Hackers have stolen some $600m (£433m) in what appears to be one the largest cryptocurrency heists ever.

Blockchain site Poly Network said hackers had exploited a vulnerability in its system and taken thousands of digital tokens such as Ether.

The Poly Network blockchain site allows users to move tokens linked to one of these ledgers to a different network, making them work together.

“The amount of money you have hacked is one of the biggest in defi [decentralised finance] history,” the company noted in a letter addressed to the hacker that was posted on Twitter.

“Law enforcement in any country will regard this as a major economic crime and you will be pursued. The money you stole are from tens of thousands of crypto community members, hence the people,” Poly Network said in the letter.

Changpeng Zhao, chief executive of Binance, tweeted that his firm was aware of the hack, and was “co-ordinating with all our security partners to proactively help”.

Hours after the hack, the attacker started returning the funds.  

Roughly $260 million worth of cryptocurrency has been returned to Poly Network in a range of coins, according to separate analyses by blockchain forensics company Chainalysis and crypto tracking firm Elliptic.

A person claiming to have perpetrated the hack said they did it “for fun” and wanted to “expose the vulnerability” before others could exploit it, according to digital messages shared by Elliptic and Chainalysis.

It was “always the plan” to return the tokens, the purported hacker wrote, adding: “I am not very interested in money.”

They started sending back small transfers totalling a few dollars to the online wallets controlled by Poly – but then began making much larger deposits, totalling hundreds of millions.

In scale, the hack is on par with huge recent breaches at exchanges such as Coincheck and Mt Gox.

42 people including 25 members of the military mobilised to help put out raging blaze, were killed in forest fires in  Algeria on Tuesday, August 10.

Dozens of separate fires have raged through forest areas across northern Algeria since Monday night and the country’s Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud accused arsonists of igniting the flames, without providing more details on the allegations.

Residents of the Tizi Ouzou region in Kabylie used tree branches to try to smother burning patches of forest or hurled water from plastic containers in a desperate effort to douse the fire.

Soldiers were killed in different areas, some while trying to extinguish the flames and others after they were cut off by the spreading fire, Kabylie residents said. The Defense Ministry said more soldiers had been badly injured with burns.

Several houses were burnt as families were escaping to hotels, youth hostels and university residences, witnesses said, adding that a dense smoke hampered the visibility of fire crews.

“Only criminal hands can be behind the simultaneous outbreak of about 50 fires across several localities,” he said.

“We had a horror night. My house is completely burnt,” said Mohamed Kaci, who had fled with his family from the village of Azazga to a hotel.

Speaking on state television on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane said the death toll had risen to 42, including 25 members of the military. The government was in “advanced talks with (foreign) partners to hire planes and help speed up the process of extinguishing fires,” he added.

Firefighters and the army were still trying to contain the blazes, and Beldjoud said the priority was to avoid more victims. He vowed to compensate those affected.

According to reports, smaller fires have ravaged forests in at least 16 provinces of the North African country since Monday night.

Sunni Welles, an American actress, and singer who was one of the many women to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault, has died. She was 72.

Welles’ son, Shaun O’Banion, shared the news on Twitter on Monday, writing, “It is with profound sadness that I announce that my mother, Sunni Kay Welles, passed away today at the age of 72.”

“If you have a moment, give a listen and think of her. She was an extraordinary woman,” O’Banion continued, sharing a link to a recording of Welles singing “Rio de Janeiro Blues” with her jazz band, Shiver.

Welles died on Monday August 9, at a hospice care center in Downey, California, after a battle with lung cancer, O’Banion confirmed in a statement to ET.

“My mother was a fighter, literally from the day she was born. My grandmother would tell me my mom ‘fit in the palm of her hand,’ and ‘looked like a baby bird.’ Throughout her life and career, she was also like lightning in a bottle and always championed the work and efforts of others… But what I think she would be most proud of, and certainly what I am most proud of is what I think will be her legacy: Her voice. Not her singing voice, although that was stellar, too…,” O’Banion added in a separate statement. “But her voice in speaking out publicly against the man who violated her and the fact that she and her sister survivors helped to change laws and, I hope, permanently alter the response to survivors of sexual assault. She was extraordinary in every way and I will miss her every day of my life.” he said

Welles’ acting career began when she was 10, with roles in popular TV shows including Leave It to Beaver and My Three Sons. 

She later became an aspiring singer and moved to Las Vegas in 1979 to perform with the Folies Bergère musical variety show. She continued acting sporadically before turning her focus on being a jazz soloist with her band, which toured California in the 1990s.

In 2015, Welles was one of over 50 women to come forward with accusations of sexual assault against Cosby.

According to a statement released by Gloria Allred, who was representing Welles at the time, Welles claimed she was 17 years old when she went out to dinner with the comedian, after being introduced to him by her mom, who was a story editor at Paramount studios. 

Welles claimed she went out with Cosby twice, and both times felt like she’d been drugged after drinking a Coke during their dinners. She alleged that on both occasions she blacked out remembered “waking up naked in a bed alone in a sparsely furnished apartment” all alone, and “felt as if I had had sex.”

Cosby was released from prison in June, after serving three years behind bars after being convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004. His was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, after the court found that an agreement Cosby had with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case in the first place, according to documents obtained by ET at the time.

Welles is survived by her son, O’Banion, his partner Petra Hejduková and their son Indiana, as well as her brother Larry Rihl and step-siblings Vivian Harris, Cindy Kashdin, Gene Rihl, Frank Rihl, and Alan Rihl. 

Disgraced R&B singer, R Kelly has asked a judge through his lawyers to dismiss charges claiming he knowingly exposed two people to a sexually transmitted disease.

Kelly is facing a wide array of sex trafficking charges in New York and will also be tried in both Illinois and Minnesota for a series of unrelated abuse crimes. Kelly also stands accused of having sexual contact with an underage boy in 2006.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Kelly and his legal team are attempting to throw out STD charges by claiming that herpes is not a recognised sexually transmitted disease. He also denies the charges.

Using the World Health Organisation and New York State Department of Health as a guide, Kelly and his lawyers are arguing that herpes is in fact a virus and not a bacterial venereal disease, so believe the charges should be dropped.

His legal team also argued that charges – including bribing a Chicago clerk to allow Kelly to marry singer Aaliyah even though she was underage – should be dropped because the statute of limitations had passed.

“To allow the government to move forward with those counts would be to allow a clear mischaracterisation and interpretation of the application of the statute, considering the statute clearly does not incorporate herpes,” Kelly’s lawyer, Thomas Farinella, wrote.

Kelly stands accused of running a racketeering enterprise that trafficked women and girls across state lines. He allegedly had sex with numerous minors and made child pornography, prosecutors say. He also forced his victims to call him “Daddy”, and did not allow them to eat or leave rooms without his permission, prosecutors will argue.

Opening statements will begin on 18 August after Kelly fired his original legal team

An eight-year-old Hindu boy is being held in protective police custody in Pakistan after being accused of intentionally wetting himself in a religious library.

The child has become the youngest person ever to be charged with blasphemy in the country, a charge which can carry the death penalty.

The boy was accused of “intentionally urinating on a carpet” in the library of madrassa last month, where religious books were kept.

The boy’s family is currently in hiding and many of the Hindu community in Punjab have fled the area after a group of Muslims attacked a Hindu temple in outrage following the accused boy’s release on bail last week.

The Hindu Temple attacked by Muslims

Soldiers were deployed to the area to help maintain peace.

On Saturday, 20 people were arrested in connection with the temple attack.

Speaking to The Guardian from hiding, one of the boy’s family members said: “He [the boy] is not even aware of such blasphemy issues and he has been falsely indulged in these matters. He still doesn’t understand what his crime was and why he was kept in jail for a week.

“We have left our shops and work, the entire community is scared and we fear backlash. We don’t want to return to this area.

“We don’t see any concrete and meaningful action will be taken against the culprits or to safeguard the minorities living here.”

Legal experts are shocked at the blasphemy charges being filed against the child.

Ramesh Kumar, a lawmaker and head of the Pakistan Hindu Council, said: “The attack on the temple and blasphemy allegations against the eight-year-old minor boy has really shocked me.

“More than a hundred homes of the Hindu community have been emptied due to fear of attack.”

Kapil Dev, a human rights activist, said: “I demand charges against the boy are immediately dropped, and urge the government to provide security for the family and those forced to flee.

“Attacks on Hindu temples have increased in the last few years showing an escalating level of extremism and fanaticism. The recent attacks seem to be a new wave of persecution of Hindus.”

Christian faithfuls in Maiduguri gathered on Sunday, August 8, to hold service surrounded by the ruins of their demolished Church.

EYN church in Moduganari, Maiduguri, Borno state, was demolished on August 5 by officials of Borno Geographic Information System (BOGIS) and the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), leaving church members without a place for service.

Also, during the demolition of the Church on August 5, 29-year-old Mr Ezekiel Bitrus Tumba, a son of Ecwa Church pastor, was allegedly killed.

But worshippers were undeterred and chose to hold service at the scene of the demolition.

Sharing photos from the church service, Hausa Christians Foundation, HACFO, wrote on Facebook: “They demolished the building, thinking it is the CHURCH. The Church is Forever unstoppable and indestructible.

“Jesus Said, I will build my church, and the gate of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Meanwhile, the Chairman of  Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop williams Naga has condemned in strong terms the killing of Mr Ezekiel Bitrus Tumba, a son of Ecwa Church pastor, and demolition of Local Church of Brethern in Nigeria.

Naga said at a press briefing on Saturday, August 7: “The incident which occured on Thursday August 5, 2021 which was the demolition of the EYN LCB Maduganari and killing of a brother, 29 years old Ezekiel Bitrus Tumba, and injuring of five others working at the Church premises by Civilian JTF was tragic, condemnable.

“Officials of Borno Geographic Information System (BOGIS) led by its Executive Secretary, Engr Adams Bababa, brought CJTF to the Church not only for demolition but also ended up killing our brother and son.

“The reaction by youths which followed was report caused by the seizure of peoples’ mobile phones and refusal to return same phones to the people by BOGIS.

“The entire Christian Community has been thrown into mourning mood as brother who was a bread winner of his family was sent to his early grave by zealous BOGIS head and CJTF for simple reason of stoppìng Church expansion in the state.

“Unfortunately, we the Christians in the state have been denied Certificate of Occupancy to build Church by the state government since 1979, but we acquire lands/plots by ‘Deed of Assignment to build our places of worship’.

“It appears BOGIS with these latest activities is out to ensure no church is allowed to exist in the state, fuel tension and caused disatisfaction among peace loving Chritians and Muslims in a fragile state as Borno.”

A firefighting plane crashed during an emergency landing on a Greek island, as the country battled the sixth day of devastating wildfires.

The cause of the Sunday crash was not immediately known, a police official said.

The pilot of the plane which crashed during an emergency landing on Zakynthos, escaped without serious injury.

The police official said the Pezetel aircraft was on its way to a small-scale blaze on the Western island and the cause of the crash is being investigated. 

British firefighters have been sent to Greece to help battle the blazes, which have ravaged parts of the country in the worst heatwave in decades.

The 21-strong British team was put together within 24 hours of the initial request by Home Secretary Priti Patel, who visited Greece this week.