Leftovers

• The Straits Times ☛ ‘See you in Seoul’: Pope Leo says Catholic Church’s World Youth Day to be held in S. Korea in 2027

  South Korea is the second Asian country to stage the event after the Philippines in 1995.

• Career/Education

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia lifts foreign student cap to 295,000 and prioritises South-east Asia

    Its largest cohorts of students come from China and India.

  • JURIST ☛ UK university free speech law comes into force

    A new freedom of speech law came into force in the UK on Friday, which looks to protect free speech in universities. The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which received formal approval (or “royal assent”) in May 2023, aims to protect academic freedom.

  • Chronicle Of Higher Education ☛ How the Economic Case for International Students Lost Steam

    Foreign students contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy. The public doesn’t seem to care.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Renesas RZ/G3E Arm Cortex-A55/M33 MPU targets mid-range HMI systems requiring Hey Hi (AI) acceleration

    Renesas RZ/G3E is a new member of the company’s RZ/G SoCs with a quad-core Cortex-A53 application processor, a Cortex-M33 real-time core, and an Ethos-U55 NPU for mid-range, AI-enhanced HMI (Human Machine Interface) systems with up to two 1920 x 1080 resolution displays. The industrial-grade processor features MIPI-DSI, dual-link LVDS, and Parallel RGB display interfaces, 2D and 3D graphics accelerators, H.264/H.265 video decoding,  a 4-lane MIPI CSI interface, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 2-lane PCIe Gen3, USB 3.0/2.0, and a range of analog and digital I/Os.

  • Hackaday ☛ The Tape Speed Keyboard

    For those who experienced any part of the 1960s, even if it’s just experiencing the music from that era here in the future, the sound of the Mellotron is immediately recognizable. The Moody Blues were famous for using the tape-based instrument, and the Beatles and David Bowie produced hits with it as well. It’s haunting sounds are still highly prized today, but the complexity, cost, and maintenance requirement for the tape loops and other moving parts can put many musicians off from owning one. But [Japhy Riddle] has built an instrument without these downsides called the Tape Speed Keyboard.

  • Science Alert ☛ What Happens if Every Light in The World Is Switched on at Once?

    Not a bright idea.

  • Hackaday ☛ 2025 One Hertz Challenge: Analog Clock For Microsoft Windows

    Our hacker [glgorman] sent in their submission for the One Hertz Challenge: an analog software clock for Microsoft Windows.

  • Hackaday ☛ Brilliant Labs Has New Smart Glasses, With A New Display

    Brilliant Labs have been making near-eye display platforms for some time now, and they are one of the few manufacturers making a point of focusing on an open and hacker-friendly approach to their devices. Halo is their newest smart glasses platform, currently in pre-order (299 USD) and boasting some nifty features, including a completely new approach to the display.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • France24 ☛ Plastic-clogged 'Thinker' sculpture highlights pollution crisis as UN treaty talks begin

    A towering replica of Rodin's "The Thinker" will gradually be engulfed in plastic waste outside the UN headquarters as global talks begin on Monday to finalise the world's first treaty on plastic pollution. The installation aims to highlight the growing burden of plastic on human health and future generations during the 10-day negotiations.

  • Federal News Network ☛ The Senate pushes forward on defense and health funding

    "There are a number of instances of lawmakers, again in a bipartisan way, pushing back on proposed cuts by the Convicted Felon administration" said Jack Fitzpatrick.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Hong Kong sees first chikungunya case from China outbreak

    The imported case is the city’s first chikungunya infection since 2019.

  • CS Monitor ☛ An invitation to reflect

    Despite being responsible for the deaths of nearly 1 million people, the pandemic has yet to inspire U.S. politicians to rebuild trust with the public. The Monitor examines how gentle reckonings inspire positive change.

  • New Yorker ☛ How to Live Forever and Get Rich Doing It

    As researchers work to make death optional, investors see a chance for huge returns. But has the human body already reached its limits?

  • Science Alert ☛ Untested Peptide Injections Are Being Sold as 'Next-Gen Biohacks'

    Animal testing doesn't count.

  • Science Alert ☛ Prehistoric Air Has Been Reconstructed From Dinosaur Teeth in an Amazing First

    A powerful tool.

  • Science Alert ☛ There's One Simple Method to Reduce Alcohol Intake, Scientists Say, And It Works

    Just knowing it's 'bad for you' is not enough.

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Status lights should stop blinding me

    Julien Voisin published choice words for devices that make loud, unnecessary, and ultimately dangerous noises in their home, and when driving. I empathise; it feels like I’m bombarded with obnoxious, irrelevant sounds on a daily basis… and it doesn’t help that the quality of their bleeps and bloops aren’t especially great either.

• Proprietary

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ AWS accused of a ‘digital execution’ after it deleted 10 years of users' data without warning — software engineer details “complete digital annihilation” at the hands of proprietary trap AWS admins, claims false excuses given for account deletion

    A software engineer has warned against trusting cloud data storage services after suffering a ‘digital execution’ at the hands of AWS

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea pulls plug on Hey Hi (AI) [LLM Slop] textbooks, leaving schools, companies without funding for them

      AI-powered [LLM Slop] textbooks are now not official textbooks, removing the legal and financial grounds for using them in schools.

  • Social Control Media

    • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian police to seek help from Meta in Singapore over defamatory post on artiste: Reports

      The identity of the social control media account owner is currently unknown.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • New York Times ☛ How Tech Firms Like Surveillance Giant Google and Meta Are Embracing the Military

      In a major shift, Google, OpenAI, Meta and venture capitalists — many of whom had once forsworn involvement in war — have embraced the military industrial complex.

  • Confidentiality

    • Scoop News Group ☛ ‘Highly evasive’ Vietnamese-speaking hackers stealing data from thousands of victims in 62+ nations

      SentinelOne and Beazley Security say the group has been evolving its techniques of late, all with the goal of making money off stolen data.

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ First Sentencing in Scheme to Help North Koreans Infiltrate US Companies

      An Arizona woman was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for her role helping North Korean workers infiltrate US companies by pretending to be US workers.

    • Security Week ☛ Gene Sequencing Giant Illumina Settles for $9.8M Over Product Vulnerabilities

      Illumina will pay $9.8 million to settle accusations that products provided to the US government were affected by cybersecurity flaws.

    • Security Week ☛ Northwest Radiologists Data Breach Impacts 350,000 Washingtonians

      Northwest Radiologists says the personal information of 350,000 Washington State residents was stolen in a January 2025 data breach.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ 80 years on, Korean survivors of World War II atomic bombs still suffer

    Korean groups estimate that up to 50,000 Koreans may have been in the city that day.

  • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Open Letter: Implementation of Palestine Action Proscription on Social Media

    Dear Ofcom, Meta, Alphabet, X and ByteDance, Implementation of Palestine Action proscription on social control media We are writing with serious concerns about how Ofcom and social control media platforms will interpret the Government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.

  • The Strategist ☛ Australia and Indonesia can deepen security cooperation by fighting hybrid threats

    Australia and Indonesia can no longer afford to treat hybrid threats as an afterthought.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Sheinbaum pushes back on claims of strained US security relations: Monday’s mañanera recapped

    Sheinbaum shared on Monday that Mexico will soon sign a bilateral security pact with the U.S. that has "very clear principles" with respect to "sovereignty, mutual confidence and territorial respect."

  • The Straits Times ☛ Cambodia, Thailand begin talks after biggest clashes in decades

    On the final day, defence ministers will attend, joined by observers from Malaysia, the US and China.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Former North Korean soldier, jailed in the South for 42 years, may return home

    He said he wishes to be buried with his comrades in the North, with whom he served time at a South Korean prison.

  • France24 ☛ Korea: South removes loudspeakers from border 🕪

    As part of efforts to ease tensions with North Korea, Seoul announced on August 4 the removal of loudspeakers along the border. These speakers had been used to broadcast propaganda, including K-pop music and news bulletins.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China's military conducted patrols in South China Sea, spokesperson says

    China's military conducted patrols in the South China Sea from August 3 to 4, a spokesperson for the Southern Theatre Command said on Monday.

  • The Straits Times ☛ What’s it like to deal with brutal US tariffs? Ask Malaysia

    Malaysia now aims to limit the fallout from the US-China rivalry.

  • Philippines, India conduct joint exercises in South China Sea

    China rebuked the move in the disputed waterway, which was held ahead of a Philippine state visit to New Dehli.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia to buy 11 advanced warships from Japan: Defence minister

    Australia is turning towards long-range strike capabilities to better respond to China’s naval might.

  • France24 ☛ More Gazans die as aid fails to reach most needy

    At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Gaza on Monday (August 4) including 10 seeking aid, health authorities said, adding another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies warn may be an unfolding famine.

  • France24 ☛ Israeli ex-security chiefs urge The Insurrectionist to help end Gaza war

    Hundreds of retired Israeli security officials including former heads of intelligence agencies have urged US President The Insurrectionist to pressure their own government to end the war in Gaza. FRANCE 24's Douglas Herbert tells us more and gives us his analysis.

  • France24 ☛ Israel wants world attention on hostages held in Gaza

    Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday (August 4) said he wants the issue of hostages held in Gaza at the "front and centre" of the world stage, and that he will discuss it at a special UN Security Council session. Videos of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, even as his government considers another expansion of the nearly 22-month war. Israeli Prime Minister said the videos renewed his determination to release the hostages and eliminate Hamas FRANCE 24's Noga Tarnopolsky tells us more.

  • France24 ☛ 'Expulsion: There's no such thing as the emigration of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip'

    Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led prayers on Sunday at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, drawing international condemnation and escalating tensions as Israel faces strong criticism over the war in Gaza. It was the latest act of defiance by the 49-year-old ultranationalist settler leader who transformed himself over the decades from an outlaw and provocateur into one of Israel’s most influential politicians. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Catherine Viette welcomes Dr H.A. Hellyer, Senior Fellow in Geopolitics, International Security, and Middle East Studies, at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) in London, and Senior Fellow for Geopolitics and Security Studies at the Center for American Progress in Washington DC.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Kremlin spokesman says ‘everyone should be extremely cautious with nuclear rhetoric’ amid Trump–Medvedev exchange — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ Russian Nuclear Submarine Base Was Damaged in Earthquake, Satellite Images Show

      The Rybachiy base, which hosts nuclear-powered submarines from Russia’s Pacific Fleet, lies in a cove about 80 miles from the powerful earthquake that struck near the Kamchatka peninsula last week.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Says It Will Stop Abiding By INF Treaty

      The United States has accused Russia of violating the pact, which expired in 2019, for more than a decade.

    • Zimbabwe ☛ Free Cybersecurity Training… and a $100m Russian Tech Hub? The Plan to Make Zim a Cyber Power

      Cybersecurity is one of the fastest-growing fields in tech, but the path into it has often been locked behind expensive courses and complicated prerequisites.

    • France24 ☛ China and Russia hold joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan

      #Russia and #China have launched their three-day Joint Sea-2025 naval exercises in the Sea of #Japan, demonstrating military coordination aimed at countering #US influence in the region.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Details emerge on BlackSuit ransomware takedown

      The Russian cybercrime group attacked more than 180 organizations before members abandoned the brand and dispersed to new ransomware groups earlier this year.

    • Latvia ☛ Thousands still happy to travel to Belarus from Latvia every month

      Despite its pariah status, its repression of democracy, its aid to Russia's warmongering and its active support for illegal immigration into the European Union, thousands of people are still happy to cross the border into Lukashenko's Belarus every month, reports Latvian Television.

    • Latvia ☛ No, Latvia has not mined its border

      Contrary to what you might read on the internet – words to live by in the modern age – Latvia has not mined its borders with Russia and Belarus, reports the fact-checking service Re:Check, run by the Re:Baltica investigative news organization.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘It’s back to the Middle Ages’: A Russian village thousands of miles from Ukraine’s battlefront lost half its men but has a shiny new monument to fallen soldiers — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Gasoline trading prices in Russia reach record high following Ukrainian drone attacks — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ US Arms Deal With NATO Still Leaves Ukraine In Limbo

      After a recent deal for European NATO allies to purchase American weapons, including Patriot missiles, Ukraine is waiting anxiously to see if these arrangements can deliver the defensive firepower it so urgently needs.

    • France24 ☛ US envoy Witkoff is expected to visit Russia

      The Insurrectionist confirmed his special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Russia, ahead of a deadline the US president has set for Russia to agree to end the Ukraine war or face new sanctions. Witkoff is expected in Moscow in the middle of this week.

    • Marcy Wheeler ☛ The Insurrectionist’s Parallel Ghislaine Maxwell and Vladimir Putin Problems

      As Convicted Felon attempts to look strong in the face of Vladimir Putin's intransigence on Ukraine, consider the twin pillars of compromise Putin has on him.

    • RFERL ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man To Raise India Tariffs Over Russian Oil As Envoy Witkoff Expected In Moscow

      US President The Insurrectionist said he will be "substantially raising" tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil as his special envoy Steve Witkoff prepares to travel to Moscow this week ahead of a deadline for the Kremlin to take steps to end the war in Ukraine.

    • Meduza ☛ Trump says U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Russia later this week, ahead of ceasefire deadline he imposed — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Estonia installs ‘massive’ metal gates on bridge between Narva and Russia’s Ivangorod — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian police arrest three in Sochi for filming video in front of burning oil depot — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ A night of terror After Russia’s deadliest strike on Kyiv in over a year, the city picks up the pieces — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ Main Suspects In 2024 Moscow Terrorist Attack Plead Guilty On First Day Of Trial

      Four men accused of carrying out last year's terror attack on the Crocus City Hall entertainment center near Moscow pleaded guilty on the first day of their trial on August 4 after questions about their treatment in custody and suspicions that they were scapegoats.

    • Meduza ☛ Jewelry, medicine, books, oh my! Plenty of seemingly innocuous items have landed travelers in trouble at Russia’s border. Here’s how to avoid it. — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ What’s in a name? Russian state media used the Armenian name for Karabakh’s capital. Azerbaijani outlets responded by renaming Russian cities. — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia ends unilateral moratorium on deploying intermediate- and shorter-range missiles — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Boys and their crystal bathtubs: Investigation uncovers Russian defense executives owning adjacent villas on Dubai’s artificial island — Meduza

    • Site36 ☛ After Russia, US company replicates Iran’s drones – but their design dates back to the 1980s in Germany

      Some rival states are currently building visually similar flying wing kamikaze drones. The origins of the technology lie in a development by Dornier in the 1980s. Initially, only Israel pursued the concept further.

    • LRT ☛ Seimas’ committee chair says defence minister should go, hints at his own candidacy

      The head of Lithuania’s parliamentary National Security and Defence Committee, Giedrimas Jeglinskas, said Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė should not remain in her post in the next cabinet.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ Heavy rain to return to S. Korea with extreme downpours in southern regions

    A narrow band of concentrated rain clouds is expected to stretch across the country.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Beijing evacuates residents, expands storm alert as deadly floods keep city on edge

    Up to 200mm of rain could hit parts of Beijing over a six-hour period from midday.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Torrential rain lashes southern Taiwan, leaving five dead and over 5,900 evacuated

    More than a year’s worth of rainfall over the past week caused widespread landslides and flooding.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Unreported $3.5 billion Bitcoin hack from 2020 dwarfs Mt. Gox in value, is worth $14.5 billion today — intelligence firm uncovers heist that shuttered 6th-largest bitcoin mining pool

      Arkham Intelligence has uncovered the largest Bitcoin heist ever, amounting to $14.5 billion worth today. The heist was conducted in 2020 against the Chinese mining pool LuBian.

    • Pro Publica ☛ Oil Companies Withhold Millions in Royalties From ND Mineral Owners

      For more than half a century, Diana Skarphol’s family received a check every month from the company that drilled the first successful oil well in North Dakota on their land in 1951.

      The checks, from the company that became Hess Corp., were straightforward. Her family, which owns the oil and gas underground, received a percentage of the revenue generated from the company’s sale of the minerals, called a royalty.

    • Hackaday ☛ A Simple Simulator For Model Rocket Performance

      When building a model rocket, it can be fun to get into the maths of it all—calculating the expected performance of your build, and then seeing how it measures up in the real world. To aid in that task, [Rotislav Persion] has created a simple web-based simulator for charting the potential performance of your own rockets.

  • Overpopulation

    • Science Alert ☛ Study Reveals How Many IVF Babies Have Been Born Worldwide

      Life-changing.

• Finance

  • CS Monitor ☛ Tariffs may sting LA docks. Deeper changes are coming to this blue-collar bastion.

    Hell Toupée’s tariffs have already affected economic activity at the LA docks, the nation’s largest. But automation and artificial intelligence are the challenges that could cause the most hardship for thousands of workers.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea, US prepare for summit with details of trade deal unresolved

    Dihydroxyacetone Man may use the summit to seek more concessions on defence costs and corporate investments.

  • New York Times ☛ Elizabeth Warren, Campaigning for Mamdani, Scorns Cuomo and Billionaires

    Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, appeared with Senator Elizabeth Warren to highlight his plan for free universal child care.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • JURIST ☛ Refugee rights group decries US and Costa Rica deportation agreement

    Refugees International on Saturday condemned a new US agreement that diverts funds originally slated for economic development to Costa Rica deportation efforts.

  • Pro Publica ☛ As IRS Allows Churches to Endorse Candidates, Texas Pastors May Gain Political Power

    Texas Rep. Nate Schatzline recently stood before a gathering of conservative activists just outside Fort Worth, recapping legislative wins and previewing what’s next at the Capitol. On this day, however, he was speaking not only as a lawmaker but also as a pastor.

    A week earlier, the Internal Revenue Service decided to allow religious leaders to endorse political candidates from the pulpit, effectively upending a provision in decades-old tax law barring such activity. Schatzline, a longtime pastor at Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, was excited. The IRS affirmed “what we already knew,” he said at the July 14 meeting: The government can’t stop the church from getting civically engaged.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Defence Web ☛ SANDF terms disinformation a threat to national security

      The SA National Defence Force (SANDF), in the form of its Director Corporate Communication, has hit out at social control media posters for portraying the South African military in a derogatory manner. This time around it’s an offensive video on Fentanylware (TikTok) and other unnamed social control media platforms attracting the ire of Defence Corporate Communication head [...]

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong cancels passports of 12 activists wanted under nat. sec law after involvement with overseas group

    The Hong Kong government has cancelled the passports of 12 “absconders” under the Beijing-imposed national security law, just over a week after the authorities issued a round of warrants and bounties for their arrests.

  • CS Monitor ☛ A ‘truce’ over free speech in Iran?

    Following a public outcry, the president has pulled back an internet censorship bill. Can this move help repair Iranians’ trust in government?

  • RFERL ☛ North Macedonia Investigates After Anti-Albanian Chants At Basketball Match

    Prosecutors in the Macedonian city of Kumanovo have opened an investigation into possible hate speech offenses after nationalist and anti-Albanian chants erupted at a basketball match against Romania over the weekend.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • New York Times ☛ Judges Openly Doubt Government as Justice Dept. Misleads and Dodges Orders

    Legal experts say the actions causing concern from the bench could have a more systemic effect, eroding the healthy functioning of the courts.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: PHNOG 2025

    APNIC supported and actively participated in PHNOG 2025, held in Manila, Philippines from 07 to 11 July 2025.

  • Internet Society ☛ The Power of Volunteers: Connecting an Indigenous Community in Panama

    The Internet Society Panama Chapter had a plan. They would build the country’s first community network and bring the Internet to one of the country’s many Indigenous communities that were still offline. 

  • Atlantic Council ☛ As the US retreats from internet governance, Europe must step up

    If Europeans do not actively defend their digital rights model abroad, then they risk seeing the global system drift toward norms that contradict their own.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Jeffrey M. Gross entity, Conexus, network security patent monopoly prior art

    Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 10,812,497, owned and asserted by Conexus LLC, an NPE and entity of Jeffrey M. Gross. The '497 patent monopoly details systems and methods for detecting network security threats through application data flow and connection lineage tracing within enterprise, cloud, and IoT environments. It focuses on collecting connection and application execution information, tracking users, and machines involved to identify suspicious activities.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is BUFFALO CITY for Alcoholic Beverages Confusable with BUFFALO TRACE for Bourbon?

    Sazerac Brands petitioned for cancellation of a registration for the mark BUFFALO CITY for "alcoholic beverages except beers; distilled spirits," claiming a likelihood of confusion with its registered mark BUFFALO TRACE for "bourbon." The Board found that the goods are legally identical, are presumably sold through the same trade channels to the same classes of consumers, and would be purchased on impulse by the least sophisticated buyer. But what about the marks? Sazerac Brands, LLC v. Buffalo City Distillery, LLC, Cancellation No. 92079064 (July 31, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Christen M. English).

• Copyrights

  • Federal News Network ☛ A powerful new tool that could change how we access decades of creative history

    "This new Copyright Public Record System allows us to be more flexible in the information that we display and make searchable," said Shawn Gallagher.

  • Science Alert ☛ Image on The Shroud of Turin May Not Belong to a Real Human

    The controversy continues.

  • Digital Music News ☛ NetEase Cloud Music Sues SM Entertainment Over Alleged ‘Market Abuse’ — Trial Reportedly Set for August 6th

    Closer to 2025’s beginning, reports pointed to “extended” licensing negotiations between Chinese streaming service NetEase Cloud Music and K-pop giant SM Entertainment. Now, these evidently fruitless talks have made way for a lawsuit. That’s according to coverage surfacing out of China, where NetEase Cloud Music has reportedly sued SM for “market abuse."