General news

• Jacob Rees-Mogg criticised for ‘lying down’ during key Brexit debate

  03-09-2019 23:46
  The Prime Minister is desperately trying to fight off a Tory revolt over measures aimed at blocking him from taking the UK out of the European Union.
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on Boris Johnson’s strategy: split party, divide country, win election | Editorial

  03-09-2019 23:36
  The prime minister intuitively understands that hard-Brexit chaos will sustain his premiership. He must be stoppedBrexit: Johnson tables motion for general election – live newsFull report: Johnson suffers Commons defeatThe defeat of Boris Johnson’s government by the opposition and 21 of his own MPs is the first shot in a battle for the soul of the Conservative party. Six weeks after he took office, the prime minister looks certain to be forced by law to break his promise to leave the
  
  Read more

• Sajid Javid to announce extra £2 billion Brexit funding in spending round

  03-09-2019 23:30
  The Chancellor will announce his public spending and investment plans on Wednesday.
  
  Read more

• Chancellor commits another £2bn for no-deal Brexit planning

  03-09-2019 23:30
  The chancellor, Sajid Javid, is due to unveil the additional cash in his spending review on Wednesday.Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty ImagesThe chancellor, Sajid Javid, will commit an extra £2bn for no-deal Brexit planning, the Treasury has announced, taking the running total for preparations to more than £8.3bn since the 2016 referendum.Javid is due to formally unveil the money as part of his spending round statement to MPs on Wednesday, although it remains to be seen wheth
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• MPs defeat Government in bid to block UK leaving EU without a deal

  03-09-2019 23:24
  Boris Johnson earlier signalled he would try to call a snap general election if he was defeated.
  
  Read more

• Irish Government giving ‘top priority’ for no-deal Brexit preparations

  03-09-2019 23:10
  In a statement an Irish Government spokesman said it 'noted the increasing risk of a no-deal Brexit on October 31'.
  
  Read more

• The Capture review – chillingly real thriller or utter bobbins? Let's check the tape

  03-09-2019 23:00
  A soldier is caught up in something much bigger than first suspected in a twisty if lacklustre drama about deceit, delusion and video fakery Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?, as we all know Juvenal wrote. But now we need the Latin not just for who watches the watchmen but who watches the watchers watching the watchmen watching the watchmen and who checks everybody’s records haven’t been seamlessly replaced thereafter? Perhaps it’s the one good use for our current prime minister.
  
  Read more

• England to let Ruaridh McConnochie loose on Italy in World Cup warm-up

  03-09-2019 23:00
  • Third time lucky at Newcastle for uncapped Bath back
  • ‘He’s going to do well … he’s got good energy about him’England will finally unleash Bath’s uncapped Ruaridh McConnochie on Friday as they seek to conclude their World Cup preparations with a flourish against Italy in Newcastle. McConnochie will be named on Wednesday morning in the starting lineup as part of a seriously quick back three alongside Anthony Watson and Jonny May.McConnochie was ex
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Clown Prince Johnson cowers in the face of the Rebel Alliance

  03-09-2019 22:51
  Obi Wan Bercow sanctions emergency debate that paves way for Johnson to be UK’s shortest-serving PM. It had never really been in doubt. Obi Wan Bercow was always going to say yes to the Rebel Alliance, so there was little suspense when Tory MP Oliver Letwin rose to request an emergency debate on voting to prevent the government from allowing the UK to crash out of the EU with no deal. He did so with his usual clarity and good grace. Something that was not reciprocated by Jacob Rees-Mogg, w
  
  Read more

• EU to declare a no-deal Brexit a major natural disaster

  03-09-2019 22:25
  Move allows release of £544m from emergency fund set aside for storms and earthquakes. The EU executive will on Wednesday call for the release of nearly €600m (£544m) from an emergency fund for storms and earthquakes as it declares Brexit could be a “major disaster”. The European commission will propose dipping into a solidarity fund created in 2002 to help member states deal with natural disasters such as floods, storms, volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Brexit i
  
  Read more

• California: shock and grief after at least 25 killed in boat fire off Santa Cruz Island

  03-09-2019 22:23
  Nine people still missing after fire broke out on diving tour boatPolice say DNA testing required to identify some of the victimsA boat fire off Santa Cruz Island that left 25 people dead and nine missing sent shockwaves throughout the diving community and across California. Residents and divers said a tragedy of such scale seemed unimaginable.The diving tour boat erupted in flames along the coast of Santa Barbara at around 3.15am on Monday and ultimately sank. Five crew members escaped and were
  
  Read more

• Walmart to stop selling some types of ammunition

  03-09-2019 22:18
  Company to ask shoppers not to openly carry firearms, even where legal, after series of mass shootingsWalmart says it will discontinue the sale of handgun ammunition and also publicly request that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms in stores even where state laws allow it.The announcement comes just days after a mass shooting claimed seven lives in Odessa, Texas, and follows two other back-to-back shootings last month, one of them at a Walmart store. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Protesters gather outside Parliament as MPs debate way forward on Brexit

  03-09-2019 22:13
  The debate comes amid speculation that a general election could be called.
  
  Read more

• Accuser of Epstein speaks out at hearing

  03-09-2019 21:35
  Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with the duke when she was 17, but he has strenuously denied that.
  
  Read more

• Hurricane Dorian hammers the Bahamas – in pictures

  03-09-2019 21:31
  Images show the extent of flooding in cities including Nassau and Dorian this weekFollow the latest live updates on Hurricane Dorian Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• MP Jared O’Mara postpones plan to resign from Commons

  03-09-2019 21:05
  The troubled Sheffield Hallam MP had announced his decision in July after a series of problems.
  
  Read more

• Steve Bell on rebel MPs attacking Boris Johnson – cartoon

  03-09-2019 21:02
  Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• New ERG Boss Steve Baker Calls For Election Deal With Nigel Farage's Brexit Party

  03-09-2019 20:40
  The new chairman of the hardline Eurosceptic Tory faction has urged BorisJohnson to do a deal with Nigel Farage's Brexit Party if there is an electionbefore Britain leaves the EU or "lose Brexit"
  
  Read more

• UK citizens protest outside British Embassy in Dublin

  03-09-2019 20:37
  A group of UK citizens who have made their home in Ireland expressed their anger at moves to prorogue Parliament at Westminister.
  
  Read more

• Afghanistan: current US withdrawal plan risks 'total civil war', top envoys say

  03-09-2019 20:36
  Nine ambassadors condemn US approach to negotiationsLetter says full withdrawal must come ‘only after real peace’The majority of America’s ambassadors to Afghanistan since the removal of the Taliban government have condemned the US approach to negotiating a troop withdrawal, warning it risked a return to “total civil war”.Writing the day after a draft agreement was announced, the nine men, including a former deputy secretary of state, said they supported peace talks
  
  Read more

• Knitting enthusiast creates jumpers that match his travel destinations

  03-09-2019 20:35
  Sam Barsky took up the wholesome hobby after dropping out of college and finding a mentor who would teach him to knit.
  
  Read more

• Johanna Konta teases Elina Svitolina but errors end US Open dream

  03-09-2019 20:34
  • Konta loses tight quarter-final 6-4, 6-4 in New York
  • Konta misses out on second grand slam semi-final of yearJohanna Konta will watch her new celebrity fan, Tom Hiddleston, on his Broadway debut in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal before she leaves New York but her dialogue was not quite as economical as the playwright’s when she discussed her loss to Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals.There was, after all, much to analyse. The British No 1 is used to the big stage after 11
  
  Read more

• Anti-fracking trio given suspended sentences for breaking protest ban

  03-09-2019 20:34
  ‘The fight goes on,’ say activists after ignoring injunction at Cuadrilla site in Lancashire
  Three anti-fracking activists have been given suspended prison sentences after breaking a ban on demonstrations which their lawyers argued “severely curtails the right to protest”.The trio were convicted after ignoring an injunction brought by the energy company Cuadrilla to protect its Preston New Road site near Blackpool, Lancashire. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• The Brexit ultras cheer him, but the Boris Johnson pantomime will end | Rafael Behr

  03-09-2019 20:25
  The prime minister’s performance on the reality of no deal works by suspension of disbelief. The EU will not indulge itBrexit: Johnson tables motion for general election – live newsFull report: Johnson suffers Commons defeatBrexit is not the first thing Boris Johnson has found difficult, but it might be the first difficult thing he cannot simply abandon. The path by which he arrived in Downing Street is strewn with jettisoned jobs, principles and relationships. He finds other people&
  
  Read more

• Brussels says no-deal a ‘distinct possibility’ as Johnson claims Brexit progress

  03-09-2019 20:16
  Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs the chances of reaching an agreement have risen.
  
  Read more

• Queen ‘shocked and saddened’ by devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian

  03-09-2019 20:15
  In a statement to the country's governor general, the Queen sent her condolences to those who lost their lives in the Category 4 storm.
  
  Read more

• Blue plaque for US war correspondent Martha Gellhorn

  03-09-2019 20:15
  Journalist and novelist gained reputation as one of great war reporters of 20th centuryA blue plaque in honour of the American writer Martha Gellhorn has been unveiled at her former London home – the first plaque to bear the dedication “war correspondent”.The journalist and novelist forged a reputation as one of the great war reporters of the 20th century for her correspondence on news stories including the rise of Adolf Hitler, the second world war, the Vietnam war and the Ara
  
  Read more

• About Endlessness review – a divine comedy with moments of devilish wit

  03-09-2019 20:15
  Lost souls and lonely hearts populate Roy Andersson’s deliciously odd follow-up to A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence‘I saw a man who had lost his way,” says the narrator of Roy Andersson’s droll, divine comedy. She is referring to the lanky, bemused fellow who has just ascended the stairs of the basement cafe. She could, by rights, be talking about anyone: About Endlessness arrives brimful with lost souls and lonely hearts, all framed in a series of static
  
  Read more

• Should one use a private jet to campaign over climate crisis?

  03-09-2019 20:08
  Prince Harry has faced flak for his carbon footprint but others have a similar dilemmaTheir style could hardly be more different, though their aims are the same: as Greta Thunberg sailed into New York last week on a low-carbon high-tech yacht to highlight the climate crisis, Prince Harry faced flak for taking private jets for short-hop breaks while campaigning against global heating. But the contrast between the two reflects broader dilemmas in the environmental movement.On Tuesday, the Duke of
  
  Read more

• Marks & Spencer to drop out of FTSE 100 for first time

  03-09-2019 20:05
  Exit of founding member of top City share index is latest sign of retailer’s declining fortunesMarks & Spencer is to be demoted from the FTSE 100 for the first time in the latest sign of the declining fortunes of the retailer, which was a founding member of the leading City share index.Relegation to the FTSE 250 comes as the company is closing 120 stores as part of an overhaul designed to shore up profits.Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Lib Dem LGBT+ Chair Quits Over Ex-Tory MP Phillip Lee Joining Party

  03-09-2019 20:05
  The Lib Dems' LGBT+ chairwoman has quit over the decision to let ex-ToryPhillip Lee join the party
  
  Read more

• The Guardian view on the decline of Marks & Spencer: trouble at tills | Editorial

  03-09-2019 19:59
  Public feeling towards M&S is stronger than for other retailers, but its current plight proves that it cannot trade on goodwill for everShops need shoppers, and if people want them to survive as bricks-and-mortar entities in the face of ferocious online competition, they will have to shop in them. So far so obvious, you might think. But the widely anticipated ejection from the FTSE 100 of the UK’s biggest clothes retailer, Marks & Spencer, makes it worth spelling out. If M&S &n
  
  Read more

• Gang guilty of London to Cornwall county lines drug operation

  03-09-2019 19:58
  Members exploited vulnerable young people to sell class A drugs sent from capital‘I agreed because I was scared’: boy, 16, on county lines ordealSeven gang members have been found guilty of running a sophisticated county lines operation in which heroin and crack cocaine were shipped from London to Cornwall with vulnerable young people exploited to sell drugs.The “Billy line” resulted in many thousands of pounds-worth of class A drugs being sold to almost 100 users in Corn
  
  Read more

• Burt delivers parting shot at Cummings as he announces decision to stand down

  03-09-2019 19:53
  Former minister Alistair Burt acknowledged a 'fundamental and unresolvable disagreement' with the Tory leadership over Europe.
  
  Read more

• M5S members vote overwhelmingly in favour of Italy coalition

  03-09-2019 19:49
  Online poll gives final backing for government pact with centre-left Democratic partyMembers of Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) have overwhelmingly backed a coalition with the centre-left Democratic party (PD) in an online vote, giving the final backing to a deal between traditional foes intended to pull Italy out of a political crisis.The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, had been tasked with securing a pact between the two parties after Matteo Salvini, the leader of the
  
  Read more

• The £335 flip-flops: what the super-rich wear to look like everyone else

  03-09-2019 19:32
  You could buy Havaianas for £20. Or basic flip-flops for 99p. Or you could slum it with the plebs in a pair of Hermès ‘summer sandals’Name: Hermès summer sandals.Age: Spring/summer 2019. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Nancy Pelosi urged to only back US-UK trade efforts that protect peace deal

  03-09-2019 19:30
  The letter is signed by a range of civil liberty groups, community organisations, trade unionists and representatives of businesses across N Ireland.
  
  Read more

• European satellite in near collision with Elon Musk SpaceX craft

  03-09-2019 19:28
  ESA say its Aeolus Earth observation satellite fired thrusters to avoid crashThe European Space Agency has said it altered the trajectory of one of its observation satellites to avoid a collision with a craft operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.“@ESA’s Aeolus Earth observation satellite fired its thrusters, moving it off a collision course with a @SpaceX satellite in their Starlink constellation,” the agency’s Twitter account said. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Harry’s eco-tourism project shares name with luxury travel blogger

  03-09-2019 19:25
  Travalyst has been featured in posts made on social media by publicist Chantel Elloway.
  
  Read more

• Karen Pence enjoys guided tour of Victorian walled garden in Dublin

  03-09-2019 19:23
  The tour came on the second day of US vice president Mike Pence's first official visit to Ireland.
  
  Read more

• The Tory rebellion and its potential fallout | Letters

  03-09-2019 19:13
  Readers react to Boris Johnson’s threat to deselect rebels, the Labour party’s options and Brexit adviceAs Boris Johnson threatened that those who vote against him this week will not be allowed to stand as Conservatives in the next election (Johnson ready to sacrifice majority by withdrawing whip from rebels, 2 September), Tory rebels said that if it is country versus party then they will choose country.This is a commendable sentiment from Philip Hammond, David Gauke and others, but
  
  Read more

• The Tory rebellion and its potential fallout

  03-09-2019 19:13
  Readers react to Boris Johnson’s threat to deselect rebels, the Labour party’s options and Brexit advice. As Boris Johnson threatened that those who vote against him this week will not be allowed to stand as Conservatives in the next election ( Johnson ready to sacrifice majority by withdrawing whip from rebels, 2 September), Tory rebels said that if it is country versus party then they will choose country. This is a commendable sentiment from Philip Hammond, David Gauke and others,
  
  Read more

• Alabama teenager allegedly admits shooting dead five family members

  03-09-2019 19:13
  14-year-old boy initially claimed he heard gunshots upstairsFather, stepmother and siblings found deadA teenager who called 911 and said he had heard gunshots has admitted to killing five members of his family, Alabama authorities said.Deputies responding to the home in Elkmont early on Tuesday morning found one adult and two minors dead at the scene. Another adult and minor were hospitalized with critical injuries and later died. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Nicer-looking prisons aren’t the solution

  03-09-2019 19:10
  Alexandra Cox and Tim Barrett respond to an article on the effect of better architecture on the prison population. Regarding the article on prisons by Oliver Wainwright ( Raising the bars, G2, 2 September), as a lecturer who has taught in the US and the UK, and researched and worked in both prison systems, I groan every time one of my students asks me about the now-celebrated Halden prison in Norway. It is a challenge to teach students – and perhaps the public – about our commitment
  
  Read more

• Jared O'Mara Is Still An MP After Asking To 'Postpone' His Resignation

  03-09-2019 19:10
  Jared O'Mara has "postponed" his resignation as an MP and is free to take partin this week's crunch Brexit votes
  
  Read more

• The Painted Bird review – savage, searing three-hour tour of hell

  03-09-2019 19:09
  Stellan Skarsgård, Harvey Keitel and Udo Kier star in this phantasmagorical horror about eastern Europe that saw half the Venice audience walk out. I couldn’t look awayOne day they’ll make a film about the first public screening of The Painted Bird, inside the Sala Darsena at the 2019 Venice film festival. It will feature the man who fell full-length on the steps in his effort to escape and the well-dressed woman who became so frantic to get out that she hit the stranger in the
  
  Read more

• If ministers want to rebalance the economy, they must scrap HS2

  03-09-2019 19:09
  Improving rail links in the north is a far better use of £80bn-plus than continuing with a delayed project. The future of HS2, Britain’s most ambitious infrastructure project, is hanging by a thread after the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, announced a delay of up to five years to complete its first phase, accompanied by a massive increase in the estimated cost. For the beleaguered construction sector, the timing could hardly have been worse. Orders for new work have been drying u
  
  Read more

• HS2 review says project could be delayed seven years and exceed budget by £26bn

  03-09-2019 19:08
  The high-speed railway could cost up to £88 billion, new figures show.
  
  Read more

• NHS needs 5,000 trainee doctors a year, says GPs' leader

  03-09-2019 19:06
  Government urged to act to relieve strain on surgeries and burnout among doctorsThe NHS’s lack of GPs is so acute that ministers must boost the number of medics who train to be family doctors to a record 5,000 a year, the head of the profession is demanding.The unprecedented rise in the number of GP trainees is needed urgently because the workforce has shrunk so sharply and waiting times for appointments have become so long, said Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Fiancee pleads for Mayfair murder suspect to face justice as pair convicted

  03-09-2019 19:06
  Tudor Simionov, 33, was attacked when he went to the aid of colleagues.
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!