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hey, welcome, welcome, welcome! lara lewington, what is the craziest thing you ve ever bought on ebay? um, slippers? dogs dog slippers! i wondered where that was going. ok, i did ask for crazy. well, look, do you remember the times when you bid on an item and you thought you were going to win the auction, and then in the dying few seconds, you were beaten by someone else? yes, they weren t real people, though, were they? no, they weren t. they were computer programmes designed to work really fast and beat you to the bid button, and i hated them. no one did that to my dog slippers, though. can t imagine why. well, look, now, this idea is being used in new ways, and omar mehtab has been looking at the phenomenon of the scalpers. with the pandemic came lockdowns, and with the majority of the population stuck at home, we had nothing really to do.but buy. and so online spending went up. we bought clothes, hobby kits, sourdough starters, fire pits, hot tubs, gym equipment, ....
but there was a problem the semiconductor shortage. the shortage of semiconductors. they don t have the semiconductors. what is that? simply put, they are the brains of modern electronics. so, they re in pretty much every product. electronics need them. cars, smart phones, laptops, gaming consoles. and so, with very few on the market, fans are trying websites to try and get them. however, there is money to be made. in come the scalpers. so, these are people who buy rare or sought after items and resell them again at a higher price to make a profit. you ve probably seen them outside of concerts, reselling tickets, or putting up a nice pair of shoes on ebay for double the price. but the modern scalper is a little bit different. they use internet bots online software that s programmed to do a certain task. so, that could be buying the first tickets available for a trip to majorca. telling me when the ferrari testarossa is under 100k. or telling me when new stock of ps5 ....
exercises around taiwan which have coincided with a bipartisan visit to taipei by six us lawmakers. an army spokesman said they were directed at what he called the wrong signal being sent about the island by the united states. the grandmother of a british man who has been captured in ukraine says she s horrified by images of him being shown on russian tv, and has called for him to be treated humanely. aiden aslin was fighting with ukranian forces in the besieged city of mariupol, when he told family he was having to surrender to russian forces. here s our correspondent emma vardy. if you re watching this, it means that we ve surrendered. the last message to loved ones, before his capture in one of the most desperate places on earth. we ran out of ammunition. didn t really have any other choice other than to surrender. for weeks, aiden aslin and his unit defended the heavily bombarded city of mariupol, holding off russian forces as long as they could. two days ago, h ....
at least 400 people are now known to have died. the us state department says it s deeply concerned about the level of violence injerusalem following clashes between palestinian demonstrators and israeli police on friday. at least a 150 palestinians and three israeli officers were injured. bank holiday travel disruption is set to continue this weekend as millions of people take advantage of their first easter break without covid travel restrictions. delays are expected on the trains, planes and ferries until tuesday as greg mckenzie reports. it s the first bank holiday since all covid travel restrictions were lifted in the uk, but the easter getaway has been more slow for some. these scenes at dover yesterday after p&0 suspended its ferry services. post brexit lorry checks adding to the challenge. this is easter weekend. this is the perfect storm, isn t it? exactly what you don t want it to be. this is been its worst at the moment, with all of the gridlock that we ve ....
hello, good morning. yesterday was the warmest day of the year so far and it s going to be warm today and tomorrow with lots of sunshine. later on easter sunday, there will be some rain coming into western areas but i will have all of the details later on. it s saturday the 16th of april. our top story: russia has warned ukraine s allies to stop supplying weapons to the country, saying it could have unpredictable consequences . moscow has also threatened to step up attacks on the area around the capital kyiv after an missile factory there was destroyed yesterday. our correspondent helena wilkinson has the latest. this was once one of russia s most prized warships, now the moskva lies at the bottom of the black sea. it is a huge blow to the country and its naval power. ukraine claimed it hit the cruiser with two missiles. russia denied this, saying an explosion on board caused it to sink. the country held a ceremony to mourn its loss. for ukrainians, the sinking of the warshi ....