Category Archives: UK news

Boris Johnson wins more backing from MPs for Brexit deal

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Eurosceptics and Labour MPs indicate they could back prime minister’s deal if he clinches agreement in Brussels

Boris Johnson is edging towards the parliamentary numbers needed to pass a Brexit deal after more hardline Eurosceptics and pro-deal Labour MPs indicated they could back a new agreement made with the EU.

The prime minister will need to win over almost all the 28 Tory “Spartans” who held out against Theresa May’s deal if he manages to bring an agreement back from Brussels, as well as either the Democratic Unionist party or a chunk of Labour backbenchers.

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Orphans thought to be British rescued from Isis camp after Turkish attacks

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Children taken to safety in Raqqa after hundreds of people fled camp holding Islamic State affiliates in northern Syria

Three orphans believed to be British citizens have been evacuated from an area in northern Syria that was the focus of recent attacks by Turkish troops and their allies.

The Guardian understands that the three children, Amira, 10, her sister, Hiba, eight, and their brother, Hamza, were evacuated from a camp for people associated with Islamic State in Ain Issa on Sunday. They were part of a group of 24 children taken to safety by the UN refugee organisation.

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Brexit: Jeremy Corbyn dismisses Queen’s speech as ‘farce’ – live news

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The day’s political developments as they happen, including the Queen’s speech, and Johnson and Corbyn speaking in the subsequent debate

Johnson says Labour’s plan to scrap Ofsted is “insane”.

He says that one nation Conservatives like himself support Ofsted because they believe in standards.

Back in the debate Labour’s Angela Eagle says Merseyside has lost 1,120 police officers. Why is it only being allowed to recruit 200 more.

Johnson says this is just the first wave of recruitment.

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Harry Dunn’s parents give tearful account of finding dying son to US TV

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Parents of teenager killed in road accident say they will only meet US diplomat’s wife if she commits to UK return

The parents of Harry Dunn have given their first US TV interview, recounting the death of their son in a road accident as part of a campaign to pressure a US diplomat’s wife involved in the collision to return to the UK and face police questioning.

Anne Sacoolas, 42, left the UK shortly after the collision between Dunn’s motorbike and a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August. She is believed to have been driving the car and met Northamptonshire police afterwards. But no investigation followed after the force was advised by the UK government that she had the protective status granted to foreign diplomats.

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Rights groups urge Cyprus to drop false rape case against Briton

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Woman, 19, to go on trial after revoking claim she was raped by 12 Israeli tourists

Human rights and feminist groups are calling for Cypriot authorities to drop the case against a British teenager accused of falsely claiming she was raped by 12 Israeli tourists in a hotel room.

The 19-year-old, who reported the alleged assault almost three months ago but was then arrested after revoking her criminal complaint, is due to go on trial on Tuesday on a charge of public mischief. She has pleaded not guilty to fabricating the accusation of rape, but could be imprisoned for up to a year if found guilty.

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Caroline Williams obituary

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My friend and colleague Caroline Williams, who has died aged 57 after a short illness, was a senior lecturer in Latin American history at the University of Bristol. A much-loved and respected teacher, research supervisor and colleague, she was also an award-winning scholar.

Caroline was born in Argentina, the third of the four children of Erik Hansen, a metallurgist from Cardiff, and his wife, Tricia (nee Gorman), a nurse. She was 14 when the military junta seized power in 1976. This provoked in her a profound and critical interest in both national and global politics and a lifelong concern for human rights.

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Paedophile Richard Huckle ‘murdered’ in prison

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Man who abused up to 200 babies and children found dead at Full Sutton jail in Yorkshire

A British paedophile, who targeted and abused up to 200 Malaysian babies and children, and shared images of his crimes on the dark web, has been murdered in jail, a source has said.

Richard Huckle, a photographer from Ashford in Kent, received 22 life sentences after admitting an “unprecedented and exceptional” 71 offences against children aged between six months and 12 years from 2006 to 2014. The 33-year-old, who was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years, was found dead at Full Sutton prison in North Yorkshire on Sunday.

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Digital dystopia: how algorithms punish the poor

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In an exclusive global series, the Guardian lays bare the tech revolution transforming the welfare system worldwide – while penalising the most vulnerable

All around the world, from small-town Illinois in the US to Rochdale in England, from Perth, Australia, to Dumka in northern India, a revolution is under way in how governments treat the poor.

You can’t see it happening, and may have heard nothing about it. It’s being planned by engineers and coders behind closed doors, in secure government locations far from public view.

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Restored 19th-century ships’ figureheads to go on display in Plymouth

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The 14 carvings will hang from the ceiling in arts venue The Box, due to open in the spring

A collection of 19th-century wooden figureheads from British naval warships has been lovingly restored from the ravages of years at sea and will form a striking display at a new heritage and arts complex in Plymouth.

The 14 figureheads, some of which were so badly water-damaged that their insides had turned into a soggy mulch, are to be suspended from the ceiling of The Box gallery and museum, which is due to open in the spring.

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Tories aim to distract from Brexit with crime-focused Queen’s speech

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Heavier sentences for violent criminals among policies aimed at wooing Labour voters

Violent and sexual criminals as well as foreign national offenders who return to the UK will face drastically heavier penalties under measures that will form the centrepiece of a Queen’s speech aimed at wresting the agenda away from the delicate Brexit negotiations.

With just days to go before the deadline for Boris Johnson to clinch a last-ditch Brexit deal in Brussels, the Queen will on Monday set out his government’s priorities for a new session of parliament, including 22 new bills.

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Brexit talks fail to yield breakthrough with timely deal feared ‘impossible’

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Barnier warns negotiations may have to continue as UK’s Irish border plans are an ‘untested’ risk

A breakthrough in the Brexit talks has failed to materialise after a weekend of intensive negotiations, with European Union capitals concluding that it may now be impossible for the UK to leave the EU by 31 October with a deal.

In a briefing to EU ambassadors on Sunday evening, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, raised the prospect of the talks having to continue after the forthcoming leaders’ summit on Thursday, such was the lack of progress.

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John Henry Newman is first Briton to be canonised in 43 years

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Prince Charles described Victorian theologian as a ‘fearless defender of the truth’

Prince Charles described John Henry Newman as a “fearless defender of the truth” after the British cardinal became a saint in front of an estimated 20,000 pilgrims in St Peter’s Square.

Newman, also a theologian, scholar and poet, was regarded as one of the most influential figures of the Victorian age and is the first Briton to be made a saint since 1976, when John Ogilvie was canonised by Pope Paul VI.

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Support grows for a new Brexit poll amid fears over Johnson’s plan

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DUP raises doubts on customs union, while Labour says it will whip MPs to support a second referendum

Pro-remain MPs predicted on Saturday that they were gaining sufficient cross-party support to secure a second Brexit referendum as fresh doubts were raised over whether Boris Johnson can secure a deal with the EU that can pass through parliament.

Related: No-deal Brexit will wreck Tories’ reputation as party of business, says Lidington

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Isis ‘Beatles’ should face trial in UK, says former director of public prosecutions

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QC says a US trial makes Britain look like a ‘banana republic lacking faith in our own institutions of justice’

The UK government has been accused of acting like “a banana republic” after suppressing charges against the British group of Isis militants known as “the Beatles” out of fears that trying them at home could set a precedent for mass jihadist repatriations.

Prosecutors charged one member of the group, Alexanda Kotey, with multiple counts of murder in 2016 but the Home Office made no attempt to bring him home to face justice because, sources say, then home secretary Theresa May felt it was politically problematic.

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MI6 accused of thwarting effort to solve 1961 killing of UN chief

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Files on Dag Hammarskjöld plane crash are being withheld, says inquiry

MI6, the secret intelligence service, is under pressure to share its files on the mysterious death of a UN secretary general who was killed in an air crash almost 60 years ago.

Dag Hammarskjöld died with 13 others in September 1961, when his plane crashed near Ndola, in what was then Northern Rhodesia. There has been speculation that the plane was brought down deliberately. A film released this year, Cold Case Hammarskjöld, a winner at the 2019 Sundance film festival, has continued to stir interest.

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Police trying to verify identity of arrested French murder suspect

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DNA tests used to ascertain whether man held in Glasgow is Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès

Police are carrying out DNA tests to establish whether a man arrested at Glasgow airport is a suspect in the murder of five members of his family in France.

Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès has been on an international wanted list since the bodies of his wife and four children were found buried under the terrace of their home in Nantes in April 2011.

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Extinction Rebellion arrests near 1,300 after Billingsgate protest

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Activists say 28 people were arrested after trying to block access to London fish market

Police have announced they have made almost 1,300 arrests of Extinction Rebellion protesters since Monday, as activists hope the weekend will swell their numbers for a protest march through central London.

Animal rights activists affiliated with XR claimed 28 of their supporters were arrested on Saturday morning while attempting to block access to Billingsgate fish market in east London.

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Brexit deal prospects look promising, says Nicky Morgan

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Minister voices hopes of progress after talks between UK and Ireland over border

The prospects of a Brexit deal with the EU appear to be “promising” after negotiations between Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar over the Irish border, Nicky Morgan has said.

A day after the British prime minister signalled the possibility of a U-turn on his plans, the culture secretary said the “mood music … seems positive, but clearly there are lots of details to be worked out.”

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Suspected fugitive accused of murdering family arrested in Glasgow

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Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes has been the subject of an arrest warrant since his wife and children were found shot dead in 2011

A man believed to be a fugitive suspected of killing his wife and four children has been arrested after eight years on the run.

French police have said that Police Scotland officers in Glasgow detained a man on Friday, reportedly named Xavier Dupont de Ligonnes. Scottish police did not give details of his identity, but Reuters said a French police source confirmed that Dupont de Ligonnes had been arrested.

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