3. Zelenskyy urges unity
Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy gave European governments a pep talk Friday, urging them to stick together as Russia’s war in his country drags on. “There is no split, there is no schism among Europeans and we have to preserve this. This is our mission number one this year,” Zelenskyy said in a video address to a conference in Lithuania. Zelenskyy’s remarks came as Ukraine struggles with widespread blackouts and infrastructure failures following a barrage of Russian missile attacks. Read live war updates here.
4. Musk's latest Twitter tweak
Elon Musk is going to throw some more spaghetti at the wall at Twitter HQ. The billionaire electric car and rocket ship mogul said Friday his social network will roll out a series of different-colored verified check marks next week. “Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates,” he wrote on Twitter, adding: “Painful, but necessary.” Musk said more details will be coming next week. The latest change comes after he was forced to pause the $8 per month Twitter Blue service, after many users impersonated brands and celebrities.
5. Binance flexes
Crypto exchange Binance said it opened a $1 billion recovery fund for the industry as it reels from the bankruptcy of FTX and the widening scandal surrounding founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Binance, run by CEO Changpeng Zhao, said the fund is intended to help firms which “through no fault of their own, are facing significant, short term, financial difficulties.” About 150 companies have already applied for help from the fund, said Binance, which added that it may boost the money available to $2 billion, “if the need arises.”
– CNBC’s Carmen Reinicke, Sarah Min, Melissa Repko, Karen Gilchrist, Arjun Kharpal and Ryan Browne contributed to this report.
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