Peter Kernwein posted a photo:
Costas Vermeer, de Queer & Non-Binary Scorpio Virgo die het Nationaal Monument op de Dam ondersmurfte met de tekst 'Never again is now' (foto onder), krijgt géén straf. De schoonmaakkosten (895 hersteldukaten) heeft-ie zelf betaald en daarmee is de kous voor de rechter af. Helemaal mooi, en we gunnen Costas het allerbeste: we hopen dat-ie z'n act als Ballerina Ballenknijp nog tot in lengte van dagen mag opvoeren in Amsterdam, zolang onze nationale 'plek van paradijsvogels' nog niet helemaal is opgevreten door religieus regressieve importopvattingen - het wordt in (bepaalde wijken van) Amsterdam immers steeds wat lastiger jezelf, of toch zeker homo, te zijn. Tevens hopen we dat Costas nog een keer op schouw mag in Gaza, kijken of-ie daar ook voor Palestina kan zwieren zonder van het dak te vliegen. Godspeed, Costas.
Would you install 2.75 tonnes of reinforced concrete in your garden, a fragment of the most notorious symbol of the cold war? Herne Hill resident Steven Thorpe did – and the neighbours are not happy
Name: The Berlin Wall.
Age: Sixty-five years old.
Continue reading...A look at the the case, the appeal court decision, and how it could affect the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron
A Paris court has delivered a ruling on Marine Le Pen’s appeal against her conviction for embezzlement of public funds that could – in principle – allow France’s far-right figurehead to run in next year’s presidential election.
Here is a look at the ruling, the case that led up to it – and what the court’s decision means for the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron as French president.
Continue reading...
The UK's Court of Appeal has dismissed Microsoft's appeal against a ruling that ValueLicensing (VL) can resell pre-owned software licences. The judgment, handed down July 7, follows a ruling by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in November that customers could resell their licenses, even if Office contained clipart. In 2021, VL filed a claim accusing Microsoft of stifling the market for pre-owned on-prem software licenses, alleging the US biz baked restrictive clauses into its contracts – essentially, better subscription deals for customers who didn't resell old licenses. VL sought £270 million in damages; Microsoft denied wrongdoing. The case later took a turn, when Microsoft attempted to reframe it as a copyright dispute. VL was leaning on the EU's UsedSoft ruling, which established that secondhand software licenses could legally be resold. Microsoft changed tack and countered that Office's icons and help files made it a creative work, and thus covered by the Copyright and Information Society Directive rather than the software licensing rules UsedSoft addressed. Microsoft also argued that licenses it had sold in bulk (for example, a 1,000-seat purchase) couldn't legally be broken up and resold piecemeal by VL. The CAT rejected both arguments and ruled unanimously for ValueLicensing. Microsoft filed an appeal, and that appeal has now failed. The judgment is unambiguous on both counts. On copyright, the Court of Appeal agreed with the CAT that Microsoft's reasoning would lead to "odd results." "It would mean that all that was necessary to avoid the effect of UsedSoft would be to incorporate some icons or clip art with the program," the judgment noted. As for the subdivision of volume licenses, again, the Court of Appeal sided with the CAT and dismissed Microsoft's appeal: there's nothing wrong with VL's approach. VL's Jonathan Horley told The Register in a statement: "I am delighted that the Court of Appeal has given such a clear judgment in ValueLicensing's favour on both of Microsoft's appeals. The judgment agreed with all the main conclusions of the CAT on both rulings under appeal as well as clarifying the overall legality of our business model." Horley pointed out that none of Microsoft's arguments succeeded and VL now intends to pursue its compensation claim. "We are considering the consequences of the Court of Appeal's judgment for Microsoft's defence to our claim and will focus in the coming weeks and months on the key procedural steps leading up to a liability trial," he added. A Microsoft spokesperson told The Register: "We respectfully disagree with the court's decision and will seek permission to appeal. Today's decision does not address ValueLicensing's core complaint that we gave customers the option to apply the value of their licenses for older products to new cloud subscriptions rather than selling them to third parties. "We continue to believe that was both legal and the right thing to do. Helping our customers move to the cloud improves productivity and security." Justin Turner KC, the judge presiding over ValueLicensing's claim, is also overseeing Alexander Wolfson's collective action against Microsoft. Wolfson was granted permission to intervene in the appeal on March 30, and the judgment noted that "the intervener's position was essentially supportive of VL's case." That potentially makes today's dismissal significant well beyond VL's own claim. The Wolfson collective action, bolstered by this ruling, could expose Microsoft to liability running into the billions, dwarfing the hundreds of millions at stake in VL's original claim. ®
De politie heeft dinsdagochtend een inval gedaan in een woning aan de Vroegestraat in Alblasserdam. Er werden twee mensen gearresteerd en diverse spullen uit de woning werden in beslag genomen, waaronder een 'vuurwapen gelijkend voorwerp’. Vorig jaar september vond in dezelfde woning een overval plaats.
Een 35-jarige man uit Schiedam stond dinsdag terecht voor zijn aandeel in de rellen op het Haagse Malieveld vorig jaar september. Bij de rellen werden ME’ers bekogeld met stenen en zwaar vuurwerk en er werden vernielingen aangericht. De Schiedammer kreeg vier maanden cel voor zijn aandeel.
BEIJING (ANP) - Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma (Buitenlandse Handel, D66) wilde in Beijing "een punt zetten achter de afgelopen periode van onenigheid" met China. Dat ging onder meer over Nexperia en ASML. Volgens hem leefde dat gevoel ook bij zijn Chinese ambtgenoot Wang Wentao, zei hij terugkijkend op de ambassade.
"De relatie leek misschien meer op een botsautopark dan een goede bilaterale relatie", aldus de bewindsman. "Een van mijn belangrijkste doelen vandaag was ook om die relatie weer in rustiger vaarwater te krijgen en dat werd meteen door de andere kant beaamd en omarmd."
De minister is op handelsmissie in China op een moment dat Europa en China een handelsoorlog proberen te voorkomen. Het grote Chinese handelsoverschot (1 miljard euro per dag) met de EU kost banen en bedrijven. "Dat moeten we echt in balans trekken."
Sjoerdsma heeft het gevoel dat het "sentiment" naar China om dreigt te slaan en dat lidstaten kiezen voor de harde lijn. Hij zegt ervan "overtuigd" te zijn dat China en de EU eruit kunnen komen.