Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

You may think it’s a commitment to buying a round, the ability to chat at length about the weather, or making a proper cup of tea. But when it comes down to what makes people proud to be British, there is a consensus across all ages, demographics and political groups – and tea, pints and the weather don’t get a look-in.Hard work, fair play and community are the values that voters – no matter which political party, age group, social class or region they come from – instinctively believe capture what it means to be British, according to a large-scale…

The police chiefs from Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland also called for greater consideration of victims when prisoners have their sentences altered – such as with the government’s early release scheme, which was designed to reduce prison overcrowding.Under changes to the Sentencing Act made this year, Cole and Bowers, who were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter in 2020, will become eligible for release from custody after serving half of their sentences.In the letter, released on Tuesday evening, police chiefs said the early release of PC Harper’s killers, and that of anyone involved in the death of an officer,…

Andriy Onufriyenko/ Moment via Getty ImagesFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysSoftware factories will prepare prototypes for wide distribution. Leading AI companies are creating the foundations.The specter of daily releases and updates demands greater automation. Tune into the TV show Shark Tank, and the most recurring question you hear voiced by the venture capitalists to budding entrepreneurs is whether they have arrangements with a factory to cost-effectively mass-produce their pooper-scoopers, comfort socks, or scrub pads. The idea of a mass-production facility may make sense for software delivery as well.Imagine submitting your prototype — such as a vibe-coded initial version…

Hackers associated with the Russian threat group Sandworm have been targeting system administrators and IT professionals through fake job offers since at least May. A report from the Ukrainian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) details a social engineering campaign attributed to UAC-0145, which is believed to be a sub-cluster of Sandworm (APT44). In the campaign, the threat actor targets victims while posing as IT companies and recruiters. The agency says that the attacker studies the targets’ resumes uploaded on job sites and then initiates direct contact. Conversations are then moved to Telegram to arrange a video interview over Zoom. During the interview,…

Bitdeer’s existing at-the-money program could raise up to $1 billion through Class A share sales, about twice the roughly $500 million the Bitcoin miner says it still needs to build its Tydal AI data center.Its latest prospectus supplement filed Aug. 10 sets no minimum sale amount, however, and does not commit the company to sell the full authorization or spend all of it on Tydal.At the filing’s illustrative price of $10.88, a full draw on Bitdeer’s $1 billion ATM capacity would require about 91.9 million new shares. That issuance would equal 40.4% of the 227.4 million Class A shares outstanding…

This article is for students grades 5-8. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is NASA’s newest astrophysics observatory. The telescope will scan large sections of space. Roman will help astronomers answer questions about dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets, and more. ______________________________________________________________________ Words to Know Astrophysics: a branch of space science that applies physics and mathematics to study the universe. Lagrange point: a position in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system, such as the Sun and Earth, are balanced. This point creates an “orbital parking spot” where minimal fuel is needed to maintain a spacecraft’s position. Infrared light: light…

U.S.-headquartered energy services provider Expro has lined up a new deal for a well abandonment program in the North Sea with an undisclosed oil and gas operator on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Illustration; Source: Expro Expro has secured what it describes as a major multi-million-pound contract with an unknown UK operator, said to reinforce its position as a leading supplier of subsea safety systems in the UK North Sea plug and abandonment (P&A) market. The U.S.-headquartered firm will provide its 7-3/8” large bore subsea test tree assembly (SSTTA) safety system to support the client’s P&A campaign across a portfolio of…

On a cool September night in 2014, 18-year-old Pietro Mautino sped down a rural county road about 100 miles southwest of Chicago, his friend at the wheel of his bronze Kia sedan. The headlights were off. Around 1:35 a.m., police pulled them over. The car reeked of cannabis, police reported. An officer watched Mautino toss a plastic pill bottle into the back seat. Searching the car and Mautino’s black Prada bag, he inventoried a hydrocodone pill, 14 clonazepam pills, a baggie of marijuana, some hash oil, and drug paraphernalia, according to police reports. The son of longtime state Rep. Frank…

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at earthquake recovery efforts in Colombia, ongoing violence in the Middle East, and the persecution of Russia’s only antiwar party.  Devastation in Colombia Search and rescue efforts continued across Colombia on Tuesday, as the country reels from a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake that has left upward of 200 people dead and thousands more unaccounted for. The earthquake struck on Monday at 7:34 a.m. local time, with its epicenter near San José del Palmar, a small mountain town in the country’s western Chocó region. The quake was the most powerful one to hit…

One of the lessons of the war in Ukraine is that military technology evolves very rapidly, with the world’s first-ever drone war making it harder for conventional armies to make gains on the battlefield. But they may also herald a new dystopian future, where ordinary civilians become targets of flying objects manned by faraway operators.   Entrepreneurs in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have taken note. The Baltic region is already home to several companies that are well known internationally, such as Bolt, Skype and Vinted. Since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022, the startup scene has focused on developing…