● 05.16.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 16/05/2023: Sourceware in SFC

Posted in News Roundup at 8:40 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

• While Linux is a great OS, some pitfalls can make it less easy to use than Windows or macOS. Since Linux distros are community-driven projects, if you want them to be better, it’ll be up to you to contribute.

• Here are some ways you can contribute to improving the Linux ecosystem.

Server

• The majority of the web servers around the world are running Linux. If you are a web administrator, choosing a suitable Linux server distribution is very important, as it can make your work much easier. This guide shows seven of the best server-focused Linux distributions that you can install for free.

• By Yarden Shafir, Senior Security Engineer WNF (Windows Notification Facility) is an undocumented notification mechanism that allows communication inside processes, between processes, or between user mode processes and kernel drivers.

Audiocasts/Shows

• Thunderbird shows that asking users for money works, Red Hat’s priorities seem to be moving away from the community, Mozilla is set to show the Fediverse how it’s done, Mastodon simplifies its onboarding experience, Linux is better than Windows on handhelds…

• Listen now (53 min) | (All future episodes on Lunduke.Locals.com)

Applications

• Are you often forgetting things? Want a little help remembering your tasks?

• While you can always use note-taking apps for Linux, they may not effectively remind you of tasks and things.

• The ‘Reminders’ app can be your little helper, reminding you of your pending work.

• Let’s see what it can do for you.

Instructionals/Technical

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Plex Media Server on Linux Mint 21. Are you tired of managing your media files across multiple devices? Do you want a seamless media streaming experience that can be accessed from anywhere? Look no further than Plex Media Server.

• Practical guide on how to use the recursive “grep” command to search the content in a directory of multiple files using different types of options and patterns.

• The method of checking if a regular file exists in Bash or not in the current or particular location using the file test operators with the “test” command.

• Tutorial on the various uses of the “bc” command in Bash scripts to generate the fractional value of any mathematical calculation with the precision value.

• Tutorial on the “.bash_profile” file in Bash to set the environment variable or define any script to perform the automated tasks at the startup of the system.

• Pop!_OS, a Linux distribution developed by System76, offers a clean and modern desktop experience. While its default look is impressive, you might want to customize it further to suit your personal taste. One of the best ways to personalize your desktop is by changing its themes and icons. Whether you prefer a minimalist look or a vibrant style, there’s a theme and an icon pack out there for you.

• Docker is an OpenSource software that provides OS-level virtualization for developing, shipping, and running applications. In this guide, you will learn how to install Docker CE (Community Edition) on Alma Linux 9.

• Node.js is a cross-platform java-script runtime for server-side programing language. It’s built on top of Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine, which allows you to execute JavaScript code on the server side. This tutorial will show you how to install Node.js on AlmaLinux 9.

• This article spotlights alternative tools to df, a utility that reports file system space usage in Linux and other UNIX operating systems.

• Need to copy a directory from one Linux system to another? This guide will show you how, with tips and tricks for getting the job done quickly and efficiently.

• Elasticsearch is an open-source search engine built on the Apache Lucene library. Elasticsearch was initially released in 2010 and has become the most popular search engine application ever since. People use Elasticsearch for log analytics, full-text search, operational use cases, etc. Magento, as a well-known e-commerce application also uses Elasticsearch as its search engine.

• Hello, friends. In this post, you will learn how to install KubeSphere on Alma Linux 9. Let’s go for it. According to the tool’s website: KubeSphere is a distributed operating system managing cloud-native applications with Kubernetes as its kernel. It provides a plug-and-play architecture for the seamless integration of third-party applications to boost its ecosystem.

• Although we have touched on the topic of Docker on the site, we have not done it for Fedora. So, in this post, you will learn how to install Docker on Fedora. This post works for both Fedora 38 and Fedora 37.

• If you are working for an organization and want to keep your Docker images in-house for quick deployment, then hosting a private Docker repository is perfect. This tutorial will teach you how to set up and use a private Docker registry on a Ubuntu 22.04 server using Amazon S3 as a storage location.

• Apache Maven is a powerful build automation tool primarily used for Java projects. However, its versatility extends beyond Java, as it can also be used to build and manage projects written in C#, Ruby, Scala, and other languages. Hosted by the Apache Software Foundation, Maven was formerly part of the Jakarta Project.

• Electron, formerly known as Atom Shell, is a free and open-source software framework that’s been making waves in the world of desktop application development.

• Navigating the task of repairing corrupted tables in MySQL can indeed be challenging. But it can be made significantly easier with the right techniques and thorough understanding. Our extended guide provides the requisite knowledge to mend corrupted MySQL tables and introduces a few extra strategies to ensure optimal database performance.

• KiCad is a powerful, open-source software suite designed for electronic design automation (EDA). The software allows users to design and create schematics for electronic circuits, and layout printed circuit boards (PCBs).

Distributions and Operating Systems

New Releases

• Bodhi Linux, the lightweight and elegant distribution based on Ubuntu LTS, has released its latest beta version for testing. The Bodhi Linux 7.0.0 release is designed to improve the user experience by offering improved performance and security features and is currently under development for a few months.

• The beta release is a significant step towards the full release of Bodhi Linux 7.0, and users are invited to provide feedback and suggestions to improve the final product through the official forum.

Fedora Family / IBM

• Rocky Linux, a powerful enterprise-grade Linux distribution based on the RHEL, has gained widespread popularity among developers, sysadmins, and organizations seeking a stable and secure platform.

• Less than a week after the RHEL 9.2 release, Rocky Linux 9.2 followed suit, offering expanded capabilities, security updates, and other fixes.

• So, the new stable Rocky Linux 9.2 release for x86_64, aarch64, and s390x architectures, powered by Linux kernel 5.14, is ready for production and to power up your computing needs and workloads. So let’s see what’s new.

Debian Family

• Tails 5.13 looks like a small release, but it introduces an important change to better protect your anonymity and keep your files secure at all times. Starting with this version, all newly generated Persistent Storage and LUKS encrypted volumes will be using version 2 of the Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS) disk encryption specification by default.

• As you can imagine, LUKS2 offers stronger cryptography by default when compared to the first-generation LUKS specification. Unfortunately, this release doesn’t enable LUKS2 on existing Persistent Storage and LUKS encrypted volumes, but the development team announced plans to provide users a migration plan from LUKS1 to LUKS2 in the next release, Tails 5.14, due out in June 2023.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

• A new version of the software-properties package is rolling out to Mantic Minotaur daily builds. The update makes brings a “significant change” to the way personal package archives (better known as PPAs) are managed on Ubuntu systems.

• What’s changing?

• Well, in current versions of Ubuntu when you add a PPA (via the command line — you can add them via Software & Updates but I’m not sure how key handling works there) a .list file for the PPA is created in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/, and the corresponding gpg keyring placed at /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d.

• Keeping your system updated is essential for any operating system. Linux Mint is no different.

• Linux Mint has a robust update system. It provides timely security patches for the kernel and other software packages. That’s not it. You also get updates on the applications you installed using the Software Manager tool.

• Basically, apart from security patches, your system receives new features, bug fixes, improved hardware support, performance enhancement, and a lot more.

• While the Updater tool is straightforward, it may still seem overwhelming if you are new to Linux Mint.

• This is why we at It’s FOSS came up with this beginner’s guide idea. It will give you some ideas about using this tool and the best practices you should follow.

Open Hardware/Modding

• Xavier Dumont is using an Arduino Micro to drive this MIDI instrument that requires the player to blow to make noise.

• The simplest MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) input devices use good ol’ fashioned buttons: push a button and the device sends a MIDI message to trigger a specific note. But that control scheme doesn’t replicate the flexibility of a real instrument very well, because a standard button is a binary mechanism.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• A news item from Software Freedom Conservancy.

• Important Free Software infrastructure project finds non-profit home

• As a home for Free Software projects since 1998, Sourceware is a on the Sourceware projects page.

• Becoming an SFC member project will improve future operations carried out by dedicated volunteers to and furthering the mission of Free Software hosting. This will accelerate the Sourceware technical roadmap to improve and modernize the infrastructure.

Web Browsers/Web Servers

Mozilla

• I’ve written recently about my work on ChatCraft.org.  I’ve been doing a bunch of refactoring and new feature work, and things are in a pretty good state.  It mostly works the way I’d expect now.  Taras and Steven have filed a bunch of good ideas related to sharing, saving, and forking chats, and I’ve been exploring using SQLite Wasm for offline storage. But over the weekend I was thinking about something else.  Not a feature exactly, but a way of thinking about the linear flow of a chat.  The more I’ve worked with ChatCraft, the more I’ve learned about this form of dialog.  Because a number of separate features flow from this, I thought I’d start by sketching things out in my blog instead of git.

Programming/Development

• How to create a “Hello world” program in the C++ language by creating a C++ file to write a program, create a main() function, compile it, and run the code.

Python

• To convert a Python float to the specified string the “str()” function, “f-string” method, and “repr()” function are used in Python.

• The “print()” function, the “logging” module, or the “traceback” module are used along with the “try-except” block to print exception messages in Python.

• The math range error occurs when a mathematical calculation returns a result that exceeds the maximum value that can be stored in the computer’s memory.

• The “plt.colorbar()” function of “matplotlib” module in Python is used to add vertical or horizontal colorbar in a plot to visualize data with different colors.

• “SyntaxError: Can’t Assign to Function Call ” can occur due to various reasons like incorrect use of “=” operator, or using parentheses instead of brackets.

• To remove the last character from a string several methods such as using “List Slicing”, using “Loops”, using the “rstrip()” function, etc. are used in Python.

• To create a “Seaborn” subplot various method such as using the “plt.subplots()” function and using the “seaborn.FacetGrid()” function is used in Python.

Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

• Checking the uses of the number of arguments in Bash script for various purposes such as error handling, providing messages based on the number of arguments.

• How to use the Bash sleep command to stop the execution of the script for a certain period or do any scheduled task before executing a particular script.

Java

• Practical guide on catching the multiple exceptions in Java programming using a try-catch statement and the usage of the try-catch blocks in Java programming.

Leftovers

• TikTok filterism, renovating Frank Gehry buildings to make them even wigglier, and more.

Education

• The sense of happiness that comes from absorption in a thing we are truly drawn to can be discovered but not taught.

• President Biden is trying to appeal to working-class voters by emphasizing his plans to create well-paid jobs that do not require a college degree.

• Despite legislators’ threats to defund libraries, this busy one looks toward the future, with plans to expand its embrace of the community.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

• According to a new Dartmouth study, the COVID-19 epidemic increased expectant women’s anxiety about childbirth.

• The researchers were especially interested in determining which factors predict childbirth fear in the United States and how the pandemic has altered this fear and birth outcomes. The research was published in the journals Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.

• After three years of Covid-era masking, some Japanese people feel their facial expressions are a bit rusty. Enter Keiko Kawano, smile instructor.

Security

• The incident may have affected a total of 237,000 current and former staff across government, according to Reuters.

• From 5 people to almost 220 people. From working from our founders’ apartment to five offices in four countries. From an unknown challenger to being a reference in multiple fields in cyber security.

• As a company, NVISO has come a long way since 2013 and we want to take a moment to celebrate what we have accomplished together so far.

Privacy/Surveillance

• A former ByteDance executive fired from the company has filed a lawsuit alleging the company has backdoor access to U.S. user data in China.

Confidentiality

• Top business leader Ziggy Switkowski AO has been installed to look under the hood at embattled consultancy PwC after it became mired in a tax scandal. The former Telstra boss will lead the review after a former PwC partner was caught sharing confidential federal government tax policy information to other partners and staff.

Defence/Aggression

• Calm returned to Gaza Sunday as a fragile ceasefire largely held, leaving Palestinians and Israelis to count the cost of five days of cross-border fire that killed dozens.

• The event, marking the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians when Israel was created, was condemned by the Israeli ambassador to the world body.

• Both pilots managed to escape the jet in their ejection seats before it crashed.

• U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia says a man with a baseball bat walked into his Fairfax office, asked for him, and assaulted two of his workers. Fairfax City Police in northern Virginia said in a tweet that a man is in custody and that the victims were treated for non life-threatening injuries. The Virginia Democrat said the man entered his district office Monday morning and asked for him before before the attack that injured two women in his office — an outreach director and an intern working her first day on the job. He said he knew of no motive for the attack.

• European Commission News Brussels, 15 May 2023 President von der Leyen underlined the importance of a united response to the Russian invasion as well as of the reliable and continued support for Ukraine.

• Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s public rants against Russia’s military leadership point to mounting infighting within Putin’s invading army as it prepares to face a potentially decisive Ukrainian offensive, writes Olivia Yanchik.

• There was an amicable mood between Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron as the two leaders met in Paris on Sunday – a far cry from the diplomatic storm created by Macron’s warning against “humiliating” Russia this time last year. Analysts say France is still much more cautious than the US and the UK when it comes to arming Ukraine – although it would be unfair to characterise Macron’s position as soft.

• Britain announced Monday that it would deliver long-range attack drones and air-defence missiles to Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelensky continued his European tour with talks with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The Ukrainian President has met with leaders in Italy, Germany and France in recent days, securing a promise from French President Emmanuel Macron to provide additional military aid to Ukraine including light tanks, armoured vehicles and military training.

• The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group on Monday slammed reports that alleged he offered information on Russian troop positions to Ukraine as “laughable” and a result of a possible smear campaign.

• In the regions of Ukraine no longer under Russian control, the colossal amount of mines and explosives still in the ground have resulted in the deaths of at least 185 people, according to the Ukrainian government. For the second year in a row, many Ukrainian farmers have not been able to plant their crops. However, some small-scale farmers continue to work their contaminated land, risking their lives in the process. FRANCE 24′s Catherine Norris Trent, Johan Bodin and Dmytro Kovalchuk report.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to Paris for talks Sunday night with French President Emmanuel Macron, extending a multi-stop European tour that has elicited fresh pledges of military support as his country gears up for a counteroffensive against Russian occupation forces. The two leaders will discuss Ukraine’s military and humanitarian needs. Follow our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

• A Lithuanian court has handed a prison sentence of two years and three months to a man who stole funds raised for aid to Ukraine and used the money to buy a car, prosecutors said on Monday.

• Lithuania will draw up a value protection plan for the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, without Russia. The prior requirement for the two countries to jointly prepare such a plan for the entire Baltic Sea peninsula was changed because of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

• Russia’s disintegration started before its invasion of Ukraine, but the war accelerated the process. The Kremlin is likely to look for enemies in an attempt to maintain its crumbling state, which could lead to provocations against the Baltic states and Poland, Janusz Bugajski, an expert at the Jamestown Foundation, says in an interview with LRT.lt.

• The United States sees more indications that Russia and Iran are expanding a defense partnership that will help Moscow prolong its war in Ukraine, the White House said on May 15.

• The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on May 15 that Dmytro Firtash, a powerful tycoon indicted by the United States for corruption, along with managers of companies under his control had been served with “notices of suspicion” of embezzlement.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has returned to Ukraine from a European tour during which he collected more pledges for military backing from allies in Rome, Berlin, Paris, and London.

• A top Chinese envoy will begin a tour of Ukraine, Russia, and other European cities on May 15 in a trip Beijing says is aimed at discussing a “political settlement” to the Ukraine crisis.

• As part of its military aid, the UK provided combat drones and air defense missiles to Ukraine

• In the upcoming summit, the G7 countries will seek ways to support President Vodolomyr Zelensky and escalate the Ukraine conflict.

• By Gleb Garanchich and Sergiy KarazyKYIV (Reuters) -Russia launched a fresh wave of air attacks on the Ukrainian capital early on Tuesday and…

• PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with France’s TF1 television on Monday that France is open to training…

• His trips to Britain, Germany, France and Italy demonstrated the shifting political landscape when it comes to supporting Kyiv, as concerns grow about U.S. backing as the presidential election looms.

• Russian customs data shows that millions of dollars of aircraft parts made by Boeing, Airbus and others were sent to Russia last year.

• Ukrainians have a lot to say to Russia, and many have chosen to say it in ink on the sides of rockets, mortar shells and even exploding drones.

• The additions to Ukraine’s arsenal, which include more tanks, drones and other weapons from Germany, may signal that Western officials believe Kyiv’s forces could reclaim significant swaths of territory.

• Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the private military group, dismissed a report from The Washington Post saying that leaked intelligence showed he had offered to share Russian Army positions with Ukraine.

• The bombshell conference by United States (US) Ambassador Reuben Brigety on 11 May triggered a diplomatic spat between Washington and Pretoria. The accusation that South Africa loaded weapons onto a sanctioned Russian ship in December 2022 is significant and could fundamentally alter relations between the two countries.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Moscow’s state-run Tretyakov Gallery Arts Museum to hand over the country’s ancient Trinity icon, by medieval painter Andrei Rublyov, to the Russian Orthodox Church.

• Russian artist Ivan Volkov told RFE/RL that he has been sentenced to five months of “correctional work” for creating a snow sculpture in January 2022 in the form of a giant feces near the Field of Mars in the city of St. Petersburg, where those who died in the 1917 Russian Revolution are buried.

• Tajikistan has extradited Madina Bandarenko, the Ossetian wife of a notorious recruiter for the Islamic State extremist group in Tajikistan, to Russia along with her four children.

• U.S. special counsel censures the FBI’s handling of the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation.

• Prosecutors secured a guilty plea from an FBI employee but lost the only two criminal cases they took to trial.

• One of the seeming paradoxes of the Russian President is the degree to which he is at once a unitary micromanager and an absent, aloof, and often indecisive leader.

• An investigation into the origins of the FBI’s probe into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign has finally been concluded

• A special prosecutor has ended his four-year investigation into possible FBI misconduct in its probe of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign

• The State Department had no immediate comment on the report that the man, identified as Robert Shonov, had been arrested and charged with conspiracy.

• The special counsel’s final report nevertheless did not produce blockbuster revelations of politically motivated misconduct, as Donald J. Trump and his allies had suggested it would.

• Special counsel John Durham concluded in a long-awaited report released Monday that the FBI’s basis for launching its explosive investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia was “seriously flawed.”

• Why it matters: In the more than 300-page report, Durham leveled withering criticism at investigators — accusing them of causing “severe reputational harm” to the FBI.

• The war of words around Lady R and her supposed South African arms/weapons cargo generated comment and response from academics, civil society, politicians and others with probably the most objective coming from the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA).

• Two people were hospitalized after the attack at the Fairfax office of Representative Gerald E. Connolly, a Democrat. A man was in custody, the police said.

• A gun amnesty in Serbia after two mass shootings helps open a dialogue with gun owners over the source of safety in society.

• Self-evidently, there are any number of things about RFK’s policy platform that we don’t cotton to very much, and haven’t for decades. Back in the day we were always on opposite sides with respect to aggressive environmental regulation.

• One maddening feature of foreign policy debates in the United States is how frequently journalists and policy experts fail to challenge dominant narratives even when those narratives have glaring defects. Such malfeasance has facilitated a growing list of Washington’s policy blunders and outright debacles.

Environment

• There was less damage than predicted, but the Rohingya refugee camps on the coast of Bangladesh, where most live in simple shanties, were hit particularly hard.

• While casualties were relatively few, Sittwe was battered and remains flooded

• Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday urged countries involved in ongoing negotiations for an international anti-plastic pollution treaty to address the role of fossil fuels in plastic production. The organization also cited the need for human rights protections to be included within this Global Plastics Treaty.

Energy/Transportation

• Frankfurt’s public transport management company In-der-City-Bus (ICB) is set to receive 10 hydrogen-powered Solaris buses as part of an €6.5m ($7m) investment.

• With the weather getting more pleasant, the Rīga East Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS) sees people injured in scooter accidents almost daily. Injuries are often severe, and doctors repeatedly plead with the public to wear helmets and treat other road users with respect, Latvian Television reported on May 15.

• Users will also be able to use a digital wallet on a smartphone or smartwatch to pay for travel – though one can load a digital myki on a smartphone right now.

• The statement said Conduent operated ticketing systems in 24 cities, including Dubai, Paris, Montreal and New Jersey.

• Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker joined the fight against the tolling program, which would charge drivers who enter Manhattan below 60th Street.

• Instead of buying new cars, Americans are holding onto their old ones due to increased prices, and simply cars are lasting longer. The average age of a U.S. vehicle on the roads is now a record 12.5 years, according to data gathered by S&P Global Mobility.

Finance

• The Finnish company was hit hard by sanctions on Russia and left its operations in the country earlier this year.

• As federal money has dried up, Vermont is ending the last of its COVID-era hotel housing for homeless people

• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has repeated her warning that the U.S. government could run out of money as early as June 1, and has shortened the potential buffer period to days, not weeks.

• Why it matters: Yellen’s latest forecast keeps up the pressure on President Biden and Congress to find an agreement on how to raise the debt ceiling before the Treasury department reaches the so-called X-date.

• President Biden and congressional leaders will resume face-to-face talks on Tuesday to raise the debt limit and avoid a default.

• It’s an interesting question, given that the economy is actually looking remarkably strong.

• A pay offer of 10.5 per cent over three years has been made to commonwealth public servants. Chief negotiator Peter Riordan on Tuesday released the federal government’s pay offer for Australian Public Service employees. The offer is the largest pay increase that APS employees will have received in over 10 years.

• Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says a proposal to lift the working hours threshold for those on JobSeeker would allow them to earn more while putting less strain on the budget’s bottom line.

• The share of households — where one or both adults are employed — receiving income support has increased from 6 percent to 9 percent between 2017 and 2022.

• Mental health issues and back and neck pain have contributed to the rise in long-term sickness.

• Expert advice on cutting your fuel usage, food costs, energy bills and more

• A decades-old inequality driving a wedge between those who deliver dinners and their customers will be soon addressed, the NSW premier has promised. Transport union leaders gave NSW Premier Chris Minns a standing ovation as he pledged to amend the state’s decades-old workplace laws to include ride-share and food delivery drivers.

• While overall food prices are significantly higher than one year ago, economists say a slight drop in average prices in April compared to March show signs of a turning point.

• Heka, the Helsinki City Housing Company, owns around 50,000 rental apartments in the capital region.

• Big workforce layoffs have been a common theme linking technology-based businesses this year (and in 2022). A big question facing Vodafone’s (VOD) retail investors is why it’s swing of the jobs axe, unveiled today (16 May), is not getting markets excited like it has on the other side of the Atlantic.

• Share prices of big tech companies like Alphabet (GOOG:NASDAQ), Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms (META:NASDAQ) have uniformly romped higher in recent weeks thanks to commitments to streamline bloated work forces.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• Vice Media Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early Monday morning, marking the end of a long, strenuous effort to sell itself after its business stopped growing.

• Why it matters: It represents a significant fall from grace from what was once one of the most highly-valued media startups in the internet era.

• Evghenia Gutul of the pro-Russia Shor party has won the regional leader election in Moldova’s Gagauzia autonomous region.

• A Tunisian court on Monday sentenced Rached Ghannouchi, one of the main opponents of Tunisian President Kais Saied, to a year in prison on terrorism-related charges, local media reported.

• The massacre of nine workers in the Central African Republic and other recent attacks raise questions about China’s ability to protect its citizens overseas.

• Supreme Election Council Chairperson Ahmet Yener announced that as of 09:45 am there are only 27 inland and 1529 abroad ballot boxes that have not yet been counted, with current results showing 99% of the votes cast inland, and 84% of those cast abroad.

• The juror who caused a mistrial in Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial was “deeply sorry” for their actions, new documents reveal.  Mr Lehrmann faced a criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court last year over a rape allegation made by his former colleague Brittany Higgins. He denies the allegation and pleaded not guilty.

• Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann’s defence lawyer will face further questions at an independent inquiry into how the ACT justice system handled Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations.

• One analyst said Vice “never figured out a model at all”.

• Daily operations will continue as normal as a sale process begins.

• Bulgarian chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev has refused to step down, tearing up his resignation letter on national television and attacking unnamed rivals in parliament as “political trash.”

• There were no English dukes until 1337. Up until then, the English referred to the grandest aristocrats with the good old Germanic word “earl.”

• The prosecutor, Fani Willis, responded dismissively to a motion filed by Donald Trump’s lawyers that accused her of bias and sought to have her disqualified.

• Illinois is poised to pass groundbreaking legislation that will protect the earnings of child social media stars. A unanimously approved bill would require child influencers to receive a percentage of earnings from online content.

• Open thread on John Durham’s corrupt report.

• The former union organizer makes the leap from protest to politics.

• Decision appears to pave the way for Hun Sen’s party to keep grip on power.

• The self-driving car tech founder will hold an 82% interest in Forbes Global Media Holdings.

• Both Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu pointed to a second tour in the presidential elections, while Oğan who received over 5 percent of the votes for the presidency, said they will take a decision for the best benefit of the nation. CHP İstanbul’s Chairperson announced at 6:42 am in the morning that vote counting still continues in İstanbul, and that the votes are safe.

• Thais voted overwhelmingly for change on Sunday, but the military-appointed Senate could still block the opposition’s nomination for prime minister.

• Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat says he has invited five opposition parties to form a new government.

• Thailand’s opposition has won a substantial majority, challenging conservative parties and the former general who led the country for nine years. The election results reflect discontent among young voters, but the next government coalition remains uncertain.

• May 16, 2023 10:35 AM

• Move Forward Party is calling for changes to a law restricting criticism of the Thai monarchy.

• Thailand’s progressive Move Forward Party claimed victory in the country’s election Monday after a stunning result that decimated military-backed parties, which have ruled the kingdom for nearly a decade.

• The US Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a case in which members of Congress are seeking the disclosure of information regarding a real estate contract entered into by one of former president Donald Trump’s companies.

• In Paraguay, the Colorado Party has held power for seven decades. On Election Day, it rounds up Indigenous people and pays them for their votes.

• The disclosure, filed with the F.E.C., also shows that Ms. Haley is still on the board of United Homes Group, a large homebuilder in the Southeast.

• A prosecution witness at Hong Kong’s landmark 47 democrats trial has said that she was not convinced that defendant Gwyneth Ho would uphold the city’s mini-constitution. Amy Yeung, who was a returning officer during the 2020 Legislative Council elections, appeared before the court on Monday.

Censorship/Free Speech

• The video shows Mr Ryzal’s portrayal of the daily life of a less-fortunate person who spends excessively.

Civil Rights/Policing

• Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates, a giant in the J-pop industry, issued an apology to those who have accused its late founder Johnny Kitagawa of sexual abuse.

• The chief executive of the agency said she had not been aware of the claims against the agency’s founder, despite years of them coming to light.

• An elderly Hong Kong man has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of ticketed charges for allegedly playing the erhu and collecting funds in public without government permission. The retiree was acquitted of a similar charge for performing with the traditional Chinese musical instrument at a bus terminus.

• Hongkongers will have more say on the manner and place of their end-of-life care under a proposed bill and amendments set to be considered at the legislature.

• Iranian authorities have arrested eight people for allegedly leading a workers’ strike over wages at a key gas site in the south of the country, local media reported on May 14.

• The Tony Awards, a key marketing opportunity for Broadway, can go ahead in an altered form after the striking screenwriters’ union said it would not picket this year’s broadcast.

• The Monitor interviewed three of the people on strike – a newcomer, a mid-career writer, and a veteran – about their tribulations and triumphs in the industry.

• U-M’s negotiating team has delivered to the Graduate Employees’ Organization a comprehensive package in response to all outstanding issues. The package includes an increased compensation offer.

• White v. Discovery Communications, LLC, decided Wednesday by the Florida Court of Appeal, rejected a man’s libel claim against Netflix, on jurisdictional grounds (stemming in part from a particular procedural feature of the case), and against Microsoft on § 230 grounds.

• Two Black legislators are expelled, then a trans lawmaker is censured. The political scientist Jacob Grumbach explains why state legislatures are making anti-democratic moves.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

• Guest Post: There is still hope for BGP route leak prevention.

Monopolies

• France is investigating US tech giant Apple over it allegedly planning for smartphones to become out of date through restricting their repair, prosecutors and an association said on Monday.

• French authorities opened a court case against the technology company for making its old iPhones irreparable.

Patents

• On May 15, 2023, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims in an IPR filed by Unified against U.S. Patent 6,965,920, owned and asserted by Peter Henrik Pedersen. The ’920 patent is generally directed to the specification and management of how messages are distributed to recipients.

• A new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, was added seeking prior art on at least claim 14 of U.S. Patent 9,465,451, owned by Flick Intelligence, LLC, an NPE. The ‘451 patent generally relates to a computer program product for displaying additional information about a displayed point of interest.

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