STRASBOURG/LONDON (Reuters) – A Jordanian cleric once described as Osama bin Laden’s “right-hand man in Europe” has lodged a last-minute appeal against his deportation from Britain, a European court source said on Wednesday, potentially thwarting British hopes of a swift eviction.

Britain dismissed the move by radical preacher Abu Qatada as a delaying tactic, saying it would oppose the appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, in the latest chapter in a long-running saga over his deportation which has embarrased London.

LONDON (Reuters) – British police have handed prosecutors four files of evidence against 11 suspects in the Rupert Murdoch phone hacking scandal, a prosecutor said on Wednesday, bringing closer the likelihood of charges.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said his office would examine the files and advise police whether there was sufficient evidence to bring charges in the case that has rocked the British establishment.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain re-arrested a radical cleric once described as Osama bin Laden’s “right-hand man in Europe” and said on Tuesday it would resume plans to deport him to Jordan, where he has been convicted in his absence of involvement in terrorist plots.

Jordanian preacher Abu Qatada had been under virtual house arrest at his family home in London since February, when he was freed from a British prison after a court said his detention without trial was unlawful.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Tuesday it had re-arrested a radical cleric once described as Osama bin Laden’s “right-hand man in Europe” and would resume plans to deport him to Jordan, where he has been convicted in his absence of involvement in terrorist plots.

Jordanian preacher Abu Qatada had been under virtual house arrest at his family home in London since February, when he was freed from a British prison after a court said his detention without trial was unlawful.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain on Tuesday welcomed a Chinese investigation into the death of a UK businessman in China that the ruling Communist party linked to the wife of former high-flying politician Bo Xilai.

Foreign Secretary William Hague called for the death of Neil Heywood to be investigated “on its own merits, without political considerations”.

LONDON (Reuters) – The government on Tuesday welcomed a Chinese investigation into the death of a UK businessman in China that the ruling Communist party linked to the wife of former high-flying politician Bo Xilai.

Foreign Secretary William Hague called for the death of Neil Heywood to be investigated “on its own merits, without political considerations”.

LONDON/BEIJING, March 26 (Reuters) – Britain has asked China
to investigate the death of a British man in the southwest
Chinese city of Chongqing formerly run by Bo Xilai, the
leadership contender whose abrupt ousting shook the ruling
Communist Party.

The British national, Nick Heywood, died and was cremated in
November. Questions about his death have been posted on Chinese
microblogs, which have linked it to the background to Bo’s
ouster.

LONDON (Reuters) – A senior fundraiser for Britain’s ruling Conservative Party resigned on Sunday after being secretly filmed offering exclusive access to Prime Minister David Cameron in return for donations of 250,000 pounds a year.

The disclosure is damaging for Cameron’s party which has tried to shake off an image of being too close to the interests of business and the rich as Britain undergoes a strict austerity programme to cut its budget deficit.

LONDON (Reuters) – A senior fundraiser for the ruling Conservative Party resigned on Sunday after being secretly filmed offering exclusive access to Prime Minister David Cameron in return for donations of 250,000 pounds ($400,000) a year.

The disclosure is damaging for Cameron’s party which has tried to shake off an image of being too close to the interests of business and the rich as Britain undergoes a strict austerity programme to cut its budget deficit.

LONDON (Reuters) – Bashar al-Assad’s father-in-law, a London doctor who had been seen as a modernising influence on him, has been offering advice to the Syrian leader on how to depict his bloody crackdown on a popular uprising to the world, Guardian newspaper said on Friday, quoting intercepted emails.

Fawaz Akhras, the father of Assad’s British-born wife Asma, sent his son-in-law suggestions on how to counter criticisms of his government in private emails to the Syrian president, according to the London daily.