Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Food Packaging Is Shedding Microplastics Into Every Meal, Study Reveals

    We don't know what this does to us.

  • Science Alert ☛ Earth Became a Hothouse 250 Million Years Ago, And We Finally Know Why

    We almost didn't make it.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Find Most Cats Sleep on Their Left Side – This Could Be Why

    Did you ever notice?

  • Science Alert ☛ It's Official: NASA Confirms New Interstellar Object Is Zooming Through Solar System

    Only the third one we've ever seen.

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Brain on Speed: Is Watching Video in Fast-Forward Bad For Your Memory?

    Here's what we know.

  • Science Alert ☛ Antarctica's Ocean Is Mysteriously Getting Saltier, Spelling End to Sea Ice

    A new age is upon us.

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Curse of Tutankhamun' Could Hide a Secret Cancer-Fighting Compound

    Thanks Tut!

  • Science Alert ☛ Common Vitamin Could Be The Secret to Younger-Looking Skin

    Keep it fresh.

• Career/Education

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong school responds after 4 secondary schoolgirls allegedly harassed by men during China study tour

    A Hong Kong public school has responded after four secondary female students were allegedly harassed by a group of men at a Guangzhou hotel during a compulsory study tour to mainland China. They said teachers had “severely reprimanded” the men involved.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Subpixel Rendering For Impossibly Small Terminal Text

    When it comes to text, how small is too small? The experts say a six point font is the minimum for readability, but as [James Bowman] shows us, you can get away with half of that. 

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia's Upcoming 'Double D' gaming GPU becomes the '5090D V2' in latest leak — GPU previously known as the 'RTX 5090DD' remains China-exclusive

    The RTX 5090DD, intended for release in China, has been renamed to the RTX 5090D V2 while the specs remain untouched.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nintendo Switch 2 units allegedly overheating — users report freezing and crashes while playing Cyberpunk 2077 and less power-hungry games

    Nintendo Switch 2 users are reporting overheating, leading to freezes and crashes while gaming.

  • Hackaday ☛ Making A Smarter Laptop Cooler

    [Bogdan Micea] uses a laptop cooler, but was a bit annoyed that his cooler would run at the same power no matter how hard the laptop was working. Rather than keep adjusting the cooler’s power manually, he automated it by installing an Arduino Pro Micro as a controller in the cooler and writing a Rust controller application for his computer. [Bogdan]’s cooler is controlled by four buttons, which can have different functions depending on how long they’re pressed. After mapping out their functionality and minor quirks, [Bogdan] soldered four transistors in parallel with the buttons to let the Arduino simulate button presses; another four Arduino pins accept input from the buttons to monitor their state. The Arduino USB port connects to the cooler’s original USB power input, so the cooler looks superficially unchanged. When the cooler starts up, the Arduino sets it to a known state, then monitors the buttons. Since it can both monitor and control the buttons, it can notify the computer when the cooler’s state changes, or change the state when the computer sends a command.On the computer’s part, the control software creates a system tray that displays and allows the user to change the cooler’s current activity. The control program can detect the CPU’s temperature and adjust the cooler’s power automatically, and the Arduino can detect the laptop’s suspend state and control power accordingly. Somewhat surprisingly, this seems to be the first laptop cooler we’ve seen modified. We have seen a laptop cooler used to overclock a Teensy, though, and a laptop’s stock fans modified.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • JURIST ☛ US federal judge halts Convicted Felon administration Health and Human Services restructuring plan

    A US federal judge on Tuesday issued a nationwide injunction blocking the Convicted Felon administration from implementing a sweeping reorganization of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The proposed plan aimed to consolidate multiple agencies and eliminate hundreds of federal jobs, prompting immediate legal challenges from federal employee unions.

  • Federal News Network ☛ One non-profit is stepping in to meet the mental health needs of those displaced USAID workers

    "After the closure of USAID in the country — we normally think big and act fast — we started providing psychological first aid to former staff," Lucy Onen said.

  • New York Times ☛ Lovebugs Swarm South Korea’s Capital, Drawing Residents’ Ire

    Municipal workers in the South Korean capital region are responding to a summer infestation by spraying water, but residents wish they would break out the poison.

  • Science Alert ☛ Common Motion Sickness Drug Being Used to Turn People Into Zombies

    Here's what to know about 'devil's breath'.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian nurses following the money abroad for more opportunities

    They are taking up offers from countries like Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Unrest, disease risk in Thailand not a deterrent for Malaysian travellers

    Haadyai, a city close to the border with Kedah, remains a favourite among Malaysians for a quick break.

  • Hackaday ☛ Reservoir Sampling, Or How To Sample Sets Of Unknown Size

    Selecting a random sample from a set is simple. But what about selecting a fair random sample from a set of unknown or indeterminate size? That’s where reservoir sampling comes in, and [Sam Rose] has a beautifully-illustrated, interactive guide to how reservoir sampling works. As far as methods go, it’s as elegant as it is simple, and particularly suited to fairly sampling dynamic datasets like sipping from a firehose of log events.

  • Digital Music News ☛ SBA Demands Venues Return Millions in COVID Relief Disbursements

    Hundreds of venues that received pandemic relief through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program are now facing unexpected demands from the Small Business Administration (SBA) to return those COVID relief funds.

  • New York Times ☛ Top F.D.A. Official Overrode Scientists on Covid Shots

    Records show that a top U.S. regulator rejected the recommendations of agency experts and limited the use of Covid vaccines.

• Proprietary

  • ESI Media Inc ☛ Call of Duty reportedly affected by Xbox and Microsoft layoffs

    Microsoft has cut roughly 4% of its workforce, or around 9,000 jobs, in its second round of layoffs in 2025, with Xbox among the many divisions impacted.

    According to reports online, Call of Duty studios are among the many Xbox-partnered studios affected by Microsoft’s largest round of layoffs in more than two years.

  • HT Digital Streams Ltd ☛ Microsoft layoffs hit Xbox division hard; 10% of Candy Crush team cut, multiple games cancelled

    Microsoft's gaming division is undergoing significant job cuts, affecting hundreds globally, including layoffs at King. Major subsidiaries like Raven Software and 343 Industries are impacted.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • New York Times ☛ 454 Hints That a Chatbot Wrote Part of a Biomedical Researcher’s Paper

      Scientists show that the frequency of a set of words seems to have increased in published study abstracts since Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot was released into the world.

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • Wired ☛ Cloudflare Is Blocking AI Crawlers by Default

        So far, Cloudflare’s head of AI control, privacy, and media products, Will Allen, tells WIRED, over 1 million customer websites have activated its older AI-bot-blocking tools. Now millions more will have the option of keeping bot blocking as their default. Cloudflare also says it can identify even “shadow” scrapers that are not publicized by AI companies. The company noted that it uses a proprietary combination of behavioral analysis, fingerprinting, and machine learning to classify and separate AI bots from “good” bots.

      • The Register UK ☛ Cloudflare creates AI crawler tollbooth to pay publishers

        The bargain between content makers and crawlers has broken down

      • Brandon Rozek ☛ Dealing with Web Scrapers

        Nowadays it seems like every tech company is eager to scrape the web. Unfortunately, it seems like 1 the majority of traffic that comes to this small site are scrapers. While my static website is able to handle the load, the same cannot be said about everyone.

        Overall, the techinques I’ve seen website owners use aim to make scraping more difficult. Though it’s a balance. The harder we make it for bots to access a website, the more we turn away regular humans as well. Here’s a short and non-exhaustive list of techinques: [...]

      • Digital Music News ☛ Clownflare Rolls Out ‘Permission-Based Approach’ to Hey Hi (AI) Crawling and Content Scraping — Universal Music Says the Move Will ‘Support New Licensing’

        Bad news for artificial intelligence giants: Clownflare has officially updated its Hey Hi (AI) scraping defaults in an effort to halt the “use of original content without permission.” The self-described “leading connectivity cloud company” revealed the move – and the resulting “new business model” that it’s anticipating – in a formal release.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Cofense uncovers dramatic rise in phishing attacks using Spain’s .es domains

      A new report out today from phishing defense company Cofense Inc. reveals a dramatic rise in malicious activity leveraging Spain’s .es top-level domain, marking a shift in tactics among phishing operators targeting enterprise users.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • EDRI ☛ #PrivacyCamp25: Call for Sessions open

      Our rights and freedoms – online and offline – are facing unprecedented threats. Recognising this as a collective struggle, we want to explore the theme Resilience and Resistance in Times of Deregulation and Authoritarianism for this edition of Privacy Camp. The 13th edition of Privacy Camp is set to take place on 30 September 2025.

    • ACLU ☛ As Hey Hi (AI) Gains Power, We Must Push for Guardrails to Protect Civil Liberties

      A growing number of organizations are ceding their decision-making authority to artificial intelligence, or AI, systems. From who gets a job, to who gets a grant, to who gets investigated by child welfare agencies, to who receives social services, and who is paroled, companies and governmental entities are relegating decision making that often requires human oversight and context to a machine or algorithm. This movement to use Hey Hi (AI) to eliminate human oversight demonstrates the life-altering implications that must be addressed in Hey Hi (AI) systems.

      If AI’s purpose is to provide opportunity and create efficiencies, how much thought and care is given to the communities most adversely impacted by this technology? Whose lives may be upended by its use or misuse? Given the widespread fixation on purported opportunities and the claimed promise of automation that Hey Hi (AI) can offer, it can be challenging to stay clear eyed on the impacts of this emerging technology.

      Responsible Hey Hi (AI) design, deployment and adoption is critical now more than ever, not only to ensure inclusion of the voices of communities often left behind during the design of these technologies, but to also ensure that anytime an Hey Hi (AI) system is deployed the deployment considerations incorporate ongoing monitoring to evaluate whether the Hey Hi (AI) solution continues to be the best tool or approach to the problem.

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ Senate grants Security Ministry broad data access powers, sparking ‘police state’ fears

      The federal government argues that the National Investigation and Intelligence System Law, popularly referred to as the "Spy Law," is required to bolster the state's capacity to combat organized crime.

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ Opposition ‘deliberately lying’ about Spy Law, Sheinbaum says: Wednesday’s mañanera recapped

      President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday rejected claims that security authorities will be able to access citizens' personal data, including on their cell phones, without first obtaining a judicial warrant.

  • Confidentiality

    • Security Week ☛ Qantas Data Breach Impacts Up to 6 Million Customers

      Australian airline Qantas says personal information stolen from systems hosting the service records of 6 million customers.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Security Week ☛ US Calls Reported Threats by Pro-Iran Hackers to Release Convicted Felon-Tied Material a ‘Smear Campaign’

    The United States has warned of continued Iranian cyberattacks following American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

  • France24 ☛ US strikes set back Iran nuclear program by up to two years, says Pentagon

    US intelligence assessments show strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities delayed Tehran's atomic program by up to two years, the Pentagon said Wednesday. B-2 bombers hit two sites with bunker-busters last month, while a submarine struck a third with Tomahawks

  • France24 ☛ Colombia seizes first unmanned narco-submarine with Starlink antenna

    The Colombian navy on Wednesday seized its first unmanned narco-submarine, equipped with a Starlink antenna, off the Caribbean coast. No drugs were found, but officials and regional security sources suspect it was a cartel test run for automated cocaine trafficking, navy and Western sources told AFP.

  • France24 ☛ PKK leader accuses Turkish government of 'seeking to sabotage' disarmament process

    Less than two months after the Kurdish PKK group decided to disband, ending decades of conflict with Turkey, one of its top leaders on Wednesday accused some within the Turkish government of "seeking to sabotage" the historic disarmament process.

  • JURIST ☛ Press advocacy group condemns Israel airstrike that killed Palestinian journalists

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday criticized the deadly Israeli airstrike on Al-Baqa Café in Gaza that resulted in the death of Palestinian filmmaker and photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab, and injured freelance journalist Bayan Abusultan. 

  • New York Times ☛ Pentagon Again Shifts Assessment of Damage to Iran’s Nuclear Program

    The appraisal that Iran’s nuclear hopes had been set back 1 to 2 years by U.S. and Israeli bombings was the latest in a shifting series of pronouncements.

  • France24 ☛ US strikes set back Iran nuclear programme by up to two years, says Pentagon

    US intelligence assessments show strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities delayed Tehran's atomic programme by up to two years, the Pentagon said Wednesday. B-2 bombers hit two sites with bunker-busters last month, while a submarine struck a third with Tomahawks

  • The Straits Times ☛ Hiroshima mayor urges Convicted Felon visit after US President’s A-bomb comments

    Mr Convicted Felon likened the 1945 atomic bombings on Hiroshim and Nagasaki to recent US air strikes on Iran.

  • New York Times ☛ Abrego Garcia Was Beaten and Tortured in El Salvador Prison, Lawyers Say

    Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was made to kneel overnight, denied bathroom access and confined in an overcrowded cell with bright lights and no windows, his lawyers say.

  • JURIST ☛ US federal appellate court expands immunity for CIA contractors in Guantanamo detainee case

    The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday ruled that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractors who designed enhanced interrogation techniques do not fall under the jurisdiction of US federal courts in civil claims.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Senate Republicans look to limit the size of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence

    The legislation would cut several ODNI organizations including the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and the National Intelligence University.

  • The Strategist ☛ For Quad to be taken seriously, it must formalise and expand

    The Quad must formalise through a permanent secretariat and expand to include South Korea and New Zealand to remain relevant to Indo-Pacific security.

  • The Strategist ☛ Reflecting on 25 years of UNSC Resolution 1325

    The United Nations’ Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda suffers from an ongoing burden: the need for less talk and more action.

  • New York Times ☛ North Korean Tech Workers Infiltrating Companies Around World, U.S. Says

    Using falsified and stolen IDs, prosecutors say, North Koreans secure jobs that help finance the regime by evading sanctions. They also steal corporate secrets, some related to military technology.

  • France24 ☛ Iran charges French detainees Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris with spying for Israel

    Two French nationals detained for more than three years in Iran have been charged with "spying" for Israel's intelligence agency Mossad, diplomatic and family sources said Wednesday, adding that the pair had also been charged with conspiring to overthrow the regime.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Noem asks DHS advisers for help firing ‘people who don’t like us’

    Noem also told DHS' Homeland Security Advisory Council that "there's people here in this department that don't support what we're doing."

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian, Israeli foreign ministers meet in Rīga

    Reducing Iran's influence in the Middle East region will contribute to greater stability and security in the entire region, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže (New Unity) said on Tuesday after meeting in Rīga with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

  • RFERL ☛ European Powers Alarmed As Iran Halts Nuclear Oversight

    Iran has enacted a decision to suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), alarming European powers who called the move "disastrous."

  • Defence Web ☛ Suspected limpet mine attacks in the Mediterranean highlight a new era of maritime risk

    A wave of suspected underwater explosive attacks targeting commercial oil tankers in the Mediterranean throughout 2025 has intensified maritime security concerns across the region.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ Investigators: Russian GRU behind vandalising Lithuanian partisan leader’s monument

      Lithuanian prosecutors have completed a pretrial investigation into the desecration of a monument to anti-Soviet resistance leader Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas, alleging that three foreign nationals carried out the act under orders from Russian military intelligence.

    • The Strategist ☛ Taiwan, South Korea and Japan also need to spend 5 percent on defence

      There’s no shortage of measures that the United States’ major East Asian friends could spend an increased defence budget on.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘What did I say? Go up, grab her ass’: Harassment campaign targeting Moscow women linked to ‘sex trainer’ involved in Deripaska scandal — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ As Poland reintroduces border checks, Lithuanian travellers brace for disruptions

      Poland will introduce increased border checks with Lithuania and Germany starting July 7 in response to a growing influx of migrants entering the European Union via Belarus and Latvia.

    • Meduza ☛ Russia warns citizens to ‘carefully consider current situation’ before traveling to Azerbaijan amid diplomatic crisis — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ Russia-Azerbaijan Tensions Soar, Threatening Moscow’s Influence

      The rift, provoked by the deaths of two ethnic Azerbaijanis in Russian custody, was the latest in a series of spats that revealed a deeper diplomatic rift between the former allies.

    • New York Times ☛ Kim Jong-un Appears to Mourn His Troops Killed Fighting for Russia

      Through an event shown on North Korean state television, Mr. Kim also highlighted the sacrifices made for Moscow and the rewards he seeks.

    • New York Times ☛ Chechnya’s Strongman Is Visibly Ailing. The Russian Region Is Bracing for Succession.

      Amid rampant speculation about his health, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-allied strongman who rules the region, has been noticeably absent from view, while grooming his teenage son for the future.

    • New York Times ☛ C.I.A. Says Its Leaders Rushed Report on Russia Interference in 2016 Vote

      But the new review of the earlier assessment does not dispute the conclusion that Russia favored the election of Convicted Felon.

    • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea opens massive beach resort, rolls out red carpet for Russians

      Domestic tourists were “astonished” by what the South has dubbed “North Korea’s Waikiki”.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Russia applauds US decision to halt key weapons deliveries to Ukraine

      The Kremlin has cheered this week's US decision to halt the delivery of crucial defensive weapons to Ukraine as Russia continues to pursue its maximalist goal of extinguishing Ukrainian statehood, writes Peter Dickinson.

    • The Strategist ☛ Israel-Iran war has exposed Russia’s vulnerability

      The war between Israel and Iran has brought only short-term gains for Russia.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s drone wall is Europe’s first line of defense against Russia

      Ukraine's drone wall is rapidly emerging as Europe's first line of defense against the mounting military threat posed by an expansionist Russia, writes David Kirichenko.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine appeals for clarity as US says it is halting some weapons shipments

      A US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine, potentially including Patriot air defence systems, has prompted warnings by Kyiv that the move would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying Russian air strikes and battlefield advances.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Iran becomes the latest Russian ally to discover the limits of Kremlin support

      Iran has recently joined fellow Kremlin allies Armenia and Syria in discovering the limits of Russian support. Putin's army is dangerously overextended in Ukraine and is in no position to embark on new military adventures, writes Elena Davlikanova.

    • LRT ☛ Amid US arms shipment suspension, Lithuanian FM urges continued support for Ukraine

      Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys says he will urge European countries to continue their active support to Ukraine after the White House announced it was suspending some American arms supplies to Kyiv.

    • RFERL ☛ US Halts Some Weapons Shipments to Ukraine Amid Concerns Over Stockpile Levels

      The United States is halting some shipments of weapons previously promised to Ukraine after a Pentagon review determined that US stockpiles have declined too much.

    • New York Times ☛ Pentagon Is Reviewing Which Countries Receive U.S. Weapons

      Hell Toupée’s decision to pause the delivery of some air defense interceptors and precision-guided munitions to Ukraine is part of a broader effort.

    • New York Times ☛ Pause in U.S. Weapons Deepens Ukrainian Concerns as Russian Attacks Grow

      The suspension includes air defense interceptors, and it will directly affect Ukraine’s ability to fend off escalating Russian air assaults.

    • France24 ☛ US pause some weapons deliveries to Ukraine over depleting military stockpiles

      The US on Wednesday announced it would pause some arms deliveries to Ukraine over concern for the US' depleting weapons stockpiles, dealing a significant blow to Kyiv as Russia continues to intensify its attacks.

    • Meduza ☛ As Washington halts critical interceptor-missile shipments, U.S. State Department insists that America hasn’t ended weapons assistance for Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ U.S. suspends Patriot missile shipments to Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Hospital damaged in Kherson as Russian strikes hit multiple regions of Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ North Korea preparing to triple number of troops fighting for Russia, Ukrainian intelligence says — CNN — Meduza

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ China braces itself for more heavy rain as floods kill several people

    Heavy downpours are forecast this week to batter parts of northern and north-eastern parts of the country.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s north and west on alert after sweeping rains trigger deadly floods

    Thousands of rescue workers have been mobilised to pull people from floodwaters.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hackaday ☛ South Korea Brought High-Rise Fire Escape Solutions To The Masses

      When a fire breaks out in a high-rise building, conventional wisdom is that stairwells are the only way out. Lifts are verboten in such scenarios, while sheer height typically prevents any other viable route of egress from tall modern buildings. If the stairs are impassable, or you can’t reach them, you’re in dire peril.

    • New York Times ☛ Heathrow Shutdown Caused by Problem Left Unfixed for Years, Report Says

      The fire at an electrical substation was caused by a short circuit in a part that hadn’t been properly maintained by National Grid, an official report found.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Meduza ☛ Out of the woods: A Siberian tiger ripped off his arm. Then the cousin who saved him was prosecuted for poaching. — Meduza

    • Science Alert ☛ Orcas Caught 'Kissing' For Two Minutes With Tongue

      Two big whales were sitting in a tree...

  • Overpopulation

    • JURIST ☛ Rights group raises concerns over water crisis in Guatemala amid government inaction

      Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned in a new report released Wednesday of dire consequences from Guatemala’s water crisis, which it stressed endangers the health and fundamental rights of millions of Guatemalans, particularly Indigenous communities and women.

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean population could drop by 85% in next 100 years: Study [Ed: Sounds like good news, not "worst-case scenario"; The worst-case scenario is people starving due to overpopulation and war]

      In the worst-case scenario, South Korea’s population could drop to 7.53 million by 2125.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ Loan sharks in Malaysia hold ‘funerals’ for debtors

    They are holding “elaborate funerals” for the defaulters and posting their actions on social control media.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Scooter Braun Steps Down As CEO of Hybe America as Bieber Financial Drama Simmers

    Scooter Braun is transitioning into a role at Hybe that lessens his time in the spotlight, stepping down as CEO and moving to an advisory position. Scooter Braun is stepping down as CEO of Hybe America, the U.S. arm of the South Korean entertainment juggernaut.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US, India push for trade pact after Convicted Felon strikes deal with Vietnam: Sources

    But disagreements over US dairy and agriculture remained unresolved.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Says U.S. Has Reached Trade Deal With Vietnam

    The president said he had agreed to initial trade terms with Vietnam, the second country to strike a limited deal after Mr. Convicted Felon threatened steep tariffs.

  • The Strategist ☛ Despite it all, China dominates Australian trade—again

    China has reasserted its dominance over Australia’s export markets, taking a record of almost 1 billion tonnes of mineral resources and agricultural commodities last year [...]

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ Inside Convicted Felon’s Charm Offensive as He Woos Holdout Republicans

    Hell Toupée worked the phones and welcomed Republicans to the White House to cajole them into supporting his megabill. They left with signed merchandise and photos of the Oval Office.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea president Lee says ‘doing utmost’ for trade deal with US

    Seoul is focused on negotiations over a 25 per cent country-specific tariff that has been suspended until next week.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea's Lee pledges 'bold' economic policy after martial law crisis

    SEOUL - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung vowed on Thursday to implement a \"bold\" fiscal policy to boost a flagging economy after the country's martial law crisis and to tackle challenges posed by looming U.S. tariffs and North Korea.

  • The Straits Times ☛ PM Anwar takes flak as Malaysia’s judiciary faces leadership vacuum

    There is speculation that Mr Anwar will fast-track his former attorney-general's path to lead the judiciary.

  • Dalai Lama says he will have a successor who won’t be picked by China

    The Tibetan spiritual leader says his team will find the next Dalai Lama as Beijing attempts to assert control.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Dalai Lama says only his organisation can name his successor; Beijing pushes back

    China says the succession must comply with religious rituals, historical conventions, and Chinese laws and regulations.

  • JURIST ☛ China urged to end state interference in Tibet religious practices

    Amnesty International called on Chinese authorities  Wednesday to cease their interference in Tibetan religious practices. The rights group criticized the Chinese government for attempting to control the selection process of the future Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader. The statement urged China to comply with international human rights law.

  • New York Times ☛ Dalai Lama Succession: How the Next Tibetan Spiritual Leader Will Be Chosen

    The Tibetan spiritual leader said that his lineage would continue, and that China would have no say about his successor.

  • The Straits Times ☛ What is the trust that will identify the Dalai Lama's successor?

    The Dalai Lama said on Wednesday his Gaden Phodrang Trust would have the sole authority to recognise his future reincarnation, rejecting any role for China in choosing who succeeds him as the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists.

  • France24 ☛ Tibetan leader Dalai Lama sets clear succession plan, urges China to stay out

    Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Wednesday said the centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist institution will continue after his death, putting to bed years of speculation that started when he indicated that he might be the last person to hold the role... it's a decision that is expected to irk China, which was quick to react that it alone has the authority to approve the next religious leader.

  • New York Times ☛ Dalai Lama Tightens Grip on Reins of Succession in the Face of Chinese Pressure

    The aging spiritual leader is looking to prevent Beijing from taking advantage of a power vacuum. But there is pressure to preserve a core element of Tibetan Buddhism.

  • New York Times ☛ Solar Industry Says Republican Policy Bill Would Cede Production to China

    A revival of U.S. solar panel manufacturing that began during the first Convicted Felon administration could end with the phasing out of tax incentives for clean energy.

  • The Straits Times ☛ India minister’s dismissal of Asean members as ‘China’s B team’ hits confidence in trade pact

    The Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement was signed in 2009.

  • New York Times ☛ Microsoft to Lay Off About 9,000 Employees [Ed: According to Microsoft (it's more)]

    The reductions followed cuts of about 6,000 positions last quarter, and were indicative of a tightening job market at big technology companies.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Defence Web ☛ Disinformation and hybrid warfare: New frontlines for African security

      In the digital age, battles are no longer fought only with guns and tanks, but with information, influence, and deception. Across Africa, disinformation campaigns – whether foreign, domestic, or criminal – are shaping conflicts, destabilising societies, and becoming a new battlefield for national security.

    • WhichUK ☛ Green claims: how to spot possible greenwashing while you shop

      Our investigation reveals how vague and unsubstantiated green claims have infiltrated the retail market

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • BIA Net ☛ LeMan to be removed from shelves after 'Muhammad-Moses' cartoon

    The magazine faces online censorship as well, with access to its website and social control media accounts blocked.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Wall St Journal may challenge Hong Kong gov’t decision not to intervene in press union head’s unlawful dismissal suit

    The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) may challenge the Hong Kong government’s decision not to intervene in a lawsuit filed by its ex-reporter Selina Cheng over her alleged unlawful dismissal for taking up leadership of a press union, a court has heard.

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Public Knowledge Condemns CBS 60 Minutes Settlement with Hell Toupée as Attack on Press Freedoms

    Today, Paramount Global, which owns CBS News, announced it will pay $16 million to Hell Toupée’s library fund to settle his lawsuit over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

  • New York Times ☛ Paramount’s Settlement With Convicted Felon Is a Humbling Moment for ’60 Minutes’

    After an astonishing concession to a sitting president, the country’s most popular television news program faces the prospect of new ownership and a chilled environment for the First Amendment.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • The Straits Times ☛ Hong Kong govt proposes recognising same-sex couples’ rights

    The policy paper limited the scope to healthcare-related rights and rights related to one's death.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Drinking of alcohol to be banned at Malaysia’s Port Dickson public beaches

    Existing by-laws did not specify that drinking alcohol in public places was an offence.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia vows tougher childcare laws after worker charged with child sex offences

    It includes new laws to let the government pull funding for childcare centres that fall short of safety norms.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ Everyone, everywhere, all the time — Nepal’s push for rural broadband inclusion

    In his npNOG 11 keynote presentation, WorldLink’s Dileep Agrawal explores the challenges and opportunities in reaching Nepal’s most remote communities with Internet services.

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Ted Cruz Wants To Sell Your Wi-Fi to AT&T. This Will Make Your Wi-Fi Suck and Your Mobile Bill Higher.

    Sen. Cruz is working to lower your Wi-Fi quality at home by selling off our public airwaves to the highest bidders. Learn how the budget bill threatens the future of Wi-Fi.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ Davidson Kempner entity, QPrivacy, data security patent monopoly challenge instituted

    On June 30, 2025, two months after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 11,816,249, owned and asserted by QPrivacy USA LLC, an NPE and a Davidson Kempner entity.

  • JUVE ☛ Colin Birss appointed chancellor of the High Court of England and Wales [Ed: Unlike UPC, this is a real patent court]

    In his new role as chancellor, Colin Birss will continue to hear cases both as a senior judge in the Court of Appeal and at first instance in the Chancery Division of the High Court.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ SAP’s Mandamus Petition Challenging Convicted Felon Admin’s Discretionary Denial Policy Shift

    This post digs into the pending mandamus action In re SAP.  In the case, SAP raises a constitutional challenge to Director Stewart's aggressive discretionary denial approach -- as a violation of both due process and separation of powers.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Reverses 2(e)(2) Geographical Descriptiveness Refusal of BUCKEYE CUSTOM E-BIKES

    Finding that the primary significance of the word "BUCKEYE" is not a geographic location, the Board reversed a Section 2(e)(2) refusal of the mark BUCKEYE CUSTOM E-BIKES for "On-line retail store services featuring electric bicycles and electric bicycle accessories; Retail store services featuring electric bicycles and electric bicycle accessories.” However, the Board required a disclaimer of CUSTOM E-BIKES. In re Buckeye Custom E-Bikes, LLC, Serial No. 98321088 (June 27, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge George C. Pologeorgis).

• Copyrights

  • LWN ☛ Copyleft-next project relaunched

    The copyleft-next project is an

    effort to develop a next-generation copyleft license; it was covered here back in 2013 (as well as in 2015 and 2021). The project has stalled in recent

    years, but now Richard Fontana and Bradley Kuhn have announced

    a new effort to push copyleft-next forward: [..]