General news

• Theresa May to call for emergency debate on UK's part in Syria airstrikes

  15-04-2018 23:59
  The Prime Minister will tell MPs she acted "in Britain's national interest" by ordering airstrikes on Syria as the Government calls for an emergency debate on the issue.Theresa May will pre-empt planned opposition motions by applying to the Speaker for a debate herself "to give the House an extended opportunity to discuss the military action".In a statement to the Commons, she will also set out her justification for the decision - arguing that it was done to alleviate further humanitarian suffer
  
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• Woman in her 30s stabbed to death in Brixton

  15-04-2018 23:34
  A woman in her 30s has been stabbed to death this evening in Brixton, south London.Police have arrested a man in his 20s on suspicion of murder after they were called to the incident in Sudbourne Road at 6.36pm on Sunday.A Met Police spokesman told Sky News: "Officers attended, along with London's Air Ambulance.
  
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• After Syria strikes, Britain's May to face critical parliament

  15-04-2018 23:33
  British Prime Minister Theresa May will face criticism on Monday for bypassing parliament to join weekend air strikes against Syria, with some lawmakers calling for a potentially damaging vote on her future strategy.May, who has regained confidence after winning support for her tough stance on Syria and Russia, will make a statement to parliament on her decision to join the United States and France in Saturday's strikes in retaliation for a suspected gas attack.Much of the criticism will come fr
  
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• Manchester City crowned Premier League champions after shock United defeat

  15-04-2018 23:32 via theguardian.com
  • West Brom beat Manchester United to hand title to City
  • Kompany challenges team-mates to retain titleVincent Kompany has challenged his Manchester City team-mates to retain their Premier League title after Manchester United’s shock defeat to the bottom side, West Brom, confirmed Pep Guardiola’s men as champions.With Kompany watching on at his wife’s family home after City’s 3-1 victory over Tottenham on Saturday evening meant United had to avoid defeat agains
  
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• Teen charged with murder after body of girl, 14, found in Wolverhampton park

  15-04-2018 23:31
  A teenage boy has been charged with the murder of a 14-year-old girl whose body was found in a park in Wolverhampton on Thursday.Viktorija Sokolova's body was discovered by a member of the public on Thursday morning, with a post-mortem examination concluding she died from blunt force trauma to the head.Paying tribute to Viktorija, who was born in Lithuania, her family described her as a "little angel".
  
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• Theresa May to tell MPs: Syria airstrikes were in UK's interest

  15-04-2018 23:30 via theguardian.com
  PM braced for highly charged exchanges in Commons as she prepares Monday statement Theresa May will hit back at critics of military action in Syria by insisting the decision to launch airstrikes was aimed at preventing human suffering, and was in Britain’s national interest, as she is questioned by MPs about the attacks for the first time.With the government braced for highly charged exchanges in the Commons as MPs return from their Easter recess, the prime minister will emphasise the inte
  
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• Stephen Lawrence's father Neville says he has forgiven his son's killers

  15-04-2018 23:08
  The father of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence has said he has decided to forgive his son's killers - almost 25 years on from his death.Neville Lawrence said he struggles to put into words the devastation caused to his family when his son was killed.Stephen, 18, was murdered by a gang of racists in Eltham, southeast London, on 22 April 1993.
  
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• Stephen Lawrence's father says he forgives his son's killers

  15-04-2018 23:00 via theguardian.com
  Neville Lawrence ‘embraces Christian faith’ for anniversary of 1993 racist murder in London The father of Stephen Lawrence has said he forgives his son’s killers, 25 years after they stabbed the 18-year-old to death as he waited for a bus in Eltham, south-east London.Neville Lawrence, 78, said the decision to forgive the gang for the racist attack was the hardest one he would ever make, but that he was embracing his Christian faith and planned to spend the anniversary of his so
  
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• Italian film director Vittorio Taviani dies aged 88

  15-04-2018 22:47 via theguardian.com
  President pays tribute to director who worked with brother on award-winning filmsThe Italian film director Vittorio Taviani, who with his brother Paolo Taviani created Italian cinema masterpieces, has died at the age of 88.The Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, said Taviani’s death on Sunday in Rome after a long illness was “a great loss for Italian cinema and culture, which are losing an undeniable and beloved protagonist”. Continue reading...
  
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• Teenage boy charged with murder of Viktorija Sokolova

  15-04-2018 22:31
  Viktorija Sokolova, whose body was found in Wolverhampton’s West Park last Thursday.A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of a teenage girl whose body was found in a park in Wolverhampton on Thursday.Viktorija Sokolova, 14, was found dead at 7am in Wolverhampton’s West Park on Thursday.
  
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• Manchester City 2017-18 player ratings: how the title winners stack up | Jamie Jackson

  15-04-2018 22:12 via theguardian.com
  The champions have had some exceptional performers – Ederson, Fernandinho, Sané and Sterling stand out – but Sergio Agüero and Kevin De Bruyne share top honoursEderson 9/10 A flawless debut season in English football – a stark contrast to Claudio Bravo’s disastrous 2016-17 campaign. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I know how to win – but I don’t play,’ says José Mourinho after United defeat

  15-04-2018 21:58 via theguardian.com
  • Manager says he could ‘smell’ a bad performance coming
  • Home defeat against West Brom hands the title to CityJosé Mourinho said after the 1-0 defeat by bottom-of-the-table West Bromwich Albion that confirmed Manchester City as Premier League champions that he could “smell” a bad performance coming from Manchester United and that it left him questioning his players’ attitude.Mourinho described United as “the masters in complicated football&r
  
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• All-round brilliance of James Harris drives Middlesex to win over Northants

  15-04-2018 21:07 via theguardian.com
  • Former champions demoted in 2017 are first to triumph this season
  • Harris takes most wickets and makes highest score in gameAnd so the first spoils of the 2018 Specsavers County Championship went to Middlesex, champions of 2016 but demoted to Division Two last September. They defeated Northamptonshire by 160 runs just after lunch on the third day – Northants never able to recover from their blink-and-you’ll-miss-it first innings of 71.It was an astonishing game for James
  
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• Ben Jennings on the reconvening of the Commons after Syria – cartoon

  15-04-2018 21:05 via theguardian.com
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• Former first lady Barbara Bush in 'failing health', says family spokesman

  15-04-2018 20:32 via theguardian.com
  The spokesman said Bush, 92, has decided not to seek additional medical treatment and will instead focus on comfort care
  Former first lady Barbara Bush is in “failing health” and won’t seek additional medical treatment, a Bush family spokesman said on Sunday. “Following a recent series of hospitalizations, and after consulting her family and doctors, Mrs Bush, now age 92, has decided not to seek additional medical treatment and will instead focus on comfort care,” s
  
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• Manchester City have stirred hearts to earn a place in pantheon of great sides | Jonathan Wilson

  15-04-2018 20:21 via theguardian.com
  Comparing title-winning sides from different eras is always tricky but Pep Guardiola’s champions will go down in history as one of the best to grace English footballThe statistics offer some measure of Manchester City’s greatness. They have won the title with a month to spare and are on course to set records for points gained and goals scored. Achieving that in an era when there is, theoretically at least, a big six – when they are not just steamrollering much weaker sides &nda
  
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• 'Plastic is literally everywhere': the epidemic attacking Australia's oceans

  15-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘It never breaks down and goes away,’ say scientists struggling to understand the impact of widespread pollutionWhile heading down the Brisbane river, Jim Hinds once pulled aboard a drunken half-naked man just seconds from “going down for the last time”.
  But on this day, like most other days for Hinds, it’s back to the horribly predictable as he launches his boat into the Nerang river on Queensland’s Gold Coast.Continue reading...
  
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• Diplomacy, and not bombing, is the way to end Syria’s agony | Jeremy Corbyn

  15-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  More legally questionable and reckless military interventions are not what British people want from their governmentThese are serious times. Following the missile attacks on Syria, now is the moment for a powerful push for peace. Boris Johnson’s blithe acceptance on Sunday that the conflict will now continue on its current course and that peace negotiations would be an “extra” is an unconscionable abdication of responsibility and morality.Already this devastating conf
  
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• Saracens in play-offs with win over Bath as Joseph suffers ankle injury

  15-04-2018 19:54 via theguardian.com
  • Saracens 41-6 Bath
  • Jonathan Joseph’s England tour place in jeopardyAnother desperate afternoon for Bath, and not a great one for England with Jonathan Joseph hobbling off with an ankle injury that may jeopardise his place on the summer tour of South Africa.For Saracens it was an emphatic bonus-point victory, confirming their place in the play-offs for the ninth season in a row, but the contrast between their resurgence and Bath’s bleak slump could not be more stark
  
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• The Guardian view on QE: the economy needs more than a magic money tree | Editorial

  15-04-2018 19:37 via theguardian.com
  Quantitative easing succeeded in staving off disaster but it was not enough to regenerate a fair economy. This could have been achieved by a redistributive, expansionary fiscal policy which ministers were ideologically resistant toWhen running for the Labour leadership, Jeremy Corbyn wanted a “people’s quantitative easing” to boost the economy. It was frostily dismissed in 2015 as being forbidden by provisions in the Lisbon treaty. If we leave the European Union, those strictur
  
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• The Guardian view on bombing Syria: a decision for parliament | Editorial

  15-04-2018 19:37 via theguardian.com
  Theresa May has decided to break with parliamentary convention and not seek approval from MPs for military action. This is a mistakeTheresa May’s decision to authorise British military action over the skies of Syria by royal prerogative rather than obtaining the backing of parliament was the wrong thing to do. Even if the prime minister thinks it was done for the right reasons. It was wrong because the government’s plans should have been articulated so that MPs could have had a chanc
  
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• Sir Patrick Stewart: My Star Trek and X-Men characters would be anti-Brexit

  15-04-2018 19:28
  Sir Patrick Stewart has declared that two of his most famous characters would have voted Remain, as he helped launch a campaign for a referendum on the final Brexit deal.Sir Patrick told Sky News there is "no doubt" both Star Trek's Jean-Luc Picard and X-Men's Professor Charles Xavier would have backed staying in the European Union.Speaking after about 1,000 opponents of Britain's exit from the European Union staged a "people power" rally in London, he said: "They are people who believe in the c
  
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• British lawmakers, celebrities call for 'people's vote' on Brexit

  15-04-2018 19:26
  Lawmakers, celebrities and business leaders launched a campaign on Sunday to call for a vote on any final Brexit deal, stepping up a campaign to try to stop what they describe as Britain's damaging departure from the European Union.At a launch in north London, lawmakers from both the governing Conservative Party and opposition Labour joined with hundreds of others to press for what they described as a "people's vote" on Brexit.
  
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• Theresa May will have to convince MPs of case for Syrian airstrikes

  15-04-2018 19:12
  Conservative whips were contacting backbenchers this weekend, warning them to be ready to lend their support to the prime minister as she makes the case for last weekend’s Syrian airstrikes.Theresa May’s tendency to reserve judgment until she has studied all the evidence are sometimes a political handicap, serving her badly in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, for example, whose enormity she appeared slow to grasp.The prime minister will be keen to display the same kind of careful
  
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• How Pep Guardiola's tactics made Manchester City Premier League champions – video

  15-04-2018 19:09 via theguardian.com
  Pep Guardiola has guided Manchester City to an emphatic Premier League title. With the league title wrapped up a month from the end of the season and City on course for a record number of both points and goals it seems business as usual for Guardiola, if so are we only in the middle of his usual cycle. Can he defy his three-year rule and build a dynasty? Continue reading...
  
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• Birthday balloons left at Hither Green street where intruder died

  15-04-2018 19:05
  Friends and relatives of Henry Vincent bring birthday tributes to the street where he was fatally stabbed.Relatives of a burglar who was fatally stabbed by a pensioner in south-east London have laid a fresh floral tribute on the street where he died to mark what would have been his birthday.About 20 women placed balloons, cards and flowers close to the spot where Henry Vincent collapsed after he was fatally injured on 4 April at the home of the 78-year-old Richard Osborn-Brooks in South Park Cre
  
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• Manchester City clinch Premier League title

  15-04-2018 18:52
  Manchester City are Premier League champions after Manchester United lost to West Bromwich Albion.
  
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• Brexit: MPs from four parties jointly launch push for people's vote

  15-04-2018 18:17 via theguardian.com
  Parliamentarians share a stage to ask for voters of Britain to be given a say on final Brexit dealA major push for a “people’s vote” on the final Brexit deal between Britain and the EU has been launched by MPs, celebrities and business leaders. A cross-party lineup of MPs took to the stage at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, north London, on Sunday. They have been at pains to avoid the term “second referendum”.The MPs included Conservative Anna Soubry, Labour’
  
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• Brexit: MPs from four parties jointly launch push for people's vote

  15-04-2018 18:17
  A major push for a “people’s vote” on the final Brexit deal between Britain and the EU has been launched by MPs, celebrities and business leaders.A cross-party lineup of MPs took to the stage at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, north London, on Sunday.The MPs included Conservative Anna Soubry, Labour’s Chuka Umunna, the Greens’ Caroline Lucas and Liberal Democrat Layla Moran.
  
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• Deadly spring storm sweeps central US, killing two

  15-04-2018 17:25 via theguardian.com
  Hundreds of flights have been canceled in Minnesota as heavy snow, string winds, rain and hail from Gulf Coast to Great Lakes make roads treacherousContinue reading...
  
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• No 10 refuses Caribbean request to discuss children of Windrush

  15-04-2018 17:04
  Downing Street has rejected a formal diplomatic request to discuss the immigration problems being experienced by some Windrush-generation British citizens at this week’s meeting of the Commonwealth heads of government, rebuffing a request from representatives of 12 Caribbean countries for a meeting with the prime minister.“We did make a request to the CHOGM summit team for a meeting to be held between the prime minister and the Commonwealth Caribbean heads of government who will be h
  
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• Quick packed lunch ideas for busy people | Rosie Birkett

  15-04-2018 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Four more lunch ideas you can throw together in a jiffy – and not a sandwich in sight
  Boil 250g baby new potatoes in salted water until tender, drain. Boil another pot of water, lower in 2 eggs and cook for 8 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool, then peel. Chop 1 egg and halve the other. In a bowl, mix 2 tbsp mayonnaise with 2 tsp white-wine vinegar and 1 tbsp each of natural yoghurt and dijon mustard. Add the chopped egg, cooled potatoes, 2 sliced spring onions, 100g chop
  
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• Peachy! The rise of a fruity hair colour

  15-04-2018 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Lady Gaga sports it, and so does Paris Jackson. It’s a combination of orange and pink tones on a base of blond and available at a specialist salon near youOver the past decade, rainbow-coloured barnets have outgrown their confinement to the cybergoths of London’s Camden Town and become a commonplace sighting across the country. In 2018, a spate of salons specialising in colouring services – such as Bleach London and Electric in Brighton and Rainbow Room in Stirling – have
  
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• Two teenagers arrested after stolen BMW hits five pedestrians in Essex

  15-04-2018 16:54
  Two teenagers have been arrested after a stolen BMW ploughed into pedestrians in Essex.Five men in their early 20s were seriously injured following the collision on Canvey Island at about 4.10pm on Saturday.The two occupants of the blue BMW 120D, which had been reported stolen, left the scene after the crash.
  
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• Arsenal slump to another defeat as Matt Ritchie hits Newcastle winner

  15-04-2018 16:49 via theguardian.com
  As Rafael Benítez strode towards the centre circle and acknowledged a richly deserved standing ovation, yet another grisly Arsenal inquest was about to begin.At the end of an afternoon when, courtesy of a fourth successive win, Newcastle United emphatically banished any lingering relegation fears, the rather fixed expression on Arsène Wenger’s face indicated that, once again, it was time to reach for his metaphorical tin helmet. Continue reading...
  
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• Market trader Wayne Bellows is told he yells too loudly

  15-04-2018 16:48
  A market trader called – appropriately – Wayne Bellows has been ordered by his local council to turn down the noise because it is causing a nuisance.Bellows has vowed to fight what he called the “completely bizarre and utterly ridiculous” order from Lymington and Pennington town council in Hampshire.
  
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• 'Manchester pusher' fears revived after man hurled into canal

  15-04-2018 16:31
  Police chiefs have tried to allay fears that there is a “Manchester pusher” stalking the city’s waterways, after a cyclist was hurled into a canal at night.Rumours of a possible serial attacker have been revived after a 34-year-old office worker was thrown into the city’s Bridgewater canal then kicked back in as he tried to save himself from drowning.The victim said he was “lucky to be alive” after being attacked by a “complete psychopath” on the c
  
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• Catalan protesters call for return of jailed or exiled leaders

  15-04-2018 16:25 via theguardian.com
  Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators take to the streets of BarcelonaMore than 300,000 people are estimated to have taken to the streets of Barcelona to call for the return of the 16 Catalan leaders who are in prison or have fled the country in the aftermath of last October’s unilateral independence referendum.
  Sunday’s mass demonstration, which was called by the two main Catalan pro-independence groups and backed by the regional branches of Spain’s two biggest unions, took p
  
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• Australia doesn’t exist! And other bizarre geographic conspiracies that won’t go away

  15-04-2018 16:00 via theguardian.com
  A theory denying the existence of the country is gaining ground. But the suggestion that countries and cities are mere figments of our imagination is a meme that dates back to the birth of the webAustralia doesn’t exist. The signs were there the whole time: in what country is the only thing more poisonous than the snakes the spiders? How did we ever believe that kangaroos were a thing?This discovery, believed by some to be a joke or a conspiracy theory, has been circulating on social media
  
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• Channel 4 kicks off bids for new headquarters

  15-04-2018 15:58
  More than a dozen cities and regions have expressed an interest in hosting the broadcaster’s new home.Channel 4 is launching the search for a location for its new national headquarters by outlining its plans to more than 100 representatives of UK cities and regions on Monday.
  
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• Miloš Forman obituary

  15-04-2018 15:45 via theguardian.com
  Oscar-winning director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and AmadeusWhen Miloš Forman, who has died aged 86, travelled to Prague to shoot the film Amadeus in 1984, it was the first time he had set foot in his homeland for 16 years. He had fled communist Czechoslovakia in 1968 just before the Russians put an end to the Prague Spring.In the US, when he was offered One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), set in a state psychiatric hospital, he saw it as a metaphor for the confor
  
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• 12 hope-filled lies people tell themselves

  15-04-2018 15:36
  ‘I won’t hit the snooze button again.’
  
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• Donald Trump Says His Lawyers Are 'Deflated And Concerned'

  15-04-2018 15:30
  Donald Trump has launched an astonishing tirade against James Comey, claiming
  
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• Dashing doggies and Beyoncé at Coachella: Sunday's photo highlights

  15-04-2018 15:03 via theguardian.com
  The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world including Azaleas in Japan and netball victory at the Commonwealth Games Continue reading...
  
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• Why the politicians must set their sights on Facebook

  15-04-2018 15:00
  The data protection of tens of millions of Americans is now at the heart of questioning.In a tumultuous week in US politics, seven hours of testimony in Congressional committees about the data and privacy practices of a social platform nevertheless held the interest of the press and public almost to the exclusion of all else.Mark Zuckerberg – 106.9 million Facebook followers – is a person of intense interest not only to the US legislative process, but to a wider population whose live
  
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• Say cheese! Fondue’s unlikely return

  15-04-2018 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The Swiss national dish is making a comeback. Here’s how to make the classic, and, if you are not keen on resurrecting the 1970s staple, some modern twistsThe fondue is back. New research claims we are seeing a resurgence of a 1970s dinner-party set piece. Oxford University research has concluded that the fondue’s potential as a sharing dish and conversation piece is part of the attraction, but also the comforting enveloping nature of all that melted cheese (don’t forget the di
  
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• Janet Mock: ‘I’d never seen a young trans woman who was thriving in the world – I was looking for that’

  15-04-2018 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The 35-year-old activist and bestselling author tells her remarkable story – and explains why she’s working on a new drama about trans women of colour that will be nothing like TransparentJanet Mock is talking so fast I can’t keep up. One moment we are in Hawaii and she is living, desperately uncomfortably, as a little boy called Charles. The next she is 10 years old and has created the alter ego Keisha to enable her to talk to boys on the phone. Then she is living happily as a
  
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• Comic delivery: Josie Long and Jonny Donahoe on having a baby

  15-04-2018 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Just a month before their first child is due, the standup couple are doing a show together – seeking the audience’s parenting tips“It’s mad,” says Josie Long, “but it feels like the right thing to do.” Braving the blustery weather at a pavement cafe near their east London home, Long and fellow comedian Jonny Donahoe are discussing their unlikely new project, which enjoys its first and only UK performance next week. For Josie Long and Jonny Donahoe Are Ha
  
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• Chemical weapons watchdog confirms Novichok

  15-04-2018 14:55
  The use of Novichok in Salisbury has been confirmed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
  
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• Corbyn wants 'incontrovertible' proof before blaming Russia for Salisbury attack

  15-04-2018 14:50
  Jeremy Corbyn has said he wants "incontrovertible proof" before blaming Russia for the Salisbury nerve agent attack.Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons earlier this week backed the Government's stance on the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the cathedral city last month.The OPCW confirmed the toxin used was novichok - a military grade nerve agent developed by Russia in the 1980s.
  
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