Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

McDermott Energy Solutions (UK), a subsidiary of the U.S. offshore engineering and construction player McDermott, has secured a letter of intent (LOI) for a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project with ExxonMobil Moçambique, a subsidiary of the American energy giant ExxonMobil, on behalf of partners in a deepwater block off the coast of Mozambique. Illustration; Source: McDermott McDermott Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of McDermott and a majority shareholder in the SMDC joint venture with Saipem, Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd., and China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC), has been awarded by ExxonMobil Moçambique, on behalf of the Area…

Reading Time: < 1 minute Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims. Yes. Wisconsin’s voter list from the state elections commission is available to the public — and to foreign countries — for a $12,500 fee. In a primetime speech on July 16, 2026, President Donald Trump said voter data had been “bought, stolen or hacked by China” in 18 states following the 2020 election. Wisconsin’s voter list is not known to have been hacked, and state election officials say election systems are secure. …

US-backed political transition talks between Venezuela’s interim government and opposition representatives began Thursday in Caracas, an AFP photographer in attendance observed. The talks are taking place seven months after US forces seized president Nicolas Maduro and as interim leader Delcy Rodriguez governs under Washington’s watchful eye. Read moreTrump’s risky gamble: Can the US ‘run’ Venezuela after Maduro’s capture? Venezuelans are hopeful the dialogue will eventually pave the way for holding elections in the crisis-hit South American country. Notably absent from the talks is opposition favorite and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, who lives in exile and was not invited…

For roughly an hour this week, Telegram vanished from Apple’s App Store. Even during that blip, it was a stunning absence for such a major app: an avenue of communication for more than 1 billion users around the world, used widely as a secure platform for people who live in countries under censorship. Apple later revealed that it had removed the app due to the presence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and restored it once that content was removed.But the decision once again stirred up questions and confusion about Apple’s moderation policies and how it treats different companies. And…

UNC6671, an extortion group engaging in tailored IT helpdesk voice phishing (vishing), has rebranded and diversified its operations over the past several months, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) reports. The threat actor emerged in early 2026, operating under the ‘BlackFile’ name. In May, GTIG warned it had targeted dozens of organizations across North America, Australia, and the UK in sophisticated vishing and single sign-on (SSO) compromise attacks. Mainly focusing on Microsoft 365 and Okta infrastructure, it was leveraging adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) techniques to bypass defenses and multi-factor authentication (MFA) and gain access to cloud environments. In May, GTIG now says, the…

Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives trading volumes are now nearly eight times higher than spot markets on Binance.Key points:Bitcoin daily spot trading volumes on Binance are diverging from futures more than ever.Spot demand has declined in recent months, while futures demand is still net positive, per data from CryptoQuant.Options traders are hedging for downside in September after months of rangebound BTC price action.Binance sees record split in Bitcoin spot vs. futures tradingData from onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant released on Friday reveals record readings for Bitcoin futures-to-spot trading volume ratios. The ratio now stands at 7.82, meaning that futures volume outweighs spot nearly…

Reading Time: 5 minutes A year ago, most Wisconsin residents thought little about data centers. But today, the computing facilities — and where they get their energy — are a key issue in the hotly contested Aug. 11 Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor. At a lively town hall last week in Milwaukee, five Democratic candidates vied to outdo their peers in tough talk about data centers and their developers, described as ​“Big Tech oligarchs” by state Rep. Francesca Hong, the leading contender according to recent polling. Whoever wins the nomination will likely run against Tom Tiffany, a Republican candidate and a current U.S. representative for north and central…

Your report (Lloyds Bank to cut £2bn in costs as part of AI-powered strategy, 30 July) raises a question that financial targets alone cannot answer: who absorbs the work when automation fails?Banks often count the minutes saved by the employee who uses an AI tool. They should also count the time colleagues spend checking invented facts, repairing customer messages, explaining rejected applications and escalating errors. A system can make one team look more productive while moving risk and effort elsewhere.Lloyds should publish a simple scorecard for each consequential AI workflow: total time saved across the process, error and rework rates,…

This story contains detailed accusations of domestic violence and abuse.   The allegation that U.S. Rep. Max Miller, an Ohio Republican, threw boiling water at his then-wife, Emily Moreno, is still under investigation amid various other abuse accusations against him. After the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, published a story on May 7, 2026, claiming Miller threw boiling water on Moreno, the daughter of Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, Miller filed a defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife. In a May 27 affidavit filed in response, Moreno alleged that Miller threw hot water at her from a pan on a stove in…

Home Europe Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have dropped so low due to drought and extreme heat over the summer that the hulls of dozens of German warships from World War II are emerging into view and the remains of an ancient mammoth were uncovered in Romania. In Germany, fishing boats have been stuck near the banks of the Rhine, and sections of France’s Loire riverbed are partially dry. Issued on: 07/08/2026 – 12:51 2 min Reading time A man walks on a sandbank near wreckage of a German WWII warship which was exposed…