General news

• No more delays, Johnson appeals to parliament to back Brexit bill

  21-10-2019 23:55
  Prime Minister Boris Johnson appealed to lawmakers on Monday to approve his Brexit bill this week, saying neither he, the European Union or the public wanted any more delays to Britain's departure from the bloc.With just over a week before Britain is due to leave the EU, Johnson is scrambling to get his deal through parliament, which has put up a series of hurdles for the prime minister to meet his Oct. 31 deadline to try to prevent a no-deal Brexit.After the parliamentary speaker ruled out a st
  
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• BoE reform needed to boost firepower for downturns, think tank says

  21-10-2019 23:53
  The Bank of England should be given more power to steer lending in Britain's economy and influence government spending during a downturn, a think tank said on Monday.After more than a decade of low interest rates since the global financial crisis, central bankers across advanced economies are concerned that they're less able to boost the economy when the next recession comes.Positive Money, a think tank whose work has been endorsed by the opposition Labour Party and others in recent years, said
  
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• Boris Johnson in final push to ram through Brexit deal

  21-10-2019 23:31
  Boris Johnson in parliament on Saturday. There are growing signs he will make a renewed push for a general election whether his deal passes or not.Photograph: Xinhua/Barcroft MediaBoris Johnson will make a final bid on Tuesday to force Brexit through by the 31 October “do or die” deadline, amid growing signs he will make a renewed push for a general election whether his deal passes or not.Johnson has already requested a delay to Brexit, by sending the letter to Brussels required by t
  
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• New Orleans Pelicans lose No1 pick Zion Williamson on eve of NBA season

  21-10-2019 23:26
  19-year-old ruled out for up to eight weeks with knee injuryDuke star is most anticipated rookie since LeBron JamesZion Williamson, arguably the most highly-touted NBA rookie since LeBron James, will miss a significant part of the upcoming season.The New Orleans Pelicans, who picked the 19-year-old as the No1 overall selection in this year’s draft, confirmed Williamson underwent surgery on Monday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks. Contin
  
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• Hansen and Jones show respect – and confidence they can overcome | Gerard Meagher

  21-10-2019 23:23
  New Zealand coach calls England ‘very good side’ before World Cup semi-final while Jones says his opposite number has ‘great record’Regardless of what he sees out of his bedroom window this week, Eddie Jones is not one to believe in fairytales. England arrived at their Disneyland hotel on Monday, where they will spend the week preparing to face New Zealand in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final, with their head coach insisting it does not require magic to beat the All B
  
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• What does Boris Johnson's withdrawal bill actually say?

  21-10-2019 23:18
  Here’s everything you need to know about the legal framework for the PM’s proposed Brexit deal. It is here – the legislation setting out the legal framework for Boris Johnson’s proposed Brexit deal. The withdrawal agreement bill, or WAB, is 115 pages long, with an extra 126 pages of explanatory notes. It was published at 8pm on Monday, giving MPs 12 hours to digest details of the most notable constitutional change to the UK’s status in decades before the Commons res
  
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• Watchmen review – the perfect superhero story for our tattered times

  21-10-2019 23:10
  Set in an alternative America where white supremacists are on the rampage, this HBO adaptation of Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel is both thrilling and uncomfortably resonantIf we get the heroes we deserve, I hope we get Rachel, the woman whose 45-second vox pop articulated one side of the Brexit debate with the eloquence so conspicuous by its absence among our semi-elected political leaders. Until then, we must settle for our broadcasting platforms delivering us superheroes that at lea
  
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• Loyalists will not tolerate an economic united Ireland, Boris Johnson warned

  21-10-2019 23:01
  The warning came following a meeting of loyalists in east Belfast on Monday.
  
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• England named second best country to visit in 2020

  21-10-2019 23:01
  Guide book firm Lonely Planet ranked the country behind only Bhutan on its list of places to visit next year.
  
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• Facebook steps up anti-election meddling security in UK

  21-10-2019 23:00
  The social network says electoral law needs to be revamped for the era of digital campaigning.
  
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• Lys Mousset capitalises on Arsenal failings to boost Sheffield United

  21-10-2019 22:54
  Lys Mousset marked his first league start for Sheffield United by scoring the goal that sent the home side into the top half of the table and intensified doubts about Arsenal’s direction of travel. Unai Emery’s team would have vaulted to third with a win here but never looked worthy of that perch. Chris Wilder’s side were the more coherent and clinical.Verily, the wailing about Arsenal’s deficiencies will be loud, shrill and justified. But do not let that drown out praise
  
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• Reservoir users warned to stay safe after anglers skirt edge of ‘plug holes’

  21-10-2019 22:46
  The overflows in Ladybower Reservoir in Derbyshire drain excess water when the lake is full.
  
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• China arrests Japanese professor on suspicion of spying

  21-10-2019 22:45
  Japanese media say professor from Hokkaido University was detained in SeptemberChinese authorities have detained a Japanese man in Beijing following media reports that a university professor was being held on suspicion of spying.“The Japanese embassy in China confirmed that a Japanese man in his 40s was detained by Chinese authorities in Beijing in September for allegedly violating Chinese laws,” Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters. Continue reading
  
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• Diplomatic immunity review launched after Harry Dunn case

  21-10-2019 22:35
  The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, announces move in light of British teenager’s deathThe foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has commissioned a review into immunity arrangements for US personnel and their families at an RAF base following the death of Harry Dunn.He claimed there were “no barriers to justice being done” in the case of the road crash victim, telling MPs the UK government believed diplomatic immunity “clearly ended” for suspect Anne Sacoolas, 42, when
  
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• Facebook discloses operations by Russia and Iran to meddle in 2020 election

  21-10-2019 21:50
  The company confirmed it had dismantled the four accounts and announced initiatives to prevent foreign interference in US campaignsFacebook on Monday disclosed it had taken down four new foreign interference operations originating from Iran and Russia, including one targeting the US 2020 presidential elections that appears to be linked to the Russian troll agency, the Internet Research Agency (IRA).The suspected IRA campaign “had the hallmarks of a well-resourced operation that took consis
  
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• Johnson bids to fast-track Brexit bill through Commons in three days

  21-10-2019 21:48
  The Government wants the Bill to complete its Commons passage on Thursday.
  
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• Boris Johnson tries to unhappen Saturday with sociopathic unreasoning

  21-10-2019 21:23
  Parallel universe: Boris Johnson and Stephen Barclay search for meaning. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/UK PARLIAMENT/AFP via Getty ImagesOne common definition of insanity is repeating the same mistake and expecting a different result. While Boris Johnson has yet to be clinically certified as insane, it’s also true that no one has yet gone out on a limb and certified him as sane. He falls into a murky sociopathic limbo of reasoned unreasoning. The rest of us are just in purgatory.In Bozzaworld
  
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• Queen attends reception for bereavement charity volunteers

  21-10-2019 21:14
  The reception marked the 60th anniversary of Cruse Bereavement Care.
  
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• Ocean acidification can cause mass extinctions, fossils reveal

  21-10-2019 21:00
  Carbon emissions make sea more acidic, which wiped out 75% of marine species 66m years agoOcean acidification can cause the mass extinction of marine life, fossil evidence from 66m years ago has revealed.A key impact of today’s climate crisis is that seas are again getting more acidic, as they absorb carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas. Scientists said the latest research is a warning that humanity is risking potential “ecological collapse” in the oceans, whi
  
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• Man, 83, dies after three pensioners attacked at woods

  21-10-2019 20:51 via bbc.co.uk
  Police say the victims were seriously assaulted at Birkenhall Woods in New Elgin.
  
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• One man dead and two people injured following incident at woods

  21-10-2019 20:49
  Police said that a 35-year-old man has been arrested.
  
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• Developer Nick Candy considers takeover of Capital & Counties

  21-10-2019 20:48
  Candy’s investment vehicle may buy all of £2.3bn owner of Earl’s Court and Covent Garden sitesMultimillionaire property developer Nick Candy is considering a takeover bid for Capital & Counties (Capco), the FTSE-250 real estate company that owns much of Earl’s Court and Covent Garden in London.Candy, 46, who developed the luxury One Hyde Park residential and retail complex in Knightsbridge with his brother, Christian, said his investment vehicle Candy Ventures was in
  
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• This Is Why Australian Newspapers Redacted Their Front Pages Today

  21-10-2019 20:40
  Australia's heavily partisan newspapers overcame their differences for a dayon Monday, heavily redacting their front pages in a joint protest againstlegislation that restricts press freedoms
  
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• Britain's Prince William worried about Harry after TV interview - BBC

  21-10-2019 20:15
  Britain's Prince William is worried about his brother after Prince Harry and wife Meghan spoke out about their struggle to live under a global spotlight, the BBC reported.William was worried about his younger brother and hoping that they "are all right", the source said.Prince Harry, Queen Elizabeth's grandson, has issued a number of emotional statements in recent months condemning the behaviour of the tabloid press and launching legal action in response to what he has called "bullying" by some
  
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• Labour MPs who help Boris Johnson to victory will not be forgiven | Polly Toynbee

  21-10-2019 20:03
  If they back the prime minister’s Brexit deal, Labour politicians will be blamed for each act he passes, each budget turn of the screwGet it done! Move on! The government expects sheer Brexit fatigue to carry it over the line in this war of attrition. Disingenuous and dishonest, it blames everyone but itself for this purgatory. The other side must back down, but it won’t give way on a single amendment in this week of votes.The prime minister could get a deal agreed instantly, but ins
  
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• First same-sex marriages in NI likely to happen by Valentine’s Day 2020

  21-10-2019 19:55
  Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith also said he plans for the legal framework to be in place to access abortion by March 31.
  
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• Benjamin Netanyahu tells Israeli president he cannot form government

  21-10-2019 19:41
  Opposition leader Benny Gantz will have 28 days to build coalition or risk fresh electionBenjamin Netanyahu has informed Israel’s president he has been unable to form a coalition government after talks with his political rival and former army chief Benny Gantz broke down.In a video statement published on Monday evening – the day of his 70th birthday – Netanyahu said he and his Likud party had worked “incessantly” to forge a “broad national unity government&rdq
  
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• Paul Burrell and James Hewitt among latest phone-hacking cases

  21-10-2019 19:37
  Paul Burrell, the butler of Princess Diana, is among the individuals to file the latest round of phone-hacking cases. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PAPrincess Diana’s former lover James Hewitt and her butler Paul Burrell are among dozens of individuals who have joined Prince Harry in the latest round of phone-hacking claims against tabloid newspaper publishers.Hewitt and Burrell recently filed their cases against the publisher of the Daily Mirror at the high court, according to court filings
  
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• Deciding to donate a loved one's organs

  21-10-2019 19:34 via bbc.co.uk
  How doctors and nurses help families reach a difficult decision which could save a stranger's life.
  
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• Pacer trains: What's the problem?

  21-10-2019 19:19 via bbc.co.uk
  Why are the "stopgap" railbuses still on UK railways decades later?
  
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• Houston Astros ready to take on Washington elite in World Series

  21-10-2019 19:12
  Two teams with a less than illustrious past take centre stage having beaten dynasties on the wayIt was all set up. When the smoke of the regular baseball season cleared at the start of October there was a path for two of the most historic, resonant and mighty teams to meet this week in the World Series: the New York Yankees v the Los Angeles Dodgers. TV gold, even for neutrals. Everyone hates the Yankees, except those who love them.And now the great day is about to dawn . Except that, um, the Se
  
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• MI5 officers welcomed IRA 'supergrass' trial's collapse, agent claims

  21-10-2019 19:07
  Former informant suggests government may have encouraged judge to dismiss prosecutions. British intelligence officers welcomed the collapse of one of the most notorious IRA “supergrass” trials of the Troubles, according to a former MI5 agent who suggests the government may have encouraged a senior judge to dismiss the prosecutions. Thatcher’s Spy, the memoirs of Willie Carlin, who spent 11 years as an informant in the republican movement, contains claims about how the security
  
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• Entrepreneurs' tax break fails to boost investment, says IFS

  21-10-2019 19:07
  Thinktank says low rates of capital gains tax on business income do not encourage them to invest more. Sajid Javid has been told by Britain’s foremost tax and spending thinktank that tax breaks for business owners give the rich an unfair advantage and fail to boost investment in the UK. Ahead of the chancellor’s first budget next month, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that low rates of capital gains tax on business income do not encourage them to invest more in the countr
  
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• Entrepreneurs' tax break fails to boost investment, finds IFS

  21-10-2019 19:07
  Thinktank says low rates of capital gains tax on business income do not encourage them to invest more. The chancellor, Sajid Javid, has been told by Britain’s foremost tax and spending thinktank that tax breaks for business owners give the rich an unfair advantage and fail to boost investment in the UK. Before Javid’s first budget next month, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said low rates of capital gains tax on business income did not encourage companies to invest more in the
  
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• Sajid Javid refuses to assess economic dangers of Brexit plan

  21-10-2019 19:06
  Sajid Javid has snubbed a call by MPs on the Treasury select committee for proper analysis of Boris Johnson’s plan. Photograph: ReutersSajid Javid has rebuffed MPs’ demands for the Treasury to carry out a thorough economic assessment of the government’s Brexit deal, claiming it is “self-evidently in our economic interest”.The chancellor has written to MPs on the cross-party Treasury select committee, which requested a fresh analysis in order to help MPs judge whethe
  
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• Chile on edge as worst unrest in three decades claims 11 lives

  21-10-2019 19:03
  More clashes likely after Piñera expands state of emergency following ‘weekend of rage’Latin America’s most prosperous country is braced for fresh upheaval after Chile’s president expanded a state of emergency beyond the capital and the death toll from three days of violence rose to 11.“We are at war with a powerful and uncompromising enemy that respects nothing and no one,” Sebastián Piñera declared in an unyielding late-night address on
  
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• Harry Dunn’s family cancel chief constable meeting after bid for ‘truth’ fails

  21-10-2019 18:58
  The teenager was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car outside RAF Croughton on August 27.
  
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• Actors support Katie Jarvis over 'normal job'

  21-10-2019 18:55 via bbc.co.uk
  Soap stars defend ex EastEnders actress Katie Jarvis after a newspaper reveals her new shop job.
  
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• Google released research on what makes a good boss – do you agree?

  21-10-2019 18:51
  Let us know what you think about what qualities and flaws the best and worst bosses haveSome say the best kind of boss is one who leaves you alone – and new research released by Google shows that it’s kind of true.For over a decade, researchers at the tech giant have been examining the behaviors of their highest-rated managers, as well as feedback from employee satisfaction surveys, to compile a list of the the things that the best bosses do. Google then uses its research to train it
  
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• Everything We Know So Far About Prince Andrew And Jeffrey Epstein

  21-10-2019 18:50
  Prince Andrew has faced a storm of controversy in recent months over his linkswith paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein
  
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• SDLP chief leads party out of ‘sham’ Assembly session

  21-10-2019 18:43
  Colum Eastwood said his party would play no part in what he described as a shadow, unionist-dominated 'talking shop'.
  
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• Sinn Fein Assembly warning over Brexit deal veto

  21-10-2019 18:42
  Boris Johnson gave ground on the consent issue in last week's negotiations with the EU.
  
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• 'We're not that sort of club': Yeovil in shock over racism claims

  21-10-2019 18:41
  Supporters back players’ decision to walk off and say they hope there are no long-term repercussionsLen Harrison, resplendent in a green and yellow Yeovil Town fleece and woolly hat, summed up his impression of the mood in the Somerset town: horrible. “We’re not that sort of football club,” said Harrison, who was born in Yeovil and moved back after some years away so he could live near the ground, Huish Park.He attends every game, home and away. “I’m disgusted
  
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• Gone in seven seconds: 'Spiderwoman' breaks women's climbing speed record

  21-10-2019 18:40
  Indonesia’s Aries Susanti Rahayu breaks women’s speed climbing world record, finishing the 15-meter course in 6.995 secondsDespite nagging hand and finger injuries, Indonesia’s Aries Susanti Rahayu broke the women’s speed climbing world record at this weekend’s IFSC Climbing World Cup in Xiamen, China. Rahayu’s 6.995 seconds eclipsed the record set by her challenger – China’s Song Yiling – who finished the 15-meter course in 7.101 seconds in
  
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• Northern Ireland's Gay Marriage And Abortion Laws Change Tonight – Here's What You Need To Know

  21-10-2019 18:37
  Champagne corks are ready to be popped by advocacy groups celebrating theliberalisation of rights that have long-faced stiff resistance fromconservative politicians and church groups
  
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• Northern Ireland set to legalise abortion and same-sex marriage

  21-10-2019 18:37
  Equality campaigners celebrate ahead of a midnight deadline for new laws to come into force. Northern Ireland is poised to legalise abortion and same-sex marriage after an 11th-hour attempt by the region’s assembly to block change collapsed into farce. Equality campaigners celebrated on Monday as the clock ticked towards midnight when laws extending abortion and marriage rights were due to come into force, ushering in momentous social change as Northern Ireland aligned with the rest of the
  
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• What role does the monarchy still have?

  21-10-2019 18:35
  Rev Andrew McLuskey argues that the press exposure of Meghan Markle, coupled with the prorogation scandal, should make us re-evaluate the place of the royal family. Many people will feel sympathy with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in connection with the revelation of her unhappiness over press exposure ( I was told tabloids would destroy my life, Meghan reveals, 21 October). However, this story, along with the humiliation of the Queen over the prorogation scandal, should make us all reconsider the
  
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• Queen and senior royals ‘worried’ about Harry and Meghan after TV film

  21-10-2019 18:26
  The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke about their struggles in the ITV programme.
  
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• China overtakes US in rankings of world's richest people

  21-10-2019 18:26
  Credit Suisse survey shows Brexit effect has reduced number of UK millionaires by 27,000 The number of wealthy Chinese people has overtaken the number of rich Americans for the first time, according to a report by Credit Suisse.The bank’s annual wealth survey found there were 100 million Chinese people among the world’s top 10% of richest people, compared with 99 million in the US. Continue reading...
  
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• Sir Clive Callman obituary

  21-10-2019 18:25
  Clive Callman, who was born in Berlin, arrived in the UK in 1939 as a child, his family having fled Nazi Germany. He managed to navigate the British legal system to become a barrister and a judge Photograph: NONESir Clive Callman, who has died aged 92, was a circuit judge, and, for 24 years, a deputy high court judge in the family division. He led a long, vibrant and determined life. Arguably ahead of his time, he insisted on putting the child’s needs at the heart of every divorce case tha
  
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