General news

• Former US governor compares Donald Trump to Sir Winston Churchill and sparks anger from British MPs

  27-12-2017 23:24
  Politicians lashed out, calling the comments “absurd” and “nonsense”.
  
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• 5 Times Lord Heseltine Didn't Care What Tories Thought About His Anti-Brexit Views

  27-12-2017 21:44
  Lord Heseltine, the Conservative peer once touted as a Tory Party leader, has spent much of 2017 warning against the damaging impact of Brexit.
  
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• Gambling-style apps offered on Facebook without age checks

  27-12-2017 20:00
  The Gambling Commission found children who played social games were more likely to bet money on adult gambling products.The company behind thousands of the UK’s fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) is offering gambling-style apps on Facebook without age checks, prompting allegations that children are being exposed to the risk of addiction.
  
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• Newcastle United v Manchester City: Premier League – live!

  27-12-2017 19:45 via theguardian.com
  All the latest from the 7.45pm GMT kick-off at St. James’ ParkEmail Simon or Tweet: @Simon_BurntonKompany keen to extend ‘special feeling’ of winning run100 best footballers in the world: the full list 10.58pm GMTHello world!Manchester United have tried. Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham have had a go. Arsenal, Burnley, Leicester, Everton and Watford have chanced their arm. Huddersfield, Brighton, Stoke and Southampton gave it a whirl. Crystal Palace, the Wests Ham and Brom and
  
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• Edinburgh's Hogmanay: Some 'volunteer' roles will be paid

  27-12-2017 19:35 via bbc.co.uk
  Organisers have agreed that supervisors and deputy managers will be paid at least the minimum wage.
  
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• Snow and ice cause disruption on UK roads and at airports

  27-12-2017 19:34 via theguardian.com
  Flights delayed and traffic at a standstill on some routes as snow, rain, ice and strong winds sweep across countryMotorists have had to abandon their vehicles in icy conditions in the Lake District and flights have been delayed across the UK, with the bad weather expected to cause further travel disruption.Several flights were delayed or cancelled on Wednesday at Stansted, where the runway had to be cleared of snow, and Luton, where passengers said they had been grounded for hours.Continue read
  
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• John Oliver on his clash with Dustin Hoffman: 'The whole thing made me feel sad'

  27-12-2017 19:33 via theguardian.com
  Oliver said his handling of a public discussion in which he confronted Hoffman over claims of sexual misconduct ‘didn’t really go anywhere constructive’John Oliver has expressed regret over his handling of a public discussion in which he confronted Dustin Hoffman over claims of sexual misconduct. In an interview on Sky One’s The Russell Howard Hour, the host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver said he felt the dialogue had “failed”. Related: Dust
  
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• Ben Jennings on economic prospects for 2018 – cartoon

  27-12-2017 19:32 via theguardian.com
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• Police officer and woman killed in Sheffield crash named

  27-12-2017 19:25 via bbc.co.uk
  PC Dave Fields and Lorraine Stephenson died in the collision in Sheffield on Christmas Day.
  
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• Croydon Police donations help fund new Xmas car for elderly theft victims

  27-12-2017 19:25
  Police say an elderly couple were "bowled over" after officers helped to buy them a replacement car for Christmas.Metropolitan Police officers handed a new Vauxhall Corsa - with its insurance and MOT paid for - to Linda and Michael Gibbs after their Austin Metro was stolen from their garage in October.Linda Gibbs said: "This is an amazing car, it has electric windows, two wing mirrors and no choke.
  
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• Porn, power and Damian Green’s political downfall | Letters

  27-12-2017 19:05
  ‘Too many in Westminster and the media … want to avoid talking about the power imbalance that underpins harassment,’ says Sophie Walker of the Women’s Equality party.Martin Kettle’s piece (Green’s downfall shows that porn needs tougher controls, 22 December) is as muddled and damaging as the rest of the coverage of Damian Green’s resignation.Rather than examining why women’s experiences of harassment are being ignored and why Green would have been
  
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• Beware the dangerous orthodoxy of neoclassical economics | Letters

  27-12-2017 19:05
  Employees move boxes our of the failed Lehman Brothers bank in New York in September 2008.My colleagues at University College London, professors Blundell, Machin, Attanasio and others, are to be congratulated for providing such a succinct outline of the neoclassical school of thought in economics (Letters, 22 December).The ideas and methods of that school of thought, and those currents of research which accept its intellectual hegemony within the economics discipline (behavioural economics, game
  
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• Military secrets of our nuclear power plants | Letters

  27-12-2017 19:04
  In her excellent article on the Hinkley C nuclear plant financial fiasco (The long read, 21 December), Holly Watt mentions the innovative insight of Sussex University academics Prof Andy Stirling and Dr Phil Johnstone, who have identified the central importance of expansion of the skill base of the new nuclear build programme – headed by Hinkley C – for the Trident military nuclear renewal programme.Watt also mentions the first nuclear plant built on the same site, Hinkley A. What is
  
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• Trump and the press: 10 questions journalists never thought they'd have to ask

  27-12-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  The president’s volatile temper and thin skin have prompted many improbable exchanges this year, including questions about neo-Nazis, slavery and moronsFor better or worse – more often than not worse – Donald Trump’s short presidency has, so far, been remarkable.The president’s unusually thin skin and volatile temper have prompted a series of bizarre questions that many journalists may never have expected to have had to ask. Here are some of the most outlandish. Con
  
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• 'It's all fentanyl': opioid crisis takes shape in Philadelphia as overdoses surge

  27-12-2017 19:00 via theguardian.com
  Nationally, over the past three years, fentanyl-related deaths have increased by 540%, and the epidemic is felt acutely in Philadelphia’s Kensington areaA young woman lies unconscious, propped against the wall of a drug detox center in Kensington, Philadelphia.Related: 'Dose as small as a grain of sand can kill you': alarm after Canada carfentanil bustContinue reading...
  
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• Ten Injured As Blast Rips Through Supermarket In Russia's St Petersburg

  27-12-2017 18:59
  At least four people have been taken to hospital after a device exploded at a St Petersburg supermarket, according to Russian news reports.
  
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• The Guardian view on Prince Harry: the monarchy’s best insurance policy | Editorial

  27-12-2017 18:56 via theguardian.com
  As guest editor of Radio 4’s Today, the prince made a programme that sounded a bit like a prolonged mentoring sessionThe Queen is 91. The subtle process of managing the inevitable transition in a way that embraces both the integrity of the crown and its capacity to change inched ahead on Wednesday when Prince Harry guest-edited the BBC’s Today programme. There was a time when this would have been unthinkable, and not only because it is not the sort of thing that either institution do
  
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• The Guardian view on literary fiction: in need of support | Editorial

  27-12-2017 18:56 via theguardian.com
  Stories should come from all parts of society – not just from the well heeled and the middle classLiterary fiction, you might think, is in wonderful health. Book festivals, from Edinburgh and Wigtown in Scotland, to Hay-on-Wye in Wales, to Cheltenham and Bath in England, are flourishing. There is certainly no shortage of people eager to become authors of literary fiction: creative writing courses have proliferated. The British, you could argue, are more at home tucked up with a decent
  
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• Liverpool agree world-record £75m fee with Southampton for Virgil van Dijk

  27-12-2017 18:48 via theguardian.com
  • Holland international will be most expensive defender in history
  • Liverpool had wanted to sign Van Dijk last summer for £60mLiverpool will sign Virgil van Dijk from Southampton in January after agreeing a fee of £75m for the Holland international – a world record for a defender. The Merseyside club had wanted to take him last summer and indicated a willingness to pay £60m only for the move to break down in acrimonious fashion. Related: Harry Kane breaks recor
  
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• Liverpool defender Jon Flanagan charged with common assault

  27-12-2017 18:44
  Liverpool defender Jon Flanagan has been charged with common assault.Merseyside Police said it followed an incident in Liverpool city centre at around 3.20am last Friday.The Premier League player is due appear at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on 2 January.
  
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• Basketball players kicked off American Airlines flight for alleged blanket theft

  27-12-2017 18:27 via theguardian.com
  The airline has apologized after a flight attendant accused two black professional players of stealing blankets and kicked them off of a planeAmerican Airlines has apologized to two black professional basketball players who were kicked off a plane in Dallas after a flight attendant accused them of stealing blankets.Related: World's largest amphibious aircraft takes off in ChinaContinue reading...
  
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• FTSE 100 hits new high as markets reopen after Christmas

  27-12-2017 18:26
  The FTSE 100 has climbed to a fresh record high as UK markets reopened after the Christmas break.London's leading share index rose to 7632.7 during Wednesday trading, advancing from all-time highs achieved last week to extend the market's so-called "Santa rally".The rally was supported by an upturn in copper and other commodity prices, which helped to lift global mining giants including Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Glencore.
  
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• Tribute to 'dedicated' officer killed in Christmas Day road crash

  27-12-2017 18:23
  A "dedicated" police officer and a 61-year-old woman killed in a crash on Christmas Day have been named.South Yorkshire Police said PC Dave Fields, 45, was responding to an incident on Monday when the marked police BMW he was driving was in a collision with a Citroen in which Lorraine Stephenson was a passenger.PC Fields' family said in a statement: "Dave was a loving husband and dad of two, who was a dedicated officer committed to his job.
  
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• Maëlys de Araujo case: hundreds join march in France for missing girl

  27-12-2017 18:18 via theguardian.com
  Police have found no trace of nine-year-old who disappeared from wedding reception near Chambéry in French Alps in AugustHundreds of people have joined a silent march for a nine-year-old girl whose disappearance from a wedding reception four months ago could be linked to the mystery killing of a British couple in the French Alps.There has been no trace of Maëlys de Araujo since August despite widespread searches and hundreds of police interviews.Continue reading...
  
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• Tributes paid to woman killed during police chase in Rishton

  27-12-2017 18:17 via theguardian.com
  Criminal investigation launched after Susan Shaw, 47, was hit by car being pursued by police in Lancashire townThe family of a woman who died after being hit by a car during a police pursuit have paid tribute to her.Susan Shaw, 47, was struck by a blue Vauxhall Corsa that was being chased in Rishton, near Blackburn, at about 5.50pm on Boxing Day. Continue reading...
  
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• Police investigate allegations of illegal Boxing Day fox hunts

  27-12-2017 18:15
  Allegations of multiple illegal Boxing Day fox hunts are being investigated by police across the country.North Wales police launched an investigation after a dead fox was found near the A55 in Anglesey after reports of six “hunting” dogs on the loose.When officers were sent to recover the dogs, the dead fox was found in the immediate area.
  
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• Woman killed in collision with police car in Sheffield named

  27-12-2017 18:12
  Dave Fields and Lorraine Stephenson were pronounced dead shortly after the collision.A woman killed in a head-on collision with a police car on Christmas Day has been named as Lorraine Stephenson.Stephenson, 61, died when the vehicle in which she was a passenger crashed into a police car driven by Dave Fields at about 8.15pm on Monday.
  
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• Nadine Dorries Thinks 'Left-Wing Snowflakes' Are 'Dumbing Down Panto' And People Are Done

  27-12-2017 18:12
  Tory MP Nadine Dorries has launched an astonishing attack on “left-wing snowflakes” who she thinks are making the world a culturally poorer place.
  
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• Fining universities for no-platforming denies the idea of academic freedom | Simon Jenkins

  27-12-2017 18:04 via theguardian.com
  The government says it wants to ensure free speech on campus – yet under the Prevent strategy it has its own list of banned speakersWho has the right to decide what students hear, read or see? The National Union of Students thinks it has that right. It argues that this is a free country and it can decide whom to censor. Universities minister Jo Johnson disagrees. He sees modern students as mollycoddled snowflakes who should grow up. He intends to fine universities that shield themselves an
  
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• Woman killed in Boxing Day police chase hit-and-run crash is named by police

  27-12-2017 18:02
  A woman who died after being struck by a car, which was being chased by police, has been officially identified as Susan Shaw - a mother of two.The 47-year-old pedestrian was hit by a blue Vauxhall Corsa in High Street, Rishton, near Blackburn, at about 5.50pm on Boxing Day.Lancashire Police said the driver of the Corsa failed to stop at the scene but the car was later recovered in nearby Cliff Street.
  
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• Millions Of Girls Displaced From Their Homes This Christmas

  27-12-2017 18:02
  This year 10-year-old Taslima watched her mother die from an illness then witnessed her father shot dead in front of her before running for her life, eventually arriving barefoot and helpless in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
  
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• Fritz Lustig obituary

  27-12-2017 17:53 via theguardian.com
  German-speaking ‘secret listener’ who worked for the British military intelligence unit MI9 during the second world warFritz Lustig, who has died aged 98, was one of a hundred “secret listeners”, all German-speaking émigrés, who worked for a branch of military intelligence known as MI9 during the second world war. They were based at three requisitioned country estates: Trent Park, in north London, and Latimer House and Wilton Park in Buckinghamshire. Having
  
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• Boots criticised over failure to cut price of morning-after pill

  27-12-2017 17:50 via theguardian.com
  Pharmacy chain has reduced cost in less than 3% of stores despite promising to lower price nationwide after outcryFive months after Boots bowed to public pressure and promised to reduce the price of emergency contraception, it has made good on its promise in less than 3% of its stores. After weeks of controversy last summer over its stance on the price of its generic brand of emergency hormonal contraception (EHC), levonorgestrel – during which the pharmacy chain said it could not reduce t
  
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• Drug-smuggling Briton Laura Plummer in 'bad prison'

  27-12-2017 17:46 via bbc.co.uk
  Laura Plummer is transferred to a notorious jail in Egypt, her family has said.
  
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• The cruelty of legal aid cuts for abused women is now undeniable | Deborah Orr

  27-12-2017 17:42 via theguardian.com
  Litigation in person is emotional, expensive and largely unworkable for domestic abuse victims. This flagship policy of austerity has to be reversedFinancial restrictions on access to justice are always problematic, but further restrictions on legal aid for victims of domestic violence, introduced in 2012, were particularly egregious. Just how much hardship these cuts have caused in the past five years has been made plain in new figures from the Ministry of Justice.In the first nine months of th
  
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• Labour voters could abandon party over Brexit stance, poll finds

  27-12-2017 17:30 via theguardian.com
  Party urged to clarify policy as poll finds more than half of Labour voters oppose leadership backing BrexitLabour is coming under pressure from leading pro-remain campaigners to clarify its stance on Brexit, after polling showed that a quarter of its current voters could switch party by the next election and more than half would oppose Labour backing Brexit.The poll of people planning to vote Labour – conducted by YouGov for the Best of Britain campaign group – found 24% said they m
  
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• I escaped from the Grenfell Tower fire – but now we face a new trauma | Natasha Elcock

  27-12-2017 17:27 via theguardian.com
  Theresa May was wrong to refuse to allow a panel including survivors to take part in the inquiry. If the authorities didn’t listen before, what hope do we have now?It’s when disaster strikes that you need the state the most. On 14 June, we in Grenfell Tower suffered an inferno. I escaped from the 11th floor with my partner and my six-year-old daughter. Over the next few days, as the emergency services continued to dampen the fire and recover our loved ones, we waited for help to
  
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• Ex-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski accused of sexual assault

  27-12-2017 17:20 via theguardian.com
  Joy Villa, a Trump supporter who is considering a political run, called the police after Lewandowski allegedly struck her ‘extremely hard’ on the buttocksA singer and potential congressional candidate says she has filed a sexual assault complaint against Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, for hitting her twice on her buttocks at a Washington gathering in November.Related: Obama tells Prince Harry: leaders must stop corroding civil discourseContinue readi
  
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• Barclays says Trump tax changes will knock £1bn off its profits

  27-12-2017 17:14 via theguardian.com
  Bank is one of many financial institutions around the world facing writedowns due to biggest changes to US tax code since 1980sBarclays has said Donald Trump’s US tax changes will knock about £1bn off its profits.The bank said the bill, which was signed into law last week, would make it harder for it to deduct past losses from future tax bills.Continue reading...
  
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• Petulant and jealous: Lord Nelson letters reveal his less noble side

  27-12-2017 17:08 via theguardian.com
  Correspondence to be sold by Sotheby’s shows his love for Emma Hamilton and sense of frustration when not in combatHe was one of Britain’s greatest military leaders but letters coming up for auction in the new year reveal a less noble side to Admiral Lord Nelson: petulant, jealous and complaining.Two of the letters are from Nelson to his lover Emma Hamilton, another is written by Hamilton and a fourth features the couple writing together. They shed fascinating light on Nelson, his pa
  
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• Lifeless MCG pitch allows re-energised England to rise from the dead | Adam Collins

  27-12-2017 17:00 via theguardian.com
  The absence of Mitchell Starc and illness of Pat Cummins were mitigating factors but after a damning day for Australia at least some fingers should be pointing at 22 yards of Melbourne blandnessIf, as the Libertines sang, there is no more distressing sight than an Englishman in a baseball cap then surely there is no sadder image than an Australian seamer operating with the wicketkeeper up to the stumps on the second day of a home Test.But don’t blame Mitchell Marsh. Sure, he’s far fr
  
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• Ukraine and separatists begin largest prisoner exchange of conflict

  27-12-2017 16:59 via theguardian.com
  Ukraine handing over 306 prisoners in exchange for 74 people taken captive by Russia-backed separatist forcesUkraine and Russia-backed separatists have begun to exchange more than 300 prisoners in the war-torn east of the country, in the largest such swap since the insurgency broke out in 2014.The exchange of prisoners was being carried out at a checkpoint near Horlivka, a city in the eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine handed over 246 prisoners in exchange for 74 people who had been taken captive b
  
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• Arthur Collins Admits Hiding Mobile Phone Inside Crutch In Prison

  27-12-2017 16:58
  Arthur Collins, who is serving a 20-year jail term for carrying out an acid attack in a London nightclub, has admitted hiding a phone inside a crutch while in prison.
  
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• Pair plucked from dangerous Crib Goch ridge

  27-12-2017 16:56 via bbc.co.uk
  The walkers were poorly equipped for the most dangerous route to the summit of Snowdon
  
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• Trump’s pernicious attempt to starve the UN of cash could yet backfire | Mark Seddon

  27-12-2017 16:49 via theguardian.com
  Thanks to ‘America First’, the UN’s annual budget is down. But Palestinians and the United Nations itself could benefit in the longer termJust ahead of the announcement by the UN that its annual budget is to be cut by 5%, at a time of almost unprecedented global humanitarian need and increasingly bitter and intractable conflicts, the Donald Trump administration revealed that the slash in spending was almost entirely down to its decision to hold back on some $285m in contributio
  
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• Snow and ice disrupt travel and power supplies across the UK

  27-12-2017 16:43
  An accident in treacherous conditions closed the M1 for several hours this morning but it reopened at 12.30pm.A lorry crash closed all three lanes southbound before junction 19, with Leicestershire Police telling Sky News it was likely caused by the wintry conditions.The RAC said it attended "a dozen vehicles" on the M25 alone - blaming a large pothole for causing punctures and wheel damage.
  
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• Prince Harry: Meghan settling well after 'fantastic' Christmas

  27-12-2017 16:41
  Prince Harry has revealed fiancee Meghan Markle is settling in well after sharing a "fantastic" Christmas with the Royal Family in Norfolk.The couple stayed with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who live at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, while visiting the Queen at her nearby Sandringham estate.Speaking about Ms Markle in an interview with the BBC's Today programme, Harry said the Royal Family "loved having her there".
  
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• Police name pair killed in Christmas Day crash

  27-12-2017 16:40
  Two people who died following a Christmas Day crash in Sheffield have been named as PC Dave Fields and Lorraine Stephenson.
  
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• Today programme’s royal coup was smart move for BBC and Prince Harry

  27-12-2017 16:31
  Britain’s Prince Harry gestures as he guest-edits the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme, in London.Prince Harry has provided an unprecedented insight into the issues that he considers important and his relationship with his father, Prince Charles, by guest-editing BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.The prince’s edition of Today has been broadly well received, with presenter Sarah Montague praising the 33-year-old as more hands-on than other guest editors and Catherine Mayer, autho
  
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• World's richest 500 see their wealth increase by $1tn this year

  27-12-2017 16:24 via theguardian.com
  Ultra-rich warned of ‘strike-back’ as global inequality hits a 100-year high and billions of poorer people see their earnings stagnateThe world’s 500 richest people have increased their wealth by $1tn (£745bn) so far this year due to a huge increase in the value of global stock markets, which are likely to finish 2017 at record highs. The big increase in the fortunes of the ultra-wealthy comes as billions of poorer people across the world have seen their wealth standstill
  
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