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War of words: Oppressed English speakers targeted in escalating Cameroonian conflict

The conflict ignited almost three years ago; when minority English speakers in the Ambazonia region of Africa’s Cameroon started to speak out against the onslaught of persecution and discrimination of the dominant French-speaking government.

Only the response from the leadership was fast and furious. The situation has since escalated into a bloody battle of linguistics.

“The English-speaking, independent minority have been marginalized and treated as slaves and second class citizens. This is unbearable,” Pastor Nche Sam Takoh, 45, told Fox News from his home in Ambazonia. “If anyone speaks out against the atrocities and loathing committed by the military, you are targeted and killed, beheaded, and sometimes instantly burned alive.”

Commonly referred to as the Anglophone region, the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia – which is home to most of the country’s 25 percent English speakers have long been deemed the nation’s most poverty-stricken and underprivileged.

“Cameroon is imploding from the inside and the level of uncertainty is extremely dire,” noted David Otto, director of Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime for the Africa-focused Global Risk International security firm. “There are multiple cases of systematic rape, summary executions, extortion, public decapitation, mutilations, amputations, arson in villages, hospitals, unlawful detention, mass arrest and humiliation tactics from both state and non-state actors.”

MALE RAPE EMERGING AS ONE OF THE MOST UNDER-REPORTED WEAPONS OF WAR

He said that more than 2,000 Cameroonians have been “disappeared” or killed, and many more seriously maimed or wounded by the bloodletting actions perpetrated by both armed separatist groups, government forces and “criminal elements” taking advantage of the crisis.

“There is a scorched earth policy of the military burning down houses, hospitals, schools. Bodies are burned to hide the evidence,” Takoh claimed.

Men arrested in connection with Cameroon's anglophone crisis are seen at the military court in Yaounde, Cameroon, on December 14, 2018. - Nearly 300 people who were arrested in connection with Cameroon's anglophone crisis will be released on Friday, a day after being pardoned by President Paul Biya, the defense minister said.

Men arrested in connection with Cameroon's anglophone crisis are seen at the military court in Yaounde, Cameroon, on December 14, 2018. - Nearly 300 people who were arrested in connection with Cameroon's anglophone crisis will be released on Friday, a day after being pardoned by President Paul Biya, the defense minister said. (AFP/Getty)

Data provided to Fox News from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) underscored that since the start of this year alone, there have been some 46 battles, riots, protests and other violent incidents. 30 separate battles between Anglophone separatists and the French-dominant government, and at least 15 more that have resulted in violence against civilians – resulting in 11 reported fatalities.

According to UN estimates, more than 400 have been killed in the mayhem, and a further 437,000 people have been displaced, the vast majority being women and children. Over 100 schools have been burned to the ground, and entire villages are said to have been erased.

Last month a Cameroonian nonprofit group the Rural Women Center for Education and Development documented that over 300 school-age girls had become pregnant as a result of rape, perpetrated by all sides of the conflict, with many resorting to savage and life-threatening abortion methods.

CAMEROON SEPARATISTS CHOP OFF FINGERS OF PLANTATION WORKERS

Abductions by militias have also become commonplace. Last week, a 20-person university football team was kidnapped during a training session, and after days of apparent torture, were finally released and taken to the hospital. Such crimes are often committed without a group claiming responsibility, and fingers are pointed at the government and at Anglophone separatists.

Much of the frustration of the Anglophone community has been spurred by the protracted, iron-fist governing of Cameroon’s Francophile government, led by 85-year-old President Paul Biya. He has ruled since 1982 but spends the majority of his time in Switzerland.

In response to queries over whether any pressure had been put on government leadership over the alleged atrocities, the Swiss embassy in Washington told Fox News that they encourage “dialogue between the government and humanitarian organizations” and that “as a neutral and multilingual country, Switzerland further tries to support the handling of bilingualism in Cameroon.”

The Cameroon Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

And although the slaughter has attracted little international attention since its inception, U.S. officials are starting to raise red flags over the matter.

“We continue to be extremely concerned about the situation there,” Ambassador Michael Kozak said earlier this month following the release of the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which underscored the “ongoing and excessive and arbitrary violence committed by the government and its security forces.”

“Not only do you have terrorist organizations, but then you’ve got the dispute between the Anglophone regions and the central government. We have had many discussions with the Cameroonian authorities about the need to investigate and hold accountable security forces when they commit abuses.”

BRITISH ACTOR WHO JOINED ANTI-ISIS FIGHT SAYS HE'S HAVING TROUBLE GAINING RE-ENTRY TO ENGLAND, U.S.

While not explicitly a conflict that is religious in nature, given that both English and French speakers make up the 53 percent who deem themselves Christian, devoted churchgoers say they have been swept up into the turmoil despite their constant cries for peace on all sides.

The Council of Protestant Churches of Cameroon declared in November that over 50 primary and secondary schools, as well as Christian hospitals, have been impacted. Late last year, the military also took over four churches and turned them into military barracks. A few weeks earlier, some 79 children were abducted by gunmen from a Presbyterian Church school in the region’s capital, Bamenda, and returned – withered and psychologically scarred – days later, while their teacher and principal remained in captivity. The boarding school was forced to shudder after threats of further aggression.

Simon Munzu, a former UN official, who is campaigning for peace in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, shows a threat message posted against him on social media by separatists during an interview with Reuters in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Simon Munzu, a former UN official, who is campaigning for peace in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, shows a threat message posted against him on social media by separatists during an interview with Reuters in Yaounde, Cameroon. (Reuters)

At least 100 pastors from the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, according to the Church's official account, are estimated to have fled their homes as the situation deteriorates.

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“When churches attempt to mediate or assist members of one side of the crisis, they become targets for those on the other side of the conflict,” explained Jeff King, President of International Christian Concern. “And in the midst of violence, Christian institutions have been figuratively caught in the crossfire of conflict.”

Source: Fox News World

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Exclusive: British Telecom’s Italian job had London roots, say investigators

FILE PHOTO: A BT (British Telecom) company logo is pictured on the side of a convention centre in Liverpool northern England.
FILE PHOTO: A BT (British Telecom) company logo is pictured on the side of a convention centre in Liverpool northern England, April 9, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble

April 23, 2019

By Emilio Parodi

MILAN (Reuters) – A criminal investigation into accounting fraud inside British Telecom’s Italian unit has uncovered more evidence of what prosecutors say was the involvement of senior executives in artificially inflating the division’s financial performance.

Emails seized by the police and reviewed by Reuters show for the first time why Italian prosecutors allege that top BT employees were at the heart of the problem, contrary to the company’s assertions that managers at head office knew nothing about the misconduct.

“A series of emails between the top financial executives of BT Plc and managers of the (Italian) unit point to the existence of ‘insistent’ requests by the leadership of the parent company aimed at achieving ambitious economic targets, even using aggressive, anomalous and knowingly wrong accounting practices,” Italy’s financial police said in a 353-page report.

The report has not been made public and its contents have not previously been reported.

The report contains emails from Brian More O’Ferrall, currently finance director at BT Wholesale, the company’s business-to-business division, in which he asks colleagues in Italy to find ways of adjusting their accounts to boost profits.

At the time, O’Ferrall was chief financial officer (CFO) for BT Europe, the European part of Global Services, one of the company’s biggest businesses.

O’Ferrall did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. BT declined to make O’Ferrall or group Chief Executive Philip Jansen available for interview.

“We cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings,” spokesman Richard Farnsworth said.

In the past, BT has blamed former executives in Italy for the bookkeeping irregularities, saying they had kept their bosses in London in the dark about what was going on. The scandal required the company to take a 530 million pound charge in early 2017. For a timeline click on.

In a complaint filed in April 2017 with Milan prosecutors against the conduct of its former managers, BT said the company itself was a victim of any fraud found to have taken place.

Italian prosecutors named three top BT executives among an expanded list of 23 suspects allegedly involved in the debacle, Reuters exclusively reported in February. O’Ferrall was not on that list.

Prosecutors are not investigating O’Ferrall because he was not on BT Italy’s board and did not sign off on the division’s accounts in the four years, 2013-2016, under scrutiny, according to a source familiar with the probe.

O’Ferrall was appointed chairman of BT Italy in February 2017, taking up the post after an internal investigation was launched into the unit’s bookkeeping. He stepped down from that role in November 2018.

Prosecutors in Milan allege that three former senior BT executives, Luis Alvarez, Richard Cameron and Corrado Sciolla, set unrealistically high business targets and were complicit in false accounting at BT Italy.

Alvarez and Cameron, were respectively the former chief executive and former chief financial officer of BT Global Services and Sciolla was the former head of continental Europe for BT. The three men, two of whom were based in London, left the company in 2017.

Reuters tried to contact Alvarez and Cameron via social media and email but they did not respond to those requests for comment. Sciolla declined to comment.

“AN URGENT REQUEST”

Allegations of fraudulent bookkeeping are part of a range of suspected wrongdoing at BT Italy. Italian prosecutors allege that a network of people at the unit exaggerated revenues, faked contract renewals and invoices and invented bogus supplier transactions in order to meet bonus targets and disguise the unit’s true financial performance.

The company has publicly disclosed that it uncovered a complex set of improper sales, leasing transactions and factoring at the division. Factoring is a way in which firms sell future income to financiers for cash.

Several BT shareholders have filed a class-action lawsuit in the United States alleging the group misled investors and failed to promptly disclose the financial irregularities. BT has moved to have the case dismissed.

In their report, Italy’s financial police reference an email dated Aug. 5, 2016, from O’Ferrall in which he says that Cameron wanted operating profit to increase by 700,000 euros and suggests to Luca Sebastiani, then CFO at BT Italy, along with other colleagues across Europe, that they capitalize labor costs as a solution.

“All, I have an urgent request from Richard to find another €700K,” O’Ferrall wrote to Sebastiani and his counterparts in Germany, Benelux, France, Spain, Hungary as well as Simon Whittle, then finance manager, reporting and consolidation, at Global Services Europe.

“Please can you look at all opportunities and come back to me and Simon asap. Labour capitalization? Regards Brian,” says the email, whose subject line reads “Another €700K EBITDA needed in P4.”

P4 refers to the month of July.

Reuters tried to reach Whittle via social media but he did not respond to requests for comment. The other finance officers O’Ferrall contacted did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Sebastiani’s lawyers, Giammarco Brenelli and Federico Riboldi, told Reuters the email was significant because “along with many others, it shows the constant and unrelenting pressure the parent company was putting on European subsidiaries with regards to accounting policies.”

Sebastiani is among the 23 suspects in the case.

In another email, dated April 8, 2016 and sent to Sebastiani’s predecessor Alessandro Clerici and Rosa Ronda Andres, CFO for BT Global Services in Spain, O’Ferrall says he has received a request “to find another €1 million of capitalization for 15/16.

“Can either of you accommodate this? €500K each?” the e-mail says.

Clerici and Andres did not comply with the request, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Andres did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Clerici declined to comment. He is among the 23 suspects in the case.

Capitalizing costs is an accounting method that allows companies to amortize a cost related to an asset over time as opposed to book it as an expense in the income statement when the cost was incurred. The technique allows companies to smooth out expenses over time, and therefore boost profits.

“You can’t capitalize labor costs to improve earnings ex post (after the event), just to boost your accounts,” said Gian Gaetano Bellavia, an accounting expert who has in the past worked as a consultant for the Milan prosecutors. He is not involved in the BT Italy investigation.

Bellavia said it was common for top executives of a parent company to ask managers of subsidiaries to “always do more.” But he said some of the BT emails, which Reuters showed him a copy of, constituted “significant evidence” of wrongful accounting.

“EBITDA measures how much a company is earning. But to go up it needs actual income.”

Bellavia said another email, dated September 2016, in which Sebastiani says he has been told that Cameron would not accept an earnings estimate for the fiscal year 2016/17 below a certain amount, was less problematic because it could be interpreted as an aspiration and not a forecast communicated to investors.

The police report says the alleged accounting irregularities could have had an impact on the price of BT shares and this may justify adding market manipulation to the list of alleged crimes being investigated.

However, Milan prosecutors decided not to take this step on jurisdiction grounds, a source with direct knowledge of the probe said, since BT shares are listed in London and such allegations would have to be investigated by UK authorities.

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) which investigates and prosecutes complex and often multinational fraud and corruption, declined to comment on whether it was investigating BT.

Britain’s accounting regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), said it was continuing to investigate PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) audits of BT from 2015 to 2017. BT dropped PwC as its auditor in 2017.

A spokesman for the accounting firm said it would continue to cooperate fully with the FRC in its enquiries.

(Additional reporting by Paul Sandle and Kirstin Ridley in London. Writing by Silvia Aloisi, editing by Carmel Crimmins.)

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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Trump Taps Conservative For Federal Reserve Board

Saagar Enjeti | White House Correspondent

President Donald Trump announced Friday morning that he will nominate Heritage Foundation economist Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve board of governors.

Moore has long been a supporter of Trump, including throughout the 2016 presidential election. He has written approvingly of the president’s criticisms of the Federal Reserve.

“I believe the people on the Federal Reserve Board should be thrown out for economic malpractice,” he said in December.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is interviewed on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” March 10, 2019. CBS News screenshot.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is interviewed on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” March 10, 2019. CBS News screenshot.

Moore also spoke disapprovingly of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, noting, “I always thought he was a bad choice. He’s been a Fed guy for many years. Donald Trump wanted to drain the swamp. The Fed is the swamp.”

He also authored a recent op-ed titled, “Fire the Fed” in which he likened Powell to a misguided pilot who lost his way.

(L to R) U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as his nominee for the chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell takes to the podium during a press event in the Rose Garden at the White House, November 2, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

(L to R) U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as his nominee for the chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell takes to the podium during a press event in the Rose Garden at the White House, November 2, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

An official familiar with the nomination said Moore’s latest op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on the Fed is what pushed his nomination forward. Moore co-authored an op-ed in which he wrote that “the Fed should stabilize the value of the dollar by adopting the commodity-price rule used successfully by former Fed chief Paul Volcker,” explaining that “to break the crippling inflation of the 1970s, Mr. Volcker linked Fed monetary policy to real-time changes in commodity prices.”

Trump has railed against Powell for raising interest rates in recent months, alleging that he is tanking the economy.

Source: The Daily Caller

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Germany: Merkel successor backs Macron's EU call

The leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party is backing French President Emmanuel Macron's call for a stronger European Union.

In an op-ed published Saturday by weekly Welt am Sonntag, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer responded directly to Macron's appeal Monday with proposals for tackling challenges including populism, economic uncertainty, international security and migration.

Several of her ideas are unlikely to find favor in France, however. Kramp-Karrenbauer called for the EU to have a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council — where France currently has its own — and suggested the EU Parliament should stop holding sessions in Strasbourg, France.

The 56-year-old succeeded Merkel as leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union in December. She is considered the front-runner to follow Merkel as chancellor.

Source: Fox News World

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UN chief meets with Egypt’s top cleric, decries hate speech

The U.N. chief has expressed solidarity with Muslims world over during a visit to Cairo, denouncing hate speech and racism, as well as anti-Semitism.

The remarks by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday in the Egyptian capital came less than a month after the terrorist attack on New Zealand mosques killed 50 worshippers.

Guterres says "hate speech is entering the mainstream, spreading like wildfire through social media and radio."

He says that "in this time of difficulties and division, we must stand together and protect each other. Nothing justifies terrorism, and it becomes particularly hideous when religion is invoked. ... we must uphold and promote human dignity and universal human rights."

Guterres' comments came after his meeting with Egypt's top Muslim cleric Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam in Cairo.

Source: Fox News World

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Sheriff: Man had 2 children with him during fatal shooting

Authorities say a North Carolina man had two young children and his girlfriend with him in a car when he fatally shot a man as he went to buy drugs.

The Wake County Sheriff's Office tells news outlets 26-year-old James Hooker of Fuquay-Varina is charged with murder and child abuse after Monday's fatal shooting. Arrest warrants indicate Hooker had a 2-week-old infant, a 1-year-old child and his girlfriend with him at the time. Investigators say 36-year-old Michael Antwan Farrington of Cary died at a hospital of a gunshot wound.

Hooker was jailed on a $100,000 bond on the child abuse charges and faced a scheduled court appearance Tuesday. Authorities didn't say whose children they were or identify them further.

It's not known if Hooker has an attorney.

Source: Fox News National

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Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk
Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk, Belarus April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

April 26, 2019

By Katya Golubkova and Andrei Makhovsky

MOSCOW/MINSK (Reuters) – Russia is confident it can soon resolve a problem of polluted Russian oil contaminating a major pipeline serving Europe and affecting supplies as far west as Germany, a senior official said on Friday at talks with importers about the issue.

Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin did not give a precise timeframe but Moscow has previously said it would pump clean oil to the border with Belarus from April 29, seeking to end a crisis hitting the world’s second-largest crude exporter.

Sorokin was speaking at talks with officials from Belarus, Poland and Ukraine in Minsk on the issue. Belarus said the issue had cost it $100 million, while analysts say alternative supply routes for refiners cannot fully fill the gap.

Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia have suspended imports of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Halting those supplies has knock-on effects further along the network.

The problem arose last week when an unidentified Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride used to boost oil output but which must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.

Russia’s Energy Ministry said pipeline monopoly Transneft and other Russian companies had a plan to mitigate the effects of the contaminated oil. It did not give details.

Russian officials have said contaminated oil has already been pumped into storage in Russia and Friday’s talks would focus on how to partially withdraw the tainted crude from the Druzhba pipeline running via other countries.

The suspension cuts off a major supply route for Polish refineries owned by Poland’s PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, as well as plants in Germany owned by Total, Shell, Eni and Rosneft.

Some refiners have outlined plans for alternative supplies, but analysts say other routes cannot meet the shortfall.

OIL PRICES

Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta suspended the transit of oil through the pipeline on Thursday, closing supplies via Druzhba’s southern route to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

The pipeline issue, which has supported global oil prices, lifted Russian Urals crude differentials to an all-time high on Thursday.

With pipeline supplies to Europe shut, Russia faces a challenge of how to divert about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) that was meant to be shipped through the network to other destinations at the time when export capacity is at its limits.

State-run Russian Railways held talks with energy firms on using up to 5,000 rail tankers to transport crude, RIA news agency reported on Friday.

Concerns about the quality of Urals crude also caused delays in loadings at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, when buyers refused to lift cargoes, resulting in a brief shutdown of the port on Wednesday and Thursday. An Ust-Luga official and traders said on Friday loadings had resumed.

Russian loading plans indicate it aims to boost Urals exports in May before the expiry of a deal on output cuts agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, Reuters calculations and Energy Ministry data show.

The provisional loading plan for Russia’s Baltic Sea ports and Novorossiisk in May show exports rising to 10.7 million tonnes, the highest level in half a decade.

Minsk estimated its loss from lower oil product exports due to contaminated Russian oil at around $100 million, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing Belarusian state oil company Belneftekhim.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, in charge of government energy policy, said this week that those found responsible for contaminating the oil could be fined. He did not provide names.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko in WARSAW, Sandor Peto in BUDAPEST, Jason Hovet in PRAGUE, Matthias Williams and Natalia Zinets in KIEV, Katya Golubkova, Olesya Astakhova, Gleb Gorodyankin, Olga Yagova and Maxim Rodionov in MOSCOW, Andrei Makhovsky in MINSK; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Michael Perry and Edmund Blair)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO - A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.

The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.

Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.

But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.

Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.

In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.

Symone Sanders, a prominent Democratic strategist and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., staffer in 2016, was announced as one of the big-name members of Team Biden on Thursday.

But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.

“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.

BIDEN HIRES FORMER BERNIE SANDERS’ SPOKESPERSON AS SENIOR ADVISER

“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.

Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”

Footage of the interview was resurfaced by RealClearPolitics.

After news of her hiring broke on Thursday, Sanders backed her new boss on Twitter.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG

“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.

The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.

While Sanders himself didn’t torch Biden as he jumped into the race, it’s clear that many of his progressive supporters view the former vice president as a threat.

Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.

BIDEN VOWS THAT ‘AMERICA IS COMING BACK,’ SPARKING ‘MAGA’ COMPARISONS

Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”

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But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”

Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who is facing increased calls for her immediate resignation, remains in poor health and is not “lucid” enough to decide whether to step down, her attorney told reporters late Thursday.

Steve Silverman, speaking outside one of Pugh’s residences which was raided by the FBI and IRS earlier in the day, said the embattled city leader could make a decision as early as next week.

“She is leaning toward making the best decision in the best interest in the citizens of Baltimore City,” he said, adding that Pugh has “several options” to consider.

“She just needs to be physically and mentally sound and lucid enough to make appropriate decisions.”

BALTIMORE MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH, ON LEAVE AMID BOOK PROBE, HAS HOMES AND CITY HALL OFFICE RAIDED BY FEDS

Silverman said Pugh met with a doctor at home Thursday and plans to do so again Friday, the Baltimore Sun reported.

In the latest image-tarnishing scandal for struggling Baltimore, the first-term Democratic mayor faces accusations that she used children’s book deals to cover up kickbacks for favorable treatment as a state lawmaker and city leader that earned her roughly $800,000 over several years.

BALTIMORE’S ACTING MAYOR SAYS HE ‘WOULD HATE TO SEE’ EMBATTLED MAYOR RETURN AFTER BOOK SCANDALS

As a state senator, 69-year-old Pugh sold $500,000 worth of her self-published “Healthy Holly” illustrated paperbacks to the University of Maryland Medical System, a major state employer whose board she sat on for nearly 20 years.

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

UMMS reportedly paid Pugh for 100,000 copies of her books between 2011 and 2018 with the stated intention of distributing the books to schools and day care centers. But some 50,000 copies remain unaccounted for and officials are probing if they were even printed.

Pugh also made $300,000 in bulk sales to other customers including health carriers that did business with the city of Baltimore.

BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL CALLS ON EMBATTLED MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH TO RESIGN IMMEDIATELY

The politically isolated Pugh slipped out of sight on April 1 after a hastily organized press conference where she called her no-contract book deals a “regrettable mistake.” That same day, Maryland’s governor called on the state prosecutor to investigate allegations of “self-dealing.”

Pugh took an indefinite leave of absence, citing her health deteriorating intensely after a bout with pneumonia.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide. (Loyd Fox/Baltimore Sun via AP)

On Thursday morning, agents with the FBI and IRS searched her two Baltimore homes, her City Hall offices, and a nonprofit organization she once led. The home of at least one of Pugh’s aides was also scoured.

Silverman said federal agents also served a subpoena at his law firm, retrieving Pugh’s original financial records. They did not seek any attorney-client privileged communications, he said.

Pugh’s attorney said she was “emotionally extremely distraught” following the searches by FBI and IRS agents.

“There was nothing incriminating that came out of her home,” Silverman said.

UMMS spokesman Michael Schwartzberg told reporters that the medical system received a grand jury witness subpoena seeking documents and information related to Pugh.

Other probes against Pugh include a review by the city ethics board and the Maryland Insurance Administration.

BALTIMORE MAYOR’S $500G DEAL FOR ‘HEALTHY HOLLY’ CHILDREN’S BOOKS DRAWS SCRUTINY

In recent weeks, the calls for Pugh’s resignation have intensified with the strongest voice coming from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who did not mince words after Thursday’s early morning raids.

“Now more than ever, Baltimore City needs strong and responsible leadership. Mayor Pugh has lost the public trust,” he said. “She is clearly not fit to lead. For the good of the city, Mayor Pugh must resign.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall.

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun via AP)

Many of her fellow Democrats, including those on Baltimore’s demoralized City Council and state lawmakers, are also insisting that Pugh put the citizens’ interests above any attempt to preserve her political career.

City Council member Brandon Scott called the Thursday raids “an embarrassment to the city.”

However, only a conviction can trigger a mayor’s removal from office, according to the city solicitor. Baltimore’s mayor-friendly City Charter currently provides no options for ousting its executive.

Six of Pugh’s staffers joined her on paid leave earlier this month; three of them were fired this week by the acting mayor.

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Pugh came to office in late 2016 after edging out ex-Mayor Sheila Dixon, who had spent much of her tenure fighting corruption charges before being forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal connected to the misappropriation of about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families.

She would certainly face a bruising 2020 Democratic primary if she were to return and run for reelection. Veteran City Council leader Bernard “Jack” Young, who is serving as acting mayor, said as she went on leave that he would merely be a placeholder. But this week, before the raids, he said “it could be devastating for her” if she tried to return.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations has blasted the United State and the European Union for imposing sanctions on his country, describing them as “economic terrorism.”

Bashar Ja’afari made his comments Friday in the Kazakh capital of Astana where Russia, Turkey and Iran held a new round of talks with the Syrian government and the opposition on steps to bring peace to the country.

His comments came as government-held parts of Syria are witnessing widespread fuel shortages that are largely the result of Western sanctions on Syria and its key ally Iran.

Ja’afari says: “This is economic terrorism that is escalating through unilateral economic measures.”

A final statement issued at the end of Astana’s 12th round rejected President Donald Trump’s formal recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over Syria’s occupied Golan Heights.

Source: Fox News World

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