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Bitcoin slumps below $10,000

london - Emirates voice

Bitcoin slid below the $10,000 mark to $9,995.58 on Wednesday for the first time since December 1, leaving the cryptocurrency down by close to half from its peak hit last month. Bitcoin, the largest and most prominent cryptocurrency, fell more than 11 per cent to hit $10,000 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, amid worries about a regulatory clampdown. The cryptocurrencyRead more

Dutch BMX Olympic medallist out of coma

london - Emirates voice

Dutch BMX cyclist Jelle van Gorkom has awoken from a coma and his life is no longer in danger, officials said Monday, cautioning however that he faced a long recovery. The 27-year-old is "making good progress, and is out of acute danger," the Royal Dutch Cycling Union (KNWU) said on its website. Van Gorkom, who won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics,Read more

Puigdemont accuses EU of not defending rights in Catalonia

london - Emirates voice

Catalonia’s sacked president Carles Puigdemont on Monday repeated accusations that the European Union is failing to defend fundamental rights in the wealthy Spanish region. During his first foreign visit since leaving Spain to live in voluntary exile in Brussels on 30 October, Puigdemont told students at the University of Copenhagen the EU showed “failures” in the face of crises both inside and outside itsRead more

Vietnam oil exec 'kidnapped' from Germany jailed for life

london - Emirates voice

A Vietnamese former state oil executive who was allegedly kidnapped from Germany was jailed for life on Monday for embezzlement, in the highest-profile corruption trial to target the communist country's business and political elite. The case -- also involving 21 other officials, including a former party politburo member -- has captivated a country where the affairs of the powerful are normally keptRead more

Woman flies from America to London without ticket, passport

Chicago - Emirates Voice

Outsmarting security officials, a homeless woman not only managed to get on board the British Airways plane but also flew from America to London without a ticket or passport. Marilyn Hartman slipped on to the jet with a large group after she got through security at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and boarded a flight to Heathrow, police said. The airlineRead more

UK regulator says Fox's Sky takeover 'not in public interest'

London - Emiratesvoice

Britain's competition regulator provisionally ruled Tuesday that a takeover of satellite TV giant Sky by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox entertaintment group was "not in the public interest". The Competition and Markets Authority "has provisionally found that Fox taking full control of Sky is not in the public interest due to media plurality concerns", it said in a statement thatRead more

Oil slick off China coast trebles in size

london - Emiratesvoice

The spill from a sunken Iranian tanker off China's east coast has more than trebled in size, just over a week after the ship sank in a ball of flames. Authorities spotted three oil slicks with a total surface area of 332 square kilometres (128 square miles), compared to 101 square kilometres reported on Wednesday, the State Oceanic Administration saidRead more

Dimming the Sun to cool Earth could ravage wildlife

london - Emiratesvoice

Geoengineering schemes designed to deflect some of the Sun’s planet-warming rays would backfire if suddenly discontinued, wiping out species and entire ecosystems, a study published Monday warns. “Rapid warming after stopping geoengineering would be a huge threat to the natural environment and biodiversity,” said co-author Alan Robock, a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Half-a-century’s worth of warming couldRead more

No end to eyesores at Taj Mahal

london - Emiratesvoice

Tourist Muskan Mahuwakar pictured the Taj Mahal as a dazzling vision of symmetry and beauty but upon reaching the monument, she -- like thousands of other visitors -- was disappointed to find it covered in scaffolding, its once white marble now yellowing due to pollution. Building restoration at India's most popular tourist attraction is now into its fourth year, withRead more