Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Britain is to join a major new ocean science programme, led by the EU, to better forecast extreme weather and climate events, the environment secretary is to announce in New York.The announcement on Wednesday will come as Andy Burnham’s government aims to rebuild the UK’s relationship with Europe, and follows warnings this year’s “supersized” El Niño, tracked in the Pacific Ocean, will fuel more extreme weather globally.Scientists have warned that the global marine monitoring system, which is vital to predict extreme weather events and ultimately to save lives, is under strain after threats by the US administration this year to…

ZDNET’s key takeaways 56.4% of employees have no time for upskilling. Staff lack resources, including materials and measures. Continuous skills measurement could unlock AI upskilling. AI is no longer emerging in the workplace. It’s in the office, and it’s shaping how businesses, employees, and their respective interests operate, and it’s doing so rapidly.  A new study from Workera found that 80% of companies feel they are more likely to be on track for an AI-enabled future in 2026, up from 67% last year. However, some may be missing the boat on what’s most important — their people.  Also: Businesses finally…

Ravie LakshmananSep 23, 2026Malware / Cloud Security Unknown threat actors have managed to compromise two legitimate MemTensor packages across the npm and Python Package Index (PyPI) repositories to push a platform-specific Go-based implant dubbed sckit designed for Windows, Linux, and macOS. According to reports from Aikido, SafeDep, Socket, and StepSecurity, the libraries in question below – The malicious npm package versions include a “hidden Go payload into a legitimate AI memory integration. Versions 0.1.21, 0.1.23, and 0.1.25 contain code that launches the payload when the agent gateway starts and whenever the plugin handles a memory-recall event,” StepSecurity said. “The launcher…

Update (Sept. 23, 2:20 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from an RBI spokesperson on the planned rollout, from the sixth paragraph.Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), an Austrian banking group with operations across Central and Eastern Europe, is expanding its cryptocurrency push through a group-wide partnership with Bitpanda.Bitpanda Enterprise will provide the digital asset infrastructure that RBI’s network banks can use to introduce crypto services, potentially reaching about 18 million customers, according to a joint announcement on Wednesday. Individual banks will determine their offerings and rollout based on local market and regulatory requirements, the companies said.RBI CEO…

Four ancient footprints are helping scientists step into a T. rex’s shoes.  The prints form the first set of tracks probably left behind by an adult Tyrannosaurus rex, researchers report September 8 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Measurements of the 7-meter-long trackway suggest the ancient predator was ambling along at about 1.6 meters per second, roughly equivalent to a person’s quick walking pace. A few single adult T. rex footprints exist in the fossil record, as do trackways possibly from T. rex juveniles or other dinosaur species, says Peter Falkingham, a paleontologist at Liverpool John Moores University in England. “But an individual track doesn’t tell you a lot. A trackway tells…

A new atlas of biodiversity of the Galápagos Islands highlights the unique evolutionary and ecological diversity of life in the famed archipelago that helped Charles Darwin develop the theory of natural selection. The Galapagos Atlas, created by the Darwin Foundation, highlights 68 species and species groups in the island chain. These include the celebrities of Galápagos biodiversity, such as the giant tortoises (genus Chelonoidis), marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), and Darwin finches (genus Geospiza). It also features less famous plants and animals, such as the Galápagos kelp (Eisenia galapagensis), lichens, and Galápagos carpenter bees (Xylocopa darwini). The freely available…

France’s energy giant TotalEnergies and its Nigerian local partner AMNI have decided to move forward with the development of a gas field off the African country’s coast, as a low-emission project set to supply roughly one-third of the feedstock required for the nation’s next liquefied natural gas (LNG) train, which is part of the existing liquefaction plant’s expansion. Nigeria LNG; Source: Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) The French firm and AMNI have made a final investment decision (FID) to develop the Ima gas field, straddling the OML 112 and 117 offshore licenses in Nigeria. Located in shallow waters…

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his vision for new “next generation” U.S. Space Force uniforms to critical reviews. Derek Guy, for example, the menswear guy on X, quipped, “This is the kind of design costume designers make to tell you who are the bad guys in a space movie.” The sartorial criticism, however, cloaks a deeper and much more important deliberation about the future of America’s space strategy. Last week, the U.S. government revealed for the first time that it had deployed weapons in space. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the U.S. had fielded “on-orbit space…

In recent weeks we’ve seen a number of claims about the so-called ‘tax burden’ and its impact from across the political spectrum—and we’re likely to see much more debate on the topic in the run-up to next month’s Budget.This explainer unpacks what the ‘tax burden’ is and how taxes on earnings in the UK compare both historically and internationally, as well as how things have changed, and are set to change, under Labour. Join 75,000 newsletter subscribers who trust us to check the facts Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Subscribe to weekly email…

PRESS REVIEW – Wednesday, September 23: The papers look ahead to US President Donald Trump hosting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. In other news, a Haitian-born novelist, tipped to win France’s prestigious Goncourt literary prize, has been struck by an AI scandal. Finally, could the remains of Nefertiti lie behind the burial chamber of Tutankhamun? The Washington Post brings us details of what’s planned for Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington, complete with a five-jet flyover. Politico digs into the power dynamics between the Chinese and US leaders, as China is one of the winners of the global energy crisis. High…