The California governor said the troops had been left without food or water in federal buildings

Hundreds of National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles under Donald Trump's orders are reportedly idle and without clear directives, California Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed, calling the situation a political stunt.

The controversy stems from Trump's decision to send 2,000 Guard troops to Los Angeles over the weekend in response to protests against aggressive ICE operations. On Monday, Newsom said he was informed another 2,000 were en route, even though most of the first wave had not been mobilized.

Only about 300 have been actively deployed, while the rest remained in federal buildings "without orders," according to Newsom. The governor said the troops had been left without food or water, and accused the White House of misusing military resources to bolster Trump's image.

Trump's National Guard Troops Are 'Sitting Unused Without Orders' After Being Deployed for LA Protests, Gavin Newsom Reveals

Gov. Gavin Newsom says hundreds of National Guard troops deployed by Donald Trump to Los Angeles protests remain "sitting, unused, and without orders."

^{M.B. Mack (Latin Times)}

Namrata Nangia and her husband have been toying with the idea of having another child since their five-year-old daughter was born.

But it always comes back to one question: 'Can we afford it?'

She lives in Mumbai and works in pharmaceuticals, her husband works at a tyre company. But the costs of having one child are already overwhelming - school fees, the school bus, swimming lessons, even going to the GP is expensive.

It was different when Namrata was growing up. "We just used to go to school, nothing extracurricular, but now you have to send your kid to swimming, you have to send them to drawing, you have to see what else they can do."

According to a new report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN agency for reproductive rights, Namrata's situation is becoming a global norm.

World fertility rates in 'unprecedented decline', UN says

Hundreds of millions of people are not able to have the number of children they want, the UN warns.

^{Stephanie Hegarty (BBC News)}

Last year, Germany imported nearly 94.6% fewer goods from Russia than before the war in Ukraine began. On Wednesday, the Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, reported that goods worth €1.8 billion (around $2 billion) were imported from Russia in 2024. In 2021, before the EU's 17 sanctions packages against Russia, imports amounted to €33.1 billion.

Exports to Russia also fell significantly, by 71.6%. In 2024, Germany supplied Russia with goods worth €7.6 billion, compared to €26.6 billion in 2021. Russia's share of total imports to Germany fell to just over 0.1% in 2024, compared to 2.8% before the Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

Last year, Germany achieved its largest export surplus with Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Exports exceeded imports by €5.8 billion — the fourth time since 1993 that there was an export surplus, after 2023, 2020, and 1993.

Germany updates: Russian imports fell 95% since Ukraine war

Germany's trade with Russia has lost significance since the war in Ukraine began, with imports from Russia decreasing by 95%. Meanwhile, renowned German "nail artist" Günther Uecker passed away aged 95.

^{Dmytro Hubenko (Deutsche Welle)}

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal (TK) has ruled that European Union energy and climate regulations are incompatible with the Polish constitution and breach national sovereignty in determining energy policy.

The Tribunal found that EU institutions, including the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), had exceeded their competences by interpreting EU treaties in a way that significantly impacts Poland’s ability to choose its energy sources independently.

Interpretations of EU law “cannot mean that Poland loses control over the scope of its delegated competences, and thus that there are areas in which its sovereignty (here: energy) is not protected”, the court said in a statement announcing its decision.

However, the ruling is unlikely to have any real effect for now given that the current government, a coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, does not recognise the TK’s legitimacy due to it containing judges unlawfully appointed by the former Law and Justice (PiS) administration.

The case was brought by a group of opposition lawmakers led by Sebastian Kaleta, a PiS MP and former deputy justice minister. The motion challenged the compatibility of EU climate rules – including Directive 2003/87/EC, which created the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) – with the Polish constitution.

The MPs argued that, although Poland had transferred some powers to Brussels, it should retain sovereignty over critical energy decisions. They claimed that mandatory participation in the EU ETS restricts economic freedom and undermines the state’s ability to ensure energy security.

They also warned that EU decision-making processes, which do not require unanimity in the European Council on issues affecting Poland’s energy mix, might breach the limits of competence conferred on the EU and undermine the primacy of the Polish constitution.

In its ruling, the TK agreed with the motion’s core arguments. It held that the CJEU had extended the interpretation of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union beyond the conferred competences, infringing on national sovereignty.

“Competences not conferred on the European Union belong to the member states themselves, and the EU can only act on the basis of the principle of subsidiarity, subject to the scrutiny of national parliaments at all times,” the court said.

Consequently, the TK found this interpretation of EU law to be incompatible with the Polish constitution, emphasising that Poland cannot lose control over the scope of delegated powers, especially in such a key area as energy sovereignty.

The TK, however, discontinued proceedings relating specifically to the ETS “due to the incomplete, from a formal point of view, definition of the object under verification”.

The TK concluded its statement by stating that it was now up to the Polish legislature and executive to take “appropriate public law measures” to implement the decision, which enters into force upon its publication.

However, it is the government that is responsible for publishing TK rulings, and it refuses to do so due to given that some of the tribunal’s judges were illegitimately appointed under PiS.

The ruling could still reverberate in Polish politics, however. The PiS-aligned president-elect, Karol Nawrocki, who takes office in August, said last month that the TK’s decision on this case could be a way to lower the electricity prices by 33% – one of his campaign promises.

He also pledged to hold a referendum on withdrawing from the EU’s Green Deal – a set of policies aimed at reaching climate neutrality by 2050 – and reaffirmed his support for coal, which remains Poland’s main source of electricity generation and is also widely used for heating homes.

PiS politicians welcomed the verdict, insisting that it means that Poland does not have to implement the Green Deal.

“The EU has not been given the competence to decide without the consent of Poland which energy sources we can use and what fiscal burdens may be imposed on individual sources,” Kaleta wrote on X. “This opens the path for a radical reduction in electricity and heating prices now.”

The former justice minister in the PiS government, Zbigniew Ziobro, meanwhile, challenged Tusk, asking if he would “break the law again and hide the verdict to drive Poles into poverty” or “will you behave as you should?”

The government has so far not commented on the TK’s ruling.

https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/06/11/polands-constitutional-court-rules-eu-energy-policies-breach-national-sovereignty/

Police in northwestern China are cracking down on writers of online erotic fiction across the country, including many college students, according to RFA sources and media reports, amid concern that officers are punishing people outside their jurisdiction.

Police in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, have been summoning writers who don’t even live there. A report from Caixin media group said some have been referred to police for prosecution, and anecdotal evidence indicates writers are facing substantial fines.

A source who spoke to Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity for safety reasons said the crackdown could involve 200-300 writers.

Their cases have also sparked a legal debate over the definition of “obscene materials” and renewed public discussion on the boundaries of creative freedom. Known as “Danmei,” the genre features romantic relationships between male characters. It originated in Japan and has become popular in China.

Amid tightened restrictions in China, many writers have turned to Haitang Culture, a Taiwanese-based adult fiction website established in 2015 to publish their work. The website on the democratic island doesn’t force censorship and allows explicit written content. Most readers are females.

Authorities in China have reacted. Last year, two China-based distributors affiliated with Haitang Culture were arrested for “assisting in information network criminal activities,” according to Shuiping Jiyuan, a news portal on the WeChat social media platform.

The recent police crackdown in Lanzhou followed similar moves in the eastern province of Anhui in June 2024, where authorities began arresting writers of online erotic fiction under the charge of “producing and distributing obscene materials for profit,” resulting in heavy fines and even prison sentences.

Police are seeking out writers even when they leave outside their jurisdiction - a practice that critics call “offshore fishing,” implying the motive of police is financial or political, rather than strictly legal.

“I don’t understand what they’re trying to do—are they pushing political correctness, or are they just desperate for money?” said Liu Yang, a veteran media professional in Lanzhou, told Radio Free Asia. “The police are short on funds, and now even arrests have become a way to make money.”

Chinese police crackdown on writers of online erotic fiction

Legal scholars say police are punishing writers outside their jurisdiction in an over-reach of authority.

^{Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin (Radio Free Asia)}

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5342629-newsom-asks-judge-for-emergency-intervention-in-trump-troop-deployment-in-la/

When man first walked on the moon, the carbon dioxide concentration in Earth's atmosphere was 325 parts per million (ppm).

By 9/11, it was 369 ppm, and when COVID-19 shut down normal life in 2020, it had shot up to 414 parts ppm.

This week, our planet hit the highest levels ever directly recorded: 430 parts per million.

"This problem is not going away, and we're moving further and further into uncharted territory, and almost certainly, very dangerous territory."

Social media users were quick to point out the different stance taken by the administration in relation to the January 6 rioters – hundreds of whom were pardoned by President Trump

FBI Director Kash Patel has been mocked online after responding to anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, telling demonstrators that if you “hit a cop, you’re going to jail."

“Doesn’t matter where you came from, how you got here, or what movement speaks to you. If the local police force won’t back our men and women on the thin blue line, we @FBI will,” Patel wrote on X on Saturday.

Social media users were quick to point out the different stance taken by the administration in relation to the January 6 rioters – hundreds of whom were pardoned by President Donald Trump.

During the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, more than 140 police officers were injured. One, Brian Sicknick, died the following day and several others took their own lives in the days and weeks after the attack. The rioters had been urged to go up to the Capitol and “fight like hell or you won’t have a country” on the day his election defeat to Joe Biden was being certified. Trump was criminally charged over his actions although the charges were dropped when he was re-elected in 2024.

Kash Patel dragged for ‘hit a cop, you’re going to jail’ threat to LA anti-ICE protesters: ‘Unless it’s for Trump’

^{Mike Bedigan (The Independent)}