TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TARGETING TWITTER AFTER FACT-CHECKING ROW

President Donald Trump signed an order Thursday seeking to strip social

media giants like Twitter of legal immunity for content on their platforms

in a move slammed by his critics as a legally dubious act of political

revenge.

The executive order calls on government regulators to evaluate if online

platforms should be eligible for liability protection for content posted by

their millions of users.

If enforced, the action would upend decades of precedent and treat internet

platforms as "publishers" potentially liable for user-generated content.

Trump told reporters at the White House he acted because big tech firms

"have had unchecked power to censor, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter any

form of communication between private citizens or large public audiences."

"We can't let this continue to happen," Trump said.

The move comes a day after an angry tirade from the US leader against

Twitter after the platform for the first time labelled two of his tweets, on

the increasingly contentious topic of mail-in voting, with fact-check

notices, calling them misleading.

Critics said however Trump has no authority to regulate private internet

operators or change the law known as Section 230 which backers say has

allowed online platforms like Facebook and Twitter to flourish.

The American Civil Liberties Union called Trump's order "a blatant and

unconstitutional threat to punish social media companies that displease the

president."

The White House seeks to sidestep the provisions giving internet firms

immunity by treating them as publishers operating in part of a "public

square."

"Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube wield immense, if not

unprecedented, power to shape the interpretation of public events; to

censor, delete, or disappear information; and to control what people see or

do not see," the executive order said.

CHINESE PARLIAMENT APPROVES CONTROVERSIAL HONG KONG SECURITY LAW

China's Parliament on Thursday passed new legislation for Hong Kong that

will for the first time empower Beijing to draft national security laws for

the Special Administrative Region (SAR).

At the closing session of the annual National People's Congress (NPC) in

Beijing, the draft legislation was passed overwhelmingly, with 2,878 votes

for, one against and six abstentions in the Communist Party-controlled

legislature.

The law, called the "NPC Decision on Establishing and Improving the Legal

System and Enforcement Mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative

Region to Safeguard National Security", essentially empowers the NPC to

draft new national security laws for Hong Kong. That could happen as early

as June, when the NPC Standing Committee, which convenes every two months,

holds its next sitting.

The draft legislation said the scope of the laws could cover any activity

that "seriously endangers national security". It said it was aimed at

enabling "measures to counter, lawfully prevent, stop and punish foreign and

overseas forces' use of Hong Kong to carry out separatist, subversive,

infiltrative, or destructive activities".

While the law says the state would "fully, and accurately implement the

principles of one country, two systems", it also enables organs of the

central government "for the protection of national security" to set up

"institutions in the HKSAR", a provision that has been a particular source

of concern.

"It is entirely unclear how the proposed agencies set up in the HKSAR will

operate under the laws of the HKSAR, whether they will be bound by the laws

of the HKSAR, whether they have the power of enforcement, and whether such

powers as exercised will be limited by the laws currently in force in the

HKSAR", the Hong Kong Bar Association said in a statement reported by the

South China Morning Post.

UK MULLS CITIZENSHIP OFFER OVER HONG KONG SECURITY LAW

The UK could offer British National (Overseas) passport holders in Hong Kong

a path to UK citizenship if China does not suspend plans for a security law

in the territory, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says.

There are 300,000 BNO passport holders in Hong Kong.

They have the right to visit the UK for up to six months without a visa.

Mr Raab's statement came after the UK, US, Australia and Canada issued joint

condemnation of Beijing's security law.

The law - which has been passed by China's parliament - would make it a

crime to undermine Beijing's authority in Hong Kong.

The four nations said imposing the security law would undermine the "one

country, two systems" framework agreed before Hong Kong was handed over from

British to Chinese rule in 1997.

It guaranteed Hong Kong some autonomy and afforded rights and freedoms that

do not exist in mainland China.

Some MPs want the UK to go further and offer automatic citizenship.

US JOINS G7 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE GROUP TO COUNTER CHINA

The US has joined an international panel for setting ethical guidelines for

the use of artificial intelligence. The Trump administration had earlier

dismissed the idea.

White House's chief technology officer, Michael Kratsios, told The

Associated Press on Thursday it is important to establish shared democratic

principles as a counter to China's record of "twisting technology" in ways

that threaten civil liberties.

"Chinese technology companies are attempting to shape international

standards on facial recognition and surveillance at the United Nations," he

said.

The Trump administration had been the lone holdout among leaders of the

Group of Seven - the world's wealthiest democracies - in setting up the

Global Partnership on AI.

The partnership launched Thursday after a virtual meeting between national

technology ministers. It was nearly two years after the leaders of Canada

and France announced they were forming a group to guide the responsible

adoption of AI based on shared principles of "human rights, inclusion,

diversity, innovation and economic growth." The Trump administration

objected to that approach, arguing that too much focus on regulation would

hamper US innovation. But negotiations over the past year and changes to the

group's scope led the US to join, Kratsios said.

"We worked very hard to make it clear that it would not be a

standard-setting or policy-making body," he said.

US involvement is important because of the large role that American tech

firms play globally and its historic advocacy for human rights, said Kay

Mathiesen, an associate professor focused on computer ethics at Northeastern

University in Boston.

TRUMP CALLS COVID EPIDEMIC A 'BAD GIFT'; LINES UP SANCTIONS, EXPULSIONS TO

PUNISH CHINA

Expulsion of Chinese students and researchers from American universities and

sanctions against Chinese officials are among the steps being considered by

the Trump administration as Washington ties with Beijing continue to slide

downhill. The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has now crossed the

grim milestone of 100,000 lives lost.

"All over the world the CoronaVirus, a very bad "gift" from China, marches

on. Not good!" US President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday as US lawmakers

voted 413-1 to send him a legislation that if he signs could result in

sanctions against Chinese officials for the detention and torture of Uighur

Muslims in the country's western region of Xinjiang.

Separately, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo reiterated US support for

anti-government protestors in Hong Kong and said state department no longer

viewed the territory as autonomous, a move that could result in revocation

of special US economic and legal privileges granted to the territory. The

move could also result in Hong Kong losing its status as a financial hub,

and have profound impact on the global economy, cleaving the world into

spheres of Chinese control and US influence.

Elsewhere, the academic world is also in ferment with reports that

Washington plans to cancel the visas of thousands of Chinese graduate

students in the United States who have direct ties to universities

affiliated with the People's Liberation Army. More than 400,000 Chinese

students are currently studying in the US - the largest foreign student

contingent - and they are seen in some quarters as the bedrock of STEM

studies, both in terms of tuition money and research output.

On Thursday, Trump rolled out a regretful tweet. "We have just reached a

very sad milestone with the coronavirus pandemic deaths reaching 100,000. To

all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my

heartfelt sympathy & love for everything that these great people stood for &

represent. God be with you!" he wrote.

US CHARGES NORTH KOREANS, CHINESE IN $2.5B SANCTIONS-BUSTING SCHEME

The Justice Department has accused a network of North Korean and Chinese

citizens of secretly advancing North Korea's nuclear weapons program by

channeling at least $2.5 billion in illicit payments through hundreds of

front companies.

The indictment, unsealed Thursday in Washington's federal court, is believed

to be the largest criminal enforcement action ever brought against North

Korea.

The 33 defendants include executives of North Korea's state-owned Foreign

Trade Bank, which in 2013 was added to a Treasury Department list of

sanctioned institutions for transactions that facilitated the nuclear

proliferation network, and cut off from the US financial system.

According to the indictment, the bank officials - one of whom had served in

North Korea's primary intelligence bureau - set up branches in countries

around the world, including Thailand, Russia and Kuwait, and used more than

250 front companies to process US dollar payments to further the country's

nuclear proliferation program.

The defendants used a variety of tactics to cover their tracks, including

coded conversations; listing false destinations and customers on contracts

and invoices; and creating new front companies after the banks caught onto

the association with North Korea, the indictment says. Banks were routinely

tricked into processing transactions they wouldn't have ordinarily done,

according to prosecutors.

"Through this indictment, the United States has signified its commitment to

hampering North Korea's ability to illegally access the US financial system

and (to limiting) its ability to use proceeds from illicit actions to

enhance its illegal WMD and ballistic missile programs," acting US Attorney

Michael Sherwin for the District of Columbia said in a statement.

DO NOT SLASH HEALTH SPENDING, WHO WARNS

European governments should not cut healthcare spending during the current

economic crisis sparked by the pandemic and lockdowns, the World Health

Organization warned on Thursday.

"We are concerned that countries will respond to this crisis in the same way

they did to the recession 10 years ago... by cutting public spending on

health," said Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe.

"Those cuts prevented many people from accessing the healthcare that they

needed."

According to WHO, public spending on healthcare per capita fell in about

half of European countries between 2008 and 2013. Healthcare needs that

could not be met increased in 19 of 28 EU countries, with three million more

people affected in 2013 than in 2008, it said.

Also, up to 9% of households were pushed into poverty as a result of having

to pay for healthcare.

With the EU's economic output expected to contract by 7.5% this year, the

agency warned that health cuts would not only put lives at risk but also be

counter-productive.

"Countries that took the path of cuts to health spending struggled to

recover from the economic shock and we must learn from the mistakes of the

past," Mr. Kluge said.

GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE BILL WITHDRAWN IN US HOUSE

The US house of representatives is dropping consideration of legislation

that would have extended US surveillance tools, the chamber's number two

Democrat said on Thursday, after President Donald Trump threatened a veto

and his fellow Republicans withdrew their support for the bill.

"The two-thirds of the Republican party that voted for this bill in March

have indicated they are going to vote against it now," representative Steny

Hoyer said in a statement on Thursday, after a vote on the measure was

unexpectedly postponed late on Wednesday.

VIOLENT PROTESTS ROCK U.S. CITY FOR SECOND NIGHT

Demonstrators clashed with police, looted stores and set fires as a man was

fatally shot during a second night of protests in the US city of Minneapolis

Wednesday over the killing of a black man by a police officer.

Police fired tear gas and formed a human barricade to keep protesters from

climbing a fence surrounding the Third Precinct, where the officers accused

of killing George Floyd worked before they were fired on Tuesday.

They pushed protesters back as the crowd grew, a day after firing rubber

bullets and more tear gas on thousands of demonstrators angered by the

latest death of an African-American at the hands of US law enforcement.

Minnesota state Governor Tim Walz urged people to leave the area around the

precinct where several fires were burning, warning of the "extremely

dangerous situation" in a tweet late Wednesday.

Outrage has grown across the country at Floyd's death on Monday, fuelled in

part by bystander cellphone video which shows him, handcuffed and in the

custody of four white police officers, on the ground while one presses his

knee into the victim's neck.

President Donald Trump in a tweet called Floyd's death "sad and tragic", and

all four officers have been fired, as prosecutors said they had called in

the FBI to help investigate the case.

14 AFGHAN OFFICIALS KILLED IN 'TALIBAN ATTACKS'

Fourteen members of the Afghan security forces were killed in two separate

attacks on Thursday in the first deadly assaults officials have blamed on

the Taliban since the end of a three-day ceasefire.

The temporary truce ended on Tuesday but an overall lull in the country's

grinding violence has largely held despite the latest attacks, raising hopes

the militants and Kabul could soon start much-delayed peace talks.

Taliban fighters attacked a checkpoint in Parwan, north of the capital,

early Thursday, said Waheeda Shahkar, spokeswoman to the provincial

Governor.

"The Taliban have also suffered casualties," Ms. Shahkar told AFP, saying

seven members of the Afghan forces died.

District police chief Hussain Shah said Taliban fighters set fire to the

checkpoint, killing five security force personnel. Two more were shot dead.

In the western city of Farah, Taliban gunmen mounted an attack on a police

post, killing seven policemen, provincial police spokesman Mohibullah Mohib

said.

"Eight Taliban fighters were also killed in the clash that lasted for

half-an-hour," he said, adding four policemen survived the attack.

The Taliban have not commented so far.

PAKISTAN USES MILITANT-TRACKING TECH TO LOCATE VIRUS PATIENTS

Pakistan's intelligence services are deploying secretive surveillance

technology normally used to locate militants to instead track coronavirus

(COVID-19) patients and the people they come into contact with.

In a programme publicly touted by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government

has turned to the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) for help

in tackling the virus, which still is spreading at an accelerating rate

across Pakistan.

Details about the project have not been released, but two officials told AFP

that intelligence services are using geo-fencing and phone-monitoring

systems that ordinarily are employed to hunt high-value targets including

homegrown and foreign militants.

A lack of awareness, stigma and fear have contributed to some people with

symptoms not seeking treatment or even fleeing hospitals, while others

who've had contact with virus patients have flouted self-isolation rules.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior security official said that

agencies are "quite effectively" using the technology to track patients.