Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Referring to the autumn trading period, Fairlie said the decision removes “an administrative burden on farmers at what is a critical time in the trading calendar”. “While extending the zone removes the need for movement licences, it does not change our long-term approach to tackling this disease,” he said. “Vaccination remains the single most effective way for farmers to protect their animals from the worst effects of bluetongue, and I would strongly encourage anyone with susceptible livestock to speak to their vet now to discuss the right vaccination approach and to secure supplies ahead of next year’s higher-risk season,” he…

With the acquisition of the Southern North Sea asset portfolio now out of the way, Serica Energy explains that it has strengthened its production base and reserves, following a net payment of £33 million ($43 million), which was paid to Spirit Energy, consisting of the upfront consideration of £57 million ($75 million), reduced by the interim post-tax cashflows calculated in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the effective economic date of January 1, 2025, and the October 1, 2026, completion date.Chris Cox, Serica’s CEO, commented: “We are delighted to complete this acquisition of high-quality assets which materially boost…

Reading Time: 10 minutes With an education background, Appleton parent and education advocate James Bacon knows what his kids’ teachers face. He has two sons in elementary school. They’re thriving, largely because of their teachers, he said. But, should he need to advocate for more support, he worries about the additional strain that could place on the already overburdened teachers and systems. Bacon’s concern has driven his advocacy work. When the Appleton School District voted to go to an operational referendum for $15 million in the spring 2026 election to balance its budget and add student supports, Bacon helped organize…

The last few weeks have launched concerns about an AI extinction event into the mainstream. When Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon announced his resignation from the company on Sept. 8, he wrote that the “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” Tech CEOs such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, and SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk didn’t disagree. Instead, they called for frontier AI companies to slow the pace at which they improve model capabilities. The spread of artificial intelligence has generated myriad other concerns, too: the ecological impact of data centers,…

Claim: In August 2026, Florida became the first U.S. state to bar recipients of welfare cash assistance from spending it on tattoos, vaping products, theme park tickets and other “nonessential” items. Rating: What’s True The claim is correct in that Florida became the first state to implement item-specific restrictions for recipients of its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program at the point of sale. However … What’s False … other states across the U.S. also block similar purchases through other means. So while the claim is technically correct, Florida is not the first state to block the purchase of certain…

Sikorski says Poland would welcome Britain back to EU ‘with open arms’Jakub KrupaAfter France’s Emmanuel Macron and Spain’s Pedro Sánchez yesterday, Poland’s foreign minister Radosław Sikorski is the latest EU leader to offer his take on Britain’s renewed push to reset its relationship with the European Union, a decade on from Brexit.In a post on X aimed partially at his domestic opponents ahead of Poland’s 2027 parliamentary election, he said: “If [Britain] were to apply for a return to [the EU], which Poland would welcome with open arms, it would mean that after a decade of analyses, London has concluded…

POLITICO hatte bereits am Dienstag berichtet, dass das Weiße Haus erwägt, die EU zu bitten, ihre Dieselreserven einzusetzen, um die weltweite Versorgung zu stärken und damit die Preise zu senken. Die Vereinigten Staaten hätten Berlin in dieser Angelegenheit bereits kontaktiert, hieß es am Donnerstag aus deutschen Regierungskreisen. Die Bundesrepublik ist jedoch nur einer von mehreren EU-Staaten, an den sich die USA gewandt haben, heißt es von einer Person, die mit den Plänen der Trump-Regierung vertraut ist. So berichtet ein hochrangiger europäischer, für Energie zuständiger Regierungsbeamter eines großen EU-Landes, sein Land sei vergangene Woche bilateral in den USA angesprochen worden. „Es…

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to review the Trump administration’s policy of indefinitely detaining immigrants who crossed the border illegally years ago, signaling the court plans to weigh in on major pieces of President Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda as it begins its new term on Monday.The policy is a departure from past practice, when such migrants were generally allowed an opportunity for a hearing before a judge.The justices previously announced that they would fast-track a separate case testing the administration’s policy of deporting immigrants to countries where they have no ties, including nations that have faced allegations of human…

The British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal has been released from a Delhi prison after the Indian high court warned the government it would be found in contempt of court if it continued to attempt to keep him in jail despite an 18 September court order releasing him on bail. Johal has been incarcerated for nine years without any full trial.The court order was issued after Johal’s lawyers issued a writ of habeas corpus alleging he was being detained against the express direction of the court.Johal’s nine-year detention on alleged terrorist offences, has been a cause of diplomatic tension between…

The AI startup Photon is so sure that agents will eventually come to replace mobile apps that it held a funeral for the latter — yes, a real funeral in a church, with speeches and everything. Photon, which helps developers build agents that work over iMessage and WhatsApp, now has $4.5 million in seed funding to develop its products. The raise comes after the company signed up over 40,000 developers grew its revenue 10x in just four months, it says. Image Credits:Photon Photon co-founder and CEO Daniel Tian said the “app funeral,” held in San Francisco on September 17, was…