The Belgian death metal band Omicron will not be changing its name despite sharing it with the new Covid-19 variant. Philippe Delhaute, the group’s founder and lead guitarist, told Sky News that things got “really crazy” when the latest mutation hit the headlines. But the group decided to keep their name in the hope that it might lead to more people listening to their music and help vanquish “the bad association with Omicron”.
‘Nana Baubles’ breaks Christmas record
A woman nicknamed “Nana Baubles” has broken the record for the world’s largest collection of Christmas ornaments. Sylvia Pope’s collection spreads throughout her home in Swansea, with baubles hanging from the ceilings, as well as from the outside of her house. She currently has over 1,700 baubles and she predicts the number will go well over 2,000 in the next year or two.
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Don’t ask someone in their sixties when they will retire
An employment tribunal has ruled that asking someone in their sixties when they are going to retire is age discrimination. An employment judge said that someone in their thirties would not be asked about their plans to stop work because they could not start taking their pension, meaning that raising the prospect of retirement to someone approaching pensionable age was “unfavourable treatment”. A civil servant in his sixties had sued the Ministry of Defence after an HR manager asked him about his plans for retirement.
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‘The sport is still run on a shoestring’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
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3 tips to help protect older family members from financial scamsthe explainer Prevent your aging relatives from losing their hard-earned money
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Will Trump’s oil push end Cuba’s Communist regime?Today’s Big Question Havana’s economy is teetering
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Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
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China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
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Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
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Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
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Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
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US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
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How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
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Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
