Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Andy Burnham has promised a series of measures to tackle the cost of living, including a ban on fake discounts and making it easier for people to escape unwanted subscriptions.The crackdown on “rip-off” business practices is expected to benefit consumers to the tune of £400m a year and will be the first in a range of “everyday fixes” to be implemented in the coming months.Writing for the Guardian, the prime minister said his government would step in wherever it could as he sought to put the cost of living at the heart of his premiership.“We won’t be able to solve…

Electric screwdrivers offer a great level of control and precision, significantly reducing the risk of damaging fasteners or the materials you’re working on. They’re also packed with features such as adjustable torque settings and built-in LED lights, so they make tasks easier and more accurate. Over the past couple of years, I’ve had the opportunity to get hands-on with dozens of the top electric screwdrivers. I put them up against real-world challenges to see which ones truly perform under pressure. I check out their power, endurance, longevity, durability, and bang for your buck.Get more in-depth ZDNET tech coverage: Add us…

In brief The Senate leaves for a month-long recess without holding a procedural vote on the Clarity Act. Republicans need roughly six Democratic crossovers to clear the 60-vote threshold. If it passes the Senate, the bill returns to the House before it can reach Trump’s desk. The U.S. Senate will not vote on the Clarity Act before its August recess, pushing the crypto market structure bill to September and into the closing weeks before midterm campaigning consumes the calendar.Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) confirmed the delay late Thursday. “The Dems are insistent on no Clarity vote,” he said in…

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards insisted Sunday that they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States complied with a list of demands, including paying compensation for war damage. Iran’s effective blockade of the crucial energy conduit has rattled allies, roiled markets and driven up prices, but US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was “low-keying it” in his approach to Tehran, suggesting he believed he could wait them out economically. Tehran insists on retaining control of the Hormuz after the war and wants to charge tolls for passage, repeatedly striking ships it accuses of attempting to circumvent…

Sadly, there hasn’t been a new episode of No Dogs in Space since July of 2024. Part four of the podcast’s series on Can wrapped up an abbreviated season three, which focused on experimental rock. Don’t get me wrong, I loved seasons one and two, but the show seemed to be gearing up for a deep dive into Krautrock, and I was hype. Unfortunately, that episode ended with hosts Marcus Parks (Last Podcast on the Left) and Carolina Hidalgo declaring they were going to do another season on punk (the topic of season one), only for the feed to go…

US Senate Majority Leader John Thune has filed cloture on a motion to take up the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, also known as the CLARITY Act, setting up a key procedural vote on the crypto market structure bill for September.The vote is expected after the Senate reconvenes on Sept. 15, giving lawmakers several more weeks to resolve disagreements that prevented a deal before the August recess.The Senate Daily Press confirmed that Thune filed cloture on the motion to bring the CLARITY Act to the Senate floor for consideration. Invoking cloture requires 60 votes, meaning Republicans will need Democratic support…

Chemists depend on sophisticated molecules to develop life-saving drugs, produce advanced high-tech materials, and recreate processes found in living systems. One of the most useful tools for building these complicated structures is single-electron transfer, a technique that can activate molecules that would otherwise resist reacting and allow them to join together. For decades, however, chemists have faced a basic limitation in how electron transfer works. When two molecules are competing to receive an electron, the electron typically goes to the molecule that is easier to reduce. That natural preference can prevent researchers from directing reactions toward other potentially useful pathways.…

It is not clear whether Natalie Morris’s labour began spontaneously or was induced (By day five of my labour, I didn’t want an ‘ideal birth’. I only wanted to survive, 6 August). Nevertheless, what is described is not a debate about “ideal birth”, but an account of undiagnosed labour dystocia.By day four she had contractions but no cervical dilatation, was exhausted, unable to sit down, and knew instinctively she needed help. These are features of pathophysiology that should have prompted reassessment. That failure was not ideology. It was a lack of education and training among both midwives and doctors in…

Ahmed al-Jubouri and a close associate were arrested on charges of misusing contract funds in Saladin province.Published On 9 Aug 20269 Aug 2026The former governor of Iraq’s Saladin province, Ahmed al-Jubouri, also known as Abu Mazen, has been arrested on corruption charges, Iraqi media say.Al-Jubouri was arrested in Baghdad on Saturday after allegedly embezzling funds from Saladin province contracts, a senior government source told the Iraqi News Agency said. The news was widely confirmed by other Iraqi media.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe politician served as governor of Saladin from 2013 to 2014, followed by a tenure as…

Why WIRED recommends: The compression and vibrating pairing is therapeutic, to say the least; it consistently left my legs feeling less stiff after workouts. Everything is controlled from an LCD screen built into the lead boot, so there’s no separate controller to keep track of. You can tailor every session to your preference, with durations ranging from 10 to 60 minutes in five-minute increments and manual controls to adjust both pressure—measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg)—and vibration intensity. You can also choose from four compression modes and eight preset routines.The trade-offs: Therabody doesn’t publish key specs about the LEDs, and…