General news

• Corbyn: The NHS crisis is a 'crisis made in Downing Street'

  03-03-2017 23:29
  
  Jeremy Corbyn will address a national demonstration on the NHS on Saturday morning, and will call the current crisis in the NHS a crisis “made in Downing Street”.With new Chancellor Philip Hammond due to deliver his first Budget next week, the Labour leader will say there is “no excuse” for the current failings in the NHS.“When they’ve found the money to cut taxes on big businesses, cut taxes on the richest families, cut taxes for the speculators and cut taxes
  
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• Du'wayne Holness stabbing: Mother of man knifed six times at niece's 14th birthday party calls for tougher knife crime sentences

  03-03-2017 23:28
  
  The mother of a man repeatedly stabbed by thugs who gatecrashed his niece’s 14th birthday party has called for tougher sentences for youths carrying knives.Du’wayne Holness, now 26, was knifed repeatedly as he tried to usher out more than 150 people after the party in south Croydon got out of control.Party-goers described how hooded attackers climbed fences at the family’s home in Nottingham Road and set-upon Mr Holness as he asked them to leave.
  
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• Senior aides quit Francois Fillon presidential bid as campaign crisis deepens

  03-03-2017 23:21
  
  The once promising presidential bid of French conservative Francois Fillon, already seriously hobbled by pending corruption charges, was coming unraveled Friday with the resignation of his campaign director and his campaign spokesman, adding momentum to a stream of defections and panicking his party.Fillon appeared increasingly alone with the resignation of two key officials, and other high-profile supporters following them out.A poor showing at the support rally would impact Fillon's legitimacy
  
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• Dean Modeste: Man charged after design graduate stabbed to death in front of schoolchildren in Mottingham

  03-03-2017 23:21
  
  A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of a 21-year-old design graduate who was stabbed to death following a fight in south east London.Dean Modeste, 21, was chased and stabbed to death in front of children walking home from school last month.Police called to reports of a fight in Lambscroft Avenue found Mr Modeste, from Barking, slumped on the street outside a house in Charlesfield.
  
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• Kim Jong-nam murder suspect says Malaysia 'is conspiring against him'

  03-03-2017 23:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Ri Jong Chol, a North Korean national, denies being at the airport and says police are trying to coerce a confession from himA suspect in the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader has claimed he is the victim of a conspiracy by Malaysian authorities attempting to damage the honour of North Korea. Ri Jong Chol, a North Korean, accused Malaysia of using coercion to try to extract a confession from him. Continue reading...
  
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• Zeebrugge ferry disaster, 30 years on: Deadly failings behind one of UK's worst peacetime maritime tragedies

  03-03-2017 23:02
  
  Imagine free enterprise unchecked, self-reverential. Imagine a “spirit of free enterprise” that places capital above both labour and product. Then imagine a “pride of free enterprise” certain of its own merits; too careless to consult history regarding past shipping disasters; too mean to spare a fiver in order to avert catastrophe. And there – on a cold and miserable night exactly 30 years ago this weekend – we have the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterpris
  
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• Muslim women win right to wear full body suits in amateur swimming competitions

  03-03-2017 23:00
  
  Competitors in amateur swimming races will be allowed to wear full body suits for the first time, as part of a rule change to encourage more Muslim women to take part in the sport.The Amateur Swimming Association said yesterday that it was relaxing its swimsuit regulations to allow women to wear loose-fitting full body outfits, after a request from the Muslim Women’s Sport Foundation.Until now, full body suits like those worn by Olympians have been banned, as they help streamline the shape
  
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• Man who saved two children from Manchester fire to be deported

  03-03-2017 22:58
  
  Robert Chilowa, pictured with his letters from Serco, ran out of his house barefoot when he heard screams in the early hours of 10 February.A man has been told he will be deported from the UK weeks after he saved two children from a house fire in Manchester.Robert Chilowa, who was commended by police for the rescue, said the order felt like a “slap in the face”.
  
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• The Walled Off hotel by Banksy – in pictures

  03-03-2017 22:53 via theguardian.com
  
  If you look out of the windows of the Walled Off hotel in Bethlehem you will see the wall that separates the West Bank from Israel. Turn your gaze inside and you are faced with the artworks of graffiti artist Banksy, who has turned hotelier in his latest project Continue reading...
  
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• Warrant issued for West Ham star Robert Snodgrass over missing court date

  03-03-2017 22:52
  
  A warrant has been issued for West Ham striker Robert Snodgrass after he failed to turn up for a court trial.The Scottish international footballer is charged with driving a car while a baby was being held by a back-seat passenger.The played was not at the city’s Justice of the Peace court when the case was called, the BBC reported.
  
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• 'Supercar thief' facing jail over stealing Saudi Prince's £97,000 car by hoodwinking DVLA

  03-03-2017 22:50
  
  A supercar thiefwho stole a £97,000 Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe from a Saudi prince is facing jail on Friday.Mohammed Humza, 26, conned the DVLA by falsely claiming he owned Sheikh Mohammed Alibrahim's luxury motor parked in London's exclusive Mayfair district.Humza also used the same scam to claim he was the lawful owner of a Porsche 911 belonging to Nicholas Cattelian, a Ferrari California belonging to Sara Duncan, and an Aston Martin DB9 belonging to Jake Urich.
  
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• David Haye weighs in almost a stone heavier than Tony Bellew as the Hayemaker predicts 'violent, destructive knockout' 

  03-03-2017 22:49
  
  David Haye weighed-in nearly one stone heavier than Tony Bellew as both fighters hit the scales on Friday afternoon.Tony Bellew came in at 15st 3lbs, while the 36-year-old former heavyweight champion of the world recorded the third heaviest weight of his career at just over 16st.Haye poked fun at his opponent's pre-fight physique, adding he felt in better shape than when he used to fight as a cruiserweight.
  
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• Sainsbury's to cut up to 400 jobs in stores shake-up

  03-03-2017 22:33
  Sainsbury's , Britain's second largest supermarket group, is to cut up to 400 jobs in a restructuring of its store operations, it said on Friday.Price controllers check that prices displayed on supermarket shelves are correct.All of Britain's big four supermarkets - Tesco , Sainsbury's, Asdaand Morrisons- are seeking efficiency savings to finance price cuts so they can better compete with discounters Aldi and Lidl, who have won market share in recent years.
  
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• Forest Gate stabbing: Man guilty of knifing teenager 11 times outside primary school

  03-03-2017 22:18
  
  A man has been found guilty of knifing a teenager to death in broad daylight outside a primary school in north London.Paramedics fought to save Mr Ganda’s life performing emergency surgery in the street but he was pronounced dead at the scene on Sandringham Road shortly before 3pm.Amani Lynch, 20, of Vanguard Close, Canning Town, was found guilty of manslaughter at the Old Bailey on Friday.
  
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• Jailed: Dangerous rapist who snatched girl, 16, from street in broad daylight in terrifying attack

  03-03-2017 22:12
  
  Khurran Rehman, 29, grabbed his 16-year-old victim by the wrists and threatened to stab her if she did not get in his car in broad daylight in East Road, Stratford, in July last year.The teenager tried to escape but Rehman threatened her again and forced her into the vehicle.As he drove off, Rehman hurled £10 at his terrified victim.
  
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• Arnold Schwarzenegger blames Donald Trump for Apprentice decline, says 'I won't be back'

  03-03-2017 22:05
  
  Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced he will leave his role as host of "The New Celebrity Apprentice" and blamed President Donald Trump for the show's recent poor performance.The former California governor said he would not mind working with NBC and producer Mark Burnett again "on a show that doesn't have this baggage".Mr Trump used to host the show and has remained as an executive producer.
  
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• Sinn Féin and DUP set to dominate Northern Ireland assembly

  03-03-2017 22:03
  
  Sinn Féin is neck-and-neck with the Democratic Unionists in the race to become the biggest force in the next Northern Ireland assembly, although the pro-union party is still expected to emerge marginally on top.With about a quarter of seats filled on Friday evening, the DUP was still slightly ahead of Sinn Féin with 28.08% of the first preference vote compared with the republican party’s increased share of 27.9%.Sinn Féin, however, has more members elected to the regio
  
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• Tax us more, world's biggest cigarette maker tells Philip Hammond - to persuade smokers to use e-cigarettes

  03-03-2017 22:00
  
  The world’s biggest tobacco company has for the first time asked to be taxed more by Chancellor Philip Hammond – to encourage smokers to switch to healther alternatives.Philip Morris, which makes brands such as Marlboro, said it backed an increase in taxes on its cigarettes as part of its bid to move to a “smoke-free future”.In a Budget submission sent this week to Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, Philip Morris said “we support proportionate tax increases&r
  
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• Donald Trump brands Democrats ‘hypocrites’ over Russian links 

  03-03-2017 22:00
  
  President Donald Trump branded Democrats "hypocrites" over calls for an investigation into his administration's contacts with Russia, posting a photograph on the internet of one of the opposition party's leaders sharing doughnuts and coffee with Vladimir Putin.It came after half a dozen Trump officials and advisers were revealed to have met Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to Washington, in the six months before the president took office.The president said: "We should start an immediate in
  
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• The night sky in March 2017: a disappearing planet and the return of Persephone

  03-03-2017 21:58
  
  A few gaps in the gloomy weather over past weeks may have provided opportunity to spot brilliant Venus shining away in the southwest shortly after sunset. 
  
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• London's West End closed off following gas explosion at city's oldest strip club

  03-03-2017 21:52
  
  Streets in London's West End were evacuated after a gas or electricity explosion at the city's oldest strip club.Emergency services blocked several roads in Soho, including Shaftesbury Avenue, shortly after the blast in the men's toilets at the legendary Windmill club at about 5.30pm.Transport for London confirmed that the area, which is extremely popular with tourists and theatre-goers, was closed off due to "a fire and explosion".
  
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• Arron Banks declares war on Ukip chiefs as he reveals plans to unseat Douglas Carswell, the party's sole MP

  03-03-2017 21:45
  
  Arron Banks is “definitely” going to stand in Ukip’s only seat of Clacton in 2020, but in the meantime, Ukip’s millionaire backer and Farage bromancer-in-chief has other plans to unseat Douglas Carswell, the party’s sole MP.“One of the things Douglas Carswell was very strong on was recall of MPs,” Mr Banks says.After his defection to Ukip and by-election victory in 2014, Mr Carswell constantly pressured David Cameron to deliver on his 2010 manifesto comm
  
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• Zimbabwe appeals for aid after devastating floods leave 246 dead

  03-03-2017 21:41
  
  Zimbabwe has appealed for international aid after floods over the past month have left 246 people dead and thousands homeless.Zimbabwe cannot afford to rescue isolated communities after flooding rivers wiped out bridges and roads mostly in the south of the country.Saviour Kasukuwere, Zimbabwe’s local government minister, has declared a national disaster.
  
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• Trumpland: the first 24 hours after the 2016 election – in pictures

  03-03-2017 21:29 via theguardian.com
  
  The NYC Street Photographer Collective, otherwise known as the “Fight Club of Photography”, has produced a magazine documenting the city’s reaction during the 24 hours following Donald Trump’s election as president. Trumpland features the work of young photographers, and shows the joy and despair that this election provoked Continue reading...
  
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• Jacob Zuma calls for confiscation of white land without compensation 

  03-03-2017 21:24
  
  President Jacob Zumahas called on parliament to change South Africa’s constitution to allow the expropriation of white owned land without compensation.Mr Zuma, 74, who made the remarks in a speech yesterday/FRI morning, said he wanted to establish a “pre-colonial land audit of land use and occupation patterns” before changing the law.Mr Zuma, who has lurched from one scandal to another since being elected to office in 2009, has adopted a more populist tone since his ruling Afri
  
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• Northern Ireland assembly elections: Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt quits

  03-03-2017 21:17
  
  Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Mike Nesbitt has announced he will resign.Mr Nesbitt was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2011 and retained his seat in the 2017 poll.“Some day Northern Ireland will vote as a normal democracy.
  
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• Sinn Fein surge puts Northern Ireland power-sharing agreement at risk

  03-03-2017 20:59
  
  Power-sharing in Northern Ireland has been plunged into uncertainty after Sinn Fein secured its strongest ever electoral performance after they pulled out of the devolved parliament at Stormont.The election was called in a bid to break a stalemate between Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party after they refused to share power.Sinn Fein has beaten even the most optimistic polling predictions and is now just 0.1 per cent behind the DUP in first-preference votes.
  
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• Micro piggy turns into a 20-stone porker 

  03-03-2017 20:58
  
  An alleged ‘micro’ piggy stuns his owners and turns into a 20-stone porker.
  
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• Labour caught in struggle to survive media attacks, says John McDonnell

  03-03-2017 20:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Shadow chancellor says people are suffering but Labour is not getting chance to promote policies to transform societyJohn McDonnell says that the Labour leadership has been embroiled in a “360 degree struggle to survive” in the face of repeated attacks in the media and anonymous briefings.In an interview with the Guardian, the shadow chancellor said his team had been involved in a daily battle against critics who have “been coming at us”, making it more difficult to get t
  
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• Donald Trump isn’t the only villain – the Republican party shares the blame | Jonathan Freedland

  03-03-2017 20:27 via theguardian.com
  
  The US president’s links to Russia reflect the depth of the political crisis. This is a scandal of the entire American rightWho’s the villain here? Naturally our rage focuses on Donald Trump, a pantomime baddie drawn, as he would put it, from central casting. But behind him stand many others, and it’s about time they shared in the opprobrium.Start with the unfolding scandal over Trumpworld’s links with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and the increasingly clo
  
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• More adults suffering from food allergies because of 'exotic' middle-class diets

  03-03-2017 20:23
  
  More adults are having allergic reactions to food because adventurous middle class diners are eating more exotic items with foreign packaging, food safety watchdogs have warned.According to a new report by the Food Standards Agency foods including fruit, vegetables and seafood are causing a higher instance of adverse reactions in adults.It also warned that a sharp rise in the number of allergy alerts it had issued to consumers was largely down to product labels being written in a foreign la
  
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• Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: 'Germany is aiding and abetting terrorism'

  03-03-2017 20:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Turkish president’s claim that Berlin harboured arrested journalist Deniz Yücel has further soured relations between the two countriesRelations between Turkey and Germany have lurched further into crisis after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accused Berlin of “aiding and abetting” terror in an increasingly acrimonious row over the arrest and incarceration of a German-Turkish journalist in Turkey.In a speech in Istanbul, Erdoğan said that Deniz Yü
  
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• Theresa May’s pointless supremacy | Deborah Orr

  03-03-2017 20:18 via theguardian.com
  
  If the prime minister knows what she’s doing, she is doing it awesomely well. But what is it all for?I just don’t know what to make of Theresa May, and I’m not the only one. In early January, the Economist dubbed her “Theresa Maybe: Britain’s indecisive premier.” Two months onand an editorial this week describes her as: “Monarch of all she surveys.” The pertinent change during this period has been May’s adoption of hard Brexit, which no one c
  
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• Sinn Fein, DUP neck-and-neck in snap Northern Ireland election

  03-03-2017 20:14
  By Ian GrahamBELFAST (Reuters) - Irish nationalists Sinn Fein and the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party were neck-and-neck on Friday almost halfway through the counting of votes in a snap election that could dramatically shift the balance of power in Northern Ireland.Voters turned out in their highest numbers in two decades on Thursday in the first regional election in the United Kingdom since its vote to leave the European Union as nationalists who favour a united Ireland and unionists who
  
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• 'Second gun' confuses 1500m runners

  03-03-2017 20:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Irish 1500m runner John Travers slows during his heat at the European Indoor Championships because he believed a second gun had signalled a false start.
  
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• New Bishop of Sheffield offered support by 36 female clergy following calls to turn down post

  03-03-2017 20:09
  
  A newly-appointed bishop who has faced calls to resign over his opposition to women priests has been publicly supported by 36 women clergy who say he "created a real buzz" in his old diocese. 
  
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• Homelessness expected to rise further as Government scraps housing benefit for young people

  03-03-2017 20:07
  
  More jobless youngers could be made to live on the streets as the Government moves ahead with plans to end housing support payments for under-21s.The cut, which will apply to new Universal Credit claims made after April 1, was first announced by David Cameron and included in the Conservatives’ 2015 manifesto.Despite calls by homelessness charities for Theresa May to break with her predecessor drop the policy, on Friday officials published secondary legislation to go ahead with the plans, w
  
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• Emma Thompson urges MPs to save more child refugees like her adopted son

  03-03-2017 20:03
  
  Actress Emma Thompson has written a letter to MPs expressing her disappointment at the “shockingly low” number of refugee children the UK has taken from Europe under the Dubs amendment, and urging them to take action.In a highly personal message, the Oscar winner describes the joys of bringing up her adopted son, Tindyebwa Agaba, who she took in as a child refugee 14 years ago.
  
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• Academy chains set to establish grammar schools for disadvantaged students, proposals suggest

  03-03-2017 20:03
  Academy chains are considering opening new grammar schools for disadvantaged children in a bid to improve social mobility, it can be revealed.The Inspiration Trust, an influential multi-academy chain, has confirmed it has held talks with the Department for Education about opening a “pupil premium grammar school” in the near future.The selective school, which would be targeted at disadvantaged pupils who receive additional funding, including those on free school meals, would be establ
  
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• Crufts clamps down on 'deformed' dogs after outcry over last year's best in breed 

  03-03-2017 20:00
  
  A dog whose ‘deformed’ appearance at Crufts sparked a furious outcry would not be allowed to win the prestigious show this year after the introduction of tough new health standards, it can be revealed.Dogs can now only be exhibited if they can “stand freely and unsupported in any way, in structural balance while both rear pasterns are vertical”.The Kennel Club announced a series of measures aimed at tackling problems with the breeding of German Shepherd Dogs (GSD) af
  
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• Former journalist arrested over hoax Jewish bomb threats

  03-03-2017 19:49
  
  A former journalist has been charged with being behind a wave of hoax bomb threats against Jewish organisations that led to fears of a rise in anti-Semitism across the United States.Juan Thompson, 31, was arrested in St. Louis, Missouri as part of an investigation into more than 100 threats made by phone and email since January to Jewish community centres, schools, and child care facilities in three dozen states.Until last year Thompson, was employed by The Intercept, a campaigning news website
  
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• Christian Candy tells high court: ‘I don’t deal with shady people’

  03-03-2017 19:30
  
  Christian Candy arrives at the high court on Friday to give evidence in a claim for damages brought by Mark Holyoake.The billionaire was giving evidence for a third day in a £132m claim for damages brought by the entrepreneur Mark Holyoake, who alleges Candy and his brother used threats and blackmail to extort repayments totalling £37m on a £12m loan.Under questioning by Holyoake’s barrister, Candy confirmed multiple dealings between his property business and a controvers
  
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• Donald Trump's senior adviser Kellyanne Conway - in 90 seconds

  03-03-2017 19:28
  
  Kellyanne Conway is one of the key figures in Donald Trump's inner circle.
  
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• Northern Ireland elections: UUP's Nesbitt quits after poor showing

  03-03-2017 19:27
  
  The former television presenter resigned on Friday night after his party failed to increase its share of the vote despite scandals that have beset the rival Democratic Unionist Party.Instead, Sinn Féin is neck and neck with the DUP in the race to become the biggest force in the next Northern Ireland assembly, although the pro-union party is still expected to emerge marginally on top.
  
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• Every time we take an Uber we’re spreading its social poison | Laurie Penny

  03-03-2017 19:24 via theguardian.com
  
  CEO Travis Kalanick’s treatment of one of his drivers shows Uber’s institutional sleazebaggery, seeing social responsibility as an outdated piece of apparatusThere are very few things that $5bn can’t buy, but one of them is manners. This week video emerged of Travis Kalanick, the CEO and founder of ride-share app Uber, patronising and swearing at one of his own drivers, who complained that harsh company policies had forced him into bankruptcy. “Some people don’t lik
  
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• Martin Rowson on Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon – cartoon

  03-03-2017 19:20 via theguardian.com
  
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• Donald Trump's next ambassador in Brussels says his application could be blocked by other EU countries

  03-03-2017 19:15
  
  An adviser to Donald Trump who is tipped to be the next US ambassador to Brussels has admitted that have his application could be blocked by other European Union countries.Ted Malloch, an academic, admitted that the EU could “block” his chances of becoming US ambassador by making him “persona non grata”.Mr Malloch, who has been a strident critic of the EU, told a dinner organised by the Thatcherite Institute of Economic Affairs that any blocking would be a &ldqu
  
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• Greggs heir told jail 'inevitable' for sex attacks on boys

  03-03-2017 19:04
  
  The heir to the Greggs bakery chain has been told he faces an inevitable jail sentence after he was found guilty of indecently assaulting four boys.Colin Gregg, 75, helped to build up the family business in the 1960s but later became a teacher, headteacher, social worker and charity boss.On Friday, the grandfather was found guilty of nine counts of indecent assault by a jury at Leeds Crown Court.
  
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• Killer mobile phone driver forgiven by victim's girlfriend

  03-03-2017 18:55
  
  A school teacher has come face to face with the driver who killed her boyfriend whilst on his mobile phone and told him that she will forgive him eventually as she is "not that kind of person" .Stratford, who says that he "deserves" to be in prison, has been jailed for three years and eight months.
  
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• Alleged rape of drunken undergraduate is typical of 'world of modern students', court hears

  03-03-2017 18:42
  
  The alleged rape of a drunken undergraduate is typical of the "world of modern students", a court has heard.The jury at York Crown Court also saw footage of Tappenden and the student, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, smiling together and kissing in the lift up to her room.
  
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