General news

• Calais boss warns 'clock is ticking' over Brexit

  05-06-2018 23:59
  Calais and other European port bosses have warned they will "never be ready" for Brexit if border plans are not nailed down quickly.Joachim Coens, chief executive of the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, said an agreement on future customs arrangements needs to be in place by the time the transition period begins."The transition period of two years is fine, provided we know from the beginning of that transition period what we have to do," he said.
  
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• Hammer-wielding thieves target Michael McIntyre as he picks up son from school

  05-06-2018 23:49
  Michael McIntyre has been mugged by hammer-wielding thieves while waiting to pick up his son from school.A watch believed to be a Rolex worth thousands of pounds was allegedly snatched from the comedian's wrist by two men on a moped in Golders Green in north London.
  
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• You're the only one who will make me smile, Zverev tells reporter

  05-06-2018 23:19 via bbc.co.uk
  After going out of the French Open, Alexander Zverev is cheered by a question from a Yorkshire journalist.
  
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• Andy Murray delays comeback but still has Wimbledon hopes

  05-06-2018 23:04 via bbc.co.uk
  Britain's Andy Murray delays his comeback from hip surgery but still hopes to play at Wimbledon in July.
  
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• Swansea tidal lagoon project offered £200m amid doubts it will get off the ground

  05-06-2018 22:59
  A tidal lagoon project in Swansea will get a £200m investment to encourage Westminster to give it the green light.Labour's Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones offered the "substantial" investment from the Welsh Government "if that would enable the project to move forward".If it is built, the project in Swansea Bay would be the world's first tidal lagoon power plant and would power about 155,000 homes and sustain about 2,200 construction and manufacturing jobs while it is built.
  
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• Brexit: Labour amendment seeks 'full access' to EU market

  05-06-2018 22:29 via bbc.co.uk
  Jeremy Corbyn tables a new amendment to the Brexit bill - the Lib Dems say he is "peddling snake oil".
  
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• Doctor who caused decapitation of baby in delivery cleared of serious misconduct

  05-06-2018 22:24
  A doctor who caused the decapitation of a baby after failing to perform an emergency caesarean section has been cleared of serious misconduct."The failing which the tribunal has found proved was not sustained, persistent or repeated, but rather a single error of judgement made in very difficult circumstances," the panel's written decision said.Dr Laxman believed "that she was acting in both patient A's and baby B's best interests, and that she genuinely believed that proceeding with a vaginal de
  
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• Woman in a critical condition after moped gang attack

  05-06-2018 22:03
  A woman is in a critical condition in hospital after two men on a moped punched her and stole her mobile phone.The attack is the latest in a spate of raids and robberies by moped gangs, with more than 16,000 scooter-related crimes recorded in the year from June 2016.Less than 24 hours after the assault, a moped gang wielding knives and hammers raided a jewellery store in London's Regent Street.
  
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• Labour reveals scheme to maintain access to EU single market

  05-06-2018 22:01
  Labour is proposing an “internal market” that would deliver a new and close relationship with the European Union which falls short of membership of the single market but maintains many of its advantages.
  
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• 991 deportation flights booked to Caribbean in year before Windrush row

  05-06-2018 21:44
  Sajid Javid told MPs recently that 63 people may have been wrongfully deported to Caribbean countries.Almost 1,000 flights were booked to deport people to Caribbean countries in the year before the UK government halted such removals in the wake of the Windrush scandal, official figures reveal.In the year to March, 991 seats were booked on commercial flights to remove people to the Caribbean who were suspected of being in the UK illegally, according to figures provided by the immigration minister
  
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• European businesses advised to avoid using British parts ahead of Brexit

  05-06-2018 21:40
  In its advice rolled out to all Dutch businesses, the Dutch government has told its exporters that "if a large part of your product consists of parts from the UK" domestic exporters may lose free trade access under existing deals.The advice says: "Brexit will have consequences for exports outside the EU.
  
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• Heathrow's third runway gets go-ahead from Chris Grayling

  05-06-2018 21:06 via theguardian.com
  Tory splits mean government may have to rely on Labour and SNP to win parliamentary voteThe government has finally given the green light to the plan to build a third runway at Heathrow after years of delays and opposition from campaigners.The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, told MPs the announcement represented a “historic moment” that showed ministers had a clear vision to build “a Britain fit for the future”. Critics claim it will damage the environment and could e
  
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• Pressuring May, UK's Labour tries to force new single market deal

  05-06-2018 20:30
  Britain's opposition Labour Party threw down the gauntlet to Prime Minister Theresa May on Brexit on Tuesday, offering potential rebels in her Conservative Party a way to defy her by voting for a new single market deal with the EU.Parliament will vote next week on May's Brexit blueprint, the EU withdrawal bill, pitching lawmakers who want a clean break with the European Union against those demanding a closer relationship after Britain leaves in March next year.Labour said in a statement it had s
  
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• Grenfell Tower inquiry: London Fire Brigade responds to 'stay put' advice criticism

  05-06-2018 20:29
  London Fire Brigade has defended itself against claims that its "stay put" advice to Grenfell residents may have cost lives.A report by fire protection expert Dr Barbara Lane, released by the Grenfell Tower inquiry, found residents should have been told to evacuate within 46 minutes of the fire starting at just before 1am on 14 June.The blaze in north Kensington, west London, killed 72 people.
  
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• Refurbishment made Grenfell Tower a death trap, inquiry hears

  05-06-2018 20:24
  Grenfell Tower was turned into a “death trap” by a dangerous and reprehensible refurbishment carried out by Kensington and Chelsea council and the local tenant management organisation (TMO), the inquiry into the fire has been told.On the ninth day of the inquiry, Danny Friedman QC, speaking on behalf of law firms representing survivors and the bereaved, said his clients were watching the inquiry with “calm rage”.
  
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• MPs hold highly-charged Northern Ireland abortion laws debate

  05-06-2018 20:16 via bbc.co.uk
  In highly-charged exchanges, MPs debate whether Northern Ireland's abortion laws should be reformed.
  
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• Grayling's big Heathrow announcement fails to take off

  05-06-2018 20:09
  After Monday’s humiliating mauling over the train timetables, Chris Grayling must have been hoping for a bit of recovery time.This time on the government’s decision to give the go-ahead for Heathrow’s third runway.“The time for action is now,” said a visibly fragile Grayling.
  
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• University explains why it walked away from western civilisation degree

  05-06-2018 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Australian National University held talks with John Howard over Ramsay Centre donation but says ‘there was no prospect of’ agreementThe vice-chancellor of the Australian National University has spoken out about the decision to pull out of negotiations with the John Howard-backed Ramsay Centre to set up a controversial degree in western civilisation.Late on Tuesday the vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt released a lengthy statement in which he defended the decision to pull out of the lucra
  
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• Grenfell cladding firm denies responsibility for fire spread

  05-06-2018 19:59 via theguardian.com
  Panels were ‘contributing factor’ but windows to blame, Arconic lawyers tell inquiry
  The company that made the combustible cladding used on Grenfell Tower has claimed its panels were not responsible for spreading the fire that killed 72 people, despite expert evidence to the contrary.
  Lawyers for the US industrial giant Arconic told the public inquiry on Tuesday that its panels, which could be seen burning and emitting showers of molten plastic from their cores, were “at most,
  
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• Salad Cream: Heinz 'considers Sandwich Cream re-brand'

  05-06-2018 19:51 via bbc.co.uk
  Heinz says the change reflects the modern usage of the condiment, as few people have it on salads.
  
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• RBS stake sale dents FTSE, rising pound bites

  05-06-2018 19:46
  Royal Bank of Scotland weighed on Britain's FTSE 100 on Tuesday after the government took a loss selling a stake in the bank, while a rising pound after strong services data piled extra pressure on the internationally-exposed index.Shares in RBS fell 5.1 percent after the government sold 7.7 percent of the lender for 2.5 billion pounds, realizing a loss of $2.66 billion.
  
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• Heathrow third runway backed by Carwyn Jones - BBC News

  05-06-2018 19:41 via bbc.co.uk
  BBC News
  Heathrow third runway backed by Carwyn Jones
  BBC News
  Carwyn Jones says he fully supports UK government plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport. The first minister told BBC Wales that it was the "right decision" and would benefit Wales and western Britain. The UK government announced on Tuesday that ...and more »
  
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• Refurbishment made Grenfell Tower a death trap, inquest hears

  05-06-2018 19:15
  Grenfell Tower was turned into a “death trap” by a dangerous and reprehensible refurbishment carried out by Kensington and Chelsea council and the local tenant management organisation (TMO), the inquiry into the fire has been told.On the ninth day of the inquiry, Danny Friedman QC, speaking on behalf of law firms representing survivors and the bereaved, said his clients were watching the inquiry with “calm rage”.
  
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• Salisbury poisoning: 2,300 objects recovered and 4,000 hours of CCTV footage examined

  05-06-2018 19:02
  More than 2,300 objects have been recovered and 4,000 hours of CCTV footage examined as part of the inquiry into the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.Counter-terrorism police chief Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon released the new details as he said officers were still following "a number of lines of inquiry".
  
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• Police use of biometric technologies 'running ahead of the law'

  05-06-2018 19:01
  The police use of biometric technologies is "running ahead of the law", according to an independent commissioner.Biometrics are any any measurable biological feature which can be used to identity individuals, including the shape of people's fingerprints and the code of their DNA.There is a "worrying vacuum" of regulation covering how police are using new technologies to identify members of the public, biometrics commissioner Professor Paul Wiles has warned.
  
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• Wessex Water customers receive letter calling man rude word

  05-06-2018 18:57
  The company has since apologised for the mis-worded letters.
  
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• Tory MP Heidi Allen Breaks Down As She Speaks Of Her Abortion

  05-06-2018 18:53
  Tory MP Heidi Allen broke down with emotion in the Commons on Tuesday as she
  
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• Controversial Heathrow expansion gets government go-ahead

  05-06-2018 18:48
  MPs will be asked to vote on expanding Heathrow airport within weeks after the government gave the go ahead for a third runway.Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told the House of Commons the cabinet had agreed the controversial move, an action he described as "in the national interest".Critics of Heathrow expansion include a number of prominent Tory MPs as well as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who has previously vowed to lie down "in front of those bulldozers and stop the building, stop the
  
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• Concerns for eastern Europeans in Brexit ‘settled status’ plan

  05-06-2018 18:45
  About 3.5 million EU citizens settled in the UK will have to apply for a new immigration status post-Brexit.A UK charity is to raise concerns with MPs over the Home Office’s plans to force EU citizens to register for “settled status” after Brexit.The East European Resource Centre in London, an organisation dedicated to helping eastern Europeans avoid exploitation, said it was very concerned that hundreds of thousands of Poles, Romanians and Bulgarians would not be able to suppl
  
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• Broadway 'The King and I' revival comes to London

  05-06-2018 18:43
  A Broadway revival of the 1951 Rodgers & Hammerstein musical "The King and I" comes to a London stage this summer with Japanese actor Ken Watanabe and Tony Award winner Kelli O'Hara reprising their roles from the New York production.A 2015 adaptation of the musical, which tells the story of British school teacher Anna arriving in 1860s Bangkok to tutor the children of the King of Siam, had a successful run on the American stage, winning praise from critics and four Tony Awards.Under director
  
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• Aston Villa suspends CEO as club races to meet HMRC tax bill

  05-06-2018 18:35
  Aston Villa Football Club has suspended its chief executive just days after losing the match badged as the most lucrative in world football, as it faces the potential threat of a winding-up order over a multimillion pound tax bill.Sky News has learnt that Villa, which last month lost the Championship play-off final against Fulham, has been given a brief extension by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to make the payment.If HMRC did serve a winding-up order against Villa, it could threaten the exi
  
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• Rashan Charles inquest: officer failed to follow safety rules

  05-06-2018 18:31
  The police officer who restrained Rashan Charles before he died has admitted he failed to follow some of the safety rules relating to such incidents.Charles died aged 20 on 22 July last year after restraint by Metropolitan police officers in Hackney, east London.The officer, who chased Charles into a shop, where he restrained him, cannot be identified and is referred to as BX47.
  
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• RBS stake sale dents FTSE 100, rising pound bites

  05-06-2018 18:21
  Royal Bank of Scotland weighed on Britain's FTSE 100 on Tuesday after the government took a loss selling a stake in the bank, while a rising pound after strong services data piled extra pressure on the internationally-exposed index.The top share index closed down 0.7 percent as strong data in the services sector pushed sterling higher and weighed ondollar earners.Shares in RBS fell 5.1 percent after the government sold 7.7 percent of the lender for 2.5 billion pounds ($3.33 billion), realizing a
  
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• The pros and cons of a second EU referendum

  05-06-2018 18:19
  George Soros, who has donated money for a campaign to lobby for a second referendum on Brexit.This week’s hearing in the European parliament on the impact of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal reinforced the shocking ways in which British democracy has been subverted (Political advertising online to be reformed, says UK data regulator, 4 June).Whistleblower Christopher Wylie said the Cambridge Analytica scandal was the canary in the coalmine of a new cold war emerging online.
  
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• Grayson Perry opens 'rough and tumble' Royal Academy art show

  05-06-2018 18:18
  A "Vote Leave" Brexit referendum poster that graffiti artist Banksy has transformed to read "Vote to Love" is among the highlights of the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, which curator Grayson Perry opened to the media on Tuesday.Dressed in an multicoloured, over-sized onesie decorated with teddy bears, a pair of yellow platform shoes and a tiny orange plastic sombrero perched on his purple wig, Perry called his edition of the annual show a "celebration"."I've tried to channel the
  
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• A Level students were tweeting after a particularly brutal Psychology paper

  05-06-2018 18:05
  Students taking the AQA Psychology exam noticed an unusual number of essay questions.
  
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• London's Grenfell Tower was a death trap wrapped in 'petrol', inquiry hears

  05-06-2018 18:02
  London's Grenfell Tower, where a huge fire killed 71 people a year ago, had been fitted during a recent refurbishment with cladding containing a material as flammable as petrol, a public inquiry heard on Tuesday.The Grenfell Tower fire, Britain's deadliest on domestic premises since World War Two, is the subject of both the inquiry and a separate police investigation which could result in criminal charges.Completed in 1974, Grenfell Tower was a 24-storey social housing block owned by the local a
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn rejects pleas to stay in the EU single market

  05-06-2018 17:59
  Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Tuesday that Britain must leave the European Union's single market, disappointing some supporters who hoped he would support a proposal to retain membership ahead of a crunch vote in parliament next week."I know some people are calling for Labour to support a Norway-style model," Corbyn said.
  
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• Britain asks to join WTO procurement deal in latest Brexit step

  05-06-2018 17:55
  Britain has officially applied to join the World Trade Organization's government procurement agreement, a legal step it needs to take to maintain trading relationships after it leaves the European Union on March 29, 2019.Staying in the WTO is potentially important so that British companies can still bid for government work in the United States, European Union and Japan.Britain is a member of the agreement now only by virtue of its EU membership.
  
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• H&M makes bigger clothing sizes following customer complaints

  05-06-2018 17:52
  Clothing retailer H&M is making its UK sizes bigger following years of complaints from customers.Its womenswear measurements will now be in line with standard UK sizing following widespread criticism that their clothes are smaller than other high street chains.The Swedish retail giant said the previous measurements and fit of a size 12 would now be the measurements of a size 10.
  
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• Mail Online Wrongly Labels Man As Face Of Impotency After Twitter Joke Backfires

  05-06-2018 17:46
  A man with a slight resemblance to a distraught looking model has been thrust
  
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• Gordon Brown calls for tougher controls on migration

  05-06-2018 17:46
  Gordon Brown warns that the UK is ‘now at serious risk of being permanently paralysed by seemingly irreparable divisions’.The former prime minister Gordon Brown has called for tougher migration controls as part of a package of measures designed to address the concerns of Brexit voters and to prevent the UK being permanently paralysed by its decision to leave the European Union.“In our long history as a United Kingdom – at times threatened by invasion, sometimes subject to
  
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• Kingsbridge phone box converted into 'world's smallest nightclub'

  05-06-2018 17:44 via bbc.co.uk
  People can listen to records in the converted phone box by putting in money and lifting the receiver.
  
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• Should schools stop observing one-minute silences – for the sake of the children?

  05-06-2018 17:37
  Schoolchildren observe a silence at a remembrance service at the Cenotaph in London.Should schoolchildren observe a minute’s silence after a national tragedy?Everyone wants to insulate children from horror to a degree, and there would be the distasteful tang of the tragedy vulture around a head who held a minute’s silence for every untimely death that came to their attention.
  
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• Scottish arts firm seeking to restore 1960s seminary closes

  05-06-2018 17:35
  St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross, Argyll and Bute became derelict after it was abandoned in 1966.A critically acclaimed arts company leading a £10m bid to salvage one of Europe’s finest modernist buildings has folded after it failed to secure funding.The arts company NVA had been at the forefront of plans to rescue St Peter’s Seminary near Cardross on the north bank of the Clyde in Scotland.
  
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• Heathrow third runway will 'change lives forever'

  05-06-2018 17:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Opponents say ministers' approval of plans for a third runway is a "bad day".
  
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• Top exchange warns about EU regulating foreign firms after Brexit

  05-06-2018 17:30
  European Union attempts to supervise American financial firms as a condition of access to the bloc's markets would be firmly rejected, a top U.S. securities exchange official said on Tuesday.Mark Hemsley, president of the European arm of U.S. exchange CBOE, said EU regulators were trying to map out future working relations with their UK counterparts after Britain leaves the bloc next March.Brussels has proposed joint supervision of foreign clearing houses that want access to EU customers - or el
  
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• Are those crotch pocket trousers or are you just pleased to see me?

  05-06-2018 17:28 via theguardian.com
  The latest must-have fashion-forward item is a pair of chinos with a penis-shaped pocket on the frontName: Crotch pocket trousers.Age: Brand new. Continue reading...
  
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• Heathrow approval shows government committed to post-Brexit connections - spokesman

  05-06-2018 17:20
  Britain's decision to back plans for a new runway at London's Heathrow airport show the government is committed to keeping London well connected after Brexit, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Tuesday."Today's decision to support Heathrow's expansion demonstrates this government's commitment to deliver the jobs and major infrastructure which this country needs to thrive," he told reporters.
  
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• Rail crisis: Your train journey horror stories

  05-06-2018 17:19 via bbc.co.uk
  Passengers caught up in the recent rail disruption share their stories of train travel woe.
  
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