General news

• Trump-Kim talks: US signals hardline stance as it scrambles to define position

  09-03-2018 23:14 via theguardian.com
  Pence says maximum pressure strategy on North Korea is workingUS, China and Japan vow no let-up in sanctions ahead of talksDonald Trump will take a hardline position at his planned summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the White House said on Friday, as US officials scrambled to keep pace with the president after his sudden acceptance of Kim’s offer to talk. Related: Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un believe they are winning – and the risks of that are epicContinue reading...
  
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• Man, 85, died due to 'dangerous overcrowding' at Northampton General Hospital

  09-03-2018 23:03
  An elderly man has died in hospital due to "dangerous overcrowding" of the accident and emergency department, a health trust has admitted.The 85-year-old went to Northampton General Hospital just after 4pm on Wednesday afternoon with stomach pain.After a blood test suggested possible heart problems he was made to wait again to be seen by senior staff.
  
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• Spy poisoning: Military deployed in Salisbury as police investigate graveyard

  09-03-2018 22:54
  The military has been deployed to help police investigating the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter, as attention moved to the burial site of his wife and son.Around 180 troops, including Royal Marines, RAF personnel and chemical specialists, were deployed in Salisbury following the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.Home Secretary Amber Rudd will chair the Government's emergency Cobra meeting on Saturday to be updated on the investigation.
  
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• Parsons Green suspect Ahmed Hassan admitted making bomb, court hears

  09-03-2018 22:32
  Thirty people were injured after an improvised device filled with screwdrivers, nuts and knives partially detonated during rush hour last September on a Tube train at Parsons Green station.Ahmed Hassan, 18, who was spotted by PC Daniel Carmen sitting outside the passenger terminal at the Port of Dover the following day, initially shrugged when stopped and questioned.The media student told the officer his name was Ahmed Ali and said he had been sleeping rough.
  
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• Four arrested after balcony protest at Iranian embassy in London

  09-03-2018 22:04
  Four people were arrested after they climbed on to a first-floor balcony of the Iranian embassy in London on Friday and waved flags in an apparent protest against the government in Tehran.The four were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage and being unlawfully on diplomatic premises, a spokeswoman for London's Metropolitan Police said.Iran's ambassador to Britain, Hamid Baeidnejad, tweeted that the assailants were "advocates of the Shirazi cult" and had replaced Iran's national flag w
  
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• UK, Saudi Arabia sign deals worth more than $2 billion

  09-03-2018 21:56
  RIYADH (Reuters) - Britain and Saudi Arabia signed commercial deals worth more than $2 billion (1.44 billion pounds) during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to London which ended on Friday, a joint statement said, without providing details.
  
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• Saudi Crown Prince signs off UK visit with push for fighter deal

  09-03-2018 21:56
  LONDON/RIYADH (Reuters) - Britain and Saudi Arabia took a step closer to a multi-billion- pound arms deal on Friday, touching on the most inflammatory element of their relationship at the end of an official visit to London that has mixed warm diplomacy with angry street protests.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been in the British capital for three days on a mission to build broader trade and investment ties, meeting Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Theresa May, key ministers and execut
  
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• Britain's M&G infrastructure fund proposes buying broadband firm Gigaclear

  09-03-2018 21:53
  Investors in Gigaclear would receive 400 pence in cash for each share they held, representing a 23 percent premium to their most recent fund raise, Infracapital said in a statement.Infracapital, which owns about 43 percent of Gigaclear's issued shares, said it had already received a letter of intent to accept its offer from the fibre network company's second biggest investor, Woodford Investment Management.Railway Pension Trustee Co Ltd, which owns about 15.9 percent of the privately held compan
  
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• Spy mystery - police investigate cemetery

  09-03-2018 21:00
  Spy mystery - police investigate cemetery
  
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• Martin Shkreli jailed: 'Pharma Bro' sentenced to seven years for fraud

  09-03-2018 20:47 via theguardian.com
  Shkreli, convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy, sought leniency from the court after calling the trial a ‘witch-hunt’In a packed Brooklyn courthouse on Friday, Martin Shkreli, the “Pharma Bro” who rose to international notoriety after increasing the price of a lifesaving drug 50-fold, was sentenced to seven years in prison.Shkreli, 34, was convicted of two counts of securities fraud and a single count of conspiracy last August. He had dismissed the trial as “
  
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• Outsiders should investigate claims of Westminster bullying, says Corbyn

  09-03-2018 19:50
  Jeremy Corbyn says he will not suspend Paul Farrelly, an MP alleged to have bullied Commons clerks, unless any claims against him were investigated and substantiated.Jeremy Corbyn has called for allegations of systematic bullying at Westminster to be independently investigated, with sanctions imposed against any MP found guilty of ill-treating Commons staff.“The culture of bullying is totally wrong in any workplace or any environment,” Corbyn said after a speech at Scottish Labour&rs
  
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• Corbyn: Westminster bullying claims require independent investigation

  09-03-2018 19:50
  Jeremy Corbyn said he would not suspend the Labour MP Paul Farrelly unless claims against him were proven.Jeremy Corbyn has called for allegations of systematic bullying at Westminster to be independently investigated, with sanctions imposed against any MP found guilty of ill-treating House of Commons staff.
  
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• Pep Guardiola hit with £20,000 fine for wearing Catalan independence ribbon

  09-03-2018 19:16
  Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been hit with a £20,000 fine for wearing a yellow ribbon in support of jailed Catalan independence leaders.The Football Association has also warned the former Barcelona boss about his future conduct after he accepted a charge of "wearing a political message".Guardiola has argued wearing the symbol is not political but has accepted it is in breach of the FA's kit and advertising regulations.
  
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• PC Keith Palmer: Policeman killed in Westminster terror attack given bravery award

  09-03-2018 18:28
  The policeman who was stabbed to death during the Westminster terror attack last year has been given an award for outstanding bravery.PC Keith Palmer was posthumously honoured by the Metropolitan Police for his heroic response during the attack outside the Houses of Parliament last March, when he confronted attacker Khalid Masood.The 48-year-old officer, who was married with children, has been named the winner of the Outstanding Bravery of the Year prize at the Met Excellence Awards.
  
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• British woman charged with boy's murder in Australia

  09-03-2018 18:22
  A British woman has been charged with the murder of a boy in Australia.Joanne Finch, 41, was arrested at a house in the seaside town of Tootgarook, about 50 miles from Melbourne, in the state of Victoria on Thursday.Emergency services were called at about 1.30pm on Thursday but the boy, thought to be Finch's eight-year-old son Brodie Moran, was found dead.
  
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• Sir John Sulston human genome pioneer dies

  09-03-2018 18:13 via bbc.co.uk
  Sir John Sulston, a key figure in the race to decode the human genome, has died at the age of 75.
  
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• Sergei Skripal attack: investigators wear protective suits at cemetery

  09-03-2018 18:12
  A fire engine leaves the London Road cemetery in Salisbury, Wiltshire.A military convoy arrived at Salisbury district hospital and investigators in hazmat suits were seen at the cemetery where Sergei Skripal’s wife was buried as the investigation into the nerve agent attack on the Russian former spy gathered pace.Earlier on Friday it was reported that about 180 military personnel had been called in to assist the investigation into the attempted murder of the Russian former spy Sergei Skrip
  
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• Russian spy attack: investigators wear protective suits at cemetery

  09-03-2018 18:12
  A fire engine leaves the London Road cemetery in Salisbury, Wiltshire.A military convoy arrived at Salisbury district hospital and investigators in hazmat suits were seen at the cemetery where Sergei Skripal’s wife was buried as the investigation into the nerve agent attack on the Russian former spy gathered pace.Earlier on Friday it was reported that about 180 military personnel had been called in to assist the investigation into the attempted murder of the Russian former spy Sergei Skrip
  
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• 'Terrible' to tell people to move city to find work - BoE chief economist

  09-03-2018 18:12
  LONDON (Reuters) - British people should not be expected to move city to find work, and instead the government should find a way to revive depressed towns that have lost their original economic purpose, Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane said on Friday.
  
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• Building a self-help solution to Britain’s housing problems

  09-03-2018 18:04
  Bristol Housing Action Movement occupying a council house in protest at its being sold in an auction in 2016.Robert Dark (Letters, 8 March) argues that what is desperately needed to deal with the UK housing problem is for “the government and councils to provide affordable homes for rent but with some new imaginative forms of tenancy”.If he looks at the work being done by Radical Routes, Triodos Bank and the Ecology Building Society to develop housing co-ops, he will see that ten
  
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• NHS cuts and privatisation have brought no benefits

  09-03-2018 18:03
  Ministers are set to offer NHS staff a 6.5% pay rise. Photograph: Sturti/Getty Images
  
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• Bosses' group head quits amid race claims

  09-03-2018 17:58 via bbc.co.uk
  IoD chair Lady Judge resigns from the business body after allegations of racism, sexism, and bullying.
  
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• Saudi Crown Prince signs off UK visit with push for fighter jet deal

  09-03-2018 17:54
  LONDON/RIYADH (Reuters) - Britain and Saudi Arabia took a step closer to a multi-billion pound arms deal on Friday, touching on the most inflammatory element of their relationship at the end of an official visit to London which has mixed warm diplomacy with angry street protest.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been in the British capital for three days on a mission to build broader trade and investment ties, meeting Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Theresa May and executives.The two cou
  
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• Pep Guardiola: Manchester City manager fined over yellow ribbon

  09-03-2018 17:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is fined £20,000 for wearing a yellow ribbon on the touchline during an FA Cup match.
  
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• BME label insulting, says ex-minister Priti Patel

  09-03-2018 17:54 via bbc.co.uk
  Former cabinet minister says common acronym for black and minority ethnic people is "insulting".
  
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• 'The snow caused more panic': Salisbury shrugs off attack

  09-03-2018 17:50
  Police stand guard outside the Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury, where Sergei and Yulia Skripal ate on the day they were attacked with nerve gas.It was business as usual at Salisbury Cathedral: an organist practised for weekend services as visitors milled around the magnificent interior or gaped at the tallest spire in the UK.Salisbury is one of those places that doesn’t change very much.
  
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• PM: Parliament bullying claims are 'concerning' and should be investigated

  09-03-2018 17:46
  Theresa May has described allegations of bullying in Parliament as "concerning", but says she retains confidence in Commons Speaker John Bercow.Downing Street said that the Prime Minister believes complaints of abuse made against MPs by staff should be "fully investigated".It comes after BBC Newsnight published allegations against Mr Bercow, which he "utterly refutes", and two other MPs.
  
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• Salisbury policeman Nick Bailey praised as 'super boy'

  09-03-2018 17:44
  The policeman who fell seriously ill after the nerve agent attack in Salisbury has been described by a family friend as a "super boy" who steps beyond expectation.Police sergeant Nick Bailey, 38, is being treated in hospital after ex-Russian Spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found collapsed on a bench.It had been thought that the policeman may have been exposed to the nerve agent when he administered CPR at the scene.
  
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• Parsons Green: Suspect 'told police' he made Tube bomb

  09-03-2018 17:33 via bbc.co.uk
  A police officer tells jurors Ahmed Hassan admitted making the device that exploded at Parsons Green.
  
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• Russian spy: Military deployed after poisoning

  09-03-2018 17:32 via bbc.co.uk
  Service personnel will help remove contaminated items, as ex-spy and his daughter remain critical.
  
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• Saudi Arabia signs preliminary deal to buy 48 Typhoon jets from the UK

  09-03-2018 17:30
  Saudi Arabia has signed a preliminary deal to buy 48 Typhoon fighter jets from the UK.The jets, made by British company BAE Systems, are part of a multibillion-pound deal which has been under discussion for many years.BAE confirmed the news in a statement, saying: "This is a positive step towards agreeing a contract for our valued partner.
  
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• Prada sees growth ahead as new products, strategy pull it out of 'grey area'

  09-03-2018 17:30
  Learning from past mistakes is paying off at Italian luxury goods maker Prada , which said on Friday it would return to grow this year after stemming a sales slide in the second half of 2017.The company had previously expected to return to sales and profit growth last year but in September it said the turnaround would take longer than expected as it was still in the throes of renovating its retail network, focusing on digital marketing and sales and refreshing its products.
  
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• Sir John Sulston, scientist who led human genome breakthrough, dies

  09-03-2018 17:22
  Sir John Sulston, the Nobel-prize winning scientist who led efforts to sequence the human genome, has died aged 75.The scientist was the British face of efforts to decode the human genome.The Sanger Institute confirmed his death.
  
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• Saudi Arabia signs preliminary deal to buy 48 Typhoon jets from UK

  09-03-2018 17:13
  Saudi Arabia has signed a preliminary deal to buy 48 Typhoon fighter jets from the UK.The jets are made by British firm BAE Systems, as part of a multi-billion pound deal which has been under discussion for many years.BAE confirmed the news in a statement, saying: "This is a positive step towards agreeing a contract for our valued partner.
  
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• Poisoned spy's friend: He was lonely after his son and wife died

  09-03-2018 16:51
  The former Russian spy poisoned by a nerve agent was a lonely man who did not feel Russia was his home, a friend has revealed.Ebru Ozturk runs the Bargain Stop in Roman Road, Salisbury, a short walk from Sergei Skripal's house.:: Russia row: How will UK respond to spy 'attack'?
  
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• Brexit: Scotland and Wales face battle for fish and farm policy

  09-03-2018 16:09
  The Cabinet Office says it is logical for policies on issues such as fishing quotas to be made at the UK level.The UK government has told Scottish and Welsh ministers they are likely to be barred from controlling policy in areas such as genetically modified crops, fishing quotas and farm payments after Brexit.Mike Russell, Scotland’s Brexit minister, accused Westminster of undermining the constitution after the Cabinet Office published a list of 24 areas it said were likely to need UK-wide
  
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• Former spy's home now major crime scene

  09-03-2018 16:05
  The home of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who was attacked with a nerve agent, is now a major crime scene.
  
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• Teenager faces jail over acid attacks on London moped riders

  09-03-2018 15:48
  A teenager who threw acid at moped riders in attempts to steal their vehicles has been told by a judge to expect a lengthy jail sentence.Derryck John threw corrosive liquid at six drivers in north and east London in the space of just over an hour on 13 July, causing one victim “life-changing” injuries, Wood Green crown court heard.John, 17, admitted six counts of throwing a corrosive liquid with intent to “disable, burn, maim, disfigure or cause grievous bodily harm”, two
  
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• IoD's survival at stake over Judge crisis, warns board member

  09-03-2018 15:35
  The survival of the Institute of Directors (IoD) is at stake over a governance crisis triggered by allegations about its chairman's conduct, a board member has warned colleagues.Sky News has been passed an email sent on Friday by Suzy Walton, a former civil servant who sits on the IoD's board, which said that media coverage of its troubles was "dreadful, intrusive and points (correctly) at the problems we as an institute now face in order to survive".Ms Walton's email to IoD directors was circul
  
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• Russian spy attack: military to help investigate poisoning of Sergei Skripal

  09-03-2018 15:19
  Specialist officers in protective suits secure a tent at the bench where Sergei Skripal was found critically with his daughter.About 180 military personnel have been called in to remove evidence potentially contaminated by a nerve agent in Salisbury as investigators try to establish where and when a British police officer was poisoned.DS Nick Bailey is seriously ill in hospital having visited the home of Sergei Skripal after the former Russian spy and his daughter, Yulia, were found slumped on a
  
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• Mum joins daughter at Warwickshire retirement village

  09-03-2018 15:09 via bbc.co.uk
  It’s not often a mother follows in her daughter's footsteps, but for Maureen that’s exactly happened.
  
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• ECB's deadline lifts Italian banks' corporate lending to six-year high

  09-03-2018 15:02
  MILAN (Reuters) - Italian banks' loans to businesses grew at their strongest rate since December 2011 in January, as the European Central Bank prepared to check whether cheap funds it has provided reached the real economy.
  
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• 10 amazing ‘let that sink in’ facts that will blow your mind

  09-03-2018 14:51
  You might have to wait a little for these to sink in.
  
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• The Crufts dogs dining at Birmingham hotel

  09-03-2018 14:38 via bbc.co.uk
  The dogs who are showing at Crufts can join owners while they eat at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole.
  
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• Almost 200 troops sent to Salisbury to help police after poisoning of Russian spy

  09-03-2018 14:37
  Around 180 troops sent to Salisbury in the wake of spy poison attack
  
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• Ffiona Scourfield death: Boy, 16, in court charged with murder

  09-03-2018 14:36 via bbc.co.uk
  He is accused of killing Ffiona Scourfield, 54, with an axe and a samurai sword.
  
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• Britain sends specialist troops to city where Russian double agent poisoned

  09-03-2018 14:33
  Britain deployed specialist troops on Friday to remove potentially contaminated objects from the English city where a Russian former double agent and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent.Sergei Skripal, 66, who passed Russian secrets to Britain, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in intensive care since they were found slumped unconscious on a bench on Sunday afternoon in the quiet cathedral city of Salisbury.Britain's interior minister Amber Rudd, who visited Salisbury on Friday, sa
  
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• Record slump for housebuilding sector at start of 2018

  09-03-2018 14:27
  Britain's housebuilding sector shrank at its sharpest pace on record at the start of the year, according to official figures.The 9% downturn was the biggest month-on-month fall shown by data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) going back to the start of 2010.It contributed to a bigger-than-expected decline for the wider construction sector, which contracted by 3.4% - the largest since June 2012.
  
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• Italy's Prada sees return to growth this year as overhaul progresses

  09-03-2018 14:17
  Italian luxury goods group Pradaexpressed confidence on Friday it would return to grow this year as it strives to boost store sales while also investing in its online platform."Management, supported by the encouraging results achieved in the first months of 2018, is confident that the year to come would mark the beginning of a new sustainable long-term growth period," Prada said in a statement.The Milan-based group had originally said it expected to return to sales and profit growth in 2017 afte
  
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• McDonnell on the economy and the Salisbury spy

  09-03-2018 14:10
  Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has been discussing the economy, and the use of a nerve agent against a former Russian spy in Salisbury.
  
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