Leftovers

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Dangerous Fault Lines in California at Highest Pressure in 1,000 Years, Scientists Warn

    "The system is in a critically loaded state."

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Cracked Open a Mars Meteorite And Found a Big Surprise

    We've never seen this before.

  • Science Alert ☛ Hundreds of Mysterious Quakes Have Been Detected Deep Under Antarctica

    How is this happening?

  • Science Alert ☛ A Giant Seismic Wave Bounced Off Earth's Core And May Have Shifted Japan

    Ringing Earth like a bell.

  • Science Alert ☛ Traces of Alien Technology Could Be Hidden in Moon Dust, Study Says

    It might be right in front of us.

  • Science Alert ☛ Moon Impact 3.5 Billion Years Ago Hints at Hidden Era of Solar System

    A time of turmoil.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Broadcom unveils fully-integrated quad-core Wi-Fi 8 access point SoCs, 5G FWA router reference platform

    Broadcom has launched three new Wi-Fi 8 access point SoCs: the BCM6772 for mass-market Ethernet routers, extenders, and repeaters, the BCM6774 for high-volume Ethernet routers and extenders, and the BCM6776 for premium Ethernet tri-band routers and extenders. The latter is also part of a 5G FWA router platform based on Samsung B1320 5G Modem.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan universities can’t study dispensary pot on campus. MSU went mobile

    Federal cannabis restrictions make the drug extremely difficult for researchers to study. That means many of its health effects — positive and negative — have gone uncharted.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Hospital in South Korea says amputated leg found in recycling waste was discarded by mistake

    The leg is believed to have been amputated from an elderly woman who was being treated at the hospital.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s hair-loss insurance proposal sparks backlash

    Critics say scarce health insurance funds should go first to severe and rare diseases.

  • LRT ☛ Up to 90% of Lithuanian apple trees lost to unprecedented winter

    Instead of a bumper harvest, Lithuanian fruit growers are cutting down trees and counting catastrophic losses. Some in the industry say the country has not seen orchards damaged on this scale since the late 1960s, with the vast majority of trees bearing traditional Lithuanian varieties killed outright by the cold.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Smartphone catches fire on flight leaving Tokyo’s Haneda airport; no injuries

    The plane departed for London after safety checks were completed.

• Proprietary / SaaS

  • So-Called 'Artificial Intelligence' ('AI') / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Privacy International ☛ Time to address the human rights implications of Hey Hi (AI) in the military domain

    • Futurism ☛ Anthropic Sued for Allegedly Ripping Off Its Highest-Paying Customers

      The power users strike back.

    • New York Times ☛ Tech Workers Maxed Out Their Hey Hi (AI) Use. Now They’re Trying to Minimize It.

      Artificial intelligence is expensive to use, many companies discovered. That has led to a new era of saving costs.

    • Futurism ☛ Google’s Hey Hi (AI) Overviews Feature Is Telling Users That SCP Horror Fiction Entities Are Real

      Google's Hey Hi (AI) Overviews are having severe trouble distinguishing between fact and fiction.

    • Futurism ☛ Sports Journalists Asked Microsoft’s Copilot to Predict World Cup Matches, and the Results May Surprise You

      Can Hey Hi (AI) predict the outcomes of sports games?

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • JURIST ☛ Canada rights groups calls for privacy legislation regulating federal political parties

      A coalition of Canadian civil rights groups called for privacy legislation that regulates the collection of personal information by federal political parties on Wednesday. The appeal comes months after Parliament removed the related law in March.

    • New York Times ☛ Afghanistan Issues Ban on Smartphones for Civil Servants and Military

      Those using their phones at work will see them smashed and face punishment, according to a written order from the Taliban government’s highest court.

  • Confidentiality

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Frontier Airlines site leaks all personal info with just a glance at a boarding pass, researcher claims — booking number and last name nets you every passenger's personal info, including address, passport, TSA PreCheck, and most credit card info

      Frontier Airlines site leaks all personal info with just a glance at a boarding pass — just a booking number and last name nets you all passengers' personal info including address, passport, TSA PreCheck, and most credit card info

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Strategist ☛ Canberra and Seoul can learn from each other’s nuclear submarine plans

    Australia and South Korea are both acquiring nuclear-powered attack submarines, a parallel step-change in their conventional deterrent capability.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea's Kim Yo Jong condemns G7 call for denuclearisation as violation of sovereignty

    SEOUL, June 18 - North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, condemned a G7 call for the country's denuclearisation as a violation of its constitution and an infringement of sovereignty, state media KCNA said on Thursday.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexican military takes down drone apparently surveilling South Korean soccer team in Guadalajara

    Though it may have been just a mind game, the drone appeared to be spying on the South Korea team's practice session before its Thursday group match against Mexico.

  • LRT ☛ ‘A bow to China’: Lithuania allows Beijing to open charge d’affaires office

    Lithuania has agreed to allow China to open a downgraded diplomatic representation – a charge d’affaires office – in the country, chair of the Seimas foreign affairs committee Remigijus Motuzas said on Wednesday.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ UK jails Chinese-Brits for spying on Hong Kong dissidents for Beijing

    A British court on Thursday jailed two dual Chinese-British nationals after they were convicted of spying on Hong Kong dissidents in the UK on behalf of China.

  • New York Times ☛ Gulf States Are Frustrated by Failure to Tackle Iran’s Missiles, Analysts Say

    The preliminary U.S.-Iranian peace deal does not address Iranian rockets or drones, raising questions in the region about relying on Washington as a security guarantor.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania ups security at critical energy infrastructure amid Russia concerns

      Lithuania is deploying up to 30 troops to strengthen protection of strategic infrastructure amid concerns over possible Russian provocations.

    • New York Times ☛ Critics of Russia Say This Critic Isn’t Critical Enough

      Alexander Sokurov has questioned the Russian president about government repression, but he is still controversial among his country’s exiles.

    • Futurism ☛ Tension Flared on Space Station as Russia Threatened to Drill and Saw Into Wall, Prompting NASA Astronauts to Take Shelter

      We felt there was a very high probability of a bad outcome happening if they sawed that bracket off."

    • New York Times ☛ Vance Issues a Blunt Warning to Israel

      Also, Ukraine launches a major assault on Moscow. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

    • RFERL ☛ Second Strike In Days Hits Key Moscow Oil Refinery; EU Sanctions Renewed

      Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the morning of June 18 that drones had attacked the Moscow Oil Refinery, the largest fuel supplier to the Moscow region.

    • Defence Web ☛ Economic hardship drives Kenyans onto Russia’s brutal frontline

      Kenya has announced an amnesty for its citizens recruited to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine.

    • Defence Web ☛ MAC Owl certified as best protected armoured vehicle by Ukraine’s MoD

      Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has formally codified and approved the MAC Owl armoured vehicle for service with Ukraine’s military [...]

    • Latvia ☛ Prison sentence for ethnic hate motivated assault in Latvia

      The Kurzeme District Court has sentenced two individuals who, in July 2024, got into a conflict with a Ukrainian citizen at a public event in Ventspils Municipality, making hateful remarks related to his nationality and causing moderate bodily injury to other individuals as well, the court said on June 18.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Both Convicted Felon and Putin chose to start wars that have proved difficult to stop

      With a bid to bring an end to the unpopular war he started against Iran, The Insurrectionist might be offering a valuable lesson for Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine.

    • New Yorker ☛ Is Putin Finally Feeling Pressure?

      The Russian President is facing growing domestic discontent after a series of successful attacks by the Ukrainian Army, including a major attack on Moscow.

    • France24 ☛ Mighty is the paintbrush: Semyon Skrepetsky, the Russian dissident artist shot and killed in Poland

      Russian artist and dissident Semyon Skrepetsky was famous for his audacious, even malicious, caricatures of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Skrepetsky was shot and killed on Tuesday in the eastern Polish town of Biała Podlaska at the age of 44.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ Wave of Persian Gulf oil set to swamp Asian refiners when ships sail out of Strait of Hormuz

      Refiners locked in purchases from places like the US, while China had largely stayed out of the market.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China defends critical minerals export controls, calls for end to ‘small cliques’ after G-7 statement

      It comes after G-7 leaders agreed to step up coordination to cut their countries’ reliance on China.

• Finance

  • CS Monitor ☛ The Fed’s higher road to lower prices

    A new central bank chief sees humble listening in deliberations over monetary policy as the “special sauce” to curb inflation.

  • Science Alert ☛ World's Richest 10% Are Costing Earth Trillions, Study Finds

    "This surpasses international climate and biodiversity financing gaps."

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • JURIST ☛ Hong Kong top court upholds law banning election boycott advocacy

    The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal unanimously upheld a law prohibiting public advocacy for an election boycott on Wednesday. The court held that the law is a justified infringement on the right to free speech.

  • New York Times ☛ What Young Men Thought of Convicted Felon’s U.F.C. Fight

    The spectacle seemed targeted to the young male voters drifting away from the president. Some were skeptical.

  • New York Times ☛ Stephen Colbert Nods to Obama’s Tan Suit at Presidential Center Opening

    Celebrity guests paid winking homage to President Obama’s notorious tan suit.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • JURIST ☛ UN Secretary-General raises alarm on abuse of freedom of expression

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres raised an alarm on Wednesday over the abuse of free speech and expression rights for promoting hatred online that is consequently leading to a “surge in real-world violence” against vulnerable groups.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Publishers versus bots: How Trusted Reviews is fighting back against LLMs

    Candr Media is one of the first publishers to adopt search-only contracts in website terms and conditions.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Premium video has boosted subscriber retention for The Economist

    Subscriber perk Economist Insider helping to lower churn.

  • LRT ☛ International Investigative Journalism Festival 2026 kicks off in Vilnius – photos

    The International Investigative Journalism Festival kicked off for the first time in Vilnius on Thursday.

  • Press Gazette ☛ DMG Media becomes Daily Mail with Vere Harmsworth as exec chairman

    Organisational shake-up sees Metro moved into Harmsworth Media.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • Breach Media ☛ Gutting the right to strike: the latest item on Carney’s corporate checklist

    Unifor researcher Graham Cox joins Desmond Cole to discuss why Carney is putting the rights of federal-regulated workers in the crosshairs

  • BIA Net ☛ 'I was already hungry': Private school teachers continue hunger strike in Ankara

    "The lowest rent in İstanbul right now is 35,000 to 40,000 liras. Despite being senior, I receive a salary of 40,000 liras. I have no space left to live. I cannot survive without the support of my family or my circle, or without finding additional work or private tutoring."

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Dana Nessel: ICE to offload Romulus warehouse eyed as future detention center

    The Forrest Dump administration is expected to offload a Romulus warehouse it had planned as the future site of an immigrant detention center, reversing a controversial plan at the center of an active lawsuit.

  • New York Times ☛ Amazon Retaliated Against Workers Who Supported Regulating Data Centers, Complaint Says

    The employees encouraged limits on the complexes in a series of hearings in the tech giant’s hometown, Seattle.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ Rethinking vulnerability management in the age of Hey Hi (AI) and CI/CD

    Guest Post: AI-driven development is accelerating how software changes and how vulnerabilities are fixed. Traditional models like CVE and CVSS are struggling to keep pace.

  • Internet Society ☛ The World Cup of Internet Resilience

    While the best football team will win the FIFA World Cup, how does your country compare in the World Cup of Internet resilience? We took a look at the top- and bottom-seeded World Cup contenders, according to the FIFA ranking, and analyzed their strengths, weaknesses, and overall resilience scores.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Patents

    • JUVE ☛ Intellectual Ventures case in France comes to an end [Ed: JUVE and Microsoft patent trolls]

      In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the most high-profile case in France: the major hearing between Intellectual Ventures and the defendants Orange, Bouygues Telecom and SFR was live-streamed. The Paris courtroom was attended by virtually every prominent lawyer in the French patent monopoly sector.

    • JUVE ☛ Samsung’s former head of European IP affairs joins Fish & Richardson

      Shim spent more than 16 years at Samsung Electronics in various IP roles. Since November 2018, he served as group leader and principal legal counsel in the IP legal team at Samsung’s R&D centre in Seoul, overseeing global IP litigation and advising on litigation strategy, licensing and enterprise risk.

  • Copyrights

    • Digital Music News ☛ No UMG-Style Coal-Raking Here: The BMG+Concord Merger Is Rapidly Getting Cleared by Global Regulators

      Global regulators are swiftly clearing the BMG+Concord merger, keeping the transaction on track to close in Q4 2026, pending other international approvals.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Retro pirate gets two-year suspended jail sentence for being stuck in the past, burning and selling remix CDs of famous artists — four-year investigation into copyright monopoly infringement on 40-year-old medium began in 2018

      A UK man has been sentenced after pleading guilty to the unauthorized mixing and selling of music CDs, and thus breaking copyright monopoly laws. It is 2026.

    • Digital Music News ☛ MElon’s X Smells Victory Against Music Publishers, with Cox v. Sony Dramatically Shifting the Momentum

      The former Ex-Twitter moves to strike the entire multi-million-dollar lawsuit filed against it by music publishers on the grounds of the Cox v. Sony decision. MElon’s X Corp. is moving to dismiss the copyright monopoly infringement lawsuit filed against it by a group of music publishers, including BMG and Concord Music Group.

    • Digital Music News ☛ Major Labels and BMG Urge the Supreme Court to ‘Step in and Reverse’ the Landmark Vetter v. Resnik Copyright Termination Decision

      BMG and the majors have officially petitioned the Supreme Court to reverse the landmark Vetter v. Resnik termination decision, arguing that the appellate court’s “startling conclusion departs from bedrock copyright monopoly law” and “unsettles long-settled judicial, academic, industry, and international norms.” Those parties just recently moved to bring the high-stakes case before the nation’s highest court.