General news

• Isis releases 19 of the Christians it kidnapped in Syria last week

  01-03-2015 23:55
  
  Isis has released at least 19 Christians who were among more than 220 people captured in north-eastern Syria last week.
  
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• Top US general 'very concerned' about Britain's defence cuts

  01-03-2015 23:53
  
  The US army’s most senior general has said he is “very concerned” about the effect of cuts to the UK military’s budget.
  
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• Top US general Raymond Odierno 'very concerned' about Britain's defence cuts

  01-03-2015 23:53
  
  The US army’s most senior general has said he is “very concerned” about the effect of cuts to the UK military’s budget.
  
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• Jihadi John my best worker: IT boss

  01-03-2015 23:48
  
  The British graduate unmasked in reports as the Islamic State (IS) executioner known as Jihadi John was a model employee, "calm and decent" and "very good with people", his former boss has said.
  
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• US general voices defence cuts fear

  01-03-2015 23:39
  
  The head of the US Army has expressed serious reservations about the impact of cuts on the capacity of British forces, heaping further pressure on David Cameron to commit to maintaining spending.
  
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• Indian Summers TV review: The sumptuous period drama turns to edge-of-the seat political thriller

  01-03-2015 23:35
  
  Deception, confessions and racial tensions, it’s all going on in Simla tonight as an inquest opens into the shooting.
  
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• Man Dragged Along Motorway In Van Theft

  01-03-2015 23:25
  
  Police are treating the incident on the M602 outside Salford as attempted murder and have appealed for witnesses. Greater Manchester Police said the victim left the keys to his VW Caddy van in the ignition - but the lorry driver then jumped into his van and drove off, with the motorist holding on. However, a 43-year-old male is in custody on suspicion of attempted murder. Detective Sergeant Julie Connor from Salford CID said: "The injured man is in a critical condition at hospital.
  
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• How Homer Simpson discovered the Higgs boson over a decade before scientists

  01-03-2015 23:14
  
  Homer Simpson almost predicted the mass of the elementary particle, the Higgs boson, more than a decade before it was discovered, according to a new book on maths in The Simpsons.
  
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• Ian Herbert: Peter Moores must go. He should never have been brought back to fail again

  01-03-2015 22:25
  
  Even in the cold light of the early day – 6am – it made your blood boil to see Joe Root having to stand there with a microphone in his hands and answer for what had just happened.
  
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• The Media Column: Brilliant run of dramas sees foreign buyers snap up the best of British TV

  01-03-2015 22:14
  
  “It’s a great time for British drama,” said Mark Gatiss, co-creator of the BBC’s Sherlock series and a screen regular, who played Henry VIII’s secretary Stephen Gardiner in Wolf Hall.
  
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• The Independent Bath Literature Festival: Michael Frayn’s Hard Problem with Stoppard and his ‘stupid’ audiences

  01-03-2015 21:47
  Tom Stoppard was wrong to suggest that audiences were too stupid to understand his plays, according to the playwright Michael Frayn, who added it was up to the writer “to make things clear”.
  
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• Boris Nemtsov shot dead: An appalling crime - and further evidence of Russia's political depravity

  01-03-2015 21:43
  
  Vladimir Putin had a nerve writing to the mother of the murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, saying he “shared her sorrow” over her son’s death, and then having his sugary words of condolence put on the Kremlin website. Few people believe that the Russian President would have been so foolish as to directly order the assassination of a well-known critic in front of the Kremlin. But Mr Putin is the man most responsible for creating an atmosphere in Russia in which critics and traito
  
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• Families clubbing together to build their own affordable accommodation

  01-03-2015 21:33
  
  Families unable to afford somewhere to live are clubbing together to build their own affordable accommodation in a new trend as communities are forced to find their own ways of solving the British housing crisis.
  
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• Author Kazuo Ishiguro on being inspired by shoot-outs and samurai

  01-03-2015 21:07
  
  Readers admire, even adore, the fiction of Kazuo Ishiguro for a range of reasons. Until now, it’s fair to say, gory scenes of sudden lethal force have not figured among them. “To a disturbing extent, I enjoyed writing the violent scenes,” Ishiguro says about his seventh novel, and first book for almost six years, The Buried Giant. In this mesmeric parable of remembrance, forgiveness and revenge set during a fragile truce between Britons and Saxons after the Roman departure from these shor
  
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• 'Jihadi John' part of network linked to failed London bombers - court papers

  01-03-2015 20:56
  
  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Islamist militant Mohammed Emwazi, identified as 'Jihadi John', was a member of a network in contact with one of the men convicted of trying to bomb the British capital's underground railway in 2005, according to the government. U.S. security sources last week identified the man, who appeared clad in black and brandishing a knife, as Mohammed Emwazi. The British government's view is set out in court papers, reviewed by Reuters and publicly
  
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• Boris Nemtsov shot dead: This form of political lawlessness appeared to be in the past. No longer

  01-03-2015 20:51
  
  The gunning down of Boris Nemtsov, one of the most prominent and long-standing members of the Russian opposition, was a political act carried out by professionals. From the Kremlin to the further reaches of the Russian opposition to foreign sympathisers and observers, there is almost no disagreement about this.
  
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• Plans to ban hate preachers ‘would make radicalisation worse', say Lib Dems

  01-03-2015 20:38
  
  Conservative plans to ban extremist preachers from university campuses “would make radicalisation worse” according to their Liberal Democrat coalition partners.
  
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• Morecambe Bay Trust inquiry: Hospital to face criticism for deaths at maternity unit

  01-03-2015 20:25
  
  Persistent failures at a maternity unit where up to 30 newborn babies and mothers may have died due to delays in recording medical problems and poor communication are expected to be exposed by an independent report published tomorrow.
  
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• Samsung Galaxy S6 release date: new phone to be launched in April

  01-03-2015 20:12
  
  Samsung said today that the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, its new flagship smartphones, will be released on April 10.
  
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• Immigration policy led to ‘new forms of racism’, says new study

  01-03-2015 20:09
  
  The Government’s tough rhetoric on immigration is alienating migrant communities and causing “new forms of racism” to break out across the country, a major study will warn on Monday.
  
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• Smith tops albums streaming chart

  01-03-2015 20:01
  
  Sam Smith has topped off another award-winning week by becoming the first act to top the albums chart with sales that include streams.
  
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• David Blanchflower: Deflation is bad news - and Britain is likely to be next to get it

  01-03-2015 19:47
  
  There is major economic pandemic spreading around the world. There is contagion in the air. It is called deflation, which means falling prices.
  
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• Rise of the French far right: Front National party could make sweeping gains at this month's local elections

  01-03-2015 19:43
  
  The rise of the French far right continues apace. And, despite a wave of revelations that it has fielded racist, bizarre and geriatric candidates, the Front National could make sweeping gains in important elections this month.
  
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• 60 young British women have left to become jihadi brides

  01-03-2015 19:34
  
  Senior police officers revealed yesterday that some 60 British women and girls have travelled to Syria amid warnings of a campaign by Isis to target vulnerable teenagers to become brides for jihadist fighters.
  
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• Larry David's new play: How a funeral inspired a Broadway hit for the Seinfeld creator

  01-03-2015 19:15
  
  Larry David has got himself into a jam. He went to a  funeral and saw something funny in it, so he spun the experience into a play. He didn’t know how it would turn out and he certainly didn’t imagine acting in it. But now it’s on Broadway, it is his name in lights on the marquee and ticket sales are astronomical.
  
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• With money, corruption and drugs, this monk fears Buddhism in Thailand is a ‘poisoned fruit’

  01-03-2015 19:09
  
  Phra Buddha Issara is a monk on a mission. From his Buddhist temple near Bangkok he is calling for a radical overhaul of Thai Buddhism, fearing that millions of pounds in temple donations are corrupting his brethren.
  
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• Chelsea vs Tottenham - Capital One Cup final match report: Captain John Terry inspires Blues triumph at Wembley Stadium

  01-03-2015 19:07
  The 17th major trophy of Jose Mourinho’s managerial career and for all his pre-match rosary-bead kissing and po-faced touchline demeanour, there will be few cup finals when the plan was executed quite so smoothly and quite so clinically.
  
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• Bremen on high alert after cache of sub-machine guns found following warnings of imminent terror attack

  01-03-2015 19:01
  
  Police in the German port city of Bremen arrested two suspected Islamic extremists and detained several others following warnings of an imminent terrorist attack and the discovery of a large cache of Israeli manufactured sub-machine guns in the city.
  
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• Double Galaxy S6 offering impresses

  01-03-2015 19:00
  
  Samsung has taken the step of introducing not one, but two new flagship smartphones in the shape of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge.
  
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• Samsung Galaxy S6 phones unveiled

  01-03-2015 18:58
  
  Samsung has unveiled two versions of its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6, with a second device that comes with a screen that curves around both edges of the device.
  
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• Boris Nemtsov: Russian opposition leader murdered two days before a planned rally against involvement in Ukraine

  01-03-2015 18:54
  
  Boris Nemtsov was one of the leading lights of the opposition movement in Russia. A popular and charismatic moderniser, he had campaigned against the duumvirate of President Vladimir Putin and his Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, advocating open, accountable democracy and free-market economic reforms.
  
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• Boris Nemtsov: Russian opposition leader murdered two days before a planned rally against involement in Ukraine

  01-03-2015 18:54
  
  Boris Nemtsov was one of the leading lights of the opposition movement in Russia. A popular and charismatic moderniser, he had campaigned against the duumvirate of President Vladimir Putin and his Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, advocating open, accountable democracy and free-market economic reforms.
  
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• House searched in hunt for Becky

  01-03-2015 18:53
  
  Police have been extensively searching an address near the home of missing 16-year-old Rebecca Watts.
  
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• America's first slavery museum established at Django Unchained plantation - 150 years after slavery outlawed

  01-03-2015 18:48
  
  One hundred and fifty years after the 13th Amendment to the Constitution formally ended slavery, the first museum to this vast, difficult and still reverberating part of American history has been opened.
  
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• Donald Keough: Business executive who expertly led Coca-Cola but also oversaw the disastrous introduction of New Coke

  01-03-2015 18:41
  
  As president of Coca-Cola, Donald Keough led the world’s largest soft-drinks maker during one of its most successful eras – but also one of its worst, with the failed introduction of New Coke. As Coca-Cola’s president from 1981 to 1993, Keough, and his CEO Roberto Goizueta, were credited with steering the business to a golden age of global growth.
  
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• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge: three-sided handset brings new look and control to flagship handset

  01-03-2015 18:39
  
  Samsung’s new flagships come in two flavours – Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. You can read about the features common to both here but since the edge is the real bobby-dazzler it’s worth looking at why.
  
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• Graeme Goodall: Audio engineer who became a crucial figure in reggae and helped establish Island Records

  01-03-2015 18:32
  
  Graeme Goodall, an Australian from Melbourne, was one of the hidden heroes of Jamaican music. “He was a wonderful guy, full of energy, and very bright, very smart. A terrific and exceptional person,” said Chris Blackwell, with whom Goodall helped establish Island Records.
  
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• Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge launch and review: wireless charging and new case get Samsung ready to take on the iPhone

  01-03-2015 18:31
  Smartphone design is more important than ever. Mobiles are, at a glance, pretty similar: flat oblongs with big screens on the front and glass, metal or plastic on the back. If you want to stand out, you need an eye-catching and distinctive design.
  
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• Afghanistan death toll rises to at least 250 amid worst avalanches in 30 years

  01-03-2015 18:27
  
  At least 250 people have died amid massive avalanches and flooding as fresh waves of snow have hit the north east of Afghanistan.
  
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• MH370: Better tracking for commercial planes planned in trial

  01-03-2015 18:25
  
  Countries involved in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 are to lead a trial to improve the tracking of aircraft in remote ocean locations.
  
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• The difference between America and Israel? There isn’t one

  01-03-2015 18:18
  
  Uri Avnery is without doubt the most intellectual, philosophical, prescient leftist Israeli seer I have ever met. Like TS Eliot, he has a habit of using the fewest words to tell the greatest truth. Every essay he writes, this reader always says the same thing: Exactly! Yet, for the first time in 40 years, I disagree with the great man.
  
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• Humans eradicated Neanderthal rivals thanks to early dogs bred from wolves

  01-03-2015 18:18
  
  Humans were able to eradicate their Neanderthal rivals in Europe thanks to early dogs bred from wolves, according to a prominent American anthropologist.
  
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• Search For Missing Becky Watts Intensifies

  01-03-2015 18:15
  
  Police are intensifying their search for missing 16-year-old Becky Watts as a laptop found in woods was revealed not to be hers. Forensic teams are searching a house in the Southmead area, while a dog unit and a police helicopter are due to be used on Monday. Becky had her laptop, her phone and her tablet computer with her when she left her house in the St George area on 19 February. Police are continuing to question two people in connection with Becky's disappearance but have said they c
  
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• The laughing at us must stop before the election, warns senior Green

  01-03-2015 18:13
  
  The Green Party will have to rethink its internal structures if it wants to be a serious political player, one of its most senior members has said.
  
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• Awards for inspirational mothers

  01-03-2015 18:10
  
  Stars from the world of entertainment and sport shared inspirational stories with everyday heroes at the Tesco Mum of the Year awards.
  
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• Head of WWF UK: We didn’t send Cameron to the Arctic to see green ideas freeze

  01-03-2015 18:05
  
  Do you remember when a youthful David Cameron was pictured frolicking with huskies on a trip to the Arctic Circle? David Nussbaum does, because it was his charity, WWF-UK, that took the then Leader of the Opposition there in 2006 so he could see the effects of global warming.
  
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• Astronauts aboard the International Space Station pay tribute to Leonard Nimoy

  01-03-2015 18:03
  
  Astronauts on the International Space State have paid tribute to the late Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, who "popularised space travel for generations to come".
  
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• Becky Watts: Two arrested people questioned as search for missing teenager intensifies

  01-03-2015 18:02
  
  The search for missing Bristol teenager Becky Watts is intensifying after another day of efforts found no trace of the 16-year-old.
  
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• Bill Oddie: TV presenter reveals that he tried to commit suicide twice

  01-03-2015 17:52
  
  Bill Oddie, the eccentric TV presenter, musician and nature enthusiast, has told of a depressive period he went through after being axed from BBC's Springwatch.
  
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• Bill Oddie on his battle with undiagnosed bioplar disorder

  01-03-2015 17:52
  
  Bill Oddie, the eccentric TV presenter, musician and nature enthusiast, has told of a depressive period he went through after being axed from BBC's Springwatch.
  
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