General news

• 'High level of E.coli' at Egyptian hotel where Britons died

  05-09-2018 23:30
  Thomas Cook says a high level of E.coli and staphylococcus bacteria has been found at an Egypt hotel where two Britons died.The travel company commissioned specialists to examine the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada after the unexplained deaths of John and Susan Cooper last month at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada.Tests showed normal carbon monoxide levels near the couple's room and normal levels of chlorine in the swimming pool.
  
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• Misogyny could become hate crime after government orders law review

  05-09-2018 23:28
  The government has ordered a review of the law following calls for misogyny to be considered a hate crime.Justice minister Lucy Frazer announced the action to the House of Commons on Wednesday, prior to MPs giving the green light for "upskirting" to be deemed a specific offence.The government had been forced to bring forward the Voyeurism (Offences) Bill after Tory backbencher Sir Christopher Chope blocked previous efforts to make upskirting a distinct crime, despite it having ministerial suppor
  
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• Weatherwatch: hot summers are not new – look at 1666

  05-09-2018 22:30
  Dutch School painting of the Great Fire of London, 1666, which began in a bakery and soon spread, helped by dry, warm conditions and a strong wind.After 1976, and this year’s heatwave, we might assume that hot summers are a new phenomenon.Then, on 2 September, disaster struck: Thomas Farriner, a baker in Pudding Lane near London Bridge, raked his bread oven and went to bed, failing to notice that a coal had fallen out of the hearth.
  
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• Premier League gambling sponsors 'failing addicts', warns NHS chief

  05-09-2018 21:44
  Foreign bookmakers that sponsor Premier League football clubs are failing in their duty to help protect gambling addicts, according to the chief executive of the NHS.Simon Stevens told a conference in Manchester that eight out of nine Premier League clubs sponsored by overseas betting companies have failed to make required donations to an industry charity.According to the Gambling Commission there are around 430,000 problem gamblers in the UK, and there is growing concern that sponsorship o
  
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• 'Chequers plan is dead,' says MP, who reported rejection by Barnier

  05-09-2018 21:37
  Theresa May’s Brexit plan was left mired in uncertainty after reports that the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told British MPs that “les propositions sont mortes” in a Brussels meeting.The Labour MP Stephen Kinnock revealed that in talks this week Barnier had declared the Chequers proposals “dead” and suggested that there was a fundamental misunderstanding in the UK about how the single market worked.“I can tell you absolutely, unequivocally, wit
  
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• Britain, France agree deal on scallop fishing after clashes

  05-09-2018 21:18
  Britain and France have agreed a deal over scallop fishing in the English Channel after fishermen from both countries clashed at sea last month, Britain's food and agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.French fishermen had accused the British of unfairly catching scallops in the Baie de Seine during the summer, when French boats were banned from doing so because of French regulations aimed at protecting shellfish stocks."The UK and French fishing industries and governments held constructive tal
  
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• Britain and France agree a deal on scallop fishing

  05-09-2018 21:18
  Britain and France have agreed a deal over scallop fishing in the English Channel after fishermen from both countries became embroiled in a spat at sea last month, Britain's food and agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.French fishermen had accused the British of unfairly catching scallops in the Baie de Seine during the summer, when French boats were banned from doing so because of French regulations aimed at protecting shellfish stocks.
  
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• Huddersfield child sexual exploitation case: Eighteen people appear in court

  05-09-2018 21:14
  Protesters gathered at a Huddersfield court as 18 people charged over alleged sexual exploitation of children appeared in front of a judge.
  
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• Government Commits To Law Review That Could Make Misogyny A Hate Crime

  05-09-2018 21:07
  Ministers have announced that the Law Commission will carry out a review into
  
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• Scallop wars: Breakthrough after UK and France talks

  05-09-2018 21:01
  The UK and France have reached an agreement in principle over a fishing dispute that has led to recent violence in the Channel.In a joint statement following talks between the two governments, the UK and France said an agreement on the principles of a deal had been reached.French fishermen have accused the British of unfairly catching scallops in the Baie de Seine during the summer, when French boats are banned by their government from doing so to protect shellfish stocks.
  
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• Salisbury novichok attack: Russian 'spies' named as suspects

  05-09-2018 20:49
  Two men suspected of being Russian spies have been named as the prime suspects in the Salisbury novichok poisoning.Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are wanted for the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and police officer Nick Bailey.Prime Minster Theresa May said the suspects were officers from the Russian intelligence service GRU and the attack had been approved "at a senior level of the Russian state".
  
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• Brexit, Brexit, Brexit: leaders on autopilot for return of PMQs

  05-09-2018 20:42
  No one can say that Theresa May doesn't go out of her way to make things easy for Jeremy Corbyn.There was a time in their early exchanges at prime minister's questions when the Labour leader frequently failed to follow his own line of thinking and managed to confuse himself as well as his opposite number.
  
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• 'Scallop War' Is Over: UK And French Government's Strike Deal To End Row Over Fishing

  05-09-2018 20:39
  The 'scallop war' between French and British fishermen in the English Channel
  
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• Lottery reforms include new game with monthly wins

  05-09-2018 20:00
  Sky's Ian King speaks to Camelot about their new reforms to the National Lottery as ticket sales decline.
  
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• Woman pranks husband over lottery - then wins £1m

  05-09-2018 19:55
  A woman who pranked her husband over a £250,000 lottery win last month has scooped £1m for real.Having fallen for the initial trick, Daniel Peart, 27, did not believe wife Charlotte, 28, when she called him at work last week to reveal they were millionaires.Mr Peart, a self-employed carpenter from Cambridgeshire, was so sceptical he passed the phone to his brother.
  
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• DfE warns teachers against expressing 'political views'

  05-09-2018 19:54
  Campaigners raised fears that the government wanted to ‘gag’ teachers in England over the issue of resources.Headteachers and teaching unions have said they will defy any attempts by the Department for Education to block legitimate criticism, after it issued advice warning teachers in England against expressing “political views”.A revision issued on Wednesday to the DfE’s document entitled Staffing and employment advice for schools – billed as departmental adv
  
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• Salisbury council chief criticises Corbyn for 'private' visit to city

  05-09-2018 19:40
  The leader of Salisbury city council, Matthew Dean, has criticised Jeremy Corbyn for not making an official visit after the nerve agent poisonings in the town.Dean revealed that he had not even realised the Labour leader had been to the city at all until Corbyn had said so in the Commons on Wednesday.The city council had helped welcome visitors including the prime minister, two home secretaries, numerous ministers and Prince Charles after the events.
  
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• Labour criticises Tories over key NHS roles going to party peers

  05-09-2018 19:36
  Labour claimed Prior’s appointment was part of a pattern of Tory grandees landing important NHS roles.Labour has criticised the growing number of Conservative politicians being handed key jobs in the health service after a Tory peer was named as the new chairman of NHS England.Lord Prior of Brampton will become the third Tory member of the House of Lords in an influential position in the NHS when he takes up the role in November, subject to approval from MPs.
  
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• Fidel Glasgow killing: Specials singer Neville Staple 'numb' after grandson stabbed

  05-09-2018 19:28
  The Specials singer Neville Staple has said he is "numb" following the fatal stabbing of his grandson Fidel Glasgow.Urging anyone with information to use a web chat facility on the West Midlands Police website, he said: "If they could come forward, that would be brilliant.Atikou Diallo, 23, who was arrested following the disorder outside Club M in Croft Road, appeared before magistrates in Birmingham on Tuesday charged with affray, grievous bodily harm, violent disorder and possession of a contr
  
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• 'High level of e-coli' at Egyptian hotel where Britons died

  05-09-2018 18:37
  Thomas Cook says a high level of e-coli and staphylococcus bacteria has been found at an Egypt hotel where two Britons died.The travel company commissioned specialists to examine the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada after the unexplained deaths of John and Susan Cooper last month at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada.Tests showed normal carbon monoxide levels near the couple's room and normal levels of chlorine in the swimming pool.
  
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• Cladding warnings nearly 20 years before Grenfell 'not acted on' by successive governments

  05-09-2018 18:34
  Successive governments did not act on warnings about dangerous cladding nearly 20 years before the "entirely avoidable" Grenfell Tower blaze, says the firefighters union.General secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) Matt Wrack said both Labour and Conservative politicians had been guilty of "complacency" about fire policy "for a long time".Mr Wrack said the union warned a Commons select committee in 1999 that some cladding systems posed a threat to life following a blaze at Garnock Court in
  
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• Huge historical archive of mail from captured ships to go online

  05-09-2018 18:23
  An archive of thousands of undelivered personal letters from all over the world, seized from ships captured during Britain’s naval wars over three centuries, are to be digitised in a project offering an intimate glimpse into people’s lives.Known as the Prize Papers, the 160,000 letters are from about 35,000 ships captured by the British navy or privateers, during wars of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.The letters were submitted as court evidence before the Prize Court of the High
  
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• Notting Hill: silence held for Grenfell victims

  05-09-2018 18:20
  Sky's Enda Brady speaks to performers and crowds at the biggest street party in Europe as it holds its silence for the Grenfell victims.
  
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• Planes, trains and fake names: the trail left by Skripal suspects

  05-09-2018 18:19
  The two men were dressed inconspicuously in jeans, fleece jackets and trainers as they boarded the flight from Moscow to Gatwick.In Moscow the temperatures had fallen below -10C, not unusual for early March.According to the Metropolitan police, the bottle in fact contained novichok, a lethal nerve agent developed in the late Soviet Union.
  
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• Actor Jeff Goldblum surprises London commuters with piano performance

  05-09-2018 18:14
  LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood actor Jeff Goldblum has faced dinosaurs and aliens in his movie franchises, but on Wednesday he showed off a very different skill - playing jazz music.
  
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• Egypt hotel deaths: Couple's bodies to be repatriated

  05-09-2018 18:10
  The bodies of John and Susan Cooper will return to the UK next week following "detailed autopsies" as an investigation continues.
  
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• E-coli Found At Egypt Hotel Where British Couple John And Susan Cooper Fell Ill

  05-09-2018 18:08
  E-coli has been found at the Egyptian hotel where a British couple who died
  
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• Immigration detainees mount legal challenge over £1-an-hour work

  05-09-2018 18:07
  Immigration detainees have launched a legal challenge over a Home Office rule that forces them to work for £1 an hour.People in immigration detention completed up to 880,000 hours of paid work in 2016-17, with inmates employed as cleaners, interpreters, library assistants, kitchen assistants and barbers, among other roles.The "vast majority" of the work is paid at £1 per hour, according to Duncan Lewis solicitors, which has issued judicial review proceedings to challenge a Home Offic
  
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• Germany has full trust in Barnier on Brexit - government spokesman

  05-09-2018 18:01
  The German government has full trust in the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, who represents the bloc's 27 members in talks with Britain, a spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.The spokesman was asked to comment on a Bloomberg report which said that Germany and Britain had abandoned key Brexit demands, potentially easing the path for a divorce deal."The government's position is unchanged," the spokesman said.
  
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• Labour and Prince Charles vow to support creativity in schools

  05-09-2018 17:51
  Prince Charles meets Lenny Henry and schoolchildren at a visit to the Royal Albert Hall, London, to discuss creativity in schools.Labour has pledged to put “creativity at the heart of the school curriculum” in a series of policy announcements that coincided with a gathering of artists, actors, teachers and arts leaders convened by Prince Charles to address the subject.About 200 people, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Vivienne Westwood, Lenny Henry, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Zoe Wanamaker
  
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• Guests at hotel used by novichok suspects urged to contact police

  05-09-2018 17:49
  The City Stay hotel in Bow, where agents Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov stayed, has been declared safe.Guests who stayed at a London hotel used by two men suspected of the novichok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury have been urged by the chief medical officer to contact the investigation team.Professor Sally Davies said anyone who stayed at the City Stay hotel, in Bow, east of the capital between 4 March – the day Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov checked out &nda
  
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• Parliament needs to be able to make informed decision on future EU relationship - May's spokesman

  05-09-2018 17:48
  The British parliament will need to be able to make an informed decision about Britain's future relationship with the European Union when it votes on whether to back any Brexit deal, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Wednesday.Earlier on Wednesday Sterling jumped as much as one percent after Bloomberg reported that the British and German governments have abandoned key Brexit demands, potentially easing the path for Britain to strike a deal with the European Union.
  
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• Britain charges two Russians for state-backed plot to kill Skripals

  05-09-2018 17:47
  Britain charged two Russians in absentia on Wednesday with the attempted murder of a former Russian spy and his daughter, and said the suspects were military intelligence officers almost certainly acting on orders from high up in the Russian state.British police revealed images of the two men they said had flown to Britain for a weekend in March to kill former spy Sergei Skripal with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent.
  
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• Lucy McHugh classmates urged to tell police what they know

  05-09-2018 17:46
  Pupils at Redbridge community school ‘may know something’ about the circumstances leading to her murder, said headteacher Jason Ashley.Classmates of Lucy McHugh have been urged to “fight for her” by telling police anything they might know about the murdered schoolgirl’s disappearance.At a special assembly at Redbridge community school in Southampton on Wednesday, the headteacher, Jason Ashley, said he believed someone in the “school community” could know
  
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• Britain to present poison evidence to U.N. on Thursday - May's spokesman

  05-09-2018 17:46
  Britain will present its evidence on the nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday after she blamed Moscow for the murder attempt.The spokesman also told reporters that British officials had stressed at a meeting with Russia's charge d'affaires in London that Britain wanted those responsible for the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter brought to justice."We have called for a secur
  
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• See the moment Ayanna Pressley finds out she’s set to make history

  05-09-2018 17:45
  She is on course to become the first black woman elected to Congress in Massachusetts.
  
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• What is Russia's GRU military intelligence agency?

  05-09-2018 17:22
  Britain said two Russian military intelligence officers, almost certainly acting with the approval of senior Russian officials, were responsible for the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent.** Russia's military intelligence service is commonly known by the Russian acronym GRU, which stands for the Main Intelligence Directorate.
  
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• Frank Field has resigned from Labour, says general secretary

  05-09-2018 17:18
  Frank Field has in effect resigned from the Labour party, according to a report delivered by its general secretary.Jennie Formby told the party’s disputes panel on Tuesday that the MP for Birkenhead could no longer be a member because he has resigned the party whip.The dispute comes amid claims that Labour faces an “existential threat” from MPs who are discussing the establishment of a separate party.
  
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• Frank Field has resigned from Labour, says disputes panel

  05-09-2018 17:18
  Frank Field has in effect resigned from the Labour party, according to a report delivered by its general secretary.Jennie Formby told the party’s disputes panel on Tuesday that the MP for Birkenhead could no longer be a member because he has resigned the party whip.The dispute comes amid claims that Labour faces an “existential threat” from MPs who are discussing the establishment of a separate party.
  
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• UK faces tough diplomatic task to challenge Russia after Skripal charges

  05-09-2018 17:09
  Vladimir Putin may well have wished to test Europe’s unity amid the tumult of the Brexit process.The UK’s foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, faces a daunting diplomatic challenge to persuade wary fellow EU member states to impose further sanctions against Russia, despite the evidence that two Russian passport holders believed to be working for the country’s military intelligence agencyattempted to murder the double agent Sergei Skripal on British soil.Theresa May, the UK prime min
  
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• Big Narstie says drill music not to blame for London violence

  05-09-2018 16:47
  Grime artist Big Narstie has said politicians, the police and media need to stop using drill music as the scapegoat for the rise in violent crime in London.The rapper has said it is "unfair" that the genre was being linked by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick among others to recent stabbings and shootings in the capital.Speaking at the GRM Daily Rated Awards in London, he said: "100% unfair.
  
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• UK envoy meets Russian foreign ministry official over Skripal case - Ifax

  05-09-2018 16:38
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Britain's ambassador to Russia held talks with an official at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday to discuss the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain, the Interfax news agency cited the ministry as saying.
  
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• Emirates Flight Lands At JFK Airport With 'Dozens' Of Sick Passengers

  05-09-2018 16:23
  Dozens of passengers aboard an Emirates flight from Dubai to New York are
  
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• Toyota recalls one million hybrid cars worldwide over fire risk

  05-09-2018 16:22
  Toyota is recalling more than one million hybrid cars globally due to a technical problem which could cause a fire in the vehicles.About 1.03 million built between June 2015 and May 2018 will be recalled for safety checks, said the Japanese car giant.The affected models include the Prius, Prius PHV and C-HR hybrid cars.
  
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• Showdow talks held by officials in bid to end 'scallop wars'

  05-09-2018 16:05
  It comes as it emerged French fishermen have, in recent weeks, caught 44 rare bluefin tuna, off the coast of Jersey in the Channel Islands.It's another example of how complicated fishing regulations can be.The French are allowed to catch tuna in British waters, while the British are banned and vice versa.
  
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• Royal Bank of Scotland announces closure of additional 54 branches

  05-09-2018 16:04
  The Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing to shut down another 54 branches, resulting in the loss of 258 jobs.
  
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• John Lewis puts faith in partners not drones to weather change

  05-09-2018 15:59
  John Lewis, Britain's largest department store business, is confident its 28,000 employee "partners" and an investment drive will enable it to ride out a period of brutal trading.Britain's department stores have been hit by an inflationary squeeze on consumers and sluggish wage growth, rising labour costs, higher business property taxes and online competition as well as a record-breaking summer heatwave.BHS went bust in 2016, Debenhamshas warned on profit three times this year and House of Frase
  
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• Minister rebukes Toby Young: universities are not 'leftwing madrassas'

  05-09-2018 15:54
  The higher education minister, Sam Gyimah, also signalled he backed a more generous regime in offering visas for international students to study and work in the UK.British universities are “not leftwing madrassas”, the higher education minister Sam Gyimah said in riposte to Toby Young, during a speech to vice-chancellors that was markedly gentler than the government’s recent rhetoric.Gyimah, addressing the annual meeting of the Universities UK group in Sheffield, rebutted Young
  
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• Starmer: Labour would vote down Canada-style Brexit deal

  05-09-2018 15:48
  The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, has said during a visit to Brussels that Labour would vote against the proposed EU-UK free trade deal that is now being backed by Michel Barnier and David Davis, leaving such an arrangement with scant hope of being passed by parliament.The former cabinet ministers Davis and Boris Johnson and the EU’s chief negotiator have suggested in recent days that a Canada-style deal that avoids tariffs on imports but only minimises checks on imports rather th
  
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• Britain summons Russia's charge d'affaires in London over Skripal affair - RIA

  05-09-2018 15:41
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Britain summoned Russia's charge d'affaires in London on Wednesday after charging two suspects over the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
  
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