General news

• Mr. Holmes, film review: Ian McKellen's Sherlock studies his last case - himself

  18-06-2015 23:51
  
  Fans of Sherlock Holmes are likely to be wrong-footed by Bill Condon's new feature. This is a subtle and very moving film with an exceptional performance from its lead actor but one that bears little resemblance to the many other big- and small-screen yarns, even the more outlandish ones, featuring Baker Street's most famous resident.
  
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• Spells broken: Etsy bans sale of 'metaphysical services'

  18-06-2015 23:47
  
  Vendors of the supernatural can sell tangible items as long as they do not claim objects can induce weight loss or love, the arts and crafts marketplace statesSelling the services of demons on Etsy, from Astaroth to Zagan, is unacceptable to the arts and crafts marketplace. The recently public company had previously done a brisk trade in weight loss spells, ex-lover-shaped voodoo dolls, and philtres of various descriptions, but no more.“Any metaphysical service that promises or suggests it wil
  
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• Entourage review – smug, unfunny LA bromance

  18-06-2015 23:45
  
  Still eschewing irony, satire or self-awareness, TV’s bros-before-hos celebration of young guys living the celeb dream reaches the big screenProducer Mark Wahlberg’s Hollywood un-satire Entourage ran for 96 episodes on TV from 2004 to 2011; now he has brought it to the big screen. It’s another bros-before-hos celebration of young guys living the celeb dream – riding smugly around LA together in that bromantic four-seater convertible. There are unfunny and unsatirical star cameos, includi
  
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• Alexander Elliot: Teenager at centre of right-to-life case dies

  18-06-2015 23:41
  
  Alexander Elliot, a teenager with a brain tumour at the centre of a right-to-life legal dispute, has died.
  
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• Anxiety worsens our ability to empathise with others, university study discovers

  18-06-2015 23:41
  
  New social research conducted in America suggests that anxiety may reduce our ability to empathize with other people or understand their emotions.
  
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• Suzanne Evans sacked as Ukip spokesperson after labelling Nigel Farage a 'very divisive character'

  18-06-2015 23:33
  
  The bitter civil war that broke out inside Ukip after the general election flared up again with Suzanne Evans, once seen as Nigel Farage’s likely successor, effectively sacked as a party spokeswoman.
  
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• Mark Cavendish hit by crash as Peter Sagan wins Tour de Suisse stage

  18-06-2015 23:06
  
  • Crash in Cavendish’s lead-out train hampers Briton’s chances on stage six
  • Thibaut Pinot holds overall lead with Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas secondPeter Sagan claimed victory on the sixth stage of the Tour de Suisse, with Mark Cavendish scuppered by a crash involving his team-mates.Cavendish appeared well placed going into the closing stages of the 193km stage from Wil to Bienne but his Etixx-Quick Step colleague Zdenek Stybar crashed out in tricky conditions, dealing his team’s lea
  
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• Alan Johnson to head Labour yes campaign for EU referendum

  18-06-2015 23:00
  
  Labour’s interim leader Harriet Harman says former cabinet minister will carry pro-Europe message
  Alan Johnson, the former Labour cabinet minister, has agreed to head the Labour yes campaign during the referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, Harriet Harman, the Labour interim leader, has told the Guardian.Continue reading...
  
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• How salad became the star: Chefs are taking cold food to stratospheric new heights

  18-06-2015 23:00
  
  When is a salad a salad, and when is it not a salad? The Collins English Dictionary defines a salad as a dish of raw vegetables "such as lettuce or tomatoes, etc"; a dish of cold vegetables or fruit, such as a potato or fruit salad; or any green vegetable used in a dish, "especially lettuce". The word comes from the Old Provençal "salada", which in turn comes from the Latin "sal" and "salar", meaning salt and to season with salt.
  
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• England 0-1 Portugal | European U-21 Championship Group B match report

  18-06-2015 22:51
  
  England 0-1 Portugal
  João Mário 57Portugal ensured England’s European Under-21 Championship campaign got off to a familiar disappointing start in Uherske Hradiste on Thursday night, though Gareth Southgate’s side showed enough to suggest that their pre-tournament optimism was not entirely misplaced.Sporting’s João Mário scored the only goal of the game just before the hour and, while at times it was clear that some of Portugal’s number had played in the Champions League l
  
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• Tropical Storm Bill: Three teens rescued from high water in San Antonio

  18-06-2015 22:49
  
  Three teenagers have been rescued after they were swept away when a flash flood gushed through a park in Texas, as parts of the US attempt to cope with Tropical Storm Bill.
  
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• England v Portugal: European Under-21 Championship – as it happened

  18-06-2015 22:37
  
  England show promise before being deservedly beaten9.37pm BST It started so brightly, but in the end England are left with an all-too familiar feeling. After an encouraging first half, Southgate’s side were beaten by a team who ultimately looked superior physically, intellectually and technically, especially in midfield, which is why the losses of Berahino and Stones are not enough to account for the defeat. Rapid improvement needed if they are to get past Italy and Sweden in their next matche
  
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• McDonald's to super downsize for first time in 40 years with fewer US locations

  18-06-2015 22:31
  
  Chains like Chipotle that market themselves as serving better food and a new breed of ‘better burger’ chains have chipped away at McDonald’s dominanceThe burger chain that put “supersize” into the American vernacular is slimming down: For the first time in more than 40 years, and perhaps ever, McDonald’s says the number of US restaurants it has is shrinking.McDonald’s plans to close more restaurants in the US than it opens this year, according to the world’s biggest hamburger cha
  
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• Boy arrested over cemetery murder

  18-06-2015 22:30
  
  Police have arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with the murder of Carlisle schoolboy Jordan Watson.
  
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• When America puts a woman on its $10 bill, who will be the best symbol of democracy?

  18-06-2015 22:30
  
  Will it be Susan B Anthony or Harriet Tubman? Eleanor Roosevelt or Rosa Parks? Following the Obama administration's announcement that a woman will be featured on the $10 bill, this is the first time in well over a century that a female portrait will grace the United States' paper money.
  
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• Margaret Thatcher showed no reaction after order to sink Belgrano ship during Falklands War, papers reveal

  18-06-2015 22:23
  
  Margaret Thatcher almost wept when she learnt that a helicopter had crashed in bad weather early in the Falklands conflict – but appeared to have no emotional reaction after the order was given to sink the Argentine cruiser, the General Belgrano, killing 323 people on board.
  
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• Andy Murray warns returning Laura Robson must deal with mental baggage

  18-06-2015 22:23
  
  • Robson to make comeback from injury in Eastbourne after 17 months
  • ‘She can have a fantastic career but it’s going to take time to come back’After 17 months of patient rehabilitation and several false starts Laura Robson will be back on a tennis court on Saturday, hoping her wrist problems and a more recent hamstring scare do not trouble her in trying to qualify for the main draw at Eastbourne.The outgoing Londoner has kept a surprisingly low profile since making her debut in the BB
  
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• UK to reject EU plans to combat multinational tax avoidance

  18-06-2015 22:19
  
  David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, insists on tax competition as opposed to Union’s plan to introduce common tax rulesBritain will reject plans announced in Brussels this week to combat industrial-scale tax avoidance by the world’s biggest multinationals, the Treasury minister responsible for tax policy has said.David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, told representatives from the European parliament that Britain would not adopt the measures to introduce certain comm
  
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• Desperate Greeks turn to Vladimir Putin for help as country teeters on edge of bankruptcy

  18-06-2015 22:18
  
  Greece is dangling the prospect of an Athens-Moscow alliance in an audacious attempt to pressure its eurozone creditors into watering down austerity demands as the country teeters on the edge of default and bankruptcy.
  
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• Desperate Greeks turn to Vladimir Putin for help as country teeters on edge of bankrupcy

  18-06-2015 22:18
  
  Greece is dangling the prospect of an Athens-Moscow alliance in an audacious attempt to pressure its eurozone creditors into watering down austerity demands as the country teeters on the edge of default and bankruptcy.
  
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• The Burning review – Gael García Bernal takes on bad guys and jaguars

  18-06-2015 22:15
  
  A man of mystery arrives to save the day as murderous agribusiness representatives prowl the steamy jungle of northern ArgentinaAlthough it’s set in the steamy, riverine jungle of northern Argentina, this Spanish-language drama is basically a western, except instead of cowboys v Native Americans, it’s murderous agribusiness representatives v smallholders. Alice Braga plays a farmer’s daughter, abducted by evil Claudio Tolcachir, until Gael García Bernal, a mystery man with no name o
  
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• Evans 'sacked' as Ukip spokeswoman

  18-06-2015 22:13
  
  Ukip's deputy chairman Suzanne Evans has effectively been sacked as a party spokeswoman after saying leader Nigel Farage was perceived as "very divisive".
  
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• Thought Miffy was a cute kids' bunny? At 60, it seems, she's a Modernist masterpiece...

  18-06-2015 22:10
  
  A flat blue background, a thick black line, a simple orange triangle and a cross across her mouth: Dutchman Dick Bruna's original Miffy drawing is as silent, still and flat as an Amsterdam canal. She is a masterclass in minimalism and as enigmatic as Buster Keaton. And yet Dick Bruna's little white rabbit has adventured and endured for 60 years.
  
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• 16 and 17-year-olds given the vote in Scotland, on the same day they are banned from voting in EU referendum

  18-06-2015 22:01
  
  MSPs have voted to extend the right to vote in Scottish elections to 16 and 17 year olds, on the same day that MPs in Westminster struck down an amendment to give the vote to under-18s in the upcoming EU referendum.
  
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• Third arrest over cemetery murder

  18-06-2015 22:00
  
  A third teenager has been arrested in connection with the murder of schoolboy who was found dead in a graveyard.
  
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• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: It’s fantastic to blow your own trumpet

  18-06-2015 21:52
  
  A star is born! Could Jesse Norman now become the most famous old Etonian jazz trumpeter since Humphrey Lyttelton? So highly regarded is the Tory by MPs (including, it’s fair to say, J.Norman) that he was easily elected as chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
  
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• Cyber-diagnosis: Should we Google symptoms?

  18-06-2015 21:50
  
  "Stop Googling your symptoms." It's pretty futile advice in age of the internet, when the vast majority of people with a health concern start by typing it into their computer. It's also potentially fatal advice, as the case of teenager Bronte Doyne revealed this week. The teenager, who was suffering from a rare form of liver cancer, begged doctors to take her seriously after she found worrying details about her condition online. But they ignored her and in March 2013, the cancer did just what t
  
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• Guernsey outraged by its inclusion on EU tax blacklist

  18-06-2015 21:48
  
  The island of Guernsey is famous for the warm welcome it gives to international firms keen to avoid paying their fair share of tax. But despite its reputation, its government has struck back at suggestions that it operates as a tax haven.
  
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• Fulton Centre hub in Manhattan named Building of the Year thanks to technique which channels light underground

  18-06-2015 21:41
  Designing a groundbreaking, hi-tech new station to connect several subway lines in one of the world’s busiest cities is not just a matter of funnelling passengers in the right directions and keeping the trains running smoothly; now it’s also about channelling natural daylight underground.
  
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• Third Arrest After Stabbing Death Of Teen

  18-06-2015 21:36
  
  Jordan Watson died from neck and head wounds caused by what police said was a "sharp implement" in a "savage and brutal attack". Carlisle Magistrates' Court has granted an application to extend the time the 18-year-old can be held by police. They said the Liverpool Football Club supporter, who had been a "loving and caring child", "would never walk alone".
  
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• Ageism at work: older workers are being unfairly overlooked

  18-06-2015 21:33
  
  According to a report by the Institute of Leadership and Management, 61 per cent of managers say that their over fifties workers have low (20 per cent) or very low (41 per cent) potential to progress.
  
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• Refugee Week: The Huguenots count among the most successful of Britain's immigrants

  18-06-2015 21:30
  
  In the handsome 1720s house on Fournier Street where she runs an antique business and café, Fiona Atkins unrolls a large and beautifully detailed hand-drawn map. Created by the artist Adam Dant, it records the addresses of around 300 Huguenot families who lived in Spitalfields.
  
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• Allan Chappelow: Secrets of millionaire’s murder may be revealed in human rights court

  18-06-2015 21:25
  
  It was a murder trial which made headlines, despite there being so little of the story to tell. The brutal killing of an elderly, frail reclusive millionaire author battered to death in his north London mansion was considered by two juries, who both heard the case in secret.
  
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• EU parliament chief says UK's EU debate spreads hate

  18-06-2015 21:17
  
  By Andrew Osborn and Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's debate on Europe is driven by hateful lies, national resentment and the scapegoating of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants, European Parliament President Martin Schulz on Thursday. Schulz made his remarks in a speech in London after holding talks with Prime Minister David Cameron, who has promised to renegotiate Britain's ties with the EU before holding an in-out membership referendum by the end of 2017. Cameron has made
  
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• University creates 'texting lane'

  18-06-2015 21:16
  
  One US university is giving students glued to their mobile phones a place to call their own - a designated lane for texting while walking.
  
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• Fitbit chief puts on $700m as flotation runs away with itself

  18-06-2015 21:15
  
  There’s a lot of money in those plastic bracelets. James Park, the chief executive of Fitbit, found himself around $700m (£440m) richer yesterday following the company’s initial public offering.
  
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• Charleston shooting: Nine victims of church massacre in South Carolina identified

  18-06-2015 21:14
  
  Nine people have been identified as the victims from the mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.
  
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• Charleston shooting: Nine victims identified of church massacre which left nine dead

  18-06-2015 21:14
  
  Four victims have been identified as the victims from the mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.
  
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• Charleston shooting: Nine victims identified of church massacre in South Carolina

  18-06-2015 21:14
  
  Four victims have been identified as the victims from the mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.
  
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• Charleston shooting: Here are the victims killed in the hate crime

  18-06-2015 21:14
  
  Four victims have been identified as the victims from last night’s mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.
  
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• Charleston shooting: Two separate prayer vigils targeted by bomb threats

  18-06-2015 21:08
  
  Two separate vigils for those killed in the Charleston church shooting have been targeted by bomb threats.
  
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• Onshore wind farm subsidy cut will push up bills and put thousands of jobs at risk, say experts

  18-06-2015 20:54
  
  The Government has been accused of jeopardising the green energy revolution after announcing an end to subsidies for onshore wind power – a move that will push up bills, put thousands of jobs at risk and hit Scotland particularly hard, according to experts.
  
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• Second arrest over cemetery murder

  18-06-2015 20:49
  
  Police have arrested a second man in connection with the murder of a schoolboy.
  
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• Parliament restoration: Will major renovation work force MPs out?

  18-06-2015 20:46
  
  Repairing the 180-year-old Palace of Westminster could cost £7bn and cause 40 years of disruption unless MPs and peers agree to move out while work is completed, experts have said.
  
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• EU referendum: Stop blackmailing the European Union by threatening to leave, senior Brussels figure tells David Cameron

  18-06-2015 20:30
  A senior Brussels figure urged David Cameron not to resort to “blackmailing ” the European Union by threatening that Britain would leave unless it wins big changes before the in/out referendum.
  
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• Yvette Cooper: I am not the 'no change' candidate in Labour's leadership race

  18-06-2015 20:28
  
  Yvette Cooper insisted that she was not the “no change” candidate in Labour’s leadership race as she said the party would need to win back many people who had voted Conservative in order to regain power in 2020.
  
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• Malice in wonderland: The fate of Maldivian ex-President Mohamed Nasheed

  18-06-2015 20:22
  
  Throughout his career as a dissident journalist Mohamed Nasheed was a thorn in the side of President Maumoon Gayoom, who dominated the politics of the Indian Ocean nation for 30 years.
  
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• Cherie Blair’s firm accused of 'unethical profiteering' over deal with Maldives

  18-06-2015 20:15
  
  Cherie Blair has been accused of accepting money from repressive regimes after her legal consultancy signed a deal with the Maldives government – which faces international condemnation for human rights abuses.
  
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• Chlamydia: US researchers claim to have developed vaccine against the disease

  18-06-2015 20:15
  
  Researchers in the USA say they have developed a vaccine that can protect against chlamydia – the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world.
  
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• Charleston shooting: Dylann Roof's alleged killing of nine worshippers in a black church has left the city – and the nation – in shock

  18-06-2015 20:14
  The alleged killer, a young white man with slim features and a pudding-basin haircut, bided his time. Then one hour into the weekly Bible study group at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, he stood up and announced: “I have to do it, you have to go.” And he started to shoot.
  
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