Facebook removes Trump ad over 'Nazi hate symbol' www.bbc.com

Facebook says it has removed adverts for US President Donald Trump's re-election campaign that featured a symbol used in Nazi Germany.

The company said the offending ad contained an inverted red triangle similar to that used by the Nazis to label opponents such as communists.

Mr Trump's campaign team said they were aimed at the far-left activist group antifa, which it said uses the symbol.

Facebook said the ads violated its policy against organised hate.

"We don't allow symbols that represent hateful organisations or hateful ideologies unless they are put up with context or condemnation," the social network's head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said on Thursday.

He added: "That's what we saw in this case with this ad, and anywhere that that symbol is used we would take the same actions."

The ads, which were posted on the site on pages belonging to President Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence, were online for about 24 hours and had received hundreds of thousands of views before they were taken down.

"The inverted red triangle is a symbol used by antifa, so it was included in an ad about antifa," Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said in a statement.

"We would note that Facebook still has an inverted red triangle emoji in use, which looks exactly the same," he added.

Mr Trump has recently accused antifa of starting riots at street protests across the US over the death in police custody of African American George Floyd.

Who are Boogaloo Bois, antifa and Proud Boys?
The president said last month that he would designate the anti-fascist group a "domestic terrorist organisation", although legal experts have questioned his authority to do so.

Antifa is a far left protest movement that opposes neo-Nazis, fascism, white supremacists and racism. It is considered to be a loosely organised group of activists with no leaders.

Most members decry what they see as the nationalistic, anti-immigration and anti-Muslim policies of Mr Trump.

A move likely to infuriate the president
By James Clayton, Technology Reporter, BBC North America

This is the latest salvo in an increasingly fraught relationship between the technology giants and the White House.

Last month, Twitter put a warning on one of the president's tweets about rioting in Minneapolis - saying it had "glorified violence".

Mr Trump hit back by talking about the "unchecked power" of big tech. He said that Section 230 - a law that protects social media companies from being legally responsible for the online content of users - should be revoked.

But forget Twitter for now, Facebook is the platform that Mr Trump really cares about. The social network is where a majority of his online political advertising budget goes. The move will likely infuriate the president. It also acts as a warning that Facebook does - and will - moderate some political content.

As the 2020 election draws nearer, it's likely more and more focus will be placed on what it does - and does not - take down.

Earlier this month, Facebook employees spoke out against the tech giant's decision not to remove or flag a controversial post by Mr Trump relating to the protests over Mr Floyd's death.

The president posted a comment on the social network saying that he would "send in the National Guard" and warned that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts". But Facebook said it did not violate its company policy.

Mr Trump had tweeted the same comments, but Twitter placed a warning over the content, which it said "glorified violence".

Some Facebook staff said they were "ashamed".

Number of households increased by 25.7 percent www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. According to the population and housing census 2020 conducted earlier this year, the total number of households has increased by 25.7 percent since 2010, of which urban households increased by 26.4 percent and rural households by 24.3 percent.

Mongolia to repatriate nationals stranded in South Korea, Turkey, Japan amid COVID-19 www.xinhuanet.com

June 18 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia will send five chartered flights to South Korea, Turkey and Japan in July to evacuate Mongolian nationals amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's foreign ministry said Thursday.

Wildfires destroy over 200,000 hectares in Mongolia so far this year www.xinhuanet.com

June 18 (Xinhua) -- A total of 97 forest and steppe fires have been recorded across Mongolia since the beginning of this year, which have destroyed 213,433 hectares of forest and grassland, the country's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Thursday.

Mongolia reports 4 more imported COVID-19 cases, 201 in total www.akipress.com

Over the past 24 hours, four truck drivers from Belarus tested positive for coronavirus in Mongolia, Director of the Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD) Dulmaa Nyamkhuu said.

Over 400-700 heavy trucks transporting coal through Gashuunsukhait border point daily www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Officials of the border crossings reported that coal export is reviving gradually. Approximately 400-700 heavy trucks have been transporting coal through Gashuunsukhait border point over the last one month.

Has court breached former Prime Minister’s parliamentary immunity? www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Days of campaigning for the 2020 parliamentary election of Mongolia where a total of 606 candidates from political parties and coalitions and independent candidates are running in, are about to come to an end.

What has aroused concerns during this legislative election is that a handful of candidates now has to campaign while being held in custody. The court has issued arrest warrants for candidates who had already received their candidacy cards in the middle of the ongoing election campaigning, including former Prime Minister, Member of Parliament J.Erdenebat, former MP N.Nomtoibayar, candidates Kh.Bat-Yalalt, D.Ganbold, S.Bayartsogt and B.Byambasaikhan.

The public has been taken aback by these unprecedented measures that have never happened in the democratic and political history of Mongolia. Because without consent from the General Election Commission, it is legally prohibited to conduct a criminal investigation and apprehend or detain any candidate who is approved to run for Parliamentary elections.

The lawyers of the candidates who have been put under arrest during their campaigning for the upcoming election all claim that the arrests have violated the law. In particular, the question arises as to whether the court has breached the Parliamentary immunity by arresting MP and former PM J.Erdenebat, whose immunity has not been removed, (In accordance with the Law on State Great Khural of Mongolia, the mandate of a member of the State Great Khural shall expire when newly elected members of the State Great Khural are sworn in) only as per the decision by Sukhbaatar District Criminal Court in Ulaanbaatar city, without having any parliamentarian decision if his immunity should be revoked.

It is against the law to arrest members of parliament unless they are caught in the act of committing a criminal act. If a parliamentary member is needed to be investigated for crimes, the prosecutor’s office shall submit their request to the parliament to have the parliamentary immunity of the member waived. However, in this case, the issue whether the immunity of parliament member J.Erdenebat should be lifted or not had not been discussed by the State Great Khural (parliament), and he was arrested without even the consent from the General Election Commission, central election body in charge of organizing this election.

Therefore, Parliament Speaker G.Zandanshatar described this situation as an act of rude breach of valid and effective laws of the independent country with parliamentary system, and has demanded from all relevant judicial organizations and judges an immediate stop to the illegal action of violating the parliamentary immunity and the right to be elected of the citizen of Mongolia J.Erdenebat as this act committed by the court and judges are violating the Constitution of Mongolia, Law on State Great Khural and Law on Parliamentary Election.

Moreover, the Human Rights Commission has also issued a statement on this matter, reminding that the arrest during the election will be followed by negative consequences as democracy and human rights situation in Mongolia would be unfavorably evaluated by international community and the commission demanded to put an end to the illegal act.

More candidates imprisoned ahead of Mongolian parliamentary election www.news.mn

Earlier yesterday (18 June), a Mongolian court decided to detain three more candidates in next week’s parliamentary election. The trial of former PM S.Bayar and other six people started at the Ulaanbaatar’s Chingeltei, Sukhbaatar and Bayanzurkh Criminal Court this morning at 09.00 a.m. The court has imprisoned former Finance Minister S.Bayartsogt who is standing as the parliamentary candidate for the Selenge Province, D.Ganbold from Khuvsgul and B.Byambasaikhan from Darkhan-Uul provinces until 22 June two days before polling day.

Mongolia ranked 61st out of 63 countries in World Competitiveness Ranking www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Swiss-based IMD World Competitiveness Center has released “World Competitiveness Annual Report 2020.” According to the report, Mongolia has been ranked 61st out of 63 selected countries. In particular, Mongolia was listed at 59th by economic performance, 53rd by government efficiency, 57th by business efficiency and 62nd by infrastructure respectively.

Fossils from Mongolia, Argentina show some dinosaurs laid soft-shelled eggs www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have unearthed the first fossils of soft-shelled eggs laid by dinosaurs - two disparate species from Argentina and Mongolia - in a discovery suggesting that the earliest dinosaurs produced such eggs before some lineages turned to hard shells.