General news

• Tributes to Kirkbride at TV awards

  21-01-2015 23:58
  
  Late Coronation Street actress Anne Kirkbride took centre stage at the National Television Awards as colleagues and rivals paid tribute - despite the ITV show leaving empty handed.
  
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• Green party likely to be included in new plan for general election leader debates

  21-01-2015 23:56
  
  Broadcasters expected to offer role to SNP as they address David Cameron’s concerns of head-to-head with Nigel FarageThe coalition of broadcasters bidding to stage the party leader debates is on the verge of unveiling a revised set of proposals in an effort to ensure that David Cameron will take part.The prime minister objected to the original plan put forward by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky on the grounds that the Greens were not invited to the debate that includes the Ukip leader, Nigel F
  
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• Yemeni president capitulates to the demands of Houthi rebels

  21-01-2015 23:55
  
  Abed Mansour Hadi agrees power-sharing role that will dilute his powers, after he was ousted from his palace in Sana’aYemen’s president Abed Mansour Hadi has yielded to the demands of Houthi gunmen who over ran the capital Sana’a, agreeing to a power-sharing role that will dilute his powers and give the rebels a strident voice in state affairs.After being ousted from his palace, then besieged in his home for 24 hours, Hadi agreed to all the Houthis’ demands, state media reported. In retu
  
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• Prince Andrew sex allegations: Duke's accuser gives her side of the story in court papers

  21-01-2015 23:54
  
  The woman who says she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew while underage has outlined the accusations in her own words for the first time, in newly filed US court papers.
  
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• Prince Andrew sex allegations: Accuser gives her side of the story in court papers as Duke is expected to address allegations in Davos

  21-01-2015 23:54
  
  The woman who says she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew while underage has outlined the accusations in her own words for the first time, in newly filed US court papers.
  
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• All cigarettes likely to be sold in plain packets by next year

  21-01-2015 23:46
  
  The Government has finally decided that cigarettes are to be sold in standardised packages in England.
  
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• Ranald Macdonald and Lord McColl plead for end to ban on export of haggis to US

  21-01-2015 23:45
  
  In a basement restaurant off Bishopsgate in central London, a representative of Barack Obama's government takes his seat at a long table. Stan Phillips only joined the US Embassy in London last month, as counsellor attaché for agricultural affairs. Now, as bagpipes play, he is about to endure a bizarre initiation in British eccentricity, cultural stereotypes and sheep innards.
  
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• Australian Open 2015: Heather Watson's revelation is turning point for a once-taboo subject

  21-01-2015 23:42
  
  Dr Anita Biswas, one of the country’s top sports doctors, is refreshingly devoid of the usual squeamishness which accompanies discussions of menstruation.
  
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• Steve Bell on the Chilcot inquiry – cartoon

  21-01-2015 23:37
  
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• Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson and Chelsea’s Diego Costa in tunnel bust-up

  21-01-2015 23:30
  
  • Rivals square up after heated Capital One Cup semi-final
  • No punches thrown but players had to be separated
  • Match report: Liverpool 1-1 ChelseaJordan Henderson and Diego Costa almost came to blows in the Anfield tunnel as Liverpool’s Capital One Cup semi-final against Chelsea ended in acrimony.The Liverpool midfielder had to be separated from the Chelsea striker by a member of his club’s backroom staff after the pair squared up following Tuesday’s first leg. No punches were
  
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• Daley Blind backs methods of Louis van Gaal at Manchester United

  21-01-2015 23:30
  
  • Dutchman defends countryman’s possession-based approach
  • Blind: ‘He makes players better and he makes teams better’
  • Match report: QPR 0-2 Manchester UnitedDaley Blind has defended Manchester United’s possession-based football and backed Louis van Gaal to keep improving the team’s results.Speaking before Friday’s FA Cup tie at Cambridge United, the 24-year-old Holland international said Van Gaal had been a factor in his decision to come to England. “He expects a lot f
  
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• Arsenal move for Gabriel Paulista hinges on work permit snag

  21-01-2015 23:30
  
  • Club hopes to seal initial £6m deal for Villarreal centre-back
  • Brazilian might not qualify to obtain visa
  • Arsenal would need to prove ‘exceptional talent’ on appeal
  • Transfer window – liveArsenal intend to push on with their pursuit of the Villarreal centre-half Gabriel Paulista and are confident they would be able to secure a work permit for the Brazilian despite the player not appearing to meet any of the criteria to qualify for international clearance.Talks are con
  
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• Tribute to Kirkbride at TV awards

  21-01-2015 23:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Coronation Street star William Roache leads a special tribute at the National TV Awards to on-screen wife Anne Kirkbride, who died on Monday.
  
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• 'No learning' on periods - Radcliffe

  21-01-2015 23:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe says sport hasn't learned how to deal with elite athletes' periods.
  
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• Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Sheffield United

  21-01-2015 23:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tottenham beat League One Sheffield United in the first leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final at White Hart Lane.
  
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• Toddler died in New Zealand after mother left in him in car on hot day

  21-01-2015 23:15
  
  A 16-month-old toddler died after his mother allegedly left him in a parked car on a hot summer day, because she thought she had dropped him off at daycare.
  
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• Slipknot UK tour: The band is riding high in the charts - but who are their fans?

  21-01-2015 23:15
  
  If your taste in music veers more towards old vinyl than nu metal, it's hard not to take the name of Slipknot's latest tour to heart: "Prepare for Hell". Still, it's good to get outside your comfort zone, so here I am at the Manchester Arena to catch the band on the fourth date of their first UK tour for six years. The band is halfway through the world tour, which showcases their .5: The Gray Chapter album, their second to top the Billboard charts in the US.
  
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• Celtic hit the top after Mikael Lustig double helps sink Motherwell

  21-01-2015 23:10
  
  Celtic moved to the top of the Premiership with a 4-0 trouncing of Motherwell at Parkhead, with the right-back Mikael Lustig the returning hero.Virgil van Dijk opened the scoring in the 26th minute of a one-sided first half with a close-range header, before Leigh Griffiths doubled their lead just before the interval. Continue reading...
  
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• Holocaust Memorial Day: Anne Frank Trust encourages pupils to discuss prejudice and discrimination

  21-01-2015 23:00
  
  It all started from Gillian Walnes' front room in Dorset in 1991. Along with friends and relatives of Holocaust survivor Otto Frank, she decided to set up a trust in his daughter Anne's memory to combat prejudice.
  
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• California University of Pennsylvania student Shanice Clark died after 'choking on gum'

  21-01-2015 22:54
  
  A student in the US state of Pennsylvania who was discovered unconscious in her apartment, is believed to have choked on gum in her sleep.
  
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• Big Six energy firms ‘worst for customer satisfaction’

  21-01-2015 22:43
  
  The Big Six energy suppliers are the worst for customer satisfaction and value for money, while smaller firms such as Ecotricity and Good Energy are the best, according to a new Which? survey.
  
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• David Tennant honoured with special recognition at the National TV Awards 2015

  21-01-2015 22:38
  
  Broadchurch star David Tennant has been honoured with a special recognition at the National Television Awards.
  
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• David Tennant honoured with special recoginition at the National TV Awards 2015

  21-01-2015 22:38
  
  Broadchurch star David Tennant has been honoured with a special recognition at the National Television Awards.
  
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• Cigarette packaging vote welcomed

  21-01-2015 22:36
  
  Plans to hold a pre-election Commons vote on enforcing standardised tobacco packaging offer the chance of a "momentous step" in creating a smoke-free generation in Britain, health groups have said.
  
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• Cobra to discuss health strike plan

  21-01-2015 22:26
  
  The Government is to draw up contingency plans to deal with a planned strike by health workers even though talks aimed at averting the industrial action are set to continue.
  
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• The Kraftwerk conference: Why a bunch of academics consider the German electropoppers worthy of their own symposium

  21-01-2015 22:24
  In lecture room G11, an academic conference was being prepared. Coffee was brewed. The overhead projector was made ready. And down in the foyer of Aston University, Birmingham, Dr Nick Stevenson, 52, distinguished reader in cultural sociology at Nottingham University, was busy with his mobile phone photographing a large autobahn sign emblazoned with the words: “Welcome to the Industrielle Volksmusik for the Twenty-First Century (Kraftwerk) conference.”
  
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• UK aims to pass law to ban branding on cigarette packs before May

  21-01-2015 22:24
  
  The British government said on Wednesday it would try to pass a law to force tobacco firms to sell cigarettes in plain packets without branding in England before May in order to improve public health and cut the number of child smokers. "I now propose that we lay regulations for standardised packaging in this parliament to allow for them to come into force at the same time as the European Tobacco Products Directive in May 2016," Jane Ellison, a junior minister in the health ministry, s
  
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• MPs Given Access To Secret FIFA Dossier

  21-01-2015 22:20
  
  The Football Association has agreed to give MPs access to a secret file of information on FIFA's executive committee compiled for England's 2018 World Cup bid. Committee chairman John Whittingdale is understood to have contacted FA chairman Greg Dyke personally to negotiate access. Former sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe revealed that the FA would make it available in Brussels at a meeting of a campaign group, New FIFA Now, which is calling for reform of football's world governing
  
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• Liter of Light's solar-powered, DIY lamp made from a plastic bottle is transforming lives

  21-01-2015 22:20
  
  Despite what Back to the Future fans would have you believe, "where's my hoverboard?" isn't a shoe-in for the motto of 2015. "Let there be light" is a strong contender, thanks to this being Unesco's International Year of Light. The opening ceremony in Paris this week celebrated seminal moments in the history of illumination.
  
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• PC death suspect held in Germany

  21-01-2015 22:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A man wanted in connection with the death of police officer following a night out in Liverpool city centre is arrested in Germany.
  
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• New York City to rename two streets after murdered police officers

  21-01-2015 22:05
  
  The New York City Council is expected to vote on Thursday to rename two street blocks in Brooklyn after two police officers who were shot dead while sitting in their patrol car by a man who earlier had ranted in social media postings about alleged abuse by police forces around the country of African Americans.
  
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• Lord Oakeshott gives cash to Labour and Greens to fight Tories in marginal seats

  21-01-2015 22:00
  
  A Liberal Democrat peer who was forced out of the party over his role in an attempt to depose Nick Clegg is to give £600,000 to Labour and Lib Dem MPs fighting the Tories in marginal seats.
  
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• Jessie Burton: How to get TV roles? Writing a book that is adapted for the small screen

  21-01-2015 21:59
  
  The actress-turned-author of bestselling debut novel The Miniaturist has revealed the secrets to getting screen roles: spend four years writing a book that is adapted for television.
  
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• Jessie Burton: How to get TV roles? By writing a book that is adapted for the small screen

  21-01-2015 21:59
  
  The actress-turned-author of bestselling debut novel The Miniaturist has revealed the secrets to getting screen roles: spend four years writing a book that is adapted for television.
  
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• Elizabeth Hurley and Joan Collins programme about a fictional Royal Family 'possibly the worst show in the history of TV'

  21-01-2015 21:59
  A US television drama about a fictional British Royal Family starring Elizabeth Hurley and Joan Collins has been described as “possibly the worst show in the history of TV” and received a drubbing from critics across the world.
  
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• Plain Cigarette Packaging Law Brought Forward

  21-01-2015 21:47
  
  The Government is planning to bring into force legislation for plain cigarette packaging before the General Election in May. Health minister Jane Ellison said the regulations would be laid before Parliament in time to be agreed by both Houses before the election. During an adjournment debate in the Commons, Ms Ellison said tobacco caused around 80,000 deaths a year and that around 600 children in the UK take up smoking every day.
  
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• VIDEO: Bill Roache's tribute to Anne Kirkbride

  21-01-2015 21:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Bill Roache says his former Coronation Street co-star Anne Kirkbride, who recently died, will be "greatly missed"
  
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• Ofgem to investigate gas and electricity costs faced by the poorest UK households

  21-01-2015 21:43
  
  The gas and electricity costs faced by the poorest households are to be investigated by the energy watchdog following warnings that some struggling families cannot afford to warm up food.
  
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• Microsoft 'has got its mojo back'

  21-01-2015 21:34
  
  Microsoft has just announced how it plans to change the way the world uses their PCs, in the form of Windows 10.
  
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• Islamic history is full of free thinkers - but recent attempts to suppress critical thought are verging on the absurd

  21-01-2015 21:30
  "This has nothing to do with Islam," say the imams. "These callous and fanatic murders have nothing to do with us," say the mullahs. "Islam means peace," say the worshippers. These disclaimers, and variations on them, have been repeated countless times by Muslim commentators since the Charlie Hebdo killings. They are designed to distance people from guilt by association with those who kill and maim in the name of Islam.
  
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• VIDEO: Truth inside rotting HMS victory

  21-01-2015 21:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flag ship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, is in urgent need of repair due to extensive water damage.
  
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• Scientists call for destructive seabed trawling to be banned

  21-01-2015 21:20
  
  Sixty marine scientists have signed an open letter urging the fisheries minister, George Eustice, to stop Spanish and French fishermen damaging wildlife in the deep sea.
  
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• Plain Cigarette Packaging To Be Introduced

  21-01-2015 21:20
  
  The Government is to introduce plain cigarette packaging before the General Election in May.
  
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• Thrones producers 'put off Scotland'

  21-01-2015 21:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The producers behind Game of Thrones were put off filming the TV drama in Scotland by a lack of infrastructure, it is claimed.
  
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• Why there may never be an ideal time to serve up the Chilcot inquiry

  21-01-2015 21:10
  
  It is almost two years since The Independent published details from inside Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry team.
  
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• TV teacher had sex with ex pupils

  21-01-2015 21:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A teacher who starred in TV documentary Educating Yorkshire is barred from teaching for having sex with two former pupils.
  
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• MP died after drinking spirits

  21-01-2015 20:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An MP from Greater Manchester died after drinking a fatal amount of spirits during an official dinner in Poland, an inquest has heard.
  
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• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: Forget the Chilcot inquiry, David Cameron's gone to the dogs

  21-01-2015 20:59
  
  Magnificent as ever, Sir Peter Tapsell today urged David Cameron to “recognise the contrast in efficiency of the inquiries into the Crimean War and the Dardanelles campaign compared with the disgraceful incompetence of the Chilcot inquiry”.
  
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• Schoolboy 'could not be saved'

  21-01-2015 20:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A schoolboy was swept out to sea by waves despite desperate efforts by family members to save him, an inquest hears.
  
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• Wolf Hall, BBC2, TV review: An imperious Rylance revels in the darkness

  21-01-2015 20:53
  
  In just under six years since its publication, Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel’s Booker-winning tale of Thomas Cromwell and the court of Henry VIII – has spawned a sequel, another Booker prize for that follow-up and a double-billed hit at Stratford and the West End.
  
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