General news

• Jewish People across the world celebrate Purim

  12-03-2017 23:50
  
  Jewish people around the world are marking the holy festival of Purim today by donating to the less fortunate, exchanging gifts and drinking alcohol.The holiday, which is a day of feasting and rejoicing, commemorates Mordecai and Esther, two of the main characters in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible, who saved the Jewish people from being massacred some 2,500 years ago.According to the text, Haman, an adviser to King Xerxes I, tried to convince the king to massacre all of the Jews in the P
  
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• George W Bush's book of paintings praised by art critic and tops bestseller list

  12-03-2017 23:38
  
  George W Bush’s book of paintings have been praised by one of the nation’s leading art critics, describing the former president’s work as surprisingly sophisticated and warm.The book, published on February 28, is currently top of The Washington Post’s list of best sellers.“No matter what you think of George W. Bush, he demonstrates in this book and in these paintings virtues that are sadly lacking at the top of the American political pyramid today: curiosity, compas
  
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• Watch: The Chicago River turns green for St Patrick's Day parade

  12-03-2017 23:26
  
  Ahead of the annual South Side Irish Parade the Chicago River has been dyed green. Video block text
  
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• Derby sack McClaren for second time

  12-03-2017 23:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Steve McClaren is sacked as manager of Derby County, just five months after he was reappointed.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon's last-ditch bid to derail Brexit if Scotland is not offered special treatment in negotiations

  12-03-2017 23:04
  
  Nicola Sturgeon will threaten to derail Brexit by setting out plans for a second independence referendum unless Theresa May offers Scotland a special deal.The Scottish First Minister could name the date she intends to hold a new referendum as early as this week, The Telegraph understands, if Mrs May does not bow to her will.Ms Sturgeon has previously hinted that autumn 2018 would be a suitable time to call a referendum.
  
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• Midwives accused of pushing for abortion 'free for all' 

  12-03-2017 23:00
  
  Midwives have been accused of pushing for an abortion "free for all" as MPs prepare to vote on whether to decriminalise the procedure.This means pregnant women who seek out abortion pills online and medics who fail to follow proper procedures could face criminal penalties, including prison sentences.The private member’s bill being introduced on Monday is unlikely to be voted through.
  
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• Miami the Spaniel charms judges to win British dog show Crufts

  12-03-2017 23:00
  LONDON (Reuters) - An American Cocker Spaniel named Miami won the top prize at Britain's Crufts dog show in Birmingham on Sunday. The black, white and brown gundog, whose full name is Afterglow Miami Ink, was crowned "Best in Show" after four days of competing with nearly 22,000 other dogs from 56 countries. "He's pretty special ... I'm absolutely shocked and thrilled," handler Jason Lynn said after Miami won the finale of the 126-year old show, which is billed as the world's largest. ...
  
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• Hundreds of millions of British aid 'wasted' on overseas climate change projects

  12-03-2017 23:00
  
  Serious questions are raised today over hundreds of millions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money being ‘wasted’ on climate change projects such as an Ethiopian wind farm and Kenyan solar power plant.A Telegraph investigation shows little benefit so far from a £2 billion foreign aid programme to tackle climate change that was established eight years ago.One scheme, costing £260m of UK taxpayers’ money, has produced only enough renewable electricity to power t
  
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• President Trump praises Secret Service after grounds breach

  12-03-2017 22:57
  
  President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. Secret Service did a "fantastic job" apprehending a "troubled person" who got onto the White House grounds after climbing a fence on the east side of the property while Trump was inside the executive mansion.It was the first known security breach at the White House since Trump took office nearly two months ago.Washington, D.C., police identified the intruder as 26-year-old Jonathan Tran of Milpitas, California.
  
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• Nigel Farage 'probably would' run for Parliament again if fraud probe sparks by-election in South Thanet

  12-03-2017 22:54
  
  Ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage has said he “probably would” stand again in the Kent constituency of South Thanet if a by-election was held.The anti-EU campaigner stood in the constituency in the 2015 general election but was defeated by the Conservatives.According to the Mail On Sunday, Mr Farage's election strategist Chris Bruni-Lowe has passed a dossier to police containing details of computer logs accessed by Ukip's only MP Douglas Carswell, who defected to the party from the Conserv
  
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• Tory infighting grows over national insurance budget 'shambles'

  12-03-2017 22:18
  
  A proposed hike in national insurance for self-employed people has sparked fierce Conservative infighting amid fears the Government could lose a vote in the Commons over the £145 million tax raid.Tory MPs are arguing over who is to blame for the budget “shambles” with the Government facing an embarrassing U-turn on Chancellor Phillip Hammond’s pledge to increase national insurance contributions (NICs) for those who work for themselves and earn more than £16,250 a ye
  
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• Crufts Best in Show 2017 branded a 'joke' as fans say American Cocker Spaniel looks nothing like a working dog

  12-03-2017 22:18
  
  Crufts Best in Show has been awarded to an American Cocker Spaniel called "Afterglow Miami Ink".The dog  came away with the show's top prize after winning Best in Gundog Group a day earlier.Will Miami get the double and win #TheJump as well as #Crufts?
  
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• Crufts competitors are pulling their dogs' leads too tight, RSPCA warn as Kennel Club hits back calling animal charity 'boring'

  12-03-2017 22:00
  
  In the refined world of pedigree dog-showing, the graceful curve of a dog’s neck could be the all-important difference between winning praise and accolades from judges, or coming home empty handed.A well-known method of improving a canine's posture is to pull firmly on the lead, encouraging the dog raise its head.It comes after the Kennel Club cracked down on “double handling” on animal welfare grounds towards the end of last year.
  
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• Derby sack Steve McClaren for second time in two years as one win in nine sees them fall out of promotion race - Daily Mail

  12-03-2017 21:31 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Daily Mail
  Derby sack Steve McClaren for second time in two years as one win in nine sees them fall out of promotion race
  Daily Mail
  Derby County have sacked Steve McClaren after a wretched run of results has seen them fall out of promotion contention. The Rams have only won once in nine league outings and remain 10 points adrift of a top-six spot. McClaren was axed after a similar ...
  Derby County part company with Steve McClarenThe Guardian
  Steve McClaren sacked by Derby for a second tim
  
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• Turkish President Erdogan faces TOTAL ban from EU as Denmark joins Netherlands and Germany in turning minsters ... - Mirror.co.uk

  12-03-2017 21:22 via mirror.co.uk
  
  Mirror.co.uk
  Turkish President Erdogan faces TOTAL ban from EU as Denmark joins Netherlands and Germany in turning minsters ...
  Mirror.co.uk
  The government of Turkey's president Recip Tayyip Erdogan is facing a total ban from EU states as Denmark joins the Netherlands and Germany in turning away his ministers. The Danish prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has postponed the visit of ...
  The Latest: French candidate Macron condemns TurkeyDaily Mail
  Netherlands 'will pay the price' for block
  
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• Human Rights Act should not be used to sue police, Home Office to argue in landmark Supreme Court appeal

  12-03-2017 21:20
  
  Victims of serious crime should not be allowed to use the Human Rights Act to sue the police, the Home Office will argue on Monday in a landmark Supreme Court appeal.The case of two females attacked by the notorious “black cab rapist” John Worboys against the Metropolitan Police will be heard at the highest court in the land, following an intervention from Prime Minister Theresa May, while she was Home Secretary.The pair - known as DSD and NBV - won a civil claim against the Met
  
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• Referendum on voting rights could prove to be contentious issue - Irish Times

  12-03-2017 21:19 via irishtimes.com
  
  Irish Times
  Referendum on voting rights could prove to be contentious issue
  Irish Times
  The move by the Government to hold a referendum on allowing Irish citizens abroad to vote in presidential elections marks a turning point in government policy towards the diaspora and a victory for those who have long campaigned for expatriate voting ...
  ROI to hold referendum on widening voting rightsITV News
  Referendum to be held over Irish presidential electionBBC News
  People in Northern Ireland could soo
  
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• Leaving the EU without a deal on Brexit would be 'perfectly OK', Boris Johnson says, as Tory rebellion falters

  12-03-2017 21:18
  
  Britain will be “perfectly OK” without a deal on Brexit and should be prepared to walk away from EU talks likely to start formally this week, Boris Johnson has said.The Foreign Secretary rejected warnings from an influential committee of MPs about “mutually assured damage” in the event of no deal, saying the consequences would not be “apocalyptic”.Meanwhile David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, said he was “confident I’ll get a good outcome” fro
  
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• James Hewitt denies he is Prince Harry's father as he says he feels sorry for the royal having to put up with rumours 

  12-03-2017 20:34
  
  Princess Diana's former lover has said he feels sorry for Prince Harry having to put up with rumours about his paternity.Questioned about why the rumours had persisted, he told Australian Channel Seven's Sunday Night: "It sells papers.
  
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• What do we mean by self-employment, anyway? | Letters

  12-03-2017 20:33
  
  In the skilled trades, the self-employed can earn twice as much as employees on fixed-price projects, says reader Graham Davies.As a self-employed project manager for 20 years I can see from comments in the media from both politicians (Reports, 10 March) and journalists that many assume that the self-employed are paid at the same rate as the employee for the equivalent job.In IT the self-employed are paid typically £300-£1,000 per day depending on grade, broadly double their counterp
  
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• Andrew Marr has on-air spat with camera crew

  12-03-2017 20:28
  
  BBC presenter Andrew Marr appeared to lose his cool on his Sunday morning programme yesterday after confusion about which camera he was supposed to be speaking into.
  
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• Liverpool struggle past Burnley thanks to Emre Can and Lowton's miss - The Guardian

  12-03-2017 20:26 via theguardian.com
  
  The Guardian
  Liverpool struggle past Burnley thanks to Emre Can and Lowton's miss
  The Guardian
  Jürgen Klopp hailed this victory as the “first ugly game” Liverpool have won and the manager was correct. His side stuttered badly before avoiding becoming Burnley's first scalp on the road, a better though imperfect second-half display rescuing a dire ...
  Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp happy to win ugly as he confirms Jordan Henderson will be unavailable for England dutyDaily Mail
  
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• Runaway bus crashes into parade in Haiti leaving 34 dead - STV News

  12-03-2017 20:18 via stv.tv
  
  STV News
  Runaway bus crashes into parade in Haiti leaving 34 dead
  STV News
  Haiti is a Caribbean country that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic to its east. ITV News. At least 34 people have been killed and 17 injured after a runaway bus veered into a crowd in the Haitian city of Gonaïves. The bus was ...
  Bus runs into crowd in Haiti, killing at least 34 peopleNews1130
  Bus crashes into parade in Haiti, killing at least 34 and injuring 17The Guardian
  At least 3
  
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• Shakespeare 'poisoned' by actors going over the top, director says

  12-03-2017 20:17
  
  Shakespearean theatre has been “poisoned” by the “bizarre” over-acting of an older generation of thespians, the director Robert Icke has said.Icke, who is currently working with actor Andrew Scott on an Almeida theatre production of Hamlet, said the public had been put off going to see Shakespeare by the “operative modes of delivery” once preferred by actors like Sir John Gielgud.Saying British theatre had “shot itself in both feet” thanks to an ob
  
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• Music makes curries taste 10pc spicier, scientists find 

  12-03-2017 20:05
  
  Scientists at the University of Oxford have discovered that certain types of music - those with fast beats, distorted notes and high-pitched sounds - can enhance the sensation of heat from chilli peppers.In a series of tests researchers were able to produce specific soundtracks that can boost the spiciness of food by up to 10 per cent.Professor Charles Spence, an experimental food psychologist at the University of Oxford who led the study, said traditional Indian music played in restaurants
  
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• Mauricio Pochettino preparing for possibility of losing Harry Kane for the majority of the rest of the season - The Independent

  12-03-2017 19:52 via independent.co.uk
  
  The Independent
  Mauricio Pochettino preparing for possibility of losing Harry Kane for the majority of the rest of the season
  The Independent
  Tottenham Hotspur are having to prepare for the possibility of losing Harry Kane for the majority of the rest of the season, including for the FA Cup semi-final, after the England striker sprained his right ankle against Millwall this afternoon. Kane ...
  Tottenham Hotspur hammer Millwall in Cup with Son Heung-min hat-trickThe Guardian
  Tottenham need abuse
  
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• No-deal Brexit 'would put UK in worst trading position of rich nations' - The Guardian

  12-03-2017 19:43 via theguardian.com
  
  The Guardian
  No-deal Brexit 'would put UK in worst trading position of rich nations'
  The Guardian
  Britain is expected to trigger article 50, which starts the process of leaving the EU, as early as Tuesday. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA. Share on Facebook · Share on Twitter · Share via Email; View more sharing options; Share on LinkedIn · Share on ...
  David Davis urges MPs 'not to tie PM's hands' over Brexit billBBC News
  David Davis: We do have a Brexit Plan BDaily Star
  David Davis
  
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• John 'Goldfinger' Palmer murder: Paramedics warned police of suspicious wounds 

  12-03-2017 19:27
  
  Paramedics called to the body of a renowned gangster alerted police to his suspicious chest wounds, but officers still failed to spot he had been shot six times, an internal inquiry has found.John "Goldfinger" Palmer was initially thought to have died from natural causes soon after having gall bladder surgery, when he as found collapsed in the garden of his secluded home in 2015.An ambulance service case review has now disclosed a paramedic told police he doubted Mr Palmer’s wounds were fr
  
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• Supermarkets using 'shocking tactics' to extract money from suppliers

  12-03-2017 18:51
  
  In one case, a supplier was pressured to spend £25,000 on a table at a charity ball or risk having their product withdrawn from shelves, according to groceries code adjudicator Christine Tacon.Speaking on the “power of supermarkets” at a Westminster Forum conference, Ms Tacon reportedly said she regularly hears about stores claiming delivered goods never arrived, asking suppliers to pay to keep their goods on the shelves, and charging the supplier up to £55 if a customer
  
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• Preet Bharara 'refused to take call from President Trump the day before he was ordered to resign'

  12-03-2017 18:49
  
  President Donald Trump’s firing of New York’s crusading prosecutor has sparked a wave of intrigue, fuelled by a report that the president attempted to contact Preet Bharara on Thursday but was rebuffed.Mr Bharara, the 48-year-old scourge of Wall Street philanderers, terrorists and corrupt politicians alike, announced on Saturday that he had been fired, having refused a Friday night order that all 46 Obama-era attorneys resign.The India-born lawyer was invited by Mr Trump to Trump Tow
  
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• Ian McEwan: referendums such as Brexit vote remind me of Third Reich

  12-03-2017 18:41
  
  Ian McEwan has lamented the toxic state of debate in the UK since the EU referendum.Ian McEwan has reportedly described the decision to hold a referendum on Brexit as reminiscent of Nazi Germany and likened politicians and newspapers who attack judges scrutinising the process to Robespierre during the terror of the French Revolution.In comments reported by Spanish newspapers and websites, McEwan called Brexit “a real disaster”, questioned why it had been put to a referendum rather th
  
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• Do you have a fiver worth £60k? How to check if you have a rare £5 note that you can sell on eBay

  12-03-2017 18:31
  
  Britons are being urged to check their fivers after a rare £5 note discovered in a man's change fetched more than £60,000 on eBay.The new polymer note - with one of the earliest serial numbers starting AA01, which is desirable to collectors - was sold on the internet auction site on Sunday morning.Seller Piotr Sobczuk, from Telford, Shropshire, listed the note on eBay after finding it in his change.
  
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• Italian Job actor's death 'a shock to all'

  12-03-2017 18:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Footballers' Wives actor is reported to have suffered internal bleeding after a fall.
  
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• Francois Fillon's party apologises for tweeting anti-semitic caricature of rival Emmanel Macron

  12-03-2017 18:08
  
  Francois Fillon's party has apologised for tweeting a caricature of Emmanuel Macron, his main rival in the race to be France's next president, that Fillon himself admitted was anti-Semitic.Fillon's conservative The Republicans tweeted an image of the independent centrist Macron with a hooked nose, wearing a top hat and carrying a red sickle with which he was cutting a cigar.The image resembled anti-Semitic propaganda from World War Two when France's Vichy government collaborated w
  
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• How widowed parents are being hit again by Tory cuts to bereavement benefits

  12-03-2017 18:07
  
  At twenty-to-six in the evening on Thursday 25 April 2013, Dunc, who had just celebrated his 39th birthday, kissed his wife Beth and two young children goodnight.Just 60 minutes later Dunc, a crash analyst at Jaguar Land Rover, suffered from undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – a condition where the muscle wall of the heart becomes thickened and can, in some cases, lead to sudden cardiac death.“He died on the pitch,” says 40-year-old Beth almost four years later over coffe
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon faces major revolt over referendum number two from Scottish PENSIONERS

  12-03-2017 17:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  NICOLA Sturgeon’s hopes for a yes vote in a second independence referendum have been shot down by plucky Scottish pensioners who would vote no again, according to a poll.
  
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• Woman killed in Doncaster hit-and-run crash

  12-03-2017 17:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Police said the stolen car was a grey or silver BMW with a number plate starting with HV07.
  
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• British couple's selfies with A-list stars show them accidentally gatecrashing the Oscars during TV prank

  12-03-2017 17:26
  
  When a British couple embarked on a sightseeing trip on Hollywood Boulevard, they hoped it would be a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to see the homes of the rich and famous, and perhaps catch a glimpse of an actor passing by.The unsuspecting pair, who were on a dream holiday in the States, had booked a ticket for a sightseeing tour and boarded a bus alongside eight other holidaymakers.
  
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• Francois Fillon accepted €12,000 worth of suits from his supporters in further embarrassment for campaign

  12-03-2017 17:17
  
  Francois Fillon, whose bid for the French presidency was derailed by a fake jobs scandal, is facing further embarrassment after claims that a mystery benefactor paid for nearly €50,000 worth of suits for him in a chic Left Bank shop.Over the past five years the conservative candidate has received clothes worth €48,500 (£43,000) from Arnys, a made-to-measure clothing outlet for the rich and famous, the Journal du Dimanche claimed.
  
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• British volunteer crowdfunds third 'tour' fighting Isis in Syria

  12-03-2017 17:03
  
  An anti-Isis civilian fighter is crowdfunding so he can return to Syria for the third time.Steven Kerr, 58, from Northamptonshire, who left his job as a warehouse manager to join Kurdish rebels on the front line, is hoping to go back to Raqqa, the jihadis’ stronghold in Syria.The former soldier in the British Army and father of two is one of dozens of Britons to have worked with the YPG, a group of Kurdish rebels supported by international volunteer fighters.
  
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• Mafia fugitive arrested in Mexico - thanks to Facebook

  12-03-2017 16:54
  
  One of Italy’s most wanted fugitives is behind bars after investigators used Facebook to hunt him down in Mexico.Facebook pictures posted under the mafioso's alias - Saverio Garcia Galiero – show a happy man living large south of the border – beaming as he takes the sun at the beach or relaxing with his arm draped around a pretty companion.Back in Naples, where he was born, detectives tasked with finding fugitives were studying his timeline to confirm his real identity: Giulio
  
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• Diesel vans pump out 23 times more toxins than allowed under UK law but face NO penalties

  12-03-2017 16:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  DIESEL van drivers face less harsh penalties than the owners of diesel cars - despite the goods vehicles being the country’s biggest air pollutants.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon 'skewered' over SNP colleague's claim her government has talked too much and acted too little

  12-03-2017 16:42
  
  Nicola Sturgeon’s record in government has been “skewered” by one of her former Scottish Cabinet colleagues, opposition parties have said after Kenny MacAskill criticised her for too much rhetoric and not enough action.The former Justice Minister also warned that the SNP is “dominated by her interests”, with husband Peter Murrell serving as the party’s chief executive and Derek Mackay filling the dual role of Finance Minister and party convener.
  
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• David Davis urges MPs 'not to tie PM's hands' over Brexit bill

  12-03-2017 16:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Brexit secretary also says plans are under way in case a deal with the EU cannot be reached.
  
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• Arnold Schwarzenegger rules out running for senate

  12-03-2017 16:28
  
  Arnold Schwarzenegger has ruled out a run for the senate, following widespread excitement at the prospect of him taking his feud with President Donald Trump to another level.The 69-year-old former governor of California was reported last week to be considering re-entering politics.Mr Schwarzenegger responded that Mr Trump was a little obsessed with him, and "probably in love with me".
  
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• Turkey says the Netherlands will 'pay the price' for denying entry to ministers, as Erdogan claims 'Nazism is alive in the west' 

  12-03-2017 16:24
  
  Turkey's president has said the Netherlands will 'pay the price' in a growing diplomatic row after two Turkish ministers were prevented from campaigning in Rotterdam.The row began after the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was prevented from flying into Rotterdam on Saturday to attend a rally and family minister, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya was denied entry to the Turkish embassy and escorted back to the border with Germany.One protester managed to climb onto the roo
  
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• Woman, 48, dies in Scottish Mighty Deerstalker cross-country race - International Business Times UK

  12-03-2017 16:01 via ibtimes.co.uk
  
  International Business Times UK
  Woman, 48, dies in Scottish Mighty Deerstalker cross-country race
  International Business Times UK
  A 48-year-old woman has died in a cross-country overnight race in the Scottish borders region after falling ill. On Saturday evening at approximately 6.15pm (11 March), the emergency services were called to help the woman at the Mighty Deerstalker ...and more »
  
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• British imams 'could be asked to preach in English' to tackle extremism

  12-03-2017 15:59
  
  Imams could be asked to deliver sermons in English under new measures to tackle extremism.“If imams are speaking in another language it makes it far harder to know if radicalisation is taking place," a senior Government source told The Sunday Telegraph.The plans are said to have been inspired by some Middle Eastern countries which have requested sermons be published online in English.
  
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• Ruth Davidson: Corbyn has 'made SNP's day' by giving thumbs-up to second independence referendum

  12-03-2017 15:51
  
  Jeremy Corbyn “made the SNP’s day” by stating that a second independence referendum would be “absolutely fine”, Ruth Davidson has said as senior Labour figures tried desperately to repair the damage to their party’s Unionist credentials.The Scottish Tory leader said Mr Corbyn’s intervention during a visit to Glasgow on Saturday showed that “he is happy to let the SNP roll over him” and argued it was a “complete betrayal” of v
  
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• Alec Baldwin's SNL spoof of Donald Trump's response to an alien attack: 'Everyone in California is dead? Even Arnold?'

  12-03-2017 15:50
  
  Alec Baldwin has reprised his role as Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, sending up the president in a skit showing him confronting an imminent alien attack.Baldwin, dressed in a bomber jacket, addresses troops as aliens from the planet Zorblatt 9 threaten the United States.Flanked by his generals, and with smoke effects and crashes behind, Mr Trump is told that the entire state of California has been “vaporised”.
  
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