General news

• Labour press PM May to deliver 'end of austerity' claim

  24-10-2018 23:38
  Britain's opposition Labour Party will on Thursday challenge Prime Minister Theresa May's government to deliver immediately on its promise that nearly a decade of public spending cuts is coming to an end.Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond will next week announce his annual budget armed with better than expected public finances, but needing to balance any largesse with the huge uncertainty posed by Brexit.Labour's shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell will say Hammond must als
  
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• Speaker calls for commission to be set up to investigate claims of bullying against MPs

  24-10-2018 23:15
  John Bercow faces new calls for him to "consider his position" as speaker as he gave MPs time to discuss a report which found "deference, subservience, acquiescence and silence".
  
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• Elyse Dodgson, Royal Court theatre's international director, dies

  24-10-2018 23:05
  The theatre director has died, the Royal Court announced.Elyse Dodgson, the Royal Court’s international director for the past 22 years, has died , the theatre announced on Wednesday.In a statement on Twitter, the Royal Court said Dodgson had died suddenly at home on Tuesday in as yet unexplained circumstances.
  
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• Commons leadership admits 'institutional failure' to tackle bullying

  24-10-2018 23:02
  The House of Commons leadership has admitted it "failed to honour the responsibility" of providing a workplace free from bullying and harassment "too often".The recommendations in Dame Laura Cox's report include allowing historic claims to be investigated, which could see allegations of bullying against Speaker John Bercow being looked into."The persistence of this problem has rightly called into question the culture and leadership of the House of Commons.
  
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• Banksy prints sell intact at stunt-free Paris auction

  24-10-2018 23:02
  PARIS (Reuters) - Three Banksy prints were sold at a Paris auction on Wednesday - this time without any pranks by the British artist.
  
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• MPs' vote calls for explanation of Northern Ireland abortion law

  24-10-2018 21:51
  A landmark amendment forcing the Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, “to issue guidance” to explain how officials can continue to enforce the region’s draconian Victorian-era abortion law has been passed by MPs.MPs in Westminster voted by 207 to 117 to impose their will, a matter normally reserved for Stormont, arguing that the abortion ban was incompatible with human rights on an amendment proposed by Labour’s Stella Creasy and Conor McGinn.The NHS does not provid
  
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• Theresa May Survives Commons Showdown With Tory MPs After ‘Emotional’ Plea To Back Her On Brexit

  24-10-2018 21:41
  Theresa May has earned a temporary reprieve from Tory MPs after she made an
  
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• Man arrested in London after police officers stabbed with screwdriver

  24-10-2018 21:23
  A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a police officer was stabbed in the head with a screwdriver.A second officer was stabbed in the arm during the attack in north London.The officers had been called to a suspected burglary at about 4.45pm on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said.
  
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• John Bercow could face investigation over historical bullying allegations

  24-10-2018 21:21
  An investigation into historical claims against the Speaker, John Bercow, was blocked earlier this year by the standards committee.Speaker John Bercow may now face an investigation over historical complaints of bullying after a powerful House of Commons body voted to change its rules.The recommendation to permit historical allegations to be investigated came after a damning report by Dame Laura Cox into endemic bullying and harassment in parliament, in which more than 200 former and current Comm
  
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• Theresa May 'not going anywhere' after showdown with Tory MPs

  24-10-2018 21:16
  Theresa May has faced down her critics at a crunch meeting of Tory MPs, with one saying the prime minister is "not going anywhere".Mrs May addressed the 1922 committee of backbenchers in parliament on Wednesday evening, calling for unity as she attempts to avert a reckoning over her leadership.Disquiet over the PM's handling of Britain's EU exit has sparked speculation a vote of no confidence could be imminent.
  
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• Friends star David Schwimmer films hilarious spoof over Blackpool beer thief resemblance

  24-10-2018 21:12
  Friends actor David Schwimmer has posted a video "proving" he was not behind an alleged theft carried out by a lookalike in Blackpool.Lancashire Constabulary continued the banter, replying with a tweet saying: "Thanks for being there for us," a reference to the long-running sitcom's theme tune.Police posted a picture of the suspected thief, who bears a striking similarity to the actor, on Facebook asking the public for help identifying him.
  
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• PM May receives show of loyalty after talk of leadership challenge

  24-10-2018 21:07
  British Prime Minister Theresa May received a show of support from her Conservative Party on Wednesday at a meeting in parliament, shifting the focus away from talk of an imminent leadership challenge over her Brexit strategy.May has angered both supporters of Brexit and pro-EU lawmakers since failing to clinch a deal at an EU summit last week by raising the possibility of extending a post-Brexit transition period to help ease the deadlocked negotiations.May had asked to address the powerful "19
  
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• Conservative lawmakers air Brexit concerns but back PM May - former minister

  24-10-2018 21:07
  LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May heard lawmakers' concerns about Brexit at a meeting in parliament on Wednesday, but was also given their backing, former interior minister Amber Rudd told reporters.
  
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• Everything We Know About The Series Of Bomb Threats Rocking The US

  24-10-2018 21:01
  The US has been rocked by a series of explosive devices posted to high-profile
  
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• Kweku Adoboli: UBS fraudster banker loses UK deportation review appeal

  24-10-2018 20:27
  Rogue trader Kweku Adoboli has told Sky News he is "heartbroken" after a court upheld a decision to deport him to Ghana.Mr Adoboli, a former trader at the Swiss bank UBS, was sentenced to seven years in prison in fraud charges.Mr Adoboli was released in 2014 after serving half his sentence and has been fighting deportation ever since.
  
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• MPs Take Major Step To Ending Northern Ireland's Abortion And Same-Sex Marriage Bans

  24-10-2018 20:26
  MPs in Westminster have voted in favour of reform to abortion and marriage
  
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• Jobs threat as Gourmet Burger owner eyes CVA

  24-10-2018 20:23
  Gourmet Burger Kitchen owner Famous Brands ison the brink of filing for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), as the casual dining sector continues to struggle.Famous Brands has appointed accountancy firm Grant Thornton to initiate the CVA, an insolvency procedure increasingly being used by under-performing firms to cut failing branches from their chains.Famous Brands, which also owns the Wimpy fast food chain, bought GBK in 2016 for £120m.
  
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• Social media responds as David Schwimmer clears his name in hilarious fashion

  24-10-2018 20:13
  “Ahhh, Unagi!”
  
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• Cheering heard as May arrives at meeting with Conservative lawmakers

  24-10-2018 19:51
  LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May's arrival at a meeting of her Conservative Party's lawmakers was greeted with cheers and banging of desks, a Reuters reporter outside the private meeting said on Wednesday.
  
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• Theresa May finds solace in another bloodless spat over statistics

  24-10-2018 19:45
  Theresa May knows that her failure is her success. Simply by flatlining she will outlast them all. Photograph: Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock
  
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• Debenhams to report biggest loss in 240-year history as stores face axe

  24-10-2018 19:39
  Debenhams, Britain's biggest standalone department store chain, will announce the biggest loss in its 240-year history on Thursday as it sets out a plan to shrink its footprint in a radically shifting retail environment.
  
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• King's Cross train station evacuated briefly due to fire alert

  24-10-2018 19:27
  LONDON (Reuters) - London's King's Cross train station was evacuated briefly during Wednesday's rush hour due to a fire alert triggered by smouldering on the track.
  
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• John Bercow Could Face Investigation Over Historic Bullying Allegations

  24-10-2018 19:25
  House of Commons authorities have accepted the recommendations of a report on
  
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• YouTuber locks himself in greenhouse to raise awareness of climate change

  24-10-2018 19:13
  Scientist Kurtis Baute is sealing himself inside the biodome for three days with 200 plants for oxygen.
  
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• Kings Cross train station evacuated due to fire alert

  24-10-2018 19:09
  LONDON (Reuters) - London's Kings Cross train station was evacuated on Wednesday due to a fire alert.
  
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• David Schwimmer "Claims Innocence" Over Beer Theft

  24-10-2018 19:07
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• Exclusive: UK derivatives clearers may get no-Brexit deal reprieve - EU document

  24-10-2018 19:05
  The European Union might grant temporary permission for clearing houses in Britain to continue serving EU customers if there is a no-deal Brexit next March, an EU document seen by Reuters showed.LCH, a unit of the London Stock Exchangeclears the bulk of euro-denominated derivatives, contracts used by companies and banks to shield themselves against unexpected moves in currencies and interest rates."As regards cleared derivatives, it appears that there might be potential risks to financial stabil
  
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• David Schwimmer offers video evidence that he’s not alleged Blackpool thief

  24-10-2018 19:04
  The US actor told police searching for a man who looked like his character Ross from Friends: “Officers, I swear it wasn’t me”.
  
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• Jeremy Heywood: a look back at the cabinet secretary's illustrious career

  24-10-2018 19:00
  Cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood, who says he ‘still has all that desire to serve my country’.Sir Jeremy Heywood did not want to leave the job he loved.Since 2012, Heywood had been cabinet secretary, a role which many have dubbed the most powerful office in Britain.
  
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• Labour preparing anti-austerity budget to win back Brexit supporters

  24-10-2018 18:54
  The shadow chancellor said he understood why people in poorer parts of the UK had voted leave.The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, is preparing an anti-austerity budget to deal with the grievances of voters who support Brexit if failure to strike a deal with the EU leads to a snap general election.McDonnell said he understood why people living in the poorer parts of Britain had voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum, but added that the chaotic negotiations had led to “instability,
  
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• Pair convicted for running learning centre as illegal school in landmark case

  24-10-2018 18:46
  The headteacher and director of a learning centre have become the first people in England and Wales to be convicted of running an illegal, unregisteredschool.Headteacher Beatrix Bernhardt, 38, and director Nacerdine Talbi, 47, were convicted of running the Al-Istiqamah Learning Centre in Southall, west London, where almost 60 children aged between five and 11 received education.The landmark case was the first prosecution against an unregistered independent school in England and Wales.
  
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• Robbers steal eight French Bulldog puppies from family home in Manchester

  24-10-2018 18:41
  Detective Sergeant Dave Jones of GMP's Trafford Borough, said: "It's completely shocking that a pregnant woman and her three young children have faced such a terrifying ordeal, and we are determined to find the men responsible."As well as finding the offenders, an immediate priority is to find these puppies.
  
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• Court fines two who ran unlicensed school with nearly 60 pupils

  24-10-2018 18:29
  The operators of an unlicensed school in west London have been fined after the Department for Education and Ofsted won a legal ruling leading to the first convictions of their kind.The hearing at Westminster magistrates court imposed fines on Nacerdine Talbi and Beatrix Bernhardt for operating the Istiqamah Learning Centre in Southall as an unregistered school, after investigators found nearly 60 children aged between five and 11 being taught at the centre.The court victory is the culmination of
  
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• David Schwimmer Responds To Claims He May Have Stolen Loads Of Beer In Blackpool

  24-10-2018 18:25
  David Schwimmer has reacted to reports he may have behind the mystery theft of
  
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• Jobs threat as GBK owner Famous Brands eyes CVA

  24-10-2018 18:19
  Gourmet Burger Kitchen owner Famous Brands ison the brink of filing for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), as the casual dining sector continues to struggle.Famous Brands has appointed accountancy firm Grant Thornton to initiate the CVA, an insolvency procedure increasingly being used by under-performing firms to cut failing branches from their chains.Famous Brands, which also owns the Wimpy fast food chain, bought GBK in 2016 for £120m.
  
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• UK police not a match for evolving terrorism threat, says top officer

  24-10-2018 18:07
  Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu is the national lead on counter-terrorism policing.The country’s most senior counter-terrorism officer has said police forces are not a match for the threat of Islamist and extreme far-right terrorism.Giving evidence to the home affairs select committee, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said there were 700 live terrorism investigations and that Islamists and far-right extremists feed off each other.
  
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• Commons Speaker John Bercow Slams Tommy Robinson As A 'Loathsome, Obnoxious, Repellant Individual'

  24-10-2018 17:45
  Commons Speaker John Bercow has branded far-right activist Tommy Robinson "a
  
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• May's ministers go to Downing Street

  24-10-2018 17:29
  LONDON (Reuters) - Some of Prime Minister Theresa May's senior ministers and lawmakers from the Northern Irish party which props up her government were seen entering her Downing Street residence on Wednesday, a Reuters photographer said.
  
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• Dutch Royals Watch Marines Demonstration On The Thames

  24-10-2018 17:17
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• Letters: Lady Hollis of Heigham obituary

  24-10-2018 17:15
  Patrica Hollis addressing the Lords in 2015. She became politicised while attending union meetings with her father at the age of nine. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
  
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• Scotland's Sturgeon sees 'ever greater' prospect of no Brexit deal

  24-10-2018 17:01
  Britain looks increasingly likely to leave the European Union next year with no deal, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday.The United Kingdom is due to exit the EU on March 29 but Prime Minister Theresa May's talks with Brussels have stalled over a fallback plan for the border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.Sturgeon said she believed May's government was "closing down the negotiating space" to reach a Brexit deal with the EU.
  
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• Letters: Denzil Davies obituary

  24-10-2018 16:47
  Denzil Davies was quiet on the surface but a fiercely intelligent man who was always superb company.“Den” would regale me with tales of life inside several chaotic Labour governments before the party left him behind with the election of Tony Blair as leader.After that, he was not afraid to take unpopular positions on big issues, such as Europe and women in the party.
  
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• Japanese Journalist Freed After Being Held Hostage For Three Years

  24-10-2018 16:37
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• Jamie Lee Curtis details secret opioid addiction she hid for a decade

  24-10-2018 16:34
  Jamie Lee Curtis is coming clean about the secret opioid addiction she battled
  
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• 'Loathsome' Tommy Robinson slammed after dining in parliament

  24-10-2018 16:29
  The Speaker of the House of Commons has called Tommy Robinson a "loathsome, obnoxious, repellent individual" after pictures surfaced of him dining in parliament.Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, went for lunch in the House of Lords on Tuesday, with pictures published in The Sun newspaper.Earlier that day, the English Defence League founder had been at the Old Bailey for a hearing which saw the contempt of court case against him referred to the attorney general.
  
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• 'Spectacular' diabetes treatment could end daily insulin injections

  24-10-2018 16:27
  A potential medical breakthrough that could put an end to the daily insulin injections endured by people living with diabetes has been unveiled by Dutch scientists.In the hourlong procedure, trialled on 50 patients in Amsterdam, a tube with a small balloon in its end is inserted through the mouth of the patient down to the small intestine.The balloon is inflated with hot water and the mucous membrane burned away by the heat.
  
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• Luxury cars crushed as transporter crashes into bridge

  24-10-2018 16:17
  Thousands of pounds worth of damage has been caused to several luxury 4x4 vehicles after the car transporter they were being carried on struck a railway bridge.The top of a Range Rover was almost completely crushed after the accident at roughly 8am in Perth, Scotland, on Wednesday.Police Scotland said no injuries were suffered in the crash and nobody was arrested.
  
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• Cot maker pleads guilty in trial over baby's death by choking

  24-10-2018 16:07
  The bed, designed and made by Craig Williams, in which seven-month-old Oscar Abbey choked to death.A cot designer has pleaded guilty after a baby boy “choked to death” on a bed he made.Seven-month-old Oscar Abbey was found with his head trapped in the holes on the side of the £655 cot bed, a court heard.
  
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• Dominic Raab Has Not Visited The Irish Border Since Becoming Brexit Secretary

  24-10-2018 16:00
  Dominic Raab has not visited the border between Northern Ireland and the
  
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• This new religious Pokemon Go-inspired app encourages players to catch saints

  24-10-2018 15:59
  Gotta catch amen all…
  
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