General news

• President of MIT admits approving Jeffrey Epstein donation

  12-09-2019 23:30
  Rafael Reif, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote: ‘We did not take time to understand the gravity of Epstein’s offenses or the harm to his young victims.’ Photograph: Stephan Savoia/APThe president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has said he approved a donation – and signed a thank-you note – to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein four years after the disgraced financier was convicted for soliciting prostitution from a minor.I
  
  Read more

• ‘Creativity’ in Parliament will stop Johnson forcing no-deal Brexit – Speaker

  12-09-2019 23:26
  John Bercow said the so-called Benn Act means the only possible Brexit outcome is one approved by Parliament.
  
  Read more

• Suspension of Parliament ‘sought in clandestine manner’, says Scottish judge

  12-09-2019 23:25
  Boris Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament was ruled 'improper' and 'unlawful' on Wednesday.
  
  Read more

• Steve Murrells: 'There will likely be some gaps'

  12-09-2019 23:11
  The Co-op Group boss tells Sky News the chain is stockpiling produce from the Southern Hemisphere to reduce post-Brexit shortage.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• New hope for chemotherapy patients in combating hair loss

  12-09-2019 22:54
  Hair loss is arguably one of the most psychologically distressing side effects of modern cancer therapy.
  
  Read more

• Brexitcast: Operation Yellowhammer is 'really, really, really bad'

  12-09-2019 22:25 via bbc.co.uk
  The gang react to the government's published no-deal plans, codenamed Operation Yellowhammer.
  
  Read more

• Bercow warns Boris Johnson against disobeying law over Brexit

  12-09-2019 22:10
  John Bercow said the Brexit chaos has opened him to the idea that the UK may need a written constitution.
  
  Read more

• Child abuser banned from Devon and Cornwall after 10 years in jail

  12-09-2019 22:04
  Nursery school worker Vanessa George was jailed indefinitely in 2009 after sexually abusing toddlers at Little Ted’s Nursery in Plymouth. Photograph: Devon and Cornwall Police/PAA nursery school worker jailed 10 years ago for sexually abusing children in her care and swapping images of the abuse with two other paedophiles will be banned from her home county when she is released from prison, the Probation Service has said.Vanessa George, 49, was jailed indefinitely in 2009 after sexually ab
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Northern Irish activist seeks to join other cases in Supreme Court

  12-09-2019 21:53
  A Northern Irish rights campaigner whose case against Britain leaving the European Union without a deal was dismissed by Belfast's High Court on Thursday will seek to join two other challenges before the UK's Supreme Court next week."I've instructed my legal team to apply for intervention in the Supreme Court due to the time frame as my appeal would not be dealt with in time for the Supreme Court on Tuesday and NI (Northern Ireland) needs to heard and represented," Raymond McCord told Reuters by
  
  Read more

• Scuffle in the Commons chamber

  12-09-2019 21:49
  A scuffle breaks out next to the Speaker's chair during the ceremonial closing of parliament.
  
  Read more

• Government trying to minimise damage with ‘worst case’ no-deal Brexit – Brown

  12-09-2019 21:47
  The former prime minister argued that the report concealed the full truth about shortages to vital medicines and drugs.
  
  Read more

• John Bercow: I’ll stop Boris Johnson breaking the law on Brexit

  12-09-2019 21:46
  John Bercow, delivering the Bingham Lecture at Middle Temple in London.Photograph: Yui Mok/PAJohn Bercow has threatened Boris Johnson that he will be prepared to rip up the parliamentary rulebook to stop any illegal attempt by the prime minister to take the UK out of the EU without a deal on 31 October.In a direct warning to No 10, the Speaker of the House of Commons said he is prepared to allow “additional procedural creativity” if necessary to allow parliament to block Johnson from
  
  Read more

• Malcolm McKeown murder: Gunmen lay in wait for nearly an hour

  12-09-2019 21:40 via bbc.co.uk
  Police release footage showing new images of the car used by those who shot dead Malcolm McKeown.
  
  Read more

• Nobody loves a lecture from the Speaker more than John Bercow

  12-09-2019 21:37
  ‘He is a man who looks in a mirror and falls in love at first sight.’ Photograph: Yui Mok/PADo not go gentle into that good night. John Bercow may have announced he will be standing down as Speaker at the close of proceedings in the House of Commons on 31 October, but there was never any chance he would take Dylan Thomas’s poem as anything other than a direct instruction. In his remaining time in office, he is hell-bent on taking no prisoners and in the sixth annual Bingham lec
  
  Read more

• Zakari Bennett-Eko: Dad charged with murder of river death baby

  12-09-2019 21:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Zak Eko, 22, is accused of murdering 11-month-old Zakari Bennett-Eko in Radcliffe, Bury.
  
  Read more

• Zakari Bennett: Man Charged With Murder After Death Of Baby Rescued From River

  12-09-2019 21:33
  A man has been charged with murder following the death of a baby who wasrescued from a river in Greater Manchester
  
  Read more

• Oxford students in petition to ban Boris Johnson from Balliol

  12-09-2019 21:28
  Students at the college attended by Boris Johnson have called on Oxford University leaders to publicly condemn the PM.
  
  Read more

• Man charged with murder after death of baby rescued from river

  12-09-2019 21:23
  Zak Eko will appear at Manchester Magistrates' Court on Friday.
  
  Read more

• Man charged with murder over death of baby pulled from river

  12-09-2019 21:22
  Floral tributes were left near the scene in Radcliffe. Photograph: Kim Pilling/PAA 22-year-old man has been charged with the murder of 11-month-old Zakari William Bennett-Eko, who died after he was recovered from the River Irwell in Radcliffe on Wednesday, Greater Manchester police have said.The baby was rescued by firefighters from the river on Wednesday afternoon. He was taken to hospital but pronounced dead a short time later.In a statement on Thursday night, police said: “A man has bee
  
  Read more

• MPs condemn 'misleading' no-deal Brexit publicity campaign

  12-09-2019 21:17
  Get Ready for Brexit ads a waste of money as 31 October no-deal EU exit now unlikely, say critics. Boris Johnson has been accused of seriously misleading the public with the government’s campaign to Get Ready for Brexit on 31 October, with MPs and experts urging civil service chief Sir Mark Sedwill to intervene to make clear the UK is highly unlikely to leave without a deal on that day. The £100m advertising campaign, which claims to set out what the public needs to do to get ready f
  
  Read more

• British Airways cancels flights on September 27 due to strike

  12-09-2019 21:11
  "We are now contacting all those affected to offer them a full refund or a rebooking on an alternative date, destination or airline," British Airways said in an emailed statement.The airline, owned by International Airlines Group (IAG) , was forced this week to cancel 1,700 flights to and from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports during two days of strike action by pilots over pay.The pilots' union, the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA), wants a pay deal to include profit sharing for
  
  Read more

• Johnson denies lying to Queen over Parliament suspension

  12-09-2019 21:09 via bbc.co.uk
  Boris Johnson denies lying over his reasons for the shutdown, after Scottish judges rule it unlawful.
  
  Read more

• Campaigners launch new legal challenge to force PM into Brexit delay

  12-09-2019 20:54
  The challenge has been lodged at the same Edinburgh court that ruled the Prime Minister’s suspension of Parliament was unlawful.
  
  Read more

• Duchess of Sussex launches clothing line for women's charity

  12-09-2019 20:34 via bbc.co.uk
  The Duchess of Sussex launches her new clothing line in support of a charity helping women find work.
  
  Read more

• Heathrow drone protest: Five arrested over planned disruption

  12-09-2019 20:19 via bbc.co.uk
  The co-founder of activist group Extinction Rebellion is among those held in "pre-emptive" raids.
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson: a prime minister acting above the law

  12-09-2019 20:03
  Readers offer their views on Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament and its implications for democracy. “Wherever law ends, tyranny begins,” propounded John Locke in 1690. The idea was captured and adjusted to the needs of our modern constitutional democracy by Tom Bingham, a pioneer of conceiving justice as the “rule of law” (and the “greatest judge of his era”, as his obituary in the Guardian noted). I wonder what this great proponent of judicial in
  
  Read more

• Apology for ‘anxiety’ over grammar school entrance exam errors

  12-09-2019 20:02
  The errors appeared in an entrance exam for Buckinghamshire grammar schools.
  
  Read more

• Dominic Cummings’ private texts and the public interest

  12-09-2019 20:01
  ‘A simpler explanation for Cummings might be that he’s not very bright,’ writes Michael Ayton. Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersIt is more than a decade since the House of Commons authority refused to disclose details of MPs’ expenses with the claim that this “would compromise the privacy of the MP”. A government source now deploys this same specious contention to protect the executive, saying: “If MPs want to seize the private texts of advisers …
  
  Read more

• Why are rape prosecutions at a 10-year low?

  12-09-2019 19:43
  A woman holds a banner in London during a rally calling for improved justice for rape victims. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesIf a person reports a rape to the police in England and Wales today they have less of a chance of seeing the perpetrator convicted in court than they did 10 years ago.New figures from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reveal rape charges, prosecutions and convictions have fallen to their lowest levels in more than a decade, raising serious questions about how the criminal
  
  Read more

• Italy's Elisabetta Franchi fashion label to list in Milan in reverse takeover

  12-09-2019 19:33
  Fashion label Elisabetta Franchi is set to list on the Milan stock exchange following a business combination with shell company Spactiv , in a deal that values the Italian clothing brand at 195 million euros (175.24 million pounds).Spactiv said in a statement it would invest 77.5 million euros to buy a stake in Betty Blue, the company of fashion designer Elisabetta Franchi, and then incorporate it via a reverse takeover.The resulting entity will be called Elisabetta Franchi and trade on the alte
  
  Read more

• Five arrested ahead of Heathrow drone protests

  12-09-2019 19:11
  Three men and two women were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance.
  
  Read more

• Could Boris Johnson’s idea for bridge across Irish Sea work?

  12-09-2019 19:07
  Here are some answers to questions surrounding the ambitious proposal.
  
  Read more

• Families in Dunkirk camp describe fleeing violence in search of safer life

  12-09-2019 19:05
  A Kurdish family who fled Iraq and were rescued from a dinghy in the Channel live on TV said they will attempt the crossing again.
  
  Read more

• Meghan urges women to champion each other as she launches clothing collection

  12-09-2019 19:04
  The range of clothing helps Smart Works, which trains and dresses unemployed women for interviews.
  
  Read more

• British Airways cancels flights ahead of next pilots’ strike

  12-09-2019 18:59
  A 24-hour walkout is scheduled for September 27.
  
  Read more

• Policing bill for climate change talks could be ‘many tens of millions’

  12-09-2019 18:50
  About 30,000 delegates are expected to attend the COP26 event at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow in November 2020.
  
  Read more

• Boris Johnson Peddling 'Low Class Garbage' By Seeking Loophole In Anti-No Deal Brexit Law

  12-09-2019 18:42
  Cabinet ministers have been accused by a former justice secretary of peddling"low class garbage" for suggesting Boris Johnson could bypass laws to block ano-deal Brexit on October 31
  
  Read more

• Trio admit possession of mustard gas at old RAF base

  12-09-2019 18:39
  The highly noxious substance was found in Lincolnshire woodland.
  
  Read more

• Banning flavoured vaping products ‘would drive smokers back to cigarettes’

  12-09-2019 18:37
  Public Health England plans to publish a comprehensive evidence review on the safety of e-cigarettes early next year.
  
  Read more

• Middle East shipping stabilised by UK navy, says Fleet Commander

  12-09-2019 18:24
  Britain's decision to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz has helped to stabilise commercial shipping through the critical chokepoint weeks after Iran seized a UK-flagged tanker in the region, a top British navy official said on Thursday.The UK-flagged tanker Stena Impero was detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz on July 19 for alleged marine violations two weeks after Britain had detained an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar.Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd, the Royal Navy's Fleet
  
  Read more

• Anti-Brexiters file new legal challenge to force article 50 extension

  12-09-2019 18:20
  Campaigners who led Scottish challenge on prorogation lodge case at court of session in Edinburgh on Thursday. Anti-Brexit campaigners have filed a legal challenge in the Scottish courts in an effort to compel Boris Johnson to seek an extension to article 50. The litigation was lodged at the court of session in Edinburgh on Thursday afternoon and is being funded by Dale Vince, the millionaire businessman and political donor who founded the renewable electricity company Ecotricity. The campaigner
  
  Read more

• Climate Change Activists Arrested Ahead Of Heathrow Airport Drone Shutdown

  12-09-2019 18:13
  Five climate change activists from a group planning to shut down HeathrowAirport with drones have been arrested
  
  Read more

• Brexit: Vets concerned over animal medicines in no-deal

  12-09-2019 18:13 via bbc.co.uk
  It comes after the government's Brexit assessments warn supplies could be disrupted.
  
  Read more

• Byron burger death: Doctor calls for better research into food allergies

  12-09-2019 18:11
  Owen Carey suffered a fatal reaction after eating a burger marinated in buttermilk.
  
  Read more

• Teenager who died after burger 'should have asked about allergens', says Byron

  12-09-2019 18:09
  Owen Carey, 18, died after eating chicken marinated in buttermilk at London fast food restaurant. An executive at a fast food chain where a teenager suffered a fatal reaction to a burger has told the inquest into his death that he should have asked about allergens when he ordered it. Owen Carey died after eating a chicken burger that contained buttermilk at the Byron restaurant at the O2 Arena in Greenwich, southeast London, where he was celebrating his birthday with his family. He was allergic
  
  Read more

• Byron restaurant denies wrongdoing over teenager's allergy death

  12-09-2019 18:09
  Owen Carey, 18, died after eating chicken marinated in buttermilk at London fast food restaurant. An executive at a fast food chain where a teenager suffered a fatal reaction to a burger has told the inquest into his death that he should have asked about allergens when he ordered it. Owen Carey died after eating a chicken burger that contained buttermilk at the Byron restaurant at the O2 Arena in Greenwich, southeast London, where he was celebrating his birthday with his family. He was allergic
  
  Read more

• No-deal Brexit food shortages: tell us if you are a business owner who's stockpiling?

  12-09-2019 18:03
  We’d like to hear from people in the food industry about stockpiling ahead of potential food shortages and price rises in the event of a no-deal BrexitA no-deal Brexit could result in rising food prices and shortages of certain types of fresh food, according to secret documents the government was forced by MPs to publish on Wednesday.Ministers have refused to disclose details about their discussions with local authorities and the food industry over possible disruptions to food supplies, ar
  
  Read more

• Brexit: tell us if you are a business owner who's preparing

  12-09-2019 18:03
  We’d like to hear from small business owners about how they are preparing ahead of BrexitWith the cut-off date to secure a Brexit deal looming, the likely outcome of negotiations this week is still uncertain. While EU sources have expressed “cautious optimism,” anything could happen. Last month, a five-page document spelling out the government’s “planning assumptions” warned that no-deal Brexit could result in rising food and fuel prices. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Government ‘still not telling truth’ about no-deal Brexit risks – Gordon Brown

  12-09-2019 18:00
  The former prime minister said he had written to Boris Johnson accusing him of 'dishonest claims' that underestimated the risks posed.
  
  Read more

• Animal rights activist convicted over McDonald’s fake blood protest

  12-09-2019 17:48
  Dylan Roffey was one of the protesters pictured surrounded by fake blood.
  
  Read more

Follow @GeneralnewsUK on Twitter!