“Bitcoin’s expected volatility has fallen to the lowest level in nine months, as subdued trading and a shift in speculative interest away from the largest cryptocurrency dampen demand for options protection. The Bitcoin Volmex Implied Volatility Index fell to 36.11 Monday in Singapore, its lowest since September last year and close to its lowest since 2023. The index reflects the market’s expected 30-day volatility in Bitcoin, derived from real-time crypto options prices.” (05/26/26)
“Ireland aims to pass a law curbing goods trade with settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by mid-July with Israel, some U.S. lawmakers and business groups opposing the move, Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said on Tuesday. Ireland’s government, one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, first promised to sanction Israeli settlements in October 2024. The legislation has since been held up by pressure from opposition politicians who aimed to extend the ban also to services trade, on one side, and international company lobbyists seeking to scrap the bill, on the other. Sources told Reuters last October that the bill was set to be limited to goods. Prime Minister Micheal Martin confirmed that last week and said widening the scope to services was neither ‘implementable’ nor ‘viable.'” (05/26/26)
“As U.S. kamikaze drones guided by Elon Musk’s Starlink network began to make visible gains in the war against Iran, senior SpaceX officials reached a conclusion: The Pentagon should be paying more for access to their satellite Wi-Fi network. Within weeks of the United States launching its bombing campaign, SpaceX executives met Pentagon officials and argued the military had been paying about $5,000 for connection per terminal while effectively using a higher tier of service worth closer to $25,000, according to two sources familiar with the matter and Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters. … The Pentagon, which is seeking to help Iranian citizens bypass government-imposed communications blackouts, has also been at odds with SpaceX over pricing for a plan to provide the populace direct-to-cell connections with Starlink akin to 5G service, two of the sources said.” (05/26/26)
“The Dutch government is blocking a United States-based company’s attempts to acquire a key online identification IT supplier. Dutch firm Solvinity runs a platform for the country’s DigiD app, which allows the country’s citizens to authenticate themselves online when they want to book a doctor’s appointment, buy a house or interact with public authorities. In November, U.S.-based Kyndryl announced it would acquire Solvinity, triggering concerns that a key Dutch online identification tool would fall under foreign control. Across Europe, there have been increased concerns about the bloc’s reliance on U.S. technology. … The decision comes a week before the European Commission is set to unveil its tech sovereignty package, a set of proposals to reduce Europe’s reliance on foreign technology in the areas of cloud, microchips and AI.” (05/26/26)
“The high-flying lawyer repping disgraced former JPMorgan banker Chirayu Rana in his salacious sex-slave lawsuit has suddenly dropped his client — just hours before a court hearing, The Post has learned. Daniel Kaiser, who previously repped Jeffrey Epstein accusers, filed a consent to be ‘discharged’ as attorney for Rana just hours before they were due to appear in court on Tuesday. Shockingly, the document reveals that Rana does not have a new lawyer lined up, and will be representing himself ‘pro se’ until he decides to find a new attorney. … JPMorgan Chase executive Lorna Hajdini — who Rana claims turned him into a sex slave — has since filed defamation claims against him.” (05/26/26)
“A Canadian teenager is facing arson charges after authorities say she torched a charter bus belonging to an American professional baseball team during a road trip to Winnipeg, Canada. The Kane County Cougars, a U.S.-based independent professional baseball team, were traveling in Canada for games against the Winnipeg Goldeyes. On May 21, law enforcement agencies responded to the team’s bus engulfed in flames outside Blue Cross Park, according to Winnipeg Police Service. Authorities determined that the fire was intentionally set. Two teenagers were initially taken into custody. A 15-year-old girl has since been charged with arson causing damage to property and possession of incendiary material.” (05/25/26)
“Fresh off last week’s primary loss, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., announced Monday he had filed paperwork for a 2028 run for the House — or something else. ‘I filed with the [Federal Election Commission] for the 2028 House race. This allows me to raise funds to continue my political operations supporting my position as a current office holder and as a potential candidate for federal office,’” Massie wrote on X. ‘I haven’t made a final decision about which office to seek, if I run,’ he added. In an interview Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ Massie declined to rule out a 2028 presidential bid.” (05/25/26)
“Rescuers are racing against time to free seven people who have been trapped for nearly a week in a flooded cave in Laos. The seven were part of a group of villagers from the central province of Xaysomboun who had gone into the cave on Wednesday in search of gold and wildlife, but could not get out as rain and landslides blocked the cave’s entrance. Footage shared by the rescue groups show the cave divers crawling into the cave through narrow, muddy passageways that are almost completely flooded. Several experts involved in the dramatic rescue of a team of teenage footballers trapped deep inside a Thai cave back in 2018 are among those helping with the current rescue effort. A survivor who had managed to escape alerted the authorities about those still trapped, according to reports.” (05/26/26)
“Senegal is mired in a deep political crisis after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Friday sacked the popular Ousmane Sonko and dissolved the government after months of tensions. Sonko’s election as parliament speaker comes a day after Faye named senior economist Ahmadou Al Aminou, former regional central bank official, as prime minister. … Faye essentially owes his position to Sonko, his one time mentor who would almost certainly have taken the top job had he not been barred from running in the last presidential election due to a defamation conviction. The two men have fallen out in recent months as Senegal battles public debt. Faye wants to discuss a new aid programme with the IMF, while Sonko prefers a domestic, sovereigntist approach.” (05/26/260
“French rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot has told the BBC she is ‘deeply shocked’ that three teenage boys have been spared custodial sentences over the rape of two girls in Hampshire. The girls, then aged 15 and 14, were raped in separate incidents in Fordingbridge in November 2024 and January 2025, by two 14-year-olds. Another boy, then 13, was also convicted for his involvement in the second attack. The judge had said last week he wanted to avoid criminalizing the ‘very young’ boys. The youth rehabilitation order sentences handed to the boys are being referred to the Court of Appeal by the attorney general. Pelicot said she ‘saluted the strength’ and courage of one of the girls for speaking out.” (05/26/26)
