Category Archives: UK news

Jeremy Corbyn reveals dossier ‘proving NHS up for sale’

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Labour leader says documents leave Boris Johnson’s denials on post-Brexit US trade deal ‘in tatters’

Labour has obtained official documents showing that the US is demanding that the NHS will be “on the table” in talks on a post-Brexit trade deal, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

The Labour leader said the uncensored papers gave the lie to Boris Johnson’s claims that the NHS would not be part of any trade talks, and revealed that the US wanted “total market access” after the UK leaves the EU.

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Revealed: how UK technology fuelled Turkey’s rise to global drone power

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UK-based manufacturer supplied crucial missile component to Turkish drone-maker during development stage

Turkey was able to circumvent a US export ban on killer drones with the help of a missile component first developed in the UK, allowing Ankara to become an emerging power in the lethal technology, which experts warn is dangerously proliferating.

The vital assistance from a factory in Brighton has helped Turkey on its way to become the second biggest user of armed drones in the world – one of a number of countries emulating methods first used by the US in its “war on terror”.

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‘My son has finally arrived’: first of Essex lorry bodies returned to Vietnam

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Sixteen of the 39 deceased flown to Hanoi, with the rest to be repatriated later, say officials and media

The first 16 bodies of 39 Vietnamese people found dead in the back of a refrigerated lorry in Britain have been repatriated to Vietnam, according to a local official and Vietnamese media.

“Sixteen bodies including five from Nghe An province have arrived in Vietnam,” said a senior official of the province. The bodies arrived at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi early on Wednesday, online newspaper VnExpress reported, and would be taken by ambulances to homes in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces. The remaining bodies would be repatriated later, VnExpress said.

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Corbyn resists calls to apologise to British Jews after rabbi’s claims

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Labour leader denies antisemitism in the party has increased under his leadership

Jeremy Corbyn has insisted antisemitism in Labour has not risen under his leadership and resisted calls to apologise to Britain’s Jews, after the country’s chief rabbi claimed he had let poison take root in the party.

In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Neil, the Labour leader declined four opportunities to apologise for the party’s approach to dealing with antisemitism, which has led a string of Labour MPs to resign and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to launch an investigation.

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Antisemitism is vile, says Corbyn after rabbi’s criticism

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Labour leader says there is no place for antisemitism in party and it will not be tolerated

Jeremy Corbyn has reiterated his belief that there is no place in Labour for antisemitism and vowed it would not be tolerated following claims from the chief rabbi that he has allowed the Labour party to become poisoned with antisemitism.

Ephraim Mirvis on Tuesday accused the Labour leader of allowing a “poison sanctioned from the top” to take root in Labour, saying Jews were justifiably anxious about the prospect of the party forming the next government.

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£105m EuroMillions winner looking forward to ‘a good Christmas’

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Steve Thomson says priority is to buy house and that he will be ‘sensibly generous’ with cash

A builder who won a £105m EuroMillions jackpot has said “it’s going to be a good Christmas”, but added that he would not give up his job.

Steve Thomson said he felt like he was having a heart attack when he realised he had the winning numbers on his Lucky Dip ticket to claim the £105,100,701.90 prize.

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Man arrested in east London over Essex lorry deaths case

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Thirty-six-year-old arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people

A 36-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people in a lorry trailer found in Grays, Essex.

The man, from Purfleet in the same county, was arrested on Monday morning at a property in Dalston, east London, Essex police said. He was also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. He remains in custody for questioning.

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Spain’s far-right Vox blocks violence against women declaration

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Vox refusal to sign joint all-party statement outrages civil rights groups and embarrasses allies

Spain’s far-right Vox party has refused to sign an all-party declaration condemning violence against women, drawing outrage from civil rights groups and embarrassing its allies in the conservative People’s party.

Vox’s refusal to sign the declaration by Madrid city council on Monday meant that for the first time since a landmark 2004 law on gender violence, local authorities in the Spanish capital were unable to issue a joint all-party statement.

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UK calls for UN access to Chinese detention camps in Xinjiang

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Foreign Office responds after leaked China cables appear to confirm brainwashing centres

The UK has urged China to give United Nations observers “immediate and unfettered access” to detention camps in Xinjiang, where more than a million people from the Uighur community and other muslim minorities are being held without trial.

The call from the Foreign Office was in response to the China cables, a leak of classified documents from within the Communist party which appear to provide the first official confirmation that the camps were designed by Beijing as brainwashing internment centres.

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UK development bank accused of failure to safeguard Congolese workers

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British-backed plantation firm vows to address claims that underpaid palm oil workers have been exposed to toxic chemicals

The UK development bank has been accused of failing to protect workers from exposure to dangerous pesticides and paying “extreme poverty” wages on palm oil plantations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Human Rights Watch said the CDC group, along with three other European development banks, had failed to properly oversee its investments in Feronia, one of Africa’s largest palm oil companies.

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British man and his wife rescued from Philippine militants

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Allan and Wilma Hyrons located in mountainous hinterlands of Sulu province, where they had been taken by an Islamic State-affiliated group

Philippine troops have rescued a British man and his Filipino wife who were abducted by gunmen at a southern beach resort last month and taken to the jungle hideouts of local militants allied with the Islamic State group.

Regional military commander Lt Gen Cirilito Sobejana said troops caught up with the Abu Sayyaf militant captors of Allan Hyrons and his wife, Wilma, in the mountainous hinterlands off Parang town in Sulu province and rescued the couple safely after a brief gunbattle.

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Prince Andrew to stand aside from all 230 of his patronages

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Move follows BBC interview about association with sex offender Jeffery Epstein

Prince Andrew is to withdraw from scores of charities in a move that appeared designed to protect the monarchy from further humiliation over his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Buckingham Palace confirmed on Sunday that the Duke of York was “standing back from all his patronages” but indicated he still hoped to return to a public role at some point by saying the move was only temporary.

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Police seize £10m of cocaine hidden in frozen fish cargo

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Drug haul discovered in refrigerated van as it came off ferry at Newhaven, East Sussex

A driver has been charged after £10m worth of cocaine was found hidden in a load of frozen fish.

The haul was discovered in the back of a refrigerated van when the vehicle was searched as it came off a ferry at Newhaven port, in East Sussex, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

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Johnson tax pledge to ‘put money back in pockets’

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At launch of manifesto, PM says he will not raise income tax, VAT or national insurance for five years

Boris Johnson will commit a Tory government to not raise income tax, VAT or national insurance for five years as he promises to “put more money back in people’s pockets” after Brexit.

Launching the Conservatives’ general election manifesto on Sunday, the prime minister will also pledge to protect the value of state pensions, boost spending by £1bn on childcare during school terms and holidays, and cut energy bills by up to £750 a year for those in social housing.

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Rescue of all 60 children of the ‘caliphate’ urged as winter nears

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Relatives and councils offer sanctuary to get children home before winter closes in

Homes for all the 60 British children still stranded in north-east Syria have been found in the UK as councils and relatives of the minors step forward to offer sanctuary, sources have revealed.

So far, three British orphans have arrived home and are understood to have been made temporary wards of court, but will not be placed into care after UK relatives contacted the Foreign Office and said that they wanted to house them.

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Labour pledges £58bn for women caught in pension trap

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Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says party ‘owes debt of honour’ to 3 million over changes in retirement age

More than 3 million women who believe they have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket after steep increases to the state pension age are being promised compensation by Labour as part of a £58bn scheme designed to end a “historic injustice”.

Related: ‘The Tories stole my state pension when I was 60, now I want it back’

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Prince Andrew and the royal crisis: How the Firm lost its grip

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The Duke of York’s interview has exposed a leadership vacuum within the House of Windsor

Future historians may conclude that Prince Andrew’s defining achievement was to gift the nation a new verb.

Following a tumultuous week when his car-crash interview shook the House of Windsor so vigorously it seemed its palaces were in danger of losing their crenellations, the Duke of York now finds himself banished from duties. His fate is the 21st-century equivalent of that which befell the difficult minor royals of previous eras who were locked up in asylums, away from the public gaze.

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Met faces new questions over ‘trafficked’ teen in Epstein case

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Victims’ tsar to query Force’s decision not to act over Prince Andrew claims

The Victims’ Commissioner is demanding that the Metropolitan Police explain its decision not to pursue a full investigation into claims a teenager was trafficked to the UK to have sex with Prince Andrew.

The Observer understands that Dame Vera Baird QC, a former solicitor general and chair of the Board of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, has taken a close interest in the allegations, first examined by Scotland Yard in 2015.

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Conservatives open up 19-point lead with 47% share of the vote

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Latest Opinium/Observer poll shows Tories capitalising on retreat of Brexit party as manifesto is unveiled

The Conservatives have taken a commanding 19-point lead over Labour with less than three weeks to go before voters head to the polls, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

Related: Poll models fail to spot voting variation in similar seats

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