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Hong Kong Locks Down Tiananmen Vigil Park

Zoe Maven
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Hong Kong Locks Down Tiananmen Vigil Park

Police blocked off a Hong Kong park to prevent people gathering to commemorate the anniversary of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on Friday and arrested the planned vigil’s organiser.

The ban on the vigil comes amid growing concern in the pro-democracy movement and internationally about the suppression of the semi-autonomous city’s traditional freedoms.

The annual June 4 vigil is usually held in the former British colony’s Victoria Park, with people gathering to light candles for the pro-democracy demonstrators killed by Chinese troops in Beijing 32 years ago.

This year, with thousands of police deployed across the city, some marked the anniversary in churches or at home amid fears of being arrested.

Reports said in the working class district of Mong Kok, minor scuffles broke out and police arrested one person but as night fell, police cleared people from around Victoria Park as they walked with their phone lights on.

Police said at least six people were arrested on Friday aged between 20 and 75.

Early on Friday, police arrested Chow Hang Tung, vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, for promoting an unauthorised assembly.

Some believe her arrest was meant to strike fear into those planning to attend.

Authorities warned of more arrests and said that anyone who took part in an unauthorised assembly could face up to five years in jail.

Putin Calls U.S. Ransomware Allegations Absurd

Zoe Maven
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Putin Calls U.S. Ransomware Allegations Absurd

President Vladimir Putin has described suggestions the Russian state was linked to high profile ransomware attacks in the United States as absurd and an attempt to stir trouble ahead of his summit this month with U.S. President Joe Biden.

A hack of Brazilian meatpacker JBS’s facilities in the United States, reported this week, is the third such ransomware hack in the country since Biden took office in January.

JBS told the White House it originated from a criminal organisation likely based in Russia.

Putin, speaking on the sidelines of the St Petersburg Economic Forum, told Russia’s state TV Channel One that the idea of Russian state involvement was absurd.

He said he was encouraged however, by what he said were efforts by some people in the United States to question the substance of such allegations and try to work out what is really going on.

Biden, who is due to hold talks with Putin in Geneva on June 16, is expected to discuss the hacking attacks with the Russian leader to see what Moscow could do to prevent such cyber assaults.

U.S. officials have spoken of criminal gangs based in Eastern Europe or Russia as the probable culprits. But Kremlin critics have pointed the finger at the Russian state itself, saying it must have had knowledge of the attacks and possibly even be directing them.

Earlier on Friday, Putin told the same economic forum that the United States was openly trying to hold back Russia’s development and accused Washington of wielding the dollar as a tool of economic and political competition.

Biden’s Electric Vehicle Plan Includes Battery Recycling Push

Angel Gimalo
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Biden’s Electric Vehicle Plan Includes Battery Recycling Push

President Joe Biden’s strategy to make the United States a powerhouse in electric vehicles will include boosting domestic recycling of batteries to reuse lithium and other metals, according to government officials.

As Biden makes fighting climate change and competing with China centerpieces of his agenda, the administration is set to wrap up a 100-day review on Friday of gaps in supply chains in key areas, including electric vehicles (EV).

These gaps include the minerals used in EV batteries and consumer electronics. The administration is also looking for ways to reduce metal usage in new battery chemistries.

Reports from various government agencies will be submitted to the White House, a process Biden ordered in an executive order earlier this year. Parts of the reports could be released publicly as soon as next week.

Democrats are pushing aggressive climate goals to have a majority of U.S.-manufactured cars be electric by 2030 and every car on the road to be electric by 2040.

Securing enough cobalt, lithium and other raw materials to make EV batteries is a major obstacle, with domestic mines facing extensive regulatory hurdles and environmental opposition.

The administration’s options to spur domestic recycling include direct investment in projects and scientific research, as well as spending funds approved by Congress.

Myanmar Junta Opponents Say No Faith In ASEAN

Zoe Maven
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Myanmar Junta Opponents Say No Faith In ASEAN

Opponents of Myanmar’s junta say they have lost faith in Southeast Asian efforts to end the crisis in the country, as two regional envoys met the military ruler Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyitaw.

Moe Zaw Oo, a deputy foreign minister in a parallel government that the junta has declared treasonous said expressed no confidence in ASEAN’s efforts, stating that all their hopes were gone.

Moe Zaw Oo was speaking in a streamed news conference that was disrupted across Myanmar by internet outages.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has led the main international diplomatic effort to find a way out of the crisis in Myanmar, a country in turmoil since the military’s Feb. 1 overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government.

The junta leader Min Aung Hlaing met on Friday with ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi and Erywan Yusof, the second minister for foreign affairs for ASEAN chair Brunei, army-run Myawaddy TV reported.

It said the meeting discussed Myanmar cooperating on humanitarian issues, holding an election once the country was stable, and what it said were irregularities in last year’s election, which led to the military intervention.

The military, which ruled Myanmar from 1962 to 2011, had promised to return democracy within two years.

The visit was part of a five-point consensus reached at a meeting in Jakarta of the bloc’s leaders late in April, which was attended by Min Aung Hlaing and celebrated by ASEAN as a breakthrough.

ASEAN has yet to announce the visit and it was not immediately clear if the envoys planned to meet opponents of the military or other stakeholders.

Facebook Suspends Former U.S. President Trump’s Account Until 2023

Angel Gimalo
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Facebook Suspends Former U.S. President Trump’s Account Until 2023

Facebook Inc (FB.O) on Friday suspended former U.S. President Donald Trump from its platform until at least January 2023 and announced changes to how it will treat rule-breaking world leaders in the future.

Facebook said the suspension, which will last at least two years from Jan. 7 when he was initially blocked after the Capitol riot, will only be lifted if the risk to public safety has receded.

Trump called the Facebook suspension “an insult” to Americans who voted for him.

This new timeline denies Trump a major social media megaphone ahead of the November 2022 national midterm elections, when his party will be competing for Congressional seats.

However, it means he may be able to return to Facebook well before the next presidential election in late 2024.

Trump has been permanently banned by Twitter (TWTR.N) and remains suspended by Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube after the riot. The former president, who this week shut down his recently-launched blog, has teased plans to launch his own platform but his team has given little detail.

“Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols,” Facebook’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg said in the post.

Facebook’s independent oversight board in May upheld the company’s unprecedented block on Trump, which was enforced because the company said his posts were inciting violence. However, the board ruled it was wrong to make the ban indefinite and called for a “proportionate response.”

Trump said in a statement Friday, “Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election. They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore!”

Facebook said it would work with experts to decide when the public safety risk had subsided for Trump to be restored to its platforms. It said it would evaluate factors including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest.

It also said there would be a set of escalating sanctions that would be triggered if Trump broke further rules that could lead to his permanent removal.

Thousands Rally In Sudan For Justice Over 2019 Killings

Zoe Maven
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Thousands Rally In Sudan For Justice Over 2019 Killings

Thousands of Sudanese have taken to the streets of Khartoum, stepping up their demands for justice for protesters killed during a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations two years ago.

The rally came on the second anniversary of the violent dispersal of a protest camp outside the army headquarters in Khartoum which resulted in the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

Carrying the Sudanese flag and banners demanding justice, the protesters marched to the cabinet building and the public prosecutor’s office, some singing the national anthem.

Ahead of Thursday’s protests, Sudanese authorities had closed off the main roads leading to the army headquarters in Khartoum and urged demonstrators to stay away from the site.

In a statement, the cabinet said it was holding talks with security apparatuses to speed up the delivery of justice to the victims.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry said police had taken all necessary measures to secure safety of protesters as well as strategic and vital facilities.

In May, a similar rally was held in Khartoum to mark the sit-in dispersal anniversary during the holy month of Ramadan.

Security forces dispersed that demonstration, leaving two people dead and dozens wounded.

Sudan’s army said later it had handed prosecutors a list of army personnel suspected of involvement in the latest killings.

The 2019 protest camp in Khartoum initially called for an end to Bashir’s rule but remained for weeks after his ouster, demanding a transition to civilian rule.

UN Warns Of Worsening Humanitarian Situation In DRC

Zoe Maven
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0
UN Warns Of Worsening Humanitarian Situation In DRC

The United Nations says the humanitarian crisis in the DR Congo has been worsened by the eruption of a volcano in the country’s east, with the largest number of people in urgent need of assistance.

David William McLachlan-Karr, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Democratic Republic of Congo says the humanitarian response plan, which targets nearly 10 million people, is grossly underfunded.

He said 27.3 million people in the nation of 86 million were acutely food insecure and that only 12% of the funding needed to help them has been received as yet

About five million people have been displaced, are fleeing insecurity, violence and natural disasters when Mount Nyiragongo spewed torrents of lava into villages last month.

Thousands of residents were forced to flee Goma and seek refuge in other regions of the country and in its neighbouring country Rwanda,.

President Moon Visits NIS For Briefing On Reform Progress

Angel Gimalo
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President Moon Visits NIS For Briefing On Reform Progress

President Moon Jae-in paid a visit the National Intelligence Service to check on the reforms at the agency, long criticized for meddling in politics.

He was briefed on progress by the nation’s top intel Chief Park Jie-won.

When the South Korean leader visited the NIS in 2018, he pledged to ensure political neutrality and to never use the organization for political purposes.

He said the agency kept that promise under a law passed last year, which bans it from engaging in domestic surveillance operations and requires it to focus on conventional missions like cybersecurity and gathering intel on North Korea.

Moon asked the NIS to develop a full range of intel-gathering capabilities in new areas like cyber and outer space.

To mark the agency’s 60th anniversary, the President attended the unveiling of a stone with a new motto “Serving our nation and people with unwavering loyalty and devotion.”

NASA Announces Two Missions To Explore Venus

Angel Gimalo
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NASA Announces Two Missions To Explore Venus

NASA will launch two missions to Venus between 2028 and 2030 – for the first time in 30 years.

NASA said Wednesday that the missions – VERITAS and DAVINCI+ – will have budgets of around 500 million dollars each.

VERITAS will map Venus’ surface to discover how it developed so differently from Earth.

DAVINCI+ will measure the composition of the Venus’ dense atmosphere to understand how it evolved.

Just In – FG Suspends Twitter Activities In the Country

faith Jegede
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Just In – FG Suspends Twitter Activities In the Country

The federal government of Nigeria has announced the indefinite suspension of operations of microblogging app Twitter in the country.

This comes after the application deleted a tweet made by the president, Muhammadu Buhari for being in violation of the apps rules, a move described by the minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed as being capable of undermining the countries corporate existence.

The announcement was made via twitter through the verified account of the Federal ministry of Information and Culture @FMICNigeria . The account said that the minister had made the announcement in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, June 4.

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