Links 11/01/2025: Social Control Media Facing Sanctions, Carter Respected at Funeral
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Career/Education
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Pseudo-Open Source
- 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
- Digital Restrictions (DRM) Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Simon Willison ☛ My AI/LLM predictions for the next 1, 3 and 6 years, for Oxide and Friends
Here are my predictions, written up here in a little more detail than the stream of consciousness I shared on the podcast.
I should emphasize that I find the very idea of trying to predict AI/LLMs over a multi-year period to be completely absurd! I can’t predict what’s going to happen a week from now, six years is a different universe.
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Andrew Stiefel ☛ Principles of Platform Independence
The [Internet] is filled with stories of people breaking free from Google’s ecosystem (here are a few examples I’ve seen recently). Yet in their rush to escape one tech giant, many users inadvertently chain themselves to another.
I’ve noticed a paradox on social media: people who champion digital independence while relying heavily on platform-specific tools like Apple Notes or Passwords. They overlook how Apple, like Google, builds its business model around service lock-in – from iCloud storage to annual hardware upgrades.
Personally, I prefer to maintain platform independence as much as possible. Over the years I’ve developed a set of criteria — let’s call them principles of platform independence — for choosing what apps and software I use. This way I retain control over my digital life regardless of which company’s software or hardware I use.
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Mat Duggan ☛ Stop Trying To Schedule A Call With Me
One of the biggest hurdles for me when trying out a new service or product is the inevitable harassment that follows. It always starts innocuously: [...]
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Tracy Durnell ☛ Sanding off friction from indie web connection
Add friction to the activities you’d like to change, and remove friction from the things you’d like to do more of. This is usually applied at a personal level, but we can think of it across communities, too: Where is there friction in our community that blocks people from participating in the ways we’d like?
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Wouter Groeneveld ☛ You Should Compile Your Own Philosophy
2025 will become my personal year of philosophy. I turn forty this year, which, if all goes well, marks the first part of my life as over. Considering recent illnesses along my family and friends, I have little hope of ever reaching eighty, but let’s keep that as a grand goal for the sake of the argument.
I’ve been reading more philosophy lately, including Joep Dohmen’s De kunst van het ouder worden (the art of getting old), which summarizes findings of well-known philosophers on the subject of ageing, from Plato, Cicero, Nietzsche, to Russell. One of the chapters that struck me the most was a section of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Reveries of the Solitary Walker, where Rousseau reflects on how he learns how to properly grow old. He wrote that to the age of forty, he floated between indigence and riches, wisdom and folly: living the dangerous life, without being guided by principles or regulated reason.
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Sara Jakša ☛ Blog Questions Challenge
I have seen other people like Manu and Matthew do these questions and I figured that they might be interesting to do. A lot of them have some overlap with the People & Blogs interview, which I had done before, but maybe I can actually manage to restrain myself with the length of the answers. :)
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Science
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CS Monitor ☛ Music unlocks secrets about the design of the universe
Daniel K.L. Chua’s expansive, eye-opening book documents how music from China to Greece has underpinned humanity’s search for joy.
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The Straits Times ☛ China discovers cluster of new mpox strain
The patients' symptoms are mild and include skin rash and blisters.
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Science Alert ☛ New Math Suggests 'Impossible' Third Type of Particle Could Exist
Neither light nor matter.
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Hackaday ☛ Engineering Lessons From The Super-Kamiokande Neutrino Observatory Failure
Every engineer is going to have a bad day, but only an unlucky few will have a day so bad that it registers on a seismometer.
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Science Alert ☛ Insane New Images of Mercury's Surface Captured on Probe's Final Flyby
Just look at them.
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Science Alert ☛ Study Reveals Why Saber Teeth Evolved Repeatedly in Prehistoric Predators
A fine line between success and extinction.
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Science Alert ☛ How Santa Ana Winds Push Deadly California Wildfires to New Heights
An expert explains.
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Science Alert ☛ Satellite Images of LA Fires Reveal Devastating Extent of Destruction
"We're not out of the woods yet."
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Science Alert ☛ Wildfires Surged During Past Climate Shifts, Ancient Antarctic Ice Reveals
A time capsule warning.
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Science Alert ☛ Cephalopods Pass Cognitive Test Designed For Human Children
We, for one, welcome our new cuttlefish overlords.
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Science Alert ☛ Study Finds Microplastics Are Widespread in Popular Seafoods
Pollution comes full circle.
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Today I Found Out ☛ Incredible Engineering- Inventing the Transistor
It should also be mentioned that less than a decade later a number of inventors including Ian Ross, John Wallmark, and Mohammed Atalla developed workable Field-Effect Transistors or FETs. Today, FETS – in particular Metal Oxide or MOSFETs – are the most widely used transistor type in the world, being particularly well-suited to miniaturization. Indeed, while the earliest commercial transistors were on the order of one centimetre in size, modern integrated circuit transistors are so inconceivably tiny that the world’s most powerful single computer chip at the time of the writing of this piece – the Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine 2 – contains an unfathomable 2.6 trillion of them.
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India Times ☛ “We want to go home…”: NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore emotional plead after being stranded in space
The astronauts’ prolonged stay aboard the ISS is due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Originally designed for a brief 7-day mission, the spacecraft experienced propulsion system problems that delayed its planned return in June 2024. NASA has rescheduled their return flight for March 2025 at the earliest, pending the successful launch of Crew-10 to bring them back.
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Career/Education
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The Straits Times ☛ Autism-focused pre-schools to be opened in Malaysia nationwide, says DPM Zahid
The first autism-focused pre-school is set to begin operations in Melaka in 2025.
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Manuel Moreale ☛ P&B: Steven Garrity
This is the 72nd edition of People and Blogs, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Steven Garrity and his blog, actsofvolition.com.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ Retrotechtacular: Soldering The Tek Way
For a lot of us, soldering just seems to come naturally. But if we’re being honest, none of us was born with a soldering iron in our hand — ouch! — and if we’re good at soldering now, it’s only thanks to good habits and long practice. But what if you’re a company that lives and dies by the quality of the solder joints your employees produce? How do you get them to embrace the dark art of soldering?
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Quantum computing stocks tank as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicts the tech won't be viable for another 20 years — stocks fell more than 40% for a total market value loss of over $8 billion
CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang purportedly stated that quantum computers will take 20 years before being "very useful", causing quantum computing stock to tumble.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Arm considers acquisition of Oracle-backed Ampere Computing to expand data center footprint
Ampere, a semiconductor designer leveraging Arm's technology, was valued at $8 billion during a proposed minority investment by Japan’s SoftBank in 2021
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Renesas Layoffs: Japanese Chipmaker to Layoff Less Than 5% of Global Workforce Amid Sluggish Demand for Its Chips
Renesas, the Japanese chipmaker is said to be planning to lay off its employees. Reports suggest that Renesas Electronics is trying to find ways to deal with a decline in its business in the semiconductor industry. The decision of job cuts at Renesas is happening reportedly because there is not much demand for its chips at the moment. This situation reflects the challenges the company is facing in the semiconductor market.
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Sightline Media Group ☛ US Army wants spy drones to launch from high-altitude motherships
The “Launched Effects” systems, or LE, would be integrated onto “the hardpoints” of an executive jet category aircraft, such as a Bombardier G6500, which would operate above 41,000 feet mean sea level and would reach true airspeed of above 400 knots for more than seven hours. This means the LE and its sensors would need to survive in an air temperature 65 degrees below zero for lengthy durations.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Sightline Media Group ☛ Army wants ‘modern’ dining halls to feature delivery, healthy food
The proposal, first reported by Task & Purpose, describes implementing base dining facilities reminiscent of college campus cafeterias encompassing traditional dine-in options, online ordering, a surplus of healthy food and potentially even food delivery at select Army bases.
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Futurism ☛ UnitedHealthcare Calls Doctor Mid Surgery To Ask If Her Patient’s Overnight Stay Is Necessary
The incident highlights a fundamentally deficient and notoriously greedy health insurance system in the United States. UnitedHealthcare, the country's largest health insurer, has played a major role, garnering a reputation for doing everything in its power to save money by denying coverage.
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University of Michigan ☛ Youth drug use defies expectations, continues to decline
Adolescent drug use continued to drop in 2024, building on and extending the historically large decreases that occurred during the pandemic onset in 2020.
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New York Times ☛ Inside Trump’s Search for a Health Threat to Justify His Immigration Crackdown
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s advisers have spent months trying to identify a disease that will help them build their case for closing the border.
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France24 ☛ Los Angeles residents exposed to increased health risks due to wildfires
Los Angeles authorities urged people to stay inside on Thursday, as health experts worry that the massive wildfires burning around Los Angeles could cause significant health risks due to the "alarming" air quality and skyrocketing quantity of noxious particles.
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Federal News Network ☛ Here’s the advice Biden’s top health official has for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Xavier Becerra's unwavering support for the Affordable Care Act helped land him the top job at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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Latvia ☛ Flu season slightly different from previous ones in Latvia
This influenza epidemic season is slightly different from previous ones, because, like in some other EU countries, Latvia has seen a very high incidence of pneumonia, which has not been seen in at least the last ten seasons, according to the Disease Prevention and Control Center (SPKC) information of January 8.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korean woman who had sudden heart failure refused treatment by 22 hospitals
The woman, who had sudden heart failure while drinking, was deemed an emergency patient.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hongkongers urged to get vaccinated as city enters flu season
Hong Kong’s Department of Health has urged residents, especially the elderly and children, to get vaccinated as the city enters influenza season. Flu and other respiratory infectious diseases are expected to increase further as the weather becomes colder, Edwin Tsui, controller of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Thursday.
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The Straits Times ☛ Doctor in Malaysia leaves bleeding mother to go for drink; family awarded $1.8m after she dies
A doctor left for a drink, leading to Ms Punitha Mohan suffering from postpartum haemorrhage hours after giving birth.
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The Straits Times ☛ Cooking up a storm: 15-year-old Malaysian’s culinary skills draw global attention
Ricardo Leonel Lau has over 46,200 followers on Instagram to date.
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Science Alert ☛ UK's First Liver Transplant For Advanced Bowel Cancer Removes All Traces of The Disease
Could others soon follow?
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Science Alert ☛ Key Health Perks of Coffee Depend on When You Drink It, Suggests Study
One time of day is best.
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Science Alert ☛ Common Condition May Double Risk of Erectile Dysfunction, Study Finds
Here's what we know.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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TechRadar ☛ If you’re waiting for backdoored Windows 12 I have bad news: Abusive Monopolist Microsoft is seemingly focused on cramming even more Hey Hi (AI) into backdoored Windows 11 instead
At CES 2025, we’ve seemingly just had confirmation that Microsoft is not releasing the next generation of Windows, which many of us assume will be called Windows 12, just yet. Instead, Microsoft is pushing ahead with its vision of AI-powered PCs (which it calls Copilot+ PCs) and intends to continue to integrate artificial intelligence into Windows 11.
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Microsoft To Offer $1 Million To Trump’s Inauguration Fund
The software maker is now more closely aligned with its highly valued peers in the technology industry. Google said earlier Thursday that it’s donating $1 million to the Trump fund, and Meta offered the same amount in December. Amazon was reportedly looking to make a similar contribution.
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2300 Microsoft employees are on the streets!
It hasn't even been a week since the Indian-origin CEO of global IT giant microsoft, satya Nadella, met prime minister Narendra Modi. After meeting the prime minister, satya Nadella announced training five lakh people from rural india in Artificial Intelligence. This gift from microsoft on the new year filled indians with joy. Meanwhile, a bad news is coming from Microsoft. This company has announced a big layoff.
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The Register UK ☛ Hands-on jobs to grow fastest, because AI can't replace them
Respondents told the WEF that the three skills most in demand when they hire are AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity, and overall technological literacy.
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The Register UK ☛ Microsoft Azure networking snafu enters day 2
Microsoft on Friday warned Azure cloud service users may continue to experience "intermittent errors," blaming the problem on a US East regional networking service configuration change.
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Linux.org ☛ Ubuntu Security Update - USN-7195-1: Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities | Linux.org
[...] A local attacker could possibly trigger this vulnerability to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2022-38096) [...]
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Ubuntu ☛ USN-7196-1: Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities | Ubuntu security notices
An attacker could possibly use these to compromise the system.
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The Verge ☛ How Elon Musk’s xAI is quietly taking over X
xAI’s takeover of the platform once known as Twitter is so unmistakable that even its branding has crept into X’s most visible real estate, with “xAI Grok” now commanding prominent placement in the app’s main toolbar — a striking symbol of how Musk’s AI ambitions have come to dominate the social network. An xAI employee poked fun at their company’s expanding presence, sharing an image of X’s timeline overrun with the xAI logo.
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Maine Morning Star ☛ As technology evolves, it becomes harder to tell ‘real’ AI from marketing
Some technologists argue that ambiguity around what is or isn’t AI allows for all kinds of tech products to be sold as such. Predictive analytics, for example, which uses data to forecast future outcomes, may be “borderline” AI, said Ed Watal, the Reston, Virginia-based founder of IT and AI strategy consultancy firm Intellibus.
True AI systems use algorithms to sort, analyze and review data, and make informed decisions on what to do with it, based on what humans prompt it to do. The “learning” aspects of these systems are how AI gets smarter over time through neural networks which take feedback and use history to get better at completing tasks over time.
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Pseudo-Open Source
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Openwashing
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Events
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Unicorn Media ☛ ATO Focuses on Hey Hi (AI) Ahead of the Launch of New Big Tent Event
With All Thing Open set to launch a new major Hey Hi (AI) event in March, it's no surprised that the monthly Meetup's are AI-focused.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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Chinese actor rescued from Myanmar’s scam park
Wang Xing was taken across the border into Myanmar after being lured to Thailand by a fake job offer.
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The Register UK ☛ NCA charges pair over COVID-19 vaccine record fraud
The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has taken its case against two Luton men further by charging them over the alleged distribution of fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination records.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Silicon Angle ☛ Judge rejects Google’s motion to dismiss privacy lawsuit, trial set for August
Google LLC is set to face trial in August over a privacy-related class action lawsuit after failing to persuade a judge to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that it adequately discloses how its Web & App Activity settings worked and that users consented to being tracked.
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Federal News Network ☛ Lawmakers to seek GAO review of TSA’s biometrics, facial recognition use
TSA has expanded its use of facial recognition technology to more than 80 airports across the country in recent years.
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VOA News ☛ 'Worst in Show' CES products put data at risk and cause waste, privacy advocates say
"We're seeing more and more of these things that have basically surveillance technology built into them, and it enables some cool things," Liz Chamberlain, director of sustainability at the e-commerce site iFixit told The Associated Press. "But it also means that now we've got microphones and cameras in our washing machines, refrigerators and that really is an industry-wide problem."
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Wired ☛ Secret Phone Surveillance Tech Was Likely Deployed at 2024 DNC
Concerns over potential surveillance prompted WIRED to conduct a first-of-its-kind wireless survey to investigate whether cell-site simulators were being deployed. Reporters, equipped with two rooted Android phones and Wi-Fi hot spots running detection software, used Rayhunter—a tool developed by the EFF to detect data anomalies associated with these devices. WIRED’s reporters monitored signals at protests and event locations across Chicago, collecting extensive data during the political convention.
Initial tests conducted during the DNC revealed no conclusive evidence of cell-site simulator activity. However, months later, EFF technologists reanalyzed the raw data using improved detection methods. According to Cooper Quintin, a senior technologist at the EFF, the Rayhunter tool stores all interactions between devices and cell towers, allowing for deeper analysis as detection techniques evolve.
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The Record ☛ Apple says it does not use Siri audio for advertising
Apple has acknowledged that contractors listened to Siri audio, but addressed a brewing debate over the plaintiffs’ targeted advertising claims in a blog post Wednesday.
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Jacobin Magazine ☛ Congratulations, Your Privacy Is Worth $20
Siri eavesdropped on users’ medical appointments and other private moments. With the pitiful settlement that was reached, Apple will now dole out enough hush money for each claimant to buy a few coffees.
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Defence/Aggression
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New Eastern Europe ☛ Do not appease evil
On January 5th 2025, Ukrainian public figures published an open appeal to the world leaders and the international community, dedicated to the issues of ending the war in a just way and establishing a sustainable peace. The document is signed by more than 160 persons, including human rights activists, MPs, diplomats, academics, famous artists, leaders of the largest business associations and various religious communities (Christian, Muslim and Jewish). The appeal, entitled “Do not appease evil,” highlights the Ukrainian vision of Russia’s far-reaching subversive objectives, and depicts the positive and the negative scenarios of the war’s end that depend on the position of the world leaders and the international community.
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European Commission ☛ Factsheet - EU solidarity with Ukraine
The EU stands united in its unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s war of aggression and its illegal attempts to annex Ukrainian territory.
The EU continues to work relentlessly with international partners to make sure Ukraine receives the material support it needs and to hold Russia accountable for its actions.
The EU has also offered temporary protection to over four million people fleeing the war and is committed to continue providing strong political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Germany says Russia 'shadow fleet' ship adrift in Baltic Sea
Moscow has used a number of opaquely owned and often non-insured ships to sell its oil while circumventing Western sanctions imposed in response to the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Panamanian-flagged Eventin was carrying 99,000 tons of oil when it was reported adrift, the CCME said.
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NDTV ☛ "He's Deeply Unwell": Elon Musk's Biographer Makes Big Claims
Seth Abramson, a biographer of Elon Musk, has made some big claims about the mental health and decision-making of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, warning that his influence and actions could have dangerous implications for the United States. In a series of posts on X, the platform owned by Musk, Abramson alleged that Musk may be "going mad" and called for immediate government intervention.
Abramson, who claims to have closely followed Musk's behaviour for two years, cited the billionaire's acknowledged struggles with mental health, drug use, and stress. "I'm a Musk biographer who has been tracking his online behavior for the last two years - and given that he's admitted to all of mental illness, heavy drug use, and crippling stress, it is now reasonable to fear he is deeply unwell," Abramson wrote. "Protect America from Elon Musk."
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New Yorker ☛ Representative Ro Khanna on Elon Musk and the Tech Oligarchy
Representing Silicon Valley in Congress, Khanna knows tech moguls—and knows how dangerous they are. “Some of them,” he tells David Remnick, “think they’re Nietzsche’s Superman.”
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RFERL ☛ German Foreign Minister Says Stricken Tanker In Baltic Sea Belongs To Russia's 'Shadow Fleet'
"With the reckless deployment of a fleet of rusty tankers, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is not only circumventing sanctions, but also accepting that tourism on the Baltic Sea will come to a standstill -- be it in the Baltic States, in Poland or in our country," Baerbock said.
"Russia is endangering our European security not only with its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, but also with severed cables, displaced border buoys, disinformation campaigns, GPS jammers and, as we have seen, dilapidated oil tankers," she added.
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian FM urges ‘decisive’ response to attacks on Baltic Sea infrastructure
“Attacks on critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea require a strong and decisive response. It is important to act together and mobilise all available means to prevent hostile regimes from carrying out malicious activities in our waters,” Lithuania foreign minister was quoted in a press release.
Budrys argues that the situation in the Baltic Sea calls for immediate action to ensure the security of critical infrastructure by expanding NATO patrols, imposing sanctions on Russia’s shadow fleet, and revising navigation rules, according to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry.
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The Atlantic ☛ It Seems Elon Musk Has Something to Say About Politics
Like any good entrepreneur who found early success in one market, Elon Musk is now starting to expand to others. Yesterday, Musk—the entrepreneur turned Donald Trump megadonor—hosted a livestream on X with Alice Weidel, the leader of Germany’s far-right political party, Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Elon Musk praises Alice Weidel's far-right AfD in X chat
Weidel's far-right party is actually second in the national opinion polls, 11 points behind the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Weidel herself is joint bottom in terms of popularity among Germany's chancellor candidates in the upcoming February 23 election.
An Infratest dimap poll also released on Thursday showed that only 20% of Germans are satisfied with Weidel's current performance — the same as Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democratic Party, who has historically low approval ratings.
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India Times ☛ Elon Musk chats with German far-right leader, amplifying party's message ahead of election
Tech billionaire Elon Musk live-streamed a chat with a leader of Germany's far-right party on Thursday, using the power of his social media platform, X, to amplify its message ahead of an upcoming national election - and raising concerns across Europe about potential meddling by the world's richest man. Musk, who worked last year to help reelect Donald Trump in the United States, told Alice Weidel, a co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party and its candidate for chancellor, that he was "strongly recommending that people vote for AfD," using the acronym for the party.
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Luigi Mozzillo ☛ Convince them to leave
If you care about your father or your mother, if you love your brothers or your sisters, if you want to protect your partner, if you adore your sons and daughters, if you care about your family, your friends, your neighbors, and your acquaintances, if you hope to preserve those you know, put all your strength into convincing everyone to leave Facebook, Instagram, Threads, but also X, TikTok, and all the range of right-wing social media platforms active on the web.
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Rodrigo Ghedin ☛ Meta's moderation policy dismantling will hurt, but it can be good in the long run
In a somewhat convoluted way and not without causing damage, this might lead to a good outcome (for us) in the long run.
If we take X (former Twitter) as an example, the relaxation of moderation there accelerated the discarding of Elon Musk’s platform as a habitable place, leading to losses in revenue, users, and relevance in public debate.
It would be great if this were repeated with Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. Even if so, we will have to deal with three inevitable and worrying consequences: [...]
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The Washington Post ☛ Can I still use TikTok if it’s banned? Probably.
Away from the court, legal and technology experts are pondering a different head-scratcher: What if TikTok is banned and people keep using it anyway?
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John Gruber ☛ Daring Fireball: Life as a Facebook Moderator
The bottom line: If this is what it takes to moderate Facebook, it’s an indictment of the basic concept of Facebook itself. In theory it sounds like a noble idea to let everyone in the world post whatever they want and have it be connected and amplified to like-minded individuals.
In practice, it’s a disaster.
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Los Angeles Times ☛ Supreme Court casts doubt on TikTok's free-speech defense
The justices, both conservative and liberal, said Congress was concerned with the Chinese ownership of TikTok and the threat to national security. They also said the law in question was not an effort to restrict the freedom of speech.
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The Verge ☛ TikTok still seems headed for a ban after its Supreme Court arguments
TikTok will be banned from the US unless either the Supreme Court blocks the law from taking effect before the January 19th deadline or its China-based parent company, ByteDance, finally agrees to sell it. A sale — and return — of TikTok could happen after the deadline, and President-elect Donald Trump may get creative in trying not to enforce the law once he’s sworn in the next day. But the longer it takes, the shakier things look for TikTok.
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The Nation ☛ TikTok’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day in Court
TikTok was joined in these arguments by groups representing some of the app’s users as well as the usual array of nonprofit free speech organizations who argue that TikTok content creators also have a First Amendment right to use TikTok and, you know, partner with the Chinese government if that’s what they so wish.
TikTok’s case would be compelling, to me at least… if it were an American-owned and -operated company. But it’s not. And literally the first question out of the mouths of Justices Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Sam Alito, Elena Kagan, and Amy Coney Barrett, respectively, was some form of: Why does Chinese-owned Bytedance have a free speech right under the United States Constitution?
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Lee Peterson ☛ How to delete your WhatsApp account
I’m so sorry for anyone having to go through this, you have my support and I’ll help in anyway I can.
Here’s how to delete your WhatsApp account.
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Says It Will Shut Down By January 19 To Appease Ban
If TikTok does shut down on January 19, it won’t disappear from phones where it is already installed. Much like Musi, those who had the app installed will continue to be able to use it—though no updates and no new downloads will happen. Apple and Google would be required to remove the app from their respective stores after the ban is in place.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ EU regulators take a hard look at Elon Musk and X
In July, the European Union found that X had violated multiple tenets of the DSA by not providing access to data to researchers, failure to complay with advertising-transparency requirements, and selling access to its "blue check" verification system in a way that allowed fraudsters to impersonate celebrities and public officials.
On Thursday, Musk livestreamed a conversation with Alice Weidel, the leader of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD), and amplified the party's message ahead of February's elections. As Musk has grown more politically active, there is growing concern that X could manipulate its algorithm to boost the visibility of the interview and offer Weidel an unfair advantage, which would violate the DSA, as well as the integrity of Germany's approaching election.
"If an online platform is posing a systemic risk to electoral integrity and public discourse in the EU, the DSA should immediately kick in through its risk-assessment and -mitigation framework,” Eliska Pirkova, a senior policy analyst with the digital rights group Access Now, told DW.
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Nick Heer ☛ Elon Musk Is Trying to Oust the British Prime Minister
I shudder to think what nonsense is coming for the Canadian election likely happening this year. It is going to be a nightmare.
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The Washington Spectator ☛ The Wide Angle: Who Can Stop Elon Musk? | Washington Spectator
First, let’s examine the mechanism of Musk’s influence. With over 210 million followers on his social network, X, he is able to quickly shape the global discourse with a single offhand thought, the more inflammatory the better. Hives of click-hungry news outlets react in formation, helping to amplify his message. Thousands of influencers rush to be first to farm engagement dollars from spreading his views. And politicians and businesspeople update their mental calculus around whether their own positions are likely to reap favor or punishment relative to Musk’s latest pronouncements. This is a forceful mechanism, especially when so many are motivated by money or careerist objectives. Politicians in particular do not want to face election challenges or get caught out on an enemies list, backed by an infinitely wealthy adversary.
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The Washington Post ☛ TikTok ban live updates: Supreme Court hears oral arguments in sale-or-ban law
The Supreme Court has begun hearing oral arguments over the fate of TikTok in a high-stakes case reviewing a federal law that would effectively shut down the popular social media platform in the United States in less than two weeks if the company does not divest from Chinese ownership.
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The Verge ☛ TikTok ban: Supreme Court hears oral arguments
TikTok has just over a week before it’s forced to either separate from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or functionally cease operations in the US. An appeals court upheld a divest-or-ban law, but the Supreme Court offers one final chance for the company and its users to make their case. The court is expected to issue a decision quickly after its January 10th oral arguments on whether to at least temporarily block the law.
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Vox ☛ TikTok ban: Why does the US want to block the app and will it actually happen?
Concerns that ByteDance could share TikTok user data with China’s government and push disinformation or propaganda through its recommendation algorithm have resulted in partial and mostly symbolic bans. (There’s no evidence, at least not publicly, that this kind of sharing has ever happened.) Most recently, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill that could eventually lead to a ban of the app. There’s a parallel set of concerns that TikTok is dangerous to children and teens, an issue with many social media platforms, that’s been taken up by Congress in the past year. Some states have been eyeing bans of social media platforms in general for kids unless they have parental consent.
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CBC ☛ TikTok fights looming ban in U.S. Supreme Court. What you need to know
The U.S. government sees TikTok's Chinese ownership as a "grave threat to national security" because the Chinese government has the power to compel ByteDance to hand over user data and because of the fear that China could use TikTok's powerful algorithm to spread disinformation.
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Michigan News ☛ TikTok ban appears imminent following Supreme Court arguments - mlive.com
As it stands now, TikTok will be banned in the U.S. on Jan. 19, unless the Supreme Court steps in.
At the core of the issue are concerns raised by lawmakers and critics of the short-form video platform about the security of user data. In particular, critics have accused TikTok’s Chinese-based parent company ByteDance of being required to share the data with the Chinese government’s intelligence operations.
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India Times ☛ US Supreme Court to hear TikTok ban case
The US government alleges TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and is a conduit to spread propaganda. China and ByteDance strongly deny the claims.
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Vox ☛ The Supreme Court doesn’t seem likely to save TikTok, in TikTok v. Garland
Broadly speaking, the TikTok case pits two well-established legal rules against each other. As a general rule, the government does not get to decide who owns media companies: If the government had this power, it could force every newspaper and other media outlet in the country to sell itself to one of President-elect Donald Trump’s allies, effectively eliminating the free press.
That said, the government has long forbade foreign nationals from controlling key communications infrastructure in the United States. This practice stretches at least as far back as the Radio Act of 1912, which only permitted US companies and citizens to obtain a license to operate a radio station.
Based on Friday’s argument, it is likely that this second principle — the principle that permits the government to prevent foreign nations from controlling US communications [sic] infrastructure — will prevail.
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Vox ☛ TikTok: The most exciting, and controversial, social media app on the planet
Its legions of underage users, of course, have landed the company in hot water on several occasions. In February 2019, it was hit by a record-breaking $5.7 million FTC fine for illegally collecting data from children under 13.
That it is based in Beijing, too, has made it a target of skepticism. TikTok has been accused of censoring pro-Hong Kong videos, and it was found to be banning LGBTQ content in countries like Turkey. TikTok is now facing an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which aims to determine if the app poses a threat to American citizens.
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CBC ☛ Supreme Court justices skeptical of TikTok's free speech arguments ahead of potential ban
During arguments in the case, the nine justices probed the nature of TikTok's speech rights and the government's concerns over national security — that the app would enable China's government to spy on Americans and carry out covert influence operations.
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NPR ☛ Trump loses Supreme Court appeal to block hush-money sentencing
This was the only one of Trump's criminal charges to go to trial, making him the first former or future U.S. president to be convicted of criminal charges.
Judge Juan Merchan of New York has already said he intends to impose an unconditional discharge on the former and future president, meaning Trump will not face prison, probation, or any fines.
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El País ☛ Judge sentences Trump to unconditional discharge, making him first US president to be a felon
It is both a very lenient and a very serious sentence. A New York judge on Friday sentenced Donald Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying invoices, checks and accounting records in order to conceal payments of $130,000 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels so that she would remain silent and not harm his chances in the 2016 presidential election. As expected, the sentence was an unconditional discharge: there is no prison, no probation, not even a fine. At the same time, it certifies his crimes. In a way, the judge condemns Trump to be the first criminal president of the USA.
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The Atlantic ☛ Trump’s Sentencing Made No One Happy
Donald Trump, the first convicted felon to be elected president, was sentenced today in his New York hush-money case, pleasing virtually no one.
Justice Juan Merchan sentenced the president-elect to an unconditional discharge, meaning Trump will face no penalties other than the stigma of a conviction. Trump was furious that he was sentenced at all, and had mounted a campaign in the courts of law and public opinion to stop it. His critics won’t be happy with the sentence itself, which is less than a slap on the wrist.
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Axios ☛ Trump sentencing: President-elect avoids prison, fines for New York hush money conviction
President-elect Trump received a no-penalty sentence in his New York hush money case Friday after the Supreme Court refused to intervene.
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RTL ☛ Legal roller coaster: A surreal finish to Donald Trump's historic criminal trial
His criminal sentencing after a conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records caps a roller coaster of delays and legal proceedings that began when the Republican was a former president, and ended on Friday just 10 days before he retakes the White House.
What once had the potential to be one of the more dramatic sentencings in modern United States history ended with a tone of banality -- via video chat, with Trump calling in from Florida, showing his age by leaning into the camera.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Trump avoids punishment in hush money case sentencing
The businessman and reality TV star-turned politician was charged in March 2023 by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, with charges related to a cover-up of hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump came before a Manhattan court to answer 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 (€126,181) sum paid to Daniels by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
The money was allegedly paid to secure her silence before the 2016 election — which Trump won — about an alleged sexual encounter she had with him in 2006.
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CBC ☛ Trump avoids prison sentence, fines in felony hush-money case
Judge Juan Merchan's ruling spares Trump any jail time, fines or probation supervision for his conviction, though the sentence cements his status as the first convicted felon to hold the White House.
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India Times ☛ Porn star hush money case: Trump avoids jail term, Judge imposes unconditional discharge
The prosecutor told the court that Trump had shown no remorse for his actions and had continued to “encourage others to reject the jury’s verdict.” He criticised Trump for being “unrelenting in his unsubstantiated attacks” on the court, prosecutors, and the jury. Steinglass summarised the case, stating, “The jury’s verdict in this case was unanimous and decisive, and it must be respected.” He also noted that the felonies Trump was convicted of could lead to either a prison sentence or other forms of punishment, including no jail time. The prosecution recommended a sentence of unconditional discharge, with Steinglass emphasising that Judge Merchan had previously indicated an inclination to impose this sentence in light of the unique circumstances of the case, including Trump’s status as president-elect.
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ABC ☛ Trump speaks with Justice Alito amid push to halt criminal sentencing
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito spoke to President-elect Donald Trump by phone Tuesday to recommend one of his former law clerks for a job in the new administration, ABC News has learned.
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US News And World Report ☛ University of Michigan to End Partnership With a Chinese University Over National Security Concerns
The University of Michigan says it is ending its partnership with a prominent Chinese university, a few months after five Chinese students in the joint program were charged over their suspicious activities outside a remote military site
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University of Michigan ☛ U-M to end partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University
The decision reflects broader changes in the landscape of international academic cooperation, particularly between U.S. and Chinese institutions. U-M reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining rigorous standards for international collaborations while ensuring compliance with national security considerations.
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The Register UK ☛ Chinese cyber-spies target CFIUS investigations
Chinese cyber-spies who broke into the US Treasury Department also stole documents from officials investigating real-estate sales near American military bases, it's reported.
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RFA ☛ Uyghur woman sentenced to 17 years for teaching Islam to her kids and a neighbor – Radio Free Asia
Seylihan Rozi, 49, was sentenced for providing “illegal underground religious activity” by teaching others the 10 Quranic verses that Muslims recite when they perform namaz, the practice of praying five times a day, said a policeman in Saybagh village who oversaw her case. He did not provide further information about her imprisonment.
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Truthdig ☛ Can a Dictator Be Defeated Without Violence? There's Evidence They Can.
When East Germans began their revolt against the German Democratic Republic in 1988, they knew that their dictatorship of 43 years was backed by the Soviet Union, which might stage a deadly invasion. They nevertheless acted for freedom, which they gained and kept.
Researcher Hanna King tells us that East Germans began their successful campaign in January 1988 by taking a traditional annual memorial march and turning it into a full-scale demonstration for human rights and democracy. They followed by taking advantage of a weekly prayer for peace at a church in Leipzig to organize rallies and protests. Lutheran pastors helped protect the organizers from retaliation, and groups in other cities began to stage their own “Monday night demonstrations.”
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RFERL ☛ Swiss Citizen Dies In Iran After Being Accused Of Spying
A Swiss national who was accused of spying by Tehran was found dead in prison in what officials say was suicide.
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New York Times ☛ TikTok, Facing a US Ban, Is Also Waging Legal Battles Around the World [Ed: NY Times supports the Communist Party of China]
TikTok is challenging a possible ban or forced sale to new owners in the United States, but has for several years been waging other fights in at least 20 countries.
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New York Times ☛ TikTok Creators and Brands Are Bracing for a Potential Ban [Ed: Well overdue]
Billions in advertising flows through TikTok, which could be banned in the U.S. as soon as Jan. 19. Brands and creators are racing to prepare.
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CS Monitor ☛ Public safety or free speech? What’s at stake in the Fentanylware (TikTok) case.
The Supreme Court will hear the Fentanylware (TikTok) case Friday, ahead of a Jan. 19 ban. What’s at stake for the media platform and its users in the United States?
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Digital Music News ☛ Triller Pounces on Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban — Offers Video Backup for Fentanylware (TikTok) Users
Triller is pouncing on the potential U.S. Fentanylware (TikTok) ban set to go into effect on January 19. The short-form video platform created ‘savemytiktoks.com’ as a way to entice Fentanylware (TikTok) users to switch platforms ahead of the ban uncertainty. The site is powered by Amplify.ai, which was acquired by TrillerNet in 2021.
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Says It Will Shut Down By January 19, Tells LA Staff To Keep Working or Use Sick Days
The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over whether or not to uphold the Fentanylware (TikTok) ban looming on January 19. Fentanylware (TikTok) has told its LA staff impacted by wild fires to keep working from home or take sick days as it preps for ban.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Your expert guide to the debate over banning TikTok
As the US Supreme Court takes up the case, our experts outline the competing arguments over whether the US should ban Fentanylware (TikTok) on national security grounds.
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The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan navy shows off its steel with simulated attack exercise
China sends its air force and navy near Taiwan everyday in what Taipei calls a pressure campaign.
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The Straits Times ☛ Xi Jinping to send top-level envoy to Trump’s inauguration: Report
Trump had invited Mr Pooh-tin to the ceremony.
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The Straits Times ☛ China files over 4,000 disciplinary cases against officials in 2024
Corruption is the biggest threat to the Communist Party and is rising, said President Pooh-tin Jinping.
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Chinese navy shadows Canadian warship in East China Sea: media
Canada’s HMCS Ottawa was on an international deployment enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea.
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Atlantic Council ☛ The US is right to be concerned about China’s influence over the Panama Canal
Legitimate concerns about growing Chinese influence over the canal demand Washington’s attention and warrant a measured, diplomatic approach.
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The Strategist ☛ Pacific security in 2025
2025 will be a big year for Pacific security as Pacific island nations grapple with upcoming elections, disaster recovery, watching the situation in New Caledonia and navigating geopolitical tensions.
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JURIST ☛ Independent judicial inquiry sees unlawful killings by UK special forces in Afghanistan
The UK Independent Afghanistan Inquiry published Wednesday has shed light on allegations of unlawful killings carried out by British special forces in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2013.
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Defence Web ☛ African customer orders four Super Tucanos
Embraer has signed a contract for the sale of four A-29 Super Tucano light attack and advanced trainer aircraft to an undisclosed customer in Africa, which will use them for missions such as border surveillance, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), close air support, counterinsurgency, and advanced flight training.
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The Straits Times ☛ Myanmar military adopts anti-junta fighters’ drone tactics
Drone strikes have been crucial to the insurgents’ successes.
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Myanmar junta bombs Rohingya Muslim village killing 41, rescuers say
The military has responded to an insurgent offer of talks with even more airstrikes, residents say.
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JURIST ☛ Chad presidential compound attack repelled by state forces
A group of assailants attacked the presidential palace in the capital of Chad on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to destabilize the country’s government. Chad’s foreign minister and government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah reported the attack, which killed 19 people, including 18 attackers and one soldier.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Jimmy Lai tells national security trial he feared Biden would not continue Trump’s tough China policies after 2020 election
Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai has told his national security trial that he feared Joe Biden would not continue Donald Trump’s tough China policies after Biden was elected in 2020.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s Ming Pao rebuts government accusation of ‘biased’ report on cybersecurity bill
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper has defended its journalism after the government described one of its reports on a cybersecurity bill as “biased and misleading.”
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Defence Web ☛ CSIR sensors boost Western Cape firefighting efforts
South African developed technology will be in action to assist with the Western Cape fire season now in full swing.
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Defence Web ☛ South Africa’s ‘spooks’ supply intel to law enforcement – Ntshavheni
Assistance – intelligence-wise – from the State Security Agency (SSA) to law enforcement is continuous, according to Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and has, among others, focussed on “instability in the mining sector”, conflict in the minibus taxi industry and “mitigating” the electricity crisis.
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The Straits Times ☛ Indonesia to intensify defence partnerships and maritime security, top diplomat says
Indonesia will expand its existing defence partnerships and step up its handling of strategic issues impacting its sovereignty, including maritime security and the safety of sea passage and fisheries, its foreign minister said on Friday.
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Defence Web ☛ Why were Africa’s violence levels up in 2024?
2024 was a bleak year for Africa. Libya and Sudan were partitioned. Ethiopia struggled to contain insurgencies in Tigray, Amhara and Oromia, and conflict continued in South Sudan and Somalia. Coups placed four countries in the Sahel under military regimes and violent extremism spread terror in northern Mozambique, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger and elsewhere.
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France24 ☛ Musk praises AfD leader, reiterates support German far-right party
In his latest meddling in European politics, Elon Musk, a fervent ally of US President-Elect Donald Trump, wielded his influence to reaffirm his support of rising far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), backing on Thursday leader Alice Weidel on his social control media platform, X (formerly Twitter).
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NYPost ☛ Alec Baldwin sues prosecutors and investigators tied to ‘Rust’ case
Alec Baldwin filed a civil lawsuit at the same court where a judge dismissed a charge of involuntary manslaughter against him in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
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Jimmy Carter helped open US-China ties, defuse a North Korea crisis
Critics say he should have been tougher on Beijing over human rights and Taiwan.
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New York Times ☛ R. Nicholas Burns, U.S. Ambassador, Says China Is Aligned With ‘Agents of Disorder’
R. Nicholas Burns, the top U.S. diplomat in Beijing, says the Biden administration is making a final push to urge China to reconsider its tilt toward Russia, Iran and North Korea.
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New York Times ☛ South Korean Colonel Who Accused President of Whitewash Is Acquitted
The case, involving an inquiry into a marine’s death, had stoked political tensions long before President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment last month.
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The Straits Times ☛ S. Korea presidential security chief says there must be ‘no bloodshed’ over Yoon arrest
Investigators have secured a new arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol this week.
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CS Monitor ☛ ‘We cannot rest yet’: South Koreans react to deepening political crisis
More than a month after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law attempt infuriated a nation, South Koreans are still in the street, demanding he step down. The Monitor caught up with some people we spoke with in December about their views on the evolving political crisis.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s Yoon to accept court decision even if it ends presidency, says lawyer
President Yoon was willing to appear in person to argue his case.
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The Straits Times ☛ As South Korea’s impeached president Yoon awaits fate, his party sees signs of revival
A Jan 6 poll showed the PPP's approval rating was at 34.4 per cent, up for three consecutive weeks.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korean opposition’s support slides as Yoon defies arrest
Mr Yoon has remained defiant against efforts to detain him for a criminal investigation.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea president Yoon’s chief bodyguard appears before police for questioning
It was the third time Mr Park has been summoned by the police.
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Loud, eerie noises from North Korean speakers take a toll on villagers across border
The spooky sounds are latest volley in the loudspeaker wars between North and South.
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North Koreans fight over feces as annual ‘compost battle’ begins
Impossible government quotas make people turn violent as they try to get enough poop to make fertilizer.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Meduza ☛ Kremlin spokesperson says Greenlanders’ opinions on Trump’s territorial claims should be respected, like in Russia’s ’new regions’ — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ The Insider reveals new details of Russian intelligence scheme offering Taliban $200,000 bounties for killing U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan — Meduza
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NYPost ☛ Trump reveals meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is in the works: ‘He wants to meet’
“Well, he wants to meet and we're setting it up,” Trump said during a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Abandoning Ukraine would plunge the entire world into an era of instability
If Western leaders choose to sacrifice Ukraine in a misguided bid to placate Putin, the shift from a rules-based international order to the law of the geopolitical jungle will be complete, writes Victor Liakh.
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RFERL ☛ Designated U.S. Envoy For Ukraine Says Trump Wants Equitable End To War
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s designated envoy for Ukraine and Russia said Trump will take Ukraine’s interests into account when he starts working on a settlement to end the war in Ukraine and will aim to make sure the solution is equitable.
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New York Times ☛ Putin Gets a Snub in the Vast Wine Cellars of a Former Soviet Republic
The Russian president celebrated his 50th birthday at a winery in Moldova. After the invasion of Ukraine, it moved the bottles he was given away from public view.
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European Commission ☛ Joint statement by Commissioner Dan Jørgensen and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico following their bilateral meeting
We had a good and open discussion on the energy situation and wider implications of the end of the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine hopes robot army can counter Russia’s battlefield advantages
As Ukrainian commanders prepare for a fourth year of Europe’s largest war since World War II, they are hoping their country’s growing arsenal of robotic systems can help counter Russia’s often overwhelming advantages in both manpower and firepower, writes David Kirichenko.
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Pledges New Ukraine Aid In What May Be Biden Office's Final Move
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced a new $500 million package of military aid as part of the outgoing Biden administration's goal of sending as much support as possible before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea becoming better prepared for war by fighting against Ukraine, warns US
Over 12,000 North Korean troops are in Russia and in December began fighting against Ukrainian forces.
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CS Monitor ☛ World leaders try to sway Trump on trade and Ukraine
A wary world is treating Donald Trump as if he is already U.S. president. International leaders are seeking his favor, making nice, but buckling up.
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New York Times ☛ With Trump Arriving, Zelensky Urges Allies Not to ‘Drop the Ball’
In an impassioned address to officials from countries supporting Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky said “a new chapter” would be starting for Europe and the rest of the world, requiring even more cooperation.
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Meduza ☛ The aftermath of Russia’s guided bomb strike on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, which killed 13 and injured over 100 — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ ‘America has legitimized redrawing the world map’ Russia’s pro-invasion bloggers have spent years defending a brutal war in Ukraine. Here’s how they responded to Donald Trump’s threat to seize Greenland. — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Trump’s team rethinking its strategy to end the Russia-Ukraine war — Financial Times — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ U.S. Saw an Opportunity While It Pushed to Arm Ukraine
The White House seized a rare chance to undermine Russia and build up regional allies as it built a coalition to support the Ukrainians.
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Latvia ☛ Big power device set up in Grobiņa ahead of Baltic states leaving Russian grid
One month before the Baltic accession to the European power system, which involves disconnection from the Russian-controlled BRELL electricity grid, the first synchronous compensator station in Latvia was officially connected to the transmission grid in Grobiņa on Thursday, January 9, Latvian Radio and TV Kurzeme reported.
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LRT ☛ No data of Lithuanian goods used in Russian military industry – PM
Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas says he has no information that Lithuanian goods could be used by the Russian military industry. His government mulls relaxing the existing ban on the export of dual-use goods to non-EU countries by aircraft, the previous government’s measure aimed at preventing them from reaching Russia.
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LRT ☛ Museum of Lithuanian poet Donelaitis silently renamed in Russia’s Kaliningrad
The Kristijonas Donelaitis Memorial Museum has been silently renamed in Kaliningrad’s Chistye Prudy. Meanwhile, representatives of the cultural community urge politicians to react to Russia’s actions directed against Lithuanian history and culture.
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Latvia ☛ Baltic countries to hold NATO security summit in Helsinki next week
President of the Republic of Finland Alexander Stubb will host a summit of all the Baltic Sea NATO member countries in Helsinki next week, together with Prime Minister of Estonia Kristen Michal, Stubb has announced.
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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El País ☛ Why the Unabomber’s ideas continue to resonate across the political spectrum: From Musk to Mangione
The Attorney General pushed for it, and The New York Times and The Washington Post published it. Ted’s big mistake was flying too close to the sun. His brother, David, recognized his ideas and literary style and alerted the authorities, who, after a linguistic analysis, confirmed his identity. Throughout its campaign to find the Unabomber, the FBI spent over $50 million (its total budget that year was $2.24 billion) and was only able to arrest him thanks to letters provided by his brother. The devil is in the details.
Kaczynski faced a trial in which he was denied the right to represent himself, despite facing the death penalty. He pleaded guilty to the charges, and his sentence was commuted to four life terms. David received a million dollars as a reward — his thirty pieces of silver.
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The Washington Post ☛ Elon Musk uses X to spread conspiracy theories about the L.A. wildfires
Musk has posted or replied to more than 80 posts about the fire, many of which pinned the devastation on liberal policies, in some cases based on false claims or racist ideas, according to a Washington Post analysis.
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Doc Searls ☛ The Los Angeles Media Dashboard
I want everybody to work on making news that starts with facts rather than the need to tell stories. I’ll explain more about stories and workflow in my next two posts. But first I want to unpack the portfolio of media choices we have right now.
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CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: Occupy the Democratic National Committee; Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 2)
Back in 2017, the Democratic National Committee's lawyers submitted a legal brief that didn't just say the quiet part out loud; they bellowed it: "[The DNC can] go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the [presidential] candidate that way":
https://observer.com/2017/05/dnc-lawsuit-presidential-primaries-bernie-sanders-supporters/
The brief was submitted in the lawsuit between Bernie Sanders and the DNC. Sanders sued over the DNC changing the rules midway through 2016 process in order to sideline him and give the nomination to Hillary Clinton. The DNC's response boiled down to, "Sure, we cheated. So what? We, the committee, are ultimately answerable only to ourselves, and we can choose anyone to lead the party into any election."
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The Hill ☛ Cannon asked to delay Smith report release in Mar-a-Lago case
If successful, the move would likely run out the clock, tying the matter up in court with little time to spare before Trump’s inauguration.
Trump and his co-defendants have turned to two different courts to seek to block both volumes of Smith’s report dealing with the documents probe and his election interference investigation.
While the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied valet Walt Nauta and property manager Carlos de Oliveira’s bid to block release of the report, the court left in place a ruling by Cannon that barred the report’s release for another three days after a ruling from the appeals court.
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Environment
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The Straits Times ☛ Season’s coldest wave hits South Korea, temperatures dip below minus 10 deg C
The cold snap is expected to reach its peak on Jan 10.
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Dalai Lama says no reason to be angry at China over Tibet quake
Meanwhile, locals conduct their own rescue operations to find more survivors.
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The Revelator ☛ College Athletics: Game Day for Climate Action
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EcoWatch ☛ Wealthiest 1% Have Used Up Their Share of World’s Carbon Budget in Just 10 Days, Analysis Finds
The carbon budget that Oxfam GB used in the analysis is based on the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which noted that maintaining under 1.5 degrees Celsius warming would allow for a median of about 24 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2030, at which time population is estimated to be around 8.5 billion. As Oxfam GB reported, this total divided by the 8.5 billion people gave the estimated carbon budget per person per year to be around 2.1 metric tons.
Not only are the ultra-wealthy using well beyond their share of the carbon budget, but the ways that they are emitting are not providing economic benefits to society. According to a separate report by Oxfam GB titled Carbon Inequality Kills, just 50 billionaires took 184 flights on private jets in one year, emitting the same amount of carbon an average person outside of the 1% would in 300 years. One year of private yacht use by this group of the world’s wealthiest individuals emitted the same amount of carbon an average person would in 860 years, the report found.
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Truthdig ☛ Yes, Human-Caused Climate Change Contributed to the Burning of Los Angeles - Truthdig
He cites Stefan Doerr, the director of the Centre for Wildfire Research at Swansea University, as saying, “While fires are common and natural in this region, California has seen some of the most significant increases in the length and extremity of the fire weather season globally in recent decades, driven largely by climate change.”
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BBC ☛ Climate change: What role is it playing in the California fires
Decades of drought in California were followed by extremely heavy rainfall for two years in 2022 and 2023, but that then flipped again to very dry conditions in the autumn and winter of 2024.
Scientists say in a new study that climate change has boosted what they call these "whiplash" conditions globally by 31-66% since the middle of the 20th Century.
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The Hindu ☛ India’s rights have to be well guarded and well protected: Sonowal on China’s new dam in Tibet
According to Chinese media, Beijing has approved the construction of the world’s largest dam, estimated at $137 billion on the Brahmaputra river in Tibet close to the Indian border.
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The Scotsman ☛ How climate change is laying a deadly trap for Scotland's bumblebees
Scotland experienced its warmest Christmas Eve night on record, with temperatures at Kinloss remaining at 12.1 degrees Celsius or above, surpassing the 10.6C recorded at Dounreay in 1971.
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teleSUR ☛ The Window for Action on Global Climate Change is Narrowing, C3S Warns
“While the Paris Agreement refers to long-term averages, exceeding this limit in a single year is an alarming milestone,” Nicolas said, adding that it signifies that humanity is inching dangerously close to sustained levels of warming that will bring more catastrophic climate consequences.
In 2024, extreme climate events were observed worldwide, with Europe being one of the hardest-hit regions. “Because of its population density and the fact that it is one of the regions warming more rapidly than many other regions, Europe is affected by a range of climate changes that makes it more exposed to some impact of climate change,” Nicolas said.
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Wired ☛ Even Trump Can’t Stop America’s Green Transition, Says Biden’s Top Climate Adviser
Yet the administration has not left behind the old way of doing things. Oil and gas production has never been higher. Biden’s approval of the controversial Willow oil drilling project in Alaska draws into question the country’s commitment to a transition to clean energy while there is still money to be made in fossil fuels.
His biggest failure may be passing on the White House to a president who has promised to roll back climate policies and withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, and who has selected for his closest advisers people with close links to the fossil fuel industry and in some cases outright climate denialists.
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New York Times ☛ Opinion | As a Climate Scientist, I Knew It Was Time to Leave Los Angeles
I moved my family away two years ago because, as California’s climate kept growing drier, hotter and more fiery, I feared that our neighborhood would burn. But even I didn’t think fires of this scale and severity would raze it and other large areas of the city this soon. And yet images of Altadena this week show a hellscape, like a landscape out of Octavia Butler’s uncannily prescient climate novel “Parable of the Sower.”
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Green Party UK ☛ Greens urge faster transition away from fossil fuels
“We need to massively speed up the transition away from fossil fuels – that is the bottom line. In a world of 1.5 degree warming it’s unconscionable that the government is still letting some new North Sea oil and gas drilling go ahead – Starmer must revoke those consents and licenses immediately.
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France24 ☛ ‘Overshoot’: As planet crosses 1.5°C global warming limit, can we still reverse course?
But, is there a way to turn back the clock and return to a more liveable climate? Faced with the failure to keep global temperatures below 1.5°C, is it possible to overstep that limit and then reverse the trend?
This idea of reversible overheating, known as an “overshoot”, is increasingly referenced by some politicians and scientists. It is even part of scenarios modelled by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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EcoWatch ☛ 2024 Global Average Temperature Was Hottest on Record and First Above 1.5°C
Fueled by the climate crisis, the global average temperature soared above the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold for the first time in 2024, intensifying extreme weather.
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404 Media ☛ ‘We’re Fine’: Lying to Ourselves About a Climate Disaster
It turns out this was a false choice. Since we’ve moved to Los Angeles, we have experienced the heaviest rains in the city’s recorded history, the first hurricane to ever trigger a tropical storm warning in Los Angeles, and, of course, the fires. New York City, meanwhile, has had both tropical storms and this summer fought an out-of-control brushfire in Prospect Park after a record drought. Both coasts are the fire coast, and the water coast.
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Wired ☛ Global Warming Is Wreaking Havoc on the Planet’s Water Cycle
Record temperatures last year pushed the global water cycle to “new climatic extremes,” according to the Global Water Monitor 2024 report. The document, produced by an international consortium led by researchers at Australian National University, states that these climatic anomalies caused devastating floods and droughts that resulted in more than 8,700 deaths, the displacement of 40 million people, and economic losses exceeding $550 billion.
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New Yorker ☛ One Environmental Journalist Thinks That the U.S. Needs More Mining
Mining for rare-earth metals has severe environmental consequences. Speaking with Elizabeth Kolbert, the journalist Vince Beiser says that the U.S. needs more of it.
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Energy/Transportation
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Sales of electric and hybrid vehicles in China jump over 40% in 2024
Sales of electric and hybrid vehicles jumped more than 40 percent in China last year, a trade association said on Thursday, as demand for new energy autos continues to surge.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea jet crash puts fast-growing Jeju Air’s safety under scrutiny
Jeju Air flies its planes more than any other major airline in South Korea, data show.
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H2 View ☛ GH EnA partners with Utility to produce hydrogen from biogas in South Korea
South Korea’s GH EnA has agreed to use Utility’s H2Gen reactors to produce “carbon-negative” hydrogen using biogas.
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Renewable Energy World ☛ Rural Minnesota counties work together to simplify clean energy development and maximize local benefits
The Rural Minnesota Energy Board has its origins in a regional task force that was set up during the mid-1990s as the state’s first wind farms were being built. The task force was instrumental in persuading state legislators in 2002 to create a wind energy production tax, which today generates millions of dollars in annual revenue for counties and townships that host wind projects.
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CBC ☛ Trump says U.S. doesn't need Canadian cars, lumber or dairy. Consumers may not agree
When Donald Trump was musing about using "economic force" to potentially acquire Canada, the U.S. president-elect was, at the same time, also dismissing the importance of his country's No. 1 trading partner.
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Overpopulation
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Vox ☛ Los Angeles fires: Why Trump is blaming Newsom and a fish
As devastating wildfires continue to burn through Los Angeles, so far killing at least 10 people and forcing well over 100,000 people to evacuate, or try to, President-elect Donald Trump has decided to point his ire toward a fish. Not the severe Santa Ana winds that fueled the fires. Not the unusually dry weather. Not the steady march of home development into fire-prone areas.
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Rolling Stone ☛ What Happened With the Water Supply During the Los Angeles Fires?
There is, of course, no such thing as the “water restoration declaration,” nor did L.A. burn for lack of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which provides water for agricultural industry and drinking water to tens of millions of residents. The city instead gets most of its water from the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which draws water from the Owens Valley in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the Metropolitan Water District, which receives a large allotment from the Colorado River and Delta. Mark Gold, water scarcity director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and a board member of the MWD, told CalMatters this week that Trump was wrong to suggest the scale of the fires was down to available water as opposed to climate change “at a time when the Metropolitan Water District has the most water stored in its system in the history of the agency.”
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Los Angeles Times ☛ California fires reveal limits of city water systems for firefighting
The water system that supplies neighborhoods simply doesn’t have the capacity to deliver such large volumes of water over several hours, said Martin Adams, former general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
“The system has never been designed to fight a wildfire that then envelops a community,” Adams said in an interview with The Times.
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Finance
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The Straits Times ☛ China says EU imposed unfair trade barriers on Chinese firms
Beijing has consistently denied its industrial policies are unfair.
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JURIST ☛ China investigation finds EU trade subsidy regulation discriminates against Chinese firms
The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China announced the conclusion of an unfair trading practices investigation into the European Union’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), concluding that the regulation unreasonably restricts the entry of Chinese companies’ products, services and investments into the EU market, damaging the competitiveness of Chinese companies and their products.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese probe finds EU imposed unfair ‘trade and investment barriers,’ Beijing says
China said Thursday that an investigation had found the European Union imposed unfair “trade and investment barriers” on Beijing, marking the latest salvo in long-running commercial tensions between the two economic powers.
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Inflation reaches its lowest point since February 2021
The news adds evidence "that upward pressure on prices from supply shocks, increasing costs and excess domestic demand is fading," a Bloomberg economist said.
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Insight Hungary ☛ US imposes Magnitsky sanctions on Hungary's 'propaganda minister’
The United States has imposed sanctions on a senior Hungarian government official for alleged corruption, the US Treasury announced. The move targets Antal Rogan, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, often referred to as Hungary's “propaganda minister” with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
Rogan usually keeps a low profile, but in the past, he stirred controversy with his luxurious lifestyle. He played a key role in managing Orbán’s media strategy and orchestrating his controversial election campaigns.
I heard the news of the recent attack in N’Djamena with a heavy heart. This incident is deplorable, violence is not an option. Chad is key to the stability of the whole Sahel region and Hungary stands by its government in its efforts for sovereignty and security.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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New York Times ☛ At Jimmy Carter’s Funeral, a Rare Image of Presidential Unity
President-elect Donald J. Trump becomes part of the club. Melania Trump joins the first ladies.
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France24 ☛ Jimmy Carter’s casket arrives in Georgia
The Carter family and former President Jimmy Carter’s casket are on the road home to Plains after touching down at Lawson Army Airfield in Georgia. Another military guard, band and 21-gun salute greeted the plane on a cold, sunny afternoon at the Fort Moore infantry base near Columbus, southwest of Atlanta. The Carter family stood on the tarmac as the casket was loaded into a presidential hearse. Former members of Carter’s Secret Service detail and their families also watched.
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JURIST ☛ Canada advocacy group challenges Trudeau’s prorogation of Parliament in court
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), along with Canadian citizens John MacKinnon and Lisa Lavranos filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to overturn Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent decision to request prorogation of parliament.
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Hun Sen’s nephew trades angry statements with businessman amid lawsuit threats
The businessman, Heng Sithy, filed a complaint this week about Hun To’s alleged theft and abusive behavior.
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FAIR ☛ Remember When Howard Dean Yelling Made Him Unfit to Be President?
Remember January 2004, when Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean yelled in a pep talk to supporters after the Iowa caucus, and elite media declared that his “growling and defiant” “emotional outburst” was patent evidence of unacceptability? Having already declared Dean too excitable—“Yelling and hollering is not an endearing quality in the leader of the free world,” said the Washington Post (8/2/03)—media found verification in the “Dean scream,” which was played on TV news some 700 times, enough to finish off his candidacy (Extra!, 3–4/04). As Pat Buchanan on the McLaughlin Group (1/23/04) scoffed: “Is this the guy who ought to be in control of our nuclear arsenal?”
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FAIR ☛ Dean Baker on China Trade Policy
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FAIR ☛ Three Holiday Car Attacks—With Two Different Frames
Three vehicular attacks in public areas shocked the world this past holiday season. First was the attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, which killed six people and injured dozens (Reuters, 1/6/25). Then there was the New Year’s attack in New Orleans’ French Quarter, killing at least 14 people and injuring more (CNN, 1/2/25). A suicide car explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day only killed the attacker, but injured bystanders (NBC, 1/1/25).
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The Verge ☛ Meta disbands diversity team and says DEI has become ‘charged’
Meta is eliminating its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs because of the “legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts” in the US, according to a memo to employees seen by Axios. Meta will also roll back representation goals and end its “diverse slate approach” to hiring.
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CBC ☛ Meta ending its diversity, equity and inclusion program, according to employee memo
Gale cited recent Supreme Court decisions "signalling a shift" in how U.S. courts will approach DEI programs going forward.
"The term 'DEI' has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others," she wrote.
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Michael Tsai ☛ Luigi Mangione’s Account Renamed on Stack Overflow
Mangione has not actually been convicted of anything yet. Reddit, Facebook, and Instagram have deleted his accounts, but “the only one that chose to both erase him and keep the content, is Stack Exchange.” It’s not clear whether that’s legal.
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Crooked Timber ☛ Reasons for pessimism in Europe
Resistance will be hampered on several fronts. First, the left and the labour movement, a popular bastion against fascism during earlier waves of ultra-nationalism, is weak and divided with its institutions such as parties and trade unions shells of what they once were as the result of changes in the class structure. Second, liberal and democratic values, tolerance and human rights, that might form some kind of principled rallying point have been badly compromised by mainstream parties’ desire to accomodate the so-called “legitimate concerns” of voters around migration and security, Widespread discrimination against minorities and growing toleration of mass death among irregular migrants as well as deals with dictatorships at Europe’s margins to contain would-be migrants exacerbate the abandonment of any pretence at humanitarian univeralism. European governments have been reluctant (or worse) to resist Israel’s actions in Palestine and the wider Middle East, again making a joke of Europe’s claimed values. Third, European leaders will be prevented from mounting any kind of principled resistance to US attack by the fact that, in the face of Russian aggression, they will feel the need to carry on pretending that the American enemy is in fact their friend and ally. The parallels with a toxic relationship with an abuser are obvious.
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Jamie Zawinski ☛ Heart of Zuckness
In reaction to the shock and disillusionment amongst employees of Leopards Eating Faces LLC, Rusty Foster bring us this timeless advice: [...]
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Today in Tabs ☛ Heart of Zuckness
[Turn to CAM 2, flip chair around backward] Meta employees, let me rap at you a minute. Sure, “You Can Always Quit,” as we like to say around here. But at this crucial juncture, you can both protect your own livelihood and do so much more good for the world by not quitting. That’s right! Don’t quit, just stop working. Show up every day, don’t complain, don’t draw attention to yourself. But don’t accomplish anything. If you are working on a project, commit in your heart to never finishing it. This will be your last project at Meta, and you will be “working on it” until they force you out. If others rely on you to get their work done, make sure they can’t. If your role involves reviewing pull requests, you and I both know you can find a reason to reject every one. In fact, wouldn’t it be fun to see how many other employees you can drive out first? If you work in an open office space, make sure you chew loudly at all times. Microwave fish in the break room every single day. Be creative! You’ll have plenty of time to think of ideas, with all the work you’re not getting done.
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NYPost ☛ Mark Zuckerberg meets with Trump in Fla., parks private jet next to Trump Force One
Their first meeting, which was reportedly initiated by Zuckerberg, took place on Thanksgiving Eve and involved discussions about “the incoming Administration,” according to Meta.
Zuckerberg, who also held at least two private phone conversations with Trump over the summer, has sought to rehabilitate his relationship with the incoming president after his social media platforms banned him in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
Since Trump’s Election Day win, Zuckerberg has donated $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund, ended third-party fact-checking on Facebook and scrapped Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies at Meta — moves that indicate the tech tycoon is attempting to cozy up to Trump ahead of his second stint in the White House.
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New York Times ☛ Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Sprint to Remake Meta for the Trump Era
After visiting President-elect Donald J. Trump in November, Mr. Zuckerberg decided to relax Meta’s speech policies. He asked a small team to carry out his goals within weeks. The repercussions are just beginning.
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New York Times ☛ Biden Calls Meta’s Ending of Fact-Checking Program ‘Shameful’
President Biden criticized Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, on Friday for deciding to abandon its fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram, calling it a “shameful” decision that undermines America’s commitment to telling the truth.
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The Verge ☛ Mark Zuckerberg lies about content moderation to Joe Rogan’s face
I’ll spare you the experience of listening to one of the richest men in the world whine and just tell you straight out: Mark Zuckerberg’s interview on The Joe Rogan Experience is full of lies.
Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, sets the tone at the very beginning: “I think at some level you only start one of these companies if you believe in giving people a voice, right?”
Unfortunately I wasn’t born yesterday, and I remember Zuckerberg’s first attempt at getting rich: FaceMash, a clone of HotOrNot where he uploaded photos of his fellow female students to be rated — without their consent. “Giving people a voice” is one way of describing that, I suppose. Personally, I’d call it “creep shit.”
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Axios ☛ Zuckerberg on Rogan: Facebook's censorship was "something out of 1984"
Why it matters: Zuckerberg's three-hour interview with Rogan gives a clear window into his thinking during a remarkable week in which Meta loosened its content moderation policies and shut down its DEI programs.
Driving the news: The Meta CEO said a turning point for his approach to censorship came after Biden publicly said social media companies were "killing people" by allowing COVID misinformation to spread, and politicians started coming after the company from all angles.
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RTL ☛ Could the entire sector be affected?: Meta policy reversal puts question mark on future of fact-checking
Media outlets around the world have been left scratching their heads over the future of their fact-checking operations after Meta's shock announcement that it will halt its US programme.
Here are the key facts about how the practice has developed and what could lie ahead for the sector.
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New York Times ☛ Can You Still Use TikTok if It’s Banned? What Users Should Know About the App.
No. The law passed by Congress last year would make it illegal for app stores from companies like Apple and Google to distribute or issue updates to TikTok at the risk of hefty civil penalties: $5,000 per American user, which could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars.
If TikTok is banned, it will likely disappear from app stores overnight. (Apple and Google have not commented on their plans to remove the app.)
Apple has long complied with foreign governments that have ordered apps to be removed in their countries. Last April, for instance, Apple pulled communication apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Threads and Telegram from its app store in China at the request of the Chinese government.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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EXPLAINED: How the Chinese Communist Party manages public opinion
The party's 'public opinion guidance' system includes tightly controlling the media and social control media trends.
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The Atlantic ☛ These Bizarre Theories About the L.A. Wildfires Endanger Everyone
Bizarre theories like these are damaging not just because they misconstrue the nature of American governance or assail overseas targets, but because they undermine our society’s capacity to self-correct. In the aftermath of disaster, healthy communities ask themselves, What did we do wrong? Unhealthy ones ask, Who did this to us? Nations that externalize their internal issues lose the ability to address them. Blaming freeloading foreigners for the policy and governance failures that enabled the L.A. wildfires will not prevent future failures, but rather will allow the real causes of those failures to continue to fester.
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The Age AU ☛ Biden labels end of Facebook fact-checking ‘anti-American’
The announcement was praised by those who see it as a win for free speech, and was met with outrage from critics who fear it will unleash a torrent of online misinformation and hateful slurs. Asked what he thought about the decision, Biden replied, “The truth matters”. Loading
“You think it doesn’t matter that they let be printed – or that millions of people read – things that are simply not true?” he told reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
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Casey Newton ☛ Meta surrenders to the right on speech
Chastened by the criticism, Meta set out to shore up its defenses. It hired 40,000 content moderators around the world, invested heavily in building new technology to analyze content for potential harms and flag it for review, and became the world’s leading funder of third-party fact-checking organizations. It spent $280 million to create an independent Oversight Board to adjudicate the most difficult questions about online speech. It disrupted dozens of networks of state-sponsored trolls who sought to use Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to spread propaganda and attack dissenters.
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The Record ☛ Bots identified pushing anti-NATO messages in Croatian presidential runoff
According to independent Croatian researchers working with the Centre for Information Resilience — which said its investigators verified their findings — messaging from networks of inauthentic accounts has been swaying conversations on X, Facebook, Reddit, TikTok, Telegram, and news websites. The researchers requested anonymity to protect their security.
Accounts that appear bot-like, with profiles featuring pro-Russian government imagery and hashtags, have been amplifying “pro-Milanović content while disseminating anti-EU and anti-NATO messaging,” say the researchers.
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404 Media ☛ People Think AI Images of Hollywood Sign Burning Are Real
AI generated slop is tricking people into thinking an already devastating series of wildfires in Los Angeles are even worse than they are — and using it to score political points.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Techdirt ☛ Congressional Report Accuses Jordan, Musk Of Weaponizing Gov’t To Silence Critics
So it was interesting to see that the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee recently released a detailed report calling out Jim Jordan and Elon Musk as colluding to misrepresent reality in a push to silence criticism.
The 53-page report, titled “Delusion of Collusion: How the House Republican Majority Abused Oversight Powers to Protect Elon Musk and Silence His Critics,” exhaustively documents how Jordan launched a sham investigation in what appears to be a clear attempt to intimidate advertisers and bully them into subsidizing Musk’s ExTwitter, while falsely claiming it was about fighting “collusion.”
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India Times ☛ online hate speech regulation: Regulating online hate speech 'not censorship': UN rights chief
The UN rights chief declared that regulating online hate speech and harmful content is not censorship. Meta recently announced it would remove fact-checkers from Facebook and Instagram, citing concerns over mistakes and censorship. UN officials stress the importance of accountability and trust-building in digital spaces to protect against misinformation and harm.
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RFA ☛ Internet freedom has plummeted under Myanmar’s junta: report
The [Internet] shutdowns have severely impacted people’s livelihoods, Han, a technology expert with the Myanmar Internet Project, told RFA Burmese.
“Restricting [Internet] freedom, which is one of the most fundamental ... human rights, effectively impacts all other rights, constituting a violation of human rights as a whole,” he said. “This has led to significant losses in areas such as education, the economy, healthcare, and social development.”
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RFA ☛ Vietnamese lawyer goes on trial for Facebook posts – Radio Free Asia
Trien is the latest lawyer to be pursued by Vietnamese authorities for his social media posts. Four Vietnamese lawyers including Trinh Vinh Phuc, Dang Dinh Manh, Dao Kim Lan and Nguyen Van Mieng fled to the U.S. to seek asylum fearing arrest.
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RFERL ☛ 3 Of Navalny's Lawyers Set To Be Sentenced On 'Extremism' Charges
A Russian court is set to sentence three lawyers who worked for opposition politician Aleksei Navalny and were charged in 2023 with "extremism" charges.
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Chinese police detain artist who supported democracy in Hong Kong
Fei Xiaosheng, once a familiar figure at Beijing's Songzhuang Artists' Village, was about to leave the country.
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Vietnamese lawyer goes on trial for Facebook (Farcebook) posts
Tran Dinh Trien published articles critical of a former chief justice.
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Mint Press News ☛ Pro-ISIS Accounts Surge on Meta After Assad’s Ouster
Following years of aggressive content removal, Meta’s platforms now host a growing wave of ISIS-linked posts in the aftermath of Assad’s overthrow.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Press Gazette ☛ News media trends for 2025: Hey Hi (AI) threats, Surveillance Giant Google search decline and subs slowdown
Global survey of news leaders reveals revenue, readership and newsroom trends.
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Press Gazette ☛ Bauer Media Group pays $625m for outdoor advertising business
The acquisition represent's Bauer's entry into the out of home advertising market.
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AccessNow ☛ The Palestinian Authority must stop silencing Al Jazeera and end its attacks on press freedom
The Palestinian Authority must reverse its decision to block Al Jazeera websites and lift the suspension of its operations in the West Bank.
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Press Gazette ☛ Update: Journalists to be able to report from any family court in England and Wales
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RFA ☛ Journalism students' report probes Hong Kong’s nebulous ‘care teams’
Authorities in Hong Kong on Friday said they would release details of the activities of the city’s nebulous “care teams,” which have sparked concerns that they could mimic the local officials and volunteers who carry out government surveillance and implement policy in mainland Chinese residential neighborhoods.
Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak made the pledge after student journalists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong reported that the records weren’t available to the public.
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BIA Net ☛ Joint statement from 12 press organizations: “The press is free; it cannot be censored”
14 professional press organizations gathered at the Ankara Mülkiyeliler Birliği [Association of Graduates of the Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences] building on the occasion of 10 January Working Journalists’ Day to make a statement, declaring, “We greet January 10 in solidarity”.
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Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ How journalism will adapt in the age of AI
So far the 21st century has only fed that paranoia. Back in 2006, one of my first covers as editor of The Economist was entitled “Who Killed the Newspaper?” At the time the [Internet] was wrecking the cosy business model of most big city papers that relied on their monopoly of classified advertising.
Looking back, though, it was less a case of assassination than suicide. Far too many quality media brands fell for the tech rhetoric that “legacy media” was dead and that content should be free. Soon they were stuck in a vicious circle of chasing clicks, cutting costs and gradually handing over their business to the tech giants.
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CPJ ☛ Iranian journalist and documentary filmmaker detained in Evin prison
“Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Mehrdad Aladin and cease the practice of arbitrarily jailing members of the press,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Journalists must be able to work without fear of retaliation.”
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Civil Rights/Policing
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INTERVIEW: 3 of Hong Kong’s most-wanted women on their struggles in exile
Democracy activists Anna Kwok, Frances Hui and Joey Siu all have huge bounties on their heads and can’t go home.
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TechCrunch ☛ Meta eliminates DEI programs
Axios reports that Meta is eliminating its biggest DEI efforts, effective immediately, including ones that focused on hiring a diverse workforce, training, and sourcing supplies from diverse-owned companies. Its DEI department will also be eliminated.
In a memo leaked to the outlet, Meta said it was making these changes because the “legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing.”
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Jailed Hong Kong activist Chow Hang-tung says judges ‘complicit’ in ‘police state’
Chow warns the city’s Chief Justice that the courts risk ‘losing their dignity.’
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Stanford University ☛ From the Community | House v. NCAA, a seemingly attractive offer to collegiate athletes, with a hidden clause of destruction for some
The NCAA's recent student-athlete settlement will strike hard at non-revenue generating sports, and in the process hurt Team USA's prowess on the international stage.
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Off Guardian ☛ Farm Laws Reborn: Tear Gas, Water Cannons and a Toxic Platter for India’s Farmers and Consumers
India could see an authoritarian central government with subordinate state governments under the control of corporate interests and international finance capital. So says the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a coalition of 40+ farmers’ unions.
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TMZ ☛ Florida Cop Watching Porn Rear-Ends Car Stopped for School Bus
A Florida cop's outta work after a wild incident -- his own body cam captured him slamming his patrol car into a civilian's vehicle ... while he was distracted by porn on his phone.
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Futurism ☛ Leaked Facebook Documents Show Exactly How Far You’re Allowed to Turn the "Racism" Dial
You know the iconic Dril tweet about turning a bit dial labeled "racism," while looking back at the audience for approval?
Well, it's top of mind amid Meta's content moderation overhaul, in which it secretly provided employees with examples of horrific hate speech that is now admissible on the platform.
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New York Times ☛ In Tibet, Chinese Boarding Schools Reshape the ‘Souls of Children’
Across China’s west, the party is placing children in boarding schools in a drive to assimilate a generation of Tibetans into the national mainstream and mold them into citizens loyal to the Communist Party.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Hacker successfully tests Toslink at unprecedented distances of up to 143 kilometers — separate test shows transmission speeds of about 1.47 Mb/s
On December 10, at the 38th Chaos Communication Congress (38C3, essentially a German tech conference for various hackers and other community members), hacker Benjojo discussed how he had successfully pushed Toslink traffic, generally limited to 10 meters over 143 kilometers. Then, yesterday, fellow hacker Manawyrm demonstrated IP-over-Toslink based on what that demonstration proved [h/t Hackaday]. The speeds are...not incredible since this cable isn't meant for this, but that it's possible at all is still cool.
So, what made it all possible? Benjojo uploaded a full-text version of his 38C3 conference speech to his blog, including the full technical details of how Toslink was at such an unreasonable 140+ kilometers. [...]
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Techdirt ☛ AT&T Sets A Comically Narrow Definition Of “Service Outage” After Particularly Embarrassing Wireless And 911 Outage
A several months-long investigation by the FCC found that AT&T hadn’t bothered to test its planned network upgrade before installing it. The FCC’s enforcement bureau had this to say at the time, absolutely none of it good: [...]
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Michael Tsai ☛ Network Neutrality Not Reinstated
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C4ISRNET ☛ Italy eyes Musk’s Starlink for secret government communications
Meloni said Starlink offered advanced technology and, unlike European collaborative satellite program IRIS2, was ready.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Hackaday ☛ Physical Media Is Dead, Long Live Physical Media
Much has been written about the demise of physical media. Long considered the measure of technological progress in audiovisual and computing fields, the 2000s saw this metric seemingly rendered obsolete by the rise of online audiovisual and software distribution services. This has brought us to a period in time where the very idea of buying a new music album, a movie or a piece of software in a physical, or even online, retail store has become largely impossible amidst the rise of digital-only media.
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Security Week ☛ Microsoft DRM Hacking Raises Questions on Vulnerability Disclosures
However, the researcher initially refused to share technical details as he did not agree with this approach, arguing that nine months had been spent on the research, and submitting the findings through a bug bounty program would mean giving up intellectual [sic] property [sic] and know-how stemming from the research without any guarantee of payment.
Instead, Gowdiak suggested that a commercial agreement with Microsoft, where the tech giant would compensate the work with an amount of money agreed upon by both parties, would be more fair.
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The Verge ☛ Zuckerberg trash talks Apple in interview with Joe Rogan
Naturally, there’s business behind Zuckerberg’s gripes. Meta has had longstanding issues with Apple and the 30 percent cut it takes on some App Store transactions. Apple’s iOS restrictions have made it harder for Meta to compete on hardware and wiped out billions of dollars in advertising. Zuckerberg said that if Apple’s “random rules” didn’t apply, Meta would make “twice as much profit or something” based on his “back of the envelope calculation.”
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Patents
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JUVE ☛ ZTE sues Samsung with Taliens and Vossius
After the two Asian mobile phone manufacturers did not extend an existing licence agreement beyond 2024, Samsung filed suit at the UK High Court shortly before Christmas. The Korean mobile phone giant is asking the UK court to set a FRAND rate for ZTE’s global cellular portfolio (case ID: HP-2024-000044).
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Racing to the Deadline: Office Action Response Patterns
I have a cute chart below - a cumulative frequency diagram showing how long patent monopoly applicants take to respond to non-final office actions.
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ The Approach to the Assessment of Inventive Step of Antibodies at the EPO – a Critical Analysis
The festive period normally leads to a slight slow-down in work in Europe and as such, it can provide the opportunity to catch up on wider reading as well as to grab a little rest.
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[Old] Saturday Evening Post Society ☛ Thomas Edison: The Unintentional Founder of Hollywood
Edison’s intimidation techniques even wandered outside the law on some occasions, according to Steven Bach’s book, Final Cut. The MPPC would hire mobsters to rough up film makers that were violating their patents.
The East Coast became suffocating for non-Edison-affiliated film makers. Every turn they made in the industry was met with a lawsuit, stifling creativity and stalling innovation. The environment that Edison concocted led to independent film makers wanting to get far away from him and his monopoly. Hollywood seemed like the ideal destination.
Out west, judges were much less tied up in Edison’s oppressive patent apparatus and were much more likely to rule with the independents than with the conglomerate. Even in instances where Southern California judges ruled with Edison, their rulings were hard to enforce given that cross-country travel was onerous and expensive.
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[Old] CS Monitor ☛ How the patent office almost shut down Hollywood
Wu’s description of the evolution of Hollywood’s rise to dominance and the role state monopolies played in its structure is fascinating. In ch. 4, he notes how in France one Louis Lumière invented a working camera and projector in 1895. The same year, Charles Francis Jenkins in the US invented a projector called the “Phantoscope.” Edison then entered the market with the “Vitascope,” basically the same as the Phantoscope except for the name. He managed to procure Jenkins’s patent rights for $2500. But then another company, Biograph, entered the market, leading to almost a decade of patent litigation. The patent holders finally decided to settle and form the Motion Pictures Patent Company, a cartel known as the Film Trust. The Film Trust comprised the large film producers and the largest manufacturer of film stock, Eastman Kodak. The Trust pooled sixteen key patents, leading to the blocking of film imports and price fixing at every stage of the film production and exhibition process. The Trust had a series of meetings to establish rules that would permit only Trust members to make or import films into the US; those who didn’t comply would be sued for patent infringement. Theater owners had to pay license fees, distributors had to comply, and so on.
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[Old] Wired ☛ Take Heed, Tech Giants: Edison's Failed Plot To Hijack Hollywood
To top it all off, MPPC convinced the Eastman Kodak company to refuse to sell raw film stock to anyone but Patent Company licensees, a move designed to shut French and German footage out of the country.
"The negotiations were finalized in December," Gabler notes, and by early January, "the company made its announcement that the old *laissez faire *of the movie business was being abruptly terminated."
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Trademarks
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Cloudbooklet ☛ Microsoft Rolls Back Bing Image Creator After Backlash
Microsoft Rolls Back Bing Image Creator following backlash over image realism issues.
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Copyrights
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Public Domain Review ☛ Perpetual Movement: Francis Picabia’s 391 Review (1917–1924)
19 volumes of a Dada and Surrealist–associated journal published by Francis Picabia.
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Digital Music News ☛ Malibu’s Harbor Studios, Where Artists From Drake to SZA Have Recorded, Destroyed in Palisades Fire — ‘We Will Come Back Stronger From This’
Malibu’s Harbor Studios, where artists from Drake to Imagine Dragons have recorded, “has been lost to the Palisades Fire.” That unfortunate news comes from owner Zach Brandon, who posted a photo of the extensive wildfire-inflicted damage. Though Harbor’s history spans multiple decades, 2022 saw Brandon officially open the business in its current form.
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Torrent Freak ☛ ‘Strike 3’ Filed a Record Number of Piracy Lawsuits in 2024
Adult entertainment company Strike 3 Holdings is once again the most prolific copyright litigant in the United States. The company tracks down individual pirates and holds them responsible via copyright infringement lawsuits. The company is linked to over 3,900 lawsuits filed in 2024 alone, breaking its own record once again.
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Pivot to AI ☛ Whoops! Facebook trained Llama AI model on pirate site LibGen, with Zuckerberg’s OK
CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved using data from LibGen — even though the AI executive team worried that LibGen was “a dataset we know to be pirated.”
An engineer stripped copyright data from the downloaded works to prepare them for training. Other engineers torrented the works from LibGen — and also seeded the torrents for others to download.
Facebook is claiming its use of copyrighted works for training was fair use. But it worried that “if there is media coverage suggesting we have used a dataset we know to be pirated, such as LibGen, this may undermine our negotiating position with regulators on these issues.”
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Futurism ☛ Facebook Apparently Trained Its AI by Torrenting Pirated Books Stolen From Authors
The judge argued, per Wired, that Meta fought for the redactions merely to "avoid negative publicity," citing a damning internal quote from one of its employees.
"If there is media coverage suggesting we have used a dataset we know to be pirated, such as LibGen, this may undermine our negotiating position with regulators on these issues," the employee wrote.
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India Times ☛ Meta knew it used pirated books to train AI, authors say
Meta Platforms used pirated versions of copyrighted books to train its artificial intelligence systems with approval from its chief executive officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg, a group of authors alleged in newly disclosed court papers.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, comedian Sarah Silverman and other authors suing Meta for copyright infringement made the accusations in filings made public on Wednesday in California federal court. They said internal documents produced by Meta during the discovery process showed the company knew the works were pirated.
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The Atlantic ☛ The Books Briefing: Why We Celebrate When Copyright Expires
Belatedly, happy New Year! Here in the Books department, we like to make an extra toast for a concurrent holiday, Public Domain Day. Every January 1, the copyright protection expires on a long list of novels, movies, songs, and other works, which are then available to remix or recycle into derivative stories (the way that Disney turned a Hans Christian Andersen tale into The Little Mermaid). This year heralds the liberation in the United States of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, the song “Singin’ in the Rain,” the earliest versions of Popeye and Tintin, and Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. (The groundbreaking essay, now free to publish, is being reissued in at least three new editions, including one introduced by The Atlantic’s Xochitl Gonzalez). This freedom, however, is hard-won and can be incomplete. The decades-old tussle over when a creative work becomes public property opens up deeper questions about how to balance the rights of the artist against the common good. This week, Alec Nevala-Lee examined the curious case of Sherlock Holmes.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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