General news

• Papers seize on Osborne's sugar tax

  16-03-2016 23:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Chancellor George Osborne's announcement of a new levy on sugary drinks across the UK leads many of Thursday's national newspapers.
  
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• Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal (agg 5-1)

  16-03-2016 23:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Holders Barcelona ease into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 3-1 second-leg victory over Arsenal.
  
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• Murder Accused Mum Wanted Girl Taken Away

  16-03-2016 23:24
  
  A young woman accused of murdering her 21-month-old daughter told a health visitor she was a "crap mother", a court has heard. Kathryn Smith, 23, made the comment after social services had raised the prospect of taking Ayeeshia Jane Smith - also known as AJ - into care, jurors were told. Smith and Ayeeshia's stepfather Matthew Rigby are both accused of killing the child, who died from a heart laceration.
  
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• Marler avoids sanction for Lee comment

  16-03-2016 23:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  England's Joe Marler will receive no punishment for his "Gypsy boy" comment to Wales prop Samson Lee, Six Nations organisers say.
  
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• Peers defeat union funding reforms

  16-03-2016 23:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The government is heavily defeated in the House of Lords over trade union reforms that Labour fears will cost it millions of pounds in funding.
  
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• Fish tank death twins' parents targeted by online trolls

  16-03-2016 23:09
  Online trolls have targeted the parents of two toddlers who drowned in a giant fish tank at their home.
  
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• 'In' leads by 2 percentage points ahead of Britain’s EU referendum – ICM poll

  16-03-2016 22:31
  
  (Reuters) - Support for Britain to stay in the European Union stood at 43 percent, ahead of support for a withdrawal from the 28-member bloc, which stood at 41 percent, an opinion poll by ICM suggested on Thursday, ahead of a referendum on June 23.
  
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• Libor trader Hayes tells court he used spread-betting gains to buy house

  16-03-2016 21:46
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - Tom Hayes, the former trader serving an 11-year jail sentence for conspiracy to rig Libor interest rates, told a London court on Wednesday that he had paid for about half of his seven-bedroom country house with cash earned privately from spread-betting.
  
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• British academic 'being deported from Turkey' after Kurdish invitations find

  16-03-2016 21:46
  A British academic says he is being deported from Turkey after being found with invitations to Kurdish New Year celebrations.
  
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• Proposed e-cigarette ban in public places with children present defeated

  16-03-2016 20:58
  
  Plans to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public places where children are present have been defeated during a vote in the Welsh Assembly.
  
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• Osborne To Levy Sugar Tax On Soft Drinks

  16-03-2016 20:24
  
  George Osborne has announced a sugar tax on soft drinks which will raise £520m for school sports and longer school days. At the same time the Chancellor said fuel duty would be frozen for the sixth year running along with the levy on beer, cider and whisky. Delivering his eighth Budget in the job, Mr Osborne had to admit government debt will rise as a proportion of GDP this year - breaking a key rule he had set himself - while economic growth forecasts have been revised down sharply.
  
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• VIDEO: Budget 2016: What do I need to know?

  16-03-2016 19:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Missed George Osborne's budget announcement? Fear not, here are some of the key points condensed into 70 seconds of video.
  
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• Taxpayers Face £20bn Loss On RBS Share Sales

  16-03-2016 19:58
  
  UK taxpayers could lose more than £20bn if George Osborne presses ahead with the sale of the Government's remaining stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), according to an official forecast published on Wednesday. An analysis by Sky News of figures published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) suggests that the Treasury could recoup a total of just £23.6bn from the disposal of its RBS stake, barely half the £45.5bn injected into the bank to prevent its collapse in
  
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• NI prison officer death 'murder inquiry'

  16-03-2016 19:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A murder inquiry is under way into the death of NI prison officer who died 11 days after being injured in a dissident republican bomb.
  
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• Bittersweet Budget as 'cocktail' of risks derails fiscal plans

  16-03-2016 19:23
  George Osborne has unveiled a new sugary drinks tax to fight childhood obesity, as he blamed a "dangerous cocktail" of risks from the global economy for derailing his fiscal plans.
  
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• Libor rate-rigging allegations drove trader to breakdown, hearing told

  16-03-2016 19:18
  
  A City trader told how he was plunged into "the middle of a breakdown" over allegations of rigging Libor rates as he fought a legal bid to seize more than £2 million of assets following his conviction.
  
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• 'Legal highs' crackdown should exclude poppers, say Government advisers

  16-03-2016 19:18
  
  Poppers should not be included in a crackdown on so-called legal highs because they are not "psychoactive", Government advisers have said.
  
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• Study solves 58-year-old mystery of 'Tully Monster'

  16-03-2016 19:00
  
  It looks like the most unearthly of aliens, or the figment of a bad dream - and has baffled scientists for nearly 60 years.
  
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• Memories wiped by Alzheimer's could be revived, research suggests

  16-03-2016 19:00
  Lost memories banished by Alzheimer's can in theory be rescued by stimulating nerve cells to grow new connections, a study has shown.
  
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• Footballer Sorry For Urinating Into Beer Glass

  16-03-2016 18:59
  
  A professional footballer photographed urinating into a glass at the Cheltenham Festival has apologised for his "silly mistake". MK Dons midfielder Samir Carruthers told Sky Sports News he had "let the club down massively" and felt "embarrassed". As a punishment, Carruthers has been fined two weeks' wages by MK Dons and suspended from Saturday's match against Brighton.
  
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• Cheltenham Festival balcony footballers apologise for behaviour

  16-03-2016 18:52
  
  Two professional footballers caught urinating into a glass on a packed balcony at the Cheltenham Festival have apologised for their behaviour.
  
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• Inspector apologises for two-hour investigation of Deepcut soldier's death

  16-03-2016 18:44
  A former inspector has apologised to the family of Deepcut soldier Private Cheryl James about the limited police investigation into her death.
  
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• Six people injured after sheep trailer ends up on top of car

  16-03-2016 18:42
  
  Paramedics said it was "astonishing" no-one was killed when a trailer carrying about 30 sheep ended up on top of a car following a crash.
  
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• Horsing around at the races

  16-03-2016 18:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Why do the races often attract the wrong headlines?
  
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• Former UK Athletics coach handed lifetime ban

  16-03-2016 18:39
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - Former UK Athletics coach George Skafidas has been handed a lifetime ban from sport for doping offences relating to sprinter Bernice Wilson, Britain's anti-doping agency said on Wednesday.
  
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• Osborne offers voters sweeteners ahead of EU referendum, says growth to slow

  16-03-2016 18:27
  By William Schomberg and David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor George Osborne handed tax sweeteners to voters and small businesses ahead of a June referendum on European Union membership but warned the economy would grow more slowly than previously forecast. Cuts in corporation and capital gains taxes and moves to ease income tax for many households were also aimed at pleasing MPs from his own Conservative Party, many of whom are angry that Osborne and Prime Minister David Cameron are pus
  
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• Britain's surprise tax on sugary drinks delights health campaigners

  16-03-2016 18:25
  By Michael Holden and Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will introduce a sugar levy on soft drinks in two years' time to tackle a growing obesity crisis, Chancellor George Osborne said in a surprise announcement on Wednesday, delighting health campaigners and angering drink makers. Just months after the government ruled out a sugar tax, Osborne said the levy, which would be imposed on companies and based on the sugar content in drinks, would raise about 500 million pounds annually. "I am no
  
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• Obama To Lunch With Queen At Windsor Castle

  16-03-2016 18:17
  
  President Barack Obama will have a private lunch with the Queen at Windsor Castle next month as he visits Britain. In what is likely to be his last trip to the UK as US President he will also hold a joint conference with David Cameron at 10 Downing Street. Mr Obama is expected to arrive in Britain just after the Queen celebrates her 90th birthday on 21 April.
  
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• Growth forecasts cut for next five years

  16-03-2016 18:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Lower expectations of productivity force the Office for Budget Responsibility to lower its growth forecasts from last November's levels.
  
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• Corbyn attacks 'Budget of failure'

  16-03-2016 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Jeremy Corbyn says the Budget has "unfairness at its very core" as he responds to George Osborne in the House of Commons.
  
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• George Osborne accused of 'back door' raid on NHS and other spending areas

  16-03-2016 17:45
  
  George Osborne has been accused of mounting a multibillion "back door" raid on the NHS and other areas of Government spending despite pledging to protect them from cuts.
  
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• EDF chief's gambit suggests will get backing for Hinkley Point

  16-03-2016 17:22
  By Geert De Clercq and Benjamin Mallet PARIS (Reuters) - An apparent ultimatum from the chief executive of EDF suggests he is confident that the French government will provide the additional financial support he wants for a plan to build nuclear reactors in Britain. In a letter to staff last Friday, Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy warned he would not go ahead with the 18 billion pound Hinkley Point project in southwest England without more help from the state. Sources familiar with the company
  
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• VIDEO: Jamie Oliver: Sugar tax a 'symbolic slap'

  16-03-2016 17:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Jamie Oliver has called the chancellors's sugar tax a "symbolic slap", but hailed it as a "a big moment in child health".
  
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• Sugar tax: How it will work?

  16-03-2016 17:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  All you need to know about the soft drinks levy
  
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• Harry aims to 'shine a light' on tragic Nepal where earthquake killed thousands

  16-03-2016 16:38
  Prince Harry has said he hopes his forthcoming trip to Nepal will "shine a light" on the country as it rebuilds following last year's devastating earthquake.
  
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• Fatal road crash driver smoked cannabis shortly before accident, says expert

  16-03-2016 16:38
  Traces of cannabis found in the blood of a motorist involved in a fatal motorway smash were not caused by passive smoking of the drug, an expert witness has told a court.
  
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• Barack Obama to visit UK next month

  16-03-2016 16:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  US President Barack Obama will visit the UK next month, as well as Saudi Arabia and Germany, the White House says.
  
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• Corbyn: Budget Reveals Six Years Of Failure

  16-03-2016 16:00
  
  Britain's economic recovery is "built on sand" and George Osborne's 2016 Budget is the "culmination of six years of his failures", Jeremy Corbyn has said. The Labour leader said the Chancellor had failed to balance the books, adding that the Budget has "unfairness at its very core" and will be "paid for by the people who can least afford it". "Growth is revised down last year, this year and every year that's forecast - business investment is revised down, government investment revised down," Mr
  
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• US president Barack Obama to visit UK next month

  16-03-2016 15:36
  President Barack Obama is to travel to Britain next month, the White House has confirmed.
  
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• At-a-glance summary: Budget key points

  16-03-2016 15:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An at-a-glance summary of the key points of George Osborne's 2016 Budget.
  
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• Teenagers facing jail over abusive Facebook posts

  16-03-2016 15:24
  Two youths are facing jail over social media posts which made abusive comments about a judge and glorified a murderer.
  
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• Priest abuse claims 'not passed on to police by Archbishop Carey', inquiry told

  16-03-2016 15:24
  Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey delayed a "proper investigation" into a senior priest's paedophile crimes for two decades by failing to pass information to police, an inquiry heard.
  
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• Oscars academy appoints 'diverse' members to board after #OscarsSoWhite row

  16-03-2016 15:24
  The body which nominates films for the Oscars has appointed nine new "diverse voices" to its board after a row about the lack of ethnic diversity in the awards.
  
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• Government criticised for 'blocking' bid to limit cheap Chinese steel exports

  16-03-2016 15:24
  
  The Government has come under fresh attack over measures to help the crisis-hit steel industry amid warnings of further job losses.
  
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• Council tenant evicted after 20 reported crimes a year for a decade

  16-03-2016 15:24
  
  A council tenant has been evicted from her home after nearly 20 reports of criminal offences at her address per year for a decade.
  
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• What does it mean to be an academy school?

  16-03-2016 14:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  What does it mean to be an academy?
  
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• Nearly 500 New Routemasters recalled

  16-03-2016 14:15 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The bumpy ride for London's new Routemaster buses
  
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• Key Points: Budget Announcements At A Glance

  16-03-2016 13:59
  
  Get all the key points live as George Osborne delivers his eighth Budget. Refresh this page for updates.
  
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• Osborne: Britain Stronger Inside Reformed EU

  16-03-2016 13:57
  
  George Osborne has used his Budget speech to argue the UK will be "stronger, safer and better off" inside a reformed EU. The Chancellor warned against putting at risk the hard work taken to make the economy strong again by quitting the bloc. Mr Osborne is delivering his eighth Budget against a slowdown in the world economy that's costing the Treasury billions of pounds in lost tax receipts and the upcoming EU referendum on 23 June.
  
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• Island advertises 'perfect summer job'

  16-03-2016 13:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Bardsey Island off the picturesque coast of north Wales is advertising the perfect summer job.
  
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