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Paraguay’s president quits after millions of people’s savings frozen in bank crisis

Santiago Peña’s rightwing administration had authorised Ueno Bank to drastically expand operations before collapse Paraguay’s rightwing president, Santiago Peña, resigned on Thursday after a political and financial crisis collapsed the South American country’s banking system in recent days. At the centre of the crisis is Ueno Bank, which in just a few years under Peña went from an obscure digital bank to one of the country’s largest lenders, claiming to have about 60% of Paraguay’s adult population as customers. Continue reading...

The Guardian
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Politics

Notre-Dame was restored in five years and under budget. But the Palace of Westminster? No chance | Simon Jenkins

Estimated costs have already risen from £3.5bn to £40bn. The PM should bite the bullet and relocate MPs outside London – permanently What is the most reactionary public institution in Britain, the most outdated and immune to reform? It is the one that orders us to keep changing: parliament. It is also the most wildly extravagant. When the issue is hospitals, prisons and care homes, austerity is often the answer. When it comes to its own premises, only the best will do. Big Ben has recently been restored at a cost of £80m and the entire Palace of Westminster has been reroofed for another £80m.

The Guardian
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