General news

• Poll puts PM ahead after TV battle

  26-03-2015 23:51
  
  David Cameron edged the first major TV clash of the general election campaign against Ed Miliband by a margin of 54% to 46%, according to a snap opinion poll released moments after the end of the 90-minute programme.
  
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• Opening up the details of Prince Charles's correspondence with ministers is good for democracy

  26-03-2015 23:35
  
  How cheering that the Supreme Court has come down on the side of openness. In its ruling that the Government must publish 27 of the Prince of Wales’s letters written to ministers in 2004 and 2005, the court was surely right in law, but had it wanted to it could have found arguments in favour of secrecy. That it seems instead to have a presumption in favour of publication is entirely healthy for our democracy.
  
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• Periscope: Twitter app off to flying start as it captures New York explosion

  26-03-2015 23:21
  
  An explosion rocked the East Village neighbourhood of New York on Thursday afternoon, and even before local news crews could arrive on the scene, users of the Periscope application helped break the news.
  
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• Germanwings crash: Andreas Lubitz - the killer co-pilot who deliberately flew 150 people to their deaths

  26-03-2015 23:17
  
  A deliberate act of suicide – and mass murder – by a young German co-pilot without known terrorist links is believed to have caused the Germanwings disaster in the French Alps, which killed 150 people.
  
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• Battle For Number 10: Miliband Takes Stage

  26-03-2015 23:14
  
  Ed Miliband said his brother could not have led the Labour party better than him but admitted the battle for leadership had left him "bruised" and the relationship "strained".
  
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• Before close election, Cameron says got some things wrong, but got economy right

  26-03-2015 23:13
  
  Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday conceded he'd made mistakes during his five years in power during a special pre-election interview, but implored voters to give him a second term to finish the job of rebuilding the economy. Opinion polls indicate neither Cameron's Conservatives nor the opposition Labour Party will win an overall majority on May 7 as millions of voters turn to Nigel Farage's anti-EU UKIP and the separatist Scottish National Party (SNP). Subjected to his tou
  
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• PM and Miliband face TV grilling

  26-03-2015 23:08
  
  David Cameron and Ed Miliband set out their general election pitches in their first major TV clash of the campaign, with the Conservative leader urging the electorate to vote for a "strong economy", while his Labour rival insisted: "We can do a lot better than this. We're a great country."
  
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• Banished episode 4, BBC2, review: Will there be any let up from the misery?

  26-03-2015 23:00
  
  It's another grim day in the life of the English convicts of Banished. Admittedly it's less depressing than previous episodes but this is misery TV at its gloomiest.
  
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• 23 taken to hospital after crash

  26-03-2015 22:59
  
  More than 20 people have been taken to hospital after a coach carrying tourists overturned on a popular route.
  
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• Battle For Number 10: PM Takes The Stage

  26-03-2015 22:28
  
  David Cameron has said he could not live on a zero hours contract as he was quizzed on his "failure to fix broken Britain" during a live TV showdown. At the beginning of an 18-minute interview session with Jeremy Paxman the Prime Minister was accused of defending the rich - including his defence of the TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson - but not the poor. Mr Cameron said he did not know how many food banks there were in Britain now and was told the number had increased from 66 to 421 while
  
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• PM defends record in TV grilling

  26-03-2015 22:26
  
  David Cameron has rejected as "completely unjustified" suggestions that he had surrounded himself as Prime Minister with wealthy people who got into trouble.
  
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• Distressed Zayn Malik fans are cutting themselves - how did fandom get so dark?

  26-03-2015 22:25
  
  There's a popular online fan fiction series among Directioners (the fans of One Direction) called "#Imagine". One such story meme invites you to wonder what it would be like if you were going out with Zayn Malik, the recently departed boyband member with very good hair. You're in hospital because you need a heart transplant. Zayn has accompanied you. (Sssshhh; imagine.) He waves you off into surgery and tells you he'll be in your heart for ever. After the operation you run out only to be told t
  
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• DEA agents had ‘sex parties’ funded by drug cartels, report says

  26-03-2015 22:10
  
  US Drug Enforcement Administration agents working abroad took part in “sex parties” with prostitutes that were funded by the drug cartels they were meant to be battling, according to a Justice Department report.
  
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• SSE to mothball some Hornsea gas storage site withdrawal capacity

  26-03-2015 22:01
  LONDON (Reuters) - SSE has decided to mothball a third of the natural gas withdrawal capacity at its Hornsea gas storage facility in Britain due to unfavourable market returns, it said on Thursday.
  
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• Germanwings crash: Andreas Lubitz profile - the most abnormal thing about the Airbus co-pilot was that he appeared so totally normal

  26-03-2015 21:58
  Andreas Lubitz was a minor flying ace: physically fit, bright and well-liked. He did not make mistakes.
  
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• Disney's mega money-making formula: 'Human' remakes of cartoon classics are part of a lucrative, long-term creative plan

  26-03-2015 21:50
  In these days of Hunger Games, Avengers and 50 Shades of Grey, it may seem improbable that a traditional family fairy tale should top the US box office charts. But that's what happened earlier this month, when Kenneth Branagh's $95m (£64m) live-action remake of Cinderella arrived in American cinemas, almost 65 years to the day since the release of the Disney animated classic.
  
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• Disputes with Iran must be resolved to clinch nuclear deal - Britain

  26-03-2015 21:10
  LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Six major powers and Tehran have made significant progress in negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme, but there are several key differences that must be resolved to clinch a preliminary deal by March 31, a British diplomat said on Thursday.
  
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• Penguin tale nets literary prize

  26-03-2015 21:04
  
  The "whimsical" adventures of a lost penguin that began as a father's bedtime stories for his three daughters have won a prestigious literary prize.
  
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• Germanwings crash: What we know about the final moments before the plane hit the ground

  26-03-2015 21:04
  
  The co-pilot of the Germanwings airplane locked himself inside the cockpit and intentionally made the plane rapidly descend in order to destroy it, French investigators revealed today.
  
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• Germanwings crash: The final moments before the plane hit the ground

  26-03-2015 21:04
  
  The co-pilot of the Germanwings airplane locked himself inside the cockpit and intentionally made the plane rapidly descend in order to destroy it, French investigators revealed today.
  
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• The Swedes are adding a gender-neutral pronoun to their dictionary

  26-03-2015 21:00
  
  There is linguistic joy in Sweden among the transgender community and campaigners against clunkiness. After years of debate and deliberation, the editor-in-chief of the Swedish Academy's official dictionary, SAOL, has added the word "hen" to its new edition because he or sh- (oh wait, should that be "s/he", or "they…?") recognises the need for a gender-neutral pronoun.
  
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• New York City: Fire rages after an explosion in building in the East Village

  26-03-2015 20:59
  
  An explosion in New York City has caused a 2nd Avenue building to partially collapse, according to a report from the New York Daily News.
  
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• New York City explosion: Fire rages after two buildings collapse in the East Village

  26-03-2015 20:59
  
  An explosion in New York City has caused two 2nd Avenue buildings to collapse and two other buildings are on fire in the city's East Village neighbourhood, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
  
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• New York City explosion: Fire rages after a building collapses in the East Village

  26-03-2015 20:59
  
  An explosion in New York City has caused a 2nd Avenue building to collapse and another building is on fire, according to local reports.
  
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• Mirror phone hacking inquiry: Majority of victims were only connected to celebrities

  26-03-2015 20:55
  
  The vast majority of News of the World phone hacking victims were connected to celebrities rather than the rich and famous themselves, according to a report published today.
  
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• The saffron censorship that governs India: Why national pride and religious sentiment trump freedom of expression

  26-03-2015 20:50
  
  It sounds like an oxymoron: the world's "largest democracy" routinely curtails freedom of expression. But it's the truth. Earlier this month, the Indian government's ban on Leslee Udwin's India's Daughter, a BBC documentary about rape – combined with a demand that it also be banned in the wider world – focused international attention not only on the country's appalling record of violence against women, but on its sweeping censorship laws. The film was suppressed under an old colonial catch-
  
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• Germanwings crash: Victims' relatives arrive at the crash site

  26-03-2015 20:42
  
  Some looked skyward, while others seemed only able to look to the floor as they walked with arms linked. But most fixed their eyes on the snow-capped Col de Mariaud - the forbidding Alpine peak behind which lay the remains of their loved ones and those of the man who seemingly killed them.
  
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• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: Charles Walker's eloquent rebuke to William Hague's valedictory skulduggery

  26-03-2015 20:27
  
  He is hardly a household name. The tie was very slightly askew. He had trouble holding it together as he neared the end. But this was a speech which will be remembered long after many by more famous colleagues will have been forgotten, the final line a shoo-in for a Dictionary of Political Quotations: “I would much rather be an honourable fool in this and any other matter than a clever man.”
  
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• Andreas Lubitz: Regular testing won't stop a pilot from 'flipping'

  26-03-2015 20:26
  
  “Humans are fallible, and sane people snap,” an aviation veteran said after the revelation that one of the pilots had committed suicide and mass murder by downing the Germanwings plane.
  
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• Andreas Lubitz: Knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 enabled mass murder

  26-03-2015 20:16
  
  A leading aviation security expert has condemned the rules on cockpit access as a “knee-jerk reaction to the events of 9/11” – which, he says, enabled the Germanwings co-pilot to commit the mass murder of the 149 other people on Flight 4U 9525.
  
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• New British Museum galleries to help counter militants' image of Islam

  26-03-2015 20:15
  LONDON (Reuters) - Art from the Islamic world will be shown in the heart of the British Museum, instead of on the sidelines, in two new galleries funded by a Malaysian foundation which hopes to offset the image created by Islamic militants.
  
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• Secret trial clears man of plotting to kill Tony Blair

  26-03-2015 20:12
  
  A British law student has been cleared of targeting Tony Blair and his wife Cherie as part of a terrorist plot, following the UK’s first secret terror case.
  
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• The galaxy collisions that shed light on unseen parallel Universe

  26-03-2015 20:10
  
  Dozens of cosmic collisions between massive clusters of galaxies have shed much-needed light on dark matter – the mysterious substance that makes up most of the Universe, but which is invisible to all telescopes.
  
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• Cambridgeshire surgeons perform Europe's first non-beating heart transplant

  26-03-2015 20:09
  
  Surgeons in Cambridgeshire have performed Europe’s first heart transplant using a non-beating heart.
  
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• National Videogame Arcade: Learn to make Super Mario jump at 'National Gallery of gaming'

  26-03-2015 19:59
  
  It may be filled with vintage arcade game favourites – and classics of their genre – such as Donkey Kong and Sonic the Hedgehog, but the National Videogame Arcade in Nottingham is not, despite its name, an amusement park. Rather it is the “National Gallery” for video games and marks the point where the likes of Super Mario come in from the cultural cold. 
  
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• John Bercow: Government’s ‘squalid’ plot to oust the Speaker fails

  26-03-2015 19:54
  
  A Government plot to try and oust the Speaker of the House of Commons by stealth ahead of the election spectacularly unravelled today as backbench MPs, including 23 Tory rebels, inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Government.
  
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• Deported migrants died after jumping off ferry to swim back to Britain

  26-03-2015 19:51
  
  Two deportees died when they jumped from a ferry in a desperate attempt to swim back to the UK shore after they had earlier been caught trying to smuggle themselves into Britain, an inquest has heard.
  
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• Labour hit back at Tories over VAT freeze promise

  26-03-2015 19:48
  
  David Cameron’s Commons triumph over Ed Miliband when he ruled out a rise in VAT after the general election was called into question today.
  
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• Indiana HIV epidemic: Drug users sharing needles blamed for worst ever outbreak in state's history

  26-03-2015 19:48
  The governor of Indiana has declared a public health emergency amid the worst outbreak of HIV in the state’s history.
  
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• Amazon may trial drones for parcel delivery

  26-03-2015 19:47
  
  Amazon has been in discussions with the Government to begin trials of its Prime Air delivery service using drones in the UK.
  
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• Cameron vs Miliband TV debate - live

  26-03-2015 19:43
  
  Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband are to face a grilling from veteran interviewer Jeremy Paxman tonight, in the first of the debates and interviews to be broadcast in the run up to the general election. After Cameron said he would not go head-to-head with Miliband, the pair will instead be questioned separately twice. The second round will see them face a studio audience in the joint Sky News/Channel 4 programme.Here is how tonight will work:- Miliband won a coin toss,
  
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• Richard III: We Leicester folk have one question: how much did it all cost?

  26-03-2015 19:42
  
  To understand quite why Richard III, this long defunct, somewhat controversial king of England has such a hold for many in Leicester, it helps to come from there.
  
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• Richard III: Now he's Richard the reinterred – to star-studded acclaim

  26-03-2015 19:39
  
  They gave him the Archbishop of Canterbury, scattering holy water. Plus John Sergeant, from Strictly Come Dancing. And Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey.
  
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• Nigeria election: The country's first-ever female presidential candidate hoping to inspire other women to become politically active

  26-03-2015 19:38
  Teju is a 22-year-old waitress. She won’t be voting in the Nigerian election on Saturday. “My voting card has its benefits,” she says.
  
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• Germanwings crash: Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz who crashed plane 'suffered burnout' says friend

  26-03-2015 19:33
  
  Those who knew Andreas Lubitz, the Germanwings co-pilot who French prosecutors believe deliberately crashed flight 4u9525 into an Alpine ravine on Tuesday, have said he was “quiet” and may have suffered from a “burnout” a number of years ago.
  
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• Could the BBC be any more left-wing? First they employ loads of Tories, and then they're caught chillaxing in Cameron's kitchen

  26-03-2015 19:32
  Wasn’t it a charming touch when the BBC news on Monday started with a 10-minute film of the Prime Minister pottering round his kitchen with his family, while answering searching questions such as, “Aren’t you marvellous?”
  
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• Zayn Malik leaving One Direction is more important than David Cameron and the General Election, says Russell Brand

  26-03-2015 19:26
  
  Russell Brand has theorised that the worrying hysteria surrounding departing One Direction member Zayn Malik is because of society's loss of religion.
  
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• Clocks go forward: how to ensure iPhone and smartphones automatically ‘spring forward’

  26-03-2015 19:18
  
  On Saturday night, time will jump forward an hour. And — as has become reliable — all of our timepieces will do so too.
  
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• Andy McSmith's Diary: Respect MP George Galloway needs to work on his swing

  26-03-2015 19:17
  
  George Galloway – never one to understate his  own achievements – was heard on BBC Radio’s Today news programme talking up his victory in  the Bradford West by-election. “We successfully won the biggest swing of the 20th century on mainland Britain,” he proclaimed.
  
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• Chianti wines go vegan this spring to satisfy growing demand in export markets

  26-03-2015 19:12
  
  There are things you associate with Tuscany’s celebrated Chianti wines – kitsch straw baskets and the flavours of cherry, plum, spice and almonds, for example. And there are some things you wouldn’t think of, including gelatin from fish-bladder membranes and other agents from bone marrow, egg albumen and crushed crustacean shells.
  
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