Links 28/06/2024: Kangaroo Courts and Patents Spam, EFF Still Fighting for CPC's TikTok (a Digital Weapon)
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Transparency/Investigative Reporting
- 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 ☛ Sunaookami Shiroko by Good Smile Company
Elizabeth Rose Bloodflame mentioned in her debut stream that while she’s not a fan of tea (“soz, innit?”), she loves the aesthetic of it. That’s been my impression of Blue Archive. I played the mobile game briefly, but while it wasn’t exactly what I was after, I absolutely adored the world building, character designs, and visuals. It gives me Railgun vibes, but more blue. And presumably, with more archives.
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Ruben Schade ☛ Persistence and delayed gratification
Pop psychology is full of contradictory information:
We’re told attempting the same thing more than once, then expecting different results, is the definition of insanity. Yet we’re also told to try, and try again, to secure a better outcome.
We’re told to save and plan for the future, because you don’t know what’s coming. Yet we’re also told it’s important to live in the present moment.
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Tedium ☛ Paramount Concerns
In an immediate austerity measure after a failed merger, Paramount kills a ton of online content—an ironic move for a brand that has long exploited nostalgia.
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MWL ☛ 50: My Childish Behavior
I’m fighting with the Kickstarter web interface to fulfill the Run Your Own Mail Server campaign and trying to get Dear Abyss ready for launch, so here’s a chunk of an advice column.
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Hackaday ☛ The SS United States: The Most Important Ocean Liner We May Soon Lose Forever
Although it’s often said that the era of ocean liners came to an end by the 1950s with the rise of commercial aviation, reality isn’t quite that clear-cut. Coming out of the troubled 1940s arose a new kind of ocean liner, one using cutting-edge materials and propulsion, with hybrid civil and military use as the default, leading to a range of fascinating design decisions. This was the context in which the SS United States was born, with the beating heart of the US’ fastest battle ships, with light-weight aluminium structures and survivability built into every single aspect of its design.
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Hackaday ☛ Powering Airplanes With Microwaves: An Aviation Physics Challenge Amidst Many
Falling firmly under the fascinating science category of ‘What if…?’ comes the idea of powering airplanes with beamed microwaves. Although the idea isn’t crazy by itself, since we can even keep airplanes flying using just solar power (though with no real useful payload), running through the numbers as [Ian McKay] does in a recent article in IEEE Spectrum makes it clear that there are still some major hurdles if we want to make such a technology reality. Yet is beamed microwave power that much more far out than other alternative ways to power aviation?
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Kirigami computer has high-density memory and doesn't need electricity — researchers demo new mechanical computing design
North Carolina State University researchers have developed an unorthodox computing design that uses the Japanese art of Kirigami.
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Hackaday ☛ Rock Out Without Getting Knocked Out
It’s a constant battle for musicians — how to practice your instrument without bothering those around you? Many of us live in apartments or shared accommodation, and having to wait until the apartment is empty or only being able to practice at certain times of day can be restrictive, especially if you need to practice for an upcoming gig or if the creative juices start flowing and it’s 3 AM! [Gavin] was having this issue and started developing Porter, a guitar/bass practice device which works with all effects pedals and is portable and rechargeable. So you can grind away your epic heavy metal solo no matter the time of day!
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Hackaday ☛ 8-Bits And 1,120 Triodes
While it’s currently the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it will inevitably get cold again. If you’re looking for a unique way of heating your workshop this year, you could do worse than build an 8-bit computer with a bunch of 6N3P vacuum tubes. While there are some technical details, you might find it a challenging build. But it is still an impressive sight, and it took 18 months to build a prototype and the final version. You can find the technical details if you want to try your hand. Oh, did we mention it takes about 200 amps? One of the prototype computers plays Pong on a decidedly low-tech display, which you can see below.
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Hackaday ☛ A Previously Unknown Supplier For A Classic Chip
It’s common enough for integrated circuits to be available from a range of different suppliers, either as licensed clones, or as reverse-engineered proprietary silicon. In the case of a generic circuit such as a cheap op-amp it matters little whose logo adorns the plastic, but when the part in question is an application processor it assumes much more importance. In the era of the 486 and Pentium there were a host of well-known manufacturers producing those chips, so it’s a surprise decades later to find that there was another, previously unknown. That’s just what [Doc TB] has done though, finding a 486 microprocessor from Shenzhen State Micro. That’s not a brand we ever saw in our desktop computers back in the 1990s.
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Hackaday ☛ Portable, Full-Size Arcade Cabinets
Believe it or not, there was a time when the only way for many of us to play video games was to grab a roll of quarters and head to the mall. Even though there’s a working computer or video game console in essentially every house now doesn’t mean we don’t look back with a certain nostalgia on those times, though. Some have turned to restoring vintage arcade cabinets and others build their own. This hackerspace got a unique request for a full-sized arcade cabinet that was also easily portable as well.
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Hackaday ☛ Activated Alumina For Desiccating Your Filament
When you first unwrap a shiny new roll of filament for your FDM printer, it typically has a bag of silica gel inside. While great for keeping costs low on the manufacturing side, is silica gel the best solution to keep your filament dry at home?
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New York Times ☛ N.F.L. Ordered to Pay Billions in Sunday Ticket Lawsuit
The case, which cut to the heart of the league’s media strategy, centered on a subscription service that aired out-of-market games for roughly $300 a year.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ Did Dinosaurs Inspire The Legendary Griffin? Scientists Solved The Mystery
Where did this fantastic creature come from?
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New York Times ☛ The Last Stand of the Woolly Mammoths
The species survived on an island north of Siberia for thousands of years, scientists reported, but were most likely plagued by genetic abnormalities.
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European Commission ☛ Commission provides new evidence for approach to R&I for a more competitive Europe
European Commission Press release Brussels, 27 Jun 2024 Today, the Commission has published the 2024 edition of the Science, Research and Innovation (R&I) Performance report (SRIP).
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University of Michigan ☛ $10.5M biomaterials center to fund innovation, fight resource discrimination
The Humanity Unlocking Biomaterials center, led by U-M and University of Washington, has received $10. 5 million by the National Institutes of Health.
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Hardware
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Hori announces official Valve-licensed Steam Controller — launches on Halloween in four colors
Hori releases officially-licensed Steam Controller successor, which mixes some features of the Deck controller with a modern gamepad shell.
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CNX Software ☛ HIGOLE F9B Pro defective chip maker Intel N100 mini computer comes with a built-in 7-inch touchscreen display and 5,000 mAh battery
HIGOLE F9B Pro is a mini PC powered by an defective chip maker Intel Processor N100 quad-core CPU and equipped with a built-in 7-inch touchscreen display, a 5,000mAh battery, and full-size ports that could be confused with a 7-inch tablet if it was not so thick… GOLE/HIGOLE has made many such mini PCs with integrated displays over the years initially to lower the backdoored Windows license fee, but they’ve kept making those with new defective chip maker Intel families, for example with the Gemini Lake-powered GOLE1 Pro mini PC with a 5.5-inch display introduced in 2022.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Lenovo adopts Chinese Loongson CPUs for cloud servers — 16-core Loongson 3C5000 chips necessary to rebuff US sanctions
Lenovo puts Loongson's 3C5000 and 3A6000 CPUs into its datacenters.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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University of Michigan ☛ UMich researchers explore difficulties parents face in meeting nutritional needs of children
In April, the C.S. Mott National Poll on Children’s Health released a report on the struggle of ensuring kids eat a healthy diet and the benefits and drawbacks of many common household meal-time practices. The report is based on responses from 1,083 parents with at least one child aged 3-10.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ All ID cardholders can use hospitals, gov’t says, amid concern about overseas Hongkongers returning for treatment
All Hongkongers holding identity cards or aged under 11 are eligible to use the city’s public hospitals, health chief Lo Chung-mau has said as lawmakers raised concern that Hongkongers based overseas were returning to the city for medical treatment.
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PHR ☛ Supreme Court Decision to Send Idaho Abortion Case Back to Lower Courts is a Reprieve but Leaves Patients and Clinicians at Risk: PHR
The Supreme Court’s decision to avoid ruling on the conflict between Idaho’s extreme ban on access to abortion and a federal law guaranteeing access to abortions in cases of emergency provides a reprieve to pregnant patients in Idaho but leaves pregnant patients experiencing grave health risks and emergency room clinicians facing a medical ethics crisis...
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JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court declines to ban emergency abortions in Idaho
The US Supreme Court on Thursday declined to block access to emergency abortion services in Idaho. In Moyle v. US, the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a federal law—the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)—would preempt Idaho’s near-total abortion ban.
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Science Alert ☛ Forever Chemicals Seep Through Human Skin, Alarming Study Confirms
A toxic surprise.
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Science Alert ☛ Inbreeding Not to Blame For Wooly Mammoth Extinction, Surprising Study Finds
So what happened?
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Science Alert ☛ This Smiling Face Made With Human Skin Is Nightmare Fuel. And Amazing.
You can't unsee this.
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Science Alert ☛ The World's Most Common Pain Relief Drug May Induce Risky Behavior
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Latvia ☛ Hospitals concerned about army luring away staff
Hospital representatives are concerned about the call for candidates for vacant medical specialist posts by the National Armed Forces (NBS). With salaries promised to start at almost EUR 1,800 after tax, it is likely that medical staff will express interest in these vacancies. The NBS stresses that medical workers are allowed to combine their posts and continue working in civilian medical institutions, Latvian Radio reported on June 27.
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Latvia ☛ Hot weather brings spike in drowning figures in Latvia
Four drowned people pulled from Latvia's rivers and lakes on Wednesday mark the gloomy side of the hot weather.
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RFA ☛ Cruel summer: North Koreans ordered to provide human waste for fertilizer
Usually this is done in the winter, when it is less smelly and there are fewer flies.
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The Straits Times ☛ ST Picks: Can Sarawak become Malaysia’s next ‘rice bowl’?
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ACLU ☛ The Supreme Court Just Declined to Protect Emergency Abortion Care for Pregnant Patients. Here’s What to Know
Today, the Supreme Court declined to issue a ruling in Idaho and Moyle, et al. v. United States. Instead, it sent the case back down to the lower courts where anti-abortion extremists will continue to fight to strip pregnant people of the basic right to emergency care, including when their life is at risk.
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France24 ☛ US Supreme Court rejects $6 billion OxyContin settlement shielding Sackler family
The US Supreme Court on Thursday rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's $6 billion settlement that would have shielded the Sackler family, who owned the company and earned tens of billions as it flooded the country with the highly addictive drug, from future civil lawsuits over the role they played in the country's deadly opioid epidemic.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Federal News Network ☛ FedRAMP finalizes ‘fast pass’ approval process for Hey Hi (AI) tools
The new emerging technology prioritization framework will help determine which generative Hey Hi (AI) tools need to be pushed to the front of the line for approval.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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EFF ☛ Victory! Grand Jury Finds Sacramento Cops Illegally Shared Driver Data
The grand jury, a body of 19 residents charged with overseeing local government including law enforcement, released their investigative report on Wednesday. In it, they affirmed that the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office and Sacramento Police Department violated state law and "unreasonably risked" aiding the potential prosecution of "women who traveled to California to seek or receive healthcare services."
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EFF ☛ Drone As First Responder Programs Are Swarming Across the United States
Police DFR programs involve a fleet of drones, which can range in number from four or five to hundreds. In response to 911 calls and other law enforcement calls for service, a camera-equipped drone is launched from a regular base (like the police station roof) to get to the incident first, giving responding officers a view of the scene before they arrive. In theory and in marketing materials, the advance view from the drone will help officers understand the situation more thoroughly before they get there, better preparing them for the scene and assisting them in things such as locating wanted or missing individuals more quickly. Police call this “situational awareness.”
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Scoop News Group ☛ House panel abruptly cancels federal privacy bill vote
The sweeping bill had garnered opposition from GOP leadership and others.
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Defence/Aggression
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Defence Web ☛ Burkina Faso receives huge batch of Chinese military equipment
Burkina Faso’s military has taken delivery of some 100 new armoured vehicles from China as it continues to expand its armed forces in the face of relentless terror attacks. President Captain Ibrahim Traoré officially took delivery of at least 40 Norinco VP11 and 50 Norinco CS/VP14 armoured vehicles and 17 Caterpillar excavators on 6 June.
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RFA ☛ Censored back home, Hong Kong authors are publishing in Taiwan
The city's authors are taking their thoughts and memories elsewhere, as a new publishing base emerges in exile.
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RFERL ☛ Jailed Russian Journalist Added To Terrorist List Over Links To Navalny's Team
Russian authorities on June 27 added Artyom Kriger, a journalist with the independent SotaVision Telegram channel, to the list of terrorists and extremists.
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The Straits Times ☛ ST Picks: Knife attack on Japanese woman, child in China - Is xenophobia on the rise?
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JURIST ☛ Human rights groups condemn Lebanon deportation and torture of Syria refugees
Amnesty International issued a joint statement along with other human rights groups on Tuesday urging Lebanese authorities to end unlawful practices against Syrian refugees. These practices include torture, unlawful deportations, and ill-treatment of Syrian refugees, which run contrary to their international obligations.
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PHR ☛ France Court’s Decision to Uphold Arrest Warrant for Syria’s Assad Affirms that No One is Beyond Prosecution: PHR
The Paris Appeals Court’s decision to uphold the international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for his role in the August 2013 chemical weapons attack that killed more than 1,400 people and injured thousands more in the Damascus suburb Ghouta, affirms that no one is immune from prosecution for egregious war crimes...
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New York Times ☛ North Korea Says It Tested Multiple-Warhead Missile Technology
The announcement, coming days after Vladimir V. Putin’s visit to Pyongyang, suggests an ambitious attempt to upgrade the North’s nuclear arsenal.
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The Strategist ☛ Taiwan’s exclusion from Interpol is the world’s loss
Politicking by the Chinese Communist Party has blocked Taiwanese membership of Interpol since 1984, preventing the timely sharing of criminal information and intelligence.
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RFERL ☛ Belgrade Cancels Serbian-Kosovar Cultural Festival Amid Safety Concerns
The Serbian government banned a contemporary art and cultural festival that promotes Serbian-Kosovar relations just hours before it was due to open on June 27, citing security concerns.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Travellers at Hong Kong airport will not need to unpack carry-on luggage for security scans from July
Travellers using Hong Kong’s airport will not have to unpack their carry-on luggage as they pass through security with the phased introduction of a new smart security screening system starting next month.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Sweden released an Iranian war criminal. Here’s how activists and rights defenders reacted.
World powers will continue negotiating with the Islamic Republic and make shortsighted concessions that will endanger not only the future of Iran but also global security. However, the fight for the liberation of Iran is not over—at least for Iranians.
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New York Times ☛ Israel Orders More Evacuations in Gaza as Military Fights Hamas in Shajaiye
Palestinian officials and residents described strikes and blasts as Israel’s public broadcaster reported that the Israeli military had returned to fight Hamas in Gaza City’s east.
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RFA ☛ Myanmar insurgents claim post-ceasefire capture of 26 camps
At least four civilians were killed and 10 wounded in airstrikes, residents said.
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France24 ☛ Hezbollah fires rockets at military base in Israel, says four fighters killed
Hezbollah said it fired "dozens" of rockets Thursday at a military base in northern Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Lebanon, announcing four of its fighters had been killed.
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EFF ☛ Government Has Extremely Heavy Burden to Justify TikTok Ban, EFF Tells Appeals Court [Ed: EFF protects psychological weapon of China]
The amicus brief says the Court must review the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in April — with the most demanding legal scrutiny because it imposes a prior restraint that would make it impossible for users to speak, access information, and associate through TikTok. It also directly restricts protected speech and association, and deliberately singles out a particular medium for a blanket prohibition. This demanding First Amendment test must be used even when the government asserts national security concerns.
The Court should see this law for what it is: “a sweeping ban on free expression that triggers the most exacting scrutiny under the First Amendment,” the brief argues, adding it will be extremely difficult for the government to justify this total ban.
Joining EFF in this amicus brief are the Freedom of the Press Foundation, TechFreedom, Media Law Resource Center, Center for Democracy and Technology, First Amendment Coalition, and Freedom to Read Foundation.
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New York Times ☛ Shahjahan Bhuiya, Executioner Turned Fentanylware (TikTok) Star, Dies in Bangladesh
He hanged high-profile inmates in exchange for a reduction in his own robbery and murder sentences, and became a social control media sensation after his release.
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RFA ☛ North Korea says Wednesday’s missile test was ‘successful’
South Korea said the North’s test ended with the ballistic missile exploding in the air.
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New York Times ☛ Taiwanese Are Told to Avoid China After It Threatens Independence Backers
Beijing released new rules calling for execution of “diehard” Taiwanese independence supporters, as hostilities surrounding Taiwan’s status rise.
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New York Times ☛ China Levels Graft Charges Against Former Defense Ministers
The two generals were accused of taking huge bribes and of corruption that reached into the armaments sector, indicating that the country’s military has not shaken off old habits.
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The Straits Times ☛ US tells China that Philippines support ‘ironclad’
Kurt Campbell “raised serious concerns” with his Chinese counterpart about South China Sea.
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RFA ☛ Chinese ‘monster’ ship reinforces nine-dash line in South China Sea
The world’s largest coast guard ship patrolled the U-shaped line where China claims control over disputed waters.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Latvia ☛ Latvian citizen wanted for participating in war against Ukraine
On June 21 this year, the State Security Service (VDD) requested the Prosecutor's Office to initiate criminal prosecution against a Latvian citizen for illegal participation in the war in Ukraine on the side of the Russian armed forces.
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Security Week ☛ US Announces Charges, Reward for Russian National Behind Wiper Attacks on Ukraine
The US Justice Department has announced charges against Amin Stigal for conducting wiper cyberattacks on Ukraine in 2022.
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France24 ☛ French far-right leader Bardella vows Ukraine will not be absorbed by 'Russian imperialism'
During a televised debate Thursday evening with French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and Socialist leader Olivier Faure, Jordan Bardella, president of the French far-right National Rally party, vowed that his party would not allow Russia to "absorb" Ukraine if it comes to power after snap legislative elections starting Sunday, June 30.
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France24 ☛ EU-Ukraine security agreement will advance 'peace', says Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a security agreement to be inked between Kyiv and the European Union on Thursday would advance "peace and prosperity" across the continent.
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JURIST ☛ Russia and Ukraine exchange 180 prisoners in UAE-mediated swap
Russia and Ukraine conducted a prisoner exchange, with each side exchanging 90 prisoners of war each and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) acting as an intermediary. The Tuesday exchange marked the latest in a series of periodic swaps between the two nations since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania signs 10-year security cooperation pact with Ukraine
Lithuanian and Ukrainian Presidents Gitanas Nausėda and Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bilateral security cooperation agreement in Brussels on Thursday.
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RFERL ☛ Bulgarian President Won't Attend NATO Summit Due To Differences Over Ukraine
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev will not lead or participate in the country’s delegation to the NATO summit in July, his press service said on June 27.
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RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Signs Security Pacts With EU, Estonia, Lithuania At Start Of Brussels Summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on June 27 signed security agreements with the European Union, Estonia, and Lithuania at the start of a two-day EU summit in Brussels.
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RFERL ☛ Kazakhstan Says It Will Not Extradite Suspect In Shooting Of Opposition Activist In Kyiv
The chairman of Kazakhstan's parliament, Maulen Ashimbaev, said his country will not extradite to Ukraine Altai Zhaqanbaev, one of two Kazakh citizens suspected of the attempted murder of Kazakh opposition activist and journalist Aidos Sadyqov in Kyiv.
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RFERL ☛ Former Russian Justice Official Gets Lengthy Prison Term In Absentia Over Anti-War Stance
A military court in Russia on June 27 sentenced a former Justice Ministry official who openly condemned Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine to 14 years in prison in absentia.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Official Says 10,000 Migrant Workers Sent To Fight In Ukraine
The chief of Russia's Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, said on June 27 that about 10,000 migrant workers with Russian passports have been sent to the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.
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CS Monitor ☛ British and French elections promise dramatic turnover. Will aid for Ukraine falter?
Two of Europe’s strongest supporters of aid for Ukraine – France and Britain – are likely to have new governments soon. What will that mean for Kyiv?
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New York Times ☛ Russian Casualties in Ukraine Mount, in a Brutal Style of Fighting
More than 1,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine were killed or wounded on average each day in May, according to NATO and Western military officials.
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New York Times ☛ How to Escape From the Russian Army
Facing grim job prospects, a young Nepali signed up to join Russia’s military, which sent him to fight in Ukraine. His ordeal of combat, injury and escape turned into a tale worthy of Hollywood.
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Defence Web ☛ Amatola not going to Russia – defects and lack of maintenance cited
Another ambitious SA Navy (SAN) target for this year will not be realised with the cancellation of a St Petersburg visit by a Valour Class frigate laid at the door of the Armscor dockyard.
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JURIST ☛ Bank of Italy reports possible illegal transactions to Russia
The Bank of Italy identified over 150,000 suspicious transaction in 2023, including possible illegal transactions to Russia, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said in its 2023 annual report posted publicly on Wednesday. The FIU annual report detailed the possibility of these illegal transactions towards Russia.
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LRT ☛ Baltics and Poland ask EU to build ‘defence line’ along Russia, Belarus border – media
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland have asked the European Union to build a defence line along the bloc’s 700-kilometre border with Russia and Belarus, reports the Kyiv Independent newspaper.
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LRT ☛ Why is Lithuania still using Russian train parts despite security concerns?
Lithuanian Railways (LTG) has started installing safe locomotive control systems, replacing the Russian KLUB-U systems used so far. The latter was identified as a security threat by the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence (NSGK) back in 2018. However, the problem remains in the wagons, where Russian parts are used until today.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Satellite Breaks Up In Space, Forces ISS Astronauts To Shelter
A Russian satellite has broken up into more than 100 pieces of debris in orbit, forcing astronauts on the International Space Station to take shelter, U.S. space agencies said.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Warrant Issued For Journalist Kurbangaleyeva
A Moscow court on June 27 issued an arrest warrant for journalist Farida Kurbangaleyeva on charges of justifying terrorism and the distribution of false information about Russia's military.
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RFERL ☛ Media Watchdogs Call On Biden To Recognize RFE/RL's Kurmasheva As 'Wrongfully Detained'
The U.S. National Press Club and 18 other media freedom groups have called on President Joe Biden in a public letter to press for the recognition of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who has been held in a Russian prison since last year, as a "wrongfully detained" person.
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RFERL ☛ Wildfires Hit 600,000 Hectares in Eastern Russia
Emergency officials in Russia's Siberian region of Sakha-Yakutia said on June 27 that wildfires had spread to 600,000 hectares of land in the region, making it the largest territory in Russia hit by wildfires at the moment.
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RFERL ☛ 2 Dead, 1 Missing After Train Derails In Russia
Russian Railways said on June 27 that two people were killed and one remained missing after nine of 14 passenger cars of the Vorkuta-Novorossiisk train derailed a day earlier in Russia's Komi region.
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JURIST ☛ ECtHR Chamber transfers Afghanistan refugee case to Grand Chamber
The Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) announced Wednesday the relinquishment of its jurisdiction to the Grand Chamber in a case concerning 32 Afghan refugees at the Poland-Belarus border. The group alleges that they were illegally pushed back by Polish border guards after attempting to enter Poland from Belarus.
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RFERL ☛ Lukashenka Announces Major Shake-Up Of Belarusian Government
Belarusian authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka reshuffled key positions in the government and presidential administration on June 27.
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Atlantic Council ☛ More senior Russian officials join Putin on war crimes wanted list
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has this week issued arrest warrants for former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian army chief Valeriy Gerasimov for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the invasion of Ukraine, writes Andrii Mikheiev.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Mercenary meatgrinder: The price of Bakhmut
Host and Nonresident Senior Fellow Alia Brahimi is joined by the Russian photographer and journalist, David Frenkel, to consider the staggering toll of the “Bakhmut meatgrinder.”
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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Latvia ☛ Whistleblowing initiative complete, says KNAB
The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) said June 26 it has concluded a more than three-year-long project called “Support for the establishment of a whistle-blowing system in Latvia” that was co-financed by the European Economic Area (EEA) grant program.
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New York Times ☛ Julian Assange’s Polarizing Legacy: From Hacker to Hunted Figure
The co-founder of WikiLeaks was a heroic crusader for truth to many people for publishing government secrets. To others, he was a reckless leaker endangering lives.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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DeSmog ☛ Exxon’s Imperial Deletes CEO Claim That CCS Is ‘Critical’ to Paris Climate Goals
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DeSmog ☛ Advertising’s Top Prizes for ‘Sustainability’ Go to Agencies With Polluting Clients
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DeSmog ☛ Why Colorado’s Celebrated Oil Well Cleanup Reforms Face a $3 Billion Shortfall
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DeSmog ☛ The Missing Inner Dimension of System Change
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DeSmog ☛ A ‘Carbon Sucking’ Mural? Campaigns for Big Oil? Global Ad Agency Dentsu Does Both
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DeSmog ☛ The Five Top Misleading Climate Claims of the 2024 UK Election Campaign
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Wildlife/Nature
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New York Times ☛ The Etiquette of Remembering Your Friend’s Pet’s Name
At a barbershop in Colorado, stylists and customers discussed a matter of social protocol.
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Science Alert ☛ World First: Scientists Make Live Rhino Horns Radioactive to Fight Poaching in South Africa
"This is the best idea I've ever heard."
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Finance
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RFA ☛ US diplomats: Budget cuts would be ‘devastating’ and ‘deadly’
The proposed cuts to the State Department’s budget come as China ramps up its diplomatic presence.
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BIA Net ☛ No mid-year minimum wage increase on Turkey's agenda
The government has ruled out a rise. Economists oppose the assumption that an increase would have excerbated the inflation problem.
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian president appoints new ministers for education and social security
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda on Thursday appointed MP Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė as the country’s minister for education, science and sport, while Vytautas Šilinskas, currently a deputy minister, will be the new minister of social security and labour.
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JURIST ☛ Shopee agrees to adjust courier service practices after admitting to violating Indonesia competition law
Indonesia’s antitrust agency announced Wednesday that e-commerce giant Shopee and its courier service, Shopee Express, will make adjustments to its courier service practices in Indonesia after admitting to violating Indonesian competition laws.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Claudia Sheinbaum names another 5 members of her cabinet
The president-elect presented her ministers of energy, health, urban development, public administration and infrastructure and transport on Thursday.
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RFA ☛ China's Communist Party expels ex-defense chief, predecessor in graft probe
Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe were both accused of causing 'enormous damage' to the party and military.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China announces mid-July dates for key political meeting during which economy will be in focus
China will hold a key political meeting historically watched for signals on economic direction in mid-July, state media reported Thursday, as policymakers seek to shore up the country’s stuttering recovery.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan’s defence ministry detects 35 Chinese military aircraft around island in 24-hour window
Taiwan’s defence ministry said Thursday it had detected 35 Chinese military aircraft around the island in a 24-hour window. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to bring the self-ruled democracy under its control.
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Marcelo Ebrard talks trade, nearshoring and US-Mexico relations in La Jornada interview
Mexico's next economy minister said the United States will "need Mexico to be able to compete with China" in an interview with La Jornada newspaper.
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Press Gazette ☛ General election 2024 press endorsements: Economist endorses Labour for first time since 2005
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Reason ☛ Trent Horn: Can a Catholic be a Socialist?
Catholic Answers apologist Trent Horn explores the nexus of Catholic social teaching and libertarianism.
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New York Times ☛ How a Tiny Circle of Advisers Helped Prod Macron to Call France’s Snap Election
President Emmanuel Macron’s governing style has always been intensely top-down. But with far-right nationalists in France closing in on power, some believe he may have gone too far this time.
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Latvia ☛ Saeima spring session statistics
In the spring session of the 14th Saeima, which ran from April 8 to June 21 of this year, 86 laws were adopted, consisting of seven completely new laws and 79 cases of amendments to existing laws, according to data published June 26.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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The Straits Times ☛ North Koreans executed for sharing K-pop, films: Seoul
The Kim Jong-un regime banned white wedding dresses, sunglasses, drinking alcohol from wine glasses, defectors say.
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RFA ☛ Hong Kong officials want louder singing of national anthem in schools
Report sparks backlash for telling schools for kids with learning disabilities to boost patriotic education.
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Press Gazette ☛ ‘Enemies of accurate, prescient journalism?’ Geordie Greig hits out at Mail and Telegraph
Greig suggested that giving negative coverage to the Tories cost him his Mail editorship.
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AccessNow ☛ Worse than China or Iran? Myanmar’s dangerous VPN ban
Myanmar's VPN ban, imposed by the military junta, is preventing people from safely accessing blocked apps and websites.
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Reason ☛ Two Excellent Opinions in Murthy v. Missouri
Justice Barrett's majority opinion reaches the right outcome; Justice Alito's dissent publicizes the atrocious mistreatment of Facebook (Farcebook) by the Biden Administration during Covid.
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Press Gazette ☛ Harry ordered to explain loss of messages with ghostwriter that may be relevant to Sun legal case
Court hears Harry was dragged "kicking and screaming" into letting his personal emails be examined for evidence.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Press Gazette ☛ Health Service Journal sold by Wilmington to private equity firm in £26m deal
HSJ has been owned by Wilmington since 2017.
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Press Gazette ☛ Less on polls, more policy please says 5 News political editor Andy Bell
Bell says opinion polls are driving the news agenda too much.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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OpenRightsGroup ☛ 37 organisations ask parliamentary candidates to use respectful language about migrants
Human rights, migrant and justice rights organisations have written to all parliamentary candidates asking them to use humanising and respectful language when talking about migrants and refugees.
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Reason ☛ Wisconsin S. Ct. Overturns Injunction Restricting Abortion Protester's Speech to Abortion Clinic Employee
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Defence Web ☛ Kenya protests: Ruto pulling the finance bill is unlikely to satisfy angry young protesters – here’s why
In a move that shocked observers, Kenya’s President William Ruto announced on 26 June he was withdrawing his government’s highly controversial finance bill that proposed to raise US$2.7 billion in additional taxes.
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Zimbabwe ☛ The internet mysteriously went down during Kenyan protests, did Starlink provide refuge?
Here’s the news: the sky is blue. And in equally shocking news, in yet another African country, the internet mysteriously goes down in the midst of protests.
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JURIST ☛ ACLU asks US Supreme Court to overturn convictions of protestors for alleged obstruction of public street
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas and the ACLU petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn the decision of the Texas 7th Court of Appeals, which affirmed the conviction of three residents of Gainesville, Texas for the alleged “obstruction of a highway or other passageway” during a protest, the groups announced Tuesday.
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The Straits Times ☛ Jeju police enforce laws, issue on-site fines to foreign tourists
The increased police enforcement follows recent online posts showing misdemeanours such as littering.
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JURIST ☛ New Zealand government re-introduces three-strikes sentencing law amidst human rights controversies
The New Zealand government passed on Tuesday the first reading of the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill in the parliament. Associate justice minister Nicoke McKEE promised a “more workable” regime that avoids unjust outcomes despite concerns from Ministry of Justice officials that the proposed legislation may be inconsistent with international obligations.
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JURIST ☛ US president pardons LGBTQI+ military veterans’ convictions of now-repealed discriminatory laws
US President Biden on Wednesday pardoned American veterans who were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity under a military code for more than 60 years.
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Reason ☛ He Faced a Terrorism Probe, Went to Jail on a Gun Charge, and Now Is Charged With Drug Possession
Although the FBI never produced evidence that Ali Hemani was a threat to national security, it seems determined to imprison him by any means necessary.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Jonathan McDowell: Sorting out backup internet #4: IPv6
The final piece of my 5G (well, 4G) based based backup internet connection I needed to sort out was IPv6. While Three do support IPv6 in their network they only seem to enable it for certain devices, and the MC7010 is not one of those devices, even though it also supports IPv6.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Japan achieves staggering 402 Tb/s data rate with commercial optical fiber — record-breaking performance tapped into unused wavelength bands
With collaboration between three research institutes, researchers found a way to utilize current fiber optic and internet infrastructure to achieve up to 402 Tb/s data rate by simply switching to new bandwidth leveraging widely used amplifiers.
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Patents
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Pending IP Cert Petitions at the Supreme Court
As the Supreme Court’s 2023 year draws to a close, the court has denied certiorari in the vast majority of IP related cases, with the Dewberry trademark damages case left as the only IP case granted certiorari. Seven petitions remain undecided and the court will pick them up again when it begins the 2024 term in late September. This post briefly reviews these cases. I’m listing some cases that I have not previously discussed first.
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New Case-Assignment Order Marks Next Step in Curbing Judge Shopping in Texas
Late last month, Chief U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas Alia Moses announced a new order to distribute patent monopoly cases randomly across the district, while raising the bar for plaintiffs seeking to try their cases in venues where they previously filed “related cases.”
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Kangaroo Courts
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JUVE ☛ Reed Smith patent monopoly team joins Gowling WLG [Ed: Pure spam or ad for SEO disguised as news; this is how JUVE makes money: spam and fake news for UPC, which is illegal and unconstitutional]
Marianne Schaffner, a well-known patent monopoly litigator in France, rose from associate to partner at Linklaters in 2006. After spells at Dentons, Dechert and most recently Reed Smith, she has now returned to a UK law firm, Gowling WLG. She joins Gowling’s Paris-based patent monopoly team along with associates Mathilde Grammont and Charlotte Chambon.
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ The UPC PI Annual [Ed: The UPC is illegal and unconstitutional]
It has been about a year since the UPC issued its first PI decision, making it a good time to reflect on the case law created so far.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is HOLLYWOOD COFFEE CO. for Retail Store Services Confusable with HOLLYWOOD CAFÉ for Restaurant Services?
The USPTO refused to register the mark HOLLYWOOOD COFFEE CO. for "Retail store services featuring packaged coffee and packaged foods" [COFFEE CO. disclaimed], finding confusion likely with the registered mark HOLLYWOOD CAFÉ, in standard character form, for "Mobile restaurant services; restaurant and café services; restaurant services featuring coffee, coffee products, other hot and cold beverages, desserts, pastries and snacks" [CAFÉ disclaimed]. There must be a lot of "Hollywood" marks, right? How do you think this came out? In re USA Innovations, Inc., Serial No. 97441814 (June 25, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Cindy B. Greenbaum).
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Copyrights
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Michael Geist ☛ Virani’s Failed Human Rights Commission Choice: Why the Dattani Appointment Irreparably Harms both the Commission and Bill C-63
Justice Minister Arif Virani and the federal government spent years crafting Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act. After facing widespread criticism on the initial plans in 2021, the government consulted extensively before tabling a revised bill in February 2024 that ditched much of its previous thinking in favour of a more flexible “duty to act responsibly” for Internet platforms.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Training Hey Hi (AI) music models is about to get very expensive
AI music is suddenly in a make-or-break moment. On June 24, Suno and Udio, two leading Hey Hi (AI) music startups that make tools to generate complete songs from a prompt in seconds, were sued by major record labels.
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Digital Music News ☛ YouTube Reportedly in Active AI-Related Discussions with UMG, WMG, Sony Music
YouTube is reportedly in talks with major record labels to license their songs to legally train Hey Hi (AI) song generators. The Google-owned video platform desperately needs record labels’ consent to legally train Hey Hi (AI) song generators, as YouTube prepares to launch new tools this year.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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