diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/library.py b/src/calibre/gui2/library.py
index bf45584df8..9b8210c75e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/library.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/library.py
@@ -910,7 +910,6 @@ class OnDeviceSearch(SearchQueryParser):
                 except ValueError: # Unicode errors
                     import traceback
                     traceback.print_exc()
-                    pass
         return matches
 
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py b/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
index de8eaf6ac5..540f7cd93a 100644
--- a/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
+++ b/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
@@ -615,10 +615,12 @@ class BasicNewsRecipe(Recipe):
                 del o['onload']
 
         for script in list(soup.findAll('noscript')):
-                script.extract()
+            script.extract()
         for attr in self.remove_attributes:
             for x in soup.findAll(attrs={attr:True}):
                 del x[attr]
+        for base in list(soup.findAll('base')):
+            base.extract()
         return self.postprocess_html(soup, first_fetch)