Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Two drones were spotted over a military base in western Germany just days after an explosive-laden device was found at Leipzig airport.Germany’s armed forces (Bundeswehr) confirmed they were seen on Thursday evening at a base in Mechernich, near Bonn, reportedly housing components for US-made Patriot air-defence systems.A spokeswoman for the Bundeswehr Joint Force Command said military police were deployed to the site before the matter was handed over to local police.It is the latest instance of drones being spotted near military bases or airports in European nations supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, on which suspicion has fallen. Moscow…

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.Back-to-school season is already underway, and for many students, that means shopping for the best tech to support their studies. (And for professionals, it can mean looking to update your office environment before a busy Q4.) Buying a new laptop is a great first step, but a computer is only the foundation of a productive student. The right accessories will transform the way you learn and enjoy campus life throughout the semester.Also: Need a new laptop for school? Here are 14 models I recommend to studentsTo speed up your search, I’ve put together…

Michael Saylor says Strategy used AI to design a new class of preferred stocks that ultimately allowed the company to raise roughly $15 billion for its Bitcoin strategy.The Strategy executive chairman said he turned to AI after the company’s existing financing channels, including common-stock sales and convertible bonds, were becoming harder to scale.“I used AI to make $15 billion last year,” Saylor said during an Aug. 6 appearance on The Diary of a CEO podcast.Saylor was referring to capital raised through securities rather than $15 billion of personal income or corporate profit. He said Strategy ultimately sold about $10.5 billion…

Prosecutors in Ecuador have charged a former interior minister and six others on suspicion of being involved in the assassination of a presidential candidate in 2023.José Serrano and the head of cartel Los Lobos, Wilmer “Pipo” Chavarria, were implicated in the murder of Fernando Villavicencio at a campaign event in the capital, Quito, days before the election.Five people linked to the criminal gang were jailed over the hit in 2024, while Pipo was captured in Spain last year, having faked his own death.Villavicencio, a journalist turned prominent legislator, was known for his anti-corruption stance and was one of few candidates…

President Trump’s takeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has left the building nearly empty. So the few lonely staff members who remain ahead of a potential two-year closure this month for renovations are prone to sharing tales of what for 50 years has made the place special.Like the mice.Kennedy Center mice do not resemble the typical gray house mice found in fields and woods in warmer weather and in kitchens and attics when it’s cold. They are roughly half that size, with large ears and fur of a golden tan color that, if they were…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe global mergers and acquisitions boom has hit a surprising sector — the American university system. Higher education is the country’s sixth-largest export, but the number of institutions is shrinking. If the Trump administration has its way, it will get much smaller still.Last month, the administration announced new rules designed to speed up the consolidation of the sector. As education under-secretary Nicholas Kent put it in June, “there are 6,000 institutions of higher education in this country, and not all…

When a loved one dies, who downloads their important files from their cloud storage account? Who monitors their email inbox? Who decides what happens to the photos and videos on their social media accounts? And what if those tasks fall to you?Everyone will die, but not everyone has planned what they want to happen with their digital assets after they’re gone. Even when someone makes a plan, survivors might still be limited in what they can do.Tying up loose ends can become a nightmare for the living, especially when the volume of digital assets is enormous. Still, the more you…

“There were way too many general-purpose layer twos, which frankly don’t make sense as a product, because there’s no reason to have many, many versions of the same thing,” Ben Fisch, CEO of Espresso Systems, told CoinDesk. “We’re in a consolidation phase for general-purpose layer twos, not layer twos broadly.”Industry leaders argue the shakeout reflects a broader shift across crypto rather than a problem unique to Ethereum scaling networks.”Consolidation is happening across all of crypto right now, not just layer two, from DeFi protocols to DEXs and infrastructure providers. It’s a sign that the industry is maturing. The networks continuing…

Archaeologists working at several sites in southern Africa have uncovered hundreds of unusual pieces of engraved ostrich eggshell. More than 60,000 years old, these fragments were created by groups of Homo sapiens living in the region. A new study led by researchers at the University of Bologna suggests that the markings were far more organized than simple scratches or improvised decorations. Published in PLOS One, the research finds that the engravings followed recurring geometric principles involving parallel lines, right-angle relationships, and repeated regular patterns. “These signs reveal a surprisingly structured, geometric way of thinking,” says Silvia Ferrara, Professor at the…

Published On 9 Aug 20269 Aug 2026Sahar Al-Bardini prepares breakfast for her three children in a tent at the Al-Zawaida camp in central Gaza. She watches them eat but is already worried about finding their next meal.The 35-year-old is the sole breadwinner for six-year-old Omar, four-year-old Sama and Mahmoud aged three since her husband was killed in Israeli shelling of northern Gaza three years ago.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listLike many families in Gaza, they are struggling with soaring food prices, largely due to Israel’s long-running siege, with concerns that the population could be plunged into famine again.During…