Russia says Black Sea incident was ‘blatant provocation’ by Britain June 23, 2021 The Russian Foreign Ministry has called the passage of a British warship in the Black Sea that was within earshot of fire from Russian guns “blatant provocation”. UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace has since denied claims from the Russian ministry that Britain’s ambassador had been summoned over the incident. “As I speak now, our ambassador has [...]
Not Satoshi’s vision: Is MicroStrategy in danger of becoming Bitcoin’s central bank? June 22, 2021 Something strange has happened over the past several months, and it’s transpired right under everyone’s noses – Bitcoin has become centralized. During the course of the pandemic, one by one, publicly traded companies have lined up to buy (relatively) cheap BTC, but one has outbought them all. Microstrategy now holds more than 105,000 total Bitcoin [...]
Russian boss of Gazprom-backed boxing body AIBA turns to man who lifted lid on Russian state-sponsored doping to lead corruption probes June 17, 2021 Richard McLaren, the Canadian law professor and sports investigator, is best known for exposing Russia for state-sponsored doping. So eyebrows were raised this week when it emerged that McLaren had been hired by one of Russia’s most powerful sports administrators. Umar Kremlev has called on McLaren Global Sports Solutions as part of his bid to [...]
Biden–Putin summit: Leaders agree to resume talks after ‘constructive’ discussions June 16, 2021 US president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin today discussed in detail steps they will take on arms control at a “positive” summit in Geneva. Putin at a press conference described the talks, lasting less than four hours, as “extremely constructive” without any hostility. Biden echoed similar remarks at a separate press conference, saying they [...]
Ryanair boss says UK and EU flying bans over Belarus ‘not the way forward’ June 15, 2021 The UK and EU’s bans on flights crossing over Belarussian airspace is “not the way forward” and should not be in place long-term, according to Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary. O’Leary told MPs today that the Belarussian government’s move to ground a Ryanair flight and detain an opposition journalist was a “state sponsored hijacking”, but [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Ukraine told to change Russia-baiting Euro 2020 kit; Germany muscles in on London NFL patch; beIN and Channel 4 bag rights deals June 10, 2021 Euro 2020 may not have started yet but it has already kicked off between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine tweaked the nose of Russia earlier this week when it revealed a Moscow-baiting new football kit, to be worn at Euro 2020. The yellow shirt features a map of Ukraine that includes Crimea, which Russia annexed in [...]
Nobody review – John Wick style comedy hits the target June 8, 2021 Movie fans love an unlikely action hero. It’s easy to forget that legends like Bruce Willis and Liam Neeson were better known for other genres before they started to take out bad guys, but even the most ardent Bob Odenkirk fan would admit seeing him in this type of movie is a surprise. In many [...]
US recovers $2.3m from Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack June 7, 2021 US authorities today said they had recovered around $2.3m (£1.6m) in cryptocurrency from the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline. US deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said investigators had seized 63.7 Bitcoins, now valued at about $2.3m, paid by Colonial after last month’s hack that sparked major shortages at petrol stations along the east coast. [...]
Kremlin critic Navalny returns to prison after hunger strike hospital recovery June 7, 2021 Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who was sentenced to 2.5 years in February, has been returned to prison after recovering from a hunger strike at a hospital in a different prison. The opposition politician had declared a hunger strike in late March in a bid for better medical care in prison after experiencing acute leg and [...]
20 times that AI has tried to make it in the music business June 4, 2021 Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming omnipresent across every segment of cultural and economic activity. But this phenomenon is not new – AI has been trying to carve a name for itself in the music business as a collaborator, composer, artist and lyricist since 1951… 1) The first computer generated music (1951) In 1951 British mathematician Alan [...]