June, 2019

In an address at a banquet on Thursday night, Xi noted that the nation under leader Kim Jong-un had "initiated a new strategic line of economic development and improving people's livelihoods, raising socialist construction in the country to a new high tide", according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.
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China has agreed to UN economic sanctions over the North's nuclear and missile programs but is wary of any measures that could push its economy towards collapse, potentially unleashing instability and chaos on its border.

Xi's speech also touched on the nuclear issue, saying all sides agreed to "stick to peace talks so as to make even greater contributions to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the wider world", Xinhua said...

If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, the June solstice is your signal to celebrate summer. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, winter starts at this solstice. This 2019 June solstice takes place on June 21 at 15:54 UTC... In North America and U.S. time zones, that’s June 21 at 12:54 p.m. ADT, 11:54 a.m. EDT, 10:54 a.m. CDT, 9:54 a.m. MDT, 8:54 a.m. PDT, 7:54 a.m. AKDT (Alaskan Daylight Time) and 5:54 a.m. HAST (Hawaiian-Aleutian Standard Time)... The solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth; only our clocks and calendars are different...

The June solstice gives us the year’s northernmost sunrise and northernmost sunset. The northernmost sunrise and sunset deliver the year’s longest period of daylight to the Northern Hemisphere yet the shortest period of daylight in the Southern Hemisphere. North of the Arctic Circle, the sun neither rises nor sets but stays above the horizon for 24 hours around the clock. South of the Antarctic circle, the sun neither rises nor sets but stays beneath the horizon for 24 hours.

As late as 7 p.m., military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations.

Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries.

The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off, a senior administration official said. Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down, the official said.

The investigation, dubbed Project Greenwell, began in October, 2012 after Toronto police received numerous tips alerting them to the existence of a child pornography website that could be traced back to the Toronto-based web hosting company YesUp Media... A total of 32 servers that were filled with approximately 1,000 terabytes of data were ultimately seized and a larger, multi-jurisdictional investigation was commenced. At a news conference on Thursday, OPP Det. Insp. David MacDonald said that investigators have since determined that a massive child pornography website with 60,000 registered users in at least 116 different countries was hosted at the location. That website, he said, was subsequently traced back to a man in Vietnam who remains outstanding.

In other words, Stone “could be headed to jail” ahead of his scheduled November trial... “On June 18, 2019, Stone posted a screenshot of an article about one of his recent filings in this case. The screenshot read: ‘US Govt’s Entire Russia-DNC Hacking Narrative Based on Redacted Draft of CrowdStrike Report,’” the filing states. “He tagged the post, ‘But where is the @NYTimes? @washingtonpost? @WSJ? @CNN?’ Later that day, Stone posted a screenshot of another piece about his filing with the title, ‘FBI Never Saw CrowdStrike Unredacted Final Report on Alleged Russian Hacking Because None was Produced.’”

Stone also posted other things: “As the Russia Hoax is being unwound, we are learning some deeply disturbing lessons about the level of corruption at the top levels of the agencies charged with protecting us from external threats. One Jaw-dropping example has just been exposed by the legal team defending Roger Stone.” The article was tagged, “Funny, No @nytimes or @washingtonpost coverage of this development.”...

Prosecutors have requested a hearing on whether Stone violated his bail terms, arguing that he was explicitly banned from using rhetoric of this nature because it could influence potential jurors in Stone’s case.

The system runs on cameras that watch as items move across the register. If an unusual activity occurs, such as an item moving into a bag without being scanned, a checkout attendant will be notified to take action. Missed Scan Detection was designed to help reduce theft and other losses, a problem that has cost US retailers up to $47 billion in 2017.

In the two years since the system was deployed, Walmart says it has reduced rates of theft, inventory loss, fraud, and scanning errors. The company, however, did not specify exactly what those rates were, or how much money the tech helped stores save...

The ruling means the administration can implement a rule issued earlier this year that bans abortion providers from participating in the Title X family planning program, removes a requirement that clinics provide abortion counseling, and bars providers from referring women for abortions...

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday that the administration can implement the changes while it challenges the injunctions.

A Navy SEAL called by prosecutors to testify at the murder trial of a colleague has acknowledged killing a wounded prisoner in Iraq in what he described as an act of mercy. Special Operator 1st Class Corey Scott said Thursday that he asphyxiated the teenage Islamic State fighter after Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher unexpectedly stabbed him. Gallagher is facing court-martial on charges of murder and attempted murder. Scott says the militant had been stabilized and was breathing normally after he and Gallagher treated him for wounds suffered in an airstrike. Scott says the patient would have survived the stabbing, but he decided to plug the youth's air tube because he believed he would eventually be tortured by Iraqi forces.

Susan Simoneaux of Luling died Tuesday in a local hospital after traveling to Punta Cana, a resort town where several Americans have died and dozens more have fallen ill, news station WWL-TV reported... Her cause of death hasn’t been determined, but the newlywed’s symptoms were strikingly similar to those of three tourists who died last month while visiting the beach oasis.

How much should descendants of the 360,000 Union soldiers, who lost their lives fighting to free the slaves, pay to the descendants of the slaves they freed? #reparations

— Larry Elder (@larryelder) June 19, 2019

In the post about instagram filters, it created an article that interviews 3 instagram influencers it made up, then explains what types of things each of them likes to post, and then goes on to give their favorite filters, which are made up, but sound like they could be real.

It also makes up a fake band name and a fake hit song for one of the "influencers." Then it goes on to mention marketing agencies with agency names that would be great like "The Monarch" and record company names like "Big Loud Music."

Are creative jobs at risk, or is this just another tool for creative productivity enhancement? Make sure you click the link above and read the post.

The city council of Riviera Beach, Florida, 50 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, voted on Monday to meet the demands of its hackers in hope of getting back the city's compromised data, CBS News reported.

According to The Palm Beach Post, the attack began on May 29, when an employee from the police department opened an email attachment that contained malware.

The software quickly spread through the city's computer systems, affecting its email system and even the 911 dispatch operations...

Lunden Alexis Roberts, 28, filed the suit in an Arkansas court on May 28, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Roberts is petitioning to compel Hunter Biden, 49, to claim the child as its father and provide healthcare and other financial support. Last month, the former vice president's son married his second wife, South African native Melissa Cohen, 32... The Arkansas petition says Roberts conceived while she was in a relationship with Hunter Biden. The child, identified in the court papers as "Baby Doe," was born in August 2018. The document did not reveal how the couple met, how long they dated, or any other details about the fling.

The S&P 500 reached an all-time high, rising as much as 1% to 2,956.20 as the tech and energy sectors outperformed. As of 1:26 p.m. ET, the broad index was up 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 167 points higher. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3%.

The Senate voted on Thursday to block billions of dollars of armaments to Saudi Arabia in what the New York Times described as a "sharp and bipartisan rebuke of the Trump administration's attempt to circumvent Congress" by declaring an emergency over Iran. The vote marks the sharpest division between the White House and lawmakers to date - and is the second time in recent months that the administration has faced bipartisan pushback against foreign policy. In April, both the House and Senate voted to cut off military assistance to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen under the 1973 War Powers Act, only for Trump to veto the measure (the second of his presidency). And once again, Trump will use his veto power to override Congress...