Leftovers

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese guitar capital’s stairway to export heaven

  It doesn’t take long to guess the main industry of the Chinese town of Zheng’an. A giant guitar sculpture dominates the central square, guitar murals adorn walls and pavements and even the rubbish bins are shaped like guitars.

• New York Times ☛ The Generation That’s Never Had to Say ‘Hello?’

  Now that there’s rarely any mystery to who’s calling, Gen Z has adopted a range of custom phone greetings — including no greeting at all.

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • New York Times ☛ Inside the D.O.J.’s Investigation of Fauci and Other Virus Scientists

    As Dr. Anthony Fauci has faced public scrutiny from congressional Republicans, the D.O.J. has pursued a quieter and more expansive effort against a wider circle of researchers.

  • Futurism ☛ Scientists Detect Strange New Structures Deep Inside the Earth

    They're buried thousands of miles below the surface.

  • Science Alert ☛ Broken Skeleton Could Be The First Evidence of Medieval Death by Trebuchet

    His bones were shattered in more than 160 places.

  • Science Alert ☛ If Your Parents Live to 100, Does That Mean You Will Too? The Most Comprehensive Study Yet Has an Answer.

    The largest study yet on the children of centenarians.

  • Science Alert ☛ Mesmerizing Video Reveals a Rare Ocean Ecosystem at The Edge of a Greenland Glacier

    An underwater world of ice.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Haze in Malaysia: No more areas with air quality at hazardous levels

    But air quality in two areas still remain at very unhealthy levels.

  • Science Alert ☛ Only Cats Are Linked to Worse Mental Health in Young Kids, Study Finds

    What are they doing to the kids?

  • Science Alert ☛ Arthritis Drug Restores Up to 100% of Hair in Patients With Severe Alopecia

    Effective and safe.

  • Science Alert ☛ One Old-Fashioned Trick May Actually Help Ease Lower Back Pain, Clinical Trial Finds

    A little support may ease back pain.

  • Futurism ☛ Melatonin Use Linked to Massively Increased Risk of Heart Failure

    "Melatonin supplements may not be as harmless as commonly assumed."

  • Futurism ☛ The CDC Is Now Denying That Specific Children Died From Measles, in a Scandal Potentially Beyond Anything in Its History

    It's a virtually unprecedented move by the CDC.

  • Science Alert ☛ Type 1 Diabetes May Actually Be Two Different Diseases, Massive International Study Finds

    A new disease route is discovered.

• Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in / Malware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Xbox Game Pass imposes monthly cloud gaming limits, just 15 hours per month for Ultimate — subscribers and non-subscribers can buy more hours to keep gaming

    Microsoft has added monthly limits to its Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming service, where subscribers and non-subscribers can purchase extra playtime when they surpass their limits.

  • Double Fine made great games for Game Pass, but everything changed with Asha Sharma's arrival, complains Tim Schafer

    Double Fine Productions founder Tim Schafer sharply criticized Xbox's current direction, stating that the studio's relationship with Microsoft changed after Phil Spencer's departure and Asha Sharma's arrival. According to the developer, at some point he felt that Xbox management was no longer interested in the previous format of cooperation.

    Schafer said that Double Fine and Xbox had a mutually beneficial relationship for a long time: the studio created games, and Microsoft received amazing projects for Game Pass. However, after the change in leadership, according to the Double Fine founder, "their mission changed".

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

    • Futurism ☛ Hikers Rescued After Using Surveillance Giant Google Hey Hi (AI) to Plan Disastrous Trip

      This needs to stop now.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • BIA Net ☛ Turkish police deploy loudspeaker-equipped drones to disperse public drinkers

      Social media users are calling it a scene that rivals that of science fiction movies, raising concerns over police surveillance.

    • Futurism ☛ People Are Telling Their Darkest Thoughts to Hey Hi (AI) Without Realizing They Can Easily Become Public

      "You can't be sure that it'll be totally private."

    • NYPost ☛ Flock cameras could turn American neighborhoods into a ‘China-like surveillance state,’ ex-Pentagon Hey Hi (AI) chief warns

      Mark Beall urges court oversight, strict guardrails on automated license plate readers used by law enforcement.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippine V-P Sara Duterte posts bail over ‘grave threats’ against Marcos

    The alleged assassination threat also forms a crucial element of her ongoing Senate impeachment trial.

  • France24 ☛ Germany: AfD eyes historic state election win

    In Saxony-Anhalt, AfD – Germany's far-right party – is polling at 40% or more of voting intentions, just days ahead of the regional election on 6 September 2026. If the AfD wins an absolute majority of seats, it could soon be in charge here. It would be the first time since 1945 that a far-right party has led a German region.

    To get there, the party is banking on the promise of a return to "the Germany of old", leaning on East German symbols such as Simson mopeds and retro aesthetics. It is a well-established strategy that draws on a gnawing sense of decline for decades and increasing distrust of traditional parties.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Japan to mass-procure 3D-printed rocket-powered drone interceptor — Terra B1 capable of countering one-way attack platforms

    Japan’s military has decided to mass-procure Terra B1 interceptor drones. These drones are made using 3D printers and are based on the tried and tested A1 model from Terra Drone, which began to be deployed by Ukraine earlier this year.

  • New York Times ☛ A Sympathetic Defendant and Well-Crafted Defense Dominated Clancy Trial

    The defense lawyer for Lindsay Clancy showed empathy for his client in showcasing her mental health problems. That may have made all the difference.

  • New York Times ☛ What the War in Iran Has Cost One Gold Star Family

    First Lt. Tyler James Feehan, who was 25, had been deployed to an air base in Jordan when enemy missiles and drones lit up the sky. He is among the 18 Americans who have died since the war began.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Military Sinks Boats Said to Aid Drug Smuggling Near Ecuador

    Unlike dozens of similar strikes, no one was killed after people suspected of drug smuggling were removed from what the U.S. military described as a floating refueling station.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Strikes Three Iranian ‘Shadow Network’ Oil Tankers, Military Says

    The U.S. military said it retaliated after Iran launched missiles at two warships. The strikes came days after the two sides exchanged some of their most intense fire in weeks.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New York Times ☛ Here Is Where Ukraine Peace Talks Stand, as a New Round Approaches

      A deadly campaign of Russian and Ukrainian airstrikes has escalated since the last U.S.-brokered negotiations stalled in February.

    • New York Times ☛ Following Stolen Cars From Canada to Russia

      How two investigative reporters for The Times learned where many of the luxury cars stolen to order in Canada are actually going, and why.

    • France24 ☛ Witkoff: Putin’s Messenger?

      What did Steve Witkoff know about Russia when he was first sent to see President Putin in February last year?

    • France24 ☛ War in Ukraine: Putin, Zelensky order pause in strikes

      Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow.

    • RFERL ☛ US Envoys Head To Kyiv After Stop In Moscow, Late-Night Meeting With Putin

      After a day of crucial meetings in Moscow, including with President Vladimir Putin, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are switching wartime venues, heading to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy with aims of ending the conflict now in its fifth year.

    • RFERL ☛ US Envoys Conclude Moscow Meeting With Putin As Kremlin Cites 'Difficult Situation'

      US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have begun their meeting in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin as part of a renewed White House effort to end Russia's war against Ukraine, with the pair set to visit Kyiv afterward.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Putin meets with US envoys for renewed talks on ending the war in Ukraine

      Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to try to revive a push to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

    • New York Times ☛ Putin Meets Witkoff and Kushner in Moscow to Discuss Ukraine War

      President Vladimir V. Putin ordered a pause in strikes on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, ahead of the meeting with Hell Toupée’s envoys: his son-in-law Jared Kushner and the businessman Steve Witkoff.

    • New York Times ☛ Putin Denies a Draft Is Coming, but Some Russian Men Are Taking No Chances

      As the fear of a possible mobilization becomes a fixture of daily life across Russia, many men are deciding whether to flee, hide or sit tight.

    • France24 ☛ US envoys Witkoff, Kushner arrive in Moscow for talks on peace in Ukraine

      US special representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed in Moscow on Saturday for talks on how to end the ‌war in Ukraine, where they were met by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Our guest Jamie Smith-Maillet tells us more.

    • France24 ☛ Witkoff and Kushner are in Moscow in a new push for peace between Russia and Ukraine

      US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Saturday to try to revive a stalled push to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian state news outlets reported. Our correspondent Gulliver Cragg tells us more.

    • RFERL ☛ New EU Sanctions To Hit North Korean Camp Where Russia Sends Abducted Ukrainian Kids

      Russia has been sending abducted Ukrainian children to a summer camp in North Korea, according to a European Union document seen by RFE/RL outlining a new round of planned sanctions.

    • RFERL ☛ US Envoys Arrive In Moscow As Russia Continues To Pound Ukraine

      US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have landed in Moscow as part of the latest White House attempt to end Russia's war against its neighbor, with the two diplomats set to visit Kyiv afterward.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • France24 ☛ 'Culture of fear within US Defence Department: Slow leakage of dissent against the administration'

    Catherine Viette is pleased to welcome Dafydd Townley, Senior Teaching Fellow in International Security at the University of Portsmouth. He argues that the turmoil surrounding Pete Hegseth points to a problem much deeper than personnel disputes at the Pentagon: The removal and marginalization of experienced officials, the weakening of professional military education, and the prioritization of political loyalty risk changing the institutional culture through which the US military evaluates strategy and challenges political authority.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ Families of missing pilgrims in Tibet demand answers from China

    Several families of those missing allege an information blackout in China.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Futurism ☛ As If There Was Any Question About Data Centers Being Weak Job Creators, Meta Is Now Deploying Robots to Maintain Them

      "We thought those of us performing the physical tasks were safe for a while, but not anymore."

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ Squid Are Taking Over The Ocean – And Not For The Reason You Might Think

      Making the most of a dire situation.

• Finance

  • Quillette ☛ Why So Many Young Men Are Giving Up on Work

    My guest today is Tanveer Ahmed. He’s a psychiatrist and the author of three books, Fragile Nation, In Defence of Shame and The Exotic Rissole. He’s just written a piece for Quillette about something he sees in his consulting room and in the data at the same time: men who have quietly stopped working and who have stopped looking for work. Not unemployed exactly, but demoralised. It’s a distinction that turns out to matter enormously, and we get into why.

    [...]

    Which also shows decline among, what, say, under-35 men. Generally, the people opting out of the participation rate—one broad trend we can identify is in the last 20 years, the people opting out, if there was a graph drawn, it would get skewed younger and younger.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China artists quit S.Korea art show after organisers let ‘Taiwan’ be used in name of exhibition

    Chinese artists withdrew from a major South Korean art show after organisers allowed “Taiwan” to be used in the name of an exhibition, officials said Thursday, as China issued a rebuke.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • France24 ☛ France: Emmanuel Macron unveils new disability strategy

    French President Emmanuel Macron delivered the closing speech at the national conference on disability. It is an event the government holds every three years. It aims to set or guide policies. Macron made disability one of the priorities of his first five-year term. Since 2017, the government has implemented a number of measures to better integrate people with disabilities into society. According to official figures, between 5.7 and 18.2 million people aged five and older in France have a disability. We discuss this with our guest, Dr. Johny Daniel, associate professor at the School of Education at Durham University.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Prof John Duffy Next USPTO General Counsel

      Professor John Duffy has been offered the USPTO General Counsel post, reuniting him with Director Squires, his co-counsel from the Bilski litigation.

  • Copyrights

    • New York Times ☛ Authors Wrangle With Publishers Over $1.5 Billion Anthropic Hey Hi (AI) Settlement

      The tech giant must pay $3,000 per pirated book that it used to train its chatbot. Many authors fear they could lose funds to others in the book business.