Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Your report (Lloyds Bank to cut £2bn in costs as part of AI-powered strategy, 30 July) raises a question that financial targets alone cannot answer: who absorbs the work when automation fails?Banks often count the minutes saved by the employee who uses an AI tool. They should also count the time colleagues spend checking invented facts, repairing customer messages, explaining rejected applications and escalating errors. A system can make one team look more productive while moving risk and effort elsewhere.Lloyds should publish a simple scorecard for each consequential AI workflow: total time saved across the process, error and rework rates,…

This story contains detailed accusations of domestic violence and abuse.   The allegation that U.S. Rep. Max Miller, an Ohio Republican, threw boiling water at his then-wife, Emily Moreno, is still under investigation amid various other abuse accusations against him. After the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, published a story on May 7, 2026, claiming Miller threw boiling water on Moreno, the daughter of Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, Miller filed a defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife. In a May 27 affidavit filed in response, Moreno alleged that Miller threw hot water at her from a pan on a stove in…

Home Europe Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have dropped so low due to drought and extreme heat over the summer that the hulls of dozens of German warships from World War II are emerging into view and the remains of an ancient mammoth were uncovered in Romania. In Germany, fishing boats have been stuck near the banks of the Rhine, and sections of France’s Loire riverbed are partially dry. Issued on: 07/08/2026 – 12:51 2 min Reading time A man walks on a sandbank near wreckage of a German WWII warship which was exposed…

In January, the World of Concrete trade show drew 47,000 people to the Las Vegas Convention Center. One of them was the manager of a Trump Organization golf club in New Jersey, who had come seeking help with an enormous, unfamiliar task.The manager, David Schutzenhofer, wanted ideas for how to fix the leaking, algae-ridden Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington.Several vendors told him they knew just the guy to call: Rodney Jarboe, the president of the Missouri-based company Creative Polymers. Mr. Jarboe had worked on a bridge at another federal landmark, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.In an interview, Mr.…

Government says more people working illegally are being arrested and deportedMorning and welcome to our UK politics blog.The government said more arrests are being made for illegal working, with Home Office figures showing more than 17,000 people have been arrested since the July 2024 general election – more than double the number recorded in the previous two-year period.Of those arrested, 2,357 people have been deported, according to the Home Office, a 50% increase compared with the number returned between July 2022 and June 2024.Commenting on those numbers on the media round this morning, the border security and asylum minister Anna…

Honorable MentionsPhotograph: Simon HillRayNeo Air 3s Pro for $299: TCL-owned RayNeo offers many models, and I’ve tested several. The latest Air 3s Pro glasses boast a 201-inch virtual screen (1080p, 120 Hz, 1200 nits), but the 46-degree field of view lets it down a little. Both color vibrancy and brightness are improved over previous releases like the Air 2s and the older TCL RayNeo Air 2 XR Glasses. You can just about see the whole screen clearly (even after adjusting, I had to slide them down my nose a little to avoid blurring at the bottom). You will also need…

Severe business downtime can cost millions Business downtime can also be significantly costly for a breached organization, depending on the level and extent of the downtime and how technology-dependent the firm is. Nearly all the organizations studied suffered operational disruption, taking an average of 100 days to recover from a security incident. Jason Hicks, field CISO at Coalfire, tells CSO: “Often a breach is not going to take a company completely offline, but it can happen. The more critical systems that are taken down, the more significant the cost.” Manufacturing tends to have the best metrics around this, as it’s…

The US Senate’s delay of a vote on crypto market structure legislation could give Hong Kong and Singapore more time to strengthen their positions as digital asset hubs, according to First Digital founder and CEO Vincent Chok.On Friday, Thune’s office confirmed to Cointelegraph that the Senate would not vote on the legislation before the August recess. Thune cited Democratic opposition and said the bill would be a priority when senators return in September.Chok, whose company issues the FDUSD stablecoin, said the delay could give jurisdictions with clearer regulatory frameworks an advantage in attracting capital and talent as US uncertainty weighs…

A solar eclipse, the Perseid meteor shower, brilliant Venus, and a deep partial lunar eclipse will make August an unusually eventful month for skywatchers. August Skywatching Highlights Aug. 5: Last Quarter Moon Aug. 12: A total solar eclipse crosses northern Russia, Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain, and part of Portugal. A partial eclipse will be visible from parts of the United States. The New Moon also occurs on this date. Aug. 12 and 13: The Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak under exceptionally dark skies. Aug. 14 through 16: Venus reaches its greatest eastern elongation and glows low in the western…

In southern Sumatra, a small team of forest rangers is racing to protect Batutegi forest, an important watershed and refuge for endangered wildlife such as tigers and slow lorises.Batutegi faces persistent pressures from forest encroachment and the need to balance conservation with local livelihoods.Experts say protecting Batutegi will require sustained collaboration with local communities, alongside long-term conservation and forest management efforts.See All Key Ideas TANGGAMUS, Indonesia — For more than a decade and a half, forest ranger Wandi Harmoko has walked the ridges and valleys of Batutegi, a landscape in southern Sumatra. He is one of only a…