Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Knee pain is a familiar problem for many people, particularly as they get older. Although persistent knee discomfort can have many causes, osteoarthritis is one of the most common. Knee osteoarthritis develops as the cartilage that cushions the bones in the joint gradually breaks down. Healthy cartilage allows the knee to move smoothly while helping protect the bones. As this protective layer becomes thinner, pain and other problems can develop and may become more severe over time. “Osteoarthritis can cause knee pain and stiffness, which can negatively impact a person’s activity level, risk of falling, mood and general quality of…

Nepal’s government is allowing hydropower development inside protected areas, despite a January 2025 Supreme Court ruling that invalidates the legal provision for this activity.With the court’s full verdict still unpublished, the government has interpreted the ruling and continued to issue land-use and environmental permits.Mongabay’s investigation finds that 10 private hydropower projects, totaling more than 360 MW, have received permits since January 2026, affecting about 85 hectares across the Annapurna, Gaurishankar and Kanchanjunga protected areas, and the buffer zones of Makalu Barun and Langtang national parks.Officials say they are relying on 2023 guidelines and cabinet decisions covering projects licensed before…

Claim: U.S. President Donald Trump demanded to equip all Navy ships with sails and considered adding cannons. Rating: In August 2026, people shared a rumor that U.S. President Donald Trump demanded to equip all Navy ships with sails and considered adding cannons. For example, on Aug. 16, an X user posted (archived) a graphic showing a very large ship with masts and sails. The image displayed the word “Live” and a “Breaking News” chyron. The image lacked a news media outlet name, reading, “Trump Demands All Navy Ships Equipped With Sails, Cannons Also Being Considered.” The user added a bit…

Key eventsIran foreign minister points to US national debt as Trump threatens ‘economic warfare’Donald Trump on Wednesday posted that he intends to inflict on Iran “the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!”“This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” the president said.On Thursday, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s minister of foreign affairs posted on X screenshots from various news outlets reporting that the US national debt had reached $40tn for the first time in history.“The so-called ‘Economic D-Day’ is a diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt and surging interest costs,” Araghchi said. “Doubling down on…

“They are moving back to Britain because they don’t like President Trump,” Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, said on X. U.K. politicians may not be able to resist giving their view on the Royal return — particularly if questions over taxpayer-funded security or public-facing roles bubble up again. Will Andy Burnham welcome the Sussexes home? The British prime minister will be speaking to reporters today as he marks his first month in office by visiting a waste site. In this photo illustration, British newspapers report on the High Court Verdict in the…

Hume also called for ministers to “really look at what happens when fire gets close to a piece of critical national infrastructure”.Last summer’s wildfire burned near to RAF Fylingdales, part of the UK and US ballistic missile warning system.She said she had visited the site this week and spoke to staff who “can’t just turn the radar off and leave”.”It was quite sobering to hear how worried they were as the fire got closer.”Last month, a wildfire in Suffolk was about 3 miles (5km) from the Sizewell B nuclear power station.Hume said such situations should automatically trigger national resilience, when…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldDonald Trump has said the US is mounting a fresh campaign of “economic warfare” against Iran, while warning that there would be “tremendous” consequences for any country that trades with the Islamic republic. “I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!” the US president said in a post on his Truth Social platform late on Wednesday. “This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States…

Anker is a brand I trust for charging technology. But it’s worth noting that retractable cables introduce a couple failure points that could lower longevity. The cable can’t be swapped out if it gets worn, and the retraction mechanism itself could wear out. Tidiness has a price, it seems. This said, the charger is not overly expensive, usually retailing closer to $20.Best Front and Back Seat Car ChargerPhotograph: Matthew KorfhagePhotograph: Matthew KorfhageDeWalt72W Front and Back Seat ChargerAccordionItemContainerButtonWIREDFront-and-back seat ports for family useFive ports overall, with 30-watt USB-C up frontTIREDBack-seat chargers are USB-A onlyAesthetics are aggressiveThe modern car family involves a…

Stripe has agreed to acquire OpenRouter, an AI model-routing platform that gives developers access to hundreds of models through a single interface. The deal adds model selection and routing to Stripe’s existing work around AI usage and token-based billing.OpenRouter supports more than 400 models from over 80 providers, according to Stripe. Rather than requiring separate integrations with each model provider, developers can use OpenRouter to send requests through one API.Routing beyond model choiceThe platform evaluates requests using factors including task complexity, price, speed, and reliability. It can then direct each request to a model suited to those requirements.OpenRouter also handles…

OpenAI has detailed new containment and continuous monitoring protocols for its AI research, introducing stricter isolation and a token-inspection system to manage models with advanced cybersecurity capabilities. These security measures follow internal evaluations indicating that an upcoming model, Astra, may meet the ‘critical’ cybersecurity capability threshold under the organization’s Preparedness Framework.  That finding, alongside a recent security incident involving Hugging Face, prompted operational delays, including a two-week pause in reinforcement learning training for deployment-bound models and an ongoing hold on its largest planned frontier training run. Following these developments, OpenAI says it’s restructuring its research infrastructure. Workloads that execute model-generated…