Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

A team of researchers from Google Cloud AI Research, Washington University in St. Louis and UNC Chapel Hill has released EnvHarness, a programmable layer that turns a static agent benchmark into one that adapts to the policy training on it. LLM agents now learn less from curated text and more from interactive environments, but those environments are hand-built and frozen: they behave identically no matter which agent is acting or how much it has improved. The usual fix is to generate new environments, which pins you to domain-specific pipelines and LLM-written verifiers that have to be over-generated and filtered. EnvHarness…

In brief Bitcoin’s climb to about $79,007 pushed Strategy’s 840,447 BTC to roughly $66.4 billion in value—about a 4.4% gain over its $75,653 average cost. Saylor marked the turnaround with a “We’re Back” post, stoking speculation of renewed buying; the company typically discloses weekly Bitcoin purchases on Monday mornings and hasn’t added to its stash in about two months. Strategy recently raised $334 million selling MSTR stock without touching its Bitcoin and has even sold small amounts to fund dividends and buybacks. Michael Saylor’s Strategy is sitting on a paper profit again, with a Bitcoin rally lifting the value of…

Scientists used a new error correction strategy to encode 70 logical qubits and tackle a problem considered classically intractable. The quantum computation was completed in about 15 minutes, while leading classical computing methods would require an impractical amount of time to perform the same task. IBM and researchers at the University of Chicago have announced a quantum computing demonstration that meets key criteria for quantum advantage. The experiment performed a calculation beyond the practical reach of leading classical simulation techniques while also providing evidence that the quantum computer produced a reliable result. In a new paper, “Sampling hard circuits with…

Bruno Fernandes’s hat-trick inspires Manchester United’s comeback 5-2 win against Ipswich Town in football’s Premier League.Published On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026Bruno Fernandes’s hat-trick inspired Manchester United to fight back from a goal down to thrash Ipswich 5-2 and get their Premier League season up and running on Sunday.After a nightmare 2-0 defeat to Hull last weekend, another newly-promoted football side had the Red Devils on the ropes when Leif Davis opened the scoring for the Tractor Boys.But Fernandes blasted home to level before half-time and then converted from the penalty spot after a Jacob Greaves own goal put United…

Ukraine’s former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov is seeking US investment for a defence technology fund he hopes will write a “new history” of the war against Russia by building and managing companies to develop new weapons.In an interview with the FT in Washington, Fedorov, who was sacked by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month, also said he would be happy to help the US “build an army of drones” in exchange for American supplies of Patriot missile interceptors to help Ukraine in coming months.Fedorov is seeking backing for the proposed fund from venture capitalists, private investors and US tech companies and…

Cars in European cities are smaller than ever. But as Europe’s appetite for microcars has grown, the cute Italian ‘yoghurt pots’ have largely given way to small Chinese EVs. Even Smart, the the iconic ultracompact car brand, has moved manufacturing to China. Spanish startup Liux thinks it can compete in a crowded market with a tiny electric car built around sustainability. Following the tracks of the Microlino out of Switzerland, Liux is trying to carve out a place in the market with its upcoming microcar, the Liux Big. The “Big” name is a joke. It is small enough to park…

Stablecoin demand is becoming consequential in the U.S. government debt market, but the maturity of that demand matters more than the headline total.Washington now has two debt-market stories running at once. The federal framework for permitted payment stablecoins channels reserves into cash-like instruments and Treasuries with no more than 93 days remaining. Farther out on the curve, the Treasury Department said on Aug. 19 that it would at least double the maximum size of liquidity-support buybacks in the 10- to 20-year and 20- to 30-year nominal sectors beginning Sept. 9.Together, those developments test a broad claim about digital dollars funding…

A combination of omega-3 and low-dose acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) performed about as well as antibiotics in a yearlong study of people with severe periodontitis, raising the possibility of an alternative treatment for some patients. The research was conducted by scientists affiliated with Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, Guarulhos University (UNG), the University of Taubaté (UNITAU), and the Ribeirão Preto School of Dentistry at USP (FORP-USP) in Brazil, along with Harvard University in the United States. The findings were published in the Journal of Periodontology. Researchers say the results could eventually help reduce antibiotic use in selected patients, an important consideration as…

Students and teachers initially moved a few hundred metres uphill to safety before making their way to a neighbouring village.With roads cut off and transport disrupted, many remained stranded for two nights before rescue efforts reached them.The principal and Yunisha, who both live across the river from the school, were eventually airlifted back to their home village.Meanwhile parents were desperately trying to contact their children and relatives.Yunisha’s mother, Sabina Kumari Shrestha, says she repeatedly tried to call both her daughter and husband, but neither could be reached.Her husband, Yubaraj Amatya, immediately headed towards the school.”Soon after the flood news spread,…

As he arrives back in the UK after being deported from the US by the Trump administration, the far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos may be wondering what lies ahead for him in his native country.The “alt-right” agitator, 41, made his name in the US by promoting Donald Trump and associating with his allies before the 2016 election.But now the Trump administration has unceremoniously dumped the former Breitbart News editor back in the UK after he allegedly overstayed his visa. He has also made plenty of disparaging comments about the president, including that he is “firmly off the Trump train”.Those in the…