Today’s Headlines and Commentary

Riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to prevent protesters in Hong Kong from entering the Legislative Council on Wednesday, as demonstrations over the proposed extradition bill escalated, the New York Times reports. At least 20 people were injured in what Hong Kong’s chief executive called an “organized riot”.

Donald Trump Jr. testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session today—he was expected to face questions about Trump Tower Moscow and a 2016 meeting between the Trump campaign and a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower, the Washington Post writes.

The International Court of Justice has agreed to formally hear arguments in a long-standing border dispute between the governments of Guatemala and Belize at both parties’ request. The parties have agreed to accept and implement the court’s ruling, which could take years to be delivered, according to Reuters.

U.S. officials say and satellite imagery confirms that the Russian government has engaged in a “significant” buildup of troops, aircraft and weapons on the Crimean peninsula over the past 18 months, Defense One reports.

The government of the Philippines accused a Chinese vessel of sinking a Philippine boat in the South China Sea carrying 22 fishermen, who were later rescued by a Vietnamese fishing vessel, says the Times.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California said that, if elected president, she “would have no choice” but to prosecute a former President Trump for obstruction of justice, in an interview with NPR.

Facebook’s new app will allow users to be paid for transmitting phone usage data to the company, says The Guardian.

Network access to Philadelphia’s online court system has been shut down for over three weeks due to a malware attack, The Verge reports.

Facebook will not remove a deepfake video of Mark Zuckerberg talking about the collection and use of data by tech companies, which was posted to Instagram, according to The Guardian. The company instead will treat the video like “all misinformation on Instagram,” that is, if third-parties mark the video as false, it will be filtered out of recommendation functions.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Kia Rahnama explored whether Congress’ use of its contempt power to fine federal officials might allow to better conduct high-profile investigations

Evelyn Douek wrote about YouTube’s recent fiasco over whether a right-wing commentator violated its harassment and hate speech policies.

Peter Spiro reviewed Yael Tamir’s book, “Why Nationalism.”

Jen Patja Howell shared the most recent episode of the Lawfare Podcast, Susan Hennessey's conversation with Nate Persily and Alex Stamos about their new report on election security.

Hadley Baker shared an Office of Legal Counsel opinion which states that it is unconstitutional for Congress to prohibit executive branch lawyers from accompanying witnesses who are current and former executive branch employees when they are called to testify before Congress.

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