By Nantoo Banerjee Come August 27, the picture of the Indo-US trade may show a considerable change. India’s merchandise exports to the US will be generally subjected to a 50 percent import tax from that date. A few categories, including drugs and pharmaceuticals, have been exempted. The reason advanced by US President Donald Trump for […]
Terra/Luna founder Do Kwon has pleaded guilty to charges of misleading investors in the wake of the cryptocurrency platform’s dramatic collapse. The South Korean entrepreneur’s admission follows an extensive investigation into the catastrophic failure of his company, which resulted in billions of dollars in losses for global investors.
Kwon’s once-promising cryptocurrency project, Terra, alongside its native token Luna, was heralded as a revolutionary model in the digital finance space, promoting a stablecoin system backed by a complex algorithm. However, as Terra’s market value spiralled downward in May 2022, the system’s instability became glaringly apparent, triggering a collapse that sent shockwaves through the entire crypto industry.
At the heart of the scandal is the assertion that Kwon misled investors by downplaying the risks of the Terra/Luna ecosystem. During several public appearances and through communications with investors, Kwon had portrayed the Terra network as safe and resilient. His claims were underpinned by his ability to maintain a high market value for Luna and the purported stability of TerraUSD, a stablecoin tied to the project. The failure of the system, when TerraUSD’s peg to the US dollar faltered, led to an unprecedented crash in Luna’s value, rendering it almost worthless.
The legal proceedings against Kwon were initiated shortly after the collapse, with allegations of fraud, market manipulation, and a blatant disregard for investor protection laws. Following his arrest in Montenegro earlier this year, Kwon’s legal troubles intensified, with prosecutors alleging that his actions were tantamount to a Ponzi scheme, designed to artificially inflate the market for Luna and its associated assets.
Kwon’s defence team initially argued that he did not intentionally deceive investors and that the Terra/Luna collapse was the result of market conditions beyond his control. However, his guilty plea signals a change in approach. Experts suggest that Kwon may have opted for a guilty plea in order to avoid prolonged legal battles, especially as the mounting evidence pointed towards significant flaws in the way he operated the project.
The plea has drawn significant attention, not just from the cryptocurrency community, but also from regulators worldwide who have been closely monitoring the growing number of legal cases involving crypto fraud and market manipulation. The Terra/Luna crash is widely seen as one of the most significant incidents in the volatile history of cryptocurrency, highlighting the risks associated with algorithmic stablecoins and the lack of regulation in the sector.
Kwon’s case has also reignited discussions about the need for comprehensive regulation in the cryptocurrency space. Many in the industry believe that the failure of Terra/Luna could have been prevented or mitigated had there been clearer regulatory oversight governing the behaviour of blockchain-based projects. In the aftermath of the collapse, several global regulators have moved to draft stricter guidelines aimed at improving transparency and accountability for digital assets, particularly those promising stability through mechanisms like algorithmic stablecoins.
The consequences of Kwon’s actions extend beyond financial losses. The collapse of Terra/Luna resulted in a loss of trust in the cryptocurrency market, with many investors becoming wary of similar projects that promise high returns with little risk. While the crypto sector has made efforts to rebuild its reputation, the Terra/Luna scandal remains a cautionary tale for anyone entering the volatile world of digital finance.
For investors, the aftermath of the collapse has been bitter. Many are still seeking compensation, and several class action lawsuits have been filed against Kwon and his associates. However, the road to recovery for those affected may be long, as legal proceedings unfold and the extent of Kwon’s liability is determined.
The buzz surrounding the upcoming release of GPT-5, the latest iteration of OpenAI’s language model, has intensified. While rumours have been rife, the reality surpasses expectations. GPT-5 promises not only to refine existing capabilities but also to address common glitches and limitations that have plagued its predecessors. These improvements are expected to revolutionise how AI interacts with users across various sectors, including journalism, business, healthcare, and more. […]
GPT-5, the latest iteration of OpenAI’s language model, has been found vulnerable to a range of security breaches, according to recent findings by red team researchers. These researchers have demonstrated that sophisticated multi-turn attacks, dubbed “storytelling” attacks, can bypass prompt-level filters, rendering the model nearly unusable for enterprise applications. The attacks focus on exploiting systemic weaknesses within GPT-5’s defensive mechanisms. While OpenAI has made strides in bolstering […]
The tragic death of a Dubai-based businessman aboard the Titan submersible could have been prevented, according to a detailed report. The incident, which occurred during a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic, saw all five passengers on board perish when the submersible suffered a catastrophic implosion in the North Atlantic. Among the victims was Shahzada Dawood, a well-known Pakistani-British businessman with deep ties to the Middle East. The new findings from investigations suggest critical lapses in the safety measures that led to the fateful disaster.
The Titan submersible, operated by the OceanGate company, was designed for deep-sea exploration and had made several successful expeditions before its ill-fated journey. On June 18, 2023, the vessel, with five people onboard, embarked on a mission to survey the wreck of the Titanic, located approximately 3,800 metres beneath the surface. However, less than two hours into the descent, the submersible lost communication, prompting immediate search and rescue operations. Tragically, the submersible was confirmed to have imploded, likely due to the immense pressure at that depth. No survivors were found.
In the aftermath of the incident, a comprehensive investigation was launched by the US Coast Guard, with the support of OceanGate and other stakeholders. The report issued highlights several disturbing safety concerns that may have contributed to the loss of life. One of the key findings revealed that the design of the submersible was flawed, especially in terms of its pressure resistance. Titan’s hull, made of carbon fibre and titanium, was found to be particularly vulnerable to the crushing pressures encountered at the extreme depths of the ocean.
The report also raises alarms over the lack of sufficient safety protocols. Despite previous warnings from experts and engineers about the potential risks of operating the submersible at such depths, OceanGate proceeded without addressing these concerns adequately. Furthermore, it was discovered that the company had a limited track record of using its submersible for commercial passenger voyages to the Titanic wreck, with only a few successful trips before the disaster. This limited experience, paired with a lack of comprehensive safety testing, created a dangerous combination.
Family members of those who perished in the incident have demanded accountability from OceanGate. Dawood’s family, in particular, expressed deep anguish, questioning whether the submersible was subjected to the rigorous safety checks expected of high-risk deep-sea vehicles. They have since called for more stringent regulations surrounding private submersible expeditions, pointing to the inadequacies in the oversight of such ventures.
OceanGate, in its defence, has acknowledged the tragic outcome of the mission, yet maintained that its technology was sound. However, the company’s CEO, Stockton Rush, who also perished in the implosion, had been previously warned about the unorthodox approach to safety that the firm followed. Rush reportedly ignored concerns from industry professionals and regulators, focusing instead on meeting the growing demand for expeditions to the Titanic wreck. This pursuit of speed and innovation, while admirable, ultimately cost lives.
The findings have sparked wider conversations about the regulation of private deep-sea expeditions. While the ocean exploration industry continues to grow, the Titan tragedy has underscored the need for a more robust framework to ensure the safety of passengers and crew alike. Calls for stricter regulatory oversight, including the requirement of more frequent and detailed safety checks, have gained momentum. There is growing consensus among marine engineers and experts that submersibles should undergo rigorous independent inspections before embarking on any mission.
By Nitya Chakraborty It is not a cliché to say that our powerful Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s moment truth has arrived after 11 years of ruling the country as the unchallenged leader. The 25 per cent tariff hike on Indian exports announced by the United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday and taking effect from […]
By Nitya Chakraborty Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his long reply to the discussion in Lok Sabha on Operation Sindoor on Tuesday night skillfully avoided the issue of any mediation by the U.S. President Donald Trump by stating that no world leader told India to stop Operation Sindoor. His refrain was that Pakistan DGMO came […]A hacker has uncovered a significant security flaw within Amazon’s Q platform, potentially endangering millions of users. The breach, which came to light after the hacker injected covert code into the system, highlighted vulnerabilities in the platform’s security measures. The hacker’s actions, intended as a warning, may have had far worse consequences had they been exploited for malicious purposes. Amazon Q, a widely-used service that integrates AI […]
The trajectory of large language models like GPT and its counterparts has raised numerous questions in recent months. As companies such as OpenAI continue to pour billions into scaling these models, the fundamental issue of their cognitive limitations remains glaring. The hype surrounding LLMs, though widely praised for their fluency and utility, overlooks a critical flaw in their design. These models may perform tasks that mimic intelligent […]
Georgia is rapidly winning the hearts of newlyweds from all over the world, offering a unique combination of breathtaking landscapes, rich culture, and surprising simplicity in wedding organization. This is why a wedding in Georgia is becoming increasingly popular. But before every couple dreaming of a celebration in this amazing country, an important question arises: choose a symbolic ceremony or an official marriage registration? Understanding the differences […]
A critical vulnerability in on‑premise Microsoft SharePoint servers is being actively exploited, enabling unauthenticated remote code execution and full server takeover, cybersecurity agencies and independent researchers have confirmed. The flaw, tracked as CVE‑2025‑53770, allows attackers to bypass authentication entirely by exploiting a deserialization weakness in SharePoint server code. They can upload malicious ASPX web‑shells, extract machine and cryptographic keys and gain persistent access—even after patches are applied. […]
By K Raveendran The Wall Street Journal’s report on the Ahmedabad Air India crash has triggered a storm of controversy not only for what it suggests but also for what it deliberately avoids. The claim that the crash, which took 260 lives, may have been caused by the senior pilot unintentionally or mistakenly putting the […]Humanitarian aid distribution in Khan Younis turned fatal on 16 July 2025 when a crowd surge at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation centre led to at least 21 deaths, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Health officials reported that the majority of casualties resulted from suffocation as panicking crowds pressed through narrow gates following the firing of tear gas. The GHF stated that 19 people were trampled and one […]
Miggo has unveiled VulnDB, a free, predictive vulnerability database designed to overhaul how organisations assess and prioritise software risks. By combining runtime context, exploit simulations and function-level tracing, VulnDB shifts the paradigm from reactive vulnerability tracking to proactive threat prediction, promising to drastically reduce noise from Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures and highlight only those flaws that truly matter in a live environment. At launch, VulnDB distinguishes itself […]
A growing number of startup founders are using AI-driven red‑teaming methods to rigorously probe their business concepts, exposing weak spots before costly launches. This combative approach adapts cybersecurity tactics for entrepreneurial due diligence, helping entrepreneurs pre‑empt real‑world failures. AI red‑teaming involves prompting ChatGPT with roles such as “penetration tester”, “ruthless competitor” or “regulatory enforcer”, each tasked with systematically dismantling a business idea. The AI critiques everything from […]
Major technology firms and start‑ups are racing to adopt the Model Context Protocol, the open‑source standard that streamlines communication between large language models and external tools. Since its debut in November 2024, Anthropic’s creation has gained swift endorsement from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Microsoft and others and is now being adopted to power the next wave of agent‑based AI. However, the protocol’s rapid integration has exposed serious vulnerabilities—forcing […]
Blender 5.0 is introducing experimental High Dynamic Range rendering support for Linux users working in a Wayland session with Vulkan acceleration. This enhancement aims to offer creators precise brightness, contrast, and colour fidelity in the viewport, mirroring the output of HDR‑enabled monitors. HDR viewport support in the alpha build of Blender 5.0 must be explicitly enabled under Developer > Experimental settings, requiring a Vulkan graphics backend on […]
By K Raveendran President Donald Trump’s latest volley in the global economic battleground — a proposal to impose a 500 percent tariff on countries that do business with Russia — marks the continuation of a pattern that has come to define his trade diplomacy: bold, blustering declarations followed by strategic backpedalling. The move, targeted at […]After discovering institutional inefficiencies in traditional finance, this young CFA is helping investors access opportunities previously reserved for Wall Street. The mahogany-paneled conference room fell silent. On the 47th floor of one of Wall Street’s most prestigious firms, Tan Gera stared at his computer screen in disbelief. The evidence of systematic insider trading was not only shocking—it was the final piece of a puzzle he’d been putting […]
A newly disclosed series of vulnerabilities in Realtek’s Bluetooth Low Energy implementation jeopardises the stability and security of connected devices, with one issue rated medium and another deemed high severity. The exposed flaws, affecting the RTL8762E BLE SDK version 1.4.0 and its EKF‑EVB derivative, allow attackers to trigger denial‑of‑service conditions during the pairing process by injecting crafted packets at precise stages. The first flaw, identified as CVE‑2024‑48290, […]
A newly disclosed flaw in TeamViewer’s Remote Management tools for Windows allows attackers with local, unprivileged access to delete files with SYSTEM-level privileges, raising serious security concerns for organisations relying on the platform. Tracked as CVE‑2025‑36537, the vulnerability stems from incorrect permissions during MSI rollback operations and affects installations prior to version 15.67. TeamViewer issued a patch on 24 June 2025 and urges all users with Remote Management […]
Void, a Y Combinator‑backed, open‑source AI code editor, has entered beta testing, promising developers full control over their code and data while delivering advanced AI capabilities. Launched this month, it positions itself as a credible contender to proprietary rivals like Cursor and GitHub Copilot. Developers can now choose whether to host models locally via tools like Ollama and LM Studio, or connect directly to APIs for Claude, […]
Matein Khalid The past decade dramatically illustrates the peril of trusting paper money as a store of value in a political system designed to pivot recklessly towards deficit financing and deliberate debasement of the world’s reserve currency. The US national debt is now $37 trillion and the annual budget deficit is now $2 trillion or 125% of GDP. Add political gridlock in Washington, violent migrant riots in […]
