UK
POLITICIANS ARE ARGUING ABOUT HOW POOR THE POOR SHOULD BE
The coalition's plans to impose a benefits cap isn't very popular
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(via)
Deputy Prime Minister Nicholas Clegg and his friend Iain Duncan Smith want to cap the total amount of benefits a family can receive at £26,000 a year. Apparently that's the average wage earned by working households after tax. A lot of people have said that they don't agree with the bill and will vote against it. The most common reason that's been given is because if you're a kid in a family that claims benefits but you've got lots of brothers and sisters, you're fucked. Critics include former Lib Dem leader, current peer and UK president of Unicef Lord Paddy Ashdown, who described the proposals as "totally unacceptable". "I have voted with the government on everything until now," he told Sky News. "But this legislation, in its present form, I cannot accept." One suggestion that's been made is to leave child benefit payments out of the sums that make up the £26k a year. But apparently the government have done their sums already, and are fully aware that, if the proposal does pass, 100,000 children will be forced into poverty. This guy from The Guardian did some sums and figured out that if a family with four kids lived in a specific place in Surrey, they'd be forced to live on 62p per day. This seems unreasonable to me, but to be honest I don't know how representative his numbers are. Probably not very. Either way, things look like they're gonna be tough for the next ten years, at least. Europe
EVERYONE'S GOING TO HAVE A LOOK AT THAT BIG BOAT THAT SANK LAST WEEKEND
"Tragedy tourists" flock to see Costa Concordia as death toll rises to 13
(via)
Thousands of people have been visiting the Italian island of Giglio to take pictures of and eat picnics near the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner. Usually, about a hundred people visit Giglio for the day or the weekend at this time of year. This weekend over a thousand crammed into ferries from the mainland. The Daily Mail reported that the Italians were "eating pizza", "drinking beer" and "tucking into panini in the warm winter sunshine". A few people are quoted as saying they travelled hours out of curiosity to come for the day and will return home after not that long because they have to work tomorrow. Rescue teams found the body of a woman in the wreckage, taking the current death toll to 13. Twenty passengers are still unaccounted for. The vice president of the Giglio Tourist Board, Elizabeth Nanni, described the tourists as "sad". The High Seas
A 16-YEAR-OLD GIRL MADE A WORLD FULL OF GROWN MEN FEEL LIKE 16-YEAR-OLD GIRLS
She sailed around the world on a boat called 'Guppy'(via)
Laura Dekker is a 16-year-old Dutch girl who just sailed around the world on a boat called 'Guppy'. She became the youngest person ever to do so when she arrived at the Caribbean island of St Maarten on Saturday. The Dutch government had blocked her previous attempt to do it when she was 14. Apparently they also threatened to lock her up in a "secure facility" to stop her going out on the voyage, but she won the chance to embark upon her journey after a court appeal. She's pretty pissed off with Holland now. She might move. During her journey she got splashed by a whale and hit in the face by a flying fish. The United States of America
A MAN WITH A GREAT NAME WON A LOTTERY BY ACCIDENT
Napolean Elvord now has $6.87 million to buy a new kidney with(via)
An army veteran who needed a kidney transplant won millions of dollars by accident in a lottery the other day. His name was Napolean (not Napole-on) Elvord. He meant to enter a different type of lottery and it took him three days to realise he'd won. His $6.87 million prize might not have been his had he not let someone ahead of him in the queue.
POLITICIANS ARE ARGUING ABOUT HOW POOR THE POOR SHOULD BE
The coalition's plans to impose a benefits cap isn't very popular
Deputy Prime Minister Nicholas Clegg and his friend Iain Duncan Smith want to cap the total amount of benefits a family can receive at £26,000 a year. Apparently that's the average wage earned by working households after tax. A lot of people have said that they don't agree with the bill and will vote against it. The most common reason that's been given is because if you're a kid in a family that claims benefits but you've got lots of brothers and sisters, you're fucked. Critics include former Lib Dem leader, current peer and UK president of Unicef Lord Paddy Ashdown, who described the proposals as "totally unacceptable". "I have voted with the government on everything until now," he told Sky News. "But this legislation, in its present form, I cannot accept." One suggestion that's been made is to leave child benefit payments out of the sums that make up the £26k a year. But apparently the government have done their sums already, and are fully aware that, if the proposal does pass, 100,000 children will be forced into poverty. This guy from The Guardian did some sums and figured out that if a family with four kids lived in a specific place in Surrey, they'd be forced to live on 62p per day. This seems unreasonable to me, but to be honest I don't know how representative his numbers are. Probably not very. Either way, things look like they're gonna be tough for the next ten years, at least. Europe
EVERYONE'S GOING TO HAVE A LOOK AT THAT BIG BOAT THAT SANK LAST WEEKEND
"Tragedy tourists" flock to see Costa Concordia as death toll rises to 13
Thousands of people have been visiting the Italian island of Giglio to take pictures of and eat picnics near the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner. Usually, about a hundred people visit Giglio for the day or the weekend at this time of year. This weekend over a thousand crammed into ferries from the mainland. The Daily Mail reported that the Italians were "eating pizza", "drinking beer" and "tucking into panini in the warm winter sunshine". A few people are quoted as saying they travelled hours out of curiosity to come for the day and will return home after not that long because they have to work tomorrow. Rescue teams found the body of a woman in the wreckage, taking the current death toll to 13. Twenty passengers are still unaccounted for. The vice president of the Giglio Tourist Board, Elizabeth Nanni, described the tourists as "sad". The High Seas
A 16-YEAR-OLD GIRL MADE A WORLD FULL OF GROWN MEN FEEL LIKE 16-YEAR-OLD GIRLS
She sailed around the world on a boat called 'Guppy'(via)
Laura Dekker is a 16-year-old Dutch girl who just sailed around the world on a boat called 'Guppy'. She became the youngest person ever to do so when she arrived at the Caribbean island of St Maarten on Saturday. The Dutch government had blocked her previous attempt to do it when she was 14. Apparently they also threatened to lock her up in a "secure facility" to stop her going out on the voyage, but she won the chance to embark upon her journey after a court appeal. She's pretty pissed off with Holland now. She might move. During her journey she got splashed by a whale and hit in the face by a flying fish. The United States of America
A MAN WITH A GREAT NAME WON A LOTTERY BY ACCIDENT
Napolean Elvord now has $6.87 million to buy a new kidney with(via)
An army veteran who needed a kidney transplant won millions of dollars by accident in a lottery the other day. His name was Napolean (not Napole-on) Elvord. He meant to enter a different type of lottery and it took him three days to realise he'd won. His $6.87 million prize might not have been his had he not let someone ahead of him in the queue.