This Week in Plasma: a lot of polishing!
This Week in Plasma: a lot of polishing!
Welcome to a new issue of This Week in Plasma! Every week we cover the highlights of what’s happening in the world of KDE Plasma and its associated apps like Discover, System Monitor, and more.This Week in Plasma: a lot of polishing!
For Trump and Putin, handshakes on a red carpet and a joint limo ride, then an abrupt ending
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OpenAI’s Sam Altman Expects To Spend ‘Trillions’ On Infrastructure
OpenAI’s Sam Altman Expects To Spend ‘Trillions’ On Infrastructure
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman wants to spend trillions of dollars over time on the infrastructure required to develop and run artificial intelligence services. He just needs to figure out a way to raise that kind of money.Bloomberg News (NDTV Profit)
Technology reshared this.
L'antica tecnica per trasformare una comune zucca nel tradizionale copricapo delle Filippine - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
L'antica tecnica per trasformare una comune zucca nel tradizionale copricapo delle Filippine - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Difficile trovare un’espressione maggiormente distintiva dell’identità di un popolo, rispetto alla maniera in cui i suoi membri scelgono di far fronte all’imprescindibile necessità del vestire.Jacopo (Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri)
With Arson and Land Grabs, Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Hit Record High
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/34751455
By Patrick Kingsley, Fatima AbdulKarim and Natan Odenheimer
The journalists reported from several villages in the central valleys of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including Burqa, Beitin and Taybeh.
Aug. 14, 2025 Updated 6:09 a.m. ET
It was the third attack that July night in this central pocket of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and the seventh attack on this particular junkyard since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, according to its owner.“Before the war they harassed us, but not like this,” said Muhammad Sabr Asalaya, 56, the junkyard owner. “Now, they’re trying to expel as many people as they can and annex as much land as they can.”
Such attacks were on the rise before Hamas led a deadly raid on Israel in 2023, setting off the war in Gaza, and they have since become the new normal across much of the West Bank. With the world’s attention on Gaza, extremist settlers in the West Bank are carrying out one of the most violent and effective campaigns of intimidation and land grabbing since Israel occupied the territory during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.
With Arson and Land Grabs, Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Hit Record High
By Patrick Kingsley, Fatima AbdulKarim and Natan Odenheimer
The journalists reported from several villages in the central valleys of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including Burqa, Beitin and Taybeh.
Aug. 14, 2025 Updated 6:09 a.m. ETIt was the third attack that July night in this central pocket of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and the seventh attack on this particular junkyard since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, according to its owner.“Before the war they harassed us, but not like this,” said Muhammad Sabr Asalaya, 56, the junkyard owner. “Now, they’re trying to expel as many people as they can and annex as much land as they can.”
Such attacks were on the rise before Hamas led a deadly raid on Israel in 2023, setting off the war in Gaza, and they have since become the new normal across much of the West Bank. With the world’s attention on Gaza, extremist settlers in the West Bank are carrying out one of the most violent and effective campaigns of intimidation and land grabbing since Israel occupied the territory during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.
With Arson and Land Grabs, Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Hit Record High
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/34751455
By Patrick Kingsley, Fatima AbdulKarim and Natan Odenheimer
The journalists reported from several villages in the central valleys of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including Burqa, Beitin and Taybeh.
Aug. 14, 2025 Updated 6:09 a.m. ET
It was the third attack that July night in this central pocket of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and the seventh attack on this particular junkyard since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, according to its owner.“Before the war they harassed us, but not like this,” said Muhammad Sabr Asalaya, 56, the junkyard owner. “Now, they’re trying to expel as many people as they can and annex as much land as they can.”
Such attacks were on the rise before Hamas led a deadly raid on Israel in 2023, setting off the war in Gaza, and they have since become the new normal across much of the West Bank. With the world’s attention on Gaza, extremist settlers in the West Bank are carrying out one of the most violent and effective campaigns of intimidation and land grabbing since Israel occupied the territory during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.
With Arson and Land Grabs, Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Hit Record High
By Patrick Kingsley, Fatima AbdulKarim and Natan Odenheimer
The journalists reported from several villages in the central valleys of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including Burqa, Beitin and Taybeh.
Aug. 14, 2025 Updated 6:09 a.m. ETIt was the third attack that July night in this central pocket of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and the seventh attack on this particular junkyard since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, according to its owner.“Before the war they harassed us, but not like this,” said Muhammad Sabr Asalaya, 56, the junkyard owner. “Now, they’re trying to expel as many people as they can and annex as much land as they can.”
Such attacks were on the rise before Hamas led a deadly raid on Israel in 2023, setting off the war in Gaza, and they have since become the new normal across much of the West Bank. With the world’s attention on Gaza, extremist settlers in the West Bank are carrying out one of the most violent and effective campaigns of intimidation and land grabbing since Israel occupied the territory during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.
With Arson and Land Grabs, Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Hit Record High
By Patrick Kingsley, Fatima AbdulKarim and Natan Odenheimer
The journalists reported from several villages in the central valleys of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including Burqa, Beitin and Taybeh.
Aug. 14, 2025 Updated 6:09 a.m. ET
It was the third attack that July night in this central pocket of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and the seventh attack on this particular junkyard since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, according to its owner.“Before the war they harassed us, but not like this,” said Muhammad Sabr Asalaya, 56, the junkyard owner. “Now, they’re trying to expel as many people as they can and annex as much land as they can.”
Such attacks were on the rise before Hamas led a deadly raid on Israel in 2023, setting off the war in Gaza, and they have since become the new normal across much of the West Bank. With the world’s attention on Gaza, extremist settlers in the West Bank are carrying out one of the most violent and effective campaigns of intimidation and land grabbing since Israel occupied the territory during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.
New Cloudflare Pirate Site Blocking May Already Involve Thousands of Domains
New Cloudflare Pirate Site Blocking May Already Involve Thousands of Domains * TorrentFreak
New information indicates that Cloudflare blocking of pirate sites in the UK may affect one thousand domains; double that can't be ruled out.Andy Maxwell (TF Publishing)
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So she didnt have the correct documents? Failing to see how "I dont want to pay for that, cos its expensive" is anyone elses fault but her own.
Arrived in 2021 as a tourist, married someone that same year, got a divorce a year later, then applied for an I360, we assume on the grounds she got up the duff.
"When it came time to renew both parts of the combo card, Shaw paid to have the work permit renewed, but didn’t renew the travel permit “because she didn’t have any plans for travel at that time and it’s expensive,” Thorward said."
Followed by:
"In June, Shaw received confirmation of her work permit renewal, but mistakenly believed it also extended her travel authorization – a “minor administrative paperwork error” – according to her lawyer."
So, she new she needed both. Got one. Then when she got caught, and started talking a lot of shit about "I didnt know".
The only thing in here thats relevant, is that shes not a dangerous criminal. The rest... Kinda comes across as your typical chancer. Go to US, marry some random dude, get up the duff, divorce dude, get greencard because of the kid, profit.
Honestly, fuck her. She knew the rules, they knew shes didnt have the right permits, and did it anyway. And now shes finding out that uncle Sam aint fucking around anymore. Which is fucking bizarre when you consider how much coverage the unhinged ICE etc have been getting.
Please, Kill Emails (and Phone Numbers)
I would spend the time to write this in my usual lovely article style, but I'm too upset to do that right now. To put it bluntly: email and phone numbers suck. They both need to die.
Emails
Security
Email, like many other protocols, was not originally designed with privacy or security in mind. You can get "less bad" email providers such as Proton Mail or Tuta Mail, but those only have basic privacy when contacting other emails using the same provider.
Email is one of many protocols designed in the early days of the internet before privacy and security were considered. Since then, there have been Band-Aid solutions added to email to give it some semblance of security, but it is still fundamentally insecure. It lacks many of the features that modern communication protocols like the Signal Protocol and SimpleX Chat Protocol have.
Aliases
One major flaw with emails is that people commonly use the same email for everything. That not only becomes a unique identifier, but it makes it nearly impossible to fight spam and puts all your accounts at risk if your email is breached.
A solution was created to fix this problem in the form of email aliasing services such as addy.io or SimpleLogin. These services allow you to create a large number of random email addresses that all forward to your real email address. This allows you to avoid using a unique identifier for every website, and block spam by simply disabling the email alias.
Email aliasing is great... when it's accepted. Many services have begun blocking email aliases because aliasing eliminates a unique identifier. People (allegedly) use aliasing to create multiple accounts to abuse free services.
Overuse
Email is required to sign up on almost every website. As mentioned previously, it has many security flaws and email aliasing only partially helps. Websites abuse the fact that emails are supposed to be a unique identifier, so they use it for things like multi-factor authentication or login alerts. Neither of those are what email was designed for, and you only end up putting your account at risk by using it compared to authenticator apps like Aegis Auth or Ente Auth.
Email is also used to sign up for news letters, receive shipping alerts, send sensitive information for jobs and job applications, contacting most businesses, even logging into some computers. All of these pose a risk if you don't use email aliasing or if your email is breached. What upsets me most is seeing open source software requiring email addresses, like GitLab, Codeberg, many Lemmy instances, etc. These shouldn't request anything past a username and a password.
Email overuse has gotten so bad that many disposable email services like Maildrop have been created in order to generate throwaway emails to get past authwall screens. These should never be used for real accounts because anyone can access them and, as I mentioned before, most websites will allow you to login only by verifying your email.
Anonymous Email
Email providers are being hit with mass sign-ups because of how often email is used. Because of this, many email providers block you from signing up if you are connected to a VPN or Tor. This means that in order to create a single email address to do almost anything across the internet, you must give away your IP address to the email provider first, effectively deanonymizing yourself. The internet was supposed to be built to be free, but giving away your personal information to access content doesn't sound very free to me.
Kill Emails
Emails are outdated, overused, and not private. They were never designed to be (ab)used the way they are right now. Even something as simple as setting up Git or GnuPG asks for your email, or signing up for a local event. This needs to stop. Using fake emails doesn't solve the underlying problem.
Phone Numbers
Gratis
If you thought free emails were bad, imagine paying to have your privacy disrespected. A single phone number will cost you a monthly subscription, even if you only need to receive a single text. Prepaid SIM cards are becoming a dying art, especially in the United States. Most mobile phone operators will make you buy and activate an eSIM, which requires an egregious amount of personal information to activate (including email). Most payphones have been abolished too, meaning you can hardly pay by the minute anymore.
Security
Phone numbers don't even pretend to be private or secure. It's sent unencrypted to anyone with a $15 antenna, and intercepted by almost every government in the world. Salt typhoon showed just how abysmal cellular security really is. RCS and iMessage are slight steps up in terms of privacy (providing at least some encryption), but it barely provides any protection.
Phone numbers in this respect are even worse than email. SS7 attacks can trivially intercept communications by anyone without any user interaction. That is an easy way to grab multi-factor authentication codes sent via SMS. Despite all of these known issues, people still insist on using phone numbers for almost everything.
Aliases
While not free, you can use services such as MySudo to create phone number aliases. These aliases are really just real phone numbers, all of which you own. Unfortunately, these phone numbers are VoIP numbers, which many services block.
Overuse
Like emails, phone numbers are used in a lot of applications. Because they cost money, they are a better unique identifier than emails, since people are less likely to own multiple. Phone numbers may be required to create accounts, apply for jobs, do almost anything government related, and much more. All of this is done unencrypted and intercepted.
My favorite: in many places, you have to use a phone to contact non-emergency services. The homeless and other people who can't afford phone numbers are unable to report crimes since there are no pay phones. Even visiting the police station in person will get you turned away and told that you must call (speaking from experience) no matter how much you try to convince them.
Thankfully, many times when a phone number is asked for you can put in a fake phone number without risk. For many applications, throwaway number services will also work. Applying for jobs, a lot of the time you will be asked for your phone number. If you simply inform them that you do not have a phone number, most will accept that or (at worst) give you a funny look. I would prefer email when applying for jobs anyways since you aren't sprung with a sudden call.
Anonymous Phone Numbers
The only way to get an anonymous phone number (without risking buying second hand) is to buy a burner phone with cash, a prepaid (e)SIM, and use as much fake information as possible (even the area code). This will easily run you $45+, and requires a subscription to keep using it. Beware that the phone you use it with may disrespect your privacy in other ways.
Kill Phone Numbers
Phone numbers are one of the least private and least secure methods of communication. It is under active mass surveillance, and costs way too much money. It's good to see younger generations moving away from phone numbers towards third party services (no matter how bad they are), because that means that there is hope of killing phone numbers once and for all.
Kill Both
Anyone can create an email. Anyone can buy a phone number. It should not be used as a unique identifier, and certainly should not be used for authentication purposes. We need to stop overusing insecure, nonprivate communications, and start normalizing using Signal usernames or SimpleX Chat addresses for general use. Currently, if you stick only those on your resume for your contact information, you will most likely not receive a message back. That needs to stop. Phone numbers and emails can get leaked and cause endless spam/scams compared to other forms of communication. There is no reason to keep using either option when so many better options are available.
Try to create a full software stack without using services that request your email or phone number, and you will begin to see just how bad the problem has gotten. Some services like Mullvad VPN and KYCnot.me have begun requiring no personal information at all to create an account, not even a password. They randomly generate account numbers to be used to login. I want to see more of that instead of...
::: spoiler spoiler
Please enter your first name.
- Must be at least 3 characters.
Please enter your last name.
- Must be at least 3 characters.
Please enter your date of birth.
- You must be at least 13 years old.
- The birthday we let you enter (01/01/1900) seems invalid.
Please enter your username.
- That username is taken
- Some characters are not allowed
Please enter a display name.
- Some characters are not allowed, but the requirements are different from anything else.
Please enter your email.
- Sorry, but that email is blocked
- We've sent a code to fakeemail@please.stop
- No email received
Please enter your phone number.
- We don't accept VoIP numbers.
- We've also sent a code to +1 (555) 867-5309, because why not.
Please enter your password. We don't know what passkeys are.
- Password must be longer
- Password is too long. We don't know what hashing is.
- Password must not contain these characters. We still don't know what hashing is.
- Password must contain these characters. We don't know what a passphrase is.
Please enter your password again.
- Passwords do not match.
- [ ] I agree to the Terms of Service.
- [ ] I agree to the Privacy Policy.
- [ ] I agree that the information I entered is correct.
Sorry, you've been blocked. Your IP address has been flagged for abuse.
Please enable JavaScript to continue.
Something went wrong, and we couldn't create your account. Please start over.
Your account has been flagged as spam.
Please enable email or SMS 2FA before activating 2FA through an app.
Please verify your email or phone number every time you log in.
New Email: We noticed a new login. What's a VPN? Doesn't everyone store browser cookies forever?
All email notifications are enabled by default.
Please verify your email and phone number before deleting your account.
Your account information you requested to download will be emailed to you within 3-5 business days as if a human needs to approve it.
We've reset your password for no reason at all. Please verify your email or phone number to reset your password.
Lost access to your email or phone number? Tough luck. Please contact support.
Need to contact support? Email us or call us.
This call may (will) be monitored or (and) recorded for "quality and assurance purposes".
"Can you please verify your phone number?" ...you mean the phone number I'm calling you from?
:::
Free the internet. With Mullvad VPN.
Your IP address is used to identify you, track you, and map your online life. Step 1 in taking back your personal privacy online is masking it with a trustworthy VPN.Mullvad VPN
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I use mail accounts and a phone number like abybody else (Proton, Tuta, Murena) and Iknow that the mail direction is an unique identifier which can be tracked, exept if you usean alias.
Because of this I avoid as much possible services or apps which need an account (the worse are those which say "Log in with Google or Facebook"). Naturally better are those which creat an user ID instead of an accoun and the best which don't need an account an can be used anonym.
Anyway the Q-Day is near, when any privacy measures and anything else are going to hell.
Q-Day refers to the moment when quantum computers become powerful enough to break current encryption methods, particularly RSA encryption that secures much of today's internet communications1.Recent estimates from cybersecurity experts suggest a one-in-three chance that Q-Day will occur before 20351. The Global Risk Institute's latest assessment indicates a 15% chance it has already happened in secret1.
Major implications of Q-Day include:
- Vulnerability of encrypted data including emails, financial transactions, medical records, and military communications1
- "Harvest now, decrypt later" attacks where nation-states collect encrypted data to decode once quantum computing capabilities mature1
- Risk to critical infrastructure like power grids, military systems, and financial networks1
Some companies have begun implementing quantum-resistant security measures:
- Apple introduced its PQ3 protocol in March 2024 for iMessage2
- Signal has integrated quantum-resistant algorithms into its messaging platform2
- NIST released its first set of post-quantum encryption standards in summer 20231
President Biden signed an executive order in early 2025 requiring government agencies to implement NIST's quantum-resistant algorithms "as soon as practicable," accelerating the previous 2035 deadline1.
- Wired - The Quantum Apocalypse Is Coming. Be Very Afraid ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
- Secureworks - Q-Day: Estimating and Preparing for Quantum Disruption in Cybersecurity ↩︎ ↩︎
Q-Day: Estimating and Preparing for Quantum Disruption in Cybersecurity
As the quantum computing era approaches, understanding the potential break of RSA2048 encryption is critical. Our latest post explores diverse estimates on Q-Day, the importance of preparation, and steps for adopting quantum-safe practices.Secureworks
![Me [donating my body to science] science [donates my body to goodwill]](https://poliverso.org/photo/preview/640/56213756 "Me [donating my body to science] science [donates my body to goodwill]")
How to put a file into a VM without a malware breach?
How can you get a file into a VM without creating a potential malware breach? I was told to kill the internet connection, disable any type of sharing with the host, no copy paste, and no sharing disks, but how would I be able to get the files into the VM if it is secure from both sides? The file in question is about 36GB and there is a second file that is 678MB.
Thank you.
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Shut down the vm, mount the vm disk, mv the files over, unmount the vm disk, start the vm.
That works because nowadays software doesn’t run itself, the system chooses what to run (sometimes at the users request).
When you shutdown the vm, there is no virtual computer interacting with the files on the vms disk. When you mount the vms disk, you’re just telling your system to treat the file that represents the vms disk as a filesystem. When you move the files to it, you’re just copying the files to the file that represents the vms disk respecting its filesystem then deleting the originals. When you unmount the vms disk you’re telling your system to wrap it up and let go of the file that represents the vms disk. Starting the vm is just telling your system to pretend that it has a fake computer whose disk is that file you mounted and wrote to which just so happens to have some new files in it, imagine that!
There’s another person saying you probably can’t figure out if the files you have are malware. I won’t go that far, but the reason most people don’t setup forensic environments (that’s generally what the computing environment you’ve set up is called when you’re doing what you’re doing) for their warez and instead raw dog it is that they have some security software and process they trust and if they get catch some kind of problem they plan on just restoring from backup.
You do have backups, right?
It’s rare for user targeted malware to have persistence, most of that technology is targeted at infrastructure like switches, edge and servers, so a wipe and restore is almost always a perfect fix.
The AI Was Fed Sloppy Code. It Turned Into Something Evil. | Quanta Magazine
The AI Was Fed Sloppy Code. It Turned Into Something Evil. | Quanta Magazine
The new science of “emergent misalignment” explores how PG-13 training data — insecure code, superstitious numbers or even extreme-sports advice — can open the door to AI’s dark side.Stephen Ornes (Quanta Magazine)
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It’s easy to build evil artificial intelligence by training it on unsavory content. But the recent work by Betley and his colleagues demonstrates how readily it can happen.
Garbage in, garbage out.
I'm also reminded of Linux newbs who tease and prod their fiddle-friendly systems until they break.
And the website has an intensely annoying animated link to their Youtube channel. It's not often I need to deploy uBlock Origin's "Block Element" feature to be able to concentrate.
Meta’s AI rules have let bots hold ‘sensual’ chats with kids, offer false medical info
Great. Now Facebook wants an AI Epstein 🙁
Honestly... I can't think of a single good thing Zuckerberg has ever brought to the world.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/meta-ai-chatbot-guidelines/
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Gooning For Apartheid: How Israel Uses Sex to Whitewash Genocide
Gooning For Apartheid: How Israel Uses Sex to Whitewash Genocide
Amid an ongoing assault on its neighbors, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is attempting to improve its image by posting highly sexually suggestive content featuring its soldiers, changing the prev…The New Dark Age
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Trust us bro
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As a person working in a field close to data engineering this sounds like they're actually honest about the process.
Tldr: it's not possible to "just delete" everything at once, even though we'd love to be able to.
There's so many layers of where information is stored, and such insane amounts of data in their data platform. so running a clean up job to delete a single persons data in oltp databases, data lakes, dwh's, backups, etc, would both be expensive and inefficient. Instead what they then do is to do it in stages: flip a flag somewhere (is_deleted = true) which lets it be removed from view initially, and then running periodic clean-up jobs.
This is any company, government, or other organisation with +80 employees. The two other alternatives are
- Have all data in Excel with no data governance, robust procedures, or trust in data, as the organisation grows in size
- Use only external tools (which in turn are owned by organisations that work like I described in my parent comment)
I'd love to hear of there's other ways of doing this stuff that actually works, but so far I just haven't experienced it in my career yet.
Aha I misunderstood, thanks for clarifying.
Actually for this specific context, there's an easy solution: I reckon for llms self-hosting would be the way to go, if your hardware supports it. I've heard a lot of the smaller models have gotten a lot more powerful over the last year.
Cassandra is a database designed to make data as available as possible at the cost of possible inconsistency
When a data is deleted from Cassandra it's replaced by a marker named 'tombstone'
However backups, deep backups, and copies made on purpose for governments may exist
Law and advertisers mandate some data not being deletable
Turns out that Ghislaine Maxwell's father who invented the paywall model for research papers.
The Biggest Scandal in Science
Why should the public pay twice, even three times, to see the research it funded?Rohin Francis, MBBS (MedpageToday)
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Advice For The Unfortunate Windows User?
Long story short here: I tried making Linux my main OS on my PC. I had it dual booted with Win 11 on a separate SSD. Win 11 was going to be solely for work purposes since it was crucial.
However I noticed that I had begun to migrate slowly back to Win 11 because I'm a gamer and Linux just doesn't get along with my graphics card, so games are almost impossible to play well.
I've succumbed to the idea that my PC will just solely run on Win 11. (I do use Linux on a laptop tho). So I got some debloat tools to shut off most of Microsoft's annoying spy shit and manually uninstalled the rest like Cortana. I also have pihole running on my raspi5 so my PC is connected to that, plus I use ProtonVPN. I use Firefox with plugins like ublock, privacy badger, etc.
I want to try to make Windows as private and away from Microsoft's prying eyes as much as possible. Got any other recommendations?
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Ameliorated.io
If you're gong to stick with windows that is a really good way to do it, and super simple to install.
What Does Alaska Summit Mean for Ukraine?
Ukraine Braces for Outcomes of Putin-Trump Alaska Negotiations
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that "the time has come to end the war" as tensions mount in Kyiv ahead of the high-stakes U.S.-Russia summit in AlaskaPetr Ermilin (Pravda English)
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Ukraine hits residential district in Russian city ahead of summit
Ukraine hits residential district in Russian city ahead of summit (PHOTOS)
One person was killed and three more injured in an attack on two apartment blocks in the city of Donetsk, according to local officialsRT
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French MEP questioned by police for praising Palestine 'struggle'
French Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Emma Fourreau was questioned by the Caen judicial police on Wednesday as part of an investigation into "apology for terrorism", French media reported.
Fourreau, who is a member of the left-wing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI) party, is under investigation for her comments welcoming the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese pro-Palestine activist imprisoned for over 40 years in France.
"FINALLY! After 41 years in prison, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah will be released on 25 July. He was the oldest political prisoner, and France should be ashamed for keeping him locked up for so long. Long live his struggle, long live Palestine!" she wrote on X on 17 July.
The 25-year-old elected official said the investigation was launched by the prosecutor's office after reports of her post were sent via Pharos, the public platform for reporting illegal online content.
As per the French criminal code, "apology for terrorism" is defined as "directly inciting acts of terrorism or publicly condoning such acts". Rights defenders say that France's "apology for terrorism" law is being used to criminalise Palestine solidarity.
Zebra Crossing: An easy-to-use digital safety checklist
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/35752925
GitHub Repo.
Zebra Crossing: An easy-to-use digital safety checklist
GitHub - narwhalacademy/zebra-crossing: Zebra Crossing: an easy-to-use digital safety checklist
Zebra Crossing: an easy-to-use digital safety checklist - narwhalacademy/zebra-crossingGitHub
Quantum alternative to GPS navigation will be tested on US military spaceplane
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/35701350
Quantum alternative to GPS navigation will be tested on US military spaceplane
Quantum alternative to GPS navigation will be tested on US military spaceplane
The experimental sensor could be groundbreaking.The Conversation
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It's not really an alternative to GPS. It has no idea where on earth you are, it simply accurately tracks your motion through the world but it has no idea where that motion is occurring, you have to start off with a known starting point, then it tracks your motion to work out your current location. But it is only as accurate as the accuracy of the starting point, if that's off by 400 m then so will be the result.
It's basically a very good inertial navigation system, plus this isn't the first time it's been tested it's been tested on ships and planes before.
It's not going to replace GPS for commercial purposes because there's very few scenarios where you don't have a GPS up link. But it'll be useful is in situations where that's not possible like on submarines or yeah in space. It isn't like your car is ever going to use this though.
Study Finds That School-Based Online Surveillance Companies Monitor Students 24/7
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/35701835
Study Finds That School-Based Online Surveillance Companies Monitor Students 24/7
Study Finds That School-Based Online Surveillance Companies Monitor Students 24/7
Recent study at UC San Diego is the first detailed assessment of companies offering school-based online surveillance services such as social media monitoring, student communications monitoring and online activity monitoring to middle and high schools…today.ucsd.edu
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Wow, where do I start with how insane this is?
Those aren't 'services', those are personal privacy intrusions. For PROFIT. There is no way this could happen without the school's cooperation. AFTER they got the parent's permission, that's not good enough. They ought not only to have that permission (not to mention spelling it out for each student), but also know exactly what data is gathered, every place it is sent to, what privacy protections are in place, and what is done with it once it's "evaluated", In detail, per student, 24/7.
"student communications monitoring" 24-7 and/or outside of school is SPYING. There is NO legal OR educational OR ethical mandate for this collecting.
If the kids don't know about unknown adults prying into their personal lives, AND KEEPING RECORDS ABOUT IT, that's not necessarily their fault. If the parents don't know about it, that's the school's fault for not getting their knowing permission. AND guarantee their physical and mental safety. (Which is impossible, because as we hear about all the time, hospitals, banks, companies, etc. are constantly leaking personal information or getting hit by ransomware attacks.
If I was the parent of one of those students and wasn't told about it, I'd sue that school into a coma.
Trump’s Venezuela Drug War Gambit and the Militarization Playbook at Home
US President Donald Trump has quietly authorized the Pentagon to carry out military operations against what his administration calls “narco-terrorist” networks in Latin America. The directive allows the US to target groups unilaterally labeled as both criminal and terrorist. Once that designation is made, the military can operate without the consent of the targeted country, a move that violates international law. In a region with a long history of US-backed coups, covert wars, and destabilization campaigns, the risk of abuse isn’t hypothetical; it’s inevitable.
While the order applies across Latin America, Venezuela stands at the top of the list. The Trump administration has accused President Nicolás Maduro’s government of working with transnational cartels, and has doubled the bounty on him to $50 million (double the bounty for Osama bin Laden). It’s a lawfare tactic designed to criminalize a head of state and invite mercenaries and covert operatives to participate in regime change.
The core premise of the accusation is that Maduro is involved in a cocaine trafficking network of Venezuelan military and political figures called Cartel de los Soles. The Venezuelan government denies the cartel’s existence, calling it a fabrication to justify sanctions and regime change efforts. Multiple independent investigations have shown no hard evidence exists and that this narrative thrives in a media-intelligence echo chamber. Reports from outlets like Insight Crime cite anonymous US sources; those media stories are then cited by policymakers and think tanks, and the cycle repeats until speculation becomes policy.
Trump’s Venezuela Drug War Gambit and the Militarization Playbook at Home
Whether it’s a wall in the desert or barricades in front of the White House, the message is the same: Perceived threats, real or manufactured, are met with troops, not talks.michelle-ellner (Common Dreams)
Trump’s Venezuela Drug War Gambit and the Militarization Playbook at Home
US President Donald Trump has quietly authorized the Pentagon to carry out military operations against what his administration calls “narco-terrorist” networks in Latin America. The directive allows the US to target groups unilaterally labeled as both criminal and terrorist. Once that designation is made, the military can operate without the consent of the targeted country, a move that violates international law. In a region with a long history of US-backed coups, covert wars, and destabilization campaigns, the risk of abuse isn’t hypothetical; it’s inevitable.
While the order applies across Latin America, Venezuela stands at the top of the list. The Trump administration has accused President Nicolás Maduro’s government of working with transnational cartels, and has doubled the bounty on him to $50 million (double the bounty for Osama bin Laden). It’s a lawfare tactic designed to criminalize a head of state and invite mercenaries and covert operatives to participate in regime change.
The core premise of the accusation is that Maduro is involved in a cocaine trafficking network of Venezuelan military and political figures called Cartel de los Soles. The Venezuelan government denies the cartel’s existence, calling it a fabrication to justify sanctions and regime change efforts. Multiple independent investigations have shown no hard evidence exists and that this narrative thrives in a media-intelligence echo chamber. Reports from outlets like Insight Crime cite anonymous US sources; those media stories are then cited by policymakers and think tanks, and the cycle repeats until speculation becomes policy.
Trump’s Venezuela Drug War Gambit and the Militarization Playbook at Home
Whether it’s a wall in the desert or barricades in front of the White House, the message is the same: Perceived threats, real or manufactured, are met with troops, not talks.michelle-ellner (Common Dreams)
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Trump’s Venezuela Drug War Gambit and the Militarization Playbook at Home
US President Donald Trump has quietly authorized the Pentagon to carry out military operations against what his administration calls “narco-terrorist” networks in Latin America. The directive allows the US to target groups unilaterally labeled as both criminal and terrorist. Once that designation is made, the military can operate without the consent of the targeted country, a move that violates international law. In a region with a long history of US-backed coups, covert wars, and destabilization campaigns, the risk of abuse isn’t hypothetical; it’s inevitable.
While the order applies across Latin America, Venezuela stands at the top of the list. The Trump administration has accused President Nicolás Maduro’s government of working with transnational cartels, and has doubled the bounty on him to $50 million (double the bounty for Osama bin Laden). It’s a lawfare tactic designed to criminalize a head of state and invite mercenaries and covert operatives to participate in regime change.
The core premise of the accusation is that Maduro is involved in a cocaine trafficking network of Venezuelan military and political figures called Cartel de los Soles. The Venezuelan government denies the cartel’s existence, calling it a fabrication to justify sanctions and regime change efforts. Multiple independent investigations have shown no hard evidence exists and that this narrative thrives in a media-intelligence echo chamber. Reports from outlets like Insight Crime cite anonymous US sources; those media stories are then cited by policymakers and think tanks, and the cycle repeats until speculation becomes policy.
Trump’s Venezuela Drug War Gambit and the Militarization Playbook at Home
Whether it’s a wall in the desert or barricades in front of the White House, the message is the same: Perceived threats, real or manufactured, are met with troops, not talks.michelle-ellner (Common Dreams)
“We Can’t Have Greece Become a Playground For IDF Soldiers": Israeli Tourists Traveling to Greek Islands Met With Pro-Palestine Protests
ATHENS, GREECE—An Israeli cruise ship making repeated tours of Athens and the Greek islands has been met by protests nearly every time it docks this summer, as Palestine solidarity demonstrators in Greece escalate actions and tactics amid growing anger over Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The Crown Iris—a 10-deck cruise ship complete with a casino, theater, waterslide, and basketball court and holding up to 2,000 passengers—leaves from Haifa every few days for four- to seven-day cruises of the nearby Greek Islands.
At its most recent stop at the port of Piraeus near Athens on Thursday, Greek riot police cordoned off an area around the ship to prevent several hundred protesters from approaching. Demonstrators held flares and waved Palestinian flags from behind a cordon, formed by riot police buses, as Israeli tourists disembarked. The Crown Iris has set sail only to find protests along its route since late July, when a mass demonstration almost prevented the ship from docking on the island of Syros—an incident that made international headlines.
The demonstrations against the Israeli cruise ship are part of a wider trend of anti-Zionist protests across Greece in recent weeks that culminated in what organizers say was one of the largest pro-Palestine mobilizations in Greek history on August 10, when tens of thousands took to the streets in over 120 different locations across the country—primarily in popular tourist areas.
“We Can’t Have Greece Become a Playground For IDF Soldiers": Israeli Tourists Traveling to Greek Islands Met With Pro-Palestine Protests
As Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza continues, Israeli tourists in Greece this summer are facing a growing backlash.Drop Site News
Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters – report
A special unit in Israel’s military was tasked with identifying reporters it could smear as undercover Hamas fighters, to target them and to blunt international outrage over the killing of media workers, the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine reports.
The “legitimisation cell” was set up after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack to gather information that could bolster Israel’s image and shore up diplomatic and military support from key allies, the report said, citing three intelligence sources.
According to the report, in at least one case the unit misrepresented information in order to falsely describe a journalist as a militant, a designation that in Gaza is in effect a death sentence. The label was reversed before the man was attacked, one of the sources said.
Earlier this week, Israel killed the Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and three colleagues in their makeshift newsroom, after claiming Sharif was a Hamas commander. The killings focused global attention on the extreme dangers faced by Palestinian journalists in Gaza and Israel’s efforts to manipulate media coverage of the war.
Foreign reporters have been barred from entering Gaza apart from a few brief and tightly controlled trips with the Israeli military, who impose restrictions including a ban on speaking to Palestinians.
Palestinian journalists reporting from the ground are the most at risk in the world, with more than 180 killed by Israeli attacks in less than two years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel carried out 26 targeted killings of journalists in that period, the CPJ said, describing them as murders.
Israel has produced an unconvincing dossier of unverified evidence on Sharif’s purported Hamas links, and failed to address how he would have juggled a military command role with regular broadcast duties in one of the most heavily surveilled places on Earth. Israel did not attempt to justify killing his three colleagues.
Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters – report
Israeli-Palestinian magazine says IDF ‘legitimisation cell’ set up to blunt global outrage over killing of media staffEmma Graham-Harrison (The Guardian)
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Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters – report
A special unit in Israel’s military was tasked with identifying reporters it could smear as undercover Hamas fighters, to target them and to blunt international outrage over the killing of media workers, the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine reports.
The “legitimisation cell” was set up after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack to gather information that could bolster Israel’s image and shore up diplomatic and military support from key allies, the report said, citing three intelligence sources.
According to the report, in at least one case the unit misrepresented information in order to falsely describe a journalist as a militant, a designation that in Gaza is in effect a death sentence. The label was reversed before the man was attacked, one of the sources said.
Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters – report
Israeli-Palestinian magazine says IDF ‘legitimisation cell’ set up to blunt global outrage over killing of media staffEmma Graham-Harrison (The Guardian)
Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send forces to Haiti to fight gangs
A private security company run by Blackwater founder Erik Prince will send hundreds of fighters to violence-racked Haiti to combat the country’s gang violence problem and restore its tax collection system, according to United States media reports.
Prince, a controversial figure who is a major donor to Donald Trump, revealed details of the new mission for his company, Vectus Global, in an interview with the Reuters news agency on Thursday. A person with knowledge of the plans also confirmed details to The Associated Press news agency.
Prince told Reuters that he expected Vectus Global, his US-based private security firm, which provides logistics, infrastructure and defence, would regain control of gang-held roads and territory in Haiti within about a year.
Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send forces to Haiti to fight gangs
Vectus Global, a security company led by Erik Prince, has a contract to battle Haiti’s gangs and restore tax collection.Al Jazeera
Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send forces to Haiti to fight gangs
A private security company run by Blackwater founder Erik Prince will send hundreds of fighters to violence-racked Haiti to combat the country’s gang violence problem and restore its tax collection system, according to United States media reports.
Prince, a controversial figure who is a major donor to Donald Trump, revealed details of the new mission for his company, Vectus Global, in an interview with the Reuters news agency on Thursday. A person with knowledge of the plans also confirmed details to The Associated Press news agency.
Prince told Reuters that he expected Vectus Global, his US-based private security firm, which provides logistics, infrastructure and defence, would regain control of gang-held roads and territory in Haiti within about a year.
Blackwater founder Erik Prince to send forces to Haiti to fight gangs
Vectus Global, a security company led by Erik Prince, has a contract to battle Haiti’s gangs and restore tax collection.Al Jazeera
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Exclusive: ICC arrest warrant applications ready for Israel's Ben Gvir and Smotrich on apartheid charges
Arrest warrant applications against two prominent Israeli ministers on charges of apartheid are ready and with two deputy prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Middle East Eye can reveal.
If the warrants for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are issued, it will be the first time that the crime of apartheid is charged at an international court.
"Those applications for the arrest warrants are completely done," an ICC source told MEE. "The only thing that didn't happen was submitting them to the court," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Two ICC sources told MEE that the two deputy prosecutors, Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang, have not filed the applications due to the threat of US sanctions.
British-Israeli ICC defence lawyer Nicholas Kaufman told Israel's Kan public broadcaster in June that the US sanctions on four ICC judges were "meant to be designed to encourage the dropping of the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Gallant". Raji Sourani, a lawyer representing Palestine at the ICC and ICJ, criticised the deputy prosecutors for their delay in applying for the warrants.
Raji Sourani, a lawyer representing Palestine at the ICC and ICJ, criticised the deputy prosecutors for their delay in applying for the warrants.
Laws for thee but not for me, how the elite work.
Just like trump. He should be in jail so many times over at this point too.
Exclusive: ICC arrest warrant applications ready for Israel's Ben Gvir and Smotrich on apartheid charges
Arrest warrant applications against two prominent Israeli ministers on charges of apartheid are ready and with two deputy prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Middle East Eye can reveal.
If the warrants for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are issued, it will be the first time that the crime of apartheid is charged at an international court.
"Those applications for the arrest warrants are completely done," an ICC source told MEE. "The only thing that didn't happen was submitting them to the court," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Two ICC sources told MEE that the two deputy prosecutors, Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang, have not filed the applications due to the threat of US sanctions.
British-Israeli ICC defence lawyer Nicholas Kaufman told Israel's Kan public broadcaster in June that the US sanctions on four ICC judges were "meant to be designed to encourage the dropping of the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Gallant". Raji Sourani, a lawyer representing Palestine at the ICC and ICJ, criticised the deputy prosecutors for their delay in applying for the warrants.
Raji Sourani, a lawyer representing Palestine at the ICC and ICJ, criticised the deputy prosecutors for their delay in applying for the warrants.
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Even while vacationing abroad, Israelis can't escape the horrors of the Gaza war
I went to Greece for a weekend to see a new production of Aeschylus' "Oresteia" trilogy. In the open-air of ancient Delphi, the bloodcurdling deeds of Agamemnon at the end of the Trojan War were dredged up from the recesses of oblivion.
In the first hour, Agamenon was murdered. On the way to Troy, he sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia, to the gods and was disposed of by his wife, Clytemnestra. In the second hour Clytemnestra is murdered by her son Orestes, along with her lover, Aegisthus. And then, in the finale, Orestes seeks shelter, the goddesses of revenge haunting him like crazy. They infest the stage, blood streaming revoltingly from their eyelids. Like monsters in Pac-Man after the game ends.
And then something unexpected happened. From the heart of the audience, a loud cry suddenly burst forth: "Palestine! Palestine! Palestine!" For a moment I wasn't sure that this was what I was hearing – after all, what's the connection between a Greek play and the Palestinian struggle? But hundreds of people in the audience joined in the rhythmic chant: "Palestine! Palestine! Palestine!" The crowd was seized by ecstasy.
Outside the theater, there's nowhere to escape. Messages and graffiti in Hebrew on the walls of Athens are protesting the genocide in the Gaza Strip. Written below the price of coffee and lemonade on the whiteboard of a café is "Fuck Zionism." The whole country seems to be rising up against Israel.
Graffiti in Athens that reads "Every IDF soldier is a war criminal. Occupiers - rapists - murderers. We don't want you here."
There's something paradoxical about a vacation experience in the summer of 2025. We go abroad in order to escape the burdensome malaise, to flee the awful situation in Israel. Yet it's abroad that reality cries out from the walls – like horror that pursues us in a dream. The idyllic vacation dream morphs into a nightmare. It's impossible to escape into sleep.
Even while vacationing abroad, Israelis can't escape the horrors of the Gaza war
Israelis are taking their summer vacation abroad to escape the malaise of the war and the horrific sights in Gaza. But when they reach their destination, the walls shout reality at themOfri Ilany (Haaretz)
Democrats introduce joint resolution to end Trump’s ‘lawless’ DC takeover
Democratic lawmakers have introduced a joint resolution aimed at ending what they call Trump’s unlawful and unprecedented move to federalize the Metropolitan police department (MPD) in Washington DC.
Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House judiciary committee, DC’s non-voting House delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and representative Robert Garcia, ranking member of the House committee on oversight and government reform introduced the resolution on Friday, invoking the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973.
The resolution states that Trump has not demonstrated the existence of any special emergency conditions that would warrant the federalization of the police force. In the Senate, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland will sponsor the resolution.
Democrats introduce joint resolution to end Trump’s ‘lawless’ DC takeover
Legislation says special emergency conditions that would warrant federalization of DC police have not been metMarina Dunbar (The Guardian)
Archangel1313
in reply to zero • • •This all sounds like Putin slid an envelope across to Trump, and after Trump looked at the pictures inside, Putin asked..."Do we understand each other now, Donald? Good."
And then the meeting was over.
Luouth
in reply to Archangel1313 • • •wurzelgummidge
in reply to zero • • •You're on a roll, AP, don't forget to leave out the uncomfortable bits.
davel
in reply to wurzelgummidge • • •like this
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ likes this.
PolandIsAStateOfMind
in reply to davel • • •opus86
in reply to zero • • •Trump: Vlad, stop killing Ukrainians.
Vlad: No.
Trump: No body told me this would be hard.
don't like this
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ doesn't like this.
ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝
in reply to zero • • •They both got out of the meeting what they wanted.
Putin got to further erode NATO and the West, while Trump got a distraction from the fact he's a nonce.
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
in reply to zero • • •reagansrottencorpse
in reply to zero • • •dovah
in reply to zero • • •gramie
in reply to dovah • • •