General news

• Number of people having strokes falls by 43%

  05-10-2018 23:26
  The number of people having strokes has fallen by nearly a half since 2000 but they are having them at a younger age, new research has found.Prevention measures, such as people smoking and drinking less, have helped bring the rate down by 43%.King's College London scientists analysed data looking at patients who had an ischaemic stroke, which is caused by a blood clot, between 2000 and 2015.
  
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• Two-week-old baby seriously injured after 'being raped' in Northern Ireland

  05-10-2018 23:12
  A two-week-old baby is in intensive care after allegedly being raped.
  
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• May draws up plans for a charm offensive to win over Labour on Brexit - Guardian

  05-10-2018 22:43
  (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May has drawn up plans for a secret charm offensive aimed at convincing dozens of Labour parliamentarians to back her Brexit deal, the Guardian reported on Friday.
  
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• Man duped straight men into sex by claiming to be a woman

  05-10-2018 22:33
  Duarte Xavier, 34, was a liar and a fantasist who carried out his crimes over several years, Kingston Crown Court was told.It heard he used online dating websites to masquerade as a female called "Ana".Xavier would speak to some via video and sent provocative pictures before inviting them to his flat in Wandsworth, South London.
  
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• Topshop apologises and donates £25,000 to charity after removing feminist stall

  05-10-2018 22:15
  Topshop has apologised and donated £25,000 to charity after taking down a feminist stand in one of its stores.The stall, organised by publishers Penguin Books UK and the high street giant, was removed 20 minutes after it had been put up.The news emerged when Penguin Books tweeted an image of the stall being used to launch a collection of essays titled Feminists Don't Wear Pink (and Other Lies) curated by writer Scarlett Curtis.
  
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• Chicago police officer who shot black teen 16 times found guilty of murder

  05-10-2018 22:11 via theguardian.com
  Jason Van Dyke was captured on dashcam video killing Laquan McDonald, 17, in October 2014The white Chicago police officer who shot black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times in an encounter captured on dashcam video has been found guilty of second-degree murder.After a second day of deliberation, the jury brought a verdict that eased anxieties about public disturbance in a city struggling to overcome racial tension between black communities and a predominantly white police force. Continue reading..
  
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• Met police criticised over video of forceful restraint of black man

  05-10-2018 22:05
  The Metropolitan police are facing criticism over a stop and search of a young black man caught on video in which several officers wrestle him to the floor before one uses CS spray while he is on the ground.Following the circulation of the video on social media, the chair of a stop and search scrutiny panel set up by the mayor of London’s office for policing and crime called for an investigation and told the Guardian that the suspect had been “taken down to the ground like an animal&
  
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• Predator posed as woman to trick other men into sex

  05-10-2018 22:04 via theguardian.com
  Duarte Xavier, of south-west London, used online dating sites to contact four heterosexual menA man faces jail after being convicted of luring other men into having sex with him by posing as a woman named Ana.Duarte Xavier used online dating sites to contact four heterosexual men and deployed various ruses, including telling them he was married and that he wanted to engage in role play, to convince them to wear blindfolds, before engaging in sexual acts. Continue reading...
  
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• Woman jailed for pretending to raise money for girl's funeral which she spent on drugs

  05-10-2018 21:37
  Merthyr Crown Court heard that Hannah Price, 25, went into pubs and betting shops and posed as a family friend of the little girl to "prey" on the emotions of the public.Price told people she was raising money to pay for the funeral costs of Amelia Brooke Harris, who was found dead at a property in Trealaw, near Tonypandy on 8 June.The girl's mother, Carly Ann Harris, has been charged with her murder and her trial will begin in December.
  
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• Cuadrilla 'landmark' fracking in Lancashire halted once again

  05-10-2018 20:57
  After years of delays and protests, Cuadrilla invited Sky News to mark its first commercial fracking on UK soil.Retired businessman Bob Dennett filed the injunction against the council."Lancashire County Council have failed in their duty to provide adequate proof that there are procedures in place to protect the general public should there be a major incident on the fracking site," Mr Dennett claims.
  
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• Topshop's Philip Green under fire over axing of feminist book display

  05-10-2018 20:34 via theguardian.com
  Store apologises and makes donation to charity after removal of pop-up promotionTopshop abruptly cancelled a partnership with the publisher Penguin to promote a collection of feminist writing after the fashion retailer’s chairman, Sir Philip Green, saw an in-store pop-up.The decision prompted the editor of the collection, Scarlett Curtis, to accuse the store of letting down the teenage girls who shop there. Continue reading...
  
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• Revealed: May's secret bid to get Labour to back Brexit deal

  05-10-2018 20:00
  Theresa May has plans to persuade Labour MPs to to back her Brexit deal.Theresa May has drawn up plans for a secret charm offensive aimed at persuading dozens of Labour MPs to back her Brexit deal even if it costs Jeremy Corbyn the chance to be prime minister, the Guardian has learned.Senior Conservatives say they have already been in private contact with a number of Labour MPs over a period of several months, making the case that the national interest in avoiding a no-deal outcome is more impor
  
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• Russia unlikely to reduce aggressive spying, analysts warn

  05-10-2018 19:50 via theguardian.com
  Expulsion of agents from the Netherlands will not deter Vladimir Putin, experts sayMoscow is unlikely to be deterred from carrying out aggressive foreign spying operations by the embarrassing unmasking of several of its agents in the Netherlands, analysts who study the Kremlin and Russian intelligence services have said.The sloppy tradecraft of the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency, should be cause for concern in the Kremlin, they said, but Vladimir Putin is still likely to take Thur
  
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• What does a fracking site look like?

  05-10-2018 19:33 via bbc.co.uk
  Judith Moritz shows us around one of the UK's first horizontal exploration wells.
  
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• How do NHS hospitals dispose of clinical waste?

  05-10-2018 19:23
  The Environment Agency has launched a criminal investigation into how a major NHS supplier failed to dispose of body parts, including amputated limbs and waste from cancer treatment.What rules must UK hospitals follow to remain within the law?Clinical waste is split into four categories: infectious, sharp, redundant medical waste and anatomical.
  
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• Gas fracking to start in England next week after seven-year halt

  05-10-2018 19:06
  Shale gas developer Cuadrilla Resources expects to start gas fracking in northwest England next week, seven years after its first attempt to hydraulically fracture a well led to earth tremors, public protests and an overhaul of regulations.It has draw criticism from the public and campaigners concerned about the environmental impact of fracking and the pollution caused by fossil fuels.Protests against the practice led to work at Cuadrilla's site being halted in 2011.
  
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• Greens set target of overtaking Lib Dems as England's third party

  05-10-2018 18:59
  Sian Berry and Jonathan Bartley give their co-leader’s speech at the Green party conference in Bristol.The Greens have begun their annual conference by setting a target to become England’s third-biggest party while promising to maintain direct protests against policies such as fracking and support others who do.A month after taking over as co-leaders, Sian Berry and Jonathan Bartley unveiled what they called a transformative programme, including measures to redirect economic policy a
  
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• Kavanaugh, Ronaldo ... how many more male victims must there be? | Marina Hyde

  05-10-2018 18:49 via theguardian.com
  Amid the tumult of all these sexual assault allegations, thank goodness we have the men’s rights movement to fight backI had never even heard of the term “incel” back in April, when some guy drove a van into pedestrians in Toronto, killing 10 and injuring 13. Yet nine days later I was reading a column about “the redistribution of sex” on the op-ed pages of the New York Times, which took what we’ll call this man’s “ideas” about involuntary cel
  
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• After the Nobel peace prize, it’s time to focus on the victims of rape | Winnie M Li

  05-10-2018 18:38 via theguardian.com
  Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege’s award should make us consider the impact on those who suffer sexual assaultsTen years ago, when I was raped, I never could have predicted a single six-character hashtag would come to symbolise – at least for the media – all the world’s survivors of sexual assault and misconduct. But #MeToo is apparently a trend, and news stories around rape are now “topical”, even though this crime has been taking place for all of human history.
  
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• Nobel peace prize 2018 winners: who are Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad? – video profile

  05-10-2018 18:27 via theguardian.com
  Two leaders of the struggle against sexual violence in war have won this year’s Nobel peace prize. Denis Mukwege, a doctor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has spent decades caring for victims of sexual assault in his homeland. Yazidi activist Nadia Murad has used her own story of enslavement and rape by Islamic State to draw attention to human rights abuses.Nobel peace prize joint winner Nadia Murad’s powerful 2016 speech to the UN – videoNobel peace prize joint winner
  
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• Artist to issue 'Swiss passports' in London installation

  05-10-2018 18:20
  Ever wanted to hold a Swiss passport in these uncertain times?If you head to London's upscale Mayfair district this weekend, you can check out an art installation by American sculptor Tom Sachs called "Swiss Passport Office", which for 20 euros will issue a fake version of the highly coveted document.Set up on the sidelines of London's annual Frieze Art Fair, the installation "encompasses contemporary concerns relating to Brexit, Syria and (U.S. President Donald) Trump's immigration policies", a
  
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• 'You can't go there, you're disabled'

  05-10-2018 18:17 via bbc.co.uk
  I've felt more disabled in the UK than anywhere else in the world, says comedian
  
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• Citi plans new UK bank as part of Brexit reorganisation

  05-10-2018 18:16
  Citigroupis setting up a new British bank, headquartered in London, to house its UK consumer business after Brexit, according to a note to customers reviewed by Reuters on Friday.The Wall Street investment bank said the business, previously run via Citibank Europe plc, headquartered in Ireland, would be transferred to the new bank by March 2019 subject to approvals from regulators."The creation of Citibank UK Limited will enable us to continue to service our Citigold and other UK consumer client
  
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• Dancing to the beat or running in the wheat: who won the Tory spin war?

  05-10-2018 18:14 via theguardian.com
  Boris Johnson and Theresa May compete for iconic political image of the week Boris Johnson’s jog through a field near his Oxfordshire home dominated Tuesday’s front pages, prompting accusations it was a stunt to mock the prime minister’s admission in last year’s general election campaign that the naughtiest thing she had done was running through fields of wheat as child. Related: Boris Johnson appears to mock PM with 'field of wheat' runContinue reading...
  
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• What do your doodles say about you?

  05-10-2018 18:11 via theguardian.com
  Have you ever found yourself making a few scribbles when you’re bored? Your mindless doodles can actually reveal a lot about your personalityIf you’ve ever been unwillingly stuck in a classroom, lecture hall or company meeting with a notepad and pen, there’s a good chance your mind went wandering and you absentmindedly drew some shapes. While these days one might be more likely to scroll through emails or social media, “there’s a lot to be said for putting down your
  
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• Melania Trump criticised for wearing colonial-style hat during Kenyan safari

  05-10-2018 18:11 via theguardian.com
  Originally worn in 19th century by explorers, the pith helmet has become symbol of colonial ruleMelania Trump has prompted consternation, some anger and much derision by choosing a pith helmet – a symbol of colonial rule across Africa – as headwear for a brief safari in Kenya.On the penultimate day of her tour of the continent – her first solo trip overseas – the first lady visited an orphanage in Nairobi before heading to a national park near the city. Continue reading..
  
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• Tube pusher guilty: CCTV shows moment 91-year-old man sent 'flying' onto train tracks

  05-10-2018 18:06
  CCTV footage has shown the terrifying moment a 91-year-old man was sent "flying" onto train tracks after being pushed off a Tube platform.Sir Robert Malpas, a former Eurotunnel boss, was attacked as he walked along the platform wearing a brown Burberry raincoat, suit and tie, and carrying an umbrella on 27 April.Sir Robert, a retired industrialist who was knighted by the Queen in 1999, was rescued by heroic passer-by Riyad El Hussani, who leapt onto the tracks to save him just one minute before
  
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• Fears mount over Saudi journalist missing since entering consulate

  05-10-2018 18:04
  People gather outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in support of Jamal Kashogg,i who has lived in the US since Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power.The Washington Post has published a blank column in its Friday’s print edition and a blank page on its website to highlight the disappearance of one of its regular writers, Jamal Khashoggi, as the mystery deepens over the Saudi journalist’s whereabouts.Khashoggi has been missing since he entered the Saudi Arabian consulate
  
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• What's different about the people in these posters?

  05-10-2018 17:50 via bbc.co.uk
  More Than a Disability is a photography project starring disabled actors and models in roles that are usually given to non-disabled talent.
  
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• Millionaire refuses to take down 'Bollocks to Brexit' poster

  05-10-2018 17:44 via theguardian.com
  Council tells Pimlico Plumbers founder he must apply for planning consent for sign
  An outspoken former Conservative party donor has said he is prepared to go to prison to keep a giant “Bollocks to Brexit” poster above his London office after he was told to remove it by his local council.Charlie Mullins, the founder of Pimlico Plumbers, accused Lambeth council of interfering with his freedom of speech and succumbing to people’s sensitivities over a word that was proven in a Sex
  
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• Millionaire refuses to take down 'Bollocks to Brexit' poster

  05-10-2018 17:44
  Lambeth council has said the poster in Waterloo, London, is not related to Charlie Mullins’ business.An outspoken former Conservative party donor has said he is prepared to go to prison to keep a giant “Bollocks to Brexit” poster above his London office after he was told to remove it by his local council.Charlie Mullins, the founder of Pimlico Plumbers, accused Lambeth council of interfering with his freedom of speech and succumbing to people’s sensitivities over a word t
  
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• The writing’s on the wall for upper class

  05-10-2018 17:39
  Protesters rally in front of Trump Tower in New York. Is the president upper class? Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP
  
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• Teacher accused of having sex with boy sent Valentine's Day text

  05-10-2018 17:33 via theguardian.com
  Eleanor Wilson said pupil was ‘charming’ but denied having sex with him on planeA teacher accused of having sex in a plane toilet with a 16-year-old pupil at the end of a school trip sent him a text wishing him a happy Valentine’s Day six months later, a jury has heard.Giving evidence at Bristol crown court, Eleanor Wilson described the boy as “charming, chatty and sociable” but insisted she had not had sex with him on the plane. She also denied kissing and cuddling
  
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• Teacher accused of having sex with boy sent Valentine's Day text

  05-10-2018 17:33
  Eleanor Wilson, 29, denies four charges of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.A teacher accused of having sex in a plane toilet with a 16-year-old pupil at the end of a school trip sent him a text wishing him a happy Valentine’s Day six months later, a jury has heard.Giving evidence at Bristol crown court, Eleanor Wilson described the boy as “charming, chatty and sociable” but insisted she had not had sex with him on the plane.
  
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• NHS in outsourcing talks with Mitie after body parts fiasco

  05-10-2018 17:23 via theguardian.com
  Waste management firm is first choice to replace supplier that allowed body parts to pile upThe NHS is in talks with Mitie about the outsourcing company taking over the disposal of body parts and hazardous waste after the existing contractor allowed huge stockpiles to build up, triggering health concerns.NHS chiefs fear the current contractor Healthcare Environmental Services (HES) could collapse and are urgently trying to find a replacement firm to undertake some or all of the work done by the
  
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• Juncker compares Brexit talks to 'polyphonic chorus' as he hopes for November deal

  05-10-2018 17:20
  The range of ministers' views on Brexit are a "polyphonic chorus" that need to be arranged into a "melody", Jean-Claude Juncker has said, as he voiced hopes for a deal by November.The European Commission president warned the negotiations were "not easy" and criticised the "different signals" he was receiving from London.It comes as a group of pro-EU political parties from Northern Ireland held crunch talks with Brussels' chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
  
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• Westminster attacker Khalid Masood shot 'too late', inquest hears

  05-10-2018 17:15
  Westminster attacker Khalid Masood was shot dead "too late", an MP's assistant has told an inquest into his death.Matthew Jordan watched the events of 22 March last year unfold from Portcullis House opposite new Palace Yard.Masood, 52, had two large knives and had already fatally stabbed PC Keith Palmer and killed four pedestrians when he was confronted by two armed bodyguards.
  
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• A Year Of The MeToo Movement

  05-10-2018 17:00
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• Pensioner released under investigation over 'man living in shed for 40 years'

  05-10-2018 16:57
  A dawn raid by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) on the 6ft building on a residential site north of Carlisle led to the discovery of the 58-year-old man.Specialist trauma officers took the potential modern slavery victim from the scene to be medically examined and assessed.The GLAA said the man was "doing well" but added that it would be a "hard process" to help him recover and earn his trust.
  
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• ECJ to hear case on whether UK alone can reverse Brexit on November 27 - source

  05-10-2018 16:55
  The European Court of Justice has set a Nov. 27 date for a hearing to decide whether Britain's parliament can unilaterally change its mind on Brexit, a legal source told Reuters, adding that the case is moving fast.Scottish lawmakers opposed to Brexit filed a petition with Scotland's Court of Session last year to show that Britain has a unilateral option of staying in the world's biggest trading bloc, once the outcome of Brexit is known.
  
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• EU may offer post-Brexit trade flexibility to help May secure deal

  05-10-2018 16:42
  The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has urged MEPs to talk down the possibility of extending the two-year negotiating period.The EU is preparing to help Theresa May build a parliamentary majority for a Brexit deal by offering Downing Street a written commitment to think again about “frictionless trade” if the UK changes its red lines after it leaves the union.EU leaders want to throw the prime minister a lifeline in their long-awaited political declaration on a futu
  
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• Immigration officers 'pinned naked man down' in false tip-off

  05-10-2018 16:31
  The Home Office has refused to comment on the case of a father who was pinned to the ground naked by immigration officers following a false tip-off.
  
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• Michael Stirling Appears In Court Over Murder Of Midwife Samantha Eastwood

  05-10-2018 16:09
  A man has appeared in court charged with murdering a midwife found buried in a
  
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• Police In A US Town Forced To Issue Statement About Drunk Birds 'Flying Into Windows'

  05-10-2018 15:47
  Police in Gilbert, Minnesota, have been forced to issue a statement about
  
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• Cuadrilla expects to start fracking for gas in England next week

  05-10-2018 15:40
  Shale gas developer Cuadrilla Resources expects to start fracking for gas at its Preston New Road site in northwest England next week, the company said on Friday.Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves extracting gas from rocks by breaking them up with water and chemicals at high pressure.This year it gave consent for Cuadrilla to start fracking at two wells at Preston New Road.
  
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• 91-Year-Old Pushed Onto Tube Tracks Sobs As Assailant Is Convicted Of Attempted Murder

  05-10-2018 15:21
  A former Eurotunnel boss sobbed in court as the man who pushed him on to the
  
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• Queen to vacate her Buckingham Palace rooms for refit - aide

  05-10-2018 15:19
  Britain's Queen Elizabeth will vacate her private rooms at Buckingham Palace in 2025 as part of a 10-year refit of the building to prevent a catastrophic disaster such as a fire or a flood, a senior royal official said on Friday.The palace is undergoing a 369 million pound ($481 million) reservicing programme to replace ageing and dangerous electrical wiring and boilers.Towards the end of the works, the 92-year-old monarch and her husband Prince Philip, 97, will have to move out of their apartme
  
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• Mike Ashley in talks to retrieve American Golf from bunker

  05-10-2018 15:06
  Mike Ashley is targeting another addition to his high street empire with a takeover of American Golf, the struggling chain that is Britain's biggest specialist golf retailer.Sky News understands that Mr Ashley's Sports Direct International is one of a small number of parties which tabled offers this week as American Golf's current owner seeks a rapid sale.The auction comes at a time of continued angst for much of the UK retail sector, with an unprecedented slew of prominent high street names in
  
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• Listen up, fam: 1,400 new words added to dictionary in controversial 'updation'

  05-10-2018 14:53
  The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added 1,400 new words in its latest "updation" which notably includes more than 100 film-related terms such as "Tarantinoesque", "Spielbergian" and "Nollywood".OED senior editor Craig Leyland said: "As with any area of specialism, film has its own ever-expanding lexicon, and such is cinema's popularity and influence that the words involved often make their way through to mainstream consciousness."With this in mind we've added over 100 words and phrases as
  
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• Keira Knightley reveals she had mental breakdown and was diagnosed with PTSD

  05-10-2018 14:52
  Keira Knightley has revealed she had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as she struggled with the pressures of fame at a young age.The actress, who soared to A-list status with roles in the Pirates Of The Caribbean series and Pride & Prejudice following her big break in Bend It Like Beckham at the age of 22, said she went through therapy to cope with her growing celebrity.Knightley, now 33, spoke out about the price of fame in an episode of The Hollywood
  
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