General news

• Obituary: Rhodri Morgan

  17-05-2017 23:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Rhodri Morgan stabilised Welsh devolution after its rocky first year, and spent nine years as first minister in his own idiosyncratic style.
  
  Read more

• Tory manifesto: more elderly people will have to pay for own social care

  17-05-2017 23:14
  
  The prime minister is expected to announce an end to the triple lock on pensions in the manifesto.More elderly people will have to pay for their own social care in the home and lose universal benefits under a new Conservative policy which, Theresa May will say on Thursday, is difficult but necessary to tackle the crisis in funding.Introducing the party’s election manifesto, the prime minister will say it is the “responsibility of leaders to be straight with people about the challenge
  
  Read more

• Tim Farron launches the Lib Dems manifesto

  17-05-2017 22:50
  
  Watch the whole manifesto speech by Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron
  
  Read more

• Lib Dem leader Tim Farron lumps Theresa May in with Farage and Le Pen

  17-05-2017 22:46
  Tim Farron has laid into Theresa May - lumping her in with Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen - as he accused her of allowing the Conservatives to be "taken over" by UKIP's agenda.Speaking at the launch of the party's manifesto in London, the Liberal Democrat leader said Mrs May's pursuit of a "hard Brexit" - taking Britain out of the single market and customs union - is a "time bomb under our economy" that will wreck Britain's future.The 95-page document sets out a vision of an "open, tolerant and
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Girl at Drayton Manor theme park died from chest injuries

  17-05-2017 21:50
  The 11-year-old girl who died after falling from a ride at a Staffordshire theme park suffered fatal chest injuries, a coroner has said.Evha Jannath fell into the water from the Splash Canyon river rapids ride at Drayton Manor park in Tamworth on Tuesday 9 May.The South Staffordshire Coroner's office released the results of a post-mortem examination into the cause of the Leicester youngster's death, saying it was "blunt force chest trauma".
  
  Read more

• Liberal Democrats promise new Brexit vote if elected

  17-05-2017 21:45
  Britain's Liberal Democrat Party, trailing significantly behind Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives and the opposition Labour party, vowed on Wednesday to hold a second referendum on a final Brexit deal if it wins next month's election.Launching his party's proposals for the June 8 election, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said they would give Britons a say on the divorce deal struck with the European Union after two years of talks, saying a bad agreement would wreck Britain's future."You shoul
  
  Read more

• Here are all the key points from the Liberal Democrat manifesto

  17-05-2017 21:29
  
  A second EU referendum is included in the plans.
  
  Read more

• Osborne ridicules May's pledge to reduce immigration to tens of thousands

  17-05-2017 21:02
  
  George Osborne has used an editorial in London's Evening Standard to ridicule Theresa May's pledge to reduce immigration to tens of thousands.The editorial, on the eve of the Tory manifesto launch, mocked her promise as "economically illiterate" and claimed no senior figures in the Cabinet backed it.Since Mr Osborne became editor of the Standard on 2 May, the paper has launched a number of direct attacks on Mrs May in its editorial columns.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• 'No likelihood' Ian Brady's ashes will be left on Saddleworth Moor

  17-05-2017 21:01
  
  Lawyers representing Moors Murderer Ian Brady have said there is "no likelihood" his ashes will be scattered on Saddleworth Moor.On Tuesday, at an inquest held in Southport, a coroner said he wanted a guarantee that Brady's remains would not be taken to the place where he and Myra Hindley left the bodies of three of his victims before he would release the murderer's body.The remains of Pauline Reade, John Kilbride and Lesley Ann Downey were found on Saddleworth Moor, about six miles (10km) east
  
  Read more

• Get ready now for Brexit, EU's Barnier tells business

  17-05-2017 20:59
  
  Businesses had better move fast to prepare for Brexit in under two years and should not count on long transition periods to cushion the impact of Britain leaving the European Union, the EU's chief negotiator said on Wednesday.Many businesses, notably in London's financial services sector, which is dominant in Europe, or among manufacturers wary of new tariff barriers are considering relocating parts of their operations from Britain.Defending his planned phasing of negotiations to start next mont
  
  Read more

• The high price we all pay for the failures of privatisation | Letters

  17-05-2017 20:58
  
  ‘The Thatcher/Major privatisation programme was ostensibly intended to usher in the benefits of free-market competition,’ writes Trevor Smith. ‘In fact it gave rise to what Karl Marx termed “monopoly capitalism”, creating a series of cartels’ Photograph: Croft/PA
  
  Read more

• JCB chief Bamford digs deep with £1m for Tory election warchest

  17-05-2017 20:56
  The veteran industrialist behind JCB ‎has pledged the best part of £1m to the Conservative Party's general election warchest, underlining Brexit-supporting donors' backing for Theresa May's leadership.Sky News has learnt that Lord Bamford, who was ennobled ‎in 2013, made the commitment in recent weeks during discussions with Tory fundraising chiefs.The commitment by Lord Bamford, who helped to build JCB into one of Britain's most prominent manufacturers, comes alongside dozens of d
  
  Read more

• Exclusive - EU looks to build alternative to London for capital market: document

  17-05-2017 20:47
  
  By Huw JonesLONDON (Reuters) - Brexit has forced the European Union to rethink its flagship capital markets union (CMU) project and urgently look for ways to create an alternative financial market to London, according to a draft EU document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.London is the bloc's biggest financial market by far, but will be outside the EU from 2019, posing a challenge to the CMU project that had already begun to flag before last year's referendum in Britain."The CMU reform programme mu
  
  Read more

• A year’s unpaid leave to care for a relative? Big deal, Mrs May | Letters

  17-05-2017 20:39
  
  Kathy Mohan, left, confronts Theresa May about disability benefit cuts during a general election campaign visit to Abingdon, Oxfordhsire, 15 May 2017.Then she lost her paid carer, who returned unpaid to offer what support she could.
  
  Read more

• #loveislove: The world celebrates the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

  17-05-2017 20:37
  
  May 17 aims to combat discrimination and is celebrated in more than 130 countries.
  
  Read more

• Chelsea Manning takes to Instagram to celebrate her release from prison

  17-05-2017 20:21
  
  The US whistle-blower, who is transgender, has spent seven years behind bars.
  
  Read more

• Shed of the Year 2017 – in pictures

  17-05-2017 20:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Pictures of the finalists in Cuprinol’s Amazing Spaces – Shed of the Year competition, the subject of a programme airing on Channel 4 in the summer Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Labour and Tories send spin doctors, but no leaders, to ITV debate

  17-05-2017 20:04
  
  Julie Etchingham will moderate the leaders’ debate.The Conservatives and Labour will send spin doctors to Thursday’s televised leaders’ debate despite Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn refusing to take part.Advisers to the two main parties are due to brief the media after a two-hour election special involving the leaders of the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Ukip, Plaid Cymru and the Greens.
  
  Read more

• Labour suspends Aberdeen councillors over coalition with Tories

  17-05-2017 19:56
  
  Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale suspended the councillors after they ignored her orders.The Scottish Labour leader, Kezia Dugdale, has suspended every Labour councillor in Aberdeen after they ignored orders to abandon a power-sharing deal with the Conservatives.Dugdale said the nine councillors, including the newly elected lord provost of Aberdeen, Barney Crockett, would now be disciplined for refusing to tear up a coalition deal with the Tories in a bid to prevent the Scottish National par
  
  Read more

• ‘I don’t recognise that' – how to perfect a political non-denial

  17-05-2017 19:50
  
  Faced with leaked reports that a dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker ended with the European commission president saying, “I leave Downing Street 10 times as sceptical as I was before”, May responded that it was “Brussels gossip”. Hammond tried it this week when he was accused of having “angry, sweary” phone rows with May’s team.Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey had discussed spending commitments estimated at about £60bn but Corbyn later sa
  
  Read more

• Norwegian-British man freed from Congo jail - PM

  17-05-2017 19:16
  A Norwegian man jailed for life in Democratic Republic of Congo for murder and espionage has been freed and returned to Norway, the Scandinavian country's prime minister said on Wednesday.Joshua French, who also holds a British passport, was convicted along with fellow Norwegian Tjostolv Moland of killing their Congolese driver and spying in 2009 and was initially sentenced to death before his sentence was commuted."The Norwegian and Congolese governments have agreed to transfer Joshua French to
  
  Read more

• In the red corner

  17-05-2017 18:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  JME, Toddla T, Stormzy, AJ Tracey, Noverlist, Stormzy and Akala all come out in support of the Labour leader.
  
  Read more

• Message to Pirates of the Caribbean hackers – piracy no longer pays

  17-05-2017 18:46
  
  Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, due out on 26 May, was only 10 days from release when hackers stole a copy from a post-production company in LA.
  
  Read more

• Irish PM to step down, succession contest begins

  17-05-2017 18:43
  
  By Padraic Halpin and Conor HumphriesDUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny resigned as leader of his Fine Gael party on Wednesday, kicking off a succession contest between two younger ministers who colleagues hope will boost the party ahead of an election due late next year.Kenny -- who had already announced he would not lead Fine Gael into the election -- said he would remain prime minister during the contest, due to be concluded on June 2, and during subsequent talks with lawmaker
  
  Read more

• No senior minister backs immigration pledge, Osborne's Standard says

  17-05-2017 18:41
  
  George Osborne, who May sacked as chancellor.Senior cabinet ministers privately do not support Theresa May’s desire to keep the Conservative target of reducing net immigration to the tens of thousands, according to an editorial in the London Evening Standard newspaper run by the former chancellor George Osborne.In a leader column, the newspaper said there had been an assumption at the top of the Conservative party that May would use the election to “bury the pledge” made by Dav
  
  Read more

• Ian Brady's ashes will not be scattered on Saddleworth Moor, lawyer confirms

  17-05-2017 18:14
  
  Ian Brady died of heart failure in Ashworth secure hospital, Merseyside, on Monday night.Ian Brady’s ashes will not be scattered on Saddleworth Moor, where he buried four of his child victims, his lawyer has said, after a coroner sought reassurances that the killer’s body would be disposed of in a “right and proper” manner.At a hastily convened second hearing of the inquest into the 79-year-old murderer’s death, coroner’s officer Alby Howard-Murphy said he had
  
  Read more

• General election 2017: Find your constituency and candidates

  17-05-2017 17:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The BBC News site is listing all candidates standing on 8 June - find them with our postcode search.
  
  Read more

• 'No likelihood' Brady's ashes will be left on Saddleworth Moor

  17-05-2017 17:49
  
  Lawyers representing Moors Murderer Ian Brady have said there is "no likelihood" his ashes will be scattered on Saddleworth Moor.On Tuesday, at an inquest held in Southport, a coroner asked for guarantees that Brady's remains would not be taken to the place where he and Myra Hindley left the bodies of three of his victims before he would release the murderer's body.The remains of Pauline Reade, John Kilbride and Lesley Ann Downey were found on Saddleworth Moor, about six miles (10km) east of Old
  
  Read more

• Four men arrested on suspicion of UK-linked terror plot

  17-05-2017 17:48
  Four men have been arrested on suspicion of plotting a UK-linked terror attack, Scotland Yard has said.The men are being held on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.Metropolitan Police officers said the arrests were pre-planned as part of an ongoing investigation by the force's counter terrorism command and MI5, and that they were linked to activity in the UK.
  
  Read more

• Cyberattacks detected targeting MP candidates and political staff

  17-05-2017 17:41
  The National Cyber Security Centre has updated its advice to candidates in the General Election after a series of attempts to steal politicians' data.A number of prospective MPs have been targeted, although Sky News understands they are not senior figures within their parties, or members of the Cabinet or shadow cabinet.The candidates were targeted on their personal email addresses, not through their official parliamentary accounts.
  
  Read more

• Dual British-Norwegian national freed from Congo jail - Norway broadcaster

  17-05-2017 17:40
  A man serving a life sentence in jail in Democratic Republic of Congo for murder and espionage has been freed and could return to his native Norway as early as Wednesday, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK said.Joshua French, who also holds a British passport, was convicted along with fellow Norwegian Tjostolv Moland of killing their Congolese driver and spying in 2009 and were initially sentenced to death before their sentence was commuted.Moland was found dead in his cell in a military prison in
  
  Read more

• Brady 'should be buried within prison walls'

  17-05-2017 17:35
  
  The brother of John Kilbride, one of Ian Brady's victims, has said the child killer "should be buried within the prison walls".
  
  Read more

• Britain to investigate use of personal data in political campaigns

  17-05-2017 17:18
  Britain's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said on Wednesday it had opened an investigation into the use for political purposes of personal data found online, to ensure laws were not broken and voters had control of their own information.Data analytics have been increasingly used by campaigners and political parties to target advertising to voters on social media platforms like Facebook ."This is a complex and rapidly evolving area of activity and the level of awareness among the public a
  
  Read more

• Facebook, Google and Twitter face data watchdog grilling over political campaigns

  17-05-2017 17:15
  
  Unease over how political parties use data to target voters, online and offline, continues to grow.The Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, the UK's data watchdog, has been assessing its impact since March.Ms Denham has clearly discovered enough to concern her and has now announced a formal investigation.
  
  Read more

• Drone footage of Wirral gas blast devastation

  17-05-2017 17:00
  
  An aerial view of the Wirral explosion, which injured 34 people and flattened several buildings.
  
  Read more

• Two men arrested over Wirral explosion that left 34 injured

  17-05-2017 16:55
  The suspects, aged 62 and 55, have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit arson following the explosion in the New Ferry area of the Wirral on 25 March.Several local businesses were destroyed by the blast, which was heard as far away as Liverpool and North Wales.The 62-year-old, from the North Wales area, and the 55-year-old, from the Wirral, have both been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit arson with intent/ reckless as to whether life was endangered and an offence under
  
  Read more

• UK police arrest four men on suspicion of terrorism offence

  17-05-2017 16:49
  British police said they had arrested four men on Wednesday on suspicion of preparing terrorism acts in the United Kingdom.London police said officers from its Counter Terrorism Command had detained the four men, aged 18, 24, 25 and 27, at their homes in the east of the British capital."These arrests were pre-planned as part of an ongoing investigation by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command and (the domestic spy agency) MI5," police said in a statement.
  
  Read more

• Footballers send birthday wishes for terminally ill Bradley Lowery

  17-05-2017 16:26
  A terminally ill boy has received hundreds of birthday messages from across the footballing world as he turns six years old.Bradley Lowery's battle with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer, has bought him worldwide support.Sunderland posted on Twitter: "Not only is it International Cup final day, but it's also a very special day for @Bradleysfight... Many happy returns little man".
  
  Read more

• The Antikythera mechanism: the world's first computer? – video

  17-05-2017 16:22 via theguardian.com
  
  The 2,000-year-old Antikythera shipwreck is considered the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century. It included ancient, ornate pottery, weapons, a skeleton that provides scientists with their first real hope of sequencing DNA from a shipwreck victim, and the famous Antikythera mechanism - thought to be the world’s first computerImages and footage courtesy of Michael Tsimperopoulos and Brett Seymour/EUA/WHOI/Argo.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Timeline: The story of Chelsea Manning so far as she is freed from prison

  17-05-2017 16:12
  
  Manning was convicted in 2013 for leaking military and state department documents to WikiLeaks.
  
  Read more

• Ejector seat manufacturer to go on trial over Red Arrows pilot's death

  17-05-2017 16:09
  The maker of an ejector seat will go on trial next year after being charged with breaching health and safety law following the death of a Red Arrows pilot.Experienced pilot and Iraq war veteran Flight Lieutenant Sean Cunningham died after his ejector seat initiated during pre-flight checks of his Hawk XX177 jet while stationary on the ground at the RAF's Lincolnshire air base in 2011.
  
  Read more

• Lloyds boss: 'moment of huge pride'

  17-05-2017 15:50
  
  The chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, Antonio Horta-Osorio, tells Sky News about the journey to return the bank to private hands after its 2008 bailout.
  
  Read more

• Liberal Democrats issue manifesto pledge to 'roll-back state surveillance powers'

  17-05-2017 15:45
  The Liberal Democrats have made a manifesto pledge to "roll back state surveillance powers" which have been passed into law by the Government's Investigatory Powers Act.Speaking to Sky News, the Liberal Democrat's spokesperson on surveillance legislation said it was the party's position that "as a general principle, the bulk collection of everyone's data should not be allowed".While the party's response to Brexit remains at the heart of the manifesto, additional policies include legalising canna
  
  Read more

• Ex-mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman challenges election court ruling

  17-05-2017 15:41
  
  Lutfur Rahman is calling for either the electoral court ruling to be overturned or for a criminal trial that would allow him to face a jury.The former mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman has launched a legal challenge to a court ruling that bans him from standing for election.Rahman was removed from office, banned from standing for election for five years and ordered to pay £250,000 costs in April 2015 after the election court found he had used corrupt and illegal practices when he was el
  
  Read more

• Groundhog May: we're all trapped in Theresa's campaign time loop | Marina Hyde

  17-05-2017 15:33
  
  It’s all a bit dental records: Hammond and May’s chemistry is at an advanced stage of decomposition.To watch Theresa May and Philip Hammond conduct a joint press conference is to be made powerfully aware of one thing: their chemistry is deader than Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise’s in Eyes Wide Shut.It was an acute awkwardness that will not have escaped Hammond, whose nervous laughter at questions referring to his swearing rows with No 10 and the general breakdown of their relatio
  
  Read more

• Liberal Democrats manifesto: What it says and what it means

  17-05-2017 15:32
  The Lib Dem manifesto has landed and it promises a £1bn tax take from legalising cannabis.
  
  Read more

• Surgeons call for review of safety standards in private hospitals

  17-05-2017 15:22
  
  Former surgeon Ian Paterson, who was convicted for carrying out unnecessary operations.Unexpected deaths and safety fears in private hospitals should be made more transparent for patients in order to prevent more cases like that of the rogue surgeon Ian Paterson, the Royal College of Surgeons has said.The college called for a review of safety standards in the private sector after it emerged that Paterson – who was convicted last month of unlawfully wounding private patients by carrying out
  
  Read more

• Russian economy extends recovery in first-quarter with 0.5 percent growth year-on-year

  17-05-2017 15:05
  
  The Russian economy continued to expand modestly in the first quarter of 2017, growing 0.5 percent year on year, preliminary data from the Federal Statistics Service showed on Wednesday.It was unclear what drove economic growth in the January-March period as the statistics service, Rosstat, only reveals a breakdown of the data with a time lag.Gross domestic product (GDP) returned to growth in the fourth quarter, expanding by 0.3 percent after seven quarters of contraction that were mainly caused
  
  Read more

• Nestle foiled in KitKat trademark court challenge

  17-05-2017 14:59
  Nestle has lost its appeal to try to register the shape of the four-finger KitKat chocolate bar as a trademark.The Swiss confectionery giant had mounted a legal challenge after a High Court judge ruled against it last year.Nestle claimed the KitKat shape was "iconic" and deserved protection.
  
  Read more

• Factbox - Impact on banks from Britain's vote to leave the EU

  17-05-2017 14:57
  (Reuters) - Global banks have warned they could move thousands of jobs out of Britain to prepare for the expected disruption caused by the country's exit from the European Union, endangering London's status as a major financial centre.Financial services firms need a regulated subsidiary in an EU country to offer their products across the bloc, and this could lead some to move jobs out of Britain if it loses access to the European single market.Following are related stories:BNP PARIBASBNP Paribas
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!