Brown dissolves Parliament, calls Britain general election

Long-anticipated Britain general elections now set for May 6 kicked off today as Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived at Buckingham palace mid-morning to ask Queen Elizabeth to dissolve parliament, the final step before campaigning begins. It is the first time Her Highness has intervened since the early 1990s. (more…)

Hamas released British journalist

Gaza’s Hamas rulers on Thursday released a British journalist held for a month amid allegations he had endangered the territory’s security.

A smiling Paul Martin was dropped off by Hamas guards near a Gaza crossing into Israel. He was handed over to British diplomats who escorted him out of the territory.

Martin, a freelance journalist, was the first foreigner to have been arrested since Hamas overran Gaza in 2007. (more…)

British Ambassador to boycott Iran Revolution celebrations

Britain’s Ambassador in Tehran and four European counterparts are to boycott today’s celebrations of the 31st anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, which the opposition hopes to turn into another massive demonstration against the regime.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that Simon Gass would not attend the official events in Azadi Square because of a “range of problems” between Britain and the Iran. The regime refused to accept the deputy head of mission instead, and threatened to prevent the ambassador from holding any future meetings with officials or ministers.
Mr Gass attracted criticism for attending President Ahmadinejad’s inauguration after his hotly disputed re-election last summer. Timesonline

British victim on crashed Ethiopian plane identified

Afif Krisht, 57, was one of two Britons on board the Ethiopian airliner. Mohammed Tajieddine, his uncle, said Mr Krisht was traveling with two others from his village to Angola, where he had a business. “Nobody has told us anything,” Mr Tajieddine said. “We don’t know if they are alive, dead, whether their bodies have been recovered.”

Britain, France and the US assisting in rescue operation

Britain and France dispatched helicopters to assist in the search and rescue operations for the survivors of crashed Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 according to LBC
The US navy has reportedly sent one ship which has the advanced P3 rescue plane on board, to assist in the operations

40 still missing as ship sinks off Lebanon

Danny F II , the Panamanian-flagged cargo hip carrying livestock went down Thursday in heavy rain off the coast of Tripoli in northern Lebanon
The ship had left Montevideo on 23 November with 10,224 sheep and 17,932 cattle, the company said.
The Lebanese army said in a statement that about 40 people were still missing. Of the 83 crew members on board, 38 were rescued and four bodies were retrieved. Some have reported that the captain of the ship, British national was amongst the dead .
The crew members were from Britain, Australia, Russia, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Uruguay, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The ship was believed to have been sailing from Uruguay to Syria, It went down Thursday afternoon some 11 miles (17 kilometers) from the Lebanese port city of Tripoli.

Lebanese Red Cross rescue workers help a survivor of the sunken Panama ship after he was rescued . Source: Reuters
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Update: At least nine crew members were killed and 35 people were still missing ,as rescue workers continue to search the stormy waters off Lebanon on Friday after the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship carrying thousands of sheep and other livestock sank Thursday
Update: At least 11 crew members were killed and 33 people were still missing. The Lebanese and UNIFIL rescue workers continue to search the stormy waters off Lebanon

Five Britons are being held in Iran after yacht seizure

Five Britons are being held in Iran after its navy seized their yacht, which may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters in the Gulf en route from Bahrain to Dubai, the Foreign Office said Monday. Source: AFP

Situation with Iran resembles build up to the invasion of Iraq

Five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have now joined forces against Iran. China and Russia had previously resisted taking action against Iran have now joined forces with Britain, France, Germany and the United States. This looks so much like the build up to the invasion of Iraq with harder sanctions on the horizon and followed with what could inevitably be military action. Source: The Palestine Telegraph