General news

• May seeks to harness investor power in fight against online extremism

  24-01-2018 23:36
  Investors should use their financial clout to force internet firms into taking more responsibility for stopping militants and paedophiles using their platforms, British Prime Minister Theresa May will say on Thursday.May will make the call at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where the world's most powerful leaders, investors and executives are gathered to discuss the global agenda."Technology companies still need to go further in stepping up to their responsibilities for dealing w
  
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• Davos: Theresa May to urge tech firms to 'go further' over illegal content

  24-01-2018 23:30
  The Prime Minister will use her speech at the World Economic Forum to demand social media giants crack down on illegal and harmful content or face a backlash from government and investors.Theresa May will focus on the role of technology in modern life as she addresses the main congress.Although she is expected to praise the potential of technology to "transform lives", she will also call on social media companies to do much more to stop allowing content that promotes terror, extremism and child
  
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• Two-year-old girl watching Alexis Sanchez transfer announcement on repeat is the cutest thing ever

  24-01-2018 23:25
  Maebhe is completely glued to the screen.
  
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• Father with cancer records loving messages for his young daughters

  24-01-2018 23:20
  Steve Durrant was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2014.
  
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• Dwayne Johnson had the best response to the Twitter user who criticised the new Jumanji sequel

  24-01-2018 22:51
  You don’t mess with The Rock.
  
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• Arsenal v Chelsea: Carabao Cup semi-final second leg – live!

  24-01-2018 22:34 via theguardian.com
  Live updates from the 8pm GMT kick-offEmail Scott with your thoughts, if you fancySánchez wages out of our league, says Conte 9.34pm GMT 75 min: Alonso has a blast from 25 yards on the left. It’s as wild as it is ambitious. 9.34pm GMT 74 min: Chelsea press Arsenal back for the first time in a while. Alonso and Hazard threaten to open the hosts up down the left. Not quite. And with that, the rare period of pressure is released. On the touchline, Antonio Conte looks concerned, and no
  
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• Mark E Smith of The Fall dies at the age of 60

  24-01-2018 22:18
  Singer-songwriter Mark E Smith - a founding member of The Fall - has died at the age of 60, the band's manager has said.The Fall were forced to cancel a string of shows last year because of Smith's health.Born in Salford in March 1957, Smith wrote music in his lunch breaks while working on the Manchester docks as a shipping clerk.
  
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• Mosque attack suspect Darren Osborne 'blew kiss' at witnesses

  24-01-2018 22:07
  A man alleged to have driven a van into worshippers at a mosque in north London smiled and blew a kiss at witnesses, a court has heard.Witness Ibrahim Benaounda described the impact as like being "on a rollercoaster", saying he could feel his bones breaking as he spun in the air.Prosecutors allege that 48-year-old Darren Osborne, from Cardiff, targeted the worshippers deliberately.
  
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• Due diligence on Phil Neville could not save FA from another PR mess | Martha Kelner

  24-01-2018 21:47 via theguardian.com
  The governing body’s awareness of questionable tweets when it appointed himhas exacerbated the current controversyThe Football Association, as we know, is keen to learn from its mistakes. One of the major criticisms during the Mark Sampson farrago was that it did not undertake due diligence before hiring. You cannot accuse the governing body of such a lack of curiosity this time.A thorough reconnaissance mission was undertaken before appointing Phil Neville as Sampson’s successor, ap
  
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• Final interview with Mark E Smith: 'I can clear a pub when I want to'

  24-01-2018 21:35 via theguardian.com
  The Fall frontman, who has died aged 60, remained combative and funny to the last. Here is his final Guardian interview, conducted in autumn 2017Hello Mark, how’s it going?
  Nice to see you again, Dan. I didn’t realise it was going to be you interviewing me. I thought you’d be some fucking London Billy Bragg type. The LP [1] has taken a while to come out as I was a bit poorly but I’m okay now.I’m glad you’re feeling better. The Fall turned 40 last year, did you
  
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• Brazilian court upholds corruption conviction for ex-president Lula

  24-01-2018 21:34 via theguardian.com
  The ruling, which comes after an appeal against a judge’s sentence in July, could mean he will be barred from running for a third termA Brazilian court has upheld the conviction of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for corruption and money laundering, in a ruling that complicates his plans to run for a third term and marks an extraordinary change of fortune for the most popular leader in modern Brazilian history. Three judges at the appeals court in Porto Alegre voted unani
  
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• 'I've never done the Presidents Club before and I wouldn't again'

  24-01-2018 21:21 via theguardian.com
  Hostess of 19 describes ‘scary’ event where guest decades older asked her: are you a prostitute? At around 8pm last Thursday evening around 130 young women walked into the ballroom of the opulent Dorchester hotel in London’s Park Lane.
  To the tune of “Power” by the British girl band Little Mix, these “hostesses” – each one clad in a short, tight black skirt and high heels – made their way to one of 24 tables, where around 360 men had squeezed
  
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• Mark E Smith, the Fall frontman, dies aged 60

  24-01-2018 21:18 via theguardian.com
  Famously fractious singer had been suffering from ill health throughout 2017Mark E Smith, the irascible frontman of Manchester post-punk band the Fall, has died at the age of 60.Smith formed the Fall in 1976 in Prestwich and was the only constant member of the band. He was known for his tempestuous relationship with his bandmates, and frequently fired them – there have been 66 different members over the years, with a third of them lasting less than a year. Smith famously once said: “
  
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• Singer Sir Elton John announces final tour: 'I want to go out with a bang'

  24-01-2018 21:17
  Rocket Man singer Sir Elton John says he wants to "go out with a bang" as he revealed plans for a final world tour.The 70-year-old British musician - who has been touring for nearly 50 years - said he will no longer perform live following his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which is due to start in September.Asked if he could later reconsider his decision, Sir Elton vowed not to do a "Cher", adding: "This is the end".
  
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• SpaceX fires up its biggest rocket, paving way for a test flight

  24-01-2018 20:46 via theguardian.com
  Elon Musk says Falcon Heavy, his company’s newest rocket, will launch ‘in a week or so’ after test at Kennedy Space CenterSpaceX fired up its newest, biggest rocket in a critical launch pad test on Wednesday, advancing toward a long-anticipated test flight possibly in just a week. The Falcon Heavy briefly roared to life for the first time at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center. All three boosters – 27 engines in all – were tested. The thunderous booms could be heard a
  
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• Turkey to extend Syria campaign to Kurdish-controlled Manbij

  24-01-2018 20:40 via theguardian.com
  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vows to ‘thwart’ Kurdish opposition in move that may force US reactionTurkey has said it will extend its incursion in Syria to the town of Manbij, taking its forces to the edge of the US-backed Kurdish presence in the country’s north-east and raising the spectre of a military standoff with Washington.
  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, announced the move late on Wednesday as a Turkish military assault on the city of Afrin, in north-we
  
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• Kyle Edmund must unleash his monster forehand and attack | Tim Henman

  24-01-2018 20:11 via theguardian.com
  Tim Henman highlights the weapons the Briton can deploy to beat Marin Cilic in the Australian Open semi-finalKyle Edmund’s forehand is one of the great shots in the game. It’s definitely among the top five forehands and he’s more mature, he’s been on the Tour a while and the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. He has to look to dictate as much as he can because, if he doesn’t, Marin Cilic will be the one dictating. Continue reading...
  
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• The charities rejecting Presidents Club donations over scandal

  24-01-2018 20:09
  Great Ormond Street hospital has said it will be returning previous donations from the Presidents Club after allegations of sexual harassment at a fundraiser. Photograph: John Stillwell/PAGreat Ormond Street hospital – sending the money back, will not accept future donations
  
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• Shindig at the Dorchester erodes public trust in business

  24-01-2018 20:09 via theguardian.com
  There is no excuse for the nauseating spectacle of the Presidents Club dinnerThere are two jaw-dropping aspects to the nauseating circus at the Dorchester, AKA the last (thankfully) Presidents Club annual dinner. One is that the event took place in 2018. Even in the early 1990s, a business dinner of this type would have been seen as deplorable, or at least that would have been the official line from the companies and organisations these men represent.Therein lies the second astonishing feature:
  
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• Khaled Ali withdraws from Egyptian presidential race

  24-01-2018 20:05 via theguardian.com
  Lawyer ends challenge to Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, telling supporters ‘opportunity for hope has gone’The Egyptian presidential hopeful and rights lawyer Khaled Ali has quit the race, becoming the latest would-be candidate who either has bowed out or been forced to abandon a challenge to the president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, before the March election.Ali, a prominent socialist, had entered the race as a symbol of Egypt’s leftist revolutionary politics, but on Wednesday he told a press
  
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• Google CEO: we're happy to pay more tax

  24-01-2018 20:02 via theguardian.com
  Sundar Pichai tells Davos flawed tax system is to blame for EU countries missing out on revenueThe chief executive of Google has declared he is happy for his company to pay more tax, and called for the existing system to be reformed. Sundar Pichai told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the tax system needed to be reformed to address concerns that some companies were not paying their fair share. Continue reading...
  
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• European pilot group demands Ryanair meet unions collectively

  24-01-2018 19:50
  Unions representing Ryanairpilots told management on Wednesday they wanted to meet on a collective basis as they were unhappy with the progress of individual talks, according to a letter sent to the Irish airline by the European Cockpit Association (ECA).The letter, which was on ECA notepaper and was signed by 11 trade unions, also demanded that Ryanair commit by March 1 to permanent direct employment contracts in accordance with the local laws of the country where they are based.Ryanair in a st
  
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• How One Woman Faced Disturbing Levels Of Harassment Working In Restaurants And Bars

  24-01-2018 19:47
  In November, we reported on women’s everyday experiences of sexual harassment at work.
  
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• How One Woman Faced A Disturbing Amount Of Harassment Working In Restaurants And Bars

  24-01-2018 19:47
  In November, we reported on women’s everyday experiences of sexual harassment at work.
  
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• The Guardian view on the Presidents Club: we are all complicit | Editorial

  24-01-2018 19:45 via theguardian.com
  It is possible to end nights out for slimeballs and stop sexual harassment at work. But it relies on each of us helping to change the culture that lets them happenEverything stank about the Presidents Club annual fundraising gala, held in central London last week and reported in Wednesday’s Financial Times. A glance at the invitation should have been enough: the night was billed as men-only. A compere described it to paying guests as “the most un-PC event of the year”. The prog
  
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• Presidents Club to scrap further events and close after 'slimeball' scandal

  24-01-2018 19:43
  The Presidents Club will close and not host any further fundraising events following allegations of harassment at a London dinner.The charity has been rocked by claims its recent all-male fundraising dinner, held at the Dorchester Hotel last Thursday, saw female workers groped, sexually harassed and propositioned.In a statement, the organisation said: "The trustees have decided that the Presidents Club will not host any further fundraising events.
  
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• Enrique Iglesias sues Universal for lost royalties in multimillion dollar lawsuit

  24-01-2018 19:41 via theguardian.com
  The Latin pop star filed a suit in Miami alleging that Universal ‘systematically underpaid’ his streaming royaltiesEnrique Iglesias is suing his former record label for “systematically underpaying” his streaming royalties. According to a new lawsuit filed in a Miami federal court, Iglesias alleges that he only received what is described as a “small fraction” of his 50% royalty rate for streaming from Universal Music Group (UMG), resulting in multimillion dolla
  
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• Steve Bell on Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May at PMQs – cartoon

  24-01-2018 19:40 via theguardian.com
  Continue reading...
  
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• Phil Neville will not be charged over sexist tweets, FA says

  24-01-2018 19:40
  New head coach of the England women's football team, Phil Neville, will not be charged over sexist tweets, the FA has said.The former Manchester United and Everton player has apologised after comments he wrote several years ago resurfaced hours after he was appointed on Tuesday.On Wednesday Roisin Wood, who heads football's equality and inclusion organisation, Kick it Out, asked whether the 41-year-old's "misogynistic and sexist" posts would be examined by the FA.
  
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• Reporter relives 'shocking' dinner

  24-01-2018 19:35
  FT reporter Madison Marriage says some of the behaviour at the Presidents Club charity dinner was "shocking and depressing".
  
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• Sir Elton announces final tour in live video after 50 years of performing

  24-01-2018 19:32
  Sir Elton John has revealed he will perform one final world tour before hanging up his microphone for good.Ahead of the announcement, the video played parts of some of his greatest hits, including Rocket Man and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, it also showed moments from some of his biggest gigs and photos of him with celebrities, including Diana, Princess of Wales.The 70-year-old star, who found global fame with songs such as Rocket Man and Tiny Dancer, is scheduled to see out his Las Vegas residenc
  
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• The Grenfell victims are forgotten people the politicians have failed | Seraphima Kennedy

  24-01-2018 19:31 via theguardian.com
  Councillors have broken promises made after the fire to listen to the community and put their needs firstThere was a moment in the aftermath of the fire at Grenfell Tower when all political parties were agreed: no government of any stripe could fail a community the way that residents in North Kensington had been failed. It felt like a turning point, both locally and nationally, in how social housing tenants were being treated. Theresa May admitted: “The support on the ground for famil
  
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• Brexit: David Davis and Jacob Rees-Mogg spar over extending Article 50

  24-01-2018 19:27
  Britain might as well extend Article 50 for another two years because its transition terms are so close to membership, David Davis has been told.Arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees Mogg made the comments as he tried to skewer the Government over its divorce plans.
  
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• Perils and pluses of a pledge to look after our own health

  24-01-2018 19:23
  ‘Removing the healthy from the health equation via “self-health” should in no way be seen as an attack on the poorest among us,’ writes John Bird.Dawn Foster is absolutely right to question the merits of this approach (Bossy diet advice won’t fix the NHS, 23 January).The same files in the National Archives also contain anxious reports from Oxford that “a sett of villains” was threatening to burn property on college lands if food prices did not come down,
  
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• Military spending or investment in peace?

  24-01-2018 19:23
  Royal Navy warship HMS Westminster (foreground) escorts one of four Russian vessels through the English Channel, 8 January 2018.An expansionist Russia, highlighted by Gen Sir Nick Carter in his speech on Monday (Report, 23 January), is one of several contemporary security threats, but it is not the overriding one.Climate change, terrorism, financial insecurity and inequality, as well as protracted conflicts and insecurity overseas also threaten our shared security.
  
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• Marxism v capitalism is so last century

  24-01-2018 19:22
  Armed Swiss police officers stand guard in Davos, Switzerland, during the 2018 meeting of the World Economic Forum.Rafael Behr’s article (Even at Davos capitalism’s critics are centre stage, 23 January) seems to be a “will he/won’t he” piece about whether Jeremy Corbyn wants to overthrow capitalism.Once in power is Corbyn really going to set about singlehandedly dismantling a global financial system?
  
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• David Meller, the Tory donor 'desperate to be part of establishment'

  24-01-2018 19:22
  David Meller: his co-chairmanship of the Presidents Club has turned from a plus to a minus.Until the Financial Times’s revelations the Presidents Club co-chair David Meller was moving along a familiar path.A generous Conservative party donor and wealthy businessman who helps run his family’s company, Meller moved into education by sponsoring state schools in England after forming his own charity, the Meller Educational Trust.
  
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• Elton John retires from touring … with 300-date world tour

  24-01-2018 19:20 via theguardian.com
  After a 50-year career Elton John is embarking on his final tour, which will take him to five continents over three yearsElton John has said he will be retiring from touring, 50 years on from the launch of his enormously successful pop career. In an event at New York City’s Gotham Hall on Wednesday, John announced his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, a three-year, five-continent outing that will feature more than 300 concerts, and will be the last of his career. “It’s time to c
  
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• Soldier who died at Deepcut was ‘shackled and humiliated’, inquest hears

  24-01-2018 19:16
  Sean Benton’s sister told the inquest he had complained of being pushed out of a window.An inquest into the death of a young army recruit has heard that he complained of being placed in shackles and humiliated at his training barracks before being found dead with multiple gunshot wounds.Pte Sean Benton was the first of four young soldiers to be found shot dead at Deepcut barracks in Surrey between 1995 and 2002.
  
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• Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly obituary

  24-01-2018 19:12
  Rick Jolly, who has died aged 71 of complications from a heart condition, was the only serviceman in the Falklands war of 1982 to be honoured by both the British and Argentinian sides.The awards were in recognition of his achievements in managing three frontline field hospitals in which more than 1,000 casualties – among them around 300 Argentinian soldiers and airmen – were successfully treated, and in later years in fostering a bold and imaginative spirit of reconciliation between
  
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• David Davis is so far through the looking-glass, he's beyond help | John Crace

  24-01-2018 19:09 via theguardian.com
  He’s free to change his mind on any details of Brexit any time he likes, select committee discoversIt could have been a scene from The Office. One in which David Brent had been summoned to HQ for a performance appraisal. One where he died on his feet while believing he was nailing it. Only for David Brent read David Davis.The Brexit secretary smiled broadly as he began his latest appearance before the select committee. He was feeling the love already. The chairman, Hilary Benn, chose to pu
  
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• AMC sued for wrongful death of The Walking Dead stuntman

  24-01-2018 19:03 via theguardian.com
  The mother of John Bernecker, who died from injuries suffered on set of the zombie show, is filing a lawsuit against the networkThe mother of a stuntman who fell to his death on the set of The Walking Dead in Georgia has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the show’s network and other parties, saying unreasonably low budgets led to inadequate safety precautions.John Bernecker, 33, died on 12 July from injuries suffered in a fall on the set in Senoia, about 35 miles south of Atlanta. Con
  
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• 'Floating 3D printing' brings sci-fi-style projections closer

  24-01-2018 19:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘Optical trap display’ projects graphics into the air, where they are visible from all angles We still don’t have flying cars, brain-computer interfaces, or an artificial intelligence (AI) you can hold a conversation with, but one classic science-fiction technology is on our doorstep: true 3D displays which are capable of projecting an image into “thin air”.A new paper in the journal Nature reports a breakthrough from a group of researchers at Brigham Young Universi
  
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• Cameron caught on camera calling Brexit a 'mistake, not a disaster'

  24-01-2018 18:55 via theguardian.com
  Former prime minister says Brexit has ‘turned out less badly than we first thought’ David Cameron has called Brexit a “mistake, not a disaster” in unguarded comments caught on camera at the World Economic Forum in Davos.The former prime minister said leaving the EU had not been as catastrophic as predicted. Speaking to the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Cameron said the process of leaving the EU was “still going to be difficult”. Continue reading...
  
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• Cameron caught on camera calling Brexit a 'mistake, not a disaster'

  24-01-2018 18:55
  David Cameron has called Brexit a “mistake, not a disaster” in unguarded comments caught on camera at the World Economic Forum in Davos.The former prime minister said leaving the EU had not been as catastrophic as predicted.Speaking to the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Cameron said the process of leaving the EU was “still going to be difficult”.
  
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• UK's pre-referendum Brexit forecasts no longer valid - finance ministry

  24-01-2018 18:53
  The top official at Britain's finance ministry said his department's forecasts of a big hit to the economy from Brexit, made shortly before the June 2016 EU membership referendum, were no longer applicable.Brexit supporters have long criticised the projections as part of a "Project Fear" they say was led by former prime minister David Cameron and his then-Chancellor George Osborne.The forecasts said that within 15 years Britain's economy could be between 3.4 and 9.5 percent smaller if it left th
  
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• Presidents Club to close down after claims of harassment at 'hostess' gala

  24-01-2018 18:46 via theguardian.com
  Guests distance themselves from charity and hospitals say they will return donationsA charity that counted billionaires, celebrities and politicians among its high-society patrons has been forced to close down after “deplorable” revelations about a men-only fundraising dinner where hired hostesses were allegedly groped and sexually harassed.Guests rushed to distance themselves from the Presidents Club charity, while beneficiaries including Great Ormond Street children’s hospita
  
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• From bust to boom: how 50 Cent became an accidental bitcoin millionaire

  24-01-2018 18:46 via theguardian.com
  The rapper let fans pay for a 2014 album in the cryptocurrency. Now, its value has soared – and the once bankrupt musician has made almost $8m
  Name: 50 Cent.Age: 42. Continue reading...
  
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• Ex-UK PM Cameron: Brexit not going as badly as we thought

  24-01-2018 18:43
  Former British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose failure to persuade Britons to stay in the European Union led to his exit from office, was caught on camera saying Brexit was not going as badly as he had believed it would.Cameron, who called the June 2016 referendum after being returned to power the year before, campaigned for Britons to stay in the EU, arguing that leaving the bloc would send the country into an economic tailspin.It's turned out less badly than we first thought," Cameron was
  
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• Welsh health service data centres briefly hit by technical issue

  24-01-2018 18:40
  A technical issue briefly hit two data centres of the National Health Service (NHS) in Wales, the devolved Welsh administration said on Wednesday, with media reports suggesting that doctors had struggled to access patient records during the outage.The cause of the incident remained unclear but there were no data security issues, it added in a statement."The NHS Wales Informatics Service have confirmed that all systems are now back although there may be a backlog affecting some areas," it said.
  
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