General news

• US Democratic Senator Robert Menendez indicted on corruption charges

  01-04-2015 23:48
  
  A leading Democratic senator, Robert Menendez, has been indicted on corruption charges for allegedly taking gifts and campaign contributions in exchange for helping a friend get visas for his “several girlfriends” and in business.
  
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• Labour's Counterpunch From 'Working People'

  01-04-2015 23:21
  
  Labour has returned fire after more than 100 business leaders came out in support of the Conservatives, with a letter from "working families" calling for a change of government. The letter, signed by business chiefs, workers on zero-hours contracts and figures from the entertainment industry, says the country needs a Labour government "to put working people first". It says the General Election offers a "fundamental choice" between a Britain that only works for "
  
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• The UK horticulture industry is facing a skills crisis - but Great Dixter aims to change all that

  01-04-2015 23:20
  
  Fergus Garrett, head gardener of Great Dixter, the centuries-old manor house in East Sussex, is standing in front of a class of secondary-school children. "I was held at gunpoint several times when looking for tulips in Eastern Turkey. There was an internal conflict going on, but that didn't get in the way," he tells them.
  
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• Rupert Murdoch's grandson James MacLeod: Why I'm voting Green

  01-04-2015 23:14
  
  Natalie Bennett has received a boost ahead of Thursday night leaders’ debate – an unexpected endorsement from the house of Murdoch.
  
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• California drought: Governor Jerry Brown announces mandatory water restrictions for first time in state's history

  01-04-2015 22:31
  California Governor Jerry Brown has announced mandatory water restrictions for the first time in the history of the Golden State. With the drought in the US Southwest now in its fourth year, and the annual California snowpack at unprecedentedly low levels, Mr Brown ordered the Water Resources Control Board to enforce a 25 per cent reduction in water usage across the state.
  
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• Why Robin Williams safeguarded himself against a morbid trend in advertising

  01-04-2015 22:30
  
  When Robin Williams died last year, a sequel to one of his biggest hits, Mrs Doubtfire, was in early development. As we've seen in recent times, an actor's untimely death, no matter how tragic the circumstances, doesn't necessarily mean curtains for a production. CGI was used to finish Oliver Reed's scenes in Gladiator when he died of a heart attack half way through filming, and the forthcoming Fast & Furious 7 used special effects to complete Paul Walker's scenes after he was killed in a c
  
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• Labour hits back in business row with 'letter from the people' but faces accusations of hypocrisy as zero-hours boss is among backers

  01-04-2015 22:25
  Labour has hit back at the 103 business leaders who signed a letter supporting the Conservative party’s economic policy by publishing its own letter of support, signed by a mix of business chiefs, celebrities and workers on zero-hours contracts.
  
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• General Election 2015: There may not be enough Labour and Scottish Nationalist MPs to put Ed Miliband in power

  01-04-2015 22:23
  The total number of Labour and Scottish Nationalist MPs in the Commons after the election may not be enough to put Ed Miliband in 10 Downing Street, according to Labour’s Scottish leader.
  
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• McDonald’s to raise wages 10 per cent for 90,000 US employees

  01-04-2015 22:21
  
  McDonald’s will soon be giving a raise to about 90,000 of its employees in the US, as the company says it will pay some employees at least $1 more than minimum wage requires, the Wall Street Journal reported.
  
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• HSBC must do more to clean up operations, says report

  01-04-2015 22:17
  
  1,000 page document for US authorities says bank ‘too slow’ in improving internal cultural problems, despite changes to senior managementHSBC needs to do more to clean up the way it does business and overhaul the culture that exists in some of its operations, according to a report for the US authorities.A monitor installed by the US Department of Justice found that deep-rooted cultural problems inside Britain’s largest bank continue to exist despite the efforts of the new management, led b
  
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• General Election 2015: Nicola Sturgeon to use TV debates to deliver 'progressive alliance' against austerity

  01-04-2015 22:16
  Nicola Sturgeon will use her party’s first appearance in a UK-wide televised debate to insist the SNP can help deliver a “progressive alliance” that will end the “austerity” politics of the main Westminster parties.
  
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• Iran nuclear talks extend past deadline with new proposals expected

  01-04-2015 22:14
  
  Discussions in Lausanne to go into Wednesday night with disagreement over Iran’s development of centrifuges and relief of UN sanctions causing impasseIran was expected to put forward new proposals at international nuclear talks in Switzerland on Wednesday night in an effort to break a deadlock that has taken them 24 hours past their deadline. After seven days of talks in Lausanne, with the last three going late into the night, the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said there wo
  
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• War with Isis: Iraq declares victory in the battle for Tikrit - but militants make make ominous advances in neighbouring Syria's capital

  01-04-2015 22:13
  Iraq’s Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, joined in a triumphal parade through the centre of Tikrit today as he his government claimed victory over Isis after a month-long battle for the city.
  
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• General Election 2015: Britain could be without an effective government for six weeks after vote

  01-04-2015 22:09
  
  Britain could be without an effective government for up to six weeks after the election because of constitutional ambiguity and badly-drafted legislation that could result in further political chaos.
  
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• Camilla honey for sale in Fortnum's

  01-04-2015 22:05
  
  Retailer Fortnum & Mason is receiving a royal addition to its celebrated honey collection with the introduction of a new nectar from the Duchess of Cornwall.
  
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• Scientists discover world's first-known 'werewolf plant'

  01-04-2015 22:03
  
  The world’s first-known “werewolf plant” has been identified after scientists accidentally discovered that a shrub relies on the lunar cycle for survival.
  
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• Turkey detains nine Britons crossing into Syria

  01-04-2015 22:02
  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish security forces arrested nine British nationals trying to cross illegally into Syria, the Turkish military said in a statement on Wednesday.
  
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• Woman accused of killing four-year-old boy and grandmother in Melbourne

  01-04-2015 21:58
  
  Police allege Cai Xia Liao bound former lover, then stabbed grandson and his wife to death using garden shears A woman will appear in court on Thursday accused of murdering a four-year-old boy and his grandmother with garden shears at a Melbourne home.Chinese national Cai Xia Liao, 45, allegedly bound and gagged her former lover Brian Mach at his Albanvale home early on Tuesday morning before fatally stabbing his grandson Alistair Mach in the head and neck while he lay in bed.Continue reading...
  
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• The Tory 100: captains of industry, party donors (and a few tax avoiders)

  01-04-2015 21:56
  
  A hundred business leaders signed an open letter warning of the perils of a change in economic policy and urging UK voters to vote Tory. But who are they? Explore our list to find out the stories behind the namesDonors and peers among signatories of pro-Tory business letterContinue reading...
  
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• Tributes after Cynthia Lennon dies

  01-04-2015 21:51
  
  The surviving Beatles have paid tribute to John Lennon's first wife, Cynthia, who has died from cancer.
  
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• Ryan Reynolds interview: The actor is branching out with Nazi art-theft drama Woman in Gold

  01-04-2015 21:50
  
  Watching an actor evolve can make for fascinating viewing – sometimes proving more entertaining than their output. Take Ryan Reynolds. As he puts it, candidly, "I'd worked both successfully and very unsuccessfully in the movie-star business for a while." The highs include The Proposal, the 2009 romantic comedy co-starring Sandra Bullock that took $317m worldwide. And the lows? Green Lantern, one of the lamest superhero movies of the modern era, springs to mind.
  
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• Hewlett-Packard in talks to reach legal settlement over alleged fraud

  01-04-2015 21:42
  
  HP began legal proceedings against accounting firm Deloitte before Christmas and is suing Autonomy founder Michael Lynch for $5bn damagesHewlett-Packard is in talks to reach a legal settlement with the British accounting firm Deloitte for its part in an alleged $5bn fraud at British accounting firm Autonomy.
  Deloitte audited Autonomy’s books in the years when HP claims the company’s management manipulated the accounts. On Monday, HP filed a claim for $5.1bn in damages in the UK high court ag
  
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• French Alps avalanche: Three tourists dead and one injured in Briancon

  01-04-2015 21:41
  
  An avalanche in the French Alps killed three tourists and injured one other this afternoon, officials have said.
  
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• Cuban-Americans support improving relations between US and Cuba, poll finds

  01-04-2015 21:38
  
  Cuban-Americans increasingly support US efforts to improve relations with Cuba since President Barack Obama announced in December his administration’s plans to restore relations with the Caribbean nation.
  
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• Northampton keep George North on sidelines while Wasps consider appeal

  01-04-2015 21:33
  
  • Brain tests continue after three concussion injuries since autumn
  • Wasps’ James Haskell ‘astounded’ by red card for Nathan Hughes
  • Wasps to contest Nathan Hughes three-week ban, says Dai YoungNorthampton could not confirm on Wednesday when George North will return to action. The Wales wing will miss the European Champions Cup quarter-final at Clermont Auvergne on Saturday as he continues neurological tests after suffering three concussion injuries since the autumn.Jim Mallinder,
  
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• General Election 2015: Familiar friends give George Osborne a warm welcome

  01-04-2015 21:33
  
  George Osborne kicked off the first of no doubt countless warehouse campaign events by addressing workers in a cold and cavernous hangar packed with soft drinks at Britvic’s “flagship plant” in Leeds yesterday. A good call, because by an astonishing coincidence the company’s chairman Gerald Corbett had been among 103 businessmen who signed a Telegraph letter that very morning saying what a good job the Chancellor was doing.
  
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• Hack Circus aims to turn the rule-abiding approach of TED talks on its head

  01-04-2015 21:30
  
  "There's no I in TEAM / but there is a U in FAILURE! / Don't be shy to dream / Join in my bacchanalia!" Leila Johnston, 35, the self-proclaimed "ringmaster" of Hack Circus, is in the basement of a pub in King's Cross, rapping. Quite slickly, in fact. She's never done so before, nor will do ever again, but therein lies the essence of a Hack Circus show: a one-off, technology-driven performance, comprising misdirection, information, fantasy and entertainment.
  
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• General Election 2015: Miliband gets his only chance to cross swords with Cameron on TV at the Leaders' debate

  01-04-2015 21:24
  On Thursday Ed Miliband will get his only chance to cross swords directly with David Cameron during the general election campaign as they appear in a seven-way live clash between Britain’s political leaders.
  
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• Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion leaves four workers dead

  01-04-2015 21:23
  
  Three hundred workers evacuated from platform owned by Mexico’s state-run Pemex after explosion early on Wednesday morningFour oil rig workers were killed and 16 injured when a fire broke out on an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico early on Wednesday morning, Mexico’s state-run petro-giant Pemex has said. The explosion started with a fire in the dewatering and pumping area of the Abkatun A-Permanent platform, Pemex said, though it was not yet clear what had caused it. Incendio en
  
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• Nick Clegg interview: My fight to stop the nasty party getting its way

  01-04-2015 21:17
  
  It can’t be easy being Nick Clegg. Barely five years ago he was being hailed as the most popular leader since Churchill, after a bravura performance in the television debates. Today, the Liberal Democrats are barely hitting double digits and his personal rating is less than minus 50 per cent.
  
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• Prominent climate change sceptic set to make millions by digging giant open-cast mines on Northumberland family estate

  01-04-2015 21:11
  Viscount Ridley, a prominent climate change sceptic, is to dig two giant open-cast mines on his national park family estate in Northumberland that will produce an estimated £20m of coal – increasing criticism that his championing of fossil fuels is tainted by self-interest.
  
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• Labour offers counterpunch to Daily Telegraph business letter

  01-04-2015 21:09
  
  Party produces grassroots-leaning response signed by mixed group of actors, businessmen, writers, nurses and a host of low-paid workersLabour tried to counter a potentially damaging letter from 103 senior business executives calling on voters to embrace Tory economic policy by producing a counter message from what it described as a true cross section of British society.
  The Labour letter was signed by a mixed group of actors, businessmen, writers, nurses and a host of low-paid workers in respons
  
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• The union and the euro are at stake, Greece warns EU

  01-04-2015 21:06
  
  Greece presents eurozone officials with list of measures aimed at unlocking badly needed aidThe viability of the EU – and its most cherished creation, the single currency – are at stake, Greece warned on Wednesday as the country at the epicentre of the continent’s debt crisis continued to haggle over a cash-for-reforms deal with international creditors keeping it afloat. Presenting eurozone officials with its latest list of measures aimed at unlocking badly needed aid, Athens’s leftist-l
  
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• The Ashes 2015: Former Australia coach Mickey Arthur offers advice to England's beleaguered Peter Moores

  01-04-2015 21:00
  
  When Peter Moores meets the assembled press pack at Gatwick alongside Alastair Cook this morning he is certain to be asked a raft of tough questions.
  
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• General Election 2015: Tories under fire for celebrating backing of over 100 business figures while planning huge cuts in support for industry

  01-04-2015 21:00
  The Conservatives were accused of double standards for celebrating the backing of more than 100 business figures while planning huge cuts in government support for industry after the general election.
  
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• Nigel Farage needs Thanet much more than Thanet needs Nigel Farage

  01-04-2015 21:00
  
  All politics is local politics, and as Farage toys with voters on the Kent coast, they there are starting to realise his attention is not on themIf only people would stay in the boxes we put them in, how much easier it would be to call this election. I am talking to Alison, who says: “I am veering towards Ukip. Well, some days.”We are in Broadstairs, in South Thanet, where Farage is standing and I have met a good few “Alisons” – decent people who are veering towards Ukip. I wish I coul
  
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• Peter Ackroyd on Alfred Hitchcock: How London shaped the director's art and obsessions

  01-04-2015 21:00
  
  Peter Ackroyd is London's most devoted acolyte – the cartographer of her unseen tracks, the auditor of her secret harmonies, the cardiologist of what Wordsworth called her mighty heart. He has devoted his prodigious writing career to celebrating the city in fiction, writing its "biography" as if it were a person, and inspecting the lives of its most vividly imaginative citizens. "London," he told Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs in 2012, "has been the landscape of whatever imagination I ha
  
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• Thousands evacuated as fire breaks out in central London – in pictures

  01-04-2015 20:58
  
  An underground electrical fire broke out in Holborn, central London on Wednesday causing the emergency services to evacuate the areaContinue reading...
  
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• Tracey Neville: The netball coach who is just as busy as her brothers, Gary and Phil

  01-04-2015 20:55
  
  “Did I think twice about taking the job of England head coach?” says Tracey Neville. “No. It was ‘do I fancy it?’ Yeeesssss!”
  
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• Britons held at Turkey-Syria border

  01-04-2015 20:54
  
  Nine British nationals have been detained in Turkey after allegedly attempting to cross illegally into Syria.
  
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• Greece submits new economic reforms, but no breakthrough yet - as it happened

  01-04-2015 20:54
  
  Athens has warned its creditors that the viability of the EU is at stake, as it submits a new economic programme in an attempt to get financial aid before it runs out of cashClosing summaryGreece: Europe must help us, fastHere’s Greece’s reform plan (via the FT)The key chartsEarlier:Greece denies it will withhold IMF payment
  Pensioners protest in Greece7.54pm BST It’s late in London, and inching towards bedtime in Greece, so here’s a quick recap.Greece has submitted its most comprehensiv
  
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• Vatican bank agrees landmark tax treaty with Italian regulators

  01-04-2015 20:50
  
  Institution pledges full cooperation and transparency in ongoing bid to distance itself from connections to money laundering, tax avoidance and the MafiaThe Vatican bank has been shrouded in mystery for decades, but a tax treaty agreed on Wednesday between the Holy See and Italy is a sign of changing times at an institution that is trying to shed its image as a haven for money laundering and tax avoidance.The deal, which will require both sides to share financial and tax information, is part of
  
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• California governor orders water restrictions amid historic drought

  01-04-2015 20:48
  
  Governor Jerry Brown orders unprecedented and mandatory water regulations on residents to reduce statewide water use as drought stretches into fourth yearThe governor of California has ordered unprecedented and mandatory water restrictions in the state as officials are set to announce historically low levels of snowpack in the state’s mountain range.Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday ordered the State Water Resources Control Board to reduce statewide water use by 25%. The action – the first t
  
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• Fury as court tells mafia don on the run in England for 20 years told he can stay at home

  01-04-2015 20:45
  
  Italian diplomats reacted with fury tonight after a Mafia don who had been on the run in England for 20 years was told he could stay at home and “live in peace with his family”.
  
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• New York police officer verbally abuses Uber driver - video

  01-04-2015 20:40
  
  An Uber driver is subjected to a foul-mouthed rant by a plainclothes police officer in New York City. In an unmarked car, the officer had allegedly attempted to park without using his blinker at a green light. According to the passenger who videoed the incident, the Uber driver honked his horn after which the officer pulled his vehicle over and proceeded to berate him.Warning: contains strong language Continue reading...
  
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• How a former military dictator was reborn as Nigeria's democratic saviour

  01-04-2015 20:39
  
  Triumph of former dictator has prompted mixed feelings among the country’s electorate, with some more willing than others to overlook his authoritarian pastWhen Ladi Netimah heard the news that Muhammadu Buhari had won the historic elections in Nigeria this week, she didn’t think about how she had languished in a jail cell for almost four years when his military regime cracked down on human rights in the early 1980s.Instead, Netimah, one of hundreds jailed by Buhari during his rule as an iro
  
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• We can't live, if living is without George Osborne

  01-04-2015 20:36
  
  Chancellor found himself visiting two of the very same companies whose bosses had written to the Telegraph thanking the Conservatives for saving the economyOn the very day that 103 business leaders signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph thanking the Conservatives for their magnificent handling of the economy, George Osborne just happened to find himself dropping in on two of the companies whose head honchos had been signatories of the billet-doux. Truly God moves in mysterious ways; though it ne
  
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• Rabbi who came to defence of John Galliano speaks out

  01-04-2015 20:30
  
  Barry Marcus struck up friendship with disgraced fashion designer after his anti-semitic outburst in 2011A London-based rabbi credited with helping John Galliano make amends with the Jewish community has spoken out in defence of the designer.Rabbi Barry Marcus, an active promoter of Holocaust remembrance and education, was enlisted by the AntiDefamation League in New York to try to help the disgraced designer build bridges with the Jewish community after a failed attempt to make peace with the J
  
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• Trevor Noah sent 8,882 tweets. Some weren't funny. Get over it

  01-04-2015 20:29
  
  Jon Stewart’s replacement on The Daily Show has been accused of being an antisemite, racist and sexist. Noah should ignore the dramaComedians exist to make people laugh, often by pushing boundaries and saying things that the rest of us don’t dare say. Comedians, like Shakespeare’s fools, speak a truth – even if it’s an ugly one, and even if it’s not their truth. Some jokes are real knee-slappers, some make us chuckle, some fall completely flat and others make us think. Anyone serious
  
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• Boko Haram: Nigeria's president-elect Muhammadu Buhari pledges to 'spare no effort' halting Islamist threat

  01-04-2015 20:25
  
  Nigeria’s newly elected leader, Muhammadu Buhari, pledged to “spare no effort” taking on Boko Haram as he began preparing to take office as president next month.
  
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