The Twitter account of former US president Donald Trump, which was banned following the Capitol riot on January 6. AFP
The Twitter account of former US president Donald Trump, which was banned following the Capitol riot on January 6. AFP
The Twitter account of former US president Donald Trump, which was banned following the Capitol riot on January 6. AFP
The Twitter account of former US president Donald Trump, which was banned following the Capitol riot on January 6. AFP

Trump announces new social media platform called 'Truth Social'


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Former US president Donald Trump said on Wednesday he is launching a new social app called “Truth Social” after he was kicked off multiple networks including Twitter and Facebook.

The new enterprise will be in operation by the first quarter of 2022, a press release from the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) said. If all goes to plan, it will be up and running well before the midterm elections in November next year.

Within hours of Mr Trump's announcement, however, US media reported that hackers had hijacked the nascent site, briefly commandeering the “donaldjtrump” and “mikepence” handles.

It is Mr Trump's most concrete step in returning to social media following his permanent ban from Twitter and Snapchat and an indefinite lockout of his accounts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitch.

“I created Truth Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech,” Mr Trump said in a press release.

“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favourite American president has been silenced. This is unacceptable.”

Mr Trump was banned or suspended from the main social media platforms following the January 6 insurrection after he encouraged a mob that stormed the Capitol building, at one point telling the “great patriots” to “go home with love".

The press release said TMTG would be publicly traded through a merger with another firm called Digital World Acquisition Corp.

The company said it has also proposed a subscription video on-demand service with “non-woke” programming, news, podcasts and more, the release said.

Digital World Acquisition shares jumped 49 per cent in US premarket trading on Thursday, having doubled earlier.

The Truth Social app is already listed for pre-order on the Apple Store and invited guests will be allowed to join as early as November, the press release said. A national roll-out will take place in 2022.

The app launch does not come as a surprise, as Mr Trump has long sought a return to the internet, including through suing the major platforms.

His frequent and incendiary social posts caught the attention of global media and drove news cycle after news cycle.

In May, he launched a blog called “From the Desk of Donald J Trump”, which was touted as a major new outlet, but he cancelled it a month later.

Former Trump aide Jason Miller launched a social network called Gettr this year, but the former president has not yet joined it.

Mr Trump is widely believed to be planning a run for president again in 2024.

Agencies contributed to this report

WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

Gothia Cup 2025

4,872 matches 

1,942 teams

116 pitches

76 nations

26 UAE teams

15 Lebanese teams

2 Kuwaiti teams

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D 
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India

Profile

Co-founders of the company: Vilhelm Hedberg and Ravi Bhusari

Launch year: In 2016 ekar launched and signed an agreement with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. In January 2017 ekar launched in Dubai in a partnership with the RTA.

Number of employees: Over 50

Financing stage: Series B currently being finalised

Investors: Series A - Audacia Capital 

Sector of operation: Transport

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

How to help

Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:

2289 - Dh10

2252 - Dh50

6025 - Dh20

6027 - Dh100

6026 - Dh200

SPECS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Tomato and walnut salad

A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.

Badrijani nigvzit

A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.

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Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.

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match info

Chelsea 2
Willian (13'), Ross Barkley (64')

Liverpool 0

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the most popular virtual currency in the world. It was created in 2009 as a new way of paying for things that would not be subject to central banks that are capable of devaluing currency. A Bitcoin itself is essentially a line of computer code. It's signed digitally when it goes from one owner to another. There are sustainability concerns around the cryptocurrency, which stem from the process of "mining" that is central to its existence.

The "miners" use computers to make complex calculations that verify transactions in Bitcoin. This uses a tremendous amount of energy via computers and server farms all over the world, which has given rise to concerns about the amount of fossil fuel-dependent electricity used to power the computers. 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Updated: April 02, 2022, 6:11 PM`