George Galloway

Maverick British lawmaker George Galloway, who captured headlines this month during a fiery Senate appearance, plans to continue his antiwar theme in a summer speaking tour of the United States. Galloway appeared after a Senate committee released documents it claimed showed he and other international figures received valuable oil allocations from Saddam Hussein's regime as a reward for opposing United Nations sanctions on Iraq.

In the wake of her death, Margaret Thatcher was mentioned more than 1.5 million times Monday on Twitter, an outpouring of online sorrow, glee and furor over the profoundly polarizing British leader. Although many Twitter users marked her passing with praise or a simple “RIP,” others who loathed the former prime minister joked online about throwing parties to celebrate her death. Many politicians who battled Thatcher during her life chose their words carefully in official statements after her death, but other critics were far less genteel in social media.

In the wake of her death, Margaret Thatcher was mentioned more than 1.5 million times Monday on Twitter, an outpouring of online sorrow, glee and furor over the profoundly polarizing British leader. Although many Twitter users marked her passing with praise or a simple “RIP,” others who loathed the former prime minister joked online about throwing parties to celebrate her death. Many politicians who battled Thatcher during her life chose their words carefully in official statements after her death, but other critics were far less genteel in social media.

He befriended Saddam Hussein, verbally dueled with a U.S. senator and handed Britain's Labor Party a bloody nose in the last elections. But George Galloway, the feisty working-class, cigar-puffing left-wing politician, turns out to be a closet pussycat. That, at least, is what British audiences saw this week as Galloway, 51, served as a contestant on the lowbrow TV show "Celebrity Big Brother."

He befriended Saddam Hussein, verbally dueled with a U.S. senator and handed Britain's Labor Party a bloody nose in the last elections. But George Galloway, the feisty working-class, cigar-puffing left-wing politician, turns out to be a closet pussycat. That, at least, is what British audiences saw this week as Galloway, 51, served as a contestant on the lowbrow TV show "Celebrity Big Brother."

A prominent British politician linked to illegal payments in the Iraq oil-for-food program told U.S. senators Tuesday that their investigation was "the mother of all smoke screens" to divert attention from "the real scandal": U.S. policy in Iraq.

Maverick British politician and Iraq war opponent George Galloway triggered a storm of protest by saying it would be morally justified for a suicide bomber to kill Prime Minister Tony Blair in revenge for the war. Asked by GQ magazine whether such a bombing would be justified, he said: "Yes, it would be morally justified." Labor member of Parliament Stephen Pound told BBC television that Galloway's remarks were "absolutely despicable."

Britain's House of Commons suspended a lawmaker accused of concealing his financial dealings with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's government. George Galloway, a fierce opponent of Britain's role in the invasion of Iraq, was suspended for 18 days. An investigation found that a charity he set up was partly funded by the Iraqi dictator, who was ousted in 2003 and later executed.

A British lawmaker won $290,000 in libel damages against the Daily Telegraph over the newspaper's claim that he was financed by Saddam Hussein, the ousted Iraqi president. George Galloway successfully sued the paper for alleging in 2003 that he received up to $660,000 a year from Hussein's regime. The lawmaker was a vocal opponent of Western sanctions on Iraq and of the war. The newspaper said it would appeal.

About 10,000 demonstrators chanting "What do we want? Brits out!" marched through Dublin, capping a week of marches marking the 20th anniversary of British troops being sent into Northern Ireland. The protesters burned a Union Jack flag, laid a wreath outside the Irish Parliament and delivered a protest note to the British Embassy. The march was led by Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the legal political wing of the outlawed Irish Republican Army.

Maverick British lawmaker George Galloway, who captured headlines this month during a fiery Senate appearance, plans to continue his antiwar theme in a summer speaking tour of the United States. Galloway appeared after a Senate committee released documents it claimed showed he and other international figures received valuable oil allocations from Saddam Hussein's regime as a reward for opposing United Nations sanctions on Iraq.

A prominent British politician linked to illegal payments in the Iraq oil-for-food program told U.S. senators Tuesday that their investigation was "the mother of all smoke screens" to divert attention from "the real scandal": U.S. policy in Iraq.

Re "Accused British Official Slams the U.S. on Iraq," May 18: Quite frankly, at this point I don't much really care if George Galloway was somehow involved in the United Nations' oil-for-food scandal, though I tend to doubt it considering how completely absent is the credibility of those accusing him. It was just so refreshing to see someone actually stand in front of the hypocrites in the Senate and state what most people already know: that we...

Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, Miss America 1988, is long on beauty and equally long on opinions. Her reign as America's beauty queen was less then 24 hours old when she told a news conference in Atlantic City, N.J., that she was for mandatory AIDS testing and called for female Catholic priests. Rafko, 24, from Monroe, Mich., said: "One thing I'm really strongly for is mandatory (AIDS) testing. It's a disease that is unfortunate. It's becoming an epidemic.