While Beijing moves to stabilize the yuan, Wall Street still sees plenty of room for the Chinese currency

A new misleading image is doing the rounds on social media but, for a change, this one has nothing to do with AI. Instead, this (very real) photo has sparked a swirl of rumours concerning rapper 6ix9ine’s sexuality. The picture shows 6ix9ine (who also goes by Tekashi69), planting a kiss on the cheek of Mexican singer Eduin Caz, from the band GroupoFirme. It went viral after website Pop Tingz shared it to its Twitter account with the caption: “6ix9ine reveals boyfriend.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The tweet racked up more than 7.9 million views and 3,570 likes in less than a day as streams of commentators remarked that they “weren’t surprised” by the revelation. Except that it wasn’t a revelation at all, just proof of the power of a sensationalist headline. In fact, Caz posted the original picture to his Instagram account to mark the release of a new collaboration between Groupo Firme and 6ix9ine. Their track, ‘Y ahora’, is a love song about… a woman. And if you watch the music video, you’ll see the two men getting up-close and personal with a couple of scantily clad ladies. And yet, social media users love to consider themselves masters of hints and easter eggs, so apparently the fact 6ix9ine sports rainbow-coloured braids is enough to suggest he’s a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Others took the opportunity to fuel the rumour that the rapper has indulged in gay porn – under an alias – and that his sex tape was leaked to the internet. However, according to AllHipHop, the actor in said X-rated movie bears merely a passing resemblance to the rapper. Furthermore, the 27-year-old admitted to having a girlfriend on Instagram just three days ago when he posted a gushing birthday tribute to model Ariiela Lalangosta. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BESTFRIEND [sic] IN THE WORLD,” he wrote in the caption to a video showing him kissing Lalangosta and showering her with cash. “My girlfriend won’t get mad but we just friends she knows that,” he added. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The United States and Papua New Guinea have signed a new bilateral defense cooperation agreement -- a move that has sparked controversy in the Pacific Island nation and comes as Washington and China jostle for influence in the region.

Two terrorists carried out a bomb attack in front of Turkey's Interior Ministry building in the Turkish capital Ankara ahead of the opening of parliament on Sunday, authorities said.

Liberian President George Weah has conceded defeat after nearly complete provisional results showed challenger Joseph Boakai won this week’s runoff election

Babies and toddlers who nap a lot may have smaller vocabularies and poorer memory and thinking skills, research suggests. Parents and guardians all over the world worry about their children getting either too little or too much sleep. But a new study reveals that some children are better at consolidating information during sleep, so they nap less frequently. Those with fewer words and poorer cognitive skills need to nap more frequently, the researchers found. Young children will naturally nap for as long as they need and they should be allowed to do just that Dr Teodora Gliga, University of East Anglia However, the findings suggest that reducing naps for these children will not improve brain development, and that they should be allowed to nap as frequently and for as long as they need. Lead researcher Dr Teodora Gliga, from the University of East Anglia (UEA), said: “There is a lot of parental anxiety around sleep. “Parents worry that their kids don’t nap as much as expected for their age – or nap too frequently and for too long. “But our research shows that how frequently a child naps reflects their individual cognitive need. “Some are more efficient at consolidating information during sleep, so they nap less frequently. “Children with smaller vocabularies or a lower score in a measure of executive function nap more frequently.” She added: “Young children will naturally nap for as long as they need and they should be allowed to do just that.” The research team studied 463 infants aged between eight months and three years during lockdown in 2020. What we found is that the structure of daytime sleep is an indicator of cognitive development Dr Teodora Gliga, University of East Anglia Parents were asked about their children’s sleep patterns, their ability to focus on a task, keep information in their memory, and the number of words that they understood and could say. They also asked parents about their socioeconomic status – including their postcode, income, and education – and about the amount of screen time and outdoor activities their child engaged in. Dr Gliga said: “Lockdown gave us an opportunity to study children’s intrinsic sleep needs because when children are in childcare, they rarely nap as much as they need to. “What we found is that the structure of daytime sleep is an indicator of cognitive development. “Infants with more frequent but shorter naps than expected for their age had smaller vocabularies, and worse cognitive function. “We also found that this negative association between vocabulary and frequency of naps was stronger in older children.” She added that although the majority of parents reported that lockdown did not impact their children’s sleep, parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were more likely to report a worsening in sleep. Caregivers should use a child’s mental age and not chronological age to ascertain a child’s sleep needs Dr Teodora Gliga, University of East Anglia “Screen time increased during lockdown and outdoor activities decreased but these did not explain differences in children’s sleep,” Dr Gliga said. She continued: “Our findings suggest that children have different sleep needs – some children may drop naps earlier because they don’t need them anymore. “Others may still need to nap past three years of age. “In the UK, preschools enrolling three to five-year-olds have no provisions for napping. “Caregivers should use a child’s mental age and not chronological age to ascertain a child’s sleep needs.” The study, published in the JCPP Advances journal, was led by UEA in collaboration with researchers at the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, the University of Leeds and the University of Warwick. It was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Bursts of activity that make you huff and puff ‘linked to reduced cancer risk’ New outfits in Highland dress collection help museum tell the story of modern tartan 5 expert-approved ways to stop your hair colour fading this summer

Syria will let humanitarian aid flow through its main border crossing into rebel-held areas, reopening a conduit that had closed after a Security Council stalemate...

UK pension funds are dangerously misaligned with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to limit

Security has ramped up in Washington DC as Donald Trump prepares to return to the alleged scene of the crime to face charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the events leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot. The former president is scheduled to appear for his arraignment at 4pm ET on Thursday afternoon at the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington DC – just a few blocks away from the US Capitol where a mob of his supporters staged a violent insurrection to try to overthrow democracy back on 6 January 2021. Metal barricades were seen being erected outside the courthouse on Wednesday night while the Secret Service confirmed that it is working with multiple law enforcement agencies to “ensure the highest levels of safety and security”. “While the Secret Service does not comment on specific protective means or methods, we have the utmost confidence in the dedication and commitment to security shared by all of our law enforcement and government partners,” Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the US Secret Service, said in a statement. “We are working closely with the Metropolitan Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Park Police, U.S. Capitol Police and the Federal Protective Service to ensure the highest levels of safety and security for the former president, while minimizing disruptions to the normal court process.” The agency warned Washington DC residents that they could face “short-term traffic implications” in the centre of the capital on Thursday. Mr Trump is expected to surrender to authorities at the DC courthouse at 4pm ET where he will be formally arrested on the charges, have his fingerprints taken and be processed. He will then appear for his arraignment before Magistrate Judge Moxila A Upadhyaya where he is expected to plead not guilty to the charges. The former president does have the option of appearing virtually – instead of in-person – but is expected to travel to the hearing. The hearing will see Mr Trump return to the centre of his alleged attempts to upturn American democracy to face criminal charges over the plot. The courthouse is just a stone’s throw from the US Capitol – the scene of one of America’s darkest day 31 months ago when hundreds of Mr Trump supporters stormed the building to try to stop the certification of the election for President Joe Biden. Since then, hundreds have been charged and convicted over their role that day. This historic day marks the first time that their leader Mr Trump has been held to account. Mr Trump and his attorneys are already demanding that his “fake” criminal case be moved out of Washington DC to “unbiased” West Virginia, claiming he cannot get a fair trial in the capital. The former president is accused of conspiring with his allies to overturn the 2020 election, in a bid to sabotage the vote of the American people. A grand jury, which has spent months hearing evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, returned a federal indictment on Tuesday hitting him with four federal charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. The Justice Department alleges that Mr Trump and his circle of co-conspirators knew that he had lost the election but launched a multi-prong conspiracy to do everything they could to enable him to cling onto power. This included spreading “knowingly false claims of election fraud to get state legislators and election officials to subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes for the Defendant’s opponent, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., to electoral votes for the Defendant”, the indictment states. Mr Trump and his allies also allegedly plotted to send slates of fake electors to seven “targeted states” of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin which President Joe Biden had won – to get them to falsely certify the election for Mr Trump. The indictment also alleges Mr Trump tried to use the DOJ to “conduct sham election crime investigations”, sending letters to the seven states claiming that “significant concerns” had been found in the elections in those states. As well as the false claims about the election being stolen from Mr Trump, the scheme also involved pushing false claims that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to alter the results – and pushing Mr Pence to “fraudulently alter the election results”. When Mr Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in a violent attack that ended with five deaths, Mr Trump and his co-conspirators “exploited” the incident by “redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims,” the indictment claims. At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Smith placed the blame for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol firmly on Mr Trump’s shoulders. “The attack on our nation’s capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” he said. “As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the US government – the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.” The indictment marks Mr Trump’s second federal indictment, his third criminal indictment overall – and potentially his most serious. While the former president is the only person charged in the case, the indictment also refers to six co-conspirators who worked with him to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The six individuals – four attorneys, one Justice Department official and one political consultant – have not been named in the charging documents because they have not yet been charged with any crimes. However, based on the details in the indictment and records already known about the events leading up to the Capitol riot, the identities are apparent as Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Kenneth Chesebro and Boris Epshteyn. Read More Trump arraignment – live: Trump to appear in court today as he demands ‘fake’ Jan 6 case be moved out of DC Who are Trump’s six alleged co-conspirators in the 2020 election probe case? When is Donald Trump’s arraignment? Tanya Chutkan: Who is the judge overseeing Trump’s 2020 election probe case? Watch live: View of Capitol ahead of Donald Trump’s court appearance Who are Trump’s six alleged co-conspirators in the 2020 election probe case?

FTX Trading Ltd. won bankruptcy court approval to begin selling its stakes in digital trusts managed by crypto

Shares of the Japanese trading companies that Warren Buffet has invested in reached record levels this week after

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 23, 2023--