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EUROPEAN UNION officials have been accused of spreading lies about Britain and future relations after Brexit to lure international banks away from the City. The Bank of England has reacted with fury over claims Brussels’ regulators have been using scaremongering tactics to persuade foreign banks to relocate their European headquarters by claiming post-Brexit there will be chaos in London. Sam Woods, a deputy at the Bank, claims “EU colleagues” have been presenting false and conflicting views to a “large foreign bank”. The BoE worker said the lender was inaccurately being told the British public be demanding “ever-tougher financial regulation” and focusing frustrations on City bankers after the UK quits the EU. In fact the City is expected to enjoy light touch legislation in comparison to the highly regulated EU, he said. And Mr Woods confirmed the EU claim was the opposite of his own conversations with EU regulators after they expressed concerns over the UK implementing...

MORE than 130 Tory councillors have warned David Cameron he risks tearing the Conservative party apart if he ignores grassroots activists.   The warning letter, which will be delivered to the Prime Minister, says many activists and councillors believe he has only met the “minimum outcome we could hope for in any renegotiation” after scraping together a new deal with EU leaders. Meanwhile Ben Harris-Quinney, councillor for North East Hertfordshire slammed the party’s top brass, saying: “It's time the Conservative Party leadership placed it's grassroots members and manifesto commitments back at the top their priority list, and stopped trying to disempower both with weasel words and political trickery.” The letter states: “We do not feel these manifesto commitments alone were enough to represent a good deal for Britain in Europe, but given the clarity of the commitment they were at least the minimum outcome we could hope for in any renegotiation. “As they have ...

JOBLESS Britons are being denied work in favour of economic migrants from Eastern Europe, it has been claimed. Dozens of vacancies on a Government-backed recruitment site require people to speak Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian and Russian. Agencies can advertise for work with language requirements where it is necessary for the role. But an investigation by the Daily Express found companies are actively seeking security guards, cleaners, customer service advisors and teaching assistants fluent in languages other than English. One advert on the Universal Jobmatch site stressed it was “essential” an experienced painter and decorator was able to converse in Polish. Critics said the scandal laid bare the “discrimination” against UK workers which was a symptom of our toxic relationship with a borderless EU. Tory MP Philip Hollobone said: “Whatever happened to British jobs for British workers? When ordinary British job vacancies can only be filled by people who speak an eastern...

NEW DELHI: Storm clouds were gathering Thursday over cricket's World T20, with organisers still to release tickets or confirm the venues, less than a month before the tournament begins in India. Hundreds of thousands of supporters are expected to attend the 16-team contest which begins on March 8, the first time India has hosted the world cup for the game's newest and most popular format. But with question marks over the presence of the West Indies and New Delhi yet to receive clearance to host matches, fans who need to secure flights, hotels and even visas are still unable to firm up travel plans. The official line from the Indian board is that any glitches will be ironed out and there is no cause for alarm. “Everything will be sorted out very soon,” Anurag Thakur, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said. But Paul Ford, co-founder of New Zealand's Beige Brigade fan club, said it was now simply too late for some fans. “We would ...

SHARJAH: West Indies international Darren Sammy delivered a calculated final over as Peshawar Zalmi survived a whirlwind Ravi Bopara knock to beat Karachi Kings by three runs in a tense finish in Sharjah on Thursday. Bopara smashed 67 of 32 balls in an innings that included five fours and four sixes to help revive his team after they slumped to 48-5 in 8.5 overs. Bopara was accompanied by Sohail Tanvir (23) to establish a crucial 61-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Earlier, James Vince (44) had laid the foundation for Kings to chase the 183 set by Zalmi. None of the other Kings batsmen succeeded in putting up an impressive show. Zalmi players kept it tight on the field and grabbed three sharp opportunities to run out Nauman Anwar, Imad Wasim and Usama Mir. Zalmi’s pace spearhead Wahab Riaz took two wickets, whereas Shaun Tait, skipper Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Asghar and Darren Sammy claimed one wicket each. For more detail    Peshawar hold ne...

STRICTLY COME DANCING'S Giovanni Pernice cutely referred to Georgia May Foote as his "amore", when he wished her a happy 25th birthday this afternoon.   The dancer took to Instagram to post a steamy kissing snap of the pair, who met when they were partnered up for the BBC One dancing show last year. The couple couldn't have looked more loved-up if they'd tried in the romantic photo, which saw the petite actress delicately holding the dashing Italian's face. "Happy birthday Amore!!!" Giovanni captioned the message, which pictured the stars in matching black ensembles. Georgia has reportedly been dating the Sicilian, also 25, since December, shortly after she ended her eight-month romance with fellow Coronation Street star Sean Ward. For more detail    'Happy birthday amore' Giovanni Pernice smooches Georgia May Foote in loved-up online snap

A WILD elephant spread panic when it went on the rampage in India's West Bengal state. The beast tried to enter a shopping mall today, damaging over 40 houses and shops and trampling several vehicles.   The animal went berserk before it was tranquillised by the Forest personnel. Local administrator Anurag Srivastava said: "We are assessing the damage. (The elephant) caused a lot of commotion. But now it has been contained."   The wild beast caused quite a commotion as crowds of people gathered to watch it from their balconies and roof tops. For more detail   Chaos as WILD ELEPHANT goes on shopping centre rampage destroying cars and buildings

President Barack Obama believes some Americans voted against him because of his race. But he also thinks a number of people backed him in 2008 because his would be a historic presidency.   “I have no doubt there are people who voted against me because of race … or didn’t approve of my agenda because of race,” Obama said in an interview published Thursday by the Chicago Tribune . “I also suspect there are a bunch of people who are excited or voted for me because of the notion of the first African-American president … Those things cut both ways.” Obama, facing his final year in the White House, hopes to have set “a tone for the next president” that’s not as harsh as the rhetoric heard on the campaign trail. Donald Trump, for example, has called for a temporary ban on Muslims traveling to the U.S. and a wall on the southern border to keep out Mexican immigrants. The president has alluded to the billionaire businessman’s controversial propos...

Obama: I was a nerd before it was cool   President Barack Obama is letting his nerd flag fly. In an interview with Popular Science , Obama marveled that being a “nerd” has become something to be proud of, unlike when he was a kid. “What’s remarkable is the way 'nerd' is such a badge of honor now. Growing up, I’m sure I wasn’t the only kid who read Spider-Man comics and learned how to do the Vulcan salute, but it wasn’t like it is today,” Obama said. “I get the sense that today’s young people are proud to be smart and curious, to design new things, and tackle big Read more: Obama: I was a nerd before it was cool

BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) -- Motorists should expect traffic delays in select areas of the Southland Thursday afternoon as President Barack Obama is set to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport as part of a multi-day trip. Mr. Obama is scheduled to arrive at the airport around 3:25 p.m. and then head to the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank to tape an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. He'll then head to two separate fundraising events in Hancock Park before spending the night in Westwood. The Los Angeles Police Department urged commuters to avoid: the area around N. Hollywood Way between N. San Fernando Boulevard and Forest Lawn Drive from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. the area around N. Hollywood Way between Forest Lawn Drive and N. San Fernando Boulevard from 4:45 to 6:15 p.m. the area around Rimpau Boulevard between W. Pico Boulevard and W. Sixth Street from 5:30 to 7 p.m. the area around Wilshire Boulevard between S. Hudson Avenue and S. Arden Boulevard from 5:30 to ...

FIRE crews battled a huge blaze at the Tata Steel plant this morning.   Mid and West Wales Fire Service said it was called to the Port Talbot plant which is believed to have   started in the coke oven, at about 8am. For more detail   BREAKING: Fire after 'explosion' at Tata Steel plant

HEALTH Secretary Jeremy Hunt has confirmed he will impose an unpopular new contract on junior doctors after months of talks have reached "the end of the road".   The Health Secretary announced the new contract will be imposed from August 1 in the House of Commons on Thursday. His announcement - just hours after the trainee medics finished their second strike - comes as a massive blow for England's 54,000 junior doctors - any doctor below consultant level. A deadline for the British Medical Association (BMA) to accept the deal passed on Wednesday night, which the Government's chief negotiator Sir David Dalton earlier warned would mean talks had reached "the end of the road". Defiant junior doctors have reacted to the news by threatening to step-up industrial action by carrying out even more strikes over the next five months. And fears over a mass exodus of the much-needed medics have now been heightened after a poll released on Wednesday r...

VIGILANTES patrolled the streets of a British town after claims of a mass brawl at a school sent racial tensions to fever pitch.   As many as 100 people in Crewe, Cheshire, were wandering the streets in large groups after reports of rape threats being made against school children. Police have put extra patrols in the town in a bid to calm tensions sparked by a fight at school. Parents have claimed their children had their hair pulled and were threatened with rape. Many have taken to social media to claim that a large group of Eastern European students lashed out and made the threats at the Sir William Stanier Community School. School officials and police have flatly denied the accounts, saying that only six students were involved in the fight. Speaking to Express.co.uk, one parent said there were “a few” separate fights in the school’s playground. The parent went onto claim her child was knocked to the ground and injured her head. It is understood many parents kept ...

In his final year in office, President Barack Obama is returning to an issue that was at the heart of the first piece of legislation he ever signed at the White House: closing the gender pay gap.   Obama on Friday unveiled new rules that would compel companies with more than 100 workers to provide the federal government annual data for how much they pay employees based on gender, race and ethnicity. That information would be used to help public enforcement of equal pay laws while giving more insight into discriminatory pay practices, he said from the White House. Historically, full-time female workers have only been paid a fraction of their male counterparts: In 2014, it was 79 cents for every dollar, according to t...

Gender equality is one of those issues that President Barack Obama takes very personally. "We're going to keep pushing until every until every single girl has the rights and the opportunities and the freedom to go as far as her dreams will take her," Obama said after mentioning his own daughters at an event on Friday announcing new executive measures aimed at closing the pay gap that separates men and women at work.   That gap, Obama insists, is 21 cents, with a typical female full-time worker earning 79 cents for every dollar earned by a typical man. Another way of looking at it according to a White House statement is that the median wage for a woman in the U.S. is about $39,600, or only 79 percent of a man's median earnings of $50,400. President Obama's history with the gender equ...

President Obama to Visit Mosque, Hold Talks With Muslims in Baltimore..  President Barack Obama will meet with Muslim community members this coming week in a public show of support. The White House says Obama plans to visit the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday and hold talks with Muslim community members. It would be the first visit to an American mosque during his presidency, according to reports. For more detail    President Obama to Visit Mosque, Hold Talks With Muslims in Baltimore

President Barack Obama, focusing on a message of religious tolerance and unity, called for all Americans to stamp out anti-Muslim prejudice during his first presidential visit Wednesday to an American mosque.    "An attack on one faith is an attack on all our faiths," Obama said, adding that "we have to be consistent in condemning hateful rhetoric ... none of us can be bystanders to bigotry." The president thanked the packed auditorium at the Islamic Society of Baltimore for standing up against extremist acts by ISIS and other terror groups who have given a "hugely distorted impression" of their faith, he said. He also acknowledged how Muslim Americans must routinely swear off the...

The 15th time before a California parole board was not the charm Tuesday for Robert F. Kennedy's assassin.   Once again, the commissioners said no to releasing Sirhan B. Sirhan, who has spent nearly half a century behind bars for fatally shooting the Democratic senator for New York. "This crime impacted the nation, and I daresay it impacted the world," commissioner Brian Roberts said. "It was a political assassination of a viable Democratic presidential candidate." Kennedy, who was the younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy, was shot June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles just after he'd won the state's Democratic presidential primary. The 42-year-old candidate died the next day. For more detail    Robert Kennedy Killer Sirhan Sirhan Denied Parole...

Returning to the place where his political career — and his first presidential campaign — began, President Obama visited the Illinois capital Wednesday, renewing his call for healing the nation's partisan discord and building a better electoral system.   Bemoaning a "poisonous political climate" that made citizens cynical and disillusioned and leaders unable to achieve great goals, Obama posed the challenge: "What can we do all of us together to try to make our politics better?" He outlined a few solutions, none of them new: limiting the influence of money in politics — including a Constitutional amendment, if necessary; reforming the congressional redistricting process; and making it easier to register and vote. At the same time, Obama said, the political culture needed to change so that there was less inclination to lie to voters, insult rivals or propose policies unsupported by science."Rather than reward the most extreme voices, or d...

BORIS Johnson could be on the brink of campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union after his wife tore into David Cameron's deal with Brussels.   The London mayor has not yet publicly backed Britain's membership of the 28-member bloc, leading to reports he could lead the 'out' campaign. And now Marina Wheeler QC, a human rights lawyer and Mr Johnson's wife of 23 years, has intervened in the debate ahead of June's expected referendum. In a furious attack on the Prime Minister, she said his proposals for reform, outlined by Eurocrats last week, "raise more questions than they answer". For more detail    Will Boris BACK Brexit? London mayor's wife TEARS INTO David Cameron's EU reforms