Citi Eyes ‘Complex’ Debt Swaps Once Dominated by Credit Suisse
Citigroup Inc. is looking to expand its footprint in a market that’s so far been dominated by Credit
1970-01-01 08:00
Margot Robbie 'can't imagine' any other Barbie director than Greta Gerwig
Margot Robbie thinks a lot of the 'Barbie' cast wouldn't have signed up for the film without director Greta Gerwig's involvement.
1970-01-01 08:00
Dame Joan Collins will play Wallis Simpson in biopic
Dame Joan Collins has revealed she is hoping to play the late Wallis Simpson in a new biopic about the last 15 years old her life.
1970-01-01 08:00
Threads ‘666’ logo conspiracy theory can be undermined by one simple historical fact
Since Instagram’s text-based alternative to Twitter, Threads, rolled out last week, a handful of memes and conspiracy theories have surfaced around the app’s unusual ‘at symbol’-like logo – from the inaccurate suggestion it was predicted by The Simpsons (it wasn’t), and now, to claims it’s actually linked to the devil (it isn’t). The baseless theory - seemingly backed by Twitter owner Elon Musk himself, if his public tweet likes are anything to go by – suggests the swirly icon secretly contains the number ‘666’, often referred to as “the number of the beast” and considered a link to the Antichrist. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Claiming they “can’t stop seeing it”, one Twitter user asked: “Does anyone else think the Threads logo just looks like 666? The first 6 is forward and white, then the second one is smaller and backwards, and the third one is the black space inside.” “How to put 666 ‘the number of the beast’ into a logo,” wrote another, in a tweet liked by Musk. Several other accounts have branded Threads “satanic” over the supposed link. In fact, the baseless claim became so popular that Instagram boss Adam Mosseri shared a thread on Friday explaining the real meaning behind the logo. “The Threads logo, in Instagram Sans, is inspired by the @ sign, which stands for someone’s username, the individual, and voice. “It’s a single unbroken line, inspired by the loop seen in the app when a thread is started,” he wrote. When one user commented that it “would have been entertaining” if Mosseri jokingly confirmed the conspiracy to be true, the exec replied: “It was tempting, but I feel like that kind of sass would just blow up in my face.” Sensible. Of course, this is just one fact which dispels this conspiracy theory as nonsense and baseless, but one lesser-known bit of historical trivia also exposes just how outlandish the claim is. All the way back in 2005, it was reported that a newly discovered fragment of the oldest version of the New Testament – the second part of the Bible – from the third century gave a different number entirely for the number of the beast. Found in historic dumps near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, the text from the Book of Revelation indicates it’s not 666 which is the fiendish number we should all be fearing, but the far less aesthetically pleasing 616. Professor David Parker, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham, said: “This is an example of gematria, where numbers are based on the numerical values of letters in people’s names. “Early Christians would use numbers to hide the identity of people who they were attacking: 616 refers to the Emperor Caligula.” This is in contrast to the far more popular 666, which is understood to have referred to Emperor Nero. 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.
1970-01-01 08:00
Icahn Gets Loan Reprieve After Short-Seller Report, WSJ Says
Carl Icahn is getting breathing room from banks more than two months after Hindenburg Research disclosed its short-selling
1970-01-01 08:00
Elon Musk issues foul mouthed retort at Mark Zuckerberg as feud intensifies
Elon Musk has escalated his rivalry with Mark Zuckerberg in his latest tweets, calling the Meta co-founder a "cuck." Since Zuckerberg's Meta launched Threads, a text-based social media app to rival Musk's Twitter, the two billionaire businessmen have been exchanging jibes online. Some of these include Zuckerberg taking to Twitter for the first time in 11 years to post a Spider-Man meme, Musk challenging Zuckerberg to a cage fight and Twitter threatening Threads with a lawsuit. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Now, Musk has responded to a screenshot from Threads that shows a post from the official account of the fast-food chain Wendy’s that reads: "hey @zuck, you should go to space just to make him really mad lol." To which Zuckerberg replied with a crying laughing emoji. Though clearly, this didn't amuse Musk as he declared on Twitter in response: "Zuck is a cuck." And he didn't stop there, in a follow-up tweet suggested another contest - not a cage-fighting one this time but something more explicit: "I propose a literal d*** measuring contest," Musk tweeted, along with a ruler emoji. The Elon Musk parody account cracked a joke in response to the real Musk's latest tweets: "At this point, I can't keep track of which account I'm tweeting from." This is the same parody account that called Zuckerberg a "lizard boy," and caught the attention of the actual Elon Musk who responded: "So many people think this account is me," with the eyes emoji. Zuckerberg has yet to respond in this war of words, though clearly this feud is far from over... Elsewhere, what is Threads, Instagram's 'text-based' alternative to Twitter, Threads users issued warning over new social media app, and Elon Musk responds to parody account calling Mark Zuckerberg 'lizard boy'. 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.
1970-01-01 08:00
Buy European Stocks as Discount Hits New Low, Citigroup Strategists Say
European stocks are the cheapest they’ve ever been compared with their US peers, according to Citigroup Inc. strategists
1970-01-01 08:00
Jurrien Timber's brother drops huge hint on Arsenal transfer
Jurrien Timber's brother has dropped a hint on the Ajax defender's move to Arsenal.
1970-01-01 08:00
European Stocks Steady as China Data Points to Weaker Recovery
European stocks were steady as traders assessed inflation data from China which sparked speculation about potential economic stimulus,
1970-01-01 08:00
What is Nato and what is its new Russia plan?
Nato, the West's defensive alliance, is drawing up plans to combat Russia if it attacks a member.
1970-01-01 08:00
Irish Home Asking Prices Post First Quarterly Rise for a Year
Asking prices for Irish homes rose more than 4% in the second quarter of the year, breaking a
1970-01-01 08:00
These 10 Airports Are the Most Chaotic in Europe This Summer
Airlines in Europe are trying to avoid a repeat of last summer’s travel chaos, when strikes and staff
1970-01-01 08:00
