Political news

• Brazil prosecutors blast lawmakers for gutting corruption bill

  30-11-2016 23:58
  Prosecutors investigating Brazil's biggest-ever graft scandal threatened to resign en masse on Wednesday if a move to gut an anti-corruption bill won approval from legislators as the nation mourns an air disaster. The lower chamber of Congress passed the bill in the early hours of Wednesday morning by 450 votes to 1, with changes that would help shield lawmakers from prosecution and weaken the authority of public prosecutors. The vote came as Brazil grieves for soccer club Chapecoense following
  
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• Manchester United sweep past West Ham, Arsenal ousted by Southampton

  30-11-2016 23:42
  By Toby Davis LONDON (Reuters) - Anthony Martial and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice each to help Manchester United ease into the League Cup semi-finals with a 4-1 home victory over West Ham United on Wednesday as Arsenal suffered a 2-0 home defeat by Southampton. Martial netted twice in the second half to take the tie at Old Trafford away from West Ham, who had levelled through Ashley Fletcher following Ibrahimovic's opener after two minutes.
  
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• The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: Pelosi Victory Saves Nation From Ryan Mix-Up

  30-11-2016 23:39
  
  Today in 5 Lines In a series of early-morning tweets, President-elect Donald Trump said he would remove himself from his “business operations” in order to focus on the presidency, but he did not provide additional details on how the plan would be carried out. Trump also announced his plans to nominate Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, to serve as secretary of the treasury and investor Wilbur Ross to serve as secretary of commerce. Democrats reelected Representative Na
  
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• UN further tightens North Korea sanctions

  30-11-2016 23:26
  
  UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to further tighten sanctions on North Korea following months of diplomatic wrangling over how best to respond to North Korea's latest nuclear test in September and their repeated defiance of international sanctions and diplomatic pressure.
  
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• Some federal provisions that might apply to President Trump

  30-11-2016 23:16
  President-elect Donald Trump says he will distance himself from the international property management, real estate and branding business that's been built around his name.
  
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• Man United sweep past West Ham, Arsenal ousted by Southampton

  30-11-2016 23:15
  By Toby Davis LONDON (Reuters) - Anthony Martial and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice each to help Manchester United ease into the League Cup semi-finals with a 4-1 home victory over West Ham United on Wednesday as Arsenal suffered a 2-0 home defeat by Southampton. Martial netted twice in the second half to take the tie at Old Trafford away from West Ham, who had levelled through Ashley Fletcher following Ibrahimovic's opener after two minutes.
  
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• Ukraine prepares missile test near Crimea, angering Russia

  30-11-2016 23:09
  By Alessandra Prentice KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine was due to start two days of missile tests on Thursday - a move that has angered Russia, prompting it to put its air defence forces on high alert on the annexed Crimea peninsula. The disagreement marks a fresh escalation in tensions between the one-time allies, whose relations collapsed in 2014 after Russia seized Crimea and backed pro-Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine says the tests in its southern Kherson region, bordering
  
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• Trump faces challenges in separating from business - legal experts

  30-11-2016 23:06
  By Tom Hals WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has several options for disentangling himself from his business empire when he takes office next year, but legal experts say the only way fully to avoid conflicts of interest would be to sell his global holdings. Trump tweeted on Wednesday that he would unveil on Dec. 15 his plans for taking himself "completely out of business operations" before taking office on Jan. 20. Trump did not spell out his plans, but several idea
  
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• The Latest: Top prosecutor to stay on after meeting Trump

  30-11-2016 23:02
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
  
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• Ryan: Aid to address lead in Flint, MI, water on track

  30-11-2016 22:59
  WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan Tuesday promised that a long-delayed aid package to help Flint, Michigan, address its lead-tainted water system is on track to pass into law by the end of the year.
  
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• Organizers expect march on Washington to attract big names

  30-11-2016 22:57
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Organizers of a planned women's march on Washington said Wednesday they expect high-profile speakers and big-name entertainers to be part of the program for thousands of people heading to the nation's capital on the day after Donald Trump's inauguration.
  
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• GAO: About $108 billion in student loan debt to be forgiven

  30-11-2016 22:52
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional investigators say the federal government is expected to forgive at least $108 billion in student loan debt as part of popular plans that tie repayment to borrowers' earnings.
  
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• Oil rallies on OPEC deal; global bonds end dismal November

  30-11-2016 22:51
  By Richard Leong NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped around 9 percent on Wednesday as OPEC members sealed a deal to cut production, while upbeat U.S. economic data and comments from the U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee triggered a bond market sell-off, marking a miserable November for Treasuries. Higher crude prices bolstered shares of energy producers and stock prices around the world, with the Dow and S&P 500 stock indexes touching record highs. An improving view on global growth, led by
  
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• Diane Abbott Says Donald Trump's Election Is 'Responsible For International Rise In Hate Crime'

  30-11-2016 22:51
  
  Diane Abbott has said the election of “anti-Muslim, anti-migrant” Donald Trump has caused a rise in international hate crime and fuelled “rising confidence” among the far right.
  Labour’s shadow Home Secretary said the US president-elect was “someone who is on record as being anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and who has appointed as one of his top advisors someone who is seen as anti-Semitic.”
  It comes after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warned Labour&rsquo
  
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• A counternarrative for Boko Haram’s victims

  30-11-2016 22:50
  Nigeria’s war on the jihadist group Boko Haram is largely succeeding, bringing a relative calm to the country’s devastated northeast. Since 2009, the insurgents have killed more people than the Islamic State has in the Middle East. Despite the reduced violence, aiding the war’s victims is still more urgent than ever.
  
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• House bill would aid medical research, speed drug approvals

  30-11-2016 22:48
  
  A sweeping biomedical bill glided toward House passage Wednesday that would help drug and medical device companies win swifter government approval of their products, boost disease research and drug-abuse ...
  
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• Trump says will back away from business to focus on White House

  30-11-2016 22:42
  By Steve Holland and Melissa Fares NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to step back from running his global business empire to avoid conflicts of interest, as concern over his dual role mounts ahead of the Republican's inauguration on Jan. 20. After Trump won the Nov. 8 election, his company, the Trump Organization, had said it was looking at new business structures with the goal of transferring control to Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump - thre
  
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• Brazil opts for moderate rate cut despite deepening recession

  30-11-2016 22:42
  By Alonso Soto and Silvio Cascione BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, maintaining a slow pace of monetary easing despite a sharp economic contraction in the third quarter that suggested a gruelling recession could stretch into a third year. The central bank resisted pressure for a hefty rate cut even after data released earlier on Wednesday confirmed fears the once-booming emerging market is struggling to pull out of its worst recession
  
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• Conflict rules hardly the same for president, others

  30-11-2016 22:41
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. David McKinley has sold his West Virginia engineering and architecture firm, but it still bears his name — and that earned the Republican congressman a rebuke from the House Ethics Committee.
  
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• Defence spending boost best answer to Trump - EU, NATO officials

  30-11-2016 22:34
  By Andrea Shalal BERLIN (Reuters) - Top NATO and European military officials called in Berlin on Wednesday for more military spending to deal with threats to Europe and said that would help address concerns raised by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. During his election campaign, Trump questioned whether the United States should protect allies seen as spending too little on their defence, raising fears he could withdraw funding for NATO at a time of heightened tensions with Russia. In Brussels
  
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• Trump's Cabinet: 'Draining the swamp' or diving right in?

  30-11-2016 22:30
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump promised to "drain the swamp" in the nation's capital. Instead, he's diving right in.
  
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• U.S. struggling to win enough votes for South Sudan arms embargo

  30-11-2016 22:21
  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States is struggling to secure the minimum number of votes needed for the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan amid U.N. warnings of possible genocide in the world's newest state, said diplomats. A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes to be adopted, but a senior U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said so far only seven members were in favour, while the remaining eight were
  
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• The Latest: Trump sticking with 'swamp' as he fills Cabinet

  30-11-2016 21:56
  
  The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST): 3:45 p.m. President-elect Donald Trump promised to "drain the swamp" in the nation's capital. Instead, he's diving right in. Trump ...
  
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• Cook ups Apple support for fight against AIDS

  30-11-2016 21:43
  Apple Inc is expanding its support for the fight against AIDS through the (RED) charity founded by rock singer Bono, Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an interview ahead of World Aids Day. Over the next week, the company will expand its line of (RED) products and donate $1 for each transaction made using mobile payment Apple Pay in its physical and online stores, up to a total of $1 million. Bank of America will contribute up to that sum for Apple Pay transactions using its cards.
  
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• The Latest: 5 Nevada counties to recount presidential race

  30-11-2016 21:39
  
  LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Latest on presidential recount efforts in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada (all times local):
  
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• Azerbaijan criminalises defamation of the president online

  30-11-2016 21:35
  Azerbaijan's parliament on Wednesday made online defamation of the president a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment. With almost all traditional media strictly controlled by the government, social media networks have become outlets for people to voice criticism in a country where the economy has suffered from the global slump in oil prices and a depreciating currency. Azerbaijan criminalised defamation over the internet three years ago, meaning many people now use aliases and covert accou
  
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• Eight miners dead after tremor hits Polish copper mine

  30-11-2016 21:25
  By Wojciech Zurawski and Marcin Goclowski WARSAW (Reuters) - The final death toll of an earth tremor causing rockfalls deep underground in Europe's largest copper mine in southwestern Poland rose to eight miners, the mine's operator KGHM said on Wednesday. The tremor hit the Rudna copper mine at 2009 GMT on Tuesday, KGHM said, causing extensive damage, but the mine remained mostly open. Earlier on Wednesday KGHM officials said the tremor had killed five miners and that rescuers had been looking
  
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• Andrade Gutierrez SA agrees to Brazil leniency deal

  30-11-2016 21:24
  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Andrade Gutierrez SA, one of Brazil's largest engineering and business groups, on Wednesday signed a leniency deal with a government agency related to a major corruption scandal. Andrade Gutierrez and antitrust watchdog agency Cade said in separate statements the accord is part of an investigation into engineering works carried out across several shanty towns in the city of Rio de Janeiro in recent years. ...
  
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• Soccer plane in Colombia crash was running out of fuel - recording

  30-11-2016 21:23
  By Julia Symmes Cobb and Brad Haynes LA UNION, Colombia/CHAPECO, Brazil (Reuters) - The pilot of a plane that crashed in Colombia virtually wiping out a Brazilian soccer team had radioed he was running out of fuel and in an emergency, according to a recording of his final communications. Only six on board the LAMIA Bolivia charter flight survived, including three of the Chapecoense soccer squad en route to the biggest game in their history: the Copa Sudamericana final. "Miss, LAMIA 933 is in tot
  
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• New federal rule bans smoking in public housing

  30-11-2016 21:23
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Smoking will be prohibited in public housing developments nationwide under a final rule announced Wednesday by the Obama administration.
  
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• Oil jumps over 10 percent as OPEC finalises output cut deal

  30-11-2016 21:21
  By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil soared more than 10 percent on Wednesday to over $50 a barrel and its highest in a month as some of the world's largest producers agreed to curb production for the first time since 2008 in a bid to support prices. Crude prices rose nearly 5 percent for the month.
  
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• Germany's Merkel says will work with Trump on climate policy

  30-11-2016 21:19
  Germany's Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she would try to work on climate policy with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he may pull out of a landmark international accord to fight global warming. The German chancellor, who assumes the presidency of the G20 leading economies on Thursday, said she and Trump had agreed to try to cooperate. "We had a first telephone conversation during which I congratulated him and we said we wanted to try to work together," she told a meeting of her
  
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• Italy boosts public sector pay ahead of PM Renzi's referendum

  30-11-2016 21:18
  Italy's government signed a deal with trade unions on Wednesday to hike public sector pay for the first time in seven years, just days ahead of a referendum on which Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has staked his career. In 2017 public workers will get a gross average increase of 85 euros per month, Susanna Camusso, head of Italy's largest union, the CGIL, told reporters after the signing. Public sector pay has been frozen since 2009, while Italy struggled to rein in its burgeoning public debt, the
  
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• LPGA announces four new tournaments for 2017

  30-11-2016 21:16
  (Reuters) - The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) on Wednesday announced its 2017 schedule including four new tournaments and an increase of $4.35 million in official prize money. Joining the 35-event LPGA Tour schedule are events in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and in Scotland and New Zealand, with a record $67.35 million in prize money on offer. The first new LPGA stop comes from July 6-9 when the tour visits Oneida, Wisconsin for the Thornberry
  
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• U.S. top court divided in immigration detention dispute

  30-11-2016 21:12
  By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A divided U.S. Supreme Court struggled on Wednesday with how to resolve a dispute over whether immigrants detained by the U.S. government for more than six months while deportation proceedings take place should be able to seek their release. The case takes on additional importance with the expectation that President-elect Donald Trump will ramp up immigration enforcement, placing more people in detention awaiting deportation, when he takes office on Jan.
  
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• Turkey needed detente with Russia to pursue Syria operation - minister

  30-11-2016 21:09
  ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey would not so easily have been able to carry out its military offensive in Syria without "positive developments" in its relations with Russia, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said on Wednesday. Turkey restored strained ties with Russia in August, the same month in which it sent tanks and special forces into Syria in support of Turkmen and Arab rebels fighting Islamic State, in an operation dubbed "Euphrates Shield". ...
  
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• NATO nearing solution to continue Aegean migrant mission - UK general

  30-11-2016 21:05
  By Andrea Shalal BERLIN (Reuters) - Turkey will likely hand off responsibility for NATO's counter-migration mission in the Aegean Sea, averting tensions with Greece, when it takes command of a broader maritime mission in the region next year, a top British general said on Wednesday. "Because of Turkish-Greek sensitivities ... the likelihood is that the Turkish commander will command a bit of the group, but there'll be a subset that is commanded by one of his deputies to deal with the Aegean," Ge
  
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• FBI to gain expanded hacking powers as Senate effort to block fails

  30-11-2016 21:04
  By Dustin Volz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A last-ditch effort in the Senate to block or delay rule changes that would expand the U.S. government's hacking powers failed Wednesday, despite concerns the changes would jeopardize the privacy rights of innocent Americans and risk possible abuse by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden attempted three times to delay the changes, which will take effect on Thursday and allow U.S. judges will be able to iss
  
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• After OPEC deal, oil expected to rally - for the moment

  30-11-2016 20:57
  By Devika Krishna Kumar and Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil's blistering rally of up to 10 percent to $50 a barrel on Wednesday should continue into next week, analysts and fund managers said, after the world's top producers announced a historic deal to rein in output. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries reached its first deal to cut oil output since 2008 - signalling its return to managing supply in world markets. The path ahead for the oil market, however, is ex
  
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• MPs reject move to investigate Tony Blair over Iraq by 369 votes

  30-11-2016 20:41
  
  Labour MPs turn out in force to defeat Alex Salmond’s motion, accusing him of attempt to ‘pillory and scapegoat one individual’Labour MPs turned out in force on Wednesday to help defeat a parliamentary motion calling for Tony Blair to be held to account for allegedly misleading parliament over the Iraq war by 439 votes to 70, after a sometimes angry debate. Related: MPs debate motion accusing Blair of 'misleading' them over Iraq - Politics liveContinue reading...
  
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• Tories seek positive uncertainties in a deluge of negative certainties

  30-11-2016 20:40
  
  MPs grill Robert Chote over the OBR’s gloomy post-Brexit predictions: wasn’t it possible all the forecasters were wrong?Just after the chancellor’s autumn statement, Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg had rubbished the Office for Budget Responsibility for making unnecessarily gloomy predictions about the government’s handling of Brexit and suggested we would all soon be dancing towards fun-filled days of forever summer. A lot can change within a week. Not least that it now appe
  
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• Ed Balls Warns Labour Won't Win Unless Its Members Better Reflect The Public - And 'Strictly' Viewers

  30-11-2016 20:39
  
  Ed Balls has warned that Labour is set to stay out of power – and he is unlikely to make a political comeback - until the party’s membership better reflects the wider public.
  In an interview with HuffPost UK, the former Shadow Chancellor said that Labour was unlikely to win a general election unless Jeremy Corbyn quits, changes direction “substantially” or restores rules to give MPs and unions more of a say.
  The ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star said that while he
  
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• Starmer presses May to act first on expat rights

  30-11-2016 20:38
  Gesture would help improve prospects for talks, says Shadow Brexit secretary
  
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• Reddit to crack down on abuse after CEO is targeted

  30-11-2016 20:38
  (Reuters) - Social media website Reddit Inc, known for its commitment to free speech, will crack down on online harassment by banning or suspending users who target others, starting with those who have directed abuse at Chief Executive Steve Huffman. Huffman said in an interview with Reuters that Reddit's content policy prohibits harassment, but that it had not been adequately enforced. "Right now we are in an interesting position where my inbox is full of them, it's easy to start with me." As w
  
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• Cherie Blair: There's a backlash against women

  30-11-2016 20:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Cherie Blair says there seems to have been a "backlash" against women's progress in politics.
  
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• AP FACT CHECK: Assessing Trump's take on Ohio State attacker

  30-11-2016 20:30
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that the 18-year-old Ohio State student who carried out a car-and-knife attack on his college campus "should not have been in our country."
  
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• Justice Dept. announces changes to halfway house system

  30-11-2016 20:29
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department plans to overhaul its system of halfway houses, where most federal prisoners spend the final months of their sentences before being freed from custody, officials announced Wednesday.
  
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• Trump says will step away from business, focus on White House

  30-11-2016 20:25
  By Steve Holland and Melissa Fares NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to step back from running his global business empire to avoid conflicts of interest, as concern over his dual role mounts ahead of the Republican's inauguration on Jan. 20. Trump said on Wednesday he is not required by law to alter his relationship with his business, but added: "I feel it is visually important, as president, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various busines
  
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• Hurrah for politicians and the everyday work they do

  30-11-2016 20:11
  MPs work hard and listen to voters – populism cannot replace the personal touch
  
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• Hurrah for politicans and the everyday work they do

  30-11-2016 20:11
  MPs work hard and listen to voters - populism cannot replace the personal touch
  
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