Bye bye British monarchy, long live the Republic of Barbados: The Caribbean island nation will on Monday remove Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state, according to an official statement. Barbados is now becoming a republic 55 years after the country declared its independence from British rule, and more than 400 years since the first English ship arrived on its shores, Reuters reports. The move will sever the last official tie between the UK and the former British colony, in what some are hailing as a chance to break with a painful history. Barbados was England’s first solvent slave society, receiving 600k enslaved Africans over the 17th and 18th centuries, who were put to work on sugar plantations.

A domino effect? The move could pave the way for other former colonies to dump their association with the British monarchy once and for all, with Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines said to be considering following Barbados’ lead, according to Reuters, while Canada and Australia may also have pause to reconsider keeping the British monarch as their head of state.

Apple is taking the Israeli spyware group behind Pegasus to court: The tech giant is suing Israel’s NSO Group, accusing it of an “egregious, deliberate and concerted effort” to target and attack its users, the company said in a statement today. Apple is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages as well as an order to stop NSO from using any of its devices or services. This comes months after Apple uncovered an NSO “zero-click” ransomware attack that runs through iMessage that allows hackers to access iPhones remotely. NSO started making headlines after its Pegasus hacks helped foreign governments hack the mobile phones of heads of state, diplomats and military chiefs worldwide, including in Egypt. In response to all the controversy, NSO claimed that Pegasus helped governments “catch paedophiles and terrorists.” Picking up the story are The Financial Times | Reuters | BBC

Paris Hilton is going big on the NFT craze, contributing an undisclosed amount to USD 20 mn raised by NFT foundation Origyn, reports Bloomberg. The USD 300 mn Swiss foundation is aiming to allow users to authenticate items of value with digital certificates using their smartphone. Hilton has been riding out the NFT trend for the past year and a half and has also backed Origin Protocol, a decentralized NFT platform. NFTs have seen a recent boom in popularity, with Christie’s making waves earlier this week with their sale of a digital collage — along with an NFT to ensure authenticity — for a whopping USD 69.6 mn.