General news

• This exchange between two Twitter users who share names with famous people is glorious

  10-04-2018 23:26
  Michael Cohen and Lauren Ingram are having a tough time online right now.
  
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• Man jailed over knife attack that led to police using Taser gun

  10-04-2018 22:00
  A man has been jailed for four years after attacking a police officer with two large kitchen knives, it has emerged.Tony Buttigieg, 36, of Caerleon in Newport, was Tasered by officers from Gwent Police as they struggled to subdue him in the hallway of a block of flats in the town in October 2017.Officers responding to a report of a man banging doors in the flats found Buttigieg, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, on a landing holding two large blades.
  
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• Labour says MP backs its Brexit policy despite 'bollocks' comments

  10-04-2018 21:44
  A private recording emerged of Labour’s international trade spokesman, Barry Gardiner, dismissing party policy.Labour has said that the party’s international trade secretary spokesman, Barry Gardiner, “fully supports” the party’s Brexit policy, after it emerged that he had described one of Keir Starmer’s six tests for judging the final deal as “bollocks”.Shortly after Gardiner apologised for claiming the Good Friday agreement was a “shibbolet
  
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• Fledgling centrist party claims to have links to Tony Blair and son

  10-04-2018 20:36
  Britain’s nascent centrist party has said it has links to Tony Blair and his son Euan as it seeks to win over potential recruits, the Guardian has been told.Simon Franks, who founded the LoveFilm movie-streaming business, has been working for more than a year with former Labour donors and senior members to create an organisation that could back candidates in a future general election.One person who was approached to join the fledgling organisation was told Euan Blair was on its board, and
  
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• Family of Hither Green 'burglar' Henry Vincent plead with neighbours not to tear down tributes

  10-04-2018 20:31
  The family of a suspected burglar who died after a struggle with a pensioner have pleaded with neighbours to stop tearing down tributes left outside the house where he was stabbed.A fence outside the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, in Hither Green, southeast London, has become a flash-point for tensions between locals and relatives of Henry Vincent since last week's incident, with balloons burst, cards soiled and flowers left ruined on the pavement.The 37-year-old's loved ones returned to the
  
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• Man critical after 13 injured in a two-bus crash in Luton

  10-04-2018 20:28
  A man is in a critical condition and 12 others are in hospital after two buses were involved in a head-on collision in Luton.Emergency services had to free two people who were trapped after the collision, Luton Today reported.The man in a critical condition is in his 40s but the ages of the other people injured are not clear, Bedfordshire Police have said.
  
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• Youngsters are 'not being heard' over violent crime

  10-04-2018 20:10
  The cries of youngsters affected by violent crime are still not being heard, the mother of a 20-year-old who was stabbed to death has said.Lorraine Jones was among the community leaders, politicians, police and young people taking part in a Sky News live television debate following a recent spate of stabbings in London.Speaking from the Dwaynamics boxing gym, set up in honour of her son Dwayne Simpson, who was killed in 2014 while trying to protect his friend, she said it was high time grassroot
  
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• Walmart is holding a concert starring the ‘yodelling Walmart kid’

  10-04-2018 19:55
  A meme spawns a star.
  
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• 100 life-size cutouts of Mark Zuckerberg have been placed on the Capitol lawn in Washington

  10-04-2018 19:28
  The stunt was carried out by advocacy group Avaaz.
  
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• Sadiq Khan holds City Hall summit on how to tackle violent crime

  10-04-2018 18:46
  Sadiq Khan met politicians including home secretary Amber Rudd as well as Metropolitan police commissioner Cressida Dick on Tuesday for a summit on how to tackle the surge in serious crime.The London mayor, who has denied that police have “lost control of crime” in the capital, has been under pressure to take public action in the wake of more than 50 murders in the capital this year, many of them stabbings.
  
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• New head of UK Serious Fraud Office selected

  10-04-2018 18:20
  A new director of Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been selected and is expected to take up the position later this year, the government's chief legal adviser said on Tuesday.The announcement comes 10 days before SFO head David Green ends a six-year stint at the top of the investigator and prosecutor, whose criminal cases include investigations into major companies such as Barclays, GSK, Airbus and Rolls-Royce.The ruling Conservative Party had pledged last May to scrap the agency and fol
  
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• Will the Skripals fully recover, and will they get new identities?

  10-04-2018 18:16
  Where is Yulia Skripal now after being discharged from hospital?The location is a matter for the police, who remain the lead figures in the investigation, rather than the intelligence agencies.Although she is a potential material witness in the case, Yulia is free to leave if she chooses, to travel to another part of the country or abroad, or even to return to Russia.
  
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• Trumps, Obamas not invited to wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

  10-04-2018 18:13
  U.S. President Donald Trump, his predecessor Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Theresa May have not been invited to the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, royal and British government sources said on Tuesday.Harry, grandson of Queen Elizabeth and younger brother of Prince William, will marry Markle, an American actress best known for her role in the TV series "Suits", at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle."It has been decided that an official list of political leaders &
  
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• How come Aussies escape deportation?

  10-04-2018 18:07
  Passengers arriving at the UK border, at Gatwick airport. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
  
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• Commonwealth Games swimmer Otto Putland acquitted of rape

  10-04-2018 18:03
  Commonwealth Games swimmer Otto Putland has been found not guilty of raping a woman who had just had sex with his friend.The Wales swimmer, 24, who represented his country at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, denied raping the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, following a night out in July 2015.After Lloyd left his bedroom, she said Putland entered, sat on the bed and began taking his clothes off, but she told him she did not want to have sex again.
  
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• World leaders to miss union of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

  10-04-2018 18:02
  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are to break with tradition for their wedding, with UK and foreign politicians not on the official guest list.Donald Trump, the US president, and his predecessor, Barack Obama, have not been invited to the 19 May ceremony, and Theresa May and other UK political leaders are not expected to attend in any official capacity, it is understood.
  
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• Tributes to Hither Green 'burglar' Henry Vincent torn down and put back up

  10-04-2018 17:39
  Tributes left to a suspected burglar who died after a struggle with a pensioner have been torn down and put back up and torn down again.Overnight, balloons were burst, cards soiled and flowers were left ruined on the pavement outside the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, in Hither Green, southeast London.Later, several women arrived and began re-attaching tributes to the fence but, within minutes, they were torn down again.
  
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• Theresa May and other politicians not invited to Royal wedding

  10-04-2018 17:36
  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not invited Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn or other politicians to their wedding.Wedding guests will be people who have an existing direct relationship with one or both of the couple, a Royal source said.Prince Harry's official spokesman said: "It has been decided that an official list of political leaders both UK and international - is not required for Prince Harry and Ms Markle's wedding.
  
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• Antisemitism: Israeli Labor leader cuts ties with Jeremy Corbyn

  10-04-2018 17:31
  Avi Gabbay of Labor is likely to be the centre-left alliance’s candidate for PM at the next election.The leader of the Israeli Labor party has said he will cut ties with Jeremy Corbyn and his office over the handling of antisemitism, but would preserve the link with the party as a whole.Avi Gabbay, chair of the centre-left Labor party, which is the main opposition to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud, said he would sever all relations with Corbyn on the eve of Israe
  
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• Social services can't be blamed over Ellie Butler murder, coroner rules

  10-04-2018 17:18
  The grandfather of a six-year-old girl murdered by her father has said he is "disappointed" after a coroner ruled social services cannot be blamed for her death.Ellie Butler was beaten to death by Ben Butler in South London in 2013.Ruling on whether authorities bore any responsibility, coroner Dame Linda Dobbs said on Tuesday that "despite various failings" she was "unable to conclude that any acts or omissions by the relevant agencies possibly or probably contributed" to Ellie's death.
  
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• EU wants legal assurance Britain won't lower environmental standards after Brexit

  10-04-2018 16:59
  The European Union wants Britain to promise not to lower its environmental protection standards after it leaves the EU, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Tuesday.A promise to that end, he said, should be written down in the treaty that will regulate relations between London and the 27 countries that will remain in the EU after Britain leaves at the end of March 2019."In the future relationship we should commit to no lowering of the standards of environmental protection," Ba
  
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• No plant toxins found in stomach of dead Russian whistleblower - UK scientist

  10-04-2018 16:52
  A British scientist told an inquest into the sudden death in 2012 of Russian mafia whistleblower Alexander Perepilichny that no plant toxins had been found in his stomach.The sudden nature of the death of Perepilichny, who had sought refuge in Britain in 2009, and his role in helping a Swiss investigation into a Russian money-laundering scheme raised suggestions that he might have been murdered.As the inquest resumed on Tuesday after a lengthy delay, Monique Simmonds, a scientist from the botani
  
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• Barry Gardiner: Corbyn's attack dog guilty of letting slip real Brexit views

  10-04-2018 16:52
  Barry Gardiner has held ministerial or shadow posts under every Labour leader since Tony Blair.It has never been a secret that Barry Gardiner believes the EU referendum result means Britain must leave the European single market and customs union.Gardiner was a key member of the team that brought together the two wings of the Labour party over Brexit.
  
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• Senior Tory criticises Boris Johnson over Commonwealth comments

  10-04-2018 16:49
  Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has been at the centre of a series of controversies in recent months.A senior member of the Conservative party has questioned the way Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, promotes Britain abroad.Tom Tugendhat, chair of the cross-party foreign affairs committee, also criticised Johnson’s apparent suggestion that the Commonwealth was not a political priority.
  
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• Israeli Labour party breaks off relations with Britain's Corbyn

  10-04-2018 16:43
  Israel's Labour party said on Tuesday it had suspended relations with British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, accusing him of sanctioning anti-Semitism and showing hatred towards Israeli policies."It is my responsibility to acknowledge the hostility you have shown to the Jewish community and the anti-Semitic statements and actions you have allowed as leader of the Labour party UK," Israeli Labour Party leader Avi Gabbay wrote in a letter to Corbyn, distributed to the media.Corbyn, the British
  
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• Wallis Simpson U.S. collector sets auction around Meghan-Harry wedding

  10-04-2018 16:02
  A fan of Wallis Simpson, the American socialite who married a British king 80 years ago, is hoping to capitalise on the attention around the upcoming British royal wedding by putting up for auction his collection of memorabilia.The 210-item private collection, known as the Duchess of Windsor Museum, is located on the ground floor of a house in Baltimore, Maryland, just three doors from one of Simpson's childhood residences in the U.S. city.It includes coronation souvenirs, magazine covers, repli
  
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• Grandfather talks about death of Ellie Butler

  10-04-2018 15:50
  Grandfather of Ellie Butler talks about her last few months and what it was like to have her taken away.
  
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• Central bank heavyweights head back to euro government debt

  10-04-2018 15:35
  Major global central banks are ramping up purchases of euro zone government bonds, banking sources say, enticed by rising yields, a buoyant single currency and an uncertain outlook for U.S. debt and the dollar.Data shows central banks bought significant chunks of debt issued by Belgium, France and state-backed German development bank KfW in bond syndications last month.Two senior bankers who conduct such syndications on behalf of European governments told Reuters the central banks of China and N
  
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• Social services can't be blamed over girl's murder, coroner rules

  10-04-2018 15:26
  The grandfather of a six year old girl murdered by her father has said he is "disappointed" after a coroner ruled social services cannot be blamed for her death.Ellie Butler was beaten to death by Ben Butler in South London in 2013.Speaking after the inquest, Ellie's grandfather Neil Gray described the verdict as "unbearably sad".
  
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• Russia: Skripal resettlement akin to 'abduction'

  10-04-2018 15:13
  Russia has said any secret resettlement of the spy poisoned in Salisbury and his daughter will be seen as "abduction".The threat came hours after it was revealed Yulia Skripal has been discharged from hospital, five weeks after she and her father, Sergei Skripal, were found slumped on a bench in central Salisbury on 4 March after they were poisoned.Having made a rapid recovery in recent days, Ms Skripal was discharged on Monday and taken to a secure location.
  
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• Yulia Skripal leaves British hospital five weeks after nerve agent attack

  10-04-2018 15:06
  Yulia Skripal has left hospital more than five weeks after she and her father, a former Russian spy, were poisoned with a nerve agent in an attack that has sparked one of the biggest crises in the West's relations with the Kremlin since the Cold War.Yulia and Sergei Skripal, 66, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service, were found unconscious on a public bench in the English cathedral city of Salisbury on March 4.B
  
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• Russia says any secret resettlement of Skripals is 'abduction'

  10-04-2018 15:06
  The Russian Embassy in London said it would consider any secret resettlement of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the former Russian double agent and his daughter who were poisoned last month, as an abduction of its citizens.If the pair were secretly resettled, the opportunity to hear their version of events would be lost, the embassy said."The world, while having no opportunity to interact with them, will have every reason to see this as an abduction of the two Russian nationals or at least as their is
  
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• Ellie Butler: Not Enough Evidence That Agency Failings Contributed To Child's Death, Inquest Rules

  10-04-2018 15:04
  There is not enough evidence to conclude that agency failings contributed to
  
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• Ellie Butler 'Would Still Be Alive Today' If Agencies Had Acted, Grandfather Says

  10-04-2018 15:04
  Ellie Butler's grandfather has said that she would "still be alive today" if
  
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• A broken lift made me a prisoner in my home. But I fought for my disability rights | James Coke

  10-04-2018 15:00 via theguardian.com
  MS has confined me to a wheelchair – when the lift I depend on stopped working I knew I had to use my voice for others in unsuitable housingMany years ago, aged 16, I broke the law and was remanded in custody to await my trial. I was confined to my cell for up to 22 hours a day and only occasionally got to break the monotony of it all, strolling with my fellow inmates around the prison courtyard. Although my incarceration was short – I got a community service order and a fine –
  
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• Waitrose to remove all disposable coffee cups

  10-04-2018 14:57
  Waitrose is to stop using disposable coffee cups as part of its drive to reduce plastics and packaging.Members of the myWaitrose loyalty scheme will still be able to get their free tea or coffee from self-service machines as a reward for shopping at the supermarket - but will have to bring their own reusable cup.The move comes as the Government considers a "latte levy" which would bring in a 25p charge on disposable coffee cups.
  
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• Northern Ireland peacemakers warn of new dangers 20 years on

  10-04-2018 14:40
  BELFAST/DUBLIN (Reuters) - The leaders who brokered a peace deal for Northern Ireland in 1998 marked its 20th anniversary on Tuesday by warning that a hardening political divide and Britain's exit from the EU were creating new dangers for the region.Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined Irish and Northern Irish politicians in Belfast to mark the breakthrough on April 10, 1998 that called an end to 30 years of sectarian violence in which around 3,600 p
  
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• Personalised scorecards could show public how Bank of England policy works - Haldane

  10-04-2018 14:11
  The Bank of England could send members of the public personalised scorecards to show how changes to interest rates and other policies have affected them, the central bank's chief economist Andy Haldane said on Tuesday.Haldane, who has made headlines before by tackling radical subjects like the abolition of physical cash, said the BoE's actions since the 2007-09 financial crisis had benefited British households.The BoE and other major central banks slashed interest rates and pumped vast quantitie
  
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• British Gas raising energy prices by 5.5 percent

  10-04-2018 13:35
  British Gas will raise the price of its most widely used standard tariff for customers getting electricity and gas by an average of 5.5 percent from May 29, parent Centricasaid on Tuesday.Increases to electricity and gas charges will add 60 pounds ($85) to annual bills for 4.1 million customers on the standard variable tariff (SVT), raising them to an average of 1,161 pounds, the company said.British Gas withdrew its SVT default tariff for new customers on March 31 and is working to move custome
  
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• What could the US target in Syria and how is Russia likely to react?

  10-04-2018 13:23 via theguardian.com
  The response to a 2017 chemical attack was largely symbolic; this time it could be more comprehensiveAfter the 2017 Khan Sheikhoun attack, Donald Trump ordered a strike on the airfield that launched the Syrian jets involved. The 59 cruise missiles launched from US warships in the Mediterranean damaged runways and hangars at Shayrat but they were quickly repaired. That attack was largely symbolic.Continue reading...
  
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• Tributes to intruder killed at house in London are torn down

  10-04-2018 13:14
  Floral tributes left on the street in Hither Green, south London.Tributes to an intruder who died after a struggle during a botched burglary at a house in south London have been torn down outside the property amid signs of rising tensions.The balloons, cards and flowers were believed to have been placed by the family and friends of Henry Vincent, 37, opposite the home in Hither Green.
  
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• British Gas dual fuel bills to rise by 5.5% - hitting four million customers

  10-04-2018 13:12
  The bills of millions of British Gas customers are to be hiked by an average of £60 a year.The biggest household gas and electricity supplier said it was "reluctantly" announcing the price increase of an average 5.5% for a typical dual fuel customer.British Gas owner Centrica blamed the price hike - which comes into force on 29 May - on rising wholesale and Government policy costs and said it would impact 4.1 million customers.
  
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• Making time for what matters with Edith Bowman and her brother, Alex

  10-04-2018 13:11 via theguardian.com
  We joined Edith Bowman and her brother Alex as they caught up in their childhood stomping ground of coastal Fife. Based at opposite ends of the UK, Edith and Alex don’t meet up for a pint very often – but when they do, it’s time well spent.
  Our sibling relationships are some of the longest we ever have. But sometimes that bond falls victim to our busy lives, and brothers and sisters barely get to see one another. Make time for what matters Continue reading...
  
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• Tony Blair: UK will have to intervene in Syria or give 'carte blanche' for chemical weapons attacks

  10-04-2018 13:02
  Tony Blair has declared the UK "will have to" back any US-led military intervention in Syria or give "carte blanche" for the future use of chemical weapons.The former Prime Minister called for Theresa May to act and said she did not need the approval of MPs through a vote in Parliament.Speaking after a suspected chemical attack in the city of Douma that reportedly killed 70 people and injured 500, Mr Blair said those responsible must be "held to account".
  
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• Skripal cousin: 'I've heard nothing'

  10-04-2018 13:00
  Skripal cousin: 'I've heard nothing'
  
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• Sinclair TV chairman to Trump: 'We are here to deliver your message'

  10-04-2018 13:00
  The chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group met Donald Trump at the White House during a visit to pitch a potentially lucrative new product to administration officials, the Guardian has learned.David D Smith, whose company has been criticised for making its anchors read a script echoing Trump’s attacks on the media, said he briefed officials last year on a system that would enable authorities to broadcast direct to any American’s phone.
  
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• Chairman of Sinclair TV network met with Trump during White House visit

  10-04-2018 13:00
  The chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group met Donald Trump at the White House during a visit to pitch a potentially lucrative new product to administration officials, the Guardian has learned.David D Smith, whose company has been criticised for making its anchors read a script echoing Trump’s attacks on the media, said he briefed officials last year on a system that would enable authorities to broadcast direct to any American’s phone.
  
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• Hillary Clinton: Don't Return To The 'Bad Old Days' Of A Hard Border In Ireland After Brexit

  10-04-2018 12:53
  Hillary Clinton has made a heartfelt intervention in the Brexit debate, saying
  
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• Retaliation in Syria: what are May's options?

  10-04-2018 12:45
  Theresa May does not currently have a parliamentary mandate to participate in a major military response to Saturday’s chemical weapons attack in Syria, though arguably she has a right to lend limited help to a US assault if Donald Trump chooses to go ahead with such a plan.In December 2015 British MPs voted by 397 to 233 to give David Cameron’s government a mandate to use military force – short of deploying ground troops – to hit Islamic State targets in Syria, though not
  
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• Card Factory bucks UK's gloomy retail trend, plans special dividend

  10-04-2018 12:40
  Card Factory's strong performance provides a rare bright spot amid the gloom about British high street retailers, which have been hit by online competition and economic uncertainty surrounding Brexit."The high street shops have really worked for us," Card Factory Chief Executive Karen Hubbard told Reuters on Tuesday after the company reported a 2.9 percent increase in comparable sales for the year ended Jan. 2018.Hubbard said she did not expect a big increase in the number of new high street sho
  
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