🌎 **New UN campaign to bring youth into gender equality fight**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.is/snmNn>

The U.N. women's agency launched a campaign Monday to bring a young generation of women and men into the campaign for gender equality ahead of next year's 25th anniversary of the conference that adopted the only international platform to achieve women's rights and empowerment.

"Today, nearly 25 years after the historic Beijing conference, the reality is that not a single country can claim to have achieved gender equality," <:pepesmug:281041251749462016> said a statement from UN Women's executive director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Events leading up to next year's anniversary include the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women's annual meeting in March 2020 devoted to Beijing's implementation, a high-level meeting when world leaders gather for the annual General Assembly session in September 2020, and a "Global Gender Equality Forum" co-hosted by France and Mexico in France bringing civil society representatives and activists of all ages together to look to the future. No date has been announced yet for that event.
---------------

🇺🇸 **Florida woman pulls alligator from her pants during traffic stop**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.is/jgnio>

A Florida woman pulled an alligator out of her pants during a traffic stop on Monday — a strange move that might just rank on the state's list of odd reported crimes.

Ariel Machan-Le Quire, 25, was in the passenger's seat of a vehicle around 3:30 a.m. in Punta Gorda when she was pulled over, the Miami Herald reported, citing an incident report from the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

The department said that the woman was asked if she had anything else in the vehicle, and then “proceeded to pull an alligator out of her yoga pants (about one foot in length) and placed it into the bed of the truck."

Machan-Le Quire, along with 22-year-old driver Michael Clemons, claimed they were trying to collect wildlife from underneath an overpass. Investigators said the woman also had 41 small turtles inside of a backpack.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission was called to take over, the sheriff's office said.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Baby Boomers Are Just As Addicted To Smart Phones As Millennials**
*Forbes* - <http://archive.fo/MXE9O>

Provision Living, a group of senior living communities across the U.S. did a study looking at 1,000 Baby Boomers and 1,000 millennials to compare the similarities and differences between the two generations usage of smart phones. And the results were not what was expected.

On average, Baby Boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 – are on smart phones five hours a day. That’s almost the same amount of time on a phone as millennials – those born between 1981 and 1995 – who clock in over five-and-a-half hours per day. But what’s really interesting, is how that time on devices is being spent, and more importantly, what it means for our mental health. In a period when the more we are “connected” means more time alone on devices, the perception of connectivity and actually engaging others can be starkly different.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Riot Games employees walk out to protest forced arbitration in sexual harassment claims**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/UdYmY>

More than 150 workers at video game developer Riot Games, known for fan favorites like League of Legends, walked out of the company's Los Angeles headquarters Monday to protest the use of arbitration to handle sexual discrimination claims.

Employees are protesting the decision last month by the company to force two plaintiffs in sexual discrimination cases into arbitration, the Los Angeles Times reported. The company had been saddled with a sexual harassment scandal since August when video game blog Kotaku published a report alleging inappropriate treatment towards employees.

Since then, five current and former employees filed lawsuits, accusing the company of gender-based discrimination and harassment, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"To every former, current, & future female Rioter, I am sorry I didn't speak up when I experienced sexism at Riot... I want you to know that my silence ended today," Ronnie Blackburn, Riot Games researcher and walkout organizer, tweeted in August.

The protest, which workers say is the first of its kind in the video game industry, is only the latest walkout to shine a light on what critics call a culture of sexism in tech companies and in particular a male-dominated "bro culture" popularized by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

In November, 20,000 employees at Google staged a walkout protesting the tech giant's sexual misconduct allegations. As a result, Google promised it would change its mandatory arbitration policy for employees. Other companies, like Facebook, Lyft, Microsoft and Uber, also committed to enact new policies.
---------------

🇺🇸 **Feds released 168,000 illegal immigrant family members into communities**
*The Washington Times* - <https://archive.fo/TeYZA>

The government is so overwhelmed by the border surge that it’s already released 168,000 illegal immigrant family members directly into communities, the government said Wednesday.

An ICE official made the revelation at a Senate hearing where she and other top immigration officials pleaded with Congress to do something to stop the surge of migrants that’s overwhelming the system.

April set new records, with the Border Patrol nabbing more than 58,000 illegal immigrants traveling as families in that month alone.

That was part of more than 109,000 illegal immigrants nabbed border wide, including at or between the ports of entry.

And for the first time in history, nearly half of the adults arriving are bringing children with them, looking to take advantage of the loopholes in U.S. policy that they believe — usually correctly — will earn them a foothold in the U.S.

“They have received the message loud and clear — bring a child, you will be released,” Carla Provost, chief of the Border Patrol, told Congress.
---------------

🇺🇸 **The Cubs are investigating a fan's alleged racist hand gesture: 'Such ignorant and repulsive behavior is not tolerated at Wrigley Field'**
*Chicago Tribune* - <https://archive.fo/CTc9Y>

The Cubs are investigating an on-air incident involving an alleged racist gesture behind NBC Sports Chicago reporter Doug Glanville during Tuesday night’s Marlins-Cubs telecast at Wrigley Field.

Crane Kenney, the Cubs President of Business Operations, issued a statement three hours after a 5-2 victory over the Marlins.

“An individual seated behind Mr. Glanville used what appears to be an offensive hand gesture that is associated with racism,” Kenney said.

“Such ignorant and repulsive behavior is not tolerated at Wrigley Field. We are reviewing the incident thoroughly because no one should be subjected to this type of offensive behavior.

“Any derogatory conduct should be reported immediately to our ballpark staff. Any individual behaving in this manner will not only be removed from the ballpark, but will be permanently banned from Wrigley Field.”

A bearded fan in a Cubs hooded sweatshirt seated in the first row behind Glanville, who was next to the Cubs dugout, made gestures as Glanville spoke to Cubs play-by-play announcer Len Kasper.

The fan made an upside-down “OK” sign, which has been appropriated by white supremacists.
---------------

🇬🇧 **Royal baby Archie: Prince Harry and Meghan name their 'bundle of joy'**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/6LOFv>

Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan announced on Wednesday they had named their newborn son Archie as they showed him off to the world, saying their “little bundle of joy” was magic.

In a post on their Instagram account accompanying a picture of the parents with Queen Elizabeth, her husband Prince Philip and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, the couple said the seventh-in-line
to the British throne would be known as Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

The announcement came hours after the new royal got his first taste of life in the limelight as Meghan and Harry appeared with him before a small group of media at St George’s Hall in
Windsor castle where they held their wedding reception just under a year ago.

Harry tightly cradled his son, wrapped in a white shawl and wearing a hat.

“It’s magic - it’s pretty amazing and I have the two best guys in the world so I am really happy,” said a beaming Meghan, wearing a white sleeveless coat dress, when asked how she was finding being a new mother.

She said the boy, the seventh-in-line to the British throne who has not yet been publicly named, was calm, had the sweetest temperament and was sleeping well.

“He’s just been the dream,” she said, prompting Harry to quip: “I don’t know who he gets that from”.

Archie was born in the early hours of Monday morning, weighing 7 lb 3oz (3.26 kg), but few other details have been given about the birth.
----------------

🇻🇪 **Ally of Venezuelan Opposition Leader Is Detained After Failed Uprising**
*New York Times* - <http://archive.fo/gkp3Y>

The vice president of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly was detained by intelligence officers in the capital on Wednesday night, the latest sign of crackdown following a failed call for a military uprising against President Nicolás Maduro last week.

The vice president, Edgar Zambrano, was surrounded by intelligence officers after leaving his party’s headquarters in the capital, Caracas, he said on Twitter. He was towed away in his car after refusing to leave his vehicle, according to Mr. Zambrano and witnesses.

A member of the moderate Democratic Action opposition party, Mr. Zambrano joined the head of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, and a few dozen dissident soldiers last week outside a military base as Mr. Guaidó tried to take the base and set off a national rebellion. The call to oust Mr. Maduro failed to convince the military to switch sides en masse, however.

Instead, clashes broke out across Caracas between demonstrators and forces loyal to Mr. Maduro, injuring dozens and killing five across the country before Venezuela largely returned to its recent status quo: a protracted political standoff as the country slid into further shortages of food, medicine and electricity.
----------------

🇪🇺🇮🇷 **Iran nuclear deal: European powers reject 'ultimatums'**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/WbrwO>

European powers have said they remain committed to the Iran nuclear deal but that they "reject any ultimatums" from Tehran to prevent its collapse.

Iran announced on Wednesday that it had suspended two commitments under the 2015 accord in response to the economic sanctions the US reimposed last year.

It also threatened to step up uranium enrichment if it was not shielded from the sanctions' effects within 60 days.

The EU, UK, France and Germany noted "with great concern" Iran's move.

Under the nuclear deal, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.

But a year ago US President Donald Trump abandoned the deal, saying it was "horribly one-sided" and needed to be renegotiated, and began reinstating sanctions. In November, those
targeting Iran's oil and financial sectors took effect.

Iran's economy is now sliding towards a deep recession, the value of its currency has dropped to record lows, and its annual inflation rate has quadrupled.
----------------

🤡🌎 **Google is releasing 53 new gender neutral emojis**
*Android Central* - <https://archive.fo/L34s1>

Google is working on a new set of gender fluid emoji that consists of 53 non-binary characters. The new emoji are neither male or female, instead opting for a third gender neutral option for those who identify as neither. The emoji are rolling out to Pixel phones this week, but will eventually come to all devices running Android Q.

Google designers spent a lot of time deciding what exactly a genderless emoji would look like, and the hair seemed to be the most important factor. In order to bridge the gap between male and female, it went with a hairstyle which parts the hair to the side with longer hair in the back.

There are also other small changes for certain characters. For example, the vampire character distinguishes itself with a chain instead of the bow tie found on the male version while the merperson adorns an orange color and crosses their arms to cover their chest instead of having a seashell bra like the female version.

Google collaborates with others on emoji standards, and Jennifer Daniel is not only the director of Android emojis, but she also sits on the Unicode consortium that sets emoji standards. This makes it more likely we'll see Apple and others join up and release its own version of genderless emoji at some point down the road.
---------------

🇺🇸 **Chelsea Manning released from Virginia jail after 62 days**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/Lo5n7>

Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been released from federal custody after spending about two months in jail for refusing to testify about her disclosure of military and diplomatic secrets to WikiLeaks in 2010, according to a statement from her legal team.

But Manning could soon return to jail, as her lawyers indicated that she would again refuse to testify in response to a separate subpoena received while she was detained.

Manning, who served about seven years in prison for the massive leak, objected to the questioning in a grand jury appearance in March that was apparently part of a continued effort by federal prosecutors investigating WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. She was subsequently held in contempt, and a federal appeals court rejected her argument for release -- that her rights were violated by the subpoena proceedings and the federal prosecutors purportedly seeking to entrap her -- in April.

Manning was released from the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday after 62 days because the grand jury that had demanded her testimony was no longer sitting, according to the statement.

The second subpoena would have her appear before a different grand jury next week, "but for (the) same questions," according to a tweet posted on Manning's Twitter account Thursday night.

"It is therefore conceivable that she will once again be held in contempt of court, and be returned to the custody of the Alexandria Detention Center, possibly as soon as next Thursday, May 16," Manning's team said in the statement. "Chelsea will continue to refuse to answer questions."
---------------

🇺🇸 **Microsoft Word is getting politically correct**
*Fast Company* - <https://archive.fo/rYamU>

Microsoft will soon preview a version of Word that will use artificial intelligence to make your writing not just grammatically but politically correct.

Microsoft doesn’t call it a “political correctness check,” but that’s essentially what it is. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Actually Microsoft calls it “Ideas in Word,” which refers to a series of AI-driven features that help you format your document and write better.

For instance, Word will decode acronyms for you, and tell you how long it’ll take to read a given document. It’ll also underline words or phrases that sound insensitive, and suggest corrections.

Say you write, “We need to get some fresh blood in here.” The AI is likely to underline “fresh blood” and suggest “new employees” instead.

It might underline places where your writing exhibited gender bias. If you tend to say “mailman” or Congressman” in the generic, it might suggest you use “mailperson” or “Congressperson.” If you use the term “gentlemen’s agreement,” it may suggest you use “unspoken agreement” instead.

If you describe someone as a “disabled person” the AI would suggest “person with a disability.” Person-first terminology is preferred because it portrays the person as more important than the disability.

The “inclusiveness” checks are part of a larger group of “Refine My Writing” tools that also include clarity, conciseness, punctuation, and “sensitive geopolitical terms.” For that last one, the AI’s models look for phrases that may be hard to understand by, or that might be offensive to, someone in another country or culture, Microsoft says.
---------------

🇬🇧 🍻 **One in five harmed by others drinking alcohol over past year, survey finds**
*The Guardian* - <http://archive.fo/F22cD>

One in five people in England have been harmed by others drinking alcohol over the past year, a survey has found.

The most commonly reported harms related to less serious issues, such as being kept awake (8%) or feeling anxious or uncomfortable about another person’s behaviour at a social occasion (7%). But nearly one in 20 people reported experiencing aggression – being physically threatened or hurt – or being pressurised into something sexual.

The survey of 5,000 over-16s across England looked at the extent, type and frequency of the harms associated with other people’s drinking and who was most likely to be affected.

The authors of the paper said: “It is clear that [alcohol-related harm] is relatively prevalent and that some individuals experience harm frequently. The most prevalent harms could be considered insignificant, but even apparently minor harms such as sleep disruption can have an impact on health and quality of life, particularly if experienced persistently.”

Those who said they had been in any of these situations in the past 12 months were asked to say who had been responsible, how often it had happened and whether they drank themselves.
----------------

🇺🇸 <:strawman:372034857099984897> **Florida mother arrested after 'hundred of bugs' crawl from child's backpack: reports**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.is/NyKoH>

A Florida mother was arrested for child neglect last week after investigators reportedly found cockroaches, soiled mattresses and rancid food in her home.

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office inquiry came after staff at her second-grade daughter’s school reported their concerns that the girl consistently wore the same dirty clothes every day, wasn’t taking regular baths and “hundreds of bugs crawled out” her backpack in the school's lunchroom, according to reports.

“The roaches were on nearly every surface in the home,” an official reportedly said, including the children’s beds, in the kitchen and inside the refrigerator.

The sheriff’s office opened the investigation in mid-April. Authorities said the girl’s clothes had “caked on fecal matter and urine soaked in,” Pensacola's WEAR-TV reported.

Three children from the home, between ages 5 and 14, attend *Baghdad* Elementary in the Florida panhandle, the station reported. The mother, identified as Jessica Stevenson, 33, has been charged with five felony counts of child abuse, according to WEAR. Her bond was set at $12,500.

In contrast to the rest of the home, Stevenson’s bedroom was relatively clean with a flat-screen TV, clean clothes in her closet and a stash of snack food, authorities said. The second-grade girl was frequently given new clothing by the school, according to the Pensacola News-Journal, which reported that she would wear the same clothes until the school gave her a new set.

“The amount of neglect in this case is very disturbing,” Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said, according to WEAR.

The suspect made bond and was released Saturday, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
----------------

🇧🇫 **French military frees hostages in Burkina Faso, two commandos killed**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/9lYMn>

French commandos rescued four foreign hostages including two French citizens from a militant group in Burkina Faso, France’s military said on Friday, adding that
two of the elite soldiers were killed in the night-time operation.

French special forces carried out the raid under cover of dark over the night of Thursday-Friday, supported by U.S. intelligence and troops from France’s Barkhane operation deployed in the
Sahel region to counter Islamist militants.

All four hostages were safe, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said, adding that a U.S. woman and a South Korean woman were also freed in the covert operation.

“The precise and determined actions of French soldiers allowed us to take out the kidnappers while protecting the lives of the hostages,” France’s army chief Francois
Lecointre told a news conference, describing the militant group as “terrorists”.

Four kidnappers were killed and two escaped, he said.

“Those who attack France and the French know that we will spare no effort to track them and take them out. We will never abandon our citizens,” Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told reporters.

The French forces had not been aware of the presence of the U.S. and South Korean hostages ahead of the operation and they had been held for 28 days, Lecointre said.

“We were not aware of their presence ... the American will be repatriated separately,” Parly said.

“The contacts (with those countries) show that these countries were not necessarily aware of their presence.”
----------------

🇦🇫 **Taliban fighters double as reporters to wage Afghan digital war**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/QpPja>

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesman and editor-in-chief of the insurgent group’s daily news bulletin, starts every day by collecting reports of overnight fighting with U.S. and Afghan forces.

Mujahid says he gets his team of writers to cross-check facts shared by some of the hardline Islamist groups fighters, who double as reporters in the 34 provinces across the country. The writers prepare press statements
in five languages and gather footage and photographs shot on smartphones.

The editor-in-chief then approves final drafts of the reports - highlighting the group’s claimed victories in its war aimed at toppling the U.S.-backed Afghan government - before they are published by IT
specialists based outside the country.

While some Afghan journalists say its accuracy is patchy, and its opponents accuse it of spreading “fake news”, the Taliban’s slick media operation has emerged as a key weapon in the information war that
often leaves the Western-backed government and its U.S. partners struggling to catch up.

Last month, for example the Taliban was swift to deny involvement in a suicide attack on the communications ministry in Kabul later blamed on Islamic State, while information from the government was slower to emerge.

Taliban spokesmen say they have also stepped up their outreach as the pace of direct talks between its negotiators and the United States on ending the war in Afghanistan has picked up in recent months.
They are often quicker than U.S. officials to give their read-out from the talks - the sixth round of which wrapped up in Qatar on Thursday.

“Whatever developments occur during the Doha talks, we share it with journalists,” said Mujahid, adding that the messages were aimed at domestic and international audiences.
----------------

🇺🇸 **The ‘Tactical Rabbi’ helps synagogues defend against anti-Semitic violence**
*LA Times* - <https://archive.fo/495Vh>

It was 45 minutes into his lecture when the rabbi pulled out an AR-15.

“Who thinks, by show of hands, that we should be carrying more guns in shul?” Rabbi Raziel Cohen asked the crowd at a Westside Chabad synagogue Wednesday night, during an active-shooter seminar organized in the wake of the deadly attack at Chabad of Poway.

Half the room raised their hands.

In the days since the shooting, Chabad leaders in California have scrambled to secure public safety grants and to calm frightened congregants, mobilizing hundreds more through active-shooter drills and community defense training. In Southern California, religious security experts such as Cohen, who calls himself the “Tactical Rabbi,” are quickly becoming their own cottage industry.

“Our arms are open, but security always comes first — if some of the openness has to be sacrificed, so be it,” said Rabbi Simcha Backman, who heads Chabad of Glendale and is part of the sect’s California leadership. “In Jewish law, going back to the Torah, first and foremost is protecting lives. Everything else is secondary. And in the world we live in today, we need to focus on saving lives and keeping people safe.”

But safety comes at a price. One large Chabad congregation meets in a building disguised as an empty storefront. Another now questions newcomers at the door.

“We don’t want to be victims,” Cohen said. “We need to protect ourselves now.”

Increasingly, many feel that means bearing arms.
---------------

🇨🇳 **A new camera can photograph you from 45 kilometers away**
*MIT Technology Review* - <https://archive.fo/S6zJr>

Long-distance photography on Earth is a tricky challenge. Capturing enough light from a subject at great distances is not easy. And even then, the atmosphere introduces distortions that can ruin the image; so does pollution, which is a particular problem in cities. That makes it hard to get any kind of image beyond a distance of a few kilometers or so (assuming the camera is mounted high enough off the ground to cope with Earth’s curvature).

But in recent years, researchers have begun to exploit sensitive photodetectors to do much better. These detectors are so sensitive they can pick up single photons and use them to piece together images of subjects up to 10 kilometers (six miles) away.

Nevertheless, physicists would love to improve even more. And today, Zheng-Ping Li and colleagues from the University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai show how to photograph subjects up to 45 km (28 miles) away in a smog-plagued urban environment. Their technique uses single-photon detectors combined with a unique computational imaging algorithm that achieves super-high-resolution images by knitting together the sparsest of data points.

The new technique is relatively straightforward in principle. It is based on laser ranging and detection, or lidar—illuminating the subject with laser light and then creating an image from reflected light.

The big advantage of this kind of active imaging is that the photons reflected from the subject return to the detector within a specific time window that depends on the distance. So any photons that arrive outside this window can be ignored.
---------------

🇺🇸 **San Francisco police raid home of journalist to find who leaked Adachi report**
*San Francisco Examiner* - <https://archive.fo/93UE3>

Police raided the home and office of a freelance journalist Friday morning as part of an ongoing investigation into a leaked confidential police report containing salacious details about the death of late Public Defender Jeff Adachi.

Freelance journalist Bryan Carmody told the San Francisco Examiner that his home and office were raided by police and FBI agents because he had obtained a copy of the police report, and sold information from that report to the press following Adachi’s death on February 22.

The leak drew wide condemnation and prompted members of the Board of Supervisors to call for the police department to investigate and hold accountable the source of it within the department.

Two weeks prior, Carmody said that he was interviewed by police officers about where he obtained his information, but refused to disclose his source. Today, Carmody said that police and FBI agents executed a search warrant on his Richmond District home and Western Addition office.

They confiscated his cell phones, computers and a copy of the police report from within his office safe.

“They have completely shut down my business,” said Carmody, who has operated as an independent stringer for Bay Area and national television stations, including Fox News, CNBC and CBS Evening news.

Carmody accused police of “intimidation” to “make me break my [journalistic] ethics.”

“I’m refusing to give up my source,” he said.
---------------

🇮🇱 **‘Trumpville’ Site Chosen on Israel-Held Golan to Honor President**
*Bloomberg* - <https://archive.fo/iXveN>

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a location has been identified for the new Golan Heights community to be named after U.S. President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu said he will ask the cabinet to approve it once his next government is formed. A name for the new community has not been announced.

Israel is paying this tribute to Trump after he officially recognized Israeli sovereignty over the strategic plateau in March.

Israel captured the southern section of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981, a move not recognized by most countries.
---------------

<:zoomer:548787209235464193> **New players are accused of cheating during week 5 Fortnite World Cup qualifiers**
*DOT Esports* - <http://archive.fo/2DMgv>

Cheaters apparently aren’t scared after Damion “XXiF” C received a 14-day ban from Fortnite: Battle Royale competitive modes last week. He was banned for teaming during the week three World Cup Solo qualifiers, but this doesn’t seem to be enough to convince other players to avoid doing the same thing.

New accusations of teaming have arisen in the most recent Solo qualifiers, this time against players Yermpy and Oro. A Twitch streamer, Philldown, who was the duo’s victim, caught two clips of them playing a match in which they avoid shooting each other and focus on him when he lands near them.


Philldown says that the first clip shows Oro purposely missing shots on Yermpy, while the second video shows Yermpy and Oro landing close to each other and ignoring themselves to focus on Philldown. From the streamer’s perspective, it feels like he’s playing duos alone.

But Yermpy and Oro failed twice. Not only were they caught with suspicious behavior, but they also couldn’t qualify for the World Cup Finals. Other players on the competitive Fortnite subreddit agreed that these two were intentionally playing bad against each other to instead focus on other players who could take them down, which falls under collusion, according to the tournament’s rules.

Yermpy and Oro’s case is different than what happened to XXiF, though. In week three, he was reported and then banned for having his friends feed eliminations to him across more than one match, which gave him enough points to qualify for the Fortnite World Cup Finals in New York. Since it granted XXiF an unfair competitive advantage, he lost his World Cup spot and prize money.

Epic has yet to comment on Yermpy and Oro’s situation. It’s likely that the company won’t address their case in detail as it did with XXiF since none of them made it to the Finals.

🇺🇸 **Twitter accidentally shared user data with advertising partner**
*New York Post* - <https://archive.fo/JDm1z>

Twitter says it “inadvertently” collected iOS location data from some of its users and shared it with one of its “trusted” advertising partners — marking the fourth time in the past year that people’s private information has been made public.

“You trust us to be careful with your data, and because of that, we want to be open with you when we make a mistake,” said the social media giant in a blog post Monday.

“We have discovered that we were inadvertently collecting and sharing iOS location data with one of our trusted partners in certain circumstances. Specifically, if you used more than one account on Twitter for iOS and opted into using the precise location feature in one account, we may have accidentally collected location data when you were using any other account(s) on that same device for which you had not turned on the precise location feature. ”

The company claimed that the data leak had been caused by a “bug.”

“We have confirmed with our partner that the location data has not been retained and that it only existed in their systems for a short time, and was then deleted as part of their normal process,” it said. “We have fixed this problem and are working hard to make sure it does not happen again. We have also communicated with the people whose accounts were impacted to let them know the bug has been fixed.”

Twitter said it had “intended to remove location data from the fields sent to a trusted partner during an advertising process known as real-time bidding.”
---------------

🇫🇷 **Record number of attacks on gays in France: report**
*Yahoo!/AFP* - <https://archive.fo/T7fKj>

Assaults in France on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people hit a new record in 2018, "a dark year" for the LGBT community, French group SOS Homophobie reported Tuesday.

The non-profit association registered 231 physical attacks, up from the previous annual record of 188 anti-LGBT assaults back in 2013 linked to same-sex marriage legislation.

"2018 was a dark year for LGBT people," said SOS Homophobie co-presidents Véronique Godet and Joël Deumier in the yearly report.

The number of assaults jumped 66 percent over 2017, with a spike towards the end of the year when a case a day was being reported to the group.

SOS Homophobie's helpline, website and legal services collected 1,905 statements from witnesses of abuse of the gay community, 15 percent more than the previous year.

The breakdown of cases, which could involve multiple categories, showed 62 percent involved rejection, 51 percent insults, 38 percent discrimination and 20 percent harassment. Threats and defamation made up 17 percent each with physical assault on 13 percent.

Some 66 percent of witnesses were men, who were "more inclined to talk about it and turn to SOS Homophobie to denounce what they suffered".

The association said the 42 percent leap in reporting of violence against lesbians appeared linked to the greater willingness of victims to speak out and the influence of the #MeToo movement.

With 23 percent of reported cases, Internet was the leading place for the expression of LGBT phobia in France.

Facebook and Twitter act like an "echo chamber" of daily cases with the social networks recording more than half of all reported cases, the group said.
---------------

🌎 **WhatsApp security issues: Hackers attack iPhones and Androids with code**
*Metro* - <https://archive.fo/NNKJX>

The app discovered a vulnerability that allowed attackers to install malicious code on iPhones and Android phones by ringing up a target device.

The code could be transmitted even if users did not answer their phones and a log of the call often disappeared, the Financial Times reported.

The company, which is owned by Facebook, said the attack bore a resemblance to spyware developed for intelligence agencies.

People are now being urged to update their WhatsApp immediately.

There are concerns that the software was used in attempts to access the phones of human rights campaigners, including a UK-based lawyer.

WhatsApp said: ‘We believe a select number of users were targeted through this vulnerability by an advanced cyber actor.

‘This attack has all the hallmarks of a private company known to work with governments to deliver spyware that reportedly takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems.

‘We have briefed a number of human rights organisations to share the information we can, and to work with them to notify civil society.’

The firm is said to have alerted officials at the US Department of Justice after discovering the vulnerability in early May.

WhatsApp claims to have 1.5 billion users around the world and it released a software update on Monday.

According to the Financial Times, the spyware was developed by NSO Group, an Israeli cybersecurity and intelligence company.
---------------

🌎 **New security flaw in Intel chips could affect millions**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/fREhv>

Intel has revealed another hardware security flaw that could affects millions of machines around the world.

The bug is embedded in the architecture of computer hardware, and it can’t be fully fixed.

“With a large enough data sample, time or control of the target system’s behavior,” the flaw could enable attackers to see data thought to be off-limits, Bryan Jorgensen, Intel’s senior director of product assurance and security, said in a video statement.

But Intel said Tuesday there’s no evidence of anyone exploiting it outside of a research laboratory. “Doing so successfully in the real world is a complex undertaking,” Jorgensen said.

It’s the latest revelation of a hard-to-fix vulnerability affecting processors that undergird smartphones and personal computers. Two bugs nicknamed Spectre and Meltdown set a panic in the tech industry last year.

Intel said it’s already addressed the problem in its newest chips after working for months with business partners and independent researchers. It’s also released code updates to mitigate the risk in older chips, though it can’t be eliminated entirely without switching to newer chips.

Major tech companies Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft all released advisories Tuesday to instruct users of their devices and software, many of which rely on Intel hardware, on how to mitigate the vulnerabilities.
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🇺🇸🇨🇳 **Trump declares national emergency over threats against US technology amid campaign against Huawei**
*CNBC* - <https://archive.fo/9xCCn>

President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared a national emergency over threats against American technology, the White House said.

The move, done via executive order, authorized the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in consultation with other top officials, to block transactions that involve information or communications technology that "poses an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States."

Following the order, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the addition of Huawei Technologies and its affiliates to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List, making it more difficult for the Chinese telecom giant to conduct business with U.S. companies.

The addition means that U.S. companies cannot sell or transfer technology to Huawei without a license issued by the BIS. That could make it harder for Huawei to do business, as it depends on some U.S. suppliers for parts.

President Donald Trump backed the decision, which will "prevent American technology from being used by foreign owned entities in ways that potentially undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy interests," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.

The announcement has been under discussion for a year. It comes as the U.S and China remain locked in a trade dispute and could escalate tensions between the world's two largest economies.

The order had been opposed by small rural carriers, who continued to rely on Huawei equipment even after it was largely dropped by the larger telecommunications companies.
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🇮🇱 **Hackers bust into Israeli site’s online Eurovision broadcast with missile threat**
*The Times Of Israel* - <https://archive.fo/c4ZzH>

Israeli viewers watching the Eurovision song contest on the Kan public broadcaster’s website Tuesday were briefly interrupted by a series of threats after hackers apparently broke into a livestream.

The hacked message replaced the campy song contest with a video of a forged warning from the Israel Defense Forces telling viewers within 1.2 kilometers of the Eurovision song contest venue in north Tel Aviv to seek shelter from an imminent rocket attack.

The approximately two-minute video ended with a warning that “Israel is not safe, you will see.”

It was not immediately clear who was behind the hack attack, though Hebrew media speculated it may have come from pro-Palestinian groups in Arab states.

Kan, which is hosting the international song contest put on by the European Broadcast Union, said in a statement that it’s site had been hacked into for several minutes.
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🇺🇸 **Alabama governor signs nation's most restrictive anti-abortion bill into law**
*CNN* - <http://archive.fo/dkWhd>

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday signed into law a controversial abortion bill that could punish doctors who perform abortions with life in prison.

"Today, I signed into law the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, a bill that was approved by overwhelming majorities in both chambers of the Legislature," said Ivey, a Republican, in a statement. "To the bill's many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians' deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God."

The Alabama Senate passed the bill 25-6 late Tuesday night. The law only allows exceptions "to avoid a serious health risk to the unborn child's mother," for ectopic pregnancy and if the "unborn child has a lethal anomaly." Democrats re-introduced an amendment to exempt rape and incest victims, but the motion failed on an 11-21 vote.
Ivey noted in her statement that the new law may be unenforceable due to the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states. But, the new law was passed with the aim of challenging that decision, Ivey said.

"No matter one's personal view on abortion, we can all recognize that, at least for the short term, this bill may similarly be unenforceable," Ivey wrote. "As citizens of this great country, we must always respect the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court even when we disagree with their decisions. Many Americans, myself included, disagreed when Roe v. Wade was handed down in 1973. The sponsors of this bill believe that it is time, once again, for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit this important matter, and they believe this act may bring about the best opportunity for this to occur."
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🇺🇸🇮🇷 **Trump says he hopes U.S. not going to war with Iran**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/OIFQo>

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he hoped the United States was not heading to war with Iran as he met with Switzerland President Ueli Maurer, whose nation has served as a
diplomatic conduit between the two countries.

Asked by reporters if Washington was going to war with Tehran, Trump responded, “Hope not” as he greeted Maurer at the White House.

Tensions have escalated in recent days with increasing concerns about a potential U.S.-Iran conflict. Earlier this week the United States pulled some diplomatic staff from its embassy in Baghdad following
weekend attacks on four oil tankers in the Gulf.

Switzerland, a neutral country, has historically been a liaison between the United States and Iran, which have no diplomatic relations.

A White House statement said the two leaders discussed “a range of international issues, including the crises in the Middle East and in Venezuela.”

“President Trump expressed his gratitude for Switzerland’s role in facilitating international mediation and diplomatic relations on behalf of the United States,” the statement said.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported late Wednesday that Trump preferred a diplomatic route with Iran and direct talks with its leaders but worried that some of his advisers were pushing war.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” that there is no friction between Trump and his advisers and he welcomes different viewpoints.

“He’s the one the American people elected. He’s going to take in the information and the guidance from all of his national security team and he then will make a decision on what he thinks is the best and safest
thing for the American people,” she said.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday welcomed what she called Trump’s lack of “appetite” for military conflict with Tehran.
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🇩🇪 **Germany's top court orders broadcaster to air neo-Nazi party advert**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/pUeeO>

Germany's highest court ordered public broadcaster ARD to air a small neo-Nazi party's election campaign clip, overturning a ban on the advertisement imposed on grounds that it amounted to incitement against foreigners.

Last month ARD refused an advert by the National Democratic Party (NDP) for its European Parliament election campaign in which it calls for the creation of "safe zones" for Germans who have become "victims" of mass immigration.

A Berlin court rejected an NPD appeal against ARD's decision. The Federal Constitutional Court overturned that decision, saying it infringed on the NPD's right to campaign and put it at a disadvantage against other parties.

"A constitutional complaint (by the NPD) is therefore at the moment neither inadmissible nor unfounded," the court ruled.

The NPD is hoping to make gains in the European Parliament, where it has one lawmaker, in elections later this month.

Two years ago, the Constitutional Court said the NPD resembled Adolf Hitler's Nazi party but stopped short of banning it because it was too weak to endanger democracy.

Nationalist, anti-EU parties in the European Parliament blame the EU's open border policy for a surge in migrant arrivals in 2015, mainly Muslims fleeing wars in the Middle East.

The NPD doesn't belong to any bloc in the European Parliament.

Its advertisement features a voice-over saying: "Since the arbitrary opening of the border in 2015 and the uncontrolled mass migration that followed, Germans have become almost daily victims." The voice-over is accompanied by images of crime scenes and names of victims of violence, including murder.
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🇺🇸 **White House won’t sign international agreement against online extremism over First Amendment concerns**
*Washington Examiner* - <https://archive.fo/TxXqd>

The White House announced Wednesday that free speech concerns would keep the administration from signing onto an international agreement to counteract online extremism.

The agreement is being pushed by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the wake of the Christchurch shooting. More than 50 people were killed in the mosque attacks, which were livestreamed on Facebook.

“The United States stands with the international community in condemning terrorist and violent extremist content online in the strongest terms,” the White House said in a statement.

“We continue to be proactive in our efforts to counter terrorist content online while also continuing to respect freedom of expression and freedom of the press,” the White House said.

World leaders, including Australia, Germany, India, Italy, and Spain, crafted the nine-point agreement called the “Christchurch call to action” in response to the shooting. Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Google, and Amazon released a joint statement committing to the “Christchurch Call.”

“The terrorist attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March were a horrifying tragedy. And so it is right that we come together, resolute in our commitment to ensure we are doing all we can to fight the hatred and extremism that lead to terrorist violence,” the companies’ joint statement said.

“Terrorism and violent extremism are complex societal problems that require an all-of-society response. For our part, the commitments we are making today will further strengthen the partnership that Governments, society and the technology industry must have to address this threat,” the statement said.
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🇺🇸 **Trump administration to release some migrants caught along southern border into South Florida**
*USA Today* - <https://archive.fo/uA100>

The Trump administration is preparing to release hundreds of asylum-seeking migrants caught along the southern border into Florida's Broward and Palm Beach counties, with no apparent plan to house, feed or care for them, according to local officials who have been briefed on the plans.

Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen said Thursday that Customs and Border Protection officials told him they would unload about 1,000 migrant families each month, evenly split between the two counties, for an unknown period of time.

Bogen called the plan "irresponsible" and warned that it would create a "homeless encampment" in his South Florida county.

"To bring hundreds of people here every week without providing the necessary resources to house and feed them is inhumane," Bogen said.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Thursday that he received a similar briefing from the Customs and Border Patrol chief in Miami. He said the migrants would be mostly families currently being detained in El Paso, Texas.

They would be processed at CBP facilities in Broward and Palm Beach counties, given a date to appear in immigration court and then released into the community.

Beyond that, Bradshaw said CBP offered no other details or offers of assistance.

"No accommodations for transportation leaving (the CBP facilities). No accommodations for shelter or a place to live," he said. "Just no real plan on what's going to happen to these…people."

CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, did not respond either.

But the decision to ship migrants to Florida appears to be the latest, and most distant, effort by Border Patrol to release Central American families directly into local communities.
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🇺🇸 **Grumpy Cat has died. The Internet-famous feline with the perpetually miserable mug was 7.**
*Washington Post* - <https://archive.fo/SYJfK>

“Some days are grumpier than others,” the Instagram caption read. (<https://archive.fo/WY71N>)

It appeared next to a photo of the Internet’s most famous and beloved cat, the one with the perpetually miserable mug.

But this was no ordinary post Friday morning on @realgrumpycat, the wildly popular Instagram account with more than 2.4 million followers, who have grown to adore the cat’s perma-scowl.

Grumpy Cat’s owners had come to share some extremely sad news:

Grumpy Cat is dead.

The “grumpy” cat, whose real name was Tardar Sauce, died on Tuesday of complications from a urinary tract infection.

She was 7.

“Besides being our baby and a cherished member of the family, Grumpy Cat has helped millions of people smile around the world — even when times were tough,” her owners said.
“Her spirit will continue to live on through her fans everywhere.”

Grumpy Cat wasn’t, in fact, perpetually grumpy; her distinctive scowl was caused by a form of dwarfism.

She first achieved some level of Internet celebrity in 2012, after pictures featuring her frowning face went viral on social media, then turned into a mean-mugging meme. Within 24 hours,
a Reddit post that included images of the cat was trending with more than 25,000 upvotes, according to Know Your Meme, a website that tracks viral Internet content.

It wasn’t long before Grumpy Cat was everywhere. She appeared on TV, popping up in episodes of “American Idol,” “The Bachelorette” and WWE’s “Monday Night Raw.”
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🇨🇦 **Canadians struggle to cope with famine**
>Due to Trudeau's nationalization of their grocery stores, Canadians have resorted to only eating cheap foods (Kraft Dinner). The insanely inflated prices of our grocery products were the direct result of Trudeau's bold new strategy to combat rising prices in his nations markets.

>But also due to the liberals cutting back on natural gas production, nobody but the rich uses stoves now. Canadians are resorting to making their Kraft Dinner in their kitchen sink. A trend dubbed "Tub mac", which started in 2017.

>Canadian health advisory has recommended that this is not a healthy or sanitary way to cook a meal, and has urged Canadians to not participate in this new trend.

Pots are fucking expensive in Canada. Each family has 1 maybe 2 good pots big enough to cook for a family. You burn them and its tub mac from there on out.

A typical meal in most places in Canada is either deer meat or tub mac. Sometimes moose if you live close to a first nations reserve because if your white you cant legally own a licence to hunt moose.

If a Canadian family is lucky some bug protein will find its way into the tub mac from the sink drain (left unplugged for this reason) as you serve the food. This is the origin of the saying "I got the lucky bug!" in Canada.

<:strawman:372034857099984897> 🍁

🇵🇱 **Poland plans to double jail terms for paedophiles**
*BBC* - <http://archive.fo/mWhCI>

Convicted paedophiles could now face a maximum sentence of 30 years or, in the most serious cases, life in prison.

The documentary includes harrowing testimonies from victims and has been viewed more than 18 million times.

Correspondents say the conservative government, allied to the Catholic Church, is scrambling to react.

However the ruling Law and Justice party says the legal amendments have been in the works for months. The proposal will now go to the senate.

The announcement comes 10 days ahead of the European Parliament elections. Law and Justice is currently polling neck-and-neck with the European Coalition, a collective of opposition parties.
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🇺🇸 **Trump officials not sending migrants to Florida after backlash**
*The Hill* - <https://archive.fo/OPTtJ>

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not plan to send migrant families to Florida after reports about a Trump administration proposal resulted in backlash from local and state officials this week.

A CBP official told The Hill on Saturday that the administration is not looking at transporting family units to Florida "at this time" but said officials were looking at housing migrants in other areas across the country.

It was reported earlier this week that the administration planned to send hundreds of migrant families to Broward and Palm Beach counties, two Democratic strongholds in Florida that are among the state's most populous areas.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), an ally of President Trump, spoke Saturday with the president, who informed him that undocumented immigrants would not be sent to Florida, DeSantis spokeswoman Helen Ferre told The Hill in a statement Sunday.

"President Trump said he did not approve of such a plan and would not authorize it," she said. " Governor DeSantis was never notified by federal authorities that such a plan was in place."

"Because of everybody's efforts, we are able to stop what had appeared to be a crisis for our community," Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said in a statement Saturday, local TV station WPTV reported.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), an ally of President Trump, was among those who pushed back on the reported plans, saying Friday that the proposal was "not acceptable" and that it might not go into effect.

"I'm going to be addressing this," he said. "This is not something that came down from the White House. This was something that came out of the agencies."
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🇺🇸 **🦀 Dallas transgender woman who was assaulted on video found dead 🦀**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.is/bfEnvk>

A transgender woman whose brutal beating in Dallas was recorded on video last month was found fatally shot and lying face down in the road on Saturday, authorities said.

Police found Muhlaysia Booker, 23, with a gunshot wound around 6:40 a.m. and pronounced her dead at the scene, the Dallas Morning News reported. Her death was ruled a homicide, the report said.

Police said Muhlaysia Booker, a Dallas transgender woman, was found dead on Saturday.

Booker was severely beaten and hospitalized last month after a minor traffic accident in the parking lot of an apartment complex. A purported video that circulated online showed a man beating Booker while a crowd of onlookers shouted slurs.

Edward Thomas, 29, was arrested late month for his alleged role in an attack on a transgender woman.

Police arrested 29-year-old Edward Thomas two days later for his alleged role in the aggravated assault, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing police.

Police declined to say whether Booker had received death threats before she was found dead. Dallas civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said Booker’s death is concerning for minority communities who fear retaliation for reporting hate crimes.
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🇺🇸 **Michigan man charged with murder in fatal beating of 2 women**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.is/rWeyB>

A man has been charged in the killings of two women who were found fatally beaten after he showed cellphone photos of their bodies to sheriff's deputies during a traffic stop in central Michigan.

Kiernan Brown, of Delta Township, was arraigned Tuesday on two counts each of open murder and armed robbery. He entered not guilty pleas and was ordered held without bond.

The 27-year-old is accused in the deaths of 26-year-old Kaylee Ann Brock, of Holt, and 32-year-old Julie Ann Mooney, of Williamston. Police found their bodies Friday in Lansing-area communities.

Authorities say Brown was arrested early Friday on Interstate 69, after an ex-girlfriend reported that he had been violating a personal protection order by banging on her door and sending disturbing texts. She is not among the victims.
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