World breaking news today (June 10): Biden revokes and replaces Trump executive orders that banned TikTok

	World breaking news today (June 9): Macron slapped in the face during walkabout in southern France
	World breaking news today (June 8): Russia officially withdraws from Open Skies treaty
	World breaking news today (June 7): For Covid injury, Trump calls on nations to demand reparations from Beijing

(Photo: WSJ)

Biden revokes and replaces Trump executive orders that banned TikTok

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that sets criteria for the government to evaluate the risk of apps connected to foreign adversaries, a move with implications for Chinese-owned sites like TikTok and WeChat.

Biden revoked and replaced the three executive orders by then-President Donald Trump that sought to ban transactions with TikTok and WeChat by American businesses. One of the orders also sough to ban TikTok, resulting in a prolonged court battle. TikTok remains available and popular in the U.S.

Biden’s new order will direct the Commerce Department to review apps tied to foreign adversaries and lays out what it should consider an “unacceptable risk,” according to a White House fact sheet. That includes criteria for evaluating transactions with software apps tied to a foreign adversary, which typically falls under the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS.

The order would consider transactions to involve a “heightened risk” when they involve apps owned, controlled or managed by people supporting foreign adversary military or intelligence service or when the apps collect sensitive personal data.

The order also directs the Commerce Department to work with other agencies to come up with recommendations to protect U.S. consumer data from foreign adversaries and requires the department to recommend further executive actions and legislation to address the risks, CNBC said.

Man impersonated Trump relatives online to trick donors

A Pennsylvania man has been charged with creating fake online identities impersonating Donald Trump’s brother and youngest son, which he used to dupe hundreds of people nationwide into donating thousands of dollars to what prosecutors have described as a phoney political organization, Guardian reported.

Joshua Hall, 22, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, was released on $25,000 bail after appearing in Harrisburg federal court to face charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, he could face up to 22 years in prison.

Joshua Hall created a fake online identity for Barron Trump, right, to win donations to a fake political group, prosecutors say (Photo:AP)

Prosecutors said Hall spent contributions on personal expenses after soliciting donations to his non-existent political affinity organization.

A message seeking comment was sent to his lawyer.

According to court papers, Hall defrauded donors from September 2019 through last December by falsely claiming he was raising funds to support Trump’s re-election.

Hall’s scheme centered on impersonation of members of Trump’s family, prosecutors said. They said he had created social media accounts bearing the names and photographs of Trump’s brother and son to convince over 100,000 online followers that he was close to Trump’s family.

Biden ends infrastructure negotiations with Republican senators

President Biden has ended negotiations with Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Republicans over infrastructure legislation, telling Capito Tuesday that the latest GOP offer didn't "meet the essential needs of our country" to fix roads and bridges, prepare the nation for a future reliant on clean energy and create jobs, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Psaki said that Mr. Biden has talked with several House and Senate lawmakers over the past two days, and he appreciated Capito's efforts and "good faith conversations," but he was disappointed that after he had reduced his plan by over $1 trillion, Republicans had "increased their proposed new investments by only $150 billion."

(Photo: CNBC)

The president will now turn his attention to a bipartisan group of senators preparing their own infrastructure proposal. Psaki said he has spoken with Senators Kyrsten Sinema, Bill Cassidy and Joe Manchin, and he plans to stay in touch with the lawmakers while he's in Europe.

A bipartisan team led by Republican Senator Mitt Romney, of Utah, had been working on an alternative to the offer by Capito's group as a backup in case its talks with the White House foundered.

Romney told reporters on Tuesday night that they are "going line by line, and we're adding some numbers from some things."

"We're taking some money out of other things from the, from our last meeting, so we've got more input," Romney said. "We've got input from committees and what they voted on, what they've approved, and we're just making adjustments one by one."

As the administration ended its negotiations with the GOP senators and engaged with the bipartisan group, Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, told reporters there wasn't much evidence of compromise from Mr. Biden, as reported by CBS News.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un reportedly likely lost some weights

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to have lost some weight after years of rather substantial weight gain, according to North Korea watchers and an NK News analysis of state media.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service, the country's spy agency, reported in November that Kim weighed just over 300 pounds.

The South Korean spy service reported that Kim weighed under 200 pounds when he took power about a decade ago.

Kim is believed to be about 5 foot 7 inches tall, so at more than 300 pounds, the North Korean leader, assessed to be in his mid-30s, would be considered severely obese and potentially at risk for various health problems.

(Photo: Yahoo News)

Last April, during an unexplained absence, there was rampant speculation that Kim was in "grave danger" after an operation, that he was dead, or in a coma or brain-dead.

It turns out Kim was actually alive and well, but he definitely has not been the picture of perfect health. The following photo is one of Kim in late February or early March of this year.

The North Korean leader appeared on state-run KCTV on June 5, as NK News Senior Analytic Correspondent Colin Zwirko noted on Twitter, and expert North Korea watchers pointed out that he looks to have shed some weight, News Yahoo said.

Gold price forecast – gold markets continue sideways action

Gold markets have gone back and forth during the course of the trading session on Tuesday as we continue to hang about the $1900 level.

(Photo: NBC News)

Gold markets have gone back and forth during the course of the trading session on Tuesday but as you can see, we are hanging about the $1900 level, simply killing time. Gold has a lot of questions surrounding it right now, not the least of which is whether or not inflation is going to pick up. That being said, I think that the market will eventually find some type of catalyst, but right now we are just treading water around a big figure, as reported by FX Empire.

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