General news

• Peta releases images of 'dog leather' gloves made in China

  18-12-2014 23:52
  
  A global animal rights charity has released shocking images which it claims were taken in Chinese factories where dog skin is used to make everyday products for worldwide exportation, including gloves and shoes.
  
  Read more

• Fifa's travelling circus once again steals limelight from real stars

  18-12-2014 23:49
  
   
  
  Read more

• Staff 'bussed in to plug jail gaps'

  18-12-2014 23:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Nearly 250 prison officers are being bussed across the country to fill gaps at other jails because staff shortages are so acute this Christmas, according to leaked documents.
  
  Read more

• Sidekick Nick quits The Apprentice

  18-12-2014 23:04
  
  Lord Sugar's sidekick Nick Hewer is to leave BBC1 hit series The Apprentice after a decade.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Frank Warren column: 2014 – boxing is back and winning new fans

  18-12-2014 23:00
  
  Carl Froch was an eloquent representative for boxing at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards on Sunday but the fact that he was the lone fistic representative in the 10 nominations does not truly reflect the fight game’s remarkable renaissance in 2014.
  
  Read more

• Christmas cocktails to make you merry: From eggnog to Brown Betty and Rum Bumpo

  18-12-2014 23:00
  
  Christmas without mulled wine? Humbug! Warm spiced wines are so wrapped up with the festivities that even Scrooge knew that this was the drink to go for once he had turned over his new leaf. Yet the port-based "Smoking Bishop" he cracked into with Bob Cratchit on Boxing Day is just one of the many traditional tipples with which we have a long heritage of raising a glass at this time of year, and which are being rediscovered just in time to halt mulled wine's domination.
  
  Read more

• Homeless Veterans appeal: 'You look for someone who's an inspiration and try to be like them'

  18-12-2014 22:58
  
  Residents of the quiet village of Strathaven, South Lanarkshire, can usually spot Gary Jamieson coming. It is not the injuries he sustained while serving in Afghanistan four years ago that catches their attention – it is his car.
  
  Read more

• A Sony war: Don't attack the company for pulling The Interview. Better to worry about where hackers will strike next

  18-12-2014 22:50
  Whether or not the North Korean state directly controls the “Guardians of Peace” – the group who claimed responsibility for the hack that has crippled Sony technologically and embarrassed it publicly – the regime of Kim Jong-un will undoubtedly take great pleasure in the episode. How the roles have been reversed. What started off as a Hollywood attempt to poke fun at the rogue state’s flabby-cheeked Supreme Leader – in Seth Rogen and James Franco’s comedy caper The Interview – ha
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Steady, Mr Salmond: Responsibility is required from the prospective MP

  18-12-2014 22:47
  
  Next year looks like being a crucial one for politics. We can be sure of at least one general election – and maybe a second will follow in quick succession. There is every prospect of a hung parliament, of major constitutional crises surrounding Scotland and “English votes for English laws”, of more powers for English regions or counties, of a revived debate about electoral reform, and of yet more agonising about the UK’s relationship with the European Union. But of all of these, the iss
  
  Read more

• Man held over armed police stand-off

  18-12-2014 22:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A 43-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a woman was injured during a five-hour stand-off with police at a flat in Lancashire.
  
  Read more

• Serial mania has propelled podcasts into the cultural mainstream

  18-12-2014 22:30
  
  A senior colleague of mine, whose age and identity will remain secret, did something telling on Tuesday. Holding out her iPhone a couple of desks away, she turned to a younger member of her team, and said quietly: "Um, can I ask a stupid question... how do I get a podcast?" As anyone who has grappled with the iPhone app and its complicated system of dots and clouds will know, this was not a stupid question. Nor is it a rare one at a time of feverish interest in a once-niche medium that is endin
  
  Read more

• Jesus Christ has become an unlikely pin-up for hipster marketing companies

  18-12-2014 22:30
  
  No crucifix, no dogma, no thorns. He arrived in London from LA on Monday with nothing but a hessian smock on his back and a pair of Nike trainers on his feet. But could Kevin Lee Light, aka "Jesus", aka the newest client to be represented by creative agency Mother, offer us spiritual solace?
  
  Read more

• Paramount bans US cinemas from showing Team America in place of The Interview

  18-12-2014 22:11
  
  Paramount studios has reportedly banned screenings of its 2004 comedy Team America: World Police, after several US theatres announced they would show the film in place of The Interview. Sony Pictures cancelled the Christmas Day release of The Interview on Wednesday, shortly after it was confirmed by US intelligence officials that North Korea was behind a devastating recent cyber-attack on the Hollywood studio.
  
  Read more

• Cook not the way forward - Hughes

  18-12-2014 22:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Alastair Cook should be relieved of the one-day captaincy if England are to prosper at the ICC World Cup, says Simon Hughes.
  
  Read more

• Balance test 'may show stroke risk'

  18-12-2014 22:00
  
  Balancing on one leg may indicate if a person is at risk of stroke or dementia, a study has found.
  
  Read more

• Could cannabis oil reverse the effects of cancer?

  18-12-2014 21:30
  
  In the summer of 2012, George Wilkins, a documentary filmmaker, was in his friend's health food shop when a customer walked in, looking exceptionally ill. "He walked up to the counter and asked for hemp oil to help treat his lung cancer," explains the 29-year-old from Hull.
  
  Read more

• Police chief warns over budget cuts

  18-12-2014 21:24
  
  Police forces will "struggle" to maintain a reasonable level of service in the face of "dramatic" cuts to budgets, the outgoing president of the Association Chief Police Officers has warned.
  
  Read more

• VIDEO: Punch-up at parish meeting

  18-12-2014 21:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Pictures have emerged of a brawl at at Lancashire parish council committee meeting over a waiting list for grazing land.
  
  Read more

• Cuba-US relations: Cold War thaw warms up US presidential debate, starting with Florida

  18-12-2014 21:23
  
  The surprise decision by President Barack Obama to end decades of Cold War enmity with Cuba has instantly become a part of 2016 presidential calculus, with leading White House aspirants from the Republican and Democratic parties taking opposite positions.
  
  Read more

• CCTV Shows Police Shoot-Out On London Streets

  18-12-2014 21:18
  
  CCTV footage of a shoot-out between a criminal and a policeman on a north London street has been released.
  
  Read more

• David Cameron 'told Theresa May's advisers to break Civil Service code'

  18-12-2014 21:13
  
  David Cameron is embroiled in a row with Theresa May after he appeared to have ordered two of her advisers to break their Civil Service terms of employment to campaign for the party in two by-elections.
  
  Read more

• Garcia quitting 'new low for Fifa'

  18-12-2014 21:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Fifa's reputation has been hurt by the resignation of ethics investigator Michael Garcia, says vice president Jim Boyce.
  
  Read more

• Brain-dead pregnant woman being kept alive against parent’s wishes to give foetus chance of survival

  18-12-2014 21:12
  
  A pregnant woman declared clinically-brain dead is being kept on life-support against her parent’s wishes in case her 16-week-old foetus has a chance at survival.
  
  Read more

• Serial, TV review: Series ends and justice turns out to be deaf

  18-12-2014 21:04
  
  So that’s it. After 12 episodes filled with questions about whether a man is justifiably serving life in prison for murder, the hugely popular Serial has come to an end. All that remains are more questions.
  
  Read more

• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: It’s not easy being green if you’re Ed Davey

  18-12-2014 20:54
  
  When Labour’s Kevin Brennan asked Ed Davey his “position” on fracking after New York State’s ban on it, the Energy Secretary said portentously he was sure the MP “would like every government to follow everything that New York State does, but we are an independent country and we make our own decisions”.
  
  Read more

• VIDEO: Have free school meals meant less cash?

  18-12-2014 20:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The BBC's Alex Forsyth investigates whether free school meals for infant pupils in England has had an impact on the pupil premium funding.
  
  Read more

• Isis latest: At least three leaders of extremist militant group killed in US airstrikes in Iraq

  18-12-2014 20:43
  
  At least three senior leaders of Isis have been killed in US airstrikes in Iraq in the past month and a half, US defense officials announced today.
  
  Read more

• Isis latest: At least three leaders of extremist militant group killed in US airstrikes

  18-12-2014 20:43
  
  At least three senior leaders of Isis have been killed in US airstrikes in Iraq in the past month and a half, US defense officials announced today.
  
  Read more

• Andy McSmith's Diary: The enemy within Chequers at Sam Cam's delayed 40th

  18-12-2014 20:42
  
  There were many strange things about the party that David and Samantha Cameron threw at Chequers last week.
  
  Read more

• Alex Salmond hints at Scottish votes for English laws

  18-12-2014 20:33
  
  The SNP would be prepared to set aside the party’s convention that its MPs do not vote on English-only laws in order to support a minority Labour government, the former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has indicated.
  
  Read more

• Sony hack: US Government will handle cyber-warfare with care

  18-12-2014 20:32
  
  The US government was tonight reported to be preparing formally to identify North Korea as the source of state-sponsored hacking attacks on the Sony film studios in Hollywood, a rare step that would inevitably raise questions on what, if anything, it could attempt to do to retaliate.
  
  Read more

• £5m mortgage fraudsters jailed

  18-12-2014 20:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Members of a gang who applied for bogus mortgages worth £5m are given jail sentences.
  
  Read more

• Poland is open to dialogue but EU benefits restrictions are illegal and unfair

  18-12-2014 20:23
  
  “We are Great Britain because of immigration, not in spite of it.” So said David Cameron in his November speech.
  
  Read more

• Claudia to host charity Danceathon

  18-12-2014 20:23
  
  Strictly Come Dancing's Claudia Winkleman is to whip up a dancefloor frenzy with a six-hour stint of frantic footwork for Comic Relief.
  
  Read more

• The Interview: Studios failed to close ranks to protect interests and freedom of speech

  18-12-2014 20:21
  
  Hollywood is known for going to extreme lengths to protect its commercial interests. Generally, when the industry is threatened, the studios will close ranks. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is a formidable lobbying organisation which has often made foreign governments back down.
  
  Read more

• Putin speech: President says Russian bear 'won't be chained' by the West as he warns of tough two years ahead

  18-12-2014 20:20
  
  President Putin did his best today to reassure Russians – and the markets – about the underlying stability of the tumbling rouble, while warning his countrymen of a tough two years ahead. For his Western critics he held out carrots as well as sticks, sounding a conciliatory note when he reiterated his calls for a diplomatic solution to the conflict in the east of Ukraine.
  
  Read more

• The Interview: Hollywood figures outraged as Sony cancels film following North Korea’s threat

  18-12-2014 20:20
  
  When Seth Rogen set out to co-direct and star in The Interview, a satirical slapstick about two hapless US TV journalists enlisted by the CIA to assassinate the leader of North Korea, he probably knew the film’s premise might generate some controversy – and with it, perhaps, some free publicity.
  
  Read more

• New cash squeeze on councils ‘targets poor’

  18-12-2014 20:14
  
  Ministers have been accused of targeting the poor through a fresh squeeze on council spending in England and by scrapping a crisis loans scheme.
  
  Read more

• Obesity could be considered a disability after landmark EU ruling on workplace discrimination

  18-12-2014 20:11
  Being severely overweight – classified as having a body mass index of more than 30 – could be considered a disability if it affects an employee’s ability to work, European judges have ruled.
  
  Read more

• Mike Lynch: Tories accept donation from tycoon accused of ‘massive fraud’

  18-12-2014 20:05
  
  The Conservative Party has accepted a £75,000 donation from a British businessman being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office and the US Justice Department, The Independent has learnt.
  
  Read more

• RBS Loses Fight Over £4bn Investor Court Date

  18-12-2014 20:04
  
  Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will face angry investors in court by the end of 2016 in a legal case that is likely to see Fred Goodwin, its former boss, testify about the lender's implosion.
  
  Read more

• Llama study could boost HIV battle

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  Immune system antibodies from llamas have an astonishing ability to defeat the Aids virus HIV, scientists have found.
  
  Read more

• Comet mission tops achievement list

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  The Rosetta space mission and its dramatic landing on a comet 300 million miles from Earth tops this year's list of breakthrough achievements selected by the prestigious American journal Science.
  
  Read more

• Ibuprofen 'could hold back ageing'

  18-12-2014 20:00
  
  An over-the-counter painkiller taken by millions of Britons could hold back ageing, research suggests.
  
  Read more

• Poland threatens to veto David Cameron's EU migrants benefits cuts plan

  18-12-2014 19:58
  
  Poland has warned that it will veto David Cameron's plan to curb benefits paid to EU migrants in Britain.
  
  Read more

• At last Cuba is free to become more like the glorious US of A!

  18-12-2014 19:56
  
  That was 50 years well spent then. It’s always worth trying out a policy for a bit, to see if it comes off. And if you try bringing a country to ruin for half a century by blowing it up and starving it and trying to assassinate the leader and blockading it and it doesn’t quite work, there’s no harm done and at least you can say you tried.
  
  Read more

• Balotelli gets one-match ban & fine

  18-12-2014 19:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli gets a one-match ban and £25,000 fine from the FA as punishment for his Super Mario post.
  
  Read more

• Cost of MPs' advisers hits £8.4m

  18-12-2014 19:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The cost of ministers' special advisers increases more than £1m in the past year, taking it to £8.4m, official figures show.
  
  Read more

• Punch-Up At Parish Council Captured On Video

  18-12-2014 19:45
  
  Video has captured the moment a parish council meeting descended into a brawl after a row over allotments.
  
  Read more

• Boost for mobile phone coverage

  18-12-2014 19:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Mobile phone coverage in Wales is set to be boosted from 63% to 83% as part of a £5bn UK-wide deal with the four mobile networks.
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!