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Trump Awards Medal Of Honor To Navy Seal For Controversial Mission In Afghanistan
Six months after the 9/11 attacks, then-Senior Chief Petty Officer Britt Slabinski led a seven-man Navy SEAL Team Six unit to set up an observation post in eastern Afghanistan atop a 10,000-foot mountain known as Takur Ghar, to support U.S. forces in the valley below battling Al Qaeda in an operation known as Anaconda. In the ensuing battle, seven Americans would be killed. Fox
VOA VIEW: A well deserved honor.

Ivanka Trump Defends Serena Williams, Slams Women's Tennis For 'Ridiculous' Maternity Rule
She took to Twitter Thursday to express her discontent with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), demanding the organization to change its rules regarding maternity leave. “This is ridiculous. @SerenaWilliams is a formidable athlete (best ever!) and loving new mother. No person should ever be penalized professionally for having a child! The #WTA should change this rule immediately,” she tweeted. Fox

Women Accuse Morgan Freeman Of Inappropriate Behavior, Harassment
A young production assistant thought she had landed the job of her dreams when, in the summer of 2015, she started work on "Going In Style," a bank heist comedy starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin. But the job quickly devolved into several months of harassment, she told CNN. She alleges that Freeman subjected her to unwanted touching and comments about her figure and clothing on a near-daily basis. CNN
VOA VIEW: And the truth is ...

White House Lawyer Attends Start Of Justice Dept. Briefings About Confidential Source
White House lawyer Emmet Flood attended the start of two classified Justice Department briefings with lawmakers on a confidential intelligence source, adding to Democratic concerns that White House staff were taking part in the briefings on classified information that was related to the Russia investigation. Flood and White House chief of staff John Kelly attended the start of the briefings before leaving. Their attendance was just one of the many twists that accompanied the remarkable back-to-back briefings between senior Trump administration officials and two different groups of lawmakers. CNN
VOA VIEW: The meetings were a joke and stall tactic.

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After Summit Cancellation, Wall Street Dips
Trump’s order on Wednesday for an investigation into whether vehicle and auto part imports had damaged the U.S. auto industry could further complicate trade negotiations with China and other trading partners. Early Thursday, Trump canceled the June 12 meeting citing Pyongyang’s “open hostility,” even after North Korea followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its nuclear test site. Reuters
VOA VIEW: Negative outlook by the liberal media.

Trump: NFL's Stance On National Anthem 'Right Thing'
President Donald Trump endorsed the NFL’s move to ban players from protesting the national anthem, telling Fox News Channel that athletes taking a knee in protest perhaps “shouldn’t be in the country.” Trump, in a taped interview with “Fox and Friends” that aired Thursday morning, also used the appearance to continue pressing Congress to fully fund his proposed southern border wall and to take jabs at former FBI Director James Comey. Newsday

US Lawmakers Confer With Intelligence Officials On FBI Russia Probe
The briefings were convened to allow lawmakers to review classified information relating to Trump’s unsubstantiated suggestion that the FBI under Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration “implanted” a spy for “political purposes” into his 2016 presidential campaign to help his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. “Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols,” Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, told reporters afterward. Reuters
VOA VIEW: Garbage expected from the left.

Zuckerberg Set Up Fraudulent Scheme To Weaponise Data
Mark Zuckerberg faces allegations that he developed a “malicious and fraudulent scheme” to exploit vast amounts of private data to earn Facebook billions and force rivals out of business. A company suing Facebook in a California court claims the social network’s chief executive “weaponised” the ability to access data from any user’s network of friends – the feature at the heart of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Guardian
VOA VIEW: Zukerberg and others are guilty and should be punished.

Netflix Overtakes Disney To Become Most Valuable US Media Company
Netflix surpassed Disney as the most valuable US media company on Thursday, a sign that Netflix’s subscriber growth, coupled with potential problems in Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s TV and film assets, as well as changes in entertainment media consumption habits, are contributing to fundamental shifts in power. Netflix’s stock is up 70% since January. Netflix shares jumped energetically in Thursday morning trading and by 12.15pm local time in New York, the stock was up 1.9%, to an all-time high of $351.09 per share. Guardian

Trump On MS-13: 'These Are Not People'
President Donald Trump came to Long Island on Wednesday for the second time in less than a year to put the spotlight on brutal acts of violence attributed to the MS-13 gang, while promoting his agenda to close “loopholes” in immigration laws. “These are not people — these are animals, and we have to be very, very tough,” the president said at an afternoon roundtable discussion, continuing to use a term for gang members that has drawn heat from critics. But it was the parents of the two murdered Long Island teens — 15-year-old Nisa Mickens and 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas — who most poignantly expressed what is at stake. Newsday

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McConnell Says He Supports Mueller Investigation
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told NPR in an interview that he continues to support the Mueller Russia investigation — and that nothing in Thursday's hotly anticipated secret briefing on the Russia probe to congressional leaders changed his mind. "The two investigations going on that I think will give us the answers to the questions that you raise — the [inspector general] investigation in the Justice Department and the Mueller investigation," McConnell said. NPR
VOA VIEW: Not totally true.

Inside JFK's Door To Door Search For A French Call Girl
In May 1961, an elderly woman in Paris heard a knock at the door of her six-story walk-up apartment. It was only the most powerful man in the world. The president of the United States was going door-to-door hoping to find the call girl he had discreetly arranged to meet. John F. Kennedy, it turned out, used a fake excuse about a doctor’s visit to attend a long-arranged dalliance while in Paris for a crucial summit, only to wind up in the wrong building, knocking on the doors of random Parisians who were left with the surprise of their lives. NY Post

Democrats' New 2018 Pitch: Crack Down On Corruption
Historically speaking, the minority party gains seats in Congress in midterm elections, and conventional wisdom suggests that Trump’s apparent unpopularity should cause a GOP bloodbath in November. Despite history and anti-Trump sentiment being on their side, the Blue Wave that was inevitable just a few weeks ago is looking more like a puddle and Democrats are concerned that they’re on the verge of losing their best chance to stop Trump, both legislatively and via impeachment. PJ Media
VOA VIEW: Pundits will look foolish again, as Trump will prove to be more popular than being reported.

At Least 6 and Potentially 7 Known and Suspected Intelligence Informants Accused of Spying on Trump Campaign
As the Russia meddling into the 2016 US election unwinds, the meddling by the Obama Administration’s CIA and FBI, is becoming surprisingly more and more clear. Internet sleuth, former D.C. Bureau Chief for Investors Business Daily, author and Hoover Institution Media Fellow, Paul Sperry, tweeted a list of 6 or 7 individuals that worked for or were suspected of working for the FBI/CIA and who were involved in spying on President Trump. Gateway Pundit
VOA VIEW: Dems and others look bad.

Airmen Took LSD, Snorted Coke While Guarding Nukes
A band of Air Force service members responsible for guarding nuclear missiles dropped LSD and snorted cocaine at a highly secure military base in Wyoming, according to a report Thursday. The airmen were off duty at the time but were part of a ring at F.E. Warren Air Force Base that was cracked following a slip-up on social media, the Associated Press reported. Authorities launched an investigation after an airman posted a Snapchat video of himself smoking marijuana, despite strict rules from Airman 1st Class Nickolos Harris, the ringleader. NY Post

How Weakened ESPN Became Consumed By Politics
One of his star anchors, Jemele Hill, had sent a tweet calling President Donald Trump a “white supremacist.” Mr. Trump’s supporters called for her to be fired. Prominent black athletes defended the anchor, who is African-American. Sitting in his office last September, Mr. Skipper, then ESPN’s president, lit into Ms. Hill, according to people familiar with the meeting. If I punish you, he told her, I’d open us up to protests and come off as racist. If I do nothing, that will fuel a narrative among conservatives — and a faction within ESPN — that the network had become too liberal. Fox
VOA VIEW: ESPN has lost rating because it went too far.

3 FBI Officials To Answer House Panel's Questions About Clinton Emails
House Republicans in June plan to interview three FBI officials linked to the agency’s controversial handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe, part of an ongoing joint investigation by the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees. The panels will interview Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division; Michael Steinbach, formerly head of the agency’s national security division; and Steinbach’s predecessor, John Giacalone, the Hill reported. Fox
VOA VIEW: Republicans have and are  being stalled.

Source: Harvey Weinstein Will Be Charged With Rape
Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender to New York police Friday morning on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex on him, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN. Manhattan prosecutors will charge Weinstein with first- and third-degree rape in one case and a first-degree sex act in a second case, the source said. CNN

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Amazon Partners with Law Enforcement to Deploy AI Facial Recognition Surveillance Technology
Jeff Bezos has changed modern life so completely that it's increasingly difficult to recall what things were like before Amazon.com. There was actually a time when you couldn't order a case of toilet paper at 3 in the morning and have it delivered right to your door before you really, really need it.* Amazon can sell you the food you eat for dinner, the instantly streaming movie you watch afterward (which Amazon may or may not have produced), and the heartburn medicine and sleeping pills you need because you made bad choices about the stuff you ate and watched. PJ Media

Pompeo Trashes Dem Senator For Asking About Trump’s Tax Returns
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went off on Democratic New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall on Thursday over what he deemed to be an “outrageous” question about President Trump’s tax returns. Pompeo appeared in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Sen. Udall suggested Trump could have conflicts of interest between American foreign policy and his own business dealings. Daily Caller
VOA VIEW: Good for Pompeo.

Journalist Goes To Melania’s Hometown For Some Reason, Discovers That People Like Her
Vendela Vida, a writer for The New Yorker, traveled to First Lady Melania Trump’s hometown in Slovenia for some reason, and discovered an extremely juicy piece of news–people generally seem like her there. The article, titled, “Searching for Melania Trump’s Childhood Home,” follows the story of Vida traveling around Europe with her family. Vida makes it to Sevnica, Slovenia, the town in Eastern Europe where the future first lady was born. Daily Caller
 

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Tom Fitton: “You Can Bet” Obama Knew About FBI “Informant” Spying On Donald Trump
Judicial Watch founder and president Tom Fitton went on FOX Business Network Thursday afternoon to discuss the Deep State spying on the Trump campaign and Transition Team. Tom Fitton told FBN that Barack Obama knew about the “informants” (spies) inside the Trump campaign. And their justification is we did it by the book. We did it by the rules. And nobody buys this. Gateway Pundit
VOA VIEW: Obama is guilty and dirty.

Roger Stone Sought Clinton Emails From Assange in September 2016
We’ve known for a while now that former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone had claimed to be touch with Julian Assange during the 2016 campaign — and that he appeared to publicly predict the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton. But on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal revealed, for the first time, that Stone privately requested access to stolen Clinton emails that he believed to be in WikiLeaks’s possession: NY Mag

What Was Sylvester Stallone Doing At The White House Today?
In a scene that recalled his time surrounded by fading celebrities on Celebrity Apprentice, Donald Trump welcomed Sylvester Stallone and former heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis to the White House Thursday. The boxer and the guy who played a boxer in a movie were there to watch Trump posthumously pardon boxer Jack Johnson. The first black heavyweight champ, Johnson was convicted in 1913 of violating the Mann Act after he transported his white girlfriend across state lines for “immoral purposes.” NY Mag

US Allies Left Scrambling After Summit Cancellation
Many are wondering what happens now that President Trump called off the summit with Kim Jong Un. Will a new summit with China and South Korea be called, or will the U.S. and North Korea resume trading threats? NBC
VOA VIEW: Watch!

Court Orders Samsung To Pay Apple $539M For Patent Infringement
A California jury Thursday ordered Samsung to pay Apple $539 million for infringing on five patents for design and utility features on the original iPhone in its own phones sold in 2010 and 2011. The U.S. District Court in San Jose reached a unanimous decision ordering Samsung to pay $533,316,606, for infringing three Apple design patents and an additional $5,325,050 for infringing two utility patents. UPI

US Efforts To Stabalize Afghanistan Mostly Failed
The U.S. government's 17-year effort to stabilize and rebuild Afghanistan after toppling the ruling Taliban has been largely unsuccessful, a watchdog report released Thursday said. The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, responsible for monitoring U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan, said the $4.7 billion spent to stabilize parts of the country was largely wasted due to unrealistic expectations, a short timeline, a lack of support form U.S. government agencies and government infighting. UPI

OPEC, Russia Discuss Raising Oil Output By About One Million BPD
Saudi Arabia and Russia are discussing raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil output by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), easing 17 months of strict supply curbs amid concerns that a price rally has gone too far, sources familiar with the matter said. Such an increase would bring compliance with agreed supply curbs down to 100 percent from April’s level of around 152 percent, the sources said. ReutersUS Allies Left Scrambling After Summit Cancellation
Many are wondering what happens now that President Trump called off the summit with Kim Jong Un. Will a new summit with China and South Korea be called, or will the U.S. and North Korea resume trading threats? NBC
VOA VIEW: Watch!

Court Orders Samsung To Pay Apple $539M For Patent Infringement
A California jury Thursday ordered Samsung to pay Apple $539 million for infringing on five patents for design and utility features on the original iPhone in its own phones sold in 2010 and 2011. The U.S. District Court in San Jose reached a unanimous decision ordering Samsung to pay $533,316,606, for infringing three Apple design patents and an additional $5,325,050 for infringing two utility patents. UPI

US Efforts To Stabalize Afghanistan Mostly Failed
The U.S. government's 17-year effort to stabilize and rebuild Afghanistan after toppling the ruling Taliban has been largely unsuccessful, a watchdog report released Thursday said. The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, responsible for monitoring U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan, said the $4.7 billion spent to stabilize parts of the country was largely wasted due to unrealistic expectations, a short timeline, a lack of support form U.S. government agencies and government infighting. UPI

OPEC, Russia Discuss Raising Oil Output By About One Million BPD
Saudi Arabia and Russia are discussing raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil output by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), easing 17 months of strict supply curbs amid concerns that a price rally has gone too far, sources familiar with the matter said. Such an increase would bring compliance with agreed supply curbs down to 100 percent from April’s level of around 152 percent, the sources said. Reuters

Iran Gives EU Deadline To Salvage Nuclear Deal
Iran wants European powers to present it with measures by the end of May to compensate it for the United States abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal, a senior official said on Friday, adding that Tehran would decide within weeks whether to quit the accord. The agreement between Iran and world powers lifted international sanctions on Tehran in return for it agreeing to curbs on its nuclear program. NBC
VOA VIEW: Irans is making dumb demands.

Meghan Markle Makes Gold Sales Sparkle
The Meghan Markle effect has spread to yellow gold jewelry, helping boost United States sales in the first quarter of 2018 with further gains expected, jewelers said. The first three months of the year were the strongest first quarter for gold jewelry demand in the United States since 2009, according to the World Gold Council. Sellers say that is due in no small part to the public’s fascination with American actor Meghan Markle, who was engaged to Britain’s Prince Harry last November and who married him in a dazzling ceremony on Saturday. Reuters

Lawmakers Briefed On Trump 'Spy' Claim
Intelligence and Justice Department officials gave classified briefings to top Republican and Democratic lawmakers Thursday about a confidential FBI informant who sought to glean intelligence about Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The officials held two briefings to allow lawmakers to review classified information after President Donald Trump asserted, without providing evidence, that the FBI “implanted” a spy for “political purposes” into his presidential campaign to help Hillary Clinton. Newsday

McCain Has Hope For US Despite Challenges In The World
The Restless Wave was not meant to be John McCain’s last book. But when the six-term Republican senator from Arizona was diagnosed with brain cancer, what might have been a distillation of the McCain Doctrine evolved into a memoir that offers reflections on his career and a robust defense of the world order he championed for more than three decades in Congress. “He wanted it to be more reflective and more personal,” said Mark Salter, McCain’s former chief of staff and co-author of The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations, in an interview this week. Guardian

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WH Hinting It's Going To Ramp Up Sanctions On North Korea
Hours after President Trump canceled his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump’s administration hinted that it might ratchet up sanctions against his country. A senior White House official told reporters on Thursday that the administration’s goal is to “achieve maximum pressure” on Kim’s government using sanctions, and that “we’re still short of that.” “It’s like painting the Golden Gate bridge,” the senior administration official said. “It starts peeling as soon as you finish, and so you have to keep a new coat of paint going just to maintain a certain level of pressure.” Vox

Trump's Canceled North Korea Summit Could Mean Pitfalls Ahead
After President Donald Trump canceled a historic US-North Korea summit set for June 12, the administration said it would resume its maximum pressure campaign, signaled new sanctions are likely and expressed hope another meeting can be scheduled. But the chances of a quickly rescheduled summit going ahead seem slim, analysts said, pointing to a range of factors from the looming US midterm elections to the threats that Trump doled out alongside invitations to another meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. CNN
VOA VIEW: CNN will look as dumb as they are.

Court Rules Inmate Serving Life Can't Sue Because He's Dead
Rhode Island’s Supreme Court has ruled that a man serving life in prison can’t sue the state for an attack by a fellow inmate because, under state law, he’s considered dead. The Providence Journal reports that the court dismissed the negligence lawsuit brought against the Department of Corrections by 33-year-old Dana Gallop, who’s serving two life sentences plus 45 years for fatally shooting a rival gang member outside a Providence nightclub in 2008. NY Post

Trump's Lawyer Calls Out Judges For Having Partisan Interests
A lawyer for President Trump claims Manhattan judges were “swayed by partisan interests” when they refused to postpone a defamation lawsuit against the president by a former “Apprentice” contestant. Marc Kasowitz told New York’s Court of Appeals that former President Bill Clinton was “uniformly” granted stays in Paula Jones’ sex-harassment suit against him while in office but Trump was denied one in the Summer Zervos case. NY Post

House Votes To Mandate Investigation Of US Involvement In Yemen's Secret Torture Prisons
IN THE WAKE of a bruising confirmation fight that highlighted new CIA Director Gina Haspel’s role in the U.S. torture program in the years after 9/11, the House of Representatives on Thursday voted to force a public accounting of the current U.S. role in torture prisons across the south of Yemen. Earlier this week, the House Rules Committee advanced an amendment by California Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna and Barbara Lee that would require the Department of Defense to investigate whether U.S. allies in Yemen were involved in torturing detainees and if U.S. personnel had any role in the interrogations. Intercept

Iran's Supreme Leader Lists Demands For Staying In Nuclear Deal
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that the country will restart its nuclear programme unless European powers meet a new list of demands in the wake of the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement. The UK, France and Germany must continue to buy Iranian crude oil and protect Iran’s markets and banking system from the impact of new US sanctions, Ayatollah Khamenei said. Independent UK
VOA VIEW: Iran is not strong to make demands.

Federal Election Commission Can't Decide If Russian Interference Violated Law
As tech companies and government agencies prepare to defend against possible Russian interference in the midterm elections, the Federal Election Commission has a different response: too soon. The four commissioners on Thursday deadlocked, again, on proposals to consider new rules, for example, for foreign-influenced U.S. corporations and for politically active entities that don't disclose their donors. NPR

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Trump Says US Military Ready If Necessary After Cancellation Of Summit
President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled the planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which was set to take place June 12 in Singapore, and said the American military is prepared to act if there's any fallout. Trump said the military "is ready if necessary" to respond to any provocation by North Korea in the wake of the cancellation. "I've spoken to (Defense Secretary) General Mattis and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and our military, which is by far the most powerful anywhere in the world that has been greatly enhanced recently, as you all know, is ready if necessary," he said. NBC
VOA VIEW: Ready, willing and able.

Harvey Weinstein To Surrender In Sexual Misconduct Case
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to be charged Friday in New York in connection with sexual misconduct allegations, according to a person familiar with the case. The source says Weinstein is also expected to surrender to authorities on Friday. The charges stem from an investigation of sexual abuse conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, and charges are expected to be brought in state court in Manhattan. NBC

Families Of Parkland Victims Sue Maker, Seller Of AR-15
The families of two students who died in the Parkland, Fla., shooting are suing the maker and a seller of the gun used by Nikolas Cruz, saying they're partly responsible for the attack. The parents of 14-year-old freshmen Jaime Guttenberg and Alex Schachter have filed lawsuits against gun-maker American Outdoor Brands and gun-seller Sunrise Tactical Supply, where Cruz purchased the AR-15-style weapon used in the Feb. 14 assault. UPI
VOA VIEW: The suit is a waste of time and ridiculous.

Trump Grants Psthumous Pardon For Convicted Boxer Jack Johnson
President Donald Trump on Thursday posthumously pardoned Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion who was convicted for violating a Jim Crow-era law. "Today I've issued an executive grant of clemency, a full pardon, posthumously, to John Arthur 'Jack' Johnson ... The first African-American heavyweight champion of the world, a truly great fighter. Had a tough life," Trump said. UPI

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