Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has joined her brother in calling for a new investigation into the 1968 assassination of their father, Robert F. Kennedy.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, believes that convicted killer Sirhan Sirhan could not have been the man who shot and killed the presidential candidate in California.

Kennedy, Jr, said 'it would have disturbed [Bobby Kennedy] if somebody was put in jail for a crime they didn't commit' so he has taken up this issue

Both Joseph P. Kennedy II and Kerry Kennedy stand against the idea of reopening an investigation into their father's death.

Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy's assassination.

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://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5796895/Robert-Kennedys-daughter-backs-brothers-call-new-investigation-fathers-death.html

Dr. Steven Pitt, 59, has been shot dead outside his Arizona office Thursday

He assisted in the investigations of the 1996 death of American child beauty pageant queen JonBenet Ramsey

He also worked on the 2006 Phoenix Baseline Killer case, the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and recently the Maryvale shootings in Phoenix

Police found Pitt dead Thursday at 5:23pm with a gunshot wound

A sketch of the suspect, a white male who fled the scene, has been released

Police spokesman says there is no information on whether the killing is connected to Pitt's work.

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://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5797009/High-profile-forensic-psychiatrist-aided-JonBenet-Ramsey-investigation-shot-dead.html

Homeland Security finds evidence of sophisticated surveillance equipment that can intercept cell phones NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE

Tests found evidence of 'StingRay' cell phone data collectors operating near the White House, it has been revealed.

The tests conducted last year found signals consistent with technology that spoofs cell phone data towers to collect mobile data, according to a Department of Homeland Security letter released on Friday.

The tests were unable to validate the activity or attribute it to specific devices, and follow-up counterintelligence investigations found that some the signals were actually coming from legitimate cell towers, DHS acting undersecretary Christopher C. Krebs wrote in the May 22 letter to Senator Ron Wyden.

Still, the potential presence in the Capital of tower spoofers, a known tool of foreign intelligence agencies including China and Russia, raised alarm bells for security officials.

The letter said that a pilot test from January to November of 2017 'did observe anomalous activity that appeared consistent with IMSI catcher technology' within the Washington DC area, including near the White House.

Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, released the letter and seized upon the finding of possible surveillance technology to blast phone companies, as well as President Donald Trump, for potential security lapses.

'The news of a possible foreign stingray near the White House is of particular concern giving reports that the President isn't even using a secure phone to protect his calls,' Wyden said in a statement.

Last week, Politico reported that Trump uses two iPhones, one to make calls and the other to tweet. The phones are issued by a military office that oversees White House telecommunications, but its unclear what security modifications have been made to them.

'The cavalier attitude toward our national security appears to be coming from the top down,' Wyden said in the statement. 'It is high time for the FCC and this administration to act immediately to protect American national security.'

………

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://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5797147/Homeland-Security-finds-evidence-sophisticated-surveillance-gear-near-White-House.html

One word: Submarines.

There's Only 1 Way to Stop China from Crushing Taiwan (And Invading)

Taiwan’s government has for decades tried to procure new submarines without success. Although a strong and vibrant diesel electric submarine industry exists, no country is willing to sell the island nation modern boats and anger China. As China’s economic clout has grown, it has used the threat of economic sanction to prevent countries from selling arms to what it considers a “breakaway province.” In 2001 the George W. Bush administration promised to sell the country submarines. The plan ultimately came to nothing as American shipyards built only nuclear-powered submarines, financially unsustainable for Taiwan and a politically a bridge too far even for Washington.

The country with perhaps the most dire need for a modern submarine force in the industrialized world actually has the oldest. Fully half of Taiwan’s submarine force consists of World War II–era boats, while the other half is “just” forty years old. The result is a force that is unable to respond to China’s submarine fleet and cannot adequately protect the country from invasion.

The end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 resulted in a split between the People’s Republic of China on the mainland and the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan. The Taiwan Strait, a narrow section of the Pacific separating the two Chinas, is anywhere from 80 to 200 miles wide. Although relatively narrow, the presence of the strait—or “The Black Ditch” as mariners used to call it—has prevented one side from conquering the other and settling the China problem by force……..

https

://www.yahoo.com/news/apos-only-1-way-stop-133000920.html

China's ramping up pressure on Taiwan

Mon May 28 20:39:19 PDT 2018

Beijing's push to isolate Taiwan is gathering pace, with two of the island's few remaining allies switching allegiance to China in the past month.

Taiwan isn't just taking heat from China diplomatically. Multi-national companies are being pressured over how they describe Taiwan, with Beijing insisting they follow its line that the island is an integral part of China. Shows of force by the Chinese military in the Taiwan Strait, the narrow strip of water that divides the two, are also becoming more commonplace.

This ratcheting up of tensions between China and the self-governed, democratic island opens up another fault line for Washington in its dealings with Beijing, with the Trump administration already at odds with China over trade, North Korea and the South China Sea.

Washington has signaled closer support for Taiwan and a high-profile demonstration of solidarity comes in June when the United States opens a new complex to house its de facto embassy in Taipei that's three times the size of the original building.

Here's what you need to know about the potential flashpoint.

How has China been piling on the pressure?

While Beijing has been chipping away at Taiwan's shallow bench of diplomatic allies for years, the loss of two – Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic – in the space of a month is unprecedented.

Taiwan accuses Beijing of "dollar diplomacy," enticing countries to switch allegiance with cash or other incentives – a strategy that's become easier as China's grown richer and its pockets deeper.

Beijing has also focused its attention on companies that don't toe its line on Taiwan. Some 44 airlines were recently warned not to list Taiwan separately from China on their websites and given a deadline to comply, a move the US government has described on May 5 as "Orwellian nonsense."

Most recently, Japanese retailer Muji has been fined for coat-hanger packaging that described Taiwan as a country.

China has also prevented Taiwan from attending, even as an observer, the annual meeting of the World Health Organization's decision making body for two consecutive years, a move that excludes the island's 23 million people from information that helps prevent outbreak of global diseases.

No target is too small. In the small Australian town of Rockhampton, tiny fish-shaped Taiwan flags featured on a children's art project displayed in public were painted over, reportedly at the behest of Beijing.

What's China's goal?

China and Taiwan – officially the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, respectively – separated in 1949 following the Communist victory in a civil war that saw the Nationalists flee to the island.

The two sides have been governed separately since, though a shared cultural and linguistic heritage mostly endures – with Mandarin spoken as the official language in both places.

Bringing Taiwan back to the fold has eluded China's Communist leaders for nearly seven decades and would be a huge achievement for President Xi Jinping, who now has the option to rule for life………

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://www.kimt.com/templates/AMP?contentID=483901451

An Arabic news source reported on the ongoing negotiations between Israel and Russia concerning the Iranian military presence in Syria, stating that Russia has agreed to “a green light” for Israeli military strikes against Iranian military target.

Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman is currently in negotiations with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow concerning the Iranian military presence in Southern Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin are also in telephone contact over the matter.

Earlier in the week, Israeli Kan Broadcasting reported that Israel was demanding Iranian military in Syria be banned from approaching closer than 40-50 miles from the border in accordance with the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria.

The Israeli Defense Ministry issued a statement this week concerning the meetings, saying the two ministers discussed “the Israeli campaign to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria.”

Asharq Al-Awsat, an international Arabic news source based in London, cited a Russian source as saying that “the two sides had agreed to ‘limit’ Iran, keep its forces away from the south, and to allow Tel Aviv to target menacing bases in the deep Syrian territories.”

“Russian sources said talks between the two sides produced agreements concerning the South of Syria, stipulating the withdrawal of Iranian-linked forces from the area and offering Israel a green light to launch military operations against any threatening target, except regime forces positions,” the report in Asharq Al-Awsat read.ly

Israel has hit Iranian targets in Syria, most notably earlier in May when the IAF hit more than 50 Iranian targets in response to an Iranian rocket barrage at the Golan Heights.

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://www.breakingisraelnews.com/108750/arab-media-russia-green-lights-israeli-military-actions-against-iranian-military-in-syria/

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump may transfer authority over the US consulate in Jerusalem to his ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a move that would further rile Palestinian leadership after his decision to move the US embassy in Israel there from Tel Aviv, the Associated Press reported on Friday.

According to the report, which cites five sources, Friedman has requested direct control over the consulate, which handles relations with the Palestinian Authority and remains autonomous from the embassy in order to avoid de facto recognition of east Jerusalem as an Israeli annex.

The president's move would send a message to the Palestinians that he believes the entirety of the city should be treated as sovereign Israeli territory – a move the Trump administration was careful to avoid in its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital last year.

……..

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://m.jpost.com/American-Politics/Trump-may-transfer-authority-over-Jerusalem-consulate-to-Israel-ambassador-558965

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Mormon church on Friday celebrated the 40th anniversary of reversing its ban on black people serving in the lay priesthood, going on missions or getting married in temples, rekindling debate about one of the faith's most sensitive topics.

The number of black Mormons has grown but still only accounts for an estimated 6 percent of 16 million worldwide members. Not one serves in the highest levels of global leadership.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has worked to improve race relations, including calling out white supremacy and launching a new formal alliance with the NAACP, but some black Mormons and scholars say discriminatory opinions linger in some congregations from a ban rooted in a belief that black skin was a curse.

In a 2013 essay , the church disavowed the reasons behind the ban and condemned all racism, saying the prohibition came during an era of great racial divide that influenced early church teachings. Blacks were always allowed to be members, but the nearly century-long ban kept them from participating in many important rituals.

Scholars said the essay included the church's most comprehensive explanation for the ban and its 1978 reversal, which leaders say came from a revelation from God.

But it didn't include an apology, leaving some unsatisfied……….

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://apnews.com/54e0b65e4af747e79a37c701f74267f0

WASHINGTON—The White House is planning for a potential summit between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, according to people familiar with the efforts, a meeting that would bring to the international stage one of the world’s most enigmatic political relationships.

A senior administration official said Friday that Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, has been in Washington to help arrange a meeting between Messrs. Trump and Putin.

The planning is still at an early stage, the official said, with the two nations needing to agree on a date and location……..

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://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-in-early-talks-for-potential-summit-between-trump-and-putin-1527898635?redirect=amp#click=https://t.co/y2q6bBfZOM

Interesting envelope

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www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44339864

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www.wnd.com/2018/06/new-border-wall-going-up-near-isis-hotbed-in-mexico/

Tell Congress: Stop Beijing's U.S. port takeover

Curtis Ellis·6 hours ago

If you owned a company, would you let your competitor monitor all your incoming and outgoing orders?

In the 1970s, would the United States have allowed the Soviet Union to operate our ports? Would the Soviets have allowed the U.S. to run its docks?

Of course not.

But such an outrageous scenario is about to play out.

China has openly declared it intends to replace the U.S. as the world's sole superpower. Yet, if all goes as planned, China will soon take control of the Port of Long Beach, California.

Unless Washington stops it.

Cosco Shipping Holdings Company, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, is buying a competitor that has the long-term concession to operate the Long Beach port.

If the deal goes through, a company controlled by the Communist Party of China will be running America's largest port.

Of course, Beijing would never allow a foreign entity, let alone one owned by the U.S. government, to control critical infrastructure in China.

While the U.S. has been widely open to Chinese investments, Beijing requires foreign investors to cede control to a Chinese partner.

And that partner is essentially the Chinese government, since there is no private sector in China. "Though many companies defined themselves as 'private,' practically all of them are directly or indirectly controlled by the centralized government, which is ruled by the Communist Party. All Chinese businessmen, investors and companies play along the party lines and its prevailing spirit," says Dr. Harel Menashri , head of the cyber department at the Holon Institute of Technology and a former official in Shin Bet, the Israeli domestic security agency.

China's takeover of Long Beach must first be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., CFIUS. This multi-agency federal panel reviews foreign purchases of American assets for potential national security threats.

But CFIUS is notoriously outdated, overworked and underfunded. It doesn't have its own budget and relies on staff and referrals from others for its investigations………

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www.wnd.com/2018/06/tell-congress-stop-beijings-u-s-port-takeover/

Elections will be held at a central Athens hotel on Sunday to appoint a new administration for the Greek Red Cross.

However, a large number of former administrators fear that the elections could lead to the reappointment of former board members who had led the organization into disrepute in the period leading up to 2012 and implicated it in more than 36 court cases.

A former president of the Greek Red Cross, Antonis Avgerinos, said that the fact that pre-2012 members are allowed to vote will inevitably lead to the election of people linked to Andreas Martinis, the former president accused of embezzling millions of euros in state aid, as well as money laundering.

Moreover, the 37 candidates vying for the 35 board member seats are reportedly former members of, or linked to, the Martinis administration. However, many of the candidates have insisted that the organization is need of reform.

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://www.ekathimerini.com/229167/article/ekathimerini/news/red-cross-to-hold-elections-in-bid-to-restore-reputation

Charities that fail to tackle sex abuse 'don't deserve our funding', says report author

In a letter to The Times newspaper, Asmita Naik, an independent consultant, said she was shocked by the newspaper’s report on an unpublished 2002 report about a sex-for-food scandal, despite being one of the report’s authors.

Aid workers in more than 40 organisations were alleged to have been involved in the scandal, the newspaper said, with charities named by the newspaper including Save the Children, Care International, Action Against Hunger, Médecins Sans Frontières, the International Rescue Committee and the International Federation of Red Cross Societies.

In her letter, Naik says that "it is clear that some of the world’s largest and best-funded international agencies are doing little more than paying lip service to the problem of sexual exploitation in aid".

She says that although the issue was "categorically put on the global table in 2002", only a handful of organisations can give a "sliver of confidence that they are taking this issue seriously".

The letter says that the public and governments should consider withdrawing funding from organisations if improvements are not made.

"Either way, organisations that cannot do better do not deserve our funding," the letter says. "Donors and policy-makers need look no farther for proof that the sector is unable to police itself; only external pressure will force through desperately needed reform."

Naik also singled out the Red Cross movement in her letter, saying the Red Cross statistics on the number of sexual exploitation incidents are "beyond credible" and that "such organisations are either wilfully turning a blind eye or are grossly incompetent".

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://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charities-fail-tackle-sex-abuse-dont-deserve-funding-says-report-author/management/article/1466157

Iran, June 1, 2018 - Tens of thousands of truck drivers across Iran continued a nationwide strike on Friday, marking its 11th consecutive day.

Truck drivers in Kermanshah and nearby cities in western Iran, Mashhad, Najaf Abad, Aligudarz and many other cities continued their protests on Friday. Beginning on May 22nd, the drivers have spread their initiative to over 280 cities despite a variety of plots launched by the Iranian regime to cause rifts among their ranks……

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://english.mojahedin.org/i/iran-truckers-surpass-11th-day-of-nationwide-strike