Paul Gascoigne will stand trial in September after the troubled former England international footballer pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a racially aggravated public order offence.

The 49-year-old, affectionately known as “Gazza”, allegedly made a racist joke about a security guard during “An Evening With Gazza” show in Wolverhampton, central England, in November last year.

Published: 30 June 2016

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The ruling Conservatives fired the gun Wednesday on the race to pick Britain's next premier after a shock Brexit vote, as departing David Cameron turned his fire on beleaguered opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Ex-London mayor and anti-EU campaigner Boris Johnson is tipped as a favourite to take over from Cameron on September 9 while interior minister Theresa May, who wanted to stay in the bloc, is another frontrunner.

Despite last week's surprise vote, it was not Cameron -- who is quitting after leading the unsuccessful "Remain" campaign -- but Corbyn who faced the roughest ride at parliament's weekly Prime Minister's Questions session.

Corbyn has vowed to stay in his job despite losing a confidence vote of MPs in his Labour party, dozens of whom have quit his frontbench team in recent days.

"It might be in my party's interests for him to sit there, it's not in the national interests and I would say, for heaven's sake man, go," Cameron told the veteran socialist, to loud cheers from MPs.

Published: 29 June 2016

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The world's largest uncut diamond failed to sell at auction in London on Wednesday after the bids fell short of the reserve price.

The Lesedi La Rona, a 1,109-carat, tennis ball-sized gem found in Botswana, had been predicted to sell for over $70 million.

But the Sotheby's auctioneer failed to persuade bidders to go above $61 million for the jewel, which was discovered in 2015 by the Lucara Diamond Corp.

"Though widely admired in the months preceding this evening’s auction, and despite having seen bidding in the salesroom, the Lesedi la Rona failed to reach its reserve price and consequently did not find a buyer tonight," Sotheby's said in a later statement.

Sotheby's chairman of jewellery David Bennett had called the diamond "the find of a lifetime."

Published: 29 June 2016

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Shares in banks, airlines and property companies plunged on the London stock exchange Monday as investors singled out the three sectors as being the most vulnerable to Britain's decision to leave the EU.

EasyJet stock fell over 16 percent after the company issued a profit warning, while British Airways parent IAG's shares were down 9.4 percent at around 0900 GMT.

Royal Bank of Scotland shares plunged more than 15 percent, Lloyds by 8.9 percent and Barclays by 10.2 percent.

Published: 28 June 2016

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Britain's vote last week to leave the European Union has plunged the country into a triple crisis.

It has unleashed deep and bitter rifts within the main political parties, sent jolts of uncertainty through its economy and raised constitutional questions on the very future of United Kingdom.

Here are the main issues which the country has to grapple with:

- Lame-duck government -

David Cameron announced early Friday that he would resign, soon after the result came through. At that point he said he expected his successor as prime minister and Conservative leader to be in place by early October.

On Monday the Tories' committee in charge of the leadership election said the successor should be in place by September 2, "although an earlier conclusion may be possible," with nominations for the post formally closing on Thursday.

Frontrunners include former London mayor Boris Johnson, who spearheaded the Brexit campaign, and Home Secretary Theresa May.

After all those interested in the job have declared themselves, Conservative MPs will whittle the field down to two candidates.

The next prime minister is then decided by a postal vote of the Conservative party's membership of roughly 150,000 people.

- Warring opposition -

Published: 27 June 2016

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More than two million people have signed a petition calling for a second referendum, after a shock vote to pull Britain out of the EU, an official website showed Saturday.

The website of the parliamentary petition at one point crashed due to the surge of people adding their names to the call for another nationwide poll following Thursday's historic vote.

"We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60 percent based (on) a turnout less than 75 percent there should be another referendum," says the petition.

The "Leave" camp won the support of 51.9 percent of voters, against 48.1 percent in favour of remaining in the European Union.

Turnout for Thursday's referendum was 72.2 percent.

Signatories to the petition appeared to be mostly in Edinburgh and London, both of which voted heavily in favour of "Remain".

There is no obligation in British legislation for referendums to have a minimum share of the vote or a minimum turnout, as in some other countries.

But EU rules say nothing about a member state that has already begun negotiations to leave the bloc changing its mind and reversing that decision under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Published: 25 June 2016

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Londoners mobilised on social media Saturday to back a campaign to go from Brexit to 'Lexit', calling for their city to divorce from Britain and "move in with our friends" in the European Union.

While largely a symbolic protest, it is fuelled by real anger following Thursday's dramatic vote to quit the EU, which was acutely felt in the national capital, where a majority voted for Britain to remain in the EU, contrary to the prevailing mood in the country.

More than 130,000 people signed up to a petition to London Mayor Sadiq Khan calling on him to "Declare London independent from the UK and apply to join the EU".

"London is an international city, and we want to remain at the heart of Europe," it says.

"Let's face it -- the rest of the country disagrees.

"Let's make the divorce official and move in with our friends on the continent."

The petition was started by freelance writer James O'Malley, who expected only a few hundred signatures.

"It did start a bit like a joke -- a frustrated joke, a cry of despair," the 29-year-old told AFP.

"I'm a big fan of the EU -- the values, the utopian ideas underpinning the EU. I don't want to see London leave."

Despite the jokey origins, he said the idea was not unthinkable.

"A few years ago we would have said leaving the EU is impossible," he said.

"I'm hoping now, given this gigantic reaction, to turn it into something meaningful. For example, could we use it to campaign for greater devolution for London?"

- Like Singapore? -

The idea of London becoming a city-state like Singapore is circulating online.

Published: 25 June 2016

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Boris Johnson, who spearheaded the successful campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, said Friday there was no need to rush the process of pulling out of the bloc.

"There is now no need for haste," Johnson told a London press conference in his first public comments since the results were announced.

He said the EU had been "a noble idea for its time" but was "no longer right for this country".

The former London mayor stressed that Britain would not "turn our backs on Europe" and that "our children and grandchildren will continue to have a wonderful future as Europeans."

Published: 24 June 2016

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London bank employee Francesca Crimp broke down in tears Friday as Britain decided to leave the EU, a vote that triggered an earthquake in the financial markets.

"I'm scared, I voted for my son's future and I feel so uncertain now. I'm just absolutely devastated," Crimp, who works for a US bank, said as she welled up.

"This multi-cultural city that I live in is going to change drastically, and the world as I know it is just not the same today."

But inside the buildings surrounding her, the trading floors of the City of London financial hub were a high-octane buzz of frenetic activity, with the pound and UK stocks plunging on Britain's dramatic vote to leave the EU.

Adrenaline-fuelled traders stood hunched over their screens like war generals over the battlefield map as the most dramatic day of their working lives kicked in when the European markets opened at 8:00am (0700 GMT).

Published: 24 June 2016

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Millions of people across Britain vote Thursday in a bitterly fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation’s EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc’s 60-year history.

A record 46.5 million voters are signed up to take an irreversible decision on Britain’s future in the 28-nation European Union, which was born out of a determination to forge lasting peace in the continent after the carnage of two world wars.

The once-in-a-generation referendum asks: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”

Each voter must write a cross by one of two options:

• “Remain a member of the European Union”

• “Leave the European Union”

World financial markets, like voters, are in suspense over the result.

On the eve of the historic referendum, two polls — both conducted over the Internet — put the “Leave” camp ahead by one or two percentage points, well within the margin of error.

But a telephone poll gave “Remain” a notable lead of 48 percent, ahead of “Leave” on 42 percent.

Financial institutions are reinforcing teams to cope with the prospect of frantic trading through the day and the world’s leading central banks say they are ready to react in any eventuality.

The Thursday editions of British newspapers captured the drama of voting day. “Independence day” was the headline of the pro-Brexit Sun, while the Times called it a “Day of reckoning.”The often acrimonious, deeply emotional campaign has exposed a gulf among Britons on membership of Europe.

Leading Brexit backer Boris Johnson, a former London mayor who is widely touted as a future prime minister, insisted the “Leave” campaign was on the brink of victory.

“I do think that we are on the verge, possibly, of an extraordinary event in the history of our country and indeed in the whole of Europe,” Johnson said in eastern England in a final scramble for support on Wednesday.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who has staked his political legacy on the referendum, implored people to vote to stay in the bloc at a final rally in Birmingham on the eve of voting.

“Winston Churchill didn’t give up on European democracy… and we shouldn’t walk away,” he said.

“Our economy will suffer if we leave,” he warned.

“If you jump out of the airplane you cannot clamber back through the cockpit hatch. That is why anyone in any doubt should vote remain tomorrow.”

EU leaders warned Britons that there would be no turning back from a vote to quit.

“Out is out,” European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said in Brussels, dismissing any talk of a post-vote renegotiation of Britain’s membership terms.

French President Francois Hollande warned an exit would be “irreversible.”

A British withdrawal from the EU would trigger a lengthy exit negotiation, leading to the loss of unfettered access to its partners in the EU’s single market and forcing the country to strike its own trade accords across the world.

In Europe, the referendum has raised concerns of a domino effect of exit votes that would imperil the integrity of the bloc, already buffeted by the eurozone and migration crises.

Published: 23 June 2016

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