General news

• 'Handful' of people wrongly deported from UK, Home Office official admits

  08-05-2018 23:55
  Hugh Ind told the Home Affairs Select Committee there had been occasions where individuals had been brought back to Britain following wrongful removal.Asked by MPs to give a precise figure, the Home Office's most senior immigration enforcement official said it was "up to five".This came a matter of minutes after immigration minister Caroline Nokes said she was not aware of any cases.
  
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• Shock defeat rounds off series of Brexit reverses in House of Lords

  08-05-2018 22:42
  The Government has suffered an unexpected Brexit defeat in the Lords, rounding off a series of reverses in the upper chamber.Peers backed retaining key aspects of the EU's single market through continued participation in the European Economic Area (EEA) by 245 votes to 218, a majority of 27.It came in defiance of both the Government and Opposition frontbenches and followed earlier defeats on the Brexit date and participation in EU agencies.
  
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• May suffers defeat in House of Lords over plans to leave EU single market

  08-05-2018 22:06
  Britain's upper house of parliament on Tuesday inflicted another embarrassing defeat on Prime Minister Theresa May's government on Tuesday, challenging her plan to leave the European Union's single market after Brexit.May, who has struggled to unite the government behind her vision of Brexit, has said Britain will also leave the European Union's single market and customs union after it quits the bloc next March.
  
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• Britain's upper house of parliament votes in favour of staying in EU's single market

  08-05-2018 22:05
  Britain's upper house of parliament on Tuesday inflicted another defeat on Prime Minister Theresa May's government, voting in favour of staying in the European Union's single market.The House of Lords voted 245 to 218 in favour of the amendment to the government's key Brexit blueprint that will sever political, financial and legal ties with the EU.The amendment is opposed by the government and can potentially be overturned in parliament's lower chamber, where May has a slim majority.
  
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• EU withdrawal bill: 14 defeats in the Lords for the government

  08-05-2018 21:44
  Peers in the House of Lords in April as the government suffered its first defeat.The government lost 14 votes as the EU withdrawal bill made its way through the House of Lords.No repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 until the government has told parliament what steps it has taken to negotiate the UK’s participation in a customs union with the EU.
  
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• Argentina seeking credit line from IMF

  08-05-2018 21:23
  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — President Mauricio Macri said Tuesday that Argentina has begun talks on a financing deal with the International Monetary Fund following a sharp devaluation of its currency and amid a difficult "global scenario."
  
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• Debbie Abrahams loses Labour frontbench role amid bullying claims

  08-05-2018 21:19
  Debbie Abrahams has strongly denied claims she engaged in bullying behaviour towards her staff.The Labour frontbencher Debbie Abrahams has been sacked from the shadow cabinet after an investigation into workplace bullying.The shadow work and pensions secretary, who had been suspended, has now been referred to Labour NEC’s disputes committee over the allegations.
  
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• Debbie Abrahams sacked from shadow cabinet after workplace bullying investigation

  08-05-2018 21:09
  Debbie Abrahams has been sacked from Labour's shadow cabinet after an investigation into workplace bullying, a spokesman has said.The party said back in March that Ms Abrahams had "stood aside from her frontbench role while the Labour Party investigates an employment issue".Ms Abrahams, who represents Oldham East and Saddleworth, said she had not agreed to stand aside from her role as shadow work and pensions secretary, and claimed she had been a victim of a "bullying culture of the worst kind".
  
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• Row after portrait of Theresa May is removed from Oxford University display

  08-05-2018 20:48
  A portrait of the Prime Minister has been removed from the walls of her university's geography department after students wrote critical messages around it.The photograph of Theresa May, who read the subject at St Hugh's College, Oxford, was put up as part of a display about high-achieving alumnae.Critical messages were pinned around the portrait saying: "Let in every refugee.
  
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• Civil service advice to Amber Rudd during immigration row to be examined

  08-05-2018 20:27
  Amber Rudd , then home secretary, gives evidence to the home affairs select committee.The top civil servant at the Home Office has announced an inquiry into the advice given to Amber Rudd by members of the civil service “before, during and after” the select committee hearing that ultimately led to her resignation.Rudd resigned as home secretary last month after conceding she had inadvertently misled the committee over the existence of deportation targets in the department.
  
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• Hung, withdrawn and re-quartered: May portrait in Oxford row

  08-05-2018 20:26
  St Hugh’s College says it will reinstate the picture after a counter campaign from Tory MPs accused protesters of ‘no-platforming’ the prime minister.A row has broken out over a portrait of Theresa May which was removed from the walls of her alma mater, the University of Oxford, after students and academics objected to her being included in a celebration of female geographers.The picture of the prime minister, who graduated from St Hugh’s College with a second class degre
  
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• Side effect from osteoporosis drug uncovers 'cure' for baldness

  08-05-2018 20:13
  Baldness could become a thing of the past, thanks to the unusual side effect of an osteoporosis drug.Tests of a drug designed to treat brittle bone disease saw the agent promote hair growth.The discovery, still to be tested in clinical trials, could open up a whole new approach to treating hair loss in both men and women, researchers believe.
  
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• Hey England fans, everything'll be fine in Russia. Probably

  08-05-2018 20:02
  Russian supporters attack an England fan at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille during Euro 2016.Time was when the name “England football supporter” meant something.Now, though, we’re in danger of being completely outclassed by the Russians, whose supporters included robbery and attempted murder on their CVs during the near riot in Marseille after the England v Russia game at the 2016 Euros.
  
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• New funding system leaves schools worse off, say headteachers

  08-05-2018 19:49
  The survey found 80% of headteachers have cut their numbers of teaching assistants and support staff.A majority of headteachers say a new funding system introduced this year to iron out budget inequities between schools in different areas has left them worse off, a poll has found.Despite the introduction of the national funding formula (NFF) in April, school leaders reported that their budgets are still in crisis, with 80% of schools having to cut their numbers of teaching assistants and support
  
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• Watch this dramatic rescue of a car driver from alligator-infested waters

  08-05-2018 19:30
  Cops jumped into a lake to save a motorist after a crash – and the incident was caught on bodycams.
  
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• Exclusive: Concerns Over PrEP Trial As Charity Leading NHS Study Announces Shock Closure

  08-05-2018 19:28
  Thousands of people receiving HIV prevention medication in a pivotal NHS trial
  
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• Camilla: 'If we don't talk about domestic abuse, it's going to get worse'

  08-05-2018 19:21
  The Duchess of Cornwall has spoken exclusively to Sky News about how knowing people who have suffered from domestic violence was one of the reasons why she wanted to draw attention to the issue of abuse.Camilla was speaking at a women's refuge in Lyon, France, as part of a week-long royal tour with her husband Prince Charles, and the princes of France and Greece.Asked why she had decided to make domestic violence a focus for her charity work, she said: "I'd always known about domestic abuse, in
  
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• UK government's plans for fixed Brexit date defeated in House of Lords

  08-05-2018 19:12
  Britain's upper house of parliament on Tuesday inflicted a new defeat on Prime Minister Theresa May’s government on Tuesday, challenging her decision to fix a date next year to leave the European Union.The government has already set the clock ticking on a two-year exit process that has so far failed to deliver a divorce deal and which was damaged by her gamble on a snap election which cost her party its majority in parliament.Some members of parliament criticised the government's plan to i
  
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• Peers vote to remove exit date from Government's flagship Brexit bill

  08-05-2018 19:12
  The Government has suffered its 12th Lords defeat on its flagship piece of Brexit legislation.Peers backed a cross-party amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill - to remove the Brexit date of 29 March 2019 from the legislation - by 311 votes to 233, a majority of 78.The attempt to delete the exit date was led by the Duke of Wellington, who said he was trying to help the Government and not "thwart the process".
  
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• Twitter hints at plans to add encryption

  08-05-2018 19:06
  Twitter hints at plans to add encryption
  
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• Racial abuse at Chelsea youth club: More victims emerge

  08-05-2018 19:06
  Three more former Chelsea youth footballers have come forward to claim they were subjected to racial abuse by their coach on a regular basis in the 1980s and 1990s."Friday was always the easiest day of the week because we would have a match on a Saturday," one of the players told Sky News."He told me I had won," recalled the former striker, who played in the Chelsea first team in a handful of friendlies.
  
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• EEA membership could bridge the Brexit divide

  08-05-2018 19:04
  UK membership of the European Economic Area is the only policy that respects the referendum and delivers a “jobs-first Brexit” (Boris Johnson attacks Theresa May’s ‘crazy’ customs plan, 8 May).It removes the threat of an Irish border by allowing EU-wide frictionless free trade.It does not require membership of the common agriculture and fishing policies, monetary union (euro), or adherence to the European court of justice.
  
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• Ring's Neighbors app is a modern take on neighborhood watches

  08-05-2018 19:03
  Smart doorbell company Ring, recently acquired by Amazon, wants to drive a new
  
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• We don’t need another inquiry into the press after Leveson

  08-05-2018 19:01
  Ed Miliband’s piece (The victims of the press need Leveson to be completed, 8 May) only serves to illustrate the flaws in the argument that a further inquiry into the press is justified.A major public consultation firmly rejected reopening the inquiry.The Miliband/Clarke amendment to the data protection bill calls for an inquiry that goes much further than Leveson 2.
  
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• Home Office told of Windrush errors five years ago, experts say

  08-05-2018 19:00
  The Home Office was repeatedly warned that Windrush generation residents had been wrongly classified as being in the country illegally as long ago as 2013, according to immigration advice experts.After Capita was awarded a Home Office contract in 2012 to help target around 174,000 migrants who had overstayed their visas, pro bono legal advisers said they began to be contacted by older, Caribbean-born individuals concerned that they were receiving text messages and letters advising them to leave
  
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• Government faces possible defeat on press regulation votes

  08-05-2018 18:56
  One amendment seeks to impose punitive legal costs on media organisations that have not signed up to Impress.The government is facing two difficult votes, and potential defeats, over amendments to the data protection bill that are due to be debated in the Commons on Wednesday.The amendments would establish a “Leveson two” inquiry into the misuse of personal data by the media, and a measure that would impose punitive legal costs on English media organisations that refuse to sign-up to
  
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• 'Will you resign over customs row Boris?'

  08-05-2018 18:50
  Mark Austin asks Boris Johnson whether he will resign over the customs row.
  
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• These sassy responses to a sexist meme will make you proud to be a woman

  08-05-2018 18:45
  ‘Equal pay for you.’
  
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• UK government defeated by Lords over plans for fixed Brexit date

  08-05-2018 18:39
  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's upper house of parliament inflicted a second defeat on Prime Minister Theresa May's government on Tuesday, challenging her decision to fix the official date of the country's departure from the European Union.
  
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• MLB: London's Olympic Stadium to host New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox clash

  08-05-2018 18:35
  Baseball will be coming to London when the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox face each other in two regular-season games at the Olympic Stadium in 2019.The matches will be held on 29 and 30 June and will be the first Major League Baseball (MLB) games to be staged in Europe.MLB said it was also "committed to playing in London in 2020 and our intention is to establish a long-term footprint in the city".
  
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• Paraglider dies and another injured in mid-air crash near Peterborough

  08-05-2018 18:29
  A paraglider pilot has died following a mid-air collision near Peterborough.A second paraglider suffered potentially life-changing injuries in the crash and was taken to hospital, according to Peterborough Today.Emergency services were called to Rippons Drove in Northborough, eight miles north of Peterborough, at about 8.45am on Monday.
  
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• Jeremy Hunt defends hour's training given to breast cancer helpline staff

  08-05-2018 18:00
  Almost 14,000 calls have now been received by a helpline established after the breast cancer screening scandal emerged, as the Government defends how staff dealing with concerned women had just one hour's training.In an update to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs that 65,000 letters were sent out to those affected last week, with further letters being sent this week and the first invitations for catch-up screenings to be sent next week.Mr Hunt had previously
  
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• All Salisbury sites released for decontamination apart from Skripal home

  08-05-2018 17:15
  Police cordons are to be lifted at all sites in Salisbury to allow decontamination to start, apart from at the home of Sergei Skripal.More than two months after the former spy and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent, all but one site in the Wiltshire city has now been released by police.Officers are continuing to trawl through more than 5,000 hours of CCTV and examine more than 1,350 exhibits as they continue their investigation into the use of a chemical weapon on 4 March, which
  
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• Woman in her 20s 'attacked with noxious substance' outside Brixton station

  08-05-2018 17:11
  Police are investigating after a woman was reportedly attacked with a "noxious substance" outside a Tube station in London.Officers said the woman, in her 20s, may have been on a bus at the time of the incident in Brixton Road, near Brixton station, at about 1.45pm."This attack appears to be a targeted & not random," Lambeth Police said in statement posted to Twitter.
  
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• Met Police under urgent review over 'forensics mishandling'

  08-05-2018 17:05
  An urgent review will be conducted into the Met Police amid allegations 33 cases were "affected" by forensics mishandling.The Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) is to investigate allegations relating to the suspected mishandling of examinations within the Met's forensic laboratory.It is claimed a scientist working within the Met Forensic Services did not complete the requisite examinations and in some cases, wrongly informed investigators about the progress of the examinations.
  
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• UK weather: Britain to cool down after bank holiday scorcher

  08-05-2018 16:56
  British people have returned to work after a record-breaking bank holiday Monday, with parts of the country baking in temperatures of nearly 29C.Many will have been wondering if the weekend scorcher marked the start of a sweltering summer, or if the UK's typically unpredictable weather will take a turn for the worst.Sky News weather producer Joanna Robinson has dampened hopes of another heatwave, saying there is nothing to suggest the UK can expect one in the next two weeks.
  
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• Met launches urgent review into suspected forensics blunders

  08-05-2018 16:53
  The forensic scientist, suspended in March, is alleged to have failed to carry out tests.A new forensics scandal has hit the criminal justice system with 33 cases involving rapes and serious crimes being urgently reviewed to see if the convictions of those jailed are safe.Under review are 33 cases dating from 2012-17 including 21 rapes and sexual assaults and 12 cases involving other serious violence, drug offences and burglary.
  
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• Sir Cliff Richard's self-esteem may have suffered 'permanent damage' at trial

  08-05-2018 16:31
  Sir Cliff Richard may have suffered "possibly permanent damage" to his self-esteem after a search of his home was broadcast by the BBC in 2014, the singer's barrister has said.Justin Rushbrooke QC told the High Court that Sir Cliff, 77, should get "very substantial damages" of more than £175,000.The coverage, which included use of a helicopter, was a "very serious invasion" of his privacy, Sir Cliff has told the judge.
  
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• 'I feel like I'm drowning': healthcare inspector faces deportation by Home Office

  08-05-2018 16:24
  At least 1,000 highly skilled migrants seeking indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK are facing deportation (picture posed by a model).A former inspector for a health and social care regulator is facing deportation by the Home Office over a minor tax amendment which, they say, has made her a risk to national security.Vee Matu is one of at least 1,000 highly skilled migrants seeking indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK who are facing deportation because of the application of the contro
  
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• Glencore's Congo woes throw spotlight on country's cobalt dominance

  08-05-2018 16:12
  A tussle between Glencore and its former partner over Congo cobalt royalties highlights the nascent electric vehicle sector's vulnerability, with an escalation seen crippling supplies of the key battery metal.Glencore won an injunction in a London court last week against freezing orders brought by a company affiliated with its former partner Dan Gertler, who is seeking up to $3 billion (2.2 billion pounds) in unpaid and future royalties.The orders, served on Glencore subsidiaries Mutanda Mining
  
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• House prices in sharpest monthly fall since 2010

  08-05-2018 15:54
  House prices recorded their sharpest month-on-month decline for nearly eight years in April, according to lender Halifax.Halifax cautioned that the figure, the biggest drop since September 2010, partly reflected monthly volatility after a month-on-month rise of 1.6% in March.
  
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• Salisbury attack: police continue to examine home of Sergei Skripal

  08-05-2018 15:29
  Detectives are continuing to carry out investigative work on the house of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal more than two months after the nerve agent attack on him and his daughter, Yulia.All other sites related to the attack in Salisbury have been released by the police for decontamination to take place, a cabinet meeting was told on Tuesday.Theresa May and senior ministers were informed that more than 400 police officers, including 250 counter-terrorism specialists, had been involved in t
  
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• Met Gala 2018: let us give thanks for the best dress code of all time

  08-05-2018 15:20 via theguardian.com
  This year’s theme of Catholicism in fashion was a challenge that required a leap of faith. But from Rihanna’s pope to Lena Waithe’s rainbow-flag cape, the opening night ball was a triumphIt took curator Andrew Bolton several years to convince the Vatican to give its blessing to Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, the blockbuster show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York that explores divine inspiration in fashion. One imagines Rome’s reluctance stemme
  
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• Grenfell Tower: fire-resistant cladding plan was dropped

  08-05-2018 15:20
  Firefighters spray water on Grenfell Tower two days after the fire in west London killed 72 people.A costed proposal to fit Grenfell Tower with panels that did not burn was dropped under pressure from the Conservative council to slash the cost of the refurbishment, the Guardian has been told.A cladding company which fits nonflammable aluminium panels claimed it provided a £3.3m quote to fit its system to the 24-storey tower in west London at the request of Leadbitter, Kensington and Chelse
  
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• Watch: Awesome timelapse footage shows Hawaii lava flow devouring car

  08-05-2018 14:59
  The incredible power of the eruption of the Kilauea volcano is laid bare.
  
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• May orders more work on Brexit customs plans after 'crazy' jibe

  08-05-2018 14:45
  British Prime Minister Theresa May has told officials to do more work on future EU customs arrangements after her foreign minister attacked one of her Brexit proposals as "crazy".Boris Johnson's broadside against what some say is May's preferred option for ensuring Britain's new border with the European Union is as frictionless as possible underlines the deep divisions over what post-Brexit ties should look like.May's decision to leave the EU's customs union, which sets tariffs for goods importe
  
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• Scientists train regal jumping spider called Kim to leap on demand

  08-05-2018 14:41
  The regal jumping spider - named Kim - was trained by a team at the University of Manchester.Officially named Phidippus regius, the arachnids measure about 2cm long and have a natural ability to jump up to six times their body length.Lead scientist Dr Mostafa Nabawy and her team hope that learning how Kim makes her leaps might help with the development of a generation of robots inspired by nature.
  
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• My midlife crisis is more of an ongoing personal emergency – at least I only bought a banjo

  08-05-2018 14:31
  ‘Nobody goes through a midlife crisis without experiencing real despair, a real fear, real soul-searching.’ Photograph: Bernd Vogel/Getty Images
  
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• Brexit weekly briefing: Boris Johnson launches customs union broadside

  08-05-2018 13:53
  The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has openly criticised Theresa May’s preferred ‘customs partnership’ as ‘crazy’.You can also catch up with our Brexit Means … podcast right here.Also, producing the Guardian’s independent, in-depth journalism takes time and money.
  
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• This piano skit about a guy named Steve proves music and comedy are the best combination

  08-05-2018 13:46
  Everyone knows a ‘Steve’.
  
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