General news

• Catalonia Claims Right To Independence As Referendum Sparks Police Violence

  01-10-2017 23:30
  The leader of Catalonia has declared the region has won the right to become an independent state as Spain was plunged into a constitutional crisis amid global condemnation of a police crackdown that turned to violence.
  
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• Kamala Harris' powerful riposte to Trump: 'Racism is real in this country'

  01-10-2017 22:47 via theguardian.com
  Democratic rising star lamented ‘assault on our deepest values’ in strongly worded speech that alluded to Trump’s spat with NFL
  Kamala Harris: young, black, female – and the Dems’ best bet for 2020?Kamala Harris, a rising star within the Democratic party who is being closely watched as a possible presidential candidate in 2020, delivered a powerful riposte from the altar to Donald Trump on Sunday, accusing him of waging “an assault on our deepest values”
  
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• Cameroon soldiers shoot independence activists dead

  01-10-2017 22:39 via theguardian.com
  Deaths come as English-speaking regions seek to break away, claiming they have been marginalised by francophone-dominated governmentSoldiers shot dead at least eight people and wounded others in Cameroon’s restless English-speaking regions on Sunday during protests by activists calling for its independence from the majority francophone nation, an official and witnesses said. The demonstrations – on the anniversary of anglophone Cameroon’s independence from Britain – came
  
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• Real Madrid 2-0 Espanyol: La Liga –as it happened

  01-10-2017 22:36 via theguardian.com
  A brace from Isco gave Real Madrid a 2-0 win over Espanyol, even if their overall dominance wasn’t reflected in the scoreline 9.36pm BSTOdd game. But Real have the win they needed, if not a scoreline that reflected their dominance, and stay in touch with those at the top. Thanks for reading everyone - good night.9.33pm BSTPeeeeeeeeep. Continue reading...
  
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• Catalonia: UK Government Faces Blowback After Ducking Condemnation Of Police Violence

  01-10-2017 22:35
  Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has branded the police crackdown against Catalonia’s unofficial independence vote as “shocking” as the UK Government backed away from condemning the violent scenes that have shocked the world.
  
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• Catalonia: UK Government Avoids Condemnation Of Police Violence, In Contrast To Most In British Politics

  01-10-2017 22:35
  Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has branded the police crackdown against Catalonia’s unofficial independence vote as “shocking” as the UK Government backed away from condemning the violent scenes that have shocked the world.
  
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• NFL round-up: Cam Newton raises clenched fist as Panthers shock Patriots

  01-10-2017 22:31 via theguardian.com
  Super Bowl champions slump to 2-2 record after defeat against CarolinaRookie quarterback Deshaun Watson stars as Texans thrash TitansThe Carolina Panthers pulled off their biggest win of the season – and inflicted another defeat on the New England Patriots on Sunday – as Cam Newton took control of the game.Newton threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as the Panthers held off a late Patriots rally to win a thrilling contest 33-30. Newton also caused a stir for non-football re
  
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• Si Newhouse, media baron who ran Condé Nast, dies aged 89

  01-10-2017 22:22 via theguardian.com
  Vogue’s Anna Wintour pays tribute to ‘most extraordinary leader’ who also ran magazines including Vanity Fair and the New YorkerThe media baron Si Newhouse, chairman emeritus of Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and other leading magazines, has died. He was 89 and had suffered from a long illness. Related: Steve Fishman goes behind the scenes at Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New YorkerContinue reading...
  
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• Fox bullish about agreeing trade deals before end of Brexit transition

  01-10-2017 22:14
  Britain expects to have free trade deals on the table long before the end of the Brexit transition period, according to a senior minister.International Trade Secretary Liam Fox was bullish about the prospects of reaching agreements in time for the end of the implementation period, which is expected to come into effect in March 2019.Prime Minister Theresa May used her keynote Brexit speech in Florence last month to further flesh out her vision for leaving the EU, including a transition period of
  
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• Lewis Hamilton: I was lucky to take second from tough weekend in Sepang

  01-10-2017 22:09 via theguardian.com
  • Briton loses out to Max Verstappen but extends championship lead
  • ‘This is a good result but we’ve a lot of work to do with this car‘Lewis Hamilton has admitted he believed he was lucky to achieve second place in the Malaysian Grand Prix after a difficult weekend that culminated in the Mercedes driver being comprehensively outpaced by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who won in Sepang. Related: Max Verstappen beats Lewis Hamilton to win F1’s Malaysian Grand P
  
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• Donald Malarkey, war hero portrayed in Band of Brothers, dies aged 96

  01-10-2017 21:19 via theguardian.com
  The second world war veteran was a member of Easy Company, whose recollections of fighting Nazi in Europe were later dramatized for HBODonald Malarkey, a second world war soldier who was awarded the Bronze Star after parachuting behind enemy lines at Normandy to destroy German artillery on D-day, has died. He was 96. Related: On the set of Band of BrothersContinue reading...
  
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• New Orleans Saints beat Miami Dolphins in Wembley stinker

  01-10-2017 21:11 via theguardian.com
  • Touchdowns by Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara seal stodgy 20-0 win
  • 80,000 crowd enjoys spectacle despite error-strewn encounterFor years, Americans have been told that to truly love soccer they must learn to appreciate a 0-0 draw. At Wembley on Sunday the New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins served up the equivalent for British NFL fans – an error-riddled, penalty-strewn, stodgy stinker of a match between two teams the wrong side of average. And yet, curiously, 80,000 people
  
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• Comic Relief and Fairtrade back ethical gold mining in east Africa

  01-10-2017 21:07 via theguardian.com
  Hazardous and environmentally damaging small-scale mines produce 20% of world’s goldComic Relief and Fairtrade have joined forces with the Dutch government to back a $15m (£11m) scheme to support ethical gold mining in east Africa after a successful pilot project in Uganda.About a fifth of the world’s gold produced every year comes from small-scale mines where millions of people work in hazardous conditions without access to modern technology. They resort to extracting and crus
  
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• The Guardian view on Catalonia’s referendum: the Spanish state has lost | Editorial

  01-10-2017 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Police brutality has ignited the political crisis. Can Madrid and the pro-independence movement find a way forward?Spain is in crisis, and its prime minister appears to be in denial. The run-up to Sunday’s referendum on independence for Catalonia made it clear that the country was in trouble. But neither those arranging it nor those rejecting it can fully have anticipated the scenes at polling stations: police in riot gear beating peaceful protesters with batons, dragging voters out by the
  
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• Strictly Come Dancing: week two – as it happened

  01-10-2017 20:58 via theguardian.com
  This week the glitterati could vote for the first time – but who was the first couple to waltz off the floor? We followed every wondrous whirl and dance disaster 7.58pm BSTSo on that bombshell, it’s the end of another Strictly week! I know I say this every year, but it’s the comment box community that makes this blog so much fun to write, and it’s great to see so many newbies alongside those who’ve been hanging out with me here for years. So thanks for joining in, a
  
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• Ikea has filled every home I’ve rented. Now I want something more stable | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

  01-10-2017 20:55 via theguardian.com
  The company has been delighting shoppers – and buy-to-let landlords – in the UK for 30 years. But for me it has become a symbol of impermanenceIkea celebrates its 30th birthday in the UK this year. I don’t think it hyperbolic to say that, since its arrival in 1987, it has transformed the way the British furnish their homes. It has entered the cultural mindset to such an extent that I feel a promise is required to readers that this column will contain no jokes about assembling f
  
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• Ben Jennings on police violence at the Catalan referendum – cartoon

  01-10-2017 20:26 via theguardian.com
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• Semesa Rokoduguni try seals victory for Bath over dispirited Wasps

  01-10-2017 20:25 via theguardian.com
  • Wasps 9-25 Bath
  • Hosts fall to third consecutive Premiership defeat; Bath sit fifth in tableWasps have been playing rugby union for 150 years and have known far gloomier predicaments than three consecutive Premiership defeats in a row. As they slipped and stumbled to this latest one in the Coventry rain, even so, the celebratory mood of their anniversary weekend was hard to discern with the premature departure of their England No8 Nathan Hughes causing spirits to droop even further.
  
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• The Guardian view on Theresa May: struggling to survive | Editorial

  01-10-2017 20:24 via theguardian.com
  The prime minister’s authority is broken. Yet the Tory party has little confidence that anyone else would do the job betterTory party politics, says a leftwing character in James Graham’s new West End play, Labour of Love, consist largely of “posh squirrels fighting in a bag”. This week, the Conservatives look all set to provide spectacular proof of Graham’s character’s scathing comment. Theresa May has come to the party’s conference in Manchester with h
  
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• Ruth Davidson says Jeremy Corbyn is not a shoo-in for Number 10

  01-10-2017 20:12
  Ruth Davidson has dismissed suggestions Jeremy Corbyn is a dead cert to be the next Prime Minister, telling the Conservative party conference: "He hasn't even won a raffle".The Scottish Tory leader told delegates her experience north of the border, where the Tories enjoyed their best performance in decades in June's election, shows political fortunes can be reversed no matter how dire the prognosis.It's not about what's in fashion or who is the absolute boy," the latter a term of admiration some
  
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• OJ Simpson freed from prison after nine-year term for armed robbery

  01-10-2017 20:12 via theguardian.com
  Former American football legend released from Nevada prison on parole in middle of the night, as state authorities attempt to avoid media circus The Goldmans on their pursuit of OJ Simpson: ‘We were called racist for not agreeing with the verdict’OJ Simpson became a free man on Sunday, after serving nine years for a botched hotel room heist that brought the prison time he avoided in the killings of his ex-wife and her friend after his 1995 acquittal in the “trial of the century
  
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• Tory conference an exercise in collective suffering | John Crace

  01-10-2017 20:10
  The Conservative party chairman, Patrick McLoughlin, speaking at the conference in Manchester. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images
  
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• Uber hits minicab firms – but helps disabled people | Letters

  01-10-2017 20:05 via theguardian.com
  Ibrat Ali doubts many driving jobs would be lost, but Srin Madipalli and others fear problems for those with access problemsMy company, Embassy Direct, which is based in Hanwell, west London, has been trading for 50 years in the private hire transport sector. It has been said that banning Uber (Report, 30 September) would put “40,000 people out of work”. But all this would do is give us, the independent private hire operators, our drivers back. Many companies’ doors have closed
  
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• Tory elite undermines May as young turn against capitalism | Letters

  01-10-2017 20:05 via theguardian.com
  The party’s old guard is blocking May’s modernisation plans, writes Robert Sherman, while her defence of markets if likely to fall on deaf ears, says Richard StainesTheresa May’s “loss of support, particularly among younger voters” (Report, 30 September) is an imprecise phrase. The Conservatives lost the support of the young long ago, except for those privileged young professionals in banking, financial trading or high-end IT. This pattern of the privileged male eli
  
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• The chicken scandal and a dysfunctional food industry | Letters

  01-10-2017 20:05 via theguardian.com
  Readers respond to the Guardian’s exposé of the fiddling of food safety dates in the chicken supply industryI applaud the Guardian for its investigative journalism that resulted in the report on the unacceptably poor standards of hygiene in a large poultry processing plant, which supplies many of this country’s large supermarkets. Your findings (UK’s top supplier of supermarket chicken fiddles food safety dates, 29 September) call into question the acceptability of the p
  
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• You can pay more tax if you want to | Letters

  01-10-2017 20:04
  ‘HMRC has for some reason neglected to promote this course of action on its website as heavily as one may have expected,’ writes John Wills. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA
  
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• Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis Points To 'Fake Photos' To Downplay Catalonia Violence

  01-10-2017 19:56
  Spain’s foreign minister has moved to downplay the violence that has marred Catalonia’s unofficial independence vote, claiming the full extent of the crackdown is unclear since there are “fake photos” circulating on social media.
  
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• Joselu hands Newcastle point with lucky strike to punish wasteful Liverpool

  01-10-2017 19:49 via theguardian.com
  At the final whistle Rafael Benítez polished his spectacles and smiled. The Newcastle United manager had reminded Liverpool fans precisely what they lost when he left in 2010 while his latest successor at Anfield, Jürgen Klopp, appeared to have succumbed to apoplexy.Klopp – who at one late juncture publicly berated Jordan Henderson, although the visiting captain was not alone in feeling the heat of his manager’s ire – knew his side really should have won. Continue r
  
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• Scandal-hit 2 Sisters suspends chicken production at West Midlands plant

  01-10-2017 19:40 via theguardian.com
  Tesco joins boycott as food group closes doors at West Bromwich plant in order to retrain workers after Guardian/ITV investigation The country’s largest supplier of supermarket chicken has suspended production at one of its main processing plants after undercover filming revealed poor hygiene standards and food safety records being altered.The temporary closure by 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG), which will now put employees at the plant through a retraining programme, came as Tesco, the UK&rs
  
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• The Tories are weak and directionless – but it’s not party members’ fault | Zoe Williams

  01-10-2017 19:20 via theguardian.com
  It’s laughable that such an unrepresentative group could choose the next prime minister, but defanging them will not solve the government’s problemsAll senior politicians arrive at their annual party conferences with their own tactics and theatrics to meet the same conundrum: how to persuade the members that, however you seem on the national or international stage, deep down, you’re one of them. Theresa May famously tended to her grassroots in 2011 with a story about an immigra
  
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• Chinese firm behind Essex nuclear plant refuses to reveal security information

  01-10-2017 19:17 via theguardian.com
  State-owned company refused disclosure of security arrangements for Chinese plant the Bradwell nuclear station could be modelled onThe Chinese state-owned company planning a nuclear power station in Essex refused to share the security arrangements for a Chinese nuclear plant with the British authorities, it has been revealed.Inspectors from the UK nuclear regulator visited the China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) in Shenzhen earlier this year, as part of the four-year approval process f
  
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• Lionel Messi helps Barcelona extend perfect start at empty Camp Nou

  01-10-2017 19:12 via theguardian.com
  • La Liga match was played behind closed doors after violent protests• Las Palmas had the Spanish flag embroidered on to their shirtsBarcelona continued their 100% start to life in La Liga in bizarre circumstances, beating Las Palmas 3-0 at an empty Camp Nou. The club had asked for the match to be postponed due to protests across Catalonia over the controversial Catalan independence referendum in which more than 750 people have been injured, many in the Spanish city.That request was re
  
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• Davidson: Corbyn no dead cert for No 10

  01-10-2017 19:10
  Ruth Davidson scoffs at suggestions Jeremy Corbyn is a shoo-in for Number 10
  
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• Ronald Koeman defiant over Everton future after home defeat by Burnley

  01-10-2017 19:09 via theguardian.com
  • Dutchman says players are working hard and results will come
  • Wayne Rooney ‘accepted’ being demoted to substitutes’ benchRonald Koeman claimed his future as Everton manager should not be questioned despite his expensively assembled side suffering a fifth defeat in eight matches with the 1-0 home loss to Burnley.Pressure and criticism is growing around Koeman at Everton after a series of weak performances, questionable team selections and poor results; the latest co
  
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• Clare Waight Keller's first Givenchy show is sweetness and light

  01-10-2017 19:09 via theguardian.com
  The French fashion house’s first female creative director nodded to its heritage with a breezy femininityUnder previous designer Riccardo Tisci, rottweilers were a motif of the house of Givenchy. They snarled from T-shirts and sweatshirts worn by Rihanna and Justin Bieber. With his replacement by Clare Waight Keller, who presented her first collection on Sunday morning, the house has been given a new mascot in Purrkins, a silken black cat who stars in the latest advertising campaign wearin
  
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• America's OJ Simpson obsession oppressed me as a child. It still does | Sarah Perry

  01-10-2017 19:07 via theguardian.com
  My mother was murdered a month and a day before Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. The media’s OJ Simpson obsession made it much harder to copeOJ Simpson: an eternal symbol of racial division – or has America moved on? The year after my mother’s murder was the year of the OJ Simpson trial. My mother, Crystal Perry, was killed one month and one day before Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, almost to the hour.Nicole had a daughter, too, and a son. That long year, I kept thi
  
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• Ukip has picked a new Farage, keeping its darker side hidden – for now | Mary Dejevsky

  01-10-2017 19:03 via theguardian.com
  Henry Bolton, a former Liberal Democrat, is the new party leader. But the anti-Islam agenda of the contest’s runner-up, Anne Marie Waters, has not gone awayThe unpredicted victory for Henry Bolton in the Ukip leadership contest had even seasoned observers asking, “Henry Who?” But the clear margin for the candidate – who came across in many ways as closest in priorities and tone to Nigel Farage – leaves the party still just inside the UK political mainstream, with it
  
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• Puerto Rico: Trump spat with San Juan mayor escalates as all sides double down

  01-10-2017 19:02 via theguardian.com
  Trump defended the US response as Puerto Ricans queue for basic supplies and 95% remain without power – but Carmen Yulín Cruz fired back just as strongThe war of words between the president of the United States, population 324 million, and the mayor of Puerto Rico’s capital San Juan, population 400,000, intensified on Sunday as the island continued to struggle in the wake of Hurricane Maria.Related: Carmen Yulín Cruz: San Juan's outspoken mayor in Donald Trump's crossha
  
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• Sex Work: a riot of body fluids, condom balloons and Day-Glo dick aliens

  01-10-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  The anti-war phalluses and photorealist porn of feminist artists were shunned by collectors and banned from galleries. Can a bold new show at Frieze art fair change all that?It would be impossible to look at the drawings of weaponised monster phalluses or gigantic photorealist paintings of genitalia cropped from hardcore porn, and not be poleaxed by the ferocious energy. The sheer ballsiness of the enterprise, if you like. These frank exhibits belong to Sex Work, a special section at this week&r
  
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• Catalonia Firefighters Form Human Chain To Protect Voters From Police Amid Referendum Violence

  01-10-2017 18:34
  Firefighters formed a human chain to protect Catalan voters from police as their violent efforts to prevent the independence referendum drew worldwide condemnation.
  
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• Pregnant refugees must have access to better care, say doctors

  01-10-2017 18:29 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: charity Doctors of the World call for greater pre- and post-natal care after finding inadequate treatment for vast number of health problemsPregnant refugees who have fled across the Mediterranean to Greece are at risk of harm to themselves and their babies because they are not routinely given the care they need before, during and after the birth, say doctors.A report from the charitable organisation Doctors of the World calls for pre- and post-natal care for refugee women across the
  
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• BA parent eyes Monarch assets amid ATOL licence renewal doubts

  01-10-2017 18:26
  Sky News has learnt that International Airlines Group has expressed an interest in acquiring some of Monarch's take-off and landing slots, fleet and crew - raising hopes that some jobs can be salvaged if the UK's fifth-biggest airline does collapse into administration.Sources said that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which granted Monarch a 24-hour ATOL extension on Saturday, was considering whether to sanction a repeat even without significant new assurances about the company's long-term fi
  
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• British Empire Strikes Back: Queen snubs Star Wars

  01-10-2017 18:19
  The organisation which runs land belonging to the Queen has revealed it turned down a request from Star Wars producers to film at Windsor Great Park.The Crown Estate said the location was unsuitable for the film and that it would not be influenced by "star names or star films".Estate spokesman Nick Day said the site's priority was to protect the Berkshire park and that the area Star Wars was interested in was not suitable for large numbers of people.
  
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• With a smile, Boris Johnson says he's right behind May

  01-10-2017 18:16
  MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he was right behind Prime Minister Theresa May when he arrived at the Conservative Party's annual conference on Sunday after days of speculation about his leadership intentions. Johnson, one of May's biggest rivals, told the Sun newspaper on Saturday he had four personal red lines in the complex talks with the EU that gave May less room to maneuver. "Of course," Johnson said, when asked if he was right behind May who lo
  
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• Protesters demand an end to Brexit at May's Conservative conference

  01-10-2017 18:14
  By Guy FaulconbridgeMANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Chanting "Bollocks to Brexit" and waving the gold stars of the European Union flag, tens of thousands of protesters marched through Manchester on Sunday to the ruling Conservative Party's annual conference to demand that Britain stay in the EU.Protesters in the northern English city called on Prime Minister Theresa May to embrace closer ties with Europe, while a separate demonstration demanded that May go now.Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip
  
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• Britain will be 'world embarrassment' unless rights watchdog has more powers

  01-10-2017 18:14 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: David Isaac, chair of Equality and Human Rights Commission, urges action to make sure not only the wealthy get justiceFar-reaching powers to enforce equality legislation should be given to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to prevent Britain “returning to the 1930s, when only the wealthy could obtain justice”, according to its chair, David Isaac.The call by the head of the watchdog for additional authority to carry out inspections and punish offenders comes in a def
  
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• Richard Branson to invest in Saudi Arabia's tourism project

  01-10-2017 18:12 via theguardian.com
  Scheme aims to turn a large area of the Gulf kingdom’s Red Sea coast into a luxury destination in an attempt to end its dependence on oilVirgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson will invest in a Red Sea project that aims to turn 50 Saudi Arabian islands into luxury tourism destinations, the Saudi government announced on Sunday.
  Branson is the first international investor to commit to the project, Saudi Arabia’s information ministry said, in what officials called “a clear sign t
  
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• Donald Trump tells Rex Tillerson he is ‘wasting his time’ attempting to negotiate with North Korea

  01-10-2017 18:12
  The Secretary of State said on Saturday the US was in “direct contact” with the country.
  
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• Salvage firm hopes to net gold worth £125bn sunk by German U-boats

  01-10-2017 18:11 via theguardian.com
  Britannia Gold aiming to cash in on two decades of painstaking research into location and cargo of lost shipsA transatlantic salvage operation will put to sea on Monday to recover some of the estimated £125bn worth of gold and other precious metals sunk by German U-boats while being shipped to pay for Britain’s first and second world war efforts.Britannia Gold, a UK firm that has spent 25 years analysing cargo lost at sea, will set sail in secret from an unannounced port to explore t
  
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• The Nobel peace prize is a who’s who of hawks, hypocrites and war criminals

  01-10-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Aung San Suu Kyi is the latest Nobel peace prize laureate to bring the award into disrepute. But people misunderstand what it stands for: absolutely nothingIt’s that time of year again! The days are growing shorter and the smell of Nordic niceties is in the air. Yes, Monday marks the start of Nobel season, the world’s most prestigious prize-giving ceremony and our annual reminder that Norway exists. Over the course of the week, Nobel prizes will be awarded in six categories – b
  
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