Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Claim: In August 2026, the White House’s official Instagram account shared Spider-Man-inspired graphics showing immigrants trapped in webs next to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Rating: In early August 2026, a rumor spread online that the White House posted Spider-Man-inspired graphics on Instagram that promoted immigration deportations.  “The official White House Instagram is now posting Spider-Man-style ICE propaganda showing immigrants literally trapped in webs before being deported,” said one X user, who also shared the alleged images.  The claim also spread on platforms like Facebook (screenshotted), Instagram (screenshotted) and Threads. The official White House Instagram did, in fact,…

The remains of 56 people were found improperly stored and decomposing on Thursday at a Chicago funeral home run by a couple who previously operated a crematory that was similarly shut down because of mishandled remains, authorities said.Illinois state officials, meanwhile, suspended the license of one of the funeral home’s directors, alleging bodies were being kept in an unrefrigerated area in “deplorable conditions”.The discovery came months after neighborhood residents began noticing a “stench” emanating from the funeral home, which led some to complain to the city.The Cook county medical examiner’s office said it was notified by state and local officials…

Kerry Wan/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.Just a week ago, a T-Mobile outage affected thousands of customers nationwide, and depending on your choice of words when conversing with a service representative, you were compensated anywhere from $10 to $80 in bill credits. Fun, right? Had I still been a part of the magenta family, I likely would’ve experienced the frustration of my in-laws, who were outside a concert venue that day, waiting to regain any bit of signal to validate their tickets in the 90-degree weather. Also: Hit by T-Mobile’s outage? You can get up to $80 in…

Unlimited Technology Systems is notifying over 3.8 million individuals that their personal information was stolen in a data breach. Based in Montgomery, Ohio, Unlimited provides advanced financial and revenue cycle technology to healthcare providers and organizations. It claims to be working with more than 4,500 oncology offices and over 6,500 specialty providers. The incident, it says, was discovered in October 2025 and involved one of its commercial data centers. The company’s investigation determined that hackers stole certain data from its systems between October 5 and October 10, 2025. The stolen data, Unlimited notes in a notification letter to the affected…

Bitcoin (BTC) hit new August highs into Friday’s Wall Street open as markets reacted to weaker US jobs numbers.Key points:Crypto and risk assets gained after US nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000 in July.Fed interest-rate bets for September shift from a 0.25% hike to a pause on signs of a weaker labor market.Bitcoin and altcoins stayed “resilient” after a week of bearish surprises, per analysis from QCP Capital.Crypto, stocks higher on low nonfarm payrolls printData from TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting $65,340 on Bitstamp, up 1.3% on the day, as fresh US labour-market data was released.BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingViewThe US economy…

Museums are supposed to be havens for the collective cultural and scientific heritage of the planet, but specimens sometimes go missing. Happily, they can also be rediscovered, as a new study shows, with the vertebrae of the legendary predatory shark known to the world under its old name of Megalodon (now properly Otodus megalodon) turning up on a museum shelf decades after they were seemingly lost. The new paper takes another look at the size and growth of this giant shark that lived between 15 and 3.5 million years ago. The study confirms previous estimates that these animals might have…

The moment that my friend decided she wanted to leave China came one day in 2018, on a busy street in Beijing. A born-and-bred Beijinger with a well-paying job at an international company, she was riding in a taxi when she saw a man lying at a bus stop, apparently having a seizure. Several people stood nearby, but no one checked on him. My friend felt compelled to get out of the taxi and called an ambulance. During the roughly 15 minutes that she waited, many people passed, but no one stopped. A boy walking by asked his father, “Dad,…

Claim: In August 2026, Iran’s government announced that it would only reopen the Strait of Hormuz if U.S. President Donald Trump admitted he lost the 2020 presidential election. Rating: A rumor that Iran’s government announced that it would only reopen the Strait of Hormuz if U.S. President Donald Trump admitted he lost the 2020 presidential election spread in August 2026. For example, a Facebook user claimed on Aug. 6, 2026 (archived), “In a major setback for Donald J. Trump, the government of Iran announced on Thursday that it would only reopen the Strait of Hormuz when he admits he lost the 2020 election.”  The story spread…

A firefighting Sikorsky S64 helicopter with two individuals onboard crashed on Friday morning in a remote area of central Utah, according to federal aviation authorities.The US Forest Service initially declined to comment on the condition of the helicopter’s passengers, asking the public for “patience while we focus on response efforts” in a statement.Emergency personnel are responding near Richfield,about 160 miles south of Salt Lake City, an agency spokesperson told the Guardian by email.The exact circumstances surrounding the crash are unknown.At a media briefing on Friday evening, Tyler Hecht, deputy incident commander with Great Basin incident management team, described the terrain…

The low reserves have already added to the increased pressure on gas prices linked to renewed tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, with the European natural gas benchmark now consistently higher than it was for the first four months of the Iran war. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has said the bloc faces no winter supply risks. But a report by energy analytics firm Rapidan projects that reserves will rise to only 65 percent of total storage capacity by November, arguing that hitting the EU’s target by winter won’t be possible without “materially higher prices.”  That risk has…