Political news

• UK's May signals EU clean break: no 'half-in, half-out'

  16-01-2017 23:55
  
  LONDON (AP) — Britain will make a clean break from the European Union and not seek to remain "half-in, half-out," Prime Minister Theresa May will say Tuesday, disappointing businesses and voters who want the country to stay in the bloc's single market.
  
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• Factbox: Eugene Cernan, last man to walk on moon, dies at 82

  16-01-2017 23:46
  (Reuters) - Facts about retired U.S. astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, who died on Monday: * In addition to being one of 12 men to walk on the moon, Cernan was the third person to walk in space, following Russian Alexei Leonov and American Ed White. Cernan spent two hours and seven minutes outside the Gemini 9 spacecraft on the 1966 mission but had to come in early because his helmet visor was fogging up due to exertion. Because the spacewalk was shortened, Cernan did no
  
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• Brazil police control new uprising at prison where 26 were killed

  16-01-2017 23:43
  By Pedro Fonseca and Brad Brooks RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Police put down a new uprising at a prison in northeastern Brazil where 26 inmates were killed by a rival gang faction over the weekend and questioned five drug gang leaders they think ordered the bloodshed, authorities said on Monday. A SWAT team entered the prison before midday "to get control of the situation," said Major Eduardo Franco, spokesman for police in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, where the prison is located.
  
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• Istanbul New Year's nightclub attacker caught - media reports

  16-01-2017 23:42
  By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The gunman suspected of killing 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Day has been caught by police in the city's Esenyurt district, the Hurriyet newspaper website and other media reports said on Tuesday. The man, who media quoted police as saying had operated under the cover name Abu Muhammed Horasani, was caught in a hideout with his four-year-old son, Hurriyet said. Dozens of people have previously been detained in connection with the attack for
  
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• Rio Tinto hits 2016 iron ore guidance, 2017 target intact

  16-01-2017 23:40
  Global miner Rio Tinto hit its mid-point target for iron ore shipments from Australia in 2016 and kept its guidance of 330 million-340 million tonnes for this year intact. The world's second-biggest supplier of the steel-making raw material shipped 327.6 million tonnes in 2016 against guidance of 325 million-330 million tonnes, it said. Guidance for shipments of 330 million-340 million tonnes in 2017 was unchanged.
  
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• May to say Britain is leaving EU's single market, customs union -report

  16-01-2017 23:38
  By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it "half in, half out" of the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May will say on Tuesday, in a speech setting out her 12 priorities for upcoming divorce talks with the bloc. May will be less explicit on the customs union, but make clear Britain will be no longer a member, it added. May will make regaining control of Britain's borders one of the central themes of her Brexit strategy, the Telegraph said, rein
  
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• Poroshenko says Ukrainians at risk of losing faith in EU path

  16-01-2017 23:31
  Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday Ukrainians risked becoming disillusioned with Ukraine's pro-European path if there are further delays to plans to cement its closer integration with the European Union. The European Union reached an agreement on visa waivers for Ukraine in December, after weeks of stalling, but the decision has yet to come into effect. "To delay further would be flagrantly unfair as Ukraine has paid a high price," Poroshenko told foreign ambassadors to Ukraine.
  
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• May’s Brexit speech: a balancing act

  16-01-2017 23:20
  What to expect from the prime minister as she reaches out to four main audiences
  
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• Four audiences: Theresa May’s Brexit speech balancing act

  16-01-2017 23:20
  PM must calm markets, reach out to Europe, convince allies — and reunite Britain
  
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• Brexit speech balancing act

  16-01-2017 23:20
  Prime minister will be addressing four audiences
  
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• Theresa May to lay out clean break from EU

  16-01-2017 23:19
  PM’s rejection of ‘half in, half out’ deal will test nerves of currency markets
  
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• Trump, in flap with civil rights icon, meets with MLK's son

  16-01-2017 23:11
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Days before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump attempted to navigate the fallout of his flap with a civil rights leader and colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while also losing a member of his incoming administration to accusations of plagiarism.
  
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• Top German court to rule on far-right NPD ban

  16-01-2017 23:06
  By Madeline Chambers BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Constitutional Court looks likely to reject on Tuesday a historic attempt by the country's 16 federal states to ban the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), described by the intelligence agency as racist and anti-Semitic, say law experts. This is harder to prove, as the party has failed to capitalise on the refugee crisis, which shows its weakness as a political force while the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) has soared to 15 p
  
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• Kabananga gives DR Congo opening win over Morocco

  16-01-2017 22:50
  Democratic Republic of Congo's Junior Kabananga struck early in the second half to earn a somewhat fortuitous 1-0 win over Morocco in their opening African Nations Cup match on Monday. Injury-hit Morocco had most of the play and struck the post early on but could not find a way past DR Congo goalkeeper Ley Matampi, even after their opponents had substitute Joyce Lomalisa sent off with nine minutes left. DR Congo, champions in 1968 and 1974 but no longer considered among the continent's elite tea
  
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• Former U.S. officials urge Trump to talk with Iranian MEK group

  16-01-2017 22:39
  By Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly two dozen former U.S. officials have urged President-elect Donald Trump to enter into discussions with an exiled Iranian opposition group that until 2012 was listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. In a letter dated Jan. 9, the former officials call for the U.S. government "to establish a dialogue with Iran's exiled resistance, the National Council of Resistance of Iran." The NCRI's largest component is the Mujahedin-e Kha
  
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• Eight killed in attack on police checkpoint in Egypt's Western Desert

  16-01-2017 22:20
  At least eight policemen were killed and three wounded in an attack by Islamist militants on a security checkpoint in Egypt's New Valley province in the Western Desert, the Interior Ministry said on Monday. State television said the attack took place at around 8.15 p.m. in the Naqb checkpoint more that 600 kilometres (370 miles) southwest of Cairo. At least two of the attackers were killed, the Interior Ministry said.
  
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• Mark Carney warns of consumer slowdown this year

  16-01-2017 22:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UK households are still spending strongly, but face headwinds this year, warns Bank chief Mark Carney.
  
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• David Cameron should not lead Nato, says senior Tory

  16-01-2017 22:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The former PM's "talents do not include wisely-judging strategic issues", a senior Tory warns.
  
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• Officials: FBI arrests widow of Orlando nightclub shooter

  16-01-2017 22:04
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The wife of the Orlando nightclub shooter, who was extensively questioned by federal agents in the days after the massacre, has been arrested by the FBI on in connection with the attack, authorities said Monday.
  
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• Man in court over brother's death in Milngavie house fire

  16-01-2017 21:54
  A man has appeared in court charged with murdering his brother in a house fire on New Year's Day. Cameron Logan, 23, died at his family home in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, in the early hours of 1 January. Mr Logan's parents, both 54, were also affected and were treated for smoke inhalation.
  
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• Bank of England's Carney says UK reliant on buoyant consumers

  16-01-2017 21:44
  By David Milliken and Andy Bruce LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Monday that he would keep a close eye on British consumers this year to see if their buoyant mood since June's Brexit vote persists in the face of higher inflation. Britain had one of the world's fastest-growing advanced economies last year, but the central bank has forecast growth will slow in 2017 as inflation rises above target in response to sterling's slump since the European Union referendum. I
  
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• Canada's Trudeau faces ethics probe over Bahamas trip

  16-01-2017 21:34
  Canada's ethics watchdog is investigating whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated conflict of interest laws by taking a New Year's vacation on an island in the Bahamas owned by the Aga Khan. Trudeau has faced repeated questions from the opposition about his trip to Bell Island, the Aga Khan's private island, which sits in a national park in the Bahamas. Aga Khan is the title held by the leader of the Ismaili branch of Shi'ite Islam.
  
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• Oil up on Saudi commitment to cut; U.S. output seen rising

  16-01-2017 21:26
  By Ethan Lou CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Oil prices settled up on Monday, as Saudi Arabia's commitments to reducing production offset a report forecasting U.S. output would again rise this year. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has agreed to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 32.5 million bpd from Jan. 1 in an attempt to clear a global oversupply that has depressed prices for more than two years. Russia and other key exporters outside OPEC have sa
  
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• Labour MPs press Jeremy Corbyn for clearer stance on Europe

  16-01-2017 21:25
  
  Mood at meeting of PLP said to be subdued rather than combative as MPs question communication strategyLabour MPs have called on Jeremy Corbyn to adopt a clearer stance on the single market and free movement in Europe before Theresa May’s speech on Brexit.At a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Monday, MPs voiced fears that the party was being let down by its communication strategy, a week after Corbyn said Labour was not wedded to the principle of free movement. Continue reading.
  
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• Theresa May’s Vogue shoot is a smart fashion statement | Anne Perkins

  16-01-2017 21:21
  
  For the prime minister of a car-crash nation to feature on the pages of American Vogue is not as out of touch as it might seemThe obvious thing to say about Theresa May’s decision to allow herself to be seduced by the glamour of a Vogue fashion shoot is that it looks irreducibly terrible. Tone-deaf, self-indulgent, frivolous – whatever the angle, not one of them is flattering.This is the narrative: not even Annie Leibovitz, mistress of digital manipulation, can restore dignity to a p
  
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• Facebook moves to head off tougher regulation in Germany

  16-01-2017 21:18
  By Caroline Copley and Eric Auchard BERLIN/MUNICH (Reuters) - Facebook is stepping up efforts to head off tougher regulation by Germany, a fierce critic of the social media network operator, saying on Monday it would do more to combat fake news as its chief operating officer met with officials in Berlin. Top German lawmakers are planning legislation this year to force Facebook to remove "hate speech" from its web pages within 24 hours or face fines, a push that could force the social mediagiant
  
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• Exclusive - Brazil's Temer says unemployment, not graft probe, biggest worry

  16-01-2017 21:18
  By Anthony Boadle and Lisandra Paraguassu BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's priority this year will be job creation as its economy emerges from the worst recession on record, President Michel Temer said on Monday, dismissing speculation that key labour and pension reforms could be derailed by a corruption scandal. In an interview with Reuters, Temer said that Latin America's largest economy would exit a two-year recession in the second half this year but it would take longer to reduce the ranks of B
  
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• Merkel tells German industry she will fight for free trade

  16-01-2017 21:17
  Chancellor Angela Merkel told German industry leaders on Monday that she would remain committed to free trade in an indirect rebuttal to comments from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's about border taxes on car imports. Speaking to the German Chamber of Commence and Industry in the western city of Cologne, Merkel also urged industry leaders to remain supportive of the German government in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations between Britain and the European Union. As far as free trade and open
  
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• Asked about sterling fall, BoE's Carney says it moves up and down

  16-01-2017 21:08
  Bank of England Governor Mark Carney declined on Monday to say if the central bank would respond to the sharp fall in the pound, saying only that the value of sterling goes up and down. "The best I can say is that the value of the pound will go up and down," Carney said, after being asked a question about the outlook for the currency after delivering a speech at the London School of Economics. Carney also repeated his view that leaving the European Union has the potential to reinforce existing r
  
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• Trump 'reckless' on Nato, says defence committee chairman

  16-01-2017 21:00
  
  Julian Lewis says Europe could not deter attack by Russian conventional forces, after president-elect says Nato is obsoleteThe chairman of a Commons committee has described Donald Trump’s warning that the US might abandon Nato as “radical and reckless”, saying Europe would be vulnerable without American military protection.Julian Lewis, who chairs the defence select committee, expressed the hope that the president-elect did not mean what he has said and that his rhetoric was ju
  
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• Saudi says Trump stance on Iran and IS cause for optimism

  16-01-2017 21:00
  By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday he was positive about the way the incoming U.S. administration wanted to restore American influence in the world, contain Iran and fight Islamic State. "We will look at the Trump administration's view as articulated. Wanting to defeat ISIS (Islamic State), absolutely.
  
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• Ivory Coast police fire teargas to disperse protesting students

  16-01-2017 21:00
  By Ange Aboa ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast police fired teargas on Monday to disperse pupils and students protesting at government ministries in the main city, Abidjan, as nationwide strikes intensified, police and a senior union official said. Ivory Coast, French-speaking West Africa's largest economy and the world's top cocoa grower, is facing a growing wave of public sector strikes that threaten to paralyse the country and undermine an impressive post-war economic recovery. "Our men dispers
  
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• Wife of Orlando nightclub gunman arrested on federal charges

  16-01-2017 20:57
  By Daniel Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The FBI on Monday arrested the wife of the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub last year, a massacre that intensified fears about attacks against Americans inspired by Islamic State, officials said. Noor Salman, 30, is being charged with obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting by providing material support to a terrorist organization, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said in a statement.Salman's arrest came seven months after he
  
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• Polish minister says Le Pen's vision would mean "law of the jungle"

  16-01-2017 20:57
  Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said after meeting French presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen her vision for Europe would mean "a return to the law of the jungle". During a visit to Paris on Sunday, Waszczykowski had an unusual 90-minute discussion with the far-right leader, who is rarely met by top diplomats from European Union states. "Here is an EU that's broken apart into a loose union," Waszczykowski told journalists on Monday on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign minist
  
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• Kerry says it's inappropriate for Trump to step into German politics

  16-01-2017 20:54
  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday it was "inappropriate" for Donald Trump to brand German Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy "a catastrophic mistake". "I thought frankly it was inappropriate for a president-elect of the United States to be stepping into the politics of other countries in a quite direct manner," Kerry told CNN's Christiane Amanpour during a one-day visit to London in the last week of the Obama administration. As of Friday, he is responsible for that relatio
  
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• In response to Trump, France's Hollande says EU needs no advice from outsiders

  16-01-2017 20:53
  French President Francois Hollande on Monday responded to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's criticism of the European Union by saying the bloc did not need to be told what to do by outsiders. "Europe will be ready to pursue transatlantic cooperation, but it will based on its interests and values," Hollande said before awarding France's highest honour to outgoing U.S. ambassador Jane Hartley. "It does not need outside advice to tell it what to do." Speaking in an interview with London's Times n
  
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• Theresa May’s Brexit focus should be on the least harmful way of leaving | Peter Mandelson

  16-01-2017 20:50
  
  The prime minister is wrong if she thinks a poorer Britain is the price people want to pay for limiting free movementTheresa May, who makes a major speech tomorrow, has reached a moment of truth on Brexit. No one can blame her for the result of the referendum – she was a remainer – but from now on she takes responsibility for the consequences. If Britain not only leaves the EU but also loses free access to its main export market in Europe, our economy will become smaller and poorer.O
  
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• McIlroy out of Abu Dhabi Championship with rib injury

  16-01-2017 20:34
  (Reuters) - World number two Rory McIlroy has withdrawn from the Abu Dhabi Championship after tests on Monday showed he picked up a rib injury in South Africa last week, the European Tour said. The Northern Irishman had intense physiotherapy treatment and took pain-killers over the weekend at the South Africa Open after struggling through much of Friday's second round. The four-time major champion, who lost to Englishman Graeme Storm on the third playoff hole at Glendower Golf Club, will start a
  
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• Obama celebrates World Series champion Chicago Cubs

  16-01-2017 20:23
  
  President Barack Obama is celebrating the World Series champion Chicago Cubs before he leaves office. On what usually is a sleepy federal holiday at the White House, Cubs players filed into the White House ...
  
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• Berlin minister quits under pressure over Stasi past

  16-01-2017 20:23
  A leftist coalition in Berlin's city hall that could be a model for a federal government later this year faced a crisis on Monday after a minister quit because of his past in East Germany's Stasi security police. Andrej Holm, an academic who had hidden the fact he served in the notorious communist police before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, resigned as deputy housing minister on Monday after Mayor Michael Mueller had called for him to be fired on Saturday. Holm was appointed by the Left party, w
  
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• Carney hints at more hawkish stance for BoE

  16-01-2017 20:21
  Governor suggests that UK consumption continues to be ‘solid’
  
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• British sailor Thomson sets world record solo mark

  16-01-2017 20:20
  (Reuters) - Britain's Alex Thomson has set a world record for the greatest distance sailed solo in 24 hours, covering 536.8 nautical miles (994.15 km) in the Vendee Globe round-the-world race. The 42-year-old Welshman covered the distance from Sunday until 0800 GMT on Monday, sailing at an average speed of 22.4 knots (41.36km/h) to close in on the leader, Armel Le Cleac'h, heading into the final stages of the famed not-stop solo race. The mark will have to be ratified by the World Sailing Speed
  
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• Dreyfus, Amaggi sell stake in Brazil JV to Japan's Zen-Noh

  16-01-2017 20:14
  French commodities trader Louis Dreyfus Company [AKIRAU.UL] and Brazilian soy processor-exporter Amaggi sold a 33-percent stake in their joint venture in Brazil to Japanese company Zen-Noh, a statement from Amaggi said on Monday. The joint venture includes operations to source grains in northern and northeastern states in Brazil and a 25 percent participation in the Tegram grains terminal at Itaqui port in Maranhão. Zen-Noh is a large agricultural cooperative in Japan and operates in Braz
  
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• The Latest: Conciliatory meeting between Trump, King's son

  16-01-2017 20:13
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
  
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• Deutsche Boerse-LSE merger make markets healthier - Blackrock

  16-01-2017 19:58
  Blackrock , the second-largest shareholder in both Deutsche Boerse and London Stock Exchange Group , publicly voiced its support for the $28 billion merger of the two European exchanges as key regulatory decisions on the tie-up loom. Deutsche Boerse and LSEG have been working to overcome regulatory hurdles holding up the merger and looking to appease antitrust regulators. "Sceptics of this merger must consider the need for stronger capital markets in Europe - as well as the ways the alliance cou
  
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• Germany says NATO concerned about Trump 'obsolete' remark

  16-01-2017 19:53
  By Tom Körkemeier and Andreas Rinke BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Foreign Minister said on Monday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's comments that NATO was obsolete had aroused concern across the 28-member alliance. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, speaking after a meeting with alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, said Trump's remarks contradicted views expressed by designated Defense Secretary James Mattis. "I've spoken today not only with EU foreign ministers but
  
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• Kerry criticizes Trump for remarks on German refugee policy

  16-01-2017 19:51
  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday it was inappropriate for President-elect Donald Trump to weigh directly into the politics of another country by branding German Chancellor Angela Merkel's 2015 decision on refugees "a catastrophic mistake." "I thought frankly it was inappropriate for a president elect of the United States to be stepping into the politics of other countries in a quite direct manner,", and he will have to speak to that," Kerry told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
  
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• Richard Prince has disowned his Ivanka Trump work, but he can't wash his hands so easily | Jonathan Jones

  16-01-2017 19:48
  
  The art provocateur may have returned his $36,000 fee but he is more complicit in the rise of the president-elect than he thinksDoes an artist have any moral obligation when it comes to deciding who to sell their work to? Does the character or the family of the customer matter – and how they earned their money? The American artist Richard Prince has just confronted such ethical anxieties head-on in an entertainingly paradoxical way. Today’s wealthy art collectors range from oligarchs
  
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• National tensions exposed within Brexit Britain | Letters

  16-01-2017 19:47
  
  As David Marquand points out, the UK is a multinational state and two parts of it, Scotland and Northern Ireland, voted to remain in the European UnionDavid Marquand asserts that “there is no such place as Britain” (How can Britain exit the EU? Britain doesn’t really exist, 13 January). If Britain is not a nation, to what nation does the “national” refer in “National Rail”, “National Trust”, “national debt” etc? No Welsh emba
  
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• Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank clashes

  16-01-2017 19:47
  
  JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says border police shot and killed the "main instigator" of clashes on Monday in which hundreds of Palestinians threw rocks at security forces in the West Bank.
  
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