General news

• Les Républicains: Nicolas Sarkozy’s party gets a rebranding

  30-05-2015 23:59
  
  The UMP is dead. Long live the Republicans. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy scored a victory in his circuitous return to power when his centre-right party agreed overwhelmingly to change its name to Les Républicains.
  
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• Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais: Legendary creators of Porridge and The Likely Lads on their new sitcom Henry IX

  30-05-2015 23:52
  From Porridge to The Likely Lads, writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais have created some of British comedy’s most indelible characters.
  
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• Iran nuclear talks: Relief at interim deal gives way to gripes and mistrust

  30-05-2015 23:49
  
  Top US and Iranian diplomats gathered in Geneva in an effort to bridge differences over how quickly to ease economic sanctions on Tehran, following April’s interim nuclear deal. Talks will cover how significantly the Iranians must open up military facilities to international inspection.
  
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• Haroon Ahmed: Violent escaped prisoner reportedly 'in Spain'

  30-05-2015 23:46
  
  Police hunting for a violent criminal who escaped from prison say they are "investigating all lines of inquiry" amid reports he fled to Spain.
  
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• Yemen crisis: Locals welcome resumption of airstrikes on Taiz to rid city of Houthi rebels

  30-05-2015 23:44
  
  Yemen’s shaky five-day ceasefire this month was a brief respite from a relentless Saudi-led bombing campaign, and a vital lifeline to receive food and medical aid. But in the southern city of Taiz, where Houthi rebels seized power in March, many residents welcomed its end.
  
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• Gernika: New film pays homage to civilian suffering over town that was brutally bombed during Spanish Civil War

  30-05-2015 23:35
  Nearly 80 years after a bombardment by Hitler’s Condor Legion turned the small Basque town of Guernica into an enduring symbol of civilian suffering in war, the first full-length feature film about the tragedy is under way.
  
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• The Clangers: Michael Palin delighted to be back narrating children's TV series as it returns to British screens

  30-05-2015 23:24
  When the much-loved children’s TV series The Clangers returns to British screens next month, viewers can expect a few changes to the original. But the enhancements in the Michael Palin-narrated series come with the support of one of the people who was around from the very beginning.
  
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• The Battle of the Beanfield: The violent new-age traveller clash with police at Stonehenge remembered 30 years on

  30-05-2015 23:24
  ‘It was a hideous thing, a defining point in my life,” says Dale Vince, a former new-age traveller and owner of the green energy company Ecotricity. “I slept with one eye open after that. It was hard to feel secure.”
  
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• Could Croatia’s Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic take over from Ban Ki-moon as new UN secretary-general?

  30-05-2015 23:20
  
  When Ban Ki-moon’s time in office comes to an end next December, the world could be looking at two firsts in the new UN secretary-general: the first to come from Eastern Europe, and the first woman in the post.
  
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• Fifa found serious issues with South Africa's 2010 World Cup bid and did nothing about it, says study

  30-05-2015 23:16
  
  Fifa identified serious issues with South Africa’s 2010 World Cup bid two weeks before choosing it as the host nation but did nothing about it, according to a new study, which also says the tournament has left the country with “an oversupply of under-utilised stadiums”.
  
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• Greece suffering as insecurity surrounding debt crisis kills businesses across the country

  30-05-2015 23:10
  
  The onset of warmer weather in Athens is usually accompanied by locals flooding the streets of their capital, shopping, eating and drinking out. This year, the shopfronts are empty. As insecurity surrounding Greece’s debt crisis grows, more and more small businesses are folding.
  
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• Greece suffering as insecurity surrounding debt crisis kills business across the country

  30-05-2015 23:10
  
  The onset of warmer weather in Athens is usually accompanied by locals flooding the streets of their capital, shopping, eating and drinking out. This year, the shopfronts are empty. As insecurity surrounding Greece’s debt crisis grows, more and more small businesses are folding.
  
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• Tobacco industry accused of fueling cigarette smuggling to boost profits

  30-05-2015 23:03
  
  The tobacco industry has been accused of “appalling hypocrisy”, amid claims that it is fuelling the illicit trade in cigarette smuggling to bolster its arguments against tax increases and other anti-smoking measures.
  
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• Fifa President Sepp Blatter warns his opponents: 'I forgive everyone, but I don't forget'

  30-05-2015 22:55
  
  Sepp Blatter has warned his opponents that he would never forget the campaign of “hate” they had orchestrated against him, as United States tax authorities revealed that further corruption charges are expected.
  
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• Violent escaped prisoner 'in Spain'

  30-05-2015 22:48
  
  Police hunting for a violent criminal who escaped from prison say they are "investigating all lines of inquiry" amid reports he fled to Spain.
  
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• New campaign will see thousands set to abandon creature comforts and go wild outdoors

  30-05-2015 22:46
  
  Climate change is important but we need to concentrate too on our immediate environment, the Prime Minister’s former strategy adviser Steve Hilton told an audience at Hay Festival last week. “We need a fundamental rethink [of] humanity’s relationship with the natural world that we inhabit,” he said. He argued for “moving the pendulum back towards the system of our ancestors, in which we benefit from nature while simultaneously giving back to and co-existing with it”.
  
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• Jonathan Goddard: Meet the man using rap to make Latin a hip new subject

  30-05-2015 22:46
  
  Rapper Jonathan Goddard is using his skills to motivate his students in a classroom in a deprived area of London. The children, some as young as eight, are rapping, singing and gesturing in unison, but the language they’re using isn’t English. It’s Latin.
  
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• HMRC's late tax return fine waiver 'absurd' and 'ethically wrong'

  30-05-2015 22:46
  
  The legality and effectiveness of waiving the £100 fine for a late tax return is being queried, despite the move receiving a warm welcome from taxpayers.
  
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• Sir Ranulph Fiennes calls for urgent action on climate change after witnessing Arctic melting

  30-05-2015 22:46
  
  Sir Ranulph Fiennes, has added his voice to calls for urgent action to tackle climate change after seeing the effects of warming on the planet first-hand during trips to the Arctic.
  
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• Bruce Robinson: Creator of Withnail and I on his new book about Jack the Ripper

  30-05-2015 22:46
  
  The farmhouse lies at the end of a narrow lane in a valley that swallows mobile phone signals and scrambles satnav systems. Bruce Robinson’s home is hard to find, but that doesn’t deter the steady stream of friends, acquaintances and admirers who seek him out.
  
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• Tim Farron to propose massive overhaul of UK electoral system

  30-05-2015 22:46
  
  Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leadership favourite, will propose another “Great Reform Act” to overhaul Britain’s electoral system on one of the few days that the weakened party will have significant parliamentary influence.
  
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• EU referendum: In-out vote in May 2016 too soon, says electoral commission

  30-05-2015 22:45
  
  David Cameron has been warned by Britain’s elections watchdog to avoid going for an early EU referendum because it is such an “important constitutional issue”, as Nicola Sturgeon prepares to tell the Prime Minister that Scotland will not be dragged out of Europe “against our will”.
  
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• Lawyers question David Cameron’s pledge to offer right to buy to housing-association tenants

  30-05-2015 22:45
  
  Councils and Whitehall departments will be told by the new Communities Secretary this week to “loosen their grip” on surplus land that they own so it can be released for housebuilding.
  
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• Extreme summer temperatures will soon cause deaths of up to 1,700 more Britons a year, says government report

  30-05-2015 22:45
  
  Extreme summer temperatures will, in five years’ time, cause the deaths of up to 1,700 more Britons a year, according to a new government report. And that is on top of the 2,000 people a year who currently die from heat-related illness in Britain.
  
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• JD Wetherspoon admits 'racially stereotyping' against Travellers - again

  30-05-2015 22:40
  
  One of the UK’s largest pub chains has admitted racially discriminating against Travellers for the second time in as many weeks, paying out more than £10,000 to three people who were refused entry to a bar in Cambridge.
  
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• Chuka Umunna: The Labour Party has taken 'ethnic minority support for granted'

  30-05-2015 22:32
  
  The Labour Party has taken the support of ethnic minority voters for granted and risks losing them to the Conservatives, says Chuka Umunna.
  
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• Leading employers prefer work experience over grades, says new research

  30-05-2015 22:28
  
  Leading employers value work experience among graduates more than the grades or the university they have been to, according to new research. Figures show that 58 per cent of employers rated work experience as “the most popular qualification among those presented” – with a student’s personality coming second, with 48 per cent favouring this.
  
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• Escaped Violent Convict 'Has Fled To Spain'

  30-05-2015 22:24
  
  A violent criminal who escaped from a high-security prison in Staffordshire has fled to Spain, Sky News understands.
  
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• Michael Gove determined to scrap Human Rights Act - even if Scotland retains it

  30-05-2015 22:23
  
  Scotland could be allowed to retain the Human Rights Act even if Westminster sidelined the European Court in favour of an “English” Bill of Rights, according to new plans being considered by Michael Gove.
  
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• Tory MP Julian Lewis: My party left Britain’s military capabilities 'enfeebled'

  30-05-2015 22:08
  
  A leading Tory MP has savaged his own party’s record on defence, saying that the previous Labour government had been more “strategic” on the future of the armed forces while the Tories had left Britain’s capabilities “enfeebled”.
  
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• We must reform the European Court of Human Rights, not reject it

  30-05-2015 22:00
  
  The Conservative general election success is a victory few predicted. Within this mandate is a commitment to scrap the Human Rights Act and introduce a British Bill of Rights. The Queen’s Speech said the Government will “bring forward proposals” for this.
  
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• Labour made mistakes – but causing the crash was not one of them

  30-05-2015 22:00
  
  Did the last Labour government overspend? Candidates for the opposition leadership are being urged to confess to this alleged economic crime. One – Liz Kendall – has already done so. The pressure is not new of course. There have been calls for Labour to repent for past fiscal sins since Gordon Brown walked out of Downing Street in 2010. But the volume has been cranked up in the wake of the party’s election defeat.
  
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• Fifa corruption: The officials are caught in the web of US legal imperialism - where double standards don't get in the way

  30-05-2015 22:00
  
  In the case of the United States and its dominant role in the world, it’s not just a matter of hard power and soft power. You may be cowed by America’s ability to project overwhelming force into every corner of earth. You may be won over by the charms of Hollywood, Beyoncé or Kentucky Fried Chicken. But if neither hard nor soft does the trick, then watch out for American legal power.
  
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• Britain needn't withdraw from the world stage, but we need a vision

  30-05-2015 22:00
  
  The world is a dangerous place. It always was and always will be. Britain’s foreign policy has now shrunk into introspection and is characterised by strategic drift with little vision of how to create a safer world. Little attention was paid to foreign affairs during the election and now its primary area of focus is the EU referendum. Former foreign secretary David Miliband said last week: “Britain is now in political retreat and it is happening by default and by accident.” Historically,
  
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• Thousands of teenage girls enduring debilitating illnesses after routine school cancer vaccination

  30-05-2015 21:33
  
  When Caron Ryalls was asked to sign consent forms so that her then 13-year-old daughter, Emily, could be vaccinated against cervical cancer, she assumed it was the best way to protect Emily’s long-term health.
  
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• Nick Clegg 'on Russia ban list'

  30-05-2015 21:33
  
  Nick Clegg is among 89 European Union politicians and other senior figures who have been banned from entering Russia.
  
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• Navy rescues 700 in migrant boats

  30-05-2015 21:31
  
  A British Navy warship has rescued 747 migrants trying to make the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean and delivered them to safety in Italy.
  
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• LSD: Speaking to volunteer users of the drug as trials get underway to see if it cures depression and addiction

  30-05-2015 21:26
  LSD is often associated with trippy songs such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, “Purple Haze” and “Yellow Submarine”. But before it became the drug of choice for the 1960s counterculture, lysergic acid diethylamide had a previous existence – as an experimental medicine for a broad spectrum of psychological problems ranging from depression and addiction, to schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder.
  
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• VIDEO: 'No £100 fine for late tax returns'

  30-05-2015 21:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  People who have filed late tax returns have been let off paying a £100 fine if they provide a "reasonable" excuse for being late.
  
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• Arsenal vs Aston Villa match report: Gunners win record-breaking 12th FA Cup final as Alexis Sanchez goal lights up Wembley

  30-05-2015 20:30
  Arsenal have become the most successful club in FA Cup history after a winning a second straight final, beating fellow Premier League side Aston Villa 4-0 at Wembley Stadium.
  
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• Arsenal Defeat Aston Villa 4-0 To Win FA Cup

  30-05-2015 20:25
  
  Arsenal have lifted the FA Cup after cruising to a decisive 4-0 victory over Aston Villa at Wembley.
  
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• Why the cost of parenting has become so expensive

  30-05-2015 20:07
  
  Scanning the insurance company Aviva’s recent computation of the cost of bringing up a child here in 2015, I found myself remembering the conversations I used to have a few years ago with my friend Jeremy. The proud father of four school-age progeny, and an MBA to boot, Jeremy had the whole thing – short of earning the actual money, that is – reduced to an exact science. Spreadsheets recorded current and projected expenditure. Devious actuarial calculations came into play. Minute adjustme
  
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• Rail strike talks adjourned

  30-05-2015 20:04
  
  Talks aimed at averting strikes by rail workers in a dispute over pay have adjourned for a second day.
  
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• New Found Glory save horse named after the band hours before it was sent to slaughter

  30-05-2015 19:08
  
  New Found Glory managed to save a horse from the slaughterhouse hours before it was due to be killed.
  
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• New Found Glory save horse named after band hours before it was due to be slaughtered

  30-05-2015 19:08
  
  New Found Glory managed to save a horse from the slaughterhouse hours before it was due to be killed.
  
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• Is 31 May really the day when we have paid all of our tax for the year?

  30-05-2015 18:49
  
  Depending on your politics it’s either a right-wing wheeze or liberation from the tyrannical yoke of unjust taxation, but 31 May is “Tax Freedom Day”, the day of the year when we have all reportedly earned enough money to pay this year’s total tax bill.
  
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• VIDEO: Robinson blames heart attack on lifestyle

  30-05-2015 18:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson blames his lifestyle and not stress for the heart attack he suffered last Monday.
  
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• Nigeria mosque suicide bomb kills 10 in Maiduguri city

  30-05-2015 18:36
  
  A suspected suicide bomber has blown himself up inside a mosque in Nigeria's Maiduguri city killing 10 people, a hospital source said, after an attack by Boko Haram insurgents on the outskirts.
  
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• What did you learn in prison? Reddit examines the unexpected habits picked up inside

  30-05-2015 18:29
  
  Misconceptions abound when it comes to the prison experience. Whether it comes to being tidy or not sharing food at meal times, the public love to speculate.
  
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• 6,000 aboriginal children died in 'cultural genocide' in Canadian residential school system, officials say

  30-05-2015 18:09
  
  At least 6,000 aboriginal children died while in the residential school system in Canada, in a "cultural genocide", officials have said.
  
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