https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/12/08/thailand-launches-airstrikes-inside-cambodia-after-accusing-it-of-violating-ceasefire/

At least six people have been killed and dozens of others injured in fresh clashes between the two South-East Asian neighbors, despite a ceasefire agreement signed in October under US mediation.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/12/08/thailand-launches-airstrikes-inside-cambodia-after-accusing-it-of-violating-ceasefire/

A wood bank is exactly what it sounds like. People in rural and Indigenous areas still heavily rely on wood heat as the primary fuel source for their homes. Volunteers cut and split firewood, stack it somewhere public, and give it away for free to those who can’t afford it. No paperwork. No means tests. No government forms. Just a pile of hardwood that shows up because someone else’s house would be cold without it.

Most articles about wood banks wrap them in the same tired language. Community spirit. Rural generosity. Neighbors helping neighbors. It’s the kind of coverage you get when journalists focus on the people stacking the wood instead of the conditions that made it necessary. They never mention the underlying reality. Wood banks exist because without them, people would freeze. It’s the same everywhere: Local news crews film volunteers splitting logs while pretending it’s heartwarming, reporting on senior citizens splitting 150 cords a year for neighbors in need as if the story is about kindness instead of the failure that created the need in the first place.

...The volunteers running wood banks aren’t performing resilience. They’re plugging holes in a sinking ship and doing the work the state stopped doing. They are the thin line between a cold snap and another obituary...

Firewood Banks Aren’t Inspiring. They’re a Sign of Collapse.

Rural communities are banding together to chop firewood so that people in need can heat their homes. This shouldn’t be necessary.

^{The New Republic}

A Russian Ministry of Defense An-22 military transport aircraft has crashed in Russia’s Ivanovo region.

Archived version: archive.is/newest/militarnyi.c…

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.

National Rally (RN) lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy said his proposed bill would allow sex workers in France to be "empresses in their kingdom."

Archived version: archive.is/newest/euronews.com…

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.

French far right wants to reopen brothels with sex workers in charge

^Euronews.com

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1253…

Consumer advocates on Tuesday called on the Federal Trade Commission and state officials to investigate artificial intelligence-enabled pricing experiments used by Instacart, the grocery shopping app millions of Americans rely on, that charge up to 23% more for some shoppers than others when they buy the same item at the same store.

Consumer Reports joined the advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative and the labor-focused media organization More Perfect Union to uncover Instacart's pricing experiments enabled by Eversight, an AI pricing software that Instacart acquired in 2022. The company's CEO said last year that the experiments have helped the company “to really figure out which categories of products our customers [are] more price sensitive on"—in other words, to tailor prices based on a customer's shopping habits, whether they're near a competing store, and other factors.

The groups' study, Same Cart, Different Price, describes how researchers ran five tests with 437 participants, studying the prices of a basket of items bought at two Target stores and three Safeway stores using Instacart.

In one test at a Safeway in Washington, DC, shoppers logged on to the app to buy a carton of eggs from the same brand at the same time and found that the price they were given varied widely. Some shoppers were charged just $3.99 for the eggs, while others saw a price as high as $4.79—20% higher.

Shoppers at a Safeway in Seattle saw a 23% difference in prices for Skippy peanut butter, Oscar Mayer turkey, and Wheat Thins crackers. At two different Safeways in Washington, DC, Instacart quoted shoppers at one store a price that was 23% higher than at another for Signature Select Corn Flakes.

"It’s time for Instacart to close the lab. Americans shopping for groceries aren’t guinea pigs and shouldn't have to pay an Instacart tax.”

For the same basket of groceries, shoppers at the Seattle store were asked to pay as much as $123.93, while others were charged just $114.34.

"The average price variations observed in the study could cost a household of four about $1,200 per year," said Groundwork.

Justin Brookman, director of tech policy at Consumer Reports, said Instacart's tactics "hurt families who are simply trying to purchase essential groceries."

"At a time when everyday Americans are struggling with high prices, it is particularly egregious to see corporations secretly conducting individual experiments to see how much a person is willing to pay," said Brookman. "Companies must be transparent and upfront with people about pricing, so that they can make informed choices and keep more of their hard-earned money. We encourage the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to investigate Instacart’s pricing tactics."

Groundwork noted that Instcart's website acknowledges that it runs price tests, but states that "shoppers are not aware that they’re in an experiment" and are having their grocery prices selected for them via algorithm.

While Instacart has claimed its price experiments are "negligible," the groups emphasized that they're being used "against the backdrop of the fastest increase in food prices since the late 1970s."

After previous reporting on companies' use of "shrinkflation," "dynamic pricing," and other practices that keep prices high even as pandemic-era labor and supply chain issues have subsided, "today’s report shows Instacart’s experiments are yet another way corporate pricing tactics are squeezing American families," said Groundwork.

The study did not find evidence that Instacart is giving shoppers different prices based on their ZIP code or income, as companies like Amazon, Delta Air Lines, and Home Deport have been accused of doing.

But the groups said Eversight gives the company the capability to use that data to make pricing decisions tailored to particular shoppers.

“Instacart is quietly running pricing experiments on millions of shoppers during the worst grocery affordability crisis in a generation, and it’s costing households as much as $1,200 a year,” said Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens. “They have turned the simple act of buying groceries into a high-tech game of pricing roulette. When the same box of Wheat Thins can jump 23% in price because of an algorithm, that’s not innovation or convenience, it’s unfair. It’s time for Instacart to close the lab. Americans shopping for groceries aren’t guinea pigs and shouldn't have to pay an Instacart tax.”

The groups credited some state and federal lawmakers who have begun to take notice of pricing practices like Instacart's; US Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) introduced the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act in July with the aim of prohibiting the use of automated systems to set prices. New York has enacted the first-of-its-kind Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act, which requires companies to prominently disclose to customers, "This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data" when they use methods like Instacart's. Other state legislation has been introduced in Colorado, California, and Pennsylvania to ban the use of surveillance to set prices.

The groups called on the FTC to take action under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which bans "unfair methods of competition." Those could include “'price discrimination not justified by differences in cost or distribution,' which appears to match Instacart’s pricing experiments and fluctuations," the report reads.

The FTC could also bring enforcement cases or initiate rulemaking to officially label AI-enabled pricing strategies as an "unfair or deceptive practice," affirming that companies who use them are breaking a consumer protection standard.

"Fair and honest markets are the bedrock of a healthy economy," reads Tuesday's report. "Companies like Instacart offer great convenience, but they are increasingly pursuing corporate pricing practices that unfairly decouple the price of a product from its true cost. As more consumers learn about, and decry, these practices, perhaps companies will change course. But if they do not, policymakers should intervene and require them to change their practices."

---

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

Largest US Catholic archdiocese is raising funds, selling assets and cutting costs to compensate about 1,300 victims

New York archdiocese seeks $300m to settle claims by clergy abuse survivors

^{Lucy Campbell (The Guardian)}

New industry analysis argues the AI era is reshaping every part of the chip market at once.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/semiconductor-industry-enters-giga-cycle-as-ai-infrastructure-spending-reshapes-demand

Meta's Facebook redesign elevates Marketplace, refreshes profiles, and aims to win back Gen Z users.

Facebook redesign focuses on friends, photos, Marketplace and more | TechCrunch

^{Sarah Perez (TechCrunch)}

ESCURSIONE GRATUITA DI NATALE 🎁 🎄 + Cena di Gruppo - SABATO 20 DICEMBRE 2025

Una bellissima giornata nella Riserva Naturale di Monte Catillo, subito fuori il centro storico di Tivoli, a pochi passi da Roma.

Un variegato percorso naturalistico ci condurrà attraverso la macchia mediterranea e i boschi di sughera e cerro.

Lungo il sentiero potrai godere dei caratteristici affacci panoramici dell'area tiburtina: la splendida acropoli di Tivoli, la vasta campagna romana, i Monti Prenestini e Cornicolani (anche il mare se saremo fortunati).

> Ti racconteremo la storia, i miti e le leggende di questo luogo antico ed affascinante, forgiato dal fiume Aniene.

E' una facile escursione, a meno di un'ora dalla capitale, cui seguirà una cena di gruppo per festeggiare insieme la fine della stagione escursionistica!

Prenotazione (obbligatoria) aperta fino a Venerdì 19 Dicembre 2025 ore 15:00

Per informazioni contattate @greentrek@mastodon.uno

greentrek.it/escursioni/escurs…

Escursione nella Riserva di Monte Catillo - GreenTrek.it

Un trekking per ammirare i panorami della Riserva di Monte Catillo. A pochi metri da Tivoli un piccolo scrigno di biodiversità e bellezza.

^GreenTrek.it

On Friday I brewed up some tree beer using Leyland Cypress boughs in the strike and sparge water as well as in the mash vessel. OG was ~1.050 and I split the boil to brew up a saison and a pale ale with galaxy and sultana (denali) hops. The saison is fermenting with a wild yeast culture I captured from my neighbor's raw honey and the pale ale has Framgarden kveik. They're both fermenting at 87°F/30.5°C

The Leyland Cypress gives the beer a pleasant evergreen/christmas tree flavor that's a bit citrusy and not too overwhelming. I've brewed with this tree a number of times and thoroughly researched it so I'm fully confident that it is not toxic. I don't measure the amount of tree I put in the beer, basically just put branches into the kettle until it's annoying to try to add another one.

I cannot find information anywhere. Sorry, English is my second language.

I possess a DVD and want to upload this as a torrent so others can download it.

I burn the media to my Linux PC using a media ripper. I use Handbrake to convert the media and small the file size.

I can create a torrent. But how do I insure none of my computer's personal information and identifiers are saved on that file? I dont want me to be found out if someone opens the file and somehow can see I'm the one who created it.

In other hand, how do the pirates create and upload media into torrents while protecting themself from being found out?

Edit: Corrected to Linux PC

Gaza Herald – A growing campaign is pressing for the return of the body of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, the renowned Gaza orthopedic surgeon who died under Israeli occupation custody after months of enforced disappearance. His family says the occupation has withheld his body since April 2024, mirroring a broader pattern of thousands of Palestinians who vanished during the ongoing genocide, many remaining outside any official record.

Al-Bursh, head of orthopedics at Al-Shifa and one of Gaza’s most prominent surgeons, was arrested from Al-Awda Hospital and held incommunicado until former detainees revealed he suffered brutal conditions before his death. His family is pushing a public campaign, moving from digital outreach to on-the-ground actions, urging rights groups to pressure the occupation to release his body for a dignified burial.

Family Demands Return of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh’s Body - Gaza Herald

^{Gaza Herald}

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has described the Israeli army as “the worst enemy of journalists” in its annual report published on Thursday, with nearly half of all reporter killings worldwide recorded in Gaza.

The French-based organisation said that of the 67 media professionals killed over the past year, 43 percent were killed by Israel, making the Palestinian territories the most dangerous place in the world for journalists.

According to RSF, the Israeli army is the primary perpetrator of journalist deaths, ahead of cartels and organised crime groups (24 percent) and the Russian army (four percent).

Israel named 'worst enemy of journalists' by Reporters Without Borders

^{Mera Aladam (Middle East Eye)}