Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

NASA will announce the winners of the final phase of its LunaRecycle Challenge on Friday, Aug. 28, at The University of Alabama (UA) Lee Styslinger College of Engineering in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Launched in 2024, the challenge incentivizes the invention of new recycling systems that could support non-metabolic waste management efforts for future lunar missions. Media and the public are invited to the challenge’s Technology Showcase and Winners Announcement, where up to 14 finalist teams will showcase their solutions and hear from NASA and UA leadership about the future of lunar innovation. Opening remarks will begin at 8:30 a.m. CDT on…

Hundreds of pastoralists are in Mongolia for the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, or UNCCD, from Aug. 17 to 28, 2026.They want stronger protections for Indigenous pastoral traditions, greater access to funding and resources to address climate change, and official recognition of Indigenous knowledge of how to adapt to a hotter, drier world.The pace of arable land degradation is 30 to 35 times the historic average, threatening even the most resilient communities, according to the U.N.Pastoralist delegates say that though their traditions offer biodiversity benefits, traditional knowledge is not always enough as climate change and land degradation accelerate.See All…

As the sun rose on Aug. 20, rescuers in Kyiv were searching around a nine-story apartment building’s upper floors, which were destroyed after an overnight missile and drone assault that also killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 40. The night before, former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked the country to contemplate the return of electoral politics even under wartime conditions. His nine-minute video arrived on the eve of a parliamentary vote that confirmed his replacement and one month after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky removed him from government. “We must not let Putin decide when Ukrainians can…

“About Us.” International Joint Commission, 5 July 2018, https://www.ijc.org/en/loslrb/who/about.Esposito, Joey. “Yes, Trump Said He Wants to Rename the Gulf of Mexico the ‘Gulf of America.'” Snopes, 7 Jan. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-rename-gulf-of-america/.Executive Order 14172—Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness | The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-14172-restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness. Accessed 25 Aug. 2026.Global News. “‘They Asked Too Much’: Carney Reveals Why Canada Walked Away from US Trade Deal | FULL.” YouTube, 22 Aug. 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziHdEHhBYIs.@MarkJCarney. “Our Goal Has Always Been to Get the Best Deal for Canadians, Never a Deal at Any Price or on Any Time Frame.” X.Com, 25 Aug. 2026, https://x.com/MarkJCarney/status/2092248644934074506.@realDonaldTrump. “The United States…

The Democratic candidate for Senate in the swing state of Michigan has spent the week trying to keep his affordability message front and center as scrutiny mounts from both ends of the political spectrum.In the span of two days, Abdul El-Sayed distanced himself from leftwing streamer Hasan Piker, spoke out against rightwing hate directed at the Muslim community, and debated Fox News host Jesse Watters on taxing billionaires. The clip circulating most from the Fox interview, though, focused on circumcision – specifically, El-Sayed asking Watters if he was, in a retort to Watters’ question about gender-affirming care.In each instance, El-Sayed…

This means that any station to be properly served from London needs expensive manned passport control, security checks, and a spare platform fenced off from others by a de facto international border. International and domestic passengers must be kept separate, too. These hurdles also make it commercially unviable to directly serve other destinations in the U.K. beyond London. Piling in Despite these challenges, the London route is deemed so lucrative that companies seem to be piling in. Another would-be competitor, Gemini Trains, says it still wants to run 11 trains a day through the Tunnel by 2030 despite failing in…

President Trump has been trying to restrict mail voting. The Supreme Court has now weighed in for the first time on an executive order on mail-in voting Mr. Trump issued in March.But the ruling — and the slew of challenges to Mr. Trump’s order — are confusing. No one is sure exactly what happens from here, or and how it may affect the midterms.The executive order directs the U.S. Postal Service to restrict mail-in ballots. It also authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to create state-by-state citizen lists to help determine voter eligibility.For now, it appears the Department of Homeland…

Nitter, an open source project that allowed people to read X posts without logging into or even opening the X app, has received cease-and-desist letters from X demanding that it shut down. The news was shared via a brief message posted to the project’s website, and follows X’s earlier attempts to knock Nitter offline by technical means. The service also powers a number of other sites, including XCancel, that allow people to view X posts directly. This isn’t X’s first attempt to shut down Nitter. In 2024, Nitter’s flagship instance, Nitter.net, went dark temporarily after X rolled out new API…

We’re introducing the Admin plugin for ChatGPT Work⁠(opens in a new window) and Codex⁠(opens in a new window)—a faster, easier way to analyze workspace information, update settings, and act on requests. In one conversation, admins can ask a question, explore the details, make an authorized change, and confirm the result—without writing complex prompts or switching between tools.Managing a growing workspace often means moving between analytics, settings, and reports to understand issues and take action. This makes routine admin work slower and harder to complete consistently. By bringing admin analytics and supported actions together, the Admin plugin helps teams keep growing…

A newly uncovered phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform called AnonyMousKIT automates the retrieval of codes used to unlock stolen Apple devices and disable the Activation Lock feature. The illegal service has been active since early 2024 and is powering a structured ecosystem that sells stolen iPhones, harvests Apple IDs, accesses iCloud backups, and Keychain credentials. Researchers at threat intelligence platform SOCRadar took advantage of the platform operator’s use of bare relative paths to gather information on how the service works, its operators, and infrastructure. SOCRadar found that AnonyMousKIT is connected to 506 domains and is fueling a sprawling business with 168 storefront…