General news

• British man whose fiancee lost engagement ring in NYC pops question on US TV

  13-12-2018 23:44
  John Drennan and Daniella Anthony were at the centre of a huge online appeal.
  
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• YouTube Rewind 2018 becomes site’s most disliked video

  13-12-2018 23:42
  The annual recap video has now surpassed Justin Bieber’s Baby for the number of dislikes on a post.
  
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• 'Trust me', Britain's May tells EU leaders she can get Brexit deal passed

  13-12-2018 23:42
  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - "Trust me," Prime Minister Theresa May told other European Union leaders on Thursday, saying that with their help, she could win the British parliament's backing for her Brexit deal and prevent a chaotic departure.A day after a failed attempt to oust her by lawmakers in the governing Conservative Party, May told leaders of the other 27 EU members she believed there was majority in parliament for her Brexit deal, she just needed a little more from them.May postponed a parliam
  
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• Letter to Santa found after 120 years on display in Canterbury

  13-12-2018 23:31 via bbc.co.uk
  The note from a five-year-old girl was discovered inside a book donated to a charity shop.
  
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• Teenager killed in Caithness crash named

  13-12-2018 23:30
  Lauren Miller died following a collision near Wick on Monday.
  
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• Stars praise ‘amazing job’ of Armed Forces at awards ceremony

  13-12-2018 23:18
  Dame Kelly Holmes, Ross Kemp, Gareth Southgate and Defence Minister Gavin Williamson were among those in attendance.
  
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• Even top NHS trusts are 'nervous' about winter

  13-12-2018 23:00
  A director of one of England's best-performing hospitals has said he is "nervous" about winter, despite planning more extensively than ever.West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is rated "outstanding" and is in the top 15 hospitals in the country when judged against a key A&E performance target, seeing close to 95% of patients within four hours.It has an emergency department that was built in 1974 to see 30,000 patients a year but today has to cope with 70,000.
  
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• Abortion bill completes passage through the Seanad

  13-12-2018 22:30
  The legislation will give effect to the result of a referendum in May.
  
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• Stars team up with Grenfell survivors to launch new campaign

  13-12-2018 22:19
  The group is calling for a new regulator for social housing to reform the system and remove dangerous cladding from buildings.
  
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• Lottery millionaires throw Christmas party for young carers

  13-12-2018 22:14
  The invited carers, supported by the Action for Family Carers charity, ordinarily juggle school life with caring for a family member.
  
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• Discrimination bill could lead to challenges to school chaplains program

  13-12-2018 22:00
  The school chaplains program received a four-year $247m funding extension in the 2018 budget.Scott Morrison’s proposed new religious discrimination bill could backfire against the controversial chaplains programs in public schools and the military, an expert has warned.Associate professor Luke Beck, an expert in the separation of church and state, has welcomed the proposal to prevent discrimination on the grounds of religion but noted it would provide an additional avenue to challenge the
  
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• Big four auditors face market share cap after CMA probe

  13-12-2018 21:47
  The UK’s big four auditors will next week face an unprecedented move to limit their market share and allow smaller rivals to gatecrash their self-confessed oligopoly as regulators shake up a sector rattled by a string of corporate collapses.Sky News has learnt that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is preparing to recommend a series of remedies to bolster competition in the audit sector following a two-month market study, but that it will stop short of demanding a full-break-up o
  
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• Ireland goes over May's head and appeals directly to MPs on Brexit

  13-12-2018 21:43
  Ireland has effectively launched separate Brexit negotiations, going over Theresa May's head and appealing directly to MPs.Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged parliament to use their "gift" to prevent a 'no deal' divorce, suggesting there was "no majority" for Mrs May's plan.The plea came asEU leaders gathered over dinner in Brussels , clouded by uncertainty.
  
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• Brexit 'delusions' risk putting UK into crisis, warns Ivan Rogers

  13-12-2018 21:40
  Theresa May has been urged to provide leadership that sets out the difficult trade-offs ahead.Theresa May has been accused of failing to be honest with the public about Brexit by the UK’s former ambassador to the European Union, Ivan Rogers, who warned that “fantasies and delusions on all sides” risk plunging the UK into a democratic crisis.In an excoriating denunciation of the British political class that goes to the top of government, Rogers said the Brexit debate had suffere
  
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• Military urged to vet foreign forces trained in Australia amid human rights concerns

  13-12-2018 21:19
  Human Rights Watch has cited Australia’s training support of the Myanmar military despite a well-documented history of war crimes and other abuses.Australia is potentially bestowing legitimacy on foreign security forces involved in systemic human rights abuses when it provides training without prior vetting, Human Rights Watch has said.The organisation has written to the defence minister, Christopher Pyne, urging the government to introduce vetting procedures, citing its training support o
  
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• May urges EU to help get Brexit 'over the line'

  13-12-2018 21:03
  Britain's weakened prime minister, Theresa May, appealed to fellow EU leaders on Thursday for concessions to help her win support in parliament next month for a deal that can smooth Britain's exit from the European Union.Arriving at a Brussels summit a day after a failed attempt to topple her at home, May said she was not expecting an immediate breakthrough but wanted help to get a Brexit package she agreed with the EU last month ratified in London, where many in her Conservative Party say it fa
  
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• £20.5bn NHS funding boost not enough to improve care – study

  13-12-2018 21:00
  NHS England is expected to publish its long-term plan early next week.Almost all the £20.5bn extra a year for the NHS risks being swallowed up by the ageing population, pay rises, the rising cost of drugs and hospitals’ deficits, a report has concluded.As little as £1.3bn of the increase could be left to fund improvements in treatment unless the service dramatically overhauls how and where it cares for patients, the report by the IPPR thinktank and former senior NHS staff says.
  
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• Labour plans to 'throw kitchen sink' to force May's hand on Brexit

  13-12-2018 20:38
  Jeremy Corbyn has held meetings with the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, to discuss Labour’s options in the countdown to the Christmas break.Jeremy Corbyn will seek to increase pressure on Theresa May in parliament next week in a bid to prevent the Tories running down the clock on Brexit.As the prime minister urged EU leaders to offer fresh concessions in Brussels on Thursday, senior Labour sources stressed the party was determined to “turn up the heat” at home.
  
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• Ex-wife of Russian billionaire secures first sliver of $572 mln divorce bill

  13-12-2018 20:29
  The former British wife of a Russian billionaire, who was ordered to pay a 453 million pound divorce bill, has claimed the first sliver of the award after seizing and selling a helicopter, her advisers said on Thursday.Oil and gas tycoon Farkhad Akhmedov was ordered to pay around 40 percent of his fortune to Tatiana Akhmedova by London's High Court in 2016 in one of the largest divorce settlements in legal history.The judge ordered Akhmedov to hand his former wife a modern art collection valued
  
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• Geminid meteor shower: Where, when and how to see it

  13-12-2018 20:10 via bbc.co.uk
  Around the world, the shower will peak during 13 or 14 December, with up to 120 meteors per hour.
  
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• Sats test gap shows disadvantaged pupils catching up with better-off peers

  13-12-2018 19:49
  Children from disadvantaged families in England are slowly closing the gap with their better-off peers in primary school attainment, although children from better-off backgrounds are more likely to get top results, according to new figures.A detailed breakdown of results from key stage two national tests – known as Sats – taken in the final year of primary school show that 51% of children eligible for free school meals met the government’s expected standards in reading, writing
  
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• Running on fumes: May and her attorney general plough on

  13-12-2018 19:48
  Since then he has been roped into spending two and a half hours on his feet trying and failing to explain why it was OK for the government not to hand over the legal advice that parliament had instructed it to provide.There was no applause.
  
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• Cardinal denies claims he covered up abuse allegation against Tolkien's son

  13-12-2018 19:34
  Cardinal Vincent Nichols gave evidence to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.The country’s most senior Catholic clergyman has denied allegations he covered up a complaint of child abuse against one of JRR Tolkien’s sons.Despite defending his actions, Cardinal Vincent Nichols conceded he had been wrong not to reveal to Father John Tolkien’s alleged victims that in 1968 the church had been made aware of a note complaining that the priest had ordered boy scouts to str
  
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• Family Reunited After Mum Spots Missing Son In Music Video

  13-12-2018 19:33
  A mother has been reunited with her missing son after spotting him in a music
  
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• Boris Johnson to be subject of new Brexit play

  13-12-2018 19:32
  The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson will have a world premiere at the Park Theatre.
  
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• Hospitals ‘operating at unsafe levels’

  13-12-2018 19:23
  NHS England said staff saw 1,000 more people within four hours in A&E every day in November compared to last year.
  
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• 'Despairing' businesses triggering no-deal Brexit plans, says CBI

  13-12-2018 19:21
  Institute of Directors said business leaders were ‘tearing their hair out’ at the current state of negotiations.Businesses are in “despair” over Brexit and have already diverted hundreds of millions of pounds in investment out of the UK, the Confederation of British Industry has said.The CBI deputy director general Josh Hardie said companies around the country, who did not seek publicity, had already pressed the button on contingency plans for no deal.
  
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• French Police Try to Catch Attack Suspect, Operation Ongoing - Snopes.com

  13-12-2018 19:14 via snopes.com
  French Police Try to Catch Attack Suspect, Operation Ongoing  Snopes.comStrasbourg Christmas market attack: French police launch operation in area where gunman was last seen  The TelegraphShots heard as police hunt for Strasbourg Christmas market gunman  Sky NewsManhunt for Strasbourg gunman continues across German border  The GuardianStrasbourg shooting: Christmas market gunman shot dead by police  NEWS.com.auView full coverage on Google News
  
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• Jonathan Agnew Blasts Fellow BBC Presenter Gary Lineker For Getting Political On Twitter Over Brexit

  13-12-2018 19:11
  Jonathan Agnew has scolded 'Match Of The Day' presenter Gary Lineker, tweeting
  
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• Hungary complains Brexit will leave it outnumbered in EU

  13-12-2018 19:08
  Péter Szijjártó said that without Britain, there would be an imbalance in the political debate about the future of Europe.Hungary’s hardline anti-immigrant government has expressed disappointment at the loss of Britain’s “common sense” from the EU immigration debate.Its foreign minister said the UK leaving was “worst possible scenario for us” because “our preference would have been for Britain to stay in and migrants to stay out&rdqu
  
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• Ireland’s deputy premier says backstop needed but he hopes it will not be used

  13-12-2018 19:07
  Simon Coveney was speaking to a parliamentary committee.
  
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• Frustration as Grenfell bereaved made to wait until 2020 for answers

  13-12-2018 19:00
  Grenfell Tower in west London, the scene of the disaster in which 72 people died.The first stage of the Grenfell Tower public inquiry ended this week with a painful crunch.The bereaved, survivors and residents were preparing to mark the passing of 18 months since the fatal blaze on Friday with a silent march and a campaign video fronted by Stormzy restating their demand to “know how the people we trusted to protect us let this happen”.
  
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• Eight In Ten Landlords Would Not Let To A Young Homeless Person – New Research

  13-12-2018 19:00
  A shocking eight out of ten landlords would refuse to let their properties to
  
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• Virgin Galactic celebrates as tourism rocket ship reaches space

  13-12-2018 18:59
  The aircraft reached a staggering altitude of 271,268ft.
  
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• Court rules JD Wetherspoon can find out identity of Twitter imposter

  13-12-2018 18:54
  Twitter must disclose information relating to the identity of a mystery tweeter pretending to be from JD Wetherspoon, a judge has ordered.
  
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• UK advertising watchdog to crack down on sexist stereotypes

  13-12-2018 18:53
  The new rules were partly prompted by the ‘beach body ready’ adverts.Adverts showing a woman struggling to park a car or a man refusing to do housework while his wife cooks dinner will be banned from next year as part of an industry-wide crackdown on sexist stereotypes.
  
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• May delays Commons Brexit showdown until after Christmas

  13-12-2018 18:44
  PM says she needs more time to win assurances from EU leaders on the Northern Ireland backstop.
  
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• Taoiseach: Irish border backstop not up for re-negotiation

  13-12-2018 18:42
  Leo Varadkar held a lengthy one-to-one meeting with Theresa May ahead of the main European Council summit of leaders in Brussels on Thursday.
  
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• Brexit Commons vote to happen 'as soon as possible' in January

  13-12-2018 18:42
  Theresa May cancelled the parliamentary vote on her EU withdrawal bill amid widespread expectations of a large government defeat.The vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal will not take place before Christmas, but will come shortly after the new year, Theresa May’s spokeswoman has said.The confirmation from Downing Street came after the newly published schedule for Commons business next week showed no sign of the vote taking place.
  
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• Taoiseach: Irish general election not in country’s interest

  13-12-2018 18:36
  A confidence and supply parliamentary arrangement means the minority Government is expected to last throughout next year.
  
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• Roman Catholic cardinal denies covering up actions of sex abuse claim priest

  13-12-2018 18:28
  Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, was giving evidence to the independent inquiry into child sex abuse.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon to decide whether to save unlawful Brexit bill

  13-12-2018 18:25
  Nicola Sturgeon is facing an urgent decision on whether to salvage an emergency bill on Brexit after the supreme court ruled the Scottish legislation was unlawful.The court, in a significant setback for the first minister, said that key parts of a continuity bill passed by Holyrood to repatriate EU powers in areas such as farming, fisheries and policing, breached UK law.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon to decide whether to salvage unlawful Brexit legislation

  13-12-2018 18:25
  Nicola Sturgeon is facing an urgent decision on whether to salvage an emergency bill on Brexit after the supreme court ruled the Scottish legislation was unlawful.The supreme court, in a significant setback for the first minister, said that key parts of a continuity bill passed by Holyrood to repatriate EU powers in areas such as farming, fisheries and policing, breached UK law.
  
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• Snap General Election Will Be Held In Next 12 Months, Says Theresa May's Ex-Policy Advisor

  13-12-2018 18:14
  A general election will be triggered in the next 12 months as Brexit will end
  
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• RHI probe told Paisley’s energy official accusation ‘may be unjustified’

  13-12-2018 18:12
  Mr Aiken told the hearing that the inquiry team had undertaken extensive work in the wake of the incident to establish the facts.
  
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• Britain willing to host U.N. climate talks in 2020 - minister

  13-12-2018 18:11
  Britain is willing to host United Nations climate talks in 2020, the country's energy minister said on Thursday, as it seeks to establish a lead role in the fight against global warming after it leaves the European Union.Speaking at the current round of talks in Poland, business, energy and industrial strategy minister Claire Perry, said she had written to the U.N. to express the government's interest in hosting the conference in 2020.Under U.N. rules, next year it will be the turn of Latin Amer
  
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• Higher rate taxpayers ‘could take home just 30p in the pound’

  13-12-2018 18:10
  The Scottish Fiscal Commission predicts freezing the tax threshold will lead to people leaving the country.
  
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• Mike Ashley claims Debenhams on the brink as he offers £40m loan

  13-12-2018 18:08
  The Sports Direct boss said it is believed the retailer has ‘zero chance of survival’.
  
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• Civil service told to ramp up no-deal Brexit plans with 24/7 crisis centre

  13-12-2018 18:03
  Michael Gove’s Defra is likely to be one of the department’s heaviest hit by a no-deal Brexit.Civil servants across Whitehall have been instructed to ramp up their emergency no-deal planning, with preparations including hiring staff for a 24-hour “emergency centre”.The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), one of those likely to be worst hit by a no-deal Brexit, has advertised 90 new posts for civil servants to staff a crisis centre.
  
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• Two fatal crashes on the A9 in less than 24 hours

  13-12-2018 18:01
  Charles Thomson, 69, died in the Highlands on Wednesday evening, while a second man was killed in Perthshire on Thursday afternoon.
  
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