Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

A federal appeals court on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt construction of its $400 million ballroom at the White House without congressional approval. US President Donald Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to construct an 8,400-square-metre ballroom where the White House’s East Wing stood before he ordered its demolition, according to the decision by a three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Read moreWhite House begins demolishing part of East Wing for Trump’s ballroom In a 2-1 decision, the US Court of Appeals sided with historic preservationists who sued to stop…

pros and cons Pros Gorgeous, timeless designExcellent soundBigger soundstage more buying choices Marshall’s Stanmore line of speakers has been my reliable music partner for six years now. I like playing songs on my mains-powered Stanmore II more than any other speaker. It runs in the background when I’m working, chilling, or just existing at home. So, I was more than excited to see if the latest model, the new Stanmore IV, was worth the upgrade. Also: Marshall Stanmore IV vs. Sonos Era 300: I tested both to find the ultimate home speakerThe fourth-gen speaker promised a more immersive experience with deeper bass…

Stanford researchers have synthesised nearly 300 phages from DNA sequences produced by the Evo 2 generative AI model. Laboratory testing narrowed the group to 16 phages that showed particularly strong E. coli-killing activity.The work centres on bacteriophage ΦX174, pronounced “FYE-ex-1-7-4”. Brian Hie, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and Dieter Schwarz Foundation Stanford Data Science Faculty Fellow, created Evo 2 with bioengineering graduate student Samuel King leading the experimental work described in the paper.Evo 2 takes phage genomes into the laboratoryEvo 2 generates new DNA sequences from a small starting snippet of a phage genome. The researchers asked the model…

Cybersecurity is full of frameworks, regulations, and directives that tell organizations what they should do. Zero Trust, NIST, CIS Controls, CMMC, DORA, NIS2, and now Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) all provide valuable guidance and describe desired outcomes. The challenge is that most stop at the “what.” They rarely explain the “how.” That is not a criticism. It is by design. Frameworks establish principles, define expectations, and describe desired outcomes. They are not implementation guides. As a result, security leaders and practitioners are left figuring out how to translate principles into processes, assign ownership, establish accountability, and measure success. Those…

One of the biggest Bitcoin security stories of the year unfolded last week as a firmware exploit affecting certain Coldcard hardware wallets renewed industry debate around self-custody and operational security. At the same time, another story was developing in the background. Over the same seven trading days, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $790.6 million in net inflows, according to the Bitcoin For Corporations ETF Dashboard. More than $1.0 billion entered the funds while $212.7 million exited, resulting in one of the strongest weekly periods in recent months. The two developments are not necessarily related. ETF flow data cannot tell us…

Researchers have uncovered a potential new way to treat autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by restoring the function of an important brain receptor. The study, led by Director Eunjoon Kim of the IBS Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions, focused on a glycine transporter known as Slc6a20a/SLC6A20. The team found that reducing the activity of this transporter could help restore NMDA receptor (NMDAR) function. These receptors play a major role in communication between brain cells and are essential for learning, memory, and other cognitive processes. A More Targeted Way to Restore Brain Signaling Reduced NMDAR activity has been linked to several neurological…

Thirteen beluga whales from a pod of about 30 languishing in the shuttered Canadian marine park Marineland arrived in the U.S., six of them on July 21, and seven on August 3, as part of an emergency rescue of these captive cetaceans.The transfers come after nearly a year of jostling between the Canadian government and Marineland about the belugas’ future, amid threats of euthanasia and disagreements over where the cetaceans should be housed.Earlier this year, several U.S. aquariums drew up an emergency rescue plan to transfer these cetaceans to four U.S. facilities.Conservationists say the U.S. move leaves questions unanswered…

Catastrophic errors left a prolific and proven sex offender free before he murdered two women in London, it can be revealed.On Friday, an Old Bailey jury found Simon Levy, 40, guilty of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins five months later.Levy was impassive, wearing dark glasses because of an eye injury, as the jury delivered verdicts that could result in a mandatory life sentence.Jurors unanimously found him guilty on five charges and, by 11 to 1, guilty of the murder of Valencia-Trujillo in south-east London in March 2025. Levy will be sentenced next Wednesday. The loved ones…

It remains unclear exactly why tens of thousands of migrants attempted to cross into Ceuta, but the EU’s Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner has suggested criminal networks spreading disinformation were to blame – an assertion the Spanish government has agreed with.The crossings came after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla cannot be summarily returned to Morocco.The two exclaves have long been a bone of diplomatic contention between Spain and Morocco, which does not recognise Spanish sovereignty over them.The number of people swimming to Ceuta at once has raised questions about why…

Three weeks into his premiership, Andy Burnham has “hit bumps in the road” in the estimation of one long-serving Labour MP with the row over the early release of some prisoners from jail.His political opponents are already sharpening their attacks, believing they have found an issue with which to discomfit a new prime minister early in his time in office who had, until now, displayed a pretty deft political touch.Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This the most important decision Andy Burnham has made since he became prime minister and he’s got it wrong.”For Labour MPs, however, this week…