Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

The rebellion in India of the young, led by the Cockroach Janta party (CJP), unfolded against a backdrop of large, abstract, geometrical structures – arcs, planes, hemispheres – that together make up an observatory called Jantar Mantar, built in the early 18th century to refine almanacs and tell time. Jantar Mantar has been a byword for political protest for decades: it marks the space that the Delhi police assigns to the politically disgruntled so they can vent in a contained way. But it had never before hosted a political insurgency that started from scratch and forced the Indian state to…

Brazil recalled its ambassador to Argentina for consultations Sunday following “insults” leveled by President Javier Milei against his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and others at a Sao Paulo political event, the foreign ministry said. The libertarian leader of Argentina referred to Brazil’s leftist incumbent president as a “convict” and a “thief”, without naming him explicitly, during an event on Saturday formally nominating right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro to run in upcoming elections. Milei also referred to – without naming him directly – Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes as “bald trash”. Milei “insulted two branches of government, the…

“He was sentenced… under juvenile criminal law,” he told RBB TV. “And then, unfortunately, the court handed down a suspended sentence. I don’t want to pass judgement on that – that’s the independence of the judiciary – but I’m really at a loss for words.”The opposition far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party described the attack as a total failure of security policy.”If an Islamist threat known to the police was able to carry out such an act, a thorough investigation must be carried out to establish why he was still able to move about freely in the first place,” said…

The Home Office is blocking the evacuation of dozens of women and children from Gaza, despite the Foreign Office saying it is ready to get people out of the war-torn region.Last September, the Home Office announced it was suspending refugee family reunion applications and that new, more restrictive rules would be announced in the spring. So far there has been no announcement and the process remains suspended.Applications made before the announcement continue to be processed. However, families in Gaza who applied to reunite with an immediate family member before the suspension have been blocked from joining loved ones in the…

Jodrell Bank Observatory, which runs a world-leading network of radio telescopes, is facing closure after its major funder cut support for the facility.The deep space observatory, which hosts the Grade I-listed Lovell telescope, is prized by astronomers who study galaxies, black holes, star formation, planets beyond the solar system and the afterglow of the big bang.The observatory’s funder, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), said on Monday it would withdraw funding for the e-Merlin network that constitutes the UK’s national radio astronomy facility at Jodrell Bank when the current agreement lapses in March 2028.Scientists said the decision was a blow to…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.France and Spain are preparing for even higher temperatures, after wildfires driven by an intense heatwave forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people over the past week.Fires in south-west France and central Spain remained largely stable overnight into Monday as firefighters’ efforts to stop the blazes from advancing towards Bordeaux and Madrid were helped by light rainfall.“This window of weather was favourable . . . but the fire is far from being under control,” said Colonel Jérôme Boulanger, spokesperson for France’s Civil Security agency.…

This messaging is cause for concern, according to ADHD specialists who spoke with WIRED.“Stimulant medications have been in existence for nearly 100 years, and approved for use in children since the 1960s,” says Kristen Leinung, a mental health nurse practitioner and director of psychiatric services at the Northwest ADHD Treatment Center in Portland, Oregon. The drugs are well-studied for efficacy and have predictable side effects, she adds, but because they can be misused, they’re often stigmatized online. “This style of advertising does further that stigma.”Leinung believes that with their pessimistic framing of Adderall and similar pharmaceuticals, these supplement ads could…

Coca-Cola on Monday confirmed that the recent ransomware attack on its dairy products subsidiary Fairlife resulted in a data breach. The soft drinks giant disclosed the cybersecurity incident on July 16, when it announced suspending production at Fairlife facilities in the United States while it investigated and responded to a cybersecurity intrusion. The Anubis ransomware group listed Coca-Cola and Fairlife on its leak website on July 20, suggesting that it had encrypted files on compromised systems and claiming to have stolen 1 TB of confidential data. In a statement issued on Monday, Coca-Cola said a majority of production has been…

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is pushing back against calls for crypto to pivot to artificial intelligence, arguing AI agents will instead stoke demand for crypto-based financial services.Armstrong took to X on Sunday to tout agentic finance (AiFi), highlighting Coinbase’s Base network, USDC and x402 as the infrastructure for autonomous machine-to-machine payments.“AI being a megatrend takes nothing away from crypto,” Armstrong wrote, because AI agents will need programmable money rather than traditional banking rails. “If anything, it makes crypto more important,” he added.His comments come as crypto companies increasingly position blockchain networks as payment infrastructure for AI agents, with agentic payment…

Bangladesh’s shipbreaking industry faces a pivotal treaty dispute. The country’s interim government last year decided that both Basel Convention and the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) will apply simultaneously to the local shipbreaking operations.However, shipbreakers say that applying Basel rules would make ship imports more expensive and legally complex, potentially forcing many shipbreaking yards to close due to their inability to meet Basel standards.Basel strictly controls transboundary movement of toxic waste, and requires dismantling ships on impermeable surfaces that contain hazardous waste, effectively ruling out the conventional method used in Bangladesh, of grounding a ship onto a beach.The Hong Kong…