War on Isis: US-led forces carry out 22 airstrikes on Islamist targets in Iraq and Syria in 24 hours

The US and its allies have carried out 22 air strikes on Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in the past 24 hours, it has emerged. There were three strikes near Hasaka in northeast Syria hitting a tactical unit and destroying Isis fighting positions, bunkers and excavators, according to a Coalition Joint Task Force spokesman. Another strike near Aleppo hit an Isis tactical unit. Kobani, near the Turkish border, also took a hit destroying three fighting positions and a tactical unit. And in a co-ordinated attack with the Iraqi Government,...

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Morgan Freeman's step-granddaughter E'Dena Hines stabbed to death on street in New York

Morgan Freeman’s step-granddaughter was stabbed to death on a New York street in the early hours of Sunday, police have confirmed. E’Dena Hines, 33, whose grandmother was Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, the actor’s first wife, was stabbed several times in front of her home in Harlem’s West 162nd St. The New York Post said that a 30-year-old man man who was at the scene was taken into custody and moved to hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Freeman issued a statement saying: "The world will never know her artistry and talent, and...

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Toddler has his Minions Fart Gun confiscated at Dublin Airport for posing security 'threat'

A family in Dublin has discovered the harsh reality of airport security restrictions after their toddler’s Minions toy was confiscated for posing a ‘threat’. The toddler had a Minions Fart Gun taken off them at Dublin Airport on Saturday because toy guns – especially those with a trigger mechanism – are on the prohibited items list. “Can’t believe that a minion fart gun was taken from friends toddler, security felt it posed a threat [SIC],” a friend of the child’s family wrote on Twitter yesterday. A spokesperson for Dublin Airport explained...

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Yvette Cooper interview: Leadership candidate makes emotional call for Labour to be the party that 'makes a difference'

It is easy to be cynical about politicians – to think that they are in it for themselves, that they will say anything to get into power, and don’t know anything about the “real” world. But when you’re sharing the back seat of a three-door Fiat Punto with a politician who is choked up and on the verge of tears, it sort of makes you reassess. When that politician is Yvette Cooper – the Labour leadership candidate and shadow Home Secretary – it is all the more surprising. We’d met earlier in the day at one of her campaign events, and I was...

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Labour leadership contest: Party aids fear 'purge' if Jeremy Corbyn is elected

Dozens of Labour staff members and Shadow Cabinet aides could be dismissed within hours of Jeremy Corbyn winning the party’s leadership, it has emerged. The Independent understands that large numbers of Labour staff members are on contracts that expire the day after the new leader is elected. This means Mr Corbyn and his new shadow cabinet team will have a completely free hand at choosing who works for the party, with little or no legal obligation to existing staff. Labour aides, who have worked for the party for the past five years,...

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IVF: Do children have the right to know if they're the result of a stranger’s sperm or egg donation?

Although she has two half-sisters from her dad’s previous marriage, there was nothing in Jess Pearce’s childhood to make her doubt her biological origins. She tanned, her father tanned; he was tall, so was she. Yet when she was 28, her mother dropped a bombshell. “She sat me down one Sunday afternoon and said she had something she wanted to tell me,” Jess recalls. “She looked quite upset, and I thought, ‘She’s going to die.’” Instead, her mother told her, “Your dad isn’t your real dad.” Jess’s father had undergone a vasectomy after his...

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Human head transplants: are we close to making them a reality?

Thanks to Frankenstein’s monster, Robocop, and the cyborg commandos of Ghost in the Shell, extreme portrayals of transplant surgery have captured our imagination over the years. The story of a patient’s hand grafted on to a leg in China after an industrial accident to preserve it before being restored to his arm is just the latest success story to gain worldwide attention. So when Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero first announced his intention to perform the first ever human “head transplant”by December 2017 – part of...

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What happens to your body when it doesn’t get enough iron?

Any fan of Popeye will know that a good supply of iron can do wonders for your body, but in reality the effect of not getting enough of this powerful mineral can be more profound. Iron is essential for keeping a healthy stock of red blood cells, which are the transport vehicles that allow oxygen to travel around the body. Without sufficient iron levels you run the risk of becoming anaemic, making it harder for your body to function properly. When we breathe in and inhale oxygen into our lungs it binds with the haemoglobin in the blood,...

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Amazon: Devastating expose accuses internet retailer of oppressive and callous attitude to staff

Working four days in a row without sleep; a woman with breast cancer being put on “performance-improvement plans” together with another who had just had a stillborn child; staff routinely bursting into tears; continual monitoring; workers encouraged to turn on each other to keep their jobs. Life at Amazon sounds bleak, according to a devastating, 5,900-word expose by The New York Times. The global internet retailer founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, which paid just £11.9m in tax in Britain last year despite UK sales of £5.3bn, has...

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Bangladesh in final; to meet India

Bangladesh booked their maiden final berth in the SAFF U-16 Championship overcoming Afghanistan by a solitary goal in a tense semifinal battle at the Sylhet District Stadium yesterday. Midfielder Saad Uddin, one of Sylhet's own, scored the all important goal in the 56th minute to send the boys in red to their first final, having exited the competition from this stage in the previous two editions. The Bangladesh boys will meet India in Tuesday's final as the defending champions later handed a single-goal defeat to Nepal in the second semifinal. Having...

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Bangladesh detectives press charges against 13 for Rajon killing

Forty days into the gruesome murder of teenage boy Samiul Islam Rajon, police yesterday pressed charges against 13 people, including prime accused Kamrul Islam, for their involvement in the killing. In the charge sheet submitted to a Sylhet court, police showed three accused, including main accused Kamrul, as abscondees and 10 others as arrestees. Kamrul fled to Saudi Arabia soon after the incident. He was later detained by Saudi police. Despite Bangladesh government's diplomatic efforts to bring him back, the Saudi authorities are yet to make...

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Questions of Cash: 'A connecting Vueling flight was cancelled and all my travel costs were left hanging in the air'

Q. I flew from London to Ibiza in May to take part in a charity bike ride for Great Ormond Street hospital. It was a bank holiday weekend, so direct flights were too expensive. I halved the cost by breaking up the journey with a flight from London to Madrid with Norwegian Air Shuttle, and from Madrid to Ibiza with Vueling. The Norwegian flight would get me into Madrid for 13:35 and the Vueling flight was scheduled to leave at 17:25. This was booked and confirmed on 3 March. On 15 April, however, Vueling sent me a message saying it had moved...

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Manchester City vs Chelsea match report: Sergio Aguero inspires City to emphatic win as John Terry is hauled off at half-time

Manchester City 3 Chelsea 0 We are only eight days into the new season and already Jose Mourinho is one doctor down, 16th in the Premier League table and has a captain wearing the expression of a man watching his home being repossessed. Chelsea have certainly started with a bang but the smoke is coming from under their own bonnet. Diagnosis? Not yet critical, but with the potential to get much worse if things cannot be changed. With the caveat that these are early days, this was a wonderful performance from Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester...

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Gordon Brown warns Labour is in danger of becoming 'party of protest' (but doesn't mention Jeremy Corbyn once)

Gordon Brown has waded into the Labour leadership race, urging the party to become “credible” and “electable” once more. The former Prime Minister gave a speech this afternoon in which he said that Labour was “grieving” following their election defeat and that they needed to avoid the trap of becoming “a pale imitation of what the Tories offer” or “a party of permanent protest, rather than a party of government.” However, although he spoke for nearly 50 minutes, Mr Brown did not mention Jeremy Corbyn by name a single time though it seemed...

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China warehouse explosion: Tianjin workers race to clear site of deadly chemicals before it rains

Chinese officials face a race against time to clear toxic chemicals from the site of the Tianjin warehouse explosion, amid fears the blast may have released hundreds of tons of toxic gas into the air. Soldiers have joined rescue workers in gas masks and hazard suits in the port city where the death toll from Wednesday’s massive explosion has risen to 112. Another 95, the majority of whom were firefighters, remained missing. Officials confirmed the warehouse where the blast occurred was used to house more than 100 tons of sodium cyanide,...

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