General news

• Compromise still possible to avoid Scotland independence vote, says SNP

  14-03-2017 23:30
  
  Robertson’s comments came as Nicola Sturgeon indicated that she could delay a fresh referendum vote until after Brexit.Theresa May still has time to reach a compromise deal with Scotland that could avert a second independence referendum but the clock is ticking, the SNP’s most senior figure in Westminster has said.In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Angus Robertson said his party’s first priority was to protect Scotland’s membership of the European single market.
  
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• Nicky Morgan urges government not to withdraw school funding plans

  14-03-2017 23:24
  
  Nicky Morgan was replaced as education secretary last July by Justine Greening.Former education secretary Nicky Morgan has called on the government not to abandon its commitment to a new national funding formula for schools, despite widespread opposition from fellow Conservative backbenchers.Morgan, who first launched the government’s plans to overhaul school funding during her time at the Department for Education (DfE), said it was clear the formula in its current draft was not yet right.
  
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• Police hunt man who 'threw advertising board' at ticket inspectors at Deptford station

  14-03-2017 23:20
  
  Police are hunting a man who allegedly threw an advertising board at a group of ticket inspectors at a south east London station.As he left, he picked up a wooden A-frame advertising board from a coffee shop and threw it towards them.The victim, a 54-year-old man, required hospital treatment, after the incident on Tuesday, February 28.
  
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• Jailed: 'Predator' who pretended to be son of African king before sexually assaulting teen girls

  14-03-2017 23:19
  
  A “predator” who groomed two teenage girls online before sexually assaulting them has been jailed for seven years.Taheeb Udusole, 27, met his victims on social media while pretending to be a 17-year-old boy called Daniel who was rich due to his father being an African king.The unemployed Nigerian offered the girls, aged 14 and 15, gifts and money while he sent taxis to collect them and bring them near his home in south-east London.
  
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• Theresa May embroiled in fresh Budget controversy over unfunded grammar school places

  14-03-2017 23:05
  
  Treasury officials admitted to The Independent that money set out in the Budget will not be enough to pay for the 70,000 free school places promised by the Prime Minister.Labour frontbenchers who uncovered the anomaly claimed it pointed to “broken promises” in the Budget, but even some nervous Conservative MPs last night urged the Government to be clear how they will make up the funding gap.It follows an earlier row over the Budget plan to hike National Insurance contributions, break
  
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• Charlotte Hogg's resignation as Francois Fillon fights on shows Britain's toughness on corruption

  14-03-2017 23:00
  
  As chief operating officer of the Bank of England, Charlotte Hogg helped draw up its code of conduct.Among its strictures was a requirement to disclose any connections to the financial institutions regulated by the Bank.This startling omission triggered her resignation yesterday after the Commons treasury select committee reported that without its scrutiny of her suitability for the post of deputy governor “the clear perceived and potential conflicts that would arise in her new role may ne
  
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• Liam Fox backs campaign for new Britannia saying 'I would love a trade yacht' to sell Britain to the world  

  14-03-2017 22:58
  
  Plans for a new £100million Royal Yacht Britannia have received the backing of Liam Fox who has insisted he would “love a trade yacht” to help win deals for Britain after Brexit.Dr Fox, the international trade secretary whose job is to negotiate trade deals after the UK quits the European Union, said he supported a replacement yacht if it were paid for by private donors.The comments come after months of campaigning by Tory MPs and The Daily Telegraph for a replacement for Brita
  
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• Jailed for five years: Thug whose 'frenzied' knife attack left neighbour in coma

  14-03-2017 22:54
  
  A thug who launched a “frenzied” knife attack on his neighbour in south-west London has been jailed for five years.Lee Francis, 38, left his victim seriously injured and in an induced coma for three weeks after the brutal assault in New Malden.The neighbour, in his 30s, had returned home from a holiday with his partner to find Francis’ car parked in his drive.
  
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• 'Vile' trio jailed for beating man to death in brutal broad daylight attack in Southwark

  14-03-2017 22:43
  
  Reginald Ofei-Berko, 26, was brutally attacked last summer after the men followed him through the streets of Walworth.Leon Dixon, 37, from Crawley, West Sussex, was sentenced to ten years in prison for manslaughter.Mason Adrien-Dixon, 22, of Doddington Grove, Kennington, and Daniel Murphy, 20 of St Davids Close, Bermondsey, were each jailed for eight years for manslaughter.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon will not face a united 'Better Together' campaign in next Scottish independence referendum

  14-03-2017 22:29
  
  Nicola Sturgeon is unlikely to face the kind of united “Better Together” campaign that defeated the last push for Scottish independence, party insiders have admitted.After the SNP leader announced a renewed drive to break away from the UK, Labour and Liberal Democrat sources cast doubt on whether a campaign uniting the big Westminster parties is possible.It raises the prospect that Ms Sturgeon may only face the kind of fragmented movement that tried and failed to prevent Brexit, with
  
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• BBC interview family speak for first time since chaotic broadcast went viral... and children run riot again

  14-03-2017 22:27
  
  Professor Robert Kelly and his family have spoken about being catapulted to fame by a chaotic BBC interview that has been viewed more than 10 million times.Mr Kelly, a political science expert, was interrupted by his two small children during a live-on-air Skype call on Friday.Holding his baby son, Mr Kelly said in his first interview since the incident that he and his wife found the video just as funny as everyone else, but they were also mortified at the prospect of having "completely blown ou
  
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• CIA ‘given new authority to conduct drone strikes’ as Donald Trump rolls back restrictions

  14-03-2017 21:49
  
  The Trump administration is pushing ahead with plans to loosen restrictions on drone strikes, removing the “near certainty” requirement of no civilian deaths outside war zones, according to US media reports.It has already given the CIA new authority to launch its own strikes against militants, reported the Wall Street Journal.In particular, it will allow the Pentagon and CIA more autonomy to launch strikes against al-Qaeda and Isil terrorists without needing White House approval.
  
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• Northern Irish power-sharing talks 'cancelled at last minute', party claims

  14-03-2017 21:44
  
  Negotiations to reach a power-sharing deal in Northern Ireland have not taken place after they were cancelled last minute, one of the parties has claimed.The parties have less than a fortnight left to reach a deal by 27 March, in order to save Stormont and prevent direct rule being imposed from London.Key players were due to engage in round-table talks, including the local parties as well as representatives of both the British and Irish governments.
  
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• Arts community blossoms off the Vegas Strip

  14-03-2017 21:36 via theguardian.com
  
  When most people think of Las Vegas, the arts scene isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But there is a tight group of creatives who live and work in the city, inspired by its desert environment and unique visual culture.
  Meet the visual artists who are helping Vegas emerge as a destination for people looking to express themselves and make a difference. “Las Vegas has influenced my work in every way,” says local painter Justin Favela. “We’re a city that’s
  
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• Outrage as Brazilian football club signs goalkeeper whose girlfriend's body was fed to dogs after he ordered her torture and murder

  14-03-2017 21:30
  
  Bruno Fernandes de Souza, now 32, was released from prison in February on a technicality – having served only seven years of his 22 year sentence.In May 2009 the married footballer, who had captained his Rio de Janeiro side to the top of the Serie A league and was linked to a multi-million-pound transfer deal to AC Milan, met Eliza Samudio at one of the sex parties he and other footballers frequently attended.Fernandes became besotted with the 25-year-old, and she fell pregnant when a cond
  
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• Robert Kelly: my minor mistake turned family into YouTube stars

  14-03-2017 21:25
  
  An American academic who became an internet sensation late last week after his live Skype interview was gatecrashed by his children has broken his silence to speak about his “minor mistake that turned my family into YouTube stars”.Prof Robert Kelly was discussing the impeachment of South Korea’s president on BBC World News when his two children barged into his study in their apartment in Busan, South Korea.“Everybody we know seems to think it’s pretty hysterical &nd
  
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• Fossils from 1.6 billion years ago may be oldest-known plants

  14-03-2017 21:19
  
  Fossils unearthed in India that are 1.6 billion years old and look like red algae may represent the earliest-known plants, a discovery that could force scientists to reassess the timing of when major lineages in the tree of life first appeared on Earth.Researchers on Tuesday described the tiny, multicellular fossils as two types of red algae, one thread-like and the other bulbous, that lived in a shallow marine environment alongside mats of bacteria.Until now, the oldest-known plants were 1.2-bi
  
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• Streatham stabbing: 'Machete-wielding' man arrested after stabbing outside busy south London pub

  14-03-2017 21:14
  
  A man who was reportedly wielding a machete has been arrested after a stabbing outside a busy pub in south London.A police cordon was put in place outside the pub as a large number of emergency vehicles descended on the road shortly after 7pm.Phil Groves tweeted: "Police and ambulances everywhere on Streatham High Road.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon 'will not get much help from Europe' despite charm offensive

  14-03-2017 21:11
  
  When Nicola Sturgeon claimed at her independence referendum press conference this week to have won “incredible” support for Scotland across Europe, she gave a clear indication that she expects the EU to grant speedy access to the single market after independence.The First Minister has embarked on an extensive tour of European capitals and the power bases of Brussels since the Brexit vote, which have resulted in a flurry of photo opportunities and press releases.
  
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• Donald Trump 'proposing to slash US payments to UN by more than 50 per cent'

  14-03-2017 21:06
  
  Donald Trump is proposing to slash American payments to the United Nations by more than 50 per cent, according to US media reports and Western diplomats, who fear drastic cuts to lifesaving aid and peacekeeping missions around the world.The first details could come on Thursday when the White House will unveil its budget for the year ahead.Mr Trump is expected to detail billions of dollars in savings to pay for his plan to expand the armed forces without raising taxes.
  
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• The 'man on the Moor'

  14-03-2017 20:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One of the few people with any insight into the puzzle behind the man's death was Maureen Toogood.
  
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• Tory MP 'interviewed under caution by police over election spending'

  14-03-2017 20:18
  
  Police have interviewed a Tory MP under caution for six hours over election expenses amid a growing “s***storm” over wider allegations relating to the party’s 2015 general election spending.Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP for South Thanet, who defeated the then Ukip leader Nigel Farage and comedian Al Murray at the election in 2014, reportedly spent several hours speaking to police about their investigation into his seat.According to the Telegraph, police would not comment
  
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• Home Office staff ordered to stop posting negative Tweets about US President Donald Trump

  14-03-2017 20:13
  
  Home Office staff and contractors have been warned not to post negative remarks about US President Donald Trump on social media sites like Twitter.In a memorandum to the department's Digital, Data and Technology unit last week, staff were told to take “a quick look through just a couple of known personal twitter accounts of ... staff members shows that some are not compliant”.Accounts were found to be “stating that they work for the Home Office, posting HO work, whilst tweeting
  
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• The six Green MSPs who hold the power to grant Nicola Sturgeon a second independence referendum

  14-03-2017 20:12
  
  Six Green MSPs with just 107,000 votes between them hold the key to the future of the union as it emerged they have the power to give Nicola Sturgeon a majority in the Scottish Parliament. 
  
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• Juventus v Porto: Champions League last 16, second leg – live!

  14-03-2017 20:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Champions League last-16, second-leg updates (first leg 2-0)Follow Leicester v Sevilla here | Live scores: all tonight’s goalsAnd feel free to email [email protected] 7.00pm GMTJuventus make four changes to the team sent out to squeak past Milan last Friday. Juan Cuadrado, Claudio Marchisio, Alex Sandro and Mario Mandzukic are back; Marko Pjaca, Andrea Barzagli, Miralem Pjanic and Kwadwo Asamoah make way.
  Porto make just the one change to the XI which started the 4-0 win at Arou
  
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• Cosey Fanni Tutti: 'I don’t like acceptance. It makes me think I've done something wrong'

  14-03-2017 20:05 via theguardian.com
  
  As a member of COUM and Throbbing Gristle, Cosey Fanni Tutti made art that was so shocking, the police ran them out of Hull. But now they’re being invited back – and celebrated in galleries. Here she talks about how they survived•‘I smeared Gen in flour paste and whipped him hard’: read an extract from Cosey Fanni Tutti’s bookThere’s no getting around the fact that meeting Cosey Fanni Tutti after you’ve read her autobiography is a slightly disconcer
  
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• Leicester City v Sevilla: Champions League last 16, second leg – live!

  14-03-2017 19:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Champions League last-16, second leg updates (first leg 1-2)Follow Juventus v Porto live | Live scores: follow all tonight’s goalsAnd feel free to email Jacob or tweet @JacobSteinberg 6.54pm GMTLeicester: Schmeichel; Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Fuchs; Albrighton, Ndidi, Drinkwater, Mahrez; Okazaki, Vardy. Subs: Zieler, Chilwell, Amartey, King, Gray, Slimani, Ulloa.Sevilla: Rico; Mercado, Rami, Pareja; Sarabia, Iborra, N’Zonzi, Escudero; Vitolo, Ben Yedder, Nasri. Subs: Soria, Ferreira, Kr
  
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• Joanna Rowsell Shand’s retirement leaves void in GB medal factory

  14-03-2017 19:52 via theguardian.com
  
  • Double Olympic cycling champion calls it a day aged 28
  • Team pursuiter began in 2004 and became mainstay of squadIn normal times the retirement of Joanna Rowsell Shand, the mainstay of the Great Britain women’s team pursuit squad for nine seasons, would no more than raise an eyebrow. But in the middle of a crisis at British Cycling, and coming as it does after Laura Trott’s announcement she has taken a break in order to have a baby, Rowsell Shand’s departure simply
  
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• Rise of women over the age of 65 getting married to avoid spending a long retirement alone

  14-03-2017 19:48
  
  More women are getting remarried late in life to avoid spending a long retirement alone, experts say.
  
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• Rise in women over the age of 65 getting married to avoid spending a long retirement alone

  14-03-2017 19:48
  
  More women are getting remarried late in life to avoid spending a long retirement alone, experts say.
  
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• Conservative MP interviewed by police over election spending

  14-03-2017 19:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Craig Mackinlay questioned as part of investigation into whether Tories overspent in 2015 South Thanet campaign against Nigel FarageA Conservative MP has been interviewed under caution as part of an ongoing police inquiry into whether the party overspent in its campaign for South Thanet in the 2015 general election, when they were up against Nigel Farage.Craig Mackinlay, the MP who won the seat against the former Ukip leader, is said to have spent about six hours speaking to police about their i
  
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• Don't mention the divorce: why must it all be about Brexit, thought Theresa | John Crace

  14-03-2017 19:44
  
  Theresa May makes a statement to MPs about last week’s EU summit. Photograph: PA
  
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• UK inflation basket: gin and cycling helmets dropped in

  14-03-2017 19:41 via theguardian.com
  
  ONS also adds non-dairy milks, council tax and smartphones – but out go menthol ciggies, child swings and cheque feesHipster culture is officially mainstream after the rising popularity of vegan diets, cycling and artisan gin were reflected in the annual shake-up of the shopping basket used to measure UK inflation.
  Non-dairy milk such as soya, rice and almond milk, have made it into to the basket for the first time in 2017, reflecting the growing trend of dairy-free diets according to the
  
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• Kids' swings out, gin in to UK inflation basket as 'hipster' culture goes mainstream

  14-03-2017 19:39
  Gin and scooters have replaced children's swings and menthol cigarettes in the basket of goods that Britain uses to calculate inflation, Britain's top statistics authority said on Tuesday, as more consumers poured money into niche tastes.The Office for National Statistics said the moves reflected the increasing popularity of counter-culture tastes of "hipsters" who prefer more obscure tastes, such as independently produced alcohol.Gin was added to the inflation basket after a 13-year absence fol
  
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• Theresa May’s charmless style will undermine her Brexit talks | Rafael Behr

  14-03-2017 19:36 via theguardian.com
  
  The prime minister’s lack of diplomacy towards EU leaders is weakening Britain’s negotiating position and makes a smooth exit less likelyThere aren’t many rules to drug dealing, but one of them is not to get high on your own supply. The product is for punters, and getting wasted is bad for business. The equivalent rule in politics is not to be taken in by your own spin. Prime ministers employ people to push positive stories about them on Westminster street corners. But they sho
  
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• BBC viral video family on how their children gatecrashed the interview: 'She was in a hippity-hoppity mood that day'

  14-03-2017 19:24
  
  The professor whose BBC interview became a viral sensation after his children gatecrashed the discussion has spoken for the first time, lifting the lid on what really happened in his South Korea flat.Robert Kelly, an expert on East Asian politics, was preparing to speak about the impeachment of South Korea's president, Park Geun-hye, from his home in Busan - South Korea's second city.
  
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• Charlotte Hogg resigns as Bank of England deputy governor

  14-03-2017 19:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Treasury select committee said executive was not up to the job due to her failure to disclose a potential conflict of interestCharlotte Hogg has resigned as deputy governor of the Bank of England after MPs concluded she was not up to the role she was promoted into barely two weeks ago.
  Her departure was announced 25 minutes after the Treasury select committee published a highly critical report prompted by her failure to disclose that her brother works for Barclays, which is regulated by the Bank
  
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• David Davis said nations 'not democracies' if they can't change their mind - but now he's changed his mind

  14-03-2017 19:21
  
  David Davis has rejected calls for the Government’s Brexit Bill to include a clause giving Parliament the power to reverse Brexit, claiming it is “unnecessary” - despite having previously said that countries which cannot change their minds “cease to be democracies”.The Brexit Secretary told Parliament earlier this week that “we cannot have…any suggestion that the votes in either House will overturn the result of the referendum” and dismissed &ldqu
  
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• Nine in 10 people would electrocute others if ordered, rerun of infamous Milgram Experiment shows 

  14-03-2017 19:20
  
  When the original study was conducted by American psychologist Stanley Milgram, from Yale University, only two thirds of people continued all the way up to the maximum 450-volt level.This time, 80 participants were recruited, including women as well as men, and 90 per cent were willing to inflict the highest shock level of 450 volts to a complicit "learner" screaming in agony.Social psychologist Dr Tomasz Grzyb, from the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Poland, said
  
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• Who will lead the campaign to save the Union? The runners and riders

  14-03-2017 19:19
  
  A leading Scottish business figure
  
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• Camber Sands deaths: inquest should look at council role, lawyer says

  14-03-2017 19:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Coroner ‘will have to examine whether local authority is to blame’ for deaths of five men who drowned at beach last summerAn inquest into the deaths of five young men who drowned at Camber Sands should scrutinise the role of the local council in the tragedy, a lawyer for their families has said.Patrick Roche said the hearing should look at whether Rother district council “could or should” have done more to protect the lives of bathers at Camber Sands near Rye, East Sussex
  
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• Theresa May accused of 'losing momentum' and 'making errors' by delaying formal start of Brexit talks

  14-03-2017 19:08
  
  Theresa May has been accused of “losing momentum” and “making errors” by delaying the formal start of Brexit talks in the wake of Nicola Sturgeon’s shock demand for a Scottish independence referendum.The Prime Minister was expected formally to start negotiations with other European Union member states as early as this week once Parliament had passed a law allowing talks to begin.Mrs May is then understood to be targeting triggering Article 50 on Wednesday March 29,
  
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• Face-off between MPs and social media giants over online hate speech

  14-03-2017 19:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Committee tells Twitter, Facebook and others they should get tough on online abuse, with one MP accusing them of ‘commercial prostitution’Facebook and Twitter should do more to combat fake news, says GCHQ
  Social media companies including Twitter, Facebook and Google have come under pressure from MPs for failing to take tougher action to tackle hate speech online.
  During heated exchanges at the Commons home affairs committee one Labour MP went as far as accusing internet company execu
  
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• Ricky Gervais's transgender jokes show we're all in a kind of transition

  14-03-2017 19:06 via theguardian.com
  
  The comic has been accused of transphobia after riffing about Caitlyn Jenner in his standup show. So does giving him a favourable review endorse those gags?Ricky Gervais sometimes gets people’s backs up and so, it transpires, do reviewerswho write about him. “B4 you write another @guardian review endorsing jokes about #trans people,” I was advised on Twitter after covering Gervais’s recent show, “please consider the impact.” Gervais dedicates a section of his
  
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• New social media code announced for marines after naked photo-sharing scandal

  14-03-2017 19:03
  
  Marines are to be issued with new guidance about appropriate behaviour on social media following the outrage at the discovery of a site sharing intimate photos of women marines, without their consent.General Robert Neller, commander of the marines, told the senate armed forces committee on Tuesday that he was bringing in the new rules to prevent a repeat of the scandal.Earlier this month it was revealed that a Facebook site, Marines United, had been created to share photos of female ma
  
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• Can Star Wars: The Last Jedi rehabilitate Yoda?

  14-03-2017 19:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Director Rian Johnson has his work cut out: not only is Yoda dead, many of us are trying to unremember he tried to sell us mobile phonesThe big story this week for fans of hairy green aliens with a penchant for eccentric syntax is that Yoda looks set to return in upcoming Star Wars sequel The Last Jedi. “Fake news, this is,” I hear you exclaim, in a voice that sounds a bit like Miss Piggy with a cold. “For dead he is.” And you’d be right, from a certain point of vie
  
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• Outrage in Brazil as football club signs goalkeeper who ordered murder of his girlfriend and feeding her body to dogs

  14-03-2017 19:02
  
  In May 2009 the married footballer, who had captained his Rio de Janeiro side to the top of the Serie A league and was linked to a multi-million-pound transfer deal to AC Milan, met Eliza Samudio at one of the sex parties he and other footballers frequently attended.Fernandes became besotted with the 25-year-old, and she fell pregnant when a condom split.Fernandes turned against her, forcing Samudio – who provided DNA evidence that Bruninho was the footballer’s son – to take hi
  
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• Policeman who raped 13-year-old jailed for three years

  14-03-2017 18:59
  
  A former New York police officer will serve three years in prison for the rape and sexual abuse of his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter.Vladmir Krull, 39, who was found guilty of eight charges in January: two counts of rape, two of committing a criminal sexual act, three counts of sexual abuse and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.Krull will thus be eligible for release in 2020.
  
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• Raise your game: how to elevate your wardrobe

  14-03-2017 18:57 via theguardian.com
  
  This season, the high street is the place to go for that single, game-changing item to help transform your outfit. Welcome to the age of inexpensive It purchasesWhat is an elevator piece? It could be a fabulous tasselled earring. It could be a shirt with corset lacing at the waist or a sweater with ribbon ties at the cuff. It isn’t any one thing to buy, in fact, so much as a whole new way to shop. It is a one-click shortcut, the single game-changer item that lifts the rest of your look.I k
  
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• Pair admit blaming mystery cafe customer after crashing £130,000 Lamborghini in Westminster

  14-03-2017 18:52
  
  Two men involved in crashing a £130,000 Lamborghini into a Westminster shop have been convicted of lying after they tried to blame a mystery café customer.Talal Alkassab, 39, and Diyaa Lababidi, 33, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday.It follows a lengthy investigation by police officers, which began in July 2015 when a Lamborghini Gallardo was found crashed on Woodstock Street.
  
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