General news

• 'Bowling Green massacre': debunking the attack that never happened - video

  03-02-2017 23:46
  
  Donald Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway reported a false story about a so-called massacre in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Friday. We examine the facts of the case, and why the Trump administration is trying to use it to justify their travel ban. Conway has since altered her comments on the caseContinue reading...
  
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• Manchester United players have been slow off the mark, José Mourinho says

  03-02-2017 23:30
  
  • Manager expected squad to adapt quickly to culture of winning every match
  • ‘I didn’t know that some players need time to live with this’José Mourinho has admitted some Manchester United players have taken longer to emerge from their comfort zone than he expected when he was appointed manager.When he took over last summer the Portuguese said United had to aim to become champions this season. His side is now sixth, 14 points behind Chelsea with 15 matches rema
  
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• Claudio Ranieri faces growing unrest among Leicester players and staff

  03-02-2017 23:30
  
  • Manager has become increasingly distant from backroom staff
  • Tactics and selection decisions have left squad scratching headsClaudio Ranieri believes the promise he made to Leicester City’s owners at the start of last season to stay with the club in the event of relegation should mean that his loyalty is repaid during a hugely disappointing second campaign, yet there is growing unrest among players and staff about the team’s predicament and the Italian’s management
  
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• Here's how many visas have been revoked under Donald Trump's travel ban...

  03-02-2017 23:29
  
  The State Department contradicts a lawyer’s claim that “over 100,000 visas have been revoked”.
  
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• Chelsea await but is Arsène Wenger finally sensing his own endgame? | David Hytner

  03-02-2017 23:29
  
  Wenger needs a reaction at Chelsea after the fallout from another demoralising defeat has increased the speculation that this season will be his last at ArsenalIt was a gloriously enigmatic line, the sort that might have come from the hero in one of those black and white nouvelle vague films. “It is not all quantifiable. It is linked with your gut feeling, as well. Thank you.” All that was missing was the Gallic shrug. And with that, Arsène Wenger turned on his heel and left.S
  
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• Q&A: Everything you need to know about 'no confidence' motion debate by MPs on FA's ability to reform itself

  03-02-2017 23:24
  
  The debate is set to take place next week.
  
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• Trump administration offers conflicting numbers of revoked visas after travel ban

  03-02-2017 23:14
  
  Justice department reveals during lawsuit hearing that more than 100,000 were cancelled in the past week, but state department claims it’s fewer than 60,000Confusion over the consequences of Donald Trump’s drastic travel ban continued to mount on Friday, as federal officials offered conflicting statistics on the number of visas that were revoked following the president’s executive order last week.At a federal court hearing in Virigina, a Department of Justice attorney said more
  
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• Jonny May: ‘I am just trying to be my best. I’ve always had a belief inside’

  03-02-2017 23:00
  
  Maverick England wing is a source of amusement among team-mates, once risking Eddie Jones’s ire by sneaking to the toilet during a team meeting, but an obsessive streak lies beneath the surfaceThere is a lot about Jonny May that people do not know. His team-mates may be unaware, for instance, that his mother, Hazel, is a well-regarded occupational therapist who has written books about dementia. Or that, in the Gloucester wing’s opinion, there may be a bit of Fijian in him: “We&
  
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• Louvre knife attack sparks fresh warnings of French terror threat

  03-02-2017 22:55
  
  Suspect who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ is said by police to be an Egyptian visitor who arrived in France in January on a visa from DubaiA man who attempted a knife attack on soldiers guarding the Louvre Museum in Paris was shot and injured on Friday, highlighting France’s security and terror threat just three months before the French presidential election.
  Hundreds of tourists were held in secure areas of the Louvre, one of the world’s most visited museums, after the man was
  
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• EU leaders round on Trump and reject May's bridge-building efforts

  03-02-2017 22:29
  
  Prime ministers and presidents at Malta summit line up to scorn Trump’s conduct, accusing him of lack of respect European leaders launched a series of attacks on Donald Trump over his anti-EU rhetoric on Friday, accusing him of a lack of respect, as Theresa May’s attempts to position herself as a bridge with the new US president were roundly rejected at a summit in Malta.
  Trump’s conduct was scorned by prime ministers and presidents, with the French leader, François Holl
  
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• More than 1,300 migrants rescued from Mediterranean in single day

  03-02-2017 21:19
  
  Migrants aboard 13 vessels saved by Italian coastguard, Italian and British navies and others, making total of 2,600 rescued in three daysMore than 1,300 migrants were rescued in 13 separate missions in the Mediterranean on Friday, bringing the total helped over the last three days to more than 2,600, according to the Italian coastguard. The migrants, aboard 13 different vessels, were picked up in the central Mediterranean by ships from the Italian coastguard, the Italian and British navies, mer
  
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• EU leaders at Malta summit raise 'alarm call' over Trump's US

  03-02-2017 20:52
  EU leaders have used a summit meeting to raise an "alarm call" over Donald Trump and warn the Prime Minister over her relationship with the US President. Speaking as they arrived for the gathering in Malta, they raised significant concerns over the President's controversial policies and called for "EU solidarity" in response to his criticism of Europe. French president Francois Hollande warned European countries which lean towards Mr Trump "that there is no future with Trump if it is not a commo
  
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• Steve Bannon's Islamophobic film script just one example of anti-Muslim views

  03-02-2017 20:47
  
  The man who once imagined a ‘global war’ between ‘the Judeo-Christian west’ and ‘jihadist Islamic fascism’ is now Trump’s top adviser. Here’s a selection of anti-Muslim remarks he has made in the pastThe emergence this week of a script for an Islamophobic film written a decade ago by Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist, has drawn new attention to Bannon’s past statements about Islam, and to his view that “the Judeo-Chris
  
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• Council 'deeply sorry' after former worker Roger Dodds jailed for sex abuse

  03-02-2017 20:46
  A council has said it is "deeply sorry" after a man was jailed for sexually assaulting a number of victims while working for the authority. Roger Dodds, 81, has been jailed for 16 years after admitting indecently assaulting a boy aged under 14 and four men in Sheffield - offences which happened in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. In a statement following the sentencing, Sheffield City Council apologised for the case and welcomed that Dodds "has finally been brought to justice after so many years".
  
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• Canadians form 'rings of peace' around mosques after Quebec shooting

  03-02-2017 20:46
  
  Gunman shot dead six worshippers at Quebec mosque last weekNon-Muslims act as ‘human shields’ in Toronto, Edmonton and St John’sHundreds across Canada gathered around mosques to form protective barriers – described by organisers as “human shields” and “rings of peace” – as Muslims in the country marked their first Friday prayers since a gunman shot dead six men who were praying at a Quebec mosque.“No Canadian should be afraid to go to t
  
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• Martin Rowson on the EU summit in Malta – cartoon

  03-02-2017 20:41
  
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• Labour looks at collaborating with Lib Dems and Greens in Stoke

  03-02-2017 20:04
  
  Jeremy Corbyn’s aides in informal discussions over joint effort to keep Ukip’s Paul Nuttall out of Commons Jeremy Corbyn’s team have informally explored the idea of collaborating with the Greens and Liberal Democrats in Stoke-on-Trent Central to keep Paul Nuttall, the Ukip leader, out of parliament.A senior figure in the Labour leader’s office has asked a go-between what it would take to persuade the Lib Dems and Greens to dial down their campaigns, or even withdraw candi
  
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• Veg crisis, what veg crisis? If we can’t have courgettes, then let us eat kale | Deborah Orr

  03-02-2017 19:55
  
  Our consumer habits are absurd – as the rush to fly in iceberg lettuces from the United States amply illustratesRain, frost and snow in Spain have resulted in a shortage of courgettes, broccoli and iceberg lettuce. Prices have surged, and supermarkets are now rationing the scarcest produce. The biggest danger, apparently, is that owners of independent sandwich shops will buy all the iceberg lettuce, leaving the middle classes of the UK with nothing to garnish their ostentatiously transpare
  
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• The Guardian view on Phil Shiner: bad man, vital job | Editorial

  03-02-2017 19:55
  
  The lawyer betrayed the soldiers who faced fake charges. He betrayed the law. But human rights has never mattered moreAn argument often made by populists is that human rights law is a way of deliberately weakening the state’s ability to defend its citizens against threats, real or imagined, such as terrorism or migration. It is part of the narrative of victimhood on which Donald Trump built his presidential campaign. It is an easy way to vilify a minority. Theresa May is one of several Eur
  
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• The Guardian view on EU citizens’ rights: compassionate diplomacy needed | Editorial

  03-02-2017 19:54
  
  Ending the uncertainty for EU nationals in the UK would be a smart strategic move and a just one. It might also help to give a debate that can blur into racism a much-needed new vocabulary of understandingThe idea that migration is something only foreigners do is embedded in political language. British citizens resident in other European Union countries are commonly referred to as “expatriates”, although they migrated to acquire that status. The special label marks them out as people
  
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• David Hockney show is fastest-selling exhibition in Tate's history

  03-02-2017 19:53
  
  About 20,000 advance tickets have been sold for the retrospective which opens on Thursday at Tate Britain Tate’s David Hockney retrospective, which will trace the artist’s career from his early sketches in the 1960s to unseen new paintings, has become the fastest-selling exhibition in the gallery’s history.The exhibition, which opens on Thursday, is the largest ever staged by Tate Britain and is Hockney’s most extensive show, covering six decades of his life lived between
  
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• Trump orders Dodd-Frank review in effort to roll back financial regulation

  03-02-2017 19:45
  
  President says bill meant to prevent another financial crisis is crippling the economy as critics charge that Trump is caving in to Wall StreetDonald Trump moved to roll back the financial regulations brought in after the last financial crisis on Friday, directing a review of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was enacted to ensure there would never be another 2008-style meltdown.The US president said his latest executive order was necessary because the regulations were too onerous on business and hurtin
  
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• The Grand Tour ends with a splutter having started with a roar

  03-02-2017 19:31
  
  Amazon hails Jeremy Clarkson show a subscriber-winning success but TV critics aren’t so sureIt started amid a high-octane rumble of expectation, but after 13 episodes has gone out on something of a quiet note with far less incident, controversy, or even talked-about moments – hardly what fans of Jeremy Clarkson are used to.With Amazon releasing no viewing figures and two more seasons already commissioned it is hard to be sure if The Grand Tour can be considered a success. All the com
  
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• El Chapo's lawyers say drug kingpin is subjected to overly strict jail conditions

  03-02-2017 19:31
  
  Defense claimed restrictions at high-security federal jail in Manhattan make it difficult to make decisions with alleged cartel boss about how to fight charges
  Lawyers representing Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán have complained that the Mexican drug kingpin is being subjected to excessively strict conditions in federal jail as he awaits trial.The strict conditions were described by defense lawyers at a federal court hearing in Brooklyn, two weeks after Guzmán’s
  
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• With the power of online transparency, together we can beat fake news | Jimmy Wales

  03-02-2017 19:26
  
  Does the rise of false information signal a dark age of the internet? Not if users can recover the open spirit of the web pioneersLast year we saw a proliferation of disinformation online. “Fake news” sites interfered with political discourse and sentiment around the world. Filter bubbles limited our perspectives. Oxford Dictionaries named “post-truth” its international word of the year. As we started 2017, we heard new terms, such as “alternative facts”.
  
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• Plan to return the lynx splits friends and families in Kielder Forest community

  03-02-2017 19:12
  
  Northumberland nature reserve community at odds over application to import six of the mammals from SwedenIt is the idyllic nature reserve where walkers roam among roe deer and red squirrel while star-gazers enjoy the biggest expanse of dark sky in the whole of Europe.
  But there’s a blot on the horizon over Kielder Forest, in Northumberland, thanks to highly contentious plans to reintroduce the Eurasian lynx.Continue reading...
  
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• Kellyanne Conway clarifies comment about false 'Bowling Green massacre'

  03-02-2017 19:11
  
  Trump aide claims she meant ‘Bowling Green terrorists’ when defending travel restrictions with inaccurate claim that Obama banned Iraqi refugees in 2011 A top aide to President Trump said on Friday she misspoke when she cited a 2011 “massacre” in Kentucky that never happened.A day earlier, during an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Kellyanne Conway defended Trump’s ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations by saying that former president Obam
  
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• Former Sheffield council official jailed for sexual assault

  03-02-2017 19:03
  
  Council ‘deeply sorry’ after Roger Dodds, 81, is jailed for 16 years for abusing five people in the city over 20 years agoSheffield city council has said it is “deeply sorry” after a former education official was jailed for 16 years for forcing teenagers to engage in sex acts to get grant payments. Roger Dodds, 81, was jailed on Friday after admitting indecently assaulting five people – one boy aged under 14 and four men aged 16 and over – from the 1970s to th
  
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• Are you protesting in Romania? Tell us why

  03-02-2017 18:58
  
  Thousands of protesters marched against a decree which they say pardons officials facing corruption charges. We’d like to know why you’re taking partHundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in cities across Romania for a third night in a row, to protest a decree which they say pardons officials facing corruption charges. Critics say the order, which decriminalises misconduct if the funds involved are less than 200,000 lei ($47,800), will help government officials facing corruptio
  
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• Norway accuses group linked to Russia of carrying out cyber-attack

  03-02-2017 18:57
  
  Norwegian intelligence service PST among targets of malicious emails believed to have been sent by APT 29Norway’s foreign ministry, army and other institutions have been targeted in a cyber-attack by a group suspected of having links to Russian authorities, according to Norwegian intelligence, which was one of the targets.Known as APT 29, the group singled out by Oslo has already been accused of hacking interference in the US presidential election. Continue reading...
  
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• ICC agrees plan for nine-team Test championship spread over two years

  03-02-2017 18:57
  
  • Competition could begin in 2019 with first final scheduled for 2021
  • ODI league of 13 teams to decide World Cup places also in pipelineThe International Cricket Council has moved closer towards providing Test cricket with a meaningful structure after a consensus was reached on Friday over the creation of a nine-team Test championship to run from 2019 and feature a final every two years.A competition that goes beyond the rankings system has been a subject of debate at ICC level for s
  
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• C of E college apologises for students' attempt to 'queer evening prayer'

  03-02-2017 18:56
  
  Westcott House in Cambridge says LGBT service liturgy that referred to God as ‘the Duchess’ was hugely regrettableA leading theological college that trains priests for the Church of England has apologised after it hosted a service to mark LGBT history month that referred to God as “the Duchess”.Student priests at Westcott House in Cambridge organised the evensong service on Tuesday in the college chapel. Advertised as a “Polari evening prayer in anticipation of LGBT
  
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• Bolivia opens $7m museum honouring President Morales

  03-02-2017 18:55
  
  Facility dubbed the ‘Evo museum’ criticised for location in poor rural areaSchool notebooks and T-shirts from famous footballers are among the many personal objects displayed at a new $7m (£5.6m) museum inaugurated by the Bolivian president, Evo Morales.Unveiled in his native village of Orinoca, in the altiplano, the new institution is officially called the Museum of the Democratic and Cultural Revolution. The culture minister, Wilma Alanoca, said the new facility was the &ldqu
  
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• The mayor of Bowling Green has had his say about the massacre that never happened

  03-02-2017 18:50
  
  Kellyanne Conway claimed two Iraqis “were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre”.
  
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• Buchi Emecheta obituary

  03-02-2017 18:49
  
  Novelist who overcame barriers to education and whose writings epitomised female independence
  Buchi Emecheta, who has died aged 72, was a pioneer among female African writers, championing the rights of girls and women in novels that often drew on her own extraordinary life, its trajectory spanning her struggle for an education to having her books set on school curriculums. Whether in her early vivid documentary novels, In the Ditch (1972) and Second-Class Citizen (1974) – about a young bla
  
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• Royal Marine Ciaran Maxwell pleads guilty to stashing explosives for terror attacks

  03-02-2017 18:40
  
  A serving Royal Marine has admitted stashing arms and explosives for possible use by dissident republicans. Ciaran Maxwell, 31, originally from Larne in County Antrim, entered the guilty plea at an Old Bailey hearing in central London. The Marine was arrested by counter-terrorism officers in August 2016 following the discovery of two arms dumps in woodland near Larne.
  
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• FA faces motion of no confidence debate in Parliament

  03-02-2017 18:40
  The House of Commons is to debate next week a motion of no confidence in the Football Association's governance. The debate, announced by the Culture, Media and Sport committee, will happen on 9 February. The motion is that it cannot "comply fully with its duties as a governing body, as the current governance structures of the FA make it impossible for the organisation to reform itself".
  
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• French camp where migrants wait to get into UK 'run by Mafia' claims 'left-wing softie'

  03-02-2017 18:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  EXCLUSIVE: A SELF-confessed "left wing softie" who went to northern France on a mercy mission to help female refugees and their children has told of how migrant camps there are being run by criminal gangs of men and the visit made her question her liberal views.
  
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• The only thing standing between Trump and authoritarianism: the supreme court

  03-02-2017 18:30
  
  With Congress in Trump’s pocket, it’s more important than ever for Democrats to block Neil Gorsuch’s appointmentNeil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the US supreme court will deliver the final branch of government into Donald Trump’s grasp, and usher in an era of one-party rule. The supreme court appears to be the only viable vehicle left to steer us back towards a plural democracy, should it be eroded in the months and years ahead.Related: The Muslim ban has brought the
  
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• Blow to UK nuclear strategy as Toshiba considers pulling out of Cumbria plant

  03-02-2017 18:29
  
  Government urged to seek new investors to save Moorside project after concerns key partner will leave consortiumPlans for a new nuclear power station in Cumbria are likely to be scrapped after a key backer pulled out, creating a major hole in the government’s nuclear strategy.Two industry sources close to the process said Toshiba had privately decided to quit the consortium behind the planned Moorside plant, echoing sources who told Reuters and the Wall Street Journal that the Japanese com
  
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• Cameron declares 'I'll be back' in Schwarzenegger Snapchat video

  03-02-2017 18:17
  Theresa May's poll ratings are beyond her predecessor's wildest dreams. The former prime minister, who turned 50 in October, suddenly popped up on Snapchat after "the Terminator" taunted Mr Trump in response to the President's jibes about his TV ratings. Referring to the former California governor replacing him as host of The Celebrity Apprentice on US TV, the President said: "They hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Swarzenegger, to take my place.
  
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• Sebastian Barry on his Costa-winning novel Days Without End – books podcast

  03-02-2017 18:16
  
  In the week Sebastian Barry picked up his second Costa book of the year award, he joins us in the studio to read from and discuss Days Without EndIrish novelist and playwright Sebastian Barry won the Costa book of the year award – one of the UK’s most prestigious books prizes – for his novel, Days Without End. Following the life of Thomas McNulty in the mid-19th century, Days Without End documents his journey across America fighting Native Americans and Confederate armies, whil
  
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• Edinburgh man loses legal battle over remains of mummified parents

  03-02-2017 18:13
  A man who stored the mummified remains of his parents in a basement has lost a legal battle over their burial. Hilda and Eugenois Marcel died in 1987 and 1994 respectively, but their bodies were kept in an Edinburgh property owned by their son Melvyn until 2002 - when they were discovered by police investigating another matter. Following their discovery, the embalmed bodies were moved to the city mortuary, where they have been kept for almost 15 years.
  
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• EU ministers press Russia over fighting in Ukraine

  03-02-2017 18:01
  
  France raises issue in phone call, and EU foreign ministers meeting next week will urge Russia to rein in separatistsEuropean ministers will call on Moscow to rein in Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine after an escalation in violence that has killed at least 19 people and left thousands without heat, power or water in the depths of winter.
  France’s foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, spoke of his great concern about the surge in fighting in a phone call to his Russian counterpar
  
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• Herbal supplements' illegal ingredients pose health risk, experts warn

  03-02-2017 18:00
  
  Unlicensed medicines used in obesity or erection remedies could lower blood pressure or raise chances of heart attack Many herbal supplements, including for obesity and erectile dysfunction, contain hidden unlicensed pharmaceutical ingredients that could endanger people’s health, experts have warned. The research team, from Queen’s University Belfast, Kingston University in London and the life sciences testing company LGC, concluded that not only do such supplements often make unveri
  
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• Tiger Woods’s withdrawal from Dubai Desert Classic puts future in doubt

  03-02-2017 17:59
  
  • Fifth time Woods has pulled out in past 19 tournaments
  • Former world No1 scheduled to play twice before end of monthThis has become the Seve Ballesteros comparison nobody wants. Tiger Woods, struggling horribly for form, clearly under psychological strain and hampered by injury, bears a sad resemblance to the late Spaniard in the closing stages of his own previously glorious career.The bulletin on Friday morning that Woods had withdrawn from the Dubai Desert Classic here before hitt
  
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• Liverpool residents 'must break silence' after string of murders

  03-02-2017 17:49
  
  Senior police chief says people must help tackle gangs like they did after death of schoolboy Rhys Jones 10 years agoCommunities in Liverpool need to break the wall of silence around gang crime, a senior Merseyside police chief has said, after an unprecedented rise in the number of shootings led to the city’s fourth murder in nine months.
  Nikki Holland, an assistant chief constable, said residents needed to “take back control away from gangs” and help police like they did follo
  
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• Balancing the books: how Waterstones came back from the dead

  03-02-2017 17:30
  
  The chain of booksellers has announced its first profit in years – thanks in part to a bold decision to run each branch like a local bookshop Late on Thursday afternoon, would-be wizards across the UK dropped what they were doing to join the professors of Hogwarts for Harry Potter night. At 6pm in the basement of Waterstones’ six-storey London Piccadilly building, staff were scurrying around with bowls of jellybeans and bottles of raspberry lemonade, but the Harrys and Hermiones were
  
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• MPs to consider vote of no confidence in ‘outdated’ FA

  03-02-2017 17:19
  
  • Former chairmen say ‘elderly white men’ cannot counter Premier League
  • Organisation criticised for failing to make sufficient progress on reformMPs will next week debate a vote of no confidence in the Football Association, amid growing calls for reform of its outdated structure.The FA has been threatened with losing £30m in public funding if it does not show progress in making its board and council more representative by April this year. Continue reading...
  
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• 'I'll be back', Cameron jokes in video clip with Schwarzenegger

  03-02-2017 17:18
  Former prime minister David Cameron, whose political career was torpedoed by Britain's decision to quit the European Union last June, appeared in a video clip with Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday vowing: "I'll be back." Hollywood star and ex-California governor Schwarzenegger welcomed his "good friend" Cameron in a selfie-style post on his Snapchat page, before the ex-Prime Minister delivered an enigmatic message. "I'm here with the governor - he did a great job," Cameron said, before leaning to
  
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