Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued a "final warning" to protesters to leave Gezi Park in central Istanbul. - "Our patience is at an end. I am making my warning for the last time," he said. Clashes between police and protesters in the park and adjoining Taksim Square have continued for nearly two weeks. Activists have said they will not leave until the government abandons plans to redevelop the park. Mr Erdogan's party has proposed a referendum on the issue. Such a vote would not be legally binding but Mr Erdogan implied he would honour its outcome. "I say to the mothers and fathers, please take your children in hand and bring them out," Mr Erdogan declared. "We cannot wait any more because Gezi Park does not belong to occupying forces but to the people." His speech at a meeting of his ruling AK Party (AKP) in the capital, Ankara, received a standing ovation.

Deniz Erkmen: RESIST ISTANBUL: A Personal Story
Tarihinde Yayýmlandý: What is Happenning in Istanbul?
Stephen Lendman: Turkey: Epicenter of Police State Violence
LA Times: Istanbul protesters fear what a new day will bring
Russia Today: 'Last warning': Turkey PM Erdogan vows to clear Taksim of 'troublemakers'
Marjorie Cohn: The Turkish Spring: Lawyers Rounded Up
Turkey imprisons more journalists than any other country

It's a good thing Obama and Xi met last week, because following the latest revelations by Edward Snowden, just released as part of an ongoing series of interviews posted by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, there may have been some very awkward silence between the leaders of the world's superpowers. Especially since what he revealed once again exposes the US as nothing but a schoolyard hypocrite bully, which has been spinning a PR campaign "exposing" Chinese hackers as the biggest threat to internet security and privacy, when in reality it was the US that has done the bulk of snooping on Chinese soil. [...] The irony continues because in world in which China suddenly has the moral superiority to an America, that is more reminiscent to the "Evil Empire" USSR from the 1950s than anything the founders had envisioned, it is Russia that Snowden exposes as the country not afraid to stand up to the world's most arrogant bully.

SCMP: EXCLUSIVE: Whistle-blower Edward Snowden talks to South China Morning Post
The Guardian: Hong Kong activists plan rally in support of Edward Snowden

Ex-NSA staffer whistleblower Edward Snowden has revealed fresh details of US surveillance to a Chinese newspaper. He has vowed to fight any extradition attempt from Hong Kong. Snowden spoke from the secret location as his whereabouts remain unknown. - The interview to the South China Morning Post is the first time whistleblower Edward Snowden has spoken to the press since disclosing his identity as being behind highly sensitive leaks revealing details of the US’s NSA spy program. “Today, he reveals: more explosive details on US surveillance targets, his plans for the immediate future, the steps he claims the US has taken since he broke cover in Hong Kong, his fears for his family,” the newspaper claims, however not giving particular details.

Michael Ratner: US to pursue Snowden ‘with a sledgehammer’ for NSA leak (Interview)
Thomas Gaist: Obama administration initiates criminal prosecution of NSA whistleblower
Thomas Gaist: US congressman calls for prosecution of journalist over NSA leak
Michael Snyder: 22 Nauseating Quotes From Politicians About The NSA Spying Scandal
In Lock-Step: The parade of columnists declaring their support for NSA's massive secret spying
Voice of Russia: Snowden's Hong Kong trip the safest route for revealing NSA actions - expert
Reuters: More Americans see man who leaked NSA secrets as 'patriot' than traitor: Poll

NYDaily News: Edward Snowden: U.S. government a 'bully' to Hong Kong in quest for extradition - Edward Snowden has resurfaced and accused the U.S. government of trying to “bully” Hong Kong into extraditing him before he leaks more top secret information. But Snowden, 29, says he has an ace up his sleeve that will complicate any extradition request: Documents showing the National Security Agency hacks computers in Hong Kong. “I heard today from a reliable source that the United States government is trying to bully the Hong Kong government into extraditing me before the local government can learn of this,” Snowden told the South China Morning Post, referring to the NSA’s monitoring of people in Hong Kong. “The U.S. government will do anything to prevent me from getting this into the public eye, which is why they are pushing so hard for extradition.”

The Canadian government has been spying on its people by monitoring their telephone records and Internet data,Press TV reports. - Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported on June 10 that Defense Minister Peter MacKay had approved a “metadata” surveillance program in 2011 that tracks online activity and phone calls in search of suspicious activities. The program, introduced by the former Liberal government in 2005, was put on hold on account of concerns that it could lead to warrantless surveillance of Canadians. But according to the daily, the program was quietly reinstated in 2011, after MacKay signed a ministerial directive, which is not subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

The favorability rating of George W. Bush has skyrocketed, with 49 percent of Americans expressing positive feelings toward the former US president and only 46 percent expressing dislike. A Gallup poll found that for the first time since April 2005, Bush’s favorability rating is higher than his unfavorability rating. And Americans across all party lines have a more positive opinion of the former president. Gallup notes that an increase in approval ratings is common after presidents leave the White House, but the numbers may still come as a surprise. Since March 2009, Bush’s favorability rating increased by 14 percentage points among Democrats, 17 percent among Independents and 12 percent among Republicans. The numbers starkly contrast to the ratings he had shortly after leaving the White House. [...] But it appears that the harsh feelings for Bush have become largely forgotten, as negative opinions shift to President Barack Obama and his administration.

Bob Altemeyer: The Authoritarians (.pdf)

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard joined forces with former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday to urge global action on climate change, saying politics must be put aside [politics settled / science settled]. - The unlikely pair met in Perth and jointly penned an opinion piece that ran in News Limited newspapers. Australia is a key greenhouse gas emitter with a heavy reliance on coal mining and exports and most of its electricity comes from coal-fired power stations. But last November it pledged to sign up for a second round of the Kyoto Protocol environmental protection treaty to reduce emissions, while one of Gillard's key policies since taking office has been the introduction of a carbon pollution tax.

SANA: Syria faces global war under spreading democracy and human rights' pretexts - Chairman of the General Federation of Trade Unions, Mohammad Shaaban Azouz: Syria is facing a multipolar global war led by the US, Britain, France and Turkey and funded by some reactionary Arab countries. "Under the pretexts of spreading democracy and protecting the human rights, thousands of terrorists from all the countries of the world were trained, armed and sent to Syria to kill the Syrian people and destroy their state, in addition to imposing economic, banking and oil unjust sanctions against the Syrians." He pointed out that the war on Syria caused tragedies for millions of Syrians as thousands of them were martyred, among them more than a thousand workers, in addition to destroying, burning and looting of thousands of industrial establishments, infrastructure and big industrial cities. He stressed that the reason behind the war on Syria is its support to the resistance.

Al-Manar News: Extremist opposition group killed a Syrian teenager in front of his family
Al-Manar News: Foreign-Backed Militants Commit Massacre in Syria’s Deir Ezzor
PressTV: Kerry vows US commitment to aid Syria rebels after 'disastrous' defeats
Naharnet: Israel Defense Minister to Visit Pentagon
Gilad Atzmon: Syria - Israel Is Losing the Battle

Eric London: National Security Agency internal memorandums made public over a decade ago refute the Obama administration’s claims that its vast domestic surveillance program are being carried out as part of a “war on terror.” Plans to carry out the abrogation of basic democratic rights were well underway at least ten months before the “global war on terror” was launched in the aftermath of the still unexplained events of September 11th, 2001. The “Transition 2001” memo, published internally by the NSA at the end of 2000 in preparation for the inauguration of President George W. Bush, discloses a decade-old plan to undermine the foundations of the Fourth Amendment. The heavily-redacted document was made public by a Freedom of Information Act request filed by a George Washington University professor. The Fourth Amendment states that “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…”

Thomas Gaist: Obama administration officials, guilty of perjury, defend spy program

Gilad Atzmon: Many Israel-tilting individuals, both in the pro-Israel movement and in the pro-Palestine movement, complain about my 2 articles exposing Israeli organ-trafficking – ignoring the fact that this practice is so widespread! (Surprisingly, before my articles came out, even the Electronic Intifada scoffed at the subject.) Here's the latest news report on the topic:

Israeli arrested in Rome for organ trafficking: Man escaped from Brazil while on leave from prison in 2009, after being convicted of leading a kidney purchasing ring - Italian border authorities arrested 77-year-old Israeli citizen Gedaliah Taub on Friday on suspicion of international human organ trafficking. Taub was detained at the Rome airport after officials determined his passport was forged. Rome police told Maariv that Brazil had issued an international arrest warrant for Taub after he fled the South American country in 2009 during a leave from prison, where he was serving a nine-year sentence for organ trafficking.

Alison Weir: Israeli Organ Harvesting - The New "Blood Libel"?
Alison Weir: Israeli Organ Trafficking and Theft: From Moldova to Palestine

PressTV: Israelis run organ trafficking network
Daily Business Post: Israelis charged with human organ sales (04/23/10)
Palestine Chronicle: [Another] Israeli Organ-trafficking Ring Busted (08/08/10)
Failed Messiah: Haredi Man Gets 2 1/2 Years In Prison For Human Organ Trafficking (07/11/12)