General news

• Senior Isis 'police' official beheaded in Syria says monitoring group

  06-01-2015 23:44
  
  Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says body of ‘very important’ enforcer was found with cigarette in mouth and ‘This is evil, you Sheikh’ written on corpse
  A senior figure in Islamic State’s self-declared police force, which has carried out beheadings, was himself found decapitated in eastern Syria, a monitoring group said. The man was an Egyptian national and was known as the deputy “emir” of the al-Hesbah force in a Syrian province, the British-based the Syrian Observatory for
  
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• Chesterfield battle from two goals down against Scunthorpe to earn replay

  06-01-2015 23:44
  
  Chesterfield fought back from two goals down to secure a replay against Scunthorpe United – with a fourth-round tie at Derby County the prize for the eventual victors.Jay O’Shea converted a cross with five minutes to go to make it 2‑2 – 14 minutes after Eoin Doyle had pulled a goal back from the penalty spot following a foul on Gary Roberts. Continue reading...
  
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• Oil price cuts 'being passed on'

  06-01-2015 23:44
  
  The energy industry insisted deep cuts in global prices were already being passed on to customers after Chancellor George Osborne announced a review of the impact of items such as fuel bills, air fares and the forecourt price of petrol.
  
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• Joan Didion anointed Céline's new 'cool girl'

  06-01-2015 23:35
  
  The 80-year-old novelist, famed for her graceful prose, is the new face of luxury French fashion house’s Spring 2015 campaign
  Long before Gone Girl’s “cool girl” rant made cool a negative term, there was, and is, the original cool girl, Joan Didion. In a perfect marriage of cutting-edge fashion and American literary royalty, she is now the new face for the Spring 2015 line of fashion label Céline, designed by British designer Phoebe Philo.Photographed by Juergen Teller, Didion is
  
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• Cargo ship refloating 'delayed'

  06-01-2015 23:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A stricken cargo ship in the Solent will not be refloated on Wednesday as more water has been discovered in the vessel, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency says.
  
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• Former Virginia Bob McDonnell jailed for two years for corruption

  06-01-2015 23:29
  
  A US federal judge sentenced former Virginia governor Robert McDonnell to two years in prison and two years of probation on Tuesday for a corruption conviction.
  
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• Carrier re-float effort put on hold

  06-01-2015 23:22
  
  Efforts to re-float a car carrier which was deliberately stranded on a sandbank will not take place tomorrow after salvage experts said the vessel had taken on more water than previously thought.
  
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• Chilcot inquiry: Delay in publication of report into the Iraq war a 'scandal', claims former Tory foreign secretary

  06-01-2015 23:21
  
  The delay in the publication of Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry into the Iraq war has gone beyond “questions of mere negligence” and has become a “scandal”, a former Conservative foreign secretary has said.
  
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• Everton 1-1 West Ham United

  06-01-2015 23:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Romelu Lukaku fires in a late equaliser as Everton grab a dramatic FA Cup third-round draw against West Ham.
  
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• The Interview to be released in UK cinemas on 6 February

  06-01-2015 23:13
  
  The Interview will be released in UK cinemas on 6 February, Sony has announced, following limited screenings in the US.
  
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• Hackett criticises top referees

  06-01-2015 23:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ex-referees chief Keith Hackett criticises recent decisions and calls for five officials and Mike Riley to stand down.
  
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• Osborne warning over low oil prices

  06-01-2015 23:04
  
  George Osborne has put energy firms, airlines and others on notice that they must pass on the benefits of a dramatic fall in global oil prices or face possible state action.
  
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• Lib Dem leader-in-waiting Tim Farron handed high-profile foreign affairs brief

  06-01-2015 23:00
  
  The darling of the Liberal Democrats’ grassroots, Tim Farron, will be handed the party’s high-profile foreign affairs brief for the general election, boosting his hopes of succeeding Nick Clegg as party leader.
  
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• Stockbroker Sacked Over Twitter Cyclist 'Joke'

  06-01-2015 22:57
  
  A stockbroker has been sacked after tweeting, as an apparent joke, that he failed to stop after hitting a cyclist while driving.
  
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• VIDEO: Squatters set up soup kitchen

  06-01-2015 22:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Squatters in central London have set up a 24-hour soup kitchen in Trafalgar Square.
  
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• Ched Evans to Oldham Athletic: Family will pay up to pave the way for deal with League One club

  06-01-2015 22:55
  
  Oldham Athletic were last night heading towards the hugely controversial move of signing Ched Evans, the 26-year-old who has been convicted of rape, with the father of the player’s girlfriend a key person in paving the way.
  
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• Armond White row: Film critic who called Harry Potter the 'dullest franchise in the history of movie franchises,' accuses peers of becoming 'timid and fawning'

  06-01-2015 22:46
  Film criticism has lost its independence, with judges fawning in the presence of movie stars, voting in consensus and fearing how their reviews will be perceived by peers, one of America’s most notorious film critics has said.
  
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• NHS Under Pressure, Admits Health Secretary

  06-01-2015 22:38
  
  The Health Secretary has admitted the NHS is under a "huge amount of pressure" as figures show waiting times at A&E in England have hit their worst level in ten years.
  
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• No way to treat migrants

  06-01-2015 22:27
  
  The indefinite detention of migrants by the British Government is utterly iniquitous. Nobody would doubt that it is essential for our immigration agencies to deal carefully with any cases that might end in deportation. And it is understandable that the authorities should want to know the whereabouts of the individuals concerned. But keeping them under lock and key for years on end simply cannot be right.
  
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• Two people hurt in city house fire

  06-01-2015 22:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Two people are treated for the effects of smoke inhalation after a serious house fire in Cardiff.
  
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• Detention: the black hole at the heart of British justice

  06-01-2015 22:26
  
  It has been described as the “black hole at the heart of British justice”. Thousands of people, most of whom have been convicted of no crime, detained for as long as government officials wish.
  
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• Miliband Misses Out On 'Helpful' Merkel Meeting

  06-01-2015 22:25
  
  Ed Miliband will not be meeting Frau Merkel on her visit on Wednesday.
  
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• SNP suspends report-burning members

  06-01-2015 22:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Four SNP councillors filmed setting fire to a copy of the Smith Commission report are suspended from their party for two months.
  
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• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: Red Bull cans and KFC handwipes - insights into Britain's litter grip MPs

  06-01-2015 22:22
  
  Whether David Sedaris’s call for litter louts to be systematically reduced to a state of “abject paranoia” will feature in the Commons Communities and Local Government Committee report on the subject, is doubtful. But it was improbably cool of the MPs to invite him as a witness. 
  
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• Lib Dems finalise election line-up

  06-01-2015 22:16
  
  Nick Clegg has finalised his line-up for the general election campaign - and it doesn't include a return to the role of economic spokesman for Vince Cable.
  
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• Trusts cancel non-emergency ops

  06-01-2015 21:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Belfast Health Trust cancels all non-urgent elective surgery up to and including 10 January, while other trusts cancel some of theirs, due to pressures on emergency departments.
  
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• Labour councillor suspended over Tory poster parody with picture of Nazi death camp

  06-01-2015 21:40
  
  A Labour councillor has been suspended by the party for sharing on social media a parody of a Conservative election poster doctored to include an image of a Nazi death camp.
  
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• VIDEO: Why are hospital A&Es struggling?

  06-01-2015 21:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A look at why hospitals are struggling to cope with increased A&E attendances.
  
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• Watkins' ex-lover was 'nuisance'

  06-01-2015 21:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An ex-lover of paedophile singer Ian Watkins was trying to expose his abuse but viewed as a "nuisance" harassing the rock star by police, a trial hears.
  
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• NHS is under pressure, says Cameron

  06-01-2015 21:27
  
  David Cameron has admitted the NHS is under "pressure" after waiting times in accident and emergency departments in England plummeted to their worst levels in more than a decade.
  
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• Greek exit from the EU could be imminent, for better or for worse

  06-01-2015 21:26
  
  The euro fell to a nine-year low against the dollar today. The immediate causes of this bout of jitters were twofold. One was that Greece, with an election just three weeks off, might leave the euro; the other, expectations that the European Central Bank will be forced to bring in some form of quantitative easing later this month.
  
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• NHS in critical condition as A&E waiting times are worst in a decade

  06-01-2015 21:20
  
  There are grave doubts over the NHS’ capacity to cope with ever-growing demand this winter after emergency departments recorded their worst week in a decade, and more than a dozen hospitals were forced to implement “major incident” emergency plans.
  
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• Twitter row councillor suspended

  06-01-2015 21:10
  
  A Labour councillor has been suspended by the party for sharing on social media a parody of a Conservative election poster doctored to include an image of a Nazi death camp.
  
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• The key questions that Labour and the Tories haven’t begun to answer

  06-01-2015 21:09
  
  Amid the sloganeering, claims and counter-claims that have characterised the start of Election 2015, there has been an abundance of smoke, quite a few mirrors and rather little light.
  
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• VIDEO: Farmer forced to cull 'Nazi' cattle

  06-01-2015 21:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A farmer in Devon is forced to slaughter half his herd of Heck cows after they repeatedly tried to attack his farm workers.
  
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• VIDEO: Councils face huge pothole bills

  06-01-2015 20:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Councils across England face bills of up to £100m to complete huge backlogs of road repairs, as Danny Savage reports from Leeds.
  
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• Poppy designer Tom Piper was ‘perturbed’ by crowds flocking to the Tower

  06-01-2015 20:54
  
  The designer of the Tower of London poppy exhibition has spoken for the first time of how he became perturbed by the “frenetic, obsessive surge of emotionalism” towards his display and criticises the infamous review which called it “toothless”.
  
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• Nick Clegg's plea to voters: Take another look at the Lib Dems ahead of the general election if you want economic security and political stability

  06-01-2015 20:50
  Nick Clegg has appealed to voters not to take a gamble on Ukip, the Scottish National Party or the Greens at the May general election as he pleads for them to take another look at the Liberal Democrats.
  
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• AirAsia flight QZ8501: The pioneering work of the Erebus crash investigators in 1979 is still being used today

  06-01-2015 20:45
  
  In November 1979 Air New Zealand flight 901 set off on a sightseeing trip over Antarctica. It was an era when flights over inhospitable Polar regions were a relatively new and exciting breakthrough in airborne tourism. The DC-10, with 257 passengers on board, took off from Auckland. The plan was to fly to Christchurch making a long, low detour over McMurdo Sound – the land of Captain Scott, Ernest Shackleton and the great history of Antarctic exploration.
  
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• Voting Tory or Labour will put at risk all that the Coalition has achieved in the past five years

  06-01-2015 20:44
  
  When historians come to write about Britain in the years 2010-2015, they will tell the story of a country that journeyed from economic ruin to economic recovery, and did so while sticking together.
  
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• NHS explainer: Why are we experiencing an A&E crisis now?

  06-01-2015 20:42
  
  Ageing population
  
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• Prince Andrew sex allegations: Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer also involved in scandal, calls accuser ‘liar’

  06-01-2015 20:40
  
  The prominent US lawyer accused with Prince Andrew of having sex with a teenage “sex slave” has described the woman as a “serial liar” in a combative response to her claims.
  
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• Conservatives keep up attack on Labour spending plans

  06-01-2015 20:37
  
  The Conservatives have renewed their attack on what they claim are Labour’s “unfunded” spending plans as the war of words between the two parties continued.
  
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• Ben Needham search team get £700,000

  06-01-2015 20:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A police force secures £700,000 from the Home Office to continue investigating the case of Sheffield toddler Ben Needham who disappeared in 1991.
  
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• Andy McSmith's Diary: MP named and shamed because of Coalition U-turn

  06-01-2015 20:28
  
  It was no surprise today that Mark Pritchard should call for men accused of rape to be protected by anonymity. His fellow Tory MP Nigel Evans made the same call – that the law protects the anonymity of the accuser but not the accused – after his highly publicised trial for rape which ended in the Deputy Speaker’s acquittal.
  
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• Failed Gambia coup: Claims that plot to depose strongman President Yahya Jammeh was hatched in America

  06-01-2015 20:26
  
  A small group of men gathered in woods near the compound of The Gambia’s strongman President, Yahya Jammeh. They were dressed in black fatigues and heavily armed. An audacious but doomed coup was about to begin.
  
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• Godless Spellchecker: Atheist tweeter suspended for 'abuse' has account restored

  06-01-2015 20:25
  
  A prolific Twitter user and podcaster who has spent years infuriating religious zealots by publicly challenging their dogmatic views – and correcting their spelling mistakes – is celebrating after striking a blow for free speech.
  
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• New legal bid in Andrew sex claim case

  06-01-2015 20:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  US lawyer Alan Dershowitz has begun legal action to clear his name after court papers separately accuse him, and Prince Andrew, of having sex with an underage girl.
  
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• Pegida protests: Germany's anti-Islamic movement sparks furious right-wing power struggle

  06-01-2015 20:14
  
  Germany’s growing anti-Islamic protest movement has ignited a furious leadership battle within the country’s new right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, prompting charges that the organisation is “tearing itself apart” less than two years after it was founded.
  
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• Why Stephen Fry could single-handedly explode the myths about gay marriage

  06-01-2015 20:12
  
  The darling of Middle England is to take his boyfriend up the aisle. This sentence will annoy three groups. The first is (perhaps) Stephen Fry, our groom-to-be, who no doubt has a rather more complex relationship with notions of cosy, national-treasure status than he does with his fiancé, Elliott Spencer, a fellow comedian. The second is those who still deem the law recognising everyone as equal indicative of the downfall of civilisation – or the cause of floods. (We will not dwell here on t
  
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