Editor’s Pick

Record $1 billion worth of bitcoin linked to the Silk Road seized by U.S. government

Thousands of bitcoins — worth $1 billion — were seized by law enforcement this week in what the Justice Department said was the largest seizure of cryptocurrency in the history of agency.
The cryptocurrency is linked to sales of illicit drugs and goods on Silk Road, a dark web marketplace that shut down in 2013.
“Silk Road was the most notorious online criminal marketplace of its day,” says U.S. Attorney David Anderson of the Northern District of California. “The successful prosecution of Silk Road’s founder in 2015 left open a billion-dollar question. Where did the money go?”

China’s vice foreign minister hopes new U.S. administration will ‘meet China halfway’

China’s Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said Thursday he hoped the U.S. presidential election would proceed stably and smoothly.
He was speaking at an unrelated press conference, according to state media.
Chinese-language state media have been relatively muted on the U.S. presidential election, amid rapt attention from many social media users and privately run media outlets.

CDC revises coronavirus guidance to acknowledge that it spreads through airborne transmission

The CDC cited published reports that demonstrated “limited, uncommon circumstances” in which people with the virus infected others who were more than 6 feet away.
“In these instances, transmission occurred in poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces that often involved activities that caused heavier breathing, like singing or exercise,” the CDC said.
The agency added that it is “much more common” for the virus to spread through larger respiratory droplets that are produced when somebody coughs, sneezes, sings, talks, or breathes.

Dow rebounds more than 300 points on stimulus hope to end first losing month since March

Stocks cut gains in the final hour of trading after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to strike a coronavirus aid deal. The pair will continue talks as they try to craft a fifth package that could pass both chambers of Congress. The market soared earlier in the session after Mnuchin said lawmakers were giving the bill “a serious try.”