The Sound

The lack of diversity in the latest film is a backwards step. Adaptations of Tolkien’s epic must reflect our times

There is trouble in Middle-earth – again. So far, all of the actors announced for the latest The Lord of the Rings film instalment, The Hunt for Gollum, to be released next year, are white. Kate Winslet, Jamie Dornan, Anya Taylor-Joy and Leo Woodall join a cast that has already been criticised for its lack of diversity. “Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology,” the film’s director, Andy Serkis, who plays Gollum, said. “The Shire feels very white.”

Ironically, Serkis invokes fidelity to Tolkien to defend the casting, yet his “modern film version” of Animal Farm, which came out this week, plays fast and loose with Orwell by replacing the novel’s crushing conclusion with a hopeful one.

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Republican Josh Hawley accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s firm of relentlessly pursuing and attempting to bankrupt her

A US senator has accused Meta of using lawfare in “efforts to destroy” a whistleblower who made allegations about the social media company’s dealings with China and its treatment of teenagers.

In a letter to its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, the Republican senator Josh Hawley demanded to know what measures Meta had taken to monitor Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook’s former global head of public policy, and her family.

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The incoming PM has made a strong start – but there are several traps he needs to avoid. Brown, Blair and even Thatcher can show the way

The first piece of unsolicited advice I would offer to Britain’s incoming prime minister is: don’t take unsolicited advice. Don’t be one of those leaders who’s swayed by the last person in their ear. That’s what they used to say about Boris Johnson, that he was a cushion that bore the imprint of the last person who sat on him. Instead, Andy Burnham should study closely the experience of Johnson and the rest of his recent predecessors – and, let’s face it, there’s plenty of them.

He might start by thinking about the period that will begin the moment he steps into Downing Street on Monday. How he handles this opening phase of his tenure is crucial: you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and all that. To many voters outside Greater Manchester, Burnham is still a relatively unknown quantity. The view they will form of him will be largely shaped by what he says and does in the next few weeks. For much of the electorate, it will be the overture that decides their verdict on the show.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist

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Kings Theatre, Brooklyn

The queen of Philly soul is on phenomenal form in a saucy and effortlessly virtuosic show celebrating 26 years in music

At one point during her triumphant phones-free show at Brooklyn’s Kings Theater, Jill Scott takes a moment to introduce Dwayne Wright, her bass player and co-musical director who is known to his friends, the queen of Philly soul informs the 3,000-strong audience, as the “pussy whisperer”. The crowd cracks up, but she’s not done. “I want you to close your ears and listen with your vagina,” she instructs, as Wright launches into a deep, toe-curling run on his instrument. “Kegel to the music!” she whoops. “You come to a Jill Scott concert and you become a virgin again.”

Perhaps Scott is emboldened by the no phones policy tonight; ours were stashed in Yondr pouches upon entry à la recent Jack White and Phoebe Bridgers concerts. But the emotionally attuned, pointedly political and proudly horny soul singer probably doesn’t need any help in getting loose. Despite my initial grumbles, the technology ban turned out to be an inspired decision in an evening that felt deeply connected, as if we were at a summer block party hosted by the neighborhood’s most charismatic character.

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Another 22 reportedly injured while mourning Palestinian killed in Israeli attack earlier in the day

An Israeli strike on a funeral in the Gaza Strip has killed at least seven people and injured another 22, according to a local hospital.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

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Tehran bombs US allies in Middle East after US attacks on bridges, energy facilities and key port

The US hit bridges, energy facilities and a key Iranian port on Friday, expanding its aerial campaign against Iran, and prompting swift Iranian strikes against US allies in the Middle East.

US airstrikes hit bridges in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, killing at least seven people, Iranian state TV reported. The bridges were a key transit point for Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port. Further US airstrikes brought down a tower in Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman that the US military claimed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used to facilitate attacks on vessels in the strait of Hormuz. The US also targeted key electrical infrastructure and Iranshahr airport.

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The incoming prime minister showed his oratorical skill and that he is prepared to borrow from populism

Nearing the end of his speech accepting the Labour leadership, Andy Burnham paused. “I know what to do,” he said. “I have a plan.” Perhaps he does. But even after half an hour of dense rhetoric, it is still not especially clear what this is.

Burnham, who will become prime minister on Monday after this formal party coronation, is a politician who runs largely on vibes, and that was the driving force of his address to the Labour faithful in central London.

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European Commission proposal to overhaul emissions trading system would give companies less demanding pathway to reductions

Europe’s most effective method of cutting dangerous planet-heating gases risks being weakened after the European Commission proposed an overhaul of its flagship carbon market, critics have said.

In a long-awaited review of the European Union emissions trading system (ETS), the European Commission proposed giving companies a less demanding and cheaper pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Stilletjes is de Amerikaanse overheid begonnen ondernemers miljarden aan ten onrechte geïncasseerde importheffingen terug te betalen. Fabio Tesei, die Italiaans voedsel importeert, is er blij mee, al leidt het ook tot discussies met klanten. En zijn blijdschap is van korte duur: twee dagen later is een van zijn medewerkers opgepakt door ICE.

De Europese Commissie komt de banken tegemoet met lagere kapitaaleisen en minder regels, ook om de Britse en Amerikaanse concurrentie de baas te kunnen. Maar Brussel dereguleert minder dan bijvoorbeeld Washington, en gaat lang niet zo ver als de Europese bankenlobby had gehoopt.

Donald Duck beleeft deze zomer een Rotterdams avontuur. Speciaal voor het Zomercarnaval verschijnt een Rotterdam-editie van het weekblad, die zondag wordt onthuld tijdens het Kindercarnaval op Katendrecht. "Kinderen en volwassenen zijn dol op deze reeks", vertelt hoofdredacteur Ferdi Felderhof, ook wel bekend als de 'burgemeester van Duckstad'.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - De speciale expertisecentra waarin mensen met postcovid kunnen worden behandeld, blijven zeker een jaar langer open. Zorgminister Sophie Hermans (VVD) meldt in een Kamerbrief dat geld dat hiervoor is vrijgemaakt nog niet op is, waardoor de centra in 2027 open kunnen blijven.

De centra bestaan inmiddels ruim anderhalf jaar. Tot eind mei zijn hier 1550 volwassenen en 350 kinderen ontvangen met langdurige klachten na een coronabesmetting. Het kabinet heeft de organisaties die betrokken zijn bij de expertisecentra gevraagd om een voorstel uit te werken over hoe de zorg voor postcovid-patiënten ook na 2027 behouden blijft.

De speciale expertisecentra waarin mensen met postcovid kunnen worden behandeld, blijven zeker een jaar langer open. Zorgminister Sophie Hermans (VVD) meldt in een Kamerbrief dat geld dat hiervoor is vrijgemaakt nog niet op is, waardoor de centra in 2027 open kunnen blijven.

De centra bestaan inmiddels ruim anderhalf jaar. Tot eind mei zijn hier 1550 volwassenen en 350 kinderen ontvangen met langdurige klachten na een coronabesmetting. Het kabinet heeft de organisaties die betrokken zijn bij de expertisecentra gevraagd om een voorstel uit te werken over hoe de zorg voor postcovid-patiënten ook na 2027 behouden blijft.

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (ANP) - Max Verstappen is bij de tweede vrije training van de Grote Prijs van België tot de derde tijd gekomen. De 28-jarige Nederlander moest in de Red Bull bijna een halve seconde toegeven op Kimi Antonelli, die met 1.45,944 de snelste was.

De viervoudig wereldkampioen in de Formule 1 reed in de Red Bull 1.46,416, 0,472 seconde langzamer dan de Italiaanse Mercedes-coureur. Ook regerend wereldkampioen Lando Norris uit Groot-Brittannië was sneller dan Verstappen. Hij gaf 0,190 seconde toe op Antonelli.

De coureurs hebben zaterdag om 12.30 uur nog een derde vrije training. Daarna volgt om 16.00 uur de kwalificatie voor de Grote Prijs van zondag.

Rode vlag

Verstappen was eerder op de dag de snelste geweest in de eerste vrije training. Hij was toen met 1.47,070 een fractie sneller dan de twee Ferrari's van Lewis Hamilton en Charles Leclerc. Na de eerste training viel er lichte regen in de Ardennen tijdens de kwalificatie van de Formule 3. De baan was ruim voor de tweede vrije training van de Formule 1 droog.

In het eerste deel van de vrije training was er kortstondig een rode vlag, omdat Verstappen te wijd was gegaan en veel grind mee de baan op had genomen. De 28-jarige Nederlander mopperde over de boordradio over zijn versnellingen.

Russell

Met nog 42 minuten te gaan dook Verstappens teamgenoot Isack Hadjar onder de tot dan toe beste tijd van Antonelli en Verstappen was ook sneller. De 19-jarige Antonelli was daarna echter veel sneller met zijn toptijd.

George Russell kon niet in de buurt komen van de beste tijd van zijn teamgenoot bij Mercedes. Hij kwam tot de achtste tijd op 1,285 seconde. Charles Leclerc, de winnaar op Silverstone twee weken geleden, kwam slechts tot de elfde tijd. Door een crash van Pierre Gasly, die zijn gehele achtervleugel verloor, volgde een tweede rode vlag. De coureurs gingen daarna alleen nog naar buiten voor een proefstart.

ROTTERDAM (ANP) - De 15-jarige Jerryson die vorig jaar in Capelle aan den IJssel door de politie werd doodgeschoten na een fatbikeroof, zette kort daarvoor een geladen vuurwapen op het hoofd van het slachtoffer. De rechtbank in Rotterdam heeft vrijdag uitspraak gedaan in de zaak tegen een medeverdachte van de roof. In deze uitspraak valt te lezen dat Jerryson ook meermaals 'Ga van je kankerfatbike af!' riep tegen het slachtoffer.

Volgens de rechtbank was de medeverdachte niet op de hoogte van het voornemen om de fatbike te stelen. Ook kan niet worden bewezen dat hij "een significante of wezenlijke bijdrage" heeft geleverd aan de roof en heeft hij zelf geen geweld gebruikt.

De rechtbank acht hem wel medeplichtig aan heling van de fatbike, omdat hij achterop sprong bij Jerryson op de fatbike die hij zojuist gestolen had zien worden. Ook wordt de jongen veroordeeld voor een aantal andere vergrijpen, waaronder bedreiging en diefstal.

404 Media is turning three years old! We've come a long way with your support, so let's hang out.

We're throwing TWO separate events to celebrate: A live taping of the podcast and a special night of talks on Sept. 3, and a big open-bar party on Sept. 4. Subscribers at the Supporter level get free and discounted access to both events!

Check your membership status or become a paid supporter of our work here.

On Thursday, Sept. 3, meet us at WNYC's Greene Space for 404 MEDIA LIVE! We'll discuss what we've accomplished in the past year, and what's next for our independent, human-made journalism. We'll also welcome a few very special friends to the stage: Matthew Gault joins us for a chat about AI datacenter resistance, and The Abstract's Becky Ferreira hits us with the coolest science to come out this year so far.

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All of us—Sam, Emanuel, Jason, and Joseph—will be there to celebrate 404 Media growing another year. We love these parties because it's a chance to connect with the people who make all of this possible: you, our subscribers.

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This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss AI music, slop bowls, and the endless quest for optimization.

EMANUEL: We’ve used Behind the Blog a few times at this point to pull the curtain on our story selection process. Usually, we do this when we explain the reasoning behind the decision to write a story we already published, but today I want to talk about a story I didn’t write (yet).

For the past few months I’ve been looking at a new and strange type of AI generated nonconsensual image on X.

Notice more spam getting through that corporate email filter lately? Attackers are using a technique known as "text salting," which hides benign-looking words intended to confuse some AI-powered email filters, says cybersecurity firm Barracuda. The email security outfit said on Thursday that it had detected more than one million retail-themed phishing attacks using text salting since April. It’s not a new technique by any stretch and has been used to fool traditional secure email gateways for years, but Barracuda says it can also confuse machine-learning and LLM-based security tools. Text salting involves peppering (sorry) a malicious email with random, harmless-seeming words in order to fool an email scanning system into thinking there’s nothing off about the flavor of a message (sorry again), tricking the system into passing it to its recipient for consumption (I’ll stop with the food jokes here). Pour a pile of salty text on top of an email and a human reader would probably get suspicious, however, so attackers typically use one or more of three flavor variations (okay, I'm done – promise) to hide the additives from human readers, but not automated scanners, per Barracuda. Typical techniques include CSS cropping, which sets the visible window small enough that a human won't see the hidden filler text; text manipulation to move the salty copy outside the visible screen; and zero font techniques which insert misleading words between suspicious phishing copy that’s visible to a machine but not a human. The end result of each of those techniques is a message that reads less malicious, more gibberish to a machine, leading it to assume the email is fine, and which looks exactly as the attacker intended when viewed by a human. Modern email security systems have largely adapted to these techniques, with newer tools able to remove hidden text to see what a reader is supposed to see, sounding alarms when a lot of hidden stuff is inserted in an email, and the like. AI, however, hasn’t managed to follow suit, says Barracuda. “Text salting and related techniques can be used to confuse AI-driven content analysis engines by flooding the email with random terms that encourage the AI system into making an incorrect classification decision,” the company wrote in its report - just like those early 2000s SEGs. What a technological leap we’ve made! LLMs, Barracuda explained, are typically designed to process email text and source code plainly, with no understanding of whether text is visible or hidden from a user. They can be trained to do so, but that just means most tools probably aren’t doing that by default. So, what can enterprises do to stop the flow of salty spam to their employees? Barracuda recommends a layered approach to email security rather than relying solely on keyword detection, including checking sender reputation, authentication results, embedded URLs, HTML-rendering techniques, and differences between user-visible and hidden content. Ditching that AI spam filter might not be a bad idea, either. ®

Original Mastodon Post

An Engineer's Guide to USB Typе-С (2024): https://www.ti.com/lit/eb/slyy228/slyy228.pdf?ts=1759892558029

Discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48862165