Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

The UK’s biggest education union is claiming a major victory after the government bowed to pressure and agreed to fully fund a forthcoming pay increase for teachers in England in a sudden U-turn on previous policy.Members of the National Education Union (NEU) were due to vote in a ballot for strike action next month over the government’s recent pay offer which provided for a 3.5% increase from this month, with an additional 3% from next September.While the offer marked a significant improvement on initial proposals from the then education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, there was concern among teachers and unions that…

Oil prices in China have jumped to record highs, as refiners in the world’s biggest crude importer step up a hunt for supplies amid widening fears over the security of exports from the Middle East.Oil futures in Shanghai were trading at $129 a barrel on Wednesday, above their peak of $121.80 in the first weeks of the Iran war. The price has jumped 14 per cent since the end of last week when Saudi Arabia was forced to shut a key pipeline taking exports to the Red Sea after attacks by Iran-backed militias in Iraq.The price shock has reverberated through…

Security researcher Matthew “Zigula” Gore-Kormanik was analyzing a fraudulent dating app called Dora when he got a pop-up message saying he was receiving a call from Jennifer. According to her bio, she’s a 41-year-old Sagittarius with red hair, blue eyes, and piercings. She likes music, horror movies, nightlife, and sports.Gore-Kormanik answered the call, but didn’t see Jennifer in his video feed. He saw a tapestry that was moving, probably due to a fan, and heard weird distortion in the background. After the call ended, “Jennifer” messaged him to say she’d had fun and “your voice is way better than expected.”…

When businesses assess the impact of ransomware, the ransom payment often gets the most attention. But the ransom is only a small part of the total cost. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025, the average total cost of a ransomware incident reached $5.08 million when downtime, remediation, legal work and business disruption are considered. By comparison, the median ransom payment is $139,875, according to the 2026 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. The gap highlights that the biggest ransomware costs often come after the attack, not from the ransom itself. This piece examines where those costs come…

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our daily news show ‘FOMO HOUR’ covering all of the top stories and market action.GM!Today’s top news: Crypto majors fall as Clarity Act vote fails; BTC at $76.1k Clarity Act falls 11 votes short in cloture vote as Dems all vote No Kraken parent Payward to bring Hyperliquid perps to the US Circle launched its Arc mainnet with 100 protocols already live X introduced its Cashtag partner program allowing tickers to be tradeable via CEX…

Congenital heart disease affects roughly two out of every 100 newborns worldwide, making it one of the most common types of birth defects. Yet scientists are still working to understand exactly why these heart abnormalities develop. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have now identified a previously unknown cellular mechanism that may provide an important part of the explanation. “We have discovered a new communication system on the exterior of the cell that is crucial for the proper formation of the heart during embryonic development. This finding changes our understanding of why some congenital heart defects arise. You could say…

Bangladesh is building a 42.5-megawatt power plant that will burn waste from the main Dhaka landfill as fuel.The so-called waste-to-energy plant will burn up to 3,000 metric tons of municipal waste daily, doubling as a solution to the city’s growing waste problem.However, residents living near the landfill say they’re worried about air pollution from the incineration, given that smoke from smaller-scale burning by waste collectors is already a problem.Despite their objections, the project is proceeding, with the government even loosening incineration rules to allow it to go ahead.See All Key Ideas At years old, Yeasmin Begum has lived…

The publication of the Thirlwall inquiry report is above all a moment to remember the babies who died or were harmed at the Countess of Chester hospital and the families whose grief was compounded by years of delay, institutional denial and defensiveness. The least we owe those families is a determination to now make the right changes – not the comfortable ones, not the partial ones, but the ones that will stop further avoidable deaths and injury.Lady Justice Thirlwall’s report lays bare a total failure of NHS management. When doctors dared to raise concerns, they were rebuked and threatened with…

The value of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund’s investments in Israeli companies has increased, prompting ethical concerns among campaign groups and charities as the war in Gaza continues.The fund, the world’s largest, cut its Israeli holdings from 61 to 29 companies last year, citing “the serious humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listAlthough it has made no new investments in Israeli firms since, returns from its remaining holdings reached $2.4bn in the first half of 2026 – a rise of 15.7 percent since the end of 2025.The fund “represents enormous economic and political power”, Rami Samandar, head…

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has accused Russia of plotting to murder Ukrainian allies in the US and Europe. In a statement on Tuesday, the DoJ charged five men allegedly connected to the Russian Intelligence Services (RIS). The men are accused of paying, or trying to pay, people in the US and overseas to target those “aligned, or perceived to be aligned, with Ukraine”.”It is our job to stop America’s adversaries from unleashing violence and terror on American soil,” Attorney General Todd Blanche. All those accused remain at large. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday Moscow will…