A sprawling, privately run detention center in the wind-swept California desert town of Adelanto can house nearly 2,000 migrants facing the prospect of deportation, but these days it’s nearly empty.

The Adelanto facility is an example of how the US government’s policy of guaranteed minimum payments in contracts with private companies to house immigrant detainees may have a potential financial downside. The government commits to pay for a certain number of beds, whether they’re used or not. US tax payers are paying for at least 1,455 beds a day at Adelanto, but this fiscal year the average daily population is 49 detainees.

The US government pays to guarantee 30,000 immigration detention beds are available in four dozen facilities across the country, but so far this fiscal year about half, on average, have been occupied, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data. The average cost of a detention bed was $144 each day during the last fiscal year, the documents show.

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A hacker (or group of hackers) claims to have stolen data on a billion Chinese citizens from a Shanghai police database. According to Bloomberg, the hacker is attempting to sell 23 terabytes of data for 10 bitcoin, which is worth just over $198,000 at the time of writing.

The data includes names, addresses, birthplaces, national IDs and phone numbers. Reporters confirmed the legitimacy of at least some of the data by calling people whose numbers were listed.

It's not yet clear how the hacker infiltrated the police database, though there have been suggestions that they gained access via an Alibaba cloud computing company called Aliyun, which was said to host the database. Alibaba said it's investigating the matter.

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🎞 HBO Max is halting original productions across much of Europe. The streaming service confirmed that it will no longer produce originals in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Central Europe, the Netherlands and Turkey, leaving only Spain and France untouched. The news is part of a plan from parent Warner Bros. Discovery to cut some $3 billion in costs following its split from AT&T. 

Streaming content production has been a bright spot in Europe, as Netflix and other platforms have hit the 30 percent local content quotas required in major markets there. Projects already in production and other approved shows will reportedly continue — but they may be sold to other platforms, with Warner acting strictly as producer. 

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WNBA star Brittney Griner — who has been held in Russia since February — on Monday made a direct appeal to President Joe Biden for his help to release her and other Americans detained abroad in a handwritten letter delivered to the White House.

Griner, 31, has been held in Russia since mid-February, when officials allege they discovered vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage while she was traveling through Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. She was in the country to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg, the Russian professional women's team where she spends the WNBA offseason.

Griner's trial began on Friday. She faces up to ten years in prison. Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, on Monday said in a statement that the government was working to secure Griner's freedom.

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✈️ Flight cancellations ease slightly as July 4 weekend ends

Since holiday weekend travel picked up on Thursday, airlines have canceled more than 2,200 US flights, and another 25,000 were delayed. More than 9 million flyers flocked to US airports between Thursday and Sunday, peaking at 2.49 million, a pandemic-era record, on Friday, according to figures from the Transportation Security Administration.

Flying during the peak vacation season has always been challenging. Big crowds and summer thunderstorms can quickly overwhelm an airline’s operations. That has been compounded this summer by shortages of pilots and other workers.

Ed Sicher, the new president of the union representing American’s pilots, said the airline had disregarded their contract by unilaterally reassigning pilots to about 80% of the affected flights.

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Lavrov says situation in Ukraine was discussed at the meeting with Mongolian counterpart, adds that the West blocks access to media outlets which have objective coverage of the situation.

Russia and Mongolia are working on increasing mutual trade volume beyond $2 bln reached in 2021. Main focus is on free trade zones, transportation projects. As most pandemic-related restrictions are lifted the hope is for further growth-Mongolian FM Battsetseg Batmunkh following talks with Lavrov.

LIVE UPDATES | Border areas of Russian Kursk region shelled again by Ukrainian Forces, governor says

⚡️ Ukrainian forces shell Donetsk with NATO munitions, DPR says

The Chicago Police Department has identified a person of interest in the Highland Park mass shooting. It was Robert Crimo III who took the life of six people and injured 26. Robert is also known as 'Awake the Rapper’.

Watch one of his creepy videos

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⚡️The price of gas futures in Europe has risen by about 3 percent to $1,800 per cubic meter for the first time since March, Intercontinental Exchange says

⚡️ Kherson region's newly-formed government based on Russian model starts work

⚡️ NATO Secretary General announces start of membership ratification for Sweden, Finland

📌 The Russian Defense Ministry has issued its latest update on the special operation in Ukraine:

▪️ The Russian Air Force eliminated up to 150 Ukrainian military personnel and 12 military assets in Kharkov;

▪️ A Russian fighter jet shot down Ukrainian Su-25 aircraft in the Kharkov region during an air battle;

▪️ Russian air defenses intercepted three Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles in the Kherson region;

▪️ Russian Armed Forces hit an ammunition depot near Kharkov, and destroyed manpower in 18 districts, including a mercenary encampment near Nikolaev

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⚡️⚡️NATO reps sign protocols on Finland and Sweden's accession to Western alliance

⚡️ Euro falls below $1.03 first time since December 2002

Russia's Ministry of Defense has published footage of the activity of Russian Missile Troops and Artillery

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🎼🇺🇸The Cancellation of Tchaikovsky?

The 1812 Overture by Russian composer Tchaikovsky, has been a perennial favorite at 4th of July festivities across the US for decades, taking a starring role as it accompanies the fireworks display without which Independence Day celebrations are incomplete.

It was in fact written in 1880 to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon’s army in Russia in 1812 - you can even hear the motif of the anthem of the Russian Empire 'God Save the Tsar' in part of the overture.

This year, because of the special interest the West has taken in Russian culture, the overture seems to have come to the edge of being "canceled". Some US orchestras decided to skip it and others have added renditions of the Ukrainian national anthem to their programs to "counter the overture’s exaltation of czarist Russia", The New York Times says.

"The reconsideration of the 1812 Overture is the latest example of the difficult questions facing cultural institutions since the war began", The New York Times adds.

A young man set his face on fire while trying to perform a trick by swallowing fire in Feodosia, Russia. The low-quality kerosene he used might be the reason he had his accident. The man was admitted to hospital in a serious condition

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⚡ French football club Paris Saint-Germain sacks head coach Mauricio Pochettino