Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

“There is obviously a tension between the right to asylum and 80,000 people appearing at the border of, for example, Ceuta,” one EU diplomat, granted anonymity to discuss the private talks, said ahead of Thursday’s ministerial. The EU also needs to discuss “what can and cannot be done” in an emergency without violating people’s rights, the diplomat said. “It’s a hard nut to crack.” “The need for having these kinds of emergency tools is pretty clear to us. The discussion is whether it should be on the EU level or more on the national level,” Sweden’s Migration Minister Johan Forssell…

Kirsty Pellant is among victims whose perpetrator was expected to be released in the coming months. A man was convicted of several offences against her, including stalking, and jailed for five years in January 2025 after she discovered her photograph had been used to create a fake identity online and portray her as a sex worker.She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she had received assurances he would not be let out in the first wave of releases but was not told when he would be.The uncertainty “leaves us in such a dangerous position as victims because we need to…

Here is rare clearcut proof of the power of political persuasion. Party conference speeches, the lifeblood of political obsessives, rarely reach the public beyond a brief news clip. But this time was different. Andy Burnham’s speech spun the dial on public opinion on several political hot potatoes, defining who he is.The pensions triple lock, which guarantees that pensions rise faster than average incomes, has been a no-go electoral minefield despite a groundswell of economists (and even a Times leader) calling for reform to prevent pensions skyrocketing. Touching this live rail was an act of bravery – or recklessness.Polls over the…

OpenAI has parted ways with three researchers on its safety team who allegedly shared confidential company information with a third-party AI safety organization, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. “We have parted ways with three individuals for violating our policies on accessing and handling sensitive company information,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement to the Journal. “Our investigation confirmed that these individuals mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work.” The report did not name the researchers, the organization, or the information involved. OpenAI did not immediately respond to our…

There is an interesting story about a French dog on the banks of the Seine river that helps us understand misbehaving AI agents. The dog is trained to save children from drowning. He succeeds and is rewarded, becoming an overnight sensation. He saves another child a week later. Not long after, someone witnesses the dog actually push a child into the river, jumping in to “save” him. The dog did not understand that it was being rewarded for keeping children safe, not for pulling them out of water. AI agent failures also live in this gap, where the focus is…

Bitcoin O.G. Peter Todd has joined the MARA Foundation as lead maintainer of Slipstream, the miner’s private Bitcoin mempool service.  Announced by the foundation on Thursday, the new role will see Todd responsible for developing and running the service. Slipstream lets users send bitcoin transactions straight to MARA Pool, the company’s mining pool, without going through Bitcoin’s public peer-to-peer network. It was useful after hackers exploited Coldcard hardware wallets in July, stealing over $115 million in user funds.  Because transactions sent through Slipstream stay private until they’re confirmed in a block, the service helps to keep key information hidden before…

See Saturn at opposition, catch the Orionid meteor shower, and watch the Moon pass close to the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. Oct. 4: Saturn reaches opposition, making the ringed planet visible for much of the night Oct. 6: A thin crescent Moon appears close to bright Jupiter before sunrise Oct. 21–22: The Orionid meteor shower peaks; moonlight may interfere, so look before dawn after moonset Oct. 27–28: The Moon passes near the Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters Saturn takes center stage, a meteor shower lights up the sky, and the Moon visits the…

A new initiative between the U.S. and Argentina is meant to bolster investment opportunities and strengthen supply chains for critical minerals that could be used in the clean energy transition, such as copper and lithium. The Andes-Atlantic Corridor, announced Sept. 23, will make it easier to funnel U.S. investment into Argentina’s mining sector and to export critical minerals. At the same time, the initiative will help continue to develop the Vaca Muerta region, home to Argentina’s largest oil and gas reserves. “Working together, the United States and Argentina seek to continue to build on our robust relationship through…

Reading Time: 3 minutes Requesting public records in Wisconsin can sometimes mean waiting weeks, months and even longer for government officials and agencies to respond. What could help speed things along? At the state Department of Justice, which has recently come under scrutiny for its own delays in releasing records, Attorney General Josh Kaul says the agency he leads needs more money. “Additional resources could help the DOJ reduce response times to public records requests,” Kaul told the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, in advance of the Nov. 3 election for attorney general. The council sent questionnaires about government transparency…

At the start of the year, Thailand’s Department of Health held a press conference under the ominous title, “Every Birth Matters… When the Silent Countdown Begins.” Officials said that in 2025, deaths in the country had exceeded births by nearly 140,000, and that if current trends held, the population could halve in the next 50 years. A director-general from the department warned that the decline could affect Thailand’s economy, tax base, and even government stability. In a statement in July, the National Savings Fund, which handles public pensions, echoed this alarm. It described declining births as a “warning sign,” as a…