Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Fail Of The Week: The Case Of The Curiously Colored Streetlights

  What color are the street lights in your town? While an unfortunate few still suffer under one of the awful colors offered by vapor discharge lamps, like the pink or orange of sodium or the greenish-white of mercury, most municipalities have moved to energy-saving LED streetlights, with a bright white light that’s generally superior in every way. Unless, of course, things go wrong and the lights start to mysteriously change colors.

• Hackaday ☛ 3D Printed Bearings With Filament Rollers

  Commodity bearings are a a boon for makers who to want something to rotate smoothly, but what if you don’t have one in a pinch? [Cliff] of might have the answer for you, in the form of 3D printed bearings with filament rollers.

• Network World ☛ Linus Torvalds annoyed by passive language in commit messages

  The latest release candidate of Linux 6.12 was announced over the weekend, promoting some comments about grammar from Linux founder Linus Torvalds. He took the opportunity to express some irritation when developers use passive, rather than active, language in their commit messages, which he believes is less clear, Neowin reports. A commit message is a short description that developers write when they save changes to a version control system.

• Standards/Consortia

  • Dan Q ☛ EXIF geodata, and what if you took a picture on the moon?

    It’s a fun question. Sure, you need to shoot down the naysayers who, like colin, rightly point out that you couldn’t reasonably expect to get a GPS/GNSS signal on the moon, but still.

• Science

  • France24 ☛ Nobel physics prize-winning scientist sounds alarm on AI

    Hours after he was declared a co-winner of the 2024 Nobel physics prize, John Hopfield said the speed of advances in the field of artiticial intelligence (AI) was unnerving and warned of the possibility of such systems taking over human oversight.

  • France24 ☛ US, UK trio win 2024 Nobel chemistry prize for work on proteins

    US nationals David Baker and John Jumper, together with Briton Demis Hassabis, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for work revealing proteins' secrets through computing and artificial intelligence.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Google DeepMind scientists, biochemist share Nobel Prize in chemistry

    Google LLC scientists Demis Hassabis and John Jumper have won this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry together with biochemistry professor David Baker. The trio received the award for their contributions to protein research.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ Google DeepMind leaders share Nobel Prize in chemistry for protein prediction AI

    In a second Nobel win for AI, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded half the 2024 prize in chemistry to Demis Hassabis, the cofounder and CEO of Surveillance Giant Google DeepMind, and John M. Jumper, a director at the same company, for their work on using artificial intelligence to predict the structures of proteins.

  • Science Alert ☛ Nanostructures Found in Deep Sea Vents Generate Energy Without Life

    Clues to life's origins on Earth.

  • Science Alert ☛ Humanity Faces a Brutal Future as Scientists Warn of 2.7°C Warming

    Earth is burning.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Mapped The Human Brain's Sewage System For The First Time

    The plumbing goes deep.

  • Science Alert ☛ Parkinson's Discovery Suggests We Already Have an FDA-Approved Treatment

    Exciting news!

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Pause Button' Molecule Uncovered in Human Embryos

    Now is not the time.

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Blood Type Affects Your Risk of an Early Stroke, Scientists Discover

    It's important to know.

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Concerning' Study Reveals Baby Boomers Actually Have Worse Health

    A worrying trend.

  • Science Alert ☛ Ingenious Hey Hi (AI) Solution to Protein Puzzle Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

    One of biology’s greatest challenges.

• Education

  • New York Times ☛ The Education Crisis Neither Candidate Will Address

    Covid learning loss and chronic absenteeism aren’t going to fix themselves

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Intel Processor N50 or N97 touch Panel PCs feature 7-inch or 10-inch TFT color display

    AAEON ACP-2106 and ACP-2076 are two fanless touch panel PCs powered by an defective chip maker Intel N50 or N97 Alder Lake-N processor with respectively 10-inch (1280 x 800) and 7-inch (1024×600) color TFT LCD displays with capacitive multi-touch support. Both models share the same key specifications with support for up to 32GB DDR5 SO-DIMM memory and a mPCIe socket for storage.

  • Hackaday ☛ Braun TS2 Radio Turns 68, Gets Makeover

    The Braun TS2 radio was a state-of-the art tube set in 1956. Today it still looks great, but unsurprisingly, the one that [Manuel Caldeier] has needed a little tender loving care. The table radio had a distinct style for its day and push-buttons. However, the dial glass and the speaker grill needed replacement. Even more interesting, the radio has a troublesome selenium rectifier, giving him the perfect chance to try out his new selenium rectifier solid-state replacement.

  • CNX Software ☛ Qualcomm Networking Pro A7 Elite is a WiFi 7 SoC with a 40 TOPS NPU for AI-optimized traffic and range

    The Qualcomm Networking Pro A7 Elite platform is a new wireless networking platform that integrates WiFi 7 with edge AI. The wireless networking platform can deliver up to 33 Gbps of throughput and features an Hey Hi (AI) coprocessor that provides up to 40 TOPS for Hey Hi (AI) workloads. Hey Hi (AI) features are designed to enhance Wi-Fi and networking user experience and include Smart Traffic Classifier, Range Boost, and Networking AIOps.

  • Hackaday ☛ The Punched Card Detective

    [John Graham-Cumming] might not be the first person to thumb through an old book and find an IBM punched card inside. But he might be the first to actually track down the origin of the cards. Admittedly, there were clues. The book was a Portuguese book about computers from the 1970s. The cards also had a custom logo on them that belonged to a computer school at the time.

  • Hackaday ☛ Wimbledon Goes Automated [Ed: Some media misframes this as "hey hi" to manufacture false hype]

    When you think of tennis, you probably think of Wimbledon, the All England Club’s famous competition that has run for 147 years. Part of that history has always been line judges who call the ball in or out, sometimes to the ire of players and fans alike. But line judges will be no more at Wimbledon. They are moving to ELC or electronic line calling on all courts in both the main draw and the qualifying tournaments, according to [Tumaini Carayol] writing in The Guardian.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Single dose, low retention coffee grinders

    This is going to sound silly, but I’m so relieved and oddly validated that these things exist! I have no idea how the industry tolerated how this was done before.

    I’ll explain what these grinders are, but first let me wind back the clock to the early 2000s. The short-lived swing revival was in the rearview mirror. Palm had released their m100-series PDAs. Tragic nerds like me had the Love Hina OP on a loop in our heads. Dah dah da-da dah! Dah dah da-da dah! And my parents started buying what James Hoffman referred to as “bean to cup” coffee machines, starting with this exact model of DeLonghi Magnifica.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Three Medical School faculty receive prestigious NIH awards

    Three U-M investigators have been acknowledged by the National Institutes of Health's prestigious High-Risk, High-Reward Research program.

  • France24 ☛ Pelicot trial: French court hears how mass rape went undetected for years

    Relatives of Gisèle Pelicot, the woman at the heart of a mass rape trial that has shaken France, testified in court on Tuesday about the deterioration they witnessed in Pelicot’s health throughout her almost decade-long ordeal, and the failure to determine its cause. Their accounts shed light on the widespread ignorance of drug-facilitated abuse that allowed the victim’s ordeal to go undetected for years.

  • Latvia ☛ Politicians mull youth addiction treatment in Latvia

    On Tuesday, October 8, the Saeima sub-committees came together to discuss psychiatric and narcological services for young people of children. After a long debate, not much was decided, except to come together again in half a year, Latvian Radio reported.

  • European Commission ☛ Statement by Commissioner Kyriakides ahead of World Mental Health Day

  • The Straits Times ☛ More ICU patients died following South Korean doctors’ mass walkout: Lawmaker

    The authorities cautioned against drawing conclusions from the limited data presented, as death rates fluctuate.

  • Latvia ☛ Another swine fever outbreak detected in Latvia

    An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) has been detected in a domestic pig holding with 14 pigs in Dobele municipality. This is the seventh outbreak of ASF in domestic pig holdings in Latvia this year, the Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) said on October 9.

  • Medevel ☛ Not Everything Needs to Be Smart! Enough Smart Things, Keep it Simple - The Need to Simplify Our Lives

    We live in an era where everything, from your toothbrush to your trash can, is powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). You might have heard the phrase “there’s an app for that,” but now it seems there’s a smart device for everything—whether it makes sense or not.

  • Medevel ☛ The Smart Potty Training App: Since When Toddler's Potty Training Needs Wi-Fi!

    As we live in a world where everything is “smart.” Smart toasters, smart mirrors, smart water bottles—because apparently, we need a reminder to drink water. But just when you thought the tech world couldn’t get any more absurd, along comes the Smart Potty Training App.

  • Hackaday ☛ On-Site Viral RNA Detection In Wastewater With Paper And Wax Microfluidics

    Wastewater sampling has become a popular way over the years to keep track of the health of a population, including human ones, as pathogens are often detectable in the effluence from toilets. Since most houses connected to the centralized sewer systems, this means that a few sampling sites suffice to keep tabs on which viruses are circulating in an area. While sampling this wastewater is easy, the actual RNA analysis using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) still has to be performed in laboratories, adding complex logistics. An approach for on-site analysis using microfluidics was tested out by [Yuwei Pan] et al., as recently published in Cell.

  • Kev Quirk ☛ Emma Mattresses Are Crap

    My wife and I recently bought an Emma Mattress, but it's since gone back because, frankly, it's shite.

    If you've never heard of Emma Mattresses, they're a UK based company that supplies fancy pants memory foam mattresses.

    They're very expensive, but they offer a 200 day money back guarantee on their mattresses, so a few months ago my wife and I took a punt and bought one.

    Initially I thought it was very nice - it was supportive, moulded to my body, and both my wife and I couldn't feel it when the other person was shifting about in bed. Good times!

    Over summer it was a little uncomfortable because memory foam mattresses tend to absorb more body heat, so are generally warmer to sleep in. As someone who likes it cold when they sleep, this was annoying for me.

    Anyway, that's not what makes Emma Mattresses crap, oh no dear reader. What makes them crap is that after a couple months, it was like sleeping in the fucking Himalayas. There was a ditch on either side of the bed where we sleep, and what can only be described as the bed equivalent of Everest in the middle. It got so bad that it felt like I was sleeping on a slope.

  • Latvia ☛ Covid incidence on the decline in Latvia

    The incidence of Covid-19 in Latvia has decreased, Latvian Radio reported on October 9.

  • New York Times ☛ Does Your School Use Suicide Prevention Software? We Want to Hear From You.

    Concerned about anxiety and depression among students, some schools are monitoring what children type into their devices to detect suicidal thinking or self-harm.

  • RFA ☛ Mekong commission delays release of river flood warning app

    Smartphone app was to go live by August but a new release date has not been announced.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong school students happier than last year but sense of purpose in life falls to 7-year low, survey finds

    Hong Kong primary and secondary school students were happier than they were last year, an annual survey has found, but their sense of purpose in life fell to a seven-year low as an expert highlighted the need for more resilience.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Neverwinter Developer Cryptic Studios Hit by Yet More Layoffs

    Neverwinter and Star Trek Online developer Cryptic Studios has been hit by another round of layoffs, with an unknown number of staff being let go from the studio this time around.

    Per a Game Developer report, a number of Cryptic employees, including artists Amelia March and Mauricio Tejerina, have confirmed that they're being laid off on business social networking platform LinkedIn.

    Cryptic art director Thomas Marrone subsequently confirmed the layoffs via social media a couple of days ago, adding that "some wonderful people are being let go" and that "their loss will be deeply felt" at the company.

  • New York Times ☛ Can You Turn Off Surveillance Giant Google and Meta’s Hey Hi (AI) Tools? Sometimes, and Here’s How.

    Google, Abusive Monopolist Microsoft and Meta are shoving Hey Hi (AI) chatbots into our faces. Sometimes, there’s a way out.

  • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Brazil: Update on Bill on [Computer]-Generated and Assisted Inventions

    Rapporteur’s Opinion proposes substitute text and recommends approval In February 2024, a Brazilian congress member, Antônio Luiz Rodrigues Mano Júnior (known as Júnior Mano), introduced a bill to amend the national IP Statute (Law #9,279/96) and regulate the ownership of inventions generated by artificial intelligence systems.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ ICO response to ORG complaint against Meta and Hey Hi (AI) – 25 September 2024

      ICO response to ORG complaint against Meta and Hey Hi (AI) – 25 September 2024 Dear Pam Cowburn, Thank you for your letter of 15 July to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) raising Open Rights Group’s (ORG) concerns about Meta’s proposed use of UK users’ personal information for training generative artificial intelligence (AI).

    • The Straits Times ☛ China to hold nationwide survey on population changes

      The survey will run until Nov 30.

    • Federal News Network ☛ Login.gov facial recognition option gets GSA approval

      Login.gov will allow its users to match a “selfie” with the photo on a government ID, such as a driver’s license.

    • EDRI ☛ Rushed EU eID Wallet risks privacy and security: Calls for safeguards are getting ignored in hasty eIDAS implementation

      From a visit to the doctor to public transport tickets , the European eID will handle our most sensitive personal data in a wide range of every-day applications. Yet, speed seems more important to the European Commission than a properly functioning eID system that is safe & secure to use.

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ Auto-Identification Smart Glasses

      Two students have created a demo of a smart-glasses app that performs automatic facial recognition and then information lookups. Kind of obvious, but the sort of creepy demo that gets attention.

      News article.

    • EDRI ☛ EDRi-gram, 9 October 2024

      Last week, we gathered with hundreds of EU decision-makers, Members of European Parliament, civil society representatives and journalists at the Tech and Society Summit in Brussels. As one of the 41 co-organisers of the Summit, we were inspired by the visionary ideas in the various panels, discussions and chat – all towards centering people, the planet and democracy in the EU tech agenda. Stay tuned for more highlights and recordings from the day.

    • EDRI ☛ Prioritising safety, participation, and community care: A vision for our digital future

      Together, we can protect human rights, strengthen democracy, and reshape societal systems. Read about our commitment to prioritising safety, participation, and community care, as part of our Vision for 2024 and beyond.

    • EDRI ☛ Biometric surveillance in the Czech Republic: the Ministry of the Interior is trying to circumvent the Artificial Intelligence Act

      EDRi-member Iuridicum Remedium draws attention to the way biometric surveillance at airports should be legalised in the Czech Republic. According to the proposal, virtually anyone could become a person under surveillance. Moreover, surveillance could be extended from airports to other public spaces.

    • EDRI ☛ Surveilling Europe’s edges: when digitalisation means dehumanisation

      In May 2024, Access Now’s Caterina Rodelli travelled across Greece to meet with local civil society organisations supporting migrant people and monitoring human rights violations, and to see first-hand how and where surveillance technologies are deployed at Europe’s borders. In the first of a three-part blog series reflecting on what she saw, Caterina explains how, all too often, digitalising borders dehumanises the people trying to cross them.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Strategist ☛ Stepping up military support to humanitarian assistance in the Pacific—recommendations for the Pacific Response Group

    The newly agreed Pacific defence response group to help with disaster relief will help to solidify Australia’s role as a primary provider of security assistance.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ European defense industrial woes need a transatlantic remedy

    To ensure its security, the European Union should collaborate more closely with the United States on defense industrial production.

  • JURIST ☛ Netherlands prosecutors to consider allegations of Israel interference with ICC investigation

    A joint media report led Dutch prosecutors to consider a criminal case based on concerns that senior Israeli intelligence officials have interfered with an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into alleged crimes in occupied Palestine, The Guardian confirmed on Tuesday.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Cerebras may postpone IPO as US government investigates potential Hey Hi (AI) tech transfer to China

    A delayed CFIUS review of G42 investments in Cerebras may delay the latter's IPO.

  • JURIST ☛ Application filed in India Supreme Court seeking expedited restoration of Jammu and Kashmir statehood

    Two people have submitted an application to the Supreme Court of India requesting the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood within two months, local media reported Monday. Jammu and Kashmir was previously stripped of autonomy and placed under the Indian government’s control in 2019.

  • New York Times ☛ Lily Ebert, Holocaust Survivor, Author and Fentanylware (TikTok) Star, Dies at 100

    She survived Auschwitz, wrote a best-selling memoir, “Lily’s Promise,” and spoke to a following of 2 million fans on TikTok.

  • New Yorker ☛ What Some Gaza Protest Voters See in Trump

    “The impulse to be antiwar is a very understandable one,” the New Yorker staff writer Andrew Marantz says. “It does not cut easily within our political spectrum.”

  • Defence Web ☛ Border protection seemingly working, SANDF stats show

    A breakdown of September Operation Corona successes shows a decrease in the number of illegal immigrants intercepted by soldiers as well as a substantial drop in value of contraband seized.

  • JURIST ☛ ECtHR: Cyprus prevention of Syrian refugees from disembarking to seek asylum violates convention

    The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on Tuesday that attempts to bar two Syrian migrants from reaching Cyprian territory and their subsequent expulsion violated multiple provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights.

  • BIA Net ☛ Diyarbakır governor bans rally commemorating PKK leader's capture

    Pro-Kurdish groups intended to mark  the 26th anniversary of the start of the international pursuit of Abdullah Öcalan with a rally.

  • JURIST ☛ MI5 director general warns UK faces serious terror threat environment

    In a speech delivered from the Counter Terrorism Operations Centre (CTOC) in London on Tuesday, MI5 director general Ken McCallum warned that the UK is facing the most complex and interconnected threat environment it has ever seen.

  • France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: 'Israeli' strikes hit Syrian Homs province, state media reports

    An "Israeli attack" hit the Syrian town of Hassiah, located in the southwest Homs province, early on Thursday, reportedly targeting a "car factory" in the city's industrial area, Syrian state media said.

  • France24 ☛ Biden urges Netanyahu to minimise civilian harm in Lebanon

    US President Joe Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to minimise harm to civilians in Lebanon, especially in the populated areas of Beirut, while reiterating support to target Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants, the White House said after their call. The plea came after Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel will carry out “lethal, precise and surprising” retaliation against anyone who attacks it, while discussing Iran’s October 1 missile strike on Israel. Read our live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.

  • RFA ☛ ‘Direct hit’ airstrike on homes kills 15 civilians in Myanmar’s Rakhine state

    3 generations of the same family were among those killed in the junta attack.

  • RFA ☛ Myanmar fighters capture hotly contested northwest town

    The junta’s air force has launched sustained airstrikes in the area in response, residents said.

  • New York Times ☛ In This Office, the Fading Dream of a Unified Korea Lives On

    On paper, five South Korean officials are the governors of North Korean provinces. Their goal is reunification, but fewer and fewer Koreans share it.

  • RFA ☛ North Korea says it will bolster defense on border with South, cut road, rail links

    The ‘project’ to block the southern border began on Wednesday, North Korea’s military said.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea's Yoon, Japan's Ishiba to meet on sidelines of ASEAN gathering

    South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba were scheduled to hold their first summit on Thursday in Laos, Yoon's office said, as the neighbours seek to deepen security and economic ties.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te vows to ‘resist annexation’ during speech to mark island’s National Day

    Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te vowed Thursday to “resist annexation”, as China exerts growing military and political pressure on the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory. China has not ruled out using force to bring the democratic island under its control, which Lai and his government oppose.

  • RFA ☛ Malaysia’s Anwar calls for a united ASEAN amid rising ‘global tensions’

    The prime minister says divisions among members of the Southeast Asian bloc run the risk of being exploited.

  • RFA ☛ Taiwan braces for China’s drills, satellite launch

    Taiwanese officials warn of China’s plans to conduct military drills around the island in coming days.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China accuses Taiwan President Lai Ching-te of increasing ‘hostility’ as island prepares to celebrate its National Day

    China has accused Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te of escalating “hostility” and pursuing independence, as the self-ruled island prepared to celebrate its National Day. China, which split with Taiwan at the end of a civil war in 1949, regards the island as part of its territory that must eventually be reunified, by force if necessary.

  • Defence Web ☛ Chinese missile and satellite tracking vessel Yuan Wang 7 returns to South Africa

    The Chinese satellite tracking vessel, Yuan Wang 7, called at Cape Town on 18 September following a tracking cruise that took the sophisticated vessel into the South Atlantic.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Russian activist Dmitry Skurikhin, once a popular local politician, returns to cold welcome from neighbors after serving time for anti-war posters — Meduza

    • JURIST ☛ Ireland officials report Russia recruited parliament member as agent

      Irish Officials reported Tuesday to Politico that Russia had used its intelligence services to recruit an Irish Politician to act on their behalf in order to exploit tensions in the UK following Brexit.

    • France24 ☛ Orban calls for ‘change’ in EU address, lawmakers slam his democratic backsliding

      Hungary's nationalist leader Viktor Orban made his case for "change" in Europe in a headline address to the EU parliament on Wednesday. His speech was greeted by denunciations as lawmakers took turns to lambast Orban's democratic backsliding and pro-Russian positions.

    • Meduza ☛ With Vuhledar lost and another Ukrainian stronghold in danger, Russia could take southern Donbas by year’s end — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky to embark on European tour in search of more military aid

      Anticipating a potential shortage of US military support after the US presidential elections in November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will follow up a Ukraine-Southeast Europe summit with a tour of meetings with multiple European leaders, he announced on Wednesday. Russia has made key advances in Ukraine in recent months, prompting Zelensky to tirelessly search for support from NATO members and other potential allies.

    • New York Times ☛ Meeting of Western Leaders on Ukraine Is Postponed in Setback for Kyiv

      A top-level gathering in Germany intended to show support for Ukraine was put off after President Biden canceled his trip to deal with Hurricane Milton.

    • New York Times ☛ Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary Gets a Hostile Serenade in Strasbourg

      Some progressive members sang “Bella Ciao,” a song associated with antifascism, to show opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been accused of authoritarianism at home.

    • RFERL ☛ Death Toll Rises In Bosnian Flooding Amid Warnings Of New Rainfall

      The death count in the devastating floods in Bosnia-Herzegovina has risen to at least 22 while authorities on October 8 warned of additional rains and potential landslides in the coming days.

    • Latvia ☛ Two migrants wounded during police spec-op on Tuesday in Latvia

      On Tuesday, October 8, the State Police, in cooperation with the State Border Guard, conducting a continuous pursuit from the Belarusian-Latvian state border, apprehended 46 migrants who had illegally crossed the border and two drivers.

    • Latvia ☛ Border Guard Chief: Belarus coordinates illegal migration

      The Belarusian authorities are likely coordinating illegal migrant flows, Guntis Pujāts, head of the State Border Guard, said on the Latvian Television program "Morning Panorama" on Wednesday.

    • JURIST ☛ Belarus extends prison sentence of Belarusian-American lawyer by 2 years

      The Viasna Human Rights Centre in Belarus reported on Monday that the prison term of Yuras Zyankovich, a Belarusian American lawyer, has been extended by two years, bringing his sentence to a total of 13 and a half years, amid Belarus’ ongoing suppression of political opposition.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Military Says It Hit Shahed Drones Stored In Southern Russia

      The Ukrainian military said on October 9 that its forces destroyed a facility storing hundreds of attack drones in Russia's southern Krasnodar region.

    • RFERL ☛ Ramstein Meeting On Ukraine Canceled, NATO Sources Tell RFE/RL

      A high-level meeting of the Ramstein group of Ukraine arms donors has been canceled after U.S. President Joe Biden scrapped a visit to Germany this week due to the impending landfall of Hurricane Milton in Florida, two sources from NATO told RFE/RL on October 9.

    • RFERL ☛ ICC Can Try Cases Of Alleged Executions Of Ukrainian POWs, Top Prosecutor Says

      Cases of the alleged execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) fall under the mandate of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the court is entitled to try such cases, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has said.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Sentences Ex-U.S. Marine To 14 Years In Absentia For Joining Ukrainian Army

      Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed has been sentenced in absentia by a Russian court to 14 1/2 years in prison, on charges he joined the Ukrainian Army as a mercenary.

    • RFERL ☛ Orban, EU Officials Clash In European Parliament

      Viktor Orban and European lawmakers have traded barbs in the European parliament, with the Hungarian prime minister urging the bloc to change while top EU officials chided Budapest for its Russia-friendly stance and backsliding on democracy.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Media Outlet Says It's Being Pressured By Zelenskiy's Office

      The editorial board of one of Ukraine’s most respected media outlets, Ukrayinska Pravda, has accused President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office of launching an "ongoing and systematic pressure" campaign against it that threatens the independence of its work.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Urges European Unity At Balkan Summit; Ramstein Meeting Postponed

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stressed the importance of European unity as he took part in a summit in Croatia with Balkan leaders on October 9.

    • RFA ☛ EXPLAINED: Are North Korean troops going to help Russia in Ukraine?

      The North has supplied missiles and shells, say Ukraine and the US, and troops would signal deeper cooperation.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania approves three-year roadmap for supporting Ukraine

      On Wednesday, the government approved the roadmap for Lithuania’s engagement in Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery for the next three years.

    • JURIST ☛ Russia missile hits Palau-flagged vessel in Odessa killing 1 and injuring 5

      A Russian missile hit a Palau-flagged vessel on Monday in Ukraine’s southern port of Odessa. One Ukrainian national was killed while five foreign nationals among the ship’s crew members were injured. According to the head of Odessa’s Regional Military Administration, Oleh Kiper, the aggressor initially targeted the port infrastructure.

    • France24 ☛ FRANCE 24's journalist under investigation in Russia after reporting from Kursk

      Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday that it has opened criminal cases against foreign journalists for "illegally" crossing the border between Ukraine and Russia's Kursk region.

    • France24 ☛ Macron meets Ukrainian troops training in France ahead of talks with Zelensky

      French President Emmanuel Macron will reaffirm France's "unwavering support to Ukraine" the Élysée Palace said, during talks on Thursday with Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky.

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky embarks on European tour in search of more military aid

      Anticipating a potential shortage of US military support after the US presidential elections in November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will follow up a summit which gathered numerous southeast European nations with multiple European leaders, he announced on Wednesday. Russia has made key advances in Ukraine in recent months, prompting Zelensky to tirelessly search for support from NATO members and other potential allies.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ German Galushchenko on why the development of renewables is a matter of national security for Ukraine

      The Ukrainian energy minister spoke at the Atlantic Council's Regional Conference on Clean and Secure Energy about how regional cooperation has been a "lifeline" for his country's energy system.

    • The Strategist ☛ What would victory in Ukraine look like?

      Victory in war is sometimes easy to define.

    • CS Monitor ☛ What’s in Bob Woodward’s new book? Private calls, rage, and regrets of Trump and Biden.

      In his new book, “War,” journalist Bob Woodward reports Donald Trump privately called Vladimir Putin as many as seven times since leaving office, and that Joe Biden’s anger at Benjamin Netanyahu is boiling in private, among other revelations.

    • France24 ☛ Kremlin denies report of Trump, Putin private phone call after Ukraine invasion

      Former US president Donald Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Vladimir Putin in 2020 when he was in the White House and spoke multiple times to the Russian president after leaving office, an explosive new book by US journalist Bob Woodward reveals. The Kremlin on Wednesday denied reports in the upcoming book, "War", that Putin spoke to Trump after he left office or had a private phone conversation two years after Russia invaded Ukraine. Trump also denied the allegations.

• Environment

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Warns of Solar Storm That Could Bring Northern Lights and Power Concerns

    An explosion of particles is expected to reach Earth on Thursday, and could lead to visible Northern Lights in much of the country while also raising power grid concerns.

  • France24 ☛ Why can't we stop hurricanes? From dry ice to cloud seeding, nothing has worked

    While Florida is still reeling from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago, Hurricane Milton is set to make landfall in Tampa Bay early on Wednesday night local time. While fluctuations in intensity are expected, Milton is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane, perhaps the fourth most powerful hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic. From cloud seeding and dry ice to giant funnels and lasers, scientists have tried to find a ways to stop or deviate hurricanes since the 1940s. But nothing has effectively worked.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Severe Solar Storm Is Expected to Strike Earth This Week

    This could trigger auroras as far south as Alabama.

  • Science Alert ☛ Hurricane Milton Set to Strike Florida as Experts Warn More Storms to Come

    Is this the new normal?

  • France24 ☛ Hurricane Kirk remnants reach France, leaving at least one dead

    After leaving power cuts and uprooted trees in its wake throughout Western Europe, Hurricane Kirk reached Southern France, producing torrential rain that killed one amateur sailor in the French port city of Sète and prompted authorities to put all French departments on orange alert.

  • France24 ☛ 1.6 million without power as 'extremely dangerous' Hurricane Milton slams into Florida

    More than 1.6 million homes and business lost power Wednesday night as Hurricane Milton, which many fear could become a historically damaging storm, made landfall in Florida. The category 3 storm brought rip-roaring winds, torrential rains, and multiple tornadoes to western Florida, with unconfirmed accounts of fatalities already being reported.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ Xi’s graft crackdown ensnares record number of senior officials in China

    It may unsettle investors already anxious about the economy.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US and allies’ trade coalition isolates China, ambassador says

    He said Washington’s multilateral approach in the Indo-Pacific will likely stay in place regardless of who wins the presidential race. 

  • RFA ☛ Chinese markets in turmoil amid stimulus hopes

    Stocks surge, then plunge, prompting the finance ministry to say it will lay out growth plans this weekend.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China, US trade officials raise concerns over trade curbs between world’s biggest economies

    The United States and China on Tuesday raised concerns about trade between the world’s two biggest economies, with China’s commerce minister urging Washington to lift sanctions on his country’s firms “as soon as possible”.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ End of the line: The cost of faltering reforms

    The China Pathfinder project examines whether China’s economy is converging or diverging with the world's leading open market economies.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Two-way trade between Mexico and US reaches record high

    The United States' imports from China continue to decline as Mexico strengthens its position as the country's leading trade partner.

  • Medevel ☛ Why I'm Taking a Stand Against Samsung's Layoffs

    Boycotting Samsung: Corporate Greed and Its Toll on Humanity

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Inflation continues decline in September, surpassing analysts’ expectations

    Headline inflation in Mexico declined for a second consecutive month in September after rising to nearly 6% in July.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Cut high tax on hard liquor to save Hong Kong’s bar industry amid slump in business, owners urge gov’t

    Hong Kong’s bar owners are calling for a cut in the tax on hard liquor to save the industry amid a slump in business as residents head to mainland China for cheaper nights out.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • CS Monitor ☛ On Ohio ballot, a retired justice’s crusade to make politics competitive again

    Voters will decide whether Ohio becomes one of the few states where an independent citizens commission, rather than politicians, draws district maps.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Medevel ☛ News: Discord Blocked in Turkey: National Security and Misinformation Concerns

    Discord is a popular communication platform designed primarily for gamers, but it has expanded to serve various communities, including hobbyists, educators, and businesses. Launched in 2015, it allows users to create servers, engage in voice and video calls, and chat through text channels.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Jay-Z, Beyoncé Attorneys Force Piers Morgan to Remove Interview Comments Claiming the Pair Have Hundreds of ‘Victims’ in Diddy Scandal

    Lawyers for Jay-Z and Beyoncé asked for comments on Piers Morgan’s show implicating them in Diddy’s scandal to be removed — and Piers Morgan issues an apology.

  • Stanford University ☛ Provost Jenny Martinez announces new ban on self-censorship

    The ban, announced in a letter to students on Tuesday, remains subject to time, place and manner restrictions.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • RFA ☛ Transnational repression endangers Americans: US diplomat

    China’s model of authoritarianism is not limited by sovereign borders, the official said.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Garth Brooks Identifies Accuser in Legal Filing and Invokes the Wrath of Her Lawyers

    Garth Brooks’ legal battle against a woman accusing him of sexual assault heats up as he publicly identifies her in a legal filing and angering her lawyers.

  • RFA ☛ Drugmakers rely on supplies using Uyghur forced labor: report

    Despite US laws, even 2 US government agencies are guilty of linkages, C4ADS says.

  • JURIST ☛ UN Human Rights Commissioner condemns prison conditions in DRC

    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk delivered a speech on Tuesday condemning the state of prison and detention systems in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In his address, directed at the DRC president, Türk discusses the deterioration of detention conditions in the country.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Bryan Lunduke ☛ Top Level Domain .io Will Die in 5 Years

    The "Indian Ocean" islands have been given up by the UIK.

  • RFA ☛ Vietnam plans new undersea cables amid security concerns

    Using a Chinese company would have regional defense implications, an analyst says.

  • Michael Geist ☛ Is Meta Offside the Online News Act? The CRTC Wants to Know.

    Meta has blocked news links on its Facebook (Farcebook) and Instagram platforms for more than a year in response to the Online News Act, resulting in significant lost traffic to many Canadian news sites. The company’s position has been pretty clear from the start: the law applies to digital news intermediaries that make “news content produced by news outlets available to persons in Canada.” By blocking news links, the company believes that it falls outside the definition and therefore is not required to register with the CRTC and enter into negotiations for payments to Canadian news outlets.

  • Education

    • APNIC ☛ My experience in the 2024 APNIC fellowship program

      This year, I was an APNIC Fellow in the youth category and attended APNIC 58 in Wellington, New Zealand. This post is about my experience as an APNIC Fellow and how I will apply knowledge gained to strengthen WebSafe Samoa’s (my employer) cybersecurity for the benefit of my community in Samoa.

    • RIPE ☛ The RIPE NCC Academy - Ten Years Later

      Over the course of 10 years, the RIPE NCC Academy has evolved into a hub for all the various training and certification services made available to the Internet community by the RIPE NCC.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Bryan Lunduke ☛ Google May be Broken Up as a Result of Lost Lawsuit

  Google has been ruled to be a monopoly, with multiple remedies being proposed...

• New York Times ☛ U.S. Weighs Forcing Surveillance Giant Google to Break Off Parts of the Company

  They include making Google’s data available to rivals and forcing it to break off parts of the company, the Justice Department said in a court filing.

• New York Times ☛ Google Researchers Win Nobel Prize Amid Company’s Antitrust Battle

  Two of the company’s Hey Hi (AI) researchers shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, just hours after the Justice Department started spelling out plans that could lead to its break up.

• Silicon Angle ☛ Justice Department could seek to break up Surveillance Giant Google following antitrust ruling

  The U.S. Justice Department could ask a federal court to break up Surveillance Giant Google LLC, officials disclosed in a filing today. Reports that such a move is on the table have been swirling for weeks.

• Patents

  • JUVE ☛ Top patent monopoly litigation firms in Italy [Ed: Fake rankings. JUVE takes bribes from laws firms and then gives them endorsements that aren't real, plus spammy "articles" that are ads.]

    The patent monopoly teams at Italy’s law firms are led by experienced litigators, most of whom are based in Milan. After many staff changes over the past two years, the important first-instance IP court in the capital is undergoing a shake-up. Consequently, some proceedings on the merits are taking longer, while PI proceedings remain fast.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ USPTO Terminates Thousands of Chinese-Origin Patent Applications Due to Forged Attorney/Agent Signatures

    In a stunning development, the USPTO recently terminated proceedings in approximately 3,100 patent monopoly applications due to the fraudulent use of a practitioner's signature. This mass termination, announced on October 2, 2024, stems from an investigation that uncovered misconduct involving the unauthorized use of a registered patent monopoly agent's electronic signature.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ In Second Stage of Cancellation Proceeding, TTAB Deems RASCAL HOUSE Abandoned for Restaurant Services

    The parties to this cancellation proceeding opted to litigate the case under the Accelerated Case Resolution (ACR) regime. In accordance with the parties' stipulation, the case was divided into two stages, the first stage addressing the issue of whether Respondent Jerry's Famous Deli had ceased use of the registered marks RASCAL HOUSE, WOLFIE COHEN’S RASCAL HOUSE, and the word-and-design mark shown below, for restaurant services. The Board concluded that Jerry's had indeed stopped using the mark for a period of more than three years. [TTABlogged here]. In this second stage, the Board concluded that Jerry's failed to prove an intent to resume use that would avoid a finding that the marks were abandoned. Rascal House, Inc. v. Jerry’s Famous Deli, Inc., Cancellation Nos. 92075125, 92075180, and 92075185 (September 30, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge David K. Heasley).

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Less Than Five Months Later, Sony Music Voluntarily Dismisses Its Marriott Copyright Lawsuit With Prejudice

    Just shy of five months after it kicked off, the copyright monopoly infringement battle between Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Marriott International has officially drawn to a close.

  • Public Domain Review ☛ The Man and The Crowd (1928): Photography, Film, and Fate

    “Make films about the people, they said”, Jean-Luc Godard once quipped, “but The Crowd had already been made, so why remake it?” Gideon Leek rewatches King Vidor’s classic, in which a young man with big dreams moves to New York City and becomes an identical cog who learns to love the machine of modernity.