Links 30/06/2024: Tensions in Korea and Japan, Criminalisation of Sleeping Outdoors
Contents
- Leftovers
- 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 Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Ruben Schade ☛ What’s your alternative?
There’s a popular rhetorical tactic when discussing contentious issues online that goes, a little something, like this:
Person 1: I don’t like drinking tainted water.
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Pro Publica ☛ Utah OB-GYN David Broadbent Charged With Forcible Sexual Abuse
Utah OB-GYN David Broadbent was charged Thursday with forcible sexual abuse, as prosecutors allege he sexually touched a patient during a 2020 exam.
Broadbent has been accused in civil lawsuits of inappropriately touching more than 100 patients during exams — but this is the first time Utah County prosecutors have filed a criminal charge against him. He faces a second-degree felony, which carries a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
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Hardware
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Ruben Schade ☛ Attributes for my ideal computer cases
A few bloggers and YouTubers have written about what they’d want in their dream computer case, so I figured why not throw my own into the mix? There are some common features, but I’ve broken them down into three distinct categories: the home server, the workstation, and the retro computer.
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Hackaday ☛ Apple May Use Electrical Debonding For Battery Replacement
As a result of the European Union’s push for greater repairability of consumer devices like smartphones, Apple sees itself forced to make the batteries in the iPhone user-replaceable by 2027. Reportedly, this has led Apple to look at using electroadhesion rather than conventional adhesives which require either heat, isopropyl alcohol, violence, or all of the above to release. Although details are scarce, it seems that the general idea would be that the battery is wrapped in metal, which, together with the inside of the metal case, would allow for the creation of a cationic/anionic pair capable of permanent adhesion with the application of a low-voltage DC current.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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JURIST ☛ Massive nationwide crackdown nets hundreds in $2.7 billion healthcare fraud sting
The US Department of Justice announced on Thursday a massive nationwide operation leading to the indictment of nearly 200 individuals involved in healthcare fraud schemes, with fraudulent claims exceeding $2.7 billion.
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Science Alert ☛ Famous Health-Boosting Diet Used by Millions Today Existed 4,000 Years Ago
Way ahead of the trends.
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John Ioannidis attacks The BMJ as “biased” about COVID-19 in a preprint. Irony meters everywhere explode
I and a number of advocates of science-based medicine have had a lot of complaints about The BMJ, which since the pandemic hit has been promoting a lot of bad takes on COVID-19 to the point of publishing outright misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines designed to portray them as far less safe and effective than science says that they actually are. Perhaps the worst examples were various recent “investigative journalism” stories in which facts were misleadingly presented to create a false narrative that regulatory oversight of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing was hopelessly sloppy. I mean, seriously: Commissioning a deceptive story by crank disguised as investigative journalist Paul Thacker, anyone? Then defending him? Then publishing another biased “report” by Goop-defending hack Jennifer Block attacking the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) in a manner similar to how antivaxxers have long done in order to falsely suggest that it’s been vastly underestimating injuries due to COVID-19 vaccines? And don’t even get me started on how The BMJ hired an antivax-sympathetic, if not outright antivax senior editor, Peter Doshi, and continues to defend him even as he has contributed to antivax misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, beginning only a month after they received emergency use authorization in the US. This history over the last four years is why I found a recently published preprint by John Ioannidis so…ironic.
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Mexico News Daily ☛ After a 4-year legal battle, Monsanto drops lawsuit against Mexico’s GM corn ban
Monsanto won a favorable judgement in 2022, but eventually gave up after the Environment Ministry appealed the case.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Silicon Angle ☛ Gen Hey Hi (AI) is passé. Enter the age of agentic AI
[Ed: recycling old bullshit with newer buzzword to keep the Ponzi scheme going? Microsoft-sponsored "news" site"...]Early-phase generative artificial intelligence Hey Hi (AI) – or “request/response AI” — has not yet lived up to the expectations implied by the hype.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite laptops suffer compatibility issues with many games — even Intel's integrated Arc Graphics is up to 3x faster [Ed: What's "Elite" about that anyway? The PRICE?]
Snapdragon X Elite advertised 'flawless' backdoored Windows gaming on Arm, but the truth lands far from that lofty goal. Some games run quite well, but many have problems and older games ofter refuse to run at all.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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The Straits Times ☛ AI scams targeting those travelling to Malaysia on the rise
Industry players said such scams are a cause for concern.
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Defence/Aggression
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Reason ☛ COVID-19 and January 6 in the Rear-View Mirror
There are certain geopolitical events that are generation-defining. In my lifetime, I think they would be the fall of the Soviet Union, 9/11, the election of President Obama, the election of President Trump, the COVID-19 pandemic, and January 6.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea blames South Korea, US and Japan ties as Asian version of Nato
North Korea criticised June 27's military exercise by South Korea, Japan and the US.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea state media says there is an 'important report' amid key party meeting
SEOUL - North Korea's state news agency said in a one-line dispatch on Sunday there was "important news" but did not provide details.
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New York Times ☛ Why Do India and China Keep Fighting Over This Desolate Terrain?
Long-running battles in the Himalayas may foretell a more dangerous conflict.
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JURIST ☛ UK court holds authorities’ refusal to probe alleged Uyghur forced labour cotton imports unlawful
The UK Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that the UK National Crime Agency’s (NCA) refusal to investigate the importation of Uyghur forced labour cotton from China was unlawful.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s Pooh-tin Jinping vows more ‘market-oriented, legal and int’l business environment’
Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping said Friday the ruling Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a closely watched political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China urges Taiwanese to visit ‘without worry,’ despite threats of death penalty for ‘diehard’ independence advocates
China has urged Taiwanese to visit the mainland “without the slightest worry”, condemning the island authorities’ decision to raise their travel alert level after Beijing threats targeting independence advocates.
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JURIST ☛ UN expands peacekeeping mission in southeast Central African Republic to prevent further violence
The UN announced on Thursday the additional deployment of UN peacekeepers in the southeast Haut Mbomou region of the Central African Republic to prevent further violence. Valentine Rugwabiza, the head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), announced the deployment at a UN Security Council Briefing.
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RFERL ☛ 2 Dead As Gunmen Reportedly Attack Vehicle With Ballot Boxes In Iran
Unidentified gunmen attacked a vehicle carrying election boxes in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province, killing two security force members and injuring several others, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported early on June 29.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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RFERL ☛ EU Imposes New Trade Restrictions On Belarus To Curtail Russian Sanctions Evasion
The European Union has imposed new restrictions on trade and other operations with Belarus in order to curtail Russian sanctions evasion.
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New York Times ☛ Motorcycles and Mayhem in Ukraine’s East
In the latest tactic for storming trenches, Russians use motorcycles and dune buggies to speed across open space, often into a hail of gunfire.
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New York Times ☛ With Macron and Biden Vulnerable, So Is Europe
The U.S. presidential debate and Sunday’s snap election in France have emboldened nationalist forces that could challenge NATO and undo the defense of Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Official: Ukrainian Drone Kills 5 In Russian Border Town
A Russian official said a Ukrainian drone hit a house in a Russian border village, killing five people, including two children. The June 29 incident occurred in Gorodishche.
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RFERL ☛ Belarus Strengthens Air Defenses Along Ukrainian Border As Kyiv Defends Troop Movements
Belarus has deployed additional air defense forces to its border with Ukraine, claiming its southern neighbor poses threats to its "critical infrastructure facilities."
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RFERL ☛ Russia Says It Captured Donetsk Village As Ukraine Targets Crimea
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces captured a village in the Donetsk region near the town of Toretsk as Ukraine reportedly struck the occupied peninsula of Crimea and inside Russia.
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France24 ☛ At least 12 killed in Russian attacks across eastern Ukraine
Russian strikes on villages across Ukraine killed at least 12 people on Saturday, leading Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to call for "accelerated" Western arms deliveries.
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European Commission ☛ EU further extends the scope of sanctions on Belarus to fight circumvention [Ed: Will the European Commission admit that 1) EPO is deeply corruption and 2) EPO sponsored Belarus? Sometimes the European Commission even (accidentally) works for Europe.]
European Commission Press release Brussels, 29 Jun 2024 The European Commission welcomes the Council's adoption of a new set of sanctions against Belarus, in view of its involvement in Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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New York Times ☛ How Julian Assange Lit the Fuse on the Digital World
In his brazen quest for total transparency, the WikiLeaks founder paved the way for a world in which no secret is safe and no institution trusted.
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New York Times ☛ A Wish From All Sides to Move On Gives Freedom to Julian Assange
The WikiLeaks founder spent years in captivity in London before talks accelerated this spring, allowing him to go home to Australia as a felon, but a free man.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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Hackaday ☛ Solar Energy Plant Creates Fuel
Normally, when you think of solar power, you think about photovoltaic cells or using the sun to generate steam. But engineers at Synhelion — a spin off from ETH Zurich — had a crazy idea. Could you reverse combustion and change waste products back into fuel? The answer is yes if you can use the sun to turn things up to 1,500°C.
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Finance
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Pro Publica ☛ U.S. Supreme Court Says Cities Can Criminalize Sleeping Outdoors
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to give cities broader latitude to punish people for sleeping in public when they have no other options will likely result in municipalities taking more aggressive action to remove encampments, including throwing away more of homeless people’s property, advocates and legal experts said.
In its 6-3 decision on Friday, the conservative majority upheld Grants Pass, Oregon’s ban on camping, finding laws that criminalize sleeping in public spaces do not violate the Eighth Amendment’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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European Commission ☛ Speech by President von der Leyen with Egyptian President El-Sisi at the EU-Egypt Investment Conference
European Commission Speech Cairo, 29 Jun 2024 Mister President,
It has been only 100 days since we opened a new era of friendship between Egypt and the European Union.
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New Yorker ☛ What Does Biden’s Disastrous Debate Mean for Democrats?
“This has raised terrible questions about the Biden camp’s credibility on the issue of his age,” Jane Mayer says.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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NYPost ☛ German woman given harsher sentence than convicted rapist for calling him ‘disgraceful rapist pig’
Maja R. told the court she sent the message "without thinking twice" -- a brave action for a country with notoriously strict defamation laws.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ HKJA: Why is Hong Kong’s largest press group once again in the government’s crosshairs?
What is it, one wonders, about Secretary for Security Chris Tang and the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA)? Tang, after all, has a lot on his plate. He is responsible for repelling every threat to peace, order and national security in Hong Kong.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Explainer: Hong Kong’s national security crackdown – month 48
In the 48th month since Beijing imposed its national security law on Hong Kong, the city saw several firsts under separate homegrown security legislation, known colloquially as Article 23, which came into force in March.
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France24 ☛ Panamanian court acquits 28 people tied to 'Panama Papers' scandal
More than two dozen people accused of money laundering in connection with the “Panama Papers” tax evasion scandal were acquitted by a Panama court Friday, including both founders of the now-infamous law firm Mossack Fonseca. The judge ruled that evidence taken from the law firm’s servers had not been collected in line with due process.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 9 Years of HKFP: Keeping boots on-the-ground alongside Hongkongers – thanks to your support
Throughout a near-decade of publishing, HKFP has weaved its way through non-stop financial, political and industry turbulence whilst cynics have said “give it a year.”
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Civil Rights/Policing
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France24 ☛ Suspected leaders of failed Bolivian coup remanded in six-month custody
Three former high-ranking military officers accused of leading a failed coup in Bolivia earlier this week face up to 20 years in prison on charges of armed uprising and terrorism, the nation’s top prosecutor said Friday. The officers will be detained in a high-security prison outside the capital La Paz until the trial.
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New York Times ☛ Oklahoma Law Criminalizing Immigrants Without Legal Status Is Blocked
The ruling by a federal judge is the latest setback for G.O.P.-controlled states that have passed their own laws on immigration.
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