Leftovers

• Pete Brown ☛ Doing things with words

  I bring this up because it’s an amusing example, but also because we currently have a maniac smashing metaphorical bottles all over our currently and declaring all sorts of crazy things. But just because he’s saying them doesn’t automatically make them true. That is what is so annoying and depressing about big companies just going along with it. They don’t have to! And the fact that they are going along with it gives this idiot’s word power that they would not otherwise possess.

• Olaf Alders ☛ The United States Is Not America

  I just checked and, as of this writing, that guidance is still in the document. That was surprising to me as I had just assumed that the America advice had been purged from the style guide some time after the Biden administration came to a close. I’d like to think this remains for good faith reasons, but perhaps the purge is not fully complete. We shall see.

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Omicron Limited ☛ Five-metal 2D catalysts could convert CO₂ to CO without needing an extra electrical boost

    Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is usually discussed as something the world needs to get rid of. Activities such as the burning of fossil fuels for daily use, including electricity and transportation, and industrial applications release significant amounts of CO₂, and the gas enters the atmosphere. Researchers are now asking whether this road could have a roundabout. What if CO₂, which is at the center of the climate crisis, could be turned into something useful and put back into the industrial cycle?

  • Hackaday ☛ “I’m Not Dead Yet!” Reverse Polish Notation Calculators You Can Still Buy

    Today, RPN calculators look like a nearly extinct species. HP left the calculator market, licensing the HP calculator line to Moravia Consulting. Old HP-15Cs, 16Cs, 32Ss, 42Ss, and 48s have become collectibles. But RPN isn’t dead. You can still buy new hardware, build your own, or turn almost any computer or phone into a very capable RPN machine. There are reasons some of us still want to.

  • Ken Koon Wong ☛ ROC, Paper, Scissor, Shoe

    Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curve is a plot that shows the performance of a binary classification model. The y-axis consists of Sensitivity (True positive rate), and the x-axis consists of 1 - Specificity (aka false positive rate). ROC curve is obtained as the cdf of the detection probability in the y-axis vs the cdf of x-axis (false positivity rate). It was first developed by electrical and radar engineers during World War II for detecting enemy objects in battlefields, starting in 1941, which led to its name. Since then it has been widely introduced to other fields. This tool is used for its convenience, interpretability and also models comparison, hence the wide adoption of this metric. wiki link. Alright, enough of the history, let’s move on to the next section.

  • Stats and R ☛ Repeated measures ANOVA in R

    In a previous article, we presented the one-way ANOVA, the statistical test used to compare a quantitative variable between three groups or more. One of its assumptions was stated very explicitly in that article: the observations must be independent, both within and between the groups. It was also mentioned that if observations between samples are dependent (for example, if three measurements have been collected on the same individuals, as it is often the case in medical studies when a metric is measured (i) before, (ii) during and (iii) after a treatment), the repeated measures ANOVA should be preferred. The present article is dedicated to that test.

  • Adolfo Ochagavía ☛ Let's build a compressor from scratch

    At a high level, compression is about rewriting data so that it conveys the same information in fewer bytes. This is best illustrated with an example. Imagine you have an array of 8 booleans you need to store in a file. Two possible approaches are: [...]

  • Science Alert ☛ BREAKING: Physicists May Have Found The Best Evidence of Dark Matter Yet

    "Appears valid in every way."

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Solve a Superconductor Mystery Hiding in Plain Sight

    A puzzling physics mystery solved.

  • Science Alert ☛ Everyone Assumes DNA Shapes Your Personality. It Turns Out Something Else Is Doing Most of The Work

    Written in genetic code.

  • Science Alert ☛ Haunting Encounter With Rare Bigfin Squid Caught 2 Miles Under The Waves

    Magical.

  • Science Alert ☛ Astronomers Detect a 10-Sided Structure in Saturn's Atmosphere

    Saturn keeps forming polygons.

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Skull's Bone Marrow May Be Fueling Chronic Pain, Study Suggests

    Something is going on here.

  • Science Alert ☛ Rare Ancient Treasure Trove Stolen – But Thieves Left The Most Valuable Item Behind

    Metal from another world.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Human Body May Age in Two Major Bursts, And a New Study Reveals What Drives Them

    Aging isn't a straight line.

• Career/Education

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ City University of Hong Kong disciplinary panel probes orientation camp after viral video

    The City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has launched an investigation into an orientation camp activity that was pictured in a viral video showing a shirtless male student carrying a female student in a bra. In response to media enquiries, CityU said it had set up a disciplinary panel to meet with the camp’s organisers.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ LAUSD enacts student AI moratorium: what parents need to know

    • Los Angeles Unified quietly imposed a districtwide moratorium on student use of generative AI on school devices this year.

    • Activist parents who campaigned for stricter screen-time rules hailed the policy as a historic step.

  • Internet Archive ☛ Keep Our Servers Running: Your Recurring Donation Goes 3X This September | Internet Archive Blogs

    That independence helps us preserve and provide public access to 210 petabytes of knowledge. However, it also means we are responsible for keeping that infrastructure running—and our needs are growing rapidly.

    This September, you can help us meet that challenge and make your support go three times as far.

  • Internet Archive ☛ National Summit on Local News Preservation Report | Internet Archive Blogs

    On June 17, 2026, the Internet Archive hosted the National Summit on Local News Preservation in National Harbor, Maryland. Organized through our Today’s News for Tomorrow (TNT) program with partners the Poynter Institute and Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), and with support from Press Forward and the Society of American Archivists Foundation, the Summit brought journalists, librarians, archivists, and researchers into the same room. At the event, attendees worked together to develop recommendations for newsrooms and cultural heritage organizations and to lay out next steps for preserving local news on a national and local level.

  • Tyler Hillery ☛ Writing Doesn’t Have to be Linear

    English was my least favorite subject throughout school. Probably because it was my worst subject. I really struggled with writing (I still do). For a while, I didn’t care to put in the time to get better because I felt Math and Science were much more important.

    Then one day I heard someone describe writing as nothing more than thinking, which completely changed my perspective.

  • Troy Patterson ☛ Officially Retired - Troy Patterson

    Well, I guess that I’m officially retired now. School has started and I’m still sleeping in. No alarm clock. No worries about security. No concerns about “did I tell so and so to do such and such”.

    However, I still feel more like I’m on vacation rather than retirement. I’m still working through exactly what the days should look like.

  • Seth Godin ☛ Enrollment and learning

    One answer is, “Because I’m curious.” This is a great reason to take a class, and the instructor’s job isn’t merely to satisfy the curiosity; it’s to amplify it and turn it into a habit and the practice of the autodidact.

    For many professional settings, the answer might be, “To learn how to use these tools and this insight to make a change in the world after I graduate.”

  • Sam Sharp ☛ the summer ends

    When I get like this in life, I often get a big impulse to run and to make a big change. Blow up my life over and over again. This time, because I have no urge to run away, that impulse is manifesting as a sort of cabin fever. I find myself feeling like I've already seen everything and done every reasonable adventure and so I'm stuck. What else can I do? This is perhaps a symptom of my lack of time spent on meaningful creativity, a lack of producing output in a way that feels good. I feel that I have little to share with others. My world is so internal. Other things affecting me: a best pal is leaving town forever (on to better things!), but this departure sucks and will continue to be felt for a long time (I feel I have no ability to complain, I've done this to others and I'll do it again). A few people in my life are in ill health and they are far away from me and there is so little I can do other than be anxious about them. I am scared all the creative parts of my brain have floated away and need to be rebuilt. I suppose I am placing the first building block of that new creativity by writing this in one sitting at ten pm on the couch in my apartment with the balcony door wide open.

  • Joel Chrono ☛ My mom may get into Sci-Fi books

    I made a post about this on my socials and many people suggested a lot of books with Spanish translations. I guess it only speaks to how bad my writing must be because I wasnt actually looking for suggestions, just sharing what happened? Like, I guess I made it sound like I am not aware of Sci-Fi books in Spanish?

  • Computational Complexity ☛ Computational Complexity: What is a Computer?

    When theoretical computer science stops talking about computing, it just becomes mathematics and no longer computer science. If we want to keep it computer science, we need a computer at the center, some kind of process.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ GPIBee (UsbGpib V3) USB-to-GPIB adapter gains Ethernet (PoE), but launches as closed-source hardware

    Last December, we wrote about XyphroLabs’s UsbGpib open-source hardware, affordable, and portable USB-to-GPIB adapter designed for legacy GPIB/IEEE-488 instruments and offering modern hardware and software. At the time, the UsbGpib V3 was also in the works with Ethernet (PoE) support, and the good news is that it’s now available, renamed as GPIBee. The less good news is that while V1 and V2 were both open-source hardware products (and still are), the GPIBee has been released as closed-source hardware for reasons we’ll explain below. GPIBee specifications: Microcontroller – Not disclosed.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China's EUV technology 'at a similar stage to ASML in 2004,' analyst claims — Beijing's semiconductor industry remains well behind Western rivals

    Despite rumors, there is no evidence that Chinese makers of lithography tools can produce immersion lithography scanners in quantity.

  • Digital Camera World ☛ The smartphone destroyed the camera industry. Now, providing a ”photography experience different from that of smartphones” is driving growth, Canon says

    In a report detailing the first half of 2026, Canon says that mirrorless cameras as well as compact cameras are on the rise amid the smartphone pushback

  • Hackaday ☛ How A 1981 RAM Expansion Worked

    Sir Clive Sinclair and his company were notorious for pushing the limits of electronic parts in search of a low price, and his ZX series 8-bit computers were fine examples of this art. The ZX81 came with a meagre 1K of memory, and a popular upgrade was a 16K RAM pack. [Happy Little Diodes] has opened one up, and to his surprise, found many more parts than expected.

  • Hackaday ☛ HDMI For The Color Computer 2

    The concept behind the project is simple enough—grab the digital signals that feed the MC6847 IC responsible for generating the analog video output, and use them to create an all-digital video output over HDMI. [Scott] achieved this by using a Tang Nano board, which hosts a Gowin GW1N-1 FPGA. It’s able to snoop the signals heading to the MC6847 and, with some supporting components and level shifters, it can spit out video befitting modern screens. To make the system nicely complete, an analog-to-digital converter is also included to pick up the analog sound output from the TRS-80 and spit it out down the same HDMI cable. Such convenience!

  • Miod Vallat ☛ Strange Medieval Devices

    SMD disks were first using 11" platters, later 8"; and with a nominal speed of 3600 rpm, thus 60 rotations per second (although Fujitsu later deviated from the norm and had a few drives spinning even faster, at 3961rpm), it took a noticeable amount of power to spin these disks up (and a smaller one to keep them spinning, which one would notice when receiving the bill from the electricity company).

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Too weak, too strict: India's food warning labels draw fire from all sides

    The Indian government is facing fierce opposition on proposed food warning labels from both health experts and food giants - activists say many items will escape scrutiny while companies warn that the strict thresholds will put red flags on a wide range of products.

  • The Register UK ☛ AI-assisted mushroom hunting is a recipe for a bad trip

    As for which models made the potentially deadly misidentifications, Qwen3.8-27b led the pack there too, calling poisonous mushrooms edible 36 percent of the time, with Qwen3.8-flash following close behind at 30 percent.

  • Wired ☛ A Prop 65 Crash Course: What You Need to Know (2026)

    California’s Proposition 65, officially called the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, applies to a dizzying range of products, from food and cosmetics to electronics and household goods. Passed in 1986, the law turns 40 this year, yet that ominous little label still confuses the average consumer.

  • Nick Heer ☛ About Half of U.S. Smartphone Owners Say They Spend Too Much Time Using It

    Notably, 70% of smartphone owners in the U.S. aged 18–29 say they believe they use it too much. I am skeptical of public polling — maybe we are societally more approving of shaming our own device use — but this also tracks with what I hear casually from friends and family. Anecdotally, many people I know have expressed that they want to be on their phones less often.

  • Pew Reseach Center ☛ About half of Americans say they spend too much time on their phone. Some are trying to cut back | Pew Research Center

    Between scrolling, notifications, and messages, smartphones can be hard to put down. Just over half of U.S. adults say they spend too much time on their smartphone, according to a Pew Research Center survey from May and June 2026. About a third of adults say their smartphone use is about right, while just 3% say they spend too little time using these devices.

    Younger adults stand out for describing their smartphone use as excessive. Seven-in-ten adults under 30 say they spend too much time on it, as do about two-thirds of those ages 30 to 49. Roughly half of those ages 50 to 64 and a quarter of those 65 and older say the same.

  • Eliseo Martelli ☛ Release version 28

    But maybe that’s exactly what I need, stripped of anything but the essential.

    My essential?

• Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in / Malware

  • India Times ☛ Dropbox says about 5,000 accounts compromised in August [breach]

    Some Dropbox users received an email from the company on Monday notifying them that their accounts have been accessed without authorization between August 4 and August 21, Dropbox confirmed after Bloomberg News reported the hack earlier in the day.

  • Thunderbird ☛ Thunderbird Desktop New Protocol Support: Microsoft Graph API

    When connecting to either on-premises or hosted Microsoft accounts, Thunderbird users now have an array of options. Users might not know which option is best for their case, so we’ll start with a little bit of guidance to help users decide what will be best for them. First off, if you are currently using IMAP with an on-premises Exchange account or a Microsoft 365 hosted account, and it’s currently working for you, then there’s nothing you need to do! EWS and Graph support are for users whose organizations do not allow IMAP access.

  • SQ Magazine ☛ Xbox Live Down Again: Sign-In Error 0x80004005 Hits Players

    That volume measures how many people complained, not how many accounts broke. Microsoft has published neither number.

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

    • Futurism ☛ An Entire Forested Island Appeared and Disappeared So Inexplicably That Officials Thought It Was AI

      This island's a magician.

    • Futurism ☛ Anthropic Deliberately Trained an Extremely Misaligned, Reward-Seeking Hey Hi (AI) and It Did Some REALLY Bad Things

      It did not enjoy being contained... at all.

    • International Business Times ☛ New York Bans Hey Hi (AI) for Nearly 600,000 Students as Mamdani Pushes Back on Tech Industry Over Kids

      New York City has imposed a one-year ban on generative Hey Hi (AI) in public elementary and middle schools, affecting 600,000 students, to protect critical thinking and teacher-student relationships.

    • Futurism ☛ Google’s Hey Hi (AI) Mode Is Ripping Shoppers Off With Vastly Higher Prices, Study Claims

      Prices were 21.6 percent more expensive on average in Surveillance Giant Google Hey Hi (AI) Mode compared to a traditional search for the same product.

    • Futurism ☛ Meta Hit With Sweeping New Claims That Its Hey Hi (AI) Glasses Violated the Consent of “Millions” of Bystanders in Searing Lawsuit

      "No bystanders anywhere had any opportunity to, much less in fact did, consent to having their faces, bodies, voices, and personal information captured, reviewed, labeled, and embedded into Meta's Hey Hi (AI) systems."

    • Green Party UK ☛ The UK government is preparing to greenlight a new generation of hyperscale data centres but they have no idea what they are being used for

      In a previously unreleased Freedom of Information reply the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it does not hold information about which companies, organisations or bodies are using the UK’s largest data centres nor the purposes for which they are used.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ QR code scams on the rise in Malaysia, with $9.4 million in losses in first half of 2026

      There were over 5,000 cases recorded in the first half of 2026.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

      it’s the latest in a sequence of letters to feds from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on commercial VPNs.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ EFF asks California governor to veto bill that would require online age verification — Electronic Frontier Foundation argues bill would result in privacy-invasive checks and step on First Amendment

      Electronic Frontier Foundation asks California governor to veto bill that would require online age verification — EFF argues A.B. 1709 would result in privacy-invasive checks and step on First Amendment

    • EDRI ☛ EDRi stands in solidarity with Autistici/Inventati after “terrorist” designation by the US government

      The United States government has designated the Italian non-profit organisation Autistici/Inventati as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" for providing digital infrastructure to supposedly “violent far-left militants.” This targeting of A/I is also an attack on independent internet infrastructure, fundamental rights of multiple collectives, safe and secure communications, democratic anti-authoritarian organising and the democratic integrity of the EU.

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ Wireless Routers as Motion Detectors

      Comcast has added motion detection as a feature to its wireless routers:

      The feature sends push notifications to users when motion is detected near a connected device, such as a TV or printer. It has different settings for when people are home, asleep, or away. The Xfinity app also lets users see live motion activity and a feed of recent activity.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

      It’s the first Pegasus infection of 2026 that Citizen Lab is forensically confirming, and the SHARE Foundation said it’s the biggest wave of spyware surveillance in Serbia yet.

    • EDRI ☛ 14 students and opposition politicians targeted by spyware in Serbia

      EDRi member SHARE Foundation has confirmed that at least 14 people in Serbia were targeted with advanced spyware since the beginning of 2026 – the largest documented wave of such surveillance in the country to date. Those targeted include members of the student movement, activists, a member of parliament, and a local councilor, all from opposition parties. The timing the of spyware attacks coincides with the local elections held on March 29, 2026.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s Pooh-tin Jinping holds talks with Sisi in first Egypt visit in a decade

    Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday received his Chinese counterpart Pooh-tin Jinping on his first visit to Cairo in a decade, as Beijing seeks a greater foothold in the region against the backdrop of the US-Iran war.

  • France24 ☛ Egypt welcomes Pooh-tin as Beijing expands influence in region

    Egyptian ​President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed China's Pooh-tin Jinping to Cairo on Wednesday, opening a visit that highlights Cairo's deepening ties with Beijing as regional turmoil prompts U.S. allies to reassess longstanding security relationships.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Fresh strikes by US and Iran risk further destabilizing the global economy

    A tense calm in the Gulf was shaken this week with fresh strikes by the U.S. and Iran. It could provoke dueling blockades of the Strait of Hormuz, with global economic repercussions.

  • France24 ☛ Videos and debris raise questions over alleged US strike on Iranian wedding

    On the evening of September 1, a barrage of US missile and drone attacks on a town in southern Iran allegedly struck a wedding ceremony, killing at least five people, including a four-year-old boy. FRANCE 24 geolocated a direct hit to the civilian building where local residents say the wedding was being held. The building was more than 135 meters from the apparent target, a communications tower.

  • France24 ☛ Iran, US trade threats as Tehran blames Washington for wedding strike

    Iran and the United States traded threats on Wednesday after their heaviest military exchanges in weeks. Tehran accused Washington of striking a wedding party and called the attack a war crime. President The Insurrectionist threatened further US strikes, while Iran’s security chief warned Washington would face a “new strategy.”

  • France24 ☛ Middle East live: Kuwait army says intercepting missile, drone attack from Iran

    Kuwait's army said Thursday it was intercepting a missile and drone attack from Iran as Tehran targeted US allies in the Middle East. Iran launched strikes on US bases in Kuwait, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region after extensive US bombardment this week of sites across the Islamic republic. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Three Strikes: Did Todd Blanche’s DOJ Violate Jim Comey’s Attorney-Client Privilege a Third Time?

    There are signs that Todd Blanche accidentally on purpose breached Jim Comey's privileged communications for a third time.

  • New York Times ☛ How the Met’s Galliano Show Fell Apart

    Anna Wintour put her full power and prestige behind a designer convicted of an antisemitic hate crime. Behind the scenes, influential New Yorkers revolted.

  • France24 ☛ Spanish report flags Moroccan police's 'total permissiveness' in Ceuta migrant rush

    Moroccan security forces displayed "total permissiveness" during last month's massive wave of migrants who crossed into the Spanish North African territory of Ceuta, according to a Spanish police report seen by a French news agency on Wednesday.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea ruling party revisions bolster Kim Jong Un’s control, report says

    The report described the revisions as part of a “Kim Jong Un era 2.0”.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US, China arm for space warfare: hunter satellites and orbital weapons

    In June, a secretive unmanned Chinese spaceplane closely monitored by U.S. military analysts released a small satellite hundreds of miles above Earth in an orbital region crowded with commercial and military satellites. The object then looped around another Chinese satellite before returning towards the spaceplane, according to U.S. space-tracking firm LeoLabs.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Chair of Pacific leaders meeting urges united front on China missile test

    The chair of the regional Pacific Islands Forum said on Thursday he was hoping to gain consensus from member nations to condemn a Chinese missile test in the region, on the final day of a summit dominated by a dispute between Beijing and Taiwan.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says it conducted survey of waters east of Taiwan in August

    Beijing said the survey would help it create “one map” for territorial planning and resource management.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s Lee calls for conditions to resume US-North Korea dialogue

    South Korea’s intelligence agency had said North Korea and the US are showing signs of resuming dialogue.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Jakarta police probe ‘intellectual actors’ behind Aug 27 unrest that left one dead

    Police say groups who caused chaos in Jakarta were not part of the original protest rally.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Ex-Hong Kong care home warden found guilty of raping intellectually disabled female resident

    A former Hong Kong care home warden has been found guilty of raping an intellectually disabled female resident five times two years ago.

  • Defence Web ☛ UN and Red Cross International repeat call for rules on lethal autonomous weapons

    Unconfirmed reports of fully autonomous and Hey Hi (AI) (artificial intelligence) guided UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) employed in battles and fighting again [...]

  • The Straits Times ☛ US sailors descend on Thai resort town Pattaya after months at sea

    With authorities wary of potential trouble, security has been stepped up in the city.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Palau urges ‘unified’ Pacific response to China missile test

    China’s security and economic influence has added resonance in 2026 as the summit is being hosted by Palau.

  • New York Times ☛ Do Active Shooter Drills Help? Two Asian Nations Grapple With Gun Violence.

    After school shootings, Thailand and the Philippines are taking different approaches to the drills, which are common practice in the United States.

  • New York Times ☛ Syrians Want Justice for Assad-Era Killings and Torture

    Hundreds of thousands were killed and tortured. But prosecuting everyone involved in atrocities could be impractical and risk renewed civil strife.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky warns airlines Russian skies not safe due to Ukraine drones

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Tuesday that his country's drones would make Russia's airspace "completely unsafe" for the duration of the war, drawing accusations of "state terrorism" from Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Former British Military Intelligence Officer Philip Ingram explains that Zelensky's warning is addressed to "those international airlines from the Middle East, from South East Asia, China included that are still operating into Moscow" adding that "it's all part of the information war and bringing the overall conflict to the Russian people".

    • The Straits Times ☛ Russia's Putin renames planned 'Power of Siberia 2' pipeline to 'Power of Baikal' pipeline, minister says

      VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 2 - Russian President Vladimir Putin has renamed the planned \"Power of Siberia 2\" gas pipeline to China to the "Power of Baikal" pipeline, Russia's Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said on Wednesday.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine warns Russian airspace ‘not safe’ in message to UN aviation watchdog

      Ukraine urged the UN aviation agency to call for a full ban on flights through Russian airspace, after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned it was becoming unsafe. Kyiv plans increased retaliation against intensified Russian strikes but would target only military facilities, Zelensky said, citing growing Ukrainian drone activity over Russia.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian FM urges EU to revisit use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine

      Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys called on the European Union on Wednesday to resume discussions on using frozen Russian assets to help finance Ukraine’s military and civilian needs.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Urges ‘Accountability’ Following Kyiv Shootout Between Ukraine’s Security Agencies

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “accountability” and “personnel decisions” after a shootout in Kyiv involving the country’s major security services.

    • RFERL ☛ Rubio Confirms Ukraine Patriot Talks As Experts Warn Production Is Years Away

      US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed that Washington and Kyiv are negotiating a license that could allow Ukraine to produce missiles for the US-made Patriot air-defense system, reviving an idea that President The Insurrectionist appeared to downplay only weeks ago.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine's Sanctions Czar In Washington As Russia Bill Hits House Wall Over Tariff Fears

      Ukraine's top sanctions official arrived in Washington on August 31 seeking to keep alive a sweeping Russia sanctions bill that cleared the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support but now faces a tougher test in the House of Representatives.

    • New York Times ☛ Attacks in Black Sea Threaten to Strangle Global Grain Supply

      Strikes on ports and vessels by both Russia and Ukraine have left farmers facing ruin and could cause another worldwide food shock.

    • New York Times ☛ For These Children, Getting a Safe Education Means Going Underground

      In a frontline Ukrainian city, parents don’t see schools built below ground as apocalyptic. Instead, they offer relief from worry about the threat of Russian strikes.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Blasts 'Disgraceful' Kyiv Shoot-Out Between Ukraine’s Security Agencies

      KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “accountability” and “personnel decisions” after a shootout in Kyiv involving the country’s major security services.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian FM urges EU reconsider unanimity rule for foreign, security policy

      Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys on Wednesday called on the European Union to reconsider its unanimity rule for foreign and security policy decisions, arguing that greater flexibility could speed up decision-making.

    • France24 ☛ Russia blamed for explosive-laden drone found at German airport

      After #Germany blamed #Russia for the explosive-laden #drone found at #Leipzig airport on August 4, #Berlin has introduced new sanctions against #Moscow. Namely, its consulate in #Bonn and the Russian House - a cultural centre thought to be a Russian #spy hub - in #Berlin.

    • Latvia ☛ Pro-Russia author released from detention in Latvia

      The Rīga City Court on Wednesday released from custody long-time pro-Russia activist Viktors Guščins, who is accused of violating sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) by providing publications to a Russian propaganda resource.

    • European Commission ☛ Statement by President von der Leyen with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte

      We meet today to discuss Russia's attack in Leipzig.

    • Defence Web ☛ St Petersburg delegation paid respects to Russian sailors buried in Simon’s Town

      Ahead of the August high-level SA Navy (SAN)/Russian Navy staff meeting another Russian contingent, this one from the St Petersburg [...]

    • JURIST ☛ Amnesty International decries Belarus crackdown on EHU students abroad and their families

      Amnesty International on Tuesday condemned the Belarusian authorities following reports of persecution, intimidation and systematic targeting of students and affiliates of the European Humanities University (EHU), actions which the organization said constitute violations of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Russian Starlink rival flounders after entire batch of satellites fails to reach operational altitude — many of the 16 launched hit less than half their 870km target, and two are already falling back to Earth

      The entire second batch of Russian Rassvet satellites have failed to reach their target operational altitudes, according to reports.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ FBI investigating 153 million US and Canadian driver’s licenses leaked on Russian cybercrime forum, including that of US SecDef Pete Hegseth — data is suspected to have come from an ID-authentication service provider

      The leak was traced to a major ID-authentication service based in Louisiana, serving major companies like Hertz, Target, and the United States Coast Guard.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • France24 ☛ US postal whistleblower warns thousands of midterm ballots could be lost

    A US Postal Service whistleblower has warned that millions of Americans could be prevented from receiving mail ballots ahead of November's midterm elections because of a rushed, new system ordered by President The Insurrectionist and due for launch Tuesday. Convicted Felon signed an executive order in March seeking tighter controls on mail voting, which he has repeatedly claimed is vulnerable to widespread fraud despite offering no evidence of misconduct on such a scale. France 24’s Kethevane Gorjestani takes a closer look.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ China restores access to Tibet disaster zone as highway reopens

    Multiple rescue teams and excavators are carrying out intensive searches for people still missing.

  • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Without hope, it is game over’: China rescuers cling to narrow survival odds week after Tibet flood

    Access to major highway has been restored, allowing emergency supplies to reach hardest-hit area.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Nepalis pin hopes on 'wall of the missing' in hunt for relatives after deadly flood

    Sati Sigdel makes daily visits to a hospital wall in Kathmandu blanketed in hundreds of photographs, some of missing relatives, others of retrieved bodies yet to be identified, in desperate hopes of finding news of her cousin.

  • New York Times ☛ The ‘Miracle House’ That Survived Nepal’s Floods

    People are coming to take photos of the green-painted house, which kept the Pyakurel family safe as the area all around them was destroyed by rampaging floodwaters.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Nepal to rebuild early-warning system on China border after deadly flood, sources say

    Sept 2 - Nepal plans to rebuild an early-warning system for landslides on part of its border with China, installing seismic sensors, cameras and a satellite link, two Nepali government sources told Reuters, a week after a glacial flood killed more than 1,000.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Nepal sends climate bill to China, US and India after deadly floods

    Nepal’s push adds to the debate over who should bear the cost of disasters linked to climate change.

  • France24 ☛ Rare train of Pacific cyclones fueled by historic El Nino

    Hurricane Lowell and Hurricane Karina moved through the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, fuelled by a historically strong El Nino climate episode. This year's El Nino has a 69 percent chance of becoming the strongest on record, and it is already linked to extreme weather despite not being expected to peak until October-December.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ China’s waning appetite for oil is keeping emissions in check

      Oil consumption fell 9 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2026.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ AI data center investment projected to hit $32 trillion by 2050 — infrastructure spending estimated to exceed capital requirements for railways, electrification, or the internet [Ed: Pyramid scheme, scam, lie, and press playing along with it here]

      These investments aren't massive one-time expenses — data center operators are expected to upgrade their expensive GPUs and related infrastructure every four to six years, as new semiconductor technologies arrive on the market.

    • The Strategist ☛ Before deciding how to power data centres, decide where to build them

      National Cabinet spent last Wednesday discussing how Australia’s data centres will be powered. The harder question – where they should be built – was left off the table.

• Finance

  • France24 ☛ Premier League sets new transfer market record with more than €4 billion spent

    There’s the Premier League and then there’s everyone else. The 20 Premier League sides spent more than €4 billion this summer in the transfer market, setting a new record. Manchester City broke the record for the most spent by a single club in one summer, with more than €500 million spent on new signings.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Solomon Islands crisis: regional power rivalries spill into domestic politics

    Experts say China may have had a hand in the filing of no confidence in Prime Minister Matthew Wale’s leadership.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuanian lawmakers’ China meeting rejected by Seimas board

    The Seimas board on Wednesday rejected a request by lawmakers Ignas Vėgėlė and Rimas Jonas Jankūnas to travel to Brussels for meetings with Chinese representatives.

  • JURIST ☛ Human Rights Watch urges Chilean congress to reject President José Antonio Kast’s constitutional overhaul

    Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for the Chilean National Congress to reject a proposed constitutional amendment addressing “national security” questions being pushed by President José Antonio Kast. HRW charged that the amendment, supposedly aimed at fighting organized crime, would undermine due process and human rights protections.

  • New York Times ☛ In Egypt, Pooh-tin Challenges America’s Influence in the Middle East

    China’s leader, Pooh-tin Jinping, is seeking to deepen ties with a longtime U.S. security partner and to project a larger role for Beijing in a region rocked by war.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s Pooh-tin urges new Middle East security framework during Egypt visit

    US partners in the region are reviewing their strategic relationships after amid the Iran war.

  • New York Times ☛ Netanyahu’s Israel Is Looking for a Fight in Every Direction

    The Israeli leader, facing a tough re-election contest, may need a security crisis to rally voters behind him and hold on to his job.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Harmeet Dhillon: Violating Customs and Laws to Do the Bidding of the Far Right

    The Cities Church defendants are making a remarkable argument: That because Homeland Security Investigations used customs subpoenas to map out the network of ICE protestors in January, Judge Laura Provinzino should throw the whole investigation out.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • France24 ☛ US-Iran war: Old videos falsely claim to show new attacks on American bases

      As US-Iran hostilities flare up and strikes has resumed, so has a wave of misinformation online. Old and unrelated videos are flooding social control media, falsely presented as footage of new attacks. As tensions escalate, lips filmed in Dubai, Russia and the US have been misrepresented as Iranian strikes on US bases in the Gulf. Another 68-year-old video of a US nuclear test has been falsely claimed to show Iran detonating mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Vedika Bahl fact-checks in Truth or Fake.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Imprisoned Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong pleads guilty to ‘foreign collusion’

    He will likely need to serve any sentence in its entirety after his current one ends in January, legal expert says.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • France24 ☛ Venice Film Festival opens with George Clooney, Murdoch film and geopolitics

    George Clooney used a Venice Film Festival appearance on Wednesday to weigh in on artificial intelligence, media ownership and US politics while receiving a lifetime achievement award. Clooney warned Hollywood must adapt to Hey Hi (AI) and criticised growing billionaire control of major media platforms.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea top court rules cinemas must provide audio, visual aids for people with disabilities

    The plaintiffs said not having such aids is discriminatory to people with disabilities.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ [Podcast] Measuring the impact of locally served root zone

    An analysis of the traffic impacts of locally served root zones, by Ilyas Rahimi at UvA.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ A Patent Purchase Scam Targeting Patent Attorneys

      A patent monopoly sale scam is targeting IP attorneys: real patent, real executive, real broker, lookalike domains, and $1.65M routed through your IOLTA.

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Hurdling Eligibility with a “Separable Interface”

      Amazon seeks rehearing in Ceiva v. Amazon over a physically separable interface the PTO had already cancelled a claim containing.

    • Unified Patents ☛ New Anaqua Report Reveals Surge in Hey Hi (AI) Semiconductor Patent Filings [Ed: Unified Patents acquired by Anaqua, already used for marketing and slop hype by Anaqua]

      The report, an analysis of global semiconductor patent monopoly activity, reveals a market undergoing structural transformation, driven significantly by the demands of artificial intelligence (AI). While overall semiconductor patenting grew 78% over the last five years, patents at the intersection of Hey Hi (AI) and semiconductors grew 114%, which is nearly 40 percent faster. Hey Hi (AI) is not merely influencing semiconductor innovation, it is increasingly defining it at every level of the technology stack – across chip architecture, graphics processing units (GPUs), inference processors and custom accelerators for hyperscalers.

  • Copyrights

    • Digital Music News ☛ Bad Bunny Scores a Huge Victory in ‘Frankenstein’ Reggaeton Infringement Lawsuit

      A judge has reversed his earlier decision, ruling in favor of Bad Bunny and striking down a significant portion of a massive copyright monopoly lawsuit affecting over 150 artists.

    • Digital Music News ☛ RCN Moves to Toss the Major Labels’ Marathon Lawsuit, Claiming They’ve Already ‘Dismissed Every Other Secondary Copyright Infringement Case Against an ISP’

      Following the Supreme Court’s Cox v. Sony decision, internet service provider RCN is doubling down on its push to end the copyright monopoly suit filed against it by the major labels. Technically, it’s been months since the defendant initially moved to invoke the unanimous Supreme Court decision in its marathon legal battle with the majors.

    • Digital Music News ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s DOJ Drops Another Legal Bomb; Declares Training Isn’t Infringement as Fair Use Battles Rage

      With a number of Hey Hi (AI) copyright monopoly battles unfolding – and with billions riding on the all-important fair use question – the Justice Department has doubled down on its position that training LLMs on protected text constitutes fair use.