General news

• Police chief defends using child rapist as informant in Newcastle grooming case

  08-09-2017 23:51
  A police chief who took the controversial decision to use a child rapist as an informant against a grooming gang says he has received "hundreds and hundreds" of supportive messages from the public.Northumbria Police's decision to pay the unnamed convict almost £10,000 had made headlines when the details emerged last month.Mr Ashman said: "When reflecting upon the morality of the decision, I think it's important to take account of public opinion.
  
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• Northern Ireland secretary puts pressure on assembly to reach power-sharing deal

  08-09-2017 23:41
  The British government will consider whether to stop paying members of the Northern Ireland assembly if Ulster politicians fail to reach a deal to restore power-sharing government in the region.The Northern Ireland secretary raised the possibility on Friday that individual salaries of more than £50,000 per annum being frozen in the absence of the Stormont assembly getting up and running again.James Brokenshire also warned that while London prefers to see the restoration of devolved governm
  
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• US Open men's semi-final: Kevin Anderson v Pablo Carreño Busta – live!

  08-09-2017 23:33 via theguardian.com
  Live updates on the first of the men’s semi-finals at Flushing Meadows
  Rafael Nadal v Juan Martín del Potro to follow on Arthur AsheEmail Katy with any thoughts or get in touch via Twitter 10.33pm BSTSecond set: *Anderson 4-6, 4-4 Carreno Busta (*denotes next server)At 15-all, Anderson’s return flies off the net tape, it catches Carreno Busta off guard and the Spaniard makes the error. A beautiful return from Anderson then grazes the sideline. Look here, 15-40, two break point
  
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• Hurricane Irma: Florida braces for epic storm as death toll hits 23 – latest updates

  08-09-2017 23:26 via theguardian.com
  Category five superstorm hits Turks and Caicos IslandsAt least 23 people confirmed dead across CaribbeanIrma’s destruction: island by islandWhere is Irma heading? Mapping the path 10.26pm BSTThe 5pm forecast from the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service show hurricane Irma on the verge of returning to a category five storm, energized by the warm waters off Cuba and Florida.The projection looks especially dire for the Florida Keys and south-west Florida.5pm track from
  
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• These pictures show how people in Florida are preparing for Hurricane Irma

  08-09-2017 23:22
  The storm is expected to hit the US state on Sunday, having already wreaked havoc on several Caribbean islands.
  
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• Jim Mallinder still dreaming despite Northampton’s opening-day drubbing

  08-09-2017 23:20 via theguardian.com
  • Nine-try rout by Saracens led to sleepless nights, says director of rugby
  • Saints ring changes for Saturday’s home derby against LeicesterNorthampton’s director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, believes his squad can still win the Premiership but has confessed to enduring sleepless nights as he seeks to resurrect Saints as genuine title challengers. He also acknowledges his side cannot afford another limp display against their local rivals Leicesteron Saturday having shipped nin
  
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• AP Top Extended Financial Headlines at 4:48 p.m. EDT

  08-09-2017 22:48
  Investors were bailing out on Equifax after the credit monitoring company said a data breach exposed the Social Security numbers and other personal data of 143 million Americans
  
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• Hospice staff help dying man feed a horse for the final time

  08-09-2017 22:43
  A dying man was granted his final wish to feed a horse one last time.The visit was arranged when Patrick Saunders, a patient at North Devon Hospice, told nurses about his love of horses.When the large stallion arrived, Mr Saunders' bed was wheeled outside so he could pet the horse and feed them apples, carrots and mints.
  
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• Equifax hack: credit monitoring company criticized for poor response

  08-09-2017 22:13 via theguardian.com
  Customers and security experts say response to breach that exposed personal data of 143 million Americans has been disorderly and under-resourcedCredit monitoring company Equifax has been criticized by customers and security experts for an inadequate response to a data breach that included the personal information of up to 143 million Americans.The hack was especially problematic due to the sensitivity of the information stolen, including names, social security numbers, addresses, birthdays and
  
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• England hit back at West Indies as Jimmy Anderson reaches 500 mark

  08-09-2017 21:40 via theguardian.com
  • Third Test day two: West Indies 123 & 93-3; England 194
  • Anderson removes Kraigg Brathwaite to reach much anticipated landmarkFor everyone who endured the dank drizzle of the morning when only 20 balls were possible there was the reward of more rich, helter-skelter entertainment. England swashbuckled to a first-innings lead of 71 and then there was Jimmy Anderson making a bit of history.To start with the history. Anderson glided in to Kraigg Brathwaite; the new ball jagged down
  
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• Sloane Stephens v Madison Keys: a landmark final between firm friends

  08-09-2017 21:30 via theguardian.com
  US Open final promises to be one of real merit between two African Americans on 60th anniversary of Althea Gibson’s breakthrough win in this tournamentIt is unlikely the forgotten contender Sloane Stephens ever imagined her summer comeback would pitch her into the final of the 2017 US Open against her good friend Madison Keys but, after a fortnight of craziness, here they are. On Saturday they will put aside all of that to do all of this, and make a little tennis history.For Stephens, just
  
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• Martin Rowson on racism and UK criminal justice – cartoon

  08-09-2017 21:15 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• Trump’s fascist contagion gives the anti-Brexit cause what it lacked: an emotional heart | Jonathan Freedland

  08-09-2017 20:56 via theguardian.com
  With his war talk and support for illiberal regimes, the US president is reminding us what the European Union is forTo the remainer, and even to the neutral, our current politics contains a big mystery. Put simply, where is the sentiment we hoped to call regrexit? Where is the collective outbreak of buyer’s remorse? After all, the evidence that Brexit will be the greatest error in our national history since Munich is piling up. It’s not just that a process the leavers
  
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• Boy who was 'seconds away' from launching mass shooting at school sentenced

  08-09-2017 20:36
  A mentally disturbed teenager who smuggled a double-barrelled shotgun into school but did not go through with his planned shooting spree has been given a six-year custodial sentence.The 15-year-old boy had loaded cartridges into the weapon and was "seconds away" from opening fire at Higham Lane School in Nuneaton, but he called 999 instead.Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told him: "You had a face covering and a knife and you were making yourself ready to shoot at anyone.
  
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• May hails leadership of Geoffrey Boycott, who was axed over team revolt

  08-09-2017 20:28
  Theresa May speaks to actor Damian Lewis on day two of the England v West Indies cricket match at Lord’s on Friday.Theresa May has declared her admiration for the leadership style of Geoffrey Boycott, the famously obdurate former England cricketer who was eventually sacked from his county captaincy amid an acrimonious dressing room revolt.The prime minister, a cricket fan, was the lunchtime guest on Friday on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Test Match Special, where she insisted that she was not
  
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• Sports Direct pays out £43m bonus among 2,000 staff

  08-09-2017 20:21 via theguardian.com
  Owner Mike Ashley praises personnel but share bonus only available to select group of 2,000 permanent contract staff – about 10% of the total workforceSports Direct has handed £43m in share bonuses to a group of nearly 2,000 permanent staff who took part in an incentive scheme launched in 2011.Mike Ashley, the majority shareholder and chief executive of the retail group, praised the “magnificent achievements and fantastic loyalty” of workers who were helping the company m
  
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• Exclusive - UK banks call for 'mutual recognition' deal with EU after Brexit

  08-09-2017 20:12
  By Huw Jones and Andrew MacAskillLONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union should accept each other's rules governing financial services in a "flexible" trade deal that offers unfettered market access to big banks but protects small investors, according to proposals made in a draft industry document seen by Reuters on Friday.UK Finance, a trade body that represents British banks like Barclays , HSBC , Lloydsand RBS , said in its 91-page proposal on "Financial Services in a new EU-UK Trad
  
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• AP Top Extended Financial Headlines at 2:07 p.m. EDT

  08-09-2017 20:07
  Investors were bailing out on Equifax after the credit monitoring company said a data breach exposed the Social Security numbers and other personal data of 143 million Americans
  
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• Nigel Farage backs far-right AfD for 'historic' German election success

  08-09-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Former Ukip leader tells party it is potential ‘first voice of opposition’ in German parliament at campaign event in BerlinThe former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the runup to the German federal elections, saying it would be a “historic achievement” if the party entered the Bundestag.“For the first time in modern history, there will be a voice of opposition in German parliament,” the South East England ME
  
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• Nigel Farage backs far-right AfD for 'historic' German election success

  08-09-2017 20:00
  The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the runup to the German federal elections, saying it would be a “historic achievement” if the party entered the Bundestag.“For the first time in modern history, there will be a voice of opposition in German parliament,” the South East England MEP told an audience of AfD supporters at a closed event at the Spandau Citadel, a renaissance fortress in west Berlin.
  
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• ‘The biggest lie in the history of world sport’: Diack dismisses corruption allegations

  08-09-2017 19:57 via theguardian.com
  • Son of former IAAF president accused of taking payments for votes
  • ‘My job was to help the IAAF identify countries to organise sporting events’Papa Massata Diack has described accusations he was part of a large corruption racket involved in determining the location of the Olympic Games as “the biggest lie in the history of world sport”.France’s financial prosecutor said this week that investigations had revealed a corruption scheme centred on Diack, the
  
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• The Guardian view on race and criminal justice: inequality is unfair to all | Editorial

  08-09-2017 19:53 via theguardian.com
  David Lammy’s powerful review shows that while overt prejudice is diminishing, glaring disparities remain. Ambitious reforms are needed for everyone’s sakeStanding on Downing Street, in her first public statement as prime minister, Theresa May vowed to fight injustice. If you are black, she noted specifically, you are treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you are white. This was hardly a revelation. Over decades, the inequity evident from arrest through to
  
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• The Guardian view on musical education: it needs social harmony | Editorial

  08-09-2017 19:52 via theguardian.com
  Birmingham’s renaissance sees a new conservatoire. That is good news. But we need policies to ensure music is not dominated by a wealthy eliteThe new Birmingham Conservatoire is in many ways a reminder of the Brummie resurgence. England’s second city centre was not long ago written off as an urban doughnut – a tiny commercial core cut off from its natural space by ring roads and a belt of derelict Victorian properties. However, in recent years it has been revitalised with a fut
  
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• Matty James: ‘I was in so much pain I’ll remember it for the rest of my life’

  08-09-2017 19:47 via theguardian.com
  The Leicester City midfielder is savouring his return to the side and dreaming of an England call-up after tortuous 865 days left him at breaking point
  Amid all the euphoria that accompanied those wild celebrations at the King Power Stadium on the evening that Leicester City were crowned champions of England, it escaped unnoticed that one player was struggling to hold everything together. “I felt I didn’t deserve to be there, to be pictured,” Matty James says. “If you ask
  
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• Pictures reveal Carlos the Jackal's clandestine life in communist Prague

  08-09-2017 19:45 via theguardian.com
  Covert images show how Czech security services kept close watch on international assassin and Munich terrorist Abu Daoud in 1970s and 80sOne summer day in August 1979, Carlos the Jackal, international terrorist and assassin, managed to lock himself out of his luxury hotel room in Prague, and got so angry that he started running along the corridors yelling and waving a large revolver.The Venezuelan, born Ilyich Ramirez Sanchez, is serving a life sentence in France. But in the 1970s and early 1980
  
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• Farage talks Brexit at German right-wing election rally

  08-09-2017 19:36
  By Michelle MartinBERLIN (Reuters) - Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage received a standing ovation at a pre-election rally of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Berlin on Friday, where he was presented as a model of what a right-wing eurosceptic politician can achieve.Far-right parties have suffered setbacks this year at elections in France and the Netherlands, but the AfD is set to enter Germany's national parliament for the first time in the Sept. 24 parliamentary vote.Farage,
  
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• Chris Froome’s six-year quest to win Vuelta a España rests on Alto de l’Angliru

  08-09-2017 19:29 via theguardian.com
  Climb of 12.5km means overall victory is by no means assured after Team Sky dominate race but fail to manage a single knockout blowIt is six years since Chris Froome climbed the Alto de l’Angliru in the 2011 Vuelta a España with a brief to support his team leader, Bradley Wiggins, who was wearing the red leader’s jersey and was within sight of his maiden grand tour win a week from Madrid.Froome, who had been a virtually unknown domestic with Team Sky until he beat Wiggins in a
  
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• We must ramp up protest if we are to avoid nuclear war | Letters

  08-09-2017 19:26 via theguardian.com
  More than 120 nations are preparing to sign the UN nuclear prohibition treaty. Britain must join them, argues Kate Hudson of CND. Plus letters from Dr Rebecca Johnson, Frank Jackson, Rae Street and Peter FowlerZoe Williams’ article (No more nukes? Why anti-nuclear protests need an urgent revival, 7 September) is a timely and thoughtful reminder of why civil society must respond to the present US-North Korea nuclear crisis if we are to avert catastrophe. Protesters clashed with police in Se
  
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• Alcohol awareness and the ‘demon drink’ | Letters

  08-09-2017 19:26
  ‘The overwhelming medical ­consensus is that there are many risk factors involved with cancer including ­alcohol and our information and advice reflects this,’ write Leigh Lewis and Paul Wallace of Drinkaware.The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s report covered in your article (Alcohol firms ‘distorting link with cancer’, 8 September) contains serious allegations about the quality and purpose of the information that Drinkaware provides on canc
  
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• Lazy journalism that harms social workers | Letters

  08-09-2017 19:25
  Headlines in the case of Kathryn Smith, who was found guilty of murdering her daughter Ayeeshia-Jayne, unfairly highlighted failings by social workers, says Malcolm Pim.The Guardian headline on 6 September read “Social workers missed signs to save toddler stamped to death by mother” and the BBC News at Ten on 5 September reported “A serious case review says social workers failed to spot signs that she was being abused”.Tragically, this is an often-repeated set of failings
  
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• Jacob Rees-Mogg’s right to free speech | Letters

  08-09-2017 19:25
  Many religions or sects are (sadly) anti-abortion or anti-gay marriage and at no point has Rees-Mogg suggested a change in the law.• Jacob Rees-Mogg justifies his opposition to gay marriage and abortion even in cases of rape on the basis of his firmly held Christian beliefs (Report, 7 September).
  
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• Oxford graduates’ calamitous CVs | Brief letters

  08-09-2017 19:24
  Margaret Thatcher, pictured here in a Harrier Jump Jet in 1982, has a lot to answer for, says David Nowell. Photograph: Neville Marriner/Daily Mail/Rex
  
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• Teenagers who stabbed wine salesman to death found guilty of murder

  08-09-2017 19:21 via theguardian.com
  Akol Garang and George Rodriguez Galean, both 18, lured Omar Raza to residential street, then robbed and stabbed him in broad daylight Two teenagers have been found guilty of luring a Selfridges wine salesman to a residential street where they robbed and stabbed him to death in broad daylight.
  Omar Raza, 23, was killed near Turnpike Lane, north London, on 15 February after being called to the scene under the pretence of a car insurance sale, the Old Bailey heard. Continue reading...
  
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• Fidget spinners and Fingerlings help toy firm buck downward market trend

  08-09-2017 19:16 via theguardian.com
  Despite Lego and other firms reporting fall in profits, The Entertainer says there is still business to be done in the toy sectorToy specialist The Entertainer said playground crazes such as fidget spinners and Fingerlings were helping it buck a downturn in the toy trade. The amount spent on toys and the number of toys sold is down sharply on last year, but The Entertainer said its like-for-like sales were running level with 2016 over the most recent six months.Continue reading...
  
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• Hey Scenester: the man who takes selfies at famous film locations – in pictures

  08-09-2017 19:05 via theguardian.com
  Phil Grishayev has been on a long journey to insert himself into as many classic movie scenes as he can. On his Instagram feed, the VFX artist and animator records his travels across the US and compares reality with fiction Continue reading...
  
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• Nato chief: world is at its most dangerous point in a generation

  08-09-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Jens Stoltenberg warns of converging threats as Russia mobilises estimated 100,000 troops on EU’s bordersThe world is more dangerous today than it has been in a generation, the head of Nato has said, days before the mobilisation of an estimated 100,000 Russian troops on the EU’s eastern borders, and as a nuclear crisis grows on the Korean peninsula.Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the military alliance, said the sheer number of converging threats was making the world
  
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• UK exports outside EU fall despite weak pound

  08-09-2017 18:58 via theguardian.com
  Exports of British-made goods to EU increase by £1.3bn, underlining country’s reliance on trade with continental EuropeBritain’s efforts to expand trade in goods beyond the European Union’s border took a knock in July after official figures showed the UK’s deficit with the rest of the world widened following a drop in exports.The deficit in the trade in goods with non-EU countries widened by £2.4bn while exports to the EU grew to cut the trade gap by £1.
  
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• Who could see Jacob Rees-Mogg as authentic? Only the gullible Tories | Marina Hyde

  08-09-2017 18:56 via theguardian.com
  Behind the rise of Moggmentum is a Conservative condition. Even teenagers at Eton knew he was a squit, but his party is obsessed with faux eccentricsJacob Rees-Mogg’s rise to apparent Tory leadership prospect sounds like something his father might have predicted. A celebrated former editor of the Times, Rees-Mogg senior had such an erring gift for futurology that Private Eye nicknamed him Mystic Mogg. He was arguably the first modern journalist who really should have got out of the predict
  
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• Exclusive - UK banks call for "mutual recognition" deal with EU after Brexit

  08-09-2017 18:55
  By Huw Jones and Andrew MacAskillLONDON (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union should accept each other's rules governing financial services in a "flexible" trade deal that offers unfettered market access to big banks but protects small investors, according to proposals made in a draft industry document seen by Reuters on Friday.UK Finance, a trade body that represents British banks like Barclays , HSBC , Lloydsand RBS , said in its 91-page proposal on "Financial Services in a new EU-UK Trad
  
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• Hamilton's London premiere delayed – leaving ticket holders in limbo

  08-09-2017 18:50 via theguardian.com
  Overrunning building work means 16,000 people who had booked to see musical in first two weeks face wait for new datesThe London opening of smash US stage musical Hamilton has been delayed by a fortnight, leaving thousands of ticket holders unsure when they will see the record-breaking show.
  Impresario Cameron Mackintosh blamed the delay on problems with building works at the Victoria Palace theatre as he announced that previews will begin on 6 December rather than 21 November. Continue reading.
  
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• Violence erupts between taxi and Uber drivers in Johannesburg

  08-09-2017 18:39 via theguardian.com
  Police deployed to quell violence after two cars operated by Uber drivers were torched in South Africa’s commercial capitalPolice have been deployed to sites in Johannesburg to quell growing violence between Uber drivers and metered taxi operators.Two cars operated by Uber drivers were torched on Thursday night outside a shopping mall in the upmarket suburb of Sandton in the latest round of clashes in South Africa’s commercial capital. A metered taxi was reportedly attacked early on
  
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• Jimmy Anderson takes 500th Test wicket for England in West Indies decider

  08-09-2017 18:35 via theguardian.com
  • England paceman dismisses Kraigg Brathwaite at Lord’s to reach milestone
  • Anderson becomes only sixth bowler and first Englishman past markJimmy Anderson surprised himself with the emotions that followed becoming the sixth player in history of Test cricket to claim 500 wickets, with England’s record-breaking bowler brought close to tears when his golden moment finally arrived.Lord’s, the scene of his first victim back in 2003 against Zimbabwe, rose to a standing ov
  
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• BBC's Jon Sopel On How The Media That Made Donald Trump Shouldn't Now Try To Be His Opposition

  08-09-2017 18:31
  Donald Trump has made this “the most challenging time to be a journalist in America,” Jon Sopel tells me.
  
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• An ordinary Prince George is no use to anybody | Deborah Orr

  08-09-2017 18:31 via theguardian.com
  Their fans’ appetite for banal detail is what keeps the royal family going. One day, it will render the monarchy unworkablePrince George apparently looked a bit nervous as he went to school for the first time, as many five-year-olds do. So, given that it’s a stressful moment for a kid anyway, wasn’t it a great idea to deploy journalists and photographers, police officers and “large crowds”, ready and waiting to pounce on every minute detail of the Great Event and di
  
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• Jimmy Anderson at 500: the England bowler’s five best Test wickets | Ali Martin

  08-09-2017 18:28 via theguardian.com
  Dismissals of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Brendon McCullum and Denesh Ramdin are top of the pile for England’s milestone manAnderson’s “second coming” in international cricket began during the 2-1 victory in New Zealand when he removed their first five batsmen on his recall to the side in Wellington. It was cemented in the summer’s follow-up victory at home to the Kiwis with a career-best seven for 43 in the third Test. Among the carnage was the
  
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• James Anderson: England bowler takes 500th Test wicket

  08-09-2017 18:24 via bbc.co.uk
  James Anderson becomes the first England bowler to take 500 Test wickets, in the final match of the series against West Indies at Lord's.
  
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• Europe must step up action against spread of fatal plant disease, says Gove

  08-09-2017 18:24 via theguardian.com
  Environment secretary says EU must combat spread of Xylella fastidiosa by stopping high-risk species from crossing borders uncheckedEurope must implement greater protections against a disease that could threaten UK plants and trees, including oaks, the environment secretary Michael Gove has said.The horticulture sector is also being urged to take action to prevent Xylella fastidiosa, which is having a devastating impact on plants such as olive trees in parts of mainland Europe, spreading to the
  
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• A history of hurricanes: how US presidents have responded - video explainer

  08-09-2017 18:18 via theguardian.com
  George W Bush’s presidency never fully recovered from his botched handling of Hurricane Katrina. Barack Obama won re-election just days after Hurricane Sandy struck. So how can presidents respond effectively to natural disasters? And how has Donald Trump managed the response to Harvey and Irma? Continue reading...
  
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• Mexico earthquake kills at least 58 and sparks mass evacuations

  08-09-2017 18:17 via theguardian.com
  Buildings collapse and power cut for a million people as magnitude 8.1 quake made houses ‘move like chewing gum’The strongest earthquake to hit Mexico in a century has left at least 58 people dead, toppling houses, damaging hospitals and government offices, and sparking mass evacuations.The magnitude 8.1 quake struck off the country’s southern Pacific coast, 100 miles (165km) west of the state of Chiapas just before midnight on Thursday local time.Continue reading...
  
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• Boris Johnson says EU has legal duty to discuss future trade relations

  08-09-2017 18:17 via theguardian.com
  Foreign secretary dismisses warnings over UK’s approach to Brexit talks and expresses ‘rock-solid confidence’ that a deal can be reachedBoris Johnson has risked further antagonising Brussels by dismissing warnings this week about Britain’s approach to the negotiations and insisting the EU is obliged to start talking about a future trade deal.After a bruising week for the British government, the foreign secretary expressed his “absolutely rock-solid confidence”
  
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