General news

• Outrageous Islamic State book describes terrorist life like ‘plush holiday resort’

  19-05-2015 23:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  DIVERSE cultures, warm weather and luxury hotels. It sounds like the making of a five star holiday.
  
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• Gangland fugitive who became rapper and modelled for Calvin Klein while on the run jailed

  19-05-2015 23:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  A GANGSTER-turned-rap artist who fled to Australia to launch a modelling career under a fake name has finally been jailed after five years on the run.
  
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• Serbia through to Eurovision final

  19-05-2015 23:40
  
  Serbia has made it through to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with a song penned by the same writer as last year's winning Austrian entry, Rise Like A Phoenix.
  
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• The fall of Ramadi to Isis underlines the catastrophic failure of US policy in Iraq and the entire region

  19-05-2015 23:33
  
  Forget the Pentagon’s assertion that the fall of Ramadi, barely 70 miles from Baghdad and capital of Anbar province, the country’s Sunni heartland, was a mere blip in the course of the war against Isis. The operation was the militant Islamic group’s biggest victory in a year and has dispelled the notion, fondly put about by some, that Isis is on the run. It has also dispelled any illusion that the official Iraqi army is a fighting force capable of defending its country. What victories have
  
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• Tristram Hunt to deliver stark warning over Labour's prospects following election fiasco

  19-05-2015 23:30
  
  Labour will “wither away” if it “turns inwards” following its crushing election defeat, a senior member of the shadow cabinet will warn.
  
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• Duke of dub: Prince William reveals a talent for playing reggae bass guitar

  19-05-2015 23:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  PRINCE William has revealed another string to his bow – playing reggae bass guitar.
  
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• Police arrest Chinese man 'with 17 girlfriends' over fraud allegations

  19-05-2015 23:21
  
  Police have arrested a man in China on fraud charges after he was caught dating 17 girlfriends at once.
  
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• Fugitive model Ben Fiberesima jailed after London police sting

  19-05-2015 22:35
  
  Police have snared a gangster from London, almost a decade after he established a second life as a model and musician while he was a fugitive in Australia.
  
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• Takata recalls 34 million cars with air bag issues, believed to be the largest auto recall in US history

  19-05-2015 22:27
  
  The Japanese air bag supplier Takata has said that almost 34 million vehicles were equipped with dangerously defective air bag mechanisms, prompting what is believed to be the most extensive automotive recall in US history.
  
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• Chris Burden: Artist and sculptor hailed by critics for his unbounded imagination and willingness to make bold statements

  19-05-2015 21:54
  When Chris Burden stood in front of a camera in 1971 and had a friend open fire on him with a rifle he was making a bold statement: a new artist had arrived, one who was willing to push the limits of art as far as his imagination would take it. Over the next 44 years that imagination would prove all but limitless: Burden had himself nailed to the back of a Volkswagen beetle, locked into a school locker for nearly a week and built a 65-foot skyscraper entirely out of Erector Set parts (known as
  
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• Burma's opposition demands government gives citizenship to Rohingya refugees adrift on the Andaman Sea

  19-05-2015 21:51
  
  The Burmese government has so far disclaimed any responsibility for the fate of the thousands of Rohingya refugees adrift on the Andaman Sea. But now the spokesman for the National League for Democracy, Burma’s most important opposition party, has demanded a long-term solution to the problem: giving them citizenship.
  
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• Barry Newbery: Production designer who worked on 'Doctor Who' for more than 20 years with the first five Time Lords

  19-05-2015 21:51
  The television production designer Barry Newbery worked on Doctor Who for most of its original 26-year run, from its first serialised story introducing the Gallifreyan Time Lord in 1963 to a 1984 tale merging a present-day English Civil War re-enactment with the real thing. He brought his talents to more episodes – 62 over 14 stories – than any other designer, creating sets for five incarnations of the Doctor, played by William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Peter D
  
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• Dean Potter: Daredevil record-breaking rock climber and BASE jumper acclaimed for his ascents, descents and wingsuit flights

  19-05-2015 21:47
  The rock-climber Dean Potter took both his dog and his greatest fear up mountains, telling himself that if he fell, he could fly. He broke records for speed and daring on the world's sheerest slopes, performing "free solo" unaided ascents, traversing gorges barefoot on bouncing slacklines and, in the final years of a 20-year reign as one of the world's wildest mountaineers, hurling himself off mighty granite formations in a wingsuit. "Miss Whisper trusts her papa," he would say, of his miniatur
  
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• Georgia Army veteran arrested for breaking window to save dog has charges dropped

  19-05-2015 21:33
  
  Authorities have dropped the charges filed against a Georgia military veteran who smashed a window to get a dog out of a hot car.
  
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• Ernestine “Tina” Martin Wyatt: Descendant of Harriet Tubman says putting slave abolitionist's face on $20 will not fix plight of black Americans

  19-05-2015 21:19
  A campaign to have an American woman placed on the $20 bill recently selected slave abolitionist and equal rights campaigner Harriet Tubman as the person the public wants to replace the face of President Andrew Jackson.
  
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• Phil Shiner profile: A lawyer who takes on the underdog cases

  19-05-2015 21:12
  
  A devout Catholic who describes himself as a “committed socialist”, Phil Shiner has earned a reputation taking on underdog causes.
  
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• Phil Shiner interview: A righter of wrongs in Iraq – or the worst kind of ambulance chaser?

  19-05-2015 21:08
  
  Phil Shiner is used to taking on the might of the British state. But after years fighting for the rights of Iraqi civilians he now faces a battle to save his own professional reputation – and the Government’s campaign against him is beginning to take its toll.
  
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• Hillary Clinton Breaks Her Silence After 28 Days of Avoiding the Press - ABC News

  19-05-2015 21:05 via abcnews.go.com
  ABC News
  Hillary Clinton Breaks Her Silence After 28 Days of Avoiding the Press
  ABC News
  Hillary Clinton has broken her 28-day streak avoiding the press. Following a campaign event here in Iowa, where she was discussing small businesses and entrepreneurship, the Democratic presidential candidate meandered over the rope line to greet the ...
  Hillary Clinton emails ordered to be released in batches by next weekDaily Mail
  UPDATE 1-Clinton wants currency manipulation addressed in trade dealReu
  
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• Can we deflate the asset price bubble without a big bang?

  19-05-2015 21:04
  
  Just after 9.30am this morning the Office for National Statistics revealed that consumer price inflation in the year to April was down by 0.1 per cent, the first such fall since the CPI was introduced. Then, six minutes later, it published the House Price Index for March – which showed that prices in the UK were up 9.6 per cent year on year.
  
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• Cuban rum could soon hit US shores after more than a half-century of embargo

  19-05-2015 21:03
  
  French liquor behemoth Pernod Ricard could soon be the first to sell Cuban-made rum in the US after more than a half-century of being banned from doing so due to the trade embargo.
  
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• Prince Charles wants to learn Irish dancing - Belfast Telegraph

  19-05-2015 21:02 via belfasttelegraph.co.uk
  
  Belfast Telegraph
  Prince Charles wants to learn Irish dancing
  Belfast Telegraph
  The Duchess of Cornwall and the Prince of Wales watch an Irish dancing performance on the first day of their Royal visit to the Republic of Ireland. 19 May 2015. The Prince of Wales has admitted being a Fred Astaire fan and toying with taking up Irish dancing ...
  Gerry Adams and Prince of Wales discuss IRA attack that killed Charles' godfathermirror.co.uk
  Prince Charles shakes hands with Sinn Fein's Ger
  
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• Aston Villa seal £2.5m permanent move for Scott Sinclair from Manchester City - Daily Mail

  19-05-2015 20:57 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Daily Mail
  Aston Villa seal £2.5m permanent move for Scott Sinclair from Manchester City
  Daily Mail
  Aston Villa have signed Scott Sinclair from Manchester City for £2.5million on a four-year deal. The 26-year-old winger joined Villa initially on loan in January and has so far scored three goals in 11 appearances. With Premier League survival now assured for ...
  Aston Villa sign Scott Sinclair from Manchester CitySkySports
  Aston Villa transfer news: Villa seal permanent transfer deal for
  
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• Yingluck Shinawatra: Former Thai PM pleads not guilty in 'politically led' corruption case

  19-05-2015 20:53
  
  The former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal negligence which could see her jailed for up to 10 years.
  
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• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: New MPs start with sit-in and swearing

  19-05-2015 20:52
  
  They came, they queued, they swore. Yes, it was day two of the new Parliament. But first some harmless mumbo jumbo. Having been summoned with other MPs by Black Rod, the man in tights, to the Lords, re-enter Speaker Bercow, who announced: “Her Majesty by her Royal Commissioners has been pleased to approve the choice made of myself for the office of Speaker.” Which roughly translates as “Her Maj says, ‘Whatever’.”
  
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• With Fall of Ramadi, Plight of Iraq Sunnis Worsens - New York Times

  19-05-2015 20:52 via nytimes.com
  New York Times
  With Fall of Ramadi, Plight of Iraq Sunnis Worsens
  New York Times
  AMIRIYAT FALLUJAH, Iraq — More than a thousand Iraqi Sunni fighters stood at attention, dressed in camouflage but holding no weapons, as the tribal leader began exhorting them to fiercely battle the militants of the Islamic State, taking up rhetoric tinged ...
  'The US cannot defeat Isil, Iran cannot defeat Isil. They need to come together ...Telegraph.co.uk
  Iraq deploys tanks as Islamic State tightens gr
  
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• Isis seizes Ramadi: Iraqi government deploys Shia militiamen to assist in counter-offensive to retake city from jihadists

  19-05-2015 20:46
  Shia militiamen and Iraqi government forces are preparing to launch a counter-offensive to recapture Ramadi as Isis fighters tighten their control of the city after seizing it in a three-day battle.
  
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• UPDATE 1-Clinton wants currency manipulation addressed in trade deal - Reuters

  19-05-2015 20:43 via in.reuters.com
  TIME
  UPDATE 1-Clinton wants currency manipulation addressed in trade deal
  Reuters
  (Adds details throughout). CEDAR FALLS, IOWA May 19 (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential contender Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday she wants any trade legislation to address concerns over "currency manipulation," a view that puts her at odds with ...
  Hillary Clinton's hypocrisyWashington Post
  Clinton Emails: Judge Rejects State Department's Proposed 2016 Release DateABC News
  Clinton urge
  
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• Ex-No 10 guru Steve Hilton provides David Cameron with food for thought - The Guardian

  19-05-2015 20:42 via theguardian.com
  
  The Guardian
  Ex-No 10 guru Steve Hilton provides David Cameron with food for thought
  The Guardian
  The blue sky thinker has revolutionary ideas about the global system of food production. But will his former boss listen? Factory farming. Steve Hilton's suggestions to revolutionise food production include a ban on factory farming. Photograph: Alamy.and more »
  
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• Hatton Garden heist: Police make seven arrests and recover 'significant amount ... - The Independent

  19-05-2015 20:39 via independent.co.uk
  
  The Independent
  Hatton Garden heist: Police make seven arrests and recover 'significant amount ...
  The Independent
  Seven men have been arrested in connection to the Hatton Garden heist in a series of morning raids across London. Officers recovered a "significant amount of high-value property" which they believe was stolen during the raid on the safe deposit company ...
  Second hand car dealer, 76, and his son, 50, are among nine men arrested over ...Daily Mail
  Hatton Garden he
  
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• Mournful memories for Prince Charles amid the beauty of Sligo - Telegraph.co.uk

  19-05-2015 20:37 via telegraph.co.uk
  
  Telegraph.co.uk
  Mournful memories for Prince Charles amid the beauty of Sligo
  Telegraph.co.uk
  The first time he laid eyes on Mullaghmore in 1941, Lord Mountbatten wrote to his wife: “No place has thrilled me more.” When the Prince of Wales visits the soft green mountains of Sligo and looks out over the waters pounding the craggy cliffs and beaches, ...
  Prince Charles, in Ireland, meets with Sinn Fein party leader Gerry AdamsWashington Post
  Prince Charles meets Sinn Fein's Gerry Ada
  
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• Hillary Clinton emails ordered to be released in batches by next week - Daily Mail

  19-05-2015 20:34 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Daily Mail
  Hillary Clinton emails ordered to be released in batches by next week
  Daily Mail
  ... for publication all 55,000 pages; Must also present a schedule by next week for releasing 300 Clinton emails related to U.S. operations in Benghazi, Libya; Asked today about the State Department's review of her emails, Clinton said: 'I want those emails out.
  UPDATE 1-Clinton wants currency manipulation addressed in trade dealReuters
  Bernie Sanders: Clinton wealth 'a problem'CNN
  Clinto
  
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• US Charges 6 Chinese With Economic Espionage - Voice of America

  19-05-2015 20:30 via voanews.com
  
  Voice of America
  US Charges 6 Chinese With Economic Espionage
  Voice of America
  The U.S. Department of Justice has charged six Chinese nationals with economic espionage and theft of trade secrets for allegedly accessing secret U.S. technologies and sharing them with universities and companies controlled by the Chinese government.
  US charges six Chinese nationals with economic espionageReuters
  6 Chinese Men Indicted in Theft of Code From US Tech CompaniesNew York Times
  6 Chinese citizens charged
  
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• Chechen wedding of feared police chief and teenage bride shows how regions' warlord leader refuses to dance to Moscow's tune

  19-05-2015 20:13
  The groom was approaching 50, a boss in the feared Chechen police force. The bride was 17.
  
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• Moomins on the Riviera: How Tove Jansson's creations beguiled the planet

  19-05-2015 20:09
  
  Beyond nostalgic veterans of old Fleet Street, not many readers will have a clear memory of the Evening News: the London afternoon daily that, in 1980, merged with its rival the Evening Standard. This week, though, the millions of fans who cherish one of the best-beloved of all fictional families have good reason to salute this defunct paper – a judgment I would defend even if I weren't sitting in the office that The Independent shares with the Evening News's heir.
  
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• Simon Pegg Clarifies His Comments, After Appearing To Criticise Science ... - Huffington Post UK

  19-05-2015 20:07 via huffingtonpost.co.uk
  
  Huffington Post UK
  Simon Pegg Clarifies His Comments, After Appearing To Criticise Science ...
  Huffington Post UK
  Simon Pegg has posted a new blog, after being heavily-criticised for appearing to suggest that science-fiction films are responsible for “dumbing down” cinema. Film fans took to Twitter in their droves to discuss a newly-published Simon Pegg interview, ...
  Star Trek star Simon Pegg retracts sci-fi 'dumbing down' claims and is 'still a nerd ...International Busin
  
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• Patrick O'Flynn steps down as Ukip economics spokesman - Telegraph.co.uk

  19-05-2015 20:02 via telegraph.co.uk
  
  Telegraph.co.uk
  Patrick O'Flynn steps down as Ukip economics spokesman
  Telegraph.co.uk
  A senior Ukip MEP has stood down as the party's economic spokesman and apologised to Nigel Farage after calling him "snarling, thin skinned and aggressive". Patrick O'Flynn said that he wanted to express his "sincere regret at going public with my ...
  Nigels Farage gets revenge as UKIP rivals are sackedDaily Mail
  Ukip crisis: Party say Suzanne Evans not fired - but her contract
  
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• New £20 banknote to honour the arts with public asked to nominate favourite visual artists

  19-05-2015 20:02
  
  Wanted: one artistic visionary. Must be dead, British and have a face fit for a banknote.
  
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• 'Campaign to remove' gay officer

  19-05-2015 19:55
  
  A gay police officer was subjected to discrimination, harassment and victimisation in his work for the Metropolitan Police, an employment tribunal has ruled.
  
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• Government warned against 'complacency' after George Osborne claims UK's ... - The Independent

  19-05-2015 19:54 via independent.co.uk
  
  The Independent
  Government warned against 'complacency' after George Osborne claims UK's ...
  The Independent
  Economists have warned the Government against “complacency” after George Osborne claimed that Britain's first dip into deflation in more than half a century was “good news” for families and the economy. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined by 0.1 per ...
  UK slips into deflation for the first time in more than half a centuryIrish Independent
  Is the UK in de
  
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• Steward smuggled passports in pants

  19-05-2015 19:54
  
  An airline steward who tried to smuggle fake passports by hiding them in a pair of specially adapted underpants has been jailed for five years.
  
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• European Commission moves to cut red tape by overhauling rule-making procedure

  19-05-2015 19:51
  
  Eurosceptics across the continent cite red tape as an example of bureaucratic waste. That is now also the view in Brussels where officials have moved to overhaul their rule-making procedures, promising new safeguards to prevent useless laws ending up on the statute books.
  
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• Adams: Meeting of minds with Prince

  19-05-2015 19:46
  
  Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has claimed he had a meeting of minds talking to the Prince of Wales about lives lost in Northern Ireland's 30-year conflict.
  
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• Italy's 'eternally unfinished' highway enters final stretch - 50 years after construction began

  19-05-2015 19:45
  
  Back in 1966, Lunar 9 was the first spacecraft to achieve a controlled landing on the Moon, England won the World Cup, and Italy opened the first section of the Salerno to Reggio Calabria motorway.
  
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• The charts and quotes that show why Labour is still in hock to the trade unions - and why it would be crippled if they turned off the taps

  19-05-2015 19:41
  Liz Kendall has demonstrated the extent to which Labour is in hock to the trade unions by announcing her first policy - to reverse the Conservative Government's proposed laws to weaken the power of trade unions.
  
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• Government warned against 'complacency' after George Osborne claims UK's slip into deflation is 'good news'

  19-05-2015 19:39
  
  Economists have warned the Government against “complacency” after George Osborne claimed that Britain’s first dip into deflation in more than half a century was “good news” for families and the economy.
  
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• Two More Arrests In Hatton Garden Jewel Heist

  19-05-2015 19:38
  
  A further two men have been arrested by Flying Squad officers investigating the Hatton Garden raid, in which thieves made off with an estimated £200m in jewels and cash. A total of nine suspects have now been detained, according to Scotland Yard - and in earlier raids, "a significant amount of high-value property" was recovered. The first seven suspects, aged between 48 and 76, were held for conspiracy to steal, said Detective Superintendent Craig Turner, head of the Flying Squad.
  
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• court rules against bakery in gay cake row - Financial Times

  19-05-2015 19:36 via ft.com
  Financial Times
  court rules against bakery in gay cake row
  Financial Times
  It is the cake that split Northern Ireland. When Ashers, a well-known bakery, refused to make a cake decorated with the message “Support gay marriage”, it ignited the culture wars in the only part of the UK that has not legalised gay marriage, and set up a ...
  Ireland, religion and gay rightsThe Economist (blog)
  Belfast bakery guilty of discrimination after refusing to make 'Support Gay ...National Postall 4
  
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• 'There's no money. Deal with it': Chef posts hilariously honest job advert on Gumtree

  19-05-2015 19:34
  
  Are you a chef whose skills extend beyond a tuna mayo sandwich, and who doesn’t mind working for “sh*t” pay in a “kitchen the size of a closet” alongside a hilariously frank boss? If so, your dream job awaits you near Glasgow.
  
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• 11 Afghan Police Face Jail Over Lynching - Voice of America

  19-05-2015 19:33 via voanews.com
  
  Voice of America
  11 Afghan Police Face Jail Over Lynching
  Voice of America
  ISLAMABAD—. A court in Kabul has sentenced 11 police officers, including a district police chief, to one-year jail terms Tuesday while setting eight others free over the deadly mob beating of a woman in Kabul earlier this year. The judge found the 11 officers ...
  4 Killed and Dozens Wounded in Suicide Bombing in KabulNew York Times
  At Least 5 Dead in Blast Outside Afghan Justice MinistryNDTV
  This Farkhunda MomentT
  
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• Nine held over Hatton Garden heist

  19-05-2015 19:31
  
  Nine men have now been arrested in connection with the Hatton Garden jewellery raid which saw 72 safety deposit boxes looted.
  
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