Daily News Channel
A body that may be that of a Briton taken hostage in Iraq two years ago has been handed over to Iraqi authorities, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced Wednesday. The disclosures reported by the country’s official news agency were highly unusual
UK officials have sought to play down low voter turnout in Afghanistan’s elections amid reports just 150 people cast their ballots in an area where four British troops died securing it from the Taliban. British media claimed that early estimates of ballots in the former Taliban stronghold of Babaji in Helmand province indicated few exercised their voting rights, despite the efforts of Operation Panther’s Claw, a five-week offensive against militants in the region. The claims have fueled debate in Britain over the country’s continued military role in Afghanistan as the country’s death toll since operations began in 2001 pushes past the 200 mark.
Americans are being urged to boycott Scottish products as continued outrage over last week’s release of the Lockerbie bomber prompted an emergency meeting of parliament. A Web site set up to vent anger at the decision to send Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi back to Libya calls on Americans to avoid travel to Scotland and cease buying Scottish products such as whisky
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday no deals were ever made with Libya while he was in power to arrange the Lockerbie bomber’s release, a move that has caused outrage in the United States. In an exclusive interview with CNN, Blair denied claims — made Friday by the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi — that he raised the case of Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi every time he visited Libya as prime minister. “Let me make one thing absolutely clear,” Blair, who stepped down as PM in 2007, told CNN’s John Vause on Saturday in Guiyang, China.
U.S. President Barack Obama and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband both said they "strongly condemn" Friday’s deadly hotel attacks in Jakarta, Indonesia
A top Iranian cleric said Friday some of the arrested employees from the British Embassy in Tehran would be put on trial, Iranian Students News Agency reported. The employees have been accused of helping to incite some of the post-election protests that sweep through Iran. The British Foreign Office in London reacted strongly to the statement Friday.
No Iranian presidential candidates had filed complaints as a Monday deadline approached in the country’s disputed presidential election, state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported. The powerful conservative Guardian Council last week extended the deadline for filing complaints after two candidates — Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi — questioned the legitimacy of the June 12 vote count
A former Rwandan official was sentenced to 30 years in jail for his role in the death of "thousands of Tutsi refugees" in country’s 1994 genocide, a court announced Monday. Iran’s influential parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, submitted the request Monday to the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission which called on the Foreign Ministry to review the relationship, the report said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran favors the expansion of relations with all countries, but will never accept interference of other states in its internal affairs,” commission spokesman Kazem Jalali said, according to Press TV
Iranian lawmakers are calling for a review of the country’s ties with Britain because of its "interference in Iran’s recent post-election unrest," government-funded Press TV reported Monday. Iran’s influential parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, submitted the request Monday to the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission which called on the Foreign Ministry to review the relationship, the report said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran favors the expansion of relations with all countries, but will never accept interference of other states in its internal affairs,” commission spokesman Kazem Jalali said, according to Press TV
British authorities have identified two bodies recovered in Iraq, saying Sunday they are "highly likely" to be those of two British men kidnapped two years ago in Baghdad. Based on “strong indications,” the bodies are those of Jason Creswell, originally from Glasgow, Scotland, and Jason Swindlehurst, originally from Skelmersdale, England, the British Foreign Office said in a statement. Iraqi authorities discovered the remains of the two bodies and handed them over to British authorities, the Foreign Office said Saturday.