General news

• Westminster attack: Inquest hears London killer Khalid Masood was shot in the chest

  30-03-2017 23:11
  Westminster terror killer Khalid Masood died from a single shot to his chest, an inquest has been told.Moments after he fatally stabbed PC Keith Palmer, the attacker was challenged by armed officers and shot dead inside the Parliament gates.Brief details of how Masood's murderous rampage was brought to a dramatic end after 82 seconds were heard by a coroner on Thursday.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon has written a letter requesting a second Scottish independence referendum

  30-03-2017 22:32
  
  MSPs voted in favour of seeking permission for the referendum to take place.
  
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• Great Repeal Bill: Everything you need to know

  30-03-2017 22:04
  
  Details of proposed legislation to transfer EU law to UK statute book have been published.
  
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• Family of five from Milton Keynes killed in Snowdonia helicopter crash

  30-03-2017 21:23
  Five people who died in a helicopter crash in Snowdonia were all from the same family, police have confirmed.The wreckage of a helicopter and five bodies were found in the Rhinog mountains near Trawsfynydd on Thursday.Police said the victims were all adults and from the Milton Keynes area.
  
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• UK moves to calm European nerves over security cooperation

  30-03-2017 21:17
  
  David Davis, the Brexit secretary, spent most of Wednesday afternoon on the phone to leading European capitals.The British government has embarked on a desperate attempt to calm a potential diplomatic row sparked by its article 50 letter, assuring European capitals it had not intended to threaten EU security cooperation.On Thursday, as the Brexit secretary, David Davis, announced the details of the government’s “great repeal bill”, EU diplomats based in London were also contact
  
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• HSBC is giving transgender customers choice of 10 new gender neutral titles

  30-03-2017 21:16
  
  New titles allow people who do not identify as a particular gender to choose what works for them.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon writes to PM requesting second Scottish independence referendum

  30-03-2017 21:06
  Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will tell Theresa May in a letter that they need to make a start on arrangements for an independence referendum.Writing to the Prime Minister following the Scottish Parliament vote backing a referendum, Ms Sturgeon is to make her formal request to open talks on a Section 30 order that would facilitate it.Sky News understands that Ms Sturgeon will urge the Prime Minister to make a start on transferring the power to have a referendum.
  
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• Readers recommend: share your songs about resistance

  30-03-2017 21:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Make your nomination in the comments and a reader will pick the best eligible tracks for a playlist next week – you have until Monday 3 April This week we want your nominations of songs that are about or that mention resistance, in any form. For more on the theme, keep an eye on the comments.You have until 11pm on Monday 3 April to post your nomination and make your justification. Regular RR contributor who posts as suzi in the comments will select from your recommendations and produce the
  
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• George Osborne takes on paid speech in Paris on day two of London Evening Standard job

  30-03-2017 21:00
  George Osborne is being paid to speak at a finance event in Paris on his second day as the London Evening Standard's new editor, raising fresh questions about how the former Chancellor plans to manage conflicts arising from his move into journalism.Sky News can reveal that Mr Osborne, who has said he intends to remain as MP for Tatton despite amassing a lucrative portfolio of private sector jobs, has agreed to attend the Hedge Fund Intelligence European Summit at a luxury hotel in the French cap
  
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• UK weather sees temperatures soar, with warmest March day in five years

  30-03-2017 20:56
  Britain has seen its warmest March day for five years, with the temperature in Gravesend, Kent, reaching 22.1C.Thursday is also the warmest day so far this year, beating Ibiza and Barcelona (both 19C) and Nice in France (18C) and Istanbul in Turkey (17C).London enjoyed some of the best weather, with 21C recorded at Heathrow, High Beach, Epping Forest and St James's Park during the afternoon.
  
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• Parts of UK enjoy warmest March day for five years

  30-03-2017 20:38
  
  People enjoy the sunshine on the beach in Hastings, East Sussex.Parts of the UK saw the warmest March day in five years on Thursday as temperatures approached 22C (71.6F).Warm air from the European mainland enhanced the temperatures in the south-east of England, with the warmest spots all lying around London.
  
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• Aidan McAteer arrested over Violet-Grace Youens hit-and-run death

  30-03-2017 20:28
  Police have arrested a man they were looking for in connection with the hit-and-run death of a four-year-old girl last Friday.
  
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• Passengers swim ashore as plane crashes into sea near Shoreham

  30-03-2017 20:06
  Two people on board a light aircraft have swum safely to shore after their plane crashed into the sea off Shoreham, West Sussex.Jim Barrow, 48, was on his way home from work when he saw a rescue helicopter arrive at the scene.A Sussex Police spokesman said: "Two people are reported to have escaped from the aircraft, believed to be a Cessna.
  
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• ‘Like losing a friend’ – readers’ thoughts on triggering article 50 | Letters

  30-03-2017 19:49
  
  ‘I am sad at the waste of time, energy and expertise that could better be used to deal with more urgent and serious problems’, writes Jo Harding.29 March is supposed to feel like a momentous occasion, as though the UK has hauled up its anchor and is sailing over the horizon towards the Atlantic, bunting flapping and with those aboard waving cheerily to those left on land in Europe, as they stand at the dockside, teary-eyed and regretful.It feels as though the UK is perched on the edg
  
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• Ken Livingstone 'brought Labour into disrepute' with Hitler Zionism remarks

  30-03-2017 19:48
  
  Ken Livingstone at Church House, Westminster, London, for the disciplinary hearing at which he faces a charge of engaging in conduct that was ‘grossly detrimental’ to the party.Ken Livingstone’s party expulsion hearing has been told that the former Labour mayor of London brought the party into disrepute by suggesting Adolf Hitler had supported Zionism, assertions Livingstone repeated at length to reporters outside the meeting on Thursday morning.Before the hearing by Labour&rsq
  
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• Citizens and security are too important to be used as bargaining chips | Letters

  30-03-2017 19:47
  
  Theresa May’s letter to Donald Tusk triggering article 50 (Report, 30 March) makes disturbing references to future co-operation with the EU on fighting crime and terrorism.Specifically, she implies that the willingness of the UK government to continue to cooperate fully with the EU on security will be dependent on whether a satisfactory deal can be done on future trading arrangements and other matters post-Brexit.In effect, she is trying to use the safety of both UK and EU citizens as a ba
  
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• Ode to the joy of Je t’aime franglais | Letters

  30-03-2017 19:46
  
  As a nation, our understanding of French language and culture has never really progressed beyond Jane Birkin’s ‘Je t’aime’.The quote from Schiller’s poem Ode to Joy (Letters, 30 March) should read “der stehle weinend sich aus diesem Bund” and not “der stehe weinend aus diesen Bund”.As a nation, our understanding of French language and culture has never really progressed beyond “Michelle, ma belle …” by the Beatles and
  
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• Stourbridge killings: Mother and son die after being stabbed at home

  30-03-2017 19:35
  A mother and her 13-year-old son have died after being stabbed at their home in Stourbridge in the West Midlands.The woman, in her 50s, who has been named by Sky sources as Tracey Wilkinson, was pronounced dead at the scene.The woman's husband, Peter Wilkinson, remains in hospital in a serious condition with stab wounds to his chest and back after all three were attacked at the property in Greyhound Lane.
  
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• Letter: Eamonn Casey was a passionate advocate for the homeless

  30-03-2017 19:25
  
  Eamonn Casey was my loyal and supportive chairman when I was director of Shelter in the 1960s.A passionate advocate for the homeless, he pioneered the concept of housing aid centres that still form the basis of Shelter’s work today.Above all, he was an inspirational leader, loved by my Shelter team and revered by the whole voluntary housing movement.
  
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• Brexit: Thousands of EU laws to be transferred to UK

  30-03-2017 19:16
  Thousands of EU laws - from workers' rights to food safety - are to be transferred onto the UK statute book in a Great Repeal Bill unveiled by the Government.Brexit Secretary David Davis told the House of Commons that the new legislation will provide "clarity and certainty" as the UK prepares to leave the European Union.The use of the so-called Henry VIII powers allows the Government to pass up to 1,000 pieces of secondary legislation without close parliamentary scrutiny.
  
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• Spain and Germany may presage steeper than expected inflation fall

  30-03-2017 19:15
  The European Central Bank has been saying for some time that the current rise in consumer inflation is based primarily on energy and commodities and won't last.This has kept most policymakers cautious about changing the bank's message of continuing with its asset buying until the end of the year and not considering tightening until afterwards.
  
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• What we know so far about the Snowdonia helicopter crash

  30-03-2017 19:05
  
  Five bodies were found along with the wreckage of the helicopter.
  
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• Turns out the whole Boaty McBoatface saga was actually a good thing for science, according to MPs

  30-03-2017 18:50
  
  Never forget.
  
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• Feminists are giving away free sex toys to women and here's why

  30-03-2017 18:48
  
  SexyLiberation want to change the way women’s sexual health is approached.
  
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• Colds feel worse to lonely people, study suggests

  30-03-2017 18:32
  
  A study by a team of US researchers has found while loneliness does not appear to have any impact on an individual’s chance of falling ill with a cold, or the actual severity of the symptoms, it does seem to be linked to feeling more under the weather.“When it comes to our health it seems that it is the quality of our social relationships that may be more important than just the quantity,” said Angie LeRoy, a co-author of the study from Rice University.Writing in the journal He
  
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• EU open to May's bid for early post-Brexit trade talks

  30-03-2017 18:14
  
  By Alastair MacdonaldBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is wary of Prime Minister Theresa May's call for swift negotiations on a post-Brexit free trade deal while Britain is still settling its withdrawal terms, but the bloc is not ruling out early talks.Responding to May's letter to Brussels on Wednesday which triggered a two-year countdown to leaving the bloc, EU leaders lined up to repeat that London must deal with its divorce before negotiating the comprehensive trading partnership that
  
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• HSBC offers choice of transgender titles for bank's customers

  30-03-2017 18:03
  
  Issues for the LGBT community can include recognition by daily services including banking.HSBC is to offer its transgender community a choice of 10 new gender-neutral titles as part of its plan to improve the banking experience for customers.The banks says its account holders will no longer have to use conventional titles such as Mr, Mrs and Ms, but instead be able to choose from a long list that includes Mx, Ind, M, Mre, and Misc. HSBC said titles chosen would be applied across customers’
  
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• Ricky Gervais defends 'dead babies' joke at show in Belfast

  30-03-2017 18:02
  Ricky Gervais has defended a joke about "dead babies" on his latest tour, after bereaved parents walked out of a gig in Belfast.Ryan and Suzi Gourley, whose son Eli was stillborn last July, were at the show at the city's Waterfront Hall for their first night out since their loss.The couple went on to complain, but Gervais has defended his material, saying on Twitter that he sees "offence as the collateral damage of free speech".
  
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• BBC apologises after Today presenter plugs Brut aftershave on air

  30-03-2017 17:31
  
  A BBC spokeswoman said of his Brut remark: ‘This was a mistake.The BBC has apologised after one of its longest-serving presenters appeared to promote Brut aftershave on Radio 4’s Today programme.In a broadcast that prompted a flurry of complaints on social media, the sports presenter Garry Richardson, a 35-year veteran of the programme, ended an interview with the England cricketer Jimmy Anderson on Thursday with a line more typically heard on commercial radio.
  
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• David Davis: the UK secretary of state for badly needing a lie-down | John Crace

  30-03-2017 17:12
  
  David Davis, the Brexit secretary: at this rate he will be a shell by the end of the year.Hanging on the wall of a disused office in the Department for Exiting the European Union there must be a picture of a David Davis who is getting visibly younger by the day.The real Brexit secretary is on the opposite trajectory.
  
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• Dozens of alleged hacking victims join action against Sun publisher

  30-03-2017 17:05
  
  David Tennant is one of the alleged victims of phone hacking joining the legal action.Actor David Tennant and former racing driver Eddie Irvine are among dozens of alleged victims of phone hacking joining legal action against Sun publisher News UK.
  
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• U.S.-UK alliance targets the world's deadliest superbugs

  30-03-2017 17:03
  
  By Kate KellandLONDON (Reuters) - Eleven biotech companies and research teams in Britain and the United States were awarded up to $48 million in funding on Thursday to speed development of new antibiotics powerful enough to take on the world's deadliest superbugs.The range of antimicrobial medicines able to kill the growing number of drug-resistant infections is dwindling and health experts warn that within a generation the death toll from such "superbug" infections could reach 10 billion.Announ
  
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• Investigators suspect UK killer was lone wolf radicalised on internet

  30-03-2017 16:59
  
  By Michael Holden and Mark HosenballLONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former violent criminal who converted to Islam and kept out of trouble for more than a decade, the killer who struck Britain's parliament last week was probably a "lone wolf", self-radicalised by material on the internet, investigators say.Police say Khalid Masood, who tried to put his troubled past behind him by turning to religion, had copied the low cost, low tech attacks espoused by Islamic State."The biggest question is: wh
  
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• Hollande to May: agree Brexit terms first, then we'll talk trade

  30-03-2017 16:38
  
  François Hollande has told Theresa May the EU is not prepared to discuss Britain’s future relationship with the bloc until the conditions of its exit have been agreed.The French president used a phone conversation with the prime minister on Thursday to echo remarks by the European council president, Donald Tusk, and German chancellor, Angela Merkel, that trade and divorce talks could not be held in parallel.Meanwhile, May published articles in five European newspapers that linked se
  
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• Britain targets legal certainty with plan to convert EU law after Brexit

  30-03-2017 16:18
  By William JamesLONDON (Reuters) - The British government set out on Thursday how it will handle the mammoth task of converting European Union laws into domestic legislation in preparation for its exit from the bloc, seeking to ease business uncertainty about life after Brexit.Prime Minister Theresa May formally notified Brussels on Wednesday of Britain's intention to leave the EU after more than 40 years of membership.In that time, tens of thousands of EU-related laws have made their way onto t
  
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• Katy Perry joins Sheeran, Radiohead for Glastonbury festival

  30-03-2017 16:05
  
  American pop singer Katy Perry will join the likes of Ed Sheeran, Radiohead and the Foo Fighters to perform at this year's Glastonbury festival, a huge green-field music event held in the countryside in southwest England.This year's performers include the likes of British grime artist Stormzy, hip hop star Dizzee Rascal, R&B singer Emeli Sande as well as the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb.Rockers Radiohead and the Foo Fighters had previously been announced as part of the line-up as was Grammy Award wi
  
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• John Lewis boss issues price pledge in 'volatile' environment

  30-03-2017 15:53
  The new boss of John Lewis has said the retail giant is already seeing the effect of the Brexit decision - and warned that customers are showing signs of "uncertainty".Paula Nickolds, who was appointed managing director three months ago, said the fall in the value of the pound has had a "dramatic effect" on the cost of buying products - but also promised that her company would be "the last to move" when it came to passing those rises on to customers.
  
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• Khalid Masood died of gunshot wound to chest, inquest hears

  30-03-2017 15:45
  
  Floral tributes to the victims of the Westminster attack are placed outside the Palace of Westminster, London.Khalid Masood, who killed four people in a terrorist attack in Westminster, died of a gunshot wound to the chest, an inquest has heard.Opening and adjourning the inquest into Masood’s death, Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox was told the attacker was identified through fingerprints and DNA.
  
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• German minister warns of tough Brexit talks, no discount available

  30-03-2017 15:38
  German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday that negotiations about Britain's exit from the European Union would be tough before getting easier."The Brexit negotiations with the United Kingdom that the European Union will lead for us won't be easy - some people know the saying that ... things will get difficult before they get easier again - that applies to these talks," said Gabriel.Gabriel also said that the EU's remaining 27 states expected Britain to keep to its financial obligat
  
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• Britain to demand tech firms do more to tackle extremism

  30-03-2017 15:37
  
  Britain will tell Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft on Thursday to do more to stop extremists posting content on their platforms and using encrypted messaging services to plan attacks.Home Secretary Amber Rudd said on Sunday tech companies should stop offering a "secret place for terrorists to communicate", after British parliament attacker Khalid Masood was widely reported to have sent encrypted messages moments before he killed four people last week.
  
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• H&M invests in supply chain as fashion rivalry intensifies

  30-03-2017 15:32
  By Anna RingstromSTOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Cost controls helped H&Mto limit a drop in quarterly pretax profit but the fashion chain said it was increasing investments this year as it tries to keep pace with its larger rival, Zara owner Inditex .H&M, the world's second-biggest fashion company, said conditions remained very tough in key European markets and in the United States, with shopping behaviour and expectations changing rapidly.Earnings were dented by weaker than expected sales growth
  
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• GPs to stop prescribing omega-3 oils, gluten-free food and cough medicine

  30-03-2017 15:31
  
  The NHS is to stop giving patients travel vaccinations, gluten-free foods and some drugs that can be bought over the counter in an attempt to rescue its ailing finances.Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, announced the changes in an interview with the Daily Mail in which he detailed new efforts to get better value for money so that money saved could instead be spent on promising therapies that have recently been developed.GPs will be told to not prescribe medications such as those
  
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• German, Spanish inflation ebbs, easing pressure on ECB

  30-03-2017 15:31
  
  By Michael Nienaber and Paul DayBERLIN/MADRID (Reuters) - German and Spanish consumer inflation slowed more sharply than expected in March as oil prices slumped, data showed on Thursday, offering some respite to the European Central Bank as it faces pressure to wind down its monetary stimulus.The ECB has slashed interest rates into negative territory and adopted a bond-buying programme worth 2.3 trillion euros ($2.5 trillion) to counter the threat of deflation and revive growth in the 19-member
  
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• Record number of EU citizens quit working in NHS last year

  30-03-2017 15:25
  
  A health worker wears a badge that reads ‘NHS safer in the EU’.A record number of EU nationals left the NHS last year, renewing fears that Brexit could exacerbate a staffing crisis.The figures, compiled by NHS Digital, prompted medical leaders to call for more reassurances to European workers about their future in the UK.
  
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• Brexit: UK sets out plans to replace all EU laws

  30-03-2017 14:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Brexit Secretary David Davis unveils the draft Great Repeal Bill to MPs.
  
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• Mother and son fatally stabbed in Stourbridge house

  30-03-2017 14:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Two dead as three people, including the woman's husband, are attacked in their Stourbridge house.
  
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• Harry Potter festival plans 'blown out the water'

  30-03-2017 14:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The church minister who organised it says he was taken by "surprise" by the worldwide interest.
  
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• National tests for infants set to be axed

  30-03-2017 14:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The death knell is sounded for Sats for seven-year-olds in England's schools.
  
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• Five people killed in Snowdonia helicopter crash

  30-03-2017 14:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The aircraft went missing en route from Luton to Dublin on Wednesday afternoon.
  
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• Charge urged for coffee cups to reduce waste

  30-03-2017 14:19
  Charging for disposable coffee cups could help cut their use by up to 300 million a year, new research suggests.It is estimated that coffee lovers in the UK get through 2.5 billion disposable cups every twelve months - translating into about 25,000 tonnes of waste.Academics from Cardiff University tested a series of ideas to encourage consumers to use re-usable cups.
  
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