Members of Parliament have repaid £478,615.07 of their claimed expenses amid public anger over abuses of the expense system.
Many MPs have handed over cash after admitting claiming too much, but others have done it as a gesture to try and allay constituents’ anger, the Telegraph reports.
Tory leader David Cameron is to repay £947.29 claimed on the expenses.

“This has brought to light a number of points. I would like to make clear that …

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed £6,990 to repair the roof on his second home just two days before leaving Downing Street.
Blair submitted an invoice for “repairs to roof and guttering” at his constituency property in Sedgefield on 25th June 2007, on 27th he was gone from No 10, the Daily Mail reports.
In a clear sign that his claim was inappropriate, the bill for £6,990 was even rejected as excessive by the notoriously pliant House …

Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced today that parts of the Iraq war inquiry could be held in public, the hearings would still be held privately, the Times reports.
Brown seemingly attempted to defuse anger over the previous announcement that the Iraq war inquiry will be held entirely in private and that the conclusions would not be published before next General Election.
Brown’s spokesman said that it would be up to the inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot to …

Prime Minister Gordon Brown today set up a helpline for “distressed” MPs as their expenses claims were finally published in full, but with huge sections blacked out, the Daily Mail reports.
Brown has offered all Labour members legal advice and support if they are worried and told them to contact his parliamentary aide.
Oh, those poor-poor “distressed” and unjustly persecuted MPs. We all feel so sorry that you had to “publish” your censored expense claims. Of course …

An American airplane captain for Continental Airlines died today during the flight from Brussels to Newark, the aircraft was landed safely by two co-pilots.
The flight departed from Brussels at 9:45 this morning and it made an emergency landing at Newark Airport at 4PM, the Telegraph reports.
According to the report, the pilot died of natural causes and his body was removed from the cockpit, and placed in the aircraft’s galley area.
Spokesman for Continental Airlines said that …

The Spanish thugs who attacked 49-year-old Stephen Mallon in little Andalucian mountain village of Competa and threw him off the balcony of a bar, became murderers, as the father of three died today.
Mallon lost his fight for life after 12 days in coma, when doctors switched off his life support machine, the Daily Mail reports. His wife Teresa and their three children, 20-year-old Jenna and 17-year-olds Peter and Carl, were by his side at Carlos …

Former US President George W. Bush criticized the policies of his successor Barack Obama, saying that the private sector is going to mend the economy and that Government do not create wealth, but an environment for people taking business risks.
“I know it’s going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we’re in,” Bush said, according to Washington Times. “You can spend your money better than the government …

I tried today, after the Commons published the long-awaited expense claims of Members of Parliament, see what my MP, Tessa Jowell has claimed for. What I found was a poorly scanned paperwork where black ink covered most of the document and the rest was written in unreadable handwriting. A load of rubbish, frankly.
If this is not a farce, then I don’t know what a farce is. A bloody year after the High Court ruled that …

Iran’s authorities arrested an elderly and ailing reformist, while he underwent medical tests in a Tehran Hospital, the Times reports.
78-year-old leader of Freedom Movement, Ebrabim Yazdi was undergoing stomach tests in the hospital, when he was arrested and taken to Evin prison, his family and colleagues said.
Yazdi was the Foreign Minister in Iran’s first government after the 1979 revolution, but has been sidelined since hardliners took control, the newspaper says.
The director of New York-based International …

Dutch Member of Parliament, freedom fighter and a friend of Israel, Geert Wilders said in an interview to Ha’aretz that he is concerned about Israel’s situation because of the positions of US President Barack Obama.
Wilders told the newspaper that Obama’s speech in Cairo shocked him.
“Until now Israel could rely on the U.S. for support even when the Europeans failed to offer it. Now Israel will have a tougher time,” he said.

Geert Wilders. Image via Wikipedia

Wilders …

Iranian Jews in Israel are not very optimistic over the protests in Iran, which were triggered after last week’s presidential election. They are pessimistic about Iran’s future and the chances for a real change in the Islamic republic. According to Jerusalem Post, their interpretations of the unrest’s significance range from the first stirrings of democracy to gullible youngsters driven to riot in a cynical ploy by members of the regime itself.
A young Iranian born Jerusalemite …

Traffic technology provider Journey Dynamics announced today the launch of its driver personalisation technology MyDrive, which allows satnavs and other navigation devides to learn the way each individual drives.
According to the company’s press release, the technology dramatically improves the accuracy of the estimated journey time, and so removes one of the biggest issues in using satnav devices. The company says that MyDrive version for Western Europe will be immediately available, other regions will roll out …

I have called for abolishing the MP expense system entirely, because I think that if one chooses to get elected, then one chooses to move to London and is oneself responsible for one’s accommodation here and other expenses it might include.
Obviously, this is not going to happen. Either the MPs or potential MPs do not understand the meaning of “choice”, or they’re just too greedy and too keen on wasting taxpayers’ money on top of …

According to a Japanese news report, North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early June.
Japanese newspaper Yomiuri said that the missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles, would be launched from North Korea’s Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, the AP reports. The missile could be launched between 4th and 8th July.
According to Yomiuri, the missile could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, but …

The director of International Campaign for Human Rights, Hadi Ghaemi said on Wednesday that Iranian authorities have arrested many prominent activists and politicians.
Ghaemi told the AP that among the people arrested were:
—Prominent reformer Saeed Hajjarian, an advisor to former president Mohammad Khatami, paralyzed in an assassination attempt in 2000.
—Mohammad Tavasoli, the director of the political office of the Freedom Movement of Iran, arrested June 16.
—Human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani, arrested in his office by security …

In a review of the new iPhone 3G S, the Times suggests it’s perhaps more reasonable to buy the older iPhone 3G and upgrade it to iPhone OS 3.0 – because the older version could be hundreds of pounds cheaper and with the OS upgrade, you get most of the features that the S-version has.
The reviewer, technology reporter Murad Ahmed writes that the new iPhone 3G S is “bigger” (storage capacity-wise), faster and has better …