World News

60 Bitcoin fans arrested in Bolivia

The financial authorities in Bolivia have arrested 60 people for teaching other people how to invest in Bitcoins. The financial supervisory authority of the rather underdeveloped South American country bans any currency other than the boliviano and describes Bitcoin and other...

DEC rallies further support from British public

On Saturday 25 April a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. It severely shook the lives of at least 8m people and left many homeless. Nepal’s major cities, including the capital Kathmandu, have been badly damaged and rural areas near the epicentre have been completely cut off by avalanches.

The UK public has donated £45 million to the DEC Nepal Earthquake Appeal since it...

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DEC Nepal Earthquake Appeal

Nepal

quake

earthquake

Flatulent cows cause methane blast

An explosion in a cow shed in the German town of Rasdorf yesterday afternoon (Monday 27 Jan) was caused by a build-up of flatulent gas, German police have said.

The blast caused damage to the shed’s roof and left one of the cows with injuries.

Police believe that the shed became filled flammable methane gas released by the flatulence and belches from the 90 cows.

It is...

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Increasing risk of “Extreme El Niños”, research shows

The risk of extreme versions of the El Niño weather phenomenon will double over the coming decades due to global warming, new research has shown.

The frequency of ‘extreme El Niños’ could see a twofold increase as the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean warms faster than the surrounding regions.

The last major events in 1982-3 and 1997-98, when sea surface temperatures exceeding...

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Mourners pay tribute to Nelson Mandela

Crowds have gathered in South Africa to mourn the death of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa.

Mr Mandela 95 was a world-wide hero whose struggle for freedom against Apartheid and later leading the nation to re-build and reconcile after decades of injustice was an inspiration to millions.

In a statement on South African national TV last night, South...

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mandela

nelson

Plymouth

First UK aid delivery flight arrives in Philippines

The UK's first flight delivering urgently needed humanitarian aid has landed in the Philippines.

A chartered Boeing 777 carrying 8,836 shelter kits from UK Government stores in Dubai landed in the city of Cebu in the middle of the night local time and was met by Department for International Development (DFID) humanitarian workers.

It comes ahead of DFID-funded food, water,...

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Rock legend Lou Reed dies aged 71

Lou Reed, the singer, guitarist and songwriter and a key figure in the history of rock music through his work both solo and with The Velvet Underground, has died at the age of 71.

Reed had a liver transplant earlier this year, and his literary agent said he died of a "liver-related ailment".

Born in New York in 1942, Lewis Allen 'Lou' Reed attended Syracuse University where...

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Lou Reed

The Velvet Underground

dies

New York

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Syria chemical weapons monitors

The organisation responsible for monitoring the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2013 Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.

The Nobel Committee said: "During World War One, chemical weapons were...

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"Master of the contemporary short story," Alice Munro wins Nobel Prize in Literature

The Canadian author Alice Munro has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Described by the jury as a "master of the contemporary short story", Munro, 82, has published numerous collections over a 45-year career.

Born in Wingham, Ontario in 1931, her mother was a teacher, and a father a fox farmer. After finishing high school, she began studying journalism and English at...

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Alice Munro

Nobel Prize in Literature

European Parliament votes on tobacco and e-cigarettes

Legislation to limit the use of tobacco products by young people has been approved by the European Parliament.

However, the plans went through in a more limited form than originally proposed.

The draft legislation proposed that all flavoured tobacco products be banned from sale by law in 2014. It also called for the banning of slim cigarettes, packs of ten cigarettes and making...

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Higgs boson theorists awarded Nobel Prize for physics

The British scientist Peter Higgs has been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics with his Belgian colleague François Englert for their theoretical work on the Higgs boson particle.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2013 “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic...

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Nobel Prize

Peter Higgs

François Englert

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Physics

large hadron collider