Category: news

Pope Benedict’s message for the BBC’s Thought For The Day has invoked secular ire – but the slot is no stranger to controversy.

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The BBC’s Brian Milligan tries out pedestrian speed lanes on London’s Oxford Street, consisting of a slow lane for shoppers and a fast lane for commuters.

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Ian Bell looks set to stay at six in England’s batting order for the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne on Boxing Day.

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JJB Sports has announced plans to raise £31.5m from shareholders, three weeks after warning it was likely to breach the terms of a key banking agreement.

The retailer said it was raising funds from major shareholders including Crystal Amber and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.

It added that its lender, Bank of Scotland, had agreed to waive tests that had been due in January.

Sales in the six weeks to 19 December were down 15.7% on last year, JJB said.

Bad weather conditions had continued into the pre-Christmas period and had “significantly affected” sales, the company said.

JJB also announced that chairman John Clare would step down with immediate effect.

He will be replaced by Mike McTighe, a former Cable & Wireless executive.

On 2 December, the retailer, which struggled during the downturn, warned it was likely to breach “certain financial covenants” in a £25m loan facility provided by its bank after worse-than-expected sales in recent weeks.

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A 23-year-old man has been charged with murdering County Armagh dairy farmer Victor Stewart two years ago.

Mr Stewart was found beaten to death in his home in Middletown in October 2008.

The 23-year-old, who has also been charged with armed robbery, was detained by police in Bristol earlier this week before being brought to NI.

A 48-year-old man has been charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Both men will appear in court in Newry on Friday.

The 48-year-old has also been charged with withholding information.

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Culling bats will not halt the spread of a killer disease that has wiped out about one million bats in the US since 2006, a study suggests.

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The cold weather continues to cause problems for Britain’s sporting schedule going into the festive period.

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Two thousand air travellers were left stranded in Paris as further snow hit France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

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Two women are taken to hospital suffering from burns after a suspected gas explosion at a house in Suffolk.

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A technical problem delays transactions for Halifax bank customers, including those waiting for wages to enter their account.

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Shares in Randgold Resources fall 5% after the miner warns the political tension in the Ivory Coast will hit its production.

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At least three soldiers and 24 militants have been killed in a series of clashes in a tribal region of north-western Pakistan, officials have said.

The battles erupted after about 150 Taliban attacked five paramilitary Frontier Corps checkpoints in and around Baidnami in the Mohmand Agency, one official told the AFP news agency.

The Frontier Corps said at least 12 soldiers were also hurt in the clashes.

But the Taliban said they had killed 12 soldiers and captured a checkpoint.

Two Frontier Corps soldiers had also been captured, a spokesman said. The claim was denied by security officials, who said no-one was missing.

Mohmand is a transit point for insurgents seeking to enter Afghanistan, and a stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The Pakistani military has launched offensives there in recent months, but insurgent attacks have continued on a regular basis.

Earlier this month, a twin suicide bomb attack at a government compound Ghalanai left 43 people dead. Local officials had been meeting tribal elders to discuss forming an anti-Taliban militia at the time of the blasts.

In July, another twin suicide bombing attack, also targeting tribal elders, killed more than 100 people in the village of Yakaghund in Mohmand.

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52 weeks 52 questions, part four

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At least three soldiers and 24 militants have been killed in a series of clashes in a tribal region of north-western Pakistan, officials say.

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New rules take effect in China that restrict car purchases by two-thirds in an effort to combat rising traffic woes in the capital, Beijing.

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