🇸🇩 **Sudan crisis: Military arrests opposition figures after mediation bid**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/k1z23>

Sudan's security forces have reportedly arrested three prominent opposition figures after they met the Ethiopian prime minister who was in Khartoum to try to restart peace talks.

Opposition politician Mohamed Esmat was arrested on Friday soon after his meeting with PM Abiy Ahmed, aides said.

Ismail Jalab, a leader of the rebel SPLM-N group, and his spokesman Mubarak Ardol were detained early on Saturday.

It comes days after a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters left dozens dead.

Protest leaders have rejected an offer of talks from the Transitional Military Council (TMC), saying it cannot be trusted after the bloodshed.

Sudan has been controlled by the TMC since protests led to the ousting of long-time President Omar al-Bashir in April.

The military promised a transition to civilian rule but protesters had maintained a sit-in in Khartoum until security forces swept in on Monday and opened fire.
----------------

🇳🇵 **24,000 pounds of garbage were removed from Mount Everest, leading to the discovery of 4 dead bodies**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/qc7Dq>

The Nepalese government has removed just over 24,000 pounds of trash from Mount Everest, according to The Associated Press. During their cleanup of the world's highest mountain,
cleaners also uncovered four dead bodies.

Among the 11 tons of recovered trash from the 45-day project are food wrappers, cans, bottles and empty oxygen cylinders, Tourism Department official Danduraj Ghimire said.
Cleaning up the mountain has been extremely difficult due to unpredictable weather conditions, inaccessibility of certain areas and the inherent dangers involved.

Ghimire said the four dead bodies were found by the cleaners in melting snow and were taken to base camp before being flown to a hospital in the capital for identification,
AP reports. None of the bodies have been identified and it is not known when they died.

Some of the waste was flown to Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, in army helicopters. Officials presented it to recyclers in a ceremony to officially conclude to clean up project,
the AP reports. "Unfortunately, some garbage collected in bags at the South Col could not be brought down due to bad weather," Ghimire said in a statement Wednesday.
----------------

🇮🇷 **Iran urges Europe to normalize economic ties with it or face consequences**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/jBJlx>

Iran said on Sunday Europe was in no position to criticize Tehran for its military capabilities and it called on European leaders to normalize trade ties with the Islamic Republic despite U.S.
sanctions, or face consequences.

President Donald Trump last year withdrew the United States from world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sweeping sanctions. Trump condemned the accord, signed by his predecessor
Barack Obama, as flawed for not being permanent and for not covering Iran’s ballistic missile program or its role in conflicts around the Middle East.

The west European signatories to the deal - France, Britain and Germany - share the same concerns as the United States over Iran’s ballistic missile development and regional activities.

However, they have defended the nuclear accord as the best way to limit Iran’s enrichment of uranium, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, and a basis for future negotiations on a broader
palette of security and other longstanding disputes.

“Europeans are not in a position to criticize Iran for issues outside the JCPOA,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster, using the acronym for the nuclear deal.

“The Europeans and other signatories of the JCPOA should normalize economic ties with Iran...We will halt our commitments or will take action in accordance with their measures.”

Last month, Iran scaled back some commitments under the 2015 deal and warned that in 60 days it would resume enriching uranium to a higher degree than that permitted by the accord if the Europeans
failed to shield it against the U.S. sanctions, which aim to cripple its oil-dependent economy.
----------------

🇬🇧 **Two women injured in UK homophobic attack 'for refusing to kiss'**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/wqoyd>

Two women were punched and robbed in what police on Friday called a disgusting homophobic assault on a London bus, after one of the victims said their attackers tried to force them to kiss each other.

The incident took place in the early hours of May 30 after the women, in their 20s, boarded a night bus in West Hampstead.

“As they sat on the top deck, they were approached by a group of four males who began to make lewd and homophobic comments to them,” a police statement said.

“The women were then attacked and punched several times before the males ran off the bus. A phone and bag were stolen during the assault.”

Both women were treated in hospital for facial injuries.

Four men aged 15 to 18 have been arrested, police said later, and they were looking for other suspects.

Melania Geymonat, 28, told BBC radio the men began harassing them when they discovered she and her girlfriend Chris were a couple.

“They surrounded us and started saying really aggressive stuff, things about sexual positions, lesbians and claiming we could kiss so they could watch us,” she said.

“To ease the situation I tried to make some jokes, like Chris wasn’t understanding because she didn’t speak English. She even acted as if she was sick... but they started throwing coins.
The next thing I know Chris is in the middle of the bus and they are punching her.

“So I immediately went there by impulse and tried to pull her out of there and they started punching me. I was really bleeding.”
----------------

🇭🇰 **JUST IN: ‘No to China extradition’ – Hong Kong protest against controversial new law sees huge turnout**
*Hong Kong Free Press* - <https://archive.fo/MwUL1>

Hundreds of thousands have joined a mass protest against the Hong Kong government’s controversial extradition bill, in what organisers have said could be the biggest protester since 500,000 rallied against national security legislation in 2003.

As protesters gathered in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, police urged them to begin marching before the 3pm start-time, to ease overcrowding. Police opened up all lanes on Hennessey Road a few hours later after initially refusing to do so. The MTR also enacted crowd control measures, with protesters still leaving Victoria Park as late up to four hours after the start time.

Bringing Hong Kong Island to a half, demonstrators chanted “Scrap the evil law,” “Oppose China extradition” and “Carrie Lam resign” in reference to the Chief Executive. Lam declined to answer questions at a public appearance in Ocean Park on Sunday afternoon.

The protesters marched towards the legislature over an issue that has underscored divisions in society over trust in the legislature and the Chinese judicial system.

Hong Kong’s government first proposed legal amendments in February to allow the city to handle case-by-case extradition requests from jurisdictions with no prior agreements, most notably China and Taiwan.
The plan would enable the chief executive and local courts to handle extradition requests without legislative oversight and could reach a final vote before the current legislative period ends in July. The government has said the law will allow it to close a legal “loophole.” But lawyers, journalists, foreign politicians and businesses have raised concerns over the risk of residents being extradited to the mainland.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Milo Yiannopoulos named marshal for 'Straight Pride' parade**
*The Hill* - <https://archive.fo/tGgyQ>

Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has been named the grand marshal for Boston’s "Straight Pride" parade.

Organizers announced Friday the former Breitbart editor as the parade's grand marshal after they originally used actor Brad Pitt's name and likeness for the event.

The head of Super Happy Fun America, a group that "advocates on behalf of the straight community," told the Boston Herald that Pitt “was not super happy” about the group using his name and likeness without his consent.

“I really like his movies and his lawyers sent us a letter asking us to take his stuff down but, you know, you’re allowed to do satire,” John Hugo, president of Super Happy Fun America, told the newspaper.

The organization later named Yiannopoulos, who is openly gay, as its grand marshal for the event.

“I might technically be a sequined and perfectly coiffed friend of Dorothy’s, but I’ve spent my entire career advocating for the rights of America’s most brutally repressed identity — straight people — so I know a thing or two about discrimination,” Yiannopoulos said in a statement released by the group.

“This parade is a gift to anyone, male or female, black or white—gay and transgender allies, too!—who will stand with us and celebrate the wonder and the majesty of God’s own heterosexuality. Men, bring your most toxic selves. Women, prepare to burn your briefcases! Because it’s great to be straight, and we’re not apologizing for it any more. We’re Here, Not Queer.”

Boston’s Straight Pride event purportedly aims to celebrate heterosexuality in a city that’s said to have one of the largest LGBTQ communities in the nation.
--------------

🇺🇸 **White supremacist appears to urinate on an Israeli flag as nationalist group interrupts LGBT celebration in Detroit by tearing apart Pride flags and giving Nazi salutes**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/bFbza>

White supremacists caused outrage among the LGBT community when one of them appeared to urinate on an Israeli flag and gave Nazi salutes during a Pride event in Detroit.

The National Socialist Movement (NSM) interrupted the family-friendly event on Saturday, holding placards with their slogan and swastika flags.

The white nationalist group is one of the largest neo-Nazi organizations in the United States and is known for anti-Jewish and racist protests.

Images show LGBT supporters attempting to block them joining the event. Police are seen in the vicinity.

Motor City Pride began at noon and had four stages of entertainment, in addition to over 100 food stalls and other merchandise on sale. The city's main parade takes place on Sunday.

One image of the day's events appears to show an unidentified neo-Nazi group member urinating on an Israeli flag, with one LGBT supporter watching in horror at his actions.

Counter-protesters were pictured being blocked by law enforcement from intervening as members of the National Socialist Movement demonstrated.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Man arrested for waving gun at DC Pride parade, sparking stampede**
*New York Post* - <https://archive.fo/c5cHC>

A man was arrested for waving a handgun during the Capital Pride Parade in Washington DC — sparking a stampede that left several people in the hospital, according to cops.

The unidentified man was taken into custody during Saturday night’s parade and is facing a gun possession charge, police said.

News of a gun had sparked an active-shooter scare — with officials saying about seven people were taken to a hospital for injuries from a mad stampede away, despite police believing no shots were fired.

“Some of the individuals in the crowd said there was a man with a gun and that someone had fired a shot,” said Commander Guillermo Rivera of the Metropolitan Police Department.

“Officers arrived and stopped an individual and a gun was recovered close by. There is no evidence that any shots were fired, but that’s under investigation,” Rivera said, according to the Washington Blade.
--------------

🇮🇹 **How Italy's migrant model town Riace veered far-right**
*Yahoo/AFP* - <https://archive.fo/Gd47y>

The sign reading "Riace, land of welcome" still hangs in the small town, but its dream of migrant integration is over after the far-right's "Italians first" election victory.

The new mayor of the one-time "global village" in southern Italy's rural Calabria elected on May 26 with the support of Matteo Salvini's anti-migrant Lega party, Antonio Trifoli, has so far left the sign up.

"We will welcome refugees again," he told AFP.

"But we can't have 500 to 600 asylum seekers in a town with 1,500 residents," said the former town policeman.

Trifoli was first on the independent "Riace reborn" list, backed by the Lega, whose supporters provided many of the 41.8 percent of the 1,103 votes he won.

Until just a few years ago, the Lega was a separatist party at the other end of the country which sneeringly referred to southerners as "bumpkins" or worse.

"The problem is that we had too many migrants and we lost the spirit of openness there was initially," said Trifoli.

"A whole economic system developed with the migrants, but without making the village dynamic again... The model destroyed itself," he said.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Google Made $4.7 Billion From the News Industry in 2018, Study Says**
*New York Times* - <https://archive.fo/BnaLK>

$4,700,000,000.
It’s more than the combined ticket sales of the last two “Avengers” movies. It’s more than what virtually any professional sports team is worth. And it’s the amount that Google made from the work of news publishers in 2018 via search and Google News, according to a study to be released on Monday by the News Media Alliance.

The journalists who create that content deserve a cut of that $4.7 billion, said David Chavern, the president and chief executive of the alliance, which represents more than 2,000 newspapers across the country, including The New York Times.

“They make money off this arrangement,” Mr. Chavern said, “and there needs to be a better outcome for news publishers.”

That $4.7 billion is nearly as much as the $5.1 billion brought in by the United States news industry as a whole from digital advertising last year — and the News Media Alliance cautioned that its estimate for Google’s income was conservative. For one thing, it does not count the value of the personal data the company collects on consumers every time they click on an article like this one.

“The study blatantly illustrates what we all know so clearly and so painfully,” said Terrance C.Z. Egger, the chief executive of the Philadelphia Media Network, which publishes The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com. “The current dynamics in the relationships between the platforms and our industry are devastating.”
--------------

🇺🇸 **HBO Cancels 'Vice News Tonight,' Josh Tyrangiel to Depart (Exclusive)**
*Hollywood Reporter* - <https://archive.fo/t09rO>

HBO has canceled Vice News Tonight, putting an end to its seven-year relationship with Vice Media.

The architect of that show, news chief Josh Tyrangiel, will depart Vice this summer after nearly four years of, per a memo he sent to staff, “harrowing challenges and huge highs” with the company.

Amid the changes at Vice News, CEO Nancy Dubuc has tapped Jesse Angelo, the former chairman and CEO of the New York Post, for a newly created role overseeing news, television and digital at Vice. She announced the staffing changes in an email to Vice employees Monday morning. “Jesse is joining us to create expanded platform opportunities and franchises for all our great talent and the content we are making every day,” Dubuc wrote in the note, which a Vice spokeswoman shared with THR.

The shake-up comes one year into Dubuc’s tenure as CEO. News is among her five focus areas at the company, which also include cable network Viceland and the editorial sites under Vice Digital. Angelo's hiring, she explained, will allow her to strengthen the relationship between those three divisions.

HBO has been the exclusive television home for Vice News, a relationship that has at times proved fraught for both companies, especially when Vice under then-CEO Shane Smith expanded its TV footprint with the 2016 launch of cable channel Viceland. With the end of Vice News Tonight, Vice is expected to look to further grow its news brand with both domestic and international partners. Angelo will be tasked with overseeing that expansion, with Dubuc noting in her memo, “Importantly, his role will really bring to life our ambitions to expand our Vice News global footprint.”
--------------

🇺🇸 **Live updates: Helicopter crashes onto New York City building roof, 1 dead**
*ABC News* - <https://archive.fo/I8A4L>

A pilot died when a helicopter crashed onto the roof of a Midtown Manhattan building in a hard landing on Monday, filling the air with smoke and clogging the city streets with fire trucks, according to police and fire officials.

The pilot was the only person on board the Agusta A109E helicopter, preliminary information shows, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

No one else was injured in the crash, which took place in the heart of New York City, just blocks from Times Square, according to city officials.

It's believed to be an accident and there's no indication of terrorism, a senior official with FAA told ABC News.

The crash sparked a fire that has since been extinguished, though officials said fuel is leaking from the helicopter.

The crash -- which took place at about 1:45 p.m. -- comes on a rainy New York afternoon. Both Newark and LaGuardia Airports are in a ground stop due to visibility and thunderstorms, according to the FAA.

The building is located at 787 Seventh Ave., between 51st and 52nd Streets, according to the New York City Fire Department.

It's a busy area of Midtown Manhattan, just below Central Park South, filled with business towers.
--------------

🇭🇰 **Tens of thousands of protesters force delay in Hong Kong extradition bill debate**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/gY4DU>

Tens of thousands of Hong Kong demonstrators surrounded the Chinese-ruled city’s legislature on Wednesday, forcing it to postpone a second round of
debate on an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial.

The protesters, most of them young people dressed in black, erected barricades as they prepared to hunker down for an extended occupation of the area,
in scenes reminiscent of pro-democracy “Occupy” protests that gridlocked the former British colony in 2014.

Protesters rallied in and around Lung Wo Road, a main east-west artery near the offices of embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam,
as hundreds of riot police, some armed with batons and plastic shields, warned them to stop advancing.

“Didn’t we say at the end of the Umbrella movement we would be back?” pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo said, referring to the name often used for the
“Occupy” demonstrations.

“Now we are back!” she said as supporters echoed her words.

Others once again called for Lam to step down.

Opposition to the bill on Sunday triggered Hong Kong’s biggest political demonstration since its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997 under
a “once country, two systems” deal guaranteeing it special autonomy, including freedom of assembly, free press and independent judiciary.

But many accuse China of extensive meddling since then, including obstruction of democratic reforms, interference with local elections and of being
behind the disappearance of five Hong Kong-based booksellers, starting in 2015, who specialized in works critical of Chinese leaders.
----------------

🇻🇦 **Vatican Rejects Notion That Gender Identity Can Be Chosen**
*New York Times* - <https://archive.fo/d261D>

The Vatican on Monday released its first extensive official document on gender theory, rejecting the notion that individuals can choose their own gender identity.

The document, issued by the Vatican department overseeing Catholic education, argued that increasing acceptance of fluid definitions of gender by schools and legal systems posed a threat to traditional families and ignored the natural differences between men and women.

It lamented “calls for public recognition of the right to choose one’s gender, and of a plurality of new types of unions, in direct contradiction of the model of marriage as being between one man and one woman, which is portrayed as a vestige of patriarchal societies.”

The document broke little new ground in promoting traditional Catholic teaching on the intrinsic biological differences between men and women. But coming from a church led by Pope Francis, who has struck an inclusive tone toward homosexual Catholics, it immediately disappointed advocates who had hoped for a more tolerant message.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Private border wall group ordered to keep gate open**
*The Washington Times* - <https://archive.fo/GXxcM>

The builders of a private border wall in New Mexico have been ordered by a state agency to keep a gate permanently open.

According to a report in Buzzfeed, the half-mile wall near Sunland Park cut off official access to a levee and a dam and public access to Monument One, a series of obelisks marking the U.S.-Mexico border.

The We Build the Wall barrier also featured a gate built on about 33 feet of federal property without proper advance permission.

“This is normally done well in advance of a construction project,” said Lori Kuczmanski, a spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission, which handles waterway issues between the U.S. and Mexico. “They think they can build now and ask questions later, and that’s not how it works.”

Commission officials propped open that gate in response earlier this week, to preserve public access and, by extension, making the wall easy to breach.

“We’re going to lock it in an open position until we come into a mutual decision on how this gate is going to operate,” Ms. Kuczmanski told Buzzfeed.

Brian Kolfage, president and founder of We Build the Wall, accused the panel of legal overreach and of complicity in an illegal-immigrant invasion of the U.S.

“The IBWC commissioner @harkjay350 has a bad habit of leaving gates open on our border.last week she left open this gate! largest invasion on record 1000 crossed at once! She just locked our gate wide open for illegals to invade America!” he wrote on Twitter.
--------------

🇺🇸🇮🇷 **Pompeo blames Iran for attack on two tankers in Gulf of Oman, US details evidence **
*ABC News* - <https://archive.fo/GXxcM>

"It is the assessment of the United States government that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the Gulf of Oman today. This assessment is based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high-degree of sophistication," Pompeo told reporters at the State Department.

"Iran is lashing out because the regime wants our successful maximum pressure campaign lifted," he said, adding that the U.S. "will defend its forces, interests and stand with our partners and allies to safeguard global commerce and regional stability."

Some of the intelligence that Pompeo referred to includes overhead images taken by a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance craft that shows Iranians on small boats alongside the Kokuka Courageous attempting to remove an unexploded mine that they had previously attached to the ship, a U.S. official told ABC News. While the images themselves weren't disclosed, the descriptions suggested that the Iranians were attempting to remove evidence that would link them directly to the tanker attacks.

A distress call was received from the Kokuka Courageous at 6:12am local time in Bahrain, forty five minutes later a second ship, the Front Altair issued its own distress signal after a series of explosions set fire to the ship.

The 21 mariners aboard the Kokuka Courageous were picked up by a nearby Dutch tugboat before being transferred to the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Bainbridge that had been in the vicinity, another U.S. .

According to a U.S. official, after a mine exploded on the ship's hull, during a hull damage inspection the ship's crew spotted an unexploded mine attached to the hull. The crew of the USS Bainbridge and a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance aircraft verified the presence of an unexploded mine attached to the ship.

Later, that aircraft spotted the crews of some of the Iranian small boats attempting to remove the unexploded mine in an attempt to recover evidence that could connect Iran to the attacks, said a U.S. official.
--------------

🇨🇭 **Swiss women strike for more money, time and respect**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/lr80Q>

Women across Switzerland have begun a day of demonstrations against what they say is the country's unacceptably slow pace to equality.

Friday's protest comes 28 years after similar action saw half a million women take to the streets in 1991.

Swiss women have long campaigned to accelerate the pace of gender equality.

They joined millions of other women in Europe after World War One ended in 1918 in demanding the right to vote - but did not get it until 1971.

At the time of the 1991 strike there were no women in the Swiss government, and there was no statutory maternity leave.

Appenzell, the last Swiss canton to refuse women the right to vote, had just been ordered to change its policy by Switzerland's Supreme Court.
----------------

🇧🇪 🇪🇺 **Senior EU diplomat, back from Iran, shows support for nuclear deal**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/q32kp>

The EU’s second most senior diplomat affirmed the bloc’s support for the nuclear deal between world powers with Iran, including via the use of a new payment
system for barter-based trade designed to circumvent U.S. sanctions.

Helga Schmid, the secretary general of European Union external action service, visited Tehran last week. She helped negotiate the deal in 2015.

Its status has been precarious since President Donald Trump pulled the United States out last year and toughened its sanctions regime against Tehran.

The European Union’s foreign service said that, in Tehran, Schmid had reiterated the bloc’s commitment to the deal, which has been “delivering on its primary goal ...
to ensure that Iran does not acquire material or equipment to develop a nuclear weapon.”

She had also discussed “EU efforts ... to enable the continuation of legitimate trade with Iran,” including working to put into operation the Instex payment channel
set up by France, Britain and Germany to facilitate non-dollar trade.
----------------

🇷🇺 **40,000-year-old wolf's head preserved by permafrost found in Siberia**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/XoxFU>

A 40,000-year-old wolf's head was discovered in northern Russia — with its ears, fangs, brain and tongue perfectly intact in the permafrost. Scientists believe the beast
from the Ice Age belonged to a now-extinct subspecies of wolf that lived during the same era as mammoths.

The furry head of the wolf was found in the Russian Arctic region of Yakutia last summer, according to a Russian newspaper, The Siberian Times. The wolf's head is about 40
centimeters (almost 16 inches) long, and the wolf was estimated to be between the ages of 2 and 4 when it died.

"This is a unique discovery of the first ever remains of a fully grown Pleistocene wolf with its tissue preserved," Albert Protopopov, a top researcher at the Russian Academy
of Sciences, told the newspaper.

"We will be comparing it to modern-day wolves to understand how the species has evolved and to reconstruct its appearance," he added.

The Associated Press reported scientists said the Ice Age wolf was about 25% bigger than today's wolves. Experts at the Swedish Museum of Natural History will further examine its DNA, according to The Siberian Times.

The discovery was announced at the opening of a woolly mammoth exhibit at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo.
----------------

🇮🇱 **Israel launches 'Trump Heights' on Golan, but construction may lag**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/ewkIZ>

Israel approved in principle on Sunday a new community named after U.S. President Donald Trump on a contested frontier zone with Syria - but construction looked likely to lag
given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political stumbles.

The “Trump Heights” project is intended to cement ties after Trump broke with other world powers to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the plateau in March.

At a special cabinet session in Beruchim, a sparse clutch of homes just 12 km (7.5 miles) from the Golan Heights armistice line with Syria, Netanyahu unveiled a sign labeled “Trump Heights”
in English and Hebrew.

The sign was decorated with the Israeli and U.S. flags and planted on a patch of synthetic grass.

Israel captured the Golan from Syria in a 1967 war and later annexed and settled it - moves not accepted by most world powers, who deem it to be occupied Syrian territory.

Ongoing hostilities between Israel and Syria, and internal Syrian fighting that drew Iranian-backed auxiliaries to back Damascus and deploy near the Golan, helped Netanyahu make his case
for Trump to recognize the Israeli claim of sovereignty.

Trump similarly delighted Israelis - while appalling other world powers - by recognizing Jerusalem as their capital and withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“Trump is a great friend of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

“He has torn the mask off this hypocrisy which doesn’t recognize the obvious.”
----------------

🇨🇳 **China stands by Hong Kong leader after days of street protests**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/emfTc>

China redoubled its support for Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Monday after days of protests against a planned extradition bill, and a source close to Lam said Beijing was unlikely to let her go even if she tried to resign.

Lam’s attempts to pass a bill that would allow people in Hong Kong to be extradited to China for trial triggered the biggest and most violent protests in decades in the former British colony, now under Chinese rule.

As the crisis entered its second week, demonstrators and opposition politicians braved intermittent rain to gather near the government’s offices and urge her to kill the bill and quit.

The upheaval comes at a delicate time for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is grappling with a deepening U.S. trade war, slowing economic growth and regional strategic tension.

Hong Kong has been governed under a “one country, two systems” formula since its return to Chinese rule in 1997, enjoying freedoms not granted to the mainland, including an independent judiciary but short of a fully democratic vote.

Many residents are increasingly unnerved by Beijing’s tightening grip and what they see as the erosion of those freedoms. Many say changes to the rule of law could imperil Hong Kong’s status as a global financial center.

“The Chinese government, the central government, has always fully affirmed the work of chief executive Carrie Lam and the Hong Kong government,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a news conference in Beijing.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Study: Only 3% of straight people are willing to date a transgender person**
*InfoWars* - <http://archive.is/u6L1Z>

A new study which found that only 3 per cent of heterosexuals were willing to date a transgender person proves society has a problem with “transprejudice” and must be re-educated, according to its author. In the study, which was published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, participants were asked to check which of the following they would “consider as a potential dating partner”.

– a cisgender person
– a transgender person
– a person identifiying as nonbinary

The study found that only 3.1 per cent of heterosexuals were willing to date a trans person compared to 55 per cent of people “with queer or bisexual sexual orientations”. According to its author Karen L. Blair Ph.D., the results showed that many heterosexuals rejected dating trans people because they thought they had “make believe” identities and that this is a form of “transprejudice”.

“These types of responses questioned the legitimacy of transgender and non-binary identities and took a very dehumanizing tone in referring to trans people,” writes Blair, noting that even people who rejected trans partners because they “mentioned a desire to only date people with whom they could have biologically related children” did so “using dehumanizing language, such as saying that a trans man “was not a natural man” or a “real man”.

There definitely appears to be some kind of innate stigma that straight people have towards transgenders when it comes to having romantic and possibly sexual relationships with them. Some transgender commentators have previously asserted that it is bigoted for heterosexuals to choose not to date transgenders.

Is this really something that can be changed with enough re-education and social engineering, or is it a completely normal preference to hold? *yes is it is a normal preference very much so*
----------------

🇮🇱 **Cash or custody: Israel kicks off deportation of African migrants**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/AJoQ4>

Israel has started handing out notices to 20,000 male African migrants giving them two months to leave the country or risk being thrown in jail.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is offering the migrants, most of whom are from Sudan and Eritrea, $3,500 and a plane ticket to what it says is a safe destination in another country in sub-Saharan Africa.

The fate of some 37,000 Africans in Israel is posing a moral dilemma for a state founded as haven for Jews from persecution and a national home. The right-wing government is under pressure from its nationalist voter base to expel the migrants, while others are calling for them to be taken in.

The government says the migrants are “infiltrators” looking for work rather than asylum, but there is a growing liberal backlash against the plan, including from rabbis, a small group of survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and ordinary people who say Israel should show greater compassion to the migrants.

The first eviction notices were handed out on Sunday and job advertisements for immigration inspectors to implement the deportation plan have been posted on government websites.

Rights groups advocating on behalf of the migrants say many fled abuse and war and their expulsion, even to a different country in Africa, would endanger them further.

“I don’t know what to do. Rwanda, Uganda are not my countries, what will a third country help me?” said Eritrean Berihu Ainom, after receiving an eviction notice on Sunday.

The deportation notices do not name the country migrants will be flown to but Netanyahu has said it will be a safe destination. Rights groups have named Uganda and Rwanda as possible host countries.
--------------

🇺🇸🇬🇹🇸🇻🇭🇳 **U.S. to withhold hundreds of millions in Central America aid**
*Daily Mail/Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/BUxFo>

President Donald Trump's administration announced on Monday plans to permanently reprogram hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, after Trump blasted the three countries because thousands of their citizens had sought asylum at the U.S. border with Mexico.

Congressional aides said the administration told them it would reprogram $370 million in aid to Central America that lawmakers had approved for fiscal 2018, and suspend an additional $180 million Congress had approved for fiscal 2017.
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🇺🇸 **Trump says ICE planning ‘millions’ of immigration arrests**
*Boston Globe* - <https://archive.fo/Du7SB>

President Trump said in a tweet late Monday that starting next week, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will remove “millions” of immigrants who have entered the United States illegally.

“They will be removed as fast as they come in,” Trump wrote.

The tweet was in apparent reference to an administration plan for ICE to round up large groups of migrants in a widespread move across major US cities.

An administration official says the effort will focus on people who have been issued final deportation orders by federal judges but remain at large in the country.

It is unusual for law enforcement agencies to announce raids before they take place. Some in Trump’s administration believe that decisive shows of force — like mass arrests — can serve as effective deterrents, sending a message to those considering making the journey to the U.S. that it’s not worth coming.

Trump has threatened a series of increasingly drastic actions as he tries to stem the flow of Central American migrants crossing the southern border, which has risen dramatically on his watch.

An ICE immigration sweep in December resulted in 58 arrests across New England.
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https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/463445330873024516/589921002402611200/senkin.webm

🇺🇸 **Depraved sex cult leader Keith Raniere is found guilty on all counts: Jury takes just four HOURS to convict Nxivm founder after six weeks of testimony from 'branded slaves he starved and forced into orgies'**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/VKIYz>

It took just four hours of deliberation for a jury to find Nxivm founder Keith Raniere guilty on all counts.

He now faces life in prison after being convicted of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and attempted sex trafficking.

The trial lasted for six weeks, during which time multiple women came forward to describe how they served as 'sex slaves' to Raniere and were forced to have his initials branded on their bodies.

Another witness described how Raniere imprisoned her in a room for two years, while an FBI agent showed jurors the graphic nude photos of a 15-year-old Nxivm member that he discovered on Raniere's hard drive.

Raniere had entered a plea of not guilty to all charges.

The cult leader's lawyer Marc Agnifilo tried to discredit the weeks of testimony in its closing argument on Tuesday after calling no witnesses to the stand to testify, including Raniere who refused to speak in his own defense.

He also filed a motion asking the court to declare a mistrial in the case.

Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis ultimately ruled against that motion following a brief hearing on Wednesday morning.
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🇺🇸 **Florida city pays $600,000 to hackers who seized its computer system**
*CBS/AP* - <https://archive.fo/BbcVj>

A Florida city agreed to pay $600,000 in ransom to hackers who took over its computer system, the latest in thousands of attacks worldwide aimed at extorting money from governments and businesses.

The Riviera Beach City Council voted unanimously this week to pay the hackers' demands, believing the Palm Beach suburb had no choice if it wanted to retrieve its records, which the hackers encrypted. The council already voted to spend almost $1 million on new computers and hardware after hackers captured the city's system three weeks ago.

The hackers apparently got into the city's system when an employee clicked on an email link that allowed them to upload malware. The city had numerous problems, including losing its email system and 911 dispatchers not being able to enter calls into the computer.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ransomware is the fastest growing malware threat, targeting both individuals and organizations. In 2018, the massive "SamSam" virus disrupted the flight information system, baggage displays and email at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, while another attack crippled computers at the Port of San Diego.

City governments in Atlanta, Newark, N.J., and Sarasota, Fla., also have been hit by ransomware schemes. And hackers have taken the information systems of dozens of U.S. hospitals hostage.

"Ransomware is commonly delivered through phishing emails or via 'drive-by downloads,'" according to Homeland Security. "Phishing emails often appear as though they have been sent from a legitimate organization or someone known to the victim and entice the user to click on a malicious link or open a malicious attachment."

The FBI, Homeland Security and U.S. Secret Service are investigating the Florida attack, according to The Palm Beach Post.
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🇺🇸 **Acting ICE chief confirms operation targeting migrant families **
*CBS/AP* - <https://archive.fo/jqcgq>

The acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mark Morgan, provided some details Wednesday on plans to execute an operation targeting families who have gone through their legal proceedings.

"If you're here illegally, then you should be removed," Morgan told reporters during a call. "And in this case, that includes families."

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday night that ICE was preparing to deport "millions" of undocumented immigrants next week, but he fell short of offering details. The vague announcement was striking, given the figure and the decision to disclose an operation prior to its execution.

Morgan on Wednesday refrained from providing a time frame or details on the scope of the operation. The intent, Morgan said, is to deter migrants from coming to the US-Mexico border, and the operation is expected to include families who are on an expedited court docket. It remains unclear if the President was referring to this operation in his tweet.

Last year, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the nation's immigration courts, announced that it had begun tracking family cases filed by the Department of Homeland Security in 10 immigration court locations: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York and San Francisco.

The cases are being expedited to try to process the families in under a year.
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🇺🇸🇮🇷 **Trump says Iran made ‘big mistake’ in downing US drone**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/Q3J5s>

President Donald Trump declared Thursday that “Iran made a very big mistake” in shooting down a U.S. drone.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says Trump was briefed Wednesday night and again Thursday morning about the incident. She says the administration also will keep in touch with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Trump made his comment on Twitter in midmorning.

American and Iranian officials are disputing the circumstances of the incident.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it shot down the drone over Iranian airspace. The U.S. military is calling the downing an “unprovoked attack” and said it occurred over international airspace in the Strait of Hormuz.
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🇺🇸🇮🇷 **US prepped for strikes on Iran before approval was withdrawn**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/lfSIl>

A U.S. official said the military made preparations Thursday night for limited strikes on Iran in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. surveillance drone, but approval was abruptly withdrawn before the attacks were launched.

The official, who was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the targets would have included radars and missile batteries.

The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump had approved the strikes, but then called them off. The newspaper cited anonymous senior administration officials.

The White House on Thursday night declined requests for information about whether Trump changed his mind.

According to the official who spoke to the AP, the strikes were recommended by the Pentagon and were among the options presented to senior administration officials. It was unclear how far the preparations had gone, but no shots were fired or missiles launched.

The military operation was called off around 7:30 p.m. Washington time, after Trump had spent most of Thursday discussing Iran strategy with top national security advisers and congressional leaders.

Asked earlier in the day about a U.S. response to the attack, he said, “You’ll soon find out.”
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🇺🇸 **Jussie Smollett incident isn't over: Chicago judge appoints special prosecutor to investigate**
*Yahoo/USA Today* - <https://archive.fo/9ALhP>

A Cook County judge on Friday appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the abrupt decision by state prosecutors to drop a 16-count indictment against actor Jussie Smollett, who had been accused of staging an attack on himself for publicity.

Judge Michael Toomin suggested that State’s Attorney Kim Foxx had mishandled the case by appointing a top aide to handle it after she had purportedly recused herself.

In his ruling,Toomin said that Foxx, having recused herself, did not have legal authority to turn the case to over to another prosecutor in her office.

"Here, the ship of the State ventured from its protected harbor without the guiding hand of the captain," Toomin wrote. "There was no master on the bridge to guide the ship as it foundered through unchartered waters. And it ultimately lost its bearings."

Former state appellate Judge Sheila O’Brien, who had pushed for a special prosecutor, argued that Foxx’s actions created “a perception that justice was not served here, that Mr. Smollett received special treatment,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

Toomin said the prosecutor would be empowered to pursue a case "of any crime as may be suspected" and could even end up charging Smollett if the probe found suspicion of wrongdoing by others.
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🇺🇸 **Judge Awards $4.1 Million in Neo-Nazi Case**
*NY Times/AP* - <https://archive.fo/9ALhP>

A federal judge has awarded $4.1 million to a Muslim-American radio host who accused a neo-Nazi website operator of falsely accusing him of terrorism.

U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. had previously agreed to enter a default judgment against The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin and his company.

On Wednesday Sargus ruled in favor of SiriusXM Radio show host Dean Obeidallah (oh-bee-DAHL'-ah) and his request for financial damages and for an injunction ordering the website to take down articles about Obeidallah.

Obeidallah says Anglin falsely labeled him the "mastermind" behind a deadly bombing at a concert in England.

Anglin hasn't responded to the lawsuit, and his whereabouts are a mystery. His father, Greg Anglin, testified briefly Wednesday but wouldn't talk about his son.
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🇺🇸 **FBI Clears Infowars in Child Porn Hoax**
*Infowars* - <https://archive.fo/f6g10>

Infowars has been cleared of accusations of sending child porn by the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department in a letter which confirms that Infowars and Alex Jones were actually the victims in the case.

On Monday, the mass media falsely reported that Infowars had sent child porn to Sandy Hook lawyers, despite the fact that the malicious files were sent to Infowars by a third party and contained “hostile threats”.

The press erroneously made this claim despite the fact that the emails were turned over to lawyers as part of routine discovery in the case.

“As we discussed last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) in New Haven has conducted a forensic examination of the hard drive provided by the Koskoff firm,” states the letter which was sent to attorney Norman Pattis. “During that analysis, the FBI examiner discovered emails that contained possible images of child pornography. The file paths for these emails are set out in Attachment A hereto, along with the two email addresses that the emails originated from and a folder located on the drive that also contains this data.”

“I request that to the extent you have any of these files or emails on any device here in the District, you should take all necessary steps to delete that data. The Government represents that because any such deletion is coming at our request, your deletion of these files will not be considered destruction of evidence or obstruction of justice. The FBI will maintain physical custody of the hard drive in New Haven.”

Infowars gladly complied and immediately deleted the files from its servers. The FBI also sent Infowars tracking data for the emails which will help in finding the actual culprit.

The DOJ’s instruction for Infowars to delete the files confirms that the investigation is over and that Infowars has been vindicated as being the victim of being sent child porn in a possible attempt to frame Alex Jones.

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🇺🇸 **General Electric to scrap California power plant 20 years early**
*reuters* - <https://archive.is/DA9vh>

General Electric Co said on Friday it plans to demolish a large power plant it owns in California this year after only one-third of its useful life because the plant is no longer economically viable in a state where wind and solar supply a growing share of inexpensive electricity.

Still, premature closure of a turbine marketed as “H-Class” is a negative for GE as it struggles to restore profits at its power business, the expert noted. Power, once GE’s largest division, lost $22.8 billion last year as the company grapples with slack demand for fossil-fuel plants. The company is set to lose up to $2 billion in cash this year.
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