General news

• Johanna Konta: Miami Open winner is targeting world number one spot

  01-04-2017 23:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Britain's Johanna Konta will move to seventh in the rankings after claiming the biggest title of her career at the Miami Open.
  
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• Just 1% of prisoners win discrimination cases against staff

  01-04-2017 22:45
  
  While only 8% of prisoner allegations of discrimination were upheld, three-quarters of staff complaints were deemed to have been proven.Only one in 100 prisoners who make an allegation of discrimination against staff has their case upheld, according to new analysis which claims that the system for handling complaints of racism and bigotry in the penal system is neither fair nor impartial.By contrast, three-quarters of staff who alleged discrimination by an inmate had their complaint upheld.
  
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• ‘Dark money’ is threat to integrity of UK elections, say leading academics

  01-04-2017 22:30
  
  An urgent review of “weak and helpless” electoral laws is being demanded by a group of leading academics who say that uncontrolled “dark money” poses a threat to the fundamental principles of British democracy.A working group set up by the London School of Economics warns that new technology has disrupted British politics to such an extent that current laws are unable to ensure a free and fair election or control the influence of money in politics.Damian Tambini, director
  
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• NHS recruits must be given special status after Brexit, MPs urge

  01-04-2017 22:00
  
  The NHS is heavily reliant on EU nationals.The government is under intense cross-party pressure to guarantee that EU nationals will still be able to work in the NHS, as concern grows that Brexit will cause a critical shortage of nurses and doctors.Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs said ministers must not only guarantee that EU staff already working in the NHS can stay, but also that recruitment from EU countries can continue.
  
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• Bill O’Reilly and Fox paid about $13m in harassment and abuse settlements – report

  01-04-2017 21:51
  
  Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and the network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, have paid about $13m in settlements to five women who accused the anchor of sexual harassment or verbal abuse, according to an investigation by the New York Times.The report comes after a difficult year for Fox News.In July, Roger Ailes was forced to leave as chairman following a sexual harassment scandal.
  
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• 'Explosion' of wet wipes found near rivers

  01-04-2017 21:50
  A huge increase in the number of wet wipes being flushed down the toilet is having a major impact on rivers and marine life in the UK.Conservationists have warned of an "explosion" in the number of non-biodegradable wet wipes which end up on river banks or make their way into our seas and oceans.Debbie Leach from environmental group Thames 21 is behind a campaign which it is hoped will raise public awareness.
  
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• For the love of yellow

  01-04-2017 21:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  As yellow car drivers rally for a victim of vandalism, owners say there's a sense of community in unusual cars.
  
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• Ireland says no sign of mechanical fault in fatal Sikorsky helicopter crash

  01-04-2017 19:53
  The black box from a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter that crashed in Ireland last month with four people on board has shown no signs of mechanical faults, the country's Air Accident Investigation Unit said on Saturday.Two months before the crash, U.S.-based Sikorsky, part of Lockheed Martin, issued a service notice saying the tail rotor and bearing assemblies of the S-92 should be checked following an incident with the tail rotor during a landing on an oil rig off Scotland on Dec. 28."An initial analys
  
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• Briton, 21, hospitalised in Thailand after 'falling out of train'

  01-04-2017 17:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Thai police tell the BBC the 21-year-old man was found lying next to train track and was taken to hospital.
  
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• People were struck by the poor turnout at the Britain First and English Defence League march, but police were taking no chances

  01-04-2017 16:50
  
  Unite Against Fascism staged a counter-protest.
  
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• All 12 people arrested over Westminster attack released without charge

  01-04-2017 16:45
  
  Police have released without charge all of the 12 people arrested in connection with the Westminster terrorist attack last week, strengthening investigators belief that Briton Khalid Masood acted alone when he killed four and injured more than 50.A 30-year-old man arrested on 26 March in Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts and detained under the Terrorism Act was released on Saturday and faced no further action, police said.Masood’s partner, Rohey Hydara, was one of th
  
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• Teenage asylum seeker beaten up in 'brutal attack' in Croydon hate crime

  01-04-2017 16:14
  A teenage asylum seeker is in a critical condition in hospital after being beaten up by a gang in what police believe was a hate crime.Scotland Yard said the 17-year-old was waiting with two friends at a bus stop in Croydon, in southeast London, shortly before midnight when he was approached by a group of eight people."It is understood that the suspects asked the victim where he was from, and when they established that he was an asylum seeker they chased him and launched a brutal attack," said D
  
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• Westminster attack: All 12 people arrested released without charge

  01-04-2017 15:48
  Twelve people arrested in connection with the Westminster terror attack have all been released without charge.A 30-year-old man detained on 26 March in Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist attacks was released on Saturday, Scotland Yard said.Inquests into the deaths of both Masood, 52, who was shot dead by armed police after his knife attack on PC Palmer, and his victims, were opened and adjourned at Westminster Coroner's Court this week.
  
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• British role in European security 'unconditional' - foreign secretary

  01-04-2017 14:57
  
  Britain's contribution to European security is "unconditional", Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told a French newspaper, denying the government had made a veiled threat to reduce cooperation if there was no post-Brexit trade deal.Prime Minister Theresa May said in a letter to the European Union on Wednesday that "our cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened" if Britain left the bloc without a new deal on trade and other matters.Asked in an interview with France's Le
  
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• Prison staff dismiss 'demoralising' pay rise

  01-04-2017 14:55
  
  The pay boost only applies to 31 prisons, mainly in London and south-east England.A long-trailed pay rise for prison officers across the country has been dismissed as “demotivating and demoralising” by workers amid reports just 5% of staff could benefit from the hike.The Prison Officers’ Association, which represents the more than 30,000 staff working in public-sector prisons, said the government has used the “soundbite” of an immediate pay boost to distract from de
  
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• British police says all those arrested after London attack now released

  01-04-2017 14:46
  
  All 12 people arrested in connection with the March 22 attack that left five people dead close to the British parliament have now been released without charge, London's Metropolitan Police said on Saturday.British-born Khalid Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, killing three pedestrians and injuring dozens more, before running through the gates of parliament and stabbing a policeman to death."All those arrested in connection with the terrorist attack in Westminster on Wednesday, 22 M
  
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• Help To Buy housing scheme benefits thousands of well-off families

  01-04-2017 14:45
  A government scheme aimed at boosting home ownership is poorly targeted and benefiting families that do not need the help, according to Labour.Figures show almost 4,000 households in England earning more than £100,000 per year have bought a home using the programme, out of a total of 112,338 that have used it.
  
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• Stourbridge double-murder accused, Aaron Barley, 23, remanded in custody

  01-04-2017 14:24
  Aaron Barley, 23, appeared before magistrates in Birmingham flanked by two dock officers wearing protective helmets with the visors down.Barley is charged with killing Tracey Wilkinson and her son Pierce, and faces a further charge of attempting to murder the boy's 47-year-old father, Peter, at the family's home in Stourbridge.With his right arm in a sling and wearing a green hospital-style gown and spoke only once during the six-minute hearing at Birmingham Magistrates' Court when the clerk ask
  
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• Help us fix Brexit labour shortage with Saturday jobs, say employers

  01-04-2017 14:23
  
  The number of young people ‘earning and learning’ has dropped 30% in 10 years.Hopes that young Britons could plug a potentially massive post-Brexit labour shortage will stall unless concerted efforts are made to resurrect the dying traditional “Saturday job”, employers have said.While nearly half of 16- to 17-year-old students were studying and working 10 years ago, it had declined to as little as 18% by 2014, a reality that the Employment Related Services Association say
  
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• Oxford child sex abuse raids: Seven men charged

  01-04-2017 13:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  They were arrested as part of a major sexual exploitation investigation in Oxford.
  
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• Rally in support of 'ugly' yellow Cotswolds car

  01-04-2017 13:47 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Convoy in an act of solidarity with owner of Vauxhall Corsa criticised for "ruining" tourist photos.
  
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• The farmer swapping cows for Curling

  01-04-2017 13:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A farmer from Scotland has opened England's first dedicated Curling rink in Kent, hoping to find the talent of the future.
  
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• Shakespearean notepad stuns Antiques Roadshow expert

  01-04-2017 13:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The tiny pad, featuring "scientific scholarly notes", is to feature on the Antiques Roadshow
  
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• Shakespearean pad stuns Antiques Roadshow on Caversham Park episode

  01-04-2017 13:33 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The 17th Century notebook is described as "extraordinary" by manuscripts specialist Matthew Haley.
  
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• Co-op Group plunges to 2016 loss as Bank stake is written off

  01-04-2017 13:18
  The Co-op Group will next week write off the value of its shareholding in the bank that bears its name – incurring a £140m hit that will plunge the mutual into an overall statutory loss for 2016.Sky News has learnt that Co-op Group directors and their advisers will opt to reduce the value of its 20% stake in the Co-operative Bank to zero, reflecting mounting uncertainty about the troubled lender's future.The decision, which sources said reflected a conservative approach to accounting
  
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• New Covent Garden Market moves for redevelopment

  01-04-2017 13:16 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The UK's largest specialist flower market is moving for the third time in its 347-year history.
  
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• Fears over tactics used by vegan activists at abattoirs and restaurants

  01-04-2017 12:52
  The organisation representing the UK's meat industry says it is concerned it is "only a matter of time" before someone is hurt because of violent protests by animal rights groups.The British Meat Processors Association has told Sky News there have been a number of instances of unlawful behaviour during co-ordinated protests which have included abusive and intimidating behaviour towards employees, contractors and hauliers as well as trespassing on private property.Its comments relate to the SAVE
  
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• Iraq: Airstrikes kill dozens of militants near Syria border

  01-04-2017 12:46
  
  BAGHDAD (AP) — A government statement says Iraqi fighter jets have carried out airstrikes against the Islamic State group outside Mosul, killing more than 100 militants.
  
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• Prison staff dismiss 'demoralising' pay rise

  01-04-2017 12:44 via theguardian.com
  
  POA says pay boost, which BBC memo reveals may only affect 5% of staff, is MoJ’s distraction from prison safety issuesA long-trailed pay rise for prison officers across the country has been dismissed as “demotivating and demoralising” by workers amid reports just 5% of staff could benefit from the hike. The Prison Officers’ Association, which represents the more than 30,000 staff working in public-sector prisons, said the government has used the “soundbite” of
  
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• Stourbridge killings: homeless man Aaron Barley remanded in custody

  01-04-2017 12:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Barley is accused of murdering Tracey Wilkinson and her son Pierce, and attempting to murder her husband, PeterA homeless man accused of murdering a woman and her 13-year-old son has been remanded in custody by magistrates.Aaron Barley, 23, was flanked by two dock officers wearing protective helmets with the visors down as he appeared before two magistrates in Birmingham.Continue reading...
  
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• Ed Miliband taking pictures on the Tube proves Milifandom is very much alive and well

  01-04-2017 12:25
  
  The former Labour leader shows himself to be a truly class act.
  
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• Salmon farming in crisis: 'We are seeing a chemical arms race in the seas'

  01-04-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Rare only 40 years ago, farmed salmon is now taken for granted in our kitchens. But the growth of the industry has come at great costEvery day, salmon farmers across the world walk into steel cages – in the seas off Scotland or Norway or Iceland – and throw in food. Lots of food; they must feed tens of thousands of fish before the day is over. They must also check if there are problems, and there is one particular problem they are coming across more and more often. Six months ago, I
  
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• 'I like uncluttered design': in Essex homes, the only way is modern

  01-04-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Far from being the place that taste forgot, Essex has a radical past as the cradle of British modernism. We meet the owners of some of the county’s architectural gemsWhen it comes to the stereotyping of British counties, Essex beats them all, from Towie to fake tans, bleached blondes and brassiness. But Essex doesn’t need a makeover, only a bit of historical balance.Last year, an initiative named Radical Essex sought to do just that, by retrieving the county’s progressive past.
  
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• Boardman Mountain Bike Pro 29er review: ‘A lot of bike for the money’

  01-04-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I am something of a lapsed devotee of mountain biking. The Boardman’s job was to tempt me back Halfway down the rutted, slippery track on the deserted North Downs, pellets of mud bouncing off the tyres and into my face, I remembered why mountain biking in a British winter can be such fun: it’s the grown-up equivalent of leaping into puddles. Getting grubby is half the point.I am something of a lapsed devotee. My own ageing mountain bike has lain idle in a garage for several years as
  
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• Ask Alys: what are the white larvae on my cherry tree? | Alys Fowler

  01-04-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our gardening expert has the answerLast summer, the fruit from my cherry tree had pinpricks and I found tiny white larvae in some of the cherries, even though I had treated the tree with a spray. What shall I do?I think you may have the spotted winged drosophila (SWD) fruit fly, which looks like a common fruit fly, except the adult male has a distinct spot on each wing. While the common fruit fly is harmless to fruit with undamaged skin, female SWDs pierce the skin of cherrie
  
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• Arrested while applying for a green card: US immigration experts fear policy shift

  01-04-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Multiple cases of people being arrested while seeking green cards marks a dramatic shift in immigration policy, say observers: ‘This is what we all feared’Leandro Arriaga arrived at the immigration office with his US citizen wife and three-month-old daughter on Wednesday.Their lawyer knew the meeting was a risk. Arriago, 43, who had come to the US from the Dominican Republic in 2000, did have an order of deportation out against him. But she had never had a client detained at a US Cit
  
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• A Quiet Passion won’t solve the mystery of Emily Dickinson – but does the truth matter?

  01-04-2017 11:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Salacious rumours surrounding Dickinson’s life have come thick and fast, but does that mean A Quiet Passion writer-director Terence Davies is free to speculate?In 1882 Emily Dickinson was living as a recluse in the family home in Amherst, Massachusetts, guarded by her sister, Vinnie, when her brother, Austin, began an adulterous affair with Mabel Todd. Mabel was an Amherst College faculty wife, half his age. Austin was the college treasurer. They needed a safe place to conduct their secret
  
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• Hangry, slay and alt-right are some of the new words added into Dictionary.com

  01-04-2017 11:46
  
  Many of the words are ripped straight from the headlines.
  
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• Original Observer photography: March 2017

  01-04-2017 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Portraits of actor Cillian Murphy, artist Rachel Whiteread and actor Steve Coogan all feature in this month’s showcase of the best photography commissioned by the Observer Continue reading...
  
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• Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner retain property assets while in White House

  01-04-2017 11:18 via theguardian.com
  
  White House releases financial disclosures showing Kellyanne Conway owns tobacco shares and Steve Bannon earned $200,000 from Breitbart in 2016Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, are retaining scores of property investments while they work in the White House, according to financial disclosures likely to fuel concerns over a conflict of interest.The Associated Press reported that the couple are holding on to assets of at least $240m while the New York Tim
  
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• Desperate people ask for help and all I can do is offer a food parcel

  01-04-2017 11:16 via theguardian.com
  
  More people are turning to Citizens Advice but there are fewer and fewer places I can refer them to and crisis grants from local authorities are disappearingThe day I met Michael* started off much like any other at Citizens Advice, where I volunteer. When we first meet a client we try to assess what the problem is before we ask. Michael wasn’t giving much away, but his expression was belligerent. That’s good, I thought. Better belligerent than cowed.“I don’t know what I&r
  
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• Gibraltar's future at stake in Brexit negotiations

  01-04-2017 11:15 via theguardian.com
  
  EU guidelines make clear bloc will not overrule Spain in any trade or sovereignty dispute involving British overseas territory
  The EU has put the future of Gibraltar at stake in the coming Brexit negotiations, in effect backing Spain in its centuries-old dispute with the UK over the British overseas territory.
  After lobbying from Spanish diplomats, the EU’s opening negotiating position for the Brexit talks presents the British government with the choice of reaching agreement with the Spani
  
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• Matthew Smith, 11, to conduct symphony orchestra

  01-04-2017 11:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Matthew Smith will take charge of 75 adult musicians when they perform Die Fledermaus.
  
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• Stephen King on Donald Trump: ‘How do such men rise? First as a joke’

  01-04-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  He’s written novels with eerily similar plotlines – but how did Trump become president? The only way to find out: inject a panel of fictional voters with truth serum...
  I started thinking Donald Trump might win the presidency in September of 2016. By the end of October, I was almost sure. Thus, when the election night upset happened, I was dismayed, but not particularly surprised. I didn’t even think it was much of an upset, in spite of the Huffington Post aggregate poll, which
  
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• My working day ‘I began on Wednesday morning and continued for 60 hours’

  01-04-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The author on writing every day, through the night, and completing the first draft of his The Boy in Striped Pyjamas in two daysWhen I was an aspiring writer in my mid-20s, I had something shocking: a real job. I worked in Waterstone’s in Dublin and would rise every morning at about 5am in order to write before going to work. In the two decades since then, I’ve never shaken off that routine, and while I don’t get up quite so early these days, I’m usually at my desk by abo
  
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• Listeria, batteries and botulism: why food products get recalled

  01-04-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This week Coca-Cola’s Northern Ireland factory halted production after faeces was found in empty cans. All kinds of unwanted things can find their way into our food – but deliberate tampering is rare Related: Coca-Cola calls in police after human waste is found in cans Fancy some blue chicken in your sandwich, or metal pieces in your ice cream? No, me neither. But those are some of the things that have caused food products to be recalled from shops since the beginning of 2016. Contin
  
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• How Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel became opera’s most surreal soiree

  01-04-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  More than 50 years on, Thomas’s Adès’s latest opera is a chilling response to the classic film about a dinner party from which the guests have no escapeIn Woody Allen’s 2011 comedy Midnight in Paris, an American screenwriter named Gil is magically transported back to the 1920s, where he meets the glittering artistic figures resident in Paris at the time. Among them is the Spanish director Luis Buñuel. Gil decides to pitch him an idea for a film that Buñuel
  
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• Harlots: a period drama full of bodice-ripping, man-bums and romping

  01-04-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Samantha Morton is the matron of a cathouse in a show that’s no feminist epic but quite a lot of fun Related: Samantha Morton: ‘I do not trust the police. They're like the biggest gangsters in the world’ The year is 1763 and London has its pants around its ankles. Harlots, ITV’s costume romp about the city’s oldest industry – the opening title tells us one in five women makes a living selling sex – comes with an enviable cast including Samantha Morton, L
  
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• Missing Nottingham mother poses 'risk of harm' to sons, court says

  01-04-2017 10:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Samantha Baldwin, 42, went missing with her sons, Dylan, 6, and Louis, 9, after court ordered that boys be removed from her careA woman suspected of abducting her two young sons poses a risk of harm to them, a family court has said.Nottingham family court said it had ordered that Dylan Madge, six, and Louis Madge, nine, should be removed from the care of their mother, Samantha Baldwin, on Monday.Continue reading...
  
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• People's suggestions for the name of Crayola's new colour are just about as 2017 as you can get

  01-04-2017 10:31
  
  However, we’re not sure if any of these will actually be picked.
  
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