General news

• Former Buckingham Palace chef reveals the Queen's favourite meal

  09-06-2016 23:16
  
  Darren McGrady said these delicacies are among some of Her Majesty’s favourites.
  
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• Twitter goes crazy as Leave campaigners repeat same three words over and over

  09-06-2016 23:14
  
  Take. Back. Control.
  
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• Barack Obama endorses Hillary Clinton to succeed him as US President

  09-06-2016 22:46
  
  Barack Obama is set to join Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail this Wednesday.
  
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• Albanian Killer Fights Extradition From UK

  09-06-2016 22:35
  
  An Albanian double murderer who has hidden from justice in the UK for 18 years will fight extradition to his home country on human rights grounds, a court has been told. It emerged during a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court that Avni Metra, 53, has been arrested on suspicion of rape while in Britain. Metra is wanted in Albania in connection with two murders and firearms possession - offences that date back to 1996.
  
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• Thousands attend Muhammad Ali Muslim prayer service in Kentucky

  09-06-2016 21:28
  
  The boxing great designed his final memorials himself years before he died.
  
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• Pele's copy of World Cup trophy has sold for £394,000

  09-06-2016 21:16
  
  The footballing legend is selling off his whole collection of memorabilia – even his old passports.
  
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• Parents Of 'Jihadi Jack' Face Old Bailey Trial

  09-06-2016 20:18
  
  The parents of a British man who is believed to have travelled to Syria to join Islamic State have been remanded in custody on terrorism charges. John Letts, 55 and Sally Lane, 54, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court accused of making money available for terrorist purposes. Their son, Jack Letts, nicknamed 'Jihadi Jack' by some newspapers, converted to Islam at the age of 16.
  
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• Mike Ashley Among New Witnesses In BHS Inquiry

  09-06-2016 20:10
  
  MPs have summoned new witnesses, including Mike Ashley and Sir Philip Green's stepson Brett Palos, to give evidence on the collapse of BHS. The joint Commons hearing before the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and the Work and Pensions Committee follows last week's announcement that the chain would be wound down after rescue bids failed. A spokesman for the committees said Mr Ashley has agreed to give written evidence and will not be required to attend in person.
  
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• Two dog walkers injured by stampeding cows

  09-06-2016 19:56
  
  One patient had to be airlifted to hospital by air ambulance.
  
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• X Factor Winner: 'Sheeran Lawsuit Not Mine'

  09-06-2016 19:41
  
  X Factor winner Matt Cardle has distanced himself from a multimillion-pound lawsuit involving his songwriters and Ed Sheeran. Sheeran is being sued for more than $20m (£13.8m) by Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard. They allege his 2014 summer hit Photograph "exploited" Cardle's 2012 single Amazing, which they wrote, on a "breathtaking scale".
  
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• Toyota mulls legal action against Brexit group for logo use

  09-06-2016 19:06
  Carmaker Toyota said it could make a legal complaint against the official Brexit campaign for using its logo in leaflets, which the Japanese firm said might give the impression it backed Britain leaving the EU. On one "Vote Leave" flyer, Toyota's logo appeared next to those of five other major companies including Unilever and automakers Nissan and Vauxhall with the message: "Major employers ... have all said they'll stay in the UK whatever the result of the referendum." Toyota, which built more
  
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• We Are Here: the women making a difference in the Middle East – video

  09-06-2016 17:45
  
  Watch a clip of the United Nations’ five-part documentary series #WeAreHere. The films highlight the crucial social and political work of women in the conflict and post-conflict states of Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestine and YemenUN campaign highlights unsung work of women in peace-buildingContinue reading...
  
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• Kayleigh Haywood 'Held Against Will' Before Murder

  09-06-2016 17:45
  
  A teenage girl was raped and murdered after fleeing partially clothed from the home of a man who groomed her on Facebook, a court has heard. Kayleigh Haywood, 15, was killed on farmland near the house in Ibstock, Leicestershire, in November last year. Landscape gardener Stephen Beadman, 29, has admitted raping and murdering her.
  
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• Families Welcome 'Damning' Report On NI Murders

  09-06-2016 16:50
  
  Families of six men murdered by loyalist gunmen in a Northern Ireland pub have hailed a watchdog's investigation, saying it finally delivers "the truth". A report by Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire has exposed significant police collusion with the gunmen who killed six people and wounded five others. Two Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen burst into the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co Down, when it was packed with customers watching the Republic of Ireland play Italy in
  
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• Brexit Defector: Leave Know NHS Claim Untrue

  09-06-2016 16:31
  
  Brexit defector Dr Sarah Wollaston has told Sky News that Vote Leave knew its £350m NHS claim was "untrue" but dismissed her concerns by saying it "gets people talking". The Conservative MP and health select committee chair said she repeatedly told senior Leave colleagues that it was a lie to suggest Brexit would mean an extra £350m a week for the NHS. As a result, she said, she refused to hand out leaflets or get on board the Vote Leave battle bus with it emblazoned o
  
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• Record Export Surge Gives Boost For Economy

  09-06-2016 16:07
  
  UK exports surged in April, helping to narrow the trade deficit and offering hope of a brighter outlook in the months to come. By value, these rose by £2.2bn, or 9.1%, to £26.1bn, the fastest pace since January 2003, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. It helped Britain's overall trade deficit - the gap between all imports and exports - to narrow by about £200m to £3.3bn, a seven-month low.
  
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• Seagull Dyed Orange After Falling Into Curry Vat

  09-06-2016 16:02
  
  A seagull was dyed bright orange after he plunged into a vat of chicken tikka masala at a food factory in Wales. He was rescued by staff and picked up to be cleaned by a volunteer for Vale Wildlife Hospital near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. Washing up liquid was used to remove the bright orange pigment from his feathers - but it failed to wash away the smell of curry.
  
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• Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis reveals his thoughts on Brexit

  09-06-2016 15:23
  
  The festival founder gave five reasons why he wants Britain to stay in the EU.
  
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• 5,000 referendum ballot papers wrongly sent to people ineligible to vote

  09-06-2016 15:07
  
  Well, this is awkward…
  
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• Moby webchat – post your questions now

  09-06-2016 14:13
  
  The musician, memoirist and vegan restauranteur is joining us to answer your questions in a live webchat from 7pm BST on Monday 13 June – post them in the comments below 1.12pm BSTMoby’s 1998 Play sold over ten million copies. It was also the first album to have every track licensed for commercial use - making its mash up of old blues tunes and chunky breakbeats almost ubiquitous - and the vegan Christian behind it a multimillionaire. He narrates his rocky path to success in a new me
  
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• Aiden Webb: Body Found In Hunt For Briton

  09-06-2016 13:56
  
  The body of a British backpacker who went missing in northern Vietnam has been found by a team who were searching for him, according to local reports. Aiden Webb, from Norwich, had been travelling with his girlfriend, Bluebell Baughan, when the experienced climber set off on his own to conquer the country's tallest mountain, Fansipan, last Friday. Vietnam's state run news agency said a rescue team found the 22-year-old's body less than a mile from a cable car system to the summit on Thursday mor
  
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• Blair and Major warn Brexit would threaten UK unity

  09-06-2016 13:50
  Tony Blair and John Major warned on Thursday a vote to leave the European Union on June 23 would jeopardise the unity of the United Kingdom by undermining peace in Northern Ireland and bolstering the Scottish independence movement. Speaking together in Northern Ireland, the two former British prime ministers, who both played important roles in the province's peace process in the 1990s, warned that unity was effectively on the ballot paper. "Throw away the membership of Europe and don't be surpri
  
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• 'There's a jelly gun that squirts hot jelly’: 10 of your worst summer jobs

  09-06-2016 13:45
  
  Escaped armadillos, plastic coathangers and sophisticated pork pie jelly guns - the pick of our readers’ terrible holiday job stories
  As it’s that time of year, some of our writers shared stories of their most terrible summer jobs. In the comments, our readers responded in kind - though actually, some of the jobs sounded pretty good. This reader clearly very much enjoyed being an ice cream driver, and a job where you’re not actually expected to do anything for seven weeks sound
  
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• Brexit Would 'Tear Apart UK' - Former PMs

  09-06-2016 13:43
  
  Sir John Major has warned that Brexit could "tear apart the UK" and trigger instability in Northern Ireland. Speaking alongside Tony Blair in Northern Ireland, Sir John said it would be a "historic mistake" to do anything that would undermine the peace settlement. In a significant moment in the campaign, with the two old adversaries alongside each other, the former Conservative prime minister said relations had never been better and he worried about a British exit that would "leave Ireland on th
  
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• Can you tell one crisp flavour from another? – video

  09-06-2016 13:33
  
  Crisps! Everyone has their favourites, from salt and vinegar to roast chicken, prawn cocktail to cheese and onion. But how much are our preferences for those allegedly delicious flavours influenced by clever packaging and suggestive naming? We tested this by asking people to sit a blindfolded taste test. Identifying one crisp flavour from another sounds easy, right?Neuro cuisine: exploring the science of flavourContinue reading...
  
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• Betting odds indicate 78 percent probability of UK voting to stay in EU - Betfair

  09-06-2016 13:25
  The implied probability of a British vote to stay in the European Union on June 23 rose at least two percentage points on Thursday to 78 percent, according to betting odds supplied by Betfair. Earlier this week, betting odds indicated a 72 percent probability of an in vote. While betting odds have consistently indicated an In vote, opinion pollsters have so far painted contradictory pictures of how Britons will vote.
  
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• Murder Manhunt: Appeal Over Suspect's Car

  09-06-2016 12:59
  
  Police investigating the disappearance of Sylvia Stuart and the murder of her husband Peter have released pictures of the car used by the man they want to trace. Suffolk detectives are working with international police forces to track down Ali Qazimaj, 42, who has been living in the Tilbury area of Essex. Police say Qazimaj was at the Port of Dover Ferry Terminal at around 6.30pm on Saturday 4 June.
  
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• Fans from all 24 countries share their hopes and expectations for Euro 2016

  09-06-2016 12:46
  
  Readers from the 24 countries taking part provide the inside track on their teams: players to watch, reasons for optimism and memories of previous tournamentsJean-Noel Calon is a 55-year-old from a family of fishermen in Boulogne, Northern France.Continue reading...
  
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• What was it like before the Clean Air Act of 1956? Share your memories

  09-06-2016 12:38
  
  Sixty years on since the introduction of measures to reduce air pollution we’d like to hear your smog recollections
  In 1952 the great smog of London saw a week-long pea-souper take over the capital which contributed to the deaths of at least 4,000 people. In response to the disaster, the government passed the Clean Air Act of 1956 aimed at reducing air pollutants.
  Recently, the new mayor of London Sadiq Khan unveiled plans to substantially increase the size of London’s clean air char
  
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• Why 24 is an awful number for a knockout tournament – Euro 2016 video

  09-06-2016 12:34
  
  Euro 2016 will be the largest iteration of the tournament to date, with 24 teams competing. But has Uefa tripped up? There’s an 87% chance of qualifying with three 0-0 draws. So rather than making a more exciting tournament, has Uefa encouraged caution? And with the best four third-placed teams qualifying for the round of 16, does that just add confusion?Euro 2016 venues guide: all you need to know – videoContinue reading...
  
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• Huckle: UK 'Held Back Information' On Paedophile

  09-06-2016 12:32
  
  Malaysia's police chief has said UK detectives were unable to provide enough information to allow them to investigate paedophile Richard Huckle. Responding to concern that Malaysia failed to act on a tip-off in 2014, Khalid Abu Bakar said British officials could not provide detailed information because Malaysia reserves the death penalty. "That was our main obstacle when dealing with European countries because, by law, they are unable to cooperate with us because we carry out capital punishment,
  
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• House Prices Expected To See Short Term Dip

  09-06-2016 12:08
  
  House prices are expected to see a short-term fall over the next few months for the first time in nearly four years, according to a poll of surveyors. Shares in house builders such as Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley, Persimmon and Bellway fell in the wake of the survey - the latter despite an update in which it said it had seen a "positive trading environment" with no noticeable effect from this month's poll. According to the RICS poll, for the first time since November 2012 a majority of members q
  
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• Argos Owner Faces £30m Bill For Overcharging

  09-06-2016 12:08
  
  Argos owner Home Retail Group is setting aside at least £30m in compensation after admitting thousands of store card customers were overcharged. They are expected to receive compensation of up to £100 each and Home Retail will write to affected customers in the next few weeks. It said its financial services division had discovered it "had erroneously collected excess fees in relation to the late payment of amounts due from certain customers".
  
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• Readers recommend playlist: songs about bodily fluids

  09-06-2016 12:00
  
  You had fun picking the tunes and our reader pored over them to select the best for this list – from Peaches to Andrew W.K.
  Below is this week’s playlist – the theme and tunes picked by a reader from the comments on last week’s callout. Thanks for your suggestions. Read more about the format of the weekly Readers Recommend series at the end of the piece.Human beings, like all animals, are, basically, a big bag of gloop covered in skin. We leak, therefore we are. Here is a
  
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• Taxi Driver Denies Murdering Becky Godden

  09-06-2016 11:58
  
  A taxi driver has denied killing a 20-year-old prostitute whose body was found in a shallow grave eight years after she vanished. Christopher Halliwell pleaded not guilty to the murder of Becky Godden between 1 January, 2003 and 4 April, 2008, at a plea hearing at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday. The father-of-three, who previously lived in Swindon, was charged by Wiltshire Police on 30 March.
  
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• EU In Or Out? Put Your Questions To Corbyn

  09-06-2016 11:32
  
  How do you fancy putting a question to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn ahead of the EU referendum on 23 June?
  
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• George Soros says expects support for In to rise ahead of Britain's EU referendum - WSJ

  09-06-2016 11:19
  George Soros said he was confident that support for Britain to remain in the European Union would rise ahead of the June 23 vote, the Wall Street Journal reported. Soros told the Journal there remained a good chance that the European Union will collapse due to the migration crisis, challenges in Greece and a potential British exit from the EU. "If Britain leaves, it could unleash a general exodus, and the disintegration of the European Union will become practically unavoidable," Soros told the J
  
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• MP withdraws support for 'Out' campaign over EU argument

  09-06-2016 11:07
  A senior lawmaker in Britain's ruling Conservative Party said on Thursday she was withdrawing her support for a campaign to leave the European Union over its "shameful" argument that an exit would boost funding for health. In a blow to the "Out" campaign, which has been gaining in polls before a referendum on EU membership on June 23, lawmaker Sarah Wollaston said leaders of Vote Leave had "knowingly placed a financial lie at the heart of their campaign".
  
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• UK trade deficit narrows in April after goods exports jump to three-year high

  09-06-2016 10:33
  Britain's trade deficit narrowed more sharply than expected in April after a record monthly jump in goods exports, offering a hint that a weak recent trade performance may be turning a corner. The Office for National Statistics said Britain's total trade deficit narrowed to 3.294 billion pounds in April from an downwardly revised 3.532 billion pounds in March, its lowest level since September 2015. Britain's large current account deficit hit a record 7.0 percent of the economy in late 2015, whic
  
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• Amazon has launched a fresh food delivery service

  09-06-2016 10:31
  
  AmazonFresh is available from today.
  
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• Tory MP Sarah Wollaston swaps sides from Brexit to the Remain camp over 'financial lie'

  09-06-2016 10:06
  
  DR Wollaston said she would feel “a profound sense of that something had been lost and guilt” if the result of the referendum was to leave.
  
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• Blair and Major to warn Brexit threatens unity of United Kingdom - BBC

  09-06-2016 09:14
  Tony Blair and John Major will say on Thursday that a vote to leave the European Union on June 23 would jeopardise the unity of the United Kingdom by undermining the peace in Northern Ireland and stoking calls for Scottish independence. Speaking together in Northern Ireland, the two former British prime ministers will warn that the "unity of the UK itself is on the ballot paper", the BBC reported. Major and Blair, who both played important roles in the Northern Ireland peace process in the 1990s
  
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• David Bowie in Baal, Alan Clarke's 1982 Bertolt Brecht adaptation – video

  09-06-2016 09:00
  
  In 1982, Scum director Alan Clarke cast David Bowie in an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s early play for the BBC. Baal was Brecht’s first full length play, written in 1918 (reworked in 1926). Bowie stars as the title character, an outcast poet/musician who has a series of affairs and is involved in a killing. Bowie, who had recently performed in The Elephant Man on Broadway, acted and sang the lead role, alongside a cast that included Jonathan Kent and Zoë Wanamaker. This exclusi
  
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• Gender gap in higher education 'reaches record levels'

  09-06-2016 08:42
  
  Figures show that women were more than a third more likely to go to university than men in 2015.
  
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• Brexit MP Defects Over 'Untrue' NHS Claims

  09-06-2016 08:38
  
  Ms Wollaston, who is also chairwoman of the Commons Health Select Committee, later tweeted that she believes the NHS will in fact be "safer" if the UK votes to remain. "Having listened carefully to both sides of the debate, I believe our NHS & research will be safer if Britain remains in the EU," she said. "If I woke on the 24th June to the news that Britain had voted to leave the EU, I would feel a sense of loss rather than freedom.
  
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• London appetite for gold bars, coins rises on Brexit nerves

  09-06-2016 08:37
  By Jan Harvey LONDON (Reuters) - At Sharps Pixley, a gold showroom in London's smart Mayfair district, demand for bullion bars and coins is rising, with men and women of all ages buying up the safe-haven metal in case of a British exit from the European Union. Shoppers can walk out of the sleek St James's Street showroom carrying their gold investments, or leave them in the rows of safety deposit boxes that line the walls. Sales have picked up since the latest polls suggested that the 'leave' ca
  
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• Betting odds indicate 76 percent probability of UK voting to stay in EU - Betfair

  09-06-2016 08:26
  The implied probability of a British vote to stay in the European Union on June 23 rose to 75.8 percent on Thursday, according to betting odds supplied by Betfair. Earlier this week, betting odds indicated a 72 percent probability of an in vote. While betting odds have consistently indicated an In vote, opinion pollsters have so far painted contradictory pictures of how Britons will vote.
  
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• Flood-Prone Areas Facing 'Unacceptable Risk'

  09-06-2016 08:24
  
  The warning comes in a report which claims that flood defences are getting worse because of a lack of investment and that the country is still without a proper plan for dealing with future damage. A cross-party group of MPs also accuses the Government of leaving vulnerable communities at the mercy of a short-term approach to climate change. "That leads to inefficient flood defences, it means that the state of the flood defences we already have can fall into disrepair and that presents an unaccep
  
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• Sheeran Sued For 'Copying' X Factor Winner's Song

  09-06-2016 08:19
  
  Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is facing a $20m (£13.8m) lawsuit for allegedly copying a song released by X Factor winner Matt Cardle. The songwriters behind Cardle's 2011 single Amazing claim Sheeran "exploited" their work on a "breathtaking scale" for his 2015 hit Photograph. The copyright infringement lawsuit, filed in California by Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard, alleges Photograph has the same musical composition as Amazing, which in some instances amounts to "note-for-n
  
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• Undecided voters see Brexit making them worse off - survey

  09-06-2016 04:27
  Britons still undecided on how they will vote in a referendum on EU membership think they would be 71 pounds a year worse off if Britain quits the bloc, a survey said, suggesting the "Leave" camp faces a bigger challenge than the "Remain" side. Undecided voters, on average, estimated that households would be 181 pounds worse off per annum five years after a vote to leave the EU, compared with a hit of 110 pounds if Britain decided to stay, the survey showed. Eighteen percent of the 3,000 respond
  
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