General news

• UK won't trigger battle with Brussels after no-deal Brexit, says Raab

  22-08-2018 23:30
  Britain would take unilateral action in the event of a no-deal Brexit to keep trade and transport flowing freely, Dominic Raab will pledge.In a speech coinciding with the publication of the first batch of technical notices laying out the government’s contingency plans for a no-deal scenario, the Brexit secretary will say that Britain would not risk triggering a tit-for-tat battle with Brussels by imposing new border checks or travel restrictions.“In some cases, it means taking unilat
  
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• Why Jeremy Corbyn's social media buddies are now in his line of fire

  22-08-2018 23:00
  Jeremy Corbyn has plans for levies on large internet companies to help fund public journalism.When Jeremy Corbyn outperformed expectations in the 2017 general election, a large part of his success was attributed to his ability to circumvent a largely hostile newspaper industry through his team’s deft use of social media.A year later, the same tech companies that helped Corbyn to deprive Theresa May of a parliamentary majority are now in his line of fire.
  
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• Mobike threatens to pull out of Manchester because of theft and damage

  22-08-2018 21:17
  A bike-sharing firm is threatening to pull out of Manchester due to an increase in theft and vandalism.Mobike warned it will end its service in the city in "weeks not months" unless there is a reduction in people stealing and damaging its orange and grey vehicles.The Chinese company said 10% of its Manchester fleet was taken out of use in July alone, and warned that the figure is not "sustainable".
  
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• Jacob Rees-Mogg tells Leave.EU: Don't join Tories on my account

  22-08-2018 20:59
  Jacob Rees-Mogg backs William Hague view that MPs should retain a significant say in choice of party leader.Jacob Rees-Mogg has disowned calls by Leave.EU for its backers to join the Conservative party to support him in a potential future leadership bid, warning against a takeover by single-issue “fanatics”.Leave.EU, the pro-Brexit campaign group co-founded by rightwing businessman Arron Banks, claims to have 88,000 supporters, and has urged them to “flood” the Tory party
  
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• Labour is Britain's richest party – and it's not down to the unions

  22-08-2018 20:47
  If Jeremy Corbyn were looking for a single example of his impact on British politics, then his party’s finances might be the best place to start.The party’s large membership, swollen since the 2015 leadership contest, has helped ensure that Labour is easily the richest political party in Britain.As the party’s annual report highlights, on one day alone, during last year’s general election campaign, Labour was able to raise £500,000.
  
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• Pioneering free school in London to be taken over by academy trust

  22-08-2018 20:37
  Greenwich was one of the first free schools to be approved by Michael Gove as education secretary.The founders of a pioneering London free school have decided to hand it over to a larger multi-academy trust, saying the demands on governors and trustees have been too onerous.The decision by the high-profile founders to give up managing the Greenwich free school (GFS), a comprehensive secondary in south-east London, suggests the government’s vision of schools created by enthusiastic activist
  
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• Bristol University Student 'Had No Contact With Welfare Team Despite Suicide Attempt'

  22-08-2018 20:29
  A University of Bristol student who died suddenly in April had no direct
  
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• Arson Arrest After Leicester Explosion That Killed Five People

  22-08-2018 20:18
  A 35-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson
  
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• Young Stoke City fan 'scared' after police pepper spray

  22-08-2018 19:46 via bbc.co.uk
  Alfie Spain, 12, was left crying and vomiting after Lancashire Police sprayed Stoke City supporters.
  
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• Police handed 6ft albino snake found slithering on Newcastle street

  22-08-2018 19:46
  A 6ft albino snake has been handed into police after being found slithering along a street in Newcastle.Northumbria Police said staff were puzzled when a large cardboard box, with holes punched through it, was brought into a station by a member of the public."The snake - a suspected albino corn snake - had been found slivering around in an alley off Dean Street in Newcastle city centre when it was spotted by a female passer-by.
  
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• Goldman Sachs commits to UK despite Brexit fears with £1.2bn deal

  22-08-2018 19:45
  Investment bank Goldman Sachs has agreed to sell and leaseback its new headquarters in a boost for London as Britain leaves the EU.Goldman Sachs is selling its Plumtree Court office to Korea's National Pension Service in a deal valued at £1.16bn.Doubts about the future of the new headquarters had been lingering as the investment bank's chief executive had called for a second referendum.
  
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• Scotland's public finances limit its independence options

  22-08-2018 19:35
  It is getting on for four years since Scotland voted to remain part of the UK and talk of a second referendum has gone a bit quiet.Scotland’s budget deficit – even including a share of revenues from the North Sea – remains high and, at almost 8% of gross domestic product, is four times as big as that for the UK as a whole.The reason Scotland’s deficit is higher comes down to two factors: tax and spending.
  
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• Labour could devolve asylum policies to Scotland, Corbyn suggests

  22-08-2018 19:35
  Jeremy Corbyn has indicated that Labour could devolve some parts of asylum policy to Scotland, as he condemned Home Office handling of individual refugee cases in Glasgow.The Labour leader said he was willing to consider greater flexibility in Scotland and other parts of the UK over housing and education for asylum seekers, ending the so-called “hostile environment” policies he said the UK government was pursuing.
  
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• What could a 'no deal' Brexit mean?

  22-08-2018 19:30
  SKY's specialist correspondents and editors explain what exactly a no deal Brexit could mean.
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn: Labour will 'absolutely' oppose 'no deal' Brexit

  22-08-2018 19:20
  Jeremy Corbyn has declared Labour would "absolutely" vote against a "no deal" Brexit in Parliament, as he again failed to state whether he believes Britain will be better outside the EU.The Labour leader insisted his party "would not countenance" the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement, saying it would be "very, very bad for the whole country".Mr Corbyn spoke ahead of the government publishing the first batch of papers outlining contingency plans for such a scenario, after Prime Min
  
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• Should men say 'menopause' three times a day to help working women?

  22-08-2018 19:04
  The menopause is good fodder for standups joking about their mothers-in-law having power surges.This is astonishing, when 70% of women are in paid employment, including 4.3 million women over 50, when the average age of menopause is 45-55, and 75% of women report having menopause-related symptoms.Now, Dr Andrea Davies of the University of Leicester has suggested that the first step is talking about it.
  
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• Stanlow oil refinery in Cheshire evacuated after fire

  22-08-2018 18:51
  Firefighters are tackling a blaze at a major UK oil refinery where all staff have been evacuated.The fire broke out at a Shell-owned chemical plant on the same site as the Stanlow refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.Essar Oil UK, which operates the refinery and chemical plant, say that 900 employees and 500 contractors work on the site which supplies 16% of all road transport fuels.
  
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• Two arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after car driven at crowd in Romford

  22-08-2018 18:18
  Two men have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after footage emerged showing a car being driven into pedestrians.Detective Inspector Dean Grafton said: "Although we have made progress with our enquiries, we are keen speak to anyone who has information and to hear from any victims who may have been hurt during the ordeal.
  
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• Mill Hill school seeks legal action over rapper Stefflon Don's explicit music video

  22-08-2018 18:01
  A prestigious private school is seeking legal advice after complaints a rapper hired out its grounds for an explicit music video.Mill Hill School, where fees are up to £30,000 a year, apologised for the video that features English rapper Stefflon Don swearing, showering and appearing to smoke marijuana.The video shows Stefflon Don arriving at a new school and being targeted by bullies.
  
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• British universities criticised over pursuit of Egyptian links

  22-08-2018 18:00
  Banner displayed in Rome in 2016, for the Cambridge PhD student Giulio Regeni, who was tortured and killed in Egypt.Leading British universities have been accused of turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in Egypt in pursuit of opening campuses under the country’s authoritarian regime.More than 200 prominent academics and others in the UK university sector have signed a letter to the Guardian opposing the collaboration against the backdrop of unanswered questions about the abduction an
  
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• Legal Storm Gathers Round Trump

  22-08-2018 17:49
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• Travel firm TUI in sexism row over stickers for children given out on flights

  22-08-2018 17:41
  Travel firm TUI has been accused of sexism after passengers complained they handed out "future captain" stickers to boys and "cabin crew" badges to girls during flights.Dame Gillian Morgan, 65, noticed the stickers following her flight to Bristol from Paphos, Cyprus.In an interview with Metro, Dame Gillian said it was "deeply sexist" and was "absolutely sure" it was deliberate to hand stickers by gender.
  
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• Stanlow Oil Refinery: Hundreds Evacuated As Fire Crews Tackle Blaze

  22-08-2018 17:40
  Firefighters are battling a fire at a major UK oil refinery this afternoon,
  
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• Chuka Umunna’s new party must do more than ride the populist wave

  22-08-2018 17:40
  Labour MP Chuka Umunna speaks at an Open Britain event in London in November 2017.The last major shake-up in party politics, from which the “Gang of Four” created the SDP, involved household names who had fairly recently held high office, and tapped into disaffection mainly, but not exclusively, from Labour members and voters, with some success until merger and disappearance within less than 10 years – without “breaking the mould” as they had intended.The present si
  
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• AstraZeneca switches contractor as new headquarter delayed again

  22-08-2018 17:26
  Drugmaker AstraZenecahas appointed a new construction manager to finish work on its new flagship headquarters in the English university city of Cambridge, following a series of delays and rising costs.Chief Executive Pascal Soriot has made the move to Cambridge a symbol of the group's renewed focus on cutting-edge science, but the building has faced a series of delays and the company said on Wednesday it did not now expect to occupy it until 2020.AstraZeneca had already warned in April 2017 that
  
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• Girls with top science GCSEs 'deterred from study at higher level'

  22-08-2018 17:06
  Only dramatic intervention would change girls’ low take-up of physics and maths, the researchers said.Girls achieving top grades in science and maths at GCSE are deterred from continuing to a higher level with such subjects, including physics, because they are affected by low confidence and an absence of peers in the classroom, research has found.As hundreds of thousands of pupils await the results of the GCSE exams on Thursday, a study, published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, sugge
  
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• UK year-ahead inflation expectations highest since December 2017 - Citi/YouGov

  22-08-2018 17:00
  Rising oil prices have pushed up the British public's expectations for inflation over the coming year to their highest since December, a monthly YouGov survey for Citi showed on Wednesday.Public inflation expectations for the next 12 months rose to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent, while longer-run inflation expectations for the next 5-10 years held broadly steady at 3.3 percent."The recent rise in the oil price and the associated increase in fuel prices have led to a rebound in households' inflatio
  
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• Fire breaks out at Essar Oil's Stanlow refinery

  22-08-2018 16:43
  Fire engines were sent to Essar Oil UK's 200,000 barrel per day oil refinery in northwest England on Wednesday after smoke was spotted, although the scale of the fire was unclear, a local fire service spokeswoman said.Essar was not immediately available for comment."Firefighters have been called to reports of a fire at Stanlow Oil Refinery... All staff have been accounted for and have been evacuated," the fire service said in a statement on its website.
  
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• Ryanair Apologises To Customers After Compensation Cheques Bounce

  22-08-2018 16:29
  Ryanair has apologised after a number of compensation cheques issued to
  
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• Bank Holiday Travel: All The Rail Strikes, Station Closures And Roadworks Set To Cause Disruptions

  22-08-2018 16:22
  The UK is set to be hit by various travel disruptions this weekend as millions
  
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• Trump's Former Lawyer Michael Cohen 'Has Evidence Of Russia Collusion'

  22-08-2018 16:16
  Michael Cohen's lawyer has said his client has information that implicates
  
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• British Typhoons scrambled from Romania to shadow Russian jets

  22-08-2018 16:15
  Two British Typhoon jets were scrambled from Romania to investigate suspected Russian fighter aircraft operating near NATO airspace over the Black Sea, the Royal Air Force (RAF) said on Wednesday.The typhoons took off from a base near Constanta to shadow the two suspected Russian Su-30 Flanker aircraft, the RAF added in a statement.RAF jets regularly monitor Russian warplanes near UK airspace, and the encounter near Romania is the second in that area since July.
  
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• Fire engines sent to Essar's Stanlow oil refinery - fire service

  22-08-2018 16:04
  Fire engines have been sent to Essar's 200,000 barrel per day oil refinery on Britain's west coast after smoke was spotted, although the scale of the fire was unclear, a local fire service spokeswoman said on Wednesday."There was a report of a large plume of black smoke.Essar was not immediately available for comment.
  
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• RAF scrambles Typhoons to shadow Russian jets

  22-08-2018 16:01
  RAF Typhoon jets have been launched from Romania in response to two suspected Russian aircraft operating near NATO airspace over the Black Sea.
  
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• Labour raise record £56m in a year - almost £10m more than Tories

  22-08-2018 16:01
  Labour raised a record amount for a political party last year by raking in nearly £56m in the space of 12 months.According to official figures, Jeremy Corbyn's party had an income of £55.79m in 2017, with the Conservatives raising almost £10m less at £45.95m.Both major parties spent slightly less than the amount they raised, with Labour having an expenditure of £54.34m and the Tories £44.87m.
  
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• Three men charged over suspected East Sussex gun factory

  22-08-2018 15:17
  The industrial unit in Hailsham where police said they had discovered a suspected illegal gun factory.Three men have been charged after a suspected gun factory was discovered on the edge of a market town in East Sussex, investigators said.About 30 guns were recovered from a warehouse labelled as a gearbox repair business on an industrial estate in Hailsham, the National Crime Agency said.
  
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• Stockpiling Supplies For A Hard Brexit

  22-08-2018 15:02
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• UK-built satellite 'to dramatically improve weather forecasts'

  22-08-2018 14:58
  The European Space Agency is launching the first satellite capable of measuring the wind speed on the surface of the Earth from space.Named Aeolus after the ruler of the winds in Greek mythology, the satellite was built in the UK and will be launched from the ESA facility in Kourour in French Guiana.Aeolus is set to dramatically improve weather prediction models by using lasers to measure winds on the surface of Earth and up to 30km into the stratosphere.
  
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• Dead People Gave More Money To The Tories Than Living Members

  22-08-2018 14:07
  The Conservative Party made more money in 2017 from dead people than it did
  
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• Rare Beano annual from 1939 to be sold at auction

  22-08-2018 14:06
  A rare copy of the first Beano annual, dating from the outbreak of the Second World War, is expected to fetch more than £1,000 when it goes to auction.The Beano annual for 1940 was published the year before, but doesn't feature the much-loved Dennis the Menace, as he didn't make his debut until 1951.It comes as the comic magazine celebrates its 80th birthday.
  
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• Illegal gun factory discovered on East Sussex industrial estate

  22-08-2018 14:02
  A "sophisticated" illegal gun factory has been discovered on the edge of a Sussex market town.The "large-scale" operation was uncovered at a site describing itself as a gearbox repair business on an industrial estate in Hailsham, East Sussex.Police arrested three men found leaving the building and had to use a Taser on one of them, the National Crime Agency said.
  
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• National Trust demands explanation over Nazi memorabilia on sale at event on its land

  22-08-2018 13:50
  An "urgent explanation" has been demanded by the National Trust over an event on its land that featured Nazi memorabilia.The matter came to light after a complaint was made by a visitor to the living history event on land belonging to the trust close to Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire.The Lacock at War event, which features re-enactments, people in authentic military dress, demonstrations and traders selling Second World War memorabilia was attended by about 8,000 people.
  
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• Pentonville prison overcrowded and drug use rife, says watchdog

  22-08-2018 13:48
  The report said Pentonville had energetic and committed staff but there were too few officers for most of the year.Monitors at HMP Pentonville found old windows had not been replaced, vermin was rife and prisoners went weeks without exercise in the fresh air.The assessment by Pentonville’s independent monitoring board (IMB) came days after the scathing findings of an inspection at Birmingham prison led to the government temporarily taking control away from its private operator, G4S.
  
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• UK police find 'sophisticated' illegal gun factory

  22-08-2018 13:47
  Investigators said on Wednesday they had found a "sophisticated" illegal gun factory in Sussex, southern England, and had made three arrests as part of an inquiry into the criminal production of firearms.A site with a sign outside saying it was a gearbox repair business contained machinery and components suspected to be used to make firearms and ammunition, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said."NCA investigators have discovered what they believe to be a sophisticated gun factory on an industrial
  
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• Will Donald Trump Be Impeached? The Cohen And Manafort Scandals Explained For Brits

  22-08-2018 13:36
  Donald Trump was hit with a remarkable double-blow on Tuesday: his former
  
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• 'Large Scale' Illegal Gun Factory Discovered In East Sussex

  22-08-2018 13:21
  A "sophisticated" illegal gun factory has been discovered on the edge of a
  
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• Murderer who escaped from prison arrested in Leeds after year on run

  22-08-2018 13:14
  Shaun Walmsley was serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years at HMP Liverpool.Shaun Walmsley, 29, was sprung from custody when armed men confronted prison guards during a hospital visit in Liverpool in February 2017.Merseyside police said Walmsley was arrested after armed officers stopped a car in the Harehills area of Leeds on Tuesday afternoon.
  
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• Workers £13 a week worse off than a decade ago, according to study

  22-08-2018 12:53
  Job insecurity is "widespread", with 800,000 workers currently on zero-hours contracts, research by the Resolution Foundation showed.The economic think tank said the employment rate provided "a much-needed bright spark amidst the gloom of the pay squeeze".Its senior economic analyst Stephen Clarke said: "Lower income families have accounted for the majority of Britain's jobs growth, showing that pushing for full employment can boost living standards.
  
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• Harry Uzoka murder: Model's girlfriend breaks silence after 'receiving death threats'

  22-08-2018 12:44
  The grieving girlfriend of model Harry Uzoka has addressed his death on social media after receiving "multiple death threats".Mr Uzoka, 25, was stabbed in the heart by rival George Koh and died on the pavement outside his home in Shepherd's Bush, west London, in January.Koh, from Camden, north London, claimed he had sex with Mr Uzoka's girlfriend, Ruby Campbell, and the two male models met for a confrontation.
  
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• Homeless man who handed out CVs on the street has finally landed a job

  22-08-2018 12:41
  David Casarez has accepted an offer a few weeks after photos of him holding a ‘homeless’ cardboard sign went viral.
  
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