Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds of migrants either breaking through border gates or swimming from Morocco to the Spanish enclave on Thursday. At least 19 people died while attempting to reach Spain, police told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE. Authorities also closed the border with Spain’s other North African enclave, Melilla, where between 300 and 400 people from Morocco entered on Thursday, according to Spanish media. For Sánchez’s left-wing government, which has pledged to legalize hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants, the crisis could become a diplomatic nightmare. Italy’s right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni has called for the suspension of the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.What is driving the explosion of Chinese exports, which hit almost $4tn last year? That question is creating deep angst among non-Chinese policymakers amid fears of a second “China shock”. It is an issue I have been considering myself recently, having just crossed China in an electric vehicle Silk Road convoy, where I saw up close the startling quality of its EVs, green tech and artificial intelligence. Witnessing all that, it is hard not to worry about how others will compete.And now…

Buying multiple lamps for different rooms can get expensive. Govee’s rechargeable Table Lamp Classic gives you one lamp you can use throughout your home instead of getting one for every room, and right now it’s down to $59 ($21 off) at Amazon. That’s just $4 shy of the all-time low set during Prime Day, and the smart lamp’s second-best price to date.Because it’s cordless, the lamp is surprisingly versatile. You can use it to brighten your desk during the day, keep it by your bedside at night, and even carry it to the patio for dinner (just don’t forget to…

Google says artificial intelligence is dramatically increasing the number of security vulnerabilities it can find and fix in Chrome, with more than 1,000 security bugs patched across the browser’s two most recent releases as it expands its use of AI. According to Google, Chrome 149 and Chrome 150 fixed 1,072 security bugs, surpassing the total number fixed across the previous 23 Chrome milestones combined. The company says it now uses large language models throughout the vulnerability management process, including discovering flaws, reproducing reports, determining severity, assigning bugs to developers, generating candidate patches, and creating tests. Google began using LLMs to…

In brief FTC, California and Utah sued Hims & Hers over alleged privacy, billing and subscription violations. Regulators say the company shared sensitive health information with advertising platforms despite privacy promises. The lawsuit also alleges consumers were enrolled in recurring prescription subscriptions without informed consent. The Federal Trade Commission, joined by California and Utah, has sued telehealth provider Hims & Hers Inc., alleging the company promised consumers a private, discreet healthcare experience while sharing sensitive health information with advertising platforms including Meta and Snap.The complaint, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges Hims…

You’ve been dreaming about that summer break on the sun lounger, book in one hand and drink in the other, for months. Now the dash to the airport gate, train station or hours-long drive is all that stands in your way.But what does the book you’ve just shoved in your suitcase say about you?”It’s definitely not a random choice,” says Edgar Dubourg, a cognitive scientist at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. “Your reading list is basically a map of your personality. “When you pick a thriller or romance or horror or science fiction you’re not escaping your psychology, in…

Despite some rain in the forecast in the coming week, it will not be enough to end drought conditions.When rain falls in the summer months, high daytime temperatures can mean that the water quickly evaporates away from the soil. Meanwhile, a series of quick downpours such as heavy summer showers or thunderstorms may appear to give large rainfall totals, but the rain falls faster than the soil can absorb it.The ideal scenario is for rain to fall overnight to mitigate the loss from evaporation. However, to alleviate the drought there would still need to be a prolonged spell of rain…

Cackling happily into their pints, the two most powerful men in the country scoff their way through a selection of pub snacks.Pork scratchings or scampi fries? Or maybe old-school peanuts? It’s hardly the toughest choice currently facing Andy Burnham and the chancellor, John Healey, so some may find this week’s made-to-go-viral Instagram reel of them gleefully ranking crisps a bit silly. (I’m writing this, laptop balanced on my knee, beside a hospital bed; right now I couldn’t care less whether the chancellor likes bacon fries.) But I do care, intensely, about a government that is promising once-in-a-generation reform of care…

Hamas said on Friday it agreed to a deal to end the war with Israel that included provisions addressing its weapons and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the devastated Gaza Strip. The text of the deal has not been released publicly, and there was no immediate statement from Israel. Here is what we know about the announced agreement: What’s in the deal? US President Donald Trump announced the “complete disarmament” of Hamas, calling it a critical step towards a new Palestinian government in Gaza. He said Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza “as disarmament is completed”. Israel’s military…

But, the official said, that support will come at a cost to Washington. “We want more U.S. troops in the Baltics — the best brigade instead of battalion or at least more battalions and on a more permanent basis.”And Ukraine insists that its offer to provide drone interceptors to the U.S. and Gulf countries still stands — especially if Kyiv gets weapons in return.“We are ready to support those who support us,” said a Ukrainian official. “Ukraine has vast experience, modern technologies and expertise to build counter-drone systems. Both the United States and our partners in the Middle East are…