Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Illinois’s 0.2% digital asset tax, scheduled to start Jan. 1, 2027, now faces another industry complaint as brokers prepare for a levy tied to the value of customer assets rather than their gains or service fees.Blockchain Association and the Crypto Council for Innovation said they filed the complaint on Aug. 21 in the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit in Sangamon County. The filing came one month after The Digital Chamber announced a separate Sangamon County challenge. Related ReadingIllinois’ new crypto tax puts users under a burden stocks do not face The new complaint names Illinois Department of Revenue…

While extreme heat or heatwaves can still occur in May and June – or indeed in late August or early September, by which time it’s proposed pupils would have returned to class – breaking up for summer at the end of June could reduce the amount of disruption schools face from the hottest conditions heading into the peak of summer.And while this August has also been hot and dry, some parents argue that an earlier break would be better aligned with the UK’s typically warmer and drier mid-summer weather. Rebecca Martin says she’d like to be able to “make the…

Claim: U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said, “Republicans are trying to rig elections by only allowing U.S. citizens to vote.” Rating: Throughout 2026, a claim circulated online that U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “Republicans are trying to rig elections by only allowing U.S. citizens to vote.” Social media users who shared the alleged quote did not say when the New York Democrat supposedly said this or in what context. For example, in August, the manager of a popular Facebook account shared the rumor (archived), adding, in part: “According to AOC, requiring voters to actually be U.S. citizens is somehow ‘rigging’…

Carney’s speech on Saturday was his first address to Canadians after he announced late on Friday night that a deal would not be reached, accusing the Americans of making “last-minute changes” that were “unfair” and “uneconomic”. US negotiators, meanwhile, accused Canada of making “new demands and walk backs” on terms which had been previously agreed.On Saturday, US trade representative Jamieson Greer told Fox News there were no plans to resume talks.He added that the US had been prepared to cut some of its tariffs on Canada as part of the ill-fated deal.Carney, however, said the US presented “unacceptable” terms that…

Tero Vesalainen/iStock/Getty Images Plus Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysProgrammers find AI tools addictive, but exhausting.Coding speed can be lost due to delays in fixing AI-written code.AI programming tools can lead to programmer workaholism and burnout.  Yes, yes, we get it. Thanks to GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, whatever the hot new AI tool is for developers, you can get more work done than ever before as a programmer. But even as developers use them ever more to generate boilerplate, explain unfamiliar code, draft tests, refactor modules, and troubleshoot errors, many are also finding that…

Grayscale’s proposed Zcash ETF would carry a 2.5% annual fee. Under one dated ownership calculation, a DCG affiliate could receive about 34% of the fund. If effective, the Aug. 21 SEC amendment would rename the existing trust “The Zcash ETF” and list it on NYSE Arca under ZCSH. The registration remains preliminary. The securities cannot yet be sold under it, and the SEC has neither approved nor disapproved them.The ETF structure aims to fix the trust’s long-running price-tracking problem. To do that, large market intermediaries called authorized participants would create or redeem 10,000-share baskets when ZCSH’s market price moves away…

Togo’s government commented Saturday for the first time on the case of the two French film-makers and their Togolese colleague, who were arrested at the end of July in the west African country and have been in custody ever since. The three men – Gaël Mocaër, Sebastian Perez Pezzani and Fred Vedomey – are being held on charges of making “false declarations”. Their lawyer said they deny the charges. The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called again for their immediate release. Togo’s justice and security ministries said in a joint statement Saturday that the documentary team, arrested July 27, had used a…

Honorable MentionsNot everything we test makes the cut as a pick, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad mattress topper. Here are a few that our testers slept on and got a good night’s sleep with but didn’t love as much as the picks above.Avocado Alpaca Topper for $1,240: If you’re looking for a mattress topper that’s extra soft, WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson recommends the Avocado Alpaca Mattress Topper. He says it’s one of the softest things he’s ever slept on, and that it’s like sleeping in a cocoon of fluffiness. While it’s only 2 inches thick, it still has…

In brief XRP jumped as much as 14.21% in 24 hours to $1.40, making it the best-performing asset among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap today. The daily candle closed above both the 50-day and 200-day EMAs for the first time since XRP’s death cross locked in earlier this month. The move rides the same Bitcoin short squeeze and Treasury-driven liquidity wave that’s been ripping through crypto all week. Crypto is having one of its best weeks in months, and XRP just grabbed the wheel.Bitcoin punched through $72,000 this week on the back of a record short squeeze—traders who…

The United States had offered to reduce its tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos, and eliminate a recently imposed tariff on Canadian lumber, before negotiations suddenly collapsed last night, Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, said Saturday.In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Greer detailed previously confidential and unreported elements of the U.S. trade offer to Canada, saying those measures would have given Canada the most preferential treatment of any trading partner.Trade talks between the countries suddenly soured late Friday night, following a week of talks in which negotiators appeared hopeful for an agreement.Mr. Trump had abruptly threatened…