General news

• British firm De La Rue to challenge government on passport contract - FT

  02-04-2018 23:29
  De La Rue, the FT said, is initiating a judicial review of the provisional decision by the High Court to award the contract to the part-state owned firm Gemalto whose headquarters are in Paris.When Gemalto was awarded the passport-making contract in March, the decision was roundly criticised, especially from U.K. citizens who recognised the return of blue-coloured passports as a patriotic Brexit bonus, the FT said.De La Rue and Gemalto were not immediately available for comment on the FT report.
  
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• U.S. factory activity slows, manufacturers worry about tariffs

  02-04-2018 20:58
  The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey published on Monday also showed a surge in the cost of raw materials and worries among manufacturers about the impact of steel and aluminium import tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump last month to shield domestic industries from what he has described as unfair competition from other countries."Demand remains robust, but the nation's employment resources and supply chains are still struggling to keep up," said Timothy Fiore, chair of ISM's m
  
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• Momentum admits anti-Semitism is a bigger problem in Labour than it realised

  02-04-2018 20:58
  The left-wing group Momentum has come to Jeremy Corbyn's aid by admitting anti-Semitism is a major problem for Labour and claiming complaints about it cannot be dismissed as right-wing smears.In a move aimed at cooling a bitter row raging in the party, Momentum's National Coordinating Group (NCG) said Jewish people are right to be angry and Labour has failed to deal with anti-Semitism adequately.The statement by Momentum, led by the veteran left-wing activist Jon Lansman, who is Jewish, will be
  
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• SoftBank, Alibaba to invest $445 million in India's Paytm E-Commerce

  02-04-2018 20:21
  SoftBank Groupis investing $400 million in India's Paytm E-Commerce Pvt.Ltd. in a funding round that will value the online retailer at roughly $1.9 billion (1.35 billion pounds), a regulatory filing showed on Monday.Alibaba , an existing investor in Paytm E-Commerce, is also putting in $45 million in the round, the filing showed.
  
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• Teachers vow to oppose introduction of baseline assessments

  02-04-2018 19:59
  Baseline assessments, to be taken at the start of a child’s reception year in primary schools in England, were proposed last year.Teachers have vowed to oppose the government’s plans to assess children in the first weeks of school, as the country’s largest teaching union called for a boycott of pilot schemes planned for next year.The baseline assessments, to be taken at the start of a child’s reception year in primary schools in England, were proposed by the government la
  
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• Oil falls 2 percent on Russia output rise, potential Saudi price cut

  02-04-2018 19:54
  Oil fell by more than 2 percent on Monday, pressured by a rise in Russian production, expectations that Saudi Arabia will cut prices of the crude it sends to Asia and a deepening trade spat between China and the United States.Brent crudewas down $1.44, or 2.1 percent, at $67.90 a barrel by 1:32 p.m. EDT (1832 GMT).Trade sources told Reuters on Monday that Saudi Arabia is expected to cut prices for all crude grades it sells to Asia in May to reflect weaker prices for its Middle East benchmark Dub
  
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• Steam Machines quietly disappear from Valve’s home page

  02-04-2018 19:51
  In a move that likely signals the end for the Steam Machine experiment, Valve removed the third-party boxes from its hardware dropdown menu. Launched in 2015, Steam Machines never really found an audience.
  
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• ArcelorMittal, Vedanta, VTB-JSW partnership among India Essar Steel suitors

  02-04-2018 19:28
  ArcelorMittal SA , Vedanta Resourcesand a group comprising Russia's VTBand top Indian steelmaker JSW Steelhave bid for bankrupt steelmaker Essar Steel India, the companies said, after a deadline for bids on Monday.Essar Steel is among a dozen of India's biggest debt defaulters that were pushed into the bankruptcy court last year after a central bank order aimed at clearing record bad loans at the country's banks.A previous round of bids for Essar Steel, which faces nearly $8 billion (5.70 billio
  
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• Police attacked during dissident republican parade in Derry

  02-04-2018 18:54
  People attack a police vehicle in Derry.Police in Northern Ireland have been attacked with petrol bombs and other missiles after they tried to stop an illegal dissident Irish republican parade.Gangs of youths threw Molotov cocktails, stones, bricks and bottles at police vehicles as the march by the Derry 1916 Committee got under way.
  
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• Scottish gamekeeper banned over alleged goshawk persecution

  02-04-2018 18:00
  The RSPB had been investigating goshawk persecution in the area.A head keeper employed on one of Scotland’s most illustrious grouse moors, Tillypronie in Royal Deeside, has been banned from controlling birds for three years over an alleged wildlife crime incident.The Guardian has established that the conservation agency Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) imposed the ban on the head gamekeeper on 15 September last year, after an incident in March 2014 involving a baited trap near a goshawk nes
  
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• Melania Trump is beautiful in baby blue outfit at White House Easter Egg Roll

  02-04-2018 17:42
  Melania Trump was feelin' blue for the 140th annual White House Easter Egg
  
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• Salisbury attack sites face months of decontamination

  02-04-2018 17:14
  Police wearing protective suits work at the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where the Skripals were found unconscious on a bench.The jarring sight of experts in hazmat suits will once again return to the streets of the cathedral city of Salisbury this week as the process of decontaminating areas cordoned off following last month’s nerve agent attack begins.Meanwhile, Russia has ratcheted up its criticism of the UK government, suggesting British spies could have poisoned Sergei and Y
  
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• Six men appear in court over Irish dissident republican parade

  02-04-2018 16:39
  Members of the Republican Sinn Féin group mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising.Six members of a masked colour party at an Irish dissident republican parade have appeared in court in Northern Ireland in connection with the illegal demonstration.The men were arrested on Saturday at a Republican Sinn Féin rally to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising.
  
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• British soldier dies during last week of Army diving course

  02-04-2018 16:28
  A British soldier has died in an accident during the final week of his Army Diver Course, his unit has announced.Lance Corporal George Partridge, who was part of 26 Engineer Regiment, died on 26 March, his unit announced in a post on Facebook.An Army spokesman said: "It is with great sadness that we must confirm that Lance Corporal George Partridge died in a tragic diving incident on March 26 at the National Dive Activity Centre, Chepstow.
  
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• Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, South African Anti-Apartheid Campaigner, Has Died Aged 81

  02-04-2018 16:14
  Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, an anti-apartheid stalwart and wife to Nelson
  
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• Labour antisemitism more widespread than thought, Momentum says

  02-04-2018 15:56
  Momentum has warned its supporters that accusations of antisemitism in Labour are not rightwing smears or conspiracy, saying unconscious anti-Jewish bias is “more widespread in the Labour party than many of us had understood even a few months ago”.The group accused the party of failing to deal satisfactorily with the problem and said it had begun a process with external groups of developing antisemitism awareness training for Labour members.The highest governing body of the grassroot
  
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• Labour antisemitism 'more widespread than thought', Momentum says

  02-04-2018 15:56
  Momentum has warned its supporters that accusations of antisemitism in Labour are not rightwing smears or conspiracy, saying unconscious anti-Jewish bias is “more widespread in the Labour party than many of us had understood even a few months ago”.The group accused the party of failing to deal satisfactorily with the problem and said it had begun a process with external groups of developing antisemitism awareness training for Labour members.The highest governing body of the grassroot
  
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• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's Husband Calls On Theresa May To Intervene In Wife's Case

  02-04-2018 15:42
  The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British mother imprisoned in
  
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• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's Husband 'Disappointed' By Boris Johnson’s Efforts To Free Her

  02-04-2018 15:42
  The husband of jailed British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said he is
  
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• Heavy rain and up to 10cm of snow hits UK on Easter Monday

  02-04-2018 15:23
  Snow and torrential rain are set to blight this bank holiday Monday, with cold and wet weather expected to cause travel misery for many.Easter holidaymakers have been warned of treacherous driving conditions, with five weather warnings in place across the UK.Yellow "be aware" warnings for rain are in place across the southwest of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with up to 70mm (2.8ins) expected to fall in some areas.
  
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• Tottington Primary School teacher learns 'The Floss' dance craze

  02-04-2018 15:07 via bbc.co.uk
  Simon Hunt spotted his students practising the popular dance move and decided to get involved.
  
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• Alison Saunders’ departure sparks search for new DPP

  02-04-2018 14:37
  Conservative sources suggested a ‘clean break was needed’.The search for a prestigious lawyer to become the next director of public prosecutions has begun after Alison Saunders signalled she would not be extending her five-year term.The recruitment process for a new head of the Crown Prosecution Service may be portrayed as a quest to revitalise a dispirited organisation or as a battle between competing legal personalities, but its problems run far deeper.
  
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• Alison Saunders’ departure prompts search for new DPP

  02-04-2018 14:37
  Conservative sources suggested a ‘clean break was needed’.The search for a prestigious lawyer to become the next director of public prosecutions has begun after Alison Saunders signalled she would not be extending her five-year term.The recruitment process for a new head of the Crown Prosecution Service may be portrayed as a quest to revitalise a dispirited organisation or as a battle between competing legal personalities, but its problems run far deeper.
  
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• Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: Briton reaches second year in Iranian prison

  02-04-2018 14:28
  The husband of a jailed British mother has criticised the Foreign Secretary's unsuccessful bids to have her released as he marks the second anniversary of her arrest.Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is serving a five-year jail term in Iran after she was convicted of spying, which she has always denied.Nazanin was told that if she wasn't home by Christmas, at least it should be done by Nowruz, and we should worry if we go past March 2018, with the storms that might lie ahead.
  
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• Top prosecutor to stand down after five years

  02-04-2018 14:16
  Britain's director of public prosecutions, who has faced criticism for the collapse of several rape cases, will stand down in October at the end of her five-year contract, the government said.Alison Saunders, who heads the independent Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales, was criticised from within the legal profession after police and prosecutors failed to disclose evidence in the cases, causing them to collapse.The CPS has endured a number of controversies under Saunders' tenur
  
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• UK Easter Weather Forces Road Closures As Yellow Warnings Issued

  02-04-2018 13:29
  Snow has forced road closures in England as yellow weather warnings were
  
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• Two men killed in M62 crash after car "driven wrong way"

  02-04-2018 12:54
  In a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: "Officers have responded and located the two vehicles."A male, believed to be the driver of the second vehicle involved which is a black Vauxhall Insignia, was arrested for causing death by dangerous driving.
  
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• E-fit released in hunt for Croydon sex attack suspect

  02-04-2018 12:50
  The teenage victim of a sex attack has given a detailed description of her attacker, allowing police to release an e-fit of the potential suspect.The 17-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in Croydon this summer while visiting the ponds in Brickfields Meadow in south London.The attack only came to an end after the suspect grew concerned that an unmarked police car had driven by.
  
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• Russia Foreign Minister Lavrov says Britain could have poisoned spy

  02-04-2018 12:48
  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the poisoning of Sergei Skripal could have been in Britain's interests.The Kremlin has denied responsibility over the escalation of a diplomatic row between Russia and the West over the poisoning of a former Moscow spy in Salisbury.In a news conference on Monday, Mr Lavrov accused western countries of "playing children's games" and hinted on the possibility of Britain being behind Mr Skripal's poisoning.
  
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• The Generation Game: What the critics said

  02-04-2018 12:37 via bbc.co.uk
  "The problem here was that you could almost smell the desperation to make it work."
  
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• Donald Trump Says DACA Deal Is Off As He Signals Need For 'Tough Laws Now'

  02-04-2018 12:30
  Donald Trump has said that there will be no deal to legalise the status of
  
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• Heavy rain and up to 10cm of snow to hit UK on Easter Monday

  02-04-2018 11:51
  Snow and torrential rain are set to blight this bank holiday Monday, with cold and wet weather expected to cause travel misery for many.Easter holidaymakers have been warned of treacherous driving conditions, with five weather warnings in place across the UK.Yellow "be aware" warnings for rain are in place across the southwest of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with up to 70mm (2.8ins) expected to fall in some areas.
  
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• National Education Conference Told Of 'Malnourished, Grey-Looking Children' Turning Up To School

  02-04-2018 11:41
  Malnourished, grey-looking, children are turning up to school in dirty
  
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• Snow and heavy rain to cause travel misery on Easter Monday

  02-04-2018 11:14
  Snow and torrential rain are set to blight this bank holiday Monday, with cold and wet weather expected to cause travel misery for many.Easter holidaymakers have been warned of treacherous driving conditions, with five weather warnings in place across the UK.Yellow "be aware" warnings for rain are in place across the southwest of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with up to 70mm (2.8ins) expected to fall in some areas.
  
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• Jewish Corbyn ally 'frustrated' with pace of antisemitism response

  02-04-2018 10:51
  A Jewish member of Labour’s governing body and prominent backer of Jeremy Corbyn has said she is frustrated with how slowly allegations of antisemitism are being dealt with in the party.Wolfson, who has been an organiser of the leftwing grassroots group Momentum and was selected by Scottish Labour to be its parliamentary candidate for the Livingston seat, said that she expected the process to enter a “new stage” as Formby takes the reins of the NEC on Tuesday.
  
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• Two men die after car drives wrong way down M62 near Bradford

  02-04-2018 10:44
  Police were called in the early hours of Monday morning to reports of a serious road traffic collision on the M62.At 2.34am, officers received a report of a vehicle driving the wrong way down the M62, travelling eastbound on the westbound carriageway at junction 26.Two men, aged 34 and 37, were found dead in the white vehicle, West Yorkshire police said.
  
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• Malnourished pupils 'taking school food home'

  02-04-2018 10:10
  Teachers are warning of a child poverty crisis, with an increasing number of pupils coming to school without clean clothes and showing signs of malnourishment.Presenting the results of a survey of National Education Union (NEU) members, one primary school head from Cumbria described how some of her pupils had grey skin and poor hair and nails, and would even fill their pockets with food from school meals.Of the 900 teachers and education professionals who responded to the survey, carried out in
  
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• Lord Janner's Son Hits Out At Chief Prosecutor Alison Saunders As She Prepares To Stand Down

  02-04-2018 09:27
  Lord Janner's son has accused the Director of Public Prosecutions of doing an
  
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• Chief Prosecutor Alison Saunders To Stand Down After Five Years In Post

  02-04-2018 09:27
  The Director of Public Prosecutions (DDP) Alison Saunders is to stand down in
  
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• Millions of UK workers at risk of being cheated out of pay, TUC warns

  02-04-2018 09:15
  Five million workers across Britain’s supply chains risk being cheated out of their entitlement to holiday pay and the minimum wage, unions have warned.The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said on Monday that workers at outsourcing companies, franchises and recruitment agencies are vulnerable because they cannot challenge their parent employer if they do not receive their legal entitlements.It has called on the UK government to emulate Australia’s Fair Work Act, under which franchisors an
  
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• Social media ad spend to overtake TV's in spite of Facebook woes

  02-04-2018 09:00
  Social media advertising, dominated by Facebook, will overtake traditional TV advertising by 2020, according to an eMarketer report.More money will be spent advertising on social media networks than on the entire TV ad market within two years, according to a new report.The report predicts that Mark Zuckerberg will shake off any potential commercial impact from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, hoovering up more than four-fifths (84%, £2.76bn) of the predicted £3.3bn that will be spent
  
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• Home Office letter nudges asylum seekers to return home

  02-04-2018 09:00
  The Home Office has begun providing asylum seekers with contact numbers and information about how they can return home voluntarily.The Home Office has begun encouraging asylum seekers to return home before officials have considered their cases, the Guardian has learned.The department’s move is part of the drive to create a “hostile” environment for illegal immigrants in Britain, and comes despite a 14% decline in the number of asylum claims made last year, to 26,350.
  
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• Chief prosecutor Alison Saunders to stand down

  02-04-2018 08:49
  Alison Saunders - the head of the Crown Prosecution Service - is to stand down after five years in the role.The Government has sought to play down reports that it refused to renew Ms Saunders' contract.A qualified barrister, Ms Saunders was previously the chief crown prosecutor for CPS London.
  
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• Civil liberties groups pressure tech companies to take ‘security pledge’

  02-04-2018 08:00
  The security pledge lists commitments tech companies must make to ‘ensure the internet is used to expand democracy, not undermine it’.Leading US privacy, civil liberties and human rights organizations launched a campaign on Monday calling on tech companies to take concrete steps to protect their users in the wake of revelations about the harvesting and manipulation of Facebook data conducted by Cambridge Analytica.In an open letter to the tech companies, the group, which includes the
  
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• Islamic State has 'raised the bar' in its threat to the UK - GCHQ

  02-04-2018 07:07
  GCHQ intelligence officers Ben and Sunny spoke exclusively to Sky News Defence Correspondent Alistair Bunkall about the threats facing the UK and their efforts to stop them.
  
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• China March factory growth cools to four-month low - Caixin PMI

  02-04-2018 06:55
  China's manufacturing activity expanded at its weakest pace in four months in March as export demand faltered, prompting companies to shed staff more quickly as they looked to cut costs, a private survey showed on Monday.While the index remained above the 50-point mark that divides growth from contraction on a monthly basis, it was the weakest reading since November and signalled only a marginal improvement in operating conditions at the end of the first quarter.The findings contrasted with offi
  
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• Inside GCHQ: Sky News gains exclusive access to the UK's cyber intelligence agency

  02-04-2018 06:33
  A file of maps and intelligence is on a table in the middle.The amount of data is overwhelming - phone logs, text messages, emails, internet history.Phone records would typically cover a two week period so intelligence officers are not being too intrusive and looking at more data than they need to.
  
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• Schoolchildren are being sexually harassed by other pupils, teachers warn

  02-04-2018 03:02
  More than a third of teachers know schoolchildren who have been sexually harassed by other pupils, a survey has revealed.The poll of more than 1,300 teachers found 39% were aware of children who had been victims, while 86% said they had dealt with pupils sharing sexual messages or images with each other.Cases included boys forcing girls to share inappropriate photographs of themselves and students having their faces photo-shopped on to pornographic images, the NASUWT teachers' union warned.
  
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• 'Nothing but a holiday resort?' Revisiting 1939 Cornwall

  02-04-2018 01:59 via bbc.co.uk
  Eighty years ago Cornwall was already a tourist destination. Visiting the country with a 1939 guidebook reveals what has changed, and what has stayed the same.
  
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• Alison Saunders to quit as director of public prosecutions

  02-04-2018 01:22
  The attorney general’s office has confirmed Alison Saunders will leave the Crown Prosecution Service.The director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, is quitting when her five-year contract finishes at the end of this year, it was confirmed on Sunday.Saunders, who has faced repeated criticism during her time as head of the Crown Prosecution Service, did not seek an extension of her contract and will leave to take up a post with a private law firm.
  
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