🇬🇧 UK to boost offshore wind with new leasing round next year

The UK will award another round of leases for offshore wind farms next year as it seeks to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

"By building more clean, homegrown power here in Britain, the country can show that it has learned from the Iran war, cut dependence on fossil fuels and protect itself from future energy shocks," — Energy Security Secretary Ed Miliband said.

Seabed manager The Crown Estate will launch its sixth leasing round in the first half of 2027, hoping to create as much as 6 gigawatts of new capacity, add 10,000 jobs and drive £12 billion ($16 billion) of investment. The UK has the world’s second-largest offshore wind market after China, and the government is looking to expand capacity to meet its ambition of a green grid by 2030.

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🖥 Nvidia to face class action lawsuit over alleged crypto mining revenue gaps

Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. in California has certified a class of investors alleging that Nvidia and its CEO, Jensen Huang, concealed the extent to which the company's gaming GPU revenues depended on sales tied to crypto mining between 2017 and 2018. Nvidia was unable to show that its statements about crypto mining revenue had no effect on its stock price, according to an order.

This allows the plaintiffs to move forward with a case alleging Nvidia hid over $1 billion in cryptomining GPU revenue in its gaming segment, reporting over the period. Anyone who bought Nvidia stock between August 10, 2017, and November 15, 2018, is included in the class action.

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🇹🇼 Chip Hub Taiwan keeps power prices unchanged despite war

Taiwan will keep its electricity rates unchanged for now to mitigate inflationary pressures from the war in the Middle East and support industrial competitiveness. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the sole chipmaker for Nvidia Corp.’s advanced AI accelerators and Apple Inc.’s iPhone processors, is the biggest industrial consumer on the island.

The decision was made despite a formula indicating a 1.8% rise would be justified based on the recent surge in global energy costs. The average power rate will remain at NT$3.7823 per kilowatt hour.

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🟥 Windows 11 KB5079391 update rolls out Smart App Control improvements

​Microsoft has released the KB5079391 preview cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, which includes 29 changes. It is gradually rolling out improvements to the Windows 11 Smart App Control security feature, allowing customers to toggle it without reinstalling the operating system. KB5079391 also includes a set of Display reliability improvements, such as support for monitors reporting refresh rates higher than 1000 Hz, native USB4 monitor connections, and improved HDR reliability.

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🇵🇭🇫🇷 Philippines, France sign military pact amid South China Sea tensions

The Philippines and France have signed a visiting forces agreement in Paris that would allow them to conduct joint ​military training in each other's territory, as Manila expands ‌defence ties amid rising tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea.

"The agreement will greatly bolster bilateral cooperation and offer an adequate level of legal ​protection to the joint activities between the Armed Forces of ​the Philippines and the French Armed Forces," — the Philippine defence department said.

The two also called for "the peaceful resolution of disputes" and the ​need to strengthen supply chain resilience in times of crisis. Aside from France, the Philippines also has the visiting forces agreements with the U.S., Australia, Japan, and New Zealand. 🤝

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🔥 Strengthening XRP Ledger security with AI for next phase of growth

XRPL is adopting a more proactive, AI-driven approach to identifying and addressing vulnerabilities before they reach production. New security efforts include AI-assisted testing, a dedicated red team, and higher standards for amendments and code changes. The goal is to continuously strengthen XRPL’s reliability as it scales to support global payments, tokenized assets, and institutional use cases.

Strategy is built on several key pillars:

▪️ Enhancing XRPL Software Development Lifecycle with AI — creating a layered model where issues can be identified earlier, tested more thoroughly, and mitigated faster at a scale that was previously not feasible.
▪️ Establishing a dedicated, AI-assisted red team focused on continuously analyzing the XRPL codebase and how features interact in real-world scenarios, not just in isolation. Fuzzing and automated adversarial testing guided by explicit threat models.
▪️Modernizing and Aligning the XRPL Codebase making the system more predictable, easier to reason about, and more resilient by design.
▪️It Takes A Village: Expanding the Ecosystem Security Effort — deepening collaboration with partners, including XRPL Commons, XRPL Foundation (XRPLF), independent security researchers, validator operators, and external security firms.
▪️ Raising the Bar for Amendment Security — defining and publishing these security criteria in collaboration with XRPLF, clearly establishing the bar for new amendments.
▪️Transparency with the XRPL Community — committing to openly sharing security disclosures, publishing findings, and communicating lessons learned with the broader community.

XRPL has proven its reliability over more than a decade of operation. The responsibility now is to ensure the ledger continues to meet the demands of global payments, tokenized assets, and institutional-grade financial infrastructure (e.g., Institutional DeFi roadmap). By investing in security improvements at every point of the development lifecycle, XRPL remains a trusted financial operating system for decades to come.

#Stellar

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🤖 Startup builds first responder drone connected via Starlink that enables eight mile range

BRINC announced the release of Guardian, the most capable 911 response drone ever. Beyond its cutting-edge camera and advanced autonomy, Guardian is the world's first Starlink-connected drone, representing not just a major advancement in emergency response, but a huge step for the American drone industry as a whole. Guardian can respond to calls up to 8 miles away and offers 62 minutes of flight time.

Aside from serving in medical and other emergencies, BRINC also built the drone for use with law enforcement. It comes with dual HD thermal zoom cameras, making it easier to spot individuals in low-light conditions. The drone also gets a speaker and a siren that’s reportedly three times louder than what you’d find on police cars, basically turning it into a tiny airborne police cruiser.

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👮‍♀️ European police targets violent Scottish crime gang behind drug trafficking

A violent Scottish crime gang, suspected of moving hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into Scotland and laundering millions in criminal profits, has ​been targeted by European police, Europol said, adding that the operation had resulted in 13 arrests. The pan-European police body said the ​operation against the gang, which it ​did not identify by name, involved police ⁠in Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, the UAE and Turkey.

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🌍 Aetherflux reportedly raising Series B at $2 billion valuation

Aetherflux the space solar power startup is in talks to raise $250 million to $350 million for a Series B round that would value the company at $2 billion. Aetherflux has shifted focus in recent months as it pushed its power-generating technology toward space data centers, deemphasizing the transmission of electricity to the Earth with lasers that was its starting vision.

“If you wanted to power AI with the technology that we were thinking about, it would be much more advantageous to actually put the chips in space, rather than project the power from space down to a terrestrial data center. Our goal is to build something that competes with terrestrial economics,” — said Baiju Bhatt, the founder of Aetherflux.

Space companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Starcloud, and others are now developing novel architectures for distributed compute in space. While Aetherflux plans to continue its experimentation in laser power transmission on a satellite bus built by Apex Space, the company’s first data center satellite is expected in 2027.

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💬 X launches X money metal Visa Card

X has introduced a new financial product as part of its expanding ecosystem, unveiling the X Money metal Visa debit card, which offers up to 6% annual percentage yield and 3% cashback. The card is currently being rolled out in beta.

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🇺🇸 Trump unveils announced new loan guarantees for beleaguered farmers

President Donald Trump said the loan guarantees would cover farmers and food suppliers, including vegetable, grain and seed farmers, cattle, pig and poultry producers, as well as grocery wholesalers and others. The White House argued that the moves will help reduce input costs for growers and wholesalers and bring down grocery costs for American consumers.

“You’re very, very special people,” — Trump said. “You voted for me. I will never forget that.”

Trump said his administration would also update renewable fuel standards for 2026 and 2027, a boost to biofuel producers. He said the new standards will “generate over $10 billion of rural economic benefit, create an estimated 100,000 new jobs and massively increase our nation’s energy supply.”

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🇦🇹 Austria plans to ban social media use for under-14s

Austria’s governing coalition announced plans to ban social media use for children under 14, joining a string of other countries in drawing up restrictions for young people. The draft legislation will be drawn up by the end of June. Technically modern methods of age verification will be used that allow users to verify their age while respecting their privacy.

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🤝 EU and CPTPP agree to progress with "historic" digital trade deal

The European Union and the parties to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership agreed to move ​forward with reaching a "historic" digital trade agreement between both ​trading blocs. The EU ​and parties to the CPTPP - a trade agreement which comprises 12 countries, including Japan, Britain, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia — met on ​the WTO ministerial conference in Cameroon.

"If this comes ​together, as it hopefully will, this will be historic. It will be ‌the ⁠largest trading agreement in civilization," — Maninder Sidhu, Canada's Minister of International Trade said.

The coming together of the two blocs which together represent 1.6 billion people and $35 trillion economies would be significant. This ​agreement could ⁠serve as a blueprint for a region-to-region track of work in digital trade.

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💊 White House works to win pharma companies’ support for drug pricing bill

The White House has drafted legislative text for its drug pricing policy, and officials are in the process of sharing it with more than a dozen major pharmaceutical companies. The legislative text, according to a White House official, closely follows the outlines of the voluntary deals the administration made with pharma companies.

The draft includes a policy that would allow drugs purchased in cash to count toward a patient’s deductible. The Trump administration’s push for drug price legislation is part of a larger effort to get health reforms signed into law.

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🇨🇳 China’s automobile giant unveils 375 kW hybrid EV with 1,240-mile range claim

Chinese EV maker Chery has opened pre-sales for its Fulwin T9L hybrid SUV, offering four trims — 135 Air, 135 Pro, 230 Pro, and the range-topping 230 Max. Built around efficiency and long-distance capability, the SUV uses a Rhino H hybrid battery with a capacity of 32.7 kWh. This enables an estimated all-electric driving range of about 84 miles or 143 miles, depending on the variant (based on the CLTC cycle), while total combined range is rated at up to 1,240 miles.

#BRICS

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💊 3-in-1 living pharmacy implant delivers continuous HIV, GLP-1, and diabetes drugs

Implantable drug delivery may soon look very different. Instead of daily pills or injections, patients could rely on tiny devices that produce medicine inside the body. A U.S.-led research team co-led by Northwestern University have built a new biohybrid system HOBIT — an implant that houses engineered cells capable of producing multiple therapies at once.

HOBIT is producing oxygen directly within the implant. The system uses electrochemical reactions to split nearby water molecules, ensuring a steady local supply. To test the platform, scientists engineered cells to produce three biologics simultaneously. These included an anti-HIV antibody, a GLP-1-like peptide used for type 2 diabetes, and leptin, which regulates appetite. The team implanted the device under the skin of rats and tracked drug levels over 30 days. Results showed consistent delivery across all three therapies in oxygen-supported implants.

The researchers now plan to test the device in larger animal models. A single implant could replace repeated dosing and reduce the burden on patients. If successful, the technology could simplify treatment for chronic diseases.

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🇷🇺 Russia set to ban gasoline exports from April 1 as prices jump

Russia has taken a major step to control fuel prices. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has ordered the Energy Ministry to prepare draft legislation. From April 1 to July 31, 2026, the country will ban all gasoline exports to secure domestic supply and stabilize rising costs.

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🤑 Ripple CEO warns against another weaponized Gensler moment if SEC-CFTC rules aren’t codified into law

Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse touted Ripple's growth since making some key acquisitions while also warning that additional crypto legislation may take longer than expected during the interview.

▪️In 2025, Ripple invested approximately $4 billion into the crypto ecosystem through investments, mergers, and acquisitions. That firm bought Hidden Road for $1.25 billion and GTreasury for $1 billion.

"We're going to have a record quarter," — he said, adding that Ripple has been "on a tear" after last year's high-profile buying spree.

This year, Ripple’s focus is on bringing these businesses together to unlock synergies rather than launching new ventures. Ripple aims to deepen corporate adoption, expand its brokerage arm, and strengthen the utility and trust in XRP.

▪️Garlinghouse called the joint framework a “huge step forward” after years of enforcement and urged Congress to codify SEC-CFTC guidance into law to avoid another Gensler-style crackdown that could harm crypto innovation and US competitiveness.

“We want to make sure that we can’t have another Gary Gensler moment where they try to weaponize policy in a way that is about politics, not about what’s good for the U.S., which is why we need to see these things codified,” — he argued.

▪️Complications with lawmakers agreeing on CLARITY's rules have slowed things down, Garlinghouse said. While he previously expected the act to be signed by the end of April, he now has it being finalized by the end of May.

“From this White House, we’re seeing amazing leadership to push this forward,” — Garlinghouse said. “I think we’re going to get there. It’s just taking a little longer than we thought.”

Passage of the key market structure bill would not materially change Ripple’s business but would “unlock” US banks that have been hesitant to engage with crypto and encourage more financial institutions to participate in the industry.

#Stellar

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🤝 WTO members bypass opposition to introduce world's first baseline digital trade rules

A group of World Trade Organization members agreed to sidestep adoption ​hurdles for the world's first baseline on digital trade rules, opting to ‌bring the agreement into force among consenting participants. The ​pact aims to foster an open environment for digital trade. The U.S. is not among the 66 countries to sign up for the agreement, with the issue currently under review by the ⁠U.S. administration.

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🇨🇦 Canada moves to ban crypto donations for election campaigns following UK

Canada’s federal government has moved to ban cryptocurrency donations to political campaigns, shutting down a fundraising channel. Bill C-25, the Strong and Free Elections Act, introduced March 26, would prohibit political contributions made in BTC and other cryptoassets, as well as in money orders and prepaid payment products, grouping them as forms of funding that are difficult to trace.

The ban applies across the registered parties, riding associations, candidates, leadership and nomination contestants, and third parties engaged in election advertising. The move comes as U.K. government has also recently announced an immediate moratorium on cryptocurrency donations to political parties, citing concerns that digital assets could be used to hide the origins of foreign money in British politics.

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🇰🇪 Death toll from Kenyan floods rises to 108

Weeks of heavy rains and flooding have ​now killed 108 people ‌in Kenya, the National Police Service said ​in an updated ​death toll. Flash floods, which began ⁠on the evening ​of March 6, have caused ​widespread destruction in the East African nation, sweeping away dozens ​of vehicles, disrupting ​air travel, and damaging power infrastructure.

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