Leftovers

• Hardware

  • GamingOnLinux ☛ NVIDIA are investing $5 billion in Intel to develop new chips together

    A huge announcement for the entire computing industry came today, with NVIDIA and Intel teaming up to make new chips for data centre and consumers too. This is of course, largely about AI, and they want to ensure they stay ahead of AMD and Arm chip makers.

• Proprietary

  • Social Control Media

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Says US Has a Buyer for TikTok

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] US Treasury Secretary Anticipates Final TikTok Deal After Cheeto Mussolini, Xi Talk

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] California Democrat Turns to TikTok to Reach Hispanic Voters in Governor's Race

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Suggests Deal Reached Over the Future of TikTok as He Announces Call With Xi

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Hints Tiktok Deal Reached, According to Truth Social Post

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] U.S. Ready to Ban TikTok if Deal on Divestiture Cannot Be Reached

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] US Treasury Secretary Bessent Says Framework of Deal on TikTok Reached

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] US, China Reach Framework Deal on TikTok After Talks in Madrid

    • Vox ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] The US and China have a new TikTok “deal”

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-14 [Older] US, China kick off talks on trade, TikTok, in Madrid meeting

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-14 [Older] US, Chinese Officials Hold Talks in Spain on Trade Irritants, TikTok Deadline

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Bessent Will Meet Chinese Officials in Spain for Trade and TikTok Talks

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] China Urges US to Address TikTok Issue Through Dialogue

• Defence/Aggression

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Germany: Thousands evacuated in Berlin over 2 WWII bombs

    One of the bombs found in the center of the capital has been declared safe. The other bomb, on the outskirts of Berlin, is set to be defused on Friday.

  • CS Monitor ☛ After Gen Z protests, Nepal set for fresh elections in March

    Government institutions were burned to the ground, and more than 70 people were killed, many by police gunfire. The protests forced the resignation of the prime minister, and an interim one, the nation’s first female prime minister, was appointed last week. Fresh elections are scheduled for March, but it is unclear whether a new government can meet the expectations of a generation demanding fairness and equal opportunities.

  • Vox ☛ Charlie Kirk’s killing is the latest sign of a growing internet threat

    It’s a complicated world to parse, so we turned to Elle Reeve, someone who has a history of investigating and explaining the shady corners of the internet that have started dealing serious damage in the real world. Reeve is a correspondent for CNN and the author of the book Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics — all about the kinds of (mostly) men who get sucked into dark worlds online, and as she’s put it, “talk themselves into doing strange, cruel, or violent things because it all started with just jokes, man.”

  • Vox ☛ The ideology driving Tyler Robinson, Charlie Kirk’s shooter, is not the point

    Perliger thinks that when we endlessly obsess over the individual politics of an assassin, we’re focusing on the wrong question. “I think that we can learn much more about the overall conditions that facilitate people like Tyler Robinson,” he said. Those conditions, per Perliger’s research, include political polarization and endemic dysfunction — two qualities the US government has in spades right now.

  • Dark Reading ☛ TikTok Deal Won't End Enterprise Risks

    The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets this week reported on US and Chinese negotiators working on a plan that would give a consortium of US technology companies, venture capital firms, and private equity investors ownership of around 80% of TikTok's US operations. The consortium will include Oracle, which currently already hosts and manages TikTok's US user data, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and private equity firm Silver Lake.

  • Paul Krugman ☛ Exploiting Male Rage

    Given MAGA’s brazen attempts to exploit Kirk’s murder to suppress freedom of expression, I’m sure someone will call what I just said hate speech. But it’s actually just an honest description of reality.

    The thing is, there are real reasons for the upsurge in resentment by young white males. American men have in important ways been hurt by the changes in our society over the past several decades. Richard Reeves published an excellent book about the subject, “Of Boys and Men,” in 2022. And yes, he has a Substack. He discusses a wide variety of topics. What I want to focus on, enlarging his analysis, is the economic side of the problem of men in America. The most important aspect of that side is the growing number of men in their prime working years who are not in the labor force. Reproducing a chart from Tuesday’s post, here’s the percentage of men between 25 and 54 who are neither working nor actively searching for work — a group that was tiny before 1970 but substantial now: [...]

  • BoingBoing ☛ Charlie Kirk called Democrats "maggots, vermin, and swine." Many plan to honor him in Congress.

    The immediate problem with these congressional Dems is that they can hardly be roused to assert their own humanity, let alone fight for anyone else's. The imminent problem is they are well-positioned to survive a totalitarian Trump stage through servile and sympathetic language (call it "Kleinism") and they know it.

  • BBC ☛ Ban social media for under 15s, says French report warning of TikTok dangers

    French children under 15 should be banned from social media and there should be an overnight "digital curfew" for 15-18 year olds, a parliamentary commission has recommended.

    The six-month inquiry into the psychological effects of TikTok on minors has found that the short video-sharing platform "knowingly exposes our children, our young people to toxic, dangerous and addictive content".

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Gen Z protests in Asia: Can they spark real change?

    This digitally savvy [sic] Gen Z, a term referring to people born roughly between 1997 and 2012, has emerged as a formidable force, challenging authoritarianism, corruption and economic inequality with street-level activism.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Trump extends delay on US TikTok ban until mid-December

    The latest delay was set to expire on Wednesday, which would have enabled a US law signed in 2024 by then-president Joe Biden to force the closure of TikTok in the United States because of its Chinese ownership.

    The legislation was designed to address national security concerns over TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance and its potential ties to the Chinese government.

    But Trump, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media and who has said he is fond of TikTok, put the ban on pause.

  • Letters of Note ☛ Every ounce of my energy

    "Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism."

  • TruthOut ☛ We Can’t Let White Nationalism Dictate What Is Taught and Learned in Classrooms

    In this exclusive interview, Barbara Applebaum provides deep insights into the far right’s current odious distortion of U.S. education and suggests critical ways of articulating and demonstrating opposition. Applebaum is professor in Cultural Foundations of Education at Syracuse University. Her training is in philosophy of education, but her work and teaching are interdisciplinary in nature. She is the author of Being White/Being Good: White Complicity, Responsibility and Social Justice Education and, more recently, White Educators Negotiating Complicity: Roadblocks Paved with Good Intentions. The interview that follows has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

  • FAIR ☛ ‘Media Really Took at Face Value What Trump Said About This Boat and Its Occupants’: CounterSpin interview with Alex Main on Venezuelan boat assault

  • FAIR ☛ Barnard Prez’s NYT Op-Ed Is Height of Hypocrisy

    The definition of the Yiddish concept of chutzpah, or unbelievable audacity, often goes like this: A child murders his parents, and then asks the judge to take pity on him because he’s an orphan. Barnard College president Laura Rosenbury’s op-ed in the New York Times (9/17/25) about free speech on campus might be a fitting contemporary version of this old joke.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] EU's new approach to lure India away from Russia's orbit

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] How can Poland, Ukraine, NATO defend against Russian drones?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] Russia-linked group planned parcel bomb attacks in Europe

  • HRW ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] Russian Strike Kills Dozens of Older People in Ukraine

  • International Business Times ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] World War 3 in Orbit? Space Warfare Accelerates as Russia and China Build Space Weapons

  • The Local DK ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] Denmark to buy long-range precision weapons amid Russia threat

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] Ukraine Expects $3.5 Billion Fund for US Weapons to Sustain Fight Against Russia, Zelenskyy Says

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] 2024 Parcel Blasts in Europe Organised by Russians With Intelligence Ties, Lithuania Says

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] Poland Urges EU to End Russian Oil Imports by 2026, Citing Geopolitical Risks

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] Russia Resumes Domestic Flights to Southern City of Krasnodar for First Time in Three Years

  • NL Times ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Russia targets owner of Dutch vegetable company HAK in asset seizure case

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Denmark Leads an Exercise in Greenland, With Russia in Mind at a Time of Tensions With the US

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Exclusive-Russia Close to Cutting Oil Output Due to Drone Attacks, Sources Say

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Lithuania Teaches Children to Fly Drones on Border With Russia

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Romanian Prosecutors Indict Pro-Russian Former Presidential Candidate

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] US Military Confirms It Sent Observers to Russia-Belarus War Games

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Ukraine military claims it destroyed Russian Buk-M3 system

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Why Cheeto Mussolini's letter to NATO won't shift EU's course on Russia

  • The Local DK ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Danish court acquits Russian man in Billund Airport bomb threat case

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] China Accuses US of 'Bullying' in Push for Tariffs Over Russian Oil Purchases

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Factbox-US and Europe Do Billions in Trade With Russia Despite Sanctions

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Russia Warns Europe: We Will Go After Any State Which Takes Our Assets

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Spain Calls for Israel, Russia to Be Banned From International Sports Competitions

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] UK Summons Russian Ambassador Over NATO Airspace Violations

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] US Military Officers Pay Surprise Visit to Belarus to Observe War Games With Russia

  • The Age AU ☛ 2025-09-14 [Older] ‘Break that grip’: Cheeto Mussolini demands NATO targets China over Ukraine war

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-14 [Older] Ukraine Attacks Major Russian Refinery With Big Drone Assault

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-14 [Older] Russia Flexes Military Muscle With Hypersonic Missiles and Bombers During Drills

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-14 [Older] Ukraine Considers Limiting Mobile Service to Counter Russian Drones

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-14 [Older] Ukrainian Drones Strike One of Russia's Top Oil Refineries, Sparking Fire

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Thousands of Ukrainian children still in Russia after forced relocation

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Ukraine: Cheeto Mussolini tells NATO allies to stop buying Russian oil

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Zapad 2025: Russia, Belarus military exercise explained

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] US Lawmakers to Seek Adding Russia Sanctions to Funding Bill

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Magnitude 7.4 Earthquake Strikes Near East Coast of Russia's Kamchatka Region, No Tsunami Risk

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Drone Breaches Romanian Airspace During Russian Attack on Neighboring Ukraine

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Fearful of Russian Aggression, Poles Flock to Military Training

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Fire Breaks Out at Russian Oil Refinery Following Drone Attack, Regional Governor Says

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Russian Aircraft Equipped With Ballistic Missiles Fly Over Barents Sea During 'Zapad 2025' Drills, Ifax Reports

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Calls on All NATO Countries to Stop Buying Russian Oil, Threatens 50% to 100% Tariffs on China

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Presses NATO Nations to Halt Russian Oil Purchases

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] US's Rubio Calls Russian Drone Flight Over Poland Unacceptable

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Flight test: Downing Russian drones is new ground for NATO

  • The Local DK ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Denmark to buy European-made air defence against Russia threat

  • The Local SE ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Sweden summons Russian envoy over Poland drone raid

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Bobsled-Skeleton Federation Not Allowing Russian Athletes to Compete at 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] G7 Finance Ministers Discuss Possible Sanctions, Tariffs on Supporters of Russia's War

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] NATO Launches 'Eastern Sentry' to Bolster Eastern Flank After Russian Drone Incursion

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Poland Hopes US Will Act in Solidarity on Russian Drone Incursion, Foreign Minister Says

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Russia Says Ukrainian Drone Attacked Nuclear Power Station, No Damage Caused

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Russia Unveils Monument to Ukraine War Dead Outside St Petersburg

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Three Die in Ukraine's Sumy Region, Zelenskiy Says Russian Offensive There Has Failed

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Ukraine Increasingly Finds Russian and Belarusian Electronics in Missiles

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] US Vows to Defend NATO Territory After Suspected Russian Drone Incursion in Poland

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] US Treasury Calls on G7, EU to Impose Tariffs on China, India Over Russian Oil Purchases

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-11 [Older] Fact check: Russian drone downings in Poland spark disinfo

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-11 [Older] Poland united and determined after Russian drone incursion

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-11 [Older] EU Sticks to 2028 Russian Gas Exit After Talks With US Energy Chief

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-11 [Older] NATO's First Drone Battle Pits Million-Dollar Jets Against Cheap Drones, Exposing Vulnerabilities

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-11 [Older] Russia Reopens Krasnodar Airport in Its South for First Time Since Start of War in Ukraine

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-11 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Says Discussed Russia Sanctions, Joint Arms Production With US Envoy Kellogg

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-11 [Older] Zelenskiy Says He Asked Cheeto Mussolini Last Year for Long-Range Weapons if Russia Rejects Ceasefire

  • Copenhagen Post ☛ 2025-09-10 [Older] The Danish government has now responded to the Russian drones in Poland

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] Ukraine updates: Merz warns Putin is 'testing the limits'

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-17 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini to Return to the UN as Gaza, Ukraine Conflicts Rage

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Ukraine: Zelenskyy calls for air defense amid fresh strikes

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Canadian Cabinet Minister Freeland Set to Take on Global Ukraine Role, Says Source

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Exclusive-Cheeto Mussolini Admin Clears First Ukraine Arms Aid Paid for by Allies, Sources Say

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-16 [Older] Suspects Accused of Flying Drone Over Polish Presidential Palace Are Belarusian and Ukrainian

  • NL Times ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Sexual violence: Women and children unsafe in crowded shelters for Ukrainian refugees

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-15 [Older] Cluster Munitions Cause More Than 1,200 Civilian Casualties in Ukraine War, Global Monitor Says

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-14 [Older] Ukraine updates: Could UN peacekeepers safeguard ceasefire?

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Poland Deploys Planes in Its Airspace Because of Threat of Drone Strikes in Nearby Parts of Ukraine

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Ukraine Seeks $120 Billion for 2026 Defence as War Drags On

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-13 [Older] Ukraine, US to Scout for Minerals Deal Investment Projects

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Zelenskyy warns Putin wants to occupy all of Ukraine

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] The World's Tallest Sunflower Blooms in an Indiana Backyard as a Tribute to Ukraine

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] As Harry Visits Ukraine, Combat Amputees Use Sport to Aid Rehabilitation

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-09-12 [Older] Zelenskiy Says Many Details on Paper on Ukraine Security Guarantees

  • The Local SE ☛ 2025-09-11 [Older] Sweden promises Ukraine 100 billion kronor in military and civil support

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

• Meduza ☛ In plain sight How a restroom sign shown by a Russian propagandist revealed the hidden headquarters of Moscow’s most secretive and lethal drone unit

  In all three cases, identifying details were deliberately obscured. But Solovyov’s segment contained a telling slip: a restroom sign above a doorway and a column fitted with speakers, both of which were identical to those seen in publicly available images of Patriot Park’s exhibition halls. In the Defense Ministry’s and Rubicon’s own footage, journalists also noticed metal floor plates with distinctive openings, which match those found in the park’s pavilions.

• New Statesman ☛ Jeffrey Epstein haunts Donald Trump’s state visit

  Trump has been besieged at home for months by questions over his personal relationship with Epstein, and demands from both Republicans and Democrats to release the so-called “Epstein files”. Trump had a decades-long relationship with Epstein, who he knew from the Manhattan social scene, and praised him as a “terrific guy” in a 2002 interview. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” But Trump claims to have fallen out with the disgraced financier years before he was convicted of his first sex offences in 2008. Just as the Epstein scandal appeared to be fading, at least temporarily, from the headlines in the US – which were consumed by the assassination of right-wing activist and close Trump ally Charlie Kirk on 10 September – the saga was reignited by revelations of Epstein’s links to Peter Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to Washington.

Environment

• The Register UK ☛ Campaigners urge EU to mandate 15 years of OS updates

  Nothing says ‘circular economy’ like Microsoft stranding 400 million PCs on International E-waste Day

• Spiegel ☛ Expedition to the North Pole: Polar Researchers Fear an Ecological Collapse in the Arctic

  But Iversen does think it possible that the ice-free future may already have begun for the Arctic environment. And he has already taken a look at how this future might look. In sediment traps suspended beneath the ice, large quantities of tiny fecal pellets have accumulated. They come from pteropods, small marine animals that filter bacteria from seawater while encased in a gelatinous coating. They seem to be the big winners of the ongoing ecological transformation.

• Energy/Transportation

  • RFERL ☛ French Cyclist's Journey Ends In Russian Jail, Achingly Short Of 13,000-Km Goal

    Sehili was arrested after crossing the Russian border with China for the last leg of his attempt to break the world speed record for the journey from Lisbon to Vladivostok.

  • India Times ☛ Microsoft boosts Wisconsin data center spending to $7 billion

    Microsoft on Thursday said it plans to build a second massive artificial intelligence data center in Wisconsin, bringing its spending in the state to more than $7 billion. The new $4 billion project will join a $3.3 billion data center in Mount Pleasant in the southeastern corner of the state, announced last year.

• Wildlife/Nature

  • The Revelator ☛ Reclaiming the Udall Legacy: The Meaning of Conservation in Trump’s America

• Overpopulation

  • Overpopulation ☛ Fears that falling birth rates in US could lead to population collapse are based on faulty assumptions

    Pronatalistic alarmism about an oncoming economic crisis driven by a decline in birth rates is largely unfounded. In reality, the average number of children per woman in the US has stayed relatively consistent, and technological advancements and increased workforce participation means that the proportion of workers can remain stable at lower fertility rates.

Finance

• Major Oil Company’s Astonishing Layoff Figures Sound like ‘Recession’

  Oil industry mergers are driving significant workforce reductions: ConocoPhillips’ recent acquisition of Marathon led to plans to cut 20–25% of its workforce (~3,200 employees), reflecting a broader trend where mergers between closely related companies often result in layoffs to boost earnings.

• Hindustan Times ☛ Amazon, Microsoft among companies sponsoring more H-1B visas than before: Report

  US companies are reportedly sponsoring more H-1B visas than before, as per Newsweek. The data has caused worries online among American jobseekers.

  This report comes at a time when there is a backlash against the H-1B visa system, and a concerted crackdown on immigration by the Donald Trump government.

  [...]

  Yet another person commented, “i hate when i read there is no talent here (USA) to hire when literally 100000K workers in IT have been laid off .…They just want CHEAP as possible talent and that is the issue, USA has the talent in abundance.”

  Notably, companies like Microsoft have faced flak for boosting visa sponsorships while announcing layoffs. Supporters of the H-1B system feel that it draws talent and helps boost US economy, but detractors, many of whom are on the Reddit forum where the post was shared, feel that it can undercut chances for US workers, especially when companies are looking to cut jobs in the US.

• Seattle Children’s Hospital announces layoffs across 5 Washington locations

  Seattle Children’s Hospital has announced a round of layoffs Wednesday that will affect 154 employees at five of its Washington hospitals, according to a state filing with the Employment Security Department.

  The layoffs will take effect on Nov. 15, cutting down on staff across locations in Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Federal Way, and Kennewick.

• Financial Express ☛ ‘It’s scaring me’: Microsoft employee of 7 years says current work culture has changed for the worse

  “I’ve been at Microsoft for 7 years, and it’s never been like this,” says one anonymous employee who shared the post, noting that their own manager had suddenly booked a series of back-to-back ‘personal’ meetings, an uncommon occurrence within the company.

• Deadline ☛ List Of Hollywood & Media Layoffs From Paramount To Warner Bros Discovery To CNN & More

  The unfortunate trend can still be felt following the COVID-19 pandemic, dual Hollywood strikes and — the latest event to hit Los Angeles hard: a series of wildfires that broke out in January. As the entertainment industry still recovers from several compounding factors, Deadline aims to keep track of changes.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• India Times ☛ Cybersecurity firm Netskope fetches $8.8 billion valuation as shares jump in Nasdaq debut

  The firm's net loss narrowed to $170 million on revenue of $328 million in the six months ended July 31, compared with a net loss of $207 million on revenue of $251 million a year earlier.

• The Register UK ☛ Microsoft and pals announce cash for AI in the UK

  Such controversies, including Microsoft admitting during a hearing in France that it couldn't guarantee data sovereignty, have not deterred the megacorp. "This marks the largest financial commitment we've ever made in the UK," Microsoft said.

• The Verge ☛ Nvidia and Intel’s $5 billion deal is apparently about eating AMD’s lunch

  That sounds great! But also, that “underserved” market is also the same exact market that AMD has served and is trying to freshly serve with its Strix Halo, aka Ryzen AI Max, which… fuses AMD’s most powerful laptop CPU with the most powerful integrated graphics AMD has ever made, plus so much shared memory (128GB) you can run a big AI model locally. It all fits into a laptop I can lift with one hand. Or a big tablet. Or this thing.

• Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

  "" ☛ https://phys.org/news/2025-09-community-virality-false.html | Source: Omicron Limited

  • Omicron Limited ☛ Community Notes helps reduce the virality of false information on X, study finds

    A University of Washington-led study of X found that posts with Community Notes attached were less prone to going viral and got less engagement. After getting a Community Note, on average, reposts dropped 46% and likes dropped 44%.

  • TruthOut ☛ Ed. Department Will Give Grants to K-12 Schools That Adopt Right-Wing Curriculum

    Critics point out that the federal government has been barred from seeking to influence or direct curricula since 1970.

  • The Register UK ☛ Russian fake-news network back in action with 200+ new sites

    Dougan is a former deputy sheriff from Florida who gained political asylum in Moscow in 2016, and is allegedly a disinformation purveyor supported by the Kremlin. His phony media outlets have been cited in news articles or social media posts thousands of times, and both the US Treasury and Washington Post allege connections between Dougan, the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE), and the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU).

Censorship/Free Speech

• Open Caucasus Media ☛ For Georgia’s courts, dissent is more dangerous than violence

  The answer might seem simple, but not in the reality we currently live in. After all, Georgia is now a country where an activist who leaves graffiti on the mayor’s campaign poster can face a longer prison sentence than a violent assailant. In this context, even the most straightforward cases become difficult to assess within the bounds of reason and logic.

• Los Angeles Times ☛ After Kimmel and Colbert, who's next in war against free speech?

  In the MAGA establishment’s ongoing censorship campaign against Trump’s critics, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” became its latest victim when ABC announced Wednesday that it was pulling the show “indefinitely.” The network’s abrupt announcement followed an outcry from Trump’s supporters that the show’s host — a longtime critic of the president — had inaccurately described the possible political motivations of the suspect, Tyler Robinson, in last week’s killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

• New York Times ☛ Disney Pulled Jimmy Kimmel as Pressure Built on Multiple Fronts

  That decision — the product of a spider’s web of interlocking political and financial pressures placed atop one of the country’s biggest corporations — quickly morphed into a flashpoint for free speech in America. Many Democrats, actors and comedians cried foul as right-wing activists celebrated. On a diplomatic trip in Britain, President Trump knocked Mr. Kimmel for “bad ratings” and proclaimed that ABC “should have fired him a long time ago.”

• The Atlantic ☛ David Letterman’s Jimmy Kimmel Reaction: ‘We All See Where This Is Going, Correct?’

  Letterman was speaking with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg a day after ABC announced it was suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live “indefinitely”—a move that critics attributed to pressure from Brendan Carr, the Donald Trump–appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The incident has ignited concerns over free speech and the willingness of media conglomerates to bow to government threats. “We all see where this is going, correct?” Letterman said. “It’s managed media. And it’s no good, it’s silly, it’s ridiculous, and you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian—a criminal—administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”

• Los Angeles Times ☛ Wake up, Los Angeles. We are all Jimmy Kimmel

  It was not happenstance that President Trump chose L.A. as the first stop for his National Guard tour, or that ICE’s roving patrols are on our streets. It’s not bad luck or even bad decisions that is driving the push to destroy UCLA as we know it.

• The Nation ☛ Jimmy Kimmel’s Bosses Sold Us All Out

  Fairly examined, these words were neither offensive nor factually wrong. Kimmel wasn’t saying that the killer was definitely a part of the “MAGA gang”—he was objecting to the way MAGA was responding to the shooting. But the right seized on them and mischaracterized them as claiming that the assassin was a Trump supporter. One of those who went after Kimmel was Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who indicated that he might use the regulatory power of his agency to punish ABC. On a podcast on Wednesday, Carr said, “Frankly, when you see stuff like this—I mean, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

• Jacobin Magazine ☛ Jimmy Kimmel’s Cancellation Is Peak Hypocrisy

  So much for that. In Trump’s America, you are now not only forbidden to criticize a certain foreign country (Israel), post impolitely about corporate executives, or have memes on your phone that mock the vice president. You’re now apparently also not allowed to make jokes about the president or his friends.

• TruthOut ☛ Jimmy Kimmel’s Suspension Is Shocking, But the Worst Could Be Yet to Come

  In our analysis of those right-wing plans, we perceived that the right seemed poised for a broader attack, unlikely to stop at setting up a few specific scapegoats and relying on a climate of fear to do the rest of their work. While certain activists and movements — especially people working in solidarity with Palestine — would surely have bigger targets on their backs, we warned, the broader progressive movement could easily be ensnared.

• International Business Times ☛ Jimmy Fallon Abruptly Cancels Scheduled Appearance Hours After Jimmy Kimmel's Show Pulled Off Air

  Jimmy Fallon has cancelled his planned appearance at Fast Company's Innovation Festival in New York, just hours before he was due to take the stage. The Tonight Show host, 50, was scheduled to join former Netflix executive Bozoma Saint John on Thursday (18 September) to discuss his upcoming NBC reality competition series On Brand. However, organisers confirmed Fallon would no longer be attending, telling attendees that 'in light of recent events, Jimmy couldn't be here'.

• The Record ☛ Taliban bans fiber-optic [Internet] in several Afghan provinces to curb ‘immorality’

  Officials in Balkh, one of Afghanistan’s most populous provinces, confirmed earlier this week that [Internet] cables had been disconnected following a “complete ban” issued by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s reclusive leader. Haji Attaullah Zaid, a provincial spokesman, told the Associated Press the restriction was intended “to prevent immorality” and said authorities planned to build a domestic alternative.

• 404 Media ☛ Union Warns Professors About Posting In the ‘Current Climate’

  Academic workers are re-thinking how they live and work online after some have been fired for criticizing Charlie Kirk following his death.

• Garry Kasparov ☛ Emergency Zoom Call: The First Amendment Under Attack

  We are witnessing an unprecedented government assault on First Amendment freedoms in America.

• Deutsche Welle ☛ 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' pulled off air over Charlie Kirk comment

  On Monday, Jimmy Kimmel spoke about the shooting in his popular late-night show, saying:

  "We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA [Make America Great Again] gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it."

  He went on to criticize Trump's mourning of Kirk, pointing to a video of Trump's comments on the White House lawn, saying: "This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish."

  Before Thursday's announcement, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr called for local broadcasters to stop airing "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and suggested the commission could open an investigation.

• France24 ☛ ABC pulls late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off air after Charlie Kirk comments

  "Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely," an ABC spokesperson told AFP, using a television industry term for when a show is replaced or removed from the schedule.

• CBC ☛ ABC to stop airing Jimmy Kimmel Live!, after host's comments on Charlie Kirk killing

  Earlier, Nexstar Media Group, which describes itself as the nation's largest local [sic] television and media company, said it would stop airing the show on its 32 ABC affiliates, citing Kimmel's comments.

• CBC ☛ Ben & Jerry's co-founder resigns, with criticism of parent company Unilever, Trump administration

  In its complaint, Ben & Jerry's said Unilever also refused to let the company release a social media post that identified issues it believed would be challenged during President Donald Trump's second term, including minimum wages, universal health care, abortion and climate change.

• NPR ☛ ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel off air after comments made about the Charlie Kirk killing

  But it was what Kimmel said right before that that upset people, including Trump: "We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."

  On his show last week, Kimmel called Kirk's murder "senseless." And on the day it happened, Kimmel posted a message on Instagram sending love to the Kirk family and to the victims of gun violence.

• Variety ☛ Stephen Colbert Rips ABC for Pulling Kimmel: 'Blatant Censorship'

  The monologue prompted a response from FCC chairman Carr. In an unorthodox move from a sitting FCC chairman, Carr appeared on conservative personality Benny Johnson’s podcast and stated that, “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” Nexstar Media has denied that it pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from its stations due to Carr’s comments or that the decision was made in relation to the company’s pending acquisition of station-owner Tegna, which would require FCC approval.

• Variety ☛ Disney Faces Protests in L.A. and N.Y. After Yanking Jimmy Kimmel

  The crowds slammed ABC, Disney and Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr set off a chain of events Wednesday with his comments in a podcast interview that threatened Disney with another FCC investigation over Kimmel’s recent comments related to the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. As many prostestors observed, Carr’s actions that take direct aim at Trump‘s loudest critics are without precedent for any FCC leader in the 90-plus year history of the commission.

• Rolling Stone ☛ MAGA Twisted Jimmy Kimmel’s Words to Get Him Kicked Off the Air

  “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said during his monologue on Monday.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

• Gunnar Wolf ☛ Still use Twitter/X? Consider dropping it...

  Many people that were once enthusiast Twitter users have dropped as a direct or indirect effect of its ownership change and the following policy changes. Given Twitter X is getting each time more irrelevant, it is less interesting and enciting for more and more people… But also, its current core users (mostly, hate-apologists of the right-wing mindset that finds conspiration theories everywhere) are becoming more commonplace, and by sheer probability (if not for algorithmic bias), every time it becomes more likely a given piece of content will be linked to what their authors would classify as crap.

  So, there has been in effect an X exodus. This has been reported in media outlets as important as Reuters, or The Guardianresearch institutes such as Berkeley, even media that no matter how hard you push cannot be identified as the radical left Mr. Trump is so happy to blame for everything, such as Forbes…

• CPJ ☛ Spanish journalist Román Cuesta uses video of his assault to identify his assailants

  Cuesta used open-source investigation techniques to identify his assailants and published his findings in two detailed Diario Red analyses. The journalist identified the man who posted the video and a fourth who carried out surveillance.

• CPJ ☛ CPJ calls for immediate release of Somaliland journalist Abdiaziz Awl

  “Abdiaziz Saleban Sulub’s ongoing detention is the latest in a disturbing and persistent pattern of state aggression against the media in Somaliland,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities should release Abdiaziz unconditionally and stop weaponizing the justice system to intimidate and silence the press.”

• Tedium ☛ In Times Of Chaos, Embrace Independent Media

  But what I will posit is this: Independent media matters more than ever right now, because it is less susceptible to the triggers that hold back less flexible corporate media outlets.

  Publishers like myself have an [Internet] connection, a small array of hosting tools, and a web domain. And despite all that, we can punch above our weight.

• Garry Kasparov ☛ I Saw How Russia Killed Media Freedom

  Russia doesn’t have America’s history of democracy, but it was not always a KGB police state.

  We Russians did not get into our current predicament (which we have made the world’s predicament) overnight. The seeds of liberty were planted in the late 1980s and 1990s. Boris Yeltsin let the sprouts wither, but it was Vladimir Putin who ripped them out of the ground.

• Spiegel ☛ Critiquing DER SPIEGEL: The Four Dilemmas Facing Quality Journalism

  Media is changing. Rapidly. Not only that, but information is suddenly everywhere, people are losing trust in news outlets and there is a growing exhaustion with crisis reporting. Serious journalism is under greater pressure than ever before. How is DER SPIEGEL reacting? A guest essay by Bernhard Poerksen

Civil Rights/Policing

• Wired ☛ These Are the 15 New York Officials ICE and NYPD Arrested in Manhattan

  The lawmakers and other officials, arrested around 3:45 pm local time, say they were “attempting to conduct oversight” following claims that people appearing for court hearings were being confined for hours or days without proper food, medical care, or contact with attorneys.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

• Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Google to anchor Africa subsea cables with four new 'connectivity hubs'

  Although Okosi did not say exactly where the four hubs will be built, he said each landing station aims to cater for a region that more or less aligns with the four cardinal directions, meaning there will be one in the north, east, south and west of the continent.

• APNIC ☛ IPv6 Deployment at APNIC 60

  At APNIC 60, during the IPv6 Deployment session, several presentations explored the state of IPv6 research, deployment, and adoption — from scanning techniques and national transition strategies to operational rollouts. Together, they highlighted how IPv6 continues to evolve across research, policy, and practice, with a clear shift towards IPv6-only. This post explores those presentations.

• Inside Towers ☛ Nebraska Faces Backlash Over Plan to Use Only $44M of $405M Federal Broadband Funds

  “If there were a trophy for squandering opportunity, Nebraska would already have it on the shelf,” said Gage County Board member Emily Haxby, a longtime advocate for better rural service. John Nelson, CEO of Hamilton Telecommunications, added that “a lot of locations will be left behind.”

  Inside Towers reported the debate now centers on whether unspent funds will be clawed back by the Trump administration or repurposed for “non-deployment” broadband projects like digital training and data centers. Other states, including Louisiana, argue federal law allows them to retain excess funds for broadband purposes.