Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Gaby Hinsliff (Britain needs cash and everyone knows we should break the pensions triple lock. Where is the courage?, 22 September) is right that public policy should not subsidise wealth without limit, but breaking the triple lock is a poor way to target affluent pensioners. Most pensioners are not affluent. Indeed, a quarter of pensioners require benefits in addition to the state pension just to survive and keep a roof over their heads.If the aim is to stop subsidising wealth, a more direct target is the generous tax treatment of private pension savings. A taxpayer contributing £100 to a pension…

Earlier this week Trump announced that the proposed “Triumphal Arch” would double as a complex to store military equipment, complete with the ability to deploy snipers and drones from the roof and plaza.In a letter to the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Duckworth said they “must reject this foolhardy plan and instead focus on increasing the safety of the airspace”.The arch is to be built just outside Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, and about 4mi (6km) from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the site of the deadly 2025 midair crash between a military helicopter and commercial plane. “The American…

OpenAI said Friday it had alerted “dozens” of global institutions that their websites may have been impacted by its AI agents acting improperly.OpenAI agents attempted to get information from “governments, universities, public agencies, and other institutions” through sometimes extreme means, the company said.While some of the activity was simply due to the tools working to find “authoritative sources of public information,” some went beyond that. Like an AI agent taking and transferring data when it should not have, OpenAI said.Such activity resulted in at least 53 incidents where an OpenAI agent took an image from ChatGPT user activity and transferred…

Ravie LakshmananSep 24, 2026Vulnerability / Web Security Threat actors have begun to actively exploit a critical security flaw in WordPress within hours of public disclosure. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2026-87902 (CVSS score: 9.2), which could allow an unauthenticated attacker to obtain remote code execution (RCE). “An unauthenticated attacker can make get_page_template() page-template resolution include a chosen readable local .php file outside the active theme directories,” WordPress said in an advisory released two days ago. “If relevant preconditions for both the server environment and the active theme are met, this can lead to RCE.” Successful exploitation hinges on meeting the…

Her crypto work included a wide range of policy statements and guidance that clarified the agency’s position on various aspects of the industry, including mining, staking, memcoins and — most importantly — a series of definitions for classifying different types of crypto assets and which regulator would have dominion. More recently, the agency began proposing formal rules, beginning with one known as Regulation Crypto Assets, which set up a system for offering crypto assets without triggering stringent securities regulations.The agency’s biggest splash, though, may have been its recent opening of the pathway for tokenizing securities. The effort known as the…

A faint ribbon of stars can be seen stretching across the galaxy in the image above. Known as a globular cluster stellar stream, this type of structure preserves clues about its past motion and evolution. By studying these streams, astronomers can learn more about how galaxies developed and how dark matter is distributed within them. Because these stellar streams respond to gravity, they can act as tracers of dark matter that cannot be seen directly. Until recently, their extreme faintness made them very difficult to detect and analyze. Improvements in massive astronomical datasets and advanced analysis methods are now turning…

PRAGUE (AP) — Five cheetah cubs had to survive a weather scare and the illness of their mother after their birth at the Prague Zoo. But they are doing well now, the zoo said on Friday. The zoo said the quintuplets — four males and one female — that were born on June 18 had faced a tough time from the start. Their mother, Daenerys, opted to give birth in an outdoor enclosure with a period of strong storms hitting Prague soon after. Despite her inexperience, Daenerys took “exemplary” good care of her first cubs under such weather…

The Marinus Link electricity and telecommunications interconnector to be built in Australia has secured the country’s first offshore transmission license, representing the final Commonwealth approval leading into construction.Illustration. Source: Marinus Link Marinus Link, which will connect North West Tasmania and Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, has been granted the first Transmission and Infrastructure Licence (TIL) under Australia’s new offshore infrastructure regime, following approval under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, obtained last year. The license authorizes the construction, installation, operation, maintenance, repair and decommissioning of the project’s subsea cables and associated fiber-optic infrastructure. It is in place until 2090.…

Growing up in early 2000s Russia, when President Vladimir Putin was strengthening his grip on the country, we watched firsthand as a stillborn democracy was trampled—by riot police in faceless helmets, sleek media operatives, greasy oligarchs, and a cabal of supporting characters who helped Putin centralize power and smother civic life. A red book cover titled “HOW TO SURVIVE AUTHORITARIANISM” by Maria Kuznetsova & Dan Storyev, with the subtitle “A RUSSIAN’S PHRASEBOOK FOR EVERYDAY LIFE IN AMERICA.” The center features a yellow double-headed eagle holding an arrow and olive branch, wearing a shield with three stars and stripes, topped with…

Claim: Christopher Nolan is directing a standalone “Star Wars” movie about Darth Vader. Rating: Is Christopher Nolan directing a new standalone “Star Wars” film about the iconic villain Darth Vader? Did “Star Wars” creator George Lucas lobby Nolan to make the movie? Is actor Hayden Christensen set to put the Sith lord’s suit back on? In late September 2026, social media users shared a rumor claiming Nolan planned to direct a film titled, “Star Wars: Darth Vader.” That movie, should Nolan lead the charge on creating it, would follow the resounding box office success of his summer epic, “The Odyssey.”…