General news

• Nigeria elections: Africa's powerhouse is beset on all sides. Can its forthcoming poll mark a return to stability?

  03-02-2015 23:45
  Riven by regional, ethnic and religious divisions since it attained independence in 1960, Nigeria has a long tradition of overcoming difficulties that might destroy other nations. But rarely has the state of the world’s seventh most populous country, and Africa’s biggest economy, seemed more precarious than now, as it prepares to elect a president in 10 days’ time.
  
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• Manatees descend on Florida springs in record numbers

  03-02-2015 23:34
  
  A spring in Florida was forced to close a one acre plot of water to swimmers and kayakers this week, after more than 300 manatees moved into the area.
  
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• Norway court rules government can exile hate preacher Mullah Krekar to remote village

  03-02-2015 22:53
  
  In 1991, Mullah Krekar arrived in Norway as a refugee.
  
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• Alberto Nisman: Argentine prosecutor had drafted warrant for arrest of country's president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

  03-02-2015 22:42
  The Argentine prosecutor whose mysterious death has sparked widespread outcry, had drafted a warrant for the arrest of the country’s president that accused her of derailing an investigation over Iranian officials linked to a 1994 bomb attack.
  
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• Bobbi Kristina Brown moved to Emory Hospital, still in critical condition

  03-02-2015 22:37
  
  Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of late pop star Whitney Houston, has been moved to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and remains in critical condition after she was found face down in a bathtub over the weekend.
  
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• Finland to remove cursive handwriting from education curriculum

  03-02-2015 22:16
  
  Cursive handwriting will be scrapped from the Finnish education curriculum and replaced by lessons in keyboard typing, it has been announced.
  
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• Lance Armstrong causes car accident, lets girlfriend take the blame

  03-02-2015 22:02
  
  Former cyclist Lance Armstrong let his girlfriend take the blame for a car accident last month, even though he was the one behind the wheel when the accident occurred.
  
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• Lance Armstrong allegedly causes car accident and lets girlfriend take the blame

  03-02-2015 22:02
  
  Former cyclist Lance Armstrong let his girlfriend take the blame for a car accident last month, even though he was the one behind the wheel when the accident occurred.
  
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• Harry Redknapp quits QPR: Manager grows tired of the daily grind at Loftus Road

  03-02-2015 21:50
  
  On Monday evening, Harry Redknapp made one final attempt to sound out Aaron Lennon over a loan move and found himself rebuffed, not for the first time in a transfer window in which he had failed to persuade the Queens Park Rangers owners to make any transfer fees available for new players.
  
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• Harry Reddknapp quits QPR: Manager grows tired of the daily grind at Loftus Road

  03-02-2015 21:50
  
  On Monday evening, Harry Redknapp made one final attempt to sound out Aaron Lennon over a loan move and found himself rebuffed, not for the first time in a transfer window in which he had failed to persuade the Queens Park Rangers owners to make any transfer fees available for new players.
  
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• Harry Redknapp quits QPR before he is sacked, with Tim Sherwood favourite to replace him as manager

  03-02-2015 21:39
  Harry Redknapp quit as Queens Park Rangers manager today before he was pushed, with the club having no intention of renewing his contract at the end of the season and the 67-year-old tired of the constant insecurity around his job.
  
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• More Snow Showers Expected For Parts Of UK

  03-02-2015 21:31
  
  More sleet and snow showers are expected for some parts of the UK overnight and on Wednesday morning as the cold snap continues. Among the likely affected areas will be northeast, eastern and southeastern England as well as northern and eastern Scotland. Between one and three centimetres of snow is predicted inland, away from exposed coasts, with possibly 5-10cm over the Grampians and North Yorkshire Moors. A Met Office yellow weather warning is in place until 11am on Wednesday for the public t
  
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• NFL coach Rex Ryan changes tattoo after getting fired by the New York Jets

  03-02-2015 21:20
  
  Add NFL coach Rex Ryan to the long list of people who got a tattoo they would later regret.
  
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• Cats revival: Is timeless appeal or the Nicole Sherzinger factor the reason for its success?

  03-02-2015 21:16
  Something improbable – one might even say downright unlikely – has happened in the West End this past month. Cats, the long-running Andrew Lloyd Webber behemoth, which bowed out of the capital more than a decade ago for the simple reason that everyone in the capital had seen it, has been granted yet another life.
  
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• 'Vicious and inexcusable' Animals at halal slaughterhouse have throats HACKED with saws

  03-02-2015 21:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  SHOCKING footage has emerged of "vicious attacks" at a Halal slaughterhouse where animals had their throats hacked at with saws.
  
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• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: William Hague gives us a taste of what we'll be missing when he's gone

  03-02-2015 21:11
  
  William Hague is a witty – even sparkling – speaker who has delighted audiences since his appearance as a precocious 16-year-old at a Tory conference during the Thatcher years. So today he had a last laugh by making a speech on English devolution of enervating, narcotic tedium. And doing it at a Westminster hang-out optimistically named “The Ideas Space” in front of a big billboard bearing the slogan “A Fair United Kingdom”. AFUK may be a more benign acronym than the sinister-soundin
  
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• The dashing Greek Finance Minister isn't anti-American; he wants a repeat of Roosevelt's New Deal

  03-02-2015 21:09
  
  You have to admire Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s new Finance Minister. The former Essex University lecturer showed up in a Barbour-type jacket and boots for his meeting with George Osborne, but better still was his arriving at the office on his first day in the job on his 1300cc Yamaha muscle bike. It is the one with gold rear springs and shocks, several steps up in beef, if not in refinement, from the 650cc BMW favoured by his Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras.
  
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• Man killed himself after benefit changes left him owing £800, inquest told

  03-02-2015 21:03
  
  A retired gardener took his own life after begging for help when changes to his benefits left him owing more than £800 – in a case that highlights the bureaucratic cruelty of the welfare system.
  
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• Suge Knight: Rap mogul pleads not guilty to murder charge before being rushed to hospital

  03-02-2015 21:03
  
  Rap music mogul Suge Knight appeared in court and pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to murder and attempted murder charges before complaining of chest pain and being rushed to a hospital.
  
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• Isis Jordanian pilot video: US president Barack Obama issues statement on death of Muath al-Kasaesbeh

  03-02-2015 21:01
  
  US president Barack Obama has released a full statement on the murder of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh by Isis militants.
  
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• 'Progress' in Rory McIlroy £13m Legal Battle

  03-02-2015 20:58
  
  Rory McIlroy and his lawyers have been locked in talks for hours after Dublin High Court agreed to defer the opening of his multi-million pound legal battle with a former agent. Dublin-based Horizon Sports Media, is counter-suing him for £13m, alleging breach of contract and unpaid fees for helping to negotiate some lucrative sponsorship deals. The four-times major winner, from Holywood, County Down, flew into Dublin on Sunday evening, fresh from his three-shot victory in the Dubai Desert Class
  
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• Andy McSmith's Diary: Old political souls never die in the corridors of power

  03-02-2015 20:51
  
  Anyone who does not believe in life after death should come to Parliament after the general election and see the newly ex-MPs wandering the corridors like lost souls on the banks of the Styx. Those who have not landed seats in the House of Lords are allowed to hold on to their old Commons passes and haunt the place forever.
  
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• Yanis Varoufakis: The Finance Minister who cooks a mean Thai meal, chats about art, and shoots hoops

  03-02-2015 20:48
  
  Yanis Varoufakis, who managed to look more at home than George Osborne after rocking up at 11 Downing Street this week, had a less well-documented brush with the Tory party several years ago. In his time as a student at Essex University in the 1980s, the striking new Greek Finance Minister overlapped with one of the few members of the lefty institution's Conservative Student Union. His name was John Bercow, who is now the Speaker of the House of Commons.
  
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• Top marks all round as IVF debate taxes MPs’ brain cells

  03-02-2015 20:41
  
  Politicians are sometimes mocked for their scientific illiteracy, so it was something of a surprise today to find that many of them had done their science homework.
  
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• Richard von Weizsäcker: Germany's President who served in Hitler's army but later promoted tolerance and became his country's conscience

  03-02-2015 20:40
  Richard von Weizsäcker was a former soldier in Hitler's army who used his largely ceremonial office as president of Germany to denounce his country's Nazi past and to condemn intolerance toward immigrants and other minorities. Von Weizsäcker was elected president of West Germany in 1984 and held the office as the country's formal head of state for 10 years. During that time he helped oversee reunification with East Germany in 1990.
  
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• Frederike Geerdink: The Dutch journalist facing five years in prison in Turkey for 'terrorist propaganda' after highlighting the struggle of the Kurds

  03-02-2015 20:39
  One afternoon last month, the Dutch journalist Frederike Geerdink was working in her apartment in Diyarbakir, south-east Turkey, when she was disturbed by a knock at the door. It was eight fully armed anti-terrorist police.
  
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• Reies Lopez Tijerina: Preacher and Chicano activist who led an infamous and fatal raid on a New Mexico courthouse

  03-02-2015 20:37
  Reies Lopez Tijerina was a Pentecostal preacher who became a Chicano activist and led a violent raid on a New Mexico courthouse nearly 50 years ago. Though he was admired by some students, his activism was steeped in violence and his legacy remained controversial. He also drew criticism for his treatment of women and comments viewed as anti-Semitic.
  
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• Government under pressure to ban religious slaughter as halal scandal grows

  03-02-2015 20:37
  
  The Government is under mounting pressure from MPs, vets, and animal welfare campaigners to ban religious slaughter, after scenes of cruelty – shown in an undercover video of a halal abattoir - sparked public revulsion.
  
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• PM backs triple DNA babies bid

  03-02-2015 20:36
  
  David Cameron was among MPs who took the historic step today of approving what critics have called "three parent babies" in order to prevent devastating inherited diseases.
  
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• Prince Andrew backed by eminent engineer in rare public appearance following Virginia Roberts sex claim

  03-02-2015 20:33
  
  One of Britain’s most eminent engineers has shown her support for Prince Andrew, describing him as a "true beacon" of UK trade and enterprise.
  
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• John Hopkins: Charismatic photographer, activist and leading figure in London's counterculture of the Sixties

  03-02-2015 20:32
  
  John "Hoppy" Hopkins was one of the most charismatic and influential figures in the London counterculture he helped establish during the 1960s. Through his early association with Pink Floyd and his work as a photojournalist and political activist, he became known as the "King of the Underground".
  
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• Spanish police break up criminal gang smuggling €300,000 of Egyptian antiquities that could have been used to fund jihadists

  03-02-2015 20:29
  Spanish police have announced the break-up of a criminal gang responsible for smuggling hundreds of thousands of euros’ worth of Egyptian antiquities to the West, claiming the arrests will also hinder the transfer of money to jihadists in the Middle East.
  
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• The Pub Landlord backs his party FUKP against ‘Mr Farridge’ in Thanet South

  03-02-2015 20:25
  
  Heading to Kent for the official launch of his parliamentary election campaign in Thanet South, “Pub Landlord” Al Murray displayed an impressive grasp of how politicians operate, for a novice.
  
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• Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh: Reactions to purported murder of Jordanian pilot by Isis

  03-02-2015 20:25
  
  Jordan has expressed its united anger and grief following the release of the video purporting to show the murder of captured Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh.
  
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• Disneyland measles outbreak: Republicans left red-faced as vaccination row spills over into 2016 presidential race

  03-02-2015 20:23
  The Republican Party is on the defensive after two of its leading presidential hopefuls indicated that they had sympathy for parents unwilling to vaccinate their children against infectious diseases, even in the midst of a dangerous outbreak of measles centred in California.
  
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• Pub Landlord launches Thanet MP bid

  03-02-2015 20:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Comedian Al Murray, who is standing for parliament in his guise as The Pub Landlord, goes on the campaign trail in Kent.
  
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• Sparks fly over Big Six’s growing profit margins

  03-02-2015 20:17
  
  Anger is growing at fresh accusations of profiteering by the big energy companies while more vulnerable people than ever are facing weeks of freezing houses as the cold weather bites.
  
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• New polling data points to bloodletting of big names from Scottish political life

  03-02-2015 20:14
  
  Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, the former Scottish Secretary Michael Moore, and current Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran are expected to be among the high-profile politicians forecast to lose their Westminster seats by new polling data published today.
  
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• Alexander Litvinenko widow describes her husband’s last moments

  03-02-2015 20:12
  
  “The doctor said Sasha had passed away. ‘Would you like to see Sasha?’ he asked. I said, ‘Of course’. When we went into his room it was so different. We didn’t need protective gloves. I could touch him. I could kiss him. This time no one said it was dangerous; nobody told me not to do so.”
  
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• Veteran cricket umpire Peter Willey fights against dismissal for being too old

  03-02-2015 20:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  FORMER England Test cricketer Peter Willey is challenging a decision forcing him to retire as an umpire at 65 because he is “too old”.
  
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• Bottle knocked young boy's teeth out

  03-02-2015 20:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A 10-year-old Rangers fan speaks about getting hit in the face by a bottle on the way to the Old Firm game.
  
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• Jewish groups protest against George Galloway appearance in Finchley for BBC's Question Time

  03-02-2015 20:03
  
  George Galloway, leader of the Respect Party, has caused a stir in the Jewish-majority constituency of Finchley after it was announced that he would appear in the area on Question Time this week.
  
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• Lee confirms Mockingbird sequel

  03-02-2015 20:02
  
  A sequel to worldwide bestseller To Kill A Mockingbird will be published later this year.
  
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• MLAs vote to extend NCA powers to NI

  03-02-2015 20:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  MLAs at Stormont vote to extend the National Crime Agency's powers to Northern Ireland after the SDLP changed its position and supported the move.
  
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• Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh: The Jordanian pilot who fought Isis 'for distorting the true spirit of Islam'

  03-02-2015 19:59
  
  26-year-old Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh fell into the hands of Isis militants in December 2014, when his Jordanian F-16 plane crashed near Raqqa, Syria: the de facto capital of the group's self-styled caliphate.
  
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• Hundreds of thousands of people not charged with any crime still on police mugshot database

  03-02-2015 19:57
  
  Police face a raft of potential legal challenges after photographs of hundreds of thousands of people were loaded on to an intelligence database without them having been charged or convicted of a crime.
  
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• M1 closed after major lorry crash

  03-02-2015 19:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The M1 is closed in both directions after a lorry driver was seriously injured in a crash between Bedford and Flitwick.
  
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• Pilot murder 'sickening', says PM

  03-02-2015 19:55
  
  David Cameron has condemned the "sickening murder" of a Jordanian pilot burned to death by Islamic State (IS) extremists.
  
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• Muath al-Kasaesbeh 'murder' video: Isis's Genghis Khan-style cruelty shows Jordan and Japan exactly what the militants think of them

  03-02-2015 19:53
  So they burned him in hellfire. That was what Islamic State (Isis) wanted to show the world. This was Genghis Khan-style cruelty. First, Isis forced the Jordanians and the Japanese to acknowledging its power - by offering a Japanese journalist as bait for negotiations - and then showed the Jordanian king and the Japanese prime minister what it thought of them. The Jordanians had demanded proof that Flt Lt Muath al-Kasaesbeh was alive, and they were given their evidence – as he was led into hi
  
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• Man who ran 'revenge porn' website faces 20 years in jail

  03-02-2015 19:50
  
  The lesson of this story may be that one should think long and hard before committing those most intimate moments to the wiles of a video recorder. In other words, keep all carnal activities off camera.
  
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