New shop checkouts will allow you to pay with a smile, reported The Telegraph. Under plans unveiled by Mastercard, customers will soon be able to pay by smiling or waving at checkouts after signing up for the company’s “biometric checkout programme”. Customers will be asked to take a picture of their face or scan their fingerprint to register with an app, before linking a credit card to their biometric data. This will allow them to pay for goods and services in-store by smiling into a camera or waving their hand over a reader to pay.
Veterans ‘told to keep mouths shut’ over UFOs
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Oasis guitar sells for £325,000
A guitar that was damaged backstage at an Oasis concert and culminated in the band breaking up has sold for €385,500 (£325,000) at an auction in Paris. Noel Gallagher’s red Gibson was broken at the French capital’s Rock en Seine festival in 2009. Jonathan Berg, a guitar expert and co-founder of the Artpèges gallery that held the auction, told The Guardian that the guitar marked “a cult moment” in music history.
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The return to the stone age in house buildingUnder the Radar With brick building becoming ‘increasingly unsustainable’, could a reversion to stone be the future?
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Rob Jetten: the centrist millennial set to be the Netherlands’ next prime ministerIn the Spotlight Jetten will also be the country’s first gay leader
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Codeword: November 4, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
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Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
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Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
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Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
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Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
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China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
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How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
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One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
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What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
