Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Kraken’s payment app, Krak, has launched a multi-asset debit card in the US, allowing customers to spend crypto and fiat while earning up to 2% cashback in dollars or Bitcoin (BTC).The card supports more than 600 currencies and assets, with holdings converted into US dollars at point of sale. A single purchase can draw from multiple balances, with users setting the order in which assets are spent, according to an announcement Tuesday.The card is issued by Lead Bank on Visa’s network and powered by Stripe Issuing, with physical and virtual versions available to eligible US customers. The company said cashback…

The Island of Hawaiʻi narrowly avoided a direct landfall by Hurricane Lala in mid-August 2026. The storm nonetheless delivered serious damage as it passed just south of the island on August 15 (above, right) as a category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. Lala brought rainfall totals exceeding 20 inches (50 centimeters) to parts of the island, causing flash flooding and ongoing mudflow risks. The highest rainfall total for the storm—43.55 inches (110.6 centimeters) as of the morning of August 17—was recorded at Laupāhoehoe, on the coast northwest of Hilo. Lala downed trees, damaged bridges, and knocked homes off their…

Warning: This story contains distressing details and discussion of attempted suicideLindsay Clancy was “begging for help” before killing her three children, her former mother-in-law testified on Tuesday, echoing others who have told a court that Clancy’s mental health deteriorated after the birth of her youngest son.”She had insomnia. She was losing her appetite,” the mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, said at the murder trial. “She was very anxious and sad.”Lawyers for Clancy, who does not dispute carrying out the killings but has pleaded not guilty to murder charges, argue she was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time. Prosecutors, meanwhile, alleged she made…

In the Western Pacific, protections for endangered leatherback turtles face elimination. In Alaskan waters, Steller sea lion sanctuaries could soon shrink. And in the North Atlantic, gear designed to save right whales from fatal entanglements might be permanently scrapped. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sent letters to the nation’s regional fisheries councils last month, directing all of them to dismantle restrictions in favor of more permissive, economically advantageous fishing procedures.  The “regional priorities” are an effort by the Department of Commerce to fulfill President Donald Trump’s “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” executive order, signed in April 2025. At stake…

Eco Wave Power has reported increased electricity generation and higher peak power output during stronger wave conditions in April and May from its grid-connected wave energy power station in Israel.Source: Eco Wave Power The EWP-EDF One wave energy project is a pilot-scale demonstration array, consisting of a limited number of small-scale floaters, designed primarily to validate system durability, grid integration, and real-world production performance under varying marine conditions, the company states. In April, Jaffa Port experienced three days with wave heights ranging between approximately 1 and 1.5 meters, during which the power station generated approximately 461 kWh of clean electricity, with peak power…

What was claimed A video shows a migrant saying “I want my money and my free house and English woman, it’s my dream”. Our verdict This video has been altered. In the original clip the man is speaking Arabic and does not say this. A video of a migrant appearing to say “I want my money and my free house and English woman, it’s my dream” has been shared thousands of times online.But the clip has been edited—the original version doesn’t show the man saying this.The original video was posted by the Associated Press (AP) in February 2024 and shows…

Amid trade embargoes, asset freezes and attacks on ships as part of a naval blockade, Washington has announced a plan to enact a new wave of restrictions on Iran, targeting its economy.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last Thursday that the United States was planning to inflict more economic damage on Tehran as early as this week. The US would apply measures that have “never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country”, Bessent said.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listA day later on Friday, President Donald Trump echoed Bessent and said that Iran would be hit…

The Gambling Commission has been urged to investigate claims that companies linked to Reform UK donors and allies of Nigel Farage have been operating without a licence.The Labour party’s chair, Bridget Phillipson, has written to the watchdog asking it to look into Tether.bet, a Montenegro-based gambling company, and Fispay, a UK company owned by Reform’s data protection officer, Mowbray Jackson.It comes after the Sunday Times reported that both companies had been operating without a licence. Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne’s £5m gift to Farage is already under scrutiny by the parliamentary commissioner for standards.George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster and long-term ally…

Camera-equipped AI wearables today have developed a bit of a reputation problem. Devices like Meta’s Ray-Bans raise concerns about people being recorded without their consent. So the idea that Apple is reportedly preparing to release AirPods with cameras in them seems to conflict with the iPhone maker’s desire to position itself as a privacy-focused tech company. But Apple’s now-leaked camera-equipped AirPods may not be as creepy as they first sound. The rumored cameras were reportedly confirmed via video footage found in Apple’s macOS 26.7 RC (short for “release candidate,” or the final test version of the software before it ships…

Cartesia has released Sonic-3.6, the newest version of its real-time text-to-speech model. It arrives roughly three months after Sonic-3.5. The new change is naturalness, and this one is independently checkable. Sonic 3.6 now holds #1 on both Artificial Analysis speech leaderboards — 1,283 Elo on the Provider Voice board and 1,123 on the Controlled Voice board. The second result matters more. That board clones every model onto the same eight reference voices, which isolates the synthesis engine from the voice catalog. Sonic-3.6 leads it, with Sonic-3.5 second and ElevenLabs Eleven v3 third. The model runs…