Links 11/06/2024: Practice of Retaliatory Layoffs at Microsoft
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Ruben Schade ☛ Why coffee shops are magic (to me)
Back when I was at uni in Adelaide, there was a gentleman in my dorm who loved hip hop. Posters of the music adorned his room, and you could always hear the muffled thumping of his speakers through the walls. One day I knocked on his door, and asked if he needed anything from the supermarket. To my surprise as the door swung open, he was buried in textbooks! I couldn’t believe someone could study in that loud environment, but he said that specific beat “did something” to let him concentrate.
That’s a bit like me with coffee shops. Since I was a teenager, they’ve been the primary place where I think and write. Most blog posts I’ve written here since 2004 have been from a handful of coffee shops in the place where I lived at the time, to the point where I’ve been tempted to track these locations in metadata.
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Ruben Schade ☛ LED bulbs
LED “bulbs” are great. They’re drastically more power efficient, run cooler in hot climates, and offer a wider spectrum of light than those horrible corkscrew compact fluorescent lamps we all ran for a few years there.
I also distinctly remember LEDs being touted as more reliable than other bulbs, such as halogens and incandescents. But my experience doesn’t mirror this at all. In the three small apartments Clara and have lived in, we’ve had to change an LED bulb at least every few months, if not more frequently. By contrast, my dad once quipped they almost never had to change incandescents in the houses we lived in.
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Jim Nielsen ☛ Hedge Words Affirm Creative, Imaginative Thinking
Mandy’s note piqued my interest so much, I started reading Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz. So far, I love it! (I hope to write more about it once I’ve finished, but I’m afraid I won’t because the whole book is underlined in red pencil and I wouldn’t know where to start.)
As someone who has been told they self-sabotage by using hedge words, I like this excerpt from Schulz that Mandy quotes in her post:
disarming, self-deprecating comments, (“this could be wrong, but…” “maybe I’m off the mark here…”)…are often criticized [as] overly timid and self-sabotaging. But I’m not sure that’s the whole story. Awareness of one’s own qualms, attention to contradiction, acceptance of the possibility of error: these strike me as signs of sophisticated thinking, far preferable in many contexts to the confident bulldozer of unmodified assertions.
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Hackaday ☛ Switching Regulator Layout For Dummies
Last time, we went over switching regulator basics – why they’re wonderful, how do you find a switching regulator chip for your purpose, and how to easily pick an inductor for one. Your datasheet should also tell you about layout requirements. However, it might not, or you might want to deviate from them – let’s go more in-depth on what those requirements are about.
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Hackaday ☛ 2024 Business Card Challenge: Who Do You Love?
When you hand your new acquaintance one of your cards, there’s a chance you might feel an instant connection. But what if you could know almost instantly whether they felt the same way? With the Dr. Love card, you can erase all doubt.
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Hackaday ☛ Bidirectional Data Transfer Through Mud?
We take easy communications for granted these days. It’s no bother to turn on a lightbulb remotely via a radio link or sense the water level in your petunias, but how does a drilling rig sense data from the drill head whilst deep underground, below the sea bed? The answer is with mud pulse telemetry, about which a group of researchers have produced a study, specifically about modelling the signal impairments and strategies for maintaining the data rate and improving the signal quality.
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Hackaday ☛ EMO: Alibaba’s Diffusion Model-Based Talking Portrait Generator
Alibaba’s EMO (or Emote Portrait Alive) framework is a recent entry in a series of attempts to generate a talking head using existing audio (spoken word or vocal audio) and a reference portrait image as inputs. At its core it uses a diffusion model that is trained on 250 hours of video footage and over 150 million images. But unlike previous attempts, it adds what the researchers call a speed controller and a face region controller. These serve to stabilize the generated frames, along with an additional module to stop the diffusion model from outputting frames that feature a result too distinct from the reference image used as input.
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Hackaday ☛ AI Kayak Controller Lets The Paddle Show The Way
Controlling an e-bike is pretty straightforward. If you want to just let it rip, it’s a no-brainer — or rather, a one-thumber, as a thumb throttle is the way to go. Or, if you’re still looking for a bit of the experience of riding a bike, sensing when the pedals are turning and giving the rider a boost with the motor is a good option.
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France24 ☛ US civil rights icon Rev. James Lawson dies at 95
The Rev. James Lawson Jr., an apostle of nonviolent protest who schooled activists to withstand brutal reactions from white authorities as the Civil Rights Movement gained traction, has died, his family said Monday. He was 95.
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Mark Hansen ☛ Glorious Parramatta Autumn, 2024
A stunning day to head out and play with a new wide lens.
This churchyard tree had such vibrant contrast with the blue sky: [..]
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Standards/Consortia
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The Register UK ☛ FCC takes some action against notorious BGP
BGP is a protocol used by the internet to establish the most efficient traffic routes between systems, by allowing those systems to advertise their presence to each other and then figuring out the best way forward. More simply put, the internet is a network of networks of yet more networks, and BGP is part of the glue that binds them together in a streamlined manner. Crucially, it wasn't designed with security in mind; these networks are trusted to do the right thing.
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Juha-Matti Santala ☛ What does it feel like to read RSS feeds?
Others followed suite and these days every major commercial social media platform prioritizes a feed that’s run by a set of recommendation algorithms. They are now about what the platform wants you to see to increase engagement (for example by making you angry) and to sell ads and not about who you have chosen to follow. Mastodon is a notable exception and that’s why it’s where I spend my time almost exclusively when it comes to social media.
RSS feels like social media used to be. I choose which blogs I read and there’s no algorithm in between deciding what I should be shown and what not.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ The Milky Way May Have Collided With Something Huge Within Earth's Lifetime
We can still see the scars.
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Science Alert ☛ Kew's Most Famous Plant Continues to Turn Heads (And Noses) 135 Years On
A must-see (mustn't-smell).
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Hardware
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Linux Gizmos ☛ AAEON UP Xtreme i14 Series Featuring 125H/155H defective chip maker Intel Processors Now Available for Pre-Order
The UP Xtreme i14 series is engineered for compact computing applications in industrial and commercial settings. It supports either the defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra 5 processor 125H or the defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra 7 processor 155H, both paired with defective chip maker Intel Arc graphics. This series also features key interfaces such as GbE and multiple display support, accommodating a range of connectivity needs.
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Science Alert ☛ Swiss Startup Connects 16 Human Mini-Brains to Create Low Energy 'Biocomputer'
The future of AI?
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Hackaday ☛ Donkey Kong Bongos Ditch The GameCube, Go Mobile
Historically speaking, optional peripherals for game consoles tend not to be terribly successful. You’ll usually get a handful of games that support the thing, one of which will likely come bundled with it, and then the whole thing fades into obscurity to make way for the next new gimmick.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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New York Times ☛ FDA Advisory Panel Endorses Approval of Alzheimer’s Drug Made by Eli Lilly
The modest benefits of the treatment, donanemab, made by Eli Lilly, outweigh the risks, the panel concluded unanimously.
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Science Alert ☛ Tattoos Linked to Increased Cancer Risk, Scientists Warn
A serious health problem is emerging.
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Science Alert ☛ Study Uncovers How Much Exercise You Need Weekly To Control Your Blood Pressure
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Science Alert ☛ Alzheimer's Isn't The Only Form of Dementia. An Expert Explains The Differences.
They all have something in common though.
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Science Alert ☛ Menstruation's Effect on Sports Performance Isn't Quite What We Expected
Another myth busted.
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New York Times ☛ Chemical Makers Sue Over Rule to Rid Water of ‘Forever Chemicals’
Industry groups said the E.P.A. had exceeded its authority in requiring the drinking-water cleanup. The chemicals, known as PFAS, are linked to cancer and health risks.
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New Yorker ☛ Pandemic Novels, Reviewed
The early pandemic was a painful, lonely, and disorienting era in American life. It was also a chance to get some writing done.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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JURIST ☛ HRW report reveals pictures of Brazil children misused by Hey Hi (AI) Tool
Personal pictures of Brazilian children have been misused to power artificial intelligence tools, global watchdog Human Rights Watch reported Monday. Pictures of children are being included without their knowledge or consent in a data set that companies are using for Hey Hi (AI) tools to be trained.
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LRT ☛ Vilnius University takes a crack at teaching students with AI
The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, and their benefits open up new possibilities in various sectors, including education, prompting a reconsideration of what teaching and learning might look like in the Hey Hi (AI) age.
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CWA accuses Activision QA supplier Lionbridge of retaliatory layoffs
U.S. labor union the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has filed Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges against Lionbridge Technologies for allegedly laying off 160 people after they attempted to organize.
Lionbridge is a Microsoft supplier that has provided QA services to Activision. The CWA previously helped workers at both Activision Blizzard and Microsoft unionize.
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Games ☛ CWA files Unfair Labor Practice charges against Microsoft supplier Lionbridge
The Communications Workers of America has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against Lionbridge Technologies, which Microsoft has been working with as a QA contractor on Activision projects.
The CWA issued the notion with the National Relations Board (NLRB), in which it alleged that Lionbridge violated the rights of its Boise, Idaho team.
The filing claimed that Lionbridge laid off the entire team after workers had engaged in collective action about their working conditions.
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Lee Yingtong Li ☛ Investigating a proprietary early-2000s abandonware ebook format
This article concerns a backdoored Windows software product which featured the ability to compile HTML websites and multimedia content into a standalone EXE file. The last release of this product was in 2003, and the product website has ceased to operate from 2012. Content was stored as HTML and rendered within a bundled web browser; however, HTML files and other resources were obfuscated on disk, making it difficult to extract the standard HTML and image content from within this now-defunct proprietary format.
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Games ☛ Sumo Group to reduce staff by up to 15%
Sumo Group has announced it is seeking to cut costs with up to 15%, or nearly 250, of its employees at risk.
The firm says it hasn't been immune to the challenges facing the games industry and needs to reshape its organisation to 'navigate upcoming challenges'.
The company is best known for its work-for-hire and co-development services, and has built games for the likes of PlayStation, Microsoft and Sega. It also has an indie publishing team called Secret Mode. The firm has offices across Europe, India and Canada.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Site36 ☛ Surveillance technology from Saxony: Secret facial recognition in five German federal states
In various German states, the police in Saxony have set up a covert camera at the side of the road to identify suspicious persons driving past. Now there are details about the technology, which was first revealed in Berlin.
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Defence/Aggression
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France24 ☛ Houthi missiles strike two ships in the Gulf of Aden, US military says
Missile attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck two ships in the Gulf of Aden, authorities said Sunday, the latest assaults on shipping in the region.
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New York Times ☛ In Israeli Hostage Rescue, Minutes Made the Difference
When a truck carrying three of the four rescued hostages broke down and came under fire, Israel says it called in an airstrike. Scores of Palestinians, including children, were killed during the operation, according to Gazan officials.
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JURIST ☛ UN Security Council passes US-backed resolution endorsing Gaza ceasefire plan
The UN Security Council (UNSC) passed a US-backed resolution endorsing a three-phase permanent ceasefire plan in the Israel-Hamas War, with Russia abstaining. The resolution notes that Israel accepted the proposal, unveiled at the end of May by US President Joe Biden, and called upon Hamas to accept it.
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RFA ☛ Airstrike targets insurgent meeting in Myanmar, 16 killed
Activists suspect junta forces got a tip-off about a meeting of anti-junta groups.
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Off Guardian ☛ DISCUSS: The EU Elections and the “Rise of the Far Right”
The so-called “biggest election year of all time” is progressing nicely. Among others, Russia, India, Mexico are done – while Britain, the US and Iran are yet to come. Oh, and France now too.
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The Strategist ☛ The house always wins: how to boost ADF recruitment
The Australian Defence Force needs bold, creative initiatives to attract and keep enough personnel to reach expansion targets. Ask Australians in their 20s what matters to them right now, and housing will rank high.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s Premier Li Qiang will make rare visit to New Zealand ‘this week’
Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit New Zealand this week, Prime Minister Chris Luxon said Monday, a rare visit expected to focus on bolstering trade while setting aside security concerns.
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The Straits Times ☛ China’s Premier Li Qiang to visit Australia this week
This will be the first visit by a Chinese Premier to Australia since 2017.
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New York Times ☛ 4 Instructors From Iowa College Are Attacked in Public Park in China
The Cornell College instructors were in the city of Jilin as part of a partnership with a local university. Much about the attack was still unclear.
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NYPost ☛ 4 Iowa college instructors stabbed in China while visiting partner university
It's unclear what led up to the stabbing and whether the attack was targeted or random.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 4 American academics on exchange reportedly stabbed in Chinese public park, US says
Four American college instructors working in China were wounded in a reported stabbing at a public park, according to their employer and the US State Department.
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The Straits Times ☛ Four American educators stabbed in park in north-east China, say US media and officials
The educators from Cornell College were visiting a partner university in China.
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The Straits Times ☛ China announces first astronaut candidates from Hong Kong and Macau
Beijing has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space programme.
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The Straits Times ☛ Seoul activists develop ‘smart balloons’ to send messages deep into North Korea
Some balloons carry speakers that blare pre-recorded messages critical of Mr Kim Jong Un.
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The Straits Times ☛ Philippines must prepare as external threats grow: President Marcos
The Philippines has a long territorial spat with China, which claims most of the South China Sea.
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JURIST ☛ China accuses US of undermining peace and stability in South China Sea
China Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong accused the US on Sunday of undermining security in the South China Sea, citing the extraterritorial forces led by the United States pushing forward military deployments and operations in the region.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea fires warning shots after North Korea soldiers briefly cross border
The June 9 incursion was likely accidental, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
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RFA ☛ Sister of North Korean leader warns South on border broadcasts
Tit-for-tat responses raise tensions.
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France24 ☛ S. Korea fires warning shots after N. Korean soldiers briefly cross land border
Seoul's military said Tuesday it had fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the border this week, with tensions high over Pyongyang's trash-carrying balloons and Seoul's loudspeaker propaganda campaigns.
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The Straits Times ☛ China’s defence ministry says Dutch ship incident ‘heinous’
China warned the Netherlands to restrain actions of its naval and air forces.
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RFA ☛ US and China spar over nuclear weapons build-up
Both countries accused each other of spurring an arms race.
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RFA ☛ Grueling 'gaokao' test puts huge pressure on China's young people
Annual college entrance exams can trigger anxiety, depression, self-harm and violence, parents and teachers say.
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New York Times ☛ The U.N. Security Council will vote on a U.S.-backed cease-fire resolution.
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New York Times ☛ Middle East Crisis: U.N. Security Council Passes U.S.-Backed Cease-Fire Resolution
The resolution laid out a three-phase plan that begins with an immediate cease-fire. Neither Israel nor Hamas has formally embraced the plan.
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New York Times ☛ U.N. Passes Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution as Blinken Presses Israel and Hamas
The Security Council endorsed a U.S.-backed plan, while Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited the Middle East to lobby for it, but Hamas and Israel were noncommittal.
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RFERL ☛ Imprisoned Former Kazakh PM Asks President For Clemency
Karim Masimov, a once-powerful politician who twice served as Kazakhstan's prime minister, has officially asked President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev for clemency from a treason conviction dating to when he was the chief of the National Security Committee (KNB).
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RFA ☛ Junta hosts junket for Chinese travel agents in bid to attract tourists
Foreign visitors to Myanmar fell drastically following the Covid-19 pandemic and 2021 military coup.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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New York Times ☛ Their City Has a Plaque From Putin. They Want Zelensky to Tear It Down.
Some residents of Bari, Italy, hope Ukraine’s president will drop by while at a nearby summit to help rid them of a memento of links with Russia.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Building the bridge: How to inject credibility into NATO’s promise of membership for Ukraine
Ukraine’s bridge to NATO membership must be built in ways that institutionalize its integration into the Alliance’s structures—starting now.
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France24 ☛ Russia reports battlefield gains in Donetsk region ahead of Ukraine summit
Russia on Monday claimed the capture of another village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a string of gains ahead of a major Ukraine summit in Switzerland.
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France24 ☛ Insults and resistance: On the streets with Ukraine’s military recruitment officers
As the war drags on and Russia makes advances on the frontlines Ukraine is increasingly struggling to recruit enough fresh troops, with polls suggesting many of those eligible to be drafted would rather not fight. Yuriy Pikhota and Pavlo Pimakhov, two former frontline soldiers who now work as military recruitment officers say they are frequently met with insults and resistance as they patrol the streets of Kyiv to check people’s status in regards to military service.
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RFERL ☛ Germany Hosts Ukraine Recovery Conference Ahead Of Swiss Peace Summit
Germany is hosting a conference on June 11 to gather support for Ukraine's recovery from the destruction wreaked by Russia's war.
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RFERL ☛ U.S., Poland Launch Center To Fight Kremlin Disinformation About Ukraine War
The United States and Poland on June 10 launched an international operation based in Warsaw whose mission is to help Ukraine counter Russian disinformation.
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RFERL ☛ Hungary Detains 32 Ukrainians Who Fled Across Border In Truck
Hungary has detained 32 Ukrainian citizens who fled across the border in a truck, the Ukrainian border guard agency said on June 10.
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RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Air Force General Says Some F-16s Will Be 'Stored Outside' Ukraine
The chief of aviation in Ukraine's Air Force says some of the dozens of advanced F-16 aircraft pledged to Kyiv by Western allies will be stored abroad to avoid them being hit in Russian attacks in Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Restoration Agency Chief Resigns On Eve Of Berlin Conference
The chief of Ukraine's Restoration and Infrastructure Development Agency, Mustafa Nayyem, has resigned just a day before a major conference aimed at rebuilding the country once the war with Russia ends.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Airport In Kazan Suspends Operations Again
Authorities in Russia's Tatarstan region on June 10 suspended operations for three hours at the international airport in Kazan "for security reasons."
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RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Military Says It Destroyed Russian Antiaircraft Systems In Crimea
In the latest show of force against Russian forces in occupied Crimea, the Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces on June 10 claimed to have successfully struck three Russian antiaircraft missile systems.
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The Straits Times ☛ Russia takes control of Staromaiorske in eastern Ukraine, defence ministry says
MOSCOW - The Russian military has taken control of the village of Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said on Monday.
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CS Monitor ☛ Where the wildflowers grow ... in a Ukrainian war zone
When a Ukrainian dam blew up a year ago, floods destroyed homes and farmland across swathes of the south. But nature is reclaiming its rights.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine Reconstruction Official Resigns, Highlighting Tensions
The departure of the official, who had pointed up mismanagement of funds, was a blow to government efforts to assuage allies’ concerns about how aid is spent.
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New York Times ☛ America Isn’t Leading the World
Never has the country looked less like a leader and more like the head of a faction.
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New York Times ☛ Sunny Days in Moscow
A single image of a blustery day in wartime Moscow captures the feeling of triumph sweeping through the Russia.
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New York Times ☛ Russia Releases Female Prison Inmates to Join Ukraine War
Tens of thousands of male convicts have been freed to fight in Ukraine. It is not clear if a small contingent of female volunteers released from a prison portends wider use of female soldiers.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Su-34 Bomber Crashes In Caucasus, Killing Crew
A Russian SU-34 bomber crashed in the Caucasus mountains during a routine training flight likely due to a technical malfunction, killing the crew aboard, Russian news agencies reported on June 11, citing the defence ministry.
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RFERL ☛ Trial Of Russian Theater Director Adjourned After Ambulance Called In Courtroom
A Moscow court adjourned to an unspecified date the trial of theater director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriichuk, who are charged with justifying terrorism, after Berkovich felt unwell and an ambulance was called to the courtroom on June 10.
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RFERL ☛ Former Owner Of Russian Soccer Club Sentenced To Life In Prison
A military court in Moscow on June 10 sentenced a former owner of the Saturn soccer club, Oleg Medvedev, to life in prison on charges of murder, banditry, and organization of a criminal group.
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RFERL ☛ Belarus Says Taking Part In Second Phase Of Russia's Nuclear Drills
Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Khrenin said in a statement on YouTube on June 10 that his country’s armed forces were taking part in the second phase of Russian exercises to practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons.
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RFERL ☛ NATO Ex-Commander Clark Warns Serbia 'Agent' Of Russian 'Infection' In Balkans
The former commander of NATO's bombing campaign to protect ethnic Albanians and force a withdrawal of Serb-led Yugoslav troops from Kosovo in the late 1990s has warned of ongoing obstacles to stability and dangerous Russian "ambitions" in the Balkans.
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The Straits Times ☛ Russia and Belarus start second stage of tactical nuclear drills, ministry says
MOSCOW - Russian and Belarusian troops have started the second stage of tactical nuclear drills in Russia, Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday.
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The Strategist ☛ What the Weimar Triangle could do for Europe
In his speech at Sorbonne University in April, and again on his state visit to Germany in late May, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that Europe is confronting its own mortality.
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RFERL ☛ Poland To Reintroduce Buffer Zone At Belarus Border On June 13
Poland will reintroduce a buffer zone at its border with Belarus, the Deputy Interior Minister Czeslaw Mroczek said on June 10.
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RFERL ☛ Detained Wife Of Jailed Journalist Losik Appears On Belarusian TV
Belarusian state TV on June 7 broadcast what it said was an interview with the wife of RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for charges that he, RFE/RL, and foreign governments have called politically motivated.
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Environment
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DeSmog ☛ Climate Obstructionism Runs Deep in the UK — Watch Out for It at the Election
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DeSmog ☛ Carbon Capture Will Extend Oil Production by 84 Years, Industry Study Finds
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The Straits Times ☛ North China bakes under searing heatwave
Residents were urged to drink plenty of water and reduce time spent outdoors.
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The Revelator ☛ Titicaca in Crisis: Climate Change Is Drying Up the Biggest Lake in the Andes
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Energy/Transportation
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The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian PM Anwar defends cutting diesel subsidies, prioritises public welfare
Mr Anwar Ibrahim said the money saved from the policy will be “channelled back to the people”.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Science Alert ☛ Illegal Wildlife Trade Threatens 4,000 Species Globally, UN Reports
Untold harm.
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The Straits Times ☛ New Zealand scraps plan to tax livestock burps, farts
New legislation will be introduced to Parliament to remove the agriculture sector from a new emissions pricing plan.
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Reveal How to Take a Punch From a Mantis Shrimp
The fastest punch in the ocean.
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Finance
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New York Times ☛ Nigeria Confronts its Worst Economic Crisis in a Generation
People in Africa’s most populous nation are suffering as the price of food, fuel and medicine has skyrocketed out of reach for many.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong to offer travel and restaurant discounts, free museum entry to mark July 1 Handover anniversary
Hong Kong will offer transport and restaurant discounts, as well as free tickets to local museums, to mark the 27th anniversary of the Handover to China on July 1. Chief Executive John Lee announced at Tuesday’s press briefing that light rail, tram journeys and some New Territories bus services will be free throughout the day.
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Latvia ☛ Annual inflation in Latvia down to 0.1%
The latest data published on June 10 by the Central Statistical Bureau show that in May 2024, compared to May 2023, the average level of consumer prices increased by 0.1 %.
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Latvia ☛ Latvian central bank's revised forecasts show slow growth
The Latvian Central Bank (Latvijas Banka, LB) published its latest macroeconomic forecasts on June 10, with a generally weak outlook.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Pro Publica ☛ What to Expect With U.S. Immigration Policy in 2024
Last week, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to curb immigration, effectively blocking most asylum claims when border crossings spike to a certain level. The move comes amid mounting concerns from across the political spectrum over immigration, which has emerged as a major voter issue this election year.
Some Democrats and human rights advocates have warned the Biden administration that the executive order could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis at the border, putting immigrants at greater risk as they wait on the Mexican side of the border. A recent analysis by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found lawmakers, advocates and government officials previously issued similar warnings that went unheeded before a fire in a Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, detention center killed 40 men in March 2023.
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TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Judge strikes paragraph from Trump classified docs indictment but denies request to dismiss charges
By ERIC TUCKER (Associated Pres) WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump and two of his associates denied a request Monday to dismiss some of the charges in the indictment.
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New York Times ☛ Judge Strikes One Element From Trump Indictment in Documents Case
Judge Aileen Cannon threw out one basis for the case against the former president, involving a highly sensitive military map he showed an aide after leaving office.
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Green party response to Sunak speech
Responding to PM Rishi Sunak’s pride in Tory achievements, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: “This Conservative Prime Minister is heading for the exit because he is totally out of touch.
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New York Times ☛ Macron’s Early Election Call After EU Vote Is a Huge Gamble
The president has challenged voters to test the sincerity of their support for the far right in European elections. Were the French letting off steam, or did they really mean it?
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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New York Times ☛ Titan Submersible Investigation Declares Frightening Transcript a Fake
The federal team investigating the Titan disaster found that a detailed recounting of the craft’s descent was “made up.”
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Press Gazette ☛ UK general election misinformation: What publishers can do about it
The same technological advances vitalise and threaten content creation in 2024.
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Press Gazette ☛ Media manifestos 2024: Lib Dems want to revive Leveson 2
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Reason ☛ Journal of Free Speech Law: "Fiction, Defamation, and Freedom of Speech," by Prof. Collin O'Neil
An article from the Defamation: Philosophical and Legal Perspectives symposium, sponsored by the Center for Legal Philosophy at UC Irvine.
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Reason ☛ Australian Censors Back Down, Highlighting the U.S. as a Free Speech Haven
Officials suspend efforts to force X to suppress the world’s access to video of a crime.
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RFA ☛ Police video of detained unofficial Vietnamese monk allays fears
Internet sensation Thich Minh Tue had gone missing after authorities raided his pilgrimage camp last week.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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JURIST ☛ Israel extends Al Jazeera ban by 45 days after cabinet agrees broadcasts “threaten national security”
The Israeli Ministry of Communications on Sunday announced an extension to the ban on broadcasts/news channel Al Jazeera to 45 days after unanimous support by the government.
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Press Gazette ☛ Publishers alarmed over IPSO ruling against report of evidence heard in open court
Critics say regulator has strayed into making its own editorial judgments.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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European Commission ☛ Commissioner Johansson's speech at the closing conference of the Promise project against trafficking in human beings
You are working to counter a very despicable crime.
And protecting the very vulnerable victims of this crime.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 205: Len St-Aubin on What the CRTC’s Internet Streaming Ruling Means For Creators, Competition and Consumer Costs
Last week, the CRTC released its much-anticipated Bill C-11 ruling on the initial mandated contributions from Internet streaming services. While the government focused on the requirement to contribute 5% of Canadian revenues, a closer look revealed the CRTC largely ignored industry data and the actual contributions from Internet streaming services and seemed entirely unconcerned by the effects on competition and consumer costs. Len St-Aubin is the former Director General of Telecommunications Policy at Industry Canada and played a role in the development of both the Broadcasting Act and Telecommunications Act.
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Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Jeffrey M. Gross entity, Telsync Technologies, wireless patent monopoly prior art
Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 8,897,263, owned by Telsync Technologies, LLC, a Jeffrey M. Gross entity.
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Unified Patents ☛ DynaIP entity, Cloud Systems, environment control patent monopoly challenged
On June 7, 2024, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 8,533,326, owned and asserted by Cloud Systems HoldCo IP, LLC, an NPE and DynaIP entity. The ’326 patent monopoly focuses on a system and method for efficiently managing and routing data among multiple devices within a given environment. It was asserted against Philips North America.
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JUVE ☛ UK Court of Appeal begins five-day hearing in InterDigital vs Lenovo
The UK Court of Appeal judges Richard Arnold, Colin Birss and Christopher Nugee have just opened the proceedings in InterDigital vs. Lenovo. Six lawyers are in attendance for InterDigital, nine for Lenovo. Eleven observers are in the gallery.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Veterans’ Benefits at the Supreme Court: The Battle Over Benefit-of-the-Doubt
In April 2024, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in the consolidated cases of Bufkin v. McDonough and Thornton v. McDonough, two veterans’ benefits cases on appeal from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The cases involve the “benefit-of-the-doubt” rule, a longstanding principle that is codified in veterans law that requires the VA to resolve close or unclear issues in a veteran’s favor when adjudicating benefits claims. [SCT Docket]
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential No. 10: TTAB Denies Section 18 Petition to Restrict Beer Registration to Micro-Brewed Craft Beer
In an attempt to side-step a Section 2(d) refusal of the mark shown below, for "gin," Petitioner Iron Balls International petitioned to restrict Respondent Bull Creek's registration for the mark IRON BALLS for "beer" to "“micro-brewed craft beer." The Board concluded that the proposed restriction would not avoid a likelihood of confusion, and so it denied the petition. Iron Balls International Ltd. v. Bull Creek Brewing, LLC, Cancellation No. 92079099 (June 4, 2024) [precedential] (Opinion by Judge David K. Heasley).
Section 18 of the Trademark Act, in pertinent part, gives the Director of the USPTO the authority to "modify the application or registration by limiting the goods or services specified therein, [and] otherwise restrict or rectify with respect to the register the registration of a registered mark." See Embarcadero Techs., Inc. v. RStudio, Inc., 2013 WL 2365029, at *2 (TTAB 2013).
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Live Nation Fires Back Against ‘False’ Madonna Late-Start Lawsuit Settlement Notice, Criticizes Alleged ‘Harassment Campaign’
Live Nation is set to settle a lawsuit filed over the allegedly late start time of a Madonna concert – at least according to the plaintiffs and their counsel.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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