Source: CoinDesk
“Bitcoin briefly traded above $67,000 late Monday before slipping back under $66,000 in a move that is indicative of how cautiously crypto is treating the Iran peace deal that has rallied other markets. The token changed hands at $65,845 on Tuesday, up 0.3% over 24 hours and 4.8% on the week, per CoinDesk data. It touched a 24-hour high of $67,217 before fading. Ether held up better, rising 2.8% on the day to $1,764 and 5.8% on the week. Solana gained 3.2% to $73, XRP added 3.2% to $1.22 and Hyperliquid’s HYPE led the majors again, up 6.3% to $69.” (06/16/26)
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/06/16/profit-taking-across-bitcoin-ether-solana-as-traders-wait-on-the-iran-signing
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Caleb O Brown & Jeffrey A Singer
“If reports are correct that Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary resigned under pressure from the White House to approve flavored nicotine vaping products, the episode says a great deal about the state of American tobacco policy. Cigarettes remain legal, ubiquitous, and extraordinarily deadly. Yet smoke-free alternatives that may help adults move away from combustible tobacco continue to trigger political panic out of proportion to the actual public health trade-offs involved. There is something deeply unserious about how Washington talks about nicotine. Cigarettes, the most dangerous products in the category, remain widely available. Smoke-free alternatives, however, are often treated as if their very existence is beyond the pale.” (06/15/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/tobacco-world-as-it-is/
Source: Reuters
“An international court found that Russia flouted some sea laws during the construction of the Kerch Strait bridge between mainland Russia and annexed Crimea, but dismissed Ukraine’s claims that Moscow was unlawfully trying to keep the strait under its sole control, a ruling published on Monday showed. The case at the Hague-based intergovernmental Permanent Court of Arbitration was filed in 2016 after Moscow began building the 19-km (12-mile) Crimea Bridge link to the peninsula. In a ruling dated April 22 but only announced on Monday, as per the arbitration court’s procedures, the court dismissed the majority of Kyiv’s claims about Russia’s control over the strait on procedural grounds.” (06/15/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/arbitration-tribunal-rejects-bulk-ukraines-kerch-strait-case-against-russia-2026-06-15/
Source: Cato Institute
by Norbert J Michel
“True liberty cannot exist without economic and financial autonomy. Every individual, regardless of their background, must have the right to protect their wealth. They must have the right to access open markets by transacting freely, without the shadow of state corporatism or financial surveillance. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are a direct threat to these rights. They are money that can be programmed by the government. They can be turned off completely or just for spending on items the state disapproves of. They are a surveillance-punishment system dressed in the language of financial innovation.” (06/15/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/when-money-has-switch-so-does-freedom
Source: SFGate
“The British government acted lawfully when it banned the protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, the Court of Appeal in London ruled on Monday. Chief Justice Sue Carr said the group went far beyond staging non-violent demonstrations to launch destructive attacks on defense companies, banks, and a military base. ‘It is not, as claimed, a direct action civil disobedience protest group like the suffragettes, operating transparently in the open,’ Carr said. ‘It is a covert organization which operates with secret cells to avoid the detection and prosecution of those using violence to destroy property and cause injury.’ The ruling overturned a February decision by three senior High Court judges who found that, despite the group promoting its political cause through some crimes, the scale of its activities did not warrant a ban.” (06/15/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/uk-s-ban-on-palestine-action-under-terror-22305417.php
