South Korea crypto-crash king, Do Kwon, jailed
Do Kwon, the cryptocurrency boss behind the $40bn (£31.3bn) collapse of the terraced and Luna tokens, has been sentenced to four months of jail in Montenegro.
Mr. Kwon was found guilty of forging official documents.
He was arrested in March as he tried to board a flight to Dubai at Podgorica Airport, in the country's capital.
Mr. Kwon also faces charges in the US and South Korea over the collapse of the two digital tokens last year.
The former finance officer of Mr. Kwon's company Terraform Labs, Han Chang-Joon, was also sentenced to four months in prison after being found guilty of the same charges.
Mr. Kwon and Mr. Han pleaded not guilty at their first court hearing in May.
The sentences will include the time that Mr. Kwon and Mr. Han have already spent in detention after being arrested in March, the court said in a statement.
They will also be able to appeal the verdict within eight days of receiving written notification from the court.
In February, US regulators charged Mr. Kwon and his company Terraform Labs with "orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud".
"We allege that Terraform and Do Kwon failed to provide the public with full, fair, and truthful disclosure as required for a host of crypto asset securities, most notably for Luna and TerraUSD," US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler said in a statement.
Last year, a South Korean court issued arrest warrants for Mr. Kwon and five other individuals connected to the case.
Prosecutors said they believed that Terraform Labs, which is registered in Singapore, had violated capital market rules.
Montenegro does not have extradition treaties with the US or South Korea.
The collapse of the terraUSD stablecoin and the associated Luna token rocked cryptocurrency markets in May 2022.
Source- BBC
Amazon, Hilton and Pepsi to hire thousands of refugees in Europe
Amazon has pledged to hire 5,000 Ukrainian and other refugees in Europe as part of a wider drive to help people fleeing persecution.
Hilton Hotels, Adecco, and Microsoft are also among the firms promising to offer work or career support.
It comes as the global number of people forcibly displaced from their countries stands at a record 110 million.
Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, said far too many refugees could not find work.
"This is despite our endemic skills shortages, their high levels of education, desire to earn a living, and legal right to work [in the EU] through the Temporary Protection Directive," she said.
"This unprecedented show of support from businesses across the continent will be critical to enabling tens of thousands of Ukrainians to provide for themselves and their loved ones back in Ukraine."
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the number of Ukrainian refugees living in Europe stands at more than 5.9 million, including 1.3 million living in Russia and Belarus.
Millions of others have fled conflicts and persecution in regions such as Syria, Sudan, and Afghanistan.
The Tent Partnership for Refugees charity, which is coordinating the efforts, said most of the Ukrainian refugees in Europe were women and faced particular hurdles when finding jobs.
These ranged from not knowing the local language to having to juggle childcare responsibilities.
Under its initiative, big firms including Amazon, Hilton, and Marriott have committed to hiring 13,680 Ukrainians and other refugees for their workforce over the next three years.
In addition, staffing agencies such as Adecco will help 150,000 find work, while the likes of Accenture and Microsoft will help train more than 86,000.
Amazon has already committed to hiring at least 5,000 refugees in the US by the end of 2024 under its Welcome Door program.
It said it also provided financial support for immigration-related processes, access to self-help guides on settling into a new community, and mentorship and training.
The firm, which employs 200,000 across Europe, said most of the new roles for refugees would be in areas such as fulfillment and distribution.
However, J Ofori Agboka, a vice president at the e-commerce giant, said workers would be eligible "to move into jobs that are in different levels of the organization that are commensurate with their skills and abilities".
Source- BBC
Kylian Mbappe scored a retaken penalty as France beat Greece
Kylian Mbappe scored a retaken penalty as France beat Greece to maintain their perfect record in Euro 2024 qualifying.
The hosts were awarded a spot-kick after Konstantinos Mavropanos' awful challenge saw him kick the head of a jumping Antoine Griezmann.
Odysseas Vlachodimos saved Mbappe's first effort, but some Greek defenders entered the penalty area with Mbappe scoring the second chance.
Mavropanos was later sent off for bringing down Randal Kolo Muani.
The victory means France has won all four of their qualifying matches and has not conceded. They are top of Group B and six points clear of Greece, who have played a game fewer.
Mavropanos' challenge on Griezmann left the striker bleeding, with the Atletico Madrid player needing a bandage around his head for the rest of the match.
There were 14 minutes of injury time played at the end of the second half, but Greece could not find an equalizer.
Elsewhere in Group B, the Republic of Ireland gained their first points with a comfortable 3-0 home victory over Gibraltar.
Source- BBC
Bebe Rexha rushed off stage after a phone hits her in the face
Pop star Bebe Rexha was rushed off stage during a concert on Sunday after being hit in the head by a phone thrown by a fan.
The star, who was performing in New York, collapsed to her knees when the projectile struck the side of her head.
She was later escorted from the venue, apparently still in pain, with her hands pressed to her face.
A video posted online showed a man being removed from the crowd by security as fans shouted "That's assault".
New York Police later confirmed that a 27-year-old concertgoer had been charged with assault.
The singer, whose hits include I'm Good (Blue) and Meant To Be, posted photos showing her injuries to Instagram on Monday.
They showed bruising around her left eye and a cut on her eyebrow. However, she captioned the pictures, "I'm good", and gave the camera a thumbs-up.
Gossip website Pop Base quoted her mother as saying the star received medical treatment and needed three stitches.
The BBC has contacted Rexha's team for further comment.
The star was at the end of her set at Pier 17 in New York when the incident occurred.
She had previously invited a tearful fan from El Salvador onto the stage to sing I'm Gonna Show You Crazy; and played an impromptu version of Seasons after a request from the audience.
Fans who attended the show expressed their disbelief at how the show ended.
"I'm still in shock two hours later," wrote one on Twitter. "I saw something fly and hit her. I thought it was a CD or a paper until I saw he[r] drop."
"People really dressed up and were in a good mood that they were going to a concert but this old man ruined everything," added another.
"Super unsettling ending to an otherwise great show," commented a third. "I hope she's okay."
Rexha is next due to perform on Tuesday 20 June at The Fillmore in Philadelphia.
She will bring the tour to London on 28 July when she plays the Shepherd's Bush Empire.
Source- BBC
Uganda school attack: I covered myself in blood to hide
Student Julius Isingoma has told the BBC how he miraculously survived a night-time assault by suspected Islamist rebels on his school dormitory in western Uganda.
"I smeared the blood of my dead colleagues in my mouth, ears, and on my head so that the attackers would think I was dead," he said when we met him at Bwera General Hospital in Kasese district.
About 40 people - 37 of them students - died in the attack on the secondary school in the small town of Mpondwe on Friday night.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), adding that they were "possibly working with other criminals because I hear that school had some wrangles". He did not elaborate but vowed to hunt down the militants in their hide-outs across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The ADF has not yet commented.
It was formed in the 1990s and took up arms against Mr. Museveni, alleging persecution of the minority Muslim population.
Its leader reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group in 2016.
But it was not until April 2019 that IS first acknowledged its activity in the area, when it claimed an attack on army positions near the border with Uganda.
This statement marked the announcement of IS's "Central Africa Province" (Iscap).
Six students are believed to have been abducted as the militants retreated to DR Congo.
Julius was among six people who managed to survive the assault which lasted for several hours.
He did not identify the attackers but said they were gun-wielding men who launched their attack at about 22:00 local time.
They came to the boys' dormitory but the students had locked it after realizing they were in danger.
"When they couldn't open the door they hurled a bomb inside the dormitory and then used hammers and axes to break down the door," he said.
Julius was standing behind many of the students who had formed a shield near the door and were shot dead when the militants got into the dormitory.
There were cries as the students were gunned down, hacked, or shot to death.
He quickly climbed to the top of a bunk bed, removed some of the wooden planks from the ceiling, and jumped inside to hide.
From there, he helplessly watched his colleagues being brutally murdered by the assailants, who then set fire to mattresses and left.
"I was overwhelmed by the smoke and dropped back down into the dormitory with a thud," he said.
The militants heard the thud and came back.
At that point, Julius knew he had to come out of the attack alive.
"I lay next to the bloodied bodies of my friends and thought very fast. Then I smeared a lot of blood into my ears, mouth, and on my head, and when the militants came, they checked my hand for a pulse and left," Julius said.
Another survivor, Godwin Mumbere, was in the same dormitory as Julius.
The 18-year-old recalled the assailants going to the girls' dormitory, dragging them out, and hacking them to death with machetes.
They then came to the boys' dormitory, broke down the door, and started attacking the students.
The bed Godwin was hiding under was overturned and his friends on top fell to the ground and were killed.
"The attackers saw me but thought I was dead," he told the BBC.
But they went out and came back into the dormitory to ensure everyone was dead.
"It was at this point that they shot me in the hand and set the dorm ablaze," he said.
Godwin was brought back to reality by the shouts of another student who said they were dying.
He ran out of the dormitory, scaled the school gate, and ran to a nearby hardware store through a cocoa plantation. He got to a lodge and hid under a vehicle until he was rescued.
Clarice Bwambare, the senior administrator of Bwera General Hospital, told the BBC they started receiving the bodies of students and residents at around 01:00 - about three hours after the attack began on Friday night.
He noted that out of the 20 bodies they received, 18 were those of students.
Five survivors are currently recuperating at the hospital. One of them is a girl who is in critical condition at the intensive care unit. A surgeon advised that she cannot be moved because of a severe head injury from being hit with a hammer by the rebels.
Mr. Bwambare said only one body had not been claimed from the mortuary.
On Sunday, grief-stricken families buried 21 of the students, according to Uganda's New Vision newspaper.
Lying on his hospital bed, Julius expressed regret that he could not attend their funerals. He said he wished he was a soldier who could fight back and save the lives of his friends and colleagues.
Source- BBC
At least 6 teens shot after Milwaukee Juneteenth celebration ends
At least six teenagers were shot Monday afternoon around where Milwaukee’s Juneteenth celebration had just wrapped up, according to police and fire officials.
The shooting happened about 4:20 pm outside Greater Philadelphia Church of God in Christ, according to witnesses and a Facebook Live video taken by a bystander in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, according to local media outlets.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said six teens were shot, including a 17-year-old who may have been a gunman himself and is in custody. Police were still seeking additional suspects who hadn’t yet been identified.
Police said the victims, four girls, and two boys, ranged in age from 14-19.
Norman said the shooting may have stemmed from a fight among a number of girls and young women, but he didn’t know what sparked the dispute. The injuries of those wounded varied but did not appear life-threatening, the chief said.
“Milwaukee, what’s going on with our children?” Norman wondered aloud at a news conference. He noted that he had taken part in the city’s Juneteenth celebrations for eight years without any such bloody aftermath.
“Parents, guardians, elders, we need to ensure that this violence that our children are bringing these streets ceases. No handgun, no weapons of destruction, should be in the hands of our young ones.”
“This is a story that plays out too often, and it’s getting really old. Really old,” Norman said.
The violence followed a bloody weekend of shootings across the United States.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson stressed that Monday’s Juneteenth observance itself was a safe and growing event, calling the subsequent violence “totally, totally unacceptable.”
“We had thousands and thousands of people here celebrating and bringing themselves together and having a sense of community. That’s a powerful thing. That’s the true story about what this day is,” said Johnson, a Democrat.
A Facebook Live video taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting shows at least two young people with gunshot wounds being treated by paramedics on the pavement.
The person who filmed the Facebook Live said in the video that a teenage girl or young woman had suffered a gunshot wound to the neck. The Facebook user tried to comfort her sobbing friend, who was trying to contact her mother. About 20 minutes after the festival had officially ended, hundreds of people were still walking along the street.
Thousands of people packed King Drive for the festival, which ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Vendors selling food and wares lined the street along with community organizations offering resources, snacks, and free giveaways.
Source- Jamaica Observer
Tropical Storm Bret forms in Atlantic, with possible hurricane threat to Caribbean islands
Tropical Storm Bret formed in the central Atlantic Ocean on Monday, with forecasters saying it could pose a hurricane threat to the Lesser Antilles by Thursday and the Dominican Republic and Haiti by the weekend.
The National Hurricane Centre in Miami said the Bret had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) at 5 pm centre Monday as it moved west across the Atlantic at 21 mph (33 kph). Forecasters expect it to strengthen over the next two days, reaching Category 1 hurricane strength of 74 mph (120 kph) by Wednesday night. Because of wind shear, the storm is not expected to strengthen into a Category 2 storm.
Bret is “forecast to strengthen and move across the Lesser Antilles as a hurricane on Thursday and Friday, bringing a risk of flooding from heavy rainfall, hurricane-force winds, and dangerous storm surge and waves,” the center said.
There is a possibility the storm could turn north or continue west into the Caribbean and threaten the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and other islands.
"Everyone in the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands should closely monitor updates to the forecast for this system and have their hurricane plan in place,” the center said.
Tropical Storm Arlene, the first storm of the 2023 season, formed earlier this month. It petered out after two days, never threatening landfall.
Source- Jamaica Observer
Twitter sued by music publishers for $250m
A group of 17 music publishers in the US has sued Twitter, claiming the platform enabled copyright violations involving nearly 1,700 songs.
The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) is seeking more than $250m (£197.7m) in damages.
In a lawsuit filed at the Federal District Court in Nashville, the NMPA claimed Twitter "permits and encourages infringement" for profit.
It says the situation has not improved since Elon Musk bought the company.
The NMPA, which represents firms - including Sony Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, and Universal Music Publishing Group - alleged that Twitter continues to "reap huge profits from the availability of unlicensed music without paying the necessary licensing fees for it".
It added that the infringements have given Twitter an "unfair advantage" over competitors - including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat - which pay for music licenses.
Twitter "stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service," NMPA President David Israelite said in a statement.
Mr. Musk, who recently reclaimed the title of the world's richest person, bought Twitter last year for $44bn.
The NMPA also said: "Twitter's change in ownership in October 2022 has not led to improvements in how it acts with respect to copyright."
"On the contrary, Twitter's internal affairs regarding matters pertaining to this case are in disarray," it added.
NMPA cited Twitter's downsizing of "critical departments involved with content review and policing terms of service violations", and the resignations of trust and safety chiefs Yoel Roth and Ella Irwin.
The NMPA also alleged that Twitter "routinely ignores known repeat infringers and known infringements".
Earlier this month, Linda Yaccarino, the former head of advertising at media giant NBCUniversal, became the new boss of the troubled social media firm.
Ms. Yaccarino oversees business operations at the platform, which has been struggling to make money.
Since buying Twitter, Mr. Musk has cut 75% of its workforce, including teams charged with tracking abuse, and changed how the company verifies accounts.
Source- BBC
New Nio EL6 to take on electric luxury SUV market
Alongside the new ET5 Touring, Nio has unveiled its latest SUV, called the EL6. It’s a premium SUV with pure-electric power and takes on the likes of the Audi Q8 e-tron and Mercedes EQE.
Chinese brand Nio hasn’t disclosed its intentions for the UK market, but we expect the EL6 and the ET5 in saloon and estate form to arrive here sometime in 2024. We’ve already driven the new ET5 and the EL6 will share the same EV architecture.
It’s also clear the EL6 shares plenty of the ET5’s design. The EL6 carries over much of the ES6’s exterior style, with slim headlights and a flush grille area an obvious trait of Nio’s cars. There’s smooth surfacing throughout and pull-out door handles, but the EL6’s body style is that of a traditional SUV. At 4,854mm long, 1,995mm wide and with a height of 1,703mm, the EL6 is comparable in size to the BMW iX.
On the inside, there’s a clear evolution of the layout found in the old ES6. There’s a large central touchscreen, a new driver’s display and a head-up display, but overall it’s a minimal design with a small number of physical switches. Nio says the glass sunroof is the largest in its class providing an opening of one square metre. Nio also says comfort has been a priority with the EL6; the 20-way adjustable seats were developed in-house and feature three-zone heating, ventilation and various massaging functions.
Alongside a comfortable ride, the EL6 features flexible storage space with a three-layer trunk offering a maximum volume of 668 litres. The rear seats can be split and folded in a 40/20/40 layout, generating further storage space of up to 1,430 litres.
Sitting on the same architecture as the ET5, the EL6 uses a dual-motor four-wheel-drive system with a 100kW battery sending power to both axles resulting in 483bhp and 700Nm of torque. The 0-62mph sprint is covered in 4.5 seconds - half a second slower than the ET5 Touring.
The EL6 comes with nine driving modes, varying from a comfort-oriented approach to a sportier drive. There’s damping control which can electronically make up to 500 adjustments per second and braking force can also be automatically adjusted for the environment.
UK sales haven’t been finalised yet, but the Chinese brand could make a stir in the EV sector by offering battery-swap infrastructure to reduce charging waits – technology the firm has already rolled out in Europe.
Source- AutoExpress
Spotify podcast deal with Harry and Meghan ends
Spotify's deal with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for the couple to produce podcasts has ended.
A joint statement from Harry and Meghan's company and the streaming giant said they had "mutually agreed to part ways".
Spotify confirmed it was not renewing Meghan's podcast Archetypes, which ran for 12 episodes from August 2022, for a second series.
The contract was estimated to be worth $25m (£18m) in late 2020.
The podcast deal was one of the major commercial agreements the couple entered into after quitting royal duties and relocating to the US in 2020.
When it was announced in late 2020, the prince said it would "bring forward different perspectives and voices that perhaps you haven't heard before".
Archetypes saw Meghan speak to high-profile figures like Serena Williams and Mariah Carey about stereotypes leveled against women.
A statement from Spotify and Archewell Audio, the couple's content creation label, said they were "proud of the series we made together".
In December, Archetypes won the top podcast award at the People's Choice Award in Los Angeles.
At the time, Meghan wrote: "I loved digging my hands into the process, sitting up late at night in bed, working on the writing and creative.
"And I loved digging deep into a meaningful conversation with my diverse and inspiring guests, laughing and learning with them. It has been such a labor of love."
The Wall Street Journal quoted an Archewell spokeswoman as saying Meghan was "continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform".
When the agreement with Spotify was first announced, it was billed as a relationship that would produce several series - but in the end, only one materialized.
American media reports suggest the royal couple failed to meet the productivity benchmark required by Spotify, and therefore wouldn't be receiving the full value of the contract.
Since splitting from the royal family, Harry and Meghan have looked to capitalize on their global fame in order to become financially independent.
That has included a multi-million dollar content deal with Netflix, and Harry's huge contract with Penguin Books, which has already produced his autobiography Spare.
It follows Spotify's announcement last week that it was cutting 200 jobs in its podcast division after a period of heavy investment in the medium, saying it was embarking on a "strategic realignment".
The headline and first paragraph of this article were changed on 16 June to make it clear that - as stated in the article - the published statement said there was a mutual agreement between Spotify and the royal couple to end the deal.
Source- BBC