Free Republic

Protesters killed and 40,000 jailed as Blair's friend quells 'insurrection' By David Blair in Addis Ababa (Filed: 16/12/2005) A leader handpicked by Tony Blair to champion Africa has smashed his opponents with the biggest crackdown in the continent's recent history, jailing 40,000 people including boys of 15. Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister and a member of Britain's Commission for Africa, has launched a systematic onslaught against every possible adversary. Meles Zenawi: Onslaught The entire leadership of Ethiopia's main opposition party has been locked up. Mr Meles has closed five newspapers and jailed their editors, while police have killed about...

Blair's baby Asbos By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor (Filed: 09/10/2005) Sweeping powers to clamp down on young offenders and problem families are being drawn up as Tony Blair steps up his war on the "yob culture" plaguing the streets. The Prime Minister has ordered his officials to prepare radical measures to drive through his "Respect" agenda, including "baby Asbos" to be targeted at problem children who could be younger than 10. Tony Blair at the launch of the 'Respect' campaign Downing Street staff, working under the guidance of Louise Casey, the controversial anti-social behaviour "tsar", are preparing a hard-hitting Bill...

Blair's blueprint to strike at terror By George Jones (Filed: 06/03/2004) Tony Blair called yesterday for a change in international law to legitimise pre-emptive military action against rogue states that developed weapons of mass destruction, co-operated with terrorists or brutalised their people. He said the "global threat" posed by Islamic extremism and global terrorism meant it was time to rethink the centuries-old rule that the only clear case for armed intervention was "self-defence in response to aggression". Mr Blair in Sedgefield yesterday After months of controversy over the legitimacy of the Iraq conflict, Mr Blair embarked on the most detailed...

Blix dismisses Blair's weapons claim Former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has dismissed claims Saddam Hussein had laboratories for developing weapons of mass destruction. His comments came as Tony Blair said that the British-American Iraq Survey Group had already uncovered "massive" evidence of a network of secret laboratories. Mr Blair made the claim in an interview with the British Forces Broadcasting Service. He said: "I think in any event we have got to carry on the work that we are doing, because contrary to some of the things that appear, the Iraq Survey Group has already found massive evidence...

The Weather's Great, Wish I Were Here May 21, 2003 RIO DE JANEIRO Actually I'm in Brooklyn right now, but I'm counting on my employer to follow the strict fact-checking methods in operation at the New York Times. Under the excellent system of checks and balances at the Times, reporter Jayson Blair kept turning in reports with datelines from places like West Virginia and Maryland ? while submitting expense receipts for the same time period from Joe's Bar in Brooklyn. You can't blame him. He couldn't very well turn in articles with the dateline "My Mom's House." In the current...

The weather's great, wish I were here RIO DE JANEIRO – Actually I'm in Brooklyn right now, but I'm counting on my employer to follow the strict fact-checking methods in operation at the New York Times. Under the excellent system of checks and balances at the Times, reporter Jayson Blair kept turning in reports with datelines from places like West Virginia and Maryland – while submitting expense receipts for the same time period from Joe's Bar in Brooklyn. You can't blame him. He couldn't very well turn in articles with the dateline "My Mom's House." In the current Newsweek magazine,...

Camp David talks will test Blair's influence on BushPrime Minister is lionised in America, but elsewhere faces dissent as Short breaks ranks and Mandela raises spectre of a 'holocaust' By Rupert Cornwell in Washington 31 January 2003 In Britain he may be portrayed as America's lapdog, obediently following George Bush into an Iraqi adventure over which he has no control. On this side of the Atlantic, Tony Blair will find himself lionised as Washington"s truest ally when he meets Mr Bush at Camp David today. The warmth is evident everywhere, from newspaper opinion columns to public and private comments of...

Palestinians barred from Blair's peace summit By Andrew Grice and Eric Silver in Jerusalem 07 January 2003 Tony Blair may be forced to cancel a London conference on the stalled Middle East peace process next week after Israel barred Palestinian delegates from attending. Britain will appeal to Israel to allow the Palestinians to travel to the meeting, aimed at agreeing on reforms to the Palestinian Authority. But there was little sign last night that Israel will drop the ban, imposed in retaliation for Sunday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, which killed 22 people. Downing Street said the conference – to...

Blair's Iraq call rejected By Colin Brown, Sean Rayment and Charles Laurence in New York (Filed: 04/08/2002) A damaging rift has opened up between London and Washington over demands by Tony Blair that the Bush administration revive Middle East peace talks before any attack on Iraq. Click to enlarge The Telegraph has learned that the Prime Minister is privately urging President Bush to call Arab-Israeli peace talks before any military action against Iraq, but the White House is resisting. "The Washington argument is: You can deal with Iraq in a separate box. That is not the London position," said a...