General news

• Chester Bennington's Passing Is A Stark Reminder Of The Seriousness Of Depression But There Is Hope

  20-07-2017 23:42
  
  It was the news that so many of us wanted to be untrue as the media began reporting the death of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington.A close friend to Chris Cornell of Soundgarden fame, who passed away earlier this year in what appears to be extremely similar and tragic circumstances, it is believed that Chester sadly took his own life.For me and almost everyone I know, Linkin Park was a soundtrack to our teenage years and Hybrid Theory was an album that we all hold close to our hearts to th
  
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• Ed Sheeran's promoter and two MPs demand Viagogo answers

  20-07-2017 23:14
  
  Ed Sheeran's promoter and two MPs have been turned away from the London offices of the ticket resale site Viagogo after demanding answers about their business practices.The protest was joined by customers who claim they have been ripped off by the company which can add a large fee to a ticket's face value, as well as VAT.Kerry West from Herne Bay in Kent tried to buy four tickets to one of Sheeran's Wembley dates in 2018.
  
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• MPs demand answers from Viagogo

  20-07-2017 23:10
  
  Ed Sheeran's promoter and two MPs have been turned away from the London offices of the ticket resale site Viagogo after demanding answers about their business practices.
  
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• Cabinet accepts Brexit transition will mean years of free movement

  20-07-2017 23:00
  
  Some ministers, including Michael Gove (right, here with fellow Brexiter Liam Fox) have resisted a Brexit transition period.The British cabinet has accepted that free movement of people for up to four years after Britain leaves the EU will be part of a Brexit transition deal, according to a senior source.As the EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, underlined the need for clarity on the British side at the end of the latest round of exit negotiations, soft Brexiters in the cabinet are now confide
  
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• Woman who posed as a man and duped friend into sex jailed after retrial

  20-07-2017 22:47
  Gayle Newland was found guilty of committing sexual assault by penetration, using a prosthetic penis, during a retrial at Manchester Crown Court in June.Judge David Stockdale QC told the defendant during sentencing that it was "difficult to conceive of a deceit so degrading or so damaging for the victim upon its discovery".On Thursday, Judge Stockdale told Newland: "This was a deceit of such subtlety and cunning in its planning and was a deceit, from your point of view, so successful in its exec
  
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• 'Misleading calls' over bus stop baby

  20-07-2017 22:44 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The search for the mother of the newborn girl is hampered by 'misleading calls,' police say.
  
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• Girl, 5, left sobbing after heartless council workers fine her £150 for selling LEMONADE without a permit - The Sun

  20-07-2017 22:39 via thesun.co.uk
  
  The Sun
  Girl, 5, left sobbing after heartless council workers fine her £150 for selling LEMONADE without a permit
  The Sun
  HEARTLESS council jobsworths reduced a five-year-old girl to tears by shutting down her homemade lemonade stall. The little lass set up a stall selling the homemade fizzy drink to revellers heading to a festival in east London. The five-year-old was ...and more »
  
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• Factbox - Brexit crunch: Where the battles lie

  20-07-2017 21:52
  British and European Union negotiators have laid out their disagreements after a first week of talks on a treaty to disentangle the country from the EU in 2019 while limiting disruption to the economy and people's lives.Here's what look to be the crunch points for now:MONEY, MONEY, MONEYEU SAYS: Britain must pay a share of money the EU committed to spend when it was a member state and this will have to be paid after it leaves on March 30, 2019.A pledge last week that mutual rights and obligation
  
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• Liam Fox casts doubt on meeting 2019 Brexit deal deadline

  20-07-2017 21:02
  
  International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has told Sky News that he "doesn't have a problem" with a Brexit implementation period.Dr Fox, who has previously suggested a transition deal should last months and not years, said an implementation period of "a couple of years" might be "common sense".This is because, according to Dr Fox, there was now "some uncertainty" as to whether Brexit Secretary David Davis will be able to conclude a trade deal with the EU by March 2019.
  
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• O.J. Simpson To Be Released From Prison After Almost Nine Years In Jail

  20-07-2017 20:55
  
  O.J. Simpson is to be released from prison and will be a free man in less than three months.
  
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• Diane Abbott Slams ITV After Struggling To Explain How Labour Would Fund Extra Police Officers In Interview

  20-07-2017 20:52
  
  Diane Abbott has struggled to explain how Labour would fund thousands of new police officers during an awkward TV interview.
  
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• Motorists delayed by 25 tons of melting Lion bars on A2 in Kent after lorry fire

  20-07-2017 20:05
  Twenty-five tons of melting Lion chocolate bars sparked severe delays for motorists on Thursday morning.London-bound drivers on the A2 in Kent suffered long waits after a lorry carrying the cargo burst into flames near the junction for the Bluewater shopping centre.The A2 was fully reopened at 2.25pm after fire crews worked with Kent Highways to put out the blaze and remove the chocolate load, which had melted onto the tarmac.
  
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• BBC pay disclosure raises broader questions on inequality | Letters

  20-07-2017 19:56
  
  ‘Would Chris Evans’ £2.2m salary be any more acceptable if he was a woman,’ asks John Thorn.Among the furore arising from the publication of top BBC salaries, it has been suggested that, as a result of the gender pay gap reporting regulations, all companies and organisations employing more than 250 people will face similar issues from April 2018 (Ending the silence, G2, 20 July).
  
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• Haringey council is doing what residents tell us they want | Letter from Cllr Alan Strickland

  20-07-2017 19:55
  
  A flyer for a demonstration against Haringey’s proposed developments. ‘The days when the public purse could meet a community’s investment needs are long gone,’ writes Cllr Alan Strickland. Photograph: Emerson Utracik/Rex/Shutterstock
  
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• UK zoo donates white rhino eggs in IVF bid to save species

  20-07-2017 19:51
  
  A British zoo is using IVF technology to help the three remaining northern white rhinos procreate and save the species from extinction.Scientists at Longleat safari park in Warminster, England, extracted nine eggs from three female southern white rhinos in their facility earlier this week.The eggs will be used by researchers at a clinic in Italy to develop IVF technology that eventually could be used with genetic material from the northern whites.
  
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• Gary Lineker's Agent Jon Holmes Responds To 'Sexism' Claims

  20-07-2017 19:34
  
  Gary Lineker’s agent has hit back at claims he was “sexist” for appearing to suggest female BBC stars weren’t paid as much as men because of “not as tough” women agents.
  
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• Few compromises at Brexit talks, minister says UK can survive without deal

  20-07-2017 19:25
  
  By Alastair Macdonald and Andrew MacAskillBRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union and Britain offered few compromises at their first full round of Brexit talks which ended on Thursday, and the pound fell on worries that British ministers were prepared to walk away without a divorce deal.While negotiators laid out their disagreements in Brussels,Prime Minister Theresa May met company bosses at home, with one employers' group saying her government needed to engage in "sustained and structur
  
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• More ex-ministers take private sector jobs amid 'revolving door' claims

  20-07-2017 18:46
  
  Francis Maude, the former Cabinet Office minister, has taken nine external roles in the past year.The number of former ministers taking up jobs outside parliament has risen by nearly 60% in a year, official figures disclose.The increase, from 33 former ministers to 52, coincides with complaints that lawmakers are routinely making use of a “revolving door” to pursue lucrative contracts in the private sector.
  
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• 9 eyecatching extracts from Donald Trump’s latest extensive interview

  20-07-2017 18:42
  
  “I have had the best reviews on foreign land.”
  
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• We Love Our Jobs But British Airways Needs To Know We Won't Give Up Our Fight For A Better Deal

  20-07-2017 18:36
  
  British Airways' mixed fleet cabin crew have been involved in a long running dispute over pay and the sanctioning of crew who have taken strike action.
  
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• University contracts could help students sue if tuition is poor

  20-07-2017 18:29
  
  Jo Johnson will ask the new Office for Students to consider a sector-wide university-student contract.The government is considering introducing legally binding contracts for students that would allow them to sue their university for failure to deliver on promises.The contract would set out what students should expect from their college in terms of contact time, number of tutorials and lectures, assessments and feedback.
  
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• Black-winged stilts: Record year for UK breeding

  20-07-2017 18:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The number fledging from the UK in 2017 is more than the total number for the previous 30 years.
  
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• This nine-year-old boy literally stumbled across an incredibly rare, 1.2 million-year-old fossil

  20-07-2017 18:18
  
  Stegomastodons belonged to the Gomphotheres animal family, who are distantly related to modern day elephants.
  
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• Woman who posed as man to dupe friend into sex is jailed after retrial

  20-07-2017 18:14
  
  Gayle Newland adopted a male online persona called Kye Fortune to seduce a fellow student.A woman who pretended to be a man to dupe her female friend into sex has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison following a retrial.Gayle Newland, 27, was convicted in September 2015 and sentenced to eight years, only to be freed on appeal last autumn.
  
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• May to start three-week European holiday on Monday - spokeswoman

  20-07-2017 18:11
  
  British Prime Minister Theresa May will begin a three-week European holiday on Monday, with a short interruption to attend an official engagement part way through, her spokeswoman said.The spokeswoman said May and her husband would spend five days in northern Italy, then return to Britain and join members of the royal family to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the World War One Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium on July 31."The prime minister is still in charge and will be constantly updated
  
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• Exclusive - BMW favours UK plant to build electric Mini: sources

  20-07-2017 18:10
  By Irene Preisinger and Edward TaylorMUNICH/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - BMW's Oxford factory in England is currently the favoured location for building an electric version of the Mini despite Britain's planned departure from the European Union, two sources familiar with the company's thinking told Reuters on Wednesday.Any decision by the German carmaker to commit to further spending at Oxford would be a boost to the British government, which has been warned by businesses at home and abroad that Brexit
  
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• Understanding Acid Attacks Is The Key To Tackling This Crime

  20-07-2017 18:06
  
  The very fact that MPs have been called to debate acid attacks reveals that the authorities have been caught on the hop by the rise of this violent and horrific crime.
  
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• BBC Pay

  20-07-2017 17:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  We found out that all the top earners were older, white men - but what else have we discovered?
  
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• The 'Burningly Unjust' Reason That's Behind Half Of School Pupil Exclusions

  20-07-2017 17:52
  
  Troubling New Research  The ‘burning injustice ’ Half of pupils who are expelled from school have a mental health issue, researchers have claimed.
  
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• 'Vince Cable is a building block': Lib Dems on the party's future

  20-07-2017 17:50
  
  Vince Cable attends the announcement of his confirmation as leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrat Party in London, July 20, 2017.Vince Cable is officially the new leader of the Liberal Democrats.Cable takes over after a disappointing general election performance for the party, who had hoped to make more gains after it presented itself as the party of the 48% who voted Remain under the leadership of Tim Farron.
  
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• Chris Evans 'asked mum for advice' after BBC salary reveal

  20-07-2017 17:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The presenter told listeners he'd asked his 91-year-old mum what to do, after his pay was revealed.
  
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• Why Is Boots More Concerned About Anti-Contraception Sexists Than Women Who Need The Morning After Pill?

  20-07-2017 17:45
  
  "We would not want to be accused of incentivizing inappropriate use, and provoking complaints, by significantly reducing the price of this product."
  
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• Theresa May’s Salary Dwarfed By Her £2m Downing Street Perks

  20-07-2017 17:43
  
  After years of campaigning, the BBC was this week finally forced to reveal the on-air talent who make more than the Prime Minister.
  
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• Criticism And Free Speech

  20-07-2017 17:41
  
  Our group Resisting Hate come under a lot of flak for the stand we take against hate speech.
  
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• The Real Refugee Crisis Isn't On Our TV Screens

  20-07-2017 17:39
  
  After the listlessness of winter, summer is usually the antidote.
  
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• Who was Marshall McLuhan and how did he predict the internet?

  20-07-2017 17:37
  
  Who was Marshall McLuhan and how did he predict the internet?
  
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• The Vince Cable story: Profile of new Lib Dem leader - BBC News

  20-07-2017 17:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC News
  The Vince Cable story: Profile of new Lib Dem leader
  BBC News
  Sir Vince Cable has been crowned leader of the Liberal Democrats without a contest - this is the story of how he got there. He is one of the most recognisable faces in British politics: a former minister in the coalition government, a ballroom dancing ...and more »
  
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• Rising crime spells deep trouble for Theresa May

  20-07-2017 17:34
  
  The cut in police numbers is an issue with the political potency to cut through even the dullest of election campaigns.The latest set of police recorded crime figures published on Thursday showing accelerating double-digit rises across England and Wales spells serious political trouble for Theresa May and her home secretary, Amber Rudd.
  
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• Pound tumbles to eight-month low against the euro

  20-07-2017 17:26
  The pound has tumbled to an eight-month low against the euro spelling higher costs for British holidaymakers getting ready for summer breaks.
  
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• Navy detonates WWII bomb a few feet from shore

  20-07-2017 17:25
  
  A bomb discovered in the sea at Southend dating from WWII has been safely disposed of by the Royal Navy.
  
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• Much talk, few compromises in first Brexit negotiations

  20-07-2017 17:21
  
  By Alastair Macdonald and Francesco GuarascioBRUSSELS (Reuters) - British and EU chief negotiators laid out their opening positions in a first full round of Brexit talks that confirmed some common ground on how Britain will leave the European Union, but little compromise on key disputes.David Davis and Michel Barnier said on Thursday that four "constructive" days of "robust" talks between their respective teams in Brussels had helped "build trust" and explain many of the details of their competi
  
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• Killer Women: Sheila Davalloo Murdered Husband And Lover’s Girlfriend

  20-07-2017 17:18
  
  For ITV’s final instalment of Killer Women, Piers Morgan travels to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York state to meet Sheila Davalloo.
  
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• Fail to prepare, prepare for glorious success in Brexit negotiations | John Crace

  20-07-2017 17:18
  
  More than half an hour later than planned, Michel Barnier and David Davis walked into the lecture theatre to give their joint press conference to mark the end of the latest round of Brexit negotiations in Brussels.“Particularly for us,” Davis interrupted, never one to pass up an opportunity to speak for Little Britain on a global stage.
  
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• HMS Glasgow warship 'historic milestone' for Royal Navy

  20-07-2017 17:16
  Britain's Navy has been declared "on the rise again" as the first steel was cut for a new fleet of warships.HMS Glasgow was christened by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon at a ceremony in the city it was named after.The anti-submarine Type 26 frigate will be the first one built and eventually be the length of 15 buses.
  
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• Defend Europe Ship C-Star Detained Near Suez Canal

  20-07-2017 17:15
  
  A ship chartered by far-right group Defend Europe to hamper the rescue of refugees in the Mediterranean has been detained near the Suez Canal.
  
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• Vince Cable becomes leader of Liberal Democrat Party

  20-07-2017 17:14
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran lawmaker Vince Cable was elected unopposed to lead Britain's pro-European Liberal Democrat Party on Thursday, promising to restore the party's influence and use it to argue for a softer exit from the European Union. Cable, who served as business minister from 2010 to 2015 in a coalition led by the ruling Conservative Party, said in the run-up to his appointment that he believed Brexit might never happen because it was too divisive and too difficult to deliver. ...
  
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• Vince Cable named Lib Dem leader as no other candidate emerges

  20-07-2017 17:04
  
  Vince Cable said there was a ‘gaping hole’ in British politics.Sir Vince Cable is officially the new leader of the Liberal Democrats after he was the only candidate on the ballot paper when nominations closed at 4pm.The 74-year-old former business secretary succeeds Tim Farron, who stood down after a disappointing general election campaign.
  
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• Police numbers hit 30-year low as crime sees highest annual rise in a decade

  20-07-2017 16:53
  Crime in England and Wales has surged as police officer numbers hit the lowest level in more than 30 years, new figures show.Police forces recorded nearly five million crimes in the year to March - a 10% annual rise and the biggest year-on-year increase in a decade.It comes as a Home Office report reveals there were 123,142 officers across all ranks in England and Wales at the end of March this year - the lowest amount since 1985.
  
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• Hip to be Square Mile as plans unveiled for new London culture hub

  20-07-2017 16:43
  
  The project hopes to ensure the City’s north-west corner is no longer deserted at weekends.London’s Square Mile is known for being full of fast-moving finance workers and slow-moving traffic during the week, but hauntingly deserted at weekends.Plans were unveiled on Thursday for the “culture mile”, a 10 to 15-year initiative to transform the area between Farringdon and Moorgate.
  
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• Cecil The Lion’s Son Xanda Shot Dead In Zimbabwe By Big Game Hunter

  20-07-2017 16:39
  
  One of the cubs of Zimbabwe’s beloved Cecil the lion has reportedly been shot by a big game hunter.
  
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