News Headlines - 07 January 2019
▽CBS: El-Sissi says Egypt, Israel cooperate against militants
Egypt’s president has told CBS that his country and Israel, with whom it fought four wars, are cooperating against Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula, a startling and potentially damaging acknowledgment that could explain the Egyptian government’s request that the network not air the interview.
▽Gabon detains soldiers after failed coup | The Guardian
The Gabonese government has put down a coup attempt after a group of soldiers briefly took over state radio and broadcast a statement calling on people to “rise up” while the president, Ali Bongo, is in Morocco recovering from a stroke.
Authorities have regained control of the state broadcasting offices and a major thoroughfare in the capital, Libreville, which were the only areas taken by the plotters, the government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told Radio France International.
▽SoftBank Scraps $16 Billion Plan to Buy Most of WeWork - WSJ
SoftBank Group Corp. 9984 5.68% has scrapped a planned $16 billion investment in shared-office space provider WeWork Cos., opting instead for a smaller deal of about $2 billion amid market turbulence and opposition from investment partners, according to people familiar with the matter... The Wall Street Journal reported in December that SoftBank faced opposition from the two main investors in its nearly $100 billion Vision Fund, which it used in 2017 to buy a $4.4 billion stake in WeWork.
▽Yusaku Maezawa has most retweeted tweet ever after offering $923,000
A message from Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has become the most retweeted tweet of all time.
Maezawa took to Twitter on Saturday to give 100 randomly selected retweeters the chance to win a share of 100 million Japanese yen ($923,000)... Maezawa, the founder of Japanese online retailer Zozo Inc, sent the tweet after his website Zozotown posted sales of 10 billion yen in its New Year's sale. He previously gained international attention after securing a seat aboard SpaceX's inaugural tourist flight to the moon. The mission from Elon Musk's transportation company is expected to launch in 2023.
Jeanne Calment died in 1997 in the southern French town in which she was born, and her death drew a flurry of attention. At 122, an age that had been certified by the Guinness World Records as well as public health researchers, she was the oldest documented person to have lived.
But a Russian mathematician is casting doubt on her record. Nikolay Zak said in a report that he believes Calment was actually Yvonne Calment, Jeanne’s daughter, who Zak says assumed her mother’s identity to avoid inheritance taxes in the 1930s. If true, Yvonne Calment would’ve been 99 if she died in 1997.
