🇺🇸 **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.

--------------

🇺🇸 **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.
---------------

🇰🇵🇨🇳 **Kim, Xi agree to grow ties whatever the external situation: North Korean media**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/liF81>

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and China’s President Xi Jinping reached a consensus on “important issues,” and agreed to build on their countries’ friendly relations “whatever the international situation,” North Korean state media reported.

Xi left the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Friday after a two-day visit, the first by a Chinese leader in 14 years. State-run news agency KCNA issued a report on Saturday of the results of the visit.

China is North Korea’s only major ally and Xi’s visit was aimed at bolstering the isolated country against pressure from United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes and stalled denuclearization talks with the United States.

The visit comes a week before Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump are due to meet at a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, amid a trade dispute that has rattled global financial markets.

KCNA reported that during a luncheon on the final day of Xi’s visit the leaders discussed plans to strengthen collaboration, as well as their countries’ “major internal and external policies”, while exchanging views on domestic and international issues of mutual concern.

An editorial in the official China Daily on Saturday warned that Xi’s short visit to Pyongyang would not solve all the region’s problems, but pledges to help develop the North Korean economy were the right way forward.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Judge Appoints Prosecutor In Jussie Smollett Case To Investigate Dropped Charges**
*Daily Caller* - <https://archive.is/TxUHk>

Cook County Judge Michael Toomin ruled that Kim Foxx, the state attorney, had the right to withdraw from prosecuting the case against the 37-year-old actor, according to a Chicago Tribune report published Friday. But she did not have the authority to appoint her top deputy to handle the case, according to the ruling.

However, by the end of the investigation, police concluded the attack on the “Empire” actor was a hoax. Soon after, he was arrested and faced 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for making a false police report.
Less than three weeks later, all charges against him were dropped by the State attorney’s office.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Insider Blows Whistle & Exec Reveals Google Plan to Prevent “Trump situation” in 2020 on Hidden Cam**
*Project Veritas* - <http://archive.is/gzTm0>

Project Veritas has released a new report on Google which includes undercover video of a Senior Google Executive, leaked documents, and testimony from a Google insider. The report appears to show Google’s plans to affect the outcome of the 2020 elections and “prevent” the next “Trump situation.”

Jen Gennai is the head of “Responsible Innovation” for Google, a sector that monitors and evaluates the responsible implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. In the video, Gennai says Google has been working diligently to “prevent” the results of the 2016 election from repeating in 2020.
---------------

🇬🇧🇷🇺 **No evidence Russia influenced Brexit via Facebook, says Clegg**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/AvcEx>

There is “absolutely no evidence” that outside forces such as Russia used Facebook to target users and influence Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the world’s biggest social network said on Monday.

Nick Clegg, head of global affairs at Facebook and Britain’s former deputy prime minister, said the network had run two full analyses of its data held in the run up to the 2016 referendum and found no evidence
of a significant attempt by outside forces to influence the outcome.

Opponents of Brexit have repeatedly questioned whether the Kremlin played a role in the vote by promoting stories online on issues such as immigration in a bid to sway opinion. Britain has said it found no
evidence that Russia interfered in the vote and Moscow has repeatedly denied even trying.

Clegg, deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015 and a strong campaigner to remain in the European Union, said the roots of British Euroscepticism existed long before Facebook launched, and had for many years
been driven by traditional media.

“Much though I understand why people want to sort of reduce that eruption in British politics to some kind of plot or conspiracy - or some use of new social media through opaque means - I’m afraid the roots
to British Euroscepticism go very, very deep,” he told BBC Radio.

A consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica has also come under scrutiny over its role in the 2016 referendum after it obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their permission. It was hired by
Donald Trump for his 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.

Clegg said any claim that that data was used in the Brexit referendum was also false.
----------------

🇺🇸 **YouTube Censors Project Veritas Video Exposing Google’s Electoral Manipulation and Thought Control**
*Big League Politics* - <http://archive.is/OsmZO>

Earlier today, whistle-blower James O’Keefe of Project Veritas released a bombshell video exposing Google’s manipulation of algorithms in an attempt to prevent Donald Trump from winning re-election in 2020. That video can no longer be seen on YouTube, which is owned by Google. They are trying to cover-up the exposé after getting caught red handed committing thought control and electoral manipulation.

Jen Gennai, the Google Responsible Innovation Head, was forced to respond to the video earlier today in a post on Medium where she admitted that “Project Veritas got me. Well done.”
---------------

🇺🇸 **Dem Staffer Who Leaked Lindsey Graham’s Personal Info Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison**
*MAGA Conservatives* - <http://archive.is/LoibB>

A federal judge just dropped the hammer on a major Dem leaker. Jackson Cosko leaked personal information on Lindsey Graham and other GOP Senators after they defended Brett Kavanaugh from a political hit job. A former aide to Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is headed to prison Wednesday for what prosecutors said was the largest known data theft in Senate history.

n a sentencing memo, prosecutors described “a months-long series of burglaries and sophisticated data theft offenses directed at the office of United States Senator Maggie Hassan; to a separate set of ‘doxxing’ offenses through which he maliciously released personal information of Senators Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell; and to obstruction of justice, because he attempted to silence a witness by threatening to release the private health information of a Senator’s children, because he corrupted another person and persuaded her to attempt to ‘wipe down’ the scene of his burglaries, and because he attempted to destroy evidence in his own apartment.”
---------------

🇺🇸 **Body pulled from the East River is that of missing YouTuber Etika, New York police say**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/QNMpP>

A body pulled from the East River has been identified as that of missing YouTuber Desmond Amofah, better known by his online name, Etika, New York police said Tuesday.

The body was recovered Monday near the South Street Seaport in Manhattan, authorities said.

A backpack and phone believed to belong to Amofah were found on the Manhattan Bridge on Sunday, according to police sources.

Amofah, 29, was last heard from Wednesday night, according to the New York Police Department.

He vanished after posting a video to his channel in which he appeared to express suicidal thoughts, prompting concern among his fans. The video has since been taken down.

Amofah had more than 130,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he vlogged about video games.
---------------

🇺🇸 **Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Offender Plea Deal Must Stand, Federal Prosecutors Say**
*NPR* - <https://archive.fo/fZG6s>

Federal prosecutors say a lenient plea deal struck more than a decade ago with multimillionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should be allowed to stand.

Epstein was charged with recruiting dozens of girls, some as young as 13, for massages and sex at his mansion in Palm Beach, Fla. Under a plea deal reached in 2007 with then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, Epstein was given immunity from federal prosecution and pleaded guilty to lesser state charges. The financier served just 13 months in county jail and was granted work release, allowing him to spend his days at his Palm Beach office. Acosta now serves as President Trump's Labor secretary.

For more than a decade, attorneys representing sex abuse victims in the case have said their clients weren't informed of the plea deal beforehand or given the opportunity to testify about it in court. In February, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that the omission by prosecutors violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act. He ordered the government and lawyers for the victims to propose a remedy.

In a motion filed last month, lawyers for two victims, identified only as "Jane Doe 1 and 2" asked that the investigation be reopened and that they receive an apology from prosecutors.

This week, prosecutors responded. In their motion, they concede the government should have told abuse victims about the plea deal before it was presented in court. But they say the law gives the government broad discretion in deciding whether or not to prosecute. And at this point, prosecutors say victims have no right to demand an apology or anything from the government.

As for requests that the court invalidate the plea deal and order the government to reopen the investigation, prosecutors say the court simply doesn't have the authority.
--------------

🇺🇸🇰🇵 **Trump meets Kim Jong Un, becomes first sitting U.S. president to step into North Korea**
*NBC News* - <https://archive.fo/NglGJ>

Taking an unprecedented step onto North Korean soil, President Donald Trump announced Sunday that Washington and Pyongyang will relaunch stalled nuclear talks during an extraordinary
last-minute meeting with Kim Jong Un.

Side-by-side with Kim in the heavily-fortified demilitarized zone, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to cross the 1953 armistice line separating North and South Korea,
then joined Kim for a roughly 50-minute meeting.

It was their third since Trump took office, but none have yet yielded a nuclear deal.

"Stepping across that line was a great honor," Trump said, later adding that it was "something incredible."

Trump deemed the meeting a victory, announcing that nuclear talks would resume "within weeks" and that the two countries were designating teams of officials to take the lead.

He even invited Kim, who rarely leaves the country, to visit him at the White House.

Yet for all the fanfare, there were no signs that the U.S. and the North had made any concrete progress on denuclearization, the issue that has led to North Korea's estrangement from the world.

And veteran nuclear negotiators and North Korea experts immediately questioned whether Trump, by staging a high-profile photo-op absent nuclear concessions, was bestowing legitimacy
on Kim and undermining global pressure to force the North to accept a denuclearization deal.
----------------

🇩🇪 **Angela Merkel seen shaking at event in Berlin, second time in just over a week**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/F49LW>

For the second time in just over a week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared unsteady and began visibly shaking at a public event in Berlin on Thursday, rekindling concerns about her health.

Merkel was standing alongside President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a ceremony in Berlin where Germany's new justice minister was being formally appointed when she was seen trembling as she
folded her arms across her chest.

The 64-year-old chancellor was handed a glass of water but rejected it

About a half hour later, when she arrived in parliament, Merkel appeared to be fine, according to Sky News. She then set off a few hours later to Japan for the annual summit of the Group of 20 global powers.

A spokesman for the German leader, Steffen Seibert, dismissed any concerns over her health, telling news agency dpa that "everything is going ahead as planned. The chancellor is fine."
----------------

🇮🇹 **Captain of migrant vessel arrested, accused of trying to sink police boat**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/BBMEO>

The German captain of a ship that rescued 53 migrants off the coast of Libya was arrested and accused of trying to sink a police boat after reaching landfall in Italy.

The vessel, named Sea-Watch 3, had reached the Italian port of Lampedusa on Saturday after a two-week standoff with police.

Captain of the migrant ship, Carola Rackete, 31, was arrested upon arrival and subsequently accused by Matteo Salvini, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister, of trying to sink a police boat during
the ordeal, according to the BBC.

"She tried to sink a police launch with officers on board at night," Salvini said. "They say 'we're saving lives', but they risked killing these human beings who were doing their job, it's clear from the videos."

Salvini added that Rackete's actions could be classified as an act of war.

"A vessel weighing hundreds of tonnes tried to ram... a police launch with officers aboard, who managed to get out of the way to save their lives. That's a criminal act, an act of war."

E.U. countries have agreed to take on 40 of the migrants, while the BBC reported that 13 have been taken into custody for health reasons.

Rackete was recorded walking off the ship into the hands of Italian police custody, who led her away without handcuffs and into a police vehicle.

She could face 10 years in prison if convicted of attacking a police boat.
----------------

🇳🇱🇪🇺 **Dutchman Timmermans in pole position for top EU job**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/VRyJY>

Dutch socialist politician Frans Timmermans is on course to be named as the EU’s next chief executive, diplomats and officials said on Sunday, hours before European Union
leaders meet to decide who wins the bloc’s top posts in Europe.

Barring unexpectedly tough resistance from eastern European countries, Timmermans is set to be chosen after talks between France and Germany at the G20, two diplomats and one European Parliament adviser said.

If confirmed, the choice would mark a victory for centrists and liberals, who challenged what they saw as an increasingly German-dominated EU at the top ranks in Brussels.

“It looks to be Timmermans for the European Commission president,” one diplomat involved in the talks told Reuters, a view echoed by a second envoy when asked about the process of
selection for five top posts for a new five-year mandate.

Up for grabs are the presidencies of the EU’s executive Commission, the parliament, the European Council of EU governments, the EU’s foreign policy chief and the head of the
European Central Bank, which governs the euro currency.

Timmermans, who is currently a senior European Commission official and was a Dutch foreign minister, is expected to be confirmed as the choice to replace Jean-Claude Juncker at a
summit dinner of 28 leaders in Brussels starting at 1600 GMT.

German parliamentary adviser Tobias Teuscher told Reuters that European Council President Donald Tusk has proposed giving the post to the Socialist and Democrats political bloc,
of which Timmermans was the lead candidate in May European Parliament elections.
----------------

🇨🇳 **The Dalai Lama insists his female successor should have an "attractive face"**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/15Lk2>

Ahead of his 84th birthday, the Dalai Lama is once again insisting that, if his successor is a woman, she must be physically attractive. The Nobel Peace Prize winner doubled down on the
idea during an interview with BBC News Thursday.

"If a female Dalai Lama comes, she should be more attractive," the 14th Dalai Lama told reporter Rajini Vaidyanathan. If not, "people, I think prefer, not see her, that face."

Vaidyanathan tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. "It's about who you are inside, isn't it?"

"Yes, I think both," he said. "Real beauty is inner beauty, that's true. But we're human beings. I think the appearance is also important."

This isn't the first time the Tibetan religious leader has brought up the physical beauty of a potential successor. In a 2015 BBC interview, he made similar comments,
noting that a female Dalai Lama should be attractive, otherwise she would be of "not much use."

His comments immediately sparked outrage online.

The Dalai Lama also discussed his views on President Donald Trump during the interview. The two have never met, despite his close relationships with some former presidents.
He specifically criticized Mr. Trump for what he believes is his "lack of moral principle."

"When I saw pictures of some of those young children, I was sad," he also said of the situation at the border. "America should take a global responsibility."
----------------

🇺🇸 **U.S. Oil Production Hits 12 Million Barrels a Day for First Time**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.li/Lbi3z>

The report said production grew from 2.1 percent in April to 12.16 million barrels a day. Shale production in areas such as the Permian Basin of West Texas have recently experienced a boom, causing U.S. oil production to overtake that of Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Rystad Energy said earlier this year that the United States would likely produce 12.5 million barrels of oil per day during the month of May. Reports state that an estimated 4 million of those barrels will come from shale oilfields and those numbers are expected to rise by the end of 2020.
--------------

🇭🇰 **Police say they will clear Hong Kong legislature**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/SUrUH>

Hong Kong police have announced that they plan to clear Hong Kong’s legislative building after it was taken over by a group of protesters.

Police said in an announcement on Facebook on Monday night that they would clear the area in a short period of time, and warned they would use appropriate force if they encounter resistance.

They asked unrelated protesters to leave the area around the building as soon as possible.

Hundreds of protesters broke into the building at about 9 p.m. and spray-painted slogans on the walls of the main chamber.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of others marched through the city to demand expanded democracy on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.

The protesters’ demands include the withdrawal of an extradition bill and the resignation of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam.

A group of protesters in Hong Kong has taken over the legislative chamber, spray painting slogans on the wall and over the territory’s emblem.

Some stood on the desks of lawmakers Monday night while others climbed up to leave their messages on the soaring wooden wall.

Police appear to have retreated to avoid a confrontation, giving the protesters the run of the building.

They smashed and tore down portraits of legislative leaders after prying open metal gates to gain access.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of others marched through the city to demand expanded democracy on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.

The protesters say the Hong Kong government is not responding to their demands for a full withdrawal of contentious extradition legislation and the resignation of city leader Carrie Lam.
--------------

🇮🇹 **Italy court lifts house arrest on German captain, says she was protecting life**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/zSZmd>

An Italian judge ruled on Tuesday that the captain of a charity ship had not broken the law by crashing through a naval blockade, saying that by bringing rescued migrants to port she was carrying out
her duty to protect life.

Judge Alessandra Vella ordered the 31-year-old German captain, Carola Rackete, released from house arrest where she had been held since Saturday when she disobeyed Italian military orders and entered
the port of Lampedusa.

Rackete had faced up to 10 years in prison on possible charges of endangering the lives of four policemen for hitting a patrol boat at the quay as she brought some 41 African migrants to land in the
Sea-Watch rescue vessel.

She still could face separate charges of aiding illegal immigration, but the judge said she had no charges to face over the crash itself.

The ruling was swiftly denounced by Italy’s hardline interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who has campaigned to bar charities from bringing refugees to Italian ports.

“I am indignant, I am disgusted, but I will not give up,” Salvini said in a statement saying he had expected much more robust action by the Italian justice system and promising to expel Rackete from
the country as soon as possible.

“We will restore honor, pride, well-being, hope and dignity to Italy, whatever it costs,” he said.
----------------

🇮🇱 **Israel says it is bracing militarily for possible U.S.-Iran escalation**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/HVynp>

Israel is preparing for its possible military involvement in any escalation in the Gulf confrontation between Iran and the United States, the Israeli foreign minister said on Tuesday.

The unraveling of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under U.S. diplomatic pressure, Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone and its alleged role in the holing of oil tankers in the Gulf have driven
up tensions and stirred war worries.

Israel has encouraged the Trump administration to press ahead with sanctions against its arch-foe, predicting that Tehran will eventually renegotiate a more limiting nuclear deal.

But Foreign Minister Israel Katz told an international security forum that Iran might accidentally stumble out of what he termed the “gray zone” of contained confrontation.

“It should be taken into account that mistaken calculations by the (Iranian) regime...are liable to bring about a shift from the ‘gray zone’ to the ‘red zone’ - that is, a military
conflagration,” he said in a speech to the Herzliya Conference.

“We must be prepared for this, and thus the State of Israel continues to devote itself to building up its military might for the event that it will have to respond to escalation scenarios.”

Israel has long threatened to take preemptive military action to deny Iran the means of making nuclear weapons. Tehran says it has no such designs. One of its senior lawmakers warned on
Monday that Israel would be destroyed within “only half an hour” should the United States attack Iran.
----------------

🇬🇧 **UK PM candidate Johnson says he backs Hong Kong people 'every inch of the way'**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/KKGHR>

Boris Johnson, who could be Britain’s prime minister by the end of the month, said he backed the people of Hong Kong every inch of the way and cautioned China that “one country, two systems” should not be cast aside.

Britain has repeatedly pressed China to honor its commitment to protect freedoms in Hong Kong after police fired tear gas to disperse protesters rallying in the former British colony against a now-suspended extradition bill.

Hong Kong has been rocked by the largest protests in China since crowds demonstrated against the bloody suppression of pro-democracy activists in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989.

“The people of Hong Kong are perfectly within their rights to be very skeptical, very anxious about proposals for extradition to the mainland that could be politically motivated, that could be arbitrary and could
infringe their human rights,” Johnson told Reuters in an interview during a visit to a police training center in southern England.

“So yes I do support them and I will happily speak up for them and back them every inch of the way,” the former foreign secretary said. “And I would stress to our friends in Beijing that the ‘one country,
two systems’ approach has worked, is working and should not be cast aside.”

Late on Monday, hundreds of protesters in Hong Kong besieged, and broke into, the legislature after a demonstration marking the anniversary of its 1997 return to Chinese rule.

The turbulence in Hong Kong was triggered by an extradition bill critics say will undermine Hong Kong’s independent judiciary and give Beijing powers to prosecute activists in mainland courts, which
are controlled by the Communist Party.
----------------

🇨🇳 **China to Britain: Keep your 'colonial' hands off Hong Kong**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/5rFE0>

China told Britain to keep its hands off Hong Kong on Wednesday while London called for Beijing to honor the agreements made when the city was handed over in 1997, escalating a diplomatic spat over the former British colony.

Beijing denounced British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt as “shameless” and said it had made a diplomatic complaint to London after he warned of consequences if China neglected its commitments to guarantee basic freedoms.

“In the minds of some people, they regard Hong Kong as still under British rule. They forget ... that Hong Kong has now returned to the embrace of the Motherland,” China’s ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, said.

“I tell them: hands off Hong Kong and show respect. This colonial mindset is still haunting the minds of some officials or politicians,” Liu told reporters.

The growing war of words between China and Britain follows mass protests in Hong Kong against a now suspended bill that would allow extradition to mainland China.

Hundreds of protesters in the former British colony besieged and broke into the legislature on Monday after a demonstration marking the anniversary of return to Chinese rule.

China called the violence an “undisguised challenge” to the “one country, two systems” model under which Hong Kong has been ruled for 22 years.

On Tuesday, Hunt warned of consequences if China did not abide by the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 on the terms of the return of Hong Kong, which allows freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, including the right to protest.
----------------

🇪🇸 **Three people gored on first day of Spanish bull-running festival**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/cd3uQ>

Three people were gored and a further two people suffered head trauma during the first day of Spain’s best-known bull-running festival in the northern town of Pamplona on Sunday, the Red Cross said.

One man was loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher shortly after the dash through the medieval town center’s narrow streets to the bullring, which lasted two minutes and 41 seconds.

Thousands of runners, dressed head to toe in white, with bright-red neckerchiefs, gather every year for the traditional morning run, after which the animals are kept in the bullring until the afternoon’s fights.

A total 53 people were treated by the Red Cross. Runners often get injured at traditional bull-runs in Spain, but no one has died at Pamplona’s San Fermin festival since Spaniard Daniel Jimeno was gored in the neck by a Jandilla bull in 2009.

This year, the bulls were from cattle breeder Puerto de San Lorenzo, whose bulls have been responsible for one goring in the past. One person was gored on the opening day of the festival last year.

Locals and tourists alike will join in the 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) run every morning until next Sunday.

The festival regularly stokes debate about the treatment of animals. On Friday, protesters lay half-naked on the street with fake spears coming out of their backs to protest against what they see as cruelty.
----------------

🇮🇷 **Iran makes new nuclear threats that would reverse steps in pact**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/nHkCt>

Iran threatened on Monday to restart deactivated centrifuges and ramp up enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity as its next potential big moves away from a 2015 nuclear agreement that Washington abandoned last year.

The threats, made by Tehran’s nuclear agency spokesman, would go far beyond the small steps Iran has taken in the past week to nudge stocks of fissile material just beyond limits in the pact.

That could raise serious questions about whether the agreement, intended to block Iran from making a nuclear weapon, is still viable.

The two threats would reverse major achievements of the agreement, although Iran omitted important details about how far it might go to returning to the status quo before the pact, when Western experts
believed it could build a bomb within months.

In a separate standoff, Iran’s foreign minister accused Britain of “piracy” for seizing an Iranian oil tanker last week. Britain says the ship was bound for Syria in violation of European Union sanctions.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, confirmed that Tehran had enriched uranium beyond the deal’s limit of 3.67% purity, passing 4.5%, according to news agency ISNA.

U.N. nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, confirmed it had verified Iran’s enrichment was beyond 3.67%.

Iran has said it will take another, third step away from the deal within 60 days. Kamalvandi said options included enriching uranium to 20% purity or beyond, and restarting IR-2 M centrifuges dismantled under the deal.
----------------

🇿🇦 **South African teens fly from Cape to Cairo in homemade plane**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/43UdC>

An aircraft built by South African teenagers has successfully landed in Egypt six weeks after it set off from Cape Town.

The four-seater Sling 4 plane was assembled by a group of 20 students from vastly different backgrounds.

The crew landed in Namibia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Tanzania and Uganda during the 12,000km (7,455 mile) trip.

Pilot Megan Werner, 17, founder of U-Dream Global project, said she was thrilled by the accomplishment.

"I'm so honoured to have made a difference around the continent at the places we've stopped.

"The purpose of the initiative is to show Africa that anything is possible if you set your mind to it," she added.

Another Sling 4 plane, flown by professional pilots, accompanied the teen flyers, whose goal was to give motivational talks for other teenagers along the way.

The teenagers built the aircraft in three weeks from a kit manufactured in South Africa by the Airplane Factory. Construction included assembling thousands of small parts.

Megan's father, Des Werner, who is a commercial pilot, said it would normally take 3,000 man hours to assemble a Sling 4.
----------------

🇳🇱 **Alleged Islamic State fighter on trial in Netherlands for war crimes**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/t5Mug>

A Dutch-born alleged Islamic State militant went on trial in the Netherlands on Monday for war crimes committed in Iraq and Syria, after posing with a crucified body and sharing images of dead victims online.

It is the first trial in the Netherlands dealing with war crimes committed by an alleged Islamic State militant.

There is no international tribunal to prosecute the widespread atrocities committed during Syria’s civil war, which began in 2011, but several European countries have put citizens who joined militant
groups in the Middle East on trial.

According to the European police agency Europol, some 5,000 Europeans went to fight in Syria and Iraq, of whom some 1,500 have returned. Roughly 300 Dutch men and women joined the war in Iraq and Syria, prosecutors said.

Oussama Achraf Akhlafa, 24, is charged with joining IS militants in Mosul in Iraq, and Raqqa in Syria, between 2014 and 2016.

He is being tried under so-called universal jurisdiction, which enables war crimes to be prosecuted regardless of where they were committed.

Akhlafa is charged with violating the personal dignity of war victims, which is protected under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, as well as membership of a terrorist organization.
Prosecutors demanded a prison sentence of seven years, eight months.

Prosecutors said Akhlafa had posed next to the crucified body of a man on a wooden cross and distributed pictures of an IS militant holding the head of a dead Kurdish fighter,
and of a dead woman with the foot of someone standing on her body.
----------------

🇨🇭 **Climate protesters arrested outside Swiss banks**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/PGWEt>

Environmental activists, seeking to pressure Swiss banks into halting the financing of fossil fuels, blocked entrances to Credit Suisse in Zurich and UBS in Basel on Monday before police intervened
and arrested some protesters.

The action, initiated by groups calling for civil disobedience to draw attention to activities that accelerate climate change, halted streetcars and drew onlookers on Zurich’s Parade Square
as well as its Bahnhofstrasse luxury shopping mile.

Police observed the protesters, who were given the opportunity to leave of their own accord, for more than an hour before moving in, using saws and bolt cutters to remove activists who had
chained themselves together or to structures.

“Switzerland does not have coal mines or oil wells, but these activities are financed from here,” Frida Kohlmann, a spokeswoman for Collective Climate Justice, a group that helped organize
the protest, told Reuters before the arrests.

“Banks have a good image here, and under this squeaky clean image, they are financing dirty business all over the world.”

Heatwaves and wildfires, as well the United Nations urging action to halt rising temperatures, have spurred activists across Europe and elsewhere this year to risk arrest by joining protests
to persuade governments and companies to do more to curb fossil fuel use.

Zurich police said on Twitter they had arrested around two dozen protesters before midday, with more due to be removed from bank entrances.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Jeffrey Epstein: Financier charged with sex trafficking minors**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/SwcCc>

Wealthy US financier and friend of the powerful, Jeffrey Epstein, has appeared in a New York court charged with running "a vast network" of underage girls for sex.

Appearing in dark blue jail clothing on Monday, Epstein pleaded not guilty.

The indictment alleges he enticed minors to visit his Manhattan and Florida mansions between 2002 and 2005.

According to the charges, the girls, some as young as 14, were given hundreds of dollars for sex acts.

He faces one count of sex trafficking and one of sex trafficking conspiracy.

**Who is Jeffrey Epstein?**
The 66-year-old hedge fund manager was arrested on Saturday at Teterboro Airport after arriving from France on his private jet.

Epstein will remain in jail until his bail hearing on 11 July.

**What does the charge sheet say?**
The indictment alleges Epstein knew his victims were under 18. Often they would be invited to carry out a massage nude before being subjected to sexual abuse, it says.

The accused "also paid certain of his victims to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused", the document alleges.

He conspired with others "including employees and associates" who helped schedule encounters at his Manhattan mansion and Palm Beach residence, it is alleged.

Epstein has maintained that he believed the girls were at least 18 and that the encounters were consensual.

At a news conference, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, said a police raid on Epstein's Manhattan property resulted in the seizure of what appeared to be photos of naked girls.

He said that Epstein presented a flight risk and he would recommend the defendant remain in custody pending trial. Mr Berman appealed to anyone who may have been a victim or have information to come forward.
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🇺🇸 **Acosta Resigns as Labor Secretary over Epstein Plea Deal**
*New York Times* - <https://archive.fo/l3hkz>

President Trump said Friday morning that R. Alexander Acosta, his embattled secretary of labor, will resign following controversy over a lenient plea deal he made with Jeffrey Epstein when he was a prosecutor in Florida.

Mr. Trump made the announcement as he left the White House for travel to Milwaukee and Cleveland.

Mr. Trump said Mr. Acosta called him this morning and that it was Mr. Acosta’s decision to resign.
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I like how it's always "mr" trump. It's not fucking mr. Its fucking president trump

🇺🇸 **Armed man shot, killed after throwing incendiary devices at Washington ICE detention center**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/k8EGc>

Police in Washington state say an armed man was shot and killed early Saturday after trying to attack a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.

The Seattle Times reported that the unidentified man appeared outside of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma with a rifle and threw incendiary devices at both the facility and nearby propane tanks, at one point setting a vehicle on fire.

Officers responded to the incident around 4 a.m. and called out to the man before shots were fired. It was not clear how many shots were fired or whether the man fired at police.

Police spokesman Loretta Cool said the officers weren't wearing body cameras, but the area is covered by surveillance cameras from the detention center. The four officers involved were placed on administrative leave in accordance with the department's policy. None of them were injured.

ICE said in a statement that no employees "were harmed nor involved in this tragic incident."

The shooting took place hours after a rally in front of the detention center to protest planned mass deportation raids around the country. The Tacoma facility, which is run by the Department of Homeland Security, holds migrants pending deportation proceedings. The detention center has also held immigration-seeking parents separated from their children under President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, an effort meant to deter illegal immigration.
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🇺🇸 **Judge: Neo-Nazi blogger owes Whitefish woman $14M**
*Missoulian* - <https://archive.fo/31Dgj>

A federal judge on Monday decided more than $14 million should be awarded to a Whitefish woman who suffered a "troll storm" unleashed by a neo-Nazi website publisher in late 2016.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch issued his decision on Monday, finding Andrew Anglin owes Tanya Gersh $10 million in punitive damages along with $4,042,438 in compensatory damages.

The ruling comes after a daylong hearing Thursday in which Gersh, her husband, and her therapist testified to the emotional damage caused after Anglin called on his followers on the Daily Stormer to "storm" Gersh's family.

Anglin accused Gersh of trying to force the mother of white nationalist Richard Spencer to sell her building in Whitefish and posted personal information on Gersh, her husband, and their son online. A barrage of threats and anti-Semitic messages followed.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, representing Gersh, filed a lawsuit in federal court against Anglin in early 2017. In a statement released by the SPLC on Monday, Gersh said justice has been served.

"This lawsuit has always been about stopping others from enduring the terror I continue to live through at the hands of a neo-Nazi and his followers," Gersh said.

"I hope that the strength that I’ve shown — through the support of my family, community, and everyone who has sent positive messages my way — that with love and support, you can conquer the most horrible and hateful messages with positivity and that you can win.”

Anglin was not present at the July 11 hearing, nor was any attorney there to represent him. He forfeited his defense in April after repeatedly refusing a judge's order to appear in the United States for a deposition, and his attorneys subsequently asked to withdraw from the case.
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🇺🇸 **Roger Stone avoids jail, banned from major social media after judge rules Trump friend breached gag order in Mueller case**
*CNBC* - <https://archive.fo/HtWhw>

A federal judge on Tuesday banned Republican operative Roger Stone from posting anything at all on major social media platforms after ruling that the longtime confidant of President Donald Trump violated an already strict gag order in his criminal case.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson walked through a litany of Stone's recent posts from his Instagram account that appeared to breach his order not to speak publicly about his case.

Jackson barred Stone from posting on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter — but she decided not to revoke Stone's bail bond or hold him in contempt for violating her order.

"It seems he is determined to make himself the subject of the story," Jackson said of Stone, according to Buzzfeed News.

Stone's lawyer argued that his client's posts did not have an impact on the case, even if he was communicating about it publicly, Buzzfeed reported.

Federal prosecutors didn't call on Jackson to revoke Stone's $250,000 criminal release bond — which would have landed Stone in jail pending trial. Instead, they asked for him to be cut off from his social media presence, Politico reported.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors have charged Stone with witness tampering, obstruction of justice and lying to Congress. He has pleaded not guilty.
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🇺🇸 **Feds End Campaign Finance Investigation into Trump ‘Hush Money’ to Stormy Daniels**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.is/4cAGA>

Federal prosecutors have ended their investigation into payments from then-candidate Donald Trump to porn star Stormy Daniels, which Trump’s critics had hoped would lead to his arrest or impeachment.

CNN and other outlets had previously asserted — as news — that Trump had “literally” broken campaign finance laws. Michael Avenatti, Daniels’s attorney at the time, told NPR in August: “Donald Trump is either going to resign. He’s going to be removed from office by impeachment, or I’m going to beat him in 2020.” Last August, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to a variety of offenses, including campaign contribution violations. He told a federal court in New York that he had arranged payments to Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) and former Playboy model Karen McDougal at Trump’s direction.

Cohen began a three-year sentence in federal prison in May. Avenatti is facing federal charges in both Los Angeles and New York.
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🇺🇸 **Nolte: Poll Shows Media Attack on Trump over ‘Squad’ Tweets Backfired**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.is/4nUkH>

Fewer voters believe President Trump is racist and more believe he’s attacked as a racist only for political purposes, according to a poll taken after the fake news media launched a jihad to destroy the president over tweets aimed at the extremist Democrats known as “The Squad.”

In a Rasmussen poll of 1,000 likely voters taken on Monday and Tuesday, a full day after Trump blasted the Squad — which is made up of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — all the important numbers have moved Trump’s way. To begin with, Trump’s overall job approval rating moved a net eight points in his direction since Monday — from 46 percent to 50 percent approval; and from 52 percent to 48 percent disapproval.

Try as the fake news media will, the American people no longer trust or believe them (nor should they). And as these polls show, the president has come out on top once again, even after the media came together to group tackle him. But once again they did so using lies and criticisms that do not hold up to the facts.
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🇮🇷 **Iran says it has arrested CIA spies; UK to unveil response to ship crisis**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/vulLf>

Iran said on Monday it had captured 17 spies working for the CIA and sentenced some of them to death, an announcement President Donald Trump dismissed as “totally false” amid an escalating international crisis over
tankers in the Gulf.

The Iranian announcement came hours before Britain was due to unveil its response to Iran’s seizure of a British oil tanker, a move that has escalated a three-month confrontation that nearly drew the United States
and Iran into a shooting war.

“The Report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda (like their shot-down drone) put out by a Religious Regime that is Badly Failing and has no idea what to do. Their
Economy is dead, and will get much worse. Iran is a total mess!” tweeted Trump.

Iranian state television published images it said showed CIA officers who had been in touch with the suspected spies. The Ministry of Intelligence said the 17 spies had been arrested in the 12 months to March 2019.
Some had been sentenced to death, according to another report.

Such announcements are not unusual in Iran and are often made for domestic consumption. But the timing suggested a hardening of the Iranian position as the Gulf crisis escalates.

In London, Prime Minister Theresa May led a meeting of her government’s COBR emergency committee to respond to Friday’s capture of the Stena Impero tanker by Iranian commandoes who abseiled onto its deck from
helicopters in the Strait of Hormuz.

British ministers were expected to unveil their plans in a speech to parliament later on Monday. Regional experts say London has few good options to exert leverage over Iran at a time when Washington has already
imposed the maximum possible economic sanctions, banning Iran’s global oil exports.
----------------

🇬🇧🇮🇷 **Britain calls ship seizure 'hostile act' as Iran releases video of capture**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/g7WbQ>

Britain on Saturday denounced Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf as a “hostile act” and rejected Tehran’s explanation that it seized the vessel because it had been involved in an accident.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards posted a video online showing speedboats pulling alongside the Stena Impero tanker, its name clearly visible. Troops wearing ski masks and carrying machine guns rappelled to its deck from a helicopter, the same tactics used by British Royal Marines to seize an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar two weeks ago.

Friday’s action in the global oil trade’s most important waterway has been viewed in the West as a major escalation after three months of confrontation that has already taken Iran and the United States to the brink of war.

It follows threats from Tehran to retaliate for Britain’s July 4 seizure of the Iranian tanker Grace 1, accused of violating sanctions on Syria.

British Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt called the incident a “hostile act”. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had expressed “extreme disappointment” by phone to his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Britain also summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in London.

A spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier-General Ramezan Sharif, said Tehran had seized the ship in the Strait of Hormuz despite the “resistance and interference” of a British warship which had been escorting it. No British warship was visible in the video posted by the Guards.
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🇺🇸🇮🇷 **US doesn’t want war with Iran & UK should take care of its own ships – Pompeo**
*RT* - <https://archive.fo/9uOzx>

Amid rising tensions, Mike Pompeo has insisted the US doesn’t want war with Iran and the UK is responsible for taking care of its own ships. The secretary of state also dismissed Tehran’s claims it had arrested CIA-linked spies.

Pompeo was speaking to Fox and Friends on Monday morning when he was asked what the US role was in getting back the British oil tanker Stena Impero, seized by Iran last week.

“The responsibility in the first instance falls to the United Kingdom to take care of their ships,” Pompeo said, adding, “This isn’t because of US sanctions, this is because of the theocracy of the leadership in Iran, the revolutionary zeal to conduct terror around the world, for now four decades, continues.”

“We don’t want war with Iran, we want them to behave like a normal nation,” he added. “I think they understand that.”

Iran has said that all 23 crew members on the Stena Impero are “safe and in good health,” and that it seized the tanker in response to the UK’s seizure of one of its own tankers on July 4.

In his interview, Pompeo also dismissed Iran’s announcement that it had captured 17 CIA-linked spies. “The Iranian regime has a long history of lying,” he said.
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🇺🇸 **Trump has not built a single mile of new border fence after 30 months in office**
*Washington Examiner* - <https://archive.fo/rcVUi>

The Trump administration has not installed a single mile of new wall in a previously fenceless part of the U.S.-Mexico border in the 30 months since President Trump assumed office, despite his campaign promise to construct a “big beautiful wall.”

In a statement last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency overseeing border barrier construction, confirmed that all the fencing completed since Trump took office is "in place of dilapidated designs" because the existing fence was in need of replacement.

The agency said that it had built 51 miles of steel bollard fence with funding that was set aside during fiscal 2017 and 2018. But while the funding was meant both to replace outdated walls and to place barriers where there previously had been none, the government has only completed the replacement projects. The projects to secure areas with no fence are still in the works.

The 50 miles of completed replacement barrier is a 10-mile gain since early April. In Trump’s two and a half years in office, his administration has installed an average 1.7 miles of barrier per month, and none of it in areas that did not previously have some sort of barrier. A total 205 miles of new and replacement barrier has been funded in the two and a half years since Trump took office.

A senior administration official told the Washington Examiner that Border Patrol and the Army Corps of Engineers moved faster on replacement projects than the new ones because the approval process for environmental and zoning permits was far less extensive than areas of the border with no barrier.

A second senior official defended the progress the administration's progress and blamed Democrats in Congress for blocking funding for additional projects the White House has tried to move on.
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