Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

On September 1, 2025, Elon Musk laid out his fourth “Master Plan” for Tesla, which was immediately criticized by some of his most ardent fans for being generic. Musk agreed and promised to add more specifics. They never came. But that hasn’t stopped Musk and other Tesla executives from spending much of the past year promising that the company’s many futuristic efforts — robotaxis, robots, AI — are all parts of a grander machine that will create an era of “amazing abundance.” What that means, more than a year later, is still tricky to pin down. The topline promises of…

An international law enforcement operation dubbed “Operation KillSwitch” seized the KillSec ransomware gang’s data leak site and servers, led to three arrests, and identified a 16-year-old as the group’s alleged administrator. The coordinated law enforcement action was carried out on September 30, involving authorities from Belgium, the United States, Finland, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Europol and Eurojust also took part in the investigation, along with cybersecurity companies Bitdefender and Group-IB. “The action was part of Operation KillSwitch, an international investigation led by German authorities into around 1,000 suspected attacks worldwide,” says Europol. “Investigators…

Bitcoin (BTC) pushed above $84,000 around Thursday’s Wall Street open as US bond yields retreated after setting more multidecade highs.Key points:BTC price action seeks to cement higher lows around the first October US trading session, with $84,000 in focus.US bond yields fall at the Wall Street open after the 10-year yield hit its highest levels since April 2002 at 5.342%.Bitcoin is due a “messy” retest of $82,500, says analyst by Rekt Capital.US bond yields head lower after fresh macro highsData from TradingView showed BTC/USD preserving a pattern of higher lows on hourly time frames, up 0.6% on the day.BTC/USD one-hour…

Researchers at the University of Surrey have proposed a new kind of qubit that could help address one of the biggest obstacles in quantum computing: keeping error rates low as systems become larger. The concept uses superfluid helium, a form of helium with unusual quantum properties, to create a qubit that may be less sensitive to some of the disturbances that affect today’s leading quantum computers. Why Quantum Computers Struggle With Errors Quantum computers rely on qubits to store and process information in ways that conventional computers cannot. Many current systems use superconducting circuits, but these are highly sensitive to…

Renewable energy companies are driving most of Brazil’s plans for new data centers, according to a recent joint analysis by The Intercept Brasil and Mongabay. As of December 2025 there were 68 requests to connect data centers to Brazil’s national power grid with 65% registered by renewable energy companies, including wind and solar power plants, the investigation found. Brazil produces more renewable energy than it can distribute across its territory, and the national power grid cannot always absorb all the power generated by renewable energy plants. Doing so would cause disruptions in provision, and potentially even blackouts. To…

If you’ve visited our website in the past few days, you may have noticed things look a little different. Behind the scenes, the change is much bigger.We’ve moved investigatemidwest.org to a new platform designed to make it easier to read our work, subscribe to our newsletters and support our journalism.For the first time, our newsletters have a home on the website, so you can go back and catch up on editions you may have missed. Free members receive our weekly newsletter, while supporting members help fund our journalism and receive additional benefits. Both can sign in to manage their membership…

Yemen’s humanitarian situation was already grim before the country fell back into full-blown civil war this month. Now, the renewed fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces is exacerbating long-running challenges. Top aid organizations are raising grave concerns about the conditions that millions of Yemenis are facing while warning that growing insecurity on the ground and inadequate funding are making it difficult to deliver assistance. Carl Skau, the acting executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), told Foreign Policy last week that the situation in Yemen was a “huge concern.” Skau visited Yemen several weeks ago…

Probe finds spyware, hidden microphones and pre-infected phones used to surveil journalists, activists, rights defenders.Amnesty International has denounced Morocco’s intelligence agency for using spyware, hidden microphones and pre-infected phones in the “unlawful surveillance” of journalists and human rights defenders.Moroccan authorities host an “expansive and vast” surveillance apparatus that they use to “ultimately silence journalists, activists and other critical voices”, the rights NGO said in a report published on Thursday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe report, Inside Morocco’s surveillance machine, is based on the testimony of a former employee of the Moroccan domestic intelligence service (DGST), as well as leaked…

Later in the morning, two drones hit the Pivdenny bridge, one hitting the base of a central stanchion.Ukrainian 5 Kanal TV reporter Mariana Mykytenko described how one of the passengers on her metro train shouted the word “Shahed”, referring to Russia’s Iranian-designed drones, before the blast sent dust pouring into their carriage.No-one in her compartment was hurt, she said, and “the train took people to Vydubychi station on the right bank, then it didn’t go any further”. The right bank is on the west side of the Dnipro river.Metro trains were suspended but road traffic was eventually allowed to resume.…

Conservative deputy leader Alex Burghart has described pensioners as a “special case” as he reaffirmed the party’s commitment to the state pension triple lock.He argued that retirees deserve different treatment because, once they stop working, they can do “absolutely nothing” to increase their income.Prime Minister Andy Burnham has set out plans to end the existing state pension triple lock from 2030 to help fund a new national care service.In a round of interviews with BBC local radio stations, Burghart suggested that any “difficult decisions” on welfare should focus on working-age benefits.He told BBC Radio Berkshire that it was “obvious” there…