Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

On July 17, the United States and Serbia jointly announced a strategic dialogue—a formal, permanent architecture of diplomatic engagement between the two states. The move is hardly earth-shattering; the United States maintains the same posture with dozens of other countries, and even does the same in the Western Balkans with Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, and North Macedonia. Yet the shift suggests worrying things about the direction of U.S. foreign policy and its impact on the security and stability of a highly volatile region. It is especially strange in the context of Serbia’s growing closeness with China and its leaders’ aspirations to…

‘No reason to think Poland was the intended target for this missile,’ PM Tusk saysPoland’s PM Tusk is now visiting the site of the incident, and says that two missiles violated Polish airspace during the night, but clarifies that the other one quickly crossed back into Ukraine.Later, defence minister Kosiniak-Kamysz clarified that only one missile crossed into Polish airspace.Tusk also confirms that early indications suggest the missile that crashed in rural Poland was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, as reported earlier.But he stresses “there are no reasons to think Poland was the intended target for this missile.”He also says that…

In neighbouring Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk was heading to the site of a 10m-crater (33ft), after “a violation of Polish airspace occurred” during Russia’s attack on Lviv.Polish armed forces said they had mobilised on-duty fighter jets during the strikes, after detecting at least a dozen missiles over western Ukraine that could have posed a threat to Polish airspace. The closest one was observed about 5km from the Polish border at 03:29, after which it changed direction and headed eastwards.The military said they had subsequently located the crater with scattered debris on Polish soil – in a field about 2km…

That makes “liberal arts” the chief label for a lot of fields people resent — the ones accused of having devolved into woke-leftist nonsense or minting pointless credentials for unskilled elites. The arguments aren’t entirely new. (People once debated whether reading Cicero in Latin was elite claptrap or proper education; in 1919, somebody lamented that higher education would teach anything but Greek and Latin, “from plumbing to basket weaving.”) But they’re at a high pitch lately, and the standard-issue defense of a liberal education — bromides about learning how to think, producing broad-minded citizens, exploring human experience — can sound…

Compare Our Top Shower Filter SystemsHonorable Mention Shower FiltersHigherDose Photograph: Matthew KorfhageHigherDose Red Light Shower Filter for $599: The HigherDose Red Light Shower Filter (6/10, WIRED Reviewed) is, in some ways, the most intriguing shower filter idea I’ve encountered in the past year: It incorporates a ring of lights, delivering dual red and near-infrared wavelengths at purported therapeutic intensity (though the verdict is still out on the efficacy of red-light therapy in general). The 10-layer filter is among the most complex I’ve tested, including steel-mesh filter for sediment and microplastics as well as layers of vitamin C and E. According…

Mark Zuckerberg has published a WSJ op-ed that argues superintelligence must reach individuals, not just a handful of institutions.The Meta chief published the piece as a statement of company philosophy rather than a product announcement. It contains no release dates, no benchmark figures, no named models. What it does contain is an argument that the central question facing the industry is not whether superintelligence arrives, but who gets to use it once it does.Zuckerberg believes the choice is binary: systems concentrated inside a small number of institutions, or systems distributed as tools that individuals control directly. He calls his preferred…

Semiconductor company Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) has disclosed a data breach stemming from a hacker attack detected last month. Analog Devices is a Massachusetts-based company with roughly 24,000 employees and $12 billion in annual revenue that designs and manufactures analog, mixed-signal, and digital signal processing chips used across industrial, automotive, and communications equipment. In a Wednesday filing with the SEC, Analog Devices said it detected unauthorized access to certain systems on June 23.  An investigation conducted with the aid of outside security experts revealed that hackers stole certain files, but no information has been shared on what type of…

In brief A fake staking site that ran for eight days last October took 3.4 million XRP from 71 investors, worth 12.3 billion won ($8.5 million), Seoul police said. Police say the operators impersonated Flare Network and FXRP, and seeded blogs, articles and YouTube with false information. Investigators traced 27.3 billion won ($18.8 million) through wallets linked to the group and froze 17.3 billion won of it. A fake staking site that ran for eight days last October took 3.4 million XRP from 71 investors, worth 12.3 billion won ($8.5 million), Seoul police say. Two men, both 29, have been…

A vast reservoir of magma beneath Japan’s Kikai caldera appears to be filling again, offering scientists a rare glimpse into how some of Earth’s largest volcanoes recover after catastrophic eruptions. The discovery, led by researchers at Kobe University, could improve understanding of enormous caldera systems such as Yellowstone in the United States and Toba in Indonesia. It may also help scientists identify the underground changes that occur before future giant eruptions. A Volcano Capable of a Colossal Eruption Kikai is a mostly submerged volcanic caldera south of Japan. About 7,300 years ago, it produced the largest known volcanic eruption of…

Malaysian offshore soil investigation and geotechnical engineering services company Helms Geomarine has been selected to support Petronas’ carbon capture and storage (CCS) developments in Malaysia. The contract, announced at the end of June, was awarded by PETRONAS CCS Solutions (PCCSS) for an initial period of three years, with an option to extend for a further two years. The scope covers offshore geotechnical investigations to support future CCS development activities, including the installation of offshore facilities such as pipelines, platforms, wells and monitoring equipment. HELMS shall provide offshore drilling and sampling, downhole CPTu testing, laboratory testing, pile capacity and jack-up assessments,…