Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

A stray SpaceX rocket is believed to have crashed into the Moon, forming a crater near a famous lunar landmark and giving scientists a unique research opportunity that could help future missions.The empty upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket was due to strike the Moon near the Einstein crater at a speed of about 5,400mph (8,700km/h) on Wednesday.The short, dramatic flash it created would have been hard to catch by amateur astronomers even with high-end telescopes, but larger observatories in the Americas are analysing the information.It could be days or even weeks before the full picture of what happened…

Texas state Rep. James Talarico voted in five elections using his parents’ address after purchasing a home for himself nearby, a practice that may have violated state voting laws, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found. This comes weeks after Talarico accused Attorney General Ken Paxton, his opponent in the race for U.S. Senate, of voter fraud for similar actions. The news organizations reported in July that Paxton voted using an address where his estranged wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, said he hasn’t lived for two years. Paxton has made eradicating voter fraud a cornerstone of his time in office by…

North Sea oil expansion is a necessity (Burnham risks first revolt as PM over apparent support for North Sea drilling, 31 July). I state this as an environmentalist – not despite. Oil is a feedstock, not mere fuel. Oil is necessary for the day-to-day maintenance of wind turbines, nuclear plants and rail. Hence oil is part and parcel of supply chains for green tech. A domestic oil base brings such supply chains closer. This also underscores the case for approval of coking coal extraction in Cumbria. Green tech needs high-grade steel and high-grade steel needs coking coal.There are much better…

Claim: As of spring 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump is spending $5 million in taxpayer money to cover horse statues in Washington, D.C., in gold. Rating: What’s True Trump’s administration awarded a $5 million contract, paid for with government funds, for the “full conservation and regilding” of four “equestrian bronze sculptures” in Washington, D.C., which will include applying 23.75-karat gold leaf onto the horses. What’s Undetermined It’s unclear how much of the $5 million would specifically go to the application of gold leaf, as the work includes conservation cleaning and repair. However, given the high cost of gold, it’s likely…

The two North African towns are only a mile apart, but vast differences separate them.Ceuta sits near the northernmost tip of Morocco and juts into the Mediterranean Sea like an elephant’s trunk. It is a territory of Spain whose people enjoy the benefits of membership in the European Union. Compared with Fnideq, which is just south along the coast, it is wealthy. Fnideq is in Morocco, where economic prospects for many young people are bleak.In recent days, the divide between these communities collapsed as tens of thousands of migrants from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa pushed from around Fnideq into Ceuta.…

Pauline von Pezold und Frederik Schindler widmen sich in dieser Sonderfolge einem mysteriösen Politikberater, der seit der AfD-Gründung im Hintergrund mitzumischen scheint und der selbst behauptet, als bezahlter Söldner für Nachrichtendienste und Großunternehmen zu arbeiten. Gemeinsam mit der Investigativ-Journalistin Katja Riedel (WDR) beleuchten die beiden, wie der angebliche Strippenzieher intern agiert und unter anderem Personalentscheidungen durch gezielte Desinformation beeinflusst haben soll. Sie diskutieren die Hintergründe des jüngsten Kontaktverbots, das der AfD-Bundesvorstand auf Druck von Funktionären wie Björn Höcke und Stephan Protschka gegen Rohrböck verhängt hat. Dabei gehen Pauline von Pezold und Frederik Schindler auch der Frage nach, warum viele Parteimitglieder…

Representative Chuck Edwards, Republican of North Carolina, announced overnight that he was dropping his re-election bid.“After much prayer and reflection, I’ve decided to withdraw from my re-election campaign,” Mr. Edwards wrote on social media at 3:32 a.m. Wednesday. “I will complete my current term.”The decision came after the House Ethics Committee had recommended on Monday that he be censured for “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers.”The ethics committee report detailed how Mr. Edwards would make “comments” about the women’s “appearance and dress,” shower them with “lavish and recurrent gifts,” invite them to “intimate dinners and vacations”…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldA high-stakes Democratic Senate primary in Michigan was too close to call on Wednesday morning, with fewer than 20,000 votes separating centrist congresswoman Haley Stevens and progressive challenger Abdul El-Sayed.With 95 per cent of the ballots counted on Wednesday morning, El-Sayed, a 41-year-old former public health official, had 48.6 per cent of the votes. Stevens, a 43-year-old three-term congresswoman, was on 47.4 per cent.The bitter and expensive primary contest in Michigan has become a proxy battle for a wider fight…

Brands like Hisense, Samsung, and more have introduced truly cinema-sized TVs with new 98-, 115-inch size, and even 130-inch size classes. These gigantic TVs offer movie theater-quality experiences in the comfort of your own home, with object-tracking sound support, enhanced picture quality, and support for thousands of streaming apps. Many 98-inch TVs are also great for console gaming, with high refresh rates and VRR support to prevent screen tearing and stuttering.Get more in-depth ZDNET tech coverage: Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome and Chromium browsers. Best tv deals of the week Deals are selected by the CNET…

I was mapping the command-and-control infrastructure behind a state-linked intrusion set when the query came back and effectively ended the exercise I thought I was running. The malware resolved its C2 address by reading a smart contract on a public blockchain. Public reporting described one contract. Working from the chain rather than the sample, I found that contract was one member of a family: Two dozen byte-identical contracts plus a set of variants, all emitting the same event, all stamped out by the same builder. Roughly 30 operator wallets were driving them. Two of those wallets are plausibly state-aligned. The…