General news

• Weather warning: Hundreds of schools to close after heavy snow

  18-03-2018 22:40
  Hundreds of schools are to close on Monday after the 'mini Beast from the East' brought major disruption to parts of the UK.Heavy snow in southwest England is expected to continue into the early hours of Monday, with forecasters warning rural communities are at risk of being cut off.Devon County Council has said more than 240 schools will close on Monday following the severe weather, while dozens of school closures were reported in Somerset, Gloucestershire and parts of Wales.
  
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• 'Nonsense' that Russia behind spy poisoning, says Vladimir Putin

  18-03-2018 22:39
  Vladimir Putin has dismissed claims that Russia was behind the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal as "nonsense".The Russian president said Moscow was ready to cooperate with the British government on the investigation into the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.In his first public comments about the poisoning, he called the attack on Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia a "tragedy".
  
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• 'They're coming for you': Russian exile receives threat

  18-03-2018 22:15
  Russia exile, Valery Morozov, says he's received threats since the nerve agent attack against Sergei Skripal in the UK.
  
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• U.S. tariffs, China trade tensions overshadow G20 finance meeting

  18-03-2018 20:04
  Worries about the potential for a U.S.-China trade war and frustration over U.S. President Donald Trump's steel and aluminium tariffs threatened to dominate a gathering of finance leaders this week amid strengthening growth.U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who arrives on Sunday in Buenos Aires ahead of a two-day meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers, will be in a position of defending Trump's trade plans against widespread criticism from G20 partners.
  
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• UK drops bid for instant return of fisheries control – sources

  18-03-2018 19:54
  Environment secretary Michael Gove raised concerns about fisheries control at a cabinet meeting last week.Plans to take back control of UK fisheries the moment Britain leaves the EU appear to have been abandoned in the face of united EU opposition, dealing a significant blow to the ambitions of the environment secretary, Michael Gove.Gove put repatriating control of fisheries at the heart of his post-Brexit strategy.
  
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• Listen to these girls on abuse

  18-03-2018 19:06
  Over the past few days we have seen a serious case review into the horrific murder of 16-year-old Becky Watts (Report, 15 March), and revelations about the extent of a child sexual exploitation in Telford (Report, 12 March).Too often teenage girls at risk of abuse and violence, especially those from working-class backgrounds, are seen by public services and wider society as the “problem”. We do not ask often enough what is the root cause of their behaviour.This is about changing
  
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• Alperton teacher Andiria Zafirakou wins $1m 'best in the world' award

  18-03-2018 18:55
  A teacher at a Brent secondary school has won the prestigious Global Teacher Prize.Andria Zafirakou, who works at Alperton Community College, picked up the award worth $1m (£717,000) at a ceremony in Dubai on Sunday.It is the first time a UK teacher has claimed the award from education charity the Varkey Foundation.
  
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• Corbyn writes to May about man's £54,000 NHS cancer bill

  18-03-2018 18:52
  Jeremy Corbyn has written to Theresa May about Londoner Albert Thompson’s £54,000 bill for cancer treatment, saying the government risks allowing a patient to die because of difficulties proving immigration status.Thompson, 63, who has lived continuously in the UK for 44 years since arriving from Jamaica as a teenager in 1973, is not receiving the radiotherapy he needs for prostate cancer because the London hospital where he was due to start treatment last November told him he needed
  
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• Soldier injured in Afghanistan 'to sue MOD over breach of care'

  18-03-2018 17:38
  A former paratrooper who was seriously injured in Afghanistan is going to sue the MOD for breach of statutory care, it has been reported.Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson is claiming his pay has been cut, vital medical treatment put in jeopardy, and that the Whitehall department has failed to provide him with wheelchairs, the Mail on Sunday said."Mr Parkinson's position is that the MoD breached its statutory responsibility to provide him with the care he requires," said Yogi Amin, from lawyers Irwi
  
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• Seafront homes evacuated after storm

  18-03-2018 17:30
  Homes in Norfolk have been evacuated over fears they could be washed into the sea, repeating devastating scenes of 2013.
  
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• Andria Zafirakou from north London wins $1m 'world's best teacher' prize

  18-03-2018 17:30
  Andria Zafirakou reacts after winning the Global Teacher prize in Dubai.A woman from north London has been announced as the first British winner of a prize worth $1m (£720,000) for the world’s best teacher.Andria Zafirakou, an arts and textiles teacher from Alperton community school in Brent, north-west London, was presented with the fourth annual Varkey Foundation Global Teacher prize in Dubai on Sunday.
  
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• $1m prize for London educator named 'world's best teacher'

  18-03-2018 17:30
  Andria Zafirakou reacts after winning the Global Teacher prize in Dubai.A woman from north London has been announced as the first British winner of a prize worth $1m (£720,000) for the world’s best teacher.Andria Zafirakou, an arts and textiles teacher from Alperton community school in Brent, north-west London, was presented with the fourth annual Varkey Foundation Global Teacher prize in Dubai on Sunday.
  
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• Letter: Ednyfed Hudson Davies obituary

  18-03-2018 16:50
  Ednyfed Hudson Davies in 1970. Photograph: ANL/Rex/Shutterstock
  
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• MP Tobias Ellwood Still 'Haunted' By Westminster Attack Death of PC Keith Palmer

  18-03-2018 16:37
  The minister who tended to a mortally wounded police officer at the climax of
  
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• Wigan Athletic v Southampton: FA Cup quarter-final – live!

  18-03-2018 16:26 via theguardian.com
  Live updates from the FA Cup tie at the DW StadiumLive scores: keep up with all today’s games as the goals go inDrop Daniel an email | Tweet @DanielHarris3.26pm GMT That, then, is us - thanks for your company, and bye!3.25pm GMT So there we are. Wigan can return to a promotion battle - they’re three points off an automatic place, but have two games in hand - while Southampton have work to do in securing their status as a Premier League side. They’ll take confidence from how the
  
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• Sunday's best photos: Russian elections and a rhino census

  18-03-2018 16:26 via theguardian.com
  The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Yes review – prog-rock giants take virtuosic tour through golden oldies

  18-03-2018 16:05 via theguardian.com
  Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
  The rock warriors celebrate their 50th anniversary with a show of 70s hits and Spinal Tap-style howlers‘And on drums … Jay Leno!” yells Yes guitarist Steve Howe, wrongly introducing his band’s drummer (former Asia stickman Jay Schellen) by the name of a very famous TV host. The Spinal Tap-type howler is understandable given that the 1970s and 80s prog-rock giants have been through 19 members and have ended up as two touring incarnations. Ther
  
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• Salford in talks about playing Super League match in New Jersey

  18-03-2018 16:04 via theguardian.com
  • Club hopeful of overcoming opposition from RFL and other teams
  • Catalan Dragons have said they are willing to take part in projectSalford are in discussions with the consortium behind the bid to introduce a New Jersey-based side into the Rugby Football League about playing a home game in the US this year.The Red Devils had initially hoped to move their Good Friday fixture against Catalans Dragons to New Jersey’s Red Bull Arena, with a deal agreed in principle between all parti
  
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• The golden couple behind Frozen: 'Letting it go is drinking a bottle of chardonnay'

  18-03-2018 16:00 via theguardian.com
  It’s the grand slam – an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony – and Robert Lopez has done it twice. The EGOT champ and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, his wife and co-composer, talk about penning songs during fights and picnics – and taking Elsa to BroadwayA little while before married composers Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez collected their second shared Oscar, they went skiing. You might think the man who co-wrote Let It Go for the animated smash hit Frozen would know his
  
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• Russia 'stockpiling' deadly nerve agent used in Salisbury

  18-03-2018 15:48
  Boris Johnson has accused Russia of "stockpiling" the deadly nerve agent believed to have poisoned former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.The Foreign Secretary said Moscow had been creating the deadly novichok over the last decade - and investigating how to use chemicals like it in an assassination.
  
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• 'He kept yelling my wife's name': Rory McIlroy suggests limiting alcohol on course

  18-03-2018 15:37 via theguardian.com
  World No13 subjected to heckles at Arnold Palmer InvitationalOther players have complained about spectators on PGA TourUS golf fans, a group known for expressing their feelings, are beginning to grate on Rory McIlroy. The world No13 was subjected to heckles during Saturday’s third round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and wondered whether limiting alcohol sales could remedy the matter.“There was one guy out there who kept yelling my wife’s name,” said McIlroy, who was t
  
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• 'I worry for my family': Russian exile's safety fears after Glushkov death

  18-03-2018 15:35 via theguardian.com
  Anti-Putin campaigner in London considers hiring private security guards after murder of fellow exileYevgeny Chichvarkin, a former mobile phone tycoon, has lived in the UK for almost a decade, after fleeing Russia in 2009, and has become an active anti-Putin campaigner. He had never considered hiring private security guards, but the opening of a murder investigation into the death of fellow exiled Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov has prompted him to reassess how much danger he might be facin
  
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• Trump's firings signal hawkish turn on North Korea and Iran

  18-03-2018 15:34 via theguardian.com
  Recent dismissals shows the president is gaining confidence in his foreign policy instincts, and surrounding himself with allies The end, when it comes to a job in the Trump administration, can be messy and brutal. The secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, was fired while returning from a gruelling Africa tour not long after the death of his father.
  When he complained through an aide about the summary manner of his dismissal, the White House stuck the boot in, telling journalists the 66 year-old fo
  
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• Winter Paralympics closing ceremony: South Korea bids farewell to the Games

  18-03-2018 15:31 via theguardian.com
  Folk music, K-pop and tributes to Stephen Hawking - the 12th Winter Paralympics have come to a spectacular end in PyeongchangThe traditional closing ceremony has brought the curtain down on the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang. If you didn’t get to watch it, here are some of the highlights of a lavish and firework-laden show. Continue reading...
  
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• Russian voices in western media leave regulators with new type of headache

  18-03-2018 15:30 via theguardian.com
  The political debate over Kremlin-backed RT raises questions about limits of free expressionWhen is a state-run propaganda machine a minor cable TV channel? This is a question which last week reached the House of Commons, as members of parliament debated the issue of Russian involvement in the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. One of the many questions raised by parliamentarians was whether the Kremlin-funded RT (formerly Russia Today) should be part of
  
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• Male pill could be on horizon as trials yield positive results

  18-03-2018 15:20
  Like most female contraceptive pills, the male version in development contains a combination of hormones.A male pill could be on the horizon after early trials showed a once-daily tablet was safe and appeared to work, according to researchers.The quest to develop a male contraceptive pill has been long and fraught.
  
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• Senator Jeff Flake calls for Republican to challenge Trump in 2020

  18-03-2018 15:05 via theguardian.com
  ‘There is a crying need out there for some Republicans to stand up’Republican senator says Trump may be vulnerable after midtermsA leading Republican critic of Donald Trump said there on Sunday was a “crying need” for someone in the party to challenge the president in 2020. Related: Trump accuses Andrew McCabe of producing 'fake memos' of meetingsContinue reading...
  
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• Balearic island of s’Espalmador sold to private bidder for £16m

  18-03-2018 15:03 via theguardian.com
  Tiny island close to Formentera has been bought by a family from LuxembourgA tiny Balearic island that lies between Ibiza and Formentera and boasts two houses, a chapel and a watchtower has been sold to a private bidder for €18m (£16m).
  S’Espalmador, which occupies 137 hectares and can be reached on foot from Formentera at low tide, has been snapped up by a family from Luxembourg despite efforts to sell it to the Formentera government. Continue reading...
  
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• Homelessness minister: I don’t know why rough sleeper numbers are up

  18-03-2018 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Heather Wheeler says she does not believe welfare reform and council cuts are factorsThe UK’s new homelessness minister has told the Guardian she does not know why the number of rough sleepers has increased so significantly in recent years. Heather Wheeler said she did not accept the suggestion that welfare reforms and council cuts had contributed to the rise.On a visit to a housing project in Glasgow, Wheeler said she remained “totally confident” she would not have to act on h
  
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• Democrats call on Cambridge Analytica head to testify again before Congress

  18-03-2018 14:58 via theguardian.com
  Adam Schiff says Trump campaign may have used ‘illegitimately acquired data’ to help sway electionCambridge Analytica: links to Moscow oil firm and St Petersburg universityUS congressional investigators want the head of data firm Cambridge Analytica to testify again before their committee, under subpoena if necessary, after a whistleblower claimed the company exploited Facebook and received millions of people’s profiles that were taken without authorisation. Continue reading...
  
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• Snow returns to the UK in time for spring – in pictures

  18-03-2018 14:36 via theguardian.com
  With the first day of (astronomical) spring just days away, the cold snap that’s being called the ‘mini-beast from the east’ brought plummeting temperatures, with fresh snow still to come• More snow and ice forecast as travel disrupted across UK Continue reading...
  
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• Trump accuses Andrew McCabe of producing 'fake memos' of meetings

  18-03-2018 14:26 via theguardian.com
  Tweet claims FBI deputy never took notes when meeting presidentPresident also accuses James Comey of lying under oathDonald Trump went on the offensive against fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Sunday, responding to reports McCabe kept memos of his conversations with Trump – and has turned them over to special counsel Robert Mueller – by claiming McCabe never took notes in meetings with the president.Related: Trump lawyer calls for end to Russia investigation after McCabe fi
  
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• UK Weather Sees Ireland Cancel Grand Slam Homecoming Celebrations

  18-03-2018 14:23
  Rugby grand slam heroes Ireland have been forced to cancel their homecoming
  
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• 'Homer Simpson' pulled over by police in Milton Keynes

  18-03-2018 14:16 via theguardian.com
  Fake driving licence presented to officer has picture of character saying ‘D’oh!’ catchphraseChoosing one of the world’s most famous cartoon characters for a fake driving licence might seem like something only Homer Simpson himself would do, but this week police pulled over a driver who had done just that.A unidentified male driver was stopped by police in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, this week and presented the officer with the licence, featuring the character from Th
  
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• Lady Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde obituary

  18-03-2018 14:02
  Brenda Dean was the first woman elected to head a major industrial trade union.Brenda Dean, Lady Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, who has died aged 74, became one of the best-known trade union leaders in Britain as a result of her leadership of Sogat during the Wapping dispute in 1986-87, a brutal confrontation with Rupert Murdoch’s News International that would prove a watershed for the future of the print industry.
  
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• Mark Zuckerberg asked to give evidence by Commons committee over data sharing

  18-03-2018 13:59
  Mark Zuckerberg will be asked to give evidence at a Commons committee examining allegations of unauthorised sharing of Facebook user data, an MP has said.Damian Collins, chair of the digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) committee, said the Facebook chief executive must provide answers after an investigation alleged Cambridge Analytica, a British political campaigns firm, acquired and kept information about users."Data has been taken from Facebook users without their consent, and was then pro
  
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• Texas newspaper edits son's same-sex marriage out of mother's obituary

  18-03-2018 13:55 via theguardian.com
  ‘It wiped John completely off the picture like he didn’t exist’Editor, a Baptist pastor, calls decision to delete ‘ethical and lawful’When Brenda Light died last month, her obituary in a small-town Texas newspaper included a wealth of biographical details. But one important family connection was missing – the fact that her son is married to another man.
  The obituary submitted to the Olton Enterprise included the line “Those left to cherish her memory inc
  
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• How did José Mourinho turn £89m Pogba into the anti-Scott McTominay?

  18-03-2018 13:38 via theguardian.com
  The inexperienced McTominay is seen as being a more reliable choice than Pogba for MourinhoIn theory, it ought to have been a fine day for the brand. “Glory, glory Man United” echoed around Old Trafford as Manchester United closed in on a record-equalling 13th FA Cup. The marketing department could savour the sight of two of José Mourinho’s bigger buys on the scoresheets.Yet two more languished unused on the bench even before the sense “United” appeared an in
  
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• Mark Zuckerberg asked to give evidence by Commons committee over data

  18-03-2018 13:32
  Mark Zuckerberg will be asked to give evidence at a Commons committee examining allegations of unauthorised sharing of Facebook user data, an MP has said.Damian Collins, chair of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, said the Facebook Chief Executive must give answers after an investigation alleged Cambridge Analytica, a British political campaigns firm, acquired and kept information about users."Data has been taken from Facebook users without their consent, and was then processed by
  
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• Ban new petrol and diesel cars in 2030, not 2040, says thinktank

  18-03-2018 13:20 via theguardian.com
  Green Alliance says ending UK sales earlier would close climate target gap and halve oil importsMinisters have been urged to bring forward their 2040 ban on new diesel and petrol car sales by a decade, a move which an environmental thinktank said would almost halve oil imports and largely close the gap in the UK’s climate targets.The Green Alliance said a more ambitious deadline of 2030 is also needed to avoid the UK squandering its leadership on electric cars. Continue reading...
  
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• Florida bridge collapse: all bodies recovered from crushed vehicles

  18-03-2018 13:19 via theguardian.com
  Five bodies pulled from vehicles; a sixth died in hospitalVictim’s uncle rages at ‘complete incompetence of installationPolice in Miami believe they have recovered all the bodies of those who died in a catastrophic bridge collapse on a busy highway on Thursday. The Miami-Dade police chief, Juan Perez, told news media late on Saturday searchers had recovered all five bodies of people in vehicles that were crushed under the pedestrian bridge at Florida International University, when th
  
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• Risotto, frittata, vignole: Russell Norman’s classic recipes from Venice

  18-03-2018 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The Polpo restaurateur spent 14 months discovering the culinary secrets of his favourite Italian city. Here’s our pick of what he foundWhen Russell Norman put together a proposal to write a cookbook about Venice – his favourite city, one he’s visited more than 100 times, and the inspiration for his popular Polpo restaurants – his first thought was: no one’s going to fall for this.Why? “Because it sounded like I wanted to go on a jolly for 14 months,” he
  
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• James Rhodes: ‘I'd give £50,000 to anyone who could guarantee me a good eight hours' sleep’

  18-03-2018 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The pianist and author of a raw memoir of child abuse talks about salvation through musicI’m booked to meet James Rhodes at Kateh, a neighbourhood Persian restaurant near his west London flat. He’s a devotee of the meat they serve, which, he suggests with some excitement, is sourced from the best butcher in the world – in particular, he raves about the charred lamb, and a saffron-marinated chicken.When we turn up, however, the restaurant is resolutely shut; the dining room has
  
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• Britain accuses Russia of secretly stockpiling deadly nerve agent used in attack

  18-03-2018 13:00
  British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Sunday that Russia has been stockpiling the deadly nerve agent used to poison a Russian former double agent in England and has been investigating how such weapons can be used in assassinations.Britain has said Russia used the Soviet-era nerve agent called Novichok to attack Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the first known offensive use of such a weapon on European soil since World War Two.Russia has denied any involvement.
  
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• Investors in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies face hefty tax bills

  18-03-2018 12:59 via theguardian.com
  According to the Internal Revenue Service, anything purchased using a digital currency is liable to be taxed as a capital gain The rollercoaster ride for some cryptocurrency investors could be about to take another tax-time lurch, according to experts, as the taxman looks for his share of transactions made using bitcoin and its like. Wild fluctuations in the value of digital currencies – bitcoin surged from less than one dollar in 2010 to $997 at the start of the 2017 to nearly $20,000 bef
  
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• China urges US to 'correct mistake' on Taiwan

  18-03-2018 12:57 via theguardian.com
  Beijing says bill violates ‘one China’ policy and asks US to stop pursuing official ties with TaipeiChina has called on the US to “correct its mistake” after Donald Trump approved rules allowing top-level US officials to travel to Taiwan to meet their Taipei counterparts.US representatives can already travel to democratic Taiwan and Taiwanese officials occasionally visit the White House, but meetings are usually low profile to avoid offending China. Continue reading...
  
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• Trump is on path to full-scale trade war: first China, then Europe

  18-03-2018 12:54 via theguardian.com
  US protectionism is in accord with the spirit of the times – but it won’t have a happy endingMuch to the delight of Hollywood, Donald Trump wants to open a new front in his trade offensive by punishing China for theft of America’s intellectual property rights.The US entertainment industry is not awfully keen on Trump, having strongly backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, but is even less keen on its movies and TV shows being ripped off by the world’s most populous
  
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• Gugu Mbatha-Raw: on Oprah, race and Hollywood

  18-03-2018 12:48 via theguardian.com
  Already one of Britain’s most promising actors, Gugu Mbatha-Raw is now joining the A-list and working with the likes of Oprah, Mindy Kaling and Reese WitherspoonLate last year, Gugu Mbatha-Raw received a phone call from her mother. A letter had arrived at the family home in Witney, Oxfordshire. It wasn’t in just any old envelope; this bore a seal, and the words “Her Majesty’s Service”. Mbatha-Raw giggled down the line from Los Angeles. “Mother!’ she said
  
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• Man arrested after car drives into nightclub, injuring 13 people

  18-03-2018 12:43
  A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car was driven into a nightclub in Kent.Officers were called to Queen Street in Gravesend at 11.47pm on Saturday following the incident."(It was) just a normal night out at Blake's Nightclub in Gravesend in Kent," he said.
  
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• The great British chef shortage: why eating out is under threat

  18-03-2018 12:30 via theguardian.com
  We are in a golden age for dining out – but now there aren’t enough trained chefs and waiters to go round – and Brexit is not going to helpIt was, says chef patron Alexis Gauthier, “not the last resort”, but almost. Last September, he needed to fill three positions at his central London restaurant, Gauthier Soho: a pastry chef; a chef de partie, to head up one of the stations in the kitchen; and a sommelier. Gauthier has held a Michelin star since 2011, but that is
  
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