$550M Worth of Iran-Connected Assets Frozen by Tether Under Sanctions Enforcement Program
Tether has frozen an aggregate of $550M of USDT in 2026, particularly from financial networks connected to the Central Bank of Iran and the IRGC.
These enforcement actions were carried out with the US Treasury and OFAC, marking a strategic step up for Tether’s compliance program as digital assets emerge as a key subject in US sanctions policy under “Operation Economic Outcast.”
This puts the issuer’s history at over 2,900 global investigations, making Tether one of the lead enforcement partners for organizations like the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Secret Service.
Saint Catherine's Monastery, officially known as the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Catherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai.
Core Information
• Location: Nestled at the foot of Mount Sinai (also known as Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa) in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt.
• Historical Significance: Built between 548 and 565 AD by order of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, it holds the title of the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery.
• Religious Importance: The site is immensely sacred across three major monotheistic religions—Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It is constructed directly over the location believed to be the biblical Burning Bush where Moses first encountered God.
• UNESCO World Heritage Status: The surrounding region was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002 under the title Saint Catherine Area. It was recognized for its exceptional Byzantine defensive architecture, its continuous monastic function, and its unparalleled cultural treasures.
China just told the US to back off Cuba. Not directly. Not by name. But the message was unmistakable.
Two days ago at the UN, Vice President Han Zheng said the "relevant country" should "immediately stop using threat of force against Cuba and immediately and completely lift the blockade and sanctions." Everyone knew who he meant.
Then on September 28, marking 66 years of ties, Guo Jiakun said China would "firmly support Cuba in exploring the socialist development path suited to its national conditions and in safeguarding national sovereignty and opposing external interference."
The backdrop: since January the US has choked off Cuba’s main Venezuelan oil route and threatened tariffs on anyone still shipping fuel there. Blackouts followed. Some outlets have called it the first effective blockade since the Missile Crisis. Trump has said Cuba will "fall pretty soon" and talked about "freeing" or "taking" the island. Recon flights near Cuba have increased. Cuban officials say they are preparing for possible "military aggression."
No new aid, weapons, or oil. Just political cover, two days after the UN warning.
China's tax collectors are going after its billionaires. And some of the bills are retroactive.
Bloomberg reports that tax chief Hu Jinglin declared a "new era of taxation" in January. Since then, local offices have set up squads targeting individual billionaires, with hefty bills and vague calculations.
The centerpiece is a July rule on offshore family trusts. Chinese tax residents now owe 20% on gains when assets go into a trust, and 20% every year on trust income, even if none of it is paid out. The rule reaches back to assets placed in trusts since 2023. Owners have until about October 21 to declare and pay, or face daily surcharges and fines of up to five times the tax owed.
Market estimates of back taxes on already-received dividends and sales include roughly 2.5 to 3 billion yuan for Longfor's Wu Yajun and about 1.5 billion yuan for Dali Foods' Xu Shihui. Those are estimates, not official assessments.
Companies are not spared. More than 100 listed firms disclosed tax clawbacks totaling about 7.7 billion yuan in the first half. One got a bill equal to 120% of its 2025 net income.
Here's why now. Land-sale revenue, which local governments depend on, has fallen from about 8.7 trillion yuan at its 2021 peak to around 4.15 trillion after the property slump. Personal income tax receipts are up 13% or more.
Beijing calls it closing a loophole. But when the state is short of cash and the rules reach backward, the wealthy have little room to argue.
Vitalik Buterin unveils Ethereum’s next phase as a “cryptographic world computer.”
According to Buterin, Ethereum is evolving beyond a traditional blockchain by combining blockchain infrastructure with advanced cryptography to improve scalability, efficiency and privacy.
He expects next year’s Hegota upgrade to be Ethereum’s last “normal” upgrade, with future development increasingly focused on zeroknowledge proofs and quantum resistance.
By 2030, Ethereum could potentially reduce transaction finality to around 8 seconds, compared with roughly 200 seconds in 2015.
The next phase of Ethereum appears focused on making the network faster, more private and more cryptographically secure.
🇬🇧🇮🇱 EX-BODYGUARD OF FORMER HAMAS CHIEF HANIYEH ARRESTED IN UK OVER TERROR PLOT
British authorities arrested “Mr. X” after Mossad and German intelligence uncovered an alleged plot targeting Jewish community centers, Israeli diplomats and pro-Israel events in Germany and Austria.
A former personal bodyguard to eliminated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, "Mr. X" was granted asylum in Britain, became a UK citizen and lived quietly as an IT consultant — while remaining a key Hamas asset.
Investigators say he moved pistols and ammunition into a Vienna weapons cache, while an accomplice obtained a Kalashnikov, eight pistols and 600 rounds.
The alleged attack was being prepared for the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre.
A Cave Sealed for 23,000 Years Was Hiding Something Extraordinary
Deep beneath the limestone cliffs of southern France, there is a cave where time seems to have stopped. The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave was sealed by a rockslide roughly 23,000 years ago, leaving its hidden chambers untouched for thousands of years. When the cave was finally discovered, researchers found something almost impossible to believe: walls covered with artwork created around 32,000–36,000 years ago.
Inside, Ice Age animals seem to come alive from the darkness. Lions, woolly rhinoceroses, bison and other powerful creatures were drawn using charcoal and ochre, with careful shading and clever use of the natural curves of the rock. The artists did not simply draw flat figures—they used the shape of the cave itself to create depth, movement and the feeling that the animals were almost stepping out of the stone.
But perhaps the most mysterious part is not how old the paintings are. It is what they tell us about the people who made them. These were humans living in a harsh Ice Age world, yet they found time to enter deep darkness and create something beautiful, detailed and deeply meaningful.
For tens of thousands of years, their voices were silent. Their footprints disappeared. Their lives were forgotten. But their paintings remained, waiting in the darkness.
Document Shows Hamas Taxing Gaza’s Poor as It Clings to Power
The document shows a vegetable seller billed roughly $3,000 for August despite reported monthly sales of only $300.
The bill illustrates how Hamas continues using its arms to extract undue tax revenue from impoverished Gazans while preserving its governing machinery and largesse amid the war.
6日後、中国は座礁した海軍艦(第二トーマス礁、Second Thomas Shoal)への部隊補給を阻止し、任務を中止させた。9月25日、北京はマニラに「あらゆる挑発行為を直ちにやめろ」と要求した。そこで始まった脚本だ。マニラは衝突を仕組み、被害者ぶった。日本は「不和をまき散らすのをやめるべきだ」。スカボロー礁(Scarborough Shoal)近くで行われた演習は、「侵害」のための口実だった。