Paraguay president's X account likely hacked in Bitcoin scheme
"The president's official X account has presented irregular activity which suggests possible unauthorized entry," the government said in a statement.
A post on Pena's account in English, with a Spanish-language statement purporting to be from the government, had declared that the Latin American country had made Bitcoin legal tender and that it would roll out a $5 million Bitcoin-backed reserve fund.
The government asked citizens to ignore posts from the account until official confirmation was made available.
Paraguay's national cybersecurity team was working with X to investigate the situation, the government added. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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New York Post
17 minutes ago
- New York Post
What to expect from Friday's Trump-Putin summit on US soil: Will a peace deal actually be reached?
WASHINGTON — President Trump's Friday meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin may be the most-watched Washington-Moscow summit in decades — but don't expect any major decisions to be made as the US president seeks a 'more firm understanding' of how to end Moscow's war on Ukraine, sources and experts tell The Post. Trump, 79, plans to treat the meeting as a 'listening exercise' rather than a high-stakes negotiation, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. While Putin, 72, has set audacious conditions for agreeing to a cease-fire with Ukraine, the US has made no concrete decision to date on whether to support them, sources familiar with the matter tell The Post. What Russia wants Among the demands reportedly pushed by Putin — almost entirely unchanged from the start of the war nearly three-and-a-half years ago — is the formal recognition by the US and Ukraine of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as Russian territory, despite Moscow being unable to secure them in 11 years of trying. Advertisement 4 Russia's President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump attend a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan June 28, 2019. REUTERS This recognition would include the roughly 30% of Donetsk and Luhansk that Russia does not control. The Kremlin also seeks a freezing of the current front lines. Advertisement The desires were communicated to Trump by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin at the Kremlin last week, according to European officials. However, Russia has not made these demands public, which is one reason why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would like a sitdown with Putin — to get the terms direct from the horse's mouth. Russia has also pushed for Ukraine to formally agree to never join NATO, a halt to shipments of Western weapons to Ukraine and a prohibition on NATO-aligned soldiers from setting foot on Ukrainian territory. 4 Putin and Trump last saw each other in 2019. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Despite the White House insisting the war will be the primary topic, Russian officials have indicated they see the Alaska summit as a prime opportunity to discuss potential deals with the US — including opening up Alaskan airspace to Russian flights. 'We hope that the upcoming summit will give impetus to the normalization of bilateral relations,' Russia's deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told state media site Izvestia, noting that restoration of air traffic could be a possible topic. The Arctic and economic cooperation are also topics that interest Russia, Putin adviser Yuri Ushakov said, noting that the Kremlin hopes the meeting will lead to Trump going to Russia in the future. However, Russia observers have expressed concerns over the Alaska location — particularly as Moscow's hardliners have long 'lamented the loss of Russia's larger territorial extent throughout history,' George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War said Tuesday. Advertisement 'Russian nationalists have manufactured a pseudo-historical argument for why America's purchase of Alaska [in 1867] was illegitimate, and that Alaska is therefore actually legally Russian,' he said. 'This is all nonsense, of course.' 'The Russian nationalist doesn't respect the United States, but rather invents territorial disputes with its neighbors and seethes at Russa's diminished geography.' What Ukraine wants Zelensky, 47, has called Moscow's demands untenable for establishing a cease-fire, but has signaled openness to some concessions — so long as they are made as part of a final peace deal. Ending the war after more than three grueling years would be a positive for Zelensky, as his country has been ravaged by missile strikes, mines and Russian infantry. But the Ukrainian leader has been clear he will not accept peace at any price. 4 In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, July 31, 2025, a Russian Giatsint-S self-propelled gun fires towards Ukrainian positions on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. AP Zelensky has been adamant that Ukraine receive security guarantees, like NATO membership or nuclear weapons, to ensure Russia doesn't invade again in the future. 'It is impossible to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine, and no one will recognize that. That's why this conversation may be important for their bilateral track, but they cannot decide anything on Ukraine without us,' Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv Tuesday. 'I hope the US president understands that and takes into account.' What Trump wants Advertisement Friday will give the president a chance to observe Putin with his own eyes to better assess whether the Russian dictator is 'tapping [him] along' with empty promises of peace, as Trump himself has occasionally suggested might be the case. 'Only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go in and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end,' Leavitt said. 4 Various aircrafts are seen at Anchorage Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, United States on July 2, 2024. Anadolu via Getty Images Secretary of State Marco Rubio similarly described the summit as a 'feel-out meeting, to be honest.' Advertisement 'The president talked to Putin on the phone three or four times, OK? And nothing has come of it — or at least we haven't gotten to where we want to be,' he said. 'And so the president feels like, 'Look, I've got to look at this guy across the table. I need to see him face-to-face. I need to hear him one-on-one. I need to make an assessment by looking at him.'' Trump made ending the war in Ukraine one of his major 2024 campaign promises, and securing a peace deal would provide a major bulwark for his foreign policy legacy. To that end, Trump is expected to raise the issue of land swaps between Russia and Ukraine to gauge Putin's reaction. The US president will also speak to European leaders ahead of Friday's meeting in addition to after the sitdown, sources familiar with the preparations say. 'The next meeting will be with Zelensky and Putin, or Zelensky and Putin and me. I'll be there if they need, but I want a meeting set up between the two leaders,' Trump said Monday. 'There'll be some land swapping.'


American Military News
17 minutes ago
- American Military News
Key US ally's military shrinks by 20% due to population decline
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New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
How $100m ‘Crypto King' John Woeltz went from school goth to alleged torturer, and why his parents had to bail him out
The 'Crypto King' accused of kidnapping and torturing an Italian man in a swanky Manhattan townhouse was only bailed out of jail when his parents put a house and their savings on the line as collateral — despite their son reportedly having amassed a fortune. The judge releasing John Woeltz, 37, said to be worth $100m, stipulated he wasn't allowed to pay his bail with cryptocurrency. That led to his father, Matthew Van Woeltz, putting his own home on the line and his mother Joan agreeing to cough up $1 million, should their son fail to meet the terms of his bond, according to court documents seen by The Post. He is now under house arrest in New York while waiting trial, a world away from the private jets he was accustomed to traveling in and the nightclubs where he would drop tens of thousands of dollars. Advertisement 8 Woeltz was released from jail to home confinement in New York on July 31. His co-accused, William Duplessie, remains behind bars. Diamond / BACKGRID Woeltz' glitzy lifestyle before his arrest was itself far removed from his upbringing, when he was a 'goth' kid from an 'affluent' family and a computer nerd back in Paducah, Kentucky. 'I know his whole family. It's heartbreaking. I don't know what happened. He was a really good person,' one former classmate told The Post. Advertisement A change appears to have taken place in Woeltz in late 2024 when he started hanging around with his co-accused, William Duplessie — the flashy, 6′ 5″ son of a former hedge fund manager who spilt his time between Miami and Switzerland before the couple's ill-fated run in Manhattan earlier this year. Woeltz was released from Riker's Island a week after a Manhattan judge granted both he and Duplessie $1m bail each over the shocking alleged kidnapping and torture of Italian crypto trader Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, who had been visiting them, in May. Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. 8 The so-called 'Crypto Bros' Woeltz (seated right) and Duplessie (seated left) were both granted $1m bail, but so far only Woeltz has been released from Riker's Island. Steven Hirsch Duplessie, 33, remains behind bars. Advertisement While Woeltz – assumed to have all his assets tied up in digital currency – was able to get help from his parents, it's unclear why Duplessie has not posted bail. Sources confirmed he hasn't had a bond package approved yet. When his father and former business partner, James, was reached by The Post, he declined to speak. Woeltz and Duplessie were listed in different facilities on Riker's before their bail hearings. Prosecutors allege Woeltz and Duplessie had tortured Carturan by allegedly lighting him on fire, cutting him with a chainsaw and holding a gun to his head in order to hijack the password for his Bitcoin wallet, worth millions. Advertisement The pair also allegedly threatened the 28-year-old victim's family in Italy — while subjecting him to humiliation by having people urinate on him and forcing him to take drugs during captivity, authorities have claimed. 8 William Duplessie pictured in a New York nighclub. The crypto investor was known for his hard partying before he was arrested. TMZ / BACKGRID 8 The Soho townhouse at 38 Prince Street, where Carturan was allegedly tortured for weeks. REUTERS However, lawyers for the pair maintain the whole thing was a misunderstanding. They allege Carturan was a willing participant who was free to leave at any time and that he was only subjected to a kind of 'hazing' ritual. The allegations come as a major shock to those who grew up with Woeltz in Paducah. Several sources described Woeltz as an ordinary kid who didn't appear to be particularly close with any other students when they were classmates at Paducah Middle School. Jefferson Jones, a former Paducah Middle School student, said Woeltz didn't stand out from the crowd. 'I knew of him as a classmate but he wasn't in my direct circle of friends,' Jones told The Post. 'He seemed kind of normal to me.' Advertisement 8 Sources claimed Woeltz and Duplessie had claimed they worked for the CIA and that they went aruond their houses with night vision goggles and sometimes with a chainsaw. TMZ / BACKGRID 8 Woeltz and Duplessie bought this mansion in Smithland, Kentucky, months before their arrest and flew friends out form Florida for a debauched party in February. Google Maps Another ex-classmate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he was had also been on a wrestling team with Woeltz. 'He was maybe someone that leaned towards not being afraid to get into trouble, but he wasn't bad. He came from an affluent family which helps socially in a town like ours but it doesn't guarantee you will be close to anyone.' Advertisement Another former student remembered Woeltz as 'a goth'. Woeltz's father — who still lives in Paducah and is a well-respected neurologist — could not be reached for comment. The philosophy major graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring from the University of Kentucky before moving to California's Silicon Valley to invest in startups. 'That's what you had to do then to succeed in the industry,' Woeltz told the Paducah Sun in 2020. Advertisement Although he moved away, Woeltz often returned to his roots in the Bluegrass State, where he purchased a mansion earlier this year, as exclusively revealed by The Post. 8 Woeltz in 2019 giving a presentation at Grincon, a crypto company where he previously worked. @gakonst/x The six-bedroom waterfront home in Smithland was bought by Woeltz and Duplessie for $1 million cash in January, multiple sources told The Post. The house was later raided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the NYPD, with support from the Kentucky State Police, according to a release from authorities. Five guns and ammunition were seized, according to the ATF. Advertisement A Smithland resident who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity said that both Woeltz and Duplessie were the talk of the town while living in the mansion because people were always 'coming and going' from the property. He said the pair ingratiated themselves with the local Chamber of Commerce and tried to 'fit in as much as possible'. 8 John Woeltz is now on home detention with an ankle monitor. Steven Hirsch for NY Post 'As far as small community goes there was talk they were looking at making the mansion a venue for events,' the source claimed. 'There were all kinds of rumors going around. At the same time there was an undercurrent that something wasn't right.' More recent friends described how they had been flown from Florida to the Kentucky home to party with the crypto bros in February, but noted both were increasingly paranoid. Once at the house Woeltz and Duplessie claimed they were CIA operatives and carried loaded guns, and communicated by writing messages to each other on typewriter and then burning them so their guests couldn't see what they were talking about, according to New York magazine, which also reported the pair were allegedly consuming quantities of cocaine. During the same weekend Duplessie is said to have pulled a loaded gun on the chef he had hired and only relented after other guests intervened, according to the magazine. It was a few weeks after this weekend Woeltz and Duplessie moved into the $75,000 a month rental home on Prince Street. There they enlisted fixers and held bigger parties with more people and things started getting even more out of hand. Videos taken within the house show unidentified people having sex, taking drugs and partying hard. The videos, first published by TMZ, also showed Carturan apparently cooking drugs and also strapped to a chair. Both defendants are next scheduled to appear in court on October 15.