General news

• Queen And Prince Philip's 70th Wedding Anniversary Celebrated With New Photographs

  19-11-2017 23:44
  Buckingham Palace has released new photos of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to mark their 70th wedding anniversary on Monday.
  
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• New photographs celebrate Queen and Prince Philip's 70th wedding anniversary

  19-11-2017 23:38
  New photographs of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have been released to mark their 70th wedding anniversary.Three images were published on Sunday night, including one where Her Majesty is sitting in a gold-coloured chair, with Prince Philip standing alongside her.The portrait released on Saturday shows the royals in the white drawing room at Windsor Castle.
  
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• New portraits released for Queen's platinum anniversary

  19-11-2017 23:19 via bbc.co.uk
  On Monday the bells at Westminster Abbey will ring to mark 70 years since the Queen's wedding.
  
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• 'No unemployed' gaffe adds to budget pressure on Philip Hammond

  19-11-2017 22:42
  Philip Hammond on BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, where he made the comment.Philip Hammond will face a fight for his political life at this week’s budget after he was accused of being hopelessly out of touch for claiming there were “no unemployed people” in the UK.The chancellor found himself at the centre of a damaging row over the gaffe as he prepares for a difficult budget on Wednesday at a time of worsening economic forecasts and uncertain Brexit negotiations.
  
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• Grigor Dimitrov edges out David Goffin in thriller to win World Tour Finals title

  19-11-2017 22:10 via theguardian.com
  • Bulgarian up to world No3 after biggest win of career
  • Finalists overcome early nerves to deliver epic matchAgainst the expectations of the doubters two free-hitting, first-time finalists, each trusting his skills to breaking point, gave a remarkable season the denouement it deserved on a cold midwinter’s evening by the Thames. Grigor Dimitrov won but David Goffin did not leave a loser.For extended passages of the deciding match of the 2017 ATP World Tour Finals they brought f
  
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• Trump lashes out at UCLA basketball players: 'I should have left them in jail'

  19-11-2017 21:51 via theguardian.com
  US president attacks father of one of three UCLA players arrested for shoplifting in China, after he questioned Trump’s role in resolving the matter
  Days after claiming credit for ensuring that three UCLA college basketball players were released after being arrested for shoplifting in China, Donald Trump tweeted that “I should have left them in jail!” The US president lashed out at LaVar Ball, the father of one of the arrested players, for questioning how instrumental the presi
  
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• Hammond seeks answer to voter unrest in new housebuilding push

  19-11-2017 21:41
  British finance minister Philip Hammond, under pressure to help weakened Prime Minister Theresa May in this week's budget, promised to speed up house building and said he had some room to help voters despite his squeeze on public finances.Aware that to some her government looks overwhelmed by the task of delivering Brexit, May needs her finance minister to show voters that she has a handle on Britain's domestic problems like a housing shortage, low productivity and stagnant pay.
  
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• Philip Hammond dismisses NHS chief's call for £4bn emergency cash injection

  19-11-2017 21:21 via theguardian.com
  The chancellor told the BBC that heads of public services always predict ‘Armageddon’ in the run-up to a budgetPhilip Hammond has dismissed calls from the head of the NHS for an emergency cash injection of £4bn, as he said people running public services always predict ”Armageddon” before a budget.The chancellor hinted the NHS could get more money to cover the cost of ending the public sector pay freeze for nurses and other workers.Continue reading...
  
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• Philip Hammond dismisses NHS chief's call for £4bn emergency cash injection

  19-11-2017 21:21
  Philip Hammond has dismissed calls from the head of the NHS for an emergency cash injection of £4bn, as he said people running public services always predict ”Armageddon” before a budget.Hammond told the BBC’s Andrew Marr: “That plan is not at the moment being delivered.
  
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• Budget 2017: What do we know of Philip Hammond's plans so far?

  19-11-2017 21:12
  Philip Hammond will unveil his Budget on Wednesday and, as usual, there have been briefings, rumours and ministerial wrangling ahead of the Chancellor's set-piece occasion.HOUSING: The Chancellor will pledge to build 300,000 homes per year, with the Treasury reportedly ready to find £5bn for housing schemes while tens of billions more could be earmarked for underwriting loans.The Chancellor has also indicated he won't ease protections on greenbelt land, although he has been coy on rumours
  
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• MI5 and police cleared of any liability over terror attacks in UK

  19-11-2017 21:09 via theguardian.com
  Inquiries overseen by independent barrister will make series of recommendations including devising algorithm to spot terroristsOfficial reviews will clear MI5 and the police of making serious mistakes that allowed terrorists to strike Britain in four attacks this year, the Guardian has learned.But the reviews will also make a series of recommendations to minimise the chances of missing future attackers, including a new computer algorithm to detect behaviour that could indicate involvement in ter
  
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• Mid-air plane crash killed three Britons and Vietnamese man

  19-11-2017 20:40
  A mid-air collision between a small plane and a helicopter killed three Britons and one Vietnamese national, police have said.Officers said the four victims were all men, and have since confirmed three were British, and one was Vietnamese.All four bodies have been recovered from the crash scene near Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire and post-mortem examinations were due to begin on Sunday.
  
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• Gaia Pope: Teenager Had No Injuries To Suggest Murder, Police Say

  19-11-2017 20:18
  Gaia Pope had not suffered any injuries that would suggest she was murdered, detectives have said.
  
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• The Guardian view on Brexit and the Irish border: Britain’s shameful dereliction | Editorial

  19-11-2017 20:14 via theguardian.com
  From the referendum campaign onwards, Brexiters have ignored the dire implications for Ireland. The neglect is a political and moral failure alikeThroughout his career, Gerry Adams relentlessly singled out the British government for the blame in Ireland’s troubles. In truth, the responsibility for Northern Ireland’s miseries was widely shared, not least with the IRA and Sinn Féin, of which Mr Adams has been for so long the chief strategist. Yet it is ironic that the Sinn F&eac
  
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• Search for new Sinn Féin leader begins after Gerry Adams steps down

  19-11-2017 20:13
  Gerry Adams announces his resignation as party leader at Sinn Féin’s annual conference in Dublin.Sinn Féin is starting the process of selecting its new leader after Gerry Adams announced he was stepping down after 34 years in charge.The Irish republican party’s leader in the deadlocked Northern Ireland assembly, Michelle O’Neill, has ruled herself out of the running to succeed Adams, who played a pivotal role in shifting the IRA to a permanent ceasefire in the 199
  
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• Ireland is caught between Brexiteers and Brussels | Letters

  19-11-2017 20:12 via theguardian.com
  The Irish republic and Northern Ireland could pay a high price for the UK’s divorce from the EU, suggest letters from readers including the former Labour minister Jeff RookerRafael Behr’s brilliant evisceration of the UK government’s shambolic handling of Brexit makes for depressing reading from the Dublin side of the Irish Sea (As Tories slug it out, does anyone care about Ireland?, 15 November). However, the suspicion remains here that the problem is not just with London but
  
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• The chancellor must end austerity now – it is punishing an entire generation | Letters

  19-11-2017 20:11
  Public sector workers protest against cuts. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
  
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• Police: No one else was involved in Gaia Pope's death

  19-11-2017 20:00
  Police say Gaia Pope suffered no injuries to suggest anyone else was involved in her death.Following a post-mortem examination, officers said the 19-year-old's death was currently being treated as unexplained.Meanwhile, her twin sister has said she is "heartbroken" at the loss of her "beautiful twin".
  
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• This government is falling apart, so Labour’s tribes must come together | Zoe Williams

  19-11-2017 19:52 via theguardian.com
  With the great prize in sight, it’s time for Corbynites and their doubters to recognise common groundThe Tories’ main problem with Jeremy Corbyn and the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, is that they speak human. Critics rush at the opposition like Wile E Coyote, carrying boulders and anvils marked “Maoist cult” (© Tim Farron) and “Marxist radical”, then wonder how McDonnell scuttles behind them with a cheerful “meep meep”. The Labour leaders
  
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• Paul Buckmaster obituary

  19-11-2017 19:44 via theguardian.com
  Music arranger and orchestrator who worked with David Bowie and Elton JohnArrangers and orchestrators have often been pop’s anonymous heroes, but the name of Paul Buckmaster, who has died aged 71, was frequently top of the list for many of the most successful musicians of the past five decades. A classically trained cellist, he was on course for a future as a soloist on the international concert circuit before his life was transformed by rock’n’roll.His leap into popular music
  
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• Chancellor, keep a million children out of poverty. Fix universal credit | Debbie Abrahams

  19-11-2017 19:38 via theguardian.com
  If Philip Hammond takes Labour’s advice, his budget can actually help the working poor instead of punishing themIn the last month there has been mounting evidence that the government’s flagship social security programme, universal credit, is not fit for purpose – and Labour believes the budget is a chance to fix it. Related: New universal credit claimants 'will get no money before Christmas'Continue reading...
  
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• Ben Jennings on the chancellor's upcoming budget – cartoon

  19-11-2017 19:38 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• Gaia Pope's sister 'heartbroken' over loss of 'beautiful twin'

  19-11-2017 18:43
  The twin sister of Gaia Pope has said she is "heartbroken" at the loss of her "beautiful twin" after police said they were "confident" they had found the missing teenager's body.Maya Pope-Sutherland wrote on Facebook: "Can't find any words right now.The twins' cousin, Marienna Pope-Weidemann, posted a picture of herself with Gaia, 19, on Facebook with the words: "My beautiful baby girl, so sunny and kind but tough as f***.
  
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• Police Force Praised For Tweeting Powerful Open Letter To Women In Abusive Relationships

  19-11-2017 18:36
  A police force in Scotland has been praised for using Twitter to help women in abusive relationships by writing an open letter telling them: “Help is out there.”
  
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• The ‘no unemployment’ chancellor needs a budget of compassion | Matthew d’Ancona

  19-11-2017 18:29 via theguardian.com
  The failing Tories are wrong to see Wednesday’s budget as their saviour. But by showing some humility, Philip Hammond can start the rehabilitationLike one of those gloomy American highways lined with liquor stores and gun shops, the road this government limps along is distinguished only by a series of last-chance saloons. Since the Conservatives’ disastrous performance in the election, we have been told that the prime minister’s Florence speech on Brexit would restore her autho
  
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• Hamleys Christmas toy parade – in pictures

  19-11-2017 18:29 via theguardian.com
  Regent Street in central London is lined with people watching the annual Hamleys toy parade, featuring a marching cast of children’s characters, entertainers, elves, bands, floats and flying balloons Continue reading...
  
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• Home Office admits it is struggling to recruit staff to register EU nationals

  19-11-2017 18:28
  If EU nationals are forced to join the ‘rest of the world’ queue at airports, UK’s Border Force will require extra staff too.Home Office officials have privately admitted the department is having problems increasing its immigration staffing levels as part of its Brexit preparations and may have to recruit Polish and other eastern Europeans to help register the 3 million EU nationals in Britain.Immigration lawyers said UK visas and immigration officials had told a recent busines
  
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• Calls for Bath University vice-chancellor to resign over further pay rise

  19-11-2017 18:24
  The former education minister Andrew Adonis has called for the vice-chancellor of Bath University to step down after it was revealed that she received a further pay increase for the current academic year.Glynis Breakwell was awarded a further increase of £17,500 in 2016-17 by Bath’s remuneration committee, while she was still a member of the committee, raising her total wages and benefits from £451,000 to more than £468,000.
  
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• Alabama's largest newspaper calls on voters to 'reject Roy Moore'

  19-11-2017 18:23 via theguardian.com
  With special election looming, Birmingham News editorial calls sexual assault allegations against candidate ‘a turning point for women in Alabama’The Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab is testing a new way to tell stories on mobile. View coverage of this topic and sign up for updates (recommended for Chrome users on Android)Alabama’s biggest newspaper on Sunday urged voters to “Stand for decency, reject Roy Moore” in an editorial about the controversial Republican Senat
  
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• Rugby union: talking points from the second round of autumn internationals | Paul Rees

  19-11-2017 18:16 via theguardian.com
  England still not the finished article while TMO controversy continues; gap between New Zealand and rest is closing, and the second tier show improvementEngland will finish the year on a winning note unless Samoa, vanquished by Romania in Bucharest on Saturday, produce the result of the decade. Unbeaten in their first year under Eddie Jones, they have lost only against Ireland in 2017 without, Scotland at home apart, producing an entirely compelling performance. Jones will not mind, counting dow
  
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• Robert Mugabe Defies Demands To Quit As President Of Zimbabwe

  19-11-2017 18:02
  Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has agreed to stand down after 37 years in charge, news agency Reuters has reported.
  
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• Robert Mugabe 'Agrees To Stand Down' As President Of Zimbabwe

  19-11-2017 18:02
  Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has agreed to stand down after 37 years in charge, news agency Reuters has reported.
  
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• Rude by Katie Hopkins – digested read

  19-11-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘People often compare me to Hitler. I take that as a compliment’I appreciate that many people think I am a twat. And I can see why. My whole career has been founded on people believing that I am a twat. But I am not a twat. Honestly. If you were to meet me in person, you would probably think I am not as much of a twat as you thought I would be. The bar really is that low.Vagina. Women don’t say the word vagina nearly enough. I am proud of my foof. A vagina is empowering. Too ma
  
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• Monaco builds into the Med to house new throng of super-rich

  19-11-2017 17:48 via theguardian.com
  The tax haven has a luxury housing crisis – it doesn’t have enough land for the 2,700 multimillionaires forecast to settle there over the next decadeConstruction has begun on a $2bn (£1.5bn) scheme to reclaim land from the sea around Monaco so that more luxury apartments can be built for the thousands of extra millionaires expected to move to the principality in the next 10 years.Nearly 35 in every 100 Monaco residents are millionaires and more of the global super-rich want to
  
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• 'Lost' masterpiece by Spanish artist found hanging in Welsh castle

  19-11-2017 17:48 via theguardian.com
  Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s 17th-century portrait had long been thought to be a copy until an art expert visited Penrhyn Castle The 17th-century portrait of an austere-looking Spanish writer had hung in Penrhyn Castle for nearly 150 years, unvisited by art experts and assumed by the National Trust, which owns the castle, to be of no great value.Continue reading...
  
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• Royal Blood Concert Sees Man Arrested With 53 Stolen Mobile Phones

  19-11-2017 17:30
  A 22-year-old man has been arrested after police found him with 53 stolen mobile phones after a Royal Blood gig.
  
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• Search for missing Argentinian submarine fails to find any clues

  19-11-2017 17:29 via theguardian.com
  ARA San Juan went missing with 44 crew members on board four days ago, in vast potential search areaA vast search by a multinational task force for an Argentinian submarine that went missing in the South Atlantic with 44 crew members four days ago has so far failed to provide any clues as to its possible location.The hope that arose from seven failed satellite calls detected on Saturday morning, which Argentina’s defence ministry at first said could be from the missing submarine, is also d
  
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• Benedict Allen coverage shows the UK media is stuck in the era of empire

  19-11-2017 17:09
  Benedict Allen went missing in Papua New Guinea ‘while searching for a lost tribe’, as the Telegraph put it.Once, when I was about 13 and desperate for books about my mother’s country, Ghana, I stumbled upon a Victorian novel about the Ashanti kingdom.The fact it was written by a journalist, a profession I aspired to, only made the book more appealing.
  
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• Man arrested after 53 phones stolen at Royal Blood gig

  19-11-2017 16:50
  A man has been arrested on suspicion of theft after more than 50 mobile phones were stolen at a Royal Blood rock concert in Birmingham.Officers said the man was found to have 53 phones in his possession which are believed to have been stolen during a concert by the rock duo at The Arena Birmingham on Saturday night.Police are now encouraging the band's fans who had their phones stolen to contact them.
  
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• Musical bliss: the London jazz festival pays tribute to Alice and John Coltrane

  19-11-2017 16:48 via theguardian.com
  Ten years after her death, the LJF climaxed with concerts recreating the ecstatic devotional music heard in Alice Coltrane’s ashram, and the cosmic free jazz of her saxophonist husband It seems astonishing now, but Alice Coltrane’s music was not always taken seriously. Jazz histories didn’t mention her, and the gatekeepers of the jazz canon would often sneer at what they regarded as her patchouli-scented, orientalist exotica; her soft-headed dabbling in Indian and African theme
  
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• Darren Lehmann calls for unity while Jonny Bairstow backs ‘motivated’ England

  19-11-2017 16:40 via theguardian.com
  • Australia’s coach responds to criticism of squad
  • Bairstow says England are still in the dark over Ben StokesThe phoney war is close to concluding and thankfully the Ashes are almost here, with both squads in Brisbane. England are weary after a tough day in the field at Townsville on Saturday, being bullied by cricketers they knew little of a fortnight ago, while the Australia coach, Darren Lehmann, spent Sunday responding to criticism – from fans and former players &nda
  
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• Autumn scenes in UK and prayers for Zimbabwe – Sunday's top photos

  19-11-2017 16:23 via theguardian.com
  The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world, from autumnal weather in the UK and mushroom hunting in Turkey to snow in Germany and a toy parade in London Continue reading...
  
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• A Scottish MP has suggested he wants to go on RuPaul’s Drag Race

  19-11-2017 16:16
  The SNP’s Steward McDonald said his drag queen name would be “Diva Lution”.
  
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• Burnham demands more power for the regions

  19-11-2017 16:00
  Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has told Sky's Niall Paterson powers given back from Brussels should go to the regions.
  
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• Tory MP says EU Withdrawal Bill plan increases 'no deal' risk

  19-11-2017 15:51
  A Tory MP has labelled the Government's attempts to write the Brexit date into UK law as "madness" - warning that it would increase the risk of Britain leaving the EU without a divorce deal.Former minister Stephen Hammond, who was labelled a "Brexit mutineer" by The Daily Telegraph last week, claimed enshrining the date in the EU Withdrawal Bill would prevent "flexibility" if it was felt exit talks needed to be extended.Speaking to Sky News' Niall Paterson about the potential for a "no deal" Bre
  
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• Climate Conference Makes Progress, Despite US Paris Pullout

  19-11-2017 15:15
  The 2017 UN climate change summit finished on Friday with significant progress made toward converting the landmark 2015 Paris deal into a rule-based framework.
  
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• UK's Hammond seeks answer to voter unrest in new housebuilding push

  19-11-2017 15:04
  British finance minister Philip Hammond, under pressure to help weakened Prime Minister Theresa May in this week's budget, promised to speed up house building and said he had some room to help voters despite his squeeze on public finances.Aware that to some her government looks overwhelmed by the task of delivering Brexit, May needs her finance minister to show voters that she has a handle on Britain's domestic problems like a housing shortage, low productivity and stagnant pay.
  
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• The strange, sad story of Adam Deacon: 'I started thinking, will I ever act again?'

  19-11-2017 15:00 via theguardian.com
  The east London-born actor starred in films such as Kidulthood and pipped Eddie Redmayne to a Bafta. He was poised for Hollywood until a skunk-induced psychosis led to a row with mentor Noel Clarke and a restraining order. Now appearing on stage in The Retreat, he talks about seizing his second chanceWhen Adam Deacon beat Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston to the Bafta for rising star in 2012 it caused an upset. While Deacon was a working-class school dropout who played street boys, the Eton-educ
  
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• Philip Hammond has caused confusion by claiming there are ‘no unemployed people’ in the UK

  19-11-2017 14:52
  As ever, people have taken to Twitter to voice their feelings.
  
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• Hammond's 'no unemployed' gaffe fuels belief that Tories don't care

  19-11-2017 14:49
  Philip Hammond’s gaffe that “there are no unemployed” is damaging despite his best efforts to explain it away because it feeds into two widely held beliefs: that the Tories don’t care about the unemployed and that the chancellor may be good at the figures but has no wider political vision.The chancellor asked Andrew Marr: “Where are the unemployed?
  
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