WORLD
Should you take a Rs 1.3 crore job in Antarctica? Inside the viral six-month offer, risks, and trade-offs
A Reddit user says he has been offered roughly $145,000 (about Rs 1.3 crore) for a six-month contract at McMurdo Station. The package sounds life-changing, but medical screening, isolation, limited connectivity, and relationship strain are the variables that decide whether the money is worth it.
WORLD
Indian billionaire MA Yusuff Ali spotted boarding a public bus in Dubai goes viral: What’s the story?
A brief clip of Lulu Group Chairman MA Yusuff Ali, whose wealth is estimated at about $5.9 billion, boarding a public bus in Dubai and shaking hands with the driver has gone viral, prompting fresh debate about humility, optics, and leadership in public life.
WORLD
Trump-backed WLFI expands USD1 reach with Aster Trade listing and wider stablecoin push
Trump-backed World Liberty Financial has added Aster Trade as a new venue for USD1 trading pairs, a move aimed at widening the stablecoin’s liquidity and day-to-day utility in DeFi markets while keeping attention on transparency, reserves, and regulatory risk.
WORLD
Newly released Epstein photos include novelty Trump-branded condoms, part of 95,000-image trove under scrutiny
A newly released batch of photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate includes an image of novelty condom wrappers with a cartoon depiction of President Donald Trump, prompting political pushback and renewed scrutiny of what the wider trove of Epstein material does, and does not, show.
WORLD
Indiana Republicans break with Trump and why the pressure campaign failed
Personal lines were crossed, threats backfired and a deeply conservative state drew limits on loyalty politics.
WORLD
Can OpenAI pull ahead again now that Google has caught up on AI?
A new GPT-5.2 release shows the race has tightened, and OpenAI’s bigger challenge may be financial, not technical.
WORLD
Hollywood braces for a defining reckoning as Warner Bros sale hangs in the balance
Two rival bids promise very different futures, but both leave the film industry anxious about jobs, politics and the survival of the studio system.
WORLD
Venezuela’s oil lifeline is under pressure; why one seized tanker matters
A single intercepted cargo exposes how dependent Caracas still is on crude exports, and how vulnerable that lifeline is to pressure from Washington.
WORLD
How Jan Marsalek’s Libyan money trail reveals a deeper Russian influence game
Behind shell companies, cement plants and boardroom deals lies a quiet struggle over stolen money and strategic assets.
WORLD
Told he had three hours to live, he went on to build a $10 million gaming empire
Seventeen years after doctors told him he had only three hours to live, Zhenghua “Z” Yang runs Serenity Forge, a fast-growing indie games publisher. His near-death crisis shaped a mission to build emotionally resonant titles that also became a multimillion-dollar business.
WORLD
Trump’s memecoin tries a reset with a “Billionaires Club” mobile game
A Trump-branded play-to-earn title, due on December 30, is being positioned as a utility boost for the $TRUMP token after a steep slide. The project promises up to $1 million in token rewards, but faces regulatory and credibility questions.
WORLD
The quiet reason opposite sides of a dice always total 7
A mix of history, standardisation and probability explains one of the most familiar quirks of the humble cube.
WORLD
Flipperachi: The Bahraini rapper whose FA9LA became Dhurandhar’s surprise anthem
Known offstage as Hussam Aseem, Flipperachi has spent years building a Gulf hip-hop following. After Dhurandhar used his 2024 track FA9LA for a key scene, the song surged across social media and streaming worldwide.
WORLD
Canada committee votes to strip sacred swastika from hate-symbol language in anti-hate bill
A parliamentary committee unanimously agreed to remove references that link the ancient religious swastika with the Nazi emblem in federal hate-crime legislation.
WORLD
How Andrew Tate won freedom from Romania as political allies rallied behind him
Andrew Tate’s release from Romania followed months of political outreach, private conversations and rising influence inside Trump-aligned circles, even as serious criminal allegations against him continue across three countries.
WORLD
Inside China’s AI ‘electron gap’: How a supercharged power grid is reshaping the tech race with the US
China’s massive, cheap and fast-expanding electricity network is turning remote Inner Mongolia into a “cloud valley,” raising fears in Washington that power, not just chips, could decide who leads the global AI race.
WORLD
Scientists identify the earliest evidence of human-made fire in a 400,000-year-old hearth
A 400,000-year-old hearth in an English clay pit suggests our distant cousins were making and tending fire far earlier than scientists once believed.
WORLD
US House of Representatives approves $900 bn defence bill that tests Trump’s agenda and Congress’s oversight
A $900 billion defence bill has cleared the House with bipartisan support, boosting troop pay while quietly tightening Congress’s grip on Trump’s military moves in Europe, Ukraine and at sea.
WORLD
Inside María Corina Machado’s daring land, sea and air escape from Venezuela to collect her Nobel Peace Prize
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado slipped past multiple checkpoints, crossed the Caribbean in a fishing boat and flew on a private jet to Oslo, in a covert operation closely watched by Washington and Caracas.
WORLD
Chinese workers printed colleagues’ faces to trick attendance system and skip work
A group of local staff in China has been exposed for using printed face masks to fool a facial recognition clock-in system and record attendance for absent colleagues, prompting public criticism and a pending investigation.
WORLD
Why Ray Dalio says artificial intelligence has guided his decisions for decades
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio says he began using computer systems to support decision-making more than 35 years ago and believes early artificial intelligence helped shape his successful career at Bridgewater Associates.
WORLD
Dubai to India travel: How much gold is allowed without customs duty
Indians returning from Dubai can bring only small amounts of gold jewellery home tax free, and anything beyond the strict weight and value limits must be declared at customs or risk duty, penalties and possible seizure.
WORLD
Paul Krugman challenges Trump’s ‘A+++++’ economy claim with fresh critique
Economist Paul Krugman has sharply disputed President Donald Trump’s self-grade of the US economy, arguing that the positive label clashes with how ordinary Americans actually feel about prices, jobs and living costs.
WORLD
Spanish worker fired for arriving 40 minutes early to work, court backs employer
A Spanish court has upheld the dismissal of a 22-year-old employee who kept arriving 40 minutes early despite repeated warnings, turning an apparently “good” habit into a test case on how far workers can push company rules on time and attendance.
