General news

• Jeremy Corbyn releases tax return - but it appears to omit leadership salary

  05-03-2017 23:52
  
  Jeremy Corbyn has released his tax return for the second year running – but the document appears to not include the extra salary he is entitled to as Labour leader.Following Chancellor Philip Hammond’s refusal to release his own tax return the Labour leader published the documents on his constituency website saying he thinks “it is right for party leaders to be open and transparent about their tax arrangements”.Mr Corbyn has never publicly stated that he does not draw thi
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn faces questions over release of his tax return

  05-03-2017 23:52
  
  Jeremy Corbyn has released his tax return for the second year running – but the publication of the document has prompted questions surrounding the extra salary he is entitled to as Labour leader.Following Chancellor Philip Hammond’s refusal to release his own tax return, the Labour leader published the documents on his constituency website saying he thinks “it is right for party leaders to be open and transparent about their tax arrangements”.In it he declared his £
  
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• Man charged with murder after woman, 80, was found dead at an allotment

  05-03-2017 23:19
  
  A man has been charged with the murder of an 80-year-old woman whose body was found in a garage at an allotment.Rahim Mohammadi, 40, of Goldsmith Row, east London, was charged on Sunday with the murder of Lea Adri-Soejoko, the Metropolitan Police said.The pensioner's body was discovered on Tuesday in Colindale, north-west London, in a lock-up store at the allotment where she was secretary.
  
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• James Clapper, Barack Obama's intelligence chief, 'absolutely denies' Donald Trump was wiretapped

  05-03-2017 23:05
  
  In the murky world of intelligence there are many shades of grey, but in this case the denial could hardly have been more emphatic.Barack Obama's former director of national intelligence was crystal clear that the FBI had never been given a secret court order to carry out electronic surveillance at Trump Tower in New York."Absolutely I can deny it,” James Clapper said with a steady gaze, adding for good measure: "Something like this?
  
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• Sinn Fein urged to agree to inquiry into IRA Troubles killings as part of power-sharing deal 

  05-03-2017 23:03
  
  Sinn Fein has been urged by the Government to agree to a new inquiry into IRA killings during the Troubles as power-sharing talks begin today.James Brokenshire, the Northern Ireland Secretary, is due to have individual talks with representatives from the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein today.The news came as Theresa May, Prime Minister, spoke briefly to her Irish counterpart Enda Kenny about Thursday’s elections results, which saw a surge in support for Sinn Fein, under the leaders
  
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• More than 600 health quango chiefs on six figure salaries amid cash crisis

  05-03-2017 23:00
  
  More than 600 NHS quango chiefs are now on six-figure salaries, with a doubling in the number earning more than the Prime Minister, new figures show.“Most people don’t even know these organisations exist but it is our money they are wasting.
  
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• Male crime writers eclipsed by golden age of female authors brought back into print

  05-03-2017 23:00
  
  The British Library is working to bring forgotten male crime writers back into print, after they were eclipsed in their own Golden Age by women who were simply better.The British Library's classic crime project, which sees long-lost novels rediscovered and published for a new generation, features a disproportionate amount of men, the managing editor behind it said.The British Library project is now helping to correct that imbalance, bringing lesser-known works back to readers' bookshelves.
  
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• Andrew Davies: Viewers prefer period dramas, not gritty modern shows

  05-03-2017 23:00
  
  New television commissioners are too obsessed with abandoning period drama in favour of modern "gritty" works, screenwriter Andrew Davies has said, as he claims they invariably return to the classics with the tails between their legs.Davies, the man behind shows including Pride and Prejudice and War and Peace, said new commissioners always seek to make their mark by proclaiming the end of the genre.Speaking at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai, Davies disclosed that even his m
  
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• Alan Titchmarsh: I feel bad about encouraging 1990s decking craze

  05-03-2017 23:00
  
  Now the man behind the decking phenomenon, Alan Titchmarsh, has admitted he feels "a bit bad" over encouraging the trend, saying the notoriety would follow him to his grave.As such, he disclosed, hosts were left reliant on quick fixes such as decking to make an on-screen impact.
  
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• Congress to probe Donald Trump's explosive claims Barack Obama wiretapped him

  05-03-2017 22:45
  
  Donald Trump escalated his war with Barack Obama as a committee in Congress agreed to look into his claims that the former president and his administration abused executive powers in last year’s election.The call for a congressional investigation was the latest high stakes salvo from Mr Trump, who has alleged that he was the victim of a dirty tricks campaign akin to Watergate.Mr Obama has said the allegations were "simply false".
  
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• Lea Adri-Soejoko murder: Man, 40, charged after grandmother found dead in allotment lock-up

  05-03-2017 22:23
  
  A 40-year-old man has been charged with the murder of a grandmother found dead in a lock-up at allotments in north London.Lea Adri-Soejoko, 80, was located by police less than 30 minutes after being reported missing from her home by relatives in the early hours on Tuesday.Mrs Adri-Soejoko was discovered in a lock-up shed, for which she had a key, in Sheaveshill Avenue, Colindale, around 2am.
  
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• There's no such thing as a Labour safe seat anymore, MP tipped to replace Jeremy Corbyn admits 

  05-03-2017 22:05
  
  The Labour MP tipped to replace Jeremy Corbyn has admitted that no seat is safe for the party after it lost Copeland to the Conservatives.Rebecca Long-Bailey said the party can't take any of its constituencies for granted in a sign that senior Labour figures are growing increasingly concerned about poor poll results.The shadow chancellor has already offered to meet arch-critic Lord Peter Mandelson for a cup of tea and he has now extended that invite to Labour's former prime minister after w
  
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• Donald Trump vs Barack Obama - in 90 seconds

  05-03-2017 21:42
  
  As the White House asks Congress to look into Donald Trump's claim that former president Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of the phones at his campaign headquarters in New York, we look back at the strained relationship between the two men. Video block text
  
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• Former guards officer shot dead by tribal warriors in ambush on his ranch in Kenya

  05-03-2017 21:17
  
  Tribal warriors shot dead a former Guards officer on his ranch in Kenya yesterday as a campaign of land invasions in the country’s white-farming heartlands claimed its most prominent victim to date.Tristan Voorspuy was killed after he rode his horse into an ambush on Sosian, a 24,000 acre ranch in the country’s Laikipia region that was occupied by armed warriors and their cattle last month.Mr Voorspuy’s death, the first of a white farmer since the invasions began last year, rep
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn facing questions about his tax return amid claims he failed to declare leadership income

  05-03-2017 21:02
  
  It is illegal not to properly declare all taxable income, according to HMRC.This year he employed an accountant to complete the form which stated that the party leader made £114,342 overall and paid £35,298 in tax.
  
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• 92-year-old man on a mobility scooter pulled over by police on busy motorway

  05-03-2017 20:47
  
  An elderly man was pulled over by police for driving his mobility scooter on a busy motorway. 
  
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• Brexit negotiations and the possibility of ID cards | Letters

  05-03-2017 20:20
  
  The government suffered a Brexit bill defeat in the Lords on 1 March. ‘Let us hope that our leaders see sense before the report stage on Tuesday,’ writes Tony Berkeley.Labour is failing its members by refusing to back the retention of the single market.All this is within the existing EU legislation – which could be implemented here if we introduced ID cards.
  
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• UK news plurality and Fox-Sky merger

  05-03-2017 20:19
  
  Rupert Murdoch. ‘The merger will clearly result in a significant extension of Rupert Murdoch’s already substantial control over wholesale news provision via his newspaper titles and websites,’ write 18 academics in a letter to the Guardian. Photograph: Josh Reynolds/AP
  
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• Labour MPs hit out at suggestions they want to replace Jeremy Corbyn

  05-03-2017 20:19
  
  Clive Lewis said he was wholly supportive of Jeremy Corbyn.MPs seen as possible successors to Jeremy Corbyn have criticised suggestions that they want to replace the Labour leader.Clive Lewis said he was annoyed by the suggestion, while his replacement as shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, also hit out on Sunday at reports linking her with the leadership, calling them fake news.
  
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• Labour MPs hit out at suggestions they want to replace Corbyn

  05-03-2017 20:19
  
  Clive Lewis said he was wholly supportive of Jeremy Corbyn.MPs seen as possible successors to Jeremy Corbyn have criticised suggestions that they want to replace the Labour leader.Clive Lewis said he was “annoyed” by the suggestion, while his replacement as shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, also hit out on Sunday at reports linking her with the leadership, calling them “fake news”.
  
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• Corbyn’s aim should be a democratic party | Letters

  05-03-2017 20:19
  
  Let his legacy be democratic reform of the Labour party, writes Bryn Jones.Owen Jones’s proposal for a deal to reconcile Corbynistas and the rest of the Labour party (Opinion, 2 March) is too personality focused and undemocratic.A deal which would involve Corbyn standing down, provided there was a nominated candidate standing on his platform, smacks a bit of both Blairism and the smoke-filled fixing rooms of yore.
  
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• French murder mystery provokes 'morbid treasure hunt'

  05-03-2017 20:04
  
  Police investigating the mysterious disappearance of a French family of four have questioned the sister and brother-in-law of the missing father, sources close to the case said.Pascal Troadec and his wife Brigitte, both aged 49, their son Sébastien, 21, and 18-year-old daughter Charlotte have not been seen since February 16.A murder investigation was opened after the family vanished and bloodstains were found throughout their suburban home in Nantes, also in western France.
  
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• Police to supervise addicts taking free heroin in bid to tackle drug-related crime

  05-03-2017 20:03
  
  Heroin addicts will be given a free supply of the substance by police in a bid to prevent drug-related crime.Durham Constabulary are the first force in the country to use part of their budget to fund the scheme in a bid to stop users stealing to pay for drugs, the Mail on Sunday reported.The force has revealed plans to introduce plans to allow addicts to inject themselves with the Class A drug twice-a-day in a so-called shooting gallery.
  
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• Hormones and surgery do not make trans women 'real women', Dame Jenni Murray says

  05-03-2017 19:41
  
  Dame Jenni Murray has written of her fury over transgender women who claim the label of “real woman” despite being unschooled in sexual politics after years of living with male privilege.Stating at the outset that “I am not transphobic or anti-trans” she said transgender women who have not grown up with the “gendered socialisation” faced by girls cannot claim the title.
  
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• £80 fine for taxi passenger who killed cyclist by opening door

  05-03-2017 19:34
  
  Leicester Magistrates’ Court heard that Mrs Chapple, 56, who was sitting behind the taxi driver, had taken a look before opening the door but had not been able to see clearly.A spokesman for Cycling UK said the lenient sentences handed down for the offence “possibly explains the reluctance to prosecute in many of the nearly 500 cases each year where a cyclist is seriously injured, or sometimes as in Sam's case killed, as a consequence of somebody opening their car door without lookin
  
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• £60m RAF Chinook helicopter in near miss with drone as pilot says collision could have downed aircraft

  05-03-2017 19:24
  
  A £60 million RAF Chinook helicopter was seconds away from being downed in a collision with a drone as it came into land at a British base, an investigation has found.A disaster was alerted as the aircraft passed safely to the right of the drone before landing at RAF Odiham in Hampshire - home to three Chinook squadrons.The UK Airpox Board, which investigated the near collision, slammed the unknown drone pilot for failing to "monitor its flight path in relation to other aircraft for the pu
  
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• Police tackling drug-related crime to handout free heroin to addicts in supervised 'shooting galleries'

  05-03-2017 19:07
  
  Heroin addicts will be given a free supply of the Class A drug by police as a way of preventing substance-related crime.Durham Constabulary are the first force in the country to set aside money from its budget in the hope it stops users stealing to pay for their drugs and funding the income of illicit dealers.Chief Constable Mike Barton told the Mail on Sunday about controversial plans to allow addicts to inject themselves twice a day in a supervised 'shooting gallery'.
  
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• A 96-year-old grandfather and Holocaust survivor tells his family he is gay 

  05-03-2017 19:01
  
  The great-grandfather has been married to his wife for 67 years, but only told his family that he was gay last year.Originally from Poland, Ronald Blank and his wife Ruth moved to the United States after the end of World War II.Mr Blank spoke to YouTube video creator Davey Wavey about his unique coming out story ahead of a documentary, On My Way Out, that grandson Brandon Gross is directing about him.
  
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• Sexual harassment 'at epidemic levels' in UK universities

  05-03-2017 19:00
  
  Oxford University reported the highest number of staff-on-student and staff-on-staff allegations.Sexual harassment, misconduct and gender violence by university staff are at epidemic levels in the UK, a Guardian investigation suggests.Freedom of information (FoI) requests sent to 120 universities found that students made at least 169 such allegations against academic and non-academic staff from 2011-12 to 2016-17.
  
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• Sexual harassment allegations: find figures for UK universities

  05-03-2017 19:00
  
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• Remains of infant found in Kent belonged to new-born baby girl, police confirm

  05-03-2017 18:52
  
  The grim discovery was made in Broadway, Sheerness shortly before 1pm the same day, Kent Police said.Detective Inspector Richard Vickery, the senior investigating officer, said: "We’re very keen to locate the mother of this girl as we are concerned for her wellbeing and want to make sure she is receiving the necessary emotional and medical support."We also want to hear from anyone who was in Broadway in the late morning of March 4.
  
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• Government refuses to publish Nissan letter after deliberations

  05-03-2017 18:25
  
  Correspondence between the Business Secretary and Nissan’s chairman will not be made publicly available – despite months of deliberations – until the car firm’s “commercial confidentialities” cease to exist, it has emerged.Last year the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) came under intense pressure from cross-party politicians to publish the letter Greg Clark had sent to Nissan’s chairman Carlos Ghosn.Assurances provided in th
  
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• Woman raped in front of toddler after being abducted from Redcar seafront

  05-03-2017 18:17
  
  Detectives are hunting for two men who abducted and raped a woman in front of her toddler in an ordeal that lasted up to seven hours.The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was with her child on the seafront in Redcar, Cleveland where they were both forced into a car between 11:30am and 12:30pm on Friday.A Cleveland Police spokesman said the woman, in her 30s, and the toddler were near a boating lake when the dark-coloured saloon car drove towards them along a ramp.
  
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• Fugitive gives himself up to police - but changes his mind after they take too long to arrive

  05-03-2017 18:12
  
  It said: "Benjamin Partridge is WANTED on suspicion of domestic abuse."Partridge is from Birmingham and has links to Tipton.A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "Police were called to Barratts Road, Birmingham at 8.15pm on Tuesday following reports Benjamin Partridge, who is wanted for a domestic abuse related offence, was at the address.
  
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• Viola Davis wins Harvard award

  05-03-2017 18:02
  
  Just days after she was named Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, Viola Davis received another accolade as she was named Harvard's Artist of the Year 2017.Davis attended the Harvard Foundation's Cultural Rhythms Festival where she watched a series of cultural musical performances by students.In her acceptance speech, the actress talked about her years at Julliard, a transformative experience she had as a student abroad in the Gambia, and the power of the arts.
  
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• Tom Watson says late Gerald Kaufman could be to blame for turning Rupert Murdoch right-wing

  05-03-2017 17:54
  
  As concern grows over Rupert Murdoch’s £11.7 billion bid to buy out Sky, Tom Watson has suggested Labour grandee Gerald Kaufman, who died last week, might have been responsible for turning the media mogul from a youthful left-winger “to the dark side”.Mr Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, wrote a blog post paying tribute to Mr Kaufman, but said the late politician “may have changed the course of media history” by falling out with the newspaper baron at Oxfo
  
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• Woman abducted and raped while walking with her toddler on seafront in seven hour ordeal

  05-03-2017 17:53
  
  The two men snatched the woman, in her 30s, and her child around midday while they were on the seafront in Redcar and forced her into a car.The mother and child had been near a boating lake when the dark saloon car drove towards them along a ramp, Cleveland Police said.The two men got out and forced the pair into the back of the vehicle which was driven to Yearby, in Redcar, where the woman was raped.
  
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• Ruth Davidson: Nicola Sturgeon faces 'massive' voter backlash if she demands second indy ref

  05-03-2017 17:27
  
  Ruth Davidson has warned Nicola Sturgeon that her public support would take a “massive hit” if she presses ahead with demands for a second independence referendum in the face of opposition from the majority of Scots.The Scottish Tory leader said the First Minister would pay a “heavy price” at the ballot box and repeated her claim to the Telegraph last week that the Unionist campaign would have “every opportunity” to win a rerun of the 2014 vote by an even larg
  
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• Durham police will give addicts heroin to inject in 'shooting galleries'

  05-03-2017 17:25
  
  Durham has about 2,000 heroin addicts but the plan would target ‘really prolific, at-risk offenders’.Heroin addicts will be given supplies to inject in specially designated “shooting galleries” under radical plans to tackle drug-related crime in Durham.The police force is set to become the first in England to implement an approach pioneered in Switzerland and credited with achieving positive results in a number of European countries but unlikely to attract much domestic p
  
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• Migrant rescues in Med hit three-year high, new data shows

  05-03-2017 17:13
  
  More than 1,200 migrants arrived in Sicily’s ports on Sunday as the number of winter sea rescues in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy hit a new three-year high.An estimated 15,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, a 57 per cent increase from the same time period in 2016, according to newly released data from Italy's interior ministry.Italian navy ships, Frontex border patrol vessels and non-profit rescue boats unloaded the exhausted men, women and children in Po
  
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• Business leaders 'ready to donate six-figure sums to save UK' in second Scottish referendum

  05-03-2017 17:03
  
  Business leaders are ready to donate more money to fight Scottish independence in a second referendum than they did in 2014 and several have already promised six-figure sums, a controversial campaign group has said.Richard Cook, who chairs the pro-Union Constitutional Research Council (CRC), said “several” wealthy backers are prepared to hand over major sums to “a new and positive campaign” to keep the UK together.Mr Cook, a former vice-chairman and parliamentary candidat
  
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• Erdogan accuses Germany of behaving 'like Nazis' after Turks banned from political rallies

  05-03-2017 16:37
  
  President Tayyip Erdogan accused Germany of behaving as in Nazi times in cancelling political meetings of resident Turks that were due to be addressed by Turkish officials.German authorities withdrew permission last week for two rallies by Turkish residents in German cities amid growing public outrage over Ankara's arrest of a Turkish-German journalist, dragging bilateral ties to a new low.The planned rallies were part of a Turkish government campaign to win support among Germany's 1.5 million-s
  
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• Jews subjected to 'vile' anti-Semitic abuse as they walked to morning prayer in north London

  05-03-2017 16:24
  
  Thugs allegedly hurled "vile" anti-Semitic abuse at Jews as they entered a Synagogue for morning prayer in north London.Two men allegedly shouted anti-Semitic abuse at pedestrians walking to morning prayer along Stamford Hill, witnesses said.Barry Bard, Supervisor at Stamford Hill Shomrim said: "Many Jewish people were targeted with vile anti-Semitic abuse and threats whilst minding their own business on their way to Synagogue for Shabbos morning prayers, this was wholly unacceptable.
  
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• Isis 'link' as convictions for Islamic extremism offences rise in the UK

  05-03-2017 15:38
  
  The UK rate of convictions for terror offences related to Islamic extremism nearly doubled in the first half of this decade, according to a analysis that highlights changes since the rise of Islamic State.The report by the security thinktank Henry Jackson Society says the security services are getting better at spotting and prosecuting offences related to Islamic extremism, but it identified a number of areas of concern including a shift towards more low-tech attacks and hotspots of offending in
  
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• Wealdstone murder: Man charged after father-of-two Mohammed Al-zufairi stabbed to death on busy high street

  05-03-2017 15:36
  
  Femi Omotoso, 26, of Tudor Gardens, Wealdstone, was charged on Sunday with the murder of Mohammed Al-zufairi.Mr Al-zufairi, 34, was knifed to death outside a branch of the Halifax bank opposite the recently closed police station on Wealdstone High Street shortly after rush hour on Monday.
  
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• Mother raped after she is bundled into back of car with her toddler in Redcar, police say

  05-03-2017 15:35
  
  The woman was with her toddler near to a boating lake on the seafront in Redcar on Friday when they were allegedly bundled into the rear of a dark-coloured saloon vehicle by two men.Cleveland Police said the suspects got out of the vehicle and forced the pair into the rear of the car between 11.30am and 12.30pm.Later that day, between 5.30pm and 6.30pm, the woman and child were forced out of the vehicle on Kirkleatham Lane, between the turn off for Kirkleatham Museum and the bus stop towards Red
  
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• Hammond: £60bn will be put aside for Brexit, not spent on the NHS

  05-03-2017 15:11
  
  Chancellor Philip Hammond will use Wednesday’s budget to announce that rising tax revenues as a result of a stronger-than-expected economy will be used to build up a £60bn reserve to deal with Brexit-related uncertainty, rather than increase spending on the NHS.Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, the Chancellor also warned that the UK would be prepared to “fight back” and “not slink off into the corner” if no trade deal with the EU could b
  
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• Gants Hill stabbing: Young man fighting for life after stabbing near east London Tube station

  05-03-2017 14:58
  
  A young man is fighting for life after he was stabbed near an east London Tube station.
  
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• Ex-boxer Michael Watson tells of how he was dragged 300 yards along road in 'nightmare' carjacking ordeal

  05-03-2017 14:54
  
  Former boxing champion Michael Watson has told of his “nightmare” as he and his carer were targeted by thugs in a horrific attempted carjacking in east London.Watson, 51, who was left in a coma after a fight against Chris Eubank in 1991, was dragged 300 yards along the road at 50mph by two men who were attempting to steal his car.Watson, who was left partially disabled after the 1991 super-middleweight WBO title fight against Mr Eubank, has told how he hung on "for dear life" as he w
  
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• 'No seat safe nowadays' says Labour MP seen as potential party leader

  05-03-2017 14:51
  
  Rebecca Long-Bailey is interviewed on ITV’s Peston on Sunday.A shadow minister seen as a possible successor to Jeremy Corbyn has said the party’s ninth safest seat can no longer be guaranteed as a Labour win.As the party prepares to fight to keep Manchester Gorton following the death of Sir Gerald Kaufman, Rebecca Long-Bailey said MPs could not “ever call a seat a safe seat nowadays”.
  
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