Netflix CEO made a visit to the White House before buying Warner Bros.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos met with Donald Trump to try and win him over ahead of the bidding war for Warner Bros.
You need to watch the modern horror masterpiece, His House
His House is a modern horror masterpiece that’s better than your average “haunted by trauma” fare.
Apache warns of critical vulnerability in Tika toolkit
The Apache Software Foundation discovered a serious security flaw in Apache Tika, a widely used open source tool for analyzing and extracting metadata from files. The vulnerability has the maximum CVSS score of 10.0 and could enable exploitation if systems are not fully updated.
Apache warns of critical vulnerability in Tika toolkit - Techzine Global
Apache reports a security flaw in Apache Tika, an open source tool for analyzing and extracting metadata from files.Mels Dees (Techzine)
US | Ex-Honduran president thanks God – and Trump – for drug-trafficking pardon
Juan Orlando Hernández thanked the Lord for being ‘a free man’ and then Trump for ‘changing my life’
Archived version: archive.is/newest/theguardian.…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Seizure of South Yemen by UAE-backed forces could lead to independence claim
STC troops now control all eight governorates, a major setback for Emirates’ regional rival Saudi Arabia
Archived version: archive.is/newest/theguardian.…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Germany's Merz makes first visit to Israel as chancellor
Berlin (AFP) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz heads to Israel on Saturday for his first visit since taking office, aiming to reaffirm traditionally solid ties that were shaken during the Gaza war.Merz, after stopping in Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II, is set to fly on to Israel in the evening before meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday.
The German leader is also expected to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
Given the dark legacy of Nazi Germany's industrial-scale murder of Jews, German leaders have long seen unflinching support for Israel as a bedrock of the country's foreign policy.
In a speech in September celebrating the reopening of Munich's synagogue, which was severely damaged by the Nazis, Merz visibly struggled to hold back tears, his voice breaking.
But Israeli-German ties were shaken during the Gaza war [...].
Merz, who took power in May this year, has repeatedly criticised Israel's relentless military campaign, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
In August, he also moved to restrict sales of weapons for use in Gaza.
Since a fragile US-backed ceasefire and hostage deal ended full-scale fighting, Germany has lifted those export restrictions.
Despite the ceasefire deal, more than 350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health authorities, as well as three Israeli soldiers.
The UN also warns that Israel is still not allowing enough aid into Gaza.
Before leaving Berlin on Saturday morning, Merz spoke with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmud Abbas.
A spokesman said Merz underscored German support for a two-state solution but urged Abbas to push through "urgently necessary reforms" of the PA in order to play a "constructive role" in the postwar order.
After the recent strains, Israel expects a "signal of continued support" from Merz, said Michael Rimmel, head of the Jerusalem office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, affiliated with Merz's centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU).German-Israeli relations have been strained over the past two years but remain "better than many people think", Rimmel told AFP.
But he said Berlin has little discernible influence on Netanyahu's government, which has pushed on with West Bank settlements despite protests from Berlin and elsewhere, and dismissed calls for a two-state solution.
"Certainly, President Trump and the Americans have greater influence," said Rimmel, noting that the US president was able to pressure Netanyahu into the Gaza ceasefire.
Gil Shohat, head of the Tel Aviv office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which is affiliated with Germany's far-left Die Linke party, sharply criticised Merz for making the trip.
Shohat argued that Merz is effectively offering political support to Netanyahu and Israel's hard-right government.
"Netanyahu is a wanted war criminal and is under suspicion of corruption," said Shohat. "Going there now and legitimising him is a fatal sign of normalisation in a situation that must not be normalised."
Although Merz's public criticism of Israel was unusual for a German leader, it was measured by international standards.
Merz recently offered Israel full-throated support as European broadcasters weighed whether to exclude the country from the annual Eurovision Song Contest, calling such a possibility "scandalous".
The decision to include Israel in the upcoming Eurovision event, reached on Thursday, was warmly welcomed in Berlin even as it prompted boycotts from Spain, the Netherlands and elsewhere.
Still, despite the close ties, German officials have said there are currently no plans to invite Netanyahu -- who faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes in Gaza from the International Criminal Court (ICC) -- to Berlin.
Merz, not long after his party's election victory in February, vowed to invite the Israeli leader and told him in a phone call that he would not be arrested.
Any tensions in German-Israeli relations have also not disrupted key military ties. Germany last week put into operation the first phase of the Israeli-made Arrow missile defence shield.
The $4.5 billion deal was reportedly the largest arms export agreement in Israeli history, and Berlin has also turned to Israeli firms for help in drone defence.
The German-Israeli Society -- which said Merz's visit must aim to "repair the damaged German-Israeli relations" -- also pointed out that defence ties "have long since reversed".
"Israel is no longer dependent on German technology, but rather German defence depends on Israeli technology."
In Jerusalem, Merz reaffirms Germany's support for Israel
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz flew into Israel Saturday for his first visit since taking office, and reaffirmed Berlin's support after traditionally solid ties between the countries were shaken by the Gaza war.RFI
Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. in Deal Valued at $82.7 Billion
Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. in $82.7 Billion Deal
The streaming giant's proposal includes a $5.8 billion breakup fee and promises to maintain Warner Bros. current operations, "including theatrical releases." Theater owners are already speaking out.Georg Szalai (The Hollywood Reporter)
Democratic governors say the party's midterm strategy must focus on voters' pocketbook concerns
From the playbook of no shit sherlock.
Of course that's not what ineffective democratic leadership will do.
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China’s trade surplus tops $1 trillion for first time
China’s annual trade surplus in goods has topped $1 trillion for the first time, with plunging exports to the United States amid a tariff war more than compensated for by shipments to other markets, new data shows.
Figures released by China’s General Administration of Customs on Monday showed the trade surplus for the first 11 months of the year hit $1.08 trillion in November, as exports climbed 5.9 percent year-on-year that month, reversing a 1.1 percent decline the month prior.
The leap came despite a continued slump in exports to the US, which fell 28.6 percent to $33.8bn last month, the data showed.
Beijing and Washington have been locked in a bitter trade war involving hefty tariffs during the second administration of US President Donald Trump, forcing Chinese exporters to pivot to other markets – although the leaders of the world’s two largest economies agreed to pause the hostilities during a meeting in South Korea in October.
China trade surplus tops $1tn for first time amid pivot to counter US lull
Chinese exports climb as exporters reroute shipments to other markets amid slump in shipments to the US.Al Jazeera
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Fish hook theory
Left–right political spectrum - ProleWiki
The left–right political spectrum is a diagram intended to categorize political ideologies in 3 distinct categories: left wing, right wing and centrist. The model...ProleWiki
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“Trump’s not their Daddy any more.” Russian paper on Europe, over new US national security strategy
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SARS-CoV-2 Leaves a Lasting Mark on the Immune System
SARS-CoV-2 Leaves a Lasting Mark on the Immune System - John Snow Project
A landmark new study shows COVID-19 isn’t ‘just a cold’: One infection left people with long-lasting immune damage, and those with heart disease lost up to 70% of key immune cells. Reinfections may worsen this.John Snow Project
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Old Teslas Are Falling Apart
Old Teslas Are Falling Apart
On Consumer Reports' latest ranking of used car reliability, Tesla came in dead last with a rating not even half of the top placed brand.Frank Landymore (Futurism)
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This is why I won't buy a Tesla.
Fortunately for me, used cars with manual transmission are dead cheap here in Slovakia. I think I saw one for 3-4K€ on used car reseller website.
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Bag of words, have mercy on us
Bag of words, have mercy on us
OR: Claude will you go to prom with me?Adam Mastroianni (Experimental History)
The Supreme Court weighs Trump's bid to fire independent agency board members
The Trump administration’s push to expand control over independent federal agencies comes before a sympathetic Supreme Court that could overturn a 90-year-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members.
Lawyers for the administration are defending President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter without cause and calling on the court to jettison the unanimous 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor.
Arguments are taking place Monday.
The court’s six conservative justices already have signaled strong support for the administration’s position, over the objection of their three liberal colleagues, by allowing Slaughter and the board members of other agencies to be removed from their jobs even as their legal challenges continue.
Monday, December 8, 2025
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The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]
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of the Kyiv Independent
Russia’s war against Ukraine
Aftermath of the destruction of a residential building following a Russian attack with FAB-250 and drones in the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on Dec. 7, 2025. One person was killed and a 15-year-old boy was injured in the attacks. (Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Locals report explosions near Engels airfield, oil depot in Russia’s Saratov Oblast amid overnight drone attacks. Locals reported explosions near the Engels airfield and an oil depot amid overnight drone attacks in Russia’s Saratov and Rostov oblasts.
Kellogg claims Ukraine peace deal close, with Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant key sticking points. Trump envoy Keith Kellogg says a Ukraine peace deal is in its “final stretch” as talks focus on territorial concessions and security guarantees.
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Ukraine reports frontline gain in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast as Russia advances in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. Amid an ongoing Russian offensive, Ukraine has liberated a village in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState and Ukraine’s military reported.
Ukraine braces for ‘critical damage’ after Russian strike on Kharkiv Oblast dam threatens water supply. Russia attacked the Pechenihy dam on Dec. 7, threatening the reservoir that supplies water to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Read our exclusives
Ukraine war latest: Ukrainian drones score ‘successful hit’ on Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery, General Staff says
Ukrainian forces conducted another strike on Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery — one of the country’s largest — during the night of Dec. 5-6, the General Staff reported, marking the ninth attack on the facility this year.
Photo: Wikipedia
Learn more
Looking for the 10 best Ukraine-related books of 2025? We’ve got you
The Kyiv Independent has selected 10 of the best Ukraine-related books published in 2025. Curious readers should use this list as a guide on the path to discovering even more books from this and previous years, with the anticipation of what is to come in 2026 as well.
Photo: The Kyiv Independent
Independent journalism is never easy, and it’s even harder in wartime
Yet we can do it without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise — because of our community.
Human costs of war
At least 2 killed, 19 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over past day. Russia launched five ballistic missiles and 241 drones at Ukraine overnight, the Air Force reported.
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,180,870 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. The number includes 1,080 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
Trump’s peace plan hits a wall | Ukraine This Week
International response
Czech president says Europe may need to shoot down Russian aircraft, drones violating NATO airspace. Czech President Petr Pavel warned that repeated Russian airspace violations may eventually force Europe to shoot down Russian aircraft and drones, and said European countries must be ready to fight and win a war on their own if the U.S. is tied up elsewhere.
Russia, China hold joint anti-missile drills on Russian territory. China says recent joint anti-missile drills with Russia on Russian territory were routine and not aimed at any third party.
Son of president who shut down US corruption watchdogs slams Ukraine for corruption. Donald Trump Jr. warned on Dec. 7 that his father may walk away from Ukraine, parroting Kremlin propaganda about corruption in Kyiv driving Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
In other news
Russia’s Africa Corps committing war crimes in Mali, AP reports. The AP spoke to 34 refugees who reported kidnappings, sexual assault, and civilian killings at the hands of the Africa Corps, a paramilitary group controlled by the Russian Defense Ministry.
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Ilhan Omar says Trump's anti-Somali tirade ' completely disgusting
Ilhan Omar says Trump’s anti-Somali tirade ‘completely disgusting’
Minnesota congresswoman says ‘hateful rhetoric’ can lead to ‘dangerous actions by people who listen to the president’José Olivares (The Guardian)
Meta planning massive cuts to Reality Labs metaverse division
Report: Meta planning massive cuts to Reality Labs metaverse division
The money it is saving is to be shifted over to its AI wearables businessAlex Forbes-Calvin (GamesIndustry.biz)
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Arizona Attorney General sues Temu(Online Shopping Platform) over malware, data exfiltration activities and more
Attorney General Mayes Sues Online Shopping Platform Temu for Stealing Arizonans’ Data and Misleading Consumers | Attorney General's Office
PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes today announced the filing of a lawsuit against Temu, the Chinese online shopping platform, for violations of the Arizona Cwww.azag.gov
How Snapchat manipulates its users through notifications
Our recent research into Snapchat shows that its uses misleading notification. This is not legally allowed. Namely, the European Digital Services Act prohibits misleading and manipulative design on online platforms. The research serves as input for possible enforcement actions by the Dutch Authority for Consumer and Markets (Autoriteit Consument & Markt) and supports our advice to include the regulation of attention-grabbing notifications in the Digital Fairness Act.
How Snapchat manipulates its users through notifications
Bits of Freedom komt op voor internetvrijheid door de online grondrechten op communicatievrijheid en privacy te beschermen.Bits of Freedom
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The Moment Carter Opens The Shrine, 1924, Egypt
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RIP Windows: Linux GPU Gaming Benchmarks on Bazzite
We're finally benchmarking GPU performance in Linux, first using the Bazzite OS following thousands of community requests specifically for this operating system.
RIP Windows: Linux GPU Gaming Benchmarks on Bazzite | GamersNexus
GPUs RIP Windows: Linux GPU Gaming Benchmarks on Bazzite December 5, 2025 Last Updated: 2025-12-05 We're finally benchmarking GPU performance in Linux, first using the Bazzite OS following thousands of community requests specifically for this operati…gamersnexus.net
Lazarus Group’s IT Workers Scheme Hacker Group Caught Live On Camera
Lazarus Group’s IT Workers Scheme Hacker Group Caught Live On Camera
Lazarus Group’s Famous Chollima unit has been caught “live on camera” running its remote IT worker scheme, after researchers funneled its operatives into fake laptops that were actually long‑running sandbox environments under full surveillance.Guru Baran (CybersecurityNews)
Advent Calendar 8
Advent Calendar
Zen Mischief Photographs
This year for our Advent Calendar we have a selection of my photographs from recent years. They may not be technically the best, or the most recent, but they’re ones which, for various reasons, I rather like.
© Keith C Marshall, 2018
Click the image for a larger view
Heartless Bastards - Restless Ones (2015)
Il quinto album degli Heartless Bastards è uno splendido esempio di gruppo che gradualmente giunge a una completa maturità artistica. A differenza di band il cui talento emerge da subito in maniera più cristallina gli Heartless Bastards hanno dovuto fare parecchia strada per trovare la loro dimensione ideale dopo aver oscillato tra post-punk e country... Leggi e ascolta...
Heartless Bastards - Restless Ones (2015)
Il quinto album degli Heartless Bastards è uno splendido esempio di gruppo che gradualmente giunge a una completa maturità artistica. A differenza di band il cui talento emerge da subito in maniera più cristallina gli Heartless Bastards hanno dovuto fare parecchia strada per trovare la loro dimensione ideale dopo aver oscillato tra post-punk e country... artesuono.blogspot.com/2015/07…
Ascolta il disco: album.link/s/5Kl8GqKvIvfmR1yuB…
Home – Identità DigitaleSono su: Mastodon.uno - Pixelfed - Feddit
Heartless Bastards - Restless Ones (2015)
di martchelo Il quinto album degli Heartless Bastards è uno splendido esempio di gruppo che gradualmente giunge a una completa maturità ...Silvano Bottaro (Blogger)
How I block all online ads
How I block all online ads
A couple of years ago, I decided I'd had enough of ads. Not just the occasional banner or a quick pre-roll video — I mean all of them. They have to go.troubled.engineer
Vibe Coding: Empowering and Imprisoning - Anil Dash
Vibe Coding: Empowering and Imprisoning - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.Anil Dash
RRF Caserta. Rassegna Stampa 08 12 25 USA e Russia contro Europa. Sport F1 Calcio
La riposte pathétique d’Elon Musk face à l’Europe
C’est un spectacle fascinant, presque shakespearien s’il n’était pas joué par des clowns numériques, qui se déroule actuellement entre la commission européenne et ce qu’il reste de Twitter. Vendredi dernier, l’Union Européenne a frappé fort avec une amende de 120 millions d’euros pour violation du Digital Services Act. La raison ? Des pratiques trompeuses, un manque de transparence crasse et, surtout, ce fameux système de certification payant qui permet à n’importe quel escroc d’acheter une crédibilité autrefois réservée aux comptes vérifiés.
Mais au lieu de faire profil bas, d’analyser ses erreurs ou même de prétendre s’améliorer, X a décidé de réagir avec la maturité d’un adolescent privé de sa console de jeu. La plateforme a contre-attaqué en bannissant le compte publicitaire de la commission européenne. Le motif invoqué ? Une supposée tromperie. L’ironie est telle qu’elle en deviendrait presque étouffante.
Une vengeance aussi mesquine qu’inutile
Commençons par le cœur de cette blague cosmique. Samedi, Nikita Bier, le responsable produit chez X (un poste qui doit nécessiter une consommation industrielle d’aspirine), a annoncé triomphalement avoir banni le compte publicitaire de la commission. Selon lui, l’institution aurait violé les règles de la plateforme.
Le problème ? Cette dernière ne dépense plus un centime en publicité sur X depuis 2023. C’est là toute la beauté de la stratégie d’Elon Musk. Pour punir une entité qui vient de vous coller une amende de 120 millions d’euros, vous décidez de lui interdire d’acheter des publicités… qu’elle n’achetait déjà plus.
Un porte-parole de la commission a d’ailleurs confirmé l’absurdité de la situation, rappelant que leur politique de non-publicité sur la plateforme est en place depuis plus d’un an, en raison précisément des inquiétudes liées à la désinformation. La suspension imposée par X est donc aussi effrayante qu’un pistolet à eau face à un incendie de forêt.
L’accusation de la faille imaginaire
Pour justifier cette décision grotesque, X a dû inventer une narration où la victime devient le bourreau. Nikita Bier accuse la commission d’avoir utilisé un « exploit » (une faille) dans l’outil de composition publicitaire de X. Selon lui, l’UE s’est connectée à un compte publicitaire dormant pour poster un lien déguisé en vidéo afin d’augmenter artificiellement sa portée.
En d’autres termes, X reproche à ses utilisateurs d’utiliser son interface telle qu’elle a été codée par ses ingénieurs. Si le compositeur de posts permet de créer des liens qui ressemblent à des vidéos, ce n’est pas un piratage de haut vol. C’est simplement la preuve que l’interface utilisateur du réseau social est une usine à gaz mal conçue.
L’hôpital qui se moque de la charité numérique
L’hypocrisie atteint ici des sommets stratosphériques. Rappelons le contexte, X vient d’être condamné pour tromperie. Pourquoi ? Parce que son système de coches bleues, autrefois gage d’authenticité, est devenu un simple reçu de paiement. L’UE a jugé que cela trompait les utilisateurs en leur faisant croire à la légitimité de comptes qui ne sont pas vérifiés. Et quelle est la défense de la plateforme ? Accuser l’UE à son tour de tromperie parce qu’un bouton de lecture vidéo fonctionne bizarrement sur mobile.
C’est exact, sur la version bureau, le bouton « play » du post de la commission lance la vidéo. Sur mobile, il semble rediriger vers le communiqué de presse annonçant l’amende. X appelle cela une manipulation malveillante. Le reste du monde appelle cela un bug d’interface sur une plateforme en déclin technique. Ce comportement erratique des vidéos est d’ailleurs monnaie courante sur X. Mais quand il s’agit de l’UE, soudainement, c’est un complot machiavélique.
Musk – La diplomatie du « Bullshit »
Pendant que ses lieutenants s’activaient à inventer des excuses techniques, le grand patron, Elon Musk, a brillé par son éloquence habituelle. Sa réponse à l’amende historique et aux critiques détaillées de l’Union Européenne ? Un tweet lapidaire: « Bullshit ». Suivi d’une question rhétorique tout aussi nuancée: « Combien de temps avant que l’UE ne disparaisse ? #AbolishTheEU ». C’est la réaction d’un homme qui n’a plus d’arguments. Face à un cadre législatif rigoureux comme le DSA, les mèmes et les insultes ne suffisent pas. L’UE demande des comptes sur la transparence, la protection des données et la véracité de l’information. Le milliardaire répond par des slogans populistes et des représailles techniques inefficaces.
twitter.com/elonmusk/status/19…
La réalité va frapper fort
Cette petite guéguerre sur l’interdiction du compte publicitaire ne changera strictement rien à la réalité financière et juridique qui attend X. L’entreprise a 60 jours pour répondre aux préoccupations concernant les coches bleues et 90 jours pour régler ses problèmes de transparence publicitaire. Si elle échoue, les pénalités pourraient s’aggraver. La plateforme peut bien bannir tous les comptes administratifs qu’elle souhaite, cela n’effacera pas l’ardoise. Prétendre que la commission a piraté l’algorithme en utilisant les outils officiels est une défense qui fera rire n’importe quel tribunal.
En fin de compte, cet épisode illustre parfaitement l’état actuel de X, une plateforme techniquement défaillante, dirigée par l’impulsivité, qui préfère accuser ses régulateurs de tricherie plutôt que de réparer son propre code ou de respecter la loi. L’UE a demandé de la clarté et de l’honnêteté. En réponse, elle a eu droit à une crise de colère. Si c’était ça leur stratégie de défense pour prouver qu’ils sont une entreprise sérieuse et non trompeuse, c’est un échec spectaculaire. Mais au moins, c’est divertissant.
Bruxelles frappe fort - X écope d'une amende historique de 120 millions d'euros pour ses pratiques trompeuses
L'UE inflige une amende de 120 millions d'euros à X d'Elon Musk, saluant une victoire pour la régulation numérique et la transparence.GIGAWATTS
Who is Sam Mraiche? Inside Alberta’s health care controversy
The Globe and Mail's Tom Cardoso, Carrie Tait, Mark Mackinnon, and Stephanie Chambers have the deep dive on Sam Mraiche. I'll include some highlights, but this deserves a good read because it provides an overview with additional information about some of the relationships between Sam Mraiche, Danielle Smith, Jitendra Prasad, and Mickey Amery.
Her former chief of staff, Marshall Smith, hired multiple relatives of Mr. Mraiche at the same time as he was living in a home owned by one of Mr. Mraiche’s sisters.
...
“All of my family is in Canada now,” said Jamil Omairi, a pharmacist in the nearby town of Lala, another springboard for people destined for Alberta. Mr. Omairi is related to Mickey Amery, Alberta’s justice minister, himself a long-time friend and relative of Mr. Mraiche.“All the young people here, people between 16 and 20, they have two ways to go,” he said. “If they find work, they stay. If there’s no work, they travel, and Brazil and Canada are the first destinations.”
...
Mraiche may be a capable import/exporter, but his world view could be mercenary. An exchange between Mraiche and BTNX, a supplier of COVID rapid tests, highlights this view.
The following week, Mr. Mraiche proposed a solution: He did “a lot of business” in Turkey, he explained, and suggested the BTNX executive use those contacts to obtain additional tests.Mr. Mraiche also returned to the idea of diverting tests, this time from the federal government. “They’re really going to notice that a million is missing?” he asked.
“They will, yes,” responded Mr. Sunderani.
As deliveries fell further and further behind, Mr. Mraiche, who told Mr. Sunderani he was under intense pressure from Mr. Prasad, became increasingly frustrated.
“Do you know what you’re doing to me, Iqbal?” Mr. Mraiche said in an early February call. “I don’t only sell rapid test kits. I’m one of the biggest constructors here, too. Do you know what you’ve done to me? I’ve had so much mud thrown on my face, it’s not even funny.”
“You better hope there’s another wave that needs rapid tests,” he continued later in the call.
“Sam, that’s – that’s a bad thing to hope for,” Mr. Sunderani said.
“Is it? Me and you are in the business.”
“Sam, you know what? At the end of the day I don’t know about you, but I’ve made enough money. I don’t want to wish –”
“Has Jeff Bezos made enough money yet?”
“I don’t care who Jeff Bezos is,” Mr. Sunderani replied. “He has – I mean, I don’t want to wish –”
“No one’s wishing anything. It’s just going with the flow,” Mr. Mraiche said.
A month after that call, BTNX sued MHCare for $7.5-million, alleging Mr. Mraiche’s business failed to pay for more than 200,000 test kits and refused to pay for a truckload it received in error. MHCare countersued for $62.5-million, alleging BTNX overcharged, caused the company to lose money and tarnished its reputation. The two companies remain locked in litigation, and neither party’s allegations have been proven in court.
...
By the spring of 2022, the government’s response to the pandemic left Premier Jason Kenney battered. A scant majority of United Conservative Party members supported him in a leadership review in May, 2022, and he agreed to step down after the party selected a replacement.Danielle Smith, then a party leadership hopeful, campaigned on COVID-19 grievances, railing against mask mandates and vaccine passports. Within a few months, she’d established herself as a front-runner.
A copy of Ms. Smith’s private calendar obtained by The Globe shows she took meetings during the campaign with everyone from physicians to executives – including Sam Mraiche.
In August, 2022, she was scheduled to dine at his north Edmonton home, the calendar shows.
Five days later, she was booked for a 30-minute Zoom call with Mr. Mraiche and Mr. Prasad, who retired from Alberta Health Services in the spring but stayed on as a consultant.
Ms. Smith, Mr. Prasad and Mr. Mraiche did not respond to questions about the meetings.
Who is Sam Mraiche? Inside Alberta’s health care controversy
A Globe investigation into the provincial health agency’s dealings with a company whose contracts have come under scrutinyTom Cardoso (The Globe and Mail)
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I guess you've already done updates on your packages in termux?
Updating:pkg upgradeani-cli -U
I see that ani-cli prefer to use yt-dlp to ffmpeg if it's available so you could try installing that too.
Too many laws passing without 'proper scrutiny', Geoffrey Palmer says
A former Labour Prime Minister says Parliament is passing too many laws without proper scrutiny.
Sir Geoffrey Palmer told Nine to Noon the government was increasingly pushing through legislation under urgency, which allowed it to skip stages such as public consultation and select committees.
But Leader of the House Chris Bishop said just nine Bills have been passed in that way, and there were good reasons for all of them.
Palmer said the normal checks and balances were stripped out when laws were made at pace.
"Urgency has become the default mechanism for dealing with Parliamentary legislation and the standing orders are not followed and you also have extended sittings - and both of those mean the Government's agenda is completely at the will of the Government," he said.
Palmer said the Fast-Track Approvals Act 2024 - and its amendment - was a classic example of a trend that "ministers know best" and was "ministerial dictatorship".
"It was criticised by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment then, Simon Upton, the amendment bill puts the process that was enacted in 2024 on steroids.
"It gets faster and faster. It will be a fast-track to environmental degradation, [more] than it already is."
Bishop was approached for further comment.
The legislation, which passed under urgency at the end of last year, is back before Parliament with an amendment that the government intended to push through by the end of 2025.
It said the amendment to the Act would increase competition in the supermarket sector.
Despite being open for just over 10 days, it received 2158 submissions, with about 95 percent opposed.
Palmer said legislative checks and balances - which he already considered lacking - were further reduced when legislation was made at pace.
"What is the hurry? Legislation is law-making. You want to get it right. You have to analyse it, you have to do proper research, you don't bang it through because a minister has an idea.
"It needs to be properly drafted by Parliamentary council. We have had a degradation of our legislative system in New Zealand in recent years."
Bishop said the government had a big legislative agenda and limited hours in ordinary house time to get it done.
Regarding the use of urgency, he said: "I am reluctant to use urgency to avoid select committees outside of the standard Budget urgency process, and it is only done so when there are good reasons."
Too many laws passing without 'proper scrutiny', Geoffrey Palmer says
Sir Geoffrey Palmer says the government is increasingly pushing through legislation under urgency and skipping consultation.Ninetonoon (RNZ)
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Ripping Blu Rays is way deeper than I expected
I didn't think I'd spend hours reading about this today, but some things surprised me:
- Just using a Playstation sounds like it won't work or will be a huge time sink.
- Blu ray optical drives are way more expensive than I thought
- The copy protections on Blu rays are exceptionally annoying, to the extent where there is really only one closed source software -- MakeMKV -- that can work around them.
This post goes into some interesting details. - Finding a drive that is known to work with MakeMKV is a pain. There's a brand called Pioneer that seems promising but they have stopped producing bluray drives ~~went out of business last year~~. I have no idea which model works, and it's common that secondhand sellers will swap enclosures and pass it off as a different model.
- Sometimes you need to flash the firmware on the drive to make it work with 4K UHD discs.
I was going to try ripping a Blu-ray that I bought recently, since I couldn't find a quality rip anywhere, but I'm pretty turned off from the whole prospect at this point.
Anyway I'm not really asking for a specific reply, I just thought this topic was interesting and I'm curious what people think about Blu rays and optical media in general. Does the future seem bleak? Are we going to be stuck with shitty WebDLs for most new content? Or is physical media here to stay?
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I ripped a ton of my stuff back in the day, guess I've been lucky, every generic BD drive i've used just worked.
But once you get past the "works" hurdle, the real struggle begins.
It's slow, like really slow. Assuming you can find the right titles and convince makemkv extract them, it's a start the process and go brew a cup of coffee slow. But hey, I've got time and you don't need to watch it ... mostly.
Depending on the disk, it's still either crap quality or it takes up an ungodly amount of space. Even a decent sized drive buckles sooner or later if you're generating 20GB images.
Unless you're up on your network game, your streaming sticks/tv's can hardly handle the throughput to stream the video.
So you encode the video. HEVC (which is getting dicey starting january as the royalties go up and processors stop support hardware decoding) or hopefully AV1, which still has spotty support in places. and the re-encode? The easy software isn't free, the free software isn't easy, but FFMPEG isn't that hard to work with.
OR, you find an ISO provider and download it.
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I guess I lucked out when I bought my BD-R drive before I was aware that MakeMKV needed extra stuff like firmware. But my LG WH16NS60 is one that took the flash (never had to mess with firmware on an optical drive and was worried I would brick it). But the process was pretty easy and getting into ripping BR after so long meant that the easy option was around to handle the steps. Kind of considering getting a back-up drive to have around if/when the one I have dies (especially since big brands are dropping out or may do so in the coming years).
While not as easy as just using torrents or other P2P. I have found it kind of fun to get back into ripping CD/DVD/BD and learn/re-learn how things work these days. Also nice to have all the options I can to be able to have access to media in the event any of them are down. The only super frustrating thing is that so much of modern releases don't get physical (or even purchasable digital) releases. And in some cases where a physical release is an option, they are DVD and not even a 720p BD. Digital options are even worse in a lot of random cases where a store might have just part of a show (or even episodes in a season not part of it).
Currently the only real issue that I have is that I really really need to build a new main PC and finally turn my current PC into only being for ripping and hosting what I have. And to get large HDDs to replace the 2TB and 4TB SSDs I currently have for it all of course. I really would like to have good copies of 4K stuff without having to worry about going with bad encodes that look worse than many 1080p releases that my TV upscales.
Thai military launches airstrikes on Cambodia as cross-border clashes erupt
Thai military launches airstrikes on Cambodia as cross-border clashes erupt
Both nations accuse each other of opening fire firstStaff Writer (Nikkei Asia)
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Why fossil fuel influence in children's education is a democratic problem, not just a climate problem
Why fossil fuel influence in children's education is a democratic problem, not just a climate problem
Australia’s children deserve the truth about climate change. They deserve to learn science that is free from corporate spin, especially when it comes to industries driving the crisis that will shape the rest of their lives.thepoint.com.au
GP Abu Dhabi, l'analisi: Norris campione, ERA ORA! E grazie a un superbo Max
GP Abu Dhabi, l'analisi: Norris campione, ERA ORA! E grazie a un superbo Max
Pino Allievi analizza l'andamento del Gran Premio di Abu Dhabi, ultima gara del mondiale 2025 di Formula 1 che ha incoronato Lando NorrisPino Allievi (FormulaPassion.it)
Hegseth Defends Boat Bombings as New Details Further Undermine Administration's Justifications
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1217…
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday defended the Trump administration's policy of bombing suspected drug-trafficking vessels even as new details further undermined the administration's stated justifications for the policy.
According to the Guardian, Hegseth told a gathering at the Ronald Reagan presidential library that the boat bombings, which so far have killed at least 87 people, are necessary to protect Americans from illegal drugs being shipped to the US.
"If you’re working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you," Hegseth said. "Let there be no doubt about it."
However, leaked details about a classified briefing delivered to lawmakers last week by Adm. Frank Bradley about a September 2 boat strike cast new doubts on Hegseth's justifications.
CNN reported on Friday that Bradley told lawmakers that the boat taken out by the September 2 attack was not even headed toward the US, but was going "to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname," a small nation in the northeast of South America.
While Bradley acknowledged that the boat was not heading toward the US, he told lawmakers that the strike on it was justified because the drugs it was carrying could have theoretically wound up in the US at some point.
Additionally, NBC News reported on Saturday that Bradley told lawmakers that Hegseth had ordered all 11 men who were on the boat targeted by the September 2 strike to be killed because "they were on an internal list of narco-terrorists who US intelligence and military officials determined could be lethally targeted."
This is relevant because the US military launched a second strike during the September 2 operation to kill two men who had survived the initial strike on their vessel, which many legal experts consider to be either a war crime or an act of murder under domestic law.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, watched video of the September 2 double-tap attack last week, and he described the footage as “one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.”
“Any American who sees the video that I saw will see its military attacking shipwrecked sailors,” Himes explained. “Now, there’s a whole set of contextual items that the admiral explained. Yes, they were carrying drugs. They were not in position to continue their mission in any way... People will someday see this video and they will see that that video shows, if you don’t have the broader context, an attack on shipwrecked sailors.”
While there has been much discussion about the legality of the September 2 double-tap strike in recent days, some critics have warned that fixating on this particular aspect of the administration's policy risks taking the focus off the illegality of the boat-bombing campaign as a whole.
Daphne Eviatar, director for security and human rights for Amnesty International USA, said on Friday that the entire boat-bombing campaign has been "illegal under both domestic and international law."
"All of them constitute murder because none of the victims, whether or not they were smuggling illegal narcotics, posed an imminent threat to life," she said. "Congress must take action now to stop the US military from murdering more people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific."
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
'All of Them Constitute Murder,' Amnesty Says of Trump Boat Bombings
"Congress must take action now to stop the US military from murdering more people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific."brad-reed (Common Dreams)
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in reply to MelodiousFunk • • •- ‘Rush Hour 4’ revived after Trump urged Paramount Skydance to resurrect franchise: Reports
- “Big Fat Bribe”: Stephen Colbert’s Show Canceled After He Slams Trump & Paramount/Skydance Merger
“Big Fat Bribe”: Stephen Colbert’s Show Canceled After He Slams Trump & Paramount/Skydance Merger
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