Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

A Federal Bureau of Investigation agent allegedly took $1 million in seized cryptocurrencies before turning himself in, according to court records.  Documents unsealed this week allege Patrick Steven Yaroch, who was a FBI Supervisory Special Agent working at the FBI Headquarters Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, claimed he “was frustrated that the FBI could not or would not act against adversarial cryptocurrency accounts.” He then proceeded to “take matters into his own hands,” according to the affidavit filed with a district court in Virginia, and transfer $925,426.07 in crypto to his personal wallets over numerous transactions.  Yaroch then allegedly toyed with…

Nightmares can be one of the most distressing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that may develop after a person experiences a disaster, serious accident, violence, combat, or another severe trauma. During sleep, people with PTSD may feel as though they are living through the event again in vivid detail. These repeated episodes can cause severe sleep loss and make some people afraid to go to bed. Available medications often provide limited relief from trauma-related nightmares. Researchers at Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin therefore examined whether a prescription drug containing THC, one of the active compounds found in cannabis,…

Beaches in San Vicente municipality in the Philippines’ Palawan province are crucial nesting grounds for olive ridley sea turtles. But the turtles and their babies face perilous journeys on those beaches — from dogs, tourism, and increasingly severe storms and high tides. To counter these threats, the NGO Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE) has partnered with residents to patrol the beaches and rescue turtle eggs, reports contributor Rachel Duckett for Mongabay. In Santo Niño village, volunteers and patrollers conduct intensive night patrols covering more than 8 kilometers (5 mile) of the beach in five shifts. When…

As the UK regulator has decided to prolong a license in alignment with another one in the area to pave the way for an integrated development plan, Aberdeen-based full-cycle energy business NEO NEXT+ Energy and its partners, Serica Energy and Jersey Oil & Gas (JOG), are expected to contemplate all available production solutions for a proposed oil project in the North Sea on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). FPSO Western Isles; Source: NEO NEXT+ Energy Jersey Oil & Gas has confirmed receipt of approval from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) for an extension to the second term of the…

Two Iranian female footballers who publicly defied their government have become Australian citizens.Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, 34, and Fatemeh Pasandideh, 22, were naturalised in Brisbane, Queensland, on Wednesday.Ramezanisadeh said it was a “truly special and unforgettable day”, while her teammate said “this moment means more than words can express”.They were among seven members of Iran’s national team to be granted humanitarian visas while in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup in March – but the other five changed their minds and returned home.It was feared the team would face repercussions for refusing to sing the Iranian anthem at their opening match, just…

Reform plan to fine firms and jail bosses who employ illegal workersHello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.Reform UK says it will fine firms 10% of their global revenues and imprison bosses who employ illegal migrant workers under the party’s latest plans to bring down immigration.Employers would be held responsible even if they were unaware of the worker’s immigration status, Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf will announce in a speech later today, with the policy being dubbed the ‘Deliveroo law’.In a statement to the Daily Express, Yusuf said: double quotation markUnder a Reform government, Britain will have…

As tributes poured in for Rod Liddle, the Sunday Times and Sun columnist who has died at the age of 66, they were markedly coy and sanitised. Paradoxically, those were the exact deficiencies obituaries praised Liddle for avoiding – they said he shot from the hip and ruffled feathers, remorselessly attacked the liberal establishment and was ebullient. Michael Gove called him “special and brave”. But brave in the face of what? Attacked the liberal establishment how?This delicacy was particularly noticeable in a segment on Radio 4’s Today programme, of which Liddle was editor in the 90s, between Justin Webb and…

Disney and TikTok have agreed a deal which will allow creators to use clips from Disney films, including its subsidiaries, in their videos.It means clips from hit franchises like Star Wars, Toy Story and the Marvel Cinematic Universe will soon start popping up in videos – which will also be shared on Disney’s short-form video platform, Verts.The scheme will be launched in the US before being rolled out to other countries.Neither company shared financial details of the agreement, although it follows the collapse of a $1bn (£745m) deal between Disney and OpenAI which would have let people use its characters…

Ravie LakshmananAug 06, 2026IoT Security / Malware Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a “factory-shipped backdoor” implanted in at least 20 Chinese router models from Zbtlink. According to a new report from VulnCheck, the implant appears in all 21 firmware images currently available from Zbtlink that span more than 2 years. The backdoors are designed such that they start automatically and attempt to beacon to Chinese command-and-control (C2) infrastructure as often as every 35 seconds. They masquerade as a Linux kernel thread, but are actually userland processes running with root privileges while blending their true functionality with other legitimate kworker…

A CryptoSlate-built tracker has identified at least 109 crypto project shutdowns, wind-downs, or inactivity in 2026 as of Aug. 5. DeFi accounted for 28 of them, more than any other sector.The count captures a harsh cull across crypto. At the same time, banks and payment networks are processing real volume on some controlled blockchain systems while extending or testing others. Together, the trends suggest a divergence in what is scaling.Is crypto dead trackerThe evidence offers no capital-flow link between the project closures and institutional buildout, and project counts cannot be compared directly with payment volumes or infrastructure announcements. The tracker simply…