General news

• British IS fighters 'the Beatles' captured in Syria

  08-02-2018 23:22
  Two British Islamic State fighters - part of a group nicknamed 'the Beatles' - have been captured in Syria, US officials say.Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee ElSheikh were detained by Kurdish forces in Syria and have reportedly revealed "valuable information" on the IS leadership and structure.Along with 'Jihadi John' Mohammed Emwazi and Aine Davis, they are believed to have tortured and beheaded dozens of people.
  
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• Protest after Vue cinema cancels 'gay cure' film screening

  08-02-2018 22:03 via bbc.co.uk
  The Vue cinema says the event contradicted its values, but protesters accuse it of censorship.
  
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• Two British 'Beatles' Islamic State Fighters Captured In Syria

  08-02-2018 21:55
  Two British Islamic State militants known for their role in the torture and killing of Western hostages have been captured by Syrian Kurdish fighters, according to US officials.
  
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• Syria war: Last of British IS 'Beatles' gang captured by Kurds

  08-02-2018 21:50 via bbc.co.uk
  Syrian Kurds seize two men, suspected of being part of a notorious torture cell, US officials say.
  
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• Andrea Leadsom backs 'level playing field' for post-Brexit immigration

  08-02-2018 21:42
  EU migrants should not be given preferential access to Britain after Brexit in order to give all people "equal chance" to come to the UK, according to leading Brexiteer Andrea Leadsom.The Leader of the House of Commons told Sky News she wanted to see a "level playing field" between those from the EU and the rest of the world once the UK leaves the EU."It is right that once we have left the EU we are back in change of our immigration rules again," Ms Leadsom said.
  
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• George Soros's Open Society Foundations Responds To Telegraph Furore With Dire Brexit Warning

  08-02-2018 21:13
  The George Soros-backed group described by the Telegraph as being behind a “secret plot to thwart Brexit” has issued a stark warning over the consequences of Britain leaving the EU.
  
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• No-deal Brexit would trigger wave of red tape for UK drivers and hauliers

  08-02-2018 21:00
  The UK freight industry could also be restricted to a tiny number of travel permits under existing treaties unless there is a Brexit deal.British drivers may need new licences and registration certificates to travel in Europe after Brexit under contingency plans being drawn up by the government that experts warn would create “extremely labour-intensive” extra red tape.In the first of a series of steps to deal with the possibility of failing to reach a deal with the EU, the UK is sign
  
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• British IS fighters 'the Beatles' captured in Syria - reports

  08-02-2018 21:00
  Two British Islamic State fighters - part of a group nicknamed "the Beatles" - have reportedly been captured in Syria.Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh were detained by Kurdish forces in Syria, the New York Times reports, citing US officials.Along with 'Jihadi John' Mohammed Emwazi and Aine Davis, they are believed to have tortured and beheaded dozens of people.
  
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• Student who died in 'crush' outside club named as Olivia Burt

  08-02-2018 20:50
  A university student who died in an incident involving a barrier outside a Durham nightclub has been named as Olivia Burt, police say.The 20-year-old, who was in her first year at Durham University, suffered a serious head injury after she was reportedly crushed near the entrance to Missoula as people queued to get into venue.First aiders tried to save her life and attempted CPR but she died at the scene shortly before midnight on Wednesday.
  
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• David Davis accuses EU of ‘bad faith’ over plan to punish UK

  08-02-2018 20:48
  The Brexit secretary, David Davis, has accused the European commission of acting in “bad faith” for publishing proposals this week that would enable it to impose sanctions on Britain during the post-Brexit transition period.Speaking after Thursday’s meeting of Theresa May’s Brexit strategy group, Davis criticised the tone of a legal text on the transition period published by the commission this week.“What we’re about is building an implementation period, which
  
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• YouTube: we've found no evidence of Russian interference in Brexit vote

  08-02-2018 20:41
  YouTube has said it had found no evidence of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum, but promised MPs it would conduct further investigations at a UK parliamentary committee hearing with social media company executives in Washington on Thursday.
  
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• Liverpool NHS trust 'dysfunctional' and unsafe, report finds

  08-02-2018 20:28
  Liverpool Community Health NHS trust provided poor, unsafe and ineffective care to patients, the scathing report concluded.Patients suffered “significant harm” because of multiple serious failings by a “dysfunctional” NHS trust, an independent inquiry has found.Liverpool Community Health NHS trust (LCH) provided poor, unsafe and ineffective care to patients, including inmates at HMP Liverpool, the scathing report concluded.
  
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• Paedophile scientist Falder told police: 'That's the rap sheet from hell'

  08-02-2018 20:27
  Matthew Falder, 29, persuaded a father to rape and torture his two-year-old son and encouraged others to perform degrading and humiliating acts on themselves, a court was told.Falder, public school-educated and a star student at Cambridge University, has admitted 137 charges involving 46 victims.Prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe has spent two days outlining the charges Falder has admitted, warning a packed courtroom that much of the detail would be upsetting.
  
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• Google and Facebook shocked – shocked! – about fake news

  08-02-2018 20:06
  ‘We’ve got 10,000 raiders to make sure people don’t misuse the Google search engines,’ insisted Google’s Donald Sutherland dead ringer Richard Gingras.At the digital, culture, media and sport committee’s latest hearing on “fake news” it was the other way round.As far as anyone was aware, Google, YouTube and Facebook all had senior executives working in the UK who were just as qualified to give evidence as their US counterparts.
  
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• Cambodian tourists bailed over fake orgy porn charge

  08-02-2018 20:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Four British nationals are among seven bailed from Cambodian jail over "sex act" photographs.
  
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• Switch off TV and play games to boost family life, says Conservative MP

  08-02-2018 19:53 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeremy Lefroy recommends a popular banana-themed word game as an alternative to the box.
  
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• Patients suffering as direct result of NHS wait-time failures

  08-02-2018 19:53
  In January a record 81,003 people in England spent at least four hours on a trolley as they waited to be admitted to a hospital.Doctors’ leaders spoke out after figures showed that the NHS in England recorded its worst ever performance last month, including against the politically important four-hour A&E treatment target.Just 77.1% of patients who sought help at a hospital-based A&E unit were treated and admitted, discharged or transferred within four hours – a record low aga
  
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• Initiative to crack down on unpaid internships launched in UK

  08-02-2018 19:50
  About 70,000 internships are offered annually in the UK.The government has launched a crackdown on unpaid internships, sending more than 550 warning letters to companies and setting up enforcement teams to tackle repeat offenders.HM Revenue & Customs is expected to target sectors such as media, the performing arts and law and accountancy firms, which have a reputation for using unpaid interns.
  
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• How James Bulger’s Mother Has Been Campaigning In The 25 Years Since His Murder

  08-02-2018 19:48
  Denise Fergus’s toddler son fell victim to a crime that shocked Britain 25 years ago.
  
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• Pro-EU Labour MPs urge NEC to consult members on Brexit

  08-02-2018 19:38
  Thirty pro-EU Labour MPs and campaigners have written to the chair of the party’s ruling national executive committee, urging him to consult its half a million members about Labour’s Brexit policy.The NEC has set up eight policy commissions since last year’s general elections that allow Labour to consult members and develop policy in different areas.Many of the members who flooded into Labour in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s election, and re-election, as party leader are EU
  
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• 'Dead' hamster found alive in Aylesbury wheelie bin

  08-02-2018 19:20 via bbc.co.uk
  The hibernating hamster's owners thought it had died so wrapped it in bedding and put it in the bin.
  
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• Teenage flu victim Melissa Whiteley's twin sister: 'This has broken me. I don't know what I'll do without her'

  08-02-2018 19:18
  The family of a teenage girl who died after being struck down with flu on Christmas Day say they have been left "totally broken" by her death.Melissa Whiteley, 18, from Stoke-On-Trent, died a month after becoming ill, suffering from sepsis, pneumonia and a rare infection which attacked her lungs.The engineering student died on 27 January with her family by her side.
  
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• Turkey's broadcasting watchdog to monitor online content under draft law

  08-02-2018 19:11
  Turkey will expand the powers of its radio and television watchdog to include overseeing online content providers, under a draft law submitted to parliament on Thursday which the main opposition party said amounted to digital censorship.The regulation would allow the RTUK watchdog to halt audio and video material streamed online, social media posts and films offered by Internet-based providers like Netflix if they are deemed a threat to national security or moral values.President Tayyip Erdogan
  
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• Prince William makes surprise school visit on mental health

  08-02-2018 19:10 via bbc.co.uk
  The Duke of Cambridge arrived unannounced with rapper Professor Green and spoke on mental health.
  
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• DPD boss admits taking picture on phone while motorway driving

  08-02-2018 19:05
  The chief executive of courier giant DPD has admitted breaking the law by taking photographs on his mobile phone while driving on a motorway.Dwain McDonald, who oversees a network of 5,000 professional drivers who deliver for John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Amazon, boasted about how he used his phone to take a picture of a DPD van while driving on the M62 between Manchester and Leeds.McDonald admitted to the crime while giving a slide presentation, which was captured on video and posted to Y
  
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• Wedding photo shoot interrupted by police drugs chase in Oxford

  08-02-2018 19:02
  A newly married couple enjoyed a wedding day photo shoot like no other as their pictures were interrupted by several police officers pursuing a suspected drug dealer.In scenes befitting of a sequel to Hot Fuzz, bystanders ordered Toby and Becky Eyre to get out the way as officers from Thames Valley Police chased the man through Hinksey Park in Oxford, just as the bride and groom were having their special pictures taken.The interruption came five minutes into their shoot with photographer Annie C
  
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• Bermuda same-sex marriage: Government will not block bill

  08-02-2018 19:00 via bbc.co.uk
  It is 'not be appropriate' to intervene in Bermuda's decision, a foreign office minister said
  
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• Far-right propaganda and the Finsbury Park attack

  08-02-2018 18:52
  Darren Osborne, who was found guilty of murdering 51-year-old Makram Ali and trying to kill others in Finsbury Park, north London, where he drove a van into a crowd on 19 June 2017.Darren Osborne is a disturbed, violent man with a history of crime, and was convicted of murder, not a terrorist offence.Osborne appears to have been vulnerable to online propaganda.
  
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• Japan warns on Brexit - we cannot continue in UK without profit

  08-02-2018 18:51
  Japan warned Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday that its companies would have to leave Britain if trade barriers after Brexit made them unprofitable.Japanese firms have spent more than 40 billion pounds in Britain, encouraged by successive governments since Margaret Thatcher promising them a business-friendly base from which to trade across the continent.
  
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• MPs and peers could be recalled or expelled for harassment

  08-02-2018 18:49
  One in five people working in Westminster had experienced or witnessed inappropriate behaviour in the past year, the report found.A crackdown on sexual harassment and bullying in Westminster under which MPs and peers could face recall or expulsion is a “game-changer for parliament”, the Commons leader, Andrea Leadsom, has said.A cross-party report on Thursday said urgent reform was needed to tackle a culture of harassment and bullying at Westminster, including a new complaints proced
  
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• May's government has not yet finalised its Brexit strategy - Davis

  08-02-2018 18:36
  MPs still have not finalised an approach to Brexit after discussions led by Prime Minister Theresa May on the government's strategy this week, Brexit minister David Davis said on Thursday."The atmosphere is very constructive... There's still progress to be made, but there's a great deal of progress been made," Davis said in a transcript of an interview released by his department, when asked whether there was agreement between the senior government members on Britain's strategy.
  
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• Britain scolds EU over plan to restrict single market access to UK during transition

  08-02-2018 18:28
  Brexit Secretary David Davis criticised the European Union's decision to publish a document that shows it has the power to restrict British access to the single market during a transition period after it leaves the bloc."I do not think it was in good faith to publish a document with frankly discourteous language and actually implying that they could arbitrarily terminate, in effect, the implementation period," Davis told Sky News.
  
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• Milan kidnap case model Chloe Ayling: People don't believe me

  08-02-2018 18:25 via bbc.co.uk
  British model Chloe Ayling was drugged, handcuffed and transported in a case, a court in Milan hears.
  
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• Manchester United blame Donald Trump's tax reforms for high-year loss

  08-02-2018 18:24
  Manchester United have posted a half-year loss, blaming an overhaul of the US tax system by Donald Trump.The reforms by the US President saw the corporate tax rate cut from 35% to 21% late last year and the changes forced the American-owned club to make an accounting write-off of £48.8m.This left the team, which is controlled by the Glazer family and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with a loss of £12.87m in the first half of the financial year.
  
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• Glitz and graffiti: the two sides of the Hong Kong art scene

  08-02-2018 18:16 via theguardian.com
  As prestigious international galleries have moved into Hong Kong’s Central district, so young local talent has claimed the streets and former industrial spaces as its ownHong Kong is a city of thrill-inducing contrasts. And nowhere is this characteristic so apparent as in the art world, where glossy international fairs and the Parisian and New York-style galleries of the Central district sit alongside 20-foot street artworks emblazoned on empty walls and stairwells around the city. Hong Ko
  
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• EU doubts 2020 Brexit vision, sees longer goodbye

  08-02-2018 18:16
  The European Union believes Britain will not be ready to make a full break from the bloc by the end of 2020 as Brexit transition plans foresee and several senior EU figures said they are bracing for a much longer goodbye.Several diplomats and Brussels officials familiar with the discussions said a host of unresolved issues, including the Irish border, and British in-fighting over what kind of future trade relationship to ask for left many convinced the transition will end up being longer.Two sen
  
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• Cambridgeshire Police apologise for 'body in carpet' advert

  08-02-2018 18:16 via bbc.co.uk
  The advert asks people to consider whether they are looking at a body or a carpet before calling 999.
  
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• 'Rarest white diamond ever' to be auctioned in London

  08-02-2018 18:15
  A flawless diamond, the size of a large strawberry, is expected to fetch a world record price when it goes on sale at Sotheby's in London this month.Weighing just over 102 carats, the round, brilliant white stone is smaller than a 163-carat oval diamond sold in Hong Kong in 2013, which currently holds the record price per carat.
  
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• More snow and ice warnings as wintry conditions grip UK

  08-02-2018 18:14
  Britain is bracing itself for more wintry conditions after snow and ice warnings were issued for many parts of the country.The Met Office issued a second yellow “be prepared” warning for ice in the east Midlands, London and south-east England, Wales, and the west Midlands.“A few showers of rain, sleet and hill snow will follow, possibly giving a slight covering of snow over higher ground,” the Met Office said.
  
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• EU leaked paper discourteous, says David Davis

  08-02-2018 18:05 via bbc.co.uk
  The document suggests any dispute could see UK benefits suspended in the post-Brexit "transition period".
  
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• Meet Grenfell firefighters running London Marathon in full kit

  08-02-2018 17:53 via bbc.co.uk
  Firefighters who battled the tower block fire will carry 30 kilos each at the London Marathon.
  
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• Grenfell firefighters to run London Marathon in full kit

  08-02-2018 17:53 via bbc.co.uk
  Firefighters who battled the tower block fire will carry 30 kilos each at the London Marathon.
  
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• Edinburgh shines as Lumen show lights up city centre

  08-02-2018 17:53 via bbc.co.uk
  The festival of light transforms three city centre sites to brighten up the winter evenings.
  
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• Reality Check: How are English councils spending your taxes?

  08-02-2018 17:51 via bbc.co.uk
  Almost all councils in England say they plan to increase council tax this year, but where does it go?
  
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• Lebanon to put taxi driver on trial in murder of British woman

  08-02-2018 17:44
  A Lebanese judge has ordered the trial of a man suspected of the December murder of Rebecca Dykes, a British woman who worked at the British embassy in Beirut, court documents showed on Thursday.Hanna Braidi, investigative judge for the Mount Lebanon district where the crime occurred, released a charge sheet for Tariq Houshieh, an Uber driver accused of raping and killing Dykes in the early hours of Dec. 16.The charge sheet said Houshieh had confessed to raping and strangling Dykes, who was 30 a
  
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• Freemasons: How well do you know the secret society?

  08-02-2018 17:42
  Two Freemasons' Lodges are reportedly operating secretly at Westminster and their members include journalists.New Welcome Lodge, for MPs, peers and parliamentary staff, and Gallery Lodge, which was set up for the political press corps known as the lobby, remain active, according to The Guardian.David Staples, the chief executive of the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), the governing body for Freemasons in England and Wales, said there was no incompatibility between being a journalist or poli
  
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• Diner 'aggressive' before Indian restaurant chilli attack

  08-02-2018 17:16 via bbc.co.uk
  Restaurant owner admits throwing chilli powder into customer's eyes but said he acted in self-defence.
  
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• Who Is George Soros And Why Does Nigel Farage Not Like Him?

  08-02-2018 17:07
  Galactic brain: Soros is a billionaire and a genius who is specifically famous for making huge profits out of understanding the relationship between the UK and EU, maybe he's on to something.—
  
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• Japan tells UK on Brexit - If there is no profit, we cannot continue

  08-02-2018 17:07
  Japan's ambassador said on Thursday that no firm would be able to continue to operate in Britain if they are not profitable due to Brexit-related trade barriers.Speaking outside Number 10 Downing Street after meeting Prime Minister Theresa May along with 19 Japanese business leaders, the ambassador had a clear message for Britain."If there is no profitability of continuing operations in the UK - not Japanese only - then no private company can continue operations.
  
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• Brexit a chance for Britain to build on ties with Japan - May

  08-02-2018 17:07
  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will have the opportunity to build on its relationship with Japan after it leaves the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May told Japanese firms at a meeting in London on Thursday.
  
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