Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Since the day she began her campaign for Congress, Paige Cognetti, the Democratic mayor of Scranton, has centered her pitch to voters on the prodigious stock trading of the House Republican she is seeking to unseat, Representative Rob Bresnahan Jr. of Pennsylvania.“This year he’s already made 600 trades,” Ms. Cognetti said in the announcement video for her campaign in September. “Sold Chinese stocks the week of a tariff. Buys missile stocks before a war. Buys jet stocks before a big contract. Oversees crypto? Buys crypto stocks before a vote.”It may be the district where the issue rings the loudest. Democrats…

The UK’s leading climate organisations have accused the prime minister, Andy Burnham, of “remaining silent” on the climate crisis as the country struggles to cope with its fifth heatwave of the year.As widespread droughts and devastating wildfires grip the country, green groups have written to Burnham urging him to “show leadership” and be honest with workers and the public that the climate crisis is driving the extreme conditions they are facing.“Without naming the cause of our rapidly changing environment, you will be unable to adequately prepare the country for the adaptations it will need to make, and the efforts needed…

The Federal Trade Commission recently announced deals with two auto dealers, along with the former general manager of a third, promising not to enforce—or even help enforce—their court-ordered obligations to maintain fair lending programs and not engage in unlawful credit discrimination.The Northern District of Illinois, which presided over one case, says it was never given the opportunity to evaluate one of the new agreements, and Arizona attorney general Kris Mayes, whose office was a coplaintiff in another of the affected cases, calls the move “outrageous.”The FTC is doing away with the obligations because the defendants didn’t explicitly instruct its salespeople…

UK-based customer relationship management (CRM) provider Beacon revealed this week the likely root cause of a recent data breach affecting many organizations. Beacon’s CRM platform is designed for charities and other non-profit organizations to manage donors, supporters, volunteers, and related fundraising and service activities. The company revealed in early August that it had suffered a data breach in which hackers downloaded customer database backups. The data was encrypted, but Beacon admitted that the attackers could have decrypted it prior to exfiltration.  In an update shared this week, Beacon reported that the earliest malicious activity was observed on July 27 and…

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has said that while some improvements need to be made to the crypto Clarity Act, the bank wants a “good bill to go through.” The banking executive said that the bank was a “leader in digital assets” so wanted “safe adoption” of the technology.  Lawmakers were trying to get a vote on the Clarity Act through before splitting for recess last week but ran out of time. A vote will now take place in September.  JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Citi CEO Jane Fraser says she wants the CLARITY Act to become law.“We would like to see a…

Even after a nuclear reactor is switched off, activity continues deep inside its core. Long-lived radioactive fission products keep decaying for months or even years, releasing a weak stream of particles called antineutrinos. (Anti)neutrinos are the lightest and most elusive known particles in the Universe, and they can pass through both the reactor and its surrounding shielding with little interference. Scientists with the Double Chooz collaboration have now measured this lingering antineutrino emission for the first time. The research, recently published in Physical Review Letters, was led by Anthony Onillon and Thierry Lassere of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) in…

Tesso Nilo National Park on the Indonesian island of Sumatra is notorious for human-wildlife conflicts, but women farmers living in its buffer zone are working to protect the park.Members of the Batang Nilo Women’s Forest Farmer Group, known as Perbani, plant citrus trees, which elephants avoid, around their farms, while also growing fruits that the animals can feed on.Perbani also empowers its more than 30 members through monthly gender equality classes, covering skills such as leadership and public speaking, as well as a savings-and-loans scheme.In 2024, the forestry ministry granted the women’s group Wanawiyata Widyakarya status, awarded to community…

Liberalism started strong. It managed to put its ideals into practice—first indirectly as others reacted to liberal aspi­rations, and then directly by building liberal democratic institutions once in power. And it produced results to show for it. Then it became the estab­lishment, embraced by most politicians, bureaucrats, and activists. Estab­lishment liberalism did not adjust to new realities. Worse, liberals lost the plot and some of liberalism’s values together with it. Book cover titled “What Happened to Liberal Democracy?” in large blue text, with the author’s name “Daron Acemoglu” in red text below. The cover is white with a gold round…

Claim: A company linked to U.S. President Donald Trump began setting up an oil drilling operation in Greenland without the government’s permission. Rating: What’s True In August 2026, equipment for the Jameson Land oil project was moved without the necessary government approval, which led Greenlandic authorities to issue a warning. What’s False As of August 2026, Greenland Energy had not begun drilling, and there was no evidence that Trump owned or controlled the company. What’s Undetermined It remains unclear whether or to what extent Trump or members of his administration had any direct contact with the company about its activities…

Bulldozers have begun plowing up ground at the mouth of Big Bend national park’s famed Santa Elena Canyon as part of the Trump administration’s multibillion-dollar “smart wall” expansion on the US-Mexico border, according to new footage taken by activists who have been monitoring the site.Tensions have run high since the Trump administration announced plans to erect new border security infrastructure in the roughly 500-mile Big Bend region of south-west Texas, which includes the Lone Star State’s largest and most-visited national park.Since last week, activists have shared video footage that appeared to show heavy machinery laying the groundwork for new border…