Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds are on a winning streak, with investors buying for six consecutive days. The funds — managed by the likes of BlackRock, Fidelity, and Morgan Stanley — have received over $2.8 billion in new investment since September 17, according to Farside Investors data.  On Monday alone, investors bought nearly $1 billion in shares  — the most since October 6, when the funds received over $1.2 billion and the price of the leading cryptocurrency hit a new all-time high of $126,080.  Still, Bitcoin’s price on Friday is only up modestly: it recently stood at nearly $83,975 after reaching as…

As the Iran war drags on, members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—face an acute paradox. They still depend on the United States for protection from Iran. But that protection has proved its limits while simultaneously increasing the risk of Iranian attacks. In response, the GCC states have adopted several overlapping strategies. They continue to cooperate with the United States, particularly to defend militarily against Iranian strikes. But at the same time, they are diversifying their regional security relationships, pursuing diplomacy, and, when necessary, engaging directly with Tehran. The last…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says his country has proposed a deal to the US that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopened within a week.Araghchi told reporters at the UN in New York that this could be done “if the necessary conditions are met” and said these were contained within the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in June.”The choice now rests with the United States,” he said, adding the plan was delivered to the US via Qatar.Asked about the Iranian offer, a US official told the BBC positive discussions were taking place through mediators, including about nuclear issues. While…

The US government is seeking to join Elon Musk’s legal challenge to overturn a €120m (£105m) EU fine against X over its blue tick badges.In December 2025, the European Commission said the platform “deceives users” by allowing people to pay for a blue verified check mark, because it is not “meaningfully verifying” who is behind the account.But US Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said on Thursday that the commission had “inappropriately attempted” to expand its reach to American companies outside its control.Musk, who spent millions helping elect Donald Trump and other Republicans, has previously claimed EU tech regulation “inhibits…

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget says the hackers who stole roughly $351.6 million in digital assets from its systems used techniques that closely resemble those of known North Korean threat actors. “Based on IP behavior patterns and on-chain analysis, the attack method in this incident is highly consistent with known patterns of North Korean hacker organizations,” Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said in a Friday post on X. Chen’s post did not name a specific threat group, and Bitget has not detailed the evidence behind its assessment. She said the incident has been reported to the relevant authorities. Founded in 2018, Bitget runs…

Update (Sept. 25, 10:20 pm UTC): This article has been updated to clarify Kristin Smith’s role with the Solana Policy Institute.Summer Mersinger, formerly a commissioner with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will step down as CEO of the Blockchain Association and leave the advocacy organization at year’s end after one of the group’s legislative priorities faced a significant setback in Congress.On Friday, the Blockchain Association (BA) announced that Mersinger would step down as CEO on Oct. 16, when the group’s former chief executive, Kristin Smith, would return to lead the organization as interim CEO in addition to her…

It is now well-known that some of the world’s biggest technology companies have built their strategies around monetizing the attention of consumers while simultaneously eroding the revenue models of news media. Maria Ressa, a Filipino American journalist and media leader who won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, argues that Big Tech is destroying democracy. But what can ordinary citizens do in response? This is a question that Ressa attempts to answer in her forthcoming book, The Fight Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Standing Up to Dictators. Ressa is also a co-chair of…

The White House has blocked CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One on Saturday, impeding its TV press pool duties in the latest escalation of the administration’s battle with the news media.CNN had been scheduled to fly with Donald Trump to Tennessee for a college football game, the network said on Friday. The White House confirmed CNN’s exclusion when it did not list the network on guidance sent to the press corps regarding Trump’s schedule for Saturday.CNN’s exclusion from Air Force One was first reported by the Washington Post. The White House did not immediately return the Guardian’s request for…

Yesterday, with a little prodding, it was discovered that Meta’s Muse would expose its filesystem to curious users. The files offered a fascinating peek under the hood of an AI chatbot, and appeared to expose details we weren’t meant to see, not least because Muse itself told people, including us, it wasn’t supposed to reveal them.But today Muse will eagerly offer up the contents of its file system when you ask for it. That appears to be because, as Meta’s Nat Friedman later said, this is the “intended behavior.”In a post on X, Meta Superintelligence Labs’ David Singleton elaborated:This was…

SecurityWeek’s weekly cybersecurity news roundup offers a concise overview of important developments that may not receive full standalone coverage yet remain relevant to the broader threat landscape. This curated summary highlights key stories across vulnerability disclosures, emerging attack methods, policy updates, industry reports, and other noteworthy events to help readers stay well-informed about the evolving cybersecurity environment. Here are this week’s highlights:  Clop’s leak site seized in ShinyHunters grudge match ShinyHunters has defaced the Tor data leak site of the Cl0p ransomware gang. The extortion group claims it also stole server logs, source code and the private keys for Clop’s…