New COVID Strain in China ‘Variant Under Monitoring’; Senator Warns Enough Republicans Oppose Trump Agenda Bill

Why Cryptocurrency Holders Are Being Targeted With KidnappingAs celebrity Twitch streamer Kaitlyn Siragusa (better known as Amouranth) slept at her home in Houston, three men broke in and pistol-whipped her, demanding she hand over her cryptocurrency. What the thieves didn’t know was that Siragusa’s husband, Nick Lee, was in the bathroom. Lee emerged with a gun and fired at the men, causing them to flee.

The incident is just one in a recent string that has prompted authorities to warn investors in cryptocurrency and people owning large amounts of digital assets about their vulnerability to kidnapping and robbery. Jameson Lopp, the chief technology officer of crypto asset custody solutions firm Casa, has compiled a database of physical attacks, which shows 23 reported incidents so far this year, compared with 32 for all of 2024.

Lopp said he believes several people have been targeted because they flaunted their crypto wealth on social media. While most U.S. banks will ask customers to give prior notice before withdrawing large amounts from their accounts, this extra precaution is unavailable in the digital-asset space. (More)

US State Department Concerned Over Malaysia’s Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners Before Xi’s VisitMalaysia’s decision to detain dozens of Falun Gong practitioners before and during a visit from Chinese leader Xi Jinping has drawn alarm from the U.S. State Department and human rights advocates. Two days before Xi’s arrival in mid-April in the country’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, about two dozen police officers appeared at a private venue where nearly 80 Falun Gong practitioners had gathered for a routine study of spiritual texts. The officers demanded their identification documents and forcibly detained them.

Those arrested include a woman older than 80 and a 10-year-old child. Among the group were also 29 people originally from China who are seeking protection from the sweeping persecution targeting their beliefs in China. Several are U.N. refugees. The 47 Malaysian citizens were released hours after Xi left, and the Chinese nationals were freed during the two weeks that followed. The mass arrest marked the first of its kind in Malaysia, taking place as Xi toured Southeast Asia to promote the Chinese Communist Party as a reliable trading partner amid a tariff war with the United States.

The U.S. State Department expressed concern about the reports. “We call on the Chinese Communist Party to end its nearly 26-year campaign to eradicate Falun Gong and to cease its attempts to pressure other governments to repress the practice of Falun Gong,” a department spokesperson told The Epoch Times. “We call on Malaysia to respect the principle of non-refoulement and to not return Falun Gong practitioners to China where they reportedly have been subjected to torture and imprisonment for their beliefs.” (More)