General news

• Arsenal's Ozil and Kolasinac escape knife-wielding attackers

  25-07-2019 23:40
  Mesut Ozil and Arsenal team mate Sead Kolasinac escaped unhurt after an attempted carjacking by knife-wielding attackers in North London on Thursday, British media reported.The Dail Mail website said former Germany international midfielder Ozil was driving his black Mercedes when the car was boxed in by motorbike riders wearing helmets.A video clip accompanying the story showed Bosnian defender Kolasinac, who was a passenger, outside the vehicle and confronting the attackers.
  
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• Boris Johnson sets out plan to recruit 20,000 police officers

  25-07-2019 23:30
  The recruitment drive will begin in September.
  
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• Boris Johnson warned of ‘disaster’ unless he keeps Brexit promise

  25-07-2019 23:05
  The new Prime Minister has appointed a series of ministers as he forms his Government.
  
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• Climate fears as the UK has second hottest day on record

  25-07-2019 22:47
  The NHS warned people not to spend too long in the sun during the exceptionally warm spell. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PABritain has experienced its hottest July day and second hottest day on record as the mercury hit 38.1C, the Met Office said.The highest temperature recorded on Thursday was in Cambridge, which is only the second time temperatures over 100F have been recorded in the UK, according to the Met Office. Thursday’s record temperature surpassed the previous high for the month of 3
  
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• A Heatwave Is Now 30 Times More Likely Than Pre-Industrial Revolution, Met Office Warns

  25-07-2019 22:34
  The UK is now 30 times more likely to be hit by a heatwave than it was beforethe industrial revolution, the Met Office has warned after temperatures in theUK hit record-breaking levels
  
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• Man chases dog on London railway, adding to commuter heat misery

  25-07-2019 22:00
  London commuters were fuming after a man lost control of his dog at a railway station and chased it down one of the capital's busiest stretches of track, adding to transport delays on Britain's hottest July day on record.Twitter users posted images on Thursday of the dog leaping over the tracks near Waterloo Station and another clip of a man running after it, leading to the suspension of train services."Well done to the person at Waterloo who on the hottest day of the year jumped onto the track
  
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• Brexiteer Steve Baker Rejects Ministerial Job Offer From Boris Johnson

  25-07-2019 21:46
  Senior Brexiteer Steve Baker has said he has rejected a ministerial job in thefirst sign of dissent aimed at new Prime Minister Boris Johnson
  
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• HMS Montrose accompanying vessels

  25-07-2019 21:45
  The Royal Navy has been tasked with accompanying British-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz to protect them from Iranian attack
  
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• Steve Baker rejects ministerial role in Boris Johnson's government

  25-07-2019 21:43
  Leading Eurosceptic MP said he didn’t want to repeat ‘powerlessness’ of being a junior Brexit minister. The high-profile Eurosceptic rebel Steve Baker has rejected a job on Boris Johnson’s frontbench, saying he did not want to repeat the “powerlessness” he felt as a junior minister before he quit over objections to Theresa May’s deal. Baker, the vice-chair of the hard Brexit European Research Group and close ally of the newly promoted Jacob Rees-Mogg, ap
  
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• Steve Baker rejects ministerial role in Boris Johnson's government

  25-07-2019 21:43
  Steve Baker entering 10 Downing St. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty ImagesThe high-profile Eurosceptic rebel Steve Baker has rejected a job on Boris Johnson’s frontbench, saying he did not want to repeat the “powerlessness” he felt as a junior minister before he quit over objections to Theresa May’s deal.Baker, the vice-chair of the hard Brexit European Research Group and close ally of the newly promoted Jacob Rees-Mogg, appeared to have been offered a post in the Cab
  
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• Leading Eurosceptic MP rejects position in Boris Johnson's cabinet

  25-07-2019 21:43
  Steve Baker said he didn’t want to repeat ‘powerlessness’ of being a junior Brexit minister. The high-profile Eurosceptic rebel Steve Baker has rejected a job on Boris Johnson’s frontbench, saying he did not want to repeat the “powerlessness” he felt as a junior minister before he quit over objections to Theresa May’s deal. Baker, the vice-chair of the hard Brexit European Research Group and close ally of the newly promoted Jacob Rees-Mogg, appeared to h
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn insists new PM has ‘no plan’ as he demands general election

  25-07-2019 21:36
  The Labour leader also set out a series of pledges he says his party will honour if it wins office.
  
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• Priti Patel paid £1,000 an hour as adviser to firm supplying MoD

  25-07-2019 21:26
  New home secretary has been working for communications firm Viasat as strategic adviser. The new home secretary, Priti Patel, holds a £1,000-an hour contract with a global communications firm that supplies products and services to the UK government, the Guardian can reveal. Patel, who was appointed on Wednesday by the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, as a part of a wholesale gutting of the cabinet, has been working for Viasat for the past three months as a strategic adviser on a salary o
  
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• Priti Patel earning £1,000 an hour as adviser to firm supplying MoD

  25-07-2019 21:26
  Newly appointed home secretary Priti Patel leaves Downing Street. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/ReutersThe new home secretary, Priti Patel, holds a £1,000-an hour contract with a global communications firm that supplies products and services to the UK government, the Guardian can reveal.Patel, who was appointed on Wednesday by the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, as a part of a wholesale gutting of the cabinet, has been working for Viasat for the past three months as a strategic adviser on
  
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• Waterloo trains suspended as police hunt dog-chaser

  25-07-2019 21:24
  Power was switched off to trains on the line, which uses an electrified 'third' rail.
  
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• Teenagers charged over ‘homophobic bus attack’

  25-07-2019 21:06
  Melania Geymonat and her girlfriend Chris were allegedly targeted on the top of a double-decker London night bus.
  
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• UK weather: country experiences second hottest day on record

  25-07-2019 20:39
  Cambridge was hottest spot at 38.1C, as Met Office issues storm and flood warnings overnight. Britain has experienced its hottest July day and second hottest day on record as the mercury hit 38.1C, the Met Office said. The highest temperature recorded on Thursday was in Cambridge, which is only the second time temperatures over 100F have been recorded in the UK, according to the Met Office. Thursday’s record temperature surpassed the previous high for the month of 36.7C (98.06F) set at Hea
  
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• UK Weather: Rail Chaos As Hottest July Day On Record Forces Trains To Run More Slowly

  25-07-2019 20:30
  Commuters are enduring chaos and disruption on the railways as the UK swelterson its hottest July day on record amid fears tracks could buckle
  
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• Michel Barnier Warns Boris Johnson's Plan To Ditch The Backstop Is 'Unacceptable'

  25-07-2019 20:02
  The EU will not remove the Northern Ireland backstop from the withdrawalagreement, Michel Barnier was warned, adding to rising fears of a no-dealBrexit under Boris Johnson's government
  
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• Glaciers melting below water line ‘faster than feared’

  25-07-2019 20:00
  Scientists have developed a method to directly measure the submarine melt rate of a tidewater glacier.
  
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• Cabinet's voting record shows lack of support for abortion and gay rights

  25-07-2019 19:56
  Boris Johnson hails team for ‘modern Britain’ despite apparent views on key issues. A significant number of ministers in Boris Johnson’s new government have been either hostile to or ambivalent about abortion and gay rights, according to their voting records. The new prime minister has hailed his “cabinet for modern Britain”, but five of them opposed the introduction of same-sex marriage in England and Wales during a final House of Commons vote in 2013. They include
  
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• Vice UK staff unionise and urge other online media to follow suit

  25-07-2019 19:53
  Move comes after four months of discussions and previous attempt three years ago. Vice UK has become one of the first British digital media publications to unionise, with staff urging other online-only media outlets to follow their lead while the industry is in turmoil amid financial struggles and job cuts. Bosses at the youth-focused publication decided to voluntarily recognise their staff’s right to form a negotiating unit, following four months of discussions involving employees and the
  
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• Dominic Cummings role provokes alarm inside civil service

  25-07-2019 19:30
  One union leader said Cummings (pictured), like other ‘disruptors’, would struggle when faced with the reality of government. Photograph: House of Commons/PABoris Johnson’s decision to recruit Dominic Cummings as a key adviser has provoked concern and disbelief among union leaders and civil servants.The man credited with masterminding the campaign to leave the European Union, who has described Downing Street’s machine as “decrepit”, will co-ordinate the new PM
  
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• Johnson clashes with Brussels on first full day as PM

  25-07-2019 19:27
  Boris Johnson promised to work 'flat out' to secure a new agreement but also said he was 'turbocharging' no-deal preparations.
  
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• ‘Peter Pan nanny’ jailed for child sex assaults

  25-07-2019 19:24
  Alexander Philo-Steele, 36, advertised his services to unsuspecting parents online.
  
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• Two-thirds of Boris Johnson's cabinet went to private schools

  25-07-2019 19:23
  The Sutton Trust found 64% of ministers went to fee-paying secondary schools, while 45% went to either Oxford or Cambridge university. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PANearly two-thirds of prime minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet were privately educated, according to research.The proportion of ministers who went to independent schools is twice as high as Theresa May’s 2016 cabinet, at 64% compared to 30% according to the social mobility charity Sutton Trust. In David Cameron’s 2015 cabi
  
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• Hottest July day on record causes chaos on rail network

  25-07-2019 19:20
  The mercury rose to 38.1C in Cambridge on Thursday afternoon, beating the previous record for the month of 36.7C set in Heathrow in 2015.
  
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• Troubled MP Jared O’Mara ‘taking time out to receive professional help’

  25-07-2019 19:08
  The independent Sheffield Hallam MP has blamed Jeremy Corbyn for how he was treated before he resigned from the Labour Party.
  
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• Charles and Camilla to visit New Zealand

  25-07-2019 19:00
  New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the visit would allow the prince to engage with New Zealanders.
  
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• What to make of the Lib Dems’ record?

  25-07-2019 18:55
  Readers share their views on the Liberal Democrats in the week that Jo Swinson was elected as their new leader. Jo Swinson asserts that Jeremy Corbyn can’t be trusted on Brexit ( Report, 24 July). Maybe it’s worth asking whether she can be trusted on many of the things that contributed to the referendum outcome she wants to overturn. She voted for scrapping the education maintenance allowance and for increasing tuition fees; for reducing housing benefits; against letting benefits ris
  
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• With new cabinet, all talk of ‘one nation’ conservatism is nonsense

  25-07-2019 18:54
  Readers respond to Boris Johnson’s decision to pack his government with hardline leavers and rightwingers. Jonathan Freedland’s assertion that Boris Johnson’s cabinet “is startlingly rightwing” is, sadly, something of an understatement ( From today, the Brexiters will have no one else to blame, 25 July). The co-authors of Britannia Unchained, which infamously described British workers as “among the worst idlers in the world”, and British children having
  
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• UK railways in chaos as searing heat sparks fear of derailed trains

  25-07-2019 18:54
  Operators impose speed limits and axe services amid concern over buckled rails. Britain’s rail network has been plunged into chaos after extreme temperatures forced operators to slow down trains and cancel services as Network Rail warned the system could not cope with the searing heat. Passengers on many routes on Thursday were advised to avoid travelling at all, if possible, with disruption particularly affecting intercity services from the capital. Severe speed restrictions were imposed
  
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• Time for some Brexit reality checks

  25-07-2019 18:52
  Richard Middleton recalls legal opinion presented by a group of distinguished QCs to the House of Lords in 2017, John Arthur is exasperated by the DUP’s stance on Brexit, and Norman Miller suggests that the UK could learn from the new tougher Danish divorce system. I keep hearing and reading – for example, Jonathan Freedland ( I tried to find an upside to no deal. I couldn’t, 20 July) – that, in the event of no Brexit agreement between the UK and the EU, the default is th
  
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• UK Weather: 15 Tweets Capturing The Very British Struggle Through This Heatwave

  25-07-2019 18:51
  There's nothing like a freak weather event to get us Brits complaining - or,for that matter - doing slightly odd things to get through it
  
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• Hear the Hyundai Mercury Prize nominees

  25-07-2019 18:50
  Twelve artists have been shortlisted for the annual Hyundai Mercury Prize.
  
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• Fed up with being called granny? Move to Liverpool and be queen instead

  25-07-2019 18:48
  Her Majesty visiting Liverpool in 2011. Photograph: Getty ImagesIn 1982, following a threat to the future of fewer than 4,000 Falkland Islanders, all service personnel were recalled to duty and all leave cancelled. Could all MPs please explain to the more than 66 million people of the UK why they think it is appropriate for them to be away from their place of duty for eight weeks during a time when the UK faces a fundamental change to its way of life and future.Alison MandevilleTruro, Cornwall&b
  
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• Northern Ireland Secretary urged to act on redress for abuse victims

  25-07-2019 18:44
  Six parties and independent MLA Claire Sugden signed a joint letter to Julian Smith urging the Government to bring forward legislation.
  
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• 'You don't have to look black to be black': The complex racial identity of a tiny Ohio town - video

  25-07-2019 18:42
  In the remote Ohio town of East Jackson, which sits in the Appalachian foothills, residents have for decades identified as black – despite the fact they appear white. Tom Silverstone and Francisco Navas visit a place where residents' racial lines have been blurred to invisibility Continue reading...
  
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• Don't call it a coup, you'll spoil Boris Johnson's Big Day Out

  25-07-2019 18:40
  The court jester was back and the Tories were lapping up his Pandrossian vision. If a developing country had just changed its entire government without an election, we’d be calling it a coup. And if that coup had been led by a man clearly unfit for office, whom even his own family can’t trust to tell the truth, we’d be calling that country a failed state. But as this is the UK and the leader in question is Boris Johnson, we plead the exceptionalism of a first-world democracy. N
  
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• Tory councillor defects to Lib Dems with swipe at new PM Boris Johnson

  25-07-2019 18:34
  South Lanarkshire councillor Mark McGeever described Mr Johnson as 'totally unfit for high office'.
  
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• Consultant hid HIV diagnosis from my son, father tells blood inquiry

  25-07-2019 18:16
  Paul Summers died after a liver transplant due to his hepatitis C infection.
  
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• Leo Varadkar: No-deal Brexit is a British threat

  25-07-2019 18:04
  Britain will not secure a free trade deal with the EU without the Irish border backstop, Ireland’s Taoiseach has said.Leo Varadkar warned new Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the position of Dublin and the EU had not changed.He reiterated his Government’s support for the draft withdrawal agreement, which was intended to pave the way for more discussions on a permanent trade arrangement.
  
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• Four Teens Charged Over Homophobic Attack Against Women On London Bus

  25-07-2019 18:01
  Four teenage boys have been charged with an aggravated hate crime over ahomophobic attack against two women on a London night bus earlier this year
  
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• UK Weather: Temperatures Reach 38.1C – Falling Just Short Of The Hottest Day Ever

  25-07-2019 17:51
  Britain experienced its second hottest day on record on Thursday, astemperatures hit 38
  
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• Boris Johnson guarantees EU citizens’ rights in UK ‘unequivocally’

  25-07-2019 17:43
  In his first Commons statement as Prime Minister, he pledged to ensure they can continue to remain after Brexit.
  
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• No plans for new laws to safeguard rights of EU citizens, says No 10

  25-07-2019 17:39
  Spokesman says Boris Johnson had not meant to imply there would be any new legislation. Boris Johnson has no plans for fresh legislation to safeguard EU citizens’ rights after Brexit, despite repeatedly highlighting the issue during the Tory leadership campaign. In his first statement in the House of Commons since becoming prime minister, Johnson promised to ensure that the 3.2 million EU citizens in the UK can remain after Britain leaves. He said he wanted to “repeat unequivocally o
  
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• Irish minister says Boris Johnson's Brexit stance 'quite alarming'

  25-07-2019 17:30
  Dublin voices concern over UK government’s plan to seek new deal without backstop. The Irish government has expressed alarm at Boris Johnson’s approach to Brexit as tension begins to mount over the increased risk of no deal. Michael Creed, Ireland’s agriculture minister, said the new position of the British government, which involves demands for a new deal without the Irish border backstop within 98 days, was a concern. “The makeup of this government seems to be a mirror
  
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• How music sessions unite therapist and patient in perfect harmony

  25-07-2019 17:30
  Researchers believe they have been able to demonstrate that the brains of the two synchronise during music therapy.
  
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• Boris Johnson’s Brexit stance unacceptable, says EU’s Barnier after PM’s speech

  25-07-2019 17:17
  The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier described the new Prime Minister's comments as 'rather combative'.
  
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• Airlines relying on parents to carry child-friendly medicines – report

  25-07-2019 17:14
  The study found few airlines carried first-aid kits with paediatric versions of medicines.
  
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