2 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Tech Archive

Archives for April 2024

Gaby Del Valle
Gaby Del Valle
Columbia suspends Palestinian student who is on a student visa.

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the students negotiating with the university over the encampment, told The City administrators had previously assured him he wouldn’t be disciplined.

I quoted Khalil in my article about the doxxings at Columbia:

I am here on a foreign visa. That’s why for the past six months, I’ve barely appeared on the media. ... I did not participate, fearing that I will be arrested and ultimately deported from this country.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Feds arrest “Bitcoin Jesus” Roger Ver and accuse him of evading nearly $50 million in taxes.

You can read the details of Ver’s alleged misconduct here, but, with this news arriving as Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced for failing to establish adequate anti-money laundering protections, I’m reminded of this line from Ver, quoted in 2014:

“Money laundering is not a crime,” Ver says. “It’s just because certain men with guns don’t like what other people are doing with their own money, so they decide it’s okay to lock those people in a cage.

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
China’s dream moon base has a NASA Space Shuttle.

The China National Space Administration released a video showing its concept for a future lunar base, which it says it will have set up by 2045, writes Space.

The China Global Television Network appears to have blurred out the Shuttle in the video on YouTube.

A screenshot of a moon base, with the US Space Shuttle lifting off in the background.
Good to see the Space Shuttle back at work.
Image: China National Space Administration
Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Zhao will leave the courtroom now.

The rest of us are asked to remain sitting while he leaves. Unclear if there will be a press conference after.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
And we’re back!

The defense is requesting that Zhao be designated to SeaTac, at a date to be specified by the court. Zhao promises before the court that he will show up at the time, which is not yet decided.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Zhao won’t be remanded immediately into custody.

We are taking a 10 minute break, but there are a few more matters to be ironed out.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
“I was deeply troubled... by your statement reflected on pg. 1, the opening line of the government’s brief to this court that it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

But Jones isn’t going to take the government’s sentencing recommendation. He hasn’t yet announced the exact sentence.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
CZ is clearly on pins and needles as Jones speaks.

He’s leaning forward, listening intently, and occasionally nodding.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Jones doesn’t think Zhao is likely to reoffend.

However, the scale of the offense is remarkable, and Jones wants to consider deterring future crime. The letters sent to the court on Zhao’s behalf will play a significant role in the sentencing.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
“Everything I see about your history and characteristics are of a mitigating nature and a positive nature,” says Judge Richard Jones.

The court recognizes that he came voluntarily to the US, has not previously broken laws, and that he took “extraordinary steps and significant steps” in cooperation with law enforcement. But the nature of the events was “aggravating.”