Political news

• The Latest: Trump calls OSU survivors 'amazing people'

  08-12-2016 23:51
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
  
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• Mkhitaryan sparkles as United reach Europa last 32

  08-12-2016 23:46
  
  By Toby Davis LONDON (Reuters) - Manchester United are warming to the task in the Europa League as they booked a spot in the last 32 with a 2-0 win over Zorya Luhansk on a freezing night in Ukraine on Thursday. Goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who made a mockery of his two-month exile from the starting lineup with a superb individual effort, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic secured an easy win that banished memories of their earlier group stage struggles. The victory confirmed United in second place in Grou
  
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• Sadiq Khan takes Transport for London into new business territory

  08-12-2016 23:41
  
  The London mayor insists he can honour his election pledges by making his transport agency operate more efficientlyRows about the finances of Transport for London (TfL) were prominent during this year’s election campaign and also a bit odd. For years, Conservatives had claimed that the large and powerful mayoral agency is a bloated bureaucracy in need of ruthless trimming, yet there was the Tory candidate – a Mr Goldsmith, you might recall - insisting that it could not cope with its
  
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• When an apology need not be demanded

  08-12-2016 23:37
  The prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, will visit a Pearl Harbor memorial on Dec. 26-27. Along with President Obama, he will go to the USS Arizona Memorial and commemorate the victims of Imperial Japan’s attack 75 years ago. If all goes as expected, Mr. Abe will not make an official apology.
  
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• Trump picks fast food executive Andrew Puzder for Labor

  08-12-2016 23:34
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump plans to add another wealthy business person and elite donor to his Cabinet, saying he would nominate fast-food executive Andrew Puzder as labor secretary.
  
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• Canada's Trudeau pressured over fundraisers; image at risk

  08-12-2016 23:21
  By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who came to power promising to run an open and ethical government, is embroiled in allegations over political fund raisers that could tarnish his image as a youthful reformer. Trudeau was pressed hard by opposition leaders on Thursday about newspaper reports that select donors to the ruling Liberal Party enjoyed privileged access to fundraising events where the prime minister and cabinet members spoke. Although Trudeau
  
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• Mkhitaryan delights Mourinho with United wonder goal

  08-12-2016 23:19
  (Reuters) - Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho's attitude towards Henrikh Mkhitaryan seems to have thawed after the playmaker chose a sub-zero night in Ukraine on Thursday to score a dazzling first goal for the club. The Armenian endured a prolonged exile from the first team earlier this season and questions were being asked about whether he would ever find favour with Mourinho following the player's 25 million pounds move from Borussia Dortmund in the close season. "It was a strong mentali
  
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• Jho Low family dealt setback in move to claim assets in 1MDB probe

  08-12-2016 23:18
  (Reuters) - Relatives of a Malaysian financier at the centre of the 1MDB fund scandal were dealt a setback in their efforts to claim assets seized by the U.S. government when a federal judge denied a motion that would have given them time to try their luck in overseas courts. Earlier this week four relatives of Low Taek Jho filed a motion to delay the Dec. 12 hearing to Jan. 23 so they could go to courts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands to try and get real estate and other assets transferre
  
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• The Latest: Trump names fast food exec as Labor pick

  08-12-2016 23:09
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
  
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• The Latest: Hillary Clinton calls fake news a 'danger'

  08-12-2016 22:52
  The Latest on the final days of the congressional session (all times EST): ___ 4:40 p.m. Hillary Clinton says fake news is an "epidemic" and "a danger that must be addressed and addressed ...
  
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• US official: 50,000 Islamic State militants killed to date

  08-12-2016 22:42
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition has killed 50,000 Islamic State militants in the last two years in Iraq and Syria, a senior U.S. military official said Thursday, describing a conservative total that is a bit larger than what others have stated before.
  
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• Trump gets one presidential intelligence briefing a week - sources

  08-12-2016 22:41
  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump is receiving an average of one presidential intelligence briefing a week, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter, far fewer than most of his recent predecessors. It was not immediately clear why Trump has decided not to receive the intelligence briefings available to President Barack Obama more frequently, or whether that has made any difference in his presidential preparations. Trump's spokespeople did not immed
  
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• MP Michelle Thomson's Story Of Being Raped As A Teenager Moves Colleagues To Tears

  08-12-2016 22:41
  
  An MP has moved her colleagues to tears with her description of how she was raped as a teenager.
  During a session discussing violence against women, Edinburgh West MP Michelle Thomson stood to speak, beginning: “I am going to relay an event that happened to me many years ago.”
  Thomson then described how, aged 14, someone she knew walked her home from a youth event and took her “a slightly different way”. She described how he led her to a wooded area and she became al
  
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• Yields rise, euro dips as ECB trims bond purchases

  08-12-2016 22:35
  By Sinead Carew NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bond yields rose and the euro dipped on Thursday after the European Central Bank said it would prolong its bond purchase programme but surprised investors by scaling back on how much it will spend each month. The euro saw its biggest one-day percentage drop against the dollar since June after the ECB said it would reduce its bond buying programme to 60 billion euros (£50.6 billion) a month from 80 billion, but extended it from April to December 2017. EC
  
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• Former U.S. astronaut, Senator John Glenn dies in Ohio at 95

  08-12-2016 22:25
  John Glenn, who became one of the 20th century's greatest explorers as the first American to orbit Earth and later as the world's oldest astronaut, in addition to a long career as a U.S. senator, died on Thursday at age of 95. Glenn, the last surviving member of the original seven American "Right Stuff" Mercury astronauts, died at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University, said Hank Wilson, a spokesman at the university's John Glenn College of Public Affairs, which Glenn helped found. G
  
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• Georgia accuses US of trying to hack its election systems

  08-12-2016 22:23
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The state of Georgia on Thursday accused the U.S. Homeland Security Department of apparently trying to hack its election systems
  
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• Fantasy meets tragedy in surreal 'A Monster Calls'

  08-12-2016 22:23
  A teenage boy's struggle with his mother's terminal illness takes a surreal turn when he finds comfort in a giant talking tree monster in the emotional fantasy drama "A Monster Calls." The film is already attracting awards buzz for its young Scottish star, Lewis MacDougall, who plays Conor, a quiet, artistic teenage boy who becomes a target for the school bully. "I guess really I would use experiences in my own life to try and understand what Conor is feeling," MacDougall, 14, told reporters at
  
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• Exclusive - Risking Beijing's ire, Vietnam begins dredging on South China Sea reef

  08-12-2016 22:12
  By Lincoln Feast and Greg Torode SYDNEY/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Vietnam has begun dredging work on a disputed reef in the South China Sea, satellite imagery shows, the latest move by the Communist state to bolster its claims in the strategic waterway. Activity visible on Ladd Reef in the Spratly Islands could anger Hanoi's main South China Sea rival, Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the group and most of the resource-rich sea. Ladd Reef, on the southwestern fringe of the Spratlys, is complet
  
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• U.N. Syria envoy says he plans to meet Trump team members

  08-12-2016 22:06
  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday he planned to meet "people around the team" of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to discuss the nearly six-year conflict. "The plan is to meet some people around the team of President (elect) Trump," de Mistura told reporters, adding that meetings would take place in New York and Washington. De Mistura briefed the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors on Thursday afternoon and was ex
  
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• South Korea's President Park faces historic impeachment vote

  08-12-2016 22:03
  By Jack Kim and Cynthia Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Park Geun-hye, engulfed in an influence-peddling scandal, faces a historic impeachment vote in parliament on Friday that could see her become the country's first democratically elected leader to be ousted from office. Parliament is expected to vote in favour of impeachment, with support from some members of Park's conservative Saenuri Party, but the Constitutional Court must decide whether to uphold the motion, a process that c
  
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• Mkhitaryan sparkles as United reach Europa knockout stage

  08-12-2016 22:00
  Manchester United are warming to the task in the Europa League as they booked a spot in the last 32 with a 2-0 win over Zorya Luhansk on a freezing night in Ukraine on Thursday.
  
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• Trump heads west to meet with Ohio State victims, families

  08-12-2016 21:56
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is taking on a somber task Thursday that became all too familiar to his predecessor — supporting survivors after an outbreak of violence, this time families and victims from last week's attack at Ohio State University.
  
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• U.S., Russia to extend talks on ceasefire for Aleppo -State Dept

  08-12-2016 21:50
  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Thursday about the situation in Aleppo and agreed to keep discussing a ceasefire to allow aid delivery and the departure of anyone who wants to leave the embattled city, the State Department said. "They agreed to continue discussions about establishing a framework for a ceasefire that will allow the delivery of aid, desperately needed humanitarian aid, as well as the safe departure of those who wish t
  
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• Former U.S. astronaut, Senator John Glenn dead at 95 - Columbus Dispatch

  08-12-2016 21:29
  (Reuters) - Former U.S. astronaut and Senator John Glenn died on Thursday at age 95 at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, the Columbus Dispatch newspaper reported. (Reporting by David Alexander)
  
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• The Latest: Union president

  08-12-2016 21:27
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
  
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• Iran's Rouhani says OPEC cooperation key to stabilising oil - TV

  08-12-2016 21:24
  Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should work together to secure implementation of a deal reached last month aimed at stabilizing the oil market, Iran's state TV reported. Oil rebounded from the week's lows and hovered above $50 a barrel on Thursday ahead of a meeting on Saturday in Vienna between OPEC and non-OPEC producers that may result in an agreement to cut crude output further. "Close cooperation a
  
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• U.S., Russia to continue talks on ceasefire for Aleppo - State Dept

  08-12-2016 21:19
  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Thursday about the situation in the city of Aleppo and agreed to continue discussing a ceasefire to allow aid delivery and the departure of civilians, the State Department said. "They agreed to continue discussions about establishing a framework for a ceasefire that will allow the delivery of aid, desperately needed humanitarian aid, as well as the safe departure of those who wish to leave the city,"
  
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• U.N. Syria envoy de Mistura says he plans to meet Trump team members

  08-12-2016 21:19
  U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday he planned to meet "people around the team" of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. "The plan is to meet some people around the team of President (elect) Trump," de Mistura told reporters, adding that meetings would take place in New York and Washington. De Mistura spoke on his way in to brief the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors.
  
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• Chief of staff Priebus? Some Trump loyalists still dubious

  08-12-2016 21:15
  
  When President-elect Donald Trump tapped Reince Priebus as his chief of staff, Republican leaders cheered the prospect of a close ally having a top White House job. But as Priebus tries to wield his influence ...
  
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• Germany sees rise in Russian propaganda, cyber attacks

  08-12-2016 21:10
  Germany's domestic intelligence agency on Thursday reported a striking increase in Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilizing German society, and targeted cyber attacks against political parties. "We see aggressive and increased cyber spying and cyber operations that could potentially endanger German government officials, members of parliament and employees of democratic parties," Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the BfV spy agency, said in statement.
  
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• The drawn-out quest to fix Britain’s railways

  08-12-2016 21:09
  The government must show that new plans will lead to improvement
  
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• Lawyer urges supreme court to throw out Brexit case after article 50 vote

  08-12-2016 21:01
  
  In closing remarks, government QC James Eadie says Commons vote to back leaving the bloc is legally relevantThe supreme court has been urged to throw out a momentous legal challenge to the government’s powers to trigger Brexit, with Downing Street lawyers claiming parliament’s support for exiting the EU was conclusively demonstrated this week.In closing remarks at the end of a four-day hearing, James Eadie QC, appearing for the government, said a House of Commons vote held on Wednesd
  
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• Yields rise as ECB trims bond purchases; Wall St. gains

  08-12-2016 20:53
  By Sinead Carew NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bond yields rose and the euro dipped on Thursday after the European Central Bank said it would slow its stimulus programme from April, while Wall Street extended the previous session's gains. European stocks rose after the ECB decision to reduce the long-running bond buying programme to 60 billion euros (£50.6 billion) a month, from 80 billion, from April to December 2017. "Currencies are reacting more to the extension and bonds are focused on the taper
  
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• House passes stopgap measure as senators raise objections

  08-12-2016 20:42
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A day ahead of a government shutdown deadline, the House easily passed a stopgap spending bill to keep federal agencies running through the end of April. The legislation's fate in the Senate remained uncertain due to strident opposition from coal-state Democrats.
  
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• Brexit challenger Gina Miller tells Leave voters: 'Go knock on No 10'

  08-12-2016 20:42
  
  The businesswoman spearheading the Brexit legal challenge has told impatient Leave voters they should "go and knock on Number 10". Gina Miller, an investment manager and philanthropist, has become the figurehead of the legal challenge which argues Theresa May should not be able to trigger Article 50 to begin Brexit proceedings without a vote by MPs. On 3 November, the High Court ruled in favour of Mrs Miller and the Government appealed, sending the case to the Supreme Court.
  
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• 'Pissed off' Belgian prince faces dressing down by PM

  08-12-2016 20:41
  By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Belgian king's younger brother faces a dressing down from the prime minister after demanding that politicians and the royal family "stop bugging" him over claims his business ventures are losing money. The summons from Prime Minister Charles Michel, amid some concern for the stability of the monarchy, came on Thursday after Prince Laurent, a sports car-loving 53-year-old, let off steam at a journalist who quizzed him over the financial health of his
  
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• US official warns of North Korean nuclear capabilities

  08-12-2016 20:39
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior U.S. military official says North Korea now has the capability to launch a nuclear weapon. But the official says that while the U.S. believes Pyongyang can mount a warhead on a missile, it's not clear that it can hit a target.
  
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• German watchdog joins European peers in clampdown on spread betting

  08-12-2016 20:39
  Germany's financial regulator on Thursday announced new rules to curb spreadbetting, becoming the latest European regulator to clamp down on the fast-growing industry in which most retail investors lose money. Watchdog Bafin said it intends to ban the sale of one of the most popular financial betting products - known as a contract for difference (CFD) - to retail customers if the CFDs include a so-called additional payment obligation. "In the case of CFDs with an additional payments obligation,
  
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• Italy president starts talks to seek way out of political crisis

  08-12-2016 20:35
  By Steve Scherer and Francesca Piscioneri ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president began talks with political leaders on Thursday to seek a way out of the political crisis caused by the resignation of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Sergio Mattarella, a 75-year-old former constitutional court judge, must decide if someone can lead Italy to elections scheduled for 2018, or whether an interim government should serve until a snap vote can be held in spring. Renzi tendered his resignation on Wednesday after
  
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• Estonia says 'encouraged' by Trump administration's tone on NATO

  08-12-2016 20:33
  By Andrea Shalal HAMBURG (Reuters) - Estonian Foreign Minister Sven Mikser said he was "quite encouraged" that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump would maintain a strong U.S. commitment to European security despite comments that had sparked concern during the election campaign. Mikser said he was still waiting to see whom Trump would nominate as secretary of state, but said recent remarks by Trump and his transition team had helped assuage concerns raised when the Republican candidate said he wou
  
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• No 10 Christmas lights switched on

  08-12-2016 20:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Theresa May warms up the young crowd pantomime-style before switching on the No 10 Christmas lights.
  
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• Leave.EU Press Release Attacks Tory MP Anna Soubry's Appearance

  08-12-2016 20:30
  
  A major Brexit campaign group has said an MP has “a face like a smacked arse” after she called them out for bullying.
  Leave.EU, the group that tried to be designated the official Brexit campaign group but lost out to Vote Leave, tweeted to say Tory pro-Remain Anna Soubry was “repulsive” and “needs to seek help”. She called this “bully boy tactics”.Repulsive MP @Anna_Soubry moans about being called a Remoaner while moaning about Brexit. She needs to
  
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• Merkel's Bavarian allies praise tougher migrant stance but say it's not enough

  08-12-2016 20:11
  The Bavarian party allied to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat Union (CDU) on Thursday welcomed the CDU's tougher stance on the integration of migrants but urged it to go further to restrict arrivals and up deportations. The CDU and Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) together form the conservative faction in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, but the two parties are at odds over how to deal with last year's record migrant influx to Germany of 890,000 people.
  
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• The Latest: House backs spending bill, Senate fate unclear

  08-12-2016 20:08
  The Latest on the final days of the congressional session (all times EST): ___ 2 p.m. The House has passed a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open beyond Friday's midnight deadline. The bill's ...
  
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• Five memorable Liverpool-West Ham matches

  08-12-2016 20:07
  By Toby Davis LONDON (Reuters) - Liverpool, looking to rebound from a dramatic 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth last weekend, face West Ham United, who are just above the relegation zone and licking their wounds following a 5-1 thrashing by Arsenal, on Sunday. March 1981 LIVERPOOL 1 WEST HAM 1 (League Cup final) Around 100,000 fans were packed into Wembley but they had to wait a long time for the match to explode into life and when it did it was hugely controversial. Alan Kennedy scored but Sammy Lee w
  
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• Chaos, desperation at first U.N. aid distribution inside Mosul

  08-12-2016 20:05
  By Isabel Coles MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi police fired shots in the air and threatened to whip crowds with a hose as residents tried to overrun the first distribution of aid by UN agencies inside Mosul on Thursday, a scene of the desperation in areas retaken from Islamic State. Fifty-six year old Saad Salih came in an electric wheelchair but the battery was flat and there is no power in Mosul to re-charge it, so a neighbour pushed him along.
  
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• Islamic State makes advances towards Palmyra - monitor

  08-12-2016 20:02
  The Islamic State group in Syria attacked the Syrian army near the city of Palmyra on Thursday, killing dozens of soldiers and advancing to within four kilometres (2.5 miles) of the city, a war monitor said. The Syrian army, backed by Russian jets, recaptured Palmyra, the site of a Roman-era city and spectacular ruins, from Islamic State in March after the jihadist group seized it in May 2015. On Thursday the jihadists gained control over Qasr al-Halabat, to the southwest of Palmyra, Jabal Hayan
  
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• Jon Lansman vows stay in Momentum

  08-12-2016 20:00
  
  Jeremy Corbyn ally’s move follows claims that grassroots group has been taken over by Trotskyists and could splitJon Lansman, the founder of Momentum and a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, has promised to fight for his key role in the grassroots organisation following claims that it has been taken over by Trotskyists and could split. Related: Momentum is a beacon of hope. It must be saved from the saboteurs | Owen JonesContinue reading...
  
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• Court in an existential nightmare over Brexit | John Crace

  08-12-2016 19:59
  
  From the Dangerous Dogs Act to the Loch Ness monster, it was all crammed into day four of the supreme court hearingFour days is just a blink of an eye for lawyers used to charging by the minute. Left to their own devices, everyone at the supreme court would have been much happier dragging things out for a couple of years – finally reaching a decision on whether the government had the constitutional right to trigger Brexit long after Britain had left the EU. But needs must and there was a n
  
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• Investigators eye fridge, electrical system in Oakland fire

  08-12-2016 19:57
  
  OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Federal officials investigating a fire that killed 36 people during a party at an Oakland warehouse plan to bring in engineers to examine the building's electrical system, as they try to pinpoint the cause of a blaze that has cast a spotlight on similar artists' colonies around the country that offer cheap housing but unsafe living conditions.
  
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