General news

• Royal Caribbean cruise ship entertainer missing since Christmas Day

  26-12-2018 23:51
  The United States Coast Guard said it was searching for crew member Arron Hough.
  
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• New 'Psycho-Poaching' Trend Sees Gangs Use Killer Dogs To Hunt Wildlife

  26-12-2018 23:18
  Gangs of youths are breeding a new type of powerful hunting dog to kill and
  
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• Off-duty police officer killed in car crash

  26-12-2018 22:53
  PC Daniel Clayton-Drabble of Thames Valley Police died shortly before 8am on Boxing Day.
  
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• Search for British crew member missing from cruise ship off Puerto Rico

  26-12-2018 21:26
  The US coastguard is searching for a British crew member who went overboard from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship about 300 miles off Puerto Rico on Christmas Day.Royal Caribbean International says a member of the entertainment team onboard the Harmony of the Seas ship did not report to work as scheduled on 25 December.Harmony of the Seas is currently sailing on a 7-night itinerary that left Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Sunday.
  
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• Police car crash pedestrian killed after ‘best day ever’ with family

  26-12-2018 21:08
  Tony Carroll, 70, was praised as being the ‘life and soul’ of the party after the Christmas Day incident.
  
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• Mass Panic At Westfield Shopping Centre As Police Operation Sparks Chaos

  26-12-2018 20:46
  Panicked shoppers have been filmed running in fear through Westfield Stratford
  
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• Cromer Boxing Day dip helps Norwich Mind charity

  26-12-2018 20:37 via bbc.co.uk
  Hundreds of people take a plunge into the North Sea to help raise funds for a mental health charity.
  
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• The New Year Weather Forecast Is The Exact Opposite Of What Your Hangover Will Be

  26-12-2018 20:08
  After a year marked by the freezing Beast from the East and the scorching
  
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• Forecasters predict a mild start to 2019

  26-12-2018 19:48
  New Year revellers can expect temperatures slightly above average.
  
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• The Government Wants To Limit The Size Of Your Main Course When You Eat Out

  26-12-2018 19:39
  Meals sold in supermarkets and restaurants could be subject to calorie caps
  
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• Anti-hunt protester taken to hospital after Boxing Day clashes

  26-12-2018 19:27
  An anti-hunt protester was taken to hospital and a fox reportedly torn apart by dogs during tense Boxing Day meets in several counties.Hunt saboteurs and animal rights activists met in rural towns and villages across the UK to disrupt the traditional meets, which critics say continue to flout the ban on hunting with hounds.Violence was reported in Kent, Leicestershire, Sussex and Wales.
  
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• Authorities urged to ‘get a grip’ after migrants make Channel crossing

  26-12-2018 19:01
  Migrants have been risking the dangerous crossing in an attempt to reach England.
  
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• TV art historian Sister Wendy Beckett dies aged 88

  26-12-2018 18:43
  Journalist, writer and art critic Sister Wendy Beckett, who became a TV star in the 1990s, has died at the age of 88.The Catholic nun died at the Carmelite Monastery in Quidenham, Norfolk.Sister Wendy found fame as an unlikely TV star when she presented a series of BBC documentaries during the 1990s, including Sister Wendy's Odyssey and Sister Wendy's Grand Tour.
  
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• Drug-driver Robert Brown who killed two boys dies in prison on Christmas Day

  26-12-2018 18:40
  A drug-driver who was jailed earlier this year for killing two young boys died in prison on Christmas Day.Robert Brown, 53, was sentenced in April for mowing down Corey and Casper Platt-May, aged six and two, in Coventry in February.Brown was jailed after admitting all charges against him, including two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, but had his sentence increased in July from nine years to 10 and a half.
  
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• Health board closes hospital ward over norovirus fears

  26-12-2018 18:30
  The ward was closed after several cases of vomiting and diarrhoea were reported.
  
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• Buyer found for Highlands construction firm in administration

  26-12-2018 18:27
  The firm made 40 employees redundant at the start of December when it entered administration.
  
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• Sister Wendy Beckett, nun and TV art critic, dies at 88

  26-12-2018 18:23
  Sister Wendy Beckett, a nun and art historian who became an unlikely television star in Britain in the 1990s, died at the age of 88 on Wednesday, the BBC reported.South Africa-born Beckett was living in a caravan in a Carmelite monastery in Norfolk, east England, when she started studying art in the 1980s, according to the BBC, which broadcast her documentaries.
  
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• Health officials told to 'leave us alone' in backlash against calorie limits - The Telegraph

  26-12-2018 18:00 via telegraph.co.uk
  Health officials told to 'leave us alone' in backlash against calorie limits  The TelegraphCalorie caps on restaurant meals to tackle obesity crisis  The TimesDoes YOUR favourite ready meal or restaurant treat fall foul of the gov's new calorie crackdown?  Daily MailCalorie caps for shop sandwiches and restaurant meals could be made law  Mirror OnlineThousands of ready meals, supermarket sandwiches and pizzas could be BANNED under new calorie limits &
  
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• Art critic Sister Wendy Beckett dies aged 88

  26-12-2018 17:47
  The Catholic sister presented a series of BBC programmes in the 1990s.
  
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• Santa Brought Vladimir Putin A Brand New Hypersonic Missile System And He Just Tested It Out

  26-12-2018 17:11
  Russians don't celebrate Christmas for another couple of weeks but it appears
  
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• Drug-driver who mowed down and killed boys dies in prison

  26-12-2018 16:42
  Robert Brown died at HMP Dovegate on Christmas Day.
  
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• Police seek man missing from Inverness since Christmas Eve

  26-12-2018 16:16
  Michael McColl was last seen at around 11pm in the Raigmore Estate area of Inverness on Monday.
  
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• Bangladesh elections 2018 | Al Jazeera English - Aljazeera.com

  26-12-2018 16:13 via interactive.aljazeera.com
  Bangladesh elections 2018 | Al Jazeera English  Aljazeera.comBangladesh election: Sheikh Hasina heads for tainted victory  The GuardianBangladesh elections 2018: What you need to know  Aljazeera.comBangladesh’s Choice: Authoritarianism or Extremism  The New York TimesView full coverage on Google News
  
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• Big discounts fail to draw UK shoppers to post-Christmas sales

  26-12-2018 16:11
  The number of British shoppers hitting the post-Christmas sales dipped by 4.2 percent year-on-year on Wednesday, offering no relief for struggling stores that had already discounted heavily to encourage spending in the run-up to the holiday.Out-of-town stores and shopping centres were hit harder than towns and cities, but visits to both fell for the third year in a row, according to data for the first hours of trading on the morning after Christmas.Shopping centre visits were down 6.7 percent by
  
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• Bargain hunters out in force early but number of in-store shoppers falls

  26-12-2018 16:07
  Shoppers queued outside stores around the country before first light.
  
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• 17 People Loving Boxing Day Without Hunting Foxes

  26-12-2018 16:03
  Boxing Day means different things for different people.
  
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• Boxing Day sales: Prices slashed but footfall declines across UK

  26-12-2018 15:57
  Prices have been slashed by as much as 70% in the Boxing Day sales, but footfall across the UK is down on last year.For the period up to midday, the average footfall across the UK was 4.2% lower than for the same hours on Boxing Day last year, according to retail intelligence experts Springboard.The picture was much rosier for stores in London, with shoppers visiting the West End expected to spend around £50m in the Boxing Day sales.
  
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• Liverpool v Newcastle, Leicester v Manchester City and more: Premier League clockwatch – live!

  26-12-2018 15:24 via theguardian.com
  Follow all the top-flight action from across the country with Ben Fisher
  Tweet Ben or email himRead our Premier League fans’ half-term verdicts: parts one and two 2.21pm GMT Team news news: three changes for Manchester United, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær bringing Fred, Juan Mata and Diego Dalot in from the cold, while Ashley Young and Ander Herrera drop to the bench but Anthony Martial misses out altogether. Pep Guardiola also makes three changes, with Danilo, Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio
  
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• Man who tried to kill dementia sufferer in rake row revealed as child murderer

  26-12-2018 15:20
  Stephen Chafer murdered three-year-old Lorraine Holt in 1979 but was using a pseudonym when he tried to kill a 60-year-old woman this summer.
  
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• Customs and Border Protection orders medical checks on children in custody

  26-12-2018 15:15 via theguardian.com
  CBP said it needs help of other agencies to provide healthcare after a second immigrant child died in its custody this monthUS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have ordered medical checks on every child in its custody after an eight-year-old boy from Guatemala died, marking the second death of an immigrant child in the agency’s care this month. Related: Second Guatemalan child dies after being detained by US border agentsContinue reading...
  
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• Crowds turn out for Boxing Day meets as Labour vows clampdown on illegal hunting

  26-12-2018 15:13
  Meets have taken place across the UK with hundreds of thousands turning out, the Countryside Alliance said.
  
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• Best phones 2018 - tested - British GQ

  26-12-2018 15:03 via gq-magazine.co.uk
  Best phones 2018 - tested  British GQSurprise! Android users love the iPhone XR, new research says  TrustedReviewsExclusive: Foxconn to begin assembling top-end Apple iPhones in India in 2019 - source  Reuters UKApple may start building the iPhone XS and XR in India next year  EngadgetReplace your home-screen app icons with actions  Cult of MacView full coverage on Google News
  
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• Boxing Day sales draw fewer UK shoppers

  26-12-2018 14:53 via theguardian.com
  Number of visitors to shopping centres, high streets and retail parks down 4.2% year on yearThe number of shoppers visiting retailers on Boxing Day has fallen for the third year in a row as worries about the economy and the rise of internet shopping takes its toll on high streets.The average number of visitors to shopping centres, high streets and retail parks, had slid 4.2% year-on-year by midday Wednesday, according to data from analysts at Springboard. Continue reading...
  
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• Sussex Police told to step aside in Gatwick probe after questioning if drone existed in bungled investigation - The Sun

  26-12-2018 14:36 via thesun.co.uk
  Sussex Police told to step aside in Gatwick probe after questioning if drone existed in bungled investigation  The SunGatwick Airport sold to France’s Vinci for £2.9 billion, following drone chaos  Evening StandardGatwick Airport drone fallout: UK’s top cop admits ‘we MUST up our game’  ExpressGatwick Airport drone police STILL have no leads eight days after chaos  Birmingham LiveWas the Gatwick Drone Really a Champagne Cork?&
  
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• The Guardian view on the restitution of cultural property | Editorial

  26-12-2018 14:35 via theguardian.com
  The world in 2019: The vexed politics of our times has obscured the view ahead. Over the holidays we will examine some big issues on the horizon. Today we look at a cultural right to returnIn November, a story hit the news about one of the most emblematic objects in the British Museum – a sculpted head from Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, made in around 1200. Hoa Hakananai’a, as it is known, meaning “lost or stolen friend”, is a looming and powerful presence. On its back it b
  
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• Shoppers flock to Boxing Day sales

  26-12-2018 14:35
  Boxing Day sales are promising shoppers hefty savings as a report says it is the most popular day to shop in the festive period.
  
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• Sir Martin Sorrell: Facebook row hasn't deterred advertisers

  26-12-2018 14:34 via theguardian.com
  Ex-WPP chief says marketers are turning to Instagram and predicts more digital growthAdvertisers are declining to join the backlash against Facebook, according to Sir Martin Sorrell, despite a year of scandal at the social networking giant.Facebook still enjoys a near-duopoly over digital advertising alongside Google, even though investors have wiped nearly a third off the company’s value this year. The firm has faced criticism over the distribution of fake news on its platform and the rev
  
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• Sir Martin Sorrell: Facebook row hasn't deterred advertisers

  26-12-2018 14:34
  Advertisers are declining to join the backlash against Facebook, according to Sir Martin Sorrell, despite a year of scandal at the social networking giant.Facebook still enjoys a near-duopoly over digital advertising alongside Google, even though investors have wiped nearly a third off the company’s value this year.The firm has faced criticism over the distribution of fake news on its platform and the revelation that the personal Facebook data of 50 million people was improperly obtained b
  
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• Partial Government Shutdown to Gain Impact After Christmas Holiday - TIME

  26-12-2018 14:34 via time.com
  Partial Government Shutdown to Gain Impact After Christmas Holiday  TIMEUS government shutdown will last into 2019 as Congress struggles for deal  The GuardianTrump: Schumer and Pelosi MUST fund his wall because most employees hit by shutdown are Democrats  Daily Mail'Whatever it takes': Trump talks shutdown and doubles down on desire for border wall on trip to Iraq  Business InsiderTrump says government shutdown won't end until he gets funding for the wal
  
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• Helicopter called out to restore 999 phone services to North Ronaldsay

  26-12-2018 14:24
  The island lost the emergency phone service on Boxing Day morning due to a fault.
  
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• Michael McIntyre draws TV's biggest Christmas Day audience

  26-12-2018 14:21 via theguardian.com
  Comic’s special attracts 6.1m, although Queen’s speech most-watched combined broadcastThe comedian Michael McIntyre’s annual festive special was the surprise Christmas Day TV hit this year, beating the likes of Strictly Come Dancing and EastEnders by drawing 6.1 million viewers on BBC One.The Strictly special, which brought competitors such as Caroline Flack, Anita Rani, Jake Wood, Aston Merrygold, Ann Widdecombe and Michael Vaughan back to the dancefloor, attracted an audience
  
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• UK is 'completely and institutionally ageist'

  26-12-2018 14:18 via theguardian.com
  Care England chief says ageism is national scandal that should be challenged in courtsThe UK is “completely and institutionally ageist”, according to the chief executive of Care England, the largest representative body for independent social care services in the UK.Prof Martin Green, also the chair of the International Longevity Centre, said ageism in the UK was “a national scandal” that should be challenged in the courts. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I feel like a big rich baby': my week of comfort dressing

  26-12-2018 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Comfort is in fashion, with kimonos on the catwalk and cashmere jogging bottoms on the high street. But is it ever OK to wear your nightie to work?The designer Yves Saint Laurent once said that dressing is a way of life. In his view, clothes are not a mere accessory to life’s key moments, but integral to the moment itself. Fashion, then, is not just a hobby, but a methodology for living well. What Saint Laurent never made clear was whether this methodology can be applied to an ordinary, le
  
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• A modest proposal for 2019: scrap the parliamentary lobby | James Ball

  26-12-2018 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Westminster is full of brilliant journalists but the shadowy briefing system that guides them should be more transparentIt’s traditional at the end of the year to look back on what’s happened and what we’ve done – and what we might do differently next year. For those of us in politics or the media, after a year as frenetic and divisive as 2018 this becomes a serious duty.So here is a proposal for how we might do better in 2019: let’s scrap the lobby system of politi
  
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• Police seizure of documents disturbing, says lawyer for Finnegan accusers

  26-12-2018 13:59
  Kevin Winters said he would be complaining to the Police Ombudsman about Durham Constabulary’s actions.
  
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• Boxing day shoppers queuing before 3am

  26-12-2018 13:46
  Next attracted queues of committed bargain hunters at stores across Scotland.
  
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• 'Risky' time for migrants to travel

  26-12-2018 13:15
  The Home Office said that "criminal gang activity" was behind attempts after dozens of people were rescued.
  
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• Three more migrants intercepted crossing English Channel in small boat

  26-12-2018 13:08
  British officials have said three more migrants have been intercepted after attempting to take a small boat from France to Britain.The Home Office said the migrants were found overnight trying to cross the English Channel after 40 migrants were stopped in their attempts to make the journey on Christmas Day.Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, the Border Force was made aware that three male adult migrants on board a small boat had been rescued by the French authorities near Dover.
  
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• Outside the EU, Britain faces a bleak future in Trump’s world | Simon Tisdall

  26-12-2018 13:06 via theguardian.com
  The US president is rewriting the international rule book that the UK will rely on to survive if it goes it aloneDisagreements over the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU are obscuring the daunting international challenges that await the country once it supposedly shakes off Europe’s shackles. It’s a tough, unforgiving world out there, and 2019 is shaping up to be an even bigger rough-house than usual. By jettisoning a pivotal alliance, Britain no-mates is seriously weake
  
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• King George VI Chase and Boxing Day racing – live!

  26-12-2018 13:04 via theguardian.com
  All the action as it happens from Kempton and elsewhereTalking Horses: Gold Cup winner Native River can land King George
  Jefferson shows steel to put Waiting in King George frame12.01pm GMT A crowd of around 20,000 racegoers – four times as many as for any other meeting so far this year - is beginning to squeeze itself into the bijou surroundings of Kempton Park racecourse ahead of the King George VI Chase at 3.05 this afternoon, and it promises to be one of the most open renewals of the b
  
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