🇺🇸 **Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bill outlawing child sex dolls**
*Orlando Weekly* - <https://archive.fo/J9l7E>

On Thursday Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation that bans the sale or possession of child-like sex dolls after it unanimously passed the Florida Legislature.

SB 160, sponsored by state Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, "prohibits a person from knowingly having in his or her possession, custody, or control an obscene, child-like sex doll." State Rep. Michael Gottlieb, D-Plantation, filed a companion measure in the Florida House.

“These are anatomically correct, lifelike silicone dolls that are eerily similar to real human children made for the sole purpose of sexual gratification,” Book said in a statement from her office following the bill's approval. “Just as viewing child pornography lowers the inhibitions of child predators, so do these childlike sex dolls that have no place in the state of Florida.”

A legislative analysis found that many child-like sex dolls are imported from China, Japan and Hong Kong, the Associated Press reports.

While supporters of the bill say owning the dolls should be treated like possession of child pornography, others claim the dolls could prevent pedophiles from acting on their impulses with real children.

Violation of the law is a third-degree felony. Subsequent violations are being deemed second-degree felonies.

The law goes into effect Oct. 1.
--------------

🇺🇸 **First-ever private border wall built in New Mexico**
*The Washington Times* - <https://archive.fo/UVe5d>

A private group announced Monday that it has constructed a half-mile wall along a section of the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico, in what it said was a first in the border debate.

The 18-foot steel bollard wall is similar to the designs used by the Border Patrol, sealing off a part of the border that had been a striking gap in existing fencing, according to We Build the Wall, the group behind the new section.

The section was also built faster and, organizers say, likely more cheaply than the government has been able to manage in recent years.

Kris Kobach, a former secretary of state in Kansas and an informal immigration adviser to President Trump, says the New Mexico project has the president’s blessing and says local Border Patrol agents are eager to have the assistance.

“We’re closing a gap that’s been a big headache for them,” said Mr. Kobach, who is general counsel for We Build the Wall.

The announcement comes at a critical time for the border.

Mr. Trump’s plans to build hundreds of miles of new and replacement wall took a hit late last week when a federal judge ordered a halt to part of his emergency declaration and shifting of money within the Pentagon to make up for Congress’s refusal to grant him the money he wanted.
--------------

🇩🇪 **Germany changes course on warning against wearing kippa**
*Thelocal.de/AFP* - <https://archive.fo/FSdEV>

Following protest, the government has withdrew an earlier warning against wearing the traditional skullcap.

At the weekend, Felix Klein, the country's commissioner on anti-Semitism sparked uproar when he said in an interview with the Funke regional press group that he could not "advise Jews to wear the kippa everywhere all the time in Germany."

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin voiced shock at Klein's warning and said it was a "capitulation to anti-Semitism" and evidence that Jews are unsafe in Germany.

Late Monday, Klein reversed course after Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman intervened.

"The state must see to it that the free exercise of religion is possible for all... and that anyone can go anywhere in our country in full security wearing a kippa," Steffen Seibert told a press conference.

In his latest statement to Funke, Klein said: "I call on all citizens of Berlin and across Germany to wear the kippa next Saturday if there are new, intolerable attacks targeting Israel and Jews on the occasion of al-Quds day in Berlin."

Al-Quds is an annual event against Israeli control of Jerusalem and will take place on Saturday.

Klein also addressed his earlier statements, saying that he "could no longer recommend that Jews wear the kippa everywhere in Germany should be taken as an alarm signal."
--------------

🇦🇹 **'Shocking' defacements of outdoor Holocaust art: Austrian president**
*France24/AFP* - <https://archive.fo/Km0Hi>

Vandals have attacked portraits of Holocaust victims in the streets of central Vienna, President Alexander Van der Bellen said Monday, adding that he was "deeply worried" over the assaults.

The attack overnight Sunday was the third since the show by Italian-German photographer Luigi Toscano was installed in early May.

Faces were cut out of around 80 portraits, an AFP photographer said. Over the past two weeks, others have been daubed with swastikas or slashed with knives.

Bellen said he was "deeply worried" over the assaults on the show honouring victims of Nazism.

"I know that the overwhelming majority of Austrian society totally rejects the atrocities committed by the Nazis," Bellen said in a statement. "That some cannot see the truth and solemn reminder shown by these photos is crushing," he said.

Toscano said he was "devastated" by the attack, the first on 13 such installations around the world.

"There's been vandalism which hasn't been politically motivated, but nothing of this proportion," Toscano told AFP. "This is right-wing radicalism."

Austria's Forum Against Anti-Semitism tallied 503 anti-Semitic acts in the country in 2017, twice the figure from 2014.
--------------

🇫🇷 ◻ **French Senate says Notre-Dame must be restored exactly how it was**
*The Local* - <http://archive.is/y4JpK>

French Senate approved the government's Notre-Dame restoration bill - but added a clause that it must be restored to the state it was before the blaze, striking a blow to the government which had launched an international architecture competition to debate ideas on the restoration.

The Senate has now approved the restoration bill already passed by the French parliament to allow work on the structure to be completed in time for the Paris Olympics in 2024 - but requires that the restoration be faithful to the “last known visual state” of the cathedral, in an attempt to check the government, which has launched an international architectural competition soliciting designs for renovation.
---------------

🇺🇸 **Trump Goes After John Kerry, Says He Should Be Prosecuted**
*Trending Politics* - <http://archive.is/H6qvr>

The Trump War Room on Twitter shared the following video and wrote: "John Kerry, America’s second worst Secretary of State in history behind Hillary, is violating the Logan Act by colluding with Iran. Shameful!"
---------------

🇮🇱 **Netanyahu hours away from deadline for forming coalition govt**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/98042>

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had until late Wednesday to form a new ruling coalition with a recalcitrant ally or
face the possible end of a decade of combative leadership of Israel.

As the hours ticked by, there was no sign of a breakthrough in talks with far-right former defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman.
Parliament began a full-day debate on a motion to dissolve itself and call a new election if no deal is struck.

Political sources said Netanyahu was seeking agreement with the leaders of parties in the legislature for a mid-September election day.

Netanyahu had declared himself the winner of a national ballot last month, but he now has until midnight (2100 GMT) to tell President
Reuven Rivlin whether he has put together an administration, and his political future hangs in the balance.

Failure to forge a coalition would take the task out of the 69-year-old Netanyahu’s hands, with Rivlin asking another legislator, either
from the prime minister’s right-wing Likud party or from the opposition, to try.

That presidential move, which would sideline Netanyahu, can be avoided with a coalition agreement deal or if parliament approves an election.

Political commentator Chemi Shalev, writing in the left-wing Haaretz daily, said a last-minute agreement was still possible and Netanyahu would
still be the favorite to win a new poll.

But he said Netanyahu’s critics now find themselves fantasizing about a world without him.

“It’s not an easy task, given his decade in power and the four more years he supposedly had coming. Young Israelis can’t even begin to imagine an
Israel without him: Netanyahu as prime minister is all they’ve ever known,” Shalev wrote.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Special Counsel Robert Mueller Announces Resignation, Suggests Testifying to Congress Would Be Pointless**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.is/U9s7i>

On the subject of whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia during the 2016 election, Mueller said, “There was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy.” On the subject of whether President Trump ever criminally obstructed his investigation, Mueller was more vague — saying his team was not confident the president did not commit a crime. However, he did not say his team was confident the president did commit a crime either.

Mueller said he appreciated Barr making his final report “largely public” and suggested that it would be a waste of time if he testified to Congress. He said he would not go beyond the report in testimony. “The report is my testimony,” he said.
---------------

🌎 **ProtonMail filters this into its junk folder: New claim it goes out of its way to help cops spy**
*The Register* - <https://archive.fo/887Lc>

Earlier this month, Martin Steiger, a lawyer based in Zurich, Switzerland, attended a presentation in which public prosecutor Stephan Walder, who heads the Cybercrime Competence Center in Zurich, mentioned the company. In a live-tweeted account of the event, subsequently written up on German and recently translated into English, Steiger said he learned that ProtonMail "voluntarily offers assistance for real-time surveillance."

But Walder, the source of the revelation, subsequently contacted Steiger to clarify that he had been misquoted and had only described ProtonMail as a potential provider of assistance.

Steiger maintains that he accurately reported what he heard and points to ProtonMail's own Transparency Report, which describes enabling IP logging in April in a case of clear criminal misconduct under Swiss law.

The key word here is "voluntary." ProtonMail says that it is obligated to assist authorities, like every other company in Switzerland and elsewhere. "All Swiss service providers are obligated by law to assist law enforcement in criminal cases, and the law requires us to enable IP logging in criminal cases," the company said via Twitter.

In an email to The Register, a company spokesperson dismissed Steiger's claims.

"ProtonMail does not voluntarily offer assistance," the company spokesperson said. "We only do so when ordered by a Swiss court or prosecutor, as we are obligated to follow the law in all criminal cases. Furthermore, end-to-end encryption means we cannot be forced by a court to provide message contents."
--------------

🇳🇱 **Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Wilders says Twitter blocks his account**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/GM75n>

Dutch far-right politician and anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders said on Friday that Twitter had temporarily blocked his account following remarks he made about a political rival.

Wilders, who cannot easily appear in public due to threats against him by Islamists, relies heavily on Twitter to communicate with his supporters. He has 811,000 followers, second only to Prime Minister Mark Rutte among Dutch politicians.

“Twitter often tolerates death threats against me, but not a factual tweet by me about a colleague. Madness!,” he said in a statement.

Twitter could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for Wilders’ Freedom Party sent a screenshot of his account showing the ban, which was due to expire in around eight hours.

The tweet that led to Wilders’ block referred to D-66, a progressive center-left party as “suckers ...who import ever more Islam and then weep crocodile tears over the consequences, such as honor killings.”

Wilders is currently appealing a 2016 conviction for inciting discrimination for an incident in which he led followers in chanting they wanted “fewer! fewer! fewer” Moroccans in the Netherlands.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Assange suffering psychological torture, would face "show trial" in U.S.: U.N. expert**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/TSKTj>

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has suffered psychological torture from a defamation campaign and should not be extradited to the United States where he would face a “politicized show trial”, a U.N. human rights investigator said on Friday.

Nils Melzer, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture who visited Assange in a high-security London prison on May 9 along with two medical experts, said that he found him agitated, under severe stress and unable to cope with his complex legal case.

“Our finding was that Mr. Assange shows all the symptoms of a person who has been exposed to psychological torture for a prolonged period of time. The psychiatrist who accompanied my mission said that his state of health was critical,” Melzer told Reuters in an interview in Geneva.

“But my understanding is that he has now been hospitalized and that he is not able to stand trial,” he said.

Assange was too ill on Thursday to appear via video link from a British prison in a hearing on an extradition request from the United States, his lawyer Gareth Peirce told Reuters. He is in a health ward.

“Mr. Assange has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture,” Melzer said in a statement.

The Swiss law professor declined to identify judges or senior politicians whom he accused of defaming Assange, saying “dozens if not hundreds of individuals” had expressed themselves inappropriately.
--------------

🇺🇸🇩🇪 **Pompeo to Germany: Use Huawei and lose access to our data**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/x7lsn>

The United States may no longer share sensitive security information with nations that install next-generation networks, like those made by China’s Huawei, that it regards as insecure, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.

Pompeo issued the warning after meeting his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Berlin, which has so far stood with European partners in resisting U.S. calls to ban the state-owned manufacturer from 5G mobile networks now being built.

While he said all countries would take their own sovereign decisions on which manufacturers to use, the United States would continue to warn them of the risks, including the possibility that Washington would have to withold information.

“(There is) a risk we will have to change our behavior in light of the fact that we can’t permit data on private citizens or data on national security to go across networks in that we don’t have confidence (in),” he told a news conference.

Pompeo is expected to continue pressing the issue in a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel on his delayed trip to Berlin, the first stop in a five-day European trip that will also take him to Switzerland, the Netherlands and Britain.

Pompeo urged close ally Britain this month not to use Huawei’s technology to build new 5G networks because of concerns it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying.

The United States is at odds with its German allies on a host of issues, from trade to military spending and nuclear non-proliferation.
--------------

🇺🇸 **'It can't be them, they're black as sin': What Jussie Smollett told cops once Nigerian brothers were in custody as newly released police files reveal how he changed his story and asked them about 'good pills and molly' months before staged attack**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/CMnLt>

(this is just a quick summary of what was detailed - spicy)

The Chicago Police Department released 470 pages of files on Thursday

Much of it was already known to the public including Smollett's initial police report of the attack and how police used Uber receipts to find the brothers

Some remains secret, including exactly what the brothers said in their interviews

They repeatedly turned down food in custody, claiming to be fasting

When police raided the home where the brothers lived, they found a black safe in a bedroom that was filled a pistol and multiple rounds of ammunition

Smollett, 36, changed his story between police interviews and complained about the media coverage of the case

Months before the incident, he text the brothers asking for a 'molly connect' and 'good pills'

The police files say he was never even trained by the pair but always masqueraded the payments which were for drugs

He sent one money on Venmo though it is not clear what the payment was for

He also agreed to sign documents to press charges against them when he learned they had been arrested for the incident but his lawyer stopped him
--------------

🇺🇸 **The average millennial has an average net worth of $8,000. That's far less than previous generations.**
*SF Gate/Washington Post* - <https://archive.fo/I6W9d>

Millennials are doing far worse financially than generations before them, with student loans, rising rents and higher health care costs pushing the average net worth below $8,000, a new study shows.

The net worth of Americans aged 18 to 35 has dropped 34 percent since 1996, according to research released Thursday by Deloitte, the accounting and professional services giant. This demographic is paying more for education and such basics as food and transportation while incomes have largely flatlined.

"The vast majority of consumers are under tremendous financial pressure," said Kasey Lobaugh, Deloitte's chief retail innovation officer and lead author of the study. "That is particularly true for low-income Americans and millennials."

The growing gap between the nation's wealthiest residents and everybody else, he said, is affecting the way consumers spend.

Education expenses have climbed 65 percent in the past decade. Food costs have jumped 26 percent, health care is up 21 percent, housing jumped 16 percent and transportation rose 11 percent. And there are now expenses that most consumers didn't have to account for 20 years ago, including smartphones and data plans.

Today's 20- and 30-somethings spend about 17 percent of their incomes on education, health care and rent, compared with 12 percent a decade ago, the study found. Discretionary spending, which includes dining out, alcohol and furniture, has remained largely flat, at about 11 percent of total income.

"Only 20 percent of consumers were meaningfully better off in 2017 than they were in 2007, with precious little income left to spend on discretionary retail," the study found.

.
The findings, researchers say, "debunk many conventional wisdoms about the new-age consumer." Millennials, they contend, are putting off home-buying and marriage not because they want to, but because rising costs are making it difficult for them to afford down payments and weddings.
--------------

🇺🇸 **New York Times bans reporters from CNN's Don Lemon, MSNBC's Maddow shows for being 'too partisan:' report**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/TAh9l>

The New York Times is cracking down on its own reporters, stopping them from appearing on certain primetime cable news shows seen as being "too partisan," according to a new report.

Vanity Fair published the explosive report, which alleged MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell, as well as CNN anchor Don Lemon, made the newspaper's no-go list.

The magazine began its report by alleging the Times' financial editor David Enrich had initially accepted an invitation to appear on "The Rachel Maddow Show" May 20 to discuss a report involving President Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner's transactions with Deutsche Bank, but had to ultimately turn down the appearance after he informed the communications department.

Vanity Fair's report is based on information from sources inside the "Gray Lady," according to the magazine.

"The Times was wary of how viewers might perceive a down-the-middle journalist like Enrich talking politics with a mega-ideological host like Maddow," Vanity Fair's media correspondent Joe Pompeo wrote.
--------------

🇺🇸 **11 dead, 6 injured after shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center**
*The Virginian-Pilot* - <https://archive.fo/snZCM>

Eleven people were killed and six people injured by a shooter at the city's Municipal Center in Princess Anne on Friday afternoon, Virginia Beach police Chief Jim Cervera said.

The shooter was killed by police after firing at officers, he said. One officer was shot but his bullet-proof vest saved his life, Cervera said.

"This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach," Mayor Bobby Dwyer said. "The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbors and colleagues."

The shooter was a current and long-time employee who had worked for the city in the public utilities department, Cervera said in a press conference Friday night.

The shooting started shortly after 4 p.m., just as workers were wrapping up their day and preparing to leave for the weekend.

Dale Gauding, a Sentara spokesman, said in an email that five patients went to Virginia Beach General, and one person arrived at the Level I Trauma Center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in a Nightingale helicopter shortly after 6 p.m.

Master Police Officer Allen Perry confirmed there was a shooter in the Operations building next door to City Hall, which is near the intersection of Princess Anne Road and Nimmo Parkway. The Operations building houses the planning, public utilities, public works departments, among others.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Facebook lawyer says users ‘have no expectation of privacy’**
*Daily Dot* - <https://archive.fo/CtJUA>

A lawyer for Facebook argued in court Wednesday that the social media site’s users “have no expectation of privacy.”

According to Law360, Facebook attorney Orin Snyder made the comment while defending the company against a class-action lawsuit over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

“There is no invasion of privacy at all, because there is no privacy,” Snyder said.

In an attempt to have the lawsuit thrown out, Snyder further claimed that Facebook was nothing more than a “digital town square” where users voluntarily give up their private information.

“You have to closely guard something to have a reasonable expectation of privacy,” Snyder added.

Although Snyder said that the social media site would be focusing more on privacy in the future, U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria reportedly pushed back on Facebook’s argument.

“What you are saying now sounds contrary to the message that Facebook itself disseminates about privacy,” Chhabria said, according to Law.com.

The Daily Dot reached out to Facebook for comment but did not receive a reply.

Synder’s statement came just hours before Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told company shareholders during their annual meeting Thursday that Facebook would become a “privacy-focused social platform.”
--------------

🇺🇸 **That major Google outage meant some Nest users couldn’t unlock doors or use the AC**
*Fast Company* - <https://archive.fo/u1J9u>

If you’re a Google user, you probably noticed some trouble last night when trying to access Google-owned services. Last night, Google reported several issues with its Cloud Platform, which made several Google sites slow or inoperable. Because of this, many of Google’s sites and services–including Gmail, G Suite, and YouTube–were slow or completely down for users in the U.S. and Europe.

However, the Google Cloud outage also affected third-party apps and services that use Google Cloud space for hosting. Affected third-party apps and services include Discord, Snapchat, and even Apple’s iCloud services.

But an especially annoying side effect of Google Cloud’s downtime was that Nest-branded smart home products for some users just failed to work. According to reports from Twitter, many people were unable to use their Nest thermostats, Nest smart locks, and Nest cameras during the downtime. This essentially meant that because of a cloud storage outage, people were prevented from getting inside their homes, using their AC, and monitoring their babies.

For Google’s part, the company says a “network congestion issue in eastern USA” was causing the problems and that those issues have now been resolved as of 4 p.m. PT on Sunday. Still, the downtime of their Cloud Platform goes a long way to showing what can happen in an age when smart home technology requires always being connected to the cloud.
--------------

🇷🇺 **Russia cuts Rocketman scenes citing 'homosexual propaganda' law**
*The Guardian* - <https://archive.is/W9rDB>

A Russian media company has reportedly cut all scenes featuring gay sex and men kissing from the Elton John biopic Rocketman because of laws banning “homosexual propaganda”.

An estimated five minutes of footage have been cut from the film in an attempt to play down the sexuality of one of the world’s most famous gay celebrities for a conservative Russian audience.

The cuts were first reported by Russian journalists after the film’s 30 May release in Moscow. Anton Dolin, a popular Russian film critic, wrote on Facebook that “all scenes with kissing, sex and oral sex between men have been cut out… The nastiest part is that the final caption has been removed from the finale.”

While the original caption said that John lives with his husband and that they are raising children together, the Russian version says instead that he established an Aids foundation and continues to work with his musical partner.

“Sorry, Sir Elton,” Dolin wrote.

On Friday, John and the film’s makers released a joint statement condemning the cuts: “We reject in the strongest possible terms the decision to pander to local laws and censor Rocketman for the Russian market, a move we were unaware of until today.

“That the local distributor has edited out certain scenes, denying the audience the opportunity to see the film as it was intended is a sad reflection of the divided world we still live in and how it can still be so cruelly unaccepting of the love between two people.

“We believe in building bridges and open dialogue, and will continue to push for the breaking down of barriers until all people are heard equally across the world.”
--------------

🇺🇸 **U.S. to sell 34 surveillance drones to allies in South China Sea region**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/nQYZ1>

The Trump administration has moved ahead with a surveillance drone sale to four U.S. allies in the South China Sea region as acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Washington will no longer
“tiptoe” around Chinese behavior in Asia.

The drones would afford greater intelligence gathering capabilities potentially curbing Chinese activity in the region.

Shanahan did not directly name China when making accusations of “actors” destabilizing the region in a speech at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday but went on to say the United States
would not ignore Chinese behavior.

The Pentagon announced on Friday it would sell 34 ScanEagle drones, made by Boeing Co. to the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam for a total of $47 million.

China claims almost all of the strategic South China Sea and frequently lambastes the United States and its allies over naval operations near Chinese-occupied islands. Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims.

The Pentagon said Friday’s sales included spare and repair parts, support equipment, tools, training and technical services and work on the equipment was expected to be completed by March 2022.

As many as 12 unarmed drones and equipment would go to Malaysia for about $19 million. Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country would buy eight drones, the Philippines eight, and Vietnam six.

In 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration rolled out a long-awaited overhaul of U.S. arms export policy aimed at expanding sales to allies, saying it would bolster the American defense industry and
create jobs at home.
----------------

🇿🇦 **Another white South African farmer who spoke out about land grabs is shot dead as he eats dinner at home with his family just weeks after fellow landowner was beaten to death**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.is/e0E15>

A South African wine merchant who spoke out against attacks on white farmers was found dead after being shot on Sunday night while dining with family and friends.

Stefan Smit, 62, had been openly critical of the threat of land grabs on his property - a large estate in Stellenbosch, Western Cape - South Africa's most famous wine region.

It was a murder seemingly fuelled by a land dispute created when a squat straddling Smit's Louisenhof Estate was set up, expanding into a vast settlement.

The farmer had previously complained about how citizens from a nearby township had begun erecting shacks at the back of his farm, culminating in him getting an injunction to prevent people from encroaching on his space.

Smit was killed when four men entered his vineyard through an unlocked back door and shot him dead. His wife and a family friend managed to survive the attack.

Pieter Haasbroek, a friend of Mr. Smit, told The New York Times: 'They were busy eating dinner with friends when four masked men came into the house. They shot Smit dead. What we feared came true.'

The dispute over land has been ongoing and increasingly fractious, but police said it was too early to tell if Smit's death was connected to that or a random murder.
--------------

🇦🇺 **Federal police raid home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst**
*The Guardian* - <https://archive.fo/HWA1V>

The Australian federal police have raided the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst investigating the publication of a leaked plan to allow government spying on Australians.

On Tuesday police executed a warrant investigating the “alleged publishing of information classified as an official secret” which they said had the potential to undermine Australia’s national security.

The warrant from an ACT magistrate gave police authority to search the home, computer and mobile phone of the News Corp Sunday titles’ political editor.

The raid prompted outrage from News Corp Australia, which labelled it a “dangerous act of intimidation” targeted at public interest reporting.

In April 2018 Smethurst reported that the heads of the defence and home affairs ministries had discussed draconian new powers to allow the Australian Signals Directorate to spy on Australian citizens for the first time.

Under the mooted plan, spies would be allowed to secretly access emails, bank accounts and text messages with approval from the defence and home affairs ministers.

Under current laws the Australian federal police and domestic spy agency Asio have the power to investigate Australians with a warrant and seek technical advice from ASD, which is not permitted to produce intelligence on Australians.

In a statement the AFP confirmed it had executed a search warrant at a residence in an ACT suburb on Tuesday.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Trump administration oversees five-year high in approved citizenship applications**
*The Washington Times* - <https://archive.fo/k3Hl8>

Homeland Security reached a five-year high in approvals of citizenship applications last year, and swore in more people as naturalized citizens as well, according to the new statistical report released Friday night.

Those numbers contradict the criticisms of congressional Democrats who had complained about backlogs building at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Homeland Security branch that handles legal immigration.

The new report also suggests that far from a crackdown, the government is processing more asylum-seeker petitions than any of the last four years. That included a 61 percent increase from 2017 to 2018 in affirmative asylum applications — though refugee interviews are down from more than 1250,000 in 2016, the last year under President Barack Obama, to just 26,400 in fiscal year 2018 under President Trump.

Still, when the whole panoply of humanitarian programs is considered — asylum, refugees, crime victim visas, Temporary Protected Status and screening for credible fear or reasonable fear of persecution — the numbers were 32 percent higher than fiscal year 2017. Credible fear and reasonable fear are first steps on the asylum track.
--------------

🇧🇾🇪🇺 **Belarus's Lukashenko: "Better a dictator than gay"**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.is/bqseh>

Belarussia’s Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday criticized EU politicians who have threatened him with further sanctions and in an apparent riposte to the German Foreign Minister’s branding him “Europe’s last dictator,” said: “Better to be a dictator than gay.”

Guido Westerwelle is Germany’s first openly gay minister.

European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels on Friday called for new measures to pressure the Belarus President, in power since 1994, over alleged human rights abuses.

Lukashenko said Belarus would give a strong reaction to any sanctions, according to local news agency Belta.

“This is absolute hysteria,” Belta reported him as saying. “And as you can see, at the forefront there are two types of politicians ... one lives in Warsaw, another in Berlin.”

“Whoever was shouting about dictatorship there ... when I heard that, I thought: it’s better to be a dictator than gay.”

European leaders said any new sanctions should target those in Belarus who are responsible for human rights violations and repression of civil society, as well as people supporting Lukashenko’s government or benefitting from it.

Poland, Belarus’s direct neighbor, has played a leading role in formulating EU policy towards Minsk - often drawing fire from Belarus for doing so.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Judge rejects House Democrats' request to block Trump's border wall funding**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.is/vU4TK>

A federal judge on Monday denied a House request to prevent President Donald Trump from tapping Defense Department money for his proposed border wall with Mexico, saying Congress lacked authority to sue.

Trump's victory is muted by a federal ruling in California last month that blocked construction of key sections of the wall. The California case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, wrote that the House's lawsuit was "about whether one chamber of Congress has the 'constitutional means' to conscript the Judiciary in a political turf war with the President over the implementation of legislation."

McFadden said Congress didn't have authority in this case but that he didn't mean to imply the legislative body could never challenge the president in court over separation of powers.

"An old maxim in politics holds that, 'Where you stand depends on where you sit,'" he wrote. "At law too, whether a plaintiff has standing often depends on where he sits. A seat in Congress comes with many prerogatives, but legal standing to superintend the execution of laws is not among them."

The Justice Department welcomed the decision, saying the judge "rightly ruled that the House of Representatives cannot ask the judiciary to take its side in political disputes and cannot use federal courts to accomplish through litigation what it cannot achieve using the tools the Constitution gives to Congress."

A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democrats were reviewing the ruling and evaluating whether to appeal.
--------------

🇺🇸🇨🇳 **China chides Mike Pompeo after he calls on them to reveal Tiananmen Square death toll**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/237va>

China admonished comments made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the 30th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protest, saying Tuesday the top U.S. diplomat spoke "out of prejudice and arrogance."

Pompeo had issued a statement Monday on the eve of the crackdown saluting what he called the "heroes of the Chinese people who bravely stood up thirty years ago in Tiananmen Square to demand their rights."

The seven-week-long Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and their bloody end, where hundreds if not thousands of people are believed to have died, snuffed out a tentative shift toward political liberalization. Pompeo urged China to make a full, public accounting of those killed but admitted the country has not become more transparent in the decades since.

"Over the decades that followed, the United States hoped that China's integration into the international system would lead to a more open, tolerant society," Pompeo said. "Those hopes have been dashed."

In a statement posted on the Chinese Embassy's website in Washington, a spokesperson said Pompeo's statement "grossly intervenes in China's internal affairs, attacks its system, and smears its domestic and foreign policies."
--------------

No ones gonna write about Google and FB stock falling almost 10 points amid the anti trust investigation and most likely being broken up amid regulations

🇺🇸 **Dow surges on Fed chair comments, tech stock rally**
*Fox Business* - <http://archive.is/Z3d5i>

Stocks jumped Tuesday after tech company shares rallied and the head of the U.S. central bank indicated the Federal Reserve is open to cutting interest rates if the nation's economic growth weakens. Fed Chair Jerome Powell Opens a New Window. said the bank is "closely monitoring" developments in the trade conflicts between the U.S. and China, as well as Mexico, and would be ready to intervene to extend the nation's economic expansion.

Investor sentiment also rose after President Trump Opens a New Window. , meeting in London with British Prime Minister Theresa May, said he expects that after Brexit trade between the two nations will probably be two to three times the current amount.

Tech stocks rallied from the previous session's selloff, which was triggered by word that the federal government is going to investigate Big Tech companies.
---------------

🇰🇵 **North Korea's Mass Games 'paused' after Kim criticism**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/L7R0M>

North Korea's most important propaganda event, the Mass Games, has been put on hold after criticism from the country's leader Kim Jong-un, tour firms say.

Young Pioneer Tour, a company which organisers trips to the hermit state, tweeted that the games "will be stopped from 10 June until further notice".

Koryo Tours, another North Korea specialist, also gave the same date. Pyongyang has so far made no comments.

On Monday, Mr Kim criticised the games for "their wrong spirit of creation".

After attending the opening day of the colourful and well-choreographed event, he also spoke of an "irresponsible work attitude", state media reported.

Mr Kim had already called earlier this year for a new approach to propaganda.

Correspondents say North Korea may be preparing for more economic and ideological isolation after talks with the US stalled.
----------------

🇸🇩 **Sudan crisis: 40 bodies pulled from Nile, opposition says**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/cu8mt>

Forty bodies have been pulled from the River Nile in the Sudanese capital Khartoum following a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests, opposition activists said on Wednesday.

Doctors linked to the opposition said the bodies were among 100 people believed killed since security forces attacked a protest camp on Monday.

Reports said a feared paramilitary group was attacking civilians.

Sudan's ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) vowed to investigate.

Residents in Khartoum told the BBC they were living in fear as members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) roamed the streets. The paramilitary unit - formerly known as the Janjaweed militia -
gained notoriety in the Darfur conflict in western Sudan in 2003.
----------------

🇺🇸 **68% Of Facebook Investors Vote To Oust Mark Zuckerberg**
*IBT* - <https://archive.fo/0RBX7>

Majority of Facebook investors sought the removal of founder CEO Mark Zuckerberg from the company’s chairman role.

The demand received 68 percent vote at the last shareholder meeting. They are seeking an independent director to adorn the chairman’s position.

This was evident in the details of voting trends at the recent annual meeting of Facebook released Monday. The votes had an upsurge of 17 percent over last year’s 51 percent.

But the move was shot down by Zuckerberg and a group of insiders using their leviathan 58 percent voting power coming from the special class shares owned by Zuckerberg.

Trillium Asset’s SVP Jonas Krone commented: “What we are seeing right now is really a quite deep well of concern of the concentration of power in one individual like we see with Mark Zuckerberg.”

Also, 82 percent of votes were cast seeking the elimination of the special class of shares held by Zuckerberg that gave him 10 times more voting power over regular shares.

Zuckerberg has been using the special voting shares that vested him 58 percent voting stake to maintain his control over the company.

***Why is Zuckerberg’s leadership under challenge?***

Zuckerberg’s leadership has been under lens since March 2018 after the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower scandal erupted triggering fears of compromise on privacy-related issues by the social media giant.

Now Facebook is readying to shell out $3 billion to $5 billion to settle the privacy probe kicked off by the Federal Trade Commission.

Anti-trust concerns over Facebook are also under the scrutiny of regulators.

However, Facebook FB stock was up 2 percent on Tuesday.
----------------

🇲🇽 **Leader of Mexico-based church accused of rape, child porn**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/KjvAE>

The head of a Mexican-based church estimated to have more than 1 million followers worldwide has been arrested in California and charged with crimes including human trafficking,
child pornography production and rape of a minor.

“La Luz Del Mundo” (Light of the World) leader Naason Joaquin Garcia, 50, was charged on Tuesday after being arrested at Los Angeles International Airport the day before, prosecutors said.

The church called the accusations unfounded.

“The Apostle of Jesus Christ, Brother Naason Joaquin Garcia, has always behaved in accordance with the law and with full respect for the institutions and the dignity of the people,”
it said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

The prosecutors’ 19-page court filing indicates Garcia was known as “the Apostle” and children were told they were defying God if they were disobedient.

The complaint says three minors and one adult woman were abused, with one child and the woman raped. Others were forced to perform sex acts and “flirty” dances for Garcia wearing “as
little clothing as possible”, the complaint added.

“Crimes like those alleged in this complaint have no place in our society. Period,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement Tuesday. “We must not turn a blind
eye to sexual violence and trafficking in our state.”
----------------

🇮🇳 **Air pollution kills 100,000 Indian children every year, study says**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/mTY0j>

The noxious air hanging over India's towns and cities kills more than 100,000 children under five every year, a damning study published Wednesday for World Environment
Day found. India has repeatedly failed to address environmental concerns. Last year a UN report found 14 of the world's 15 most polluted cities were Indian.

Despite calls to action against pollution around the globe, Indian politicians mostly side-stepped the issue in the last election.

The State of India's Environment (SoE) Report found air pollution is responsible for 12.5 percent of all deaths in the country -- painting a bleak picture of the environmental
record of recent Indian governments.

Carried out by the non-profit group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), based in New Delhi, the report also found that 86 percent of Indian water bodies were "critically polluted."

In April, CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer met patients in the emergency ward of Delhi's National Institute for Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases. Every one of them,
in one way or another, were victims of Delhi's filthy air. Between 800 and 1,000 people with lung problems line up at the ward every day for treatment.

"We have no non-smokers in India," said Dr. Arvind Kumar, a prominent chest surgeon and founder of the Lung Care Foundation in India. Due to the air pollution in country, "everybody
living in India is a smoker," he said.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Vox Media Staffers Walk Out After Failure to Reach New Contract**
*The Wrap* - <https://archive.fo/NFydS>

Vox Media staffers in New York City staged a walkout on Thursday after the company and reps for the Vox Media Union failed to come to an agreement over a new contract.

“Today’s our last scheduled day of bargaining. @voxmediainc is still apart from us on: competitive wage scales, strong guaranteed raises, better severance, subcontracting work,” the Vox Media Union said in a statement posted on Twitter. “We’ve decided we’re not showing up to work today until we resolve these issues.”

“Our unit members are taking their sites dark today to show management how important these issues are to us. Contract now,” they added. “The Vox Media Union has walked out today. Here’s what it looks like in the New York office,” they said, sharing images of Vox Media’s New York newsroom which appeared completely empty.

Last January, Vox officially moved to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East. On Thursday, WGA East released a statement in support of the union.

“Although our negotiators and the Vox Media bargaining committee have been working overtime for a long time, and have made many important gains at the table, the company has to do more to address concerns about pay fairness and transparency. These issues are essential to the people we represent at Vox Media,” Lowell Peterson, executive director of the Writers Guild of America, East, said. “The WGAE is proud to be their collective bargaining representative.”

Vox CEO Jim Bankoff did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap, but on Thursday, he addressed employees in the newsroom, saying that he was upset with the walkout.

.

“While paying people a lot more than market wages sounds great on the surface, it’s not realistic or smart,” Bankoff said shortly before the walkout, according to Bloomberg.

Though company employees celebrated unionization at the time, there have also been consequences to it. Just a month after employees signed up with WGA East, Vox dropped 50 people or roughly 5% of its workforce.
--------------

🇷🇺 **Putin stands by China, criticizes U.S., in trade, Huawei disputes**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/zVzg7>

Aggressive U.S. tactics such as a campaign against Chinese telecoms firm Huawei will lead to trade wars - and possibly real wars - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday,
in a show of solidarity with China alongside its leader Xi Jinping.

In some of his strongest words on the subject, Putin accused Washington of “unbridled economic egoism”. He singled out U.S. efforts to thwart a Russian gas pipeline to Europe and a
U.S. campaign to persuade countries to bar Huawei, the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker, from supplying network gear.

His broadside, at an economic forum in St Petersburg on the same platform as Xi, was a clear show of unity with China at a time when Beijing is locked in a trade war with Washington
and Moscow’s own ties with the West are at a post-Cold War low.

“States which previously promoted free trade with honest and open competition have started speaking the language of trade wars and sanctions, of open economic raiding using arm-twisting
and scare tactics, of eliminating competitors using so-called non-market methods,” said Putin.

“Look for example at the situation around Huawei which they are trying not to just squeeze out, but to unceremoniously push out of the global market. It’s already being called the first
technological war of the emerging digital era in some circles.”
----------------

🇩🇪 **Merkel's conservatives hit new low, piling pressure on coalition**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/BIad9>

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives slumped to a record low and fell further behind the resurgent opposition Greens in a survey published on Saturday,
reflecting growing disillusionment with the ruling coalition.

Doubts are mounting that Merkel’s right-left alliance can last its full term until 2021, largely due to disarray within her Social Democrat (SPD) partners, and many experts
now see increasing chances of a federal election next year.

The Forsa poll put the conservative bloc on 24%, down two points from a week ago.

The Social Democrats (SPD) remained stuck at their low of 12% - level with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) - a week after their leader quit because of a dismal performance
in regional and European elections. Many members want to quit government and rebuild in opposition.

The Greens, buoyed by growing concern across Europe about climate change, which helped propel them to second place in European Parliament elections, remained the most popular party, on 27%.

“The Greens are benefiting from high voter mobilization, the self-destruction of the SPD and attempts by the conservatives to trump the Greens on climate protection,” said Forsa chief Manfred Guellner.

If Merkel’s coalition collapses, Germany faces the possibilities of a snap election, a minority government or an unwieldy alliance of three blocs.
----------------

🇭🇰 **Huge Hong Kong protest expected in last push to scrap extradition bill**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/XB3sI>

At least half a million people in Hong Kong are expected to brave sweltering heat on Sunday to press the government to scrap a proposed extradition
law that would allow suspects to be sent to China to face trial, organizers of the march said.

A committee of pro-democratic groups has raised turnout estimates and are now eyeing the biggest single-day rally since 2003, when a similar number of protesters forced the government
to shelve tighter national security laws.

The march will end at the city’s Legislative Council, where debates start on Wednesday into sweeping amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance. The extradition bill is due to be
passed by the end of the month.

After weeks of growing local and international pressure, the protest is expected to reflect the broad range of opposition to the bill, with many saying they simply cannot trust China’s
court system or its security apparatus.

The city’s independent legal system was guaranteed under laws governing Hong Kong’s return from British to Chinese rule 22 years ago, and is seen by the financial hub’s business and
diplomatic communities as its strong remaining asset amid encroachments from Beijing.
----------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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