Links 30/08/2024: Antidepressants Spoil the Water, War on Encryption Carries On
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Education
- 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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James G ☛ Hope for the web
We aren’t going to fix these problems over night. But, we can make things better, bit by bit. We can all make a change by having websites, talking about websites, sharing what we make, encouraging friends, and knowing that building the web is something that we do together. Everyone can make a difference and pave the way for the web we want to see. Be the change you want to see in the web.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ 200 Mars Meteorites That Hit Earth Were Ejected From Just 5 Craters
"Really amazing."
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Science Alert ☛ World's Fastest Microscope Captures Electron Motion in Attoseconds
A long-anticipated breakthrough.
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Science Alert ☛ JWST Has Spotted Six Rogue Planets, Without a Star to Call Home
Just wild and free in interstellar space.
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Hindustan Times ☛ NASA discovers Earth's hidden electric field that creates ‘polar wind’
The planet-wide electric field, first hypothesised 60 years ago, has finally been detected, thanks to NASA's Endurance Mission. Using the rocket's measurements, scientists have quantified the ambipolar field's strength, providing an understanding of how it affects the ionosphere, a layer of the upper atmosphere.
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Education
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Harvard University ☛ Her gift launched four centuries of Harvard financial aid
But it may surprise some to know that original scholarship gift came from Anne Radcliffe, who, as a woman, wouldn’t have been able to attend the school for another three centuries (today the Harvard Radcliffe Institute bears her name). Radcliffe became known as Lady Mowlson after she married Sir Thomas Mowlson, a grocer and the former mayor of London, in 1600. While neither ever set foot on the Cambridge campus, nearly half a millennium later the gift continues to support Harvard students with financial needs.
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Los Angeles Times ☛ California lawmakers approve school phone restrictions
“What was the biggest shock and surprise for me was we actually had to begin putting out games and things to entertain them at lunch, because they really became kids again,” Bradley said. “We heard conversations occurring again, lunchtime was no longer quiet — it became a real schoolyard with real activity.”
This scene is one California lawmakers are hoping to replicate with their approval of statewide school cellphone restrictions Wednesday.
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Deccan Chronicle ☛ AI in Schools Soon, Says Sridhar Babu
Focus will be on using AI to enhance productivity in government departments as well to improve the quality of service to citizens. On complying with ethical and regulatory norms, the minister said there are no such provisions on these lines as of now but the government will take note of such issues.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Science Alert ☛ First US Cases of 'Sloth Fever' From Oropouche Virus Reported
Here's what that means.
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JURIST ☛ US appeals court allows Florida ban on gender-affirming care for minors
The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Monday stayed a lower court decision to block Florida laws that ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors and restrict such healthcare for transgender adults.
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Science Alert ☛ US Man Dies From Rare Disease Following Mosquito Bite
It could become more common.
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Science Alert ☛ Antidepressants Are Seeping Into Fish Everywhere – And It's Changing Them
Substances specifically designed to alter brain chemistry.
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Science Alert ☛ Faulty Metabolism Could Be a Hidden Culprit Behind Aging And Disease
This means we might be able to repurpose treatments.
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International Business Times ☛ 61% US Workers Say They Fear Retirement More Than Death, 64% Say It's Scarier Than Divorce: Survey
A recent survey has revealed a startling reality for American workers: the prospect of retirement is more frightening than death for a significant portion of the population. According to a study conducted by LiveCareer, 61% of American workers report that they fear retirement more than death itself, while 64% consider it even more terrifying than the thought of going through a divorce .
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Science Alert ☛ Your Biological Age Has A Surprising Link to Your Grandparents' Education
An analysis of the participants' DNA methylation suggested the rate of biological aging was slower in children whose grandparents had completed college.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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JURIST ☛ Telegram founder Pavel Durov released from detention
Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, was released from pre-trial detention on Wednesday after spending four days in custody. Durov was detained by French authorities on Saturday at Le Bourget Airport outside Paris.
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France24 ☛ Telegram chief Durov released on €5 million bail, forbidden to leave France
Russian-born Telegram boss Pavel Durov was released on bail after being placed under formal investigation by French authorities following his arrest as part of a probe related to illegal content carried on his messaging app. Durov was freed after paying a €5 million deposit and instructed not to leave France. The Kremlin, which is closely watching the case, emphasised his status as a Russian citizen and warned against "political persecution".
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RFERL ☛ Macron Defends Giving French Citizenship To Indicted Telegram CEO Durov
French President Emmanuel Macron said on August 29 that he stands fully behind the decision to grant citizenship to Pavel Durov, a day after the Telegram co-founder and CEO was indicted in Paris on charges of failing to control illegal content on the popular messaging app.
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Zimbabwe ☛ Day 1: To regulate or not? IndabaX AI Symposium explores AI governance options
The Deep Learning IndabaX AI Symposium kicked off today at the U.S. Embassy in Harare. With Day 1 behind us, let me fill you in on what transpired.
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Futurism ☛ Doom Running on a Neural Network Is a Surreal Dreamscape
Now, researchers at Google and Tel Aviv University have taken the viral trend even further, by using a generative AI model to run the game instead of a conventional video game engine.
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arXiv ☛ Diffusion Models Are Real-Time Game Engines [PDF]
We present GameNGen, the first game engine powered entirely by a neural model that enables real-time interaction with a complex environment over long trajectories at high quality. GameNGen can interactively simulate the classic game DOOM at over 20 frames per second on a single TPU. Next frame prediction achieves a PSNR of 29.4, comparable to lossy JPEG compression. Human raters are only slightly better than random chance at distinguishing short clips of the game from clips of the simulation. GameNGen is trained in two phases: (1) an RL-agent learns to play the game and the training sessions are recorded, and (2) a diffusion model is trained to produce the next frame, conditioned on the sequence of past frames and actions. Conditioning augmentations enable stable auto-regressive generation over long trajectories.
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Threat Source ☛ The vulnerabilities we uncovered by fuzzing µC/OS protocol stacks
However, I recently created my own fuzzer after Weston Embedded made its full µC/OS protocol stack source code openly available in 2020. µC/OS (also stylized as MicroC/OS) is a real-time operating system commonly used in resource-constrained embedded systems like industrial control systems. The operating system uses a scheduling mechanism to ensure efficient task management in industrial environments, and we recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the system that could allow an adversary to carry out a range of malicious actions, including causing a denial of service or gaining the ability to execute arbitrary code on the system.
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The Record ☛ Old CCTV cameras provide a fresh opportunity for a Mirai botnet variant
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-7029, allows hackers to take control of the cameras remotely by injecting malicious code, which then spreads a Mirai variant called Corona, according to the researchers.
The flaw was found in the "brightness" setting of the cameras, researchers said. Although the camera models they analyzed are old and discontinued, they are still widely used worldwide, including in critical infrastructure like transportation.
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The Record ☛ Irish wildlife park warns visitors to cancel bank cards after discovering cyberattack
People who purchased tickets over the summer to visit Fota Wildlife Park in Cork, Ireland, are being warned to cancel their bank cards following the discovery of a cyberattack that may have exposed the data on those cards.
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RTE ☛ Warning to customers as Fota Park hit by cyberattack
In an email to customers, the park said that for anyone who carried out a transaction on its website between the dates of 12 May 2024 and 27 August 2024, there is a risk that their financial information may be compromised.
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The Washington Post ☛ 5 ways to find new music beyond the Spotify and Apple Music algorithms
Some tastemakers say today’s music scene is a soulless algorithmic wasteland — others say it’s more vibrant than ever. However you find it, don’t just rely on your Spotify or Apple Music algorithm to introduce you to new artists. Here are five ways to find songs without waiting on Spotify to show them to you.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Conspiracy, fake news, crime: Why is Telegram controversial?
"Principally, that means everything that is written on the app is stored on Telegram's servers, where Durov and his team have full access," said Schmidt, who described the app as a "privacy nightmare" in one of his articles.
It is not known, however, where those servers are actually located — therefore it is also unknown just who has access to the information stored on them. Telegram has not made the location of its servers public.
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The Moscow Times ☛ Telegram Boss Durov Released for Court Appearance in Paris - The Moscow Times
After almost four days of questioning by French investigators, Durov was handed over to judicial authorities who will decide further measures, according to the source.
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VOA News ☛ Telegram boss' lawyer dismisses probe against Durov as absurd
His arrest has fueled debate on where freedom of speech ends and enforcement of the law begins, and to what extent tech companies should be held responsible for social media content. Telegram is used by close to a billion people.
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Wired ☛ Telegram Faces a Reckoning in Europe. Other Founders Should Beware
Instead, Durov has spent years cultivating Telegram’s image as a proudly anti-authority platform. In practice, that has meant ignoring various governments’ requests to either take down content or hand over the identities of Telegram users suspected of serious crimes. “To this day, we have disclosed 0 bytes of user data to third parties, including governments,” the company still says on its website.
Now, the 39-year-old is facing the consequences of that strategy. On Wednesday evening a Paris prosecutor announced Durov had been indicted on charges including complicity in enabling a range of crimes as well as refusal to communicate information or documents with French authorities.
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Semafor Inc ☛ Telegram CEO Pavel Durov charged in illegal content probe in France
Durov has been ordered to pay around $5.5 million in bail and must report to a police station twice a week, she added.
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The Hill ☛ Pavel Durov's arrest sparks transatlantic debate on online privacy, free speech
He spent days in police custody for questioning and was released Wednesday morning ahead of his court appearance, where he was formally indicted. He was released from custody and placed under judicial supervision after posting €5 million for bail.
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ The Missing Detail about Encryption in the Pavel Durov Investigation
In that same general list, the dissemination of hacking tools was moved up to first, from fourth.
But one of three encryption-related crimes, “Importing a cryptology tool ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration,” was dropped. Again, that could reflect new information about server locations.
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Rolling Stone ☛ Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Charged Over Alleged Criminal Activity on App
The move to hold Durov accountable for cybercrime on Telegram comes as the European Union explores possible enforcements of its Digital Services Act, which went into effect last year and gives it broader powers to regulate big tech platforms while setting new standards for privacy and moderation of harmful content including misinformation and hate speech. In a statement on Sunday, Telegram declared that the company abides by the DSA, that Durov “has nothing to hide,” and that it “is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”
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The Guardian UK ☛ Telegram CEO charged in France for ‘allowing criminal activity’ on messaging app
His surprise arrest has put a spotlight on the criminal liability of Telegram, the popular app with around 1 billion users, and has sparked debate over free speech and government censorship.
Specialist French cybercrime and fraud detectives announced earlier this week that Durov’s arrest was part of a wide-ranging investigation into a failure to moderate alleged criminal activity on the messaging app.
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The Strategist ☛ As tools for hybrid threats, apps like Telegram must be accountable
Despite Durov’s claim that his platform is not backed by the Kremlin, Telegram’s financial ties to Russian oligarchs and state-controlled entities suggest otherwise. Investments from figures such as Roman Abramovich and Sergey Solonin—both of whom are linked to the Russian government—raise significant concerns about the platform’s susceptibility to state influence.
This financial entanglement is alarming given Telegram’s extensive reach across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East—regions that are subject to Russian hybrid operations.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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India Times ☛ Enraged passenger smashes computers at airport. He was sold fake American Airlines ticket
A Haitian man took out hammer from his bag and then went on a rampage to smash the computers on the check-in counters after he was told that the American Airlines ticket with which he came to the airport was fake. He was sold fake tickets by a scamster. The incident caught in the camera took place in Chile at Santiago's Nuevo Pudahuel Airport late Monday.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Techdirt ☛ FBI Wants More Access To Everything, Can’t Be Bothered To Protect The Stuff It Already Has
Well, all of the stuff the FBI currently collects, obtains, or has access to has to be stored somewhere. And it wants to add to these haystacks. But when the haystacks needs to be rotated out due to device failure or hardware updates, the FBI apparently believes no precautions should be taken to make sure classified and sensitive data doesn’t end up in the hands of others.
That’s what DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has highlighted in his recent memo to the agency, which points out its extremely careless handling of discarded computer hardware.
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[Repeat] ACLU ☛ Why Kamala Harris Must Break the Cycle of Unlawful and Abusive Government Surveillance
The ACLU is calling on a Harris-Walz Administration to halt civil liberties harms caused by the government’s spying on and discriminating against Americans in the U.S. and abroad.
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The Register UK ☛ China’s vague 'important data' definition prompts EU talks
The European Union and China have launched an initiative aimed at addressing issues faced by European companies in the Middle Kingdom related to the transfer of non-personal data.
The effort goes by the very sexy name "Cross-Border Data Flow Communication Mechanism."
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The Korea Times ☛ EU and China launch mechanism to facilitate industrial data flows
The European Union and China launched the first discussions under a new system that aims to streamline cross-border data flows, the EU said in a statement on Wednesday.
The mechanism aims to facilitate international transfers of non-personal data for European businesses while ensuring their compliance with Chinese data laws.
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Defence/Aggression
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France24 ☛ Israeli raids risk worsening 'catastrophic' situation in occupied West Bank, UN says
Israel's large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, which killed nine Palestinians in various locations, "risks seriously deepening the already catastrophic situation" in the Palestinian territory, UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said. Officials in Jenin said Israeli forces had surrounded the town, blocking access to hospitals and destroying infrastructure. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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Defence Web ☛ Counterfeit dollars, illegal foreigners and ammunition found during police op in Durban
At least 123 undocumented foreign nationals were arrested during an early integrated operation that also saw the recovery of counterfeit US dollars equivalent to R4.1 million at Point, Durban CBD, on Tuesday morning.
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Defence Web ☛ Al-Shabaab is 18 years old: six factors behind the Somali militant group’s resilience
The United Nations security council unanimously voted on 15 August 2024 to extend the mandate of the 12,626 men and women of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis). The African mission has been stationed in Somalia for the past 17 years to support the government’s battle against the homegrown terrorist group al-Shabaab.
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The Strategist ☛ Australia’s national security community needs to become more culturally diverse
Australia’s national security community must do more to advance the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) make-up of its workforce, because increasing the diversity of perspectives in thinking would improve Australia’s strategic acumen.
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The Gray Zone ☛ VIDEO: Secret chats expose decade of US meddling in Ecuador
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The Dissenter ☛ Unauthorized Disclosure: Jeff Schuhrke
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RFA ☛ Hong Kong sees spike in imports from Taiwan, South Korea
Analysts say the trend is likely driven by Chinese and Russian demand for high-tech components.
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VOA News ☛ Germany expels head of banned Muslim association
According to findings by Hamburg's domestic intelligence agency, he was the official deputy of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Germany as head of the IZH, until recently.
Bild newspaper and broadcaster NDR first reported on the expulsion orders.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ CIA: Plot sought to kill 'huge number' at Swift Vienna show
The CIA official also confirmed that US intelligence provided Austrian authorities with information to thwart the attack, which allegedly had links to the "Islamic State" terror group.
"They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this," Cohen said at an intelligence and national security summit held in Washington.
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VOA News ☛ Plot to attack Taylor Swift's Vienna shows was intended to kill thousands, CIA official says
The suspects in the foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna earlier this month sought to kill "tens of thousands" of fans before the CIA discovered intelligence that disrupted the planning and led to arrests, the agency's deputy director said.
The CIA notified Austrian authorities of the scheme, which allegedly included links to the Islamic State group. The intelligence and subsequent arrests ultimately led to the cancellation of three sold-out Eras Tour shows, devastating fans who had traveled across the globe to see Swift in concert.
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Silicon Angle ☛ TikTok told it must face lawsuit over deadly viral challenge, despite Section 230 protections
The lawyers representing the girl’s mother, Tawainna Anderson, had said the “blackout challenge,” which seemed to surface sometime in 2021, appeared on her daughter’s “For You” feed. TikTok’s algorithm had essentially curated for the girl something that ended with her “unintentionally” hanging herself. Judge Patty Shwartz wrote in the opinion that there is a difference between being a “repository of third-party content” and “an affirmative promoter” of content.
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New York Times ☛ Brazil Threatens to Ban Elon Musk’s X
The court posted its order on X on Wednesday night, suggesting that Mr. Musk had until about 8 p.m. local time Thursday to respond.
The moment is one of the biggest tests yet for Mr. Musk’s efforts to mold X to his personal ideology, and how he responds will shed light on how far he is willing to take his stated commitment to protecting his social network from what he calls censorship.
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The Hill ☛ U.S. and Israel lack strategy to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions
America needs an Iran strategy because a nuclear Iran will lead to a regional nuclear arms race, in which every nation — from the Muslim Brotherhood oriented Turks to Saudi Arabia to Egypt to Iranian-controlled Iraq — will want and find a way to get apocalyptic weapons.
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TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, UN says – Twin Cities
The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said that as of Aug. 17, Iran has 164.7 kilograms (363.1 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 %. That’s an increase of 22.6 kilograms (49.8 pounds) since the IAEA’s last report in May.
Uranium enriched up to 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
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Rolling Stone ☛ My Father Is Honored at Arlington. Trump Used the Site for a Stunt
The former president's recent photo op at the hallowed military cemetery is just the latest offense in a history of disgraceful behavior when it comes to America's veterans and their families
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Rolling Stone ☛ Trump Team 'Pushed' Arlington National Cemetery Employee, Army Says
The United States Army on Thursday confirmed that a member of Donald Trump’s team “pushed” an Arlington National Cemetery employee during the former president’s visit to the grave sites of deceased service members earlier this week.
The Army noted in a statement that the cemetery conducts nearly 3,000 public ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier a year “without incident,” and that ahead of its visit to Section 60 of the cemetery, which is reserved for recently deceased service members, Trump’s team was “made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”
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Axios ☛ Trump Arlington National Cemetery "incident" report filed
• NPR reports that Arlington officials had "made clear that only cemetery staff members are authorized to take photographs or film" in the area where recent U.S. casualties are buried and that a cemetery official was "abused and pushed" aside when they tried to stop Trump campaign staff from going to this area, known as "Section 60."
• A cemetery spokesperson said federal law "prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate's campaign."
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Sightline Media Group ☛ Army blasts Trump trip to Arlington cemetery for violating decorum
The statement, from an unnamed Army spokesperson, contradicts denials from Trump’s re-election team that no physical altercation took place between his staff and cemetery workers during the former president’s visit to the memorial site on Monday.
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Deseret Media ☛ Trump campaign was warned not to take photos at Arlington before altercation, defense official says
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter concerning Monday's events. It came a day after NPR reported, citing a source with knowledge of the incident, that two Trump campaign staff members "verbally abused and pushed" aside a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and photographing in Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The defense official told the AP that the Trump campaign was warned about not taking photographs in Section 60 before their arrival and the altercation. Trump was at Arlington on Monday at the invitation of some of the families of the 13 service members who were killed in the Kabul airport bombing exactly three years prior, including the father of a fallen marine from Utah.
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Axios ☛ Trump's Arlington Cemetery dispute escalates
Why it matters: The cemetery is sacred ground for hundreds of thousands of American families. A cemetery worker confronted former President Trump's team on Monday to enforce rules against using the setting for political purposes. The events that followed are contested.
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US News And World Report ☛ US Army Defends Arlington National Cemetery Employee in Trump Campaign Incident
"An ANC (Arlington National Cemetery) employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside," the Army statement said.
"This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked," it added.
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The Atlantic ☛ Trump dishonors fallen soldiers again
It’s hard to see Trump’s Monday visit as anything but a campaign stop intended to court the military vote. Speaking to a group of National Guard members in Detroit later that day, he blamed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the failures of the Afghanistan withdrawal. By now, Trump’s use of the military as a prop for his own ends should surprise no one. Despite his vigorous avoidance of military service, Trump has a long history of denigrating the service of others, even as he poses as a defender of the nation’s military. As a candidate for the Republican nomination in 2015, he mocked Senator John McCain’s status as a prisoner of war. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at the time. “I like people who weren’t captured.”
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Germany and Europe are once again 'Islamic State' targets
"IS is constantly calling for such attacks with its internet propaganda," Mücke said, "and there are also precise instructions on how to carry out attacks, such as using cars to kill infidels everywhere."
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YLE ☛ Russians in Finland snap up cheap, rundown properties
Nearly half of the properties purchased by Russian citizens this year sold for less than 30,000 euros. Often these properties were classed as old or even dilapidated.
Typically the buyer is a Russian individual living in Finland, while the seller is usually a Russian residing in St Petersburg or elsewhere in Russia.
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The Guardian UK ☛ Suspect arrested in Sweden after Britons found dead in burnt-out car
Swedish authorities have arrested and held a person on suspicion of aiding and abetting the murder of two British citizens who were found dead in a burnt-out car in Malmö.
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Defence Web ☛ Al-Shabaab is 18 years old: six factors behind the Somali militant group’s resilience - defenceWeb
It’s 18 years since the militant group Harakat al-Shabaab, as al-Shabaab refers to itself, rose out of the disintegrating Somali state. It emerged in 2006 from an existing radical network that lorded it over the capital Mogadishu through sharia courts. Since then it has suffered both battlefield defeats and territorial losses. Yet it remains as strong as ever.
In 2012 it joined the al-Qaeda global terrorist network. Al-Shabaab’s strength is estimated at between 7,000 and 12,000 soldiers, making it numerically the strongest organisation under the al-Qaeda umbrella.
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New York Times ☛ Sahra Wagenknecht Is Shaking Up German Politics From the East
Sahra Wagenknecht, a former Communist, has founded her own party to respond to German grievances about migrants, crime and the dangers of the war in Ukraine.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Latvia ☛ Latest EU figures on trade with Russia
Figures published by Eurostat August 28 give the latest picture of the European Union's economic relations with aggressor state Russia.
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Security Week ☛ Google Catches Russian APT Reusing Exploits From Spyware Merchants NSO Group, Intellexa
Google TAG publishes evidence showing identical or striking similarities between exploits used by Russia's APT29 and commercial spyware vendors.
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Scoop News Group ☛ Google: apparent Russian hackers play copycat to commercial spyware vendors
The attack campaigns show how spyware tech companies have become more akin to nation-state threat actors.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Confirms Report That F-16 Crashed Earlier This Week, Killing Pilot
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed that an F-16 fighter jet crashed while repelling a missile and drone strike by the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine.
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LRT ☛ The other frontline Russia's Kursk: 'It is important for the world to see'
As much as a new crucial phase in the war, the Ukrainian operation in Kursk also opened a new chapter in the information front, seen reel by reel across the world.
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RFERL ☛ Georgian Citizen Fighting Russian Invasion Dies In Ukraine
Georgian national Viktor Kipritidi was killed last week in Ukraine while fighting alongside Ukrainian armed forces against Russia's ongoing invasion, his son told RFE/RL on August 29.
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RFERL ☛ Netherlands OKs Use Of Its F-16s By Ukraine On Russian Territory
The Netherlands has allowed the use of F-16s it donated to Ukraine to be used on Russian territory, the commander of the Dutch armed forces told public broadcaster NOS on August 29.
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RFERL ☛ Kyiv Repels Fresh Russian Attacks As Ukraine Marks 'Day Of Remembrance'
Ukraine on August 29 commemorated those who have fallen defending the country's independence as Russia unleashed fresh strikes on Kyiv and across the country.
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New York Times ☛ F-16 Fighter Jet, Recently Supplied to Ukraine, Crashes
A Western official said the advanced fighter crashed while defending against a Russian aerial assault. It was not clear how it was destroyed, but the loss is a blow to Ukraine, given the planes’ prominence.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine Says It Struck 2 Russian Oil Depots
Kyiv is pressing its drone campaign while lobbying allies for permission to use weapons supplied by NATO countries for strikes deep inside Russia.
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JURIST ☛ Russia opens fraud case against former deputy defense minister
Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a fraud case on Thursday against former deputy defense minister Pavel Popov. On the same day, the Garrison Military Court ordered him held until October 29 in a decision by Judge Andrey Tolkachevo.
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LRT ☛ EU imports from Russia hit record lows but sanctions circumvention persists
While EU imports from Russia slid to record lows in the second quarter of 2024, signs persist that Brussels’ sanctions on Moscow are being circumvented via trade with third countries.
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RFERL ☛ 5 More Central Asians Named In Connection With Crocus Concert Hall Attack, Detention Extended
A court in Moscow has extended the detention and released the names of five more men suspected of being involved in the terror attack at the Crocus City entertainment center that claimed 145 lives near the Russian capital in late March.
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RFERL ☛ Former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov Detained On Fraud Charges
Russia's Investigative Committee said on August 29 that it has launched a probe on fraud charges against former Defense Minister Pavel Popov, part of an ongoing campaign against top military officials.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Court Extends Detention of Ailing Saxophonist Over Anti-War Posts
A court in Russia on August 28 extended the pretrial detention of saxophonist Andrei Shabanov, who has a very serious medical condition, for another six months over his anti-war stance.
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RFERL ☛ Ethnic Germans Of Post-Soviet States Hold 'Memory Marathon' Over Their Plight
Ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union have held their first international "memory marathon" to raise awareness of the deportation and persecution of the group under brutal dictator Josef Stalin and through into post-Soviet Russia.
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RFERL ☛ Russia Adds 92 More People, Including Journalists, To Sanctions List
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on August 28 that it added 92 people, including journalists of The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, to its sanctions list.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ NATO believes Russia poses a threat to the West’s internet and GPS services
With tensions growing between Russia and the West, officials say the internet —something we all take for granted—is under serious threat.
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BIA Net ☛ Turkish-Russian patrol protested in Syria’s Hasakah
A Kurdish woman was injured after being hit by a Russian military vehicle as Russian troops fired into the air and used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
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Meduza ☛ ‘At least my dad’s alive’: The state-funded summer camps where Russian soldiers’ children ride mini tanks and learn about Chinese culture — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Sweden's Migration Agency To Revise Asylum Applications By Belarusians Amid Criticism
Sweden's Migration Agency says it will revise asylum applications filed by Belarusian citizens amid criticism that it had made decisions based on erroneous information and ignored an ongoing crackdown on dissent and democratic institutions in Belarus.
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian FM lambast Europeans for slow delivery of Ukraine aid
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has criticised fellow EU member states for, in his view, dragging their feet to deliver military aid to Ukraine amidst its continuing war with Russia.
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France24 ☛ Ukraine confirms US-made F-16 fighter jet shot down by Russia
Ukraine on Thursday confirmed that one of its F-16 fighter jets crashed while repelling a Russian air strike, killing the pilot. The Western-supplied fighter jet went down on Monday, when Russia launched a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine. This blog is no longer being updated.
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Young Mexican volunteer soldier killed in fighting in Ukraine
Mexican Carlos González Mendoza, who enlisted as a volunteer soldier to fight for Ukraine, was killed on Aug. 22 by a Russian airstrike.
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Latvia ☛ Braže: Russian troops will leave Ukraine as they left Latvia
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže was in Brussels August 29 at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers and used the occasion to urge further tangible support for Ukraine.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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CBC ☛ Bitcoin scheme leads to financial ruin, legal battle for B.C. men
A B.C. Supreme Court judge weighed into the dispute this week, ordering Daniel Tambosso to cough up $1.2 million — the cash equivalent of the 22 bitcoins Hung Nguyen loaned him in September 2021 for what was supposed to be just 48 hours.
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Jacobin Magazine ☛ Public-Private Partnerships Hurt the Clean Energy Transition
A new paper from the Climate and Community Project that I coauthored examines this vexed relationship between public goods and private markets, examining five case studies of public-private partnerships and deregulation in the electric grid. In case after case, we see how private ownership and financing runs the risk of concentrating gains in private hands while leaving the public responsible for liabilities — ultimately undermining the goal of a publicly owned renewable energy future.
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H2 View ☛ Ånge to host Sweden’s first hydrogen cluster with green fertiliser initiative
This project is currently in its conceptual phase, and implementation will depend on the conclusions of the study being carried out, the granting of operating licenses and environmental permits, and financial investment decisions (FID).
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Futurism ☛ Cybertruck Catches Fire After Running Into Fire Hydrant and Getting Wet
A Tesla Cybertruck burst into flames after crashing into a fire hydrant outside a Bass Pro Shop in Harlingen, Texas — and getting doused in copious amounts of water, igniting the battery.
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GO Media ☛ Wet Cybertruck Catches Fire After Hitting Fire Hydrant
Tesla’s flagship Cybertruck electric pickup does not like water. The truck has been bricked going into car washes, got stranded on the banks of a small European lake and now a Cybertruck has burst into flames after hitting a fire hydrant that drenched its battery pack.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Futurism ☛ Orcas Strike Again
While far from the most severe, this latest orca ramming again raises questions about the animals' motives as sailors share tips — and apps — with each other on how to survive such attacks.
A previous theory circulated last year suggested that the Iberian Coast's killer whales may be acting out of revenge due to traumatic events in their pasts. Other scientists have suggested, as the NYT notes, that the animals may just be bored teenagers goofing off.
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New York Times ☛ Off Spain’s Coast, Orcas Ram a Sailboat
While the sailboat, the Amidala, did not sink, pods of orcas have sunk several vessels in recent years. Researchers still do not know whether the attacks are playful or malicious, but a new theory based on studying the troublesome pods of orcas suggests that they could be using the boats as practice targets for new hunting techniques. Other competing theories still exist.
Regardless of the orcas’ intentions, the behavior is enough to worry sailors journeying in the highly trafficked waters around North Africa, Spain and Portugal.
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Overpopulation
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CBC ☛ Namibia killing elephants, hippos to feed people amid worst drought in a century
Nearly half of Namibia's population of 2.5 million people is facing food insecurity amid the worst drought conditions to hit the arid southern African nation in 100 years.
Food crop and livestock production have been affected and, according to the United Nations last week, 84 per cent of the country's food reserves have been exhausted.
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Los Angeles Times ☛ Boiling Point: Is it ethical to have children in the face of climate change?
Indeed, one of the conversations I’ve had a lot during my pregnancy — both with myself and with others — is about whether it’s ethical or even wise to bring a new person into the world at a moment of escalating crises. It’s partly why it took me many, many years to arrive at this personal decision.
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Finance
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Silicon Angle ☛ Supermicro shares drop on short seller claim of ‘accounting red flags’ [Ed: Same as many other companies, except it openly admits it]
Shares of Super Micro Computer Inc., better known as Supermicro, dropped more than 20% today after a short seller claimed to have found issues in its finances. Hindenburg Research on Tuesday alleged that Supermicro’s earnings disclosures contain “glaring accounting red flags.”
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong 47: Democrats’ poor performance in ‘subversive’ primaries showed level of involvement, lawyers say
Legal representatives of activists convicted in a landmark national security case have argued that their clients’ poor performance in a primary election reflected their degree of participation in the plan. Judges have ruled that the democratic primaries could have caused a “constitutional crisis.”
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Atlantic Council ☛ Xi wants to enlist the Global South in his anti-American movement
Yet over the past two years, Xi’s approach to the developing world has undergone a significant change: It has become increasingly consumed by Beijing’s geopolitical competition with the United States and its allies and partners. This shift will have major consequences for Beijing’s relations with the Global South, China’s role in the international order, and the future course of its global power.
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The Register UK ☛ Klarna models the future of work as headcount shrinks for AI
Klarna released its H1 report [PDF] yesterday, in which Siemiatkowski repeated the excitement he expressed previously about an internal AI powered by ChatGPT the fintech outfit launched earlier this year. After a couple quarters of trialling the bot, Siemiatkowski said, it's doing the work of around 700 employees – in less time, and with the same level of customer satisfaction.
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International Business Times ☛ 'Our Chatbots Perform The Tasks Of 700 People': Buy Now, Pay Later Company Klarna To Axe 2,000 Jobs As AI Takes On More Roles
Klarna, a buy-now, pay-later company, has reduced its workforce by over 1,000 employees in the past year, partially attributed to the increased use of artificial intelligence.
The company plans to implement further job cuts, resulting in a reduction of nearly 2,000 positions. Klarna's current employee count decreased from approximately 5,000 to 3,800 compared to last year.
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Jim Nielsen ☛ The Humble Link
Annie came back with this response that won’t get out of my head:
On snap. Mic drop right there.
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India Times ☛ Apple layoffs: Apple cuts 100 jobs in digital services groups as priorities shift
The company informed the affected employees, who worked across several different teams in Senior Vice President Eddy Cue’s services group, on Tuesday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the move isn’t public.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Jacobin Magazine ☛ Fighting Climate Disinformation Is an Urgent Priority
So when I first saw the headline of the Jacobin essay that has been making the rounds in climate circles this week, “Obsessing Over Climate Disinformation Is a Wrong Turn,” in which author Holly Buck argues that fighting climate disinformation is “a strategic dead end” — I thought I must have misread it.
There are so many examples like those I’ve experienced of how climate disinformation is — in real, concrete, practical terms — helping the oil and gas industry block and delay what Buck describes as “the actual work of climate action, which, at the end of the day, is remaking physical systems to replace the 80 percent of fossil energy that now powers our lives with clean energy.” That’s why the climate movement’s focus on combating this disinformation is so urgent and essential.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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New York Times ☛ Hong Kong Journalists Convicted of Sedition in Stand News Case
The editors said they published stories in the public interest. A judge ruled they were guilty of a crime against national security.
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VOA News ☛ Activist defending himself in Hong Kong security trial says he has no remorse
Ng told the court that he would shoulder the responsibility for what he did but "I will not apologize for the beliefs and values I share with my voters," which prompted one of the presiding judges Alex Lee to ask if Ng had "no remorse."
In response, Ng said "correct" and "as a politician, I expect myself to be responsible, to do my best, to stay till the last."
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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ANF News ☛ ‘Turkey’s murder of journalists is another failed attempt to silence the free press’
On 23 August, the Turkish state bombed a vehicle belonging to Chatr Production with drones in the Seyîdsadiq district of Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî). The vehicle was carrying journalists. Two of them, Hêro Bahadîn and Gulistan Tara, lost their lives as a result of the targeted attack.
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France24 ☛ Hong Kong journalists found guilty of sedition in landmark case
The verdict is part of a crackdown on free speech in the former British colony that has seen critics of China jailed or forced into exile, following huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Stand News trial: 2 Hong Kong journalists found guilty of sedition
Two former chief editors of defunct outlet Stand News have been found guilty of sedition, marking the first such conviction of journalists in Hong Kong since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
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uni Northwestern ☛ Do Homepages Still Matter?
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024, released in June, shows that only 22% of respondents worldwide identify news websites or apps as their main online news source—down from 32% in 2018. Younger respondents in particular “are showing a weaker connection with news brands than they did in the past,” the report states.
The Reuters report finds that more readers are finding news through search engines and aggregators (33%) and social media (29%) than via direct access to the websites. The report also notes that mobile alerts, which constitute another 9% of respondents accessing news, “are also generated by aggregators and portals, adding to the concerns about what might happen next.”
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ANF News ☛ Journalists in North-East Syria: Gulistan Tara taught us the reality of life and women
A Turkish drone attack claimed the lives of journalists Hêro Bahadîn and Gülistan Tara and left 6 other press members wounded in Seyidsadiq district of Sulaymaniyah city on 23 August 2024. Journalist Gülistan Tara trained many journalists in North and East Syria and left behind a great mark with her death.
Women journalists who received education from Gülistan Tara told ANHA about their experiences.
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VOA News ☛ Former Nevada official found guilty of murdering journalist
A Las Vegas court on Wednesday convicted a former Nevada official of the murder of investigative journalist Jeff German.
The jury returned a unanimous verdict of first-degree murder for former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles. The jury later sentenced him to life in prison with a chance for parole after 20 years. His lawyer said Telles plans to appeal.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Digital Music News ☛ Legal Barbs — Nicki Minaj Facing $5 Million Emotional Distress Lawsuit From Fan
Nicki Minaj faces a $5 million emotional distress lawsuit from a formerly avid fan who claims he has been publicly humiliated by the star and physically assaulted by her husband. Former Nicki Minaj superfan Tameer Peak is suing the star for $5 million in damages to his reputation, loss of finances, and emotional distress.
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JURIST ☛ UN rights chief calls for immediate repeal of Taliban ‘virtue and vice’ law in Afghanistan
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called Tuesday for the Taliban’s recently enacted “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law in Afghanistan to be repealed.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Kamala Harris should stand with tech workers, not their bosses
Yet as an elected board member of the Alphabet Workers Union, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America, I urge Americans to take a step back and look critically at the picture in front of us. No matter who wins in November, Silicon Valley’s bosses are positioning themselves for victory. It’s a familiar hedge that goes back decades, but this time is different because over the past four years hundreds of thousands of tech workers have been clawing back power. Tech’s elite have long been the biggest winners in the US economy, and the movement to organize tech workers seeks to hold that elite accountable.
If the next president favors our bosses’ interests over our own, the consequences could be dire for all working people in this country and many others. We know how to fight back against a future Trump administration because we have been there before. What's less clear is whether and to what extent we can count on a Harris administration to be our ally.
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VOA News ☛ Afghan girls, women suffer three years after US withdrawal
In 2021, the U.N. Children’s Fund sounded the alarm about a drastic rise in child marriage as Western forces and aid organizations withdrew, and as desperate Afghan families lost the safety net those groups provided. Some betrothals, they said, involved infant girls as young as 20 days old.
And local media have reported that girls as young as 7 have been married off to Taliban commanders.
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The Hindu ☛ Collective of women journalists demand apology from Dharmajan Bolgatty
In a statement issued here, the collective said that the tendency of film actors and other prominent personalities misbehaving with women journalists cannot be tolerated and they should not be allowed to go scot-free. The statement was issued in solidarity with News18 reporter Aparna. Mr. Bolgatty’s alleged behaviour reflects the atrocities and intolerance faced by women at workplaces. They said that a safe and non-discriminatory workplace is their right.
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TMZ ☛ Iowa Dog Shooting Cop Body Cam Video Released, Dad Wants Officer in Jail
Don says Myst only started barking at Bock after the cop pulled his service weapon and started shooting. He's adamant Myst never attacked the officer despite what the bodycam video shows.
The fatal shooting was also recorded by a home surveillance camera, which captured Don's 7-year-old son, Maverick, and the boy's cousin, also 7, witnessing the horrifying event.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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JURIST ☛ Centre for International Governance Innovation says Canada Bill C-26 ‘promotes security based on secrecy’
A new report by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) released on Monday found that Canada’s Bill C-26 will allow the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), Canada’s national cryptology agency which provides the Canadian government with technology security as well as foreign signals intelligence, to escape transparency requirements.
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RIPE ☛ Assessing the Security of Internet Paths
Although many critical infrastructures (CIs) rely on cloud services (e.g., email) for their daily operations, they typically have limited insight into the security status of the paths their traffic might follow across the Internet to reach their cloud provider’s infrastructures. Can a CI know all the possible paths to reach their destination and the security status of those paths?
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VOA News ☛ Pakistan's internet to remain slow into October, regulator says
Meanwhile, the secretary for the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication told a Seate committee hearing the problem with accessing certain app functions was on the end of mobile data providers.
Although Wednesday’s statement by the PTA referenced two damaged cables, a PTA lawyer told the Islamabad high court this week that a third cable may also be damaged.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Adventures in PC Emulation ☛ PC Floppy Copy Protection: Formaster Copy-Lock
Formaster called their copy protection technology "Copy-Lock," a name which, unfortunately, several other producers of copy-protection technology used for entirely unrelated methods.
The Formaster flavor of Copy-Lock was not used exclusively on PC - the Series One supported many other different computers such as the Apple II and Commodore 64. Copy protection schemes on those platforms could be much more advanced. This article will specifically look at Copy-Lock as it appeared on the IBM PC platform.
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India Times ☛ Google's antitrust defeat opens the door to lawsuit from Yelp
On Wednesday, Yelp, the popular online service that lets people find and review local businesses, sued Google in federal court in San Francisco. Yelp claims that Google used its dominance as a general, or all-purpose, search engine to gain an unfair advantage in local search services.
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New York Times ☛ Google Sued by Yelp in Antitrust Case
Yelp is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an order for Google to stop its anticompetitive practices in a jury trial.
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Spotify Officially Moves to Dismiss the MLC’s ‘Nonsensical and Factually Unsupportable’ Unpaid-Royalties Suit
The MLC’s legal arguments against Spotify’s bundling embrace are “nonsensical and factually unsupportable” – at least according to the streaming platform itself, which has filed to dismiss the overarching unpaid-royalties complaint. Spotify just recently urged the court to toss the action with prejudice, about one month after outlining its position in a pre-motion letter.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Google Asks Court to Gut "Kitchen Sink" Lawsuit Claiming it Profits From Piracy
A copyright lawsuit, filed in June by the world's largest educational publishers, accused Google of promoting pirate sites and profiting from piracy, among other things. This week Google responded to the Cengage Learning-led complaint with a motion to dismiss all but one of the publishers' claims, describing them as "tacked on" as part of a "kitchen-sink pleading strategy."
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Torrent Freak ☛ Fmovies Piracy Ring Was Shut Down by Vietnam, Assisted By ACE
Fmovies, one of the most popular pirate streaming sites of recent times, disappeared a few weeks ago. No credit was taken by authorities or rightsholders, not even when related giants including AniWave fell this week. Today, initial suspicions are confirmed; anti-piracy group ACE says it assisted Vietnamese authorities to shut down the piracy ring. In parallel, the Vietnamese Government is organizing a promo tour in Hollywood.
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El País ☛ The court decision that could turn generative AI upside down
One of the big, unresolved issues surrounding generative artificial intelligence revolves around copyrights. In order to function, the tools require billions of texts, images and videos, from which they extract patterns that allow them to create apparently original images. Many creators and artists complain that the companies responsible for the AI models use their work without their consent — some have even recognized their personal style in specific AI creations.
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Politico ☛ ABBA to Trump: Stop using our tunes
Swedish icons join Céline Dion, Beyoncé, Foo Fighters, Johnny Marr, Adele, Aerosmith and Guns N’ Roses (and breathe, whew!) in fury at Donald Trump.
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Rolling Stone ☛ ABBA Tells Trump to Stop Playing Their Music at Rallies
On Thursday, Universal Music issued a statement seeking to prevent further use of ABBA’s music by the Trump campaign.
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Reuters ☛ ABBA tell Trump to stop using their music at campaign rallies
"Together with the members of ABBA, we have discovered that videos have been released where ABBA's music has been used at Trump events, and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately removed and taken down," the band's record label Universal Music said in a statement. It said no permission or licence had been granted to the Trump campaign.
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France24 ☛ Stop using our songs, ABBA tells Trump
"We have demanded that (the material) be taken down and removed," Universal Music AB told AFP in an email.
"Universal Music Publishing AB and (record company) Polar Music International AB have not received any request (to use the music), so no permission or licence has been given to Trump," it said.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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