Author: admin

Honeymoons and luxury vacations could soon be outpaced by crypto as the main draw for the island nation of Maldives. A Dubai-based family office plans to invest up to $8.8 billion in a blockchain-focused financial hub in the Maldives, part of an effort by the island nation to expand beyond its reliance on tourism and fisheries and address mounting debt obligations. The investment, led by MBS Global Investments, will be deployed over five years and is structured around a new joint venture with the Maldives government. The planned capital outlay exceeds the country’s GDP of around $7 billion. It will…

Fertnig | E+ | Getty ImagesJust weeks after announcing a 100% withholding rate on new overpayments of benefits, the Social Security Administration has slashed the rate down to 50% for certain beneficiaries.Yet that clawback on monthly benefit checks may still cause a financial burden for individuals who are affected, experts say.For new overpayment notices sent on or after April 25, the 50% default withholding rate will apply to so-called Title II benefits, which include retirement, survivors and disability insurance, according to an emergency message released by the Social Security Administration.The withholding rate for Supplemental Security Income benefits remains 10%.More from…

Crypto traders aiming to profit from a volatility surge should watch the Binance-listed ether-bitcoin (ETH/BTC) ratio, which could soon experience wild swings, according to a key indicator called Bollinger Bands. Bollinger Bands are volatility bands placed two standard deviations above and below the 20-day simple moving average of an asset’s price. The so-called Bollinger band squeeze occurs when the bands contract tightly around the price, suggesting low volatility and a period of consolidation. The market typically builds energy during the squeeze, which is eventually released in either direction, leading to a volatility explosion. The Bollinger Bands on the ETH-BTC chart…

A person walks on campus at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. March 26, 2025. Hannah Beier | ReutersBorrowers face plan changes, long waits for helpCollection activity on federal student loans has mostly been paused for half a decade. During that period, there have been sweeping changes and disruptions to the lending system.Millions of borrowers who signed up for the Biden administration’s new repayment plan, known as SAVE, were caught in limbo after GOP-led lawsuits managed to get the plan blocked in the summer of last year. Many of those borrowers will now have to switch out of a Biden-era payment…

CNN  —  When a deal to buy Caitlin Bigelow’s San Francisco condo fell through last month, she felt relief, rather than disappointment. Bigelow was working with a Realtor she trusted from Compass who had suggested she first list her home as a “Compass Private Exclusive.” That meant her home wouldn’t immediately be publicly advertised on home-search websites like Zillow or Redfin. Instead, the listing would be announced internally at Compass, one of America’s largest real estate brokerages, meaning only buyers represented by other Compass agents knew the home was for sale. Bigelow had received two offers from this method —…

Bitcoin (BTC) opened the trading week flat above $94,000 as traders waited for news from Beijing on the progress of a trade deal with the U.S. The CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a measure of the performance of major digital assets, was down 1.5%, trading below 2,700.”XRP and Bitcoin bounced back from the tariff shocks in April, but have yet to make a significant movement upwards,” Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message. “Investors may be overly cautious about risk assets such as crypto due to the current US macroeconomic climate, despite Bitcoin’s trend breaking away from…

FORT LAUDERDALE: Katie Ledecky broke her longstanding world record in the 800m freestyle and Gretchen Walsh lowered her 100m butterfly world mark twice in one day as the Tyr Pro Swim meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida concluded on Saturday. Ledecky shattered her own 800 metres freestyle world record in eight minutes 4.12 seconds finding her best form heading into the world championships. Ledecky bettered her previous mark of 8:04.79 set nearly a decade ago at the Rio Games that many thought would outlast her career and she pounded her fists on the water in an emotional celebration after seeing her…

Bitcoin is now up 15% over the past 30 days, and is close to regaining the $100,000 price level. Macroeconomic data and the current tariff situation will heavily influence investor sentiment about Bitcoin over the short run. Historically, Bitcoin has followed four-year cycles that are punctuated by periods of extreme boom and bust. Something completely unexpected happened with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) in April. After falling precipitously in February and March, the cryptocurrency suddenly began surging and is now up 15% over the past 30 days. For Bitcoin investors, the big question is whether this mini-rally is going to last through…

LAHORE: In a pulsating encounter at Gaddafi Stad­ium here on Sunday night, Karachi Kings chased down a revised target of 168 in 14.3 overs to defeat Lahore Qalandars by four wickets in a rain-affected HBL Pakistan Super League match reduced to 15 overs per side. Irfan Khan’s explosive 48 not out off 21 balls, studded with five sixes, turned the game on its head, steering Kings to a dramatic victory with three balls to spare. The match, a high-stakes affair with playoff implications, was interrupted by a 36-minute rain delay, but the intensity never waned. Qalandars, batting first, posted a…

GILGIT: Four Pakistani climbers have started their adventure to climb the world’s seventh highest peak Dhaulagiri at 8,167 metres, the third highest Kanchenjunga, and the Everest in Nepal. Renowned Pakistan climber Sajid Ali Sadpara completed his acclimatisation rotation on Dhaulagiri, 8,167m peak, the world’s seventh highest mountain in Nepal. Mr Sadpara had reached the base camp of the peak on April 6 and started his rotation and climbed up to the Camp 3 and descended to the base camp. Talking to Dawn, he said he had completed the rotation at the peak and now waiting for weather to improve to…