General news

• Victoria Line three-week shut down

  08-08-2015 23:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Thousands of London commuters are facing three weeks of travel chaos after a large section of the Victoria Line was closed for upgrade works.
  
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• The 50 most influential women in sport: The job of navigating the nominations goes to...

  08-08-2015 23:44
  
  Maggie Alphonsi, rugby World Cup winner with England Women and powerhouse flanker for Saracens WRFC, is one of the most famous characters in British sport. She has played in two World Cups, shared in a record-breaking seven successive Six Nations titles with England and, typically, has now switched her ambitions to qualifying to compete at the Rio Olympics as a shot-putter. Alphonsi is one of four Rugby World Cup 2015 Ambassadors. She also represents several charities with an emphasis on female
  
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• Michael Price: Composer for Sherlock blames Google and YouTube for suppressing rewards songwriters receive

  08-08-2015 23:44
  
  The composer Michael Price, who won an Emmy for the score to the BBC hit drama Sherlock, has blamed Google and its video arm YouTube for suppressing the rewards songwriters receive for their work.
  
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• The 50 most influential women in sport: Meeting Barbara Slater, who is making sure female athletes are seen and heard

  08-08-2015 23:44
  
  It is almost 40 years since Barbara Slater carried the British flag at the 1976 Summer Olympics, but the former gymnast can still do an impressive back somersault.
  
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• Cutting size of House of Commons will thwart effort to increase female and ethnic minority MPs in Parliament, David Cameron told

  08-08-2015 23:43
  Moves to cut the size of the House of Commons will thwart the drive to increase the presence of female and ethnic minority MPs in Parliament, David Cameron has been warned.
  
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• Carphone Warehouse in data breach

  08-08-2015 23:38 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Personal details of up to 2.4 million Carphone Warehouse customers may have been accessed in a cyber-attack, the retailer says.
  
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• Teenagers forced to study fewer A-levels in squeeze on public spending, says exam boss

  08-08-2015 23:34
  
  Teenagers are being forced to study fewer A-levels as a result of the Government’s squeeze on public spending, an exam-board boss has said.
  
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• School leavers should seek work experience during summer, says Priti Patel

  08-08-2015 23:32
  
  School leavers waiting to learn their exam results should spend their summer doing unpaid work experience rather than chatting to their friends on Snapchat, a Government minister has said.
  
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• Edinburgh Fringe 2015: Goodstock boasts 'most expensive seat'

  08-08-2015 23:16
  
  London’s West End is often criticised for its soaring ticket prices, but north of the border one show is proudly boasting the “most expensive seat” at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
  
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• Employers need not be told know job applicant was previously detained under Mental Health Act, says new government guidance

  08-08-2015 23:00
  Employers need not always be told that a job applicant has been detained under the Mental Health Act, according to new government guidance aimed at combating the stigma around mental illness.
  
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• Mourinho angry at Blues medical team

  08-08-2015 22:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho criticises his "naive" medical staff for treating Eden Hazard in their draw with Swansea.
  
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• Cutting trainee GP pay subsidies will put patients at risk, doctors tell Jeremy Hunt

  08-08-2015 22:52
  
  The Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, has been told by family doctors that proposals to strip trainee GPs of thousands of pounds’ worth of salary supplements could have a “catastrophic” impact on the workforce and compromise safe patient care. The Government is considering plans to scrap pay subsidies worth between £14,300 and £16,200 a year to GPs in training, which were originally introduced to address pay discrepancies between GPs and hospital doctors. 
  
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• PSNI 'stop search' for murder suspect

  08-08-2015 22:48 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Police investigating the murder of west Belfast woman Jennifer Dornan say they are no longer looking for anyone in connection with her death.
  
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• Migrant crisis in Greece: Dutch couple holidaying in Lesbos cancel flight home to help refugees

  08-08-2015 22:45
  
  The vacation had been everything that Angelique and Onno Bos dreamed it would be.
  
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• David Cameron poised to give peerages to string of Tory advisers

  08-08-2015 22:44
  
  David Cameron is poised to give peerages to a string of Conservative advisers as early as this week.
  
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• Reading improves relationships and reduces depression symptoms, says new study

  08-08-2015 22:44
  
  It’s official: reading is good for you, according to a new report from The Reading Agency which looked at the effects of reading for pleasure on adults and children. Benefits include increased empathy, better relationships with others, reduced symptoms of depression and risks of dementia and improved well-being throughout life.
  
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• No extra cash for A&E when winter strikes, Government confirms

  08-08-2015 22:44
  
  Hospitals will struggle to find extra money for staff and beds if there is a leap in demand for Accident and Emergency services this winter, it has been claimed.
  
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• Ale drinkers switch to quality over quantity - turning to half pints and brew ‘flights’

  08-08-2015 22:42
  
  When it comes to beer drinking, not all glasses are born equal. Take the half pint, for example. For years it has been the poor relation of the full pint, a slang name for someone of lowly stature.
  
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• Stephen Harper: Canadian Prime Minister accused of taking country too far to the right

  08-08-2015 22:38
  
  Secretive, vindictive and patronising are not words in keeping with the popular stereotype of Canadians. Yet that’s how citizens of the world’s second-largest country are increasingly portraying the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, these days.
  
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• Turkey-Kurdish conflict: PKK distracted by Turkish bombs as it continues fight against Isis

  08-08-2015 22:31
  
  In a guerrilla camp to the south-west of Irbil in Kurdish Iraq, fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) huddle on sofas in a darkened room, some bearing scars from the war with Islamic State (Isis). That morning the Islamists sent a rocket whizzing towards the nearby town of Makhmour, killing one civilian and injuring two.
  
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• Creatures of the deep cry silently for help: Rocky reef habitat in grave danger

  08-08-2015 22:27
  
  So Utopia really does exist – but it might not be what you are looking for, unless your ideal society is deep under water and includes alien-looking creatures, dead man’s fingers and hungry little baby sharks.
  
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• How Namibian charcoal workers pay a high price for the cheap British barbecue

  08-08-2015 22:20
  
  Britain moves into peak barbecue season this weekend, and the smell of slightly charred burgers, ribs, halloumi and salmon will fill the nation’s gardens, parks and balconies.
  
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• We have created the ‘workcation’ – and it is changing our lives

  08-08-2015 22:00
  
  The ugly word “staycation” was coined to describe the trend towards people staying at home during their vacation – going out for day trips, perhaps, but using their home as their base. There is as yet no word to describe the growing trend for people to do pretty much the reverse: going away on holiday but blending in some work – maybe quite a lot of it – into their holiday time. For many, indeed for many away this month, the frontier between work and leisure has become much more blurr
  
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• The decline and fall of institutions - seemingly with an open season on publicly funded bureaucracies

  08-08-2015 22:00
  
  The philosopher Robert Rowland Smith could be heard on Radio 4’s Four Thought last week propounding a highly original thesis about the Western world’s changing intellectual climate. “The age of ideas” was coming to a close, he declared, and in its place there could be glimpsed the first stirrings of something called “the age of intuition”.
  
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• Smartphones : I’m dependent, but is it so app-alling?

  08-08-2015 22:00
  
  How long could you live without your smartphone? A week? No chance. A day? Oh God. An hour? Well OK, if I must. Most of us know that sinking feel of having left our phone at home, specifically the panic that comes with wondering, “What if the childminder calls?” or “How will I Instagram my lunch?”
  
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• Libor scandal: You can bank on there being a scapegoat

  08-08-2015 22:00
  
  Tom Hayes was, no doubt about it, something of an oddball. Every office has one. Usually it’s a bloke: someone good at his job, perhaps, and so grudgingly tolerated, but never quite one of the lads.
  
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• Labour’s long, sweaty summer

  08-08-2015 22:00
  
  Even for the most dedicated democrats, the most devoted democratic socialist, the most obsessive political anorak, the Labour leadership election provides ample proof that one can have too much of a good thing.
  
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• ID regulations: A supreme injustice for Democrats

  08-08-2015 22:00
  
  A sobering contrast lies at the heart of US elections. Their unmatched entertainment value masks the ruthlessness, the dirty tricks, and the downright subversion of democracy sometimes employed to win them. And rarely has the contrast been more vividly on display than last Thursday, 6 August.
  
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• Edinburgh Fringe: A pig’s ear of a review - there’s a prize for that

  08-08-2015 22:00
  
  The Edinburgh Fringe is keeping up its reputation for the hard-hitting and the avant-garde with an innovation that will strike fear into the hearts of critics. (And yes, they do have hearts, most of them.) The Ham Fist award aims to embarrass reviewers who spectacularly get the wrong end of the stick. It’s paid for by an anonymous comedian, and run by the website Fringepig, famous (among critics) for its often brutal reviews of reviewers.
  
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• Labour deputy leadership candidates: We will serve under Jeremy Corbyn if he wins top job

  08-08-2015 21:54
  
  Labour’s deputy leadership candidates say they will serve under Jeremy Corbyn if he becomes leader, despite warnings from a number of senior MPs that they would quit the Shadow Cabinet.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn to 'bring back Clause Four': Contender pledges to bury New Labour with commitment to public ownership of industry

  08-08-2015 21:53
  Jeremy Corbyn has risked provoking a damaging row at the heart of the Labour Party by pledging to restore Clause Four if he is elected leader next month.
  
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• Labour sets 100 staff to root out ineligible supporters as hard-left groups deny infiltrating election to support Jeremy Corbyn

  08-08-2015 21:52
  Labour’s head office is reportedly in chaos, with up to 100 staff trying to root out ineligible supporters, amid accusations that the hard left is infiltrating the party’s leadership election to support Jeremy Corbyn.
  
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• France opens bribery investigation into Gabonese official

  08-08-2015 21:46
  Country opens investigations into Ali Bongo’s chief of staff on suspicion of taking a bribe to help secure a contractFrance is investigating Gabon president Ali Bongo’s chief of staff on suspicion of taking a bribe to help secure a contract, a judicial source said on Saturday. French police had detained Maixent Accrombessi for questioning last Monday, a move sharply condemned by Gabon, but released him after finding that he had diplomatic immunity. Continue reading...
  
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• Irina Ionesco: the grande dame, her ‘Lolita’ pictures, and a true Paris scandal

  08-08-2015 21:30
  A four-decade feud between French-Romanian photographer Irina Ionesco, 84, and her daughter Eva returns to the courtroomA French rentrée – the return to work after the summer break, and the start of the literary season – would be incomplete without a colourful cultural scandal. And the annual publishing spat erupted on cue last week when French-Romanian photographer Irina Ionesco – notorious for taking provocative erotic pictures of her young daughter Eva – sued her son-in-law for
  
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• Closure of Kids Company undermines Government effort to speed up adoption for vulnerable children

  08-08-2015 21:17
  
  The Government’s commitment to speed up adoption for vulnerable children in Britain has suffered a blow with the sudden closure of a prominent charity amid a financial and leadership crisis.
  
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• Battersea teenager could become youngest person to cycle around the world

  08-08-2015 21:15
  
  A British teenager may become the youngest ever person to cycle around the world when he completes the final leg of his epic 18,000-mile journey.
  
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• Universities scramble to fill courses before cap is lifted on expansion

  08-08-2015 21:08
  Cash bursaries, scholarships and unconditional offers made as institutions scramble to fill places after new rules allow unlimited expansion of campusesA host of cash bursaries, scholarships and unconditional offers are being used to woo students as universities scramble to fill their courses under new government rules that will allow an unlimited expansion of campuses this autumn.Universities have begun running early-bird clearing phone lines before the release of A-level results on Thursday, w
  
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• Social care chief savages failing system for elderly

  08-08-2015 21:04
  Chief inspector blames poor leadership and cuts as fresh figures show 150 abuse claims each dayThe chief inspector of adult social care has issued a damning judgment on standards in England, warning that a broken system is turning good people into bad carers.Huge cuts in funding in recent years, and a lack of political leadership in dealing with the realities of an ageing population, have left the social care sector under “stress and strain”, with demoralised carers working long hours in dif
  
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• Yvette Cooper: ‘You can be strong without being extreme’

  08-08-2015 21:00
  The Labour leadership candidate says she understands the frustration and anger of Corbyn supporters but warns against losing the wider electoratePinned to a corkboard in Yvette Cooper’s researchers’ office is an A4 black-and-white photocopy of a young Tony Blair looking imperiously into the camera. Apparently it was stuck up there ages ago for a joke, the point of which has been lost in the mists of time. Yet the almost ghostly quality of the image, and its presence in Cooper’s small suite
  
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• All property is theft but this one’s a steal: Leon Trotsky’s Turkish hideaway for sale

  08-08-2015 20:59
  Sprawling, crumbling compound on island off Istanbul needs total renovation – and may have to become a museumIts lobster pool has been lost to the waves, the walls are cracking and its roof has fallen in, but the historical pedigree of the Yanaros mansion has only strengthened over the years.For four years from 1929 one of the world’s most famous revolutionaries, Leon Trotsky, newly exiled from the Soviet Union, called the sprawling complex on an Istanbul island home. Now it is up for sale t
  
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• China builds huge solar power station which could power a million homes

  08-08-2015 20:56
  
  China is set to build a giant solar power station in the Gobi desert, which could generate enough energy to supply one million homes.
  
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• Chelsea vs Swansea player ratings: Thibaut Courtois to blame for Blues draw?

  08-08-2015 20:47
  
  Defending Premier League champions Chelsea were held to a draw by Swansea on the first day of the new season after goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was sent off.
  
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• River search under way for missing man

  08-08-2015 20:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Police are searching for a man who entered the Jubilee River on Friday night and is still missing.
  
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• Kids Company closure triggers warnings of tough line on ‘value for money’

  08-08-2015 20:40
  More children’s charities could be in jeopardy as funding cuts come on top of rising demandMore charities supporting some of the most vulnerable children in society are on the verge of closure following the high-profile collapse of Kids Company.An analysis of the income streams of children’s charities shows they are bearing a disproportionate share of the cuts as central and local government rein in grants and contracts to voluntary groups in a bid to balance finances. Continue reading...
  
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• Stuart Broad says eight for 15 against Australia was a once in a lifetime spell

  08-08-2015 20:38
  • Broad: ‘I’m sure I’ll never better that, it was a special morning’
  • Joe Root now No1 in the world Test batting rankingsStuart Broad said the chances of him bettering his historic eight-wicket burst at Trent Bridge are slim, describing his man-of-the-match performance on the first morning of the fourth Test as a once in a lifetime spell.Broad’s eight for 15, the best figures from a fast bowler in an Ashes Test, effectively sealed the series win inside 93 minutes as Australia’s
  
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• Chelsea 2-2 Swansea City | Premier League match report

  08-08-2015 20:38
  José Mourinho was right. This is the real deal, what people want, what they can’t wait to devour. This was that edge-of-the-seat, don’t-dare-blink, full pelt competitive heat of football that counts. Every point counts. And here, in a quite intense fashion, Chelsea dropped two on game one of their title defence. Related: Chelsea have €25m bid for Baba Rahman rejected by AugsburgContinue reading...
  
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• Body found in Datchet river believed to be missing man

  08-08-2015 20:37
  
  Search teams have found a body in their hunt for a young man who went missing after getting into difficulties in a river.
  
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• Chelsea v Swansea City: Premier League – as it happened

  08-08-2015 20:36
  A sluggish start to the season for the champions, as Swansea earn a deserved draw at Stamford Bridge. 7.24pm BST And that’s that. Terry is right up in referee Michael Oliver’s grille, presumably wondering whether Gomis was onside ahead of the Big Incident. Or perhaps he’s asking whether Gomis was in the area when fouled. Or perhaps whether Courtois was the last man, with Cahill racing back to cover. But it won’t make any difference. Chelsea didn’t bother coming out for the second half
  
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• Aurora shooting: shock and mixed emotions in wake of verdict

  08-08-2015 20:17
  ‘Frustrated’ prosecutor apologizes for life in prison sentence over death penalty for James Holmes but many express relief that three-year legal saga is over After one of the most horrific mass shootings in American history, there was widespread surprise in Colorado after the gunman, James Holmes, was spared the death penalty. Related: Aurora theater gunman James Holmes sentenced to life in prisonContinue reading...
  
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• VIDEO: 'I can't open cafe because of parasite'

  08-08-2015 20:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  People in Lancashire face continuing water problems as investigations continue into how a parasite entered the water supply.
  
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