General news

• William plea on wildlife 'plunder'

  21-05-2015 23:58
  
  The Duke of Cambridge has spoken out against the "plunder and destruction" of African wildlife at the 25th anniversary of conservation charity Tusk.
  
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• VIDEO: Why did the Lib Dems lose?

  21-05-2015 23:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  In the second of a series looking behind the election result, the BBC's Vikki Young examines why former Liberal Democrat voters deserted their party.
  
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• Freddie Gray death: All six police officers indicted by Baltimore grand jury

  21-05-2015 23:34
  
  A Baltimore grand jury has formally brought charges against all six police officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died last month while in police custody, allowing the prosecution to move forward.
  
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• Hodgson feared reaction to Grealish

  21-05-2015 23:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Jack Grealish was not considered for an England call-up to face Republic of Ireland in case of a backlash, Roy Hodgson says.
  
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• The Prime Minister knows his measures to curb immigration will be ineffective, but cannot say so

  21-05-2015 23:18
  
  It was the creators of the 1980s political comedy Yes, Minister who invented the “politician’s syllogism”. It is a way of thinking which runs: “We must do something. This is something. Therefore we must do this.”
  
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• Ireland's vote on gay marriage offers the possibility of renewal

  21-05-2015 23:15
  
  Critics, including many of Ireland’s own leaders, find the Irish system of constitutional referenda on virtually any topic irksome, not least because the Irish people sometimes deliver the “wrong” verdict.
  
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• EU referendum: Stopping benefits for EU migrants a red line in negotiations, says David Cameron

  21-05-2015 23:10
  
  Stopping EU nationals from receiving benefits will be a red line in David Cameron’s drive to renegotiate Britain’s place in the 28-nation bloc, he said ahead of the launch of discussions leading to a membership referendum.
  
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• Willima plea on wildlife 'plunder'

  21-05-2015 23:05
  
  The Duke of Cambridge has spoken out against the "plunder and destruction" of African wildlife at the 25th anniversary of conservation charity Tusk.
  
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• Season's finale brings the end of an era for top coaches and players across the continent

  21-05-2015 22:57
  
  This weekend could be a day for final league appearances – Iker Casillas in Real Madrid’s goal, Xavi Hernandez in a Barcelona shirt, Jürgen Klopp in his Dortmund dugout and Paul Clement in the technical area at the Santiago Bernabeu.
  
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• Tequila gold rush: The spirit has gone from a cheap shot to a multi-billion pound product

  21-05-2015 22:45
  
  The roads in Jalisco, Mexico, are long and straight and hot. Travel down one and the sway of the car and the endless roll of the blue-grey tarmac contrive to create a humming monotony, which itself contrives to put you to sleep. The parched hills creep past, the car moves on, and you feel like a cat in a sunbeam.
  
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• 'Goodwill' Payout To Family Of Corfu Children

  21-05-2015 22:42
  
  Thomas Cook will make a "financial gesture of goodwill" to the parents of two children who died from carbon monoxide poisoning during a 2006 holiday in Corfu. Sharon Wood and Neil Shepherd, whose children Bobby and Christi died when they were overcome by fumes from a faulty boiler, made the announcement after meeting the travel company's CEO Peter Fankhauser. Mr Fankhauser gave a "sincere and heartfelt" apology at the meeting, according to the family's lawyer Lesli
  
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• Amtrak ordered to install more speed controls after deadly crash

  21-05-2015 22:40
  
  The Federal Railroad Administration has ordered Amtrak to install speed controls along its busiest route, controls experts say likely would have prevented last week's crash that killed eight people and injured more than 200.
  
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• Cancer patients 'may be put at risk'

  21-05-2015 22:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  More than 50 professors and consultants at Scotland's largest cancer hospital warn patients could be put at risk by a change of services.
  
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• Car-nesting birds 'driven 250 miles'

  21-05-2015 22:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A pair of nesting robins and five chicks are driven for 250 miles after they set up home under the bonnet of a 4x4 vehicle.
  
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• Thomas Cook offers parents payout

  21-05-2015 22:11
  
  The parents of two children who died of carbon monoxide poisoning on a Thomas Cook holiday in Corfu have been offered a "financial gesture of goodwill" by the firm.
  
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• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: With flashes of mischief, Blairite Liz slayed Labour’s sacred cows

  21-05-2015 22:05
  
  Talk about a week being a long time in politics: Two Shadow Cabinet carriers of the Blairite torch, Chuka Umunna and Tristram Hunt decide not to contest the Labour leadership. And suddenly the new girl in town is announcing: “As prime minister I will restore our position as a nation that protects our citizens.”
  
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• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: With flashes of mischief, Blairite Liz Kendall slayed Labour’s sacred cows

  21-05-2015 22:05
  
  Talk about a week being a long time in politics: Two Shadow Cabinet carriers of the Blairite torch, Chuka Umunna and Tristram Hunt decide not to contest the Labour leadership. And suddenly the new girl in town is announcing: “As prime minister I will restore our position as a nation that protects our citizens.”
  
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• Rodgers 'in dispute with ex-wife'

  21-05-2015 22:00
  
  Liverpool Football Club manager Brendan Rodgers and his estranged wife Susan have become embroiled in a dispute over money in a family court, lawyers have said.
  
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• Gavin Harding: UK's first mayor with a learning disability appointed in Selby

  21-05-2015 22:00
  
  A council in north Yorkshire has made history by appointing the UK’s first mayor with a learning disability.
  
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• The King David Hotel gives precious work to Palestinians - unless peace talks are on

  21-05-2015 22:00
  
  The King David Hotel occupies a symbolic place in the history of Israel – from colonial outpost, to terror target, to apparent haven of normality. It's where foreign secretary Philip Hammond will hang his hat when he next comes to preach peace to the Middle East. But its very prominence also exposes the hotel to the schisms in Israel's society and politics – and these come to the surface exactly when such very important people stay at the hotel, and their advisers demand they are served exc
  
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• Axe killer 'possessed by demons'

  21-05-2015 21:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A man who hacked to death his mother and sister with an axe had said beforehand he was "possessed by the demons", an inquest hears.
  
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• PM won't 'cave in' on migration target

  21-05-2015 21:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  David Cameron says he will not give up on his immigration target despite net migration to the UK reaching its highest level for a decade.
  
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• Mirror phone-hacking trial: How hacking became 'standard practice' on the showbiz desk

  21-05-2015 21:40
  
  On the 22nd floor of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf two newspapers – the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror – shared the large open space. The People was nearby. There were a few glass-walled offices for the senior editors, but largely everyone was in view.
  
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• Mirror phone-hacking trial: How hacking became 'standard practice' at the newspaper

  21-05-2015 21:40
  
  On the 22nd floor of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf two newspapers – the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror – shared the large open space. The People was nearby. There were a few glass-walled offices for the senior editors, but largely everyone was in view.
  
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• Mirror phone-hacking trial: 'Hundreds' more claimants expected as court awards damages to eight test-case victims

  21-05-2015 21:34
  
  Trinity Mirror is facing a potential phone-hacking bill running into hundreds of millions of pounds after a court awarded record privacy damages to eight test-case victims – with hundreds more claimants waiting in the wings.
  
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• Student's road death 'not suicide'

  21-05-2015 21:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A British student found dead on a German motorway did not take his own life as police originally claimed, a coroner rules.
  
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• Eurovision 2015: Australians will be cheering on their first-ever entrant this Saturday

  21-05-2015 21:30
  
  Picture this: four performers – not the best dancers, not the best singers, but any lack of talent more than compensated by commitment and enthusiasm – throwing themselves around to corny songs in ridiculously over-the-top costumes. What is it?
  
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• Andy McSmith's Diary: All becomes clear in the library of Osama bin Laden

  21-05-2015 21:15
  
  After they had killed Osama bin Laden the Americans confiscated his private library, in which there were many strange and interesting tomes.
  
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• Labour has 'no God-given right to exist' warns leadership contender Liz Kendall as she tells her party to move to the centre after 'epic defeat'

  21-05-2015 21:15
  One of the leading candidates to replace Ed Miliband as Labour leader has warned her party that it faces a fight for its very survival, urging her colleagues to move back towards the centre ground.
  
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• Benitez lined up by Real Madrid

  21-05-2015 21:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Former Liverpool and Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez could replace Carlo Ancelotti as manager of Real Madrid.
  
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• Nine out of ten male prostate cancer sufferers could be treated after 'game-changing' study

  21-05-2015 21:06
  Nine out of 10 men with advanced prostate cancer – an incurable and fatal disease – could soon be treated following a pioneering study.
  
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• Meditation is touted as a cure for mental instability but can it actually be bad for you?

  21-05-2015 21:00
  Aaron Alexis was looking for something. He started attending a Buddhist temple in Washington and learned to meditate; he hoped it would bring him wisdom and peace. "I want to be a Buddhist monk," he once told a friend from the temple. His friend advised him to keep studying, and Alexis did. He learned Thai and kept going to the temple – chanting, meditating. But other things got in the way.
  
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• Train strike on bank holiday Monday: National rail strike called off as unions agree to new offer

  21-05-2015 20:54
  
  Holidaymakers and commuters breathed sighs of relief as the threat of the first national rail strike in a generation was lifted.
  
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• SNP secures Trident safety debate

  21-05-2015 20:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The safety of the Trident nuclear weapons system is to be debated in the House of Commons next week.
  
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• Ireland's same-sex marriage vote: Have opinion polls overestimated support for the bill?

  21-05-2015 20:45
  
  Brendan Maguire, 53, says he knows exactly how he will vote in Ireland’s same-sex marriage referendum when the polls open. Drinking Guinness in Finn McCool’s pub in the centre of Ballyshannon, Donegal, he said: “It’ll be No. I just don’t think it’s natural. I’m fairly liberal but I don’t think it’s morally right.”
  
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• Kendall in 2% defence spending call

  21-05-2015 20:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Labour should commit to the Nato target of spending at least 2% of national income on defence, leadership contender Liz Kendall says.
  
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• China's Islamist insurgency in its western territories poses a growing threat to the region

  21-05-2015 20:29
  
  While international focus is on the slowdown of China’s economy, its naval confrontation with its Asian neighbours, and international machinations of the ruling communist party, Beijing is facing a little reported, but increasingly vicious Islamist insurgency in its western territories.
  
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• Classified document on Bahrain rankles Britain decades later

  21-05-2015 20:29
  By Noah Browning DUBAI (Reuters)1 - A legal battle between an activist group and Britain over a decades-old diplomatic cable on Bahrain has exposed a thorny link between the UK's colonial past and its new military ambitions in a region it once dominated. The Foreign Office has told a court in London that a censored assessment by a colonial officer of the Gulf Arab island's ruling Al Khalifa family may harm the UK's relationship with Bahrain as it seeks to build a naval base there.
  
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• Michael Gove’s maths exams are too hard and must be rewritten, regulator says

  21-05-2015 20:18
  
  Exam boards have been ordered to write new GCSE maths papers after an investigation concluded they were too hard for many students.
  
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• Ukraine crisis: More casualties and fighting with heavy weapons as violence spreads across eastern region

  21-05-2015 20:18
  
  Violence has spread in eastern Ukraine, a watchdog warned, as the government  in Kiev reported fresh casualties.
  
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• UK visa outsourcing firm closed by Montenegrin authorities over tax avoidance and being found operating illegally

  21-05-2015 20:16
  A controversial outsourcing company paid millions by the Home Office to process UK travel visas has had its operations in Montenegro shut down by authorities, who said it has been operating illegally in the country for more than a year.
  
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• Thomas Cook Boss 'Regrets' Delaying Apology

  21-05-2015 19:59
  
  The boss of Thomas Cook says he "regrets" that it took the travel company nine years to apologise to the family of two children who died in Corfu. Speaking to Sky's Ian King, Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser said: "We should have done that honestly during the last nine years, and I should have done that when I took over in November 2014. Mr Fankhauser also addressed reports that the hotel manager found guilty of negligent manslaughter in connection with the children's d
  
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• Furious man strips naked at airport after US Airways overbooked his flight to Jamaica

  21-05-2015 19:56
  
  A man allegedly stripped to the nude on Wednesday morning after learning his flight was overbooked.
  
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• The 6 reasons why David Cameron's relentless pursuit of fewer immigrants is fundamentally flawed

  21-05-2015 19:55
  
  Net immigration soared to 320,000 in 2014, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics has shown, but David Cameron still insists he wants to see net migration cut to the tens of thousands. 
  
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• Letterman's final Late Show: Laughter, but no tears, as David takes his bow after 33 years

  21-05-2015 19:47
  
  Who else could round up four US presidents to wish him goodbye? Another world statesman perhaps, for his own funeral, or some secular or sporting saint. Or David Letterman taking final leave of The Late Show.
  
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• Mother of Harrish Iyer searches for a groom for her son in Indian newspaper

  21-05-2015 19:47
  
  It is thought to be the first advertisement to be printed in an Indian newspaper which seeks a partner for a same-sex marriage.
  
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• Finally, Labour and the Conservatives are agreeing on... everything!

  21-05-2015 19:44
  
  There was someone really dynamic and positive and determined, and he could save Labour, apparently. It was Keir Starmer, said the hopeful people, and they wanted him to stand for leader. So I watched his interview on Newsnight and he said what Labour needed was “values”.
  
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• Root and Stokes lead England rally

  21-05-2015 19:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Joe Root hits 98 and Ben Stokes 92 as England recover from 30-4 to reach 354-7 in the first Test against New Zealand.
  
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• Lord Mayor of Copenhagen accuses Ryanair of 'social dumping' and bans staff from flying with company on official business

  21-05-2015 19:29
  In a plot twist worthy of a Nordic Noir serial, the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen has dented Ryanair’s plans to make a killing with its new base in the Danish capital.
  
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• Isis in Iraq: The Sunni mayor of a captured town given 'do what we want or die' ultimatum by militants

  21-05-2015 19:28
  
  The choice for Sabhan Khalef Ali al-Juburi was simple. Do what Isis wants, or die.
  
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