Private texts between Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey made public

Court documents show Musk and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey discussed changes to the platform prior to the $44 billion buyout

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey had communicated privately about the social media platform well before the former made a $44 billion buyout offer, newly revealed court records show.

A set of text messages exchanged between the two appeared to show Dorsey having tried to get Musk onto Twitter’s board at least a year before the Tesla CEO offered to buy the company outright this past April.

In a text sent on March 26, 2022, Dorsey wrote to Musk that “a new platform is needed. It can’t be a company. That’s why I left.” He explained that he thinks Twitter should be an “open-sourced protocol” and can’t be based around an advertising model, as most social media companies are.

Musk replied by saying he would “like to help if I’m able,” to which Dorsey said that he had already tried to get the Tesla CEO involved with the company a year earlier. “You care so much, get its importance and could def help in immeasurable ways,” Dorsey told Musk before revealing that the “risk averse” board had rejected the idea.

Twitter doubles down on Musk sale

Read more Twitter doubles down on Musk sale

Dorsey said that he thought it was “completely stupid and backwards” that the Twitter board saw the inclusion of Musk as adding “more risk” to the company and claimed that it was at this time he decided to step down as CEO of the platform, which he did in November 2021.

The text messages also suggest that Dorsey tried to get Musk to join the board while the company was battling with activist investor firm Elliott Management in 2020, whose founder Paul Singer was seeking to oust Dorsey as CEO and make Twitter’s business side more profitable. “Back when we had the activist come in, I tried my hardest to get you on our board and our board said no.” Dorsey wrote.

A little over a week after the text exchange, Musk announced that he planned to join the Twitter board. He eventually changed course and offered to buy the company outright in order to battle policies at the social media giant that he claimed were hostile to free speech.

However, after agreeing to purchase Twitter for $44 billion at $54.20 per share, Musk decided to back out of the deal a month later after the company’s stock price took a dive. Musk’s attorneys have argued that he had been misled about Twitter and have cited concerns about privacy, security, and the number of fake accounts on the platform.

Twitter is in turn suing the billionaire to try to force him to hold up his end of the agreement and complete the purchase at the initially proposed price. A trial is scheduled for mid-October at the Delaware Chancery Court.

https://www.rt.com/news/563795-musk-dorsey-twitter-texts/

Nord Stream was ruptured by two blasts – WSJ

The pipelines were damaged by explosions, each with a force equivalent to 500 kg (1,100 pounds) of TNT, the WSJ reported

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipeline leaks were caused by two powerful explosions, each with a force equivalent to 500 kg (1,100 pounds) of TNT, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing sources. Danish officials reportedly revealed the details at a NATO meeting on Wednesday.

In a statement published on Thursday, the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s decision-making body, did not assign blame for the leaks on any actor and only claimed that the pipelines were damaged in what appeared to be a “deliberate, reckless, and irresponsible acts of sabotage.”

However, officials in some member countries “have already attributed the destruction to Russia, without providing evidence,” the report says.

The paper reported that during the Council meeting, member countries said Russia was ‘likely’ behind the Nord Stream ruptures. But apparently most of them did not want to publicly voice their speculations without “more evidence,” according to unnamed senior European diplomats cited by the outlet.

The diplomats noted that “there was little serious doubt” in capitals that Moscow orchestrated the Nord Stream leaks, but they wanted to be absolutely certain about it, given the implications such accusations may entail.

Ex-Polish FM deletes tweet implying US sabotaged gas pipeline

Read more Ex-Polish FM deletes tweet implying US sabotaged gas pipeline

Moscow has repeatedly dismissed allegations that it had something to do with the sabotage. Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov described the incident as a probable “terrorist act” which is unlikely to have been possible “without the involvement of some state power.”

On Thursday, Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, offered a reminder that this summer NATO was engaged in military activities close to the location where the leaks were found, hinting that it might have presented an interesting “opportunity” for the bloc.

Earlier, Sky News reported, citing a UK defense source, that the Nord Stream pipelines may have been sabotaged by a remotely detonated underwater explosive device, which could have been planted months or even years prior to the incident.

On Monday, Denmark reported leaks from the pipelines, which connect Germany and Russia under the Baltic Sea, after the operator reported a loss of pressure on both Nord Stream 1 and 2. Danish and Swedish authorities later said there had been a series of undersea explosions near the island of Bornholm. In total, there have been four gas leaks detected in the Nord Stream system.

https://www.rt.com/news/563787-nord-stream-explosion-nato-russia/

UK intelligence agency hacked – media

The website of MI5, Britain’s domestic spy service, was briefly taken down by a DDoS attack

The website of UK domestic intelligence agency MI5 was briefly knocked offline by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on Friday, according to Reuters, citing a BBC report. The culprits were not named, and it is not clear if they have been identified.

It is not the first time Britain’s security service infrastructure has been compromised. In 2009, a group called Team Elite reportedly infiltrated MI5’s website to log visitors’ identity and scrape years of their browsing history. While the vulnerability was quickly fixed, London was appalled at the idea that “potentially highly-classified information” like the names of secret agents and informers embedded in criminal groups might have been available to unknown civilians.

MI5’s website was also allegedly taken offline in 2012 by hacking group Anonymous as part of an online protest against the UK government’s treatment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

READ MORE: Israeli military drone maker hacked

At the time, the publisher had been living in London’s Ecuadorian embassy for just a few months, having sought political asylum there to avoid being extradited to Sweden to face sexual assault charges that have since been dropped.

MI5 also engages in mass web surveillance and allegedly collaborated with the CIA to hack into “smart” TVs, using them to eavesdrop on their owners even when they appear to be switched off, under a classified program called Weeping Angel that was revealed in the 2017 WikiLeaks Vault 7 data dump.

https://www.rt.com/news/563823-mi5-hacked-ddos-bbc/

LIVE - Hurricane Ian Coverage With Multiple Storm Chasers - Live Weather Channel…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyhQLx6kFb8