● 09.07.23
Gemini version available ♊︎
● Leftover Links 07/09/2023: Microsoft Admits Azure Got Cracked
Posted in News Roundup at 12:35 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Leftovers
↺ Hackaday ☛ Road Salt? Bah! New Roadway Material Promises A Better Solution To Snow And Ice
- If you’ve ever lived somewhere it gets properly cold, you’ll know that winter’s icy grasp brings the inevitable challenge of keeping roadways safe. While road salt and gritting have long been the go-to solutions, their detrimental environmental impact and the potential for infrastructure degradation are well-documented.
↺ RFA ☛ As Ghost Month starts in China, officials ban burnt offerings
- Government says the month’s traditions are ‘uncivilized,’ and people should take better care of the elderly
↺ [Repeat] Bruce Schneier ☛ Inconsistencies in the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)
- Shedding Light on CVSS Scoring Inconsistencies: A User-Centric Study on Evaluating Widespread Security Vulnerabilities.
- The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is a globally known scoring system used by many companies.
- With the help of CVSS, security vulnerabilities are evaluated based on certain metrics – for example, whether or not a user needs to be involved in an attack. CVSS is used to calculate a score between 0 and 10, indicating the severity of the vulnerability.
- However, previous research has shown that scores of different evaluators for the same vulnerability are likely to differ, but little is still known about the factors that influence the scoring. We therefore conducted an empirical study to investigate the consistency of CVSSv3.1.
↺ Chris Coyier ☛ Julia Evans on Blogging
- If you are considering it, Julia’s other seven myths are right on. You don’t need to be an expert. You don’t need to be original. You don’t have to be comprehensive, consistent, or exciting. You don’t even always have to be right. That describes my blogging journey to a T.
Science
↺ Science Alert ☛ What Are Lasers And How Do They Actually Work?
- Pew pew!
- Inconceivable.
↺ Science Alert ☛ A Lunar Orbiter Just Spotted The Landing Site of Chandrayaan-3
- The site on the lunar south pole where the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) made its historic Moon landing can be seen in a new image from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Education
↺ ACLU ☛ Back-to-School Basics: Public Schools Are Not Sunday Schools
- As public-school students return to classrooms for the new school year, some could face an unexpected test: religious indoctrination.
- Thanks to various state laws enacted during the 2023 legislative session, some schools could try to impose official prayer, proselytizing, or other religious messages on students. But even if state law purports to allow these activities, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not. Public schools are not Sunday schools, and we’ll be watching to make sure it stays that way.
- Among the top offenders we have our eye on is Texas. Although state lawmakers narrowly failed to enact a bill requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms, they succeeded in passing a law that authorizes public school districts to employ, or accept as volunteers, chaplains who will “provide support, services, and programs for students.” In a letter sent to every school board throughout Texas, we warned officials that “permitting volunteers to act as chaplains and proselytize students in public schools — let alone employing them — would violate the First Amendment.”
- National Read a Book Day is observed annually on September 6. In honor of the holiday, we compiled a list of the best drone books for every type of drone enthusiast.
- Whether you are looking for drone-related fiction, training to become a certified pilot or something in between, we have got you covered for the best drone-related books. Grab one, or why not indulge in two, and prepare yourself for National Read a Book Day with this guide to the best drone books.
↺ Mat Duggan ☛ We need a different name for non-technical tech conferences
- Over the next few days what I was to experience was an event with some fun moments, mostly devoid of any technical discussion whatsoever. Rarely were talks geared towards technical staff, when technical questions came up during the recorded events they were almost never answered. Most importantly there was no presentation I heard that even remotely touched on long-known missing features of GCP when compared to peers or roadmaps. When I asked technical questions, often Google employees would come up to me after the talk with the answer, which I appreciate. But everyone at home and in the future won’t get that experience and miss out on the benefit.
↺ New York Times ☛ Dependence on Tech Caused ‘Staggering’ Education Inequality, U.N. Agency Says
- Heavy reliance on online remote learning during the pandemic drew attention away from more equitable ways of teaching children at home, a UNESCO report says.
Hardware
↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Intel Foundry Services to Produce Chips for Tower Semiconductor
- IFS to make chips for Tower at Fab 11X in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Chinese Netizens Mock U.S. Sanctions Following Huawei Chip Breakthrough
- US sanctions and unintended consequences – China mocks sanctions as Huawei technology looks stronger than ever.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ What Huawei’s comeback says about US-China tech war
- It raises questions about whether US efforts to contain China’s geopolitical ascent have been effective.
↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ U.S. Bans Sales of Nvidia’s H100, A100 GPUs to Middle East
- U.S. Administration restricts sales of Nvidia’s advanced compute GPUs to Middle East to counter re-exports to China.
↺ Alan Pope ☛ Alan Pope: ThinkPad Z13 SSD replacement
- One thing I’ve loved about ThinkPad laptops for many years, is the upgradability and repairability. Ever since the early days, it’s been possible to noodle around inside a ThinkPad.
- Sadly, some of the modern X1/Ultrabook line, and some others, are less upgradable than previous generations. My year-old ThinkPad Z13 has a few options for noodling around inside though, including storage.
- My Z13 shipped with Ubuntu out of the box. I wanted to try something different, but didn’t want to wipe the OS off the SSD. So I replaced the existing SSD with one of these 256GB Sabrent Rocket NVMe SSD devices for ~£45.
↺ Hackaday ☛ Downgrade Your Heathkit H8 To The World’s First 8-bit Microprocessor
- Typically when you’re replacing parts in an old computer it’s either for repairs or an upgrade. Upgrades like adding a more capable processor to an old computer are the most common, and can help bring an old computer a bit closer to the modern era. [Dr. Scott M. Baker] had a different idea, when he downgraded a Heathkit H8 from an 8080 to an 8008.
↺ Hackaday ☛ Thin Keyboard Fits In Steam Deck Case
- Although some of the first Android-powered smartphones had them and Blackberries were famous for them, physical keyboards on portable electronics like that quickly became a thing of the past. Presumably the cost to manufacture is too high and the margins too low regardless of consumer demand. Whatever the reason, if you want a small keyboard for your portable devices you’ll likely need to make one yourself like [Kārlis] did for the Steam Deck.
↺ IT Wire ☛ PC shipments in Australia, NZ go backwards in second quarter
- The consumer segment of the market fell by 13.6% year-on-year in Australia though the market grew compared to the previous quarter.
- IDC said the commercial segment increased by 2.6% due to increased demand from government and the education sector.
- {loadposition sam08}“Rising interest rates, coupled with increasing living expenses are restricting consumer spending,” said Sharmishtha Bhatt, senior researcher, Personal Computing Devices Research, IDC Australia.
↺ The Next Platform ☛ Just How Big – Or Small – Is The Quantum Computing Racket?
- There is no question in our minds here at The Next Platform that quantum computing, in some fashion, will be part of the workflow for solving some of the peskiest computational problems the world can think of.
↺ Ruben Schade ☛ Hardware Unboxed’s podcast, and benchmark misconceptions
- I’m enjoying the new Hardware Unboxed podcast. You can subscribe using the link below, or you can watch on YouTube:
- YouTube channelPodcast RSS feed
- I thought they raised a good point about benchmarking:
- I don’t want to make it sound like its rocket science, but benchmarking today is significantly more complex and difficult than it used to be. I don’t mean that “it’s very difficult to run a benchmark” … I mean making sure that the test system is up to date and operating as it should be.
↺ 6 Best Programmable & Mechanical Keyboards For Linux (2023 Picks)
- With Windows all keyboards are compatible but most are with Mac as well. If we talk about Linux/Unix then there are few which are compatible with it in which some functions might not work at all or work partially. These are mostly for Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian and even Kali Linux.
↺ The Register UK ☛ Toyota servers ran out of storage, crashed production at 14 plants in Japan
- Toyota has revealed a server running out of disk space after botched maintenance was the cause of an outage that forced it to shut down 14 manufacturing plants across Japan last week.
- “The system malfunction was caused by the unavailability of some multiple servers (sic) that process parts orders,” states a company announcement posted on Wednesday.
↺ Futurism ☛ Toyota Factories Shut Down When Company Runs Out of Disk Space
- In simple terms, the second-biggest carmaker in the world just had to grind production to a halt because it ran out of storage.
Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
↺ Science Alert ☛ New Drug Reverses Obesity And Lowers Cholesterol in Mice Despite High Fat Diet
- It’s custom-designed for delivery to the liver.
↺ University of Michigan ☛ Learn about food insecurity during Hunger Action Month
- September is recognized as Hunger Action Month, and MHealthy has partnered with the Maize and Blue Cupboard to encourage faculty and staff to raise their awareness.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ China’s reaction to Fukushima water is economic coercion: US envoy
- Mr Emanuel said he expected the US to support Japan if it takes China to WTO over China’s ban on Japan’s seafood imports.
- Japan will tap additional funds to help the fishing industry.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia lifts suspension on live cattle imports from Australia
- Imports were paused in August after lumpy skin disease was found in some cattle sent to Indonesia.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Dirty air helps spread of bacteria, say Malaysia specialists
- Parts of Malaysia are shrouded in haze with the air quality index (AQI) hitting unhealthy levels.
- The cost of imported rice is going up by 36 per cent, driven by factors including climate change and conflicts.
↺ Reason ☛ 35 Years Ago, a Judge Said Marijuana Did Not Belong in Schedule I. HHS Finally Agrees.
- The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) move marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the law’s most restrictive category, to Schedule III, which includes prescription drugs such as anabolic steroids and Tylenol with codeine. Thirty-five years ago today, Francis Young, the DEA’s chief administrative law judge, likewise concluded that marijuana did not belong in Schedule I, which also includes illegal drugs such as heroin, LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA.
↺ New York Times ☛ Covid Continues to Rise, but Experts Remain Optimistic
- An uptick in hospitalizations and deaths persists, but the numbers are relatively low and new vaccines are around the corner.
↺ New York Times ☛ Can Covid Damage Your Heart? A Look At Short- and Long-Term Health Risks
- Three years into the pandemic, the short- and long-term risks are becoming more clear.
Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
↺ The Verge ☛ Gizmodo’s owner replaced its Spanish language journalists with AI
- The GMG Union, represented by the Writer’s Guild of America, East, expressed disappointment over the firing of Gizmodo en Español’s staff.
- “Unfortunately, this move to eliminate the Español team represents yet another broken promise from G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller and Editorial Director Merill Brown, who have repeatedly said that the company’s AI experiments were intended to supplement human writing, not replace it,” the union said in a tweet.
↺ Matt Rickard ☛ The Widgetification of Apple
- I used to be part of these communities, which usually involved modifying Unix window managers and desktop environments to have dynamic information — stats, graphs, scripts, and more. So some thoughts on historically what’s worked well (and not so well) for the widgetification of the desktop.
Security
↺ LWN ☛ Security updates for Wednesday
- Security updates have been issued by Debian (aom and php7.3), Fedora (freeimage and mingw-freeimage), Scientific Linux (thunderbird), SUSE (amazon-ssm-agent, chromium, container-suseconnect, docker, glib2, php7, python-Django1, and rubygem-rails-html-sanitizer), and Ubuntu (kernel, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.4, linux-gcp, linux-hwe-5.4, linux-ibm, linux-iot, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-5.4, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-6.2, linux-hwe-6.2, linux-kvm, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2, linux-raspi, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-hwe, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-4.15, linux-hwe, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, and linux, linux-gcp, linux-hwe-5.15, linux-ibm, linux-kvm, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, linux-nvidia).
- The Xen Project has released one or more Xen security advisories (XSAs). The security of Qubes OS is not affected.
↺ Security Week ☛ Okta Says US Customers Targeted in Sophisticated Attacks
- Okta says some of its US-based customers have been targeted in social engineering attacks whose goal was to disable MFA and obtain high privileges.
↺ Security Week ☛ Ransomware Attack on Fencing Systems Maker Zaun Impacts UK Military Data
- British mesh fencing systems maker Zaun discloses LockBit ransomware attack potentially impacting data related to UK military and intelligence sites.
↺ RFA ☛ Xiaohongshu: Innocent lifestyle app or another security risk?
- The Chinese social media app, which means “Little Red Book,” has taken off in Taiwan.
- The usage of Blueshell malware spikes up by various threat actors to target Windows, Linux, and other operating systems across Korea and Thailand.
↺ IT Wire ☛ Microsoft says Azure breach ‘probably’ due to account being cracked
- Nearly three months after its Azure cloud was breached, Microsoft says the “probable” cause was the cracking of a staff engineer’s corporate account.
↺ The NitroPC Pro is Qubes-certified!
- It is our pleasure to announce that the NitroPC Pro is officially certified for Qubes OS Release 4!
↺ Security Week ☛ Android Zero-Day Patched With September 2023 Security Updates
- Android’s September 2023 security update resolves a high-severity elevation of privilege vulnerability exploited in malicious attacks.
Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
↺ Cendyne Naga ☛ SSO Sloppy, SSO Suspect, SSO Vulnerable
- Single Sign On (SSO) improves security for organizations and org members in their routine access to applications required by their role. While SSO providers resolve many authentication risks with policies and configuration, new forms of phishing through providers is possible, and should be addressed.
↺ University of Toronto ☛ What I understand about two-factor/multi-factor authentication (in 2023)
- I am broadly a MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) skeptic (cf) and as a result I don’t have much exposure to it. For reasons beyond the scope of this entry, I’ve recently been needing to understand more than usual about how it works from the perspective of people using it, so here is my current understanding of your generally available non-hardware options that can be used in a desktop environment (security keys are out of scope).
- There are three generally available and used approaches to MFA at the moment: SMS, time-based one time passwords (TOTP), and what I’ve heard called ‘push-based approval’ using smartphone apps. Of these, I believe that TOTP is the most popular, and a place that simply talks about ‘MFA’ is probably talking about TOTP MFA authentication, especially if they say they support multiple smartphone apps.
Privacy/Surveillance
↺ OpenRightsGroup ☛ Government admits Spy Clause can’t be used safely
- Open Rights Group has responded to a report that the Government has conceded that it will not use powers to scan private messages until it is “technically feasible” to do so.
- In their open letter, the signatories demand respect for the confidentiality of their medical records,[1] and in particular call for a requirement to obtain the explicit consent of patients before their health data is shared to be used for other purposes. So far, the negotiators in the European Parliament are only proposing a right to object (opt-out).
- MEP Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party), who is co-negotiating the proposal on behalf of the Greens/EFA group, comments on the handover of signatures: [...]
↺ Hackaday ☛ Bespoke Implants Are Real—if You Put In The Time
- A subset of hackers have RFID implants, but there is a limited catalog. When [Miana] looked for a device that would open a secure door at her work, she did not find the implant she needed, even though the lock was susceptible to cloned-chip attacks. Since no one made the implant, she set herself to the task. [Miana] is no stranger to implants, with 26 at the time of her talk at DEFCON31, including a couple of custom glowing ones, but this was her first venture into electronic implants. Or electronics at all. The full video after the break describes the important terms.
↺ WhichUK ☛ The smart device brands harvesting your data
- With security cameras sending data to TikTok, washing machines demanding to know your age, and TVs watching you while you watch them, why are our smart homes spying on us?
Defence/Aggression
↺ The Strategist ☛ AUKUS sparks a revolution in Labor defence policy
- Australian Labor Party debates on defence policy are often full of passion and vigour, especially those involving regional security, nuclear issues and the alliance with the United States.
↺ RFA ☛ Indonesia hosts largest military drills with US, allies amid superpower tensions
- More than 6,000 troops from seven nations will participate in Super Garuda Shield.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ China hones anti-submarine capabilities amid South China Sea tensions
- China’s military said it had recently held intensive anti-submarine exercises in the strategically important South China Sea as part of efforts to hone its capabilities amid rising maritime tensions with its neighbours and their allies.
↺ RFA ☛ US’s Gina Raimondo concludes China visit on mixed notes
- In the latest diplomatic mission, two sides agree on information exchange and tourism summit.
↺ Defence Web ☛ ISS: Benin must target the illicit activities that enable violent extremism
- Terror attacks in northern Benin have been on the rise since 2019. These incidents, attributed to the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), attract media and political attention, but are only the tip of the violent extremism iceberg in Benin.
- SA Navy (SAN) Chief, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese, gave delegates to last week’s IMDEC (International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference) in Ghana an insight into his thinking on improving African maritime security.
↺ France24 ☛ Dozens of soldiers and volunteers killed in northern Burkina Faso attack, says army
- Fifty-three members of the security forces were killed in an attack by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso, the army said on Tuesday.
↺ New York Times ☛ Facing Threats, U.S. Navy Struggles to Modernize Its Ships
- A new generation of cheaper and more flexible vessels could be vital in any conflict with China, but the Navy remains lashed to big shipbuilding programs driven by tradition, political influence and jobs.
- Some experts say China’s problems make it more likely to risk forcefully bringing Taiwan ‘home.’
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Japan makes record defence spending request amid tension with China
- Japan’s defence ministry made a record spending request on Thursday of 7.7 trillion yen ($52.67 billion), for fiscal 2024, the latest step of a plan to boost defence spending by 43 trillion yen over five years.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Philippines rejects China’s expansive sea claims in latest map
- August 31, 2023 2:25 PM
- The Philippines’ rejection followed a similar move by Malaysia on Wednesday.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ China, former Taiwan ally Nicaragua sign wide-ranging free trade deal
- China and Nicaragua signed a free trade agreement (FTA) on Thursday, China’s commerce ministry said, in confirmation of deepening economic ties since the Central American country switched its allegiance to Beijing from Taiwan in 2021.
↺ Off Guardian ☛ The Other 9/11 – Chilean Coup 50 Years On
- The objective was to replace a progressive, democratically elected government by a brutal military dictatorship.
- The military coup was supported by the CIA. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger played a direct role in the military plot.
↺ The Nation ☛ Henry Kissinger’s Malevolent Influence Will Be With Us Long After He’s Gone
- His crimes did come up in the mainstream, only to be dismissed as evidence of his career’s “broad scope.” CNN ran a piece by David Andelman, a former New York Times foreign correspondent and one-time student of Kissinger’s at Harvard. He described watching “in wonder” as demonstrators gathered outside New York City’s 92nd Street YMCA to protest a 2011 talk by the great man himself. How, he asked himself, could they refer to Kissinger as a “renowned war criminal”? A few years later, Andelman added, he found himself wondering again, as a similar set of protesters at the same venue decried Kissinger’s “history concerning Timor-Leste (East Timor), West Papua, Vietnam, Cambodia, Chile, Cyprus, Bangladesh, Angola, and elsewhere.”
↺ NPR ☛ Meet the man leading the front-line effort in Ukraine’s cyber war with Russia
- Vitiuk, the head of the cyber department at Ukraine’s top counterintelligence agency, had already been battling Russian hackers and spies for years. Inspired by James Bond films and a life of adventure, he says he’d been studying all his life for this kind of work.
- But on Feb. 24, 2022, members of that agency — Ukraine’s Security Service, or the SBU — took on another role: physically hauling important servers and technical infrastructure away from Kyiv to protect it from Russian invaders.
- The recent release of masses of documents hacked from Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs in Tehran showed how the regime went into overdrive to secure Assadi’s release by claiming diplomatic immunity. And when that failed, they seized a Belgian charity worker – Olivier Vandecasteele – as a hostage, accusing him of spying and sentencing him to 40 years imprisonment, a $1 million fine, and 74 lashes. The documents illuminate how Tehran used this tactic to negotiate the prisoner exchange with Belgium as far back as 2021. The fact that the Belgian government capitulated to this scandalous blackmail, must surely rank as one of the most reprehensible and egregious acts of appeasement of any government since the days of the Second World War.
↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ Swedish EU diplomat held in Iran for over 500 days — Borrell
- Iran has repeatedly targeted foreigners, imprisoning them on charges of espionage or other violations of national security. Several capitals have accused Iran of practising “hostage diplomacy” — arresting Western nationals to obtain concessions such as the release of detained Iranians.
↺ The Strategist ☛ America needs to out-innovate TikTok
- The result is an addictive, curated experience, which US Federal Communications Commission commissioner Brendan Carr described as ‘digital fentanyl’. The demand for this addictive social media experience is, unfortunately, not going to go away. Worse, the experience is being administered to American TikTok users by China.
↺ CS Monitor ☛ Can Trump be disqualified? The debate over the 14th Amendment.
- Attorneys general in several states are studying a section of the U.S. Constitution that hasn’t come up for about 150 years: Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
- Several conservative legal scholars have suggested that former President Donald Trump – the front-runner for the Republican nomination – could be disqualified due to his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Challenges have been filed in several states, including Colorado, where a lawsuit to disqualify Mr. Trump was filed Wednesday by a watchdog group, and the battlegrounds of New Hampshire, Arizona, and Michigan, where a legal challenge was filed last week.
↺ US News And World Report ☛ Trump Faces First 14th Amendment Challenge to His Presidential Bid
- In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Colorado, Democratic and Republican voters and officials, represented by the D.C.-based nonprofit and nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington, said the 14th Amendment of the Constitution bars Trump from returning to the Oval Office because of his behavior on Jan. 6, 2021.
- The lawsuit is based on a post-Civil War clause of the Constitution that says anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution – as Trump did at his Jan. 20, 2017, inauguration – and afterward “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” is barred from serving in government.
↺ Pro Publica ☛ How the Navy Spent Billions on Failed Littoral Combat Ship Program
- In July 2016, warships from more than two dozen nations gathered off the coasts of Hawaii and Southern California to join the United States in the world’s largest naval exercise. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and others sent hundreds of destroyers, aircraft carriers and warplanes. They streamed in long lines across the ocean, symbols of power and prestige.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Hit Chinese video series stokes calls for British Museum to return artefacts
- The museum holds about eight million objects from six continents.
Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
↺ The Gray Zone ☛ Ukraine’s ‘biggest arms supplier’ orchestrated 2014 Maidan massacre, witnesses say
- The Biden administration is expected to send armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine as part of the latest military aid package, even though the weapons are radioactive and their use causes contamination that is hazardous to human health. It’s the latest escalation in the war between Ukraine and Russia that nonproliferation activists warn could possibly lead to a nuclear confrontation. The United Kingdom already provided Ukraine with depleted uranium munitions earlier this year, one of which sparked contamination fears when it was reportedly destroyed by Russian forces over the weekend, and the Biden administration followed that up by sending cluster bombs, which have been banned by an international treaty ratified by more than 110 nations. “On top of dealing with unexploded cluster munitions, they’re also going to have this huge hazard of depleted uranium to contend with, as well,” Phil Miller, chief reporter for the independent news outlet Declassified UK, says of the risk to civilians.
↺ CS Monitor ☛ Kim could be on his way to Putin to deepen ties. Why now?
- The prospective meeting between North Korea and Russia comes as Russia seeks to bolster its ammunition for its war in Ukraine, U.S. officials say. In return, North Korea is expected to ask for food, energy shipments, and sophisticated weapons technologies.
↺ The Strategist ☛ What next for Russia’s Wagner mercenaries?
- Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner private military company, joined the long list of Russian oligarchs who’ve died since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
↺ JURIST ☛ UK to designate Wagner Group as terrorist organization
- The UK government announced Wednesday that they would designate the Wagner Group, a mercenary group known for their involvement in the war in Ukraine, as a terrorist organization. As a result of the designation, it will be illegal for anyone within the UK for anyone to be a member of or support the Wagner Group.
↺ LRT ☛ Number of Wagner fighters in Belarus decreasing – defence minister
- The number of Wagner mercenaries in Belarus is decreasing, says Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas.
↺ RFERL ☛ U.K. Says It Will Declare Russia’s Wagner Group A Banned Terrorist Organization
- Great Britain announced on September 6 that it will declare Russia’s Wagner mercenary group a banned terrorist organization, saying it remains a threat to global security even after the death of leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
↺ Federal News Network ☛ India’s rising geopolitical clout will be tested as it hosts the G20 summit
- As host of the G20 leading economies this year, India has pledged to put the concerns of developing countries front and center and make sure they’re not left behind. This pledge will be put to the test this week as world leaders arrive in New Delhi for the G20 summit, which begins Saturday. As the grouping’s president, India also has promoted itself as a rising global star with the potential to bridge the gap between the West and Russia. That stance also will be put to the test during the summit. So far, none of the G20 meetings this year have been able to agree on wording about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
↺ AntiWar ☛ In Ukraine, the Best Plan B Is the Plan Before Plan A
- There is a dawning realization that the war in Ukraine is not going to end with the Ukrainian counteroffensive. It is not going to end with a military victory for Ukraine, and it is not going to end by attaining the goals necessary to force Russia to concede Ukraine’s key demands at the negotiating table.
↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Belarus dictator weaponizes passports in new attack on exiled opposition
- Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka has banned the country’s embassies from issuing or renewing passports in a move that critics see as his latest escalation against Belarus’s exiled pro-democracy opposition, writes Hanna Liubakova.
↺ France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: US to arm Ukraine with controversial depleted uranium munitions
- The US on Wednesday announced it was sending depleted uranium anti-tank rounds to Ukraine, following Britain’s lead in sending the controversial munitions to help Kyiv push through Russian lines in its gruelling counteroffensive.
↺ France24 ☛ Blinken announces more than $1 billion in new Ukraine aid on visit to Kyiv
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced over $1 billion of new assistance to Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv Wednesday, which he said would help Ukraine’s counteroffensive “build momentum”. Blinken’s visit came as a Russian strike on a market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region killed at least 17 people and wounded dozens.
↺ RFERL ☛ Russian Drones Again Strike Ukrainian Port Infrastructure
- Ukrainian port infrastructure was damaged in another Russian drone attack early on September 7, as Russia said drones were downed near Moscow and two other regions.
↺ RFERL ☛ U.S. To Give Ukraine Depleted Uranium Rounds For M1 Abrams Tanks
- The United States will provide depleted uranium tank ammunition to Ukraine as part of a $175 million aid package, the Pentagon said on September 6.
↺ RFERL ☛ Russian Missile Strike Kills At Least 17 In East Ukraine, Overshadowing Blinken Visit
- Ukrainian officials said at least 17 people were killed and many others wounded in a Russian missile strike on a busy market in the eastern city of Kostyantynivka, sparking immediate condemnation from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the United Nations, and Kyiv’s allies.
↺ RFERL ☛ Top U.S. Diplomat Arrives In Kyiv Just Hours After Russian Air Attacks
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with top Ukrainian officials in an unannounced trip to Kyiv as he pledged U.S. support for Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive and “what it needs for the long term.”
- A Russian missile tore through an outdoor market in eastern Ukraine, killing 17 people and wounding dozens.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Ukraine is gaining ground in its counter offensive – NATO’s Stoltenberg
- September 07, 2023 5:35 PM
- Ukraine is making progress with a counter offensive started in June to reclaim territory seized by Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, even though it was slow going due to Russian fortifications and minefields.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Russia says US supply of depleted uranium weapons to Ukraine is ‘criminal’
- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday that the US supply of depleted uranium weapons to Ukraine was “a criminal act”, state media reported.
↺ YLE ☛ President Niinistö sees no end in sight to war in Ukraine
- Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö told reporters that the risk of the use of nuclear arms in the conflict should be taken seriously.
↺ New York Times ☛ Ukrainians Embrace Cluster Munitions, but Are They Helping?
- The weapons, banned by most countries over human rights concerns, are ‘not a magic wand,’ but some Ukrainian troops say they are making a difference in fighting Russian forces.
↺ New York Times ☛ Russia-Ukraine War: Southern Russian City Rocked By Explosions
- Russian officials said air defenses shot down two drones over Rostov-on-Don, home to Russia’s southern military headquarters. Ukraine did not immediately comment.
↺ New York Times ☛ Blinken Visits Ukraine as Russian Missile Strike Kills 17
- A Russian missile killed at least 17 civilians and wounded dozens, while Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken vowed lasting backing and announced a new round of aid.
↺ New York Times ☛ Thursday Briefing: Blinken Visits Kyiv
- Plus, the deadliest missile attack in Ukraine in months.
↺ New York Times ☛ Russian Missile Strike Leaves Scene of Carnage at Market in Ukraine
- A Russian missile strike in Kostyantynivka that killed at least 17 and injured more than 30 others was one of the deadliest in months.
↺ Latvia ☛ Experts: Fraudsters don’t always speak Russian
- Fraudsters who call victims by telephone and try to extract bank card data sometimes speak in Latvian, so you can no longer rely on the sign that callers with bad intentions will always speak Russian first of all, security experts told Latvian Radio’s ‘How to live better’ show September 5.
↺ LRT ☛ Lithuanian Railways transported cargo of Russian minister’s wife
- Until the end of last year, LTG Cargo, the freight subsidiary of Lithuania’s state-owned railway group Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), had a contract with the business of the Russian Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov’s spouse.
↺ LRT ☛ Russian citizenship of man who fled Lithuania with child investigated – minister
- The Lithuanian Migration Department is carrying out an investigation into whether Algirdas Švanys, who kidnapped his 9-month-old daughter and took her to Russia’s Kaliningrad, holds Russian citizenship.
↺ LRT ☛ Abducted child returned from Russia to Lithuania, was kept in ‘terrible conditions’
↺ RFERL ☛ ‘Russian Flag Cannot Be At Paris Olympics,’ Macron Says
- French President Emmanuel Macron insisted on September 6 that “the Russian flag cannot be at the Paris Olympic Games…at a time when Russia is committing war crimes.”
- Moldova’s energy minister says the government will propose that Moldovagaz, a subsidiary of Gazprom, pay the Russian gas giant $8.6 million to settle a debt that Gazprom says is more than $700 million.
↺ RFERL ☛ Defense Minister Reportedly Says Parts Of Russian Drone Fell On Romanian Territory
- Parts of a Russian drone fell on Romanian territory, Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said on September 6, the HotNews website reported, citing Antena 3 CNN.
↺ RFERL ☛ EU Court Dismisses Russian Steel Tycoon’s Bid To Avoid EU Sanctions
- A European Union court has rejected an appeal by Russian billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky to be removed from the bloc’s sanctions list for his alleged ties to the Kremlin.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Bangladesh to tackle nuclear power plant issue in Lavrov visit: officials
- September 07, 2023 5:41 PM
- Bangladesh will seek completion of the nuclear plant Moscow is building in the South Asian country during the Russian foreign minister’s first-ever visit to Dhaka, government officials said.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ NATO does not see indication of intentional Russian attack on Romania
- NATO does not have any indication that drone debris found on Romanian territory was caused by an intentional attack launched by Moscow against Romania, the alliance’s chief said on Thursday.
↺ New York Times ☛ Suspected Russian Drone Debris Found in Romania
- The Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, said that if the wreckage was confirmed to be Russian, it would be “a serious violation” of a NATO member’s sovereignty.
Environment
- The same fossil fuel lobbyists pulling out all the stops to defeat game-changing climate legislation in California this month are simultaneously collecting checks from dozens of cities and counties in the state being pummeled by the climate crisis, as well as major environmental and clean-energy groups pushing state lawmakers to adopt solutions, the Lever has learned.
- In other words, powerful California lobbying firms — including those with ties to Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state Democratic leaders — are effectively acting as double agents for both the culprits of climate change and its victims, according to F Minus, a new climate group that reviewed thousands of state registrations for a database exposing the lobbying connections.
↺ El País ☛ US warns of ‘deadly’ bacteria in warming waters near Gulf of Mexico and East Coast
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health advisory warning that “many people with V. vulnificus wound infection require intensive care or surgical tissue removal.” Severe cases might require “amputation of the infected limb.”
- At least six people have died in the East Coast after being infected, said the CDC. The agency noted that about 150–200 V. vulnificus infections are reported each year and about one in five people with the infection die, “sometimes within 1–2 days of becoming ill.”
↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ UN warns of ‘climate breakdown’ after record heat
- Scientists have said the burning of coal, oil and natural gas for human activity is driving ever-higher temperatures around the globe as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere and hold in heat. This year, El Nino, a temporary warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that occurs naturally, has also played a role in raising the global temperature.
↺ France24 ☛ US to ban drilling for oil, gas in Alaska refuge, reversing Trump-era leases
- “As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages,” he said in a statement.
↺ Omicron Limited ☛ Pace of increase in CO2 concentration has increased three-fold: report
- In 2022, there were on average 417 parts per million (ppm) of the planet-warming gas in the air, up 2.2 ppm from the year before, according to the annual State of the Climate report led by scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- China Railway has suspended several major train lines and Shanghai halted trains heading to Guangdong.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Remnants of Typhoon Haikui cause floods in south-eastern China
- The rainfall overnight broke 12-year-old records in Fuzhou city.
↺ New York Times ☛ Typhoon Saola Approaches Southern China
- The tropical cyclone was expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday. Another typhoon was forecast to hit China’s east coast on Sunday.
- The Hong Kong Observatory says it will issue the T3 Strong Wind Signal between 3 pm and 5 pm on Thursday as Tropical Cyclone Saola moves towards the city.
- As the Africa Climate Summit wraps up in Nairobi, we get an update from Kenyan climate justice organizer Eric Njuguna. He says the focus by Western leaders and multinational companies on establishing carbon markets in Africa amounts to a “ticket to pollute” without directly addressing the need to phase out fossil fuels. Njuguna says a key demand from activists is to create access to climate financing without new debt burdens on the continent’s governments. “Africa is bearing the brunt of the climate crisis and people are dying,” says Njuguna.
↺ France24 ☛ Several dead, missing in flooding after Storm Daniel pounds Greece for second day
- At least three people died and four were missing on Wednesday after torrential rain flooded homes and businesses and destroyed infrastructure in central Greece, the fire brigade said.
Energy/Transportation
↺ NL Times ☛ Amsterdam public transport faces fewer changes in 2024 than initially feared
- The Amsterdam public transport company GVB unveiled its 2024 Transport Plan on Tuesday. Despite initial plans that revealed major changes in the number of trams, buses, and metros running, the final plan shows that only a few routes will be shortened or relocated.
↺ Bruce Schneier ☛ Cryptocurrency Startup Loses Encryption Key for Electronic Wallet
- I can’t understand why anyone thinks these technologies are a good idea.
- Prime Trust pitches itself as a [cryptocurrency] fintech company designed to help other startups offer [cryptocurrency] retirement plans, know-your-customer interfaces, ensure liquidity, and a host of other services. It says it can help companies build [cryptocurrency] exchanges, payment platforms, and create stablecoins for its clients. The company has not had a good few months. In June, the state of Nevada filed to seize control of the company because it was near insolvency. It was then ordered to cease all operations by a federal judge because it allegedly used customers’ money to cover withdrawal requests from other companies.
↺ Hackaday ☛ The Computer That Controlled Chernobyl
- When you think of Chernobyl (or Chornobyl, now), you think of the nuclear accident, of course. But have you ever considered that where there is a nuclear reactor, there is a computer control system? What computers were in control of the infamous reactor? [Chornobyl Family] has the answer in a fascinating video documentary you can see below.
Wildlife/Nature
↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Study debunks “opposites attract” myth: Birds of a feather do flock together
- A new study conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder challenges the age-old notion that “opposites attract.” The comprehensive analysis, which examined data from millions of couples over more than a century and across more than 130 traits, found that similarity often draws people together in relationships.
- The study, published on August 31 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, not only debunks the popular belief that dissimilar individuals are more likely to form romantic bonds but also sheds light on the underlying forces shaping human relationships.
↺ ADF ☛ To Disrupt China’s Wildlife Trafficking, Enforcement Targets the ‘Top of the Pyramid’
- In the video call, smuggler Phan Quan made it clear: He needed 20 metric tons of pangolin scales shipped to him in Vietnam. The authorities had seized his previous shipment.
- Three round-the-world sailors have reached land safely after sharks nearly sank their catamaran in the Coral Sea. Both of the inflatable hulls on their 30-foot boat were damaged by what were thought to be cookiecutter sharks. It’s a small species not considered dangerous to people. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority coordinated the rescue of the sailors after they activated an emergency beacon on Wednesday. A freight ship landed them at a Sunshine Coast harbor on Thursday.
Overpopulation
↺ Overpopulation ☛ Procreation and Consumption in the Real World
- The cause of global environmental decline is clear: an immense and rapidly growing human economy, which was twenty-five times larger at the end of the twentieth century than it was at the beginning. Our carbon emissions are a function of feeding, clothing, housing, warming, cooling, transporting, and amusing unprecedented numbers of people in unprecedented luxury with unprecedently powerful technologies. So are the habitat loss and degradation driving biodiversity loss. Ocean acidification, excessive freshwater withdrawals, toxins poisoning soils and waters; in every case, immense human economic demands are driving the rush past boundaries for biospheric health.
- The obvious solution is to decrease the size of the human economy. Under the “if you find yourself in a hole, quit digging” principle, we might at least pause our ceaseless scaling it up. Unfortunately, humanity has built a powerful global economy around the primary goal of rapid, continuous growth. People want their economic demands met, not questioned, and there are more of us than ever—billions more. Furthermore, a dominant economic ideology espouses the possibility, necessity, and goodness of endless growth. Yet realistically, without limiting growth, global environmental decline will continue.
Finance
↺ The Hill ☛ Roku cutting hundreds of jobs, limiting new hiring
- U.S.-based streaming company Roku is planning to cut hundreds of positions in its workforce and slow down its hiring process in an effort to boost profits after a series of quarterly losses.
- In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing Wednesday, Roku, which specializes in audio and video manufacturing, said it plans to lay off 10 percent of its workforce, or approximately 360 people.
↺ Domtar shutting down Espanola mill, 450 jobs to be affected
- After years of operating losses and high costs, Domtar Corporation (Domtar) is shuttering its Espanola, Ont., pulp and paper mill — affecting approximately 450 employees.
- In a news release on Sept. 6, the manufacturer announced that the facility will close in early October. Following the mill’s closure, the paper machines will be “shut down by early November.”
- “The Espanola mill has been challenged for some time now,” Steve Henry, president of Domtar paper and packaging, said in the release.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia seeks return of ex-Goldman banker convicted in 1MDB case
- It wants Roger Ng to return to Malaysia for trial before starting his US prison sentence.
- He explained that gangs would convert their dirty money into Bitcoin and then use the cryptocurrency to pay people who sold fake streams on Spotify — many of whom they meet on Facebook. Those people “made sure we ended up at the top of the charts,” he said, noting that the fake streams would lead to a noticeable uptick in legitimate streams. Higher streams then lead to higher payouts from Spotify.
- “Spotify has become a bank machine for the gangs. There’s a direct link to the gangs and the deadly violence,” an investigative police officer who wished to remain anonymous told Svenska Dagbladet. Police data reveals that in 2022, Sweden registered 90 blasts, another 101 cases of attempted bombings or preparations for bombings, and 91 shootings, 62 of which were fatal.
↺ teleSUR ☛ Climate Change Imperils US Farmworkers
- As average temperatures increase and heat waves strike the United States, the heat stress on farmworkers is getting worse.
- To bolster financial inclusion in the Caribbean, the United States must treat corresponding banking relationships as a public good.
↺ Latvia ☛ Latvian central bank publishes major crisis advice
- The Latvian central bank, Latvijas Banka (LB) said September 7 it is advising people to familiarise themselves with what to expect if a major crisis hits the country, and has published a booklet containing advice.
↺ Vice Media Group ☛ CYBER: Hot Labor Summer
- From the Hollywood strike to the teamsters, labor movements in the U.S. are having a moment.
*
- The charges against her are baseless, defective and premature, said Rosmah.
AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
↺ RFA ☛ Hong Kongers step up calls for UK sanctions despite climate of fear
- Campaign groups are putting up posters in British universities, only to see them torn down overnight.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Maldives election: could be key for China, India rivalry
- A presidential election in the Maldives on Saturday could be decisive in determining whether China or India win a competition for influence over the tiny Indian Ocean island chain.
- Australia and China have started their first high-level dialogue in three years in a sign of a slight thaw to relations between countries that have clashed on human rights, COVID-19 and trade. The head of the Australia delegation said he welcomed the positive developments but there was more work to do. The dialogue that opened in Beijing on Thursday will focus on trade, people-to-people links and security. China’s former Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said the two countries should work together while adhering to the liberalization of trade. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also met with China’s Premier Li Qiang at a regional summit. His office said Albanese would visit China later this year at the invitation of China’s leader Xi Jinping.
- Chinese exports and imports both fell in August, reflecting tepid global demand that is adding to pressures on its slowing economy. Customs data released Thursday showed exports for August slumped 8.8% from a year earlier, while imports slid 7.3%. The total trade surplus for the world’s No. 2 economy shrank to $68.4 billion from $80.6 billion in July. China’s trade has been slowing for two years, sapped by a weakening global economy and by a lackluster recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. But the declines in August were less severe than in July. China’s exports to the U.S. fell 17% in August from a year earlier, while exports to Southeast Asia dropped 13%.
↺ Reason ☛ Justice or Persecution? The Trump Dilemma
- Join Reason on YouTube and Facebook at 12 p.m. Eastern for a discussion of the Trump indictments with Ilya Somin of the Volokh Conspiracy.
↺ RFA ☛ New law will allow Beijing to seize foreign government assets
- The Foreign State Immunity Law takes China’s ‘Wolf Warrior’ diplomacy a step further.
↺ RFA ☛ Roadmap to roiled relations
↺ The Straits Times ☛ China’s Li promotes greater cooperation with Indonesia
- It wants to expand cooperation in various areas including green energy, digital economy and AI.
↺ teleSUR ☛ China-Tanzania Forum, +100 Chinese Investors to Attend
- Leodegar Tenga, CTI executive director, said Tanzanian industrialists looked forward to attending the forum, stressing that China is a perfect partner when it comes to the development of an industrial economy.
↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ EU imposes stricter rules on ‘gatekeeper’ tech giants
- The designated companies will have to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to ensure greater competition in the EU’s digital market. It entered into force in November 2022.
- While the DMA includes rules for gatekeepers, the EU has only specified now who these gatekeepers will be.
- To comply with the legislation, the companies will have to ensure that their services are compatible with competitors’ products, and are obliged to share data with them, among other things. Compiling user data from different sources will only be allowed with explicit user consent.
↺ France24 ☛ EU hits Apple, Meta and other tech ‘gatekeepers’ with new regulations
- The latest announcement is a milestone in the application of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will force the largest firms to change their ways under a checklist of dos and don’ts and, regulators hope, create a fairer market.
- Observers say the law could open a new battlefront between digital titans and the European Union as some companies consider launching legal challenges.
- The European Commission, the EU’s powerful antitrust body, named 22 “core platform” services belonging to five US tech behemoths identified as “gatekeepers” — Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft — and China’s ByteDance.
- The problems with government’s Bill C-18 draft regulations involve more than just what amounts to a 4% link tax on Google and Meta alongside little effort to ensure the resulting revenues are used to support spending on journalists and news content. As noted in previous posts, the draft regulations put an end to the claim that the Online News Act involves compensation for news creation since the standards are now simply a function of Internet platform revenues, not news production costs. Given the global implications of a 4% tax on revenues to support media, that approach likely further cements Meta’s decision to comply with the law by stopping news links and increases the chances that Google follows suit.
Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
↺ The Straits Times ☛ Australia’s COVID agitators inject misinformation into Indigenous Voice vote
Censorship/Free Speech
- From today’s decision by Judge Paul Oetken in Atas v. N.Y. Times Co.: Plaintiff Nadire Atas, proceeding pro se, brings this action against Defendants The New York Times Company [and others], alleging defamation. According to Atas, The Times—through news articles, podcast episodes, and interviews of its journalists—defamed her by describing her as a mentally ill…
↺ Reason ☛ Responding to Reader Comments on The Five Internet Rights
- Seven-layer stacks, messy anecdotes, and the conservative case for net neutrality.
↺ The Straits Times ☛ China considers law banning clothes that ‘hurt feelings’ of others
- People could face jail time and fines who offend the government’s sensibilities by wearing the wrong clothing.
↺ Sparrow Media ☛ Elon Musk Escalates Speech-Chilling Attacks on His Critics
- “Elon Musk’s professed commitment to free speech is nothing more than fig leaf flapping in the wind,” said Media Matters Chairman and CEO Angelo Carusone. “For Musk, it’s always been about morphing Twitter into a free for all that enables extremists and promotes his red-pilled worldview. Rarely does a day go by where Musk does not further expose himself as a volatile and petty hypocrite. “We know that Musk is going to continue to ratchet up the temperature on the simmering cauldron of deceit and hate that Twitter has become. Accordingly, the most important question isn’t what Musk will do next, it’s what will Twitter’s few remaining big-name advertisers and business partners do now? Continuing to support Twitter in its current state is akin to actively financing hate. It’s also a truly bizarre decision given that it’s only a matter of time before they inevitably get scorched by the noxious stew that Musk is cooking.”
↺ Tedium ☛ The Barenaked Truth
- When an artist brings up cancel culture, it’s usually because they’re super-edgy or deeply political. So why are the Barenaked Ladies doing it?
↺ Reason ☛ Two-Thirds of College Students Think Shouting Down A Public Speaker Can Be Acceptable
- Even at schools with solid speech policies, many students show little tolerance for opposing political beliefs.
↺ Helsinki Times ☛ The law should not determine what is true in history
- The government’s statement against racism declared that the denial of the Holocaust would be criminalised in Finland’s legislation. Prohibiting the public use of Nazi symbols is a contemporary concern, and celebrating the memory of Holocaust victims is undoubtedly a commendable idea. However, criminalising Holocaust denial presents a different kind of issue. It is not primarily a question of freedom of speech because this right is not absolute and cannot legitimise hate speech.
Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
↺ Deutsche Welle ☛ Myanmar jails journalist for 20 years over cyclone reporting
- Myanmar is one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists according to advocacy groups.
- Activists at the Detained Journalist Group report that over 150 journalists have been arrested, and four media workers have lost their lives since the coup.
- “His sentencing is yet another indication that freedom of the press has been completely quashed under the military junta’s rule, and shows the hefty price independent journalists in Myanmar must pay for their professional work,” Myanmar Now Editor-in-Chief Swe Win said in a statement.
- Military authorities raided Myanmar Now’s office in Yangon shortly after the February 2021 coup and later revoked the independent news outlet’s publishing license, those reports said.
↺ CPJ ☛ Three more journalists arrested under Ethiopia’s state of emergency
- The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday expressed deep concern about the arrest of three journalists only weeks after Ethiopia declared a state of emergency and called on authorities to promptly release all members of the press detained for their work.
Civil Rights/Policing
↺ Global News CA ☛ Canada’s tech sector latest industry to experience shift away from remote work
- When Heather Aleinik was laid off from Shopify Inc. last summer, it was “one of the biggest curveballs” of her career.
- The now 29-year-old Calgary woman had discovered remote work was conducive to her neurodivergence and love of travel while at the Ottawa-based e-commerce company, which launched a remote work policy at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic – a policy it claimed would be permanent.
- Aleinik eventually found a new job at a software firm advertising a “five-year remote commitment,” but just as she started to get comfortable, the company built a new office in Florida and its CEO started extolling the benefits of working on-site. She quit just before employees living near the office were ordered back three days a week.
↺ New accusation to imprisoned Kurdish women politicians: ‘Producing alcohol in prison’
- A lawsuit has been filed against Ayla Akat Ata, Ayşe Yağcı, Dilek Yağlı, Meryem Adıbelli, and Pervin Oduncu, accusing them of “producing ethyl alcohol” requesting imprisonment of one to three years.
↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ UK foreign secretary says he raised human rights concerns on China visit
- British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he had raised human rights concerns at “every single one” of his meetings with top Chinese officials, as he made a state visit to Beijing on Wednesday.
↺ RFA ☛ Remembering enforced disappearance victims in Asia
- Tibetans, Uyghurs and Burmese are among the many victims of enforced disappearances in Asia.
↺ New York Times ☛ Mass Hunger Strike in Bahrain Prison Sets Off Rare Protests
- In a kingdom that crushed an Arab Spring uprising more than a decade ago, prisoners are now on hunger strike to demand better conditions, fueling protests in support of their cause.
↺ RFA ☛ Stop tourism of Xinjiang, Uyghur advocacy group says
- By offering tours, travel agencies are implicitly supporting China’s repression of Uyghurs, it says.
↺ New York Times ☛ Workers Plow Through Great Wall of China, Leaving a Hole
- The pair, a 38-year-old man and 55-year-old woman, used an excavator to widen an existing gap and make a shortcut, the authorities said.
↺ CS Monitor ☛ Rural police forces are closing. We don’t need them, residents say.
- Staffing difficulties continue to challenge small-town police departments. A combination of factors, from police criticism to the pandemic to low salaries, are among the reasons why more police are leaving forces.
- China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced Monday that China has arrested Cui Maohu, former head of its National Religious Affairs Administration, over bribe-taking suspicions. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate is China’s highest prosecutorial organ.
↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Great Wall of shame: two held after smashing hole in China landmark
- Two people have been detained after using an excavator to dig a hole in the Great Wall of China, state broadcaster CCTV said.
↺ RFA ☛ Activist wins partial victory in Hong Kong same-sex marriage appeal
- The court says the city must provide a legal framework for the recognition of same-sex relationships.
↺ RFA ☛ Hong Kong students to go on more ‘red’ study trips to mainland China
- The government expands a program of compulsory school trips as universities follow suit.
- Georgia is intensifying its crackdown against opponents of Cop City, with the state’s Republican attorney general announcing sweeping indictments of 61 people on racketeering charges over protests and other activism related to the $90 million police training facility planned to be built in Atlanta. The RICO charges were approved by the same grand jury that indicted former President Trump and 18 others on RICO charges in the same county by the Democratic district attorney, and come after many of the same people were earlier charged with domestic terrorism and money laundering as part of the Stop Cop City movement, which is still seeking to block construction of the new police complex. “They are choosing to use the legal process in an essentially violent way to target protesters,” says attorney Devin Franklin with the Southern Center for Human Rights, which is organizing legal representation for the defendants in the case. We also speak with Keyanna Jones, a Stop Cop City organizer with Community Movement Builders, who notes the indictments are dated from May 25, 2020, the day Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. “Since that date, this country has been upended by governments across the nation trying to build Cop Cities in order to quell protest,” says Jones. “The government is simply upset that people seek to … use their First Amendment right to protest when we see injustice coming from those in authority.”
↺ CoryDoctorow ☛ NLRB rules that any union busting means automatic union recognition
- At issue in Cemex was what the NLRB should do about employers that violate labor law during union drives. For decades, even the most flagrantly illegal union-busting was met with a wrist-slap. For example, if a boss threatened or fired an employee for participating in a union drive, the NLRB would typically issue a small fine and order the employer to re-hire the worker and provide back-pay.
- Everyone knows that “a fine is a price.” The NLRB’s toothless response to cheating presented an easily solved equation for corrupt, union-hating bosses: if the fine amounts to less than the total, lifetime costs of paying a fair wage and offering fair labor conditions, you should cheat – hell, it’s practically a fiduciary duty: [...]
↺ Truthdig ☛ Cop City Protestors Hit With RICO Charges in Latest Act of Political Repression
- Stop Cop City organizers have fought for years to halt the construction of the massive police and fire training facility. Opponents have expressed concern that it will lead to further police militarization, while also destroying several acres of forestland that they say are crucial to the area’s climate resiliency. In January, Georgia State Police officers shot and killed activist Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Terán while clearing out a protest encampment in the forest. Authorities claim Paez Terán fired on officers first, but Paez Terán’s family has contested this narrative. An independent autopsy released by the family in March showed that Paez Terán’s hands were raised at the time of the shooting.
- The state’s use of RICO charges against Stop Cop City activists marks the latest escalation in an increasingly authoritarian crackdown on the protest movement. Earlier this year, prosecutors with the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office filed domestic terrorism charges against 42 Cop City protesters, many of whom are also named in the RICO indictment. One of the people hit with RICO charges had previously been arrested for handing out fliers calling one of the officers involved in Paez Terán’s killing a murderer.
↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Researchers Gave Unhoused People $7,500. What Happened Next Is Incredible.
- For now, Zhao says the takeaway from the study is, “For people who pass the screening criteria in our study, the policy implication is that government should increase the income assistance for these folks so they can get back into housing and get their life back.”
Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Che-Hoo Cheng gave the APNIC Report at APAN 56, held in Colombo, Sir Lanka from 21 to 25 August 2023.
↺ APNIC ☛ APNIC celebrates 30 years: Part 2 — First light, notes on the APNIC origin story
- Find out how APNIC grew to a community of 24,000 participants across 56 economies.
Monopolies
↺ I Programmer ☛ Google Turns 25
- At the end of September 2023 Google will officially celebrate its 25th birthday. In fact the day itself has already come and gone as it was on September 4th, 1998 that Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
- From today’s perspective it is difficult to imagine a world without either the Google search engine or the World Wide Web – a combination that has brought untold convenience to individuals, businesses and governments.
↺ New York Times ☛ In Its First Monopoly Trial of Modern Internet Era, U.S. Sets Sights on Google
- The Justice Department has spent three years over two presidential administrations building the case that Google illegally abused its power over online search to throttle competition. To defend itself, Google has enlisted hundreds of employees and three powerful law firms and spent millions of dollars on legal fees and lobbyists.
- On Tuesday, a judge in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will begin considering their arguments at a trial that cuts to the heart of a long-simmering question: Did today’s tech giants become dominant by breaking the law?
↺ New York Times ☛ Google Turns to a Steady Old Hand to Fight Antitrust Charges
- Now, Google and its parent company, Alphabet, are facing their most significant legal challenge. They are preparing to face off next week in federal court against the Justice Department and a collection of states, which claim the tech giant illegally abused its monopoly power to keep its search engine on top.
- The Justice Department has argued that Google illegally used agreements with phone makers like Apple and Samsung, as well as internet browsers like Mozilla, to be the default search engine for their users, preventing smaller rivals from getting access to that business.
↺ Silicon Angle ☛ EU designates six tech giants as gatekeepers under DMA law
Patents
↺ Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Brazil: how to successfully amend claims during patent examination
- In Brazil amendments to claims are possible if the patent applicant can show the changes are limited to the matter initially disclosed in the patent application (Article 32 of Patent Statute 9,279 of 1996). Thus, like most other countries, Brazilian patent law contains a prohibition against added matter.
- Over the past three years, Thierry Lautier (41) has built up Reed Smith’s patent litigation practice in Paris. With his legal and engineering background in optics and electronics, he works for companies in the digital communication and automotive industries, among others.
- In 2019, Sisvel began asserting its U.S. Patent Nos. 7,433,698 and 8,364,196 against cell phone makers, wireless chip suppliers, and cellular network operators. These patents claim methods and systems for exchanging frequency information between a mobile station and a mobile switching center to facilitate switching a mobile device’s connection point within a cellular network. Several defendants petitioned the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) for inter partes review (IPR), arguing that the challenged claims were invalid as anticipated and/or obvious based on prior art references. The PTAB instituted IPR and ultimately issued final written decisions concluding that the claims were unpatentable. See IPR2020-01070, Paper No. 31 (PTAB Nov. 8, 2021); IPR2020-01071, Paper No. 30 (PTAB Nov. 8, 2021).
Trademarks
↺ TTAB Blog ☛ Recommended Reading: “FIFTY YEARS OF McCARTHY ON TRADEMARKS”
- The latest issue of the The Trademark Reporter includes a Commentary [pdf here]. by Professor J. Thomas McCarthy on the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his treatise, McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition. The treatise has been relied on as an authority in over 8,000 judicial decisions, including in eighteen U.S. Supreme Court opinions.
Copyrights
- Just days after Geffen and Hybe announced the (potential) members of their long-awaited girl group, K-pop firm Attrakt has teased a new girl group of its own and secured a reported $7.5 million investment. Seoul-headquartered Attrakt, the agency behind Fifty Fifty, just recently scored the multimillion-dollar investment and informed fans of the forthcoming girl group.
- We now know over 90,000 preprints¹ have been posted to various preprint servers since January 2020 and a new preprint by Lariviére et al. (2023) found that 79.9% of COVID-19 papers between January 2020² and December 2021 are open access. So if researchers recognized and responded to the need for rapid, open access to COVID-19 research, what about other global challenges?
↺ Creative Commons ☛ Anya Kamenetz to Keynote CC Global Summit 2023
- We have an incredible group of people lined up to be keynote speakers at the 2023 CC Global Summit, to be held 3–6 October in Mexico City. In our first announcement, we welcome writer Anya Kamenetz, who will close the Summit with a keynote that grows out of her work as a journalist, and now, activist focused on climate education for children.
- The US Copyright Office has ruled that streaming services must pay late fees on royalty payments in connection with the Music Modernization Act’s blanket mechanical license.
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