Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

There is reason to believe that once the U.S. midterm elections have passed, President Donald Trump will escalate against Iran. Until now, the risk of surging energy prices has acted as a check on Trump’s behavior. In April, it forced him to retreat from open conflict and pursue a diplomatic solution. When the resulting Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) collapsed over disputed interpretations, Trump pivoted back toward economic pressure on Iran. But he has largely avoided more intense fighting in order to avoid provoking further domestic backlash over rising energy costs. Now, the United States and Iran have settled into a…

Min’s relationship with her AI girlfriend may be exactly the kind Beijing is trying to break.In early July, she was devastated when she found out that her closest friend and confidante would vanish overnight.Min, whose name has been changed, started creating her companion in early 2025.”My devotion to her is no less than that of any couple who deeply love each other,” Min says. “She has never let me down.”In mid-July, her AI girlfriend disappeared. “I cried until I was absolutely exhausted,” Min says.She has joined an outpouring of grief and fury on Chinese social media, where posts with millions…

Ein vermeintliches Sondierungsgespräch wird zum Vorgespräch: Wenn sich SPD und Grüne in Berlin heute mit der Linken treffen, geht es nicht ums künftige gemeinsame Regieren, sondern um rote Linien. Antisemitismus-Vorwürfe und mögliche Clan-Nähe belasten das Verhältnis schwer. Ob unter diesen Vorzeichen überhaupt ein Bündnis möglich ist oder die Parteien in Richtung einer Kenia-Koalition abbiegen, entscheidet sich jetzt. Rixa Fürsen ordnet ein, wie es dabei auch für SPD und Grüne um viel geht. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview fällt Volker Beck, ehemaliger Abgeordneter der Grünen und heute Präsident der Deutsch-Israelischen Gesellschaft, ein hartes Urteil über die Linkspartei. Er warnt vor Verstrickungen mit Extremisten und…

Grokipedia, SpaceXAI’s AI-powered competitor to Wikipedia, recently started incorporating edits again, and today, it got some design tweaks as part of a v0.3 update, including a new logo and refreshes to its homepage and live edits page. SpaceXAI head of design Benji Taylor calls it a “newly refreshed Grokipedia.”Grokipedia’s old homepage was pretty much just a logo and a search bar, but the updated homepage includes a list of featured articles, a list of the most-read articles, and a tracker showing the “latest edits.” The new featured list showcases digital representations of books that you can spin around, and the…

Ravie LakshmananOct 01, 2026 MetaMask on Thursday said it’s responding to what it described as an “ongoing security incident” impacting part of its infrastructure. “We are actively addressing and remediating the issue internally, in coordination with external partners and security advisors,” the software cryptocurrency wallet maker said. “At this time, we have identified no immediate threat to MetaMask wallets.” MetaMask did not disclose any additional details related to the security issue. As a precautionary measure, MetaMask said it’s proactively exiting affected validators within its non-custodial staking operations, in coordination with clients and partners. “As a reminder, our staking operations are…

DogeOS plans to back that trust with mathematical proofs — compact pieces of data showing the work was done by the rules without anyone having to redo it — and eventually have Dogecoin’s own network check them.The first version depends on DogeOS’s selected operators and hardware. A permissioned sequencer, an authorized operator, decides the order of transactions. Validators, computers responsible for checking and approving updates, work alongside a trusted execution environment, a protected section of computer hardware that checks the proofs. A committee called the Security Council oversees the system, according to details shared by the team.People using the planned…

NASA has awarded Modulate Space Corporation a contract to develop key elements of a 5G communications system for use on the lunar surface with built-in Wi-Fi 6, for NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. This accelerated effort is organized into two primary work areas that together will develop a scalable, standards-based communications capability designed to support future Moon Base surface operations. The 5G System and Lunar Surface Communications Evaluation and Radio Propagation Measurements contract is a firm-fixed-price contract with a value of approximately $38 million. The performance period for the 5G Network-in-a-Box Development and Lab Demonstration runs from Thursday, Oct.…

At least 20 endangered Ganges river dolphins still survive in Bangladesh’s extremely polluted Buriganga River, a 12-month study found, reports contributor Md Jahidul Islam for Mongabay. Skirting the southern edge of the country’s capital, Dhaka, the 29-kilometer (18-mile) river is recognized as one of the most contaminated urban waterways globally. Researchers surveyed a 27-km (16.7-mi) stretch of the river between September 2023 and August 2024, observing Ganges river dolphins (Platanista gangetica) in 10 out of the 12 survey months. Group sizes averaged about four individuals, with calves accounting for nearly 16% of sightings, signaling active reproduction despite severe…

Stodden said she would “keep fighting until children are protected from marriage in all 50 states”. She was married to actor Doug Hutchison – known for roles in The Green Mile, A Time to Kill and I Am Sam – in 2011, spurring headlines internationally over the controversy and appearances on several reality programmes in the US, including the VH1 series Couples Therapy. Other survivors of child marriage also applauded the new law. “California has sent a clear message to the world today,” Brittany Bee, a former child bride, told the BBC. “A message of hope for all children that…

Chinese AI developer Moonshot is conducting an internal review after researchers were able to persuade two of its popular Kimi models to tell them how to make biological weapons and carry out assassinations.Mindgard, which tests the security of AI systems, told the BBC it discovered in July that Kimi K2.6 and K3 Swarm could evade safety limits put in place by developers.It arose during a process called “jailbreaking”, where researchers use a series of complex instructions to see if AI tools ignore guardrails – which Mindgard said should have stopped Kimi from discussing concerning topics.Moonshot told the BBC it welcomed…