A top Chinese official made it clear that Beijing will place blame squarely on the U.S. if the chaos breaking out in Afghanistan spreads throughout the region, according to a report. “The United States, which created the Afghan issue in the first place, should act responsibly to ensure a smooth transition in Afghanistan,” Wang Yi,...
Tag: jul 20 2021
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RUSSIA BACKING MYANMAR JUNTA AFTER COUP
As we have been reporting in the Trends Journal, since 1 February, tens of thousands of protesters in Myanmar have taken to the streets to fight for democracy. That has been as a result of a military coup that overturned recent election results and arrested the civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who reportedly won...
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THIS WEEK IN SURVEILLANCE
PEGASUS SOFTWARE USED TO SPY ON POLITICAL OPPO. The Guardian is reporting that countries including Poland, Mexico and others have targeted human rights activists, journalists, and attorneys using hacking tools provided by the Israeli spy business NSO Group. As a result of a leak, 17 news outlets examined data and found widespread and ongoing exploitation...
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ADOBE PLEDGES TO FIGHT “MISINFO” IN PHOTO METADATA
While mostly ignored, or not well understood by many, digital files often include disturbingly detailed “metadata” about the file creators. Personal information can include names, dates, locations, devices used and much more. Adobe, well known for its Photoshop editing software and pdf document creation technology, recently announced an initiative it says can help fight “misinformation”...
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RAND PAUL LAYS DOWN LAW TO FAUCI
During a hearing on the Chinese coronavirus on Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) quizzed Dr. Anthony Fauci about his previous assertion that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had never sponsored gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. “Dr. Fauci, as you are aware it is a crime to lie to Congress. And yet,...
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MORE TROUBLES FOR BINANCE
Binance, a major cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform, has come under regulatory fire from Hong Kong and Lithuanian officials, following crackdowns by Italy and the U.K. On 28 June, Britain’s market regulating agency banned the exchange from offering crypto derivatives, which it deems too risky for retail investors, and stock tokens, a Binance innovation that...
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EU SHOULD OVERSEE CRYPTOS, FRANCE SAYS
Cryptocurrencies in Europe should be overseen by the European Union’s (EU) market regulation agency, not individual nations, France has urged. Regulators across the continent are calling for tighter controls over digital money out of fears that criminal syndicates are using the $1.5-trillion crypto market to launder money and cloak drug-smuggling and other illegal activities. France...
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BLOCKCHAIN BATTLES
COINBASE CEO BITES BACK AT DOGECOIN CREATOR. Brian Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, a Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange, took to Twitter to reply to Dogecoin (DOGE) co-creator Jackson Palmer’s recent attack against cryptocurrencies. On Thursday, Armstrong outlined some of the most significant advantages of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), emphasizing that crypto is “simply...
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BITCOIN MINING GROWING IN U.S. AFTER CHINA CRACKDOWN
Following China’s ban on bitcoin mining, Nasdaq-listed BIT Digital is relocating 14,500 bitcoin ASIC miners to the United States. Following legal changes in China, the company stated in a statement on Thursday that it halted operations and has expedited its migration to North America, which began in October of last year. The majority of BIT...
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DEFI ON BITCOIN BEING DEVELOPED BY SQUARE
Square CEO Jack Dorsey has disclosed that the company is forming a new division dedicated to developing decentralized finance (DeFi) services based on the Bitcoin network. Friday tweets by Dorsey, also the founder and CEO of Twitter, announced: Square is creating a new business (joining Seller, Cash App, & Tidal) focused on building an open...