General news

• Rape Case Collapses Due To Police And Prosecutors Failing To Do ‘Basic Stuff’, Attorney General Says

  27-01-2018 22:44
  A lack of resources is a “factor” in disclosure failings that have led to collapsed rape trials, but those cases are mainly the result of police and prosecutors not acting as expected, the Attorney General has said.
  
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• Victims of Hayes bus stop car crash have been named

  27-01-2018 22:28
  Sky sources say the boys were George Wilkinson, Josh Kennedy and Harry Rice.Harry was a promising footballer who had signed with semi-pro side Farnborough Town FC following a successful trial.Academy manager Marc Wardley said the boy was "quiet and a really nice lad who got on with things, and who could have gone on to play at a decent level".
  
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• Theresa May told: raise your game in three months or face revolt

  27-01-2018 21:30
  Theresa May delivers a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos on 25 January.Senior Tories have given Theresa May just three months to improve or face a renewed attempt to oust her, amid concerns she is leading the party towards “utter destruction”.There are concerns they will produce a Tory meltdown in London.
  
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• This picture of levitating ice will leave you confused

  27-01-2018 21:01
  You might have to stare at it a while to realise exactly what you’re looking at.
  
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• Community in Government cash plea to recover missing fishermen

  27-01-2018 20:23
  A coastal community at Argyll in Scotland has appealed for government help in recovering the bodies of two missing fishermen.Skipper Duncan McDougall and Przemek Krawczyk were on board their fishing boat, the Nancy Glen, when she capsized on Loch Fyne on 18 January.
  
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• Harry Rice: Victim of Hayes bus stop car crash was promising footballer

  27-01-2018 20:09
  Harry Rice had signed with semi-pro side Farnborough Town FC following a successful trial.Academy manager Marc Wardley said the boy was "quiet and a really nice lad who got on with things, and who could have gone on to play at a decent level".Staff at a football club on Shepiston Lane said they believed the youngsters had been on their way to a 16th birthday party on the premises when they were hit.
  
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• Newport County v Tottenham Hotspur: FA Cup fourth round - live!

  27-01-2018 19:08 via theguardian.com
  Minute-by-minute updates from the 17.30 kick-off at Rodney ParadeLamela: ‘My brother is in a wheelchair … you realise what is important’Email your thoughts to Nick | Or tweet him @NickMiller79 6.08pm GMT OH MY EFFING DAYS! 6.08pm GMT 37 mins: Labadie produces a couple of lovely wee touches, almost juggling the ball past Vertonghen and Walker-Peters, but his cross is blocked. Continue reading...
  
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• Equatorial Guinea says it will protect former Gambian leader

  27-01-2018 18:49 via theguardian.com
  The former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh is living in exile in Equatorial Guinea The president of Equatorial Guinea has pledged to protect the former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, who is living in exile in the tiny central African country.Jammeh left the Gambia with his family, trusted military officers and a fleet of luxury cars last year after a prolonged political crisis that followed his defeat in the presidential election. Continue reading...
  
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• Media Madness: book shows Trump White House obsessed with press

  27-01-2018 18:45 via theguardian.com
  Volume by Fox News anchor, seen by Guardian, portrays president who values loyalty above everything except media attentionA new book depicts Donald Trump as a media obsessive who measures his staff’s loyalty by how well they defended him on television. But despite his Twitter habit, he rarely looks at the web.Related: Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House review – tell-all burns allContinue reading...
  
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• Man Charged With Murder After Death Of 22-Month-Old Toddler Ella-Rose Clover

  27-01-2018 18:35
  A man has been charged with murder after a 22-month-old girl died from unexplained injuries.
  
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• An extremely important debate is raging online – does a straw have one or two holes?

  27-01-2018 18:35
  This is more complicated than you might think.
  
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• Mobile phone addiction? It’s time to take back control

  27-01-2018 18:30 via theguardian.com
  With more than half of young adults admitting to excessive use of smartphones, we look at the apps designed to break the habitAs a tech writer who has written regularly about apps, I’m well aware of the addictive nature of smartphones. It was during a 2am panic attack after waking up, reaching for my smartphone and reading a tweetstorm about the latest Donald Trump controversy that I realised I may have a problem. That, and the fact that even my 10-year-old son had started telling me to pu
  
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• Southampton’s Jack Stephens inflicts more misery on ramshackle Watford

  27-01-2018 18:15 via theguardian.com
  It is becoming an FA Cup tradition for Southampton’s supporters to boo Mauricio Pellegrino’s substitutions. Three weeks after they jeered a defensive late change by their manager in the win over Fulham, a minority voiced their disapproval again when Pellegrino made the conservative decision to replace Sofiane Boufal with Maya Yoshida midway through the second half of this forgettable contest.However this was an afternoon when the mutiny felt misplaced. Southampton were narrow but des
  
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• Will Grigg hits double as Wigan cause FA Cup upset against 10-man West Ham

  27-01-2018 18:06 via theguardian.com
  Only the two Manchester clubs have won more games than Wigan Athletic this season, though the home players were looking forward to this match because it came without the pressure of being expected to deliver. The Latics certainly began in relaxed fashion, having named his strongest side Paul Cook came out to watch them with a cup of tea in his hand, and before he had finished it the League One leaders were in front.Nathan Byrne was allowed far to much space to run down the right wing and send ov
  
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• Nancy Glen: Fundraiser 'could recover' lost fishermen Duncan McDougall and Przemek Krawczyk

  27-01-2018 18:04
  A coastal community at Argyll in Scotland has appealed for government help in recovering the bodies of two missing fishermen.Skipper Duncan McDougall and Przemek Krawczyk were on board their fishing boat, the Nancy Glen, when she capsized on Loch Fyne on 18 January.
  
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• Czech Republic re-elects far-right president Miloš Zeman

  27-01-2018 18:03 via theguardian.com
  Anti-immigrant and pro-Putin leader takes decisive victory over liberal opponent Jiří DrahošMiloš Zeman, the Czech Republic’s populist president, has been narrowly re-elected in a tense contest against a liberal challenger, marking a victory for anti-immigrant, far-right forces in the country and potentially tilting its politics in an anti-western direction.With more than 99.5% of ballots counted in a second-round presidential runoff, Zeman had a decisive lead ove
  
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• T-shirt tribes: political fashion slogans – in pictures

  27-01-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  New York-based artist Susan Barnett has been documenting slogans and images she has seen on people’s clothing across the country since 2009. One thing she noticed was the sharp rise of political messages over the last few years. “There are many, many more,” she says. “Pro-Republican, pro-Trump, Bernie T-shirts, Hillary T-shirts. You see a lot more anger, a lot more swear words.” What interests her about T-shirts is what they tell us about the wearer’s identity
  
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• Savings: where's the best place to put £30,000-plus?

  27-01-2018 17:58 via theguardian.com
  I want to use an accident payout for a deposit on a flat – where should I put it in the meantime?Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.This week’s question: Continue reading...
  
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• UK to keep EU rules for 'around two years' after Brexit, say ministers

  27-01-2018 17:49 via theguardian.com
  Philip Hammond, David Davis and Greg Clark set out business transition plans in an open letterBritain will maintain continuity with EU rules during the post-Brexit transition period, three cabinet ministers have said in an open letter to businesses. The chancellor, Philip Hammond, Brexit secretary David Davis and business secretary Greg Clark said access to EU markets would continue on current terms from March 2019 for “around two years”. Continue reading...
  
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• UK to keep EU rules for 'around two years' after Brexit, say ministers

  27-01-2018 17:49
  Business secretary Greg Clark said that the UK was ‘absolutely, unambiguously’ leaving the EU.Britain will maintain continuity with EU rules during the post-Brexit transition period, three cabinet ministers have said in an open letter to businesses.The chancellor, Philip Hammond, Brexit secretary David Davis and business secretary Greg Clark said access to EU markets would continue on current terms from March 2019 for “around two years”.
  
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• Competition seeks the UK's 10 best inventions

  27-01-2018 17:49
  Ben Ryan's son lost his arm when he was just 10 days old, and the prosthetic developed by his father has been shortlisted for the National Inventor Prize.The hydraulically-operated prosthetic arm is one of ten inventions which have been announced as finalists in a competition held by innovation foundation Nesta, with support from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).A nationwide search to find the UK's best new inventor has turned up 10 top ideas which could eventua
  
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• No more walk-on girls escorting dart players at games

  27-01-2018 17:40 via theguardian.com
  Practice to end, starting this weekend, after pressure from broadcasters and fansDarts players will no longer be accompanied at tournaments by “walk-on girls” after pressure from broadcasters and fans.The practice of models escorting male players on to the stage will cease, starting with this weekend’s Masters tournament in Milton Keynes.Continue reading...
  
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• Hillary Clinton: accusations against adviser were 'taken seriously'

  27-01-2018 17:33 via theguardian.com
  Campaign adviser was reportedly accused of sexual assault in 2008
  Clinton says she was ‘heartened the young woman came forward’Hillary Clinton has said she was “dismayed” by sexual harassment accusations against a senior adviser to her 2008 presidential campaign, but said the case was “taken seriously and addressed”.Related: RNC finance chair and casino mogul Steve Wynn accused of sexual harassmentContinue reading...
  
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• Canada hopeful NAFTA talks can continue, sees some progress

  27-01-2018 17:12
  Officials trying to hammer out differences over how to update the North American Free Trade Agreement have made some progress and hope politicians decide the process should continue, Steve Verheul, Canada's chief negotiator, told Reuters on Saturday.The United States, Canada and Mexico are due to finish the sixth of seven planned rounds of NAFTA talks on Monday, with several major issues far from being resolved.U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freel
  
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• Kabul: bomb hidden in ambulance kills dozens

  27-01-2018 17:01 via theguardian.com
  Attacker passed first checkpoint by claiming he had a patient, then detonated explosivesA bomb hidden in an ambulance in Kabul has killed at least 95 people and injured more than 150, the latest in a string of high-profile attacks in Afghanistan.The explosives were detonated at a police checkpoint where the streets are often crowded with people waiting to visit nearby offices, and vendors serving them. Witnesses said bodies were strewn across the pavement.Continue reading...
  
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• Nail-biting drama for Sky and Disney as new rivals eye entertainment arena

  27-01-2018 17:00 via theguardian.com
  As the Disney and Fox/Sky deals rumble on, some question the value of pay-TV in a world ruled by Netflix and AmazonOne of the biggest surprises about Rupert Murdoch’s decision to sell his entertainment assets to Disney was his willingness to part company with Sky, the UK’s biggest pay-TV broadcaster. But some analysts are now asking whether Disney, which has agreed to buy a 39% stake in Sky as part of a $66bn deal to buy most of the tycoon’s 21st Century Fox group, needs the pa
  
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• 'I was molested by Dr Larry Nassar': how the gymnastics sexual abuse scandal unfolded

  27-01-2018 16:58 via theguardian.com
  Nassar was jailed for up to 175 years for abusing more than 150 women and girls but his crimes may never have come to light without an email to an Indiana newspaperIt began 16 months ago, before Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo and the tipping point of the US’s national reckoning with sexual assault, with an unsolicited email to the Indianapolis Star, which that morning had published a five-month investigation into the mishandling of sexual abuse allegations by the national governing body of gy
  
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• Compensation Lawyers To Be Banned From Advertising Or Approaching Families In Hospitals

  27-01-2018 16:54
  Lawyers looking to drum up compensation claims against the NHS will be banned from advertising or working in hospitals from next month.
  
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• Darts star Raymond van Barneveld backs calls to reinstate PDC walk-on girls

  27-01-2018 16:42
  Thousands of people have signed a petition calling on Professional Darts Corporation bosses to reverse their decision to stop using walk-on girls at tournaments.Among those backing the online campaign is former PDC world champion Raymond van Barneveld, who said he wanted the women reinstated.The petition, addressed to PDC chairman Barry Hearn, has been backed by more than 7,000 people.
  
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• Trump's attack on the FBI is an attack on the US constitution itself | Jill Abramson

  27-01-2018 16:33 via theguardian.com
  Republicans are mere enablers. They and their president would do well to remember who the Watergate source worked forSince his election, revelations of Donald Trump’s contempt for the legal process have been dizzying. The rule of law is what protects democracy in the United States. The president has done everything possible to subvert it.Related: The right's not-so-secret effort to discredit Trump-Russia inquiryContinue reading...
  
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• Greg Clark Says Britain Is 'Absolutely, Unambiguously' Leaving The EU

  27-01-2018 16:31
  The business secretary has insisted Britain is “absolutely, unambiguously” leaving the European Union.
  
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• Three boys killed as car crashes into London bus stop

  27-01-2018 16:25 via theguardian.com
  Driver, 28, taken to hospital under arrest after incident in Hayes, west LondonThree teenage boys have died after a car crashed into them at a bus stop in west London.
  The three, all believed to be 16, were pronounced dead at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics. Police said all of the next of kin had been informed. Floral tributes were left at the scene to boys named George, Josh and Harry. Continue reading...
  
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• Business is still very much a boy’s-only club – but journalism can cause change

  27-01-2018 16:00 via theguardian.com
  This week, news of sexual misconduct at a London club’s infamous annual dinner brought down the entire institutionJessica Valenti is traveling this week, so I am stepping in for her. This week the Financial Times published an exposé of sexual misconduct at the male-only Presidents Club Charity Dinner in London.Continue reading...
  
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• Roger Federer’s pedigree can gain entry to select grand slam club

  27-01-2018 15:58 via theguardian.com
  Marin Cilic must turn up the power in the Australian Open to avoid a repeat of last year’s Wimbledon final and deny the Swiss an historic triumphAs much as the men’s final on Sunday is supposed to be an equal contest between the two best players left upright and healthy after six matches, Roger Federer always stands tallest in his sport and Marin Cilic, even looking down from 6ft 6in, knows it. Related: Roger Federer wins record eighth Wimbledon title against Marin CilicContinue
  
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• Top universities accused of BTec snobbery

  27-01-2018 15:49
  ‘BTecs don’t provide an appropriate preparation for most courses, where the emphasis is more academic than vocational,’ says Cambridge University.Top universities have been accused of “institutional snobbery” for failing to recognise vocational qualifications increasingly used by poorer teenagers as a route to higher education.Almost half of white working-class and black British students in England are now reaching university with qualifications such as BTecs, accor
  
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• The true essence of a community can’t be measured in an RBS ledger

  27-01-2018 15:47 via theguardian.com
  A Campsie funeral provides a definition of prosperity that speaks not of material wealth but of living the best life you canThe celebration of the old man’s life began on social media, the latterday chronicler of all births, marriages and deaths. Patrick Joseph McLaughlin had died, and his son, my friend Gerry, posted this notice: “Patrick will be received into St Machan’s Roman Catholic Chapel, Lennoxtown on Friday evening, 19 January at 6.30pm. Patrick’s funeral ma
  
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• Transgender inmate of male prison ‘prepared to die’ in hunger strike

  27-01-2018 15:46
  Ministry of Justice at heart of battle after ‘nightmare’ refusal to recognise Marie Dean as a woman.A transgender woman has gone on hunger strike inside an all-male prison and says she is prepared to die over the government’s refusal to accept her chosen gender.Marie Dean, 50, is being held at HMP Preston, Lancashire, where she is protesting over what she claims is a “nightmare” refusal of the Ministry of Justice to recognise she is a woman.
  
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• London City Airport Jet Has To Manoeuvre To Avoid Party Balloons In Takeoff Near Miss

  27-01-2018 15:45
  A bundle of party balloons caused a business jet’s flight crew to shout “watch out!” and take avoiding action shortly after take-off from London City Airport.
  
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• Enter the wooden horse. But this time the Trojans tell their side of fall of Troy

  27-01-2018 15:45 via theguardian.com
  Night Manager creator retells Homer’s epic with a modern slant and fresh point of view in new BBC seriesThe epic tale of Helen of Sparta and how she came to leave her husband, family and home for Paris of Troy, sparking a decade-long war, has delighted generations.Now an eight-part BBC/Netflix miniseries hopes to thrill us once more with the tale of the wooden horse – this time by telling the story, made famous by Homer, from the Trojan point of view. Troy: Fall of a City, which will
  
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• 'Someone has to make a stand': widow's battle for cohabiting couples

  27-01-2018 15:39 via theguardian.com
  Siobhan McLaughlin’s case goes before supreme court as pressure grows to end legal inequalityA widow in Belfast is taking the government to the supreme court over bereavement payments, as ministers come under increasing pressure to readdress the law on cohabiting couples.Siobhan McLaughlin, 46, had four children with her partner, John Adams, who she had lived with for more than 20 years. But when Adams died in 2014, McLaughlin was denied a £2,000 lump sum bereavement payment as well
  
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• Donald Trump's refrigerator upgrade for Air Force One set to cost $24m

  27-01-2018 15:29 via theguardian.com
  Officials sign deal with Boeing to replace two food chilling systemsPlane’s fridges must be equipped to handle 3,000 meals per dayWhat hums, flies above 30,000ft, and costs about as much as Donald Trump’s upstate New York manor?Trump’s new airplane refrigerators. Continue reading...
  
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• Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal released from detention

  27-01-2018 15:28 via theguardian.com
  Billionaire had been held in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton since November in corruption crackdown
  The Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal has been released after nearly three months in detention at a luxury hotel as part of an anti-corruption sweep.The prince was released on Saturday from the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, where he has been held since 4 November. A senior Saudi official said he had been freed after he reached a financial settlement with the attorney general.Continue reading...
  
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• Porn giant MindGeek denies planning to snoop on UK viewers

  27-01-2018 15:24
  MindGeek, the biggest internet pornography company in the world has told Sky News it will not snoop on the sexual preferences of 25 million people in the UK under new age verification laws.The mechanism for age verification is being left to the private sector.Among the companies developing solutions is MindGeek, which bills itself as a leader in 'Web Design, IT, Web Development and SEO [search engine optimisation]'.
  
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• Kabul Bomb, Hidden In Ambulance, Kills At Least 95 People And Wounds 158

  27-01-2018 15:10
  A bomb hidden in an ambulance killed at least 95 people and wounded 158 in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday when it blew up at a police checkpoint on Saturday.
  
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• Missouri senator dismisses opponent's remarks about 'feminist she-devils'

  27-01-2018 15:05 via theguardian.com
  After Republican Courtland Sykes posted an anti-feminist message, Democrat Claire McCaskill responded: ‘I don’t take him seriously’The Democratic Missouri senator Claire McCaskill has said she does not take seriously a long-shot Republican candidate for her seat who is facing criticism for his comments about women.Courtland Sykes wrote in a recent Facebook post that he wants to come home to dinner cooked by his fiancee every night and said he wants girls to grow up to “bu
  
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• Troubled children at risk from mental health proposals, warn therapists

  27-01-2018 15:00
  The Association of Child Psychotherapists has called the government’s proposals ‘inadequate’.Young people with the most serious mental health problems will be harmed by flawed government plans to boost services in schools for troubled children, ministers are being warned.Under-18s who self-harm or are at risk of suicide are among those with complex conditions who could lose out on vital help because of proposals outlined in a recent green paper to tackle the crisis in youn
  
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• Fiona Mozley on York: ‘The Mystery Plays influenced my writing more than any book’

  27-01-2018 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The Booker prize-shortlisted author reveals why her hometown’s past is both a blessing and a curseMy hometown is known for a few different periods of ascendency and cultural boom, and these eras loom large. Indeed, as anyone who has visited York will know, this “looming” is literal as well as metaphorical: York Minster is the largest gothic cathedral north of the Alps. In addition to its later medieval churches and treasures of stone and glass, York also has Roman remains, Viki
  
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• Diane Abbott: ‘The abuse and the attacks have never made me falter’

  27-01-2018 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The Labour MP, 64, talks about running the country as a civil servant, surviving racism at grammar school and staying away from TwitterI’ve always wanted a place at the table. My earliest memory is being put in my high chair while my parents were eating. I was there thinking: “Why am I not sitting with them?”I don’t know when I first experienced racism. At primary school I was famous for my essays, and I’d read to the point of obsession. In my first week at grammar
  
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• Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed released as corruption probe winds down

  27-01-2018 14:57
  Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was released from detention on Saturday, family sources said, more than two months after he was taken into custody in the kingdom's sweeping crackdown on corruption.A senior Saudi official said Prince Alwaleed's release had come about after a financial settlement was reached with the attorney general."The attorney general has approved this morning the settlement that was reached with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, and the prince returned home at 11
  
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• Chris Rock fans face phone ban to stop 'major intrusion' on quality of performance

  27-01-2018 14:49
  The US comedian has banned all mobile phones and smart watches from his UK Total Blackout tour this month.The move is aimed at stopping people filming his performances and posting them online - with anybody caught using them in venues being ejected from the premises.Rock said the use of mobiles for texting, tweeting and recording performances is a "major intrusion" on the quality of his performance as a comedian.
  
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