General news

• Football sex abuse scandal: Chelsea cleared over Gary Johnson claims handling

  22-12-2016 23:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Chelsea are cleared of breaking any Premier League rules in their handling of historical sex abuse allegations made by a former player.
  
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• Chelsea cleared of breaking rules in handling of Gary Johnson abuse case

  22-12-2016 23:58 via theguardian.com
  
  • ‘No rules broken’ in not reporting allegations to Premier League in 2014
  • Chelsea agree to undergo independent safeguarding auditThe Premier League has ruled that Chelsea did not break any rules in failing to report allegations of historical sexual abuse made in 2014 by their former player Gary Johnson, but a safeguarding audit – agreed with the club – has been deemed an “appropriate course of action”. Related: Gary Johnson demands compensation fr
  
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• Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington separate after 16 years

  22-12-2016 23:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Actors who star in BBC’s Sherlock and will appear in forthcoming fourth series have two children togetherThe actors Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington have ended their relationship after 16 years together. The pair, who star together in BBC’s Sherlock and will appear in its forthcoming fourth series, have two children together.According to the Financial Times, Freeman said: “I’m not with Amanda any more. It’s very, very amicable – I’ll always love Amand
  
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• Lazio’s Senad Lulic receives 20-day suspension for racist insult

  22-12-2016 23:39 via theguardian.com
  
  • Bosnian said that two years ago Antonio Rüdiger was ‘selling socks and belts’
  • Lulic will miss only one game due to Italy’s winter breakThe Lazio midfielder Senad Lulic has been banned by the Italian FA for 20 days and fined £8,493 (€10,000) for a racist insult towards the Roma defender Antonio Rüdiger following the heated Rome derby this month.As the ban coincides with Serie A’s winter break, Lulic will miss only one game, at home to Cro
  
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• Liverpool clean sheets and resilience a big plus, says Jordan Henderson

  22-12-2016 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  • Captain pleased with defensive resolve against Everton and Middlesbrough
  • ‘I said at the start of the season I had belief we could be high up the table’It was the manner of victory at Everton, not only Ross Barkley’s dangerous challenge, that has left its mark on Jordan Henderson. For a Jürgen Klopp team to chase three points until the last is not uncommon but to come through at Goodison Park with a show of resilience, defensive organisation and strength in de
  
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• Photographer captures images of uncontacted Amazon tribe

  22-12-2016 23:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Brazilian Ricardo Stuckert accidentally stumbled on to the tribe after his helicopter was divertedA photographer has captured images of an uncontacted Amazonian tribe after his helicopter flight took a detour to avoid a rainstorm and happened to fly over their longhouse.Related: Sighting of uncontacted Amazonian tribe – in picturesContinue reading...
  
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• Alex Lewis defies odds to return to work

  22-12-2016 23:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Three years ago Alex Lewis went from having a cold to losing his limbs - now he's going back to work.
  
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• Jim Best: ‘All the fun I’ve had over the years has been taken out of me’

  22-12-2016 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Jim Best says he has been left demoralised and disillusioned by the BHA’s case against him and maintains his innocence despite last week’s guilty verdictLenient is a word that some have used to describe the punishment meted out to the racehorse trainer Jim Best following a decision last week that he had probably told a jockey to lose on two horses, for which his licence will be suspended until June. But the 36-year-old, who maintains his innocence, could hardly look less like a man w
  
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• Donnie Darko review – pop classic of paranoia matures with age

  22-12-2016 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Richard Kelly’s rereleased tale of suburban angst, starring a tremendous Jake Gyllenhaal, is a captivating triumphIn 2001, 27-year-old writer-director Richard Kelly created a pop classic of American suburban paranoia in Donnie Darko, now on rerelease – a movie with something of Back to the Future, Twin Peaks, American Beauty and of course Harvey. This film made Tears for Fears hip (kind of) and had a tremendous discovery in the young Jake Gyllenhaal, playing Donnie, a high-school kid
  
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• British Horseracing Authority’s secrecy in Jim Best case proved costly | Chris Cook

  22-12-2016 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Had the BHA got its way none of us would have any idea that a deal had been done in a case of one man’s word against anotherAs the Jim Best case breathes its last after a year of legal debate and as racing’s ruling body admits it has blown a six-figure sum through its failure to provide a demonstrably fair hearing at the first attempt, it is instructive to see the first concern for some people is the penalty given to the trainer. The British Horseracing Authority has lost a significa
  
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• Teenager charged with murder of celebrity bodyguard in London

  22-12-2016 22:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Tarrel Hinds, 19, faces the charge after Ricky Hayden was stabbed last September trying to stop a a moped being stolenTwo teenagers have been charged in relation to the death of a celebrity bodyguard who was attacked as he tried to stop a moped being stolen.Ricky Hayden, 27, was stabbed outside his home in Chadwell Heath, east London, on 13 September . He died early the following day. His father, Paul Hayden, 54, was also injured in the incident. Continue reading...
  
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• World’s largest hedge fund to replace managers with artificial intelligence

  22-12-2016 22:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Bridgewater Associates has a team of engineers working on a project to automate decision-making to save time and eliminate human emotional volatilityThe world’s largest hedge fund is building a piece of software to automate the day-to-day management of the firm, including hiring, firing and other strategic decision-making.
  Bridgewater Associates has a team of software engineers working on the project at the request of billionaire founder Ray Dalio, who wants to ensure the company can run a
  
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• British Airways cabin crews suspend strikes over Christmas

  22-12-2016 22:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Members of Unite union call off planned walkout on Christmas Day and Boxing Day after receiving revised pay offerPlanned strikes by British Airways cabin crew on Christmas Day and Boxing Day have been suspended.Members of Unite were due to walk out over Christmas in a dispute over pay. The union said workers employed in the so-called mixed crew – who have joined since 2010 – were on lower pay than other staff. Continue reading...
  
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• BA crew Christmas strikes suspended

  22-12-2016 22:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Planned strikes by British Airways cabin crew on Christmas Day and Boxing Day have been suspended, Unite union says.
  
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• Sixty inmates involved in Swaleside prison incident

  22-12-2016 22:10
  Unrest at Swaleside prison involving 60 inmates is now contained to one landing in its A wing, the Prison Service says. There is an "ongoing disturbance" at the jail on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent and fires have been lit, according to the Prison Officers Association. The specialist 'Tornado' squad has been called in to help regain control of the 1,100-capacity jail.
  
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• Newcastle’s Jonjo Shelvey decides not to contest ban for racial abuse

  22-12-2016 21:45 via theguardian.com
  
  • Jonjo Shelvey maintains innocence after being found guilty
  • We think an appeal is unlikely to change the panel’s decision, he said
  The Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has decided not to appeal against his five-match ban after being found guilty of a Football Association misconduct charge.The 24-year-old continues to deny using racially aggravated language towards an opponent, but after considering the independent regulatory commission’s written reason for its d
  
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• Trump calls on US to 'greatly strengthen and expand' nuclear weapons capability

  22-12-2016 21:35 via theguardian.com
  
  The president-elect’s Twitter comments came the same day that Vladimir Putin said Russia needs to ‘strengthen the military potential of strategic nuclear forces’US President-elect Donald Trump called on Thursday for a strengthening of America’s nuclear weapons programme, throwing into doubt longstanding efforts to reduce its arsenal.
  On Thursday, Trump tweeted: “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world
  
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• Steve Bell on Donald Trump 'Making Christmas Great Again' – cartoon

  22-12-2016 21:25 via theguardian.com
  
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• Swaleside Prison: Inmates take over part of jail

  22-12-2016 21:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  At least 60 prisoners take control of part of a jail in Kent.
  
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• Sadness and defiance mark the reopening of Breitscheidplatz market

  22-12-2016 21:17 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘It shows the terrorists they will not stop us,’ said one stallholder as the Berlin square welcomed visitors againSabrine, 52, has worked as a stallholder at the Breitscheidplatz for more than 10 years. And every night since the truck careered through the Christmas market she has had nightmares.“In my head I can still hear the explosive bang as the lorry crashed into the market and the crunching sound as it scraped along the stalls,” she said. “Our bosses have advis
  
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• Flying Dutchman caught on toilet faces jail over £2.4m cocaine deal

  22-12-2016 20:43 via theguardian.com
  
  John Buwalda and courier Jan Polak were found guilty of plotting to smuggle 22kg of the class A drug into Rochester airportA flying Dutchman is facing years in jail after being caught with his trousers down smuggling cocaine worth more than £2.4m into the UK.John Buwalda, 49, brought bags containing 22kg (48lb) of high-purity cocaine in a light aircraft from the Netherlands to Rochester airport in Kent on the afternoon of 30 June. Continue reading...
  
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• Southern train strikes: Soldiers 'on standby' to drive buses

  22-12-2016 20:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Soldiers are on standby ready to drive rail replacement buses during Southern rail strikes, the BBC learns.
  
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• London court says Turkish trustees have no claim on alleged Gulen-linked firm's UK asset

  22-12-2016 20:30
  By Barbara Lewis and Dasha Afanasieva LONDON (Reuters) - London's high court ruled Turkey had no rights over British assets that are part of the Koza Ipek media and mining conglomerate, in a victory for exiled Turkish businessman Akin Ipek, whose businesses have been seized by the state. Turkish authorities have taken control of hundreds of companies, including Istanbul-listed gold mining company Koza Altin which was placed in receivership in October 2015, for alleged links to Islamic cleric Fet
  
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• Jim Best says BHA case has torn him to pieces after horse-stopping ban

  22-12-2016 20:26 via theguardian.com
  
  • Trainer says health and family affected after losing licence for six months
  • Nick Rust says hearing verdict gives BHA mandate for tougher penalties
  Jim Best has spoken for the first time about the effect of the long-running case pursued against him by racing’s ruling body which resulted in a decision last week that he must lose his licence for a six-month period. The Lewes-based trainer, whose case has exposed the British Horseracing Authority’s integrity practices to un
  
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• The Guardian view on terror attacks: a proportionate response required | Editorial

  22-12-2016 20:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Governments often respond to terror in extraordinary ways. We should not implement a strategy that will destroy a society it aims to protectThe murderous acts this week bring into sharp relief the threat in Europe and its neighbours from within and without. Within a few hours, three attacks splattered blood on the pavements of the region’s historic streets. Three men were shot and injured in an Islamic centre in Zurich. For the first time in almost 90 years, a Russian ambassador was shot d
  
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• Swaleside Prison: Inmates 'take over' jail wing

  22-12-2016 20:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Prisoners are reported to have taken control of a wing at prison in Kent.
  
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• Google is profiting from Holocaust denial, says Jewish museum

  22-12-2016 20:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Breman Museum in Atlanta says it is paying $2 a click to stop neo-Nazi site being top result for ‘did the Holocaust happen’A Jewish heritage museum has accused Google of profiting from Holocaust denial because it is paying to prevent a neo-Nazi website from appearing as the top result for “did the Holocaust happen”.The marketing director of the Breman Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, said it was “nauseating” that Google directed users to the white supremacist site,
  
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• Bells sound out at York Minster despite mass sacking of ringers

  22-12-2016 20:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Volunteer team stepped in for carol service after dispute left ancient cathedral in danger of falling silent over ChristmasMany feared a Silent Night, but in the end it was Ding Dong Merrily on High. The bells of York Minster, silenced for the past two months following the dismissal of its entire team of ringers, rang out on Thursday evening, courtesy of volunteers from elsewhere in the county.Worshippers arriving at the 15th-century cathedral for the traditional service of Nine Lessons and Caro
  
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• Final evacuees leave eastern Aleppo as Assad regime takes control

  22-12-2016 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Last few thousand fighters and civilians transported from city held by rebels for more than four years in Syrian civil war
  The evacuation of east Aleppo has been completed, bringing to a close a key chapter in the Syrian rebellion against the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad.About 4,000 rebel fighters and civilians left the city on Thursday, the last group remaining in the shrunken patch of territory still nominally held by the opposition in the city. Continue reading...
  
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• Petra Kvitova to leave hospital in time for Christmas following knife attack

  22-12-2016 19:53 via theguardian.com
  
  • World No11 will recuperate with family following attack at home on Tuesday
  • Lengthy recovery expected but surgeon says she could play within six monthsPetra Kvitova will spend Christmas at home as she is due to leave hospital on Friday following surgery on a hand injury sustained in a knife attack. Related: Petra Kvitova could return to tennis within six months following knife attackContinue reading...
  
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• Group allegedly behind DNC hack targeted Ukraine, report finds

  22-12-2016 19:49 via theguardian.com
  
  CrowdStrike says malware implant was used to track movements of artillery units, adding to suspicions Russia is involvedA new report suggests the same hacking group believed to have hacked the Democrats during the recent presidential election also targeted Ukrainian artillery units over a two-year period, that if confirmed would add to suspicions they are Russian state operatives.The report, issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, said a malware implant on Android devices was used to track the
  
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• York Minster bells rung for first time since sackings

  22-12-2016 19:43 via bbc.co.uk
  
  York Minster's main bells ring out for the first time since its 30-strong team of bell-ringers was dismissed more than 10 weeks ago.
  
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• Busiest day of festive season expected on UK's roads

  22-12-2016 19:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Friday is expected to be the busiest day of the festive season on the UK's roads as people prepare for Christmas, the AA says.
  
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• Some Crystal Palace fans will be alarmed by impending arrival of Sam Allardyce | Ed Aarons

  22-12-2016 19:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Palace have taken drastic action to ensure they stay in the Premier League but the man they have lined up to replace Alan Pardew brings a history of suspicionSurvival in the Premier League is everything but even though he undoubtedly represents the best chance of Crystal Palace extending their stay in England’s top flight for a fifth successive season, the impending appointment of Sam Allardyce to replace Alan Pardew at Selhurst Park is one that will fill many supporters with dread.It is l
  
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• Tuition fee rise 'sneaked out' on website

  22-12-2016 19:26 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The increase in university tuition fees in England to £9,250 has been launched - with accusations that ministers wanted to hide it from scrutiny.
  
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• Franca Sozzani, editor in chief of Vogue Italia, dies aged 66

  22-12-2016 19:22 via theguardian.com
  
  At the helm of Vogue Italia for almost 30 years, she was one of the most powerful and groundbreaking journalists in the fashion industryFranca Sozzani, the editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue, has died after a year-long illness. While she might not have been a global household name like her US counterpart and friend Anna Wintour, she was undoubtedly a giant of Italian fashion. The industry has responded accordingly. In a tribute published on the American Vogue website, Wintour describes her as &ldq
  
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• UN abruptly postpones vote to halt Israeli settlements 'indefinitely'

  22-12-2016 19:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Israeli officials allegedly pressured Egyptians who drafted resolution to suspend vote amid amid reports that Obama was going to abstainThe UN security council has postponed a contentious vote on a resolution that would have demanded Israel halt all settlement activities as a “flagrant violation” of international law.The plan to call a vote – announced abruptly on Wednesday evening by Egypt, which had been drafting the resolution – was postponed indefinitely a few hours a
  
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• British values and the notion of identity | Letters

  22-12-2016 19:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Rafael Behr (If this is liberation why does it feel so dull and joyless?, 21 December) has not convinced me that patriotism is anything other than nationalism lite. Human beings need a home, a sense of familiar place, a locus, but this place may be something much smaller than the modern, militaristic nation state.I identify far more as a citizen of London, or indeed my local borough, than as “British”, and although I feel lucky to live in a country still more relaxed and peaceful tha
  
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• Toot sweet: the recorder renaissance

  22-12-2016 18:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Lucie Horsch, a 17-year-old prodigy, has just scored a major label contract, but she’s the latest of many great musicians to decide the recorder isn’t just for kidsLucie Horsch arrives with a small backpack from which she produces half a dozen recorders of various sizes. Showing the skills of an assembler of Ikea furniture, she puts them together at lightning speed, before giving a demonstration of her art.Horsch is the latest big thing in recorder playing, if that’s not a cont
  
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• Two men guilty of manslaughter over Bath tipper truck crash

  22-12-2016 18:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Haulage boss and mechanic convicted but driver acquitted over incident that killed four people, including four-year-old girlA haulage boss and a mechanic have been convicted of manslaughter after a 32-tonne truck with faulty brakes killed four people, including a four-year-old girl. The driver, Phillip Potter, 20, was cleared of all charges after a jury heard his brakes failed while the 11-year-old vehicle, which was heavily loaded, was on a hill. Continue reading...
  
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• London car hire company leaves customers with worthless bookings

  22-12-2016 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Thousands face being stranded during Christmas period as Atlaschoice fails to pay firms providing actual cars Thousands of consumers may be holding worthless car hire bookings for the Christmas period after the company they booked through, Atlaschoice, apparently failed to pay firms providing the actual cars.Customers of the website have reported being told at car hire desks that their booking would not be honoured unless they paid again – in some cases many hundreds of pounds – beca
  
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• Queen and duke begin festive break at Sandringham

  22-12-2016 18:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Queen and Prince Philip have arrived at Sandringham to start their Christmas festivities.
  
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• England cancel training camp following opposition from Super League coaches

  22-12-2016 18:36 via theguardian.com
  
  • Rugby Football League responds after criticism of January gathering in Dubai
  • ‘The plans that are now in place would not deliver what was initially expected’The Rugby Football League has cancelled England’s planned warm-weather training camp following widespread opposition within the game.England’s head coach, Wayne Bennett, was set to take 17 leading Super League players for a fortnight-long training camp in Dubai in early January. But Warrington’s Ton
  
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• How to defeat terrorists? True extremism | Giles Fraser

  22-12-2016 18:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Despite what religious terrorists may think, God doesn’t need saving. People should be more extreme in their faith – placing their trust in God’s greatnessThe problem with the person who drove a lorry into a crowded market of Christmas shoppers wasn’t that he was too religious, but that he wasn’t religious enough. It was the action of a half-believer, the sort of thing done by someone who doesn’t so much believe in God – but rather believes in the effica
  
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• Self-help works for us as individuals – but as a society we’re failing | Gaby Hinsliff

  22-12-2016 18:25 via theguardian.com
  
  We have spent decades seeking self-improvement but the price has been loss of tolerance and empathyHow clean is your sleeping? And, no, this has nothing to do with changing the sheets more often. Actor and queen of dubious wellness fads Gwyneth Paltrow is now seeking to do for the previously straightforward and cost-free business of going to sleep what annoying green-juice gurus have done for eating: turn it into yet another manic form of self-improvement.“Clean sleeping”, according
  
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• Joy clothing apologise for 'sexist' email advert

  22-12-2016 18:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The retailer apologises over an advert describing how women could dress like "marriage material".
  
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• Champagne prices to rise in UK in 2017 as Brexit impact bites

  22-12-2016 18:20
  By Pascale Denis PARIS (Reuters) - Champagne drinkers in Britain - the biggest export market for bubbly - face higher prices next year as the impact of the shock Brexit vote on the British pound takes its toll, champagne industry executives warned. "The market in Britain is undergoing a period of adjustment. The brands have not yet factored in the effect of foreign exchange rates on their prices," said Charles-Armand de Belenet, marketing director for Pernod Ricard's Martell Mumm Perrier-Jou&eum
  
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• Surveillance has gone too far. The jig is up | Martha Spurrier

  22-12-2016 18:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Rather than fight the EU court ruling on the Investigatory Powers Act, the government should move to targeted surveillance that doesn’t sweep up everybody’s private livesJust as we’d resigned ourselves to the fact that the best 2016 was going to offer by the way of cheer was a new Star Wars film, and the prospect of a few mince pies and a tonne of mulled wine, Europe’s top court has given us a very welcome early Christmas present.For anybody with an interest in protecting
  
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• Poland sees Brexit as chance to shift EU power back to nations

  22-12-2016 18:17
  By Justyna Pawlak and Pawel Sobczak WARSAW (Reuters) - Britain's decision to leave the European Union is an opportunity to reform the bloc, giving more say to national governments and less to Brussels institutions, Poland's eurosceptic leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said. The head of Poland's ruling party told Reuters that Warsaw would push for a new EU treaty, a more influential role for central Europe within the bloc and continued strong ties with Washington. Kaczynski, 67, holds no government post
  
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• Berlin attack: Crowdfunders donate to driver's family

  22-12-2016 18:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A campaign to raise money for the family of a lorry driver murdered in an attack on a Berlin Christmas market gains more than £50,000 in donations.
  
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