Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

As ultra-fast fashion has gotten cheaper, textiles have become disposable to many Europeans. The average EU consumer purchased 95 articles of textiles last year — an increase of 12 percent since 2019. Europe now discards about 9 million tons of polyester textiles annually. That’s the weight of roughly 900 Eiffel Towers.  Those unwanted clothes could be put to better use. Technology has advanced to the point where textile-to-textile recycling is in reach, but it requires coordination across the EU. With Extended Producer Responsibility rules coming into effect and the Circular Economy Act on the horizon, Europe has a unique chance to…

Everything old is new again as today Bose announced its first pair of wired earbuds since discontinuing the option in 2015. The new tethered earbuds, which are simply called the Bose Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds, do away with battery anxiety and the need to remember to charge them every few days. Their functionality is limited, but they do take advantage of the past 11 years of earbud innovation with the addition of active noise canceling.Two microphones on each earbud work alongside Bose’s QuietControl technology to deliver active noise canceling with multiple modes that can be cycled using a button on…

A former US soldier was sentenced to 70 months in prison for hacking into AT&T and Verizon systems and leaking the call detail records of a government official. The individual, Cameron John Wagenius, 22, a former Army soldier, allegedly hacked into wireless carriers’ databases to retrieve sensitive information and extort the victims, documents presented in court show. He engaged in hacking activities between April 2023 and December 2024, while on active duty. According to court documents, in November 2024, Wagenius publicly disclosed the confidential call detail records of a government official and threatened to release additional confidential records. Wagenius was…

Crypto exchange Bitget lost about $388 million in a Sept. 24 breach after an attacker bypassed security controls protecting its exchange wallets. The company has since said it has identified and fixed the vulnerability, though it has not publicly detailed how the attacker gained access.The exchange had published attacker addresses and offered a 5% bounty for eligible efforts that freeze or recover stolen funds. As the attacker moved those assets through other services, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen publicly asked THORChain over the weekend to refuse the transactions.“Our attacker addresses are publicly listed and actively tracked. We are formally asking @THORChain…

New research suggests that keeping blood sugar extremely steady may come with an unexpected tradeoff for some people with diabetes. The findings, which will be presented at the Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Milan, Italy (Sept. 28 – Oct. 2), indicate that people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes sometimes reported a better quality of life after days when their glucose levels fluctuated more, provided those levels remained within safe limits. Researchers paired data from continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices with daily well-being assessments. Their results suggest that the effort and…

Biodiversity banking is the collection and preservation of genetic samples of plants and animals.At the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the biodiversity bank includes a plant gene bank, a tissue and DNA bank, along with their popular Frozen Zoo where genetic samples are cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen.Preserving genetic samples is crucial for species recovery in the future as well to preserve genetic diversity and for research purposes, Katie Heineman, conservation program leader for biodiversity banking, tells Mongabay.The alliance is now helping build capacity for sample collection by collaborating with governments and partner organizations in Kenya, Vietnam, Peru, and Hawai‘i.See…

Carri Lockhart, Karoon’s CEO and Managing Director, commented: “The electrical fault on SPS-92 is clearly very disappointing, especially given that this new ESP and cable system was in operation less than three months. Prior to the electrical fault, the well was performing in line with expectations, benefiting from increasing reservoir pressures following the resumption of water flood operations.“Our key focus now is on planning the intervention and bringing SPS-92 back into full production to capture the deferred barrels, and maximising production from the other Baúna wells. In parallel, the company is actively pursuing avenues for equipment warranty and insurance recoveries.…

The year after fascist Italy forcibly seized Ethiopia’s capital, in 1937, Benito Mussolini’s minister of national education said, “A geographical revival is always correlated with a political revival.” Few statements so pithily capture what the MAGA project thinks it’s doing with foreign policy in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean—a revival of the supposed greatness of an imagined past at the expense of everyone else. In recent weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick needled Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, about separatism in Alberta. In justifying tariffs…

The United Nations General Assembly will hold a high-level meeting on Monday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Durban Declaration – one of the most comprehensive frameworks to combat racial discrimination and inequality globally.The declaration, which is not legally binding for member states, was adopted at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in the South African city of Durban. The 153-page document tackles racism, xenophobia, and the oppression of Indigenous people around the world.A political declaration is expected to be adopted at Monday’s meeting, according to the UN.What issues did the 2001 Durban Declaration address?The Durban Declaration and Programme…

In a speech delivered to a packed room, the pope did not specify what concessions he thought Kyiv or Moscow might have to make to secure peace. Russian forces are persistently bombing Ukraine and attempting to push forward in the Donetsk region, but the Kremlin’s military has so far failed to subjugate Kyiv after more than four and a half years of all-out war. The pontiff has taken an active role in recent months, pushing for an end to hostilities in Ukraine. In August, Leo sent Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the equivalent of his foreign minister, to Moscow to meet with…