Axios

FBI agents visited the homes of several employees of Kaspersky Lab, a Russia-based cyber security firm, Tuesday to learn more about "the company's operations as part of a counter-intelligence inquiry," reports NBC's Ken Dilanian and Tom Winter, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The agents reportedly told the employees that they weren't in trouble, and that the FBI was only investigating how the company works, "including the extent of which the U.S. operations ultimately report to Moscow."

There is no indication that the investigation is linked to Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, Dilanian and Winter explain, noting that Kaspersky "has long been of interest to the U.S. government," as the company's software is widely used in the U.S. and its owner, Eugene Kaspersky, has "close ties to some Russian intelligence figures."

"Making Ivanka Trump shoes: Long hours, low pay," by AP's Erika Kinetz in Ganzhou, China, opens with this paragraph:

A worker with blood dripping from his head marked a low point in the tense, grinding life at a southeastern China factory used by Ivanka Trump and other fashion brands. An angry manager had hit him with the sharp end of a high-heeled shoe.

Korea is the land of lousy options and the Trump team has lurched from one preferred course of action to another. First there were threats of military action, followed by hints of financial sanctions against Chinese and North Korean entities, and then more recently, (misplaced) hope by the President himself that China would step in and solve the North Korea problem for Washington.

Why it matters: The early confidence of the Trump team has gradually receded as it becomes clear the complex and unyielding dynamic of the Korean peninsula is impervious to quick and easy fixes. Nothing could have made this point more poignantly than the tragic return and subsequent death of Otto Warmbier, the U.S. student wrongly imprisoned and mistreated by North Korean authorities.

Roger Stone will testify on July 24 in front of a closed session of the House Intelligence Committee as a part of its Russia investigation, per Politico.

His reasoning: Stone said that he wanted to speak out in order to rebut the testimony of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta, who appeared in front of the committee earlier today.

From the horse's mouth: In an email to Politico regarding his decision, Stone said, "I may not be able to sue a member of Congress but I sure as hell can sue the f--- out of Podesta. The claim that I had knowledge of the hacking of his email by WikiLeaks in advance is a demonstrable lie."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that the State Department has downgraded China to the lowest possible ranking in this year's human trafficking report in part because "it has not taken serious steps to end its complicity in trafficking," and also because it has allowed forced labor to continue in North Korea.

Tillerson also stressed that human trafficking can present a national security threat, and explained how North Korea (another of world's worst offenders) uses profits from human trafficking to fund its nuclear and missile weapons program.

Other changes in the 2017 report, per AP:

• Myanmar: The State Dept. has taken Myanmar off the list of the world's worst human trafficking offenders.
• Myanmar and Iraq: Both countries were removed from the list of nations that use child soldiers.
• Afghanistan was recognized for its efforts to curb human trafficking, while Iraq was seen as making "insufficient progress."