Thursday, December 5, 2019

Six In The Morning Thursday 5 December 2019

Inside the hate factory: how Facebook fuels far-right profit

Guardian investigation reveals a covert plot to control some of Facebook’s largest far-right pages and harvest Islamophobic hate for profit
by  and  in Sydney, and  in Jerusalem
The message from Israel arrived on an otherwise unremarkable afternoon for 36-year-old Beau Villereal.
At his family’s sprawling 42-acre property outside Live Oak in Florida’s rural north, Villereal sat alone in his bedroom trawling for news about Donald Trump to share on the rightwing Facebook page he runs with his mother and father.
The messenger, who gave her name as Rochale, asked Villereal to make her an editor of Pissed off Deplorables, a self-described “pro-America page” that feeds its thousands of followers a steady diet of pro-Trump, anti-Islam content.

North Korean defector ‘raped by South Korean intelligence officers’

Lawyers claim woman was forced to have two abortions after sexual assaults

North Korea defector was allegedly forced to have abortions after being raped by two South Korean intelligence officials.
The alleged victim was reportedly raped by a lieutenant colonel and a master sergeant serving in South Korea’s defence intelligence command while she was in their custody.
As part of their work, the command investigates people who have defected from North Korea to South Korea and gathers intelligence. 

Across France, hundreds of thousands protest pension reform on day one of strike

A nationwide strike brought much of France to a halt on Thursday as unions kicked off a massive protest against a pension overhaul by President Emmanuel Macron, which they say will force millions of people to work longer or face curtailed benefits.
The French CGT union said 1.5 million people hit the streets nationwide in protest while the interior ministry put the number at 806,000.
The huge demonstrations across the country added to walkouts that paralysed transport services and closed schools, with international high-speed rail disrupted and flights cancelled. 

New satellite image shows activity at previously dismantled North Korean test site


Updated 2334 GMT (0734 HKT) December 5, 2019

A new satellite image obtained by CNN indicates North Korea may be preparing to resume testing engines used to power satellite launchers and intercontinental ballistic missiles at a site President Donald Trump previously claimed was dismantled after his Singapore summit with dictator Kim Jong Un this summer, according to experts who analyzed the photo.
The commercial satellite imagery, which was captured on Thursday by Planet Labs, shows new activity at Sohae Satellite Launching Station and the presence of a large shipping container at the facility's engine test stand, according Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute, which works in partnership with the imaging company.
FILMMAKERS SUE TO SHIELD VISITORS TO U.S. FROM SOCIAL MEDIA VETTING
A FILMMAKER WORKING on a documentary that’s critical of U.S. policies. A writer who operates a pseudonymous Twitter account to evade an authoritarian regime in their home country. An activist who uses Facebook to organize protests at the U.S.-Mexico border.
These are the kinds of people who might not want U.S. immigration agents poring over their social media profiles before deciding whether they should be allowed into the country. Yet that’s exactly what the State Department now requires as part of the Trump administration’s “extreme vetting” of millions of visa applicants. As of May, people who need a visa to enter the U.S. have to disclose any social media handles they’ve used over the past five years on 20 platforms, from Instagram and Twitter to YouTube and Weibo (the Chinese microblogging service). If they don’t, their visas could be denied.

US House to draft impeachment charges against Trump: Pelosi

The House speaker says she has instructed the House Judiciary panel to draft articles of impeachment against Trump.
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said she has instructed the House Judiciary Committee to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump over his effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival.
"The facts are uncontested. The president abused his power for his own personal political benefit at the expense of our national security by withholding military aid and (a) crucial Oval Office meeting in exchange for an announcement of an investigation into his political rival," Pelosi said in a televised statement.

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