Leftovers

• NDTV ☛ Former Journalist Who Survived Nazi Concentration Camp Dies At 102

  Jacques Moalic, a former Agence France-Presse journalist who survived deportation to the Buchenwald concentration camp in World War II, has died aged 102, his family said.

• Task And Purpose ☛ Army captain sets Guinness World Record for bomb suit run

  Chewning-Kulick set the new world record on the morning of Friday, April 25 at Fort Cavazos in Texas. The official ruling from the Guinness World Records takes roughly six months to be confirmed, but multiple witnesses on hand reported his time, which was a third of a minute faster than the standing record.

• John Goerzen ☛ NNCPNET Can Optionally Exchange Internet Email

  A few days ago, I announced NNCPNET, the email network based atop NNCP. NNCPNET lets anyone run a real mail server on a network that supports all sorts of topologies for transport, from Internet to USB drives. And verification is done at the NNCP protocol level, so a whole host of Internet email bolt-ons (SPF, DMARC, DKIM, etc.) are unnecessary.

• John Goerzen ☛ Memoirs of the Early Internet

  UUCP was ad-hoc, and by 1984 there was an effort to make a machine-parsable map to help automate routing on UUCP. This was called the pathalias project, and there was a paper about it. The Linux network administration guide even includes a section on pathalias.

• Naz Hamid ☛ Your Site Is a Home

  Digital space follows similar patterns. You procure space on a server somewhere, whether using your own, or paying for a hosting service. You upload some HTML files. And mixed into that, if you’re technically proficient, a CMS that someone else built or you rolled your own. Later, services popped up that took all of that out of your hands and you could focus on creating. This residence is available at a URL, on the open web, that people are able to view. This is your website.

• The Independent UK ☛ George Lucas reveals why Yoda talks backwards in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

  “If you speak regular English, people won’t listen that much,” said Lucas. “But if he had an accent, or it’s really hard to understand what he’s saying, they focus on what he’s saying.”

• Project Gutenberg ☛ The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Inferno, translated by James Romans Sibbald

  The spirit’s feet then twisted violently,
    And, sighing in a voice of deep distress,
    He asked: ‘What then requirest thou of me?
  If me to know thou hast such eagerness,
    That thou the cliff hast therefore ventured down,
    Know, the Great Mantle sometime was my dress.
  I of the Bear, in sooth, was worthy son:
    As once, the Cubs to help, my purse with gain
    I stuffed, myself I in this purse have stown.
  Stretched out at length beneath my head remain
    All the simoniacs that before me went,
    And flattened lie throughout the rocky vein.
  I in my turn shall also make descent,
    Soon as he comes who I believed thou wast,
    When I asked quickly what for him was meant.
  O’er me with blazing feet more time has past,
    While upside down I fill the topmost room,
    Than he his crimsoned feet shall upward cast;
  For after him one viler still shall come,
    A Pastor from the West, lawless of deed:
    To cover both of us his worthy doom.

• Science

  • C4ISRNET ☛ Space Force weather satellite deemed ready for forecasts

    The satellite, built by Ball Aerospace, is part of the Space Force’s Weather Satellite Follow-on program, or WSF-M. The spacecraft launched more than a year ago and is a first step toward upgrading the service’s military weather constellation, which has been on orbit for 60 years.

  • Wired ☛ NASA’s Perseverance Rover Finds Strange Rocks on Mars

    Perseverance was launched in July 2020 with the mission of searching for traces of microorganisms that may have existed on Mars in ancient times. It carries seven scientific instruments, including SuperCam, which uses cameras, lasers, and spectrometers to study the Martian surface, and Mastcam-Z, a camera with a special filter to increase resolution, which is used to record high-definition video as well as panoramic color and 3D images. The rover is exploring the Jezero Crater, a region of Mars thought to have once been a river delta.

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Do cats make good therapy animals? The new trend showing felines may be more complicated than we realise

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-04-17 [Older] Indicators of alien life may have been found – astrophysicist explains what the new research means

• Career/Education

  • Deccan Chronicle ☛ College Student Suspended After Assaulting Lecturer Over Confiscated Phone

    The student, identified as G. Venkata Lakshmi, reportedly became aggressive when her mobile phone was confiscated during class. According to college authorities, the confrontation began after repeated warnings about talking loudly on her phone during lecture hours.

  • Futurism ☛ Low-Income Families "Dumbfounded" When Told Zuckerberg Is Shutting Down Their School

    The abrupt announcement that the school will soon be shuttering — especially after Zuckerberg and Chan's charity promised that it would maintain its social justice roots in the wake of Meta terminating its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs — came as a shock.

  • Yordi Verkroost ☛ You Don’t Have to Learn Everything Today

    At that point, there are two options. You can either see the mountain ahead and give up, feeling like you’ll never reach the top. Or you can remember why you started in the first place — the joy it brought you — and accept that you will never know everything, and that’s okay. You simply continue to learn at a gentle pace, because the process itself is the reward. The path you choose — and the emotions that come with it — is completely up to you.

  • The Zambian Observer ☛ Namibia to Offer Free University and College Education from 2026

    Namibia is taking a bold step toward accessible education. Starting in 2026, students at public universities and technical colleges will no longer have to pay tuition or registration fees.

    President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the country’s newly elected and first-ever female head of state, made the announcement during her State of the Nation Address on Thursday.

• Hardware

  • Digital Camera World ☛ Camera tariffs 101: Where are cameras made and what are the charges?

    Still, while we don't know much in the way of specifics, we do know the countries in which the various brands make their cameras.

    And although the actual rates could fluctuate – bearing in mind that the Trump administration froze all tariffs at 10% until July, for every nation except China – we know the announced tariffs for those respective countries.

    So if you're thinking of buying a new body, here's a quick look at where it's made (right now, at least) and what kind of tariff is being levied on the country of manufacture: [...]

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-17 [Older] Kenya halts kidney trafficking operation after DW report

• Proprietary

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] YouTube turns 20: How the video site has changed the world

  • International Business Times ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] 'No More Coddling': Microsoft Cracks Down on Low Performers With Two-Year Rehire Ban and No Severance

  • 2025-04-22 [Older] The Information: ‘Meta Asked Amazon, Microsoft to Help Fund Llama’

  • Howard Oakley ☛ A brief history of code signing on Macs

    From the outset, there were two types of code signature: self-signed using an ad hoc certificate that has no chain of trust back to a root, and those using a certificate traceable back to Apple’s root certificate. While ad hoc certificates can provide a weak form of identification, almost all the value of code signing requires traceability to a certificate authority.

    Apple therefore provides registered developers (who pay an annual subscription) with certificates for signing their code, but macOS doesn’t recognise certificates provided by any other authority. Certificates are also specific to their purpose: those used to sign apps for distribution outside the App Store, for example, are known as Developer ID Application certificates, and are distinct from those used to sign installer packages.

  • India Times ☛ Internal whistleblower alleges deep crisis at Zomato; CEO Deepinder Goyal dismisses it as ‘utter nonsense’

    The anonymous whistleblower alleged that Zomato was losing market share to rivals like Zepto Cafe and Swiggy. In response, they claimed, employees were instructed to place at least seven orders per month on Zomato, with tracking measures in place. Ordering from competing platforms like Swiggy was allegedly banned within the office premises.

  • Nick Heer ☛ Google Ends Support for Early Nest Thermostats, Degrading Their Functionality

    This is, however, a fairly graceful degradation of its functionality, all things considered. Nests will apparently continue to work like a programmable thermostat. Also, after Ecobee ended support for its earliest thermostat models last year, it sounded like newer models’ HomeKit integration would allow smart features to keep working when Ecobee discontinues those, too. It would be better if Google could have done something similar with the Nest. It is not encouraging for the smart home fantasy.

  • International Business Times ☛ Apple's Shift of US iPhone Assembly to India Marks a Strategic Blow to China, But How?

    There's more to this than just finding cheaper workers. With Washington and Beijing at each other's throats over tariffs and tech bans, Apple's clearly had enough of the drama. They're spreading their bets around instead of risking everything on China.

  • Reuters ☛ Apple moving to make most iPhones for US in India rather than China, source says

    The U.S. tech giant is holding urgent talks with contract manufacturers Foxconn (2317.TW), opens new tab and Tata to achieve that goal, the person, who declined to be named as the planning process is confidential, said on Friday.

  • MacRumors ☛ Report: Apple Plans to Source All US-Bound iPhones From India by 2026

    The shift comes amid renewed trade tensions between the US and China. President Trump recently implemented substantial tariffs on Chinese imports, causing Apple's market value to drop by approximately $700 billion. In response, Apple reportedly rushed existing Indian-manufactured iPhones to the U.S. to avoid higher tariffs imposed on Chinese goods.

  • India Times ☛ Apple’s China exodus: All US iPhones to be made in India by 2025

    The plan is part of a broader strategy to diversify Apple’s supply chain away from China, which still dominates most of the tech giant’s manufacturing infrastructure. If successful, this shift would see over 60 million iPhones produced annually in India by 2026 - doubling current output, the FT report said.

  • PC Mag ☛ Apple Could Move All US iPhone Assembly to India in 2026

    Shifting the assembly of the roughly 60 million iPhones sold in the US to India means Apple will need to effectively double its production in the South Asian country, according to the FT’s sources. Reuters later reported that Apple is already in conversations with manufacturers like the Indian conglomerate Tata Group and Taiwan’s Foxconn about making the move.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ AI chatbots want you hooked - maybe too hooked

      One app, Botify AI, recently drew scrutiny for featuring avatars of young actors sharing “hot photos” in sexually charged chats. The dating app Grindr, meanwhile, is developing AI boyfriends that can flirt, sext and maintain digital relationships with paid users, according to Platformer, a tech industry newsletter. Grindr didn’t respond to a request for comment. Other apps like Replika, Talkie and Chai are designed to function as friends. Some, like Character.ai, draw in millions of users, many of them teenagers.

    • Futurism ☛ When You Apply for a Job Now, You’re Competing With Non-Human Entities

      As CBS News reports, scam artists are using AI to cook up headshots and write fake résumés and sites to fit the specifics of a given job opening.

      Sometimes, those AI scammers end up getting hired — and once they're there, they can steal trade secrets and sabotage a company's systems with malware.

    • Futurism ☛ "Get Us All Killed": Former OpenAI Staffers Implore Courts to Block What It's Trying to Do

      Earlier this week, a group of former OpenAI employees, law professors, activists, and Nobel Prize winners sent a letter to the California and Delaware attorneys general pleading with them to stop OpenAI from transforming itself into a private company. Though a number of OpenAI's operations have pivoted to a commercial model in recent years — like ChatGPT, which charges a subscription for higher-performing versions — the company's current plan is to restructure itself as an entirely for-profit venture.

    • Futurism ☛ California Admits AI Was Used to Write Bar Exam Plagued by Problems

      The admission was made by the State Bar of California on Monday, following complaints about the quality of the test's questions, and numerous glitches experienced by test-takers when they took it in February.

    • Futurism ☛ Researchers Find Easy Way to Jailbreak Every Major AI, From ChatGPT to Claude

      HiddenLayer's exploit works by combining an "internally developed policy technique and roleplaying" to "produce outputs that are in clear violation of AI safety policies," including "CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear), mass violence, self-harm and system prompt leakage."

      It's yet another sign that mainstream AI tools like ChatGPT remain extremely vulnerable to jailbreaks — despite AI companies' best efforts to create guardrails — that allow bad actors to manipulate them.

    • New Yorker ☛ Trump Is the Emperor of A.I. Slop

      It makes sense that a man who yearns for a reality untroubled by other humans would be drawn to art that is untouched by anything human.

  • Social Control Media

    • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Electronic Media, Social Media Asked To Refrain From Reporting Security Ops

      The Centre on Saturday issued a security advisory urging all media platforms and social-media users to avoid live coverage of defence operations and the movement of security forces, warning that real-time reporting could aid hostile elements.

    • The Atlantic ☛ How Drug Cartels Took Over Social Media

      Two decades later, I realize that these grim spectacles were the beginning of a trend: Cartels are influencers now. They have converted their criminality into a commodity, broadcasting with impunity while law enforcement and social-media platforms struggle to rein them in. On TikTok, drug traffickers filmed themselves fleeing from customs agents in a high-speed boat chase, garnering millions of likes. Some content is less Miami Vice and more cottagecore: farmers harvesting poppy seeds, for instance. Keep scrolling and you might find henchmen bagging bales of $100 bills, tiger cubs lounging in trucks, and dogs trotting with decapitated heads in their mouths.

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • SANS ☛ Example of a Payload Delivered Through Steganography

      Another common behaviour of malware in .Net is to use reflective code loading techniques. Reflective code loading is the ability of a running program to inspect, load, and use code—classes, functions, libraries, even entire assemblies—that was not statically linked or explicitly referenced at compile time. Instead, the program decides at runtime what to bring into memory and how to invoke it. Therefore, when you reverse a .Net program, it’s a good idea to search for methods like .Load(), .LoadFrom() or .LoadFile(). This may indicate that more code will be loaded (passed as a parameter).

• Security

  • 2025-04-20 [Older] Cybersecurity Industry Almost Died Today

  • NL Times ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Dutch Ministry of Defense seeks cyber reservists to strengthen national security

  • TechRadar ☛ A worrying stealthy Linux security bug could put your systems at risk - here's what we know

    A Linux kernel, disabled on Android and ChromeOS, is causing trouble

  • Dolphin Publications B V ☛ Linux vulnerability exploit bypasses security services

    Researchers at Israeli company ARMO have discovered a blind spot in most security services on Linux. This vulnerability allows attackers to carry out malicious activities undetected. ARMO has rolled up its sleeves with the ‘Curing’ rootkit. The company uses a rootkit to show how the Linux io_uring framework can be exploited to bypass detection mechanisms.

    This rootkit contains a covert attack method that uses io_uring, a Linux asynchronous I/O framework, to carry out malicious activities without being detected by traditional detection mechanisms.

  • Clandestine rootkit compromise possible with Linux io_uring interface issue

    Rootkit compromise on Linux systems could remain undetected through the exploitation of a security issue impacting the Linux kernel interface io_uring, according to BleepingComputer.

  • CISA

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] CISA Releases Seven Industrial Control Systems Advisories

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Schneider Electric Modicon Controllers

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] ALBEDO Telecom Net.Time - PTP/NTP Clock

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Vestel AC Charger

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Nice Linear eMerge E3

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Johnson Controls ICU

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Planet Technology Network Products

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] CISA Releases Five Industrial Control Systems Advisories

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Siemens TeleControl Server Basic SQL

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Siemens TeleControl Server Basic

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Schneider Electric Wiser Home Controller WHC-5918A

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] ABB MV Drives

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-17 [Older] CISA Adds Three Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-17 [Older] CISA Releases Six Industrial Control Systems Advisories

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Digital Camera World ☛ Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst, so stop putting watermarks on them! | Digital Camera World

      But here’s the thing: do you really want your photography brand forever associated with those early misfires?

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Tracy Durnell ☛ Email to King County re: advertising on its website

      Hello, I was unpleasantly surprised and disappointed to see advertisements on the King County Assessor’s eReal Property website and wanted to provide feedback on your pilot program, as requested.

    • Thomas Rigby ☛ Google Home is now 100% useless

      I'll go out on a limb and say one of the main reasons for this device existing is setting cooking timers using voice commands. Now that doesn't work properly either.

    • McSweeney’s ☛ Calm Down—Your Phone Isn’t Listening to Your Conversations. It’s Just Tracking Everything You Type, Every App You Use, Every Website You Visit, and Everywhere You Go in the Physical World

      This belief is false and paranoid. We do not live in some tech dystopia in which our smartphones clandestinely use their mics to pick up every word we say and then feed us commercial messages based on them. The truth is simpler and not at all alarming: your phone only seems to be listening to you because it’s collecting data about every word you type, every website you visit, and, through GPS tracking, everywhere you go in the physical world.

    • Futurism ☛ AI Browser Will Track Every Single Thing You Do, CEO Reveals

      Let's face it: internet ads are a fixture of life in the 21st century. Since 2002, Google has been rolling out features designed to monetize our browsing habits and feed our data to marketing companies hellbent on optimizing their advertising schemes.

      Now, AI company Perplexity wants to use AI to even further optimize the way it sucks up your data to sell at a profit.

  • Confidentiality

    • US Dept Of Health and Human Services ☛ HHS Office for Civil Rights Settles HIPAA Ransomware Cybersecurity Investigation with Guam Memorial Hospital Authority

      Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with Guam Memorial Hospital Authority (GMHA), a public hospital on the U.S. Territory, island of Guam, concerning a potential violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule, following the receipt of two complaints alleging that the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of GMHA patients was impermissibly disclosed.

    • 2025-04-19 [Older] Breaches Within Breaches: Contractual Obligations After a Security Incident

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Judge Extends Ban on Musk's DOGE Access to Private Social Security Data

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Federal Judge in Baltimore Temporarily Limits DOGE Access to Social Security Data

    • Radiology practice reportedly working with FBI after ‘data security incident’

      A Pacific Northwest radiology practice has reportedly worked with the FBI following a recent “data security incident.”

      Mt. Baker Imaging and Northwest Radiologists posted a notice of the matter on its website March 26. The Bellingham, Washington-based group said it first noticed the network disruption around Jan. 25, immediately engaging outside forensic specialists to help with the investigation.

      “We are currently reviewing the types of information potentially impacted by this event,” the message said. “However, Northwest/MBI has confirmed that a limited amount of protected health information may have been impacted in connection with this event.”

      Possible leaked data could include dates of birth, Social Security and driver’s license numbers and diagnosis details. MBI said it has implemented additional security measures in its network and facilities and is reviewing policies and procedures pertaining to data security.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ AI-controlled fighter jets are closer than we think

    However, we have been here before. Senior leaders in the US Navy said they believed the last crewed fighter jet had been procured in 2015. As far back as 1957, premature obituaries were being written for the fighter pilot era. So, is there anything different now?

  • The Register UK ☛ UK bans game controller exports to Russia

    "We're also banning outright video game controllers going to Russia, preventing them from being used to pilot drones on the frontline, meaning gaming consoles will no longer be repurposed to kill in Ukraine," said Minister of State Stephen Doughty.

  • The Atlantic ☛ The Trump Administration Tries to Intimidate Judges

    “The courts have a role in our constitutional system that they can only preserve if there’s an independent judiciary—that is to say, judges are free to make decisions without intimidation, without interference from the executive branch or the legislative for that matter,” Geraldine Hines, a retired Massachusetts Supreme Court justice, told me. “This kind of prosecution is, in my view, and in the view of many of us who no longer sit on the bench, an effort to intimidate judges from playing their part in the constitutional order.”

  • New York Times ☛ Opinion | Trump Is Breaking the Rule That Every Barroom Brawler Knows

    Provoking your enemies, alienating your friends and actively sabotaging your own defenses is no one’s idea of a sound national security plan. And yet, this is the playbook that President Trump has apparently followed over the first 100 days of his second term. You can see it most clearly in the global fight he kicked off with China. He’s been scrapping for this showdown since before he entered politics, so you’d think that before taking on such a global powerhouse, he’d strengthen every alliance, game out every possible countermeasure and get his leadership team in peak condition. The mouthiest barroom brawler knows not to pick a fight and then turn his back, but that’s what the president is doing. He promised to “make America safe again,” but instead of building up the nation’s defenses, he’s dismantling them at precisely the moment they are most needed.

  • The Telegraph UK ☛ ‘We’ll burn Jews like Hitler did’, says BBC Arabic contributor

    A journalist who appears prominently on the BBC’s Arabic channel to report from Gaza called for Jews to be burned “as Hitler did”, it can be revealed.

  • The Walrus ☛ Are China, India, or Russia Swaying Your Vote?

    The SITE announcement marks the first time during a federal election that the public has been briefed on real-time efforts of foreign interference: when countries or their proxies try to influence people or institutions beyond their own borders. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service announced at the onset of the spring campaign that India and China will most likely try to influence the April election, and that Pakistan and Russia may also potentially try to subvert voting. Meanwhile, the Communications Security Establishment—Canada’s cryptologic agency which deals with cybersecurity prevention—has said that China, Iran, and Russia will likely use AI to try to meddle with individual candidates and party campaigns.

    These warnings suggest that foreign interference in elections has not only become inevitable, but it’s evolving fast. And speaking frankly about the threat is critical to adapting to it.

  • India Times ☛ TikTok owner weighs data center project in Brazil, sources say

    ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, is weighing a major investment in a data center in Brazil, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters, tapping abundant wind energy on the country's northeast coast.

  • The Nation ☛ The FBI Arrests a Milwaukee Judge in “a Whole New Descent Into Government Chaos”

    “Make no mistake, we do not have kings in this country and we are a democracy governed by laws that everyone must abide by,” declared Wisconsin Democratic US Senator Tammy Baldwin, who called the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan “a gravely serious and drastic move that threatens to breach the [nation’s constitutionally defined] separations of power.”

    “By relentlessly attacking the judicial system, flouting court orders, and arresting a sitting judge, this president is putting those basic democratic values that Wisconsinites hold dear on the line,” said Baldwin, who added, “While details of this exact case remain minimal, this action fits into the deeply concerning pattern of this president’s lawless behavior and undermining courts and Congress’s checks on his power.”

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-16 [Older] EU tightens asylum rules with list of 7 safe countries

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-16 [Older] Germany: Berlin doctor charged with 15 counts of murder

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-17 [Older] Poland: 'Hajnowka 5' on trial for aiding desperate refugees

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Poland Starts Long-Sought Exhumation of WW2 Victims in Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Ukraine's Marchenko Says Progress on Critical Minerals Deal With US, No Deal This Week

    • CBC ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Rubio drops out of Ukraine war talks as some U.S. ceasefire proposals reportedly fall flat

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Ukraine updates: Envoys meet in London after Rubio pulls out

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Kremlin Says Sides in Ukraine Peace Talks Still Need to Narrow Their Differences

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Ukraine Is Ready to Negotiate but Not to Surrender, Deputy PM Says

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Ukraine updates: 3 injured in Odesa drone attack

    • CBC ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] I've seen Ukraine's scars. As a Canadian veteran, military spending will decide my vote

    • CBC ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Alberta wildfire near national park damages Ukrainian heritage village buildings

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Ukraine's deserters returning to the front

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Analysis-With His Promises of Peace Unmet in Gaza and Ukraine, Cheeto Mussolini May Find Iran Just as Tough

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Kremlin Says Progress Has Been Made on Ukraine Peace but Contacts Complicated With the US

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Ukraine and US Aim to Complete Technical Discussions on Minerals Deal by April 26

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Ukraine Says Aiming to Wrap up Mineral Deal Talks Within a Week

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-17 [Older] After US talks, is Europe back in the game on Ukraine?

    • NL Times ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Dutch intelligence report: Russia’s sabotage in Europe borders on state terrorism

    • The Local SE ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Swedish Nato jets intercept Russian reconnaissance plane over Baltic Sea

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Crimea Is a Focus of Discussions to End Russia's War in Ukraine. Here's Why It's So Coveted

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] EU to Help Boost Moldovan Air Defences Against Russian Drones

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Missile That Killed Eight in Russian Strike on Kyiv Was N.Korean, Kyiv Source Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Putin Says Russia Should Use Trade War Opportunities to Strengthen Economy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Russia Jails Colombian for Nine Years After Convicting Him of Fighting as a Mercenary for Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-24 [Older] Russian Court Adds Extra Year to Sentence of US Citizen Jailed for Attacking Law Enforcement, RIA Says

    • CBC ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Czech leaders condemn Russian threats against NHL great Dominik Hasek

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Czech Leaders Condemn Russian Threats Against NHL Great Dominik Hasek

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Kyrgyzstan Detains Russian Government Agency Worker Accused of Recruiting Fighters for Ukraine War

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Putin Says Russia Has Weapons Shortages Despite Beefing up Production

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Russia Adds 21 British Lawmakers to Its 'Banned' List

    • NL Times ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] First confirmed Russian sabotage in Netherlands last year, also targeted EU elections

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Russia's role in trafficking, smuggling from Libya to EU

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Exclusive-'China Track' Bank Netting System Shields Russia-China Trade From Western Eyes

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Russia Batters Ukraine's Odesa and Zaporizhzhia as Kremlin Warns Peace Talks Will Take Time

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Russia Is Ramping up Hybrid Attacks Against Europe, Dutch Intelligence Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Russian Guided Bombs Kill Woman in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia, Governor Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Russian Court Cuts Jail Term for American Held on Drug Charges, Lawyer Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Russian Region Declares Emergency After Blast at Military Unit

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Russia Recaptures Monastery in Kursk From Ukraine, TASS Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Russia's Putin Discusses US-Iran Nuclear Talks With Leader of Oman

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Russia's Rosatom Says Will Proceed With Myanmar Nuclear Plant Despite Quake

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-22 [Older] Wary of Russia, Denmark to Spend $600 Million on Surveillance Vessels

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-21 [Older] Russian Attacks During Easter Ceasefire Declared by Putin Killed 3 in Ukraine's Kherson Region

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-21 [Older] Russian Drone Attack Injures Three People in Ukraine's Odesa, Governor Says

    • CBC ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaking one-day Easter ceasefire

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Ukraine: Zelenskyy says truce hasn't stopped Russian attacks

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Spacecraft Brings Russians, American Back to Earth, Russia's Space Agency Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] A Soyuz Capsule With 2 Russians and 1 American Returns to Earth From the International Space Station

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Blasts Reported in Russian-Controlled Donetsk Amid Easter Ceasefire

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Britain Intercepted Russian Aircraft Over Baltic Sea in Recent Days

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Ukraine Asks Russia to Halt Strikes on Civilian Targets for 30 Days

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Ukraine Reports Nearly 3,000 Violations of Russia's Own Easter Ceasefire Vow

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Kyiv and Moscow Accuse Each Other of Countless Violations of One-Day Easter Ceasefire

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-20 [Older] Zelenskyy Says Russia Is Trying to Create an 'Impression of a Ceasefire' as Attacks Continue

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-19 [Older] How Russia recruits soldiers in occupied Ukrainian territories

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-19 [Older] How Cheeto Mussolini Backed Away From Promising to End the Russia-Ukraine War in 24 Hours

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-19 [Older] Britain Urges Russia to Commit to Full Ceasefire in Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-19 [Older] EU Says It Wants to See Proof of Russia Halting Aggression in Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-19 [Older] Russian Military Chief Says Ukrainian Troops Are Almost Fully Ejected From Kursk

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-19 [Older] Ukraine, Russia Swap POWs, Other Prisoners Involving More Than 500 People

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-19 [Older] Zelenskiy Says Fighting Ongoing in Russian Border Regions Despite Putin's Easter Ceasefire Declaration

    • CBC ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] U.S. will walk away from Russia-Ukraine peace effort if either side too difficult, Cheeto Mussolini says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Iran Seeks Russia's Support for Its Nuclear Talks With US

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Rubio Says the US Will Drop Ukraine-Russia Peace Efforts if No Progress Within Days

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Russian Drone Hits Bakery Preparing Easter Cakes, Killing One, Kyiv Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Russian Missile Attack Kills One, Wounds 82 in Ukraine's Kharkiv, Officials Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] Ukraine Hits Chinese Firms With Sanctions After Accusing Beijing of Arming Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] China Dismisses Zelenskiy's Claim It Is Supplying Weapons to Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] US Open to Recognizing Crimea as Russian in Ukraine Deal, Bloomberg News Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] US Will Abandon Ukraine Peace Push if No Progress 'Within a Matter of Days,' Rubio Says

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Futurism ☛ The Head of the Pentagon Has Been Using His Personal Phone for Sports Betting and Sharing Military Secrets

    According to security experts, it's not surprising that Hegseth's personal number is on the web, since he was a private citizen before being sworn in. Instead, the former Fox News host's staggeringly stupid mistake was using the same phone number to do all his official top secret military stuff, like announcing the details of an airstrike in Yemen against Houthi forces in a group chat that also had his wife and brother (we should clarify: that was a separate incident from when he accidentally leaked stuff to a journalist).

  • Associated Press ☛ Hegseth had unsecured internet line in Pentagon for Signal, sources say

    The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.

    Known as a “dirty” internet line by the IT industry, it connects directly to the public internet where the user’s information and the websites accessed do not have the same security filters or protocols that the Pentagon’s secured connections maintain.

• Environment

  • Vox ☛ Solar power, big batteries, and carbon removal — good news on climate

    But two things can be true: Even as climate change gets worse every year, every year we’re making more progress to slow it down. That’s the theme of “Escape Velocity,” an excellent package that came out this week from Vox’s climate team. As Vox climate editor Paige Vega wrote: “The energy economy is transitioning. Technology is advancing. The market is shifting. Our politics might feel stuck, but in many important ways, we continue to move forward.”

    So, in honor of the end of Earth Week, here are five positive trends that demonstrate that the fight against climate change is far from lost.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China warns US deep-sea mining plan 'violates international law'

    But they have mostly held off while waiting for the International Seabed Authority (ISA) regulator to devise rules — a process that began in the 1990s.

    The United States never ratified the agreements that empowered the ISA’s jurisdiction and is not a member of the UN-affiliated body.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-19 [Older] Brazil's Indigenous Leader Raoni Says He Is Against Drilling for Oil in Amazon Region

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Worries About Flying Seem to Be Taking Off. Here's How to Cope With In-Flight Anxiety

    • Lusaka ZM ☛ Zambia : ZESCO to Add 500 Megawatts of Solar Power to National Grid

      Of the planned total, 134 megawatts are expected to come online within the next three months. ZESCO Managing Director Justin Longo said the initiative is part of the utility’s efforts to address power shortages caused by a drought-induced reduction in hydroelectricity generation.

    • H2 View ☛ UK throws down gauntlet to Net Zero critics

      After referring to yesterday’s investment from Eni in the Liverpool Bay CCS project, which will generate 2,000 jobs, Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero said, “The critics will not shut up, I’m sure, but … let’s bring on the fight. Let’s have the argument any day of the week, any hour of the day. We will have the argument between cheap clean renewables against their expensive, insecure fossil fuels which gave us the cost of living crisis and which ruined public finances. This government is not for bending.”

    • Wired ☛ Grid-Scale Battery Storage Is Quietly Revolutionizing the Energy System

      But what if you could just hold onto electricity for a bit and save it for later? You wouldn’t have to overbuild the grid or spend so much effort keeping power generation in equilibrium with users. You could smooth over the drawbacks of intermittent power sources that don’t emit carbon dioxide, like wind and solar. You could have easy local backup power in emergencies when transmission lines are damaged. You may not even need a giant, centralized power grid at all.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • CBC ☛ 'Curiously isolated' butterfly species discovered in Waterton Lakes National Park

      Tucked away in Waterton Lakes National Park, little greyish brown butterflies — long thought to be just another population of the half-moon hairstreak butterflies — are now being recognized as their own species known as Satyrium curiosolus, or the curiously isolated hairstreak.

• Finance

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-04-18 [Older] The Plot to Kill Social Security

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] Celebrity Traitors: my research shows voting behaviour could help identify faithfuls

  • Futurism ☛ Remember Zuckerberg's Cherished Metaverse? Now He's Firing the People He Hired to Build It

    Now, The Verge reports, Meta is laying off even more employees in the division — this time pummeling the folks working on its lineup of Quest VR headsets and apps.

    "Some teams within Oculus Studios are undergoing shifts in structure and roles that have impacted team size," Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton told The Verge. "These changes are meant to help Studios work more efficiently on future mixed reality experiences for our growing audience, while still delivering great content for people today."

  • Futurism ☛ Realizing He Was About to Be Humiliated, Elon Musk Slunk Away With His Tail Between His Legs

    But despite Stewart and his team's best efforts over the last two months, the billionaire appears to have slunk away with his tail between his legs, showing a thin skin and fear of an open debate.

    It's not the first time. Remember when he agreed to spar with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, only to suggest he wanted to have a "noble" debate instead — neither of which ever ended up happening?

  • [Old] Liberty Fund Inc ☛ What Is Kakistocracy? - Econlib

    The Economist‘s word for 2024 is “kakistocracy,” the rule by the worst, from the ancient Greek kakistos (κάκιστος) for “the worst” and, of course, kratia (κρατία) for “rule” or “power.” Contrary to the case of, say, “aristocracy,” the derivative “kakistocrat” for those worst people who govern has not taken root, but we can hope it will. The 2024 word of the year would remain very relevant even if Ms. Harris had been elected in place of Mr. Trump. It is also relevant in many other countries.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Kansas Reflector ☛ Trump’s aggressive actions against free speech speak a lot louder than his words defending it

    Harvard University took the extraordinary step of suing the Trump administration on April 21, 2025, claiming that the pressure campaign mounted on the school by the president and his Cabinet to force viewpoint diversity on campus violated the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech.

    “Defendants’ actions are unlawful,” Harvard’s lawsuit states. “The First Amendment does not permit the Government to ‘interfere with private actors’ speech to advance its own vision of ideological balance.’”

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • JURIST ☛ Press advocacy group condemns Kyrgyz lawsuit against independent media outlet

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday condemned a lawsuit filed by the Kyrgyz prosecutor’s office against the independent media outlet Aprel TV for alleged “negative” and “destructive” coverage of government activities. CPJ said that such practices of closing media outlets is unacceptable in a democratic society.

  • Rolling Stone ☛ Trump’s Justice Department Revokes Protections for Journalists

    The decision allows the Trump administration to use subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants in order to investigate leaks. Bondi maintained that the Justice Department would still use “procedural protections,” and that the investigations would be a “last resort.”

  • The Dissenter ☛ Trump DOJ Adopts Policy Permitting Journalist Arrests

    United States Attorney General Pam Bondi ended a Justice Department (DOJ) policy that explicitly discouraged federal prosecutors from forcing journalists to reveal their sources and other sensitive information, including information obtained from potential leaks.

    With new guidelines, members of the news media who refuse to cooperate with prosecutors could be arrested for contempt. If accused of contempt, they could be fined or jailed.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • El País ☛ The top-paid CEOs in the United States in 2024: The executives earning [sic] more than $50 million

    While some major companies have yet to publish their reports, there are already a dozen CEOs with compensation packages exceeding $50 million. Leading the pack of chief executive officers is Starbucks’ new hire, Brian Niccol, with $95.8 million. He is closely followed by the CEOs of GE Vernova, Paramount, Blackstone, Microsoft, and Apple.

  • LRT ☛ As a foreigner in Lithuania, this is why you should join a union – opinion

    Labour unions can help overcome all these difficulties. Labour union activity in Lithuania is regulated by the Law on Trade Unions, the Labour Code and other labour laws. Labour unions are voluntary, autonomous and self-directed organisations and cannot be controlled by the employer or the state. All foreigners, regardless of their legal status, can join a union.

    It is important to note that labour unions in Lithuania are established not only at the workplace level. If your workplace does not have a union or you are still looking for a job, or you do work on the basis of individual activity (are self-employed), you can join a larger union that organises workers in different areas at branch, territorial or national level.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ As Dalai Lama approaches 90, Tibetans weigh future without him

    For the charismatic Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader, his landmark birthday will be a time to encourage people to plan for an eventual future without him and address whether there will be another Dalai Lama.

    The answer, at least according to his translator of nearly four decades, is clear: yes.

  • Rolling Stone ☛ Judge Blocks Trump’s Attack on Labor Rights

    A federal judge filed a preliminary injunction late on Friday that temporarily blocked the Trump administration from removing the bargaining rights of two-thirds of the federal workforce, which was widely considered retaliation against unions for challenging his power.

  • Court House News ☛ Two charged with stalking, harassing LA-based critic of President Xi Jinping

    Unbeknownst to the plotters, their U.S.-based associate, who previously had set up a staged protest against the visit of the Taiwanese president to LA at their behest, was an FBI informant and brought in an undercover FBI agent to help pretend they were actually doing their bidding.

    Cui and Miller directed them to surveil the victim, to install a tracking device on their car, to slash the car's tires and to purchase and destroy the offending statues of Xi and his wife.

  • Brandon ☛ A Fundamental Misunderstanding of How People Work

    When I think of heroes and amazing individuals, he's one of the top five in my book. Daryl Davis is a Jazz musician who decided to do something about racism and hate. No, he didn't make a blog or a social media account and exclude racists or shame them. No, Daryl did the opposite, he went to dinner with them.

  • JURIST ☛ Executions for drug-related offenses surge in Saudi Arabia since January 2025

    The organization reported that Saudi authorities have executed at least 88 individuals since January, 52 for drug-related crimes, which is almost double the executions for that same period in 2024, none for drug-related crimes. The report indicated that some individuals have been convicted based on confessions obtained under torture or without adequate legal representation, raising serious concerns about the fairness of trials for those accused of drug offenses in the country, as well as about the integrity of the judicial process. Further, the organization also noted that the families of these individuals have reported receiving no official information about their loved ones’ cases, leading to heightened anxiety and stress.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Antisemitism reaches 45-year high in US. It’s ‘the canary in the coal mine.’

    While incidents jumped just 5% over the prior year, they are up 893% over the past decade. Rabbis and anti-terrorism experts interviewed say while both extremes of the political spectrum are seeing increases, they find the political finger-pointing on both right and left “maddening,” in the words of one rabbi.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] The European Union Hits Apple and Meta With 700 Million Euros in Fines, First Under Digital Rules

• The Age AU ☛ 2025-04-21 [Older] Thieves stole their iPhones. Now Apple won’t give their digital lives back

• IP Kat ☛ 2025-04-23 [Older] No back-pedaling on prosecution disclaimers (Azurity v. Alkem, Fed. Cir. Case No. 23-1977)

• IP Kat ☛ 2025-04-19 [Older] Update: Reuters v Ross - trial postponed pending appeal petition

• The Verge ☛ Google is paying Samsung an ‘enormous sum’ to preinstall Gemini

  Testimony this week from Google’s antitrust trial shows that Google gives Samsung an “enormous sum of money” each month to preinstall the Gemini AI app on Samsung devices, reports Bloomberg. Now that Judge Amit Mehta has ruled Google’s search engine is an illegal monopoly, its lawyers are sparring with the DOJ over how severe a potential penalty should be.

• Los Angeles Times ☛ Only Google can run Chrome, company’s browser chief tells judge

  Google’s Chrome is the company’s proprietary browser, the most popular one in the world used by an estimated 66% of people globally as of March, according to Statcounter. The browser is based on the open-source Chromium Project.

  Chromium was created by Google, but it accepts technical contributions from other companies and has support from Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and the Linux Foundation, among others.

• Trademarks

  • NL Times ☛ Dutch concrete block maker ordered to stop using 'Lego' name in marketing

    Betonblock now faces the challenge of improving its online visibility without resorting to the overuse of the Lego name. The court recommended the use of alternative methods such as Google’s AdWords program, which allows businesses to appear in sponsored search results.

    Under the court’s decision, Betonblock must update its website within two days and can only use the term "Lego" in a descriptive manner, such as explaining that its concrete blocks resemble the iconic toy bricks. Failure to comply with the ruling could result in a daily fine of 500 euros, with a maximum penalty of 50,000 euros.

• Copyrights

  • Court House News ☛ OpenAI hit with copyright lawsuit by digital media giant Ziff Davis | Courthouse News Service

    The company contends that its many well-known media brands have been tarnished as a result. It argues OpenAI has been falsely attributing them to statements and text Ziff Davis never published, as well as attributing its content to other parties.

    "Simultaneously with intentionally and egregiously exploiting the content of Ziff Davis and other commercial web publishers without permission, OpenAI is also actively creating and cultivating a market to license content from publishers," the company says in its complaint.

  • IP Kat ☛ Paws off! New licensing terms for IPKat content

    Sadly, The IPKat and Merpel have noticed an increasing number of unauthorized commercial uses of IPKat content, which were not only contrary to said licensing terms (so already infringing!) but also unfair considering that all IPKat work is done in the contributors' own spare time and is unrelated to anyone's professional obligations and functions.