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Top Rank has progressed, yet ESPN classics from 45 years ago persist

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Top Rank has progressed, yet ESPN classics from 45 years ago persist

ON Thursday, October 30th, Top Rank offered a show free to US viewers on the promoter’s streaming channel, Top Rank Classics. This has reminded me that it’s now three months since Top Rank’s streaming deal with ESPN came to an end.

ESPN’s Top Rank broadcasts started in 1980. It seemed to many of us that the Top Rank/ESPN partnership would never end. But it did. Now we are left with the memories. Here are some of mine — 10 fights from the many that have been watched over the years.

Roger Stafford WON PTS 10 Pipino Cuevas
Hacienda Hotel, Las Vegas, November 7, 1981

Mexico’s heavy-handed Cuevas, the former WBA welterweight champion, was pencilled in to fight Sugar Ray Leonard. Philadelphia’s Stafford tore up the script, winning an upset unanimous 10-round decision.

Stafford, a smart boxer with a 17-2-1 record, floored Cuevas in the second round. Cuevas got up, survived, and came back to pound Stafford with big left hooks in the fourth. Stafford got through the round and Cuevas seemed to punch himself out.

It was all Stafford in the later rounds. Cuevas was cut over the left eye and Stafford was outboxing him and landing clean shots. He had Cuevas hurt and almost out on his feet in the last round.

Donald Curry WON PTS 15 Hwang Jun-suk
Fort Worth, Texas, February 13, 1983

Curry had to get off the canvas to win this battle between undefeated fighters for the vacant WBA welter title. Hwang, crude but strong, dropped Curry to one knee with a right hand in the seventh round.

Curry was up quickly and came back to dominate proceedings, bloodying the South Korean slugger’s nose with his sharp jabs. The hometown crowd roared Curry on, but the shorter, stockier Hwang kept swinging.

By the later rounds, Hwang’s white trunks took on a crimson hue as blood flowed from his nose, but he was game and defiant to the end. This was Curry’s 16th win in a row and he seemed destined for greatness. But, although he later unified the welter title by knocking out WBC champion Milton McCrory in two rounds, one had the feeling that Curry never quite fulfilled his potential.

Tyrone Crawley WON PTS 10 Robin Blake
Levelland, Texas, October 8, 1983

Top Rank was building up Blake as a future star. And the tall, rangy, southpaw with clean-cut good looks seemed well on his way to a lightweight title shot when he faced Philadelphia’s Crawley.

It was a Saturday night hometown fight in Levelland for the undefeated Blake (22-0, 16 KOs) and he was heavily favoured. But the slick, speedy ‘Butterfly’ Crawley outboxed and outsmarted the hometown fighter.

The packed crowd of 5,000 “watched in stunned silence”, as I reported for Boxing News, Blake was considered the puncher in the fight. Crawley had stopped only three opponents in his 13-1 record. But when Crawley staggered Blake with a right hand in the third round, you knew that ‘Rockin’ Robin’ was in for a rocky night.

Crawley switched between the orthodox and southpaw stances and had Blake missing and looking bewildered. Blake, only 21, was in over his head. Crawley won a deserved unanimous decision, although one of the Texas judges had this just a one-point fight.

Terrence Alli w 12 John Meekins
Trump Castle, Atlantic City, January 20, 1991

Alli, born in Guyana but Brooklyn-based, was an ESPN regular. One of his finest wins was his unanimous 12-round decision over talented John Meekins on an ESPN Sunday show.

Meekins, who was also an ESPN staple, was defending the NABF 140lbs title. (Ringside analyst Al Bernstein referred to Alli and Meekins as the “poster boys” of ESPN boxing.)

Alli was fast and sharp, pumping the jab, bothering Meekins with his speedy movement and at times almost leaping in with his punches.

Every so often, Alli landed the right hand, but his jab basically won him the fight. Meekins landed good body punches, but Bernstein commented that Alli was “using his left hand like a surgeon”.

Tommy Morrison KO 2 Art Tucker
Harrah’s Marina casino, Atlantic City, May 14, 1992

Heavyweight big-hitter Morrison was fighting his way back after his loss to Ray Mercer seven months earlier. Tucker, a 40-year-old, 6ft 6ins ex-convict from Newark, New Jersey, had a respectable record (20-3-1, 15 KOs), but didn’t take a punch too well.

There was a “matter of time” feel about this match-up. But the scheduled 10-rounder was lively while it lasted.

Tucker landed a couple of right hands and also a right uppercut in the opening round, but Morrison blasted him into the ropes with a left hook.

It was all over in the second. A left hook had Tucker squatting on the ropes and referee Rudy Battle gave him an eight count — and almost immediately after the “box on” signal, a left hook closed the show after 72 seconds of the round.

Roger Mayweather DQ 5 Livingstone Bramble
The Aladdin, Las Vegas, March 14, 1993

Mayweather winning by DQ against Bramble in a clash of ex-champs was an unsatisfactory finish — this really should have been a TKO win for the ‘Black Mamba’.

Bramble was competitive for two rounds in the scheduled 10-round super-lightweight contest, but then Mayweather got his timing locked in and dominated with an unerring jab and sharp shots.

Mayweather dropped Bramble with a right hand in the fourth. Now Bramble was cut and swollen over the right eye and had blood inside his mouth.

It was more target practice for Mayweather in the fifth and Bramble’s trainer, Janks Morton, got up on the ring apron to tell referee Joe Cortez he wanted the fight to be stopped.

Cortez, however, felt that Morton had contravened the rules by entering the ring-apron area, and the result went into the records as a disqualification instead of a TKO.

James Toney TKO 7 Anthony Hembrick
Fernwood Resort, Bushkill, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1994

Toney was one of the many outstanding fighters showcased on ESPN. The IBF champion at 168lbs, Toney was stepping up to light-heavy for the bout with Hembrick.

This was seen as a good test for Toney, as Hembrick had twice challenged for the light-heavy title. Toney, however, took apart his fellow Michigander and made it look easy.

Toney countered beautifully when backed up on the ropes, bloodied Hembrick’s nose and seemed able to hit and hurt his man whenever he pleased. He dropped Hembrick in the third round and again in the sixth; Hembrick’s corner threw in the towel in the seventh.

Kevin Kelley TKO 9 Ricardo Rivera
Mountaineer Race Track, Chester, West Virginia, March 31, 1995

This was one of those fights where the overwhelming favourite found himself in a life-and-death struggle.

Kelley was having his first bout after losing the WBC featherweight title to Alejandro Gonzalez in a war. Rivera, a lanky, shaven-skulled Puerto Rican boxer, didn’t have anything like Kelley’s experience, but he almost won.

Rivera knocked Kelley down with a right hand in the second round. By the fourth, Kelley’s nose was bloody and his left eye was swollen and closing. The sixth round saw Kelley on the brink of being stopped.

Rivera hammered him on the ropes and the referee issued a standing eight-count. But Kelley started to fight his way back in the seventh, rocking Rivera with a left hand from his southpaw stance.

“If he knocks out Ricardo Rivera, this will be the most dramatic comeback within a fight I’ve ever seen,” Al Bernstein remarked. And Kelley did it! He dropped his tormentor with a big left hand in the ninth round and the fight was stopped, with Rivera on his feet but out of it.

Erik Morales TKO 11 Rudy Bradley
Arizona Charlie’s, Las Vegas, February 25, 1996

Morales was a 19-year-old star on the rise (20-0, 16 KOs) when he was matched with Phoenix southpaw Bradley in a scheduled 12-rounder for the NABF super-bantamweight title, which the Mexican fighter was defending.

Morales looked much bigger than Bradley, who produced some crafty moves but was remorselessly worn down. At long range, Morales’ right hand jolted back Bradley’s head. Bradley, 28, tried to crowd Morales to the ropes but even then he was getting the worst of it.

Bradley was cut over the left eye and wilting when referee Richard Steele called a halt.

Floyd Mayweather Jr WON PTS 10 Tony Pep
Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, June 14, 1998

Mayweather boxed beautifully against the long and lanky Canadian boxer, winning every round on two judges’ cards, while the third judge found a round to give to Pep (real name Pipke).

It was Mayweather’s 17th win in a row and Pretty Boy (as he was then known) treated the bout like a gym session: “I hit you, you miss me.”

Pep stuck with it but had a bewildered look, telling his corner after the seventh round: “I can’t hit this guy.”

Truck with Hydrogen Fuel Cell by SEMA

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Truck with Hydrogen Fuel Cell by SEMA

Toyota has unveiled the Tacoma H2-Overlander Concept at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas. The concept filters water, charges EVs, and is built on the TNGA-F truck platform.

The vehicle incorporates a 15-kW power takeoff for keeping the campsite electrified or for charging batteries. Two NEMA 14-50 outlets allow the truck to charge up to two vehicles at a time.

Design work for the truck was by Toyota’s Racing Development teams in California and North Carolina, as well as Toyota North America R&D. The aim is to show the potential for hydrogen fuel cells and where they can go.

The Tacoma H2-Overlander itself features 547 horsepower (402 kW) of output from two motors, one for each axle. This includes a 225-kW front motor and a 188-kW eAxle at the rear. A 24.9-kWh lithium-ion battery pack stores energy on-board from the fuel cells.

Onboard hydrogen and a battery pack provide power for camp accessories

Toyota

The truck rides on 17 x 8.5-inch wheels mounted with 35 x 12.5R17 off-road tires. Those are linked to Fox 2.5 Performance Elite Series shocks and stopped by front brakes taken from the larger Tundra.

“We wanted to keep that theme of TRD’s off-road heritage and desert racing while incorporating cutting-edge powertrain technologies,” said Craig Cauthen, manager of TRD’s Emerging Technologies Group. “This vehicle showcases the ability of the TRD team that goes beyond just what we can do on the racetrack.”

This hydrogen fuel cell concept is a follow-up to Toyota’s work with mobile hydrogen fuel cell generators, which have been replacing diesel generators at race events. The idea here is that the vehicle itself can act as a generator.

The exhaust, which is pure water, is captured, filtered, and stored for use. Toyota says the water isn’t potable, but is useful for washing, showering, etc.

Much of the exterior of the truck was made in-house with developments from the TRD team. The roboformed tailgate, the overlanding camper made from recycled carbon fiber aero panels, and off-road bumpers are custom designed. Tiedowns and a recovery board storage system as well as DOT-compliant specialized lighting (light bars, fog lamps, camp lighting) were also added.

“The Tacoma H2-Overlander Concept embodies Toyota’s multi-pathway approach to carbon neutrality – showing that there’s more than one road to a cleaner future,” said Mike Tripp, group vice president, Toyota Marketing.

A custom-made rooftop tent, built from recycled carbon fiber, and other in-house designs are featured on the Tacoma H2-Overlanding Concept
A custom-made rooftop tent, built from recycled carbon fiber, and other in-house designs are featured on the Tacoma H2-Overlanding Concept

Toyota

The Tacoma H2-Overlander Concept is on display at SEMA 2025 in Las Vegas from November 4th to 7th.

Source: Toyota

Ferrari Launches Crypto Token for Wealthy Fans to Participate in 499P Auction

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Ferrari Launches Crypto Token for Wealthy Fans to Participate in 499P Auction

How is Ferrari appealing to rich, young techies? Through a new crypto token, of course. Ferrari’s wealthiest fans will now be able to use the new digital asset to be able to bid on a Ferrari 499P, the car that won three straight Le Mans titles, Reuters reports. 

The Italian fintech Conio will collaborate with the car maker to launch the ‘Token Ferrari 499P.’ Those who have the token will be a part of the Hyperclub, reserved for 100 of its most elite clients, who can trade with each other and bid on the racing model.  

Ferrari did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Ferrari, which is releasing its first ever fully-electric vehicle, is no stranger to the world of crypto. In 2023, it began accepting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum as payment for its vehicles. 

Luxury cars and crypto have historically gone hand in hand–or in this case, foot on gas pedal. In 2018, a popular meme emerged called “When Lambo,” referring to the point at which a Bitcoin millionaire could sell enough cryptocurrency to buy a $425,000 Lamborghini. There are even websites that calculate how many Bitcoins you would need to buy the luxury car. 

The number of people in the crypto sector who can afford luxury cars has only gone up as the industry enjoys an unprecedented bull market driven in part by support from the Trump administration. In the last year, the price of Bitcoin has more than doubled from about $60,000 last October to its high of about $125,000 last month. 

Ferrari is hardly the only big name company to pursue crypto-based marketing strategies in recent years—though earlier efforts have come with mixed results. In 2022, Starbucks released an NFT but shuttered the program 18 months later. Another example of crypto’s foray into popular culture is when FTX took over the naming rights of the Miami Heat’s home arena. When the crypto exchange infamously collapsed in late 2022, so did the naming rights deal a few months later. 

While previous partnerships between big brands and crypto have stumbled, Ferrari sees its latest crypto venture as a way to bring in a loyal customer base. 

“This is about strengthening the sense of belonging among our most loyal customers,” chief marketing and commercial officer Enrico Galliera told Reuters.

On the new Fortune Crypto Playbook vodcast, Fortune’s senior crypto experts decode the biggest forces shaping crypto today. Watch or listen now

Survivors of el-Fasher horror shed new light as they arrive in Sudan’s Tawila | Latest update on Sudan’s war

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Survivors of el-Fasher horror shed new light as they arrive in Sudan’s Tawila | Latest update on Sudan’s war

Streets littered with corpses, families separated by violence and survivors travelling for days without food or water. These are the accounts emerging from people who have fled the western Sudanese city of el-Fasher after it fell to paramilitary forces a week ago following an asphyxiating 18-month siege.

Fatima Yahya has arrived in Tawila, a town west of el-Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur State that is controlled by a neutral force in the conflict. She was still traumatised from the three days she went hungry before finally escaping. Her husband and uncle are missing. The memories of what happened in el-Fasher were difficult for her to put into words.

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“The dead bodies were everywhere – in the streets, inside houses and at the gates of many houses,” Yahya told Al Jazeera. “Wherever you are in el-Fasher, you will see dead bodies scattered.”

Her testimony is one of several accounts from people who fled North Darfur’s capital after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting Sudan’s regular army, captured the city on October 26. The RSF’s takeover gave the group control of the last major city in Darfur to have been held by the Sudanese armed forces (SAF), solidifying its grip across the vast western region.

Since the fall of el-Fasher, a city that was home to more than 1 million people before the war, reports have mounted of mass executions, sexual violence and widespread looting.

Satellite imagery analysed by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab has identified at least 31 locations where objects consistent with human bodies have appeared since the city’s capture, accompanied by what researchers describe as reddish ground discolouration.

Families separated in the chaos

For those who fled, injuries from the initial fighting made their journey even more gruelling. Farhat Said left el-Fasher with her daughter despite both suffering injuries in artillery fire before the RSF’s final assault on the city. Her husband, who had suffered a severe hip fracture as a result of the bombardment, she said, had to be left behind.

“We had to stay for six to seven months under siege and the shelling and bombardment,” she told Al Jazeera. “It was difficult to move him at all,” she added.

“When the fighting was too much and the shelling was unbearable, my son, who is 11 years old, asked me to run away from home to save our lives,” she said. Her son stayed behind with his father – the couple feared that even though he is a child, as a male, it would be too dangerous for him to cross RSF lines.

The two-day journey on foot, which would have been impossible for Said’s husband, involved “walking and even running under the heavy shelling out of el-Fasher” and brought them through RSF checkpoints. The mother and daughter arrived in Tawila, roughly 65km (40 miles) west of el-Fasher, without money or possessions. Her daughter still requires medical treatment for her injuries, Said told Al Jazeera.

Khadiga Abdalla, 46, experienced similar trauma. She lost her husband to the RSF bombardment a year ago and was herself wounded. The siege conditions had forced residents to survive on whatever they could find.

“We did not get our usual food, the sorghum, for six months,” she told Al Jazeera. Abdalla said she was forced to eat ambaz, a residue left over from pressed oilseeds that are normally fed to livestock because there was no other food available in el-Fasher.

After three days on the road without eating, Abdalla reached Tawila with her two children. One was immediately admitted to hospital, suffering from severe psychological trauma after witnessing the violence. Her brother’s children remain unaccounted for while an uncle was killed in the shelling.

These accounts align with wider evidence of systematic violence. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that at least 460 patients were killed in RSF attacks on the Saudi maternity hospital in el-Fasher. Health workers were also taken during the initial assault, according to WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.

Those reaching safety face severe health challenges. Medical teams from Doctors Without Borders working in Tawila have screened arriving children and said malnutrition was affecting all those under the age of five.

Survivors bear physical evidence of their ordeal, including torture and bullet wounds from their escapes and digestive problems caused by months of eating food meant for livestock.

Far fewer arrivals than expected

The International Organization for Migration estimated that more than 70,000 people have been displaced from el-Fasher and the surrounding areas since October 26. However, humanitarian workers in Tawila, which already shelters more than 652,000 displaced people, reported that the arrivals there have been far smaller than el-Fasher’s population would suggest.

Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab noted that unlike previous RSF takeovers across Darfur, such as the assault on the Zamzam displacement camp in April, there were no visible signs of a mass exodus from el-Fasher in recent imagery.

When Zamzam’s estimated 500,000 inhabitants fled, researchers were able to identify hundreds of people and donkey carts on roads heading away from the camp. But with el-Fasher, “The majority of civilians are dead, captured or in hiding,” the Yale researchers concluded.

International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric described the situation as “horrific” and warned that tens of thousands of people may be trapped without access to food, water or medical assistance.

International calls for accountability

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday joined growing international condemnation of the death and destruction in el-Fasher, denouncing “indiscriminate violence against women and children, attacks on unarmed civilians and serious obstacles to humanitarian action”.

He called for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors.

United States senators from both parties have demanded stronger action. Republican Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for the RSF to be formally designated as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, describing the violence as intentional rather than accidental.

The RSF announced it has arrested several fighters, including a commander named Abu Lulu, who appeared in videos of executions verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency.

For survivors like Yahya, Said and Abdalla, now in overcrowded displacement camps with minimal support, questions about accountability feel distant.

Activists at the Tawila camp told Al Jazeera that the sudden surge in arrivals has meant aid workers have found it difficult to shelter people and provide them with other essential supplies.

“We pray to God to help us,” Said said, speaking for thousands who made the same desperate journey out of el-Fasher.

K-pop Superfan Platform bemyfriends Acquires Majority Stake in Dreamus Music Streaming Operator for $38.5m, Emerging as a Strong Competitor to Weverse

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K-pop Superfan Platform bemyfriends Acquires Majority Stake in Dreamus Music Streaming Operator for $38.5m, Emerging as a Strong Competitor to Weverse

bemyfriends, a startup operating fandom platforms for K-pop fans and other communities, agreed to acquire a majority stake in Dreamus, the SK Group unit behind music streaming service FLO and consumer electronics brand iRiver, for 55 billion South Korean won (approximately $38.5 million).

Seoul-listed Dreamus disclosed in filings with South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Friday (October 31) that bemyfriends will acquire 23.2 million shares in the company at 2,368 won ($1.66) apiece, representing a 41.7% premium to the target company’s closing price before the announcement.

Shares of Dreamus closed 3% lower on Monday (November 3) to the lowest level since April.

Dreamus said bemyfriends will collectively buy the shares, which account for a 31.35% stake in the company, from SK Group (17.3%), Neospace (8.6%) and SM Entertainment (5.5%).

The transaction is expected to close on November 28, following the receipt of the remaining 53.9 billion won ($37.7m) payment from the buyer. Dreamus noted in its FSS filing that once the transaction closes, it expects to receive resignation letters from certain executives. A general shareholders’ meeting is expected to take place “as soon as possible after the closing date“ to appoint new executives designated by bemyfriends.

Following the deal, Neospace’s stake in Dreamus will reduce to 9.91%, while SM Entertainment will continue to hold a 7.05% stake. SK Group will also retain a 22.17% ownership in the busines, while bemyfriends will be the largest shareholder with a 31.35% stake.

Established in January 2021, bemyfriends runs b.stage, a platform that allows fans of K-pop groups, esports teams, musicals, and other entertainment content to build online fan communities.  It operates the official fan community for the Netflix hit film K-Pop Demon Hunters and other acts like G-Dragon and EXO’s Do Kyung-soo.

The startup says it now operates over 300 fan platforms, positioning it as a competitor to Weverse, the superfan platform operated by HYBE, the K-pop agency behind BTS. Notably, bemyfriends’ Co-Founder and CEO Woo-seok “Steve” Seo previously worked at HYBE.

In his Forbes profile, Seo noted that prior to founding bemyfriends, he led the development of Weverse at HYBE.

Writing on LinkedIn last month, Seo described the K-Pop Demon Hunters fan community project as “close to my heart because it shows how far we’ve come in reimagining what fandom can be.”

“I have dreamed of this era since the days when I started the very first global K-pop community, Weverse. It was also the reason I decided to leave HYBE and take on a new challenge.”

Seo holds a 25.1% stake in privately held bemyfriends, according to a Dreamus filing.

In a separate announcement on Friday, bemyfriends said the acquisition of a controlling stake in Dreamus comes as the company plans to expand “beyond fandom platforms to include music streaming, music distribution, and concert infrastructure.” Notably, Weverse in March launched an in-app music streaming service called ‘Listening Party’. This service, which integrates Spotify as its primary streaming partner, allows artists and fans host “online parties” within the app where they can listen to curated playlists together, and chat in real time.

Meanwhile, bemyfriends said that through the Dreamus deal, it has “completed the fandom business value chain across the entire music and adjacent industries” covering music streaming, music distribution, fan platforms, membership and commerce operations, live communication and concert infrastructure.

The company says it now plans to build new services allowing one-stop access from music listening to fan communication, merchandise purchases, and concert bookings by integrating b.stage’s core features.

bemyfriends said it has posted growth rates exceeding 300% YoY for two straight years and surpassed break-even point as of September.

The Dreamus investment comes over a week after bemyfriends said it secured 21 billion won ($14.7m) in investment from Silicon Valley-based Goodwater Capital, an early investor in Korean unicorns Toss, Daangn Market, Coupang, and Kakao. bemyfriends said the investment marks Goodwater’s first in an entertainment-tech company in Korea.

A Goodwater Capital representative said: “b.stage’s unique B2B fandom business model, which is applicable to various industries and provides complete flexibility to IPs with a B2B business strategy similar to Shopify, has great market potential that goes beyond traditional B2C fandom platforms.”

Two months prior to the Goodwater investment, bemyfriends also received a strategic investment from Japan’s Mitsubishi-affiliated BRICKS FUND TOKYO.

Investments in bemyfriends come as analysts paint a rosy picture of the superfan market. In its Music in the Air report published in June, Goldman Sachs identifies superfan monetization as a significant opportunity for the music industry, estimating a potential annual revenue uplift of $4.3 billion based on 2026 projections.

The analysis assumes that 20% of paid streaming subscribers can be defined as superfans and that these users would spend twice as much as average subscribers, based on Luminate‘s finding that 20% of US music listeners are considered superfans.

HYBE rival SM Entertainment, which still owns 7.05% of Dreamus following the bemyfriends stake sale, has also invested in fan platform operator DearU Co. In April, SM bought an additional 11.42% stake in DearU for 135.6 billion won ($95m), raising its ownership to 45.1%.

Established in July 2017 as Everysing, DearU operates Bubble, a subscription-based platform where fans pay a monthly fee of about KRW 4,500 to exchange private messages with K-pop artists and watch artists’ livestreams. Bubble, launched in February 2020, reportedly had around 2.3 million subscribers as of the second half of 2023.

HYBE’s Weverse, the most dominant fan platform in South Korea, averaged 10.9 million monthly active users in Q2, peaking at 12 million following the June return of all BTS members from military service. The platform’s revenue increased 41% quarter-on-quarter in Q2, HYBE said in its quarterly report in August, without disclosing the actual figure.

Weverse helped push revenue for HYBE’s “artist-indirect” segment up by 19% YoY in Q2 to 257.8 billion won ($180m).

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Former top lawyer of Israeli military arrested for leaking video allegedly depicting abuse of Palestinian detainee

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Former top lawyer of Israeli military arrested for leaking video allegedly depicting abuse of Palestinian detainee

Sebastian UsherMiddle East analyst, Jerusalem

IDF Israel Defense Forces (IDF) handout photo showing its former Military Advocate General Major General Yifat Tomer-YerushalmiIDF

Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned on Friday, admitting her role in leaking the video

The former top lawyer in the Israeli military has been arrested, as a political showdown deepens over the leaking of a video that allegedly shows severe abuse of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli soldiers.

Maj Gen Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned as the Military Advocate General of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) last week, saying that she took full responsibility for the leak.

On Sunday, the story took a darker turn when she was reported as missing, with police mounting an hours-long search for her on a beach north of Tel Aviv.

She was subsequently found alive and well, police said, but was then taken into custody.

The fallout from the leaked video is intensifying by the day.

Broadcast in August 2024 on an Israeli news channel, the footage shows reserve soldiers at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel taking aside a detainee, then surrounding him with riot shields to block visibility while he was allegedly beaten and stabbed in the rectum with a sharp object.

The detainee was subsequently treated for severe injuries.

Five reservists were subsequently charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm to the detainee. They have denied the charges and have not been named.

On Sunday, four of the reservists wore black balaclavas to hide their faces as they appeared at a news conference outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem along with their lawyers, who demanded the dismissal of their trial.

Adi Keidar, a lawyer from the right-wing legal aid organisation Honenu, claimed his clients were subject to “to a faulty, biased and completely cooked-up legal process”.

Anadolu via Getty Images File photo showing the entrance to Sde Teiman military base in the Negev desert, southern Israel (10 January 2025) Anadolu via Getty Images

The leaked surveillance video was filmed at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel

On Monday, it emerged the detainee at the centre of the case was released to Gaza in October as part of an exchange with Hamas of convicted prisoners and detainees held without charge by Israel for hostages held by Hamas since 7 October 2023.

Last week, a criminal investigation was launched into the leaking of the video.

Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi was put on leave while the inquiry took place.

On Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said she would not be allowed to return to her post.

Shortly after that, Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned.

In her resignation letter, she said she took full responsibility for any material that was released to the media from the unit.

“I approved the release of material to the media in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army’s law enforcement authorities,” she said.

That is a reference to efforts by some right-wing political figures in Israel to claim that the allegations of severe abuse of the Palestinian detainee had been fabricated.

She added: “It is our duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of acts of violence against a detainee.”

After her resignation, Katz issued a fierce condemnation of her conduct.

“Anyone who spreads blood libels against IDF troops is unfit to wear the army’s uniform,” he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed his defence minister’s words on Sunday, saying that the incident at Sde Teiman was “perhaps the most severe public relations attack that the State of Israel has experienced since its establishment”.

Hours later, the first reports began appearing in the Israeli media that Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi was missing, sparking fears that a political scandal had taken a turn towards tragedy.

A massive search effort was launched. Several hours later, she was found “safe and in good health” in the coastal area of Herzliya, Israeli police said.

Overnight, a police spokesperson announced that two people had been arrested on suspicion of “leaking and other serious criminal offences” as part of an investigation.

Israeli media reported that the pair were Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi and the former chief military prosecutor, Col Matan Solomosh.

Reuters Israeli security forces search for Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi after the former Military Advocate General of the Israel Defense Forces went missing in the coastal Herzliya area of Israel (2 November 2025)Reuters

Israeli forces mounted an hours-long search for Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi when she went missing on Sunday

The Sde Teiman incident has been a lightning rod for the division between the left and right in Israel.

On the right, the leaking of the video is denounced as a defamation of the Israeli military, all but amounting to an act of treason.

After Israeli military police went to Sde Teiman to question 11 reservists over the incident in July 2024, far-right protesters – including at least three lawmakers from Netanyahu’s governing coalition – broke into the facility to show their support.

On the left, Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi’s decision to enable the footage to be released is seen as the one time she lived up to the responsibilities of her post.

The video is regarded by the left as concrete evidence backing up multiple reports of abuse of Palestinian detainees since the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.

Last October, a report by a UN commission of inquiry alleged that thousands of child and adult detainees from Gaza had been “subjected to widespread and systematic abuse, physical and psychological violence, and sexual and gender-based violence amounting to the war crime and crime against humanity of torture and the war crime of rape and other forms of sexual violence”.

Israel’s government said it rejected the accusations of widespread ill-treatment and torture of detainees, and insisted that it was “fully committed to international legal standards”. It also said it had carried out thorough investigations into every complaint.

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Devastating Earthquake in Afghanistan Causes Severe Damage to Historic Blue Mosque

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Devastating Earthquake in Afghanistan Causes Severe Damage to Historic Blue Mosque

new video loaded: Deadly Quake in Afghanistan Damages Magnificent Blue Mosque

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck northern Afghanistan, killing at least 15 people and injuring hundreds of others. The quake damaged one of the country’s most iconic landmarks, the 15th-century Blue Mosque.

By Monika Cvorak

November 3, 2025

Goldman’s Conviction List: 3 EU Stocks Directors Should Consider

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3 EU stocks added to Goldman's Conviction List: Directors' Cut

Day of the Dead festivities globally | Religious News

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Day of the Dead festivities globally | Religious News

Published On 3 Nov 2025

People around the world have been celebrating the Day of the Dead, bringing light and colour to streets and cemeteries.

The holiday blends pre-Colombian rituals with the Roman Catholic observance of All Saints’ Day on November 1 and All Souls’ Day on November 2.

The Day of the Dead, or El Dia de los Muertos, is not for mourning or grieving, but for celebrating the lives of those who have passed.

It is believed to be a time when the living and the dead can connect.

Traditional practices are performed, such as placing marigold flowers on altars and offering certain food items, the aroma and colour of which are thought to help spirits return to visit the living.

To commemorate the dead, people also dress up in colourful skeleton costumes.

The holiday is especially popular in Mexico, but is also observed in other countries, including the United States and Germany.

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