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Australia's flagship renewable energy project, Snowy two point zero, has become a cautionary tale in infrastructure ambition. Originally pitched as a straightforward pumped hydro expansion, the project now carries a price tag eleven times its initial estimate, raising hard questions about how governments scope and commit to large-scale energy bets.
That kind of financial scrutiny is landing closer to home as well. Senate investigators are now probing payments made through Tether, the cryptocurrency giant, to a firm connected to Bo Hines, a former White House crypto adviser. Senator Richard Blumenthal is leading the inquiry, which adds to a growing list of congressional concerns about the intersection of digital assets and political influence.
And in public health, researchers are working to understand a newly documented human infection with something called Shamonda virus. The case is being described as exceptional, but investigators are still piecing together how the transmission occurred and whether the pathogen contributed to the patient's death. It is the kind of story that warrants calm attention rather than alarm, but attention nonetheless.
That is your briefing for today. Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.
