Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Crypto is in a tough spot right now, and the effects of a down market are being felt across the industry. In February of this year, Nomura tightened risk limits at Laser Digital after crypto losses dragged down quarterly profit. This was read by the market as a retreat, but Nomura indicated it would be staying in crypto, just with a more conservative approach.To this end, Laser Digital’s investment and partnership with ZigChain delivers a comprehensive risk framework and governance across a pipeline of institutional onchain vault products, according to a statement.Rafay Gadit said the private credit market in the…

Wildfires occur across Europe each summer, but the fires that swept through Spain and France in July 2026 ranked among the most destructive either country had experienced in decades. Some of the worst outbreaks developed in southwestern France’s Gironde Department and in Spain’s Ávila and Madrid provinces during the middle of the month. The fires forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate and destroyed hundreds of homes. Spanish officials reported that the fire in Ávila burned about 50,000 hectares (124,000 acres), making it the largest wildfire ever recorded in the country. It surpassed the 2025 fire that affected Larouco,…

The bullhorn blared as three cardboard kayaks lurched into the Hudson River from Pier 84 in Manhattan. Their occupants paddled across choppy waters toward a bright yellow buoy about 20 meters offshore. All three boats completed the course, though not without a struggle. Revived in July after a six-year hiatus, the Cardboard Kayak Race invited New Yorkers back to the waterways surrounding the nation’s most densely populated city. In the 1970s and 1980s, attempting to paddle a flimsy cardboard boat across one of New York City’s waterways would have seemed risky, not because it might sink, but because falling overboard…

The winner of this year’s annual Florida Python Challenge hunted down and eliminated 96 invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades national park, as part of an initiative to remove hundreds of the snakes from the area every year.The challenge invites hunters to participate in 10 days of capturing and humanely euthanizing as many of the invasive snakes as possible across eight designated hunting locations, with the winner taking home a cash prize of $10,000. The event is hosted by Florida fish, wildlife and conservation (FWC), the south Florida water management district, the National Park Service and others.This year’s competition drew…

The BBC’s attorneys contend that the records are relevant to assessing Trump’s claims of massive damages. His initial lawsuit appeared to seek $10 billion, although a form his attorneys submitted to the court listed $5 billion. Trump is still seeking $10 billion in his proposed revised lawsuit, according to a BBC court filing.Trump’s lawsuit, filed last December, claims that the documentary defamed him by splicing together segments of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech in a manner that made it sound like he was directly calling for the violent attack on the Capitol that followed. The BBC has apologized for the…

A military helicopter carrying President Trump came less than a mile of a passenger jet above Washington on Tuesday after garbled communications with Ronald Reagan National Airport’s tower delayed air traffic controllers from clearing nearby air traffic, according to two people familiar with federal officials’ initial assessment.The incident occurred shortly after 2:30 p.m. as Mr. Trump was flying to Joint Base Andrews from the White House on the initial leg of a planned trip to Los Angeles.Before taking off, the crew of Marine One — the call sign of the helicopter that carries the president — made three attempts to…

Why did Mr. Biden pardon Dr. Fauci?Almost immediately after President Trump was elected to a second term in 2024, Republicans vowed to pursue several prominent figures, among them Dr. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, for his management of the pandemic. On his last day in office, Mr. Biden issued Dr. Fauci, and others, an unconditional “pre-emptive pardon” that protects him from federal prosecution for his actions from 2014 through Jan. 19, 2025.Why did the Senate committee seek his testimony?There were many pandemic-related issues that senators sought to explore. They accused Dr. Fauci of funding research that led to…

After Uber and Waymo ended their partnership in Phoenix earlier this year, experts and robotaxi watchers wondered whether the companies’ improbable bromance was fraying. Not so, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said today. The two companies are committed to continue working together in Atlanta and Austin, and the partnership remains “very strong.”“Waymo is a very important partner of ours, and we continue to operate in Austin and Atlanta,” Khosrowshahi said in an earnings call today. “We believe we’ll continue to operate next year in those marketplaces. It’s a terrific product, and the on-the-ground partnership continues to be very strong.”There’s been plenty…

Maksim Silnikau, the creator and administrator of the Ransom Cartel ransomware operation, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in ransomware attacks against at least 18 companies worldwide. The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that the 40-year-old Belarusian national was sentenced for conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The DOJ says Silnikau had been active on Russian-speaking cybercrime forums since at least 2005 and used the aliases “J.P. Morgan,” “xxx,” and “lansky.” He was also a member of the Direct Connection cybercrime website between 2011…

Grayscale XRP Trust ETF (GXRP) clawed back 480,000 shares in Q2, covering 12.2% of its derived 3.94 million-share first-quarter contraction. The fund’s Aug. 4 Form 10-Q shows 510,000 shares issued and 30,000 redeemed during the quarter.The six-month ledger shows the true size of the gap. GXRP issued 1.87 million shares and redeemed 5.33 million, a net contraction of 3.46 million. Subtracting Q2 from those totals leaves 1.36 million shares issued and 5.30 million redeemed in Q1, producing the derived 3.94 million-share contraction. Related ReadingAfter a $1.2 billion run, XRP ETFs just flipped from inflows to outflowsInstitutional adoption of XRP remains…