UK news

Tributes were paid to a Muslim shopkeeper killed in what police described as a "religiously prejudiced" attack, as a Muslim suspect remained in custody.

Asad Shah, 40, died after being found with serious injuries outside his shop in Glasgow on Thursday evening.

He was believed to be a member of the minority Ahmadi Muslim community, and media reports said he was originally from Pakistan.

Police arrested a 32-year-old Muslim man on Friday, and a spokeswoman said: "A full investigation is underway to establish the full circumstances surrounding the death which is being treated as religiously prejudiced."

Published: 27 March 2016

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Cambridge ended a run of three straight defeats by Oxford with victory in the 162nd edition of the University Boat Race in London on Saturday.

The heavier and more experienced crew, Cambridge were the favourites for this year's renewal on the 4 miles, 374 yards (6.8 km) course between Putney and Mortlake on the River Thames.

Victory saw the Light Blues extend their overall lead in a race first run in 1829 to 82 wins to 79.

On a day when rough water had played havoc with the preceding women's race, Cambridge were ahead almost from the start and although Oxford hung on grimly they never looked at any stage as if they would overtake their ancient rivals in this latest contest between England's two oldest universities.

Cambridge, who won the toss, had the early advantage of the Surrey bend in their favour were sufficiently far ahead of the Dark Blues to make it across to the safety of the Middlesex riverbank in increasingly choppy water.

Published: 27 March 2016

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Britain's press regulator on Saturday censured Rupert Murdoch's The Sun tabloid for a "significantly misleading" story claiming one in five British Muslims sympathise with jihadist fighters.

The ruling on the front-page story from November comes amid heightened community tensions following the Brussels attacks this week claimed by the Islamic State group, which left 31 people dead.

The mass-selling daily claimed an exclusive poll revealed "1 in 5 Brit Muslims' sympathy for jihadis", and published a picture of Mohammed Emwazi, the British IS executioner known as Jihadi John, alongside the shock headline.

The story generated more than 3,000 complaints to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), most of them challenging the coverage on the grounds of accuracy.

Published: 26 March 2016

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The final print edition of The Independent newspaper went on sale Saturday, ending its 30-year appearance on British newsstands with an exclusive on an assassination plot against a former Saudi king.

A poignant wrap-around front page carried the words "STOP PRESS" in red lettering on a white background, followed by the words "Read all about it in this, our final print edition - 1986- 2016".

The newspaper will now be available online only, with its final editorial claiming history would be the judge of its "bold transition....as an example for other newspapers around the world to follow".

In its final front-page exclusive, the "Indy" reported that British-based dissident Mohammed al-Massari was being pursued through the courts over a plot ordered by former Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi to assassinate Saudi king Abdullah.

Journalists earlier posted footage online of the team "banging ourselves out" -- an old tradition of banging the desks to mark the departure of a colleague.

"Today the presses have stopped, the ink is dry and the paper will soon crinkle no more," it said.

"But as one chapter closes, another opens, and the spirit of The Independent will flourish still."

Published: 26 March 2016

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Amnesty on Tuesday urged Washington and London to halt arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia, which is leading a military coalition against rebels in Yemen, for the sake of saving civilian lives.

In a statement released one year into the Saudi-led intervention and titled "Reckless arms flows decimate civilian lives," the rights watchdog urged the two Western powers and other states to "halt all transfers of arms for use in the Yemen conflict".

"Saudi Arabia’s international partners have added fuel to the fire, flooding the region with arms despite the mounting evidence that such weaponry has facilitated appalling crimes and the clear risk that new supplies could be used for serious violations," said James Lynch, Amnesty International's regional deputy director.

Amnesty said that Washington and London, the largest arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia, "have continued to allow transfers of the type of arms that have been used to commit and facilitate serious abuses, generating a humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale."

Published: 25 March 2016

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London's Gatwick airport stepped up security on Tuesday after a string of explosions in Brussels as British Prime Minister David Cameron prepared to hold an emergency cabinet meeting on the attacks.

"As a result of the terrible incidents in Brussels, we have increased our security presence and patrols around the airport," the airport said in a statement.

Cameron earlier said on Twitter he was "shocked and concerned" by the events in Brussels. "I will be chairing a COBRA meeting on the events in Brussels later this morning," Cameron said.

Published: 23 March 2016

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A judge at England's High Court on Monday pleaded with US pop megastar Madonna and her British film director ex-husband to resolve a legal dispute over their son Rocco amicably.

Alistair MacDonald said it would be a "very great tragedy" if any more of the 15-year-old's childhood was lost in the spat between Madonna and Guy Ritchie over where he should live.

Judges have heard that Rocco had remained in London with his father after a visit in early December. Madonna wants the teenager to return to live with her in the State of New York.

MacDonald made his plea for peace after ruling that the proceedings in the English courts could be halted. Litigation is also under way in New York.

"At the root of these proceedings... is a temporary breakdown in trust," the judge said.

"I renew, one final time, my plea for the parents to seek, and to find, an amicable resolution to the dispute between them. Because agreement is not possible today does not mean that agreement will not be possible tomorrow.

"The boy very quickly becomes the man. It would be a very great tragedy for Rocco if any more of the precious and fast receding days of his childhood were to be taken up by this dispute.

"Far better for each of his parents to spend that time enjoying, in turn, the company of the mature, articulate and reflective young man who is their son and who is a very great credit to them both."

Published: 21 March 2016

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A top British eurosceptic minister who quit over welfare cuts launched a damaging attack on Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday, exposing serious tensions in his government ahead of June's referendum on EU membership.

In his first interview since resigning as work and pensions secretary Friday, Iain Duncan Smith accused Cameron of trying to reduce Britain's budget deficit through benefit cuts which hurt poorer voters while protecting older, often richer ones.

Duncan Smith, who last month became one of the most senior Conservatives to say he would campaign against the premier for Britain to leave the EU on June 23, denied his shock resignation was about Europe.

But the former army officer known as IDS who led the ruling party from 2001 to 2003 admitted that Cameron and his finance minister and close ally George Osborne had stopped listening to him.

"This is not some secondary attempt to attack the prime minister or about Europe," Duncan Smith said in a BBC television interview, adding he quit because he was "losing that ability to influence events from the inside".

Duncan Smith also said that Cameron's government was "in danger of drifting in a direction that divides society, not unites it".

The resignation of Duncan Smith is perhaps the biggest blow Cameron has suffered since being re-elected last year.

Published: 20 March 2016

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Welfare minister Iain Duncan Smith resigned over planned reductions in welfare payments for people with disabilities in a blow for Prime Minister David Cameron.

Duncan Smith, one of six senior ministers who broke ranks to back Brexit in the upcoming EU membership referendum, blamed Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in a scathing letter.

"Changes to benefits to the disabled and the context in which they've been made are a compromise too far," he wrote in a letter, following uproar against the plans announced by Osborne in parliament this week.

"They are not defensible in the way they were placed within a budget that benefits higher-earning taxpayers," said Duncan Smith, who had been in his post since 2010 and led the Conservative Party between 2001 and 2003.

He said the government's aim of cutting the deficit by 2020 was "more and more perceived as distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest."

Cameron said he was "puzzled and disappointed" by Duncan Smith's decision to resign.

"I regret that you have chosen to step down from the government at this time," Cameron said, in a letter to the former minister made public by Downing Street, adding that the government had agreed to review the controversial welfare reform.

Published: 19 March 2016

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The Church of England on Tuesday said it would change the way it handled sexual abuse allegations in response to an independent review of a case that found "a tragic catalogue of exploitation and harm".

"We should have been swifter to listen, to believe and to act. This report is deeply uncomfortable for the Church of England," Bishop of Crediton Sarah Mullally said in the Church's official statement.

"This report has published a series of important recommendations. The Archbishop of Canterbury has seen these recommendations and will ensure they are implemented as quickly as possible," she said.

The review was commissioned by the Church of England in September 2015 following allegations made by a man named only as "Survivor B" against a cleric, "Rev A".

The recommendations made in the report by the Elliott Review stressed the need for training of people who might receive abuse complaints, the importance of a written record of allegations and of not giving priority to financial considerations.

It said a "National Safeguarding Team" should also be given more oversight powers and an independent body should be established to review procedures.

Published: 17 March 2016

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