General news

• Interview: Litvinenko's wife on Salisbury poisoning

  19-03-2018 23:40
  Marina Litvinenko, widow of murdered former KGB officer Alexander,shares her thoughts on Putin's response to the Salisbury poisoning.
  
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• Chemical weapons watchdog inspectors examine Salisbury poison

  19-03-2018 23:31
  Inspectors from the world's chemical weapons watchdog have begun examining the nerve agent used to poison ex Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.Experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are carrying out tests on samples taken from Salisbury at the Ministry of Defence's military research facility at Porton Down, according to sources.Mr Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter remain in a critical but stable condition in Salisbury District Hospita
  
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• Information Commissioner To Seek Warrant To Probe Cambridge Analytica

  19-03-2018 23:17
  The data watchdog is to apply for a warrant to search computers and servers
  
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• Woman Dies After Collision With Autonomous Uber Car

  19-03-2018 23:14
  A woman has died in the US after being hit by an autonomous Uber car.
  
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• Michelin To Buy Fenner In £1.2 Billion Deal

  19-03-2018 23:04
  French tyre maker Michelin has struck a deal to acquire British manufacturer
  
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• Man Remanded On Attempted Murder Charge After Car Driven Into Clubbers

  19-03-2018 22:52
  A man has appeared in court charged with attempted murder after a car was
  
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• Pair Spared Prison After Pleading Guilty To Cockfighting Charges

  19-03-2018 22:49
  Two men whose "organised and prolific" cockfighting operation was exposed
  
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• University Students Ran International Drugs Operation From Dark Web, Court Told

  19-03-2018 22:43
  Four University of Manchester students ran an international drug dealing
  
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• Drug User Convicted Of Rape And Murder Of 72-Year-Old Woman In Burglary

  19-03-2018 22:38
  A drug-user has been found guilty of raping and murdering a pensioner who was
  
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• BBC Seeks To Resolve Row With Its Own Presenters Over Tax Bills

  19-03-2018 22:38
  The BBC has launched a new independent process to try to resolve a row with
  
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• Conservatives ‘Could See Record Defeat In London At May Local Elections’

  19-03-2018 21:17
  Conservatives may be reduced to their lowest ever number of councillors in
  
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• UK authorities seek warrant to search Cambridge Analytica offices

  19-03-2018 21:10
  Britain's data protection authority plans to seek a warrant to search the offices on Tuesday of London-based political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham told Channel 4 News on Monday.Channel 4 broadcast secretly taped interviews with senior Cambridge Analytica executives in which they boasted of their ability to sway elections in countries around the world with a menu of digital manipulation and traditional political trickery."I think we should all
  
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• Channel 4 Reveals Gender Pay Gap To Be 28.6%

  19-03-2018 21:09
  Channel 4 has revealed that it has a gender pay gap among its staff of 28.6%,
  
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• FTSE 100 at lowest level since 2016 as Brexit progress boosts pound

  19-03-2018 20:39
  The FTSE 100 is trading at levels not seen since December 2016 after a rally in the pound's value - a reaction to Brexit progress - added to a tough day for shares worldwide.The London market closed 1.7% or 121 points down at 7,042 - making it the worst performer among its major European rivals as tech stocks came in to sharp focus.Many big names in the sector were dragged lower as Facebook's value came under pressure amid a fake news storm facing the company related to a data mining firm's use
  
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• Theresa May under fire over Brexit transition deal

  19-03-2018 20:28
  Theresa May faced a storm of protest over a transition deal struck with Brussels after conceding a series of her high-profile Brexit demands and agreeing to the “back stop” plan of keeping Northern Ireland under EU law to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.
  
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• Attack on Mariam Moustafa not racially motivated, say police

  19-03-2018 20:13
  Police investigating the death of teenager Mariam Moustafa believe the attack on her was not racially motivated.Police investigating the death of Mariam Moustafa, an engineering student allegedly attacked by a group of women in Nottingham, have said the assault was not racially motivated after identifying the suspects.Moustafa was reportedly punched several times during a confrontation with a group of six women while waiting for a bus in the centre of Nottingham.
  
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• Two patients regain vision damaged by AMD after stem cell treatment trial

  19-03-2018 20:10
  Two patients with the most common form of sight-loss have regained their reading vision after ground-breaking treatment.A man in his 80s and a woman in her 60s were given a special "patch" of stem cells to repair the damage to their eyes from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), as part of a small-scale clinical trial.Both went from not being able to read at all, even with glasses, to reading 60-80 words a minute with normal reading glasses.
  
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• Cambridge Analytica Boss Said He Could Use Sex Workers To Entrap Politicians, Secret Footage Reveals

  19-03-2018 20:00
  Senior executives at Cambridge Analytica have been caught on camera claiming they could bribe politicians, entrap them with sex workers, or use ex-spies to dig dirt on political opponents and then post any damaging material online.
  
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• Russia says regrets EU comments on UK spy attack

  19-03-2018 19:58
  Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday it regretted comments made at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers on Monday about the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in Britain.European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels called on Russia to answer questions on the use of a toxin against one of its former spies in Britain and offered London "unqualified solidarity"."We regret that the European Union ... once again obeyed the misconstrued considerations of 'eurosolidarity' a
  
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• Sweden's Vattenfall wins Dutch 700 MW offshore wind tender

  19-03-2018 19:26
  Swedish utility Vattenfall has won the right to build a 700 megawatt (MW) subsidy-free wind farm in the Dutch part of the North Sea, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday.The Netherlands' government is among the first to offer a so-called zero subsidy tender for wind power, in which only bids that required no government support could compete for the two 350 MW slots known as Hollandse Kust I and II.Vattenfall beat Norway's Statoil and Germany's Innogy in the tender.
  
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• Ireland says Brexit border deal 'legally firm'; DUP says not resolved

  19-03-2018 19:26
  DUBLIN/BELFAST (Reuters) - The Irish government on Monday said an agreement that would leave Northern Ireland within the European Union's customs union after Britain leaves the EU was "legally firm," but Northern Ireland's largest party said the issue remained open for debate.The future of Ireland's border with Northern Ireland - which will be the EU's only major land border with Britain after Brexit - was widely seen as the biggest obstacle to an agreement on a 21-month transition deal to avoid
  
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• Factbox - EU, British concessions in post-Brexit transition deal

  19-03-2018 19:26
  The European Union on Monday agreed to give Britain a status-quo transition after Brexit until the end of 2020, though the deal - important to Prime Minister Theresa May and the business - came at the expense of another fudge over the Irish border.The sides have only agreed that an emergency backstop mechanism to avoid a border between the Republic of Ireland and Britain's province of Northern Ireland would have to be part of London's exit deal, but failed to nail down the wording.May has said "
  
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• Homeless Eviction From Sofia Solidarity Centre Leaves Rough Sleepers With 'Nowhere To Go', Volunteers Say

  19-03-2018 19:21
  Rough sleepers who have been forced to leave a disused central London building
  
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• Skripal case police seize vehicle in Wiltshire village

  19-03-2018 19:19
  A vehicle, covered in tarpaulin, is loaded on to the back of a British army lorry at a cement plant in the village of Durrington.Detectives investigating the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal have focused attention on the vehicle that brought his daughter Yulia to Salisbury the day before the attempted murder.Officers and troops sealed off a street in the village of Durrington, 10 miles north of Salisbury and close to Stonehenge, where they are believed to have seized a pic
  
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• Barnier tickled pink as British red lines, and Davis, turn green

  19-03-2018 19:08
  While Barnier was heureux as Larry.“Je suis très heureux,” Michel Barnier began.It soon became clear why he was so heureux as the text of the draft transitional agreement appeared on a screen behind him during his Brussels press conference with David Davis.
  
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• Lord Crickhowell obituary

  19-03-2018 19:04
  Lord Crickhowell, who has died aged 84, was, as Nicholas Edwards, the Welsh secretary for eight years in Margaret Thatcher’s first two administrations.The scheme, initially opposed by conservationists and many Welsh politicians, including the city council, some prominent Labour politicians, local residents, Treasury ministers and Thatcher herself has, despite the initial cost which soared far beyond the original estimates of £50m to more than £200m, helped regenerate the southe
  
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• In dealing with Russia, May has shown herself a politician not a statesman

  19-03-2018 19:00
  Theresa May visiting Salisbury where former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent.Theresa May’s performance in recent days has been impressive (Matthew d’Ancona, 19 March) only if you consider the prime minister to be a highly talented party politician.By immediately accusing Russia, she brought her turbulent backbenchers to heel and distracted critical gaze from her difficulties over Brexit.
  
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• Of course homelessness is linked to Tory policies

  19-03-2018 18:59
  The homelessness minister, Heather Wheeler, told the Guardian she does not know why the number of rough sleepers has gone up so significantly in recent years but does not accept that the rise is related to cuts to social security or council services (Report, 18 March, theguardian.com).Last September the National Audit Office warned that homelessness is “likely to have been driven by welfare reforms” and observed that the ending of private sector tenancies is the biggest single driver
  
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• Wanted: trainee teachers to plug the schools gap

  19-03-2018 18:58
  The Department for Education is under intense scrutiny to explain how it intends to support, retain and develop teachers.With plummeting teacher training applications and difficulties in recruiting enough staff to fill vacancies, tuition fees, unacceptable workloads and budget cuts have all been blamed for the current shortage.“The number of trainees is falling and it raises serious questions for the government,” says teaching recruitment expert Prof John Howson of Oxford Brookes Uni
  
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• Memories of visits from tramps of old

  19-03-2018 18:58
  10th December 1936: A tramp pushing his belongings in a cart through Parliament Square, Westminster. Photograph: Fox Photos/Getty Images
  
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• How exercise prescriptions could change the NHS

  19-03-2018 18:58
  Now, according to analysis of national health statistics by the British Heart Foundation, 39% of adults in the UK fail to achieve recommended levels of physical activity or exercise.To spread the word about the health benefits of exercise, a new master’s course is due to start this year at Loughborough University – to complement an existing range of sports and exercise medicine master’s degrees around the country.“We’re targeting the full allied health professional
  
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• Ant McPartlin to step down from TV work following drink-drive arrest

  19-03-2018 18:50
  Ant McPartlin is stepping down from his TV work and is to seek rehab following his arrest for suspected drink-driving, his publicist has said.A statement from McPartlin's publicist said: "Ant has decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments."He has spoken with Dec and ITV today and asked for time off for the foreseeable future.
  
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• Brexit transition deal: 'Significant step' made as Tory civil war looms

  19-03-2018 18:48
  A "significant step" has been made in Brexit negotiations after a breakthrough deal was reached on the transition period.The UK secured a key concession from Brussels by winning the right to sign trade deals with non-EU countries.There is still no agreement on the EU's so-called 'punishment clause' that would restricted Britain's access to the single market during the transition.
  
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• Tories head for record low in London local elections

  19-03-2018 18:45
  Conservative party support in London looks set to slump to a record low at the local elections on 3 May as the young, ethnically diverse electorate turns to Labour in increasing numbers.Projections from the Tory peer and psephologist Robert Hayward indicate the Conservatives will lose about 100 council seats.If they lose more than 93 – less than three seats in each of London’s boroughs – the Tories would fall below their previous low of 511 councillors in the capital.
  
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• George Osborne: millions of Britons unhappy with Brexit political options

  19-03-2018 18:39
  George Osborne said his aim is for the Evening Standard to fill a ‘vacated space’ in the political landscape.Millions of British people are unhappy with the political choices being offered to them by the two main parties over Brexit, the former chancellor, George Osborne, has said.Osborne, who now edits London’s Evening Standard, said some of his former Conservative colleagues had expressed their surprise that his newspaper, which has repeatedly criticised May, took such a toug
  
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• Britain wins fresh EU, NATO support over nerve attack

  19-03-2018 18:37
  Britain's foreign minister won further support from the European Union and NATO on Monday over a nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent as he denounced Moscow's denials of involvement as "increasingly absurd".Johnson discussed the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia at a session of EU foreign ministers, which he addressed, and in a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg after statements of solidarity last week by a host of Western governments.
  
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• Sir Richard Body obituary

  19-03-2018 18:30
  Sir Richard Body, the former Conservative MP for the broad acres of south Lincolnshire, claimed descent from the 18th-century agricultural innovator Jethro Tull and stood himself in a traditional parliamentary lineage that is all but extinct: that of the independent-minded country squire.“I wasn’t ambitious,” he said.
  
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• Sweden's Vattenfall wins Dutch 700 megawatt offshore wind tender

  19-03-2018 18:26
  Swedish utility Vattenfall has won the right to build a 700 megawatt (MW) subsidy-free wind farm in the Dutch part of the North Sea, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday.The Netherlands' government is among the first to offer a so-called zero subsidy tender for wind power, in which only bids that required no government support could compete for the two 350 MW slots known as Hollandse Kust I and II.Vattenfall beat Norway's Statoiland Germany's Innogyin the tender.
  
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• Sweden to summon Russian ambassador over nerve toxin claim

  19-03-2018 18:26
  The Swedish foreign ministry said it would summon Russia's ambassador on Tuesday over Moscow's claim that Sweden could be the source of a nerve toxin used in the Skripal attack in Britain.Britain accuses Russia of being behind the attack in Salisbury on Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy for the West, and his daughter Yulia, using the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.Moscow has poured scorn on the allegations and a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Saturday the most likely source of
  
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• School bomb hoaxes revealed to be part of Minecraft gamer feud

  19-03-2018 18:22
  A feud between rival Minecraft gamers is the reason why 24,000 threatening emails were sent to schools and colleges in the UK,Sky News has learned.Sky News has learned the emails were spoofed to look like they had been sent by a gaming network known as VeltPvP.Sky News has been able to contact one of those responsible for sending the hoax emails.
  
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• Ireland says Northern Ireland border backstop 'legally firm'

  19-03-2018 18:22
  Britain's commitment on Monday to a backstop solution to avoid a hard post-Brexit border between northern Ireland and Ireland is legally firm and will apply until something better is agreed, a spokesman for Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said."The backstop is as legally firm as the government said it would be in December," the spokesman said."The backstop applies unless and until something better is agreed," he said.
  
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• Doctors hope for blindness cure after restoring patients' sight

  19-03-2018 18:22
  A treatment for the commonest cause of blindness could be available within five years, scientists believe, after revealing the first two patients given a revolutionary stem cell therapy have regained enough vision to be able to read.The two patients have advanced AMD – age-related macular degeneration – which destroys the central vision.Both were losing their sight.
  
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• UK government to study cryptocurrency risks in more detail

  19-03-2018 18:15
  Britain's government and regulators will look in detail at the potential risks from cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, British junior finance minister John Glen said on Monday.Glen said there had been an "explosion of growth" in crypto assets like bitcoin, which might pose risks even though the underlying technology has immense potential."In our upcoming fintech strategy, the government will announce further work with the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England to consider these issues i
  
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• DUP not concerned by Brexit transition deal - source

  19-03-2018 17:56
  BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party is not concerned by the British government's commitment on Monday to a "backstop" solution to avoid a hard post-Brexit border as no final agreement has been made, a party source said.
  
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• The five costs of UK's pyrrhic Brexit victory

  19-03-2018 17:34
  David Davis and Michel Barnier hold a joint press conference following Brexit talks in Brussels.UK businesses desperately need to know how long they have to prepare for departure and threatened to panic without promise of a transition phase.In this respect the Brexit secretary, David Davis, can claim a partial, if pyrrhic, victory.
  
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• British wind power output hits record

  19-03-2018 17:19
  Power generation from Britain's wind farms hit a record 14.2 gigawatts (GW) on March 17, National Grid said on Monday.Wind power represented 34.2 percent of domestic electricity generation at 1430 GMT on Saturday, Britain's power grid operator said.
  
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• 'My two beautiful sons died from ecstasy overdoses - we need to regulate drugs'

  19-03-2018 17:09
  Deaths linked to ecstasy and cocaine are at their highest level since records began, according to a new report by academics from Durham University, advice service The Loop and drugs think tank Volte Face.Ray Lakeman - whose two sons Jacques, 20, and Torin, 19, died after taking "five to six times" the lethal dose of ecstasy - tells Sky News why he is fighting for drug regulations to be rewritten.On 3 December 2014 I was due to travel to London.
  
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• Nikolai Glushkov: No sign of forced entry at Russian's home, police say

  19-03-2018 17:05
  Police investigating the murder of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov have found no evidence of forced entry into his home.Forensics officers are continuing the search the property in New Malden and revealed they have interviewed several people and are examining more than 400 items for clues.On Friday, it was announced that the 68-year-old's death was being treated as murder following a post-mortem examination which revealed the cause of his death was compression to the neck.
  
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• UK wins Brexit transition deal in return for Irish vow

  19-03-2018 16:53
  Britain and the European Union agreed on Monday to a transition period to avoid a "cliff edge" Brexit next year -- though only after London accepted a potential solution for the border with the Irish Republic that may face stiff opposition at home.The pound surged on the confirmation that Britain would remain as effectively a non-voting EU member for 21 months until the end of 2020.Some business leaders, however, echoed a warning from EU negotiator Michel Barnier that the deal will be legally bi
  
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• London couple murdered French nanny burnt body, court told

  19-03-2018 16:52
  A London couple murdered their French nanny and burnt her body in their garden after holding her captive and accusing her of crimes she had not committed, a British court heard on Monday.Prosecutor Richard Horwell told a jury at London's Old Bailey criminal court that after killing Lionnet, the pair had planned to dispose of her body by cremating it in the garden of their flat in the well-to-do Wimbledon area of south London.
  
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