Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

ChatGPT Ads has hit $1 billion in annualised revenue run rate in under 200 days, and OpenAI is expanding self-service ads to new regions. Tens of thousands of advertisers now use the platform and self-service access through Ads Manager is launching today in India, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.According to OpenAI, people arrive at ChatGPT already partway through a decision. Some are comparing market options, or planning something like a renovation. Others are researching a job change or weighing a purchase. OpenAI wants its ad product positioned inside that moment, feeding suggestions into an existing conversation instead of…

Softaculous’ Virtualizor users were served malicious software updates for two days after a threat actor diverted internet traffic to attacker-controlled servers. A provider of applications for web hosting, Softaculous offers an auto-installer tool for over 400 popular web applications. Virtualizor is its web-based Virtual Server (VPS) management control panel. Between August 28 and August 30, a block of Softaculous IP addresses was hit by a BGP hijack attack: a threat actor used a technically valid TLS certificate for the company’s domains to divert traffic to attacker infrastructure. The IP addresses affected by the BGP hijack, Softaculous says, were used for…

Wall Street’s top regulator has said that he expects the long-awaited Clarity Act will get passed this month and the U.S. will be on track to be the “crypto capital of the world.”  Speaking to Fox Business on Tuesday, Securities and Exchange Chairman Paul Atkins confirmed that the regulator was pushing ahead with rules to help the crypto industry.  Pro-crypto lawmakers had hoped to pass the Clarity Act before Congress broke for August recess, but the vote slipped to September. The bill will establish a framework for distinguishing between digital assets that are securities, commodities or stablecoins.  JUST IN: 🇺🇸…

A new study suggests that brain imaging could reveal changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease more than seven years earlier than researchers previously believed. The work was led by scientists in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo and was published in Nature Neuroscience. The study suggests that the current gold standard for Alzheimer’s imaging (amyloid-PET) may not be sensitive enough to capture some of the earliest brain changes associated with the disease. These include processes related to the buildup of amyloid plaques. The researchers identified structural changes in the brain at least seven years before plaques became visible…

Michael Painter, an ecological anthropologist who joined the Wildlife Conservation Society in 1997, spent much of his career working at the intersection of conservation, Indigenous land rights, and rural development.In Bolivia, he helped strengthen partnerships with Indigenous organizations in the Gran Chaco and Greater Madidi, including efforts that supported the titling and management of large Indigenous territories.Painter later worked within WCS to advance a human-rights-based approach to conservation, including safeguards for research involving people and stronger recognition of Indigenous rights and governance.Painter died on February 11, 2026.See All Key Ideas In the Bolivian Chaco, the Isoceño Guaraní did…

The parliamentary and health service ombudsman’s findings are stark and sadly familiar (Autism and ADHD care complaints more than triple in five years in England, 26 August). A more than 200% rise in complaints, years-long waits, patients paying thousands of pounds for private care when the NHS fails them, and a system so complex that people are routinely denied rights they are legally entitled to – these are exactly the issues that the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) has been documenting and raising for years.What the ombudsman’s report does not fully address is what happens once people…

The claim that a U.S. airman’s widow was denied death benefits because he died in the context of the war in Iran, which Congress hadn’t officially declared, is still under investigation.  The rumor stems from an Instagram post by a woman named Libby Klinner, whose bio says she is the “surviving spouse of Maj. Klinner.” On Aug. 29, 2026, she posted a video of herself rocking a baby, with on-screen text that read “The Air Force recently told me that because we haven’t officially declared war, my kids and I aren’t eligible for some benefits.” The caption said, “The missing…

Senator Thom Tillis accuses Pentagon chief of ‘inept mismanagement’ as US military is strained by war on Iran.United States Senator Thom Tillis has called on President Donald Trump to fire Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth for creating a “leadership void” within the military amid the ongoing war with Iran.In a social media post on Wednesday, Tillis contrasted Hegseth unfavourably with former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who submitted his resignation on Monday amid reported disagreements with the Pentagon chief.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our…

The coming months will show whether Andy Burnham fits Kemi Badenoch’s charge of a leader too obsessed with being liked to make hard choices. One thing, however, does seem clear from his first outing at prime minister’s questions: he likes saying yes.The very first question came from a political opponent – Ann Davies of Plaid Cymru – but Burnham replied as if she was a valued constituent, saying he understood her worries about the prison early release scheme and hoped she could be reassured.By the session’s close, Burnham had responded patiently to MPs from virtually all benches of the Commons,…

The U.S. Postal Service has been swiftly developing a complex screening system for mail-in ballots ahead of this year’s midterm elections, despite ongoing legal wranglings over President Trump’s executive order to restrict voting by mail.The new system, which requires states to tell the Postal Service which voters will be sent ballots so they can be verified before delivery, shows how aggressively the Postal Service is moving to deliver on the president’s directive ahead of the upcoming elections, which could tip the scales of power in Congress.The agency’s efforts to set up a way to restrict who gets mail ballots, even…