General news

• Biggest ever Great Britain team arrives at Special Olympics World Games

  14-03-2019 23:58
  The team had support from famous faces such as Prince Harry and Andy Murray.
  
  Read more

• Royal household split - Prince Harry and Meghan go it alone

  14-03-2019 23:50
  Prince Harry and his pregnant wife Meghan are to set up their own household, breaking away from the joint operation they shared with the Harry's elder brother William and his wife Kate, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday.Harry and Meghan, known officially as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have shared staff with William and Kate since their marriage in May last year.
  
  Read more

• Chess: England win first major medal in 22 years with silver at world teams

  14-03-2019 23:44
  Final-round victory clinches second place behind Russia while Luke McShane wins board two gold in AstanaEngland’s silver medals on Thursday at the World Team Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, were the team’s first of any colour in major competition since 1997. European gold in that year seemed the last hurrah of a generation which had proved itself No 2 to the former Soviet Union. Before that England won bronze at the 1989 world teams and the 1990 Olympiad but then the Berlin Wall
  
  Read more

• This is what happened in the Commons during three days of historic Brexit voting

  14-03-2019 23:35
  On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday there were a string of key Brexit votes ahead of the UK's planned exit from the European Union.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Varadkar: Trump should embrace free trade

  14-03-2019 23:34
  The protectionist US administration has been engaged in a tariff war with China. It pulled back from escalating aggressive action towards the EU.
  
  Read more

• James Milner keen to avoid all-Premier League affair in Champions League

  14-03-2019 23:30
  • ‘It’s always a weird feeling playing an English team in Europe’
  • Champions League win at Bayern will earn respect, he addsJames Milner believes Liverpool have earned the respect of Europe with their Champions League rise under Jürgen Klopp but admits he will not be satisfied until a trophy finally returns to Anfield. Related: Four English clubs in the Champions League last eight. What took so long?Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Corbyn hit by Labour revolt over second Brexit referendum

  14-03-2019 23:20
  Three shadow ministers, a whip and an aide to deputy leader Tom Watson quit their posts in order to oppose a second referendum.
  
  Read more

• Unexploded wartime bomb found at site to be used as lorry park in event of no-deal Brexit

  14-03-2019 23:12
  Kent Police and army bomb disposal experts were called to Manston Airport after the wartime relic was discovered and are continuing to assess the scene.There is "no immediate threat to life" so the device will be detonated over the next few days, according to the Ministry of Defence.Transport Secretary Chris Grayling - who has recently faced criticism over several mishaps - planned to use the airfield as a giant HGV holding bay to prevent traffic jams around Channel ferry ports if the UK leaves
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• UK's Attorney General Cox has new legal advice on Brexit - The Telegraph

  14-03-2019 23:12
  Cox is attempting to win over Eurosceptic Conservative Party MPs and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) with his new legal advice, the Telegraph reported.The Attorney General states that Britain will be able to end the backstop if it has a "socially destabilising effect on Northern Ireland", the Telegraph report said.
  
  Read more

• Sir Vince Cable announces he will step down as Lib Dem leader in May

  14-03-2019 23:08
  The 75-year-old plans to remain an MP.
  
  Read more

• Sir Vince Cable to stand down as Lib Dem leader in May

  14-03-2019 23:01
  Former business secretary, who plans to remain as an MP, refuses to name preferred successorSir Vince Cable has confirmed that he will stand down in May as leader of the Liberal Democrats, the UK’s fourth biggest parliamentary party.The former business secretary is planning to remain as an MP and write books. It follows internal criticism for his lacklustre performance over Brexit, including a failure to turn up to a key vote last July. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Tory MP Tells Parliament About Threat To 'Hang' Constituency Staff

  14-03-2019 23:00
  A Tory MP has told the Commons how a member of his staff was threatened withhanging during an attack on his constituency office
  
  Read more

• Tory MP Tells Parliament About Threat To 'Hang' Constituency Staff

  14-03-2019 23:00
  A Tory MP has told the Commons how a member of his staff was threatened withhanging during an attack on his constituency office
  
  Read more

• Eddie Jones puts pressure on ‘tired’ Wales in push for Six Nations title

  14-03-2019 23:00
  • England coach: ‘I see a Wales team that looks tired’
  • Jones says dropped Cokanasiga can play 100 TestsWarren Gatland has told Eddie Jones to mind his own business after the England coach said Wales looked “tired” before their Six Nations decider with Ireland in Cardiff. Jones also believes the Irish are “peaking” at the right time and says Scotland can expect “a bit of an explosion” from an England team still hoping to claim the title.
  
  Read more

• Captive State review – ambitious sci-fi thriller offers up uneven intrigue

  14-03-2019 23:00
  A jumble of themes and ideas jostle for space in an audacious, but often messy, film that takes a familiar alien invasion set-up and goes for brokeBuried somewhere underneath the wreckage, there’s a smart little sci-fi film pulsing at the centre of Captive State, a scrappy, unwieldy curio with plenty on its mind, coherence not necessarily included. Shot over two years ago and pushed around the release schedule, it’s a troubled project that feels troubled, with confused editing and cl
  
  Read more

• 60 Days on the Streets review – truly revelatory TV that damns us all

  14-03-2019 23:00
  Ed Stafford’s vivid account of sleeping rough humanised the homeless – and exposed the cruelty and pettiness of the general publicHannibal Lecter once asked himself as he scoured the faces of a crowd at a torture-instrument exhibition in Florence: “What still slaps the clammy flab of our submissive consciousness hard enough to get our attention?”One answer came in 60 Days on the Streets, a documentary from the ex-army captain and seasoned explorer Ed Stafford. It details
  
  Read more

• Aubameyang the hero as Arsenal beat Rennes and reach quarter-finals

  14-03-2019 22:57
  It was a night when Arsenal required superhuman effort and some heroic performances to overturn a two-goal handicap and seize their ticket for the Europa League quarter-finals. An accomplished team performance was crowned by the moment Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang plundered their third goal and relished the moment with a spot of dressing up. His chosen character, embellished by the mask that had been waiting in the goal, was Black Panther. His teammates huddled round him cherishing another importan
  
  Read more

• Venezuela: power returns after blackout but normal service may be a long way off

  14-03-2019 22:51
  Report finds outage caused by bush fire near substationParts of the country remain without electricity Related: Venezuela blackout: what caused it and what happens next? Power has been restored to much of Venezuela, a week after a devastating blackout struck across the country, crippling water supplies, and cutting off telephone and internet services for millions. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Sinn Fein leader and NI police chief hold ‘frank and constructive’ meeting

  14-03-2019 22:39
  Mary Lou McDonald and George Hamilton had a conversation in Washington DC.
  
  Read more

• Labour whip quits as second referendum vote exposes splits

  14-03-2019 22:36
  Stephanie Peacock quit as a Labour whip while Ruth Smeeth resigned as PPS to Tom Watson.
  
  Read more

• MPs vote to delay Brexit beyond March 29 as Tory splits exposed

  14-03-2019 22:19
  Eight Cabinet ministers, including the Brexit Secretary, opposed Theresa May's plans in a free vote.
  
  Read more

• EU must increase pressure on Britain over Brexit - EU's Verhofstadt

  14-03-2019 22:15
  The European Union must increase pressure on Britain to move forward on its exit from the bloc, the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator told German television on Thursday, after British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to seek a delay.Liberal party leader Guy Verfhofstadt expressed frustration about what he called repeated negative votes by British lawmakers, and said the EU could only agree to a short delay if parliament made clear what exactly it would support.
  
  Read more

• Trump hails ties of kinship in ‘strong and resilient’ US-Irish friendship

  14-03-2019 22:08
  Nancy Pelosi said the US took 'great pride in Irish heritage that millions in our country claim'.
  
  Read more

• Arsenal v Rennes: Europa League last 16, second leg – live!

  14-03-2019 22:04
  Europa League updates from the second leg (first leg: 1-3)Giroud’s perfect hat-trick fires Chelsea into last eightLive scoreboard: Thursday’s latest scores and resultsAnd you can email Rob here with your thoughts 9.04pm GMT “Dear Rob,” says Malte Zumbansen. “Just rushed through an exam to be able to watch as much of the match as possible... didn’t see much of that half but oh what a relief it is to see the Arsenal in the classic kit again. Last week in Rennes
  
  Read more

• George and Amal Clooney handed gala award for human rights work

  14-03-2019 21:57
  The celebrity pair were given the honour at the People's Postcode Lottery Charity Gala in Edinburgh.
  
  Read more

• Brexit: MPs vote to seek a delay - but what happens next?

  14-03-2019 21:56 via bbc.co.uk
  MPs have voted to ask the EU for a delay to Brexit, it means the UK may not now leave on 29 March.
  
  Read more

• Brexit: MPs vote by 413 to 202 to extend article 50 until 30 June – Politics live

  14-03-2019 21:55
  Majority of 211 for government motion means Theresa May will now seek extension from EU for departure dateHow would an extension to article 50 work?How did each MP vote in this week’s Brexit motions? 8.54pm GMT Stephanie Peacock, who ignored a Labour instruction to abstain and voted against the amendment calling for a second referendum, has resigned from the party’s frontbench.It is with deep regret I tonight resigned from Labour’s front bench, because I believe we should respe
  
  Read more

• MPs back Brexit delay as votes lay bare cabinet divisions

  14-03-2019 21:53
  MPs vote overwhelmingly to request extension to article 50 - but eight ministers vote against motionFollow the latest Brexit developments - liveBrexit is set to be delayed by at least three months, after parliament opted overwhelmingly to request an extension to article 50 on another day of divisive votes that exposed the split in Theresa May’s fractured cabinet.The prime minister is now expected to bring her twice-defeated Brexit deal back to parliament on Tuesday, after she narrowly reta
  
  Read more

• Longtime Facebook executive to leave amid plans to pivot to privacy

  14-03-2019 21:52
  Chief product officer Chris Cox, who helped create news feed feature, and Chris Daniels, who heads WhatsApp, to depart Facebook’s chief product officer and one of its earliest employees, Chris Cox, said on Thursday he was leaving the company, just days after its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, revealed a plan to pivot the world’s biggest social network to an encryption-focused messaging company.Cox, one of Zuckerberg’s closest lieutenants and the head of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp
  
  Read more

• ‘It’s a joke! I’m in tears’: Paisley Park gives Andrew Gemmell first Festival win

  14-03-2019 21:52
  • Favourite secures emotional victory for blind owner
  • Stayers’ Hurdle triumph comes 46 years after first visitAndrew Gemmell, the owner who has been blind since birth, got his cherished Festival winner 46 years after his first visit when Paisley Park carried his colours to win the Stayers’ Hurdle. Related: Bryony Frost makes history with Frodon in Ryanair Chase at CheltenhamContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Facebook: two top executives to leave company

  14-03-2019 21:52
  Chief product officer Chris Cox, who helped create news feed feature, and Chris Daniels, who heads WhatsApp, to depart Two of Facebook’s top executives are leaving the company, it says. Facebook’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, and Chris Daniels, who heads the messaging app WhatsApp, are departing. It isn’t clear what future plans the executives have. Related: Did you make it through the Facebook outage without calling the police?Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Chris Cox: longtime Facebook executive to leave as firm pivots to privacy

  14-03-2019 21:52
  Chief product officer, who helped create news feed feature, was viewed as a possible successor to CEO ZuckerbergFacebook’s chief product officer and one of the primary architects of its signature news feed, Chris Cox, said on Thursday he was leaving the company, just days after its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, revealed a plan to pivot the world’s biggest social network to an encryption-focused messaging company.Cox, one of Zuckerberg’s earliest employees and closest lieutenants, said
  
  Read more

• Here Are The 188 Tory MPs Who Voted Against Delaying Brexit

  14-03-2019 21:37
  More than half of Tory MPs and a slew of Cabinet ministers have inflictedfresh embarrassment on Theresa May by voting against her plans to delayBrexit
  
  Read more

• Catholic priest jailed for sexually abusing six children

  14-03-2019 21:32
  Francis McDermott, 75, abused six victims, some as young as 10, in the 1970s.
  
  Read more

• David Steel suspended from Lib Dems over Cyril Smith revelation

  14-03-2019 21:23
  Former Liberal leader told child abuse inquiry he assumed in 1979 that allegations against MP were true David Steel has been suspended from the Liberal Democrats after admitting he was aware that Cyril Smith was a child abuser but failed to assess whether he was a risk to children.Party officials decided on Thursday night that Lord Steel, the former leader of the Liberal party, should have the whip withdrawn and face a formal investigation. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• With Brexit now on hold, there’s only one option left: compromise | Simon Jenkins

  14-03-2019 21:21
  The referendum vote must be honoured, but Theresa May’s red lines will have to fade. It’s time to reach out to LabourThe Brexit chasm has seemed unbridgeable. No path has appeared through the impasse. Tonight a glimmer of a route came into view. Parliament decided to ask the EU to postpone Brexit day and extend the negotiating phase, probably for three months. It asked for this phase to be extended, probably for three months. It did so, shamelessly, because it could not agree on what
  
  Read more

• EU's Tusk floats long Brexit delay before summit

  14-03-2019 21:13
  European Union leaders will consider pressing Britain to delay Brexit by at least a year to find a way through its domestic deadlock, the chair of next week's EU summit said on Thursday."I will appeal to the EU27 to be open to a long extension if the UK finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy and build consensus around it," European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted, referring to the 27 other national leaders who will meet Prime Minister Theresa May next Thursday.
  
  Read more

• Simon Munnery: Who owns a joke? Not me, you or James Joyce

  14-03-2019 21:07
  On his way to Sean Hughes’s funeral, the standup thought of a new joke – but who’s to say it belongs to him?‘Went to a funeral the other day. Caught the wreath.”That’s my new joke. It’s been a good year. But is it mine? Is it really? It came to me – I’ll say that much – from the mysterious source of the inexplicable. I remember exactly when. I was walking through the cemetery on the way to Sean Hughes’s funeral. I told it to someo
  
  Read more

• Trump threatens veto after senate rejects national emergency in sharp rebuke

  14-03-2019 21:03
  Twelve Republicans joined every Senate Democrat in rare move to block president’s effort to divert funds for US-Mexico border wallFollow the latest in US politics – liveDonald Trump has threatened to use his presidential veto after the US Senate delivered a sharp rebuke to the president on Thursday, voting to overturn his declaration last month of a national emergency in order to divert taxpayer funds to the US-Mexico border.In a 59-41 vote, 12 Republicans joined every Senate Democra
  
  Read more

• Senate rejects national emergency declaration in sharp rebuke to Trump

  14-03-2019 21:03
  Twelve Republicans joined every Senate Democrat in rare move to block president’s effort to divert funds for US-Mexico border wallFollow the latest in US politics – liveThe US Senate delivered a sharp rebuke to Donald Trump on Thursday, voting to overturn his declaration last month of a national emergency in order to divert taxpayer funds to the US-Mexico border.In a 59-41 vote, 12 Republicans joined every Senate Democrat in a rare move to block the president’s effort to divert
  
  Read more

• World Rugby to tempt Six Nations into Nations Championship with £5bn carrot

  14-03-2019 21:02
  • World Rugby wants plans resolved in May
  • Southern hemisphere nations keen on new leagueWorld Rugby wants its plan for a Nations Championship to be resolved at its council meeting in May so it does not get lost in the buildup the World Cup. The governing body on Thursday met the chief executives and chairmen of all the unions who would be involved in Dublin, looking to win over the sceptics in the Six Nations with the promise of a £5bn windfall. Related: Johnny Sexton back to h
  
  Read more

• Shell boss's £17.2m pay packet shows the madness of incentive plans

  14-03-2019 20:56
  Ben van Beurden’s bonanza is a reward for the oil price rise that was outside his controlHere, as sure as spring, comes another row over pay at Shell. Chief executive Ben van Beurden collected €20.1m (£17.2m) last year, a tidy 126% increase on 2017. The only other time he passed €20m was 2014, when he apparently needed an enormous pension top-up and “tax equalisation” handout to ease his arduous journey from London to Shell HQ in The Hague. For practical purpose
  
  Read more

• British lawmakers overwhelmingly back Brexit delay

  14-03-2019 20:56
  British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to seek a delay in Britain's exit from the European Union, setting the stage for Prime Minister Theresa May to renew efforts to get her divorce deal approved by parliament next week.Lawmakers approved by 412 votes to 202 a motion setting out the option to ask the EU for a short delay if parliament can agree on a Brexit deal by March 20 -- or a longer delay if no deal can be agreed in time.The short delay envisaged in the motion could last until
  
  Read more

• Olivier Giroud’s perfect hat-trick fires Chelsea into Europa League last eight

  14-03-2019 20:55
  This ended up more like a bye into the Europe League quarter-finals than the perilous encounter Maurizio Sarri had rather warily foreseen. Chelsea barely broke into a sweat in dismissing a desperately naive Dynamo Kyiv, with the uneven playing surface probably representing more of a threat than overawed opponents.. Related: Arsenal v Rennes: Europa League last 16, second leg – live!Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Tusk pushes EU27 leaders to be open to long Brexit delay

  14-03-2019 20:51
  Donald Tusk with Theresa May in Brussels. Photograph: ReutersDonald Tusk is pushing the European Union’s leaders to consider a long Brexit delay to allow the UK to rethink its goals in the negotiations as the Commons voted in favour of seeking an extension of article 50.In an apparent shift in the EU’s red lines, the European council president suggested even before MPs had voted that a lengthy extension beyond 29 March could be granted simply to give Westminster time to recalibrate.O
  
  Read more

• Victory in US for Tommy Fleetwood ‘only a matter of time’, says Rory McIlroy

  14-03-2019 20:46
  • Englishman shot first-round 65 in Players Championship
  • ‘He is one of the best players in the world’It was hardly a shock to hear Rory McIlroy endorse the chances of Tommy Fleetwood winning in the United States before long. Singing Tommy’s praises has become an understandable theme.The Players Championship has not been kind to British players – Sandy Lyle is the only one to have won it, in 1987 – but Fleetwood is clearly of a mind to break the mould. A
  
  Read more

• Day 993 in the Big Brexit House, and another crank on the pathos handle | John Crace

  14-03-2019 20:42
  MPs decide they don’t need to take back the control they had once voted to take backFinally. Theresa May had found a vote she could win. A narrow two-vote victory. A largely pyrrhic victory, as the government had won on a motion to extend article 50 it had never actually wanted to put to the house in the first place. Even when the Leader In Name Only is winning, she still contrives to lose. Another crank of the pathos handle. The government still just about had control of the parliamentary
  
  Read more

• Day 993 in the Big Brexit House, and another crank of the pathos handle

  14-03-2019 20:42
  A parliament of donkeys, led by nematodes.Photograph: UK Parliament/Mark Duffy/PAFinally. Theresa May had found a vote she could win. A narrow two-vote victory. A largely pyrrhic victory, as the government had won on a motion to extend article 50 it had never actually wanted to put to the house in the first place. Even when the Leader In Name Only is winning, she still contrives to lose. Another crank of the pathos handle. The government still just about had control of the parliamentary timetabl
  
  Read more

• Irish PM brings partner to meet Mike Pence and delivers pointed remarks on sexuality

  14-03-2019 20:37
  Leo Varadkar, who is openly gay, spoke on the changes for Ireland and called out various forms of discriminationThe Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, who is openly gay, brought his partner to a meeting on Thursday with the US vice-president, Mike Pence, a conservative Christian once dubbed “the face of anti-LGBTQ hate in America”.Varadkar, who is in Washington this week to reaffirm the longstanding shared history between the two countries, brought his partner, Matt Barrett, to a St
  
  Read more

• Theresa May has finally got the Brexiters where she wants them | Jonathan Freedland

  14-03-2019 20:33
  MPs have given her back control. And leave supporters now have the binary choice of her deal or months of delayMPs had the chance to take back control of Brexit – wresting this tortured process from a weak, flailing and moribund government – and they ducked it. Sure, it was by the narrowest of margins, losing by just two votes, 312 to 314, but MPs passed up the opportunity to take charge and say, at long last, what kind of Brexit they want. They preferred instead to grant Theresa May
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!