General news

• Food Labels Should Include 'Burn Off Time'

  14-01-2016 23:54
  
  Food labelling should include new measures which show how much exercise is needed to burn calories, according to a leading health charity. The Royal Society for Public Health said the public are facing an "information overload" and simpler labelling with clear images will help people make smarter choices. They have proposed new packaging to accompany the existing "traffic light system" of red, amber and green symbols which already shows nutritional advice.
  
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• 'Assassin' supernova discovered that is 570bn times brighter than sun

  14-01-2016 23:52
  
  Astronomers find brightest star explosion ever, located 3.8bn light-years away, which is more luminous than entire Milky Way Astronomers have discovered the brightest star explosion ever, a super supernova that easily outshines our entire Milky Way.An international team revealed “the most powerful supernova observed in human history” Thursday in the latest Science journal. The astronomers used a network of telescopes around the world to spot the record-breaking supernova last year. C
  
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• US justice department begins talks with Mexico on extraditing El Chapo

  14-01-2016 23:48
  
  Joaquin Guzmán’s extradition to face charges in US was discussed Tuesday at a meeting in Miami between Mexico’s attorney general and US officialsThe US justice department has begun talks with Mexican authorities about extraditing drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán to the United States, a spokesman said on Thursday. Guzmán’s extradition to face charges in the United States was discussed on Tuesday at a meeting in Miami between Arely Gomez, Me
  
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• World's biggest dinosaur skeleton unveiled in New York

  14-01-2016 23:26
  
  The as yet unnamed Titanosaur species was found in Patagonia and stands 122ft long – too big for the gallery at the American Museum of Natural HistoryPaleontologists at New York’s American Museum of Natural History unveiled a cast skeleton of the world’s biggest dinosaur, a new species of Titanosaur, to a packed crowd of media on Thursday morning.“There’s nothing like finding a great new fossil. Especially a big one, like this one,” declared Michael Novack, th
  
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• Steve Bell on immigration and asylum policy – cartoon

  14-01-2016 23:25
  
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• Widow of American killed in Jordan attack sues Twitter over growth of Isis

  14-01-2016 23:12
  
  Tamara Fields, whose husband Lloyd died in 9 November 2015 attack, accused Twitter of letting Islamic State use its network to spread propagandaThe widow of an American killed in a shooting attack at a Jordanian police training center has sued Twitter, blaming the social media company for making it easier for Islamic State to spread its message.Tamara Fields, a Florida woman whose husband Lloyd died in the 9 November attack, accused Twitter of having knowingly let the militant Islamist group use
  
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• Kate Winslet tribute to 'warm hearted puppy dog' Alan Rickman who has died at 69

  14-01-2016 23:04
  
  Actress Kate Winslet called Alan Rickman a "warm hearted puppy dog" as she paid tribute to her Sense and Sensibility co-star, who has died aged 69 after suffering from cancer.
  
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• Chris Ashton: I never gave up on England and may suit Eddie Jones

  14-01-2016 23:00
  
  • ‘I want a game at Twickenham in a white shirt again’
  • Saracens wing called up after 18 months in international wildernessEddie Jones’s first England squad was not all about the present and the future, with Chris Ashton recalled from the international wilderness 18 months after the wing won the last of his 39 caps.The Saracens player has not been at his most prolific this season but, with Jonny May ruled out of the whole of the Six Nations, Ashton’s proven fin
  
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• Dick Pound held Sebastian Coe’s IAAF career at his mercy – and let him live

  14-01-2016 22:43
  
  A week that started with Sebastian Coe on the ropes ended with him being revived as Dick Pound backed him to lead reform at the IAAFWhen the killer question came, Dick Pound gently rocked on his seat and took a discreet breath. “Given what you have said about the IAAF council, and that it must have known what was going on in Russia, do you believe Lord Coe’s position remains tenable?” he was asked. Related: Sebastian Coe admits IAAF is ‘a failed organisation’ after
  
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• Turkish prosecutors to investigate academics over Erdoğan petition

  14-01-2016 22:42
  
  All Turkish nationals named in the protest, which was also signed by foreign intellectuals including Noam Chomsky, could face jail if convictedTurkey has launched an investigation into academics who signed a petition criticising the military’s crackdown on Kurdish rebels in the south-east that angered President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.More than 1,200 academics from 90 Turkish universities calling themselves “Academicians for Peace”, as well as foreign scholars, signed the pet
  
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• British, EU officials see reform deal in weeks

  14-01-2016 22:28
  By Alastair Macdonald and Ece Toksabay BRUSSELS/ANKARA (Reuters) - The British foreign minister and a senior EU official involved in negotiations to help keep Britain in the European Union both said on Thursday that a deal was taking shape that could be struck within weeks. Prime Minister David Cameron has pressed for reforms to EU rules, to be agreed by fellow national leaders at a summit in five weeks time, that would let him campaign to stay in the bloc in a referendum which could then take p
  
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• Franco Citti, Italian star of Godfather I and III, dies in Rome aged 80

  14-01-2016 22:26
  
  The Italian film legend, known for his expressive face, made many films with Pier Paolo Pasolini and starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather filmsThe Italian cinema legend Franco Citti has died in Rome aged 80 following a long illness. Friend and fellow actor Ninetto Davoli confirmed that Citti had died on Thursday. Citti, known internationally for his role as Calò in Francis Ford Coppola’s the Godfather I and III and as the face of films by director Pier Paolo Pasolini, c
  
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• Tom Hardy has Leonardo DiCaprio to thank for taking role in The Revenant

  14-01-2016 22:21
  Tom Hardy says he has Leonardo DiCaprio to thank for convincing him to take his Oscar-nominated role in The Revenant, as the stars took to the red carpet for the UK premiere in Leicester Square.
  
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• Talks to resume in junior doctors dispute

  14-01-2016 22:21
  
  Talks are due to resume in a bid to break the stalemate in a long-running dispute over junior doctors' contracts as further strikes loom.
  
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• German taskforce finds only five of 1,500 artworks were looted by Nazis

  14-01-2016 21:27
  
  Jewish groups criticise official report on collection of art dealer Cornelius Gurlitt, discovered in Munich in 2012
  A taskforce set up by the German government to determine the ownership history of more than 1,500 artworks discovered in 2012 has found that only five were wrongfully taken from Jews, drawing criticism from Jewish groups. Related: The mysterious Munich recluse who hoarded €1bn of Nazis' stolen artContinue reading...
  
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• Anglican church avoids split over gay rights – but liberals pay price

  14-01-2016 21:25
  
  Agreement to impose sanctions against liberal US church and issue a statement in support of ‘traditional doctrine’ of marriage staves off irrevocable schismA permanent split in the worldwide Anglican communion over gay rights has been averted after archbishops overwhelmingly agreed to impose sanctions against the liberal US church and issue a statement in support of the “traditional doctrine” that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Continue reading...
  
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• Trump campaign attempted to kick Republican rivals off ballot in Illinois

  14-01-2016 21:22
  
  Campaign chair shows up at state board of elections without required duplicates of forms to contest candidates’ nominating papers for 15 March primaryDonald Trump’s campaign tried to get his rival Republicans kicked off the ballot in Illinois – but the attempt failed when his state chair failed to bring duplicate copies of the required forms.
  The Guardian has learned that on Wednesday, the last day for candidates to object to signatures submitted by rival campaigns to get on th
  
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• Bristol City sack manager Steve Cotterill after dismal league run

  14-01-2016 21:22
  
  • Cotterill was appointed Robins manager in December 2013
  • Club are four points off the bottom of the ChampionshipBristol City have sacked manager Steve Cotterill after a miserable run of one win from their past 12 matches in all competitions.The 51-year-old guided the Robins to the League One title and also saw the club win the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Wembley last season. Continue reading...
  
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• Friends reunion: let it go, it's never going to happen

  14-01-2016 21:20
  
  Nostalgia is all-encompassing, but it’s strangling pop culture. We need to stop trying to get Friends back together – and find new things to obsess about insteadWhen news broke on Wednesday that a “Friends reunion” was happening, plenty of people went out in public and beat their breasts and rent their garments in excitement. Well, OK, they posted how excited they were on Twitter, which is the new millennium version of breast beating and garment rending. I hate to break i
  
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• Three guilty of Hatton Garden heist as Kenneth Noye link revealed

  14-01-2016 21:16
  
  Robbery ringleader’s connections to top crime figure can be disclosed after convictions in England’s biggest ever burglary The pensioner who led the gang behind the £14m Hatton Garden heist was a former top lieutenant of crime boss Kenneth Noye and used his decades of criminal experience to mastermind the biggest burglary in English history.Brian Reader’s closeness to top criminals can be revealed, following the convictions of three of his associates on Thursday for their
  
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• Sebastian Coe admits IAAF is ‘a failed organisation’ after new Wada report

  14-01-2016 21:12
  
  • Wada investigators lambast IAAF but endorse Coe’s presidency
  • IAAF council, on which Coe has sat since 2003, ‘collectively did not do its job’Sebastian Coe has admitted he presides over a “failed organisation” after the IAAF was subjected to coruscating criticism in a Wada report over its handling of corruption and doping cover-ups that went to the very top of the organisation.As it emerged that World Anti-Doping Agency investigators feared the bidding
  
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• After the Cologne attacks, refugees must be housed within the wider community | Ghiath Al Jebawi

  14-01-2016 21:00
  
  Dedicated camps increase the segregation of migrants from local people so the German government must look at alternative accommodation strategiesThe attacks that took place in Cologne on New Year’s Eve have shaken up the whole of Germany. The country’s interior minister reported last Monday that the majority of the men who committed the assaults have got immigrant backgrounds. Even though it seems to be a little difficult to specify whether they belong to a past generation or a first
  
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• Why Tottenham may be the least ‘Spursy’ team in recent Spurs history

  14-01-2016 20:59
  
  Profitable, settled, fourth in the league – let’s face it this wasn’t really supposed to happen at all. For Spurs fans the temptation must be not to blinkMauricio Pochettino was unusually animated during Tottenham’s 1-0 defeat by Leicester at White Hart Lane on Wednesday night. Not just at the final whistle or in the seven minutes of play remaining after Robert Huth had headed the winning goal. But pretty much right from the start Pochettino could be seen leaping up, bang
  
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• NHS: growing numbers of patients are waiting too long for A&E care

  14-01-2016 20:58
  
  The latest data shows a series of key targets were missed in November, including waiting time for urgent cancer treatment and ambulancesGrowing numbers of patients are waiting longer than they should for A&E care, urgent cancer treatment or a blue light ambulance, prompting warnings that the NHS will struggle to cope this winter. The latest NHS performance data shows it missed a whole series of key waiting-time targets in November, forcing around 200,000 patients to endure delays.Continue re
  
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• French government reassures Renault investors there is 'no emissions fraud'

  14-01-2016 20:55
  
  Almost €5bn was wiped off carmaker’s market value in early trading after news of police raids at carmaker’s premisesFrench ministers have said that no “defeat device” or fraudulent software in Renault engines has been found, after the carmaker’s share price plunged on Thursday following reports that police had raided its premises. Shares in Renault tumbled more than 20% on Thursday morning as investors feared that the French manufacturer could be drawn into the
  
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• Oregon militia could face fines and more than 10 years in prison, experts say

  14-01-2016 20:54
  
  Ammon Bundy and his followers, who have refused to leave the Malheur national wildlife refuge, appear to have violated several lawsLeaders of the armed militia occupying federal lands in eastern Oregon could face hefty fines and more than 10 years behind bars if government officials decide to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, legal experts say.Ammon Bundy and his crew of rightwing anti-government followers – who have refused to leave the Malheur national wildlife refuge sinc
  
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• 'Happy As Larry' Mum Accused Of Joining IS

  14-01-2016 20:52
  
  A British mother accused of travelling to Syria with her young child to join Islamic State told her family she wanted to die a martyr, a court heard. Tareena Shakil initially said she was going to Turkey on a package holiday in October 2014 but instead went on to the IS stronghold of Raqqa to join their ranks. Deleted photographs recovered from her phone showed the married 26-year-old wearing an IS balaclava after arriving in Syria, prosecutors said.
  
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• Asymmetric love, part three: what happened after I stepped off the plane

  14-01-2016 20:40
  
  In the third instalment of our real-time love column, our narrator reveals the subject of this series to S – and rediscovers what it’s like to know him as a friendPart one: I’m going to tell him how I feelPart two: I’m flying to see him, and he knows it I get off the bus stepping sideways because of my two enormous shoulder bags. S is there waiting, on time, just as he said he would be. He looks just as I remember him. We hug. Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on fair play in politics: a Conservative coup | Editorial

  14-01-2016 20:38
  
  From trade union reform to parliamentary process, the Tories show a pattern of contempt for the protocols of democracyDebates on the floor of the House of Commons do not generally win a mass audience, even at moments of high drama – the knife-edge vote that settles great affairs of state. The proceedings of the third delegated legislation committee, while not actually secret, are hardly the stuff of political fanfare. That is surely the reason this arcane forum was used on Thursday to push
  
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• The Guardian view on the relief of Madaya: at last, they can eat. Thousands more still starve | Editorial

  14-01-2016 20:35
  
  One day peace will come. And then the Assad regime and its allies must be held to account by the international communityThese were harrowing images, ones that bring to mind horrors seen during the second world war. Emaciated children, bones visible beneath their skin, their feeble voices begging for food. The skeletal body of a man who starved to death. The stories behind these images were no less heart-wrenching: families reduced to eating grass and leaves, parents eating nothing at a
  
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• Stock markets buoyed by German recovery and US interest rate delay

  14-01-2016 20:31
  
  Berlin recorded its fastest growth since the early days of the eurozone debt crisis, while oil prices rose marginally after Wednesday’s dip to below $30 a barrelA solid performance by the German economy and hints of a delay to the next US interest rate rise calmed nerves in London and New York after a week of panicked stock market trading that has left many investors counting huge losses.The Dow Jones index of leading US corporations climbed more than 200 points in early trading on Thursda
  
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• Emily Thornberry will have final say on Labour's Trident review

  14-01-2016 20:31
  
  Shadow defence secretary – not Jeremy Corbyn’s close ally Ken Livingstone – will lead party’s rethink on nuclear weapons renewalEmily Thornberry, the shadow defence secretary, is to have ultimate responsibility for Labour’s defence review looking at its policy on Trident - with more sway than Ken Livingstone, party sources have said.The terms of the review have yet to be released but it is understood Thornberry will lead the policy assessment rather than Livingstone
  
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• Under-40s worse off as result of state pension changes, data shows

  14-01-2016 20:30
  
  According to government figures, while many older people will benefit in the coming years, millions now in their teens, 20s and 30s will lose out Most people now in their teens, 20s and 30s will be worse off as a result of changes to the state pension system, while millions of older people will gain, according to the government’s own figures.The data will fuel concern that millions of younger people are suffering from the effects of what has been dubbed “intergenerational unfairness&
  
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• Amy Winehouse nominated for Brit Award as documentary vies for Oscar

  14-01-2016 20:30
  
  Amy Winehouse has been nominated posthumously for a Brit Award, just hours after a documentary about her life picked up an Oscar nomination.
  
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• Italian court clears Amanda Knox of slandering police and legal officials

  14-01-2016 20:28
  
  Knox was accused of slandering police officers and a prosecutor involved in the investigation into the 2007 killing of British student Meredith KercherAmanda Knox has been cleared of slandering police officers and a prosecutor involved in the investigation into the 2007 killing of British student Meredith Kercher.Knox, who shared a student house with Kercher in the Italian city of Perugia, served four years in prison for participating in Kercher’s killing before being released on appeal an
  
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• Premier League clubs face fallout from Real and Atlético Madrid transfer ban

  14-01-2016 20:23
  
  • Manchester United and Chelsea may be forced to alter buying plans
  • Fifa rules both Madrid clubs cannot register new players in next two windowsPremier League clubs including Manchester United and Chelsea may be forced to alter their transfer plans after Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid were banned by Fifa from registering new players in the next two windows, a decision that could have significant ramifications in England. Related: Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid handed
  
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• Emails reveal unpaid bar bill and other headaches from Boris Johnson's Iraq trip

  14-01-2016 20:23
  An unpaid bar bill, a blocked request to visit frontline troops and a thwarted Jaguar joyride are among diplomatic headaches revealed in email exchanges about a trip to Iraq by Boris Johnson last year.
  
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• Astronomers observe 'most powerful supernova in human history'

  14-01-2016 20:00
  Astronomers have spotted the most powerful supernova in human history.
  
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• Three Men Convicted Over Hatton Garden Raid

  14-01-2016 19:44
  
  Carl Wood, 58, from Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and William Lincoln, 60, of Bethnal Green, east London, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit burglary, and conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property. Hugh Doyle, 48, of Enfield, north London, was found guilty of concealing, converting or transferring criminal property.
  
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• Hatton Garden Ringleader's Letters From Jail

  14-01-2016 18:36
  
  Soon after he was charged, ringleader Danny Jones wrote me a series of letters from his cell at Belmarsh prison. Jones also revealed that for several weeks none of the prisoners were allowed a visitor, so he wrote for help to the Archbishop of Canterbury. "He also said sorry you got yourself mixed up in the Hatton Garden heist.
  
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• 'Grandpa gang' guilty of biggest burglary in English history

  14-01-2016 18:15
  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Three men were found guilty on Thursday over the largest burglary in English legal history, a daring multi-million pound raid on a safe-deposit business in London's jewellery district led by pensioners who had spent a life in crime. In a plot three years in the planning, the gang broke into the vault of the Hatton Garden Safety Deposit building during the long Easter holiday weekend last year. Initially thwarted, they returned the following day and ransacked
  
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• Britain closer to compromise with EU on migrant welfare curbs - Hammond

  14-01-2016 18:07
  By Ece Toksabay ANKARA (Reuters) - Britain is getting closer to a compromise with its European Union partners over curbing welfare payments to EU migrants, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Thursday. Speaking during a visit to the Turkish capital Ankara, Hammond said if no deal with the EU could be reached at a European Council meeting in February he was hopeful it would happen at the next. "We are getting closer but (we're) not there yet," Hammond said, adding that Britain's EU partners
  
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• Woman who died hours after giving birth 'distressed and in pain'

  14-01-2016 18:01
  A mother who died hours after giving birth to her second child by Caesarean section was emotionally distressed and in pain, a landmark court case heard.
  
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• Hatton Garden trio convicted over biggest burglary in British history

  14-01-2016 18:00
  
  Three men have been found guilty of being involved in the £14 million Hatton Garden raid - believed the biggest burglary in British history.
  
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• Chimps form friendships based on trust, according to study

  14-01-2016 18:00
  Chimpanzees share the same instinct as humans to form close friendships based on trust, scientists have found.
  
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• Alan Rickman tributes flood in after death from cancer aged 69

  14-01-2016 18:00
  
  Actress Emma Thompson has led tributes to her Love Actually co-star Alan Rickman, who has died aged 69 after suffering from cancer.
  
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• Warnings Of Disruption As Snow Sweeps Britain

  14-01-2016 17:49
  
  Severe weather alerts have been issued across the UK with warnings of snow, ice and gales. Motorists have been urged to take extra care in hazardous driving conditions, while health chiefs reminded the public that "cold kills". People are advised to look out for those who may be vulnerable to the cold, such as the elderly, while the threat of slips, trips and falls on icy surfaces are also underlined.
  
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• Man who tried to bring Afghan child into UK cleared on migration charges

  14-01-2016 17:38
  By Ingrid Melander and Pauline Mevel BOULOGNE-SUR-MER, France (Reuters) - A former British soldier who tried to smuggle a four-year-old Afghan girl into Britain at her father's request was on Thursday cleared of all charges related to aiding illegal immigration. A French court gave 49-year-old Rob Lawrie only a suspended 1,000-euro fine on a charge of putting the child's life in danger - by transporting her in a storage compartment of his van rather than on a child seat with a seatbelt. Lawrie,
  
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• London financial district launches push to boost green bonds

  14-01-2016 17:33
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - London's financial district launched a push on Thursday to encourage pension and insurance funds to invest more in green bonds and help the fledgling sector grow in Britain.
  
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• Scores of air passengers have entered UK without watchlist check

  14-01-2016 17:32
  Scores of air passengers have entered Britain without being checked against a watchlist of terrorists and criminals.
  
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