General news

• Northern Irish author Anna Burns' "Milkman" wins Man Booker Prize

  16-10-2018 23:34
  LONDON (Reuters) - "Milkman" by writer Anna Burns scooped the 2018 Man Booker Prize on Tuesday, with the Northern Irish writer winning the literary award for her third full-length novel.Set in an unnamed city during the bloody "Troubles" of Northern Ireland, the "Milkman" tells the coming-of-age story of a young girl's affair with an older man.As winner, the 56-year-old writer, who was born in Belfast, received the award from Prince Charles' wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as 50,0
  
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• John Major rips into Boris Johnson and fellow Brexiteers, saying they'll never be forgiven

  16-10-2018 23:31
  Sir John Major has launched his most savage attack yet on Boris Johnson and Tory Brexiteers, claiming they will never be forgiven for their false promises.Speaking on the eve of a Brussels summit, at which Theresa May is battling to avoid a "no-deal" Brexit, Sir John said once people understood they had been deceived, those responsible would have "much to answer for".
  
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• Anna Burns Wins 2018 Man Booker Prize With Her Novel, Milkman

  16-10-2018 22:56
  Anna Burns has become the first Northern Irish winner of the Man Booker Prize
  
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• Netflix shares soar as it announces 6.96m new members

  16-10-2018 22:48
  Netflix shares have risen 78% this year, as consumers continue to move away from traditional media and access more content online.Netflix shares soared on Tuesday as the streaming service announced higher growth than expected numbers of new subscribers.Netflix is the first of the so-called Faang companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) to report this quarter.
  
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• What will happen at 'moment of truth' Brexit summit? Who knows!

  16-10-2018 22:45
  It's honestly very hard to know how the next two days will play out.
  
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• Theresa May appeals to EU to keep Brexit door open

  16-10-2018 22:27
  Theresa May’s spokesman said cabinet members agreed the UK could not be ‘kept in the backstop indefinitely’.Theresa May will urge EU leaders in Brussels on Wednesday to keep the door open to continuing Brexit negotiations, after a two-and-a-half hour cabinet meeting that underscored the challenge of bridging the gap between London and Brussels in the days ahead.
  
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• Brexit deal still in balance according to Latvia

  16-10-2018 22:25
  A Brexit withdrawal deal is still in the balance according to the Latvian foreign minister during preparation for a key speech by Theresa May. Sky's Deborah Haynes reports.
  
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• Chancellor plans budget spending pledges to reassure MPs

  16-10-2018 22:17
  Philip Hammond is planning to pepper his budget with a series of spending announcements to reassure Tory backbenchers who are anxious about the impact of universal credit and delivering on the prime minister’s pledge to end austerity.The chancellor is understood to share fears that Theresa May’s promise at the Tory party conference to step up public spending had been interpreted too literally, putting pressure on the Treasury to announce giveaways later this month.Senior Treasury off
  
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• Wife's plea to government over British 'spy' Matthew Hedges held in UAE

  16-10-2018 21:38
  The wife of a British academic detained in the United Arab Emirates on spying charges has called on the UK government to confirm publicly he was not involved in espionage on their behalf.Durham University PHD student Matthew Hedges, 31, was stopped in May while trying to leave Dubai Airport following a study trip to the Gulf."I no longer know what to do to get Matt out of prison in the UAE.
  
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• Half of pupils in a PRUs are 'at risk' of gangs

  16-10-2018 21:30
  The Children's commissioner told Sky News that up to half of pupils in a Pupil referral unit are 'at risk' of being recruited into a gang as a study finds the number in them has risen by 10%.
  
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• Hundreds of children 'off-rolled' by schools and 'at risk of gangs' - Sky News study

  16-10-2018 21:16
  Hundreds of children are being moved out or "off-rolled" from mainstream education without being officially excluded, according to research by Sky News.Responding to our research, the children's commissioner has criticised schools for getting rid of children because they might bring down exam results and warns that the school system is funnelling some children towards gangs.Anne Longfield expressed concern over a "messy" practice that appears to "incentivise" moving difficult children out of mai
  
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• EU: May must deliver 'creative solution' to save Brexit summit

  16-10-2018 20:50
  A summit dinner is due to be held on Wednesday night, before which Theresa May is set to address the 27 EU heads of state.Theresa May has been told that it is up to her to deliver a “creative solution” to break the impasse that threatens to leave Wednesday’s “moment of truth” Brexit summit of EU leaders collapsing around her.With the issue of the backstop to the Irish border derailing the negotiations, and the timeline slipping by the week, Donald Tusk, the presiden
  
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• Ladbible rescues Unilad - with 200 jobs saved

  16-10-2018 20:44
  Social media-first publisher Ladbible has snapped up rival Unilad following its financial collapse earlier this month.Both brands were founded by the entrepreneur Alex Partridge but he sold a majority stake in Unilad to Bentley Harrigan in 2014.A court heard on 4 October that Unilad's owner had debts of £10m - with half that sum owed to Mr Partridge, making him the biggest creditor.
  
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• Paedophile Russell Bishop faces second trial for double child murder in 1986

  16-10-2018 20:36
  Russell Bishop, 52, denies murdering friends Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway, both aged nine, and dumping their bodies in woods near their home in Brighton, East Sussex, in 1986.An Old Bailey jury was told Bishop was acquitted of the murders a year after the girls died, but the case was not closed and detective work continued.Three years later, in 1990, Bishop was convicted of the kidnap, sexual assault and attempted murder of a seven-year-old girl, said prosecutor Brian Altman QC.
  
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• Tory MP 'spent more than double election spending limit to fight Farage'

  16-10-2018 20:32
  Craig Mackinlay and his wife, Kati, arrive at Southwark crown court.A Conservative MP and his two aides spent more than double the legal limit in election expenses as they fought off a challenge from Ukip’s Nigel Farage in the 2015 general election, a court was told on Tuesday.The South Thanet MP, Craig Mackinlay, along with a campaign organiser from Conservative Central Office and his agent, are alleged to have failed to declare up to £66,600.
  
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• 'We're excited to join club!' Meghan and Harry chat to Oz crowds about baby

  16-10-2018 20:29
  Prince Harry has said he and Meghan "couldn't think of a better place" to announce they are expecting their first child than in Australia.The Duke of Sussex spoke for the first time about the prospect of being a father at a reception hosted by the governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove, as his first major tour with his wife got under way in Sydney.Speaking at the afternoon reception at Admiralty House, Harry said: "We're both delighted to be here and really impressed to see you serving beer and tea
  
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• Jailed preacher Anjem Choudary faces strict controls after release

  16-10-2018 20:19
  Convicted Isis supporter Anjem Choudary will be in effect banned from any public statements after his release from prison this week, as British authorities seek to stop him from inciting support for terrorism.British officials believe they have drafted conditions that will stop Choudary from repeating his method of drumming up support for extremism, which enabled him to escape prosecution for years even as his propaganda motivated at least 100 people to pursue terrorism.
  
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• Man on trial a second time for 1986 murders of Brighton schoolgirls

  16-10-2018 20:16
  Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows, who were killed in October 1986.A paedophile accused of killing two nine-year-old girls more than three decades ago has gone on trial for a second time as prosecutors seek to draw on scientific advances in forensics on top of evidence from an original trial.Russell Bishop, who is accused of sexually assaulting and strangling Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows in October 1986, is being retried after his 1987 acquittal was quashed at the court of appeal in light of
  
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• Brexit Will Transform UK Into 'Middle-Sized, Middle-Ranking Nation', Says Sir John Major

  16-10-2018 20:12
  Sir John Major has said Brexit will transform Britain into a "middle-sized,
  
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• Brexit More Important Than Bullying, Says Labour's Dame Margaret Beckett Amid Calls For Speaker John Bercow To Resign

  16-10-2018 19:48
  Speaker John Bercow should stay in post despite bullying allegations made
  
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• Brexit 'Trumps' Bullying, Says Labour's Dame Margaret Beckett Amid Calls For Speaker John Bercow To Resign

  16-10-2018 19:48
  Speaker John Bercow should stay in post despite bullying allegations made
  
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• Harry, Meghan and unborn child in Sydney

  16-10-2018 19:45
  News of the couple’s pregnancy dominated the first day of their tour of Australia as Harry and Meghan met crowds in Sydney.
  
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• DUP leader says not to jump ahead of ourselves on UK budget support

  16-10-2018 19:30
  The leader of the Northern Irish party propping up British Prime Minister Theresa May's government said "we should not jump ahead of ourselves" when asked if she was threatening to withdraw parliamentary support for May's budget when it comes for approval.What we are in now is a very fluid situation and we are at a critical point this week and we are waiting to see what come forward in relation to text and proposals," Arelene Foster told a reporter from the BBC while campaigning in Carrick.
  
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• France seeks Brexit urgency as Wednesday deal unlikely

  16-10-2018 19:23
  France believes a Brexit deal is within reach but there is now a real need for urgency in negotiations, a presidency official said on Tuesday, striking a firm-but-conciliatory tone towards British Prime Minister Theresa May on the eve of an EU summit.With less than six months before Britain leaves the European Union, Brexit talks have reached a stalemate over the so-called Irish backstop, a fallback plan to ensure there is no return to a hard border between the British province of Northern Irela
  
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• Barnier sees December "ultimate deadline" for Brexit deal - source

  16-10-2018 19:22
  EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told ministers from member states on Tuesday that December was the latest that a Brexit deal could be struck if a treaty was to be ready by the time Britain leaves the bloc in March, an EU source said.While hopes of a deal at a summit on Wednesday were thwarted when talks deadlocked over the Irish border issue on Sunday, Barnier hoped that progress could be made especially next month so that the British and EU parliaments would have time to ratify any agreemen
  
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• Unnecessary cruelty of the UK’s immigration and asylum system

  16-10-2018 19:17
  In intrusive Home Office interviews where case workers have targets for rejection, lost and grieving people’s claims fail almost routinely, with reasons given such as: “You could not say what day it was when you emerged from under the bodies of the family you claim was massacred”, and “Your dislocated limbs could have been caused by heavy sports activities [rather than torture]” or “You claim you fled to your uncle’s house and then say he was just a fami
  
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• Tommy Robinson to face fresh contempt of court hearing

  16-10-2018 18:44
  Far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson will face another contempt of court hearing at the Old Bailey in London next week.Robinson - whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - was not present in court for a 30-second procedural hearing on Tuesday.Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC said: "This is just to indicate that I'm not referring the matter of possible contempt of court by Mr Yaxley-Lennon to the attorney general for him to consider whether or not to institute proceedings.
  
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• Academics are being harassed over their research into transgender issues

  16-10-2018 18:38
  Academic research is at risk, say the signatories to this letter. Photograph: ijeab/Getty Images/iStockphoto
  
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• EU leaders prepare hardball Brexit summit choice for May

  16-10-2018 18:33
  BRUSSELS/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - European Union leaders will give British Prime Minister Theresa May a tough reception in Brussels on Wednesday, warning her to rally support at home for the Brexit deal on offer or be cut loose without one in March.May will address the other 27 EU national leaders at a summit before they sit down to dinner without her.Officials said they expected the leaders to tell May they have little more to offer since talks stalled on Sunday and they will step up preparations
  
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• Miserable news on the buses

  16-10-2018 18:31
  First, we learn that bus journeys are 10% down since 2008, coinciding with a 55% increase in average fares and the virtual halving of public funding (Bus services ‘in crisis’ as number of journeys falls, 15 October).Compare this miserable news with another report (How free buses are revolutionising one French city, 15 October), telling how Dunkirk has become the largest city in Europe to offer free public transport, joining 56 other European transport networks and 98 worldwide, in wh
  
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• 'Two problems remain' over a backstop in Ireland

  16-10-2018 18:30
  'Two problems remain' over backstop in Ireland according to Theresa May who is updating MPs on the Brexit negotiations.
  
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• Theresa May pleads for unity after marathon cabinet talks on Brexit

  16-10-2018 18:18
  Theresa May has issued a dramatic unity plea to ministers, calling on them to "stand together" for the sake of a Brexit deal.The prime minister said she was "convinced" that if the cabinet retains a "firm" unitary position that Britain would get a breakthrough in negotiations.
  
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• No date set for UK parliament speaker's exit - spokeswoman

  16-10-2018 18:18
  The speaker of Britain's lower house of parliament, John Bercow, will leave his post next summer, the BBC and other local media reported on Tuesday, but his office said he had made no announcement about a leaving date.An investigation published on Monday said the House of Commons had allowed a culture of bullying and sexual harassment to thrive, and its top officials may need to be replaced to restore confidence."The Speaker has made no announcement about his leaving date.
  
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• County lines: More than 200 suspects arrested in drugs raids across UK

  16-10-2018 18:12
  More than 200 suspects have been arrested by dozens of police forces in a national crackdown on "county lines" drugs gangs.Some 58 vulnerable people, including children, who had been caught up in the gangs were also rescued, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.Officers found tens of thousands of pounds in cash and drugs including heroin and crack cocaine.
  
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• 'She's better than the Maybot': PM upstaged by actual robot

  16-10-2018 18:11
  On Monday, the prime minister spent the best part of two hours failing to explain why she had bothered to come to the House of Commons to give a statement on the progress of the Brexit negotiations when she didn’t have anything to say.Theresa May crashed and burned into random binary numbers as her circuits overloaded.A day later, with a little help from her handlers at Middlesex University, Pepper the robot – a 3ft tall wannabe Star Wars extra – was pushed into the education s
  
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• Pippa Middleton gives birth to her first child

  16-10-2018 18:04
  Pippa Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge's sister, has given birth to her first child, a boy.A family spokeswoman said: "James and Pippa have had a baby boy.The baby will be a cousin to William and Kate's three children - George, five, Charlotte, three, and five-month-old Louis.
  
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• Jamal Khashoggi: What We Know So Far About The Case Of Missing Saudi Journalist

  16-10-2018 18:04
  It's been two weeks since Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi vanished
  
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• Has universal credit been delayed again?

  16-10-2018 17:55
  A protester stages a food bank demonstration on Whitehall against universal credit.The BBC reports that ministers are planning to slow the “managed migration” of 2 million working tax credit claimants on to universal credit.Leaked Whitehall papers suggest that a large-scale transfer of claimants to the new system will not happen until November 2020 – 15 months later than originally envisaged.
  
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• Simon McCoy Announcing Pippa Middleton's Baby News Is... Peak Simon McCoy

  16-10-2018 17:52
  BBC newsreader Simon McCoy's announcement of the birth of Pippa Middleton's
  
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• Grenfell survivors demand immediate action on toxicity of soil

  16-10-2018 17:39
  Lawyers acting for survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have urged health officials to conduct their own detailed study into the potential toxicity of the soil around the site.The lawyers have written to the chief executive of Public Health England (PHE), Duncan Selbie, to demand he act immediately rather than wait for the final report of an independent study, which has already identified significant amounts of toxins in its preliminary findings.In the letter to PHE, four law firms that represen
  
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• UK's worst stations: Passengers react to rail delays

  16-10-2018 17:31 via bbc.co.uk
  Frustrating, expensive and unsurprising - just some of the words used by commuters about Britain's busiest rail stations.
  
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• Koh Tao rape claim: Thai police dismiss British teenager's case

  16-10-2018 17:30
  Police in Thailand have dismissed a British tourist's claims she was drugged, raped and robbed on a resort island after their investigation found no supporting evidence.Thai police said they had insufficient evidence to continue looking into the claims.It comes after the teenager told reporters she believed she was drugged on the island of Koh Tao in June by someone who spiked her drink.
  
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• Stand together, Britain's May calls for unity on Brexit

  16-10-2018 17:28
  LONDON/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May told her ministers on Tuesday they would secure a Brexit deal if they stood together, calling for a show of unity to silence those pressing her to rethink her strategy for leaving the European Union.A day before heading to Brussels for a summit, May is keen to show she has her cabinet's support after facing pressure from some members of her Conservative Party and the EU to change tack on Brexit, Britain's biggest policy shift in mo
  
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• Irish PM concerned decisive Brexit progress not made

  16-10-2018 17:24
  DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he still believes a positive outcome is possible in Brexit talks but is concerned that decisive progress has not been made despite a step up in engagement between the sides.
  
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• The Circle: Alex Hobern on how he became 'Kate'

  16-10-2018 17:22 via bbc.co.uk
  The psychology behind Alex Hobern's deception on Channel 4 reality show The Circle.
  
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• EU leaders put pressure on Theresa May ahead of major summit

  16-10-2018 17:22
  Donald Tusk has said he has "no grounds for optimism" as EU leaders prepare to gather for one of the last chances to approve a Brexit deal.The President of the European Council's remarks come a day before a major summit of EU leaders, where Theresa May will gave an update on the negotiations.Mr Tusk said on Tuesday: "Unfortunately, the report on the state of the negotiations that I got from Michel Barnier today, as well as yesterday's debate in the House of Commons, give me no grounds for optimi
  
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• Prince William hosts British cave divers who rescued 12 boys in Thailand

  16-10-2018 17:18
  Prince William has told British cave divers who helped rescue 12 trapped boys in Thailand that the country is "very proud" of them.The Duke of Cambridge welcomed some of the British team who took part in the rescue mission, and their UK support groups, to Buckingham Palace in recognition of their work.The Duke who is a keen diver and president of the British Sub-Aqua Club, said during the palace reception: "Well done guys, it was fantastic, it really was.
  
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• Royal sister-in-law Pippa Middleton gives birth to her first child

  16-10-2018 17:10
  Pippa Middleton, younger sister of Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, has given birth to her first child, a boy.Middleton, 35, first came to public attention when she acted as maid of honour at the 2011 wedding of her sister Kate to Prince William, who is second in line to the British throne.A spokesman for Prince William and Kate Middleton said they were "thrilled" for Pippa and her husband.
  
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• Fashion Designer Dame Vivienne Westwood Performs Protest Dance At Fracking Site

  16-10-2018 17:08
  Dame Vivienne Westwood broke into some energetic dance moves in a swipe at
  
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• 'I could not afford sanitary towels': Asylum seekers, charities and firms join forces to call for UK jobs ban to be lifted

  16-10-2018 16:57
  Almost 90 organisations have called for asylum seekers to be allowed to take jobs in the UK while their claims are processed.Lifting the ban on asylum seekers working could raise more than £42.4m for the government, improve asylum seekers' wellbeing and help them settle into communities, according to research by Refugee Action.The charity has joined a coalition including Crisis, Ben & Jerry's and the Trades Union Congress in a campaign to "lift the ban".
  
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