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Nothing comes for free in this world... seems like Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter, has taken this saying seriously.According to a report by The Verge, Musk is planning to charge users USD 19.99 (over Rs 1600) for the new Twitter Blue subscription that brings extra features like edit and undo tweets.Under the current plan, verified users would have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark. Employees working on the project were told that they need to meet a deadline of November 7th to launch the feature or they will be fired.The particular report comes a day after Musk in a tweet mentioned that Twitter will revise its user verification process. However, he did not any detail related to the charges.Also read: Elon Musk says Twitter will form "content moderation council""Whole verification process is being revamped right now", he tweeted.The Twitter Blue subscription launched widely almost a year ago as a way to view ad-free articles from some publishers and make other tweaks to the app, such as a different color home screen icon.In April, Twitter accepted Musk's proposal to buy and take the social media service private. However, Musk soon began sowing doubt about his intentions to follow through with the agreement, alleging that the company failed to adequately disclose the number of spam and fake accounts on the service. In July, in a surprising turn of events, Elon Musk who had long been showing his interest to buy Twitter terminated the deal. The Tesla CEO did so by alleging that Twitter violated their mutual purchase agreement by misrepresenting the number of spam and fake bot accounts on its platform.After Musk put out the deal termination announcement, the market saw a sharp decline. Later, Twitter sued Musk accusing him of using bots as a pretext to exit a deal. Again, last week, Musk confirmed that he would move forward with the Twitter buyout at the originally agreed price of USD 54.20 per share.This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
31 October,2022 11:40 AM IST | Washington | ANI
‘Felt like an accident was bound to happen’
Witnesses and bystanders South Korean Halloween disaster said they sensed something wasn’t right when a sea of revellers descended on Seoul’s Itaewon district upon Saturday night.“My friend said ‘something terrible is happening outside’,” said Jeon Ga-eul, 30, who was enjoying a drink at a bar at the moment the stampede hit.“I said: what are you talking about? And then I went outside to see and there were people doing CPR in the street.”The district is dotted with undulating, twisted alleyways on either side of the main road.The crowd was exceptionally dense on Saturday night, said witnesses, with Jeon saying that even ahead of the disaster, he had felt unsafe.“There were so many people just being pushed around and I got caught in the crowd and I couldn’t get out at first too,” he said. “I felt like an accident was bound to happen.”The stampede took place in a narrow alley near the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon.Faced with a huge number of victims, the rescuers asked passers-by to administer first aid and perform CPR on victims in the streets.How it started. Officials and witnesses said people continued to pour into a 10-foot-wide alley while it was already packed wall-to-wall. At the time, about 1 lakh people had filled Itaewon’s streets for the biggest festivities since the easing of COVID curbs. When those at the top of the sloped street fell, it sent others below them toppling over others, triggering mayhemThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
31 October,2022 09:27 AM IST | Seoul | Agencies
153 perish in Seoul stampede
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning on Sunday after a Halloween crush killed some 153 people in a packed nightlife area in Seoul. Yoon expressed condolences to the victims, mostly teenagers and people in their 20s, and his wishes for a speedy recovery to the many injured in one of South Korea’s worst disasters and the world’s worst stampedes in decades.“This is truly tragic,” he said in a statement. “A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night.”A huge crowd celebrating in the popular Itaewon district surged into an alley on Saturday night, emergency officials said, adding the death toll could rise. Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, told a briefing at the scene 82 people were injured, 19 of them seriously. The deaths included 22 foreigners, he said. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeolFamilies and friends desperately sought words of loved ones at community centres that had become makeshift facilities for missing persons. As of midday, the Interior Ministry said at least 90 per cent of the victims had been identified, with delays affecting some foreign nationals and teenagers who did not yet have identification cards.South Korean tech and mobile game firms including Kakao and NCSOFT pulled their Halloween promotions after the tragedy, while amusement park Everland cancelled Halloween-themed events. Many regional governments and organisations have cancelled or reduced festivals and other celebrations.It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years to be virtually free of COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing. Many of the partygoers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes. The disaster is among the country’s deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.Tragedy in numbers. 1L Estimated no. of revellers assembled. 82 No. of injured. 22 No. of foreigners killed due to overcrowding. 304 No. of people died in a ferry mishap in South Korea in 2014This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
31 October,2022 09:27 AM IST | Seoul | Agencies
Now, Russia moves to hit Ukraine’s grains
Russia pulled out of a key United Nations-brokered Black Sea grain deal on Saturday, provoking international outrage and dealing a blow to attempts to ease a global food crisis.Russia said on Saturday it suspended participation in July’s Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed major exporter Ukraine to ship agricultural produce, after Ukrainian attacks on ships in Crimea.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was trying to create an artificial famine in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, calling for a strong response from the United Nations and the Group of 20 major economies.Ukraine’s foreign minister accused Moscow of using a “false pretext” to suspend its participation, urging “all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations”.The European Union called on Russia to reverse its decision to pull out of the deal.US President Joe Biden called the move “purely outrageous”, saying it would increase starvation.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia was weaponizing food. “Any act by Russia to disrupt these critical grain exports is essentially a statement that people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry,” Blinken said in a statement on Saturday.Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that British navy personnel blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month, a claim that London said was false and designed to distract from Russian military failures in Ukraine.Moscow offered no evidence for its claim. The ministry said “British specialists” from the same unit directed Ukrainian drone attacks on ships of Russian Black Sea fleet in Crimea earlier on Saturday that it said were largely repelled by Russian forces, with minor damage to a Russian minesweeper.This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
31 October,2022 09:27 AM IST | Kyiv | Agencies
Somalia's leader says at least 100 killed in Saturday attack
Somalia's president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturday's two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise.President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in a statement at the site of the explosions told journalists early Sunday that nearly 300 other people were wounded.It was the deadliest attack in Somalia since a truck bombing at the same spot in October 2017 killed more than 500 people.Somalia's government has blamed the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which often targets the capital. The group doesn't make claims of responsibility when large numbers of civilians are killed.Also Read: Seoul Halloween stampede: Death toll rises to 151, 19 identified as foreignersSomalia's president, elected this year, said the country remained at war with al-Shabab 'and we are winning".The government, along with militia groups, has been engaged in a new offensive against the extremists who hold large parts of the country.This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
30 October,2022 10:54 AM IST | Mogadishu | AP
50 dead as storm lashes Philippines
Flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains left at least 50 people dead, including in a hard-hit southern Philippine province, where as many as 60 villagers are feared missing and buried in a huge mud slide laden with rocks, trees and debris, officials said on Saturday. At least 42 people were swept away by rampaging floodwaters and drowned or were hit by debris-filled mud slides in three towns in Maguindanao province, said Naguib Sinarimbo, the interior minister for a five-province Muslim autonomous region.The worst storm impact so far was a mud slide that buried dozens of houses with as many as 60 people in the tribal village of Kusiong in Maguindanao’s Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Sinarimbo told. Eleven bodies, mostly of children, were dug up on Friday by rescuers using spades in Kusiong, where about 80 families lived, he said.Also read: Seoul Halloween stampede: Death toll rises to 151, 19 identified as foreigners“That community will be our ground zero today,” Sinarimbo said, adding that heavy equipment and more rescue workers, including army, police and volunteers have been deployed. An official death count of 67 in Maguindanao on Friday night was recalled by authorities after discovering some double counting of casualties.More than 7,000 people were protectively evacuated away from the path of the storm, which was not expected to strengthen. About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippine archipelago each year. It is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the nation one of the world's most disaster-prone. 20No of typhoons, storms occurring in Philippines each yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
30 October,2022 09:07 AM IST | Manila | Agencies
Seoul Halloween stampede: Death toll rises to 151, 19 identified as foreigners
The death toll in the horrific Seoul Halloween stampede rose to 151, with 19 of them identified as foreigners, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported citing fire authorities.During a briefing, Choi Seong-beom, the head of the fire department in Yongsan, said the death toll from Saturday's accident rose to 151, which included 19 foreigners. Their nationalities include those from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway, Choi added.The agency also reported that the victims in their 20s accounted for the age group most affected by the horrific Seoul Halloween stampede. Moreover, the agency, citing the Seoul metropolitan government, said Sunday it has received about 270 reports of missing persons related to the deadly stampede during Halloween parties in the Itaewon district.At least 151 people were killed and 76 others were injured after a deadly stampede during Halloween celebrations in Seoul's Itaewon district on Saturday at 10:20 pm (13:20 GMT), Al Jazeera reported citing the officials.Also read: Can Rishi Sunak's roots bolster India-UK ties? Experts offer clarityThe incident reportedly occurred after a large group of people rushed to an Itaewon bar after hearing an unidentified celebrity visited there, Al Jazeera reported citing the local media. Social media footage showed several people being assisted by rescue officials and private citizens at the scene, and numerous ones performing CPR on people lying in poor condition on the streets.The packed Halloween festivities in South Korea's capital of Seoul took place after covid restrictions were removed, the local officials said. The festivities marked the participation of more than a lakh visitors and the number of casualties is only expected to rise.Emergency officials received at least 81 calls from people with breathing difficulty, "South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.A large crowd pushed forward on a narrow street during Halloween festivities, resulting in dozens needing first aid. South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the dispatch of the emergency medical team to the area and said hospital beds should be prepared to minimize casualties, his office said.Numerous people had trouble breathing when the chaotic stampede occurred as dozens were seen giving CPR to people lying lifeless on streets post-incident. South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol presided over an emergency response meeting Sunday over the deadly stampede, as per the officials."Shortly after the accident, Yoon came to the presidential office in Yongsan and presided over a response meeting related to the Seoul Itaewon Halloween accident," the presidential office said."The top priority is transporting and rescuing the patients and providing prompt medical treatment for the affected people," local media reported quoting Yoon as saying.Authorities are still looking into the exact cause of the accident as the investigation is underway.Emergency forces were dispatched following the crowd surge which resulted in fatalities. Firefighters and police officers also reached the Itaewon neighbourhood in Seoul to bring the situation under control. (ANI)
30 October,2022 08:45 AM IST | Seoul | ANI
Don’t stop me now!
Russell Winwood has earned the nickname COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Athlete because of his incredible ability to run entire marathons despite his lungs working below 30 per cent of their capacity. COPD is an incurable and progressive condition.Winwood was diagnosed in 2011; but by then, the Brisbane native had already turned his life around after a stroke at age 36. He gave up smoking, cut down on alcohol, and took up sports. Over the years, he competed in various triathlons— from sprint (750 m swim, 20 km bike ride and 5 km run) to Half Ironman (2 km swim, 90 km bike ride, and 21 km run)—and even a few ultra-marathons (over 50 km).Everything was great, until Winwood noticed that his usual training felt harder and he found it difficult to breathe. A visit to the physician presented a COPD diagnosis, along with the warning that his lungs were operating at less than 30 percent capacity.Six months after hearing the bad news, Winwood completed his first full Ironman triathlon (3.9 km-swim, 180.2 km bicycle ride and 42.2 km run). He read about his condition, and increased his cardiorespiratory fitness level. “I could have let this disease slowly suffocate the life out of me,” he says.At 56, the COPD Athlete completed Chicago Marathon in six hours, 28 minutes and 33 seconds. Given his condition, he had to run 400m and then walk for 100m to keep his lungs from hyper inflating. He has signed up for the 2023 Tokyo Marathon and hopes to compete in Berlin in the next couple of years.Experience death, aliveRussian company offers to bury you for an hour to revive your “will to live” and give stress therapyCurious about what it feels like to be six feet under? Here’s a way to find out. A Russian company offers customers to experience being buried alive for 3.5 million roubles (about Rs 47 lakh).You get two choices of funeral: An online one, or the Full ImmersionCompany founder Yakaterina Preobrazhenskaya announced the new venture earlier this week, which promises to help patrons discover new talents, “psychic abilities”, and deal with their “fears and anxieties” after the funeral. Preobrazhenskaya described the morbid offering as a “true symbol of fighting for yourself and your own happy future,” in an Instagram post announcing the venture.The Full Immersion will give you the experience of being buried for up to an hour. It includes a full religious ceremony and a “mandatory revival with an all-around revived awareness of their mission” which is supposed to renew a person’s “desire to live.”Machine Wash HumansScience Co. Ltd, a Japanese technology company specialising in bathroom and kitchen innovation, recently unveiled plans to make a washing machine for humans and promised to deliver it by 2025. The goal of Project Usoyaro is not to thoroughly clean the body, but also provide a healing space to relax and unwind to the sound of soothing music.Not too late for loveAn 87-year-old is social media’s hottest groom thanks to a viral video of him tying the knot with his dead ex-wife’s best friend in an over-the-top wedding celebration. “Third time’s a charm at 87, I guess,” joked the unnamed man’s granddaughter, 22-year-old Sophia Angeletakis in the caption of her TikTok post with 6.6 million views.Bubbly made for spaceThe Mumm Cordon Rouge Stellar is the first champagne designed specifically for space travel. The bottle is half glass and features a finger-controlled valve which releases globules of champagne spheres from which the astronaut can scoop the drink out of air.Labour of pleasureHanna Faustino, a 36-year-old Canadian woman, felt like she was “climaxing” during labour, and didn’t want the experience to end. She entered the orgasmic state while giving birth to her daughter, Kaiya, and credits prenatal yoga classes with the pleasurable, pain-free process. “It was really natural to push, and didn’t feel as painful.”Social Media HowlerA fiery TikToker and mom-of-two, Maresa Friedman, uploaded a video defending her decision to stay put in her first-class seat, despite another family’s pleas to exchange seats with her. While she says she’s not a villain, the video has ignited a furious debate online about the need to accommodate fellow air travellers — particularly those with children. She said she chose those seats specifically and well in advance, so that her family could sit together. “I’m sorry moms and families, but as a fellow mom I’m not a villain for not giving up my seat,” she captioned the clip, which has been viewed more than 1.4 million times.Is that how it’s made?Questionable footage showing the “nasty” process of creating McDonald’s McRib burger, has many customers vowing to never order the item again. A video shared on Twitter showed frozen blocks of the “rib” product slapped onto the grill. Once thawed, the items, which had been preformed into rib like shapes, were taken from the grill and placed into pull-out containers filled with thick brown sauce. The person who uploaded the video, which has been viewed more than 1.2 million times, suggested the ribs could barely be considered food. The slabs were then placed on top of onion and pickles on a lightly toasted bun before being closed into a box and sent down a chute to fulfil an order.
30 October,2022 08:43 AM IST | Berlin | A Correspondent
World ‘holding its breath’ over North Korea, says IAEA
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday said a seventh North Korea nuclear test would be further “confirmation of a program which is moving full steam ahead in a way that is incredibly concerning.”“Everybody is holding its breath about this,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said. “Further tests, of course, means that they are refining the preparations and the construction of their arsenal.”Also Read: North Korea fires 'unspecified ballistic missile': South Korea's militaryHe told reporters in New York that the IAEA is following very closely and that “we hope it doesn’t happen, but indications unfortunately go direct in another direction.” The United States and its allies believe North Korea could be about to resume nuclear bomb testing for the first time since 2017.This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
29 October,2022 11:26 AM IST | United Nations | Agencies
Ukraine economy to shrink by 32 per cent
Ukraine’s economy will shrink by almost 32 per cent this year and annual inflation will accelerate to 30 per cent, largely due to the damage done by Russia’s invasion, the Ukrainian central bank said on Thursday.Assuming security risks decline and demand picks up, gross domestic product will grow by around 4 per cent to 5 per cent per year in 2023 and 2024, the bank said in a quarterly inflation report.Also Read: Would be serious mistake if Russia uses nuke against Ukraine: Joe Biden“This year’s economic downturn has been driven by lower domestic demand, disrupted logistics, and large losses of labour force and production potential caused by the war,” it said, predicting the unemployment rate would hit 30 per cent this year.Shot down over 300 Iranian-made drones: UkraineUkraine has shot down more than 300 Iranian Shahed-136 ‘kamikaze’ drones so far, air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told a briefing on Friday. The drones have become a key weapon in Russia’s arsenal during its war in Ukraine and have often been used in the past month to target crucial energy infrastructure.This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
29 October,2022 11:25 AM IST | Kyiv | Agencies
Elon Musk says Twitter will form "content moderation council"
Twitter's new owner billionaire Elon Musk has said the social media company will form a "content moderation council" and any major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen after such a body has convened.Musk's comments came a day after he completed the USD 44 billion acquisition of the social media giant."Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes," Musk, 51, tweeted on Friday.To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies https://t.co/k4guTsXOIu— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2022"To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter's content moderation policies," he added.Musk has not yet offered details about how his content moderation council will work.Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, legal executive Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett were ousted as Musk's acquisition was completed.Also Read: 'Let the good times roll': billionaire Elon Musk tweets on first morning as new Twitter bossWithin hours of taking over the reins at Twitter, the Tesla CEO posted a series of tweets. "The bird is freed", "Spoiler Alert. Let the good times roll", "Living the Dream. Comedy is now legal on Twitter".After initially agreeing to buy the company in April, Musk spent months attempting to get out of the deal, first citing concerns about the number of bots on the platform and later allegations raised by a company whistleblower.Agrawal, 38, was appointed Twitter CEO in November last year after the social media site's co-founder Jack Dorsey had stepped down.As the Twitter account of former US President Donald Trump was permanently suspended in January last year, Hyderabad-born Gadde was at the forefront of this dramatic decision undertaken within days of the attempted insurrection by pro-Trump supporters at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.Twitter co-founder Biz Stone thanked Agrawal, Segal and Gadde for their "massive contribution" to the business."Thank you to @paraga, @vijaya, and @nedsegal for the collective contribution to Twitter. Massive talents, all, and beautiful humans each!" Stone tweeted.Musk arrived at the company's headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday and had been meeting with engineers and advertising executives.Musk also updated his Twitter description to "Chief Twit."Musk has promised to transform Twitter by loosening the service's content moderation rules, making its algorithm more transparent and nurturing subscription businesses, as well as laying off employees.In April, Twitter accepted Musk's proposal to buy the social media service and take it private.However, Musk soon began sowing doubt about his intentions to follow through with the agreement, alleging that the company failed to adequately disclose the number of spam and fake accounts on the service.When Musk said he was terminating the deal, Twitter sued the billionaire, alleging he "refuses to honour his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests."Earlier in October, Musk said he wanted to pursue his acquisition of Twitter at the original price of USD 54.20 a share if the social messaging service dropped its litigation.Twitter's lawyers said that the Tesla CEO's "proposal is an invitation to further mischief and delay."A Delaware Chancery Court judge eventually ruled that Musk had until October 28 to cement the Twitter deal or head to trial.On Thursday, Musk wrote a message to reassure advertisers that social messaging services wouldn't devolve into "a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!""The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence," Musk said in the message."There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far-right wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society."This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
29 October,2022 10:32 AM IST | New York | PTI
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