Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre. Captain Chris ‘Hunter-Killer’ Philp had been on patrol since first light in the English Channel. While the rest of the country was still asleep, the Philpster was scanning the horizon for rubber dinghies full of illegal immigrants. Something he had never done in his previous life as immigration minister. Back then he had sought to rehouse new arrivals in hotels. Now he wanted to send them to a watery grave.It had been a quiet morning. Too quiet. Just the one sighting of a child with a rubber ring paddling off the beach…

Lucy Powell has said she wants to make sure the student loans system is “fair” and that the issue is at the top of her in-tray as the new education secretary.Labour’s deputy leader told the BBC she stood by comments she made in February that the interest rates graduates with Plan 2 loans were paying were “egregious”.She said she was committed to looking at the issue, although acknowledged she “can’t make any promises” about changes.Plan 2 loans were taken out by students in England between September 2012 and July 2023, and are still issued in Wales. Graduates pay back what…

Busà Photography/ Moment via Getty ImagesFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysRansomware may not be on the decline after all, according to new research.A single ransomware campaign’s success can distort the historical data.Ransomware remains a threat that business leaders must continue to defend against.If it looked like ransomware was on the decline last year, research from multiple cybersecurity firms sheds new light on that idea. Previous reports suggested that ransomware extortion attempts declined in 2025, replaced by techniques such as process injection, credential theft, and virtualization- or sandbox-evasion-based attacks. But more recent second-quarter 2026 reports suggest that vigilance…

Apple announced on Monday that it has released patches for dozens of vulnerabilities discovered recently in its operating systems.  The company patched 87 vulnerabilities with the release of iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6.  The flaws can be exploited to access sensitive user data, fingerprint users, cause a DoS condition, execute arbitrary code, delete files, modify the file system, bypass security, add contacts without authorization, spoof the UI, and escalate privileges. In macOS Tahoe 26.6, Apple fixed 155 vulnerabilities, including ones allowing access to sensitive user data, arbitrary code execution, security bypasses, and DoS attacks. macOS Sequoia 15.7.8 includes fixes for…

In brief 1inch has opened Aqua to all users across 13 EVM chains, eight months after a developer-only release. Providers approve a wallet balance rather than depositing into a pool, and tokens move only when a swap fills. Every swap is executed by a verified counterparty, which 1inch calls a first for a liquidity venue. 1inch has opened Aqua, its shared DeFi liquidity layer, to all users, eight months after releasing it to developers only. “he protocol went live on Tuesday across 13 EVM chains, among them Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain and Robinhood Chain. A front end had originally…

Much like paper must be folded into the correct shape to create an origami sculpture, proteins inside cells must form precise three-dimensional structures before they can function properly. As prediabetes advances toward diabetes, this delicate process can begin to break down. Misfolded and defective proteins accumulate inside cells, creating stress that can damage the pancreatic cells responsible for producing insulin. Researchers from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and the University of Michigan reported new details about this process on June 1, 2026, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their findings reveal how insulin-producing cells coordinate protein…

Scientists say they have found the first evidence of bat-linked viruses in commercial fertilizer made from bat guano in Thailand.Bat guano harvested from roosting cave sites is widely used, both commercially and informally, as agricultural fertilizer across many parts of Southeast Asia.While the viral strains detected in the study are not known to infect humans, the research urges the fertilizer industry to introduce stronger safety precautions throughout the supply chain to minimize the risk of zoonotic disease transfer.Experts also note the need to adhere to a “One Health” approach that minimizes disturbance of bat roosts and habitats to maintain…

Reading Time: 12 minutes King Yang, 3, dances in the rain at his brother Yaay Aden Yang’s graduation party at Lorraine Park in South St. Paul on June 28, 2026. Their father, Zong Yang, was deported to Laos in May. (Aaron Nesheim / Sahan Journal) Yaay Yang held onto his 3-year-old brother King’s hand as the two walked home on a sunny June afternoon. Their mom had caught King playing in a muddy puddle and asked the eldest of her five boys to escort him home for a change of clothes.  A few blocks away, Yaay’s relatives sat under a…

The campaign group Led By Donkeys has received £27,000 in compensation after a giant banner it displayed in Parliament Square saying “Yes It’s A Genocide” was seized by Greater London Authority officials and destroyed.Representatives of the GLA arrived on the scene in central London and confiscated the 40-metre by 40-metre banner after it was unfurled on 4 December 2024, just over a year after Israel began its assault on Gaza after the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas.Led By Donkeys said its 19-month campaign to get it returned was initially met with refusals before the GLA told the collective that…

On Tuesday morning the Gironde prefect ordered a new evacuation of all camping sites near the coast at Lacanau, while those in the nearby town were allowed to stay put but told to prepare for sudden evacuation. About 4,000 tourists told to leave the area are in addition to the 220,000 people evacuated around France in recent days. An estimated 240 homes and houses have been destroyed, officials have said.By midday on Tuesday firefighters were already intervening in various parts of the region to tackle fires that were picking up again. A 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of starting…