📌 Crypto Fraud Charges, Reward Offered, More

South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon pleaded not guilty on Thursday to US criminal fraud charges.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed a nine-count indictment charging Kwon with securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. Kwon co-founded Terraform Labs and developed the TerraUSD and Luna currencies that lost around $40 billion in 2022.

The prosecutors alleged Kwon misled investors in 2021 about TerraUSD, a “stablecoin” designed to maintain a value of $1. He allegedly told investors a computer algorithm had restored the coin's value when it slipped below its peg while arranging for a high-frequency trading firm to buy millions to prop up its price.

Prosecutors said that false claim and others drove retail and institutional investors to buy Terraform products and boost the value of Luna, a more traditional token developed by Kwon that fluctuated in value but was closely linked to TerraUSD, to $50 billion by the spring of 2022.

“Much of this growth followed Kwon's brazen deceptions about Terraform and its technology,” the indictment said. TerraUSD and Luna crashed, dragging down the value of other cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, and causing wider havoc in the crypto market.

The judge ordered Kwon detained after Chesley said he would not seek bail. Kwon took a copy of the 79-page indictment with him as marshals led him out of the courtroom. He is expected back in court on Jan. 8.

Venezuelan authorities are offering $100,000 for info leading to the capture of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia.

Police published on social media a photo of the previously little-known ex-diplomat with the word “wanted” under the image. González insists he beat President Nicolás Maduro at the polls. He fled to Spain in September after Maduro claimed victory in the July election and cracked down hard on dissent.

González, 75, vowed to return to his troubled, economically distressed country to be sworn in as president on January 10 instead of Maduro, due to take the oath of office that day. Spain gave González asylum in December after Venezuela announced charges of conspiracy and racketeering against him.

Venezuela declared Maduro the winner of a third six-year term in the July vote, but the opposition cried foul, saying it has detailed polling station numbers that show González won handily. The US and the EU have recognized González as “president-elect.”

The government has resisted pressure to release vote results that prove its victory. Street protests erupted after the election and devolved into clashes with police, with 28 people dead, 200 injured, and over 2,400 arrested. Three detainees died in prison, and nearly 1,400 of those originally arrested have been released.

Maduro has overseen the country’s decline into economic ruin and has been accused of acting like a harsh leftwing dictator as he cracks down on dissent and clings to power. Only a handful of countries, including Venezuelan ally Russia, have recognized Maduro as the winner of the July election.

While Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, and Larry Ellison gained billions in 2024, Musk topped the lot with billions to spare.

By year’s end, Musk’s net worth stood at $442.1 billion, up $213 billion from the start of 2024. The gap between Musk and Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest person, reached a record $237 billion, underscoring the sheer scale of Musk’s financial dominance, reported Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

Bloomberg said the disparity is the largest recorded between the top two billionaires. Trump’s return to the White House fueled the rise in Musk’s fortune. His public and financial support for Trump’s campaign positioned him favorably within political circles and elevated investor confidence in his companies.

Beyond Musk, other tech billionaires rode the wave of market optimism. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang added $76 billion to his fortune as the company’s stock nearly tripled, driven by the ongoing AI boom. Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth surged by $81 billion, even after Meta faced significant regulatory challenges.

Crypto billionaires also reaped the benefits of Trump’s win. Bitcoin crossed the $100,000 threshold for the first time, boosting the fortunes of figures like Binance’s Changpeng Zhao and Coinbase cofounder Brian Armstrong.

However, not every billionaire thrived. French luxury magnates like Bernard Arnault and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers shed a combined $71 billion as demand for high-end goods waned. Carlos Slim and other Latin American billionaires also struggled amid currency devaluations and political shifts.

Apple has agreed to a $95 million settlement with users whose conversations were captured by its Siri voice assistant.

The proposed settlement could pay US-based Apple product owners up to $20 per device for up to five Siri-enabled devices. It still requires approval by a judge. Individual payouts will depend on how many people claim the money, so applicants could receive less than the $20 maximum.

If approved, the US-based settlement would apply to owners of a Siri-enabled iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, iMac, HomePod, iPod touch, or Apple TV. They would need to swear under oath they accidentally activated Siri during a conversation intended to be confidential or private on Sept. 17–Dec. 31, 2024.

The initial class action suit against Apple followed a 2019 report by

The Guardian

, which alleged Apple third-party contractors “regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex” while working on Siri quality control.

While Siri is supposed to be triggered by a deliberate wake word, a whistleblower said that accidental triggers were common, claiming something as simple as the sound of a zipper could wake Siri up.

Google and Amazon also use contractors that listen in on recorded conversations, including accidentally captured ones, and there’s a similar suit against Google pending.

Mexican airline Aeromexico had the world’s best record for on-time arrivals in 2024, according to an annual ranking.

Aviation data provider Cirium said in a report that nearly 87% of Aeromexico flights arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival. Saudia, the flagship carrier of Saudi Arabia, ranked second worldwide, with an on-time performance rate of just over 86%, according to Cirium.

Atlanta-based Delta achieved an on-time rate of more than 83%, good enough to rank third worldwide. The next-best U.S. carriers were United Airlines, at nearly 81%, and Alaska Airlines, at just over 79%, Cirium said.

Canada’s WestJet, Air Canada, and Denver-based budget airline Frontier finished at the bottom of the pack among US and Canadian carriers, with on-time ratings below 72%.

Cirium said the best airport for on-time departures in 2024 was King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Nearly 87% of flights departed within 15 minutes of schedule. Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru, and Mexico City’s Benito Juárez International Airport were next at over 84%.

Cirium has rated airlines for timeliness for 16 years. CEO Jeremy Bowen said 2024 was a difficult year for airlines due to severe weather patterns and the summer technology outage.

Montenegro is considering banning gun ownership after at least 12 were shot dead, including two children, in the city of Cetinje.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said the government will urgently look at all options, including a complete ban on gun ownership, at its upcoming National Security Council meeting.

Police identified the killer as 45-year-old Aco Martinović. The public prosecutor said Martinović committed suicide when police surrounded him after an hour-long manhunt.

Martinović had been drinking heavily all day when he got into an altercation at a restaurant. He went home and got a gun, returning to kill several people, said Montenegro authorities. The restaurant owner and his children, 10 and 13, were among the dead.

He then went to several other locations, shooting members of his family and other people. Police Commissioner Lazar Šćepanović said the gunman killed four people at the bar before shooting other people at three more locations.

In 2005, the gunman got a suspended sentence for violent behavior and appealed a conviction for illegal gun possession.

Researchers at New York University found successful hula hooping requires precise body geometry and movements.

“We were specifically interested in what kinds of body motions and shapes could successfully hold the hoop up and what physical requirements and restrictions are involved,” said Leif Ristroph, an associate professor at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the study’s senior author.

Using robotic experiments and mathematical modeling, researchers discovered that the host body must have both “hips” (a sloped surface) and a defined “waist” (an hourglass curve). When they tested an hourglass-shaped robot, the hoop found a stable sweet spot just below the narrowest point of the waist.

The exact form of gyration motion or body cross-section shape (circular or elliptical) is less important than having the right combination of slopes and curves.

Larger hoops are easier for beginners due to their greater radius, which helps create more stable forces, while hoop weight is less significant. Successful hooping involves ‘direct outward twirling,’ where the hoop maintains contact with the inner side of the body.

“The knowledge gained could be useful in inspiring engineering innovations, harvesting energy from vibrations, and improving robotic positioners and movers used in industrial processing and manufacturing,” said Ristroph.