General news

• Poll of Unite union members piles pressure on Corbyn

  30-06-2018 23:53
  A majority of members of Len McCluskey’s Unite believe leaving the single market will be bad for jobs.Jeremy Corbyn is today coming under fresh pressure to back a softer Brexit as a new poll shows an overwhelming majority of members of the Unite super-union – Labour’s biggest financial backer – believe the current Labour position in favour of leaving the single market will be bad for jobs.The survey by YouGov, released before Unite’s annual conference this week, als
  
  Read more

• Firefighters evacuated as blazes converge

  30-06-2018 23:35
  Wildfires converge in Bolton, forcing firefighters to evacuate Winter Hill. Sky's Tom Parmenter has this exclusive report.
  
  Read more

• Outlaw prostitution websites to protect enslaved and trafficked women, say MPs

  30-06-2018 23:25 via theguardian.com
  Online advertisements accessible in the UK are at the heart of a sex industry with organised crime linksMinisters will come under intense pressure from a cross-party group of MPs this week to follow the US by banning so-called prostitution websites amid mounting evidence that they are enabling a huge growth in sexual exploitation and the trafficking of women to the UK for profit.Members of the all-party group on prostitution have secured a parliamentary debate during which they will demand that
  
  Read more

• ‘Families Belong Together’ Rallies Protest Trump Immigration Policies Nationwide

  30-06-2018 23:10
  Families Belong Together rallies drew crowds dressed in white to cities big
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• DUP leader Arlene Foster calls for bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland

  30-06-2018 23:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  DUP leader Arlene Foster has urged Scots to back proposals to build a bridge to Northern Ireland.
  
  Read more

• 'Livid' Michael Gove rips up Brexit paper with PM's preferred option

  30-06-2018 22:53
  A "livid" Michael Gove has "physically ripped" papers on a proposed post-Brexit customs union favoured by the prime minister.The environment secretary reportedly lashed out when his concerns over the proposal - which discusses options for the organisation of trade and customs when the UK leaves the European Union - were downplayed.Cabinet ministers are set to thrash out the details of a white paper in a Friday "sleepover" at Chequers, with instructions that they are unable to leave until a final
  
  Read more

• DUP leader Arlene Foster calls for Scotland-Ireland bridge

  30-06-2018 22:42
  The leader of the DUP has called for a bridge to connect Scotland and Northern Ireland.Arlene Foster said there was "growing support" for building a connection in an address to an Orange parade in Fife.Ms Foster was speaking on the invitation of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland at an Orange Order parade on Saturday.
  
  Read more

• Coalition education reforms ‘fuelled inequality in schools’

  30-06-2018 22:39
  Michael Gove was the driving force behind school reform while education secretary.Sweeping education reforms appear to be fuelling inequality in the schools system, according to a major analysis that shows high-performing and improving schools are accepting fewer children from poor backgrounds.It finds the system is now pushing schools and their heads to prioritise “the interests of the school over the interests of groups of, usually more vulnerable, children”.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Michael Gove 'Ripped Up Brexit Papers In Anger' After His Concerns Were Downplayed

  30-06-2018 22:25
  Environment Secretary Michael Gove ripped up papers on future customs options
  
  Read more

• Sajid Javid is Tory activists' choice to be next party leader – poll

  30-06-2018 22:05
  Sajid Javid stands splay-legged outside the Home Office after being named as home secretary in April.Sajid Javid, the home secretary, is the popular choice of Tory activists to be the party’s next leader, a survey revealed on Saturday.The MP for Bromsgrove came top of in the monthly poll by the ConservativeHome website with the backing of 22% of the 1,107 votes cast.
  
  Read more

• Signs from the Trump family separation protests – in pictures

  30-06-2018 22:02 via theguardian.com
  Towns and cities across the US saw thousands of protesters turn out on Saturday. Here are some of the signs they carried Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Unite union’s Brexit poll piles pressure on Corbyn

  30-06-2018 22:00
  Len McCluskey’s Unite now thinks the union should base policy on what will make life sweeter for its members.Jeremy Corbyn is today coming under fresh pressure to back a softer Brexit as a new poll shows an overwhelming majority of members of the Unite super-union – Labour’s biggest financial backer – believe the current Labour position in favour of leaving the single market will be bad for jobs.The survey by YouGov, released before Unite’s annual conference this we
  
  Read more

• The Observer view on the school system that does little to help our poorest pupils

  30-06-2018 22:00
  St Olave’s grammar school in Kent: such schools are accused of creaming off the best pupils.Britain’s poor social mobility can be summed up in one unfortunate dynamic: from the moment a child is born, disadvantage begets further disadvantage.Conversely, when school quality has declined, children from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to pool in those schools.
  
  Read more

• Edinson Cavani sends Uruguay to World Cup last eight as Portugal bow out

  30-06-2018 21:55 via theguardian.com
  Cristiano Ronaldo walked Edinson Cavani out of this game, helping the Uruguayan to the touchline, but not before Cavani scored the goals that put Portugal out of the World Cup.Cavani departed with 20 minutes remaining, slowly making his way around the edge of the pitch, limping slightly, a lost look on his face after he felt a pain in his calf that prevented him from continuing. Two superb strikes took Uruguay through to the quarter-finals but, while the striker said he hoped that it was nothing
  
  Read more

• Cabinet anarchy as Chequers summit looms

  30-06-2018 21:33
  Theresa May’s position is becoming more perilous by the day, according to a former minister.Early on Wednesday evening a middle-ranking minister stopped on his way to a meeting in the House of Commons and offered the following observations about the government in which he serves.It is not good for anyone or good for the country.” Crucial decisions on Brexit had to be made within days, and time was running out, he said.
  
  Read more

• Thousands march through London to celebrate NHS

  30-06-2018 21:23
  Thousands of people have marched in central London to celebrate the NHS and demand more investment in public health.In a walk from central London to Westminster, demonstrators, celebrities and politicians shared their stories of being helped by the NHS and called on the government to give more funding to health and social care.Addressing the rally, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the health service was being "slowly privatised" by the Conservative government and called on supporters to "go to t
  
  Read more

• Major Incident Declared After Two Moorland Fires Merge Near Bolton

  30-06-2018 20:55
  Two large-scale moorland fires have merged to create a major incident near
  
  Read more

• NHS Rally: Thousands March Through London As Jeremy Corbyn Addresses Crowds At Whitehall

  30-06-2018 19:39
  Thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday to mark the
  
  Read more

• Theresa May ducks questions about cabinet rift on defence

  30-06-2018 19:18
  Theresa May has dismissed questions over a reported rift with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson about military spending.Pressed over the rumoured cabinet row, the prime minister brushed aside the inquiry by insisting the UK has "the biggest defence budget in Europe".The PM is said to have sparked concerns within the the military after she reportedly asked the defence secretary to justify plans to maintain Britain's tier one status.
  
  Read more

• Serena Williams the one to beat at Wimbledon whatever rankings say

  30-06-2018 19:14 via theguardian.com
  Her post-pregnancy world ranking is 183 but it is hard to argue against the 25th seeding granted to the seven-time championFew athletes in the history of sport have rushed towards drama with as much enthusiasm and panache as Serena Williams has. So, when the extraordinary American cancelled her pre-Wimbledon press conference at the last minute on Saturday afternoon to go to a polo match with Prince Harry and Meghan, the reaction around the All England Club was one of resignation rather than surp
  
  Read more

• 'Monster' Winter Hill blaze declared a major incident as two fires merge

  30-06-2018 19:06
  Firefighters have had to stop work and retreat from battling the wildfires near Bolton after two enormous blazes merged into one.The week-long battle around Winter Hill, which is a key communications hub for the North West, has now been declared a major incident.Firefighters had been making progress with the fires on the western side of the hill but throughout Saturday morning high winds pushed another huge fire towards the hill from the east.
  
  Read more

• Eight generations of NHS nurses – in pictures

  30-06-2018 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Photographer Antonio Olmos shot portraits of nurses who started work in each decade of the NHS’s history, for a series of interviews in the Observer Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Major incident declared as moor fires converge in Lancashire

  30-06-2018 18:16
  A blaze on Winter Hill in Lancashire, which has a television transmission mast that broadcasts signals to millions of people, merged with a fire around Scout Road to the south.Tony Cook, Lancashire fire and rescue service’s area manager, said his crews had been tackling the Winter Hill fire while colleagues from Greater Manchester dealt with the other front.The priority on Winter Hill was protecting the transmission mast, Cook said.
  
  Read more

• Moorland fire in north England spreads, major incident declared

  30-06-2018 18:06
  Fires on moorland outside the northern English city of Manchester intensified on Saturday, prompting authorities to declare a major incident.Hot weather and wind over the last week have sparked fires in parts of the northern English countryside -- unprecedented in recent times in an area better known for its rainy weather."A major incident has been declared as the fires on Winter Hill and Scout Road near Bolton have merged," Greater Manchester Police said in a statement, referring to an area rou
  
  Read more

• Firefighter arrives at horrific crash which left four dead to find daughter

  30-06-2018 17:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  A FIREFIGHTER who attended a horrific car crash, which claimed the lives of four people, arrived to discover his daughter was among the injured, it was reported today.
  
  Read more

• Four dead and girl critical after crash with Uber in Leeds

  30-06-2018 17:11
  Four men have died and a teenage girl is in a critical condition following a car crash in Leeds.The victims, two of whom were aged 19, another 18 and a fourth 21, were pronounced dead at the scene on Broadway, the A6120 Leeds Outer Ring Road, near to the junction with Bank Gardens in Horsforth.A 16-year-old girl who was also in the car is in a critical condition in hospital and a 17-year-old girl sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
  
  Read more

• What’s trickier than Brexit? Writing a TV drama about it

  30-06-2018 17:00
  It is the divisive issue that will come to define our age, so it’s no surprise that the country’s leading political dramatists are keen to tell the tale of Brexit and speculate on what it will mean.The production with most at stake is a high-profile Channel 4 thriller, already at the filming stage, with the working title Brexit.It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Dominic Cummings, the backroom strategist who is said to have shaped the referendum result with his use of personal online da
  
  Read more

• Another side of Amy Winehouse: intimate photographs by her friend Blake Wood

  30-06-2018 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Photographer Blake Wood met the singer in 2008 at the height of her success. They became close friends, and his previously unseen portraits reveal a more carefree side to the troubled starFor Amy Winehouse, 2008 was a year of extreme highs and confounding lows – business as usual, in other words, but even more so. The zenith came in February, when the 24-year-old singer dominated the Grammys with five wins, a record for a British woman. She couldn’t be in the US, because of visa comp
  
  Read more

• M16 put questions to prisoner waterboarded 83 times by CIA

  30-06-2018 16:45
  Abu Zubaydah was the only CIA prisoner subjected to all 12 CIA ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’.British intelligence officers put questions to a man despite knowing he had been subjected to appalling abuse, including being waterboarded 83 times, according to damning evidence contained in a UK parliamentary report published this week.In the years after 9/11, Abu Zubaydah was the only CIA prisoner who went through all 12 of the agency’s “enhanced interrogation techniques
  
  Read more

• British intelligence officers linked to man waterboarded 83 times

  30-06-2018 16:45
  Abu Zubaydah was the only CIA prisoner subjected to all 12 CIA ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’.British intelligence officers put questions to a man despite knowing he had been subjected to appalling abuse, including being waterboarded 83 times, according to damning evidence contained in a UK parliamentary report published this week.In the years after 9/11, Abu Zubaydah was the only CIA prisoner who went through all 12 of the agency’s “enhanced interrogation techniques
  
  Read more

• Rocket Explodes Seconds After Lift-Off In Japan

  30-06-2018 16:44
  A rocket has exploded seconds after lift-off in northern Japan.
  
  Read more

• 'Wilfully blind' Tory commentator sparks MASSIVE TV row after taking shock swipe at the EU

  30-06-2018 16:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  A CONSERVATIVE commentator sparked a furious debate live on TV after he claimed that some people are “wilfully blind to the presence of divergent interests in the EU”.
  
  Read more

• Minors separated from parents and detained at US border tell of anguish – video

  30-06-2018 16:36 via theguardian.com
  Eddy, 17, and Lilian, nine, were separated from their mother at the US border on 19 May. The family was fleeing violence in Guatemala – only to be ripped apart under the Trump administration’s 'zero-tolerance' immigration policy. Eddy and Lilian's mother was prosecuted and sent to the T Don Hutto immigration detention centre in central Texas. For five weeks, she had no idea where her two children were. They had been left behind at a processing centre and then flown to foste
  
  Read more

• Up to 40mm of rain possible as Met Office issues its first thunderstorm warning

  30-06-2018 16:32
  The Met Office has issued its first ever thunderstorm warning with torrential rain, hail and lightning possible this weekend.The yellow "be aware" warning for South West England and South Wales and will be in effect from 6am to 10pm on Sunday.The Met Office said the heavy rain could lead to flooded homes and businesses and difficult driving conditions.
  
  Read more

• Four young men killed in Leeds car crash

  30-06-2018 16:11
  Four men have died and a teenage girl is critically ill after a car and a taxi collided in Leeds early on Saturday, West Yorkshire police have said.A 42-year-old man from Bradford, who was driving a Seat Alhambra taxi, was taken to hospital with serious but non life-threatening injuries.Sgt Fiona Hoodless said the Seat Leon was travelling at speed at the time of the collision.
  
  Read more

• Easyjet passenger put in chokehold after headbutting air steward on delayed Majorca flight

  30-06-2018 16:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  POLICE tackled an EasyJet passenger and put him in a chokehold after he headbutted an air steward while being dragged off a delayed flight to Majorca in shocking scenes.
  
  Read more

• Why are all my weather apps different?

  30-06-2018 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Forecasting is more accurate than ever, but mobile apps can still disagree wildly. What causes the difference – and which one is best? It was a tale of two storms. The first consisted of the rain and thunder forecast for Bournemouth by the BBC weather app on the Saturday spring bank holiday. The second came when the first failed to materialise and a tourism manager in the town complained that visitors who stayed away could have come after all and enjoyed sunshine and blue skies.This opport
  
  Read more

• Expert claims Theresa May has made THIS same mistake that David Cameron made with Brexit

  30-06-2018 15:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  AN EXPERT has claimed Theresa May is making the exact same mistake that David Cameron made in negotiations with the European Union.
  
  Read more

• BOOB-JOB BAN! Finally NHS sees sense and scraps ‘unnecessary’ ops to save £200 MILLION

  30-06-2018 15:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  BREAST reductions and operations to stop people snoring are among a list of treatments which could be cut back in plans to prevent more than 100,000 "unnecessary procedures" taking place annually. NHS England said an estimated £200 million could be saved every year by tightening criteria for treatments where "the risks... outweigh the benefits".
  
  Read more

• Winter Hill fire: Footage shows scale of blaze

  30-06-2018 15:31 via bbc.co.uk
  A man has been arrested as a blaze spreads over Lancashire moorland near a TV transmitter.
  
  Read more

• Lettuce crops flop as Britain wilts in hot weather

  30-06-2018 15:26
  Britain is continuing to feel the effects of the long, hot weather as moor fires keep burning, hosepipe bans are imposed and horticultural crops suffer.The high temperatures have increased the demand for lettuce – a record 18m heads sold last week, 40% more than in the same period last year – but the salad crop is wilting under the high pressure.High temperatures were affecting all farmers in the group’s major salad-growing areas, from Fife and Lancashire, to East Anglia and Su
  
  Read more

• Commuters warned of £321m dormant Oyster card 'cash mountain'

  30-06-2018 15:22
  Transport chiefs in London have been accused of keeping quiet about a £321m "cash mountain" from money left on dormant Oyster travel cards.The call came on the 15th anniversary of Oyster, which revolutionised the way public transport was paid for in the capital.The balances and deposits on Oyster cards that have not been used for at least a year stand at more than £321 million, figures from Transport for London (TfL) reveal.
  
  Read more

• Leeds Crash: Tributes Paid To Four Young Men Killed In Collision With A Taxi

  30-06-2018 15:17
  The four young men who died following a crash involving a car and a taxi in
  
  Read more

• Leeds Crash Leaves Four Dead And Others Seriously Injured After Car Collides With Taxi

  30-06-2018 15:17
  Four men have died following a crash involving a car and a taxi in Leeds in
  
  Read more

• Four men dead and two girls injured in car crash in Leeds

  30-06-2018 15:03
  Four men have died and a teenage girl is in a critical condition following a car crash in Leeds.
  
  Read more

• Commuters warned of £321 dormant Oyster card 'cash mountain'

  30-06-2018 14:51
  Transport chiefs in London have been accused of keeping quiet about a £321m "cash mountain" from money left on dormant Oyster travel cards.The call came on the 15th anniversary of Oyster, which revolutionised the way public transport was paid for in the capital.The balances and deposits on Oyster cards that have not been used for at least a year stand at more than £321 million, figures from Transport for London (TfL) reveal.
  
  Read more

• First ever thunderstorm warning for UK amid heatwave

  30-06-2018 14:50
  The Met Office has issued its first ever thunderstorm warning with torrential rain, hail and lightning possible this weekend.The yellow 'be aware' warning is for South West England and South Wales and will be in effect from 6am-10pm on Sunday.The Met Office said the heavy rain could lead to flooded homes and businesses and difficult driving conditions.
  
  Read more

• Dormant Oyster Card 'Cash Mountain' Adds Up To £321 Million As Customers Urged To Claim Money Back

  30-06-2018 13:56
  Transport for London should do more to encourage people to reclaim the £321
  
  Read more

• Meet DJ Switch, the 10-year-old drawing crowds in Ghana – video

  30-06-2018 13:13 via theguardian.com
  Erica Tandoh, better known as DJ Switch, is the youngest person to win the prestigious Ghana DJ award. The 10-year-old, who began DJing a year ago, attracts hundreds of people to her shows, which feature music, singing, dancing and even horses. Despite her love of music, Erica hopes to be a gynaecologist when she is older• See more of DJ Switch's music on her YouTube channel Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Salisbury to host Armed Forces Day after Skripal attack response

  30-06-2018 12:53
  Military personel march during this year’s Armed Forces Day celebrations in Llandudno on Saturday.Salisbury will host next year’s national Armed Forces Day, Theresa May has announced, as a tribute to how the city dealt with the aftermath of the nerve agent attack in March.The prime minister is attending this year’s event on Saturday in Llandudno, north Wales, where she is expected to hail the military’s work in dealing with the poisoning of the Russian former double agent
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!