General news

• Labour MPs call for action in emotional anti-Semitism debate

  17-04-2018 23:51
  Emotions ran high in the Commons as Labour MPs recounted their personal experiences of abuse and called on the party to take action against "corrosive" anti-Semitism.Luciana Berger was applauded by MPs from all sides of the chamber after speaking of the abuse she has faced, recalling receiving her first piece of hate mail when she was 19 which described her as a "dirty Zionist pig".Ms Berger said she had been accused of being a "paid-up Israeli operative", a traitor, an "absolute parasite", and
  
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• AP Top Extended Financial Headlines at 5:00 p.m. EDT

  17-04-2018 23:00
  UnitedHealth chased a 35 percent profit hike in last year's first quarter with a 30 percent jump in the first three months of 2018, as the nation's largest health insurer added more than 2 million customers ...
  
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• U.S. in talks with U.S. airlines about expiring Russia overflight deal

  17-04-2018 22:58
  The U.S. State Department met with U.S. carriers ahead of a deadline later on Tuesday to extend an agreement with Russia that would allow for continued overflights by U.S. airlines and said it was working to prevent any disruptions.The agreement between U.S. carriers and the Russian government expires at 7:59 p.m. (2359 GMT), State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a daily briefing."We don't want that kind of aviation disruption, so we're trying to facilitate a working arrangement," Nau
  
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• Fox News gives Sean Hannity 'full support' over Michael Cohen revelation

  17-04-2018 21:32
  Fox News gave Sean Hannity its “full support” on Tuesday, a day after the revelation that he was a client of Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s embattled personal lawyer and a man the Fox star had vociferously defended on the news channel without disclosing the relationship.Hannity, Fox’s biggest draw, was revealed to be a client of Cohen’s at a court hearing on Monday – an announcement that drew gasps from those in court.
  
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• Johnson calls for credible Myanmar probe into reported atrocities

  17-04-2018 21:25
  EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that Myanmar needed to start showing it is serious about the safety of the Rohingya and start a meaningful probe into atrocities which the United Nations has likened to ethnic cleansing.
  
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• Cambridge PC 'mounted pavement' to 'run man over', hearing told

  17-04-2018 21:04 via bbc.co.uk
  Rowan Huskisson tells a misconduct panel he did not intend to hit the man in Cambridge.
  
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• Sanofi's CFO Contamine to retire later this year

  17-04-2018 20:59
  PARIS (Reuters) - Sanofi'sexecutive vice president and chief financial officer, Jerome Contamine, plans to retire later this year, the French drugmaker said on Tuesday.
  
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• London killings: The violent material shared online in the capital

  17-04-2018 20:48 via bbc.co.uk
  From stab wounds, to a knife at a house party, BBC Newsnight uncovers disturbing images in the capital.
  
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• Jones cleared of misleading Welsh assembly

  17-04-2018 20:44 via bbc.co.uk
  An inquiry says Carwyn Jones did not breach the ministerial code over 2014 bullying culture claims.
  
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• Harry and fiancee Meghan to attend memorial service for Stephen Lawrence

  17-04-2018 20:38
  Prince Harry and his American fiancee Meghan Markle will attend a memorial service next week for Stephen Lawrence, a London teenager who was murdered in a racially motivated attack 25 years ago, Kensington Palace said on Tuesday.Harry, who will marry Markle at Windsor on May 19, will read a message of support from his father, Prince Charles, the palace said on Twitter.
  
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• AP Top Extended Financial Headlines at 2:33 p.m. EDT

  17-04-2018 20:33
  UnitedHealth chased a 35 percent profit hike in last year's first quarter with a 30 percent jump in the first three months of 2018, as the nation's largest health insurer added more than 2 million customers ...
  
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• Downing Street defends Home Office decision to destroy Windrush landing cards

  17-04-2018 20:27
  Downing Street has defended the Home Office's decision to destroy landing cards recording the arrival of Windrush generation immigrants to the UK.A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said disposing of the documents was the right decision to take, amid a row over the immigration status of people who came to Britain from the Commonwealth after the Second World War.Labour MP David Lammy said "heads must roll" at the Home Office, while shadow home secretary Diane Abbott labelled the revelation
  
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• Who are the Windrush generation?

  17-04-2018 20:25
  Theresa May meets with Caribbean leaders over the Government's "appalling" treatment of the so-called Windrush generation.
  
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• May faces embarrassing Brexit defeat in upper house

  17-04-2018 20:06
  Britain's upper house of parliament is expected to inflict an embarrassing defeat on Theresa May's government on Wednesday, challenging her refusal to remain in a customs union with the European Union after Brexit.The prime minister, who has struggled to unite her Conservatives over Brexit, has said Britain will leave the EU's single market and customs union after it quits the bloc next March so that London can negotiate its own free trade deals.
  
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• Harry and fiancee Meghan to attend memorial service for murdered teenager

  17-04-2018 20:03
  Prince Harry and his American fiancee Meghan Markle will attend a memorial service next week for Stephen Lawrence, a London teenager who was murdered in a racially motivated attack 25 years ago, Kensington Palace said on Tuesday.Harry, who will marry Markle at Windsor on May 19, will read a message of support from his father, Prince Charles, the palace said on Twitter.
  
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• May revels as Tory MPs shout down trigger-shy Syria sissy Corbyn

  17-04-2018 20:01
  ‘Oh Jeremy, enough already’: The prime minister ‘listens’ to the opposition leader.Photograph: PA
  
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• Letters, photos and a diary: a first world war soldier's suitcase of souvenirs – in pictures

  17-04-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  After serving on the western front, private Mick Ward from Bairnsdale in Victoria placed the memorabilia of his war into a small brown suitcase. Almost a century later, its contents – photos, letters and other mementos – have gone on display in Melbourne, offering a glimpse into one man’s experience and a chance to find out who he wasSuitcase of first world war mementos could unravel mystery of forgotten soldierContinue reading...
  
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• Couchsurfers at greater risk of suicide and self-harm than those on street, study suggests

  17-04-2018 20:00
  About 15,836 Australians indicated they were couchsurfing when applying for homelessness benefits in 2011-12, rising to 21,028 in 2013-14.Young couchsurfers report having worse mental health and greater risk of suicide and self-harm than those sleeping on the streets, a study has found.Preliminary results from a research project involving couchsurfers in Brisbane found they were twice as likely to describe their mental health as “poor” than those sleeping rough, and reported higher r
  
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• Big Tom, a voice from home for the Irish in Britain

  17-04-2018 20:00 via bbc.co.uk
  Siobhan Breatnach of the Irish Post reflects on the impact of Big Tom on Britain's Irish community.
  
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• UK political pollsters told to upgrade methods to improve predictions

  17-04-2018 19:58
  Britain's political pollsters have been told by a parliamentary committee to upgrade their methods to avoid the high-profile failures of recent years.Polls in Britain failed to predict the result of the last two general elections and the 2016 referendum on whether to stay in the European Union.In a report, the House of Lords committee on political polling and social media said there had been a widespread loss of confidence in polling.
  
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• County Antrim cows jump for joy after winter indoors

  17-04-2018 19:47 via bbc.co.uk
  Cows in Glarryford, County Antrim, taste freedom as they are released into a field after winter indoors.
  
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• Don’t call all landlords parasites

  17-04-2018 19:36
  ‘Rents are ridiculously high but this is much more to do with government policy of not permitting councils to build sufficient homes and letting land speculators control the market,’ writes Martin Cooper.Rhik Samadder’s view of landlords (Landlords are social parasites.Bitter experience taught us that when landlords have bad tenants there is little true protection for the landlord.
  
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• Amber Rudd’s Windrush apology does not to impress

  17-04-2018 19:36
  Home secretary Amber Rudd leaving Downing Street last week. ‘Civil servants don’t set policy, politicians do, and it is they who should take responsibility by doing the traditional thing and resigning,’ writes Roy Boffy.Amelia Gentleman’s article (Rudd’s U Turn: At last an end to the staggering heartlessness, 17 April) rightly welcomes the belated government U-turn over the Home Office’s appalling treatment of the Windrush generation.In 2012 David Cameron set
  
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• Corbyn under fire over anti-Semitism in parliament

  17-04-2018 19:34
  Britain's governing Conservative Party took aim at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday, blaming him for fuelling anti-Semitism in his opposition party by failing to tackle a culture that has led to threats against some of his lawmakers.Less than a month before local elections when Labour is expected to oust the Conservatives from many councils in London, a passionate debate in parliament underlined the depth of the criticism directed towards Corbyn over anti-Semitism.
  
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• BBC coverage of police raid left Cliff Richard distraught, court hears

  17-04-2018 18:57
  Cliff Richard and Gloria Hunniford outside the high court in London. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock
  
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• U.S. would like to see free trade deal with Japan - White House adviser

  17-04-2018 18:44
  White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday the United States would like to see a free trade deal with Japan at some point, noting the two countries had some differences on trade."The United States would probably like to see a free trade agreement come out at some point with Japan," he said.
  
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• Father handed gun to 14-year-old son to take blame for murder, court told

  17-04-2018 18:42
  A father accused of shooting dead a man on his doorstep placed the murder weapon into his 14-year-old son's hands for him to take the blame, jurors have been told.Preston Crown Court heard 50-year-old Matthew Moseley, who denies murder, "sought to manipulate" his son Thomas into saying he was the one that pulled the trigger and killed Lee Holt outside their family home.The father-of-two had turned up at the defendant's home in Oswaldtwistle, near Accrington in Lancashire, over an ongoing dispute
  
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• May: 'Not always appropriate' to debate overseas missions

  17-04-2018 18:40
  Theresa May has told MPs that it is 'not always appropriate' to debate overseas missions in advance.
  
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• Summer Grant: Dad gave chase when daughter blown '50ft into air' inside bouncy castle

  17-04-2018 18:32
  The father of a seven-year-old girl chased a bouncy castle as it blew "30 to 50ft in the air" and rolled down a hill with her inside, a court has heard.Lee Grant heard a scream and told onlookers "my daughter's in there" after seeing the inflatable lift into the air, hit a caravan and flip over at Harlow Town Park in Essex, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.Fairground worker William Thurston, 29, and his wife, Shelby Thurston, 26, are on trial accused of manslaughter by gross negligence and a heal
  
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• May accused of 'flagrant disregard' for Parliament over Syria strikes

  17-04-2018 18:32
  Theresa May has been accused of displaying a "flagrant disregard" for Parliament over the Syria airstrikes during a second day of debate sparked by Britain's role in the military action.The Prime Minister defended her decision not to get the approval of MPs before joining the US and France in targeting Bashar al Assad's chemical weapons facilities at the weekend.Mrs May said doing so would have compromised the "effectiveness of our operations and safety of British servicemen and women".
  
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• Theresa May's 'hostile environment' at heart of Windrush scandal

  17-04-2018 18:31
  Theresa May told the Telegraph in 2012 she wanted to create a ‘hostile environment for illegal migration’.Theresa May was two years into her job as home secretary when she made her strategy explicit, telling the Telegraph in 2012 her aim “was to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration”.The outcry over the treatment of the Windrush generation of migrants in Britain legally, but sometimes without the paperwork to prove it, has exposed the s
  
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• Dancers portraits come alive at Paris Art Fair

  17-04-2018 18:30
  At the Paris Art Fair, a Kenyan artist's colorful portraits of dancers on canvas came alive through a dance performance.
  
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• LGBT campaigners hope British PM's apology over anti-gay laws will fuel change

  17-04-2018 18:18
  LGBT campaigners were hopeful on Tuesday that a call by British Prime Minister Theresa May for Commonwealth countries to reformoutdated anti-gay legislation would help to stop widespread persecution and discrimination.Speaking as leaders of the 53 Commonwealth nations met in London, May said she "deeply" regretted the UK's role in fuelling "discrimination, violence and even death" as nobody should be persecuted for "who they are or who they love".About 37 of the 53 mostly former British colonies
  
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• Sir Cliff Richard: BBC coverage of police raid made me feel 'violated and betrayed'

  17-04-2018 18:13
  Sir Cliff Richard felt "violated and betrayed" by the BBC's decision to broadcast footage of a police search of his apartment, the High Court has heard.Television presenter Gloria Hunniford, a long-term friend of the singer, said he had seemed "utterly distraught".Sir Cliff has told the judge how BBC coverage of the police raid on his home in August 2014 left him feeling "forever tainted".
  
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• Summer Grant: Bouncy castle that killed girl not 'adequately anchored'

  17-04-2018 18:12 via bbc.co.uk
  Summer Grant died because the inflatable she was on wasn't "adequately anchored" a court hears.
  
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• Trump’s approval on trade erodes where tariffs bite - Reuters/Ipsos poll

  17-04-2018 18:11
  In March, 40 percent of people in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania voiced approval for the president's handling of trade, down from 45 percent in January 2018 and the 49 percent approval rating he enjoyed a year ago.While Republicans in the region still overwhelmingly support the president, approval on trade issues dropped sharply from 86 percent in January to 74 percent in March.
  
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• Royal wedding obsession: fun can deepen to mental health problem

  17-04-2018 18:09
  Fans of the British royals have been awash in glittering titillation over the upcoming nuptials of Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle, but counsellors warn there is a dark side: extreme and potentially dangerous obsession.Mental health concerns have been raised by some fans' deep fascination with the UK royal family, which seems to be at an all-time high in the months since Harry and Meghan announced their engagement in December 2017.With millions drawn into the fairytale love story
  
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• 450 jobs at risk as M&S axes distribution centre in Warrington

  17-04-2018 17:59
  Marks & Spencer (M&S) has announced the closure of a second major distribution centre, putting 450 more jobs at risk.The retailer said its Hardwick site outside Warrington, operated by XPO Logistics and DHL, would be surplus to requirements from September because of capacity improvements elsewhere.M&S logistics director, Gordon Mowat, said: "Closing Hardwick will help to remove some complexity from our network and speed up our supply chain.
  
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• St Helena's cherished lifeline ship to return as anti-piracy armoury

  17-04-2018 17:50
  The RMS St. Helena, Britain's last working postal ship, was for nearly three decades the main source of contact between one of humanity's remotest islands and the outside world.Now the ship, cherished by the 4,500 residents of British-ruled St. Helena, will start a new life as a floating armoury, packed with automatic weapons, bullet-proof jackets and night vision goggles, all stored for maritime security operatives."The ship is good to go with a few adjustments," said Mark Gray, a former Britis
  
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• Government wins Commons vote over Syria military action

  17-04-2018 17:45
  Jeremy Corbyn speaks in the Commons during its second debate on the Syria military strikes.Parliament must “take back control” of military matters by passing a law requiring the government to seek MPs’ approval before launching military action overseas, Jeremy Corbyn has argued, though Tory MPs won a symbolic vote on a Labour motion.Corbyn whipped Labour MPs to oppose the motion, suggesting parliament had been given the chance to scrutinise the UK missile strikes in response to
  
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• AP Top Extended Financial Headlines at 11:39 a.m. EDT

  17-04-2018 17:39
  UnitedHealth chased a 35 percent profit hike in last year's first quarter with a 30 percent jump in the first three months of 2018, as the nation's largest health insurer added more than 2 million customers ...
  
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• Windrush scandal: Theresa May 'genuinely sorry' over deportation row

  17-04-2018 17:30
  Theresa May has told Caribbean leaders she is "genuinely sorry" for the "anxiety caused" by a row over the immigration status of Britain's Windrush generation.The Prime Minister hosted her counterparts from the Commonwealth inside Downing Street on Tuesday afternoon, during which she assured them that the Government was not seeking to "clamp down" on citizens from the region - many of whom have called Britain their home for decades."I want to dispel any impression that my Government is in some s
  
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• Prince William: I love Nando's, it's peri peri nice

  17-04-2018 17:26
  Prince William might be used to fine dining and lavish hospitality, but the heir to throne has revealed he also likes tucking into a Nando's.The Duke of Cambridge, who is expecting his third child with Kate Middleton, was introduced to the popular chicken restaurant chain by one of his Met Police protection officers.The prince joins the likes of Jay-Z, David Beckham and Rihanna, who are also said to enjoy the spicy peri peri chicken on offer at the restaurants.
  
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• Exclusive: Russia's drive to replace Western power technology hits snag

  17-04-2018 17:23
  Russia's drive to build a large power-generating turbine to lessen its dependence on Western technology has suffered a major set-back after a prototype broke beyond repair, two sources familiar with the project told Reuters.In the past few years Russia has imported the large-capacity gas turbines required to run modern power stations from firms such as Siemens, GE and Alstom.After Western sanctions were imposed on Russia over the conflict with Ukraine four years ago, Russian President Vladimir P
  
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• Jessie J wins China singing talent show contest

  17-04-2018 17:21 via bbc.co.uk
  The singer swapped the judge's chair for performing as a contestant on TV show Singer.
  
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• Probation boss defends second job, arguing she lacks 'commitments of young women'

  17-04-2018 17:17
  The chief inspector of the UK's probation service has defended taking on a second job, suggesting she could do both as she does not have young children.Dame Glenys Stacey's response left the chairman of the Justice Committee "shocked" as she was challenged over whether she would be able to take on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) review into farm inspection.Dame Glenys said she would be prioritising her probation work but had to "make some adjustments" - saying she
  
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• Stephen Lawrence: The Murder That Still Haunts Britain, 25 Years On

  17-04-2018 17:05
  Stephen Lawrence was 18 when he was murdered by a gang in a racist attack as
  
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• Lloyds reveals 49 banks to close with 305 jobs cut

  17-04-2018 16:58
  Lloyds Banking Group is taking the axe to its UK branch network again by announcing 49 further closures, with 305 staff losing their jobs.
  
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• UK says nerve agent used to poison ex-Russian spy was in liquid form

  17-04-2018 16:49
  The nerve agent used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter at his home in southern England last month was delivered in a liquid form, British officials said on Tuesday.Skripal, 66, who as a colonel in Russian military intelligence betrayed dozens of agents to Britain's foreign spy service, was found slumped unconscious on a bench in the city of Salisbury along with his daughter Yulia on March 4.Britain has blamed Russia for the attack which the authorities said was carried
  
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• Caroline Nokes MP's Romsey office evacuated over suspicious substance

  17-04-2018 16:45
  The address evacuated houses the Romsey Conservative club as well as Caroline Nokes’ office.A letter containing a suspicious substance sent to the constituency office of the immigration minister Caroline Nokes was not found to pose any risk, police said.The office in Romsey, Hampshire, was evacuated on Tuesday after police received a report of a suspicious substance at the premises.
  
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