General news

• Miss Piggy and Kermit split up, in latest of devastating celebrity breakups

  04-08-2015 23:56
  
  In the latest celebrity split to crush fans the world over, talent show stars Kermit and Ms Piggy have called it quits.
  
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• Sir Edward Heath sex abuse claims: Fifth police force receives allegations

  04-08-2015 23:52
  
  A fifth police force has received allegations against Sir Edward Heath.
  
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• Kelly Osbourne: 'If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to clean your toilet, Donald Trump?'

  04-08-2015 23:38
  
  Kelly Osbourne, a guest host on Tuesday's episode of The View, is the subject of scrutiny after making an offensive in regards to Latino-Americans.
  
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• Chilcot Inquiry: David Cameron urges timetable on Iraq war report

  04-08-2015 23:37
  
  Sir John Chilcot should set out a timetable for publishing his long-awaited report on the Iraq War "pretty soon", David Cameron has demanded in a sign of his growing frustration at the delays in the process.
  
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• Natalia Molchanova: World's most successful free-driver is missing and feared dead after disappearing in Mediterranean

  04-08-2015 23:31
  It was generally reckoned there was no one better at holding their breath and plunging into the depths than Natalia Molchanova.
  
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• Burnham 'would nationalise railways'

  04-08-2015 23:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham promises to renationalise Britain's railways "line by line" if he becomes prime minister.
  
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• PM Demands Timetable On Chilcot Iraq Inquiry

  04-08-2015 22:58
  
  David Cameron has issued a fresh call for a timetable making clear when the Chilcot report into the origins of the war in Iraq will be published. The Prime Minister told reporters during his recent Asia trip that he wanted to see the report "as soon as possible", adding: "Right now I want a timetable". He said: "More important than anything is thinking of the parents who lost loved ones in Iraq.
  
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• Ucas should share its data on students from poor backgrounds so we can get a clearer picture of social mobility

  04-08-2015 22:42
  
  Every year, hundreds of thousands of students apply through Ucas for university, and many join the annual clearing scramble after their A-level results to grab remaining places. In the process, the admissions service collects a wealth of data that researchers would find invaluable in tracking social mobility.
  
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• The London: After 350 years, the riddle of Britain's exploding fleet is finally solved

  04-08-2015 22:33
  
  Bristling with cannon and packed with gunpowder, the English warship the London sailed through the Thames estuary in 1665 as she prepared to fight the Dutch in the English Channel. But she never made her destination, instead succumbing to a fate all too familiar in 17th century navies - "spontaneous combustion", explosion, and a watery grave for 300 of her crew.
  
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• Ucas refusing to release data it holds on students from poor backgrounds - while making £12m a year selling applicants' details

  04-08-2015 22:18
  The body that handles university applications has been accused of blocking efforts to improve social mobility by refusing to release important data it holds on students from poor backgrounds.
  
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• The Great British Bake Off, series 6, preview: The most popular show on television is back

  04-08-2015 22:05
  
  It started, after five years in development, as a gentle cooking show with just two million viewers on BBC2, but when The Great British Bake Off returns to our screens on 5 August it will have solidified as surely as one of Mary Berry’s delicious meringues. Now in its sixth series, it is the most popular show on television.
  
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• Four police forces receive sex abuse claims linked to Sir Edward Heath

  04-08-2015 21:52
  
  At least four police forces have received sex abuse allegations linked to Sir Edward Heath, it has been revealed.
  
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• Giants Club: There is hope that the tide can turn – and this initiative will help those on the frontline

  04-08-2015 21:47
  In the first 10 years of my life, half of Africa’s elephants were killed to supply the West with billiard balls, piano keys and hairbrushes. It took a huge public outcry, common cause and an international trade ban to stop that slaughter.
  
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• Giants Club: After wholesale butchery of Idi Amin's regime, Uganda’s giants flourish once again

  04-08-2015 21:41
  
  At its worst, the soldiers roaming through Uganda’s national parks were killing elephants with hand grenades: taking turns to pull the pin and toss their little bombs into the herds cowering amid the remaining undergrowth. Then the troops would drive up to the carcasses to hack out the ivory with machetes.
  
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• Russia makes fresh bid for Arctic region which could hold quarter of the Earth’s undiscovered fossil fuels

  04-08-2015 21:26
  
  Russia has put forward a fresh bid to the UN to claim a contentious portion of the Arctic shelf, which is believed to hold up to a quarter of the Earth’s undiscovered oil and gas.
  
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• Edward Heath child sex abuse claims: Five things you need to know about the allegations

  04-08-2015 21:20
  
  What are the allegations against Sir Edward Heath?
  
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• 'Godfather' Of Hooligans Banned From Football

  04-08-2015 21:16
  
  A "Godfather" of football hooliganism has been banned from every professional ground for five years. Police say Gilroy Shaw was their "number one target" who had "become almost a Godfather figure" for those who partake in football-related violence. Shaw's involvement in football hooliganism dates back 30 years, and in 1988 he received a five-year football ground ban.
  
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• Meir Ettinger: Far right Jewish activist Meir Ettinger held over attack in which 18-month-old Palestinian boy was burned alive

  04-08-2015 21:10
  
  Meir Ettinger started his career in anti-Arab activism in relatively modest and unexceptional fashion. The young man now being designated as the number one Jewish terrorism suspect of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency would, as a 20-year-old in 2011, go into the shops and stalls of Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market. He would ask the storekeepers if they employed Arabs and if the answer was “yes”, he would place an “x” next to the store’s name in his notebook. It was a mark
  
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• Meir Ettinger: Far right Jewish activist held over attack in which 18-month-old Palestinian boy was burned alive

  04-08-2015 21:10
  
  Meir Ettinger started his career in anti-Arab activism in relatively modest and unexceptional fashion. The young man now being designated as the number one Jewish terrorism suspect of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency would, as a 20-year-old in 2011, go into the shops and stalls of Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market. He would ask the storekeepers if they employed Arabs and if the answer was “yes”, he would place an “x” next to the store’s name in his notebook. It was a mar
  
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• Edward Heath child sex abuse claims: Convicted brothel keeper Myra Ling-Ling Forde threatened to expose former Tory Prime Minister

  04-08-2015 21:02
  The woman who allegedly threatened to expose Sir Edward Heath as a paedophile has been named as Myra Ling-Ling Forde – a twice-convicted brothel keeper.
  
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• Shots reportedly fired at group of soldiers at Camp Shelby military camp

  04-08-2015 20:50
  
  Police are looking for two men who opened fire at a group of soldiers at a training centre in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
  
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• Chris Christie: Republican presidential candidate shares details about his sex life in awkward defence of birth control

  04-08-2015 20:48
  The struggle in the United States over reproductive healthcare for women has flared in an unexpected fashion as a candidate for the White House delved publicly into his past sex life just hours after a first – but surely not the last – effort by Republicans to cancel all federal funding for Planned Parenthood failed.
  
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• Assisted dying is not the answer to old age. It could be the best time of our lives | John Harris

  04-08-2015 20:38
  
  Gill Pharoah preferred to die rather than grow old. But I don’t share this vision of ageing“I have looked after people who are old, on and off, all my life. I have always said, ‘I am not getting old. I do not think old age is fun.’ I know that I have gone just over the hill now. It is not going to start getting better.”Gill Pharaoh, a 75-year-old former palliative care nurse, said those words to the Sunday Times not long before she left her home in north London for Switzerland. Anyone
  
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• Star signings: eight standout Premier League football kits for 2015/16

  04-08-2015 20:37
  
  Who cares which team is going to win the Premier League? It’s the style league that matters. With the new season kicking off this weekend, fashion writer Lauren Cochrane and sports writer Barney Ronay rate the most striking new kitsIt’s the summer transfer window, time to get rid of the dead wood and brighten things up with new signings. That’s not just in your team’s dressing room but in your wardrobe, too. Here is a selection of the best of the Premier League’s parade of pricey new k
  
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• Labour ordered to vet members who apply to join party amid fears 'entryists' signing up to vote in Jeremy Corbyn

  04-08-2015 20:35
  
  Labour MPs have been ordered to vet people who have applied to join the party, amid growing concern that Trotskyists and others are signing up to vote for Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership election.
  
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• Edin Dzeko on brink of Roma move after Manchester City agree £14m fee

  04-08-2015 20:34
  
  • Striker scored 72 goals in 187 appearances at the Etihad Stadium
  • Dzeko is now set to fly to Italy to wrap up dealManchester City have agreed a £14m fee with AS Roma for Edin Dzeko, according to reports in Italy. The striker is understood to have already agreed personal terms with the Serie A club and will now travel to Italy to conclude a deal in the next 24 hours. Related: Premier League 2015-16 preview No9: Manchester City | Paul WilsonContinue reading...
  
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• Quiet 2014 blamed for fall in Royal Collection Trust revenue

  04-08-2015 20:34
  
  The lack of a major royal event to drive sales has been blamed by the Royal Collection Trust for a substantial fall in its retail income.
  
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• Heathrow passengers fly without luggage after power cut hits baggage system

  04-08-2015 20:33
  
  Some passengers had to fly from Heathrow without their luggage today after a power cut affected Terminal 5.
  
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• Ex-One Direction star Zayn Malik and fiancee Perrie Edwards 'have split'

  04-08-2015 20:33
  
  Former One Direction star Zayn Malik and his Little Mix fiancee Perrie Edwards have reportedly split.
  
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• 'Godfather' of football hooliganism gets five-year ban from stadiums

  04-08-2015 20:33
  
  A man dubbed a Godfather of football hooliganism by police has been banned from every ground in the country for five years.
  
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• Tearful Chris Evans pays tribute to CarFest crash pilot Kevin Whyman

  04-08-2015 20:32
  
  A tearful Chris Evans used his BBC Radio 2 morning show to pay tribute to the pilot who died at the CarFest motor show over the weekend.
  
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• Shafqat Hussain executed: Family and rights groups respond to news Pakistan has hung man who maintained his innocence for over 10 years

  04-08-2015 20:32
  After a decade in death’s waiting room, Shafqat Hussain was finally released. Outside the gates of Karachi’s prison his brothers waited for the body. As a 14-year-old, Mr Hussain, who dropped out of school the year before barely able to read and write, confessed to a crime that he maintained he did not commit. He said he had been tortured into a confession.
  
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• 'Son Of Concorde' Could Fly To New York In An Hour

  04-08-2015 20:30
  
  The European aerospace giant Airbus has filed patents for a new supersonic jet that bears a strong resemblance to Concorde. That means a flight from London to New York would take just one hour - roughly the same as a train journey from London to Brighton in Sussex. Airbus says the new aircraft would primarily be for "business travel and VIP passengers, who require transcontinental return journeys within one day”.
  
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• Manston airfield to become lorry park to ease Calais crisis pressure on M20

  04-08-2015 20:29
  
  Transport minister says disused private airport in Kent will be used to ease congestion next time Operation Stack is enforced A disused private airport in east Kent is to be used as an emergency lorry park to provide a short-term solution to ease road congestion caused by the Calais crisis.The transport minister, Lord Ahmed, said Manston airfield, near Ramsgate, would be temporarily pressed into service the next time Operation Stack was enforced to help reduce pressure on the M20. Continue readi
  
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• 'A mighty man': tributes to last surviving Dambusters pilot, Les Munro

  04-08-2015 20:28
  
  The quiet New Zealander, who has died aged 96, shunned the publicity surrounding the 1943 raids that made him and his fellow pilots famousThe last surviving pilot of the famous Dambusters raids, Les Munro, a quiet New Zealander who shunned publicity for the rest of his long life, has died of heart problems in hospital in Auckland, aged 96.His death on Monday night was announced by the New Zealand Bomber Command Association. “Our New Zealand Bomber Command Association patron, and well known Dam
  
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• Six in court in connection with murder of Bristol teenager Becky Watts

  04-08-2015 20:24
  
  Stepbrother Nathan Matthews and his girlfriend Shauna Hoare face murder charges among others, while four others charged with assisting an offenderSix people have appeared in court charged in connection with the murder of teenager Becky Watts. Becky, 16, vanished from her family home in Crown Hill, Bristol, on 19 February and was reported missing the following day. Police launched a huge search, which led to her remains being discovered at a house in Barton Hill, Bristol, on 2 March.Continue read
  
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• Dambusters: last surviving pilot dies - video

  04-08-2015 20:22
  
  Les Munro, the last surviving pilot from the Dambusters raids has died at the age of 96. Munro died on Tuesday morning in hospital in his native New Zealand. He piloted a Lancaster bomber in the 1943 raids, although his aircraft suffered flak damage and was forced to turn back before it could carry out its attack on the Sorpe dam Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on the RBS sell-off: the price is not right | Editorial

  04-08-2015 20:21
  
  George Osborne is giving too much priority to his political ambitions and not enough to getting a good deal for the taxpayerIt is a chancellor of the exchequer’s inescapable job to balance the political and the economic. Throughout his career at the Treasury, George Osborne has often prioritised the former over the latter. Now he has done so again – starting the sell-off of the taxpayers’ stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland earlier, and at a lower price, than market conditions would sugges
  
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• Benedict Cumberbatch fans queue for tickets to see Hamlet 20 hours before box office opens

  04-08-2015 20:18
  
  Fans of Benedict Cumberbatch started queuing for tickets to see their hero as Hamlet almost 20 hours before the box office opens and releases more tickets early on 5 August.
  
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• Taco Bell employee fired for writing ‘pig’ on a police officer's order

  04-08-2015 20:18
  
  The fast food chain known for it’s salacious late-night Tex-Mex menu has fired an employee accused of writing offensive statements on a police officer’s meal.
  
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• Hiroshima and the danger of nuclear weapons: A glimpse of what might befall us

  04-08-2015 20:11
  
  During the Second World War, the United States Army Air Forces destroyed dozens of Japanese cities with firebombs, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. The Japanese military behaved even more cruelly. It was responsible for the deaths of anywhere from 10 to 30 million civilians throughout Asia. As the historian John Dower has noted, the war in the Far East was truly a "war without mercy".
  
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• Real Madrid 2-0 Tottenham: Audi Cup – as it happened

  04-08-2015 20:08
  
  James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale score the goals as Real Madrid move through to the final in the Audi Cup in MunichEmail [email protected] or tweet @timmyhilleh
  Kick off in Germany is 12.15pm ET | 5.15pm BST | 6.15pm CET 7.08pm BST A decent enough game, but not too much to get excited about. Spurs looked as though they didn’t want to risk too much so close to their first Premier League game, and played accordingly, without much intensity or pep, although Dele Alli did well.Real combined
  
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• Malaysia issues arrest warrant for Gordon Brown’s sister-in-law after she publishes stories on leader Najib Razak's financial affairs

  04-08-2015 20:06
  A campaigning British blogger who is a sister-in-law of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown is the subject of an arrest warrant in Malaysia after she published stories on the financial affairs of the country’s leader Najib Razak.
  
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• Bulgaria builds final part of razor wire fence to keep out refugees

  04-08-2015 20:01
  
  Bulgarian authorities have begun construction on a new section of razor wire fence which will seal along its border with Turkey to block the flow of people smugglers.
  
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• Manchester United’s Ángel Di María has medical ahead of Paris Saint-Germain move

  04-08-2015 20:00
  
  • Argentina midfielder pictured at Aspetar sports hospital in Qatar
  • Di María poised to complete £44.3m move to French championsÁngel Di María’s move from Manchester United to Paris Saint-Germain moved a step closer as the Argentina winger underwent a medical in Doha on Tuesday.The Aspetar sports hospital in Qatar posted pictures on Twitter of Di María ahead of his medical. The 27-year-old was given permission to fly to Qatar for talks with PSG officials after Unite
  
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• Coal company threatens to sue Welsh borough if mine permit is denied

  04-08-2015 19:55
  
  Miller Argent warns it intends to recover all application costs if Caerphilly council blocks its plans for controversial opencast mineA coal company is threatening to sue one of the most deprived boroughs in Wales for “substantial” costs if councillors refuse permission for a giant opencast coal mine. In June, councillors on Caerphilly county borough council’s planning committee unanimously rejected a recommendation by their planning officers to allow Miller Argent to exploit 6m tonnes of
  
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• The true cost of the Hiroshima bomb: John Hersey's definitive account

  04-08-2015 19:52
  
  At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on 6 August 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk.
  
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• Saadi Gaddafi abuse video condemned by lawyers and rights groups

  04-08-2015 19:50
  
  Nine-minute video appears to show son of Libya’s late dictator Muammar being hooked up to an improvised rack, apparently at al-Hadba prison in TripoliA video appearing to show Saadi Gaddafi, son of Libya’s late dictator Muammar, being abused in jail has been condemned by lawyers and rights groups.The nine-minute video appears to show Saadi, 42, in a green tracksuit, being hooked up to an improvised rack, apparently while in custody at Tripoli’s maximum security al-Hadba prison. Segments sh
  
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• New York's Metropolitan Opera drops use of blackface in production of 'Otello' for first since 1891

  04-08-2015 19:48
  
  New York’s celebrated Metropolitan Opera has been staging productions of Otello for more than a hundred years.
  
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• Teen sues after alleged snowball throw at police sent him to juvenile detention

  04-08-2015 19:47
  
  Dominique Rondeau alleges malicious prosecution after Detroit public schools officers accused him of hurling snow at a police vehicle – a case later dismissedFor Dominique Rondeau, a snowball cost him 40 days in juvenile detention, in a case against him that was later dismissed.The trouble for the Detroit teenager began on 16 December 2013 after two Detroit public schools police officers, Freddy Wilson and Floyd Jenkins, claimed to have “clear” evidence that Rondeau hurled a chunk of snow
  
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