Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

Noble Corporation, a U.S.-based offshore drilling giant, has lined up a new assignment for a 12-year-old jack-up rig off the coast of Norway with ConocoPhillips Skandinavia, a subsidiary of the U.S.-headquartered energy company ConocoPhillips. Noble Interceptor rig; Source: Noble Corporation Noble has been awarded a contract by ConocoPhillips Skandinavia for the Noble Interceptor ultra-harsh environment jack-up rig offshore Norway. This deal, which is expected to start in the third quarter of 2027, has an estimated duration of 670 days. The 2014-built Noble Interceptor jack-up rig is of Gusto MSC CJ70 X150 MD design. With a maximum drilling depth of 40,000…

Since he returned to office, President Donald Trump’s administration has upended foreign aid. It’s labeled well-established, long-running programs as “not aligned with American interests” and slashed their budgets.  Still, the billions of taxpayer dollars Congress has allocated for foreign aid programs must be spent; lawmakers have insisted the government continue to fund humanitarian aid, global health and pro-democracy causes around the world. With most of the old programs now gone, however, we wanted to know: What is the Trump administration doing with that money now? Recently, we published our investigation that found one answer to that question in a little-known…

It is unbelievable: unconscionable. Westminster Council is moving against “vertical drinking” in pubs, starting with Soho. It claims drinking standing up is noisy and disruptive. It makes pubs, the council says, boisterous places where customers crowd round bars, get drunk and become pains in the neck in the street outside.Westminster’s new draft licences would require pubs to be only for seating, to have “table service in place of open bar space”. Pub users should, presumably, sit down, shut up and wait to be served, like decent Westminster people who use wine bars.The council balks at claims it seeks a ban,…

Italy placed all its major cities under the highest heat alert Thursday as a blistering heatwave gripped Europe, setting a national temperature record in Austria, fuelling wildfires in France and disrupting energy and transport systems across the continent. Read moreEurope’s record-breaking heat sparks wildfires, drought in France, Greece and the UK The extreme weather has pushed temperatures above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in several countries, prompting health warnings for millions of people. Scientists and officials warn that such events are becoming more frequent and intense as the climate warms. The current heatwave has exposed vulnerabilities in public health systems, power…

In statements to investigators, Vladyslav D. said he was paid more than $2,000 (£1,487) in cryptocurrency for his efforts. His motive was clear.And what about the Leipzig case?Few details about the drone bomb are yet public.Some German sources report that the explosive was Semtex, which contains RDX – the explosive found in the food cans in a Lithuanian cemetery.We do not know how much the drone found at the airport was carrying and the physical damage may have been limited.”The drone casing, if it was metal, might have put a hole in the plane but just a blast wave probably…

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who won a divisive Democratic Senate primary this week in the crucial swing state of Michigan with an unabashedly progressive message, has been flooded with calls from leaders of the party establishment he challenged during his campaign.He spoke with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic minority leader who had privately opposed him in the primary, about “taking back the Senate and taking on Trump,” Dr. El-Sayed recalled. He had more than one conversation with Representative Haley Stevens after he narrowly defeated her in the primary.He also compared notes about campaigning in Michigan with former Vice…

Meta has been ordered to pay $567 million in the second phase of New Mexico’s landmark child safety case, bringing total charges to nearly $1 billion for being a “public nuisance.” In a ruling published on Thursday, the Santa Fe district court found that Meta’s platforms are a “significant contributing cause” of a teen mental health crisis affecting public health and safety throughout New Mexico.“This case has always been about protecting children, standing up for families, and making sure that one of the world’s largest technology companies cannot profit from practices that endanger young people without consequence,” New Mexico Attorney…

Update: Added statement from Falcon extortion gang below. A recent wave of cyberattacks targeting hedge funds, private-equity firms, and other financial organizations has been linked to UNC6671, an extortion group reportedly associated with the BlackFile threat actors. The attribution comes after Reuters and Bloomberg reported that Point72 Asset Management, Millennium Management, Two Sigma Investments, Citadel, and several private-equity firms were targeted in recent attacks that relied on voice phishing (vishing) to trick employees into granting the attackers access to corporate systems. Point72 reportedly told investors that it had been attacked but had not found evidence that client data was stolen, while Two…

Before astronauts return to the Moon’s surface through NASA’s Artemis program, the hardware they depend on must first prove it can survive the unforgiving lunar environment. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, engineers at the Lunar Development and Test Facility are tackling one of exploration’s biggest challenges: Moon dust.  Unlike sand on Earth, lunar dust is sharp, abrasive, and clings to nearly everything. Without mitigation, lunar dust could damage equipment and spacesuits while posing health risks to astronauts. Understanding and mitigating the effects of lunar dust is essential as astronauts prepare to live and work on the surface of the Moon.   Located within the Energy Systems Test Area and managed by NASA engineers, the Lunar Development and Test Facility supports…

In brief Nine Democratic senators urged the CFTC to prohibit prediction market contracts tied to wildfires. Lawmakers said the markets could create incentives for arson, insider trading, and profiting from natural disasters. The request comes as prediction markets face growing legal and political scrutiny across the U.S. Nine Democratic senators are urging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to crack down on prediction markets that let users bet on wildfires, arguing the contracts create dangerous incentives to profit from natural disasters.In a letter earlier this week to CFTC Chair Michael Selig, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Sen. Adam…