Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Beth, a trusty tan Hoover vacuum cleaner with a burgundy cloth dust bag that for years tended to the floors of the Iowa farmhouse of Senator Chuck Grassley, earning admirers in both parties, has died. She was believed to be 49.The cause was apparently an electrical problem, said Mr. Grassley, a Republican who often admiringly posted images of his cleaning companion on social media around Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and family reunions.“U willl see Beth no more,” Mr. Grassley, 92 and the oldest senator, wrote on social media on Saturday, attaching an image that showed Beth’s electrical cord connector scarred by…

Lance Whitney / ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Apple has released unexpected security patches for the Mac.The patches fix a flaw in the Screen Sharing app.The updates affect MacOS Tahoe, Sonoma, and Sequoia.Apple has pushed out new updates for MacOS Tahoe, Sonoma, and Sequoia in light of a serious security vulnerability. Also: Why Apple’s iOS 26.6 is worth installing (it’s not just for the 91 security fixes)Released on Thursday, the updates for all three systems patch a flaw that could allow an attacker to exploit the Screen Sharing feature to access and control your…

Quantum materials could reshape fields as varied as high-performance computing, secure communication, sensitive detection, and energy production. Yet one persistent limitation has kept most of them from becoming practical technologies. Almost every quantum material discovered so far works only when cooled to temperatures near absolute zero. At ordinary temperatures, heat causes atoms to vibrate constantly. Those vibrations disrupt the fragile quantum effects researchers want to control. Suppressing this motion typically requires large cryogenic refrigeration systems. As a result, quantum materials can perform remarkable tasks in carefully controlled laboratories, but they are difficult and expensive to use in real-world devices. A…

In brief Hackers are using BNB Smart Chain contracts to store malware instructions. Fake CAPTCHA prompts tell victims to paste malicious commands into Windows tools. Successful attacks can steal credentials and give hackers lasting access to corporate networks. Hackers are using BNB Chain contracts to spread malware through compromised websites and fake CAPTCHA prompts, according to a report by Microsoft Threat Intelligence.In a post on X on Thursday, Microsoft Threat Intelligence said the campaign uses EtherHiding, a technique that stores malicious instructions in a blockchain smart contract. JavaScript injected into compromised websites contacts a BNB Chain gateway and retrieves commands…

An elder gave a blessing, more than 100 people in a large hall recited Quranic verses and a musician played a melody on a reed flute, soon joined by about 15 bandmates on folk instruments and drums.A woman in white took to the floor and began to spin, her skirt billowing as she accelerated and lifted her arms toward the sky.Then came a man with a blond ponytail, a guy with a backward baseball cap, women in flowing dresses — all whirling.This was the start of a recent gathering in southwestern Turkey focused on the ancient tradition of sema, the…

Let’s cut to the chase: Starting today, you can take an additional $100 off of our current $300 discount for your founder, investor, or attendee TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass, which is a nice bonus on top of our current discounted pricing.  This flash sale will run only until tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT. This discount will mark your last chance at a bonus deal before our next pricing tier kicks in on August 21.  Register with this link to lock in your extra $100 off. If you need to learn more before locking in your plans, Disrupt takes over Moscone West from October 13–15, bringing more than 10,000 founders, VCs, tech industry innovators, and builders…

In an institutional bear market, a Bitcoin ETF redemption is almost aggressively boring. An investor sells shares, an authorized participant returns a large block to the trust, and the fund either pays cash or transfers BTC. Its assets shrink while the shares keep trading near net asset value and the custodian carries on.Since the SEC approved in-kind redemptions in July 2025, the coins themselves can leave through this process without forcing the trust to sell them on the market.In 2022, the exit often began with a disabled withdrawal page and ended in bankruptcy court. But now, in 2026, it can…

INPE’s DETER system recorded 2,874 sq km of Amazon deforestation alerts from August 2025 through July 2026, down 36% from the previous year and 55.6% below the preceding 10-year average.The total is the lowest since 2013 when earlier DETER data are included. If the trend is confirmed by the higher-resolution PRODES system, Brazil could record its lowest official Amazon deforestation rate since monitoring began in 1988.The decline has coincided with stronger environmental enforcement under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Alerts also fell in the Cerrado, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, and Pampa, with the Cerrado reaching a five-year low.Despite the…

The Bald Range fire, which is burning “out of control” in British Columbia, Canada, prompted an evacuation order of more than 18,000 people in two communities as the blaze rapidly spread, the authorities said.The fire has scorched more than 25,000 acres as flames have edged closer to the Districts of Summerland and Peachland, officials said.Officials said the fire exploded in a way that they had never seen before, prompting overnight evacuations and the deployment of resources to battle yet another conflagration as more than 100 wildfires burn in the province.The Bald Range fire was “like a bomb going off in…