Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

With missile strikes keeping cargo ships away from its ports, Kyiv is scrambling, yet again, for a way out via Europe. But its fallback routes run overland through EU countries, including Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, where previous waves of Ukrainian grain left governments facing a fierce domestic backlash. The last surge of Ukrainian agricultural exports through Eastern Europe unleashed mass protests from farmers, particularly in Poland, who complained that cheap Ukrainian produce that was meant to merely pass through the region was instead ending up on their domestic markets. Poland imposed a ban on Ukrainian grain in 2023, alongside similar…

The Justice Department declined to appeal a court ruling that effectively dismantled longstanding restrictions on owning short-barreled guns and suppressors, bowing to pressure from Republicans and gun advocates.Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas had said that his order striking down the mandated permitting process under the National Firearms Act as unconstitutional would go into effect Thursday unless the Justice Department appealed it. Trump administration officials didn’t file an appeal to the court before 12:01 a.m. Thursday, according to publicly available court records.In effect, the Trump administration stepped aside, for now, and allowed the Prohibition-era gun control…

The US Department of Justice is overhauling its approach to white-collar crime enforcement, shifting manpower and resources to a new division targeting fraud against the government and theft of taxpayer dollars.The pivot comes as the justice department has softened its approach to enforcing laws against foreign bribery and pulled back on prosecuting other types of white-collar crime since Donald Trump’s return to the presidency last year.The department has created a unit for the initiative called the National Fraud Enforcement Division, with headcount set to balloon to 500 attorneys and staff by August 24. It will pull resources from other DoJ…

Lance Whitney / ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Microsoft’s August Patch Tuesday fixes 421 vulnerabilities.One vulnerability has already been exploited in the wild.The update also tweaks File Explorer, Windows Hello, and other features.Microsoft continues its onslaught against security vulnerabilities, fixing a whopping 421 bugs in August’s Patch Tuesday update. But looking beyond the sheer number, Windows users should install this month’s update, as it patches a zero-day flaw that’s already been exploited by attackers.Aimed at Windows 11 25H2/24H2, Windows 11 23H2, and Windows 10, the 421 vulnerabilities encompass a range of Microsoft…

Two malicious LiteLLM releases sat on PyPI for about 40 minutes in March carrying credential-stealing code capable of harvesting cloud keys, SSH keys, Kubernetes tokens, database passwords, and other secrets from systems that installed them. Threat intelligence firm CloudSEK now says a dataset it obtained, built from roughly 434,000 files the attackers captured, maps potential exposure to more than 2,500 organizations. Those totals are not a victim count. CloudSEK told The Hacker News the material came from confidential intelligence sources and consists of captured loot and log files it assessed as belonging to the campaign, not data gathered from the…

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (BITA) recorded $79,073 of realized gains and $265,776 of unrealized appreciation on written options in its first operating period, helping offset losses on its Bitcoin holdings and shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT).BITA posted an $860,335 decrease in net assets from operations through June 30, its first quarterly filing shows. IBIT is BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin fund and one of BITA’s underlying investments. Related ReadingBlackRock’s new Bitcoin ETF offers monthly income, but caps gains when Bitcoin surgesThe Nasdaq-listed ETF offers monthly income potential through covered calls while capping part of the rally trade.…

Scientists have found that wool could provide an effective and sustainable new option for repairing damaged bone. The research focused on keratin, a natural structural protein that can be extracted from wool. When tested in a living animal, the material supported bone regeneration and produced new tissue that more closely resembled healthy, natural bone than tissue formed using the current gold standard material. Researchers at King’s College London tested the wool-based keratin in animal models and found that it could help direct new bone growth across damaged areas. “We are really excited to show for the first time how a…

The Forest Department of Bangladesh has recently installed five ropeway bridges at a fragmented national park, with plans to replicate the idea in other vulnerable reserved forests.Pioneering conservationists have seen both successes and failures in previous ropeway-based projects.Researchers appreciate the Forest Department’s move but recommend well-assessed site selection, incorporation of modern equipment for sharper surveillance and community engagement.See All Key Ideas As Bangladesh is rapidly being urbanized, more and more forests are getting fragmented, resulting in the construction of more roads, which means more wildlife are being killed in collisions with vehicles. To address these wildlife deaths, the…

Harare, Zimbabwe – More than two decades after Zimbabwe seized thousands of mainly white-owned commercial farms, some of those properties are set to change hands again.But President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government insisted the move is not a reversal of the land redistribution programme that reshaped Zimbabwe’s countryside after 2000.Instead, officials said they are resolving three separate categories of land claims involving foreign investors, Black Zimbabwean owners and white farmers who remained on acquired land.Sixty-seven farms protected by bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements (BIPPAs) are being returned to investors from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Another 840 farms that officials…

PARIS — Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is trying to jump-start his presidential prospects by taking advantage of his rivals enjoying France’s cherished August break. Attal, a former prime minister who now leads President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist political party Renaissance, is betting that by keeping a busy schedule during the holiday and meeting with people across the country — including those at vineyards, markets and ports as well as vacationers in picturesque seaside towns — he can show voters what sets him apart from the field. “It’s a rather bourgeois assumption to think that all French people take time off…