FBI Blames North Korea for $6 Billion Binance Theft

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, paused withdrawals this past week after a hack led to a massive theft of over $6 billion worth of crypto. 

Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, which called it the largest crypto theft on record, tied it to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. The FBI also said Saturday that North Korea was responsible for the theft.

Binance said its users would not bear the losses and had had used company assets and insurance funds for 90% of the stolen assets, sparing users the losses. The company has said they plan to allow customer withdrawals to resume in phases beginning on Sunday.

 

The Right Wins in BC While Falling Short in Brazil, Serbia

Voters in British Columbia, Brazil, and Serbia went to the polls this month, with the conservatives emerging victorious in one while falling short in the others.

In British Columbia, Lorne Doerkson’s B.C. Conservatives won 64 of 93 seats and 48% of the vote, ousting incumbent Premier David Eby’s New Democrats. Turnout, 48.1%, was the lowest since at least 1996. Analysts blamed Eby’s early snap call and Green vote-splitting. Eby conceded and resigned as NDP leader, while Doerkson pledged to “hit the ground running.” The final count is Nov. 6, and no swearing-in date has been set.

In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT) won re-election 51.79% to 48.21%, over Liberal Party Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, the son his predecessor. Turnout was about 81%, up from the first round after Lula’s camp staged mass rallies; Bolsonaro had campaigned on fighting crime. This result was considered an upset, given polling showing Bolsonaro in the lead.

In Serbia, the student-backed Student List opposition won 52.5% to 39.3% for former President Aleksandar Vucic’s conservative United Serbia bloc, preliminary electoral-commission results show. Turnout was 68.8%, the highest since Yugoslavia’s breakup. The list grew out of protests after a 2024 station-canopy collapse killed 16. and have since become anti-corruption and anti-establishment focused. The list has not named a prime minister. Final results are due in early November, and parliament must convene within 30 days of them.

 

Actor Patrick Stewart Dies at 86

Legendary British actor Patrick Stewart, whose career spanned Shakespearean theater to animated comedic voice roles, dies this past week at 86 after a previously undisclosed battle with Alzheimer’s and Lewy Body Dementia.

Stewart was born on July 13, 1940 and began his acting career on stage, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966. Over the next two decades, he acted in numerous plays, television series, films, including Fall of Eagles (1974), I, Claudius (1976), and Dune (1984). In 1987, he started his signature role as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

He continued being an active actor in his later years, including his role as Professor X in the X-Men franchise as well as his acclaimed role in the animated series American Dad! as CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock, whose physical likeness was also based on Stewart.

In addition to his acting work, Stewart was also known for his humanitarian activism.

Previous co-stars paid tribute to Stewart, including his long-time friend and collaborator Ian McKellen as well as fellow Star Trek franchise star William Shatner.

 

GOP Tries to Stop Bleeding Ahead of Midterms

President Donald Trump and Republican leaders have begun campaigning for vulnerable candidates in the midterms as low polling plagues both Trump and GOP nominees for federal and state offices.

Trump has begun increasing his trips to battleground states in an attempt to shore up support among the party faithful, though the expanded battleground map, which now includes Republican states such as Alaska, Texas, Kansas, and Iowa, has put a strain on resources, both monetarily and logistically.

 Potentially competitive Democratic-held Senate seats include Michigan, Minnesota, and New Hampshire. 

Polo Weakens as Its Moisture Fuels Flooding in the Southwest

Hurricane Polo, which became the third Category 5 hurricane of the Pacific season last week, made landfall late Monday night in Baja California Sur as a strong Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph.

After crossing the Gulf of California, Polo came ashore again just east of Guaymas, Sonora, as a Category 1 hurricane, bringing flooding, power outages and fallen trees before weakening to a tropical storm inland. Before Polo reached Baja, the Santa Elena River in Jalisco overflowed and swept away a family's home in Talpa de Allende, killing both parents and two children. .

In the US, Polo and a jet-stream disturbance are pushing atmospheric moisture near or above record levels for late September across parts of the Southwest. Storms had already caused flash flooding Monday, prompting several water rescues in Bullhead City, Arizona. Flood watches covered about 28 million people early Tuesday, and Maricopa County sheriff's deputies performed several water rescues in and around Phoenix. Forecasters expect the threat to spread into the Plains and Midwest over the week.

 

25 Years After 9/11, Familiar Rituals and Unfinished Business

A quarter-century after hijacked airliners struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, this month's anniversary kept its familiar rituals, with names read aloud and bells tolled.

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 al Qaeda hijackers seized four commercial jets, killing 2,977 people. More than 9,000 members of the federal World Trade Center Health Program have since died, though the program's death count includes deaths from all causes. This year, organizers added a seventh moment of silence for those lost to 9/11-related illnesses.

The attacks were followed by the 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, conflicts in which thousands of American service members and far more Afghans and Iraqis were killed. At home, they prompted the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration and passage of the Patriot Act, while reshaping debates over surveillance and the treatment of Muslim Americans.

All four living former presidents attended the Ground Zero ceremony, which has barred speeches by politicians since 2012. President Trump spoke at the Pentagon.

For many families, the milestone underscored unfinished business. The military trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind, and three co-defendants is scheduled to begin June 5, 2028. Terry Strada, whose husband died in the North Tower, drew cheers as she accused administration after administration, including the former presidents seated before her, of protecting Saudi Arabia rather than standing with the families. The kingdom has repeatedly denied involvement in the attacks.

 

Tim Cook Steps Down as Apple CEO

Tim Cook stepped down Monday as CEO of Apple, a position he has held since August 2011, when Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO just months before his death.

Cook, building upon the innovation of the Jobs era, grew Apple’s market capitalization more than tenfold during his tenure.

Cook steps down at a pivotal time for the company as Apple pursues a more cautious, device-integrated AI strategy while competitors race ahead with large-scale generative AI services.

 

Death Toll from Nepal-China Border Floods Rises to 903

Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said Monday morning that 903 bodies had been recovered amid the disastrous flooding along the Nepalese-Chinese border, with over four thousand people remaining missing. Chinese authorities reported 16 dead and 546 missing in Gyirong County in the Tibet Autonomous Region as of Saturday evening.

Chinese officials said a glacier on the south slope of Mount Langtang Lirung in Nepal fractured at an elevation of about 5,200 meters, triggering an ice-rock avalanche that scoured the mountainside and developed into a massive debris flow. Chinese scientists said the flow reached Gyirong Port in about six to seven minutes.

A barrier lake formed by the landslide had largely drained by Sunday, Chinese authorities said, but a new landslide farther downstream created another barrier and lake, prompting continued monitoring and safety measures. Nepali scientists have also been examining the chain of events behind the flooding.

Indian, Chinese and South Korean tunnel-rescue specialists were mobilized over the weekend to support the search and rescue effort. Further rain and rising river levels remained a threat in affected areas.

 

English Actor Tim Curry, Known for His Comedic Roles, Dies at 80

Tim Curry, the English actor whose relish for outsize characters made Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Pennywise the Clown fixtures of popular culture, died on Aug. 25 at his home in the Toluca Lake section of Los Angeles. He was 80.

His longtime manager, Marcia Hurwitz, confirmed the death through a publicist with no cause was given, but Curry had previously suffered a debilitating stroke in 2012, limiting his mobility.

Born April 19, 1946, in Grappenhall, Cheshire, he was the son of a Royal Navy chaplain who died when he was 12. He studied English and drama at the University of Birmingham and joined the original London cast of "Hair.” He achieved international fame in the 1975 film ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ which initially flopped in its initial release before becoming a midnight-movie staple. He also appeared in the films "Clue," "Legend" and "Home Alone 2," and played Pennywise the Clown in the 1990 miniseries "It."

Curry later appeared in several children’s entertainment pieces, including as Long John Silver in “Muppet’s Treasure Island” and as Nigel Thornberry in the “The Wild Thornberrys.”

He received three Tony nominations and two Olivier nominations, and won a 1991 Daytime Emmy for voice work. His memoir, "Vagabond," was published last year. Curry never married and had no children.

King Harald V of Norway Dies at 89

King Harald V of Norway, Europe's oldest reigning monarch, died Friday at Oslo University Hospital at 89. The palace said he had been admitted on Aug. 17 with fluid retention, a complication of cortisone treatment for a blood disorder, and that he later developed an infection.

Born Feb. 21, 1937, at Skaugum in Asker, he was the first Norwegian prince born in the country since Olav IV in 1370. After Germany's 1940 invasion he fled with his mother and two sisters to Sweden and then to the United States, while his father and grandfather went into exile in Britain. A lifelong sailor, he carried Norway's flag at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and competed again in 1968 and 1972, winning the One Ton Cup world championship in 1987. In 1968, after a nine-year courtship, he married Sonja Haraldsen, a commoner, having worn down his father's long resistance to the marriage.

Harald succeeded his father Olav V on Jan. 17, 1991, and reigned for 35 years, declining to abdicate as several other again European monarchs elected. Among his most remembered addresses was the one he gave after Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 attacks, which killed 77 people; he told Norwegians he had faith that freedom was stronger than fear. He is survived by Queen Sonja, two children and five grandchildren. His son succeeds him as King Haakon VIII.

 

Investigation Continues into Hayden Panettiere Death

Actress Hayden Panettiere, known for roles in “Heroes” and “Nashville,” died August 16 in Greenville, South Carolina, at age 36. She was found unresponsive and in cardiac arrest at an apartment, where emergency personnel attempted resuscitation, authorities said.

The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said an autopsy found no signs of trauma that would have contributed to her death. Police said their preliminary investigation found no indications of foul play or suspicious circumstances. The cause and manner of death remain pending toxicology and other testing, and the investigation remains active.

Police records identify Panettiere’s on-again, off-again partner, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson, as being at the apartment. Hickerson showed officers a bag of medication Panettiere was taking. The report does not establish whether medication, drugs or alcohol contributed to her death. The Drug Enforcement Administration joined the investigation, according to sources cited by ABC News, though officials have not publicly explained its role.

Panettiere began acting as a child, rose to prominence as Claire Bennet on “Heroes,” and earned two Golden Globe nominations for playing Juliette Barnes on “Nashville.” Her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, was published in May.

 

Dolly Parton, Country Music’s Defining Figure, Dies at 80

Dolly Parton, the songwriter and performer who rose from poverty in the Smoky Mountains to become one of the most recognizable figure in country music, died Aug. 25 at 80 at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, surrounded by loved ones. Her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said she died after a brief battle with cancer (the type was not disclosed).

Ms. Parton was born Jan. 19, 1946, in Sevier County, Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children of a sharecropper who could neither read nor write. She sang on local radio as a girl and moved to Nashville the day after graduating high school in 1964. Her breakthrough came on Porter Wagoner's television program. Wagoner continued producing her records for two more years after she left the program, and Parton marked her farewell to Wagoner with "I Will Always Love You," a song that became a worldwide standard after Whitney Houston recorded it in 1992. "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors" and "9 to 5" rank among Parton’s other enduring compositions.

By most estimates she sold more than 100 million records, and she won 11 Grammy Awards, including a lifetime achievement honor. She acted in several films, including "9 to 5" and "Steel Magnolias."

Parton helped launch the Dollywood theme park in 1986, and in 1995 founded the Imagination Library, which has mailed more than 332 million books to children from birth to age 5 across five countries. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Her husband of nearly 59 years, Carl Dean, died in March 2025.

 

Seattle Food Festival Shooting Leaves 3 Dead, 4 Hurt

Three people were killed and at least four wounded Sunday, July 26, when two groups exchanged gunfire during the Bite of Seattle festival at Seattle Center, police said. The dead were a 44-year-old man and a 56-year-old woman, both bystanders, and a 19-year-old man police believe was one of the shooters. A 15-year-old is in juvenile detention. Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes called the shooting targeted and gang-related, said police are seeking at least one more, unidentified suspect, and said investigators don't yet know who fired the fatal shots.

 

Burnham Becomes UK Prime Minister as Starmer Exits

Andy Burnham became Britain's prime minister on July 20, appearing outside 10 Downing Street shortly after Starmer's departure. "I go with good grace, I go with a smile," Starmer told his wife, cabinet and colleagues on Monday, ending a premiership that began with a landslide win just two years earlier.

Starmer resigned as Labour leader on June 22, having clung on after May elections in which Labour lost nearly 1,500 English council seats and power in Wales, where it fell to third with nine of 96 Senedd seats. Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 until his automatic disqualification in June, was blocked by Labour's NEC from contesting a February by-election but entered Parliament by winning Makerfield on June 18, after its MP resigned to make way. He was declared leader unopposed on July 17, backed by 379 of Labour's 403 lawmakers. Burnham is Britain's seventh prime minister since 2016. He inherits a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living squeeze and overstretched public services, though Labour has since drawn level with Reform UK in the polls. "I will work to build a new politics. The country is crying out for it," he said on becoming leader. The next general election is due by August 15, 2029.

 

Spain Wins Second World Cup, Beating Argentina 1-0 in Extra Time

Spain won its second World Cup title on July 19, beating defending champion Argentina 1-0 in extra time before a crowd of more than 80,000 at MetLife Stadium.

Substitute Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute, finishing a header back from Nico Williams after a cross from Pedro Porro, early in the second period of extra time. Argentina had been a man down since second-half stoppage time, when midfielder Enzo Fernández was sent off for a second bookable offense. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez was credited with 11 saves, a record for a World Cup final, though Argentina became the first finalist not to attempt a shot in regulation time.

Spain, coached by Luis de la Fuente, completed the tournament unbeaten, conceding one goal in eight matches. Rodri won the Golden Ball, Unai Simón the Golden Glove and defender Pau Cubarsí the Best Young Player award. France's Kylian Mbappé took the Golden Boot with 10 goals. Lionel Messi, 39, became the oldest outfield player to appear in a final. England beat France 6-4 for third place.

The tournament, held June 11 to July 19, was the first men's World Cup with 48 teams and 104 matches, and the first co-hosted by three countries, with matches played in 11 U.S. cities, three Mexican cities and two Canadian cities. FIFA reported 6.8 million spectators, nearly double the 1994 total across twice as many matches, at 99.7% of capacity.

All three hosts reached the knockout stage and exited in the round of 16: Canada to Morocco, Mexico to England, the United States to Belgium. Bank of America reported host-city spending up 6.3% year over year from June 10 to 21, though economists noted international arrivals trailed projections and most tournament revenue accrued to FIFA.

 

Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan Dies at 100

Alan Greenspan, who led the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades and shaped the contours of modern American economic policy, died June 22 at his home in Washington at 100 from complications from Parkinson's disease. He is survived by his wife, NBC correspondent and journalist Andrea Mitchell. 

Born in 1926 in New York City, he received three degrees from New York University after a stint at Juilliard. Greenspan served five terms as Fed chairman under four presidents, from Ronald Reagan through George W. Bush, stepping down in January 2006 after the second-longest tenure in the institution's history.

His chairmanship was widely celebrated during his tenure. He allowed the unemployment rate to fall well below levels that would typically have prompted rate increases, helping sustain one of the longest expansions in American history. But his legacy grew complicated after his departure in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, with some arguing his promotion of financial deregulation and failure to discourage risky mortgage lending helped lead to the financial crisis. Greenspan himself acknowledged mistakes in his own statements after his Fed chairmanship ended.

 

World Cup 2026 Recap

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, the first to feature 48 teams and to span three host nations, completed its group stage Saturday, with the Round of 32 starting Sunday. Through 66 matches, 196 goals have been scored, for an average of nearly three per game. Lionel Messi became the tournament's all-time leading scorer. Cape Verde, in their World Cup debut, became the smallest nation ever to reach the knockout rounds. The United States and France each won their groups, while defending champion Argentina advanced.

 

Venezuela Earthquakes Kill More Than 1,400

Two powerful earthquakes struck northern Venezuela within seconds of each other on the evening of June 24, killing at least 1,430 people as of Saturday and leaving rescuers racing to find survivors buried beneath collapsed buildings across the capital and the coast.

The first earthquake, measuring magnitude 7.2, struck near Yumare, in Yaracuy state, at 6:04 p.m. local time and was classified as a foreshock. It was followed 39 seconds later by a 7.5-magnitude mainshock that was the strongest tremor to hit the country in more than 125 years. At least 3,200 people have been injured, and 13 hospitals were damaged across the country.

Damage was concentrated in La Guaira and Caracas, where dozens of buildings collapsed. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello identified the Los Palos Grandes and Altamira neighborhoods as the worst-affected parts of the city. In La Guaira, volunteers dug through wreckage with their hands nearly 24 hours after the earthquakes, facing a shortage of heavy equipment and very limited government assistance.

The disaster compounds an already severe crisis:. With nearly 8 million people inside Venezuela were already in need of urgent humanitarian support before the earthquakes struck.

The United States announced $150 million in aid, deploying search-and-rescue teams and directing the amphibious transport ship USS Fort Lauderdale and the USS Billings to support relief operations. Colombia announced it would send more than 60 rescuers and four search dogs, while Spain said it would deploy a field hospital. The United Nations coordinated the rapid deployment of urban search-and-rescue teams to Venezuela.

 

Harambe Remembered Ten Years Later

Ten years ago Thursday, the 17-year-old western lowland gorilla Harambe was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo after a three-year-old boy fell into his enclosure. Born on May 27, 1999, at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, Harambe had been transferred to Cincinnati in 2014.

The zoo's decision to shoot him rather than risk a tranquilizer, which could have taken minutes to work and potentially agitated Harambe, set off a petition that collected over half a million signatures and launched what became one of the internet's most durable meme cycles. The Cincinnati Zoo director said publicly that the zoo was "not amused" by the jokes and petitions, and the zoo eventually deactivated their Twitter temporarily.

What followed over the next decade was harder to categorize. The memes, often absurdist, irreverent, occasionally pointed, became a shorthand for a particular strain of Millennial and Gen Z humor. This week, on the eve of the anniversary, the official White House account on X posted a lengthy tribute calling Harambe "an icon that became part of internet history, American culture, and an entire generation's timeline," and referred to him as a "true patriot." The post sparked immediate debate, with some finding it nostalgic and others questioning whether the gesture was appropriate for an official government account. Whatever one makes of it, the fact that the White House felt the moment worth marking says something about how thoroughly a gorilla from Brownsville worked his way into the American cultural fabric.

 

SpaceX IPO Nears Reality

SpaceX filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC on May 20th, putting the world's most anticipated IPO on an official countdown. The prospectus targets up to $75 billion in proceeds at a valuation approaching $2 trillion. The filing revealed that Musk controls 85% of shareholder votes and that the company lost nearly $5 billion last year, driven in part by AI division spending. Starlink is the only profitable segment.

 For markets, the deal would reset expectations around private-to-public transitions and test whether retail investors, allocated 30% of the offering, three times the typical share, will absorb that risk willingly.