Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Keir Starmer is to quit as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, saying it is the right time for him to leave the Commons.Starmer, who resigned as prime minister in July, told the Camden New Journal he wanted to focus on international affairs and “pass the baton to a successor”.Starmer had previously said he would seek to serve out his term as a backbench MP, and his decision to quit will spark a byelection. The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, is understood to be considering a run for the central London seat.Starmer told the paper: “It has been a…

At an event in New York City, Sonos announced two new audio products — the Sonos Beam Ultra soundbar and Sonos Ace Ultra headphones, details of which were found in an FCC filing in early August — and a major update to its audio operating system dubbed Sonos 27. It’s the biggest single Sonos announcement since 2024, when a new app rollout upset its customers and sent it into damage control mode.Software changes are core to Sonos’ announcements, with the company leaning heavily into AI integration with Sonos 27. This includes the company’s own Sonos 27voice assistant that it built…

Hackers delivered malicious updates to the Virtualizor VPS management software after hijacking BGP routing for its update infrastructure and redirecting update requests to malicious servers. Virtualizor is a legacy web control panel from Softaculous that hosting providers use to create, sell, and manage virtual private servers (VPS). An urgent notice from the vendor warns that between 20:57 UTC on August 28 and 06:10 UTC on August 30, an attacker rerouted a block of Hetzner-hosted IP addresses in a BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) hijacking attack. This enabled the threat actor to divert traffic from Softaculous software update systems and the client/billing…

In brief Gal Gadot said the contract for “Bitcoin: Killing Satoshi” took six months to negotiate, the longest she has worked on. She said SAG approached her lawyers for pointers on updating its own agreements to protect other actors. The $70 million film was shot in a bare warehouse, with its sets and lighting generated by AI. “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot took on a role in a Bitcoin thriller produced with artificial intelligence tools despite her fears of the technology, she told the Happy Sad Confused podcast.”I am afraid of AI, but I am going to be afraid and…

People who reach their 90s without dementia might appear to have escaped much of the danger of cognitive decline. Until recently, however, scientists had relatively little evidence showing what happens to dementia risk at such advanced ages. That gap is becoming increasingly important as lifespans rise around the world. By 2100, roughly 230 million people 90 or older could be alive worldwide, increasing the need for better information about how the brain ages in this rapidly growing population. Researchers at UC Davis Health and Kaiser Permanente are helping address that question through the LifeAfter90 study, which has followed a large…

Researchers have found a direct link between illegal mining, miners’ routes, and malaria cases in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory in Brazil.Now, they’re working on an alert system that will rely on mining data to warn local health agents about the risk of a malaria outbreak.The number of malaria cases dropped sharply after authorities expelled illegal miners from the Yanomami land, but Indigenous people worry the potential return of a right-wing government after October’s election could revive the humanitarian crisis.See All Key Ideas A study detailing the links between illegal gold mining and malaria cases in the Yanomami Indigenous…

China-based energy services provider Wison New Energies (WNE) has confirmed the first steel cut for a newbuild floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, destined for deployment at the next phase of a major oil and gas development off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire, operated by Italy’s Eni. First steel cut for Baleine Phase 3 FPSO project; Source: Wison New Energies The first steel was cut for the hull of the Baleine Phase 3 FPSO project on August 30, 2026, with Wison New Energies as the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning (EPCIC) contractor thanks to its contract with Eni…

Regarding Emma Brockes’s Digested Week (Is there anything sadder than the end of summer?, 28 August), the end of summer is the beginning of autumn – the best season of the year. Trees changing colour making woodlands look so beautiful, with autumn crocuses underneath. Gentle weather for walking the dog. Harvesting apples and pears, and planting bulbs for spring. Enjoying the later months of this year and looking to the beginning of the next.Fiona CruickshankEnfield, London Following your article on plug-in solar panels (Plug-in solar: could a low-cost panel cut your bills?, 21 August), my only thought is exactly how…

Claim: In August 2026, Buc-ee’s convenience store chain CEO Arch “Beaver” Aplin III said the company was focused on building new stores in “conservative, business-friendly” states. Rating: A rumor that the CEO of a popular chain of convenience stores in the southern United States said the the company would no longer pursue locations in so-called “blue states” circulated online in August 2026.  Users on Facebook and a popular thread on Reddit suggested Buc-ee’s CEO Arch “Beaver” Aplin III said the company was focused on building in “conservative, business-friendly states.”  The quote was correctly attributed to Aplin.  The Buc-ee’s CEO said it during…

Earlier, Palestinians in a crowded part of western Gaza City had reported a heavy Israeli bombardment, with two vehicles hit and turned to wreckage.Videos captured chaotic scenes, with the sound of gunfire and the aftermath of strikes.Reports say that Israeli special forces and pro-Israeli Palestinian militiamen had entered the area, but their presence was discovered. Some Israeli media suggest that only a local armed militia operated on the ground.A Palestinian security source told the BBC the target of the Israeli operation was a senior official in the Hamas internal security service.A spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office, Ismail al-Thawabta,…