US Business

Asian markets dipped Friday after a negative lead from Wall Street, with investors around the world worried about surging inflation.

Central banks in several major economies including the United States, Canada and Britain have already started raising interest rates to contain prices, but the European Central Bank on Thursday kept its stimulus plans and rates unchanged.

That sent the euro plunging to a near two-year low, but eurozone stocks were boosted while Wall Street retreated ahead of the Easter holidays.

The mood was subdued in Asia too, where only a handful of markets were open on Good Friday.

The Nikkei 225 closed 0.3 percent lower with Wall Street’s woes depressing sentiment.

Analysts had expected China’s central bank to cut interest rates on Friday to provide support to the Covid-stricken economy.

But the People’s Bank of China left them unchanged.

“That’s somewhat surprising given the sharp economic downturn and recent calls from China’s leadership for monetary support,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a note.

“It underscores the reluctance of the central bank to aggressively ease policy. But we think it will have little choice but to do more before long.”

Shanghai was down 0.5 percent at the close.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to the uncertainty about the global economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was reflected in statements from major banking executives in the United States, who described the American economy as solid but warned about the impact of the Ukraine conflict and the measures central banks such as the US Federal Reserve will take to control inflation.

“We don’t think there’s going to be a recession,” Julian Emanuel, chief equity strategist at Evercore ISI, told Bloomberg television.

“We don’t think the Fed is going to break the glass. But the problem is investors aren’t in that mindset quite yet.”

European and US markets are closed on Friday.

– Energy, food shocks –

Russia is a major global oil and gas supplier, and — along with Ukraine — is also a key player in the grain sector.

The conflict has shaken markets for these commodities, and the impact has been felt from the Middle East to South America.

In Yemen, there are fears of food shortages with the war-ravaged nation already on the edge of famine.

In Argentina, a strike by grain transporters has paralysed farming exports — haulers are unhappy with the rates they are paid, pointing to the spike in fuel prices because of the Ukraine crisis.

The war has sent oil prices soaring, with reports swirling about further energy sanctions on Russia.

Both main contracts have hovered above the $100 per barrel mark in recent days.

“There are no surprises here as oil continues to march higher, with global supply shortage outweighing concerns about slower demand in China,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a note.

– Key figures around 0745 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 27,093.19 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,211.24 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holiday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0808 from $1.0832 at 2100 GMT Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3068 from $1.3076

Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.70 pence from 82.77 pence

Dollar/yen: UP at 126.46 from 125.87

Brent North Sea crude: UP 2.7 percent at $111.70 per barrel at 2100 GMT Thursday

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.6 percent at $106.95 per barrel at 2100 GMT Thursday

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 34,451.23 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 7,616.38 (close)

— Bloomberg News contributed to this story —

Chinese auto makers may have to put the brakes on production if strict Covid-19 curbs in Shanghai persist, said the founder of electric carmaker XPeng, as a prolonged lockdown of the economic hub menaces supply chains.

The lockdown has kept Shanghai’s 25 million residents mostly at home, forcing manufacturers to halt operations, and has made China’s GDP growth target of around 5.5 percent look increasingly difficult to achieve.

Covid outbreaks across the country and the associated reductions in economic activity have already hit the auto industry hard, with car sales dropping 10.5 percent in March.

“If supply chain companies in Shanghai and its surrounding areas cannot find a way to dynamically resume work and production, all original equipment manufacturers may have to stop production in May,” XPeng chief He Xiaopeng said Thursday on social media.

XPeng has been touted as a Chinese challenger to US electric car giant Tesla, and its chief said that businesses were hoping for more support from the authorities to navigate the Covid closures.

Volkswagen also said it has been “severely hit by Covid-19 outbreaks in Changchun and Shanghai”, where the German titan’s Chinese joint ventures are located.

The firm is “temporarily unable to meet high customer demand”, said Volkswagen Group China CEO Stephan Wollenstein on Thursday, adding that he hoped the production delays could be made up in the coming months.

China’s zero-Covid policy has been increasingly strained as the country battles its highest number of infections since the start of the pandemic.

Volkswagen said around 20 percent of its dealers were forced to temporarily close in March alone as a result of lockdowns.

Tesla’s multi-billion-dollar “gigafactory” in Shanghai — which the company calls its main export hub — has also been reportedly shut.

Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio said last weekend that it had suspended vehicle production, as business partners in virus-hit areas such as Jilin and Shanghai halted operations.

Asian markets dipped Friday after a negative lead from Wall Street, with investors around the world worried about surging inflation.

Central banks in several major economies including the United States, Canada and Britain have already started raising interest rates to contain prices, but the European Central Bank on Thursday kept its stimulus plans and rates unchanged.

That sent the euro plunging to a near two-year low, but eurozone stocks were boosted while Wall Street retreated ahead of the Easter holidays.

The mood was subdued in Asia too, where only a handful of markets were open on Good Friday.

The Nikkei 225 closed 0.3 percent lower with Wall Street’s woes depressing sentiment.

Shanghai was down 0.7 percent in afternoon trade.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to the uncertainty about the global economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was reflected in statements from major banking executives in the United States, who described the American economy as solid but warned about the impact of the Ukraine conflict and the measures central banks such as the US Federal Reserve will take to control inflation.

“We don’t think there’s going to be a recession,” Julian Emanuel, chief equity strategist at Evercore ISI, told Bloomberg television.

“We don’t think the Fed is going to break the glass. But the problem is investors aren’t in that mindset quite yet.”

– Energy, food shocks –

Russia is a major global oil and gas supplier, and — along with Ukraine — is also a key player in the grain sector.

The conflict has shaken markets for these commodities, and the impact has been felt from the Middle East to South America.

In Yemen, there are fears of food shortages with the war-ravaged nation already on the edge of famine.

In Argentina, a strike by grain transporters has paralysed farming exports — haulers are unhappy with the rates they are paid, pointing to the spike in fuel prices because of the Ukraine crisis.

The war has sent oil prices soaring, with reports swirling about further energy sanctions on Russia.

Both main contracts have hovered above the $100 per barrel mark in recent days.

“There are no surprises here as oil continues to march higher, with global supply shortage outweighing concerns about slower demand in China,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a note.

– Key figures around 0700 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 27,093.19 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 3,204.50

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holiday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0806 from $1.0832 at 2100 GMT Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3055 from $1.3076

Euro/pound: FLAT at 82.77 pence

Dollar/yen: UP at 126.68 from 125.87

Brent North Sea crude: UP 2.7 percent at $111.70 per barrel at 2100 GMT Thursday

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.6 percent at $106.95 per barrel at 2100 GMT Thursday

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 34,451.23 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 7,616.38 (close)

— Bloomberg News contributed to this story —

Asian markets dipped in early trade Friday after a negative lead from Wall Street, with investors around the world worried about surging inflation.

Central banks in several major economies including the United States, Canada and Britain have already started raising interest rates to contain prices, but the European Central Bank on Thursday kept its stimulus plans and rates unchanged.

That sent the euro plunging to a near two-year low, but eurozone stocks were boosted, but Wall Street retreated ahead of the Easter holidays.

The mood was subdued in Asia too, where only a handful of markets were open on Good Friday.

The Nikkei 225 slid 0.7 percent with Wall Street’s woes depressing sentiment.

The Tokyo market is likely to be “dominated by sell orders as investors are disheartened by falls in US shares,” Mizuho Securities said in a note.

Shanghai dropped 0.2 percent.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to the uncertainty about the global economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was reflected in statements from major banking executives in the United States, who described the American economy as solid but warned about the impact of the Ukraine conflict and the measures central banks such as the US Federal Reserve will take to control inflation.

“We don’t think there’s going to be a recession,” Julian Emanuel, chief equity strategist at Evercore ISI, told Bloomberg television.

“We don’t think the Fed is going to break the glass. But the problem is investors aren’t in that mindset quite yet.”

– Energy, food shocks –

Russia is a major global oil and gas supplier, and — along with Ukraine — is also a key player in the grain sector.

The conflict has shaken markets for these commodities, and the impact has been felt from the Middle East to South America.

In Yemen, there are fears of food shortages with the war-ravaged nation already on the edge of famine.

In Argentina, a strike by grain transporters has paralysed farming exports — haulers are unhappy with the rates they are paid, pointing to the spike in fuel prices because of the Ukraine crisis.

The war has sent oil prices soaring, with reports swirling about further energy sanctions on Russia.

Both main contracts sat above the $100 per barrel mark.

“There are no surprises here as oil continues to march higher, with global supply shortage outweighing concerns about slower demand in China,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a note.

– Key figures around 0320 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.7 percent at 26,995.86

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 3,204.96

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holiday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0801 from $1.0832 at 2100 GMT

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3063 from $1.3076

Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.67 from 82.77 pence

Dollar/yen: UP at 126.39 from 125.87 at 2100 GMT

Brent North Sea crude: UP 2.7 percent at $111.70 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.6 percent at $106.95 per barrel

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 34,451.23 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 7,616.38 (close)

— Bloomberg News contributed to this story —

Israel, a leader in making seawater drinkable, plans to pump excess output from its desalination plants into the Sea of Galilee, depleted by overuse and threatened by climate change.

Irregular rainfall, rising temperatures and intensive pumping have overtaxed the world’s lowest freshwater lake, which for decades has served as the Jewish state’s main sweetwater reservoir.

Israel now plans to tackle the challenge by reversing the water flow through its vast network of pumps, pipes and tunnels dating to the 1960s, the National Water Carrier.

Authorities hail the project as a showcase for Israel’s cutting-edge desalination and water management technology, which can also help deepen ties with arid Arab states.

Critics charge that Israel has long short-changed Palestinians out of their fair share of water, leaving much of the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip facing severe water stress.

And environmentalists note that the more Israel relies on fossil fuels to power its desalination plants, the more its carbon emissions will worsen climate change.

For now however, experts say, urgent action is needed to brace the country for global warming coupled with rapid population growth.

Israel’s average temperature has risen by two degrees Celsius over the past two decades, said Noam Halfon, a researcher at the Israel Meteorological Service.

A wet winter has just topped up the lake, but its level dipped substantially in the drought years of 2014-2018, a potential harbinger of worse to come.

“Some models predict we will have less precipitation overall, a reduction of 10 or 15 percent in the second half of the 21st century,” Halfon said.

Israel’s rapidly growing population adds to the need for the new water infrastructure project, he said.

“Every 30 years we double the population. Without this project, it would be an awful situation.”

– ‘Scarcity to abundance’ – 

Ziv Cohen, an engineer at Israeli water company Mekorot, was overlooking a work site in northern Israel where a crane was lowering water pipe segments into trenches. 

The verdant hillsides were scattered with blooming spring flowers, but Cohen said appearances are deceiving.

“In recent years, we have all felt a decrease in rainfall” in the lake’s catchment area, he told AFP.

Cohen said the one-billion-shekel (over $300-million) project will, by the end of the year, reverse the flow of the system which previously delivered lake water to areas across the country. 

“The minute water flows through the pipeline, bringing excess water from desalination plants in the centre, we can raise the level of the Sea of Galilee, and it will become an operational reservoir,” he said.

About an hour’s drive away on the Mediterranean coast, David Muhlgay poured himself a glass of water made by the Hadera Desalination Plant, one of five in Israel.

“Israel has gone from water as a scarce product to an abundance of water in 15 years, which is phenomenal,” said Muhlgay, CEO of OMIS Water Ltd.

His plant produces 137 million cubic metres a year — 16 percent of Israel’s drinking water supply — with the capacity to produce 160 million cubic metres. 

“We are ready to go” and connect to the new system, he said.

The seaside plant sits beside the coal and gas-fired plant that powers it, underscoring the contradictions in adapting to the climate crisis through energy-intensive desalination. 

“Electricity needs to be sourced,” Muhlgay said, arguing that for now only fossil fuels can do the job. 

“It cannot only rely, for the moment, on renewable sources.”

– ‘Lots of interest’-

Israel’s desalination expertise has opened new diplomatic avenues in the water-scarce Middle East, where it has established ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. 

Israel, Jordan and the UAE last year agreed in principle on a plan for Jordan to exchange solar power for Israeli water, which authorities told AFP would come from the Galilee. 

Muhlgay said his plant had hosted visitors from Morocco, and the plant operator’s parent company IDE had sent a vice president to visit the UAE.

“There’s lots of interest in the Israeli technology,” Muhlgay said. 

“If everybody is short of water, bringing water can solve a few problems.”

The situation for Palestinians has however scarcely budged despite the new technologies, said Ayman Rabi, executive director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group. 

Israel exercises tight control over water resources in the occupied West Bank, with Palestinians granted limited access to an underground aquifer.

Under the terms of a 1990s peace agreement, Israel sells water back to Palestinians, but allocations have not kept pace with population growth. 

To cope, Rabi said, Palestinians have begun planting crops that require less water, and made a concerted effort to catch rainwater. 

“Of course (Israelis) are marketing themselves as water exporters,” he told AFP. “I don’t think this will impact the Palestinians.” 

“Shaggy,” “messy,” “unprofessional”. Natural curls were once looked down upon in Egypt, where Western beauty standards favoured sleek, straight locks. Now, things are changing.

For Rola Amer and Sara Safwat, their curls were once a career-hindering nuisance. Now part of an aesthetic liberation movement sweeping Egypt in recent years, they own a curly hair salon that caters to women and men like them.

Amer used to spend hours straightening her bouncy curls, she told AFP as she began her day at the Curly Studio, which became Egypt’s first natural hair salon in 2018.

“Curly hair takes a lot longer to cut than straight hair,” Amer said, meticulously snipping her way through a client’s curly mane in an affluent suburb of Cairo.

Three hours later, she can finally show the result to her client, and both are delighted as the salon buzzes around them.

It’s a far cry from Amer’s own experience a few years ago. “If I ever left my hair curly, I’d feel shaggy, like I wasn’t taking care of myself,” she said.

In this rare type of salon in Cairo, the final product fits each client’s curl pattern, and rollers have replaced straightening irons to prevent heat damage.

Safwat, 38, explained the dangers of straightening, adjusting her curly bangs as she spoke.

“One time, a mother brought her three-year-old daughter. She had tried a chemical treatment to straighten her hair, and now it was falling out,” she said. 

The obsession with straight hair, rooted in what Safwat calls “completely false beauty ideals,” compelled generations of women to burn their hair to a crisp using chemical treatments and excessive heat damage.

– A marked change –

With her curls considered “unprofessional” Safwat says that, before she became a hairdresser, she would often be asked in job interviews: “Will you be coming in to work like this?”

In the early 2000s, Lebanese singer Myriam Fares was one of the first curly-haired icons in the Middle East. 

Halfway across the world, Black women in the United States were increasingly embracing their curls in a natural hair care movement. Many of the biggest brands built by Black women at the time would eventually find their way onto the shelves of curly salons in Cairo.

In 2012, Egyptian actress Dina el-Sherbiny became one of the first to break the taboo on screen, flaunting her chestnut curls in hit TV series “Hekayat Banat” (Girls’ Stories).

Ten years later, curly heads feature in TV shows, movies and the billboards that line Cairo’s highways, a marked change in pop culture.

In Hollywood, Egyptian-Palestinian actress May Calamawy even shows off her curls in Marvel’s latest series, “Moon Knight,” helmed by Egyptian director Mohamed Diab.

“There has been a real social movement,” Doaa Gawish told AFP. In 2016, Gawish launched a Facebook group called The Hair Addict to help women give their hair a break from harsh chemicals and blow dryers.

Within months, the online forum had grown from 5,000 to more than 80,000 members, as the local cosmetics market grew by 18 percent, according to Euromonitor International. 

Two years later, Gawish launched her eponymous haircare company.

“A lot of big cosmetics companies started releasing products for curly hair, because they could see it was an essential customer base,” Gawish told AFP.

This base is steadily growing in Egypt’s sizable cosmetics market. With a population of 103 million, the country has about 500,000 salons and more than three million employees, as estimated in 2020 by Mahmoud el-Degwy, head of the hairdressers’ division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.

Teacher and natural hair influencer Mariam Ashraf has seen the market’s potential firsthand. Only a hobby at first, her Instagram videos quickly became “a real source of income”, she told AFP before filming a new clip for her 90,000-plus followers.

“Brands are contacting me more and more to showcase curly hair products,” the 26-year-old explained. “And now modelling agencies are contacting me for advertisements.”

– ‘Fragile masculinity’ –

But the world of natural hair care is not accessible to everyone.

While the average monthly income in Egypt is 6,000 pounds ($325), a haircut at the Curly Studio can cost up to one-tenth of that.

Since he inadvertently discovered his curls during Covid-19 lockdown, cybersecurity expert Omar Rahim has been gladly paying to maintain his style.

Today, he maintains an intricate regimen, despite jeers from his friends in a conservative and patriarchal society.

“We have a problem with fragile masculinity; people think a man shouldn’t take care of his hair or buy products,” he told AFP.

“I want people to understand that this is normal, but I’m not ready to fight this fight just yet.”

Holding binoculars and toting folding chairs the sightseers are laser-focused: the objective is to see the massive container ship Ever Forward, which has been stranded for a month in the mud of the US East Coast’s Chesapeake Bay.

Some bring their families, while others come with friends, popping a squat at the best vantage point around — a park in the city of Pasadena, Maryland which offers an easy view of the vessel that is lodged in some 20 feet (six meters) of muck a few hundred yards from shore.

“Even with the storms we get here in the bay, we don’t get ships grounding like this,” said Frederick Schroeder, a retiree who traveled from nearby Baltimore with his camera and telephoto lens to document the spectacle, which he called “a once in a lifetime thing.”

The hulking vessel, owned by the Taiwan-based company Evergreen, became stuck on the night of March 13 after missing a turn into deeper water. 

The ship, measuring approximately 1,100 feet long and capable of carrying nearly 12,000 containers, is one of many that ply the heavily trafficked waters of the Chesapeake, a gigantic estuary whose banks harbor both the city of Baltimore and Port of Virginia, the second- and third-most substantial ports on the US East Coast.

– Tugs and dredge boats –

The Ever Forward’s misadventure in the Chesapeake is reminiscent of that of the similarly named Ever Given, another Evergreen container ship which famously became stuck in a sandbank in the Suez Canal in March 2021, blocking traffic for almost a week.

The US Coast Guard has been at work trying to dislodge the Ever Forward for more than three weeks, assisted by tugs and dredge boats, but so far without success.

In recent days, cranes have surrounded the ship, laboring to unburden it of as many containers as possible to make the vessel lighter.

Asked by AFP, the Coast Guard said that a total of more than 130 containers had been unloaded so far, but that even more would be removed before a new attempt to refloat the boat — the date for which is still to be determined.

“The skipper who ran aground, he must be beyond embarrassment to do such a thing,” said John Zeglin, a nearly 80-year-old retiree who traveled to see the Ever Forward from Bethesda, Maryland, a Washington suburb about an hour’s drive from the ship.

– ‘Osprey abundance’ –

Doug Myers, a scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental association, told AFP he was alarmed at the possibility of a hull breach, potentially releasing hundreds of gallons of fuel.

“Anytime a vessel is aground, you do have that risk,” said Myers, who says he has a lot of experience with oil spills, particularly from having worked in Texas in the 1990s.

Myers also worries the ship could list and lose containers in the bay during dredging operations.

“There has been damage just by the ship running aground in shallow water — these shallow sandbars and oyster bars contain the clams and worms and other really important fish habitats,” he said.

Birds are the most vulnerable animals to an oil spill after those that live in the water, and the Ever Forward became stuck just as migrating birds stop by the bay and even nest there for summer.

“The bay is kind of the epicenter of osprey abundance,” said Myers, who worries about these fish-eating birds of prey.

He said that authorities have not yet taken into account the environmental risks and wants a containment boom — a type of protective barrier — to be placed around the Ever Forward to prevent any oil leaks from spreading.

Even if the danger is not imminent, such a leak could reach both sides of the bay in an hour or more, he said.

“This bay is everything to Marylanders,” Myers said.

“So many people make their living either directly or indirectly because of the bay, whether it be tourism, whether it be fishing, whether it be you know, just the waterfront property.”

Tesla chief Elon Musk launched a hostile takeover effort for Twitter on Thursday, insisting the platform needs to be transformed but acknowledging his $43-billion bid may fail.

The proposal faces uncertainty on multiple fronts, including possible rejection and the challenge of assembling the cash, but could have wide-reaching impacts on the social media service if consummated.  

Musk cited the promotion of freedom of speech on Twitter as a key reason for what he called his “best and final offer,” and which the firm’s board said it was reviewing.

“My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization,” he said in his first spoken comments after the offer was revealed in a regulatory filing.

The world’s richest person offered $54.20 a share, which values the social media firm at some $43 billion, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made public on Thursday.

Musk told a conference in Canada that he was “not sure” he would succeed and acknowledged a “plan B” but refused to elaborate, though in the filing he noted a rejection would make him consider selling his shares.

Musk last week disclosed a purchase of 73.5 million shares — or 9.2 percent — of Twitter’s common stock, an announcement that sent its shares soaring more than 25 percent.

– ‘Stockholders best interest’ –

Twitter’s board said it would carefully review what it termed Musk’s “unsolicited, non-binding” offer and decide on a course of action that was “in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders.”

Musk said he “could technically afford” the buyout while offering no information on financing, though he would likely need to borrow money or part with some of his mountain of Tesla or SpaceX shares. 

Despite saying he wanted to take the company private, he said the firm would keep up to 2,000 investors — the maximum allowed.

Some investors have already spoken against the proposal, including businessman and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

“I don’t believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects,” he tweeted.

Morningstar Research analysts echoed that perspective, saying, “While the board will take the Tesla CEO’s offer into consideration, we believe the probability of Twitter accepting it is likely below 50 percent.”

Twitter stock closed down nearly two percent for the day.

Musk’s move throws another curve into the roller-coaster ride of his volatile relationship with the global social media service, and raises many questions about what comes next.

He was offered a seat on the board but turned it down over the weekend.

Musk went on to use Twitter as a stage to ask whether the social media network was “dying” and to call out users such as singer Justin Bieber, who are highly followed but rarely post.

– ‘Twists and turns’ –

“Most of these ‘top’ accounts tweet rarely and post very little content,” the Tesla boss wrote, captioning a list of the 10 profiles with the most followers — which includes himself at number eight, with over 81 million followers.

In other weekend tweets, Musk joked about dropping the “w” from Twitter’s name and about converting its San Francisco headquarters to a homeless shelter “since no one shows up anyway.”

He also suggested removing ads, Twitter’s main source of revenue.

“He is such an entitled, privileged man, I am not sure the Twitter he has in mind is a platform that will ultimately serve a majority of the people on it today,” said Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi.

Musk has mused on Twitter about giving verified account check marks to everyone paying for premium subscription accounts, which cost $3 monthly.

“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk said in his filing.

Musk breaks the mold as a business figure, even in the Silicon Valley world known for disrupting markets and changing lifestyles.

The serial entrepreneur’s endeavors include driving a shift to electric vehicles with Tesla, private space exploration and linking computers with brains.

His behavior, however, has raised eyebrows, prompted laughs and sometimes drawn condemnation or even litigation.

“It’s get out the popcorn time as we expect many twists and turns in the weeks ahead as Twitter and Musk walk down this marriage path,” Wedbush analysts said in a note to investors.

North Korean-tied hackers were responsible for a $620-million cryptocurrency heist last month targeting players of the popular Axie Infinity game, US authorities said Thursday.

The hack was one of the biggest to hit the crypto world, raising huge questions about security in an industry that only recently burst into the mainstream thanks to celebrity promotions and promises of untold wealth.

Last month’s theft from the makers of Axie Infinity, a game where players can earn crypto through game play or trading their avatars, came just weeks after thieves made off with around $320 million in a similar attack.

“Through our investigations we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with (North Korea), are responsible for the theft,” the FBI said in a statement.

Lazarus Group gained notoriety in 2014 when it was accused of hacking into Sony Pictures Entertainment as revenge for “The Interview,” a satirical film that mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea’s cyber-program dates back to at least the mid-1990s, but has since grown to a 6,000-strong cyber-warfare unit, known as Bureau 121, that operates from several countries including Belarus, China, India, Malaysia and Russia, according to a 2020 US military report.

John Bambenek, a threat analyst with digital security firm Netenrich, said North Korea is “unique” in employing groups dedicated to cryptocurrency theft. 

“As North Korea is highly-sanctioned, cryptocurrency thefts are also a national security interest for them,” he said. 

North Korean hackers stole around $400 million-worth of cryptocurrency through cyberattacks on digital currency outlets last year, blockchain data platform Chainalysis said in January. 

In the case of the Axie Infinity heist, attackers exploited weaknesses in the set-up put in place by the Vietnam-based firm behind the game, Sky Mavis.

The company had to solve a problem: the ethereum blockchain, where transactions in the ether cryptocurrency are logged, is relatively slow and expensive to use.

To allow Axie Infinity players to buy and sell at speed, the firm created an in-game currency and a sidechain with a bridge to the main ethereum blockchain.

The result was faster and cheaper — but ultimately less secure.

The attack targeting its blockchain netted 173,600 ether and $25.5 million-worth of stablecoin, a digital asset pegged to the US dollar.