Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

While the figures cover Labour’s time in office under Sir Keir Starmer, his successor Andy Burnham has continued to use influencers to get the government’s message out.On his first day as prime minister, Burnham was already posting videos on TikTok of him running with Sir Mo Farah and appearing on influencer Max Klymenko’s “career ladder” podcast.Prof Andrew Chadwick, an expert in political communication at Loughborough University, said working with influencers “chimes with the change of direction since Burnham took over”, with the PM using his following on TikTok and Instagram to engage directly with the public.He argued using influencers could…

Some things you can set your watch by. Like every time small boats are in the news, the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, will manoeuvre himself in front of a camera to suggest that all male migrants are either murderers or rapists. Probably both.But some things feel older than time itself. Like Liz Truss trying to persuade the world she was right all along. Most former prime ministers leave Downing Street relatively quietly. Lord Big Dave, the Maybot and even Boris nurse their grudges in private. Rishi lives in semi-retirement – almost a recluse – and only attends parliament when…

Maria Diaz/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Certain heat-producing and large appliances can quickly drain your power station. Battery capacity is a limited resource during outages, so prioritization is key. This list is a recommendation; it doesn’t mean you can’t run these appliances on power stations. We often hear about certain power stations being capable of running your central HVAC system or keeping your large appliances on during an outage, but just because you can doesn’t mean you always should. Also: Four months with my first home battery taught me what whole-home…

Enterprises in Russia have emerged as the target of three threat activity clusters tracked as NightEagle, Hacking Cat, and Toy Ghouls, according to multiple reports from Kaspersky. The cybersecurity vendor said it has identified attacks mounted by NightEagle (aka APT-Q-95), a threat actor known to be active since at least 2023, that involve new techniques for persistence and lateral movement. “In most incidents, the attackers used compromised valid credentials to gain access to corporate VPNs,” Kaspersky said in an analysis published today. “VPN connections originated from IP addresses in the Russian segment linked to Cloudflare WARP tunnels, as well as…

While Bitcoin and crypto-linked stocks fell sharply after the US Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity, or CLARITY, Act, Saxo Bank believes exchanges like Coinbase have more at stake than most because clearer rules could directly affect their trading businesses.In a Wednesday note, Saxo strategist Ruben Dalfovo said Coinbase (COIN) is the most directly exposed to developments around CLARITY because market-structure rules could determine registration requirements, which assets can trade and who can participate in US crypto markets.“Coinbase is most exposed to clearer market rules because trading and crypto participation directly affect its business,” Dalfovo wrote.Stablecoin issuer…

NASA celebrated the full restoration of its Guam Remote Station with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 10, closing out more than three years of recovery after Super Typhoon Mawar devastated the site in 2023. Engineers from across the agency completed the final and most complex step of the rebuild on July 1, when they returned the station’s central antenna to service. For nearly three decades, the Guam Remote Station has been one of three ground stations supporting NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, or TDRS, a critical part of the Near Space Network. From 22,000 miles above Earth, the relays link…

U.S.-headquartered oilfield services player Halliburton has secured a multi-year assignment with Italy’s energy giant Eni to provide bundled well construction and completions services for an ultra-deepwater development in Cyprus, expanding its presence in the Eastern Mediterranean. Illustration; Source: Halliburton Halliburton has won a bundled well construction and completions contract with Eni for the Cronos ultra-deepwater development in Block 6 of the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone, strengthening the U.S. firm’s offshore portfolio in the Eastern Mediterranean and expanding its role in the region’s strategic natural gas development. Since the company will deliver integrated drilling, well construction, automation, and completions services for exploration and development wells, the bundled…

The article about whether the pensions triple lock should be ditched omits several key facts (‘Costing billions’: is the pensions triple lock a lifeline or simply unaffordable?, 12 September). The triple lock was introduced in 2010 to attempt to reinstate the value of the state pension relative to average earnings. The new state pension is just over £12,547 per annum, as your reporter says; older pensioners get a basic £9,615. Both are well below the European average, which is over €16,000 (about £13,800) per year. The UK median wage is above £39,000 a year. Moreover, the age at which the UK…

Claim: An image authentically shows U.S. President Donald Trump leaving a brown stain on a chair during his trip to Ireland in September 2026. Rating: In September 2026, people shared an image purportedly showing U.S. President Donald Trump leaving a brown stain on a chair during his trip to Ireland that month. One X post (archived) featuring the alleged photo had amassed roughly 4 million views as of this writing. (@StillADog via X) Trump visited the country on the weekend of Sept. 12-13, during which he met with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin. The U.S. president sparked controversy following that…

Relations between the two countries have been on a downward spiral since President Donald Trump returned to office early last year, with the US leader cutting aid, expelling the South African ambassador and offering “refuge” to white South Africans fleeing “persecution.”The South African government has repeatedly rejected allegations that it is persecuting white people or confiscating their land.It said claims of a white genocide had been widely discredited and lacked reliable evidence.South Africa’s latest crime statistics do not indicate that white people are at a greater risk of violent crime than other racial groups.Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners last…