General news

• Anthony Joshua aims to ‘keep it real’ and rival Wladimir Klitschko’s long reign

  01-05-2017 23:54 via theguardian.com
  
  • World heavyweight champion wants to rule division for a decade
  • He admits: ‘I’ve got to stay away from any problems, any trouble’ Anthony Joshua, who has joined Andy Murray as one of Britain’s most globally recognisable sporting celebrities, admits his next big fight is “keeping it real” as the power-brokers, hangers-on and grassroots fans jostle for a piece of the most bankable asset in boxing. Continue reading...
  
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• Critics slam 'rip off' 50p-a-minute charge to call patients' hospital phones

  01-05-2017 23:41 via theguardian.com
  
  Hospedia, who run bedside TV and phone services in NHS hospitals, connect calls via 070 numbers and include pre-recorded message of 70 secondsRelatives who call patients in hospital are still being forced to pay “rip off” charges of 50p a minute despite a promised clampdown on the issue.
  The firm Hospedia, which runs bedside TV and phone services in NHS hospitals and made £21.2m in revenue last year, makes people call loved ones via costly 070 numbers. The charges vary from hos
  
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• Tottenham Hotspur cool their interest in Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha

  01-05-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  
  • Ivory Coast forward’s potential Africa Cup of Nations commitments a concern
  • Palace intend to retain Zaha this summer despite Tottenham bid last summerTottenham Hotspur could shelve their long-standing interest in Wilfried Zaha as a result of the Crystal Palace forward’s decision to represent Ivory Coast, amid concerns over his potential regular participation in the Africa Cup of Nations.Zaha has enjoyed his most productive top-flight season yet, with six goals and nine
  
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• From Altamont to Fyre: a history of the worst music festival disasters

  01-05-2017 23:25 via theguardian.com
  
  The disastrous scenes at the much-hyped Fyre festival in the Bahamas were yet another example of how festivals can go horribly wrongAs the huddled masses of Instagram models, aspiring tech bros, and washed-up rappers finally escape Fyre Festival’s pathetic attempt at a luxury music festival in the Bahamas, many of its disgruntled attendees have used social media to paint the event as a festival disaster. The ensuing viral sensation – fueled by schadenfreude – would suggest that
  
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• Election focus on rising cost of social care

  01-05-2017 23:10
  
  Sky's Gerard Tubb reports from Scarborough in North Yorkshire, on why social care is so high on the agenda for parties in the upcoming election.
  
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• Labour will put 10,000 extra police on streets, vows Jeremy Corbyn

  01-05-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Plan to challenge Tories on law and order in England and Wales with funding raised by reversing cuts to capital gains tax Jeremy Corbyn will pledge to put 10,000 additional police on to the streets of England and Wales in a policy designed to challenge the Conservatives in their own political territory of law and order.The Labour leader will promise on Tuesday to fund the extra “bobbies on the beat” by reversing Tory cuts to capital gains tax (CGT) if he wins next month’s gener
  
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• Labour promises 10,000 more 'bobbies on the beat'

  01-05-2017 23:00
  Labour is promising to put an extra 10,000 "bobbies on the beat" in England and Wales if it forms the next government.Consistently behind in national opinion polls, the party is fleshing out its policy platform with five-and-a-half weeks until the General Election on 8 June.Leader Jeremy Corbyn says the measure will be paid for by reversing Conservative cuts to capital gains tax (CGT).
  
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• Emre Can strikes at Watford to strengthen Liverpool hold on top four

  01-05-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Emre Can was still smiling in disbelief as he attempted to piece together the moment which had thrust hopes of reaching the Champions League firmly back into Liverpool’s hands. “I saw the space and I ran in behind,” he said, presumably referring to the area vacated by Adrian Mariappa who had been drawn forward sensing the true threat lay with Roberto Firmino. “My first thought was that I wanted to head it. Then I didn’t think too much.” Instinct took over in t
  
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• Hungarians send message to Orbán in march supporting European Union

  01-05-2017 22:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Viktor Orbán still commands firm lead in opinion polls, but discontent is growing among voters concerned at rising Russian influence in HungaryThousands of Hungarians have marched across central Budapest in a show of support for the European Union, protesting against what a new political movement sees as a creeping rise in Russian influence under prime minister Viktor Orbán. The rally follows a series of major demonstrations in Budapest in recent weeks, triggered by a new law that
  
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• Brazilian farmers attack indigenous tribe with machetes in brutal land dispute

  01-05-2017 22:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Thirteen members of the Gamela community hospitalised after vicious attackNo deaths reported but one man had hands cut off and legs severed at the kneeBrazilian farmers in Maranhão state have attacked an indigenous settlement, severing the hands and feet of some of their victims in what appears to be a brutal escalation of a territorial conflict.Thirteen members of the Gamela community were hospitalised after the assault by ranchers armed with rifles and machetes in the municipality of Vi
  
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• Atlético Madrid’s Saúl Ñíguez recalls the night when he feared his career was over

  01-05-2017 22:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Midfielder draws strength from adversity for Real Madrid clash having spent two years in pain and passing blood every day after serious kidney injuryAt the end of every match and every training session for two years Saúl Ñíguez left the pitch, headed to the toilet and pissed blood. Every day it hurt, every day was a risk but the Atlético Madrid midfielder did not stop. Nor, though, did he entirely leave it behind until he returned to the place where his career could h
  
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• American Gods review - gorgeous gore for supernatural worshippers

  01-05-2017 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The small screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel boasts a bewildering plot, sumptuous production, a surprising star – and scenes as memorable as ‘woman sucks entire man into her vagina’The devilishly gorgeous American Gods (Amazon Prime) is an eight-part adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s much-loved 2001 novel, which tells the story of a modern world on the verge of a clash between deities old and new. Gaiman has said that, while many directors had called him about putti
  
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• Fox News co-president and Ailes ally Bill Shine leaves company

  01-05-2017 21:27 via theguardian.com
  
  Exit comes amid questions over what he knew about workplace atmosphere after ousting of Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly, both accused of harassing womenFox News said on Monday that Bill Shine, the network’s co-president and a long-time lieutenant of the ousted chief executive Roger Ailes, has left the company. Related: Bill O'Reilly fans react to his firing: ‘Where’s the loyalty?’Continue reading...
  
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• Peru's plans to cut air quality rules would smooth sale of top polluter

  01-05-2017 21:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Proposals to raise legal limits of sulfur dioxide by more than 12 times linked directly to sale of US-owned smelter in the AndesIt’s a fairly common tactic in Peru to issue a significant or potentially controversial decision or resolution when you hope no one is paying attention. 24, 26 or 31 December, for example. The Environment Ministry (MINAM) recently adopted that ploy by releasing, just before the Easter week holiday, proposals to dramatically roll back certain air quality standards
  
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• Ben Stokes blasts maiden T20 century to win dramatic IPL game for Pune

  01-05-2017 21:09 via theguardian.com
  
  • England all-rounder smashes 103 off 63 balls after coming in at 10 for three
  • Stokes fights cramp to live up to his £1.7m price tag against Gujarat LionsBen Stokes hit his maiden Twenty20 century despite battling cramp in his calf to lead Rising Pune Supergiant to victory against Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League.The IPL’s most expensive foreign player was back after missing two games with a shoulder injury, and he lived up to his £1.7m price tag by smashi
  
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• Met museum honours Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo

  01-05-2017 21:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Art of the In-Between exhibition promises to be as avant-garde as the collections that have cemented the designer’s reputationNobody familiar with the work of Rei Kawakubo would question that her designs merit a showcase in a museum or gallery.Related: Rei Kawakubo’s radical chicContinue reading...
  
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• Martin Rowson on the Conservative party – cartoon

  01-05-2017 21:05 via theguardian.com
  
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• Facebook told advertisers it can identify teens feeling 'insecure' and 'worthless'

  01-05-2017 21:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Leaked documents said to describe how the social network shares psychological insights on young people with advertisersFacebook showed advertisers how it has the capacity to identify when teenagers feel “insecure”, “worthless” and “need a confidence boost”, according to a leaked documents based on research quietly conducted by the social network.The internal report produced by Facebook executives, and obtained by the Australian, states that the company can mon
  
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• Dear White People's biggest success? Getting to grips with colorism

  01-05-2017 20:58 via theguardian.com
  
  The original film was criticized for the way it dealt with skin-color prejudice within the black community, but the new series shows why skin tone mattersSpoiler alert: plot details of Dear White People are revealed in this blog
  In 2012, when Justin Simien was trying to fund Dear White People, the response from black millennials was one of excitement and disbelief: could Simien and his crew really succeed in making such a provocative movie? Two years later, we had our answer. While the film was
  
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• Why is anyone surprised the UK and EU do not agree about Brexit?

  01-05-2017 20:48
  
  It took three meetings to lay bare the extent of divisions between the UK and EU.Like a collision between supertankers, the clash between British and European Brexit negotiators has been a long time coming, but no less spectacular for it.The EU course was set at least six months ago, when European commission negotiators first determined that the most practical way to disentangle Britain’s complex membership was to separate out the even more vexed question of future trade relations, which r
  
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• The Guardian view on the May-Juncker dinner: one continent, not two galaxies

  01-05-2017 20:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Accounts of the Downing Street meeting between the PM and the commission president are certainly one-sided. But the two sides need to talk to each other more cooperativelyTwo weeks ago today, Theresa May stood in Downing Street and announced an early general election. She did so with the explicit promise that a victory for her would strengthen her hand in EU negotiations over Brexit. A Conservative win would help her to achieve her goal of “a deep and special partnership” between dep
  
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• Female Uber driver says company did nothing after passengers assaulted her

  01-05-2017 20:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Driver Becky Graham says two men she picked up in San Diego sexually assaulted her, but filing reports with both Uber and the police have led nowhereThe Uber passenger said he wanted to give a tip. The driver, Becky Graham, had picked up two men at a bar in November of 2015 and was dropping them at a hotel in San Diego when she said one came up by her side – and grabbed her head with his hands. “He said, ‘My tip is the tip of my tongue,’” Graham, 42, recounted in a
  
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• The Guardian view on judicial diversity: time, gentlemen, please | Editorial

  01-05-2017 20:17 via theguardian.com
  
  The 12 members of the UK Supreme Court are all white and all but one of them are men. Change is long overdueBy the time Britain’s most senior judges break for the summer at the end of July, the old establishment may have passed a watershed. Women may finally have made it to the very top. This month, there are interviews for the post of the UK’s top judge, the president of the supreme court. Last week, applications for the role of lord chief justice, the head of the judicial system in
  
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• I fear Theresa May is negotiating us all towards Brexit disaster | Keir Starmer

  01-05-2017 20:15 via theguardian.com
  
  The prime minister’s complacent and rigid attitude is isolating Britain, and increasing the possibility that we will crash out without a deal“Deluded”. “On another galaxy”. “The more I hear, the more sceptical I become.” These are just some of the ways the European commission president, Jean-Claude Junker, reportedly described Theresa May’s approach to Brexit following his meeting with her last week. He obviously hadn’t got the memo about str
  
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• Election offers the chance for education reforms | Letters

  01-05-2017 20:14
  
  The parliamentary select committee report on primary school curriculum and testing (More primary school children suffering stress from Sats, 1 May) provides a welcome commentary on the deleterious effects of high-stakes testing for school league tables.Unfortunately, this proposal, while leading to more stability in the league table figures, will do little to reduce the stress on schools and pupils.There will still be yearly publication of league tables with all the well-known perverse incentive
  
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• Tony Blair’s legacy 20 years after the New Labour landslide | Letters

  01-05-2017 20:13
  
  Tony Blair is greeted by a sea of flag-waving well-wishers as he arrives in Downing Street after Labour’s 1997 election victory.Frankly, I do not understand the hostility towards Tony Blair, particularly within left-leaning parts of the Labour party.Becoming embroiled in the Iraq war, without clear evidence of WMD, was a mistake, but who knows what would have happened if Saddam Hussein had continued in power.
  
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• Vanity bridge shows problem with mayors | Letters

  01-05-2017 20:10
  
  Sadiq Khan’s belated realisation that London’s garden bridge was selling the taxpayer down the river (A garden bridge too far, 29 April) brings into sharp relief the role of directly elected mayors.American-style mayors and cabinet government were foisted on to the electorate by Tony Blair, seriously harming councils’ accountability to the public and reducing backbench councillors to little more than lobby fodder.With the Conservatives intent on condemning local government to d
  
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• Businessman shot dead in front of his partner during Dorset burglary

  01-05-2017 19:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Police hunt for at least two suspects after Guy Hedger, 61, was fatally injured during break-in at his village homeA marketing executive was shot dead in front of his partner after at least two burglars, wearing balaclavas and armed with a shotgun, broke into their home to steal jewellery and designer watches.
  Guy Hedger, 61, was fatally injured in the early hours of Sunday at the couple’s detached Dorset village home in what is believed to have been a planned burglary, police said.Continu
  
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• Goodbye, Dr Gorka: will the White House's wacky rightwing headcount fall further?

  01-05-2017 19:46 via theguardian.com
  
  The US national security adviser has been pushed out after revelations linking him to the far right. But he’s not the first to be ousted – and he’s unlikely to be the lastThe imminent departure from the White House of Sebastian Gorka, the London-born Hungarian nationalist and Fox News “counter-terrorism expert” who surfaced as a presidential adviser, reduces by one the headcount of the wacky right-wing camp of the Trump administration.It’s a loss that faction
  
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• 'Violent' burglars at large after killing Guy Hedger in Dorset

  01-05-2017 19:38
  Police in Dorset are hunting at least two armed and violent men who shot a man dead in a planned burglary.Officers were called out to the property in St Ives, near Bournemouth, on Sunday morning at about 3am.The victim has been named as Guy Hedger, 61, who was taken to hospital but died a short time later.
  
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• May dismisses reports of frosty dinner with EU chief as 'Brussels gossip'

  01-05-2017 19:35
  
  Theresa May greets Jean-Claude Juncker ahead of a ‘very constructive’ meeting at Downing Street.Theresa May is fighting off accusations of a botched and humiliating start to the Brexit negotiations as claims emerged that the prime minister was told by the European commission’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker, that there may not be any point in her even turning up to the first day of talks.Speaking on the campaign trail in Lancashire, the prime minister sought to dismiss as &ldqu
  
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• Report of frosty Brexit talks is 'Brussels gossip', PM insists

  01-05-2017 19:25
  
  Theresa May has dismissed reports that last week's working dinner with EU officials went disastrously as "Brussels gossip".During a campaign stop in the Lancashire town of Ormskirk, the Prime Minister rejected a newspaper's claims that Jean-Claude Juncker thinks Brexit talks will collapse.The leaked account portrayed Jean-Claude Juncker's private dinner with the Prime Minister last week as a disaster.
  
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• A simple people’s Brexit plan can replace May’s flawed strategy | Paul Mason

  01-05-2017 19:18 via theguardian.com
  
  The Juncker leak confirms Theresa May’s Brexit scheme will not succeed – even if she wins in June. We the citizens need to formulate an alternative approach
  What galaxy are you in? That’s the real question posed by this election and one our political system is not designed to answer.After a disastrous dinner at Downing Street last week, Jean-Claude Juncker briefed Angela Merkel that Theresa May was in a “different galaxy” to those negotiating on behalf of the EU27.
  
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• Adil Rashid the pick of England stars as Yorkshire dispatch Lancashire

  01-05-2017 19:16 via theguardian.com
  
  • Royal London Cup North Group: Yorkshire 296-9; Lancashire 217
  • Yorkshire beat Lancashire by 79 runsOut of England’s quintet of one-day stars on show in the first Roses match of the summer it was Adil Rashid who stood out with two wickets in an expertly crafted spell as Yorkshire showed why many believe they will end their 15-year wait for a one-day trophy.Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root fell cheaply in the early stages of Yorkshire’s commanding but not flawless batting perfo
  
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• May dismisses 'Brussels gossip' over talks with EU's Juncker

  01-05-2017 19:15
  
  By Alistair SmoutLONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday dismissed an account of a difficult meeting between her and the head of the European Commission as "Brussels gossip", reiterating that the meeting had gone well.May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker met last Wednesday for dinner, ahead of talks over Britain's departure from the European Union that are expected to begin in June.
  
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• Minding makes winning start as four-year-old in Mooresbridge Stakes

  01-05-2017 19:09 via theguardian.com
  
  • The filly, trained by Aidan O’Brien, won five of seven Group 1 races last year
  • O’Brien now has The Curragh and Royal Ascot in his sights for MindingMinding, winner of five of her seven outings in Group 1 races last season, made an impressive start to her four-year-old career in the Mooresbridge Stakes at Naas on Monday, as she made most of the running under Ryan Moore and coasted home three and a half lengths in front of Moonlight Magic.In a sense Minding did no more th
  
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• May Day protests around the world – in pictures

  01-05-2017 19:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Demonstrators take to the streets in support of workers’ rights Continue reading...
  
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• Many more stinging insects have arrived in the UK – they’re welcome | Patrick Barkham

  01-05-2017 18:57 via theguardian.com
  
  The migration of 25 new species of bees and wasps – and a slime-covered fungus – could be a beneficial effect of climate changeOne of Britain’s newest arrivals inhabits a kind of ingenious microflat sadly not available to human victims of the housing crisis. Constructing secure compartments with resin inside a grass stem or beetle nest is a neat trick performed by the small-headed resin bee, a tiny insect more familiar with Mediterranean climes, which has now taken up residence
  
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• The White House Correspondent's Dinner is elitist. Why rush to defend it? | Ross Barkan

  01-05-2017 18:53 via theguardian.com
  
  It is one of the worst traditions a moneyed, out-of-touch Washington media class ever concocted. It deserves a deathblow – even if delivered by TrumpEverything Donald Trump did on Saturday night was designed to insult and infuriate the very people who will forever see him as a stain on the American republic. Swaggering through Pennsylvania on the night of the White House correspondents’ dinner, Trump savaged his usual targets: the “failing” New York Times, CNN, MSNBC and
  
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• The stories that won’t make headlines in George Osborne’s Evening Standard

  01-05-2017 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Homelessness, food banks, child poverty, knife crime … How can the Standard report on the problems facing London when they are rooted in decisions taken by its new editor?Recently, MPs getting to work early have had to step around sleeping bodies in the underground tunnel that leads from Westminster tube station to the House of Commons staff entrance, forcing them to reflect on London’s rocketing homelessness problem. At street level outside the station, there are often several peop
  
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• Mauricio Pochettino’s task is to ensure tipsy Tottenham avoid a hangover | Barney Ronay

  01-05-2017 18:48 via theguardian.com
  
  It is a sobering thought that Spurs’ excellent season has elevated them to a world were you can look great, win friends, play well and still not cross the line firstKingsley Amis once wrote the act of getting drunk was much better than actually being drunk. Those first few glasses, the process of moving from sober to drunk is 90% of the fun. Being drunk, on the other hand, is a slog, a losing game, each extra sip a case of chasing with ever-decreasing returns that initial spitz of happines
  
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• Emmanuel Macron has taken French voters for granted. Now he risks defeat | Olivier Tonneau

  01-05-2017 18:47 via theguardian.com
  
  In theory Macron should beat Marine Le Pen hands down. But he has little commitment from the electorateI had lunch in a Parisian cafe recently with a journalist who had spent the whole French presidential campaign vilifying the leftwing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon and trumpeting the merits of the centrist Emmanuel Macron in the columns of a respected (if declining) centre-left weekly. Related: Don’t assume Marine Le Pen is beaten: it’s delusional and dangerous | Natalie Nouga
  
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• Talk of bad Brexit talks is 'Brussels gossip'

  01-05-2017 18:45
  
  Theresa May has dismissed reports that last week's working dinner with EU officials went disastrously as "Brussels gossip".
  
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• Everything you need to know about May Day marches around the world

  01-05-2017 18:43
  
  May 1 is International Workers’ Day.
  
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• Paula Radcliffe and Jonathan Edwards to lose world records after rules tweak

  01-05-2017 18:32 via theguardian.com
  
  • New ratification requirements will result in scrapping most historical records
  • Griffith-Joyner’s and numerous set by eastern bloc athletes will be excisedPaula Radcliffe and Jonathan Edwards have reacted with incredulity and dismay to news that all athletics world and European records before 2005 are likely to be stripped from the record books.Radcliffe, who set the world marathon record in 2003, told the Guardian she was “offended” by proposals that were approved
  
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• Birdwatchers flock to Orkney to catch glimpse of American blackbird

  01-05-2017 18:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Twitchers charter planes to North Ronaldsay island hoping to spot first red-winged blackbird ever recorded in EuropeIt is a small brown bird with no ostentatious marking and unremarkable to the untrained eye. But a single female American blackbird spotted on a remote island in the Orkneys has prompted birdwatchers to charter planes, drive through the night and catch ferries to in the hope of catching a glimpse of it. More than 15 planes have landed on North Ronaldsay in the past two days, and do
  
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• SpaceX launches top-secret US spy satellite – and then safely lands booster

  01-05-2017 18:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Unmanned Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Nasa-leased pad in FloridaNo details released about mission for National Reconnaissance OfficeSpaceX has launched a top-secret spy satellite for the US government and then successfully landed the booster for recycling.The unmanned Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from its Nasa-leased pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Continue reading...
  
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• Labour bans Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk from standing in election

  01-05-2017 18:09
  
  Simon Danczuk, the MP for Rochdale, has been banned by Labour from standing as the party’s candidate in the general election, the Guardian has learned.The controversial MP was suspended from the party in 2015, pending an investigation, after a tabloid newspaper revealed he had sent explicit messages to a 17-year-old girl.Labour officials fear that if he stands as an independent, the former councillor would still carry some personal support and would split Labour’s vote in the Lancash
  
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• Michael Moore to star in Broadway show aimed at bringing down Trump

  01-05-2017 18:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Oscar-winning film-maker will headline The Terms of My Surrender, a new play that will be performed just blocks away from Trump TowerMichael Moore is set to star in a Broadway show aimed at taking down Donald Trump. Related: Michael Moore: 'Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate. Trump knew that'Continue reading...
  
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• May and Juncker's Brexit talks were not a disaster, No 10 insists

  01-05-2017 18:05
  
  The Government has dismissed reports from Brussels that Theresa May was from a "different galaxy" to other EU member states on Brexit.A leaked account portrays Jean-Claude Juncker's private dinner with the Prime Minister last week as a disaster.According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, European Commission officials were astonished at Mrs May's ambition for the talks.
  
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