General news

• Sunderland block Newcastle fans’ plans for ‘relegation celebration’

  11-04-2018 23:36 via theguardian.com
  • Supporters seek to gloat over rivals’ plight at Stadium of Light
  • Sunderland to have no cash turnstiles for final gamesSunderland have taken discreet steps to prevent gleeful Newcastle fans from turning up at the Stadium of Light and mocking Chris Coleman’s struggling side during their final two home games of the season. Related: Stadium of plight: Sunderland at risk of their most shattering relegation | Louise TaylorContinue reading...
  
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• FirstGroup rejects takeover bid from US equity group Apollo

  11-04-2018 23:35 via theguardian.com
  British transport firm dismisses approach from private equity group as ‘opportunistic’Bus and rail company FirstGroup has rejected a takeover approach from the American private equity group Apollo, the British transport operator has announced. After shares rose more than 7% during trading on Wednesday amid rumours of a takeover bid, the board of FirstGroup issued a statement confirming an initial proposal had been made by Apollo Management but had been unanimously rejected, dismissin
  
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• Labour announces plan for under 25s to have free bus travel

  11-04-2018 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Councils opting for publicly owned bus services to get funds partly arising from road taxUnder 25s would have free bus travel under a Labour government, the party said, proposing a scheme that would be paid for by ring-fenced cash arising from road tax.The party said local authorities who moved to introduce public ownership of bus services or franchising would be given the funds to provide free travel. The scheme would incentivise councils to create municipally owned bus companies. Continue read
  
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• Bayern Munich reach semi-finals after goalless draw with 10-man Sevilla

  11-04-2018 23:17 via theguardian.com
  A goalless draw against Sevilla was enough to send Bayern Munich into the Champions League last four with a 2-1 aggregate victory to keep their hopes of a treble-winning season alive.Bayern, playing in their seventh successive quarter-final, never needed to hit top form but were in control throughout with the largely toothless Spanish side only rarely venturing into the box.Continue reading...
  
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• PM: All the indications are that Syrian regime was behind chemical attack

  11-04-2018 23:10
  PM: All the indications are that Syrian regime was behind chemical attack
  
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• Pope Francis admits 'grave error' in discrediting Chilean church sex abuse victims

  11-04-2018 23:07 via theguardian.com
  The pope blamed a lack of ‘truthful and balanced information’ in his missteps in judging the case that has tarnished his reputationPope Francis has admitted he made “grave errors” in judgment in a clerical sex abuse scandal in Chile and invited the abuse victims he had discredited to Rome to beg their forgiveness.In an extraordinary letter published on Wednesday, Francis also summoned all of Chile’s bishops to the Vatican for an emergency summit in the coming weeks
  
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• Wolves get ready to celebrate promotion after Rúben Neves’ stunning volley

  11-04-2018 23:01 via theguardian.com
  If this is the game that puts Wolverhampton Wanderers within touching distance of the Championship title, then it will also be remembered as the night when Rúben Neves scored a goal worthy of any champions. The Portuguese playmaker volleyed his latest majestic strike clean into the top corner from 30 yards as Nuno Espírito Santo’s team moved to within one result of a return to the Premier League.Wolves will seal promotion if they beat Birmingham City here on Sunday lunchtime
  
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• Cristiano Ronaldo breaks Juventus with added-time penalty for Real Madrid

  11-04-2018 23:01 via theguardian.com
  Real Madrid are in the semi-final of the Champions League for the eighth year in a row. That is no surprise; what is a surprise is that for so much of a dramatic, nervous night at the Santiago Bernabéu, it looked like they would not be. A Champions League of shocks almost had the biggest of them all, the champions following Barcelona in being knocked out by Italian opposition, despite a 3-0 first leg victory. In Turin, they had been applauded, Ronaldo holding his heart in gratitude after
  
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• The bald fact for Pep Guardiola is rivals wised up to Manchester City | Barney Ronay

  11-04-2018 23:00 via theguardian.com
  After three straight defeats, City’s manager is not ‘a fraud’ and neither has he been ‘found out’ – rather rivals have realised how to exploit his side’s weak spotsIs Pep Guardiola a bald fraud? Before Manchester City’s three consecutive defeats in the last eight days, this seemed to be one of the more urgent questions of the modern sporting age.It looked a simple enough dichotomy. Is the man who gave us the most compelling elite club team and the
  
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• PM calls special Cabinet meeting to approve UK action in Syria

  11-04-2018 23:00
  The Prime Minister will convene a special "war cabinet" on Thursday as the UK prepares to join tripartite military action against the Syrian regime, following its apparent use of chemical weapons.The Cabinet is expected to be asked to approve a form of British participation in action led by France and the US, aimed at Syrian President Bashar al Assad's chemical weapons infrastructure.Importantly, it appears Parliament will not be consulted ahead of the UK action, which could start with
  
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• World Weatherwatch: spring storms and early winter chill

  11-04-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  A tropical cyclone brought floods to Fiji, spring storms brought hail and thunder to the southern states of the US, and Christchurch, New Zealand, had a first taste of winterFiji has been in the firing line of heightened tropical activity over the last couple of weeks, with tropical cyclone Josie providing the first punch of severe weather early last week. While it didn’t make direct landfall, a huge amount of rain fell across the islands, with estimated totals in excess of 250mm. This bro
  
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• Nicaragua fires: aid from Costa Rica rejected as blaze destroys rainforest

  11-04-2018 22:30 via theguardian.com
  Environmentalists sound alarm after 5,000 hectares consumed in week-long fire but rain offers glimmer of hopeFires have raged in one of Nicaragua’s most important protected areas of tropical forest for more than a week, but the government has rejected an offer of assistance from neighbouring Costa Rica.
  A sudden rain shower on Tuesday offered some hope that the blaze in the Indio Maíz biological reserve on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast could be contained, but environmentalists i
  
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• Libyan military chief Khalifa Haftar severely ill after stroke – reports

  11-04-2018 22:12 via theguardian.com
  But presidential hopeful’s Libyan National Army dismisses claims as fake news put out by worried opponents Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the Libyan military strongman seen as a potential winner of presidential elections in Libya this year, has reportedly been taken to hospital in Paris following a severe stroke.Khalifa al-Obeidi, a spokesman for Haftar’s Libyan National Army, denied the claim as fake news generated by Haftar’s opponents, and his aides pointed to undated photogr
  
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• Netflix sued over allegations of 'rigged' bonus payments to top executives

  11-04-2018 22:06
  The lawsuit alleges Netflix ‘rigged the compensation process’.Netflix is facing an investor lawsuit that alleges board members “rigged” top executives’ bonuses to pay them millions regardless of how well the company performed.The lawsuit, filed by the City of Birmingham Relief and Retirement System, claims the Netflix board “rigged the compensation process, guaranteeing Netflix officers huge cash payments while misleading investors into believing that these pa
  
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• Rampage review – Dwayne Johnson tackles giant animals run amok

  11-04-2018 22:00 via theguardian.com
  When shady gene experiments in space go wrong, there’s only one man standing who can sign language in great apeHere’s a film to remind you that while most guys of 45 have paunch-bulges on their tummy that balloon outwards as they bend forward, Dwayne Johnson gets two or three on the back of his big shaven head when he looks up. The nape of the man-mountain’s neck ripples with mini spare tyres. And he’s doing a lot of gym-built rubbernecking at the ginormous creatures cras
  
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• Yulia Skripal turns down offer of assistance from Russian Embassy

  11-04-2018 21:54
  Yulia Skripal has turned down an offer of help from the Russian Embassy and told her outspoken cousin not to contact her.In her first statement since being discharged from hospital following the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, issued by the Met Police on her behalf, the 33-year-old said she did "not wish to avail" herself to the services of the embassy - and warned that nobody speaks for her or her father Sergei other than themselves.Ms Skripal has again thanked staff at Salisbury District Hosp
  
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• Daughter of poisoned Russian spy declines embassy help - statement

  11-04-2018 21:51
  Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned in Britain last month along with her father, a former Russian spy, said on Wednesday she did not wish to take up the offer of services from the Russian Embassy in London.In a statement issued on her behalf by British police, Skripal said her father remained seriously ill and she was still suffering from the effects of nerve gas used against them in an attack that led to one of the biggest crises in Britain's relations with Moscow since the Cold War."I have access
  
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• Zuckerberg put on back foot as House grills Facebook CEO over user tracking

  11-04-2018 21:42 via theguardian.com
  In his second day on Capitol Hill, Zuckerberg says his own data was handed to Cambridge AnalyticaFive things we learned from Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook hearingThe Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was given a rougher ride on his second day of congressional testimony on Wednesday as he faced sharp questions about the tech giant’s ability to track its users’ movements, shopping habits and browsing histories and was at one stage compared to J Edgar Hoover.During five hours of tes
  
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• I don't need any help from the Russian embassy – Yulia Skripal

  11-04-2018 21:39
  Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned in Britain last month along with her father, a former Russian spy, has said she did not wish to take up the offer of services from the Russian embassy in London, according to a statement issued on her behalf by the Metropolitan police.In the statement published on Wednesday, she said her father remained seriously ill and that she was still suffering from the effects of nerve agent used against them.Skripal confirmed that she was safe and had specially trained offi
  
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• Memorial for burglar Henry Vincent pulled down for fourth time

  11-04-2018 21:37
  Flowers placed for the burglar who died after a struggle with a pensioner have been torn down again.The family of Henry Vincent laid flowers near to the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, who was cleared over the career criminal's killing.A fence outside the pensioner's property in Hither Green, southeast London, has become a flashpoint for tensions, with flowers and cards at the memorial being destroyed by locals and then replaced by Vincent's loved ones.
  
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• Steve Bell on the Good Friday Agreement 20 years on – cartoon

  11-04-2018 21:34 via theguardian.com
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• Real Madrid v Juventus: Champions League quarter-final – live!

  11-04-2018 21:20 via theguardian.com
  Live updates on the second leg at the BernabéuEmail [email protected] | tweet @Paul_DoyleWednesday scoreboard: all of tonight’s goalsAnd you can follow Bayern Munich v Sevilla here 8.19pm BST 34 min: As the Juve defence stops and appeals for offside, Isco ruins on to a pass from Kroos and finds himself one-on-one with Buffon .... and the goalkeeper makes a splendid save! 8.19pm BST 33 min: Isco lifts a shot over the bar from 12 yards. Another goal for Juve would make this v
  
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• Bayern Munich v Sevilla: Champions League quarter-final – live!

  11-04-2018 21:19 via theguardian.com
  Live updates on the second leg at the Allianz ArenaEmail [email protected] with any musingsWednesday scoreboard: all of tonight’s goalsAnd you can follow Real Madrid v Juventus here 8.19pm BST 34 min A Bayern corner is only half cleared and comes to Hummels, who marches into the box from the right and hits a left-footed heatseeker just over the bar. That was a tremendous hit. 8.18pm BST 32 min A Bayern goal wouldn’t be the end of the world for Sevilla, or even the end of the
  
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• Five things we learned from Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook hearing

  11-04-2018 20:59 via theguardian.com
  The CEO’s privacy is as vulnerable as ours, and the social network faces a regulation battleThe sketch: Hugs all round, the Zuck finds Congress a breeze
  Mark Zuckerberg at House hearing – as it happenedHis data was sold to a malicious third party as well, he confirmed, in an answer to a question from the Democratic representative Anna Eshoo.Continue reading...
  
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• UK can change mind on EU single market until 2021, says Michel Barnier

  11-04-2018 20:52
  The EU's chief Brexit negotiator has told Theresa May she can change her mind on leaving the bloc's single market up until 2021.Michel Barnier revealed Brussels would consider a reversal of the Government's commitment to quitting the single market even after Brexit.The European Commission official suggested the UK could yet abandon its "red lines" within the planned Brexit transition period, which is due to last until 31 December 2020.
  
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• Burglars fended off by woman using husband's crutch jailed

  11-04-2018 20:37 via bbc.co.uk
  Two burglars who were fended off by an 87-year-old woman using her husband's crutch are jailed.
  
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• FirstGroup train and bus operator rebuffs offer from Apollo

  11-04-2018 20:34 via bbc.co.uk
  FirstGroup, owner of Great Western Railway in the UK and Greyhound in America, rebuffs offer from US firm.
  
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• Harry Kane awarded goal at Stoke by Premier League after Twitter plea

  11-04-2018 20:32 via theguardian.com
  • Premier League gives Kane winner at Stoke after Spurs appeal• Golden Boot rival Mohamed Salah tweets “Wooooooow really?”Harry Kane has been handed a boost in his bid for a third successive Premier League Golden Boot after being awarded Tottenham’s second goal at Stoke.The goal was given to Christian Eriksen but after Spurs appealed to the Premier League’s goal accreditation appeals panel the decision was overturned and Kane’s tally now stands at 25, four
  
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• Harry Kane awarded goal at Stoke after Premier League and Twitter pleas

  11-04-2018 20:32 via theguardian.com
  • Premier League gives Kane winner at Stoke after Spurs appeal• Golden Boot rival Mohamed Salah tweets “Wooooooow really?”Harry Kane has been handed a boost in his bid for a third successive Premier League Golden Boot after being awarded Tottenham’s second goal at Stoke.The goal was given to Christian Eriksen but after Spurs appealed to the Premier League’s goal accreditation appeals panel the decision was overturned and Kane’s tally now stands at 25, four
  
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• Stephen Lawrence murder investigation 'unlikely to progress'

  11-04-2018 20:30 via bbc.co.uk
  The 25th anniversary of Stephen Lawrence's racially-motivated killing in Eltham is later this month.
  
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• All eyes on Foxhunters’ test for Grand National conditions

  11-04-2018 20:29 via theguardian.com
  • Foxhunters’ Chase will give clues for Grand National day
  • Nicky Henderson likely to retain title as champion trainerThe Grand National meeting at Aintree will open on Thursday with four consecutive Grade One races and several of the sport’s best chasers and hurdlers in action, but it is the fifth event on the card – a hunter chase – that may be studied most closely by the punters ahead of the biggest betting race of the year on Saturday. Related: Talking Hors
  
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• Netflix pulls out of Cannes film festival after rule change

  11-04-2018 20:28 via theguardian.com
  Streaming giant says it hopes Cannes reconsiders after festival insists film premieres must receive French theatrical distributionNetflix will not bring any films to this year’s Cannes film festival after a new rule change.In an interview with Variety, the company’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, said Netflix will not change its release strategy after Cannes insisted competing titles at the festival receive theatrical distribution in France. Of the company pulling out, Sarandos
  
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• High court judge backs end-of-life care plan for toddler on life support

  11-04-2018 20:12 via theguardian.com
  Details of provisions for final stage of 23-month-old Alfie Evans’s life not made publicA high court judge has endorsed an end-of-life care plan for a 23-month-old boy who has been at the centre of a life-support treatment legal battle.
  Mr Justice Hayden said the details of provisions for the final stage of Alfie Evans’s life could not be made public. Continue reading...
  
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• Hugs all round, the Zuck finds Congress a bit of a breeze | John Crace

  11-04-2018 20:11 via theguardian.com
  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg needn’t have worried as grilling on data misuse turns into a kid-glove strokingThe Facebook share price may have risen 5% after the Senate failed to lay a glove on him the previous day, but Mark Zuckerberg still looked tense as he settled into his booster seat in preparation for his session before Congress. He needn’t have worried. His programmers had done their job just fine and his algorithms were all in order. It might be a little tougher than the day
  
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• Hugs all round, the Zuck finds Congress a bit of a breeze

  11-04-2018 20:11
  A four-minute rule seemed to stymie searching questions of Mark Zuckerberg, above, as he testified before the Senate committees.The Facebook share price may have risen 5% after the Senate failed to lay a glove on him the previous day, but Mark Zuckerberg still looked tense as he settled into his booster seat in preparation for his session before Congress.Zuckerberg started with a five-minute prepared statement.
  
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• CCTV released after Tube worker 'pushed on tracks'

  11-04-2018 20:04
  Police have released a CCTV image of a man they want to speak to after a London Underground worker was allegedly pushed on to the tracks.The customer service assistant did not suffer any injuries after falling from a District Line platform at Victoria.Inspector Paula Jones, from the British Transport Police, said: "This was a very serious incident and we have a number of urgent inquiries under way to find the person responsible.
  
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• British outsourcer Mitie sees higher costs from turnaround programme

  11-04-2018 20:03
  Britain's Financial Reporting Council said on Nov. 20 it had concluded a review of Mitie's annual report and accounts for the financial year ended March 31, 2016.It also said it had launched a separate investigation in relation to the preparation and approval of the financial statements for Mitie for the year ended March 31, 2016.
  
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• Green-haired turtle that breathes through its genitals added to endangered list

  11-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  With its punky green mohican the striking Mary river turtle joins a new ZSL list of the world’s most vulnerable reptilesIt sports a green mohican, fleshy finger-like growths under its chin and can breathe through its genitals.The Mary river turtle is one of the most striking creatures on the planet, and it is also one of the most endangered. Continue reading...
  
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• Gillian Ayres obituary

  11-04-2018 19:56 via theguardian.com
  One of Britain’s most popular abstract painters known for her huge vibrant canvases bursting with colourGillian Ayres, who has died aged 88, was one of Britain’s most significant abstract painters, a woman of much vitality and generosity, and a domestic person on a grand, overspilling scale. Her huge, improvised canvases, with paint sometimes an inch or two thick, were often worked on in sitting-rooms and bedrooms while Ayres’s bantams, peacocks, cats and dogs roamed freely fro
  
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• First UK strike action over restaurant tips looms at TGI Friday's

  11-04-2018 19:56 via theguardian.com
  Staff to be balloted over chain’s plan to give service charge cash to kitchen staff in lieu of pay riseTGI Friday’s is facing the first strike over tips in the UK in an escalation of a row between waiters and the restaurant chain.In February the casual dining chain, which has 83 outlets, proposed redistributing 40% of service charge payments paid on credit and debit cards to back-of-house employees, including kitchen staff, in lieu of a wage increase. Continue reading...
  
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• Alfie Evans: Court sets date for toddler's life support to end

  11-04-2018 19:56 via bbc.co.uk
  The parents of Alfie Evans exhausted all legal avenues to fight the withdrawal of his life support.
  
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• Theresa May 'to act on Syria without MPs' vote' - sources

  11-04-2018 19:52 via bbc.co.uk
  The prime minister believes the need for a response is urgent, government sources tell the BBC.
  
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• Parents hit out at plans to increase oversight of home education

  11-04-2018 19:46 via theguardian.com
  Home schooling community says government proposals undermine parental rights and cast suspicionParents who home-school their children have hit out at government proposals to increase oversight of home education, saying they undermine parental rights and cast suspicion on those who choose not to put their children in school.
  They were responding to plans, published by the Department for Education on Tuesday, intended to address what is seen by some in the sector as an unusually permissive approac
  
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• If the BBC is politically neutral, how does it explain Andrew Neil? | Owen Jones

  11-04-2018 19:42 via theguardian.com
  He symbolises the rightwing domination of our media. Yet a politics presenter as aligned to the left would not be toleratedImagine this. The BBC appoints a prominent radical leftist, a lifelong Bennite, the chairman of the publisher of a prominent leftwing publication no less, as its flagship political presenter and interviewer. This person has made speeches in homage of Karl Marx calling for the establishment of full-blooded socialism in Britain, including a massive increase in public ownership
  
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• Former MP's tweet almost collapsed Ulster rugby rape trial

  11-04-2018 19:32 via theguardian.com
  Comment by leader of Alliance party, Naomi Long, led to demands from defence team that the trial be stopped, it has emergedA former Northern Ireland MP’s tweet almost collapsed the trial of two Irish rugby stars who were acquitted of rape, it has emerged.A tweeted message from Naomi Long, the leader of the cross community Alliance party, led to demands from the defence team of the players and two friends that the trial be stopped. Continue reading...
  
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• Former MP's tweet almost collapsed Ulster rugby rape trial

  11-04-2018 19:32
  A former Northern Ireland MP’s tweet almost collapsed the trial of two Irish rugby stars who were acquitted of rape, it has emerged.A tweeted message from Naomi Long, the leader of the cross community Alliance party, led to demands from the defence team of the players and two friends that the trial be stopped.The controversy only came to light after the judge in the trial, Justice Patricia Smyth, lifted most of the reporting restrictions on the case after a hearing on Wednesday.
  
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• Alexander Perepilichnyy: Lover appears at Russian's inquest

  11-04-2018 19:28 via bbc.co.uk
  The married whistleblower spent the day before he died in Paris with his secret Ukrainian lover.
  
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• Sick toddler Alfie Evans to have life support switched off, judge rules

  11-04-2018 19:23
  It is in the best interests of seriously ill toddler Alfie Evans for his life support to be switched off, a judge has said.Mr Justice Hayden set a date for the 23-month-old boy to be allowed to die during a hearing in London on Wednesday, two months after he ruled that doctors at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool could stop treating him.Father Tom Evans wanted a "fresh assessment" of his son's future, but Mr Justice Hayden said the follow-up hearing had only been staged so that he could
  
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• British Airways to offer new basic fare on some long-haul routes

  11-04-2018 19:23 via theguardian.com
  Passengers paying cheaper rate will have to pay up to £80 to check baggage and £20 to select seatBritish Airways passengers will now have to pay to check luggage on some long-haul routes. A new “basic” fare has been introduced for passengers who have only hand baggage, with tickets costing up to £60 less than the standard return fare, the airline said.Basic fare tickets went on sale on Wednesday for flights from London to Austin, Boston, Delhi, Denver, Dubai, Hong K
  
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• US-Russia tensions build as Moscow hits back at Trump's Twitter threat

  11-04-2018 19:07 via theguardian.com
  Trump tells Russia to ‘get ready’ for US missiles fired at Syria
  Kremlin spokesman: ‘We do not participate in Twitter diplomacy’
  The US and Russia came significantly closer to a direct clash over Syria on Wednesday when Donald Trump fired off an incendiary tweet that told Moscow to “get ready” for incoming US missiles, which the Russian military has vowed to shoot down.A standoff over a poison gas attack on a rebel-held suburb of Damascus on Saturday has since
  
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