Internet

THERE are plenty of quirky pubs around the UK, and some of the best are the ones that take you by surprise.

I recently stumbled on one of the most extraordinary pubs I’ve ever been in – only to discover it’s unlikely to be around for very much longer.

We had gone for a walk on a fine autumn day on the North Kent Downs, that ridge of hills which runs along the southern edge of the M25 and are crisscrossed by ancient pathways.

There’s the Green Sand Ridge Path and The Pilgrims Way which was used by those walking to Canterbury Cathedral from London and beyond since the time of Chaucer and his tales.

Our starting point was Kemsing, a pretty village of historic redbrick cottages sitting at the foot of those hills.

Our walk was supposed to start from the Wheatsheaf pub – only for us to discover it closed in 2011. But Kemsing’s other pub, The Bell, is still going and looked rather nice.

ALL EARS

I’ve visited Disney World 50 times: here’s what I thought about Legoland Windsor

YULE DO

Travel expert reveals cheap UK holiday parks with Xmas breaks from £9pp a night

From there, the walk was quite a climb to get up to the top of the Downs, but when you get there you are rewarded with the most spectacular and far-reaching views across the Weald of Kent.

You can see as far as the counterpoint South Down hills many miles away by the coast.

Once up there, our route was to take us along a couple of those old paths in a loop across the hill top and back down again – about five miles in total.

As we walked, I was looking at the map on my phone to check we were on the right lines.

On Google Maps, I noticed the words “The Rising Sun” with no further explanation – as if a landmark just off the path we were on.

Could this indicate a still-functioning pub? Our walk guidebook hadn’t mentioned one but the name suggested ‘pub,’ and after climbing that hill the idea of a cheeky mid-walk pint was becoming increasingly appealing. 

If it was open, it had no website or social media footprint – but there were a few reports of ‘a time warp pub’ and ‘eccentric’ that sounded encouraging.

And then there it was, an old flint building, with a painted sign literally showing the sun rising, a slightly overgrown garden and no lights on inside.

We went up to the door and turned the handle with some trepidation… and it opened onto a dim room with just an older lady and her cat inside.

It was almost spooky, in a haunted public house kind of way, to be in this dark and slightly cluttered room that must be 400 years old – or it would have been spooky if landlady Michelle Hunter wasn’t so chatty.

But she was, so we talked to her at some length. She was very entertaining company, full of stories as a landlady should be. 

Michelle serves local beers from nearby Westerham, ciders too. She does have a card machine but it’s on the blink, so cash is advisable. They used to do food but not for years. 

She has been living in and running The Rising Sun for over 30 years, often single-handedly as when we met her.  

And this isn’t her first appearance in The Sun: there’s a newspaper cutting on the wall above the fire about the unexplained death of pet bird Charlie in the pub many years ago, headlined “Hercule Parrot”. 

Her cat has a story too – it just turned up one evening when she reopened after lockdown and stayed, then kept coming back for opening time, like a regular now it never leaves. It still has no name, just “cat”. 

She also has other animals – including 20 cows. Quite the menagerie. 

But there was a sad end to Michelle’s story. It’s hard work keeping the place going on her own and she barely breaks even.

Her state pension comes through in three months and after that she intends to give the pub another year, but if business doesn’t pick up dramatically she’s going to stop opening at all.

She’ll just live there with her animals in what will become yet another ‘former pub’. 

I reckon this plan gives The Rising Sun about 15 months more of opening. So I strongly urge you to go while you still can. 

There’s lots of stuff locally to combine with a visit. It’s just around the corner from one of the finest stately homes in the South East for example – Knole Park, with its magnificent deer park.

Kemsing, where we started from, down the hill, is just a short hop from the attractive commuter belt town of  Sevenoaks. But it feels like an altogether more old fashioned place – and The Rising Sun is its secret gem. 

The Bell isn’t bad either we discovered on our way back but it’s this quirky gem that will live on in memory. 

The CAMRA Good Pub Guide calls it ‘a remote hilltop pub that is difficult to find without the help of a map’. But even with one you may not find it open much longer. 

NOT KIDDING

Tutoring job with £180k salary for 1-year-old labelled a ‘nightmare’ by parents

HEATING UP

The swirling rumours about James Martin and his stunning PT girlfriend, 39

For more great pubs, here are the top 35 best pubs in London – by the locals who drink in them.

Plus, read more on the one pub you have to visit if you only go to one boozer in the whole of the capital.

A major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Monday disrupted a large portion of the internet, taking down apps, websites and online tools used by millions of people around the world, before services were eventually restored.

From banking apps and airlines to smart home devices and gaming platforms, the hours-long breakdown revealed how much of modern life depends on cloud’s infrastructure.

Here is what we know:

What happened and what caused the AWS outage?

At about 07:11 GMT, Amazon’s cloud service experienced a major outage, meaning some of its systems stopped working, which disrupted many popular apps and websites, including banks, gaming platforms and entertainment services.

The problem started in one of AWS’s main data centres in Virginia, its oldest and biggest site, after a technical update to the API – a connection between different computer programmes – of DynamoDB, a key cloud database service that stores user information and other important data for many online platforms.

The root cause appears to have been an error in the update that affected the Domain Name System (DNS), which helps apps find the correct server addresses. A DNS works like the internet’s phone book, turning website names into the numeric IP addresses that computers use to connect to servers.

Because of the DNS issue, apps could not find the IP address for DynamoDB’s API and were unable to connect.

As DynamoDB went down, other AWS services also began to fail. In total, 113 services were affected by the outage. By 10:11 GMT, Amazon said that all AWS returned to normal operations, but there was a backlog “of messages that they will finish processing over the next few hours”.

At the time of publication, Downdetector, a website that tracks internet outages based on user reports, was still showing problems with platforms such as OpenAI, ESPN and Apple Music.

Updated look at the total impact of the AWS Outage up to this point!https://t.co/Bgpm1fFGtf pic.twitter.com/TAAxjagNl6

— Downdetector (@downdetector) October 20, 2025

What is a cloud and what exactly is AWS?

A cloud is a way of storing and using data or programmes over the internet instead of on your computer or other physical storage devices.

When people say something is “in the cloud”, it means the files, apps or systems are running on powerful computers (called servers) in data centres owned by companies like Amazon (AWS), Google or Microsoft, not on your personal device.

In this case, AWS allows companies to rent computing power and storage. It supplies the technology that runs websites, apps and many online services behind the scenes.

One of AWS’s core services is DynamoDB, a database that stores important information for companies, such as customer records. On Monday, Amazon reported that customers were unable to access their DynamoDB data.

AWS is the biggest cloud service provider in the world.

Cloud outages are not rare, but they have become more noticeable as more companies rely on these services every day.

“The fallout impacted people across a number of different spheres,” Joshua Mahony, the chief market analyst at Scope Markets, told Al Jazeera. [But] of course this kind of comes with the territory with tech companies; the key is they can resolve it quickly, and it doesn’t cost them a lot of money.”

He said Amazon would likely weather the storm from the incident.

“You’re looking at something that is relatively contained,” he said. “Amazon Web Services has cornered 30 percent of the market alone. Their users are not going to suddenly jump ship. Their businesses are deeply ingrained.”

Which services and apps went down?

The outage affected dozens of websites, including Snapchat, Pinterest and Apple TV, according to Downdetector.

Other communication apps were also affected including: WhatsApp, Signal, Zoom and Slack; gaming services such as Roblox, Fortnite and Xbox; and places like Starbucks. Etsy also experienced issues.

In the United States, people were having issues with financial apps too, including Venmo.

Some users said their Ring doorbells and Alexa speakers stopped working, while others could not access the Amazon website or download books on their Kindles.

The language app Duolingo and creative tool Canva were among those reporting errors on their websites, and several media organisations were hit, including the Associated Press news agency, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Banks, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, and AI firm Perplexity also reported issues, along with US airlines Delta and United.

Why did so many major apps go offline at once?

When AWS had its outage, it was not just Amazon’s tools that were affected. Thousands of other companies that use AWS for storage, databases or web hosting were also hit. These companies include many major apps that rely on AWS to run key parts of their systems.

“Whenever we see these headlines, the first thought that goes through everybody’s mind, that sends a shiver up the spine, is, ‘Is this one of those cyberattacks? Is this a military or intelligence-led thing that has led to this disruption?’ And in this case, it’s not,” Bryson Bort chief executive of the cybersecurity company Scythe told Al Jazeera.

“In fact, most of the time, it isn’t. It’s usually human error.”

How did Amazon respond?

AWS acknowledged the outage and said engineers were “immediately engaged” to fix the problem.

AWS said it worked on “multiple parallel paths to accelerate recovery”. It also reported that the main issue had been fully resolved, though some users continued to face minor delays as systems recovered.

The company also said it would publish a detailed post-event summary explaining what happened.

Oct. 20 (UPI) — Amazon Web Services’ cloud services global outage disrupted Internet service for companies, governments, universities and individual users on Monday. It wasn’t until a half day later, the coverage was heavily restored.

By Monday afternoon on the U.S. East Coast, Amazon said the connectivity issues had been “fully mitigated,” though there were still reports of problems.

More than 1,000 companies were affected, including large tech companies, CNET reported, but there is no evidence it was caused by a cyber attack. Instead, “the root cause is an underlying internal subsystem responsible for monitoring the health of our network load balancers.”

AWS accounted for 37% of the global cloud market in 2024, according to market research firm. That represents revenue more than $107 billion for the tech company. Amazon’s total revenue was $639 revenue that year.

The services run on 3.7 million plus miles of fiber optic cables.

Downdetector, a website that aggregates user-submitted reports of disruptions, logged 6.5 million global reports related to the outage, a spokesperson for the site’s parent company Ookla told CNN.

Toms Guide showed how traffic was affected at major companies, including Verizon, Lyft, McDonald’s, Snapchat, and airl as Delta, Southwest and United airlines.

Also were the New York Times’ website, T-Mobile and AT&T were affected. Even massive tech companies, Google and Apple, were impacted. And Zoom, which gained prominance during the pandemic for people to communite, had outage issues.

Disrupted, too, were banks and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbbase and Venmo.

Amazon’s own services were disrupted. Alexa-enabled smart plugs, which allow people to control appliances and other devices remotely, didn’t have service. Amazon’s Ring doorbell cameras weren’t working. Some reported they were unable to access the company’s website or download books to their Kindles. And Netflix wasn’t available.

“The incident highlights the complexity and fragility of the internet, as well as how much every aspect of our work depends on the internet to work,” Mehdi Daoudi, CEO of internet performance monitoring firm Catchpoint said in a statement to CNN. “The financial impact of this outage will easily reach into the hundreds of billions due to loss in productivity for millions of workers that cannot do their job, plus business operations that are stopped or delayed — from airlines to factories.”

Tenscope showed that Amazon alone was losing $72.3 milion per hour, and customers lost several hundred thousand dollars each 60 minutes.

In cloud services, AW provides a space where businesses can rent the services instead of building their own servers.

“It’s like: ‘Why build the house if you’re just going to live in it?'” Lance Ulanoff, editor at the technology publication TechRadar, told CNN.

And there are problems with devices when service is disrupted.

“They just don’t work without the Internet,” Ulanoff said. ” They’re not designed that way,. We’ve designed everything to work with that constant connectivity and when you pull that big plug, everything, basically becomes dumb.”

Apparently, the problem originated from a system designed to monitor how much load is on the network. As a workaround, Amazon said it was allowing companies to create new instances of its Elastic Compute Cloud, a virtual machine that allows customers to build cloud-based applications.

At the peak of the incident, early Monday, AWS reported more than 70 of its own services were impacted.

“Some requests may be throttled while we work toward full resolution,” it said, urging customers to utilize the “clear cacheclear cache” option in the settings of their browser if problems with errors persisted.

Amazon reported at 1:26 a.m. EDT that there was a “significant error rates for requests.”

“Error 404” messaged popped up on computers.

At 3:11 a.m. EDT, Amazon “reported increased error rates for multiple services and determined that the issue was related” to the Northern Virginia region, according to a news release.

Amazon reported at 5:24 a.m. EDT, service was “fully mitigated.”

Then at 10:29 a.m., Amazon said there were application programming interface errors and connectivity issues “across multiple services in the US-EAST-1 Region.”

Around 3:30 p.m., AWS said its systems mostly were back online. “We continue to observe recovery across all AWS services,” the company said.

In Britain, Gov.uk and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the two main portals of the British government, said they had been affected.

“We are aware of an incident affecting Amazon Web Services, and several online services which rely on their infrastructure. Through our established incident response arrangements, we are in contact with the company, who are working to restore services as quickly as possible,” said a government spokesman.

Lloyds Bank and subsidiary, Halifax, two of the country’s largest banks, and National Rail also experienced problems.

The outage comes 15 months after a global IT outage in July 2024 that crashed millions of computers used by 911 centers, airlines, financial institutions, airlines and media around the world, due to an issue with a third-party security update for Microsoft Windows systems.

The auto download from Texas-based CrowdStrike cybersecurity for its Falcon software caused computers to hang after they were able to fully restart after the update.

Connectivity issues for many companies around the world disrupted as outage hits Amazon Web Services.

Internet users have reported difficulties accessing popular websites and apps including Signal, Coinbase and Robinhood.

Major websites including popular gaming, financial and social media platforms have been facing serious connectivity issues after Amazon’s cloud services unit AWS was hit by an outage.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) confirmed the issue in an update on its status page on Monday, after web users reported difficulties accessing websites.

“We can confirm significant error rates for requests made to the DynamoDB endpoint in the US-EAST-1 Region,” said the AWS status update.

In a subsequent update it said it had “identified a potential root cause for [the] error rates” and was “working on multiple parallel paths to accelerate recovery”.

Major platforms including AI startup Perplexity, trading app Robinhood, messaging app Signal and crypto exchange Coinbase all said their issues were due to the AWS outage.

“Perplexity is down right now. The root cause is an AWS issue. We’re working on resolving it,” Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said in a post on X.

AWS is one of the giant cloud computing service providers, competing with Google’s and Microsoft’s cloud services to offer on-demand computing power, data storage and other digital services to companies and institutions.

Issues with its servers can wreak havoc on the web, with so many companies relying on its infrastructure to function.

Downdetector, a site where web users report outages, carried a roll call of popular sites where users had experienced access difficulties amid the outage.

Names on the list included Zoom, Roblox, Fortnite, Duolingo, Canva, Wordle and more.

Amazon’s shopping website, PrimeVideo and Alexa were also facing issues, according to the site.

The Reuters news agency reported that Uber rival Lyft’s app was also down for thousands of users in the US, while many UK bank customers were also reporting outages.

A young Kelvin carries multiple identities. Today, he’s Kelvin, but that might change tomorrow, depending on the identity game he’s up to. For at least 14 hours a day, he describes himself as “Richard”, a stranded American engineer needing financial help from a sympathetic woman he met on a dating site. He’s always glued to his laptop, scheming to swindle his next target in his many romance tricks. 

Kelvin lives in a community in Asaba, South-South Nigeria. 

For him, the end justifies the means, as long as he amasses enough wealth to fund his exorbitant lifestyle. Internet fraud, colloquially known as Yahoo-Yahoo, is his ticket to the flashy cars and designer clothes he sees flaunted by mentors in “HK” – the local term for the Hustling Kingdom, a structured network of internet fraudsters in the state.

Just a few kilometres away, a mechanics workshop stands half-empty. Togolese artisan, Awe Gao, wipes grease from his hands and shakes his head. “Where are the Nigerian boys?” he asks. “Before, this workshop was full of apprentices. Now, they all want quick money from the internet. They call this ‘Yahoo’, saying it is better than dirty hands.”

This is the new reality in Nigeria’s oil-rich South-South region. A generation of young men is abandoning traditional vocations such as furniture making, tiling, automobile mechanics, and welding for the seductive, high-reward world of cybercrime. This mass gravitation is not just a social ill; it is creating a dangerous security vacuum, crippling the local skilled workforce, and ceding vital trades to a steady influx of skilled migrants from Togo and the Benin Republic.

Nigeria has an unemployment problem, and young people are desperately looking for an alternative way to make a living. While many have chosen artisanship to overcome their employment plight, others are resorting to cybercrime. With many youths taking pride in internet fraud as a way of life, Nigeria ranks 5th in the global report on sources of cybercrime activities, trailing behind Russia, Ukraine, China, and the United States. 

A report by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) documented a significant increase in conviction numbers between 2020 (976) and 2022 (3,785), with a high percentage of these related to cybercrime, such as obtaining by trickery and impersonation. The EFCC authorities noted that, in 2022, the country lost over $500 million to cybercrimes, which contributes to the nation’s reputation as a significant source of cybercrime globally. 

While the EFCC claims to have improved measures to curb cybercrimes in Nigeria, the institution has been accused of being overhand in handling suspects and focusing too much on internet fraudsters rather than corrupt public officials and politicians. The agency has, however, defended its actions, stating that internet fraud is a major crisis linked to more serious crimes. 

“I want Nigerians to know that we are having a crisis on our hands. If you travel abroad with your green passport and stand in the queue among so many people, you will discover that by the time you present the passport, the people [immigration officers] will look at you with some reservation,” said Olanipekun Olukoyede, the EFCC chairman. “That is, if they don’t take you aside to carry out some special scrutiny. That is a national shame that some young Nigerians [yahoo-yahoo boys] have caused us.”

The cybercrime problem seems to carry a different weight in the South-South region, with many young people leaving artisanship for internet fraud. HumAngle spoke to multiple sources, including self-confessing internet fraudsters, cybercrime experts, and community leaders, to unravel the dangerous escapades of youths making internet scams a way of life in the region. The reporting revealed how youths have chosen to enrol in criminal hubs where they learn to swindle people online. One such criminal enterprise is HK, a sophisticated ecosystem operating on a structured mentorship model, where an established fraudster houses and trains five to fifteen apprentices.

“My Oga taught me everything,” explains Kelvin, who dropped out of a polytechnic where he was studying electrical engineering. “How to use VPN, how to create a fake profile, how to talk to these white women, how to make a sad story. For three months, I was just learning. Now, I run my own operations and give him 20 per cent of my ‘hit’.”

The training is rigorous. Recruits are schooled in the psychology of manipulation, the technology of anonymity, and the financial logistics of moving illicit funds. They learn to target vulnerable individuals abroad through romance scams and email compromises.

Another cybercrime apprentice, Franca, 24, from Warri, serves as a “picker,” using her female identity to receive funds through her bank account: “At first, I was doing it to survive after my NYSC. No job. But the money is fast. One transaction can give you what a hair stylist will earn in six months. Why would I learn a trade that pays peanuts?”

The consequence of this mass shift is starkly visible in the region’s industrial and commercial layouts. Workshops that once buzzed with the sounds of apprentices learning a trade now operate below capacity.

“Look around,” says Chinedu Okoro, the owner of an automobile spare parts shop in Benin. “The Togolese and Beninois are taking over because they are willing to learn. Our youths see manual labour as punishment. They point to the ‘Yahoo boy’ with a new iPhone and say, ‘That is my target’. We are losing our capacity for production and becoming a society of scammers.”

The region is becoming dependent on foreign nationals for essential services and skilled labour, from building houses to repairing vehicles. This creates economic leakage and reduces local resilience. Contrary to the illusion of widespread success, only a fraction of internet fraudsters make significant money. The majority live in precarious uncertainty. The abandonment of viable vocational paths means a growing pool of unemployed, frustrated youth who have invested their formative years in a criminal enterprise with a short shelf life.

As competition intensifies, many fraudsters are turning to money rituals, known as “Yahoo Plus”, incorporating spiritualists and, alarmingly, resorting to violence for “quick money”. This has contributed to a spike in mysterious killings and kidnappings, with body parts sometimes linked to ritual demands for “cyber charms”.

For 19-year-old Daniel from Bayelsa, the choice was simple. His father was a renowned welder, but he watched him struggle financially for years.

“My father’s hands were rough, his back was bent, but at the end of the month, what did he have? Nothing,” Daniel says. “Then I saw my cousin from the same HK. In one year, he built a house for his mother. He drives a Lexus. My father’s workshop is now closed. I am his only hope, and this laptop is my tool.” 

Ufoma Ighadalo, 27, told a similar story. His father worked for 35 years for the Delta State government and retired as a school principal. Within that period, he could only build one house at Ughell, Delta State, and buy an old Peugeot car.

“He trained five of us at the university level. But I don’t consider him a success,” Ufoma says in a conspiratorial voice. “In this line of business, I will achieve what my father achieved in less than two years. I already have a house of my own and a car as well. I plan to build my second house here in Asaba before the end of this year. Who says hustling doesn’t pay?”

This narrative is repeated across the region. The tangible, delayed gratification of vocational work cannot compete with social media’s viral, glamorous portrayal of cybercrime success. The HK offers money and an identity of instant wealth and societal validation.

Community leaders and security analysts warn that the situation is a ticking time bomb. “When you disconnect a generation from productive labour and orient them towards predatory online activities, you create a profound societal crisis,” notes Chioma Emenike, an Asaba-based sociologist. “We are nurturing a generation that believes wealth comes not from creating value, but from clever exploitation. The long-term effect on our social fabric and security architecture is devastating.”

Experts argue that the solution must be multi-pronged: aggressive vocational reorientation, government-driven investment in the digital economy to create legitimate tech jobs, and severe enforcement against the kingpins of the HK networks.

But for now, in the half-empty workshops of the South-South, the sounds of learning hammers and revving engines are being replaced by the silent, desperate click of keyboards, as a generation chooses the elusive kingdom of fraud over the solid foundation of a skilled trade.

VODAFONE has gone down with customers struggling with data and internet access.

More than 135,000 users have flagged the issue on Downdetector, which monitors the status of online services and reports outages in real time.

You can follow our blog, below, for all the latest updates …

A SURGERY addict has spent over £100,000 to get the ‘world’s biggest bum.’

But now, pictures of Natasha Crown, 29, ‘before’ going under the knife have left the internet open-mouthed. 

8

8

Revealing all to Truly on a recent episode of Hooked on the Look, the glamour model, who is originally from Serbia, got candid on her surgery journey.

Natasha, who is 6’1 and describes herself as an “Amazon,” said she first realised she wanted a super-sized bum at the age of 17.

Three years later, she started her cosmetic journey from an “athletic teen to a curvy goddess.”

Now, Natasha has spent over $150,000 [£111,650] going under the knife and has had five Brazilian Butt Lifts (BBL).

A Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) is a painful surgery where fat is taken from the stomach, lips, lower back, or thighs and transferred to the buttocks.

This results in an hourglass figure and a larger bum and can cost up to £8,000.

Not only is it expensive, but it is incredibly dangerous and has in some cases led to death.

But Natasha has no desire to stop surgeries any time soon, as she explained: “When I was 17, I saw a girl with a really big bum, and I was sold. 

“I have added 100lbs [7stone 1lbs] to this big bum.

“I love having big curves. Everything needs to be big.

“I love surgery and I will keep going. I’m growing my bum to be over 100 inches.”

As well as five BBLs, Natasha, who is “famous” for her big bum and believes “the bigger the booty, the better,” has also had breast implants, Botox and fillers.

When I’m out, people stare. Online, people are mean, but it doesn’t affect me

Natasha Crown

But she doesn’t have any fears the impact of such procedures will have, as she added: “I don’t have any concerns about my health.”

Getting candid on the public’s reaction to her look, Natasha claimed that her “body shape scares men.”

She continued: “When I’m out, people stare. Online, people are mean, but it doesn’t affect me.”

Discussing the reality of having such a large derrière, the content creator admitted: “Things that are difficult having this big butt – when I fly, I need to have two seats. I bump into people when I’m at restaurants.”

8

8

8

8

Social media users gasp

YouTube users were left gobsmacked by Natasha’s surgery transformation, but were particularly stunned by her ‘before’ photos. 

One person said: “I wish she knew how beautiful her natural self was.” 

Another added: “The before is better.” 

She was gorgeous before

YouTube user

A third commented: “She was so gorgeous.” 

Meanwhile, alongside a crying emoji, someone else sobbed: “She was gorgeous before.”

Not only this, but another user chimed in and claimed: “Delusion at its finest.”

At the same time, another wrote: “The doctors should have their licenses revoked! This is insane! I could find way better things to spend all that money on!” 

Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme – Sun Club

8

8

Rumours across social media platforms that a huge comet is on a collision course with Earth have been circulating, with some users describing it as a major threat to humanity.

Others are debating how the comet – known as 3I/ATLAS and detected by NASA’s ATLAS telescope on July 1 – might be diverted from the Earth. Some have even gone so far as to highlight “news” of military movements and an international coordination to counter the comet before impact, prompting further alarm.

So is there any truth to these rumours and what do we know for sure?

When and how did rumours about the comet start?

Rumours began spreading after the New York Post published a story on September 29 under the headline: “‘Massive’ comet hurtling toward us is larger than previously thought, could be alien tech, scientist says: ‘It could change everything for us’.”

Users on X (formerly Twitter) circulated screenshots of the article to support their claims. One account, under the name Steven Greenstreet, wrote: “Scientists say a massive alien spaceship is hurtling towards Earth. Why aren’t more people talking about this?”

Scientists say a massive alien spaceship is hurtling towards Earth. Why aren’t more people talking about this?!?! 😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/Q2NvVdcXa7

— Steven Greenstreet 🐷 (@MiddleOfMayhem) September 29, 2025

Another account called Dr Disclosure reposted the story, adding: “This is why all the generals are gathering!” – a reference to a September 30 meeting of US military leaders chaired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. That post racked up more than half a million views.

This is why all the generals are gathering!!!!!! https://t.co/qzeeUAiR2P

— Dr. Disclosure (@Docneuroeo) September 29, 2025

Meanwhile, an account under the name Richard Roeper shared his concerns: “A massive comet is reportedly hurtling toward Earth at 130,000 mph! Can we stop it? I’m told there are two missions in the works – one involving the specially selected “Messiah Crew,” and one utilizing two squads, known as the Freedom Team and the Independence Team. We got this.”

A massive comet is reportedly hurtling toward Earth at 130,000 mph! Can we stop it? I’m told there are two missions in the works–one involving the specially selected “Messiah Crew,” and one utilizing two squads, known as the Freedom Team and the Independence Team. We got this. pic.twitter.com/dsbgW0giLD

— Richard Roeper (@RichardERoeper) September 29, 2025

Why do some people claim it’s an alien aircraft?

Speculation escalated, with some accounts suggesting the object was not a comet at all but in fact a spacecraft heading towards Earth.

An account under the name Lord Bebo shared statements falsely attributed to US physicist Michio Kaku, claiming the object was on the way “to conduct a reconnaissance mission, possibly with hostile intent”. The post, accompanied by an edited screenshot of a television interview with Kaku and the caption, “It might be an ALIEN probe sent to Earth” garnered more than 290,000 views and dozens of comments.

☄️ Comet stirs debate among astrophysicists & they call for urgent international attention on interstellar object 3I/ATLAS

Physicist Michio Kaku: its acceleration cannot be explained by conventional causes, and it’s approaching Earth CLOSER than expected

Professor of natural… pic.twitter.com/zEt0NO34bm

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) October 1, 2025

Similarly, another account called Astronomy Vibes suggested: “While most scientists agree it’s likely a strange comet, a few bold voices suggest it might be something more – maybe even an engineered probe from another civilization.” No evidence was provided.

🚨 Breaking Cosmic News!
Scientists have spotted a 7-mile-wide interstellar visitor — the largest of its kind ever seen — racing through our solar system. Known as 3I/ATLAS, this giant comet isn’t from around here… it comes from deep interstellar space! 🌌

What’s shocking is… pic.twitter.com/DDxOJPDlUg

— Astronomy Vibes (@AstronomyVibes) October 1, 2025

So, what are the facts?

Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency, SANAD, investigated the claims about the comet known as 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar object, to determine whether it really poses any real threat to Earth or could even be a hostile probe.

The comet was in fact detected by NASA’s ATLAS telescope on July 1, 2025. NASA, which describes it as having “a teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off its solid, icy nucleus”, confirmed that it poses no danger to Earth. It noted that the closest it has come to the Earth was about 270 million kilometres (167.8 million miles) on July 21.

The European Space Agency (ESA) also confirmed that the comet poses no threat to Earth or to any other planet, explaining that its closest distance was more than 2.5 times that between Earth and the Sun.

According to NASA, the comet will reach its closest approach to the Sun on October 30, 2025. At that point, it will be about 210 million km (130.5 million miles) from the sun, just inside the orbit of Mars.

This is a significant comet, however. According to the Hubble Space Telescope, it is travelling at about 210,000 kilometres per hour (130,500 miles per hour) – the fastest speed ever recorded for a “visitor” to our solar system.

🆕 Hubble has caught an interstellar interloper — comet 3I/ATLAS! 

Read more: https://t.co/fSIpjDYeu1 or in 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/6dUojFwdnW

— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) August 7, 2025

NASA said the comet presents a rare opportunity for scientists to study an interstellar “visitor” as it passes through the solar system.

“Hubble’s continuing observations allow astronomers to more accurately estimate the size of the comet’s nucleus,” the agency said in a statement. “Observations as of August 20, 2025, indicate that the upper limit on its diameter is 3.5 miles (5.6 km), though it could be as small as 1,444ft (440 metres) across.”

Comet 3I/ATLAS doesn’t pose a threat to Earth, but it does provide NASA scientists and spacecraft with a rare opportunity to study an interstellar comet as it passes through our solar system. ☄ https://t.co/B1MkBRZuT4 pic.twitter.com/wAmBUEte8l

— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) September 30, 2025

As for the quotes attributed to physicist Michio Kaku, SANAD found no evidence supporting them. The image circulating online was taken from an older interview with US outlet Nation News on February 20, 2025 – months before the discovery of 3I/ATLAS.

Will a huge “city-killer” asteroid collide with Earth in 2032? The odds don’t rule it out. So what can we do about it? I appeared on @NewsNation‘s On Balance with @LelandVittert to discuss the possibilities. #asteroid #asteroidimpact pic.twitter.com/ZHYi982SEi

— Dr. Michio Kaku (@michiokaku) February 20, 2025

SEOUL, Oct. 2 (UPI) — The share price of Naver surged some 10% over the past week after reports that the leading internet company of South Korea may merge with Dunamu, a major player in the country’s cryptocurrency industry.

Naver’s affiliate, Naver Financial, is reportedly in talks with Dunamu, which operates the world’s No. 4 crypto exchange Upbit, for a stock-for-stock merger. If finalized, Dunamu would become one of Naver’s subsidiaries.

Both companies confirmed Thursday that such negotiations were underway, but they declined to provide details.

“Beyond discussions on stablecoins and an unlisted stock trading platform, Dunamu and Naver Pay are exploring a range of additional collaborations. No further details or specific agreements have been finalized at this time,” Dunamu’s chief spokesman Juan Kim told UPI.

Naver Pay, the digital payments service of Naver Financial, boasts a customer base of more than 30 million. Naver holds about 70% of the firm, with Mirae Asset Group holding the remaining 30%. Dunamu remains privately held, with its founding Chairman Song Chi-hyung having a 25.5% stake.

Even if a deal is reached, it would require approval from the shareholders of both sides. At least two-thirds of participants at each company’s shareholder meeting must vote in favor.

Market sentiment suggests that approval is likely, in consideration of the recent sharp rise in Naver’s share price on the Seoul bourse. That of Dunamu has also soared in the over-the-counter trading.

Creating new digital finance ecosystems

Observers point out that amalgamation between Naver Financial and Dunamu could reshape South Korea’s financial landscape, enabling them to compete more effectively with large-sized global rivals.

One major synergy could come from the introduction of a stablecoin, a cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar. This compares to most other cryptocurrencies, which fluctuate greatly in value.

Daishin Securities analyst Lee Ji-eun said in a recent report that the combined entity could link its stablecoin to Naver Pay, boosting mainstream adoption.

“In the long term, they could seek to dominate the Korean currency-based stablecoin market and provide services such as investment returns and lending by utilizing deposits as collateral,” she said.

Mirae Asset Securities projects that such a business model would provide roughly $210 million in annual revenue by the end of this decade.

Sogang University Professor Yoon Seok-bin described the potential deal as “the marriage of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 businesses.” The former represents interactive, platform-based services, while the latter focuses on decentralized technologies.

“Both Naver Financial and Dunamu are already profitable. Together, I think they can bring about various new services such as a stablecoin and an all-in-one mobile application called a ‘super app,'” Yoon said in a phone interview.

“In addition, Naver Financial will be able to help Dunamu’s Upbit go abroad. Upbit is the primary crypto exchange in the country, but has yet to establish a notable global footprint. Based on Dunamu’s strong cash flow, Naver Financial will also have a chance to challenge bigger competitors, including PayPal and Stripe,” he added.

Naver Financial recorded $1.18 billion in sales last year for an operating profit of $74 million. Dunamu logged $1.24 billion in revenue, with an operating income of $847 million. Dunamu’s operating margin amounted to 68.5%.

Some watchers say that lucrative Dunamu opted to become a Naver affiliate to achieve its long-standing goal of going public in the United States based on the global brand power of Naver, which listed its U.S. unit Webtoon Entertainment on Nasdaq last year.

Expecting the merger will be structured as an equity swap, Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Jo Tae-na said that Dunamu chairman Song would be the largest shareholder of the new company.

Her rationale: Because the value of Dunamu is about three times bigger than that of Naver Financial, such an outcome is plausible through an equity swap.

“Following the merger, a global listing is expected to lead to at least 1.5 to 2 times higher valuation compared to Dunamu’s standalone listing,” she said in a report. “If the new company goes public, its corporate value could reach $29 billion to $36 billion.”

The Taliban in Afghanistan have imposed a nationwide shut down of telecommunications, weeks after they began severing fibre-optic internet connections to prevent what they call immorality.

The country is currently experiencing a total connectivity blackout, internet watchdog, Netblocks reports.

International news agency AFP says it lost contact with its office in the capital Kabul, including mobile phone service. Mobile internet and satellite TV has also been severely disrupted across Afghanistan.

Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

Flights from Kabul airport have also been disrupted, according to reports.

Several people in Kabul have told the BBC that their fibre-optic internet stopped working towards the end of the working day, around17:00 local time (12:30 GMT)

Because of this, it is understood many people will not notice the impact until Tuesday morning, when services like banking and border services are due to resume.

Fibre-optic cables transfer data super fast, and are used for much of the world’s internet.

In a post on social network Mastodon.social, Netblocks said:

“Afghanistan is now in the midst of a total internet blackout as Taliban authorities move to implement morality measures, with multiple networks disconnected through the morning in a stepwise manner; telephone services are currently also impacted”.

For weeks internet users in several Afghan provinces have been complaining about either slow internet access or no connectivity.

The Taliban earlier said an alternative route for internet access would be created, without giving any details.

Business leaders at the time warned that if the internet ban continued their activities would be seriously hit.

The blackout is the latest in a series of restrictions which the Taliban have enforced since returning to power.

Earlier this month they removed books written by women from the country’s university teaching system as part of a new ban which has also outlawed the teaching of human rights and sexual harassment.

Women and girls have also been particularly hard-hit: they are barred from accessing education beyond the age of 12, with one of their last routes to further training cut off in late 2024, when midwifery courses were quietly shut down.

The Taliban, a hardline Islamist group, retook control of Afghanistan in 2021 in a lightning advance that lasted just 10 days.

Africa’s 5G access is far below the global average of more than 20 percent, highlighting connectivity challenges.

Only 1.2 percent of Africans currently have access to 5G networks compared with a global average of more than 20 percent, a sign that the continent remains at an early stage in accessing next-generation mobile technology, according to a new report from the International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The State of Broadband in Africa 2025 report says that while Africa has made strong progress in mobile connectivity, the newest wireless technology remains largely out of reach for the continent’s 1.24 billion inhabitants.

However, industry projections suggest this could change dramatically over the next decade, with 5G expected to reach 17 percent penetration by 2030.

The slow 5G rollout contrasts sharply with Africa’s mobile success story in previous generations of wireless technology. Currently, 3G networks reach 77 percent of the continent’s population, while 4G coverage extends to 44.3 percent of people.

“The mobile sector has proved especially successful, with strong growth in mobile broadband and the development of large mobile operators,” the report states, citing companies like MTN and Vodacom as key drivers of expansion.

“However, there is still a significant usage gap, with 710 million Africans not using the internet despite living in an area served by mobile broadband infrastructure,” it adds. Key barriers, it says, remain affordability of handsets and lack of digital skills.

Chinese companies like Huawei, with more competitively priced products, have been able to establish a strong presence as a result across Africa.

The technology mix across sub-Saharan Africa shows 3G connections still dominating at roughly 50 percent of all mobile connections, while 4G accounts for 33 percent. Legacy 2G networks maintain 10 percent of connections, with 5G making up the remaining fraction.

Some countries, such as Somalia, have seen mobile connectivity flourish, not despite a lack of central authority but largely because of it, as large telecom companies have established large networks that cover urban areas well but also remote parts of the country, leading one British researcher to unfavourably compare Manchester with Mogadishu.

Mobile operators have invested heavily in infrastructure development, spending $28bn over the past five years across sub-Saharan Africa. Looking ahead, the industry plans to invest an additional $62bn between 2023 and 2030, much of which will focus on 5G network rollout and expansion.

The mobile ecosystem already contributes significantly to African economies, generating 7.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) worth $140bn in economic value and supporting 3.7 million jobs across the region in 2023.

Regional disparities within Africa reveal stark contrasts in connectivity progress.

Internet usage in Africa rose from 25 percent to 38 percent between 2019 and 2024, but remains well below the 68 percent global average. Sub-Saharan Africa lags furthest behind at 38 percent connectivity, with regional variations from 35 percent in Eastern and Southern Africa to 39 percent in Western and Central Africa.

Africa had a stark rural-to-urban divide in internet connectivity globally too. Only 57 percent of people in Africa were using the internet in urban areas compared with an 83 percent global average, and only 23 percent in rural areas.

Rwanda emerges as a particular success story, with telecommunications transformation following market liberalisation in 2006. The country developed a wholesale open-access 4G LTE network through a public-private partnership with Korea Telecom, ranking ninth among 38 African countries for mobile broadband affordability in 2017.

Satellite connectivity is expanding rapidly, with Starlink already operating in 14 African countries, including Benin, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria, though South Africa notably lacks a confirmed launch date. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia became the latest African countries to gain access to Starlink this year.

WASHINGTON — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Sunday that investigators are not ready to discuss the motive behind the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. But he said the 22-year-old suspect had left-leaning political beliefs and disliked the conservative influencer.

“Clearly a leftist ideology,” Cox told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” On CNN’s “State of the Union,” he said, “That information comes from the people around him, his family members and friends.”

Cox said that Tyler Robinson, who was arrested last week, is “not cooperating” and that friends paint a picture of someone radicalized in the dark corners of the internet. “Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on,” Cox said on NBC. “Friends have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep.”

Cox, a Republican who has urged all partisans to tone down their rhetoric following the attack, added: “I really don’t have a dog in this fight. If this was a radicalized MAGA person, I’d be saying that as well.”

Cox stressed on several Sunday morning news shows, however, that investigators are still trying to pin down a motive for the attack on Kirk, a father of two and confidant of President Trump who was killed Wednesday while on one of his signature college speaking tours at Utah Valley University in Orem. The governor said more information may come out once Robinson appears in court Tuesday.

The governor said Robinson’s partner is transgender, which some politicians have pointed to as a sign the suspect was targeting Kirk for his anti-trans views. But authorities have not said whether it is relevant as they investigate Robinson’s motive.

“The roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to female,” Cox said. “I can say that he has been incredibly cooperative, this partner has been very cooperative, had no idea that this was happening.”

Investigators have spoken to Robinson’s relatives and carried out a search warrant at his family’s home in Washington, Utah, about 240 miles southwest of Utah Valley University.

State records show Robinson is registered to vote but not affiliated with a political party and is listed as inactive, meaning he did not vote in the two most recent general elections. His parents are registered Republicans.

Ammunition found with the weapon used to kill Kirk was engraved with taunting, antifascist and meme-culture messages. Court records show that one bullet casing had the message, “Hey, fascist! Catch!”

Robinson grew up around St. George, in the southwestern corner of Utah between Las Vegas and natural landmarks including Bryce Canyon and Zion national parks.

He became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church, at a young age, church spokesperson Doug Andersen said.

Robinson has two younger brothers, and his parents have been married for about 25 years, according to social media posts. Online activity by Robinson’s mother reflects an active family that took vacations to Disneyland, Hawaii, the Caribbean and Alaska.

Like many in that part of Utah, they frequently spent time outdoors — boating, fishing, riding ATVs, zip-lining and target shooting. A 2017 post shows the family visiting a military facility and posing with assault rifles. A young Robinson is seen smiling as he grips the handles of a .50-caliber heavy machine gun.

A high school honor roll student who scored in the 99th percentile nationally on standardized tests, he was admitted to Utah State University in 2021 on a prestigious academic scholarship, according to a video of him reading his acceptance letter that was posted to a family member’s social media account.

But he attended for only one semester, according to the university. He is currently enrolled as a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in St. George.

Riccardi and Boak write for the Associated Press and reported from Denver and Washington, respectively.

Nepal has lifted its social media ban one day after protests turned deadly, with at least 19 people killed by security forces as demonstrators rallied against internet restrictions and government corruption.

Police fatally shot 17 people in Kathmandu, according to spokesman Shekhar Khanal, with two additional deaths reported in eastern Nepal’s Sunsari district. Officers deployed rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannons and batons when protesters broke through barbed wire barriers attempting to reach Parliament.

Approximately 400 people sustained injuries, including more than 100 police officers. Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak resigned following the violence.

“I had been there for a peaceful protest, but the government used force,” said 20-year-old Iman Magar, who was struck in his right arm. “It was not a rubber bullet but a metallic one, and it took away a part of my hand. The doctor says I need to undergo an operation.”

Emergency vehicles rushed the wounded to hospitals throughout the city. “I have never seen such a disturbing situation at the hospital,” said Ranjana Nepal, information officer at the Civil Service Hospital. “Tear gas entered the hospital area as well, making it difficult for doctors to work.”

The social media ban triggered widespread anger, particularly among younger Nepalis who depend on these platforms for communication. Amnesty International reported that authorities used live ammunition against protesters, while the United Nations called for a transparent investigation.

Millions of Nepalis use platforms like Instagram for entertainment, news, and business purposes. “This isn’t just about social media – it’s about trust, corruption, and a generation that refuses to stay silent,” wrote the Kathmandu Post newspaper. “Gen Z grew up with smartphones, global trends, and promises of a federal, prosperous Nepal. For them, digital freedom is personal freedom. Cutting off access feels like silencing an entire generation.”

Nepal has previously restricted online platforms, blocking Telegram in July over fraud concerns and implementing a nine-month TikTok ban that ended last August when the company agreed to comply with local regulations.

Sept. 7 (UPI) — One of Microsoft’s cloud services has been disrupted by severed cables below the surface of the Red Sea, the company said.

Users of Azure will experience delays in Internet traffic as it crosses through the Middle East, and the data has been rerouted, Microsoft said in a statement.

There were reports over the weekend that Internet traffic in the United Arab Emirates and some Asian countries had been affected, the BBC reported.

“Network traffic that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted,” Microsoft said.

NetBlocks, a company that monitors online Internet traffic, said Saturday that India and Pakistan were among the countries affected by the outage.

The cables were severed in water near the Saudi city of Jeddah, according to a social media post by the Pakistan Telecommunications company.

Severed Internet cables are a fairly routine occurrence, often the result of ships dropping anchor. Some cables, however, may have been cut deliberately, including several in 2024 that were severed between Asia and Europe about a month after the Yemeni government issued a warning that Iran-backed Houthi rebels threatened could sabotage communication cables and attack ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis denied targeting the lines.

Since Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine in 2022, several communication cables and gas lines beneath the surface of the Baltic Sea have also been severed.

Microsoft warns customers of ‘increased latency’ in connectivity and says efforts are under way to resolve the issue.

Internet disruptions have been reported in the Middle East and South Asia after multiple undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea, tech giant Microsoft, which has been criticised for its links to Israel as its war on Gaza rages on, said in a statement.

The statement on Sunday did not give further details about what caused the cuts.

In a status update published to its website, Microsoft said “network traffic traversing through the Middle East may experience increased latency due to undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea”. The global software giant said its Azure cloud computing services, the world’s second largest after Amazon, were affected by the cuts but added that general network traffic was not impacted.

“Network traffic that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted. We’ll continue to provide daily updates, or sooner if conditions change,” it said.

Microsoft said the disruptions started at 05:45 GMT on September 6.

The internet connectivity watchdog NetBlocks reported “degraded” internet connectivity in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and India, “resulting in slow speeds and intermittent access”.

NetBlocks said the connectivity issues were due to failures in the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan Telecommunications, one of the country’s largest telecoms providers, released a statement on X warning customers that the country “may experience some degradation during peak hours”, adding that its international partners were working to resolve the issue.

Undersea cables form the internet’s backbone, carrying global data traffic. The Middle East serves as a critical hub linking Asia and Europe. They are vulnerable to damage by ships’ anchors, but can also be targeted in attacks, which can cause widespread disruption.

In early 2024, Yemen’s internationally recognised government-in-exile alleged that the Houthis planned to attack undersea cables in the Red Sea. Several were cut, but the Houthis denied being responsible.

On Sunday morning, the Houthis’ Al Masirah TV acknowledged the cuts, citing NetBlocks.

Microsoft’s Azure has been storing information, including intercepted Palestinian phone calls in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip for Israel’s military, according to an investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call.

Microsoft has denied knowledge that Israel’s cyber-intelligence division, Unit 8200, was using its cloud services for material obtained through mass surveillance, but launched an investigation in August.

Microsoft has fired four employees who participated in protests on company premises over the firm’s ties to Israel.

US tech giant says jury decision misunderstands its products and it will appeal.

Google has been told by a US jury to pay $425m for violating the privacy of tens of millions of users who opted out of a feature tracking app use.

The jury in San Francisco handed down the verdict on Wednesday after a group of Google users accused the tech giant of continuing to collect data from third-party apps even when they changed their account settings to prevent the practice.

Google said the decision misunderstood how its products work and that it planned to appeal.

“Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice,” Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement.

In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that Google collected and sold users’ mobile app activity data in breach of privacy assurances contained in its Web & App Activity settings.

The suit, which was filed in July 2020, covered some 98 million Google users.

During the trial, Google had argued that collected data was “nonpersonal” and “pseudonymous” and stored in “segregated, secured, and encrypted locations”.

Google has faced a number of other recent privacy-related lawsuits.

In May, the tech giant agreed to pay $1.375bn to the state of Texas over claims it had collected residents’ face geometry and voiceprints without proper consent, and tracked users’ locations even when they opted out of the feature.

Shares of Circle Internet Group (CRCL -8.71%) took a 28.1% hit in August 2025, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The group behind the USDC (USDC -0.00%) stablecoin posted its first earnings report as a public company in the middle of the month, and it wasn’t strong enough to support Circle’s early price jump.

Circle’s earnings landed with a thud

From the initial public offering (IPO) on June 4 to the end of July, Circle’s stock had gained a hair-raising 492%. Investors were watching the first earnings report closely, looking for signs that Circle’s business could sustain a $42.0 billion market cap.

But that bullish outcome wasn’t in the cards. Sure, the results were impressive, given that Circle’s core business is based on an asset that will always be worth $1 per coin. Revenue rose 53% year over year to $658 million as the active circulation of USDC nearly doubled to $61.3 billion. But Circle still posted a net loss of $482 million in the second quarter, largely due to costs associated with the IPO. The price spike itself was the root cause of these charges, as the skyrocketing stock price changed the value of Circle’s convertible debt and stock-based compensation policies.

Image source: Getty Images.

The boring banking secret behind Circle’s exciting revenue

It may sound strange that Circle generated a $658 million revenue stream in the second quarter, even though the USDC stablecoin neither gained nor lost any value. But the company operates much like a classic bank — it earns interest on the dollar-based funds that provide direct backing for the stablecoin. These interest payments accounted for 96.4% of Circle’s total revenue in the second quarter.

As for the stock’s price drop, it should be noted that the slide started well before Circle’s earnings report. As of Sept. 2, Circle’s share price is down 54.4% from the absolute peak on June 23. The big surge followed by a steep price drop is pretty common for big-name IPOs, and Circle was one of the most anticipated market launches in recent memory.

Only CoreWeave (CRWV -9.41%) and Figma (FIG -6.70%) have seen splashier IPOs in 2025, and they have indeed followed similar charting patterns. Figma’s stock is down 46.2% from a soaring peak just after its IPO in July, while CoreWeave took a couple of months to build a 359% gain and then lose nearly half of it.

I rarely jump on IPO launches, because early investors tend to get burned rather quickly. Circle provided yet another example of a well-worn charting drama. And I’m not entirely convinced that Circle’s cool-off period has ended yet. You should probably avoid this red-hot financial technology stock until it stabilizes at a more plausible valuation.

It was bound to happen sometime. This year, the most important Hollywood movie of the key summer season didn’t start its quest for world domination in movie theaters. It came out on Netflix.

“KPop Demon Hunters,” the cartoon musical about a girl group using catchy tunes to keep evil at bay, has become a viral phenomenon since it launched on the streamer June 20. With 210 million views globally so far, it’s the most watched animated movie ever on Netflix, and is expected to soon top “Red Notice” as the company’s most popular film.

That should be no surprise at this point. Unlike many previous widely watched Netflix movies, “KPop” — produced by Culver City-based Sony Pictures Animation — has penetrated the cultural zeitgeist, leading to gushing from millennial parents’ group chats including mine, chart-topping songs and, of course, memes galore.

To keep the momentum going, Netflix took the unusual step of putting the movie in theaters weeks after its streaming debut.

“KPop Demon Hunters” sing-along screenings played in more than 1,750 locations domestically to packed houses, with more than 1,150 sold-out showings, though it did not play in AMC cineplexes. It was the No. 1 movie in theaters, scoring in the ballpark of $18 million in ticket sales, according to industry sources, enough to top the third weekend of Zach Cregger’s horror hit “Weapons.” Netflix released the sing-along version of “KPop Demon Hunters” for streaming on Monday.

Netflix, as is its typical practice, did not report actual box office grosses, so the counts for its first No. 1 box office hit aren’t official. Nonetheless, theater operators were clearly relieved to have the movie, even if for only two days. The August box office doldrums are in full swing, with little to cheer about from the traditional studios.

The summer blockbuster season is expected to end with about $3.5 billion in total revenue from the first weekend of May through Labor Day, according to analysts, which would be either roughly flat or slightly down from last year’s thin slate. More than $4 billion is considered normal or healthy by pre-pandemic standards.

The biggest hit this summer was Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch,” a live-action remake that collected $422 million in the U.S. and Canada and more than $1 billion globally. Last summer, two movies topped $600 million: Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” and Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” both of which were Disney titles.

Netflix has had a tense relationship with the theatrical business since it first got into making movies. The company puts movies in cinemas for limited runs as part of marketing efforts, awards campaigns and as a way to appease filmmakers who prefer the big-screen experience. Co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos earlier this year called the theatrical business “outdated” for most people, citing weak box office numbers after the COVID-19 closures.

Indeed, theatrical attendance has shrunk even more than the top-line revenue figures suggest, with shortfalls partly papered over by increases in ticket prices over the years.

When Scott Stuber ran Netflix’s film business, he pushed the company to do more with theaters because auteur directors wanted it. The film side is now run by Dan Lin.

People who advocate for the multiplex keep hoping that some event will persuade Netflix that its theory is wrong — that something like the “KPop Demon Hunters” screenings or next year’s Imax rollout for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming “Narnia” project will prove that Sarandos is mistaken and theatrical windows will actually benefit Netflix beyond using them as promotional ploys.

Rivals say their movies do better on streaming services when they’re already theatrical hits, a theme repeated by the new owners of Paramount who are trying to grow their direct-to-consumer business.

But if anything, Netflix is digging in.

The company sees the success of “KPop,” along with the recent release of “Happy Gilmore 2,” as proof that movies can resonate culturally without theaters and the massive advertising budgets necessary to open a film on 4,000 domestic screens. The Adam Sandler-starring sequel scored 46.7 million views in its first three days on the service and set a Nielsen record for the most-watched streaming movie in a single week.

Netflix has long faced skepticism from Hollywood over its film business, which can put up big viewership with movies like “Red Notice” and “The Adam Project” that seem to vanish from audiences’ consciousness without a trace.

We kind of already knew that movies, particularly animated musicals aimed at kids, could find a big audience online without being a theatrical smash. “Encanto,” released in November 2021 during the pandemic and the Bob Chapek era, did paltry box office by modern Disney standards but became a phenomenon when its Lin-Manuel Miranda-penned songs took off on social media.

When kids latch onto something, they watch it repeatedly, and they don’t care if it’s been in theaters or not. If the movie is good and relevant to them, it can work regardless of the release strategy.

Would “KPop Demon Hunters” have worked if it had been released in theaters exclusively? Who knows. If it had opened to modest box office results, as animated original movies tend to do lately, it would have immediately been written off as a disappointment. Instead, it stayed on the Netflix top 10 lists for weeks and climbed the Nielsen rankings because of word of mouth.

Part of its success is that the movie feels very “now,” whereas animated films sometimes aim for timelessness. It’s culturally specific, with universal themes (friendship and young people’s need to belong) that have powered Disney blockbusters for decades. A colleague of mine aptly described it as a sort of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” meets “Frozen.” Its music is current and rides the wave of everything influenced by South Korean pop culture.

Will it have the enduring influence of the “Frozen” franchise or “Moana,” movies that started primarily as properties for girls but became touchstones for a broader audience? Perhaps not, but it does give Netflix another data point to validate its streaming movie strategy.

Stuff we wrote

Number of the week

Even $3-trillion Apple isn’t immune to streaming inflation.

Apple TV+, home of series including “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” is raising its subscription price by $3 to $12.99 a month, following the lead of other streamers chasing better returns.

Finally …

Read: I’m listening to the audiobook of Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus’ “Fahrenheit-182.” A must for this San Diego native.

Russia accuses popular messaging apps of facilitating crime and sabotage as Moscow’s online restrictions tighten amid war in Ukraine.

Russia has announced restrictions on voice calls made on the WhatsApp and Telegram messaging apps, the latest moves by Moscow to tighten its control over the internet.

The curb on calls is set to impact WhatsApp’s estimated 96 million monthly users in Russia and Telegram’s more than 89 million users, according to Russian media monitoring service Mediascope.

In a statement on Wednesday, Russia’s media and internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, justified the measure as necessary for fighting crime.

“According to law enforcement agencies and numerous appeals from citizens, foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp have become the main voice services used to deceive and extort money, and to involve Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities,” the regulator said.

“Repeated requests to take countermeasures have been ignored by the owners of the messengers,” it said.

Moscow wants the online messaging services to provide access to user data upon request from law enforcement.

“Access to calls in foreign messengers will be restored after they start complying with Russian legislation,” Roskomnadzor said.

While authorities said only voice calls on the platforms were restricted, users in Russia also reported that video calls were also affected.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has been expanding control over the Russian part of the internet. Security services have frequently claimed that Ukraine was using Telegram to recruit people or commit acts of sabotage in Russia.

The Russian government adopted a law last month punishing online users for searching content deemed illicit by authorities. Plans are also in place for popular messaging services to be replaced by a domestic Russian app called Max, which critics fear will allow authorities access to the data.

A WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement that the encrypted messaging app “defies government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication, which is why Russia is trying to block it from over 100 million Russian people”.

In a statement sent to the AFP news agency, Telegram said that it “actively combats misuse of its platform, including calls for sabotage or violence, as well as fraud”, and removes “millions of pieces of harmful content every day”.

Telegram, which was developed by Russian tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov, faces longstanding accusations in several countries, including Russia, of not doing enough against criminal users.