Links 14/05/2024: Bounties on Terrible Patents, China Censors Dissidents Internationally via Attack Dogs
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Digital Restrictions (DRM) Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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New Yorker ☛ “Baby Reindeer” and “Under the Bridge” Are Stranger Than Fiction
The two streaming series grapple with horrific real-life crimes—and with the complexity of the relationship between perpetrators and victims.
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New Yorker ☛ The World’s Greatest Party Crasher Strikes Again!
Fred Karger, a retiree who has written a memoir about sneaking into sanctums like the Oscars and the Met Gala, tries to finagle his way into the Time 100 Gala.
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Ruben Schade ☛ A letter to Jim Kloss, a year on
Jim!
I hope this finds you well, and you’re settling into your new digs.
My mum Debra and uncle Dave should have introduced themselves by now. I think you’ll get along with them like a Wheat Palace on fire; they were folk and jazz musicians, and heard a lot about you over the years. I see them in some alternate universe setting up a WWR branch in rural coastal Australia for house concerts and art exhibitions, where the music and coffee flow, and everyone is healthy and happy.
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Science
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Hackaday ☛ The New Extremely Large Telescopes And The US’ Waning Influence In Astronomy
For many decades, the USA has been at the forefront of astronomy, whether with ground-based telescopes or space-based observatories like Hubble and the JWST. Yet this is now at risk as US astronomers are forced to choose between funding either the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) or the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) as part of the US Extremely Large Telescope (USELT) program. This rightfully has the presidents of Carnegie Science and Caltech – [Eric D. Isaacs] and [Thomas F. Rosenbaum] respectively – upset, with their opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times going over all the reasons why this funding cut is a terrible idea.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Geomagnetic storm disrupts tractor navigation systems across numerous US farms
A severe geomagnetic storm that hit the Earth over the weekend disrupted the work of many farmers in the U.S. A geomagnetic storm is a disturbance in the Earth’s magnetosphere caused by particles from the Sun. The weekend’s event was caused by a series of phenomena known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs for short.
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Science Alert ☛ Researchers Discover Cancer's 'Fingerprints' Using Geological Technique
A new method for early detection?
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discovered An Amazing Practical Use For Leftover Coffee Grounds
We shouldn't throw them out.
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Science Alert ☛ Astronomers Finally Solve Mystery of Star Violently Erupting For Decades
Raging for almost 100 years.
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Science Alert ☛ Study: More Patients Could Survive Brain Injuries If Life Support Not Switched Off
A heartbreaking decision.
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Science Alert ☛ This New Plastic Disappears When You Don't Need It Anymore
Plastic that eats itself.
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Science Alert ☛ A Serious Hidden Risk Is Built Into Virtually Every Car, Scientists Warn
Something needs to be done.
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Science Alert ☛ Does 'Nature' Include Humans? The Answer May Surprise You.
What does nature mean to you?
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Science Alert ☛ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Says a Worm Ate Part of His Brain. Can That Happen?
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Stanford University ☛ A letter from Paul Ehrlich and Joan Diamond
Dear friends of the MAHB, Around the time of the centennial, Anne and I (Paul) were lamenting with fellow travelers working on the human predicament and its threat of a collapse of civilization.
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Reason ☛ Bryan Caplan, Guest-blogging About his New Book "Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation"
The book makes the case for massively deregulating housing markets.
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Hardware
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New York Times ☛ U.S. Awards $120 Million to Polar Semiconductor to Expand Chip Facility [Ed: Bailout of sorts]
The grant is the latest federal award in a series stemming from the CHIPS and Science Act meant to ramp up domestic production of vital semiconductors.
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The New Stack ☛ Top500: China Opts Out of Global Supercomputer Race
The U.S. has two of the world’s fastest computers, highlighting significant hardware progress in the country [...]
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Zotac releases space-themed graphics cards for China — multiple RTX 4060 Ti and 4070 variants
Zotac has released several new RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4070 models for the Chinese market, all of which take on design inspirations of Zotac's outgoing designs in a more budget-friendly format.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips in Dell XPS 13 Plus laptops will nearly double battery life over Intel, cost half as much
The upcoming Dell XPS 13 laptops will use a Snapdragon X CPU, which is so much more efficient compared with defective chip maker Intel chips that the computers could enjoy as much as almost twice the battery life.
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Hackaday ☛ Sandwizz Promises To Reinvent The Breadboard
The solderless breadboard is perhaps the electronic hobbyist’s most commonly used tool, but let’s be honest, it isn’t exactly anyone’s favorite piece of gear. Even if you’ve got an infinite supply of jumpers in just the right size, any mildly complex circuit quickly becomes a nightmare to plan out and assemble. To say nothing of the annoyance of trying to track down an intermittent glitch, only to find you’ve got a loose wire someplace…
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Hackaday ☛ GPS At Any Speed
[Mellow_Labs] was asked to create a GPS speedometer. It seems simple, but of course, the devil is in the details. You can see the process and the result in the video below.
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Hackaday ☛ Broken Lens Provides Deep Dive Into Camera Repair
While most of us are probably willing to pick up the tools and void the warranty on just about anything, often just to see what’s inside, many of us draw the line at camera gear. The tiny screws, the complex mechanisms, and the easily destroyed optical elements are all enough to scare off the average hacker. Not so for [Anthony Kouttron], who tore into a broken eBay Sigma lens and got it working again.
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CNX Software ☛ Convert your tablet or smartphone into a touchscreen display for your PC, motherboard, etc… with the AURGA Viewer
The AURGA viewer is an HDMI and USB dongle with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity that plugs into any system with HDMI output and can convert any smartphone, tablet, or laptop with a touchscreen display into a KVM solution by sending video data, as well as keyboard and mouse events wirelessly. We’ve recently written about Openterface Mini-KVM KVM-over-USB device that allows users to use their laptop to control another device with HDMI output locally without any additional display, keyboard, and mouse. But I’ve just been informed the AURGA Viewer, launched in 2022 on Kickstarter, can do something similar wirelessly.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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European Commission ☛ Speech by Commissioner Stella Kyriakides at the "Co-creating mental health: shaping Europe's future together" Event
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New York Times ☛ Chinese Woman Jailed for Reporting on Covid Set to be Freed
Yet Zhang Zhan’s supporters and human rights activists who had followed her case said they could not reach her or her family members.
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RFA ☛ Citizen journalist who reported on COVID outbreak freed but whereabouts unknown
Zhang Zhan remains incommunicado following the end of her formal jail term, activists say.
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RFA ☛ Young North Korean recruits tell parents they are fed meager rations
Youth joining the army for mandatory service plead with parents for more food.
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European Commission ☛ Statement by Commissioner Kyriakides to mark European Mental Health Week
European Commission Statement Brussels, 13 May 2024 “Mental health and physical health are equally important components of overall health.
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Latvia ☛ Pilot project offers free sanitary products at schools of Latvia
This month, a pilot project is being implemented in two Latvian municipalities – Aizkraukle and Balvi – during which women's hygiene products are provided free of charge to school students. The initiative to introduce free hygiene products in all Latvian schools is being promoted in the country, and the pilot project aims to find out what the approximate amount and cost of necessary products might be, Latvian Radio reported on May 13.
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NYPost ☛ Councilman warns of ‘disaster’ for NYC after beds for mentally ill slashed in half at new Brooklyn jail
Lincoln Restler noted that 55% of inmates at Rikers require mental health treatment and that the Brooklyn detention center is only slated to have 22% of beds for mentally ill patients.
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Mother relives congenital heart journey through newborn
When Mackenzie Lampe learned her son, Jeremiah, would need the same aortic valve repair that she had, she knew who she wanted to oversee her son's care: pediatric heart surgeon Richard Oyhe.
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BIA Net ☛ Turkey’s new public spending cuts may affect healthcare, education services, warns economist
The measures should be accompanied by increasing taxes on the wealthy, suggests economist Cem Oyvat.
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Science Alert ☛ Mouse Experiment Uncovers a Crucial Switch That Breaks Down Fat For Warmth
It could improve metabolic health.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Jim Nielsen ☛ The Gist That Keeps On Giving
I’m working with git and make a big boo-boo.
Now I’m facing a situation where I’ve deleted a local branch with all my work and there’s no backup on Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub .
“This is git. There has got to be a version of this things still on my computer somewhere, right? RIGHT?!”
So I start searching online: “how to recover a deleted branch in git?”
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Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 203: Andrew Clement on Calls to Separate Privacy Reform and Artificial Intelligence Regulation in Bill C-27
Bill C-27, Canada’s proposed privacy reform and Hey Hi (AI) regulation bill, continues to slowly work its way through the committee process at the House of Commons with the clause-by-clause review of the Hey Hi (AI) portion of the bill still weeks or even months away. Recently a group of nearly 60 leading civil society organizations, corporations, experts and academics released an open letter calling on the government to separate the bill into two.
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Reason ☛ Getting High With AI
I asked artificial intelligence to tell me how to take psychedelic mushrooms.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong logs fewer phone scam cases in first quarter of 2024, but losses soar to HK$789m
Hong Kong has logged fewer phone scam cases in the first quarter of 2024 but losses soared to HK$789 million, with mainland Chinese students in the city being increasingly targeted by swindlers, police have said.
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WhichUK ☛ Which? Get Answers podcast: how to fight the battle against the ticket scammers
We hear how millions of fans have been left out of pocket by fraudsters selling fake event tickets.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Off Guardian ☛ Virtual Home Invasions: We’re Not Safe from Government Peeping Toms
“The privacy and dignity of our citizens is being whittled away by sometimes imperceptible steps. Taken individually, each step may be of little consequence.
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CS Monitor ☛ Field notes: How one Monitor photographer focuses on the big picture
On a police ride-along, a photographer has to get creative to illustrate the scene while protecting the privacy of the people seen through her viewfinder. The result is all the more interesting.
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Defence/Aggression
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JURIST ☛ Protest in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir over rising prices leaves police officer dead and over 90 people injured
A protest in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir left one police officer dead and over 90 people injured on Saturday, local officials told Pakistani media. The region has been experiencing clashes since Thursday, as well as a major strike on Friday.
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France24 ☛ First international UN staff member killed in Gaza strike
A UN security services member was killed in an attack on a vehicle in Gaza on Monday, a spokesperson said, adding the death was the first international UN employee killed in the Palestinian territory since the war began.
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RFA ☛ Myanmar junta forces kill dozens in attack on monasteries
An airstrike the same day killed 7 people and injured 22.
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CS Monitor ☛ Strike, counterstrike: What Israel just learned about Iran’s red lines
In war, outdated assessments and untested assumptions about one’s adversary can lead to hazardous miscalculations.
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NYPost ☛ Tortured Pennsylvania girl, 12, weighed just 50 lbs. when she died at hands of ‘evil’ father and girlfriend: DA
“Malinda was subjected to evil and torment that no child should ever have to endure,” Chester County District Attorney Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe said.
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JURIST ☛ Rafah attack kills UN staffer in Gaza
An attack in Rafah killed a United Nations staff member working there, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced on Monday.
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New York Times ☛ White House Says Israel Still Has Provided No Plan to Protect Rafah Civilians
The national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, also said Israel had yet to connect its military operations to a plan for the future governance of Gaza.
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RFA ☛ Manila accuses Beijing of island building in South China Sea
The Philippines deploys ships to monitor China’s suspected land reclamation work in its economic zone.
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The Straits Times ☛ US to force China-linked firm to sell land near US missile silos
WASHINGTON - The White House on Monday gave a Chinese-linked company and its partners 120 days to sell property they had bought near a U.S. Air Force base in Wyoming that is home to part of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, citing fears of spying.
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NYPost ☛ Rep. Jamaal Bowman says ‘from the river to the sea’ chant isn’t hate speech during debate
The two-term congressman defended anti-Israel protesters who use the controversial phrase, despite the Anti-Defamation League's criticism that is calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state.
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Stanford University ☛ Fizz bug temporarily censors some terms related to Israel-Gaza war
Fizz users reported that terms related to the Israel-Gaza war were no longer searchable in the anonymous social control media app. According to Fizz leadership, the bug was corrected.
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Federal News Network ☛ Biden blocks Chinese-backed crypto mining firm from land ownership near Wyoming missile base
President Joe Biden on Monday issued an order blocking a Chinese-backed cryptocurrency mining firm from owning land near a Wyoming nuclear missile base, calling its proximity to the base a “national security risk.”
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Reason ☛ Is Chinese Garlic a Threat to National Security?
Plus, an AI-generated recipe for garlic lovers' shrimp scampi
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The Strategist ☛ Japan, AUKUS and cyberwarfare
Cooperating to strengthen Japan’s cyber defences and develop new offensive cyberweapons must be the first priority of any AUKUS collaboration involving Japan.
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Meduza ☛ Former Kazakhstani economy minister sentenced to 24 years in prison for wife’s murder — Meduza
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Atlantic Council ☛ Developing an actionable framework to guide promotion and protection policies for emerging technologies
In February 2024, the Atlantic Council Global China Hub (AC GCH) and the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) convened experts and policymakers in a private workshop to test an actionable framework designed to guide policymakers in identifying emerging technology priorities.
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New York Times ☛ U.K. Police Charge 3 Men With Aiding Hong Kong Intelligence Service
The three appeared in court on Monday after being arrested under Britain’s National Security Act. Eight other people detained in the case have been released.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ UK charges 3 for allegedly assisting Hong Kong intelligence services
Three suspects went before a UK court Monday on charges they assisted Hong Kong’s intelligence services, the latest in a recent series of alleged espionage cases in Europe with Chinese links.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Meduza ☛ ‘A break from convention’: Why would Putin choose Andrey Belousov, an economist, as Russia’s new defense minister? — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Former top U.S. diplomat Victoria Nuland talks to Meduza about winning in Ukraine by remaining tough on Putin and getting real about Chinese ‘neutrality’ — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Putin Fires Longtime Ally Shoigu As Defense Minister In Cabinet Shake-Up
Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose military has been criticized at home for a perceived lack of progress and heavy losses during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, announced that he was replacing longtime ally Sergei Shoigu as defense minister.
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RFERL ☛ Georgian Government Defiant As Protests Against 'Foreign Agent' Bill Continue
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has backed the parliament to pass a controversial "foreign agent" bill, which is seen by many as a threat to free speech and the country's drive toward membership in the European Union.
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RFERL ☛ Imprisoned Ex-Leader Of Navalny's Team Asks For Presidential Clemency
Lilia Chanysheva, former leader of late opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's team in Ufa, who is serving 9 1/2 years in prison on extremism charges, has asked President Vladimir Putin to pardon her.
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Latvia ☛ Latvian state decoration given to Canada's army commander
In gratitude for his significant contribution to the promotion of mutual cooperation between Latvia and Canada in the military field and strengthening the security and defense of Latvia, on May 13, the President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs presented the Order of Viesturs, First Class, to General Wayne Eyre, Commander of the Canadian Armed Forces.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania’s election chief rejects criticism over absence of OSCE observers
Lithuania’s Central Electoral Commission (VRK) has rejected criticism by some candidates about the absence of international observers in Sunday’s presidential election.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation/Nature
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Mexico News Daily ☛ 6.4-magnitude earthquake strikes near Mexico-Guatemala border
The quake — and up to 80 aftershocks — were felt on both sides of the border between Sunday and Monday.
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Atlantic Council ☛ What US tariffs on Chinese batteries mean for decarbonization—and Taiwan
In response to Beijing’s attempts to cement its dominant position across the “new three” technologies of solar photovoltaics (PVs), electric vehicles (EVs), and batteries, the Biden administration is poised to issue tariffs on key Chinese products.
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European Commission ☛ Statement by Commissioner Breton on withdrawal of LONGi Solar Technologie GmbH and Shanghai Electric from public procurement following the Commission's opening of an investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation
European Commission Statement Brussels, 13 May 2024 The Commission takes note of the withdrawal of two companies for a public procurement procedure concerning the construction of a photovoltaic park in Romania.
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H2 View ☛ CASC develops 100kg liquid hydrogen system for heavy-duty trucks
The first 100kg vehicle-mounted liquid hydrogen system has been developed in China, according to local reports.
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Hackaday ☛ New Quadcopter Speed World Record Set At Nearly 500 Km/h
Making a quadcopter go fast would seem to be quite simple: just strap on powerful motors, aim the quadcopter roughly at where you want it to go fast, and let ‘er rip. Because of aerodynamics and other pesky physical laws there are a few complications to this, of course, but this didn’t deter [Luke Bell] and his father [Mike Bell] from nailing the Guinness World Record for remote-controlled quadcopters on April 21, 2024. During the official run, a top speed of 480.23 km/h was recorded, making it considerably faster than the first version they made, which hit a measly 400 km/h.
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Finance
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LRT ☛ Economists hail the end of inflation period in Lithuania
Inflation in Lithuania, economists say, is virtually gone. However, the overall price level is higher than three years ago and is not going down.
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Zimbabwe ☛ You can now easily and legally trade in foreign company shares, crypto, precious metals etc in Zim
The gist of what happened is that the first foreign-based broker to operate in Zim. They offer a new financial product called Contracts for Differences (CFDs). CFDs allow traders to access a wider range of markets and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SECZ) will oversee CFD trading to protect investors.
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The Straits Times ☛ Australia sees second straight budget surplus, inflation easing sharply
SYDNEY - Australia's government will boast a second consecutive budget surplus on Tuesday, courtesy of strong employment and high commodity prices, giving it cash to afford more cost of living relief and industry incentives.
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New York Times ☛ Want to Fix Social Security? The Well-Off Must Accept Smaller Checks. [Ed: While corporations are being bailed out by taxpayers?]
Voters won’t brook much higher taxes, so Social Security needs to be reoriented toward the poor.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Off Guardian ☛ OffG is looking for (proven) fake news!
We’re interesting in collating all the examples of fakery in the news for an article we are planning to run later this week. That would be doctored photos, proven lies, staged video footage.
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RFA ☛ Philippines probes alleged Chinese disinformation campaign over South China Sea
Manila also says Chinese diplomats illegally recorded a phone conversation with a Philippine military commander.
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European Commission ☛ Commission designates Booking as a gatekeeper and opens a market investigation into X
European Commission Press release Brussels, 13 May 2024 The European Commission has today designated under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Booking as a gatekeeper for its online intermediation service Booking.com and decided not to designate X Ads and Fentanylware (TikTok) Ads.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Reason ☛ "The Global Hate-Speech Conundrum"
A very interesting item by Prof. Kevin Cope (Virginia), which I'm very happy to be able to pass along: The recent mass arrests of pro-Palestinian demonstrators have left many asking how such suppression can be justified in a free society.
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AccessNow ☛ Telecommunications Blackout in Sudan: Parties to the Conflict Must End Collective Punishment and Enable Access to Life-Saving Telecommunications
Amidst the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan, over 90 organizations urgently appeal for the reestablishment of telecommunications infrastructure in the country.
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France24 ☛ Dissident Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof flees to Europe ahead of Cannes premiere
Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof said Monday he had left Iran after being sentenced to jail on national security charges, a day ahead of the opening of the Cannes Film Festival where his new film is in the main competition.
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France24 ☛ Iranian director’s escape stokes drama as Cannes gears up for explosive film fest
News of director Mohammad Rasoulof’s escape from Iran adds a dramatic twist to the 77th Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on Tuesday against an already volatile backdrop of wars raging on Europe’s doorstep, potential worker strikes, and rumours sex abusers may be outed even as they hit the red carpet.
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JURIST ☛ Tunisia lawyers strike amid government crackdown on dissent
The Tunisia Lawyers Council called Sunday for a nationwide strike after police conducted a raid on the headquarters of Tunisia’s bar association and arrested Sonia Dahmani, a prominent critic of the government. The Council announced its intention to organize a protest on May 16 in a press release.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Glory to Hong Kong: Gov’t ‘anxious’ to see Surveillance Giant Google respond to request to wipe protest song, says justice chief
The government is “anxious” to see Google’s response to its request to remove a protest song – Glory to Hong Kong – from their platforms, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam has said.
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[Repeat] Site36 ☛ Springer’s Palestine pranger: German tabloids denounce university members for their call for reflection
“Bild” and “BZ” accuse university lecturers of solidarity with an alleged “Jew-hating mob”. The Federal Minister of Education is boosting this smear campaign. The series of articles in Springer media about university lecturers who have signed an open letter against police action at universities is causing controversy on social control media.
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Press Gazette ☛ How BillBC World Service’s 310 exiled journalists fight censorship and harassment
How are BillBC World Service stories reaching audiences in authoritarian states and how do journalists report when exiled?
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RFERL ☛ Award-Winning Filmmaker Flees Iran After Flogging, Prison Sentence
Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof on May 13 said he had left Iran in secret after being informed that he had been sentenced to flogging and eight years in prison on security-related charges.
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RFA ☛ Chinese students abroad can’t escape a ‘climate of fear’
In a new report, Amnesty International documents cases of ‘transnational repression’ on campuses.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China targets overseas citizens for political activism, says rights group Amnesty in new report
China is targeting citizens studying abroad for their political activism, rights group Amnesty International said Monday, with some students reporting harassment of family members back home. China does not tolerate political dissent and has used sophisticated tech tools as well as intimidation to crack down on domestic protesters and activists.
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JURIST ☛ Amnesty International: China and Hong Kong students abroad facing transnational repression by home government
Students from China and Hong Kong studying abroad fear engaging with ‘sensitive’ or political issues while overseas, according to a report published by Amnesty International on Monday.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Weightlifting body apologises after chair refers to competitor ‘countries’ at event involving Taiwan and Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s weightlifting and powerlifting body has apologised after its chair referred to competitor “countries” at an event that included Taiwan and Hong Kong. It comes after the government urged an in-depth investigation on Friday owing to the “suspected violation” of the one-China principle.
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RFA ☛ Chinese agents hatched brazen plot to kidnap RFA cartoonist
An Australian report alleges that Cambodia’s Prince Group played a central role in the effort.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Jimmy Lai trial: Nat. security judge tells prosecution to avoid ‘wild allegations’ against the defence
A judge presiding over Jimmy Lai’s national security case has warned the prosecution not to make unfounded allegations against the media mogul’s lawyers, after a prosecutor suggested that the defence had deliberately withheld questions related to Apple Daily staff’s messaging records.
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Press Gazette ☛ New Yorker latest to be faced with ‘incredibly complex’ task of reporting Lucy Letby case
Witnesses in the case were unusually given anonymity without reasons of national security or a risk to life.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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ACLU ☛ A Mistake Shouldn’t Mean Exile or Prolonged Mandatory Detention
Nyynkpao Banyee remembers vividly the first time he saw the United States. He was six years old, flying high above New York City. “If I close my eyes right now, I go back to seeing, just being above New York and seeing those lights for the first time. It was nighttime. And there was snow. I remember seeing that for the first time, just a little bit, but it was beautiful,” he recalled recently.
Mr. Banyee, his mother and younger brother came to the U.S. in 2004 as refugees fleeing the civil war in Côte D’Ivoire. His father died in Côte D’Ivoire shortly after the family arrived in the States. They resettled first in rural Pennsylvania, then moved to Philadelphia and later became lawful permanent residents. When he was about 17, the family moved to North Dakota, where he has been living for nearly a decade and now lives with his mother and his two younger half-siblings. His mother’s two sisters live nearby, as does his brother.
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JURIST ☛ High court rules parts of UK Government’s Illegal Migration Act should not apply in Northern Ireland
The High Court of Northern Ireland delivered a setback to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation policy by ruling that substantial sections of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (IMA) violate human rights laws and should not be enforced in Northern Ireland.
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New York Times ☛ On Instagram, a Jewelry Ad Draws Solicitations for Sex With a 5-Year-Old
Advertisers of merchandise for young girls find that adult men can become their unintended audience. In a test ad, convicted sex offenders inquired about a child model.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: 5th ICANN APAC-TWNIC Engagement Forum and 41st TWNIC OPM
APNIC participated in the 5th ICANN APAC-TWNIC Engagement Forum and 41st TWNIC OPM held in Taipei from 23 to 24 April 2024
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Digital Music News ☛ Tencent Music Group Subscription Revenues Jump 39.2% Year-Over-Year, Total Paying Subs Hit 113.5 Million
Leading Chinese online music and audio entertainment platform Tencent Music Entertainment Group posts its Q1 2024 financial results, reporting a revenue jump of 39.2% year-over-year. Tencent Music Entertainment Group, the leading online music and audio entertainment platform in China, has posted its unaudited financial results from the first quarter of the year.
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Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 awarded for Jeffrey M. Gross entity Lightning Fitness sensor patent monopoly prior art
Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners, Ekta Aswal, Dinesh Swami, Ramesh Varadharaj, and S.P. Rahupathy, who split a $2,000 award for their prior art submissions on U.S. Patent 9,818,285, owned by Lightning Fitness Systems, LLC, an NPE and Jeffrey M. Gross entity. The ‘285 patent monopoly relates to methods and apparatuses for facilitating learning and multitasking through movement.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ How Chestek Impacts USPTO’s Rulemaking Authority and the Push to Restore
The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Chestek v. Vidal opened the door to extensive USPTO rulemaking that entirely avoids the notice and comment process required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). In re Chestek PLLC, 92 F.4th 1105 (Fed. Cir. 2024). Chestek has now filed her petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court asking: Whether the PTO is exempt from notice-and-comment requirements when exercising its rulemaking power under 35 U.S.C. § 2(b)(2).
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Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 awarded for Factor 2 Multimedia authentication patent monopoly prior art
Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners, Yasodha Madhaiyan, Mani Manikandan, and Dinesh Swami, who split a $2,000 award for their prior art submissions on U.S. Patent 10,083,285, owned by Factor 2 Multimedia Systems, LLC, an NPE. The ‘285 patent monopoly generally relates to a direct authentication system and method, more particularly, to a new two-factor authentication method used by a business to authenticate its customers' identity utilizing trusted-authenticators.
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Zync Music Sues Round Hill Over JV Deal Turned Sour, Seeking Millions in Damages for Alleged Breach of Contract, ‘Bullying and Mistreatment’
Zync Music is suing Round Hill over a number of alleged contractual violations – including a failure to cough up millions in allegedly owed payments – stemming from an investment and JV deal turned sour.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Gorsuch’s “Dead Letter” Prophecy: Hearst v. Martinelli may Settle Copyright’s Discovery Rule following the Warner Chappell Avoidance
The pending Hearst v. Martinelli case may be the “dead letter” offered by Justice Gorsuch. This time, the Supreme Court might actually decide whether the “discovery rule” applies to the Copyright Act’s statute of limitations.
Copyright law provides that “[n]o civil action shall be maintained under the provisions of this title unless it is commenced within three years after the claim accrued.” 17 U.S.C. § 507(b). While seemingly straightforward, this provision has generated decades of debate and a deep circuit split over when exactly a claim “accrues” for statute of limitations purposes. In Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy, the 6-3 Supreme Court avoided deciding this fundamental question – preferring to answer a much smaller question about back damages.
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Digital Music News ☛ Who Says Korea Gets To Have All the Fun? Sony Music Taiwan Bulks Up on Mando-Pop with WeiBird, Cyndi Wang Deals
Sony Music Entertainment Taiwan expands its relationship with Mando-pop stars WeiBird and Cyndi Wang to help both artists reach new fans in other markets. By combining forces, Sony Music Entertainment (SME) Taiwan will help WeiBird and Cyndi Wang solidify their positions within the domestic Chinese music industry, as well as reaching new fans elsewhere.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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