Corax
Another disturbing weekend of violence in Philadelphia with 16 shootings, leaving three dead and no arrests, two shootings happened on South Street, often packed with tourists, business owners say people getting scared and don’t come out to eat that much anymore
World
US blames Iran for attacks two oil tankers in Gulf of Oman, Tehran bluntly denies allegation, US video allegedly shows Iranian patrol boat removing unexploded limpet mine from Japanese-owned M/T Kokuka Courageous
Trump administration stops embassies from flying rainbow flag on official flagpoles during ongoing LGBTQ Pride Month, embassies in Israel, Germany and Brazil among those who have requested permission and been denied
International Space Station to host space tourists, Nasa plans charging visitors USD 35,000 per night and allow stays for up to 30 days, cost of travelling to orbit not included, Trump administration wants to stop government funding of the station by 2025
Xi Jinping expresses concern over extreme pressure by US on Iran, wants multinational nuclear deal between Iran and world powers for regional peace and stability, comments made to Russian media before visit to the country, China and Iran have close energy ties
George Nader, key witness in the Mueller investigation, charged with transporting child pornography after 12 sexually explicit videos with boys approximately aged between 2 to 14 years was found on his phone in January 2018, Nader has previously been charged and convicted for child pornography related crimes on multiple occasions
Mike Pompeo prepared to engage with Iran without pre-conditions over nuclear programme, but needs the country behaving like "a normal nation" – President Hassan Rouhani says Iran willing to hold talks if US shows it respect, foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi declares Iran does not "pay attention to word-play and expression of hidden agenda in new forms"
Donald Trump shows off new hair style, slicked back hair replaces president's iconic bouffant at Virginia church service
Miscellaneous
Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli dies at 96, best known for his 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet as well as miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977), was also a senator (1994–2001) for Forza Italia party
KFC debuts vegan "chicken sandwich" from fake-meat brand Quorn as part of four-week testing period in the UK
French Professional Football League announces Uber Eats as new naming rights sponsor of Ligue 1, will pay EUR 32 million over two years from start of 2020/21 campaign, significant increase on previous deal, league to be known as Uber Eats Ligue 1
Ricardo Duchesne takes early retirement from professorship at University of New Brunswick after campaign from colleagues and accusations of racism, author of The Uniqueness of Western Civilization to focus on independent scholarship and writing
Florida man tells deputies cocaine on his nose is not his, police also finds bag of powder cocaine, marijuana and alprazolam pills during traffic stop, Hillsborough County sheriff’s office says
Millennial dads less capable than their own dads when it comes to DIY fixes, less likely to be able to change a car tire or unblock a sink, number of millennial dads owning a hammer 32% compared to 93% among boomer dads
Godzilla revamped into climate warrior in new climate fiction movie Godzilla: King of Monsters, battling to defeat climate-changing titans in an attempt to save earth, Godzilla historically used to mirror people's fears and anxieties, from Japan's atomic bomb trauma in the fifties to present-day American middle-class fears of wind, water and fire
German performance group first circus in world to replace all live animals with holograms, has been using laser projectors for several years and now shuns the use of animals altogether
Media
Jordan Peterson to launch pro free speech platform Thinkspot, will according to Peterson not yield in to online de-platforming campaigns
Infowars and Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie reach settlement over company's use of the frog on posters, Infowars will pay USD 15,000, stop using the frog and destroy all posters in stock
Donald Trump calls on Twitter to restore accounts of conservatives banned from platform, citing freedom of expression and saying the social media platform is making a giant mistake – CEO Jack Dorsey last year said majority of company's employees share left-leaning editorial bias but are trying to operate with impartiality
Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Anh sentenced to six years in prison for Facebook posts allegedly urging for peaceful protests, government crackdown on social media has been escalating since 2017
Youtube bans thousands of channels not in line with company's guidelines on harmful content, including channels they claim promotes Nazi ideology or denies well-documented violent events such as the Holocaust or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary took place, also removes videos promoting phony miracle cure for serious illness or claiming earth is flat
HBO miniseries Chernobyl tourism boom in area around the plant and ghost town Pripyat, bookings have risen by 30-40% because of the show, a visit gives a person around two microsieverts radiation
Russia requires Tinder to hand over data on its users, including messages, to national intelligence agencies, the dating app included on list of 175 online services affected by demand, Russia banned Telegram last year, claiming extremists used it to plot terrorist attacks, but the messaging app is still available
YouTube restricts younger minors from streaming unless accompanied by an adult, recently YouTube disable comments on videos featuring minors
Politics
Old power blocs losers in EU elections, nationalist parties big winners: Brexit Party gets 32% in UK, Lega 30% in Italy, RN 24% in France, PiS 45% in Poland, Fidesz 52% in Hungary, AfD 10% in Germany and SD 15% in Sweden
Brexit Party and CDU tied largest individual party in EU parliament, claiming 28 seats each, according to preliminary numbers
Theresa May will quit as Conservative leader on 7 June, expresses deep regret that she has been unable to deliver Brexit, leadership contest to begin next week
Nigel Farage hit by milkshake during visit to Newcastle, several pro-Brexit politicians subjected to same treatment in recent weeks
Sweden asks Netherlands to back plan for international tribunal to try ISIS terrorists travelling to caliphate from European countries, summit to be held in Stockholm on June 3, Dutch government adamant not to act to bring Dutch jihadis back to the Netherlands
Coinbase blocks Milo Yiannopoulos from the platform after having blocked Gab founder Andrew Torba and WikiLeaks Shop earlier this year
Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt genuinely worried over hand signals by incoming Estonian ministers, EKRE representatives made the allegedly right-wing OK gesture at Estonian parliament Riigikogu
Three of US most influential female activists forms Supermajority, organization aims to mobilise 2 million women over next year to become organisers and political leaders in their communities, creation of Cecile Richards, former head of Planned Parenthood; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; and Ai-jen Poo, executive director of National Domestic Workers Alliance
Tommy Robinson announces plans to stand as independent MEP in European elections, will speak out against Islamification of Britain, kick-starts campaign with family-friendly barbecue event in Manchester, promptly told by police he was potentially in breach of electoral laws on bribery by offering free food to voters
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz condemns allegedly racist poem by Braunau am Inn deputy mayor Christian Schilcher (FPÖ), poem compares Austrians and immigrants alike to rats, asking the latter to hurry away unless they adapt to way of life of their new home country, Vice-Chancellor and FPÖ head Heinz-Christian Strache says incitements and campaign against his party shows competitors are nervous ahead of European Parliament elections
Opinion
Caitlin Johnstone: Julian Assange's lawyer says Assange's health situation makes it impossible to conduct a normal conversation with him, has been transferred to hospital wing of Belmarsh prison, met with silence by mainstream media
76 retired generals, admirals and ambassadors urge Trump to de-escalate conflict with Iran to avoid dragging US into a war at immense financial, human and geopolitical cost
Trent England: The Electoral College is a check on government power, a restraint on the majority and requires geographic balance, rural Americans would be serfs if we abolished it
Sky Views: Government is quietly creating digital passport without us noticing, porn block a testing ground, government's Robust age verification introduces inescapable ID checks built into the foundation of browsing, home office also explores age verification technology, public debate silenced by warnings of the "monsters" of the internet
Brendan O’Neill: Anyone who doubts the green movement is morphing into millenarian cult should take a look at Greta Thunberg, the monotone voice, look of apocalyptic dread in her eyes and talk of coming great fire that will punish us, echoes 1600s preachers warning parishioners of the coming hellfire if they fail to give up their witches, Extinction Rebellion a public manifestation of millenarian fear, bourgeois depression and contempt for ordinary people
Barry Brownstein: Today's students on American college campuses advocate the same prohibitions on freedom as is stipulated in communist China’s Constitution, I imagine my 1999 student from Shanghai – seeing that individuals are the source of a nation’s greatness, not government – shouting "Do you have the slightest idea of the hard-won freedoms you are clamoring to surrender?"
Glenn Greenwald: Mueller probe saddest media spectacle I have ever seen, a complete and total fraud, Trump being a Russian asset a complete fairy tale, accusing Russia of election hacking while US interferes in every Democracy they can find transformed US into a laughingstock
David Marsanic: Our society is broken due to a lack of personal responsibility, to emulate the society of our ancestors, before the advent of the state, built on trust between individuals and when oath and one’s honor were taken seriously the way forward
Daniel McCarthy: Libertarians at least as suicidal as left-liberals, the economic crisis they focus on will be preceded by political and cultural ones of greater importance, libertarians seem numb to meaningful details such as the difference between Islam and Christianity while focusing on broader structures, tax cuts and de-regulation not enough since markets depend on civilization and nation
Robert Kajiwara: US military base construction on Okinawa sparks increased independence calls, 70% of Japanese military installations on Okinawa despite representing 0.6% of its landmass, the Henoko base, deemed unnecessary by both US and Japan, threatens world's 2nd most biodiverse coral reef and further denies economic opportunity to natives on prime real estate, less than half of population satisfied with being Japanese prefecture
Europe
Old power blocs losers in EU elections, nationalist parties big winners: Brexit Party gets 32% in UK, Lega 30% in Italy, RN 24% in France, PiS 45% in Poland, Fidesz 52% in Hungary, AfD 10% in Germany and SD 15% in Sweden
Brexit Party and CDU tied largest individual party in EU parliament, claiming 28 seats each, according to preliminary numbers
Theresa May will quit as Conservative leader on 7 June, expresses deep regret that she has been unable to deliver Brexit, leadership contest to begin next week
Nigel Farage hit by milkshake during visit to Newcastle, several pro-Brexit politicians subjected to same treatment in recent weeks
Sweden asks Netherlands to back plan for international tribunal to try ISIS terrorists travelling to caliphate from European countries, summit to be held in Stockholm on June 3, Dutch government adamant not to act to bring Dutch jihadis back to the Netherlands
Coinbase blocks Milo Yiannopoulos from the platform after having blocked Gab founder Andrew Torba and WikiLeaks Shop earlier this year
Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt genuinely worried over hand signals by incoming Estonian ministers, EKRE representatives made the allegedly right-wing OK gesture at Estonian parliament Riigikogu
Three of US most influential female activists forms Supermajority, organization aims to mobilise 2 million women over next year to become organisers and political leaders in their communities, creation of Cecile Richards, former head of Planned Parenthood; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; and Ai-jen Poo, executive director of National Domestic Workers Alliance
Tommy Robinson announces plans to stand as independent MEP in European elections, will speak out against Islamification of Britain, kick-starts campaign with family-friendly barbecue event in Manchester, promptly told by police he was potentially in breach of electoral laws on bribery by offering free food to voters
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz condemns allegedly racist poem by Braunau am Inn deputy mayor Christian Schilcher (FPÖ), poem compares Austrians and immigrants alike to rats, asking the latter to hurry away unless they adapt to way of life of their new home country, Vice-Chancellor and FPÖ head Heinz-Christian Strache says incitements and campaign against his party shows competitors are nervous ahead of European Parliament elections
North America
Another disturbing weekend of violence in Philadelphia with 16 shootings, leaving three dead and no arrests, two shootings happened on South Street, often packed with tourists, business owners say people getting scared and don’t come out to eat that much anymore
11-year-old boy home alone in Mebane, NC when intruder breaks in through a window, grabs a pellet gun and forces the boy into a closet, the boy strikes a machete to the burglar's head, who kicks the boy and steals home electronics, but drops it as he bleeds heavily
Virginia Beach May 31 shooting could have been prevented, had employees been allowed to carry firearms at work, one victim discussed the night before whether or not to bring a pistol and decided not to, because a city policy against weapons in the building, gun rights advocates say a gun free zone is really a victim disarmament zone
California to be first state to provide tax-financed healthcare to illegal immigrants, USD 98 million plan aims to provide coverage to 100,000 people aged 19 to 25, to pay for plan lawmakers propose taxing people who do not have health insurance, Democratic Senator Holly Mitchell says California believes health is a fundamental right
Michigan hotel offers free accommodations to anyone traveling for an abortion out of a state where the procedure is restricted, women should have autonomy over their own bodies, says hotel manager Shelley O'Brien, who also provides free transportation to and from their appointment
US Air Force allows Sikh airman maintain beard and wear turban in observance of his faith, last year Air Force granted a Muslim airman to wear beard and in 2017 US Army said it would allow turbans and hijabs
60 killings in 14 states linked to 79-year-old serial killer Samuel Little, claims to have killed 93 women and is cooperative with investigators from around the country about cold case killings dating back to the 1970s, victims often suffocated or strangled, leaving few physical marks why investigators suspected death by overdoses or natural causes
Homeowner who shoots and kills home invader in Clayton County, GA will not be facing charges, intruder banged on the door, broke a window and gain entry into the house when he was shot with several shots, "people have the right to defend themselves", says Police Major Anthony Thuman
Latin America
Mexico City decriminalizes sex work in push to combat trafficking, local congress votes 38-0 to pass proposal
Venezuela's economic crisis now so bad criminals can't afford to buy bullets, costing USD 1 a piece while the average Venezuelan only earns USD 6.50 a month, same time most people barely use cash anymore, gang leader El Negrito is considering trying his luck abroad
Mexicans buy fake cell phones to hand over in muggings, originally used by shops in exhibition cases to protect against burglaries, armed robberies increasingly common aboard buses in Mexico City
Nicolás Maduro was ready to flee Venezuela amid protest violence and calls for his ouster on April 30, before Russia convinced him to stay, according to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Juan Guaidó issues video message accompanied by opposition figure Leopoldo López and well-armed soldiers, declares final phase of ousting Maduro, López says he was liberated from under house arrest by military, reports of clashes in Caracas, government sources claim all military garrisons support current regime
Legislation that would ban sale of cold beer in stores in Mexico City cause public backlash, residents launching hashtag #ConLasCervezasNo and saying politicians should worry about insecurity of the country instead
Peru's former president Alan García dies after shooting himself as police arrives at his home to arrest him, was accused of taking bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht
Venezuela’s opposition figurehead Juan Guaidó stripped of parliamentary immunity which opens door to his arrest, members of Chavista assembly celebrates as Guaidó calls it a sign of regime's desperation, US repeats it will not stand idly by if anything happens to Guaidó
Asia
Two Italians using George Clooney's name to con victims into investing in bogus clothing company detained in Bang Lamung district near Pattaya, sued by Clooney and sentenced by Milan court to over eight years in jail they fled before being apprehended in Thailand
Hong Kong government pauses controversial plan to allow extraditions to mainland China, Chief Executive Carrie Lam says no date set for next step forward, protesters say marches to continue until law is cancelled
Riot police in Hong Kong clashes with a number of demonstrators in million-strong protest against new government bill allowing suspects wanted in mainland China to be sent across the border for trial
Only 530 out of 300,000 guns turned in following New Zealand's new restriction of gun rights, government attributes lack of gun turn-ins to citizens wanting proper compensation, however poll suggests citizens feel safer holding on to their guns
Four bodies of deceased climbers and 11 tonnes of garbage removed from Mount Everest, 11 climbers have died so far this season, mountain has recently seen dangerous traffic jams on way to summit
Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism issues US travel warning to its citizens, given recent shootings, robbery and gun violence, claims US law enforcement agencies are harassing its citizens upon entry or exit, comes amid power struggle between China and US over trade
Man kills four people and injures another in Australian city of Darwin, using a prohibited 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, was on parole and wearing an electronic tag, searching for a person called Alex, perpetrator arrested
MIDDLE EAST
Three French citizens sentenced to death in Iraq for joining ISIS terrorists, they were captured in Syria by US-backed force and transferred to Iraq in February
17 injured in explosion targeting tourist bus carrying 25 South Africans near Giza pyramids in Egypt, perpetrators not yet known but Islamist militants have attacked tourists in Egypt in the past
Exxon Mobil evacuates all foreign staff from Iraqi oilfield, evacuation is precautionary and temporary measure and there is no indication of any danger, says chief of Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company Ihsan Abdul Jabbar
Escalation in Gaza Strip as Hamas and Islamic Jihad fires more than 250 rockets into Israel, who hits back with tank shelling and air strikes at Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets
Children of women raped by ISIS terrorists will not be accepted into Yazidi community, only children born of two Yazidi parents recognised as belonging to the sect once numbered about 500,000 people, group's faith leaders say
Poles in Pruchnik hang, beat and burn effigy resembling stereotypical Jew representing Judas in Good Friday ritual, Robert Singer, CEO of World Jewish Congress, says in statement Jews are deeply disturbed by ghastly revival of medieval anti-Semitism that led to unimaginable violence and suffering
Africa
More than 100 dead after Sudanese military attacks protestors in capital Khartoum, demonstrators demand military council, which ousted president Omar al-Bashir in April, make way for a civilian-led interim body
Four shot dead in Burkina Faso church, islamist militants believed to be responsible, fourth deadly attack on Christians in the country since April
World's first malaria vaccine Mosquirix, with a 40% protection rate, rolled out in Malawi, Kenya and Ghana, 435,000 people die of malaria each year and children under 5 at greatest risk, mosquitoes become resistant to drugs and insecticides after 10 to 20 years
More than 130 people killed with guns and machetes in ethnic attack on Mopti village in Mali by Dogon hunters accusing the Fulani villagers of ties to jihadist groups
Economy
Cars with advanced driver-assistance systems which reduce risk of crashes does not reduce cost of car insurance, instead it often drives premiums up as repairs are more expensive, this could change in the future when insurers have collected more data
Families in Japan needs savings of JPY 20 million (USD 184,000) in addition to pension benefits to cover living expenses after retirement, government agency FSA report says, Finance Minister Taro Aso says he won't accept the report as it differs from LDP policy position and could cause trouble to party candidates in upcoming elections
AT&T to accept online payments in cryptocurrency using the BitPay service, not immediately clear which cryptocurrencies are accepted
Softbank reportedly planning IPO for its USD 100 billion investment fund, is also said to be mulling launching second fund of at least same size, aims to further increase investment in startups developing cutting-edge technologies
Investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger says partnership between Coca-Cola Opens and the legal cannabis industry would be a serious problem, as Coca-Cola has a wholesome image and cannabis doesn’t, the soft drink manuafacturer says it has no plans partnering with cannabis companies although its competitors explore drinks infused with cannabidiol
Amazon's automated tracking and termination process fired hundreds of employees at single facility between August of 2017 and September 2018 for failing to meet productivity quotas, leaked documents suggest, assuming a steady rate, Amazon fires 10 percent of its staff annually, solely for productivity reasons
Amazon in discussions with music rights holders regarding licensing deals for high-resolution streaming of their tracks, goal to secure enough music to launch new service by end of 2019 at a cost of USD 15 per month, similar services available at USD 20 per month
Private landlords in England will no longer be able to evict tenants after their fixed-term tenancy period ends, government says it wants to protect renters from unethical landlords and an organisation representing tenants calls it a vital first step to ending profiteering from housing
Alibaba owned online healthcare platform Xiang Hu Bao provides basic health plan where participants share each other's medical expenses, costs capped at USD 28 per month, covers 100 illnesses and has reached 50 million users since its launch in October, anyone with Alipay app credit score of 600 can join
Technology
Uber Eats plans drone delivery in San Diego this summer, initially not to bring orders directly to customers' homes but to traditional drivers who complete delivery, tested carrying McDonald's burgers, fries and ice cream
California Supreme Court rules San Francisco can reject 5G wireless equipment that doesn’t meet local aesthetic standards, some Upper Cole Valley residents deem equipment ugly, they are also concerned exposure to 5G RF radiation might be dangerous
Facebook owned WhatsApp admits vulnerability enabling installation of surveillance software on phones and other devices using the app's voice calling function, calls don't need to be picked up and disappears from call log, software linked to Israeli firm NSO Group, known for its flagship software Pegasus with the ability to collect intimate data from target device
Microsoft Word introduces artificial intelligence to recommend edits that are politically correct and gender inclusive, suggestions include changing "policeman" to "police officer", software will also recommend ways to shorten sentences to ensure brevity
Windows 10 version 1903 gets rid of password expiration policy, admits it doesn't improve online security as too often users make small and predictable alteration or forget their new passwords, when password has been stolen most people will quickly realize and do something about it straight away
Joe Armstrong dead at 68, legendary computer scientist most known for creating programming language Erlang
Non-profit Archive.org hit with more than 550 takedown notices from EU asking them to remove archives including all books, TV footage and cartoons, falsely citing terrorist content, EU currently drafting legislation with fines of 4% of global revenue if takedown notices are not honoured within an hour
Science
Swedish and British scientists show individual’s genetic make-up has great influence on whether they choose to acquire a dog, concordance rates of dog ownership much larger in identical twins than in non-identical ones, next step to identify which genetic variants affect this choice using data from Swedish Twin Registry
Parents who raise their children as vegans should face prosecution, according to Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium, comes after a number of deaths related to the diet, an estimated 3% of Belgian children forced to eat vegan
32-year-old Greek woman gives birth to boy with DNA from three people, using experimental form of IVF using an egg from the mother, sperm from the father and another egg from a donor woman, some say procedure raises ethical questions, Dr Panagiotis Psathas, president of Institute of Life in Athens, says every woman's inalienable right to become a mother with her own genetic material has become a reality
International collaboration Event Horizon Telescope says it captured first ever image of a black hole, located at center of galaxy Messier 87, 55 million light-years from Earth and with a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun
Japanese Hayabusa-2 spacecraft thought to have detonated explosive charge on asteroid Ryugu, idea to create artificial crater to better understand how Earth was formed in early Solar System, probe later to return to gather samples from gouged depression
55% of non-cyclists rate cyclists not completely human, Australian study with 442 participants conclude, 9% admit they used their car to cut off a cyclist, professor Narelle Haworth finds the word "cyclist" dehumanising and wants to replace it with "people who ride bikes"
Tyrannosaurus rex discovered 1991 in western Canada world's biggest, team of paleontologists say after decades-long skeleton reconstruction process, estimated at 13 meters and more than 8,800 kilos, T. rex nicknamed Scotty is the oldest known having lived into its 30s
Mitochondrial DNA analysis may identify serial killer Jack the Ripper as Polish barber Aaron Kosminski, was identified by witness to one of the killings who then refused to testify against him, scientists analyzed blood-stained shawl from fourth victim Catherine Eddowes, linking Kosminski to the crimes
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