Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market got a taste of “not-QE” this week — and liked it.The price of Bitcoin (BTC) jumped more than 23% toward $79,000 and Ether’s price crossed $2,400 after the US Treasury moved to double certain long-dated bond buybacks, adding fuel to an increasingly important question for digital asset markets. If Washington keeps finding new ways to support liquidity without technically embarking on quantitative easing, could Bitcoin and other risk assets become some of the biggest beneficiaries?That question is already shaping business decisions across crypto. Standard Chartered sees Bitcoin heading toward $100,000, Metaplanet is taking…

During the Troubles, Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists clashed over whether Northern Ireland should remain in the United Kingdom or become part of a united Ireland. The conflict still permeates social and political life in the country, where efforts to confront its legacy are ongoing. In 2024, Northern Ireland established an independent inquiry to determine whether British state authorities could have prevented the carnage of the Omagh bombing. Two years later, the inquiry drags on, impeded by the difficulty of collecting evidence that is over a quarter of a century old, and the pain of dredging up historical grievances. In…

A man has been arrested after injuring two people in an early morning stabbing attack at a Sikh temple in Edmonton, Canada, police said.Officials said the attack inside the sprawling Nanaksar Gurdwara unfolded around 05:00 local time (12:00 BST) on Friday morning. Police did not identify the suspect, nor did they specify a motive.The attack comes after police confirmed last week that they were investigating threatening calls made to two Sikh gurdwaras in Calgary, two hours south of where Friday’s attack took place. The World Sikh Organization, based in Canada, has said the attack is deeply troubling and has occurred…

Am 6. September steht Sachsen-Anhalt vor einer historischen Landtagswahl, bei der die AfD erstmals stärkste Kraft werden könnte. Ministerpräsident Sven Schulze liegt in Umfragen deutlich hinter seinem Herausforderer Ulrich Siegmund zurück. Gordon Repinski begleitet den CDU-Politiker auf einem Spaziergang durch den härtesten Wahlkampf des Landes. Im Wahlkampfendspurt setzt Schulze auf konkrete wirtschaftliche Lösungen und warnt eindringlich vor seinem AfD-Konkurrenten. Er wirft Siegmund vor, zwar Probleme zu benennen, aber keine pragmatischen Antworten auf Jobverluste oder das Schulsterben zu haben. Bei echten Krisen fehle der AfD das politische und wirtschaftliche Netzwerk. Zudem spricht Gordon Repinski mit dem Ministerpräsidenten über umstrittenen Wahlkampf-Gästen wie…

The Postal Service on Friday published regulations that would restrict mail voting, its latest effort to comply with President Trump’s call to restrict the popular practice just months before the midterm elections.In a 95-page final rule, the Postal Service clarified how it would carry out an executive order Mr. Trump signed in March, which sought to restrict mail ballots and create state-by-state lists of citizens to help determine voting eligibility.In the rule, the Postal Service said that it would deliver mail ballots only in states that shared voter data with the federal agency.Before the Postal Service accepts ballots into its…

Does Donald J. Trump still have the juice?This was one of many open questions in the air Friday night inside the convention center in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where the president showed up and pleaded with hundreds of Republicans not to forsake him in the coming midterm elections.“You’re going to lose everything,” he warned.At another point, he fretted: “I’m going to be impeached. They’re going to impeach me.”This rhetoric was quite different from the cavalier comments he’s been making back in Washington about his political future that have congressional Republicans so freaked out about their own. Comments such as: “I don’t…

Just_Super/ E+ via Getty ImagesFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysAWS Marketplace uses AI agents to meet the rising demand for AI agents. Agent-powered marketplaces extend support to due diligence and deployment. Larger enterprise apps still require human sales teams. AWS Marketplace, one of the most well-known application marketplaces catering to enterprises of all sizes, is seeing rapid growth of its stable of AI agents, along with a rising number of traditional application offerings.A year ago, “AI agents” ranked 64th among keyword searches across the marketplace, but now ranks in third place, reported Matt Yanchyshyn, vice president of AWS Marketplace…

Researchers at Adversa AI discovered a new attack technique and named it Cryptographic Context Injection. They reported their findings to xAI on June 3, 2026, and attempted to coordinate disclosure on August 4 and August 10. At the time of writing, they had received no response. They could not disclose to Google since jailbreaks are out of scope for its vulnerability disclosure program. Nevertheless, the success rate for the attack against Gemini had fallen by August. The potential success of this attack by bad actors should be treated seriously. Adversa’s report includes prevention advice for defenders. Cryptographic context injection Safety…

American investment firm Pantera Capital’s portfolio manager has said “smart money” is helping push bitcoin’s price higher.  Cosmo Jiang, portfolio manager at the firm, said in a Friday CNBC interview that the next resistance for the coin’s price could be around $80,000 and that while small pullback was possible, “smart money” was now flooding into the space.  Bitcoin surged this week on positive regulatory news coming out of the U.S. and news that the Treasury Department would at least double the size of its long-dated bond buybacks. JUST IN: $3.8 billion Pantera Capital tells CNBC the Bitcoin price is starting…

A collaborative project about Chicago’s handling of its massive number of lead water pipes—a public health hazard—has won a reporting award from the National Association of Black Journalists. The “Salute to Excellence” award is the latest in a list of honors for “Lead City,” a series Inside Climate News reported alongside WBEZ and Grist.  The team discovered that Chicago—which has more lead pipes than any other U.S. city—was planning to replace the toxic service lines 30 years behind the federal deadline to do so and blew past another deadline to warn residents if their pipes are made of lead. Mapping…