General news

• Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp backs Simon Mignolet but says pressure is mounting

  27-10-2017 23:55 via theguardian.com
  • Goalkeeper will keep his place against Huddersfield Town
  • Klopp: ‘I don’t think for a second about changing this position’Jürgen Klopp has confirmed Simon Mignolet will start against Huddersfield Town on Saturday because the erratic display against Tottenham Hotspur was out of context with his recent Liverpool form.The goalkeeper and the defender Dejan Lovren were widely criticised for errors in the 4-1 defeat at Wembley last Sunday, although Klopp insists Mig
  
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• England must draw a line under Ben Stokes and learn to cope without him | Jason Gillespie

  27-10-2017 23:51 via theguardian.com
  England’s star all-rounder is not on the plane and is not going to play – and given he is irreplaceable the management needs to focus on a Plan B with the first Ashes Test under a month awayThere is less than a month to go before England step out into the cauldron of the Gabba to begin their Ashes defence and with the squad touching down in Australia this weekend, you have to wonder whether now would be a sensible time to fully pen a line through the name of Ben Stokes.Ever since Sto
  
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• Manchester United loss to Huddersfield was one-off, says José Mourinho

  27-10-2017 23:47 via theguardian.com
  • United manager confident that attitude problems were ‘an isolated case’
  • Mourinho dismisses claims in Mauricio Pochettino’s book about Eric DierJosé Mourinho is confident Manchester United’s attitude in last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield Town will prove “an isolated case”, with the manager claiming contentment at Ander Herrera’s post-game concession that David Wagner’s side had the more professional approach.The lo
  
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• Trump to shrink two national monuments following Zinke's proposal

  27-10-2017 23:41 via theguardian.com
  President will reverse protections established by two Democratic presidents on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante, sparking fury from environmentalistsDonald Trump is shrinking two national monuments in Utah, accepting the recommendation of interior secretary Ryan Zinke to reverse protections established by two Democratic presidents, a Republican senator said Friday. Related: National Park Service wants to sharply raise entry fees at most popular parksContinue reading...
  
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• Theresa May Launches New Drive To Close Gender Pay Gap

  27-10-2017 23:30
  Theresa May has launched a new drive to close the gender pay cap, now calling on small companies to publish data on wage disparities.
  
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• Roy Hodgson sets sights on January reinforcements to aid Palace fight

  27-10-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  • Palace manager believes his squad does not have enough depth
  • The forward line is an obvious area of weaknessRoy Hodgson’s belief that Crystal Palace’s survival hopes depend on improving their squad in January was reinforced by his second string’s capitulation against Bristol City in the Carabao Cup.Although Hodgson does not think the 4-1 defeat at Ashton Gate on Tuesday will have a bearing on the crucial home game against West Ham United on Saturday, the Palace ma
  
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• Leicester City’s Claude Puel insists priority is winning – not style

  27-10-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  • ‘It is important to develop consistency,’ new manager says
  • Michael Appleton remains at King Power Stadium alongside Pascal PlancqueClaude Puel has rejected concerns about his playing style and declared that winning is more important than entertaining, although he added that he hoped to do both at Leicester City.Speaking at his first press conference since his appointment on Wednesday, the Frenchman defended his record at Southampton, from where he was sacked in June des
  
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• David Unsworth admits there is no time frame for his role as Everton caretaker

  27-10-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  • Under-23 manager has had ‘honest’ talks with Farhad Moshiri
  • Unsworth expected to be given at least until November international breakDavid Unsworth has held talks with Everton’s major shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, as he attempts to convince the club’s hierarchy he can be the long-term replacement for Ronald Koeman as manager.The club’s academy and under-23 manager insists there is no time frame on his caretaker role with the first team, although he is e
  
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• Arsène Wenger burning to win Premier League again before leaving Arsenal

  27-10-2017 23:30 via theguardian.com
  • Manager claims he is more hungry than ever for success at the Emirates
  • ‘I’ve always got something to prove,’ Frenchman says before Swansea’s visitArsène Wenger has described Brexit as an example of knee-jerk British society, in which the heat of the moment is all‑consuming and the longer-term consequences an afterthought. The Arsenal manager made a call for perspective and substance to return to football and society but he fears that his is most
  
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• Chechen pop star may have been killed in anti-gay crackdown, rights group says

  27-10-2017 23:15 via theguardian.com
  Zelimkhan Bakayev went missing in August, prompting NGO and media speculation that Chechen police may have abducted himA leading Russian human rights group has expressed “serious fears” that a gay pop star may have been killed in Chechnya’s crackdown on the homosexual community.Zelimkhan Bakayev, 26, went missing in August when he left his home in Moscow to visit the capital, Grozny, for his sister’s wedding. Continue reading...
  
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• Lachie Turner try helps resilient Exeter see off Sale and go top of table

  27-10-2017 23:04 via theguardian.com
  • Sale 6-10 Exeter
  • Rob Baxter’s side put in an outstanding rearguard displayA cold, uninviting night in Salford is no substitute for the south of France; an attritional win over Sale cannot compare to a Champions Cup victory in Montpellier. But five days after that famous success at the Altrad Stadium, the defending Premiership champions, Exeter, demonstrated all their powers of resilience to climb to the top of the table.Rob Baxter’s men will see that as their rightful p
  
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• Seaside residents told to stay indoors as noxious odour spreads

  27-10-2017 23:02 via theguardian.com
  Emergency services issue warning in Seaford, East Sussex after smell ‘like burning plastic’ fails to dispersePeople in a coastal town have been advised to stay in and keep doors and windows shut after reports of a noxious odour.
  The emergency services issued the warning as people in Seaford, East Sussex, complained of stinging eyes and feeling sick on Friday evening.Continue reading...
  
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• Leeds stunned after David Brooks seals superb win for Sheffield United

  27-10-2017 23:02 via theguardian.com
  David Brooks’s first goal for Sheffield United clinched a 2-1 win at their Yorkshire rivals Leeds United and sent them top of the Championship.Brooks, a second-half substitute, fired home a low angled shot late in the game after Kalvin Phillips had cancelled out Billy Sharp’s opener for the Blades against his former club. Continue reading...
  
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• Investigative reporting more vital than ever: NYT managing editor

  27-10-2017 23:01
  The New York Times is investing in more reporters following a bump in subscriptions since Donald Trump became US president.The Trump presidency and the proliferation of fake news is an assault on good journalism, and this should be resisted by funding even more investigative reporting, the New York Times managing editor, Joseph Kahn, has told a black-tie dinner in Sydney.“Attacks on the press by the president, the fake news phenomenon, and the shift of eyeballs and ad dollars to the big te
  
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• Man who infected more than 30 women with HIV jailed in Rome

  27-10-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  Accountant Valentino Talluto given 24-year sentence after having sex with dozens of women he met onlineAn Italian man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for infecting more than 30 women with the HIV virus, after having deliberately having unprotected sex with them. Valentino Talluto, a 33-year-old accountant, seduced dozens of women via social networks for a decade before his arrest in November 2015. Police believe he had sex with at least 53 women during that time, passing on the virus to
  
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• Is Westminster harbouring the next harassment scandal?

  27-10-2017 22:45
  No names have been made public - yet - but after the scandals in Hollywood and the entertainment industry, political parties will be braced for the floodgates to open.Staff in these situations could call a dedicated helpline for harassment claims, set up in 2014, or contact the MP's political party, she said.
  
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• Man jailed for killing wife who discovered his sexual interest in a child

  27-10-2017 22:19
  Adam Parkin, who was jailed for killing his primary school teacher wife.A man who murdered his wife after she confronted him over his sexual interest in a child has been jailed for life.Adam Parkin, 35, was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his wife Julie Parkin in a frenzied attack at their home in Sunderland in June after she discovered he had a sexual interest in a child and had made indecent videos.
  
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• Martin Rowson on Spain and Catalonia's power struggle – cartoon

  27-10-2017 21:33 via theguardian.com
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• Simon Cowell back home after hospital treatment for a fall down the stairs

  27-10-2017 20:48
  Simon Cowell is back home after being taken to hospital with injuries he receiving after falling down the stairs.The Sun newspaper reported he was stretchered out of his home and taken to hospital by ambulance at around 8am.It is not known whether his girlfriend Laura Silverman and their son Eric were at home when the accident happened.
  
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• Towie star's ex Arthur Collins apologises in court to acid victims

  27-10-2017 20:39
  The former boyfriend of Towie star Ferne McCann has told a court he was "sorry" for the injuries suffered by victims in an acid attack.Arthur Collins has already given evidence saying he thought the liquid he threw in an east London nightclub was a date rape drug and not acid.Collins said he threw the liquid from the bottle twice because he wanted to ensure that girls he knew could not have their drinks spiked.
  
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• Northampton shopkeeper fights off armed raiders with shelving unit

  27-10-2017 20:38 via bbc.co.uk
  CCTV footage showed the shopkeeper throwing items at the men, who fled empty-handed
  
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• Conspiracy theories such as JFK distract from the real threats we face | Jonathan Freedland

  27-10-2017 20:36 via theguardian.com
  When imagined plots lead to the bereaved and wounded receiving online hate, they are no longer harmless eccentricity but a dangerous diversionRuefully, and rightly as it turned out, one lifelong investigator of the Kennedy assassination predicted that there “won’t be any smoking gun” in the cache of nearly 3,000 JFK-related documents released late on Thursday night. It was a suitably ironic choice of phrase by Jefferson Morley, the editor of the JFKfacts website. Because this,
  
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• Catalan declaration greeted with tears of joy – and trepidation

  27-10-2017 20:32 via theguardian.com
  As independence was proclaimed, thousands took to the streets to celebrate but others stayed away, fearful or furiousWhen the Catalan parliament declared independence, Eladi Jaume was surprised to find himself weeping with joy, at the heart of a thousands-strong crowd in central Barcelona.
  “I cried and I didn’t expect it. Its the first time I have cried for politics, although I’d say it was actually more for love of life,” he said with a huge grin. Continue reading...
  
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• People smuggling plot: Trio jailed after undercover operation

  27-10-2017 20:31
  The National Crime Agency said it had "knocked a hole" in the abilities of the organised crime group (OCG) following an undercover operation.OCG members Scott Downie and Anthony Corkovic hatched a plan to hand over Albanians in Belgium to a person who they thought would take them to the UK.Group leader Jetlind Gjyriqi claimed he could move up to 20 illegal migrants per month, many of whom had previously been removed from the UK and were trying to get back in.
  
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• MPs complain sexual harassment claims still not being taken seriously

  27-10-2017 20:31
  Several parliamentarians said they believed staff members were set to go public over the coming days.Senior MPs have raised complaints that allegations of sexual harassment are still not being taken seriously enough by their parties and whips despite years of warnings about inappropriate behaviour in Westminster, the Guardian has learned.MPs have made their frustrations known to their parties after Labour MP Jared O’Mara was suspended over allegations of misogynistic abuse, and parliamenta
  
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• Spare rooms plan can’t solve NHS overcrowding | Letters

  27-10-2017 20:30
  There are better ways to ease the NHS hospital beds crisis than by renting rooms in private houses for recuperating patients, argue readers.Perhaps a good way to avoid bedroom tax.Why close these local rural hospitals that have been offering care and rehabilitation for generations?
  
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• Violence in Gunpowder TV drama needs its political context | Letters

  27-10-2017 20:25 via theguardian.com
  Robert Lawrence on reasons behind violent historical acts; Ian Beckwith on the prevalence of torture and persecution; and Denise McSheehy on gratuitous goreRebecca Rideal sees violence in 17th-century Britain as “arguably incidental” (The ugly lesson of Gunpowder, Opinion, 24 October). Unfortunately, that’s the sense here because of an absence of political context. So the execution of Charles is difficult to understand unless one knows that by the end of 1648, parliament decide
  
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• Stalin’s death shouldn’t be played for laughs | Letters

  27-10-2017 20:20 via theguardian.com
  The Death of Stalin film makes light of an intensely serious moment in history, writes Peter Hitchens Peter Bradshaw (Notebook, 26 October) says the new film The Death of Stalin is not knockabout comedy, but a satire. Oh. What exactly is it satirising? As far as I know, this is the first time a mass-market film has dealt with this event.We may be saturated with serious drama and documentary material on the Nazis and the end of Hitler, but the equivalent evils of the Stalin nightma
  
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• UK 'won't recognise' Catalan independence

  27-10-2017 20:19 via bbc.co.uk
  Downing Street says the Catalan parliament's declaration was based on a vote declared illegal.
  
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• Armistice Day and marking the tragedy of war | Letters

  27-10-2017 20:18
  A poppy being readied for Remembrance Day. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
  
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• Schedule 7 brings back bad Irish memories of 1970s miscarriages of justice | Letters

  27-10-2017 20:16
  Edinburgh airport, where Owen Jones’s sister was detained under the Terrorism Act.Owen Jones writes in sobering detail about his sister being detained at Edinburgh airport under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (Opinion, 26 October).Then, sweeping powers were granted to the police and security services, and civil rights were occasionally suspended, against the background of an intense IRA bombing campaign in Northern Ireland and mainland Britain.
  
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• Charlie Hodgson: ‘Rugby union is unrecognisable from when I started’

  27-10-2017 20:04 via theguardian.com
  The former England fly-half, now coaching at London Irish, fears the physical demands on young players may be too great with more matches being playedAs one of English rugby’s sharpest brains, not to mention finest playmakers, it is a great shame that Charlie Hodgson does not intend to take the plunge into full-time coaching. Perhaps it is fitting he is in no rush considering he fell into that category of player for whom time on the ball was always in abundance, but certainly for now he is
  
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• Scotland's Labour leader hopefuls go head to head over top tax rate

  27-10-2017 20:01 via theguardian.com
  Corbynite Richard Leonard proposes two new tax bands, but is accused by rival Anas Sarwar of offering too little manifesto detail Richard Leonard, the Corbynite challenger for the Scottish Labour leadership, has been accused by his rival Anas Sarwar of “shouting about being radical” but offering too little detail in his policy manifesto.In what appeared to be a direct response to Sarwar’s own more detailed and costed tax policies, released earlier this week, Leonard called for
  
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• Scotland's Labour leader hopefuls go head to head over top tax rate

  27-10-2017 20:01
  Richard Leonard, the Corbynite challenger for the Scottish Labour leadership, has been accused by his rival Anas Sarwar of “shouting about being radical” but offering too little detail in his policy manifesto.In what appeared to be a direct response to Sarwar’s own more detailed and costed tax policies, released earlier this week, Leonard called for a “once-in-a-generation discussion” about taxation in Scotland as he launched his proposals on Friday afternoon.Borrow
  
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• Farming sector aims to cut antibiotics use to help tackle human resistance

  27-10-2017 19:56 via theguardian.com
  Taskforce from UK’s pig, dairy and poultry farming sectors will aim to bring down use seen as major cause of increasing antibiotic resistanceFarming organisations have set new targets to reduce the use of antibiotics in raising animals for food, in an effort to cut the widespread overuse that has been blamed as a significant factor in increasing medicinal resistance among humans.The chief medical officer for England, Dame Sally Davies, has repeatedly said that the rapidly increasing resist
  
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• This guy’s Stranger Things Halloween costume is sublime

  27-10-2017 19:31
  Mitchell Felton is Eleven – and Netflix agrees.
  
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• Ex-WTO boss Pascal Lamy: 'There will have to be an Irish border post-Brexit'

  27-10-2017 19:09
  The former head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has accused British politicians of misleading the public over the realities of Brexit and insists there will have to be a border in Ireland.Pascal Lamy who was head of the WTO between 2005-2013, told Sky News that while things had improved since the referendum, UK politicians "still a long way to go" in being honest with voters.Asked if the Prime Minister and others were misleading the public, Mr Lamy said.
  
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• ‘This is groundbreaking’: the activists ending harassment at abortion clinics

  27-10-2017 19:08 via theguardian.com
  Tired of women having to run the gauntlet of anti-abortion vigils, UK campaigners are making history with protective buffer zonesA young woman with blue hair and a wide smile cycles past the Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing, west London. When she spots the Sister Supporter volunteers wearing luminous pink tabards emblazoned with the words “pro-choice”, she rings her bell and calls out: “Well done! I think it’s incredible what you have done.”The group, set up just two y
  
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• Canada judge says sexual assault victim may have been 'flattered' by the incident

  27-10-2017 19:03 via theguardian.com
  Judge Jean-Paul Braun suggested that a 17-year-old girl might have welcomed the advances of a 49-year-old taxi driver who allegedly assaulted herA judge in the Canadian province of Quebec has come under fire after remarking in court that a 17-year-old who said she was sexual assaulted was a “little overweight but has a pretty face” and that she may have been a “bit flattered” by the attention. The comments, which came to light this week, were made by Judge Jean-Paul Braun
  
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• William Boyd webchat – post your questions now

  27-10-2017 19:02 via theguardian.com
  The author of Any Human Heart and the James Bond novel Solo, also a sometime art hoaxer, will be joining us at 12pm GMT on Tuesday 31 October to answer your questions 5.47pm BSTSince he was selected in 1983 as one of Granta’s 20 Best of Young British Novelists, Boyd has become one of the UK’s most beloved authors. The Scottish writer of more than 20 novels and short story collections, Boyd grew up in Ghana, Nigeria, France and Scotland. He was working as an English lecturer at Oxford
  
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• Can Liverpool unlock riddle of the real life Oxymoron? | Barney Ronay

  27-10-2017 18:55 via theguardian.com
  Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all wanted him in the summer but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is still no nearer to holding down a regular first-team placeAt the height of the cold war, the Soviet Union developed a deep institutional suspicion towards denim jeans. Jeans and jean‑related items were seen as an emblem of western‑style decadence, a symbol for the younger generation of intoxicatingly subversive belief in modernism, artistic freedom and comfortable riveted trousers.There we
  
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• A former cancer patient has used his leg amputation to create an inspired Halloween costume

  27-10-2017 18:55
  Josh Sundquist has done it again.
  
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• Niger is the perfect example of the US state of perma-war | Trevor TImm

  27-10-2017 18:53 via theguardian.com
  The little-known involvement of the US military in Niger shows how a hastily-written law allows global intervention without congressional oversightThe vast majority of Americans probably had no idea that the US even had military troops participating in combat missions in Africa before the incident in Niger in the beginning of October that left four American soldiers dead. But now the Trump administration is already planning to escalate lethal military operations in the country where the attack o
  
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• England’s diverse side ready to make statement in under-17 World Cup final

  27-10-2017 18:46 via theguardian.com
  On the eve of facing Spain Lord Ouseley rejoices that players from BAME backgrounds are ‘now judged on whether they can play football and nothing else’About 100 words into Lord Ouseley’s latest statement on behalf of Kick It Out on Thursday questioning the suitability of those in charge of the Football Association to continue in their posts after the Eni Aluko/Mark Sampson controversy, there were two sentences that stood out. “When you look at the recent success of Englan
  
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• George Michael goes back to number one

  27-10-2017 18:39 via bbc.co.uk
  The pop star's second solo album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1, returns to the top after 27 years.
  
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• North Hill Harvey ascent has Dan Skelton aiming at Cheltenham Festival

  27-10-2017 18:37 via theguardian.com
  • Skelton marvels at novice chaser’s progress from point-to-point
  • Trainer believes North Hill Harvey will compete in Arkle Trophy“He started out at Chaddesley Corbett point-to-point,” Dan Skelton said after winning the big novice chase here on Friday with North Hill Harvey. “It was unraceable conditions, over three miles and he was a four-year-old – and now here he is, winning two-mile chases. It shows you that they can start from all different walks.&rd
  
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• That sound? It’s Westminster’s sex pests rehearsing their excuses | Marina Hyde

  27-10-2017 18:36 via theguardian.com
  So George Bush Sr was just putting women ‘at their ease’. What will our dinosaurs come up with when the Weinstein contagion reaches parliament?Those of you collecting famous sex pests’ excuses for their handiwork will have bagged some real keepers this week. Probably my favourite emanated from George Bush Sr, whom confinement to a wheelchair has placed at women’s backside level for the past five years. While you’re down there, luv … as no female has ever said
  
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• Murder suspect finds police station shut when trying to hand himself in

  27-10-2017 18:34 via theguardian.com
  Man, 51, had to phone police in Brighton instead and has since been arrested over fatal stabbing of Jillian Howell, 46A murder suspect tried to hand himself in at a police station but had to phone officers instead because the front desk was closed.The 51-year-old arrived at the building in Brighton at 6am on Thursday, only to find the counter – where the public report crime – was not open until 8am. Continue reading...
  
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• Scale of PFI tax avoidance revealed

  27-10-2017 18:20 via bbc.co.uk
  BBC investigation learns that five offshore PFI firms paid little or no corporation tax despite huge profits.
  
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• Muslim woman hit by car in Leicester was hate crime victim, police say

  27-10-2017 18:17
  Leicestershire police and the CPS say they are treating both incidents as hate crimes.A Muslim woman who suffered serious injuries after being struck by a car was the alleged victim of a hate crime, the Guardian has learned.The woman, Zaynab Hussein, 47, is still in hospital more than five weeks after the attack.
  
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