General news

• Hundreds flee homes as water main floods north London streets

  11-12-2016 23:54
  People in 150 properties were forced to flee their homes after a water main burst on a north London street. The 30-inch pipe sent thousands of gallons of water into the homes and businesses in Stoke Newington on Sunday. Meanwhile, people were sent to Stoke Newington Town Hall, where a rest centre was set-up.
  
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• England seal Cape Town sevens after South Africa miss final-kick conversion

  11-12-2016 23:40 via theguardian.com
  
  • England win 19-17 in final of second round of World Rugby Sevens Series
  • Australia’s disappointing weekend ends with ‘consolation’ loss to ArgentinaEngland beat South Africa 19-17 in Cape Town to win the second round of the 2016-17 World Rugby Sevens Series after Justin Geduld missed a conversion for the hosts with the last kick of the final.Chris Dry got the Blitzboks off to a flyer, finishing off a fine move from halfway to touch down in the corner. Branco du Pre
  
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• Matt Terry wins X Factor 2016

  11-12-2016 23:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Matt Terry wins X Factor 2016, beating Saara Aalto in the final of the singing competition.
  
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• IMF's Christine Lagarde 'confident' as trial begins

  11-12-2016 23:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Former French finance minister accused of negligence leading to misuse of public funds over payout to Bernard TapieThe International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, said she was confident she had done nothing wrong on the eve of a court hearing about a state payout in 2008 to a French businessman. Lagarde is due to stand trial on Monday over her role in a €400m (£335m) payment to Bernard Tapie when she was France’s finance minister in the government o
  
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• Netanyahu aims to discuss 'various ways' to undo Iran deal with Trump

  11-12-2016 22:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Israeli prime minister tells CBS he has ‘about five’ options in mind as he hopes to undo nuclear agreement after president-elect takes officeThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said he means to discuss with Donald Trump “various ways” to undo the Iran nuclear deal, after the president-elect moves into the White House next month. Related: Intelligence figures fear Trump reprisals over assessment of Russia election roleContinue reading...
  
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• FA suspends Crewe Alexandra director of football Dario Gradi

  11-12-2016 22:19
  
  Crewe director of football Dario Gradi has been suspended by the FA as part of its wider review into historical allegations in football. Sky News spoke to Mr Gradi at his home on Sunday. Crewe Alexandra chairman John Bowler has declined to comment on Mr Gradi's suspension.
  
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• Romania's left takes big lead in parliamentary election – exit polls

  11-12-2016 22:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Social Democrats thought to have about 45% of vote, with leader Liviu Dragnea serving suspended sentence for voter fraudTwo exit polls gave Romania’s left-leaning Social Democrats a big lead in a parliamentary election, a year after a major anti-corruption drive forced the last socialist prime minister from power.The Social Democratic party scored about 45% while the center-right Liberals came second with about 21% of the vote, according to polling institute CURS-Avangarde and the Romanian
  
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• NHS England sending anorexic patients to Scotland for treatment

  11-12-2016 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Mental health experts voice concern over growing trend and say it could increase vulnerable patients’ chances of dyingThe NHS in England is sending patients who are seriously ill with eating disorders to Scotland for treatment because chronic bed shortages mean they cannot be cared for in England.
  Vulnerable patients, mainly teenagers and young adults, are being taken hundreds of miles from their homes in order to receive residential care in Glasgow and near Edinburgh.Continue reading...
  
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• Manchester United’s Ander Herrera and Michael Carrick forge vital midfield axis | Jamie Jackson

  11-12-2016 21:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Spanish international and England veteran lay the foundations for Premier League victory over Tottenham at Old TraffordIn José Mourinho’s quest for the winning formula, he had at least found his midfield axis: Ander Herrera and Michael Carrick. As Manchester United hunted for a first three points since beating Swansea City on 6 November this match against Tottenham Hotspur was the fifth game the two players started together in the engine room and the second league outing in successi
  
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• Burst pipe leaves 150 north London homes under water

  11-12-2016 21:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Third flooding incident in London in a week sees 350 Stoke Newington residents forced to evacuateA burst water main has forced hundreds of residents to evacuate their homes in north London.About 350 people from 150 properties had to flee after a 30-inch pipe burst in Northwold Road, Stoke Newington, on Sunday, leaving nearby streets under 3ft (1 metre) of water. Continue reading...
  
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• Boris Johnson urged to promote human rights after Saudi Arabia gaffe

  11-12-2016 21:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Foreign secretary, who accused UK ally of regional ‘puppeteering’ before highlighting ‘friendship’, told not to go easy for fear of causing offence
  Boris Johnson is facing calls from fellow Conservatives not to brush aside human rights concerns after he used a visit to Saudi Arabia to stress the country’s links with the UK, with both countries playing down his criticism of Riyadh’s regional “puppeteering”.The British foreign secretary used a joint
  
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• Nigel Farage is not ‘controversial’ – he is toxic. Why do we keep giving him airtime? | Nesrine Malik

  11-12-2016 21:00 via theguardian.com
  
  That Farage is still invited on Question Time shows just how complicit the media have become in helping make his extreme views mainstreamA few weekends ago, if one had the misfortune of timing it so, it was possible to be reading a front-page story on how Nigel Farage feared for his life while listening to him on his two-hour weekly LBC radio show as he spoke about how he feared for his life, and watching a TV news bulletin reporting on how Nigel Farage feared for his life.It is sinister how eve
  
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• Can a change in economic policies cope with anger and alienation? | Letters

  11-12-2016 20:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Pankaj Mishra’s exposé of the poverty of economic man (Welcome to the age of anger, 8 December) is powerful but, among the “more complex drives” he lists, he omits “belonging” – key to understanding “identity politics”. Facing danger our instinct, like that of animals who herd, is to cling to the familiar and the group. Incomers may or may not be a realistic threat, but they are easily perceived to be in times of disturbing upheaval. This ne
  
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• The Guardian view on the fall of Aleppo: it will not end the suffering | Editorial

  11-12-2016 20:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Almost six years of war have devastated Syria. There is more to come, in spite of the Russian-backed regime’s military advancesThe fall of east Aleppo now appears imminent, pro-government forces having reclaimed almost all the rebel-held areas in days. It will be the beginning of the end for the Syrian rebels, who swept into the city in 2012, jubilant at the prospect of overthrowing Bashar al-Assad, but who in recent months have watched defeat approach inexorably. Russian airstrikes; the w
  
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• Boris Johnson urged to take up case of jailed Saudi Arabian blogger

  11-12-2016 20:26 via theguardian.com
  
  With the foreign secretary in Riyadh, international press freedom group calls on him to talk ‘at the highest possible levels’ about imprisoned journalistsThe international press freedom group, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), has written to foreign secretary Boris Johnson to air concerns about his current visit to Saudi Arabia.It urges Johnson to take up the case of jailed blogger Raif Badawi along with the plight of other journalists detained by a regime with one of the world
  
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• Ex-JLS singer Oritse Williams denies rape claim

  11-12-2016 20:25
  Former JLS singer Oritse Williams has denied an allegation that he raped a fan in a hotel room after a concert. Williams, 30, was arrested by police following a gig in Wolverhampton last week. In a statement, his representatives from 10 Worlds Music UK said: "All we wish to say at this time is that Oritse denies the allegations against him.
  
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• Man stabbed to death while commemorating friend killed a day earlier – reports

  11-12-2016 20:07 via theguardian.com
  
  BBC says man aged 38 was at a party celebrating the life of his friend, Martin Maughan, when he was attackedA man has reportedly been stabbed to death at a party held to celebrate the life of his friend who was the victim of a knife attack just 24 hours earlier.
  The 38-year-old man was found with stab wounds to his chest in Mill View Close, Sneinton, Nottinghamshire, in the early hours of Sunday. He later died of his injuries. Continue reading...
  
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• FA suspends Crewe director of football Dario Gradi

  11-12-2016 20:02
  
  Crewe director of football Dario Gradi has been suspended by the FA as part of its wider review into historical allegations in football. Sky News spoke to Mr Gradi at his home on Sunday. Crewe chairman John Bowler has declined to comment on Mr Gradi's suspension.
  
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• Martin Rowson on the row over Theresa May's leather trousers – cartoon

  11-12-2016 19:48 via theguardian.com
  
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• VW 'dieselgate' payout offer outrageously low, says Sadiq Khan

  11-12-2016 19:33 via theguardian.com
  
  London mayor urges government to take action, saying pledged settlement in emissions cheating scandal is far too low Sadiq Khan has called on the government to secure proper compensation from Volkswagen for the “dieselgate” scandal, saying the £1.1m pledged so far was outrageous. The London mayor said the settlement was far too low compared with the £12bn payout achieved by US authorities for VW’s use of sophisticated “defeat devices” to cheat emissions
  
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• Mermaid blankets – this year’s answer to the onesie

  11-12-2016 19:13 via theguardian.com
  
  They may not be entirely practical, but the fishy throw is already massive on social media, and there’s a lengthy waiting list to get your hands on one this ChristmasForget elves, Santa and reindeer – Christmas 2016 is all about the mermaid. Or, to put it more accurately, the mermaid blanket. Resembling a knitted sleeping bag with a fish-like tail, and available for children and adults, the mermaid blanket is this year’s answer to the slanket or the onesie.Sceptics might not ap
  
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• The Gambia: life goes on in Banjul as Yahya Jammeh clings to power

  11-12-2016 19:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Soldiers patrol streets of capital amid growing calls for peaceful transition after president’s rejection of election resultsSoldiers stood watch on the streets of the Gambia’s capital, Banjul, on Sunday as most residents went about daily life despite concerns after the president, Yahya Jammeh, said he would not accept election results that would force him to step down after 22 years in power.International and regional bodies and governments joined together over the weekend to call f
  
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• JonBenét Ramsey: the brutal child murder that still haunts America

  11-12-2016 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Twenty years on, the unsolved killing of this six-year-old beauty queen is being raked over in three new documentaries. Why did the case inspire such ghoulish hysteria, while her parents, like those of Madeleine McCann, were demonised and placed under suspicion?Such is the level of suspicion in this story that even the date of death is deemed proof of a conspiracy. Twenty years ago, JonBenét Ramsey, a six-year-old girl known for ever to the world by the uncomfortably adult poses she struc
  
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• British-Algerian journalist dies after hunger strike

  11-12-2016 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Mohamed Tamalt, who was imprisoned after sharing poem about Algerian president on Facebook, dies in hospitalA British-Algerian journalist has died after staging a hunger strike in protest against a two-year jail term for offending Algeria’s president in a poem posted online, according to his lawyer.“I can confirm the death of the journalist Mohamed Tamalt in Bab el-Oued hospital after a hunger strike of more than three months and a three-month coma,” Amine Sidhoum said on Faceb
  
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• Egypt: three days of mourning declared after 25 people killed in Cairo bomb

  11-12-2016 18:57 via theguardian.com
  
  No one has claimed responsibility for attack on cathedral chapel, which used 12 kilos of TNT, according to state media Egypt has declared three days of mourning on Sunday after a bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral killed 25 people and wounded another 49.Egypt’s state-run news agency Mena reported that 12 kilograms of TNT explosives were used in the attack. The majority of those killed were women and children. Continue reading...
  
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• Can you brainwash yourself using your sense of smell?

  11-12-2016 18:56 via theguardian.com
  
  From the Smell Memory Kit to ‘playlists’ of odours, innovations in olfactory technology offer a way to manipulate mood using your noseWith Christmas advancing upon us in an implacable tsunami of chaos and enforced merriment, the challenge is how to carve out a little me-time. How to fake a place of calm in the eye of the storm – even for five minutes? The answer is as plain as the nose on your face, because the answer is … your nose.At least, it is according to the entre
  
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• Boris Johnson voices 'deep concern' over Yemen but backs Saudi-led campaign

  11-12-2016 18:31
  
  The Foreign Secretary had said Saudi Arabia were behind “proxy wars” in the Middle East.
  
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• Top Sky executives stand to make £40m in Murdoch buyout

  11-12-2016 18:30 via theguardian.com
  
  CEO Jeremy Darroch and finance boss Andrew Griffith set for shares bonanza if 21st Century Fox’s takeover goes aheadThe two leading executives at Sky will share a payout of almost £40m if a proposed takeover byRupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox goes ahead.Jeremy Darroch, chief executive, and Andrew Griffith, the finance director and chief operating officer, own shares in Sky and would also be entitled to lucrative share awards. Continue reading...
  
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• Tokyo breaks ground on £1.2bn national stadium for 2020 Olympics

  11-12-2016 18:28 via theguardian.com
  
  The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, attends ceremony at site of demolished national stadium that hosted 1964 GamesTokyo has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $1.5bn (£1.2bn) national stadium that will host the 2020 Olympic Games.The prime minister, Shinzo Abe, Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike, and other dignitaries attended the event on Sunday at the site of the demolished national stadium that was used during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. They launched the construction of the stadi
  
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• Johnson's Saudi comments were 'misconstrued'

  11-12-2016 18:17
  Boris Johnson has been given support from his Saudi Arabian counterpart, who claimed the Foreign Secretary's words on the Saudis' actions in the Middle East were "misconstrued". At a press conference after meetings with King Salman and Saudi ministers on Sunday, however, Mr Johnson said he believed "in a candour in our relationship". Saudi foreign affairs minister Adel al-Jubeir said Mr Johnson's comments were "misconstrued or taken out of context".
  
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• AA Gill's final column says NHS could not give him new cancer treatment

  11-12-2016 18:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Sunday Times writer and critic, who died on Saturday, wrote that NHS ‘represents everything we think is best about us’AA Gill, the award-winning writer and restaurant critic who died on Saturday aged 62, described in his final article how the NHS could not give him a potentially life-extending cancer treatment.In a 4,000-word essay chronicling his final weeks after being diagnosed with what he described as the “full English” of cancers, Gill wrote affectionately about the
  
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• Fans could bring guns into stadiums under proposed bill in Washington

  11-12-2016 18:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Bill would affect teams such as Seahawks, Sounders and MarinersNFL says it would oppose any such bill being introducedConservative legislators in Washington state have proposed a bill that would allow fans to bring guns into stadiums. The bill was proposed by Republican representatives Matt Shea, David Taylor and Bob McCaslin and would prevent stadium operators from stopping members of the public with licenses to carry concealed firearms from entering their venues with weapons. Stadiums affected
  
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• Across the waves

  11-12-2016 17:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Radio enthusiasts recreate the first trans-Atlantic shortwave broadcast 95 years after it connected Ardrossan and the US.
  
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• Southampton beat Middlesbrough thanks to Sofiane Boufal’s stunning goal

  11-12-2016 17:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Claude Puel needed this. Southampton needed this. The natives on the south coast have become restless, feeling stuck in a rut of less than thrilling football, and dire back-to-back results had turned an unforgiving spotlight on to the visit of an improving Middlesbrough team. Related: Henrikh Mkhitaryan seals spoils for Manchester United against TottenhamContinue reading...
  
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• France to require 'clean stickers' on vehicles in high pollution areas

  11-12-2016 17:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Vehicles failing to display Crit’Air stickers will be banned from low-emission zones in Paris and other cities in bid to combat smogFrench motorists in high pollution areas will be required to display a “clean sticker” on their vehicle from January to combat pollution that has created a cloud of noxious smog in Paris and other cities.
  The six differently coloured Crit’Air (air criteria) stickers will be large enough for the police to see at a distance and will indicate th
  
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• Islamic State retakes historic city of Palmyra

  11-12-2016 17:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Isis-affiliated news channel claims victory for jihadi fighters after intense fighting prompts Syrian military to withdrawIslamic State fighters appear to have reconquered the historic city of Palmyra after days of intense fighting on its outskirts prompted a withdrawal by the Syrian military.“The catastrophe has happened, I am in absolute shock,” said Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s director of antiquities, in a phone interview. “I am losing hope, it looks like we have lost
  
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• Dinosaur skeleton fetches more than €1m at auction in France

  11-12-2016 17:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Auction house says bones of allosaurus named Kan, bought by unnamed French buyer, will go on public display A nearly complete dinosaur skeleton has sold for more than €1m at auction in the eastern French city of Lyon.The bones of the allosaurus, a ferocious carnivore named Kan whose species went extinct 135m years ago, fetched €1.1m (£900,000) on Saturday, the Aguttes auction house said. Continue reading...
  
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• Anthony Joshua accepts he must raise his game to beat Wladimir Klitschko

  11-12-2016 17:21 via theguardian.com
  
  IBF world heavyweight champion has been told he can become a boxing billionaire but insists ‘it ain’t about the money’Anthony Joshua can legitimately claim to be the best heavyweight in the world if he beats Wladimir Klitschko in front of 91,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in April, but the quiet man from Watford says he will not be consumed by the temptations that have wrecked so many champions. Related: Anthony Joshua dominates Eric Molina to set up Wladimir Klitschko showdo
  
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• Sex worker mums

  11-12-2016 17:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A significant number of sex workers in the UK are also mothers, research suggests. So what is it like to sell sex while bringing up a child?
  
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• Amazon accused of 'intolerable conditions' at Scottish warehouse

  11-12-2016 17:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Willie Rennie claims workers are paid so little some camp outside warehouse in tents to cut commuting costsAmazon has been accused of creating “intolerable working conditions” after allegations that workers have been penalised for sick days and that some are camping near one of its warehouses to save money commuting to work.Willie Rennie, the Liberal Democrat leader in Scotland, said Amazon should be “ashamed” that workers at its warehouse in Dunfermline have chosen to ca
  
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• Antonio Conte calls possibility of Chelsea points deduction ‘a joke’

  11-12-2016 16:58 via theguardian.com
  
  • Club threatened with sanction for failing to control players in Manchester
  • Conte incredulous, saying fracas was started by Sergio AgüeroChelsea are confident they will avoid the imposition of a points deduction as they contemplate their latest charge of failing to control their players, at Manchester City last weekend, with Antonio Conte dismissing the possibility of such a sanction as “a joke”.The Premier League leaders, who re-established a three-point advantage
  
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• Manchester residents told to boil tap water after technical fault

  11-12-2016 16:50 via theguardian.com
  
  17,000 households advised to boil water for drinking, cooking food and brushing teeth after untreated water enters pipe networkThousands of residents in Greater Manchester have been told to boil their tap water until further notice after untreated water was allowed to enter the pipe network.Water provider United Utilities issued a statement on Sunday morning telling people in 17,000 properties in Tameside, Saddleworth and Greenfield to boil water for drinking, food preparation and brushing teeth
  
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• Burnham sounds like 'paler version' of Farage, says Clarke

  11-12-2016 16:49
  Tory veteran Ken Clarke has accused senior Labour MP Andy Burnham of sounding "like a paler version of Nigel Farage" over his calls to curb immigration. The Conservative big-hitter had a dig at the Manchester mayoral candidate, who has insisted clamping down on freedom of movement had to be a priority following the EU referendum result. Mr Burnham argued it was a tightening of the rules that people voted for on 23 June as he highlighted the "negative effects" of the policy, including the downwar
  
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• Johnson voices 'deep concern' over Yemen but backs Saudi-led campaign

  11-12-2016 16:48
  The Foreign Secretary had said Saudi Arabia were behind “proxy wars” in the Middle East.
  
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• FA suspends Crewe director of football Dario Gradi after abuse cover-up claims

  11-12-2016 16:21
  
  Crewe director of football Dario Gradi has been suspended by the FA as part of its wider review into historical allegations in football. The former Crewe manager released a statement last month insisting he was unaware of the alleged sex abuse that took place at the club. Gradi, who has worked as a manager and academy manager during his 33 years at Crewe, said in a statement last month: "I would like to express sympathy to the victims of Barry Bennell, not only at Crewe Alexandra, but at other c
  
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• The Saudi row isn’t really about Boris Johnson’s job. It’s about Theresa May’s | Matthew d’Ancona

  11-12-2016 16:03 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s very dangerous for the prime minister to have a foreign secretary who is occasionally disowned, or treated as a licensed foolAs it happens, Boris Johnson and Saudi Arabia have much in common. Both are universally referred to by the first part of their respective names. Both have been criticised for their treatment of women. And both are routinely excused the inexcusable, on the grounds of political expediency.I have lost count of the number of times that Johnson’s career has bee
  
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• The Eagle Huntress: the teenage Mongolian nomad who's preparing to swoop on the Oscars

  11-12-2016 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Otto Bell had never made a feature film. But when he saw this photo, he flew to Mongolia – and followed one girl’s struggle to capture and tame a golden eagle. The result is a breathtaking Oscar contenderOtto Bell was surfing the web at work when he saw the photographs that enticed him to sink his life savings into his first feature film. On his screen was a rosy-cheeked, Mongolian girl. Perched on a mountain ridge, she was smiling with delight at a ferocious golden eagle flapping on
  
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• Black Beauty review – a galloping, five-star triumph

  11-12-2016 15:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Traverse, Edinburgh
  The beguiling playfulness of this rollicking adaptation cleverly amplifies the high drama of Anna Sewell’s equestrian adventureThey should have called it Horse Play. This collaboration between Shona Reppe, Andy Manley and Andy Cannon is not so much an adaptation of the Anna Sewell novel as a free-associating theatrical gymkhana. A triumph of object-theatre stagecraft, it takes a rosette-worthy canter through a stableful of horse-themed gags, while paying touching testam
  
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• Iran finalizes $16.8bn deal with Boeing after nuclear agreement, state news says

  11-12-2016 15:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Iran purchases 80 passenger planes, IRNA news agency says, marking biggest agreement with US company since 1979 revolutionIran said on Sunday it has finalized a $16.8bn deal with Boeing to purchase 80 passenger planes, a deal made possible by last year’s landmark nuclear agreement.The state-run IRNA news agency said 50 Boeing 737s and 30 Boeing 777s would be delivered over the next decade, in the biggest agreement to be struck with an American company since the 1979 revolution and US embas
  
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• Best photos of the day: Santa dash and huskies

  11-12-2016 15:22 via theguardian.com
  
  The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world, including a lantern festival and Chinese dancers Continue reading...
  
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