General news

• WhatsApp is down and people have responded in the only way they know how: lots of gifs

  03-05-2017 23:58
  
  Users are reporting problems connecting and receiving messages across the globe.
  
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• Australia's journalism is in mortal danger. Politicians should join the fight to save it | Gay Alcorn

  03-05-2017 23:34
  
  Another round of huge job cuts at Australia’s traditional media, this time at Fairfax, although News Corp is doing much the same.Journalists on strike at the Age, Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review, once again saying that removing a quarter of the editorial staff, or 125 full-time-equivalent jobs, will be devastating.The media union thunders – again – about companies cutting journalism to the bone and beyond, while in the same breath insisting that &ldquo
  
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• Oil settles slightly higher; trading volatile

  03-05-2017 23:32
  
  By Julia SimonNEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices settled slightly higher on Wednesday after a choppy trading session as the market digested U.S. government data showing that while there were signs a crude glut may be receding, inventories remained large with gasoline demand weak.In early trading, WTI fell as low as $47.30, the lowest since March 27, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said weekly crude stocks fell by 930,000 barrels to 527.8 million.If prices break below that lev
  
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• Prayers for missing Madeleine McCann in UK and Portugal

  03-05-2017 22:35
  
  A teddy bear, a burning candle and a flowering plant with a simple message 'Gone but not forgotten' were among tributes left at the church door in the seaside village where Madeleine McCann vanished ten years ago.
  
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• Theresa May declares war on Brussels, urging: 'Let me fight for Britain'

  03-05-2017 22:25
  
  Theresa May has launched an extraordinary attack on Brussels, accusing European Union politicians and officials of seeking to disrupt the general election and willing Brexit to fail in a combative address delivered from Downing Street.Speaking after returning from Buckingham Palace to inform the Queen that parliament had been dissolved for the 8 June poll, May delivered an unexpectedly antagonistic speech outside No 10, urging voters to “give me your backing to fight for Britain”.
  
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• The Madeleine case: A worldwide obsession

  03-05-2017 22:10
  
  The McCann case has made newspaper headlines around the globe and there have been reported sightings in numerous countries.
  
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• Murder detectives arrest four people over death of Dorset businessman

  03-05-2017 21:55
  
  Police have arrested four people over the killing of Guy Hedger, who was shot dead during a burglary at his Dorset home.On Wednesday, Dorset police said they were questioning three people who were arrested on Tuesday in the Bournemouth area.
  
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• Guy Hedger murder: Four arrests after man killed during burglary

  03-05-2017 21:53
  Three men and a woman have been arrested after a businessman was murdered during an apparent burglary.Guy Hedger, 61, was shot in the early hours of 30 April after intruders entered his home in Ringwood, Dorset.Two men - a 41-year-old from Bournemouth and a 40-year-old from Blandford - have been arrested on suspicion of murder and aggravated burglary.
  
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• Tories attack Labour over inheritance tax and spending plans

  03-05-2017 21:43
  
  Philip Hammond and David Davis arrive for a press conference where the Tory party revealed a provocative new campaign poster featuring Jeremy Corbyn.Labour came under sustained pressure from the Tories over its tax and spending plans on Wednesday, with a series of ministers claiming the party would raise inheritance tax and be unable to fund its campaign promises.The opposition was accused by Boris Johnson of planning to halve the threshold at which tax on inheriting estates is levied, while Phi
  
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• Brexit may cost MPs and peers the power to pass laws, says former judge

  03-05-2017 21:12
  
  Lord Judge says parliament is failing to scrutinise legislation in detail amid reliance on ‘Henry VIII powers’.The “legislative tsunami” unleashed by Brexit will deliver the “greatest challenge” in history to the integrity of parliament’s procedures, a former lord chief justice has said.Lord Judge raised his concerns that by the time Brexit is completed and the “great repeal bill” enacted, MPs and peers will have effectively given away their
  
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• CCTV: Man leaves viable bomb on London tube

  03-05-2017 20:50
  
  Damon Smith has been found guilty of planting a bomb on a London Underground train.
  
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• NHS annual budget rises under Tories are fraction of past increases – IFS

  03-05-2017 20:39
  
  The annual increases in the NHS budget since 2009 have been less than one-third of the average yearly funding rise the health service has had over the past 60 years, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.Public spending on health across the UK went up by 1.3% a year between 2009-10, Labour’s last year in power, and 2015-16, the first year of David Cameron’s majority Conservative government.The IFS said: “This is substantially below the average growth of 4.1% per year be
  
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• Hospital waiting lists 'will rise above 5 million' as targets slide

  03-05-2017 20:39
  
  Health spending per head in the UK will have fallen by 1.3% by 2020 compared with 2010 levels.Public spending on health across the UK went up by 1.3% a year between 2009-10, Labour’s last year in power, and 2015-16, the first year of David Cameron’s majority Conservative government.The IFS said: “This is substantially below the average growth of 4.1% per year between 1955-56 and 2015-16.
  
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• The force May be with you, in a strong and stable war on Brussels | John Crace

  03-05-2017 20:26
  
  The Supreme Leader loved her country so much she was prepared to destroy it.The Queen hadn’t been too happy to hear it during their half-hour meeting, but even a monarch had to bow before the wishes of the Supreme Leader.As her limo returned to Downing Street from Buckingham Palace, Kim Jong-May strode purposefully towards the lectern set up in front of No 10.
  
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• London schools urged to install metal detectors to help stop knife crime

  03-05-2017 20:25
  
  Police have urged more London schools to install metal scanners to protect children from rising violent crime as the death toll of under-25s from stabbings in the capital this year reached 17.The “knife arches” are one of a range of measures the Metropolitan police believe can help prevent attacks with bladed weapons, which rose by 24% last year in London and are rising nationally.The Guardian has learned that the Met has increased stop and search in knife crime hotspots, fearing a f
  
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• Here's Theresa May's full speech accusing 'some in Brussels' of trying to influence the UK election

  03-05-2017 20:15
  
  May said “threats” had been made against Britain by European officials.
  
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• What went wrong at Cumbria horror zoo?

  03-05-2017 20:10
  
  The owner of South Lakes Zoo in Cumbria has not had his licence renewed following hundreds of animal deathsat the park.
  
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• Story withdrawn - London terrorism suspect was on Gaza flotilla ship in 2010: sources

  03-05-2017 20:06
  LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The story headlined "London terrorism suspect was on Gaza flotilla ship in 2010 - sources", published on April 28 is withdrawn and no substitute story will now be published.The story has been withdrawn because Reuters was unable to confirm that Khalid Omar Ali was aboard the Mavi Marmara in May 2010 which the Mavi Marmara organisers expressly deny.
  
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• South Lakes Safari Zoo could get new licence despite almost 500 animal deaths

  03-05-2017 20:04
  A shamed zoo in Cumbria where almost 500 animals died and a keeper was killed by a tiger is on course to get a new licence.South Lakes Safari Zoo had its initial application rejected earlier this year when it came to light that 486 animals had died at the Dalton-in-Furness attraction between January 2013 and September 2016.A post-mortem database listing the causes of death included three animals run over by a miniature railway, healthy lion cubs and young baboons "euthanised" due to lack of spac
  
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• Nokia plans to sell its undersea cables division - sources

  03-05-2017 19:44
  
  By Gwénaëlle Barzic and Mathieu RosemainPARIS (Reuters) - Finland's Nokia plans to sell its undersea cables unit, a business that underpins the global Internet, two union sources and a French government source told Reuters.The division, valued at about 800 million euros ($870 million), is one of the top suppliers of undersea cable networks in the world and was bought by the telecom equipment maker last year as part its 15.6 billion euro ($17 billion) acquisition of French rival Alcat
  
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• Theresa May accuses EU of meddling in UK general election

  03-05-2017 19:40
  
  Theresa May has accused European politicians and officials of deliberately misrepresenting the UK’s position over Brexit in an attempt to affect the result of the general election at the formal launch of the campaign.Speaking in Downing Street a few minutes after meeting the Queen following the dissolution of parliament, the prime minister said that “some in Brussels” did not want the UK to succeed with Brexit.Referring to leaks in a German newspaper about the supposed strained
  
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• Led Zeppelin reunion rumours triggered by cryptic Robert Plant message

  03-05-2017 19:37
  Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant has sparked a frenzy of rumours about a possible reunion of the legendary rockers.A decade after the group last performed together, speculation is rife they could reform after the singer posted a brief cryptic message on his website.The group received ecstatic reviews for their last gig at London's O2 back in 2007 and if a reunion is confirmed it would be Stairway To Heaven for diehard fans.
  
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• The EU-sual suspects: who might the PM think is meddling? | Dan Roberts

  03-05-2017 19:36
  
  Top of Downing Street’s list of suspects is the chef de cabinet of the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.Not only is Martin Selmayr suspected by UK officials of being a possible source for leaks about last Wednesday’s disastrous dinner, he has also taken (in British eyes) to actively trolling Theresa May’s government in public.
  
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• The Duchess of Cambridge spent her day weighing pigs at a farm for city kids

  03-05-2017 19:36
  
  Kate was at the Farms For City Children in Gloucestershire, with kids from southwest London.
  
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• Baby boomers warned over alcohol intake as hospital admissions soar

  03-05-2017 19:04
  
  Alcohol-related hospital admissions in England have increased by 64% in a decade and are at their highest ever level, prompting experts to warn that baby boomers are continuing to risk their health through frequent and excessive drinking.There were an estimated 1.1m admissions where alcohol was the primary or secondary issue in 2015/16, compared with 670,000 in 2005/06, according to NHS Digital data published on Wednesday.Separate data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for England sh
  
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• Theresa May: EU trying to influence General Election with threats

  03-05-2017 19:02
  
  Theresa May has accused European politicians and officials of seeking to influence the General Election by making threats to the UK.In a speech outside Downing Street, the Prime Minister - who has been accused by Labour of stoking a confrontation for appearance's sake - said the European Commission had hardened its position to coincide with the 8 June poll."The events of the last few days have shown that whatever our wishes and however reasonable the positions of Europe's other leaders, there ar
  
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• Watch this police officer save a four-year-old from drowning after he fell in a pond

  03-05-2017 19:01
  
  Aaron Bulmer’s actions may have saved the child’s life.
  
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• Prototype bionic 'hand that sees'

  03-05-2017 19:00
  
  Newcastle University researchers produce a new kind of intelligent prosthesis - a hand which knows how to reach and grab.
  
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• Devon student guilty of planting homemade bomb on London tube

  03-05-2017 18:58
  
  Damon Smith had a keen interest in weapons, the court heard.A blank-firing pistol was found at his home in London.Damon Smith, 20, pleaded guilty to perpetrating a bomb hoax but said he intended the device to work as a smoke bomb to stop the train “for a bit of fun”.
  
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• Researchers develop 'seeing' bionic hand with 99p camera

  03-05-2017 18:56
  Scientists in Newcastle have developed a cheap way of helping amputees with prosthetic limbs reach out and grasp objects - a bionic "hand that sees".The hand was developed by bioengineers at Newcastle University who modified a standard NHS myoelectric hand with a cheap camera to provide upper-limb amputees with a more functional prosthetic.Myoelectric hands allow amputees to make their prosthetics express different grips using sensors on the skin surface of the stump which detect the electrical
  
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• Faulty new UK one-pound coins fetching a mint on eBay

  03-05-2017 18:54
  
  Sharp-eyed collectors have spotted slight flaws in some of Britain's new, ultra-secure one-pound coins and have been trying to sell them online for up to 5,000 times their face value.Britain is replacing its circular one-pound ($1.25) coin with a 12-sided version based on the now-defunct three penny bit, using two different-coloured metals to help beat counterfeiters.Since the launch at the end of March, several people have found slightly imperfect versions of the new coin, which its maker Royal
  
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• May: The choice is between me and Jeremy Corbyn

  03-05-2017 18:10
  
  On returning from Buckingham Palace, Theresa May issues a warning about Brexit under a Corbyn led government.
  
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• May says EU seeking to affect result of British election

  03-05-2017 18:10
  
  By Kylie MacLellan and William JamesLONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May accused European politicians and officials on Wednesday of seeking to affect the outcome of the June 8 national election by issuing threats over Brexit.May, whose Conservative Party has a double-digit lead over the main opposition Labour Party in the polls, has framed the early election as an opportunity to strengthen her hand in upcoming negotiations on Britain's exit from the European Union.Speaking in fr
  
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• TD Bank Europe to become category 2 member of London Metal Exchange

  03-05-2017 18:07
  LONDON (Reuters) - Toronto-Dominion Bankunit TD Bank Europe Ltd will commence trading and clearing as a category 2 member of the London Metal Exchange from May 8, the LME said in a statement on Wednesday. The bank applied for category 2 membership in March, the exchange said. (Reporting by Jan Harvey. Editing by Jane Merriman)
  
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• 'Cultish' neighbours tortured and killed Tyneside man, jury told

  03-05-2017 18:06
  
  Jimmy Prout’s body was dumped on wasteland near his house, said the prosecution.Jimmy Prout, 45, was subjected to months of “dark ages” abuse by four friends from his street in North Tyneside before they dumped his body on wasteland where it lay undiscovered for more than six weeks, a jury was told.Ann Corbett, 26, Zahid Zaman, 43, Myra Wood, 50, and Kay Rayworth, 56, deny murdering Prout and causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.
  
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• UK's Duchess Catherine joins school children down on the farm

  03-05-2017 17:52
  
  Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge joined schoolchildren at a farm in western England on Wednesday as they learned about rural life and how food is produced.Catherine, wife of second-in-line to the throne Prince William, watched pupils tending to pigs, sheep and chickens as part of a week-long education programme.The "Farms for City Children" charity runs the courses in which kids from urban areas live and work on farms with their teachers for a week."It is an intense, 'learning through doing'
  
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• ITV says it will hold election debate with or without May or Corbyn

  03-05-2017 17:48
  
  ITV held a seven-way debate between the leaders of Britain’s political parties in 2015.ITV has said it will hold an election debate with or without either Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn, but is not planning to embarrass them with empty chairs.Should the Conservative and Labour leaders not attend, the most high-profile party chiefs would be the Scottish National party’s Nicola Sturgeon and Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats, potentially alongside Ukip’s Paul Nuttall and Leanne Wo
  
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• 'Tory uprising' claim puts school funding row centre stage in campaign

  03-05-2017 17:35
  
  Graham Brady, Tory 1922 Committee chair, said the government’s draft formula ‘could not work’.The row over planned changes to school funding has taken centre stage in the general election campaign after a string of Conservative politicians called on the prime minister to rethink government proposals.On the second day of George Osborne’s editorship of the London Evening Standard, the former chancellor chose to lead the newspaper with a story that said Theresa May was facin
  
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• UK's financial obligations to EU will be 'incontestable', says Barnier

  03-05-2017 17:03
  
  The EU’s chief negotiator has admitted to a clash with Theresa May during last week’s dinner in Downing Street and warned that the size of the multibillion pound bill the British government will be presented on leaving the bloc will be “incontestable”.Michel Barnier told reporters the “clock was ticking” on the time left to come to an agreement about the future as he unveiled the EU’s opening stance on citizens’ rights, the UK’s financial obl
  
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• Accused said partner's murder should look like an accident, court hears

  03-05-2017 16:51
  
  Christopher May, whom Harris allegedly tried to hire to kill his partner.David Harris, 68, is accused of offering three men up to £250,000 to murder Hazel Allinson, a former TV scriptwriter, so that he could get his hands on assets including the £800,000 home he shared with her in Amberley, a village near Arundel in West Sussex.Harris contacted Christopher May, a mechanic who was training to be a private investigator, after being put in touch by a workmate of May’s, the Old Bai
  
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• London man guilty of leaving bomb on train near Canary Wharf bank district

  03-05-2017 16:41
  
  A man who left a bag packed with explosives and ball bearings on a London underground train on its way to the Canary Wharf financial district last October was convicted on Wednesday of planning to cause an explosion.Damon Smith, a 20-year-old student, assembled the device using instructions taken from an Al Qaeda-published magazine, prosecutors said after he was found guilty by a jury.It was made safe by police at North Greenwich station on the Jubilee line, one stop away from Canary Wharf.
  
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• May attends audience with Queen to mark Parliament dissolution

  03-05-2017 16:37
  Theresa May has left Buckingham Palace after an audience with the Queen to mark the dissolution of Parliament.The Queen arrived back at the Palace shortly before the Prime Minister left Downing Street in a silver Jaguar for the audience.Government ministers retain their roles and continue their work however.
  
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• LafargeHolcim Chairman recognises shareholder displeasure after discharge vote

  03-05-2017 16:36
  LafargeHolcim'sboard of directors and management received just under 61 percent support from shareholders at the Swiss company's annual general meeting on Wednesday, amid displeasure after the cement maker admitted paying armed groups in war-torn Syria."I understand the displeasure expressed in this result," he said.
  
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• Bad omen or opening bid? Brexit sparring begins with tales of delusion and disaster

  03-05-2017 16:34
  
  By Guy FaulconbridgeLONDON (Reuters) - In the month since Prime Minister Theresa May submitted formal divorce papers, Brexit has been overshadowed by a public display of brinkmanship as Britain and the rest of the European Union set out their stalls for the tortuous exit negotiations.After an encounter with May dubbed the "disastrous dinner", European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker apparently left her Downing Street office last Wednesday shocked and deeply worried that a disorderly Bre
  
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• Student Damon Smith found guilty of planting bomb on Tube train

  03-05-2017 16:33
  A student who left a viable bomb on a London underground train has been found guilty of explosives charges.Damon Smith, 20, from Rotherhithe in southeast London, left his device in the front carriage of a Jubilee Line tube train on a weekday morning in October last year.Had the device worked, it would have exploded just as people were being ordered off the platform at North Greenwich tube station.
  
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• Wimbledon organisers unveil prize hike for 2017 championships

  03-05-2017 16:30
  
  By Ossian ShineLONDON (Reuters) - This year's Wimbledon singles tennis champions will receive 2.2 million pounds each – a hike of 200,000 pounds for both the men's and women’s winner, organisers said on Wednesday.Tournament chiefs unveiled the increased winners' cheques among a larger total prize pot of 31.6 million pounds, up from 28.1 million pounds last year.The bigger pot benefits players throughout the draw, with first round singles losers set to walk away from the All England C
  
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• Surge in office political arguments after Donald Trump's election win, survey finds

  03-05-2017 16:21
  
  Four out of 10 Americans have had a bad experience during political discussions at work following the election of Donald Trump as President, a new survey suggests.The American Psychological Association, which commissioned the poll, warned that the number of “often-heated discussions” had increased since the November election.The survey, of more than 1,300 employed people, found 54 per cent had discussed politics with co-workers.
  
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• May expected to challenge right of EU citizens to bring family to Britain

  03-05-2017 15:56
  
  The government wants restrictions that apply to British citizens, including a minimum income threshold, to be extended to EU nationals.A major clash over the unrestricted right of EU citizens living in Britain to continue to bring spouses and other immediate family to live with them in the UK after Brexit is expected after the publication of the official negotiation guidelines.The EU’s guidelines state that any reciprocal deal on the rights of EU citizens in the UK must also cover “t
  
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• The map which shows Europe's most racist countries - and Britain isn't one of them

  03-05-2017 15:48
  
  Britain has been criticised for becoming a less tolerant nations since last year’s Brexit vote, but new data shows that it is one of the least racist countries in Europe.A map shared by Mind Hacks used European-wide data to measure one area of implicit racism, namely how easily White Europeans associate black faces with negative ideas.
  
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• Spotting David Cameron in works of art is literally a thing now

  03-05-2017 15:38
  
  The resemblances are uncanny.
  
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