General news

• Acupuncture doesn't improve likelihood of IVF success, study finds

  15-05-2018 23:48 via theguardian.com
  Researchers find a 0.5% difference in the rate of women who received acupuncture and had a live birth compared with those given sham treatment
  • Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morningAcupuncture doesn’t improve the chances of women undergoing IVF having a baby, according to a study of hundreds of Australian and New Zealand women.The treatment is widely used but researchers for the latest fertility study, published in the Journal of the American Medica
  
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• 'Remarkable isn't it?' Farage MOCKS Sturgeon over her failure to accept referendum results

  15-05-2018 23:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  NIGEL FARAGE has ridiculed Nicola Sturgeon’s ability to accept referendum results after the Scottish Parliament voted against giving consent to the UK Government’s Withdrawal Bill.
  
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• Windrush: Sixty-three people may have been wrongly removed

  15-05-2018 23:30 via bbc.co.uk
  Officials have found the records of people who were made to leave the UK, the home secretary reveals.
  
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• Kyle Edmund ready to calmly climb even higher after Novak Djokovic win

  15-05-2018 23:30 via theguardian.com
  • British No 1 can rise in the world top 20 on clay in Rome and Paris
  • Lucas Pouille is second-round opponent after beating Malek JaziriKyle Edmund, the absurdly quiet man of tennis, might be ready to make some noise but solely with the “thwap” of his racket strings as he unleashes another withering forehand here this week and perhaps at the French Open starting on Sunday week. Even beating Novak Djokovic in Madrid a week ago to move into the top 20 for the first time
  
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• Primary pupils refuse to stand down in battle with Lord Lyon over school crest

  15-05-2018 23:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  PRIMARY pupils are to launch a fundraising drive – so they can afford to keep wearing their school badge. Children at Craigie Primary School in Perth had discovered they were breaking an ancient law on heraldic design and the school faced an £1,800 bill as a result.
  
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• Jack Wilshere and Joe Hart in the cold after losing key to England door

  15-05-2018 23:27 via theguardian.com
  Arsenal midfielder pays World Cup price for underachieving while Manchester City exit began goalkeeper’s slideJack Wilshere and Joe Hart appear to be the early casualties of Gareth Southgate’s England planning – two relatively young players who would have imagined an international future at the last World Cup.Wilshere got a chance in Brazil only once England had been eliminated, whereas Hart played in the first two games but made way for Ben Foster as Roy Hodgson rang the chang
  
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• Rabbits are latest species to see huge decline in numbers

  15-05-2018 23:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  SCOTLAND’S rabbit population has declined by up to 80 per cent since 1995, according to new research. Figures from the British Trust for Ornithology show that the UK’s rabbit population has fallen by around 60 per cent, but has suffered even more north of the Border.
  
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• Jonna Andersson sets seal as Chelsea wrap up double with win at Bristol City

  15-05-2018 23:08 via theguardian.com
  • Bristol City Women 0-2 Chelsea Ladies
  • Goals from Drew Spence and Andersson seal league titleChelsea celebrated being crowned Women’s Super League One champions with a game to spare after racking up their fourth successive win. The jubilant scenes on the pitch at full‑time made particularly splendid viewing for Emma Hayes, with the Chelsea manager, who is 35 weeks pregnant with twins, watching the victory over Bristol City from the comfort of her own home.Between popping
  
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• Solo: A Star Wars Story review – Han Solo origins film is boisterous bromance

  15-05-2018 23:06 via theguardian.com
  Alden Ehrenreich ably apes Harrison Ford in this straightforwardly rollicking adventure, which betrays little trace of its troubled production Solo: A Star Wars Story is a crackingly enjoyable adventure which frankly deserves full episode status in the great franchise, not just one of these intermittent place-holding iterations. Ron Howard was born to direct it. Who’s next for the saga? Zemeckis? Spielberg?There’s a terrific ensemble cast-dynamic and an effortless channelling of the
  
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• The Windsors Royal Wedding Special review – gloriously brazen satire

  15-05-2018 23:00 via theguardian.com
  Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie’s ruthless comedy is a reminder that you can get away with a lot as long as you are funny“Yes!” shouts Meghan Markle. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Not in a When Harry Met Sally way, but in a Harry met Meghan and finally got around to proposing way (Channel 4). Actually, he hasn’t quite got the question out, but there is something he wants to ask her, he says. He is hiding something behind his back, but she knows what is c
  
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• Red review – Alfred Molina's portrait is as layered as a Rothko canvas

  15-05-2018 23:00 via theguardian.com
  Wyndham’s, London
  Michael Grandage directs a well-judged revival of John Logan’s play about the artist and his assistant ‘Make something new,” the painter Mark Rothko urges his young assistant in John Logan’s play. One is tempted to say the same to the play’s director, Michael Grandage, except that there are several justifications for reviving this piece. In 2009 it moved straight from the Donmar to Broadway, bypassing the West End; it enshrines a towering per
  
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• Danny Cipriani turned down French clubs to keep England hopes alive

  15-05-2018 23:00 via theguardian.com
  • Cipriani: ‘I’ve played the game just to play for England’
  • ‘I am the best version of myself right now,’ says fly-halfPatience has not often been a virtue credited to Danny Cipriani but the Wasps fly-half’s reward for sitting on hefty financial offers from French clubs was his first call‑up to the England squad under Eddie Jones and a two-year contract with Gloucester that will make him available for the World Cup next year.When Wasps decided
  
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• World Cup: England fans urged to show respect to Russians amid hooliganism fears

  15-05-2018 22:42
  England fans travelling to next month's World Cup in Russia have been told to expect "off-the-scale" levels of military-style police at the tournament.The Three Lions' opening game against Tunisia takes place in Volgograd - formerly Stalingrad - and supporters have been warned not to display flags on sensitive World War Two memorials or to provoke locals by singing inflammatory songs.Only one of England's Group G games has sold out so far and fewer than 10,000 fans are expected to travel.
  
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• Nigel Farage SPELLS OUT to Remainers why 'bureaucratic' EU is 'crumbling before our eyes'

  15-05-2018 22:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  NIGEL FARAGE has used the political situation in Italy, where two anti-EU parties are close to forming a coalition, to explain to Remainers why the European Union is "crumbling".
  
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• Erdoğan ends UK state visit by calling jailed journalists 'terrorists'

  15-05-2018 22:23 via theguardian.com
  Turkish president ignores call from Theresa May to not lose sight of defending democracyTurkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has ended his three-day state visit to the UK by insisting that all the journalists locked in Turkish jails were terrorist criminals, ignoring a warning from Theresa May not to lose sight of democratic values as he sought to defend his country from “the extraordinary pressures of a failed coup and Kurdish terrorism”.At a press conference in Down
  
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• Batter royale: why Brits and Americans will never agree on hot gloop

  15-05-2018 22:23 via theguardian.com
  There was British outrage about the New York Times recipe for a Dutch baby, which some felt was having a Yorkshire for puddingA perceived slight against the yorkshire pudding appears to have thrown the British public into a frenzy, thanks in part to the BBC’s shocking declaration that the “New York Times thinks Yorkshire pudding is a dessert”.According to BBC News: “confusion has reigned supreme on Twitter after the New York Times tweeted its version of a classic Yorkshir
  
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• Ireland’s moment in the sun comes just as it is setting on Test cricket

  15-05-2018 22:17 via theguardian.com
  Malahide on Saturday saw the first Irish Test XI take to the field, against Pakistan, but the game was far from a sellout and they have only 16 more Tests planned for the next five yearsNorth Richmond Street, being blind, is a quiet street. There is nothing there to tell you what went on at No 17, the red-brick terrace house where James Joyce lived as a kid. Round the back there is a courtyard garden, where Joyce spent happy hours batting against his brother John. “I remember having to bow
  
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• ‘City superwoman’ Morrissey to unveil gender diversity fund

  15-05-2018 22:15
  The "City Superwoman" who has played a vital role in increasing the number of women in British boardrooms is to spearhead the first mainstream fund that will invest in UK companies based on their gender balance.Sky News has learnt that Dame Helena Morrissey, the head of personal investing at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), will outline plans on Thursday for an index fund that will be weighted according to blue-chip companies' gender diversity across their workforces.LGIM, which
  
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• Gina Haspel: two Democratic senators signal backing for CIA nominee

  15-05-2018 22:07 via theguardian.com
  Support makes early Senate confirmation likely Trump CIA nominee writes: ‘I have learned hard lessons since 9/11’Two crucial Democratic senators announced on Tuesday that they will support Gina Haspel, Donald Trump’s nomination for CIA director, in a move that immediately tipped the balanced towards her being confirmed by Congress in relatively short order.Related: Sign up for the Guardian's US daily emailContinue reading...
  
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• Post-Brexit blueprint to be published before EU summit, says May

  15-05-2018 21:30
  Brexit supporters in the cabinet led my David Davis are determined to set the agenda for the talks with the EU.Theresa May has announced plans to publish, ahead of a critical Brussels summit next month, a Brexit white paper setting out her priorities for Britain’s future relationship with the European Union.The blueprint is expected to include a plan for a customs relationship that avoids re-establishing a hard Irish border, although the prime minister’s cabinet remains bitterly divi
  
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• Scotland unemployment falls but economy still lags behind the rest of the UK

  15-05-2018 21:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  SCOTLAND'S jobless total fell by 6,000 over three months but the economy continues to lag behind the rest of the UK. Figures for January to March this year showed the number of Scots at stood at 118,000, down from 124,000 in the previous three months.
  
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• Britain to publish Brexit position paper before June summit

  15-05-2018 21:21
  The British government will publish detailed plans for its future relationship with the European Union next month in an attempt to break the deadlock in Brexit negotiations.A so-called White Paper is likely to outline proposals for future customs arrangement and for specific sectors including financial services, agriculture and cars, according to two government officials.It will follow repeated complaints from EU officials that Britain has not been clear on what it wants.
  
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• UK weather forecast: Temperatures to DROP ahead of ANOTHER May Bank Holiday HEATWAVE

  15-05-2018 21:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  BRITAIN will embrace fluctuating weather over the next few weeks with temperatures expected to drop before a scorching royal wedding weekend and another May Bank Holiday which could break even more records.
  
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• Manchester Arena attack: How it changed lives

  15-05-2018 21:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Louise and Ben survived the bombing and met to talk about how the attack has affected them.
  
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• Tom Wolfe – a life in pictures

  15-05-2018 20:51 via theguardian.com
  The writer Tom Wolfe, who has died aged 88, was a great dandy, both in his elaborate dress and his neon-lit prose. Although he was in his late 50s when he became a bestselling novelist, with The Bonfire of the Vanities in 1987, he had been famous as a journalist since the mid-1960s to the point of international celebrity Continue reading...
  
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• Ed Smith makes bold start as England gamble on Jos Buttler and Dom Bess | Vic Marks

  15-05-2018 20:47 via theguardian.com
  The new national selector has taken calculated risks to freshen up the squad after a tough winter to face Pakistan in the first Test at Lord’sEd Smith did not disappoint. Not for the first time the England and Wales Cricket Board promised “fresh ideas” and Smith duly delivered some that were genuinely fresh, coherently explained and rationally justified, unlike one or two other members/employees of the board in recent times.He was also remarkably relaxed in his new role. He can
  
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• Up to 63 people could have been wrongly removed over Windrush scandal

  15-05-2018 20:43
  Up to 63 people could have been wrongly removed or deported because of the Windrush scandal, Sajid Javid has said.The Home Secretary revealed on Tuesday his department was investigating the cases following fears people who had been in the country lawfully for decades may have been forced to leave.Appearing at the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Mr Javid emphasised that the figures are not final and are subject to change.
  
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• Taliban launch large-scale assault on western Afghan city

  15-05-2018 20:43 via theguardian.com
  Security forces reportedly rushing reinforcements to Farah as insurgents armed with captured weapons flood into cityTaliban fighters armed with captured weapons and night vision goggles have flooded into the capital of Afghanistan’s western Farah province, forcing the governor to flee and driving security forces and officials into a handful of besieged compounds.Insurgents launched their attack on Farah city, near the Iranian border, around 2am, city residents said. Within hours they were
  
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• Meghan Markle's dad 'wants to walk her down aisle' but is 'in hospital'

  15-05-2018 20:32
  Meghan Markle's father has reportedly said he does want to walk his daughter down the aisle when she weds Prince Harry, if health allows it.The report in US celebrity gossip TMZ comes a day after doubts were cast over whether Mr Markle would attend Saturday's royal wedding in Windsor.The website said Ms Markle had tried calling him on Monday and sent him a text saying she loved him and was concerned about his health.
  
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• Steve Bell on the deaths of demonstrators in Gaza – cartoon

  15-05-2018 20:31 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• Cups and condoms: vendors offer up array of royal wedding memorabilia

  15-05-2018 20:24
  From masks and mugs to tea-bags and even condoms, royal fans can get their hands on all sorts of memorabilia to commemorate Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's upcoming wedding.The names and faces of Queen Elizabeth's grandson and his American fiancée adorn merchandise in shops across the British town of Windsor, where the couple will marry on Saturday and where vendors hope to capitalise on interest from locals and tourists.Bags, cups, plates and "Harry" and "Meghan" jars of yeast extract,
  
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• Republican governors back Trump's nomination for Nobel peace prize

  15-05-2018 20:07 via theguardian.com
  Seven governors write letter to Nobel committee praising Trump for ‘transformative efforts to bring peace to the Korean peninsula’Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s governor, and a group of fellow governors are backing Donald Trump’s nomination for the Nobel peace prize, citing what they called Trump’s “transformative efforts to bring peace to the Korean peninsula”. Related: Nobel prize in literature 2018 cancelled after sexual assault scandalContinue read
  
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• All the world's a stage: Thomas Markle and the art of the celebrity photo

  15-05-2018 20:07
  Despite the paparazzi’s image, many of the celebrity photographs that appear in the media are the product of deals between subject and photographer.“He’s been caught with his hands in the cookie jar,” is the unsympathetic verdict of paparazzi photographer George Bamby, after Meghan Markle’s father was caught apparently colluding with a photo agency to stage pictures of himself preparing for the royal wedding.Thomas Markle has been publicly humiliated – and may
  
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• Betfred to axe 4,500 jobs if ministers slash FOBT stakes

  15-05-2018 19:58
  The bookmaker which owns The Tote will axe more than 4,500 jobs if the Government implements plans to slash maximum stakes on gambling machines to just £2.Sky News has learnt that Betfred has told ministers that almost 900 of its shops - more than half its UK estate - will become loss-making overnight if they press ahead with reforms to Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs).In a letter to members of the home affairs sub-committee, Mark Stebbings, Betfred's managing director, warned that "mu
  
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• Number of billionaires worldwide surged to 2,754 in 2017

  15-05-2018 19:54 via theguardian.com
  Wealth-X census finds billionaires’ combined wealth increased to an all-time high of $9.2tn A record 357 new billionaires were minted last year as the already very wealthy saw their combined fortunes soar to an all-time high of $9.2tn (£6.8tn) - more than three times the UK’s gross domestic product. The number of billionaires worldwide increased by 14.9% to 2,754 in 2017 as the wealthy benefited from the “remarkable performances in equity markets and global economy”
  
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• Britain to publish Brexit position paper ahead of June summit

  15-05-2018 19:54
  Prime Minister Theresa May's government will publish detailed plans for its future relationship with the European Union next month, according to a government official, in an attempt to break the deadlock in Brexit negotiations.Diplomats and officials in Brussels have raised doubts about whether the bloc and London will be able to mark a milestone in the negotiations at the summit of EU leaders on June 28-29 and have complained Britain has not been clear on what it wants.The Department for Exitin
  
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• Bottle-balancing dance set for Transylvania festival in Manchester

  15-05-2018 19:48 via bbc.co.uk
  Traditional dancers practice balancing empty wine bottles on their heads for Góbéfest.
  
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• Anne Frank's 'dirty' jokes found on diary pages she covered over

  15-05-2018 19:48 via theguardian.com
  Digital technology helps decipher hidden passages on two pages masked with brown paperResearchers using digital technology on two pages of Anne Frank’s diary covered over with brown masking paper have discovered passages featuring four risque jokes and candid explanations of sex, contraception and prostitution.“Anyone who reads the passages that have now been discovered will be unable to suppress a smile,” said Frank van Vree, the director of the Netherlands Institute for War,
  
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• UK to detail 2040 new petrol and diesel car ban in weeks ahead

  15-05-2018 19:41
  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will release more details in the weeks ahead on its planned ban of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2040, business secretary Greg Clark said on Tuesday.
  
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• Scottish parliament refuses consent for Britain's EU withdrawal bill

  15-05-2018 19:31
  The Scottish parliament refused consent for Britain's flagship Brexit legislation on Tuesday, pushing Britain into constitutionally uncharted territory as London presses ahead with the bill regardless.The devolved Edinburgh legislature voted by 93 votes to 30 to deny consent for the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, currently going through the national parliament in London, which will cut political, financial and legal ties with the EU.Although the Scottish parliament has no veto over the bill,
  
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• Mikel Arteta is strong favourite to replace Arsène Wenger at Arsenal

  15-05-2018 19:28 via theguardian.com
  • Spaniard considering his backroom team after positive talks
  • Former captain seen as better fit than Max Allegri by clubMikel Arteta is the strong favourite to succeed Arsène Wenger as manager at Arsenal, with productive talks having progressed between his camp and the club.Conversations are so advanced that Arteta is giving thought to the people he might want in his backroom team. It is unclear whether Steve Bould would stay, with Wenger’s assistant not always seeing ey
  
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• Corbyn wise to keep his powder dry over Brexit negotiations

  15-05-2018 19:28
  Rafael Behr’s assessment of Jeremy Corbyn’s position in relation to the Brexit negotiations (It’s becoming ever clearer that Corbyn wants a hard Brexit, 15 May) contains two assumptions that are almost certainly wrong.Behr’s assumption is that Corbyn should shift his ground because he will not be able to hold his position much longer.
  
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• UK minister says Brexit deal must avoid new supply chain frictions

  15-05-2018 19:27
  Britain's business minister said the government understands the importance of avoiding friction in the automotive supply chain after Brexit, as ministers try to overcome differences as to what customs relationships Britain should have with the EU."I know… just how crucial it is that in the agreement that we reach with the European Union, that it respects the ability to continue those flourishing supply chain relationships by avoiding introducing new frictions," Greg Clark said on Tuesday.
  
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• Sir Philip Green's retail empire reports 42% drop in profits

  15-05-2018 19:16
  Sir Philip Green's retail empire has reported a 42% drop in profits for its last financial year, before pressure on high street retailers gathered momentum.Taveta Investments, home to the Arcadia group of brands including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, and Burton, said it made operating profits before goodwill, amortisation and exceptional items of £124.1m in the year to 26 August 2017.The chain's collapse a year later, amid stinging criticism from MPs, prompted Sir Philip to contribute £
  
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• Do Sats really matter - and if so, to whom?

  15-05-2018 19:14 via bbc.co.uk
  Sats week is a time of maximum stress in primary schools across England - but should it be?
  
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• 'She prayed she would be martyred': Gaza parents mourn their dead

  15-05-2018 19:13 via theguardian.com
  Reem Abu Irmana lost her 14-year-old daughter at the border; Ibrahim al-Toubasi lost his sonAt 14 years old, Wesal Sheikh Khalil had already made plans for her funeral. If Israeli troops were to shoot her during protests on the Gaza border, the Palestinian teenager had told her mother, she should be buried at the spot where she died or in the plot next to her grandfather’s grave.“She thought death was better than this life,” said Reem Abu Irmana a day after she lost her younges
  
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• U.S. consumer spending picking up, gasoline prices a threat

  15-05-2018 19:06
  U.S. retail sales increased marginally in April as rising gasoline prices cut into discretionary spending, but consumer spending appeared on track to accelerate after slowing sharply in the first quarter."A better pace of real consumer spending growth is taking hold in the second quarter," said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco.The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.3 percent last month after surging 0.8 percent in March.
  
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• UK royal biographer Andrew Morton taken to hospital

  15-05-2018 19:06
  LONDON (Reuters) - Royal biographer Andrew Morton has been taken to hospital after becoming unwell while on stage at a speaking event in London, a spokeswoman for his publisher Michael O’Mara Books said on Tuesday.
  
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• Parkland survivor aims to boost 'unacceptable' youth vote turnout

  15-05-2018 19:05 via theguardian.com
  Ryan Deitsch will spend his summer traveling across the country enabling voter registration, in a fresh push for gun control laws Instead of going to college this fall, Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school senior Ryan Deitsch will focus on turning out the youth vote in November’s midterm elections in hopes of a fresh push for stricter gun control laws. His summer vacation will be spent traveling across the country enabling voter registration. Deitsch and other student survivors of the 14 F
  
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• Hugh Grant has dumped romcoms. They deserved it | Natalie Haynes

  15-05-2018 18:59 via theguardian.com
  Without the star of Four Weddings and a Funeral, the genre must rediscover the wit that once made it greatAt the grand old age of 57, Hugh Grant has announced that he is done with romcoms. More interesting roles are coming his way, apparently. As they should: I would have cheerfully given him an Oscar for Paddington 2, in which he plays a far cleverer and more engrossing villain than Sam Rockwell’s turn in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. But it seems a shame to abandon the whole
  
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