President Donald Trump called on U.S. companies with operations in China to consider an alternative place to do business after Beijing announced a series of retaliatory tariffs Friday. Trump tweeted, “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon.” The U.S. already had plans to impose 10% tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods in two steps, on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15. China on Friday announced new tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. products in retaliation for those tariffs, deepening a conflict over trade and technology that threatens to tip a weakening global economy into recession. China said it will also will increase import duties on U.S.-made autos and auto parts. The announcement comes as leaders of the Group of 7 major economies prepare to meet in France this weekend. U.S. markets tumbled with news of the latest tarriff announcement, as did markets in Asia and Europe.

Just days after the United States tested a Tomahawk cruise missile with a 310-mile range, Russian President Vladimir Putin directed his military to pursue similar missile programs. Putin also called a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the matter. The Pentagon missile test was the first since Washington formally withdrew from the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty on Aug. 2 after accusing Moscow of violating it, a charge dismissed by the Kremlin. The pact had prohibited land-based missiles with a range of 310-3,400 miles. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said this month he was in favor of placing intermediate-range missiles in Asia relatively soon. Putin told his Security Council on Friday that Russia could not stand idly by, and that U.S. talk of deploying new missiles in the Asia-Pacific region “affects our core interests as it is close to Russia’s borders." Putin also complained this week that the U.S. was now in a position to deploy its new land-based missile in Romania and Poland. Despite his order, Putin said Russia remained open to talks with the United States aimed at restoring trust and strengthening international security. The United States has said it has no imminent plans to deploy new land-based missiles in Europe.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday he may mobilize the army to help combat fires sweeping through the Amazon rainforest, as international condemnation and pressure mounted for tough action to quell the unfolding crisis. Having first dismissed the fires as natural, then blaming non-governmental organizations without evidence for lighting them, Bolsonaro struck a more serious note on Friday, saying he would summon top cabinet members to tailor a response. Environmental groups and researchers say the dozens of fires destroying large sections of the Amazon were almost all set by humans, as cattle ranchers and loggers try to take over the land. The forest fires, covering 1.2 million square miles of land, are up 84% from the same time period last year. Bolsonaro promised during his campaign that he would open the Amazon up to business, and he has since slashed the environmental enforcement agency's budget, which environmentalists said had encouraged ranchers and loggers to burn down land. Christian Poirier of the nonprofit group Amazon Watch told CNN, the Amazon is a humid rainforest, and it is difficult, even during dry spells, for it to catch on fire. The Amazon forest produces 20 percent of Earth's oxygen.

Demonstrators in Hong Kong formed a human chain across the island territory Friday to oppose governmental "tyranny," a controversial extradition bill and police brutality. Organizers said the "Hong Kong Way" protest was aimed at showing solidarity against the issues, which have been met with repeated demonstrations over the last several weeks -- some violent, and some non-violent. The event was not approved by police, who have said previously they disapprove of activity that blocks transportation or disrupts social order. Organizers said the human chain was inspired by a similar demonstration in 1989, when 2 million people linked across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania amid the crumbling Soviet Union. They used Internet forums and telegrams to rally activists along a 24-mile chain. Protests opposing the extradition bill have been going since June. Some have resulted in skirmishes with police and property damage, leading activists to add police brutality to their list of concerns. Hong Kong lawmakers have tabled the extradition bill, but opponents want it entirely terminated.

Meanwhile YouTube has shut down more than 200 channels spreading disinformation related to the ongoing mass protests in Hong Kong. Google made the announcement Thursday, and it follows the suspension of hundreds of thousands of Twitter and Facebook accounts tied to the Chinese government earlier this week. YouTube said it disabled 210 channels that had posted videos about the protests. According to the tech giant, the channels were "coordinated influence operations" working to undermine the ongoing pro-democracy protests. Google said it removed the channels earlier this week after discovering their motives. According to Google, the channels used VPNs — virtual private networks — and other means to hide the origins of their accounts. Google didn't say how many videos had circulated or how popular they were before they were taken down. According to the tech companies, many of the terminated accounts posed as news agencies and individuals but were linked to the Chinese government.

Ukrainian authorities are investigating a potential security breach at a local nuclear power plant after employees connected parts of its internal network to the internet so they could mine cryptocurrency. The Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU) said the incident took place in July at a power plant in southern Ukraine. On July 10 the SBU raided the nuclear power plant, from where it seized computers and equipment specifically built for mining cryptocurrency. Several employees have been charged for their involvement in the scheme. Officials believe the suspects attempted their scheme because of a recent spike in cryptocurrency trading prices, after a long period during which they fell. This incident isn't the first time that state employees have abused their access to large sources of electricity or computing power to mine cryptocurrency. In February 2018, Russian authorities arrested engineers from the Russian Nuclear Center for using the agency's supercomputer to mine cryptocurrency and a month later, Australian officials began an investigation into a similar case at the Bureau of Meteorology, where employees used work computers to mine cryptocurrency.

Illin