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El Salvador will privatize or close the cryptocurrency wallet “Chivo” created by President Nayib Bukele when he made bitcoin legal tender in 2021, an official said Thursday.The announcement came after the Central American nation’s government reached a $1.4 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund that addressed its controversial embrace of bitcoin.While bitcoin remains …

El Salvador plans to sell or shut its crypto wallet Read More »

Australian Olympic breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn says her legal dispute with the makers of a parody musical about her has been resolved, with a new version planned.The 37-year-old hit out at online reaction to the “Raygun: The Musical” affair as “so negative and awful, just awful”.Gunn’s performances at the Paris Olympics — which included kangaroo …

Australia’s Raygun says row over musical ‘all resolved’ Read More »

Republicans in the US Congress agreed on a new funding package Thursday aimed at averting a holiday-season government shutdown, after an earlier bipartisan deal was derailed by President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk.Trump threw his weight behind the latest proposal, which addresses objections to the mammoth package that prompted him and Musk, his incoming “efficiency …

Republicans push new deal to avert US government shutdown Read More »

Thousands of Amazon workers on Thursday launched what they called the “largest strike against Amazon in US history” seeking to maximize pressure on the retail behemoth at the height of the holiday shopping season.The job action targets seven Amazon facilities spaced around the United States. Workers on the pickets include Amazon employees who are affiliated …

Thousands of US Amazon staff strike days before Christmas Read More »

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he needed both Europe and the United States on board to secure a durable peace, as he huddled with EU leaders at their final summit before Donald Trump’s inauguration.Trump returns to the White House next month having pledged to bring a swift end to a conflict that NATO says …

Zelensky says Trump and EU must work together to secure peace Read More »

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he was ready for talks with US President-elect Donald Trump at “any time” while regretting that he did not launch Moscow’s full-scale offensive earlier.Trump, who will return to the White House in January, has called for negotiations to begin, stoking fears in Kyiv that he could force Ukraine to …

Putin ready to meet Trump to talk Ukraine deal Read More »

Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot, who survived a decade of sexual abuse by her husband and dozens of strangers, said she hoped her ordeal would help make the world a better place for “women and men alike” as her former spouse was jailed for 20 years.Her public stand against her abusers was hailed by supporters outside the …

Gisele Pelicot hailed as hero after ex-husband jailed in France mass rape trial Read More »

The United States was staring down the barrel of a holiday-period government shutdown Thursday after a late-hour intervention by Donald Trump and Elon Musk threatened efforts in Congress to keep the lights on through the New Year.The money authorized by lawmakers to run federal agencies expires on Friday night, and party leaders had agreed on …

US govt shutdown looms as Trump, Musk kill funding deal Read More »

In the villages above the Syrian port city of Tartus they once hailed the sons who died fighting in Bashar al-Assad’s service as martyrs.But mothers are now nervous to display their sons’ pictures, and no longer hide their bitterness towards the ousted leader for whom they sacrificed so much.”It’s true my son is dead,” said …

Defeat of Syria’s Assad stirs a mother’s bitterness Read More »

A stampede at a school funfair in the southwestern Nigerian city of Ibadan has killed 35 children and seriously injured six others, police said on Thursday.The injured children were receiving medical attention following the incident, which took place on Wednesday in Nigeria’s third-largest city, Oyo State Police Command said.”Eight persons have since been arrested for …

Nigeria school fair stampede kills 35 children Read More »