While the European Union cuts its purchases of Russian oil, it’s also making a move to strike another, less-noticed blow to the Russian economy — depriving insurance for ships carrying its oil.
Electronics manufacturers will be required to make tools and instructions for DIY repair available
New York has passed the US’ first “right to repair” bill governing electronics, which will force “digital electronic products” manufacturers to supply tools, spare parts, and repair instructions to customers and independent resale shops.
Called the Fair Repair Act, the bill passed the state assembly on Friday and is expected to be signed by Governor Kathy Hochul. It will take effect a year after it becomes law.
Grassroots groups and federal agencies alike have long been pushing for legislation to require companies to make repairs more accessible, with even US President Joe Biden issuing an executive order last year calling for the Federal Trade Commission to enforce repair rights.
The New York law encompasses the biggest gains for right to repair advocates thus far, with self-repair group iFixit championing the bill as “one giant leap for repairkind.” Nathan Proctor, the lead Right to Repair campaigner for US Public Interest Research Group, hailed the bill’s passage as a “hard-earned victory” for the movement.
Assemblymember Patricia Fahy, who shepherded the bill through the New York State Assembly, praised it as well, saying it will “put consumers first, level the playing field for independent repair shops, and reduce our e-waste footprint on the environment.”
“By requiring digital electronics manufacturers to allow access to critical information and parts required by independent, local repair shops to complete repairs on most products, this legislation ends what is a monopoly on the repair market by corporate actors and incentivizes competition within the industry,” she said.
Once the law takes effect in New York, other states will likely fall in line quickly, given that repair manuals published in one state can easily make their way over the borders to the next – and to other countries, for that matter.
Electronics are far from the only point of contention with regard to right of repair, however, and the New York law includes exceptions for home appliances, medical devices, public safety communications equipment, and farming equipment.
However, with a massive global food shortage looming, the companies that make farming equipment will have an ever-harder time justifying the proprietary technology that forces users to send for expensive repair technicians whenever a tractor breaks down. The chronic shortage of technicians who are frequently booked months in advance will mean crops that are already scarce are not being harvested.
ANAND, India, Jun 03 (IPS) – Common lands are natural resources that are used collectively by a community, such as forests, pastures, ponds, and ‘wastelands’. They act as a resource base for non-cash, non-market economies that provides fodder, fuelwood, water, oils, fish, medicinal herbs, and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to the local communities.
Younger workers are questioning the benefits of the daily grind as they face worsening prospects. The rise of “Sang culture” embodies the frustration and soul-crushing weariness.
A Spanish court has summoned Mike Pompeo, according to ABC
A Spanish court has summoned former CIA Director Mike Pompeo as a witness to testify about whether the US government planned to abduct or even assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, ABC has reported on Friday citing its sources.
“The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz has agreed to summon as a witness Mike Pompeo, former US Secretary of State and former CIA director, to explain whether the intelligence agency and the US government with Donald Trump at its helm drew up a plan in 2017 to kidnap and assassinate the founder of WikiLeaks,” the report read.
According to the outlet’s sources, Pompeo has been summoned to appear as a witness this June, although he may give testimony via video link. Pedraz made the decision after prosecutor Carlos Bautista supported the request made by Assange’s lawyer Aitor Martinez.
In September 2021, Yahoo News broke a story alleging that the CIA plotted to kidnap the WikiLeaks founder, a plan that sparked fierce debates within the Trump administration over the legality and practicality of such an operation. Moreover, senior US officials reportedly went so far as to request “sketches” or “options” on how to assassinate Assange.
Following the report, Pompeo called for the criminal prosecution of the sources who shared the story with Yahoo News, saying that they all “should all be prosecuted for speaking about classified activity inside the Central Intelligence Agency”.
Julian Assange rose to fame owing to WikiLeaks’ pro-transparency activism and the publication of huge troves of leaked classified documents that exposed dark secrets of many governments, including alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The WikiLeaks founder has been confined in the Belmarsh maximum-security prison in London since April 2019 pending possible extradition to the US.
In April, a London court issued a formal extradition order for Assange that is now subject to approval by Britain’s interior minister. However, the WikiLeaks founder still has legal avenues of appeal. Should he be extradited to the US, he will be tried under the Espionage Act, which prohibits obtaining information related to national defense that can be used to undermine US interests.
The activist has denied all charges and his lawyers have argued that the defendant had not been under US jurisdiction and had engaged in completely legal journalism.
