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● 04.05.23

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● Links 05/04/2023: elementaryOS Updates and MidnightBSD 3.0.1

Posted in News Roundup at 8:37 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

=> ↺ Linux Format 301

• We’ll keep your PCs old and new running that little bit longer with a combination of Linux Mint 21 and Linux Mint Debian Edition.

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ TUXEDO Stellaris 16 (Gen5) is The Ultimate Linux Laptop You Can Find Now

• TUXEDO Computers is a well-known brand in the Linux space that provide customizable Linux notebooks and Desktop PCs at various price/performance points.

• Not to forget, it is one of the trusted places to buy Linux computers.

• With a recent announcement, they have launched the next evolution of their Stellaris 16-inch laptop.

=> ↺ System76 Teases In-House Built Laptop

• System76, one of the most popular makers of Linux-powered laptops and desktops, has indicated they are moving forward with “Virgo,” a new laptop that will be manufactured in their Denver factory.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Makulu Voice Controller Update 3

• We have made a new Little Teaser Video showing off the voice Controller in the works. Enjoy the video…

=> ↺ The future of Linux as a gaming platform

• Listen now (19 min) | The Lunduke Journal of Technology Podcast – Apr 4, 2023

Applications

=> ↺ 26 Best Free Linux Terminal Emulators (Updated 2023)

• A terminal emulator is computer software which emulates a dumb video terminal. We make our recommendations.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to Enable Flatpak and AppImage Support in Ubuntu 23.04

• This simple tutorial is going to show you how to add both latpak and AppImage package format support, while Ubuntu does not support them out-of-the-box. Enable Flatpak Support in Ubuntu Ubuntu is focusing on the native deb and snap support. The developer team has officially announced that they won’t support Flatpak out-of-the-box.

=> ↺ How To Install Pale Moon Browser on Linux Mint 21

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install the Pale Moon browser on Linux Mint 21.

=> ↺ How To Install APF on Rocky Linux 9

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install APF on Rocky Linux 9. As Linux enthusiasts, we understand the importance of securing our systems against potential threats.

=> ↺ How To Install Apache Nifi on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Apache Nifi on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Are you looking to set up an efficient data processing system for your organization?

=> ↺ How to Check Your BIOS Version on Linux

• Find out how to check your BIOS version on Linux and ensure your system is running at its best. It is easier than you think with our guide.

=> ↺ LHB Linux Digest #23.04: Firewall Logs, Bash Tips and FREE Docker eBook

• Time for a small gift. Get this Docker Beginner book and start your Docker journey.

=> ↺ How to Install LAMP Server on RHEL, CentOS, Rocky & AlmaLinux

• A LAMP stack is a collection of four different software (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) that programmers or web developers use to create and deploy websites or applications.

=> ↺ Why It Was Important to Translate Linux Foundation Training Manuals to Ukrainian

• The software industry plays a large role in Ukraine’s economy, with many Ukrainian developers working remotely from Ukraine for software vendors located in the EU, UK, and US. Training manuals in the Ukrainian language will help veterans of Ukraine’s military struggles against Russia take advantage of this opportunity.

Games

=> ↺ New Steam Games with Native Linux Clients with Shogun Showdown and Saga of Sins – 2023-04-05 Edition

• Between 2023-03-29 and 2023-04-05 there were 40 New Steam games released with Native Linux clients. For reference, during the same time, there were 317 games released for Windows on Steam, so the Linux versions represent about 12.6 % of total…

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ elementaryOS Updates for March, 2023

• March was all about bug fixes. This month don’t expect too many new features, but instead get excited about improved stability and closed issue reports! The team has been hard at work sorting through your feedback and smoothing out all of the wrinkles.

• Since sideloading is an expected and important part of installing apps on elementary OS, we’ve made a couple of changes to help you stay informed and be in control. Instead of describing sideloaded apps as “Untrusted”, we’ve updated interface copy to instead ask for your trust. Additionally, we now show some basic feedback about the kinds of broad system permissions that a sideloaded app may request. This will likely get more fine-grained in the future, but for now we can warn about apps that request advanced permissions and let you know when an app is more tightly sandboxed.

EasyOS/OpenEmbedded

=> ↺ gnupg signed-key-pair created in initrd

• Posted earlier today about compiling gnupg version 1.4.23 in OE:

• https://bkhome.org/news/202304/gnupg1-static-compile-in-oe.html

• And always require a root password be set:

• https://bkhome.org/news/202304/always-ask-for-root-password-at-first-bootup.html

=> ↺ Always ask for root password at first bootup

• At first bootup of a new installation of Easy, a password is asked for, to encrypt some folders in the working-partition. The same password is also applied to ‘root’ and ‘zeus’ users.

• However, some people do not enter a password, so the folders are not encrypted. That may be a deliberate choice, or they may be forced as booting from an old GRUB (v1 and early-v2) or GRUB4DOS that does not recognize an ext4 filesystem with the encrypt-feature enabled.

=> ↺ gnupg1 static compile in OE

• Back around mid-2018, I investigated Flatpaks, and as part of that, used the ‘gpg’ utility, version 1.4.23, to generate a signed-key-pair in the initrd. Posted about it here:

• https://bkhome.org/news/201806/auto-generated-gnupg-signed-key-pair.html

• The latest OpenEmbedded/Yocto project, ‘oe-qky-kirkstone’, was not setup for compiling with musl. In 2018, I had OE setup to compile with musl, so as to create small statically-linked utilities, such as ‘busybox’ and ‘gpg’.

BSD

=> ↺ MidnightBSD 3.0.1

• 3.0.1 was tagged in our git repository and we’ve started building ISOs for it.? It includes several security updates such as OpenSSL 1.1.1t, doas 6.3p9, a fix for a telnetd vulnerability.? It also includes some cleanup work on rc.d scripts, fixes for periodic scripts that were incorrect around ntpd and restoring msearch/mport db backups.? ?We also updated mport to 2.2.9 which fixed the mport mirror list command.

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family

=> ↺ OpenMandriva repository mass rebuild

• We are currently running a mass rebuild of all packages making up OpenMandriva, because we have updated our main compiler (this is the tool that translates programmer readable code into machine code) to Clang 16.

• While not strictly necessary, after a big compiler update it is a good idea to rebuild everything: it makes the system more reproducable (if you rebuild a package, you get the same results), it may well speed up things (because the newer compiler generates better machine code), and last but not least it makes sure the updated compiler is working properly.

=> ↺ 2023-03-31 [Older] OpenMandriva at Cloudfest

Red Hat

=> ↺ Red Hat OpenShift sandboxed containers for debugging with elevated privileges

=> ↺ How API burn rate alerts are calculated in Red Hat OpenShift

=> ↺ Kubernetes Patterns: The path to cloud native

• Note: The following is an excerpt from Kubernetes Patterns, Second Edition by Bilgin Ibryam and Roland Huß (O’Reilly Media, March 2023). Download the e-book to learn how to solve common cloud native challenges with proven design patterns.

• Microservices is among the most popular architectural styles for creating cloud native applications. They tackle software complexity through modularization of business capabilities and trading development complexity for operational complexity. That is why a key prerequisite for becoming successful with microservices is to create applications that can be operated at scale through Kubernetes.

• As part of the microservices movement, there is a tremendous amount of theory, techniques, and supplemental tools for creating microservices from scratch or for splitting monoliths into microservices. Most of these practices are based on Domain-Driven Design by Eric Evans (Addison-Wesley) and the concepts of bounded contexts and aggregates. Bounded contexts deal with large models by dividing them into different components, and aggregates help to further group bounded contexts into modules with defined transaction boundaries. However, in addition to these business domain considerations, for each distributed system—whether it is based on microservices or not—there are also technical concerns around its external structure, and runtime coupling. Containers and container orchestrators such as Kubernetes bring in new primitives and abstractions to address the concerns of distributed applications, and here we discuss the various options to consider when putting a distributed system into Kubernetes.

• Throughout this book, we look at container and platform interactions by treating the containers as black boxes. However, we created this section to emphasize the importance of what goes into containers. Containers and cloud native platforms bring tremendous benefits to your distributed applications, but if all you put into containers is rubbish, you will get distributed rubbish at scale. Figure 1-1 shows the mixture of the skills required for creating good cloud native applications and where Kubernetes patterns fit in.

=> ↺ IT leadership: How to prevent overwork and employee burnout

=> ↺ Security automation: 3 ways it enhances infrastructure protection

Debian Family

=> ↺ Survey results: the usage of money in Debian

• The Debian project has reported on a survey of developers on the use of project funds to support development work.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Ubuntu Blog: Ubuntu compliance monitoring with Microsoft Intune

• In recent years, data science, AI and software development have become a key focus area for organisations operating in every sector of the economy.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Blog: Canonical at HPE APAC Outcome-Based Solutions 2023

• Canonical is proud to participate to the HPE APAC, India and Japan Outcome-Based Solutions and Master ASE Summit 2023. This event will gather presales consultants and enterprise architects to explore innovative strategies powered by HPE’s edge-to-cloud workload solutions and products.

• Canonical’s sponsorship of the OBSS event demonstrates its unwavering commitment to promoting open-source technology in the tech industry. The event provides an excellent opportunity for the company to showcase its innovative solutions, connect with like-minded professionals, and explore potential collaborations. Attendees can expect to gain valuable insights into open-source solutions and how they can be leveraged to drive business growth.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Portable bioprinter could help fight cancer

• To test experimental cancer-fighting therapies, researchers need cancerous tumors to treat. While lab animals, like mice, can provide those tumors, they come with many downsides. From ethical concerns to practical reasons, such as tumor isolation and repeatability, “natural” tumors come at a cost. Artificial tumors, made using real cells, can solve these problems.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ Google is now letting you stream apps from your Android phone to a Chromebook

=> ↺ Google will require that Android apps let you delete your account and data | Engadget

=> ↺ How to find hidden apps on Android

=> ↺ Grab These 6 Free Android Mobile Games Before Easter Is Over!

=> ↺ People are just realizing Google has hidden ‘boost button’ in Android phones – tap it for long list of perks | The US Sun

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ Record Companies in Germany Take Successful Action Against Hosting Provider of Stream Ripping Software, YouTube-DL

• IFPI and BVMI have managed successful action against the web hosting provider of stream ripping software YouTube-DL. The Hamburg Regional Court has issued an injunction requiring the individual to stop hosting the software. YouTube-DL allows users to download content directly from YouTube, circumventing the protection measures in place for licensed streamed content.

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ Crackdown on ‘dark’ internet design on the cards

• Dark web design tricks asking consumers to jump through multiple hoops to unsubscribe – a tactic often used by online streaming services – could soon be captured under tightened consumer laws.

Leftovers

=> ↺ 2023-03-28 [Older] Rolling-mill Oops

=> ↺ 2023-03-28 [Older] Sober Carpenter

Science

=> ↺ ‘Snowball Earth’ May Not Have Been An Endless Frozen Wasteland After All

• Cracks in the surface.

=> ↺ Blind People Possess an Acute Awareness of Their Own Heartbeat

• An enhanced ability is revealed.

=> ↺ Banned Ozone-Destroying Chemicals Mysteriously Hit Record High

• “We do not fully understand where they are coming from.”

=> ↺ NASA Unveils Astronauts For First Human Mission to The Moon in Over 50 Years

• History in the making!

=> ↺ US Scientist to Live Underwater For 100 Days in Record-Breaking Experiment

• Nobody knows what’s going to happen.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ J&J proposes paying $8.9B to settle talcum powder lawsuits

• Johnson & Johnson is earmarking nearly $9 billion to cover allegations that its baby power containing talc caused cancer. The amount more than quadruples that which the company had previously set aside to pay for its potential liability. Under a proposal announced Tuesday, a J&J subsidiary will re-file for bankruptcy protection and seek court approval for a plan that would result in one of the largest product-liability settlements in U.S. history. The $8.9 billion that J&J would transfer to the subsidiary, LTL Management, would be payable over the next 25 years. The amount is a significant increase from the $2 billion that the company previously set aside.

=> ↺ Scientists Find Antibiotic-Free Way to Treat Drug-Resistant Infections

• The need is urgent.

=> ↺ India doctors continue protests against healthcare bill

• A large number of private doctors in the Indian state of Rajasthan Sunday continued their weeks-long protest against the recently passed Right to Health Bill.

=> ↺ 2023-03-28 [Older] To Understand Anti-vaxxers, Consider Aristotle

=> ↺ What drugs are dosed other than in milligrams?

• Warning! The intended audience of this article is medical professionals and students. I am not your doctor. This article is not medical advice.

Proprietary

=> ↺ Largest Global Layoffs For 2023 So Far: What Is In Store For Kenya?

• At the same time, Microsoft in Kenya has been laying off employees since the year began. Most of those laid off had been poached from giant companies such as Safaricom. Banks and other companies have also been following suit.

=> ↺ Microsoft ditches plans for 500,000 sq ft London office

• Microsoft has called off the search for a swanky 500,000 sq ft office in the heart of England’s capital amid a cost-cutting drive that has seen thousands of employees forced out.

• According to React News, Microsoft’s office tenancy in Reading is coming to an end in 2026 so senior management were eyeing up other options.

=> ↺ Amazon Games cuts over 100 employees in latest round of layoffs

• Amazon Games is cutting over 100 employees as part of the most recently announced wave of layoffs. As CNBC reports, Amazon Games Vice President Christoph Hartmann announced the news in a company memo on April 4. Hartmann wrote in the memo,

=> ↺ iPink Slips: Apple Deviates from No-Layoff Policy with Recent Job Cuts

• Estranged from its contemporaries amid massive tech layoffs sweeping across the industry including the Big tech layoffs, Apple has now had to jump on the diabolical bandwagon of corporate furloughs. As prudent efficiencies go, corporate layoffs in technology take the off-putting biscuit.

• When the tech giant introduced the first-ever color graphics in the computer industry, it had ricocheted to $117 million in sales in 1980 from a modest $7.8 million in 1978. The glorious success of Apple is multidimensional, but unshakable as the company that espoused ‘innovation’. Even the 1996’s almost-bankruptcy crisis was averted when Steve Jobs decided to return to Apple to erode its standstill development.

• So why did Apple, the company that distinguished itself from the wave of big tech layoffs over the industry, suddenly bite the dust?

=> ↺ Layoffs hit Apple workforce

• Cupertino-based tech giant Apple has joined industry counterparts in instituting layoffs this week, according to a new report by Bloomberg. The job cuts will reportedly be confined to “a small number of roles within its corporate retail teams.”

• The news comes one week after a security contractor retained by Apple laid off hundreds of workers, a move the company described as a shift in service providers.

Security

=> ↺ Security updates for Wednesday [LWN.net]

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (ghostscript and openimageio), Fedora (kernel, rubygem-actioncable, rubygem-actionmailbox, rubygem-actionmailer, rubygem-actionpack, rubygem-actiontext, rubygem-actionview, rubygem-activejob, rubygem-activemodel, rubygem-activerecord, rubygem-activestorage, rubygem-activesupport, rubygem-rails, and rubygem-railties), Oracle (gnutls, httpd, kernel, nodejs:16, nodejs:18, pesign, postgresql:13, tigervnc, and tigervnc, xorg-x11-server), Red Hat (gnutls, httpd, httpd:2.4, kernel, kpatch-patch, pcs, pesign, postgresql:13, tigervnc, and tigervnc, xorg-x11-server), Scientific Linux (httpd and tigervnc, xorg-x11-server), SUSE (aws-efs-utils.11048, libheif, liblouis, openssl, python-cryptography, python-Werkzeug, skopeo, tomcat, and wireshark), and Ubuntu (imagemagick, ipmitool, and node-trim-newlines).

=> ↺ 2023-03-30 [Older] Ruby 2.7.8 Released

=> ↺ 2023-03-30 [Older] Ruby 3.0.6 Released

=> ↺ 2023-03-30 [Older] Ruby 3.1.4 Released

=> ↺ HIPAA Data Breach Costs Company Nearly $300,000 In DOJ False Claims Act Settlement

=> ↺ 17 arrests in NL as Operation Cookiemonster takes down hacker site

• Seventeen people have been arrested in the Netherlands has part of a global investigation into a hacker market place named Genesis Market which was offering over two million identities for sale. In the Netherlands itself, tens of thousands of people were in ‘acute danger’ of being targeted, Dutch police said. The operation, described as an ‘unprecedented law enforcement operation’ by European police agency Europol, was led by the FBI and Dutch national force. Operation Cookiemonster led to hundreds of raids in 17 different countries and 119 arrests. Those arrested in the Netherlands were involved in plundering bank accounts, stealing crypto currencies, hijacking people’s online identities and blackmailing companies and private individuals.

=> ↺ Japan braced for rise in ransomware attacks after data breach

• A hacking attack at Japan’s largest IT company is spilling across the country’s corporate sector, with cyber security experts warning that it could trigger a surge in attempts by organised criminal gangs to extort hefty ransoms from companies and their customers.

• More than 10 Japanese companies have said in the past month that they have been affected by the hacking at Fujitsu, which supplies internet infrastructure to thousands of companies. The attack took place last year and allowed outside access to emails sent through a Fujitsu-based email system.

=> ↺ Criminal Marketplace Disrupted in International Cyber Operation

• The Justice Department announced today a coordinated international operation against Genesis Market, a criminal online marketplace that advertised and sold packages of account access credentials – such as usernames and passwords for email, bank accounts, and social media – that had been stolen from malware-infected computers around the world.

=> ↺ Illinois’s Olympia CUSD 16 hit by LockBit3.0

• LockBit3.0 claims to have hit the Olympia CUSD 16 in Illinois. So far, they have posted 4 files as proof, one of which appears to be a screencap of a directory of folders that might relate to Olympia North, Olympia South, and students, and another file with employee health-related information.

=> ↺ Noteboom – The Law Firm hit by BlackCat

• BlackCat claimed that they had exfiltrated sensitive data such as NDAs, documents from open cases, medical records involved in litigation, and employees’ sensitive data.

=> ↺ Seized Genesis Market Data is Now Searchable in Have I Been Pwned, Courtesy of the FBI and “Operation Cookie Monster”

• A quick summary first before the details: This week, the FBI in cooperation with international law enforcement partners took down a notorious marketplace trading in stolen identity data in an effort they’ve named “Operation Cookie Monster”. They’ve provided millions of impacted email addresses and passwords to Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) so that victims of the incident can discover if they have been exposed. This breach has been flagged as “sensitive” which means it is not publicly searchable, rather you must demonstrate you control the email address being searched before the results are shown. This can be done via the free notification service on HIBP and involves you entering the email address then clicking on the link sent to your inbox. Specific guidance prepared by the FBI in conjunction with the Dutch police on further steps you can take to protect yourself are detailed at the end of this blog post on the gold background. That’s the short version, here’s the whole story:

=> ↺ How to Perform a Vulnerability Scan: 4 Steps

• Network vulnerability scanning is the process of pinpointing weaknesses and vulnerabilities across a network, including evaluating network assets like computers and other devices — any potential target that could be exploited by threat actors should be included in these scans.

=> ↺ How to Perform a Firewall Audit: 6 Steps

• A firewall audit is a multistep process that gives organizations insight into the status and effectiveness of the firewalls installed throughout their network. These audits provide visibility into potential vulnerabilities and the health of connections going to and from firewalls. They also uncover information about firewall changes since the last audit.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Data protection campaign to be launched in Latvia

• Entrepreneurs often tend to overdo the collection of personal data from their customers and do not always adequately protect this information. Therefore, the State Data Inspectorate, in cooperation with the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LTRK), will start the education campaign “Data are value – protect them!”, Latvian Television reported on April 3.

=> ↺ TikTok fined £12.7M for misuse of children’s data by UK data regulator

• The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Tuesday issued TikTok a £12.7 million fine for its breach of UK General Data Protection Regulation, including TikTok’s illegal use of children’s personal data.

=> ↺ Australia becomes latest nation to ban Chinese-owned app TikTok on government devices

• Australia said Tuesday it will ban TikTok on government devices, joining a growing list of Western nations cracking down on the Chinese-owned app due to national security fears. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the decision followed advice from the country’s intelligence agencies and would begin “as soon as practicable”.

=> ↺ For Myanmar’s ethnic groups, ID cards can help – or put them in junta’s crosshairs

• Card gives access to hospitals, schools and passports, but revealing one’s identity can be risky

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Putin Security Service Officer Who Defected Describes President As ‘War Criminal’

• An officer with the Kremlin’s bodyguard agency who defected last year over his opposition to the Ukraine invasion provided intimate details about Russian President Vladimir Putin to a London-based investigative group, describing him as “paranoid” and calling him a “war criminal.”

=> ↺ ‘Heat’ Turns Up On Pro-Putin Pop Stars Following Latest Zhara Festival Cancellation In Tashkent

• An international musical festival in Tashkent that was to be headlined by more than 30 “pro-Putin” Russian musicians has been cancelled, following similar cancellations in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

=> ↺ Latvian Border Guard chief: Belarus has tried to arm illegal migrants

• Belarusian border guards have attempted to arm illegal migrants crossing the Latvian border with firearms, the Chief of State Border Guard Guntis Pujāts said on Latvian Television on April 4.

=> ↺ Youngkin to meet with Taiwan’s leader during trade mission

• Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin will lead his first international trade mission later this month, a trip to Asia that will include a meeting with the president of Taiwan. His office made the announcement Tuesday. The trip in late April will include stops in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. In addition to the meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen, Youngkin’s office says he plans to sit down with government officials, strategic business associations, company executives and industry leaders. The visit by Youngkin, who has not publicly ruled out a 2024 presidential bid, comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and China, which views Taiwan as its own territory.

=> ↺ China slams plan for Taiwan president to meet US House Speaker

• Tsai Ing-wen is set to meet Kevin McCarthy in California Wednesday.

=> ↺ Former glamor actress met with Honduran president as China sought diplomatic ties

• Diana Pang tells a pro-Beijing newspaper that she was ‘doing her bit’ to help Chinese business initiatives.

=> ↺ Terror groups prey on vulnerable, cost continent billions

• Moustapha was running out of hope. The Nigerien man had a family to feed but little means to do so. Like scores of people around the continent, he was persuaded to join and fight for a violent extremist organization.

=> ↺ Hong Kong 47: Benny Tai’s ‘mutual destruction’ plan would have caused ‘nuclear explosion,’ court hears

• Hong Kong legal scholar Benny Tai’s “mutual destruction” plan could have led to a catastrophe akin to a “worldwide nuclear explosion,” a former politician testifying against his peers in a landmark national security case involving dozens of pro-democracy figures has said.

=> ↺ Russia suspect charged in St. Petersburg bombing that killed pro-Kremlin blogger

• Russian authorities Tuesday charged a woman with the assassination of pro-Kremlin blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. Tatarsky died on Monday in a St. Petersburg cafe explosion that has since been linked by Russian officials to Ukraine and jailed critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny.

=> ↺ France begins trial of 1980 synagogue bombing suspect after over a decade-long delay

• A French court Monday began hearing the criminal trial of Lebanese-Canadian Hassan Diab, who is accused of committing the 1980 bombing of the Copernic synagogue. The trial is expected to last three weeks and will be conducted in abstentia, meaning Diab will not be present for the trial.

=> ↺ Connecticut veterans’ advocacy groups file suit against US Department of Defense

• Two Connecticut veterans’ advocacy groups Monday filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Defense (DoD) in a federal court in Connecticut. The groups asked the court to compel the DoD to release records of toxic conditions at the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) air base in Uzbekistan.

=> ↺ Lithuanian agency drops recommended literature list after outcry over Russian authors

• Lithuania’s National Agency for Education on Tuesday said it was scrapping a list of recommended literary works for pupils after coming under fire over Russian authors included in the Lithuanian literature program.

=> ↺ Lithuania passes national sanctions on Russian, Belarusian citizens

• The Lithuanian parliament adopted a special law on national sanctions for Russian and Belarusian citizens in response to the war in Ukraine.

=> ↺ Belarus detains Baltic, Polish nationals for spying – media

• Polish and Baltic nationals have been detained in Belarus for spying, head of the Belarusian KGB Ivan Tertel said on Tuesday, Belarusian state news agency BelTA has reported.

=> ↺ Russia’s threats to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus must be taken seriously – president’s aide

• Russia’s threats to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus should be taken seriously and everything should be done to prevent their use, Asta Skaisgirytė, an advisor to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said on Tuesday.

=> ↺ Australia to ‘hit the gym’ in cyber exercises

• Nationwide cybersecurity exercises will aim to make Australia a hard target for international hackers and prevent debilitating cyber attacks on critical infrastructure.

=> ↺ UN inquiry finds ‘impunity’ a central driver of violence in South Sudan

• A UN human rights commission Monday reported horrific human rights violations in South Sudan. The report comes amid increased attacks and extrajudicial killings on civilians, which have gone unpunished by Sudanese authorities.

=> ↺ Son Of Armenian Prime Minister Denies Claim He Was Attacked

• The son of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Ashot Pashinian, has denied reports that he was attacked.

=> ↺ UN Rights Body Extends Ukraine Inquiry Into Crimes Since Russia’s Invasion

• The United Nations Human Rights Council overwhelmingly voted in favor on April 4 of extending and expanding the mandate of an investigative body probing possible war crimes committed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

=> ↺ U.S. Outlines Details Of New Military Aid Package For Ukraine Valued At $2.6 Billion

• The United States has unveiled details of $2.6 billion in new military aid for Ukraine to assist the country in its war against Russian forces.

=> ↺ Ukrainian Soldier Pleads ‘Partly Guilty’ At Russia’s First War Crimes Trial

• A Ukrainian soldier has pleaded “partly guilty” at Russia’s first trial for war crimes in connection with its military campaign in Ukraine.

=> ↺ MALE VIOLENCE MONITORING REPORT MARCH 2023: Men killed 23 women in March

• Men inflicted violence on at least 66 women, abused 14 boys and girls, and harassed at least two women.

=> ↺ MP brings up death of Gabonese student in the parliament

• The dead body of a 17-year-old Gabonese student in her first year in studying mechanical engineering at Karabük University in Turkey was found by the Filyos River on March 26.

Environment

=> ↺ Rising Seas Threaten to Cut Off Millions of Americans This Century

• Long before inundation, a different problem emerges.

=> ↺ Kazakhstan dispatch: Kazakhstan government brings landmark environmental lawsuit against Caspian Sea oil field developer

• Aidana Tastanova is a Kazakhstan national and a 3rd year law student attending the Moscow State Institute of International Relations under a Kazakh government scholarship. 

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ Fire Breaks Out At Chinese Dam Construction Camp In Pakistan

• A fire ripped through the camp of a Chinese company managing the construction of a remote hydropower dam in northwestern Pakistan on April 4, officials said.

=> ↺ Latvia mulls electric scooter regulations

• The Paris referendum on banning the rental of electric scooters has brought traffic rules to the fore again in Latvia. People surveyed on the streets don’t exactly agree with a ban, while emergency services are alarmed and the high number of accidents related to the use of scooters, Latvian Television reported on April 3.

=> ↺ Vilnius will not follow Paris in banning electric scooters, mayor-elect says

• After the French capital decided to ban scooter rent services, other cities are considering similar moves amid safety concerns. Vilnius, however, is not one of them, assured the city’s mayor-elect Valdas Benkunskas, while admitting that there is a need for more regulation.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Wild Elephants Appear to Have Been Domesticated, But Not by Humans

• Then who?

=> ↺ Activists find illegal logging evidence in protected area in northern Cambodia

• They observed transport trucks, armed groups of people and evidence of 219 fallen trees.

Finance

=> ↺ The Mexican government continues nationalizing key industries despite US objections

• The Mexican government agreed to purchase 13 power plants from the Spanish energy company Iberdrola for $6 billion on Tuesday (April 4), giving its state-owned power company, Commission Federal de Electricidad (CFE), majority control over the country’s electricity market.

=> ↺ 2023-03-27 [Older] IMF Team in Ethiopia for Talks on New Funding Programme -Bloomberg News

=> ↺ Relief on rates but don’t bank on an end to rises

• Homebuyers are being warned to brace for more mortgage misery in the months to come despite being spared an 11th interest rate rise in row. The Reserve Bank on Tuesday left interest rates unchanged but has given itself wiggle room to hike again if needed.

=> ↺ Mortgage-holder confidence cools as RBA holds rates

• Confidence among mortgage holders has continued to sink, but homeowners have been handed a temporary reprieve from further repayment rises with the Reserve Bank keeping interest rates on hold.

=> ↺ Chamber of Commerce: banks in Latvia hesitant to lend to businesses

• Compared to other countries in the region – Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and Scandinavian countries – banks in Latvia are less open to business and business lending, Aigars Rostovskis, president of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LTRK), said in an interview to Latvian Radio on April 4.

=> ↺ EU dispatch: collapse of Credit Suisse bank prompts investigations, lawsuits

• Law students from the European Union are reporting for JURIST on law-related events in and affecting the European Union and its member states. Ciara Dinneny is JURIST’s Chief European Correspondent and a trainee with the Law Society of Ireland. She files this dispatch from Dublin.

=> ↺ RBA board finally presses pause on interest rate rises

• Australia’s central bank has left interest rates unchanged at 3.6 per cent in April as the economy shows signs of cooling off.

=> ↺ Major builder halts sales amid ‘grim’ housing shortfall

• Perth is facing what could be the nation’s worst housing shortfall as labour shortages and supply chain issues continue to plague the building sector.

=> ↺ Law firm layoffs spread as cooling economy keeps clients wary

• Lawyers and staff at big law firms are continuing to face layoffs as global deals take a dive and client demand falters.

• This week Silicon Valley-founded law firm Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian cut 10% of attorneys, paralegals and staff in its U.S. offices, according to a Tuesday internal memo from managing partner David Young. He said the reduction comes “in response to current macroeconomic and market conditions.”

=> ↺ Venture capital funding drops 53% in first quarter amid ongoing macroeconomic issues

=> ↺ New banking hubs announced to help cash access – are they enough?

• Find out how request a review into your community’s cash needs

=> ↺ Spending cuts worth €6bn could be detrimental for Finland, economist tells YLE

• PASI KUOPPAMÄKI, the chief economist at Danske Bank, has expressed his reservations about the extent of fiscal adjustment pursued by the National Coalition.

• The National Coalition has declared its intent to generate six billion euros in savings in the next electoral term and another three billion euros in the one after that in accordance with the target set by the Ministry of Finance.

=> ↺ 10 industries where job openings are declining

• The number of job openings declined across almost all industries in February from this time last year, according to new government data.

• Why it matters: Employers took a chill pill, and the hiring frenzy we saw over the past two years is fading out a bit.

Axios ☛ Investors show concern over the U.S. economyInvestors seem to be getting more nervous about growth. Driving the news: Another day of weak economic data.Factory orders, out Tuesday, fell for the second straight month in February.And job openings dropped faster than expected, a possible sign the job market is cooling.💭 Our thought bubble: The data du jour wasn’t top shelf, but the numbers were consistent with others showing that parts of the economy — like the industrial sector — are losing steam.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Marin to step down as head of Social Democrats in September

• “It has been a tremendous honour for me to lead the government as the prime minister for the past four years. The times have been exceptionally hard and taxing,” she stated at a press conference held in the Parliament House.

=> ↺ 2023-03-24 [Older] Did George Santos lie about everything?

=> ↺ 2023-03-30 [Older] Trump can run for president from prison. Just ask Eugene Debs.

=> ↺ Wisconsin Supreme Court flips to liberal majority in race spotlighting abortion

• Milwaukee Judge Janet Protasiewicz on Tuesday was elected to Wisconsin’s supreme court, giving the key swing state’s highest court a liberal majority that could potentially expand abortion rights there, AP reports.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ 7 Hongkongers initially accused of rioting to plead guilty to unlawful assembly over 2019 protest

• Seven people who were initially accused of taking part in a riot during Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests are set to plead guilty to a lesser charge of unlawful assembly, the court has heard.

=> ↺ Hong Kong top sports federation threatens to suspend ice hockey body over anthem blunder

• The top sports federation representing Hong Kong at the Olympics has warned that it could suspend the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association (HKIHA) after a blunder that saw a pro-democracy protest song played instead of China’s national anthem at a recent international match.

=> ↺ Civil society groups urge UN not to adopt working definition of antisemitism citing misuse

• 60 civil society groups Monday implored the UN and world leaders to step up efforts to combat antisemitism. In an open letter to the UN, the advocacy groups emphasized the need for practical anti-antisemitism measures.

=> ↺ Martial arts star Donnie Yen claims Oscars petition was ‘cyber-bullying’

• Petition author says Yen is a public figure, and his comments could mislead the global public.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Another day of fines to TV channels in Turkey

• The Radio and Television Supreme Council of Turkey continues to fine the TV channels criticizing government policies.

=> ↺ Stand News sedition trial: Testimony of ex-chief editor ends after 36 days as closing arguments set for June

• A Hong Kong journalist has completed his testimony over 17 allegedly “seditious” articles published by defunct news outlet Stand News while he and another editor were at the helm after 36 days on the stand.

=> ↺ Hong Kong chief executive John Lee refuses to comment on reports of journalists being tailed

• Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has refused to comment on reports received by the city’s largest press group that reporters had been followed by unknown men. “I will not spend time to talk about individual self-speculation or perception.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Mohamed Ahmed Recipient of the 2023 Reset Scholarship in Social Media and Democracy

• The Citizen Lab is thrilled to welcome Mohamed Ahmed, the recipient of the 2023 Reset Scholarship in Social Media and Democracy.  Mohamed is a second year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto (U of T) majoring in Cognitive Science. Originally from Egypt, in 2021 he moved from Calgary…

=> ↺ Is your non-disparagement clause void now? Not necessarily

• A recent decision from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regarding non-disparagement agreements has many US workers excited that they may now be free to publicly criticize their former employer or talk about the terms of severance agreements.

=> ↺ 2023-03-26 [Older] UK PM Sunak to Unveil Measures to Crack Down on Anti-Social Behaviour

=> ↺ Colorado court considers challenge to sex abuse lawsuit

• The Colorado Supreme Court is considering whether a law allowing people who were sexually abused as children to sue their alleged abusers and employers violates the state’s Constitution. The court’s justices heard arguments on Tuesday in a case involving a woman who sued her high school basketball coach and the school district that employed him, Aurora Public Schools. A lower court judge found that the law violates the Constitution’s prohibition against retrospective laws made to address actions that have already happened.

=> ↺ Mass protests in Kenya have a long and rich history – but have been hijacked by the elites

• Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga and his coalition party, Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya, recently called for mass protests across the country. Odinga and his team have questioned the legitimacy of President William Ruto’s win in the country’s August 2022 election, and taken issue with the rising cost of living.

=> ↺ US Supreme Court declines to hear appeal from death row inmate involving prosecutorial discretion

• The US Supreme Court Monday declined to hear David Brown v. Louisiana, a case which concerns evidence rules in criminal trials. The man who petitioned the court to hear the case remains on death row, where he has been since his 2011 criminal conviction.

=> ↺ US appeals court reinstates religious freedom claim over California’s loyalty oath

• The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Monday reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a religious freedom complaint against California’s state controller.

=> ↺ 2023-03-29 [Older] What Carl Sagan Understood About Human Cruelty

=> ↺ 2023-03-30 [Older] Is Silicon Valley Beyond Redemption?

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ A quantum of (networking) solace

• IETF 116 discussed the current state and future of quantum networks.

Monopolies

Patents

=> ↺ Taylor Wessing launches Vienna patent practice with Schwarz Schönherr partner

• Patent litigator Thomas Adocker (47) joined Taylor Wessing at the beginning of the month, to build up the patent practice at the international law firm in Vienna. Most recently, he was a partner at IP firm Schwarz Schönherr.

Trademarks

=> ↺ TTABlog Test: Which of These Three Section 2(d) Refusals Was/Were Reversed?

• The Board has affirmed 41 of the first 44 Section 2(d) refusals that it reviewed this year. That’s an affirmance rate of 93%. Here are three more decision. At least one was a reversal. How do you think these three cases came out? [Results in first comment].

• In re Bulletproof Property Management, LLC, Serial No. 90625153 (March 31, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Jyll Taylor) [Section 2(d) refusal of VECTOR for “Firearms; Component parts for guns” in view of the identical mark registered for “knives; knives, namely, pocket knives, sport knives, utility knives, tactical knives, and survival knives.”]

Copyrights

=> ↺ TikTok Launches #BehindTheSong With Fraser T Smith

• TikTok launches #BehindTheSong with songwriter-producer Fraser T Smith. To celebrate producers and songwriters and help bring them to the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist, TikTok has announced the launch of #BehindTheSong, featuring Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer Fraser T Smith.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ A Review of the First Half of the Furyk Saga

• I’m not sure how I found the series, but I’ve been reading the Furyk Saga before bed for the past several months. It’s a nordic-themed fantasy novel, and clocks in at 2100 pages for the first three books.

• Overall I’ve really enjoyed this series thus far. The characters, the storyline, and the action scenes keep you turning the pages to find out more. What I like best is that these books don’t beat you over the head with magic right out of the gates, and even in the later two books it’s really not that heavy. The storyline can be a bit slow, especially in the first book when you’re finding out where the writer is going with the story, but even then I found that I wanted to discover what happened to the individuals and their story arcs through these developmental sections of the books. The readability also contributes to the page turns since there’s a lot of action-type language throughout versus lengthy internal character development. And finally, I like that the plot lines are not easily predicted in most cases, which is what I think kept me pushing through the slower parts of the book. I can say that I stayed up late trying to push through the last part of book for at least a few nights this past week – it got really good and action packed.

=> ↺ Baseball’s Fun!

• We’re only a few days into the new season, but I think that the MLB’s new rules have made the game infinitely better. The rules that have made the biggest difference for me are the pitch clock and the shift ban.

=> ↺ The Shortening of the Way

• Not just baseball is getting shorter, but also cricket, which is trying to do something about the five day matches. A difference here might be “an event” versus “a way of life”. But it’s not just sportsball! Brogue is considered too long, so now there are even shorter versions of it. However, Brogue is short compared to, say, Angband.

• [...]

• Some of this could be “life happened” so there isn’t time to rush away the hours in a dungeon crawl or the eternal cricket match, but the shortening of the way in multiple fields (baseball, cricket, computer games, other?) probably points towards something else going on. Computers? Smartphones? Capitalism? Something in the water? Context switches running too hot? Surely something can be found to blame.

=> ↺ Beginning Birding

• I have suddenly become interested in birding (“the observation of birds in their natural habitats as a hobby”). Each day for the last week you could have found me in a local park with a pair of binoculars and a bird guide, trying to tally bird sightings by species.

• Growing up, I was fortunate to live near the Chesapeake Bay, and to regularly see blue crabs (callinectes sapidus) and blue heron (ardea herodias). I was interested in the marsh ecosystem generally, and these creatures specificually, but unlike many of my peers would not admit to an interest in looking at living things. For reasons lost to recall, I believed these were childish and/or effiminate interests.

=> ↺ Album #226: The Beach Boys – Surf’s Up

• Usually I try to write out my thoughts while listening to the album. Sort of ‘raw, live to tape’, in the hope that it’ll capture something unique or interesting to my particular perspective in this, my public music listening journal. Not today, not with this album – it slid by. Maybe that was the intention – it’s cautiously interesting and psychedelic or at least adventurous, but there’s never any real commitment to it. Like they know the weight and legacy of the Beach Boys name and have to do something MORE, but where previously they felt like they set a standard, now they’re following The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or The Who or whoever is moulding something from the past in to something more interesting. And the spark isn’t there any more.

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