LONDON (Reuters) – Syrian athletes will be able to take part in the London Olympics this summer but any of the country’s officials covered by a European Union travel ban will not be welcome at the Games, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday.

The presence of the Syrian delegation at the London Games starting in July is set to be controversial after more than a year of protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule led to violence that the United Nations says has killed 9,000 people.

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) – Syrian athletes will be able to
take part in the London Olympics this summer but any of the
country’s officials covered by a European Union travel ban will
not be welcome at the Games, British Prime Minister David
Cameron said on Wednesday.

The presence of the Syrian delegation at the London Games
starting in July is set to be controversial after more than a
year of protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule led to
violence that the United Nations says has killed 9,000 people.

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) – Schools that fail to teach
children to read and write should face fines to improve an
inadequate education system, a panel set up to draw lessons from
riots that swept England’s cities last year said on Wednesday.

The panel’s report, presented to Prime Minister David
Cameron, said there were half a million “forgotten families” who
“bump along the bottom” of society and urged the government to
develop a strategy to help them turn their lives around.

LONDON (Reuters) – The number of executions carried out around the world jumped last year, largely due to a surge in use of the death penalty in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

The rights group said at least 676 people were executed in 20 countries in 2011 compared with 527 executions in 23 countries in 2010, a 28 percent increase.

LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron disclosed on Monday that a handful of British financiers and hedge fund bosses have dined at his private apartment in Downing Street and his official country house as he tried to subdue a “cash for access” party funding scandal.

The premier announced an internal party inquiry after the resignation of a top Conservative fundraiser caught in a Sunday newspaper sting telling potential donors they could expect meetings with Cameron and possible influence over policy.

LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron
disclosed on Monday that a handful of British financiers and
hedge fund bosses dined at his private apartment in Downing
Street in recent months as he tried to subdue a “cash for
access” party funding scandal.

Following the resignation of a top Conservative fundraiser
caught in a Sunday newspaper sting telling potential donors they
could expect meetings with Cameron and possible influence over
policy, the premier announced an internal party inquiry and, to
show he had nothing to hide, published details of major donors
whom he invited to private dinners in Downing Street.

LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron bowed to pressure on Monday to disclose his own contacts with wealthy donors after a newspaper sting caught a top fundraiser for his party offering meetings with the premier in return for big contributions.

Conservative party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas resigned after The Sunday Times filmed him telling reporters posing as financiers that, for 250,000 pounds ($400,000), they could dine with Cameron and might possibly influence government policy.

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) – Britain warned on Friday there
was a “significant likelihood” that terrorists will one day
acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons unless countries
step up their efforts to keep sensitive materials and
information secure.

The British government released its first comprehensive
National Counter-Proliferation Strategy, detailing the risks
from the spread such weapons and what Britain and other
countries can do to stop it.

LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron accused Scottish leader Alex Salmond on Friday of dithering over an independence referendum, mocking Salmond’s performance as being more like the movie “Chicken Run” than Scottish nationalist epic “Braveheart”.

Cameron launched a spirited attack on Salmond, leader of Scotland’s nationalist government who wants to hold a referendum on Scottish independence from Britain, saying Salmond had become the “big road-block” standing in the way of a referendum.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain must tighten oversight of its aid programme to Afghanistan, worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year, to lessen the risk of losing the money to theft, fraud or corruption, the country’s aid watchdog said on Thursday.

Overseas aid is one of the few areas that has been ring-fenced by Britain’s coalition government, which has slashed spending elsewhere to tackle a big budget deficit.