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The British economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, disappointing hotheads who’d expected 1 per cent. It was 3.1 per cent bigger than a year earlier, but 0.6 per cent smaller than in 2008. Pfizer, the American pharmaceutical company, said it wanted to take over AstraZeneca, with a £60 billion bid that would make it the biggest ever foreign takeover of a British-based company. The Labour party said it was leaving the Co-op Bank and taking its £1.2 million overdraft elsewhere. UK Financial Investments, which manages the Treasury’s 81 per cent stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland, blocked a plan for 200 per cent bonuses. A film version of Dad’s Army is to be made with Toby Jones as Captain Mainwaring and Bill Nighy as Sergeant Wilson.
Ann Maguire, 61, a Spanish teacher, was stabbed to death in front of her pupils at Corpus Christi Catholic College, Leeds; a 15-year-old boy was arrested.

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