Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Standard Chartered and HSBC have completed the first live cross-border transaction on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger, demonstrating interoperability between the banks’ tokenized deposit systems a month after the ledger’s launch.The transaction involved payment messages exchanged between the two through Swift’s ledger, with the resulting obligations recorded on HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service and StanChart’s tokenized deposit infrastructure.Swift’s ledger acted as an orchestration layer, matching and netting the obligations between the banks before final settlement through existing payment systems.The transaction follows a July announcement from Swift, the world’s largest financial messaging network, that its blockchain-based ledger was ready for initial use, with 17…

Becoming a king of lions is as dramatic in real life as it is in the movies. A new four-part documentary series, Lion, captures the journey of a cub named Kio in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve as he grows into a young lion king. Along the way Kio encounters dangers — including buffalo, hyenas, people, other lions and fire. He also experiences exile, brotherhood, loss and triumph. Documentary crews, including local Kenyan filmmakers, followed Kio and his pride for four years. The team logged more than 1,400 hours of filming days over 52 shoots. Executive producer Mike Gunton, creative…

Arabian Drilling, said to be Saudi Arabia’s largest onshore and offshore drilling contractor by fleet size, has been cleared to bring its remaining suspended offshore rigs back into operation, putting its offshore fleet on track to reach 100% utilization by the end of the third quarter of 2026. Illustration; Source: Arabian Drilling The Saudi offshore drilling player has received notice of resumption of operations for remaining suspended offshore rigs, reflecting the continued recovery in offshore market activity, as illustrated by ADES, which also recently secured the go-ahead to restore all temporarily suspended offshore rig operations in Saudi Arabia. Arabian Drilling…

Companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Mars have regularly sued governments around the world in an effort to prevent public health proposals from being implemented, according to new reporting by Lighthouse Reports and a slew of media partners. Diets full of ultraprocessed foods — such as fast food, cereals, soft drinks and protein bars — have been linked to poor health outcomes. Governments around the globe have responded by adding warning labels on packages and placing restrictions on marketing. To fight back, food companies have sued 239 times between 2010 and 2025, according to Lighthouse Reports’ investigation. The analysis examined…

I don’t listen to Nick Ferrari on LBC very often. His antagonistic way of dealing with complex problems gets me screaming at the radio far too easily. Last month was a perfect example. Someone from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation was on discussing research showing that about 7 million people are struggling to afford basic essentials, including toothpaste and toothbrushes, because of the cost of living crisis.This did not strike me as a controversial finding. The cost of fuel, heating, food, school, clothes – everything – has gone up, while wages and benefits have not risen enough to keep pace. Ferrari,…

Claim: In September 1992, musician Eric Clapton invited 16-year-old Sarah Mitchell, who was deaf, onstage at a concert in Birmingham, England, and performed for her. Rating: In August 2026, a story recirculated on social media claiming musician Eric Clapton once stopped a concert to bring a deaf teenager onstage.  One Facebook post spreading the story started: Eric Clapton was lost in a guitar solo when something in the front row broke through his concentration. Twelve thousand people were standing, shouting, moving with the music. And right in the center of it all, a teenage girl sat completely still. September 23,…

A much higher number of elderly people than previously expected are at high risk of illness or death from extreme heat as temperatures climb under the effects of climate change, scientists have discovered.A new study by researchers at Stanford University in the United States factored in the way that age affects the body’s tolerance for heat, shining light on a new level of risk from heatwaves on the global population.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listAs the number of people aged 60 years and older is projected to more than double from one billion in 2020 to 2.1 billion…

Prosecutors identified the man only as trained scuba diver Vladimir Z, however he is understood to be Volodymyr Zhuravlyov, who was arrested in Poland in 2025 over the undersea plot. In that case, a Polish judge refused a German extradition request, arguing that if Ukraine was responsible for the attack, then it was a “just” act.Zhuravlyov was then released, prompting a ripple of surprise from the crowd in court and a smile from the man in the dock.The other suspect in the case is former Ukrainian military officer Serhiy Kuznetsov. He was arrested in Italy in August 2025 and later…

New behavioural guidance for asylum seekers has been published by the Home Office.A nine-page booklet covering issues including respect in public, sex and consent, and gender equality, has gone online, with guidance on how laws and customs in the UK may be different from the home country of asylum seekers.The Conservatives’ shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Instead of trying to train these mainly young, male illegal immigrants behave in a civilised way towards women, they should be deported.”And Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf labelled the document “a disgrace”, adding its publication showed the government “know that they…

Former Representative David Jolly, a Republican turned Democrat and a strong critic of President Trump, won the Democratic nomination for Florida governor on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.Mr. Jolly, 53, will be the underdog in the general-election race to replace Gov. Ron DeSantis, a term-limited Republican who has solidified the state as a conservative stronghold.Mr. Jolly defeated the second-placed finisher, Dayna Marie Foster, a liberal former teacher from Fort Lauderdale who was endorsed by Florida’s Democratic Progressive Caucus. Placing third was State Representative Dotie Joseph of North Miami, who entered the race late to give Democrats a more progressive…