General news

• What is an Australian-style immigration system and how might it work?

  28-01-2020 11:25 via uk.news.yahoo.com
  
  Australia has what is known as a general skilled migration programme.
  
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• Ukraine war briefing: Russians try to stretch defenders thin outside Kharkiv

  14-05-2024 02:32
  
  Evacuation of thousands from town of Vovchansk; Kyiv terror operatives planned bombs in packages of tea, say prosecutors. What we know on day 811Ukrainian officials said only a few hundred residents remained in the north-east town of Vovchansk outside Kharkiv amid pitched battles. Russia was attacking new areas with small groups to try to widen the front and stretch Ukrainian forces, said the Kharkiv regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov. “The situation is difficult.”Russia’s forc
  
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• Climate protesters stop play in Rome before Keys sets up Swiatek meeting

  14-05-2024 01:50
  
  Stoppage in Keys’ 6-2, 6-1 win against Sorana CirsteaCameron Norrie loses 6-2, 7-6 (1) to Stefanos TsitsipasMadison Keys joked that she had been tempted to tackle ­protesters as a number of matches at the ­Italian Open were interrupted by the climate crisis protest group, Last Generation, on Monday.During Keys’s 6-2, 6-1 win against Sorana Cirstea, play was stopped for nearly an hour after protesters threw confetti on to the clay courts and tried to glue themselves to th
  
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• Weight loss drug could reduce heart attack risk by 20%, study finds

  14-05-2024 01:01
  
  Researchers say semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, could be biggest medical breakthrough since statinsA weight loss injection could reduce the risk of heart attacks and benefit the cardiovascular health of millions of adults across the UK, in what could be the largest medical breakthrough since statins, according to a study.It found that participants taking the medication semaglutide, the active ingredient in brands including Wegovy and Ozempic, had a 20% lower risk of hea
  
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• ‘The ambition is gold’: Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe target Olympic splash

  14-05-2024 01:01
  
  University students believe they can deliver Great Britain’s first-ever artistic swimming medals in Paris this summerTwo of the London Aquarium’s biggest attractions, the green sea turtles Boris and Dougie, had unexpected guests on Monday: the newest additions to Team GB’s squad for the Olympics with bold plans to take artistic swimming out of its shell.Great Britain has never won an Olympic medal in the 40-year history of the event, previously known as synchronised swimming. Y
  
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• Judi Dench on trigger warnings: if you’re that sensitive, avoid the theatre

  14-05-2024 01:01
  
  Oscar-winning actor enters row about pre-performance advisories, suggesting they kill the surprise of seeing drama in your own wayDon’t go to the theatre, Dame Judi Dench has told “sensitive” fans, in her response to pre-performance trigger warnings.The warnings, which inform audiences about potentially distressing content, including abuse, violence and loud noises, have become a point of contention in the industry in the last few years. Continue reading...
  
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• High-risk offenders included in early release scheme, prisons inspector says

  14-05-2024 01:01
  
  Domestic abuser among those freed from jail as part of plan to relieve overcrowding, watchdog revealsHigh-risk offenders including a domestic abuser who posed a risk to children have been freed from jail under the government’s early release scheme, a watchdog has revealed.
  Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, said the Ministry of Justice’s plan to relieve the pressure in overcrowded jails raised “serious concerns” and had undermined safety and risk management.T
  
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• British Columbia ‘extremely concerned’ as wildfire threatens to destroy town

  14-05-2024 00:53
  
  Out-of-control Parker Lake fire, which has already forced thousands to evacuate, bears down on Fort NelsonOfficials in western Canada were bracing for “volatile wildfire activity” on Monday as an out-of-control blaze, which has already forced the evacuation of thousands, threatened to destroy a northern British Columbia town.The province’s wildfire service said the blaze was burning just 2km (1.2 miles) north-west of Fort Nelson, which has already seen about 3,500 people evacua
  
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• Jimmy Anderson’s England exit ‘right decision at right time’, insists Rob Key

  14-05-2024 00:51
  
  England managing director says ‘it’s time for us to move on’Key plays down Stuart Broad’s fears over lack of experienceJimmy Anderson’s international retirement is “the right decision at the right time”, according to the England managing director, Rob Key.Anderson, the most prolific seamer in Test history, is set to make his farewell appearance against the West Indies at Lord’s in July. News of the bowler’s impending England retirement was fi
  
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• Me and the Voice in My Head review – Joe Tracini’s disarmingly frank take on borderline personality disorder

  14-05-2024 00:15
  
  The comedian and actor splits himself in two for this incredibly raw exploration of living with a condition that causes paranoia and mood swings. Can he make it through the show?Me and the Voice in My Head takes a potentially chaotic premise for a documentary – a comedian trying to perform a show that has previously proved unperformable – and turns it into a raw and creative exploration of one man’s experience of debilitating mental illness. From the beginning, it is clear that
  
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• Michael Cohen gives wistful Trump trial testimony: ‘I would only answer to him’

  13-05-2024 23:36
  
  The prosecution witness testified about fronting hush-money payments, keeping the ex-president happy and feeling snubbedWhen Michael Cohen took the stand in Manhattan court on Monday morning for Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial, his appearance was poised to mark a watershed moment: a showdown between the ex-president and his former fixer-turned-prosecution witness.Anyone expecting a courtroom dust-up, however, would leave day one of Cohen’s testimony sorely disappointed. Cohe
  
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• Guardiola admits it is ‘squeaky bum time’ for Manchester City as Spurs await

  13-05-2024 23:30
  
  Champions trail Arsenal by a point before Tottenham gameGuardiola: ‘We know what we’re playing for – it’s a knockout’Pep Guardiola has admitted he and Manchester City will feel “squeaky bum time” before their pivotal visit to Tottenham on Tuesday as they seek to win a record fourth consecutive title.City are second, one point behind Arsenal, having played a game fewer. The trip to Spurs is their match in hand before the final day on ­Sunday, when the
  
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• ‘Total outrage’: White House condemns Israeli settlers’ attack on Gaza aid trucks

  13-05-2024 23:21
  
  Protesters block convoy, throw food into road and set fire to vehicles at Tarqumiya checkpoint near HebronThe White House has condemned an attack on an aid convoy heading to Gaza by Israeli settlers who threw packages of food into the road and set fire to the vehicles.Video of the incident on Monday at Tarqumiya checkpoint, west of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, showed settlers blocking the trucks and throwing boxes of much-needed supplies on the ground. Photographs from the scene sho
  
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• Durán salvages draw with Liverpool as Aston Villa edge closer to sealing fourth

  13-05-2024 23:14
  
  With at least five minutes of stoppage time still to run, the stadium announcer asked the Aston Villa supporters to remain in their seats at the final whistle for a lap of appreciation. At that particular moment, it was wishful ­thinking as Villa went for the jugular. Seconds earlier, Moussa Diaby had blasted at goal, forcing Alisson into a smart, right-hand save to prevent an improbable 4-3 comeback victory against Liverpool and bedlam in the stands.Many fans had spent the ­previous 10
  
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• MPs arrested for sex offences face Parliament ban

  13-05-2024 23:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Proposal passes by one vote after the government had suggested the threshold should be when an MP is charged.
  
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• The Fortune Hotel review – a fiendishly addictive mix of The Traitors and White Lotus

  13-05-2024 23:10
  
  In this gloriously high-stakes game of pass the parcel, 20 contestants try to win £250,000 by passing around a briefcase full of cash at a Caribbean hotelThe Traitors on a beach, anyone? Ever since the BBC’s Claudia Winkleman-in-a-castle contest became a runaway hit, rival broadcasters have been tripping over their hooded cloaks to commission their own version. We’ve had The Traitors in a stratified high-rise (Channel 4’s Rise & Fall), The Traitors go Greek island-hop
  
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• The Jennings v Alzheimer’s review – how one letter caused a medical revolution

  13-05-2024 23:00
  
  In the 80s, Carol Jennings wrote to scientists about her family history of Alzheimer’s. This extraordinary film shows how she could change the lives of millionsAlready a vicious foe, familial Alzheimer’s disease likes to deliver one last twist of the knife. Not only do the children of a carrier of the rogue gene have a 50/50 chance of inheriting it, but if they do have it, they will almost certainly develop symptoms at almost the exact age their parent did. What an exquisite extra cr
  
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• Blue Lights recap: series two, episode five – air punch moments, and a killer cliffhanger

  13-05-2024 23:00
  
  Annie decking Canning was the most satisfying moment of the series. But disaster quickly struck again with a gunshot fired at Grace and Stevie. This could be the end for one of themHas another of our police protagonists taken a fatal bullet? Here’s all the intel on the penultimate episode, Where I Want To Be … Continue reading...
  
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• MPs arrested for sexual offences face bans from parliamentary estate

  13-05-2024 22:51
  
  Labour and Conservatives say ‘long overdue’ measures ‘improve standards of behaviour and safeguarding’MPs who have been arrested for serious violent or sexual offences face bans from the parliamentary estate under rules approved by just one vote.The House of Commons voted by 170 to 169 on Monday night to toughen up a proposal put forward by the government, which would have only applied to MPs who have been formally charged. Continue reading...
  
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• Michael Cohen: Trump’s former fixer turned star witness of hush-money case

  13-05-2024 22:49
  
  Cohen was Trump’s trusted adviser but the relationship soured after Trump won in 2016 and didn’t offer Cohen a roleMichael Cohen is Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer who was for more than a decade his Mr Fix-It, but is now the prosecution’s star witness as it builds its case that the former US president sought to conceal hush-money payments to an adult film star.It is a classic story of two men who once worked hand-in-glove together, when Trump was a world-famous bill
  
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• Michael Cohen says Trump told him to bury Stormy Daniels story: ‘Just take care of it’

  13-05-2024 22:37
  
  Former fixer tells hush-money trial Trump was ‘really angry’ after account of alleged sexual liaison with adult film star emergedDonald Trump told his one-time fixer Michael Cohen to bury Stormy Daniels’s account of an alleged sexual liaison weeks before the election, demanding that he “just take care of it”, according to trial testimony in Manhattan court on Monday.“This was a disaster, a fucking disaster,” Cohen, after he took the stand, recalled Trump
  
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• Shooting victim who died after car dropped him off at hospital named

  13-05-2024 22:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Mr Patterson-Low died half an hour after being left at a hospital in the early hours of Saturday.
  
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• Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track debuts at number one in the US

  13-05-2024 22:00
  
  Rapper’s scathing song Not Like Us, from his headline-grabbing rap beef with Drake, becomes his fourth Billboard chart-topperKendrick Lamar has won the culture-consuming rap beef with Drake, at least as far as Billboard hits are concerned, as his diss track Not Like Us debuted at No 1 on the US Hot 100.The scathing track, which alleges that the Canadian hit-maker is a “certified pedophile”, is Lamar’s fourth No 1 song, after a feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s Li
  
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• Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof flees Iran to avoid prison

  13-05-2024 21:53
  
  Director had been sentenced for ‘collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country’s security’The Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof has secretly fled Iran after he was sentenced to prison amid pressure over his latest film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which is due to premiere at the Cannes film festival this week.Jean-Christophe Simon, CEO of Films Boutique and Parallel45, distributors of the film, confirmed on Monday that Rasoulof had fled Iran for E
  
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• Cap rent rises in England and Wales, Labour-commissioned report says

  13-05-2024 21:53
  
  Exclusive: Report recommends ‘double lock’ for those renewing their tenanciesRent rises should be capped for millions of people struggling to afford soaring rates, according to a landmark report commissioned by Labour.The leaked proposals recommend a swathe of measures that give breathing room to renters buckling under the cost of living.An annually updated National Landlords Register which would require landlords to demonstrate compliance with the decent homes standard or face fines
  
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• Manchester United failed to fix Old Trafford roof despite knowledge of leaks

  13-05-2024 21:30
  
  Club claims huge volume of rain caused issue after Arsenal gameUnited have examined feasibility of replacing Stretford End roofManchester United failed to fix a hole in the Old Trafford roof despite being aware that it was prone to sporadic leaks, as occurred at the end of the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday.While it is understood United accept there are faults in the stadium covering that allowed rain to get through on Sunday and previous occasions, the club deny that the large cascade of
  
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• Hundreds of ‘emaciated’ and stranded pelicans turn up along California coast

  13-05-2024 21:28
  
  State’s department of fish and wildlife says the brown pelicans are showing signs of malnutrition, but that the cause is still unclearHundreds of starving and stranded brown pelicans have turned up along the California coast in recent weeks in what wildlife advocates have described as a “crisis”.In Newport Beach in southern California, lifeguards came upon two dozen sick pelicans on a pier last week. The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, the non-profit cari
  
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• Crystal Palace battling to keep Dougie Freedman after Newcastle talks

  13-05-2024 21:17
  
  Palace sporting director in frame to replace Dan AshworthReports in Germany claim Bayern Munich eyeing Oliver GlasnerThe Crystal Palace chairman, Steve Parish, is attempting to persuade Dougie Freedman to reject an offer from Newcastle to become their sporting director after the former Scotland striker held talks about replacing Dan Ashworth.Freedman, who has also been linked with Manchester United thanks to his impressive record at Selhurst Park, met Newcastle officials last week and is underst
  
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• George Clooney to make Broadway debut in Good Night, and Good Luck

  13-05-2024 21:01
  
  The actor will play the lead in a stage adaptation of his Oscar-nominated journalism drama from 2005George Clooney is set to make his Broadway debut in a stage adaptation of his 2005 journalism drama Good Night, and Good Luck.The actor’s sophomore feature as director will be transformed into a play set to premiere in spring 2025. Clooney, who played Fred W Friendly in the original, will now take on the role of Edward R Murrow. Continue reading...
  
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• UK birth-trauma inquiry delivered gritty truths, but change will be hard

  13-05-2024 21:00
  
  With many NHS maternity services struggling and a shortage of midwives, MPs’ plan for overhaul is ambitiousThat the findings of the UK’s first inquiry into birth trauma are far from surprising does not diminish the fact that they are shocking, devastating and difficult – indeed distressing – to read. The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for birth trauma’s 80-page report should give ministers, NHS bosses and the midwives and obstetricians who deliver care serious
  
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