Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

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…

Elina Valtonen is Finland’s foreign minister. Penny Wong is Australia’s foreign minister. Many people look at the state of today’s world and wonder if the United Nations has failed in its promise. Some question whether it can still rise to meet the moment and if we should be searching for solutions elsewhere. It is understandable, but it is dangerous and misguided. To paraphrase Dag Hammarskjöld, U.N. secretary-general from 1953 to 1961, the U.N. may not have brought us to heaven, but it has — so far — saved us from hell. For more than 80 years, the U.N. has underpinned…

Watermelons: the term used to describe the members of the Green party of England and Wales who are green on the outside and red on the inside. People in this faction are environmentalists, but when you cut them open, they bleed socialist ideologies.Of the roughly 160,000 people that have flocked to the party since Zack Polanski became leader last year, most are thought to be in this camp, drawn to a political space on the left that they see as vacated by the Labour party.But the author of a new book – The Green Socialist: Zack Polanski and the Battle…

23 September 2026ECB President Lagarde: Survey response shows Europeans’ interest in future banknotesStrong participation in all euro area countries and across all age groups Survey results will inform Governing Council decision on final design conceptA total of 9.96 million people across Europe and beyond shared their views on the future design of euro banknotes by completing the ECB’s public survey.“This amazing number shows how much interest Europeans have in their future banknotes,” said President Christine Lagarde. “With them participating in the redesign process, an important step has been taken in preparing the next series of banknotes.” 2.6% of the euro…

If you live in Canada, this year’s set of snow tires might be installed by a robot. San Francisco startup PitPro Automation said Wednesday that it has installed its first automatic tire-changing system at a tire shop in Calgary, Alberta. The startup says its robotic system, first revealed last year, can swap a full set of four tires in under 15 minutes. The first deployment is at a Kal Tire location — one of Canada’s largest independent tire service chains. PitPro is one of myriad startups trying to disrupt different parts of the car ownership experience. While founder and CEO…

Arista Networks has released security patches for a zero-day flaw that is being actively exploited and affects VeloCloud Orchestrator (VCO) On-Prem deployments. VCO is a cloud-based centralized management platform that helps admins configure, monitor, and manage VeloCloud SD-WANs (Software-Defined Wide Area Networks) and associated edge devices. Tracked as CVE-2026-93952, this maximum-severity flaw stems from an improper input validation weakness and affects VCO deployments where certificate-based authentication from the VeloCloud Edge to VeloCloud Orchestrator (VCO) is configured. Remote threat actors can exploit the vulnerability to access privileged internal VCO host functionality in low-complexity attacks that don’t require privileges on the targeted…

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our daily news show ‘FOMO HOUR’ covering all of the top stories and market action.GM!Today’s top news: Crypto majors cool after recent rally; BTC at $85.3k ZEC and HYPE hit new ATHs as alts continue rally BTC ETFs see $715M in net inflows; ETH has $162M CME to launch Bitcoin Cash and Uni futures on Oct 19, both surge Robinhood Crypto teases something coming for stock tokens, RH Chain leaders jump 📈 Bitcoin Hits $86,000…

Around 631,000 years ago — a geological blink of an eye — catastrophe unfolded in what is now north-western Wyoming, US. During what is thought to have been a series of immense volcanic eruptions, life within hundreds of kilometers of the blasts was shattered. Ash was dispersed across much of North America and the effects were felt worldwide. This was a super-eruption of the massive volcanic system located in what is now the Yellowstone National Park. Despite the scale, no known human witnessed the cataclysm. As far as we know, early humans had not yet reached the continent. Across oceans,…

In Peru’s high Andes, water security is under threat as glaciers retreat and changing weather patterns threaten natural reservoirs.At 3,200 meters (10,500 feet) altitude, in the community of Villa de Arma, Huancavelica, a conservation initiative that started in 2025 aims to secure water resources in the Chincha watershed, helping to supply water to the arid coast below.The project uses nature-based solutions such as wetland conservation and native forest regeneration to combat water security issues in the region.Some scientists caution that the benefits of nature-based solutions are hard to predict and that they are “not a panacea”.See All Key Ideas…