General news

• France's 'black widow' jailed for 22 years after killing two elderly men

  18-01-2018 23:59 via theguardian.com
  Patricia Dagorn claimed she had ‘deep friendship’ with the men she seduced and poisonedA French woman nicknamed the “Black Widow of the Cote d’Azur” has been jailed for 22 years for the murder of two elderly men.Patricia Dagorn was described as a “perverse narcissist” who was “venal and unscrupulous” in the Nice court where she was accused of killing two men she had seduced, and poisoning two others “with premeditation”. Continue
  
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• Bright lights, big city - Light art festival takes to London's streets

  18-01-2018 23:59
  London's dark winter nights will shine a little brighter starting Thursday, as a nighttime art exhibition featuring a range of publicly displayed works that use light as a medium gets underway.The artists who have created works include Tracey Emin, Alaa Minawi, Julian Opie and Miguel Chevalier."We've basically taken the centre of London and turned it into a giant, outdoor art gallery," said Helen Marriage, artistic director of Lumiere London.
  
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• Mathew Ryan: ‘English pundits tend to be critical of goalkeepers’

  18-01-2018 23:39 via theguardian.com
  Brighton No 1 has matured in the two years since he conceded seven goals against Messi and co in BarcelonaMathew Ryan smiles in a self‑deprecating way. Brighton’s goalkeeper is thinking back to the night when Barcelona pummelled Gary Neville’s ragged Valencia side and it is clear he does not have fond memories from his only visit to the Camp Nou. “Wouldn’t it hurt you if you were a goalkeeper?” he says.Fair point. Selected by Neville for the first leg of
  
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• Kim Jones's last Louis Vuitton show ends in super-charged bang

  18-01-2018 23:35 via theguardian.com
  Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell flank streetwear champ at Paris fashion week
  Kim Jones shock decision to quit as men’s artistic director of Louis Vuitton meant his final show at the Grand Palais in Paris was always going to be crammed with the great, the good and the starry. That it was easier to get a reaction from Kate Moss – the world’s most famous, yet most silent supermodel – than from Jones himself, was testament to the significance of his departure.Moss, who walked in
  
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• Kim Jones' last Louis Vuitton show ends in super-charged bang

  18-01-2018 23:35 via theguardian.com
  Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell flank streetwear champ at Paris fashion week
  Kim Jones shock decision to quit as men’s artistic director of Louis Vuitton meant his final show at the Grand Palais in Paris was always going to be crammed with the great, the good and the starry. That it was easier to get a reaction from Kate Moss – the world’s most famous, yet most silent supermodel – than from Jones himself, was testament to the significance of his departure.Moss, who walked in
  
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• Mystery celebrity spends £25,000 on legal costs after unknown blackmailer claims to have information about a 'very serious' criminal offence

  18-01-2018 23:31
  An unnamed celebrity has spent £25,000 on legal costs after receiving a mystery blackmail attempt.The celebrity, who has been identified only as LJY, was sent a letter from someone who claimed to be a "highly discreet organisation".The letter writer claimed to have a client who had information that LJY had committed a "very serious" criminal offence.
  
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• Britannia review – Jez Butterworth's epic fantasy rules the airwaves

  18-01-2018 23:30 via theguardian.com
  The first episode in this tale of swords and druids from the writer of The Ferryman, more than fills the Westeros-shaped gap in the schedulesWant to comment? Have your say on our series recapI like a programme that sets out its stall early, and the opening seconds of Britannia, a new 10-part series by writer wunderkind Jez Butterworth (whose play The Ferryman recently became the fastest-selling in the Royal Court Theatre’s history) do just that. Moments into this first joint offering from
  
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• Jacinda Ardern: New Zealand prime minister pregnant with first child

  18-01-2018 23:18 via theguardian.com
  Labour PM says deputy Winston Peters will take over for six weeks when baby is born in JuneNew Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has announced she is pregnant with her first child.Ardern, who was sworn in to office in October, said in a Facebook post that she and her partner, Clarke Gayford, are expecting in June. Continue reading...
  
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• 'We must question our views': Irish opposition leader backs abortion reform

  18-01-2018 23:15
  The leader of Ireland's main opposition party said on Thursday that he had changed his views on Ireland's strict abortion laws and would support their removal, in a potentially significant intervention ahead of a referendum in the coming months.The government has pledged to hold the plebiscite as soon as May to seek a loosening of the laws in once stridently Catholic Ireland, where a complete ban was only lifted in 2013 to allow terminations in cases where the mother's life was in danger.A parli
  
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• Michael Douglas accuser on alleged sexual harassment: 'I was humiliated'

  18-01-2018 23:05 via theguardian.com
  After the star pre-emptively denied the claim of wrongdoing, journalist and author Susan Braudy has spoken out about alleged misconductEarlier this month, Michael Douglas pre-emptively denied a claim of sexual harassment. Now his accuser has shared her story that the actor allegedly masturbated in front of her in 1989.Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, journalist and author Susan Braudy claims that during her time working for Douglas, when she ran the New York office of his production company,
  
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• Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence, dies aged 78

  18-01-2018 22:52 via theguardian.com
  British author died in a hospital near his home in the south of France, publisher confirmsPeter Mayle, the author best known for writing A Year in Provence, has died.Publisher Alfred A Knopf announced on Thursday that the British writer died in a hospital near his home in the south of France. The 78-year-old died after a brief illness. Continue reading...
  
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• British lawmaker points to Santander UK chief in scandal over RBS restructuring unit

  18-01-2018 22:47
  A British lawmaker on Thursday put the boss of Santander UK at the centre of a growing political storm over the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) treatment of small businesses during and after the financial crisis.Vince Cable, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said in a parliamentary debate that Nathan Bostock, who held a number of senior roles at RBS including that of head of restructuring and risk, bore some responsibility for the conduct of the bank's Global Restructuring Group (GRG).
  
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• John Barton, Royal Shakespeare Company co-founder, dies aged 89

  18-01-2018 22:32 via theguardian.com
  Tributes flow for theatre figure described as ‘one of the greatest influences in the acting of Shakespeare of the last century’ The Royal Shakespeare Company co-founder John Barton has died aged 89.Alongside Peter Hall, who died last year, Barton founded the RSC in 1960, working for the company for most of his life.Continue reading...
  
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• If Theresa May enjoyed meeting the French president, she didn't show it

  18-01-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Macron was not used to meeting people resistant to his charms. He darted looks towards the PM to check she was aliveThe timings could have been better. After lunch of dead duck – No 10 really should rethink its menus – in The Royal Oak gastropub near Maidenhead owned by Sir Michael Parkinson, during which Emmanuel Macron charmed the French waiting staff with reassurances that they would still have a job after Brexit, while Theresa May said little and stared awkwardly at her shoes, th
  
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• If Theresa May enjoyed meeting the French president, she didn't show it

  18-01-2018 22:30
  No 10 really should rethink its menus – in The Royal Oak gastropub near Maidenhead owned by Sir Michael Parkinson, during which Emmanuel Macron charmed the French waiting staff with reassurances that they would still have a job after Brexit, while Theresa May said little and stared awkwardly at her shoes, the French president and the British prime minister arrived a quarter of an hour late at the Sandhurst parade ground for the guard of honour fanfare before their joint summit.The flypast
  
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• How Mourinho’s charismatic authority brings success and instability | Jonathan Wilson

  18-01-2018 22:29 via theguardian.com
  Manchester United manager’s mastery of psychology gets players to buy into his philosophy butit does not lastLast season Eden Hazard observed that the main difference between José Mourinho and Antonio Conte was that Mourinho does not practise “automisations”. He does not have players practise set moves they can perform almost unconsciously that can be deployed at great pace when the situation demands. He organises his defence and leaves his forwards to improvise. That ha
  
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• Council changes name because no one knows where it is

  18-01-2018 22:13 via theguardian.com
  Shepway council will change its name in April after more than 40 years to reflect Folkstone’s ‘growing international reputation’A council will spend £10,000 changing its name after more than 40 years because no one has ever heard of it.As of 1 April, Shepway district council will be known as Folkestone and Hythe district council, the local authority has confirmed. Continue reading...
  
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• UK-France summit: Emmanuel Macron says UK must pay for post-Brexit City deal

  18-01-2018 22:04
  Emmanuel Macron has warned Theresa May the UK will have to pay into the EU's coffers in order to secure a Brexit trade deal on financial services.Speaking alongside the Prime Minister during his first visit to Britain since being elected, the French president insisted he was "here neither to punish nor reward" over Brexit.
  
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• Murder suspects planned TV show about victim Peter Farquhar

  18-01-2018 21:55
  A church warden and a magician planned to make a TV documentary about a retired university lecturer they are suspected of murdering.Ben Field, a 27-year-old church warden from Towcester, Northampton, and Martyn Smith, a 31-year-old magician from Redruth, Cornwall, are being questioned by Thames Valley Police in connection with the death of Peter Farquhar in October 2015.
  
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• Macron rebuffs City deal after Brexit unless UK pays into EU budget

  18-01-2018 21:45 via theguardian.com
  French president rejects ‘differentiated financial services access’, says ‘choice is up to UK’French president Emmanuel Macron has rejected the idea of a tailored Brexit deal for the City, insisting Britain will not be allowed full access to European Union markets, including financial services, unless it pays into the EU budget and accepts all its rules.Macron delivered the tough message at the end of a joint press conference with Theresa May at Sandhurst military trainin
  
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• London lit up by Lumiere festival

  18-01-2018 21:42 via bbc.co.uk
  The four-night festival is illuminating landmarks across the city.
  
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• FBI investigates whether Russia banker used NRA to fund Trump campaign – report

  18-01-2018 21:42 via theguardian.com
  Banker with links to Putin faces questions over whether he funneled money through NRA, amid scrutiny over gun rights group’s Russia tiesThe FBI is investigating whether a Russian banker with close ties to Vladimir Putin funneled money through the National Rifle Association to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, it was reported on Thursday.Foreign contributions to American political campaigns are illegal. Continue reading...
  
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• Steve Bell on Theresa May's meeting with Emmanuel Macron – cartoon

  18-01-2018 21:35 via theguardian.com
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• California parents who held 13 children captive charged with torture and abuse

  18-01-2018 21:11 via theguardian.com
  David and Louise Anna Turpin accused of shackling their children to beds, beating and starving them, in ‘house of horror’
  The California couple facing abuse and torture charges for shackling some of their 13 children to beds also beat, strangled and starved them in acts of “human depravity”, authorities said on Thursday.
  David Turpin, 57, and his wife Louise Turpin, 49, allegedly ate apple and pumpkin pie and other food in front of the children but denied them proper nutr
  
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• Roy Bennett, Zimbabwean opposition figure, dies in helicopter crash

  18-01-2018 21:10 via theguardian.com
  Police confirm Bennett, his wife and four others were killed in crashBennett was called sharpest thorn in the side of Robert MugabeRoy Bennett, a prominent Zimbabwean opposition figure, has been killed with his wife in a helicopter crash in the US state of New Mexico.Local police confirmed Bennett’s death on Thursday, a day after a helicopter carrying him and five others went down in a mountainous rural area of northern New Mexico. Continue reading...
  
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• Young people 'puritanical' on sexual harassment – Tory MP

  18-01-2018 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Kemi Badenoch thinks younger generation’s view of appropriate sexual behaviour is conservativeYoung people are becoming puritanical about sexual harassment and what constitutes a sexual advance, according to Kemi Badenoch, the new Conservative vice-chair in charge of candidate selection.The MP, who was elected last year, cited those who think Friends, the 1990s US television series, is transphobic and homophobic as examples of such attitudes, saying “something has gone wrong somewher
  
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• The Mourinho method: how his charismatic authority brings success … and instability | Jonathan Wilson

  18-01-2018 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Manchester United manager’s mastery of psychology gets players to buy into his philosophy. But history suggests it cannot lastLast season, Eden Hazard observed that the main difference between José Mourinho and Antonio Conte was that Mourinho does not practise “automisations”. He does not have players practise set moves they can perform almost unconsciously that can be deployed at great pace when the situation demands. He organises his defence and leaves his forwards to
  
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• Readers recommend: share your songs with great drumming

  18-01-2018 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Nominate in the comments and a reader will pick the best eligible tracks for a playlist next week – you have until Monday 22 January Bang the drum loud enough for your favourite songs and they could feature on next week’s playlist.You have until 11pm on Monday 22 January to post your nomination and make your justification. Regular RR contributor Ralph Brown (who posts in the comments as magicman) will select from your recommendations and produce our list, which will be published on 2
  
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• Macron and May meet at Sandhurst

  18-01-2018 21:00
  The French President visits the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst with Prime Minister Theresa May.
  
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• Who should play Trump team in Fire and Fury TV show? We asked Google's arts app

  18-01-2018 20:58 via theguardian.com
  With Michael Wolff’s explosive book potentially headed for the small screen, the Arts & Culture app offers some casting suggestionsMichael Wolff’s bestselling book on the Trump White House, Fire and Fury, may now be turned into a TV series, according to reports on Wednesday.But who should play the key figures? We decided to ask the app of the moment, Google Arts & Culture, which matches people’s faces to artworks hanging in 17 major museums. Because why not. Continue re
  
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• 'I'm sorry' - but how do you tell if an apology is fake or genuine?

  18-01-2018 20:42 via bbc.co.uk
  Tips from publicists and body language experts on how to spot sincerity, amid a flurry of public apologies.
  
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• Flu outbreak: UK deaths triple with GPs seeing major rise in patients

  18-01-2018 20:42 via theguardian.com
  Although flu cases are higher than at any point since 2010/11, health officials say it is still not an epidemicAlmost three times as many people are dying of flu in the UK this winter as last year, figures reveal.After 35 more deaths last week, 120 people across the country have died of flu-related symptoms since early October, compared with 45 in the same period in 2016-17. Continue reading...
  
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• UK flu outbreak 'worst in seven years'

  18-01-2018 20:41
  The UK is experiencing its worst outbreak of flu in seven years, the Department of Health and Social Care has revealed.A department spokesman has described it as "the most significant flu season since the winter of 2010-11", with thousands more people being treated in December than during the same month in 2016."We know hospitals are under pressure and hardworking staff treated 55,328 people within four hours every single day in December - 1,272 more each day than in the same month the previous
  
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• Chelsea accused in Fifa inquiry of breaking rules on signings of 25 minors

  18-01-2018 20:26 via theguardian.com
  • Investigation relates to signing of foreign players aged under 18
  • Chelsea face possible transfer ban from Fifa disciplinary committee
  • Club say they comply with Fifa regulations when recruiting playersChelsea have been accused, after an initial Fifa investigation, of breaking the rules on the signing of 25 foreign players under the age of 18. The number of cases could rise, with the matter now in the hands of the governing body’s disciplinary committee, which has the po
  
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• What the EU is preparing next for London in Brexit talks

  18-01-2018 20:18
  The European Union's 27 states are preparing to launch negotiations with Britain on the post-Brexit transition period, and are starting to map out the bloc's future relationship with the first ever country to leave.* On Britain's withdrawal agreement, which the EU hopes to seal by October, intellectual property rights, customs arrangements and personal data protection are among the issues that still need resolving.* Britain will leave the EU on March 29th, 2019 and there will be a transition per
  
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• May - City of London will remain major global financial centre

  18-01-2018 20:18
  SANDHURST, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday that she believed the City of London would continue to be a global financial centre after Brexit.
  
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• Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell reunite in epic fashion for Louis Vuitton show

  18-01-2018 20:13
  Louis Vuitton's Spring 2018 show ended in epic fashion when two of the most iconic names in fashion -- Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell -- walked down the runway for the first time in years.
  
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• Taxpayers face £4m bill as landlord refuses to make tower block safe

  18-01-2018 20:12 via theguardian.com
  Slough council poised to take over freehold of property and pay for safety work as current owner refuses to foot billA landlord who is refusing to pay an estimated £4m bill to make safe a block of flats built with Grenfell-style cladding is likely to be bailed out by the taxpayer.Robert Steinhouse, a London-based director of 91 companies, is the ultimate owner of the freehold of Nova House in Slough, a complex of 68 privately owned apartments which has flammable cladding and substandard in
  
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• Why wait to unleash children’s creativity? | Letters

  18-01-2018 20:11 via theguardian.com
  Karen Eslea, Salley Vickers, Rick Hall, Mark Hebert and John Richer on a piece by the National Theatre’s Rufus NorrisRufus Norris says “During these uncertain times we must feed any golden geese we have, and a steady stream of qualified graduates and school-leavers is the strongest investment for the future we can make” (Why are we squeezing creativity out of our schools?, 17 January). But why wait for the future? If we disregard the skills, creativity and ideas that children h
  
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• Waterstones' annual profits jump 80% as buyers loom

  18-01-2018 20:11 via theguardian.com
  Bookseller reports pre-tax profits of £18m, with sale expected to value business at £200mWaterstones has reported an 80% jump in annual profits, with the bookseller predicting an even brighter future just six years after the rise of the ebook threatened its existence. Sales in 2017 had been buoyed by the success of children’s books by David Walliams as well as JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Non-book items such greetings cards, stationery and educational t
  
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• Pakistani humanist denied asylum after failing to name Plato and Aristotle

  18-01-2018 20:11
  A Pakistani humanist has had his asylum claim rejected by the Home Office after failing to name Plato and Aristotle as humanist philosophers.Hamza bin Walyat, who fears persecution in Pakistan after converting from Islam, was asked questions about classical philosophy and the semantics of religion in an assessment that Humanists UK said demonstrated a "profound and dangerous lack of understanding" by the Home Office.In a summary seen by Sky News, authorities detail disagreements with Mr Walayat'
  
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• May says honoured by French loan of Bayeux Tapestry

  18-01-2018 20:09
  British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday she was honoured that France will lend Britain the Bayeux Tapestry, an 11th century treasure that tells the story of William the Conqueror's invasion of England in 1066."Our shared history is reflected in the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK in 2022, the first time it will be on British soil in more than 900 years," May said in a statement as she welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron on a visit to Britain.
  
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• 'Bullshit': Canadian minister blasts lack of diversity in corporate top jobs

  18-01-2018 20:09 via theguardian.com
  Navdeep Bains says his country’s excuses for not hiring women as leaders is ‘a bunch of bullshit’The Canadian minister responsible for science and economic development has described attempts to justify the lack of diversity in the country’s corporate leadership as “bullshit”.Navdeep Bains, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and economic development, made the comments during a meeting with law students at the University of Windsor.Continue reading..
  
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• Lessons for five-year-olds aren’t enough to curb knife crime

  18-01-2018 20:02
  Jailing more adolescents for knife crime does not prevent reoffending, writes Woody Caan.While it is welcome that police chiefs are waking up to the need for a public health approach to knife crime (Teach five-year-olds the dangers of knife crime, warns police chief, 17 January), it is not clear that they understand what this actually means.For 18 years, the Race Equality Foundation’s Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities programme has been supporting poorly served parents to h
  
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• Charles I: whipping boy for the civil war

  18-01-2018 20:01
  Members of the Sealed Knot re-enact a battle from the English civil war.Rebecca Rideal’s excellent article on historical myths (G2, 18 January) draws attention to the myth of the whipping boy, which I unravelled in my new biography of Charles I, White King (reviewed very generously in last weekend’s Observer).
  
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• Why are Tories like Ben Bradley so hung up on poor people having babies? | Gaby Hinsliff

  18-01-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Paranoia of an overly fertile underclass seems to be a particular strain of Conservative horribleness that refuses to dieIf you’re too poor to have children, get a vasectomy. Better that than leave the nation “drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters that we pay to keep”. So wrote Ben Bradley six years ago, before he became a Conservative MP or a father himself, of Tory proposals to cap benefits for families. Just in case the meaning wasn’t quite clear, the keywords t
  
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• Brexit blow as satellite monitoring centre moves from UK to Spain

  18-01-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  European commission moves to ensure complete Galileo satnav infrastructure remains in an EU countryBritain has suffered another Brexit blow after the EU decided to relocate a key satellite monitoring centre from the UK to Spain. The UK won the contract in 2010 to provide the backup monitoring centre for the Galileo satellite navigation system, which was launched by the EU in late 2016 and will eventually involve 30 satellites. Continue reading...
  
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• Blood test could use DNA to spot early-stage cancers, study shows

  18-01-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  DNA and biomarkers could be used to detect and identify cancers, including five types for which there is currently no screening test Scientists have made a major advance towards developing a blood test for cancer that could identify tumours long before a person becomes aware of symptoms.The new test, which is sensitive to both mutated DNA that floats freely in the blood and cancer-related proteins, gave a positive result approximately 70% of the time across eight of the most common cancers when
  
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• Celine Dookhran 'hidden in freezer after being raped and murdered by uncle'

  18-01-2018 19:58
  Jurors at the Old Bailey were told how 33-year-old Mujahid Arshid had become "sexually fixated" with Barclays bank worker Celine Dookhran.While the other woman - who cannot legally be identified - was able to escape after tricking her attacker into believing they could be together, the body of Ms Dookhran was stuffed into a chest-high freezer at the empty property between Wimbledon and Kingston.
  
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• Lost in the woods: Justin Timberlake serves bugs and bass drops at album party

  18-01-2018 19:56 via theguardian.com
  The singer makes a woodsy comeback with his new album – which, despite some promising tracks, has a confusing messageGenerally, I find that I’ll eat anything put in front of me. But the menu at Justin Timberlake’s private listening party for his new album Man of the Woods put that theory to the test. The food, catered by the restaurant Noma, was of a piece with Timberlake’s rustic album rollout: there were ants, watercress, wild beach plants, sea urchin, kelp and grasshop
  
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