Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

The cyber-abilities of the latest, most powerful AI models, called “frontier” models in AI jargon, can be a boon for cyber-defenders, but the same abilities can also be used for attack.Spotting weaknesses in systems, for example, is useful for defenders looking to block hackers, but also for attackers hunting for ways to infiltrate an organisation. Anthropic has tightly restricted access to its systems on the grounds that they are too powerful to fall into the wrong hands, but OpenAI has allowed some firms in Europe, as well as UK banks, to use its most advanced cyber models.The firm made the…

Honeywell released its 2026 OT Cybersecurity Benchmark Report on Tuesday, and the findings point to a disconnect between how industrial organizations rate their operational technology (OT) security programs and how prepared they actually are. The report also examines AI’s impact on OT security. Among 603 surveyed leaders across critical infrastructure sectors, 88% characterized their OT security programs as mature or design-led, yet only 21% maintain a complete inventory of their OT assets. Respondents worked across critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, oil and gas, healthcare, maritime, and manufacturing, with participation spanning the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions. Visibility gaps showed up in…

SoFi Bank and Mastercard have announced SoFiUSD settlement is live for the bank’s debit and credit card program, moving their March plan into production.The rollout puts a token-based settlement route behind familiar card payments and, according to SoFi, gives participating merchants a way to receive dollars in a bank account without holding the token. SoFi expects more than $25 billion in annualized card-program volume after migration; it has not disclosed how much has actually settled in SoFiUSD.The migration remains underway. Cardholders can keep using existing cards, while SoFi describes a bank-account cash route for merchants and separate redemption rules for…

An amateur astronomer searching satellite maps for possible camping locations in Quebec ended up spotting something far more unusual: evidence of a previously unrecognized impact crater. Earth has only about 200 confirmed impact structures, although geologists believe hundreds more have yet to be identified. One of those hidden structures now appears to have been found, and it is a substantial one. The newly confirmed site was first noticed by an amateur astronomer who was planning a camping trip in Quebec. A Strange Circle on Satellite Maps In 2024, Joël Lapointe was preparing for a trip to the remote Côte-Nord region…

In a bid to strike a balance between maximizing asset longevity and curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Perenco Brasil, a subsidiary of Anglo-French oil and gas player Perenco, is joining forces with Porto do Açu to bring shore power directly to its offshore fields in the Campos Basin off the coast of Brazil. Cherne is entering a new chapter; Source: DORIS Porto do Açu and Perenco have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to develop what is being described as the first offshore platform electrification project in the Campos Basin. The initiative will link the operator’s shallow-water Pargo and Cherne…

Reading Time: 7 minutes Click here to read highlights from the story Wisconsin home health agencies and nursing homes have abandoned plans to hire overseas workers after federal authorities suspended nearly all refugee programs and terminated Temporary Protected Status for people from 13 countries. Immigrants make up 30% of direct care workers nationwide, including nursing assistants, personal care aides and home health aides, according to KFF. In-home and assisted living agencies, including one in the Fox Cities, had to stop plans years in the making to hire international workers. Some also lost staff who had Temporary Protected Status. Organizations that…

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief. The highlights this week: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump prepare to meet in Washington, purged Chinese military leaders are officially expelled, and the United States dismantles some of its top China-focused think tanks. Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief. The highlights this week: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump prepare to meet in Washington, purged Chinese military leaders are officially expelled, and the United States dismantles some of its top China-focused think tanks. Trump-Xi Summit Preview This week, U.S. President Donald Trump sat down with the socialist leader of…

A video showing a large demonstration in Thessaloniki, Greece, has been shared on Facebook with captions implying that the country is currently facing nationwide protests.One Facebook post sharing the footage on 6 September 2026 said: “GREECE IS PARALYZED; airports at a standstill, ports at a standstill, factories at a standstill, trains at a standstill, EVERYTHING IS AT A STANDSTILL.” Another from a few days earlier said: “#Greece PARALYSED as massive PROTESTS erupt across the country.”But the clip which is circulating is not recent—it’s from February 2025, when mass protests took place across the country—and there have been no recent reports…

François Picard is pleased to welcome Eoghan Gilmartin, an award-winning investigative journalist and part of The Guardian team whose investigation examined links between IPCC authors and Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, including Saudi Aramco. Their findings take us to the intersection of climate science, political and economic interests, and institutional credibility, and into the politically consequential terrain of climate mitigation: how societies decide to respond to climate change. The investigation identified 20 authors whose affiliations raised what Gilmartin describes as significant conflict-of-interest concerns, including 11 with links to Saudi Aramco or Saudi state institutions. This raises a broader question about the production…

Eight Sleep announced the next version of its “intelligent sleep system” designed to regulate the temperature of your bed in response to tracked health and sleep metrics like breathing and heart rate. The company calls its new Pod 6 system its “most significant hardware launch to date,” and it’s centered around a redesigned cooling hub that’s now small enough to hide beneath most beds. The new system is cheaper than Eight Sleep’s Pod 5 that launched in 2025, but is still by no means cheap.The Pod 6 is now available through Eight Sleep’s online store. The Standard version ranges in…