Welcome To Q Research AUSTRALIA

In anticipation of FISA DECLAS and SPYGATE revelations, a new thread for research and discussion of Australia's role in The Great Awakening.

Previous threads

Q Research AUSTRALIA #1 - https://8ch.net/qresearch/res/4520.html

Q Research AUSTRALIA #2 - https://8ch.net/qresearch/res/4899520.html

Q Research AUSTRALIA #3 - https://8ch.net/qresearch/res/5443913.html

Q Research AUSTRALIA #4 - https://8ch.net/qresearch/res/5945347.html

Q's Posts made on Q Research AUSTRALIA threads

Thursday 03.28.2019

>>5945210 ————————————–——– Sometimes our 'sniffer' picks and pulls w/o applying credit file (Cap: >>5945313)

>>5945074 ————————————–——– We LOVE you! (Cap: >>5945110)

>>5944970 ————————————–——– USA v. LifeLog? (Cap: >>5945288)

>>5944908 ————————————–——– It is an embarrassment to our Nation! (Cap: >>5945279)

>>5944859 ————————————–——– 'Knowingly'

Q's Posts referencing Australia

https://qanon.pub/?q=AUS

https://qanon.pub/?q=Australia

Q's Posts referencing Australian citizens

Malcolm Turnbull (X/AUS)

https://qanon.pub/?q=X%2FAUS

Alexander Downer

https://qanon.pub/?q=Downer

Cardinal George Pell

https://qanon.pub/?q=Dark%20to%20LIGHT

https://qanon.pub/?q=pecking

Julian Assange

https://qanon.pub/?q=assange

https://qanon.pub/?q=JA

https://qanon.pub/?q=Threat%20is%20real

Q's Posts referencing The Five Eyes intelligence alliance (FVEY)

https://qanon.pub/?q=FVEY

https://qanon.pub/?q=Five%20Eyes

"The Five Eyes, often abbreviated as FVEY, is an anglophone intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes

''"Does AUS stand w/ the US or only select divisions within the US?"''

Q - 11/25/18.

https://8ch.net/qresearch/res/4029778.html#4030351

Notables

are not endorsements

#4 - Part 1/8

>>5945720 Anon Theory - Donations to the Clinton foundation dry up after 2016 election

>>5957085 Andrew Bolt on the One Nation 'scandal' re gun laws in Australia.

>>5957623, >>5957918 New Ben Garrison political cartoon - "Australian Freedom Force"

>>5958268 Video: Lauren Southern - Thrown Out Of Sydney No Go Zone

>>5958361 Q's Posts made on Q Research AUSTRALIA threads

>>5958473, >>5959568 Lyndon LaRouche, the Packer-Murdoch media and the rise of Pauline Hanson

>>5958509 Clinton Foundation gets another $5.5m from NZ taxpayers

>>5958575 New border security screening for Australian permanent residents visiting New Zealand

>>5958588 Like AUS and CAN, NZ is a US corporation registered with USA SEC

>>5958998 Pauline Hanson challenged over Al Jazeera sting

>>5959006 Renamed TPP signed by 11 nations with U.S. out

>>5959016 The keys to understanding TPP11

>>5959017 TPP - The importance of the United States

>>5959027 The Integral Treaty and "Progressive" of the Trans-Pacific Partnership

>>5959031 After The Midterms: Australia, The United States And The International Order

>>5959049 The world now wants to move to New Zealand

>>5959586, >>5959764 Wayne Swan, Bob Katter and Masonic symbolism

>>5962497, >>5962526 Sydney Air Traffic Control Tower Evacuated After Smoke Detected

>>5962572 Australian news site promoting gay 'sugar daddys' for university students.

>>5968815 Stargazers looking for Aurora Australis mystified by bright green flash

>>5969466, >>5969437 Former Trump aide slams Alexander Downer as a ‘devil’

>>5969816 Pauline Hanson defends One Nation staffers James Ashby and Steve Dickson

>>5969940 Shooters, Fishers and Farmers deny links to NRA, blasts One Nation

>>5975478 New Zealand removes any reference to Jesus from parliamentary prayer

>>5975519 Alexander Downer was a Huawei Board Member - Article from 2011

>>5975545 Microsoft researchers find NSA-style backdoor in Huawei laptops - 2019 Article

>>5975560 IT Security Pros Slam State-Backed Encryption Backdoors

>>5975575 Enormous shark found with head bitten off by even bigger beast off Australia coast

>>5975587, >>5975593 Stargazers looking for Aurora Australis mystified by bright green flash

>>5975644 Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland to reclassify physical gold as a cash equivalent

>>5975649 Toyota Security Breach Exposes Personal Info of 3.1 Million Clients

>>5976001 FRIENDLY REMINDER FROM Q - We are saving Israel for last.

>>5976441, >>5976445, >>5976454, >>5985163 Anon's analysis of Q drop #2619 - Gold Standard coming back?

>>5978125 Door-to-door gun confiscations begin in New Zealand

>>5984948, >>5985006 Sex scandals plague New Zealand's Labour party Prime Minister (2018)

>>5985280 Facebook Statement - By Working Together, We Can Win Against Hate

>>5986100 Mark Zuckerberg admits Facebook should be regulated after Christchurch mosque terror attack

>>5987997 Anon observes - Keep an eye on Channel 10, recently bought by CBS

>>5988798 Australian Climate Change Whistle blower Censorship

>>5988804 Friendly reminder - do not dox yourself, leave all of the first three input fields blank

>>5988805 Federal budget 2019: Frydenberg promises 'stronger economy, better future for Australians'

>>5998053, >>5998145 Chinese ownership and operation of Australian regional airports (2017)

>>6002085 NSW Education Department covers up teacher’s alleged 18-year child sex abuse spree (2013)

>>6002141 NSW police protects alleged Tweed Heads pedophile ring (Fiona Barnett article)

>>6002160 NZ Gun Confiscation Begins as Police Show Up Unannounced At Homes, Workplaces

>>6002174 Jury selection starts for Minneapolis officer accused in fatal shooting of unarmed Australian woman

>>6002037, >>6002045, >>6002276 Anons comments on Why Christchurch? Gateway to Antarctica?

>>6002297 History of Five Eyes in Australia

>>6002802, >>6003144 Muslims reject call from senior Imam in Jerusalem to invade Australia and NZ

>>6010904 'McDonald’s April Fools' joke lands burger chain in pickle

#4 - Part 2/8

George Papadopoulos Tweet Bun

>>5969192 Alexander Downer, Stefan Halper, Joseph Mifsud and Comey’s corrupt team had one thing in common

>>5985039 Declassification coming. Australia’s role too.

>>6002244 The British and Australians spy on me...Time to fight

>>6014117 The U.K. and Australia interfered in the election

>>6014117 How it feels to have an Australian ambassador spy on you

>>6014138 That target on me attracted assets like Halper, Downer, Mifsud, CIA and DIA

>>6014138 Alexander Downer was so blatantly spying on me (17 March 2019 Retweet >>5749685)

>>6014138 The western intelligence operatives and US allies (UK, Australia, Italy) involvement

>>6028910 My book explains how the entire investigation began

>>6069101 The FBI sends Clinton ally, Alexander Downer, to make contact with me

>>6069101 I was so disturbed by Alexander Downer’s behavior

>>6070754 If the president doesn’t sit down with the leaders of Italy, the U.K. and Australia

>>6173712 Alexander Downer begged to meet me in London

>>6237372 Subpoenae the three spies: Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer and Stefan Halper

>>6249415 Bob Mueller himself stated that I met Alexander Downer on May 6th

>>6249415 He must have gotten it from some surreptitious spying by Alexander Downer

>>6249415 Alexander Downer’s wannabe honey pot, Erika Thompson, was trying to meet with me on May 6th

>>6249415 I am certain that our Israeli friends are going to throw the Australians under the bus

>>6294548 Clapper was in Australia the same days I was meeting Mifsud in Rome

>>6400714 Collusion was between the Obama WH/CIA/FBI with the U.K./Australia/Italy/Turkey/Ukraine

>>6410968 Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer, was sent to make contact in May 2016 by the FBI

>>6418434 Alexander Downer was an asset sent by US intel to make contact with me

>>6419805 I reported Downer to the FBI and Mueller for my suspicions he was spying on me.

>>6453353 Clapper is an imbecile. Not only did he outsource spying on me to the Italians/UK/Australia

>>6475604 Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer, is having a meltdown on Twitter

>>6475604 Comey is expounding that Mifsud was a Russian agent and that Downer was a random diplomat

>>6475604 I was approached by Australian/US/UK intel BEFORE Alexander Downer made contact with me

>>6475604 Stefan Halper/Alexander Downer BOTH played the same amateur spy game

>>6475604 Downer and Comey are terrified about imminent release of the IG report and FISA declassification

>>6475622 I am certain that this ambassador was none other than Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer

>>6475622 Christian Cantor, took it upon himself to introduce me to the Australian government in mid April 2016

>>6475622 Facts: (1/2) Australian intel officer calls Trump a “pariah” and a “threat” to Australia

>>6475622 Facts: (2/2) May 10: Alexander Downer spies on me

>>6475622 The day before I met Downer! what a freaking joke Comey is

>>6475642 The president knows he and his campaign were set up by the UK and Australia as well as a rogue FBI/CIA.

>>6567993 This was before I met Clinton errand boy/FBI asset, Alexander Downer.

>>6576333 Alexander Downer went public in an interview and is blaming the Israelis

#4 - Part 3/8

>>6014726 Australia, Holland, Russia start talks over downed MH17

>>6014738 Xi meets with New Zealand prime minister to court US ally

>>6026141 Analysis of emergency call from foster mother of missing Australian toddler, William Tyrrell

>>6028965 The Rot Starts At The Top: The Problem With De-Platforming The Far-Right

>>6029295 Australia will stop contributions to the UN’s major fund for battling climate change this year

>>6029327 Australian Bureau of Meteorology altering historical temperature records

>>6029348 New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern in Beijing - progress on trade, climate change and Huawei

>>6029569 Measles case involving Sydney baby two months away from vaccination 'terrified' parents

>>6030883 Australian Woman Mysteriously Dies During Flight Home from Los Angeles After Vacation

>>6030905 NZ tech company discovers major Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox bug

>>6031056 Doctors Who Discovered Cancer Enzymes in Vaccines all Found Murdered

>>6037300 Fraser Anning: Australian MP censured for 'appalling' Christchurch remarks

>>6037346 Panama Papers investigation helps recover more than $1.2 billion around the world

>>6037540 Is the Mueller Report another Stealth Bomber?

>>6037812 Video: The Truth about The Port Arthur Massacre

>>6037847 Video: Mother of the Port Arthur massacre killer, Martin Bryant, speaks out

>>6040531 Video: Steve Hughes: Feminism & Transgenderism

>>6042762, >>6042765 Video: Wind turbine noise from Australia

>>6043026 Sword Anon visits Q Research AUSTRALIA

>>6043672 Facebook and Instagram could face fines or jail time under new Australian laws

>>6055767 Australia rushing through new social media laws

>>6055783 Tough New Laws to protect Australians from Live-Streaming of Violent Crimes

>>6055789 Australia passes social media law penalising platforms for violent content

>>6055835 Australia could put social media executives in jail for violent posts

>>6055874 Goldcorp shareholders approve Newmont's $10 billion takeover offer

>>6055905, >>6056952 Massive factory fire is burns out of control in Melbourne

>>6056016 Australia doubles down on being stampeded into catastrophically stupid tech laws

>>6056883 Aus Anon's Thoughts On Q's Spill Comment

>>6064603 US Anon visits with Marker Solution theory

>>6068878 Australian Government to hold Royal Commission into abuse and neglect of disabled Australians.

>>6068972 Accused Christchurch shooter ordered to undergo psychiatric assessment

>>6070695 Social Media execs could be held personally liable for harmful content under new UK laws

>>6070824 Footage shows moment Daniel Morcombe kidnapper, murderer arrested

>>6074002 Canadian Police Raid ‘Orcus RAT’ Author (Remote Access Trojan)

>>6086063 "53-47" (Q Post #2318) in Aust News - Morrison government on course for major election defeat

>>6090334 Leaked Turnbull-Trump phone call could lead to criminal charges

>>6092495 Q posts relating to leaked Turnbull-Trump phone call

>>6094644, >>6094666 Aus Anon on Access to chan sites

>>6094702 Militant Vegan Protesters shut down cities across Australia

>>6094706 Britain plans social media regulation to battle harmful content

>>6094919 Australia appoints new ambassador to Afghanistan

>>6094982 Animal Activist Groups Active in Australia Today And Cuba As Well

>>6110109 Leak of call between Trump and Malcolm Turnbull could lead to criminal charges

>>6114024 Facebook, Google And Twitter Hit By New Legal Regulation To 'Clean Up Their Acts'

>>6118189 New Zealand Govt confirms details of Royal Commission into Christchurch terror attack

>>6118189 PDF: Terms of Reference for the Royal Commission into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques

>>6118234, >>6120347 Anons comments on UK's published divide and conquer strategy (Dec 2018)

>>6132788 Rugby Australia say they plan to sack Israel Folau over controversial social post

>>6132801 New Zealand votes to amend gun laws after Christchurch attack

>>6152799 NZ police seek man wearing Trump t-shirt who allegedly abused worshippers outside Al Noor Mosque

#4 - Part 4/8

Julian Assange Arrest Bun

>>6029236 Ecuador's president says Julian Assange has 'repeatedly violated the terms of his asylum in London embassy'

>>6030993 Bashing of Assange is linked to reportage on Ecuador president’s corruption scandal – WikiLeaks

>>6068928 Armed police surround Ecuadorean embassy as Julian Assange 'is set to be kicked out

>>6069188 Sara Carter Tweets about Police waiting for Julian Assange to be expelled

>>6069380 Ecuador’s UK ambassador REJECTS Wikileaks’ claims that Julian Assange is about to be expelled

>>6070879 U.N. torture expert urges Ecuador not to expel Assange from embassy

>>6094619 Leaked Assange Court Transcript Sheds Light on US-Backed Ecuadorian Expulsion Plans

>>6114168 Ecuador reserves the right to investigate Assange: foreign minister

>>6114182 “I’m an assassination risk”, writes Assange to Ecuador court in leaked testimony.

>>6118488 Julian Assange is involved in new criminal case

>>6152839 Julian Assange Arrested

>>6152890 Video: JA's Arrest Footage

>>6152921 JA Arrested by British police at Ecuadorean embassy after Ecuador relinquishes asylum

>>6152936, >>6153212 Tweets confirming Julian Assange's arrest and U.S. extradition request

>>6152953 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested after eviction from Ecuadorian Embassy in London

>>6152975 WIKILEAKS INSURANCE FILES - Keys might be released after JA arrest

>>6153067 JA arrest translation by an Ausfag

>>6153095 Assange Arrested Carrying Gore Vidal's History of the National Security State

>>6153195 DOJ Assange Indictment link

>>6163220, >>6163231 Sara Carter on JA

>>6163274 Snowden Tweets about JA

>>6163296 JA to appear in court on 2 May

>>6163364 WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Computer Hacking Conspiracy and Anons response

>>6173023 Australian consular officials will visit Julian Assange over death penalty fears

>>6173642 How You Can Be Certain That The US Charge Against Assange Is Fraudulent

>>6173698 Pentagon Papers Lawyer: Julian Assange Being Convicted Will Criminalize the News-Gathering Process

>>6173769 Julian Assange 'must face Swedish justice' if country asks, say MPs

>>6173808 Political prisoner Julian Assange is being held in what is known as "Britain's Guantánamo Bay"

>>6173850 Julian Assange’s Mother Begs Officials: ‘Be Patient, Gentle & Kind to Him’

>>6184417 Assange's lawyer says he only fears 'US injustice'

>>6184445 Julian Assange: WikiLeaks founder's life in Ecuadorian embassy captured on security camera

>>6197273 Rand Paul Suggests Granting Assange Immunity In Exchange For Congressional Testimony

>>6209960 Julian Assange wins EU journalism award

>>6237482 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange agrees to remain at maximum security Belmarsh jail

>>6237608 Wretched are the offence-takers: in defence of Folau and Assange

>>6320338 IMF approves $4.2bn loan for Ecuador, suspicious timing after Assange arrested

>>6331971 Assange's Imprisonment Reveals Even More Corruption Than WikiLeaks Did

>>6369178, >>6369178 Video: 60 Minutes Australia - Julian Assange's father's fears for his son

>>6383769 WikiLeaks' Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks' jail over bail breach

>>6394160 WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange won’t be given ‘special treatment,’ Australian prime minister says

>>6410549 Video: Julian Assange: Clinton Foundation and ISIS were funded from the same source

>>6410955 >Julian Assange gets 50 weeks on bail charge, day before extradition hearing

>>6418273 I won't surrender to extradition ‘for doing journalism’ – Assange

>>6486471 WikiLeaks co-founder's files, computer, mobile phones and other electronic devices to be seized by US

>>6494390 Sweden reopens Assange rape investigation, to seek extradition

>>6541355 WikiLeaks says Assange papers, manuscripts will be given to US authorities: report

>>6576086 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange facing 18 charges of receiving and publishing classified information

>>6576224 New Q post referencing Julian Assange - "Under protection. Threat is real. Key to DNC 'source' 'hack' '187'."

#4 - Part 5/8

>>6163313 Anon Comment on April Showers

>>6163392 Newmont shareholders OK $10 billion Goldcorp takeover, creating biggest gold producer

>>6172318 China takes Australia's Huawei 5G ban to global trade umpire

>>6173762 Tensions Erupt As China Slams Australia's "Irresponsible Comments"

>>6173843 'Multiple' victims in Australia shooting: Police

>>6173918 At least 4 people shot, 1 killed, outside Melbourne nightclub

>>6197149 6 charged with spreading New Zealand mosque shooting video online

>>6209868, >>6210078 Australian DJ charged after boy, 2, snatched off San Francisco street

>>6209875 NZ Police have released a timeline of the day of the Christchurch shooting

>>6209875 PDF: Christchurch Mosque Shootings: Timeline of events 15 March 2019

>>6209917 Climate change narrative takes a hit - Peter Ridd wins in court

>>6210008 Updated timeline of Christchurch terrorist attack released by police

>>6237284 Australia ‘ready to confirm’ key meeting that led to Mueller probe

>>6249770 Australian Government Confirms Official Role in "Spygate"

>>6249866 Australia Says It's "Ready To Confirm" Key Meeting That Led To Russia Investigation

>>6261103, >>6261168 Atrocities in the world and notable names nearby - Podesta, Pelosi and Michelle icObama

>>6261124 Social Media Platforms want centralized censorship. That should scare you

>>6261190 U.S. intelligence says Huawei funded by Chinese state security: report

>>6261228 Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, YouTube Working on ‘Global Censorship Database’

>>6261355 Date shift raises questions on Downer meeting in wine bar

>>6274793 Donald Trump invited to Melbourne for the Presidents Cup

>>6279384 Kevin Rudd: If an Australian PM did 1/10th of Trump's alleged acts, he'd be out of office

>>6280357 Kevin Rudd, Christopher Joye and the 2008 mortgage backed securities bail out

>>6294133 Easter Sunday suicide bomber studied in Australia, Sri Lankan minister says

>>6294562 US spy boss James Robert Clapper Jr makes secretive visit to Australia

>>6294983 Time To Investigate The FBI, Steele And The Rest Of The 'Witch Hunters'

>>6294995 Video: MASS Surveillance State In Australia!

>>6295007 Theresa May tweets after NZ and Sri Lanka attacks

>>6295873 Islamic State supporters celebrate Sri Lanka suicide bombings as ‘revenge’ for NZ mosque massacre

>>6302266 Video: ANZAC Day 2019 - The Last Post bugle call and recitation of The Ode.

>>6302791 Papadopoulos Disputes Key Claim in Mueller Report - and Anons Analysis

>>6302832 Sri Lanka military gets special powers after deadly bombings

>>6302932 Video: 60 Minutes Australia - Inside the depraved world of David and Louise Turpin

>>6302951 Sri Lankan Minister of Defense claims attacks were in retaliation for Christchurch mosque attacks

>>6303591 Jacinda Ardern to lead global attempt to shutdown social media terrorism

>>6303599 NZ and France seek to end use of social media for acts of terrorism

>>6303686 UK Archbishop Calls for Recognition of ‘Anti-Christianism’ After Sri Lanka Attacks

>>6308684 Australia's canceled Israel embassy move shows country's Asian concerns

>>6308690 Australian comedian jokes about Nazi gas chambers, gets complaint, doubles down

>>6308739 Microsoft Discovers Huawei Driver Allowing Backdoor Hack Into Laptops

>>6308846 Easter Sunday suicide bomber studied in Australia, Sri Lankan minister says

>>6308863 Suspected Islamic State member arrested over alleged plan to attack Gallipoli

>>6308895 Australian police allow rapist to remain free - he goes on to rape a child

>>6319487 Man arrested in counter-terrorism operation in North Melbourne

>>6320045 May to Let China Build UK 5G Network, Damaging National Security, Anglosphere Co-operation

>>6320074 South Australian child ‘sex tourist’ branded the worst paedophile in nation’s history

>>6320205 Turkey arrests Islamic State member over alleged Gallipoli threat

>>6320227 Facebook says head-cam Christchurch video foiled its AI system

>>6320287 Prince William visits mosque in New Zealand, in pictures

>>6320327 Theresa May ANZAC Day tweet

#4 - Part 6/8

2019 Australian Election Bun

>>6131361 Election 2019: Date set for May 18

>>6133618 Australia Heads to Election in Showdown Over Taxes, Climate

>>6115863 Right-wing anti-immigrant party rebrands as ‘Yellow Vests Australia’ ahead of elections

>>6133679 Coalition will roll out 'name and shame' paedophile register across Australia if elected

>>6161270 Video: Fraser Anning - The Carl Higbie Show

>>6183034 Newspoll: One Nation’s slide gives Labor and Coalition a boost

>>6233644 Party-hopping pollies need to respect the will of the voters

>>6311560, >>6311576, >>6311598 Alt-right to release 'avalanche' of election campaign propaganda to help Fraser Anning

>>6314968 Background Briefing twitter account banner and Fraser Anning profile pic

>>6319069 Teen charged after attack at Fraser Anning press conference named

>>6319395 Photographer hurt in scuffle at Fraser Anning press conference

>>6319403 Video: Female journalist attacked following Fraser Anning press conference

>>6319429 Liberal party strikes deal to exchange preferences with Clive Palmer

>>6320000 Senator Fraser Anning press conference - 26/4/2019.

>>6328721 One Nation candidate filmed making controversial comments

>>6332066 Far-right social media views of alleged attacker at Fraser Anning political announcement

>>6344236 It’s Clive Palmer (Trump) vs Bill Shorten (Hillary)

>>6356157 Heckler targets Queensland Senator Fraser Anning at Adani-related press conference

>>6356707 Major parties shun Fraser Anning's candidates, Liberals embrace United Australia Party, as pre-polls open

>>6369051 Video: Pauline Hanson's One Nation candidate Steve Dickson resigns over strip club videos

>>6418610 Anti-gay, anti-Muslim rogue candidates taint PM Scott Morrison's Australia election bid

>>6419821 Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's billboard defaced with nazi imagery

>>6427309 Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party objects

>>6435304, >>6435314, >>6445341 Scott Morrison egged while campaigning in Albury

>>6438554 ABC defends free advertising to ‘disgraced’ Fraser Anning

>>6444103 Bill Shorten fights back tears as he defends his Mum’s story

>>6444140 Greens candidate Jay Dessi quits as candidate for Lalor over offensive Facebook posts

>>6444676 Video: We Are Change Talk Show Guest - Wayne Glew, Great Australian Party

>>6503461 Pauline Hanson lashes ‘racist’ Fraser Anning

>>6503465 Bill Shorten hints Julie Bishop could be his ambassador to the US

>>6524767 Pre-Election Newspoll prediction - Labor victory, 80 Lower House seats, 1.86% swing

>>6527582, >>6527618 BREAKING: ABC projects Coalition victory

>>6527778 Video: Pauline Hanson’s tears – Nine News Australia

>>6528229 Red shoe Julie Bishop featured in election coverage with animated red shoe symbolism

>>6529513, >>6529574 Federal Election map and summary - See how the Coalition defied the polls to retain power

>>6529765 'I always believed in miracles': Scott Morrison celebrates as Bill Shorten concedes defeat

>>6532032 President Trump Tweet: Congratulations to Scott on a GREAT WIN!

>>6532204 Video: Scott Morrrison makes his final pitch to voters before election day - ABC 7.30

>>6532807 Fraser Anning out as Jacqui Lambie and Malcolm Roberts return to Senate

>>6533220 Scott Morrison clinches unlikely victory over Bill Shorten in bombshell election result

>>6533244 Video: Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologises to victims of child sexual abuse - ABC News

>>6533398 Australia’s Conservatives Win Surprise Election Victory

>>6533653, >>6534245 Bun of Anons comments on POTUS Tweet about Scott Morrison

>>6533766 Video: Think someones having a kek - ScoMo thanks Chief Of Staff, John Kunkel

>>6534309 Trump calls Morrison ‘to reaffirm alliance, friendship’

>>6536935 US Dept. of State Tweet - The U.S. congratulates @ScottMorrisonMP & the Coalition on their victory

>>6539985, >>6540010 Negative Twitter reactions to Coalition election victory

>>6541405 Tanya Plibersek rules herself out of race for Labor leadership

>>6541518 Australia Re-Elects Conservative As Prime Minister In 'Shock' Result, Left Predicts Environmental Apocalypse

>>6541530 Trump and Australia’s Scott Morrison Reaffirm Alliance, Friendship After General Election

>>6556487 Photo posted by Chris Bowen on eve of election campaign reveals arrogance that doomed ALP

>>6556521 Albanese a step closer to Labor leadership as Bowen bows out

>>6556973 'I'll burn for you': How our Pentecostal PM energised Christian voters

#4 - Part 7/8

>>6325628, >>6327329 Original Australia thread still visible on /thestorm/

>>6331860, >>6331863 North Melbourne counter-terrorism operation: Target appears to be an Anglican Church

>>6352840 New Zealander faces 14 years in prison for sharing Christchurch video online

>>6368726 Donald Trump's Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein submits letter of resignation.

>>6369240 Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports' international terminals passport control down

>>6369324 Without fanfare, Australia opens trade and defense office in Jerusalem

>>6379397 Minneapolis cop who shot Australian Justine Damond found guilty of 2nd degree manslaughter

>>6399143 Video: Rebut this. Foreign fake "Australian Government" Corporations

>>6410312 Explosive device and ammunition found at empty Christchurch property

>>6410441 China’s Big Brother Social Control Goes to Australia

>>6410648 William Barr made a major disclosure in his Senate hearing that hardly anyone noticed

>>6411473 Australian man found guilty in plane bomb plot involving meat grinder

>>6418242 Australian Journalist Arrested for Plotting to Murder Christians in Revenge for Christchurch

>>6418838 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA IS A CORPORATION

>>6419711 Australian Cyber security chief MacGibbon resigns

>>6419768 $20 MILLION: Minneapolis City Council agrees to historic settlement with Justine Damond's family

>>6426690 Avi Yemini in court over assault, knife-throwing charges against woman

>>6426752 Gold Coast Music Awards 'Skull Trophy'

>>6434334 Video: NZ and Australia Have Fallen

>>6437035 Australian DJ Adam Sky found dead in Bali resort

>>6437067 Video: Rogue Boeing 737 Max planes ‘with minds of their own’ (60 Minutes Australia)

>>6437088 Trolls will be jailed for five years under proposed new legislation.

>>6452373 Lowering Standards: Australian Universities, English Requirements and Student Cash Cows

>>6453464 Ex-Nauru president Sprent Dabwido who oversaw detention centre reopening dies

>>6453489 NZ & US Special Forces joint training exercises

>>6460587 Video: AUSTRALIA IS PANICKING! Andrew Bolt interview with Alexander Downer (Sky News Australia)

>>6478345 Defence Force names New Zealand SAS soldier who died following training incident in Auckland

>>6478353 US Drug Enforcement Administration open offices in New Zealand to help police investigate cartels

>>6478436 Christian star athlete posts what Bible says about homosexual behavior. Now Rugby Australia wants him gone.

>>6478466 Australia Prints Embarrassing Typo On 46 Million $50 Banknotes

>>6478482 Alexander Downer defends FBI tipoff that sparked Trump-Russia probe

>>6478563 Rugby Player Found Guilty of ‘High Level’ Breach of Conduct for Posting Bible Verse

>>6486418, >>6486794, >>6493200 Anon's summary: Australia on sale to Chinese

>>6486447 Downer Denies Meeting Supposed to Launch FBI’s Russia Probe Was a Set-Up

>>6494456 This Common Food Additive Harms Gut Health, Could Trigger Disease

>>6503412 Virgin passengers stuck in baggage lines for hours as technical trouble hits check-in system

>>6503418 Jacinda Ardern won't rule out blocking Facebook if used to spread extremist content

>>6503434 Papua New Guinea earthquake: Huge 7.7m tremor as tsunami alert issued - 14 May 2019

>>6511127 Sydney man denies assaulting News Corp photographer at Fraser Anning media event

>>6511690 Obama admin secretly agreed with then-Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull to relocate 2 Rwandan terrorists

>>6511933 Labor legend Bob Hawke dies aged 89

>>6513492 Australian Diplomat at Center of Russia Hoax Also Has China, Clinton Foundation Links

>>6516255 Sportsbet pays out early on Labor to win election

>>6519173 Israel Folau officially sacked by Rugby Australia

>>6519598 Anon speculates: possible that Bob Hawke died and was kept on ice until eve of the federal election?

>>6519707 Video: 60 Minutes Australia - Population debate

>>6521723 Fiona Barnett allegations - Bob Hawke never brought to justice for allegedly raping 2 girls

>>6541726 Some media charges dropped for reporting of George Pell conviction

>>6548988 Christchurch attacks accused Brenton Tarrant facing new charges

>>6549319 Wierd Pizza News from NZ

#4 - Part 8/8

>>6549427 After ‘Stunning’ Conservative Win, NY Times Compares Australia to ‘American South’

>>6549432 China’s ‘Social Credit System’ Is Dystopian Nightmare

>>6549461 NZ study highlights the risk of 'deep fakes' on social media

>>6549471 ‘Nuclear Coffin’ Might Be Leaking Radioactive Material Into Pacific, Says UN Chief

>>6556949 China's communists fund Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party: What the United States Congress was told

>>6576289 Downer mentioned in yet another Tweet

>>6576293 New Q posts referencing Australia, Five Eyes and FISA

>>6576306, >>6576371 Meteor crashes to earth at Mt Gambier, South Australia

>>6576383 Phillip Nitschke's 3D-printable 'Death Pod' for 'stylish' and 'peaceful' suicide premiered at Venice expo

>>6576391, >>6576437 Australian actor Geoffrey Rush awarded $2.9 million

Australian/Regional Resignations Bun

>>6184820 Nuk Korako resigns as NZ National MP

>>6237599 Another resignation from PNG cabinet - Justice Minister Davis Steven

>>6332148 Multiple resignations from PNG's People’s National Congress party

>>6369369 One Nation's Steve Dickson resigns over strip club footage

>>6407925 Australian Cyber security chief MacGibbon resigns

>>6418178 Boss of troubled NDIA quits after less than two years in the role

>>6419766 3 Senior PNG Ministers Resign

>>6447134 Joe Hockey to leave post as Australia's ambassador to the United States

>>6494389 Director of company that may acquire Vodafone NZ resigns from Spark's board

>>6519753 AFL Victoria receives Gippsland commission's resignation amid insolvency fears

PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED NOTABLES

>>4937627 Q Research AUSTRALIA #1 - https://pastebin.com/WiJa8rE0

>>5443933 Q Research AUSTRALIA #2 - https://pastebin.com/0BfaKkYm

>>5958095 Q Research AUSTRALIA #3 - https://pastebin.com/kUJFL7HP

>>6576514 Q Research AUSTRALIA #4 - https://pastebin.com/C4iL3ubL

THREAD ARCHIVES

Q Research AUSTRALIA #1 - http://archive.fo/vJ8oH

Q Research AUSTRALIA #2 - http://archive.fo/hlJ0W

Q Research AUSTRALIA #3 - http://archive.fo/xznbY

Q Research AUSTRALIA #4 - https://archive.is/B0Z4l

CURRENT DOUGH

https://pastebin.com/9agCuNc8

''So it begins…''

Australia in Trump's sights for 'Russia hoax' investigation

New York: US President Donald Trump has asked his Attorney-General William Barr to investigate Australia's role in sparking the 2016 FBI probe into potential links between his election campaign and Russia.

On Friday, local time, Trump publicly singled out Australia and the UK - two of America's closest allies - when discussing what he calls the "Russia hoax" and "witch hunt".

The move was criticised by some members of US Congress who predicted that the investigation could undermine trust between the Five Eyes intelligence sharing nations: the US, Australia, UK, Canada and New Zealand.

On Thursday Trump gave Barr sweeping new authorities to conduct a review into how the 2016 Trump campaign's ties to Russia were investigated.

On Friday he announced that he had declassified potentially millions of pages of intelligence documents related to surveillance activities on his campaign and Barr would have "full and complete authority" to examine them.

"So what I've done is I've declassified everything," Trump told reporters at the White House before departing on a trip to Japan.

"He can look and I hope he looks at the UK and I hope he looks at Australia and I hope he looks at Ukraine.

"I hope he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country."

Trump is believed to be operating without precedent by giving an official who is not in charge of an intelligence agency the power to reveal its secrets.

US Special Counsel Bob Mueller's report on links between the Trump campaign and Russia, pointed to a 2016 meeting between then Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos and Australian then high commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, in a London bar as prompting the FBI to open its Trump-Russia probe.

The FBI probe led to Mueller being appointed as special counsel.

Papadopoulos has repeatedly claimed Downer spied on him during the bar meeting, a claim which Downer has rejected.

Downer has said that Papadopoulos told him at the bar Russia had damaging material on Trump's presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

The information was forwarded to Canberra and then passed on to US intelligence services and the FBI.

Papadopoulos denies telling Downer anything about Russia obtaining damaging information on Clinton.

In response to Trump's announcement Papadopoulos tweeted: "I have kept the heat on the UK and Australia for a while now. They will finally be exposed. None more than Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer."

He continued: "Fortunately, so many of these clowns that started to spy on me were from the UK/Australia/Italy. Those governments have absolutely no loyalty to the Obama administration/Comey/Brennan now. They are going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back."

Trump described the Russia probe as "an attempted coup or an attempted takedown of the President of the United States".

Trump also said he might ask outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May about "potential Five Eyes spying" on his campaign.

"I may very well talk to her about that, yeah," Trump said.

"There's word and rumour that the FBI and others were involved, CIA were involved, with the UK, having to do with the Russian hoax," Trump said.

Jim Himes, a Democrat member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Trump was damaging alliances and potentially exposing confidential sources for his own political purposes.

"What the UK and Australia and New Zealand see is because the President, in order to forward a political fantasy, may blow our sources and methods, put our people at risk," Himes told CNN.

"This is a very dangerous thing for the United States."

Papadopoulos was one of Mueller's first convictions, with the former aide pleading guilty to lying to the FBI. He was sentenced to 14 days' jail.

Papadopoulos, Republican members of Congress and right-wing US media figures have been urging the president to declassify the documents.

"It's the greatest hoax, probably, in the history of our country and somebody has to get to the bottom of it," Trump said.

"We'll see.

"But for a long period of time, they've wanted me to declassify and I did."

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/australia-in-trump-s-sights-for-russia-hoax-investigation-20190525-p51r28.html

>>6584096

New George Papadopoulos Tweet

I have kept the heat on the UK and Australia for a while now. They will finally be exposed. None more than Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1132011193479061504

>>6584112

Video from George Papadopoulos' retweet. Australia mentioned at 0:24.

M3thods @M2Madness

DJT: "The AG is one of the most respected people…He's going to look at a lot of documents…I've declassified everything…I hope he looks at the UK, and I hope he looks at Australia, and I hope he looks at Ukraine. I hope he looks at everything."

Full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvhtEl6wIDQ

https://twitter.com/M2Madness/status/1131970036896325634

>>6584142

Full 9 minute video -

Trump on Declassified Info: I'm The Most Transparent President in History - Press Conference 5/24/19

Statement from the Press Secretary | The White House

Issued on: May 23, 2019

Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election. The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-58/

Trump Orders Declassification of Obama-Era Russia Probe Intel

Democrats leading the impeachment charge against President Trump have repeatedly called on him to justify his assertion that Obama administration officials tried to undermine his 2016 presidential campaign and election. On Thursday night, he took the first step in trying to do just that when he ordered the declassification of intelligence documents that he has said show the pathway Obama officials navigated to spy on the campaign.

In a directive to the CIA, the director of National Intelligence, the Pentagon and several other national security agencies, Trump handed Attorney General Bill Barr the authority to declassify or downgrade “information or intelligence that relates to the attorney general’s review.” The president ordered the agencies to “promptly provide such assistance and information as the attorney general may request in connection with that review.”

Barr has begun looking into the origins and timing of the FBI’s 2016 counter-intelligence investigation, code-named “Crossfire Hurricane,” aimed at uncovering evidence that Trump campaign officials were conspiring with Russians to interfere in the election. The FBI’s probe included wiretaps on a Trump adviser Carter Page.

Trump’s move came earlier than many of his allies and associates had expected. Most had expected him to wait until Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released the results of his year-long investigation into the sources and methods the FBI used to begin surveillance on the Trump campaign based at least in part on discredited information gathered by former British spy Christopher Steele.

Barr has said the inspector general is wrapping up his probe and could release a final report as early as next month.

But after a series of fiery clashes between Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the last two days, Trump moved to begin the declassification process.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement said the order “will help Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken during the last presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions.”

Sanders also underscored the “the full and complete” authority Barr now has “to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information.”

The declassification process will undoubtedly shed new light on the role FBI officials, including former Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, as well as former FBI agent Peter Strzok, lawyer Lisa Page and former Associate Deputy Director Bruce Ohr, played in seeking the warrant application under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to begin spying on Page.

The move also could help detail the role former CIA Director John Brennan played in pushing the narrative regarding Russian efforts to penetrate the Trump campaign. The first evidence of those efforts, according to media reports, came from foreign intelligence sources’ tipoffs, based on voice intercepts, computer traffic or human sources based outside the United States, dating back to 2015.

Former National Intelligence Director James Clapper has argued that the unproven “Russian dossier” that Steele composed — and which was bankrolled by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign — was not the primary source for the FISA warrants. If not, then the declassified FISA-related documents will undoubtedly show what other information officials used to secure the surveillance warrants.

Nearly two years ago, when Trump accused Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, of engaging in the “unmasking” of U.S. persons as part of the counter-intelligence probe, a potentially criminal act, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said he should show proof that it occurred.

“If he’s going to make accusations of criminality against anyone, he needs to show evidence to support that kind of charge,” the then-ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee said at the time.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, now a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, went further, arguing that “if the president wants to say that Susan Rice committed a crime, he has the power to declassify. No one else does.”

Trump tried to declassify materials related to the FBI’s Russian investigation back in September, but Democrats objected that doing so would compromise FBI “sources and methods.” The president abandoned the plan after key allies called on him not to release the material over concerns that doing so could have a negative impact on the then-ongoing Russia probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/05/24/trump_orders_declassification_of_obama-era_russia_probe_intel__140417.html

George Papadopoulos Twitter Round Up

It’s time to also understand why two US intel guys were spying on me in London days before Clinton errand boy/US intel asset, Alexander Downer, started to spy as well. Who was sending these jokers? Out them all and their handlers.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1131995312065732609

I think a short phone call with Bibi Netanyahu will help the president get to the bottom of what the Australians were really up to. Downer went on a bizarre rant and blamed the Israelis for him spying on me in a recent interview he gave.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1132015426999742464

Fortunately, so many of these clowns that started to spy on me were from the UK/Australia/Italy. Those governments have absolutely no loyalty to the Obama administration/Comey/Brennan now. They are going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1132071627309457408

Italy was the first to flip. They are giving up Mifsud. The rest of the dominoes are all falling after him implicating the UK and Australia with the FBI/CIA.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1132046041769922560

>>6585216

Testing…testing…1 - 2 - 3…

Q Research AUSTRALIA #5 was visible in the catalog this morning but would only load the dreaded "404 - Page Not Found" message. An appeal for help was posted in General #8423 and Baker/BO/BVs were right onto it.

Seems this helpful anon >>6588423 has resurrected our thread!

Not sure what happened here. Apparently General #8400 also 404'ed. Hopefully it was a system-wide issue and our humble little thread just got caught in the 'crossfire'.

I'll be posting a message of thanks in the latest General shortly. Let the Oz research continue…

More George Papadopoulos Tweets

Alexander Downer’s fake testimony against me helped launch a witch-hunt. My real testimony against him has launched an unprecedented investigation into the deep state and its global actors in Italy-Ukraine-UK-Australia. Downer will forever b remembered as the Clinton errand boy.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1132380181190959104

Clapper was spending a lot of time in Australia trying to cover his tracks along with Downer’s and the Australian government as a whole. Supoanea him and expose the Australians. They need us. We don’t need them!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1132451790077566977

>>6590233

''We stand TOGETHER in this FIGHT.''

''WWG1WGA!!!''

Sinodinos tapped for US role as Trump raises questions over Australia

Scott Morrison has tapped one of the Coalition's most trusted voices, Arthur Sinodinos, to become the next ambassador to the United States as President Donald Trump raises questions over Australia's role in the FBI inquiry into his 2016 election.

Ahead of what could be a testing period for Australia's relationship with its most important diplomatic relationship, Senator Sinodinos - widely tipped to take a cabinet position in the re-elected Morrison government - will head to Washington.

The term of Joe Hockey, the current ambassador and former treasurer in the Abbott government, is to finish at the end of the year. This enabled Mr Morrison to offer the post to Senator Sinodinos who is expected to take over in January 2020, the start of a presidential election year.

Senator Sinodinos said he was pleased to take up the posting.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to serve my country abroad in this way," he said.

"This is a very good opportunity to regroup as a family after the health issues of recent years."

A highly respected former cabinet minister and chief of staff to John Howard, Senator Sinodinos served as Malcolm Turnbull's cabinet secretary but was forced to stand down to undergo treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He has since made a full recovery and was widely tipped to return to cabinet under Mr Morrison.

Senator Sinodinos, who will remain in the Senate until his posting, will walk straight into President Trump's concerns about the FBI investigation that led to the Mueller inquiry.

US Special Counsel Bob Mueller's report on links between the Trump campaign and Russia, pointed to a 2016 meeting between then Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos and Australian then high commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, in a London bar as prompting the FBI to open its Trump-Russia probe.

The FBI probe led to Mueller being appointed as special counsel.

Ahead of a weekend trip to Japan, President Trump said he had declassified intelligence documents so the truth of the FBI inquiry could be determined.

"He can look and I hope he looks at the UK and I hope he looks at Australia and I hope he looks at Ukraine.

"I hope he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country."

United States Studies Centre fellow Bruce Wolpe said Senator Sinodinos would be a fine appointment because of his experience and sharp political instincts.

He said they would come in handy given the move by President Trump to investigate the events of 2016.

"The trick will be engaging with President Trump and figuring out how to protect Australia's interests and dealing with a very transactional president," he said.

"The Mueller investigation is clearly in the mind of the President and how he thinks about the relationship. There is a big risk from Australia's perspective that in the future, if there is a request of President Trump, he's going to take into account the history of the relationship."

Mr Morrison would not be drawn on Mr Trump's comments or move, saying he would not comment on an investigation that was under way.

Senator Sinodinos focused on the close ties between the two nations.

"We are two of the world's oldest continuing democracies and have fought alongside one another in all the major conflicts of the last century. Above all we stand for humane and decent universal values," he said.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/sinodinos-tapped-for-us-role-as-trump-raises-questions-over-australia-20190526-p51rbd.html

>>6592990

>That's what anons do, watch each other's backs.

Thank you so much for your support, anon!

God bless!

No Australian request for US Barr probe

Australia hasn't yet been asked to "participate" in an investigation into the circumstances that sparked a multi-year probe into whether Donald Trump's 2016 US presidential campaign colluded with Russia.

US Attorney-General William Barr has been tasked with examining the events that prompted the FBI probe, and Mr Trump wants Australia's role examined.

The president said on Friday he has declassified "potentially millions of pages" of intelligence documents related to surveillance activities on his campaign so Mr Barr can analyse them.

"He can look and I hope he looks at the UK and I hope he looks at Australia and I hope he looks at Ukraine," Mr Trump told reporters.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne says Australia has not been asked to be part of Mr Barr's investigation.

"We have not been asked to participate. We would, of course, consider such a request were it to be made," she told ABC Radio National on Monday.

The minister has also followed Prime Minister Scott Morrison's lead by not commenting on what the investigation may cover.

"We don't intend to engage in a public commentary that might entail any risk that we're seen to prejudice the ongoing examination of these matters in the US."

The move has been denounced by some members of US Congress who predicted trust between the Five Eyes intelligence sharing nations - the US, Australia, UK, Canada and New Zealand - could be eroded.

The FBI probe led to Bob Mueller being appointed as US Special Counsel to investigate links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

His report pointed to a 2016 meeting between in a London bar between then Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos and Australian's then high commissioner to the UK Alexander Downer.

Mr Downer claimed Mr Papadopoulos told him at the bar Russia had damaging material on Trump's presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

The information was forwarded to Canberra and then passed on to US intelligence services and the FBI.

Mr Papadopoulos in return claimed Mr Downer spied on him during the bar meeting, a charge Mr Downer rejects.

Papadopoulos later pleading guilty to lying to the FBI. He was sentenced to 14 days' jail.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/no-australian-request-for-us-barr-probe

Swedish court rejects delay of Assange hearing over ill-health: lawyer

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish court has rejected a request to postpone a planned hearing to rule on the detention in absentia of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged rape, a defense lawyer for Assange said on Tuesday

The Swedish prosecutor heading an investigation into the rape allegation against Assange, which he denies, this month filed a request with a local court for him to be detained with a hearing scheduled for June 3.

Swedish defense lawyer Per Samuelson told Reuters he had visited Assange in British custody on Friday after which he had sought to have the hearing postponed.

“One of the reasons is that Assange’s health situation on Friday was such that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him,” Samuelson said.

“I meant that it should be postponed until I had time to meet again and go through the issues in peace and quiet. I suggested no specific date and meant it should be postponed until everything was ready, but the district court has now decided that this won’t happen.”

The Uppsala district court, where the hearing is due to take place, was not immediately available for comment. A prosecutors’ office spokesman declined to comment.

Sweden reopened the rape investigation in early May. It was begun in 2010 but dropped in 2017 years after Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy. Assange was arrested in London last month after spending seven years inside the embassy.

If the court order is granted, it would be the first step in a process to have Assange extradited from Britain, where he is serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail.

U.S. authorities are separately seeking to extradite Assange on charges relating to the public release by Wikileaks of a cache of secret documents and last week unveiled 17 new criminal charges against him, including espionage.

The British courts will have to rule on the two extradition requests, with the home secretary having the final say on which one takes precedence.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wikileaks-assange/swedish-court-rejects-delay-of-assange-hearing-over-ill-health-lawyer-idUSKCN1SY1UI

Julian Assange moved to prison health ward as WikiLeaks reveal 'grave concerns' about well-being

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been moved to the heath ward of Belmarsh prison.

On Wednesday night the company released a statement confirming the move, adding that they have "grave concerns" over the state of his health.

At the start of this month Mr Assange was jailed for 50 weeks for skipping bail in 2012.

"Mr Assange's heath had already significantly deteriorated after seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy, under conditions that were incompatible with basic human rights," the group said in a statement.

It added: "During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has continued to deteriorate and he has dramatically lost weight. The decision of prison authorities to move him to the health ward speaks for itself."

The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.

The move came a day before Assange was due to appear via videolink for the latest hearing in his extradition case.

Assange is facing extradition to the US, accused of conspiring to break into a classified Pentagon computer and facing 17 charges under the Espionage Act.

Greg Barns, an Australian lawyer and WikiLeaks adviser who visited Assange in January, said that the time Assange was suffering chronic pain in one arm and needed dental work. Assange’s health continued to decline, he said.

A defence lawyer for Assange said on Tuesday that a Swedish court had rejected a request to postpone a planned hearing to rule on the detention in absentia as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged rape.

The Swedish prosecutor heading an investigation into the rape allegation against Assange, which he denies, this month filed a request with a local court for him to be detained with a hearing scheduled for June 3.

Swedish defence lawyer Per Samuelson told Reuters he had visited Assange in British custody on Friday after which he had sought to have the hearing postponed.

"One of the reasons is that Assange's health situation on Friday was such that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him," Mr Samuelson said.

"I meant that it should be postponed until I had time to meet again and go through the issues in peace and quiet. I suggested no specific date and meant it should be postponed until everything was ready, but the district court has now decided that this won't happen."

Sweden reopened the rape investigation in early May. It was begun in 2010 but dropped in 2017 years after Assange took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy.

If the court order is granted, it would be the first step in a process to have Assange extradited from Britain.

The British courts will have to rule on the two extradition requests, with the home secretary having the final say on which one takes precedence.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/29/julian-assange-moved-prison-health-ward-wikileaks-reveal-have/

>>6625746

WikiLeaks Tweet

WikiLeaks has grave concerns about the state of health of our publisher, Julian Assange, who has been moved to the health ward of Belmarsh prison. - See full statement:

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1133847992656715776

More George Papadopoulos Tweets

My advice to the investigators: keep the heat on the UK/Australia and Italy/Malta (the weak links in the chain). There was a coordinated effort here to take us down. These countries have no loyalty anymore to the previous admin. Political change has rocked Europe. Leverage it!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1133515547860037633

Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer, and his wanna be honey pot, Erika Thompson, are becoming unhinged. The president zeroing in on the UK and Australia for spying will have massive political consequences and expose the whole plot to bring him down. Declassification is here.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1133952505467904000

>>6613478

>All Aboard

>Marines with @MrfDarwin conduct an aerial insert via an MV-22 Osprey during Exercise Southern Jackaroo, Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland, Australia.

>https://twitter.com/USMC/status/1133523346136506369

>>6625985

>What are they trying to tell us?

>Odd this Marine was in Australia 13.5 hours ago and now he's in Norway?

Interesting. Message sent?

>>6625794

>>6625950

Mueller’s prosecutor, Andrew Goldstein, to me: “how did you know Alexander Downer was recording your conversation”? Downer can play all the games he wants and continue his bizarre rants. In the end, he will be forever remembered as an idiotic spy and Clinton errand boy I exposed.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1134180011278196736

UN torture expert names Australia among countries that “ganged up” on Julian Assange

A United Nations expert has pointed an accusatory finger directly at Britain, Sweden and the United States for “ganging up” on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

In a report condemning their actions, the UN torture expert also highlighted Australia’s inaction as a damaging force.

“In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution I have never seen a group of democratic States ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law,” said UN special rapporteur Nils Melzer.

He also noted Australia’s failure to assist. “Australia is a glaring absence in this case. They’re just not around, as if Assange was not an Australian citizen,” Mr Melzer told The Sydney Morning Herald. “That is not the correct way of dealing with that.”

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade adamantly denied the claims. “We reject any suggestion by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture that the Australian Government is complicit in psychological torture or has shown a lack of consular support for Mr Assange”.

“The Special Rapporteur has not been in contact with the Australian Government to raise these concerns directly.”

The Department insists that consular officers from the Australian High Commission in London have already visited Mr Assange twice this year — on April 12 and May 17.

While DFAT are “confident that Mr Assange is being treated the same as other prisoners in Belmarsh”, a recent examination found alarming deteriorations in his mental and physical health, impacting his ability to front court.

Assange’s lawyer Gareth Pierce said the WikiLeaks founder was “far from well”, as he failed to appear yesterday via video link at Westminster Magistrates’ Court as expected.

The Australian computer programmer was arrested at London’s Ecuadorean embassy in April, after spending seven years holed up there to avoid charges against him. WikiLeaks said his health “significantly deteriorated” during this time, “under conditions that were incompatible with basic human rights.”

Still, Mr Melzer is convinced Julian Assange a victim of “psychological torture.”

“The evidence is overwhelming and clear,” he said. “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.”

Mr Melzer said he had initially been sceptical about Mr. Assange’s case, turning down a request from Mr. Assange’s lawyers back in December to investigate. But he said that what he found after having accepted a second request from the lawyers in March, changed his mind.

“Wherever I delved into the case, I found a lot of dirty stuff,” he told The New York Times.

Following media reports of Assange’s ill health yesterday, the Australian Government has reportedly made further inquiries with Belmarsh Prison authorities as to Mr Assange’s current health situation.

A DFAT spokesman confirmed: “We will continue to visit Mr Assange in prison, monitor and advocate for his health, welfare and equitable treatment, and closely follow his legal proceedings.”

https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/un-torture-expert-names-australia-among-countries-that-ganged-up-on-julian-assange/news-story/6cac6f6ad47b0bb12b946d7ba3c175b1

'Complete beat-up': Downer laughs off Trump's Russian probe conspiracy theory

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer has ridiculed the idea he was sent to spy on a junior Donald Trump campaign aide as part of an international conspiracy to kickstart the FBI's Russia probe.

The US President has effectively embraced the wider conspiracy theory, asking his Attorney-General William Barr to investigate how the Russia probe got started and told reporters that "I hope he looks at Australia" as well as Britain and Ukraine for their involvement.

Mr Downer called it "a complete beat-up" and said the US President likely called an investigation into the origins of the Russia probe because he saw suggestions of a conspiracy in American media.

Mr Downer famously met with Trump campaign staffer George Papadopoulos at a London wine bar in 2016, when Mr Papadopoulos said Russia had indicated to the campaign that it could help by releasing thousands of stolen emails that were damaging to rival Hillary Clinton.

Mr Downer reported the conversation back to Canberra via diplomatic cable. Canberra passed the information on to Washington and it reportedly contributed to the beginning of the FBI probe into potential collusion between the Trump team and Moscow, which then morphed into the inquiry by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Mr Trump swung onto the offensive in the wake of the Mueller report's release and with the request to investigate its origins, he appears to be endorsing a theory – being pushed by Mr Papadopoulos and in conservative US media including Fox News – that some US intelligence and FBI officials conspired with help from foreign partners to concoct the Russia allegations and undermine the Trump campaign and presidency.

Mr Downer, who was Australia's high commissioner to Britain when he met Mr Papadopoulos – who went on to spend 12 days in jail for lying to the FBI – laughed off the theory that he had been sent to spy on the junior campaign aide.

"The FBI and the State Department know that's not true … As if somebody would ring me up and say, 'Will you go and spy on some clown called Papadopoulos who's a volunteer from the Trump campaign?'

"Are you kidding … If you wanted to spy on the Trump campaign, wouldn't you spy on a main player … Steve Bannon or someone like that?"

Mr Downer said Mr Trump likely called the investigation because he'd seen the theory promoted in the media.

"People make these allegations. He sees the allegations and he wonders what that's all about. That's fair enough. I don't think there's any big deal there, particularly as there's nothing to find out," he said.

Mr Trump has claimed exoneration from the Mueller report and even called the probe "an attempted coup", though Democrats and Trump critics say the report has raised troubling issues about the campaign and administration.

Mr Downer avoided directly criticising Mr Trump, saying: "I'm not against him."

Mr Downer said the matter was "to do with American politics" and he was comfortable about that.

"They have to play their politics … He's obviously very good at politics because he became the President."

He added: "The more it's investigated, the more it'll be shown to be a complete beat-up. So they're welcome to investigate. I don't care."

He dismissed suggestions that the Barr investigation could smear Australia either way, saying it could be "handled with consummate ease" by the Morrison government.

Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute, said even accounting for Mr Trump's history of scepticism about traditional US alliances, it was "disturbing to see him try to drag the UK and Australia into America's fevered conspiracy politics".

"Australia is the United States' most reliable ally," he said. "We don't interfere in American elections and we don't deserve to be treated like this."

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/complete-beat-up-downer-laughs-off-trump-s-russian-probe-conspiracy-theory-20190529-p51se5.html

Federal election 2019: Minor cousins of Right propped up Coalition victory

The major parties on the right side of politics gained more than half a million primary votes at the May 18 election, despite the Coalition parties losing about 65,000 votes nationally.

Analysis by The Weekend Australian reveals that, although Scott Morrison has hailed the election result as a “miracle victory”, it was sealed with a flagging national primary vote that was boosted by preference flows from minor right parties, which benefited from an even worse performance by the major parties on the Left.

When compared with the 2016 election and allowing for population increases, the major parties on the Left, Labor and the Greens, fared even worse than the Coalition, losing almost 200,000 primary votes combined.

The Coalition’s primary vote losses, which were heaviest in Victoria and Western Australia, and the disappearance of Family First were more than offset by the gains made by Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party.

Even in Victoria, one of two states Labor hoped would provide the path to victory, the Left has gone backwards. Labor’s gain of almost 46,000 primary votes in Victoria was more than cancelled out by the Greens going backwards by more than 53,000 votes.

Victoria was easily the worst state for the Coalition, which on current counting has lost about 107,000 primary votes. But when the parties of the right are clumped together, their vote total is almost 25,000 higher than it was at the 2016 election.

In NSW and Queensland, the two mainland states that underpinned the Coalition’s win, its primary vote gains of 17,000 and 16,000 respectively were dwarfed by minor right party increases. In NSW, UAP was the big winner with more than 130,000 votes, while in Queensland, the Hanson and Palmer parties each picked up almost 100,000 more votes than they did in 2016.

In Western Australia, minor parties on the right were the only winners. One Nation (about 72,000) and UAP (about 28,000) picked up almost 100,000 primary votes between them at the expense of the Coalition and Labor and, to a lesser extent, the Greens and other micro parties and independents.

The South Australian result was very different from the other states, with the plunge in the vote won by the Nick Xenophon Team in 2016. The rebadged entity, Centre Alliance, is down more than 176,000 primary votes, with parties on the right picking up about 77,000, parties on the Left about 74,000 and 25,000 flowing to independents and micro parties.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/federal-election-2019-minor-cousins-of-right-propped-up-coalition-victory/news-story/4fd3078a655851a71820e520e58083ce

Trump administration considered placing tariffs on Australia: report

The Trump administration considered placing tariffs on Australian imports last week, The New York Times reported Sunday.

According to several people familiar with the discussions, the administration decided against it amid fierce opposition from military officials and the State Department.

Some of Trump's aides reportedly suggested the tariffs in response to a spike in Australian aluminum entering the American market over the last year.

Those opposed to the plan told Trump it would alienate a top ally and could come at significant cost to the United States, The Times reported.

Trump said Sunday that relations with Australia are strong when asked about the Times report.

“The Australian situation is interesting. But the relationship is very strong. No, we’re doing a very, very special relationship with Australia," he told reporters.

Australia was exempted from a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum from many countries that Trump imposed last year.

Imposing tariffs on Australian goods would expand the countries the U.S. has ongoing trade disputes with.

Trump announced Thursday on Twitter that he would place a 5 percent tariff on Mexican imports starting June 10 “until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP.”

The administration has also imposed tariffs on Europe, Canada and China.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/446565-trump-admin-considered-placing-tariffs-on-australia-report

Two Australians’ viral anti-gun video sends stern warning to US politicians

An anti-gun campaign born from two Australians has sent shockwaves throughout the US as the extremely stark reality of what American students can expect to face throughout their schooling is detailed by an 11-year-old-girl.

In a video, released by March For Our Lives, the gun control group established in the wake of 2018’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, a young girl, Kayleigh, instructs a group of adults in their workplace on how to survive in the event of an active shooter.

“If there was an active shooter, you would all be dead,” she tells the group of shocked and confused employees.

“When you talk out loud, the shooter can hear where you are and where you’re hiding.”

As some of the adults are moved to tears, Kayleigh continues by informing the group how to deal with an armed attacker, including tips like pushing chairs up against the doors, how to detect the shooter’s location, and even squatting on toilet seats so the attacker can’t see your feet.

The harrowing footage, titled “Generation Lockdown”, is part of a campaign from the Australian creative directors of McCann New York, Alex Little and Karsten Jurkschat.

Being from Australia, the two creatives struggled to understand active shooter drills in public schools across the US.

“We made sure every adult and politician in the country knew what their inaction on gun reform was doing to the next generation,” Mr Little and Mr Jurkschat say on their website.

Since its creation about a month ago, the now viral video has racked up more than 50 million views sending a distressing reminder of something Americans are becoming increasingly desensitised to.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety there were at least 103 incidents of gunfire on school grounds in 2018.

“There wasn’t a lot of gift-wrapping around this. It’s what kids in America learn in school. And it’s putting it in an interesting environment, which is an adult situation,” Mr Little told the ABC.

“Usually these secrets — these lockdowns — are kept in the classroom. And parents hear snatches of what kids are learning in school, but they don’t really hear details.”

The video ends with Kayleigh singing a rhyme a teacher had taught her to make it easier to remember what to do in the event of an armed-attacker.

“Lockdown, lockdown, let’s all hide. Lock the doors and stay inside. Crouch on down. Don’t make a sound. And don’t cry or you’ll be found.”

The PSA speaks to an audience unaware of what is going on in American schools, a situation ignored by politicians, unknown to parents but becoming ingrained into students.

“Kids are politically powerless, but this film gives them a massive voice,” Mr Little said.

“Our goal is to keep trying to shift that needle, to keep trying to get Americans, more people, more politicians to kind of realise that this is not a normal thing for kids to learn,” Mr Jurkschat added.

Kayleigh practices lockdown drills at schools along with 95 per cent of public school children in the United States.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IM4p62p3M0

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/two-australians-viral-antigun-video-sends-stern-warning-to-us-politicians/news-story/a7f8c7a5f21d8ef8fae824d147722c17

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will not be extradited to Sweden in suspected rape case

A Swedish court on Monday rejected a request from prosecutors for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be detained in absentia over a 2010 rape allegation.

Assange, an Australian national, is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Britain for skipping bail after spending seven years holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden. He denies the rape accusation.

The ruling by the Uppsala District Court doesn't mean the preliminary rape investigation must be abandoned, only that Assange won't be extradited to Sweden for now.

Assange's defence lawyer in Sweden, Per E Samuelsson, said his client would "be happy, we are happy" to learn he won't be extradited to Sweden.

The United States has already requested Assange's extradition on conspiracy charges.

If Britain were to grant that request before Sweden makes its own claim, Assange will be sent to the United States.

Another factor pushing the Swedish prosecutor to act quickly is that the statute of limitations on the alleged rape runs out in August 2020.

However, Mr Samuelson argued that Assange's imprisonment in Britain meant there was no flight risk.

"He is in prison for half a year at least, and he is detained on behalf of the United States. So there is no point detaining him in Sweden, too," Mr Samuelson said.

Swedish prosecutors dropped their rape investigation in 2017 but reopened it after Ecuador rescinded its grant of asylum to Assange in April, allowing British police to arrest him.

Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson said in a statement that she will issue a European Investigation Order in order to interview Assange.

"No date has been set yet. We will constantly review the state of the investigation," she said.

"The [rape] investigation continues with interviews in Sweden."

The US wants Assange extradited on charges relating to the public release by Wikileaks of a cache of secret documents, including assessments of foreign leaders, wars and security matters.

On May 23, US authorities widened the scope of criminal charges against him to include espionage.

Britain's interior minister will have the final say on whether to extradite Assange to Sweden, the United States or neither.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-04/swedish-court-wont-seek-detention-of-julian-assange-in-suspe/11175248

Australian government, spy chiefs secretly urge UK to ban Huawei

The Australian government and senior intelligence officials have urged Britain to ban Chinese technology giant Huawei from a role in building new ultra-fast mobile networks, arguing the western alliance of intelligence-sharing partners should have a consistent position.

Multiple well-placed sources confirmed Australian officials have taken action on several fronts to impress on their British counterparts the drawbacks of having risky telecommunications vendors providing equipment for 5G networks that will power critical future technologies.

The sources made it clear that the representations were made acknowledging that the decision was entirely Britain's to make.

High Commissioner to London George Brandis appeared last month before Britain's high-powered and secretive Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament. Sources familiar with the private meeting said he made the case that it was better for the so-called "Five Eyes" group of intelligence sharing nations to adopt a united front.

Other senior intelligence officials have, during trips to Britain, had high-level meetings with counterparts where Australia's position has been clearly put.

Of the Five Eyes nations - Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand - Australia was the first to put an effective ban on Huawei 5G involvement in August, which will power data-hungry future technologies such as artificial intelligence and driverless cars.

Senior figures including Office of National Intelligence deputy head Andrew Shearer and recently retired Australian Cyber Security Centre head Alastair MacGibbon have discussed the issue repeatedly with British counterparts in the past year, sources said.

The risks in telecommunications have been described as a "top tier" subject of security discussions.

Mr Brandis, who was previously the attorney-general, presented Australia's position to the influential British parliamentary committee alongside an official from electronic spy agency, the Australian Signals Directorate.

Not long after the appearance, the chairman of the committee, Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, wrote an opinion article in The Telegraph warning that Australia likely shared the concerns of the US about the security of shared intelligence if Britain were to use Huawei equipment.

An Australian government spokesman said the rules around the 5G build was "a sovereign decision for the UK, as it was for Australia".

Officials have also been trying to understand the British position, so that Australia can weigh up any effects that a British 5G network with Chinese equipment would have on Australia.

Telecommunications industry sources believe the moves from the Australian agencies amount to trying to strong-arm the British government, with British mobile providers particularly frustrated by the actions of the Australian representatives as a ban could amount to "billions of dollars" in extra costs for network roll outs.

They said there had been multiple visits to Britain by Mr Shearer in particular, a former national security adviser to John Howard and Tony Abbott, who is regarded as hawkish on China.

"The UK government did not want them [Britain] to be a 5G laggard," one telco source said, explaining British mobile providers had warned the government that without Huawei there could be delays and rising costs.

However, sources with close knowledge of the discussions said Australia had been "careful not to affront anyone".

"We've made representations to the UK on why our stance was taken … it's been respectful. It's a bit like a fight at a family lunch where people might go home sore but they quickly realise blood is thicker than water," one source said.

Another said: "Australia feels that it's in its interests that its close partners are aligned on this issue."

A third source dismissed any suggestion Australia was lobbying on the issue and said this was a "sovereign" decision for Britain.

The diplomatically sensitive campaign comes at a time when Britain is going through political upheaval with Prime Minister Theresa May resigning over the Brexit stalemate.

Britain is to decide if it will allow limited use of Huawei equipment, though a leak in April revealed the government was considering allowing the company to work on "non-core" areas of its network.

The US has a broad ban on Huawei and has pressured on Britain to follow suit. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned last month that the US might not be able to share all of its intelligence with Britain if it couldn't trust its network, adding that "this is just what China wants - to divide western alliances".

US President Donald Trump is expected to issue a similar warning this week when he visits Britain.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/huawei-20190603-p51tur.html

Cardinal George Pell's appeal begins TOMORROW, Wednesday 5 June 2019, 9:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

George Pell appeal: What you need to know

George Pell’s case will return to court tomorrow as the disgraced cardinal appeals his conviction for sexually abusing two Melbourne choirboys.

The cardinal was found guilty in December of raping one choirboy and molesting another after mass in the sacristy of St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996.

Pell, who was archbishop of Melbourne at the time, molested the first boy again about a month later.

The conviction was made public in February after a court-imposed gag order was lifted and Pell was sentenced to six years in jail – with a minimum of three years and eight months - by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd in March.

Pell’s team indicated last week they would not seek a reduced sentence if the appeal fails.

WHEN AND WHERE IS THE APPEAL HAPPENING?

The appeal will take place in the Supreme Court in Melbourne tomorrow and Thursday from 9.30am.

Pell’s lawyers will first seek leave to appeal and if granted the case will be heard over the two days.

The case will be heard by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria Justice Anne Ferguson, President of the Court of Appeal Justice Chris Maxwell and Justice Mark Weinberg.

The appeal is being heard in the Supreme Court instead of the Court of Appeal to cater for intense interest in the case.

The case can be reported on and a live stream will be also hosted on the Supreme Court’s website.

ON WHAT GROUNDS IS PELL APPEALING?

Pell’s legal team cited three reasons for its appeal.

Their first claim is that the jury reached “unreasonable” verdicts based on the evidence.

“The verdicts are unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the evidence because on the whole of the evidence, including unchallenged exculpatory evidence from more than 20 Crown witnesses, it was not open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt on the word of the Complainant alone,” Pell’s team said in announcing its appeal.

Secondly, the defence says Judge Kidd erred by not allowing a 19-minute video reconstruction to be played to the jury which claimed to show where people would have been in the cathedral at the time of the abuse.

Judge Kidd had ruled the video was based on speculation and as new evidence, it could not be used during a closing address.

The final claim for appeal is that Pell was not arraigned in front of the jury in what was a “fundamental irregularity in the trial process”.

The video and arraignment arguments are technicalities and could see a retrial if they are upheld.

If the “unreasonable verdict” claim is upheld, Pell’s conviction would likely be overturned and he would be released from custody.

WILL PELL BE THERE?

Pell has been in custody since February and it is not yet known if he will attend the appeal in person.

He was free when the appeal was lodged and had requested to be in court for the appeal hearing.

Now that he is behind bars, Pell may follow proceedings via video link.

WHEN WILL WE KNOW THE OUTCOME?

We may not know the outcome of the appeal over the next two days.

The judges have the option to reserve their decision, the reasons for it, or both.

So no matter the verdict and given the public scrutiny on the decision, it may not be made public for weeks or months to come.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/george-pell-appeal-to-be-heard-in-melbourne-court-catholic-church-news/97399cd5-b003-404f-9a9e-e379c9217d39

>>6668084

Livestream links for Cardinal George Pell's appeal

Wednesday 5 June 2019, 9:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA - COURT OF APPEAL WEBCASTS

https://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/about-the-court/webcasts-and-podcasts

The matter of George Pell v R – 5 June 2019

https://www.streaming.scvwebcast1.com/the-matter-of-george-pell-v-r-5-june-2019/

Scott Morrison meets Queen, business leaders in London

London: Scott Morrison has held private talks on trade, politics and banking on his maiden trip to Britain as Prime Minister – and also found time to meet the Queen and give her a book about a horse.

Morrison and his wife Jenny were granted an official audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, and on the advice of John Howard brought a gift: Winx: The Official Biography by former The Age journalist Andrew Rule.

Howard advised that it would be well received: the Queen has a particular interest in Winx, even beyond her well-known fascination with all things equestrian.

The Prime Minister also visited nearby Clarence House to meet Prince Charles, who is taking an increasing role in the most senior work of the monarch in preparation for when he inherits the crown. Under royal protocol the content of their discussions is kept private.

Former attorney-general George Brandis, who is now Australia's High Commissioner in London, said on Tuesday he had been “teased” by members of the royal family – as well as British politicians - “about the frequency with which there was a turnover of prime ministers in Australia”.

He also said he was now happy to assure them the new Australian government had a clear and stable majority “and the prime minister has absolute and commanding authority in the government party room”.

Morrison arrived in London on Tuesday morning, local time, after a 26-hour flight from the Solomon Islands.

He gave a lunchtime speech to the Australia-UK Chamber of Commerce in which he warned the global trading system was “under real and sustained pressure”.

“Trade conflict between the US and China is testing the system as never before and is putting the prosperity, frankly, and living standards of billions of people at risk around the globe today.”

Morrison intends to use this visit, which culminates in D-Day commemorations in Portsmouth on Wednesday, to campaign against what he said was a developing “zero-sum mindset” in international trade – interpreted as a dig against Donald Trump’s America First policies.

In Portsmouth he will lobby G20 leaders including Trump, outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for renewed support for institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and the World Trade Organisation.

Morrison said those institutions had helped open markets and lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

The WTO is in crisis as the US has blocked new appointees to its appellate body, which will lead to it being incapacitated in December when there will no longer be enough judges to issue rulings.

The EU and Canada are supporting a plan to set up a proxy version of the court to allow WTO members to continue using the body to arbitrate trade disputes.

Morrison said he would speak with Trump on Wednesday about his trade war with China.

“I will simply make [to Trump] the same comments that I’ve always made which is that I think it’s in everybody’s interests for these issues to be resolved,” he said.

The chamber of commerce lunch was sponsored by NAB.

Morrison thanked NAB and the Commonwealth Bank for “doing the right thing by their customers” by passing on the latest interest rate cut - “others omitted”, a reference to ANZ and Westpac.

He also singled out election guru Lynton Crosby whom he called a “dear friend over many years”.

“He taught me many things about campaigns and politics,” he said, and revealed he would be meeting Crosby and his wife Dawn in private later in the day.

The chamber lunch was due to be attended by former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, currently a leading contender to replace Theresa May as British Prime Minister.

However his seat – next to Crosby – was left empty.

Crosby is reportedly advising Johnson on his leadership bid.

On Tuesday afternoon Morrison also met Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England.

During the private meeting they discussed the global economy and trade tensions – including the trade war between the US and China – and ways in which the G20 nations could help defuse them.

They also discussed “open banking”, a system in which banks share customer data to allow greater flexibility and competition in the financial sector.

Britain has led in this area but Australia is approaching it cautiously, with a pilot project due this year.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/scott-morrison-meets-queen-business-leaders-in-london-20190605-p51ukw.html

>>6669166

>AUS Anons kept track of intel infiltrations past few years? Scanals related? Cross-over between intel com and party political reps? (Like ex-CIA running for office in USA). Trends?

From almost a decade ago…

WikiLeaks outs America's Aussie mole: Labor's Mark Arbib named as embassy source

BY PAUL MALEY and MARK DODD and PETER WILSON

THE AUSTRALIAN

10:54PM DECEMBER 8, 2010

FEDERAL Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib has been outed as a key source of intelligence on government and internal party machinations to the US embassy.

New embassy cables, released by WikiLeaks to Fairfax newspapers today, reveal the influential right-wing Labor MP has been one of the embassy's best ALP informants, along with former frontbencher Bob McMullan and current MP Michael Danby.

The documents say the Minister for Sport had been secretly offering details of Labor's inner workings even before his election to the Senate in 2007, dating back to his time as general secretary of the party's NSW branch from 2004.

But Mr Labor minister Mark Arbib has defended his relationship with America after revelations in WikiLeaks cables that he has been their insider in Canberra for years.

In a three-sentence statement issued to The Sydney Morning Herald, Senator Arbib. who is currently on leave, said: "I am publicly known as a strong supporter of Australia's relationship with the United States.

"I am an active member of the well known Australia-American Leadership Dialogue which meets regularly.

"I, like many members of the Federal Parliament, have regular discussions about the state of Australian and US politics with members of the US mission and consulate."

Senator Arbib was one of the "faceless men" who was instrumental in the decision to oust Kevin Rudd and install Julia Gillard as Prime Minister in June.

The documents also identify Senator Arbib as a strong backer of the Australia-US alliance.

He understands the importance of supporting a vibrant relationship with the US while not being too deferential. We have found him personable, confident and articulate," an embassy profile on Senator Arbib written in July last year says. "He has met with us repeatedly throughout his political rise.

Government frontbencher Bill Shorten rejected suggestionsSenator Arbib was a spy.

"I just think that's nonsense," he told Sky News, adding that Senator Arbib was "a very conscientious minister".

"He puts a lot of effort into his portfolios and any other proposition about him just isn't correct at all."

Mr Shorten played down reports that Mr Arbib forewarned US officials in October 2009 that then-prime minister Kevin Rudd may face a leadership challenge.

"I think that the commentary I've seen this morning in the newspapers is dinner party gossip masquerading as US intelligence.

"I think each week someone's got to send a report of to America. So they jot down gossip and conversation.

"I just don't think what I've seen today is any more than what any journalist in the press gallery would already know, indeed what half of Australia might already know."

The embarrassing revelations come as lawyers for whistleblower Julian Assange say the 39-year-old Australian will not be safe if he is sent to Sweden for trial because the "endgame" of US authorities is to move him there to be charged with espionage.

The US Justice Department is considering charging Mr Assange with espionage over the website's release of a mass of classified documents and Britain's The Independent newspaper said US and Swedish officials had already held informal discussions about the possibility of him being delivered into US custody.

Assange was yesterday refused bail and sent to London's Wandsworth prison after appearing in a British court to answer a Swedish extradition application.

As he awoke from his first night in British custody, his lawyer, Mark Stephens, told The Australian the Townsville-born computer hacker had formally approached Australian consular officials in London and Sweden for help in fighting a Swedish extradition request over sexual assault allegations.

Describing Sweden as the US's "lickspittle state of choice", Mr Stephens said he feared the Swedish extradition order was merely a prelude to Mr Assange's ultimate removal to the US, where possession of 251,000 state department cables has caused a political uproar and calls for retribution.

"His Swedish lawyer has said explicitly to me that it would be quite unsafe for Julian in Sweden at this time," Mr Stephens said. "Not in terms of he would be harmed in Sweden, but that Sweden is not the end game."

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/labor-ministers-named-in-wikileaks-cables/news-story/c9ad18a33fa78222f114afc89503d89b

No repeat of WWII horrors: leaders

Scott Morrison sat behind the Queen, outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump during a moving commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, soon after signing a world leaders’ Peace Pledge declaring the unspeakable horrors of World War II would never be revisited.

The Prime Minister was one of 16 world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to make the pledge as they saluted the anniversary of the turning point of WWII.

Mr Morrison then met 300 veterans of the D-Day landing, although there were none of the 3300-strong Australian contingent that took part in Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944. Thirteen Australians died on D-Day.

Ninety-three-year-old D Day British veteran Thomas Stonehouse, 93, of Hampshire told The Australian: “I was dead lucky to survive.” He said that his abiding memory was being dreadfully seasick during the landing. His mate who had enrolled in the army on the same day as him — their shared 18th birthday — died beside him that day.

The Peace Pledge acknowledges the 16 nations present at the D-Day ceremony will ensure the un­imag­in­able horror of what happened 75 years ago will not be repeated.

The nations who have signed it include Germany, the US, Britain, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Czech Republic, Holland, Norway, Poland and France.

“In this way, we salute the surviving veterans of D-Day and we honour the memories of those who came before us,” the pledge says. “We will ensure that the sacrifices of the past are never in vain and never forgotten.”

It also promotes working together in a multilateral sense, and reinforces the strong message of the UK from Britain to Mr Trump to work together constructively as friends and allies.

World leaders who were in attendance were Mr Morrison, French president Emmanuel Macron, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Charles Michel from Belgium, the Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Andrej Babis, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos from Greece, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel, the Dutch PM Mark Rutte, Norway’s PM Erna Solberg, Poland’s PM Mateusz Morawiecki and Slovakia’s deputy Prime Minister Richard Rasi.

Lieutenant Commander Scott Roberts of the Royal Australian Navy Lieutenant Commander Scott Roberts had a key role in the emotional commemoration representing Australia’s participation in the huge Allied invasion.

Lieutenant Commander Roberts read an excerpt from the 1943 Tehran Conference, where Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Russia’s Joseph Stalin discussed military strategy against Germany, and developed the D-Day plan.

“We look with confidence to the day when all peoples of the world may live free lives, untouched by tyranny, and according to their varying desires and their own consciences. We came here with hope and determination. We leave here, friends in fact, in spirit and in purpose,’’ he read.

The Queen is the only female member of the royal family to have served in the military, training as a mechanic with the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1945 upon turning 18. She remembered the words of her father, King George VI, as he called for a new unconquerable resolve for the D-Day invasion and she then added: “With humility and pleasure on behalf of the country and the whole free world I say to you all, thank you.

She said: “When I attended the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, some thought it might be the last such event. But the wartime generation — my generation — is resilient, and I am delighted to be with you in Portsmouth today.’’

Other speakers at the commemoration were Mr Macron, who read a letter from a 16-year-old French Resistance member who was executed by the Nazis; Mr Trump, who read excerpts of a prayer broadcast across the US by his predecessor Franklin D. Roosevelt on the night of the D-Day invasion; and Mrs May, who read a letter from Captain Norman Skinner of the Royal Army Service Corps, to his wife Gladys on June 3, 1944, that was found in his pocket after he was killed in action.

Before the event, Mr Morrison said he would be remembering the sacrifice of Australians in both ­during D-Day and the entirety of WWII. He said it was an honour to represent Australia paying tribute to those who stormed the beaches and landed in of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

“At those beaches now forever etched in our consciousness, our memory — Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword — tens of thousands of young men faced enemy fire and their own fear and conquered it, all for the higher cause of freedom,’’ Mr Morrison said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/leaders-mark-75-years-since-dday/news-story/5314a6e2eca82c679badc382bdaefe5f

US police officer Mohamed Noor jailed for death of Justine Damond Ruszczyk

A former Minneapolis police officer has been sentenced to jail for the fatal shooting of an Australian woman nearly two years ago.

Former police officer Mohamed Noor was sentenced to a 12.5-year prison sentence for shooting dead Australian life coach Justine Damond Ruszczyk.

Justine Damond Ruszczyk grew up on Sydney's northern beaches and devoted her life to helping people and animals.

Mohamed Noor was born in war-torn Somalia, fled to Kenya as a five-year-old refugee with his family before settling in the US where he overcame racism and a lack of English to become a celebrated Minneapolis police recruit.

Ms Damond Ruszczyk, 40, was shot dead in an alley.

Noor, 33, fired the fatal bullet.

"Good people sometimes do bad things," Judge Kathryn Quantance told Noor as he stood before her in a Minneapolis court on Friday.

Noor was convicted by a Minneapolis jury of Ms Damond Ruszczyk's third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in April and Judge Quantance showed little mercy.

She sentenced Noor to a 12.5-year prison term.

The sentence was announced at the end of an emotionally-charged hearing where the fallen officer spoke to Ms Damond Ruszczyk's American fiance and Australian family.

Noor, who admitted he took the life of "a perfect person", said he had wanted to meet with Mr Damond and Ms Damond Ruszczyk's father John, brother Jason and other family members but was prevented from doing so.

He issued an apology and told how he wrote the family a letter from jail.

"I have wanted to sit with Mr Damond and tell him about what happened and to extend my condolences to him for the last two years as well as to Ms Ruszczyk's other families," Noor said in a voice trembling with emotion.

"The process of the courts and the lawyers (are) so cruel in the way it makes us behave to each other.

"The system is dehumanising."

The public gallery was filled with tears as a video of Ms Damond Ruszczyk's life was played.

Tears also flowed when Mr Damond, who was set to marry his "soul mate" in a romantic ceremony in Hawaii just weeks after the tragedy, addressed the court.

It was in the form of a letter he wrote to Ms Damond Ruszczyk.

Mr Damond's heart-wrenching words included how they were planning to have a baby.

"I miss you every day - every moment," Mr Damond said.

Ms Damond Ruszczyk's Australian family members were not in court but their impact statements were read.

Her father requested the maximum sentence and described how "Justine's death has left me incomplete".

The murder count carried a maximum 25 years' prison and the manslaughter charge 10 years.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/us-police-officer-mohamed-noor-jailed-for-death-of-justine-damond-ruszczyk

George Pell faces new legal fight over allegations he failed to protect abuse victim from paedophile

A man abused by notorious paedophile Christian Brother Edward "Ted" Dowlan is suing George Pell, alleging the disgraced Cardinal did nothing to protect him.

The man was a student at East Melbourne's Cathedral College when he was abused by Dowlan, who was first jailed in the 1990s for abusing boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

Taking civil action in the Supreme Court, the man alleges Pell knew of Dowlan's abuse and was involved in moving him from school to school, allowing it to continue.

Pell was the episcopal vicar for education in the Ballarat diocese from 1973 to 1984.

Dowlan is serving jail time for abuse he admitted committing between 1971 and 1988.

The Supreme Court heard on Friday Pell had not responded to the civil suit.

Dowlan remained a Christian Brother until 2008 and changed his name to Ted Bales in 2011 to separate himself from the earlier offending.

He was jailed again in 2015 after admitting to the abuse of another 20 boys.

The civil case is due to go before a jury next year, but parties will first have to attend mediation.

Barrister Geraldine Gray was in court representing Bishop of Ballarat Paul Bird, Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli and the Catholic Education Commission, who are also named in the suit.

Michael Magazanik, representing the man, said there was no question the abuse occurred and his client had been compensated for it previously.

It was not a complicated case, he said.

Ms Gray noted there were specific allegations made against each defendant which would take time to address.

Pell is facing a number of civil suits in the Supreme Court, on top of his criminal matters.

He faced the Court of Appeal this week in a bid to overturn his December conviction on five charges for abusing two 13-year-old choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996.

Pell was jailed in March and is serving a six-year sentence, with a minimum three years and eight months.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-07/george-pell-facing-new-legal-fight-child-sex-abuse-civil-claims/11191092

AFP media raids: defence agencies refuse to say if minister was told before leaks referred to police

Defence agencies are refusing to say whether they consulted with the then defence minister Marise Payne before referring leaks of classified information to the Australian federal police.

The AFP has confirmed that it began its investigations into the ABC’s report of alleged unlawful killings by Australian troops in Afghanistan and Annika Smethurst’s report of plans to extend spy powers after it received referrals from agency heads in July 2017 and August 2018 respectively.

Payne was the relevant minister for both the defence department and the Australian Signals Directorate at the time of the referrals.

Both agencies refused to respond to questions from Guardian Australia about whether they had consulted with Payne before asking the AFP to investigate, with the Department of Defence saying it would be “inappropriate” to respond.

The ongoing secrecy over the handling of the raids comes as the AFP faces the possibility of two inquiries into its widely condemned actions when parliament resumes next month. The chair of the committee overseeing law enforcement agencies, Craig Kelly, has pledged to review the AFP’s conduct, while crossbench senators are also pushing for a separate Senate probe.

Labor’s shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, has said a Senate inquiry is “an option open to the opposition”, but it would still require the full support of the crossbench to become a reality.

The ABC is also considering taking legal action over the raid, its chair confirmed on Monday. Ita Buttrose said the broadcaster had consulted lawyers about its options but had not “briefed anybody yet”.

“At this point, we’re really assessing the allegations to see what actions can be taken and we want to make sure that we’re in the strongest available position to defend ourselves and also our journalists,” Buttrose told ABC radio.

Matthew Collins QC, president of the Victorian Bar Council, confirmed he had been retained by the ABC but could not comment further.

Buttrose also said she would be meeting with the prime minister, Scott Morrison, about the raid this week.

“I’m not going to tell the prime minister what to do but I will tell him how we feel at the ABC and how I feel,” she said.

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, has claimed the AFP’s investigation happened at “arm’s length” from the government, saying he had been aware that the investigation was under way, but had no prior knowledge of the media raids.

Under the AFP’s guidelines, matters where the execution of a search warrant may have “politically sensitive implications” should be raised with the minister responsible for the AFP, by the relevant minister or department at the time of the referral.

“This enables the government to be informed at the earliest juncture of potentially politically contentious matters that may require investigation by the AFP,” the guidelines state.

As the government faces sustained pressure over the nature of the raids, former defence secretary and former head of ASIO Dennis Richardson said agencies needed to be “cautious” about referrals to the AFP.

“If you refer a matter to the AFP they take control of that, and it goes where it goes – they drop some, they pursue others,” Richardson told ABC radio.

“This one … was a matter referred to them two years ago and it pops out of the woodwork now. That to me is not unusual, but I do think that it points to the fact that you need to be cautious in what you refer to the AFP if you don’t want it to surprise you down the track.”

He said he understood the “emotional reaction” to the raids, but believed it was “misplaced” to suggest the AFP was trying to intimidate the media.

“It might have had the consequence of that, but everything I know about the AFP would lead me to believe that the AFP is not in the space of deliberately setting out to intimidate the media.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/10/afp-media-raids-defence-agencies-refuse-to-say-if-minister-was-told-before-leaks-referred-to-police

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a step closer to US extradition after Britain signs order

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid has signed an extradition order to send Julian Assange to the United States.

The US Justice Department this week formally requested Britain extradite Assange to face charges that he conspired to hack government computers and violated an espionage law.

Mr Javid told the BBC the final decision on Assange's extradition would be up to the court.

"There's an extradition request from the US that is before the courts tomorrow, but yesterday I signed the extradition order, certified it, and that will be going in front of the courts tomorrow," he said.

"It's a decision ultimately for the courts but there is a very important part of it for the Home Secretary and I want to see justice done at all times.

"We've got a legitimate extradition request so I've signed it, but the final decision is now with the courts."

Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson told the ABC the signing of the order was a normal part of the process and the extradition challenge now begins.

Assange wanted in US and Sweden

Assange, who is currently serving a 50-week jail sentence for skipping bail, is due to face court in London on Friday for the extradition hearing.

The United States has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

US government counsel Ben Brandon previously told the Westminster Magistrates' Court the case against Assange involved one of the biggest compromises of classified information in history.

It included hundreds of thousands of activity reports relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and 250,000 US diplomatic cables.

He is accused of conspiring with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack passwords to gain access to the information, which was subsequently posted on WikiLeaks.

Sweden has also reopened its own investigation into a 2010 rape allegation made against the WikiLeaks founder.

Earlier this month, the Uppsala District Court rejected a request from prosecutors to detain him in absentia.

However, the ruling does not mean the preliminary rape investigation must be abandoned, only that Assange won't be extradited to Sweden for now.

Assange was arrested by British police and carried from the Ecuadorean embassy after his South American hosts abruptly revoked his seven-year asylum in April.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-13/julian-assange-british-home-secretary-signs-extradition-order/11207946

>>6755218

New George Papadopoulos Tweets

Have been contacted by about a dozen Australian journalists for comment on Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer, and him being idiotic enough to spy on me with his phone. The transcript of my meeting with him will show Australia was willfully trying to sabotage Donald Trump.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1139754227465461760

It is in Australia’s interest to throw Downer under the bus quickly and release the recorded transcripts of my meeting with him for both the Australian and American public to see. He will forever be remembered as the fool who almost torpedoed the US-Australia relationship.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1139755607055990785

>>6755218

>>6755429

More new George Papadopoulos Tweets

This pipeline deal between Israel-Greece-Egypt I was consulting on is why the deep state of the U.K./Australia targeted me. Unfortunately for them, I stopped consulting on this when it was finalized in 2017 and still all their assets got burned trying to take me down. Declass

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1139974500647227392

Mifsud, Downer and Halper were all part of the same operation. Halper got involved to cover for Downer so that he wouldn’t get burned the way he did by having me “repeat” Mifsud. In the end, the CIA/FBI burned three of its assets, likely more, to try and frame me. Boomerang time.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1139980479644368896

Bob Hawke memorial service draws thousands to Sydney Opera House for 'very Australian celebration'

The master of ceremonies, former Labor minister Craig "Emmo" Emerson, probably summed it up best while listing the dignitaries in attendance.

"Albo, ScoMo, Emmo — a very Australian celebration," he told a packed Sydney Opera House.

"And, this is a celebration."

Thousands of people gathered inside the harbourside icon and at its forecourt to pay tribute to former prime minister Bob Hawke, who died aged 89 on May 16.

Among them were Mr Hawke's widow Blanche d'Alpuget, his family, and a slew of politicians, diplomats and dignitaries.

The Opera House was a fitting place to farewell Mr Hawke, who launched his first campaign there in 1983.

He would go on to win four elections.

There were five former prime ministers in attendance, including Tony Abbott, who was last month criticised for claiming Mr Hawke had a "Liberal head" the day after his death.

Paul Keating, Mr Hawke's former long-time treasurer who rolled him for the nation's top job after a 1991 leadership challenge, spoke at the service.

The pair's relationship broke down after Mr Hawke was dumped but they reconciled last year and had begun to meet regularly.

"Bob and I would have private skirmishes over this policy or that, even criticise one another to immediate staff," Mr Keating said.

"But by instinct and a very large dollop of friendship, we always remained wedded to the same objective, a point even the closest of our staff sometimes fail to comprehend.

"I'm not sure they knew how stuck together we were."

Ms d'Alpuget said her late husband's death had sparked a "national outpouring of grief".

"With today's transformative service, we smile again, we glow with pride for the presence among us for almost 90 years of a great human being," she said.

'His moral compass did not waver'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the first speaker at the service, said the 1980s in Australia would always be "the Hawke era".

"Our 23rd prime minister was a proud and faithful son of the Labor movement," he said.

"He became one of the proud fathers of our modern Australia."

Former Labor leader Kim Beazley, the Governor of Western Australia, delivered the eulogy and asked: "Was he our greatest prime minister, or our greatest Labor prime minister?"

"Bob told me he was neither.

"His aspiration was to be our greatest peacetime prime minister."

The loudest applause was saved for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choir's rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus.

Mr Hawke had conducted Handel's famous oratorio at the same venue 10 years ago for his 80th birthday, and a video of that moment was beamed over the stage.

He was remembered as a larrikin with an unwavering commitment to his job.

Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese said Mr Hawke was "no shrinking violet", and a man who wanted to protect Australia from "those who sought to divide us".

"Yet when he was up against those forces of division, his moral compass did not waiver," Mr Albanese said.

"Beneath that cloud of hair, the sunshine would give way to lightning and to thunder.

"But the sunshine always returned and his positivity changed the nation for the better."

Look back at how the memorial service unfolded.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-14/bob-hawke-nation-remembers-former-pm-memorial-service-in-sydney/11208988

>>6759490

Senator Bill Heffernan uses parliamentary privilege to accuse a former PM of being alleged paedophile

21 Oct 2015

Liberal senator Bill Heffernan has used parliamentary privilege to accuse an unnamed former prime minister of being an alleged paedophile, while also pointing the finger at the judiciary.

Senator Heffernan has been campaigning for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to expand its investigation to include the court system.

He told Senate estimates on Tuesday that he had given the commission "very disturbing" police documents that named at least 28 alleged paedophiles, some of whom are prominent Australians.

But he said the commission had told him it could not investigate the cases because they were outside its terms of reference.

"We have in Australia, sadly, a compromise at the highest of levels. There is a former prime minister on this list and it is a police document, " he told senators.

"It's not so much the secret that's the problem, it's when a group of people, such as the 28 people on this page, keep each other's secrets that the institution is compromised."

Senator Heffernan did not expand on the allegations or provide any further details, instead focusing on what he believed were the failings of the "the institution of the law".

"The treatment in the federal jurisdiction of children by some people in the Family Law Court is disgusting and a disgrace," he said.

Attorney-General George Brandis suggested the royal commission could look into the "grave matters" raised by the senator but said it was ultimately up to the commissioner to decide.

"The royal commission has a process for dealing with complaints and other information brought to its attention and placed into its hands by citizens," he said.

"It is for the royal commission to judge whether, by reference to its terms of reference, that information is something that it should or indeed is capable of inquiring further into."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-20/bill-heffernan-accuses-former-pm-of-being-alleged-paedophile/6870532

https://twitter.com/newscomauhq/status/1078796909534302208

Australia's Account Of The London Meeting That Led To The Trump–Russia Investigation Will Remain Secret

In a five-page decision following an appeal from BuzzFeed News, Australia's Information Commissioner said publishing a key diplomatic cable would put the relationship between Australia and the United States at risk.

The Australian Information Commissioner has agreed with foreign officials that releasing the full diplomatic cable which sparked the Trump–Russia investigation would damage the country's ability to have a good relationship with the United States.

The cable was written by the former Australian high commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, after the diplomat met with Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos in a London wine bar in 2016.

Downer's account of the meeting reportedly revealed that Papadopoulos had told him about Russia having political dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. According to the New York Times, the cable was a key reason for the FBI to start investigating links between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs has been sitting on the cable since its existence came to light at the end of 2017. Foreign officials released a cache of documents relating to the Papadopoulos–Downer meeting after a BuzzFeed News Freedom of Information request in April. Among the documents was the three-page cable, which was heavily redacted.

Putting forward the reasons for redacting the contents of the cable, a senior foreign official said: "Release of the full contents of this document could reasonably be expected to damage the bilateral relationship with the United States, and relationships with other partners with which we engage closely. This would significantly impact the Department's ability to prosecute Australia's foreign policy interests."

BuzzFeed News appealed the decision to the FOI watchdog, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

Now, in a decision laid out in a five-page document addressed to BuzzFeed News on Friday, Australia's Information Commissioner Angelene Falk said that she agreed with the Department of Foreign Affairs' initial assessment after she read the un-redacted version of the diplomatic cable for herself.

"With regard to the contents of the document at issue and the circumstances in which it was communicated, I am satisfied that it records information relevant to Australia's bilateral relations with the United States that was communicated by Mr Downer to the Australian Government on the basis that it would be treated as confidential."

She continued: "I am satisfied that disclosure of the material that the Department decided is exempt (under FOI law) could reasonably be expected to damage Australia’s bilateral relationship with the United States government."

Falk concluded the full release of Downer's account of his interaction with Papadopoulos "could reasonably expect" to "inhibit" the way Australia deals with the Trump administration.

"I accept the Department's submissions that disclosure of the material could reasonably be expected to inhibit the Australian Government's ability to prosecute Australia's foreign policy interests with the United States Government."

George Papadopoulos was one of three dozen people charged in Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and served a 12-day prison sentence.

Since then, Papadopoulos has been doing US–media appearances on conservative-friendly TV networks like Fox News, claiming the whole episode with Downer was part of a deep state plot against the Trump administration.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/australia-account-trump-russia-papadopoulos-downer

>>6758930

The walrus, Stefan Halper, with the Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer, a week before Downer met me in London. The system burned these two idiots. Both shamed the UK and Australia and humiliated their governments on the global scale.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1140024262738108416

Another George Papadopoulos Tweet

The Australian government is fighting lawsuits to have the transcripts released of the meeting I had with Alexander Downer. Alexander Downer was spying and recording. The meeting was the Australian government’s attempt to sabotage President Trump and his team. Backfired now!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1140182780740898816

DJT and the ABC - Australian speculation from Q Research General #8666

>>6775292 (pb)

POTUS makes same typo to Australia News twice in two days.

@abcnews (Australian)

vs

@ABC (American)

Surely this is not a coincidence?

>>6775764 (pb)

abcnews in Australia was raided by police just a week ago.

>>6775866 (pb)

Is this POTUS MESSAGE???

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/police-raid-australian-public-broadcaster-over-afghan-leak-n1014071

>>6777842

>>6775935 (pb)

Australia Broadcasting Corporation

@abcnews

POTUS tagged Australian News in his tweet

twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1140768516288782336

archive.is/WxNvA

>>6776464 (pb)

Re no correction by POTUS @abc vs @abcnews

Interdasting.....POTUS still hasn't corrected tweet ( even after being tagged back by [Australian] @abcnews). Why??

>>6777853

>>6776512 (pb)

G'day! As much as we appreciate the shout-out, we think you meant @ABC?

twitter.com/abcnews/status/1140797374920478721

archive.is/84str

>>6776554 (pb)

It Just hit me. Maybe a marker.

Not sure how to read the Comms.

KOALA

More George Papadopoulos Tweets

It’s not difficult to understand why Comey did not announce an “investigation” into the Trump campaign. He knew from 2016 there was no collusion and Trump’s team was being framed by US allies, the UK/Australia/Ukraine/Italy, which are currently under investigation by Barr.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1140734289526452224

America: do not forget that that current CIA director, Gina Haspel, was running the CIA desk in London in 2016 while Alexander Downer (Australia) Joseph Mifsud (Italy) Stefan Halper (CIA), Azra Turk (CIA) and the US embassy were spying on me and trying to sabotage Donald Trump.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1140893738366988289

Assange lawyer reveals Pentagon behind pursuit of Wikileaks publisher

A lawyer for Wikileaks’ Julian Assange has confirmed that the Pentagon - not the White House or any other government agency whose secrets he leaked - was driving the nearly decade-long campaign to destroy the publisher.

After asking officials at the Obama administration if they “really wanted” the publisher for whistleblowers and warning that “there are dangerous precedents here,” Assange lawyer Geoffrey Robertson said they responded:

"We don’t want him, but the Pentagon does, and the Pentagon may eventually get its way."

Robertson’s “high connections” got him an audience with Obama administration insiders after he learned of the secret grand jury they had convened against Assange in 2010, he told Phillip Adams on ABC’s Radio National on Thursday. When Robertson warned them of the First Amendment implications of charging a publisher under national security laws, however, they already knew what kind of precedent it would set.

While the Obama administration charged more leakers under the Espionage Act than all previous presidents combined, it never attempted to wield the law against a publisher.

And the Pentagon has finally gotten its way. British Home Secretary Sajid Javid signed a request for a US extradition order earlier this month, and Assange will face a full extradition hearing in February.

He is charged with 17 violations of the Espionage Act, including obtaining and disclosing national defense information, plus an earlier count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, concerning a massive trove of classified documents given to WikiLeaks by military intelligence analyst Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning. The Iraq and Afghanistan War Logs, as they were titled for publication, exposed US atrocities including the torture of detainees and murder of civilians and constituted the largest leak of military secrets in US history.

If he is found guilty - and it is highly unlikely that the Eastern District of Virginia court where he will be tried and where no “national security” defendant has ever won a case, will acquit him - he faces 170 years in prison.

The grand jury investigation of Assange at its peak involved the Justice Department, the Defense Department, the FBI, the State Department, and the Diplomatic Security Service, according to WikiLeaks. But it was the Pentagon, as early as 2008, which began the quest to bring down the publisher, launching its war on WikiLeaks through its Cyber Counter-Intelligence Assessments Branch.

According to John Pilger, their plot involved a media war using reputational smears and “threats of exposure [and] criminal prosecution” aimed at shredding the “feeling of trust” at the core of WikiLeaks’ operations.

The Pentagon’s mission is all but accomplished. Assange has been so thoroughly smeared most of his supporters doubt he will ever get a fair trial. Not only has he been demonized as a rapist, traitor, fascist, and every other name in the book, but even those journalists who have profited off his work - at the Guardian, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and other mainstream media that published WikiLeaks disclosures years ago - have gleefully turned on him.

Robertson did suggest that a Jeremy Corbyn Labour government in the UK might block Assange’s extradition, or even send him back home to Australia, noting that “extradition to some extent is a political rather than a legal decision,” but he seemed unconvinced of Corbyn’s chances of becoming PM.

https://www.rt.com/news/462359-assange-lawyer-pentagon-wikileaks/

George Pell hideaway plan after threats

Supporters of George Pell are planning a safe hideaway for the cardinal should he succeed in having his conviction for child sex abuse overturned on appeal.

Amid fears of a backlash and threats against Pell, his backers are making preliminary arrangements for him to live in a secure compound, possibly in NSW. Friends have also left open the option of him returning at least briefly to live in relative anony­mity in Rome, but not in his former­ capacity as the Vatican treasurer.

But if his appeal fails, Pell is likely to be moved to a country prison that specialises in securing sex offende­rs and has a high level of personal security.

He is currently being held in solit­ary confinement in the Melbourne Assessment Prison for 23 hours a day because of the risk to his safety. There are two prisons in western Victoria where he is most likely to go if the appeal fails, both about two hours’ drive west of Melbourne: one at Ararat and the other at Langi Kal Kal.

His supporters are not predicting whether he will be successful, because of the significant legal setbacks he has suffered over the years and the unpredictability of the Court of Appeal. Next Saturday marks two years since The Australian revealed Pell had been charged with sex offences.

The Weekend Australian under­stands that, despite uncertainty about the appeal outcome, preliminary planning is under way in the event of Pell, 78, being set free. The appeal is based on three grounds, including that the jury got it wrong when it convicted­ him of five sex offences at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathed­ral in 1996 and 1997. The gravest involved forced oral sex with a teenage choir boy.

Victoria is not believed to be favoured as a potential permanent location for Pell because of his high profile and the publicity that surrounded his court appearances and sentence. The cardinal, some of his supporter­s, and the church more broadly have been bombarded with criticism and threats in the wake of his conviction on child sex crimes.

Appearing before the Victor­ian Court of Appeal, he had the highest level of security, surroun­d­ed by the Correctio­ns equiv­alent of special­ operations officers.

Pell left the Melbourne archdiocese nearly 20 years ago and, until being sentenced to a minimum three years and eight months’ jail, had not been living in his home state. One strong optio­n would be for him to live within the grounds of a seminary in western Sydney where he stayed in the lead-up to his court proceedings.

“We’re not making any assump­tions at all about whether the appeal will be successful,’’ a friend said. “It’s one day at a time.’’

The Vatican has said Pell’s future­ within the church would be decided only once his legal option­s were exhausted.

If Pell is unsuccessful in the Victorian Court of Appeal his lawyers­ could seek to take the case to the High Court.

He is expected to appear in the Court of Appeal’s makeshift dock when the judgment is delivered.

There is intense speculation about the timing of the Court of Appeal’s decision. There is a window of opportunity for it to rule next week but it goes into recess from June 29 to July 14, raising the spectre of the judgment not being delivered for several weeks.

The court said judgments and reasons in the Court of Appeal were handed down at a hearing, and that the whole judgment was not usual­ly read out, although a summary may be. The public has not been granted access to the evidence of the complainant, normal procedure in sex abuse cases.

However, the judgment may contain further references to the evidence, without identifying the sole living complainant from the cathedral convictions case.

Three Court of Appeal judges are presiding: Supreme Court Chief Justice Anne Ferguson, Court of Appeal president Chris Maxwell and Mark Weinberg.

Pell received sentences for one charge of sexual penetration with a child under 16 and four counts of indecent acts with, or in the ­presence of, a child under 16.

He is the highest-ranking Catholic in the world to have been convicted of child sex abuse offence­s. The Vatican is conducting its own inquiry into him.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/george-pell-safe-haven-plan-after-threats/news-story/81aff14f4ae3b8773763b14b8a648aac

''"At some point it will not be safe for them to walk down the street."''

New George Papadopoulos Tweet

I had at least five spies from four different agencies and countries thrown my way from 2015-2017. Congressman Gowdy means transcripts are going to be released, not just one. Those transcripts will be with Downer, Halper, “Azra Turk,” and Mifsud when all this is exposed.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1142879989915774977

>>6828837

Trey Gowdy: Mystery FBI Transcript ‘Actually Changed My Perspective’ Of Russia Probe

Former Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy said Sunday that his “perspective” of the special counsel’s investigation changed after he saw a transcript of an interaction between the FBI and a Trump campaign associate believed to be George Papadopoulos.

“I was supportive of [Robert] Mueller. I was supportive of the idea to initiate, to investigate what Russia did, but when I saw this transcript, it actually changed my perspective,” Gowdy said in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Republicans have hinted at the existence of a transcript that contains exculpatory information for Papadopoulos, who the FBI claims was the catalyst for its counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign.

Papadopoulos had encounters with several mysterious figures during his stint on the Trump campaign. He met Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud, Australian diplomat Alexander Downer and Stefan Halper, a former Cambridge professor who was identified as an FBI informant in 2018.

Gowdy, who served on the House Intelligence Committee before leaving office in January, said in a May 19 interview on Fox News that the public would likely see the transcript as a “game-changer” if it was ever released.

Gowdy said Sunday the mysterious transcripts were not provided to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which approved four FBI surveillance warrants against Carter Page, another Trump campaign adviser. The applications cited information from the unverified Steele dossier and also mentioned Papadopoulos.

Republicans have accused the FBI of misleading the FISC by withholding details of the information gathered in its investigation of Trump & Co.

Gowdy went on to describe what he says is a pattern of bias at the FBI against the Trump campaign. He pointed to Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the FBI officials who exchanged anti-Trump text messages while working on the Russia probe.

“When you have exculpatory information and you don’t share it with the court, when you give two different kinds of defensive briefings to the candidates depending on who you like and who you don’t, then you’re bias begins to impact the investigation. That’s what what I thought when I saw the transcript, but your viewers should be entitled to make up their own minds,” Gowdy said.

Former FBI officials have said that the bureau opened its investigation of the Trump campaign on July 31, 2016, after receiving information about Papadopoulos from the Australian government.

Downer, who met with Papadopoulos in London on May 10, 2016, wrote in a memo that Papadopoulos had mentioned that Russia might release information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton close to the election. The Australian government provided that information to the FBI in late July 2016, after WikiLeaks began releasing emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee.

Downer has denied recording his conversation with Papadopoulos, which took place at a London bar.

Halper, the alleged FBI informant, had contact with both Papadopoulos and Page.

Halper and Page first met on July 10, 2016, at an event held at the University of Cambridge. They remained in contact through September 2017.

Halper reached out to Papadopoulos on Sept. 2, 2016 with an offer of a trip to London and $3,000 to write an academic paper on energy security issues in the Mediterranean Sea. Papadopoulos, who worked in that field at various think tanks, accepted the offer and met with Halper in mid September 2016.

Halper was joined by a woman he claimed was his assistant. The New York Times has reported the woman, Azra Turk, was actually a government investigator.

Papadopoulos has said that both Halper and Turk asked him whether he or the Trump campaign was working with Russia to meddle in the 2016 election. He has said that he denied working with Russia.

The special counsel’s report undercut the premise of the FBI’s initial probe of the Trump campaign. Mueller, the special counsel, said in the report that prosecutors failed to establish that the campaign conspired with Russia to influence the election. The report also said that there was no evidence that Trump associates acted as agents of Russia.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/23/trey-gowdy-transcript-mueller-papadopoulos/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ixtdX5H-JU

More George Papadopoulos Tweets

America has woken up. The next are the great people of the U.K./Italy/Australia. This is a movement for the truth and to perpetuate a new rules based order that has been lacking for decades.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1143291140310884355

The media outreach about my claims of U.K./Italy/Ukraine/Australia interference in the 2016 election has been outstanding. They want the truth now. Now that the Mueller dossier has been published, and we look into the origins of the scandal, my testimony is the roadmap. Fate.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1143357875579838464

Incredible to be watching my wife on tv tonight during an Australian series on “Russia gate” from 2018. How the narrative has changed, but she still looks great

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1143408892983951360

>>6837182

>Incredible to be watching my wife on tv tonight during an Australian series on “Russia gate” from 2018.

The TV show is "Four Corners", shown on the ABC. The same ABC tagged by President Trump in his June 17 tweet:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1140768516288782336

Skip to 33:15 for the segments featuring Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos.

‏

Trump/Russia: Secrets, spies and useful idiots (2/3) | Four Corners

In episode two of this three-part series, Four Corners speaks to key protagonists at the centre of the unfolding drama over members of Donald Trump’s team accused of being compromised by Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEQBHeZqDIo

Scott Morrison to meet with Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Japan

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has made US President Donald Trump’s short and exclusive list of scheduled meetings on the sidelines of this week’s G20 in Japan.

The White House announced Mr Trump’s schedule in Osaka, with Mr Morrison slated for a meeting.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Erdogan also made Mr Trump’s schedule.

Mr Trump is expected to land in Osaka on Thursday for the two-day Group of Twenty meeting.

Mr Morrison’s meeting comes as the prime minister becomes more critical of the growing US-China trade war.

In a speech to be delivered on Wednesday in Sydney, Mr Morrison will warn Australia will not be a “passive bystander” if the US and China fail to find a trade solution.

“We should not just sit back and passively await our fate in the wake of a major power contest,” the prime minister will tell the event. A senior Trump administration official, during a G20 briefing in the US on Monday, told reporters the “president will focus a lot on trade” in Osaka. The White House signalled it was in no hurry to solve the trade dispute with China and Mr Trump would use his meeting with President Xi “to see where the Chinese side is since the talks last left off”.

“The goal here, as the president has said many, many times, and I’m sure he’ll make clear again, is that the purpose of these discussions is to rebalance the economic relationship in a way that protects US economic prosperity and workers,” the official said.

“And of course, that also means the kinds of structural changes that would need to take place to protect intellectual property.”

Mr Trump will also use the G20 to engage with world leaders and obtain support as tensions rise between the US and Iran.

The official described the president’s meeting with Mr Putin as “a normal event that happens at these” summits.

“It is expected to be a conversation that will focus primarily on regional security issues, including Iran, Ukraine, Syria, the Middle East,” said the official, previewing the meeting with the Russian leader.

Mr Trump will depart Osaka on Saturday for South Korea where he will spend the night before departing for Washington DC late on Sunday afternoon.

https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/scott-morrison-to-meet-with-donald-trump-at-the-g20-summit-in-japan/news-story/a935daee0ab9ee515921171560b647fe

From Q Research #8763

>>6851715 (pb)

POTUS Scheduled for Thursday, June 27, 2019

DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2019

All Times as Eastern (EDT)

6:00AM Arrive at Osaka International (Itami) Airport

6:10AM Departs Osaka International (Itami) Airport en route to the RON

6:30AM Arrive at the RON

7:00AM Participate in a working dinner with the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia

https://publicpool.kinja.com/subject-daily-guidance-and-press-schedule-for-thursday-1835893378

New POTUS Tweet referencing Australia

These flyers depict Australia’s policy on Illegal Immigration. Much can be learned!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1144033134129758208

From Q Research #8760

>>6849748 (pb)

>>6849734 (pb)

Pics 1, 3 and 4 depict storms.

Scott Morrison meets with Donald Trump over dinner in Japan ahead of G20 Summit

Scott Morrison has met with Donald Trump at a dinner meeting in Osaka, speaking with the US President for more than an hour as the leaders prepared for the annual G20 Summit.

In a meeting that ran overtime, the Prime Minister told Mr Trump and his advisers of the effect his trade tariffs against China are having on the rest of the world, including allies like Australia.

"For Australians, we are a trading nation," Mr Morrison told the ABC after the meeting.

"One in five jobs are dependent on trade, that is why events like this are important, not just dealing with the United States but the many other participants."

When asked if his trade policies strained traditional alliances, Mr Trump insisted that Australia had done well on trade under his administration.

"I can say very easily that we've been very good to our allies, we work with our allies, we take care of our allies," Mr Trump said.

"I have inherited massive trade deficits with our allies. And we even help our allies militarily. So, we do look at ourselves and we look at ourselves I think more positively than ever before.

"But we also look at our allies. And I think Australia is a good example. We've worked together very closely — just recently, on a big trade situation.

"We had a little bit of a trade deal going, and it worked out very well for both of us."

Mr Morrison impressed on Mr Trump the importance of resolving the US trade dispute with China.

Mr Trump also said he would "like to" visit Australia later this year for the prestigious Presidents Cup golf tournament.

"I think there is a reasonable chance [Mr Trump will come]," Mr Morrison said.

"He is obviously a passionate follower of the sport and the tournament is actually named after the President so I think it would be great for Melbourne and for the tournament.

"We have certainly issued that invitation for him to join us for what should be a great time."

Both leaders will enter the G20 Summit today, where concerns about the trade friction between China and the US will be expressed by many leaders.

Mr Trump will meet with China's President Xi Jinping, in a one-on-one meeting tomorrow.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-28/scott-morrision-meets-with-donald-trump-at-dinner-in-japan/11259746

>>6863506

President Trump Participates in a Working Dinner with the Prime Minister of Australia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT9U8R_GkzY

>>6863506

Preparations underway for possible Donald Trump trip to Australia

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has invited US President Donald Trump to visit Melbourne in December as the two leaders canvass rising security concerns with Iran and the danger of a global trade war.

Mr Morrison asked Mr Trump to fly to Australia to attend the President’s Cup golf tournament, seizing the opportunity to strengthen ties with the President during their working dinner on Thursday night.

The Prime Minister emerged from the meeting to declare Mr Trump did not seek Australian military help in the rising tensions with Iran, although the security challenges with Iran and North Korea were canvassed during the meeting.

The President’s Cup is played at different locations every two years and will be held this year at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club from December 12 to 15 - the same venue used for the event in 1998 and 2011. The US team will be captained by US golf champion Tiger Woods.

While Mr Morrison extended his invitation during the private meeting, Mr Trump was asked during the open remarks at the start of the meeting if he would attend the golf tournament and replied: “I’d like to.”

The Australian ambassador to the United States, Joe Hockey, has been working on plans to get Mr Trump to Melbourne for several months and the formal invitation intensifies that effort. Australian sources said it was right to estimate a 50:50 chance of the visit going ahead.

Mr Trump moved to ease Australian fears of a growing trade war by assuring Mr Morrison during the working dinner that he wanted to “maximise” the economic partnership between the two allies.

Mr Trump said he was committed to “fair, balanced and mutually beneficial” trade and investment.

But the President also canvassed security challenges including rising tensions with Iran after the Islamic republic shot down a US drone, leading Mr Trump to come close to launching a retaliatory strike.

Asked about this on Australian television on Friday morning, Mr Morrison said the US President did not seek Australian assistance.

“It certainly wasn’t sought. We talked about these issues and we have been watching them very closely as well but there are no requests and at this stage I think those issues are a bit premature, but we are obviously concerned,” Mr Morrison said.

“We would deal with any request from an ally such as the United States seriously and on its merits.”

Also on the agenda was the challenge of halting North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and the need for Australia and the US to work together in the Pacific, a region now subject to growing Chinese influence.

Mr Morrison said he spoke to Mr Trump about the trade tensions between the US and China ahead of the President’s meeting on Saturday with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

“We talked about the tensions that are there and the impact that has on the global economy and what that means for Australia,” Mr Morrison said on Friday morning.

“They've got some fair dinkum issues they are trying to sort out. They will seek to do that, I am sure of that. There are things that do have to be sorted.”

While US news reports have raised the idea of a “truce” on trade when Mr Trump meets Mr Xi, the message from Mr Morrison was that the outlook for a deal was difficult.

“I walked away [from the dinner] with the view that this is going to be tough because there are serious issues to be resolved, but that is what this gathering is about,” he said.

“As long as people are talking, that is a positive thing.”

In a worrying sign for Australian relations with China, there is no bilateral meeting scheduled between Mr Morrison and Mr Xi and there was no such meeting at the last G20 summit, held in Argentina last December.

Mr Morrison held a formal meeting with Chinese premier Li Keqiang in Singapore last December.

Mr Morrison rejected the idea that relations with China were “strained” and said he was sure there would be an opportunity for him to “catch up” with Mr Xi.

“Our patience, strategic patience I would describe it, and consistency is important,” he said.

“We are supportive of China’s economic growth. That has been great for Australia. We work constructively with everybody.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/preparations-underway-for-possible-donald-trump-trip-to-australia-20190628-p52256.html

'No news' for US press in Morrison's dinner with Trump

Front-page material here deemed non-event by White House press pool.

For Australian newspapers, Scott Morrison’s official dinner with Donald Trump was worthy of front-page treatment. Reports said the US president had “lauded” the closeness of the Australian-US alliance and “‘lavished” praise on the prime minister.

It was true of course. Trump had said Morrison “had a fantastic victory”.

But for the US press corps it was a non-event. In its official briefing note the journalists said:

“Pool was briefly led into dining room where President Trump was meeting with Australian Prime Minister (Scott) Morrison. There was no news.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jun/28/no-news-for-us-press-in-morrisons-dinner-with-trump

What's the old saying? No news is…

>Learn our comms.

Ivanka Trump Tweet

Great start to the #G20OsakaSummit with @POTUS and the U.S. delegation at a working dinner with Australia’s Prime Minister!

@ScottMorrisonMP

https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump/status/1144231860072882177

Scott Morrison secures G20 deal to block violent terrorism on Facebook and social media

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has gained an agreement from world leaders to put new pressure on Facebook and other social media giants to halt the spread of violent terrorism online in the wake of the Christchurch attacks in March.

The declaration at the G20 summit in Japan is a significant victory for Mr Morrison and the Australian government in demanding faster action by all companies to take down violent terror content.

The Osaka summit ended on Saturday afternoon with a warning to the social media companies to lift their standards, a message backed by all members including US President Donald Trump after months of Australian diplomatic effort.

The statement from the G20 puts pressure on the companies to act immediately when contacted by authorities to remove terrorist content such as the live video of an attack or other violent posts that seek to spread terror or recruit followers.

The G20 statement was proposed by Australia and agreed by consensus after support from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as well as European Union leaders.

While the G20 statement cannot bind the companies, given any laws or rules are up to each nation, it tells the social media and internet sectors to expect direct intervention by governments if they do not fix the problem.

Mr Morrison wrote to Mr Abe, the host of this weekend’s summit, in the days after the Christchurch terror attack in March when an Australian gunman killed 51 and wounded 49 while streaming the murders on Facebook.

The letter set out a proposal for a global agreement to stamp out terrorist violence on social media but the idea faced objections from the US and others out of concern it could curb free speech.

Mr Morrison overcame those concerns and the result was a consensus agreement.

Tough Australian laws already require the social media companies to act upon instructions from police and other authorities to remove violent terrorist material, under legislation put forward by Mr Morrison and backed by Labor in Parliament in early April.

The joint statement was a significant breakthrough because Mr Trump and his officials had expressed concern about any stance that could be seen as a restriction on freedom of speech.

The G20 leaders said they issued their statement to "raise the bar" for online platforms.

"The internet must not be a safe haven for terrorists to recruit, incite or prepare terrorist acts," they said.

"We urge online platforms to meet our citizens' expectations that they must not allow use of their platforms to facilitate terrorism and [violent extremism conducive to terrorism]."

"Platforms have an important responsibility to protect their users. The complexity of the challenge - and increasing sophistication of the criminals who would misuse the internet - does not lessen the importance of platforms mitigating the proliferation of terrorist and VECT content, which harms society, via their platforms."

"Where terrorist content is uploaded or livestreamed, we underline the importance of online platforms addressing it, in a timely manner, to prevent proliferation, while ensuring that documentary evidence is preserved. We welcome online platforms' commitment to provide regular and transparent public reporting, as set out in their policies and procedures."

The statement has no binding force on the companies but sends a signal that G20 members could take harder action, including passing new laws, to force the companies to remove terrorist content more quickly.

One mechanism to act on the G20 statement is the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), which is expected to work with the social media companies.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-secures-g20-deal-to-block-violent-terrorism-on-facebook-and-social-media-20190629-p522kv.html

Social media giants need to 'raise the bar', Prime Minister says ahead of crackdown on streamed terror violence

Social media companies will be forced to take new measures to stop the spread of violent extremist videos in Australia as part of a global push to prevent a repeat of the horrific scenes in March when the Christchurch terror attacks were streamed live on Facebook.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has reached an agreement with social media giants to lift their standards and remove extreme content to prevent terrorism being spread to millions of people online.

The new agreement is aimed at protecting Australian consumers and preventing terrorists from gaining followers, with a new federal law forcing the companies to honour their commitments or face billions of dollars in fines.

The domestic rules, to be announced on Sunday, follow Mr Morrison’s success at the Group of 20 summit in Japan in gaining a global agreement to demand rapid action by social media companies to take down terrorist material.

The Osaka summit ended on Saturday afternoon with a warning to the social media companies to lift their standards, a message backed by all members including US President Donald Trump after months of Australian diplomatic effort.

Mr Morrison contacted New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern soon after the outcome to relay the news given her demand in April that social media companies stop the capacity to "livestream murder" and spread terror.

The statement from the G20 puts pressure on the companies to act immediately when contacted by authorities to remove terrorist content such as the live video of an attack or other violent posts that seek to promote terrorism or recruit followers.

"We all appreciate the great opportunities that these new platforms provide - we want to ensure that they're realised," Mr Morrison said in an interview with The Sun Herald and The Sunday Age.

"But at the same time, the chilling reminder from Christchurch was that we've got to protect these tools from being weaponised by terrorists. That is important to ensure we realise their positive benefits so people don’t lose confidence in these platforms because of the failure to keep them safe."

The G20 statement was proposed by Australia and agreed by consensus after support from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as host of the meeting, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the European Union leaders.

The G20 leaders said they issued their statement to "raise the bar" for online platforms.

Tough Australian laws already require social media companies to act upon instructions from police and other authorities to remove violent terrorist material under legislation put forward by Mr Morrison and backed by Labor in Parliament in early April.

The government set up a taskforce to act on the laws with members including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Microsoft as well as the communications companies that carry most internet traffic, Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and TPG.

All are subject to amendments to the Criminal Code that imposes fines worth billions of dollars if they do not act on police warnings about "abhorrent violent material" they host.

The taskforce report, to be released on Sunday, includes pledges from the social media companies to control live streaming, monitor new accounts, remove users who breach standards and do more to moderate content.

It also recommends a the government run a "terrorist scenario" at some time in the next 12 months to test the response of social media networks.

A new reporting regime will require the companies to tell the government twice each year about their efforts in stopping terrorist content.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/social-media-giants-need-to-raise-the-bar-prime-minister-says-ahead-of-crackdown-on-streamed-terror-violence-20190629-p522jg.html

>>6877111

>It also recommends the government run a "terrorist scenario" at some time in the next 12 months to test the response of social media networks.

Report of the Australian Taskforce to combat terrorist and extreme violent material online

Publication abstract:

The terrorist attacks that took place in Christchurch on 15 March 2019 shocked the world. Citizens and governments alike questioned how the mass murder of 51 men, women and children could take place in a peaceful, democratic country like New Zealand. In the hours and days that followed, it became apparent that the internet was exploited to amplify the crimes. The alleged perpetrator livestreamed the murders on Facebook and from there, the video quickly spread, with individuals attempting to upload copies on mainstream and smaller digital platforms and websites.

Condemnation of the acts, and of the use of online platforms in disseminating this content, was swift. On 26 March 2019, the Prime Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, chaired a Summit in Brisbane to discuss Australian Government and industry responses to the sharing of content related to the Christchurch terrorist attack. The Summit brought together representatives from the major digital platforms, Australian Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the heads of relevant Government agencies, along with the Attorney-General, the then Minister for Communications and the Arts and the Minister for Home Affairs.

In this forum, the Government made clear that the community expected more from the digital platforms and that it wanted to see industry bring forward concrete measures to prevent extreme violent content from being disseminated so readily on their services. A key outcome of the Summit was the establishment of the Taskforce to Combat Terrorist and Extreme Violent Material Online (the Taskforce). Comprising government and industry representatives, the objective of the Taskforce was to provide advice to Government on practical, tangible and effective measures and commitments to combat the upload and dissemination of terrorist and extreme violent material.

This report provides that advice. It identifies actions and recommendations that fall into one of five streams: prevention; detection and removal; transparency; deterrence; and capacity building. These actions and recommendations build on and extend the commitments already made by industry and Government following the attacks, including changes by individual firms to the operation of their services. They are also consistent with principles contained within the Christchurch Call to Action.

Ultimately, the Government will assess whether the actions detailed in this report represent a sufficient step forward in terms of ensuring the safety of Australians online. The Government has made clear that it is willing to consider regulatory options where the voluntary commitments put forward by industry fall short of the mark. This reflects a growing consensus internationally that the internet should not be a forum or tool for the proliferation of harmful content, and that more needs to be done — particularly by the larger and well-resourced digital platforms — to make the internet a safer place.

A number of countries, including Australia, have strongly advocated for international cooperation on this issue through various multilateral fora. Consistent with the Christchurch Call to Action, the Australian Government is working internationally and through the actions agreed, including through this taskforce, to drive concrete initiatives on preventing terrorist and violent extremist exploitation of the internet.

There is clearly an appetite, in Australia and overseas, for tangible, concrete measures to tackle the upload and spread of terrorist and extreme violent material online. Whether these fora and the parallel commitments to action from industry can deliver on this outcome will become clearer over the coming months.

https://www.pmc.gov.au/resource-centre/national-security/report-australian-taskforce-combat-terrorist-and-extreme-violent-material-online

US ambassador’s message for Morrison: ‘embrace power role in Pacific’

New US ambassador Arthur ­Culvahouse has called on Australia to play “a great power leadership role” in the Pacific, saying he expects Scott Morrison will ­increasingly call out “malign influences” in the region as China ­increases pressure on vulnerable nations through its Belt and Road Initiative.

Mr Culvahouse said the US, not China, was Australia’s most important economic partner with $1.6 trillion in two-way investment, and declared both nations needed to protect critical technology from “impermissible and pernicious theft” by Beijing.

In an interview to mark his first 100 days in the role, Mr Culvahouse reaffirmed the “solemn and unbreakable” nature of the Australia-US alliance, and declared the US would “absolutely” come to Australia’s aid if it were threatened by a foreign power.

He also stepped up previous criticism of the BRI, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy initiative, branding it a “lose, lose, lose” proposition for developing nations across the ­region.

The Donald Trump appointee and adviser to Republican presidents since Richard Nixon said his mission as ambassador was to refresh the US’s relationship with Australia and cement it for ­decades to come by engaging with Australia’s future leaders and ­innovators.

Amid growing emphasis by the Prime Minister on his “Pacific step up”, Mr Culvahouse said the US had “immense confidence” in Australia’s standing in the region, with “expertise and relationships and sensitivities that exceed ours”.

“We believe Australia can and should play a great power leadership role in the region,” Mr Culvahouse told The Australian yesterday.

“It’s Australia’s area. You’re a little more nimble and subtle than we are. We are not abdicating our role, by any means. But we want to pay particular attention to the Australian leadership role in our region.”

A week after Mr Morrison praised China’s “economic miracle” while backing US attacks on Chinese trade practices and intellectual property theft, Mr Culvahouse expressed confidence that the Prime Minister would increasingly call out bad behaviour by Beijing.

“We think the natural course is the Australian government, as it goes forward, will be even more supportive of US policy in the ­Pacific and that may include calling out malign influences where they see them,” he said.

As Mr Trump and Mr Xi battle for influence and economic ­supremacy in the Indo-Pacific, Mr Culvahouse dismissed suggestions that US power in the region was on the wane, and with it the value of the Australia-US alliance.

He said the pivot to Asia announced by former Democrat president Barack Obama was “now becoming a reality” under Mr Trump, with more “soft and hard power” resources directed towards the Indo-Pacific.

Mr Culvahouse said the US and Australia, together with allies such as Japan and New Zealand, were “marshalling our forces to offer alternatives” to the BRI. He noted the recent commitment by those countries to roll out electricity and internet coverage to 70 per cent of Papua New Guinea’s population.

“This region does need infrastructure. But it also needs good governance, respect for sovereignty,” he said.

Mr Culvahouse said China’s hacking of technology secrets was “common law theft”, and criticised the infiltration of Western universities by People’s Liberation Army scholars seeking quick access to dual-use innovations.

“We have got to do a better job of protecting our national security interests,” Mr Culvahouse said.

“Your country and my country have tens of millions of dollars and decades of investment in these areas, and it is just impermissible that someone, through a so-called academic exchange, or doing a doctorate or dissertation, can pilfer that information and use it against us.”

Mr Culvahouse said the US remained concerned about the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to Chinese company Landbridge, and welcomed strengthened foreign investment rules following the decision.

(continued)

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/us-ambassadors-message-for-morrison-embrace-power-role-in-pacific/news-story/ac321051c982b815cd26c258635ab73f

Scott Morrison: missing Alek Sigley the focus of prayers

Scott Morrison says an Australian student missing in totalitarian North Korea has been the focus of his prayers and that he will do everything to ensure he is brought home safely.

The Prime Minister has sought help from G20 counterparts to locate Alek Sigley, 29, who vanished in North Korea last week.

“This morning, there are many prayers but I must say my prayers this morning are for Alek Sigley and his family,” Mr Morrison said after a church service in Canberra.

“This is a troubling situation and we will continue to use every effort we have to locate him and hopefully bring him home safely.”

Mr Sigley’s disappearance in North Korea came days before US president Donald Trump became the first American leader to cross the demilitarised zone into the communist rogue state.

Australian officials fear, but have not yet confirmed, that the Perth man has been arrested and is detained in Pyongyang.

Australia has no diplomatic presence in North Korea and is working through the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang to try to establish his whereabouts.

Mr Sigley blogged and tweeted regularly about his life in the country, but his observations were overwhelmingly positive and included rave reviews of Pyongyang’s restaurants.

Last year, he began studying for a masters in Korean literature at Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang. By that time, he had led more than a dozen trips into North Korea and married his Japanes­e student fiancee Yuka Morinaga at an elaborate wedding in Pyongyang.

When the couple were interviewed on Pacchigi TV for Korean­-Japanese viewers last December, they enthused about Pyongyang’s “cool” khaki jumpsuit fashion, attending karaoke picnics in the park, and the shocked reception of locals when Mr Sigley aired Australian movies at the Pyongyang International Film Festival.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/scott-morrison-missing-alek-sigley-the-focus-of-prayers/news-story/41768a79fd32299101db3a148ac7817d

https://twitter.com/AlekSigley

Today's Birthday, July 3: Julian Assange

Australian founder of WikiLeaks, publisher and investigative journalist, (1971 - ).

Supporters of the Australian-born computer hacker hail him as a hero, a freedom fighter who created an online platform that exposes systemic abuse of power and forces governmental transparency.

His detractors include the US government, where Assange faces charges for spying and conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law.

The 47-year-old was evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy in London on April 11, after seeking political asylum there since 2012. He was immediately arrested by British police and is currently serving a 50-week sentence for jumping bail in 2012.

He is also wanted in Sweden over rape allegations made by women in Sweden, which Assange dismisses as political intervention.

He faces decades in prison if convicted.

Born on July 3, 1971, in Townsville, Assange faced a turbulent childhood, moving more than 35 times with his mother before settling in Townsville in Queensland's north.

He attended multiple schools but was essentially homeschooled for most of his life. A computer whiz from a young age, he began hacking computers at 16, under the moniker of Mendax.

He spent the early 90s giving technical advice to the Victoria Police Child Exploitation Unit, as well as computer programming and helping build one of the first public internet service providers in Australia.

He first gained notoriety in 1991, when he was charged with more than 30 counts of hacking over his involvement in crimes against RMIT, ANU and Telecom, and fined $2100.

A brief stint at University of Melbourne to study maths and physics ended in 2006 when he left without a degree to establish WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks has published classified documents on a number of high-profile cases, including Edward Snowden who leaked confidential information from the National Security Agency in 2013. The American whistleblower recently called Assange's arrest in Britain as " a dark moment for press freedom".

English actor Benedict Cumberbatch plays Julian Assange in a 2013 biographical Hollywood thriller about his life and how he built his online powerhouse. Assange originally attacked the film as a "mass propaganda attack" against WikiLeaks, but later softened his stance.

During his refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Assange was visited by high-profile guests including Lady Gaga and Pamela Anderson - a staunch advocate for his freedom.

Assange is serving his 50-week sentence in Belmarsh Prison in East London.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/todays-birthday-3-7-013927843–spt.html

How an American war hero was convinced by an embedded Australian reporter that it was a 'rational idea' to save his platoon by single-handedly taking on a house full of 'suicidal jihadists'

An American war hero awarded the nation's highest military honour has credited an embedded Australian journalist for his bravery.

Former Staff Sargeant David Bellavia single-handedly took on a house full of 'suicidal jihadists' in the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq in 2004.

He on Tuesday became the first and only surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the Iraq war when US President Donald Trump recognised his bravery in a White House ceremony.

Sgt Bellavia, now 43, was leading a squad in support of Operation Phantom Fury in November 2004.

After helping his platoon escape fire, he entered a house and killed at least four insurgents who were firing rocket-propelled grenades, the White House said.

Sgt Bellavia acknowledged the persistence of Australian war correspondent Michael Ware, who encouraged him to re-enter a jihadist hideout to save his platoon.

'I looked at Michael Ware and I needed someone to just give me some confidence, some ability that I could do (it),' Sgt Bellavia said.

'At that point in my life a guy from Australia, who I literally didn't want anything to do with, an embedded reporter, that embedded reporter gave me a lot of confidence that this was a very rational idea.'

Ware - who has worked for Time Magazine and CNN - followed Sgt Bellavia into the home with his camera and became the only eyewitness of his bravery, eventually using the footage to create his award-winning Netflix film Only The Dead.

Sgt Bellavia said he initially considered Ware a nuisance, and said he had no interest in working with journalists on the battlefield.

He said he didn't want to feel like he had to 'babysit' a journalist, but by the end of the trip, the pair had a mutual respect for one another and their roles in the war.

'I learnt a great deal of respect of the role that journalists have on the battlefield. Without them, men and women who do this job, Americans will not know what we do, it would go unremarked.

'Our families would never know, our citizens would never know the sacrifice. I'm awful grateful for Michael Ware's body of work and what he represents.'

President Trump told a room full of supporters at the White House that Sgt Bellavia's squad was tasked with clearing 12 houses, and on the 10th house, insurgents opened fire, wounding multiple soldiers.

'Bleeding and badly wounded, David single-handedly defeated the forces who had attacked his unit and would have killed them all had it not been for the bravery of David,' Trump said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7181973/War-hero-David-Bellavia-credits-Australian-journalist-Michael-Ware-Trump-jihadi-bravery-award.html

>>6903888

Trump awards Medal of Honor to David Bellavia

US President Donald Trump has awarded the Medal of Honor to David Bellavia for his role in the Iraq War in the US Army.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zTAg9BF6wc

New George Papadopoulos Tweet

My main prediction, as someone who spent hours in front of congress, and dealt with the many spies of spygate personally, it will be revealed that the Mifsud-Downer-Halper element of the scandal was preplanned and coordinated between the CIA/MI6.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1145975988150362114

>>6894966

Alek Sigley 'released from detention' in North Korea, Scott Morrison says

Australian Alek Sigley has been freed from detention in North Korea more than a week he was reported missing, landing safely in China after Swedish officials helped to secure his release.

Mr Sigley arrived in Bejing this morning, telling reporters he was feeling "great", but declining to answer any questions about his time in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"I'm fine. I'm very good," he said.

He was accompanied by Swedish Government envoy Kent Rolf Magnus Harstedt, and was ushered out of the airport by an embassy vehicle shortly after.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the release of Mr Sigley in Question Time this afternoon.

"Alek is safe and well," Mr Morrison said.

"We were advised that the DPRK have released him from detention and he has safely left the country and I can confirm that he has arrived safely [in China].

"On behalf of the Australian Government I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Swedish authorities for their invaluable assistance in securing Alek's prompt release, which demonstrates the value of discreet behind-the-scenes work by officials in solving sensitive consular cases in close partnership with other governments.

"I'm sure we all could not be more pleased."

The 29-year-old's father, Gary Sigley, said he was very happy to hear his son was safe.

"I'm sure that he'll be reunited with his wife very soon," he said.

"We hope to see him in the not too distant future as well and give him a big hug and kiss.

"We're very happy that he's safe and sound."

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said Swedish diplomats met with North Korean officials on Australia's behalf on Wednesday to discuss Mr Sigley's disappearance.

"On behalf of the Australian Government may I express our deepest gratitude to Swedish authorities for their prompt and invaluable assistance in securing Alek's prompt release," she told the Senate.

Senator Payne said she would not be releasing any more information about the case out of respect for Mr Sigley's privacy.

Mr Sigley was reported missing by friends last week.

The 29-year-old, who was believed to be the only Australian living in North Korea, began studying for a master's degree in Korean literature at Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang last year.

He is the founder of Tongil Tours, an Australian-based company specialising in guided tours to North Korea since 2013.

In 2017 he told the ABC North Korea was "a fascinating country, there's no other country in the world like North Korea" and said it was not dangerous to travel there.

"If we thought it was unsafe, we'd stop doing these tours," he said at the time.

Mr Sigley grew up in Perth but attended the Australian National University in Canberra before moving overseas.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-04/alek-sigley-north-korea-alive-scott-morrison-confirms/11278724

Another George Papadopoulos Tweet

Things that declassification will prove:

The Australian government through Alexander Downer was illegally spying on me and interfering in our election. Congressman Mark Meadows months back noted that an Ambassador was “conspiring with the FBI.” My testimony unlocked it all

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1146954959017013248

>>6923058

If we don’t start releasing transcripts, exposing informants who were illicitly spying, and the foreign governments (UK/Australia/Italy) involved then all that talk about American superiority and values will have been done in vain. Democracy guides this republic and made it great

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1147240757289312256

=New George Papadopoulos Tweet==

The U.K., and Australia, are hindering US interests and goals in both Europe and Asia. Transactional relations with individual strategic countries in Europe matter now more for trade and security and hedging the other two powers in the world: Russia and China. Recalibrate needed.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1147658340580777985

Was Alek Sigley detained to keep him quiet ahead of the Donald Trump meeting?

When US President Donald Trump stepped over the line dividing North and South Korea at 3.46pm last Sunday after shaking hands with Kim Jong-un, the moment had been a while in the planning.

Mr Trump actually mentioned his plans to visit the sensitive demilitarised zone and the possibility of meeting Mr Kim to the Washington political newspaper The Hill six days earlier, but their story was held at the request of the White House on security grounds.

But the North Koreans would have been told well in advance. The timing of the detention of Australian student Alek Sigley on the Tuesday of that week supports the theory posed by Sydney-based Korea expert Leonid Petrov - and shared by others - that Mr Sigley's mysterious detention was related to the Trump DMZ visit.

Zealous North Korean officials, knowing that a major political moment was coming, likely wanted to ensure the social media silence of a prolific western commentator like Mr Sigley, even if his writings were inoffensive to the country's regime, said Dr Petrov, who taught Mr Sigley at the Australian National University and remains friends with him.

When Swedish diplomat Kent Harstedt arrived in Pyongyang to negotiate the release of Alek Sigley, he did so the day after Mr Trump and Mr Kim's meeting.

"Whoever made the decision to put [Alek] outside of the ability to communicate, probably had in mind national security for North Koreans," said Dr Petrov, now a senior lecturer at the International College of Management, Sydney.

"Alek is known as being friendly, so I'm sure they did it in a mild way, a sensible way. That's my theory and it still stands: he was deliberately cut out of communications and it was prompted by things happening on the Korean peninsula."

Mr Harstedt alluded to bigger things at play. As the Swedish special envoy to North Korea, he is the point man for many countries, including Australia, that do not have their own diplomatic presence in the reclusive country.

As Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his officials spoke to Japanese, South Korean and American counterparts at the G20 summit in Osaka about Mr Sigley's disappearance, Australia was also mobilising Mr Harstedt through the Swedish government.

Mr Harstedt won't reveal exactly what he said to North Korean officials after he landed on Monday in their capital Pyongyang. But he told The Herald and The Age that the quick release by Thursday should not be "simplified" as a response to the intervention by his team.

"There might be a more complicated explanation, for many reasons, for the timing and the way it happened," he said.

North Korean officials initially refused to admit they even had Mr Sigley in detention, Mr Harstedt said. But by early Thursday morning, Australian officials had received word that Mr Harstedt's team had confirmed the 29-year-old was detained and that his situation was being discussed in Pyongyang.

By mid-morning of that day, the Australian embassy in Seoul got word from the Swedish Ambassador there was a strong possibility Mr Sigley would be handed over to Mr Harstedt's delegation at the airport as they left North Korea. The Australian government quickly dispatched two officials to the airport in Beijing, to which Mr Sigley would be flying.

Mr Sigley has been a frequent writer about North Korean food, culture and society as he led trips to the country with his company Tongil Tours. His business partner Michelle Joyce doubts Mr Sigley was detained over any serious issue. This was a view also expressed by well-informed sources.

Ms Joyce said Mr Sigley and the company had built strong relationships in North Korea, which meant it was unlikely he would have been targetted out of suspicion he'd done anything wrong.

"Maybe it was something that was part of the procedure," she said. "They make sure that foreign students that have access to communications don't say anything around the time of a major event. Sometimes people are instructed not to talk to others in those periods.

"I think that is a good theory," she added. "I don't know that's what happened, but it's a good theory."

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/was-alek-sigley-detained-to-keep-him-quiet-ahead-of-the-donald-trump-meeting-20190705-p524mz.html

Judge orders 'potentially explosive' files on sex trafficking allegations against billionaire Jeffrey Epstein must be released

A judge has ordered that potentially explosive documents related to sex trafficking allegations against billionaire Jeffrey Epstein must be released.

Sealed until now, the 2,000 pages of court documents centre around the activities of American financier Epstein, who was jailed on child prostitution charges in 2008.

His former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell – daughter of disgraced newspaper baron Robert Maxwell – has been fighting to keep the 167 files under wraps.

The documents are from a 2015 defamation case against the heiress brought by alleged trafficking victim Virginia Roberts – photographed aged 17 in Ms Maxwell's London apartment.

Ms Maxwell, 57, a former girlfriend of Epstein and now an environmentalist, has always denied the allegation that she had procured girls for Epstein and has never been charged.

Ms Roberts, now 35, claims she was forced to have sex with Epstein, 66, from the age of 16.

She also alleges she was loaned out to his wealthy friends at the financier's mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, and homes in New York and the US Virgin Islands.

The mother of three, now living in Australia, sued Ms Maxwell for defamation after the latter called her a liar in public. The case was settled in 2017. But nearly all the documents related to the case remained sealed.

It is understood the documents contain wide-ranging evidence, including testimony from other possible underage victims who were trafficked. The age of consent in Florida is 18.

In the new ruling, appeals judge Jose Cabranes said the public's right to access outweighed privacy rights of individuals who want to keep information secret. But the decision could still be subject to an appeal by two unnamed people concerned that their names will be released in the case.

The dramatic decision to unseal the documents comes days after federal prosecutors recommended that Epstein's victims should be given a public court hearing to tell their stories.

They were due to have their day in court in Florida last December in a case between Epstein and a lawyer. But the financier settled at the last minute, denying them a chance to relive their ordeal in public. The new move could potentially see Ms Roberts and a number of other victims relaying harrowing stories in the form of victim impact statements.

However, the legal motion also revealed prosecutors are not willing to throw out the deal Epstein agreed when he was jailed on child prostitution charges in 2008.

The hedge fund tycoon served just 13 months of an 18-month sentence after reaching a controversial non-federal prosecution arrangement with Florida prosecutors. He admitted two counts of soliciting girls as young as 14 for prostitution.

Two victims have been fighting for a decade to have that deal overturned and make Epstein face a potentially far harsher federal prosecution. The 35-page motion was in response to that bid, which said their rights were violated because they were never consulted at the time.

If the hearing takes place, it will be heard in the West Palm Beach court of Judge Kenneth Marra.

A legal source close to the case told The Mail on Sunday: 'Judge Marra is very angry about the Epstein deal.

'If a public hearing goes ahead, we do not expect the victims to be limited in what they can say, or the ground they can cover. It will be standing room only.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7220731/Potentially-explosive-file-sex-trafficking-allegations-against-Jeffrey-Epstein-released.html

>>6937798

Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking bust: Convicted pedophile arrested on the tarmac after he jets in from France as FBI agents break down the door of his NYC mansion to execute search warrant

Jeffrey Epstein was charged with sex trafficking on Saturday by federal prosecutors with the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan according to an individual who is familiar with the proceedings.

That same individual said that Epstein, 66, will make his first court appearance on Monday in New York, confirming a report that first appeared on The Daily Beast.

It had been reported for the past few months that Epstein was being investigated on unknown charges by the Southern District of New York.

He was taken into custody after his private jet touched down from France on Saturday at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, Around the same time, agents with the FBI were seen breaking down the door to his Upper East Side mansion to execute a search warrant in the case according to the Miami Herald.

The US Attorney's Office and a spokesperson with the New York Police Department both declined to comment on Saturday.

This news comes just days after a judge ordered the unsealing of nearly 2,000 pages of records related to a civil case that could reveal how he and his accused accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly trafficked underage girls.

The documents that will be unsealed are from a defamation case that was settled after Epstein entered a guilty plea guilty to a single charge of soliciting and procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution.

Records in the defamation case contained descriptions of sexual abuse by Epstein along with new allegations of sexual abuse by 'numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister and other world leaders.'

The appeals court found that the judge in the case did seal a number of documents without a justifiable reason when ordering the release.

Epstein's lawyers will first get a chance to appeal, and after those legal proceedings play out the documents will start being prepared by the court for release.

The plea deal Epstein agreed to back in 2008 saved the accused child rapist from having to register as a sex offender in 31 of 50 states.

In a deal unknown to the victim or her lawyer, the minor Epstein admitted to soliciting for prostitution was not the 14-year-old girl who first reported the millionaire money manager, but rather another girl, 16, whose age was left blank on court documents.

That victim's age means that Epstein did not have to register as a sex offender in states like New Mexico, where he owns a 7,600-acre property called Zorro Ranch, and allows him to be classified as a low risk offender in the US Virgin Islands, which is currently his primary residence.

A federal judge ruled earlier this year that then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta violated the rights of Epstein's alleged victims when they neglected to notify them that they were no longer pursuing federal charges.

That was another part of the deal, which in addition to allowing Epstein to have work release and live in a low-security facility also agreed to drop a federal probe into the millionaire moneyman.

Now Acosta - who is the current Secretary of Labor and had been mentioned as a possible candidate for attorney general - and others are again coming under fire for allegedly catering to the man who donated millions to the Clintons and hosted President Trump at his Manhattan townhouse while keeping his victims in the dark.

(continued)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7220951/Jeffrey-Epstein-charged-sex-trafficking-just-days-records-transported-minors.html

Q Posts referencing 'epstein'

https://qanon.pub/?q=epstein

Epstein's Aust accuser "deeply pleased"

The arrest of billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein in New York on child sex trafficking charges is the latest step in a long, emotionally-brutal battle for one of his alleged victims who moved to Australia as a 19-year-old when she believes she became "too old" for him.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre has been one of Epstein's most vocal accusers, alleging he recruited and groomed her as a 16-year-old in Florida to have sex with him and other rich and powerful men.

Ms Giuffre, now 35, broke away from Epstein when she married an Australian man in 2003, settled in Queensland and had three children.

Epstein, 66, appeared in a New York court on Monday dressed in a blue jail jumpsuit and entered not guilty pleas to counts of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors.

"Finding the words adequate enough now to express how I feel is a tall task," Ms Giuffre, in a statement released to AAP by her lawyer Sigrid McCawley, said.

"But I can say, without hesitation, that I am deeply pleased that federal prosecutors in New York have arrested Jeffrey Epstein and are on the case in a serious way.

"It is time for Jeffrey Epstein and those who participated and enabled his sex crimes to be brought to true justice."

Epstein was arrested on Saturday after his private plane landed in New Jersey after a flight from Paris.

The indictment alleges Epstein, between 2002 through 2005 in New York and Florida, sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money.

His victims were as young as 14, according to prosecutors.

Epstein allegedly worked with several employees and associates "to ensure that he had a steady supply of minor victims to abuse, and paid several of those victims themselves to recruit other underage girls to engage in similar sex acts for money".

He faces more than 40 years in prison if convicted.

Epstein also faced a lengthy prison sentence amid similar allegations in Florida in 2007 but managed to strike a lenient deal allowing him to plead guilty to two state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

He was given 13 months in Palm Beach County jail, but spent up to 12 hours a day, six days a week, on work release outside of jail.

The Miami Herald launched an investigation, exposing the plea deal and horror stories from alleged victims, including Ms Giuffre.

The newspaper says it was able to identify nearly 80 girls who allegedly were molested by Epstein.

Ms Giuffre told the Herald it was when she turned 19 in 2003 it became clear Epstein had lost interest in her because she "was too old for him".

She said she convinced him to pay for training to become a professional masseuse so she could move on with her life.

Epstein arranged for her to fly to Thailand to take a massage class but he instructed her to pick up a Thai girl he had arranged to come to the US, the Herald reported.

Ms Giuffre did not follow the plan.

She met an Australian man in Thailand, married soon after, settled in Queensland and the couple has three children.

Ms Giuffre said the FBI called her in Australia in 2007 to ask about Epstein, but she was not certain the call was legitimate.

"Then about six months later I get a knock at the door and it is the Australian Federal Police," she told the Herald.

"There was a 12-page document about Jeffrey Epstein and what he had done and how I was a victim."

Ms Giuffre went public with her claims against Epstein after the birth of her daughter.

She hopes other victims of abuse also go public "whenever you are ready to do it".

"It took me having a daughter and looking at this beautiful, young, innocent baby to say 'I want to speak out about it now'," she said.

https://7news.com.au/news/crime/epsteins-aust-accuser-deeply-pleased-c-206155

Police gearing up to indict minister suspected of aiding alleged pedophiles

Law enforcement slated to recommend Yaakov Litzman be charged for pressuring employees to prevent extradition of Malka Leifer, who faces 74 child sex abuse charges in Australia

The Israel Police are gearing up to recommend that Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman be indicted for using his office to illicitly provide assistance to alleged sex offenders, according to a report released Friday by the Kan public broadcaster.

Israeli law enforcement intends to indict the United Torah Judaism party chairman in two cases, the report said.

The first case involves Malka Leifer, a former ultra-Orthodox girls’ school principal charged in Australia with 74 counts of child sex abuse. The police announced in February that they were investigating Litzman on suspicion that he pressured employees in his office to change the conclusions of their psychiatric evaluations to deem Leifer unfit for extradition.

In the second one, Litzman is accused of aiding other alleged sexual predators in a manner that was against the law, Kan reported.

Litzman has denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that he responds without prejudice to all pleas for assistance his office receives.

Last month, Channel 13 news reported that Litzman helped at least 10 serious sex offenders obtain improved conditions, including home visits and other benefits, by pressuring state psychiatrists and prisons service officials.

In March, Channel 13 news reported that police were investigating suspicions that Litzman and his chief of staff pressured a psychiatrist, Moshe Birger, to ensure that another imprisoned sex offender close to Litzman’s Gur sect was placed in a rehabilitation program. Participation in the program can lead to home visit rights and early release from prison.

Leifer is known to have links to the Gur community, having once taught at a school in Israel affiliated with the branch.

A Justice Ministry official told The Times of Israel in February that police had recordings of Litzman and officials in his office speaking to Health Ministry employees and pressing them to act on Leifer’s behalf.

In 2000, Leifer was recruited from Israel to work at the Adass Israel ultra-Orthodox girls school in Melbourne. When allegations of sexual abuse against her began to surface eight years later, members of the school board purchased the mother of eight a red-eye plane ticket back to Israel, allowing her to avoid being charged.

After authorities in Melbourne filed charges against her, Australia officially filed an extradition request in 2012. Leifer was arrested in Israel two years later, but released to house arrest shortly thereafter.

Judges deemed her mentally unfit to stand trial and eventually removed all restrictions against her, concluding that she was too ill to even leave her bed.

She was rearrested in February 2018 following a police undercover operation that cast doubts on her claims regarding her mental state, and has remained in custody since. The operation was launched after the Jewish Community Watch NGO hired private investigators who placed hidden cameras in the Emmanuel settlement, a Haredi community in the northern West Bank, where Leifer had been living, which showed the alleged sex abuser roaming around the town without any apparent difficulty.

Despite the seemingly damning footage, the trial has dragged on for an additional year, as the court continues to debate her mental fitness. The Jerusalem District Psychiatrist responsible for evaluating Leifer, Dr. Jacob Charnes, has changed his mind three separate times regarding whether Leifer is fit for extradition.

In April 2015, Charnes signed off on a legal opinion affirming that she was fit to be sent back to Australia.

In December of that year, he signed off on another legal opinion, which reached a contrary conclusion.

After Leifer was rearrested in 2018, state psychiatrists put together an updated legal opinion in which they once again found her fit for extradition. Charnes refused to sign off on the document for several months, but eventually did so.

However, when the psychiatrist was cross-examined by the defense on the evaluation late last year, he told the court that he recommended an additional evaluation of Leifer be carried out — a proposal that both sides have rejected.

A legal official told The Times of Israel that police suspect Charnes changed his medical conclusion after being contacted by officials in Littzman’s office. Charnes has been interrogated under caution in the case against the deputy health minister.

The Jerusalem District Court will hand down a final decision regarding Leifer’s mental fitness for an extradition hearing on September 23.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-said-gearing-up-to-indict-minister-suspected-of-aiding-alleged-pedophiles/

Spanish security company spied on Julian Assange’s meetings with lawyers

Julian Assange was spied on 24 hours a day during the time that he spent at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he took refuge for seven years.

Documents, video and audio material that EL PAÍS has had access to show that a Spanish private defense and security firm named Undercover Global S. L., which was tasked with protecting the diplomatic building between 2012 and 2018, instructed its men to collect all possible information about the cyberactivist, particularly regarding his lawyers and collaborators.

Several video cameras, which were equipped with audio recording capability between December 2017 and March 2018, recorded dozens of meetings between the WikiLeaks founder and his attorneys and visitors. At these meetings, Assange’s legal defense strategy was discussed.

The recording equipment picked up on several secret plans drafted by Assange’s team to spirit him out of the embassy in disguise and take him to Russia or Cuba. The projects were never executed because the Australian-born activist refused, as he considered this solution “a defeat.”

UC Global’s feverish, obsessive vigilance of “the guest,” as he is described in the security firm’s notes, became more intense when Lenin Moreno became the new president of Ecuador in May 2017. It was Moreno who turned Assange over to British authorities. His predecessor, Rafael Correa, had granted him asylum and allowed him to stay at the embassy in London for seven years.

The security employees at the embassy had a daily job to do: to monitor Assange’s every move, record his conversations, and take note of his moods. The company’s drive to uncover their target’s most intimate secrets led the team to carry out a handwriting examination behind his back, which resulted in a six-page report. Company employees also took a feces sample from a baby’s diaper to check whether Assange and one of his most faithful collaborators were the child’s parents. This intelligence work had nothing to do with protection duties.

The security team for the Spanish company, which is based in Puerto Real (Cádiz), would write up a confidential report each day and send it to the company chief, David Morales, a former member of the military who trained with the special ops unit of the Marine Infantry, the marine corps of the Spanish Navy.

The degree of detail found in these reports illustrates how the company was bent on accumulating as much information as possible on a man who is indicted on 18 counts for leaking thousands of cables from the US State Department, as well as secret information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Great exaltation and nervousness by the guest after receiving news about the sentence commutation for [Chelsea] Manning [the soldier accused of passing secret documents to WikiLeaks],” reads the January 17, 2017 report. “Julian is providing a lot of information. The guest keeps writing in his agenda. You can feel the tension in the room. The guest hides his agenda with his hands at all times. Stella peeks out the door, thinking somebody could be listening in,” writes the security employee about the visit made by Walaman Adan Robert on January 12, 2017.

Another report dated January 21, 2017 says: “3.30pm-6.28pm. Pamela Anderson. They exchange information through notes. They take pictures inside the meeting room. The voice-distortion device is on at all times.”

…

But if the security guards were obsessed with capturing every last detail about the “guest” staying at the “hotel,” the WikiLeaks founder was no less obsessed about avoiding being spied on. Every time he met with his lawyers and visitors, Assange would first turn on the aforementioned voice-distortion device, which was concealed inside a lamp. However, this did not prevent audio-recording equipment from capturing every conversation. Some videos show the cyberactivist writing with a folder covering the sheet of paper, to prevent any potential cameras from zooming in on his notes.

Assange was so paranoid about being spied on that he conducted some of his meetings inside the ladies’ bathroom, which he considered a safe place. A report written by a security employee named José Antonio on January 15, 2017 says: “11.18am Aitor Martínez [Spanish lawyer] brings a briefcase, a telephone and a laptop; 11.20am guest, Stella and Aitor Martínez head for the ladies’ room, where they hold the meeting. 1pm: they exit the ladies’ room.” A few days earlier, on January 9, another employee reported on Assange’s meeting with his lawyers Melynda Taylor, Jennifer Robinson, Aitor Martínez and Baltasar Garzón.

(continued)

https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/07/09/inenglish/1562663427_224669.html

No way on Huawei: Morrison government doubles down on ban of Chinese telco supplier

Two senior Cabinet Ministers have declared that the Morrison government will not lift its ban on Huawei, despite signs key ally the United States may soften its stance towards the controversial Chinese telecom equipment supplier.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher emphatically ruled out any weakening of the Federal Government's policy to block the involvement of China-based providers in new ultra-fast '5G' mobile networks. His comments came just hours after Defence Minister Linda Reynolds used her first visit to the UK to urge Britain to copy Australia's ban on Huawei.

"The government last year took a decision in relation to 5G networks and it's a decision that has been publicly announced and well articulated," Mr Fletcher said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. "The government won't be changing that decision."

The Turnbull government banned Huawei and ZTE from providing equipment to Australian telcos for their upcoming 5G networks on the basis of security concerns in August 2018. The US blacklisted the company in May, but President Trump last month appeared to open the door to its involvement in the world's largest economy as part of a broader trade deal.

Any softening of the US government's stance towards Huawei raises the potential Australia could be isolated on an issue that has upset China, the nation's biggest trading partner. While Huawei has also been blocked from supplying 5G equipment to New Zealand's dominant telco, it remains a key provider to mobile carriers in the UK.

New Zealand and the UK are members of the 'Five Eyes' intelligence sharing alliance with Australia, the US and Canada.

While not referencing Huawei by name, Senator Reynolds in a speech stressed the need for the intelligence relationship to be linked more tightly, in line with previous warnings that the UK could endanger the Five Eyes relationship, by failing to ban Huawei.

The upcoming 5G technology is expected to digitally connect a range of industries, including critical infrastructure, driverless cars and remote hospitals. For this reason it's considered particularly sensitive but also lucrative for businesses that can secure major contracts with telcos to provide their equipment.

Huawei has ramped up its campaign against its naysayers globally amid growing pressure on its business, a US-China trade war and additional scrutiny on its security and the possibility the Chinese government could interfere with the infrastructure.

The company's top Australian executives have been intending to organise a meeting with Mr Fletcher in an attempt to persuade him to overturn the ban and consider other security measures like a "testing centre" where independent experts could look for security problems. Huawei funds similar centres in the UK and Belgium.

Huawei and its supporters have argued that knocking out the world's largest player from local rollouts will reduce competition and drive up costs that will ultimately mean inferior technology and higher priced plans for consumers.

Mr Fletcher dismissed these claims in June, saying there were many global vendors who could provide high quality equipment.

The Chinese company in the past few months has launched a scathing attack against the taxpayer-funded National Broadband Network, which it was banned from providing equipment for in 2012, and criticised the US government for "bullying" after being stung with trade restrictions.

A Huawei spokesman said the decision to exclude the company from Australia's 5G market remained a matter for government but the company was "still waiting for written advice on the exclusion and an explanation on why we have been excluded."

"To our knowledge the 5G ban imposed by the Australian Government has been made without any proof of Huawei conducting any wrongdoing in any of the 180 countries around the world in which we successfully operate," he said.

"We will continue to advocate that excluding Huawei from 5G simply means that Australians will be paying more for 5G services and will not be able to access the leading technology and innovation that we bring because of the reduced competition in the market."

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/no-way-on-huawei-morrison-government-doubles-down-on-ban-of-chinese-telco-supplier-20190709-p525i8.html

>>6964494

Medical committee rules Leifer faked medical condition to avoid extradition

A medical committee has ruled that alleged sexual predator Malka Leifer, the former Australian principal accused of molesting numerous pupils, has faked her mental illness in an effort to elude extradition from Israel, according to a report from Channel 13.

The committee received information from the Israel Prison Service and expressed suspicions that documents about her medical conditions had been forged. The committee will pass on its findings to the police.

Leifer is standing trial for extradition on 74 counts of sexual abuse in Australia against sisters Dassi Erlich, Ellie Sapper and Nicole Meyer, but has for many years claimed to be mentally unfit to be extradited.

In May, private investigator Tzafrir Tzahi – who carried out a private investigation of Leifer in 2017 – said that his team had observed her for two weeks and that her behaviour and functioning seemed perfectly normal.

“During the investigation, we saw that she was functioning like a normative woman and mother,” said Tzahi.

“She does the shopping, hosts her children on Shabbat, goes to the grocery store, goes to the post office, speaks a lot on the cell phone, laughs, converses with people – nothing that could indicate a problem with her daily functioning,” he continued, adding that they had also witnessed her writing checks and paying bills.

Tzahi noted that Leifer does not work, but that she occasionally goes to Bnei Brak, alone by public transport, for various arrangements and also to meet with one of her children.

He also stated that during the entire two weeks his team had tracked her, they had not seen her husband once.

Attorney Yehuda Fried, who is representing Leifer, told the Post in response that Leifer’s mental health problems do not prevent her from basic functioning such as shopping, traveling and other such activities, but that stressful situations can lead to an eruption of her symptoms which severely debilitate her.

He added that prison officials who have observed Leifer, who has been incarcerated since February 2018, have stated that her mental health has been deficient during her time in prison.

Manny Waks, founder and director of the Kol V’Oz campaign group, said that the long length of the legal proceedings against Leifer in which extradition hearings themselves are yet to begin has “made a farce of the Israeli system in the eyes of many around the world.”

Leifer fled Australia to come to Israel in 2008, but legal proceedings against her only began in 2014. Following the private investigation into her conducted on behalf of the Jewish Community Watch organisation, the police began its own investigation, arresting Leifer in 2018 on suspicion of feigning mental illness to avoid extradition.

“This ongoing saga needs to be wrapped up as soon as possible. It is continuing to raise questions regarding Israel’s judicial process, and is detrimentally impacting Israel’s international reputation. Of course, due process must be followed – but Leifer and her supporters must also not be allowed to have undue influence and to dictate terms,” said Waks.

He added that the police are currently investigating alleged interference in the legal proceedings against Leifer by Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, who is now under police investigation himself for allegedly threatening to fire Health Ministry officials if they did not produce a psychiatric evaluation declaring Leifer to be unfit for extradition.

Litzman has denied any wrongdoing.

“Due process is critical, but we need to ensure that justice is happening and that there aren’t any external parties impacting the case – as we have seen in the past,” Waks said.

https://www.jewishnews.net.au/medical-committee-rules-leifer-faked-medical-condition-to-avoid-extradition/91820

>>6993196

It’s millennials leading the charge, in their star-sign emblazoned T-shirts (the fashion world loves the zodiac) and subscriptions to Co-Star – a hugely popular app that helps you determine your birth chart, lets you see friends’ charts, and gives you daily horoscopes. It even offers “your day at a glance” push notifications, such as “get a plane ticket if you can and just go”; “your nervous energy won’t be especially useful today”; “Be someone’s service animal today”; and, here’s a good one, “start a cult”.

This resurgence in astrology – the study of the movements and positions of celestial bodies in the belief that they affect lives – rivals the so-called “Age of Aquarius” in the 1960s and ’70s, when people began rejecting organised religion, replacing it with the more malleable concept of spirituality. The current popularity of horoscopes demonstrates the phenomenon in action, with the stars among the most avid followers of the stars. Kendall Jenner says she “sticks to people” because she’s a Scorpio; Taylor Swift describes herself as a “blindly optimistic” Sagittarius; and Rihanna warns that, as a Pisces, she’s “never been interested in contemporary friendships”.

Cue Cassandra Tyndall, an astrologer since 2006, who has a growing client base in Brisbane and overseas, and confirms the move back to mysticism is gaining momentum. “Usually when we are experiencing a level of uncertainty in the world people look for certainty in the stars,” she says. “It’s definitely in vogue again. It will probably fall out of fashion again if Christianity rises but at the moment we are experiencing a post-Christian phase and people looking up for some sort of guidance and some faith and hope.”

Resident Brisbane News astrologer Tanya Obreza says the night sky is something that “can absolutely be relied on because it’s based on mathematics”. Tanya say the majority of her clients now are under the age of 30, reinforcing the view that there is a wave of interest in astrology from the younger generation. “What’s driving them is fear and instability. I hear the same thing over and over about how they have qualifications and have put the work in and done the right thing but they have problems getting stable jobs,” she says. “Once upon a time it was all about love and when they were going to find the right man but these days it’s more about financial stability and financial security.”

https://issuu.com/brisbanenews/docs/issuu_july_10

Their need for symbolism will be their downfall.

Follow the Owl & Y head around the world.

Identify and list.

They don’t hide it.

They don’t fear you.

You are sheep to them.

You are feeders.

https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/150410576/#150412315

They think you are STUPID.

They think you will follow the STARS.

They openly call you SHEEP/CATTLE.

THERE WILL COME A TIME NONE OF THEM WILL BE ABLE TO WALK DOWN THE STREET.

https://8ch.net/greatawakening/res/452.html#458

They thought the SHEEP would follow the STARS.

https://8ch.net/qresearch/res/614406.html#614610

Allies rattle sabres before eyes of world

Military helicopters, warships and artillery systems were in action yesterday as the joint US-­Australian military exercise ­Talisman Sabre began in ­Queensland.

As RAAF and US Air Force helicopters were seen around Bundaberg and mobile artillery rocket vehicles were in use near Rockhampton, US warships ­travelled north for training activities off the coast of Shoalwater Bay today.

More than 34,500 Australian and US personnel are taking part in the largest bilateral military exercise to take place in Queensland, with 18 other nations including Japan, New Zealand, Canada and Britain sending observation teams.

Beijing also deployed a Chinese surveillance ship off the coast of Shoalwater Bay to watch the drills. Chinese vessels were also spotted off the Queensland coast during the last Talisman Sabre operation in 2017.

Talisman Sabre is held every two years to reflect the closeness of Australia’s alliance and “enduring military relationship” with the US. It will conclude early next month.

While Australia’s F-35s will not take part in the exercise, the US has sent a squadron of F-22 Raptors, a Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft and C-17 Globemasters.

The US Marine Corp will operate F-35s.

Lieutenant General Rick Burr of the Australian Army said on Wednesday that forces would be “hard at work with our partners and allies” throughout the operation. “Our army is … building a tactical edge through new capabilities, strong partnerships and leadership at all levels,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/allies-rattle-sabres-before-eyes-of-world/news-story/95c50b1929df5cf0126244aeb0b67ab4

Aust, US view world with same eyes: PM

Australia and the United States see the world through the same eyes, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.

Mr Morrison's comments came as he paid tribute to 25,000 military personnel from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, UK, Canada and Japan taking part in the biennial Talisman Sabre exercises in Queensland.

"Australia and the United States see the world through the same eyes," he said on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan.

"Or, as President Reagan put it, 'We both recognise the responsibility of freedom and are prepared to shoulder it squarely.'"

Mr Morrison described the $4.5 billion aircraft carrier, which has 4500 crew, as an "extraordinary symbol not only of American power, but of the United States' commitment to the many nations of this region and their security".

"It's not something we can ever take for granted."

American military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported the ship had a bumpy start, running into cranes in the Port of Brisbane as tug boats pulled it in so its sailors could take a short break before the exercises.

The incident, which is being investigated, caused minor damage to the ship and spilled hydraulic fluid on the pier.

https://www.theleader.com.au/story/6271775/aust-us-view-world-with-same-eyes-pm/?cs=9397

Prime Minister Scott Morrison Tweet

An honour to tour the USS Ronald Reagan as it participates in Exercise Talisman Sabre 2019 with the Australian Defence Force. The USS Ronald Reagan is an extraordinary symbol of the United States’ commitment to the many nations of the Pacific region and their security.

https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/1149588749375852544

New George Papadopoulos Tweet

Australia: leak the secret recordings from my meeting with Clinton errand boy, Alexander Downer. Our media and citizens will be grateful and it will usher in a new chapter in US-Australia relations. Be smart. It’s all coming out anyways

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1149707389932728322

>>7024487

>we are working in tandem with the good guys in the USA to defeat evil.

Scott Morrison to go to Washington for Trump state dinner

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will head to the US to officially dine alongside President Donald Trump.

The Prime Minister’s office has confirmed Mr Trump will play host at a state dinner at the White House for Mr Morrison, who says relations between Australia and the US are the strongest they’ve ever been.

Mr Trump has insisted the Mr Morrison be afforded the highest status offered to world leaders, including the first state dinner for an Australian leader since John Howard.

“This relationship with the United States is as strong as it has ever been, and I’m looking forward to making that visit to the White House,” Mr Morrison told Liberal National Party faithful in Brisbane on Sunday.

“We’ve been fighting alongside the Americans for over a century, and that’s what they see, and that’s what they acknowledge.

“This relationship is a product of all that over a long period of time, but it will be my great honour to represent Australia when we go there in a few months.”

The Weekend Australian understands the Prime Minister will make the trip in mid-September, with the formal invitation issued this week following a private meeting and dinner between the two leaders on the sidelines of the recent G20 summit in Osaka, when the US President is believed to have flagged the idea of an ­official visit.

The move by Mr Trump to elevate an official visit to include a formal state dinner at the White House will be the first for an Australian leader since Mr Howard and his wife Janette were hosted by George W. Bush in 2006.

It will also be seen in the strategic context as a demonstrable show of support from the US President for the Australia-US alliance and its critical role in maintaining stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

Mr Morrison said yesterday that Australia and the US saw the world “through the same eyes” after he was flown out to visit the flagship of the US Navy, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, taking part in the Talisman Sabre military exercises off Queensland.

“We are in awe of the strength and power of the United States which this ship so ably represents, but at the heart of our friendship are the values and beliefs that knit our two countries together,” the Prime Minister said.

Speaking on the deck of the ship, Mr Morrison paid tribute to American leadership in the Pacific during World War II, saying the US “helped secure the freedom we enjoy today”.

He said America deserved great credit for shaping a new global order when the war ended, adding that Australia and the US had “always understood each other and stood by each other”.

“Australia believes in what Ronald Reagan called the ‘truths and traditions’ that define the United States,” Mr Morrison said. “We stand together in these self-evident truths. We stand together for personal liberty and freedom. For democracy and the ballot box. For the rule of law, and freedom of association. For free economies and free peoples.”

The deepening relationship between Mr Morrison and Mr Trump comes amid growing tensions between Iran and the West. Three Iranian ships this week tried to block a UK-flagged commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz — a choke point for the flow of Middle East oil to the rest of the world.

The US has also flagged the prospect of building a coalition to uphold freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf amid escalating tensions over Iran’s decision to enrich uranium to levels beyond the terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Former prime ministers Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd never made “official visits” to the US, despite visiting the White House, with their trips recorded by the US embassy in Canberra as “working visits”.

Malcolm Turnbull did make an official visit in February last year but was not hosted at a state dinner.

During his visit, Mr Morrison will also attend a wreath-laying at the Tomb Of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and meetings are likely to be held with senior members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Mr Trump said at the G20 that he would be keen to attend the Presidents Cup golf tournament in Melbourne in December.

Mr Morrison will become only the second world leader, after French President Emmanuel Macron, to have been hosted by Mr Trump at a state dinner at the White House.

(continued)

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/scott-morrison-to-go-to-washington-for-trump-state-dinner/news-story/be50d063b6812ebb034fad80b8c85680

“Five Eyes” Nations Finish Large-Scale Cyber Exercise

Military personnel from the US and the other “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing partner nations came together for a large-scale exercise focused on preparing for cyberattacks and keeping adversaries out of critical infrastructure.

Cyber Flag 19-1, which was held June 21-28 at a Joint Staff facility in Suffolk, Va., included 650 personnel from across the Defense Department, along with representatives from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. While this is a regular exercise, this year’s iteration was the first time it was led by a non-US official and instead commanded by a Royal Canadian Air Force captain, according to a Defense Department release.

The Homeland Security and Energy departments, FBI, Postal Service, and the House of Representatives also took part in the exercise.

Nineteen American airmen and civilians from the 836th Cyber Operations Squadron, JB San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, participated on the “blue” side and in planning the exercise, along with three weapons officers from other units who supported planning, according to an Air Forces Cyber spokesman. Pentagon staff partnered with DHS and USPS personnel employees, offering airmen a perspective on what it would be like to help protect non-military networks and work under DHS guidelines.

“The airmen were able to exchange ideas and tactics, techniques and procedures about hunting for adversaries and protecting the network on civilian-owned critical infrastructure,” 24th Air Force spokesman TSgt. R.J. Biermann said in an email.

Personnel split into 20 multi-agency teams that blocked attacks on networks built to simulate industrial hardware and software infrastructure, the release states. About 100 people formed an enemy “red team” to test the others’ defensive skills.

"We have more than half the entirety of the teams here with an outside person who doesn't belong intrinsically to their organization," exercise commander RCAF Capt. Shae Luhowy said in the release. "The teams jumped on it. We encouraged it, and we got an overwhelmingly positive response for this exact reason. The teams are very happy to be able to pick up some ideas and learn from the other teams they may be sharing with."

Cyber Flag dates back to 2011 when it was first held at Nellis AFB, Nev. The growth of the exercise mirrors burgeoning US military cyber operations overall. Last year, US Cyber Command finished building its 133 Cyber Mission Force teams, including 39 Air Force teams and about 6,200 personnel from across DOD in total.

While the exercise focused on defending against attacks, CYBERCOM is looking for more freedom to act offensively against bad actors, command boss Army Gen. Paul Nakasone told lawmakers earlier this year.

http://airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2019/July%202019/Five-Eyes-Nations-Finish-Large-Scale-Cyber-Exercise.aspx

New Zealand begins first gun buyback collection after Christchurch massacre

New Zealand has started the first of more than 250 gun buyback collections for banned military-style semi-automatic weapons in the wake of the Christchurch mosque massacres.

Police said gun owners were compensated with a total of NZ$433,682 ($413,604), after 169 individuals handed in 224 prohibited firearms.

The firearms collection event was set up just a few kilometres away from where a lone gunman opened fire at two Christchurch mosques in March, killing 51 people.

The Australian man accused of the killings, Brenton Tarrant, is alleged to have used an arsenal of five weapons, including two military-style semi-automatic rifles, in the attacks on two Christchurch mosques.

Mr Tarrant in June pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges, as well as 51 counts of murder and 40 of attempted murder.

New Zealand police said they had paid about $200,000 to dozens of gun owners handing in their weapons in the first hours of the buyback event.

In the wake of the worst massacre in modern New Zealand history, MPs voted 119-1 to outlaw military-style semi-automatics, which allow the rapid fire of high-calibre bullets.

The Government is offering money for every gun handed back by a licensed owner, with the total cost of the scheme estimated at NZ$218 million ($207 million).

Chris Cahill from the Police Association said he expects a positive response.

"We needed these semi-automatic assault rifles out of the community, but it's appropriate that people who have had to hand them in are compensated for it," he said.

But Nicole McKee from the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners said the compensation package was not fair and reasonable.

"It happened so quickly that there was no democratic process involved and there were no discussions involved with the community that had been affected," she said.

There are concerns too that farming communities, which rely on firearms for hunting and pest control, will suffer because of the weapons ban.

Professor Kevin Clements from Otago University told ABC's The World program that general public opinion was "completely in favour" of the measures, despite complaints from gun owners.

"The reality is we've got twice as many weapons per capita as you have in Australia, and six times as many as exists in the United Kingdom," he said.

"So on a per-capita basis New Zealand is a fairly over-gunned society, and those guns kill people, in suicides and homicides and so forth, at the rate of about one a day."

He said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had responded in much the same way as John Howard after the Port Arthur mass shooting.

But he said some in the gun lobby were urging firearms holders not to hand over their weapons and to bury them instead, and that many were disappointed that ammunition would not be compensated.

Some 258 collection events will be held across New Zealand over the next three months, and police expect tens of thousands of guns to be surrendered.

Licensed firearms owners will have six months to surrender weapons that have now been deemed illegal under the scheme, with an amnesty ensuring they will not face prosecution during that period.

After the amnesty expires, possession of prohibited firearms is punishable by up to five years in jail.

Police Minister Stuart Nash said police knew of 14,300 registered military-style semi-automatic rifles and there were an estimated 1.2 million firearms in the community, with the vast majority still legal under the new rules.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-13/new-zealand-gun-buy-backcollection-begins/11306618

Highly mobile rocket systems to stay in Australia after Talisman Sabre ends

High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS, will train with Marines in Darwin, Australia, after participating in this month’s Talisman Sabre exercise Down Under, according to the Marine Corps.

A platoon from the Okinawa-based 12th Marine Regiment brought three HIMARS launchers to Australia for the monthlong, biennial drills involving 34,000 U.S. and Australian troops.

“The HIMARS is a highly mobile artillery rocket system,” 12th Marines commander Col. Mike Roach said in a phone interview from Australia on Thursday. “It’s light and it’s air transportable but it’s all-weather capable and provides a range up to [186 miles].”

On Monday, 50 Marines teamed up with the Air Force, Australian army and Royal Australian Air Force to practice inserting the launchers into an expeditionary air base before conducting live-fire drills in coordination with ground and amphibious forces, Roach said.

Air Force C-130J cargo planes out of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and KC-130s out of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in mainland Japan flew the launchers into Williamson Airfield in the Australian state of Queensland.

The launchers conducted live-fire training with reduced-range practice rounds, but the capability of the HIMARS wasn’t lost on Australian troops who watched them in action, Roach said.

“All the folks out there were very impressed at what it can do,” he said.

The rocket artillery has participated in Talisman Sabre in past years. It has also seen service in Afghanistan and Iraq, where it struck insurgents up to 50 miles from where launchers were based, Roach said.

In an area as large as the Pacific, the rocket artillery provides commanders with the range to go after time-sensitive targets, he said.

After the exercise, the launchers will move to Australia’s Northern Territory, where 2,500 Marines are training over summer as part of Marine Rotational Force — Darwin, Roach said.

“The HIMARS are taking advantage of the opportunity that Australia provides,” he said.

The sparsely-populated continent with its massive military training areas is a contrast to the Marines’ home on Okinawa, where military bases take up much of the island, causing friction with some locals.

The HIMARS will conduct training in Darwin in August, Roach said.

https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/highly-mobile-rocket-systems-to-stay-in-australia-after-talisman-sabre-ends-1.589829

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iptX_iTV_Z0

Talisman Sabre

''Magic Sword''

>>7047157

E.Jean Carroll interviewed by Leigh Sales on ABC 7:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1qplZ8X3sA

US journalist and author E. Jean Carroll, who has accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her, gives her first Australian interview with Leigh Sales on tonight’s 7:30.

In her new book ‘What Do We Need Men For’, Carroll alleges the assault took place in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

She told Leigh Sales “stopping a powerful man in his tracks takes not only a few women, it takes hundreds”.

Monday 15 July at 7:30pm on ABC.

Full Interview here:

Donald Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll says 'no woman should be scared of coming forward'

https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/donald-trump-accuser-e.-jean-carroll-says-no-woman/11311654

Julian Assange made embassy his HQ for 2016 election meddling: report

Julian Assange was able to turn the Ecuadorian embassy in London into a command center for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, a report said Monday.

Documents obtained by CNN detail how the WikiLeaks founder received in-person deliveries, potentially containing hacked materials from Russian operatives during sometimes hour-long meetings at the embassy.

The hundreds of pages of surveillance reports and visitor logs were compiled by UC Global, a private Spanish security firm hired by the Ecuadorian government.

The information supports the suggestion raised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his report that WikiLeaks helped the Russians undermine the US election.

The reports show that Assange met with Russians and “world-class hackers” before critical leaks.

He also got his hands on computer and network hardware updates to help with the transfer of massive encrypted files from Russian operatives, according to the documents.

The security logs said that Assange personally managed some of the document releases “directly from the embassy.”

After the election, the security company assessed Assange’s allegiance and found that there was “no doubt that there is evidence” that the Australia native has ties to Russian intelligence agencies.

Assange has always denied working for the Kremlin and insists his source for the leaks “is not the Russian government and is not a state party.”

In April, the US unsealed a computer hacking indictment against Assange for his role in helping Chelsea Manning infiltrate Pentagon computers.

Assange is serving a one-year prison sentence in London for skipping bail in the UK and is fighting extradition to the US.

A dozen Russian intelligence officers were indicted in 2018 as part of Mueller’s probe for working with WikiLeaks and hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/15/julian-assange-made-embassy-his-hq-for-2016-election-meddling-report/#

Man, 31, sentenced to 70 years jail for filming, uploading sex with one-year-old relative

WARNING: Distressing content

A man in the US state of Florida has been sentenced to 70 years jail for recording himself having sex with a one-year-old relative and distributing the footage online in a dark web forum.

In what authorities have referred to as "the most horrible atrocities imaginable", James Lockhart produced a sexually violent four-video series of child sex abuse.

According to the US Attorney's Office, Lockhart displayed signs bearing the forum's name in the videos, as well as his online monikers "Strangewood" and "Hardwood" in order to gain notoriety.

In one message shared by Lockhart on the forum, he said he was "new to the production game" but was "eager to get working and getting better", according to a plea agreement.

In another, he asked for requests.

He also created other sex abuse videos and images of the child while bragging about sexually abusing another one year old.

7NEWS.com.au has chosen not to report other, graphic messages posted by Lockhart as well as other detail in this story.

The 31-year-old, who pleaded guilty earlier this year, also collected child pornography involving other victims which depicted sadomasochistic and violent conduct.

"This deviant committed the most horrible atrocities imaginable to a one-year-old child," Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent Michael Cochran said.

"HSI's national and international partnerships have helped ensure that this predator will never again harm a child."

US authorities were assisted in their investigations by the Queensland Police.

While acknowledging this, a spokesperson for Queensland Police told 7NEWS.com.au that "in the interests of protecting the victim" no further details would be given.

https://7news.com.au/news/world/man-31-sentenced-to-70-years-jail-for-filming-uploading-sex-with-one-year-old-relative-c-272520

>The choice to know will be yours.

https://meaww.com/pedophile-father-rapes-year-old-daughter-uploads-child-pornography-prison-70-behind-bars

https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/bradenton-man-sentenced-70-years-federal-prison-producing-sex-abuse-video-series-one

Anti-Iran protester arrested after climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge to deliver ‘message to Trump'

A man has been arrested after scaling Sydney Harbour Bridge in heavy fog to deliver a message to Donald Trump.

New South Wales Police were called to the scene early on Sunday morning. The force deployed police rescue and a specialist bomb disposal unit to help bring him down.

The 33-year-old, who gave his name as Pedro, left his car parked at the northern end of the bridge, before scaling it.

In a protest against the government of Iran, he went on to hang the flags of the USA, Israel and Australia from the top of the bridge, alongside the former flag of Iran which was replaced after the Iranian revolution of 1979.

In a video posted to Twitter from the top of the bridge, he claimed to have climbed the landmark to record a favourable “message from the Iranian people” to US President Donald Trump.

He added: "At the moment we don't have any President in Iran. Our President at the moment is President Trump - you are our President at the moment, until we get a new president and we get rid of this terrorist regime".

He followed this with a combination of apparent references to the QAnon conspiracy theory popular among some Trump supporters, and to the Iranian anti-government group Restart.

He has been charged with damage, disruption or obstruction of Sydney Harbour Bridge and faces a maximum sentence of a $22,000 (£11166) fine and two years in prison.

He appears in court on 7 July.

The Restart group was founded “to overthrow the regime of Islamic Republic of Iran, establish a government based on knowledge and merits, and replace misery and poverty with happiness and prosperity”, according to its website.

In October 2017 several supporters of the group were reportedly arrested on suspicion of arson in Iran after leader Seyed Mohammad Hosseini issued a "Fire challenge", which called on followers to ignite banks and state military buildings.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/sydney-harbour-bridge-traffic-protest-trump-infowars-qanon-a8992136.html

https://twitter.com/restartleader/status/1147636553088266240

New George Papadopoulos Tweet

People are missing the point. The dossier was small potatoes. The unredacted FISA warrants, which ABC news confirmed to me in April 2017 that I had one on me, is going to expose the informants, and the involvement of the CIA/UK/Australia. Keep the eye on the prize.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1151324109642461184

>>7066445

And another…

Alexander Downer has come unhinged. In recent interviews he has given, he blames ISRAEL, for HIM, spying on me.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1151554262373027841

>>7056842

‘Rubbish!’: Correa blasts CNN for claim that Assange made embassy into ‘command post for meddling’

Former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa has lashed out at CNN over a report claiming whistleblower Julian Assange turned the country’s embassy in London into a “command post for election meddling,” branding the story “rubbish.”

In a Monday report, CNN alleged that the WikiLeaks founder had used the Ecuadorian embassy, where he lived under asylum for seven years, as a base from which to help Russia “undermine” the 2016 US presidential election. CNN claimed Assange received “in-person deliveries” of potentially “hacked materials” and held “suspicious meetings” with “Russians and world-class hackers.”

A day later, CNN published comments from an interview with Correa in which he said that since Assange was posting information about Hillary Clinton and not Donald Trump, his whistleblowing amounted to "manipulation." This is why Ecuador eventually cut off Assange's internet access in the embassy, Correa said — but he denied there was any cooperation between Assange, Russia and Ecuador to interfere in the US election.

CNN, however, framed the story to fit with its conspiracy narrative of Assange and Quito aiding in Moscow’s alleged interference, with its headline dramatically reading that Correa “confirms” the election meddling. In a tweet promoting the story, the network implied that Correa was aware of the alleged meddling and simply didn't care.

Correa told RT on Wednesday that CNN’s original story about the embassy operating as a “command center” was “rubbish” and that the network was trying to build an untrue narrative of cooperation between Assange and Russia to ensure the public supports his eventual fate.

"What CNN and other media are saying is rubbish, but we're used to it. They are prepping for the show. The reason is, when they extradite Assange to the US and sentence him to life, they want the honest backing of the public. They are setting the stage."

Correa compared CNN's assertions about Assange to its claims about "weapons of mass destruction" in the lead up to the Iraq war in 2003 — media manipulation which was used to make Americans "applaud a war,” he said.

Now, to "justify the assassination of Assange or to extradite him" they are constructing a new narrative about a fake "command center" for election meddling, he said.

Correa also denied claims made by other media that he had a direct telephone line with Assange in the embassy. In reality, he said, he only spoke to Assange once — when the WikiLeaks founder interviewed him for his show on RT.

Correa said that CNN's claims about illicit activities in the London embassy were not confirmed by actual evidence, but based on the report by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller into so-called Russian interference and disproven "collusion" with the Trump campaign.

The former Ecuadorian leader also dismissed claims made by CNN that it was pressure from US authorities that forced Quito to cut off Assange’s internet and phone access.

"If such a threat [from the US] had come to me, I assure you that I would not have taken any action — because we do not accept this kind of pressure."

In Correa’s opinion, Assange was "justified" in publishing damaging material about Clinton because it was "true" — but he also said that publishing about one candidate and not the other was a kind of “manipulation.”

When Assange was arrested by British police and dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in April, Correa slammed his successor Lenin Moreno as the “greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history” for having “allowed” it to happen, adding that Assange's arrest was "a crime that humanity will never forget.”

CNN even attempted to implicate RT in the whole conspiracy by including in the story a long-debunked theory that this network was in cahoots and “coordinating behind the scenes” with WikiLeaks simply because it reported on a new document dump which was posted on the website before the whistleblowing site tweeted out a link to the information.

https://www.rt.com/news/464409-correa-cnn-assange-embassy/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsrjP8t028k

>>7077933

>No more captchas?

>>7076859 (pb)

>Captcha can be easily bypassed by those who would seek to cause disruption.

>Having active serves no purpose.

>Q

Jacinda Ardern to raise deportation of New Zealanders in meeting with Scott Morrison

New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern will raise the “corrosive issue” of Australia deporting more Kiwis on character grounds when she meets with her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison in Melbourne.

About 800 New Zealanders were booted out of their adoptive country last year, with most cases involving expat criminals who had been convicted of violent offences.

Ms Ardern said it was legitimate for Australia to deport New Zealand nationals who had committed serious crimes but the emergence of cases involving people with tenuous links to New Zealand had become a thorn in the side of bilateral relations.

“Those New Zealanders who are living in Australia and who may struggle for citizenship despite having lived here for a long time and the benefits of citizenship is something I consistently raise and will continue to do so,’’ she said ahead of Friday’s meeting with Mr Morrison.

“There are a number of areas where it would be completely legitimate for a New Zealand citizen to be deported back to New Zealand if they engage in criminal activity, but we have seen cases where there is almost no connection of an individual to New Zealand who had been deported.

“I consider that to be a corrosive part of that policy and it is having a corrosive effect on our relationship so I will continue to raise that as well’’.

The meeting with Mr Morrison is Ms Ardern’s final stop in an overnight visit to Melbourne intended to assuage the concerns of Australian banks and would-be investors about proposed changes to New Zealand’s foreign investment rules.

The New Zealand government is preparing a second tranche of reforms to its Overseas Investment Act expected to expand the definition of “sensitive assets” which require government approval to sell to a foreign buyer and introduce a character test for would-be buyers. Ms Ardern said her message to Australian investors was New Zealand remains open for business.

“We are looking for productive investment that is good for New Zealand and good for our economy,’’ she said shortly before a meeting with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

Ms Ardern held talks with bosses from ANZ and AMP today and will hold further discussion with institutional investors tomorrow prior to her meeting with Mr Morrison.

She told New Zealand reporters that one of the barriers to greater investment in New Zealand was a so-called “confidence gap” — the difference between the talent and ingenuity of New Zealand entrepreneurs and the willingness of New Zealand to sell itself to attract overseas capital.

While Mr Morrison and Ms Ardern have vastly differing relations with US President Donald Trump — the New Zealand Prime Minister has condemned Mr Trump’s racially charged statements about Democrat congresswomen while Mr Morrison is expected to be honoured with a State dinner when he next visits Washington — Ms Ardern said they were “signing from the same songsheet” when it came to US engagement in the Asia Pacific region.

“Both of us have been calling for greater engagement,’’ she said.

Ms Ardern said she would be willing to expand New Zealand’s free trade agreement with the US but only if US tariffs were lifted against New Zealand aluminium and steel exports. “Any expansion of free trade deal must serve New Zealand interests,” she said.

The Trump administration last year excluded Australian steel and aluminium smelters from its tariffs regime but imposed the trade penalty on New Zealand.

Ms Ardern will tonight deliver a keynote address to the Australia and New Zealand School of Government at Melbourne’s Town Hall.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/jacinda-ardern-to-raise-deportation-of-new-zealanders-in-meeting-with-scott-morrison/news-story/325f99ce070e650c239775af7f7404e0

Assange drops appeal against length of jail term for breaching bail

London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has dropped an appeal against his 50-week jail term in Britain for jumping bail by going into the Ecuadorian embassy.

Assange, 48, entered the embassy in London on June 19, 2012, to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted in connection with sexual offences allegations.

He spent nearly seven years living in the embassy until being dramatically dragged out by police in April after Ecuador revoked his political asylum.

He was jailed for 50 weeks for breaching his bail conditions, just short of the one-year maximum for the offence.

He lodged an appeal against the length of his sentence and a hearing was due to take place at the Court of Appeal in London on July 23.

But Assange is no longer pursuing the appeal and a spokeswoman for the judiciary confirmed on Thursday that the planned hearing had been cancelled.

Sentencing him at Southwark Crown Court in May, Judge Deborah Taylor said it was "difficult to envisage a more serious example" of breaching the Bail Act.

Assange wrote to the court to apologise for his actions, which he said he regretted and acknowledged might have placed him in a more serious situation.

Judge Taylor said this was the first time he had expressed contrition over his actions, which she stated cost at least £16 million ($28 million) in public funds.

"Firstly, by entering the embassy, you deliberately put yourself out of reach, whilst remaining in the UK," she said.

"You remained there for nearly seven years, exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country."

She also said his actions "undoubtedly" affected Swedish prosecutors' efforts, which were discontinued in May 2017, "not least because you remained in the embassy".

In a handwritten letter to the court, Assange said he went into hiding while "struggling with terrifying circumstances".

"I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case," he added.

"I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps the only thing that could be done, which I hoped might lead to a legal resolution being reached between Ecuador and Sweden that would protect me from the worst of my fears.

"I regret the course that this took.

"Whilst the difficulties I now face may have become even greater, nevertheless it is right for me to say this now."

Assange entered the embassy while under intense scrutiny over the leaks of hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables on his whistle-blowing website.

The drastic move came after he exhausted all legal options in fighting extradition to Sweden over two separate allegations - one of rape and one of molestation.

Assange is fighting extradition to the US where he faces 18 charges including allegations of conspiring with intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a classified Pentagon computer.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/assange-drops-appeal-against-length-of-jail-term-for-breaching-bail-20190719-p528qm.html

Dutton looks to London for Five Eyes meeting with Huawei in its sights

London | Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton is set to fly to London before the end of July for a summit with his fellow "Five Eyes" security ministers, where Britain and Canada will come under yet more pressure to join the Australia-US ban on Chinese involvement in 5G telecommunications networks.

The "Five Country Ministerial", which last year took place on the Gold Coast, brings together interior ministers from the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to compare notes on the gamut of national security threats and policy challenges.

The intelligence partners' schism over 5G will almost certainly feature in discussions. The US, Australia and New Zealand have banned the Chinese telco giant from participating in developing this critical national infrastructure, but Britain and Canada are struggling to reach a decision.

Canada has put off a decision until after a federal election in October, amid brittle ties with China following the arrest of Huawei's chief financial officer on a US warrant. Britain, meanwhile, is conducting a review that was meant to conclude months ago, and which is likely now awaiting Prime Minister Theresa May's replacement as prime minister.

Washington has put heavy pressure on Britain, implying that Five Eyes intelligence-sharing relationships could be put at risk if London doesn't follow the US lead. Even Donald Trump's partial climbdown in his anti-Huawei push – allowing the Chinese telco to buy from American suppliers – is unlikely to ease the extent of US concern about the direction of British policy.

There's speculation May will release a statement on Huawei this week or next, although it's thought likely merely to confirm there are both risks and opportunities from Chinese participation in Britain's 5G rollout.

She would thus leave the final decision for the probable next prime minister, Boris Johnson, who takes office next Wednesday. Johnson might also appoint a new home secretary, replacing Sajid Javid, before the Five Country Ministerial takes place.

Johnson hasn't made his detailed thoughts known on the Huawei question, except to say that “we should not be doing anything that will deter co-operation with our most valuable intelligence partners, the Five Eyes” – a formulation that, as ever with Mr Johnson, leaves some wriggle room.

Conservative MP and parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee member Bob Seely said the new leader had a major, and pretty urgent call to make.

"This is one of the big decisions of the 21st century. Not quite on a par with Brexit but not far off," he told The Australian Financial Review.

(continued)

https://www.afr.com/business/telecommunications/dutton-looks-to-london-for-five-eyes-meeting-with-huawei-in-its-sights-20190717-p5288r

Repost from Q Research General #9127:

>>7133811 (pb)

Prime Minister and Mrs. Morrison of Australia will visit the White House for the second U.S. State Visit in September!

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1153354529116737538

10:22 AM - 22 Jul 2019

Alexander Downer Tweet

With @GeorginaDowner at Kensington Wine Rooms. I’m spying on her for CIA, FBI, MI6, ASIS, ASIO and many more!!! Another fantastic conspiracy theory is born! @GeorgePapa19

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1153354821107376135

George Papadopoulos' Response

Downer really wants another drink with me at the Kensington Wine Rooms. Let’s make it happen!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1153397149138243584

>Define 'Projection'.

>Define 'Getting Ahead of the Story'.

Donald Trump grants his second state dinner at White House to Scott Morrison

United States President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are hosting an official visit and state dinner in September for Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his partner, Jenny Morrison.

This marks only the second state dinner that Mr Trump has held since he became president.

The first was for French President Emmanuel Macron in April 2018.

The invitation is also the first by a US president to an Australian prime minister since former president George W Bush hosted John Howard in 2006.

In a congratulatory call with Mr Morrison after he won the 2019 Australian election, Mr Trump likened the victory to his presidential win in 2016.

When the two leaders later met on the sidelines of the 2019 G20 summit in Osaka, Mr Trump praised the trading relationship between Washington and Canberra.

"I think Australia is a good example. We've worked together very closely — just recently, on a big trade situation," he said.

The dinner will happen on September 20.

In a press statement, the White House said the visit would celebrate the close bonds between the two countries.

"The visit will celebrate our two countries' close friendship and shared history, and reaffirm our common vision for global peace, security, and prosperity," the statement read.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-23/scott-morrison-trump-state-dinner/11336950

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump Announce Official Visit and State Dinner with Australia

The President and First Lady will welcome Prime Minister and Mrs. Morrison of Australia to the White House on September 20, 2019, for an official visit, which will include a state dinner. The visit will celebrate our two countries’ close friendship and shared history, and reaffirm our common vision for global peace, security, and prosperity.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-first-lady-melania-trump-announce-official-visit-state-dinner-australia/

Q Post #3471

https://twitter.com/jsolomonReports/status/1153808044406407168

Bigger than most realize.

[Be Ready], [Bob]

Q

https://8ch.net/qresearch/res/7152339.html#7152657

John Solomon Tweet

Breaking: DOJ Russia review targeting key figure, conclusion in Mueller report. Prosecutors seek access to professor Joseph Mifsud to determine if any improper surveillance occurred on George Papadopoulos.

https://twitter.com/jsolomonReports/status/1153808044406407168

Robert Mueller soon may be exposed as the 'magician of omission' on Russia

The Mueller report has glaring omissions that leave key questions unanswered, especially about how the FBI's probe of Trump began.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/454409-robert-mueller-soon-may-be-exposed-as-the-magician-of-omission-on-russia

>>7158153

Graham says he will call Papadopoulos to testify

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he plans to call former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos to testify as part of a “deep dive” into the early stages of the FBI probe into Russia's election interference.

“The committee will be looking at the counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign. We will call Papadopoulos and we will find out what happened,” Graham said at the start of a hearing Tuesday with FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Graham said that the panel would conduct a “deep dive into 2016 surveillance by the FBI,” reiterating plans he has long had to investigate the origins of the Russia probe.

Papadopoulos declined to comment Tuesday when reached by The Hill.

Republicans have long raised questions about the origins of the probe into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, alleging FBI agents were biased against President Trump in their decisions. They have also raised questions about the role played by the controversial Steele dossier in the FBI’s application for a warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Democrats have accused Republicans of promoting baseless conspiracy theories in an attempt to undermine the investigation, which was eventually taken over by now-former special counsel Robert Mueller.

Mueller’s 448-page report confirms that the FBI began investigating potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia after Papadopoulos told a foreign diplomat that the Trump campaign “had received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the Campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to candidate [Hillary] Clinton.”

Mueller, who will testify before two House committees on Wednesday, did not uncover sufficient evidence to charge members of the campaign with conspiring with Russia to meddle in then election.

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in connection with Mueller’s investigation in 2017. He served a short prison term last year and has become a vocal critic of the FBI and the investigation, claiming it was “entrapped” by Western intelligence.

Graham said he would wait to jump-start his investigation until after Justice Department inspector general concludes his own inquiry into the FBI’s actions in applying for the Page warrant.

Attorney General William Barr has also opened a separate investigation into whether intelligence collection on the Trump campaign — which he termed “spying” — was adequately predicated. Democrats have accused the attorney general of promoting a conspiracy theory and undermining the intelligence community.

Wray has previously testified that he had no evidence personally that the FBI engaged in illegal surveillance during the 2016 campaign.

Wray was testifying Tuesday as part of a general oversight hearing focused on the FBI.

Under questioning from Graham, Wray said that Russia has not been deterred by sanctions and other measures and is still engaging in foreign influence campaigns against U.S. elections.

“The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections through foreign influence,” Wray said.

When asked if Russia had not been deterred, the FBI director replied: “My view is, until they stop, they haven’t been deterred enough.”

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/454295-graham-says-he-will-call-papadopoulos-to-testify

New George Papadopoulos Tweet

First Mifsud. Downer is next.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1153877780020334592

>>7158123

Hero or Villain: The Prosecution of Julian Assange | Four Corners

Julian Assange is one of the most influential figures to emerge this century. The Australian born founder of WikiLeaks has harnessed the technology of the digital age to unleash an information war against governments and corporations.

WikiLeaks has collaborated with anonymous sources to release highly classified and often deeply embarrassing information to the world.

The organisation exploded onto the world stage in 2010 when it began publishing a series of spectacular leaks laying bare the conduct of the United States. At the centre of it all was Julian Assange.

The leaks sparked ferocious debate over the right to know and the right to keep secrets.

Now Julian Assange is in the fight of his life. In April this year he was dragged, protesting, from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, nearly seven years after seeking diplomatic protection.

He is facing extradition to the United States on espionage charges stemming from the spectacular 2010 leaks by Private Chelsea Manning.

Everyone has an opinion about Julian Assange, but now you will hear from those who have been on the inside.

Four Corners investigates the prosecution of Julian Assange in key interviews with those at the heart of WikiLeaks and those who have sought to bring him to US justice. These insider accounts give powerful insights into how these momentous events have unfolded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtelzRAPlT8

Q Post #3472

2019 - YEAR OF THE BOOMERANG.

Q

https://8ch.net/qresearch/res/7163392.html#7163488

Q Post #3473

There are Puppets.

There are Puppet Masters.

Which is [MUELLER]?

Attempt to replace [JC] as FBI Dir FAILED [attempt to regain FBI control].

Plot & Plan [backup] to initiate SC to safeguard against criminal prosecution re: illegal and criminal actions?

[SC = BLOCKADE]

[SC = loss of FBI command/control safeguard]

DOJ depends on what agency for investigating criminal actions?

[MUELLER] U1.

[MUELLER] [Epstein bury & cover-up].

[MUELLER] [plot to remove duly elected POTUS].

……………..

BIGGEST SCANDAL IN AMERICAN HISTORY.

TREASON.

2019 - YEAR OF THE BOOMERANG.

Q

https://8ch.net/qresearch/res/7163392.html#7163961

More George Papadopoulos Tweets

Halper and Downer spying. Bring it up.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1154059225984667648

The heat is now on the Clinton errand boy, and wannabe spy, Alexander Downer. The world will love to see the secret recordings of my “meeting” with him. They will be out as soon as Mifsud provides his deposition to Durham. Glorious.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1154142279486935041

Republicans grill Mueller about Downer

Former US Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been grilled at two congressional hearings in Washington DC about Alexander Downer’s role in sparking the Russian influence probe into Donald Trump’s presidential election campaign.

The questioning centred on a meeting at a London bar in May 2016 between Mr Downer, then Australia’s high commissioner to the UK, and Mr Trump’s campaign aide, George Papadopoulos.

Mr Mueller was also quizzed about a mysterious Maltese diplomat, Joseph Mifsud, who Mr Papadopoulos claims is the person who told him Russia had dirt on Mr Trump’s presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

“So Downer conveys a rumour he supposedly heard about a conversation between Papadopoulos and Joseph Mifsud,” Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told Mr Mueller on Wednesday.

“(Former FBI director) James Comey has publicly called Mifsud a Russian agent.

“Yet your report does not refer to Mifsud as a Russian agent.

“Misfud has extensive contacts with Western governments and the FBI.

“For example, there was a recent photo of him standing next to Boris Johnson, the new prime minister of Great Britain.

“What we are trying to figure out here, Mr Mueller, is if our NATO allies or Boris Johnson have been compromised.”

The hearing was shown a photo of Mr Mifsud standing with Mr Johnson.

Mr Mueller’s much-anticipated final report, released in April, stated the London bar meeting between Mr Downer and Mr Papadopoulos prompted the FBI on July 31, 2016 to open its probe into the Trump campaign’s links to Russia.

Mr Downer told The Australian newspaper last year Mr Papadopoulos said during the drinks session Russia had damaging material on Mrs Clinton.

Mr Papadopoulos denies telling Mr Downer this.

Mr Papadopoulos, a 31-year-old from Chicago, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 14 days’ prison for lying to the FBI about his contact with Russian nationals and Mr Mifsud.

Mr Papadopoulos has claimed Australian, UK and US intelligence agencies targeted him in the lead-up to Mr Trump’s election win.

Mr Downer has strongly rejected claims he was spying on Mr Papadopoulos.

Republicans peppered Mr Mueller with questions about Mr Downer and Mr Papadopoulos on Wednesday, but Mr Mueller largely avoided providing answers.

Ohio Republican Jim Jordan listed Mr Downer, Australian official Erika Thompson, Mr Mifsud and Cambridge Professor Stefan Halper among “human sources” the FBI used to “swirl around” Mr Papadopoulos.

Mr Papadopoulos has also claimed a woman, Azra Turk, was sent to spy on him.

“Names like Halper, Downer, Mifsud, Thompson meeting in Rome, London, all kinds of places,” Mr Jordan told Mr Mueller.

“The FBI even sent a lady posing as somebody else, went by the name Azra Turk.

“Even dispatched her to London to spy on Mr Papadopoulos.

“In one of these meetings, Mr Papadopoulos is talking to a foreign diplomat (Mr Downer) and he tells the diplomat, Russians have dirt on Clinton.

“That diplomat then contacts the FBI and the FBI opens an investigation based on that fact.”

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2019/07/25/mueller-about-downer-trump/

>>7179082

Alexander Downer accused of spying by US Republicans in Mueller probe

The former Trump staffer at the heart of allegations into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election has taken to Twitter to attack the former Australian foreign affairs minister and ambassador to the UK.

George Papadopoulos has accused Alexander Downer of being a "Clinton errand boy and a wannabe spy", after former US Special Counsel Robert Mueller was grilled in a congressional hearing in Washington DC on Wednesday.

The questioning centred on a now-infamous meeting at a London bar in May 2016 between Downer, who was then Australia's high commissioner to the UK, and Papadopoulos, who was working on Donald Trump's presidential campaign at the time.

The final report into Mueller's investigation into whether anyone on the Republican Trump team conspired with Russia to discredit his Democrat opponent - and whether Trump himself then sought to obstruct justice by hindering the investigation - named the meeting in the London bar as the catalyst for an FBI investigation into alleged Russian interference that was launched two months later.

Over gin and tonics at the swank Kensington Wine Rooms in London, Downer says Papadopoulos told him Russia was sitting on damaging material the could derail Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Papadopoulos, who was subsequently convicted of lying to the FBI, has consistently denied this allegation made by his nemesis, who he dubs "the Devil from Downunder" in his memoir Deep State Target.

Papadopoulos claims he was set up by Downer, who was acting for Australian, UK and US intelligence agencies, a claim the former Australian ambassador says is "a little bit sad".

Twitter taunt

On Tuesday, Downer appeared to be goading Papadopoulos on Twitter, by revisiting the Kensington Wine Rooms with his daughter Georgina and tagging the former Trump aide.

"With @GeorginaDowner at Kensington Wine Rooms. I’m spying on her for CIA, FBI, MI6, ASIS, ASIO and many more!!! Another fantastic conspiracy theory is born! @GeorgePapa19"

On Wednesday, Republicans peppered Mueller with questions about whether Downer had been sent to spy on Papadopoulos.

Ohio Republican Jim Jordan listed Downer and an Australian official, Erika Thompson, who was working with him at the time, as two of four "human sources" the FBI used to "swirl around" Papadopoulos.

"In one of these meetings, Mr Papadopoulos is talking to a foreign diplomat (Downer) and he tells the diplomat, 'Russians have dirt on Clinton'," Jordan said.

"That diplomat then contacts the FBI and the FBI opens an investigation based on that fact."

Russian connections

Papadopoulos, a 31-year-old from Chicago, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 14 days' prison for lying to the FBI about his contact with Russian nationals and an inscrutable Maltese identity called Joseph Mifsud, who is believed to have high-level connections within the Russian government.

Papadopoulos claims it was Mifsud who told him Russia had dirt on Trump's presidential rival Clinton.

Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, suggested Downer was acting as an informant for the FBI.

"So Downer conveys a rumour he supposedly heard about a conversation between Papadopoulos and Joseph Mifsud," Nunes said to Mueller at Wednesday's hearing.

"(Former FBI director) James Comey has publicly called Mifsud a Russian agent.

"Yet your report does not refer to Mifsud as a Russian agent.

"Misfud has extensive contacts with Western governments and the FBI.

"For example, there was a recent photo of him standing next to Boris Johnson, the new prime minister of Great Britain.

"What we are trying to figure out here, Mr Mueller, is if our NATO allies or Boris Johnson have been compromised."

The hearing was shown a photo of Mifsud standing with Johnson.

Trump has claimed the Mueller report completely exonerated him from all allegations of Russian collusion and interference in the investigation.

In his congressional testimony on Wednesday, Mueller said he had not exonerated Trump of obstruction of justice.

But he said charges were never considered because he received legal advice that a sitting president was constitutionally immune from indictment and criminal prosecution.

However, Mueller agreed there was no legal impediment to a president being charged with a crime after leaving office.

https://7news.com.au/politics/world-politics/alexander-downer-accused-of-spying-by-us-republicans-in-mueller-probe-c-365172

Mueller: Trump Gave a ‘Boost’ to WikiLeaks’ ‘Illegal Activity’

The remarks, made by the former special counsel in his second hearing, were the closest Mueller came to directly criticizing the president.

Robert Mueller saw Trump’s praise of WikiLeaks as a big red flag.

In his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the former special counsel criticized the president’s fondness for the group that published emails stolen from Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Pressed by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) about Trump’s effusive praise for WikiLeaks on the campaign trail, Mueller was unequivocal.

“‘It’s problematic’ is an understatement, in terms of what it displays in terms of giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity,” he said.

The awkwardly phrased comment was Mueller’s most pointed public criticism of the president—strongly insinuating that Trump took the side of criminals during the campaign.

Quigley also asked Mueller if he shared Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s view that WikiLeaks is a hostile foreign intelligence service.

“Absolutely,” Mueller replied, “and they are currently under indictment.”

Quigley also asked Mueller about communications during the campaign between the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and WikiLeaks.

“Disturbing, and also subject to investigation,” he said.

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the duration of Trump’s campaign.

While he was there, his group published emails that hackers stole from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, well after it was revealed that Russian intelligence officers were responsible for those hacks.

At the same time, Assange and Trump associates pushed the baseless conspiracy theory that Seth Rich––a murdered DNC staffer––actually leaked the emails to the group as part of a whistleblowing operation. The attempted cover-up was highlighted in Mueller’s report, and the Seth Rich conspiracy has since been folded into the QAnon conspiracy theory, which many Trump supporters also believe.

Assange took refuge in the embassy in London in 2012, when he was facing imminent extradition to Sweden for questioning in a rape and sexual-assault investigation.

Ecuador began tiring of Assange after a change in the country’s leadership, and lost patience entirely when Wikileaks promoted a leak of emails stolen from the account of Ecuador’s new president, Lenín Moreno. On April 11 of this year, the embassy allowed entry to British police who arrested Assange for jumping bail. The U.S. Justice Department immediately unsealed an indictment charging Assange with conspiring with his first prominent source, then-Army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning.

In May, the DOJ unsealed a superseding indictment charging Assange under the Espionage Act for publishing the Manning material. Many First Amendment advocates see the indictment as an unprecedented attack on the rights of publishers. Assange is fighting extradition in the UK courts.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/special-counsel-robert-mueller-president-trump-gave-a-boost-to-wikileaks-illegal-activity

George Pell mural removed by car park because it was 'offensive'

A mural depicting a satanic figure hovering over a handcuffed George Pell stood just 50 metres from the entrance to St Mary's Cathedral College and less than 100 metres from the front door of the disgraced archbishop's former residence.

It was never going to last.

At some point over the past week, the graffiti art was removed from a Domain Car Park entrance on St Mary's Road - and the church insists it had nothing to do with it.

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Sydney confirmed to 7NEWS.com.au it had contacted Wilson Parking to complain about the mural but had been assured the company was already in the process of removing the controversial image.

"The Archdiocese frequently alerts the Sydney of City to any vandalism or graffiti around the cathedral precinct," a statement from the church said.

"However, in this instance, the graffiti in question was done on property belonging to Wilson Parking Domain Car Park.

"When the archdiocese contacted Domain Car Park we were told the manager of it had already organised for it to be removed."

'Offensive'

Wilson Parking will only say that it was removed in response to complaints.

“We’re not seeking to make any kind of statement, religious or otherwise, but have simply acted upon complaints from members of the public who find the painting offensive," a spokesman said.

“The painting was done on private property without permission, and in close proximity to a nearby primary school.

"Because of this, and because some find the content offensive, a decision was taken to remove it.

Wilson Parking said it only removed the Pell section of the overall graffiti because, although the remaining artwork was "unsightly", there were "potential restrictions relating to the underlying murals … (and) we have not received complaints about it."

Artist disappointed

The artist responsible for the mural, Scott Marsh, said it wasn't the first time his work involving a religious theme has been destroyed.

"Shortly after the same-sex marriage Yes result I had a mural titled “the happy ending” which featured Tony Abbott and George Pell destroyed," he told 7NEWS.com.au.

"And in the days after, my mural of George Michael as ‘Saint George’ was destroyed in Newtown.

"It's disappointing but not surprising that the Catholic Archdiocese wanted this work removed.

"There is a long history of protecting and covering up paedophilia in the church, this is just another example of sweeping it under the rug."

A third Pell mural depicting the Cardinal - who is serving a minimum three years and eight months in a Melbourne jail for historical child sex abuse offences - remains intact as of Thursday, in Sydney's inner-city suburb of Redfern.

Pell is appealing his conviction.

https://7news.com.au/news/court-justice/car-park-says-it-removed-handcuffed-george-pell-mural-because-it-was-offensive-c-364598

Top US officials to visit Australia next week for talks with Morrison

New York: US President Donald Trump's top diplomat and his newly-installed defence chief will travel to Australia next week for meetings with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other senior Australian politicians.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence Mike Esper will lead the US delegation to Australia for the annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) in Sydney on Sunday, August 4.

The meetings are held every year between the two countries' top foreign affairs and defence officials, alternating between the US and Australia.

They come a month before Morrison travels to Washington DC, where he will receive a rare state dinner with Trump.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne, who was then defence minister, attended last year's talks in California alongside her predecessor Julie Bishop. This will be the first time Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has participated in the talks.

This year's event comes as tensions between the US and Iran continue to escalate and with the US and China about to re-open negotiations on trade.

"As part of his AUSMIN engagement, the secretary will participate in dialogues aimed at strengthening the Alliance, working shoulder-to-shoulder with Australia to meet global and transnational challenges, and safeguarding sovereignty in Pacific Island countries and Southeast Asia," US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.

"The secretary will also meet with Prime Minister Morrison to discuss continued collaboration on advancing our shared set of values, principles, and overlapping interests."

Pompeo, one of Trump's most trusted advisers, will also travel to Thailand and Micronesia on the trip.

Esper was only confirmed to the position this week by the US Senate, making this his first overseas trip since being appointed the permanent defence secretary.

He replaces James Mattis, who resigned just before Christmas because of policy disagreements with the President.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/top-us-officials-to-visit-australia-next-week-for-talks-with-morrison-20190726-p52axo.html

New George Papadopoulos Tweet

The lesson of this story? Don’t send clowns to try and spy on a guy who had them made within minutes of sitting down with them. Mifsud Downer, Halper, “Azra Turk” and many more in my story are just now going to get exposed for the world to see. And with them a system will fall.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1154861873390473216

>>7207332

America: there were three countries that were actively colluding with the FBI/CIA to cause the chaos of the last three years in our country. It wasn’t Russia. Italy, the U.K. and Australia were willfully participating in this attack against our democracy and country. Expose them!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1154899251261919232

''"Hunters become the HUNTED."''

Europol’s most wanted arrested for online sexual exploitation of children; 8 children rescued so far

CEBU, PHILIPPINES – Philippine authorities have captured EUROPOL’s most wanted criminal for the production and distribution of child sexual exploitation materials (CSEM) on the dark-web.

A 32 year old man, was arrested on 12 April 2019 in Cebu City where thousands of images, including videos depicting children being sexually abused by an adult, were found in his possession.

Joint forces of the National Bureau of Investigations - Anti-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD) and the Philippine National Police - Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC) arrested the man for possession of CSEM with intent to sell, distribute, publish or broadcast, committed through the use of information communications technology.

Partner agencies from the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center (PICACC) – namely, the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the United Kingdom National Crime Agency (NCA), and non-government organization International Justice Mission (IJM) – supported the operation.

NBI-AHTRAD Chief, Atty. Janet Francisco expressed that this arrest was testament to their commitment and resolve to fight the online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC). She adds, “It was a group effort, and a clear demonstration of how collaboration works, to our advantage. Certainly, there are others like him out there waiting for the opportunity to prey on helpless children, but one thing is more certain, that we are likewise waiting for the opportunity to get them!”

PNP-WCPC Chief, PBGEN William Macavinta was ashamed that Europol's number one on the list of sexual offenders is a Filipino who had abused numerous Filipino children.

“The message is very clear. Regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator or wherever he is, the WCPC will support working under PICACC to ensure global cooperation and response until the Philippines is protected from those who victimize our innocent children using the internet,” Macavinta said.

In September 2018, Queensland Police Service (QPS) forwarded a referral to the AFP who in turn referred the case to NBI and PNP. Armed with evidence acquired during investigations, a search warrant was secured on 11 April 2019 and a 32 year old man was arrested.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Debbie Platz, National Manager Crime Operations, said the arrest highlighted the impact of cross-border collaboration between foreign law enforcement in combatting the online sexual exploitation of children.

“The AFP is committed to combatting transnational child sexual exploitation, whether the offending and victims are in Australia or abroad. The arrest of such significant suspect who is accused of abusing children to produce CSEM for international dark-web distribution highlights the value of international collaboration provided by the PICACC,” Assistant Commissioner Platz said.

Children rescued

A total of eight children – neighbors and acquaintances of the suspect, were protected. In total, five children from Cebu City, one child from Liloan and two children from Iligan City were identified and given trauma-informed interventions.

All children rescued have been reintegrated back to their families and will continue to receive trauma-informed interventions.

A press release on his arrest had been embargoed due to ongoing investigations that stemmed from the arrest. Online child sexual exploitation facilitators typically share content and contacts with other local facilitators. Hence, the release of information close to the date of arrest, could potentially work against the deterrence of the crime.

All new online child sexual exploitation referrals are directed to the PICACC which opened in February 2019. The PICACC is a collective effort to combat child exploitation across the Philippines by law enforcement – the PNP, the NBI, the AFP, and the NCA; in partnership with non-government organization, IJM. This collaborative international effort protects children through an enhanced global response to combatting OSEC.

NCA Director Rob Jones said: “This case truly represents how important the PICACC and international partners are to each other in protecting children and ensuring there’s no safe place for those with a sexual interest in children.

“There is no greater priority to the NCA than catching these offenders. We are very proud to have been a part of the team that brought this suspect to justice,” Jones said.

(continued)

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/europol%E2%80%99s-most-wanted-arrested-online-sexual-exploitation-children-8

Massive military exercise Talisman Sabre ends in Brisbane

The end of Talisman Sabre has officially been marked with a formal closing ceremony on-board the USS Wasp, docked in The Port of Brisbane.

With a vantage point view from the flight deck of the 30-year-old war ship, the ceremony opened with the Australian and the American National Anthems.

Addressing a crowd of around 1000 military personnel, officials and special guests from both countries, Rear Admiral Fred Kacher, Commander of expeditionary strike group 7 expressed America’s love for Australia- and one of the country’s favourite snacks.

“For so many Americans, Australia is a dream destination not only for the beauty we see today, but for the great people that inhabit it,” he said.

“With another generation of young Americans now fully acquainted with Australian football- we’re still figuring out the rules.

“And biting into a Tim Tam cookie in the morning- or biscuit I should say- our time is probably just about ready to close at Talisman Sabre.

“The friendships that we’ve built will endure far beyond the exercise and it reminds us that we are all stronger together.

“Talisman Sabre represents another strong link in a bond of friendship that spans more than a century.”

Rear Admiral Kacher said the training exercise allowed both countries to work together under realistic warfare circumstances.

“Through talisman sabre 2019, we have undeniably advanced our collective interoperability,” he said.

“We stood watch side-by-side in the ships combat information centre, and we landed on the beach fighting shoulder to shoulder ashore.

The 2019 Talisman Sabre is the eighth — and the largest — in the series since its inception in 2005.

It involved 34,000 military personnel from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, UK, Canada and Japan.

Held over four weeks, it also involved 200 aircraft and 36 ships.

One of the ships that captured the most attention though was a Chinese spy ship located off the coast.

“We anticipate international interest in a major event like this, it’s to be expected,” Major General Robert Noble, Deputy Chief Joint Operations of the Australian Defence Force said.

“Nobody interfered with the exercise in any way.

“(Training) is not the same as the real thing, but it’s as close to the real thing as we can get it … you want to prepare people as best you can, so that when it gets to the real thing, it looks real, your surprises are not as many and you’re mentally prepared to adapt to the reality of combat.”

Speaking about the relationship between Australia and the US, Major General Noble said it was as strong now as ever before.

“You’re not the first Americans to come here,” he said.

“Your grandfathers were very welcome and you’re very welcome as well, and your sons and daughters will be welcome here for many years to come.”

Major General Noble said the 2019 Talisman Sabre was the most demanding, most complex and largest of the series.

Looking to the future however, Major General Noble said he predicts the next event in the series in 2021 will be the best yet.

American warships have started to disperse across the Pacific, with USS Wasp to make its way out of Australian waters in the coming days.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/massive-military-exercise-talisman-sabre-ends-in-brisbane/news-story/44dc225ace296cbb79d80f8685642d72

>>7227228

Confessions of a Former Anti Fascist - Shayne Hunter

Shayne Talks about his experiences in the far left-wing Anarchist/Antifa subculture and their belief system.

Shayne was involved in the Anarchist subculture for four years. Through those experiences he has learned a lot. The dangers of ideological possession, and group think, as well as realising the importance of Freedom of Speech. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R31zlFNJq6M

>>7158180

The United States vs Julian Assange | Four Corners

In the 2016 race to the White House, presidential candidate Donald Trump took a shine to the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks, led by its Australian founder Julian Assange.

Trump revelled in the damage inflicted upon his opponent, Hillary Clinton, by a series of sensational leaks published by the site.

Now, as President, Donald Trump has performed a spectacular flip, presiding over an administration determined to imprison the publisher of the leaks.

In Part Two of its investigation into Julian Assange, Four Corners looks at Assange’s activities conducted during the nearly seven years he spent sheltering in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFOhfwvkhLY

POTUS Tweet addressing George Papadopoulos

Good luck with the book George, should do well!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1155781022014955525

George Papadopoulos' response

Thank you, Mr. President!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1155899960929316864

>What is the purpose of a laser pointer?

No Coincidences - Punisher logo prominent in Australian news report

Channel 9 News Australia reports on the ongoing hunt for 2 teenage fugitives in the Canadian wilderness. Skip to 00:28 -

Canadian police investigating possible sighting of teen fugitives | Nine News Australia

Canadian authorities are still trying to confirm a possible sighting of two teenage fugitives rummaging through a garbage dump.

The mystery men were spotted in the remote indigenous community of York Landing, only accessible by boat and air.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOdx2c1BaCo

Lawyer wants PM to raise Assange with US

Julian Assange's lawyer has urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to raise her client's extradition case when he meets with US vice president Mike Pompeo at the weekend.

Jennifer Robinson was in Canberra to drum up support for the WikiLeaks founder who is fighting extradition to the US where he faces numerous charges including espionage.

His case should be of "great concern" to all Australians, Ms Robinson - who represents Assange in the UK - told reporters on Wednesday.

"This is a dangerous precedent for all of the media and a dangerous precedent being set against an Australian citizen."

She called on Mr Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne to raise the issue when they host Mr Pompeo at AUSMIN in Sydney on Sunday.

Assange, 48, is serving a 50-week prison sentence in the UK for skipping bail after he spent seven years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

He fled to the embassy in 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden for questioning over sexual assault allegations.

Ms Robinson, who last saw Assange in Belmarsh prison a few weeks ago, has "serious concerns" for his health.

"His health has obviously deteriorated significantly and (there's) likely permanent damage on his health as a result from his time in the embassy," she said.

"He does not deserve the treatment he has received and it's time for the Australian government to speak up."

The US has indicted Assange on 18 charges including allegations of conspiring with intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a classified Pentagon computer.

His extradition case is due to begin in February.

But former Greens senator Scott Ludlam, who has known Assange since 2011, said the government should not wait for the matter to grind through British courts for "two or three years".

"Julian Assange needs to come home," he told reporters.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6304159/lawyer-wants-pm-to-raise-assange-with-us/?cs=14264

Act now on child abuse, Five Eyes tells tech giants

The world’s leading intelligence alliance of Australia, US, UK, Canada and New Zealand has demanded tech giants take “immediate” action to combat a 20 fold rise in the live streaming of child sex abuse and online child exploitation.

The Five Eyes alliance has also called on the digital platforms and device manufacturers including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Twitter to provide “backdoor” access for law enforcement agencies to read encrypted criminal content in a move that has been strongly resisted by the industry.

The Australian revealed on Monday that Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton would seek to elevate the issue of child exploitation as a key priority for a Five Country Ministerial meeting in London this week.

In a statement issued last night, the Five Country Ministerial meeting claimed tech industry executives were called in and told there was not being enough done to combat the “abhorrent crime”.

‘Moral obligation’

“In five years, we have seen a near twenty-fold increase in industry referrals of child abuse material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, from 1 million in 2014 to over 18 million in 2018,” the communique said.

“Driven by the moral obligation to tackle this escalating crisis we met representatives from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Roblox, Snap and Twitter.

“All participants agreed that tackling this epidemic requires an immediate upscaling of the global response to ensure that all children across the globe are protected against online sexual exploitation and abuse, and that there is no safe space online for offenders to operate.

“We note the efforts of digital industry to develop a range of tools to combat the threat, including grooming of children online, and the work being undertaken to support uptake of these tools with smaller companies. While these are welcome steps, much more must be done at pace — every day that passes more children are being abused, exploited, and re-traumatised online. This must stop.”

September deadline

The tech companies have been told they have until September to respond to finalise a voluntary code to stop the “viewing and sharing of child sexual abuse material, the grooming of children online, and the livestreaming of child sexual abuse and the ability to report such offences to law enforcement.

“Today we agreed the core foundations upon which these principles will be based and we call on all digital industry representatives to engage with the Five Countries, through the Digital Industry Engagement Senior Officials Group to collaborate so these can be finalised at the end of September this year,” it said.

“Beyond this it is imperative that all sectors of the digital industry including internet Service Providers and device manufacturers and others to continue to consider the impacts to the safety of children, including those who are at risk of exploitation, when developing their systems and services and deploying encryption.

“We remain resolute in our determination to tackle this abhorrent crime, safeguard children and protect victims and survivors.”

Mr Dutton told The Australian ahead of the meeting that the Five Eyes partners would look at offensive cyber capabilities to disrupt and close down paedophile networks and live streaming of child sex abuse.

(continued)

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/act-now-on-child-abuse-five-eyes-tells-tech-giants/news-story/bddbfd30923d009ea9b15c3e95ad92dd

Five Country Ministerial communiqué 2019

Details

The Home Secretary has hosted discussions with her counterparts from the ‘Five Eye’ countries – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US plus the UK - on shared emerging threats. The final communiqué was published following the meeting.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/five-country-ministerial-communique

>>7179257

Mural depicting Cardinal Pell painted near Vatican

ROME - A large mural depicting Australian Cardinal George Pell shadowed by a demonic figure while handcuffed and wearing a prison tracksuit appeared on Tuesday about 50 yards away from the Vatican.

The mural is the work of Australian artist Scott Marsh, well known in his country for his oversized and over-the-top murals of public figures. Marsh posted a video on Instagram showing the Pell mural with the hashtag #locationlocationlocation.

The goal of the mural, Marsh said in an interview with the Australian news outlet SBS News, “is to highlight the hypocrisy of the Church and combat its attempts to sweep under the rug its past abuses.”

The artist named his work “Prey Round Two” on Instagram.

This isn’t the first time Marsh created a mural depicting a repented Pell. His first rendition was only a few feet away from St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia, which was also a stone’s throw from the cardinal’s former residence. Following complaints, the artwork in Sydney was removed last week, before popping up again in Rome.

“Once it became apparent the [first] mural had been removed due to complaints from the Church, I knew I had to re-create somewhere,” Marsh said.

“I thought, what better location than Rome, the home of Vatican City?”

Pell is currently appealing a verdict that found him guilty of the sexual abuse against two minors in the 1990s. He has staunchly asserted his innocence, and took a leave of absence from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State in June 2017 to answer the charges in his native Australia.

In February 2019, Pell’s term ended for his Vatican post; he was not re-appointed by Pope Francis. The pontiff had removed him from his council of cardinal advisers, also known as the C9, a year prior.

Marsh said that the initial reaction by Italian passersby was “in support of the mural.”

“The Italian people I spoke to share the same disgust with the Church abuses as many Australians,” he said.

Father Francesco, a priest from a nearby church, said that while he’s not heard any reaction to the mural from parishioners, he found the legal process that led to Pell’s conviction “disgusting” and believes in his innocence.

He hopes the mural will be removed “soon.”

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-oceania/2019/07/31/mural-depicting-cardinal-pell-painted-near-vatican/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0h7SEllgN_/

>>7291161

>>7291231

>>7291255

>>7197076 (pb)

Imam Mohamad Tawhidi Tweet

“Just say he works for Qatar & he’s passing them information”

“Can we trap him into a situation where he appears to be working for…”

“We can hack his emails & send her copies of everything he’s doing”

You are focused on climate change, because a storm is coming.

https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1154642655243935744

>>7197187 (pb)

>>7197076 (pb)

>Imam Mohamad Tawhidi Tweet

>You are focused on climate change, because a storm is coming.

https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1154642655243935744

…and it's gone.

''"...a storm is coming."''

New George Papadopoulos Tweet

Mifsud and Downer’s reputations are destroyed. They both got burned by the same intel agencies that they thought would protect them when they tried to subvert American democracy.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1157078835994587137

What Pompeo, Payne will talk about on Sunday

The foreign and defence ministers of Australia and America will meet in Sydney on Sunday, a coming together of two security allies at a time of escalating strategic conflict and uncertainty.

The Australia-US Ministerial Consultations is the principal forum for bilateral co-operation on strategic, foreign and defence policies, and dates back to 1985 when the first meeting was held in Canberra.

The precise agenda for the talks remains confidential, but three issues are likely to dominate the discussions in Sydney.

1. China, and its presence in the Asia-Pacific

The AUSMIN communiques from the past five years track the chill in US-China relations.

Obama-era statements pledged to "strengthen [US and Australia's] comprehensive and co-operative relations with China, including through stronger economic engagement".

But the sentiment was pared back to a "high priority on constructive and beneficial engagement" in 2018, and omitted in 2017.

While the announcement of the 2019 meeting made no reference to China, it said that Australia-US collaboration in south-east Asia and the south-west Pacific would be a priority for discussions.

The regional focus will highlight the efforts of both countries to respond to the hard and soft edges of Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced on Tuesday that the US would spend $US211 million to expand its naval infrastructure in Darwin, which houses 2500 US marines.

Every communique for the past decade has affirmed freedom of navigation, and the 2015 statement explicitly raised concerns over "Chinese land reclamation and construction activity in the South China Sea".

The strategic challenge posed by China's rise will additionally inform dialogue on regional diplomacy and trade.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison's "Pacific Step-up", which annually commits $3.1 billion in infrastructure financing and export credits, is tipped for discussion and may form part of a shared agenda for infrastructure investment in the Indo-Pacific that was flagged in 2018.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Micronesia after his visit to Australia, as China ramps up infrastructure investment and foreign aid in the Pacific.

The AUSMIN 2018 statement also included a commitment to "counter foreign interference", which was brought into the spotlight by protests over Confucius Institutes in Australia and fears of election interference in the US.

Finally, the dialogue that was launched last year on "access to critical minerals" such as rare earths – on which Australian companies like Lynas are challenging Chinese monopoly on supply – is set to continue.

2. Iran

The US Secretary of State revealed this week that he had asked allies including Australia to join a coalition to protect shipping in the Persian Gulf from Iranian forces.

Washington's request follows attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz that it has blamed on Iran, and the downing of an American drone by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in June.

US-Iran relations have deteriorated since the Trump administration's unilateral exit from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, which some observers have said has emboldened hardliners in Tehran.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds told The Australian Financial Review that "no decisions have been made" on the US' request.

3. Cybersecurity

AUSMIN bookends a week that began with a meeting of ministers responsible for the internal security of the Five Eyes countries.

The intelligence-sharing partners – US, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – resolved in London to crack down on security risks associated with encryption services and 5G networks.

Australia has acted before its allies on these issues, banning Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from supplying 5G equipment in July 2018 and empowering law enforcement to effectively decrypt secure messages in December.

Last year's AUSMIN resulted in a memorandum of understanding on research and development of advanced cyber capabilities.

"[Nowhere] is the need for innovation more critical than in cyber, which continues to be a pervasive threat to our militaries and to our businesses," then defence minister Marise Payne said.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/what-pompeo-payne-will-talk-about-on-sunday-20190802-p52d6u

'Insanity needs to stop': Donald Trump Jr blasts bid to ban Raheem Kassam from Australia

Donald Trump's son has weighed into the debate about right-wing figure Raheem Kassam's planned visit to Australia for a conservative conference.

US President Donald Trump's son has blasted Labor for calling for right-wing activist Raheem Kassam to be blocked from visiting Australia where he is due to speak at a conservative conference.

The former Breitbart editor-in-chief is appearing alongside his former boss Nigel Farage and former prime minister Tony Abbott at the US-backed Conservative Political Action Conference being held in Sydney for the first time next week.

Labor's Home Affairs spokesperson Kristina Keneally on Tuesday called on the government to cancel Mr Kassam's visa, describing him as a "career bigot" who has made anti-Islam, misogynistic and homophobic comments.

But Donald Trump Jr accused Labor of "trying to silence" Mr Kassam because of his conservative views.

"We have Big Tech constantly trying to silence conservatives and now one of the major political parties in Australia is trying to silence Raheem Kassam because of his conservative views," he tweeted.

"The insanity needs to stop."

In one tweet, Mr Kassam said Scottish Party Leader Nicola Sturgen, who had suffered a miscarriage, should have her mouth and legs taped shut so she could not reproduce.

The 32-year-old also described a female politician as a "wrinkly old ginger bird" and suggested a former British minister "was in the special needs class" at school.

Senator Keneally also said Mr Kassam had campaigned for limited migration to control, what he has described as "large-scale Muslim immigration".

The government has condemned Mr Kassam's comments but rejected Labor's call to cancel his visa.

'Talkfest of hate'

Leader of the Government in the Senate Mathias Cormann described some of Mr Kassam's comments as "disgraceful, highly objectionable and completely outrageous".

"These are disgusting comments and I reject them entirely and utterly," he told the Senate on Wednesday.

However, he was comfortable with government MPs speaking at the same event as Mr Kassam.

"I would make the general point that just because you are at an event, you’re not expected to agree with everything that everybody says at that same event.

"We’ve all been at events in our electorates where people have made highly objectionable points.”

The three day event described by Senator Keneally as a "talkfest of hate" is on track to sell out.

Liberal MPs Amanda Stoker and Craig Kelly will join former Liberal candidates Warren Mundine and Jacinta Price at the event sponsored by Liberty Works, the American Conservative Union and Advance Australia.

Senator Stoker defended her participation and that of other Liberals in the conservative conference.

"If we are doing our job properly as politicians we should be talking to people from all walks of life," she told SBS News on Wednesday.

"Trying to shame into silence anyone who would speak to a person who is wrong on an issue damages our capacity for constructive democracy."

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/insanity-needs-to-stop-donald-trump-jr-blasts-bid-to-ban-raheem-kassam-from-australia

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1156557695538929664

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-seeks-visa-ban-for-controversial-speaker-ahead-of-conference-20190730-p52c9h.html

>>7319540

What you need to know about the Conservative Politics Conference coming to Sydney

It’s been going on for almost 50 years in the US, now local and international right-leaning figureheads are booked in for the inaugural Conservative Political Action Conference Australia.

The first Australian spin-off of America’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will take place August 9 to 11 in Sydney and feature speeches, a Gala dinner and a Sunday “activism bootcamp”.

There is already a version of the event in Tokyo and CPAC’s website describes the Australian event as, “A conference for those that despaired at the prospect of a Shorten government controlled by militant unions and influenced by the Greens.”

Raheem Kassam, the former editor-in-chief of alt-right news site Breitbart, now a political commentator in the UK, is expected to attend.

But Labor's Home Affairs spokesperson Kristina Keneally this morning called on the government to reject Kassam’s visa on moral grounds.

He is outspoken about being politically incorrect on Twitter, and once tweeted that Scottish Party Leader Nicola Sturgen, who had suffered a miscarriage, should have her mouth and legs taped shut so she could not reproduce.

"Australia dodged a socialist arrow this time, and thank goodness for that, but we know they will redouble their efforts and come again supported by their boosters the Unions and GetUp." - Reads the offical CPAC Aus website.

Who are the speakers?

Australian CPAC has scored a swathe of Australian conservative mouthpieces including former PM Tony Abbott, One Nation party member Mark Latham and right-wing media commentator Daisy Cousens.

But Nigel Farage, the recent leader of the UK Brexit Party, to whom many attribute the party’s previous success, is the real headliner.

Farage was also one of the more high-profile UK politicians to be hit with a milkshake in the string of dairy-based protests earlier in the year.

also receiving top billing at CPAC Aus is Former US Judge and current Fox News show host Jeanine Pirro.

Pirro is an avid Trump supporter and an outspoken supporter of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when he was accused of sexual assault during his nomination.

Who are the sponsors?

The American Conservative Union is the event’s top sponsor alongside Liberty Works, an “Australian based not-for-profit organisation that advocates for a drastic reduction in government control over people’s economic and personal lives.”

A quick sweep of the Liberty Works website uncovers blog articles like “Brisbane’s New Green Ghetto” and “It’s Time To Say NO To Renewable Energy Targets”.

Second tier sponsors include Advance Australia, the conservative think tank behind pseudo-satirical superhero mascot Captain GetUp.

The self-styled "truth crusader" landed in hot water during the federal election when Advance Australia posted a video of the character rubbing up against a billboard of independent candidate Zali Steggell.

Steggell then went on to push Tony Abbott out of his long-held Warringah seat.

Other sponsors include Liberal party-affiliated think tank the Menzies Research Centre and news outlet The Epoch Times who have previously supported Trump and far right German groups.

Fun Facts…

There are three tiers of conference passes. The cheapest is named after former PM Robert Menzies, mid-access is The Iron Lady Pass, and high rollers can purchase the Reagan VIP Freedom Pass for just under $600.

There’s also some gem nods to political correctness in the speaker bios.

Janet Albrechtson’s bio confirms that she is indeed the chairMAN of the Institute of Public Affairs because, “The origin of chairman is in the Latin word for hand, ‘manus’, and the idea of ‘occupying a chair of authority’.”

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-conservative-politics-conference-coming-to-sydney

https://twitter.com/CPAC/status/1154037959412207617

https://twitter.com/JudgeJeanine/status/1048665173106540544

>>7319556

ABOUT CPAC 2019

Learn, have fun, participate, protect the future…

The American Conservative Union and LibertyWorks are proud to bring CPAC to Australia for the first time! CPAC will launch and run over 9-11 August 2019 and the timing couldn’t be better.

This is a conference for those that despaired at the prospect of a Shorten government controlled by militant unions and influenced by the Greens. Australia dodged a socialist arrow this time, and thank goodness for that, but we know they will redouble their efforts and come again supported by their boosters the Unions and GetUp.

Now is not the time to be complacent. Now is the time to get involved. The “shy” voters made a stand this time however we should remind ourselves that ” The future doesn’t belong to the light-hearted. It belongs to the brave”, as Ronald Reagan famously stated.

Come to CPAC, hear Nigel Farage, Matt Sclapp, conservative senators and MP’s, visiting US Congressmen, Australia’s political warriors and more…much more. Come to CPAC, join the brave, protect the future.

https://cpacaustralia.org/

CPAC 2020 Tweet

See you down under… #CPACAustralia

https://twitter.com/CPAC/status/1157353332618514439

>>7291161

Yassmin Abdel-Magied Tweet

Why did you move to London, someone asked me recently. ‘Because where else is safe for a black Muslim woman who wants to live alone and do her own thing?’

We couldn’t think of anywhere else (except maybe NYC, but it’s all a bit Anglo-centric). What do you think? Where else?

https://twitter.com/yassmin_a/status/1156892671916552194

Imam Mohamad Tawhidi's Response

You didn’t move because Australia is racist towards black Muslim women but because you insulted Anzac Day, compared Australia to an abusive boyfriend, promoted barbaric Sharia Law on the national broadcaster. Look at your home, Sudan, I bet you wouldn’t last there for 5 hours.

https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1157565237291188224

>>7294746

>"…a storm is coming."

Why is the chief of intelligence of Qatar, a terror sponsoring state, communicating with and backing an elected Congresswoman to frame her loud critics? You will find out soon.

This time is called ‘the silence before the storm’.

Cc: @MBA_AlThani_ @A_AlAthbah @saifaalthani

https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1157485344599576577

Repost from Q Research General #9391 -

Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper Tweet

I had an extremely productive and successful day in Australia reaffirming the strong bonds between our nations. #AUSMIN #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific

https://twitter.com/EsperDoD/status/1158064432376766464

Testing 8kun.us from Oz…

Testing file attachments…

>>7353256

>Testing 8kun.us from Oz…

Testing YouTube embed and formatting…

Alexander Downer: 'I play for team Australia'

Australia's former High Commissioner to the UK Alexander Downer has dodged questions about his role in spurring the Russian collusion investigation into US President Donald Trump.

NEW OZ BREAD

Q Research AUSTRALIA #6 - YEAR OF THE BOOMERANG Edition

>>7355098

>>7355098

>>7355098

Friends, thank you for your patience. Please respectfully fill this thread then migrate to:

https://8kun.tw/qresearch/res/7355098.html

WWG1WGA!