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The FBI has dealt a significant blow to Chinese state-sponsored hackers, seizing two platforms and dismantling a botnet used to breach some of America's most sensitive institutions — NASA, the Department of Energy, the US Senate, the Federal Reserve, and the Department of Justice among them. It's a rare public takedown that puts the scale of Beijing's cyber operations into sharp relief.
Turning to crypto markets, bitcoin is sitting just below seventy-nine thousand dollars after a strong weekly run, though traders are now pricing in the possibility of a Federal Reserve rate hike, which is putting pressure on most tokens. XRP has absorbed the sharpest losses despite posting a twenty-eight percent weekly gain, a reminder that in crypto, a good week and a rough day can arrive together.
And for travelers watching United's next move, the airline is preparing to launch transatlantic service on the Airbus three twenty-one XLR, a narrowbody jet carrying some notable upgrades — among them free Starlink-powered wi-fi and, perhaps most surprisingly, two rows of Economy Plus seating with no middle seats. It's a small but meaningful nod to passengers who've long felt squeezed on shorter-haul international hops.
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