Links 14/03/2024: Google Layoffs Not Complete and Family Dollar and Dollar Tree to Close 1,000 Stores
Contents
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Leftovers
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RFA ☛ ‘10 Don’ts’ for Chinese young people
In addition to swearing off marriage and mortgages, ‘refuseniks’ are not donating blood, giving to charity or even helping the elderly.
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Hackaday ☛ The Flex Computer System: UK’s Forgotten Capability Computer Architecture
During the 1970s many different computer architectures were being developed, many of them focused on making computer systems easier and more effective to use. The Flex Machine developed at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) was one of them, falling in the category of Capability Architectures. These architectures required hardware with programmable microcode, which required either custom hardware, or computer systems like the Xerox Alto-inspired ICL PERQ (pictured). What’s interesting about Flex is that it didn’t just remain in the 1980s as a quaint footnote, but as detailed by [Martin C. Atkins] – who worked on the system – evolved into the Ten15 system, which later got renamed to TenDRA.
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Hackaday ☛ Gentle Introduction To White Light Interferometry
White light interferometry (WLI) is a contact-free optical method for measuring surface height. It uses the phase difference between the light reflected off a reference mirror and the target sample to calculate the height profile of the sample’s surface. As complex as this sounds, it doesn’t take expensive hardware to build a WLI microscope, as [Huygen Optics] explains in a detailed introductory video on the topic. At its core you need a source of white light (e.g. a white LED), with a way to focus the light so as to get a spatially coherent light source, like aluminium foil with a pin hole and a lens.
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Hackaday ☛ Goldilocks Beverage Coaster Tells You When It’s Just Right
If you ask us, morning is the only excuse we need for a hot caffeinated beverage — weather be damned. Wherever [gokux] is, they may be experiencing actual winter this year, given that they are out there getting cozy with a hot cup of what-have-you. But how do they know it’s at the right temperature for drinking? Enter the temperature-monitoring smart coaster.
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Education
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New York Times ☛ Top French University Faces Yet Another Crisis as Leader Resigns
Mathias Vicherat, the director of Sciences Po, and his former partner are expected to face trial over mutual accusations of violence. His resignation prolongs years of tumult in the school’s highest ranks.
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The Straits Times ☛ Spending on private education hits another record in South Korea
They spent $27.4 billion on private education in 2023, a 4.5% rise from 2022.
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YLE ☛ Finnish universities look to nix tedious entrance exams
In the future, one entrance test could open doors to many different degree programmes.
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Stanford University ☛ University administrator asks campaigners to leave Tresidder on Election Day
Jeanette Smith-Laws, director of operations and student unions in the assistant vice provost’s office, allegedly approached two Peter Dixon tablers and asked them to leave during last week's primary.
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Latvia ☛ State Audit criticizes future adult education strategies
The State Audit Office (VK) has expressed objections to two draft laws related to the future organization of adult education - the Human Capital Development Strategy for 2024-2027 and the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations on the Adult Education Project implemented by the State Education Development Agency (VIAA), the VK said March 13.
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Hardware
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Malaysia's semiconductor manufacturing flourishes in the face of U.S. and China's Chip War
Malaysia's place in the Chip War as an alternative place to manufacture semiconductors and chips without drawing ire of US politicians and regulations.
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Ruben Schade ☛ How do do you connect retrocomputers to the web?
I know it’s a bit of a troll title, but it’s a common question I get now. The short answer is I don’t! Thanks for coming, have a nice day.
The longer answer comes down to two reasons. I’m too young to have nostalgia for BBSs, though I am interested in them from a technical perspective. It’s why I run 8-bit machines that were made before when I was born too! Okay, that’s clearly a bad reason.
The more meaningful one is that retrocomputers are an escape. They’re a way for me to scratch my itch for technical tinkering and learning without any pretence of productivity. I have a rewarding and interesting job, but I also need a break.
My daily responsibilities involve talking, so when I come home I want to use these machines like puzzles, not another avenue for social interaction. Introversion is difficult to understand for people who don’t think that way, but I feel I have a finite daily capacity for social interaction before it makes me feel tired (and in extreme cases, anxious and irritable).
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Hackaday ☛ Review: The New Essential Guide To Electronics In Shenzhen
The city of Shenzhen in China holds a special fascination for the electronic hardware community, as the city and special economic zone established by the Chinese government at the start of the 1980s it has become probably one of the most important in the world for electronic manufacturing. If you’re in the business of producing electronic hardware you probably want to do that business there, and if you aren’t, you will certainly own things whose parts were made there. From the lowly hobbyist who buys a kit of parts on AliExpress through the project featured on Hackaday with a Shenzhen-made PCB, to the engineer bringing an electronic product to market, it’s a place which has whether we know it or not become part of our lives.
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Hackaday ☛ 2024 Home Sweet Home Automation: Simple Window Closer Relies On Gravity
While most pet owners are happy to help out their furry friends, everyone has a limit. For [Gauthier], getting up to open or close the window every three minutes so their cat can go out on the balcony was a bridge too far, so they decided to take a crack at automating the window. The end result not only does the job, it’s extremely low-tech and pretty much invisible except when in use.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Reason ☛ Abortion Pill Studies Retracted: Politics or Science?
"Following the science" as the Supreme Court considers the safety and efficacy of medical abortions.
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Science Alert ☛ We Finally Know Why Some Whales Have Menopause
Grandmas rule!
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Science Alert ☛ Breakthrough Hey Hi (AI) Can Now Predict Alzheimer's Up to 7 Years in Advance
New hope for early intervention.
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New York Times ☛ Colon Cancer Blood Test Shows Promise for Early Detection
Many patients are reluctant to undergo colonoscopies or conduct at-home fecal tests. Doctors see potential in another screening method.
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France24 ☛ Childhood deaths reach ‘historic’ low but progress is unequal, UN report finds
The number of children worldwide who died before age five reached a record low in 2022, the United Nations said in a report published Tuesday, as for the first time fewer than five million died.
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Reason ☛ CDC Vastly Overestimated U.S. Maternal Death Rates, Says New Study
Maternal health care has actually improved substantially in many areas.
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YLE ☛ Finland wants to limit nicotine in pouches
The government says that oral nicotine packs a number of health concerns.
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The Straits Times ☛ New Delhi steps up security ahead of rally by protesting farmers
Police in the Indian capital put up barricades, stepped up security and warned of traffic congestion on Thursday as thousands of protesting farmers were due to arrive for a rally in support of their demand for higher crop prices.
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Science Alert ☛ Experts Warn Leprosy Isn't Ancient History as Cases Surge in The US
Here's what to know about the disease.
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Science Alert ☛ Aging And Schizophrenia Share Striking Similarities in 2 Types of Brain Cells
This could be key to treating cognitive decline.
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Science Alert ☛ Polio Survivor Who Lived in Iron Lung For 7 Decades Dies at 78
He held a Guinness World Record for it.
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Science Alert ☛ Should ADHD Meds Be Stopped For Pregnancy? Here's What The Science Says.
Finally some data.
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Science Alert ☛ New Evidence Shatters Darwin's Lasting Assumptions About Male Body Size
They aren't always the big spoon.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Techdirt ☛ Xbox Turns To Sports Titles To Combat Dwindling Game Pass Subscriber Sign Ups [Ed: Microsoft Xbox dying. The numbers are down. They don't know how to stop that, so they buy companies for way too much and lay off even what they bought and paid for.]
Well, this is interesting. As part of our many posts about the cord-cutting trend that has been on the increase over the past decade or so, I have long made the point that the only thing keeping cable television looking even remotely like it did twenty years ago has been live sports. With the advent of more streaming options and partnerships for sporting events, even that last thread has started to unravel, though overly tortured fracturization has kept cable television out of the grave, for now. But the point is that the draw of sports titles was something of a lifeline for traditional cable television.
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Google CEO Pichai Says Layoffs Not Complete
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said more layoffs are coming after eliminating thousands of jobs at Google and about 100 at YouTube.
He said that the company’s “ambitious goals” require some teams to eliminate roles to “create the capacity” for investment in promising areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), which agencies believe will only make it more difficult to support brands.
“We have ambitious goals and will be investing in our big priorities this year,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said to employees in the memo Wednesday, according to media reports. “The reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough choices.”
The news of layoffs at Google continues to drive company’s stock price higher. In the past 24 hours, Alphabet’s stock price as of Thursday morning rose from $140.98 to $144.77.
AI has become the priority area for investment for Google over fears its core search business requires a boost to compete with startups like Perplexity, and rivals like Microsoft.
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Silicon Angle ☛ European lawmakers pass world’s first major regulation for AI
European Union lawmakers today gave the final approval for the world’s first major framework for regulatory rules that will govern artificial intelligence with the Hey Hi (AI) Act today. The European Parliament finalized the vote after reaching an agreement in December between member states on the landmark legislation.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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OpenRightsGroup ☛ UK data protection proposals jeopardise adequacy agreement warns EU committee
The Chairman of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee has written to the European Commissioner, Didier Reynders, to warn that the UK’s Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill is close to being passed despite its potential to undermine the UK adequacy decisions [...]
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OpenRightsGroup ☛ The impact of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill on data use for political purposes
In this briefing, we explain how the proposed changes to the UK data protection framework that would be introduced by the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would weaken legal safeguards around the use of personal data for political purposes.
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Techdirt ☛ As Sanctions Continue, Malware Purveyors Starting To Worry It Won’t Be As Easy To Sell Spyware To Bad People
NSO Group rang the bell. Despite all of its ex-intelligence service expertise and backing from its government, it can’t un-ring it. What’s done is done. And the repercussions just keep on coming, paying back NSO for years of selling powerful phone exploits to some of the worst people on earth.
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Privacy International ☛ Joint statement – A dangerous precedent: how the EU Hey Hi (AI) Act fails migrants and people on the move
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EDRI ☛ #ProtectNotSurveil: The EU Hey Hi (AI) Act fails migrants and people on the move
The #ProtectNotSurveil coalition is calling attention to how the EU Hey Hi (AI) Act - adopted by the European Parliament on March 13 - is failing to prevent harm and provide protection for migrants and people on the move.
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EDRI ☛ 2024 Global Gathering
The 2024 Global Gathering (GG) will take place on September 27, 28, and 29 in Estoril, Portugal. The event brings together digital rights networks from around the world for three days of collaboration building, knowledge sharing, brainstorming, and rejuvenation.
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EDRI ☛ Palestine Digital Activism Forum 2024
Palestine Digital Activism Forum (PDAF) 2024 aims to put Palestinian digital rights as a priority both regionally, and globally, in an attempt to mobilize an intersectional struggle for a safe, fair and free digital space for all.
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EDRI ☛ Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress
Join your peers, stakeholder, industry players and providers at the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress to find real solutions to the challenges and needs of the sector and discover new ways of collaboration to build a better digital world.
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Techdirt ☛ Auto Makers Are Selling Data On Your Driving Habits To Your Insurer Without Properly Informing You
Last September, Mozilla came out with a privacy study indicating that the auto industry was the worst tech industry the organization tracked. Mozilla found that not only does the industry hoover up a ton of data from your use of vehicles, it collects and monetizes most of the data on your phone. Often without transparency or adequate safeguards:
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Defence/Aggression
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RFA ☛ Experts: Philippines, US should revisit treaty to include China’s ‘gray-zone’ tactics
The definition of 'an armed external attack' in the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty needs to be made more clear, observers say.
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The Straits Times ☛ Philippines' Marcos to meet Blinken next week as South China Sea tensions rise
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 19 to tackle cooperation and security matters, the office of the Manila leader said in a statement late on Wednesday night.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea’s Kim ‘drives’ new tank during mock battle
Mr Kim expressed "great satisfaction" that the new type of battle tank demonstrated its striking power.
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France24 ☛ Kim Jong-Un calls for efforts to prepare North Korea for war
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined his troops in training to operate newly developed battle tanks as he called for bigger efforts to prepare for war, state media reported Thursday.
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NYPost ☛ North Korea’s Kim drives new-type tank during drills and calls for efforts to prepare for war
The North views its rivals’ exercises as a rehearsal for invasion.
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The Strategist ☛ The Red Sea crisis, food insecurity and conflict
The Yemeni Houthi rebels’ continued attacks on shipping in the Red Sea serve as a reminder that global supply chains remain highly vulnerable to disruption.
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The Strategist ☛ Protecting Australians from convicted terrorists
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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Pro Publica ☛ Dead Workers, Severed Limbs Missing from Railroad Safety Data
On a hot July afternoon in 2018, Gregory West found himself trudging through the mountains of northern Tennessee on what would be the last walk of his life.
The engineer and his conductor had been stuck behind a stalled train that had not budged by the end of their shift, and rail company officials told them to walk out to a road where a vehicle could meet them. It would be an hour’s journey up and down steep hills in 88-degree heat. And West, 57, had to lug two large bags of his belongings the entire way. Just as he reached the rendezvous point, he collapsed. The Campbell County medical examiner said West had pneumonia and hypertension, which decreased his oxygen supply before he died. His sister sued the railroad company, CSX, which settled with her for an undisclosed amount.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Science Alert ☛ Evolution Has Ground to a Virtual Stop in These Bizarre 'Living Fossil' Fish
"Potential applications to human health.”
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New York Times ☛ Can Europe Save Forests Without Killing Jobs in Malaysia?
A new regulation aims to rid the palm oil supply chain of imports that come from former forestland. Southeast Asian countries say it threatens livelihoods.
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Reason ☛ Louisiana Law Lets Wildlife Agents Trespass on Private Property
A lawsuit from the Institute for Justice claims the law violates the Louisiana Constitution.
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Finance
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Peso hit its strongest closing position against the US dollar since 2015
The "super peso" strikes again, with a strong month of appreciation so far against the US dollar.
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YLE ☛ Neste cutting 320 jobs in Finland, 70 more abroad
The company's goal is to save around 50 million euros per year.
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YLE ☛ Purra proposes higher taxes on electric cars, sugar, salt and trans fats
Finance Minister Riikka Purra (Finns) said that more health taxes will be imposed while real estate taxation will be reformed.
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RFERL ☛ Iran's Inflation Taking Bite Out Of Traditional Persian New Year Meals
Iranians, already hit hard by declining living standards, are seeing steep price increases for essential goods as the Persian New Year, Norouz, approaches.
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Reason ☛ New Inflation Numbers Keep Economic Concerns Front and Center
The eroding value of the dollar inflicts pain, and Americans resent politicians who cause it.
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The Kent Stater ☛ Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will close 1,000 stores
Family Dollar, the struggling discount chain that caters to low-income customers predominantly in cities, will close about 1,000 stores as inflation takes a bite out of consumers’ wallets and low-cost-retailers’ profits.
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YLE ☛ Finland's 'biggest landlord' Heka cutting 15 jobs
Heka is aiming to save around three million euros in personnel costs.
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YLE ☛ Finnish forest products firms temporarily shut paper mills, suspend wage payments
Members of the paperworkers' union are not on strike, but the companies say the plants cannot operate due to the walkout by transport and logistics workers.
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Latvia ☛ Latvian central bank shuts down credit union over suspected illegalities
On March 13, 2024, the supervisory committee of the Bank of Latvia annulled the license of Pūņi Cooperative Credit Union (Pūņi KKS), the bank said in a statement.
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Zimbabwe ☛ The Lite bank account is dying, some banks don’t offer it anymore and this is why
The Zimbabwean government will need to make up its mind on financial inclusion soon. Their love-hate relationship with mobile money and Lite bank accounts needs to stop. In its never-ending fight against currency manipulation and resultant depreciation, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe often moves to promote digital channels over cash.
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New York Times ☛ Sex Abuse Inquiry Poses Leadership Test for World Bank’s Ajay Banga
The bank is facing scrutiny as it debates how to compensate victims of abuse at Kenyan schools that it was financing.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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The Straits Times ☛ Umno-DAP coffee diplomacy is a good start, but differences run deep: Analysts
The two parties in Malaysia's unity government sparred over whether vernacular schools cause disunity.
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The Straits Times ☛ China’s foreign minister to visit Australia next week as ties improve
It is a sign of a further thaw in relations after years of tensions.
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The Straits Times ☛ 2 dead, 2 missing as Taiwan, China join rescue mission near Kinmen islands
The Chinese fishing boat capsized around 2km west of Taiwan's Dongding Island.
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The Straits Times ☛ China officials apologise after security guards halt news report on fatal explosion
Local security officials blocked a reporter's camera midway through her report, saying “it’s too dangerous.”
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The Straits Times ☛ Probe begins after 7 killed, 27 injured in fried chicken shop explosion in China
The explosion on March 13 at the shop in Sanhe, Hebei province, caused a massive orange fireball.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 2 dead, 26 injured after suspected gas explosion at restaurant in northern China
By Matthew Walsh A huge suspected gas explosion at a restaurant in northern China killed two people and injured 26 more on Wednesday, state media reported, causing severe damage to buildings.
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The Straits Times ☛ China appoints Chen Xiaodong vice foreign minister, says human resources ministry
China appointed Chen Xiaodong as vice foreign minister, the human resources ministry said in a statement on Thursday. REUTERS
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Tourism Board invited over 2,000 bloggers, KOLs, celebrities to ‘tell good stories’ of Hong Kong last year [Ed: This is just AstroTurfing]
The tourism board invited over 2,000 trade and media stakeholders, bloggers, celebrities, and key opinion leaders (KOLs) from mainland China, Southeast Asia and Europe in 2023 to visit and help “tell the good story of Hong Kong.”
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New York Times ☛ Germany Looks to Stop the Far Right From Assuming Power
Mainstream parties are changing laws to protect government institutions. Critics say the changes risk undermining democracy.
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JURIST ☛ Belgium court sentences prominent far-right activist Dries Van Langenhove to prison
Dries Van Langenhove, leader of the Belgian far-right movement Schild & Vrienden, was sentenced on Tuesday to one year in prison and fined €24,000 ($26, 249 ).
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teleSUR ☛ AU Joins UN to Fight Terrorism through Sport and African Culture
Decius Chipande, Coordinator of the AU Sports Council, acknowledged sports as an effective tool for promoting global peace because it draws youths away from participating in acts of terrorism and violent extremism.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Reason ☛ YouTube Algorithm Steers People Away From Radical Content
Another blow to the idea that algorithms are driving our political dysfunction.
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Techdirt ☛ MSCHF Asks The Supreme Court To Say Its Parody Of Vans Shoes Is Free Speech
The last time we wrote about an interaction between the Supreme Court and the famed art collective/pranksters/social commentators/cultural marketing jammers MSCHF, it was covering their interesting choice of amicus briefs. They sought to comment on the “Bad Spaniels” case by making the Justices and their clerks complete “connect the dot” artwork as an attempt to highlight the value of parody.
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BIA Net ☛ Mezopotamya Agecy censored
In response to the censorship of the domain, the Mezopotamya Agency switched to mezopotamyaajansi.net.
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RFA ☛ Hong Kong sees fall in academic freedom amid ongoing crackdown
The 2020 National Security Law has put pressure on the city's universities, an annual report finds.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong lawmakers complete initial review of proposed security law
Hong Kong lawmakers have completed a review of the clauses in the city’s proposed security legislation following six consecutive days of meetings, moving the bill a step closer to being passed into law by the opposition-free legislature.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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JURIST ☛ European Parliament adopts Media Freedom Act in move to protect journalists
The European Parliament on Wednesday adopted the Media Freedom Act to protect journalists and press freedoms. The new law was adopted with 464 votes in favor, 92 against and 65 abstentions. The act forbids EU member states from compelling journalists to disclose their sources and deploying surveillance spyware against journalists.
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YLE ☛ Yle rejects demand to alter story on Elokapina protests
A prosecutor argues that a woman who paid climate protesters' fines should be punished for inciting criminal acts.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Techdirt ☛ Senator Durbin Petulantly Promises To Destroy The Open Internet If He Doesn’t Get His Bad ‘Save The Children’ Internet Bill Passed
Last week, we wrote about Senator Dick Durbin going on the floor of the Senate and spreading some absolute nonsense about Section 230 as he continued to push his STOP CSAM Act. His bill has some good ideas mixed in with some absolutely terrible ideas. In particular, the current language of the bill is a direct attack on encryption (though we’re told that there are other versions floating around). The methods by which it does so is in removing Section 230, enabling people to sue websites if they “intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently” host CSAM or “promote or facilitate” child sexual exploitation.
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Patents
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JUVE ☛ Ones to Watch France 2024: Anaïs Pallut [Ed: This is yet more spam disguised as article; JUVE has been selling lies for a group promoting something illegal (UPC) while also doing these fake ads for them. This is an insult to the trade of journalism, which was meant to tackle crime, not profit from it.]
Every year, JUVE Patent carries out extensive research in the French patent monopoly market, culminating in the publication of the French patent monopoly rankings.
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Another Litigation Funding Dispute
In what has become a recurring topic on Patent Progress, another dispute between a patent monopoly troll and a litigation funder has emerged. This time, it is between the Irish NPE, Arigna Technology; its law firm, Susman Godfrey; and the litigation funder, Longford Capital.]
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ The Analogous Art Doctrine Post-KSR: Insights from the Federal Circuit’s Daedalus Decision
In a short nonprecedential decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed a PTAB IPR decision finding claims 15-25 of U.S. Patent No. 8,671,132 (‘132 patent) unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over combinations of prior art references. Daedalus Blue LLC v. Vidal, No. 2023-1313, slip op. at 2 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 13, 2024). The key issue on appeal was whether the Gelb reference qualified as analogous art for the purposes of the obviousness analysis. Daedalus unsuccessfully argued that the PTAB erred in two respects: (1) by finding Gelb to be in the same field of endeavor as the ‘132 patent, and (2) by determining that Gelb is reasonably pertinent to the problems addressed by the ‘132 patent. This post discusses the analogous arts test and provides key guidance to patent monopoly attorneys in today’s post-AIA world.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Timeliness in Supreme Court Practice
Rule 13.5 of the Supreme Court Rules states that an application for an extension of time “must be filed with the Clerk at least 10 days before the date the petition is due, except in extraordinary circumstances.” In this case, Purdue’s counsel, Jennifer Swize of Jones Day, filed a 30-day extension request one day after the petition was due, rendering it untimely. The explanation provided for the delay – that Purdue’s General Counsel and Chief Patent Counsel were involved in preparing for and participating in a trial during the week before the deadline – does not appear to meet the “extraordinary circumstances” threshold required by the rule.
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Unified Patents ☛ OptiMorphix data transmission patent monopoly challenged
On March 8, 2024, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 7,099,273, owned by OptiMorphix, Inc. The ‘273 patent monopoly relates to data transmission based on round trip times.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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