Police raid Australian public broadcaster over Afghan leak - Fox News

In this image made from video, Australia's Federal Police, top, enter the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster, during a raid on their offices in Sydney, Australia. The Federal Police raided the offices in connection to a 2017 story based on leaked military documents that indicated the country’s military forces were being investigated for some of their actions in Afghanistan. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP)

SYDNEY – Australia's Federal Police have raided the offices of the national public broadcaster in connection to a 2017 story based on leaked military documents that indicated the country's military forces were being investigated for some of their actions in Afghanistan.

Police said they executed a search warrant Wednesday at the Sydney offices of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation based on a 2-year-old complaint by the then secretary of defense that the broadcaster published classified material.

Australian law forbids officials from disclosing secret information, and the police warrant was based on a law enacted in 1914.

ABC described the raid as a "serious development" relating to the freedom of the press. It was the second such raid against a media company in two days.

ABC is a client of The Associated Press.

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2019-06-05 05:13:09Z
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Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen Square candlelight vigil is under threat from China - Vox.com

A massive candlelight vigil is taking place on Tuesday in the only part of China that allows dissent, Hong Kong, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre — but it may be one of the last times the moving protest ever takes place.

In April 1989, roughly 1 million pro-democracy advocates gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in the heart of the sprawling capital city. For six weeks, they pushed the communist regime to open the nation’s political system in hopes that it would move away from decades of authoritarian leadership.

That didn’t happen. Instead, Chinese troops entered the square in the early morning of June 4 and throughout the day opened fire on the protesters. Beijing has never released an official death toll, though estimates from human rights groups and foreign organizations put it anywhere from a few hundred to about 10,000.

That slaughter remains a sensitive subject for millions of Chinese people and for the government itself, which has spent the years since mostly denying that the events at Tiananmen ever took place.

Which makes the vigil in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous city in China, such a unique and defiant event.

Every year since the massacre, pro-democracy organizers have brought thousands of people into a main square of Hong Kong on the anniversary of the event to remember those lost and to continue the fight for democracy in China. This year, around 180,000 people, one of the highest-ever totals for the protest, joined the gathering — the only place in China that those who want to memorialize the tragedy and push for change could do so.

People hold candles as they take part in a candlelight vigil at Victoria Park on June 4, 2019, in Hong Kong.

Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

A wreath of flowers is carried during a candlelight vigil at Victoria Park on June 4, 2019, in Hong Kong.

Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

The problem is that 2019 may be one of the vigil’s last years. That’s because Beijing — which is supposed to leave the city mostly alone — wants to exert more control over it. Which means the freedom of expression enjoyed in Hong Kong, the very thing that makes the ceremony possible at all, may soon become a thing of the past.

“This may be the last time we get to express our dissent freely,” 19-year-old college student David Chung told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.

After taking over Hong Kong in a war in the 1800s, Britain returned it to China in 1997 with an important stipulation: The city would govern itself for 50 years before officially folding back into the mainland. So until 2047, the expectation was that the area would function under the principle known as “one country, two systems.”

But Beijing clearly isn’t waiting that long.

At China’s direction, the Hong Kong government in recent years has quashed the city’s democratic movement, blocked opposition candidates from running for elected office, and put down nearly all protest movements. And it may soon get worse: There’s a proposal to amend a Hong Kong extradition law that would allow someone arrested in the city to face trial in another part of China.

That would all but cement Beijing’s authority in the supposedly semi-autonomous city.

“When the legislation passes — which now seems near certain, and imminent — it will spell the death of Hong Kong as the world has known it,” Ray Wong Toi-yeung, a political activist from the city, wrote for the New York Times on Tuesday.

A bird’s-eye view of the candlelight vigil at Victoria Park on June 4, 2019, in Hong Kong.

Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

That means the candlelight vigil that has allowed thousands to keep the memory of those killed in Tiananmen Square alive may soon fall victim to China’s crackdown on freedom of expression.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped the nearly 200,000 protesters from attending Tuesday’s ceremony, and it certainly won’t stop activists from pushing back against China’s growing influence in the years to come.

“For the future of Hong Kong, we must fight to the end,” Ho Chun-yan, the head of a pro-democracy group in the city, said at the vigil.

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2019-06-04 15:50:00Z
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Trump's UK visit: President says Britain's exit from EU would be 'very good' for the country - USA TODAY

Kim Hjelmgaard, Michael Collins and David Jackson USA TODAY

Published 11:08 AM EDT Jun 4, 2019

LONDON – President Donald Trump predicted Tuesday that Britain would follow through with its plans to leave the European Union and said the exit would be “very good” for the country.

“I think it will happen, and it probably should happen,” Trump said at a news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

May, who is leaving office on Friday after failing to arrange Britain’s exit from the E.U., said she still believes it is in the country’s best interests to leave with an agreement for withdrawal. But she said she would not take Trump’s suggestion and “stick around” so the U.S. and U.K. can negotiate a trade deal once Britain departs the E.U.

“I’m a woman of my word,” she said, emphasizing that she will leave office as planned.

Trump said the United States is committed to negotiating "a phenomenal" trade deal with Britain.

The joint news conference between the two leaders came as Trump's state visit to Britain shifted gears from pomp and pageantry to talks over a range of policy issues from climate to Iran that the close allies disagree over. 

More on news conference: Trump hopes Mexico can avoid tariffs by stopping migrants

Earlier Tuesday, Trump told May at a meeting with U.S. and British business leaders that she should "stick around" so the two nations can do a trade deal. "Let’s do this deal," Trump said to May at the event, at St. James’s Palace in London. 

May formally relinquishes her role as prime minister on Friday. 

Trump is spending three days in Britain with first lady Melania Trump and his adult children. The trip is aimed at celebrating the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States before Trump travels to Ireland and France for bilateral meetings and a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Trump's U.K. visit: What you need to know, from royal ceremony to protests

Opinion: Trump’s disrespect for McCain, POWs makes mockery of D-Day trip

On Monday, the Trumps visited Buckingham Palace, where they met the queen and her son and heir Prince Charles. They were feted at a lavish banquet where Britain's 93-year-old monarch toasted an alliance that ensured "the safety and prosperity of both our peoples for decades." Trump spoke of the two nations' "eternal friendship." 

But Tuesday's schedule turned more to politics and will highlight fresh uncertainty in the allies' storied relationship, not least because of May's impending departure as Britain's leader. From Friday, May will be in a caretaker role as her ruling Conservative Party begins a weeks-long process to succeed her as prime minister.  

May stepped down after failing to arrange Britain's exit from the EU, now delayed until at least Oct. 31, unless both sides agree to an extension. Trump has stated that his British political ally Nigel Farage, an outspoken advocate of leaving the EU without a deal, should be given a role in the negotiations. He has also taken the unusual diplomatic step of advocating for his "friend" Boris Johnson – a prominent U.S.-born, gaffe-prone politician who campaigned to leave the bloc – to be Britain's new leader. 

"Big Trade Deal is possible once U.K. gets rid of the shackles. Already starting to talk," Trump tweeted Monday, referring to the country's potential opportunity to sign a bilateral trade accord with the U.S. once it leaves the EU, known as Brexit. 

War of words:Trump starts U.K. state by calling London mayor 'stone cold loser'

Trump and May met with American and British corporate executives including CEOs and senior representatives from BAE Systems, GlaxoSmithKline, Barclays, Reckitt Benckiser, JP Morgan, Lockheed Martin and Goldman Sachs International. His daughter Ivanka Trump, National Security Adviser John Bolton and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also attended the business roundtable. 

May said trade between Britain and the U.S. last year was worth almost $240 billion.

She said British companies employ a million people across the U.S, and that "every morning, a million people in the U.K. go to work for American employers in the U.K."

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of protesters poured into central London to take part in a "Carnival of Resistance" in opposition to Trump. Environmental activists, anti-racism campaigners and women’s rights protesters will take to the streets around Parliament Square to declare a "Trump-free zone." Also participating: The phone-wielding, diaper-wearing inflatable blimp known as "Trump Baby."

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who boycotted the state dinner, tweeted the protests were "an opportunity to stand in solidarity with those (Trump) has attacked in America, around the world and in our own country," including London's Mayor Sadiq Khan. Trump called him a "stone cold loser" just before arriving in Britain.

Queen Elizabeth's glittery state banquet: Toasts and national anthems

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2019-06-04 15:08:09Z
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For Trump, London Visit Is a (Royal) Family Affair - The New York Times

LONDON — When Queen Elizabeth II welcomed the president on Monday for his first state visit to Britain, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner watched from a Buckingham Palace balcony. Later, at a state banquet, Eric Trump posed for photographs. During dinner, Donald Trump Jr. tucked into a menu including lamb and halibut as Tiffany Trump chatted with the queen’s private secretary.

“Looking forward to visiting Buckingham Palace for the first time. The U.K. is a very special place (for so many reasons) and it is an honor for our family to be hosted by Her Majesty,” Eric Trump, who runs the Trump Organization with his brother, Donald Jr., wrote on Twitter before the dinner.

They were also present on Tuesday at Mr. Trump’s news conference with the British prime minister, Theresa May. The president has also said that his children would join him on a tour on Tuesday of the Churchill War Rooms, and American officials said they might go to Normandy for the French leg of the trip, too.

Whether they had official roles in the visit or not, the extended Trump family seemed to materialize in London overnight — all save the president’s youngest son, Barron, who stayed home. But Monday’s lavish audience with the British royals was the culmination of more than a month of planning by White House officials who have grown accustomed to accommodating President Trump’s children, whether that includes redrawing plans for a state visit or evicting guests from their seats at the State of the Union address.

As Mr. Trump presides over a White House with unprecedented turnover, he has relied on his children the same way he has for decades — asking them for advice or seeing them as surrogates in the fight against his real and perceived enemies.

On this visit, another family opportunity surfaced: The Kennedys have long occupied the American political culture as the unofficial royal family, but this week, the Trumps appeared to present themselves as the 2019 version.

“He’s surrounding himself with his family in this kind of certainly royal family, prince-and-princesses way,” Gwenda Blair, the author of “The Trumps: Three Generations That Built an Empire,” said in an interview. “Just as traditionally crowned heads surrounded themselves with their progeny, he has surrounded himself with his progeny.”

Privately, White House officials say that some of the Trump children, particularly those working in the White House, see themselves this way. One senior official, who did not want to speak publicly about internal planning, said that Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump in particular had grown more emboldened with their requests to be accommodated at official events.

Image

President Trump and Queen Elizabeth, with the first lady, Melania Trump, left, at Buckingham Palace on Monday.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

About a month before the Europe trip, several members of the Trump family informed the White House that they wanted to participate. (Ms. Trump said on Twitter that she was “joining the U.S. delegation” for the visit.) There were loose discussions of them traveling on Air Force One, but the plane was already packed with government officials and the first lady, Melania Trump. Ivanka Trump left for Britain on Saturday, while Mr. Kushner traveled separately from the Middle East.

The president landed in Britain fresh from a round of interviews in which he expressed opinions about British foreign policy and after firing off a slew of tweets responding to criticism from the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, by calling him a “stone cold loser.” But if Mr. Trump’s behavior bothered his hosts — including Prince Harry, whose wife, the Duchess of Sussex, was called “nasty” by Mr. Trump just days earlier — it did not seem to show. (The American-born duchess, formerly known as Meghan Markle, was not in attendance.) The reception that the Trump family received was warm, and the royals seemed interested in engaging and charming their guests, British and American officials said.

But unlike the royals, who wage an endless battle to keep Britain’s voracious tabloids at arm’s length, the Trump children shared behind-the-scenes photographs and tweets of their trip.

“It was an incredible honor to meet Her Majesty The Queen, the longest ruling Monarch in British history,” Ms. Trump wrote of the day on Twitter. “Thank you for a warm welcome to the United Kingdom.”

For Mr. Trump’s children, the Buckingham Palace visit was the highest-profile example of a change in presidential plans made to include them, but it was not the only one.

The weekend before President Trump delivered his State of the Union address in February, several of the special guests who had been invited to sit near the first lady were suddenly told that some changes needed to be made.

Instead of sitting with Melania Trump, half a dozen of the 28 guests she had chosen were told that they would have to sit down the hall from the House chamber, in a room featuring a television, chocolates, tissues and White House aides. The newly available seats were then given to two Tennesseans whose sentences had been cut short by Mr. Trump under a criminal justice overhaul effort that his son-in-law pushed for, and to three of the president’s adult children and two of their spouses.

A few days before the event, Mr. Trump was alerted to the lack of seats by one of his children, and Mrs. Trump was told to make room, according to three White House officials.

In the box that day were Ivanka Trump and Mr. Kushner; Tiffany Trump; Eric Trump and his wife, Lara Trump; and Donald Trump Jr. (Donald Jr., a popular Republican surrogate, had offered to get a seat from one of the members of Congress he is close with instead, officials said.) Among those whose seats were gone was Aubrey Reichard-Eline, the mother of Grace Eline, a 10-year-old cancer survivor who was invited because she works to help other children fight the disease. The man accompanying Joshua Trump, a sixth grader who is not a relative but who was invited because he had been bullied at school over his last name, was also moved down the hall.

Image

Prince Harry, right, with Ivanka Trump at Buckingham Palace. The Trump children, White House officials say, see themselves increasingly as America’s equivalent of a royal family.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

“I think they just had a lot of people in general,” Ms. Reichard-Eline said in an interview, stressing that she had no qualms about the seating change and that she and her daughter treasured being there regardless of seating assignments. “They ended up focusing on the true guests.”

A White House official with knowledge of the last-minute planning said at the time that the guests for the box were invited a month before the address, with the goal of focusing on extraordinary Americans. That person added that seats were changed at the last moment to accommodate the children per their request.

Despite the complicated dynamics that may arise, many commanders in chief have relied heavily on family members once in the Oval Office. And the complications of an extended family with adult children in a White House is not without precedent.

Ronald Reagan, who carried the distinction of being the nation’s first divorced president, had an at-times complicated relationship with his four adult children, who cycled through varying degrees of familial tension before, during and after his ascent to the White House. But in his White House, where his children did not formally work, some were excluded from certain gatherings where the seating was limited.

“I know that we often intentionally did not include them in some events, in state dinners and things like that, even when they were in town,” said Gahl Burt, the former social secretary for Nancy Reagan.

In other administrations, adult children chose to take on official roles: Franklin Roosevelt appointed his eldest daughter, Anna, to serve as White House hostess. Her closeness with her father often led to clashes with her mother, the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

“They were a wealthy, famous family like the Trumps,” Katherine Jellison, a historian who studies first families, said of the Roosevelts in an interview. She pointed to a key difference: “None of F.D.R. and Eleanor’s children were ever policy advisers.”

One of the best-known daughters of a president, Patti Davis, said that it was important for children to bear in mind their impact on the White House. Ms. Davis was 28 when her father, Mr. Reagan, was elected. In an interview, Ms. Davis described her time as first daughter as a period of rebellion that she regrets. She kept her distance from the White House, and said that the Trump children must appreciate that lines can easily be blurred.

“Choose one role or the other,” Ms. Davis said. “If you’re going to have your fingers in the campaign and all that, then you don’t get to pull the family card.”

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2019-06-04 14:57:39Z
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Trump's UK visit: President says Britain's exit from EU would be 'very good' for the country - USA TODAY

Kim Hjelmgaard, Michael Collins and David Jackson USA TODAY

Published 10:37 AM EDT Jun 4, 2019

LONDON – President Donald Trump predicted Tuesday that Britain would follow through with its plans to leave the European Union and said the exit would be “very good” for the country.

“I think it will happen, and it probably should happen,” Trump said at a news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

May, who is leaving office on Friday after failing to arrange Britain’s exit from the E.U., said she still believes it is in the country’s best interests to leave with an agreement for withdrawal. But she said she would not take Trump’s suggestion and “stick around” so the U.S. and U.K. can negotiate a trade deal once Britain departs the E.U.

“I’m a woman of my word,” she said, emphasizing that she will leave office as planned.

Trump said the United States is committed to negotiating "a phenomenal" trade deal with Britain.

The joint news conference between the two leaders came as Trump's state visit to Britain shifted gears from pomp and pageantry to talks over a range of policy issues from climate to Iran that the close allies disagree over. 

Earlier Tuesday, Trump told May at a meeting with U.S. and British business leaders that she should "stick around" so the two nations can do a trade deal. "Let’s do this deal," Trump said to May at the event, at St. James’s Palace in London. 

May formally relinquishes her role as prime minister on Friday. 

Trump is spending three days in Britain with first lady Melania Trump and his adult children. The trip is aimed at celebrating the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States before Trump travels to Ireland and France for bilateral meetings and a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Trump's U.K. visit: What you need to know, from royal ceremony to protests

Opinion: Trump’s disrespect for McCain, POWs makes mockery of D-Day trip

On Monday, the Trumps visited Buckingham Palace, where they met the queen and her son and heir Prince Charles. They were feted at a lavish banquet where Britain's 93-year-old monarch toasted an alliance that ensured "the safety and prosperity of both our peoples for decades." Trump spoke of the two nations' "eternal friendship." 

But Tuesday's schedule turned more to politics and will highlight fresh uncertainty in the allies' storied relationship, not least because of May's impending departure as Britain's leader. From Friday, May will be in a caretaker role as her ruling Conservative Party begins a weeks-long process to succeed her as prime minister.  

May stepped down after failing to arrange Britain's exit from the EU, now delayed until at least Oct. 31, unless both sides agree to an extension. Trump has stated that his British political ally Nigel Farage, an outspoken advocate of leaving the EU without a deal, should be given a role in the negotiations. He has also taken the unusual diplomatic step of advocating for his "friend" Boris Johnson – a prominent U.S.-born, gaffe-prone politician who campaigned to leave the bloc – to be Britain's new leader. 

"Big Trade Deal is possible once U.K. gets rid of the shackles. Already starting to talk," Trump tweeted Monday, referring to the country's potential opportunity to sign a bilateral trade accord with the U.S. once it leaves the EU, known as Brexit. 

War of words:Trump starts U.K. state by calling London mayor 'stone cold loser'

Trump and May met with American and British corporate executives including CEOs and senior representatives from BAE Systems, GlaxoSmithKline, Barclays, Reckitt Benckiser, JP Morgan, Lockheed Martin and Goldman Sachs International. His daughter Ivanka Trump, National Security Adviser John Bolton and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also attended the business roundtable. 

May said trade between Britain and the U.S. last year was worth almost $240 billion.

She said British companies employ a million people across the U.S, and that "every morning, a million people in the U.K. go to work for American employers in the U.K."

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of protesters poured into central London to take part in a "Carnival of Resistance" in opposition to Trump. Environmental activists, anti-racism campaigners and women’s rights protesters will take to the streets around Parliament Square to declare a "Trump-free zone." Also participating: The phone-wielding, diaper-wearing inflatable blimp known as "Trump Baby."

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who boycotted the state dinner, tweeted the protests were "an opportunity to stand in solidarity with those (Trump) has attacked in America, around the world and in our own country," including London's Mayor Sadiq Khan. Trump called him a "stone cold loser" just before arriving in Britain.

Queen Elizabeth's glittery state banquet: Toasts and national anthems

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2019-06-04 14:23:34Z
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China chides Mike Pompeo after he calls on them to reveal Tiananmen Square death toll - Fox News

China admonished comments made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the 30th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protest, saying Tuesday the top U.S. diplomat spoke "out of prejudice and arrogance."

Pompeo had issued a statement Monday on the eve of the crackdown saluting what he called the "heroes of the Chinese people who bravely stood up thirty years ago in Tiananmen Square to demand their rights."

The seven-week-long Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and their bloody end, where hundreds if not thousands of people are believed to have died, snuffed out a tentative shift toward political liberalization. Pompeo urged China to make a full, public accounting of those killed but admitted the country has not become more transparent in the decades since.

In this early June 4, 1989 file photo, a student protester puts barricades in the path of an already burning armored personnel carrier that rammed through student lines during an army attack on pro-democracy protesters on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. (AP Photo/Jeff Widener)

"Over the decades that followed, the United States hoped that China's integration into the international system would lead to a more open, tolerant society," Pompeo said. "Those hopes have been dashed."

CHINA ISSUES CITIZENS US TRAVEL ALERT, WARNS OF HARASSMENT

In a statement posted on the Chinese Embassy's website in Washington, a spokesperson said Pompeo's statement "grossly intervenes in China's internal affairs, attacks its system, and smears its domestic and foreign policies."

Chinese authorities stepped up security Tuesday around Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, a reminder of the government's attempts to quash any memories of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests 30 years ago. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

"This is an affront to the Chinese people and a serious violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations," the statement read. "The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to it."

China claimed that the government and people "reached the verdict on the political incident of the late 1980s long ago," and has since enacted reform that has led to "rapid economic and social development, continuous progress in democracy and the rule of law, flourishing culture and significantly improved standards of living."

A policeman stands guard near anti-riot gear and fire extinguishers in front of Mao Zedong's portrait on Tiananmen Gate on the 30th anniversary of a bloody crackdown of pro-democracy protestors in Beijing, Tuesday, June 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

"China's human rights are in the best period ever," the statement continued. "Socialism with Chinese characteristics, a choice of history and the people, has been proved a right path in line with China's national conditions and supported by the whole population."

In his statement on Monday, Pompeo had praised the student-led democracy protests as having the courage to serve as "an inspiration to future generations calling for freedom and democracy around the world."

In this June 10, 1989 file photo, People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops stand guard with tanks in front of Tiananmen Square after crushing the students pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing. (AP Photo/Sadayuki Mikami)

But Chinese officials fired back with their most loaded language. 

"The Chinese people have the best say on China," a spokesperson said. "Their pursuit of a better life cannot be stopped by any force. Whoever attempt to patronize and bully the Chinese people in any name, or preach a 'clash of civilizations' to resist the trend of times will never succeed. They will only end up in the ash heap of history."

US-CHINA TRADE WAR UNLIKELY TO END SOON, EX-CHINESE CENTRAL BANK CHIEF SAYS

The back-and-forth between the two nations came as China went into customary lockdown Tuesday for the 30th anniversary of the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Extra checkpoints and street closures greeted tourists who showed up before 5 a.m. to watch the daily flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square, while people overseas found themselves blocked from posting anything to a popular Chinese social media site.

China has largely succeeded in wiping the bloody crackdown from the public consciousness at home. For many Chinese, the 30th anniversary of the crackdown passed like any other weekday. Any commemoration of the event is not allowed in mainland China, and the government has long blocked access to information about it on the internet.

A male tourist in his 30s near the square, who gave his family name as Zhang, told Reuters he had no idea about the anniversary.

“Never heard of it,” he said. “I’m not aware of this.”

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Thousands were expected to turn out for a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory that has relatively greater freedoms than the mainland, though activists are concerned about the erosion of those liberties in recent years.

Half a dozen activists could not be reached by phone or text on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. One who could, Beijing-based Hu Jia, told the news agency he had been taken by security agents to the northeastern coastal city of Qinghuangdao last week. Chinese authorities routinely take dissidents away on what are euphemistically called "vacations", or otherwise silence them during sensitive political times.

"This is a reflection of their fears, their terror, not ours," Hu said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-06-04 13:05:53Z
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Trump's UK visit: President says Britain's exit from EU would be 'very good' for the country - USA TODAY

Kim Hjelmgaard, Michael Collins and David Jackson USA TODAY

Published 10:13 AM EDT Jun 4, 2019

LONDON – President Donald Trump predicted Tuesday that Britain would follow through with its plans to leave the European Union and said the exit would be “very good” for the country.

“I think it will happen, and it probably should happen,” Trump said at a news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

May, who is leaving office on Friday after failing to arrange Britain’s exit from the E.U., said she still believes it is in the country’s best interests to leave with an agreement for withdrawal. But she said she would not take Trump’s suggestion and “stick around” so the U.S. and U.K. can negotiate a trade deal once Britain departs the EU.

“I’m a woman of my word,” she said, emphasizing that she will leave office as planned.

Trump said the United States is committed to negotiating "a phenomenal" trade deal with Britain when it leaves the E.U.

The joint news conference between the two leaders came as Trump's state visit to Britain shifted gears from pomp and pageantry to talks over a range of policy issues from climate to Iran that the close allies disagree over. 

Earlier Tuesday, Trump told May at a meeting with U.S. and British business leaders that she should "stick around" so the two nations can do a trade deal. "Let’s do this deal," Trump said to May at the event, at St. James’s Palace in London. 

May formally relinquishes her role as prime minister on Friday. 

Trump is spending three days in Britain with first lady Melania Trump and his adult children. The trip is aimed at celebrating the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States before Trump travels to Ireland and France for bilateral meetings and a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Trump's U.K. visit: What you need to know, from royal ceremony to protests

Opinion: Trump’s disrespect for McCain, POWs makes mockery of D-Day trip

On Monday, the Trumps visited Buckingham Palace, where they met the queen and her son and heir Prince Charles. They were feted at a lavish banquet where Britain's 93-year-old monarch toasted an alliance that ensured "the safety and prosperity of both our peoples for decades." Trump spoke of the two nations' "eternal friendship." 

But Tuesday's schedule turned more to politics and will highlight fresh uncertainty in the allies' storied relationship, not least because of May's impending departure as Britain's leader. From Friday, May will be in a caretaker role as her ruling Conservative Party begins a weeks-long process to succeed her as prime minister.  

May stepped down after failing to arrange Britain's exit from the EU, now delayed until at least Oct. 31, unless both sides agree to an extension. Trump has stated that his British political ally Nigel Farage, an outspoken advocate of leaving the EU without a deal, should be given a role in the negotiations. He has also taken the unusual diplomatic step of advocating for his "friend" Boris Johnson – a prominent U.S.-born, gaffe-prone politician who campaigned to leave the bloc – to be Britain's new leader. 

"Big Trade Deal is possible once U.K. gets rid of the shackles. Already starting to talk," Trump tweeted Monday, referring to the country's potential opportunity to sign a bilateral trade accord with the U.S. once it leaves the EU, known as Brexit. 

War of words:Trump starts U.K. state by calling London mayor 'stone cold loser'

Trump and May met with American and British corporate executives including CEOs and senior representatives from BAE Systems, GlaxoSmithKline, Barclays, Reckitt Benckiser, JP Morgan, Lockheed Martin and Goldman Sachs International. His daughter Ivanka Trump, National Security Adviser John Bolton and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also attended the business roundtable. 

May said trade between Britain and the U.S. last year was worth almost $240 billion.

She said British companies employ a million people across the U.S, and that "every morning, a million people in the U.K. go to work for American employers in the U.K."

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of protesters were expected in central London to take part in a "Carnival of Resistance" in opposition to Trump. Environmental activists, anti-racism campaigners and women’s rights protesters will take to the streets around Parliament Square to declare a "Trump-free zone." Also participating: The phone-wielding, diaper-wearing inflatable blimp known as "Trump Baby."

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who boycotted the state dinner, tweeted the protests were "an opportunity to stand in solidarity with those (Trump) has attacked in America, around the world and in our own country," including London's Mayor Sadiq Khan. Trump called him a "stone cold loser" just before arriving in Britain.

Queen Elizabeth's glittery state banquet: Toasts and national anthems

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/06/04/trump-u-k-visit-turns-from-royal-family-queen-elizabeth-to-foreign-policy/1336658001/

2019-06-04 14:00:36Z
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