Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is departing the agency on Wednesday after 30 years of service. Throughout his career, he flew four missions, spent 549 days in space, and completed nine spacewalks in support of the International Space Station. “Few people have had the opportunity to shape as many chapters of NASA’s history as Mike Fincke,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Over a remarkable career, Mike served our nation as a pilot, engineer, astronaut, and mentor. From long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station to helping prepare the Artemis generation, his contributions have helped position NASA for what comes next. The…

Cotemar, a global company and one of the leading providers of integrated services for Mexico’s oil and gas industry, has deployed its offshore vessels Olympus and Artemis to support strategic offshore construction, maintenance, and engineering projects in the Campeche Sound, one of the Gulf of Mexico’s most important hydrocarbon-producing regions.Olympus semi-submersible accommodation platform | ©COTEMAR The deployment reflects Cotemar’s capability to execute complex offshore operations that enhance infrastructure availability, safeguard asset integrity, mitigate operational risk, and contribute to the continuity of oil and gas production under demanding operating conditions. Supported by extensive operational experience and advanced technical resources, both vessels…

Alan Milburn suggests that primary schools should be asked to spot children at risk of future unemployment (Primary schools to be told to identify children at risk of future unemployment, 7 August). Intervening early makes sense. Children who miss a lot of school do tend to drift away from it later, and waiting until someone is 18 and out of work is obviously too late.But there is a difference between spotting what a child needs and deciding what they will become. An 11-year-old should not end up with a label attached to their name – “likely future Neet” – because…

US prices rose 3.4% in the year to July, slightly lower than the 3.5% in the year to June, new figures show. Energy remained volatile as the Middle East conflict has continued. While gasoline prices were down 2.9% in July compared to June, they were up 24.6% over the year. Month to month, inflation rose 0.1%, mainly due to an increase in housing costs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Even small moves in rent can lift the overall headline figure as it makes up a large share of household spending. Food prices rose only slightly in July and at…

A “massive” Ukrainian drone and missile strike on Russia’s port city of Novorossiysk has damaged grain export terminals and hit the last major Russian naval base on the Black Sea.Three people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed and 24 people were injured in the Wednesday nighttime attack.Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Ukraine had launched rocket and underwater drones in a “unique operation” to strike the Russian naval base at Novorossiysk, although he did not mention grain terminals being hit.”The occupying fleet and all the infrastructure that supports it will not be safe as long as Russian aggression continues,” Zelensky said. Most…

Shanks, speaking to BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast, said he had arranged for Swinney to have a security briefing following his comments in April. He said it was therefore “surprising” that “having had that security briefing” the first minister was continuing to pursue the matter.The Scottish Labour MP told the programme: “I think it is for him [Swinney] to answer why he is balancing what seems to be a political intervention against the country’s national security.”I think it is irresponsible for the first minister to do that.”He added: “There is no inherent reason why the UK government would not want to…

Aitor Diago/ Moment via Getty ImagesFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET’s key takeawaysHackers are stealing and selling explicit photos from social media accounts.The hackers use social engineering and other tactics to gain access.Avoid posting any such images and watch out for potential hacking attempts.Storing sexually explicit photos of yourself on social media or personal accounts is never a great idea. That’s especially true now as the FBI is warning about hackers stealing and selling such images.In an advisory published on Monday, the FBI said that sexual exploitation hackers are targeting both adults and minors by illegally…

Ravie LakshmananAug 12, 2026Browser Security / Privacy A massive set of 737 free VPN and proxy extensions have been found to mainly target Russian-speaking users seeking access to blocked services with an aim to intercept browser traffic and route them through a proxy infrastructure. The extensions, published across at least 40 Chrome Web Store developer accounts, racked up 75,486 installs. Of those identified, 274 have been found to impersonate 66 established VPN and privacy brands, including Proton VPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, AdGuard VPN, Browsec, ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Windscribe, TunnelBear, Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1, and Google’s Outline, per Socket. The censorship circumvention extensions “route the…

Nasdaq-listed Tron Inc. continues expanding its TRX treasury reserve as it routes nearly all of its holdings through JustLend, the largest DeFi platform on the TRON blockchain.On Aug. 12, the company said it acquired another 148,944 TRX at an average price of $0.3357, pushing reported holdings above 709.4 million TRX.The purchase follows the company’s second-quarter filing, which showed it planned to continue acquiring TRX despite current market conditions. Notably, about 95% of the firm’s assets are invested in or committed to TRX. Related ReadingTron’s Justin Sun plans to public in US with Eric Trump through $210M SRM reverse merger dealEric…

The region surrounding Earth is getting more crowded as thousands of satellites and pieces of space debris move through low Earth orbit. Farther above, at altitudes of several hundred kilometers, traces of Earth’s upper atmosphere can still exert enough drag to slow satellites. Accurately measuring atmospheric density at these heights is therefore important for forecasting satellite motion and reducing the risk of collisions. More than 99 percent of the upper atmosphere consists of electrically neutral gas known as the thermosphere. The term thermospheric density refers to the density of this neutral atmosphere between about 100 and 1000 kilometers above Earth’s…