Leftovers

• Tim Retout: Blocking distracting news links

  “You are what you eat” – but perhaps this is even more true of our information diet. It is hard to strike a balance between remaining a well-informed citizen versus spending hours ingesting unnecessary news about issues and events we can’t affect. But I’m increasingly convinced that my hours lost to doomscrolling are down to design choices by web publishers rather than a failure of individual willpower.

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Science Alert ☛ There Are Actually 2 Biologicially Distinct Forms of Major Depression, Says New Study

    A new framework for diagnosing depression.

  • Science Alert ☛ Awe-Inspiring Science Facts to Make You Feel Better About Being Alive Right Now

    We all need a little wonder right now.

  • Science Alert ☛ Physicists Just Set A Major New World Record For Superconductors

    Highest temperature at normal pressures.

  • Science Alert ☛ Chinese Satellite Sends Back First Close-Up of Asteroid 2016HO3

    Say hi to Earth's mini moon.

  • Science Alert ☛ Several Major Psychiatric Disorders Share The Same Genetic Roots, Landmark Study Finds

    Are we approaching mental health conditions wrong?

  • Science Alert ☛ The Reason Time Feels Like It's Flying Could Be as Simple as What You're Hearing Right Now

    Time is relative, after all.

  • Science Alert ☛ Doctors Are Missing Women's Heart Attacks Because of Just One Word

    A single word may be putting them at risk.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Looked Inside Tiny Meteorites And Found a Big Surprise

    Right under our noses.

  • Science Alert ☛ Alzheimer's Has Been Killing Brain Cells in a Way Scientists Have Never Understood – Until Now

    Meet karyoptosis.

  • Science Alert ☛ Bees (Yes, Bees) Make Silk – And Scientists Have Worked Out How to Recreate It in a Lab

    Who knew?

  • Science Alert ☛ Ovaries Begin Aging Decades Before Menopause – And The Implications Go Far Beyond Fertility

    "So many important endocrine functions beyond just reproduction."

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Found a Hormone That Could Predict Anorexia Relapse Before It Happens

    The hormone appears to be involved in impulse control.

  • Science Alert ☛ Vantablack: World's Blackest Paint Could Solve A Major Problem For Astronomy

    A surprisingly simple way to save our night sky?

  • Science Alert ☛ Voyager 1 Has Traveled Through Space at 38,000 Mph Since 1977 And Still Hasn't Reached 1 Light-Day

    Wahhhhh.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Think They've Finally Figure Out How Alzheimer's Kills Brain Cells

    It was karyoptosis all along.

  • Science Alert ☛ People Who Live to 100 Have One Thing in Common – And It Has Nothing to Do With Diet

    Chin up, buttercup!

• Proprietary / SaaS

  • So-Called 'Artificial Intelligence' ('AI') / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ Christopher Nolan Unloads on Hey Hi (AI) Slop

      The younger generations see Hey Hi (AI) slop "for what it is."

    • Futurism ☛ Journalist Alarmed When He’s Fired, But Company Keeps Posting Hey Hi (AI) Slop Under His Name

      It was a "slap in the face."

    • Futurism ☛ OpenAI Is Shutting Down Its Browser That Was Supposed to Change Everything

      Another Proprietary Chaffbot Company product bites the dust.

• Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

  • Krebs On Security ☛ Lessons Learned from CISA’s Recent Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub Leak

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued a postmortem on a data leak in which a contractor published dozens of internal CISA credentials -- including proprietary trap AWS Govcloud keys -- in a public Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub repository for almost six months before being notified by KrebsOnSecurity. Experts say the gaps identified in the agency's initial response provide important lessons that all security teams should absorb.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Fake Go DNS scanner spread malware through over 200 Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub repos — 'Operation Muck and Load' has published 700 malicious modules since January

    The module published its first version on January 24 this year and has since accumulated more than 1,200 versions.

  • Security Week ☛ Network of 200 Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub Repositories Used for Malware Infection

    A Go module is used to load PowerShell code that fetches a resolver from public dead drops to execute backdoored Windows malware.

• Security

  • Security Week ☛ GigaWiper Combines Multiple Malware for System-Level Sabotage

    The backdoor’s destructive capabilities include a standalone wiper, ransomware encryption, and a multi-pass wiping command.

  • Scoop News Group ☛ Suspected Chinese espionage group used a Roundcube exploit chain to burrow into universities

    Proofpoint researchers said attackers targeted physics and engineering departments, and warn that the campaign is likely ongoing.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Civil society organisations call for ICO to be investigated over eVisas

      20 immigration, data protection, and human rights organisations have asked the Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee to investigate the Information Commissioner’s Office’s failure to uphold data protection law in relation to the Home Office’s eVisa scheme.

    • Ruben Schade ☛ Spammers abusing Surveillance Giant Google Analytics reports

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Open letter for an investigation into the ICO over eVisas

      Dear Dame Chi Onwurah MP, We are a coalition of 20 civil society groups and experts, active in the fields of immigration policy, data protection, and human rights.

• Defence/Aggression

  • JURIST ☛ US to seek dismantling of International Criminal Court, Rubio announces

    The US will launch a diplomatic campaign aimed at dismantling the International Criminal Court, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday.

  • New York Times ☛ Japan Builds Intelligence Agency It Hasn’t Had Since World War II

    Facing threats from Russia and China, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is turning to help from Western allies in forming a centralized agency.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania sends more guards to Latvia as minister raises prospect of border checks

      Lithuania is deploying a fresh team of border guards to help Latvia patrol its frontier with Belarus, as Lithuania's incoming interior minister, Martynas Katelynas, says he has not ruled out reintroducing border controls with Latvia if migrant numbers continue to rise.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Reverses Course, Not Expected To Sanction Russian Orthodox Church Leader, Lukoil Chief

      The European Union will not impose sanctions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the chief of Russia’s largest private oil company, after Bulgaria vetoed the proposal.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania hopes EU agrees on new Russia sanctions package by end of July

      Lithuania’s Foreign Minister-designate Kęstutis Budrys said Monday he hopes European Union member states will approve the bloc’s 21st package of sanctions against Russia by the end of the month, warning that failure to reach a deal would undermine the EU’s credibility.

    • LRT ☛ Baltic states reject Russian claims over airspace in joint diplomatic protest

      The Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian chargés  d’affaires in Moscow have lodged a joint diplomatic protest with Russia’s Foreign Ministry, rejecting allegations that the Baltic states had opened their airspace for attacks on targets inside Russia.

    • LRT ☛ Russia set to escalate claims against Baltic states – investigation

      Russia has announced plans to take the Baltic states to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing them of discriminating against ethnic Russians. Last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry commissioned a Moscow-based law firm to prepare the case, assisted by prominent Russian propagandists described as "Baltic experts" with ties to Russia's security services.

    • France24 ☛ EU, UK slap sanctions on Russian spies and hackers over cyberattacks

      The EU and Britain on Monday imposed coordinated sanctions on Russian military intelligence officials and private companies over a major cyberespionage campaign targeting European infrastructure in a bid to destabilise the EU and its partners.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Officials once again warn defenders that Russian hackers are targeting network devices

      State-sponsored attackers are targeting critical infrastructure networks in defense, communications, energy, finance, government and health care.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Europe strikes out against Russia’s Turla over espionage, ‘destructive attacks’

      The EU, its members and the U.K. took action against Russian government officials and others while attributing the winter cyberattacks against Poland’s energy grid to the FSB.

    • Security Week ☛ EU Targets Russian Intelligence Officers Accused of Running a Yearslong Cyber Spying Campaign

      The move targeted people and entities accused of links to an online spying network that the EU claims targeted governments and carried out sabotage operations against critical infrastructure.

    • Latvia ☛ Russia planning to make sarcastic use of international courts against Baltics

      Russia, a country that is a serial offender with scant regard for rule of law, nevertheless intends to use international courts to drag the Baltic states through various inconvenient and costly legal processes, according to a new report by the Re:Baltica investigative journalism portal.

    • France24 ☛ What is the Coalition of the willing that is meeting in Paris?

      The coalition of the willing, an initiative of 35 countries committed to supporting Ukraine militarily, is meeting in Paris on July 13. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be in attendance. It's a sign of the “strategic awakening” Europe hopes to see in the face of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and The Insurrectionist’s America.

    • New York Times ☛ Europe Will Defend Itself ‘With Blood, if Necessary,’ Macron Says

      France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke before a meeting of more than 25 allies in Paris, in a show of support for Ukraine and against Russia.

    • France24 ☛ 🔴Follow live: Macron speaks as Ukraine’s ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meeting ends in Paris

    • New York Times ☛ A Robot Army Remakes Ground Warfare in Ukraine

      They began as supply mules. Now ground robots evacuate the wounded, hold trenches and even do the killing.

    • New York Times ☛ The Next Phase in Ukraine’s War With Russia: The Battle for Minds

      Ukrainians, already drone innovators, are turning their focus to psychological operations aimed at undercutting Russian support for the war.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Winter was harsh, but resilient Odesa making summer a season of hope

      Odesa, home to a Ukrainian seaport that is a critical link in the global food security chain, endured its worst winter of Russian attacks since the war began, then prepared for a vibrant summer with a determination not just to survive but to build a better future.

    • France24 ☛ Replay: Macron speaks as Ukraine’s ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meeting ends in Paris

      Ukraine has ​ordered 16 Rafale fighter jets, an initial batch of new-generation SAMP/T surface-to-air defence batteries, and licences for the production of ‌several capabilities, including the Scalp cruise missile, French President Emmanuel Macron said ⁠Monday after a meeting of more than 20 "Coalition of the Willing" leaders in Paris

    • France24 ☛ Ally coalition is about 'putting Ukraine in the strongest position possible'

      At least 25 heads of state, including Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, are attending a meeting of the Coalition of the willing on July 13, which comes the day before France's national public holiday Bastille Day. Moscow dismissed the summit, calling it a 'coalition of warmongers'. FRANCE 24's Angela Diffley tells us more.

    • France24 ☛ Willing to pay: how much? Ukraine allies in Paris without the United States

      Forget last week's NATO summit where The Insurrectionist put the alliance through an emotional rollercoaster. It's Bastille Day in Paris, with the so-called coalition of the willing - aka Nato minus the United States - serving up some more serene summitry on the eve of the traditional military parade down the Champs-Elysées where Germany, Ukraine, the UK, Sweden and Greece will have aircraft participating in the flyover. Beyond the pageantry and the photo ops, there’s the cold, hard reality of doing more without Washington’s military and financial power.

    • France24 ☛ 🔴 Ukraine orders 16 Rafale jets, announces new anti-ballistic missile coalition in Paris

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine and allies set up coalition to tackle Russia ballistic missile threat

      Ukraine and key Western allies on Monday announced an ​air-defence coalition that would include jointly developing a new anti-ballistic missile system as an alternative and cheaper solution to the U.S. Patriot system. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports from Ukraine.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine strikes halt shipping on key wheat route as Russian fuel crisis deepens

      A daily update on the latest business and economic news.

    • European Commission ☛ Joint Statement of the European Union and the United Kingdom on United Kingdom participation under the Ukraine Support Loan

      European Commission Statement Brussels, 13 Jul 2026 The European Union and the United Kingdom stand firm in their support of Ukraine and our commitment to support Ukraine as long as it takes to bring Russia's ill...

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania and NATO allies to buy up to 10 Saab surveillance aircraft

      Lithuania and 10 other NATO members are planning to buy up to 10 Saab GlobalEye aircraft, as part of a joint effort to modernise the alliance's airborne surveillance capabilities.

• Environment

  • France24 ☛ China: Rare tornadoes tear through central cities

    At least eight people were killed as two rare tornadoes wrought devastation in central China's Hubei province state media said on Tuesday, with winds of up to 149 kph (92.58 mph) ripping through buildings and overturning cars.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ One Super Predator in Africa Instills More Fear Than Lions

      The scariest of all.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ ‘Travesty’ if publishers don’t take up chance to opt out of Surveillance Giant Google Hey Hi (AI) Overviews

    New Surveillance Giant Google deals mean publishers can't opt out of Hey Hi (AI) indexing.

  • ACLU ☛ Flight Restrictions Threaten to Smother Drone Journalism

    Democratized aerial journalism needs to be preserved as the authorities seek security against drone attacks

  • BIA Net ☛ AFP journalists in İstanbul go on strike after collective agreement talks fail

    The agency offered a raise below Turkey's official inflation rate, which the journalists say already fails to reflect the economic reality in the country.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • Privacy International ☛ Humanless Resources? Uncovering Hey Hi (AI) recruitment software

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • New York Times ☛ States Prepare Lawsuit to Block Paramount’s Merger With Warner Bros.

    State attorneys general are said to be getting ready to file a lawsuit as soon as this week to halt the $111 billion deal, a potential major obstacle.

  • Patents

    • JUVE ☛ dormakaba strikes a blow against arch-rival GEZE at Düsseldorf Regional Court

      dormakaba claims that five of its patents have been infringed by GEZE’s ‘Powerturn’ swing door drive and has filed claims with Düsseldorf Regional Court.

  • Copyrights

    • Digital Music News ☛ Sam Smith and Normani Just Can’t Put This ‘Dancing With a Stranger’ Lawsuit to Bed

      Sam Smith and Normani asked a federal judge to toss out a copyright monopoly lawsuit that alleges their 2019 hit “Dancing With a Stranger” copies an earlier track with a similar name.

    • Digital Music News ☛ CRB Officially Posts Proposed Phonorecords V Settlement for Comment — Eminem Publisher Eight Mile Style, Songwriters Guild, Others Demand Higher Rates

      Two weeks later, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has officially made the proposed Phonorecords V “Subpart B” settlement available for comment, and the opposing parties now have until August 10th to weigh in.