Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Google has released Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS and Gemini 3.8 Flash-Lite TTS, 2 new text-to-speech models in its Gemini Audio family. Google calls them its most expressive audio generation models yet. Flash TTS targets creative direction and character voices. Flash-Lite TTS targets high-volume, cost-efficient production. Both let developers direct delivery line by line using natural language. Is it deployable? Yes, both models are rolling out now through the Gemini API and Google AI Studio. Access is API-only, with no open weights for self-hosting. Enterprise API access via Gemini Enterprise is listed as coming soon. What Google Shipped The release splits…

Cybersecurity company Check Point has confirmed active exploitation of CVE-2026-85102, a pre-authentication remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the VPN certificate-handling functionality of its Security Gateway product. The same advisory also warns of threat actors exploiting a pre-authentication path traversal flaw tracked as CVE-2026-93616, which impacts the Management web service and can allow script execution and Java class loading. The company says that CVE-2026-93616 has been exploited as a zero-day since July 23. On September 10, the Dutch Nationaal Cyber Security Centrum (NCSC) alerted of the Security Gateway issue and urged users to apply available security updates as imminent exploitation was expected. Check Point has…

At a New York Fed conference on Sept. 22, Treasury officials and market participants discussed whether the government should lend excess cash into the overnight repo market, which finances Treasury trades. Such a move could raise bank reserves. Treasury announced no repo-lending program, amount or timetable at the conference, and any benefit for Bitcoin would be indirect.Reuters reported that several private-sector panelists welcomed the idea. The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee had considered it in May and urged further study. For now, the discussion is about how Treasury might manage its cash, rather than an operating program.How a Treasury repo investment…

The more scientists look for chemicals that can increase breast cancer risk, the more they find. Hundreds of potential breast carcinogens lurk in consumer goods, food, drinking water, pesticides, drugs and building materials, scientists reported in a peer-reviewed study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.  Exposure to these chemicals is ubiquitous, the authors warn, yet biomonitoring efforts are failing to measure people’s exposures to most chemicals or assess risks from compound exposures. Chemicals found in and derived from fossil fuels accounted for some of the largest production volumes and environmental releases of potential breast carcinogens, said lead author…

Environmental conservation is among the most important, universally shared imperatives the world faces, and market access is one of the few carrots available in international politics. By linking tariffs to deforestation, the EU and others can create trade agreements that deliver more conservation and more gains from trade. STANFORD—Bilateral trade agreements appear to be shaping the future. The interim trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay), which has been applied provisionally since May 2026, may set standards for a new wave of deals. Mercosur is already pursuing trade talks with Canada, Japan, and others,…

A video shared on social media in September 2026 by the conservative pundit Rob Smith featured an interview with a woman who claimed to live on the South side of Chicago and said that immigrants who entered the United States without authorization (“illegals”) were receiving $20,000 in benefits from the Democratic-led governments of Chicago and Illinois.  Snopes found that the interview was originally conducted by Brooke Shirley (the mother of the conservative social media personality Nick Shirley, who is herself a conservative social media personality) in August 2024, while the Democratic National Convention was happening in Chicago. The woman interviewed…

“The US president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism,” Iran’s president told the UN in New York.He then held up a photo of the country’s late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike on his residence when the US and Israel launched a joint attack in late February.He also presented pictures of some of the more than 175 civilians, two thirds of them children, who Iranian authorities say were killed in missile strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd that day. The US has denied…

French national Martin Ryan has been pardoned and his release from prison ordered by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev after he was jailed on charges of spying.His release came hours after the EU agreed to lift sanctions on two Russian billionaires, prompting anger from Ukraine. Diplomats had indicated that France had pushed for an end to restrictions on one of the businessmen, Alisher Usmanov.Ryan, who denied espionage, is one of 20 people pardoned by Aliyev.However, a second Frenchman, Anass Derraz, remains in jail in Azerbaijan accused of accepting a Russian bribe.It was not clear what had led to pressure for sanctions…

Javier Milei has condemned the UN as he warned that Argentina would take “matters into our own hands” in its dispute with Britain over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.In a caustic speech at the general assembly in New York, the Argentinian president criticised the UN for being ineffective when it came to the long-running tensions over the British overseas territory in the south Atlantic known in Argentina as the Malvinas.“An organisation that set out to defend the territorial sovereignty of its members decided to look the other way regarding the situation of the Falkland Islands,” Milei said of the…

A man has been given a caution by police as part of an investigation into assaults on protesters at the Reform UK party conference in Birmingham earlier this month. Footage appeared to show protesters being manhandled by audience members as they were thrown out. One woman had her hair pulled, and was was hit with a walking stick.West Midlands Police said it was investigating assaults on five people and two other men had been voluntarily interviewed, as inquiries continued.It said the man who was given a conditional caution had also volunteered for interview.The force has asked alleged victims and anyone…