Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is warning of a significant increase in attacks targeting internet-exposed programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in the water and wastewater systems sector. The agency’s urgent alert comes after hackers disrupted more than 30 community water systems in Minnesota in attacks that started last Sunday and continued through Monday. CISA’s alert refers to threat activity involved hackers targeting exposed programmable logic controllers (PLC) and changing passwords to lock operators out, modifying IP addresses to disconnect devices from the internet, and other actions that disrupted operations. “CISA urges critical infrastructure owners, operators, and integrators to…

SOS Limited shareholders approved steps that could expand the crypto-linked company’s authorized share pool 100-fold, giving it far more room to raise equity after it temporarily stopped direct mining and ended 2025 with just $3.2 million in cash alongside about $79.1 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum.A July 27 vote, disclosed July 30, creates capacity only. Any dilution would require SOS to complete the required reorganization and charter steps and then issue shares under terms it has not disclosed.A cash-light crypto balance sheetSOS’s latest audited balance sheet showed cash and cash equivalents falling from $228.131 million at Dec. 31, 2024, to…

LONDON — A protein marker of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain may also help diagnose cases of the brain condition chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, early data suggest. The condition, which is linked to repeated head trauma, currently can be identified only in autopsies. But measurements of an Alzheimer’s-associated protein, eMTBR-tau243, might one day bring testing to the living: In confirmed CTE cases, levels of the protein increased the more advanced the disease had been at death, researchers reported July 15 at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week’s scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.…

The world’s largest meat company is pursuing a $2.5 billion investment that could reshape Nigeria’s agricultural sector.Critics are calling for greater transparency about this plan and point to JBS’ legacy in the Amazon of deforestation, land grabbing, forced labor, invasions of Indigenous territories, intimidation and violence against small-scale farmers, among other concerns.“The central issue is not whether Nigeria should welcome investment, but whether a project of this scale will be subjected to the level of transparency, scrutiny, and due diligence needed to ensure that its benefits do not come with avoidable environmental and human rights costs,” argues an expert…

Following Thursday’s Senate confirmation of David Cummins as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), American Oversight called on him to immediately provide Congress and the public with a full accounting of TSA’s formal data-sharing partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including reconciling newly disclosed records that appear at odds with prior sworn congressional testimony about the program. We obtained and released the agreement earlier this week. The agreement, obtained through our Freedom of Information Act litigation, revealed that TSA and ICE entered into a formal memorandum of agreement (MOA) establishing procedures for sharing, storing, and managing information…

Re Katie Thornton’s article (Nudists, peaceniks and freeloading travellers: the people keeping the Esperanto dream alive, 28 July), Esperanto was an important initiative and the aims were creditable. The concept of an international auxiliary language (IAL), a neutral means of international communication without “bigger” languages dominating “smaller” ones, and one which was easy for anyone to learn, is sensible.Unfortunately, Esperanto has sufficient linguistic flaws that promoting it risks making adoption of an IAL less likely. Its many problems include the complicating use of diacritics, a sound structure which causes serious pronunciation difficulties for people from some linguistic backgrounds, and the…

Claim: Sandra Bullock announced in July 2026 that after 18 years in remission from multiple myeloma, the rare blood cancer had returned. Rating: In late July 2026, social media users spread a rumor that actor Sandra Bullock announced that she has multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer, and that it had returned after “18 years in remission.”  Snopes readers contacted us to ask whether the rumor was true. Many of these claims, which circulated on platforms such as X and TikTok, included short videos supposedly of Bullock talking about loving her fans or feeling unloved.  However, Bullock’s official Instagram account did not…

Updated July 31, 2026, 12:32 p.m. ETAs many as 60,000 migrants entered a small Spanish territory alongside Morocco on Thursday and Friday, according to Spanish authorities. Although at least 48,300 had returned to Morocco by Friday afternoon, the mass crossing prompted an immediate backlash from far-right politicians in Europe that seemed poised to linger.Scenes of chaos in Ceuta (pronounced say-YOU-tah), the North African exclave that Spain has held for centuries, splashed across news networks and social media. Juan Jesús Vivas, the head of Ceuta’s government, said that nearly three dozen migrants had died in attempting the crossing and called the situation…

Andy Burnham’s government has set a date for a late October budget to “spread money and power” out of Westminster as the new prime minister pushes forward his tax and spending plans.Announcing an autumn budget for 28 October, the chancellor, John Healey, said Labour would stick to its fiscal rules with its agenda to give businesses and households stability for the future.Burnham has used his first two weeks in power to make a blitz of policy announcements, including a VAT cut on energy bills, slashing business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues, capping bus fares, and promising to…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldBenjamin Netanyahu was under pressure on Friday from far-right members of his government to reject a plan announced by US President Donald Trump under which Hamas would disarm in exchange for a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.Trump said overnight that his Board of Peace had reached an agreement for the “complete disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza”, and that Israeli forces would withdraw from the Palestinian enclave “as disarmament is completed”.As details of the deal leaked…