General news

• Prince Harry: No one in the Royal Family wants to be King or Queen

  21-06-2017 23:57
  Prince Harry has suggested that no one in the Royal Family wants to take over from the Queen.Interviewed by Newsweek magazine, Harry said: "Is there any one of the Royal Family who wants to be King or Queen?Harry revealed in April that he had sought help after he "shut down" his emotions following Princess Diana's death in a road accident in 1997.
  
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• In Brussels, weakened May to outline guarantees for EU expats in Britain

  21-06-2017 23:36
  
  By Elizabeth Piper and Gabriela BaczynskaLONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May will outline on Thursday her approach to the "hugely important issue" of reassuring EU expatriates about their futures in Britain, at a summit that is her first Brexit test since an election sapped her authority.Over coffee at the end of dinner on the first day of the EU summit, May will address the other 27 leaders and describe "principles" of her plan to give early guarantees to some three million p
  
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• Grenfell fire released deadly gas

  21-06-2017 22:40
  
  Sky News can confirm that a killer gas was released when insulation foam burned in the Grenfell tower block.
  
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• 'Hang on a second': Boris Johnson flounders on interview circuit

  21-06-2017 22:37
  
  Boris Johnson heading to 10 Downing Street to attend a cabinet meeting on 20 June.Boris Johnson struggled to explain the key points of the Queen’s speech in a radio interview on Wednesday night, repeatedly pausing and sighing “hang on a second” as he could be heard riffling through papers.The foreign secretary was wheeled out to promote the Conversatives’ legislative priorities for this parliament, with interviews on Sky News and Channel 4 News as well as Radio 4’s
  
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• Russians targeted 21 election systems, U.S. official says

  21-06-2017 22:33
  
  By Dustin Volz and Julia Edwards AinsleyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian hackers targeted 21 U.S. state election systems in the 2016 presidential race and a small number were breached butthere was no evidence any votes were manipulated, a Homeland Security Department official told Congress on Wednesday.Jeanette Manfra, the department's acting deputy undersecretary of cyber security, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Kremlin orchestrate
  
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• Here's how people around the world celebrated International Yoga Day

  21-06-2017 22:19
  
  180 countries took part in the 5,000-year-old body and mind practice.
  
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• Corbyn taunts May as she is forced to drop key election promises in Queen's speech

  21-06-2017 22:10
  
  Jeremy Corbyn insisted Labour is a “government-in-waiting” as he taunted Theresa May over the loss of her parliamentary majority, promising to vote down unpopular austerity measures and offer “strong and stable leadership”.The Labour leader was warmly cheered from the packed Labour benches, as he responded to a slimmed-down Queen’s speech, which set out a legislative programme dominated by Brexit and was stripped of a series of controversial manifesto policies.
  
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• Corbyn taunts May as she backs down on election pledges in Queen's speech

  21-06-2017 22:10
  
  Jeremy Corbyn insisted Labour is a “government-in-waiting” as he taunted Theresa May over the loss of her parliamentary majority, promising to vote down unpopular austerity measures and offer “strong and stable leadership”.The Labour leader was warmly cheered from the packed Labour benches, as he responded to a slimmed-down Queen’s speech, which set out a legislative programme dominated by Brexit and was stripped of a series of controversial manifesto policies.
  
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• Boris Johnson struggles in awkward Radio 4 interview and gets roasted on the internet

  21-06-2017 22:04
  
  The Foreign Secretary was speechless.
  
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• Prince Philip to spend second night in hospital

  21-06-2017 21:51
  
  By Costas PitasLONDON (Reuters) - Prince Philip, the 96-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth, will spend a second night in hospital on Wednesday for treatment for an infection but remains in "good spirits", Buckingham Palace said.Philip, whose official title is Duke of Edinburgh, was admitted to the King Edward VII Hospital in London on Tuesdayas a precautionary measure for treatment arising from a pre-existing condition.Asked how the Duke was faring, Philip's son and heir-to-the-throne Prince Ch
  
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• Queen's Speech: What was missing

  21-06-2017 21:50
  
  What was the Queen's Speech missing?
  
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• Did poison gas kill Grenfell victims?

  21-06-2017 21:30
  
  The release of hydrogen cyanide gas from burning cladding could have been responsible for deaths in the Grenfell Tower fire.
  
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• Cheshire cancer patients 'could die sooner' if NHS cuts are forced through

  21-06-2017 20:54
  
  Plans to cut endoscopies by 25% are ‘incredibly worrying’, said Macmillan Cancer Support.Cancer patients in Cheshire could die sooner because they will end up waiting longer for urgent hospital treatment if NHS regulators push through controversial cost-cutting plans, it has been claimed.Doctors and cancer charities have criticised recommendations by NHS England and NHS Improvement that hospitals in the county cut the amount of endoscopies – internal examinations used to diagno
  
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• Boris Johnson Blunders His Way Through Painful Interview With Radio 4's Eddie Mair

  21-06-2017 20:48
  
  Boris Johnson has faced embarrassment at the hands of the BBC’s Eddie Mair after the Foreign Secretary blundered his way through a probing that had echoes of the Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbot interview fails.
  
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• Theresa May says Scottish parliament may be able to vote on Brexit plans

  21-06-2017 20:19
  
  Conflict between Theresa May’s government and Holyrood could fuel Nicola Sturgeon’s calls for a fresh referendum on Scottish independence.Theresa May faces a fresh constitutional battle with the Scottish government after conceding that the Holyrood parliament could be allowed to vote on her Brexit plans.Speaking as she debated the Queen’s speech at Westminster, the prime minister said her government was considering whether to offer Holyrood the right to vote on the repeal bill
  
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• Queen's speech debate: Corbyn castigates 'out of ideas' government

  21-06-2017 20:14
  
  Theresa May’s muted reception in the House of Commons after the Queen’s speech drew sharp contrast with roars of approval from opposition benches for Jeremy Corbyn, though Tory MPs tore into the Labour leader for the party’s position on Brexit.
  
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• Talks to support May's Conservatives making progress, DUP says

  21-06-2017 20:13
  
  Talks between the Conservatives and the small Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to prop up Prime Minister Theresa May's government made progress on Wednesday, DUP lawmaker Jeffrey Donaldson said.Donaldson told BBC TV that there would be further talks on Wednesday and he was confident they could get an arrangement to support May early next week.May lost her majority in the 650-seat parliament in a snap election she called earlier this month and she now requires the backing of the 10
  
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• PM offers apology to Grenfell families

  21-06-2017 20:05
  
  Theresa May has offered a personal and public apology to families caught up in the Grenfell Tower fire.
  
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• Toxic gases released during Grenfell Tower fire may have caused some deaths

  21-06-2017 20:00
  Insulation boards fitted to the outside of Grenfell Tower gave off highly toxic hydrogen cyanide gas which may have contributed to the deaths of some of the 79 confirmed victims.Fire toxicity experts have told Sky News the insulation boards installed during a refurbishment of the tower produce the deadly gas when they burn, and their positioning meant every flat could have been filled with enough gas to kill those inside.At least three of those injured in the fire have been treated with an antid
  
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• What our prison population says about our society | Letters

  21-06-2017 19:36
  
  There is no chance of politicians taking meaningful action, in thrall as they are to the whims of a vocal, atavistic, minority.The criminal justice system is a Fordist factory in which the criminal, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, judges and juries perform their allotted role in the process with barely a thought for the sense of the outcome.• Amelia Hill – rightly – examines the shameful drift masquerading as policy over our increasingly geriatric prison population.
  
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• Serious Fraud Office wins reprieve after May fails to mention abolition plan

  21-06-2017 19:09
  
  By Kirstin RidleyLONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday left plans to abolish the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) out of her government's two-year programme in an omission lawyers said could signal an end to the controversial pledge.May's Conservative party pledged in policy proposals before a June 8 election to fold the SFO, which prosecutes high-level fraud and corruption in British business, into the National Crime Agency (NCA) - a government department whose remit runs from ta
  
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• #DayOfRage or #DayOfWage? The internet is divided about the march on Parliament

  21-06-2017 19:08
  
  Five hundred took to the streets, while many more commented online.
  
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• Crewe Crane Collapse: Two Men Die After Crane Collapses At A Building Site

  21-06-2017 19:06
  
  Two men have died after a crane collapsed at a building site in Crewe, Cheshire Police said.
  
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• Crewe Crane Collapse: Emergency Services Rush To Scene After Three Are Trapped Underneath

  21-06-2017 19:06
  
  Police said they rushed to the scene, a construction site in Dunwoody Way.“A crane has collapsed trapping three people underneath, emergency services are working at the scene,” Crewe Police said on Facebook.Local newspaper The Crewe Chronicle had photos of the scene and video of the air ambulance taking off.
  
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• What was missing from the Queen's Speech?

  21-06-2017 19:05
  
  What was the Queen's Speech missing?
  
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• Foreign Secretary Johnson says Trump's visit to Britain will go ahead

  21-06-2017 19:03
  A planned state visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to Britain will go ahead although no date for the trip has been fixed, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Wednesday following local media reports that it had been postponed.There was no mention of Trump's trip in the Queen's speech earlier when the British monarch set out the government's programme for the next two years and also confirmed a state visit by Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia in July.
  
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• Theresa May's apology: Grenfell fire revealed 'state failure'

  21-06-2017 18:53
  The initial response to the Grenfell Tower fire was "not good enough", Theresa May has said, blaming "a failure of the state, local and national"."As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure," she told MPs.Speaking after the Queen had laid out the new government's legislative programme, Mrs May said: "The whole country was heartbroken by the horrific loss of life and the utter devastation that we have seen.
  
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• British forest pumped full of CO2 to test tree absorption

  21-06-2017 18:51
  By Matthew J. StockSTAFFORD, England (Reuters) - Researchers at a British University have embarked on a decade-long experiment that will pump a forest full of carbon dioxide to measure how it copes with rising levels of the gas - a key driver of climate change.The Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment at the University of Birmingham's Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) will expose a fenced-off section of mature woodland - in Norbury Park in Staffordshire, West Midlands - to leve
  
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• People trapped after crane collapses in Crewe

  21-06-2017 18:47
  Three people are trapped after a crane collapsed in Crewe, according to Cheshire Police.
  
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• Finsbury Park mosque attack suspect was 'self-radicalised', say police

  21-06-2017 18:38
  
  Wellwishers write on a banner outside Finsbury Park mosque after the attack on Monday.The suspect in the Finsbury Park terrorist attack is likely to have been self-radicalised into his extremist hatred of Muslims, police believe.The investigation by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command continues after a van was driven into Muslims near a mosque early on Monday.
  
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• Finsbury Park attack suspect was probably 'self-radicalised'

  21-06-2017 18:38
  
  Wellwishers write on a banner outside Finsbury Park mosque after the attack on Monday.The suspect in the Finsbury Park terrorist attack is believed to have been self-radicalised into his extremist hatred of Muslims, it is understood.The investigation by Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command continues after a van was driven into Muslims near a mosque early on Monday.
  
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• Time To Talk Periods For Women And Girls Everywhere

  21-06-2017 18:27
  
  Claiming it's that "time of the month" has long been a useful get out clause for girls across the world to escape an unwanted PE class.
  
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• Heroic Imam Embodies The True Spirit Of Islamic Leadership

  21-06-2017 18:24
  
  The actions of Imam Mohammed Mahmoud in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on Muslim worshippers outside the Muslim Welfare House in the Finsbury Park are of London is the embodiment of the true spirit of Islamic leadership.
  
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• Extremism Is Tearing London Apart

  21-06-2017 18:24
  
  A week after London woke to the terrible tragedy of the Grenfell Tower, we woke to the news that terrorism had struck once more in this city.
  
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• May apologises for London fire failures as UK secures homes for victims

  21-06-2017 18:07
  
  Prime Minister Theresa May apologised on Wednesday for the state's failure to support those people who survived the massive London tower block fire, and the government secured its first tranche of new homes for displaced residents.The government said it had obtained dozens of newly built apartments in a west London development, a first step towards fulfilling a pledge to rehouse residents of Grenfell Tower which was gutted in a deadly fire.
  
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• Factbox - What's in and what's out in PM's Queen's Speech?

  21-06-2017 17:57
  Prime Minister Theresa May outlined her government plan on Wednesday, promising to secure the best possible Brexit deal that secures the "maximum possible support" as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.May left out a range of unpopular policies as she attempts to pass the government plan, known as the "Queen's Speech", without her own parliamentary majority.A spokesman for May said that the government remained supportive in principle of some of the policies that were not formally inclu
  
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• These French bus and tram staff found a genius way to circumvent a ban on shorts

  21-06-2017 17:46
  
  They decided to take a different approach.
  
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• Grenfell Tower: May apologises for 'failures of state, local and national'

  21-06-2017 17:35
  
  Flowers and messages left by well-wishers for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London.Theresa May has apologised for the failure of the state in its handling of the Grenfell Tower fire, and pledged that the government will pay legal costs to allow victims’ families and survivors to participate in a judge-led public inquiry.A week after the disaster in which at least 79 people died or are missing presumed dead, the prime minister told the House of Commons: “The support on the
  
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• Queen's Speech 2017: The Strangest Customs, Including Dennis Skinner’s Ritual One-Liner

  21-06-2017 17:34
  
  No offence to Her Majesty, after all she doesn’t even write it... "Hey, I don't write this shit, I just read it" #QueensSpeech pic.twitter.com/h94P4IfBK8—
  
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• The Great British Bake Off! Hottest June day for 40 years as heatwave continues

  21-06-2017 17:31
  The temperature has reached 34.5C at Heathrow, west London, making it the hottest June day since 1976.As well as marking five consecutive days that the mercury has soared past 30C, Britain's scorching heat has also topped temperatures in holiday destinations such as Lisbon, Marseille, Barcelona and Athens.It is the hottest prolonged spell in June since the drought summer of 1976 and also the warmest summer solstice on record.
  
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• Grenfell Tower fire survivors to be rehomed in flats on luxury development

  21-06-2017 17:29
  
  The Government has purchased apartments at an upmarket development to rehouse survivors of the Grenfell Tower blaze.Sixty-eight new social housing units at the Kensington Row development in Kensington High Street have been acquired, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said.Developer St Edward, a joint venture between the Berkeley Group and Prudential, has committed extra construction staff and relaxed working time restrictions to complete the project by the end of July.
  
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• BBC technical glitch leaves Huw Edwards in silence on News at Ten

  21-06-2017 17:27
  
  Huw Edwards was left sitting in silence for four minutes at the start of BBC News at Ten on Tuesday night after a technical fault delayed the start of the programme and bemused viewers.Viewers on some devices and channels were left watching the presenter sitting in silence as he waited for his cue to start.The BBC News Channel showed Edwards sitting mute for the entirety of the delay, while BBC1 put up a message apologising for the fault and played saxophone music.
  
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• Grenfell Tower: Theresa May Apologises To Victims For 'Failure Of The State'

  21-06-2017 17:19
  
  Prime Minister Theresa May has apologised to the survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster during a speech in the House of Commons.
  
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• Britain bakes on hottest June day for 40 years as heatwave enters fifth day

  21-06-2017 16:56
  The temperature has reached 33.9C at Heathrow, west London, making it the hottest June day since 1976.As well as marking five consecutive days temperatures have soared past 30C, Britain's scorching heat has also topped temperatures in holiday destinations like Lisbon, Marseille, Barcelona and Athens.It is the hottest prolonged spell in June since the drought summer of 1976 and also the warmest summer solstice on record.
  
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• Queen's Speech: Corbyn attacks 'Government without majority'

  21-06-2017 16:52
  Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the Queen's Speech as a "threadbare legislative programme" from a "Government without a majority".The Labour leader spoke for about 30 minutes during a heated parliamentary debate following the Queen's Speech."This is a Government without a majority, without a mandate, without a serious legislative programme, led by a Prime Minister who's lost her political authority and is struggling even today to stitch together a deal to stay in office," Mr Corbyn said.
  
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• Grenfell Tower Residents To Be Rehoused In Luxury Kensington Row Flats

  21-06-2017 16:50
  
  Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire will be relocated into a luxury apartment complex in Kensington, where prices start at £1,575,000.
  
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• UK heatwave: mercury hits 33.9C at Heathrow airport

  21-06-2017 16:40
  
  Holidaymakers enjoy the hot weather at the beach in Weymouth, Dorset, as the temperature in some places is expected to be the highest June figure since 1976.Britain experienced its hottest June day for 40 years on Wednesday as the mercury hit 33.9C at Heathrow airport, the Met Office said.It was the highest June temperature since the 35.6C recorded in Southampton on 28 June 1976, the hottest day of the year so far and the first time the mercury has hit 30C or over on five consecutive days in Jun
  
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• UK to intervene in foreign takeovers of critical infrastructure

  21-06-2017 16:29
  
  Prime Minister Theresa May plans to give her government the powers to intervene in the takeover of any critical infrastructure by a foreign buyer to enable it to protect national security.The world's fifth-largest economy has attracted more foreign investment than any other country in Europe but May has said her government should have the power to scrutinise significant foreign investment and intervene when it concerns critical assets such as nuclear power.The proposal was included in the govern
  
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• UK considering how to tackle household energy prices

  21-06-2017 16:26
  
  British Prime Minister Theresa May's government said it remained committed to helping consumers hit by the most expensive energy tariffs, but had not decided how to intervene in the market and did not mention a price cap when setting out policy objectives.May previously said she would tackle high household energy prices if she was re-elected by introducing a cap on standard variable tariffs that could affect about 17 million families."We have committed to extending the price protection currently
  
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• EU sure about that hat, your majesty?

  21-06-2017 16:18
  
  Britain's Queen Elizabeth stirred up social media on Wednesday when she opened parliament in a hat looking very much like a European Union flag.Delivering a formal speech in which Prime Minister Theresa May's government laid out its strategy for exiting the EU, themonarch sported a blue chapeau decorated with an arc of blue flowers each with a bright yellow disc at its centre.It was all a bit Brussels and Strasbourg, where the EU flag -- a blue ensign with a circle of yellow stars on it -- holds
  
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