● 05.20.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 20/05/2023: IPFire 2.27 – Core Update 175

Posted in News Roundup at 11:45 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Bad Voltage 3×58: Large Langridge Model

• Jeremy Garcia, Jono Bacon, and Stuart Langridge present Bad Voltage, in which there is unsceptical intensity, we are all eaten by a T-1000, and we have collected a list of concerns about Large Language Model-based AI, which we’re going to dive into!

=> ↺ Jupiter Broadcasting ☛ Tempted by the Fruit of Another | Self-Hosted 97

• Alex tempts Chris with his Obsidian ways, our thoughts on Drobo going bankrupt, and Photoprism adding paid tiers. Plus, the slick suite of tools you’ll want to run on your LAN.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ UNIX Cop ☛ How To Install Logwatch on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• Logwatch is an open-source log analyzer that scans through system logs and sends out a summary report of important system activity via email or other channels. This makes it easy to monitor and manage system logs, and quickly identify potential security threats or other issues.

=> ↺ Own HowTo ☛ How to customize Terminal on Linux Mint

• You can launch terminal by pressing CTRL + ALT + T, or by using the GUI and the search box on the dashboard menu.

=> ↺ Trend Oceans ☛ How to Enable X11 and Disable Wayland Window System

• While accessing a remote machine, if you’re getting “remote display server is not supported”, then you need to enable X11 and disable Wayland to resolve the issue.

=> ↺ Trend Oceans ☛ How to Open PDF Programmatically Using Intent in Android

• Not only show you how to open pdf programmatically but also show you how to fix android.os.FileUriExposedException: exposed beyond app through Intent.getData() error.

=> ↺ UNIX Cop ☛ How To Install Tixati on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• Tixati is a lightweight and feature-rich BitTorrent client that enables fast and efficient downloading of files on Linux systems. If you are using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and prefer installing software using Debian packages (deb), this article will guide you through the installation process of Tixati.

=> ↺ Joe Brockmeier ☛ Joe Brockmeier: Everything you need to know about Vim and text on Linux (Slides)

• Last week I had the opportunity to present at Open Source Summit North America (2023) in the Open Source On-Ramp track. I promised to upload my slides by Monday of this week (oops) but didn’t factor in getting COVID. Apologies to anybody who came looking for the slides previously, I was pretty much under the weather all week.

=> ↺ UNIX Cop ☛ How To Install Spigot on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS [Ed: But Minecraft is proprietary and, being controlled by Microsoft, it ought to be avoided completely; use Minetest instead]

• Spigot is a popular and customizable server platform for Minecraft. If you’re running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and want to set up a Spigot server to host your own Minecraft world, this article will guide you through the installation process.

=> ↺ Own HowTo ☛ Bash script to show the public IP, city, region and timezone

• In this tutorial, you will learn how to show the public IP, location and the timezone of your server/computer in a bash script, and then save the output into a text file.

• There are a lot of sites where you can just visit them and they will show your

=> ↺ UNIX Cop ☛ How To Install Spack on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• Spack is a powerful package manager designed to simplify the installation and management of software packages in scientific computing and high-performance computing environments. In this article, we will walk you through the process of installing Spack on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, enabling you to leverage its capabilities for managing your software dependencies efficiently.

=> ↺ UNIX Cop ☛ How to Install and Configure OrientDB on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• OrientDB is a NoSQL, multi-model database management system that combines the flexibility of documents with the power of graph databases. In this article, we will walk you through the process of installing OrientDB on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, enabling you to leverage its capabilities for building robust and scalable applications.

=> ↺ How to install Basemap Python Library in Ubuntu Linux

• Basemap is a Python library for developers who want to create maps and perform various geographical plotting tasks.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ How to Install Element on Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

• Element is an open-source, privacy-focused, and highly customizable messaging platform that puts the user in control. As a project from the prolific team at Element.io, it provides a secure alternative to mainstream messaging apps by enabling users to host their own servers while retaining a high degree of usability and feature richness.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ How to Install Neofetch on Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

• Delving into the vast, exciting realm of Linux can be both thrilling and somewhat daunting. However, software utilities like Neofetch can make the journey much more enjoyable and insightful. Neofetch is a remarkable command-line system information tool designed for Linux systems.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ How to Remove Firefox Snap from Ubuntu Linux

• Ubuntu Linux, a robust, user-friendly, and popular Linux distribution, has long embraced the potential of Snapcraft, a universal packaging system developed by Canonical, the very creators of Ubuntu itself.

=> ↺ TecAdmin ☛ A Practical Guide to Extracting Compressed Files in Linux

• As an open-source operating system, Linux provides an array of tools to manage, compress, and decompress files. Compressed files, used to reduce storage space and maximize data transfer, are commonplace in the Linux world.

=> ↺ Trend Oceans ☛ How to Fix Docker: Unable to Prepare Context: Unable to Evaluate Symlinks in the Dockerfile Path

• Let’s learn how to fix the “docker unable to prepare context: unable to evaluate symlinks in Dockerfile path errors” on your Windows or Linux machine. Are you trying to use the Docker file to automate the configuration on docker-compose? If so, you might be plagued by this issue, which you can fix in no time.

=> ↺ TecAdmin ☛ How to Change Your Default Crontab Editor

• In the realm of Linux, “crontab” is a term you may come across fairly often. This utility, available on Unix-like operating systems, is used to schedule tasks that are automatically executed at predefined times and intervals. This is highly beneficial for administrators and power users, allowing them to automate various system tasks.

=> ↺ DebugPoint ☛ Fix “invalid or corrupted package (PGP signature)” Error In Arch Linux

• A simple guide to fix the “invalid or corrupted package” error in Arch Linux. I have a few Arch Linux systems in both physical and VM setup, which I access when needed. After almost two months, when I tried to upgrade the Arch Linux in one of them using sudo pacman -Syu,

=> ↺ TecAdmin ☛ What are the difference between ZSH and BASH?

• As we navigate through the world of Unix-like operating systems, we come across different shell environments, each with its unique features and capabilities. Two commonly used shell environments are Bash (Bourne Again Shell) and Zsh (Z Shell).

=> ↺ Cloudbooklet ☛ WordPress Deployment Made Easy: Docker Compose, Nginx, Apache, SSL Setup Guide

• Simplify the deployment of your WordPress website with our easy-to-follow guide. Use Docker Compose, Nginx, Apache, and SSL for a seamless installation process.

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install Composer on Fedora 38

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Composer on Fedora 38. Composer is a powerful dependency management tool for PHP that simplifies the process of including external libraries and packages in your PHP projects.

Desktop Environments/WMs

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ This Week in GNOME ☛ Felix Häcker: #96 Polished Settings

• Update on what happened across the GNOME project in the week from May 12 to May 19.

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ Hectic Geek ☛ Top Linux Distros for Web Development in 2023

• Linux is the ideal choice for developers and programmers looking for a more practical operating system.

New Releases

=> ↺ IPFire Official Blog ☛ IPFire 2.27 – Core Update 175 is available for testing

• The forthcoming update, IPFire 2.27 – Core Update 175, is available for testing! Most noteworthy, it updates OpenSSL to the 3.1.0 branch, features a kernel update as well as other package updates and a variety of bug fixes are also included in this update.

• IPFire makes heavy use of this cryptography library, which is why keeping it up to date (without causing any interference to existing installations) is an important task for the development team. Core Update 175 updates OpenSSL to version 3.1.0, for which some work under the hood was necessary, such as ensuring all dependent packages were ready for using OpenSSL’s API, which has changed from the 1.1.x series.

• To avoid breaking any custom software IPFire users may run on their installations, OpenSSL 1.1.1′s files remain untouched on existing installations until the release of Core Update 176. However, please note that OpenSSL 1.1.1 is scheduled for end of life on September 11, 2023, and ensure any custom changes are made compatible to OpenSSL 3.1.0 as soon as possible.

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ Fedora Project ☛ Fedora Community Blog: CPE Weekly update – Week 20 2023

• This is a weekly report from the CPE (Community Platform Engineering) Team. If you have any questions or feedback, please respond to this report or contact us on #redhat-cpe channel on libera.chat.

• We provide you both infographics and text versions of the weekly report. If you just want to quickly look at what we did, just look at the infographic. If you are interested in more in depth details look below the infographic.

=> ↺ Red Hat Official ☛ Craft your journey at Red Hat Summit

• Build your own experience at the premier open source technology event, which features an accessible and inclusive format geared to IT leaders and professionals. With new sessions and tracks covering a variety of topics such as automation, hybrid cloud, and edge, this year’s event is designed to give you the tools you need to help define the future of open technology—as well as the flexibility needed to choose the topics most relevant to your business challenges.

=> ↺ DXC’s Luxoft partners with Red Hat to enable car manufacturers to accelerate the development of software-defined vehicles

• Luxoft, a DXC Technology Company (NYSE: DXC), has announced a collaboration with Red Hat to accelerate the transformation of software-defined vehicles (SDVs) with open source technologies.

=> ↺ Red Hat Official ☛ Red Hat empowers customers to take charge of their learning journey through personalized skills assessments

• According to IDC, IT staff trained on Red Hat technology get up to speed faster on projects and can more easily apply their knowledge. The end results are higher performance and cost-saving efficiencies. Assessing your own skill set and identifying areas for growth is essential to stay ahead in the fast-paced technology industry. With numerous courses available, determining the most suitable one for you or your team can be challenging – this is where Red Hat’s Skills Assessment tool comes in.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Petter Reinholdtsen ☛ Petter Reinholdtsen: wmbusmeters, parse data from your utility meter – nice free software

• There is a European standard for reading utility meters like water, gas, electricity or heat distribution meters. The Meter-Bus standard (EN 13757-2, EN 13757-3 and EN 13757–4) provide a cross vendor way to talk to and collect meter data. I ran into this standard when I wanted to monitor some heat distribution meters, and managed to find free software that could do the job. The meters in question broadcast encrypted messages with meter information via radio, and the hardest part was to track down the encryption keys from the vendor. With this in place I could set up a MQTT gateway to submit the meter data for graphing.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ Make Use Of ☛ 6 Android Apps to Help You Create Device Mockups for Your Screenshots

=> ↺ The Verge ☛ Xgimi MoGo 2 Pro Android TV projector review: automatic entertainment – The Verge

=> ↺ GSM Arena ☛ Android 14 will make the screen recording feature more privacy-friendly – GSMArena.com news

=> ↺ Nokia Power User ☛ Nokia T10 officially confirmed as Android 13 compatible now – Nokiapoweruser

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Bryan Lunduke ☛ Funny Programming Pictures Part XXXIII

• I feel like mocking CSS and Agile today…

=> ↺ Godot Engine ☛ Maintenance release: Godot 4.0.3

• A fresh portion of stability improvements and bugfixes for Godot 4.0 projects, 4.0.3 covers almost every area of the engine. It also comes with a massive bump in documentation coverage thanks to the newly updated rendering docs!

=> ↺ Rlang ☛ Mastering File Manipulation with R’s list.files() Function

• Introduction When it comes to working with files in R, having a powerful tool at your disposal can make a world of difference.

Rust

=> ↺ Philip Chimento: December of Rust Project, Part 2: The Assembler Macro

• Welcome back! This is the second post of a series which turned out to be more occasional than I thought it would be. You might remember that I originally called it December of Rust 2021. Look how that worked out! Not only is it not December 2021 anymore, but also it is not December 2022 anymore.

Leftovers

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Out of Sight, Out of Mind

=> ↺ Zimbabwe ☛ E-creator – this criminal enterprise is running a scam, stay away

• There’s a Shona proverb that roughly translates to ‘Things should be tested, an old lady from Chivi cooked rocks and drank soup.’ In challenging times, we all try to cook rocks at some point. Just a shot in the dark, a prayer into the ether, hoping against hope that we will catch a lucky break.

Science

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are now competing on the Moon

• NASA chose a team led by Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin to build a vehicle that will safely transport astronauts to the surface of the Moon and back again.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ NASA Picks Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for Artemis Moon Mission

• After losing out to SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ rocket company will get a chance to carry astronauts to the moon’s surface on a mission scheduled for 2029.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Giant Study Identifies Dominant Force Driving Evolution on Earth Today

• “There has never been a field study of evolution of this scale.”

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Radiation Belt Identified Outside The Solar System For First Time Ever

• This has never been done before.

Education

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ The California Teachers’ Strikes Have a Vital Lesson for the Labor Movement

• As a teacher of more than 20 years, and now as the president of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), one of the largest educator unions in the country, I know full well that school districts tend to undervalue the safety and health of staff and students. How many stories of educators juggling multiple jobs merely to survive, or students experiencing homelessness, need to be told to elicit the support we are asking our employers to provide?

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Hungarian Students Push For Higher Teacher Wages In Protest March

• Thousands of students, teachers, and supporters demonstrated in Hungary’s capital on May 19 for improved pay and working conditions for educators, the latest expression of frustration with the right-wing government’s education policy by a growing student movement.

Hardware

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Faster Glacier Melting Mechanism Could Cause Huge Sea Level Rises

• When it comes to the issue of climate change, naysayers often contend that we have an incomplete understanding of the Earth’s systems. While humanity is yet to uncover all the secrets of the world, that doesn’t mean we can’t act on what we know. In many cases, as climate scientists delve deeper, they find yet more supporting evidence of the potential turmoil to come.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Spy Transceiver Makes Two Tubes Do The Work Of Five

• Here at Hackaday, we love following along with projects as they progress. That’s especially true when a project makes a considerable leap in terms of functionality from one version to another, or when the original design gets more elegant. And when you get both improved function and decreased complexity at the same time? That’s the good stuff.

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ $99 Steam Deck Screen Jumps to 1200p

• FX Technology has created a 7-inch replacement screen for the Valve Steam Deck with 1920 x 1200 resolution, 400 nits peak brightness and better colors.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Hackaday Podcast 219: Lots Of Lasers, Heaps Of Ham Radio, And Breaching The Blood Brain Barrier

• Elliot and Dan teamed up for the podcast this week, bringing you the week’s sweetest hacks. And news too, as the ESA performed a little percussive maintenance on a Jupiter-bound space probe, and we learned about how to get an Orwellian free TV that exacts quite a price. We talked about Bitcoin mining two ways, including a way to put all that waste heat to good use — just don’t expect it to make good financial sense. Why would you stuff zip ties into a hot glue gun? It might just help with plastic repair. Lugging a tube transmitter up a mountain doesn’t sound like a good idea, but with the right design, it’s a lot of fun — and maybe you’ll be better able to tap into Schumann resonances while you’re up there.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Telex (Hungary) ☛ The effectiveness of favipiravir is in question – yet those in Hungary who have expressed concerns have been prosecuted

• The National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition announced on January 31 2022 that it is filing charges for scaremongering in connection with several newspaper articles questioning the efficacy of favipiravir against Covid-19. According to the NIPN, these articles can undermine the fight against the pandemic by eroding trust in medicines. The move has provoked a backlash, as it is unprecedented for a public body to respond to statements by respected scientists with criminal charges.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Hawaii’s Governor, Who Is Also a Doctor, Stops to Help at Site of Crashed Vehicle

• Hawaii Gov. Josh Green was one of the people who stopped to help when his security detail spotted a vehicle upside down in a lava field

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Meet the gov’t veterinarian keeping Hong Kong – and a ‘bubble’ in mainland China – free of horse diseases

• Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, even when humans hoping to cross Hong Kong’s border with mainland China were subject to at least 21 days of quarantine, one group was able to travel into and out of the city with relative ease: racehorses.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ THL: Finland in midst of spring coronavirus wave

• The Covid situation is, however, relatively calm compared to last year, according to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Indian numerals: Crystal meth, fake numbers, and travel bugs

• On May 13, the Indian navy, along with the Narcotics Control Bureau, seized roughly 2,500 kg of contraband crystal meth from a ship sailing in Indian waters near the southern city of Kochi. A Pakistani national was arrested during the haul, worth $1.8 billion. The case recalled another large recent drug bust.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ One billion people at risk of cholera, UN warns

• One billion people in 43 countries are at risk of cholera — a “pandemic killing the poor” — despite prevention and treatment being relatively straightforward, the United Nations warned on Friday.

Proprietary

=> ↺ From #LLM regulation to Pizzas: the #reflexiveGPT agent experiment

• I did a quick experiment having #GPT chat with itself as Alice and Bob… At each step, agent Alice answers agent Bob (and vice versa) along with the reinjection of recent context.

Security

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Prompt Injection: An AI-Targeted Attack

• For a brief window of time in the mid-2010s, a fairly common joke was to send voice commands to Alexa or other assistant devices over video. Late-night hosts and others would purposefully attempt to activate voice assistants like these en masse and get them to do ridiculous things. This isn’t quite as common of a gag anymore and was relatively harmless unless the voice assistant was set up to do something like automatically place Amazon orders, but now that much more powerful AI tools are coming online we’re seeing that joke taken to its logical conclusion: prompt-injection attacks.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Apple Patches 3 Exploited WebKit Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

• Apple has patched 3 zero-days, two of which are the vulnerabilities patched with the tech giant’s first Rapid Security Response updates.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Kia/Hyundia Settle Class-Action Lawsuit Over Security Flaw in Vehicles

• Hyundai Motor America and Kia America will resolve class-action lawsuit prompted by a surge in vehicle thefts with a settlement agreement that could be valued at $200 million

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Kia and Hyundai settled a class-action lawsuit accusing their cars of being too easy to steal

• Kia and Hyundai have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the automakers of failing to install basic anti-theft measures.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ When the Phisher Messes Up With Encoding, (Fri, May 19th)

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Online voting: Yes or no [Ed: Terrible idea as a lot of modern computing is back-doored by design]

• In the US, voting is seen as a civic duty. It’s voluntary, but it’s an act of patriotism and a democratic responsibility. But there are many barriers to voting—one might have to take off from work, find childcare, or travel long distances to cast a ballot.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Could online voting become mainstream in the US? [Ed: Just pushing really bad ideas for companies that do not solve any real issue and create many new issues]

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ US Teenager Indicted for Credential Stuffing Attack on Fantasy Sports Website

• Wisconsin teen Joseph Garrison is charged with launching a credential stuffing attack that affected roughly 60,000 user accounts.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Pimcore Platform Flaws Exposed Users to Code Execution

• Security researchers are warning that newly patched vulnerabilities in the Pimcore platform bring code execution risks.

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Botched Asus Update Kicks Routers Offline Worldwide, Company Apologizes

• Asus’ routers mysteriously went offline earlier this week, and Asus initially went radio-silent.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Researchers Identify Second Developer of ‘Golden Chickens’ Malware

• Security researchers have identified the second developer of Golden Chickens, a malware suite used by financially-motivated hacking groups Cobalt Group and FIN6.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Japan’s Toyota discloses improper crash tests at Daihatsu subsidiary

• Toyota has found improper crash tests for a model and suspended shipments, in the latest in a series of embarrassing woes plaguing Japan’s top automaker. The latest problem, affects 56,111 Toyota Raize hybrid vehicles, produced by Daihatsu, a manufacturer specializing in small models, wholly owned by Toyota. It also affects 22,329 vehicles sold as the Daihatsu Rocky. The vehicles were all sold in Japan. Just a week ago, Toyota acknowledged there had been data breach at its online Connected service, spanning a decade, putting information on more than 2 million vehicles at risk for leaks. No breaches were reported.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Japan’s Toyota Discloses Improper Crash Tests at Daihatsu Subsidiary

• Toyota has found improper crash tests for a model and suspended shipments, in the latest in a series of embarrassing woes plaguing Japan’s top automaker

=> ↺ Bruce Schneier ☛ Security Risks of New .zip and .mov Domains

• Researchers are worried about Google’s .zip and .mov domains, because they are confusing. Mistaking a URL for a filename could be a security vulnerability.

=> ↺ Pen Test Partners ☛ All your building are belong to us

• TL;DR Building Management Systems (BMS) bring new risks to businesses that haven’t had previous experience of  securing Operational Technology (OT) While there might not be direct financial gain from hacking [...]

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ EFF ☛ 10 Years After Snowden: Some Things Are Better, Some We’re Still Fighting For

• Groups like EFF had been fighting since long before 2013 to reveal and stop the dangerous mass surveillance conducted within the heart of the secretive national security apparatus. But after that summer, Snowden’s revelations acted like a flood light, allowing everyone to better see and understand what happens inside the black box of government surveillance of millions of innocent people in the US. and around the world.  The tremendous amount of evidence slowed, if not stopped, the disingenuous denials that the government had made both publicly and privately in response to our allegations. The actual documentary evidence also helped us to better pinpoint our demands, our questions, and our legal tools.

• There’s still much work to be done to rein in our overzealous national security state, break political gridlock, and end the extreme secrecy that insulates some of the government’s most invasive tactics.

• Now, ten years after those pivotal revelations, what has changed? Some things are undoubtedly better–under the intense scrutiny of public attention, some of the National Security Agency’s most egregiously illegal programs and authorities have shuttered or been forced to end. The Intelligence Community has started affirmatively releasing at least some important information, although EFF and others have still had to fight some long Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) battles. Outside of government, companies and organizations have worked to close many of the security holes that the NSA abused, most prominently by encrypting the web.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ New York State Legislature Pushing Bill That Would Criminalize Recording Children Without Their Consent

• This is definitely more “for the children” thinking. That is, the kind of thinking that figures anything is ok, so long as it can be portrayed as making children safer. This bill making its way through the New York state legislature probably won’t make many (or any!) kids safer, but it’s already gathered the sort of attention politicians truly crave: the endorsement of a celebrity.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ Ben Crump, Attorney for Malcolm X’s Family: “We Refuse to Let Anybody Exterminate Black History”

• We hear from civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who filed a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit this year on behalf of the family of Malcolm X against the FBI, the CIA, New York City and state, the NYPD and the District Attorney’s Office for concealing evidence of their involvement in Malcolm X’s 1965 assassination.

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ “By Any Means Necessary”: Watch Malcolm X’s Speech on Racism & Self-Defense at Audubon Ballroom

• Malcolm X was born 98 years ago today, on May 19, 1925, and assassinated at age 39 on February 21, 1965, as he spoke before a packed audience in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. We end today’s show remembering his life and legacy with an excerpt of a speech Malcolm X gave at the Audubon Ballroom about half a year earlier called “By Any Means Necessary.”

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ ‘Absolutely Intolerable’: China’s Military Responds to US Military Aid for Taiwan, Troop Deployments

• The PLA says it will ‘firmly crush Taiwan independence attempts and external interference’

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ ICC Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan placed on Russia’s federal Wanted list — Meduza

• Russia’s Interior Ministry has placed the British jurist Karim Ahmad Khan, who serves as a prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), on the federal Wanted list.

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Belarus reportedly constructing anti-tank fortifications near border with Ukraine — Meduza

• The monitoring group Belaruski Gayun has discovered defensive structures being constructed in the Gomel region of Belarus. Construction equipment was visible near the exit from the village of Kalinino. Next to the equipment, a line of “dragon’s teeth” anti-tank barriers had already been installed. The fortifications are located approximately 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the border with Ukraine.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Cop Actually Admits He Was Wrong To Brutalize A Man Who Thought He Was Being Assaulted By Criminals

• I don’t often highlight the things that cops do right. That’s for several reasons. First, I don’t think it’s worth applauding officers for managing to do their jobs without violating anyone’s rights. Second, I don’t think it’s cute when cops pull over people to give them Thanksgiving turkeys or aid and abet marriage proposals. That’s just hideous. And third, cops generally don’t go above and beyond too often, so there’s a limited amount of content to work with.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Why the Right Embraces Military-Veteran Vigilantes

• “The war comes home” is a misleading phrase that we should probably abandon. America’s endless foreign wars usually reflect violent economic, social, and political currents already within our borders and that stretch as far back as settler colonialism, chattel slavery, and the birth of racial capitalism.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Iran executes three men linked to Mahsa Amini protests

• Iranian authorities on Friday executed three men convicted of violence against the Islamic republic’s security forces during protests triggered by Mahsa Amini’s death in custody last year, the judiciary said.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ At least 20 killed in raids on villages in Burkina Faso’s troubled north

• At least 20 people were killed in a series of raids on villages in Burkina Faso’s troubled north, security sources and local residents told AFP Friday.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ G7 Summit Opens in Japan’s Hiroshima Amid Waves of Protests

• Protesters rallied around the summit venue, chanting slogans such as “U.S. Imperialists, Number One Terrorist!” and “Stop NATO Alliance!”

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ UK Metropolitan Police Chief accuses Crown Prosecution Service of failing victims and ‘cherry-picking’ cases

• Metropolitan Police Service Chief Sir Mark Rowley on Thursday accused the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of failing victims by ‘cherry-picking easy cases’ to fast-track through courts. The CPS reacted by saying the comments “risk damaging public confidence.”

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Myanmar’s junta threatens media that don’t report official cyclone death numbers

• Junta says 100 Rohingya died from Cyclone Mocha, but others have counted more than 400.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Signs of desperation as the Myanmar junta rotates commanders

• The rotation will bring in new commanders showing even less restraint in targeting civilians to please the junta.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Anti-junta militia members escape from prison in Myanmar’s Bago region

• Guards killed 1, while 9 fled into the jungle.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Tens Of Thousands In Serbia Again Protest Government Response To Violence, Vucic Holds Own Rally

• Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, on May 19 to join the third opposition-led protest against the government’s response to two mass shootings earlier in the month

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ It took just two mass shootings for Serbia to impose gun controls

• After two mass shootings in Serbia this month, tens of thousands gathered in Belgrade to demand gun control. Within days, Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, announced a “general disarmament” of the country, with high penalties for anyone who possesses a gun without a permit.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ U.S., British, French Naval Commanders In Mideast Transit Strait Of Hormuz In Show Of Force Against Iran

• The Mideast-based commanders of the U.S., British, and French navies transited the Strait of Hormuz on May 19 aboard an American warship, a sign of their unified approach to keep the crucial waterway open after Iran seized two oil tankers.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Ethnic Serb Leaders Slam Swearing-In Of Mayor Elected During Boycotted Vote

• Ethnic Serb leaders in Kosovo have protested the swearing-in of a mayor from the ruling party of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, calling it the beginning of an “invasion of the north.”

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Iranians Commemorate Death Of Protester Mokhtari, Shout Anti-Government Slogans

• Iranian protesters have gathered to show their anger at the government as they commemorate the anniversary of the death of Jamshid Mokhtari, one of the protesters killed in unrest last spring sparked by deteriorating living standards and rising food prices.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Kenya Starvation Cult Death Toll Tops 200

• “Fourteen bodies were exhumed and one was found in the forest.”

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Sudan: RSF Leader is Removed From Sovereign Council

• Following the 2021 coup against Prime Minister Abdala Hamdok, Al Burhan and Hemedti established a military government whose highest body is the Sovereign Council.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Illegal migrant group crosses Latvia’s border

• On Friday, May 18, an immigrant group succeeded in illegally crossing the Latvian border, as reported to LRT+ by an eyewitness who wanted to remain anonymous.

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ President von der Leyen at G7 Session II – “Ukraine”

• European Commission Statement Japan, 19 May 2023 Quotes from President von der Leyen at the second session of the G7 Summit,on Ukraine.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ NATO Stratcom center offers podcast about Ukraine

• The Rīga-based NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence (STRATCOMCOE) is back with another podcast.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Latvian Radio probes local company linked to Ukraine sanctions list

• Latvian Radio’s investigative strand ‘Open Files’ on May 18 included a report on a company registered in Latvia, asking if it had been directly or indirectly involved in providing support to the Russian military.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ World leaders warn China and North Korea on nukes as Ukraine’s Zelenskyy travels to G7 summit

• Leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies warned China and North Korea against building up their nuclear arsenals, pivoting to major northeast Asian crises ahead of the arrival later Saturday of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The focus on Asia at the Group of Seven summit comes as leaders tighten sanctions meant to punish Moscow and change the course of its invasion of Ukraine. Japan said Zelenskyy’s decision to attend the G7 in person stemmed from his “strong wish” to participate in talks that will influence his nation’s defense against Russia. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit, a day after Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Survey: Latvians still donate to Ukraine

• The donating activity of Latvian residents to Ukraine and refugee support has not decreased over the last year, according to data published on May 19 from the survey conducted by the market and public opinion study center SKDS and newswire LETA.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Japan says Zelenskyy will visit Hiroshima to join G7 summit session on Ukraine

• Japan says that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Japan to join Group of Seven leaders in a session on Ukraine. Zelenskyy is expected to arrive in Hiroshima, the site of the world’s first atomic attack in western Japan, later Saturday. The Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement Zelenskyy will join leaders of the G7 wealthy nations at a session on Ukraine on Sunday. He was originally scheduled to join a session online on Friday, but that plan changed after Zelenskyy expressed a “strong wish” to participate in person.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Did the Pentagon Just Make a $3 Billion Accounting Error—or Did It Do Something Even Worse?

• The Pentagon’s “accounting error” will allow President Joe Biden to send an extra $3 billion in military aid to Ukraine without congressional approval. Was this deliberate?

=> ↺ France24 ☛ ‘Birds in a cage’? Logistical challenges on cards when Ukraine gets F-16s

• In a major U-turn, President Joe Biden said on Friday the US will back giving Ukraine advanced fighter jets including F-16s – days after Britain and the Netherlands promised an “international coalition” to send Kyiv the US-made jets it has long demanded. But analysts warn this will be an immense logistical challenge – from ensuring Ukraine has weapons to carry on the planes to ensuring their delivery does not escalate the conflict beyond Ukraine’s borders.

=> ↺ Mint Press News ☛ Chris Hedges on Weapons to Ukraine, Military buildup to China and Pentagon Spending

• Join MintCast hosts Mnar Adley and Alan MacLeod to discuss Washington’s permanent drive to war with author and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Chris Hedges.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Russia adds ICC prosecutor to wanted list

• Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs added International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan to their wanted list, according to a Friday report from Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet. Khan’s addition to the wanted list follows Khan’s visit to Ukraine and the ICC’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ G7 leaders discuss China ‘economic coercion’ threat

• Leaders from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies are meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expected to join the group in person on Sunday.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Biden backs F-16 fighter jets, pilot training for Ukraine

• US President Joe Biden told G7 leaders that Washington will support providing advanced warplanes including F-16s to Ukraine and will back efforts to train Kyiv’s pilots, senior White House officials said on Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is set to attend the G7 summit in Japan, hailed the move as a “historic decision”. Follow our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Poland Urges China To Pressure Russia To End War In Ukraine

• Poland called on China to exert pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine during a meeting between two top officials in Warsaw, the Polish Foreign Ministry said on May 19.

=> ↺ Spiegel ☛ Interview with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg: “Two Percent Is the Minimum of What We Need”

• In an interview, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calls on Germany to quickly increase its defense spending and says he expects there will be a debate soon on whether to supply Ukraine with fighter jets.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ UK announces new sanctions on Russia targeting 86 individuals and entities

• UK on Friday announced new sanctions against Russia targeting 86 individuals and entities, including theft of Ukrainian grain, advanced military technology, and remaining revenue sources.

• “The UK has today (Friday 19 May) announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia, targeting businesses and individuals connected to Russia’s capacity to fund and wage the war,” read UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office press release.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Anti-War Activist Flees Russia After Leaving Flowers, Note At Ukrainian Monument

• An anti-war activist from Russia’s southwestern Krasnodar region has fled the country fearing for her safety.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Kremlin Critic Roizman Fined For ‘Discrediting’ Russian Armed Forces

• A court in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg has ordered the city’s former mayor and outspoken Kremlin critic, Yevgeny Roizman, to pay a fine of 260,000 rubles ($3,230) for “repetitively discrediting the armed forces” involved in the invasion of Ukraine.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russia Issues Arrest Warrant For International Criminal Court Prosecutor Who Charged Putin

• Russia has issued an arrest warrant for the International Criminal Court prosecutor who prepared a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing the Kremlin leader of being responsible for the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine, which constitutes a war crime.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russia Bars 500 U.S. Citizens, Including Former President Obama

• The Russian Foreign Ministry has banned some 500 U.S. citizens from entering the country, including former President Barack Obama, in retaliation for the latest series of sanctions announced by the United States against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ U.S. Adds 71 Companies To Trade Blacklist As G7 Widens Russia Sanctions

• The U.S. administration added 71 companies to a trade blacklist for supporting Russia on May 19, as the Group of Seven wealthy nations announced new sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ G-7 summit: Can Ukraine President Zelensky’s appearance stiffen resolve to punish Russia?

• Summit host Japan seeks to wean global fence-sitters economically off Moscow.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Sanctions Against Russia and What the G7 May Do to Fortify Them

• The Group of Seven advanced economies are expected to announce more sanctions against Russia to further hinder its war effort in Ukraine during their summit in Hiroshima, Japan

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russian PM To Visit Beijing As China Renews Criticism Of Western Arms To Ukraine

• Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will visit Beijing next week for talks, China’s Foreign Ministry said on May 19, marking the latest exchange in a relationship in which Russia is becoming increasingly reliant on China for economic and diplomatic support.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Russia says its defense minister visited the Zaporizhzhia area of southern Ukraine.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Zelensky Attends Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia

• Addressing an Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine urged Arab nations to stand with him against Russia and called out their reluctance to take sides in the war.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Russia Targets Kyiv for 10th Time This Month

• The attacks come as a widely anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive looms.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Biden backs plan to provide Ukraine with advanced fighter jets

• President Biden on Friday told his fellow leaders at the G7 summit that the U.S. will support a joint plan to train Ukrainian pilots on advanced fighter jets, including U.S.-made F-16s, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Axios.

• Driving the news: After the training commences, the U.S. and its allies “will decide when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them,” the U.S. official said.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ With Prospect of F-16s Closer, Zelensky Heads to the G7 Summit Strengthened

• The Ukrainian president, heartened by a U.S. shift that creates a path to supplying Kyiv with the American-made warplanes, will be in Japan for the G7 meeting.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ In a Sharp Reversal, Biden Opens a Path for Ukraine to Get Fighter Jets

• The president told allied leaders that he would allow Ukrainian pilots to be trained on American-made F-16s, and is prepared to approve other countries’ transferring the jets to Ukraine.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Here Come More Sanctions: How Effective Are They Are Stopping Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine?

• The U.S. and other Group of Seven nations are rolling out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ UN Envoy Reportedly Meeting Russian Official Accused of War Crimes for Deporting Ukrainian Children

• The U.N. envoy charged with trying to protect children caught in conflicts is in Moscow, where she is reported to be meeting Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, who is charged with war crimes for deporting children from Ukraine

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ President von der Leyen at the Session IV of the G7, ‘Strengthening engagement with partners’

• European Commission Statement Hiroshima, 20 May 2023 Quotes by President von der Leyen on strengthening engagement with partners:

• The global pandemic and the knock-on effects of Russia’s war concerning energy…

=> ↺ H2 View ☛ G7 Hiroshima Summit: Where France, Germany, Italy and UK stand on hydrogen

• With the G7 Summit being held in Hiroshima, Japan, this weekend (May 19-21), H2 View has been diving deeper into the hydrogen-related activities of each country.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ World Leaders Warn China and North Korea on Nukes as Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Travels to G7 Summit

• Leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies warned China and North Korea against building up their nuclear arsenals, pivoting to major northeast Asian crises ahead of the arrival later Saturday of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ White House: Biden to Discuss Ukraine With Brazil’s Lula, India’s Modi

=> ↺ Off Guardian ☛ “Pro-Russia” does NOT mean anti-globalist

• Catte Black For the first six years of our eight-year existence OffG was routinely described as “pro-Russian” by detractors and supporters alike. We were cited on RT and one editor was invited to work for them (they declined).

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Remains of Marine Veteran Killed in Ukraine Flown Home to US

• The remains of a U.S. Marine veteran who was missing in Ukraine for more than a year have returned to the United States and are headed to his hometown in eastern North Carolina

=> ↺ Defence Web ☛ Zimbabwe gets new VIP jet, Russian helicopters

• Zimbabwe’s government is taking delivery of dozens of new aircraft, including a new VIP jet and up to 50 Russian helicopters. Eighteen Ansat helicopters handed over at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on 18 May during a ceremony presided over by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, which was also attended by Rostec Director General Sergey Chemezov.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Russian War Report: Russia fires barrage at Kyiv while UK promises ‘kamikaze’ drones

• A series of Russian missile strikes directed at Kyiv were largely intercepted while the UK promises hundreds of drones. In Poland, a missile “cover up” controversy.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Britain Slaps Fresh Sanctions On Russia That Include Diamond Ban

• Britain has announced new sanctions against Russia aimed at advanced military technologies and imports of diamonds to cut Moscow’s “sources of income.”

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Greenpeace Environmental Group To Shut Russia Operation After Kremlin Declares It ‘Undesirable Organization’

• The Greenpeace environmental group said it is shutting down its Russia operation after the Kremlin declared it an “undesirable” organization amid the government’s ongoing crackdown on civil society and independent organizations.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ G7 agrees to impose new sanctions on Russia

• G7 leaders agreed to impose new sanctions on Russia Friday at their annual summit. G7 leaders stated that their countries are prepared to “starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine” and will continue their sanctions on petroleum, metals, and diamonds, which Russia has exported to fund its war.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Russian prime minister to visit China next week following Xi’s March trip

• Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will visit China from May 23 to 24, Beijing’s foreign ministry and the Kremlin said on Friday.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Biden: U.S. Supports Training Ukraine on F-16s, Lifts Objection to Transfer of Fighter Jets

• The move comes as the U.S. separately agreed not to block the transfer of U.S. fighter jets from other countries into Ukraine.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ How the US Helping Ukraine Acquire F-16s Shows That for Military Aid, ‘No’ Can Become ‘Yes’

• The U.S. has once again buckled under pressure from European allies and Ukraine’s leaders and agreed to provide more sophisticated weapons to the war effort

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Japan Says Zelenskyy Will Visit Hiroshima to Join G7 Summit Session on Ukraine

• Japan says that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Japan to join Group of Seven leaders in a session on Ukraine

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Biden to Announce $375 Million Military Aid Package for Ukraine Including Ammunition -US Official

=> ↺ Defence Web ☛ ISS: SADC prepares to go back to the future in eastern DRC

• Deep misgivings and differences about the mandate and intentions of East Africa’s force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) lie behind the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) decision to deploy its troops into the turbulent region.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ How Biden’s curtailed trip affects his goals for Asia and democracy

• In Japan, President Joe Biden is pursuing two pillars of his foreign policy: revitalizing U.S. alliances and demonstrating democracy’s virtues. Hanging over both is the debt ceiling crisis he left behind.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Sudan: Desperate civilians take up arms to defend themselves against militias in Darfur

• As clashes between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue to rock Sudan, Janjaweed fighters – affiliated with the RSF – have been spreading terror in West Darfur, particularly in the city of Geneina. Several waves of attacks have been reported, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties, especially among non-Arab tribes. In the absence of military protection, some of them have taken up arms to defend themselves.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ The Dissenter ☛ Unauthorized Disclosure: Antony Loewenstein

=> ↺ American Oversight ☛ News Roundup: Threats to Election Administration, Attacks on Civil Rights, and New Lawsuit Against DHS

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ US prosecutors argue airman suspected of leaking classified documents should remain in government custody

• US government prosecutors argued in court filings Wednesday that Jack Teixeira, the US airman suspected of leaking classified US intelligence documents, should remain detained ahead of his criminal trial.

Environment

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Myanmar reports 145 deaths caused by Cyclone Mocha, most among Rohingya

• The death toll from Cyclone Mocha has reached 145 in Myanmar, its junta said Friday, with most of the dead from the persecuted Rohingya minority.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ 145 Deaths From Cyclone Mocha In Myanmar

• Mocha made landfall Sunday near Sittwe in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state with winds of up to 209 km/h.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ New Caledonia lifts tsunami warning triggered by Pacific Ocean earthquake

• A tsunami warning in the Pacific has been lifted after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck on Friday, sending many islanders fleeing the coast.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Tsunami Warning Triggered by 7.7 Quake in New Caledonia

• “…Tsunami waves ranging from 0.3 meter to 1 meter above the tide level are possible for some coasts of Vanuatu…”

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Italy flood death toll rises amid calls for action to mitigate natural disasters

• The toll from floods that have devastated the Emilia Romagna region in Italy rose to 14 Friday, amid calls for the government to revive an abandoned project to mitigate the impact of natural disasters.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Brazil is foregoing oil wealth in favor of environmental goals

• Brazil’s top environmental regulator rejected a planned offshore oil drilling project by the state-owned oil company Petrobras near the origin of the Amazon River in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday (May 18), showcasing the government’s commitment to environmental conservation.

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ DeSmog ☛ Cleaning Up After the North Sea Oil Industry Will Cost Billions – But Nobody Wants to Pay

• This story is the start of The North Sea Investigations, a multi-year international reporting project on the battle for the future of the North Sea, led by Dutch investigative journalism platform Follow the Money in cooperation with Norwegian broadcaster NRK, Belgian newspaper De Tijd and DeSmog.

• Skimming across the waves in inflatable dinghies, activists closed in on their target: An abandoned steel hulk looming 40 storeys above the surface of the North Sea. Encircling the platform, tugboats fired plumes of seawater in a spectacular but futile attempt to stop the protesters scaling its sheer sides. 

=> ↺ H2 View ☛ KONGSTEIN develops compressed gaseous hydrogen carrier vessel for OffsH2ore project

• KONGSTEIN has developed a compressed gaseous hydrogen carrier vessel for the direct transport of hydrogen from an offshore wind farm.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ All Hong Kong residential accounts to receive HK$1,000 electricity subsidy in coming year, as prices rise

• The government will introduce an electricity subsidy totalling HK$1,000 for the coming year starting from June 1, following price hikes earlier this year, according to a Friday press release.

=> ↺ H2 View ☛ Uruguay funds green hydrogen project with $10m

• With $10m of funding from the Uruguayan Government, Italian automotive firm and local Saceem will develop a green hydrogen production plant in the country.

Overpopulation

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Angola Needs Infrastructure to Facilitate Growing Population

• Luanda Province has the highest population concentration in the country, with over 9 million people residing in an area of 18,826 square kilometers.

Finance

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Cannes’s ‘essential workers’ stage Carlton protest as French pension battle hits festival

• A relentless downpour threw a wet blanket on the world’s premier film festival on Friday, but it did not stop Cannes’s “essential workers” from staging a protest outside the Riviera town’s most emblematic palace hotel – a prelude to a larger rally scheduled on Sunday.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Debt limit talks halt as Republicans, White House face ‘serious differences’

• Debt limit talks between the White House and House Republicans stopped, started and stopped again Friday at the US Capitol, a dizzying series of events in high-stakes negotiations to avoid a potentially catastrophic federal default.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Debt ceiling deadlock centers on 2024 spending levels

• White House and House Republican negotiators are at a stalemate over capping spending levels in the 2024 budget.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Scoop: Janet Yellen’s private debt ceiling warning to Wall Street

• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned the country’s biggest bankers that a potential debt ceiling default will have repercussions beyond the financial system and insisted that the early June X-Date is real, Axios has learned.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ The Debt-Ceiling Fight’s Collateral Damage

• Last week, dozens of members of ADAPT, the disability-rights group, forced their way into Kevin McCarthy’s office to protest his proposed cuts to the social safety net.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ US Republicans pause debt crisis talks, weeks before potential default

• Republicans have paused crunch US debt talks less than two weeks before a possible catastrophic default, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Friday, citing lack of movement from Democrats.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Debt limit talks halted again at Capitol as Republicans, White House face ‘real differences’

• Debt limit talks have stopped again at the Capitol after having suddenly resumed Friday night. Two top Republican negotiators to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy say talks are done for the night. Next steps are uncertain. The quick succession of events came after McCarthy earlier in the day had said it was time to “pause” negotiations. A White House official acknowledged there are “real differences.” Then talks started anew in the evening, only to quickly halt again. President Joe Biden is racing to strike a deal with Republicans as the nation careens toward a potentially catastrophic debt default if the nation fails to pay its bills. A top Biden adviser said the White House remains hopeful.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ The US Treasury’s pile of cash is dwindling

• While President Joe Biden, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and other politicians in Washington strive to reach a deal to raise the US federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, the US Treasury’s cash balance fell to $87 billion on Monday (May 15), the lowest it’s been since April 12.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Russia’s 2nd Largest Bank Plans to Open Office in Iran

• Iran and Russia have recently expanded bilateral political and economic relations, particularly in the banking sector, to counter the U.S. arbitrary sanctions.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Russia Responds to US Sanctions Announced at the G7 Summit

• Washington set over 300 sanctions against companies and individuals located in more than 20 countries or jurisdictions.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Russia To Resume Regular Flights To Cuba

• Currently, only tourist charter flights are conducted between the two countries

=> ↺ Spiegel ☛ Interview with Jordanian Foreign Minister Safadi: “Russia in Syria Is a Stabilizing Factor Compared To the Alternative”

• The Arab League is coming to terms with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad despite all the atrocities committed in his country’s civil war. In an interview, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, 61, discusses the delicate balancing act in an explosive region.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Business SA backs tax cut for regional companies

• Payroll tax discounts for regional businesses should be included in the upcoming South Australian budget, the state’s peak business group says. In a submission ahead of SA’s latest financial blueprint, the organisation said regional companies should get a 50 per cent discount to ease costs and help them compete.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Worker shortages still the reality for many businesses

• Finding staff hasn’t gotten any easier for small businesses despite signs of a slightly less competitive labour market.  Attracting and keeping workers remained a top concern across all sectors, said the chairman of the peak industry group for small businesses.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Young Laotians eye Thai election’s potential for stability, higher migrant wages

• Lao merchants hope for a stronger kip vs Thai baht and more tourism from across the border.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Can FedNow bring the US closer to real-time payments?

• This year, the US will launch its FedNow instant payment network. But even after FedNow launches, the US will still have a ways to go before consumers can access instantaneous digital payments.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ AI To Replace 10,000 BT Group Telecom Workers by 2030

• “We will be a huge beneficiary of AI,” BT Chief Executive Jansen said, adding that “AI is a huge leap forward.”

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Russia’s ‘dual-purpose’ goods market too hot for Leica to resist Even after the invaders’ atrocities in Bucha shocked the world, Leica Camera continued exporting military-grade rifle scopes to Russia — Meduza

• The German camera manufacturer Leica Camera AG announced its withdrawal from Russia shortly after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Afterwards, it turns out, Leica never made good on this commitment. The Insider, an independent Russian investigative project, has established that not only did Leica never leave the Russian market, but it also increased its range of imports to Russia. This was part of Leica’s apparent effort to capitalize on the potentially lucrative “dual-purpose goods” market for optical equipment suited for general consumers and the military alike. Leica now supplies Russia with binoculars equipped with laser rangefinders and with night-vision rifle scopes.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Papua New Guinea PM potentially linked to Australia businessman facing corruption investigation

• Papua New Guinea police launched an investigation into the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape after an international investigation on Wednesday exposed his potential links to Don Matheson, an Australian Businessman being investigated for corruption.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Tensions Flare in Georgia as Direct Flights Resume With Russia

• Moscow also eased visa requirements for Georgians. But its actions have stirred fears in Georgia, which was invaded by Russia in 2008.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Dubai’s lunar dream: A $5 billion leap to the skies

• Dubai’s $5 billion real estate project plans to build a 900-foot replica of the moon to elevate the city’s grandeur even further. Fueled by pandemic refugees and Russians escaping conflict, Dubai’s hot real estate market supports ambitious architecture.

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Russia and Cuba Ink Deals to Revitalize Communist-Run Island’s Ailing Economy

• By Nelson Acosta and Dave SherwoodHAVANA (Reuters) – Russian officials and business leaders have signed multiple deals with Cuban counterparts at a…

=> ↺ US News And World Report ☛ Azerbaijan, Armenia Close to Deal on Ending Transport Blockade – Russia

• (Reuters) – Armenia and Azerbaijan are close to agreeing an end to a blockade of transport links but more work is needed to seal a peace deal…

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ President von der Leyen at the G7 Session V, Economic resilience and economic security

• European Commission Statement Brussels, 20 May 2023 Quotes by President von der Leyen on economic resilience and economic security…

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ President von der Leyen on our policies towards China at Session III of the G7, Foreign and Security Policy

• European Commission Statement Japan, 19 May 2023 Quotes by President von der Leyen on our policies towards China at Session III of the G7, Foreign and Security Policy…

=> ↺ Meduza ☛ Direct flight from Russia lands in Georgia for first time since 2019, met with protests at Tbilisi airport — Meduza

• On May 19, a plane from Russia-based airline Azimuth departing from Moscow landed in Tbilisi, marking the first direct flight between the two countries in four years.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Court To Donald Trump: Journalists Encouraging Someone To Break A Confidentiality Agreement Is Protected Speech

• Lame duck president and serial bad faith litigant Donald Trump has yet again been told his arguments are bad and he should feel bad. The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Suing sued multiple times over the publication of a book by his niece, Mary Trump, which detailed plenty of stuff the on-his-way-out-the-door president didn’t want published.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Is This the End of Russiagate? John Durham’s Dud Report.

• With the release of special counsel John Durham’s report on the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, one of the strangest scandals in American history has ended not with a bang but with the most simpering possible whimper. Although Donald Trump and his supporters on the right claim that the report vindicates their long-held theories of a “deep state” conspiracy against the former president, on examination it offers little more than a rehashing of old arguments that were long ago made irrelevant by the passage of time.1

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Pieces of Hate

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Noted Belarusian Educator, Family Members, Associates On Trial Over 2020 Anti-Lukashenka Rallies

• A court in Minsk has started the trial of noted Belarusian educator Yauhen Livyant, along with members of his family and associates who are all accused of charges related to mass rallies over a disputed August 2020 presidential election that kept authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Kazakh Opposition Politician Zhasaral Quanyshalin Dies Of Heart Attack

• Prominent Kazakh opposition politician Zhasaral Quanyshalin has died of a heart attack at the age 74 in a hospital in Almaty, his colleagues said late on May 18.

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ EU-Kazakhstan strategic partnership becomes operational

• European Commission Press release Brussels, 19 May 2023 Today, Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovkis and Alikhan Smailov, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, announced a set of concrete actions that will implement the Memorandum of Understanding between the EU and Kazakhstan on a strategic partnership

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Georgians Dismayed At Renewed Direct Flights From Russia

• Hundreds gathered at the main airport in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 19 to protest the return of direct flights from Russia. A ban had been unilaterally imposed by Moscow in 2019 after a wave of anti-Kremlin protests in Georgia. It was lifted on May 10 by President Vladimir Putin, who also signed a decree allowing Georgian nationals to enter Russia without visas. Georgian opposition activists protested against any warming of relations with the Kremlin because of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the 2008 war against Georgia.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ TikTok Users Waste No Time: Sue Montana Same Day TikTok Ban Was Signed

• We noted yesterday that Montana’s embarrassment of a governor, Greg Gianforte, was about to cost the state a ridiculous amount of taxpayer money having to defend his obviously unconstitutional ban on TikTok. What I hadn’t realized was that by the time I’d published that article, the first such lawsuit had already been filed.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Russian news show mixes up Sanna Marin and Kaja Kallas

• In a diatribe against Finland on a Russian talk show, a guest referred to Estonia’s PM Kaja Kallas as Finland’s leader.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Montana TikTok users file lawsuit to stop state ban from going into effect

• Five TikTok users filed a lawsuit in a federal Montana court on Wednesday to stop the state’s newly enacted TikTok ban from going into effect.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Montana’s TikTok ban is already facing its first legal challenge

• At least five TikTok users have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block Montana’s new ban on the Chinese-owned platform.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Thailand releases 15-year-old royal defamation detainee

• Thailand’s Central Juvenile and Family Court ordered Thursday the release of Thanalop “Yok” Phalanchai, a 15-year-old girl who was detained in the Ban Pranee Juvenile Vocational Training Centre for Girls.

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Iran executes 3 men on charges of ‘enmity against god’

• Iran executed three men accused of carrying out a terrorist attack during last year’s nationwide protests surrounding the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. According to Mizan, a state-run news agency for Iran’s judiciary, Iranian officials executed Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi based upon their conviction on charges of moharebeh, or enmity against god.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ ‘The struggle continues’: Rushdie makes first public appearance since stabbing

• British writer Salman Rushdie attended a New York gala on Thursday night in his first public appearance since a knife attack that nearly took his life last year.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Section 230 Is Safe (for Now) After Supreme Court Rules on Google and Twitter Terrorism Cases

• Plus: A new lawsuit in Montana over the state’s TikTok ban, the economic realities of online content creation, the rights of private companies, and more…

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Private investigators tell court of ‘dark arts’ but ex-Mirror news editor says Chelsy Davy article ‘obtained legitimately’

• Steve Whittamore told the High Court journalists must have known his information was obtained illegally.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Afghan-American Journalist Reportedly Detained By Taliban In Kabul

• Ali Latifi, an Afghan-American journalist, has been detained by the Taliban in Kabul for what a police spokesman said was “suspicious behavior.”

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Seymour Hersh: The Ukraine Refugee Question

• Ukraine’s neighbors push for Zelensky to pursue peace as millions of displaced people flow into Europe.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ The Midwest Academy Is Still Training the Organizers Who Make Another World Possible

• In 1973, at one of the most turbulent moments in American history, veterans of the civil rights and anti-war movements were facing the reality that changing the status quo would not come as easily as they had hoped. Luckily, some of them had a great idea for how to keep fighting, and to start winning. They started the Midwest Academy.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Pakistani Ex-PM Imran Khan Refuses Home Search By Police, Sets Own Terms

• Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 19 refused police permission to search his Lahore home for suspects involved in this month’s attacks on state and army buildings and laid out his own terms for any such operation.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Ukraine arrests a top judge as the country’s corruption scandal grows.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russian Police Search Homes Of Rights Activists In Perm

• Police have searched the homes of at least seven members of the Memorial human right group’s successor — the Center of Historic Memory — in the Russian city of Perm.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Gorsuch Condemns ‘Breathtaking’ COVID Emergency Powers That Crushed Civil Liberties

• “Since March 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country,” Gorsuch wrote. That might be an exaggeration, but it isn’t far off.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ EFF ☛ States Should Not Skirt Federal Rules on Fiber Infrastructure

• Both the Treasury Department’s Capital Projects Fund and the National Telecommunications Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity Affordability and Deployment grant programs provide clear guidance to prioritize fiber-based infrastructure. Under the Treasury rules that govern rescue dollars, the “presumptively eligible projects” for broadband infrastructure must reliably deliver 100/100 mbps connectivity. While there is an exception for lower speeds, there is a general expectation that these projects can scale higher for future needs. Specifically, “recipients are encouraged to prioritize investments in fiber-optic infrastructure where feasible” to emphasize that projects should consider fiber first. The NTIA program also directs states to follow the statutory text of the IIJA. Under that law, projects must be scalable, able to facilitate 5G and beyond, able to evolve with community needs, and build fiber-based infrastructure with limited exceptions for “extremely high-cost areas.” Arguably, options such as fixed wireless and satellite broadband could be considered for extremely high-cost areas—which unfortunately are not future-proofed like fiber. But states relying on federal dollars alone will be forced to deliver less than states that are matching the federal investment with their own local dollars.

=> ↺ Internet Freedom Foundation ☛ MeitY’s response to our RTI requests on GAC: delayed, denied, deficient.

• MeitY responded to our 1st appeal on the RTI application pertaining to the functional and operational processes of the Grievance Appellate Committees (GAC). This post summarises the Ministry’s response (or the lack thereof) to our 1st appeal, and elaborates on our concerns denied information.

Monopolies

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ JetBlue and American Airlines were ordered by a judge to end their alliance in the Northeast US

• A federal judge in Massachusetts struck down a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines to coordinate routes and schedules in the Northeast US, which had effectively combined the Boston and New York operations of the two carriers.

Patents

=> ↺ Unified Patents ☛ DynaIP entity WirelessWerx IP location tracking patent challenged in reexam

• On May 19, 2023, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 7,317,927 owned by WirelessWerx IP LLC, an NPE and Dynamic IP Deals LLC entity.

Trademarks

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is CLAIM WATCHER Confusable With CLAIM WATCH & Design for Certain Insurance Claim Services?

• So far this year, the Board has affirmed a mere 83% of the Section 2(d) refusal it has reviewed – a drop from its 89% average over the past decade. Here’s the latest decision. The USPTO refused to register CLAIM WATCHER for “Health benefit plan services, namely, insurance administration services, namely, assisting others with adjusting insurance claims in the nature of repricing health insurance claims” (Class 36) and for “Legal services, namely, legal consulting and defense relating to health insurance claims” (Class 45) (CLAIM disclaimed), finding confusion likely with the registered mark shown below, for “Tracking and monitoring the status of insurance claims for business purposes.” How do you think this appeal came out? In re Homestead Strategic Holdings, Inc., Serial No. 90263580 (May 17, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Christopher Larkin).

Copyrights

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Supreme Court Warhol Ruling Shouldn’t Hurt Artists. But It Might.

• The Supreme Court decision over Andy Warhol’s use of Lynn Goldsmith’s Prince photograph was decided on the narrow grounds of a licensing issue. But it could still have a chilling effect.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Swedish daily prototypes ‘cringey’ AI rap to tell news stories

• Aftonbladet’s deputy editor said the paper hoped to “provoke a debate” with the AI rap music.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ ASCAP and BMI Form Joint Task Force Targeting ‘Suspicious Registrations’ Amid An ‘Explosion of Music Being Uploaded to Digital Platforms’

• With AI tracks debuting in droves, performance rights organizations (PROs) ASCAP and BMI have established “a joint task force” designed “to address suspicious registrations associated with musical works across the collective management ecosystem.”

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. Permalink  Send this to a friend

=> Techrights

➮ Sharing is caring. Content is available under CC-BY-SA.