General news

• Your pictures: share your photos on the theme of 'green'

  18-02-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wherever you are in the world, this week we’d like to see your pictures on the theme ‘green’We’re now running a regular weekly photography assignment in the Observer New Review and the next theme is ‘green’ Share your photos of what green means to you – and tell us about your image in the description box.The closing date is Thursday 23 February at 10 am. We’ll publish our favourites in The New Review on Sunday 26 February and in a gallery on the Gu
  
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• After turbulent first weeks in the White House Donald Trump launches 2020 re-election bid in Florida

  18-02-2017 23:30
  
  An enormous and passionate crowd awaited Mr Trump in Melbourne.One woman said Mr Trump would have won the popular vote in a landslide if illegal immigrants had not been paid to vote, speaking as though it were an undisputed fact.Vince Calvano, 57, said it was time for a second American civil war.
  
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• Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago luxury private club is becoming an elite seat of American power

  18-02-2017 23:23
  
  Donald Trump campaigned as a man of the people, but as president he has taken to making decisions beneath the sparkling chandeliers of his private club reserved for the country's elite.
  
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• Vladimir Putin orders Russia to recognise documents issued in rebel-held east Ukraine

  18-02-2017 23:07
  
  President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian authorities on Saturday to temporarily recognise civil registration documents issued in separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine, a decision strongly criticized by Ukraine's president.The decision will enable people from the conflict-hit region to travel, work or study in Russia.According to Putin's order, published on the Kremlin website, Russia will temporarily recognize identity documents, diplomas, birth and marriage certificates and vehicle registrat
  
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• Roman Catholic bishops buy 'sexy' BBC shows for Italian TV channel

  18-02-2017 23:00
  
  A television channel owned by Italy's conference of bishops and endorsed by the Pope is to broadcast BBC shows for the first time - and has chosen the Pride and Prejudice adaptation featuring Colin Firth's famous wet shirt scene.BBC Worldwide has announced its first sales to TV2000, a Roman Catholic station known as "the Italian Church's TV".The channel had its pick of the BBC's export catalogue but passed on international favourites such as Top Gear, Doctor Who and The Great British Bake Off.
  
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• Neil Kinnock and Peter Mandelson among pro-EU peers looking to force changes to Brexit deal in House of Lords - but they are still earning tens of thousands from Brussels

  18-02-2017 23:00
  
  More than 20 peers expected to force changes to the Brexit Bill this week are still earning tens of thousands of pounds from Brussels, it can be revealed. 
  
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• Momentum organising carpools and London phone banks in 'urgent' drive to win Copeland and Stoke by-elections

  18-02-2017 23:00
  
  Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters are "urgently" transporting campaigners from across Britain into two crunch by-elections this week amid fears the party is on the brink of a historic defeat. 
  
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• EU citizens living in the UK could face legal limbo after Brexit

  18-02-2017 23:00
  
  The UK government does not track EU nationals as they enter and leave the country.The EU fears millions of its nationals living in the UK will be left stranded in a legal no man’s land after the country leaves the EU because of the weaknesses of the British immigration system, a document obtained by the Observer reveals.MEPs and senior European diplomats fear that chaos will ensue as the Home Office does not have the information or systems in place to select who can stay, once the UK restr
  
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• Brexit will cut shopping bills by £300 a year, says former minister

  18-02-2017 23:00
  
  British households could save up to £300 on their annual shopping bill after Brexit because a tariff on non-EU goods will no longer apply, a Eurosceptic campaign group has said. 
  
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• Boris Johnson held two private meetings with Tony Blair on Middle East despite public spat

  18-02-2017 23:00
  
  Boris Johnson has held two secret meetings with Tony Blair about the Middle East since taking office despite calling on voters last week to ignore his views.  
  
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• Russia plotted to overthrow Montenegro's government by assassinating Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic last year, according to senior Whitehall sources

  18-02-2017 22:31
  
  Russia plotted to assassinate the prime minister of a European nation and overthrow its government last year, according to senior Whitehall sources.An election-day coup plot to attack Montenegro’s parliament and kill the pro-Western leader was directed by Russian intelligence officers with the support and blessing of Moscow, to sabotage the country’s plan to join Nato.The allegation came as Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, criticised Nato as a “Cold War inst
  
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• Royal Train saved from the scrapheap after Queen makes it known it is still her favoured mode of transport

  18-02-2017 22:30
  
  Since the reign of Queen Victoria its well upholstered carriages and trusty locomotives have ferried members of the Royal Family the length and breadth of the country.The Queen is understood to have made it known that the train is her preferred mode of transport, and that she believes it to be a cost-effective and convenient way for the royal family to travel.Instead of being ready for the scrapyard, Palace sources said the Royal Train was found to be in far better condition than previously thou
  
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• Revealed: Tory ministers planned business rates help for high street, but plans were abandoned after the election 

  18-02-2017 22:30
  
  Tory ministers were so concerned about the impact of business rates on the high street that they were planning extra financial support before the election, The Telegraph has learned, but the plans were later abandoned. 
  
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• Terror suspects use human rights law in bid to get their passports back

  18-02-2017 22:00
  
  Two terror suspects used Human Rights Law to launch a costly legal bid to get their passports returned so they could travel to Syria to fight with Islamic State.A 19-year-old of Iraqi Kurd from the West Midlands took the Government to the Appeal Court in a failed attempt to force ministers to return his passport, which was seized from him after his elder brother travelled to Iraq to join the Isil terror group.In the same case another man, aged 26, from London, who has links with fighte
  
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• Reconstruction: The full incredible story behind Russia's deadly plot to stop Montenegro embracing the West

  18-02-2017 22:00
  
  Soon after walking off the street and demanding to speak to the police chief, the former policeman began to outline a plot that, if true, risked sending Montenegro into chaos months before it was due to join Nato.The 45-year-old told officials he had been hired to buy weapons and rent a hideout for a gang of Serbian nationalists who were to launch a bloody attack on the Parliament.Days after Velimirovic’s revelation, and as the world sat enthralled by the US presidential election, the news
  
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• Tories widen lead over Labour to 13 points in new poll

  18-02-2017 21:45
  
  Poll results will be sobering reading for Jeremy Corbyn as he campaigns in Stoke-on-Trent byelection.The Tories have opened up a 13-point lead over Labour, according to a poll for The Observer that suggests Jeremy Corbyn’s party has been losing support ahead of next week’s two crucial byelections.An online survey of 2,004 UK adults, conducted between 14 and 16 February by Opinium Research finds 40% of voters now back the Conservatives, an increase of three percentage points since a s
  
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• Tories widen lead over Labour since January

  18-02-2017 21:45
  
  Poll results will be sobering reading for Jeremy Corbyn as he campaigns in Stoke-on-Trent byelection.The Tories have opened up a 13-point lead over Labour, according to a poll for The Observer that suggests Jeremy Corbyn’s party has been losing support ahead of next week’s two crucial byelections.An online survey of 2,004 UK adults, conducted between 14 and 16 February by Opinium Research finds 40% of voters now back the Conservatives, an increase of three percentage points since a s
  
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• Labour sure it can see off Ukip in Stoke byelection despite voter apathy

  18-02-2017 21:29
  
  Jeremy Corbyn tells a Labour conference in Coventry that the byelections can send a message to the Conservatives.Labour MPs are increasingly optimistic that the party will hang on to its seats in two crucial byelections on Thursday, as it prepares for a race to the wire with Ukip in Stoke-on-Trent Central and the Conservatives in Copeland.Despite poor national polling for both Labour and Jeremy Corbyn, party campaigners in the West Midlands and Cumbrian constituencies believe incumbency and loca
  
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• Man dies after being shot in Sheffield street

  18-02-2017 20:44
  
  A 23-year-old man has died after he was shot in the street in Sheffield.People living in the Upperthorpe area said the man was either in, or close to, a black Mercedes car he had been driving when he was shot in the chest on Saturday lunchtime.Local residents said the man was a member of a family who live close to the scene of the shooting on Daniel Hill, between the Upperthorpe and Walkley areas of the city.
  
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• Ex-boxer Michael Watson attacked in horrific attempted carjacking in east London

  18-02-2017 20:44
  
  Former boxing champion Michael Watson and his carer were targeted by thugs in an horrific attempted carjacking in east London.Watson, 51, who was put in a coma by Chris Eubank in 1991, and Lennard Ballack were reportedly attacked as they drove on The Ridgeway, in Chingford, on Thursday.As Mr Ballack left the car he was sprayed with a noxious substance and punched to the floor, the Daily Mail reported.
  
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• Donald Trump planning to re-implement immigration ban, exempting green card holders

  18-02-2017 20:42
  
  Donald Trump plans to re-implement his immigration travel ban, but without preventing green card holders and those already mid-flight from entering the United States, his secretary for homeland security said on Saturday.The president's initial attempt to block travel from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees was frozen by American courts after it prompted mass protests and chaos at airports nationwide."The president is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined ve
  
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• In nuclear Copeland, it's Jeremy Corbyn that's radioactive

  18-02-2017 20:20
  
  For all the lush pasture, the meandering lanes and summer ramblers, if Copeland could not smash atomic nuclei into one another it would cease to be, a certainty that’s clear from the moment anyone opens their mouth.“I’m a welder for Shepley Engineers,” he told me, while his wife was strolling round the local primary school for the benefit of the local TV cameras, standing diligently behind the Prime Minister as she grimaced at some seven year olds picking up plastic bees
  
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• London Mayor urged to hire cat after mice fall on schoolchildren's heads

  18-02-2017 20:18
  
  The final straw may have been when a mouse fell at the feet of a party of schoolchildren visiting London’s City Hall.The reaction among the startled children prompted London Assembly members to call for the capital’s Mayor Sadiq Khan to do the obvious thing - get a cat.
  
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• City Hall mouse problem causes London Assembly members to beg Sadiq Khan for a cat

  18-02-2017 20:18
  
  The final straw may have been when a mouse fell at the feet of a party of schoolchildren visiting London’s City Hall.The reaction among the startled children prompted London Assembly members to call for the capital’s Mayor Sadiq Khan to do the obvious thing - get a cat.
  
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• Workmen's cafe overwhelmed with customers after it was accidentally given a Michelin star

  18-02-2017 20:17
  
  A workmen’s café in central France was overwhelmed with gourmet customers and TV crews after it was awarded a Michelin star — by mistake, it later turned out.Prospective customers were astounded when they turned up at the Bouche à Oreille, in the small town of Bourges, to find a cheap and cheerful eatery with red and white polka dot tablecloths, serving a fixed price lunch menu with homemade lasagna or beef bourguignon for about €10 (£8.50).The Michelin Guide
  
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• Workmen's cafe overwhelmed with customers after it is accidentally awarded a Michelin star

  18-02-2017 20:17
  
  A workmen’s café in central France was overwhelmed with gourmet customers and TV crews after it was awarded a Michelin star — by mistake, it later turned out.Prospective customers were astounded when they turned up at the Bouche à Oreille, in the small town of Bourges, to find a cheap and cheerful eatery with red and white polka dot tablecloths, serving a fixed price lunch menu with homemade lasagna or beef bourguignon for about €10 (£8.50).The Michelin Guide
  
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• Hornless cows created to make farming safer

  18-02-2017 20:13
  
  Hornless cows which are unable to gore farmers or threaten dog walkers are being bred by scientists.Horned cattle are major headache for British farms because they cause significant risks for handlers, other stock, or members of the public.Most dairy cows in the UK have to go through a painful ‘dehorning’ process when they are calves but the genetic editing programme would mean farmers would not have to carry out the process.
  
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• Ukip MEP compared to Donald Trump after citing non-existent police statement on illegal immigration

  18-02-2017 19:39
  
  A Ukip MEP has been compared to Donald Trump after she cited a police statement to claim hundreds of illegal immigrants are arriving in the UK every week, only for the police force in question to say the statement does not appear to exist.Jane Collins, Ukip's Home Affairs spokeswoman, said during a speech to the party's conference in Bolton that the "hundreds" of illegal immigrants were not being arrested when they are caught.When later challenged about the claim, Ms Collins said her comment was
  
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• Police hunt peckish thieves who cooked a pizza during break-in at university halls

  18-02-2017 19:29
  
  Police have launched an appeal to catch a gang of peckish thieves who cooked themselves a pizza during a burglary at university hall.Thames Valley Police, on Friday, released CCTV images of four men wanted over the bizarre incident.The gang broke in to University of Reading halls and stole items including a digital camera and Bluetooth speakers.
  
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• Colston Hall row: Campaigners want Bristol's famous concert venue named after slave trader to be renamed

  18-02-2017 19:20
  
  First they targeted the statue of a 19th century colonialist, now anti-racism campaigners have their eyes set on the name of one of Britain’s oldest performance venues.Campaigners in Bristol are demanding that the city’s Colston concert hall be renamed to remove its association with one of Britain’s most notorious slave traders.The campaign has led to a bitter row which is threatening to split musicians and audiences alike.
  
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• Memories could be erased to cure soldiers of PTSD, say scientists

  18-02-2017 19:00
  
  Soldiers could be cured of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by erasing the individual memories of disturbing events, scientists believe.Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered that specific memories are encoded in just a few cells of the brain, and are hopeful they will be able to switch them off using drugs.Figures from the Ministry of Defence show that around 400 soldiers a year report symptoms of PTSD and the charity Combat Stress has received nearly 10,000 referrals in
  
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• Dozens pay tribute to British chef who died fighting Isil in Syria as his body is returned to the UK

  18-02-2017 18:34
  
  Dozens of people held roses in tribute to the "hero" British chef who died fighting Isil in Syria as his body arrived back into the UK.Ryan Lock, 20, shot himself to avoid being captured by jihadists in northern Syria, near the city of Raqqa - the capital of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil)'s self-declared caliphate - on December 21.The Kurdish community hold roses and wait for the body of Ryan Lock, who died fighting Isil, to arrive at Heathrow.
  
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• Geert Wilders attacks 'Moroccan scum' as he launches election campaign 

  18-02-2017 18:04
  
  On the first day of canvassing ahead of elections in mid-March, the current frontrunner toured a market square in the small town of Spijkenisse, rallying voters with a call to “make the Netherlands ours again”.“Not all are scum, but there is a lot of Moroccan scum in Holland who make the streets unsafe, mostly young people,” he told camera crews from across the continent.Mr Wilders, whose platinum blond hair has become as much a trademark as the hardline views that once r
  
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• Letting children out of school early isn't a reward, but a punishment, for parents 

  18-02-2017 18:00
  
  Imagine, then, receiving a letter home advising you that as a reward for good behaviour, your little darling will be allowed out 10 minutes earlier than his or her reprobate classmates.In other words, the virtue of the child ends up being visited as a punishment upon their mother – and you’re supposed to pat them on the back and say “well done”.
  
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• Landscapes within landscapes: crafty photography – in pictures

  18-02-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Artist Laura Plageman, who works in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she grew up, manipulates her photographs physically rather than digitally. In her ongoing series Response, she alters sea and landscapes and forest scenes to create something she describes as being “both a truth and a fiction”. Starting with the printed photographs, she creates a 3D collage, lights it, and photographs the still life. “I like seeing the evidence of the process and the materials showing through
  
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• Juno space probe captures stunning image of Jupiter's south pole

  18-02-2017 17:35
  
  This NASA image shows an incredibly detailed picture of the surface of Jupiter taken by the Juno spacecraft.It was taken on February 2, 2017 as the probe flew directly over Jupiter's south pole at an altitude of about 62,800 miles above the cloud tops."The decision to forego the burn is the right thing to do -- preserving a valuable asset so that Juno can continue its exciting journey of discovery," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate i
  
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• Raccoon spotted hitching a ride on rubbish truck

  18-02-2017 17:03
  
  This furry stowaway was spotted riding around on a rubbish truck in Washington DC on Friday.The photo was taken by journalist Helena B. Evich, a reporter for Politico, who spoke to the driver of the American Disposal Services truck to let him know they'd picked up an extra passenger.“We can confirm the raccoon is unharmed and was removed safely for all,” a spokeswoman for American Disposal Services told the Washington Post.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn attacks Tony Blair’s campaign to halt Brexit, telling him to 'respect the result' of the referendum

  18-02-2017 16:57
  
  Jeremy Corbyn has criticised Tony Blair’s call for Britons to rise up to halt Brexit, telling the former Prime Minister to “respect the result” of the referendum.
  
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• Emmanuel Macron loses lead in French election polls after remarks on colonial Algeria and gay marriage spark outrage

  18-02-2017 16:43
  
  Emmanuel Macron, the centrist French presidential contender, struggled to get his campaign back on track on Saturday after losing his poll lead over controversial remarks on France’s colonial record and gay marriage.Mr Macron provoked outrage on the Right by describing colonial rule as a “crime against humanity” during a visit to Algeria, once the jewel in France’s imperial crown.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn criticises Tony Blair over Brexit intervention

  18-02-2017 16:29
  
  Jeremy Corbyn criticised Tony Blair for intervening in the EU referendum debate after the former Prime Minister called for pro-Europeans to form a new cross-party movement against Brexit.The Labour leader urged Mr Blair to "respect the result" of the vote to leave and to put his energy towards building relations in Europe.Mr Corbyn, who was quizzed on the comments after addressing Labour's local government conference at Warwick University, said: "Well, it's not helpful.
  
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• Streets should not be named after local heroes ‘in case they are paedophiles’, councils told

  18-02-2017 16:26
  
  Councils have been warned against paying homage to local heroes with plaques, footpaths and municipal buildings in case the individual is one day exposed as a paedophile.“It avoids the possible occurrence of future information coming to light that may then taint that specific road name based on an individual and give rise to costly street rename procedures,” the new rules, which have been issued by Geoplace, the local government quango that oversees the official database of addresses
  
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• Village vigilante who informs on illegally parked cars dubbed a 'prat' by furious traders

  18-02-2017 16:22
  
  Drivers popping into shops in the quiet coastal village Rottingdean, East Sussex, have been reported by the eagle-eyed informer, making them and traders furious."Anything that upsets that is not welcome.
  
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• Leyton crash: Lorry driver arrested after man killed 'on way to pray at mosque'

  18-02-2017 16:21
  
  A lorry driver has been arrested after a man was knocked down and killed while walking to a mosque in east London.The 79-year-old pedestrian was “dragged under the lorry” in the crash on Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, at about 12.30pm on Thursday.The lorry driver, a 44-year-old man, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
  
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• Trump’s first month of lies – video

  18-02-2017 15:37 via theguardian.com
  
  In his first month as president, Donald Trump made numerous false statements on subjects that ranged from the extremely petty – such as crowd sizes – to those of national and international significance. The Guardian examines his most egregious falsehoods and considers what to do about a serial liar in the White House Continue reading...
  
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• Ministers accused of 'sending vulnerable people to food banks' by failing to act on promise to curb benefit sanctions

  18-02-2017 15:26
  
  Ministers have been accused of sending desperate jobless and disabled people to food banks by stalling on a promised reform to cut the huge number of benefit sanctions.A “yellow card” system – to give claimants 14 days to challenge a decision to dock their benefits, a punishment otherwise imposed immediately – was pledged way back in October 2015.Mr Field said: “The department has yet to act on one crucial finding which has already emerged from its interim evaluatio
  
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• Donald Trump escorts grandchildren on to Marine One presidential helicopter

  18-02-2017 15:12
  
  Donald Trump's grandchildren paid a visit to the White House on Friday and left in style after the president escorted them aboard Marine One.Arabella Kushner, five, and her brother Joseph, three, were dressed in winter coats as Mr Trump walked them across the White House lawn and on to the presidential helicopter.
  
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• One killed, 27 injured after train derailment in Belgium

  18-02-2017 15:09
  
  One person was killed and 27 injured, three seriously, on Saturday when a carriage toppled onto its side in a train derailment in Belgium, rescue workers said. Passenger train derails in #Belgium , casualties reported https://t.co/mtQE9rad0A#trainderails#leuven#traincrashpic.twitter.com/XMz0FMRgUw— Richard Grune (@0406Guno) February 18, 2017
  
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• One killed, 20 injured after train derailment in Belgium

  18-02-2017 15:09
  
  One person was killed and about 20 injured, two seriously, on Saturday when a carriage toppled onto its side in a train derailment in Belgium, rescue workers said. Passenger train derails in #Belgium , casualties reported https://t.co/mtQE9rad0A#trainderails#leuven#traincrashpic.twitter.com/XMz0FMRgUw— Richard Grune (@0406Guno) February 18, 2017
  
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• Don't forget to check behind the sofa for 433 million £1 coins - before it's too late!

  18-02-2017 15:07
  
  The Treasury has urged savers to crack open their piggy banks, check behind the sofa and rifle through forgotten overcoat pockets for rogue £1 coins, before 433 million of them become worthless.The sturdy bit, first issued in 1983 as a replacement for the pound note, is being phased out in favour of their new 12-sided counterpart from March 28.Chief secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said: “We are calling on everybody - from conscientious children saving pocket money in piggy bank
  
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• Brexit: German minister warns against harsh treatment of UK

  18-02-2017 15:03
  
  A senior German minister has suggested Britain should not be treated harshly in Brexit negotiations.The country's Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, warned Germany's own interests would be damaged if the UK was punished too harshly for the vote to leave the EU.The comments by Mr Gabriel, who is also vice chancellor of Germany, will be welcomed by Downing Street.
  
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