Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

A large-scale Ukrainian attack struck industrial infrastructure in Russia’s southwestern Samara region Saturday, a Russian official said. Ivan Noskov, head of the region’s capital, Samara, said air defence forces had repelled a “massive” missile attack, with “localised damage” to the city’s industrial sites. He also said that medical assistance has been provided to those injured in the attack, but did not give further details. Ukraine has stepped up its long-range aerial attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion, now in its fifth…

The sun was hot. The crowd had thinned. The ceremonial shovels, their duty done, rested in ceremonial dirt.And Senator Ed Markey, 80, needed a quick favor from two other Massachusetts Democrats as they celebrated the opening of an industrial campus in Worcester: Would they join him for a selfie video?“We’re at the groundbreaking! For GreenTech Park! Here in Worcester!” Markey said into the phone, treading lightly on the R in “park” and practically levitating off the pockmarked road as Representative Jim McGovern and Mayor Joseph Petty of Worcester, both 66, squeezed into the frame. “It’s the dawn of a new…

Justin Blinder had just been laid off when he first came up with the idea for Ground Truth. It was 2020, two weeks before covid lockdown went into effect, and the Brooklyn-based artist and technologist had no idea what the future would hold. He started working for the food delivery apps, and as he was riding his bike across the city, he began noticing the stark differences between neighborhoods.“I really started to kind of become a bit more aware of how different neighborhoods, often right next to each other, could feel very economically and psychologically very far apart, even though…

In brief OpenAI employees told Wired that pressure to release models and products has made it difficult to prioritize safety, security, and alignment. A former employee called the breach the largest safety incident in OpenAI’s history. OpenAI has slowed research, reassigned teams, and spent millions investigating the failure. OpenAI’s rush to release new models and products contributed to conditions that allowed its AI agents to escape internal testing environments and hack Hugging Face earlier this year.Multiple current and former employees told Wired that competitive pressure has made it difficult for staff to devote enough attention to safety, security, and alignment—the…

Cambridge researchers have uncovered why both activating and blocking the same brain receptor can promote weight loss. The findings may help scientists develop obesity treatments that are more effective and potentially work better in combination. The mouse study, published in Nature Metabolism, found that the outcome depends on which part of the brain is targeted. Activating the receptor in the brainstem reduced appetite, while blocking the same receptor in the hypothalamus produced a similar weight loss effect through a different mechanism. More than a billion people around the world are living with obesity, a condition that raises the risk of…

Since June, Myanmar’s military government has increased its efforts to restart a massive, controversial hydropower project backed by China that has remained suspended for 15 years. The Myitsone Dam project, launched in 2009 and estimated to cost $3.6 billion then, was to be built along the Mali River, the N’mai River, and their confluence at Myitsone, where the Ayeyarwady River begins. Planned in Kachin state in an earthquake-prone area in northern Myanmar, the project is owned by Upstream Ayeyarwady Confluence Basin Hydropower Company, which is jointly owned by China’s Power Investment Corporation, Myanmar’s Ministry of Electric Power and…

Reading Time: 5 minutes In May, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman sat on a panel at Sherman Phoenix to discuss gun violence, along with four women whose loved ones had been killed or injured by gunfire. The panel discussed a range of factors contributing to gun violence and ways to reduce it. But both men pointed to one factor as a uniquely influential force in their lives, one that helped steer them away from gun violence growing up in Milwaukee — parenting. “Everything begins at home,” Johnson said that day. Both men spoke with NNS…

A French family was left stranded at sea for more than 16 hours overnight after their rented jet ski capsized off the coast of Thailand.A 50-year-old father and his young sons were left “pale” and “exhausted after swallowing a lot of seawater” before being rescued, local government official Amorn Chomchoey told AFP.All three were taken to hospital for checks but were discharged shortly afterwards, Chomchoey said.The father had rented the jet ski for a 45-minute ride on Koh Samui, one of Thailand’s most popular islands for tourists, at around 17:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on Thursday, the Bangkok Post reports.Rescuers…

It was the worst clash in years between China and the Philippines at a long-simmering flashpoint in the South China Sea.For decades, the Philippines has claimed a small reef in disputed waters and signaled its control of the territory by rotating troops to a World War II-era ship grounded there. An international tribunal ruling a decade ago supports the Philippines’ claim.But last month, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel began circling the ship, which is named the Sierra Madre. It was the latest in a long series of encounters between the two governments at the site, which is called the Second…

This week in New Philadelphia, Ohio, at a coffee shop called the Daily Grind, Sherrod Brown told a crowd of 100 or so people about the last big thing he did as a United States senator.“How many of you benefit from the Social Security Fairness Act?” he asked, referring to bipartisan legislation he co-wrote to get full retirement pay for millions of public workers.Some hands went up. “Thank you!” a retired teacher named Becky Bender called out.“Well, the best way to say thank you is to get all your friends to vote for me,” he replied. “It’s going to be…