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Trump Attacks on Obamacare May Unite Democrats

President Donald Trump is calling on Republicans to revive the effort to quash the Affordable Care Act, handing Democrats an opportunity to unite in defense of the law as they try to move past the Russia investigation and win the White House in 2020.

Trump's administration is asking a federal appeals court to strike down the entire healthcare law. The president vowed on Tuesday to make the GOP the "party of healthcare" and told Senate Republicans to lean into their own agenda on the issue as they head into next year's election.

The moves could help Trump rally his conservative base as he celebrates Attorney General William Barr's summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report that said there was no evidence that the president or his associates colluded with Russia in the 2016 campaign. But the push also poured political kerosene on an issue that many Democrats credit with powering their midterm election victories in November.

Top Democrats, including presidential candidates, said healthcare is an issue that resonates with voters more than the Mueller investigation.

"This is something that Americans care deeply about," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, a White House hopeful. "I may not have been asked about the Mueller report at town hall meetings, but I was sure asked about healthcare."

Other Democrats appeared to relish the chance to shift to healthcare. Asked if the Trump administration's court filing allowed Democrats to turn the page on Mueller, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would have been talking about healthcare no matter what.

"We have been dealing with healthcare constantly," the California Democrat said. "The public attention has been on the Mueller report, but we have been focused on healthcare."

Another 2020 contender, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, said if Trump "wants to have a fight on healthcare, it's a fight we're willing to have. And it's a fight he is going to lose."

That confidence is in part because healthcare was a big political winner for Democrats last year. According to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters nationwide, nearly 4 in 10 Democratic voters identified healthcare as the most important among a list of key issues including immigration, the economy and the environment. A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday found 55 percent of Americans supporting the improvement and not the replacement of the nation's healthcare system.

The Supreme Court has twice upheld President Barack Obama's healthcare law, known as "Obamacare." Five justices — a majority — who upheld the law in 2012 are still on the bench.

Trump's effort to repeal Obamacare narrowly failed in the Senate in 2017. Nearly two years later, it's unclear where the White House plans to focus its healthcare efforts. Trump's most recent budget backs one piece of the legislation that stalled in the Senate.

Republicans gained Senate seats last fall, but there's no indication that GOP senators want another fight over repealing Obamacare — particularly not those up for re-election next year. The GOP also lost control of the House, which means any attempt to dismantle the law could not pass Congress.

One White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to address still-early talks, said discussions are ongoing with Pelosi's office on legislation to lower prescription drug prices, but no substantive path forward for a broader healthcare bill has emerged.

As the debate plays out on Capitol Hill, the White House made a surprising legal argument for eliminating the healthcare bill. In a Monday court filing, the administration said the entire healthcare law should be struck down as unconstitutional after Congress repealed fines on people who remain uninsured.

That's at odds with previous statements by leading congressional Republicans who said they didn't intend to repeal other parts of the law when they cut out its fines, effective this year. It's also a departure from the administration's earlier stance in a lower court, where it had argued that only federal safeguards for people with pre-existing medical conditions and limits on premiums charged to older, sicker people should be struck down.

Repeal of Obamacare in its entirety would risk making more than 20 million people uninsured. That includes some 12 million low-income people covered through its Medicaid expansion and some 11 million purchasing subsidized private health insurance through HealthCare.gov and state-run insurance markets.

Some Republicans say that wouldn't happen because the Trump administration's "repeal and replace" plan would send grants to states for them to run their own health insurance programs. However, during the 2017 congressional debate over repealing the health law, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the GOP replacement plans would result in steep coverage losses.

Several GOP senators said Tuesday that Trump told them to ensure those with pre-existing conditions stayed protected as they work on an Obamacare replacement. Republicans appeared ready to back up the president on healthcare for now.

Trump is "thinking that's the issue that defines us as conservatives," Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., told reporters after the president addressed a closed-door meeting of GOP senators.

Rep. Steve Scalise, the House minority whip, said Democrats have "misled" voters about the benefits of Obamacare.

"They were misled about collusion with Russia," said Scalise, R-La. "The same people that have been misleading on all those other issues want to try to mislead people on healthcare costs."

The sudden focus on the healthcare law comes as Democratic presidential candidates have embraced a move toward a single-payer healthcare system known as "Medicare for All." The momentum for that effort could wane if congressional Democrats instead have to focus on defending Obamacare.

House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled legislation to shore up the Affordable Care Act and expand enrollment to millions more people.

"For (Trump) to bring this back up is traumatic, and it shines a real light on what the contrast is going to be between him and whoever the Democratic nominee is," said Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the Democratic group American Bridge. The group's planned $50 million investment in deterring swing-state voters from backing Trump in 2020 will focus in part on healthcare, as well as other economic issues, Bates said.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Stalled Aramco IPO sets back deal-making at U.S. subsidiary Motiva

FILE PHOTO: An Aramco oil tank is seen at the Production facility at Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oilfield in the Empty Quarter
FILE PHOTO: An Aramco oil tank is seen at the Production facility at Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oilfield in the Empty Quarter, Saudi Arabia May 22, 2018. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photo

March 26, 2019

By Jessica Resnick-Ault and Erwin Seba

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco’s delayed initial public offering is sidelining grand North American expansion plans at its U.S. refining subsidiary Motiva Enterprises LLC, people familiar with the matter said, at a time when its rivals grew their market share.

After dissolving a partnership with Royal Dutch Shell PLC two years ago, Motiva set out to rebuild and boost market share in the Americas. It evaluated deals for LyondellBasell Industries NV’s Houston refinery, with the Caribbean government of Curacao, and considered expanding its sole U.S. oil refinery.

But none of those came to pass as the company feared it might pay too much for acquisitions or become too exposed to disruptions by expanding its sole U.S. refinery, the people said. As a result, Motiva has slipped to 11th place from ninth among the top U.S. refiners by capacity since striking out on its own, according to U.S. government data, as other refiners inked deals to take advantage of the shale boom.

(For a graphic, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2HxT1wn)

“They were very handicapped by the fact that the kingdom was contemplating the IPO,” a refining consultant to Motiva said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the talks were private. “What they told us was ‘until this gets done or resolved, we cannot do anything.'”

Saudi Aramco did not want Motiva to enter deals that could hamstring its IPO or raise questions about its strategy, leaving Motiva unable to expand, the people said.

Plans for the Aramco IPO were shelved last year for the foreseeable future, sources told Reuters in 2018. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in January the kingdom would still go ahead, and list the company by 2021.

A Motiva executive said the company has not given up on increasing its U.S. processing might.

“We don’t comment on anything specifically, but we do want to increase our refining capacity,” said Todd Fredin, the company’s head of supply, trading and logistics.

A spokeswoman for Motiva declined to comment on past or potential acquisitions and expansion plans. Saudi Aramco declined to comment.

Vision 2030, the Saudi Crown Prince’s signature economic program designed to lessen the kingdom’s reliance on oil, also undercuts the need for U.S. expansion, said Andrew Lipow, president of refining consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates.

“They are in the process of trying to look toward 2030, and adding assets outside of Saudi Arabia” is not as critical anymore, he said. “A refinery in the United States doesn’t create jobs in Saudi Arabia.”

Rivals have used acquisitions and expansion to boost their share of the U.S. market. Marathon Petroleum Corp last year acquired the fifth largest U.S. refiner Andeavor for $23 billion.

This year, Exxon Mobil Corp embarked on a multi-billion dollar refinery expansion and Chevron Corp added a second Gulf Coast refinery as the two largest U.S. oil companies take advantage of record production out of Texas shale fields. The United States is now the world’s top oil producer, pumping more than 12 million barrels a day.

(For a graphic, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2VIJTbg)

“Economy of scale is very important for refiners,” said Joseph Israel, chief executive of Houston-based refiner Par Petroleum, whose parent last year acquired a Tacoma, Washington, plant and new refining capacity in Hawaii. “The right kind of growth typically supports efficiency, commercial flexibility, and visibility in the market.”

Motiva emerged from a Texaco-Saudi venture formed in 1988 as a U.S. outlet for Saudi crude. Last year, Saudi exports to the U.S. fell to 949,000 barrels per day (bpd), only the second time that figure has been less than 1 million bpd since that year, according to U.S. Energy Department data, as the United States gets more barrels from Canada than OPEC producers.

Motiva can process up to 603,000 barrels of oil a day at its Port Arthur, Texas refinery, the largest in the United States. The plant, which processes U.S. and other crudes, does not disclose revenue.

Last April, during a reception for the Crown Prince, the company said it was considering expanding the Texas refinery by up to 900,000 bpd capacity, which would have made it the largest plant in the world, surpassing a Reliance Industries plant in India.

The project was abandoned two months later to avoid concentrating at one U.S. Gulf Coast site, Motiva said. It has pledged to explore adding between 1 million and 1.5 million bpd capacity, but has not said when or where that would happen.

In February, Motiva ended talks with Curacao over a request to operate its 335,000 barrel-per-day Isla refinery and storage terminal. Those discussions ended after the Isla refinery’s supervisory board in January disclosed a corruption probe into selection process for a new operator.

“They didn’t want to be dragged into a corruption scandal – it was fraught,” said another refining consultant familiar with the Curacao talks.

Before its split from Shell in 2017, Motiva weighed buying LyondellBasell’s 264,000 bpd Houston refinery to replace plants it was turning over to Shell. Motiva pulled out of the sale process fearing it could be seen as overpaying for the plant after outbidding other refiners, said a person familiar with the talks. The plant was taken off the market after no bid reached Lyondell’s desired minimum price, the person said.

The company has shifted at Saudi Aramco’s direction toward petrochemicals. The U.S. operation recently gained its parent’s approval to build a $5 billion steam cracker to produce ethylene, a plastics building block, that would start operations by late 2022, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.

Recently, it requested proposals from investment banks to evaluate its options should CITGO Petroleum Corp, the U.S. arm of Venezuela’s state oil company, go on the market, according to two people familiar with the matter.

“Motiva has been allowed its freedom and is heading in all directions at once,” said the person familiar with Motiva’s Curacao talks, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There’s initiative fatigue.”

(Reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault and Erwin Seba, additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly and David J. French; editing by Gary McWilliams and Edward Tobin)

Source: OANN

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Virgin Galactic’s 1st test passenger gets commercial astronaut wings

Virgin Galactic rocket plane, the WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane, with SpaceShipTwo passenger craft takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port
Virgin Galactic rocket plane, the WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane, with SpaceShipTwo passenger craft takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, U.S., February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Gene Blevins

April 9, 2019

(Reuters) – Virgin Galactic’s first test passenger received her commercial astronaut wings from the U.S. aviation regulator on Tuesday after flying on the company’s rocket plane to evaluate the customer experience in February.

Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor, Beth Moses, who is a former NASA engineer, became the first woman to fly to space on a commercial vehicle when she joined pilots David Mackay and Mike Masucci on SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity.

The wings were presented to the three-person crew at the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado by the Federal Aviation Administration’s associate administrator for commercial space, Wayne Monteith. “Commercial human space flight is now a reality,” he said.

The February test flight nudged Richard Branson’s space travel company closer to delivering suborbital flights for the more than 600 people who have paid Virgin Galactic about $80 million in deposits. Branson has said he hopes to be the first passenger on a commercial flight in 2019.

The 90-minute flight, during which passengers will be able to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the Earth’s curvature, costs $250,000 – a price that the company said will increase before it falls.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are also in the space tourism race. Blue Origin has launched its New Shepard rocket to space, but its trips have not yet carried humans. SpaceX last year named Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as its first passenger on a voyage around the moon, tentatively scheduled for 2023.

Moses, who as a NASA engineer worked on the assembly of the International Space Station, is designing a three-day training program for Virgin Galactic’s future space tourists.

“I gleaned a lot of firsthand information that we can roll into the design and then also into the training,” she said on her return to earth in Mojave, California, in February.

The passengers, some of whom have been signed up since 2004, will train in a mock-up cabin at New Mexico’s Spaceport America before their flights.

Moses told Reuters she aims for customers to arrive in space “not wondering what noise they just heard or being surprised by the G they just felt.”

Virgin Galactic’s Branson will also receive the annual Space Achievement Award at the symposium in recognition of the company’s two crewed test flights, the first from U.S. soil since the final Space Shuttle mission in 2011.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: OANN

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U.S. prosecutors charge former UAW vice president in corruption probe

UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell addresses their Special Bargaining Convention held at COBO Hall in Detroit
FILE PHOTO: UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell addresses their Special Bargaining Convention held at COBO Hall in Detroit, Michigan March 25, 2015. REUTERS/Jeff Kowalsky

March 18, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors in Detroit on Monday charged a former United Auto Workers vice president with conspiracy to violate labor laws.

Norwood Jewell, who headed the Fiat Chrysler department at the union, was charged in a criminal information. He is the highest ranking former UAW official charged in the wide-ranging investigation into illegal payoffs to UAW officials. To date, seven people have been sentenced in the government’s ongoing criminal investigation.

A lawyer for Jewell, the UAW and Fiat Chrysler did not immediately comment.

(Reporting by David Shepardson)

Source: OANN

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Trump administration ends California talks on auto emissions: White House

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz departs at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz departs at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young

February 21, 2019

By David Shepardson and Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has formally ended talks with California over federal plans to roll back fuel economy rules, the White House said on Thursday, setting the stage for what could be a lengthy legal fight over the state’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

California could be joined in any court fight by 12 other states that have adopted its standards and want stricter rules to fight climate change. Several other states have also demanded the administration abandon its August proposal to freeze federal fuel efficiency standards after 2020 and take away California’s ability to impose stricter emissions rules.

The administration has said tighter emissions controls would make automobiles too expensive.

“The administration is moving forward to finalize a rule later this year with the goal of promoting safer, cleaner and more affordable vehicles,” the White House said in a statement.

California has been allowed to set state standards that are stricter than federal rules under an exemption granted by the Environmental Protection Agency. The administration wants to revoke that waiver, saying California should not “dictate” policy for the rest of the country and arguing that another law pre-empts California from setting its own vehicle rules.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the administration’s decision to scrap the talks was a sign of its “weakness and fallibility.”

“California and states throughout America are prepared to defend our national Clean Car standards even if the Trump administration intends to go AWOL,” he said in an email statement.

California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols said the end of negotiations was “unfortunate.”

General Motors said it was “disappointed” that the talks ended.

GM, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles generate most of their global profits from U.S. sales of large pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. All three have discontinued or plan to drop small and medium-sized sedans from their lineups, making it harder for their fleets to meet tighter emissions standards.

“We continue to prioritize the need for one national program and remain hopeful that the parties can find a solution to achieve this goal,” GM said, adding that it was committed to “an all-electric future.”

Ford said that it wanted “regulatory certainty, not protracted litigation.”

“A coordinated program with every stakeholder is in the best interest of Ford’s customers, and is the best path forward to achieve reductions in carbon dioxide emissions,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of global operations, said in a statement.

An administration official familiar with the negotiations said California had failed to compromise. Instead, the official said, the state insisted on sticking with tougher Obama-era mandates and it would offer only a short extension in applying them.

The official also said California “demanded” that the federal government “surrender” authority to set emissions and economy standards for the rest of the country.

Trump escalated his administration’s power struggle with California on Tuesday, when the administration canceled $929 million in federal funds for a California high-speed rail project. The state’s governor said the move was in retaliation for California leading a 16-state coalition challenging Trump’s national emergency to obtain funds for building a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Obama-era rules would require automakers roughly to double average fuel efficiency by 2025, sharply reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, which is linked to climate change. It was one of that administration’s most significant climate policy actions.

Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, one of 13 states that had adopted California’s standards, said he was “deeply disappointed” by failure of the talks.

“Repeatedly, I have urged this administration to strike a deal with the State of California and seize the win-win opportunity to keep the American auto industry globally competitive and create more good paying jobs here at home while protecting our environment,” he said in a statement.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman, Joe White, Valerie Volcovici, David Shepardson, Susan Heavey and Chris Sanders; Writing by Diane Bartz and Meredith Mazzilli; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, David Gregorio and Dan Grebler)

Source: OANN

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How Libya’s Haftar blindsided world powers with advance on Tripoli

FILE PHOTO: Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who dominates eastern Libya, arrives to attend an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris
FILE PHOTO: Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who dominates eastern Libya, arrives to attend an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo

April 10, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TUNIS (Reuters) – Western diplomats sat down for three hours with Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in his eastern stronghold last month to try to dissuade him from launching an offensive against the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.

They urged him not to plunge the country into a civil war and told him he could become a successful civilian leader if he committed himself to pursuing a political settlement, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting outside Benghazi.

But Haftar, a military strongman who critics describe as the new Muammar Gaddafi, paid them little heed, said the sources who spoke on condition the ambassadors were not identified. He said he was prepared to negotiate with the prime minister, but if no power-sharing deal was reached, he could invade the capital.

Two weeks later, on April 4, he sent troops from his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) streaming towards Tripoli – just at a time when U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in the city to prepare for a national reconciliation conference this month which Guterres’ aides thought Haftar supported.

For world powers including France, Italy and Britain, the general’s military campaign, the biggest in Libya since the 2011 uprising that deposed Gaddafi, represented a major setback.

They had tried for years to co-opt Haftar, 75, into a political settlement that would stabilize the major oil and gas producer after almost a decade of conflict that had acted as a breeding ground for Islamist militancy.

Even the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which have backed Haftar and see him as a bulwark against Islamists in north Africa, appear to have been surprised by his rapid advance. A French diplomatic source said Paris, which has also aided the general, had no prior warning of the offensive.

The diplomats’ calls for military restraint in the meeting last month had echoed those from other Western and U.N. envoys who had traveled to Haftar’s base outside the city of Benghazi in the preceding weeks, four separate diplomatic sources said.

In a sign of how far the situation in Libya – and Haftar – was beyond their control, U.N. and Western envoys in daily contact with his camp about the conference had no idea he was about to launch the offensive, the four diplomatic sources said.

Some even thought the general was bluffing.

“These are just psycho games,” one U.N. official texted Reuters when the first LNA troops were spotted south of Tripoli.

Some diplomats who had met Haftar many times and lobbied their governments to overlook his hardline comments – such as that Libya was not ready for democracy – despaired when it became clear he was committed to taking the city by force.

“I’ve wasted almost two years on Haftar,” said one who met Haftar regularly. “If the national conference doesn’t happen, it was for nothing.”

EGYPT, UAE, FRANCE

Haftar, for his part, has been consistent in speeches and statements about his commitment to military force in his declared mission to restore order to the north African country and also dropped hints about ultimately ruling the country.

When he first announced his intentions in February 2014 he stood in front of a map of Libya, a somber-looking, gray-haired man wearing an immaculate army uniform, and vowed to stage a coup.

Western countries left Libya after fighting in Tripoli in 2014, closing embassies and ending NATO training programs, before returning in 2016.

Their period of absence opened the door for Arab countries such as Egypt and the UAE, which provided training and military assistance, according to reports from U.N. experts monitoring an arms embargo imposed on Libya in 2011, and diplomats.

Haftar’s forces received aircraft as well as military vehicles from the UAE, which had also built up an air base at Al Khadim, allowing the LNA to gain air superiority by 2016, a U.N. report said in June 2017.

But on the ground Haftar was struggling to make progress in his initial campaign launched in May 2014 against Islamist militants in Benghazi, which he dubbed “Operation Dignity”. His heavy guns and aircraft flattened residential buildings but could not dislodge the foreign jihadists holed up in booby-trapped houses.

It was at this point that France, which has oil assets in eastern Libya and is politically close to the UAE and Egypt, offered assistance, according to Libyan and French sources.

In late 2015, Paris sent military advisers and special forces familiar in urban warfare who camped out at an air base near Benghazi, the sources said. The French assistance helped turn the tide and allowed him to declare victory in Benghazi in 2017, they added.

Arab countries had recognized Haftar as Libya’s official army commander for years but France helped him gain further international legitimacy as his campaign progressed.

In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron received Haftar and the U.N.-backed Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Serraj, on the outskirts of Paris to try to persuade them to make a deal, which instantly upgraded the general’s diplomatic status.

Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian see Haftar, much like Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, as a buffer against Islamist militants in north Africa, according to French officials.

Le Drian has been to Libya three times in two years and on his last trip, on March 20, he saw Serraj in Tripoli and then traveled east to see Haftar to try to broker a detente.

According to a French diplomatic source, when Haftar asked him why he hadn’t come for such a long time, Le Drian responded: “We were waiting for your victories.”

He was referring to the general’s campaign to take the south of the country earlier this year, the source said.

Following Haftar’s Tripoli advance, Egypt’s Sisi stressed the need for urgent international action to stop the situation deteriorating, without naming the LNA offensive. The governments of France, Italy, the UAE, Britain and the United States said in a joint statement they were deeply concerned about the fighting.

Le Drian told lawmakers on Tuesday that France feared more serious conflict, adding that Haftar and Serraj needed to agree on a ceasefire before resuming their dialogue.

The UAE mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. reports of military aid to Haftar. Egyptian officials also had no immediate comment on the reports.

RESCUED BY CIA

Haftar was among officers who helped Gaddafi rise to power in 1969 but fell out with him during Libya’s war with Chad in the 1980s. Haftar was taken prisoner by the Chadians and had to be rescued by the CIA after having worked from Chad to overthrow Gaddafi.

He lived for around 20 years in the U.S. state of Virginia before returning home in 2011 to join other rebels in the uprising that ousted Gaddafi.

Three years later Haftar made his own move, launching the campaign in Benghazi.

At the time he had gathered only around 200 soldiers and 13 helicopters under his LNA banner, said Jalel Harchaoui, research fellow at the Clingendael Institute international relations think-tank in The Hague.

However Haftar quickly attracted other soldiers such as the Saiqa (Lightning) elite unit as well as tribesmen.

There is no reliable figure for the current size of the LNA, though analysts say it runs into the thousands. The Saiqa alone has 3,500 men and Haftar’s sons also have well-equipped units.

Haftar’s forces outnumber his opponents scattered in different western cities but he has filled his ranks beyond a core of former Gaddafi soldiers with less trained tribesmen and Salafist fighters and foreign mercenaries, analysts say.

After Benghazi, Haftar gradually took control of the entire east of Libya, before turning his attention to the south.

However this month’s Tripoli offensive is the commander’s highest-stakes gamble yet.

He has moved much of his forces west, leaving his eastern home base exposed, and making it almost impossible for him to retreat without losing standing among friends and foes alike.

The battle for the capital is still raging, and little is certain. Some pro-Haftar media had predicted victory in 48 hours but the fighting is still mostly outside the city.

Meanwhile, his lightning drive has united opponents in western Libya who had not talked to each other for a long time but have now joined arms.

“Although none of the foreign sponsors behind Haftar is likely pleased with the dramatic deterioration, they have no option but to continue backing him,” said Harchaoui. “They have been concentrating most of their bets on one key figure for almost half a decade. This cannot be walked back overnight.”

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Michael Georgy in Dubai, Stephen Kalin in Riyadh, Aziz El Yakooubi in Dubai and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: OANN

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Hitler's goddaughter Edda Goering dead at 80, buried secretly in unmarked grave in Germany

Edda Goering, goddaughter of Adolf Hitler and daughter of leading Nazi official Hermann Goering, has died at the age of 80.

Goering, considered somewhat of a "Shirley Temple of Nazi Germany" according to the Telegraph, died of unknown causes on December 21, 2018, but her passing was not made public until this week. She was reportedly buried in secret in an unmarked grave in Munich, Germany.

Goering was born in 1938, the year before World War II began. Her father, Hermann Goering, was a prominent politican and military official, and an early member of Hitler's Nazi Party. In 1939, Goering was named as Hitler's successor, given his role as the "most popular of the Nazi leaders, not only with the German people but also with the ambassadors and diplomats of foreign powers," according to Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Edda Goering was the daughter of Hermann and his second wife, actress Emmy Sonnemann. She was the only daughter the leader ever fathered, and many considered her birth surprising, given that Hermann was badly injured in the groin in 1923, and his wife was 45 years old when she gave birth.  At her baptism, while wearing a christening gown with embroidered swastikas, the family named Hitler as Edda's godfather.

After World War II, Hermann Goering was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death. The night his execution was ordered, he committed suicide by poison.

HITLER'S DRAWINGS, WATERCOLORS GO ON SALE IN GERMANY; DRAWS INTEREST FROM IRANIAN, CHINESE BUYERS

After World War II, Edda's father Hermann Goering was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death. The night his execution was ordered, he committed suicide by poison

After World War II, Edda's father Hermann Goering was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death. The night his execution was ordered, he committed suicide by poison (Rosemarie Clausen / ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Edda went on to live with her mother in the family's various estates after the war, and reportedly worked in a hospital clinic. In 2015, she attempted to gain back some of her father's prized pieces of art, many of which had been looted during the war and were confiscated from him after his death.

In a petition to a legal committee, she asked for enough of her father's items back in order to live a "substistence livelihood." The committee reportedly unanimously denied her request after just a few minutes of deliberation.

AUTOGRAPH OF EVIL: HITLER-SIGNED COPY OF 'MEIN KAMPF' SURFACES 

Unlike the children of other Nazi officials, Edda rarely spoke about her father.

In a 1989 interview, she did, however, speak of her "very nice early childhood" because of the "love and care of my parents," according to the Times of Israel. In regard to the "unbelievable thing that happened to the Jews,” she said she felt her father was doing what he thought was best at the time.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I am convinced that my father, when he joined Hitler, believed that he was doing the best for Germany. My father was extremely popular, even abroad. He had the background, personality and natural warmth,” she said.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk past the Debenhams department store on Oxford Street in London
FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk past the Debenhams department store on Oxford Street in London, Britain December 15, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Ailing British retailer Debenhams said two proposed company voluntary arrangements (CVA) could see all its stores remaining open during 2019, with 22 closures planned for next year, putting about 1,200 jobs at risk.

Debenhams’ lenders took control of the retailer earlier this month in a process designed to keep its shops open at the expense of shareholders.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Xiaomi branding is seen on a carrier bag at a UK launch event in London
FILE PHOTO: Xiaomi branding is seen on a carrier bag at a UK launch event in London, Britain, November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

April 26, 2019

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Chinese brands controlled a record 66 percent of Indian smartphone market in the first quarter, led by Xiaomi Corp, a report showed, with volumes rising 20 percent on the back of popularity for brands like Vivo, RealMe and Oppo.

Xiaomi’s India shipments fell by 2 percent over last year, but the Beijing-based company was still the biggest smartphone brand in the country, followed by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, according to Hong-Kong based Counterpoint Research.

Shipment volumes for Vivo jumped 119 percent, while those of Oppo rose 28 percent.

“Vivo’s expanding portfolio in the mid-tier range ($100 to $180) drove its growth along with aggressive Indian Premier League cricket campaign,” Counterpoint analysts said.

India is the world’s fastest growing market for smartphones, where affordable pricing coupled with features like “selfie” cameras and big screens have popularized Chinese brands.

Video streaming services like Netflix Inc and Hotstar, as well as heavy usage of messaging apps like Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp have further spurred demand.

“Data consumption is on the rise and users are upgrading their phones faster as compared to other regions,” Counterpoint’s Tarun Pathak said.

“As a result of this, the premium specs are now diffusing faster into the mid-tier price brands. We estimate this trend to continue leading to a competitive mid-tier segment in coming quarters.”

(Reporting By Arnab Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Source: OANN

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Good morning and welcome to Fox News First. Here’s a look at what you need to know today …

EXCLUSIVE: Trump says ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden doesn’t have what it takes

President Trump, in a wide-ranging, exclusive phone interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, dismissed the launch of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, nicknaming him “Sleepy Joe” and saying he’s “not the brightest bulb.” Biden, the president said, has name recognition but he won’t “be able to do the job.” When asked about Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Trump criticized his record, saying Sanders had “misguided energy” and asserted that Sanders “talks a lot” but hasn’t accomplished anything. The president referred to former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas as “a fluke” who had lost much momentum and outright dismissed Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg — although he said he was “rooting” for Buttigieg. (Trump could address Biden and the other Democratic presidential candidates when he speaks today before the National Rifle Association.)

The Democratic Party’s youth movement: Biden’s biggest challenge?
Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Howard Dean warned Joe Biden about the troubles he may face in his presidential campaign, especially from the “35-year-olds” who Dean says have been running the party — a clear nod to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and fellow freshmen Democrats. “This is a very different party than even the party Joe Biden ran in in 2012. Very different,” Dean continued. “A lot of people could win this race. There’s 20 people in there. I think it’s going to take $20 million to get to the starting line. If you can’t raise $20 million, you’re gone, and I think that’s going to take care of about six or eight of these folks. … But it is not the same party that it was five years ago.” A progressive political group that boosted Ocasio-Cortez’s bid for Congress last year vowed to oppose Biden and blasted him as part of the “old guard.”

More tales from the FBI texts
Text messages between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page indicate they discussed using briefings to the Trump team after the 2016 election to identify people they could “develop for potential relationships,” track lines of questioning and “assess” changes in “demeanor” – language one GOP lawmaker called “more evidence” of irregular conduct in the original Russia probe. Fox News has learned the texts, initially released in 2018 by a Senate committee, are under renewed scrutiny, with GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley and Homeland Security Committee chair Ron Johnson sending a letter Thursday night to Attorney General Bill Barr pushing for more information on the matter. President Trump, speaking on Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday night, responded to this report by accusing Strzok and Page of an attempted “coup.” “They were trying to infiltrate the administration,” he said.

Kim accuses US of acting in ‘bad faith’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, fresh off his summit with  Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the U.S. has been acting in “bad faith” since his Hanoi meeting with President Trump over the stalemated issue of North Korean denuclearization. The North Korean leader told the Korean Central News Agency that, “the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the region is now at a standstill and has reached a critical point,” the Straits Times of Singapore reported. Kim warned that the situation “may return to its original state as the U.S. took a unilateral attitude in bad faith at the recent second DPRK-US summit talks,” the Korean Central News Agency added.

NFL Draft 2019: It’s all about defense
The first round of the 2019 NFL Draft saw a run on defensive players, with eight of the top 12 picks in Nashville coming from that side of the ball. After Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was taken first overall by the Arizona Cardinals, the San Francisco 49ers started a run of four straight front-seven players by taking Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa with the second overall pick — the highest draft slot for any Buckeye since left tackle Orlando Pace went No. 1 overall to the St. Louis Rams in 1997.

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TODAY’S MUST-READS
Fox News’ Ed Henry recalls spending time with Celtics great John Havlicek.
Massachusetts judge accused of helping illegal immigrant evade ICE pleads not guilty.
Rosenstein slams Obama administration for choosing ‘not to publicize full story’ of Russia hacking.
F.H. Buckley: What Democrats have forgotten about citizenship.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Amazon crushes earnings expectations, but revenue growth slows.
Low-tax states among best places to make a living in 2019.
Construction job market booming: These states are hiring.

#TheFlashback
2018: Bill Cosby is convicted of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004; it is the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
1986: An explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine causes radioactive fallout to spew into the atmosphere. (Dozens of people are killed in the immediate aftermath of the disaster while the long-term death toll from radiation poisoning is believed to number in the thousands.)
1977: Notorious nightclub Studio 54 opens in New York.

SOME PARTING WORDS

Watch the “Special Report” panel take a look at former Vice President Joe Biden’s decision to run for president a third time and the battle for the “soul” of America.

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CLICK HERE to find out what’s on Fox News programming today and over the weekend!

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News’ Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day and weekend! We’ll see you in your inbox first thing Monday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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Joe Biden’s brain surgeon said his former patient is “totally in the clear” as speculation over the candidate’s health — with Biden possibly becoming the oldest president in U.S. history — is likely to become a campaign issue.

The former vice president, who had been perceived by many as the strongest potential contender for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, formally announced his candidacy Thursday.

But Biden’s age – 76 – is expected to become a source of attacks from a younger generation of Democrats not because of obvious generational differences, but possibly for actual health concerns if Biden gets into office.

WHY THE MEDIA ARE CONVINCED JOE BIDEN WILL IMPLODE

Biden himself agreed last year that “it’s totally legitimate” for people to ask questions about his health if he decides to run for president, given his medical history — which has included brain surgery in 1988.

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality,” Biden told “CBS This Morning.” “Can I still run up the steps of Air Force Two? Am I still in good shape? Am I – do I have all my faculties? Am I energetic? I think it’s totally legitimate people ask those questions.”

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality. …  I think it’s totally legitimate [that] people ask those questions.”

— Joe Biden

But Dr. Neal Kassell, the neurosurgeon who operated on Biden for an aneurysm three decades ago, told the Washington Examiner that Biden appears to be “totally in the clear” — and even joked that the operation made Biden “better than how he was.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it,” Kassell said. “That’s more than I can say about all the other candidates or the incumbents.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it.”

— Dr. Neal Kassell

BIDEN’S CLAIM HE DIDN’T WANT OBAMA TO ENDORSE TRIGGERS MOCKERY

At the same time, however, Biden hasn’t been forthcoming about his health at least since 2008 when he released his medical records as a vice presidential candidate. The disclosure that time revealed some fairly minor issues such as an irregular heartbeat in addition to detailing previous operations, including removing a benign polyp during a colonoscopy in 1996, the outlet reported.

It remains unclear if Biden had more aneurysms. Some medical experts say that people who have had an aneurysm can have another one.

An aneurysm, or a weakening of an artery wall, can lead to a rupture and internal bleeding, potentially placing a patient’s life in jeopardy.

Biden won’t be the only Democrat grappling with old age. Sen. Bernie Sanders, another 2020 frontrunner, is currently 77 years old and agreed with Biden last year that their ages will be an issue in the race.

“It’s part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished,” Sanders told Politico.

“Look, you’ve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? You’ve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day, doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and wellbeing of the individual.”

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Sanders released his medical records in 2016, with a Senate physician saying in a letter that the senator was “in overall very good health.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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German carmaker Daimler endured a weak start to the year, echoing troubles at other major manufacturers, as sales in the big Chinese market stuttered.

The company said Friday that its net income fell to 2.1 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in the first quarter from 2.3 billion euros during the same period a year earlier, while revenue dipped to 39.7 billion euros from 39.8 billion euros.

Vehicle sales fell 4% to 773,800 units, with a double-digit percentage drop in China offsetting gains in other markets like the U.S. and Europe.

The company said there were also problems with high inventories and bottlenecks in the supply chain.

Chairman Dieter Zetsche said that “we cannot and will not be satisfied with this — as expected — moderate start to the year.”

Source: Fox News World

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