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'Notting Hill rapist' Anthony Maclean recommended for transfer to open prison

An infamous sex predator dubbed "the Notting Hill rapist" has been recommended for transfer to an open prison.




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Coronavirus lockdown changes 'will be small and carefully monitored' as Boris Johnson prepares to set out roadmap

The first changes to the UK's coronavirus lockdown will be "small" and "very carefully monitored" when the Prime Minister reveals his "roadmap" on Sunday.




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UK was not prepared for worst-case pandemic scenario, leaked report reveals

The UK was ill-prepared to deal with a health pandemic, according to a secret Whitehall document produced years before the coronavirus outbreak.




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VE Day 2020 LIVE: Queen to make historic address to the nation as Brits prepare to celebrate 75th anniversary

The nation is preparing to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day , with the Queen set to make a historic address to mark the occasion.




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Stars pay tribute to Mercury Prize-nominated rapper Ty who died after contracting coronavirus

Stars have paid tribute to Mercury Prize-nominated rapper Ty who has died aged 47 after contracting coronavirus.




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Food For London Now faces: 'The Felix Project directly helps counter malnutrition and poor health for people of all ages'

Felix Project volunteer Carrie Hogan shares her story You can donate here virginmoneygiving.com/fund/FoodforLondonNOW




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Police complain they are 'villains of pandemic' as they prepare for Bank Holiday weekend crackdown

Cabinet Secretary Oliver Dowden admitted on Friday morning that the lockdown is facing a major test from the sunny weekend ahead.




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Legal proceedings launched against Duke of York 'over £5m unpaid ski resort bill'

Legal proceedings have reportedly been launched against the Duke of York over an unpaid bill relating to a Swiss chalet.




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Donald Trump donor to represent Joe Biden assault accuser Tara Reade

Tara Reade, the woman who has accused US Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden of assault, will be legally represented by a donor for President Donald Trump.




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Brexit trade timeline 'virtually impossible', says Deputy Irish Premier

Deputy Irish Premier Simon Coveney has said the Covid-19 pandemic has made the timeline for a UK-EU trade deal "virtually impossible".




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Food For London Now: KSI hails the 'amazing' work of Felix Project after lending a hand to feed the vulnerable

British YouTube star KSI joined the Evening Standard's campaign to feed London during the coronavirus crisis, hailing it as "amazing".




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US Vice President Mike Pence's aide tests positive for coronavirus

A top aide to US Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for coronavirus, just one day after another White House staff member was diagnosed.




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Boris Johnson urges Russian President Vladimir Putin to help world find Covid-19 vaccine in VE Day phone call

Boris Johnson has asked Vladimir Putin if Russia would help play a more integrated role in global efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine.




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Elon Musk and Grimes can’t seem to agree on the pronunciation of baby X Æ A-12’s name

Is the Æ supposed to sound like 'eye' or 'ash'? We're just as confused too








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Deleted tweet might mean a new campaign finance problem for Ilhan Omar





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Washington Post: Hey, maybe President Trump isn't a Florida resident after all?





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'We're Out There' So Protect Us, Protesting Workers Tell Amazon, Target, Instacart

Workers at Amazon, Target and other companies walked off the job on Friday to demand safer working conditions and transparency about how many front-line workers have gotten sick during the pandemic.




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Supreme Court Livestreams Oral Argument For 1st Time In History

The Supreme Court, for the first time, livestreamed its oral argument on Monday. It has discussed whether generic terms can become protected trademarks by the addition of a dot-com domain.




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How To Listen To The Recordings Of The Supreme Court Hearings

The Supreme Court is now holding hearings over a teleconference, making the audio publicly available. Jerry Goldman, the founder of the Oyez Project, offers some guidance on how to listen to it.




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Why Fake Video, Audio May Not Be As Powerful In Spreading Disinformation As Feared

"Deepfakes" have received a lot of attention as a way to potentially spread misleading or false information and influence public opinion. But two specialists say that might not be a huge concern.








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Twitter failing to curb misinformation “superspreaders,” report warns

Posts from high-profile accounts tout questionable virus therapies and cures.





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‘In lockdown, spring is unfolding before my eyes’

With no alternative but to explore the nature on their doorstep, three writers describe the joy of enforced slow travel

It is a place I’d discovered before the virus: a left-hand bend in a narrow stream, a couple of steps off the footpath. There is nothing remarkable there, or not at first glance. There are breeze blocks in the stream bed and plastic bags deeply embedded in the roots of an alder tree. With a few variations, it could be anywhere in Britain: the neglected corner of a city park, the back of a private garden, behind a national park cafe. It’s just one of those spots that no one ever thinks to stop at and, if not for Covid-19, I would not have begun visiting daily, pausing for a few breaths before continuing. I saw the first snowdrops appear there, followed by primroses; then they were swamped by wild garlic and wood anemone. One morning a weasel shot out of a hole under a root and sprinted up the opposite bank. It was the first of several surprises.

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Earth Day: Meet the original eco warriors protecting the planet

How the ancient techniques of the world's indigenous people could help to combat climate change.





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NASA puts Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX on the list for lunar lander development program

NASA has selected teams led by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to develop lunar landing systems capable of putting astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024. "We want to be able to go to the moon, but we want to be a customer," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters today during a teleconference. "We want to drive down the costs, we want to increase the access, we want to have our partners have customers that are not just us, so they compete on cost and innovation, and just bring capabilities that we've never had before." Fixed-price contracts totaling… Read More





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A breakthrough approaches for solar power

Scientists are working on better solar cells that will turn more of the sun's rays into electricity.





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Tethers Unlimited and Rocket Propulsion Systems win NASA grants for space tech

Two Seattle-area space ventures — Tethers Unlimited and Rocket Propulsion Systems — are among 124 businesses receiving $750,000 Phase II grants from NASA's Small Business Innovation Research program. The two-year grants, announced today, support the further development of technologies that can benefit future space missions as well as life on Earth. All of the recipients, hailing from 31 states in all, received $125,000 Phase I grants during earlier rounds of funding. "We are encouraged by the ingenuity and creativity we’ve seen from these companies in their Phase I work," Jenn Gustetic, NASA's SBIR program executive said in a news release.… Read More





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Abbott coronavirus test is accurate; infected mother's breast milk may protect infants

The following is a brief roundup of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. A new antibody test is highly accurate at determining whether people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to a study published on Friday in The Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine found the test, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, had a specificity rate of 99.9% and a sensitivity rate of 100%, suggesting little chance of incorrectly diagnosing a healthy person as having been infected and virtually no chance of a false negative readout.





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No TV, no sat nav, no internet: how to fix space's junk problem – video

As Elon Musk's Starlink and Jeff Bezos's Project Kuiper race to create high-speed internet using satellites orbiting Earth, there's a small problem that could get in the way: debris. From dead spacecraft that have been around since the dawn of the space age to flecks of paint smashing windows on the International Space Station, rubbish is clogging up our orbits. And with objects moving as fast as 15,500mph (25,000 kmph), the satellite services we've come to depend on are at constant risk of collision. So how to fix the problem with junk in space? Ian Anderson investigates

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford briefly visited cottage after asking residents not to

Ontario Premier Doug Ford dropped by his cottage last month, days after asking the province’s residents to stay away from theirs. His office says Ford "drove alone" and was there for less than an hour to check on construction.



  • News/Canada/Toronto

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I was totally prepared to quarantine for COVID-19 — and my family got it anyway

Living on a 10-acre plot of land 100 kilometres outside Toronto, David Stevens thought he and his family were well prepared to ride out the COVID-19 quarantine. But after a call from his mother, he learned that even the best laid plans can go wrong.




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VP Pence's press secretary tests positive for coronavirus

Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary has the coronavirus, the White House said Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week. President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide, said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House. Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller, who tested positive Friday, had been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president.





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Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia are repressive regimes. They don’t belong on U.N. Human Rights Council | Opinion




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Senate Fails To Override President Trump Veto Of Iran War Powers

The Senate failed to override President Trump's veto of legislation that would have prevented him from taking military action in Iran without congressional approval. On Thursday, the Senate voted 49-44 in favor of the override, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for it to be approved. Both chambers of Congress passed the bipartisan resolution earlier this year.





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Hard Brexit more likely because of coronavirus and lack of progress in talks, says German foreign minister

A hard Brexit is more likely due to the coronavirus crisis because Britain and the European Union have made so little progress in talks, Germany's foreign minister has said. Heiko Maas said that negotiations between Britain and the EU so far on the future trade relationship had yielded few gains with the UK disregarding the political declaration, which he said was "simply not on". Britain left the EU in January, and talks with the bloc are now focused on setting new trading terms from 2021, when London's status-quo transition period ends. However, the talks quickly hit an impasse when negotiations resumed last month, according to diplomats and officials. "It's worrying that Britain is moving further away from our jointly agreed political declaration on key issues in the negotiations," Mr Maas told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. "It's simply not on, because the negotiations are a complete package as it's laid out in the political declaration." Mr Maas said there was currently neither common ground on how to shape a comprehensive trade deal or on whether to extend the negotiation period beyond the end of the year. "The British government is still refusing to extend the deadline," Mr Maas said. "If it stays that way, we will have to deal with Brexit in addition to the coronavirus at the turn of the year." Simon Coveney, Ireland's foreign minister, said on Friday that the coronavirus pandemic had made an already difficult timeline for a British-European Union trade deal "virtually impossible" and that it would make sense to seek more time.





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Egypt’s president expands powers, citing virus outbreak

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has approved amendments to the country's state of emergency that grant him and security agencies additional powers, which the government says are needed to combat the coronavirus outbreak. An international rights group condemned the amendments, saying the government has used the global pandemic to “expand, not reform, Egypt’s abusive Emergency Law.” The new amendments allow the president to to take measures to contain the virus, such as suspending classes at schools and universities and quarantining those returning from abroad.





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US governors aim to boost production of medical supplies

Frustrated by scarce supplies and a chaotic marketplace amid the coronavirus outbreak, some U.S. governors are seeking to bolster their home-state production of vital medical and protective equipment to ensure a reliable long-term source for state stockpiles. The efforts come as states have been competing against each other, the federal government, hospitals, emergency responders and even other countries to get items such as N95 masks, gloves, medical gowns and hand sanitizer — often paying higher-than-usual prices because of the high demand. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. got much of its medical supplies from China.





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Google Play has been spreading advanced Android malware for years

Advanced hacker group seeded market with at least 8 apps likely since 2016.



  • Biz & IT

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Marketplaces Are Changing the Way We Do Enterprise IT

In one of my latest reports (Key Criteria for Evaluating Unstructured Data Management), one of the key criteria was the availability of…