Elon Musk booed at video games contest as crowds shout: ‘Bring back Twitter!’
Elon Musk, the owner of X – formerly known as Twitter – was booed at a video game contest in Los Angeles. The audience at Valorant World Championship Final on Saturday did not seem to like Mr Musk’s takeover of the social media platform, which he then renamed. As soon as the cameras showed him, he was met with a cacophony of boos. Mr Musk was attending the tournament with one of his sons, Insider reported. A clip of the event has ironically garnered over 14m views on Mr Musk’s social media platform. “Where is that from? That can’t be from in here, surely,” one of the commentators said amid the booing after the camera aired a brief shot of the Tesla and SpaceX founder. Even after the camera returned to focus on the game play, the crowd continued to boo. Then people started chanting in unison: “Bring back Twitter!” People on X weighed in on what it means to elicit such a reaction at a video game tournament. One X user wrote: “Getting booed by Valorant players is like getting wedgies by the anime club in middle school.” Another user remarked, “Lol we want a new logo,” seemingly blasting the black “X” that replaced the blue bird as the platform’s logo. Yet another said that the boos weren’t that bad: “That was actually a very sweet chant compared to all the other things they could of chanted.” The X owner has faced consistent criticism over the changes he has made to the popular and influential social media platform since his takeover last year. On top of unhappiness over the policy changes, Mr Musk was also blasted over his decision to rebrand the site from the household name Twitter to a simple X. Last month, a giant “X” sign appeared above the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, sparking an investigation; the sign has since been taken down. This wasn’t the first harsh rebuke Mr Musk faced last week; the Justice Department sued his company, SpaceX, accusing it of hiring discrimination. Read More Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued over allegations of hiring discrimination Elon Musk’s X took two days to remove account where Laura Carleton’s killer spewed anti-LGBT+ hate Musk admits X may be doomed to fail as new glitch wipes out pictures from former Twitter platform Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis faces Black leaders' anger after racist killings in Jacksonville Trump misleadingly claims 250 million viewers watched his Tucker Carlson interview Trump insists ‘I LOVE TRUTH SOCIAL’ after making return to Twitter with mug shot
1970-01-01 08:00
Gazprom’s Net Income Shrinks on Capped Gas Flows to Europe
Gazprom PJSC’s net income for the first half of the year fell to the lowest since 2020, due
1970-01-01 08:00
How Does the FIBA World Cup Affect Olympic Qualifying?
Breaking down how teams from the FIBA World Cup can qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games.
1970-01-01 08:00
Ozempic Could Be The Next Target of Medicare Price Negotiations
Ozempic, Novo Nordisk A/S’s popular diabetes drug that’s also used for weight loss, could be one of the
1970-01-01 08:00
FBI Dismantles a Malware System That Took Millions in Ransom
The FBI said Tuesday that it has taken down a network of hacked devices responsible for extorting tens
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Secretive ‘farewell ceremony’ for Wagner chief as Putin stays away from funeral
A behind-closed-doors "farewell ceremony" has been held for the Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin – a funeral avoided by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Secrecy had surrounded the funeral arrangements for Prigozhin, killed in a plane crash on 23 August, two months to the day since staging a 24-hour mutiny that was the biggest challenge to Putin's authority since he rose to power in 1999. The low-key ceremony stands in stark contrast to aggressive self-promotion, with videos from Ukraine having become a regular fixture of Prigozhin's months-long feud with Moscow's military command over the invasion Putin started. That ended with his forces marching on Moscow, only stopping 125 miles from the capital when a deal was struck with the Kremlin. "The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place in a closed format. Those who wish to say goodbye may visit Porokhovskoye cemetery," his press service said in a short post on Telegram, accompanied by a photo of Prigozhin. But the seemingly private ceremony suits the Kremlin and Putin, with Prigozhin having gone from years-long ally of the Russian president to being branded a "traitor" over his armed uprising. It meant that the event could not be turned into a large-scale show of support for the Wagner chief, who as well as collecting enemies had gained admiration among some of Moscow's elite for throwing his troops into some of the bloodiest battles of Putin's war. That included around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, control of which has gained symbolic significance for both Kyiv and Moscow. Wagner forces were at the vanguard of that fight and helped Russian forces take it – although fierce battles continue around the suburbs of the ruined city. Hence why Putin and the Kremlin have to walk a fine line in not denigrating Prigozhin, despite few observers believing the Russian president would let the embarrassment of the Wagner mutiny stand without retribution. Comments from Putin have reflected that stance. Putin's comments on Prigozhin's death reflected that careful stand. He noted last week that Wagner leaders "made a significant contribution" to the fighting in Ukraine and described Prigozhin as a "talented businessman" and "a man of difficult fate" who had "made serious mistakes in life." Pictures published on social media showed Prigozhin's dark granite tombstone surrounded by a sea of flowers, mostly red roses, in the cemetery on the northeast edge of his hometown. Other makeshift memorials have appeared in recent days in both Moscow and St Petersburg. Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, noted that Prigozhin has become a legendary figure for his supporters who are increasingly critical of the authorities. "Prigozhin's funeral raises an issue of communication between the bureaucratic Russian government system that doesn't have much political potential and politically active patriotic segment of the Russian public," Markov said. Russia's top criminal investigation agency, the Investigative Committee, officially confirmed Prigozhin's death on Sunday, but i has not given a cause for the crash. A number of leaders in the West, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, have suggested that nothing of this magnitude could occur in Russia without Putin's knowledge. The Kremlin has claimed that such accusations are an "absolute lie". The Kremlin had confirmed earlier on Tuesday that Putin would not attend Prigozhin's funeral. Also on Tuesday, prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin failed in an appeal against his pre-trial detention on charges of inciting extremism, a Moscow court said. Girkin, also known as Strelkov, has fiercely criticised the way that Russia has conducted the war in Ukraine and his arrest was seen as an extension of a crackdown on dissent by Putin. The Embraer Legacy 600 private jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow with the loss of all 10 people on board, including top Wagner bosses Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov, and a crew of three. Earlier on Tuesday, Chekalov, the head of Wagner logistics, was buried at another St Petersburg cemetery. His family was joined by dozens of people, including Wagner mercenaries and employees from Prigozhin's business empire. On the battlefield in Ukraine, a military spokesperson said Kyiv's forces were advancing against Russian forces in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia after recapturing Robotyne, the latest of a cluster of villages it says it has taken back in recent weeks. Kyiv also said its troops had had some "success" in the direction of the village of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region, but gave no details. Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said fighting was heavy in the country but that Ukrainian forces were making progress around Bakhmut, while Russian shelling killed a 45-year-old man and wounded at least one other person in the northeastern Ukrainian town of Kupiansk. Russia also said it had downed two drones over the Black Sea it said were launched by Ukraine. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Russian hard-line nationalist ordered to stay in prison after accusing Putin of weakness Key questions around James Cleverly’s visit to China Putin ‘too busy’ to face world leaders at G20
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UNC shooting suspect’s social media complaints about murdered faculty member revealed
A University of North Carolina PhD student shared several posts on social media complaining about his academic adviser before allegedly shooting him dead in the science lab and plunging the Chapel Hill campus into lockdown. Tailei Qi, a 34-year-old graduate student majoring in applied physical sciences, was arrested on Monday and charged with first-degree murder in the killing of faculty member Dr Zijie Yan. The motive for the shooting remains unclear but his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, reveals he had complained grumbled about his head of lab in the lead-up to the shooting. In other posts, he also railed against hard work, aired his grievances with some “girls and tattletales” and complained about bullies in the US. “Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time,” he wrote in one bizarre post in August 2022, reviewed by The Independent. “Explanation is not a solution but makes them feel others will plead them every time they raise a problem, making them voyeur to find an excuse day and night.” Two weeks later on 18 August 2022, he tweeted about his “PI” – an abbreviation for his head of lab – handling “these girls and tattletales”. “Just have a talk with my PI and get his promise. He should have more experience to handle with these girls and tattletales,” he wrote. “Then, we can just get ourselves out of these stupid topic. Let’s just focus our attention on nature.I won’t change anything if not necessary.” Two months later in October 2022, he referred to his PI again and an unidentified “group of people”. “Both the group of people to say I am lazy and that to prove me working hard instead of telling me that are trying to consume my privacy. I judge their motivation is only to tell my PI then control me by taletelling,” he tweeted. “But it’s weird when I talked about it with my PI, he said no people spoke to him about that. so it’s nothing but some voyeurism for these people?” Yan headed up the Department of Applied Physical Sciences and physical chemistry group the Yan Research Group, which Mr Qi joined when he began his graduate program at UNC in 2022. In other online posts, Mr Qi addressed a mystery woman who he vowed to “just let her go” and his exhaustion with his workload. “I used to walk [sic] 80+ hours per week and I feel relaxing and energetic. Now I only work 60+ hours per week and I feel tired,” he wrote in one. In a post in July 2022 – before he is believed to have started at UNC that fall – he posted a cryptic message calling his treatment by an unnamed boss “disgusting”. “Just feel my privacy was insulted. When I work, I will think I was showing the boss I am working instead of interests, devaluing the meaning of my work,” he wrote. “That’s so disgusting. Self-respect block me from working. Then it takes pains to convince myself what I do is just because I like.” In another post that same month, he wrote that “only work with no play makes Jim a dull boy”. In one of his most recent posts in early August 2023 – just weeks before the shooting – Mr Qi issued an appeal to meet people at the college. “I would like to make some new friends. I am a second-year PhD student, interested in nanoparticle synthesis, optical trapping, self-assembly, spectra analysis, and ML,” he said. “a bit stupid in daily trifles, very enthusiastic talking about research. Reach me if inerest.” The Twitter account has the same name and the same image as both Mr Qi’s bio and the person of interest sent out by police during the brief manhunt. It describes him as “Graduate student @UNC, engaged in light-matter interaction and related materials”. Mr Qi previously studied at Wuhan University before moving to the US from China and studying at Louisiana State University. He joined the Yan Research Group at UNC in 2022. At around 1pm on Monday afternoon – just days into the new term of the second year of his PhD studies – Mr Qi allegedly entered the science lab at the UNC’s Chapel Hill campus and shot and killed Yan. Law enforcement arrived on the scene around two minutes later and the campus was plunged into lockdown, with officials warning that “an armed and dangerous person” was at large. The wrong person was briefly arrested after the unsuspecting individual missed the shelter-in-place alerts. Soon after, the UNC Police released an image of Mr Qi, calling him a person of interest and warning the public that “if you see this person, keep your distance, put your safety first and call 911”. Around three hours on from the shooting, police confirmed that a suspect had been arrested near a residential area 10 minutes away from campus and the lockdown was lifted. The gun is yet to be recovered, police said. The motive for the attack remains unknown at this time. “To actually have the suspect in custody gives us an opportunity to figure out the why and even the how, and also helps us to uncover a motive and really just why this happened today. Why today, why at all?” UNC Police Chief Brian James said in a press conference on Monday. “And we want to learn from this incident and we will certainly work to do our best to ensure that this never happens again on the UNC campus.” Read More UNC shooting – latest: Motive remains unknown after shooter kills faculty member in Chapel Hill He moaned about work, ‘bullies’ and his head of lab online. Then police say he shot dead a UNC faculty member A new college term, a faculty member killed and a student arrested: What we know about the UNC shooting
1970-01-01 08:00
More Americans Plan Vacations, Even as They Sour on the Economy
Americans might be fretting about the job market and inflation, but it’s not stopping them from splurging on
1970-01-01 08:00
UNC Chapel Hill shooting victim identified as associate professor Zijie Yan
Authorities have identified the fatal victim in Monday’s shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. UNC PhD student Tailei Qi, 34, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences and a researcher. Mr Yan was listed as his alleged killer’s academic advisor on Mr Qi’s UNC profile, which has since been removed from the university’s website. Yan joined UNC in 2019. Before that, he was an assistant professor at Clarkson University in New York following a postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago. Mr Qi and Yan co-authored several research papers, the latter having been published just last month. But on tweets from an account believed to belong to Mr Qi, the alleged shooter complained about “bullies and his “PI” – referring to his unnamed head of lab – being unable to handle “these girls and tattletales”. “Just have a talk with my PI and get his promise. He should have more experience to handle with these girls and tattletales,” he wrote. Two months later in October, he referred to his PI again: “Both the group of people to say I am lazy and that to prove me working hard instead of telling me that are trying to consume my privacy. I judge their motivation is only to tell my PI then control me by taletelling.” “But it’s weird when I talked about it with my PI, he said no people spoke to him about that. so it’s nothing but some voyeurism for these people?” Yan studied undergrad at the Hauzhong University of Science and Technology, where he obtained his bachelor’s in material science and engineering and computer science in 2005, the NC Newsline reports. The university is located in the same province where Mr Qi studied at Wuhan University until his graduation in 2015. This is a developing story ... check again for updates. Read More UNC shooting – latest: Graduate student charged with murder of faculty member on Chapel Hill campus He moaned about work, ‘bullies’ and his head of lab online. Then police say he shot dead a UNC faculty member UNC shooting suspect’s social media complaints about murdered faculty member revealed
1970-01-01 08:00
Unusually Warm Atlantic Ocean Is Supercharging Hurricane Idalia
Hurricane Idalia, now a Category 1 storm, is expected to make landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
1970-01-01 08:00
UNC students seen jumping from windows in heartwrenching videos during active shooter situation
Heartwrenching videos show students hiding under desks and jumping from classroom windows during an active shooter situation the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The campus was placed on lockdown for several hours on Monday afternoon after an alert went out about an “armed person”. Police later confirmed one member of the faculty was killed and a suspect, identified as graduate student Tailei Qi, was taken into custody. The motive for the shooting, which took place at the centre of the campus in one of the science buildings, remains unclear. Throughout much of the active situation, those under the “shelter in place” order did not have any idea what was going on. Videos posted to social media captured sirens wailing as students and faculty barricaded themselves in dorms, bathrooms, classrooms, and gyms across the sprawling grounds. The shelter in place alert was posted just after 1pm, with sirens emitted within two minutes. Officers found the faculty member, who has not been identified, fatally shot in the lab building, UNC Police Chief Brian James told a press conference. The suspect was apprehended about 90 minutes after the initial report of gunfire but the lockdown persisted as authorities searched for the weapon, officials told a press at a briefing. The arrest took place in a residential area close to the campus, according to local TV station WRAL. The lockdown was lifted at about 4.15pm. It is unclear if the suspect and victim knew each other. Chief James said: “To actually have the suspect in custody gives us an opportunity to figure out the why and even the how, and also helps us to uncover a motive and really just why this happened today. Why today, why at all?” “And we want to learn from this incident and we will certainly work to do our best to ensure that this never happens again on the UNC campus,” he added. Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said: “This loss is devastating, and the shooting damages the trust and safety that we so often take for granted in our campus community.” Graduate student Clayton Ulm, 23, said he was in a class with about 50 to 70 others when the lockdown went into action. The alarm went off and screens in the room also announced the order to shelter in place. “Then there was quite a bit of panic as students were trying to figure out what to do,” Mr Ulm wrote on LinkedIn after three hours of the lockdown, according to the AP. “Then we all started hiding beneath our chairs and under desks. Some students went and locked the doors.” Mr Ulm added that students began listening to police scanners to find out where the shooter was located with the sense of panic eventually subsiding and students could use the restrooms near them. It was “surreal seeing the mass panic,” Mr Ulm said. “We are looking for a firearm. It is too early to determine if the firearm was legally obtained,” Chief James said. The shooting came just a week after the start of classes at the first public university in the US. Tuesday’s classes were cancelled for the school’s 20,000 undergraduates and 12,000 graduate students. Northern Virginia freshman Rushil Umaretiya held a candle outside the lab building on Monday night with two of his friends, just two weeks after he moved to Chapel Hill. “In my family, whenever someone passes, we light a candle, so I thought I’d come out and pay some respect to the community I’m trying to join,” he told the AP. “It’s a scary time for a lot of people, like I have a lot of history with loss, so I think it’s just fear and a lot of mixed emotions.” Mr Ulm moved from Oklahoma to Chapel Hill a couple of months ago. He told the news agency that his mother called him as the students were sheltering in place. She was “crying profusely,” he said. “I knew I should’ve texted you yesterday, I was so worried... this was my greatest fear,” she told him. Read More UNC Chapel Hill graduate student Tailei Qi charged with murder in shooting of faculty member UNC shooting – latest: Graduate student charged with murder of faculty member on Chapel Hill campus
1970-01-01 08:00
He moaned about work, ‘bullies’ and his head of lab online. Then police say he shot dead a UNC faculty member
Tailei Qi shared several cryptic posts online after joining the University of North Carolina in 2022. The well-educated graduate student – who previously studied at both Wuhan University and Louisiana State University – complained about bullies, aired his grievances with some “girls and tattletales” and grumbled that his head of lab should have more experience to deal with his issues. “Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time,” he wrote in one bizarre post in August 2022. But – despite the complaints – the messages could not prepare anyone for the horror of what happened next. On the afternoon of Monday 28 August 2023 – just days into the new term of the second year of his PhD studies – Mr Qi allegedly entered the science lab at the UNC’s Chapel Hill campus armed with a firearm. Inside the lab where he carried out his studies, he shot and killed a faculty member, police said. The campus was plunged into lockdown before Mr Qi was arrested at a home just 10 minutes from the lab around three hours later. The motive for the attack remains unknown at this time and the victim’s identity has not been publicly released. “To actually have the suspect in custody gives us an opportunity to figure out the why and even the how, and also helps us to uncover a motive and really just why this happened today. Why today, why at all?” UNC Police Chief Brian James said in a press conference on Monday. “And we want to learn from this incident and we will certainly work to do our best to ensure that this never happens again on the UNC campus.” The suspect The suspect was identified on Tuesday as Tailei Qi, a graduate student who joined the Yan Lab of the college in 2022. Based on his online bio at the UNC, he studied under Dr Zijie Yan – the leader of the physical chemistry group the Yan Research Group and head of the Department of Applied Physical Sciences. Before joining UNC, Mr Qi previously studied material science at Louisiana State University and physics at Wuhan University. A Twitter account believed to belong to Mr Qi reveals that he had railed against his work and his head of lab as well as what he described as “bullies” in the US before allegedly carrying out the mass shooting. In a post on 1 August 2022, he wrote: “Bully in america seems to be a problem. It often comes with people not stopping them at the first time. “Explanation is not a solution but makes them feel others will plead them every time they raise a problem, making them voyeur to find an excuse day and night.” Two weeks later on 18 August 2022, he tweeted about his “PI” – referring to his unnamed head of lab – handling “these girls and tattletales”. “Just have a talk with my PI and get his promise. He should have more experience to handle with these girls and tattletales,” he wrote. “Then, we can just get ourselves out of these stupid topic. Let’s just focus our attention on nature.I won’t change anything if not necessary.” Two months later in October, he referred to his PI again and an unidentified “group of people”. “Both the group of people to say I am lazy and that to prove me working hard instead of telling me that are trying to consume my privacy. I judge their motivation is only to tell my PI then control me by taletelling,” he tweeted. “But it’s weird when I talked about it with my PI, he said no people spoke to him about that. so it’s nothing but some voyeurism for these people?” In other posts, Mr Qi addressed a mystery woman who he vowed to “just let her go” and his exhaustion with his workload. “I used to walk 80+ hours per week and I feel relaxing and energetic. Now I only work 60+ hours per week and I feel tired,” he wrote in one. In a post in July 2022 – before he is believed to have started at UNC that fall – he posted a cryptic message calling his treatment by an unnamed boss “disgusting”. “Just feel my privacy was insulted. When I work, I will think I was showing the boss I am working instead of interests, devaluing the meaning of my work,” he wrote. “That’s so disgusting. Self-respect block me from working. Then it takes pains to convince myself what I do is just because I like.” In another post that same month, he wrote that “only work with no play makes Jim a dull boy”. The Twitter account has the same name and the same image as both Mr Qi’s bio and the person of interest sent out by police during the brief manhunt. It describes him as “Graduate student @UNC, engaged in light-matter interaction and related materials”. In one post in early August – just weeks before the shooting – he issued an appeal to meet people at the college. “I would like to make some new friends. I am a second-year PhD student, interested in nanoparticle synthesis, optical trapping, self-assembly, spectra analysis, and ML,” he said. “a bit stupid in daily trifles, very enthusiastic talking about research. Reach me if inerest.” The shooting The shooting unfolded at around 1pm local time on Monday when UNC Police responded to a 911 call reporting gunfire at the science lab in the heart of the campus. Law enforcement arrived on the scene around two minutes after the call came in and found a faculty member shot dead inside the science lab building. The campus was plunged into lockdown, with officials warning that “an armed and dangerous person” was at large. The wrong person was briefly arrested after the unsuspecting individual missed the shelter-in-place alerts. Soon after, the UNC Police released an image of Mr Qi, calling him a person of interest and warning the public that “if you see this person, keep your distance, put your safety first and call 911”. Chilling footage shows terrified students and staff members barricaded inside classrooms and offices for fear that an active shooter was at large. Around three hours on from the shooting, police confirmed that a suspect had been arrested near a residential area 10 minutes away from campus. The gun is yet to be recovered, police said. The lockdown was eventually lifted at around 4.15pm. The victim’s identity is yet to be released, pending next of kin being notified. UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin M Guskiewicz said in a statement that a hotline and other mental health resources were on offer for staff and students affected by the shooting. “The students are certainly traumatised,” he said. “But I want to commend those who were inside the building ensuring everyone’s safety.” Classes have been canceled through Tuesday following the deadly shooting. “Due to today’s incident on campus, UNC-Chapel Hill will operate at a Condition 2 on Tuesday, Aug. 29. This means that classes are canceled, and non-mandatory operations are suspended,” the UNC said in an update. The shooting came just days into the start of the new term. Harrowingly, the horror was a somewhat familiar sight for the UNC community coming four years after a mass shooting at the Charlotte campus left two dead and four injured. Back on 30 April 2019 – onthe last day of the spring semester classes – two people were killed and four injured in a mass shooting inside a classroom in the Woodford A. Kennedy Building. The gunman – identified as former UNCC student Trystan Andrew Terrell – was arrested soon after. In September 2019, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced life without the possibility of parole. Read More UNC shooting – latest: Motive remains unknown after shooter kills faculty member in Chapel Hill A new college term, a faculty member killed and a suspect arrested: What we know about the UNC shooting UNC faculty member confirmed dead as active shooter shuts down Chapel Hill school
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