An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Binance is hoping that suing (PDF) The Wall Street Journal for defamation might help shake off a fresh round of government probes into how the cryptocurrency exchange failed to detect $1.7 billion in transfers to a network that was funding Iran-backed terror groups. The lawsuit comes after a Wall Street Journal investigation, based on conversations with insiders and reviews of internal documents, reported that Binance had quietly dismantled its own investigation into the unlawful transfers and then fired compliance staff who initially flagged them.

Alleging that the report falsely accused Binance of retaliation -- among 10 other allegedly false claims -- Binance accused the Journal of conducting a "sham" investigation that intentionally disregarded the company's statements. That included supposedly failing to note that Binance had not closed its investigation into the unlawful transfers. Binance's role in the large-scale violation of US sanctions laws is currently being investigated by the Justice and Treasury Departments. Congress members also took notice, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), who launched an additional inquiry. In a letter to Binance CEO Richard Teng, Blumenthal cited the Journal's report, as well as reporting from The New York Times and Fortune, while demanding that Binance explain how it managed to overlook the money-laundering for so long and why compliance staff members were fired.

In its complaint Wednesday, Binance claimed that these probes may "be just the tip of the iceberg" if the record is not corrected. The reputational harm is particularly damaging, the exchange noted, since Binance has allegedly worked hard to strengthen its compliance after reaching a settlement with the US government in 2023. In taking that plea deal, Binance admitted to violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws and paid a $4.3 billion fine, and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, eventually pled guilty to a related charge. Since that scandal, Binance claimed that the WSJ has "made a business of maligning both the cryptocurrency industry generally and Binance specifically." That's why the Journal allegedly rushed to publish its story following a similar New York Times investigation. Alleging that the WSJ was financially motivated to publish a negative story that would get more clicks, Binance claimed the Journal provided little time to respond and then failed to make necessary corrections before and after publication.

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Nvidia is preparing to launch an open-source AI agent platform called NemoClaw, designed to compete with the likes of OpenClaw. According to Wired, the platform will allow enterprise software companies to dispatch AI agents to perform tasks for their own workforces. "Companies will be able to access the platform regardless of whether their products run on Nvidia's chips," the report adds. From the report: The move comes as Nvidia prepares for its annual developer conference in San Jose next week. Ahead of the conference, Nvidia has reached out to companies including Salesforce, Cisco, Google, Adobe, and CrowdStrike to forge partnerships for the agent platform. It's unclear whether these conversations have resulted in official partnerships. Since the platform is open source, it's likely that partners would get free, early access in exchange for contributing to the project, sources say. Nvidia plans to offer security and privacy tools as part of this new open-source agent platform. [...]

For Nvidia, NemoClaw appears to be part of an effort to court enterprise software companies by offering additional layers of security for AI agents. It's also another step in the company's embrace of open-source AI models, part of a broader strategy to maintain its dominance in AI infrastructure at a time when leading AI labs are building their own custom chips. Nvidia's software strategy until now has been heavily reliant on its CUDA platform, a famously proprietary system that locks developers into building software for Nvidia's GPUs and has created a crucial "moat" for the company.

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YouTube is expanding its AI deepfake detection tools to a pilot group of politicians, government officials, and journalists, allowing them to identify and request removal of unauthorized AI-generated videos impersonating them. TechCrunch reports: The technology itself launched last year to roughly 4 million YouTube creators in the YouTube Partner Program, following earlier tests. Similar to YouTube's existing Content ID system, which detects copyright-protected material in users' uploaded videos, the likeness detection feature looks for simulated faces made with AI tools. These tools are sometimes used to try to spread misinformation and manipulate people's perception of reality, as they leverage the deepfaked personas of notable figures -- like politicians or other government officials -- to say and do things in these AI videos that they didn't in real life.

With the new pilot program, YouTube aims to balance users' free expression with the risks associated with AI technology that can generate a convincing likeness of a public figure. [...] [Leslie Miller, YouTube's vice president of Government Affairs and Public Policy] explained that not all of the detected matches would be removed when requested. Instead, YouTube would evaluate each request under its existing privacy policy guidelines to determine whether the content is parody or political critique, which are protected forms of free expression. The company noted it's advocating for these protections at a federal level, too, with its support for the NO FAKES Act in D.C., which would regulate the use of AI to create unauthorized recreations of an individual's voice and visual likeness.

To use the new tool, eligible pilot testers must first prove their identity by uploading a selfie and a government ID. They can then create a profile, view the matches that show up, and optionally request their removal. YouTube says it plans to eventually give people the ability to prevent uploads of violating content before they go live or, possibly, allow them to monetize those videos, similar to how its Content ID system works. The company would not confirm which politicians or officials would be among its initial testers, but said the goal is to make the technology broadly available over time.

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I see you're trying to kill children. Would you like some help with that?

You might expect a bot to have guardrails that prevent it from helping you plan a crime, but your expectations might be too high. According to a study, eight of ten major commercial chatbots will help you prepare to conduct a school shooting.…

Schiedam gaat al enige tijd gebukt onder een geweldsgolf waarbij opvallend jonge daders betrokken zijn. Een ruzie tussen rivaliserende jeugdbendes in Schiedam en Rotterdam ligt daaraan ten grondslag. Sommige jongeren durven daardoor zelfs niet meer de gemeentegrens over te gaan uit angst voor wraakacties.

Voetballen zonder de bal te zien klinkt onmogelijk, maar bij SV Ommoord in Rotterdam kan het nu echt. Daar is het eerste officiële blindenvoetbalveld van Nederland geopend. Achter het initiatief staat Khashayar ‘Gashi’ Taebi, die zelf een visuele beperking heeft en zijn liefde voor voetbal nooit verloor.

De „defensieve” missie van het fregat Evertsen in de Middellandse Zee, vanwege de oorlog rond Iran, krijgt steun van vrijwel alle partijen in de Tweede Kamer. Alleen SP, PvdD en Denk spraken woensdagavond ernstige twijfel uit. Er waren vooral vragen over de randvoorwaarden.

Bij een droneaanval in de Congolese stad Goma, aan de grens met Rwanda, zijn drie mensen gedood. Onder hen ook een Franse medewerker van VN-organisatie Unicef. De rebellen die het gebied controleren, beschuldigen het leger van de aanval.

⚽️ Champions League news from the 8pm GMT kick-off
⚽️ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | And email Scott

Kylian Mbappé’s absence leaves a 13-goal-shaped hole in Real Madrid’s team. He’s the competition’s leading scorer by some considerable distance, give or take one 43-minute four-goal scoring burst during the Qarabag-Newcastle tie.

13: Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid)
10: Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United)
8: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
7: Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid), Erling Haaland (Manchester City), Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray)

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⚽️ Updates from Champions League last 16 and beyond
⚽️ Live scores | Follow us on Bluesky | And mail Xaymaca

João Pedro and Cole Palmer were at the heart of Chelsea’s Club World Cup win last summer. Pedro has since hit his stride under Liam Rosenior while Palmer is back after a groin injury but not yet at his best. Jacob Steinberg reckons the pair will be crucial in tonight’s game. Read his piece below.

Hello and welcome to another Champions League clockwatch. Tonight we’re following Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea at the Parc des Princes and Bodø/Glimt v Sporting at Aspmyra Stadion.

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Payment for Inditex founder, the world’s 15 richest person, tops last year’s dividend of €3.1bn

The billionaire founder of Zara is to receive a company record €3.23bn (£2.8bn) dividend this year from the world’s biggest fashion retailer.

Amancio Ortega, who still controls 59% of Spain’s Inditex and whose daughter Marta Ortega Pérez is now chair, will receive half his dividend in May and half in November – as will other shareholders.

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After silver medal success with his guide Robert Poth, the British duo aim for more glory in the slalom events

Neil Simpson and his guide Robert Poth won silver at the Winter Paralympics on Tuesday, the first medal for Great Britain at these Games. But to watch the athletes in visually impaired alpine skiing descend the slopes of the Dolomites at speeds of up to 100 km/h is to be strongly reminded that everyone needs at least another medal, just for being brave enough to do it in the first place.

Talk to the 23-year-old Simpson, however, and the concept of taking one’s life into one’s hands doesn’t come into the equation. Born with the condition nystagmus, which causes involuntary eye movements, he has been skiing since he was four, first on the dry slopes in Aberdeen, then at the Glenshee resort, before competing in national competition aged 16. “I think it’s something that’s never really fazed me”, he says. “It’s just a really fun sport to participate in.”

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Lack of public appearances prompted speculation about new leader’s mortality after multiple family members perished

The confirmation that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was injured in the first wave of Israeli attacks underlines how desperate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (ICRG) was to ensure their wounded choice was elevated to high office, and how confident it is that the wartime machinery can operate almost on automatic pilot without him.

The full scale of Khamenei’s injuries and speed of his recovery remain unclear, but a broken leg and facial injuries are the minimum. It is not a medical bulletin on which the authorities are seeking to dwell, although Ali Larijani, the secretary of the supreme national security council, chose his words carefully in saying “his condition has not been reported as critical”, a phrasing that suggests he has not personally seen him.

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On the 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations, the Scottish philospher is still invoked by the right. Yet he worried about inequality, monopoly and the power of wealth

This week 250 years ago, Adam Smith published An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations – and invented economics. The anniversary has been marked by opinion columns, new books and academic conferences. How different it was 50 years ago. The 1976 bicentenary produced the definitive scholarly edition and helped cast Smith as the father of free-market economics. This was an easy sell during the 1970s slow collapse of the postwar economic order. Smith was useful as a symbolic figure for the revival of free-market ideas. Yet the truth is more complicated.

Milton Friedman, a Nobel laureate, recruited Smith as the patron saint of neoliberal economics in his 1980 book and television series Free to Choose – a manifesto that anticipated Reaganism in the US. He reduced Smith to two claims: that a voluntary exchange benefits both parties and that self-interest is led by an “invisible hand” that unintentionally promotes the public interest. In short: greed is good. In fact, Smith used the phrase “invisible hand” only once in The Wealth of Nations, to describe whether merchants invest their capital at home or abroad – and not, as Friedman claimed, as a general theory of markets.

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Grammy-winning singer is in advanced talks to lead an adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s novel for Oscar-winning writer-director

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Billie Eilish is set to make her big screen acting debut in an adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar.

According to Deadline, the 24-year-old will take on the lead role for Sarah Polley, the writer-director who previously won an Oscar for her Women Talking screenplay. Eilish is reportedly in advanced talks for the part.

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SHANGHAI (ANP) - Cadillac heeft bewezen dat het de Formule 1 aankan. Dat zegt teambaas Graeme Lowdon in een vooruitblik op de Grote Prijs van China komend weekend. "Het was heel bijzonder om het Formule 1-team van Cadillac geschiedenis te zien schrijven door onze eerste race uit te rijden."

Het Amerikaanse Cadillac is vanaf 2026 het elfde team in de Formule 1. De renstal gebruikt motoren van Ferrari, maar stapt op termijn over naar een krachtbron van moederbedrijf General Motors. De Mexicaan Sergio Pérez eindigde zondag in de Grote Prijs van Australië als zestiende, de Fin Valtteri Bottas viel uit.

"We hebben enorm veel geleerd in Australië en we willen die kennis graag verder uitbouwen in China, tijdens ons eerste weekend met een sprintrace", zegt Lowdon. "Nu we hebben bewezen dat we kunnen presteren op het hoge niveau dat de Formule 1 vereist, is het ons doel om onze prestaties en betrouwbaarheid verder te verbeteren."

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Kodak Portra 160 with Mamiya 645 Pro and Sekor 50 mm Shift

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Wow, KDO pal and explorer Ariel Waldman has her own show on PBS! “LIFE UNEARTHED with Ariel Waldman is a science-driven docu-series revealing Earth’s ecosystems through radical shifts in scale…”