| By Derek Caney (@stax920)
With the lifting of the arms embargo, political freedoms appear to have slipped down the priority list for President Obama's foreign policy in Vietnam, with China's military buildup in the South China Sea and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal taking precedence. The president himself noted that several Vietnamese activists were prevented from meeting him today, day two of his visit. Quote of the day:
"There are still folks who find it very difficult to assemble and organize peacefully around issues that they care deeply about." – President Obama
Digit of the day: 0
That's the number of people arrested so far in the $81 million cyber heist of Bangladesh's central bank. The hackers laundered most of the money through a bank and casinos in the Philippines, but that country's top crime-fighting agency isn't even allowed to get fully involved in the probe. "It's the modern day Oceans 11," says Augustus "Ace" Esmeralda, a Manila-based private investigator. And yes, his nickname is "Ace."
Human remains retrieved from the crashed EgyptAir flight suggest that there was an explosion on board the plane, although no traces of explosives have been detected
Around the world - The nuclear deal with the United States was supposed to bring investment and opportunities to Iran's growing young population. Wrong. Iranian hardliners worry that opening up the country will undermine their entrenched interests. Plus foreign investors fear falling afoul of residual U.S. sanctions.
- Speaking of hardliners, Ahmad Jannati, a powerful anti-Western cleric, was chosen as the head of the government body that will choose Iran's next supreme leader. The 88-member Assembly of Experts consists mostly of elderly clerics. The current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is 77 and rumored to be in frail health.
- Greek police started clearing refugees out of a sprawling tent camp on the sealed northern border with Macedonia, where thousands have been stranded for months trying to get into Western Europe.
Move along—but where? 
A refugee family carries their belongings during a police operation at a refugee camp at the border between Greece and Macedonia, near the village of Idomeni, Greece, May 24, 2016. REUTERS/Yannis Kolesidis/Pool
Around the country - Bernie Sanders will get a prominent say in the writing of the Democratic Party platform, a document that very few voters ever read, but one that has an outsized symbolic importance at the Democratic Convention. Party officials are trying to make nice with Sanders, who has accused honchos of unfairly favoring Hillary Clinton.
- Ticked off by long security lines at the airport? Well, the head of security for the Transportation Security Administration was sacked.
- Use of electronic cigarettes has stalled in the United States as more Americans question their safety, according to a new online Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Around Wall Street - A number of businesses have realized there's money to be made by offering financial services to immigrants. Companies like Remitly, TransferWise and Xoom are offering apps that allow immigrants to digitally send money back to the families they left behind.
- Nokia is likely to cut 10,000 to 15,000 jobs globally following its acquisition of Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent, a Finnish union representative said.
- Some of the world's poorer oil-producing nations – Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq, Angola – have been borrowing money from China and other countries, with the intention of paying them back in oil. Trouble is, with oil prices as low as they are, they need to send them three times as much to keep on their repayment schedules, crippling the nations' finances.
Today's reason to live Courtney Barnett – New Speedway Boogie |
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