General news

• Family of Swede who vanished after saving Jews sue Russian state

  27-07-2017 23:43 via theguardian.com
  Raoul Wallenberg saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during the 1940s but disappeared after Soviets took BudapestThe family of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during the second world war before disappearing when Hungary came under under Soviet rule, are suing Russia’s security service for access to its files, their lawyer said Thursday. Related: War hero Wallenberg was executed in Soviet gulagContinue reading...
  
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• Nikita Parris seals victory over Portugal as below-par England win Group D

  27-07-2017 23:20 via theguardian.com
  • Portugal 1-2 England
  • Mark Sampson’s side will face France in quarter-final on SundayMark Sampson’s second stringers revealed some worrying imperfections but still did what was required to set the stage for an intriguing quarter-final against France in Deventer on Sunday. Related: Portugal 1-2 England: Euro 2017 – as it happenedContinue reading...
  
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• Style of the ocean liners – in pictures

  27-07-2017 23:14 via theguardian.com
  The Duke of Windsor’s 100 pieces of matching luggage, a carved wooden panel from the Titanic and a Cartier diamond encrusted tiara salvaged from the torpedoed Lusitania are just some of the amazing pieces that will be on show in next spring’s V&A’s exhibition, Ocean Liners: Speed and Style Continue reading...
  
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• Leighton Baines rescues Everton as Wayne Rooney makes slow start

  27-07-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  • Everton 1-0 Ruzomberok
  • Baines 65New-look Everton’s latest European campaign got off to only a stuttering start, though at least Leighton Baines’s second-half goal gives them a slender advantage to try to hold on to in Slovakia next week. There were several promising debuts as well, though Wayne Rooney found himself slightly upstaged by his fellow recruit Sandro Ramírez, who does not actually look much younger but plays with the zip, confidence and aggression one
  
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• Adam Gemili claims he raced at trials with injury after selectors’ ultimatum

  27-07-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  • Gemili omitted from 200m team for home world championships
  • Sprinter had hamstring injury but says he ‘had to’ race at trialsAdam Gemili has revealed his frustration at being overlooked for a 200m spot on Great Britain’s world championship team and claims selectors effectively forced him to compete at the trials, risking aggravating an injury.A three-times European gold medallist, Gemili missed out on Olympic bronze in Rio last summer by three thousandths of a seco
  
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• Crossbow man held by police

  27-07-2017 22:45
  Officers were called after a man was seen with a crossbow and a knife in Manchester.
  
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• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – briefly – becomes world's richest man

  27-07-2017 22:44 via theguardian.com
  Share price jump of 40% in 2017 made founder worth $91bn – for a short while leapfrogging the fortune of Microsoft founder Bill Gates The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos briefly overtook Microsoft’s Bill Gates to become the world’s richest person.
  Bezos leapfrogged Gates, who has been the richest man on the planet since 2013, after a rise in the share price of Amazon ahead of its latest results due Thursday night.Continue reading...
  
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• England’s Tom Westley feels familiar admiration for defiant Alastair Cook

  27-07-2017 22:42 via theguardian.com
  • Former England captain impresses Essex team-mate on Test debut
  • Tourists keep up the pressure after Trent Bridge victoryAlastair Cook has his sights trained on what would be a 31st Test hundred after the opener delivered a message of authority to his fellow England batsmen about the virtues of restraint on a tight and rain-affected opening day against South Africa here on Thursday.Though he stood down from the captaincy at the start of the year Cook’s unbeaten 82 led the way f
  
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• Vic Mensa: The Autobiography review – candid rapper falls short

  27-07-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  (Roc Nation)Three years after his breakthrough with hip-house anthem Down on My Luck, Vic Mensa has apparently scrapped one album on the way to this debut – clearly aiming for the kind of grand rap statement that, a la Kendrick, unites the old and new schools. His candour about depression and drug addiction is arresting, as on the Pharrell track Wings, where pills turn him into “an armoured truck riding the rink”; woman trouble is amusingly, vividly rendered on Gorgeous, as he
  
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• Chronixx: Chronology review – joyous reggae: forget your troubles and skank

  27-07-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  (Virgin EMI) Although reggae is not as ubiquitous in the charts as it was in the 1970s and 80s, recently it’s enjoyed an upsurge as an element of mainstream pop. And 24-year-old Kingston singer Jamar McNaughton – Chronixx – is making it a chart force again by itself. Already a US smash, his long-awaited debut fuses old-school roots and lover’s rock with contemporary dancehall, rap, R&B and EDM, but this is essentially a celebratory pop album. The likes of Big Bad Soun
  
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• Balancing out the lulls of wind power with a wider reach across Europe

  27-07-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Europe has seven prevailing weather regimes, a system windfarms could better exploit to even out supply and demand
  Renewable energy is great in principle, but, some people may say, how do we keep the lights on when the wind fails to blow or the sun doesn’t shine? The issue of “intermittency” is a criticism of renewables, but a study analysing weather patterns across Europe shows that a decent wind is almost always blowing somewhere on the continent. Related: World's first float
  
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• Man with knife and crossbow tasered by police in Manchester

  27-07-2017 22:16
  A man armed with a crossbow and knife has been tasered by police in Manchester city centre.A 30-year-old was arrested on suspicion of carrying offensive weapons and taken to hospital after suffering injuries to his hand.A police cordon was put in place around a bag the man was carrying.
  
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• Australian babies given antibiotics at some of the highest rates in the world

  27-07-2017 22:06
  Of comparable countries, only Italy has a higher rate of prescribing antibiotics for babies than Australia.Australian babies are prescribed antibiotics at some of the highest rates in the world, risking possible long-term side-effects and speeding up antibiotic resistance in the community, which has been described by the World Health Organisation as a “global health emergency”.Half of the babies tracked were were given antibiotics in the first year of life, many for conditions the re
  
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• Colson Whitehead adds Arthur C Clarke award to growing prize haul

  27-07-2017 22:00 via theguardian.com
  The Underground Railroad, a fantastic reimagining of US slavery, takes the UK’s pre-eminent science fiction prize a day after being longlisted for the Man BookerFresh from being nominated for the 2017 Man Booker prize, Colson Whitehead’s alternative history of slavery in the US, The Underground Railroad, has won the UK’s top honour for science fiction, the Arthur C Clarke award.A fantastical take on the real-life Underground Railroad, which was a network of safe houses and rout
  
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• Male tech CEO pretended to be female sexual harassment victim, suit claims

  27-07-2017 21:51 via theguardian.com
  Venture capitalist Anis Uzzaman alleges male rival published fake blogpost purporting to be an anonymous woman ‘taken advantage of’ by UzzamanAn anonymous blogpost accusing a Silicon Valley venture capitalist of sexual misconduct was written by a male executive who pretended to be a female victim of harassment in order to damage the reputation of a competitor, according to a lawsuit. The complaint filed by Anis Uzzaman, a prominent tech investor and CEO of Fenox Venture Capital, alle
  
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• McDonald's worker fired for tweeting pics of disgusting kitchen including mould and grease

  27-07-2017 21:41
  A McDonald's worker from Louisiana said he was sacked after he shared photos of what he described as "disgusting" conditions inside the kitchen where he worked.The employee said he was sacked from the McDonald's restaurant in LaPlace, after he put a series of repulsive photos on social media earlier in July.The employee, named Nick, spoke to Buzzfeed and asked for his last name to remain secret after he uploaded the images to Twitter on 15 July.
  
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• Charlie Gard's parents: Great Ormond Street 'denied us our final wish'

  27-07-2017 21:37
  Charlie Gard's parents say their "final wish" has been denied by Great Ormond Street Hospital, after a judge ordered their child's transfer to a hospice.Connie Yates and Chris Gard tried to secure their son several days of life support treatment in a hospice - but the move was opposed by the hospital which said their plans were not "in any way viable".High Court judge Mr Justice Francis has ruled that Charlie will be moved from Great Ormond Street (GOSH) to a hospice, where his artificial ventil
  
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• Healthcare 'vote-a-rama': Senate to decide on dozens of proposals – live

  27-07-2017 21:36 via theguardian.com
  Republicans desperately trying to repeal Obama’s Affordable Care ActRepublican healthcare debate: what is a ‘skinny repeal’ of Obamacare?Trump’s healthcare battle reminds Scaramucci of Lincoln fighting slavery 8.34pm BSTThings are getting interesting on Capitol Hill as House Republicans have been told to “be flexible” on their travel plans. The House had been scheduled to begin their August recess tomorrow but may now stick around to vote on a bill approved by
  
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• Official estimates of international students in UK 'potentially misleading'

  27-07-2017 21:35 via theguardian.com
  Research by government’s statistics watchdog casts doubt on supposed high level of students overstaying their visasOfficial estimates of international students remaining in the UK are “potentially misleading” and should be treated with caution, according to the government’s statistics watchdog.The investigation into the quality of long-term student migration figures – undertaken by the Office for Statistics Regulation – amounts to a rap on the knuckles for the
  
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• Scotland v Spain: Euro 2017 – live!

  27-07-2017 21:34 via theguardian.com
  Live updates from the final night of group gamesFollow England’s match against Portugal hereEuro 2017 wallchart: standings, fixtures and resultsFeel free to email Barry or tweet @bglendenning 8.34pm BSTNo, really. It’s scarcely credible, but Scotland’s players troop off for their half-time brew, in a match Spain have completely dominated, with the most unlikely of leads. It won’t be enough to see them through to the quarter-finals if things stay as they are, but they&rsqu
  
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• Portugal v England: Euro 2017 – live!

  27-07-2017 21:33 via theguardian.com
  Updates from the Group D game at Koning Willem II StadionScotland v Spain – live with Barry GlendenningEmail [email protected]. Tweet @JacobSteinberg8.33pm BSTA messy half draws to a close. England led early, but their defence was finally punctured by Neto, whose goal means Portugal are sitting in second place now. 8.29pm BST43 min: Scotland have taken the lead against Spain. As it stands, England and Portugal are going through. Related: Scotland v Spain: Euro 2017 – li
  
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• Injuries as hail stones as large as golf balls sweep Istanbul

  27-07-2017 21:32 via theguardian.com
  Rain, hail and high winds in Turkish city lead to floods, collapsed wall at cemetery and explosion at port A severe summer storm in Istanbul has left at least three people injured, with heavy rain, hail and strong winds knocking down trees and a stone wall and flooding streets in the Turkish city.The NTV television channel said part of a stone wall surrounding a cemetery for the Christian Armenian community had been demolished in Thursday’s storm, hurting two people. Footage showed rescue
  
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• Steve Bell on where the UK stands with Brexit – cartoon

  27-07-2017 21:25 via theguardian.com
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• Watching Alastair Cook at the crease has reassuring quality of Englishness | Barney Ronay

  27-07-2017 21:18 via theguardian.com
  The former captain showed he has plenty of batting life with a defiant stand against a disciplined South Africa attack on the opening dayShortly after lunch at The Oval, Alastair Cook leaned back like a man settling into his favourite well-worn upright chair and nudged Keshav Maharaj away through square leg for a single, making his ground with that familiar knock-kneed jog. The run brought up England’s hundred in the 29th over of a tough, tight airless day in south London. As the crowd rel
  
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• Libor interest rate to be phased out after string of scandals

  27-07-2017 21:09 via theguardian.com
  Index will not be used after 2021 despite reforms put in place because banks no longer want to participate in setting itThe Libor interest rate benchmark used to price billions of pounds of financial products, which was linked to a series of bank scandals, is to be phased out.The index will be phased out in 2021 despite a series of reforms put in place to clean up the way the rate is set. Continue reading...
  
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• Sports Direct increases French Connection stake to 27%

  27-07-2017 21:06 via theguardian.com
  Mike Ashley’s firm has bought out activist investors, increasing its own share percentage close to the 30% threshold whereby it must launch a takeover bidMike Ashley’s Sports Direct has increased its stake in French Connection to 27%, taking it close to a level at which it must launch a takeover bid.Sports Direct has bought out activist investors, including Gatemore Capital Management – a London-based hedge fund that had an 8% stake – and OTK, an investment firm that owne
  
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• Trust me on antibiotics, doctor – I’m a patient | Anne Perkins

  27-07-2017 21:03 via theguardian.com
  Evidence that finishing the course may fuel bacterial resistance will test our relationship with experts – and perhaps begin the healing process• Anne Perkins is a Guardian columnistEarly in 1941 Albert Alexander, a middle-aged police officer, went to his local hospital – the John Radcliffe, in Oxford – with a nasty infected scratch on his face. Popular legend says the injury was caused by a thorn on a rosebush; others believe that it had been inflicted during a bombing ra
  
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• Readers recommend: share your songs about loss

  27-07-2017 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Make your nomination in the comments and a reader will pick the best eligible tracks for a playlist next week – you have until Monday 31 July We’ve all lost something sometime – only to either find it in the last place we looked, or to pine for it ever more. To find out more about how fellow readers and this week’s guru might interpret the theme, keep an eye on the comments.
  You have until 11pm on Monday 31 July to post your nomination and make your justification. RR cont
  
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• Met says Grenfell Tower council 'may have committed corporate manslaughter'

  27-07-2017 20:59 via theguardian.com
  Met police says there are reasonable grounds to suspect council and tenant management organisation may have committed offence The Scotland Yard investigation into the Grenfell fire disaster has said there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect the council and the organisation that managed the tower block of corporate manslaughter.The two organisations under suspicion are Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation.Continue readin
  
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• 'Privileged' Justin Trudeau accused of colonialist attitude over boxing match

  27-07-2017 20:51 via theguardian.com
  Account of how 2012 match against fellow politician Patrick Brazeau came about doesn’t square with vows to repair Canada’s relationship with indigenous peopleIn one corner stood Canada’s youngest senator, heavily tattooed and armed with a black belt in karate. In the other stood a lanky Justin Trudeau, the underdog whom bookies were giving 3-1 odds against.
  That 2012 boxing match marked a pivotal moment in Trudeau’s political career. But his account of the episode is now
  
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• Kagiso Rabada’s heat-seeking missile demolishes Dawid Malan’s big day | Ali Martin

  27-07-2017 20:50 via theguardian.com
  The South Africa paceman returned with a vengeance from his ban, and gave England’s selectors much to consider as they look towards the AshesThere are few more visceral thrills in cricket than the sight of stumps being demolished by an inswinging yorker and though the batsman, Dawid Malan, might not have appreciated this as he lay sprawled on the crease, Kagiso Rabada had just delivered one such moment. Related: Alastair Cook props up wobbly England amid South Africa’s pace barrageCo
  
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• Crew of anti-migrant boat 'deported' from Cyprus over 'people-smuggling'

  27-07-2017 20:47 via theguardian.com
  Nine people from ship hired by far-right group reportedly deported after being arrested for allegedly using false documentsThe crew of a ship hired by a European far-right movement aiming to disrupt migrant rescues in the Mediterranean have reportedly been deported from Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus for alleged people-smuggling after 21 south Asians were found onboard. Related: Italy feels the heat as EU shuts doors to migrantsContinue reading...
  
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• Boy Scouts chief apologises for Trump's 'political rhetoric' at national jamboree

  27-07-2017 20:46 via theguardian.com
  Trump gave odd partisan speech in front of 40,000 12- to 18-year-olds ‘I extend my sincere apologies to those in our family who were offended’The head of the Boy Scouts of America has apologised to the organization for the “political rhetoric that was inserted” into its national gathering this week by Donald Trump. “I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree,&r
  
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• Charlie Gard to be moved to a hospice to die, British judge rules

  27-07-2017 20:15
  By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate HoltonLONDON (Reuters) - Charlie Gard will spend his final hours in a hospice before the ventilator that keeps him alive is turned off, a judge ruled on Thursday, after a harrowing legal battle that prompted a debate over who has the moral right to decide the fate of a sick child.Charlie's distraught parents had been trying to find a medical team that could look after him in a hospice for several days so that they could bid farewell to him just days before his first
  
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• AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot's 'pivotal' year is turning out horribly

  27-07-2017 20:11 via theguardian.com
  Firm’s share price has crashed after a key cancer drug flopped in trials, leading £13m-a-year CEO to insist: ‘I’m not a quitter’This year would be “pivotal” for AstraZeneca, its chief executive, Pascal Soriot, has said for ages. It would mark the moment when the firm would display the new wonders from its laboratories. The march towards annual revenues of $45bn (£34.5bn) by 2023, the target set when Pfizer’s takeover offer was rebuffed three
  
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• Israeli security forces and Palestinian worshippers clash outside al-Aqsa mosque

  27-07-2017 20:10 via theguardian.com
  Scenes follow jubilation over Israel’s decision to remove controversial security devices installed at one of Jerusalem’s most-revered sitesPalestinians and Israeli security forces clashed inside the Jerusalem compound that houses the al-Aqsa mosque on Thursday night, as thousands of Muslims rushed to pray at the site for the first time in nearly two weeks following Israel’s removal of controversial security devices.Scenes of jubilation inside one of the city’s most revere
  
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• The Guardian view on Trump’s transgender military ban: sad

  27-07-2017 20:08 via theguardian.com
  The proposed ban is wrong on every score: it is cruel and obscure, a nasty piece of positioning intended to deflect attention from the president’s mounting difficultiesDonald Trump’s ad hoc announcement-by-tweet that transgender individuals would be barred from the US military was not just bad; it was bad in three separate ways. It was contemptuous of those individuals already in the forces or aspiring to join them; it denied their right to equality despite a cynical campaign pl
  
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• The Guardian view on antibiotics: don’t keep taking the tablets | Editorial

  27-07-2017 20:07 via theguardian.com
  When knowledge advances, so should the advice doctors giveThe idea that we have a moral duty to complete any course of antibiotics that the doctor prescribes is intuitively comforting. Following the course to the end appears as an act of solidarity against the genuinely terrible threat of widespread antibiotic resistance, something that could make medicine as we know it impossibly dangerous. Following the doctor’s orders allows us to be mildly uncomfortable in pursuit of collective good. S
  
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• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos becomes world's richest man

  27-07-2017 20:06 via theguardian.com
  Share price jump of 40% in 2017 makes founder worth $91bn leapfrogging Bill Gates with company now selling 43% of everything sold online in the USThere is a new name at the top of the world wealth league. The founder of Amazon has overtaken Microsoft’s Bill Gates to claim the title of world’s richest person.Jeff Bezos leapfrogged Gates, who has been the richest man on the planet since 2013, after a rise in the share price of Amazon ahead of its latest results due later on Thursday. C
  
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• Charlie Gard Latest: Parents Accuse Great Ormond Street Hospital Of 'Denying Our Final Wish'

  27-07-2017 20:05
  The parents of Charlie Gard have accused Great Ormond Street Hospital of “denying us our final wish” after a High Court judge approved a plan which will see their son moved to a hospice but without intensive medical support.
  
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• Try as he might, Trump's tweets can't change military policy on trans troops | Matt Thorn

  27-07-2017 20:03 via theguardian.com
  There are 15,500 transgender men and women serving throughout the world. They will not go away simply because Trump tells them ‘You’re fired!’ It’s hard to find a historical precedent for Donald Trump’s tweet storm about removing transgender men and women from the US Armed Forces. In large part, this is because none of his predecessors has shared his obsession with Twitter. Mostly, though, it’s because presidents don’t kick a class of people out of our a
  
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• Grenfell Tower fire: Grounds for corporate manslaughter charges

  27-07-2017 20:03
  Police investigating the Grenfell Tower fire say there are grounds to suspect corporate manslaughter may have been committed.In a letter to residents affected by the disaster, which left at least 80 people dead, the Metropolitan Police said it had told both Kensington and Chelsea Council and the Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation that they could be prosecuted for the offence.
  
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• From goo to glue: slug slime inspires new wound-mending surgical adhesive

  27-07-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Impressed by the sticky and elastic properties of slug mucus, researchers have developed tough, flexible glues that can even work on bloody, moving tissue If there are two words in the English language likely to trigger a curl of the lip, “slug mucus” would be towards the top of the list. But while the molluscs and their slimy secretions are the bane of the green-fingered, it seems they have triggered a moment of inspiration in the laboratory.
  Researchers say they have developed toug
  
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• Putin: Russia will retaliate if 'insolent' US lawmakers pass sanctions bill

  27-07-2017 19:59 via theguardian.com
  Putin says US behavior ‘destroys international law’ as bill heads to the Senate after easily passing through the House of RepresentativesVladimir Putin has accused US lawmakers of “insolence”, and promised Russia will retaliate if the latest round of US sanctions against Russia are signed into law. The House of Representatives voted by 419 votes to three on Tuesday to pass the new sanctions bill, which targets Russia as well as North Korea and Iran. Continue reading...
  
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• Max Verstappen among drivers to speak out against halo cockpit safety system

  27-07-2017 19:55 via theguardian.com
  • FIA has announced head-protection device will be mandatory from 2018
  • ‘It’s not just the looks, I don’t think it is necessary,’ says Red Bull driverSeveral Formula One drivers have spoken out strongly in opposition to the introduction of the halo cockpit protection system in the lead-up to the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend. Related: FIA defends decision to enforce F1 halo cockpit protection device for 2018Continue reading...
  
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• British police say grounds for corporate manslaughter over tower blaze - BBC

  27-07-2017 19:49
  British police have said there are grounds for corporate manslaughter charges over the Grenfell Tower fire that killed at least 80 people last month, the BBC reported on Thursday.The BBC said Kensington and Chelsea Council and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation have been told there are grounds for considering charges against them.The BBC cited a letter from London police to residents of the tower block.
  
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• Andy Coulson's PR firm parts company with Telegraph

  27-07-2017 19:46 via theguardian.com
  Coulson Chappell, set up after he was released from jail for conspiracy to intercept voicemails, was hired to promote image of newspapersThe Telegraph is understood to have dispensed with the services of Andy Coulson, less than four months after hiring the former editor of the News of the World to promote the image of the paper.Coulson’s public relations firm Coulson Chappell, set up after he was released from jail following the phone-hacking scandal, was appointed in March. Continue readi
  
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• Andy Coulson's PR firm parts company with Telegraph

  27-07-2017 19:46
  Andy Coulson is understood to have parted company with the Telegraph.The Telegraph is understood to have dispensed with the services of Andy Coulson, less than four months after hiring the former editor of the News of the World to promote the image of the paper.Coulson’s public relations firm Coulson Chappell, set up after he was released from jail following the phone-hacking scandal, was appointed in March.
  
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• Labour demands inquiry into privatisation of NHS-owned recruiter

  27-07-2017 19:45 via theguardian.com
  Party argues NHS Professionals, which helps NHS England avoid gaps in rotas and saves £70m per year, should be kept in public hands Labour is demanding an inquiry into the privatisation of a government-owned NHS recruitment firm that saves hospitals £70m a year.NHS Professionals helps the health service in England tackle its staffing crisis by arranging for doctors and nurses on its books to cover potentially harmful gaps in rotas.Continue reading...
  
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• Great Ormond Street Hospital 'denied us our final wish', Charlie Gard's parents say

  27-07-2017 19:44
  Charlie Gard's parents say their "final wish" has been denied by Great Ormond Street Hospital, after a judge ordered their child's transfer to a hospice.Connie Yates and Chris Gard tried to secure their son several days of life support treatment in a hospice - but the move was opposed by GOSH which said their plans were not "in any way viable".High Court judge Mr Justice Francis has ruled that Charlie will be moved from GOSH to a hospice, where his artificial ventilation will be removed after a
  
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