UK

This January of 2020 an auction is set to take place with a set of artworks from several artists, one of whom is Damien Hirst. Of interest in this auction is a relatively old Damien Hirst artwork by the name of "Bodies", originally sold in the year 1989. The artwork is one of the first 4 medicine cabinets that'd eventually make a suite of 12, and it was purchased for a sum of £600
- converting that amount in 1989 to dollars hits around USD$1k.

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The OPPO Reno 2 (or OPPO Reno2 if you like) is an interesting piece of hardware. It's a smartphone thats part of a very, very similar set of associated handsets, all under the same "Reno" branding name. OPPO's not failed to deliver impressive smartphone hardware to our review bench since we first started reviewing their devices. But here's the thing - if a phone has good hardware but less-than-great software, is the overall experience still good enough for the price?

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Today we're looking at the OnePlus 7T Pro with specific emphasis on what's changed from earlier this year. Earlier this year the company released the OnePlus 7 Pro, a device with a 6.67-inch full-screen display with a mechanical pop-up front-facing camera. Now there's a OnePlus 7T Pro with almost identical specs - and it will not launch in the USA.

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The game-making company Sensible Object was acquired by Niantic, as announced by the companies this morning. Niantic is the company that was once part of Google, coming from Google Maps and landing in a separate company under Alphabet called Niantic Labs. They made Pokemon GO and Ingress and they'll soon have a Harry Potter game using the same engine. Now they're readying their business to explode in size once more by acquiring a team called Sensible Object - now re-named Niantic London!

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Today we're going to run down the effective Huawei ban list, the basics in China-based spy fears, and the fallout. This has a little to do with ZTE, a lot to do with China's government, and what might be the worst bout of luck a company ever had (with regard to their native country's timing for a trade war with the United States). But most importantly, we're going to list all the places Huawei's been banned, rejected, or removed in the recent past. SEE: Updates at the end of this text.

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OnePlus users are having a bit of a conundrum this afternoon as they check prices of the new OnePlus 7. That's not to mention the OnePlus 7 Pro, also released today - we're talking about comparing the OnePlus 7 (non-pro) to the OnePlus 6T. They're not the same price - what's the deal? And why can't you buy a OnePlus 7 (non-pro) in the USA?

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Critics of gasoline vehicles have been ramping up toward suggestions of an outright ban of gas-guzzling vehicles around the world for decades. For most, it didn't seem realistic until very recently. The idea that any government would be able to ban the use of a certain sort of fuel didn't seem possible when there was no realistic alternative, but with the rise of the electric car, a no-gas law might well be in the making.

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Imperial College London, a public university in the UK, has announced the launch of the Imperial Centre for Psychedelic Research, the first psychedelic research effort to launch at a major academic institution. This is a milestone moment for psychedelic research, which has historically been restricted by laws against these substances. Despite restrictions, a growing body of psychedelic research has revealed a number of potential mental health benefits.

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The UK Metropolitan Police announced today that it has arrested WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, ending a years-long standoff that saw Assange claiming asylum with Ecuador and taking refuge in the country's embassy in London. Assange first took up residence in the embassy in 2012 in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden in a sexual assault case.

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This black hole Stephen Hawking coin is bonkers. The United Kingdom's Royal Mint just started a collection of real-deal coins that'll be able to be used in the wild - but you'll far more likely be keeping in your private collection. The collection is centered on British Science, and if Stephen Hawking's black hole coin is any indication, it's about to get wacky in here.

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Keith Flint died over the weekend of an apparent suicide after delivering decades of high-powered music all around the world. This fellow and two bandmates formed The Prodigy, a dance-born music group that became prominent with the album Music For The Jilted Generation, which featured Flint on vocals for the Firestarter. "I can't believe I'm saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend," said bandmate Liam Howlett. "I'm shell-shocked... angry, confused and heartbroken."

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If you're looking for daring design in a new smartphone in 2019, look toward China. Today we're looking at three new phones revealed by the folks at Oppo as they take aim at the UK for the first time ever. In the mix are the Oppo Find X (a truly powerful beast), and two editions of a device we've already seen up close and personal: Oppo RX17 Pro and RX17 Neo.

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