Links 09/02/2024: Microsoft Shutting Down More Offices, FTC Threatens to Halt Microsoft-Activision Merger
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Transparency/Investigative Reporting
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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YLE ☛ Baby names — Finland says no to Voldemort, Jezebella and Yes
The Names Board has released its annual list of naming no-no's.
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The Straits Times ☛ For China’s new globetrotters, group tours are out and Northern Lights are in
More younger travellers have been choosing bespoke, "special interest" holidays since the pandemic ended.
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Hackaday ☛ Tetris Goes Full Circle
As a game concept, Tetris gave humanity nearly four solid decades of engagement, but with the possibility for only seven possible puzzle pieces it might seem a little bit limiting. Especially now that someone has finally beaten the game, it could be argued that as a society it might be time to look for something new. Sinusoidal Tetris flips these limits on their head with a theoretically infinite set of puzzle pieces for an unmistakable challenge.
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Hackaday ☛ Your 1983 Video Phone Is Finally Ready
If you read Byte magazine in 1983, you might have expected that, by now, you’d be able to buy the red phone with the video screen built-in. You know, like the one that appears on the cover of the magazine. Of course, you can’t. But that didn’t stop former Hackaday luminary [Cameron] from duplicating the mythical device, if not precisely, then in spirit. Check it out in the video, below.
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Hackaday ☛ Metal Crystal Stops Electrons
Researchers at Rice University have found an alloy of copper, vanadium, and sulfur that forms crystals that, due to quantum effects, can trap electrons. This can produce flat bands, which have been observed in 2D crystals previously. The team’s results are the first case of a 3D crystal with that property.
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Hackaday ☛ Will Large Satellite Constellations Affect Earth’s Magnetic Field?
Imagine taking a significant amount of metals and other materials out of the Earth’s crust and scattering it into the atmosphere from space. This is effectively what we have been doing ever since the beginning of the Space Age, with an increasing number of rocket stages, satellites and related objects ending their existence as they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Yet rather than vanish into nothing, the debris of this destruction remains partially in the atmosphere, where it forms pockets of material. As this material is often conductive, it will likely affect the Earth’s magnetic field, as argued by [Sierra Solter-Hunt] in a pre-publication article.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ Humanity's Impact: 'Lunar Anthropocene' Spurred by 500,000 Pounds of Trash on The Moon
Have we not learnt from our mistakes on Earth?
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Science Alert ☛ Earthquake or Secret Nuclear Blast? A New Tool Exposes The Truth With 99% Accuracy
Ensuring governments are held accountable.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ Vesuvius Challenge 2023 Grand Prize Awarded And 2024’s New Challenge
In the year 79 CE, a massive cloud of volcanic ash rained down on the Roman city of Herculaneum after an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Along with the city of Pompeii, Herculaneum was subsequently engulfed and buried by a pyroclastic flow that burned everything in its path, including the scrolls in the library of what today is known as the Villa of the Papyri. After the charred but still recognizable scrolls were found in the 18th century, many fruitless attempts were made to recover the text hidden within these charred ruins, but not until 2023 did we get our first full glimpse at their contents, along with the awarding of the Vesuvius Challenge 2023.
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Jonathan Dowland ☛ Jonathan Dowland: carbon
I got a new work laptop this year: A Thinkpad X1 Carbon (Gen 11). It wasn't the one I wanted: I'd ordered an X1 Nano, which had a footprint very reminiscent to me of my beloved x40.
Never mind! The Carbon is lovely. Despite ostensibly the same size as the T470s it's replacing, it's significantly more portable, and more capable. The two USB-A ports, as well as the full-size HDMI port, are welcome and useful (over the Nano).
I used to keep notes on setting up GNU/Linux on different types of hardware, but I haven't really bothered now for years.
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New York Times ☛ Two Cases Aim to Cut Off China and Iran From U.S. Technology
In one case, material stolen from a private company would help the development of technology to track ballistic and hypersonic missiles, U.S. officials said.
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The Straits Times ☛ China bid to 'cheat' its way to chip prominence failing: Taiwan's US envoy
China has sought to "cheat" and "steal" its way to matching Taiwan in chip technology, but has yet to succeed despite investing huge sums, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Washington said on Wednesday, while holding out the prospect of more Taiwanese semiconductor investment in the U.S.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ This Chinese city wants to be the Silicon Valley of chiplets
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. Last month, MIT Technology Review unveiled our pick for 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2024. These are the technological advancements that we believe will change our lives today or sometime in the future.…
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Hackaday ☛ Friendly Flexible Circuits: The Cables
Flexible cables and flex PCBs are wonderful. You could choose to carefully make a cable bundle out of ten wires and try to squish them to have a thin footprint – or you could put an FFC connector onto your board and save yourself a world of trouble. If you want to have a lot of components within a cramped non-flat area, you could carefully design a multitude of stuff FR4 boards and connect them together – or you could make an FPC.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Science Alert ☛ Erectile Dysfunction Drugs May Lower Risk of Alzheimer's
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Science Alert ☛ Common Plastic Chemicals Linked to 10% of Premature Births in US, Major Study Finds
Around 56,000 babies per year.
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Latvia ☛ Flu epidemic still going strong in Latvia
The incidence of influenza continued to rise in Latvia last week, according to information compiled by the Disease Prevention and Control Center (SPKC) on February 7.
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The Straits Times ☛ Dengue cases in Malaysia up by 65%
In terms of deaths, nine were reported in 2024 compared with six in the same period last year.
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New York Times ☛ Who Created Butter Chicken? India’s Great Curry Clash.
A court has been asked to solve a bitter dispute between two families who have very different accounts of the origins of a dish beloved around the world.
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Reveal How Nose-Picking Could Increase Risk of Alzheimer's
For your brain's sake, it's time to ditch the habit.
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BIA Net ☛ Seven out of the 158 workers who died in work-related accidents were children in January
At least 5 workers lost their lives every day while working in the first month of the year according to the report of the Health and Safety Labor Watch.
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Latvia ☛ Rīga mulls idea of drunk tanks for minors
It is required by law to have sobering-up centers for adults, but there are no such places for minors. Drunk minors often burden the children's hospital work, Latvian Radio reported on February 7.
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Science Alert ☛ Breakthrough: New Drug Could Halt The Growth of Aggressive Breast Cancer
Unlike chemo, it targets cancerous cells only.
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YLE ☛ HUS publishes cancer care pathways in English
The pathways provide patients with a step-by-step understanding of how cancer diagnosis and treatment progress within the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District.
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TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Minnesota settles with Eli Lilly in price-gouging lawsuit over insulin costs
The settlement is likely to benefit as many as 500,000 residents whether they have insurance or not, and it covers all Lilly brand-name insulin products,
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France24 ☛ Ecuador's top court decriminalises euthanasia following lawsuit by terminally ill patient
Ecuador decriminalised euthanasia on Wednesday, becoming the second Latin American country to allow the procedure, in response to a lawsuit brought by a terminally ill patient.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Engadget ☛ Microsoft’s gaming layoffs include 86 jobs at Skylanders studio Toys for Bob
Microsoft’s post-acquisition layoffs at Activision Blizzard have already caught the FTC’s eye. Now we know more about which subsidiary studios will take the hit. First reported by the San Francisco Chronicle (via Eurogamer), California WARN notices list 86 upcoming scheduled layoffs at Skylanders maker Toys for Bob and 76 cuts at Call of Duty: Vanguard developer Sledgehammer Games.
California requires companies to notify the state of upcoming layoffs, thanks to a 1988 law mandating 60 days’ notice about staffing cuts (if they reach specific thresholds). The latest WARN alerts for Activision Blizzard report 86 upcoming cuts at an address in Novato, CA — matching Toys for Bob’s offices — effective March 30. In addition, the San Francisco Chronicle reports on a California state filing indicating Toys for Bob’s offices will close.
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EuroGamer ☛ Microsoft layoffs affect 86 staff at Spyro, Crash Bandicoot studio
Activision Blizzard's Crash Bandicoot and Spyro studio Toys for Bob lose 86 employees as a result of layoffs.
These people are part of the wider round of layoffs Microsoft is undertaking, which will see 1900 employees across Xbox and Activision Blizzard lose their jobs.
The layoffs at Toys for Bob are much higher than previously estimated - a report from two weeks ago claimed between 30 to 40 percent of jobs would be affected, which was estimated to be around 35 people.
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Gizmodo ☛ Feds Say Activision Layoffs Violate Promises Microsoft Made in Merger Deal
The Federal Trade Commission isn’t happy with the outcome of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, telling a court on Wednesday that Microsoft’s recent layoffs contradict promises it made to get the merger approved.
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FTC seeks pause on Microsoft-Activision deal amid layoff controversy
Just a week following Microsoft’s announcement of nearly 2,000 layoffs within its gaming division, the Federal Trade Commission has raised concerns over Microsoft’s adherence to its initial promises regarding the operation of Activision Blizzard post-acquisition, according to a recent report by Engadget. The FTC’s apprehensions were formalized in a complaint submitted to a federal appeals court on Wednesday, calling for a temporary halt on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard amid ongoing investigations into potential antitrust violations.
Microsoft had previously assured the FTC that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard would be managed as a vertical integration, implying that layoffs would be unnecessary due to the absence of overlapping roles. However, the recent job cuts announced on Jan. 30, which impacted employees across Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and Xbox, have sparked controversy. Microsoft cited “areas of overlap” between itself and Activision Blizzard as the reason for the layoffs, a statement that the FTC claims contradicts Microsoft’s earlier representations to the court.
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Neowin ☛ Microsoft's gaming layoffs will cause Activision's Toys for Bob physical office to close
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the physical offices of Activision's Toys for Bob development studio will close in Novato, California. The studio was first formed in 1989 and became well known for creating the Star Control series of space strategy titles. Activision acquired Toys for Bob in 2005. The studio then created the popular Skylanders series of games. Still, after the studio's founders departed in 2020, Toys for Bob became a support studio for the Call of Duty game series.
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Activision closes Toys for Bob and Crash Bandicoot studio offices; layoffs reported
Activision Blizzard, now owned by Microsoft, just went through a round of layoffs that also included Toys For Bob, the studio best known for being responsible for recent installments of Toys For Bob. Crash Bandicoot.According to reports, this situation Resulting in closure of corporate offices.
Based on information from san francisco chronicle, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard (affecting approximately 1,900 employees) impact Toys for Bob. That’s not all, as the situation has also resulted in the closure of the studio’s offices located at 4 Hamilton Landing, Novato, California, United States.
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Microsoft closed the office of developers of remakes of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, although it promised to support them
Let us remind you that as part of the cuts, more than 1,900 employees of Microsoft and its gaming companies, including Activision Blizzard, will remain without work. have to almost half of all those laid off, 899 people.
As reported by the publication San Francisco ChronicleToys for Bob will lay off 86 employees – that’s almost half of the studio’s entire staff (in 2021, it had about 180 employees).
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Crash Bandicoot, Spyro Studio Toys for Bob Has Reportedly Laid off Over 80 People
Microsoft announced last month that it would be cutting 1,900 jobs across its entire gaming division, with studios across Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and Bethesda set to be impacted, and the full ramifications of that fresh round of mass layoffs are continuing to come to light.
As reported by SF Chronicle, state filings in California have revealed that Activision Blizzard is laying off 86 employees at a studio headquartered in Novato at 4 Hamilton Landing- which is the address of Toys for Bob’s office. Toys for Bob is, of course, the creator of the Skylanders franchise, and has also developed Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon titles, including, in recent years, the likes of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Crash Team Rumble, and Spyro Reignited Trilogy.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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KSOC Aims to Create Fingerprints for Container Images
KSOC has made available a free catalog for accessing open source container image fingerprints that detects changes to an environment.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Techdirt ☛ Josh Hawley Rages Ignorantly And Misleadingly In Trying To Push Encryption-Destroying STOP CSAM Bill
Every week it’s some other dumb thing going on in the Senate. On Tuesday Senator Josh Hawley went to the (mostly empty) Senate floor to “seek unanimous consent” for the STOP CSAM bill. That’s basically a process to rush the bill forward before it’s ready.
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ACLU ☛ When it Comes to Facial Recognition, There is No Such Thing as a Magic Number
We often hear about government misuse of face recognition technology (FRT) and how it can derail a person’s life through wrongful arrests and other harms. Despite mounting evidence, government agencies continue to push face recognition systems on communities across the United States. Key to this effort are the corporate makers and sellers who market this technology as reliable, accurate, and safe – often by pointing to their products’ scores on government-run performance tests.
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EDRI ☛ Health & digital rights organisations and trade unions to the Council of the EU: Uphold patients’ fundamental rights in the EHDS!
The Council of the EU must uphold European patients’ fundamental rights and agree on a right to ‘opt-out’ of the use of patient medical records in the final negotiations on the European Health Data Space (EHDS).
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EDRI ☛ A complete U-turn in jurisprudence: HADOPI and the future of the Court of Justice of the European Union’s authority
This blog post argues that, if followed by the Court, the interpretation proposed by the AG would lead to a severe weakening of the CJEU’s authority and legitimacy, more generally. This would be of great symbolic significance in an already challenging environment for the Court which is faced with increasing defiance of Member States in the field of data protection.
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Confidentiality
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WhichUK ☛ Scammer bypasses Surveillance Giant Google search as verified advertiser
Fake Lyca Mobile adverts found on Surveillance Giant Google in a bid to steal payment details
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Defence/Aggression
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The Nation ☛ Unexploded Ordnance in Laos Continues to Maim and Kill People
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea scraps all economic cooperation with South Korea
The two Koreas' relations continue to deteriorate sharply.
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RFA ☛ N Korea ends all economic cooperation with South: state media
But Seoul expects no swift impact on inter-Korean relations.
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RFA ☛ UN should update North Korea rights report: experts
Momentum was quickly lost after the release of a landmark UN report a decade ago, according to its chief author.
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The Straits Times ☛ Signs of rare unrest among North Korean workers in China, researchers say
Pyongyang exerts tight control over its overseas workers, including seizing as much as 90% of their wages for government funding.
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Techdirt ☛ South Korean Man Sentenced For Refusing Military Service, In Part Because He Plays PUBG
Well, this is a new one for me. In all the stories we’ve done over the years on concerns over real life violence and violent video games, one point we’ve made over and over again is that people certainly can tell the difference between video games and real life. I, for one, abhor guns in real life. I also very much enjoy playing games in which I wield some of most vicious firearms known to virtual mankind as I save the day or some such nonsense. Those two stances are not remotely in conflict with one another, as should be obvious.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan puts a stop to resumption of group tours to China after Bejing alters flight path
Taiwan ordered on Wednesday travel agencies to stop organising group tours to China following Beijing’s adjustment of an aviation route that drew ire on the self-ruled island.
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The Straits Times ☛ Chinese hacking campaign aimed at critical infrastructure goes back five years, US says
An advanced group of Chinese hackers taking aim at U.S. critical infrastructure have been active for as long as half a decade, American and allied intelligence agencies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
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The Straits Times ☛ PNG leader Marape tells Australia economic growth brings security
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape told Australia's parliament on Thursday his nation's economic growth would make Australia more secure, adding nothing would come between the two neighbours.
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The Straits Times ☛ India says to end Myanmar free border movement
A minister said it was necessary to ensure the internal security of the country.
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RFERL ☛ OSCE Urges Kyrgyz Authorities To 'Review Worrying' Law On 'Foreign Representatives'
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has urged Kyrgyz authorities to revise a draft law on so-called "foreign representatives," saying a decision by lawmakers to move toward its adoption will pose "significant risks" to media freedom.
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Defence Web ☛ Houthi attacks on shipping continue
Houthi forces in Yemen continue to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with further attacks against civil and military vessels.
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France24 ☛ US says it killed leader of pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah in Baghdad drone strike
An American air strike in Iraq killed a commander of a pro-Iran armed group Wednesday who was involved in attacks on Washington's troops, the US military said.
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The Straits Times ☛ Iraq says US strikes pushing government to end U.S.-led coalition's mission
Repeated U.S. strikes against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq are pushing the government to end the mission of the U.S.-led coalition in the country, the prime minister's military spokesman Yahya Rasool said on Thursday.
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New York Times ☛ Iraq Hosts Both U.S. and Iranian-Backed Forces. It’s Getting Tense.
As Iranian-backed groups and American forces, both of which have bases in Iraq, lock horns around the Mideast, things are becoming uncomfortable for the Iraqi government.
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BIA Net ☛ UN Representative for Iraq: 'Attacks by TSK in the north have become the new normal'
The UN Special Representative for Iraq stated that the ongoing violence and repeated strikes by third parties in Iraq carry the potential to destabilize and roll back Iraq's hard-won stability. Mentioning the ongoing Turkish military operations in the North, Hennis-Plasschaert said "Just because these attacks have become the new "normal" does not mean they do not seriously compound the risk of new arenas of violence being opened."
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New York Times ☛ U.S. Strike in Baghdad Kills Iranian-Backed Militia Commander
The killing of a leader of Kata’ib Hezbollah continued a series of strikes in retaliation for attacks on U.S. troops in the region, including one that killed three Americans in Jordan.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Meduza ☛ Putin says he won’t nationalize markets, but here are three tactics federal prosecutors are using to seize Russians’ assets — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russia launches wave of missile strikes on Ukraine, damaging infrastructure and killing at least five — Meduza
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Vice Media Group ☛ Even the Kremlin Is Fact-Checking Tucker Carlson Ahead of Putin Interview
Carlson's claim that no other Western journalist has tried to interview Putin was instantly debunked by reporters and now, the Kremlin itself.
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CS Monitor ☛ Tucker Carlson is interviewing Putin. What’s in it for the Kremlin?
To hear it from Tucker Carlson or his Russian fans, his soon-to-be aired interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin is an exercise in journalistic parity. But both Mr. Carlson and the Kremlin are pushing agendas.
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New York Times ☛ Tucker Carlson Says His Putin Interview Will Be Shown on Thursday
The interview, which Moscow said took place this week, would give the Russian leader a chance to reach a potentially sympathetic audience in the United States.
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Meduza ☛ Kremlin says Putin agreed to interview with Tucker Carlson because he differs from ‘traditional Anglo-Saxon media’ — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ ‘This constitutes election obstruction’: Putin challenger Boris Nadezhdin says Russia’s Central Election Commission invalidated some signatures in support of candidacy due to its own misspellings — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Norway denies asylum to former Wagner Group fighter but will let him stay in country — Meduza
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France24 ☛ Senate Republicans block bipartisan package pairing US border security with aid for Ukraine, Israel
Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan border package Wednesday, scuttling months of negotiations with Democrats on legislation intended to cut back record numbers of illegal border crossings.
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France24 ☛ Russian air strikes target Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, killing at least five
Russia fired cruise and ballistic missiles and Shahed-type drones at six regions across Ukraine on Wednesday morning, authorities reported, killing at least five civilians and wounding almost 50 others, including a pregnant woman.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania’s BaltCap pulls out of Bucha school project in Ukraine amid embezzlement scandal
Nullus, a company which is part of BaltCap Infrastructure Fund, is pulling out of a project to build a new school in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, BaltCap has told BNS.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Downs 11 Russian Drones; Atomic Watchdog Chief Says Less Shelling At Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant
Ukraine says its air defenses said shot down 11 out of 17 drones launched by Russia at four regions -- Mykolayiv, Odesa, Vinnytsya, and Dnipropetrovsk -- early on February 8, but regional authorities reported that the attack caused damage to infrastructure.
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Republican Senators Block Bipartisan Border Package That Included Wartime Aid To Ukraine
Republicans in the U.S. Senate on February 7 blocked a bipartisan border package, scuttling months of negotiations on the legislation, which included $60 billion in wartime aid to Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Boosted By Defense Spending, Russian Economic Growth Jumped 3.6 Percent In 2023
Russia's economy jumped 3.6 percent last year despite sweeping Western sanctions as the government cranked up military spending amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Lawmakers Dismiss Election Commission Member Who Left To Work In Miami
Ukrainian lawmakers on February 7 voted to dismiss Yuriy Buhlak from the Central Election Commission after he left Ukraine for the United States 12 days before Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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RFERL ☛ EU Court Refuses To Cancel Sanctions On Tycoon Usmanov, Russian Politician Shuvalov
The European Court of Justice on February 7 rejected appeals filed by Uzbek-born Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov and former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov against European sanctions imposed on them for having close ties with the Kremlin and supporting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
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teleSUR ☛ Russia Hits the Ukrainian Military-Industrial Complex
The military operation occurs amid a visit to Kyiv by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Borrell.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine Worries About Losing Its Biggest Weapon: U.S. Military Aid
Without it, Kyiv could hold out for part of the year, one expert said, but would then begin losing the war.
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New York Times ☛ What Happens if U.S. Support for Ukraine Collapses?
American officials concede there is nothing on the horizon that could match the power of a new, $60 billion congressional appropriation to support its war against Russian aggression.
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New York Times ☛ Senate Bogs Down on Ukraine and Israel Aid After G.O.P. Blocks Border Deal
Democrats promised a Thursday vote on a stand-alone bill, stripped of immigration measures, with $60.1 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians of global crises.
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New York Times ☛ Russian Strikes Hit Ukrainian Cities at a Tense Time for Kyiv
The attacks killed at least five people, officials said, as Ukraine raises pleas for more American aid and President Volodymyr Zelensky considers changes in his administration.
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New York Times ☛ Giorgia Meloni Solidifies Her Credentials in Europe
The Italian prime minister helped persuade the Hungarian leader, Viktor Orban, to go along with a landmark fund for Ukraine. It was a big moment for Europe. And for her.
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New York Times ☛ Sweden Closes Investigation Into Nord Stream Pipeline Explosions
The natural-gas connection was sabotaged in September 2022, seven months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prompting rampant speculation about who was to blame.
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Meduza ☛ Russian student receives nine-year prison sentence for ‘incitement to treason’ after allegedly trying to persuade Russians to join Ukraine’s Armed Forces — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Court in self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk People's Republic’ sentences 33 Ukrainian soldiers to prison — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Russian goods still found in Latvia's shops
One of the demands of farmers in the recent protests was to ban the sales of Russian and Belarusian food products in Latvian shops. Imports of food and agricultural goods from both countries have even increased over the past year and are still valued at hundreds of millions of euros. Traders' representatives indicate that there should be more pressure, Latvian Radio reported on February 7.
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NYPost ☛ Kissing Russian influencers hunted down by cops and forced to apologize for act that could ‘harm the psyche’ of kids
“I was not thinking that it could have influenced anyone. I did not think about it. I did not know.”
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France24 ☛ Rome partially restores Trajan’s Basilica with funds from Russian oligarch
Rome's most majestic forum has recovered some of its former glory with a partial reconstruction of the imposing columns of Trajan's basilica – using funds from a now-sanctioned Russian oligarch.
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LRT ☛ Free choice and lack of teachers: Lithuania’s schools do not rush to phase out Russian classes
With Vilnius planning to phase out Russian as a foreign language in its schools, other municipalities are not planning to follow suit.
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LRT ☛ Moscow accuses Baltic states of ‘sabotage’ in Russian president election
The Russian government on Monday summoned Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian envoys, accusing them of trying to sabotage next month’s Russian presidential election.
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RFERL ☛ Massive Explosion Reported Near Russian City That Is Home To Missile Production Plant
A large explosion lit up the night sky on February 7 near Votkinsk, a city about 1,000 kilometers east of Moscow that is the location of a Russian military production facility.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Court Reinstates Eight-Year Prison Term Of Jehovah's Witness
A Russian court has upheld an eight-year prison term handed to a Jehovah's Witness, Dmitry Barmakin, rejecting his third appeal of the sentence.
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teleSUR ☛ Fear of the Truth Haunts Nord Stream Investigations: Zakharova
In September 2022, explosions damaged the Nord Stream pipelines, which transported Russian gas to Europe.
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YLE ☛ Thursday's papers: Border update, mail-in votes, cold and colder
Helsingin Sanomat writes that the Finnish government is likely to extend the closure of the country's border with Russia on Thursday.
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Meduza ☛ Key Chinese settlement bank for Russian importers suspends operations with Russia and Belarus — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ When a college student challenged Russia’s top censorship activist at her Q&A event, she threatened him with prosecution — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ At least two people injured after Russia’s Belgorod comes under fire — Meduza
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LRT ☛ Belarusian reps in Lithuania warn against building new ‘iron curtain’
As the Lithuanian government is looking to close two more checkpoints on its border with Belarus, the Belarusian expat community warns of a new “iron curtain”.
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RFERL ☛ Putin Expected To Sign Bill On Confiscation Of Assets Linked To 'False' Info About Military
The Russian parliament's upper chamber, the Federation Council, on February 7 approved a bill allowing for the confiscation of property and assets of individuals convicted of distributing "false" information about Russia's armed forces.
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NYPost ☛ Hillary Clinton slams Tucker Carlson ahead of Putin interview: ‘He is a useful idiot’
Carlson confirmed earlier this week in an X post that he will be interviewing the Russian leader in Moscow.
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Meduza ☛ Ilham Aliyev reelected to fifth term as president of Azerbaijan — Meduza
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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Craig Murray ☛ State Secrecy and Public Hearings Part One
At the Assange extradition hearings in Woolwich Crown Court and the Old Bailey, the public gallery was limited to five and sometimes two. The excuse was Covid. But online access was denied to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and numerous other groups and individuals, including journalists. The mainstream media was anyway complicit in leaving the entire hearing virtually unreported – less than one percent of the coverage given to Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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DeSmog ☛ Exclusive: Havas Eyes New Shell Global PR Contract, Further Undercutting the Agency’s Climate-friendly Claims
Paris-based communications giant Havas is putting itself forward for another major contract with one of the world’s biggest oil companies — despite CEO Yannick Bolloré’s years of positioning the company as committed to climate action.
Insider sources tell DeSmog that several Havas agencies are in the running for Shell’s global public relations account, including London-based H/Advisors While it is unclear how much Shell has spent on this account in recent years, the company spent an estimated 41.9 million euros ($45 million) on advertising in the United States alone in 2023, according to MediaRadar.
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DeSmog ☛ Climate Scientist’s Defamation Suit Over Comparison to Molester Goes to the Jury
Over the past three weeks, the climate denial playbook has been on display in the Washington, D.C. courtroom where an internationally-renowned climate scientist is suing two right-wing bloggers for defamation.
As the trial began entering its final stages last week, attorneys for Michael E. Mann continued to challenge witnesses who sought to cast doubt on his research showing that global temperatures rose sharply during the 20th century — a key finding in establishing the connection between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change.
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DeSmog ☛ Are Europe’s Farmers Protesting Green Reforms? It’s Complicated
Across France, Italy and Belgium last week thousands of farmers descended on capital cities to express their deep discontent with the European food system.The scenes were dramatic. Parked tractors brought traffic to a standstill in Paris, and on Thursday burning piles of hay and debris sent up huge, dark plumes of smoke in Brussels. The protests show no sign of slowing down and are expected this week across Italy, Slovenia and Spain.
Farmers’ demonstrations have been portrayed as a revolt against net zero, by the media and far-right groups.This is the message received by governments – and they are acting on it. So far, the farmers have won key concessions, with the EU decision on Tuesday to drop its plans to cut pesticide use, hot on the heels of the same move by France on Friday, despite numbers of birds and pollinators plummeting in Europe.Yet the reality on the ground in Brussels last week was more mixed. While Europe’s largest farming union, Copa-Cogeca, paints environmental measures as an enemy to farmers’ prosperity, an analysis by Carbon Brief has found that a fifth of farmer concerns were not on green issues, relating instead to high production costs, food pricing and trade-related concerns.Other groups of farmers came out onto the streets of Brussels with a different message. They say the EU should see the protests as a sign to do more, not less, to protect the environment.
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Wildlife/Nature
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The Revelator ☛ Is Our Food Waste Creating a Murder of Crows?
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Science Alert ☛ Bizarre Prehistoric Predator Fish Breathed Air, Had Fangs And Four 'Limbs'
A 380-million-year-old identity crisis.
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Science Alert ☛ Rare 3D Fossil of Trees Older Than Dinosaurs Reveals Bizarre Alien-Like Ancient Forests
"A strange growth form in the history of life."
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Finance
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s foreign worker plan put on hold as Philippines suspends labour deployment
The deployment of Filipino farm workers was also suspended due to human rights violation complaints.
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The Straits Times ☛ Prosecutors to appeal after Samsung chief Lee cleared over 2015 merger case
South Korean prosecutors have decided to appeal a court decision to clear Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee of charges including accounting fraud and stock manipulation in a case related to a 2015 merger of affiliates, court records showed.
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JURIST ☛ South Korea court acquits Samsung chairman of stock manipulation and fraud charges
The Seoul Central District Court on Monday acquitted Samsung Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee of stock manipulation and accounting fraud charges, according to local media outlet The Korea Herald. This eliminated the possibility of him being imprisoned.
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New York Times ☛ For First Time in Two Decades, U.S. Buys More From Mexico Than China
The United States bought more goods from Mexico than China in 2023 for the first time in 20 years, evidence of how much global trade patterns have shifted.
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexico dethrones China as top exporter to the US in 2023
Mexico was also the largest trade partner of the United States in 2023, with two-way trade worth nearly US $800 billion.
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RFA ☛ Can China's stock market support steps bring back the bull?
The underlying problem is rooted in structural economic problems, experts say.
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RFA ☛ China replaces top regulator as it attempts to end stock market rout
Beijing is also urging listed companies to improve investor returns.
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YLE ☛ Wednesday's papers: Passenger weigh-ins, rising evictions and burning wood
Do you want to step onto the scales before boarding your flight?
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YLE ☛ Yle pension calculator reveals older generations get more than double the bang for their buck
What you receive in retirement relative to what you contribute during your working life depends on your age and gender. Check out Yle's pension calculator to see how your pension stacks up.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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RFA ☛ China, ASEAN unlikely to achieve Code of Conduct in 2024: experts
Beijing-Manila tensions in South China Sea leave agreement elusive, analysts say.
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RFA ☛ Exclusive: Disappeared oil man was CCP agent, business partner says
Revelations from a Hong Kong civil trial may leave China liable in an Angolan corruption scheme.
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RFERL ☛ EU Starts Action Against Hungary Over Sovereignty Law
The EU on February 7 said that it had launched action against Hungary after Budapest passed laws it says are intended to "protect Hungary's sovereignty" and curb foreign influence.
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CS Monitor ☛ Border bill fails as Republicans fight Democrats – and themselves
After months of pursuing one of their top priorities – border security – Republicans backtracked to preserve a campaign weapon against Democrats.
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JURIST ☛ US House of Representatives votes not to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security
The US House of Representatives voted Tuesday not to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly failing to comply with US law and breaching public trust in his handling of immigration enforcement on the US-Mexico border.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Concerns over proposed ‘state secrets’ offence raised at seminars for new security law, Hong Kong officials say
No one has expressed their opposition to proposed security legislation, top Hong Kong government officials have said, however, concerns over the scope of certain offences have been raised since the public consultation period was launched last Tuesday, they added.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Self-exiled former lawmaker Ted Hui declared bankrupt by Hong Kong court
Hong Kong’s High Court has declared self-exiled activist Ted Hui bankrupt for failing to pay costs of legal proceedings involving him. The former lawmaker, who left Hong Kong in November 2020, is among 13 self-exiled pro-democracy activists accused of breaching the Beijing-imposed national security law.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Reason ☛ $25M in Libel Damages Based on Newspapers' Misidentification of Plaintiff as Broadcaster Who Used Racial Slurs
CBS News reports on Monday's verdict ($5M in actual damages and $20M in punitives), in Sapulpa v. Gannett Co.: The incident occurred in 2021 before the Norman-Midwest City girls high school basketball game when an announcer for a livestream cursed and called one team by a racial epithet as the players kneeled [...]
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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The Strategist ☛ Wong is in an exquisite predicament. She must make China fear her response
Hostage diplomacy is an apt name for the exquisite predicament in which Australia finds itself. An Australian citizen, Yang Hengjun, is held arbitrarily and then, in a shocking decision, sentenced to death.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Pro Publica ☛ Bused From Texas to Manhattan, an Immigrant Struggles to Find Shelter
Despite the blaring siren from a security guard’s phone, Rogelio Ramon was still half asleep just after 6 on a January morning, sitting where he’d slept on a red chair in an East Flatbush, Brooklyn, church. Across from him in the crowded sanctuary, a half-dozen West African men recited the Quran on the chancel and a man from China talked with a woman on WhatsApp. Ramon, who is from Venezuela, put on the snug-fitting winter parka he’d found in a donation bin and walked out into the biting cold to figure out where to pass the day. It would be nearly 14 hours until another church, an hour and a half away by subway in Harlem, would take him in.
Ramon had already spent a week crisscrossing the city in search of a safe place to lay his head. During his first month in New York he lived in a shelter, but he couldn’t stay. The city recently began limiting single adult migrants to a 30-day stay with an option to reapply for another 30 days, though the wait to get back in can be lengthy. New York hastily launched its new migrant reception system in the spring of 2022, and since then more than 170,000 people have passed through it. As with Ramon, some of them came on free buses from Texas, ending up in New York not because it was their chosen destination but because they had no other option. Many were part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative to funnel people entering the country into liberal cities and to export the stresses and tensions of the southern border into farflung parts of the country. New York is an attractive landing place because it is the only major U.S. city that’s required, pursuant to a four-decade-old consent decree, to provide a shelter to anyone in need.
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EDRI ☛ EDRi-gram, 7 february 2024
In this edition of the EDRi-gram, we'll be discussing the Irish Media Regulator's proposal to implement mandatory age verification that could impact all EU Member States. This could be a dangerous move that will impact millions of people using platforms like YouTube or Instagram.
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FAIR ☛ ‘Texas Is Fighting for Its Right to Lay Concertina Wire’
Janine Jackson interviewed the Texas Civil Rights Project’s Aron Thorn about the Texas border standoff for the February 2, 2024, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
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Techdirt ☛ Australian Police Go Full FBI, Radicalize Autistic Teen Officers Told Parents They Were Trying To Help
The FBI has done some heinous things in its pursuit of its counter-terrorism objectives. While it’s true the FBI has occasionally nabbed actual terrorists, it seems to prefer creating terrorists to going after those that are already avowed terrorists.
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The Straits Times ☛ Australians cheer law giving workers right to ignore after-hours work calls
Australians on Thursday cheered new proposed laws that give workers the right to ignore calls and messages from their bosses outside of work hours, but some business leaders slammed it as overreach.
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Federal News Network ☛ NGA settles lawsuit Jewish applicant filed over Saturday-only job testing
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has settled a religious discrimination lawsuit, over claims it gave a Jewish applicant only Saturdays to complete steps in the hiring process.
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YLE ☛ Nuclear and hydropower plant workers joining next week's strike
The energy industry sector trade association called the strike plans irresponsible and put the country's electricity supply at risk.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Techdirt ☛ Republicans Try To Block Very Basic Efforts To Prevent Racial Discrimination In Broadband Deployment
Back in December I wrote a feature for The Verge exploring the FCC’s long overdue effort to stop race and class discrimination in broadband deployment. For decades, big telecoms have not only refused to evenly upgrade broadband in low income and poor areas (despite billions in subsidies for this exact purpose), they’ve charged poor and minority neighborhoods significantly more money.
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IT Wire ☛ NBN Co losses blow out to $692m for first half of fiscal 2024
“We closed the half-year with more than 8.4 million premises, or 75% of the Fixed Line network, eligible to access the NBN Home Ultrafast speed tier, a remarkable outcome which means these customers can now gain access to peak wholesale download speeds of 500 Mbps to close to 1 Gbps.
“Almost 200,000 Australian premises have chosen to upgrade to an NBN full-fibre service, which has been made possible by our network investment strategy.
"This demonstrates customers’ strong appetite for high-speed Internet amid the consumption of increasing volumes of data, and the NBN network remains best placed to deliver such speed and capacity at scale.”
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APNIC ☛ [Podcast] DNS is the new BGP — how we really route things in the modern Internet
The role of DNS in steering how content is fetched and the changing landscape of decision-making for applications-level routing.
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APNIC ☛ DNS and the proposed DELEG record
Changing the DNS mechanisms for delegation, a look at the proposed DELEG Resource Record.
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APNIC ☛ BGPWatch — A comprehensive platform for detecting and diagnosing hijacking incidents
Guest Post: New platform with integrated suite of tools aims to improve the responsiveness of network operators.
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Trademarks
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Techdirt ☛ Wine Brand ‘Valdo’ Attempts To Trademark Bully Wine Brand Owned By Nick Faldo
It’s not often when three of your biggest interests all intersect at once, but here we are. Readers here will know that I am a regular when it comes to writing about trademark disputes, bullying, and news. You may also know that I have quite the affinity for wine. You probably don’t know, however, that I am also a huge fan of professional golf, a trinity of intersts that I think might make me one of the nerdiest people on the planet. So, when I started hearing that a trademark dispute had arisen between Valdo, a winery in Italy, and Sir Nick Faldo, a one-time #1 professional golfer worldwide, all over the latter’s wine brand, well, it all seemed right up my alley.
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Copyrights
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Torrent Freak ☛ Lawsuit Accuses Anna's Archive of Hacking WorldCat, Stealing 2.2 TB Data
American nonprofit OCLC is known globally for its leading database of bibliographic records, WorldCat. A few months ago, many of these records were posted publicly by the shadow library search engine, Anna's Archive. OCLC believes that this is the result of a year-long hack and, with a lawsuit filed at an Ohio federal court, it demands damages.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Prison for 'Mr. X': Headteacher By Day, Pirate IPTV Maverick By Night
A UK man described as a leading reseller for pirate IPTV service Flawless TV, has been sentenced to a year in prison at Birmingham Crown Court. Documents in the Flawless case referred to a mysterious 'Mr. X', now revealed as 42-year-old Paul Merrell; a highly respected headteacher by day, pirate subscription-selling 'Media Maverick' by night.
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Digital Music News ☛ Mogul Raises $1.9 Million in Seed Funding Round
Mogul raises $1.9 million in seed funding from Wonder Ventures, United Talent Agency, Amplify.LA, and Creator Partners. Mogul, a platform for artists to easily track their income and unclaimed royalties, has raised $1.9 million in a seed funding round from Wonder Ventures, United Talent Agency, Amplify.LA, and former SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainor’s Creator Partners.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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