Twitter boss Elon Musk has announced a shake-up of the social media platform’s paid Twitter Blue feature. From 15 April only verified subscribers will have posts recommended to other users and be allowed to vote in polls. Under the policy, posts from non-paying accounts will not be included in the “For you” stream of recommended tweets. Last week, the firm said it would remove the verified status of some “legacy” accounts, which date from before Mr Musk bought the firm. Users currently pay $7 (£5.70) a month for blue-tick verification, which also allows access to additional features. Mr Musk said the changes were “the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.” “Voting in polls will require verification for same reason,” he added. In an earlier post, Mr Musk said paid verification significantly increases the cost of using bots and makes it easier to identify them.(BBC)…[+]

Two women have been stabbed to death at a Muslim religious centre in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, police say. The attack took place at the Ismaili Centre on Avenida Lusíada. The suspect, who was in possession of a large knife, was shot in the leg by police. He was then detained and has been taken to hospital. The motive for the attack is not yet clear. Police said they received a call at about 11:00 local time after the suspect entered the centre. Officers asked the suspect to stop the attack, but he disobeyed and was shot. Speaking to SIC Notícias, the leader of the Ismaili community Nazim Ahmad said the attacker was Afghan and the two victims were Portuguese women. A statement on the Ismaili website said the community was “shocked and saddened by this incident and is providing support to the families of the victims”. “The perimeter of the building has been secured and the Ismaili community is co-operating fully with a police investigation,” it read. Prime Minister Antonio Costa said it appeared to be “an isolated act” and discussing a possible motive was “premature”.(BBC)…[+]

An Australian man armed with a budget metal detector has hit the jackpot, finding a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth A$240,000 (£130,000; $160,000). The man, who doesn’t want to be named, made the discovery in Victoria’s goldfields – which were the heart of Australia’s gold rush in the 1800s. Darren Kamp, who valued and bought the specimen, said it is the biggest he’s seen in his 43-year career. “I was just gobsmacked… It’s a once in a lifetime find,” he told the BBC. Mr Kamp hadn’t thought too much of it when a man wearing a large backpack walked into his prospecting store in Geelong, about an hour south-west of Melbourne. Normally people come in with fools gold or other rocks that look like gold, Mr Kamp says. But he pulled this rock out and as he dropped it into my hand he said, ‘Do you think there’s A$10,000 worth in it?'” “I looked at him and said, ‘Try A$100,000’.”  The man then proceeded to tell him the rock in Mr Kamp’s hand was only half the find. All up, the 4.6kg rock contained 83 ounces – or about 2.6kg – of gold.(BBC)…[+]

Prosecutors in Osaka have indicted a man for murdering a female acquaintance with thallium, which was used as rat poison. Kazuki Miyamoto, 37, is accused of killing 21-year-old university student Hinako Hamano last October by lacing her drink with thallium. Thallium was also recently found in his female relative, who has been in a coma since 2020, local media reported citing sources. Just 1g of it could kill an adult. But police have not found a motive, nor how he had laid hands on the poison. The suspect was arrested on 3 March in Kyoto. Thallium is a soft metal which dissolves in water and has no taste or smell- making it hard to detect outside a laboratory setting. Mr Miyamoto, a real estate agent, is believed to have administered thallium to Ms Hamano sometime around 11 and 12 October when he visited her flat in Kyoto. He had told police the two were dining out on the night of 11 October before heading to Ms Hamano’s home for drinks, the Japan Times said, citing investigators.

According to Mr Miyamoto, Ms Hamano experienced severe coughing fits. He then contacted her family, who took her to a hospital the next day. Hamano died on 15 October of severe respiratory failure – thallium was found in her vomit and urine, the Asahi Shimbun reported. (BBC)…[+]