Former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has called on French President Emmanuel Macron to grant him asylum. Snowden, currently living in Russia, stressed in an interview broadcast Monday that ’protecting whistleblowers is not a hostile act’ and he feels entitled to get protected status in France. French Justice Minister said at the weekend she supported granting asylum to him.

More than half of the 147 tigers confiscated from a Thai temple in 2016 have died since, officials have said. 86 tigers have died since they were moved from the Tiger Temple. Officials said many had died of a virus, having been weakened by the stress of relocation. Conservationists, though, have questioned whether authorities were holding the tigers in safe conditions.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was booed and jeered by people during his visit to Luxembourg. Johnson, who had gone to Luxembourg to illustrate the progress that Brexit deals had made, chose to skip a press briefing after being booed by the crowd.

An Australian man was killed Sunday after he crashed into a fence riding his bike, while avoiding a swooping magpie. The unidentified 76-year-old was riding his bike on a path in Nicholson Park in Woonona, New South Wales, when the incident took place. Magpies are known to ’swoop’ around strangers during mating season and can even become aggressive and attack humans crossing their territory.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo two officers shot a man after he fired a pistol at them while running in the direction of an elementary school. He said the African American man ignored police orders to drop the gun and began running toward Valley West Elementary, firing back at the officers. Both returned fire and the man was declared dead about 10 minutes later.

Javier A. Burillo a well-known developer from of Belvedere, California was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with a vessel, willful harm or injury to his 11-year-old child and operating a boat while being intoxicated, according to the Tiburon Police Department.

California man Erik Villasenor, 24, emailed Los Angeles County Fair staff on Friday afternoon warning of a mass shooting at the fair. He did so to avoid going with his parents. The email was immediately sent to the Pomona Police Department, which worked with the FBI to identify Villasenor.

Robert Hayes, 37, a suspected serial killer who has been linked to the killings of at least four women in two different counties between 2005 and 2016 was taken into custody on Sunday in Palm Beach County and charged with first-degree murder in the March 2016 killing of 32-year-old Rachel Bey. He was not charged in the other murders.

A huge gas explosion in a center of people with disabilities in Maine caused the death of a fire-fighter. The explosion had enough force to blow a vehicle across an intersection, and also led to a few people getting injured. The explosion occurred after fire-fighters had evacuated the building.

Computer scientist Richard Stallman has resigned from his position at MIT. This comes days after Stallman made comments in an email with others at the lab about the victims of Epstein. In one of the email threads, Stallman expressed his opinion that one of Epstein’s victims, ’directed to have sex’ with late AI researcher Marvin Minsky, likely ’presented herself to (Minsky) as entirely willing’.

Vernon Unsworth sued Musk in Los Angeles federal court, saying Musk falsely branded him a pedophile and child rapist, and denying those allegations. Elon Musk on Monday said he did not intend to accuse a British diver of pedophilia by branding him a ’pedo guy’ on Twitter, to dismiss a defamation lawsuit.

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced Monday the official launch of the Wi-Fi Certified 6 certification program. The program comes with the promise of higher wireless speeds, reduced latency, improved battery life, and less network congestion. Wi-Fi 6 will also be referred to as 802.11ax and is the successor to Wi-Fi 5, boasting four-times the capacity of its predecessor.

Minecraft studio head Helen Chiang has said that the game currently has 112 million monthly active players across platforms. This represents 20 million more players spending time in the game every month compared to October 2018.

President Trump conducts a rally in Democratic-leaning New Mexico and called for resignations and changes in management at The New York Times on Monday night, after the allegation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The NYT on Monday added a correction to a report accusing Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. The edit notes that friends of the woman allegedly involved in the incident with Kavanaugh during college say she does not recall it. The Times also stated that the alleged victim refused to be interviewed, and has made no comment about the episode.

As the House Judiciary Committee moves closer to opening impeachment proceedings against Trump; he tweeted on Monday morning that what really deserves investigation, is Barack Obama’s Netflix deal. He maintained this call at his rallies too.

Trump has ordered former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn and former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter not to testify at a House of Representatives committee hearing on Tuesday. They were subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee to appear at the hearing as the panel considers whether to recommend impeaching Trump.

President Trump rallied supporters Monday night in New Mexico. ’It’s been quite a while since a Republican won this state’, Trump told supporters. Trump’s rally in Rio Rancho, in Albuquerque, was the first stop on a three-day swing. Trump also touted his efforts to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall, saying his administration plans to have almost 500 miles of it built by the end of 2020.

The US Federal Reserve is set to cut interest rates this week to try to protect the economy from the consequences of a global slowdown and President Donald Trump’s trade war with China. This is the second cut in a year. The economic landscape looks vulnerable to unexpected events, like oil price spikes resulting from the weekend attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil production facilities.

In an indictment unsealed on Monday morning, the DoJ charged Michael Nowak, a JPMorgan veteran and former head of its precious metals trading desk and Gregg Smith, another trader on JPM’s metals desk, in market manipulation for precious metals futures contracts and defraud market participants.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday night. This comes as the company faces pressure from more than 2,600 lawsuits alleging it helped fuel the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic. Sunday’s move is seen as a way for the company to shield itself against many of those lawsuits.

As General Motors failed to reach a pay and conditions deal with the United Auto Workers union (UAW), about 50,000 General Motors workers have announced a strike. The strike - from midnight (04:00 GMT) on Monday - is the first major stoppage at GM since 2007. UAW vice-president Terry Dittes told reporters in Detroit that strike was their last resort. In that strike, a two-day stoppage cost $300m.

BitPay, the US-headquartered blockchain payments provider, has announced its customers will soon be able to accept Ethereum (ETH). Additionally, wallet users will be able to store and use Ethereum in a BitPay wallet and BitPay prepaid Visa cardholders can top-up debit cards.

Andrew Yang, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has called the underlying blockchain technology of cryptocurrency like bitcoin as powerful. Yang, however, lamented over the fact that crypto and blockchain technology ’hype’ has been ’overblown and ahead of itself’.

Bitcoin.com has announced a partnership with telecom manufacturer HTC to support Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on its flagship smartphones. Bitcoin.com announced that it and HTC would begin a long-term partnership wherein the HTC Exodus 1 will provide built-in wallet support for Bitcoin Cash.

David Marcus, the Head of Calibra, took to Twitter to debunk the narrative that Libra could potentially threaten the sovereignty of nations. In an elaborate thread, Marcus stated that Libra was designed to be a better payment network and system running on top of existing currencies. Marcus claimed that Libra would deliver meaningful value to consumers all around the world.