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Future of national security whistleblowing at stake in U.S. inquiry
A powerful new insider account undermines the idea that the inspector general’s office offers whistleblowers a safe route. John Crane supervised the whistleblower protection unit of the Pentagon inspector general, which has oversight responsibility for Defense Department components such as the National Security Agency. His story suggests that an office meant to aid whistleblowing can put whistleblowers in danger. THE GUARDIAN

National police raids in Australia an attack on press freedom
Police raids on May 19, 2016 in search of the source of government documents leaked to the media again show how press freedom in Australia is under attack and needs to be an election issue, says the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. IFEX

Kazakhstan: Crackdown on peaceful protest
Law enforcement officers aggressively broke up efforts to hold planned peaceful protests across Kazakhstan on May 21, 2016, detaining hundreds of people, sometimes using force, Human Rights Watch said today. Police also rounded up journalists and human rights activists who attempted to monitor and report on the unfolding events. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Chinese democracy activist enters second week of hunger strike
Guo Feixiong, a prominent Chinese democracy activist who was jailed in 2015 during a Communist party attack on dissent, has entered the second week of a hunger strike, according to his sister. Guo was sentenced to six years behind bars in November 2015 for taking part in a protest against censorship outside the newsroom of a liberal newspaper in southern China. THE GUARDIAN

Colombia military searching for missing Spanish journalist
Colombia’s military has launched a search for a Spanish journalist amid media reports that she went missing in a lawless area dominated by leftist rebels and drug-trafficking groups. THE NEW YORK TIMES

Russian oppositionist politician and journalist given first Nemtsov Prize
Russian politician and journalist Lev Shlosberg has been awarded with the first Boris Nemtsov Prize ‘for courage in defending the values of freedom and democracy in Russia’, initiated in 2016 by the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom. In 2014, Shlosberg was attacked and lost a seat in parliament after exposing Russian servicemen’s deaths and secret funerals in Donbas. UKRAINE TODAY