General news

• Emmanuel Macron: I'll renegotiate Le Touquet border treaty

  28-04-2017 23:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Presidential hopeful’s comments on French TV raise the possibility of migrant camp springing up to the UK Emmanuel Macron, the favourite in the race to become the next French president, has suggested that he would want to renegotiate an agreement that allows British border police to operate in Calais.The centrist politician, who will go head to head against Marine Le Pen in the final round of the election on 7 May, said: “I want to put the Le Touquet border deal back on the table. It
  
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• Antonio Conte confident Eden Hazard will stay despite Real Madrid rumours

  28-04-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  • Spainish club weighing up a world record bid for the Chelsea star• Manager insists Hazard is ‘happy’ but player’s future is out of his handsChelsea have no desire to sell Eden Hazard to Real Madrid regardless of whether the Spanish club’s long mooted interest crystallises in a world record bid this summer, though Antonio Conte has admitted the player himself would end up determining his own future. Related: Antonio Conte praises ‘psychological step&rsquo
  
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• Swansea look to profit from Paul Clement’s added decisiveness

  28-04-2017 23:29 via theguardian.com
  
  • Manager speaks of missed trick when leading in the defeat to Tottenham
  • Manchester United away is the next hurdle and trip to Anfield the spurA trip to Old Trafford on Sunday will evoke some happy memories for Paul Clement. The Swansea City manager won at Manchester United with Chelsea during his time as Carlo Ancelotti’s No2, and ruined Sir Alex Ferguson’s 70th birthday when he tasted victory with Blackburn Rovers as assistant to Steve Kean, yet it is an evening spent i
  
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• Jürgen Klopp dismisses José Mourinho’s ‘unfair fight’ complaint

  28-04-2017 23:29 via theguardian.com
  
  • Mourinho claimed Manchester United are playing extra ‘half a season’
  • ‘Nobody asked us last year how we felt about it,’ says Liverpool managerJürgen Klopp has dismissed José Mourinho’s complaint about being in an “unfair fight” for Champions League qualification on the grounds Manchester United have the resources to handle a gruelling schedule.United trail Liverpool by two points in the race for a top-four finish, albeit with a g
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn election bid to promote ‘warmer’ style of leadership

  28-04-2017 23:00
  
  Jeremy Corbyn will directly address his own leadership qualities for the first time in the election campaign, as Labour strategists seek to depict the party leader as warm and approachable in contrast to Theresa May’s controlled and distant campaign so far.The Labour leader will tackle the issue head on following a series of personal attacks from Theresa May and Boris Johnson.The latter earlier this week branded Corbyn not just a “mutton-headed mugwump” but a danger to security
  
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• NSA concedes violating surveillance limits and pledges curbs on US email collection

  28-04-2017 22:59 via theguardian.com
  
  NSA agrees to cease so-called ‘about’ surveillance under 2008 legal authority
  But agency has not indicated whether such data collection will stop wholesaleAmid an unexpected fight over US surveillance powers from congressional Republicans, the National Security Agency has agreed to curb its highly controversial collection of Americans’ emails that discuss foreign intelligence targets, although how comprehensive that stoppage is remains unclear.According to a US official directl
  
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• Man charged with murder of former navy officer hit with own car

  28-04-2017 22:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Ryan Gibbons, 29, faces the charge in connection with the death of Mike Samwell in the early hours of 23 AprilA man has been charged with murder in connection with the death of a former Royal Navy officer who was allegedly run over by thieves stealing his car.Mike Samwell, from Chorlton in Manchester who served in the navy for 12 years, died in the early hours of 23 April. Continue reading...
  
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• Somerset’s Roelof van der Merwe leads stunning recovery to sink Surrey

  28-04-2017 22:25 via theguardian.com
  
  • South Group: Surrey 290-8; Somerset 291-6
  • Somerset win by four wicketsA maiden one-day century by Roelof van der Merwe helped Somerset pull off a remarkable four-wicket win over Surrey in the Royal London One Day Cup at Taunton with more than six overs to spare.Surrey were restricted to 290 for eight from their 50 overs, Ben Foakes top-scoring with 92. In reply Somerset crumbled to 22 for five and looked out of it before Van der Merwe, who hit 165 not out, and Dean Elgar (68) came
  
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• Montenegro ratifies Nato membership in historic shift to western alliance

  28-04-2017 22:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Politicians voted 46-0 in favour, but pro-Russian lawmakers boycotted session and outside parliament hundreds of anti-Nato protesters gatheredMontenegro’s parliament has supported the Balkan country’s membership in Nato in a historic turn toward the west amid protests by Russia and the pro-Russia opposition.Politicians voted 46-0 to ratify the accession treaty with the western military alliance. They then stood up and applauded the decision. Continue reading...
  
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• Donald Trump tells NRA: 'I am going to come through for you'

  28-04-2017 22:14 via theguardian.com
  
  The president addressed the gun right’s body’s conference in Atlanta, reliving his election triumph but also admitting that his border wall will not be continuousDonald Trump marked his 99th day as US president by basking in the noisy adulation of his base and making a pledge to the National Rifle Association: “You came through for me and I am going to come through for you.”The caustic spectacle that powered Trump to victory in last year’s election was on full displ
  
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• Man charged after ex-Royal Navy officer Mike Samwell run over with own car

  28-04-2017 22:10
  A man has been charged with murder after a former Royal Navy officer was run over and killed with his own car in Manchester.
  
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• Newcastle tax investigation includes Moussa Sissoko and four other players

  28-04-2017 21:41 via theguardian.com
  
  • HMRC case thought to be focusing on payments made to agents
  • Deals for Demba Ba, Papiss Cissé and Sylvain Marveaux also looked atThe investigation into suspected £5m income tax fraud in football is focusing on payments relating to five players’ transfers to Newcastle United, including those of Moussa Sissoko, Papiss Cissé, Demba Ba and Sylvain Marveaux, according to sources close to the investigation. HM Revenue and Customs, which conducted an extensive rai
  
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• Conservative MP Andrew Turner calls homosexuality 'dangerous'

  28-04-2017 21:06
  A Conservative MP who told students that homosexuality is "wrong" and "dangerous to society" has said he will not stand in the General Election.Andrew Turner, 63, who has represented the Isle of Wight for 16 years, made the remarks while talking to politics students at Christ the King College in Newport.In a post on Facebook, student Esther Poucher said she had been "truly shocked" when the MP said he would not be going to a Pride event on the island.
  
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• Roseanne set for TV revival with original cast on board

  28-04-2017 20:50 via theguardian.com
  
  The hit 90s sitcom is set to return for an eight-episode limited series with Roseanne Barr, John Goodman and Sara Gilbert attachedHit 90s sitcom Roseanne is set for a small-screen return in the shape of an eight-episode limited series. Related: How old-school sitcoms made their triumphant returnContinue reading...
  
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• Westminster terrorism suspect is 27-year-old British national

  28-04-2017 20:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Khalid Mohamed Omar Ali is understood to be a British national from Tottenham, north LondonThe suspected terrorist arrested in Westminster carrying knives is a one-time humanitarian activist who is now facing questions from police about whether he was about to stage a murderous attack in central London.Khalid Mohamed Omar Ali, 27, was arrested by armed police on Thursday afternoon yards from the Houses of Parliament and the scene of the previous terrorist attack in March in which five people los
  
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• Shameful shutdown of proper election debate | Letters

  28-04-2017 20:29
  
  Chris Roberts says that for this election the BBC, ITV and Sky ‘should announce a series of three identical debates, all featuring the leaders of all main parties, and for each debate two empty chairs will be provided’ if Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn refuse to take part.The Economic and Social Research Council has instructed all grant holders not to “publish anything that has the potential to influence the outcome of the election” during the so-called “period of se
  
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• Children can’t play if they can’t breathe because our air is so polluted | Deborah Orr

  28-04-2017 20:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Ministers hide the truth about levels of atmospheric contamination, so people are taking precautions for themselves And who can blame them?As lame excuses go, this one was pretty near legless. The government was meant to be revealing its plan for tackling nitrogen dioxide air pollution last Monday. Instead, the previous Friday, it applied to the high court to delay publication until after the general election, arguing that publication would “violate election propriety”. The judge rul
  
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• Tory MP drops out of election after telling pupils 'homosexuality is wrong'

  28-04-2017 20:21
  
  Conservative MP Andrew Turner has represented the Isle of Wight since 2001.A long-serving Conservative MP has said he will not stand in the general election, just hours after A-level students revealed he had told them that he believed “homosexuality is wrong” and “dangerous to society”.Andrew Turner, who has represented the Isle of Wight since 2001, made the comments during a question and answer session at Christ the King College in Newport.
  
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• Ed Balls returns to scene of his famous Twitter blunder to celebrate #EdBallsDay

  28-04-2017 20:16
  
  The annual celebrations shows no signs of stopping.
  
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• This cashier remained remarkably calm while being robbed at gunpoint

  28-04-2017 19:51
  
  The robber went from casually ordering food to pulling out a gun.
  
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• Gambler found guilty of killing friend in suitcase murder

  28-04-2017 19:17
  A man has been convicted of killing and dismembering his wealthy friend, putting his torso in a suitcase, in a plot to assume his identity and clear his gambling debts.Ming Jiang, 43, was found guilty of the murder of fellow Chinese man Yang Lui, 36, by a Manchester court.Mr Lui's other body parts were never found.
  
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• EU leaders to insist UK pays its Brexit bills as precursor to trade talks

  28-04-2017 18:49
  
  Angela Merkel told the Bundestag on Friday that British politicians were living under an illusion.EU leaders will toughen their stance on Britain paying its Brexit bills when they agree negotiating guidelines at a special summit on Saturday.EU diplomats have agreed unanimously that Britain must settle its bills before embarking on trade talks.
  
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• Masked officers take away suspect after raid

  28-04-2017 18:40
  
  Footage shows a man being taken away by masked officers after an anti-terror raid on Harlesden Road in Willesden.
  
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• Bahamas music festival abandoned as it spectacularly fails to live up to 'luxury' tag

  28-04-2017 18:28
  
  Attendees of the Fyre Festival have branded it a “disaster”.
  
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• A third of schools in England are underfunded by more than £1m

  28-04-2017 18:26
  
  Many school buildings are in need of repairs.A report by a cross-party committee of senior MPs released this week condemned the government’s funding of its free schools programme as incoherent and wasteful.“While the department is spending significant funds in creating 500 more free schools, even in areas with no shortage of places, existing schools struggle to live within their budgets and carry out routine maintenance,” the Public Accounts Committee report stated.
  
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• After-dinner mint: how ex-politicians hit paydirt with public speaking

  28-04-2017 18:20
  
  Cheers! President Barack Obama is set to earn $400,000 from an audience of Wall Street bankers.When Barack Obama banks the cheque for $400,000 he will receive for talking to an audience of Wall Street bankers and their most important clients in September, the former president might like to quietly thank the statesman who did so much to pioneer the idea of the celebrity political speaker: Winston Churchill.More than 70 years ago, in March 1946, Churchill – recently ousted as prime minister
  
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• Japanese PM Abe asks May for 'smooth Brexit' for business

  28-04-2017 18:18
  
  By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate HoltonLONDON (Reuters) - Japanese leader Shinzo Abe asked Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday to ensure a smooth Brexit to allow Japanese companies to continue to operate as the United Kingdom exits the European Union.The leader of the world's third largest economy praised PM May for what he said were attempts to secure Brexit transparency and a transitional period to ease the United Kingdom's exit from the EU that is scheduled for March 2019.Since the shock June 2
  
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• Man who raped stranger hours before his wedding given life term

  28-04-2017 18:16
  
  Derry McCann raped a 24-year-old woman in Victoria Park hours before marrying his pregnant girlfriend.Derry McCann, 28, raped a 24-year-old woman as she walked back from an art show hours before he married his pregnant girlfriend in January.Sentencing him, judge Martyn Zeidman, said McCann would not be considered for parole for at least nine years and that it may never happen.
  
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• Japanese PM Abe says will work with May on North Korea, South China Sea disputes

  28-04-2017 18:07
  Japanese Prime Minister pledged on Friday to face down threats to international order from North Korea and building tensions over the South China Sea by working with British Prime Minister Theresa May.In a visit to May's official residence, Abe said that Britain was Japan's number one ally in Europe, and that they would work together in face of destabilisation from North Korea's missile programme and a dispute with China in the South China Sea."The world is faced with serious threats to the inte
  
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• From Zac to Jack: high-profile names line up for election battle

  28-04-2017 17:50
  
  Zac Goldsmith faces an uphill struggle in Richmond Park.Theresa May’s announcement of a snap general election sent aspirant politicians across the parties scrambling.The Conservatives and Labour are seeing the fiercest selection fights because few of their candidates had already been picked, while the Liberal Democrats have a string of former MPs ready to go into battle for their old seats.
  
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• Surgeon Ian Paterson guilty of needless mastectomies to fund luxury lifestyle

  28-04-2017 17:49
  
  A surgeon has been found guilty of carrying out unnecessary operations, including mastectomies, on patients.Breast cancer specialist Ian Paterson, 59, was convicted of 20 counts of wounding with intent by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court - but it is believed the true number of victims could be in the thousands.The trial heard he carried out extensive, life-changing operations for no medically justifiable reason, exaggerating or lying about the risk of cancer - possibly to boost his earnings.
  
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• Just a week left to spend your old paper five pound notes

  28-04-2017 17:48
  If you have any of the old five pound notes - under the mattress, perhaps, or down the back of the sofa - then spend them quickly.Because next Friday, 5 May, is the last day on which the paper notes will be legal tender.Around 155 million of the notes, featuring prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, are still in circulation.
  
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• EU to say united Ireland would be automatic full member

  28-04-2017 16:35
  
  By Alastair MacdonaldBRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders at a Brexit summit on Saturday should give a formal undertaking to embrace the British province of Northern Ireland in the EU if a referendum unites the island, diplomats said on Friday.Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has previously asked fellow members of the bloc to acknowledge that Northern Ireland would, like East Germany in 1990, automatically enter the EU in the event of unification with existing member state, the Irish Repub
  
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• Paul Nuttall is hostage to Ukip – and he doesn't look happy about it | John Crace

  28-04-2017 16:32
  
  Praying for it to be over: Paul Nuttall at the launch of the party’s election campaign in London.Just four days after being held hostage in the Marriott hotel on Westminster Bridge where he had been introducing his “integration agenda”, the Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, returned to the crime scene for the launch of his party’s general election campaign.Nuttall looked understandably frayed.
  
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• Former Jackanory presenter jailed for sex assaults on young boy

  28-04-2017 16:13
  A former storyteller on the BBC's Jackanory has been jailed for a series of sex assaults on a young boy nearly six decades ago.John Earle, who also presented other children's TV programmes in the 1960s and 1970s, carried out the attacks on the youngster when he was deputy headteacher at a school in Devon.The 87-year-old was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life at Exeter Crown Court on Friday, having admitted six counts of indecent assault at a
  
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• 'Hordes of Tory lobby fodder' threaten Brexit, warns UKIP's Paul Nuttall

  28-04-2017 16:07
  
  A big Conservative majority at the General Election would allow Theresa May to backslide on Brexit, the UKIP leader has warned.Paul Nuttall claimed the Prime Minister was already backtracking on immigration promises and had refused to rule out paying a large EU divorce bill.Speaking at the party's campaign launch in central London, Mr Nuttall said Brexit was a job "half done" and declared "we are only halfway through the war".
  
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• Surgeon carried out needless breast ops

  28-04-2017 16:00
  
  Ian Paterson has been convicted of performing a series of needless operations - but it is believed there could be thousands of victims.
  
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• Surgeon Ian Paterson found guilty of carrying out unnecessary operations

  28-04-2017 15:57
  
  A surgeon has been found guilty of carrying out unnecessary operations, including mastectomies, on patients.Breast cancer specialist Ian Paterson, 59, was convicted of 20 counts of wounding with intent by a jury at Nottingham Crown Court - but it is believed the true number of victims could be in the thousands.The trial heard he carried out extensive, life-changing operations for no medically justifiable reason, exaggerating or lying about the risk of cancer - possibly to boost his earnings.
  
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• Met Police: Seven held in anti-terror operations

  28-04-2017 15:30
  
  Scotland Yard has said seven people have been arrested following anti-terror operations in Whitehall and northwest London.
  
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• Royal Mail considers ways to replace pension plan after union backlash

  28-04-2017 15:27
  
  (Reuters) - Britain's Royal Mail is looking at ways to replace the final salary pension scheme it plans to scrap at the end of March 2018, after a backlash from unions including the threat of possible strike action.Royal Mail, the postal service privatised in 2013, said on Friday it was one of only a few major companies to still have staff in a defined benefit scheme, a type of pension that pays out according to workers' final salary and length of service.The Communications Workers Union (CWU) o
  
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• Whitehall terror alert suspect named as Khalid Mohamed Omar Ali

  28-04-2017 15:21
  A terror suspect arrested near the Houses of Parliament has been named as Khalid Mohamed Omar Ali.The 27-year-old is believed to be a British national who was born overseas and went to school in Tottenham, north London.Police say the suspect was detained by armed officers just yards from Downing Street after a stop and search in an "intelligence-led" operation.
  
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• Council of Europe assembly leader stripped of powers after Assad visit

  28-04-2017 15:07
  
  Pedro Agramunt visited the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus on a Russian military jet.The leader of the parliamentary assembly in Europe’s oldest human rights body has been stripped of his powers after being accused of tarnishing his office by meeting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.In a move unprecedented in the 68-year history of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace), senior MPs passed a vote of no confidence in the president, Pedro Agramunt.
  
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• Has 'Britain's rarest animal' mated? Flurry of black fox sightings spark rumours they're breeding

  28-04-2017 14:58
  
  A flurry of sightings of the elusive beast have prompted speculation there is now a breeding pair of black foxes out there.
  
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• Protester ejected from UKIP campaign launch

  28-04-2017 14:50
  
  UKIP's election campaign launch at London's County Hall was disrupted by a protester who claimed it was "a nasty racist party", before being escorted out.
  
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• Anti-racism protesters crash anti-EU UKIP election launch

  28-04-2017 14:42
  By Jacob Greaves and Kylie MacLellanLONDON (Reuters) - The election campaign launch of Britain's eurosceptic UK Independence Party got off to a troubled start on Friday, when protesters accused its leader Paul Nuttall of promoting racist propaganda after he promised to ban full face veils.UKIP, whose former leader Nigel Farage helped drive support for Brexit before last year's referendum, was once seen as a threat to the ruling Conservative Party.
  
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• NHS pays out millions to patients of surgeon convicted of needless breast operations

  28-04-2017 14:37
  
  The NHS has been forced to pay out almost £10m in compensation to more than 250 patients of a rogue surgeon found guilty of carrying out needless breast operations on patients who were left traumatised and scarred.Consultant surgeon Ian Stuart Paterson, 59, was convicted on 20 counts of wounding with intent and unlawful wounding against nine women and one man on Friday.The jury at Nottingham crown court had heard claims that the surgeon – who saw hundreds of patients a year – c
  
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• EU 'to pave way for united Ireland membership' at Brexit summit

  28-04-2017 14:37
  
  EU leaders are set to pave the way for automatic membership for Northern Ireland if it decides to reunify with Ireland in the wake of Brexit."We expect Ireland to ask on Saturday for a statement to be added to the minutes of the European Council, which states that in case of a unification of the island in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement, the united Ireland would be a member of the EU," an EU Council source told the AFP news agency.Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has previously asked fe
  
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• UK government says Scottish Brexit proposal could disrupt trade - letter

  28-04-2017 14:28
  
  Trade between the United Kingdom's four nations could be disrupted if Scotland wins a different divorce deal with the European Union, a letter from UK Brexit minister David Davis published by the Scottish government said on Friday.Scotland, where a majority voted to stay in the EU though Britain as a whole voted to leave at a June referendum, has proposed a separate trade carve-out for itself in London's upcoming divorce talks with the EU.Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said Prime
  
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• Theresa May accused of hiding from public at activist-filled event

  28-04-2017 14:17
  
  Theresa May speaks at the campaign event at the Shine centre in Leeds.Jeremy Corbyn has criticised Theresa May for speaking at a Leeds community regeneration project to a crowd of Conservative activists, rather than users of the building who said they had left for the day before she arrived.The prime minister spoke to around 150 cheering Tory activists gathered at Shine, which houses small businesses in the local area.
  
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• Tusk warns UK: "People, money and Ireland" are the EU's first priorities

  28-04-2017 13:37
  
  Mr Tusk added that “people, money and Ireland” were top of the priority list during Brexit talks, which are due to take place in Brussels this weekend.The European Council will meet for the first time as just 27 members on Saturday in order to discuss Brexit negotiation guidelines.In a letter to his colleagues, Mr Tusk wrote: “We will not discuss our future relations with the UK until we have achieved sufficient progress on the main issues relating to the UK’s withdrawal
  
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