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Every UK river tested by Greenpeace found to contain microplastics

Hope Hicks, once a close aide and communications director for President Donald Trump, becomes on Wednesday the first member of his inner circle to testify to the congressional panel leading a probe into possible obstruction of justice by Trump, reports Reuters in Washington. Democrats who control the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee believe Hicks can provide important insights into troubling chapters of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and Trump's efforts to...

Boris Johnson has cemented his lead in the collossal waste of time that is the Tory Party leadership contest. Remember when the EU warned the UK not to waste any time before the Brexit deadline they agreed to put back to the end of October? The plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears among the Conservative Party keen to drag out a sure coronation of Boris Johnson until MPs break up on holiday for the summer. In the second...

Facebook Inc plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Libra next year as part of its wider efforts to expand beyond social networking into e-commerce and global payments. Facebook said it has linked with 28 partners to form Libra Association, a Geneva-based entity governing its new digital coin, which it will launch in the first half of 2020, marketing materials and interviews with executives show. Facebook also created Calibra, a subsidiary which will offer digital wallets connected to messaging platforms Messenger...

Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar's off-pitch woes continue to mount, as Brazilian tax authorities put a freeze on dozens of his mansions and other properties amid a long-running tax dispute, local media reported Monday. The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported that Brazilian authorities blocked 36 properties in Brazil as they seek 69 million reais (£14 million) in back taxes. They claim that amount is due in connection with Neymar's 2013 transfer from Santos to Barcelona. The action means Neymar can use...

President Donald Trump said on Monday that U.S. authorities would begin next week removing millions of immigrants who are in the United States illegally. "Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States," Trump tweeted, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. "They will be removed as fast as they come in," he said. He did not offer specifics. There are an estimated 12...

Berlin's city government decided on Tuesday to freeze rents for five years, heeding complaints from residents that their once famously affordable city was pricing them out. For decades after German unification in 1990, the capital was a magnet for artists, musicians and students drawn by housing far cheaper than in other major European cities - partly the legacy of Berlin's decades marooned inside Communist East Germany as a mere satellite of the capitalist West's economy. But around 40,000 people a...

a “declaration of war against the NGOs who are saving lives at sea”

A man who threw a milkshake over Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain's Brexit Party, has been ordered to pay him compensation to cover his suit-cleaning bill after pleading guilty to common assault and criminal damage. Paul Crowther, 32, threw the milkshake over Farage, one of the leading figures in the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, at an event in the northern English city of Newcastle before the European elections last month. Crowther, who lost his job...