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It ended, perhaps fittingly, on a rather baffling note. After 34 days of campaigning to regain the parliamentary seat of Clacton on England’s south coast, Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform UK party, declined to turn up to the town’s leisure centre to hear himself declared the winner and MP. It was quite the thing. The last high-profile winning candidate to fail to enjoy his moment of victory was Bobby Sands in 1981. The IRA man had his reasons: he was on hunger strike in a prison in Northern Ireland, and went on to die 26 days later.Instead Farage…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is the former deputy prime minister of CanadaLeo Tolstoy famously observed that happy families are all alike, while unhappy families are unique in their unhappiness. But today, among the world’s liberal democracies, the opposite is true. From Tokyo to London, Paris to Washington, the world’s democracies are alike in their unhappiness.Whether the ship of state is being piloted by the conservative leaders of Japan and Germany, the centrist leader of France or the centre-left leader of the UK, democratic governments…

Since the end of last month, several water utilities in the United States have been hit by cyberattacks, causing alarm in the country.  For years, water utilities and other critical infrastructure facilities in the power sector, for example, have been targeted by hackers, whether government-backed or individuals. What makes this recent series of attacks—allegedly carried out by Iran—particularly concerning was how widespread they have been, hitting targets in around a dozen states.  The U.S. has more than 150,000 water systems, some of them run by local companies. In theory, that should make it harder for hackers to target several facilities…

The personal information of 1.6 million individuals appears to have been stolen from the widely used business communications platform RingCentral by a notorious extortion group. The incident occurred in July and was the result of a “sophisticated social engineering campaign”, RingCentral said in a notice on its website. “Upon detection, we promptly took steps to stop the unauthorized activity and immediately began an investigation with assistance from a leading third-party forensic firm. We have not seen any new unauthorized activity since taking these remediation efforts,” the company said. According to RingCentral, only a limited portion of its customers was affected…

KULR Technology Group has exited Bitcoin mining, repaid its Coinbase debt, and begun selling its BTC holdings as the battery technology company shifts capital back toward its core business.The retreat marks a sharp reversal from the Bitcoin accumulation strategy KULR launched in late 2024, which allowed up to 90% of surplus cash to be deployed into the cryptocurrency.KULR purchased no Bitcoin during the first half of 2026 after spending $69.9 million to acquire 693.81 BTC during the same period last year. Its board has also made the remaining treasury available to fund operations, effectively turning Bitcoin from an accumulation asset…

In honor of America’s historic 250th anniversary, NASA announced on Friday MAX POWER, a public exposition of American air and space innovation, Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, on and near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The multi-day, family-friendly event will showcase the next-generation aircraft, spacecraft, autonomous vehicles, and technologies that will help define the future of transportation in air and space, bringing together the public, innovators, investors, pilots, astronauts, engineers, and companies helping open this new frontier. “This November, we are opening Kennedy Space Center’s historic Shuttle Landing Facility to the public for America’s newest and most exciting…

“What happens when you get exposure to radioactivity?” Andy Mele remembers the man asking earnestly as he pulled up his shirt. The man, who looked like he couldn’t be older than 35, exposed his swollen belly to the Florida sun, covered in bulges protruding from under his skin, Mele said. He then parted his hair with his fingers to show Mele the lumps growing on his scalp.  “Well, you know, you get brain cancer, you get blood cancer, you get bone cancer,” Mele told him. The pair stood in the yard of the wood-framed bungalow where the man lived, bordering…

Greek Hellenic Cables, the cables segment of Belgium-headquartered Cenergy Holdings, has secured a turnkey contract from the Greek transmission system operator (TSO), Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO), valued at approximately €1.5 billion, to deliver the Corinth-Kos HVDC electrical interconnection.Source: Hellenic Cables The contract was awarded to Hellenic Cables’ wholly-owned subsidiary Fulgor for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of the 320 kV HVDC electrical interconnection between Corinth and the island of Kos. The company is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of the project and will manufacture the power cables at its facilities in Corinth and Thiva, Greece.   With a…

When India’s chief justice referred to unemployed youth in India as cockroaches earlier this year, that became the rallying cry for a new political movement called the Cockroach Janta Party. Before long, young Indians discontent with the country’s education system and its labor market were marching on parliament—and being met with harsh police crackdowns and internet shutdowns. Ultimately, the government backed down, resulting in the Indian education minister’s resignation. But the difficulties faced by India’s young people remain—as does the new movement claiming to represent their interests. What exactly is going on with the Indian economy? Why is its education…

Nigel Farage, Britain’s leading right-wing politician, faced a dilemma last month.What do you do when the inquiries and accusations are piling up? The police are looking into one of your donors. You are being investigated for potentially breaking Parliament’s rules because you didn’t report a £5 million gift. The news media are publishing new allegations almost daily.For Mr. Farage, the leader of the Reform U.K. party, the answer appears to have been clear: Attack your critics, undermine the regulatory or judicial processes by labeling them illegitimate before they conclude, and seek pre-emptive absolution from “the people” — your most loyal…