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The House of Representatives approved a $19.1 disaster relief bill Monday, sending the measure to President Trump after conservative Republican lawmakers blocked three separate attempts to pass the bill by a voice vote last week.

The bill was passed by a vote of 354-58, with 132 Republicans – many from districts hit by hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and fires in recent months – joining 222 Democrats to support the measure. All 58 'no' votes came from GOP lawmakers.

"I am pleased that we have finally rejected the political stunts and grandstanding that have made it difficult to deliver much-needed relief to Americans struck by recent natural disasters," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "While it has taken far too long, this $19.1 billion bill includes a broad array of measures to help meet the urgent needs of disaster-stricken communities, from health care and nutritional assistance to social services and infrastructure repairs. The bill represents bipartisan compromise that will strengthen communities and make lives better."

more here:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-approves-19-1b-disaster-aid-bill-blocked-three-times-by-republicans

Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele has made a clear abortion rights message in his latest Cruise collection, as the debate over abortion heats up once again in the United States.

The collection, shown to a VIP crowd Tuesday evening in Rome’s Capitoline Museum, featured a purple jacket with the slogan “My Body, My Choice” on the back, and a sweater emblazoned with the date “May 22, 1978,” marking the day that abortion became legal in Italy. A belted gown was embroidered with a flowering uterus.

Michele said new restrictions on abortion in the United States “made me consider how much women should be highly respected.”

“Sometimes in life choices are difficult, but I believe that it is the most difficult decision for a woman. I respect that decision. I respect that decision as I respect the idea that the uterus is a garden,” Michele told reporters after the show.

A recording of his remarks was made available to The Associated Press.

“I wanted to portray the idea that to interrupt a pregnancy does not wipe out the garden, the flower, that is the uterus of every woman,” he said.

more here:

https://apnews.com/855ca8e1f14941bb8bce6a9dce64a8cb

At least four refugees in Australia's offshore Pacific camps have attempted suicide since the conservative government's shock re-election Saturday, according to refugees, advocates and police.

Around 800 would-be refugees who tried reach Australia have been sent to live in severe conditions on the remote islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus under a hardline policy from Canberra.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/21/four-refugees-australias-offshore-migrant-camps-attempt-suicide/

Japanese school rules that force children to dye their hair black so they fit in with their classmates are facing a growing backlash, fuelled by a viral video campaign and a fast-growing petition.

Some 60 percent of public schools in Japan requires that all pupils submit a document called Natural Hair Certification, which confirms the natural color and degree of curliness of their hair.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/22/campaign-grows-stop-japanese-schools-forcing-pupils-dye-hair/

The Melbourne ringleader of a “tinnie terror” plot to sail from Queensland to help overthrow the Philippines government will spend up to seven years behind bars.

Islamic State sympathiser Robert “Musa” Cerantonio and five other men plotted in 2016 to sail a seven-metre fishing boat off the Queensland coast, with plans to encourage others to overthrow the southern Philippines government and establish sharia law there.

Cerantonio pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation for hostile activities.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/03/melbourne-tinnie-terrorist-leader-jailed-for-seven-years-over-philippines-plot

Four were engineers who worked to maintain streets and protect wetlands. Three were right-of-way agents who reviewed property lines. The others included an account clerk, a technician, an administrative assistant and a special projects coordinator. In all, they had served the city of Virginia Beach for more than 150 years.

These 11 city employees and one contractor were wiped out Friday when a fellow city worker opened fire inside a municipal building. A day after the shooting, city officials sought to honor them by sharing their job titles and years of service in a somber slideshow.

“They leave a void that we will never be able to fill,” said City Manager Dave Hansen, who had worked for years with many of the dead.

Police Chief James Cervera identified the assailant as DeWayne Craddock, who had been employed for 15 years as an engineer with the city’s utilities department.

https://www.wtae.com/article/these-are-the-stories-of-the-12-virginia-beach-shooting-victims/27690216

Internet-based stores have largely been exempt in the past from paying U.S. state taxes, but those legal loopholes are slowly being closed. B&H Photo recently started charging sales tax in almost all states, and now Newegg is following suit.

According to a support document, Newegg will begin charging sales tax in eight more states starting on July 1st. The new states are Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Virginia — bringing the total to 43. Many states were already being charged sales tax, including California.

more here:

https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/06/03/newegg-will-start-charging-sales-tax-in-florida-and-7-other-states-starting-july-1st/

Russian Aerospace Defense Forces have successfully test-launched a new interceptor missile from the territory of Kazakhstan, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Another test-launch of a new Russian interceptor missile was successfully conducted by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces from the Sary-Shagan training range in Kazakhstan," the defense ministry said.

"After a series of trials, they gave up and drank some good vodka."

http://tass.com/defense/1061535

Google is the best search engine; it is indisputable. Of course, the downside to Google is that it is a privacy nightmare, tracking you and logging your search history. While there are alternatives, such as DuckDuckGo and StartPage.com that focus on protecting your privacy, Google still provides the better search experience.

And then there is Bing – the search engine people love to hate. Yes, it is fashionable to bash Microsoft's search engine, but the truth is, it's not that bad. In fact, it is fairly good. And that is the problem – it is just mediocre, never really catching on with consumers. Google is just better. Despite Bing's lack of success, Microsoft has surprisingly stuck with it. As a result, today, Bing celebrates a 10th birthday – a full decade of mediocrity. Huzzah!

"On June 3rd 2009, we debuted to the world with a fresh approach to search – one that was anchored around the mission of empowering people through knowledge - helping you do more, not just search more. A lot has happened since then, so we wanted to take a moment to look back and celebrate you – the people who have transformed the pursuit of answers into understanding, perspective and action," says The Bing Team.

more here:

https://betanews.com/2019/06/03/bing-10/

Just days before Apple's annual WWDC developer conference kicks off, Microsoft's hardware team did something I believe to be unprecedented. The team showed off internally a prototype of an unannounced device: Its rumored "Centaurus" dual-screen laptop. Usually, the Surface team operates very secretly, trying to keep its unannounced devices hidden from most of its own employees.

As first reported by The Verge, Microsoft officials showed off to some employees at an all-hands meeting last week high-quality renders of the Centaurus Surface device. I've heard the same from my contacts. Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference coincidentally (or not) starts today, June 3.

Centaurus, according to sources, is a dual-screen laptop that Microsoft has been building in the wake of the tabling of its Andromeda dual-screen pocketable device. Centaurus is believed to be among Microsoft's first batch of Windows Core Operating System (WCOS) devices.

more here:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-shows-off-its-centaurus-dual-screen-laptop-ahead-of-apples-wwdc/

Hold off on the iTunes epitaphs: Apple’s iTunes Store is remaining in place, and the iTunes software for Windows will live on.

Here’s what the tech giant announced at its 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday: With the introduction of macOS X 10.15 (code-named “Catalina”), the iTunes software application will disappear from the Mac — replaced with dedicated apps for Apple Music, Apple TV and Apple Podcasts.

That created confusion, with many users assuming everything iTunes-related is going by the wayside, which isn’t the case.

Apple clarified that the iTunes Store app for iOS will continue to be the place for iPhone and iPad users to purchase and download music, as well as buy or rent movies and TV shows. Alternately, owners of iOS devices can use the Apple TV app to purchase or rent movies and TV shows, as well as subscriptions to third-party channels like HBO and the Apple TV Plus subscription service that’s slated to debut in the fall of 2019.

more here:

https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/apple-itunes-store-ios-windows-not-going-away-1203231814/

Ad tech firms and publishers have had to stay in the good graces of Google or risk insolvency.

That is why the U.S. Department of Justice is examining the dominance of Alphabet Inc's Google in online advertising as part of a potential antitrust investigation, two sources told Reuters.

Google's control over the market has long hurt the profits of smaller advertising technology companies who must appease the No. 1 online ad firm to be profitable, and online publishers who need Google's search reach and ad tools to build an audience and make money on their content.

The ad market is just one of several areas of possible inquiry.

more here:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-doj-probe/u-s-probe-of-googles-online-ad-dominance-would-appease-long-suffering-rivals-publishers-idUSKCN1T42PI

Lawmakers and civil liberties advocates might be pressing law enforcement agencies to scale back their use of facial recognition software, but international travelers should only expect to see more of the tech in the years ahead.

It’s been almost two years since Customs and Border Protection began deploying facial recognition systems at U.S. airports, and despite the recent backlash against the software, the agency’s efforts show no signs of slowing down. But if you ask Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner John Wagner, the agency’s use of facial recognition falls far short of the dystopian panopticon feared by many of the tech’s critics.

“This is not a surveillance program,” Wagner, who heads CBP’s biometric entry and exit initiative, said in a conversation with Nextgov. “We are not just hanging a camera in an airport and randomly identifying people … as they're walking through.”

Under Wagner’s program, CBP agents use facial recognition to compare real-time images of international travelers to the photos on their passports or visas. For arrivals, people have their faces scanned while officers review their travel documents, and for departures, the tech captures images right at the boarding gate.

Today, the tech is deployed in some capacity at 16 airports across the U.S, and by 2021, CBP expects to scale up the program to cover more than 97 percent of the people flying outside the country. Ultimately, officials anticipate biometrics could render physical boarding passes obsolete.

more here:

https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/05/cbps-airport-facial-recognition-not-surveillance-program/157373/