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🇲🇰 **‘Northern Macedonia’: Balkan republic to change name after 26-yr dispute with Greece**
🇬🇷 *RT* - <https://archive.li/Iy7BO>

“Macedonia will be called the Republic of Northern Macedonia [Severna Makedonija],” Zoran Zaev, the country’s prime minister, announced Tuesday. The new name will be used both domestically and internationally, with Macedonia making a relevant amendment to its Constitution, Zaev added.

The announcement came after telephone talks with Greek counterpart, Alexis Tsipras, on Tuesday. Tsipras said that Athens got “a good deal which covers all the preconditions set by the Greek side" as he briefed Greek President, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, on the results of negotiations.

The row between Athens and Skopje has been ongoing since 1991, when Macedonia seceded from Yugoslavia and declared its independence. Greece argued that by calling itself Republic of Macedonia the neighboring country was stating a territorial claim of the Greek northern province, also called Macedonia.

Due to the name dispute, Greece has vetoed all of attempts by Skopje to join both the European Union and NATO. The country was also accepted to the UN in 1993 as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Macedonia’s new name will be put up for a referendum, to be held in autumn. It also has to be ratified by both Macedonian and Greek parliaments.
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🇷🇺 **Russia says Gulag records are ‘kept forever’ amid reports of secretly evaporating archives**
*RT* - <https://archive.li/DbzhC>

A Russian museum studying the history of the infamous Gulag prison camps, which existed in the Soviet Union until 1960, has learned that prisoner data is being evaporated. The story was initially reported by Kommersant on Friday, and immediately picked up by other Russian and Western media outlets.

The records in question are the ‘registration cards’ that contained the personal data of prisoners, including movement between the camps and release date from the forced labor camp. For those who died in the Gulag, the authorities had a special file which was sent for permanent storage to the archive. The survivors’ cards are often the only source of information about their fate for relatives.

One of the Gulag Museum researchers claimed that one such card is missing, according to Russian media reports citing director Roman Romanov. When the authorities of Magadan Region, Russia were asked about the record, a local branch of the internal affairs ministry said the document was destroyed under a confidential 2014 order. The document was reportedly signed by multiple Russian ministries and services, including the interior ministry, justice ministry, and defense ministry, and allowed the destruction of the cards after former convicts turn 80.

The head of the Gulag Museum believes that the case is just an administrative “casus.” “What has happened in Magadan is the first such case in hundreds of similar requests,” he said. In the interview, he said the museum regularly deals with such records and have been provided with all the necessary records before. Political repressions are still a very sensitive topic in Russia. There are no precise figures on how many people were imprisoned in this case. Romanov says that more than 20 million people went through the Gulag.
-----------------

🦉 **Einstein's travel diaries reveal 'shocking' xenophobia**
*The Guardian* - <https://archive.li/9iq7j>

The publication of Albert Einstein’s private diaries detailing his tour of Asia in the 1920s reveals the theoretical physicist and humanitarian icon’s racist attitudes to the people he met on his travels, particularly the Chinese.

Written between October 1922 and March 1923, the diaries see the scientist musing on his travels, science, philosophy and art. In China, the man who famously once described racism as “a disease of white people” describes the “industrious, filthy, obtuse people” he observes. He notes how the “Chinese don’t sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods.

All this occurs quietly and demurely. Even the children are spiritless and look obtuse.” After earlier writing of the “abundance of offspring” and the “fecundity” of the Chinese, he goes on to say: “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.”

Ze’ev Rosenkranz, senior editor and assistant director of the Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology, said: “I think a lot of comments strike us as pretty unpleasant – what he says about the Chinese in particular.

“They’re kind of in contrast to the public image of the great humanitarian icon. I think it’s quite a shock to read those and contrast them with his more public statements. They’re more off guard, he didn’t intend them for publication.”
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🇺🇾 **Uruguay marijuana legalization leads to pot shortage**
📉 *CBS News* - <https://archive.li/I4FsZ>

Marijuana went on sale in Uruguay last year under a 2013 law that made it the first nation to legalize a pot market covering the entire chain from plants to purchase. But the country is still working out how to meet demand in its effort to undercut drug traffickers who control the black market.

In Uruguay, even finding legal marijuana can be a chore, as Andrade discovered. The law lets registered users buy as much as 40 grams (1.4 ounces) of marijuana a month at participating pharmacies. But only 14 of the country's estimated 1,200 pharmacies have signed up to sell marijuana. Many balked at the idea of selling the drug, due to low profit margins or fear of being robbed.

Uruguay's 8,750 registered individual growers are allowed to harvest up to 480 grams (a little over a pound) each per year. If all met that figure, it would total about 4 tons per year. There are also 90 users clubs with 2,529 members. If they were to produce their maximum amount, it would come to about another ton annually.

Pharmacy employee Lino Celle says marijuana arrives once a week at his business. "They're supposed to provide us with about 4 kilograms, but only leave us 3," he said. "The system is ridiculous. I live far away, work and study. It's too complicated to buy like this," said a local chef who asked to remain anonymous because he doesn't want to be stigmatized for smoking pot.

Uruguay launched its government-regulated marijuana marketplace in an effort to fight rising homicide and crime rates linked with illicit drug trafficking. Yet drug violence has increased since the law went into the effect. Interior Minister Eduardo Bonomi says fights between criminal gangs, mostly associated with drugs, made up 59 percent of all homicides in the first quarter of 2018, roughly double the percentage in 2012.
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<a:birthdaypepe:447997729491124234>

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🇺🇸 **Trump slaps China with $50 billion in trade tariffs on imports**
🇨🇳 *RT* - <https://archive.li/5umc8>

The White House has announced a 25-percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods in what it calls a clampdown on unfair trade practices by Beijing. The US trade representative’s office said it issued a revised China tariff list covering 1,102 separate product categories. The first package of revised tariffs will apply to $34 billion of Chinese imports, on 818 product lines, and will enter into effect from July 6. The second package will target the remaining $16 billion of Chinese goods, on 284 product lines.

“In light of China’s theft of intellectual property and technology and its other unfair trade practices, the US will implement a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods from China that contain industrially significant technologies,” according to the White House statement.

“This includes goods related to China’s Made in China 2025 strategic plan to dominate the emerging high-technology industries that will drive future economic growth for China, but hurt economic growth for the United States and many other countries.”

The step is expected to escalate trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. Earlier, Chinese officials warned of mirror measures, pledging to introduce import tariffs on US goods such as automobiles, aircraft, and soybeans <:soy:415618830056947732> .
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🇨🇦 ** Canadians boycott US products, cancel vacations to America**
🇺🇸 *NY Post* - <http://archive.li/SZ06Y>

Canadians have taken to practicing pocketbook diplomacy in defense of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is caught in a trade war of words with President Trump, by boycotting American goods and canceling vacations to the United States, according to a report.

Shoppers are shunning Kentucky bourbon, California wine and Florida oranges, and avoiding American companies like Starbucks, Walmart and McDonald’s, Canadian network CTV News reported on Wednesday.

On Twitter, hashtags like #BuyCanadian, #BoycottUSProducts and #BoycottUSA are spreading as outrage over Trump’s trade tariffs grows.

An Ottawa man posted a “Trump-free grocery cart” full of products from Canada or from “countries with strong leadership.”

Vacationers said they would be staying up north this summer instead of booking trips to the US.

“F​–k​ you Trump. We just booked a $3,000 vacation to beautiful British Columbia. Happy anniversary to us. #Canadastrong #BuyCanadian #F***Tariffs,” tweeted ​Supreme Leader Lyna.
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🇺🇸 **Trump and family sued by New York attorney general over alleged charity violations**
*The Guardian* - <http://archive.li/xWA2m>

The attorney general of New York state sued the Donald J Trump charitable foundation, President Trump and three of his children on Thursday for violating state charity laws, alleging that the Trumps used charitable assets as “little more than a check book for payments to not-for-profits from Mr Trump” and his companies.

The lawsuit, filed by the attorney general, Barbara Underwood, on the morning of Trump’s 72nd birthday, seeks $2.8m in restitution and penalties from Trump and asks for the distribution of $1m in assets to other charities.

Trump began tweeting soon after the charges were filed, dismissing the lawsuit as the work of “the sleazy New York Democrats” and claiming the foundation “took in $18,800,000 and gave out to charity more money than it took in, $19,200,000”.

Money used to pay those bills came not from Trump but from would-be charitable donors who paid into the foundation, the lawsuit said. “From 1987 through 2008, Mr Trump personally donated funds to support the foundation,” the suit reads. “Since 2008, however, Mr Trump has not contributed any personal funds to the foundation, which instead has been supported by donations from other persons and entities.”
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🇵🇰 ** Leader of Pakistani Taliban killed by U.S. drone strike, Afghanistan says**
🇺🇸 *NBC News* - <http://archive.li/Sz23j>

The Pentagon confirmed U.S. forces had carried out a strike close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, targeting the leader of a terror group.

Mullah Fazlullah Khorasani was Pakistan's most-wanted militant and blamed for attacks including a 2014 school massacre that killed 132 children and the 2012 shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In March, the U.S. offered a $5 million reward for information on Fazlullah.

Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told NBC News that Fazlullah died in a strike in the Marawaya district of the border province of Kunar.

Earlier, Lt. Col Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement that U.S. forces had carried out an airstrike Thursday in Kunar "which targeted a senior leader of a designated terrorist organization."

Fazlullah's death could ease strained ties between Islamabad and Washington even as Afghanistan observes an unprecedented three-day ceasefire with the larger Afghan Taliban.
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🇮🇱 ** Putin, Netanyahu discuss situation near Syria-Israel border**
🇷🇺 *AP* - <https://archive.li/q2IgG>

The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have discussed the situation along Syria's border with Israel.

The Kremlin said the leaders discussed "the situation in Syria in the context of joint efforts to ensure security around the Syrian-Israeli border" on a Friday call. It added they "voiced readiness to strengthen coordination on Syria, including on combating international terrorism."

The conversation follows up on the two leaders' talks in Moscow and the Israeli defense minister's visit to Russia last month.

The Syrian government's plans to recapture rebel-held areas near the border raised Israeli concerns its other backers besides Russia — Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — could reaffirm their presence there. Israel has warned it wouldn't allow Iran to maintain a military presence in Syria.
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🇵🇭 **Duterte wants to give the public 42,000 free guns**
🇺🇸 NY Post - <https://archive.fo/W5Jl9>

The Philippines has vowed to give free guns to members of the public — so long as they promise to use them to fight drugs and crime.

President Rodrigo Duterte said he’s considering arming 42,000 community leaders, known as barangay captains, after consulting with the police and intelligence agency.

Martin Dino, the interior department undersecretary responsible for barangays, said **handguns would be provided for free**, or private purchases subsidized, but only for those not involved in illegal drugs. Dino said: “The condition is that the barangay captain should fight drugs and crime. If he is conniving with criminals, he could be the one shot.”

But last week he vowed barangays will be provided with the same legal protection as soldiers or police and they “will never go to jail” if they shot suspected criminals in the performance of their duty.
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🇬🇧 **Police charge man over 'Punish a Muslim Day' letters**
*The Guardian* - <http://archive.li/daCNY>

A man has been charged in connection with the investigation into the so-called “Punish A Muslim Day” letters, West Yorkshire police said.
David Parnham, 35, from Lincoln, is accused of 14 offences including one count of soliciting to murder.

He is also charged with two counts of sending a number of letters promoting a “Punish A Muslim Day”, encouraging the commission of one or more of a number of offences.

Parnham further faces five counts of sending a substance with the intention of inducing in a person a belief that it is likely to contain a noxious substance, five counts of sending a number of letters conveying a threat and one count of making a bomb hoax.
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🇮🇹 ** Italy Demands Migrant NGO Boats Leave Mediterranean, Mocks Leftist Crew Members**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.li/miJ9Z>

Matteo Salvini has demanded the Netherlands recall the Dutch-flagged ‘rescue’ ships of open borders NGOs, declaring that Italy refuses to be complicit in the “illegal immigration business”.

Deputy Prime Minister and interior minister Matteo Salvini hit out at German ‘rescue’ charities operating the Lifeline and the Seefuchs on Saturday morning, noting that the vessels were hanging around the Libyan coast, “waiting to pick up their next load of human” brought to sea by criminal and sometimes terror-linked people-smugglers.

“[The NGOs] know that Italy no longer wants to be complicit in the business of illegal immigration, and therefore they will have to find other, non-Italian ports to go to,” he wrote on Facebook.

“As a [government] minister and a father, they can attack me and threaten me as much as they want, but I will not give up and I do this for the good of all.”

Italian transport minister Danilo Toninelli backed the populist Lega leader’s message on Twitter, calling on the Netherlands to recall the vessels, which he accused of being “in violation of the code of conduct” for ‘rescue’ boats on the basis that their insufficient staffing and equipment “could endanger lives”.
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🇺🇸 (Allegedly) **XXXTENTACION
DEAD AT 20 ...
SHOT IN S. FLORIDA**
💩 *TMZ* - <http://archive.li/virb1>

2:40 PM PT -- Broward Co. Sheriff's Dept. says XXXTentacion has been pronounced dead.

According to the dispatch call the suspects were described as 2 black males wearing hoodies, and the shooter was wearing a red mask.

The car has been confirmed as a black Dodge Journey, with dark tint and black wheels.

2:14 PM PT -- Witnesses told cops a Louis Vuitton bag was taken from XXX's vehicle.

1:57 PM PT -- Additional dispatch audio has revealed XXX was transported as a "Level 1" trauma patient ... dispatchers described him as comatose.

1:48 PM PT -- According to dispatch audio -- the incident was a possible drive-by -- dispatchers named several possible getaway vehicles including a black Dodge Journey, Chevy Tahoe and a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

1:35 PM PT -- The Broward Co. Fire Dept. tells us XXX has been rushed to a hospital. Witnesses say they heard multiple shots fired. His condition is unknown at this point.
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🇲🇽 **113 Politicians Have Been Killed Ahead Of Mexico’s Election. There Are Still Two Weeks To Go. —And That’s a Good Thing**
🇺🇸 B*zzF**d - <https://archive.fo/miSQ6>

At least 113 candidates, pre-candidates, and current and former politicians have been killed and 300 more have suffered some form of aggression since September, according to Etellekt, a Mexico City–based public policy consultancy. Even the government’s tally — 34, which considers only candidates — pushes this particular death toll to nearly four per month.

Astonishing as these numbers are, they only tell part of the story: There are hundreds of candidates who have backed out of their races out of fear for their safety, and many others who have curbed their campaign activities. This poses a significant challenge to Mexico’s relatively young democracy, already crippled by systemic corruption and widespread impunity.

The attacks have been brazen. Last month, several commandos went around Ignacio Zaragoza, a town of less than 7,000 people about 200 miles southwest of El Paso, Texas, burning houses and cars belonging to several local candidates. They killed Liliana García, who was running for town councilor. In a video circulating on social media, a large plume of smoke is seen coming out of a building in broad daylight while a woman weeps in the background. In another, rapid gunfire is heard on an empty street.

Homicides reached a record high in 2017, a foreseeable outcome after several years marked by mass disappearances and massacres committed by state forces alongside ubiquitous drug violence. Despite this, the ruling PRI said no corner of Mexico has become off-limits.
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🇬🇧 **Quilliam receives multi-million-dollar compensation for ‘anti-Muslim extremist’ claim by SPLC**
*RT* - <https://archive.li/tOiYX>

The Southern Poverty Law Center issued an apology on Monday to a UK-based think tank that it previously described as “anti-Muslim extremists.” The Quilliam Foundation will also receive a $3.375-million settlement from the center. Offering its “sincerest apology,” the SPLC said in a statement that it was sorry to the Quilliam Foundation and its founder Maajid Nawaz for including them in its publication ‘A Journalist’s Manual: Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.’

The center said that it was their “opinion at the time that the Field Guide was published that their inclusion was warranted.” “But after getting a deeper understanding of their views and after hearing from others for whom we have great respect, we realize that we were simply wrong to have included Mr Nawaz and Quilliam in the Field Guide in the first place,” the statement added.

Set up by former Islamist Maajid Nawaz in 2008, Quilliam looks to counter extremist ideology, particularly Islamism. It also ostensibly aims to advise government policy on the matter, advocating nuanced policies on Muslims living in Britain and empowering moderate Muslims, while countering far-right narratives.

Commenting on the result, Nawaz said: “With the help of everyone who contributed to our litigation fund, we were able to fight back against the regressive Left and show them that moderate Muslims will not be silenced. “We will continue to combat extremists by defying Muslim stereotypes, calling out fundamentalism in our own communities, and speaking out against anti-Muslim hate.”
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🇺🇸 **Firefighters accused of making pornography at Akron, Ohio, fire station**
*USA Today* - <https://archive.li/sEz5S>

Two Ohio firefighters have been suspended after allegedly making pornographic videos at a firehouse. Akron officials say Lt. Arthur Dean and Provisional Lt. Deann Eller were both placed on administrative leave on Monday while the city launched an investigation into the matter.

According to local media, the suspensions came after steamy footage turned up online, leading to a tip that the pair allegedly had produced the porn at a fire station. At a news conference, the Akron Beacon-Journal reported, the city’s fire chief, Clarence Tucker, wouldn’t say which station might have served as the backdrop for the porn.

“The job of an Akron firefighter is about selfless service to the community. The job requires running into burning buildings, rescuing trapped victims, and administering lifesaving care to people in their darkest hour,” Tucker said, according to Ohio TV station WKYC. “These distressing allegations bring unwelcome dishonor and embarrassment to our department and the city of Akron and unfairly discredit the reputation of other Akron firefighters. I know this department, and this is not who we are.”
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🇺🇸 ** West Point grad who posed with 'Communism will win' in cap discharged**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.li/CMs8s>

The West Point graduate, who last year posed in a picture holding a cap that had “Communism will win” written inside, is officially out of the U.S. Army with an other-than-honorable discharge.

Spenser Rapone rocked the military community last year after his social media posts were revealed, showing him wearing a Che Guevara shirt underneath his military uniform.

He is no longer part of the U.S. military after top brass at Fort Drum’s 10th Mountain Division accepted his resignation Monday after an earlier warning for “conduct unbecoming of an officer.” He’s leaving the military with an other-than-honorable discharge.

Army officials condemned the cadet last year and opened an investigation into his social media activity. “Second Lieutenant Rapone’s actions in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army,” an Army statement read.

His open advocacy of communism attracted the criticism from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who then urged the U.S. military to dismiss Rapone for supporting the country’s enemies.

He also remains committed to the far-left causes, saying he considers himself “a revolutionary socialist” and urged others to join him in his revolution,

“I would encourage all soldiers who have a conscience to lay down their arms and join me and so many others who are willing to stop serving the agents of imperialism and join us in a revolutionary movement,” he said.

Rubio cheered the departure of Rapone. “While in uniform, Spenser Rapone advocated for communism and political violence, and expressed support and sympathy for enemies of the United States,” the Senator said on Monday. “I’m glad to see that they have given him an ‘other-than-honorable’ discharge.”
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<:ancap:280811320541052940> **Americans own 40 percent of world's firearms: study**
*Yahoo News* - <https://archive.li/rtrhy>

Americans make up only four percent of the global population but they own 40 percent of the world's firearms, a new study said Monday.

There are more than one billion firearms in the world but 85 percent of those are in the hands of civilians, with the remainder held by law enforcement and the military, according to the Small Arms Survey.

The survey, produced by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, says it bases its estimates based on multiple sources, including civilian firearms registration data from 133 countries and territories and survey results in 56 countries.

Of the 857 million guns owned by civilians, 393 million are in the United States - more than all of the firearms held by ordinary citizens in the other top 25 countries combined.
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<:trump:284711336934375425> **US quits UN human rights council**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/Ca4to>

The US has pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the US UN envoy Nikki Haley made the announcement at a joint news conference in Washington.

Ms Haley last year accused the council of "chronic anti-Israel bias" and said the US was reviewing its membership.

Formed in 2006, the council has been criticised for allowing countries with questionable human rights records to be members.
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💩 **What's The Perfect Gift For The #TrumpCuck In Your Life?**
*BuzzFeed* - <http://archive.li/SR1Wa>

Who Would Be In Your #Trumpcuck Cabinet?

Which is Your Most Beloved Trump Product?

What Would Your Eat While Being Cucked Out?
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🇪🇸 **Spain's new government to remove General Franco's remains from mausoleum**
*Telegraph* - <https://archive.fo/fE3Ke>

The remains of fascist dictator Francisco Franco could soon be removed from a state-funded mausoleum under a plan by Spain's new socialist government to transform the monument into a place to remember the civil war rather than glorify the dictatorship.

"We don't have a date yet, but the government will do it," Pedro Sanchez, the new prime minister, said late on Monday night during his first television interview since being sworn in on June 2 after toppling his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy in a confidence vote.

He recalled that a non-binding motion approved last year in parliament called for Franco's remains to be exhumed from the massive Valley of the Fallen mausoleum some 30 miles northwest of Madrid and the site turned into a "memorial of the victims of fascism".

Earlier on Monday Socialist party spokesman Oscar Puente said the mausoleum should be transformed into a "place of reconciliation, of memory, for all Spaniards, and not of apology for the dictatorship."
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🇺🇸 ** Verizon and AT&T will stop selling your phone’s location to data brokers**
*ARS Technica* - <http://archive.is/uiqUT>

Verizon and AT&T have promised to stop selling their mobile customers' location information to third-party data brokers following a security problem that leaked the real-time location of US cell phone users.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) recently urged all four major carriers to stop the practice, and today he published responses he received from Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile USA, and Sprint.

Wyden's statement praised Verizon for "taking quick action to protect its customers' privacy and security," but he criticized the other carriers for not making the same promise.

"After my investigation and follow-up reports revealed that middlemen are selling Americans' location to the highest bidder without their consent or making it available on insecure Web portals, Verizon did the responsible thing and promptly announced it was cutting these companies off," Wyden said. "In contrast, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint seem content to continuing to sell their customers' private information to these shady middle men, Americans' privacy be damned."

AT&T changed its stance shortly after Wyden's statement. "Our top priority is to protect our customers' information, and, to that end, we will be ending our work with aggregators for these services as soon as practical in a way that preserves important, potential lifesaving services like emergency roadside assistance," AT&T said in a statement to Ars.

Sen. Wyden recognized AT&T's change on Twitter and called on T-Mobile and Sprint to follow suit.
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🇺🇸 **Antifa Spreads List Of ICE Agents Compiled Using LinkedIn And Blasts It Over Twitter**
*Daily Caller* - <http://archive.is/c90fK>

Antifa, a violent, so-called anti-fascist group, tweeted out a list of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ identities.

The Twitter account “nebraska antifa” sent out a tweet to its followers on Tuesday that linked to the personal information of ICE officers compiled from information found on LinkedIn.

A Twitter user who goes by Sam Lavigne compiled the list of ICE agents’ identities, titles and locations. In a tweet on Tuesday morning he says he “scraped LinkedIn for people that work for ICE.”

The Medium link in Lavigne’s was no longer available as of Tuesday night.

While the original post of ICE personal information has been removed, the Antifa Twitter account linked to an archived post, where viewers can access the Lavigne’s original database.
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🇨🇳 **China cuts US investments by 92% amid escalating trade war**
🇺🇸 *RT* - <https://archive.li/cWU8x>

The US market saw a significant plunge in investment from China in the first five months of the year amid a growing trade row between the world's two largest economies.

Chinese investments totaled $1.8 billion from January through May, representing a 92-percent drop against the same period a year ago. That’s the lowest level in seven years, according to the latest report by Rhodium Group, a research provider that tracks Chinese foreign investment.

Chinese corporations that had been pumping cash into the US to cement ties over a long period have cut their investments in recent years. In 2017, investments declined by 36 percent to $29.7 billion from $46.5 billion during the previous year.

“The more confrontational approach of the Trump administration toward economic relations with China has cast some doubt, in these companies' minds, about their position here,” said Thilo Hanemann, a director at Rhodium Group, as quoted by CNN Money.

The plunge was reportedly triggered by an ongoing trade conflict between Washington and Beijing, in which the US administration has taken an aggressive stance towards Chinese trade policies. Last week, the White House introduced 25-percent tariffs targeting $50 billion of Chinese imports to the country. US President Donald Trump threatened to hit another $200-billion of Chinese goods with an extra 10-percent tariff after Beijing retaliated.
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🇮🇱 ** Wife of Israel prime minister charged with fraud over alleged misuse of public funds**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.li/w60QK>

Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Thursday was charged with a series of crimes, including fraud, over alleged misuse of public funds.

Netanyahu, 59, was also charged with breach of trust in connection with the "Prepared Food Affair," the Jerusalem Post reported.

Netanyahu was accused of misusing about $100,000 of public funds for catering services at the prime minister's Jerusalem home while falsely stating there were no cooks on staff, the justice ministry stated.

Sara Netanyahu acted "to circumvent the rules and conditions" governing the official residence "in order to fraudulently obtain state funding for various expenses for the accused and her family that were not supposed to be financed in this manner," the indictment said.

If convicted, she could face a maximum sentence of five years behind bars. It was not immediately clear when her trial would start.
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🇷🇺 **'Ten times cheaper': Russian space company testing iodine rocket engine**
*RT* - <https://archive.li/nBZR7>

Russian spacecraft manufacturer Energia is developing an electric propulsion rocket engine which runs on ‘pure’ iodine. The new thruster can make rockets smaller, lighter and cheaper.

Engineers have patented a method of using iodine for electric-powered spacecraft propulsion, the Energia Space and Rocket Corporation said on Thursday. The company, based in the Moscow region, is the nation’s main builder of space rockets and components for the International Space Station (ISS). It said the idea to use ‘pure’ iodine for space exploration was first proposed in the 90s, but thorough research started only several years ago.

Solid iodine is easy to store, can be quickly converted into gas, and is cost-effective, compared to xenon which typically serves as propellant in electric-powered propulsion engines. Switching to iodine can potentially make the process “ten times cheaper’, while the engine itself will be smaller and less heavy, the company said. Furthermore, xenon-run engines are incapable of long-distance flights, like going to the Moon.

“Ground tests will commence in late June,” told Pavel Scherbina, one of engineers leading the project. The engine’s testing in space is planned for 2022, both onboard the ISS and the ‘Progress’ cargo ship. According to Energia, the new engines may be used in operating telecom satellites, and delivering humans and cargo in deep space.
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🇺🇸 ** Supreme Court says warrant necessary for phone location data in win for privacy**
*C|Net* - <http://archive.li/iniDe>

In a 5-4 decision on Friday the justices decided that police need warrants to gather phone location data as evidence for trials. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the Sixth Circuit court's decision.

Carpenter v. United States is the first case about phone location data that the Supreme Court has ruled on. That makes it a landmark decision regarding how law enforcement agencies can use technology as they build cases. The court heard arguments in the case on Nov. 29.

In the Supreme Court's ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the government's searches of Carpenter's phone records were considered a Fourth Amendment search.

"The Government's position fails to contend with the seismic shifts in digital technology that made possible the tracking of not only Carpenter's location but also everyone else's, not for a short period but for years and years," he wrote.

Roberts pointed out that allowing government access to historical GPS data infringes on Carpenter's Fourth Amendment protections and expectation of privacy, by providing law enforcement with an "all-encompassing record" of his whereabouts. He added that historical GPS data presents an "even greater privacy risk" than real-time GPS monitoring.
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🇺🇸 **Rhode Island Senate Passes Bill Requiring Presidential Candidates To Reveal Tax Information, Or Be Left Off Election Ballot**
*The Daily Wire* - <https://archive.li/8cLUV>

On Tuesday, the Rhode Island state Senate voted overwhelmingly (34-3) in favor of a bill (2018-S 2612A) that would require presidential candidates to release their tax records in order to be allowed on the state’s primary and general election ballots. The bill will now head to the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

Senator Gayle Goldin (D) released a statement regarding the bill, which she sponsored:

*Especially considering his vast real estate holdings and the wide reach of his family’s companies and assets, President Trump’s lack of transparency raises significant questions about how he may be personally benefiting from the tax overhaul he promoted and signed. We could not help but question every carve-out for businesses, like those for real estate holdings and allowing the PGA to maintain its nonprofit status, and wonder what his personal benefit is going to be.*

According to Ballotpedia, the Rhode Island House of Representatives is comprised of 64 Democrats and 11 Republicans. If political affiliation is any indication, the House will likely vote to pass the legislation. The state Senate, which voted 34-3 in favor of the bill, is comprised of 33 Democrats and 4 Republicans.
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🇮🇹 **Lifelike reconstruction of Julius Caesar reveals extraordinary head**
*RT* - <https://archive.li/xSFQn>

A new 3D reconstruction of Julius Caesar’s head gives unprecedented insight into what the famous Roman general looked like all those years ago - including the bizarre proportions of his cranium.

The bust was revealed at an event to promote a new book on Caesar by archaeologist Tom Buijtendorp at at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Netherlands, on Friday. Buijtendorp came up with the idea of recreating Caesar’s head based on a marble bust of the ancient Roman leader that’s held at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.

Archaeologist and anthropologist Maja d’Hollosy brought the bust to life, using a 3D scan of the marble piece before drawing on other existing portraits of Caesar to fill in gaps where the marble was damaged. Caesar was then given a realistic-looking face using silicon and clay.

The result is a remarkably lifelike depiction of Caesar, down to the unusual skull shape said to have been the result of his difficult birth. “So he has a crazy bulge on his head,” Buijtendorp said of his skull, HLN reports. “A doctor said that such a thing occurs in a heavy delivery. You do not invent that as an artist.”

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🇰🇷 **North Korea erasing most anti-US propaganda**
*NY Post* - <https://archive.fo/XVtor>

The North Korean government is erasing much of its anti-U.S. propaganda following dictator Kim Jong-un’s forays onto the world stage.

Gone are the posters depicting the U.S. as a “rotten, diseased, pirate nation” and promising “merciless revenge” on American forces for an imagined attack on the totalitarian country.

In their place are cheery messages touting praising the prospects for Korean reunification and the declaration Kim signed in April with South Korean President Moon Jae-in promising “lasting peace,” according to reports.

“All the anti-American posters I usually see around Kim Il-sung Square and at shops, they’ve all just gone,” Rowan Beard, a tour manager at Young Pioneer Tours, told Reuters. “In five years working in North Korea, I’ve never seen them completely disappear before.”

Infamous posters and postcards showing North Korean missiles on their way to Washington are a thing of the past. Also removed are the anti-American trinkets that used to be sold to tourists as souvenirs. In their place are items showing themes of Korean reunification.
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🇺🇸 **Horrifying cop bodycam shows officers shooting dog & hitting 9yo girl**
*RT* - <https://archive.li/qJYed>

Police bodycam footage showing a Wichita officer firing at a family dog and injuring a 9-year-old girl with bullet fragments has been released. The child can be heard screaming as she is hit. The incident happened in December 2017, when police responded to a 911 call made by Danielle Maples after her husband threatened suicide.

Police officer Dexter Betts entered the home where the couple’s four children were sitting in the living room along with the family dog. The bodycam footage shows Betts in the living room where he says, “we got a dog inside here, too,” before a dog appears on screen moving and barking.Betts then fired at the bull terrier.

One of the two bullets ricocheted off the floor and fragments hit the 9 year-old girl, sitting just behind the pet, above her eye. “Ow! Ow! Ow, you hurt my eye! Ow! Ow!” the girl can be heard screaming. Betts tells the children to get out and can be heard telling someone over the police radio that the “dog inside attacked us.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KMwnIhF438

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🇹🇷 ** Turkey's Erdogan victorious in election that grants him unprecedented power**
*CNN* - <https://archive.li/6e5em>

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged victorious in a high-stakes election, seeing off the most serious challenge yet to his political dominance and tightening his grip on the nation he has ruled for 15 years.

Defeating the twin threats of a reinvigorated opposition and a weakened currency, Erdogan declared himself the winner even before official results were confirmed.

With 97.7% of the votes counted, Sadi Guven, chief of Turkey's Supreme Election Board, said Erdogan had won an absolute majority, avoiding a runoff against his principal challenger, Muharrem Ince. State media put Erdogan on 52.5%, well ahead of Ince on 31%.

"The winners of the June 24 elections are Turkey, the Turkish nation, sufferers of our region and all oppressed (people) in the world," Erdogan said in a victory address from a balcony at the AKP's offices in the capital Ankara in the early hours of Monday morning.

The results were a blow to Ince and his Republican People's Party, known as the CHP, who ran a spirited campaign that threatened to force Erdogan into a damaging runoff and deny his party control of parliament.
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🇨🇳 **Spying doves: China launches birdlike surveillance drones**
*RT* - <https://archive.li/uP7UH>

A flock of pretty birds gliding through the sky may conceal a high-tech surveillance drone filming your every move, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday. The program, code-named ‘Dove,’ has already spread across China with more than 30 military and government agencies deploying the birdlike drones and program-linked devices in at least five provinces in recent years.

The Doves also cover the contentious Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China’s far west, home to a predominantly-Muslim Uyghur population. The region has long been a cause of concern for the Chinese government due to separatist sentiments.

The drones, weighing not much more than their real prototypes and equipped with a high-definition camera and a GPS antenna, flap their wings mimicking the moves of real birds with almost perfect precision. They can even mix with a flock and go unnoticed by them, as well as by sheep, which are easily spooked, the Morning Post says. However, they cannot cover large distances with a time span of 30 minutes at speeds of up to 40kph (25mph).

China is not the first country to develop birdlike drones. In 2011, Germany’s Festo Corporation developed the SmartBird – a drone inspired by the herring gull. SmartBird has not been commercialized, but another rather realistic French-designed bionic bird is available for sale. Unlike the Chinese Doves, there has been no indication that these drones will be used by the military.
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🇲🇽 **MEXICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CALLS MASS MIGRATION TO US A ‘HUMAN RIGHT’**
*Daily Caller* - <http://archive.is/SfiXb>

Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) declared mass immigration to the United States a “human right” for all North Americans during a speech Tuesday.

“And soon, very soon — after the victory of our movement — we will defend all the migrants in the American continent and all the migrants in the world,” Obrador said, adding that immigrants “must leave their towns and find a life in the United States.”

He then declared migration “a human right we will defend,” eluniversal.com reports.

While the election is not until July 1, Obrador is by far the frontrunner.
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