Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Before most people have finished their morning coffee, an MP’s staffer might have already dealt with a suicidal caller, a victim of domestic abuse or a threat of violence. We’ve been yelled at, cried at and sometimes even physically attacked, all in the course of managing a heavy caseload of constituents’ most intractable problems. So, when I read the results of the latest survey by the wellness working group (WWG) I was not surprised to learn that half of us are experiencing clinical levels of psychological distress.Psychological distress is a range of emotional or cognitive suffering, such as anxiety or…

Claim: Albert Einstein married his cousin Elsa Einstein. Rating: For years, people online have shared an alleged fact: Albert Einstein married one of his cousins. For example, on Aug. 3, 2026, a TikTok user shared a video (archived) showing three people reacting while reading a Google artificial-intelligence summary of the famous physicist’s love life. The Google “AI Overview” displayed in the clip read in part: Albert Einstein had several love interests throughout his life, with his first wife being Mileva Maric, a Serbian physicist and his fellow student. He later married his cousin, Elsa Einstein, after divorcing Mileva, though his…

Donald Trump secretly swapped planes as he left a Nato summit in Turkey last month, as part of an elaborate ruse in response to a possible Iranian threat, US media report.The US president boarded Air Force One in view of television cameras before being transported to a military aircraft with the help of a catering truck, the Washington Post said. Journalists and some White House staff on board did not know he had been smuggled out. Officials told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that the US had detected a credible Iranian threat to fire a missile at the plane.…

Andy Burnham’s pledge to end rough sleeping is under threat from a failure to find accommodation for a growing number of newly released prisoners, a charity has warned.An analysis by the social justice charity Nacro has found that nearly one in six people leaving jail in England and Wales last year were released into homelessness, reaching the highest rate for five years.Between April 2025 and March 2026, 15,155 people freed from prison were without housing – equivalent to 300 people every week and an 18% increase on the previous year.In a bold first pledge in his first speech as prime…

The Democratic Party’s ascendant left flank, looking to build on its success in Michigan last week, faces fresh tests in two primaries in the Midwest on Tuesday.A democratic socialist appears to be clearly ahead in the governor’s race in Wisconsin, and a progressive is facing off against a moderate in an expensive Senate race in Minnesota. Wisconsin, like Michigan, is a closely watched national battleground.On the Republican side, President Trump’s choice to succeed Senator Lindsey Graham in South Carolina — Mr. Graham’s younger sister, Darline Graham — is running in a special primary election against four more experienced rivals. Despite…

Starting February 1st, 2027, creators who want to monetize their channel through YouTube’s Partner Program (YPP) will need at least 1,000 subscribers and either 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. That’s a sizeable jump from YouTube’s current requirement of 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 watch hours in the past year, or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days. Creators will also need to maintain 10 million Shorts views over 90 days to earn money from the Shorts Creators Pool, though falling below this…

class H3Graph: def __init__(self, schema, unet, te, lora=None): self.s, self.g, self._id = schema, {}, 0 self.unet, self.te, self.lora = unet, te, lora def node(self, cls, **inputs): self.s.check(cls, inputs) self._id += 1 nid = str(self._id) self.g[nid] = {“class_type”: cls, “inputs”: inputs} return nid def _backbone(self): model = self.node(“UNETLoader”, unet_name=self.unet, weight_dtype=”default”) if self.lora: model = self.node(“LoraLoaderModelOnly”, model=[model, 0], lora_name=self.lora, strength_model=1.0) if CFG[“SIGMA_SHIFT”]: sv, sa = CFG[“SIGMA_SHIFT”] model = self.node(“MiniMaxH3SigmaShift”, model=[model, 0], shift_video=float(sv), shift_audio=float(sa)) clip = self.node(“CLIPLoader”, clip_name=self.te, type=”minimax”, device=”default”) vvae = self.node(“VAELoader”, vae_name=VAE_VIDEO) avae = self.node(“VAELoader”, vae_name=VAE_AUDIO) return model, clip, vvae, avae def _tail(self, model, cond, latent, vvae, avae): turbo = bool(self.lora)…

A financially motivated threat actor previously associated with the Medusa ransomware operation is now deploying a new ransomware strain called StormEncryptor. Microsoft Threat Intelligence is tracking the actor as Storm-1175 and says the recent attacks were likely preceded by exploitation of an authentication-bypass vulnerability (CVE-2026-18577) in the N-central remote monitoring and management (RMM) tool. Storm-1175 is believed to be a China-based threat actor. It was previously linked to Medusa ransomware, targeting systems via zero-day and n-day flaws in various products, including GoAnywhere MFT, SmarterTools SmarterMail, Microsoft Exchange, Invanti Connect Secure, and JetBrains TeamCity. “Storm-1175’s deployment of StormEncryptor marks the threat…

“We view this as the first of several rulemakings the SEC will undertake to provide regulatory certainty for crypto assets after the Senate failed before the August recess to advance the Clarity Act on crypto market structure,” TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg wrote in a client note sent after the SEC’s notice.The proposal is expected to give a path to crypto firms enabling them to raise capital for projects without triggering SEC registration requirements, and the businesses are also expected to be provided an exit path for getting clear of the agency’s jurisdiction when they’re not engaged in hands-on management…

A total solar eclipse is set to cross Europe, and people around the world will be able to watch the event live. The European Space Agency (ESA) will begin its broadcast at 1:30 p.m. EDT (19:30 CEST) on August 12, giving viewers a chance to experience the eclipse from home.. Quick linksWhat Happens During a Total Solar Eclipse A solar eclipse happens when the Moon moves directly between Earth and the Sun, covering the Sun and casting a narrow region of Earth into darkness. When the Sun’s brilliant surface is hidden, its faint and wispy atmosphere becomes visible. Stars and…