General news

• Teenager charged over east London 'acid attack'

  17-07-2017 23:26
  A 19-year-old boy has been charged over a noxious substance attack involving a man and a woman in east London on 4 July.Mustafa Ahmed faces one count of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and one count of attempted wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.Scotland Yard said three other teenagers arrested on suspicion of GBH have been released under investigation.
  
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• Swan Upping: All you need to know about a 900-year-old British tradition

  17-07-2017 23:09
  
  The tradition may have originated with feasting plans, but now it’s all about conservation.
  
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• UK senior lawmakers call on government to disclose Toyota investment reassurances

  17-07-2017 23:03
  
  By Costas Pitas and William JamesLONDON (Reuters) - The British government should disclose what post-Brexit reassurances it offered Japanese carmaker Toyotaahead of a 240-million pound investment in its English car plant, two parliamentary committee heads said on Monday.On Friday, Reuters cited two sources saying that Britain had helped to secure an investment in the firm's Burnaston car plant with a letter reassuring the Japanese automaker over future trading arrangements.The business ministry
  
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• Egypt ends visa-free entry for Qataris, insists Doha meets demands

  17-07-2017 22:26
  
  By Ahmed AbouleneinCAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will end visa-free entry for Qatari nationals with some exceptions, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Monday, the latest measure taken against Doha which Cairo and three Gulf governments are boycotting.Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed sanctions on Qatar on June 5, cutting diplomatic and transport ties with the tiny Gulf monarchy, after accusing it of financing militant groups and allying with their regional arch-foe
  
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• David Davis leaves Brussels after less than an hour of Brexit talks

  17-07-2017 22:18
  
  Brexit secretary David Davis took part in less than an hour of discussions with the EU on the first day of substantive negotiations with Brussels before his early return to Westminster prompted suggestions that the government’s parliamentary weakness was impeding the talks.Officials for the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) insisted that Davis had always intended to leave the talks after a meet and greet with the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, but the cabinet minister&rsq
  
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• Antarctic wedding: Tom Sylvester and Julie Baum marriage

  17-07-2017 22:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Two polar guides have been married in the first official wedding ceremony in the British Antarctic Territory (BAT).
  
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• Everything you need to know about the route HS2 will take

  17-07-2017 22:08
  
  The Transport Secretary has announced the route plan for the high speed railway, so here are some key questions answered.
  
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• Theresa May likely to face coup attempt by some Tory MPs in autumn

  17-07-2017 22:04
  
  Theresa May has attempted to restore her authority but some Tory MPs are determined to have her replaced by Christmas.Theresa May is expected to face an effort by some Tory MPs to oust her in the autumn, despite her attempt to regain authority over her cabinet by ordering them to stop leaking details of their infighting over Brexit.With a letter of no confidence already in circulation but only a small number of signatures so far, several MPs said on Monday that May was safe until summer –
  
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• Teenager Dagmara Przybysz found hanged in school toilets after she was 'bullied for being Polish', inquest hears

  17-07-2017 21:50
  A 16-year-old girl found hanged in school toilets was taunted for being Polish, an inquest has heard.Dagmara Przybysz, who was a pupil at Pool Academy in Redruth, Cornwall, was found in toilets near the maths department in May 2016.Dagmara's mother said in a statement that her daughter had been called names, and had overheard racist comments such as "stupid Pole".
  
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• Most Labour members want UK to remain in single market

  17-07-2017 21:28
  
  Support for Britain to remain in the EU single market and customs union is overwhelming among Labour party members, according to a poll showing that more than eight out of 10 think the UK should stay in Europe’s key trading blocs.The figures, from research carried out as part of the Party Members Project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and shared exclusively with the Guardian, also show heavy backing for a second referendum.The figures could pile pressure on Jeremy Corby
  
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• Big majority of Labour members 'want UK to stay in single market'

  17-07-2017 21:28
  
  Support for Britain to remain in the EU single market and customs union is overwhelming among Labour party members, according to a poll showing that more than eight out of 10 think the UK should stay in Europe’s key trading blocs.The figures, from research carried out as part of the Party Members Project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and shared exclusively with the Guardian, also show heavy backing for a second referendum.The figures could pile pressure on Jeremy Corby
  
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• New homes will be bulldozed for HS2 railway line

  17-07-2017 21:23
  
  The Government has confirmed that 16 newly built properties in South Yorkshire will be demolished to make way for the HS2 railway.Residents on the Shimmer housing estate in Mexborough have learned they will lose their homes after ministers finalised the route for the controversial high-speed line.Affected homeowners will be offered comparable properties, the Department for Transport has promised.
  
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• Probe into 'troubling' duplicate voting in UK election

  17-07-2017 21:16
  The Electoral Commission is investigating "troubling" claims some voters cast more than one ballot at the General Election.The watchdog said it had not discovered evidence of widespread abuse, but had received more than 1,000 emails from members of the public, as well as 38 letters from MPs, raising the issue.The watchdog said it was working with police on how to investigate the claims.
  
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• Coffee and biscuits fuel Brussels Brexit talks buzz

  17-07-2017 21:07
  
  By Alastair MacdonaldBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Dozens of British officials and their EU counterparts got the first full round of Brexit negotiations under way on Monday, bringing a quiet buzz to the European Commission's Brussels headquarters.After a brief handshake and sit-down for the cameras between Brexit Secretary David Davis and chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier, the pair left the real work of the week to teams of civil servants divided into groups by topic.Davis returned to London but will be
  
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• The flip flop trick video that went viral

  17-07-2017 20:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A video of a man throwing a flip flop off a 15th floor hotel balcony and getting it to land inside a rubber ring below has been viewed millions of times.
  
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• HS2 supporters boast of benefits – but costs keep going off the rails | Nils Pratley

  17-07-2017 20:52
  
  HS2: on track to swallow up more than £50bn.‘HS2 was always designed to be much more than just a high-speed railway and today we can see the opportunities it brings right around the country – spreading prosperity, acting as a catalyst for investment and rebalancing our economy 10 years before the railway even opens,” said David Higgins, chairman of the high-speed railway, as the first construction contracts were awarded on Monday.The better question is to ask is whether H
  
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• The scandal of big tobacco’s behaviour in the developing world | Letters

  17-07-2017 20:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Readers respond to the Guardian’s investigative series on cigarette companies’ efforts to squash anti-smoking measures in the poorest countriesI welcome your editorial and related coverage (Stop the spread of the tobacco companies’ poison, 13 July). Tobacco smoking is still the largest single preventable cause of ill-health and death. In the UK the reduction in smoking is one of the great public health success stories. However, it is important that this achievement is
  
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• Macron demands French telcos roll out fast broadband by 2020

  17-07-2017 20:30
  
  President Emmanuel Macron urged telecoms operators on Monday to roll out high-speed broadband across France by the end of 2020, two years earlier than a previous target.Macron said in a speech at a conference at the senate that the government would unveil a new system of incentives and penalties for telecom operators by the end of the year.Part of his promised 50 billion euro ($58 billion) investment plan would be allocated for areas where building networks would not be viable for private compan
  
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• Watchfulness is key in tackling the youth suicide rate | Letters

  17-07-2017 20:29
  
  School students taking their exams. Photograph: David Davies/PA
  
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• Froome on closest Tour de France of his career

  17-07-2017 20:10
  
  Three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome says the next few days of racing will be "the greatest challenge of my life".
  
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• Chris Froome: Tour de France finale will be 'the biggest challenge of my life'

  17-07-2017 20:06
  Three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome says the next few days of racing will be "the greatest challenge of my life".With the race to Paris ending on Sunday, the Team Sky rider has a lead of just 18 seconds over Fabio Aru from Astana, while Rigoberto Uran and home favourite Romain Bardet are also within touching distance of the yellow jersey."This is the closest Tour I've ever been in," Froome told Sky News at his hotel in Le Puy En Velay, south-central France.
  
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• David Davis Re-Imagined As David Brent As Brexit Secretary Enters Talks Without Notes

  17-07-2017 20:01
  
  Pictures from Monday’s start of negotiations in Brussels have shown Brexit Secretary David Davis without notes or paperwork as he goes face-to-face with his nemesis, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
  
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• Britain First's Incorrect Use Of Animal Aid's 'Halal Slaughterhouse Footage' Slammed By Campaigners

  17-07-2017 19:46
  
  Britain First is being accused of trying to “incite racial division” after falsely claiming animal abuse caught on slaughterhouse footage was recorded inside a halal abattoir.
  
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• Viewers more satisfied with BBC than most rivals, survey finds

  17-07-2017 19:38
  
  The survey for Ofcom found 51% of television viewers rated their satisfaction with the BBC as eight out of 10 or more.Television viewers are more satisfied with the BBC than other channels according to a survey for Ofcom, the media regulator, delivering a boost to the corporation as it prepares for a backlash over how much it pays its stars.Satisfaction with the BBC is higher than ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky, although Netflix has the highest rating in broadcasting among its users, highligh
  
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• Heseltine predicts election within two years

  17-07-2017 19:10
  
  Former deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine doesn't think Theresa May will last in charge of the Conservative Party.
  
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• Extra £1.3bn in funding for schools announced by Justine Greening

  17-07-2017 19:09
  
  Education Secretary Justine Greening has announced an extra £1.3bn in funding for schools over the next two years.Ms Greening said the money, which will come from savings within the Department for Education, would give schools and high-needs programmes "the investment they need to offer a world-class education to every single child".
  
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• New homes will be bulldozed to make way for HS2 railway line

  17-07-2017 19:07
  
  The Government has confirmed that 16 newly built properties in South Yorkshire will be demolished to make way for the HS2 railway.Residents on the Shimmer housing estate in Mexborough have learned they will lose their homes after ministers finalised the route for the controversial high-speed line.Affected homeowners will be offered comparable properties, the Department for Transport has promised.
  
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• Day two of Brexit talks - and the UK looks as underprepared as ever | Jennifer Rankin

  17-07-2017 19:02
  
  The EU’s Michel Barnier and Britain’s Brexit secretary, David Davis, face each other across the table.On day two of Brexit talks, the British lost the public relations battle early.The official photo shows the EU side on the left: two women and one man, each with a hefty sheaf of papers, a pen poised.
  
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• Fears grow over safety of timber-framed blocks of flats after Grenfell fire

  17-07-2017 19:00
  
  Experts say fire safety is dependant on a precise building process leaving no gaps into the timber frame, which does not always happen.An increasingly popular method to build blocks of flats is potentially vulnerable to sudden and unpredictable fires, safety experts and firefighters have said after the Grenfell Tower blaze, adding that ministers should urgently update regulations.Labour and the Liberal Democrats have also called on government to act over the risks posed by timber-frame blocks if
  
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• River roll call as 'swan upping' gets under way on Thames

  17-07-2017 18:54
  
  By Mark HanrahanSHEPPERTON, England (Reuters) - Six old-fashioned skiffs interrupted the sleepy pace of life on a stretch of theriver Thames on Monday as teams embarked on the annual "upping" - a combined census and health visit for swans."It's tradition - it's part of British history", David Barber, the swan marker on queen's crew told Reuters of the endeavour dating back to the 12th century, when swans were an important food source.The upping is in part about pomp and ceremony.
  
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• Homeowner stands to lose property to HS2

  17-07-2017 18:40
  
  Lee Wood's house is on the proposed HS2 route and he could be required to leave to make way for it.
  
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• Karren Brady to chair company that owns Philip Green retail empire

  17-07-2017 18:38
  Karren Brady, the West Ham United chief executive and star of TV's The Apprentice, is to become chairman of Taveta, the holding company for former BHS owner Sir Philip Green's retail empire.Baroness Brady, who is a Conservative peer, is taking over as the prominent barrister Lord Grabiner confirms he is stepping down from the role.Grabiner spent 15 years leading the Taveta board, which came under fire from MPs for providing "weak" corporate governance that contributed "substantially" to the demi
  
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• Identifying Grenfell Tower victims 'is becoming more difficult'

  17-07-2017 18:26
  Identifying the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire is becoming "more difficult", a coroner has said.At least 80 people are believed to have died in the devastating blaze at the 24-storey building last month, but only 37 victims have been formally identified so far.Coroner's Office manager Eric Sword told a short hearing at Westminster Coroner's Court that the difficulty in identifying victims was a result of "what we are dealing with, what we are recovering from the scene".
  
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• Here’s why this photo of David Davis at Brexit negotiations has got people talking

  17-07-2017 18:22
  
  Twitter can only imagine why the UK negotiation team seems light on the paperwork.
  
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• Teenager appears in court over London acid attacks

  17-07-2017 18:19
  
  A teenager faces trial over a series of acid attacks allegedly committed in London in the space of less than 90 minutes last week.The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age, appeared in a youth court in east London on Monday accused of carrying out attacks on six victims on 13 July.The district judge, Jonathan Radway, sent each of those charges to Wood Green crown court for trial, with the first hearing set for 14 August, while two more unrelated charges are to be tried at Strat
  
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• Noel Conway: Challenging law on assisted suicide

  17-07-2017 18:19 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Noel Conway says his terminal illness will leave him in a zombie-like condition.
  
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• UK senior MPs call on government to release Toyota investment reassurances

  17-07-2017 18:10
  
  By Costas Pitas and William JamesLONDON (Reuters) - Two British parliamentary committees said on Monday that the government should reveal what post-Brexit reassurances it offered Japanese carmaker Toyota ahead of a 240-million pound investment in its English car plant.On Friday, Reuters cited two sources saying that Britain had helped to secure an investment in the firm's Burnaston car plant with a letter reassuring the Japanese automaker over future trading arrangements.The business ministry ha
  
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• Justine Greening raids free schools budget for £1.3bn education bailout

  17-07-2017 18:08
  
  Schools will get a £1.3bn bailout over two years to be funded partly by raiding the budget for new free schools, Justine Greening, the education secretary, has announced.Greening promised an overall increase in core education funding per pupil in real terms across 2018/19 and 2019/20, after an outcry among MPs about schools that are set to lose money as a result of a shake-up in the system.The education secretary pitched the extra £1.3bn for schools in England as new cash but it quic
  
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• Primark recalls thousands of flip flops due to fears over cancer-causing chemical

  17-07-2017 18:05
  Primark is recalling thousands of men's flip flops after discovering they contain dangerous levels of a cancer-causing chemical.The discount clothes chain is recalling three colours from it's men's Cedar Wood State flip flop range and offering a full refund to anyone who bought them.A Primark spokesman confirmed the flip flops contain chrysene, which is commonly used in dark-coloured dyes.
  
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• The end: Yorkshire Dales 'bookseller from hell' quits his shop

  17-07-2017 18:01
  
  Market House in Hawes, which houses the bookshop whose owner called one customer ‘a pain in the arse’.A man who earned a reputation as Britain’s rudest bookseller is to quit and “not a moment too soon”, according to relieved residents fed up with him driving tourists away from their Yorkshire Dales village.Hawes, the home of Wensleydale cheese, is saying goodbye to Steve Bloom, who admits he is a man who “doesn’t butter his parsnips” when dealing w
  
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• From Xinnie-the-Pooh to Putin as Dobby – world leaders and their cartoon alter-egos

  17-07-2017 18:00
  
  Little trouble in big China this week, as Winnie-the-Pooh has been suppressed by the politburo.In olden times, rhetoric about the neoliberal devils at Disney might have been offered for the disappearance of the chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff.Nowadays, however, it is simply the vanity of the Chinese premier, Xi Jinping.
  
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• Theresa May heckled over school funding

  17-07-2017 17:55
  
  Theresa May is heckled by members of the audience when she is tackled over school funding cuts.
  
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• How You Can Help Stop The Ivory Trade

  17-07-2017 17:55
  
  It's fair to say that most of us know that ivory comes from elephant tusks.
  
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• Cameron: Jeremy Corbyn unsuitable for PM

  17-07-2017 17:55
  
  Former Prime Minister David Cameron is backing Theresa May to win the Election as Jeremy Corbyn is unsuitable to lead the country
  
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• Mothers Are At The Heart Of Fighting Online Radicalisation

  17-07-2017 17:53
  
  As with most random and horrifying experiences, we tend to rationalise with ourselves that terror attacks are things that happen to other people.
  
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• Somalia restores internet connection after weeks of outage

  17-07-2017 17:46
  
  Somalia has restored its internet connection after repairing a severed undersea cable, a telecoms official said on Monday, after an outage that the government said had cost the economy millions of dollars a day."The internet is now back and clients are using it," said Adnan Ali, the media director for Hormuud Telecom, the country's top operator.Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman apologised to citizens on Tuesday for the outage, which hit all landline and mobile users apart from those wit
  
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• Justice after 41 years

  17-07-2017 17:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The 1976 killing of a 15-year-old girl had a "profound and devastating" effect on the town of Flint.
  
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• U.S. expert visits London hospital to examine baby Charlie Gard

  17-07-2017 17:18
  
  By Michael HoldenLONDON (Reuters) - A U.S doctor offering experimental treatment to a critically ill British baby visited the London hospital where he is being treated on Monday as part of a last-ditch attempt to persuade a judge to keep the boy's life support switched on.The parents of Charlie Gard, who has a rare genetic condition causing progressive muscle weakness and brain damage, have been fighting a legal battle to send him to the United States for the neurologist's experimental therapy.T
  
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• 'A stellar choice': your thoughts on Jodie Whittaker's casting in Doctor Who

  17-07-2017 17:17 via theguardian.com
  
  A bold decision, or an absurd mistake? Here are your takes on the future of Doctor Who, after new showrunner Chris Chibnall named the 13th DoctorA female lead character is the minimum acceptable move for the BBC in today’s diverse times.Continue reading...
  
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• BBC Weatherman Owain Wyn Evans Goes Viral With 'Amazing' Drag-Themed Forecast

  17-07-2017 17:14
  
  A BBC weatherman has gone viral after he celebrated International Drag Day on air - by cramming as many drag references into a report as possible.
  
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