Donald Trump is suing two co-founders of the parent company of his Truth Social platform, saying their mistakes cost him money and they should be stripped of their shares as the company goes public.

The former U.S. president’s lawsuit, which was filed on March 24 in Florida state court, follows a complaint filed in February by those co-founders, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss. 

Their lawsuit sought to prevent Trump from taking steps the two said would sharply reduce their combined 8.6 percent stake in Trump Media. 

The pair filed their lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Trump’s lawsuit claims that Litinsky and Moss, who were both contestants on Trump’s reality-TV show ‘The Apprentice,’ mishandled an attempt to take Trump Media public several years ago, allegedly putting the whole project ‘on ice’ for more than a year and a half.

Donald Trump is suing two co-founders of the parent company of his Truth Social platform, saying their mistakes cost him money and they should be stripped of their shares as the company goes public

But it also targets the pair over their own Delaware suit against Trump, saying that it was one of several attempts they made to block Trump Media’s ultimately successful plan to go public. 

Trump Media accomplished that goal by merging with a publicly traded shell company called Digital World Acquisition in March.

Company shares have fluctuated wildly since its stock market debut. On Tuesday, the stock closed at $51.60, up 6 percent, valuing the entire company at $5.9 billion. 

The co-founders accused Trump Media of trying to improperly dilute their stake, while the company said they had failed to earn their shares and that it wants to strip them of their ownership.

Andy Litinsky believed that he was sacked from the board because he didn’t want to give over his equity – and also claimed Trump said ‘multiple times’ that he will ‘blow up the company’ if his demands weren’t met. 

Litinsky, the co-founder of Trump Media & Technology Group, sent an e-mail in March making the accusation, according to whistleblower Will Wilkerson. 

Wilkerson was in charge of the company responsible for the Trump-themed social media platform Truth Social. 

He was one of the first to go to work for TMTG – but fell out with the company after filing a whistleblower complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2022, according to the Washington Post. 

Trump experienced a stunning paper loss of $1 billion on his Trump media stock Monday, after a filing revealed it lost $58 million last year.

Their lawsuit sought to prevent Trump from taking steps the two said would sharply reduce their combined 8.6 percent stake in Trump Media 

The former U.S. president’s lawsuit, which was filed on March 24 in Florida state court, follows a complaint filed in February by those co-founders, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss (pictured) 

Trump’s lawsuit claims that Litinsky (pictured) and Moss, who were both contestants on Trump’s reality-TV show ‘The Apprentice,’ mishandled an attempt to take Trump Media public several years ago, allegedly putting the whole project ‘on ice’ for more than a year and a half

Stock in Trump Media was trading at $48 per share Tuesday morning – a drop of 32 percent from its price five days ago.

It dropped 21 percent in a single day of trading Monday, as investors processed new details of the company’s financials amid chatter that it is the latest ‘meme’ stock to capture market interest.

Trump still held a multi-billion stake in the company. But at current prices, it’s value was still running 1,500 times its revenue, which stood at just $4 million last year.

Its latest filing also included a warning from an auditor that its ‘operating losses raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern,’ CNBC reported.

Trump’s media company lost $58 million last year, according to a new media filing, as skeptics said the multi-billion company had the hallmarks of a ‘meme’ stock. 

The company had $4.1 million in revenues for 2023, according to the new filing. That comes after Trump media rocketed to an $8 billion valuation when it mades its debut on the NASDAQ, even as watchdog groups warned it was a meme stock posing ethical concerns.

The company was valued at about $7.5 billion Monday morning following the release of the report, with share prices down in the low 50s, after peaking at nearly $75 last week. 

Trump owns about 57 per cent of the company, although he is locked out of selling shares for a period of six months, unless the company’s board stacked with Trump loyalists votes to allow a sale.

Wes Moss joins his fellow fired cast members of the hit TV show The Apprentice as they gather at NBC studios in New York City

Litinsky has been around Trump for a long time, seen here at his 2011 Comedy Central roast

Others who have entered ‘lock-up’ agreements include longtime Trump aide Dan Scavino, former Rep. Devin Nunes – who is the company CEO, Donald Trump, Jr., and former Pentagon aide Kash Patel.

Board members who could green light sales include wrestling exec Linda McMahon, Patel, and former US Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer, although any move could expose them to lawsuits if they are found not be to be acting in the interests of shareholders.

Trump’s still-massive stake comes as he faces ongoing financial pressures amid his four criminal trials. 

A New York appeals court slashed his court award to $175 in his fraud trial and gave him 10 day to pay the amount pending his appeal or otherwise obtain bond. The deadline comes this week. 

George Carlin once noted that “bulls**t is truly the American soundtrack.” Well, today the music got just a little bit more authentic – at least online.

A little more than two months since the estate of the comedy genius took the creators of an AI generated special that uses Carlin’s style and voice to court, the parties have settled.

“Defendants are hereby PERMANENTLY RESTRAINED AND ENJOINED FROM uploading, posting or broadcasting the Dudesy Special on the Dudesy Podcast, or in any content posted to any website, account or platform (including, without limitation, YouTube and social media websites) controlled by Defendants,” a proposed injunction order submitted Tuesday in federal court from both sides says. “Defendants are hereby PERMANENTLY RESTRAINED AND ENJOINED FROM using George Carlin’s image, voice or likeness on the Dudesy Podcast, or in any content posted to any website, account or platform (including, without limitation, YouTube and social media websites) controlled by Defendants without the express written approval of the Plaintiffs,” the filing adds against defendants Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen.

In point of fact, Sasso and Kultgen took down the offending digital special on January 31, six days after the Carlin estate sued them. As of right now, US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpon has not yet signed the order, according to the case docket.

Even so, unless the Dudsey podcast hosts violate the deal, that’s the end of it.

Kind of.

Carlin’s daughter Kelly Carlin believes the case reflects a potential larger cultural and creative crisis out of the volcanic rise of AI.

“I am pleased that this matter was resolved quickly and amicably, and I am grateful that the defendants acted responsibly by swiftly removing the video they made,” Carlin said in a statement sent to Deadline today. “While it is a shame that this happened at all, I hope this case serves as a warning about the dangers posed by AI technologies and the need for appropriate safeguards not just for artists and creatives, but every human on earth.”

Nightmare scenarios pulled from The Matrix and Terminator franchises aside, the dramatic advances in artificial intelligence in just the past year since ChatGPT went live make it almost certain that vast shifts in almost every aspect of our lives and society are coming. As the Biden administration, the EU, Hollywood unions and many more try to put guardrails in place to at least corral the pace of change, the pros and cons of AI appear to be in a pedal to the metal race for dominance.

In the case of Carlin’s work and persona, the one-hour George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead special that dropped on You Tube on January 9 didn’t even make much of an effort to sidestep the legal potholes. Claiming “for the next hour I’ll be doing my best George Carlin impersonation just like a human being would. I tried to capture his iconic style to tackle the topics I think the comedy legend would be talking about today,” the lame graphics filled presentation was a clear “bastardization of Carlin’s real work,”  the copyright infringement complaint declared of the comic, who died at the age of 71 in 2008.

The filing sought an injunction, as the settlement achieved, and damages, which were not revealed in today’s paperwork, if they even were granted.

“This settlement is a great outcome for our clients and will serve as a blueprint for resolving similar disputes going forward where an artist or public figure has their rights infringed by AI technology,” said Carlin estate attorney Joshua Schiller after the proposed order was filed.

“Our goal was to resolve this case expeditiously and have the offending videos removed from the internet so that we could preserve Mr. Carlin’s legacy and shine a light on the reputational and intellectual property threat caused by this emerging technology,” the Boies Schiller Flexner LLP partner added “The world has begun to appreciate the power and potential dangers inherent in AI tools, which can mimic voices, generate fake photographs, and alter video. In recent months, there has been a wave of high-profile examples, from the fake Joe Biden robocall in New Hampshire to multiple rounds of AI-generated nude photographs of celebrities. This is not a problem that will go away by itself. It must be confronted with swift, forceful action in the courts, and the AI software companies whose technology is being weaponized must also bear some measure of accountability.”

Whether this instance will be a blueprint for ending or stopping future such AI generated occurrences, you know this is just the first of many times the dead will be digitally resurrected as the technology becomes more widespread – and that’s no bulls**t.

An Oakland activist has accused progressive mayor Sheng Thao of killing the Californian city and predicts the last four big corporations still headquartered downtown will leave in months.

Steve Heimoff, president of Coalition for a Better Oakland, lamented that the city had become ‘a garbage dump of crime, filth and inhumanity.’

He made the grim prediction following the news that Kaiser, PG&E, Clorox and Blue Shield are plowing $10 million of their own cash into added security measures for their employees.

The money will pay for private police and ‘buddy-escorts’ to accompany workers who don’t feel safe heading out for lunch amid the rampant crime in the downtown area. 

‘It will not shock me if, in the next six months, four of Oakland’s biggest employers—announce they’re leaving town, bringing their thousands of employees with them and administering the final death blow to our beleaguered city,’ Heimoff wrote.

Steve Heimoff, president of Coalition for a Better Oakland, claims Kaiser, PG&E, Clorox and Blue Shield will leave Oakland in six months amid rampant crime

He accused progressive mayor Sheng Thao of killing the Californian city 

He made the grim prediction following the news that Kaiser, PG&E, Clorox and Blue Shield are plowing $10 million of their own cash into added security measures for their employees

‘Sadly, everyone knows it won’t work: too little too late. But when the companies finally bail out of town, they’ll be able to say, “Hey, at least we tried,”‘ Heimoff stated.

The ‘most infuriating’ thing about the situation was Thao’s self-congratulations following the big four’s announcement, Heimoff said.

‘Thao has practically broken her arm patting herself on the back for her sagacious leadership, when the reality is this: Sheng Thao, you and your woke colleagues on the City Council got us into this epidemic of crime,’ He added.

Police in the Californian city recorded recorded 3,690 robberies and 17,256 burglaries in 2023, many of the victims were downtown office workers. 

The area has continued to record a spike in crime since Thao took office in 2023. 

The Democrat mayor has previously been mocked for suggesting that life-coaching could be the secret to solving her city’s soaring crime.

Between 2021 and 2023, there was a 21 percent increase in violent crime, a 38 percent increase in robberies and a 45 percent increase in vehicle thefts between 2021 and 2023, per police data.

The violence has seen an exodus of big-name brands, including a profitable In-N-Out Burger forced to close amid safety concerns from customers.

The money will pay for private police and ‘buddy-escorts’ to accompany workers who don’t feel safe heading out for lunch amid the rampant crime in the downtown area

Police investigate a multiple shooting and homicide at a gas station in Oakland on January 23, 2023

A thief breaks into a car outside the Shell gas station on Hegenberger Road before leaning into the vehicle to snatch items, then escapes in a waiting vehicle

‘Thao, every time a business shuts down or leaves Oakland, your fingerprints are all over the murder weapon,’ Heimoff added.

‘We will neither forgive you nor forget your crimes. No matter how much you pretend to be a born-again police supporter, we know you’re not. 

‘You’re an ambitious, hustling politician who thinks you can fool most of the people most of the time. We’re going to show you that you can’t get away with it.’

This latest announcement from the four remain large corporations suggests they are not immune to the impact of the soaring crime.

Their funding will pay for eight off-duty officers and one sergeant to do overtime patrols on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p., CBS reports.

‘I did not think I would ever be in the business of security and safety. And I hope not to be for very long,’  Paul Markovich, President and CEO of Blue Cross Shield of California, told the outlet.

The money will also pay to fund more buddy escorts to walk people to their cars, transit hubs or even to collect lunch.

‘To have off-duty police officers patrolling key areas of Downtown Oakland that obviously is going to increase the safety for everyone who’s in those areas. So that’s a benefit I think to the community,’ said Markovich.

Oakland’s only In-N-Out Burger restaurant announced it will close after 18 years amid safety concerns

 A Taco Bell in downtown Oakland which no longer allows customers inside due to safety concerns

Employers will also pay for ride services and public transport to ensure their workers can commute safely. 

Markovich said the employers also will pay for ride services and public transportation so their workers can get to work safely.

Heimoff is not alone in his criticism, with California governor Gavin Newsom also slamming the mayor for failing to get a grip on crime.

Newsom reportedly blasted Thao for not applying to funds set aside to tackle retail crime in the Bay Area.

In September, the governor’s administration approved over $267 million to be given to local police departments and the offices of district attorneys in the state to battle against organized retail theft.

The 55 awardees used it to create task forces, hire and train new staff and obtain new technologies.

• Jamileth got off subway at 169th Street in Queens about midnight after work
• A man harassed her on train before she left, and she found him waiting for her
• He followed her to secluded spot, and tried to rape her until a security guard intervened 

By Nic White For Dailymail.Com

Published: 22:21 EDT, 2 April 2024 | Updated: 22:24 EDT, 2 April 2024

A young woman has described the horror of being stalked by a hooded rapist across a subway station before he attacked her.

Jamileth, 21, was saved by a security guard who heard her screams and chased off the young man at the 169th Street stop in Jamaica, Queens.

The Ecuadorian immigrant got on the F train about midnight on February 24 after she finished her office cleaning shift and closed her eyes as she headed home.

When she opened them, a man was staring at her. Later when she tried to get off the train he blocked the door while performing a lewd act.

Jamileth, 21, was saved by a security guard who heard her screams and chased off the young man at the 169th Street stop in Jamaica, Queens

Jamileth said the man punched her in the face and tried to take off her clothes while muffling her terrified screams by covering her face

Jamileth stands in the secluded spot her attacker dragged he to after following her through the subway station, and tried to rape her

Eventually he left and she got off the train, and waiting on the platform for a while to make sure he was gone before she began walking home.

But he wasn’t gone, he was lurking the in shadows waiting to strike.

As Jamileth started climbing the stairs, she saw him at the top, waiting for her. Her heart stopped, but the only way out was through him.

She kept walking towards the exit as he followed her down a long passageway until she reached a spot out of public view, where he pounced.

‘He starts bringing me backwards towards this inlet. That’s where he makes me fall down. He starts dragging me,’ she told ABC.

Jamileth said the man punched her in the face and tried to take off her clothes while muffling her terrified screams by covering her face.

This is the man who allegedly tried to rape her and fled when security arrived

But she made enough noise that a security guard heard and rushed to her rescue, scaring the man away and calling police.

‘Now, I’m always looking behind me I can’t walk calmly. I always think that someone is following. I don’t know what to do. I feel terrible,’ she said.

Jamileth arrived in the US in January to support her family back in South America, and has since switched to the day shift to avoid late-night subway rides.

The suspect is still at large despite the NYPD releasing photos of his face and CCTV footage of him running away wearing a light blue puffer jacket.

The suspect is still at large despite the NYPD releasing photos of his face and CCTV footage of him running away wearing a light blue puffer jacket

The minutes are ticking down to the close of Disney’s bitter proxy fight with Nelson Peltz, whose attempt to scale the board is a direct challenge to CEO Bob Iger.

Barring any hanging chads, results from voting for members of the board of directors will be revealed Wednesday at the company’s annual shareholder meeting at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. (Polls officially close at 11:59 p.m. ET tonight.) Iger fought, and authorized the spending of $40 million, to quash the interloper activist investor, but win or lose, he invited the fight by botching succession.

Fumbled regime change became Peltz’s rallying cry, far more compelling that his thoughts on strategy. It’s the reason the race was so hard-fought. ISS, the most influential proxy advisory service, dealt perhaps the biggest blow to the company by backing Peltz in a move reminiscent of its withholding votes from then-CEO Michael Eisner in 2004 during the last epic annual-meeting showdown.

This time, the firm cited in large part the failed succession process of 2020, when Iger stepped down abruptly just as Covid was starting to upend the world, and named company lifer Bob Chapek as CEO. The board backed that baton pass, “admittedly not following the process it has outlined for the current succession strategy,” ISS said, adding that board members “simply trusted Iger’s judgment without conducting more rigorous due diligence.” Another odd call was Iger staying in the mix as executive chairman to oversee the creative side of the business, predictably butting heads with Chapek.

“Disney is so well planned, telegraphed and it seemed like that got sprung on us,” says one Wall Street analyst. “It still really bugs me.”

Peltz’ presence could reassure other investors that the board is properly engaged this time around, ISS said.

Iger has shored up backing for the company’s slate of directors from a glittery roster of potentates, including JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Eisner, George Lucas, Laurene Powell Jobs and the Disney family. Peltz, though, in addition to ISS, has won over top pension fund CalPERS as well as Egan-Jones, a smaller proxy advisor.

Reports have indicated Disney has the edge in the vote. However, with the contest much tighter than anticipated, the talk in many showbiz circles is that the company will need to get out in front on who will be the next CEO soon after the proxy dust has settled. Iger’s contract, already extended once since his 2022 return, is set to run through 2026. Four internal candidates have been identified: Entertainment division co-chiefs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman; parks division head Josh D’Amaro; and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. There is also a school of thought that Disney could reach outside the company and tap a big name from the tech realm, especially since it has been repositioning itself for streaming. Regardless of whom is anointed, some damage has been done.

“Iger is wounded by this, it makes him look egotistical and indecisive, and that wounds Disney,” a rival studio executive says. “All the people who were passed over, the Chapek catastrophe, the contract extension (last year), he needs to allow the board to do its job now,” the C-suiter added.

Another industry insider put it more bluntly: “Someone needs to tell Bob, no one’s irreplaceable.”

To some observers, that someone could be James Gorman, who took part in a succession process just last year at Morgan Stanley when he handed over the reins just prior to joining Disney’s board in February.

The banking exec is seen in the town’s upper echelon as someone Iger considers an equal and to whom he would listen. “Whether or not he agrees, Gorman knows perception is the board is enthralled by Iger, won’t cross him,” an industry mandarin notes.

Last week, Gorman told CNBC, “When I joined the board, the thing I was focused on was that they had a rigorous succession process.” Noting that the succession committee run by Disney chair Mark Parker convened in February and is “due to meet another eight or nine times this year,” Gorman noted, “I just came through a huge succession process at Morgan Stanley, I’m impressed by the process.”

Succession gripes predate Chapek, who was pushed out in November of 2022 with Iger parachuting back in as chief executive.

Wall Streeter analysts still wax nostalgic about Tom Staggs, the former CFO and COO who was groomed for succession before being passed over, initially pitted against Jay Rasulo, whom Iger also passed over. Rasulo left Disney in 2015. Staggs exited in 2016. (Peltz’s Trian Fund Management has also nominated Rasulo to the board but he hasn’t gotten as much traction.) Two years later, Disney’s streaming chief and strategic planning vet, Kevin Mayer, widely regarded as Iger’s likely successor, exited in 2020 after Chapek got the top job. “I’m sure in hindsight he would have chosen Kevin Mayer,” the analyst said.

It’s about “succession and governance. It’s not merely the case that once they figure out who the new CEO should be that they can kind of pat themselves on the back and say, ‘Good job,’” Michael Levin of consultancy The Activist Investor told Deadline. Given his company’s name, it’s clear where he tends to fall on the issue, but he’s hardly alone in his critique, which has been voiced by many investors over the past decade and a half.

“There needs to be some change on how this board sees its role,” he said. For one, it could have done a better job talking to CalPERS — “and not two months ago, two years ago. … It’s largely an inward-focused board.”

This proxy fight “should be a real wakeup call to this board that they need to take a lot more control.”

“You can see the shareholders are conflicted,” says another analyst. Succession now “will be a much more thorough process … I think they had to have learned the first time.”

• Anieca and Aniya Ogden when missing from their father’s home on March 8
• Police have been unable to track them because they left without their phones
• Their father, George Ogden, is pleading for help tracking down the twin sisters 

By Rachel Bowman For Dailymail.Com

Published: 21:32 EDT, 2 April 2024 | Updated: 21:40 EDT, 2 April 2024

The father of two missing teenage girls in Detroit is pleading with the community for helping finding them nearly one month after they disappeared.

Anieca and Aniya Ogden, 14-year-old twin sisters, were last seen at their father’s house on March 8.

Detroit police said the girls left the home on Robson Street near Curtis Street, east of Greenfield Road, together without permission and have not been seen since.

Authorities have been unable to track the Mumford High School ninth graders because they do not have cell phones with them. However, investigators believe they are still in the area due to leads provided by the school counselor, reported FOX 2.

‘If you have seen my kids, just please, tell them to come home,’ said their father George Ogden.

Anieca (right) and Aniya (left) Ogden, 14-year-old twin sisters, were last seen at their father’s house on March 8.

Anieca (pictured) was last seen wearing a beige tank top, shorts and orange ‘Jordan’ shoes. It is unknown what Aniya was wearing

Aniya (pictured) and her twin sister are both described as five-feet tall, 130 pounds with sandy brown hair and brown eyes

‘Tell them what they’re doing out here is not right. And be kids, be teenagers, as long as you can be. The world we’re living in is too unsafe to be trying to grow up too fast.’ 

‘If they’re not home, they’re not safe. In the world that we’re living in today, it’s very unsafe. It’s dangerous and they’re 14 years old and these kids, they don’t understand dangers that are out here lurking for them,’ George said.

‘I never would have pegged them to just leave like that. As a father that’s trying to raise kids on his own, it’s heartbreaking.’ 

They are both described as five-feet tall, 130 pounds with sandy brown hair and brown eyes.

Anieca was last seen wearing a beige tank top, shorts and orange Nike ‘Jordan’ shoes. It is unknown what Aniya was wearing.

Any one with information on their whereabouts is asked to call Detroit’s 12th Precinct at 313-596-1240 or 911.

Detroit Police Department Capt. Philip Rodriguez told WXYZ: ‘We just want to ultimately make sure that these young ladies are safe and they’re returned to their proper residences.’

The girls reportedly ran away from their grandmother’s house in River Rouge, Michigan, just days before they went missing

The girls reportedly ran away from their grandmother’s house in River Rouge, Michigan, just days before they went missing.

On March 3, their sister Ashleigh Lett said on Facebook, ‘Please help me find my 14-year-old little sisters Aneica and Aniya Ogden. They left the house about 12:30 this afternoon in River rouge/downriver area!! Possibly could be on the westside of Detroit.’ 

Their father had been able to find them and brought them home before they vanished again. 

According to the Detroit Police Department’s Missings Weekly Report, there are 86 people missing including runaways as of March 29. 

Disneyland is moving into the future with its Tomorrowland attraction, Autopia, and electrifying its vehicles.

The attraction opened with the park in 1955 and as alternative fuel sources have become more prevalent, Disneyland is changing with the times.

“Since opening with Disneyland park in 1955, Autopia has remained a guest-favorite most popular with young kids experiencing driving for the first time. As the industry moves toward alternative fuel sources, we have developed a roadmap to electrify this attraction and are evaluating technology that will enable us to convert from gas engines in the next few years,” DLR spokesperson Jessica Good said in a statement to Deadline.

This transition is part of the Disneyland Resort‘s (DLR) efforts toward net zero emissions by 2030.

DLR says they’ve exceeded the California Air Resources Board (CARB) zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) 2024 milestone by converting 14% of the affected fleet—exceeding the CARB 10% 2024 milestone and will continue to meet or exceed CARB milestones.

As DLR continues to make progress they have also continued to evaluate areas of opportunities across their operations and supply chains by prioritizing projects that meet multiple criteria including environmental outcome, ROI, and speed of implementation, to make sure the overall sustainability program continues to grow.

DLR claims that their efforts over the past year and a half have delivered over 10M kWh in energy savings.

A massive 7.5-magnitude earthquake has hit Taiwan, sparking fears of three-metre tall tsunami waves affecting Japan’s southern islands.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued a tsunami alert for the southern islands of the Far Eastern country following the tremor, which happened shortly before 9am Japanese local time (12am GMT, 1am UK time).

Multiple videos were shared of damage to Hualien, a city on the east coast of Taiwan close to the epicentre of the quake – with buildings downed and landslides throwing up huge clumps of dirt and dust. 

Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration agency said the quake could be felt across the island – measuring 7.2 at the epicentre and around four at its weakest on the furthest reaches away from the centre of the tectonic jolt.

A 30 cm tsunami reached Yonaguni Island at 9.18am Japan time, JMA said.

Images from Hualien, on the east coast of Taiwan close to the epicentre, showed a large glass-fronted building partially collapsed onto its front

A webcam image from the capital of Taiwan, Taipei. The camera could be seen shaking violently as the 7.5 magnitude tremor set in

The quake struck shortly before 9am Japan time (12am GMT, 1am UK time) on Taiwan’s eastern edge, south of the coastal city of Hualien

Images from Hualien, a coastal city just 11 miles north of the epicentre of the quake, show collapsed buildings across the city

Part of a building collapsed onto a series of parked motorcycles. It is not known if there are any casualties

Videos shared on social media showed homes being shaken by the quake as items were flung from shelves onto the floor below

A map issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) shows the epicentre of the earthquake off the coast of Taiwan (the ‘x’ symbol) as well as the islands most likely to be affected, highlighted in red

In several images from Hualien, a large red glass-fronted tower block was seen to have partially collapsed, keeling over towards the ground and resting at an angle as shocked onlookers watched on.

Another video of webcam in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei showed the camera being juddered by the convulsions.

A post from the JMA’s disaster preparation account on X, formerly Twitter, has warned those in the affected areas not to leave designated safe zones until given the all clear.

A translation of the tweet read: ‘As of 09:01 on the 3rd, a tsunami warning has been issued. Tsunamis strike repeatedly. Do not leave your safe area until the warning has been lifted.’

The JMA says the Okinawa and Miyajokima and Yaeyama island groupings are at risk of tsunamis up to three metres (10feet) high.

‘Evacuate!’ said a banner on national broadcaster NHK.

‘Tsunami is coming. Please evacuate immediately,’ an anchor on NHK said. ‘Do not stop. Do not go back.’

It is not known if there are any casualties. However, the force of the quake was such that it could be felt in Shanghai, around 500 miles to the north of the epicentre, according to news agency Reuters.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake had a magnitude of 7.4, with its epicentre 18 kilometres south of Taiwan’s Hualien City at a depth of 34.8 km.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. Japan accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, the northeast coast was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest quake in Japan on record, and a massive tsunami. Those events triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chornobyl a quarter of a century earlier.

The country was also rocked by its deadliest quake in eight years on New Year’s Day when a 7.6 magnitude temblor struck in Ishikawa prefecture, on the western coast. 

More than 230 people died in the quake that left 44,000 homes fully or partially destroyed. 

Apes are hot these days coming off of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and beast fever will spill over into the weekend of May 10-12 when 20th Century Studios’ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is looking to open to $54M-$61M.

That’s the latest forecast from tracking service Quorum which reports on 6 weeks-in-advance box office projections versus the standard three-weeks by longtime tracking firm NRG.

Men, natch, are quite huge with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, bigger than last summer’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ($61M) and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning ($54.6M 3-day).

Currently, Universal’s The Fall Guy, which is getting a special screening at CinemaCon after its world premiere at SXSW, is tracking 17 points in awareness behind the Wes Ball-directed Apes, 6 points behind in interest, and 8 points behind in preference of seeing the movie in a theater over home. Warner Bros/Village Roadshow’s Furiosa is 26 points behind in interest from Apes making the latter one of May’s hottest must-sees at the moment. All three titles have had teaser and payoff trailers in the marketplace (granted Furiosa is going to get a big boom out of its Cannes Film Festival World Premiere). Social media stat firm RelishMix reported that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was the second-most watched Super Bowl movie trailer 24 hours after the game with 43.2M views; behind Marvel Studios/Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine with 75.4M views.

When it comes to a Planet of the Apes movies, the opening U.S./Canada average since 20th Century Fox rebooted the late 1960s sci-fi franchise in 2001 with the Tim Burton-directed, Mark Wahlberg starring title is $63M through four movies. That 2001 movie opened to $68.5M, and ended at $180M domestic, and $362.2M. That franchise wasn’t built out, but another one later in the millennium fired up with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes starring Andy Serkis as Caesar the gorilla, as well as James Franco. That movie opened to $54.8M, and made close to the amount of the 2001 title stateside with $176.7M and even more around the world with $481.8M. Rupert Wyatt directed Rise of the Planet of the Apes, but handed the directing reigns over to Matt Reeves for 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opened to $72.6M stateside, and finaled at $208.5M and $710.6M WW, the biggest ever for the franchise, while War for the Planet of the Apes eased to a $56.2M domestic opening, $146.9M domestic final and $490.7M global take.

By Katherine Lawton

Published: 20:09 EDT, 2 April 2024 | Updated: 20:10 EDT, 2 April 2024

Royal Mail has vowed to investigate a problem with barcoded stamps after hundreds of Britons were wrongly fined to receive letters sent using stamps the postal service deemed counterfeit.   

People have complained they are receiving £5 penalties to collect post because Royal Mail considered the stamps on them fake. 

The problem comes after Royal Mail switched exclusively to a barcoded system in July 2023. 

According to postmasters, the allegedly counterfeit stamps were purchased from a Royal Mail shop directly, sparking fears they are being wrongly considered fake, the Telegraph reported. 

The newspaper understands a formal investigation has not started yet but Royal Mail told ministers it is working with retailers to get to the bottom of the issue. 

Royal Mail has vowed to investigate a problem with new barcoded stamps after hundreds of Britons were wrongly fined

Peter May from Hoveringham, Nottinghamshire, was sent a letter that had a fake stamp on it and had to pay to collect it

People have complained they are receiving £5 penalties to collect post because Royal Mail considered the stamps on them fake

Post office minister Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘We spoke to Royal Mail and they are investigating and they are working alongside the Post Office and other retailers to try and ascertain the source of the problem.’ 

Royal Mail recently said it used ‘specialist equipment’ to check whether a stamp is genuine. 

The Post Office said any claims that the fake stamps were purchased at one of its stores were ‘extremely serious’ as it suggested a member of staff or postmaster had swapped legitimate Royal Mail stamps with fake alternatives. 

The chairman of one postmaster campaign group said: ‘It goes without saying that postmasters do not want to have to deal with false accusations about something else.’ The campaigner was seemingly making reference to those wrongly convicted during the Horizon IT scandal. 

Barcoded stamps became compulsory in July last year, after which some customers started complaining about being accused of using fake stamps. 

A spokesperson for the Post Office said: ‘Any allegation that fake stamps have been purchased at a Post Office are extremely serious. 

‘Any customer who thinks they may have purchased a fake stamp from a Post Office must produce an itemised receipt so that this can be looked into further.’

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: ‘We work closely with retailers and law enforcement agencies, and actively seek the prosecution of those who produce counterfeit stamps. We reaffirmed that policy to the minister today.’