Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

The Smithsonian Institution has called a board meeting to discuss giving one of its current buildings to the National Museum of the American Latino, which would bypass the need for congressional approval for a new site amid attacks by the Trump administration.The Smithsonian confirmed the meeting but declined to comment further on Friday.On Aug. 31, the Smithsonian will consider whether to give the Latino Museum its Arts and Industries Building, which was built in 1881 and is on the National Mall between the Smithsonian’s Castle and Hirshhorn Museum. It is used for exhibitions and programs, and reopened to the public…

My colleague Paresh Dave and I each spent a day in federal court in Oakland, California, this week, monitoring the latest Meta child safety trial.In case you missed it in the spring, Meta (along with YouTube) lost a landmark social media case in California, in which a jury found the companies liable for harming a young user with certain design features in their apps. Then, earlier this month, Meta was ordered to pay more than $940 million in the state of New Mexico for being a public nuisance and causing psychological harm to children.Now Meta is defending itself in a…

How can normal users increase their privacy, safety and security online? Over the last two decades, the internet quietly rebuilt itself around a business model that depends on knowing everything about you. Every app you install or use, every account you create, every website you visit, and every form you fill out becomes another data point feeding a system designed to track, profile, and monetize you and your identity. This process is often referred to as surveillance capitalism and creates an economy where attention and personal data are the product and you are the raw material. The mechanics of this…

US prosecutors have expanded an eight-year-old hacking case tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, adding eight defendants and linking six of them to the 2017 HBO breach that included a $6 million Bitcoin extortion attempt.A 14-count second superseding indictment unsealed Aug. 18 charges 17 people connected to Iran-based Mabna Institute, up from nine defendants named when the Justice Department first brought the case in 2018.Prosecutors allege Mabna operated as a private company that carried out cyber intrusions on behalf of the IRGC and other Iranian government, university and private-sector clients.Six of the newly added defendants, including Behzad Mesri, Saeid…

Vaccines prevent serious illness for many people, but the immune protection they produce can differ substantially from one person to another. New research led by Arizona State University offers clues about what may be behind those differences. The immune system may show signs of how strongly it will react even before vaccination. Researchers at ASU and collaborating institutions examined blood samples from more than 4,000 people, measuring antibodies that recognized 185 antigens. Those immune targets included common viruses and bacteria, along with targets connected to autoimmune diseases. Artificial intelligence was then used to search for patterns in blood samples taken…

Hugh Muir is right to muse on the tragic nature of the Jason Arday case (A rightwing witch-hunt focused on Jason Arday – but so did legitimate journalism, 19 August). For it’s a tragedy in so many, many ways. It’s a tragedy that a man has died, leaving a grieving family and friends behind. And it’s a tragedy that the real and necessary objectives of diversity, equity and inclusion have been done a gross disservice by Cambridge University’s cynical tokenism.It’s a tragedy that this lamentable affair may set back the vital pursuit of equality of opportunity. And it’s a tragedy that in…

The three-day festival of Ashenda takes places as Orthodox Christians commemorate the Virgin Mary. Its name means “the tall green grass” in Tigrinya and has grown into a wider cultural event that celebrates women.It is eagerly anticipated by girls and young women in Tigray and other parts of northern Ethiopia. They dress up, braid their hair in a special way and are free to dance and play together outside, something which is traditionally frowned upon at other times of the year.The latest drone strike hit Mekelle on Thursday, injuring 13 civilians and damaging homes, Tigray’s communications affairs bureau said.Regional officials…

Two teenagers have been seriously injured after a sword attack on a high school in Sweden, authorities have said.Police were called to the Brinell School in Fagersta shortly after 14:00 local time (13:00 BST) on Friday, where officers arrested one man.A third person was wounded in the attack but the extent of their injuries has not been confirmed, while reports in local media say the suspect was shot in the leg by police.Eight other schools in the area were placed under lockdown measures – which have now been lifted – while a state of high alert was declared in the…

A luxury jet from Qatar. A pair of leopards from Saudi Arabia. And now, the latest foreign gifts to arrive in President Trump’s Washington are “exquisitely crafted” gazebos, courtesy of the president of Uzbekistan.The Uzbek gazebos will be exhibited in West Potomac Park, the site of Mr. Trump’s planned National Garden of American Heroes. Trucks carrying huge boxes with postage labels from Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, were spotted there in recent days. Parks in Uzbekistan feature gazebos with intricate, traditional Central Asian woodcarving.“President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan generously donated the traditional Uzbek gazebos to President Donald J. Trump, who accepted…

Her EDS developed into severe gastroparesis, where food passes through the stomach more slowly than it should and became an eating disorder.”It basically means there is a missing genome in my DNA, so my body isn’t built fully as a normal person’s body would be,” Harley said.”In my case, it’s then developed into lots of other conditions.”The longer I’ve gone untreated, the worse it has become because I’ve then developed lots of other conditions. It’s just made life harder and harder.”Her condition would not have progressed as far had she received “proper treatment” or been diagnosed sooner, she believed.The Department…