News Feeds

  Elon Musk changes his name to Kekius Maximus on X The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has sparked speculation after changing his name on his social media platform X to "Kekius Maximus". The tech mogul - and close confidant of US President-Elect Donald Trump - offered no immediate explanation for the name or his new profile image which depicts the character Pepe the Frog - a meme that has been used by far-right groups. The move has sent ripples through the cryptocurrency world, sending the value of a memecoin - a digital currency inspired by internet memes - that shares the same name skyrocketing. In the past, Mr Musk has influenced crypto prices with his social media commentary, but it was not immediately clear if he had any involvement in this particular memecoin. "Kekius" appears to be a Latinisation of "kek", a word roughly equivalent to "laugh out loud" popularised by gamers but now often associated with the alt right. "Kek" i...

  Madoff fraud victims get $4.3bn as fund completes payouts A fund created by the US government to help compensate victims of the late fraudster Bernard Madoff has begun making its final round of payments, according to a statement by the Department of Justice (DoJ). The payouts being made by the Madoff Victim Fund (MVF) are worth $131.4m (£104.6m) and will bring the total amount it has returned to 40,930 claimants to $4.3bn. Madoff, a Wall Street financier disgraced after he admitted to one of the biggest frauds in US financial history,  died in prison in 2021 . He had been serving a  150-year sentence  after pleading guilty in 2009 to running a so-called Ponzi scheme, which paid investors with money from new clients rather than actual profits. "MVF's distributions offset one of the most monstrous financial crimes ever committed," said Richard C Breeden, who runs the MVF. Mr Breeden is a former chairman of the US financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commi...

  US Treasury says it was hacked by China in 'major incident A Chinese state-sponsored hacker has broken into the US Treasury Department's systems, accessing employee workstations and some unclassified documents, American officials said on Monday. The breach occurred in early December and was made public in a letter penned by the Treasury Department to lawmakers notifying them of the incident. The US agency characterized the breach as a "major incident", and said it had been working with the FBI and other agencies to investigate the impact. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington DC told BBC News that the accusation is part of a "smear attack" and was made "without any factual basis". The Treasury Department said in its letter to lawmakers that the China-based actor was able to override security via a key used by a third-party service provider that offers remote technical support to its employees. The compromised third-party service - cal...

  How feminism, not Bollywood, drew global audiences to Indian cinema in 2024 In 2024, when Bollywood was struggling to hold its own, small films made by Indian women made headlines in the country and around the world. In May, Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light made history by winning the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. In the months since, All We Imagine as Light has become a staple of indie cinema, finding success on the film festival and awards circuit. Prestigious organizations including the New York Film Critics Circle and the Toronto Film Critics Association have judged it for best international film. It also received two Golden Globe nominations, including one for Ms. Kapadia as best director. Director Shuchi Talati’s coming-of-age drama Girls Will Be Girls won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Kiran Rao's Lapata Ladies spent at least two months in Netflix's top 10 in India and was selected as the country's official Oscar entry (...

  From Squid Game to Blackpink, how South Korea became a culture powerhouse Evan Barringer was 14 years old when he stumbled onto Full House, a South Korea romcom where two strangers are forced to share a house. Sitting in his house in Memphis, he hit play assuming it was an Asian remake of a beloved American sitcom from the 1980s. It wasn’t until the third episode that he realised they had nothing in common save the name. But he was hooked. That accidental choice changed his life. Twelve years on, he is an English teacher in South Korea - and he says he loves it here: “I have got to try all the foods I’ve seen in K-dramas, and I’ve gotten to see several of the K-pop artists in concerts whose lyrics I used to study Korean.” When Evan discovered Full House in 2012, South Korean entertainment was a blip in the world’s eye. Psy’s Gangnam Style was the best-known Korean pop export at the time. Today, there are more than an estimated 220 million fans of Korean entertainment around the w...

  Footage shows NY officers beating prisoner before death Newly released bodycam footage appears to show New York corrections officers fatally beating a handcuffed inmate who died the following morning. The inmate, 43-year-old Robert Brooks, was pronounced dead on 10 December, the day after the incident took place at the Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York. Following an internal review, New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the firing of the 13 officers and a prison nurse who were involved in the assault. The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James has opened an investigation into Brooks' death, and the union that represents state prison workers called the video "incomprehensible". The footage - which was released by James on Friday - shows officers repeatedly striking Brooks in the face and groin while he sits handcuffed on an examination table. The videos also appear to show a prison officer placing something in Brooks' mouth before ...

 China to build world's largest hydropower dam in Tibet China has approved the construction of the world's largest hydroelectric dam, raising concerns about the displacement of communities in Tibet and the environmental impact downstream in India and Bangladesh. The dam, located on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, can produce three times more energy than the Three Gorges Dam, currently the world's largest hydroelectric power plant. Chinese state media has described the development as "a safe project that prioritizes environmental protection", saying it will boost local prosperity and contribute to Beijing's goal of climate neutrality. But human rights groups and experts have raised concerns about the development's impact. Among them are fears that the dam, first announced in late 2020, could displace local communities, as well as significantly alter the natural landscape and damage the local ecosystem, which is one of the richest and most di...

Elon Musk's 'social experiment on humanity': How X evolved in 2024  Billionaire Elon Musk has been praising Twitter as a bastion of free speech since he acquired the social media site two years ago. But by 2024, X, as it is now called, had gone from being a communal town square to a polarizing hub where opinions and posts seemed more controversial. Profiles sharing misleading ideas about politics and news, some of which have been accused of inciting hatred, have recently gained popularity. All of this is important because X may not have the same user base as other major social media sites, but it appears to have a significant influence on political discourse. It’s not just a place where some high-profile politicians, governments and police forces share statements and opinions – but now its owner, Mr Musk, has aligned himself directly with Donald Trump, a relationship that could redefine how the bosses of other social media giants deal with the next US president. So wh...

  Our Sun may once have had a twin. What happened to this stellar sibling? Many stars in our galaxy exist in pairs, but our sun is a notable exception. Now scientists are finding clues that it may once have had a companion of its own. The question is, where did it go? Our sun is a bit of an isolated nomad. Orbiting one of the Milky Way's spiral arms, it takes us on a lonely journey around the galaxy once every 230 million years in our sky. The nearest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light-years away, so distant that it would take even the fastest spacecraft more than 7,000 years to reach it. But wherever we look in our galaxy, the star at the center of our solar system increasingly seems to be an anomaly. Binary stars - stars that orbit the galaxy inseparably linked in pairs - seem common. Astronomers have recently discovered a pair orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy — a place where astronomers thought stars would be torn apart ...

  Zelensky condemns 'inhumane' Christmas Day attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had made a “conscious decision” to launch a major attack on his country’s energy infrastructure overnight on Christmas Day. Ukraine’s air force said it had detected 184 missiles and drones, but many were shot down or missed their targets. It said there were casualties in the strikes but gave no figures. Moscow confirmed the attack and claimed its objectives had been achieved. The attack knocked out power across the country, including in the capital Kiev, where some residents took refuge in metro stations. Russia’s defense ministry confirmed its forces had carried out a “massive attack” on “critical” Ukrainian energy facilities. It added that the attack was successful and all targets were hit. The country’s largest private energy company, DTE, said it was the 13th major attack on Ukraine’s energy sector this year.  In response to the latest Russian attacks, US President Joe B...

  Dozens killed as passenger plane crashes in Kazakhstan A passenger plane carrying 67 people crashed in Kazakhstan, killing dozens, local officials said.   The country's Emergencies Ministry said 25 people survived.   The plane, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, caught fire as it crashed near the city of Aktau. The cause of the crash was not known. Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 was on its final route from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny in Russia. It was diverted due to fog, reports said.   Video verified by Reuters news agency showed the plane hurtling towards the ground at high speed, its landing gear down.   A huge fireball erupted seconds after it attempted to land. The Embraer 190 plane was carrying 62 passengers and five crew members, the transport ministry said.   Most of those on board were Azerbaijani nationals, but there were also some passengers from Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.   Authorities said Aktau airpor...

  Four revelations from the House ethics report on Matt Goetz The House Ethics Committee report on Donald Trump ally Matt Goetz released on Monday revealed fresh details about the former congressman's alleged behavior, at least one new accusation and insights into the panel's investigation. From at least 2017 to 2020, the committee concluded that the former Florida congressman regularly paid women for "engaging in sexual activity", had sex with a 17-year-old girl, used or possessed illegal drugs, accepted gifts beyond House limits and helped a woman obtain a passport, according to the report. The 42-year-old was first elected as a Republican member of the US House of Representatives in 2016. He resigned in November - days before the report was scheduled to be made public and after Trump announced him as his pick for US attorney general. Goetz withdrew from consideration a week later. He denied the committee's findings and has accused it of conducting an unfair inv...