Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Aug. 25 is a National Day of Action to support U.S. national parks and public lands. One focus of the event is the U.S. government’s intention to rescind a rule that bans road construction and industrial logging across more than 23 million hectares (57 million acres) of national forest land. The 2001 Roadless Rule, has helped protect some of the country’s most wild public lands, including Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest and the ancestral homeland of several Indigenous peoples. “A rollback on the Roadless Rule means cultural genocide for our people,” Yolanda Fulmer…

In the summer of 2024, as polls suggested that Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National party would win a snap legislative election rashly called by Emmanuel Macron, the perennially fragmented French left united to spectacular effect. The New Popular Front, whose name evoked Léon Blum’s anti-fascist alliance in the 1930s, came first in a poll that delivered a hung parliament.Eight months before a presidential contest in which Ms Le Pen is the clear frontrunner, the prospect of a repeat performance appears close to zero. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the hard-left France Unbowed, and Olivier Faure, the leader of the Socialist…

The claim that the Trump administration uses a legal loophole to sell protected wild horses to slaughterhouses is still under investigation. The rumor stems from reporting by The New York Times in August 2026 and was backed by research by animal rights groups that suggested buyers of wild horses sold through the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Sale Program were transporting the animals overseas for slaughter. According to its website, it is BLM policy “not to sell or send any wild horses or burros to slaughter,” and buyers from the sale program sign a bill of sale…

Dolly Parton has died aged 80, her family announcesCountry ⁠music ​legend ⁠Dolly Parton ⁠has ​died at the age of 80, ‌her ‌family has announced.In a video posted to Parton’s X account 15 minutes ago, her nephew Bryan Seaver announced the death of his aunt, for whom he acted as head of security. double quotation markThis video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father, Larry, held before me. I have imagined the heaviness of this moment…

The trip is thought to be Ratcliffe’s first trip to Russia as CIA director, although he has maintained contact with his intelligence counterparts in Moscow.John Foreman, who served as a British military attaché to Moscow between 2019 and 2022, told Radio 4’s PM programme that the visit could be focused on “escalation management” given speculation recent drone activity in Germany could be linked to Russia.He said: “The Americans don’t normally send such a high ranking official to Moscow unannounced at short notice unless something is up.”Foreman said the trip could also concern the release of US detainees currently being held…

London bus drivers have resumed strike action over having to work in high temperatures, amid fears that proposed improvements to air conditioning will not be complete by next summer.About 1,500 members of the Unite union working across north London and Essex are taking part in the four-day strike from Tuesday to Friday, after industrial action earlier this month. Further stoppages are planned for the coming weeks.The Unite union and bus operator Arriva North London reached an agreement during talks last week, but some drivers rejected the company’s offer, with workers deciding it did not go far enough to solve the…

Iran and Oman have edged towards an interim agreement on managing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the first hint of diplomatic progress in weeks as mediators seek to defuse the battle over the strategic waterway.In a joint statement, Tehran and Muscat said they had discussed a “proposed framework” to establish a temporary corridor for ships to move through the strait and to implement a project to demine the waterway. “Technical negotiations between the two sides would continue with a view to agreeing on a permanent navigational corridor and future administration of the strait, as well as a mechanism for…

According to CarNewsChina, the company’s automotive division called “Project Starry Sky” once employed over 1,000 people, but now only a handful legal and HR staffers remain, charged with winding down the operation. In a statement, Dreame said it “recently adjusted certain operations that were in the exploratory phase,” and that going forward, it would focus on four key business areas: “smart home, outdoor/garden, smart mobility, and embodied AI.” (A spokesperson for the company didn’t respond to a request for comment.)The news comes after China’s government issued new rules aimed at tightening oversight of the $3.4 trillion private fund industry, singling…

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced fresh sanctions on Iranian cyber actors as part of what it called an “unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign” against the nation and its enablers. “We are launching an economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe. Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. The action, codenamed Operation Economic Outcast, aims to cut the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the financial “lifelines” that support the “leading state sponsor of terror.” To…

In brief The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has hit “extreme greed,” the highest reading since the 2024 cycle top. The score jumped from 36 (fear) a month ago and 41 (neutral) a week ago, to 81 (extreme greed) in its fastest sentiment swing of the year. The gauge’s 2026 low was 5, deep in extreme fear on February 5. The cryptocurrency market has entered “extreme greed” territory for the first time since late 2024, according to the Crypto Fear and Greed Index.The index, measured on Coinmarketcap, hit 81 late Sunday evening and remains there today, breaking above the green…