General news

• Fans flock to Fifty Shades premiere

  11-02-2015 23:57
  
  After months of hype, Fifty Shades Of Grey mania hit fever pitch tonight at the film's world premiere in Berlin.
  
  Read more

• Clinton 'clear about UK IS support'

  11-02-2015 23:57
  
  Hillary Clinton is "very, very clear" that the UK must do more to support the Kurds in the fight against Islamic State, Boris Johnson has said.
  
  Read more

• Britons to sue over Concordia wreck

  11-02-2015 23:55
  
  Lawyers representing British passengers and crew caught up in the Costa Concordia disaster plan to sue the cruise operator following the jailing of the ship's captain.
  
  Read more

• Smoking Ban In Cars With Children From October

  11-02-2015 23:49
  
  Smoking in cars that are carrying children will be banned in England from 1 October. "The passing of regulations to make smoking in cars carrying under-18s illegal is a significant victory for protecting children's health from second-hand smoke," said Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Whistleblower: Offshore Banking 'Out Of Control'

  11-02-2015 23:39
  
  The man who leaked tens of thousands of account details from HSBC's Geneva branch has told Sky News that he first contacted HMRC by email and by telephone in 2008. However, Herve Falciani said the full processed data was only given to UK authorities in 2010. "I sent a naive email in 2008 [to HMRC] and afterwards I called them and finally the most efficient move was when authorities made available to any countries with tax treaties with France," he said. HSBC now admits problems in
  
  Read more

• 19th-century sculpture: Propaganda for the British Empire, or middle class frippery?

  11-02-2015 23:30
  
  I grew up with a very odd virus, acquired at about nine and never shaken off: Victorian art or, more precisely, Victorian painting. The carrier was the 1890 to 1910 run of the greeny-blue Royal Academy Pictures books, published by Cassell. I pored over them long before I had the slightest critical context to filter my response. Long before anyone told me they were absurd or amusing, let alone imperialist, racist or misogynist.
  
  Read more

• On the sidelines: As crises grip Europe, the solutions our partners are striving for lack any meaningful contribution from Britain

  11-02-2015 23:28
  Where it is possible to discern it at all, British foreign policy appears to have taken Theodore Roosevelt’s mantra, “Speak softly and carry a big stick”, and reversed it. In the EU, David Cameron complains loudly but knows that to use his stick – and to lead Britain towards the exit door – would be a disaster for the UK’s economy and its people. On Syria and Iraq, the Prime Minister speaks of a “generational struggle” against jihadism – but our armed forces are hangers-on in t
  
  Read more

• How hospitals treat whistleblowers should be made public

  11-02-2015 23:23
  
  There is a sense of déjà vu about the findings of Sir Robert Francis’s review into whistleblowing in the NHS. It is only six years since the Commons Health Select Committee, in an inquiry into patient safety, condemned the lack of support for staff who wished to raise concerns, and noted that the protections supposedly afforded by the Public Interest Disclosure Act were inadequate. The fact that little appears to have changed in the interim should be a matter for serious concern.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Branislav Ivanovic: Did the Chelsea defender try to bite Everton's James McCarthy?

  11-02-2015 23:11
  
  Branislav Ivanovic has been accused of biting Everton midfielder James McCarthy in the melee that saw Gareth Barry sent off.
  
  Read more

• Chris Kyle trial: ‘American Sniper’ called man who allegedly killed him ‘nuts’

  11-02-2015 23:09
  
  Driving his pickup truck on 2 February, 2013, Chris Kyle – the Navy Seal popularised in the film American Sniper – texted his friend sitting in the passenger seat that the man in the truck with them was “nuts”.
  
  Read more

• Wolf Hall, episode 4, TV review: Jessica Raine is brilliant as the utterly charmless Jane Boleyn

  11-02-2015 23:00
  
  Take back that blue romper suit, intercept the ‘Congratulations on your new baby boy!’ cards and repaint the nursery in a shade of pink – it’s a girl. Wolf Hall shifted gear from last weeks’ salty frenzy of fireside threats and corridor-based titillation, and offered up a more sober, more sombre affair that dealt with the ramifications of one very unwanted child. "Call her Elizabeth. Cancel the jousts," said the unhappy father. Welcome to the world, Liz.
  
  Read more

• Do you have a sweet tooth? Science Museum's new exhibition reveals it's all your mum's fault...

  11-02-2015 23:00
  
  It can come out of nowhere and ambush you at any time: an overwhelming desire for a burger, some salt and vinegar crisps or a Peperami (oh no, me neither. Revolting. Ahem). Whatever hankering sneaks up on you, a new exhibition at London's Science Museum aims to explain why certain comestibles can seduce your senses.
  
  Read more

• Smith may turn Focus back to music

  11-02-2015 22:45
  
  Hollywood star Will Smith has teased that he may end his 10-year hiatus and release some new music.
  
  Read more

• Jerry Tarkanian dead: Iconic UNLV coach dies aged 84

  11-02-2015 22:42
  
  Hall of Fame basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian has passed away in a Las Vegas hospital. He was 84.
  
  Read more

• Chelsea vs Everton match report: Willian fires in vital deflected goal as Blues leave it late to maintain seven-point lead over Manchester City

  11-02-2015 22:42
  Not this time the usual quick escape down the tunnel at full-time for Jose Mourinho, instead he marched to the centre of the pitch to seek out his players to celebrate a last-minute victory that marks yet another milestone in his team’s relentless pursuit of the Premier League title.
  
  Read more

• UK 'tank' crashes into garden fence

  11-02-2015 22:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A mechanical fault caused a British military vehicle to career off a road in Germany and crash into an elderly couple's garden fence, the MoD says.
  
  Read more

• Police 'ordered' opening of gate

  11-02-2015 22:32 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The decision to open an exit gate just minutes before the 1989 fatal crush at Hillsborough was taken by police, a former steward tells the inquests.
  
  Read more

• 'Uncaring' Paramedic Stood Over Dying Patient

  11-02-2015 22:22
  
  Matthew Geary, who had his hands in his pockets, wrongly assumed Carl Cope, 47, was drunk and CCTV footage showed he left him collapsed in the road, a court heard. Geary, 36, failed to provide any help to the patient despite seeing him stumble and fall to the ground, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told. The paramedic, who had taken no equipment from his ambulance, was filmed apparently talking to Mr Cope, and was seen lifting and dropping his limp arm. The defendant, of Great Wyrley, Staffordshir
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson: Photos of London’s mayor playing paperboy in Times Square

  11-02-2015 22:20
  
  In between a meeting with Hilary Clinton and a trip to Capitol Hill, London Mayor Boris Johnson paid a brief visit to Times Square in New York City to play the part of world’s most famous paperboy.
  
  Read more

• Victoria Park Primary Academy uses initiatives such as a video diary shed to increase creativity

  11-02-2015 22:20
  
  To many people, talk of "Dirty Den" would conjure up images of the morally challenged landlord of the Queen Vic in EastEnders.
  
  Read more

• Ukraine crisis: President Petro Poroshenko warns he is ready to impose martial law as he arrives in Belarus for talks

  11-02-2015 22:09
  The crisis in Ukraine will spiral “out of control” without an end to the immediate fighting, the country’s President, Petro Poroshenko, warned as he arrived in Belarus for a summit meeting aimed at securing a lasting settlement to the separatist conflict.
  
  Read more

• Dame Edna fails to make the cut

  11-02-2015 22:06
  
  A cake slice just would not cut it for Dame Edna Everage after the star needed to wield a pair of pliers to get a giant cookie out of a baking tin during the Great Comic Relief Bake Off.
  
  Read more

• Chapel Hill shooting: Father of murdered students calls for hate crime charges

  11-02-2015 22:04
  
  A man has been charged with the triple murder of three students who were found dead in their North Carolina home.
  
  Read more

• The Great Comic Relief Bake Off 2015, TV review: Dame Edna Everage puts the icing on the innuendo in an absolutely fabulous display

  11-02-2015 22:00
  Grease up your buns, whip your meringues to a peak and turn the innuendo level up to 11 – Bake Off is back. And this time it’s feeling charitable.
  
  Read more

• Game of Thrones: How one man created the Dothraki language from scratch

  11-02-2015 22:00
  
  David J Peterson was teaching English Composition at Fullerton College, California, when he heard that HBO was accepting applications to develop Dothraki, the language of horse-mounted warriors, for Game of Thrones. Using the handful of words and phrases in George R R Martin's fantasy-novel series as a starting point, Peterson spent the next four years developing Dothraki grammar and writing a dictionary of around 3,400 words.
  
  Read more

• England bans smoking in cars

  11-02-2015 21:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Drivers in England will be banned from smoking in their car from October if they are carrying children as passengers.
  
  Read more

• Chapel Hill shooting: Father of two victims labels incident ‘a hate crime’

  11-02-2015 21:03
  
  The father of two of the three Muslim students who were shot dead in Chapel Hill yesterday has labelled the tragic incident a “hate crime”.
  
  Read more

• Paul Lambert sacked: Rising price of relegation pushes Villa into decision

  11-02-2015 21:01
  
  In the end, Aston Villa’s woeful record in the Premier League proved too much even for the patience of their American owner, Randy Lerner, whose support for manager Paul Lambert ended last night with the dismissal of the 45-year-old Glaswegian after two years and eight months in charge.
  
  Read more

• Paul Lambert sacked: Aston Villa part company with manager after dropping into the relegation zone

  11-02-2015 21:01
  
  Aston Villa have sacked Paul Lambert.
  
  Read more

• Cuba edges nearer broadband revolution as Netflix launches its streaming service

  11-02-2015 21:00
  
  If you believe official Cuban government statistics, some 23 per cent of Cubans are on the internet. (In the UK, 76 per cent of the population is online, according to the most recent ONS figures.)
  
  Read more

• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: Tory don't-tell policy holds over 'dodgy donors' allegedly linked to HSBC scandal

  11-02-2015 20:59
  
  Whether David Cameron’s contacts, or non-contacts, with the former HSBC chairman Lord (Stephen) Green before he was appointed a minister were a classic case of “don’t ask, don’t tell” remained less than clear after today’s notably abusive PMQs.
  
  Read more

• VIDEO: When Johnson met Clinton in New York

  11-02-2015 20:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Security and terrorism were top of the agenda on Wednesday when Boris Johnson met Hillary Clinton in New York.
  
  Read more

• SNP wants extra £180bn as price of Labour coalition

  11-02-2015 20:45
  
  The Scottish National Party would demand an extra £180bn of state spending as the price of supporting a minority Labour government if May’s general election ends in a hung parliament.
  
  Read more

• Essex Police’s failure to investigate 30 abuse claims left children vulnerable

  11-02-2015 20:45
  
  Vulnerable children were left at the mercy of child abusers after a rogue police unit delayed the arrests of suspects during more than three years of systemic failure, officials said.
  
  Read more

• Andy McSmith's Diary: Strange bedfellows caught in cabal at Westminster

  11-02-2015 20:40
  
  During a break at the high-level Govern Up conference at Westminster today, which brought together civil servants, politicians and advisers from all of the main political parties, who should be seen standing to one side, engrossed in an intense private conversation, but Ed Miliband’s chief of staff, Tim Livesey, and Johnny Oates, who does the same job for Nick Clegg.
  
  Read more

• How Syria lost its humanity: Why has the civil war been marked out by almost medieval acts of savagery?

  11-02-2015 20:39
  
  Three years ago, when President Bashar al-Assad’s position in Syria looked less secure, Abu Sakkar was among those the West regarded as a "moderate" rebel and a highly effective one at that. Omar al-Farouq – his khatiba, or brigade – was praised for confronting Islamic extremists. They had even arrested and executed the leader of a group of foreign jihadists who were then a new presence in the increasingly bitter strife.
  
  Read more

• VIDEO: Pupils missing out on key subjects

  11-02-2015 20:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Schools in wealthier parts of England are much more likely to offer a wide range of subjects, while students in poorer areas miss out, research says.
  
  Read more

• Syriza's crusade against Canadian-owned gold mine puts thousands of jobs at risk in Greece

  11-02-2015 20:35
  
  Greece’s radical-left government has promised to roll back privatisation of state assets. Now thousands of jobs are under threat by Athens’ crusade against a Canadian-owned gold mine.
  
  Read more

• Greek debt: Combative start to crunch talks between Greece and its eurozone creditors

  11-02-2015 20:31
  
  The showdown between the new anti-austerity Greek government and its EU creditors got off to a combative start as Greece’s Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, arrived in Brussels to a chorus of demands that the country stick to its bailout programme.
  
  Read more

• It's not 'sweet home Alabama' if you are gay and in love as Chief Justice fights claims that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional

  11-02-2015 20:25
  Across from my desk is a framed front page of The Sun from nigh on a quarter of a century ago. “Up Yours Delors”, it proclaims. Plucky Britain was standing up to Brussels and its then top official, Jacques Delors, who meant to rob us of our precious pound. 
  
  Read more

• Child Abuse Judge Says No 'Establishment' In NZ

  11-02-2015 20:25
  
  The new chair of the Child Abuse Inquiry has insisted she has no links to the British Establishment. New Zealand judge Justice Lowell Goddard revealed that, since arriving in the UK, she had to check what British people meant by the term "establishment". Speaking to MPs in Westminster two days after arriving from New Zealand, Justice Goddard said she expected the inquiry to run for three or four years and described it as "the biggest challenge I have yet faced". Justice Godda
  
  Read more

• Premier League deal: TV billions prompt calls to football clubs to pay Living Wage

  11-02-2015 20:22
  
  Campaigners and senior politicians lambasted the Premier League after it rejected calls for clubs to pay above the so-called “living wage” to their staff despite the average £50m windfall that each will receive from the £5.1bn sale of television rights.
  
  Read more

• Belgian terror group sentenced: Sharia4Belgium's 'charismatic leader' Fouad Belkacem imprisoned for 12 years

  11-02-2015 20:19
  
  A radical Islamic group that recruited youngsters to fight in Syria was a terrorist organisation that wanted to overthrow democracy and impose sharia law, a Belgian court has ruled after the largest trial of its kind in Europe.
  
  Read more

• HSBC leaks: Party leaders trade insults as tax row gets personal

  11-02-2015 20:17
  
  The HSBC row boiled over into personal insults and threats of legal action today as Ed Miliband was accused of making “untrue and defamatory” claims that the Tory treasurer, Lord Fink, had avoided tax.
  
  Read more

• Dominique Strauss-Kahn trial: My sex life should not be on trial, accused tells courtroom

  11-02-2015 20:15
  
  Dominique Strauss-Kahn admitted today that he had an appetite for “rough” sex but complained that his sexual activities should not be on trial.
  
  Read more

• Premier League - LIVE: Chelsea vs Everton, Manchester United vs Burnley plus reaction to Paul Lambert's dismissal

  11-02-2015 20:12
  
  We have six intriguing matches from the Premier League tonight:A Chelsea win against Everton would give Mourinho's men the opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the table to 10 pointsManchester City, who are hanging onto Chelsea's coat tails in second place, face a difficult trip to StokeManchester United will be hoping to carry the momentum from their late equaliser against West Ham into their clash with BurnleySam Allardyce's high-flying Irons make the trip to equally over-achieving
  
  Read more

• Premier League - LIVE: Chelsea vs Everton, Manchester United vs Burnley plus Manchester City and Newcastle in action

  11-02-2015 20:12
  
  We have six intriguing matches from the Premier League tonight:A Chelsea win against Everton would give Mourinho's men the opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the table to 10 pointsManchester City, who are hanging onto Chelsea's coat tails in second place, face a difficult trip to StokeManchester United will be hoping to carry the momentum from their late equaliser against West Ham into their clash with BurnleySam Allardyce's high-flying Irons make the trip to equally over-achieving
  
  Read more

• Two-thirds of judges feel their six-figure salary is too low

  11-02-2015 20:11
  
  Hundreds of judges have said they are considering taking early retirement because they are not paid enough and feel undervalued after a series of Government budget cuts to the legal system, according to a survey of attitudes within the judiciary.
  
  Read more

• Sturgeon: Austerity 'unjustifiable'

  11-02-2015 20:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scotland's first minister describes the UK government's "austerity economics" as "morally unjustifiable and economically unsustainable" in a speech in London.
  
  Read more

• Gay pupils end up happier if they come out at school, new research suggests

  11-02-2015 20:10
  
  Gay teenagers who come out at school emerge with higher self-esteem and lower levels of depression than if they had not – and are no more likely to be bullied.
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!