Leftovers

• Science

  • Futurism ☛ Scientists Say They’ve Tested a Way to Get to Alpha Centauri in Just 20 Years

    It'd be a major upgrade over spending thousands of years to get there.

  • Science Alert ☛ This Week in Science: Giant Octopuses, a Promising Cancer Vaccine, And More!

    Our weekly science news roundup.

  • Science Alert ☛ Gut Bacteria Could Be a Hidden Trigger For Neurodegenerative Diseases

    A new explanation emerges.

  • Science Alert ☛ Air Purifiers Could Boost Your Brain Function, Study Suggests

    The benefits can be seen in one month.

  • Science Alert ☛ Physicists Simulated a Quantum Process That Could End The Universe

    Oh no.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Reveal The Optimal Amount of Sleep to Lower Dementia Risk

    A huge analysis uncovers the sweet spot.

  • Science Alert ☛ After 6 Decades, One Drug Is Still Finding New Uses in Medicine

    Its story is far from over.

• Hardware

  • Kev Quirk ☛ ThinkPad T480 Initial Thoughts

    Since my Framework had a coffee bath, I've been using a ThinkPad T480 that I picked up from eBay for £285 ($385).

    This has been my main laptop for a few days now, and I have some thoughts, so I thought I'd share them since I've read mixed reviews on these plucky little laptops - everything from:

    They're the best laptops in the world, EVARRRRR!

    They're overrated and overpriced - stop buying them!

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says US export Bills risk disrupting chip supply chains

    Beijing described the move as a broadening of national security to justify trade curbs, according to a statement on April 25.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance

    A once-robust H.I.V. treatment and prevention system, credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives, has begun to crumble.

  • Futurism ☛ GLP-1 Drugs Linked to Cognitive Impairment, Though the Reason Why Probably Isn’t What You Expect

    It's an extremely nuanced relationship.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japan sushi chain sets Guinness record for most expensive tuna at auction; it costs $4.08 million

    Sushizanmai operator bought the 243kg fish at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market on Jan 5.

• Proprietary

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • dwaves.de ☛ once more allowing macros in documents is what made word.doc and excel.xls so dangerous and adobe pdf allowing javascript could be just that

• Security

  • Security Week ☛ China-Linked APT GopherWhisper Abuses Legitimate Services in Government Attacks

    Dubbed GopherWhisper, the group relies on multiple Go-based backdoors alongside custom loaders and injectors.

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s Fire and Rescue Department riled by prank calls

      On average, the department gets a prank call every other day.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Futurism ☛ Your Former Employer Is Selling Your Slacks and Emails to Train AI

      Even when your boss's company goes belly-up, they still have a hold over your. Or at least your data.

    • Futurism ☛ The Number of Drones Being Deployed to Surveil Anti-Dihydroxyacetone Man Protestors Is Staggering

      "We do not document or record unless there is a crime occurring."

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan foreign minister arrives in Eswatini after president’s trip blocked

    Taiwan accused China of pressuring three African states to block overflight permission for its president.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Exiled Tibetans to elect government in vote condemned by China

    The 91,000 registered voters include refugees in Australia, Europe and North America.

  • France24 ☛ Tibetans-in-exile vote for new government as future without Dalai Lama looms

    Tibetans living outside Chinese control vote on Sunday for a government-in-exile in a ballot seen as increasingly significant as they prepare for an eventual future without their revered spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The India-based Central Tibetan Administration remains central to the exile community.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Central Asian gas giant Turkmenistan deepens reliance on China

    In the desert expanse of Turkmenistan, Chinese engineers are hard at work at the vast Galkynysh gas field — a mega project that is deepening the closed Central Asian state’s already extensive ties with Beijing.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi tells Myanmar leader Beijing will back its security, sovereignty

    China is also willing to cooperate with Myanmar to eradicate the scourge of telecommunications fraud.

  • New York Times ☛ Families of Iranian Children Killed in School Airstrike Pen Letter to Pope

    Pope Leo said he has seen the letter from the parents of more than 100 children killed in the strike, which a preliminary inquiry found resulted from a mistake by the U.S. military.

  • RFERL ☛ Iranian Media Say Araqchi To Return To Pakistan Before Heading To Russia

    As the US-Israeli war with Iran continues to impact and shape the region, journalists from RFE/RL deliver ongoing updates and analysis.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania faces a Russian railway dilemma

      Lithuania still has a Russian-gauge railway running through the country. Should it be dismantled?

    • France24 ☛ Attacks on Bamako a 'dramatic setback' for Malian government

      The coordinated attacks on Mali's capital of Bamako represent a "dramatic setback" for the junta-led government, said Andrew Lebovich, Research Fellow with Clingendael's Conflict Research Unit. Lebovich said the attacks also showed how tenuous the security situation in Mali is with authorities along with their Russian partners struggling to prevent the attacks in and around the capital.

    • New York Times ☛ Europe Prepares for a Longer War in Ukraine, With No Strategy to End It

      With American dealmakers wrapped up with Iran, neither Russia nor Ukraine has a clear path to victory — or toward a negotiated peace.

    • New York Times ☛ 40 Years After the Meltdown, War Layers Another Disaster on Chernobyl

      Ideas have been floated for how the contaminated zone could bring economic benefits to Ukraine. But for the foreseeable future, it will be an army-controlled security belt.

    • New Yorker ☛ A Chernobyl Widow’s Tragedy, Forty Years Later

      Nataliia Khodymchuk lived in memory of her late husband, the first worker to die at the nuclear reactor, until she fell victim to a Russian attack.

    • RFERL ☛ Deadly Russian Strikes Pound Ukraine's Dnipro For More Than 12 Hours

      Deadly Russian air strikes pounded Ukraine's eastern city of Dnipro for more than 12 hours overnight on April 25, marking the fourth consecutive day of attacks on country's key volunteer hub.

    • France24 ☛ Russian strikes kill several in Ukraine's Dnipro

      Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least six people, officials said Saturday, most of them in an attack on a residential building in the eastern city of Dnipro.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Russian parliament speaker in North Korea to mark Pyongyang's troop deployment in Ukraine war

      SEOUL, April 25 - The speaker of Russia's parliament, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, arrived in North Korea on Saturday to attend an event to commemorate Pyongyang's deployment of troops to help Moscow in the Ukraine conflict, Tass news agency reported.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China condemns EU’s inclusion of Chinese entities in sanctions package against Russia

      The EU sanctions package targets third-country suppliers of critical high-tech items.

    • New York Times ☛ 40 Years Ago, a Nuclear Catastrophe at Chernobyl

      Photographs from the first days of the Chernobyl disaster and of the aftermath years later show the response, the evacuation and the long-term consequences of the world’s worst nuclear accident.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • JURIST ☛ Ontario passes law shielding provincial ministers’ records from information requests

    The Legislative Assembly of Ontario voted on Thursday to exempt records held by ministers from freedom of information (FOI) requests. The amendment is said to have violated the right of Ontario citizens to transparency and privacy.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-13 [Older] Germany news: Merz says fuel tax lowered to ease price surge

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-13 [Older] Dieselgate: Audi bosses, engineers set for long trial as plea deal fails

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 2 Chinese pandas headed to US zoo

      Two giant pandas from China are headed to Atlanta on a new 10-year conservation deal. Pandas Ping Ping, a male, and Fu Shuang, a female, will live at Zoo Atlanta, China Wildlife Conservation Association said in a statement Friday.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ Battle of sub-$5 deals: South Korean retailers go all out to rival Daiso Korea as inflation bites

    Daiso’s success has pushed other retailers to double down on their budget offerings too.

  • New York Times ☛ The Town That Reveals All of Convicted Felon’s Bad Economic Ideas

    The jobs are coming back, despite Hell Toupée’s tariffs and harsh immigration enforcement.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia picks former judge to lead anti-graft agency

    Mr Abdul Halim Aman will begin as chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on May 13.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s Anwar to drop anti-graft chief, but protesters want deeper reforms after corruption saga

    Former judge Halim Aman will replace Mr Azam Baki as MACC chief, but demands for public inquiry continue.

  • New York Times ☛ Democrats Weigh Whether a Lawmaker’s Ethnicity Counts More Than Ideology

    The same progressive South Asian networks that helped elect Zohran Mamdani as mayor in New York are mobilizing against Jenifer Rajkumar, a Queens assemblywoman.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-13 [Older] Burkina Faso: Moving forward without democracy

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-13 [Older] End of the Orban era: Hungary and Europe breathe again

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-13 [Older] EU applauds Hungary’s election result

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-13 [Older] Germany: 1 in 4 residents has 'immigration history'

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • LRT ☛ 'We will not give up': 30,000 pack Vilnius square in defence of public broadcaster

    Around 30,000 people gathered in Cathedral Square in Vilnius on Saturday in defence of free speech. Demonstrators turned their anger on both the ruling Social Democrats and President Gitanas Nausėda over proposed changes to the law governing Lithuania's public broadcaster LRT.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Cox

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ The Cox Shadow Over Hikma: Three Questions for Wednesday’s Argument

      Argument preview in Hikma v. Amarin: how Cox v. Sony reshapes the four key questions on skinny-label inducement under section 271(b).

  • Copyrights

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ Remembering when Banksy, the world’s most famous street artist, visited Chiapas

      Banksy arrived as the goalkeeper for a small British football team, but the mysterious street artist also left behind a legacy of social justice-themed art in Chiapas.