It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, November 08, 2022
RIGHT WING HAIR ON FIRE
Justin Trudeau to appear -- but not compete -- on Drag Race Canada reality TV
Agence France-Presse Posted at Nov 09 2022
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau answers questions at a press briefing at the International Media Center at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held in Manila, November 14, 2017 Jonathan Cellona,
ABS-CBN News
OTTAWA, Canada - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will make a guest appearance on reality TV show "Drag Race," it was announced Tuesday, though some viewers may be disappointed he will not compete as one of the cross-dressing contestants.
The Canadian show is among a dozen international versions of the original American series "RuPaul's Drag Race" that has inspired spin-offs including "Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World."
"The prime minister's visit marks the first time a world leader has made an appearance on a Drag Race franchise," local broadcaster Bell Media said in a statement.
Publicist Ama Sechere told AFP that on the show Trudeau "talks to the queens about Canada's inclusivity and offers his support to Canadian competitors going up against international queens," whom he welcomes to Canada.
Contestants are given different challenges each week to test their drag performance skills, which are judged by a panel, and share with the audience their personal struggles and successes.
In a series trailer, Trudeau is shown being introduced as a surprise guest by host and judge Brooke Lynn Hytes, who is clad in a sparkling black gown.
The room explodes in audience screams as Trudeau comes out on stage with a broad smile, wearing a buttoned-down shirt with sleeves rolled up and a tie.
The show premieres on November 18 in Canada on Bell's streaming service Crave. Dates for screenings abroad have yet to be announced.
amc/md/bgs
Crypto Kid Sam Bankman-Fried Falls Prey To Binance
Sam Bankman-Fried has stunned the cryptocurrency world with
the rapid turnaround in fortunes of FTX
Sam Bankman-Fried has undergone a rapid transformation from top of the heap in the world of cryptocurrencies as chief of the FTX digital exchange to embattled executive forced to seek help from rival Binance.
The rapid about-face was a shock: Only Monday, Bankman-Fried insisted FTX was financially stable.
But in a tweet Tuesday, Changpeng Zhao, head of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency platform, said the group had signed a non-binding letter of intent "to fully acquire FTX.com," in response to the company's request for help amid "a significant liquidity crunch".
It was a stunning setback for the 30-year-old billionaire, known on social media as SBF, who was hailed by many for his meteoric rise. Fortune magazine went so far as to wonder in August if he was the new Warren Buffett.
After founding cryptocurrency investment fund Alameda Research in 2017, Bankman-Fried moved to Hong Kong and co-founded FTX.
The company was valued early this year at $32 billion, a capitalization which put it close to giants Coinbase and Binance.
Bankman-Fried, a vegan who sleeps four hours a night, had become a public face of crypto money, with a personal fortune estimated at nearly $25 billion, which according to Forbes magazine has since shrunk to $16.6 billion.
The success of FTX allowed the platform to forge prestigious partnerships, notably with American football legend Tom Brady and former supermodel Gisele Bundchen, and it featured comedian Larry David in a Super Bowl television advertisement.
Almost always appearing with a hoodie and a dark T-shirt, Bankman-Fried has pledged to donate almost all of his fortune to his favored causes, like animal welfare and the fight against global warming. The son of Stanford Law School professors and a graduate of the elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he worked as a broker on Wall Street before turning to cryptocurrencies in 2017.
Bankman-Fried moved the company to the Bahamas, where taxes are almost nonexistent, saying the Caribbean nation is "one of the few countries that has a comprehensive licensing regime for cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges."
He has been a vocal advocate for smoother access to the crypto market for the general public, particularly in the United States.
"It would be healthy for everyone involved if there was a regulatory pathway to getting licensed and bringing federal oversight," he told AFP during a February interview.
In early July, as the virtual currency market took a nosedive, FTX came to the rescue of cryptocurrency lending company BlockFi, which was in the midst of its own liquidity crisis. FTX put up an option to buy it out for $240 million.
A few days later, Voyager Digital, another specialist in cryptocurrency loans, revealed a debt totaling $75 million with Bankman-Fried's investment fund.
Described by his admirers as the white knight of a sector plunged into turmoil, SBF suddenly saw its star fade when Changpeng Zhao expressed doubts about the solvency of Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research and decided to withdraw its capital.
Just over 24 hours after denying rumors of trouble, Bankman-Fried announced on Twitter that he had reached a "strategic transaction" with Binance.
The decision that left many of its subscribers stunned.
"Can someone explain to me what this means as if I were a 5-year-old child?" asked Sahil Bloom of the SRB investment fund.
Hackers leak Australian health records on dark web
Agence France-Presse Posted at Nov 09 2022
SYDNEY — Hackers on Wednesday began leaking sensitive medical records stolen from a major Australian health insurer that had earlier refused to pay the group's ransom demand.
Medibank told investors and customers that a "sample" of data from some 9.7 million clients had been posted on a "dark web forum".
Names, birth dates, addresses, passport numbers and information on medical claims were among the sensitive personal data posted anonymously early Wednesday.
Medibank said more leaks were likely.
"The files appear to be a sample of the data that we earlier determined was accessed by the criminal," the company said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
"We expect the criminal to continue to release files on the dark web."
Medibank previously refused to pay ransom to stop the hackers from leaking the data, saying it could fuel further crime and would not guarantee the information was safe.
"Based on the extensive advice we have received from cybercrime experts, we believe there is only a limited chance paying a ransom would ensure the return of our customers' data and prevent it from being published," Medibank boss David Koczkar said.
The leaked data was posted on a dark web forum that cannot be found using conventional web browsers.
"We'll continue posting data partially," the purported hackers said on the forum.
"Looking back that data is not very understandable format, we'll take some time to sort it out."
AFP Assistant Commissioner Cyber Command Justine Gough said the "criminal or criminal groups" responsible for the hack could be operating outside of Australia.
Australia's assistant treasurer Stephen Jones said they were "scumbags" and "crooks".
"We shouldn't be giving in to these fraudsters," he told Sky News Australia.
"The moment we fold it sends a green light to scumbags like them throughout the world that Australia is a soft target."
The security breach has already wiped hundreds of millions of US dollars off Medibank's market value, with the company's share price down over 20 percent since October.
Court orders striking Kenya Airways pilots to resume work
NAIROBI (Reuters) -A labour court on Tuesday ordered pilots at Kenya Airways to resume work by Nov.9, seeking to end a strike that has left thousands of passengers stranded at one of Africa's most important aviation hubs.
Members of the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) — a union that represents about 400 pilots at the carrier - went on strike on Saturday after failing to resolve a dispute over their pensions contributions and settlement of deferred pay.
On Tuesday, a labour and employment court judge ordered the pilots to resume their duties "unconditionally" at 6 a.m. local time (0300 GMT), on Wednesday.
The court also stopped the airline's management from taking disciplinary actions against pilots who took part in the industrial action.
The court had restrained the union from embarking on the strike and the airline sought to cite the union's officials for contempt of court after the strike started. The court will continue hearing the dispute, Judge Anne Mwaure said.
Kenya Airways welcomed the court's directions, and said it would comply. Officials at the pilots' union were not immediately available for comment.
The pilots' walkout has so far cost the airline an estimated more than $2 million daily, affected more than 10,000 passengers and led to the cancellation of dozens of flights.
Kenya Airways, which is nearly 50% owned by the government, had earlier said it planned to cancel its bargaining and recognition agreements with the pilots union, saying their current strike was unlawful and amounted to economic sabotage.
The union is demanding the resumption of regular payments to its members' pension plan, which were stopped in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic started, and the payment of pension arrears.
It also wants the carrier to start paying salaries that were deferred during the health crisis.
The airline's management says it has been working hard to fully recover from the pandemic and accuses the pilots of jeopardising that push.
The financial turmoil at Kenya Airways preceded the pandemic.
The airline sank deep into the red after it borrowed heavily to buy new aircraft at a time when its passenger business slumped mainly due to frequent militant attacks in Kenya.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri and Jeff Kahinju; Editing by George Obulutsa and Tomasz Janowski)
Court Orders Kenya Airways Pilots To End Strike, Resume Work Tomorrow
By Citizen Reporter Published on: November 08, 2022 Members of the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA).
Lady Justice Anna Mwaure directed the KQ management to allow the pilots to do their duties without harassment or disciplinary action. Justice Mwaure said the case will come up for mention on November 21, 2022.
The Employment and Labour Relations court has directed striking Kenya Airways (KQ) pilots to call off their industrial action and resume work on Wednesday at 6am.
Lady Justice Anna Ngibuini Mwaure, in a ruling delivered on Tuesday, also directed the KQ management to allow the pilots to do their duties without harassment or disciplinary action pending determination of the matter.
Justice Mwaure said the case will come up for mention on November 21, 2022, adding that both parties in the case, the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) and KQ management, should refrain from prosecuting the matter in public.
The judge had early on ordered KQ and KALPA to hold talks and come up with a way forward on their stalemate.
She directed the parties to present consent in written form to the court by Tuesday, 2:30 PM as she turned down KALPA’s request to be granted seven days to solve the issue.
Justice Mwaure raised concern about the losses that the airline will make if the parties are granted the 7-day mediation period.
The Employment and Labour Relations court had summoned 11 KALPA officials after refusing to call off the pilots’ strike that entered its fourth day on Tuesday.
The pilots and KQ management have been trading accusations, with KALPA accusing the airline of failing to honour their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA.)
On the other hand, KQ termed the pilots’ strike as illegal, accusing them of holding passengers and the Kenyan economy at ransom through industrial action.
Smart farming tech offers sprout of hope in Greece
by Vassilis KYRIAKOULIS, Hélène COLLIOPOULOU
A new generation of Greek farmers see high technology as key to their ailing sector.
Eyes glued to his mobile phone, farmer Sotiris Mournos pores over the latest microclimate and humidity data about his fields on the plain of Imathia in northern Greece.
The high-tech farming techniques he uses are making slow progress in Greece's tradition-bound and struggling agricultural sector, but growers like him see them as key to their future.
Mournos, 25, employs a Greek smart-farming app to boost production of his family's cotton fields and fruit trees.
Using real-time data recorded by a weather station, he can analyze and correlate the impact of weather conditions on his 10-hectare (nearly 25-acre) cotton plantation.
"We've managed to reduce the use of fertilizer and irrigation... (and thereby to) increase the financial return" of the farm, said Mournos, who gave up studying computer science at university to devote himself to the family holding in the town of Platy.
Measuring the humidity or the nitrogen level in the soil helps to curb the excessive use of fertilizers and saves water, he notes.
As in many other southern European countries, Greece's agricultural sector is chronically short of water and smart farming could help deal with that problem.
Boosting yields
The sector has also lost a major share of its available labor in recent decades, as young people snub farm work for better-paid jobs in services such as tourism.
Agriculture now represents just five percent of Greece's GDP, half what it was 20 years ago.
The government has budgeted 230 million euros ($231 million) over the next three years to revive the country's farming industry.
Most of that derives from the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy innovation fund.
"Most young people in my village prefer other jobs and have given up working in the fields," Mournos told AFP.
But he is making a go at farming, aiming to work smart by using the farming app for several years now.
It means he uses 40 percent less fertilizer on his cotton field and can avoid using two pesticide sprays—altogether saving 9,000 euros (about $9,000)—without affecting production rates.
Technology is helping Greek farmers save money and increase their yield.
Analysts say the farming app is not widely used in Greece although interest is gradually picking up.
But persuading farmers who may be less technologically minded than Mournos to embrace it faces myriad challenges.
A key hurdle is the small size of Greek farms—less than 10 hectares on average—and the country's largely mountainous terrain.
Greek farms are often family businesses or involve rented fields, making investment in tools and practices less appealing.
Convincing farmers
Meanwhile, an "endemic" lack of cooperation among farmers prevents them sharing costs, says Aikaterini Kasimati, an agricultural engineer at the University of Agronomy in Athens.
As a result, Greece lags far behind other European states in the use of smart farming, says Vassilis Protonotarios, marketing manager of Neuropublic, a company specializing in digital agriculture.
He said farmers could benefit from new technology without having to invest in expensive equipment or have "specialized digital skills".
Then, there is the difficulty of convincing farmers to try something new.
Organic farmer Thodoris Arvanitis says his colleagues are not interested in new technologies because they don't know enough about them and prefer long-used conventional methods.
"Farmers won't go after technology when they don't have enough money for fuel," he added, at his farm in the small town of Kiourka, some 30 kilometers (nearly 20 miles) north of Athens.
Attitudes may change in time as climate change puts additional pressure on farm costs, says Machi Symeonidou, an agronomist and creator of the agricultural IT startup Agroapps.
The war in Ukraine and its impact on global food supplies also shows that it is increasingly necessary to produce food at a local level, said agricultural engineer Kasimati.
"We see a constant degradation of fields and a fall in yield," she said, adding that water was also becoming expensive.
"But as the technology becomes simpler and cheaper, these tools will see more use," she added.
COP27 app gives Egypt’s Sisi access to every move attendees make
Sébastian SEIBT
Egyptian authorities have unveiled a COP27 application to "help" participants at the climate change summit in Sharm El Skeikh, which ends on November 18. But NGOs and cybersecurity experts warn that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime can very easily and effectively use the app to surveil attendees, including top diplomats and Egyptian activists.
COP27 app gives Egypt’s Sisi access to every move attendees make
The 2022 UN Climate Change Conference, which began on Sunday, November 6 in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, is a summit under tight surveillance. Human rights groups and cybersecurity experts believe the Egyptian application made available to COP27 participants is a weapon of massive espionage for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime.
"It’s not the official UN application that’s the problem; it’s the one developed by the Egyptian government that bothers us," explained Katharina Rall, senior environment researcher at Human Rights Watch, who participated in the NGO’s investigation into the repressive measures put in place by Egypt ahead of COP27.
The Egyptian app, which was rolled out on October 24, is supposed to "improve the COP27 experience for all participants". It allows users to manage flight and hotel reservations, get information about Covid-19, and provides agendas for on-site meetings as well as a calendar of negotiations and roundtables.
The all-in-one tool has already been downloaded by more than 5,000 delegates and visitors (out of a total of 44,000 registered participants) who were probably reassured by the fact that this Egyptian application is promoted on the official UN website for the COP27. The UN imprimatur "appears very problematic to us, and we have the right to wonder why there was no verification beforehand", said Rall.
‘Unlimited trust certificate’ with access to all
Shortly after the app was rolled out last month, cybersecurity experts realised that it was "a cartoon super-villain of an app”, as Gennie Gebhart from the Electronic Frontier Foundation put it in an interview with the British daily, The Guardian.
It’s difficult to imagine a more intrusive app: It "requires access to all the communication connectors of the smartphone, such as Bluetooth, GPS, camera, microphone, address book, NFC ['near-field communication', a wireless data transfer technology for very short distances],” explained Frans Imbert-Vier, CEO of UBCOM, a Swiss cybersecurity agency that has analysed the mobile service developed by the Egyptians.
Unlike most other apps, the COP27 one does not offer warnings that they want to have access to this or that function of the smartphone. "In this case, an unlimited trust certificate is submitted to the user," said Imbert-Vier. After acceptance, the phone's operating system acts like the app can mostly do whatever it wants.
Specifically, it transmits geolocation data, photos taken, messages exchanged and allows access to outgoing email content, according to The Guardian, which conducted its own security assessment of this quasi-spyware.
Users cannot simply refuse to allow access to certain functions and still use the application, warned Imbert-Vier. It's all or nothing, even though all the experts interviewed agree that such an application does not need to have access to emails or the microphone, for example, for the services it offers.
Cheaper, faster, better than standard spying operations
Experts are especially concerned about the app’s uninstalling function. Rall from Human Rights Watch warns that, "uninstalling the application is not enough to get rid of it". The elements that enabling spying on communications linger on smartphones. "You have to reset the operating system settings [an advanced reset to clean the heart of the smartphone] to put everything back in order," added Imbert-Vier.
The Egyptian authorities have thus developed the perfect little cyber spy that is difficult to get rid of and that, in addition, steals the user’s consent.
For the Sisi regime, "the COP27 has provided a unique opportunity to update, at low cost, all their information on diplomats and high-ranking dignitaries of the countries attending this event. What’s more, it’s much faster and more reliable than doing all the espionage work on the ground, since the information is provided directly by the victim," noted Imbert-Vier.
The app is also an additional weapon for the regime to monitor domestic dissent in a country routinely singled out for its gross human rights violations, including crackdowns on freedoms of expression and association. "We must not forget that some of the participants in COP27 are local organisations, and most of the international NGOs also work with Egyptian activists," said Rall.
Human Rights Watch fears that in a country where tens of thousands of detainees are considered political prisoners by NGOs, and which has increased arrests in the run-up to COP27, the official application can be used as a tool to increase repression.
Egypt is not the first country to be accused of using an official application for a major event for espionage purposes.
For the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, China asked athletes and participants to download "My2022", an equally intrusive application.
A similar scenario appears to be emerging for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which starts on November 18. Activists and experts have flagged two applications, Ehteraz, a local Covid-19 app, and Hayya, a digital permit required to enter stadiums and the country, for giving Qatari authorities wide access to information on smartphones.
All these examples suggest that hosting major international now provide authoritarian regimes with an easy gateway to extend the scope of their cyber-surveillance.
Why tech layoffs are happening all at once — and why the next few weeks could be the worst of them
Avery Hartmans
Meta is expected to announce big job cuts sometime soon, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters
Layoffs season is underway, with Meta expected to conduct widespread cuts.
The layoffs are the result of multiple factors, including economic conditions and budget-planning for next year.
Industry experts say the next few weeks are critical, as holiday layoffs could hurt morale and future hiring.
Earnings across tech are weakening at the same time that companies are beginning to plan for the coming year. And with economic forecasts looking dire, tech firms are starting to tighten the belt — starting with cutting their workforces to shave salary costs.
Which means that in the weeks ahead, thousands of tech workers may be out of a job.
How did we get here
As Big Tech companies reported less-then-stellar earnings over the past few weeks, they also also flashed warning signs about the months ahead. The looming threat of a recession was causing customers to scale back spending, companies said — with few signs of a rebound on the horizon.
That means in the weeks and months to come, those companies are going to be looking to trim costs where they can, said Dan Wang, an associate professor at the Columbia Business School.
"When they cut costs, the first thing to go is typically labor costs and also advertising and marketing," Wang told Insider. "So when it comes to forecast what their numbers will look like, it'll depend on how they have seen the trend in advertising spending on their platforms. When that doesn't look good, then they have to accommodate those expectations by adjusting the workforces."
Tech companies are coming off a period of outsized growth, spurred on by the pandemic. What's happening now is something of a correction, he said, as the tech world recalibrates to a time when people aren't stuck at home, glued to their devices.
And even though in many cases layoffs began earlier this year — both at startups and big tech firms — sometimes, they didn't go far enough, Menlo Ventures partner Matt Murphy previously told Insider.
"It always happens in cycles like this that sometimes companies don't do layoffs significantly enough, but rather slow down on hiring and hope that normal churn might rightsize them," Murphy said. "Coming out of Q3, which was much more difficult than Q2, it became much more obvious how many headwinds there were, and startups realized they can't grow out of this with the staff they have and actually have to lay people off."
What's happening now
For some companies, these economic challenges are coming at the same time that they're planning for the next fiscal year.
Amazon, Meta, and Google, for example, have fiscal years that end at the end of 2022 or in early 2023. They may be looking to get costs off their balance sheets now — before their fiscal years close. For example, if an employee is laid off now and given six weeks of severance, that reduces costs for the first quarter. Even if workers are given a longer severance, like three months, their salaries would be off the books before the end of the first quarter.
While budget-planning doesn't apply to every company — Microsoft, for example, just conducted layoffs and its fiscal year ends in June — there is an element of planning ahead at play, said J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, a market research company.
"That's sort of unfortunate because it means that a certain number of folks are going to lose their jobs before the holidays and before the turn of the year," he told Insider.
But in other ways, some companies may just be playing follow the leader: assessing economic conditions based in part on what other companies are doing, Gownder said.
"Watching other firms that are peers, not necessarily competitors, but similar firms to yours in the tech sector, could lead you to say, 'Ah, this is the time,'" he said. "There is a bit of group-think in Silicon Valley."
What happens next
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the next two weeks are critical. That's because companies may not want to cut jobs during the holidays — it could tank company morale, paralyze the employees who did keep their jobs, and affect future hiring, Gownder said.
"The best talent don't want to work for the companies that kind of indiscriminately and without any empathy lay people off at the first sign of trouble," he said.
Which means that if tech firms want to conduct layoffs, the next two weeks are the time to rip the bandage off or risk not only keeping those costs on their profit and loss statements headed into the next quarter, but piling on these secondary effects.
Some planning could mitigate that — severance would help soften the blow, as would helping laid-off workers get new jobs, like Airbnb did back in 2020 — but the timing still comes down to how individual companies are going to make their planning decisions.
"There is a process at work here, and unfortunately, I don't know that that process is much focused on not disappointing people at Christmas," Gownder said.
Elon Musk's Twitter laid off more than 90% of staff in India — now only about 12 employees remain, report says
Kate Duffy Tue, November 8, 2022 Twitter owner Elon Musk.Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Getty Images Elon Musk's Twitter slashed 90% of employees in India over the weekend, sources told Bloomberg.
Twitter had about 200 staff in the country but now only about 12 remain, per the report.
About 70% of the layoffs in India were in the product and engineering team, it added.
Twitter has laid off more than 90% of its employees in India as Elon Musk made huge cuts to the company's global headcount, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
Over the weekend, Twitter's workforce of about 200 in India was cut down to about 12 staff, people with knowledge of the matter and who requested to remain anonymous told Bloomberg.
Around 70% of the layoffs in India hit employees in the product and engineering department, one of the people told Bloomberg. That's about 140 workers out of roughly 200 from that team.
The people told Bloomberg that staff working in marketing, corporate communications, and public policy in India were also fired.
Twitter didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.
Since Musk took over Twitter on October 27, thousands of employees across the world have been laid off. Even on the billionaire's first day, he fired some top Twitter executives, including the CEO.
There were plans to lay off 3,700 employees — around 50% of the workforce — and those impacted would receive severance, Insider's Kali Hays reported.
Almost a week after Musk's takeover, some Twitter employees said they were locked out of work laptops, emails, and Slack accounts before being told that their jobs were terminated, including one employee who was eight months pregnant.
However, Twitter has already asked some of the laid-off employees to come back, Insider previously reported.
"Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required," Musk tweeted on Friday.
Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey recently apologized for the layoffs, saying he "grew the company size too quickly."
Gigi Hadid quits Twitter saying it has become more of a 'cesspool of hate' and 'bigotry' under Elon Musk's leadership
Beatrice Nolan
Elon Musk and Gigi HadidJames Devaney / Contributor / Getty Images and Craig Barritt / Stringer / Getty Images
Model Gigi Hadid has deactivated her Twitter account after 10 years on the platform.
She said that Twitter was becoming more of a "cesspool of hate" and "bigotry" under its "new leadership."
Hadid is the latest in a string of celebrities who have left the platform following Musk's takeover.
Model Gigi Hadid has deactivated her Twitter account after Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover of the social media platform.
On Saturday, Hadid shared a tweet that claimed Twitter's entire human rights department had been laid off to her Instagram story.
She wrote underneath the screenshot: "I deactivated my Twitter account today. For a long time, but especially with its new leadership, it's becoming more and more of a cesspool of hate & bigotry, and it's not a place I want to be a part of."
The model added she couldn't say that Twitter was a "safe place for anyone."
Representatives for Hadid and Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Hadid apologized to her fans, saying she had "loved connecting with" them for a decade on Twitter.
Hadid is the latest in a string of celebrities who have left the platform after Musk's takeover, including singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, R&B star Toni Braxton, and "Bridgerton" creator Shonda Rhimes.
Days after Musk's deal closed, screenwriter, producer, and showrunner Rhimes also said she quit the platform. She posted a tweet saying: "Not hanging around for whatever Elon has planned. Bye."
Some stars vowed to leave the platform in April after Musk originally offered to buy the platform, citing concerns over what the self-proclaimed "free-speech absolutist" would do as head of the social media giant.
Mary Peltola vs. Sarah Palin and more: Alaska's at-large district US House election
Hanna Kang Mon, November 7, 2022; Insider Former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin, left, faces Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, right, and three other candidates.
Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola is running against three others — including Sarah Palin — in Alaska's at-large congressional district.
Alaska has only one congressional district and therefore does not go through a redistricting process.
After Peltola's special election win, The Cook Political Report shifted its forecast of the race from "likely Republican" to "toss-up" to "lean Democratic."
Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska faces off against three challengers in Alaska's at-large congressional district general election.
Polls close in the state at 8 p.m. local time. Given the state has multiple timezones, the first polls close at 12 p.m. EST and the last polls close at 1 p.m. EST. Alaska's at-large congressional district candidates
A Yup'ik Alaskan Native, Peltola worked as a herring and salmon technician for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. She served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009 and as executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, where she helped mobilize 118 tribes and rural Alaskans to advocate for the protection of salmon runs in the western regions of the state.
After Peltola defied expectations to earlier this year defeat former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin and a cast of other candidates in a special election that used the state's brand-new ranked-choice voting system, The Cook Political Report shifted its forecast of the race from "likely Republican" to "toss-up."
Palin, the former governor of Alaska, has known Peltola for years and served alongside her in the Alaska state house. Following her win, Peltola told Insider that Palin complimented her as "a real Alaskan chick."
"We've been texting this morning and she sent well wishes and let me know that she's been referring to me as, let me make sure I'm saying it correctly, 'a real Alaskan chick. Beautiful and smart and tough,'" she said.
Palin, the first female governor of Alaska, as well as the first woman to appear on the Republican Party's vice presidential ticket, is a commentator, author, and reality television personality. She started her political career in the city of Wasilla, Alaska, as a member of the city council, where her family settled when she was eight years old. After stints as Wasilla's mayor and chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, she was elected governor of Alaska in 2006.
The McCain-Palin ticket eventually lost the election to President Barack Obama.
Although Alaska's 2022 general election, much like the special election, will largely be centered around Peltola and Palin, Alaska's ranked choice voting system makes this a four-way race.
Two other candidates will also be in the race to represent the non-contiguous US state: Nick Begich, who co-chaired for the late Rep. Don Young's 2020 re-election campaign, and Libertarian Chris Bye.
Republican Tara Sweeney had qualified for the four-way race, but pulled out, meaning Bye — originally the 5th place finisher — advanced to the general election. Voting history for Alaska's at-large congressional district
Alaska's at-large district, where former President Donald Trump had a 10 percentage point margin of victory over Biden in 2020, is the only congressional district in the state and therefore does not go through a redistricting process. The district has a Republican partisan lean.
The money race
According to OpenSecrets, Peltola has raised $5.7 million, spent $3.3 million, and has $2.4 million on hand, as of October 19. Her top opponent, Palin, has raised $1.7 million, spent $1.6 million, and has $120,201 cash on hand, while Begich has raised about $1.6 million, spent $1.1 million, and has about $473,541 cash on hand, as of October 19.
As of early November, super PACs, national party committees, and other non-candidate groups had together spent about $5.2 million to advocate for or against the candidates. What experts say
More beaver zones to be built at flood-prone estate
Mon, November 7, 2022 Two beavers were introduced to the Spains Hall Estate in Essex in 2019
Two more beaver enclosures are to be built in the area of Essex where a pair of the animals were released into the wild for the first time in 400 years.
I n 2019, two Eurasian beavers were introduced at the Spains Hall Estate near Braintree to help reduce flooding.
A year later the pair, called Woody and Willow, had two offspring, known has kits.
Archie Ruggles-Brise, estate manager, said: "The chance to bring more natural engineering skills to the estate is beyond exciting."
The mammals were hunted to extinction in England centuries ago, but have since been gradually reintroduced.
The estate, at Finchingfield, flooded in 2012 and 2014.
Mr Ruggles-Brise said: "Since 2019 we've seen what beavers can do to reduce flood risk, increase drought resilience, clean water and create year-round habitat for wildlife."
H e said the beavers would make the estate "more able to weather the changes climate change will bring, and all the while providing inspiration and experience that others can use elsewhere".
The £350,000 project, funded by an environmental partnership, will see two new 50-acre enclosures built, 10 times the size of the original enclosure which was built in 2019.
The Environment Agency (EA) said the beavers reduced flood risk by building dams which slow down the river flow and send it through new channels and wetlands.
The dams also helped river flows by slowly releasing retained water, helping to protect local wildlife during the dry weather in the summer.
Matt Butcher, from the EA, said: "The beavers have shown what effective flood engineers they are in the past few years and it'll be great to extend this to a wider area."
Anglian Water's Dr Robin Price, said the effects of climate change "are felt more keenly in the east of England more than anywhere else in the UK".
He said the beavers were a "wonderful, nature-based solution".
