General news

• UK police granted arrest warrant for Manchester Arena bomber's brother

  01-11-2017 23:57
  Police have been granted a warrant for the arrest of the Manchester Arena bomber's brother in connection with the devastating attack in May.Officers have called on the Libyan authorities to extradite Hashem Abedi.Greater Manchester Police (GMP) made the announcement, with the younger brother currently being detained in Libya.
  
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• Who are the winners and losers if the Bank of England raises interest rate?

  01-11-2017 23:30
  It is hard to think of another Bank of England decision that is simultaneously as momentous and as inconsequential as this one.The mere fact that the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is widely expected to raise interest rates this month is a landmark moment all of its own.In part that is because, for all the headlines recently about levels of indebtedness, Britons' overall household debt levels have actually dropped a fair bit in recent years.
  
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• Pushing the button on interest rates

  01-11-2017 23:30
  How does the Bank of England decide when to push the button and raise interest rates?
  
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• Foster carers housing lone child refugees to receive specialist training

  01-11-2017 23:28
  Demonstrators outside parliament call for more child refugees to be allowed asylum and safe passage to the UK.The government has announced specialist training for 1,000 foster carers looking after unaccompanied migrant children, ahead of a key court ruling on a decision to wind up a scheme bringing child refugees to the UK.The announcement comes as ministers face criticism for the UK’s failure to accept any child refugees from Greece or Italy since the Dubs scheme to help settle lone child
  
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• UK seeks arrest of Manchester bomber's brother, asks Libya to extradite him

  01-11-2017 23:09
  British police said on Wednesday they had issued an arrest warrant for the brother of a suicide bomber who killed 22 people in an attack on a pop concert in Manchester in May and prosecutors had asked Libya to extradite him.Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old Briton born to Libyan parents, blew himself up at the end of a show by U.S. singer Ariana Grande in the deadliest militant attack in Britain for 12 years.Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, who is responsible for counter-terrorism in northwest
  
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• Bin Laden's disdain for the west grew in Shakespeare's birthplace, journal shows

  01-11-2017 23:01 via theguardian.com
  CIA released journal as part of 470,000 documents collected from Bin Laden’s house, showing he visited the UK as a teenager and found it to be ‘decadent’A summer trip to the UK as a teenager and visits to Shakespeare’s birthplace convinced Osama bin Laden that the west was “decadent”, the late leader of al-Qaida and architect of the 9/11 attacks wrote in his personal journal shortly before he was killed by US special forces in 2011.The journal is among 470,000
  
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• UK requests extradition of Hashem Abedi over Manchester Arena attack

  01-11-2017 23:00
  Hashem Abedi, brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, inside the Tripoli-based Special Deterrent anti-terrorism force unit.An extradition request has been made to the Libyan authorities for the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber to return to the UK to face trial for mass murder.Hashem Abedi, 20, was arrested in Libya shortly after his older brother, Salman Abedi, blew himself up, killing 22 concertgoers at the Manchester Arena on 22 May this year.
  
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• Fallon: the image-conscious minister felled by indiscretions

  01-11-2017 22:56
  Sir Michael Fallon’s appointment as defence secretary in July 2014 was accompanied by a sigh of relief on the part of most British defence correspondents.After almost three years of his predecessor Philip Hammond – dull, uncommunicative, barely able to conceal his disdain for journalists – Fallon held the promise of being more interesting, more likely to engage with the media, to gossip and occasionally be indiscreet.On RAF flights, there is no drink unless the defence secretar
  
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• Sir Michael Fallon resigns as Defence Secretary

  01-11-2017 22:44
  Sir Michael Fallon has resigned as Defence Secretary, days after he apologised for touching a journalist’s knee.The Sevenoaks MP admitted he had "fallen below" acceptable standards and had since "reflected on my position"."Many of these have been false but I accept that in the past I have fallen below the high standards that we require of the Armed Forces that I have the honour to represent.
  
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• Defence Secretary Fallon resigns in growing harassment scandal

  01-11-2017 22:35
  British defence minister Michael Fallon quit on Wednesday saying his conduct had fallen below the high standards demanded of his position, the first resignation in a sexual harassment scandal in parliament.Prime Minister Theresa May, weakened after losing her parliamentary majority in a June election, loses a loyalist at a time when she is trying to break a deadlock in talks to leave the European Union.Fallon was described by sources in her ruling Conservative Party as a political "Rottweiler".
  
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• Fall of Fallon leaves May's government a scandal away from losing power | Polly Toynbee

  01-11-2017 22:03 via theguardian.com
  The defence secretary’s resignation leaves the prime minister without one of her old reliables in what is a perilously fragile governmentThe fall of Michael Fallon is a mighty blow to Theresa May. Her rickety government has just lost one of its old reliables. She could send him out there on Today or Newsnight and he would spout the line of the day faultlessly, unblinking. Even if the line was palpably, laughably absurd, he could say anything with a deadly straight face, a solemn bearing, a
  
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• How the EU might move on without the UK

  01-11-2017 22:00
  As Brexit draws closer, what's the EU dreaming up for the future?
  
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• 'I may have fallen below high standards' - Fallon

  01-11-2017 21:50
  Sir Michael Fallon has resigned as Defence Secretary and admitted to 'falling below high standards' in the past.
  
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• Why are so many politicians prepared to risk their careers over sex? | Mary Dejevsky

  01-11-2017 21:25 via theguardian.com
  High-profile political figures know they face disgrace if they’re found out. Power is their driving force – but vanity and narcissism play their part tooLet’s leave aside the lists and the spreadsheets that may or may not see the light of day; the accusations, the recriminations and the more or less sordid details. The first question I asked after the caravan of sex claims moved on from Harvey Weinstein’s shower, via Kevin Spacey’s bedroom, to the UK&
  
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• Steve Bell on 100th anniversary of Balfour declaration – cartoon

  01-11-2017 21:23 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• If rates rise, hangover looms for some Britons after 10-year credit binge

  01-11-2017 21:05
  Millions of Britons are set to experience the first interest rate rise of their adult lives on Thursday, and for some of those who loaded up on cheap credit to pay for cars or cards, that could spell trouble.The Bank of England is widely expected to hike borrowing costs for the first time in a decade, signalling an end to years of low rates that fuelled a rise in ultra-cheap credit and heavy borrowing on loans, cards and, most notably, cars.Regulators have clamped down on many of the riskier len
  
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• Thought for the Day boring? So why does it provoke such fractious debate? | Letters

  01-11-2017 20:41
  ‘Ever since Anne Atkins told me my being gay is sinful on a Thought for the Day in 1996, I’ve cherished that religious interlude as the time to switch off the radio and start reading the Guardian,’ writes John Warburton.Bishop James Jones delivers Thought for the Day during a live broadcast at Wigmore Hall, London, marking the 60th anniversary of of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
  
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• Michael Fallon Resigns As Defence Secretary After Admitting Past Conduct Has 'Fallen Short'

  01-11-2017 20:37
  Michael Fallon has quit as Defence Secretary in the aftermath of being embroiled in the Westminster sex scandal, a Downing Street spokesman said.
  
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• Jeremy Hunt claims a Tory was the true founder of the NHS – that’s rubbish | Letter

  01-11-2017 20:28
  At the recent Conservative party conference the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, claimed that it was Henry Willink, the Tory minister for health in the wartime coalition, who introduced a white paper on a national health service in 1944, making Willink the founder of the NHS and not Nye Bevan.My research, thanks to the House of Lords library, tells me that this is complete nonsense and that Mr Hunt is way off the mark.
  
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• Doctors warn patients are in danger as GP shortage forces clinic to close

  01-11-2017 20:27
  Doctors in Folkestone have warned patient safety is at risk because of a GP shortage that has seen one surgery close this week, with seven other practices telling officials they are too full to take any more patients.The Folkestone East surgery closed on Tuesday with more than 25% of its 4,700 patients, many of them extremely vulnerable, yet to be allocated a place with an alternative doctor.Local GPs say the Kent town has 16 fewer GPs than it needs, and warn remaining surgeries are "on their kn
  
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• Jet-set Boris's 'flying buttress' Brexit plan brought to ground | John Crace

  01-11-2017 20:23 via theguardian.com
  Johnson sought to conjure a vision of Britain propping up an imperilled EU, but it was his metaphors that collapsed It had been more than a year since Boris Johnson last appeared before the foreign affairs select committee, and he was determined to recount his Blue Planet adventures. Brazil. Beautiful country, lovely people. Estonia. Lovely country, beautiful people ... “We’ve only got two hours,” interrupted Tom Tugendhat, the committee chairperson, rolling his eyes.Continue r
  
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• Jet-set Boris's 'flying buttress' Brexit plan brought to ground | John Crace

  01-11-2017 20:23
  It had been more than a year since Boris Johnson last appeared before the foreign affairs select committee, and he was determined to recount his Blue Planet adventures.“We’ve only got two hours,” interrupted Tom Tugendhat, the committee chairperson, rolling his eyes.Boris took no notice.
  
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• Government loses vote on publishing Brexit impact assessments

  01-11-2017 20:23
  The Government has lost an opposition vote calling on it to publish impact assessments of Brexit on over 50 key industries.There was no official division - as only Labour MPs backed it and no Tory MPs objected.Speaker John Bercow said he "expects" the Government to respect the decision - despite confusion over whether the result is binding.
  
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• UK car executives tell PM May there is an 'urgent need' for clarity on Brexit transition

  01-11-2017 20:14
  LONDON (Reuters) - British car executives told British Prime Minister Theresa May at a meeting on Wednesday that there was an "urgent need for clarity" on the proposed transition period after Britain leaves the European Union.
  
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• Two teenage boys charged with conspiracy to murder after counter-terror arrests

  01-11-2017 20:13
  Two 14-year-old boys have been charged with conspiracy to murder after being arrested by counter-terror police in North Yorkshire.The teenagers were arrested on 28 October, and police were able to extend their detention under counter-terror laws.Both have been charged with conspiracy to murder and one faces another charge of aggravated burglary.
  
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• UK counter-terrorism police charge 14-year-old boys with murder plot

  01-11-2017 19:55
  LONDON (Reuters) - Two 14-year-old boys from northern England who were arrested by British counter-terrorism detectives have been charged with conspiracy to murder, police said on Wednesday.
  
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• Westminster’s sexual assault allegations are already being minimised – here’s how | Suzanne Moore

  01-11-2017 19:54 via theguardian.com
  Forget comparisons to the expenses scandal or the idea that it’s just about politicians. This is a problem in every workplaceAllegations of sexual assault in Westminster are being minimised. This isn’t paranoia – here is my handsy (geddit girls?!) breakdown on how it’s happening.1. Conflate a bit of knee-touching with rape. As the daft spreadsheet circulating in the press includes affairs and “fornication” as well as consensual sex and Non Discl
  
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• Government may bow to pressure to release Brexit impact studies

  01-11-2017 19:53
  Keir Starmer believes the release of the documents will ensure ‘transparency, accountability and ensuring that parliament can do its job properly’.The government could finally release dozens of analysis documents predicting the impact of Brexit on various parts of the economy after ministers said they would not oppose a Labour motion seeking their publication.Labour has sought for months to secure the release of the studies, which cover the great majority of the UK economy, prompting
  
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• Supermarket swing: Sainsbury's launches own-brand vinyl albums

  01-11-2017 19:48 via theguardian.com
  Store to release compilation albums as it looks to consolidate its position as one of the largest vinyl sellers in the UKThere really will be rockin’ in the aisles soon, as Sainsbury’s launches a new line of own-brand vinyl albums to take advantage of booming record sales.The supermarket chain already claims to be one of the largest vinyl sellers in the UK, selling one in every 20 records and dominating the hideously titled “grocery vinyl market”. Vinyl now regularly outs
  
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• Donald Trump’s reaction to terror? To make America terrified again | Simon Jenkins

  01-11-2017 19:47 via theguardian.com
  The president promises further immigration controls, but there was no hint of ‘extreme vetting’ for gun-owners in the wake of the Las Vegas massacreDrive a truck down a New York street and knock people down, and you’re “a sick and deranged person”. But what if you drive a truck down a New York street, knock people down and shout, “Allahu Akbar”? You are a Muslim terrorist, a global news story and a threat to the security of nations. Y
  
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• Donald Trump Wants To Call His Tax Reform Bill 'The Cut Cut Cut Act'

  01-11-2017 19:40
  Donald Trump is well-known for his rather direct manner and apparently this also extends to naming legislation.
  
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• Two boys charged after probe by Northallerton terror police

  01-11-2017 19:28 via bbc.co.uk
  Both 14 year olds are charged with conspiracy to murder and one is also charged with aggravated burglary.
  
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• Former MP assaulted me in 2012 says ex-Commons intern

  01-11-2017 19:13 via bbc.co.uk
  James Greenhalgh says he felt violated in 2012 but was told he could not make an anonymous complaint.
  
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• Pedestrian 'seriously injured' after London taxi crash

  01-11-2017 19:12 via bbc.co.uk
  Police say the incident, which left a pedestrian "seriously injured," is not terror-related.
  
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• My Workplace's Support During My Mental Health Diagnosis Was Invaluable And Inspiring

  01-11-2017 19:04
  2017 has been an amazing year for me in so many ways - in February, I was invited to 10 Downing Street to be part of an initial roundtable discussion, which was the start of the recently published report - Thriving in Work Report.
  
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• Police say serious collision in London not terrorism-related

  01-11-2017 18:45
  British police said a serious collision on Wednesday evening in the Covent Garden area of central London, a popular tourist spot in the British capital, was a traffic accident and not terrorism."Police were called to reports of a taxi in collision with pedestrians in Southampton Street.The incident, which happened around 1630 GMT, caused initial panic among nearby pedestrians, some witnesses reported on Twitter.
  
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• Covent Garden Collision: Two People Injured After Taxi Mounts Pavement In 'Serious Injury Accident'

  01-11-2017 18:36
  Met Police are on the scene of a traffic collision in Covent Garden, with witnesses reporting that a black cab has mounted the pavement.
  
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• U.S. urges dialogue on North Ireland power sharing - State Dept.

  01-11-2017 18:33
  The United States urged the parties involved in Northern Ireland to continue their dialogue to reach a power-sharing agreement on Wednesday after the British government moved to impose a budget on the region.The British government moved on Wednesday to directly set Northern Ireland's budget after the province's main political parties failed to reach agreement on restoring a power-sharing government that collapsed in January.
  
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• Why the far right believes a US civil war will start on Saturday

  01-11-2017 18:30 via theguardian.com
  Since late September, ‘alt-right’ members have advanced the idea that anti-fascist groups will begin a violent insurrection on 4 November. But no antifa groups are planning to protest – so what gives?If you are inside the “alt-right” information bubble, you might be preparing yourself for a civil war to commence this Saturday.Since late September, the idea has been circulating on Facebook groups, subreddit message boards, Twitter, and leading conspiracy media outlet
  
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• Scotland feels the strain as tourism surge causes disruption in the Highlands

  01-11-2017 18:24
  Locals and politicians agree that the summer of 2017 saw the exponential growth in tourist numbers reach a tipping point.Across the Highlands, this year’s peak season brought reports of motorhome waste dumped by the roadside in the Western Isles, police advising visitors to Skye not to arrive without booking overnight accommodation, and warnings of an increase in accidents along the newly launched North Coast 500 route as unfamiliar drivers struggled to negotiate narrow single track roads.
  
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• This dad ate some biscuits from his kids’ trick-or-treat haul only to find they went off in 1999

  01-11-2017 18:06
  Adrian Johnson’s kids were given the out of date McVitie’s biscuits by a neighbour.
  
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• Syrian opposition rejects Russia talks as west frets over influence

  01-11-2017 18:03 via theguardian.com
  Western diplomats hope reconstruction costs could prevent Russia or even Iran taking control of Syria’s futureRussia’s efforts to broker a Syrian peace deal outside the UN’s Geneva process stumbled on Wednesday after the official Syrian opposition said it would not attend talks planned for later this month.
  Turkey also said it opposed an invitation to Syrian Kurds to attend Moscow’s “congress of Syrian national dialogue”, which aims to bring together 33 delega
  
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• Conservative Dominic Raab denies dossier's claim of 'inappropriate behaviour'

  01-11-2017 17:37
  Justice minister Dominic Raab has revealed he is on a list of allegations against Tory MPs - but denied claims he tried to cover up inappropriate behaviour.
  
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• London to set Northern Ireland budget as direct rule looms

  01-11-2017 17:33
  BELFAST/DUBLIN (Reuters) - The British government is to impose a budget on Northern Ireland for the first time in a decade, a major step towards imposing direct rule after attempts to form a power-sharing government in Belfast collapsed.Many in the province fear direct rule would further destabilise a political balance between pro-British unionists and Irish nationalists that has already been upset by Britain's vote to leave the European Union.The move also creates a headache for British Prime M
  
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• Watch: Daring thieves leap from moving car on to lorry travelling at 50mph

  01-11-2017 17:24
  The gang in Sweden opened the back doors of the lorry whilst it was travelling on the motorway.
  
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• Freeview blames air pressure for TV disruption

  01-11-2017 17:10 via bbc.co.uk
  Some viewers say they missed The Great British Bake Off as a consequence.
  
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• Liam Fox: Don't be afraid of US chlorinated chicken after Brexit

  01-11-2017 16:59
  Britons should not be afraid of eating chlorinated chicken imported under a post-Brexit trade deal with the US, Liam Fox has said.The International Trade Secretary insisted there are "no health reasons" why UK consumers should not enjoy chlorine-washed meat, if regulations on food produce are relaxed once Britain leaves the EU.Dr Fox has made striking a trade deal with the US one of his first priorities when ministers gain control of UK trade policy outside the EU.
  
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• Expanding The Alliance Against Shrinking Space

  01-11-2017 16:59
  In Uganda, civil society organizations are peacefully organizing against constitutional amendments that would dramatically expand the powers of the President.The government has responded with police raids and threats against NGOs it sees as the ringleaders.Over 25 NGOs have been served with letters from the National Bureau for NGOs to present audited accounts, work plans, budgets and strategic plans as way back as 2014.
  
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• Grenfell: report criticised 'inadequate' management 12 years before fire

  01-11-2017 16:57
  The report into problems with the emergency lighting system at Grenfell Tower was commissioned in 2005.A negligent approach to residents’ safety by the body responsible for managing Grenfell Tower was highlighted in a highly critical independent report 12 years before the fire, according to a document that has finally been made public after a protracted campaign by residents.The report, compiled by Capita Symonds, suggested that torches with rechargeable batteries should be installed in ev
  
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• UK investigates Brexit campaign funding amid speculation of Russian meddling

  01-11-2017 16:56
  Britain's Electoral Commission is investigating whether a leading anti-EU campaigner breached referendum finance rules, after speculation mounted that Russia may have meddled in the Brexit vote.Arron Banks, a major donor to the anti-EU campaign who was pictured with Donald Trump and leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage outside a gilded elevator soon after Trump's 2016 U.S. presidential election victory, denied the allegations.The Electoral Commission, which is already looking at whether Banks' pro-Bre
  
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