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● 06.23.23

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● Links 23/06/2023: 25 Years of KDE Free Qt Foundation and Go 1.21 Release Candidate

Posted in News Roundup at 12:39 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Server

=> ↺ Kifarunix ☛ What OS you should choose for dedicated server?

• CentOS is a free and open-source operating system that is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It has all the important features of RHEL. There is an opinion that CentOS may have fewer features compared to other Linux distributions because it doesn’t include the additional tools and software that come with the paid version of Red Hat. However, CentOS is preferred by organizations that prioritize reliability and security over extra tools and features.

• In conclusion, there are many options to choose from, which can make it challenging to decide. It’s important to consider what aligns with your business needs, the level of support you require, and you’re existing technical skills.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ The BSD Now Podcast ☛ 512: BSDNow Live! 9 bits of BSDNow – Just speak into the goat

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install Seafile on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Seafile on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. If you’re looking for an easy and secure way to sync and share files on your Ubuntu system, Seafile Ubuntu is a solution worth exploring.

=> ↺ Check if a domain is available for purchase

• $ function canibuy { whois "$1" 2>/dev/null | grep -q 'Registrant' && echo "taken" || echo "available" }

=> ↺ DebugPoint ☛ 2 Ways to Add Users to SUDOERS Group in Debian [Tutorial]

• In Debian Linux, the SUDOERS group plays a crucial role in granting administrative privileges to users. Adding users to the SUDOERS group enables them to execute commands with root privileges, providing them with the necessary administrative access to perform various tasks on a Debian system.

• This article aims to provide a step-by-step guide on adding a user to the SUDOERS group in Debian, ensuring that you can effectively manage user permissions and system security.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ KDE Official ☛ Celebrating 25 years of The KDE Free Qt Foundation

• On the 22nd of June 1998, the KDE Free Qt Foundation was founded and has accompanied Qt on its amazing journey to become the success story that it is today.

• Qt has established itself as the go-to solution for UI development because of its high quality, consistency, ease of use, and broad cross-platform support. A key factor in this achievement is Qt’s dual licensing strategy: Qt is available as free software for open source, but it is also available under a paid license for proprietary software development. A legal foundation ensures the continued availability of Qt as free software alongside the commercial licensing options.

• At the time the KDE Free Qt Foundation was founded, Qt was developed by Trolltech–the company that originally developed the framework. The Foundation has supported Qt through its transitions, first to Nokia, then to Digia, and finally to The Qt Company. It has the right to release Qt under the BSD license if necessary to ensure that Qt remains open source. This remarkable legal guarantee protects the free software community and creates trust among developers, contributors, and customers.

• The KDE Free Qt Foundation is a collaboration between The Qt Company and KDE. KDE is one of the largest Free Software communities for general-purpose end-user software, and has been around since 1996.

=> ↺ Qt ☛ The KDE Free Qt Foundation: 25 Years of Celebration

• KDE Free Qt Foundation was founded and has accompanied Qt on its amazing journey to become the success story that it is today.

Distributions and Operating Systems

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ DebugPoint ☛ RedHat Limits Access to RHEL Source Code, Sparks Controversy in Linux Community

• RedHat has made a significant announcement today that is set to shake up the Linux community. In a move that may not sit well with some users and developers, Red Hat has decided to limit access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) source code. Going forward, CentOS Stream will become the exclusive repository for public RHEL-related source code releases.

=> ↺ Timothée Ravier ☛ Timothée Ravier: How to make a new rpm-ostree desktop variant in Fedora?

• To do that, you can start from the base container image that already includes the packages common to all variants. You can then add packages from the comps group corresponding to your desktop in Fedora.

• At this point, you should consider which apps are going to be shipped by default, included in the image, and which ones are going to be installed by default as Flatpaks.

• Take a look at the Universal Blue project for examples on how to do container based variants.

• [...]

• So you want to make a new rpm-ostree desktop variant in Fedora to join Silverblue, Kinoite, Sericea and soon Onyx?

=> ↺ Fedora Project ☛ Fedora Community Blog: Flock 2023 CfP extended to 27 June

• Were you keeping an eye on the Flock 2023 call for proposals? Were you planning a proposal for this year’s event in Cork, Ireland from 2–4 August 2023? Did you miss the deadline to submit? Fear not, because the Flock 2023 CfP is extended for one week only until Tuesday, 27 June. If you were still working on that perfect proposal for our first return to an in-person event in four years, there is still time to submit before the deadline.

• Submit your proposal for a presentation or workshop in our new CfP system at cfp.fedoraproject.org. The CfP system now supports login with the Fedora Account System (FAS).

=> ↺ Red Hat ☛ How to create a workspace via Try in Dev Spaces extension [Ed: Red Hat (IBM) it outsourcing to proprietary prison of Microsoft. Again. What is this company??]

• In early June, we released a new web extension for Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces called Try in Dev Spaces. Version 1.0 of the extension is available for Chromium-based browsers (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, etc.), Safari, and Firefox.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ A Pico-Based ZX Spectrum Emulator

• The ZX Spectrum was a popular computer of the 8-bit era. Now, it’s possible to emulate this machine on a microcontroller so cheap that it’s literally been given away on the front cover of magazines. Yes, we’re talking about the Pico ZX Spectrum project.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ FPGA Breakout Board For DIP Package Shenanigans

• FPGAs are supremely flexible and powerful devices. However, they usually come in QFP or BGA packages that are altogether difficult for hobbyists to play with. The DIP-FPGA breakout board aims to solve that problem by using a carrier PCB to put an advanced chip in a friendlier form factor.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ DingoQuadruped Is A Cheap Canine-Like Robot

• Robot humanoids are cool, but also a bit hard to make work as they only have two legs to stand on. Four-legged robots can be a bit more approachable. The Dingo Quadruped aims to be just such an open-source platform for teaching and experimentation purposes.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ Particle launches Photon 2 Realtek RTL8721DM dual-band WiFi and BLE IoT board, Particle P2 module

• Particle has launched the Photon 2 dual-band WiFi and BLE IoT board powered by a 200 MHz Realtek RTL8721DM Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller, as well as the corresponding Particle P2 module for integration into commercial products.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ Zvidar Z-GW-V01 Smart Gateway runs Home Assistant on Allwinner A133 processor

• Shenzhen Zvidar Technologies’ Z-GW-V01, also known as the Zvidar Smart Gateway is a single board computer powered by an Allwinner A133 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and running Ubuntu with the Home Assistant open-source automation framework. The SBC provides Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5, and Bluetooth connectivity by default, but also supports plenty of optional wireless modules with Z-Wave, Zigbee, Thread/Matter, LoRa, or 4G LTE connectivity that are either soldered to the board connected by a mini PCIe socket.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

FSF

=> ↺ FSF ☛ FSF Events: Workshop: Video editing with Kdenlive

• Edit your videos with free software! Join us for this virtual workshop with Seth Kenlon.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Go 1.21 Release Candidate

• The Go 1.21 first Release Candidate (RC) is available today on the download page! Go 1.21 is packed with new features and improvements. Getting the RC (release candidate) allows you to experiment with it early, try it on your workloads, and report any issues before the final release (scheduled for August). Here are some notable changes and features in Go 1.21; for the full list, refer to the full release notes.

=> ↺ Barry Kauler ☛ Kernel 5.15.117 compiled with 9P features for QEMU

• The “9P” requirement was discussed in this blog post a couple of days ago:

• https://bkhome.org/news/202306/qemu-recompiled-in-oe-with-more-features.html

• The “9P” enhancements required in the kernel are explained here:

• https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/9psetup

• I have compiled the Linux kernel version 5.15.117, with these new features

=> ↺ Buttondown ☛ Agile is people, the rest is commentary.

• You may have heard of this new idea called “Agile”, where you prioritize people over processes etc etc etc. I occasionally saw it on Twitter, before I quit that hellsite, after which I kinda lost track of it.

=> ↺ KDAB ☛ Synchronization in Vulkan

• An important part of working with Vulkan and other modern explicit rendering APIs is the synchronization of GPU/GPU and CPU/GPU workloads. In this article we will learn about what Vulkan needs us to synchronize and how to achieve it. We will talk about two high-level parts of the synchronization domain that we, as application and library developers, are responsible for: [...]

=> ↺ Review use of Qt module header includes

• Having come across sources using include statements for some Qt module headers (like #include ), memories arose about a check from the static analyzer tool krazy as once run conveniently on KDE’s former ebn.kde.org site. That check, called includes, poked one not to use Qt module headers. Due to resulting in the inclusion of all the headers of those modules, and then again that of the other Qt modules used by the module. Which them meant more stuff to process by the compiler for compilation units with such module header includes.

• So is that perhaps in 2023 no longer a real-world noticeable issue? A first look at some preprocessor outputs (with Qt5) for a single line file with just an include statement hinted though it might still be true: [...]

Rust

=> ↺ Rust Weekly Updates ☛ This Week In Rust: This Week in Rust 500

• Hello and welcome to another issue of This Week in Rust!

Leftovers

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ More flights as Kangaroo Island bounces back from fires

• Qantas is set to add more flights to Kangaroo Island as the region continues its recovery from devastating bushfires.

• The state government says the airline will aim to have 12 return flights each week between Adelaide and Kingscote during the coming summer, then nine a week during the 2024 winter.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Dwindling Oxygen May Be Biggest Threat to Titanic Submersible’s Passengers

• There may be less than a day’s worth of breathable air left in the Titan, limiting the window for possible rescue of the five people on board.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ The Titanic Sub and the Draw of Extreme Tourism

• Diving to the bottom of the ocean is risky. So is flying to space. But people will keep paying to do both.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Alvin Submersible Dive Reveals Wonder and Danger of Risky Pursuits

• A dive in Alvin, a three-person submersible, revealed not only an alien world but why people engage in such risky pursuits.

=> ↺ Zimbabwe ☛ Provisional licence test can now be taken in Shona, Ndebele; plastic driver’s licence upon us

• I know many of you have that laminated blue little paper in your glove box right now. There are 800,000 of you in that boat, with the Central Vehicle Registry having a backlog that dates back to 2019. It looks like you are finally getting a proper driver’s licence now.

Science

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Dead Star’s Magnetic Field Tricked Astronomers Into Thinking It Was Heading Our Way

• You can stop looking up now.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Tongan Eruption’s 11 Hours of Lightning Fury Shattered Records

• We’ve never seen anything like this.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Regular Short Naps Could Be The Easiest Way to Reduce The Risk of Dementia

• In case you needed an excuse.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ 4,000 Year Old ‘Stonehenge’ Monument First of Its Kind in The Netherlands

• “What a spectacular archaeological discovery!”

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ We Just Found One of The Rarest Stars in The Galaxy

• We’ve only ever seen this once before.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Scratches on a Cave Wall in France Likely to Be Earliest Example of Neanderthal Art

• Creativity runs in the family.

Education

=> ↺ Reason ☛ New Test Data Show That COVID School Closures Rapidly Accelerated U.S. Learning Losses

• Nearly two years after most children returned to the classroom, educational losses continue to grow.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ South Korea to Drop College Entry Exam’s ‘Killer Questions’

• The exam is notorious for extremely difficult problems, some of which seem to have little to do with the test topic. Even the president has complained.

Hardware

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ No Frills Autonomous Lawnmower Gets The Job Done

• [Nathan] needed an autonomous mower to help on the farm, so he built his own without breaking the bank. It might not be the prettiest machine, but it’s been keeping his roads, fences and yard clear for over a year. In the video after the break, he gives a detailed breakdown of its build and function.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Congratulations To Our Op-Amp Challenge Winners!

• The real world is analog, and the op-amp is the indispensable building block of many analog circuits. We wanted to give you analog fanatics out there a chance to shine and to encourage our digital brothers and sisters to dip their toes in the murky waters where ones and zeroes define the ends of a spectrum rather than representing the only choice. Hence, we presented the Op Amp Challenge. And you did not disappoint!

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ 3D Printed Machine Shows How Braiding Is Done

• If there’s something more fascinating than watching cleverly engineered industrial machines do their work, we don’t know what it could be. And at the top of that list has to be the machines that do braiding. You’ve probably seen them, with spools of thread or wire dancing under and around each other in an endless ballet that somehow manages to weave a perfect braid. It’s kind of magical.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ NOVELDA’s latest UWB radar presence sensor consumes less than 100 µW

• NOVELDA has unveiled a new low-power ultra-wideband (UWB) radar presence sensor with a power consumption of under 100 µW and designed to operate on two AAA batteries for up to four years. We first wrote about NOVELDA in 2021 where we covered their UWB X4 presence sensor capable of detecting submillimeter movements with a power consumption of under 2mW. The company has further optimized the technology and has come up with a 30x5mm module capable of doing the same with 0.1mW power consumption. The sensor is said to work behind various materials such as plastics, tempered glass, and ceramics, the detection zone size and shape can be adjusted to meet the application requirements, and the device provides accurate angle and distance information.

=> ↺ The Next Platform ☛ Ethernet Switching Still Booming As Routing Soldiers On

• If the datacenter is the computer – and it certainly is for hundreds of companies comprising somewhere well north of half of server sales worldwide – then the Ethernet fabric, consisting of switches and routers, is the backplane of that computer.

=> ↺ Louis-Philippe Véronneau: New Keyboard, Who This?

• My old Thinkpad X220 has been slowly dying1 and as much as it makes me sad, it is also showing its age in terms of computational power. As such, I’ve pre-ordered a Framework 13 (the AMD version) and plan to retire my X220 when I get it.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ ARC Automotive is unrepentant in answering questions about its exploding airbag inflators

• ARC Automotive, which supplies about one quarter of airbag inflators in the US, has responded to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) questions regarding its allegedly defective airbag inflators that have caused at least two deaths.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Democracy Now ☛ NY Dems Pass Medical Debt Relief as Progressives Push to Expand Healthcare to Undocumented Residents

• In New York, a battle is brewing over a bill called Coverage for All that would use a surplus of federal funds to pay people who are undocumented to enroll in the state’s Essential Plan under the federal Affordable Care Act, potentially granting 250,000 people access to healthcare. Immigrant advocates are rallying for the bill’s inclusion in a two-day special legislative session despite Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s resistance, calling the bill a chance for the state to “make history.”

=> ↺ ‘Adopt a Mediterranean Beach’ project starts to combat plastic waste in the basin

• The project launched to monitor and raise awareness about plastic waste in the Mediterranean basin will be coordinated by WWF Turkey, WWF Tunisia, and WWF Greece.

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Giant Paint-Eating Snails Spotted in Florida, Putting State Agriculture at Risk

• You wouldn’t want to hit one with your car.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Aaron Rodgers talks about mental health at a psychedelics conference

• Denver is hosting a conference this week that’s being put on by a psychedelic advocacy group. The group is bringing together an unlikely cohort of speakers, including NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, former Texas Republican governor Rick Perry and rapper Jaden Smith. It comes months after Colorado’s voters decided to join Oregon in decriminalizing psychedelic mushrooms. Thousands are expected to attend. Proponents say psychedelics may offer benefits for things like post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism. Medical experts caution that more research is needed on the drugs’ efficacy and safety. A historian of science who has researched the boom and bust of psychedelic movements says the conference is purely hype.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Indoor air: the next public health frontier?

=> ↺ PHR ☛ One Year On from Dobbs, Scientifically-Baseless Legislation Exacerbates Danger to Patients and Providers: PHR

• To mark the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the following statement is attributable to Payal Shah, JD, director of PHR’s Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones:   “Over the last year since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse 50 years of federal protection of reproductive rights,

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Orville Peck Postpones Tour Due to Mental and Physical Health Concerns

• Orville Peck postpones the remainder of his Bronco Tour due to concerns over his mental and physical health. Orville Peck has postponed the remainder of his Bronco Tour, a lineup of summer performances across North America that started June 20, due to concerns over his mental and physical health.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ New Fentanyl Laws Ignite Debate Over Combating Overdose Crisis

• Critics say a fierce law-and-order approach could undermine public health goals and advances in addiction treatment.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Right-Wingers Push Death Penalty Reinstatement Bills as Part of Hardline Agenda

• The same forces that are attacking abortion, trans health care and racial justice are also pushing for more executions.

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ Common food storage mistakes to avoid

• We reveal what should – and shouldn’t – be in your fridge, and the foods to store separately to prolong their life. Plus: the science-based tactics to reduce food waste and save money

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ Group-IB finds stolen ChatGPT credentials traded on dark web

• “Another area of concern is password re-use,” Narang said. “Historically, we know users tend to reuse passwords across multiple sites, so if users have had their ChatGPT account credentials compromised, it’s possible that other accounts are at risk as well if users reused their ChatGPT password elsewhere.

• “At this time, OpenAI has temporarily paused the enrolment of two-factor authentication for ChatGPT. Once enrolment has been re-enabled, users should add it as an additional security measure.

• “However, it’s important to note that information-stealing malware also steals session cookies, which can be used to bypass account security features like two-factor authentication if valid ChatGPT session cookies are also being sold on the dark web. Irrespective of this, we still advise users to enable this feature on their ChatGPT accounts.”

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Deus Ex Machina: Church In Germany Conducts AI Created Mass To Mixed Reviews

• To say that developments in the realm of artificial intelligence are coming fast at this point is a wild understatement. There’s a ton going on in the space, some of it showcasing amazing things we can now do using AI, some of it showing where humans are still very much needed, and much of the rest watching governments trying to figure out how to best screw it all up for everyone else.

Security

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Critical WordPress Plugin Vulnerabilities Impact Thousands of Sites

• Two critical-severity authentication bypass vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins with tens of thousands of installations.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Enphase Ignores CISA Request to Fix Remotely Exploitable Flaws

• Enphase Energy has ignored CISA requests to fix remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in Enphase products.

=> ↺ Krebs On Security ☛ Why Malware Crypting Services Deserve More Scrutiny

• If you operate a cybercrime business that relies on disseminating malicious software, you probably also spend a good deal of time trying to disguise or “crypt” your malware so that it appears benign to antivirus and security products. In fact, the process of “crypting” malware is sufficiently complex and time-consuming that most serious cybercrooks will outsource this critical function to a handful of trusted third parties. This story explores the history and identity behind Cryptor[.]biz, a long-running crypting service that is trusted by some of the biggest names in cybercrime.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Chrome and Its Vulnerabilities – Is the Web Browser Safe to Use?

• Why are there so many vulnerabilities in Chrome? Is it realistically safe to use? Can Google do anything to make the web browser safer?

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ DOJ Launches Cyber Unit to Prosecute Nation-State Threat Actors

• New National Security Cyber Section will help the US disrupt and prosecute nation-state threat actors and state-sponsored cybercriminals.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ Apple Patches Exploited Vulnerabilities in iOS/iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and Safari, (Thu, Jun 22nd)

• Apple released iOS, macOS, and watchOS updates, patching three vulnerabilities already being exploited. Two vulnerabilities affect WebKit, leading to a Safari patch for older operating systems.The two WebKit issues (CVE-2023-32439 and CVE-2023-32435) can be used to execute arbitrary code as a user visits a malicious web page. The third vulnerability, CVE-2023-32434, can be used to elevate privileges after the initial code execution.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Apple Patches iOS Flaws Used in Kaspersky ‘Operation Triangulation’

• Apple ships major iOS security updates to cover code execution vulnerabilities already exploited in the wild.

Confidentiality

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ UPS Canada discloses data breach following ‘smishing’ campaign

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ Press Statement on Climate and Security from Frans Timmermans, Josep Borrell, Jens Stoltenberg, and John Kerry

• European Commission Statement Brussels, 21 Jun 2023 EVP Frans Timmermans, HRVP Josep Borrell, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, met in Brussels to discuss the impacts of climate change on peace and security.

=> ↺ The Nation ☛ Cormac McCarthy’s Unforgiving Parables of American Empire

• It’s nice that Cormac McCarthy made it until the orca revolt, the recent boat attacks by killer whales off the Strait of Gibraltar. At least three ships have been sunk and many hobbled. McCarthy never would have written anything so schlocky in his fiction: His natural world may have been humbling—the closest thing to the divine found in his pages—yet it’s man who is the primary agent of violence in his fiction. But riotous whales do call to mind Melville, who cast a long shadow over McCarthy. Blood Meridian, McCarthy’s magnum opus, is arguably a Moby-Dick turned inside out. Three words, terse imperatives, open both novels: “Call me Ishmael”; “See the child.” And then one is plunged into an abyss of run-on sentences of compounding beauty. Of the two, McCarthy was the more exacting when it came to his prose. His writing is more tightly wound even when he’s letting his sentences and paragraphs unspool. Both novels, devoid of women (except for a few background prostitutes in Blood Meridian), tell of men hunting: a white whale in Melville’s book and Native Americans to scalp and kill in McCarthy’s.

=> ↺ The Strategist ☛ A tale of two invasions

• The leader of an authoritarian country with enormous energy reserves builds up his armed forces along the border of a weaker neighbour, one he claims has no right to exist as an independent country. H

=> ↺ Defence Web ☛ ISS: Sudan needs African Union boots on the ground

• While international and regional responses to the crisis in Sudan have been swift, they haven’t stopped the violence perpetrated against civilians. Slow, ineffective talks have seen the country’s devastating humanitarian crisis worsen.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Sudan no closer to peace as another breached ceasefire ends

• The Sudanese capital was again under fire Wednesday, after the latest breached ceasefire between warring generals ended without any sign of an end to more than two months of war.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Namibia Maintains Open-Door Policy for Refugees

• This African country commemorated 2023 World Refugee Day under the theme “Hope Away From Home: a World Where Refugees Are Always Included.”

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ As violent crime soars, Israeli Arabs ask: Where’s the government?

• In Arab towns in Israel, violent crime has been the top concern, and the right-wing government is facing accusations of neglect. Is a recent massacre enough to shock officials into effective action?

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Arrest of Mexican Army General Ordered in Case of Missing Students

• The 43 students are believed to have been murdered in 2014, an atrocity that galvanized the country. The arrest warrant names a general and 15 other soldiers.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Sanctioning China in a Taiwan crisis: Scenarios and risks

• New research on possible options and their costs of G7 sanctions on China in the event of a Taiwan Crisis.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Biden likens China’s Xi to a dictator; Beijing slams remark as ‘absurd, irresponsible’

• US President Joe Biden likened China’s President Xi Jinping to a dictator in remarks at a fundraising reception on Tuesday, one day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded a visit to Beijing. China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday slammed Biden’s remarks as an “open political provocation”.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Biden ‘dictator’ comment sparks Beijing backlash

• Just days after the Secretary of State’s first visit to Beijing relations take another turn for the worse.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China foreign ministry slams US President Joe Biden’s comments likening Xi Jinping with ‘dictators’

• China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday slammed comments by US President Joe Biden equating Chinese leader Xi Jinping with “dictators” as an “open political provocation”.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Explosion at restaurant kills dozens in northwest China

• At least 31 people were killed when an explosion caused by a gas leak ripped through a restaurant in the northwestern Chinese city of Yinchuan, state media said Thursday.

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ Cooking gas explosion leaves 31 dead at a restaurant in China

• An hour before the explosion, employees noticed the smell of cooking gas and discovered that a gas tank valve was broken, according to Xinhua.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Restaurant explosion kills 31 in north-west China

• June 22, 2023 2:15 PM

• Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered a probe, state media said.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Explosion at Barbecue Restaurant in China Kills 31

• The deadly blast, in the northwestern city of Yinchuan, was blamed on a gas leak, and it is likely to prompt closer scrutiny of restaurants that feature gas grills.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ US Coast Guard ship transited Taiwan Strait after Blinken’s China visit: US Navy

• The US Navy described the transit as ‘routine’.

Environment

=> ↺ Axios ☛ “Oppressive” heat wave in Texas and southern U.S. may linger into Fourth of July holiday

• An “oppressive” record-breaking heat wave that’s helped fuel deadly storms in Texas and surrounding states could continue through the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the National Weather Service warned Wednesday.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Billie Eilish to headline climate awareness concert at Paris’s Eiffel Tower

• Billie Eilish, Lenny Kravitz and Jon Batiste are headlining a concert aimed at building awareness around climate at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Thursday.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Greta Thunberg voices support for climate group shut down by France

• Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday gave her backing to a climate group shut down by the French government amid accusations it foments violence.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ France outlaws climate activist group involved in protest against agro industry reservoirs

• The French government issued a decree Wednesday outlawing an activist climate group it accuses of fomenting violence in a series of recent demonstrations, including one that saw fierce clashes with police over an irrigation project.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Will India lightning strike deaths rise as climate change worsen?

• In India, thunderstorms and lightning are killing 2,500 people every year.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ This pipeline was snarled in court. Then Congress stepped in.

• With construction likely to resume, the controversial pipeline pits goal of energy independence against climate concerns and eminent domain.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Drought in Iran Leaves Some Chasing the Last Drops of Water

• Lawmakers are warning that one province will run out within three months, and the shortage is inflaming tensions with the country’s neighbors.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Endangered Species Act to Be Strengthened

• New rules would void Trump-era changes that made it easier to remove animals and plants from the endangered list.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Beijing breaches 40 deg C for first time in 9 years

• The latest round of heatwaves coincide with the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend in China.

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ NT looks to revamp mining royalties scheme

• The Northern Territory is looking to revamp its mineral royalties scheme after a recent report declared it uncompetitive and a deterrent to investment.

• The region currently employs a profits-based arrangement to collect royalties on mining projects.

=> ↺ Mexico News Daily ☛ National power grid ‘on alert’ due to high energy demand

• The National Energy Control Center said current energy demand is surpassing the grid’s optimal operating margin, increasing blackout risks.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Green bank invests $50 million to cut farming emissions

• Australia’s green bank has joined forces with a Canadian pension fund to reduce the carbon footprint of farming.

• The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) will invest $50 million in Wilga Farming, an agriculture investment vehicle for sustainable farming and carbon sequestration.

=> ↺ H2 View ☛ South Korea and Japan to cooperation on hydrogen policy

• South Korea and Japan look set to bolster policy cooperation on hydrogen in industry and safety.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Tokyo residents find comfort in fluffy, street-strolling alpacas

• Visitors to the indoor alpaca petting zoo pay 1,000 yen to spend 30 minutes with the animals.

=> ↺ Mexico News Daily ☛ Government reports on Jaguar National Park progress in Tulum

• The new nature reserve will provide a number of services for visitors, as well as connections to the beach and Maya Train.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Lebanese activists rally to save remaining public coastline from illegal development

• On June 6, local authorities finally demolished a private home illegally built decades before on Abou Ali, a public beach about 50 miles north of Beirut – a major win for a group of NGOs and citizens called Coast for All. This group has come together to fight the illegal construction that is threatening the Lebanese coastline and preventing the public from accessing the sea and beaches.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Singaporean man jailed and fined for trying to smuggle 11 wild birds into Malaysia

• They included blue and golden macaws, red macaws and a yellow-headed amazon parrot.

Overpopulation

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ The U.S. Population Is Older Than It Has Ever Been

• New census data shows that the country’s median age is now 38. In 1980, it was 30.

Finance

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Experts divided on rent controls and housing supply

• A controversial proposal to freeze rents has been criticised as a supply dampener but others argue it could do the opposite.

• Price protection for renters, preferably in the form of a two-year freeze and then caps on increases after that, has become the biggest sticking point between the Greens and Labor as the federal government tries to push its signature housing fund through parliament. 

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Rents to Rise for 2 Million New Yorkers This Year

• Rent-stabilized apartments have enabled many people to stay in a city that grows ever more expensive. But for the second year in a row, rents will rise.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ China’s economy may have slipped into a “liquidity trap”

• The world’s second-largest economy may be in treacherous macroeconomic terrain known as a “liquidity trap.”

• Why it matters: China’s massive economy has been the main source of global economic growth for most of the last three decades.

=> ↺ The Strategist ☛ AUKUS needs to focus on critical minerals

• Much of the public policy discourse on AUKUS, the security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US, has focused on nuclear-powered submarines (Pillar 1)..

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Paris summit aims to overhaul global financial system for ‘climate solidarity’ with South

• Around 50 heads of state, along with representatives from international institutions and civil society, will attend a summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday and Friday in Paris. Their objective is to develop a new global financial system so the most vulnerable countries will be better equipped to combat both poverty and climate change.

=> ↺ Zimbabwe ☛ ZIMRA denies allegations that it lost tax records dating back 6 years

• There were reports that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), the body responsible for collecting taxes and other revenue streams for the government in Zimbabwe, had lost tax records dating back 6 years. The story went, Zimra’s digital repository and server crashed leading to the loss of data.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ How Beijing’s newest global initiatives seek to remake the world order

• Recommendations on how US policymakers and European and Indo-Pacific partners can better understand China’s latest development and security initiatives to meet the rising competition.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Jokowi declares 5-day weekend to get Indonesians spending

• Indonesian President declared June 28 and 30 as leave days around Eid al-Adha holiday on June 29.

=> ↺ County’s jobless rate ticks up to 3%

• Unemployment in Bartholomew County increased in May but remained among the lowest in Indiana as possible signs emerge nationally that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes may be taking effect.

• The unemployment rate in Bartholomew County stood at 3% in May, up from 2.2% in May 2022 and tied with several counties for the fourth lowest rate in the state, according to figures released this week by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

=> ↺ Turkey ☛ Uber to lay off 200 workers in recruitment division

• US-based global ride-hailing firm Uber has decided to lay off 200 workers in its recruitment division, according to multiple reports.

• The decision is a result of the company trying to maintain a steady headcount and manage costs, said the reports on Wednesday.

• Although the layoff is less than 1% of the firm’s total workforce of almost 33,000 employees around the world, it represents 35% of its recruitment division.

• Uber’s rival Lyft started preparing in April to cut at least 1,200 workers, or approximately 30% of its 4,000 workforce, to better meet the needs of riders and drivers.

=> ↺ Make Use Of ☛ 5 Reasons Why Xbox Series X|S First-Party Games Are Struggling [Ed: Xbox is floundering]

=> ↺ Make Use Of ☛ 5 Reasons Why Xbox Series X|S First-Party Games Are Struggling [Ed: Xbox is floundering]

• Even with the support of Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Studios, Xbox still plays catch-up with PlayStation regarding its first-party exclusive games. But why is this?

• With all the popularity of Xbox Game Pass and the money Microsoft has invested into Xbox Games Studios, you would think that Xbox Series X|S exclusives would have improved vastly.

• There are some key aspects associated with how Xbox approaches exclusive games that hold back its first-party roster, but what are they? Let’s take a look.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Why is Congress suddenly so concerned about bank capital requirements?

• At Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s latest appearance on Capitol Hill, US lawmakers had the opportunity to ask him about what drove the central bank’s choice to put a hold on interest rate hikes.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Fed chair expects interest rates will increase “somewhat further” this year

• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Wednesday there is still “a long way to go” to cool inflation and interest rates are expected to rise further this year.

• Why it matters: Powell began two days of appearances before Congress, where he is facing questions about the rate hiking campaign that the Fed paused as inflation continues to runs hot, as well as the impact of higher rates on the economy and labor market.

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ Inflation remains at 8.7% – are savings rates catching up yet?

• Rising prices for air travel and recreation keeps inflation high

=> ↺ Spiegel ☛ The Camembert Crisis: Market Goes Soft for French Cheese

• Cheeses like brie, Roquefort and Comté are an important part of French culture. But now droughts, inflation and changing diets are putting a dent in sales. Camembert is faring particularly badly.

=> ↺ Amazon Layoffs: A Deep Dive into Tech Industry Trends

• In recent times, large tech companies such as Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com, Inc, Alphabet Inc, and others have faced significant layoffs. These layoffs not only impact the tech industry but also have widespread implications beyond it. In this article, we will explore the reasons behind these layoffs and their consequences. Drawing insights from industry experts and former tech leaders, we aim to shed light on the underlying factors that contribute to such workforce reductions.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

Axios ☛ House GOP erupts into infighting over Boebert’s resolution to impeach BidenHouse Republicans erupted into infighting on Wednesday as leadership and members across the conference pushed back on a burst of impeachment votes being forced by right-wing lawmakers.Why it matters: It’s an escalation of an increasingly acrimonious internal GOP dynamic as members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus try to seize control of the party’s agenda.“I think they’ve kind of gone rogue,” said Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), an ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Vote ‘yes’ and make our lives better, say land councils

• Representatives of the Northern Territory land councils have delivered the Barunga Declaration to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and talked up their support for a First Nations voice.

• The declaration calls “for the recognition of our peoples in our still young constitution by enshrining our voice to the parliament and executive government, never to be rendered silent with the stroke of a pen again”.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ ‘Get on with the program’: PM’s blunt housing message

• Anthony Albanese has firmly rejected a Greens plan for rent caps as the government looks for other ways to make housing more affordable and available.

• The prime minister doubled down on his call for the party to back Labor’s $10 billion housing plan.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Vote ‘yes’ and make our lives better, say land councils

• Representatives of the Northern Territory land councils have travelled to Canberra to deliver the Barunga Declaration to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and talk about their support for a First Nations voice.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Alito defends using “vacant” seat on private jet for Alaska fishing trip [Ed: The accusations come from bribed outlet of Bill Gates... what's he to gain here? Is he weaponising media like Shelton Adelson did? Attacking judges he dislikes?]

• Why it matters: The op-ed was posted hours before ProPublica published an investigation saying Alito took a luxury vacation with billionaire Paul Singer, who later had cases before the Supreme Court.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Justice Alito’s Reply in Wall Street Journal Surprises ProPublica [Ed: Bill Gates bribes ProPublica. Another Adelson-styled strategy for dethroning judges via media? Not impossible.]

• The Wall Street Journal made the unusual decision to let Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. pre-empt ProPublica’s article about him in its opinion pages.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Justice Alito Defends Private Jet Travel to Luxury Fishing Trip [Ed: Murdoch media responds to Gates-funded "media" (increasingly propaganda outlet that omits any mention of Microsoft and Gates crimes). Media has quickly become an oligarch's weapon, not media for the public.]

• In an opinion essay in The Wall Street Journal, the justice disputed a ProPublica report, saying he was not required to disclose the trip or recuse himself from his benefactor’s cases.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ Peter Strzok Claims He Spoke to John Durham about the Clinton Conspiracy Theory Document

• In his report, John Durham claimed that Peter Strzok only ever spoke to his team about Alfa Bank. But Strzok says that’s false, that he spoke to him about Durham’s Clinton conspiracy theory.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ In the End, the Leopards Who Launched the Durham Investigation Ate His Face

• Durham set off in 2019 to chase down the conspiracy theories of people with close ties to Matt Gaetz. And Durham ended it by having Gaetz accuse Durham of the same things of which Durham accused others.

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ Mr Olivér Várhelyi addresses the participants of the “EU opportunity week” in Belgrade

• European Commission Speech Brussels, 21 Jun 2023 Dear Prime Minister, Ministers,

• Ladies, and Gentlemen,

• Serbia has made a strategic choice when it applied for EU membership.

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ Mr Olivér Várhelyi’s speech at the 23rd meeting of the PCC SEE Committee of Ministers in Bucharest

• European Commission Speech Brussels, 21 Jun 2023 Dear Ministers, [...]

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Three killed in Israeli drone strike as violence escalates in West Bank

• Israel’s military on Wednesday killed three members of a “terrorist cell” in a rare drone strike in the occupied West Bank, the army said, further escalating the deadly violence that has roiled the territory in recent days.

=> ↺ Astana talks highlight steps toward Turkey-Syria normalization

• The Astana guarantors have emphasized the importance of continuing the process of normalizing relations between Ankara and Damascus.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Kazakhstan Abruptly Announces It Will No Longer Host Syria Talks

• Kazakhstan abruptly said on June 21 that it will stop hosting talks aimed at resolving the Syrian conflict that erupted 12 years ago.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Texas Senate blocks state Sen. Angela Paxton from voting in husband’s impeachment trial

• Texas’ Senate voted Wednesday to start state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial on Sept. 5 and to bar his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, from voting on the historic proceedings.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Is China a developing country? What does international law say about its status?

• Verdict: Partially Correct

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Indonesia moves ASEAN military drills to uncontested waters in South China Sea

• The drills scheduled for September were originally planned to take place in an area claimed by China.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ #BalkansDebrief – Will Montenegro form a new government? | A debrief with Petar Popovic

• Nonresident Senior Fellow Ilva Tare discusses the post-election political landscape in Montenegro with Petar Popovic, associate professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Lab Leak Theory: 1, Misinformation Cops: 0

• Confirmation of Wuhan scientists as “patients zero” makes the lab leak theory look likely—and the misinformation police look like fools.

Censorship/Free Speech

Axios ☛ States fight to save books from growing number of bans across U.S.As a record-number of book bans sweep the nation amid increasing pressure from the political right, some state-level elected officials are pushing back.The big picture: It’s the latest salvo in the culture war that has taken hold between liberals and conservatives over what kids can read — and that has become a rallying cry for top Republicans as the 2024 elections near.Driving the news: Last week, Illinois became the first state to pass a law penalizing libraries that ban books.Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed a bill that will make public libraries ineligible for state funding if they ban materials because of “partisan or doctrinal” disapproval.Why books are getting bannedThe book banning movement — which often targets books written by or about members of the LGBTQ community and people of color — is not taking place through “isolated challenges,” Kasey Meehan, director of the Freedom to Read project at PEN America, told Axios.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Brendan O’Neill: A Heretic’s Manifesto

• Spiked’s leading polemicist defends J.K. Rowling, Brexit, and Enlightenment values of free speech and pluralism.

=> ↺ Off Guardian ☛ “A Global Digital Compact” – UN promoting censorship, social credit & much more

• Kit Knightly Late last month the office of the United Nation’s Secretary General published a policy document on aims for the future of the internet. A follow-up to the 2021 report “Our Common Agenda”, the new report’s title says it all really, “A Global Digital Compact”.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Journal of Free Speech Law: “Structuring a Subsidy for Local Journalism,” by Prof. Kyle Langvardt

• Just published as part of the symposium on Media and Society After Technological Disruption, edited by Profs. Justin “Gus” Hurwitz & Kyle Langvardt.

=> ↺ Graduates read full version of medical vow despite dean censoring ‘sexual orientation’

• The Medicine Students branch of the Turkish Medical Association shared the video showing the İstanbul University Medical Faculty graduates not obeying the dean’s censored version, but reading out “sexual orientation” also, among the factors that must not interfere with a doctor’s duty to a patient.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Texas Book Ban Bill Sets a Dangerous Precedent for the Narratives of Young People in Education

• By Cameron Samuels / Project Censored Amid an unprecedented wave of censorship, many of our state legislators have left no mercy for LGBTQ+ Texans. Censorious legislation like House Bill 900 and Senate Bill 13 attempt to relate queer identity with sexual obscenity. The bills target educators’ expertise and diminish students’ right to read in a vitriolic attack on queer […]

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ eSafety head goes after Twitter for content promoting online hate

• “This level of online abuse is already inexcusably high, but if you’re a First Nations Australian, you are disabled or identify as LGBTIQ+ you experience online hate at double the rate of the rest of the population.

• “Twitter appears to have dropped the ball on tackling hate. A third of all complaints about online hate reported to us are now happening on Twitter.

• “We are also aware of reports that the reinstatement of some of these previously banned accounts has emboldened extreme polarisers, peddlers of outrage and hate, including neo-Nazis both in Australia and overseas.”

• The statement said If Twitter failed to respond to the legal notice within 28 days, the company could face maximum financial penalties of nearly A$700,000 a day for continuing breaches.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Australia says Twitter is top platform for online hate, demands explanation

• Twitter has lifted bans on 62,000 accounts since new owner Elon Musk took over.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Twitter has ‘dropped the ball’ on tackling online hate

• Australia’s eSafety Commissioner says Twitter has “dropped the ball” on tackling online hate and has issued a legal notice to the social media giant demanding an explanation about what it is doing about the scourge.

• eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says there have been more complaints about online hate on Twitter in the past year than any other platform and complaints have spiked since Elon Musk’s takeover of the company in October.

=> ↺ uni Michigan ☛ The intent and impact of language: A close reading of Glenn Schembechler III’s PR firm apology

• On June 7, 2023, Glenn “Shemy” Schembechler III — son of long-serving Michigan coach Glenn “Bo” Schembechler — published an op-ed in The Michigan Daily explaining and apologizing for the racist behavior he exhibited on social media that led to his resignation.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Hong Kong station deletes thousands of shows in ongoing erasure of public dissent

• Shows and episodes with political and satirical content are being taken down from an online podcast platform.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ What Juneteenth Looks Like for Incarcerated People

• “As Black men in prison, we live the tension between celebrating the abolition of slavery and struggling inside the system that replaced it.”

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Families push for full school days for children with disabilities

• Some U.S. schools remove children with disabilities from the classroom if they display challenging behavior. While schools say this is necessary for safety, advocates argue that the shortened days amount to discrimination and a violation of civil rights.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Increase in prison population linked to clearing backlogs from the COVID years

• The annual statistical yearbook of the Finnish Criminal Sanctions Agency has been released, providing insights into the lengths of punishments for prisoners and community sanctions, the most common types of crimes, and the trends impacting client numbers. One notable finding from the data of 2022 is that the clearance of backlogs resulting from the COVID-19 years has significantly contributed to the increase in the prison population.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Helsinki police officer faces fines over protester pepper spraying

• Charges against six other officers were dropped.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Hollywood writers at rally say they’ll win as strike reaches 50 days

• Fifty days into a strike, and about 1,000 Hollywood writers and their supporters have marched across Los Angeles for a new contract with studios that includes payment guarantees and job security. Speakers at Wednesday’s rally emphasized the solidarity the Writers Guild of America has received from other unions, including SAG-AFTRA. Writer and guild board member Adam Conover told the crowd at the La Brea Tar Pits, “We are going to win because they need us.” The group representing studios says the writers’ demands would include paying them when there is no work. There have been no negotiations since the strike began on May 2.

=> ↺ Security Week ☛ Cooperation or Competition? China’s Security Industry Sees the US, Not AI, as the Bigger Threat

• China’s security and surveillance industry is focused on shoring up its vulnerabilities to the US and other outside actors, worried about risks posed by hackers, advances in AI and pressure from rival governments.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Judicial copying case shows that legal system can correct its mistakes, says Hong Kong justice minister

• The case of a Hong Kong national security judge who was censured by a higher court for copying demonstrates that the legal system can correct its mistakes, according to justice minister Paul Lam.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Three Uyghur brothers who fled into India a decade ago aim to seek asylum in Canada

• Detained since 2013, the brothers face threat of deportation to China, lawyer says

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ New York jury convicts former police sergeant and two others for acting as illegal agents of China

• A Brooklyn, New York, jury on Tuesday convicted a former New York City police sergeant and two others for acting as illegal agents of Chinese authorities when they attempted to intimidate US residents to return to China. Michael McMahon, a former New York City police sergeant, faces up to 20 years in prison.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Tibetan political leader calls for ‘true autonomy’ within China in Australian address

• Sikyong Penpa Tsering says ‘it is the quality of the rule’ that matters most to Tibetans.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ INTERVIEWS: The forgotten legacy of June 4’s women

• The women of the 1989 democracy movement on Tiananmen Square blazed a trail for the activists who came after.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Don’t display slogans, wear provocative T-shirts in Hong Kong, Taiwan tells citizens

• Taiwan updates security warnings to avoid getting arrested under security law

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ UN special representative claims Libya electoral reforms fall short of aims

• UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, noted in his briefing to the UN Security Council on Monday that despite a Libyan joint committee’s progressive efforts to finalize Libya’s electoral laws, the initiatives fall short of resolving some contentious issues.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ How Deterrence Policies Create Border Chaos

• Additional security may work in the short term. But migrants quickly adapt by taking alternative, more dangerous routes.

=> ↺ WORLD REFUGEE DAY: At least 21 refugees killed in racist attacks in Turkey in three years, says rights group

• The HRFT has called for an immediate end to discrimination and hate speech targeting refugees and asylum seekers

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Malaysian Government Asks Interpol To Arrest An American Comedian Over Her Airline Crash Joke

• The government of Malaysia isn’t too concerned about free speech. It may be a tourist destination, but it’s still subservient to a ruling class that likely can thank inbreeding for its current place at the top of the heap.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Dozens of Migrants Bound for Canary Islands Feared Dead as Boat Sinks

• Twenty-four people were rescued and two confirmed dead, but 35 others were missing after an inflatable vessel heading to the Spanish archipelago sank, an aid group said.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ IOC Warns Afghanistan About Paris Olympics Status Over Blocking Sports For Women And Girls

• The Afghanistan team’s status for the 2024 Paris Olympics was put in question by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over growing frustration with the Taliban for blocking access to sport for women and girls.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Comcast Tells FCC It’s Just Too Hard To Explain Its Bullshit Broadband And TV Fees To Consumers

• For the better part of the decade, the generally feckless FCC has been trying to require that broadband ISPs be a little more honest about broadband fees and limits at the point of sale. The FCC has been pondering implementing a “nutrition label for broadband” for years but could never quite get around to it. The infrastructure bill demanded it, so the FCC finally got around to acting.

=> ↺ The Atlantic ☛ We’ve Been Thinking About the Internet All Wrong

• Instead of imagining online life as a massive town square, we should be turning to the field of public health for inspiration.

Monopolies

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Apple engaged in ‘coercive’ interviews and other anti-union tactics at New York store, judge rules

• A U.S. labor board judge has ruled that Apple illegally subjected employees to “coercive” interviews and interfered with distribution of union leaflets at a New York City Apple Store. Tuesday’s ruling was the first time that an administrative law judge at the National Labor Relations Board has ruled against Apple. The ruling requires Apple to “cease and desist” from activities that the judge found to violate established labor protections. Apple must also post notices at the World Trade Center location informing employees of their labor rights and pledging that the company will honor them. Apple had no comment on the ruling.

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ Google slams Microsoft for locking customers into Azure cloud platform

• Google LLC has accused its longtime cloud rival Microsoft Corp. of engaging in anticompetitive behavior in an official complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The internet giant said in a letter to the FTC today that Microsoft employs software licensing restrictions that effectively force customers to use its Azure cloud computing services…

=> ↺ Forbes ☛ Google Accuses Microsoft Of Tricking Customers Into Cloud Service Contracts

• Google has reportedly filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission accusing competitor Microsoft of tricking customers into contracts with its Azure cloud server business, The Information reported Wednesday.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Novo Nordisk is proactively protecting its weight loss drugs from copycats

• Novo Nordisk is making moves to prevent the misuse of semaglutide.

• The Danish company has filed several lawsuits in the US against certain medical spas, weight loss or wellness clinics, and compounding pharmacies, some of which wrongfully use Novo Nordisk trademarks, to stop them from advertising and selling counterfeits of its semaglutide products.

• The world’s largest company for diabetes treatments alleges illegal marketing and sales practices by third-parties “created a high risk of consumer confusion and deception as well as potential safety concerns” considering compounded products “do not have the same safety, quality and effectiveness assurances” that its products, approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA), do.

=> ↺ Press Gazette ☛ Publishers square up for new battle with Google in Spain

• Spain is the latest jurisdiction taking action to force the duopoly to pay for news.>

=> ↺ MIT Technology Review ☛ The US city that scares Chinese Amazon sellers

• China Report is MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. Want to know how to make Chinese Amazon sellers anxious? Put Chicago in the delivery address when you order. Why? Because in the last few years, many sellers have been slapped with massive lawsuits for…

Patents

=> ↺ Unified Patents ☛ Ozmo Licensing Wi-Fi patent likely invalid

• On June 20, 2023, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims in an IPR filed by Unified against U.S. Patent 9,264,991, owned and asserted by Ozmo Licensing LLC. The ‘991 patent is generally directed to a wireless hub that integrates wireless networks and has been asserted against HP, Inc, Acer, Dell Technologies, and TCL.

• View district court litigations by Ozmo Licensing.

=> ↺ JUVE ☛ Germany’s case numbers drop, but Düsseldorf remains most important patent location [Ed: JUVE has been bribed by Team UPC and the litigation 'industry' to promote even even glorify illegal agenda, using misinformation and outright lies. This is who and what t hey work for not. It's not journalism.]

• In 2022, patent owners showed restraint when it came to filing new patent suits in Germany. Case numbers have once again decreased.

=> ↺ Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Conflicts between UPCA and national laws: a dangerous riddle? [Ed: UPC both illegal and unconstitutional. At least they admit this sometimes.]

• “One person’s misfortune is another person’s happiness” (i.e., “le bonheur des uns fait le malheur des autres”… This French proverb could easily be applied to the subject I’m dealing with today: conflicts between UPCA and national laws, which will undoubtedly be a joy for legal Counsels and a misfortune of the system’s users…

=> ↺ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Judge Newman’s Standoff with the Federal Circuit: Refusal to Comply as Misconduct [Ed: CAFC has its own Diane Feinstein]

• The Federal Circuit’s special investigation committee recently released an order in focusing on next steps in its ongoing investigation into the conduct and capacity of Judge Newman.  Although the investigation generally centers on disability and misconduct in her role as judge — the most recent order narrows the focus to the question of whether Judge Newman’s refusal to submit to medical testing constitutes misconduct that could potentially lead to her removal from the bench. The committee’s next steps will be to hold a closed-door hearing on July 13 solely on this issue.  The committee appears to be tacitly admitting that its allegations of general misconduct are insufficient alone and that it cannot prove disability without a medical evaluation.  Still, the committee is moving forward methodically and the order indicates that the refusal-to-cooperate is one area that it could fairly efficiently review and reach a conclusion sufficient to make a final recommendation to the Judicial Council, despite Judge Newman’s lack of cooperation.

=> ↺ IP5 Offices discuss office-led initiatives on climate-related innovations [Ed: Greenwashing by criminals who hijacked the EPO to do highly unlawful things. They give environmentalism a bad name by granting monopolies.]

• Annual meeting of the IP5 Offices: addressing climate change through an accessible and inclusive IP system.

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ Australian brain-computer interface inventors up for European award [Ed: Why dpes Sam Varghese write puff pieces for EPO criminals now? Is he not aware??]

• “The first patients have already received implants, four people in Australia and three in the US. In December 2021, an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient used the device to send a tweet using only their thoughts,” the statement said.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Dolby Atmos Wants You to Listen Up. (And Down. And Sideways.) [Ed: It became a patent troll and it is attacking GNU/Linux distros, too]

• True believers in the immersive audio format say it could restore a musical appreciation lost to a generation that has come up during the streaming era.

=> ↺ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Certiorari Petition: Wakefield v. Blackboard – Challenging Judge Newman’s Competency

• This week, the Supreme Court is considering the re-filed certiorari petition of Franz Wakefield, dba CoolTVNetwork.com v. Blackboard, Inc., No. 22-819.  The petition’s basis stems from the debate over Judge Newman’s competency.  The appellate case was decided by a panel that included Judge Newman, and the petitioner relies heavily upon the public documents circulated in the ongoing disability hearing. Including the repeated statements suggesting that Judge Newman lacks competence and “may suffer from impairment of cognitive abilities (i.e., attention, focus, confusion and memory).”  The petition notes that Judge Newman’s colleagues acted unanimously  to remove her from being assigned new cases.  Wakefield is pursuing his case pro se and so it lacks some fine points, but the thrust of the claims here are quite

Software Patents

=> ↺ Unified Patents ☛ Another InterDigital patent in SISVEL AV1 pool appears not essential

• As part of an ongoing series examining the patent holders and pools erroneously designating patents as essential, we highlight U.S. Patent 9,674,556 titled “Methods and apparatus for in-loop de-artifact filtering.” This patent is owned by InterDigital VC Holdings, Inc. InterDigital has designated the ’556 patent as essential to the AV1 standard as a part of SISVEL’s AV1 Patent Pool. See AV1 Patent List, AV1 Family AV1-056, available at https://www.sisvel.com/images/documents/Video-Coding-Platform/PatentList_AV1.pdf.

• InterDigital’s ’556 patent should not be considered to be essential to the AV1 standard. The ’556 patent is directed to in-loop artifact filtering, and in particular, two filters for successively performing in-loop filtering. The claims of the ’556 patent require (1) “a deblocking filter for performing a first pass to reduce blocking artifacts” and (2) “an adaptive sparse de-noising filter for performing a second pass to reduce noise.” ’556 patent, claim 1.

Copyrights

=> ↺ Torrent Freak ☛ Filmmakers Take Reddit to Court Again to Unmask ‘Piracy’ Commenters

• Through a California federal court, a group of filmmakers wants Reddit to disclose the identities of several users who made piracy-related comments. The filmmakers say the users could provide key evidence in an ongoing lawsuit against Internet provider Grande. In line with its response to a similar request earlier this year, Reddit objects once again, citing its users’ right to anonymous speech.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Brazil Introduces a ‘Taylor Swift Bill’ to Crack Down on Ticket Scalpers

• Problems caused by scalpers during the sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s South America tour could trigger similar regulations to those proposed in U.S. Congress. Fans trying to score tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour stop in São Paulo have been going through the wringer.

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