jewish journalist to a Nazi concentration guard, a comment that drew anger from Jewish groups and calls for contrition from Holocaust survivors, the government's race-relations watchdog and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Instead, Mayor Ken Livingstone lashed out at the journalist's employer, accusing it of a long history of anti-Semitism and scare-mongering about immigrants. "I have nothing to apologize for," Livingstone told reporters at a news conference. The mayor said he had not meant to offend the Jewish community when he asked Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold...

London Mayor Ken Livingstone refused Tuesday to apologize for comparing a Jewish newspaper reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard. Jewish and Holocaust groups have urged Livingstone to say he is sorry, as have Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and the London Assembly, the body that scrutinizes the mayor's work. But Livingstone told a news conference that he didn't believe he had done anything wrong. "You may think my remarks to that reporter - and many over the years - are offensive," he said. "That is purely a matter of judgment. If you think they are racist I think you are...

London Mayor Ken Livingstone is facing an official inquiry for likening a Jewish newspaper reporter to a "German war criminal," according to The Guardian newspaper. The clash between Livingstone and London's Evening Standard journalist Oliver Finegold occurred outside City Hall last week, where a party was being held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the decision by senior Labor Party politician Chris Smith to openly acknowledge his homosexuality. Finegold was not allowed into the party, due to the mayor's poor relationship with the paper. When he approached Livingstone on his way out, the mayor refused to answer his questions. Instead,...

DETROIT (AP) - David Livingstone says the idea behind the economic boycott he's organizing is simple: If people don't show up at work or buy things, companies lose money. As he sees it, that's money the Bush administration can't tax, and can't use to run the war in Iraq, protect polluters or chip away at the Constitution. So the Detroit Democrat and a handful of other anti-Bush groups across the country are urging others of like mind to withhold their cash and labor on Inauguration Day - from all businesses. They don't think they'll inflict a huge economic pain, but...

Ken Livingstone today demonstrates how cowed he has become since his recent readmittance to the Labour party: he tells the Guardian that he wants a new top rate of tax at 50%, wants the Israeli leader Ariel Sharon put in prison and looks forward to the Saudi royal family "swinging from the lamp-posts". Mr Livingstone was allowed back into the party this year, having been thrown out for standing for mayor as an independent. He had to pass a so-called loyalty test, overseen by five senior Labour figures. The decision to embrace him as Labour candidate was strongly backed by...

A letter written by English explorer David Livingstone which was left at the mouth of the Zambezi River in a bottle urgently requesting provisions from any passing ship that found it. The letter was written on May 25, 1859, and is expected to fetch up to $50,000 when it's auctioned later this year. Photo: AFP London: A message in a bottle left at the mouth of an African river by legendary explorer Dr David Livingstone almost 150 years ago is expected to fetch as much as $50,000 when it is auctioned later this year. The note, penned by Dr...

Blair faces Bush security crisis as Livingstone hosts anti-war party By Toby Helm, Chief Political Correspondent and Chris Boffey (Filed: 12/11/2003) Tony Blair was struggling last night to prevent anti-war protesters from causing a full-scale security crisis during President George Bush's state visit to London next week. Those opposed to the war in Iraq have been urged to breach security at Buckingham Palace during the president's three-day stay, during which he will be the guest of the Queen. Separately, the Stop The War Coalition, which is organising a series of protests, said that, despite police plans to set up an...

I need a guest for next Thursday's show. Gary Aldrich, if you are online here or if a fellow FReeper can help me get in touch with you, I would love to discuss Hillary's book. Any help will be appreciated.

KEN LIVINGSTONE, the Mayor of London, compared President Bush to Saddam Hussein in an outspoken attack yesterday. Mr Livingstone said that he was as eager to see Mr Bush ousted as he was to see Saddam brought to justice. His comments were condemned by Conservatives who said that Americans would be deterred further from visiting the capital. As Mr Livingstone took questions from schoolchildren visiting City Hall, he said: “I think George Bush is the most corrupt American President since Harding in the Twenties. He is not the legitimate President.” He added: “This really is a completely unsupportable Government and...