Links 22/03/2024: Industrial Actions in World's Happiest Country, Google in Trouble Over Copyrights
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Federal News Network ☛ Homeland Security’s CWMD unit loses 10% of staff, faces continued attrition concerns
Attrition woes at the CWMD office come as it also grapples with some of the lowest employee engagement scores in the federal government.
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Science Alert ☛ Supervolcano Eruption Reveals What Could Have Driven Humans Out of Africa
New evidence for an alternative motivation.
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Science Alert ☛ 7,000-Year-Old Sunken Boats Reveal How Neolithic Seafarers Traversed The Mediterranean
They had sophisticated skills.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 19 firms sign deal in gov’t push to boost Hong Kong’s tech sector, 70% from mainland China
Nineteen firms from mainland China and the US have signed an agreement to set up offices or expand in Hong Kong as part of a government drive to draw international innovation and technology (I&T) companies to the city.
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New York Times ☛ Paulin Hountondji, Revolutionary African Philosopher, Dies at 81
He rebelled against efforts to force African ways of thinking into the European worldview. His thoughts had the effect of a bomb in African intellectual life.
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Science
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New York Times ☛ Walter Massey, a Physicist With a Higher Calling
He broke barriers as the first Black physicist in nearly every role. But his identity made him reach for dreams beyond his career as a scientist.
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Science Alert ☛ Your Blood Could Be Aging Your Brain, Increasing Risk of Dementia
At one stage of your life in particular.
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Science Alert ☛ Record Heat Expected Again in 2024 as UN Warns Earth Is 'On The Brink'
"I am now sounding the red alert about the state of the climate".
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New York Times ☛ Frans de Waal, Who Found the Origins of Morality in Apes, Dies at 75
An unusually popular primatologist, he drew the attention of Newt Gingrich, Isabella Rossellini, the philosopher Peter Singer and the reading public.
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New York Times ☛ Fossil Trove From 74,000 Years Ago Points to Remarkably Adaptive Humans
An archaeological site in Ethiopia revealed the oldest-known arrowheads and the remnants of a major volcanic eruption.
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New York Times ☛ These Mobile Games are For the Birds
How do you design an app for a parrot? Consider games that are “made to be licked,” a new study suggests.
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New York Times ☛ Study on ‘World’s Oldest Pyramid’ Is Retracted by Publisher
The study, based on research featured in a DRM spreader Netflix documentary, fueled debate over a site that is used for Islamic and Hindu rituals.
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YLE ☛ Finnish researchers crack genetic code of the 'Easter Bunny'
University of Eastern Finland researchers published the first reference genome for the European hare, which serves as the basis for the original Easter Bunny in folklore.
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Hardware
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CNX Software ☛ Trenz Electronic TE0950-03-EGBE21A – An AMD Versal Hey Hi (AI) Edge VE2302 SoC FPGA evaluation board
Trenz Electronic recently announced the TE0950-03-EGBE21A an evaluation board with AMD Versal Hey Hi (AI) Edge XCVE2302-1LSESFVA784 SoC FPGA. This board features 8 GB of DDR4 SDRAM and 128 MB of SPI Flash (as the primary boot option), a microSD card slot, a 32 GB eMMC flash (secondary boot), and an EEPROM with a MAC address. Additionally, the board supports a range of VE-series devices, such as VE2002, VE2102, VE2202, VE2302, and VM1102, enhancing its application versatility.
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New York Times ☛ Biden to Announce Multibillion-Dollar Grant for defective chip maker Intel to Expand Chip Production
The decision comes as President Biden champions his economic policies during a tour of the Southwest.
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Reason ☛ Federal Handout to defective chip maker Intel Will Cost $283,000 Per Job, and That's Being Generous
And the real kicker is that defective chip maker Intel was probably going to create those jobs without taxpayers funding anything.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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New York Times ☛ Brazil Police Recommend Criminal Charges Against Bolsonaro
The federal police accused the former president of falsifying his Covid-19 vaccination records.
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JURIST ☛ Brazil police accuse former President Jair Bolsonaro of falsifying COVID-19 vaccination data
The Federal Police of Brazil accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination record following investigations that began in January 2023.
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover a New Yeast That Might Stop Invasive Fungal Infections
Competition is good.
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New York Times ☛ All but 7 Countries on Earth Have Air Pollution Above WHO Standard
New research found that fewer than 10 percent of countries and territories met World Health Organization guidelines for particulate matter pollution last year.
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France24 ☛ Strict abortion ban threatening women's healthcare in Louisiana
Louisiana's strict abortion ban is having spillover effects across women's health care in the US state, leading doctors to turn away patients for routine prenatal visits and perform unnecessary Cesarean sections, according to a report released Tuesday.
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Find 'Switch' That Stops Immune System Attacking Healthy Cells
And we might be able to control it.
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Latvia ☛ Latvian meds e-prescriptions will be valid abroad
Latvia has started a cross-border exchange of e-prescription data with certain countries, the National Health Service (NVD) said on March 20. E-prescription medicines can already be purchased in Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Spain, and the number of these countries will gradually increase.
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New York Times ☛ California Approves Prop. 1, a Mental Health Plan Aimed at Addressing Homelessness
The measure known as Proposition 1, which includes $6.38 billion for treatment and housing, was a top priority for Gov. Gavin Newsom to reduce homelessness in the state.
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University of Michigan ☛ Free sleep service helps provide health care to low-income communities
As sleep disorders have become more prevalent in recent years, they have emerged as a major public health concern and health equity issue given that members of low-income communities and minority groups are more likely to have sleep disorders that go undiagnosed.
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CS Monitor ☛ Why Brazil’s former president Bolsonaro could face up to 12 years in prison
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is facing his first indictment for allegedly falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination status. More legal troubles could be on the table.
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University of Michigan ☛ Germ aversion affected 2020 election voting behavior
Voters opted to pick candidates in 2020 by mail-in ballots, avoiding poll sites due to COVID-19 concerns rather than because of political party efforts to promote specific voting methods.
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University of Michigan ☛ A look at the American Rescue Plan three years later: What has Ann Arbor done with the money?
In March 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law, which allocated $1.9 trillion to cities across the country to combat the economic ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Latvia ☛ Fourteen flu patients died last week in Latvia
Last week, the number of flu and Covid-19 patients continued to decline, but 14 patients died from the flu within the week, according to the Disease Prevention and Control Center (SPKC) data of March 20.
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RFA ☛ Experts: China is sequencing Uyghur DNA for organ harvesting
US Congress is told that medical tourists from Gulf states seek organs from Muslims who abstain from pork and alcohol.
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YLE ☛ Finland tops world happiness ranking for 7th year in a row
Nordic countries again ranked at the top of the World Happiness Report.
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YLE ☛ Espoo woman suffers horrific complications after Turkish surgery mix-up
When Sara Karimizadeh woke up at a Turkish beauty clinic she was told she'd had the wrong surgery. That moment marked the start of a four-month battle for life.
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YLE ☛ Food Authority plans job cuts amid budget shortfalls, state cuts
Efforts to balance the budget have not been sufficient and funding from the state will decrease in coming years, according to the agency.
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BIA Net ☛ Turkey’s food inflation spikes despite global decline
The steep increase in food, particularly meat prices, is attributed to flawed policies that allow large suppliers and grocery chains to manipulate the market.
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teleSUR ☛ East Africa: UN for Support, Millions Face Food Insecurity
Sudan and Ethiopia account for 20.3 million and 20.1 million food insecure people, respectively, and 5.8 million in South Sudan and 4.3 million in Somalia also suffer from food insecurity.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Chinese platforms are cracking down on influencers selling Hey Hi (AI) lessons
This story first appeared in China Report, MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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EDRI ☛ Europe’s highest court delivers landmark judgment against IAB Europe in GDPR consent spam pop-ups case
The Court of Justice of the European Union's landmark decision on March 7, 2023, against the auctioning of personal data for advertising purposes under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) challenges the legality of invasive tracking and profiling in the context of online advertising.
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Bruce Schneier ☛ Cheating Automatic Toll Booths by Obscuring License Plates
The Wall Street Journal is reporting on a variety of techniques drivers are using to obscure their license plates so that automatic readers can’t identify them and charge tolls properly.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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EDRI ☛ GPS tagging of migrants found unlawful by UK data protection authority
As a result of Privacy International’s 2022 complaint against the UK Home Office, the UK data protection authority (ICO) has found that the GPS tagging of migrants and asylum seekers arriving to the UK small boats was unlawful, and issued a formal warning for all future data protection compliance of GPS tagging as a whole. This is a major step towards better scrutiny of the human rights implications of the surveillance of migrants.
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EDRI ☛ Privatised municipal surveillance on the stage of security theatre in Slovenia
The municipality of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, wasted almost two years deflecting freedom of information requests (FOIAs) from EDRi member Državljan Dsfor the municipal CCTV system data in the city.
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Ars Technica ☛ Carmakers’ shady data sharing takes spotlight in GM connected car scandal | Ars Technica
There are better alternatives to clicking a EULA the first time you drive your car.
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Defence/Aggression
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Digital Music News ☛ US Department of Justice Officials Meeting with Senators Ahead of Fentanylware (TikTok) Vote — This Might Be Moving Faster Than We Think
The Department of Justice is reportedly holding meetings with US Senators to persuade a forced sale of Fentanylware (TikTok) ahead of the landmark vote.
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AntiWar ☛ The Fentanylware (TikTok) Totalitarians [Ed: So the proPutinWars.com pundits support digital weapons of the Commmunist Party, surprise surprise...]
On Wednesday, March 13th, a bipartisan group of US Representatives voted to give the US president the power to remove any website, computer or mobile application, or even service provider that the president determines – without due process...
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ADF ☛ Displacement in Cabo Delgado Soars As Terrorists Strike Back
ADF STAFF After months of relative calm, a surge of new attacks by the Islamic State-Mozambique (ISM) terror group is driving waves of people from their homes in the Cabo Delgado province.
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Defence Web ☛ Cabo Delgado insurgency rebounds, foiling drawdown plans
Renewed violence unleashed by the Islamic State-Mozambique group (ISM) between 8 February and 3 March forced nearly 100 000 people to flee their homes, according to the UN.
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CS Monitor ☛ Mississippi court sentences ‘Goon Squad’ officers for torturing Black men
In a Jackson, Mississippi, suburb, a street-crime-fighting unit abused their posts, torturing innocent citizens they swore an oath to protect, the court finds. Sentencing began March 19 for the self-described “Goon Squad” of six white law enforcement officers.
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RFA ☛ North Korean citizens ordered to provide cloths for soldiers to wrap their feet
Residents laugh that the ‘invincible’ Korean People’s Army cannot afford cloth scraps for foot wraps.
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France24 ☛ N. Korea's Kim oversees intermediate-range hypersonic missile engine test
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful test of a solid-fuel engine for a "new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile", Pyongyang's state media said Wednesday.
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The Straits Times ☛ US says Arunachal Pradesh is part of India, amid Indo-China tensions
The U.S. government recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as part of India and "strongly opposes" any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims in the northeastern Indian state that shares a border with China, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.
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The Kent Stater ☛ Blinken stands by US’ ‘ironclad commitment’ to defend Philippines amid fears of China conflict
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday reiterated the United States’ “ironclad commitment” to defend the Philippines as rising tensions with China in the South China Sea raise fears of a broader regional conflict.
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ADF ☛ Secret Ethiopian Committee Accused of Ordering Arrests, Killings in Oromia
Two gym instructors in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest and most populous region, were detained on suspicion of working with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which has battled government forces for decades. The instructors denied involvement with the OLA, which is responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths in addition to kidnappings.
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ADF ☛ Somali Military Operations in Jubaland Win Back Territory from al-Shabaab
Somali national forces and Jubaland regional forces in early March killed scores of al-Shabaab fighters during operations in the Lower Juba region. The battles were mainly in Bahar Saaf, Haji, Malaylay, Turdho and other heavily forested areas where the terrorists operate.
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ADF ☛ South Africa Pledges Reforms to Disrupt Fundraising for Islamic State
As the Islamic State group (IS) has shifted its focus to Africa, South Africa has emerged as a locus of funding for the group’s operations on the continent — a situation that the country’s leaders say they are working to resolve.
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ADF ☛ Deaths in Eastern DRC Have South African Politicians Questioning Deployment
The recent deaths of South African Soldiers, deployed in December to confront M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have South African opposition groups questioning the mission and the resources available to the troops.
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The Straits Times ☛ Canada says Hong Kong's new security law does not safeguard human rights
Hong Kong's new national security law "fails to safeguard" human rights and basic freedoms, Canada said on Wednesday, joining the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations in the legislation's criticism.
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RFA ☛ Chinese state TV reports passage of Hong Kong security law before vote
CCTV beats global news organizations by reporting the news before it happened.
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RFA ☛ Overseas activists vow to keep fighting despite new Hong Kong security law
The law sparks a wave of concern over its impact on already dwindling rights and freedoms.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Article 23: Local politicians hail new security law, as foreign gov’ts, NGOs slam ‘devastating’ effect on freedom
Foreign governments, politicians and NGOs have condemned the fast-tracked passage of Hong Kong’s new, local security law, whilst local political parties and government departments hailed Tuesday’s unanimous vote in the opposition-free legislature.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Article 23: Beijing decries ‘hypocrisy’ after EU and UK raise concerns over newly-passed domestic security law
Beijing has called on the European Union (EU) and the UK to abandon “double standards,” after they raised concerns about the potential erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong under the newly passed domestic security law.
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New York Times ☛ Hong Kong Adopts Sweeping Security Laws, Bowing to Beijing
The legislation targets “external interference” and the theft of state secrets, with implications for businesses, journalists, civil servants and others.
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New York Times ☛ What to Know About Hong Kong’s Article 23 Legislation
The legislation marks another significant erosion of freedom in a former British colony once known for its relative autonomy from Beijing.
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New York Times ☛ Wednesday Briefing: Hong Kong’s Sweeping New Security Laws
Also, Japan’s interest rate hike and M.L.B.’s season opener.
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New York Times ☛ Where Are Hong Kong’s Leading Pro-Democracy Figures Now?
The city enacted tough new security legislation with little public outcry, partly because those who would have opposed it were either in jail or in exile.
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New York Times ☛ In Hong Kong, China’s Grip Can Feel Like ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’
As Hong Kong’s leaders embrace China’s top-down political culture, many believe the city’s dynamism and vitality are slipping away.
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The Straits Times ☛ Australia, UK to boost defence cooperation
Australia and the United Kingdom on Thursday signed a new defence and security cooperation agreement that makes it easier for their defence forces to operate together in each other's countries.
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RFERL ☛ Tunnel Found Under Kyrgyz-Uzbek Border Purportedly Used For Smuggling
Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on March 20 it has discovered a tunnel along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border that is purportedly being used for illegal border crossings and smuggling.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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YLE ☛ Sauli Niinistö to write EU report on civilian and defence preparedness
The report will aim to provide a holistic view of how Europe can become more crisis-resilient.
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France24 ☛ ‘Shpilkin method’: Statistical tool gauges voter fraud in Putin landslide
As many as half of all the votes reported for Vladimir Putin in Russia’s presidential election last week were fraudulent, according to Russian independent media reports using a statistical method devised by analyst Sergey Shpilkin to estimate the extent of voter manipulation.
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Environment
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France24 ☛ Trashed electronic devices are growing 'catastrophe' for environment, UN warns
The world threw away a record amount of smartphones, televisions and other electrical devices in 2022, the UN said Wednesday, warning this avalanche of dumped gadgets was polluting the planet.
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Energy/Transportation
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New York Times ☛ Angela Chao Was Intoxicated When She Died in Car Wreck, Police Report Shows
The Blanco County Sheriff’s Office in Texas called the Feb. 10 episode, in which the shipping executive drove her Tesla into a pond at a family ranch, an “unfortunate accident.”
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WhichUK ☛ Which? Shorts podcast: the truth about electric vehicle reliability
We explain why electric cars could be less reliable than petrol and hybrid cars.
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RFERL ☛ Montenegro Affirms Extradition Of 'Crypto King' To South Korea
Montenegro has made the final decision to extradite Do Kwon, a South Korean entrepreneur known as the "Cryptocurrency King," to his home country.
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Latvia ☛ State Audit: Latvia has not done enough in smart transport solutions [Ed: It means transport that breaks down any time there is some computer issue]
The Latvian Ministry of Transport has not implemented Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in a planned and coordinated manner, the State Audit Office (VK) has concluded in an audit, the report on which was published March 20.
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JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court allows challenge against No Fly List placement to proceed
The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Yonas Fikre’s challenge to his previous placement on the No Fly List can proceed, rejecting the government’s claim that his removal from the list rendered the lawsuit void.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Science Alert ☛ Orcas Have Learned Brutal New Hunting Techniques to Feed in The Open Sea
Crafty apex predators.
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Overpopulation
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New York Times ☛ Afghanistan’s Drought in Photos: Barren Fields and Empty Stomachs
In a country especially vulnerable to climate change, a drought has displaced entire villages and left millions of children malnourished.
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Finance
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Asda confirms new pay rates and fresh staff benefits
Asda has introduced new staff benefits and confirmed its proposal to raise retail pay rates to £12.04 per hour has been accepted by workers.
The Care Concierge benefit, managed by Legal & General, offers workers assistance in later-life care for loved ones, via free confidential one-to-one telephone services, while the Mortgage Advice Bureau provides guidance for staff navigating property purchase or remortgaging.
[...]
Pay rates will initially go up from £11.11 to £11.44 on 1 April to meet National Minimum Wage requirements, followed by another rise to £12.04 on 1 July.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 161 Hongkongers had money frozen after sending it to mainland China via currency exchanges in 2023, gov’t says
A total of 161 Hongkongers had their money frozen after trying to transfer it from the city to mainland China via Hong Kong’s currency exchange shops in 2023, the government has said.
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Latvia ☛ Concerns about smaller-than-planned tax revenue in Latvia
With the inflation shrinking, there are concerns whether Latvia's tax revenues will be at the level previously planned, Finance Minister Arvils Ašeradens told Latvian Television on March 20.
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RFERL ☛ Pakistan, IMF Reach Provisional Agreement On Release Of $1.1 Billion Tranche
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistani authorities reached initial agreement on March 20 for the release of some $1.1 billion from a $3 billion bailout package after negotiations in Islamabad, the IMF said.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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RFA ☛ No bids at auction for Myanmar democracy icon Suu Kyi’s home
At a starting price of US$90 million, observers had predicted no one would bite.
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RFA ☛ Hundreds protest Chinese foreign minister’s visit to Australia
The Australian government has ‘serious concerns’ about human rights in China and Tibet, spokesperson says.
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RFA ☛ Election commission makes it official: Prabowo is Indonesia’s president-elect
The defense minister received 96.2 million votes in his third run for the nation’s top office.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Australia’s Penny Wong hosts China’s Wang Yi in Canberra to talk trade, human rights, Hong Kong
China and Australia claimed to have stabilised long-strained relations after talks in Canberra on Wednesday, despite tensions over a high-profile prisoner, trade and China’s crackdowns in Hong Kong and elsewhere remaining evident.
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Silicon Angle ☛ IPO winter ending? Astera Labs surges in Nasdaq debut as Reddit’s offering raises $519M [Ed: For a company that is losing money and has been offloaded by its "owner"]
The tech industry’s first major public offering of the year exceeded expectations today, while the second priced at the top end of its target range to raise over $500 million. Astera Labs Inc., a supplier of chips for cloud data centers, raised $712.8 million in its IPO late Tuesday by selling 19.8 million shares.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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France24 ☛ Claims that Palestinians are staging videos of their injuries are, once again, proved false
Pro-Israel propaganda sites have been increasingly claiming that videos showing the wounded or injured in Gaza are actually products of "Pallywood" or scenes staged to drum up sympathy for the Palestinians. These campaigns regularly resurface a video that they say offers proof of Palestinians staging a hospital scene. However, the actual video was filmed during a film shoot in Morocco.
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RFA ☛ Taiwan aims to build global platform to counter disinformation
The self-governed democracy has been on the frontline in fighting Chinese offensives for decades.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Reason ☛ Hong Kong Falls, Again
Plus: DEI at the DOE, NYC subway culture, the pandemic's effect on student behavior, and more...
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BIA Net ☛ Censorship on bianet article lifted after top court ruling
New regarding the death of a patient in an İzmir hospital was censored. The censorship has been lifted after the Constitutional Court annulled a law article allowing access bans on grounds of "violation of personal rights."
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ADF ☛ Malian Colonel’s Arrest Part of Effort to Silence Junta Critics
ADF STAFF Col. Alpha Yaya Sangaré flashed a proud smile in front of a roomful of people at the Alioune Blondin Beye Peacekeeping School in Bamako, Mali, on February 24.
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Reason ☛ The Supreme Court Should Reject Clandestine Government Censorship of Online Speech
The Biden administration’s social control media meddling went far beyond "information" and "advice."
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JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court hears oral arguments on Texas councilwoman First Amendment retaliatory arrest case
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on the case Gonzalez v. Trevino, which concerns the arrest of a Castle Hills, Texas councilwoman who argues that she was arrested in retaliation for her critical speech about the city’s government.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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The Straits Times ☛ Assange team sees no sign of resolving US charges after reported plea deal talks
WASHINGTON - A lawyer for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday his legal team saw no indication of resolution to U.S. charges against him, following the publication of a Wall Street Journal report on exploration of a guilty plea.
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BIA Net ☛ bianet editor Ayça Söylemez acquitted of terrorism-related charges
Söylemez stood trial for allegedly "marking a counterterrorism official as a target for a terror group" in a column article.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Aide of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai set up US senator meeting with protesters in 2019, court hears
Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai’s aide arranged for Hong Kong activists to meet US senator Rick Scott when the politician visited the city during the 2019 protests and unrest, a key prosecution witness has told Lai’s national security trial.
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Reason ☛ Interesting Speech or Debate Clause Issue in Devin Nunes' Libel Lawsuit Against NBC
From yesterday's opinion by Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn (S.D.N.Y.) in Nunes v. NBCUniversal Media, LLC: The discovery issues before the Court may present questions of first impression. Because the parties did not adequately address these matters, the Court requests additional briefing.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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EDRI ☛ EDRi-gram, 20 March 2024
On March 13, following years of tireless advocacy, the EU Parliament finally passed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act. But there’s not much to celebrate – the law missed the mark when it comes to protecting our human rights, especially those of migrants and people on the move.
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EDRI ☛ Will the Brussels spyware scandal finally convince the EU to act?
In February, Brussels was rocked by reports of phone hacking and spyware attacks on members of the European Parliament’s defence and security committee. Such intrusions are a huge threat to EU democracy — interfering with decision-making and allowing obstructive disruptions to public debate.
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YLE ☛ New strikes called as dispute deepens
The dispute between unions and the government remains deadlocked after meetings between unions, the Minister for Employment and employer representatives.
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RFA ☛ Trafficked Cambodian teenage girl returns from China
She posts a video on Facebook (Farcebook) thanking those who facilitated her rescue and return.
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JURIST ☛ New York Court of Appeals allows lawsuit alleging racial property tax disparities in New York City to go forward
The New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a lawsuit from Tax Equity Now New York (TENNY), which alleges disparities in the New York City property tax system are disproportionately burdening low-income and majority-people-of-color neighborhoods, can go forward in the New York state courts.
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France24 ☛ Hermes faces lawsuit in California over 'refusal' to sell Birkin handbag
Fashionistas desperate to get their hands on an exclusive Birkin handbag are suing Hermes in California on grounds the company won't sell them one unless they buy other luxury products first.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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APNIC ☛ [Podcast] DNS-OARC’s many faces
DNS-OARC's president, Phil Regnauld, discusses the three faces of DNS-OARC — the community, tools, and DITL collection.
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APNIC ☛ The Internet landscape of South Korea and KRNOG update
Guest Post: Strategic planning leads to remarkable Internet accessibility and usage.
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APNIC ☛ As the balance of security controls shifts, where does responsibility rest?
Guest Post: Increasing encryption online impedes existing methods of detecting malicious traffic. How will industry, standards, and policy settle this dilemma?
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TechCrunch ☛ After raising $1.3B, Inflection is eaten alive by its biggest investor, Microsoft
In June 2023, Inflection announced it had raised $1.3 billion to build what it called “more personal AI.” The lead investor was Microsoft.
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Patents
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ More on Reasonable Expectation of Success from the Federal Circuit
Sisvel’s U.S. Patent 8,971,279 covers a method of sending Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) deactivation signals that essentially “piggyback” on existing messages. SPS is a technique used in LTE networks to more efficiently allocate radio resources to user equipment (UE) for periodic transmissions, such as Voice over IP (VoIP).
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Reviving the Permanent Injunction Inquiry: Federal Circuit Rejects a Categorical Rule Against Injunctions for Licensing Patentees
In a nonprecedential disposition issued March 20, 2024, the Federal Circuit vacated a district court’s denial of a permanent injunction to a patent monopoly owner, finding the lower court read Federal Circuit precedent too broadly to categorically preclude injunctions in situations where a patentee has a history of licensing the patent monopoly to third parties. In re California Expanded Metal Products Co., No. 2023-1140 (Fed Cir. Mar. 20, 2024). The decision reaffirms that the equitable framework laid out by the Supreme Court in eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. requires a case-by-case analysis of irreparable harm and the other injunction factors, even when the patentee’s business model relies on licensing revenue rather than direct competition in practicing the patents. 547 U.S. 388, 391 (2006). However, the decision may well be seen simply as distinguishing between exclusive and non-exclusive licensing approaches.
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Brazil: Animal Health and Patent Litigation
With 1.5 billion chickens and 234.3 million cows, Brazil is an important market for the animal health industry. According to the National Syndicate of the Industry of Animal Health Products (SINDAN, in Portuguese), in 2022, 700 million doses of vaccine were manufactured in Brazil for herbivorous animals, and 21 billion for aviary.
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ China’s Supreme People Court decides FRAND dispute in ACT v Oppo
In December 2023, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of China found that Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer Oppo was responsible for infringing six Chinese standard essential patents (SEPs): 99813601.8、00815854.1、99813602.6、99813640.9、01803954.5 and 99813641.7, all related to the adaptive multi-rate wideband standard (AMR-WB) which includes audio, cellular communication, and broadband technologies.
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Unified Patents ☛ Unified Files Amicus in Roku Fed.Cir. appeal from the ITC, Supporting Stronger Domestic Industry Requirement
On March 18, 2024, Unified filed an amicus brief in support of Roku's petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Roku v. ITC on the issue of relaxed enforcement of the economic domestic industry requirement in ITC cases.
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Kangaroo Courts
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JUVE ☛ EPO Patent Index shows UPC effect as companies request unitary protection [Ed: UPC is illegal, but this publisher, JUVE, was paid to promote this fake 'court', in effect participating in and profiting from the crime]
According to statistics released this week by the European Patent Office in its annual EPO Patent Index, patent monopoly owners requested unitary protection for 17.5% of all European patents granted in 2023. This is equal to over 18,300 filed requests.
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Software Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ IP Edge entity, AdaptFlow, media serving patent monopoly found invalid
On March 19, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) issued a notice of intent to issue an ex parte reexamination certificate in RE90/015,248, cancelling all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 10,015,064, owned and asserted by AdaptFlow Technologies LLC, an NPE and IP Edge entity. The '064 patent monopoly generally relates to prefetching content based on an access pattern of a user on a network.
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Unified Patents ☛ Fitistics fitness tracking patent monopoly found invalid
On March 19, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a final rejection of the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 11,185,738, owned and asserted by Fitistics, LLC, an NPE. The ‘738 patent monopoly is generally directed to tracking exercise using a handheld device to obtain data from an exercise machine or body monitoring device.
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Unified Patents ☛ VDPP stitched image patent monopoly challenged
On March 18, 2024, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 9,426,452, owned and asserted by VDPP LLC, an NPE. The '452 patent monopoly is generally directed to image processing to form a combined image from multiple video streams.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Are These Two Stylized "X" Marks Confusable for Footwear?
The USPTO refused to register the mark shown below left for, inter alia, footwear, finding confusion likely with the mark shown below right, for "shoes." Applicant Global Brand Partners asserted that "the marks are sufficiently different” to avoid a likelihood of confusion. What do you think? In re Global Brand Partners Pte Ltd, Serial No. 97102423 (March 18, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Mark Lebow).
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ ‘Hum a Song’ Search Hits YouTube Music
After adding the ability to identify what’s playing in the background on Surveillance Giant Google Search and YouTube, YouTube Music is finally rolling out ‘hum to search’ functionality.
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France24 ☛ French competition watchdog fines Surveillance Giant Google €250 million for EU copyright monopoly breaches
France’s competition watchdog on Wednesday said it fined Surveillance Giant Google 250 million euros ($271.73 million) for breaches linked to EU intellectual property rules in its relationship with media publishers.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Google fined $272M by French government over Hey Hi (AI) use of news content
France’s competition watchdog said today it has fined Surveillance Giant Google LLC €250 million (about $272 million), citing concerns that the company used copyrighted information from media publishers in the European Union.
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Digital Music News ☛ Rightsify Releases Hydra II to Revolutionize Hey Hi (AI) Music Generation
Rightsify releases Hydra II, trained on the music licensing company’s dataset of a million-plus songs. Hydra II features a suite of new editing tools to enable fully customizable copyright-free Hey Hi (AI) music. The following was created in collaboration with Rightsify, a company DMN is proud to be partnering with.
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Public Domain Review ☛ Tom Seidmann-Freud’s Book of Hare Stories (1924)
An uncanny collection of folk tales written by Sigmund Freud’s niece.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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