Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

The Trump administration has managed, in its proposed oil “accord” with Venezuela, to combine its love for state crony capitalism with a yearning for 19th-century imperialism. It is the capstone of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Weltanshauung.  The oil agreement announced over the weekend between the United States and Venezuela is, from Washington’s point of view, meant to be the payoff for the January military operation and change of leaders (if not regime change) in Caracas. Trump proposed at the time to take Venezuela’s oil, as he had previously rued the United States’ failure to take Iraq’s oil. This is his…

Claim: A civilian engineer working aboard a U.S. Navy vessel filed a civil lawsuit against the United States in 2023, alleging she had been raped on duty, and the court dismissed the suit in 2026, determining it fell under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Labor as a worker’s compensation issue. Rating: Claims circulated in August 2026 that a civilian engineer named Elsie Dominguez was working aboard a U.S. Navy vessel in 2021 and allegedly raped on duty, for which she later sued the United States seeking unspecified monetary damages.  According to the claim, a judge dismissed the case,…

The Israeli authorities on Tuesday brought charges against 12 prison guards accused of beating a Palestinian prisoner to death nearly three years ago, a rare prosecution after repeated reports by human rights groups of abuse in Israeli detention centers.The guards were charged with reckless homicide in connection with the death of the prisoner, Thaer Abu Asab, who was from the occupied West Bank. A statement issued by prosecutors said that a dozen Israel Prison Service personnel had entered the cell he shared with eight other detainees during an evening head count in November 2023 and punched, kicked and, in some…

Three map apps, three responses so far to President Trump’s order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America amid an escalating trade war with Canada.Google changed the lake’s name on its Maps application two days after the Aug. 27 executive order was signed, at least for users in the United States. MapQuest publicly refused to make the update, while Apple on Tuesday began to adopt the new name.And the tech companies’ decisions seem to matter to Mr. Trump. He had reached out to Apple to ask it to make the change, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.“I know that the…

Ed Miliband has promised to “reset” Britain’s policy on Israel, saying he will try to stop British companies helping build settlements in the West Bank.Speaking to the Commons for the first time as foreign secretary, Miliband said he would set out measures to prevent UK involvement in projects such as the illegal E1 plan, which critics say would split the West Bank in half.Tuesday’s comments came after Israel issued tenders for around a third of the 3,400 homes planned for the project. Miliband called the settlement “the crossing of a red line”.He said: “It cuts through the heart of the…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe Trump administration defended its new venture to extract Venezuelan oil on Tuesday as Chevron prepared to announce a major expansion of its operations in the country.In an unusual deal announced last week, Alejandro Betancourt, who owns the second-largest private oil company in Venezuela and is one of the most polarising business figures in the country, is the US’s partner in a group that will control about one-fifth of the Latin American nation’s oil reserves. Venezuela’s National Assembly backed the…

The proximity to the waning moon offers a good opportunity for spotting them. To the naked eye, they will appear as a small group of bright points next to the moon, as if they were diamonds. Binoculars will allow you to make out many more. The encounter will happen again on September 30, when the two objects will once more be separated by just one degree.A Modest Meteor Shower: September 9 and 10September also has its own meteor shower. The Epsilon Perseids will peak September 9 and 10, producing up to eight meteors per hour.A meteor shower, captured in Spain.…

Ravie LakshmananSep 01, 2026Vulnerability / Supply Chain Attack Threat actors are exploiting a newly patched critical security flaw impacting JFrog Artifactory merely days after public disclosure, according to watchTowr. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2026-82329 (CVSS score: 9.8), a case of authentication bypass that could lead to administrative access in Artifactory. “JFrog Artifactory contains an authentication weakness that, under default configuration, may allow an unauthenticated attacker with network access to obtain administrative privileges,” according to a description of the flaw on CVE.org. The vulnerability was patched by JFrog with Artifactory version 7.161.20 released on August 28, 2026. It affects the…

Bitcoin slid on Tuesday after investors went into “risk-off” mode following escalating attacks between the U.S. and Iran.  The largest cryptocurrency had initially shrugged off President Donald Trump’s threats to the Middle Eastern nation, as well as the first strikes.  But things heated up on Tuesday, and bitcoin’s price slid. It was recently down more than 2% on the day, trading for $77,363. The coin had pushed past as high as nearly $81,282 on Friday.  The Tuesday attacks from the U.S. were because Iran tried to put mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and also because of an attack on…

NASA awarded Blue Origin a contract Tuesday to develop the agency’s Mars Telecommunications Network, a next-generation communications system that will enable reliable, high-bandwidth communications and navigation services for current and future Mars missions. The firm-fixed-price contract has a maximum potential value of approximately $700 million to deliver a high-performance Mars telecommunications orbiter to NASA no later than Dec. 31, 2028. Blue Origin will design, develop, integrate, launch, and operate the network as a part of the agency’s broader space communications and navigation infrastructure. The architecture will consist of a high-performance telecommunications spacecraft orbiting Mars, transmitting science data, imagery, navigation information,…