General news

• A First Class Technical Education System Is Not Just An Aspiration For Britain But A Necessity

  10-10-2017 23:22
  There was one sentence which really leapt out of me from the Prime Minister's speech to conference last week.
  
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• Wasps’ Dai Young rails against ‘unfair’ Champions Cup fixture demands

  10-10-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  • Director of rugby angry at five-day turnaround from Saracens defeat
  • Dai Young stresses his team must not use the schedule as an excuseDai Young, the Wasps director of rugby, has claimed his side’s “unfair” fixture congestion puts them at a disadvantage in the Champions Cup and has urged administrators to bring an end to five-day turnarounds.The injury-hit Wasps begin their Champions Cup campaign at Ulster on Friday, having lost away against Saracens on Sunday. Wit
  
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• Call for athletes to be fitted with microchips in fight against drug cheats

  10-10-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  • Chief executive of World Olympians Association makes implant suggestion
  • ‘We’re prepared to chip our dogs, so why aren’t we prepared to chip ourselves?’Athletes need to be fitted with microchips, in a similar way that dogs are, in the fight against drug cheats in sport, according to a leading representative of international sports people.Mike Miller, the World Olympians Association chief executive, claimed that radical anti-doping methods – including im
  
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• Royal bump debuted as Kate makes first public appearance since pregnancy announcement

  10-10-2017 22:56
  The Duchess of Cambridge has debuted her royal baby bump, appearing in public for the first time since it was announced she is expecting her third child.Kate, who has severe morning sickness, joined husband Prince William and brother-in-law Prince Harry at a reception at Buckingham Palace to mark World Mental Health Day.Despite still suffering from severe vomiting (hyperemesis gravidarum), she looked relaxed and was showing signs of a tiny baby bump.
  
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• Seth Rogen’s mum used Twitter to contact her son and it’s totally relatable

  10-10-2017 22:49
  “When you don’t answer your mom’s phone calls for a day.”
  
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• Unilever shifts UK food jobs to Rotterdam ‎in PG Tips merger

  10-10-2017 22:28
  Unilever is shifting scores of UK-based jobs to the Netherlands as part of a plan to create a new global headquarters for brands such as PG Tips and Magnum ice cream.Sky News has learnt that the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, which saw off a £115bn takeover bid from Kraft Heinz this year, has begun a consultation with approximately 140 of its UK workers about the relocation of their roles.The jobs being moved represent a small fraction of Unilever's ‎British workforce of more than 7
  
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• Mexico minister says ditching NAFTA would affect cooperation

  10-10-2017 22:24
  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Tuesday that an end to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would be a breaking point in Mexican-U.S. relations and would affect bilateral cooperation in other areas. Mexico is a key partner with the United States on fighting drug trafficking and stemming the tide of illegal immigration across the U.S. southern border, where there has been a spike in the number of Central Americans passing through Mexico. (Reporti
  
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• Theresa May Under Fire For Refusing To Say She'd Vote For Brexit In Fresh Referendum

  10-10-2017 22:15
  A leading conservative commentator has said Theresa May is “unfit” to be Prime Minister after refusing to say she would vote for Brexit if there was a fresh referendum today.
  
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• The Stigma Around Periods Has To End

  10-10-2017 22:03
  The thing about a taboo is that until someone opens it up for conversation or debate it can stay like an elephant in the room - a big issue everyone is aware of but avoids discussing or acknowledging.
  
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• Duchess's first outing since baby news

  10-10-2017 21:37 via bbc.co.uk
  It's the first time the Duchess has been seen in public since it was announced she was pregnant with her third child.
  
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• A picture of Carrie Fisher’s dog watching the new Star Wars trailer is giving people all the feels

  10-10-2017 21:33
  “My mom looks more beautiful than ever,” read the posted on Gary Fisher’s Instagram.
  
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• Steve Bell on Donald Trump and Rex Tillerson – cartoon

  10-10-2017 21:26 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• May says agreement with EU on citizens' rights is 'very close'

  10-10-2017 21:24
  LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday negotiators were very close to agreeing a deal with the European Union on the rights of expatriate citizens - one of the key issues that need to be resolved before talks can move forward. (Reporting by William James; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
  
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• Tesco's UK forecasts changing overnight in 2014, court told

  10-10-2017 21:19
  Tescohad become such a complex business by 2014 that internal forecasts for its UK grocery business were changing overnight, a London court heard on Tuesday.Amit Soni, a senior accountant at Tesco, was giving evidence for a fifth day at the trial of three former senior executives at Britain's biggest retailer who are accused of fraud and false accounting in 2014.Christopher Bush, 51, who was managing director of Tesco UK, Carl Rogberg, 50, who was UK finance director, and John Scouler,49, who wa
  
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• Former polytechnics should lose university status, says Adonis

  10-10-2017 21:09 via theguardian.com
  Labour’s former education minister Andrew Adonis says lower-performing institutions should charge lower feesThe former Labour education minister Andrew Adonis has reignited one of the oldest controversies in British education by calling for the clock to be turned back on polytechnics granted university status.Lord Adonis told a House of Lords committee that the government’s decision 25 years ago to allow more than 30 polytechnics to take the title of university was a mistake, and arg
  
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• Tesco's UK financial forecasts can change overnight, court told

  10-10-2017 21:06
  Former Tesco accountant Amit Soni arrives at Southwark crown court to testify in the trial of three former financial directors.The sheer scale of supermarket firm Tesco meant the financial picture could change “overnight”, a court has heard.Nicholas Purnell QC, for the defence, gave the example of March 2014 when the finance team forecast a monthly sales shortfall of £108m versus internal targets for the UK food business – only for that figure to be reduced by £32m
  
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• Only Leonardo da Vinci in private hands set to fetch £75m at auction

  10-10-2017 21:06 via theguardian.com
  Salvator Mundi was confirmed as an authentic old master just six years ago, having sold for £45 at auction in 1958 The only Leonardo da Vinci painting in private hands, which fetched just £45 at a sale in 1958, is to be sold at auction with an estimate of $100m (£75m).Salvator Mundi, one of the 15 or so known to be by the artist, was lost for centuries before its authenticity was confirmed in 2011. Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on Harvey Weinstein: a watershed | Editorial

  10-10-2017 20:56 via theguardian.com
  The titan of cinema is destroyed. Now to destroy the exploitation and abuse that he wreaked across his worldThe Harvey Weinstein affair cannot be brushed aside as the culture of the casting couch. It is not one more story from the Hollywood fiction factory. It must not be allowed to be another tawdry milestone. It must be the watershed.Harvey Weinstein has been one of the most prodigiously successful producers of his generation. He has made some exceptional pictures, from Pulp Fiction and T
  
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• Equifax says 15.2 million UK records exposed in cyber breach

  10-10-2017 20:56
  Credit reporting agency Equifax Incsaid on Tuesday that 15.2 million client records in Britain were compromised in the massive cyber attack it disclosed last month, including sensitive information affecting nearly 700,000 consumers.Overall, around 145.5 million people, mostly in the United States, had their information, including Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, driver's license numbers, stolen.Equifax said it would notify the 693,665 affected UK consumers by p
  
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• Catalan President Carles Puigdemont Suspends Declaration Of Independence

  10-10-2017 20:54
  The president of Catalonia has put the result of a controversial independence referendum on hold in the hope of finding a solution through negotiation with Madrid.
  
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• Catalan President Carles Puigdemont Signs Declaration Of Independence, But Will Seek Talks With Madrid

  10-10-2017 20:54
  The president of Catalonia has put the result of a controversial independence referendum on hold in the hope of finding a solution through negotiation with Madrid.
  
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• Equifax data hack affected 694,000 UK customers

  10-10-2017 20:45 via bbc.co.uk
  The credit reference agency now admits that this year's huge data hack exposed some customers to "possible criminal activity".
  
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• Wildfires cause destruction and chaos in California – in pictures

  10-10-2017 20:43 via theguardian.com
  At least one person has been killed and two others seriously injured as multiple wind-driven fires continue to ravage northern California, burning structures and causing widespread evacuationsCalifornia wildfires: one dead and 20,000 evacuatedContinue reading...
  
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• NHS boss calls for more cash or warns of 'consequences' for patient care

  10-10-2017 20:40
  The health service will struggle to meet demand if it does not receive more money in the Budget next month, its chief executive has warned MPs.Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, told a parliamentary health committee that sticking to the current funding plans for the next two years would make it "very hard" to deliver services.Funding is scheduled to rise by an average of just 0.6% between next year and 2020, the tightest funding squeeze in NHS history.
  
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• MPs to debate use of controversial vaginal mesh implants

  10-10-2017 20:36 via theguardian.com
  Parliament will discuss risks associated with implants after women report debilitating complications, including perforated organs and chronic painThe use of controversial vaginal mesh implants will be debated by MPs next week, amid concerns over the traumatic complications suffered by some patients.Parliament will discuss the risks associated with the implants, which are widely used to treat incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, common conditions in women who have had children. During the past
  
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• Theresa May refuses to say if she would vote for Brexit in fresh poll

  10-10-2017 20:33
  Theresa May has refused to say whether she would vote for Brexit if another referendum were held today, saying instead she would have to “weigh up the evidence” before deciding what to do in the current situation.The prime minister, who voted to remain in the EU in last year’s poll, struggled to give clear answers on Brexit issues during an LBC radio phone-in, and admitted there was no plan for what would happen to EU citizens living in the UK if no deal was agreed with Brussel
  
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• Mark Zuckerberg apologises after weird VR tour of Puerto Rico on Facebook Live

  10-10-2017 20:33
  His cartoon avatar “teleported” to the hurricane-ravaged state in the bizarre clip.
  
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• Why did no one speak out about Harvey Weinstein?

  10-10-2017 20:20 via theguardian.com
  As the allegations swirl around the disgraced film mogul, we must ask whose fault it is that his behaviour continued unchallenged for so long – and how we stop the harassers we encounter in our own livesThis happens once in a while: a tide of disapproval should crash on the head of the man who has been serially sexually harassing women for his entire career. But it never does. Almost as the story breaks, his part in it becomes a trigger event at best – the Franz Ferdinand moment in t
  
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• North Korea Hacks US-South Korean War Plans That Includes Kim Jong-Un Assassination

  10-10-2017 20:20
  Hackers from North Korea are reported to have stolen a large amount of military documents from South Korea, including a plan to assassinate North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un.
  
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• No more platform No 2s: train toilets to stop emptying on to tracks

  10-10-2017 20:10 via theguardian.com
  Modern fleets and holding-tank facilities will end dumping of raw sewage on to railway linesThe final flush on train toilets that empty their contents directly on to Britain’s tracks will be pulled in 2019, rail bosses and ministers have promised.A combination of new trains and retrofitting old stock with modern, holding-tank toilets will end the dumping of raw sewage on the railways.Continue reading...
  
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• For hardline Brexiters, the lure of the cliff edge is irresistible | Rafael Behr

  10-10-2017 20:06 via theguardian.com
  In thrall to turbo-Thatcherism, they do not care about the damage leaving the EU without a deal will do to the UK economy – or even their own partyThe heckles in the House of Commons can be as revealing as the speeches. When the prime minister was taking questions about her Brexit plans on Monday, Anna Soubry, Conservative MP for Broxtowe, asked about the no-deal scenario – whether the UK would “jump off the cliff”. At which point a male voice, dripping with derision, chi
  
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• Fellow Americans, there are better sauces of outrage than Szechuan | Tim Dowling

  10-10-2017 19:58 via theguardian.com
  While protests were breaking out over the lack of a Rick and Morty McDonald’s dip, NFL players were taking a knee over racial injustice. Let’s hope there’s no confusion over which is a real causeI did not come of age in an era of activism. During my four years at college, I can remember only two campus-wide protests that gained any sort of traction. One was to remove – or protect, depending on which side you were on – a piece of modern sculpture which had been erect
  
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• The need to tackle London’s toxic air | Letters

  10-10-2017 19:45 via theguardian.com
  Jeremy Simons of the City of London Corporation wants to see existing diesel private hire vehicles removed from fleets as soon as possible, and Tompion Platt of Living Streets wants more children to be able to walk to school
  It is of real concern to read that nearly 95% of London’s population live in areas exceeding WHO limits for particulate matter (Report, 5 October). Inner London’s location, its dense road network and high buildings mean that it suffers from poorer air quality tha
  
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• Plenty of ways to bring an end to plagiarism in university essays | Letters

  10-10-2017 19:45 via theguardian.com
  Antonia Bertschinger, Anthony Milton, Adam Keelan and Paul Flewers offer their thoughts on the universities watchdog calling for a crackdown on essay plagiarism sites. Plus Michael Bassey says school league tables should be scrappedI once answered a job advertisement for an “academic researcher”, thereby inadvertently applying for a job with one of these sites (Universities watchdog calls for crackdown on ‘essay mill’ plagiarism sites, 9 October). Checking the company in
  
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• Has Trump insulted you? – take our quiz to find out

  10-10-2017 19:24 via theguardian.com
  He probably has, to be honest, though Continue reading...
  
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• Job losses are a way of life in Warton, home to BAE Systems

  10-10-2017 19:16 via theguardian.com
  Villagers in Lancashire reflect on worries brought on by announcement of large job losses, but say ‘it’s always been like that’The rumours of job losses had been circulating for weeks. In the church and the chip shops of Warton in Lancashire, home to BAE Systems’ 72-hectare (180-acre) production site, locals knew that the final Typhoons were due to roll off the production line next September – meaning uncertainty for the friends and relatives who work there.The vill
  
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• I tried making Margaret Thatcher’s mystery starter. I wish I hadn’t

  10-10-2017 19:16 via theguardian.com
  Among Mrs T’s papers is a recipe for one of her signature dishes. One brave chef resurrects this uninspiring creamy mousse – and a long-forgotten taste of the 70sHaving a scientific background and an ordered mind, Margaret Thatcher, who liked to cook for herself and her husband Dennis as regularly as she could, was keen on following a recipe and, most especially, a method.In the case of a recent find, discovered among her archives, in a file with an official stamp, the method is very
  
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• Drop-down gorgeous: the new age of the earring

  10-10-2017 19:12 via theguardian.com
  From Céline’s huge hoops to Gucci’s beetles, the earring has gone from sideshow to main event. So it’s time to up your earring game – and the bigger the betterA naked earlobe now is like leaving your phone at home – an all-day type of fail. Earrings – once the garnish of an outfit – are now the main course, or make that the dessert you get to skip straight to. To be clear, we’re not talking about an inoffensive stud that would pass a dress-c
  
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• Scotland can still offer choice on independence from UK - Sturgeon

  10-10-2017 19:05
  By Elisabeth O'LearyGLASGOW, Scotland (Reuters) - Nicola Sturgeon told her Scottish National Party on Tuesday that Britain's impending exit from the European Union strengthened the case for Scottish independence from the UK and that her party still has a mandate to offer a choice."With the UK government so engulfed in chaos and taking the country down a path of self-imposed decline, the need to (make the case for independence) has never been greater," she told the party faithful gathered in Scot
  
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• Elsie Scully-Hicks: Husband of murder accused 'wouldn't have tolerated' violence, court hears

  10-10-2017 18:59
  Matthew Scully-Hicks is accused of inflicting a series of serious injuries on Elsie Scully-Hicks after formally adopting her with his husband, Craig Scully-Hicks, just two weeks before her death.Giving evidence at Cardiff Crown Court, Craig Scully-Hicks told the jury he had never heard his husband shout at Elsie, nor her adopted sibling.Wales Ambulance Service received an emergency call from Matthew Scully-Hicks at about 6.20pm on 25 May 2016.
  
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• Hairy legs in a fashion advert are good news for feminists … aren’t they? | Emer O’Toole

  10-10-2017 18:58 via theguardian.com
  It’s uncomfortable to see progressive ideas being co-opted to sell stuff. But at least it’s a challenge to misogynist ideas about women’s bodiesIn Arvida Byström’s shoot for Adidas, the model and artist wears pastel pinks and a lacy frock. She also power-poses, taking up space – evidently never having been informed that girls in pretty dresses should keep their knees together. She’s petite, blonde and feminine, but with a facial expression clearly communi
  
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• Race Disparity Audit Sees Campaigners Demand End To 'Discriminatory' Mental Health Diagnosis

  10-10-2017 18:56
  Activists have called for a reform of “discriminatory” mental health diagnosis techniques after a major audit of race inequality indicated that black and mixed race women are more likely to suffer from mental health issues.
  
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• House-sized asteroid will pass by Earth at just above satellite altitude

  10-10-2017 18:51 via theguardian.com
  Nasa says there will be ‘no danger’ when the asteroid 2012 TC4 shaves past Earth at just above the altitude at which most satellites operate on ThursdayA house-size asteroid will give Earth a near-miss on Thursday, giving experts a rare chance to rehearse for a real-life strike threat as it passes inside the moon’s orbit.Dubbed 2012 TC4, the space rock will shave past at an altitude of less than 44,000km (27,300 miles) – just above the 36,000km plane at which hundreds of
  
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• May says agreement with EU on citizens' rights is "very close"

  10-10-2017 18:50
  LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday negotiators were very close to agreeing a deal with the European Union on the rights of expatriate citizens - one of the key issues that need to be resolved before talks can move forward. (Reporting by William James; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
  
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• EU to review Brexit approach if no deal by December - Tusk

  10-10-2017 18:46
  By Jan Strupczewski and Alastair MacdonaldBRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will have to reconsider its Brexit strategy if Britain fails to improve its offers to Brussels significantly by the end of the year, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.Effectively ruling out that EU leaders will agree to British demands to open talks on a future free trade pact when Tusk chairs a summit with Prime Minister Theresa May in Brussels next week, he said he still hoped for such a move
  
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• I’ve been a doctor for years – why am I still called a ‘junior’?

  10-10-2017 18:37
  The title junior doctor does not acknowledge the experience and training these medics have already accumulated.Today marks the start of a campaign by the Royal Society of Medicine to abolish the terms “junior doctor” and “trainee doctor”.It would also help to ease public confusion around the terms, with many unaware that junior doctors are not students but fully qualified doctors undertaking training in their speciality of choice.
  
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• Even the Brexiters do not want us to crash out without a deal

  10-10-2017 18:30
  Europe’s chief negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, delivers a speech during a debate on the progress of the talks.Theresa May’s no-deal scenario is one that neither side in the Brexit negotiations says it wants to see, but what are the risks of it happening anyway?The British government has revealed its contingency planning for walking away – ostensibly to demonstrate that it has a viable alternative if Brussels refuses to give ground in the talks.
  
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• Too much cheese lands van man in pickle with police

  10-10-2017 18:27 via bbc.co.uk
  Police said the excess dairy produce had to be "removed or eaten" as the van was 41% over weight.
  
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• Toys R Us RECALL: Parents asked to return Wiggle Ball as it poses CHOKING HAZARD to babies

  10-10-2017 18:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  TOYS R US has recalled a baby toy amid fears pieces could break off and pose a choking hazard to babies.
  
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• Hermes Sacked Courier Over Premature Baby Saying 'Parcels Come First', Inquiry Hears

  10-10-2017 18:22
  Hermes was today accused of sacking one of its couriers for rushing to hospital to see their premature baby, telling them “parcels come first”.
  
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