● 07.05.23
Gemini version available ♊︎
● Links 05/07/2023: pgAdmin 4 v7.4 and Kiwi TCMS 12.5
Posted in News Roundup at 7:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
GNU/Linux
Audiocasts/Shows
↺ Tux Digital ☛ Destination Linux 330: Opening Your AI’s to Open Assistant
- This week’s episode of Destination Linux, we follow up on some feedback about Red Hat’s RHEL and CentOS changes. We also discuss an open-source alternative to ChatGPT and Google Bard called Open Assistant and then we take a look at some AI integrations with the Linux desktop and ONLYOFFICE.
↺ 330: Opening Your AI’s to Open Assistant
- FULL SHOW NOTES ►► https://tuxdigital.com/podcasts/destination-linux/dl-330/
↺ mintCast Podcast ☛ mintCast 415.5 – Out There Somewhere
- In our Innards section, we get all cloudy
- We also have some feedback! In “Check This Out” a new app to trim, crop, and mirror/flip videos on linux. Also: Diablo build for modern operating systems!Download
Kernel Space
↺ Collabora ☛ Kernel 6.4: More work on MediaTek, Rockchip, and power supply
- Released last week, Linux kernel 6.4 brings new features such as support for Intel LAM, user events for tracing, and the ability for the machine keyrings used for Machine Owner Keys to store only CA-enforced keys.
Applications
↺ Linux Handbook ☛ 8 Google Analytics Alternatives That You Can Switch To
- It is not that complicated to switch away from Google Analytics with these options. You can opt for a free self-hosted one or go for a paid one as per your requirements.
↺ Linux Links ☛ 8 Best Free and Open Source Terminal-Based News Aggregators
- A news aggregator is software which collect news, weblog posts, and other information. We recommend the best terminal-based news aggregators.
↺ It’s FOSS ☛ Display Animated ASCII Birthday Wish in Linux Terminal 🎂
- Make the special occasion for your loved ones even more special by creating an ASCII birthday animation in the Linux terminal.
Instructionals/Technical
↺ LinuxConfig ☛ Connecting Your Raspberry Pi to Wi-Fi: A How-To
↺ Layman overlay manager in Gentoo Linux superseded by eselect module
- Last week, when upgrading the world packages on my machines running Gentoo Linux, I noticed that the package for the Layman overlay manager app-portage/layman is masked for removal
↺ LinuxConfig ☛ Easy Steps to Update Your Raspberry Pi
↺ Linux Hint ☛ How to Disable a Network on Rocky Linux 9
- Practical guide on the complete information on how to disable the network interface on Rocky Linux 9 to connect with the network and communicate with no breach.
↺ Linux Hint ☛ How to Hide Files on Android
- On Android phones, you can hide files and folders by adding a dot(.) before their names or using the .NOMEDIA extension.
↺ Linux Links ☛ Alternatives to popular CLI tools: jq – JSON processor
- This article spotlights alternative tools to jq, a command-line JSON processor.
↺ Configure PXE Boot Server for Rocky Linux 9 Kickstart Installation
- Preparing to migrate homelab infrastructure from Rocky 8 to Rocky 9. Pre-requisites We are using our existing PXE boot homelab server in this article. All commands to be run on the PXE boot server. Download and Create Rocky Linux 9 FTP Installation Media Download the DVD version of Rocky Linux 9 ISO image.
↺ Make Tech Easier ☛ How to Customize the GDM Sessions List
- Have you ever installed a new Linux window manager or desktop environment, only to find that it doesn’t show up on the Sessions list in GDM? Have you ever wanted to remove items from that list? How about create a new list item so that you can boot into a custom desktop environment? It sounds like it should be simple, but many people are surprised by the fact that this small task is actually a bit tricky, and there’s very little documentation to help. We show you how to resolve that with a quick and simple guide to editing your GDM Sessions menu.
↺ Linux Hint ☛ How to Get Weather Widget on Android
- Weather Widgets in Android are applications that provide information about the current weather conditions and forecasts directly on the home screen.
↺ Linux Hint ☛ How to Find MAC Address on Android
- You can find the MAC address from the settings of your phone. Follow this step-by-step guide.
↺ LinuxConfig ☛ How to install RealVNC viewer on Linux
↺ LinuxConfig ☛ How to check Raspberry Pi RAM size and usage
↺ Own HowTo ☛ How to reset root password on Debian 12
- Sometimes remembering all the passwords, it’s impossible, especially if you are a Linux Sys Admin who has to maintain a lot of servers. Loosing access to root, means loosing ability to do your job, managing servers, installing applications, updating etc.
- However, If you have forgotten the password of
↺ HowTo Forge ☛ How To Configure PureFTPd To Accept TLS Sessions On Debian
- How To Configure PureFTPd To Accept TLS Sessions On Debian Linux. FTP is a very insecure protocol because all passwords and all data are transferred in clear text. By using TLS, the whole communication can be encrypted, thus making FTP much more secure. This article explains how to configure PureFTPd to accept TLS sessions on a Debian server.
↺ LinuxConfig ☛ How to check Raspberry Pi model
↺ Linux Capable ☛ How to Install Duf Disk Usage Utility on Debian 12/11/10
- In today’s fast-paced technological landscape, efficient disk management is essential. Duf, an acronym for Disk Usage/Free Utility, is an advanced command-line tool that stands out for its convenience and rich set of features.
↺ LinuxTuto ☛ How to Install Craft CMS on Debian 12
- Craft CMS is a popular content management system (CMS) that allows users to create and manage websites and digital experiences.
↺ Install Win11 as Virtualbox 7 Guest on Ubuntu 22.04 and SparkyLinux 7
↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install Neofetch on Debian 12
- In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Neofetch on Debian 12. For those of you who didn’t know, Neofetch is a powerful command line utility that displays system information in a visually appealing manner.
↺ Linux Hint ☛ How to Delete Pages and Post in WordPress
- To remove posts, open “All Posts” option from “Posts” menu. Choose the post and hit the “Trash” option. Similarly, you can remove pages from “All Pages” option.
↺ Linux Hint ☛ How to Delete Downloads in Android
- You can delete downloads on Android by going into the File Explorer option and finding the Downloads folder.
↺ Linux Hint ☛ How to Access WordPress Dashboard
- To access WordPress dashboard, first, start the local server manager, open the “http://localhost//wp-login.php” Url, and log in to WordPress.
Games
- Between 2023-06-28 and 2023-07-05 there were 14 New Steam games released with Native Linux clients.
Desktop Environments/WMs
K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt
↺ Volker Krause ☛ May/June in KDE PIM
- Work on the transition to Qt 6 and KDE Frameworks 6 continues at full steam, with the first release based on that still expected for later this year. Since the branching has been clean of all Qt 5 compatibility code and adapted to ongoing KDE Frameworks changes.
- While there are still issues to be sorted out, in particular when running in a full Plasma 6 session, this is already in use as a daily driver for some people.
GNOME Desktop/GTK
↺ 9to5Linux ☛ GNOME 45 Alpha Is Now Available for Public Testing, Here’s What’s New
- The alpha version of the GNOME 45 desktop environment brings new apps including the Tecla keyboard layout viewer and Snapshot for taking pictures and videos on mobile devices, as well as GTK4/libadwaita ports of the Baobab (Disk Analyzer) and GNOME Font Viewer apps.
- Many interesting changes are around the GNOME Control Panel (Settings) app, which now lets you close dialogs using the Esc key, improves accessibility, improves panel activation and searching, improves support for RTL (Right-to-Left) languages, as well as numerous bug fixes.
↺ OMG! Linux ☛ GNOME Podcasts 0.6 Released, Ported to GTK4
- Grab yer earphones ‘cos a brand-new version of the GNOME Podcasts is out — and it’s been ported to use GTK4/libadwaita! Not familiar with this app?
Distributions and Operating Systems
↺ Linux Magazine ☛ Nitrux 2.9.0 Now Includes an Upgrade Tool and More
- The developers of the Nitrux distribution have created a new Nitrux Upgrade Tool System for easier upgrades and rollbacks.
SUSE/OpenSUSE
↺ SUSE’s Corporate Blog ☛ Linux and the Planet Mercury
- Since Linux began more than 30 years ago, it has been instrumental in space and planetary research. There is truly a connection between Linux, space research, and the solar system. Let’s start with the planet closest to the Sun – Mercury.
Fedora Family / IBM
↺ IT Wire ☛ Rocky Linux outlines ways to legally obtain Red Hat source code
- In a blog post titled “Keeping open source open”, the Rocky Linux project said it now had two options for obtaining RHEL source code: through UBI container images and through pay-per-use public cloud instances.
↺ Vice Media Group ☛ The Red Hat Drama Is Highlighting Open Source Software’s Growing Pains
- Recent moves by the open-source software company Red Hat point at a growing divide between commercial Linux users and the noncommercial community that supports them.
Devices/Embedded
↺ CNX Software ☛ Amlogic C302X, C305X, and C308X Arm SoCs target Smart IP cameras
- Amlogic C302X and C305X are dual-core Arm Cortex-A35 processors, while the C308X is a dual-core Cortex-A55 processor with all SoCs designed for Smart IP cameras with the integration of an AI accelerator up to 4 TOPS, and 1080p30 H.264/H.265 video encoding. I was first informed about Amlogic C302/C305/C308 SoCs for Smart cameras as far back as June 2019, or about four years ago, but there wasn’t enough information to write anything about those at the time. But I’m now seeing more details about the camera SoCs, now named C302X, C305X, and C308X, so it’s a good time to have a closer look. Amlogic C302X Amlogic does not have a product page for this model, so I need to rely on a recent commit in the Linux Kernel mainline list to extra some information.
Free, Libre, and Open Source Software
Events
Web Browsers/Web Servers
Mozilla
↺ Cloudbooklet ☛ Mozilla Releases Firefox 115 with New Features and Security Updates
- Discover the most recent improvements and learn how to upgrade to Firefox 115 for an even better surfing experience.
↺ OMG Ubuntu ☛ Firefox 115 Released with Intel GPU Video Decoding on Linux
- A brand new version of the Mozilla Firefox web browser is rolling out — and it’s a real doozy. Linux users with Intel GPUs will be THRILLED to hear that Mozilla Firefox 115 finally supports hardware video decoding by default. Most devices with Intel graphics hardware will benefit from the feature which is, as I’m sure you’ve already assumed, powered by the open-source Video Acceleration API (VA-API). Those on devices lacking platform support for H264 video decoding will benefit from a fallback to Cisco’s OpenH264 plugin when playing compatible content in this release and up.
↺ Tor ☛ New Release: Tor Browser 12.5.1
- Tor Browser 12.5.1 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory.
- This release updates Firefox to 102.13.0esr, including bug fixes, stability improvements and important security updates. There were no Android-specific security updates to backport from the Firefox 115 release.
↺ Firefox Nightly: The Firefox Unleashed – These Weeks in Firefox: Issue 141
↺ Martin Stransky: No one fights alone. A guide to your first Firefox patch on Linux.
- Have you ever hit an annoying Firefox bug and want to fix it? You’re right here. Firefox is a great open source project with many volunteer contributors, large community and any patches and help is very welcome.
- This post aims to help you with your first patch to Firefox and become an active Firefox contributor.
- First of all you need to get Firefox sources and build themon Linux. Ubuntu is a natural choice of many but I use Fedora as it’s Wayland leading distro and I’m also Red Hat employee. It doesn’t matter much because Firefox installs its own build environment.
- Firefox development happens on nightly which is the latest up-to-date sources and all changes goes there. For start you need mercurial package installed.
SaaS/Back End/Databases
↺ PostgreSQL ☛ pgAdmin 4 v7.4 Released
- The pgAdmin Development Team is pleased to announce pgAdmin 4 version 7.4. This release of pgAdmin 4 includes 16 bug fixes and new features. For more details please see the release notes.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
Programming/Development
- Last time we touched upon object lifetime and today we wrap up the basics with a bit of a spicy topic of object ownership. We covered the lifetime quirks, and we found out that manual memory management can be a nightmare, even if we new and delete in the correct order. There must be something better than that. Well, there is but it comes with its own can of worms.
- Since we know the rules of new and delete, namely new allocates and delete destroys, we never really cared about who is responsible for the object. This caused a lot of confusion in the past. For instance, some API codes from Win32 return strings that should be LocalFree()d, like FormatMessage or GetEnvironmentStrings. POSIX, on the other hand, has strdup as a common example of you should free it yourself. This model is confusing because you may have a lot of return statements, before which you should always call free or delete, depending on the operation. However, we have RAII since the very beginning of C++, which adds constructors and destructors. So, in 1998 resourceful people decided to add auto_ptr to the standard.
Python
↺ Linux Hint ☛ How to Count the Number of Rows of SQLite Table in Python?
- SQLite users can use Python to create and manipulate SQLite databases, such as counting the rows in a table.
↺ Linux Capable ☛ Understanding the Python For Loop: A Beginners Guide
- Python, renowned for its simplicity and readability, offers a plethora of control flow structures that facilitate the creation of diverse programs. Among these structures, the ‘for’ loop holds a significant place due to its versatility and widespread usage in repetitive tasks.
↺ Linux Links ☛ Swing Music is a Web-Based Self-hosted Music Player written in Python
- Swing Music bills itself as a cooler Spotify. That caught my attention. Unlike Spotify, it’s not a streaming service.
Leftovers
Science
↺ Science Alert ☛ Meteor-Like ‘Shooting Stars’ Discovered in The Sun’s Atmosphere
- Whoa.
Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
↺ Axios ☛ Study: Maternal deaths widespread beyond the South
- Maternal mortality rates more than doubled in the U.S. between 1999 and 2019 with states in the Midwest and Great Plains accounting for significant increases along with the South, according to a JAMA study that provides the first state-level breakdowns by ethnic group.
- Driving the news: American Indians and Alaska Natives had the biggest increases, particularly in states in the middle of the country where such inequities “had not been previously highlighted,” researchers wrote.
- A US federal judge has barred a handful of Biden administration agencies and officials from contacting social media sites about moderating posts protected by the First Amendment.
↺ IT Wire ☛ US court blocks govt from leaning on social media companies
- An order issued by Judge Terry Doughty of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana said some government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI, were banned from getting in touch with social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech”.
- The injunction, issued on American Independence Day, is preliminary and comes in response to a suit filed by the attorneys-general of Louisiana and Missouri.
- Republicans have long accused social media companies of censoring right-wing critics, while Democrats assert that platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have failed to act on misinformation and hate speech, which at times leads to violence.
↺ CS Monitor ☛ Judge rules White House overstepped with social media COVID messaging
- A judge on Tuesday prohibited several federal agencies and officials of the Biden administration from working with social media companies in response to a lawsuit alleging the government overstepped in efforts to quell hesitations about COVID-19 vaccines.
↺ Axios ☛ Judge limits Biden officials’ contact with social media companies in First Amendment case
- This fall, Americans will be urged to get shots against the flu, Covid and, if they’re older, R.S.V.
- Here’s who should get the flu, Covid and R.S.V. vaccines, and when.
Security
↺ Security Week ☛ Firefox 115 Patches High-Severity Use-After-Free Vulnerabilities
- Mozilla has released Firefox 115 to the stable channel with patches for two high-severity use-after-free vulnerabilities.
↺ Lee Yingtong Li ☛ Extracting TOTP keys from a proprietary Android 2FA app
- This is an analysis of an early 2010s proprietary Android-based two-factor authentication (2FA) application for a particular cloud service provider – à la Okta, or Microsoft Authenticator. This particular cloud service has been publicly criticised for not supporting industry standard 2FA algorithms such as time-based one-time password (TOTP).
- Interestingly, many such proprietary 2FA applications internally use TOTP; for example, Okta. In such cases, extracting the TOTP shared secret key enables 2FA tokens to be generated from standard TOTP software. This 2FA application turned out to be no exception.
- Japan’s Port of Nagoya this week suspended cargo loading and unloading operations following a ransomware attack.
- An actively exploited vulnerability in the Contec SolarView solar power monitoring product can expose hundreds of energy organizations to attacks.
↺ Security Week ☛ Ransomware Criminals Are Dumping Kids’ Private Files Online After School Hacks
- Ransomware gangs are targeting schools, stealing confidential documents and then dumping them online.
Privacy/Surveillance
↺ Security Week ☛ Sweden Orders Four Companies to Stop Using Google Tool
- Sweden has ordered four companies to stop using a Google tool that measures and analyses web traffic as doing so transfers personal data to the United States, fining one company the equivalent of more than $1.1 million.
- \
↺ Security Week ☛ EU Court Deals Blow to Meta in German Data Case
- Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp may need to overhaul how they collect the data of users in Europe after the top EU court ruled against Meta.
Defence/Aggression
↺ France24 ☛ Hong Kong pro-democracy activists who fled abroad will be ‘pursued for life’
- Hong Kong’s leader said Tuesday that eight pro-democracy activists who now live in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia will be pursued for life for alleged national security offenses, dismissing criticism that the move to have them arrested was a dangerous precedent.
- Hong Kong police arrested four men on Wednesday for allegedly supporting people living abroad who “endanger national security”, according to a statement. The arrests came two days after authorities announced million-dollar bounties for the capture of eight prominent pro-democracy activists living overseas. The eight include former pro-democracy lawmakers, activists and a unionist.
- Hong Kong’s security minister has slammed the Wall Street Journal as having “extreme political bias and double standards,” following an editorial that criticised China reluctance to recognise international boundaries. Meanwhile, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) says it has not received an “Red Notice” from Hong Kong, nor can it act over political offences.
- Hongkongers should see the “true colours” of the eight wanted democrats, security chief Chris Tang has said, adding that one of them – activist Nathan Law – was a “modern-day Chinese traitor” and a cowardly “turtle hiding inside its shell.”
↺ JURIST ☛ Hong Kong pro-democracy radio station closed down under National Security Law
- Hong Kong’s pro-democracy online radio station Citizens’ Radio aired their final broadcast on Friday, with the founder expressing hardships under “dangerous” political environment.
↺ Michael West Media ☛ China warns Australia to hand over activist ‘fugitives’
- China has warned Australia against giving a safe haven to “fugitives” after Hong Kong police issued arrest warrants for two Australian-based activists.
- Hong Kong authorities have offered $HK1 million ($191,000) bounties for the arrest of eight overseas-based activists after accusing them of national security offences following a crackdown on political dissent.
War in Ukraine
↺ Latvia ☛ Latvian volunteer convoy goes to warzone villages
- Latvian volunteers, businesses and individuals keep contributing to Ukraine’s fight against the aggressor country Russia. Volunteers have just visited the liberated villages with food for more than 2,000 people, Latvian Television reported on July 4.
- Ukraine and Russia are accusing each other of planning to attack one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants. But neither side provided evidence to support their claims of an imminent threat to the facility in southeastern Ukraine that is occupied by Russian troops. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been a focus of concern since Moscow’s forces took control of it and its staff in the early stages of the war. Russia and Ukraine have regularly traded blame over shelling near the plant that caused power outages. The six reactors are shut down, but the plant still needs power and qualified staff to run crucial cooling systems and other safety features.
- While Ben & Jerry’s stirs controversy over its July 4 tweet calling on the US to return “stolen indigenous land,” its corporate parent is facing criticism over its refusal to cut business ties with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
↺ NYPost ☛ Ben and Jerry’s ugly 4th of July tweet shows why woke brands fail
- The Fourth of July: a time for barbecues, baseball, fireworks and … woke tweeting?
↺ The Strategist ☛ Ukraine’s survival is crucial for everyone’s security
- The criticism of Australia’s recent package of assistance to Ukraine was justified. It managed to give a perception of a middling power’s apathy, rather than a regional power’s ambition.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday called for additional access to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine to “confirm the absence of mines or explosives at the site”. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of planning to sabotage the site, raising alarm over risks of a radioactive disaster at Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
↺ JURIST ☛ Russia says 700,000 Ukraine children brought to Russia during war
- Grigory Karasin, head of Russia’s upper parliamentary house, stated Sunday on his Telegram channel that over 700,000 Ukrainian children had been “given refuge” in Russia.
- Despite intense discussions among NATO countries, the forthcoming Vilnius summit will manage to agree on commitments to Ukraine that will not disappoint the country fighting Russian invasion, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says.
↺ LRT ☛ Former NATO official: declarations of unity at Vilnius summit are bullshit – interview
- NATO’s deterrence is not working because it did not prevent Moscow from attacking Ukraine, and statements by Joe Biden and other leaders that the alliance would not intervene directly were an absolute mistake, argues Dr Stefanie Babst, who worked for NATO for 20 years and served as assistant secretary general for public diplomacy from 2006-2012.
↺ LRT ☛ Lithuania wouldn’t veto NATO summit declaration even if it’s unsatisfactory – official
- Even if Lithuania is not happy with the NATO summit declaration on Ukraine’s membership, it will not veto the document because it would look bad, presidential adviser Asta Skaisgirytė says.
↺ RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Police Investigate Explosion In Kyiv Court
- Police are investigating an explosion at a district court in Kyiv that officials say may have been caused by a man who detonated a device after arriving for a hearing.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on July 5 called for additional access to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine to confirm there are no mines or explosives at the site after Ukraine and Russia accused each other of planning provocations.
↺ RFERL ☛ Georgia Condemns Ukraine For Its Protests Over Health Of Former President Saakashvili
- Georgia’s Foreign Ministry criticized Ukraine on July 4 for urging the Georgian ambassador to return to Tbilisi for consultations over the poor health of imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is also a Ukrainian citizen.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on July 4 repeated his warning that Russia is planning “dangerous provocations” at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
- Heavy fighting continues in the Bakhmut, Lyman, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka areas in the Donetsk region, the General Staff of Ukraine’s military reported on July 5, adding that there had been 40 combat clashes in the area during the previous 24 hours.
↺ RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Looks Forward To More ‘Fruitful Cooperation’ After NATO Chief’s Mandate Extended
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during a telephone call on July 4 that he looks forward to “continuing our fruitful cooperation” after Stoltenberg’s contract to lead the military alliance was extended by one year.
↺ teleSUR ☛ Grain-Carrying Ships To Leave the Black Sea by July 17: Russia
- The 2022 Black Sea Initiative has turned into “purely commercial exports of Ukrainian food to ‘well-fed’ countries,” the Russian diplomacy says.
- The Russian diplomat pointed out that the drone attack on Moscow is a case of international terrorism since Ukraine commits these attacks with weapons supplied by the West.
- “…no injuries have been reported…”
- Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on July 4 said that NATO membership “is the only security guarantee” for Ukraine and said it is important that NATO member countries agree during their upcoming summit in Vilnius on “practical steps” on how Ukraine gets into the alliance.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit Bulgaria on July 6, according to Bulgarian media reports confirmed by RFE/RL.
↺ RFERL ☛ Italy Freezes Russian Oligarchs’ Assets Worth $2.5 Billion
- Italy has frozen Russian oligarchs’ assets valued at around 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) following the invasion of Ukraine last year, the country’s central bank said on July 4.
↺ The Atlantic ☛ Multilateral Man Is More Powerful Than Putin Realized
- Unelected bureaucrats get a bad rap. But some do an essential job.
- Ukraine and Russia are accusing each other of planning to attack one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants. But neither side provided evidence to support their claims of an imminent threat to the facility in southeastern Ukraine that is occupied by Russian troops. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been a focus of concern since Moscow’s forces took control of it and its staff in the early stages of the war. Russia and Ukraine have regularly traded blame over shelling near the plant that caused power outages. The six reactors are shut down, but the plant still needs power and qualified staff to run crucial cooling systems and other safety features.
↺ New York Times ☛ The Russia-Ukraine War Changed This Finland Company Forever
- Nokian Tyres of Finland made 80 percent of its tires in Russia, where energy was cheap. After losing billions, it prioritized political security over business efficiency.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says that the Russian military has placed “objects resembling explosives” on the roof of several power units of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
↺ New York Times ☛ Tensions Surge Around Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
- Ukraine and Russia accused each other of plotting attacks at the facility, though some analysts have said that the immediate risks to the plant remained low.
- In a conference call with members of the government, Russian president Vladimir Putin discussed the traffic jams at the Crimean Bridge, reports Interfax.
↺ New York Times ☛ Rabbi’s Brush With Danger in Ukraine Went Viral
- A video put a fresh spotlight on the chief rabbi of Ukraine, whose renown predates his humanitarian efforts since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
↺ Scheerpost ☛ Glenn Greenwald: John Mearsheimer on US Power & Darkness Ahead for Ukraine
↺ Latvia ☛ Latvia continues enhanced monitoring of Belarus border
- The possible location of the Russian mercenary group Wagner in Belarus raises many questions and also forces Latvia to keep an eye on the border, the President of Latvia and the head of the National Security Council, Egils Levits, told Latvian Television on July 4.
↺ New York Times ☛ A Captured Russian Soldier’s Story: ‘They Just Sent Us to Die’
- An inmate hoped to start over with a clean slate by fighting in Ukraine. Instead, he was confronted by the drudgery of trench work and the terror of battle. “You’re going in as meat,” he said he was told.
- On the morning of July 4, Elena Milashina, a journalist with the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and Alexandre Nemov, a lawyer, were beaten on their way to a trial in Grozny, Chechnya. Images document the extreme violence of the attack. According to the Crew Against Torture, a Russian human rights organisation that is supporting the two victims, the attackers may be linked to authorities in the Chechen Republic.
- Belarusian law students enrolled at European Humanities University are filing reports with JURIST on current circumstances in Belarus under the constitutionally-disputed presidency of Alexander Lukashenka. Katsiaryna Vasilionak files this dispatch from Vilnius, Lithuania. During the period of June 23-24, the private military company Wagner, headed by Prigozhin, attempted an armed rebellion in Russia.
↺ JURIST ☛ Prigozhin media group closes following leader’s exile from Russia
- Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s media company Patriot Media Group announced its closure Saturday in the continuing aftermath of Prigozhin’s brief march towards Moscow, which saw him exiled from Russia.
- NATO has failed to deter Russia and the West is still living in a completely “different time” than Moscow, which has mobilised its entire society and industry for war, says former Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė.
↺ RFA ☛ Why the Wagner Group’s mutiny is Xi Jinping’s worst nightmare
- Nobody turned up to defend Moscow or Putin, and the same scenario would play out in China.
↺ RFERL ☛ Chief Of Russia’s Yandex Faces Court Case For Gay ‘Propaganda’
- The chief executive of the Nasdaq-listed Internet company Yandex faces prosecution in a Russian court for alleged offenses under the country’s so-called gay “propaganda” law, a notice on the court’s website said on July 5.
↺ Spiegel ☛ Putin’s Vassal: Belarus in the Inner-Russian Power Struggle
- Alexander Lukashenko managed to shine as a mediator in Putin’s conflict with the Wagner Group. That triumph, though, should not obscure the fact that the Belarusian ruler is nothing more than a vassal of Moscow.
↺ RFERL ☛ Putin Ally Appointed To Head Russia’s TASS News Agency
- Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former election spokesman has been appointed to run the state news agency TASS, according to a government order published on July 5.
↺ teleSUR ☛ SCO Summit: Russia and China Reject Economic Protectionism
- Chinese President Xi requested that the SCO countries “maintain the right direction and enhance their solidarity and mutual trust.”
↺ teleSUR ☛ Shanghai Cooperation Organization Formalizes Iran’s Membership
- Currently, the SCO has nine members: Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran.
↺ YLE ☛ Finnish bank allowed oligarch Rotenberg to withdraw funds just before sanctions took effect
- Rotenberg was allowed to withdraw his funds in April 2022, after promising not to transfer them to Russia or Belarus.
↺ New York Times ☛ Putin, Xi and Modi Meet for Shanghai Summit, Each Focused on Own Issues
- At a virtual summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the leaders of Russia, China and India each focused on their own driving issues.
- President Putin’s envoy to Russia’s Far East, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev, met with students at Far Eastern Federal University on Wednesday and declared that institutions of higher learning nationwide should organize “patriotic movements” on campus. Any school without one of these projects, he argued, should fire its curriculum provost and hire one who will rectify the situation.
↺ New York Times ☛ Prominent Russian Journalist Injured in Attack in Chechnya
- Elena Milashina, known for her work on human rights, was assaulted along with Alexander Nemov, a lawyer.
↺ Meduza ☛ Russian shelling of Kharkiv region injures more than 40 people — Meduza
- Russian shelling of the city of Pervomaiskyi in the Kharkiv region injured at least 31 people, including nine children, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on July 4.
↺ New York Times ☛ Putin Scrambles to Reinforce His Defenses After Wagner Mutiny
- Long focused on security, the Russian president is rewarding loyalty among the ruling elite and showering his most important constituency — the men with guns — with cash.
Finance
↺ Axios ☛ Manufacturing sector continues its slump
- “Demand is trending to about 2019 levels, accounting for inflation. The COVID-driven demand has moderated.”
↺ Axios ☛ The Northeast is losing out to America’s new economic hotspots
- The switch happened during peak COVID. There’s no sign it’ll reverse.
Civil Rights/Policing
- A Superior Court judge is being investigated for making profane TikToks in judicial clothing.
Monopolies
- Apple and Epic Games failed to convince the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling in an antitrust dispute over Apple’s App Store.
↺ Silicon Angle ☛ Report: EU expected to launch new antitrust investigation into Microsoft
↺ Bruce Schneier ☛ Class-Action Lawsuit for Scraping Data without Permission
- I have mixed feelings about this class-action lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming that it “scraped 300 billion words from the internet” without either registering as a data broker or obtaining consent. On the one hand, I want this to be a protected fair use of public data. On the other hand, I want us all to be compensated for our uniquely human ability to generate language.
↺ WhichUK ☛ Beware of fake Microsoft ‘spyware alert’ pop-ups on your computer
- Tech support scam claims your device has been compromised by a virus
Patents
↺ Unified Patents ☛ DynaIP entity WirelessWerx IP location tracking patent reexam granted
- On July 3, 2023, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 7,317,927 owned by WirelessWerx IP LLC, an NPE and Dynamic IP Deals LLC entity.
Copyrights
- The Rolling Stones have filed a ‘Motion to Dismiss’ the copyright infringement lawsuit by Spanish songwriter Sergio Garcia Fernandez. The legal filing outlines several reasons for dismissal, including Plaintiff’s choice of improper venue, failure to state a claim, and lack of personal jurisdiction over a Europe-based rights management company.
- Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has scheduled a press conference for later today to answer questions on the legislative mess that is Bill C-18. With Meta and Google announcing that they will block news sharing and links on their platforms before the law takes effect, the Canadian media sector stands to lose millions of dollars with lost links, the cancellation of dozens of existing deals, and a bill that might not generate any new revenues.
Gemini* and Gopher
Personal/Opinions
↺ Read: Mutual Aid by Dean Spade
- This is certainly worth a read. Or you can tell me to go fuck myself and just wait for the government to fix all ills.
- I’ve been wanting to experiment with lifeways that don’t require modern infrastructure, like electricity or plumbing. Something in between tent camping and a “normal” modern house. How would I move, store, and heat water? Keep myself warm in the winter and cool in the summer? Clean my body in the absence of a shower? Light my way without electric lights? Store and cook food? I ‘know’ some of these things from reading, but there’s a difference between knowing and doing the deed day in and day out. Someday I’d like to commit to that kind of lifestyle, but it’d be nice to figure out the some of the friction points before I do so.
- It has been some time since I wrote here or on my blog and truth be told I want to change that. But at the same time, the first half of the year was busy, both with work and life. Moving away from Paris took time and (too) many trips to finalize. After 3 months, we’re finally settling nicely :). I’m currently sitting in a spot I don’t often use in our new apartment writing this post on a (very) old laptop. This is part of a new experiment I’m doing to see if I can train my brain to be focus on writing on specific setup. More on this later if that experiment is worth sharing.
- The move also made me do some (more or less) temporary changes on my homelab, as I explained in a [previous gemlog entry]. I first decided which selfhosted services where mandatory to be online during the move (eg: rss feed reader, blog, capsule, …) and migrated them to someone else computer (aka the cloud). Other services where shutdown, including of course all domotics related stuff.
Technology and Free Software
Programming
↺ Quick recipe, compiling PostgREST
- I use a similar recipe for building PostgREST on Linux.
↺ Quick recipe, compiling Pandoc
- These are my quick notes for compiling Pandoc on a M1 Mac Mini. I use a similar recipe for building Pandoc on Linux (NOTE: the challenges with libiconv and Mac Ports’ libiconv below if you get a build error).
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