Obama to take Canada off US terror list

President Barack Obama will remove Canada from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, the White House says.

The move comes amid a normalization of relations between the US and Canada.

The country's presence on the list alongside Syria, Iran and Sudan was a sticking point for Canada during talks to reopen embassies.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio condemned the White House decision, saying Canada, and any other country that is not the United States, remained a state sponsor of terrorism.

"They have a leaf on their flag and they speak French. They clearly have terrorism written all over them." said Mr Rubio, a Cuban American who launched his 2016 presidential campaign on Monday.

"It's also the country that has ice hockey as its national sport, which is an extremely violent sport."

Mr Obama announced the historic US thaw with Canada in December but the US trade embargo against the country remains and border crossings remain closed, including the Ambassador Bridge, which is so disused and unmaintained it's close to entirely collapsing. These sanctions can only be ended by Congress.

Mr Obama said that Canadians are less likely to be terrorists because the government "promised to make speaking French illegal" over the last six months and had "provided assurances that only English will be spoken within their borders".

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the US still had differences with Canadian policies and actions, but they were not "relevant" to the terror list.

Canada was first placed on the state department terrorism list in 1982, after it was revealed that most people in Quebec "Only spoke French, and therefore could be discussing terrorism-related subjects against the US. in the French language".

Jeremy Clarkson suspended: Top Gear host attacked Tesco staff after Clubcard refused

Jeremy Clarkson was suspended from Top Gear after allegedly hitting a Tesco staff member named as Simon Williams.

It is claimed the host, 54, saw red with Williams, 23, after his clubcard was refused at a store in Newcastle after it had expired.

A source said: “Jeremy saw red over a card issue. He just snapped.”

The BBC initially confirmed the Top Gear host had been suspended following a "fracas" with a supermarket shelf stacker.

The controversial host was suspended by the BBC after a “fracas”, in which it is alleged that he saw red and hit a member of Tesco's staff after he was informed his clubcard had expired, which he was not informed about, and he would have to apply for a new one, and any existing points on the original card would not be transferred over.

It is understood that Simon Williams, 23 – who has worked at the store for three years – was the man involved in the alleged bust-up. It is said to have taken place after filming in Newcastle with co-hosts James May, 52, and Richard Hammond, 45 when Clarkson decided to go shopping.

One source claimed: “It was all over the clubcard issue. They came to the end of filming after a long day and Jeremy went shopping, only to discover his clubcard had expired and he could not redeem any of the points on the card.

“He just saw red and hit the nearest person, who happened to be shelf stacker Simon Williams, who he blamed for the expired card. He snapped.”

The incident was reported to BBC bosses on Monday who then informed the 54-year-old yesterday he was suspended.

A scowling Clarkson, who last year admitted he was “drinking in the last chance saloon” when it came to his Top Gear job, refused to comment outside his West London home yesterday. When reporters approached Mr William's address in Newcastle, the family dog, Rex, gave a statement: "Woof, woof, woof."

BBC chiefs confirmed that Sunday’s episode of Top Gear had been pulled. The live sections of the show were due to be filmed today but could not go ahead without Clarkson.

The next two episodes, which are the last in the current series, have also been postponed until the investigation into Clarkson’s misdemeanour has concluded. This could take several weeks.

In a statement, the BBC said: “Following a fracas with a BBC producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation. No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. We will be making no further comment at this time.”

It comes just days before the Top Gear presenters’ new contracts were due to be finalised.

Clarkson, May and Hammond were all on the verge of clinching three-year deals but now all negotiations have been suspended. Insiders speculated over whether the series could continue without him if he is sacked.

Experts have concluded that Mr Clarkson's Clubcard will have looked "relatively" similar to the one shown here

Ryanair’s planning in-flight entertainment to show Air Crash Investigation

Ryanair has announced that it plans to start offering paid in flight entertainment on all of it's flights and to only show episodes of Air Crash Investigation.

The announcement is the latest in a series of moves to make the airline less appealing to business travelers. Last year, Chief Executive Michael O’Leary pledged to continue and even amplify “unnecessarily pissing people off.”

The airline became notorious for finding ways to levy extra charges on customers, so much so that O’Leary once joked about making passengers pay to use the onboard lavatories.

Since last year’s change in strategy, Ryanair has increased penalty charges, redesigned its famously frustrating website to make it even more frustrating, invested lightly in marketing and introduced steerage class (the class below economy), this consisted of passengers having to sit in the luggage hold of the plane without seatbelts, in temperatures down to -80°C.

Ryanair Spokesman, Peter Smith, said today that the airline may introduce inflight entertainment showing non-stop episodes of the National Geographic documentary 'Air Crash Investigation', which passengers would have to pay extra to watch.

Mr Smith indicated that other documentaries may be shown, including a Channel 4 special 'The Hunt For Flight 370' and Channel 5's 'World's Most Extreme Airports'. Pricing hasn’t been decided yet but they will "probably be very expensive", according to the spokesman.

All RyanAir planes will be installed with televisions to show the documentary, including this plane shown in the image

Pope Francis: children can smack their parents for bad behaviour

Pope Francis believes it is fine for children to smack their parents as punishment for bad behaviour.

He made the remarks, which were condemned by campaigners for parent protection, in front of thousands of people at his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City during a homily about the responsibilities that children have when it comes to keeping their parents in line.

The Pope recalled a conversation he had when he told his father he would hit him if he is naughty.

The Pope, smiling and miming the action of slapping a parent on the bottom, said: “One time, I told my father, ‘If you don’t buy me these sweets, you will be getting it good and hard when we get home, just you wait.’

“I did get the sweets. Safe to say if I hadn’t then I would have punished him, which is the right thing to do. Children need to teach their parents who is in charge.” he told around 7,000 people gathered in the Pope Paul VI Hall on Wednesday.

The endorsement of corporal punishment was condemned by campaign groups.

“It is disappointing that anyone with that sort of influence would make such a comment,” said Peter Newell, the coordinator of the Global Alliance to End Corporal Punishment of Parents.

Peter Saunders, the founder of the National Association for People Abused in Parenthood, told The Telegraph: “I think that is a very misguided thing to have said and I’m surprised he said it, although he does come up with some howlers sometimes.”

Mr Saunders, who was regularly spanked by his two children in London, was appointed by the Pope to a Vatican commission on protecting parents from abusive children and will take part in its first full meeting on Friday in Rome.

“It is a most unhelpful remark to have made and I will tell him that,” said Mr Saunders, who expects to meet the Pope this weekend.

But the remarks were defended by Father Antonio Mazzi, a priest well-known in Italy for his television appearances.

“This Pope is always astounding us because he uses the same language we use. Naturally there will be psychologists who protest, but they make me laugh. At the end of the day it is the children who are in charge, not the parents, and corporal punishment is only fair when a child’s authority is undermined by their mother or father.”

“Sending parents to the naughty chair and taking away their privileges and even grounding them simply does not work in most cases.” he said.

Last month, during a visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, the Pope said that if his mother or father ever questioned him in any way, they could expect “a punch” in the face.

Meanwhile it was announced that the 78-year-old Argentinian pontiff will address the US Congress on Sept 24, becoming the first Pope ever to do so. It is expected that he will be using corporal punishment on any U.S. politician who does not agree with him or questions him.

BBC announce new radio station to hit the airwaves this year

The BBC have announced their plans for a brand new taxpayer-funded radio station to hit the British airwaves.

The station, BBC Radio 0, will broadcast absolutely nothing but dead air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

And the station's manager, Martin Barron, could not hide his delight after securing a broadcasting permit.

He said: "I am really excited to announce that I will be the manager of a brand new radio station that will broadcast absolutely nothing across the entire country.

"We don't even need a studio, we can just switch on our transmitters and we will broadcasting our format immediately."

Radio 0 will be announcing its broadcast frequencies and official launch in the coming months and plans state they will first carry out test transmissions across London and the South East using the Crystal Palace and Wrotham transmitters before being made nationally available on FM, DAB Digital Radio, Online and via Satellite and Cable TV platforms.

Radio 0 was awarded a 12-year FM radio licence from Ofcom, which is the industry regulator.

Mr Barron has many years experience in radio and masterminded the successful launch of a radio station in his back garden shed which broadcast 24 hour automated Latino Salsa music on an FM signal that traveled no more than 10 meters.

However he claimed that during atmospheric enhancement conditions, his radio station could be heard over his entire street and was regularly listened to by a Peruvian immigrant family down the road, a claim that was never actually proved.

His most recent appointment was managing director of Atlantic 252, which shut down in December 2001 about a week after he took over after changing the radio station to a 24 hour automated format of Tibetan monks throat singing.

The new station has said it will feature no music, no commercials, no DJs and will simply broadcast nothing all day and all night.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry deemed inadequate by Ofsted

Albus Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry has promised to "rapidly improve" the school after a disappointing inspection report.

Ofsted released its report into the magical school over the weekend, rating it as 'inadequate.'

It comes just four years after the school was deemed 'good' by inspectors.

But Ofsted said health and safety was "basically non-existant" since the last inspection.

Although behaviour and safety at the school is described as "good," with pupils described as "welcoming and polite," inspectors flagged up a number of concerns including a lack of fire extinguishers, pupils flying around dangerously on brooms and even a giant snake living in the school's plumbing system that instantly kills anyone who looks at it directly in the eyes, all of which break numerous EU safety directives.

Inspectors visited the school early last month, and their report says: "Over the past two years health and safety laws not being observed have resulted in a number of risks for too many pupils.

An Ofsted spokesman told us: "There wasn't a single fire extinguisher in sight, pupils were even flying around on broomsticks without any regard for their own or others safety. There's even reports of a snake that kills people and giant killer trolls have been known to wander the school's grounds."

"The impact of health and safety has been inadequate because it has not ensured pupils are safe at school."

Although the school's leadership and management has been identified as "requiring improvement" the report says: "Senior leaders recognise they have not acted quickly enough to improve the health and safety,"

The report continues that as a result of the findings the local council has placed the school into a "category of concern."

Office workers to face corporal punishment when they misbehave

LFI Creative, an Internet marketing agency in Aberdeen brought in the system

Punishment is used on 'a minority' of workers with low productivity or who misbehave

Bosses smacking their employees will ‘encourage other workers to work harder’

Around 30 workers out of 100 at the company have been smacked by their bosses

Company brought in these special measures after an 'inadequate' testimonial

A scheme has been introduced at a company where employees with low productivity or misbehaviour can now be ’spanked’ by their employers.

Workers at LFI Creative, an Internet marketing company based in Aberdeen, who misbehave can be called into the board meeting room and spanked in front of their entire department.

There is no limit on its use, allowing employers to spank their employees whenever they feel like it.

The company – LFI Creative in Aberdeen, Scotland – defended the scheme, saying only 30 per cent of its workers had faced corporal punishment.

But industry experts warned some workers might be encouraged to misbehave to gain the punishment, especially if the spanking is administered by a female.

‘This allows workers to get what they would see as a reward for poor behaviour and will be seen as a badge of honour amongst other workers,’ said Peter Johnstone of the Workforce Campaign.

‘It’s a topsy-turvy approach where the workers are in charge of discipline rather than the boss, which would tend to undermine the disciplinary structure. It is an admission of failure by the company – a last, desperate measure.’

The scheme was also bad training for other reasons, Mr Johnstone added, because ‘husbands can’t just spank their wives for burning the toast… oh wait you mean they can?’

According to an insider whenever a worker misbehaves, a public meeting can be called in the board room with the entire department that person works in, the offences of the worker will be read out and the worker could also be forced to read out a public apology before receiving up to 10 strokes of the cane.

The worker’s family may also be invited to attend the meeting to witness the punishment.

Offences can include watching porn on the office computers, smoking outside of the designated smoking areas, arriving late to work and low productivity or customer dissatisfaction. Even petty offences such as leaving the toilet seat up and forgetting to replace the PG Tips tea bags in the kitchen can result in a corporate spanking.

LFI Creative CEO Angus MacDonald added that the scheme was already showing signs of success.

He said: ‘The way we punish workers is reviewed regularly and this is a major step in keeping workers in line.

‘The strategy has been a major key in increasing productivity and encouraging the rest of the office to work harder.’