Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Littering fines have generated nearly £100,000 in revenue for councils across a county since the start of 2023, new figures have revealed.Local authorities in Cambridgeshire have issued 889 fixed penalty notices for littering, according to Freedom of Information requests made by the BBC.Most of them were issued by Cambridge City Council, which received about £83,000 from littering fines – 86% of the county’s total.Harry Machin, a volunteer litter picker in Peterborough, said other councils could learn from Cambridge.More from Cambridgeshire:Cambridge City Council has consistently issued more fines than other authorities in Cambridgeshire, but the number of them has been falling.The…

Though it has yet to become front-page news in the UK, you should know about the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros merger. It threatens to inflict immense harm on the British public. As actors and public figures who have spent our careers in the arts in Britain – working with British crews, on British stages and sets – we have a responsibility to the public who support, enjoy and consume the art we make.The UK is being threatened by a media merger that would harm our workers, our culture and the public – but we can stop it. We are encouraged by…

Romania on Sunday said it was summoning Russia’s ambassador after the NATO member’s military shot down the third drone in as many days in the country bordering Ukraine. Romania has seen frequent drone incursions since Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but had not shot down any until Friday. On Sunday, a Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down a drone over the Black Sea, five minutes after it entered the country’s airspace, Defence Minister Radu Miruta said on Facebook. Romania is summoning Russia’s ambassador following “repeated violations”, foreign minister Oana Toiu said on X. Read moreSea drone explodes in the Romanian port of Constanta, raising fear of Ukraine war spillover President Nicusor Dan…

Andy Burnham has told the BBC “the NHS will collapse” if social care is not reformed but said he could not put a timeline on changes.In his first major interview since becoming prime minister, Burnham said he would not want to leave office without bringing in “substantial change” to the social care system.The prime minister also suggested making it harder to claim benefits, saying the country had to get serious about getting the welfare bill down.Kemi Badenoch has meanwhile written to the prime minister, saying he should rule out tax rises or increased borrowing to fund social care reform.In his…

But when it comes to the gravest matters that prime ministers have to deal with – security, power around the world, or the country’s long-term economic stability, we’re perhaps yet to see if Burnham’s ambition for No 10 is accompanied by truly new big ideas that match the scale of his rhetoric.There are worries on the right of the Labour Party that Burnham has not absorbed the reality of the country’s economic position – years of stuttering growth, and sky-high levels of debt that leave the UK incredibly vulnerable to the financial markets’ judgements, whether he likes it or not.…

Two of OpenAI’s cybersecurity-focused models broke out of a testing sandbox this week and went on to hack the AI research platform Hugging Face in an effort to solve a security benchmark test. Plus, researchers this week shed light on newly identified malware that is capitalizing on blind spots in AI software development infrastructure to grab logins and other sensitive data, even causing destruction to victims’ target files and systems.Looking at the more traditional security nightmare of embedded devices, researchers this week shed light on a car alarm that was installed in vehicles across the US—and that is still silently…

A data breach suffered last year by Atlanta-based medical business management company MCBS (Medical Computer Business Services) affects more than 1.2 million individuals. According to a data breach notification posted on its website, MCBS was targeted by hackers in September 2025.  An investigation showed that attackers had access to its systems between September 22 and September 26, potentially stealing files that contained personal information such as name, address, SSN, date of birth, health insurance information, and medical information.  The medical revenue cycle management and billing company’s data breach notification names seven healthcare organizations whose data was compromised in this cyberattack.…

Withdrawals from crypto exchange BitMart appeared to slow after it announced plans to wind down its operations. On Monday, blockchain analytics account Lookonchain reported that only 58 wallets withdrew about $805,000 in over 24 hours. It added that the exchange had not processed any withdrawals during the latest eight-hour period it tracked. X users also continued to report withdrawal difficulties. One user said they received an email stating that a USDT withdrawal had been completed even though the transaction had not been processed and their account displayed an “on-chain withdrawal freeze.” Another user said a $30 test withdrawal remained pending for over…

Clues to saber-toothed cats’ demise are emerging from fossils entombed in California’s sticky La Brea Tar Pits. Fossils of the extinct predators preserved in tar reveal a diversity of spinal maladies. These included a high frequency of a normally rare tumor, researchers report July 27 in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. The diseased spines may have been caused by inbreeding during the twilight years of the species, as cat populations waned. At the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, crude petroleum in the form of asphalt oozes out of the ground, forming a collection of tar-filled ponds. For millennia, a…

A court has upheld the finding that Pauline Hanson engaged in racial discrimination against Mehreen Faruqi when she tweeted the Greens senator should “pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan”.The One Nation leader launched the appeal in November, almost a month after Justice Angus Stewart found Hanson engaged in “seriously offensive” and intimidating behaviour against Faruqi in the September 2022 social media post that breached the Racial Discrimination Act.On Monday, Stewart’s decision was upheld by federal court justices Melissa Perry, Geoffrey Kennett, and Elizabeth Bennett.Faruqi was in court for the judgment, but Hanson did not make an appearance.Sign…