LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The UK government is to guarantee 600 billion pounds ($853 billion) of toxic bank assets to help stabilise Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), The Times said on Thursday. for more click here
Today’s Republicans are thumbing through Newt Gingrich’s worn playbook of 1993 looking for tips on how to blunt President Barack Obama’s political momentum and flip it to their advantage. In doing so, they also appear to have dug in to what might be called the secret appendix. for more click here
Councils in England will be forced to publish information on how much their chief executives earn under planned legislation, the government has said.
Local Government Minister John Healey said the “spiralling” pay of some council chiefs needed to be countered. for more click here
The Treasury has said that banker Sir Fred Goodwin’s refusal to give up his £693,000-a-year pension is “unfortunate and unacceptable”.for more click here
Lloyds Banking Group has said that HBOS, which it absorbed in January, made a pre-tax loss of £10.8bn in 2008. for more click here
Jack Straw faced a storm of protest last night after vetoing the release of Cabinet papers on the decision to invade Iraq.
He used a clause in freedom of information law to prevent publication of minutes of two key Cabinet meetings in 2003. for more click here
Kadima’s refusal to enter a national unity government with the Likud is not as absolute as it has been made to appear. Both outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (Kadima party) and the #2 man in Kadima, Transportation Minister Sha’ul Mofaz, say a unity government is a good idea. Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, for her part, says, “As of now, we are in the Opposition.”
Livni met with Netanyahu on Sunday night, and said afterwards that major differences between her party and the Likud were still extant. She is against joining a government headed by Netanyahu. for more click here
IN THE TWILIGHT of the 19th century, at the height of the British Empire, a young Winston Churchill accompanied a British military campaign to the northwest of India. In his first book, “The Malakand Field Force,” Churchill described how, then as now, local tribesmen were challenging the government’s authority in what is now Pakistan. for more click here
Taliban militants in Pakistan’s Swat valley have extended a ceasefire, strengthening a peace process that Western governments say risks granting a safe haven to extremists close to the Afghan border.
It remains unclear whether the militants will agree to a government offer to impose a version of Islamic law in the north-western region in exchange for giving up their weapons.for more click here
A Palestinian human rights group has filed a lawsuit at the High Court in London over the United Kingdom’s continuation of trade with Israel following that country’s offensive in Gaza.
Al-Haq, which is based in Ramallah in the West Bank, said that in trading with Israel, including supplying arms, Britain is breaking international law. for more click here