■ On June 9, a U.S. drone fired on a vehicle in a remote province of Yemen and killed several militants, according to media reports. ■ It soon emerged that among those who died was a boy – 10-year-old Abdulaziz, whose elder brother, Saleh Hassan Huraydan, was believed to be the target of the strike. A McClatchy reporter recently confirmed the child’s death with locals. (Update: The London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism today reported that there was "strong evidence" it was a U.S. drone strike, but it could not confirm the fact.) ■ It’s the first prominent allegation of a civilian death since President Obama pledged in a major speech in May “to facilitate transparency and debate” about the U.S. war on al Qaida-linked militants beyond Afghanistan. He also said “there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured” in a strike. So what does the administration have to say in response to evidence that a child was killed? Nothing.

Satellite giant Eutelsat has stepped up its campaign against Iranian media, threatening European service providers with US sanctions, if they continue broadcasting TV channels launched from Iran. - Press TV has obtained some of the letters, which Michel De Rosen, the French-Israeli CEO of Eutelsat, has written to satellite companies warning them against providing services to Iranian media. He has said that if European satellite companies do not comply with US sanctions against Iran’s national broadcasting corporation, their assets will be frozen by the government of the United States. De Rosen has also warned service providers that their officials will be denied entry into the US, if they broadcast Iranian channels.

PressTV: British Muslim peer blames Zionist lobby for media ban on Iranian channels

"Beyond its criminality, lying to Congress destroys the pretense of oversight. Obviously, members of Congress cannot exercise any actual oversight over programs which are being concealed by deceitful national security officials"

The US government is monitoring and permanently storing information on regular mail, in a vast and previously secret program known as the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) program. According to an article in the New York Times on Thursday, images captured from over 160 billion pieces of mail per year are fed into a massive database, from which the government can construct in depth profiles of individuals, tracking their personal and political connections. ■ The MICT program parallels the National Security Agency spy programs revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. While these programs store phone records and collect email and other Internet activity, the MICT gathers this information on all mail senders, without any individualized suspicion of criminal activity. While a warrant is technically necessary to inspect the actual contents of the mail, in 2007 President George Bush authorized law enforcement to open mail without a warrant in exceptional cases. ■ In previous decades, under the “mail cover surveillance” program, the Postal Service granted law enforcement agencies access to mail items for 30 days based on individual requests relating to suspected criminal activity. Since 2001, this program has evolved into the MICT, which collects information indiscriminately on every piece of mail. ■ “In the past, mail covers were used when you had a reason to suspect someone of a crime,” Mark Rasch, who has worked on computer crimes for the Justice Department, told the Times. “Now it seems to be, ‘Let’s record everyone's mail so in the future we might go back and see who you were communicating with.’ Essentially you've added mail covers on millions of Americans”

■ The European Parliament has called for the scrapping of two agreements granting the US access to European financial and travel data, unless Washington reveals the full extent of its spying on Europe. ■ The non-binding resolution, which was passed by 483-98 with 65 abstentions on Thursday, said the US should provide full disclosure about its email and communications data. If Washington fails to agree, two EU-US transatlantic information-sharing deals could be revoked. ■ Both data-sharing deals – the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) and Passenger Name Records (PNR) were agreed shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, despite apprehension surrounding whether or not they would give the US too much access to European data.

European Parliament/News: Parliament to launch in-depth inquiry into US surveillance programmes

Latin American leaders meet to discuss the "hijack" of Bolivian president Evo Morales' plane in Austria. Regional leaders presented a united front, defending Latin American sovereignty in the face of what they see as post-colonial imperialism. International affairs analyst Pepe Escobar says such a turnover in Snowden chase could significantly increase NSA Whistleblower's chances on asylum in one of Latin America's countries.

Russia Today: Latin America rising: Outrage at ‘imperial hijack’ of Morales’ plane - Latin American leaders are meeting to discuss the “hijack” of Bolivian president Evo Morales’ plane in Austria. Regional leaders presented a united front, defending Latin American sovereignty in the face of what they see as post-colonial imperialism. The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) will hold an emergency meeting to discuss the EU air blockade that forced the Bolivian President Evo Morales to land in Austria on Wednesday. France, Spain, Portugal and Italy all closed their airspace amid suspicions the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden had stowed away on board the president’s craft. The 12 nations that are part of the regional block will have a ministerial meeting in the Peruvian capital of Lima to discuss the consequences.

CNN: Morales challenges U.S. after Snowden rumor holds up plane in Europe - President Morales: "Message to the Americans: The empire and its servants will never be able to intimidate or scare us. European countries need to liberate themselves from the imperialism of the Americans."

PressTV: We do not need US Embassy: Morales
USA Today: Rerouted Morales plane has South American leaders irate
Sabina Becker: They are SO FUCKING PARANOID

The Angry Arab on Egypt: "A coup, not a revolution":

"It is quite a show to watch Egyptian liberals and some leftists cheering a reactionary military coup by the man, Sisi, who has been in charge of Egyptian-Israeli military-intelligence cooperation. Sisi is the man who tightened the siege of Gaza and who serviced Israel more than it was serviced in Mubarak's days. This is a man who killed Egyptians and Palestinians to win US and Israeli approval. I understand that the AUC crowd is happy and that some of them have classist contempt for the Islamists and think of them as uncouth and backward, but how can one not see a coup when one is taking place on TV screens? No one has more detestation than the Ikhwan but Sisi and his other henchmen have less legitimacy than even the lousy Morsi. Any popular legitimacy that is lent to Sisi can permit him in the future to overthrow a different elected government, perhaps a progressive government. The battle against the Ikhwan should proceed side-by-side with a battle against the military dictators of Egypt who serve US-Israeli alliance. Lastly, I wish to point out that the Likudnik House of Saud media, like Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat (mouthpiece of Prince Salman and his sons) are very pleased with Sisi. That should be indicative."

There is a summary of the most recent Egyptian election results in Wikipedia. Although a lot of people opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood didn't vote in protest, the will of the people is quite clear. Unless the army actually bars the Muslim Brotherhood, I imagine the next set of results will be similar, and the anger at army involvement may actually increase support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Of course, it is arguable that the election was fixed by the vast amounts of Qatari money that poured into the MB party coffers.