Iran has announced a four-month ban on the energy-consuming mining of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin after cities suffered unplanned blackouts. President Hassan Rouhani told a cabinet meeting the main cause of the blackouts was a drought that had affected hydro-electric power generation.  But he said cryptocurrency mining, 85% of which is unlicensed, was draining more than 2GW from the grid each day. An estimated 4.5% of all Bitcoin mining takes place in Iran. According to analytics firm Elliptic, the activity allows the country to bypass sanctions and earn hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto-assets that can be used to purchase imports.(BBC)…[+]

A gunman has killed eight people at a commuter train yard in California. The shooting took place at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) rail yard in San Jose. Officials say the victims include multiple transit employees. The suspect, an employee, is also dead. The shooting broke out around 06:45 local time (14:45 GMT). Officials say the suspect may have set his home on fire before the attack. Across the US, there have been 230 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. A mass shooting is defined by the group as a crime in which four or more people are fatally shot.(BBC)…[+]