General news

• Homeland Security intelligence report disputes threats by travel ban nations

  24-02-2017 23:55
  
  Analysts at the Homeland Security Department's intelligence arm found insufficient evidence that citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries included in President Donald Trump's travel ban pose a terror threat to the United States.A draft document obtained by The Associated Press concludes that citizenship is an "unlikely indicator" of terrorism threats to the United States and that few people from the countries Trump listed in his travel ban have carried out attacks or been involved in terroris
  
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• 'The pips are squeaking!'

  24-02-2017 22:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A selection of independent shopkeepers with distinctive shops explain how they will be hit by business rate revaluation in England.
  
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• Three men arrested after police drug raids at two Vauxhall nightclubs

  24-02-2017 22:33
  
  Three men have been arrested after police carried out drugs raids on two Vauxhall nightclubs.Officers stormed both Fire and Lightbox, near Vauxhall station, during the early hours of last Friday morning in order to search party-goers and staff.One 30-year-old member of staff was arrested at Lightbox on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs.
  
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• Why is Donald Trump in a war with the media and what are his plans?

  24-02-2017 22:31
  
  Donald Trump came to power as part of an anti-establishment revolt.“I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news.It’s fake, phony, fake,” he said in his remarks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac).
  
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• Ukip divisions emerge as Nigel Farage says Stoke by-election focus should have been on immigration

  24-02-2017 22:31
  
  Ukip’s humiliating defeat in the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election has reopened divisions, after ex-leader Nigel Farage suggested the party had not focussed enough on immigration in its campaign.Mr Farage said his successor Paul Nuttall had taken a “risk” in seeking to target Labour voters instead of Tory voters and that the strategy had not paid off.The theme was echoed by Ukip MEP Bill Etheridge, who said Nuttall had been poorly advised in seeking to take Labour on their ide
  
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• Exclusive: How a tiny Canadian IT company helped swing the Brexit vote for Leave 

  24-02-2017 22:30
  
  With the entire political establishment massed against them and the bookmakers giving them no hope, the Leave campaign faced what many thought was an impossible battle to take Britain out of the European Union.While the Remain camp boasted of their success in reaching out to millions of people on Facebook, home to the millennial voters who would be expected to back Britain staying in the EU, it has emerged that the Leave campaign spent nearly half of its cash on a secretive consultancy firm that
  
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• Nigel Farage relives the terror of his plane crash in interview with Piers Morgan

  24-02-2017 22:29
  
  Nigel Farage has been forced to relive the terror of a plane crash which nearly killed him while he was campaigning in 2010. 
  
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• India fury over US 'hate crime' shootings of two of its citizens in Olathe Kansas 

  24-02-2017 22:13
  
  A 51-year-old Kansas man has been charged with killing an Indian engineer and wounding two other men when he opened fire in a bar in what federal authorities probed on Friday as a possible hate crime that shocked the victim's home country.The shooting on Wednesday night led news bulletins in India and triggered outrage on social media, where people voiced concern that US President Donald Trump's "America First" position on immigration and jobs has fueled a climate of intolerance.Navy veteran Ada
  
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• Soaring antibiotic resistance fuels steep rise in use of 'last hope' drugs

  24-02-2017 22:00
  
  Soaring levels of antibiotic resistance have driven a 40 per cent rise in prescriptions of drugs which are only used as a last hope, new figures show.NHS statistics reveal increasing use of the medication which is so toxic that it is only used when standard antibiotics have failed.The figures revealed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism show that in just one year, prescriptions of colistin have risen from 346,000 to 485,000 daily doses.
  
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• Russell Group university to offer free tuition for disadvantaged students in bid to boost diversity

  24-02-2017 22:00
  
  A Russell Group university is to offer free tuition for disadvantaged A-level students in a bid to boost diversity.
  
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• Housing authority which refused to provide 'overage' Iraqi asylum seeker with accommodation told it must shelter him

  24-02-2017 21:55
  
  The judge said it appeared the Home Office did not accept that he was 15, but instead formed the view that his physical appearance and demeanour very strongly suggested that he was significantly over 18 years of age.Croydon Council consequently refused to provide S with accommodation and support until the conclusion of an age assessment and it was clear that S was entitled to support as a child.
  
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• Amal Clooney shows off her baby bump as she arrives at Paris event

  24-02-2017 21:47
  
  Amal Clooney showed off her growing baby bump as she stepped onto the red carpet with George Clooney on Friday night. 
  
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• François Fillon suffers fresh blow as investigating judge to probe 'fake job' allegations against his British wife

  24-02-2017 21:35
  
  Conservative French presidential candidate Francois Fillon moved a step closer to being charged on Friday night after a financial prosecutor asked an investigative judge to launch a probe into whether his British wife was paid large sums of money for a fictitious job.The prosecutor had been conducting a preliminary probe into allegations that Penelope Fillon received more than €900,000 (£764,000)  for a "fake job" as parliamentary assistant to her husband and his successor over s
  
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• Donald Trump bars New York Times, CNN, Los Angeles Times and Politico from White House press briefing

  24-02-2017 20:58
  
  Several major American news organisations were on Friday afternoon barred from a White House press briefing in a an unprecedented move by the Trump administration.Reporters from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Los Angeles Times and Politico were all refused access to an off-camera press briefing by Sean Spicer, President Donald Trump's press secretary."Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different par
  
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• Donald Trump bars New York Times, CNN and Politico from White House press briefing

  24-02-2017 20:58
  
  Three major American news organisations have be barred from a White House press briefing in a an extraordinary move by the Trump administration.Reporters from the New York Times, CNN and Politico were all refused entry to a press briefing by Sean Spicer, President Donald Trump's press secretary on Friday afternoon.
  
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• Man who shot a crying toddler in the head with air rifle jailed for two years

  24-02-2017 20:53
  
  A man who shot a crying 18-month-old boy in the head with an air rifle has been jailed for two years.Jordan Walters, 25, fired the weapon right into the head of Harry Studley, who was left fighting for life and with permanent disabilities.The toddler underwent emergency surgery after suffering the serious head injury at Walters' flat in Hartcliffe, Bristol, on July 1.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn warned not to 'pass the buck' after Labour defeat

  24-02-2017 20:43
  
  Despite holding on to Stoke Central, attention has shifted on to how Jeremy Corbyn deals with the party’s defeat in the Copeland byelection.Jeremy Corbyn has come under intense pressure to take some personal responsibility for Labour’s historic byelection defeat in Copeland from senior party figures, including trade union leaders and even members of his own shadow cabinet.The Labour leader was urged not to “pass the buck” or sugar coat the result after Theresa May’s
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn told not to 'pass the buck' after Labour defeat

  24-02-2017 20:43
  
  Despite holding on to Stoke Central, attention has shifted to how Jeremy Corbyn deals with the party’s defeat in the Copeland byelection.Jeremy Corbyn has come under intense pressure to take some personal responsibility for Labour’s historic byelection defeat in Copeland from senior party figures, including trade union leaders and even members of his own shadow cabinet.The Labour leader was urged not to “pass the buck” or sugarcoat the result after Theresa May’s Con
  
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• Anger over plan to remove Bath Abbey's Victorian pews

  24-02-2017 20:30
  
  For more than a century the congregation of Bath Abbey have rested their all too mortal flesh in quiet prayer and contemplation on its sturdy yet ornate Victorian pews.The move has prompted anger and disquiet among conservationists and admirers of Victorian design and architecture.The Victorian Society believes removing them would have "an extremely detrimental effect" on the magnificent Gothic building in the centre of Bath.
  
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• Visitors at Brighton's i360 faced having to use a temporary 'toilet tent' after attraction became stuck

  24-02-2017 20:16
  
  Visitors at Brighton's i360 faced having to use a temporary "toilet tent" after the attraction became stuck on Friday afternoon. 
  
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• Five London teenagers charged with terror offences over suspected 'plan to fight for Isis in Syria and Iraq'

  24-02-2017 20:06
  
  Five London teenagers – one aged just 15 – have been charged in relation to suspected terror offences after police stormed homes across the capital.The five males, ages 15 to 19, were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of planning to flee Britain to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.The Met’s counter terror detectives are investigating alleged plans by the teenagers, four of whom are schoolchildren, to travel to join the jihadist terror group after communicating with each
  
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• Row over plans to sell land around Beachy Head bought by public subscription in 1929

  24-02-2017 20:00
  
  Ithas been in public hands since 1929, when the citizens of Eastbourne bandied together to buy the farmland around Beachy Head for the common good.Indeed the same desire to protect the landscape which propelled the town’s citizens to raise a public subscription of £100,000 for the land, led to the foundation of groups such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, tasked with the mission of protecting the landscape from the threat of development and urbanisation.
  
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• Theresa May: Labour's devastating Copeland by-election defeat shows Corbyn's party is out of touch

  24-02-2017 19:51
  
  Theresa May has said Labour's "devastating" defeat to the Conservatives' in the Copeland by-election shows Jeremy Corbyn's party is "out of touch with the concerns of ordinary working people".After travelling to Cumbria to hail triumphant Tory candidate Trudy Harrison's "astounding" victory, the Prime Minister issued a rallying cry to the Conservative Councillors' Association conference in Lincolnshire.Mrs May said the Copeland result showed that the Conservatives are the party "listening and re
  
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• When is the next solar eclipse and can I see Sunday's 'ring of fire' in the UK? 

  24-02-2017 19:39
  
  What is a solar eclipse?A solar eclipse happens when the moon casts a shadow on the earth as it passes between the earth and the sun, blocking out the light.The diameter of the Sun is 400 times that of the moon but it lies 400 times further away - which means if you are in exactly the right alignment on the surface of the Earth at the right time, you will see the two celestial bodies overlap.
  
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• Blame Labour MPs and grandees for the lost byelection, not Jeremy Corbyn | Letters

  24-02-2017 19:37
  
  Jeremy Corbyn attends an engagement after the Conservatives captured the seat of Copeland that Labour had held since 1935.Irrespective of the results from the Copeland and Stoke byelections (Report, 24 February), it was clear that Jeremy Corbyn’s detractors were preparing to impose their chosen narrative, whether on victory or defeat.What is striking about their criticism is not the strategic disloyalty, paucity of political alternatives, or the fact that in both seats the previous incumbe
  
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• Lord Waddington obituary

  24-02-2017 19:34
  
  Lord Waddington in 1990, the year he was moved to the House of Lords.Being home secretary is never an easy job, but David Waddington’s brief tenure in that great office of state at the tail-end of Margaret Thatcher’s time as prime minister was more tempestuous than most.Plucked from being chief whip at the age of 60, Waddington, who has died aged 87, had to deal with a string of serious problems.
  
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• Northern Ireland leader says rivals may force return to London rule

  24-02-2017 19:30
  By Ian GrahamOMAGH, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - Irish nationalists may force a prolonged collapse of Northern Ireland's devolved government and a return to direct rule from London if they cannot agree a new government with unionists, the leader of the British province said on Friday.First Minister Arlene Foster told Reuters such a scenario would be "very damaging" for a province recovering from three decades of sectarian violence and now facing the upheaval of Britain's exit from the European U
  
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• Nigel Farage barnstorms US conservative jamboree and predicts Donald Trump and Brexit-inspired 'global revolution'

  24-02-2017 19:08
  
  Nigel Farage has travelled to Washington to tell Donald Trump's followers that they are part of a "global revolution" that began with Brexit.Mr Farage was greeted with a standing ovation at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and he spoke of the "Brexit mania" he had witnessed after travelling to the US to take part in a Trump rally.
  
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• Miles Hughes trial: 'Disturbing and dangerous' teen jailed for attempted murder and rape of schoolgirl

  24-02-2017 19:01
  
  A teenager branded “deeply disturbing” and “self-absorbed” by a judge has been jailed for 17 years for the attempted murder and rape of a 15-year-old girl.Miles Hughes was just 17 when he raped the girl in Hampstead Cemetery before stabbing her repeatedly in the neck with a Stanley knife.Hughes, now 18, of Dynham Road, West Hampstead, was found guilty of attempted murder and rape following a trial at the Old Bailey on Thursday January 12.
  
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• Marine Le Pen refuses to be quizzed by French investigators over 'fake jobs' probe

  24-02-2017 18:54
  
  Marine Le Pen, the Front National leader, faces a showdown with French judges after refusing to respond to a summons over allegations she made illegal EU payments to her staff.Ms Le Pen, a leading candidate in presidential elections in April and May, will not comply with any summons until after elections this year, said her lawyer, Rodolphe Bosselut.
  
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• François Fillon suffers fresh blow to French presidential hopes as investigating judge to probe British wife 'fake job' allegations

  24-02-2017 18:54
  
  Conservative French presidential candidate Francois Fillon moved a step closer to being charged on Friday night after a financial prosecutor asked an investigative judge to launch a probe into whether his British wife was paid large sums of money for a fictitious job.The prosecutor had been conducting a preliminary probe into allegations that Penelope Fillon received more than €900,000 (£764,000)  for a "fake job" as parliamentary assistant to her husband and his successor over s
  
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• New lord chief justice must be 65 or younger to navigate Brexit

  24-02-2017 18:53
  
  Leveson is 67.The new lord chief justice will have to be 65 or younger in order to steer the judiciary through the uncertainties of Brexit, ruling out several leading candidates including Lord Leveson.As well as Leveson, who conducted the inquiry into media ethics, it rules out Lady Justice Hallett, who conducted the inquest into the 7/7 bombings.
  
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• Kezia Dugdale: 'Huge mistake' to have Ruth Davidson lead Unionist campaign in indy ref 2

  24-02-2017 18:52
  
  Kezia Dugdale has argued it would be a “huge mistake” for Ruth Davidson to lead the Unionist campaign in a second independence referendum but suggested there should be a second question on the ballot paper proposing her plan for a federal UK.The Scottish Labour repeatedly emphasised she did not want another separation vote, but argued that a “non-political” voice should lead the pro-UK side rather than the Scottish Tory leader.Speaking at a fringe event at the Scottish La
  
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• Theresa May's senior Scots law adviser charged with firearms offence

  24-02-2017 18:42
  
  Theresa May's most senior adviser on Scots law has been charged with committing a firearms offence on Hogmanay.Richard Keen QC, the Advocate General for Scotland, is alleged to have contravened section two of the Firearms Act 1968 by failing to secure a shotgun.Lord Keen, a former chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party who was made a life peer in 2015, is charged with breaching the legislation at his Edinburgh home on December 31 last year.
  
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• Revealed: The First World War through children's eyes

  24-02-2017 18:42
  
  An extraordinary collection of children’s poems, essays and drawings created during the First World War is to be exhibited for the first time, after being lost and forgotten about for decades.The tranche of documents, which are now being showcased as part of a digital archive aimed at capturing and preserving stories of London’s Jews in the First World War, are a compilation of work by pupils aged between eight and 16 from the religion classes of the Liberal Jewis
  
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• Former top British family judge kills himself after dementia diagnosis

  24-02-2017 18:39
  
  Sir Nicholas Wall, formerly Britain’s most senior family law judge, has killed himself after being diagnosed with a rare form of dementia, his family has said.The judge had been appointed as President of the Family Division in 2010 but was forced to retire on health grounds two years later.“After years of suffering, he was recently diagnosed with a rare dementia of the fronto-temporal lobe”, it said.
  
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• Force apologises over 'inappropriate behaviour' claims against police doctor

  24-02-2017 18:27
  
  Avon and Somerset police accepted that it missed a number of chances to investigate Dr Reginald Bunting.Avon and Somerset police have apologised after scores of officers and staff came forward to reveal that the force’s own doctor had subjected them to sexual or inappropriate behaviour during routine medical examinations.The force also accepted that it missed a number of chances to investigate Dr Reginald Bunting, who died aged 80 in 2013.
  
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• Police seize millions of pounds of drugs in smuggling crackdown at London's airports

  24-02-2017 18:25
  
  Detectives have seized millions of pounds worth of Class C drugs following an investigation into smuggling at London’s airports.Intelligence first led officers to raid a house in Hayes on Thursday afternoon, where they arrested a 42-year-old man on suspicion of importation of class C drugs, possession of class A drugs and money laundering.The man was taken into custody at a west London police station and was later bailed to return to the station in late May. Enquiries are ongoing.
  
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• Human remains found in a well on Greek island are those of missing Brit Steven Cook

  24-02-2017 18:24
  
  Human remains found in a well in Crete are those of a British holidaymaker who went missing more than a decade ago, police have confirmed.Steven Cook, then 20, disappeared on a night out in Malia with friends in 2005 - the first holiday he had taken without his family.Despite appeals on UK and Greek TV, Mr Cook - from Sandbach, Cheshire - was never found.
  
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• Donald Trump says fake media is enemy of the people - 'they have no sources, none' 

  24-02-2017 18:23
  
  President Donald Trump slammed the "fake news media" and said journalists should not be allowed to publish stories based on anonymous sources.Mr Trump, speaking to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at a ballroom just outside Washington, launched a lengthy diatribe about the media, suggesting elements of it were the "enemy of the people".The fake news doesn't tell the truth.
  
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• Nigel Farage addresses CPAC conservative convention about 'global revolution' after rousing speech from Donald Trump 

  24-02-2017 18:18
  
  Nigel Farage to give Brexit speech about 'global revolution' Donald Trump slams media, Democrats in rousing speech Trump says he was 'right on Sweden', and France is unsafe President says 'No such thing as a global flag, it's America First' He vows to 'keep radical Islamic terrorism the hell out of our country'  Trump: 'Great Wall is ahead of schedule'
  
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• Corbyn says he is not to blame for Copeland loss and will not resign

  24-02-2017 18:10
  
  Jeremy Corbyn has made it clear that he does not believe his leadership contributed to Labour’s byelection defeat in Copeland and will not be stepping down.The Labour leader admitted he was disappointed by the result in the Cumbrian constituency, which has been held by Labour since 1935 and represents the first byelection gain by a governing party in 35 years.It is a very significant turning point in British politics,” Corbyn said, claiming that the media had assumed Labour would be
  
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• Charity has child workers deliver food to people's doors to show impact of ‘feeding exploitation'

  24-02-2017 18:10
  
  The video from the Fairtrade Foundation has been released to encourage customers to think before they buy.Child workers are seen delivering fruit and veg to people’s doors to show their reaction when buyers realise what they’re supporting with their money.Farmers in countries such as Malawi, Kenya and Ivory Coast all contribute to produce that is sold in the UK, but surveys show many of them, including children, are still living in poverty.
  
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• Copeland by-election: Churchillian Corbyn knows that it is only through failure that you find success

  24-02-2017 18:08
  
  As Winston Churchill, Donald Trump, Bill Cosby, or any other of the illustrious names that proudly fill the “success” sections of famous quote websites will tell you, failure is a noble thing so long as you learn from it.Indeed, when future historians come to write their many volumes on the mad times in which we now live, I for one hope that at least one in their number has the wisdom to begin their tale on February 23rd, 2017, the day when, as Jeremy Corbyn correctly diagnosed, the
  
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• EU states back call for UK to agree €60bn exit bill before trade talks

  24-02-2017 18:06
  
  EU member states are backing a European commission demand that trade talks can only start once Britain has agreed to pay a hefty Brexit bill, despite fears of a backlash from Theresa May.The Czech Republic has joined Germany, Italy and France in insisting the UK must come to an arrangement on the divorce settlement, expected to come to about €60bn (£50bn), before any substantive negotiations on a future relationship.
  
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• Tributes paid to woman killed by Storm Doris debris

  24-02-2017 18:04
  
  The scene in Wolverhampton where a woman was fatally hit by wooden debris.Tributes have been paid to a woman who was killed by flying debris during Storm Doris, which wreaked havoc across the UK.Tahnie Martin, who worked at the University of Wolverhampton, died on Thursday after she was struck by wooden debris while walking past a cafe in Wolverhampton city centre.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn refuses to say 14 times in same interview if he wants a general election after Copeland by-election humiliation

  24-02-2017 18:04
  
  Jeremy Corbyn has failed to say 14 times if he wants to have a general election despite calling for  one last year.The Labour leader was challenged by Channel 4 News journalist Michael Crick if he wanted to have an election.Mr Crick said on Twitter: "Last year Corbyn called for general election.
  
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• Fake dates

  24-02-2017 17:58 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Anna Rowe is calling for a law change after being duped by a man with a fake profile online.
  
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• Tory MP in 90-minute attempt to talk out domestic violence bill

  24-02-2017 17:44
  
  A Conservative MP with a reputation for targeting bills protecting women’s rights has broken his own record by talking for more than 90 minutes in an attempt to derail a measure demanding the government ratify a treaty on domestic violence.Philip Davies, who represents Shipley in West Yorkshire, talked without a break for an hour and 31 minutes as he introduced 47 proposed new clauses to the bill about the Istanbul convention, which was signed by the UK in 2012 but not yet ratified.The Ist
  
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• Man jailed for two years for shooting toddler with air rifle

  24-02-2017 17:41
  
  Harry Studley was left fighting for his life and with permanent disabilities.A man who shot an 18-month-old boy in the head with an air rifle leaving the youngster with brain damage and limited vision has been jailed for two years.Jordan Walters, 25, fired the gun at Harry Studley, the son of a friend, in his Bristol flat after taking the weapon out to clean it.
  
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