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● 05.12.23

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● Links 12/05/2023: PostgreSQL 15.3 and Escuelas Linux 8.2

Posted in News Roundup at 10:04 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Server

=> ↺ The Next Platform ☛ When Push Comes To Shove, Google Invests Heavily In GPU Compute

• A year ago, at its Google I/O 2022 event, Google revealed to the world that it had eight pods of TPUv4 accelerators, with a combined 32,768 of its fourth generation, homegrown matrix math accelerators, running in a machine learning hub located in its Mayes County, Oklahoma datacenter.

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ 9to5Linux ☛ DXVK 2.2 Released with D3D11On12 Support, D3D9 Partial Presentation

• DXVK 2.2 is here three and a half months after DXVK 2.1, which introduced HDR support and Shader compilation improvements, to add support for D3D11On12. This new feature enables the creation of D3D11 devices from D3D12 devices to allow D3D12 support in recent Unity Engine games, such as Lego Builder’s Journey.

• Another new feature introduced in DXVK 2.2 is called “D3D9 partial presentation”. This feature enables DXVK to present parts of a window by copying the contents of the back buffer to system memory and then drawing them into the window on the CPU.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Mesa graphics drivers 23.1.0 out now with RADV GPL enabled

• Another fresh release of Mesa is now available, the set of open source graphics drivers for Linux and Steam Deck with v23.1.0 out now.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Nate Graham ☛ These weeks in KDE: no more hidey-hidey authentication dialog games

• In addition to the changes made and announced during the recent Plasma Sprint at Tuxedo Computers’ offices in Augsburg, lots of other things have been brewing as well!

=> ↺ Plasma 6 Sprint

=> ↺ DebugPoint ☛ KDE Plasma 6.0 Development Update: Default Settings, Wayland, and More

• The work for Plasma 6 started last year to port the entire codebase to Qt 6 with improvements and code cleanups. After completing the recent development workshop for Plasma 6, significant changes and improvements are now visible, which might land in the final release of Plasma 6.

• Here’s all the details.

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ OSTechNix ☛ How To Test Linux Distros Online With DistroSea

• Are you interested in trying out different Linux distributions but don’t want to go through the hassle of installing them on your machine? Look no further! In this guide, we’ll show you how to test Linux distros online using DistroSea. Whether you’re a seasoned Linux user or just getting started, testing distros online is a convenient and risk-free way to explore different flavors of Linux and find the one that best suits your needs.

=> ↺ HaikuOS ☛ Haiku: The Icon Sets Proposed in the Icon Contest

• In 2006, an contest was held to create an original icon set for Haiku to replace the BeOS R5 icons. With the passage of time, much of the content surrounding the event has rotted away, including images of the proposed icon sets. Luckily, the Internet Archive has backups! The Stipi icon set won, with Honey, zuMi and Mc Clintock trailing close behind.

New Releases

=> ↺ 9to5Linux ☛ Educational Distro Escuelas Linux 8.2 Released with Linux Kernel 6.2

• Powered by Linux kernel 6.2 for the 64-bit edition, which is patched and packed by System76, and Linux kernel 4.19 LTS for the 32-bit edition, the Escuelas Linux 8.2 release is here with the most recent version of the Bodhi Linux-developed desktop environment to date, Moksha 0.4.0-7, offering a highly polished and beautiful environment for running educational apps.

• Talking about apps, Escuelas Linux 8.2 includes many updated software like Audacity 3.3.2, Blender 3.5, GCompris 3.2, Mozilla Firefox 113, LibreOffice 7.5.3, Minetest 5.7, Veyon 4.8, Kdenlive 23.04, Google Chrome 113, IBM Java 8.0, ONLYOFFICE 7.3.3, Wine 8.7, wxMaxima 23.04, and Zotero 6.0.26.

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ Hari Rana ☛ Overview of Flatpak’s Permission Models

• Flatpak’s permissions can be confusing. Some are technical and need knowledge on how they work, and others are self-explanatory. Some are added before the app starts, known as static permissions, and some are requested when the user runs the app, known as dynamic permissions. Many may also criticize Flatpak for lacking Android-style permissions while being unaware of the existence of XDG Desktop Portals.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Ubuntu ☛ Canonical at Dell Technologies World 2023

• Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, is proud to sponsor Dell Technologies World this year and have presence on the Expo. Join us in Las Vegas on May, 22–25 to discover how Canonical and Dell can help you securely advance your business and serve your customers with cutting-edge technologies.

• Register to Dell Technologies World 2023

• Come to our booth, meet the OrangeBox, watch to live Demos and Speaking Sessions, and have some fun with the Trivia Game. You can win great swags and prizes!

=> ↺ Ubuntu ☛ Matter on Ubuntu: getting started with the standard for smart home devices

• Canonical joined the Connectivity Standards Alliance last year to lead the charge for Linux in the smart home. The Matter standard is a particular focus for us. Its secure design and open ecosystem align well with Ubuntu’s own values of security and openness.

• Ubuntu Core and Matter make for a powerful pair. Ubuntu Core’s containerisation makes it a highly secure OS that pairs well with the highly secure protocol. Its update and device management capabilities provide the missing pieces that the Matter standard leaves up to device makers to implement.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ EDATEC ED-IPC2010 – A compact DIN Rail mountable industrial computer based on Raspberry Pi CM4

• Note that the specifications above are both for the carrier board and the industrial computer, and some of the interfaces such as MIPI DSI, MIPI CSI, and the FPC (HDMI+USB) connector are not accessible with the standard enclosure.

• On the software side, EDATEC simply asked people to use Raspberry Pi OS or Raspberry Pi OS Lite, and from what I read on the user manual, which you can download from the product page, you’ll mostly need to install the BSP for hardware-specific code…

=> ↺ Linux Gizmos ☛ Google Coral Dev Board Micro available for ~$83.29

• The Coral Dev Board Micro is a small dual-core microcontroller device with a 4 TOPS ML accelerator and built-in camera. These embedded boards, the compatible PoE module and Wi-Fi/BT5.0 module are already available from a couple of global distributors.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Raspberry Pi Alternative Orange Pi 5 Plus Brings RK3588 to the SBC Game

• Orange Pi 5 is set to launch its latest SBC with a beefier RK3588 SoC and a plethora of RAM options

=> ↺ Arduino ☛ Emoband strokes and squeezes your wrist

• Modern consumer devices are fantastic at providing visual and auditory stimulation, but they fail to excite any of the other senses. At most, we get some tactile sensation in the form of haptic feedback.

=> ↺ Arduino ☛ Fingertip force control aids in sports and musical training

• An Arduino Uno Rev3 board paired with a function generator gives the system precise control over the EMS unit, allowing it to adjust muscle stimulation as necessary. It does so in real-time in response to fingertip force estimated by a machine-learning regression model. An expert in the activity could use the system to train it on the proper amount of force for an action, then the system could provide the amount of stimulation necessary for a new student to replicate the expert’s force. With practice, the student would gain a feel for the force and then could perform the activity on their own without the aid of the system.

=> ↺ Andrew Hutchings ☛ Schneider Euro PC: Restoration Part 6

• As mentioned in a previous post, I was a little wary that I might have caused damage to the parallel port IC when the tantalum capacitor popped. My original plan was to buy a parallel port sound card and try that, unfortunately shipping of this is taking a really long time. So, this will be for a follow-up video.

=> ↺ Purism ☛ Cybersecurity Attacks Launched From Operating Systems & Apps On The Rise

• According to a new report from Secureworks, endpoint attack vectors that include email, popular operating systems, and apps are on the rise.

• In response to attacks by way of Android apps, Google has removed thousands of nefarious apps that had the capability to launch malware enabling developers to launch a wide array of attacks including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, Man-in-the-Middle (MitM), and Ransomware attacks.

• It is a little-known fact that bad actors can launch attacks on networks and critical infrastructure by way of popular operating systems that support surveillance and data mining technologies.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ Gizmo China ☛ Legion Y900 Tablet Review: A Portable 14″ Monitor Runs Android With Excellent Performance

=> ↺ SamMobile ☛ Google to update 50+ Android apps with better UI for foldables, tablets – SamMobile

=> ↺ Make Use Of ☛ These Two Vital New Privacy Features Are Coming to Your Android Phone

=> ↺ Android Police ☛ Nearby Share: How to use Android’s AirDrop alternative

=> ↺ Sportskeeda ☛ Best Honkai Star Rail settings on Android devices

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Why does Google think people want to Zoom from their cars?

• Dubbed Android Auto, Google says the software will be available in 200 million cars by the end of the year. Specifically, the update will add functionality for Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webex by Cisco, allowing drivers to “join important meetings without taking your eyes off the road.”

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

SaaS/Back End/Databases

=> ↺ PostgreSQL ☛ PostgreSQL 15.3, 14.8, 13.11, 12.15, and 11.20 Released!

• The PostgreSQL Global Development Group has released an update to all supported versions of PostgreSQL, including 15.3, 14.8, 13.11, 12.15, and 11.20. This release fixes two security vulnerabilities and over 80 bugs reported over the last several months.

• For the full list of changes, please review the release notes.

=> ↺ 37signals LLC ☛ It’s not just cloud costs that are out of control

• We’re letting our yearly commitment to Datadog, a performance and monitoring tool, expire at the end of this month. Not because we don’t like the service. It’s actually really nice! But because the $88,000/year it was going to cost us to continue is just ridiculous. And it’s emblematic of a larger issue: Enterprise SaaS pricing is getting silly.

=> ↺ Terence Eden ☛ Doctrine – difference between bindValue() and setParameter() on prepared statements

• This pissed me off and I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. So I’m blogging about my ignorance.

• Imagine you’re using Symfony and Doctrine to access a database. You are using prepared statements to prevent any SQL injection problems.

• There are two main ways of doing this – and they disagree about how positional variables should be specified.

Licensing / Legal

=> ↺ The Drone Girl ☛ Florida delivery drone law set to go into effect this July

• Not every drone-related law passed in Florida has been welcome by the drone industry. And in fact, many have not been welcome. But there’s one that some drone delivery companies in particular are lauding — and it’s set to go into effect on July 1. Florida SB 1068 and its House companion, HB 1071, dig into the issue of building drone ports. More specifically, it is expected to make construction of drone ports throughout Florida a lot easier.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Fernando Borretti ☛ Return Reasons, Not Booleans

• When you have a predicate that acts on a tree data structure, rather than return a Boolean, you should return an object that represents success/failure and carries explanatory information in the failure case.

=> ↺ Achim Zeileis ☛ Coloring in R’s blind spot

• Prior to version 4.0.0 R had a poor default color palette (using highly saturated red, green, blue, etc.) and provided very few alternative palettes, most of which also had poor perceptual properties (like the infamous rainbow palette). Starting with version 4.0.0 R gained a new and much improved default palette and, in addition, a selection of more than 100 well-established palettes are now available via the functions palette.colors() and hcl.colors(). The former provides a range of popular qualitative palettes for categorical data while the latter closely approximates many popular sequential and diverging palettes by systematically varying the perceptual hue, chroma, luminance (HCL) properties in the palette. This paper provides an overview of these new color functions and the palettes they provide along with advice about which palettes are appropriate for specific tasks, especially with regard to making them accessible to viewers with color vision deficiencies.

=> ↺ Adolfo Ochagavía ☛ You are holding it wrong

• Here is the same program, now in Rust: [...]

• After all this years using and contributing to Rust, it still feels like a major breakthrough bridging Computer Science research and pragmatic software development3. This kind of program analysis is supposed to be too impractical for real-world programming, yet it works!

=> ↺ Brad Taunt ☛ Working with git Patches in Apple Mail

• I recently covered how to work with git email patches in Evolution on Linux, so I thought it would make sense to walk through a similar workflow for those using Apple Mail on MacOS. The idea is essentially the same, with just a little extra work involved.

=> ↺ University of Toronto ☛ I’ve mostly stopped reading technical mailing lists

• The primary change I’ve noticed of these mailing lists is that they see a lot more questions that are either basic or very specific, where if I had the question I would have expected to answer it myself by reading through the documentation. In the beginning I had unkind descriptions of these sorts of questions, but I’ve come to be more sympathetic to them, especially the questions that come from people abroad who may not have English as their first language. The unfortunate fact is that projects aren’t necessarily well documented and their documentation probably is dauntingly hard to read for people who aren’t fluent in technical English, and people have work to get done (using those projects). Turning to the project user mailing list and asking their questions, if it works, is probably much faster than the alternatives (and their boss may be yelling at them to get it done ASAP).

=> ↺ Earthly ☛ Implementing OAuth 2.0 Flow in Non-Web Clients

• It’s easy and intuitive to implement OAuth 2.0 in web applications. However, when setting up OAuth 2.0 for non-web clients this becomes difficult as OAuth 2.0 requires redirect (callback) URLs.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Linux Fu: C On Jupyter

• If you are a Pythonista or a data scientist, you’ve probably used Jupyter. If you haven’t, it is an interesting way to work with Python by placing it in a Markdown document in a web browser. Part spreadsheet, part web page, part Python program, you create notebooks that can contain data, programs, graphics, and widgets. You can run it locally and attach to it via a local port with a browser or, of course, run it in the cloud if you like. But you don’t have to use Python.

=> ↺ KDAB ☛ Value Semantics

• C++ is an old language. Many aspects of our programming styles have become habits that we do not think about too much today.

=> ↺ Dirk Eddelbuettel ☛ Dirk Eddelbuettel: crc32c 0.0.2 on CRAN: Build Fixes

• A first follow-up to the initial announcement just days ago of the new crc32c package. The package offers cyclical checksum with parity in hardware-accelerated form on (recent enough) intel cpus as well as on arm64.

=> ↺ Rlang ☛ How R Shiny Helps Protect Coral Reefs in Micronesia

• Appsilon is on a mission to tackle global challenges around climate change and biodiversity loss – the biggest threats faced by humanity. We collaborate with scientists, organizations, and businesses to make a positive impact on the world.

Leftovers

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ The Playful Pop of 100 gecs

• Laura Les and Dylan Brady, the duo behind 100 gecs, operate at the bleeding edge of something. Their music feels like a breath of fresh air: at once wearing its musical inspirations on its sleeve, while also working toward something entirely organic and fresh. Call it what you’d like, but to me it sounds like the zeitgeist.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Catcher and philosopher: Yogi Berra gets his due

• When one of baseball’s greats seems to be overlooked, what’s the best way to correct that? The director of “It Ain’t Over” offers a documentary that looks fondly at famous Hall of Famer Yogi Berra.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Why Do Cats Hold Such Mythic Power in Japan?

• A journey through a country where felines are revered, adored and sometimes seen as actual demons.

Science

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Jump Like Mario With This Weighted Wearable

• Virtual reality has come a long way in the past decade, with successful commercial offerings for gaming platforms still going strong as well as a number of semi-virtual, or augmented, reality tools that are proving their worth outside of a gaming environment as well. But with all this success they still haven’t quite figured out methods of locomotion that feel natural like walking or running. One research group is leaping to solve one of these issues with JumpMod: a wearable device that enhances the sensation of jumping.

=> ↺ MIT Technology Review ☛ This new genome map tries to capture all human genetic variation

• The joke about the Human Genome Project is how many times it’s been finished, but not actually. The first time was in 2000,  when Bill Clinton announced the “first survey of the entire human genome” at a White House ceremony, calling it “the most important and most wondrous map ever produced by humankind.”

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ We Saw This Star Die 5 Times, And It Shows How Fast The Universe Is Expanding

• We kept seeing it happen for the very first time.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Brain-Altering Fungi Could Become a Radical New Ingredient in Medicine

• We’re about to take a trip.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Surprise Magnetic Signal May Finally Solve The Mystery of Fast Radio Bursts

• We’ve never known what causes them.

=> ↺ Buttondown ☛ Problems harder than NP-Complete

• People always talk about “P vs NP” like P problems are easy and NP problems are hard. This is a useful day-to-day model but also an oversimplification.

• Problems can get way, way harder than NP.

Education

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Lithuania’s education minister suspected of abusing municipal funds

• Before becoming the minister of education, conservative politician Jurgita Šiugždinienė took a payment of nearly 14,000 euros from Kaunas municipality, where she was a council member. The funds were intended to cover work-related expenses but, according to the journalist Andrius Tapinas who broke the story, there is no evidence to justify the payment.

Hardware

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Taiwan Is Running Low on a Strategic Asset: Engineers

• Taiwan’s world-dominating microchip sector was built by TSMC’s skilled employees. But a demographic crisis, demanding work culture and flagging interest threaten its lead.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Peloton Shares Slide After It Recalls Two Million Exercise Bikes

• The company is offering to replace seat posts on the bikes after receiving 35 reports of the equipment breaking.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Reverse Engineering An Oil Burner Comms Board, With A Few Lucky Breaks

• Here’s a question for you: How do you reverse engineer a circuit when you don’t even have it in hand? It’s an interesting problem, and it adds a level of difficulty to the already iffy proposition that reverse engineering generally presents. And yet, not only did [themole] find a way to replicate a comms board for his oil burner, he extended and enhanced the circuit for integration into his home automation network.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Converting On-Grid Electronics To Off-Grid

• Husband and wife team [Jason & Kara] hail from Canada, and in 2018, after building their own camper, sold up their remaining earthly goods and headed south. If you’re not aware of them, they documented their journey on their YouTube channel, showing many interesting skills and hacks along the way. The video we’re highlighting today shows a myriad of ways to power all the DC-consuming gadgets this they lug along with them.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ FNIRSI Vs Rigol: An Alternate View

• We’ve heard of the FNIRSI 1014D scope, but we’ve had the impression that it might not be a great scope, although it is economical. [Learn Electronics Repair] had heard from another YouTuber that it was “a piece of junk.” However, he wanted to look at it compared to another inexpensive scope, the Rigol DS1052E. His results were different from what we usually hear. To be clear, he didn’t think it was a perfect scope, but he did find it very usable for his purpose.

=> ↺ SparkFun Electronics ☛ Ajay Bhatt and the Universal Serial Bus

• Ajay Bhatt is a computer engineer who is widely recognized as one of the key inventors of the Universal Serial Bus (USB). His work has had a profound impact on the electronics industry in countless ways; including the standardization of interfaces, increased data transfer speeds, and improved power management. Learn more about him and USB technology here!

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Hackaday Prize 2023: Uno Plus+ Updates A Classic

• As an introduction to embedded electronics and programming in a straightforward environment, there isn’t much out there that can hold a torch to the Arduino Uno. Cheap (especially if you count the clones), easy to find, and quick to deploy, with countless support libraries, it’s a go-to for many a hack. This scribe simply can’t remember how many he’s bought, hacked, and deployed over the years. But can it be improved? [John Loeffler] thinks so, and his 2023 Hackaday Prize entry, the Uno Plus+ could be the one.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Hackaday Prize 2023: Meet The Ten Re-Engineering Education Finalists

• They say time flies when you’re having fun, and doubly so when you’re hacking hardware. If you can believe it, we’ve already closed out the first challenge of the 2023 Hackaday Prize, and you know what that means — it’s time to announce the 10 finalists.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ After Panel Recommendation, Groups Say FDA Must Approve OTC Birth Control ‘Without Delay’

• Reproductive rights groups on Wednesday called on the Food and Drug Administration to approve a birth control pill for over-the-counter use “without any further delay” after an advisory panel unanimously recommended permitting use of the medication without a prescription—two decades after advocates first began campaigning on the issue.

=> ↺ Off Guardian ☛ Get Ready for Pfizer’s “TURBO-CHARGED GUIDED MISSILE” Cancer Drugs

• Our fearless leaders love war. They love talking about it. They love playing war games. They love fighting in actual wars. That’s because they always benefit from them—any kind of war. “We’re going fight this and win,” they say.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Cold Water Therapy Might Do More Harm Than Good. An Expert Explains.

• Time to chill.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ It’s Confirmed: Babies With DNA From Three People Are Now Being Born in The UK

• Here’s what we can tell you.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ ’12-Week Abortion Ban Is Not About Life’: Bishop Barber Blasts North Carolina GOP

• Ahead of a gathering at the North Carolina General Assembly planned for Friday morning, Bishop William Barber II on Thursday called out the state’s Republican lawmakers for trying to ban abortions after 12 weeks, rather than the current 20 weeks.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ Sanders, Omar Lead Charge to Ensure No Child Goes Hungry at School Again

• Demanding an end to the “international embarrassment” of childhood hunger the the world’s wealthiest country, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday was among the lawmakers who introduced legislation to ensure all children in the United States have sufficient food at school without means-testing and stigmatizing those who rely on free meals.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Joy, Revolution, and Tear Gas: My May Day In Paris

• It was a beautiful May Day in Paris, and the air was filled with poison.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Now More Than Ever, We Need to Fight, Not Despair

• A couple of years ago, I was chatting online with a writer I admire, when he suggested that my expectations for how people were dealing with the Covid pandemic were too high. The thrust of his comments was that humans are self-interested creatures who will always prioritize their own survival, even at the expense of others, and that this was especially true during bad times. In that case, I asked, what we were supposed to do with that knowledge, as we saw the death toll mount week by week? “Despair,” he said.1

=> ↺ uni Michigan ☛ U-M study may help identify patients needing liver transplants

• A recent study conducted by a team of University of Michigan medical researchers may help to identify which patients suffering from acute liver failure need liver transplants to live and which can survive without them, helping hospitals more effectively allocate organ donations.

Proprietary

=> ↺ IDG ☛ Developer-focused portal Stack Overflow lays off 10% staff

• Stack Overflow, a question-and-answer portal for developers, would lay off 10% of its workforce, the company announced.

• The job cuts, which will affect at least 58 employees, are a result of the company’s renewed focus on profitability due to macroeconomic concerns, CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar said in a blog post.

• “Our focus for this fiscal year is on profitability and that, along with macroeconomic pressures, led to today’s changes. They were also the result of taking a hard look at our strategic priorities for this fiscal year as well as our organisational structure as we invest in the continued growth of Stack Overflow for Teams and pursue agility and flexibility,” Chandrasekar said.

=> ↺ Wired ☛ Self-Driving Cars Are Being Put on a Data Diet [Ed: Way to say (spin) this entire sector is doomed and has already failed, no chance of fiscal redemption at this point (just riding VC's money till depletion is complete, lying to them to buy more time)]

=> ↺ Akamai Technologies Layoffs: Web Services Company Fires Nearly 3% of Global Workforce, 300 Employees Will Lose Jobs

• Web services company Akamai Technologies is laying off..

=> ↺ Cointelegraph ☛ Elon Musk announces he will step down as Twitter CEO

• Twitter CEO Elon Musk has announced that he will be transitioning to executive chair and chief technology officer of the social media platform in roughly six weeks.

• In a May 11 tweet, Musk said he hired a new CEO for X Corp. — Twitter’s parent company — who will likely replace him starting in late June or early July. The unnamed woman will follow Musk, who took over the social media platform in October 2022 after completing a $44 billion acquisition.

• According to the soon-to-be-former CEO, he will be overseeing product, software and system operations. Musk fired former CEO Parag Agrawal upon his takeover. Agrawal succeeded Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of the platform, which first launched in 2006.

=> ↺ Disney Stock Falls on Uncertainty Over Streaming Profitability, Ad Weakness

• Shares of Disney slipped as much as 9% in trading Thursday after the media conglomerate reported earnings for the first three months of 2023. Disney’s earnings report showed progress on the cost-cutting front — with streaming losses narrowing for the quarter — but analysts cited a weak advertising outlook and uncertainty over when its streaming business can contribute to the bottom line.

• At market close Thursday, Disney’s stock price was $92.31/share, down 8.7% for the day, and off its 52-week high of $126.48.

=> ↺ Your Story ☛ SoftBank is still losing money

• SoftBank Group Corp made investments totalling only about $3.14 billion across its two primary funding vehicles in the 2022-2023 financial year–a significant reduction from $44.26 billion invested in the year prior.

=> ↺ BW Businessworld Media Pvt Ltd ☛ Meta Forays Into Generative AI, Says Looking At AI Ad Tools

• Social media giant Meta Platforms Inc joined the generative AI product race on Thursday, saying it would begin testing artificial intelligence-powered ad tools that can create content like image backgrounds and variations of written text.

• A select group of advertisers will be invited to experiment with the tools in a “testing playground” that the company is calling the AI Sandbox, Meta executives said at a press event in New York.

=> ↺ Jussi Pakkanen ☛ The real reason why open source software is better

• The prevailing consensus at the current time seems to be that open source software is of higher quality than corresponding proprietary ones. Several reasons have been put forth on why this is. One main reason given is that with open source any programmer in the world can inspect the code and contribute fixes. Closely tied to this is the fact that it is plain not possible to hide massive blunders in open source projects whereas behind closed walls it is trivial.

• All of these and more are valid reasons for improved quality. But there are other, more sinister reasons that are usually not spoken of. In order to understand one of them, we need to first do a slight detour.

=> ↺ David Rosenthal ☛ Flooding The Zone With Shit

• My immediate reaction to the news of ChatGPT was to tell friends “at last, we have solved the Fermi Paradox”[1]. It wasn’t that I feared being told “This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it”, but rather that I assumed that civilizations across the galaxy evolved to be able to implement ChatGPT-like systems, which proceeded to irretrievably pollute their information environment, preventing any further progress.

• Below the fold I explain why my on-line experience, starting from Usenet in the early 80s, leads me to believe that humanity’s existential threat from these AIs comes from Steve Bannon and his ilk flooding the zone with shit[2].

Windows TCO

=> ↺ Los Angeles Times ☛ Cracks, hacks, attacks: California’s vulnerable water system faces many threats

• On a February morning in 2021, a water treatment plant operator in Oldsmar, Fla., noticed something unusual: An unidentified user had remotely accessed the plant’s computer system and was moving the mouse around the screen.

• The operator watched as the intruder clicked into various software programs before landing on a function that controls the amount of sodium hydroxide, or lye, in the plant’s water system. The hacker then increased the amount of lye — a potentially dangerous substance used to control acidity — from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million.

• The plant operator reversed the change almost immediately, and officials said there was never any threat to public safety. But the incident has highlighted the threats facing major drinking water systems across the country.

=> ↺ [Repeat] New York Times ☛ U.S. Says It Dismantled Russia’s ‘Most Sophisticated’ Malware Network

• In a newly unsealed 33-page court filing from a federal judge in Brooklyn, a cybersecurity agent, Taylor Forry, laid out how the effort, called Operation Medusa, would take place.

• The Snake system, the court documents said, operated as a “peer to peer” network that linked together infected computers around the world. Leveraging that, the F.B.I. planned to infiltrate the system using an infected computer in the United States, overriding the code on every infected computer to “permanently disable” the network.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ Russia’s Snakes Got DePlaned

• The US claims to have substantially shut down the infrastructure of one of Russia’s most sophisticated cyberespionage groups.

Security

=> ↺ Fedora 36 reaches EOL on 2023-05-16

• The Fedora Project has announced that Fedora 36 will reach EOL (end-of-life) on 2023-05-16. We strongly recommend that all users upgrade their Fedora templates and standalones to Fedora 37 no later than 2023-05-16.

• We provide fresh Fedora 37 template packages through the official Qubes repositories, which you can install in dom0 by following the standard installation instructions. Alternatively, we also provide step-by-step instructions for performing an in-place upgrade of an existing Fedora template. After upgrading your templates, please remember to switch all qubes that were using the old template to use the new one.

• For a complete list of template releases that are supported for your specific Qubes release, see our supported template releases.

• Please note that no user action is required regarding the OS version in dom0. For details, please see our note on dom0 and EOL.

=> ↺ QSB-089: Qrexec: Memory corruption in service request handling

• We have published Qubes Security Bulletin (QSB) 089: Qrexec: Memory corruption in service request handling. The text of this QSB and its accompanying cryptographic signatures are reproduced below. For an explanation of this announcement and instructions for authenticating this QSB, please see the end of this announcement.

=> ↺ APNIC ☛ Assessing performance and QoS of a distributed peering platform

• Guest Post: New framework assesses platform performance in multi-site environments.

=> ↺ Mozilla ☛ Mozilla Security Blog: Updated GPG key for signing Firefox Releases

• The GPG key used to sign the Firefox release manifests is expiring soon, and so we’re going to be switching over to new key shortly.

• The new GPG subkey’s fingerprint is ADD7 0794 7970 0DCA DFDD 5337 E36D 3B13 F3D9 3274, and it expires 2025-05-04.

• The public key can be fetched from KEY files from the latest Firefox Nightly, keys.openpgp.org, or from below. This can be used to validate existing releases signed with the current key, or future releases signed with the new key.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ EFF ☛ Neighborhood Watch Out: Cops Are Incorporating Private Cameras Into Their Real-Time Surveillance Networks

• The company sells police a cloud-based platform for creating real-time crime centers and a streamlined way for officers to interface with their various surveillance streams, including predictive policing, gunshot detection, license plate readers, and drones. For the public, Fusus also sells hardware that can be added to private cameras and convert privately-owned video into instantly-accessible parts of the police surveillance network. In Atlanta, Memphis, Orlando, and dozens of other locations, police officers have been asking the public to buy into a Fusus-fueled surveillance system, at times sounding like eager pitchmen trying to convince people and businesses to trade away privacy for a false sense of security.

• The model expands police access to personal information collected by private cameras that would otherwise require warrants and community conversation. Because these cameras are privately owned, police can enjoy their use without having to create and follow records retention and deletion policies.

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been collecting and reviewing documents about cities’ uses of Fusus, which counts nearly 150 jurisdictions as customers. You can access these records on DocumentCloud. EFF also shared these documents with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which published its report today.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Twitter Launches Not-Actually-Encrypted Encrypted DMs

• For many months now, Elon has been promising encrypted DMs. And, indeed, we’ve pointed out that he’s absolutely correct that this is an important feature, and one that social media services should offer. The fact that he’s brought it up a bunch and it seemed to be a priority was definitely a good thing, and for all the criticism we’ve leveled at Musk for his decisions at Twitter, I was still hopeful that he’d do at least this one good thing.

=> ↺ Cryptography Engineering ☛ On Ashton Kutcher and Secure Multi-Party Computation

• As unusual as this may sound, Kutcher has been very active in the technical debate around client-side scanning. He’s the co-founder of an organization called Thorn, which aims to develop cryptographic technology to enable CSAM scanning. In March he gave an impassioned speech to the EU Parliament urging the deployment of these technologies, and remarkably he didn’t just talk about the policy side of things. When asked how to balance user privacy against the needs of scanning, he even made a concrete technical proposal: to use fully-homomorphic encryption (FHE) as a means to evaluate encrypted messages.

=> ↺ Site36 ☛ New law for German Federal Police brings more powers for „danger prevention“

• Federal police officers are also to be allowed to wiretap homes and take pictures in order to „danger prevention“ if this serves to combat „serious smuggling of migrants“ or „organised groups of perpetrators“. Since 2016, the Federal Police has been allowed to deploy undercover officers and to conduct informants,, and this is also to be extended to danger prevention.

• The use of „automatic image recording devices“, which can be set up at borders, for example, has been given its own provision. The wearing of body cams and the video surveillance of detention rooms will also be regulated by law. As before, the Federal Police will be allowed to set up number plate recognition devices, provided that this is done „temporarily and not on a nationwide basis“. What is new is the rampant use of drones, which are referred to in the bill as „mobile sensor carriers“ and can record images and sound at all public events or gatherings as well as at railway stations. In addition, the Federal Police will also be given resources to counter unwanted drones.

=> ↺ APNIC ☛ Privacy and networking: Part 2 — Legal and ethical privacy

• Guest Post: How does privacy impact network design and operations?

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ UN rights council condemns Sudan violence amid mounting civilian casualties

• The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday narrowly passed a resolution condemning violations of humanitarian law amid the ongoing violence that has swept Sudan in recent weeks.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ ASEAN’s Myanmar peace plan has been ineffective, bloc chair Indonesia acknowledges

• At end of summit, however, Southeast Asian bloc sticks to widely criticized five-point peace plan.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Gun Deaths Reach New High In Texas, US

• Texas recorded 15 gun deaths per 100,000 residents in 2021.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ A year after slaughter, Myanmar villagers mourn 29 deaths, still live in fear

• Grief mingles with defiance in Sagaing, where evidence of an atrocity was recorded on a soldier’s cell phone.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ UN commissioner urges humanitarian response in Haiti, warns against ‘never-ending cycle of violence’

• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Tuesday warned against a “never-ending cycle of violence” in Haiti after releasing a quarterly report on the island nation. Türk visited Haiti in February and stated that during the visit he saw some of “the most frightening situations in the world.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ United States opens Tonga embassy as it pushes for Pacific influence

• Opening of new embassy comes ahead of President Biden’s brief PNG stopover later this month

=> ↺ RFA ☛ ASEAN condemns attack on humanitarian convoy in Myanmar

• The perpetrators of the Shan state incident “must be held accountable,” Southeast Asian leaders say.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Repeated raids force more than 3,500 villagers to flee Sagaing region township

• Myanmar’s military has continued to use slash-and-burn tactics to force people out of Khin-U.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Iranian Supreme Court Upholds Deaths Sentences Of Three Protesters

• Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences of Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaqoubi, and Saleh Mirhashemi, all three of whom were arrested during the recent nationwide protests and charged with “waging war against God,” a crime often applied to political dissidents.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Founder Of Belarusian Symbols Shop Gets 13 Years In Prison On High Treason Charges

• A court in Minsk has sentenced a noted art manager and founder of a popular shop selling Belarusian national symbols to 13 years in prison on high treason and other charges.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ German-Iranian Charged With Tehran-Guided Arson Attempt On Synagogue

• German prosecutors on May 11 charged a German-Iranian dual national for an attempted arson attack near a synagogue on the orders of the government in Tehran. Babak J.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US appeals court rules that al-Qaida member waived right to appeal war crime convictions

• The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Tuesday that former Guantánamo Bay detainee Omar Ahmed Khadr waived his right to appeal his war crime convictions under the Military Commissions Act. Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson authored the opinion of the court.

=> ↺ Greece ☛ ‘NATO has had to show patience with Turkey’

• Petraeus, now chairman of the KKR Global Institute, is recognized as one of the most experienced 21st-century commanders on the modern battlefield and in intelligence warfare. During his recent visit to Greece in the context of the Delphi Economic Forum, he commented on the capabilities of the Hellenic Armed Forces and held meetings with the chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff and the minister of national defense. An active commentator on the war in Ukraine, he explained the possible scenarios in the field of operations and the importance of Ukraine’s spring counterattack for the course of the war.

=> ↺ Modern Diplomacy ☛ The de-dollarization and “weaponization” of dollar

• The de-dollarization of the world will not be completed overnight, but this is clearly an irreversible movement. However, US control over the “weaponization” of the dollar began to fizzle out after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, writes at “Figaro” Renaud Girard, a French journalist and writer, worked as a war correspondent and written books about the Middle East, geopolitics and international relations.

=> ↺ Site36 ☛ Kamikaze drones approaching: German Army to test three Israeli models next year

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ DA Says Man Who Choked Jordan Neely to Death on Subway to Face Manslaughter Charge

• The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed Thursday that Daniel Penny, who last week fatally choked Jordan Neely on the subway in New York City, is set to be charged Friday and could face up to 15 years behind bars.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ South Carolina police sued for shooting at man 50 times during wellness check

• South Carolina man Trevor Mullinax filed a complaint against York County, South Carolina, and the York County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday claiming he was shot at “around 50 times” during a wellness check in 2021. The complaint states relatives called in a wellness check on Mullinax as he contemplated suicide.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Big Tech Companies Are Becoming More Powerful Than Nation-States

• They are already richer than many countries, and the rise of AI looks set to increase their influence.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ The Army We Don’t See

• The Private Soldiers Who Fight in America’s Name.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ The Best Years of My Country Are Behind Me

• I turn 60 this year. My health is generally good, though I have aches and pains from a form of arthritis. I’m not optimistic enough to believe that the best years of my life are ahead of me, nor so pessimistic as to assume that the best years are behind me. But I do know this, however sad it may be to say: The best years of my country are behind me.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ Drawings by Guantánamo ‘Forever Prisoner’ Abu Zubaydah Expose Details of US Torture

• A report published this week featuring previously unreleased drawings by Abu Zubaydah—a 52-year-old Saudi who has been imprisoned by the United States for more than 20 years at CIA “black sites” and Guantánamo Bay—offers new insight into torture suffered by a man caught up in a case of mistaken identity.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russia’s Defense Ministry: No ‘defensive breakthroughs’ at the front lines in Ukraine — Meduza

• Reports of “defensive breakthroughs” at various points along the line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian troops do not correspond to reality, says an official statement that Russia’s Defense Ministry put out on the evening of May 11.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russian war bloggers report the beginning of a Ukrainian offensive in Kharkiv and the Donbas — Meduza

• During the evening of May 11, pro-war Russian Telegram channels started reporting that the long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russia’s ‘foreign agents’ law to include ‘third parties’ who assist ‘foreign agents’ — even unintentionally — Meduza

• Russian authorities plan to add a “third parties” category to the law on “foreign agents,” reports TASS, referencing a report by Deputy Justice Minister Oleg Sviridenko. Those considered to be a “third party” may be subject to a fine.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Prigozhin accuses Defense Ministry troops of ‘giving up ground without a fight’ near Bakhmut — Meduza

• Wagner Group founder Evgeny Prigozhin accused the regular army of the Russian Federation of giving up ground without a fight near Bakhmut.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russian-appointed authorities in annexed Crimea seize Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Simferopol, hand it over to Russian Orthodox Church — Meduza

• The Russian-appointed authorities in annexed Crimea have seized the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s cathedral in Simferopol, reports local news outlet Krym.Realii, citing Andriy Shchekun, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Krymska Svitlytsia.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ State Duma deputy submits bill for soldiers who fought in Ukraine to be granted university admission without completing entrance exams — Meduza

• Russian State Duma Deputy Nina Ostanina, who heads the parliament’s Committee on Family Issues, submitted a bill to the State Duma that would admit those who fought in Ukraine to institutions of higher education without completing entrance examinations.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ‘Wishful talking’: Russian military official disputes Pentagon statement about Kinzhal missile being intercepted by Patriot system — Meduza

• Russia’s state media including TASS, RIA Novosti, and Interfax are quoting a “high-ranking official” in the Defense Ministry who told the press that the reported recent interception of a Russian Kinzhal missile by a U.S.-made Patriot system is nothing but “wishful talking.”

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ St. Petersburg woman gets suspended prison sentence for asking Putin’s dead parents to ‘take him away’ — Meduza

• After attempting to commune with Vladimir Putin’s dead parents, a St. Petersburg woman has been found guilty of desecrating their grave, and given a suspended prison sentence.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Stash of ammunition reportedly used for assassination attempt on Prilepin found near Moscow — Meduza

• Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee, said that a stash of ammunition used for the attempted assassination of nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin was found near Moscow.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ VK hit with ‘exorbitant’ $780 fine after data breach compromised 3.5M users’ personal records — Meduza

• In Moscow, a justice of the peace has imposed a penalty on VK, a Russian social media company found guilty of compromising 3.5 million user records containing personal information.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russian 19-year-old arrested for allegedly attemptin to go to Ukraine and fight against Russia — Meduza

• FSB officers in Russia’s North Ossetia have arrested a 19-year-old Yekaterinburg resident on suspicion that he planned to go to Ukraine to fight against the Russian army, according to the agency’s department in the region.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Jailed Russian journalist Ivan Safronov’s mother and sister visit him for first time in three years — Meduza

• The mother and sister of Russian journalist Ivan Safronov, who’s serving a 22-year sentence on charges of state treason, reportedly visited him for the first time in three years. The visit lasted three days, according to his sister, Irina Safronova, who spoke to a Telegram channel run by Ivan’s supporters.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Jury trial begins in case of activist who threw Molotov cocktails at Russian National Guard vehicle — Meduza

• The jury trial of Vitaly Koltsov, a 46-year-old activist who stands accused of attempting to kill 12 riot police (OMON) officers, has begun in Moscow. The first court session in the case was held on May 10. Koltsov faces a life sentence under the Russian Criminal Code’s article on the attempted murder of law enforcement officers. In court on Wednesday, he called the jurors his “only hope for the sentence not to be determined in advance.”

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Disasters, exacerbated by climate change, displaced more people than war in 2022—the year Russia invaded Ukraine

• By the end of 2022, a total of 71.1 million people were living in internal displacement, a state in which they have been forced to flee their homes but not crossed an international border. I

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ Commissioner Johansson’s statement at a Joint Press Point with Mr Ihor Klymenko, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

• European Commission Speech Kyiv, 11 May 2023

• Thank you, Minister Klymenko.

• Ukraine has been, for 450 days now, on the front-line.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Ukrainian association to officially start work in Valmiera, Latvia

• A representation of the Association of Small Towns of Ukraine will be opened in Valmiera on Thursday. Ukraine’s ambassador to Latvia Anatoly Kucevol will participate in the opening, which will be mostly a formal confirmation of its status, since the association has been managed from Valmiera for more than a year, Latvian Radio reported May 11.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Britain becomes first country to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles

• Britain has confirmed it is providing Ukraine with long-range missiles. The decision is a major milestone in international efforts to support the Ukrainian fight back against Russia’s ongoing invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Greater clarity is needed in US policy toward Ukraine

• The US has been instrumental in rallying international support for Ukraine, but the Biden administration still needs to clarify whether it views the Russian invasion as a pivotal moment in world politics, writes Michael F. Oppenheimer.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Deciphering Vladimir Putin’s unspoken Victory Day message

• Putin’s unspoken Victory Day message: The seating arrangements at this week’s parade indicate that despite the military setbacks of the past 15 months, the Russian dictator is doubling down on his goal of subjugating Ukraine.

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ IRS gives Ukraine tools to expose Russian oligarchs hiding riches in crypto exchanges

• The agency’s crime-fighting unit will provide licenses and training for a Chainalysis platform to track Russian oligarch’s assets in Ukraine.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Military enlistment office reportedly hit by drone strike in Russia’s Bryansk region — Meduza

• Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, reported Thursday that a Ukrainian drone attacked an administrative building in the town of Starodub. He said nobody was injured.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Putin’s spokesman said goals of Ukraine invasion ‘partially achieved’ but far from complete — Meduza

• Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Bosnian and Herzegovinian TV channel ATV Wednesday that the goals Russia set when launching its “special military operation” have been “partially achieved” but that the tasks “related to the protection of Donbas residents” are far from being completed.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ History student arrested for reading SS officer’s memoir on Moscow metro — Meduza

• A Moscow court has arrested history student Vladimir Panin for five days for reading the memoirs of an SS officer while riding the metro.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ OBTF Cascade: The military unit where the Russian elite get to ‘play war’ in Ukraine

• Want to boast that you fought for the homeland, but without risking your life? Welcome to OBTF Cascade, the Russian military unit that allows career politicians and their military-aged sons to play war in Ukraine – at a safe and comfortable distance from the blood being spilled on the front line.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ UK becomes first country to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles

• Britain on Thursday became the first country to begin supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow Kyiv’s forces to hit Russian troops and supply dumps deep behind the front lines. The development comes as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s military needed more time to prepare an anticipated counteroffensive aimed at opening a new chapter in the war.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Housing and language among the biggest issues for Ukrainian refugees in Lithuania – survey

• Ukrainian refugees in Lithuania face problems with housing, the language barrier and employment, according to a survey commissioned by the Department of National Minorities.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Sanctioned Russian Cargo Ship Loaded With Weapons After Docking In South Africa, U.S. Ambassador Says

• The U. S. ambassador to South Africa has accused the country of providing weapons to Russia in a possible breach of South Africa’s declared neutrality in the war in Ukraine.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Wagner Mercenary Chief Prigozhin Says Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Is Under Way

• Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says Ukraine’s highly anticipated counteroffensive against Russian invasion is under way, claiming that Ukrainian armed forces plan to move further to the north and south if they take control of Bakhmut.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Ukraine Presses For Extension Of Black Sea Grain Deal Amid Russian Threats To Withdraw

• Representatives of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the United Nations held talks in Istanbul on May 11 on UN proposals to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal allowing the safe export of Ukraine grain that Moscow has threatened to quit unless its demands are met.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Teacher In Russia Handed Prison Term For Online Criticism Of War In Ukraine

• A 29-year-old history teacher in Russia’s Komi Republic in the Urals has been sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for his online posts supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s unprovoked invasion.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Britain Reportedly Supplies Ukraine With Long-Range Cruise Missiles

• Britain has supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, a Western official said, which would allow its forces to hit Russian troops and logistics hubs deep behind the front line.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Anti-War Activist From Russia’s Tatarstan Flees Country, Fearing For His Safety

• An anti-war activist from Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, Mark Serov, says he has fled the country, fearing for his safety after serving eight days in jail for publicly commemorating victims of the Russian shelling of Ukraine’s city of Dnipro.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Britain Confirms Supplying Ukraine With Long-Range Missiles As Moscow Fumes

• Britain says it is supplying long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving Kyiv the capability to hit Russian troops well behind front lines as it prepares for a long-expected counteroffensive.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ UK Sends Long-Range Missiles to Ukraine

• The deployment of these weapons comes as the Ukrainian Army prepares to launch a counter-offensive against Russian forces in the Donbas.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Promises Legal Overhaul to Aid EU Entry Bid

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ US Abrams Tanks for Training Ukrainian Forces Arrive in Germany Ahead of Schedule

• U.S. officials say the Abrams tanks needed for training Ukrainian forces have arrived in Germany slightly ahead of schedule, and are on their way to the Grafenwoehr Army base where the training will begin in two to three weeks

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ UK Says It Is Donating Long-Range ‘Storm Shadow’ Missiles to Ukraine

• The missiles, which are launched from the air, are the latest in a pipeline of military aid delivered to the country by Britain, the United States and other NATO allies.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Zelensky, Citing Equipment Gaps, Says It’s Too Soon for Counteroffensive

• Ukraine’s president played down the chance of an imminent military move, but the claim was greeted with some skepticism.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Kazakh Activist Gets 10 Days In Jail For Placing Toilet In Front Of Soviet Military Monument

• Zhannat Akhmediyarov, an activist in Kazakhstan’s western city of Oral, was sentenced to 10 days in jail on May 10 for placing a toilet in front of the monument of Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov while wearing a hat emblazoned with Ukraine’s trident symbol as Russia marked Victory Day on May 9.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Destroyed Russian tank now in Valka

• A destroyed Russian invaders’ tank is continuing its tour of Latvia with a few weeks in Valka, right on the border with northern neighbor Estonia’s twin town of Valga.

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ US exploring multicountry prisoner swap with Russia to free WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich

• The US is looking to use Russian prisoners held in other countries as bartering chips in its quest to free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Bosnia Approves Negotiations For Construction Of Two Pipelines To Deliver Gas From Russia, Azerbaijan

• The Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina on May 11 approved negotiations on building two new pipelines to supply gas from Russia and Azerbaijan via Serbia and Croatia.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russian Lifting Of Visas, Flight Ban Highlight Georgia’s Precarious Relations With Moscow

• Reactions in Georgia have been mixed after Russia announced it was abolishing visas for Georgian nationals and lifting a ban on direct flights to the South Caucasus nation.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russia’s Navalny Put In Punitive Solitary Confinement For 15th Time Since August

• Imprisoned Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has been placed in a punitive solitary confinement cell for the 15th time since August last year, his Telegram channel said on May 11.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Iran and Russia Discuss Further Improvement of Economic Ties

• “…the Syrian and Turkish Foreign Ministers were present during these proceedings, as outlined on the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s website…”

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ China, Russia loom large over G-7 finance ministers’ Niigata meeting

• The bloc of wealthy industrialised nations will discuss on Friday ways to beef up resilience in supply chains.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Top U.S. Official Accused South Africa of Providing Weapons to Russia

• The American ambassador to South Africa told reporters that Washington is confident a Russian ship picked up a load of weapons and ammunition near Cape Town in December.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Albo and the nukes – the demise of Labor’s disarmament policy

• A new nuclear arms race is accelerating, but Australia won’t be doing much about this threat to global survival. This week’s budget confirms the death of Labor’s nuclear disarmament diplomacy. Former diplomat Philip Dorling explains.

• At his AUKUS submarine announcement on 14 March 2023, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke of Australia’s “proud record of leadership” in nuclear non-proliferation. On 17 April Foreign Minister Penny Wong trumpeted Labor’s “proud history” of championing practical disarmament efforts”.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Secret terrorist assessment reveals problems

• A secret assessment of how terrorists are able to be kept behind bars despite completing their sentences has found serious problems.

Environment

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ ‘We Have to Up the Ante’: Climate Activists Target $25,000-Per-Plate Biden Fundraiser

• Climate campaigners including actress and activist Jane Fonda and human rights lawyer Steven Donziger took over New York’s Fifth Avenue Wednesday night outside a $25,000-per-plate fundraiser for President Joe Biden’s reelection bid.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Heat wave blasts Southeast Asia – a likely pattern for the future

• Record high temperatures scorch the region due to a mix of natural and human factors.

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ Biden Power Plant Rule Relies on ‘Industry Propaganda Scheme’ of Carbon Capture: Critics

• The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled a power plant emissions rule whose effectiveness at slashing planet-warming pollution would heavily depend on a major expansion of carbon capture, an oil industry-backed technological scheme that climate advocates view as wasteful, ineffective, and actively harmful.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ ‘A Meltdown Could Still Happen,’ Experts Warn as Fighting Around Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Intensifies

• Experts are warning ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive against invading Russian forces that continued fighting heightens the risk of a continent-wide calamity emanating from the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant—and necessitates immediate efforts to negotiate a ceasefire followed by a peace treaty to end the war.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Same Shit, Different Day,’ Says Fetterman After Yet Another Norfolk Southern Derailment

• U.S. Sen. John Fetterman on Thursday demanded accountability for Norfolk Southern and other railroad companies following Wednesday night’s freight train derailment in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ How to Win a Green New Deal in Your State

• New York just became the first US state to pass a major Green New Deal policy. After four years of organizing, the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA) is now in the New York state budget. Passage of the act is a massive challenge to fossil fuel hegemony and a major victory for public power.

=> ↺ MIT Technology Review ☛ How sodium could change the game for batteries

• Buckle up, because this week, we’re talking about batteries.

=> ↺ Spiegel ☛ A Chicken and Egg Problem: How Germany’s Hydrogen Boom Stalled

• Green hydrogen has the potential to heat millions of homes and keep German industry humming. So far, though, a lack of the environmentally friendly gas and the infrastructure needed to transport it have prevented its wide-scale use.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Environmental Group Sues to Block Oil Wells Near California Homes

• A lawsuit says California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration improperly approved permits for new oil wells

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Green hydrogen proponents pumped on vote of confidence

• Years of hype about green hydrogen could soon pay off for billionaire Andrew Forrest and other proponents of the future industry. The federal budget tipped a surprise $2 billion into a “hydrogen head start” program to make sure Australia keeps pace with rivals.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ E.P.A. Proposes First Limits on Climate Pollution From Existing Power Plants

• It’s the last in a string of major regulations proposed by the Biden administration to sharply cut the greenhouse gases produced by the United States.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ D.O.E.’s Loan Program Has a Lot More Climate Capital to Give

• Jigar Shah runs a federal program that suddenly has a gusher of money to lend before the next election.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Biden targets power plant emissions. How does your state stack up?

• As the Biden administration proposes new power plant rules to address climate change, our chart package looks at current emissions and how to fund a transition.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Climate change is already clearly visible in the climate of the Helsinki metropolitan area

• A report commissioned by the Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY) has revealed that the climate in the Finnish capital region has been getting warmer all year round in the past 60 years, with the greatest rise being in winter temperatures. The report used data from weather stations and modelling to examine climate trends in the region. Winter temperatures have risen by approximately 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade, and winter rainfall has increased, while there have been no significant changes in other seasons’ rainfall.

=> ↺ Breach Media ☛ As Alberta burns, we need a political vision to extinguish the flames

• Alberta’s wildfires make the case for bold climate action while Danielle Smith and Rachel Notley look away

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court upholds California animal welfare law

• The US Supreme Court upheld a California law on Thursday that requires farms to provide their livestock, particularly pigs, with enough room to move if they want to sell their products in California markets.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Earthquake of Magnitude 7.6 Shook Tonga

• An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 was recorded off the coast of Tonga.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ More than 5,000 evacuees in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady region prepare for cyclone to hit

• Local aid groups say they are struggling to provide food for the arrivals.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ In Myanmar jade town, junta arrests 700 to use some for human shields, residents say

• Villagers are forced to march with troops or taken to junta camps to keep rebel fighters away.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ The Dark Web Sells Thousands of Wild Animals. But Not as Pets.

• “People trade these to essentially lick them.”

Overpopulation

=> ↺ NPR ☛ How 20 child-free adults respond to the question, ‘Why don’t you want to have kids?’

• We also asked our child-free listeners to share their go-to responses to questions from strangers and family members. From the blunt to the lighthearted, here are a few replies to add to your repertoire.

=> ↺ J D Supra LLC ☛ California Water Policy: How Will Water — Or Lack Thereof — Impact Our Economy in the 21st Century?

• California’s state and federal water projects are in place to move water to where it is needed and when it is needed. However, these projects were all built in the early-mid 1900s and weren’t designed for today’s circumstances, including global warming, significant population growth leading to greater water requirements, and the strain on the environment from increases in consumptive uses of water. Additionally, farming has changed, with a decrease in annual crops and an increase in more permanent crops like trees and vines, which make annual water supply fluctuations more difficult for farmers to adjust to.

=> ↺ EuroNews ☛ Water gaps: Where in Europe is most at risk of water shortages and what can be done about it?

• Humans are using more water than the natural water cycle can provide.

• More than a third of the world’s population is now living with water scarcity, meaning demand for water in their region outstrips the renewable supply for at least one month of the year.

• By 2025, this could rise to half of the world’s population, according to UN Water.

Finance

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Big Food Raking in Huge Profits From Price Hikes as US Hunger Persists: Analysis

• “It’s shameful that Americans are left food insecure and have to skip meals while corporations and their wealthy shareholders enjoy the spoils of supersized profits under unjustified price hikes.”

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Reserve Bank modelled 4.8 per cent interest rate peak

• Much more aggressive interest rate paths have been modelled by the Reserve Bank and suggest a peak cash rate well above four per cent remains possible.  The internal modelling was done in February and revealed via a freedom of information request.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Negotiation Attempt To Raise US Debt Ceiling Fails

• The U.S. is trying to negotiate raising its debt ceiling by 34 million dollars.

=> ↺ Zimbabwe ☛ IMF says Zimbabwe’s gold-backed digital tokens likely a bad idea

• I have to confess, I am not a fan of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. It’s hard to be a fan as a Zimbabwean, I guess. However, they do hold sway over world proceedings and so we have to listen to what they have to say.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Foxconn, Sharp Shares Slide After Japan Firm’s Surprise Writedown

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ The super-rich are gobbling up prime London properties at a rate not seen since Brexit

• Everyone with a mortgage in London—and the rest of the UK—woke today (May 11) to the unwelcome news that interest rates, and therefore the cost of paying for their homes, are likely rising again.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Falling of US Banks Detrimental to Global Economy

• The collapse of the First Republic Bank marked the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ US debt stand-off overshadows G7 finance leaders’ meet

• A standoff in Washington over raising the US debt ceiling has overshadowed a meeting of Group of Seven (G7) finance leaders, heightening US recession fears as central banks seek a soft landing for the global economy.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ FDIC proposes big banks pay to recover losses in SVB and Signature failures

• The FDIC on Thursday proposed that the nation’s largest banks pay a “special assessment” to cover the costs of bailing out uninsured depositors in the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ EU Goods Worth $1 Billion In Transit Through Russia Fail To Reach Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

• Goods worth at least $1 billion bought by companies in Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan from their partners in the European Union have disappeared while crossing Russia, the Financial Times reported on May 10.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Luxury Imports to Russia Take a Detour Around Sanctions — Through Dubai

• More than a year into Vladimir Putin’s invasion, the web of global trade has adjusted to Western sanctions, with a network of middlemen sending cars, electronics and more to Russia.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ OK or better? Parliament fight on housing crisis escalates between Labor and Cross Bench

• Better the okay or the perfect? The debate about the Housing Australia fund raged in the Senate, with the Greens lambasted for opposing the Government’s promise of 30,000 new dwellings over five years. Budget papers reveal, however, that federal spending on housing is falling. Callum Foote reports.

• As housing supply dwindles, renters face ludicrous price increases and new construction looks to shrink, and as many builders struggle, some going broke. In the forward estimates the federal Government has significantly reduced spending on housing by over 30%.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ Senate Investigation Shows How GOP Law Enabled Big Pharma’s ‘Extreme’ Tax Avoidance

• The Senate Finance Committee released a new report Thursday detailing how the GOP’s 2017 tax cut law allowed U.S. pharmaceutical companies to ramp up their tax avoidance schemes as they continued charging Americans exorbitant prices for prescription drugs.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Ralph Nader: The Sadistic GOP’s Debt Limit Ploy vs. the People

• Congressional history has rarely witnessed such a corrupt, cruel and explicit drive to turn the delegated sovereignty of the people against the citizenry.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Russia wants to settle its trade in yuan—and India is running out of options

• India’s efforts to internationalize the rupee have stalled following the failure of its negotiations to use it to trade with Russia.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Budget 2023 – What They’re Not Telling Us

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ The GOP’s Sadistic Debt Limit Ploy Is a Direct Attack on People

• Raising the federal debt limit over the years has secured unconditional routine Congressional passage and was endorsed by presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. After all, it allows the U.S. Treasury to pay past and existing bills, not expand future spending.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ The Debt Ceiling Drama Is All Stagecraft

• As if the planet weren’t burning or on the cusp of nuclear war, the White House, the Treasury, Congress, and the press have fired up another round of Washington’s favorite parlor game—Debt Disaster!™ Over at Vox, Dylan Matthews has explained the half-hidden politics. Both sides need a win, he reasons. Neither has the votes. So the search is on for an outcome both can live with. President Biden’s nonnegotiable demand is for a clean increase in the debt ceiling. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s demand is for big cuts in federal spending—to which Biden has no principled objection. These goals are not incompatible, which means that both will be met. The rest is stagecraft, timing, optics, and spin.1

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ What happens if Erdoğan loses this weekend’s Turkish election?

• Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is losing in the most recent polling for the first round of the presidential election this Sunday (May 14), with broad implications for Turkey’s role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Ukraine war at stake.

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ How the Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow Investigation Began

• Our reporting on the relationship between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire and Republican megadonor, has touched off a national conversation about the ethics of the Supreme Court. Other news organizations have stepped up their scrutiny of the high court, and our stories have been cited thousands of times in editorials, op-eds and Congress.

• The lavish travel Crow funded and the previously undisclosed real estate deal and tuition arrangements between Crow and Thomas that our reporting revealed has become fodder for the dueling narratives of American politics.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ It’s Time For Democrats to Declare War Over the Debt Ceiling

• Sometimes confronting political opponents calls for a soft touch — for nuance. And sometimes you just need to kick ass.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Time to Subpoena Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow,’ Says Watchdog

• With the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee back at full force with the return of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the progressive group Stand Up America declared Thursday that “it’s time to subpoena Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow,” a right-wing Supreme Court justice and his billionaire friend who has spent decades lavishing him with secret gifts.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Iranian Executes At Least Seven More People Despite Mounting Criticism

• Iran executed at least seven more people in the early hours of May 10 despite mounting criticism from governments and rights activists over Tehran’s frequent usage of the death penalty.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ Three Things: Turf’s Up

• We’ve had a little fun with the new LIV Golf tour and the game of golf in comments. We should spend a little more time on this subject if Special Counsel Jack Smith thought Trump’s LIV-related business was subpoena worthy.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan To Meet In Brussels

• The European Council says the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to meet in Brussels on May 14 as they continue talks to work out a peace agreement.

=> ↺ Patrick Breyer ☛ AI Act: Lead committees to ban facial surveillance in Europe

• Today, the two lead committees of the European Parliament voted to fully ban biometric mass surveillance in Europe’s public spaces, namely by using the controversial facial recognition technology. The decision was taken by 57:36:10 votes. The committees also voted to ban Clearview AI-type facial recognition databases, biometric categorisation and emotion recognition in the proposed EU Act on Artificial Intelligence, as long advocated for by Pirate Party MEPs. The committee vote will need to be confirmed by all lawmakers in a plenary vote, and the Parliament will then need to negotiate a compromise with the second chamber representing national governments.

=> ↺ NDTV ☛ Who is Linda Yaccarino? Executive Who May Replace Elon Musk As Twitter CEO

• Linda Yaccarino, the head of advertising at NBCUniversal is in talks to become the new CEO of Twitter, according to the reports. Elon Musk on Thursday said that he has found a new chief executive for Twitter, but did not name the person.

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ Web of Lies: George Santos Charged with 13 Felonies, But GOP Leaders Refuse to Expel Him from Congress

• Scandal-plagued New York Republican Congressmember George Santos pleaded not guilty to 13 federal charges at a courthouse on Long Island Wednesday. He is charged with wire fraud, money laundering, lying on federal disclosure forms, and fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits while earning a $120,000 salary. Santos has been under investigation since his election to Congress last year exposed his history as a serial liar who fabricated his educational background, employment history and religion. He has thus far refused to step down and has denied the allegations against him. We talk to Mother Jones reporter Noah Lanard, who was in the courtroom and says this indictment is just the beginning of Santos’s legal troubles.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ George Santos Settles Stolen-Check Case in Brazil

• The first-term congressman of New York accepted responsibility for his actions and agreed to pay a settlement in exchange for the charges to be dropped.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US Representative George Santos pleads not guilty to 13 federal charges

• US Representative George Santos (R-NY) pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 13 federal crimes after a grand jury indicted him over alleged campaign finance and unemployment benefits schemes. >

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Newton Minow and the Public Interest

• Newton N. Minow, President John F. Kennedy’s first appointed Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), died May 6, 2023.  If one “herald” of the public interest movement in communication policy could be named, it would be Minow.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ And Justice for All?

=> ↺ Telex (Hungary) ☛ ‘We’ll be sending the invoices to Brussels in a month’ – Gulyás

• The Hungarian government’s regular, weekly press briefing was held on Thursday by Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, and Government Spokesperson Alexandra Szentkirályi. Below are the main points addressed.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ Groups Blast Right-Wing Government Control of Internet Ahead of Turkey Elections

• As Turks prepare to vote in Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections, a pair of human rights groups warned Wednesday that the right-wing government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “will exert considerable control over the digital ecosystem in an effort to undermine the outcome.”

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ E. Jean Carroll Wins Major Victory for Sexual Abuse Survivors Even as Trump Continues to Target Her

• Under a law passed last year in New York that allows sexual abuse survivors to sue their abusers in civil court even after the criminal statute of limitations has passed, a jury has found former President Donald Trump to be liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll at a department store in the 1990s. After just three hours of deliberations, the jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million. Following the ruling, Trump appeared in a televised town hall on CNN, where he mocked E. Jean Carroll while the Republican audience laughed at his remarks. We discuss the verdict, Trump’s response and the legal system’s treatment of sexual assault cases with Jane Manning, a former sex crimes prosecutor who is now the director of the Women’s Equal Justice Project.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ ‘It Was Shameful’: CNN Faces Furious Backlash for Giving Trump a Megaphone to Spew Lies

• Former President Donald Trump predictably used the megaphone CNN handed him Wednesday night to spew falsehoods about the 2020 election, the January 6 attack, abortion, and E. Jean Carroll, turning the hour-long primetime town hall into what one of the corporate media network’s own reporters characterized as a “spectacle of lies.”

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ Pakistan Supreme Court Rules Arrest of Ex-PM Imran Khan Was ‘Invalid’

• Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest on corruption charges earlier this week was illegal and ordered his immediate release.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Pakistan Supreme Court declares arrest of former PM ‘invalid and unlawful’

• Pakistan’s Supreme Court declared Thursday that the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan was “invalid and unlawful.” Pakistani authorities arrested Khan outside of the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday, sparking protests which continue to brew across the country.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Pakistan dispatch: arrest of former PM Imran Khan ‘an unprecedented moment in Pakistan’s history’

• Law students and law graduates in Pakistan are reporting for JURIST on events in that country impacting its legal system. The anonymous author of this report notes that “The current state of the country has made using the Internet a bit of a challenge.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Mint Press News ☛ Israel’s Latest Hasbara Scheme Enlists High School Students as Trolls Against Palestine

• The Israeli government is training high school students as part of its propaganda efforts to combat criticism of its policies and delegitimize the BDS movement.

• /blockquote>

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Dominion CEO defends high US defamation standard despite Fox News battle

• He also explained why he settled the case even though he “couldn’t wait” for opening statements.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Mediahuis buys EU policy website Euractiv amid aim to become ‘leading European media group’ [Ed: Mediahuis buys Bill Gates-bribed propaganda mill "Euractiv"]

• Euractiv will be the first pan-European news brand owned by Mediahuis.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Matt Taibbi: Report on the Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Top 50 Organizations to Know

• The citizen’s starter kit to understanding the new global information cartel.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Moderator Mayhem: A Mobile Game To See How Well YOU Can Handle Content Moderation

• Play Moderator Mayhem in your browser »

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ One Year On, the US Has Failed to Demand Justice for Shireen Abu Akleh

• Thursday will mark one year since Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a correspondent for Al Jazeera, was shot and killed in the occupied West Bank while reporting on an Israeli army raid in Jenin refugee camp. The unconscionably unlawful killing, captured on film, of Abu Akleh by Israeli forces has gone unpunished. And, the Biden administration appears to have fallen in line with the Israeli government’s claims that “there is a high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire.”

=> ↺ Shirish Agarwal: India Press freedom, Profiteering, AMD issues in the wild.

• Just about a week back, India again slipped in the Freedom index, this time falling to 161 out of 180 countries. The RW again made lot of noise as they cannot fathom why it has been happening so. A recent news story gives some idea. Every year NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) puts out its statistics of crimes happening across the country.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ My Cousin Shireen Abu Akleh Was Killed a Year Ago. No Justice Has Been Served.

• Today marks one year since I awoke in the middle of the night to a text telling me that my beloved cousin the trailblazing Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh had been killed by an Israeli soldier while reporting on an Israeli military invasion of a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ One Year After Israeli Sniper Kills Shireen Abu Akleh, No Justice for Palestinian-American Journalist

• One year ago, on May 11, 2022, an Israeli soldier fatally shot the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the head as she was reporting on an Israeli military raid just outside the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. She was shot while wearing a blue helmet and blue flak jacket clearly emblazoned with the word “press.” Abu Akleh was one of the most prominent TV journalists in the Arab world and had worked for Al Jazeera for a quarter of a century. She was also a U.S. citizen. But a year after her death, no one has been held accountable despite detailed testimony from eyewitnesses to the shooting. We air excerpts from the Al Jazeera investigation The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, which just won a George Polk Award, and speak with correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous. “There’s still no justice in her case, no accountability whatsoever,” says Abdel Kouddous. He adds that while the White House has been very vocal about the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is detained in Russia, the response to Abu Akleh’s killing has been muted. “Shireen was an American citizen, and her family deserves the same calls for justice, the same push for accountability from the White House.”

=> ↺ The Dissenter ☛ Whether You Consider Julian Assange A Journalist Matters

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court rules against Puerto Rico journalists seeking documents from financial oversight board

• The US Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against a group of Puerto Rico journalists who were seeking documents from the island’s financial oversight board, saying that the board is protected from such information requests by sovereign immunity.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Publishers must rethink the value proposition of event sponsorship [Ed: Bribery vector]

• Data is the new currency of event sponsorship. Hybrid event calendars are giving unparalleled insight into how publishers can better serve audience needs. Meanwhile, sponsors will expect personalised audience interactions and unique customer insight when investing in third-party events. Why?

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Barry Diller joins News Corp and Axel Springer to fight ‘destructive’ AI

• Diller, a founder of Fox, also spoke of how the Dominion case stained Rupert Murdoch’s legacy.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Tehran Prosecutor Summons Newspaper Editor Over Reports Of Increased Sales Of Body Parts

• Tehran’s prosecutor has filed charges against the Jahan Sanat newspaper after it published a report on the increasing trade of body parts in Iran due to the deteriorating economic conditions hitting households across the country.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Journalists in Pacific island states face uncertain times

• President Joe Biden will soon visit Papua New Guinea, whose government is trying to regulate the local media.

=> ↺ uni Michigan ☛ NCID hosts panel discussing stereotypes in Asian American media

• The University of Michigan’s National Center for Institutional Diversity held a virtual panel titled “Thinking Beyond Stereotypes in Asian American Media” Tuesday afternoon in which four Asian American authors discussed stereotypes of Asian Americans in the media.  Panel moderator Melissa Phruksachart briefly introduced the authors before they each took time to explain their work.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Full transcript: 2023 Distinguished Leadership Awards celebrate the game-changing role of women in the world

• The Atlantic Council celebrated its first all-female honoree slate, inspired by the past year of remarkable accomplishments by women around the world.

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ Investigators Didn’t Ask Key Questions of Cops Who Killed Kawaski Trawick

• In the spring of 2019, two New York City Police Department officers entered the Bronx apartment of Kawaski Trawick. The 32-year-old personal trainer and dancer had called 911 after locking himself out.

• But 112 seconds after their arrival, footage showed, one of the officers shot and killed Trawick, despite the officer’s more-experienced partner repeatedly telling him not to use force.

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ The Ugly Truth Behind “We Buy Ugly Houses”

• Cory Evans was well-versed in the HomeVestors of America playbook when he arrived at a suburban Los Angeles home on Nov. 4, 2016. His franchise with the “We Buy Ugly Houses” company had executed more than 50 deals in the preceding two years. Patriot Holdings would soon become one of the company’s most successful franchises by following HomeVestors’ strategy of finding homeowners in desperate situations, then convincing them to sell quickly.

• The homeowner, Corrine Casanova, had bought the three-bedroom Baldwin Park bungalow with her husband in 1961 and now owned it outright. After raising three children there, she was days away from leaving it for an assisted living facility and had called the number on a HomeVestors ad.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Ohio legislature advances joint resolution to raise threshold to enact a constitutional amendment

• The Ohio General Assembly advanced on Wednesday Senate Joint Resolution 2 which would raise the required threshold from 50 percent to 60 percent to enact a constitutional amendment. The senate concurred with the house’s amendments to the resolution.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Audit Finds New Jersey Cops Aren’t All That Enthusiastic About Public Accountability

• Guess who doesn’t want to police themselves. If you guessed “police,” you win nothing but more years of zero accountability. Everybody seems to know cops don’t want to be held responsible for their actions, but those capable of forcing cops to be accountable for their actions seem willing to let the status quo remain in effect.

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ HomeVestors Aims to “Bury” ProPublica’s Reporting

• On April 18, HomeVestors of America executives held a virtual meeting for its nearly 1,150 franchisees. The purpose: Alert local “We Buy Ugly Houses” operations about a forthcoming ProPublica investigation into their business tactics.

• “It is not going to be flattering for us,” HomeVestors CEO David Hicks warned.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ The US Government Is Illegal—Not Asylum-Seeking

• Title 42 ends Thursday, but the U.S.-led war on refugees will continue, as the policies that are replacing Title 42 are in many ways, much worse.

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ In Win for Farm Animals, US Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to California Law

• In what sustainable agriculture, public health, and animal rights champions celebrated as a major victory, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a California law prohibiting the in-state sale of pork, eggs, and veal derived from creatures “confined in a cruel manner.”

=> ↺ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Madness’: Federal Judge Rules 18-to-20-Year-Olds Can’t Be Barred From Gun Purchases

• A federal judge’s ruling in Virginia on Thursday once again made clear the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, in which the right-wing majority ruled that laws and regulations pertaining to firearms must fall within the United States’ so-called “historical tradition.”

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ The Writers’ Strike Makes Sense; Their Demands About AI, However, Do Not

• The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is on strike again. Given how much writers contribute to the entire entertainment ecosystem—every satisfying cinematic moment begins its life on the written page—the WGA is asking studios to grant professional writers a reasonable slice of Hollywood’s huge profit pie: a higher minimum wage across all media, higher contributions to benefits, more residuals for streaming. Basically, the same story as writers’ strikes from years past. And, let’s face it: the studios can afford it. Nearly all the WGA’s requests seem sensible, and worth striking over. As such, the overall strike seems righteous.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Hollywood Writers Are Striking to Save the Industry From Corporate Destruction

• Hollywood writers represented by the Writers Guild of America, East, and the Writers Guild of America, West, are on strike for the first time since 2007-08. As Alex Press writes in Jacobin, “The WGA (West and East) called the strike just before midnight on May 1, with its leadership unanimously voting for a work stoppage after six weeks of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over a new three-year contract that covers some 11,500 film and television writers. Announcing its decision, the union said that the bargaining table responses of the AMPTP, which consists of Amazon, Apple, Discovery-Warner, Disney, NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount, and Sony, had ‘been wholly insufficient given the existential crisis writers are facing.’” Even though overall production budgets have risen in the past decade, writer pay has declined, and the rise of streaming services has translated to lower residuals for writers, shorter paid work periods and more precarious employment, etc., with studios even threatening to replace more essential creative labor with AI software.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Striking Writers Find Their Villain: Netflix

• Fear of protests prompted the streaming giant to shift an anticipated presentation for advertisers to a virtual event and a top executive to skip an honorary gala.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ UK Bar Council, Archbishop of Canterbury call Illegal Migration Bill ‘deeply flawed’ and ‘morally unacceptable’

• The UK Bar Council on Wednesday called on peers in the House of Lords to reject the “deeply flawed” Illegal Migration Bill. The second reading of the bill took place in the House of Lords this afternoon and saw the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby make representations as to the immorality of the bill.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ How the women and girls of Iran have fueled their ‘unprecedented’ protests: Bravery, solidarity, and innovation

• Uncorrected transcript: [...]

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Dish Network Is A Hot Mess After Major Hack Attack

• Satellite TV provider Dish Network isn’t having much fun. Despite oodles of direct government assistance during the Trump era, the company’s attempt to pivot from mediocre satellite TV provider to modern streaming service and wireless giant has been a hot mess.

Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ Creative Commons ☛ CC Supports Trans Rights [Ed: CC does not understand what CC is for. Maybe it'll also start writing about the Ukraine conflict, Unabomber, 9/11 etc. Then again, this is what happens when orgs like EFF and OSI let a bunch of fools take over and promote some totally unrelated agenda, using the old legitimacy of the original institutions while dividing the support base.]

• Recently, we witnessed [1] book bans and educational restrictions on content related to trans rights and experiences, along with other bans of books related to other marginalized identities. These acts of censorship limit public access to important information, perpetuating misinformation, prejudice and discrimination.

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ Z-Library Warns Against ‘Fraudulent’ and ‘Unsafe’ Copycats With Millions of Users

• The Z-Library crackdown and related domain seizures haven’t put an end to the site, but the knock-on effects are causing confusion among the public. The action has fueled the popularity of several copycat sites, some of which have millions of monthly visitors. According to the Z-Library team, these “fraudulent” sites are dangerous and should be avoided.

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ Twitch-Streaming Destiny 2 Teen Cheater Fails in Bid to Shake Bungie Lawsuit

• A teenager who live-streamed himself cheating in Destiny 2 while evading multiple bans, has failed in his bid to have a Bungie lawsuit dismissed. The then 17-year-old, who today faces fraud and copyright infringement claims, hit the headlines last year following allegations he threatened Bungie employees, among a series of other alleged offenses.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Fallout From Nintendo’s ‘Zelda’ Freak-Out Continues, Including Nintendo Self-Harm

• There’s that old saying: the coverup is always worse than the crime. There appears to be something of a corollary to that: the freak-out over a leak is always worse than the leak itself. Let’s call that Geigner’s Law, because why the hell not?

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ 🔤SpellBinding: CYILMUE Wordo: JUTES

Technical

=> ↺ Quarndown Transport Needs Expert Assistance

• Yes, this is a post about OpenTTD. You’re probably used to it by now 😄️

• It’s January 1st 2051 and Quarndown Transport is 101 years old. The company is highly profitable, raking in more than £100 million a year. There are absolutely zero fiscal problems. In fact the company can pretty much afford anything it might want to do.

Science

=> ↺ RE: Two Energy Crises

• Yes and yes! It could maybe be explained by (1) the need to sell more to make more money, or (2) some sort of cross-generational memory of “the harsher times”[^0].

• (1) implies each producer/seller must produce a ton to make some money, because producing less than there is demand for would mean profit “loss” — obviously! Because there’s so much stuff available, and because most people still have enough money to survive AND to spend on non-essential things, why spend a little more to get this small luxury/comfort? And after you buy it you won’t let it spoil, right? That would be a waste, right? And by the way… if all this stuff that’s for sale isn’t bought, it’ll spoil too! This way of living is a waste-producing machine.

Internet/Gemini

=> ↺ am I missing something? (everything?)

• So, I am subbing to blogs on RSS, and I see so many people saying newsletters replaced blogs, with a huge social media presence in-between (for over a decade for me, now a relic of the past (for me)).

• But, the reason people give as to “why newsletter?” over a social media service is that they don’t like centralized services, like Facebook, Twitter, et al.

=> ↺ Meetup

• I don’t often meet people that I’ve met online first. Back in the BBS days, whe the online was local, this was more common. One of the large boards had coffees at a local restaurant. Now that was weird as hell: teenagers and young adults and old adults (who I realize now were probably only a few years older than I am now, but were all overweight and smoking [this was pre-smoking-bans] and looked like hell) all getting together and talking and shooting the shit. You could feel the tension between some of them. Who hated who. Who wanted to fuck who. Who already had.

Programming

=> ↺ RE: The Trouble With IDEs

• The first time I tried one I was at a workshop[^0], and they said we needed Visual Studio — wasn’t announced beforehand, I guess they assumed everyone had it installed? And how was it, you ask? I spent half the workshop waiting for the 40GB download to end, a good few tens of minutes installing it, and a good few minutes waiting for it to start up. Finally I was ready to get shit done! Except the workshop was now at the end. Complete waste of my time. I uninstalled the fucking thing right away.

• Why would anyone want to download an XXXGB program to do something an XMB program can do much better, faster, more reliably, … ? Why would I have to suffer through all this just because some small % of users want(!) a feature I will NEVER need or want? [ [...]

• And add “slow as molasses” to this feature set.

=> ↺ The Trouble With IDEs

• My recent post about proportional fonts triggered a further response which cited a rant about IDEs.

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