Nicolas Maduro is cracking down on the Venezuelan elite’s growing obsession with padel tennis, blocking the construction of

Twitter rival Bluesky has been forced to temporarily pause sign-ups after experiencing a surge of interest following Elon Musk’s decision to introduce new limits to his social network. The tech billionaire began limiting the number of tweets people can read on Saturday, claiming that it was necessary to address “extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation”. The move prevents unverified users from seeing more than 600 Twitter posts a day, while paid subscribers can view up to 6,000. It prompted renewed interest in rival apps, including Mastodon, whose creator said 110,000 new users joined the platform in just one day. Bluesky, which was founded by former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey, is currently in private beta, meaning people can only sign up if they have an invite code from another user. “We will temporarily be pausing Bluesky sign-ups while our team continues to resolve the existing performance issues,” the company said over the weekend. “We’ll keep you updated when invite codes will resume functionality. We’re excited to welcome more users to our beta soon!” Among those making the transition from Twitter to Bluesky to Twitter is Paul Cooper, host of the Fall of Civilization podcast. Last month, Mr Musk encouraged the history podcast to “please upload your podcasts” to Twitter, though Mr Cooper replied that he considered the platform “too compromised” to make such a move. “It’s become a safe haven for hate speech, and meanwhile crypto scammers and bots are paying to be boosted to the top of replies,” the podcast host wrote. “Everything that once made Twitter special seems to be leaching away.” Mr Musk said the limits introduced for Twitter users would be temporary, though did not specify when they would be removed. Twitter responded to a request from The Independent for more information with its customary poop emoji. Read More Twitter alternative Bluesky launches as Android app

'Friends' star Matthew Perry died at age 54 at his Los Angeles home from apparent drowning

Newlywed star Ronald Acuña Jr. hit his 31st homer and stole his 63rd base, Max Fried tossed seven shutout innings and the Atlanta Braves defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3

Macy’s slashed its annual profit and sales outlook with sales weakening sales in the first quarter during an increasingly challenging economic environment, including stubbornly high inflation

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False claims have been circulating online since the military took over in Niger.

An attorney for a former Northern California university student charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of two people and attempted murder of a third says his client has not showered in the nearly three months he’s been in jail

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Emerging images and maps reveal the full scale of the devastation caused by the Kakhovka dam disaster in southern Ukraine.

No. 2 Ohio State travels to play No. 3 Michigan on Saturday in The Game with a Big Ten championship game bid on the line

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