Humiliating Defeat for UK Ruling Party

Anwar al-Awlaki videos blamed for radicalizing young Brits

(NEWSER) - Several UK officials are calling on the US to censor Anwar al-Awlaki’s videos on YouTube, after a would-be assassin cited them as a key ingredient in her radicalization. More than 5,000 of Anwar al-Awkali’s sermons can be found on YouTube, exhorting the faithful to take up terrorism. “Jihad today is obligatory on every capable Muslim,” the American-born al-Qaeda cleric declares in one. Police think those videos radicalized Roshonara Choudhry, who was convicted yesterday of stabbing Labour politician Stephen Timms. More»

Celebs making up to $50K per month pitching products to fans

(NEWSER) - American celebrities are raking in up to $50,000 a month for tweeting on behalf of brands. A single shout-out from 50 Cent or Snoop Dogg, for instance, can earn them $5,000, finds the Sun . The pay-per-tweet model is now heading across the pond, and UK celebs won't be required to use "spon" or "ad" to mark paid tweets. A government official urged the country's famous folk to tweet responsibly: "If people don't reveal a tweet is paid for it could undermine fans' trust," he warns. (Click here to find out how not to be a jerk on Twitter.) More»

Start of 'cash for vasectomy' program in Britain

(NEWSER) - Here's an odd bit of international relations: An American charity has paid a British heroin addict to undergo a vasectomy. The group, called Project Prevention , paid the man about $315 dollars in the hope of preventing him from passing his addiction on to the next generation. The man, John, said he'd been thinking about the operation for a while, but the money "spurred" him to act, reports the Telegraph . More»

40-year-old replaces former Britain PM Gordon Brown

(AP) - Britain's opposition Labour Party elected young lawmaker Ed Miliband as its new leader today after he narrowly defeated his older and better-known brother in a contest to replace former prime minister Gordon Brown. Miliband, the 40-year-old ex-climate change secretary, squeaked by David Miliband, the 45-year-old former foreign secretary, in the ballot. "Today, a new generation has taken charge of Labour, a new generation that understands the call of change," said Miliband, who also saluted his brother. More»

And I hated Gordon Brown

(NEWSER) - Tony Blair’s memoir, A Journey, has just hit stores, and it’s loaded with juicy revelations that have Britain talking. Among them:

• Blair says he used alcohol as “a prop,” with his daily intake “definitely at the outer limit” of what was acceptable. “By the standards of days gone by I was not even remotely a topper,” he protests, adding that his intake was “not excessively excessive. I had a limit.”
• Much of the headlines have been dominated by his always-rumored but until now denied feud with Gordon Brown . Blair says he knew Brown would be a “disastrous” prime minister, and blames him for the party’s recent losses