Leftovers

• The Ashes of Azoukralon

  The line didn't merely stretch down the block; it pulsed. It was a living, shivering organism of fleece jackets and thermos cups snaking around three full city blocks of damp Seattle concrete. The low hum of a diesel generator vibrated through the soles of Greg's sneakers, originating from the news van parked illegally halfway up the street. Its telescopic antenna extended into the predawn gloom, bathing the exhausted crowd in the harsh, white glare of a portable halogen floodlight.

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Science Alert ☛ For The First Time Ever, an Atmosphere Has Been Detected Around A Rocky 'Habitable Zone' Planet

    “This is the first time anyone has found an atmosphere on a rocky planet in the habitable zone of another star”.

  • Science Alert ☛ International Group of Researchers Says We're Thinking About Longevity at The Wrong Stage of Life

    Aging starts at birth.

  • Science Alert ☛ Bones of Ancient Egyptian Princesses Reveal They Were Kind of Badass

    These princesses were buried with their weapons for a reason.

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Footprint of Death': Entirely New Way Viruses Spread Has Been Discovered

    A hidden threat.

  • Science Alert ☛ Chemistry From Another World Found in The Famous Hillsborough Meteorite

    This could be a clue to how life was born.

  • Science Alert ☛ New Study Reveals Why Ancient Roman Concrete Keeps Getting Stronger

    There's more to the story than we thought.

  • Science Alert ☛ One Fungus Has Caused More Extinctions Than Any Other Infectious Disease. Some Toads Have Found a Way to Survive It

    Against all odds.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Solve The 40-Year Mystery of a Giant Structure Towering Over The Milky Way

    Mind. Blown.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Futurism ☛ Let’s Be Real, The Explosive Diarrhea Outbreak Is Convicted Felon’s Fault, Not Taco Bell’s

    This is what happens when you severely underfund food safety bodies.

  • JURIST ☛ UN experts warn UK IPP sentences continue to cause severe psychological harm

    UN human rights experts on Wednesday urged the UK government to review and re-sentence people still subject to Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in England and Wales, warning that indefinite detention is causing severe psychological harm, self-harm, and an increased risk of suicide.

  • France24 ☛ Paris region's record June heatwave more than doubled normal mortality rate to reach 3,000

    Authorities in the Paris region recorded "1,565 more deaths than expected" over a one-week period in June as the country grappled with a protracted heatwave that broke all-time temperature records, France's public health agency said in a report released on Friday, adding that people over 65 accounted for more than 80 percent of fatalities.

• Proprietary / SaaS

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Robot vacuum flaw lets one stolen certificate run root commands on other Shark robovacs in the same proprietary trap AWS region — unpatched flaw exposes live camera feeds, stored home maps, and Wi-Fi credentials

    The problem is an over-permissive proprietary trap AWS IoT policy.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Lawmakers want US government to ban memory chips from China, even in allied supply chains — citing 'unacceptable risk' to national, economic, and supply chain security

    U.S. lawmakers demand Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to ban imports of memory chips from China to the U.S., ask allies to do the same.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • AccessNow ☛ Privacy and human rights award 2026

    • Citizen Lab ☛ US Military Smartphones Targeted Through Roaming and Ad Tech

      Senior research fellow Gary Miller spoke to Financial Times about attempts to exploit mobile network vulnerabilities to track US personnel during the Iran war. 

    • ACLU ☛ Leaked Police Drone Videos Highlight Need For Independent Review of the Technology’s Usefulness

      And other takeaways from watching three hours of aerial police videos

  • Confidentiality

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ Details of Alan Turing’s Voice Encryption System

      Really interesting piece of cryptographic history: [...]

• Defence/Aggression

  • JURIST ☛ Argentina accuses UK vessel of approaching Falkland Islands illegally, amidst FIFA controversy

    Argentina protested against a UK vessel, HMS Medway, for its allegedly illegal approach to the Falkland Islands through Argentina’s territorial water, in a Thursday post on X (formerly Twitter) by its Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno.

  • New York Times ☛ Philippines Condemns Hey Hi (AI) Video Posted by Chinese State Media Depicting It as a Monkey

    It lodged a diplomatic complaint with Beijing over an A.I.-generated video centered on territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Protest filed over ‘racist’ China state media video portraying the Philippines as a monkey

    Manila lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing on Friday over a “racist” video posted by Chinese state media portraying the Philippines as a cartoon monkey. The China Daily post was the latest offshoot of a long-running dispute over the Asian neighbours’ overlapping South China Sea claims.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines files protest over ‘racist’ China video portraying Filipinos as monkeys

    Manila says the AI-generated video is “offensive, distressing and unacceptable”.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea appears to have built rocket launcher facilities near DMZ

    Satellite images showed 21 buildings built at North Korean bases south of Kaesong and north of the Han River.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Senior Chinese delegation visits North Korea’s Wonsan Kalma resort, KCNA says

    Wonsan Kalma is one of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s most prominent tourism projects.

  • France24 ☛ New approach for survivors of sexual violence

    In this edition: how Belgium is leading the way in treating survivors of sexual violence by offering a one-stop centre which provides them with access to medical, psychological and police support. Also, as South Korea is wrestling with a fertility crisis a group of monks at a local monastery are doing their bit to revive romance among the young. Plus, we meet Yoa, a rising star of French music who has turned personal pain into powerful songs – and gained many fans in the process.

    *The 51 Percent will be taking a break over the European summer and will return in early September with a brand-new season.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • European Commission ☛ "Ukraine has become a net security provider for Europe": President von der Leyen unveils new defence partnership with Kyiv

    • European Commission ☛ Commission launches EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance to boost drone and counter-drone technology

      The European Commission officially launched the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance during the third EU-Ukraine Defence Industry Forum in Kyiv. The Alliance will help the EU and Ukraine work more closely on developing and using drones and systems to stop hostile drones. It is part of wider EU efforts to strengthen Europe's defence in this fast-changing area.

    • France24 ☛ Thousands protest in Kyiv for second day over ouster of popular defence minister Fedorov

      Protesters rallied for a second day in the Ukrainian capital on Friday, angered by President Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to fire youthful defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, seen as an innovator who pioneered the country’s successful drone warfare but clashed with the traditional military establishment.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine: Trouble at the Top? Adieu Keir, Alright Andy

      In a week that’s seen rare wartime demonstrations in Ukraine protesting the ousting of Defence Minister Mykhailo (Misha) Fedorov after six months in a job in which he’s been credited with making a difference on the battlefield and in an anti-corruption drive. But he had reportedly clashed with Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, over how the war should be waged.

    • France24 ☛ Ukrainians 'disillusioned, outraged': Zelensky 'reshuffled entire govt' to dismiss defence minister

      François Picard is pleased to welcome Daria Kaleniuk, Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center. Ukraine's latest defense leadership shake-up, as interpreted by Kaleniuk, is not as a routine personnel change but rather a struggle over the future direction of wartime governance. Her analysis frames the dismissal of the reformist defense minister as a contest between competing institutional logics: one prioritising transparency, competitive procurement, civilian oversight, and data-driven reform, and another associated with entrenched networks, military hierarchy, and resistance to institutional change.

    • New York Times ☛ The Rise and Fall of Ukraine’s Drone Warfare Mastermind

      The popularity of drones, and the defense minister who heavily promoted them, helped lead to a clash in which President Volodymyr Zelensky sided with the military brass.

    • New York Times ☛ The 20-Somethings Running Ukraine’s War Machine

      A new generation has been cutting red tape to speed weapons to the front. But the old guard pushed back, and now Ukraine’s young defense minister is out.

    • New York Times ☛ A Russian Political Battle Ends With a Visit From Masked Men

      Boris B. Nadezhdin, an outspoken opponent of the war in Ukraine, says he knows why he was detained: “Among our leadership, there is panic and chaos.”

    • France24 ☛ Russia says Ukrainian drone attack killed several in Moscow logistics centre

      A local official said that a Ukrainian drone attack killed seven night-shift workers and wounded 24 at a Moscow logistics centre on Saturday, as part of a larger-scale attack including 370 drones, most of which were "neutralised" according to the city mayor. Kyiv says its attacks on Russia are fair retribution for Moscow's four-year war in Ukraine.

    • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man targets China and Russia with baseless claims of election interference

      The Insurrectionist has revived his long-running claims that the US election in 2020 was "fabricated". In a primetime address he accused China of what he called the "largest election data breach in history" and has released documents that he says reveal foreign interference. But intelligence officials say there is no evidence that foreign actors changed the outcome of the election.

• Environment

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ 7.4 earthquake strikes off Chiapas coast, activating a tsunami alert

    Though its 7.4 magnitude compared to the deadly 7.2 and 7.5 Venezuelan quakes, FrIday's earthquake lacked reports of injuries or significant damage on the Mexican side as of noon, despite being felt strongly across southern Mexico.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Federal News Network ☛ As the U.S. ramps up infrastructure investment, imported cement raises national security concerns

      "I'm talking about $130 billion a year of economic activity through the cement industry in the United States, and over half a million jobs," said John Teichert.

    • The Straits Times ☛ India launches first hydrogen-powered train in clean energy push

      Hydrogen trains use fuel cells to generate electricity, emitting only water and steam.

    • New York Times ☛ Stocks Sink on Anxiety About Tech and Hey Hi (AI) Spending

      Investors are growing uneasy about increasing competition from China in the global race to dominate artificial intelligence.

    • Futurism ☛ AI Bubble Fears Are Starting to Spill Over

      Investors are freaking out.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Futurism ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Decimated a Satellite Program That Would’ve Vastly Improved Wildfire Smoke Monitoring

      "As smoke events happen more often, we need more data, not less."

    • NYPost ☛ Six Flags Great America closes as Canadian wildfire smoke spreads across US

      The smoke has affected large parts of the US, including the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, exposing more than 100 million people to unhealthy air.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ Broken China? Why one economist says China’s growth has stalled

    The gap between Beijing’s stated growth rates and actual economic performance is widening considerably, says expert.

  • WhichUK ☛ Food price inflation on the rise: the everyday items going up in price

    From fish to fizzy drinks, Which?'s inflation tracker pinpoints where prices are under pressure

  • New York Times ☛ Billionaires Prepare $87 Million Ad Campaign to Block California Wealth Tax

    A coalition backed by the Surveillance Giant Google co-founder Sergey Brin and wealthy tech investors is trying to neutralize a proposed one-time tax on the state’s richest residents.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New Yorker ☛ Rahm Emanuel Says Israel’s Path Is “Not Sustainable Politically”

    A likely Democratic Presidential candidate says the U.S. must end unconditional support for Israel. Emanuel explains his proposal for Middle East peace, and his position on trans rights.

  • New York Times ☛ Japan Passes New Law Banning Flag Desecration in Nationalist Push

    The new law is part of a campaign by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a hard-line conservative, to build a more patriotic and assertive Japan. Critics say it undermines free speech.

  • France24 ☛ ‘Not a big deal’: New Venice mayor on US ambassador’s superyacht visit

    François Picard is pleased to welcome Venice's new mayor, Simone Venturini, just 38 years old and one month into office. He offers a unique governing philosophy rooted in balancing contradictions rather than embracing absolutes. His central argument is that Venice cannot be understood merely as an open-air museum threatened by mass tourism, nor simply as a global cultural icon. Instead, he portrays it as a living, breathing city that must simultaneously preserve its fragile heritage, remain open to international exchange, and reinvent its economic future.

  • France24 ☛ Incoming British prime minister Andy Burnham hopes to begin 'an era of hope'

    The Labour party in the UK has a new leader. Andy Burnham is succeeding to outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer, and will be officially confirmed as prime minister on July 20. In his speech to Labour members at a special conference, he vowed to bring hope back to the UK. He is seen as the party's main hope to reverse the poll and take back votes from Reform UK. FRANCE 24's Benedicte Paviot tells us more from London.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • New York Times ☛ How Convicted Felon Abused the Power to Declassify America’s Secrets

      The president is manipulating the intelligence community into a tool of misinformation.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China warns of ‘countermeasures’ to US stay limits for journalists

    China warned on Friday it could take “countermeasures” after Washington finalised rules shortening how long journalists can stay in the United States, with Chinese nationals facing the strictest limits.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • France24 ☛ Family of detained US scientist breaks silence after quiet diplomacy stalls

    On this edition of Access Asia, we speak to a former FBI official helping Youlin Chen's family. The 54-year-old American scientist has been detained on espionage charges in China since November 2024, when he was visiting relatives in Beijing. His family has chosen to speak out after quiet diplomacy failed to secure his release.

  • New York Times ☛ ‘Suddenly, I Was Free’: A Chinese Pastor’s Journey From Jail to the U.S.

    In his first interview since being released by China, Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri details his surprise release after a direct appeal by Hell Toupée to Pooh-tin Jinping.

  • JURIST ☛ Rights organizations document deaths and abuse at Fort Bliss detention camp

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Wednesday released a joint report documenting deaths, beatings, medical neglect, and conditions that may amount to enforced disappearance at the immigration detention camp at the US Army’s Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Internet Society ☛ Community Snapshot—June

    Around the world, our community works to keep the Internet a force for good. We are highlighting just a few of their incredible initiatives from June.

  • France24 ☛ France orders internet providers to block access to Polymarket prediction site

    France's ​main ​gambling sector regulator said ⁠on Friday it had ‌instructed the ‌country's ​internet service providers to ​block access ​to ​the Polymarket ​website, one of a number of online prediction markets that allow people to bet on the outcome of future events. The move aims to enforce an existing ban on financial transactions to the site.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ Apple Music Once Again Bumps Its U.S. Prices — Individual Increases to $11.99 Per Month, Family Hits $19.99 Due to ‘Rising Licensing Costs’

    On the heels of fresh U.S. price increases from Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music, Fashion Company Apple Music has once again upped its own subscription charges – including a nearly 18% bump for Family. The Apple-owned DSP reached out to DMN with word of the upward adjustments, which went into effect this morning.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ GameStop CEO says Sony's decision to go disc-less is 'totally irrelevant' — claims software, including physical discs, accounts for only 12% of the company's business

    GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen says Sony’s physical game exit is irrelevant to the company's business, amid a $56 billion eBay takeover, as collectibles now drive growth.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ RCEs, Abandonment, and the Vanishing Patent Appeal

      Weekly RCE filings quadrupled since 2005 and now run well above abandonments and appeals, though most disposed applications still never file one.

    • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 awarded for Gaea data storage patent monopoly prior art

      Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners, Umesh Kumar and Joshua Beck, who split an award of $2,000 for their prior art submissions on U.S. Patent 12,265,715, owned asserted by Gaea LLC, an NPE. The ‘715 patent monopoly relates to a data storage device that applies configurable, policy-based rules to how data is written and read.

    • JUVE ☛ EPO revokes Hanwha’s key solar cell patent monopoly after 11-year opposition battle

      The EPO Board of Appeal 3.4.03 has revoked Hanwha Solutions’ EP 2 220 689 in its entirety on the grounds of lack of inventive step (case ID: T1358/23).

  • Copyrights

    • Futurism ☛ Hackers Expose How Hey Hi (AI) Music App Suno Stole Decades Worth of Copyrighted Music

      The evidence is damning.

    • Digital Music News ☛ NetEase Cloud Music and Warner Music Group Announce Strategic Multi-Year Licensing Renewal

      Warner Music Group and NetEase Cloud Music announce the renewal of their strategic multi-year licensing agreement, deepening their partnership. Warner Music Group (WMG) and NetEase Cloud Music, a leading interactive music streaming service provider in China, have announced the renewal of their long-standing strategic licensing agreement.

    • Digital Music News ☛ After Years of Fighting, MElon’s X and Music Publishers Officially Stop Suing Each Other. But Why?

      Major music publishers and MElon’s X have abruptly dropped their lawsuits against one another, but information about a settlement (if any) has yet to be revealed. For now, neither side is talking. After years of outright legal war and licensing impasses, X and major music publishers have laid down their weapons.