General news

• MPs to debate repealing 1861 Northern Ireland abortion laws

  04-06-2018 23:58
  MPs will debate reforming abortion laws in Northern Ireland, where a termination is tantamount to murder.After the Republic of Ireland voted at the end of May to repeal laws banning abortion, Labour's Stella Creasy called on Monday for an emergency debate over repealing a similar law north of the border.From the Tory front bench, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley, Women and Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt and Environment Secretary Michael Gove notably indicated their support for the de
  
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• Revealed: Liverpool keeper Karius suffered concussion during Champions League final

  04-06-2018 23:31
  Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius suffered concussion during the Champions League final against Real Madrid, contributing to his error-strewn performance, doctors in the US have said.Medics from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said the German keeper appeared to have "visual spatial dysfunction" which could "affect performance".
  
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• Baby decapitated after doctor's error of judgement - tribunal

  04-06-2018 22:58
  A baby was decapitated after a doctor failed to perform an immediate emergency caesarean section, a medical tribunal has said.Dr Vaishnavy Vilvanathan Laxman instead proceeded with a regular delivery, despite the baby being feet first in the breech position.The baby, known as Baby B, had a prolapsed cord and low heart rate, and the mother's cervix was less than 4cm dilated, a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel said.
  
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• Grayling: Rail passengers to get compensation for 'totally unacceptable' timetable mess-up

  04-06-2018 22:26
  Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has defended his handling of "totally unacceptable" train delays and cancellations.Thousands of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Northern train services have been affected after temporary timetables were introduced in mid-May to last until the end of July to "stabilise" services to eventually reduce late-minute cancellations.Mr Grayling told MPs on Wednesday that GTR had assured him three weeks before the timetables started that they were "ready to implement
  
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• Clarity on Brexit plan now urgent, business bosses tell Theresa May

  04-06-2018 22:23
  Theresa May, the prime minister, arrives at 10 Downing Street, before a previous business advisory council meeting.Business chiefs have warned Theresa May that they urgently needed clarity on the government’s plans for Brexit to help them prepare their companies after the UK leaves the European Union in just 10 months.After a meeting of the prime minister’s business advisory council at No 10, which included leading firms Tesco, GlaxoSmithKline and BAE Systems, executives suggested th
  
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• British taxpayer set to lose billions in 2.6 billion pounds RBS sale

  04-06-2018 21:54
  Britain is selling some of its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland for about 2.6 billion pounds, although it will realise a significant loss as it unwinds its holding and returns the bailed-out lender to private hands.The government said on Monday it would sell about 7.7 percent of RBS, which was rescued in a 45.5 billion pound bailout at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, reducing its overall stake to 62 percent.The loss for taxpayers would be even greater when taking into account a break-eve
  
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• Breast screening errors may have led to 74 premature deaths

  04-06-2018 21:54
  Jeremy Hunt acknowledged the harm caused to tens of thousands of people by IT failings that persisted for nearly a decade.Mistakes in the breast screening process had a “devastating impact” on the lives of a large number of women and may have led to the premature deaths of as many as 74, the health secretary has admitted.While the estimate – initially feared to be in the hundreds – was lowered on Monday, Jeremy Hunt nevertheless acknowledged the harm caused to tens of tho
  
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• Failing Chris Grayling and the tale of the troublesome trains

  04-06-2018 21:42
  If you were writing a new series of The Thick of It, you’d hesitate to create a character like Chris Grayling for fear no one would believe in him.To say that Failing Grayling has more than his fair share of bad days is a category error.Or, as Grayling might see it, a total triumph.
  
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• Driver 'on phone' seconds before killing pregnant mother, court hears

  04-06-2018 21:27
  A motorist who killed a heavily pregnant mother and her unborn baby when he ploughed into her car at 70mph was using a mobile phone seconds before the crash, a court heard.Craig Scott, 51, told police he had been on his way to work and had been distracted by something on a bridge above the motorway and claimed and he finished a hands-free call with his employers five minutes earlier.Ms Evans, 27, was eight months pregnant when she died at the scene of the crash on the M4 near Port Talbot in Sout
  
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• Britain may invest directly in Hitachi's Welsh nuclear plant

  04-06-2018 21:14
  Britain is considering direct investment to help a unit of Japan's Hitachi Ltdbuild a new nuclear power station in North Wales, the country's business minister said on Monday.Britain needs to replace ageing nuclear reactors and coal plants coming offline in the 2020s, but new large plants have struggled to be built due to high up-front costs.Hitachi'sHorizon plans to construct at least 5.4 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity at two sites in Britain – the first at Wylfa Newydd in Wales.
  
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• UK business warns May post-Brexit frictionless trade more important than tariffs - source

  04-06-2018 21:01
  British business leaders warned Prime Minister Theresa May during a meeting on Monday that maintaining frictionless trade with the European Union after Brexit was probably more important than the imposition of any tariffs, a source told Reuters.May and several top ministers met business chiefs including the bosses of pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline, supermarket Tesco, carmaker Aston Martin, telecoms firm BT and construction company Balfour Beatty to discuss Brexit.May has ruled out Britain
  
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• May resists Tory calls to act on Northern Ireland abortion

  04-06-2018 21:00
  Theresa May is unwilling to act to change restrictive abortion rules in Northern Ireland, telling a private meeting of Conservative MPs that the political climate made change impossible.The prime minister was warned she would face escalating backbench pressure to offer a referendum or extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland, which has some of the most restrictive rules on abortion in the world.In Downing Street, May met the former home secretary Amber Rudd, former education secretary Ju
  
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• May tells Trump that US tariffs on EU steel are unjustified

  04-06-2018 20:37
  The call between Theresa May and Donald Trump was constructive and stressed their close national security relationship, Downing Street said.Theresa May has told Donald Trump that US tariffs on EU steel are “unjustified and deeply disappointing”, speaking by phone with the American president for the first time since the levies were imposed last week.Downing Street said the 30 minute call on Monday afternoon was constructive and stressed the close national security relationship between
  
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• Grenfell fire took three hours to encircle the building, inquiry hears

  04-06-2018 20:12
  Within three hours, it had spread around the whole perimeter of Grenfell Tower, the inquiry has heard.Going into his kitchen he saw smoke in the area of the tall fridge freezer by the window.“On the basis of the available evidence, it is more likely than not that the area of origin of the fire was in or around the tall fridge freezer in the southeast part of the kitchen,” Prof Niamh Nic Daéid, a fire and forensic investigations expert based at Dundee University, said in a repo
  
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• Wilderness: an immersive 360° journey into Patagonia – video

  04-06-2018 20:10 via theguardian.com
  The wilderness of Patagonia – shared by Argentina and Chile – has frequently been threatened by logging and oil industries. But in January, Chile signed a historic act of conservation, creating five protected national parks covering 4m hectares
  If you’re viewing on mobile you’ll need to download the YouTube app for the full 360° experience 
  If you’re viewing on desktop you’ll need the latest version of your web browser Continue reading...
  
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• 'It's been my whole life': Alan and his photobooths – a picture essay

  04-06-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  The famous photobooth at Flinders Street station in Melbourne has been the centre of one family’s life. Alan Adler tells how he got into the industry by chance in 1972, shares photos from down the years and explains why digital just doesn’t have the ‘warmth and character’ • Do you have your own pictures from the Flinders Street photobooth? Share them with our picture editor [email protected] 1972, Alan Adler owned a grocery shop that wasn’t doing ver
  
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• Grenfell Inquiry: Tower Was Riddled With Fire Risks And 'Stay Put' Advice Was Fatal, Experts Reveal

  04-06-2018 19:55
  Grenfell was riddled with fire risks as a result of the tower's refurbishment
  
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• Police will not reopen investigation into Jeremy Thorpe scandal

  04-06-2018 19:52
  Gwent police will not be reopening an investigation related to the Jeremy Thorpe scandal after the force wrongly assumed one of the suspects was dead.Detectives had believed Andrew Newton, who in the 1970s claimed he had been hired to kill Thorpe’s former lover Norman Scott, had died.Officers told the Crown Prosecution Service Newton was deceased and the CPS passed on this information to Scott, explaining it meant the new investigation of the case was over.
  
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• CFTC orders French bank Societe Generale to pay $475 million penalty

  04-06-2018 19:23
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday ordered French bank Société Générale SAto pay a $475 million penalty to resolve charges it manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor.
  
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• Stopped from joining Islamic State fiance in Syria, teen planned London attack

  04-06-2018 19:22
  A London teenager who wanted to attack the British Museum with grenades and firearms after she was prevented from travelling to Syria to marry an Islamic State militant was convicted on Monday of planning acts of terrorism.Safaa Boular, now 18, had started chatting online to fighter Naweed Husain when she was 16.Husain had sent Boular's older sister, Rizlaine Boular, 3,000 pounds to pay for Safaa's travel arrangements, but the sisters were arrested in August 2016.
  
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• MPs to vote on 15 Lords amendments to Brexit Bill on 12 June

  04-06-2018 19:18
  The Brexit Bill will return to the House of Commons next week, after the Lords suggested 15 amendments to it.Tory chief whip Julian Smith sent a letter to his Conservative colleagues announcing the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will be coming back to the Commons on 12 June.In a clear warning to Tory rebels, Mr Smith also urged MPs to vote on the amendments "in a way that reflects both the referendum result and the Conservative Party manifesto we all stood on last year".
  
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• John Bercow will not be investigated over 'stupid woman' row

  04-06-2018 19:07
  Under parliamentary rules it is the Speaker of the Commons responsibility to rule on behaviour in the chamber.John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, will not be investigated by the standards watchdog over allegations that he described the cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom as a “stupid woman”.The Conservative MP James Duddridge, a long-standing critic of Bercow, had called for the standards commissioner to secure video and audio footage of the alleged incident in the Commons
  
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• Rashan Charles inquest: police officer felt something was 'not quite right'

  04-06-2018 19:05
  The police officer who restrained Rashan Charles before his death told an inquest he felt something was “not quite right” at the time of the incident.Charles, a 20-year-old black man, died on 22 July in 2017 following restraint by Metropolitan police officers in Hackney, east London.Earlier on Monday, a family member broke down in tears and left the opening day of the inquest at St Pancras coroners court after seeing CCTV footage of the arrest.
  
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• Brexit legislation to return to House of Commons on June 12

  04-06-2018 18:55
  Prime Minister Theresa May faces a June 12 showdown with potential Brexit rebels, when the legislation underpinning Britain's exit from the European Union returns to the floor of parliament for a crucial debate.The unelected upper house of parliament has infuriated the government by making 15 separate changes to the exit legislation despite ministers' efforts to block them.The debate will test May's ability to broker a compromise with those in her party who agree with the upper house and favour
  
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• Property TV star Kirstie Allsopp flies in different class to children

  04-06-2018 18:50
  The Location, Location, Location presenter has told the Sun newspaper that while she travels in premium class, her two pre-teen sons travel in economy class "only a few rows away"."When we fly as a family, the boys do fly separately from Ben (partner Ben Andersen) and me if we're not in economy together," said the 46-year-old, adding that the family sat together when the boys were smaller but not always now that they are older.Allsopp is best known for presenting property TV shows in which she a
  
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• Britain kicks off $3.5 billion RBS share sale

  04-06-2018 18:47
  Britain is selling around 925 million shares in Royal Bank of Scotland for about 2.6 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) as it seeks to return the bank to private hands, the government unit managing its stake said on Monday.The deal will account for about 7.7 percent of RBS, which was rescued in a 45.5 billion pound bailout at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, reducing the government's stake to 62 percent.Britain will make a loss on that investment, with RBS shares having almost halved in value
  
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• U.S. tariffs 'unjustified', PM May tells Trump on call

  04-06-2018 18:42
  British Prime Minister Theresa May told President Donald Trump on Monday that U.S. tariffs imposed on European Union steel and aluminium imports were "unjustified and deeply disappointing" during a phone call.Trump has infuriated European Union members, Canada and Mexico by imposing tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium, ending months of uncertainty about potential exemptions and suggesting a hardening of the U.S. approach to trade negotiations."The prime minister raised the
  
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• What we learned from day eight of the Grenfell Tower inquiry

  04-06-2018 18:40
  The kitchen of flat 16 on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower where the blaze started.The ‘stay put’ policy failed by 1.26am, according to Dr Barbara Lane, the leader of fire safety engineering at Arup in her evidence, but it was only changed to evacuate by the London Fire Brigade at 2.47am, by which time dozens of the flats were on fire.Lane said “there was a total failing of the principles of stay put”.
  
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• Grenfell victims let down by 'total failure' of stay put strategy, expert says

  04-06-2018 18:31
  Residents of Grenfell Tower were let down by advice they "stay put" in their flats even as a deadly fire engulfed the tower, an inquiry has heard.A report by fire protection expert Dr Barbara Lane, released today by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, found that residents should have been told to evacuate within 46 minutes of the fire starting on 14 June.
  
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• This guy’s dirty face served up a life lesson for a mother and daughter

  04-06-2018 18:10
  Does being dirty have anything to say about your education level? Nope.
  
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• Christine Lampard accuses stalker of sending 'dark and sinister' tweets

  04-06-2018 18:10
  Loose Women presenter Christine Lampard has described the "sinister and dark" tweets she allegedly received from her stalker.Christof King, who wanted Mrs Lampard to help him get a career in television, pleaded guilty to stalking the presenter on Friday but denies sending the tweets.Nicholas Dunham, prosecuting, told Isleworth Crown Court that King sent Twitter messages that ranged "from dark to loving to incoherent".
  
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• Response to Trump metal tariffs must be measured and proportionate - UK minister

  04-06-2018 17:49
  Britain and the European Union's response to the imposition of U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs must be measured and proportionate, British trade secretary Liam Fox said on Monday."It is right to seek to defend our domestic industries from both the direct and indirect impacts of these U.S. tariffs.The response must be measured, and proportionate, and it's important that the United Kingdom and the EU work within the boundaries of the rules-based international trading system," Fox told parliament.
  
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• ‘Our brains want to chase these rewards’: how video games are transforming physiotherapy

  04-06-2018 17:49 via theguardian.com
  Physical rehabilitation can be arduous and difficult to sustain – but a one-time patient has tapped into the psychology of gaming to make it funAt 65, Arthur Halls is dealing with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, severe angina, coronary blockage of the heart and hypertension – together these things have severely impacted his way of life. “Two years ago, there was very little I could do,” says Halls. “With your lungs and your heart and that, you’ve got to
  
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• The smart clothes that could soon give people with autism a 'hug'

  04-06-2018 17:48 via theguardian.com
  A new wearable technology could ease the effects of overstimulation for people with sensory processing disorder (SPD) and autismFor all the ways in which technology has transformed our lives, the digital revolution has done little to change what we wear. Beyond advances in the manufacture of clothing, the whims of fashion, and the occasional fad – who remembers Levi’s twisted seam? – cotton has remained cotton, and polyester is still polyester.But an award-winning Italian desig
  
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• UK government will seek to overturn some amendments to Brexit bill in parliament

  04-06-2018 17:37
  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government will seek to overturn some amendments to its EU withdrawal bill to sever ties with the European Union when it returns to the lower house of parliament on June 12, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday.
  
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• ‘Sexist’ Duterte Condemned For Kissing Audience Member On The Lips At Meet And Greet

  04-06-2018 17:37
  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is under fire for planting a kiss on the
  
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• Police bill of £7.5m after Skripal Salisbury poisoning

  04-06-2018 17:32
  The investigation into the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury is expected to cost Wiltshire Police £7.5m, the force area's police and crime commissioner has said.Angus Macpherson said he would be asking the Home Office to cover all costs incurred since 4 March.Former Russian spy Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious from the effects of the military nerve agent Novichok on a bench in the cathedral city.
  
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• Response to Salisbury attack cost Wiltshire police more than £7m

  04-06-2018 17:18
  Officers in protective gear work near the location in Salisbury where Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were discovered on 16 March.The response to the nerve agent attack against the Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury cost Wiltshire police alone more than £7m, it has been revealed.Describing the incident as “unprecedented” the crime commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Angus Macpherson, said he believed the bill would be picked up by central government.
  
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• Gospel choir leader says royal wedding song marked cultural shift

  04-06-2018 17:13
  It was one of the highlights of the royal wedding.A gospel version of "Stand By Me" changed the life of choir leader Karen Gibson and, she believes, marked a cultural shift in Britain.With her luxuriant silver curls pinned to the top of her head, the Londoner is instantly recognisable for anyone who watched Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, and she is getting used to the attention.
  
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• Brexit legislation to return to House of Commons on June 12 - The Times

  04-06-2018 17:01
  The legislation underpinning Britain's exit from the European Union will return to the House of Commons on June 12, The Times newspaper reported on Monday, giving lawmakers the chance to discuss proposed changes to the bill which could shape Brexit.Britain's upper house of parliament, the House of Lords defeated the government to make 15 changes to the legislation, including on core Brexit issues such as whether Britain should leave the EU's single market and customs union.A journalist for The T
  
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• These are the worst-hit cities for late-night cold-calling

  04-06-2018 16:59
  More than half the UK population say they have been disturbed during the night by cold callers, new research shows, with some cities faring a lot worse than others.The report shows that two in five households have unplugged their landline to avoid nuisance calls, with 78% of those saying they did not feel they would have the need to use it again.The report follows recent government proposals to clamp down on cold callers, which include holding bosses of offending companies personally liable for
  
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• Teenager, Safaa Boular, found guilty of first all-female UK terror plot

  04-06-2018 16:55
  A teenager has been found guilty of plotting a terrorist attack in central London with her older sister and her mother, in Britain's first all-female terrorist plot.Safaa Boular, 18, had been trying to reach Syria in order to marry an ISIS fighter, but when her attempt was foiled by police, she turned to plotting a suicide bomb and gun attack on the British Museum.Prosecutors told the trial that by early 2016, Safaa Boular had developed an extremist mindset, downloading pictures of a child in a
  
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• Former 'Spy Cop' Backs Lush Campaign, Claiming: 'We Were Paid To Lie'

  04-06-2018 16:51
  A former police spy who spent four years undercover has backed Lush's
  
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• Rashan Charles' relative walks out of inquest as CCTV of police arrest is shown

  04-06-2018 16:50
  A relative has walked out of the inquest into the death of Rashan Charles after CCTV was shown of his restraint by a police officer.The court was shown CCTV from the convenience store where Mr Charles was detained, showing him putting a package into his mouth moments before an officer, referred to only as BX47, rushed into the store and grabbed him from behind.The officer attempted to restrain him against an ice cream freezer and Mr Charles' arm appeared to slip from the restraint, before the pa
  
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• Merkel proposes investment budget for euro zone

  04-06-2018 16:28
  BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday proposed a euro zone budget for investment in weaker member states with the goal of improving the lives of people in those countries and strengthening convergence in the currency bloc.
  
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• Serena Williams Withdraws From French Open Before Sharapova Showdown

  04-06-2018 16:03
  Serena Williams has withdrawn from the French Open, shortly before she was due
  
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• 'Dangerous Black Magic' Fraud Sees Woman Lose Over £400,000

  04-06-2018 16:01
  A man claiming to provide services to people suffering from "dangerous black
  
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• Alastair Campbell called out by daughter live on air for 'calling women birds'

  04-06-2018 16:00
  Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell was embarrassed live on air as his daughter grilled him about feminism.Mr Campbell was standing in for Nigel Farage on his LBC phone-in radio show, when Grace rang in to question some of his behaviour towards women.As her father laughed nervously she slammed him for "still calling women birds", and continued: "If you truly want to be a feminist, women aren't birds, birds are birds, they fly, women can't fly.
  
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• This YouTuber is teaching people LGBTQ+ terms in sign language for Pride Month

  04-06-2018 15:58
  YouTuber Andy Pleasants, who is Deaf and bisexual, is teaching the basics of LGBTQ+ terms in American Sign Language.
  
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• Teenage girl found guilty of plotting terror attack in London

  04-06-2018 15:38
  Safaa Boular lived at home with her mother in south-west London.A teenager has been found guilty of plotting a terrorist attack in London, making her one of the youngest females to be charged and convicted of terrorism offences in the UK.Safaa Boular, 18, who was accused of discussing a grenade and gun attack on the British Museum in central London with her Islamic State militant partner, Naweed Hussain, was also found guilty over an earlier attempt to travel to Syria for terrorism.
  
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