General news

• Jordan Henderson: Liverpool up for Klopp aim to win every game in run-in

  13-02-2017 23:30
  
  • Captain says win over Tottenham does not make up for poor run
  • ‘It is a start and a step in the right direction’Jordan Henderson believes Liverpool have not atoned for recent results with their impressive defeat of Tottenham Hotspur but set the standard for realising Jürgen Klopp’s dream of winning every remaining game. Related: Liverpool’s Lallana reveals players-only meeting helped spark win over SpursContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Pakistan just banned public Valentine's Day celebrations

  13-02-2017 23:21
  
  No doubt there will be some relieved by the news…
  
  Read more

• Out with the old, in with the nude: Playboy brings back naked women

  13-02-2017 23:08
  
  After scrapping nudity to boost advertising revenue, Hugh Hefner’s son – now at the helm – announces the magazine is ‘taking back our identity’Playboy has gone back to basics in the latest attempt to make over the ailing magazine, restoring nudity to its pages a year after banishing naked women in an effort to boost advertising revenue.
  The latest bid for relevance comes as Cooper Hefner, the 25-year-old son of nonagenarian founder Hugh Hefner, takes the reigns as t
  
  Read more

• Sergio Agüero makes his point in Manchester City’s win at Bournemouth

  13-02-2017 23:01
  
  This was a slog for Manchester City, but after a fiercely contested game on the south coast against opponents who refused to wilt it should probably be considered evidence that Pep Guardiola’s side will pose the most credible threat to Chelsea’s advantage at the top of the Premier League. City have sprung into second place, taking advantage of the leaders’ slight stutter on Sunday at Burnley and Guardiola could arguably draw more positives from this hard-fought victory than the
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The Halcyon episode seven recap – spooks, Nazis and fake news

  13-02-2017 23:00
  
  We’re nearing the end of the implausible wartime drama that is full of fascists, bad romance and frenzied seven-second plotlines. Who are all these people? “I only need one more thing and then all this will be over ...” Achtung, Toby. The evil hand of Nazi doom rests lightly upon the secretly gay brother and pushes him towards ruin. Cringe as his mother kisses the cursed stepfather-to-be! Thrill as the evil stepfather engineers his escape! Avert your eyes as the whole series ve
  
  Read more

• Maro Itoje eyes all-round England impact after Jones hails scrum ability

  13-02-2017 23:00
  
  • Itoje alternated with second-row Courtney Lawes in Six Nations win in Wales
  • ‘I want to be the most complete player I can – and that involves scrummaging’Eddie Jones could hardly be accused of half measures but closer inspection of Maro Itoje’s performance against Wales would suggest exactly that. When first Chris Robshaw and then James Haskell were described as “six and a halves” it was not a compliment – the latter even had the England kit
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson in new row over 'siphoning off' from foreign aid budget

  13-02-2017 23:00
  
  Foreign secretary criticised for diverting new £700m ‘empowerment fund’ away from countries in Africa and Middle EastBoris Johnson has been criticised for “siphoning off” from the UK’s foreign aid budget to fund diplomacy in former Soviet states and the Middle East via a new £700m “pro-democracy” fund.The row came as the foreign secretary embarked on a two-day visit to the Gambia and Ghana, where he will announce that the Gambia is to rejoin
  
  Read more

• Trump's railing against Bowe Bergdahl called 'disturbing' by military judge

  13-02-2017 22:38
  
  Questions raised about fairness of trial due to Trump repeatedly calling the soldier, held captive by the Taliban after walking off his post, a ‘no-good traitor’A military judge called Donald Trump’s scathing campaign-trail criticism of army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl “disturbing” on Monday and questioned whether it would make the public think the soldier could not get a fair trial for walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009.During a pre-trial hearing, defense attorneys
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Justin Trudeau says it's not Canada's duty to 'lecture' Trump on immigration

  13-02-2017 22:22
  
  Canada’s prime minister holds a joint press conference with Donald Trump and avoids making a statement on travel ban despite his previous tweets about itJustin Trudeau said at a joint press conference in Washington with Donald Trump on Monday that it was not his place to come down to the US and “lecture another country”.At a surprisingly placid joint press conference at the White House, the Canadian prime minister went out of his way to avoid any incidents with a US president,
  
  Read more

• Martin Rowson on Kim Jong-un, Trump and nuclear weapons – cartoon

  13-02-2017 22:21
  
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Human rights within Good Friday deal 'must get Brexit protection'

  13-02-2017 21:59
  
  Ireland’s foreign minister warns agreement is UN-recognised international treaty whose provisions are ‘inviolable’Human rights protections contained within the 1998 Good Friday agreement are “inviolable” and cannot be tampered with due to Brexit, Ireland’s foreign minister has warned.
  Speaking before meeting Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary James Brokenshire in Dublin on Tuesday, Charlie Flanagan cautioned against moves by the British government to d
  
  Read more

• Two injured in mass bar brawl at Wetherspoons pub in Wiltshire

  13-02-2017 21:47
  
  Police launch appeal for witnesses after officer was knocked to the ground during fight at The Albany Palace in TrowbridgePolice have launched a witness appeal after two men were injured and an officer was knocked to the floor in a mass pub brawl.Dozens were filmed taking part in the fight at The Albany Palace in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, in the early hours of Sunday morning. A constable sent to break up the fight was hit in the face and pushed to the ground. One man sustained head injuries while a
  
  Read more

• Judge rejects Standing Rock request to block Dakota Access pipeline drilling

  13-02-2017 21:45
  
  Tribes lost a challenge of the president’s decision to speed approvals for the last stretch of the $3.7bn pipeline under the Missouri river in North Dakota A federal judge has rejected a request from indigenous tribes to block drilling of the Dakota Access pipeline, the latest blow to the Standing Rock Sioux after Donald Trump fast-tracked final permits for the last phase of construction. Related: Army veterans return to Standing Rock to form a human shield against policeContinue reading..
  
  Read more

• This video gives a lesson in the Kellyanne Conway school of avoiding questions

  13-02-2017 21:41
  You never know when it might be useful…
  
  Read more

• No 10: Official Secrets Act proposals 'project of previous prime minister'

  13-02-2017 21:27
  
  Downing Street vehemently denies claims it plans to outlaw investigative journalism and public interest whistleblowersThe government has attempted to distance itself from claims that a new espionage act would outlaw investigative journalism or whistleblowing in the public interest – describing the proposals as the project of a “previous prime minister”.
  As a row erupted over a Law Commission report which suggested that the maximum penalty of two years in prison for leaking offi
  
  Read more

• A new satire must emerge – one that breaks out of the liberal bubble | Viv Groskop

  13-02-2017 21:10
  
  We need a rebirth of political comedy: preaching to the converted about Trump and Brexit isn’t going to be enoughMelissa McCarthy’s Saturday Night Live impersonation of Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, has gone viral. And Alec Baldwin’s rendering of Donald Trump on the same US show is so good that the president despises it, which was surely the goal. As Michael Moore noted: “Trump’s skin is so thin we can discombobulate him with satire.” So is the
  
  Read more

• Britons living in the EU face Brexit backlash, leaked paper warns

  13-02-2017 21:08
  
  Corbyn attacks No 10’s ‘Hunger Games approach’ after document shows UK treatment of EU nationals may colour EU27’s stance on reciprocal rightsJeremy Corbyn has condemned Theresa May’s “Hunger Games approach to Brexit” after a document obtained by the Guardian warned that British nationals living on the continent could expect a backlash as a consequence of the government’s treatment of foreigners since the EU referendum.The leaked EU assessment of t
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on Britain’s prison crisis: quick fixes solve nothing | Editorial

  13-02-2017 20:53
  
  Panorama’s investigation at HMP Northumberland shows a system that is failing to achieve even the most basic of penal goalsEven after the recent prison disturbances in Birmingham and elsewhere, there are some who still pretend that talk of crisis in Britain’s prisons is so much liberal hand-wringing. No one who watching tonight’s BBC Panorama investigation into conditions in one of the country’s biggest jails can possibly take refuge in that lazy claim any longer.The
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on marriage: not the only way | Editorial

  13-02-2017 20:52
  
  The law should recognise more than marriage as a way of giving rights to straight couplesValentine’s Day may not be the best day to remember that relationships don’t always work out. All the same, couples celebrating the lovers’ anniversary with a candlelit dinner will not necessarily live happily ever after. Less and less often will they even get married. But the law has not kept up. For many couples it can seem stuck in, say, 1962.Family law has often been a last redoubt of c
  
  Read more

• Dilemmas mount for clubs engaged in Premier League relegation dogfight | Louise Taylor

  13-02-2017 20:49
  
  Sacking managers is the traditional response for teams in trouble but there are no easy ways to beat the drop and time is running out for the top flight’s bottom sixSack the manager? Keep the manager? Sell your best player and import seven new ones, five on loan? Go warm‑weather training in Dubai? Cancel the Gulf trip?Switch to a sweeper system? Revert to a flat back four? Play two up front? Keep the faith with a lone striker? Go cold‑weather training in New York? Go lukewarm&#
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on the Baftas and the Grammys: protest and survive | Editorial

  13-02-2017 20:45
  
  Most winners were a bit political, but only Ken Loach delivered an unequivocal messageLights, cameras, a global TV audience: the awards season is the moment for what in calmer times can look like virtue signalling. Now, though, 2017 has become a moment where, in the words of Viola Davies (Bafta, best supporting actress), it is a duty and a privilege to turn fame to protest.Nothing new here: in 1973, The Godfather star Marlon Brando sent the native American actor Sacheen Littlefeather to turn dow
  
  Read more

• Fan TV: revolution or just a vehicle for venting attention-grabbing fury? | Paul MacInnes

  13-02-2017 20:45
  
  Channels such as Arsenal Fan TV claim they give supporters the chance to have their say but are viewers just hoping to watch a car-crash moment?It was freezing outside the Emirates Stadium but that had not stopped the crowd. Small children were hoisted on the shoulders of their parents and one adult was holding a sign that read “#no bad energy”. All in all there must have been at least 200 people craning to hear a chartered accountant share his views on a hum-drum victory against Hul
  
  Read more

• Steve Hewlett tells Eddie Mair of his worries for future of BBC

  13-02-2017 20:41
  
  Media is closing in on itself, says journalist who has electrified Radio 4 PM audiences in Mair interviews on his cancerThe media commentator Steve Hewlett has raised concerns about the future of the BBC and the rest of the media industry during his latest affecting interview on Radio 4 about his terminal cancer.Hewlett, who revealed on Eddie Mair’s PM programme last week that he had been told he had only weeks to live, has continued to take an active interest in the industry and still hop
  
  Read more

• John Bercow supporters stage counterattack amid no-confidence plot

  13-02-2017 20:31
  
  MPs backing the Speaker are increasingly nervous after video of his comments on EU referendum emerged over the weekendSupporters of John Bercow in parliament have mounted a counter-campaign to save the Speaker’s job after the Tory MP who is leading the plot to oust him claimed to have widespread support at all levels of parliament.James Duddridge, the Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East, who is calling on MPs to sign a motion of no confidence in the Speaker, said Bercow was &ldq
  
  Read more

• Justin Trudeau's handshake with Donald Trump has instantly become a meme

  13-02-2017 20:29
  
  The Canadian PM looked very curiously at Trump’s hand…
  
  Read more

• North Korea claims missile test success as China rejects US criticism

  13-02-2017 20:26
  
  US calls for it to press Pyongyang to ditch nuclear programme are pointless unless Washington looks at own role, Beijing says
  North Korea has claimed it successfully test launched a medium-to-long-range ballistic missile, with China voicing opposition but rejecting criticism that it could do more to steer the regime away from its goal of developing a nuclear weapon capable of striking the US mainland.The test on Sunday appeared to be timed to coincide with Donald Trump’s summit with the Ja
  
  Read more

• Swastika and 'Rights for Whites' sign found in Exeter halls of residence

  13-02-2017 20:14
  
  University launches inquiry over incidents, which follow reports of students wearing T-shirts with antisemitic and racist slogansA leading Russell Group university is conducting an investigation after a swastika and a “Rights for Whites” sign were found in halls of residence, raising concern about antisemitism and racism on campuses.
  The incidents at the University of Exeter follow reports last term that students were pictured wearing T-shirts with handwritten antisemitic and racist
  
  Read more

• Britain’s most popular dogs? I have a bone to pick with the top 10

  13-02-2017 20:10
  
  The French bulldog is about to become the top breed in Britain, outrunning the overrated labrador, cocker and springer spaniel, and German shepherd. But for me, there will only ever be one top dogThe French bulldog is about to pull ahead of the labrador retriever as Britain’s most popular dog. Before we speak to the excellence of the breed we need to talk about labradors. It seems a pointless thing to make an enemy about, but seriously, someone needs to break the conspiracy of silence arou
  
  Read more

• Lake Oroville dam: emergency staff race to fix spillway before more rain strikes

  13-02-2017 20:01
  
  Bags of rocks loaded on to helicopters to fill gap created by erosion
  Emergency repairs come a day after nearly 200,000 were evacuatedEmergency workers and state officials were racing on Monday to repair a damaged spillway on the tallest dam in the United States, while almost 200,000 people evacuated downstream of the structure were given no indication of when they might return to their homes. Related: Lake Oroville dam: mass evacuation ordered over flooding threatContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• The Lost City of Z review: Charlie Hunnam slow-burns down the Amazon, leaving Sienna Miller at home

  13-02-2017 20:00
  
  James Gray’s introspective tale of adventurer Percival Fawcett’s obsession with a lost Amazonian city is a twist on the familiar Conrad jungle narrativeJames Gray brings a characteristically muted, slow-burn intensity of purpose to this odd, interesting period drama. It is based on the true story of Col Percival Fawcett, a British explorer and army officer of the last century who became obsessed with what he was convinced was a lost city he called “Z”, deep in the Amazon
  
  Read more

• Donald Trump's handshake: never has such a strong grip looked so weak | Moustafa Bayoumi

  13-02-2017 19:47
  
  No American president has ever tried to look as hyper-masculine while in fact looking so petty to such a large number of people and governments
  Why can’t Donald Trump just shake hands like a regular person? Instead of the simple clutch of palms that humans have used for ages to demonstrate friendship, Trump jerks and pulls hard on people’s arms, almost knocking them off balance.His handshake with Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s own nominee for the supreme court, went this way. And
  
  Read more

• Iranian president criticised for all-male delegation to meet Swedes

  13-02-2017 19:19
  
  Pictures showing majority female Swedish delegation in hijab highlights Hassan Rouhani’s broken campaign promises to Iran’s womenIran’s president has come under criticism for surrounding himself with an all-male entourage while hosting a predominantly female delegation visiting Tehran from Sweden.Related: Hassan Rouhani sworn in as president of Iran, urging moderation and respectContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Rape trial loophole should not be excuse to shame victims, says minister

  13-02-2017 19:15
  
  Justice secretary Liz Truss launches review of law under which a complainant’s sexual history can be admissible in courtThe justice secretary, Liz Truss, is looking to change the law to prevent the cross-examination of rape victims in open court on their sexual history.Truss and the attorney general, Jeremy Wright, started a review on Monday of the impact on rape victims of the operation of section 41 of the 1999 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, under which a rape complainant&rsquo
  
  Read more

• How to dump someone on Valentine's Day – or any day – without being a jerk

  13-02-2017 18:58
  
  Some analysts say 14 February is a peak moment for breakups – so I asked people about how they would like to be broken up with, for a changeLast week, Merriam-Webster added more than a thousand words to the dictionary. Among them, “to ghost” was defined as abruptly cutting off all contact with someone by no longer accepting or responding to phone calls or messages.With Valentine’s Day approaching – a time of year some data analysts have found is actually a peak mome
  
  Read more

• Racing news and tips: Outlander’s name nailed to Cheltenham Gold Cup mast

  13-02-2017 18:55
  
  • Gordon Elliott and owner consider Outlander their ‘superior’ contender
  • Don Poli also to run for stable in 2017 Cheltenham Festival feature raceMichael O’Leary’s runners came up short in Sunday’s Irish Gold Cup, in which his maroon colours were carried by both of the placed horses, but the airline chief executive apparently holds high hopes of a better outcome in the Cheltenham version next month. Outlander, his main contender for the race on 17 March,
  
  Read more

• Why are herds of women conquering farming?

  13-02-2017 18:53
  
  The agricultural industry has seen a rise in female farmers in recent years – women now make up 28% of the British agricultural workforceCheryl Edwards does not look like your typical farmer. “If she’s 5ft 4in, it would be a miracle. She is as slightly built as you could imagine,” says Tim Wilson, who runs the Ginger Pig butchery chain.“One day we were in the kitchen, and Cheryl popped her head round the door and said: ‘There’s a longhorn calving.’
  
  Read more

• Georgian priest charged with conspiracy to murder senior cleric

  13-02-2017 18:52
  
  Deacon Giorgi Mamaladze, detained at Tbilisi airport with cyanide in his baggage, is suspected of planning to kill Georgian Orthodox patriarchProsecutors in Georgia have charged a high-ranking priest with conspiracy to murder after he was found to have attempted to fly out to visit the country’s religious leader with cyanide in his baggage.Deacon Giorgi Mamaladze was detained at Tbilisi airport on 10 February, Georgia’s prosecutor general, Irakli Shotadze, told journalists on Monday.
  
  Read more

• France avalanche kills three members of family and instructor near Tignes

  13-02-2017 18:46
  
  Reports that five other skiers and boarders were missing near Alpine resort of Tignes are now thought to be incorrect Three members of the same family and their snowboard instructor have died in an avalanche near the busy French Alpine resort of Tignes. The group was swept away at 10.35am local time as they boarded off-piste at an altitude of about 2,100 metres in the Savoie region of the central Alps, near the Italian border. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Joe Root was not always earmarked for England captaincy but rarely shirks a test | The Spin

  13-02-2017 18:30
  
  Ever since he was a young boy in the Yorkshire nets the country’s new Test leader has demonstrated that, experienced or not, he has the heart for the fightWhen Joe Root was 12 he won a prize coveted by every cricket-nut in Yorkshire: a trip to Headingley for a session in the indoor nets. Root and his father arrived early, in time to watch Yorkshire’s batting coach Kevin Sharp pepper the England batsman Anthony McGrath with short balls. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• The Co-op Bank is the new Bradford & Bingley

  13-02-2017 18:29
  
  The proposed sale means the prospect of an independent, ethically based challenger bank to the major high street player is deadCo-op Bank, now that it has announced its sale, is going the way of the Bradford & Bingley – to be broken up, run off and the name consigned to history. The good bits – its 1.4 million current account holders, and a now half-decent mortgage book – have value. The bad bits – the remaining toxic loans (much of them acquired from the disastrous m
  
  Read more

• Nintendo Switch: new console may be weird, but it is for everyone

  13-02-2017 18:28
  
  As Nintendo launches its most striking console yet, R&D leads Shinya Takahashi and Yoshiaki Koizumi explain who this machine is aimed atThe Nintendo Switch is the weirdest games console to hit the market since … well, the last games console Nintendo released.When docked to the TV, the slim black device could be mistaken for one of the company’s previous consoles. The “Joy-Con” controllers give away that something’s up, though: even in their most traditional con
  
  Read more

• Exclusive - Lloyds Bank closes in on Berlin as post-Brexit EU hub: sources

  13-02-2017 18:27
  By Andrew MacAskill and Lawrence WhiteLONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Groupis close to selecting Berlin as a European base to secure market access to the European Union when Britain leaves the bloc, sources told Reuters.Britain's largest mortgage lender is examining steps to turn its branch in the German capital into a subsidiary and may apply for a licence to do so later this year, the sources said.Lloyds, which declined to comment, is the only major British retail lender without a subsidiary
  
  Read more

• My Baftas adventure: Dev Patel, liquid diabetes and clapping injuries

  13-02-2017 18:23
  
  All the stars were at the awards ceremony. And so was our columnist, stuffing his face with weird food and applauding everything from duff skits to political point-scoringMy anxiety kicks in days before the actual show, which is the first glitzy awards ceremony I’ve ever attended. “What does black tie actually mean?” I think, wondering if it requires tails and a bow tie, or if a literal black tie will be OK. I Google image search “Bafta” and it throws up a picture o
  
  Read more

• Greig Laidlaw a Six Nations doubt for Scotland after being sent back to club

  13-02-2017 18:22
  
  • Captain to undergo further tests at Gloucester
  • Wales have concerns over George North and Sam WarburtonIt is as well for Scotland that proposals to play the Six Nations over five successive weeks are not already in place. They would otherwise be playing Wales at Murrayfield this Saturday, six days after a bruising encounter against France in Paris that left four of Scotland’s players with concussion and the captain, Greig Laidlaw, with his right foot in a brace. Related: Six N
  
  Read more

• Whistleblowers keep us safe. We can’t allow them to be silenced | Shami Chakraborti

  13-02-2017 18:15
  
  With its proposed changes to the Official Secrets Act, the Law Commission would make it all but impossible for government wrongdoing to be exposedThe Law Commission is an important body with a proud history. Set up in 1965 to provide independent advice to government on law reform, it describes itself as non-political and has often made meticulous recommendations on overlooked but vital areas of the statute book, from criminal and family law to that governing property, trusts and other areas of c
  
  Read more

• Workers' feelings of powerlessness fuelling anger, says jobs tsar

  13-02-2017 18:14
  
  Matthew Taylor, in charge of review of modern employment, says improving the quality of work should be a national goalA feeling among workers that they lack control or a voice in the workplace is fuelling “misery and anger in British society”, the chair of a Downing Street review of modern employment has said.Matthew Taylor has called for the improvement of the quality of work in the UK to become a new “national goal” so that people “feel like citizens at work and n
  
  Read more

• West Ham’s Slaven Bilic charged by FA after hurling microphone in anger

  13-02-2017 18:01
  
  • Manager also appeared to abuse referee after West Brom’s late equaliser
  • Bilic charged with improper conduct and could get touchline banSlaven Bilic, the West Ham United manager, has been charged with improper conduct following the game against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, the Football Association has announced. Related: Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s actionContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Did you solve it? The mystery of Portia's caskets

  13-02-2017 18:00
  
  The answer to today’s Shakespearean logic puzzleEarlier today I set you the following Puzzle, from Raymond Smullyan’s What is the name of this book?Beautiful Portia has three caskets: one gold, one silver and one lead. Inside one of them is her portrait. Her father’s will has determined that any suitor must choose the casket with the portrait in order to win her hand in marriage. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Chelsea Manning: to those who kept me alive all these years, thank you | Chelsea E Manning

  13-02-2017 17:54
  
  When I was afraid, you taught me how to keep going. When I was lost, you showed me the wayTo those who have kept me alive for the past six years: minutes after President Obama announced the commutation of my sentence, the prison quickly moved me out of general population and into the restrictive housing unit where I am now held. I know that we are now physically separated, but we will never be apart and we are not alone. Recently, one of you asked me “Will you remember me?” I will re
  
  Read more

• American Gothic arrives in London for Royal Academy show

  13-02-2017 17:46
  
  Grant Wood’s 1930 masterpiece had never left North America until it went to Paris three months agoIt is arguably the most famous of all American paintings, endlessly re-imagined, satirised and parodied, but until now it has never been seen publicly in the UK.Grant Wood’s 1930 masterpiece American Gothic has arrived at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the star of a Depression-era show opening next week. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!