General news

• Inspired Hart earns sloppy England a point in Slovenia

  11-10-2016 23:45
  England were indebted to inspired keeper Joe Hart as they stumbled to a 0-0 draw in Slovenia in World Cup qualifying Group F on Tuesday -- a result which ended their 14-game winning sequence in qualifying matches. Hart on loan with Torino after falling out of favour at Manchester City, was by far England's most impressive player as he made several fine saves to keep out a vibrant home side. With captain Wayne Rooney watching from the bench until the 73rd minute after being dropped by interim man
  
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• Someone left their speech for the Irish Budget in the loo

  11-10-2016 22:52
  
  Oopsie.
  
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• MPs debated commissioning a royal yacht and it raised a few eyebrows from the public

  11-10-2016 22:42
  
  The proposed yacht was touted as a spearhead for post-Brexit trade talks.
  
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• Arise Sir Roderick - Singer Rod Stewart gets a knighthood

  11-10-2016 21:49
  Pop singer Rod Stewart can now call himself Sir Roderick. The London-born singer, whose career includes such hits as "Maggie May," "You Wear It Well" and "Tonight's the Night," was knighted by Prince William at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday for his services to music and charity after more than 50 years in show business. It's mind-blowing," Stewart, 71, told reporters afterward.
  
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• Everything you need to know from the Irish budget

  11-10-2016 21:19
  
  There’s good news for childcare, changes to housing – and a Brexit safety net.
  
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• Boris Johnson calls for protests at Russian embassy over Syria bombing

  11-10-2016 20:55
  
  Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has called for "demonstrations outside the Russian embassy" over its bombing of targets in Syria. Britain's most senior diplomat was talking during an emergency debate in Parliament over the crisis engulfing the country, in particular Aleppo. Russia has been accused of attacking civilians in Aleppo, with the ancient part of the city said to have just weeks left if the bombardment continues.
  
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• Company in China 'makes female workers kiss their boss every day'

  11-10-2016 20:00
  
  The manager said the practice is a bonding exercise.
  
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• Southern Rail agrees fresh talks with RMT over conductor strike

  11-10-2016 19:59
  Southern Rail has agreed to hold fresh talks with the Rail, Maritime and Transport union in a bid to resolve a dispute over the role of conductors. Charles Horton, chief executive of Southern's owners, Govia Thameslink Railway, has written to the leader of the RMT saying he will meet him on Wednesday. It comes as passengers travelling on Southern Rail had their journeys badly disrupted by both an RMT strike and overrunning engineering works.
  
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• 'Sky Blue' diamond seen fetching $25 million at auction

  11-10-2016 19:17
  A rare "fancy vivid blue" diamond ring goes on display in London this week ahead of a November auction where it is seen fetching up to $25 million (20.62 million pound). The stone, named "The Sky Blue Diamond", weighs 8.01 carats and is mounted on a ring by jeweller Cartier. "It really is the colour of a summer sky with this beautiful brilliance and subtlety about the stone," said David Bennett, worldwide chairman of Sotheby's International jewellery division.
  
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• Worst four days since June pushes sterling to $1.22

  11-10-2016 18:36
  The past four days were the pound's worst since the aftermath of the vote to leave the European Union in June, and Bank of England policymaker Michael Saunders warned a "bumpy" Brexit could sharply reduce British economic growth. "Given the scale and persistence of the UK's current account deficit, I would not be surprised if sterling falls further, but I am fairly agnostic as to whether any further depreciation is likely," Saunders told lawmakers in a written submission. Like other Bank of Engl
  
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• Exclusive - In Britain, some pro-Europe MPs now back EU divorce talks: Reuters poll

  11-10-2016 18:23
  By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - A number of members of parliament who opposed a British exit from the European Union in June's referendum would now back a start of formal divorce proceedings from the bloc - provided parliament gets to decide at all, a Reuters poll showed. Results of the online survey opened the possibility that Prime Minister Theresa May might be able to win a vote in what has been a predominantly pro-EU parliament, although her government remains determined to prevent suc
  
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• Electronics company Fujitsu announces up to 1,800 UK job losses

  11-10-2016 17:57
  Japanese electronics company Fujitsu has informed its workers that up to 1,800 jobs could be set to go in the UK. Fujitsu, which headquartered in Tokyo and is best known for its computing products, employs 14,000 people in the UK and Ireland. The Unite union condemned the news, saying it was a "hammer blow" for employees who had worked hard to make the company's UK subsidiary a success.
  
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• Ched Evans' accuser 'used same phrase' in sex with another man

  11-10-2016 17:51
  A man who slept with Ched Evans' accuser two weeks after she was allegedly raped by the footballer has told a court that she used the same phrase during sex with him. Under cross-examination, the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he was aware of a website offering a £50,000 reward for information leading to Evans' acquittal.
  
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• UK, China agree deal to more than double number of flights - PM May's spokesman

  11-10-2016 17:47
  The British and Chinese governments have agreed a deal to increase the number of flights between the two countries to 200 per week from 80, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Tuesday. The two governments also agreed to remove the limit on the number of cargo flights between Britain and China, and lift restrictions on the number of destinations airlines can serve within each country, he said. Under the new deal on passenger flights, the transport ministry said it would increase the "c
  
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• Police feared England fan deaths in 'Battle of Marseille' at Euro 2016

  11-10-2016 17:43
  
  British police feared five England fans would die from injuries sustained during "barbaric" clashes with Russian supporters in Marseille on the opening weekend of Euro 2016. In exclusive interviews with Sky News, specialist officers deployed in France have given first-hand accounts of shocking clashes which left scores of supporters hurt and several with life-threatening injuries. The police spotters compared the scenes to a "battlefield" and said the violence was the most extreme and brutal the
  
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• A duchess and a new royal yacht - the future of British trade diplomacy?

  11-10-2016 17:35
  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - As Britain sets sail in uncharted waters on the lookout for post-Brexit trade deals, members of parliament and a former diplomat have earmarked two key weapons: the Duchess of Cambridge and a new royal yacht. Following the vote in June for Britain to leave the European Union, and with the government facing the tricky task of securing new trade agreements, some 100 MPs from Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party have called for ministers to back the c
  
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• London Mayor Sadiq Khan warns against 'irresponsible hard Brexit'

  11-10-2016 16:31
  
  London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned the Government that a departure from the single market would be "deeply irresponsible". In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry, Mr Khan urged ministers to be "on the side of business" in Article 50 negotiations and claimed a "hard Brexit" would be the "wrong approach" for the UK. Mr Khan's warning comes as leaked Government papers suggest a departure from the single market would cost the UK up to £66bn in tax revenue
  
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• Sir Rod Stewart promises to wear his knighthood well

  11-10-2016 16:28
  Rod Stewart has said he is on "cloud nine" after receiving his knighthood from the Duke of Cambridge. The 71-year-old, who was awarded the honour in recognition of his services to music and charity, said of meeting Prince William: "We talked about music and he said: 'It's great that you're still going' and I said: 'I have to - I've got eight children!'.
  
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• Theresa May's local council to fight Heathrow expansion bid

  11-10-2016 16:20
  
  A local authority which encompasses Theresa May's constituency is to fight any Government moves to expand Heathrow Airport. Councillor Simon Dudley, Conservative leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, said his council would spend up to £50,000 funding a judicial review if a third runway is allowed to go ahead. Three neighbouring authorities, including Hillingdon - which comprises Boris Johnson's constituency - Richmond, and Wandsworth, have also pledged a combined total of
  
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• Driverless car tested on UK streets for the first time

  11-10-2016 16:13
  By Costas Pitas MILTON KEYNES, England (Reuters) - With the steering wheel turning on its own and radar and camera technology guiding it, a driverless car took to Britain's streets for the first time on Tuesday, as part of trials aimed at getting autonomous vehicles onto the roads by 2020. The electric-powered pod - like a small two-seater car - navigated its way around a pedestrianised area in the southern English town of Milton Keynes at 5 miles (8km) per hour, turning corners and stopping as
  
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• Watch as a London bus driver nudges a cyclist off her bike for not 'hanging back'

  11-10-2016 15:24
  
  “Another success story of the ‘Hang Back’ campaign.”
  
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• How to get into Oxford

  11-10-2016 14:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  What are the types of questions facing students applying for places at Oxford University? And what are they intended to find out?
  
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• FTSE 100 hits record high as pound weakens below $1.23

  11-10-2016 14:27
  
  A further weakening of sterling has helped push the FTSE 100 to a record high during trading on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 consists largely of export-dominated multi-nationals which make the bulk of their sales in dollars - making the stocks of such firms more attractive when those sales are converted back to pounds. The new record for the FTSE was marked as sterling slid back below $1.23 - with more bloodshed for the currency seen likely in the wake of the so-called 'flash crash' last Friday am
  
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• Footballer Ched Evans tells rape retrial he 'wouldn't hurt a girl'

  11-10-2016 14:27
  Footballer Ched Evans has told a court that he "wouldn't hurt a girl" as he denied a rape allegation against him. The former Manchester City player insisted a 19-year-old did consent to him "joining in" as she had sex with his friend in a North Wales hotel room in 2011. The 27-year-old Evans is accused of having sex with the girl when she was too intoxicated to consent.
  
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• Who's laughing?

  11-10-2016 14:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  As the craze to dress up as a clown and spread fear appears to be gathering pace in the UK, we hear how it is affecting schoolchildren, police officers and even professional clowns.
  
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• Today teenage girls are taking over some of the world's top jobs

  11-10-2016 14:09
  
  Who run the world?
  
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• Southern Rail strike and engineering works disrupt commuters

  11-10-2016 14:06
  
  Passengers travelling on Southern Rail have had their journeys badly disrupted by both a strike and overrunning engineering works. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are holding a three-day strike in protest at the removal of conductors from trains. Services have been cut by a third and engineering works between Brighton and Gatwick Airport meant trains were cancelled or delayed by up to an hour.
  
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• British MP likens Russia's behaviour in Syria to that of Nazis

  11-10-2016 14:05
  A senior British member of parliament has accused Russia of targeting civilians in Syria in the same way the Nazis behaved at Guernica during the Spanish civil war of the 1930s. Andrew Mitchell, a lawmaker in Prime Minister Theresa May's ruling Conservatives and a former Secretary of State for International Development, said an attack last month on a United Nations relief convoy near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo was a war crime committed by Russian forces. Some 20 people were killed in the
  
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• Russians in Syria 'act like Nazis in Guernica'

  11-10-2016 13:53
  Russia is behaving in Syria as the Nazis did during the bombing of Guernica in Spain in 1937, according to Tory MP Andrew Mitchell. Mr Mitchell accused Moscow of "shredding the international rules-based system of law", ahead of an urgent Commons debate on the humanitarian situation in Aleppo. The former international development secretary compared the Kremlin's role in the conflict to that of the Nazis during the Spanish Civil War over Russia's part in the siege of the eastern cit
  
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• UK 'most affordable' luxury market in world

  11-10-2016 13:29
  
  The UK has become the most affordable market for luxury goods in the world but shoppers from overseas may only have a limited time to cash in, it is claimed. Analysis by Deloitte said the UK topped the affordability stakes in the immediate aftermath of the country's vote to leave the EU in June - occasionally losing ground because of currency movements. Its research highlighted several examples - including a Louis Vuitton speedy 30 handbag costing shoppers visiting the UK $802 when converted to
  
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• Bailey Gwynne stabbing: Death of Aberdeen schoolboy 'avoidable'

  11-10-2016 13:18
  The death of a schoolboy could have been avoided if staff were warned his killer carried weapons, an independent review has found. Bailey Gwynne, 16, died from a knife wound to the chest after a "trivial" school corridor fight at Cults Academy in Aberdeen last October. The trial also heard that Bailey's death stemmed from a row about a biscuit.
  
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• Doctors can withhold 'aggressive' treatment for baby's mystery illness

  11-10-2016 13:01
  A High Court judge has ruled that doctors can withhold "highly invasive" medical treatment for a baby suffering from an unknown illness. Mr Justice Mostyn explained the background to the case saying the baby, who suffers from an "undiagnosed neurodegenerative disorder", is the fifth child of a couple originally from Iraq.
  
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• Getting best Brexit deal for banks 'absolute priority' - UK minister

  11-10-2016 12:30
  By William James and Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Getting the best deal for the City of London will be an "absolute priority" in Brexit trade talks with the European Union, Britain's financial services minister said on Tuesday, promising to engage constructively with the industry. Britain is due to begin formal exit negotiations with the EU, likely to take two years, by the end of March to reshape the relationship with its biggest trading partner. British Prime Minister Theresa May last week app
  
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• Samsung permanently scraps Galaxy Note7 over safety concerns

  11-10-2016 12:09
  
  It comes after reports of phones overheating and catching fire.
  
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• Lloyd's of London Chairman says City will be damaged if Brexit mishandled

  11-10-2016 11:22
  Insurance market Lloyd's of London Chairman John Nelson said on Tuesday that Britain's financial services ecosystem will be severly damaged if Brexit is mishandled. "The ecosystem that we have, that is so massively valuable to the economy...is at a cusp if Brexit is mishandled," Nelson told delegates at a conference in London. "It won't disappear but it will have significant impact on the London insurance market." Nelson told Reuters last month Lloyd's of London would have a plan ready to move s
  
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• UK minister says getting best Brexit deal for banks an "absolute priority"

  11-10-2016 11:13
  Getting the best deal for the City of London will be an "absolute priority" in Brexit trade talks with the European Union, Britain's financial services minister said on Tuesday, promising to engage constructively with the industry. Banks are worried that their ability to offer services across the EU from a base in London will end once Britain leaves the EU, crimping the City of London's role as the world's top financial centre. Financial services minister Simon Kirby said maintaining Britain as
  
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• Baby Imogen is youngest to have double lung transplant operation

  11-10-2016 11:09
  A baby girl from Brighton has become the youngest person in Britain to have a double lung transplant after receiving a pair of lungs just six inches long. Imogen Bolton was just five-and-a-half months old and 9lb 15oz when she had the life-saving operation. The disorder means tiny blood vessels in the lungs do not develop properly, causing serious breathing problems and a lack of oxygen in the blood that makes the heart work harder.
  
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• Even a Trump Twitter parody account doesn't find him funny any more

  11-10-2016 11:07
  
  RIP @ArtHouseTrump.
  
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• It's International Day Of The Girl Child - but what exactly is it?

  11-10-2016 10:53
  
  This year’s theme is “Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress.”
  
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• Musical Phantom Of The Opera celebrates its 30th anniversary

  11-10-2016 10:49
  The Phantom Of The Opera, one of the world's most successful musicals, has celebrated its 30th anniversary. Creator Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer Cameron Mackintosh delighted audiences on Monday night as cast members pulled back the curtain to reveal them on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre in London's West End. Original star Michael Crawford joined actors Ben Forster and Michael Ball and others in a special finale performance that had been kept secret from the audience.
  
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• Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton duetting a Dirty Dancing song is the only version of the debate worth watching

  11-10-2016 10:46
  
  Say hello to the modern day Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.
  
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• MP Andrew Mitchell likens Russia's behaviour in Syria to that of Nazis

  11-10-2016 10:43
  A senior British lawmaker has accused Russia of targeting civilians in Syria in the same way the Nazis behaved at Guernica during the Spanish civil war of the 1930s. Andrew Mitchell, a lawmaker in Prime Minister Theresa May's ruling Conservatives and a former Secretary of State for International Development, said an attack last month on a United Nations relief convoy near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo was a war crime committed by Russian forces. Some 20 people were killed in the attack on t
  
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• Strikes and engineering work spell more misery for Southern Rail passengers

  11-10-2016 10:39
  
  Nothing like a morning commute where you feel like a sardine.
  
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• Truth, fires and tumble dryers: Are our home appliances safe?

  11-10-2016 10:38 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Whirlpool is facing a cacophony of calls to improve its response to a tumble dryer fire risk. A BBC News investigation has delved into the sequence of events.
  
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• EuroMillions players told to buy tickets early for Tuesday's draw

  11-10-2016 10:26
  Camelot is advising EuroMillions players to purchase tickets early for tonight's £149m draw, after a last minute rush for tickets on Friday caused its website to crash. The lottery operator says it expects another sudden rush to buy tickets ahead of this evening's EuroMillions draw, which has an estimated rollover jackpot of around £149m. "This is a service message to let you know that we expect to see high volumes of visitors to The National Lottery website and app in the hours
  
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• Muscial Phantom Of The Opera celebrates its 30th anniversary

  11-10-2016 09:45
  The Phantom Of The Opera, one of the world's most successful musicals, has celebrated its 30th anniversary. Creator Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer Cameron Mackintosh delighted audiences on Monday night as cast members pulled back the curtain to reveal them on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre in London's West End. Original star Michael Crawford joined actors Ben Forster and Michael Ball and others in a special finale performance that had been kept secret from the audience.
  
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• GP receptionists 'need to deal with patients more sensitively'

  11-10-2016 09:34
  Receptionists could put people off seeing their doctor by inquiring about their symptoms, and need to deal "more sensitively with patients", a study has found. The survey, published in the Journal of Public Health, found that 37% of men and 43% of women dislike having to talk to a GP receptionist about their illnesses. About 42% of people said they found it difficult to get an appointment with a particular doctor or to get an appointment at a convenient time.
  
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• Helen's Law to be debated by MPs amid calls to deny killers parole

  11-10-2016 09:09
  
  At a Commons debate, politicians will be urged to vote for 'Helen's Law', which would deny prisoners the chance of freedom until they co-operate with investigators. It is named after Helen McCourt, who was abducted and killed by Ian Simms in 1988 near Wigan. Although his application to be released from jail has been rejected, the Parole Board has recommended Simms be transferred to an open prison.
  
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• Driverless vehicle to be tested on UK streets for the first time

  11-10-2016 09:02
  A driverless vehicle carrying passengers will take to Britain's public roads for the first time on Tuesday, as part of trials aimed at paving the way for autonomous cars to hit the highways by the end of the decade. The government is encouraging technology companies, carmakers and start-ups to develop and test their autonomous driving technologies in Britain, aiming to build an industry to serve a worldwide market which it forecasts could be worth around 900 billion pounds by 2025. Earlier this
  
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• Aussie opposition party has blocked plans for a public vote on gay marriage

  11-10-2016 08:54
  
  Labour argues the issue should be decided in Parliament.
  
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