COLU @ CONCEPTS

PARIS (AP) — A cyberattack that caused indiscriminate economic damage around the world was apparently designed to create maximum havoc in Russia’s neighbor and adversary Ukraine, security researchers said. While the rogue software used in the attack was configured as extortionate “ransomware,” that may have just been a ruse. “It is clear that this was targeted indiscriminately at Ukrainian businesses, and the Ukrainian government,” Jake Williams, president of the security firm Rendition Infosec and a former member of the U.S. National Security Agency’s elite cyberwarfare group, told The Associated Press in an online chat. “The ‘ransomware’ component is just a smokescreen (and a bad one).” UKRAINE IN PAIN Although the attack was global in its reach, Ukraine bore the brunt. Computers were disabled at banks, government agencies, energy companies, supermarkets, railways and telecommunications providers. Many of these organizations said they had recovered by Thursday, although ...

BERLIN (AP) — The German parliament has passed a law aimed at cracking down on hate speech on social networks, which critics say could have drastic consequences for free speech online. The measure approved Friday is designed to enforce the country’s existing limits on speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial. Among other things, it would fine social networking sites up to 50 million euros ($56 million) if they persistently fail to remove illegal content within a week, including defamatory “fake news.” Justice Minister Heiko Maas argued that social media networks have failed to prevent their sites from being used to spread inflammatory views and false information. Human rights experts and internet companies said the law risks privatizing the process of censorship and could have a chilling effect on free speech. Source: www.apn.com

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — It’s been a remarkably turbulent first year for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose war on drugs has left thousands of suspects dead and prompted critics to call his rule a “human rights calamity.” One accused him of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court. A former state prosecutor, Duterte denies condoning extrajudicial killings and remains popular with the masses who embrace his unorthodox leadership style, profanity-laced outbursts and draconian bent in an Asian bastion of democracy. Last month, he declared martial law in the south to deal with an unprecedented siege by Islamic State group-aligned militants that continues to devastate Marawi city and alarm the rest of Southeast Asia. A look at some of the issues that ruffled the first of his six years in office: ___ ISLAMIC STATE-LINKED SIEGE Duterte was with his top security officials on an official visit to Russia for talks with his idol, President Vladimir...

HONG KONG (AP) — President Xi Jinping inspected troops based in Hong Kong on Friday as he asserts Chinese authority over the former British colony China took control of 20 years ago. Xi rode in an open-top jeep past rows of soldiers lined up on an airstrip on his visit to the People’s Liberation Army garrison. He called out “Salute all the comrades” and “Salute to your dedication” as he rode by 3,100 soldiers arranged in 20 formations. Armored personnel carriers, combat vehicles, helicopters and other pieces of military hardware were arrayed behind the troops. It was a rare display of the Chinese military’s might in Hong Kong, where it normally maintains a low-key presence. Xi, who’s also chairman of the Central Military Commission, wore a buttoned-up black jacket in the steamy heat during his 10-minute review of the troops at the Shek Kong base in Hong Kong’s suburban New Territories. It’s part of a visit to mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, when Britain ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Meeting face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy will be put to the test if he opts to confront Russia over intelligence that Moscow meddled in the 2016 presidential election. National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Thursday that Trump will meet with Putin along the sidelines of the annual Group of 20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, part of an itinerary that will include meetings with several world leaders. Trump will face the challenge of working with Russia toward common goals in Syria and Ukraine, while also potentially broaching allegations about Moscow’s interferences in the U.S. elections and accusations that some of his associates may have had contact with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign and the transition. All 17 U.S. intelligence agencies have agreed that Russia was behind last year’s hack of the Democratic Party’s email systems and tried to influence the 2016 election to benef...

BERLIN (AP) — The Latest on German vote on same-sex marriage (all times local): 9:50 a.m. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she voted against same-sex marriage because she believes the country’s law sees it as between a man and a woman, but that the opposite view must be respected. Parliament voted to legalize same-sex marriage in a snap vote Friday. Merkel paved the way for the vote with comments earlier in the week that freed members of her conservative bloc to vote according to their conscience, rather than the party line. She says “for me marriage as defined by the law is the marriage of a man and a woman” but she continues to see the interpretation as a “decision of conscience.” The measure, which is expected to see legal challenges, also opens the door for gay couples to adopt — which Merkel says she supports. ___ 9:20 a.m. German lawmakers have voted to legalize same-sex marriage in a snap vote only days after Chancellor Angela Merkel changed her longstan...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An investigation by the international chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Friday that sarin nerve gas was used in a deadly April 4 attack on a Syrian town, the latest confirmation of chemical weapons use in Syria’s civil war. The attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Syria’s Idlib province left more than 90 people dead, including women and children, and sparked outrage around the world as photos and video of the aftermath, including quivering children dying on camera, were widely broadcast. “I strongly condemn this atrocity, which wholly contradicts the norms enshrined in the Chemical Weapons Convention,” Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu said in a statement. “The perpetrators of this horrific attack must be held accountable for their crimes.” The investigation did not apportion blame. Its findings will be used by a joint United Nations-OPCW investigation team to assess who was responsible. The U.S. State...

NEW YORK (AP) — If President Donald Trump were anyone else, he’d be fired, or at least reprimanded, for his latest tweets attacking a female TV host, social media and workplace experts say. And if he were to look for a job, the experts say, these and past tweets would raise red flags for companies doing social media background checks, an increasingly common practice as tweets and Facebook posts become a daily, sometimes hourly part of our lives. Of course, Trump is anything but typical. Still, experts say it’s a mistake to think that because the president is getting away with calling a man “Psycho Joe” and saying a woman was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” and had “low I.Q.,” regular people would get away with it, too. “Mr. Trump would be fired for his tweets of today, and nearly every day,” said Mike Driehorst, a social media expert at the marketing agency Weaving Influence. “Most companies have a thin skin when it comes to public criticism and media reports.” Nannina...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Senate Republicans may try preserving a tax boost on high earners enacted by President Barack Obama in a bid to woo party moderates and rescue their sputtering push to repeal his health care overhaul. The break from dogma by a party that has long reviled tax boosts — and most things achieved by Obama — underscores Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s feverish effort to yank one of his and President Donald Trump’s foremost priorities from the brink of defeat. The money would instead be used to bolster proposed health care subsidies for lower-income people. Sen. Mitch McConnell says “good progress” was made during a meeting with members of the Senate at the White House to discuss the Senate healthcare bill. (June 27) The change, proposed by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., would give a more populist flavor to the bill. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that as the legislation now is written, it would boost out-of-pocket costs for many po...