General news

• Brexit Is A Catastrophe, Says David Davis' Ex-Chief Of Staff James Chapman

  08-08-2017 23:44
  The former chief of staff to Brexit Secretary David Davis has called Britain’s efforts to leave the EU a “catastrophe” and called on “sensible MPs” to admit it.
  
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• Model's reps say her ordeal was real despite shoe shopping

  08-08-2017 23:31
  MILAN (AP) — A model who claimed she was kidnapped in Italy and held captive in a remote farmhouse was spotted shopping with her alleged captor during the time she said she was being held, according to court documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
  
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• Country singer Glen Campbell dies at 81

  08-08-2017 23:18 via theguardian.com
  The Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter, who had a prolific 60-year career, died from Alzheimer’s on TuesdayThe country singer Glen Campbell died on Tuesday at the age of 81 after living with Alzheimer’s for six years. Related: Glen Campbell: a universal voice who defined American manhoodContinue reading...
  
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• UK government asks Ofcom to look into Fox's bid for Sky

  08-08-2017 22:39
  (Reuters) - Britain's department of culture said on Tuesday it had written to media watchdog Ofcom for more information on its views onTwenty-First Century Fox'sbid for Sky Plc .It said it wanted some clarification following a number of representations that has been made to it about Ofcom's finding in favour of the deal.Culture Secretary Karen Bradley, who is responsible for media issues, said in July that she needed to look at the evidence received before taking a decision about the bid, which
  
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• Macron urges talent to move to France after Brexit

  08-08-2017 22:05
  A leading contender in France's presidential race stood outside 10 Downing Street and said he wanted "banks, talents, researchers, academics" to move across the Channel after Brexit. Sky's Dominic Waghorn reports.
  
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• Ruth Davidson questions Conservatives' net migration target

  08-08-2017 22:04
  Ruth Davidson has questioned the Government's target of reducing net migration to less than 100,000.Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the Scottish Conservative leader called on her party to give British people a "mature debate" on the issue."Neither of the major parties of government has sought to have a meaningful and sustained discussion with the public about the merits and drawbacks of immigration," she wrote.
  
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• Study reveals why British migrants go to France - and vice versa

  08-08-2017 21:54
  As stereotypes go, when it comes to quality of life, no place is better than France.It's what emerges from a new survey that shows migration between the two frenemies is still strong - and roughly equal.The Office for National Statistics published a detailed paper on the dynamics of migration between Britain and France - the latest in a series of reports on migration between the UK and other EU member states published in the wake of the Brexit vote last year.
  
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• Hunt for 'vital clue' after elderly dog walker stabbed to death in Norfolk

  08-08-2017 21:20
  Police say a member of the public could hold a "vital clue" into the brutal murder of an 83-year-old man who was stabbed to death as he walked his dogs.The man, who had been walking with the animals in a remote woodland area in Norfolk, was stabbed repeatedly in the head and neck on Saturday morning.The victim had driven to the wooded area near the Fiveways Junction - close to the village of East Harling - in his Red Skoda Fabia.
  
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• Tories paid Crosby's firm millions for advising May's election campaign

  08-08-2017 20:51
  Sir Lynton Crosby, the Australian nicknamed the ‘wizard of Oz’ for his work as an election strategist.The Conservatives paid Sir Lynton Crosby’s firm millions of pounds for advice on Theresa May’s disastrous election campaign that saw her mocked for claiming to be “strong and stable”, it has emerged.The Sun first reported a Tory source claiming that the bill for Crosby’s company, CTF Partners, “was easily £4m and when the final invoices are t
  
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• Nadeem Muhammad found guilty over plane pipe bomb after release 'error'

  08-08-2017 20:50
  A man convicted of taking a pipe bomb onto a flight at Manchester Airport was initially released after "errors" by police.Nadeem Muhammad, 43, tried to take a device made of masking tape, batteries, the tube of a marker pen, pins and wires onto a Ryanair flight to Italy on 30 January hidden in the zip lining of his small green suitcase.Manchester Crown Court heard officials initially believed the bomb was not viable as it had no trace of explosives and a security manager even put the device, whi
  
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• 'Inspiring' triathlete Douglas Waymark dies swimming English Channel

  08-08-2017 20:36
  A "truly inspiring" British triathlete has died attempting to cross the English Channel in a race from Marble Arch to the Arc de Triomphe.Douglas Waymark got into difficulty about half way through his swim, 12 nautical miles off the coast of Dover.Mr Waymark, who was originally from Swansea, also leaves behind a younger brother, girlfriend and parents, Mrs Ikel said.
  
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• History unearthed as London's mail rail line opens to public

  08-08-2017 19:56
  Deep below London's bustling streets, a piece of once-vital communications technology will soon be roaring back into life after years of disuse - a train.The train operates on the "mail rail" line - a 6.4-mile underground train track that once transported letters and parcels 70 feet below ground to and from sorting offices on the east and west sides of the city 22 hours each day.It will be opened to the public next month as a tourist attraction, part of the new Postal Museum in the city's Clerke
  
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• Britain’s young suffer as austerity continues to take its toll | Letters

  08-08-2017 19:49 via theguardian.com
  Guardian readers respond to cuts to mental health and youth services, maternity ward closures, and benefits changes“Childhood” in “Crisis”, edited by Phil Scraton (Letters, 7 August) and published in 1996, has long been considered the definitive reference book on child poverty and the demonisation of young people by academics and youth and community practitioners alike. However, when first released it could not have been predicted that those warnings about austerity measu
  
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• Concern over lack of funding for IVF and sterilisation options in England | Letters

  08-08-2017 19:46
  In my area (Herts Valleys), at a recent public consultation event, proposals were not only to cease providing “IVF and specialist fertility services” but also to stop funding vasectomy and female sterilisation operations.In real life, male or female sterilisation is the only 100% effective method of preventing pregnancy and it is sad that highly paid professionals tasked with spending our money efficiently do not appear to know this.Many people will have family or friends who are goi
  
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• Nicaragua canal protesters are in a minority | Letters

  08-08-2017 19:45 via theguardian.com
  Every poll in Nicaragua has shown that the interoceanic canal has majority popular support, writes John Perry, and Helen Yuill says the canal raises a wider question faced by all developing countriesYour article (Nicaragua canal critics ‘face wave of persecution’, 4 August) begins by calling the protests against Nicaragua’s interoceanic canal “a mix of anger, fear and defiance not witnessed since the civil war between the Sandinista government and US-backed Contra rebels&
  
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• Brussels Police Open Fire On Car After Driver Said It Had Explosives

  08-08-2017 19:02
  Police in Brussels have opened fire on a car in the Molenbeek district, according to Belgian media, as the driver claimed there were explosives in the vehicle.
  
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• North Korea Is Now A Nuclear Superpower, US Media Reports

  08-08-2017 18:54
  North Korea is now a nuclear superpower after the secretive state successfully produced a miniaturised warhead, classified analysis by US defence experts reveals.
  
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• Donald Trump Warns North Korea Of 'Fire And Fury' If It Escalates Nuclear Threat

  08-08-2017 18:54
  Donald Trump has said North Korea “will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen” if it escalates its nuclear threat, after US media reported the dictatorship had produced a miniaturised warhead.
  
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• Black Doctor Who actor turns 100

  08-08-2017 18:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Earl Cameron, 100, is regarded as the first black actor to have a lead role in a British feature film.
  
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• Mortgage rates will rise – so 
are you ready 
to take a hit?

  08-08-2017 18:52 via theguardian.com
  Borrowing costs may still be at an all-time low but be prepared for bigger bills – they are on their way soonMortgage holders can breathe a sigh of relief after the Bank of England decided last week to leave borrowing costs at an all time low – but it came with the warning that interest rate rises are on the way. The current 0.25% rate is the lowest in the bank’s 323-year history and changes upwards could lead to homeowners, who have borrowed at the reduced levels, to face incr
  
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• Greater Manchester police draft in specialist units to tackle backlog

  08-08-2017 18:48
  Greater Manchester police has lost a fifth of its workforce, including 500 community officers, since 2010.The bedrock of community policing is under threat, ministers have been warned, as one of Britain’s biggest police forces drafted in specialist units to help solve everyday crime.Detectives from Greater Manchester police’s serious and organised crime unit have been deployed to tackle a huge backlog of non-urgent cases that have built up since the Manchester Arena bombing.
  
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• Aldi And Lidl Do Twitter Battle And It's Quite A Rollercoaster

  08-08-2017 18:39
  When Emily Cousins tweeted to ask whether Aldi or Lidl the better budget supermarket, she really had absolutely no idea what she’d just started.
  
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• Kenya goes to the polls in closely contested election – in pictures

  08-08-2017 18:27 via theguardian.com
  Kenyans are voting in a general election that pits Uhuru Kenyatta, the incumbent president, against opposition leader Raila Odinga. The closely fought contest has raised tensions in the east African state Continue reading...
  
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• The style season starts here: everything you need to know from the September issues

  08-08-2017 18:21 via theguardian.com
  The fashion magazines have released their Autumn bumper editions, essential for the style-conscious. Think rhinestones, Basquiat – and being ‘excited AF’ for autumn Continue reading...
  
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• EU says Belgium took weeks to notify tainted egg discovery

  08-08-2017 18:10
  BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive arm said Tuesday that Belgian authorities took around a month to notify it about the discovery of eggs contaminated with low levels of an insecticide, although EU member states are required to do so "immediately."
  
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• Promoter says industry 'laziness' is behind gender inequality in music

  08-08-2017 18:03
  Music promoter Melvin Benn has said "laziness on the part of the music industry" has resulted in fewer female artists breaking through.Lande Hekt, frontwoman and bassist for the punk trio Muncie Girls, believes having more role models would help.
  
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• Being Spider-Man's dad

  08-08-2017 18:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Comedian Dominic Holland says he doesn't let fame go to his son Tom's head.
  
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• Manchester airport pipe bomb plotter found guilty

  08-08-2017 17:56
  A man who tried to smuggle a pipe bomb onto a flight from Britain's Manchester Airport was found guilty of possessing explosives with intent to harm on Tuesday.Nadeem Muhammed, 43, was trying to board a Ryanair flight to Italy on January 30, when security officials discovered the explosive device hidden in his carry-on luggage.Airport security officials seized the device but released the man.
  
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• Migrants Being Pushed Back To Libya Is 'Fuelling Cycle Of Torture, Abuse And Extortion'

  08-08-2017 17:30
  AQUARIUS, Mediterranean Sea - An increase in the number of migrants intercepted by Libya’s coast guard whilst crossing the Mediterranean means more are now trapped in horrific conditions in the country’s notorious detention centres, a leading NGO has said.
  
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• Spanish firm approved for massive wind farm in BRITISH waters

  08-08-2017 17:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE Spanish company Iberdrola has been given the green light to build a huge wind farm, set to be one of the largest renewable facilities in the world, off Britain.
  
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• Face It: There Is No Quick Fix In This Migrant Crisis

  08-08-2017 17:19
  Standing on deck seeing children, women and men up to their waist in seawater because their boat is slowly deflating, world politics suddenly seem very far away.
  
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• Ex-Royal Navy serviceman admits stealing nearly £50k from charity for wounded soldiers

  08-08-2017 17:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  A FORMER Royal Naval serviceman today admitting stealing nearly £50,000 from a charity set up to help wounded British soldiers.
  
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• Play it again, Sam: why Krapp's Last Tape still leaves us reeling

  08-08-2017 17:11 via theguardian.com
  Albert Finney sobbed like an animal, Harold Pinter ramped up the terror and John Hurt even resembled Beckett himself. Now, at the Edinburgh festival, Barry McGovern takes on the role that never ceases to astonishAnyone who has seen Barry McGovern’s solo show Watt or caught him in multiple versions of Waiting for Godot – where he has played three of the five characters – will know that he is a consummate Beckett actor. It is no surprise, therefore, to discover that he is superb
  
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• Frankie Boyle review – the dark lord of comedy hits his meanest streak

  08-08-2017 17:08 via theguardian.com
  EICC, Edinburgh
  The cackling peddler of brutal jokes about the most sensitive subjects is not for the faint-hearted, but his new standup show is relentlessly funnyIf you thought Frankie Boyle’s monologues on his recent BBC show New World Order were too mild, this is the show for you. Repeatedly in Prometheus Volume 1 – receiving a handful of performances on the fringe – Boyle tells us this or that joke was censored from TV. And you can believe him. This is an hour of terrifical
  
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• EU could drag UK to court for £36bn Brexit bill... but UK will pay LESS, says EU expert

  08-08-2017 16:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE European Union could end up dragging Britain through a bitter court battle in order to force the UK to pay its so-called Brexit bill demands, according to a British academic.
  
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• Revealed: The European countries that have faster broadband than Britain

  08-08-2017 16:54
  New research has found that broadband speeds in the UK lag behind many of its European neighbours.In fact, with a mean download speed of 16.51 Mbps, Britain comes a lowly 31st in the global rankings for broadband speed – nearly three times slower than table topper Singapore at 55.13 Mbps.Countries including Romania, Slovenia and Bulgaria are ahead of the UK in the analysis, while people in France, Italy and Australia typically get slower speeds.
  
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• Brexit boost: Minister says Channel Islands part of exit 'opportunity' in Frankfurt snub

  08-08-2017 16:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  A BREXIT minister has insisted the City of London and the Channel Islands will remain financial hubs in Europe despite Europhiles tipping Frankfurt to tempt banks away from Britain.
  
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• Your underwhelming pictures of cats

  08-08-2017 16:31 via theguardian.com
  To celebrate international cat day, our readers share their average pictures of cats, pictures of average cats, and average pictures of average cats Continue reading...
  
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• 11 times politicians awkwardly ate ice cream

  08-08-2017 16:23
  Not rainy days, that’s for sure.
  
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• British judges 'could overrule EU extradition requests'

  08-08-2017 16:22
  The Government will allow UK judges to overrule extradition requests by European Union nations after Brexit, according to a report.Brexit Secretary David Davis plans to give judges the power to block the extradition of British citizens made under the European Arrest Warrant system, the Daily Telegraph said.The move is aimed at addressing concerns by eurosceptic backbenchers in the Conservative Party, it said.
  
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• Police officer who filmed nude sunbathers from helicopter jailed

  08-08-2017 16:11
  A former police officer who filmed naked sunbathers and a couple having sex from a helicopter in northern England was sentenced to 12 months in prison on Tuesday.Adrian Pogmore, 50, used a South Yorkshire police helicopter camera to shoot footage of a mother and her daughters sunbathing naked in their garden, naturists at a campsite and a couple he knew who were having sex on their patio."You quite literally considered yourself above the law," Judge Peter Kelson told Pogmore according to the BBC
  
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• Two of the rarest EVER American ‘pennies’ sell at auction for over £300,000

  08-08-2017 16:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  TWO of the rarest American ‘pennies’ ever discovered sold at auction for almost half-a-million dollars .
  
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• Pilotless planes

  08-08-2017 16:08 via bbc.co.uk
  Remotely controlled planes could save more than £20bn in costs, a survey says, but passengers are wary.
  
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• Women in tech: share your experiences

  08-08-2017 16:07 via theguardian.com
  With Google reportedly firing author of a controversial anti-diversity memo, we want to hear the experiences of women working in the industry
  A Google software engineer has been reportedly fired for a memo he wrote criticising the company’s efforts to improve its record on diversity.The 10-page “manifesto” argues the lack of women in positions of leadership in tech is down to innate “differences” between men and women. Continue reading...
  
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• Theresa May to harden up Brexit negotiating position

  08-08-2017 15:45
  Theresa May is expected to harden up her Brexit negotiating position when she returns to Downing Street next week, amid criticism that the UK is woefully underprepared for talks.Senior Government sources have told Sky News that a number of position papers have been sent to Cabinet ministers for sign off as No 10 prepares to publish a series of documents outlining its stance on some of the most pressing Brexit matters.Position papers have been prepared on a range of issues from digital economy an
  
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• International Cat Day: Ranking The Cats Of Westminster On Their Twitter Game

  08-08-2017 15:45
  They might have been brought in for a fairly mundane reason but the cats of Westminster bring so much more to the table than just keeping the mice away.
  
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• Fraudster musician fiddled £35,000 by claiming he was 'housebound' while playing in a band

  08-08-2017 15:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  A FRAUDSTER musician must pay back £35,000 fiddled by claiming he was "housebound" while playing in a band called Sticky Fingers.
  
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• Man stabbed to death on concourse at Plymouth railway station

  08-08-2017 15:42
  A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was stabbed to death at Plymouth railway station.Paramedics were called at 9.58am on Tuesday, a spokesman for South Western Ambulance Service said.The victim, who was in his 40s, died after being taken to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.
  
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• Man, 19, stabbed to death in south London

  08-08-2017 15:28
  Scotland Yard’s homicide and major crime command is investigating.Five people have been arrested after a man was stabbed to death in south London in the early hours of Tuesday.Three men and two women, all aged between 21 and 25 years old, were arrested on suspicion of murder and are being held at a south London police station.
  
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• Boy dies after falling through roof of abandoned building

  08-08-2017 15:23
  Leon Hoyle, 12, plunged through the roof of a building on the Lune industrial estate in what police are treating as a tragic accident.A 12-year-old boy has died after falling through a roof in a disused building on an industrial estate in Lancashire.Leon Hoyle fell through a corrugated roof panel on the building on the Lune industrial estate, Lancaster, while playing with friends on Monday night, Lancashire police said.
  
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