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Famous friends stop by to see Wade’s NBA finale

NBA: Miami Heat at Brooklyn Nets
Apr 10, 2019; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) signals to the crowd after scoring in the third quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports.

April 11, 2019

For Dwyane Wade’s final NBA game, where else would his so-called Banana Boat Crew members be but on hand to see it?

Wade ended his 16-year career Wednesday night when his Miami Heat visited the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center, and among the spectators were his longtime friends and fellow NBA stars LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony.

Of course they would be there, James said during the game. James was shut down for several of the Lakers’ final games and Paul’s Thunder played their final regular-season game Tuesday night. Anthony did not sign with another NBA team after his release from the Rockets this season.

“Listen, we all started this journey together,” James told Fox Sports Southeast. “Obviously CP came into the league a couple years after us, but we have a brotherhood that is just so much more than basketball. CP played last night, we had our last regular-season game last night, and Melo is right here in New York, so we kind of made the plan and made the decision to come up here.”

The friends often travel together during the summer and picked up the Banana Boat Crew moniker after photos of them riding in one circulated on social media in 2016.

James, who won two NBA titles with Wade in Miami, two of the three Wade won altogether, was asked about favorite memories of his friendship with Wade. James said a good answer to that would take a while.

“I mean, we’d be here all night talking. We’d be here all night talking about the best memories, or the most fond memories I have of D-Wade.

“The plane rides, the bus rides, the hotels when we get to the city we’d go to the hotel room and just chop it up, the dinners we had on the road, everything we did was always genuine. (There was) always love, and we always wanted the best for one another, no matter the good or the bad.

“I will say the most founding part was when we lost (to Dallas in 2011). Because, without ‘11, there’s no (2013), no (2012 championship) banners hanging up in (AmericanAirlines Arena). That’s what made us. That’s what made our team.

“It’s been an unbelievable journey for my guy, and I’m happy to be here for the last little part of the road before the train comes to a stop.”

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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U.S. lawmakers squabble over demand for Trump financial records

FILE PHOTO - U.S. President Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House in Washington
FILE PHOTO - U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

March 27, 2019

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A request by a leading Democrat for records of Donald Trump’s financial dealings before he became president set off a partisan squabble in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.

In a letter to the chairman and chief executive officer of Mazars USA LLP, an audit and accounting firm, Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, last week requested records related to personal financial statements the firm prepared for Trump in 2011-2013.

Republican leaders on Wednesday denounced Cummings’ move as an illegitimate effort to embarrass Trump.

In his letter, Cummings cited recent testimony before his committee by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen that Trump changed the estimated value of his assets and debts on financial statements prepared by Mazars.

Cohen told the committee during his testimony that Trump at times inflated the value of his assets, such as when he was preparing a bid for the Buffalo Bills National Football League team, and at times deflated them, such as when he wanted to reduce his real estate taxes.

But two Republican leaders on the committee, Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, who had publicly defended Trump and grilled Cohen during his testimony, on Wednesday questioned the legitimacy of Cummings’ request.

They said he was seeking information about Trump’s finances going back 10 years, well before Trump ran for office, adding that it “does not appear to have a valid legislative purpose and instead seems to seek information to embarrass a private individual.”

The Republicans also complained that Cummings did not consult with them before sending his letter to the accounting firm.

A spokesman said the White House had no comment. Mazars did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting By Mark Hosenball; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Source: OANN

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Kushner: Russia investigation had ‘harsher impact’ on US than election meddling

Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner argued Tuesday the investigations over whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 campaign have been “way more harmful” than Russia’s election meddling through social media.

“When you look at what Russia did, buying some Facebook ads and trying to sow dissent, it's a terrible thing,” Kushner said at the Time 100 Summit in New York. “But I think the investigations and all of the speculation that's happened for the last two years has a much harsher impact on our democracy than a couple Facebook ads.”

REP SAYS MUELLER REPORT SHOWS STEELE DOSSIER ‘FALSE AND FAKE,’ CHALLENGING ORIGINS OF FBI PROBE

Kushner, the president’s son-in-law who worked on the campaign, said he spent much more money in 2016 on Facebook ads than the Russians.

“I think they said they spent $160,000,” Kushner said. “I spent $160,000 on Facebook every three hours during the campaign. If you look at the magnitude of what they did, the ensuing investigations have been way more harmful.”

Kushner, who doesn’t speak in public very often, made the comments in the wake of the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report saying investigators found no evidence the Trump campaign conspired with Russia in election meddling.

“When the whole notion of the Russian collusion narrative came up, I was the first person to say I’m happy to participate with any investigations,” Kushner said. “I thought the whole thing was kind of nonsense to be honest with you.”

HOUSE JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN SUBPOENAS EX-WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL DON MCGAHN

Kushner said he sat for three interviews with the House of Representatives. He said he also interviewed for nine hours with Mueller’s team. Referencing his past statements, Kushner said, “I think everything I’ve said has now been proven to be true. And it’s been very, very thoroughly investigated.”

He referenced the infamous meeting at Trump Tower in 2016 between several Trump campaign associates and a Russian lawyer, recalling wanting to leave meeting because it seemed like a waste of time. Mueller's team investigated the meeting, but did not conclude it was evidence of coordination.

“It’s a meeting had it never come up…I would have never thought about it again,” Kushner said. “But now the media spends so much time focusing on it.  And quite frankly, the whole thing is just a big distraction for the whole country.”

Fox News’ Tamara Gitt contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Mueller not recommending ‘any further indictments’ after report turnover

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is not recommending any further indictments as part of his sweeping Russia investigation which effectively ended Friday, according to a senior Justice Department official.

Mueller transmitted to the Justice Department the report on his team’s probe into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates during the 2016 presidential election. While the probe’s conclusions are not yet known, the investigation already has led to indictments, convictions or guilty pleas for nearly three-dozen people and three companies.

MUELLER SUBMITS RUSSIA REPORT

But a senior DOJ official told Fox News Mueller is “not recommending any further indictments.”

Information about the contents of the report could start to emerge in the coming days.

There has been speculation for the entirety of the investigation, lasting nearly two years, on whether President Trump or his family members could face criminal consequences.

Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News on Friday that the Trump legal team is “confident” in the results of the report.

READ THE MUELLER LETTER

“This marks the end of the investigation. We await a disclosure of the facts,” Giuliani said. “We are confident that there is no finding of collusion by the President and this underscores what the President has been saying from the beginning - that he did nothing wrong.”

The president has repeatedly blasted the investigation as a “witch hunt” and has maintained his innocence, stating since May 2017 that there was “no collusion” between himself, or members of his campaign, and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller has charged 26 Russian nationals while three Russian companies have been charged with interfering in the 2016 presidential election.

But none of the Trump associates have been charged with crimes related to collusion, though Mueller’s team charged former Trump associate Roger Stone in January with lying about his communications with WikiLeaks, which published hacked Democratic emails during the election.

Other convictions include: former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who both pleaded guilty to making false statements in 2017.

Former campaign adviser Rick Gates in 2018 pleaded guilty and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted and later pleaded guilty in a separate financial crimes case dating back before the 2016 election.

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to making false statements in a case brought by Mueller in November.

Alex van der Zwaan, a London-based lawyer, pleaded guilty to making false statements this year, and Richard Pinedo, a California man, pleaded guilty to identity fraud in 2018.

Fox News’ John Roberts and Alex Pappas contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News Politics

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Venezuela’s ex-spy chief arrested in Madrid on US warrant

A Spanish National Police spokeswoman says that Hugo Chavez's longtime spy chief has been arrested in Madrid on a United States warrant for drug-trafficking offenses.

Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal, also known as "El Pollo" Carvajal, is the most influential figure from Venezuela's military to have declared his loyalty to opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

He has in the past been indicted on drug-trafficking related charges in the states of Florida and New York. He escaped extradition to the U.S. in 2014 after he was arrested briefly in Aruba, where he was Venezuela's consul.

The police spokeswoman, who wasn't authorized to be identified by name in media reports, said he was arrested Friday.

The U.S. embassy in Madrid didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Source: Fox News World

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NYPD questions suspect in killing of reputed Mafia boss

A suspect was reportedly in custody Saturday in connection with this week’s suspected gangland slaying of a reputed New York City mob boss.

The suspect was being questioned by NYPD detectives investigating the shooting of alleged Gambino crime boss Francesco “Frankie Boy” Cali in Staten Island Wednesday, according to local media reports.

Authorities found the 24-year-old suspect’s fingerprint on a license plate the hitman reportedly handed Cali before shooting him dead, the New York Post reported.

REPUTED GAMBINO CRIME BOSS KILLED IN NEW YORK CITY TRIED DODGING BULLETS BY HIDING UNDER SUV, COPS SAY

Cali, 53, was plugged six times in an encounter with a man who rammed Cali’s SUV in what police believe was a staged accident to lure Cali out of his home on Staten Island.

A source told the paper that Cali shook hands with the killer before being shot.

The Staten Island Advance reported that the suspect was a white male who lives in Staten Island and that he was apprehended Saturday morning in New Jersey.

MAFIA KILLING IS FIRST NEW YORK MOB BOSS HIT EVER RECORDED ON VIDEO: REPORT

“We know that there was a vehicle accident in front of the residence, and we believe the victim’s vehicle was struck,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea told the paper after the shooting.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Shea was also quoted as saying, “In trying to elude gunfire he fled to rear area of his personal vehicle, and was trying to get underneath the truck.”

Source: Fox News National

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Peru’s Garcia, former president and political chameleon, kills himself to avoid arrest

FILE PHOTO: Former Peruvian president Alan Garcia talks to the media as he arrives at the National Prosecution office in Lima
FILE PHOTO: Former Peruvian president Alan Garcia talks to the media as he arrives at the National Prosecution office in Lima, Peru March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Guadalupe Pardo/File Photo

April 17, 2019

By Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino

LIMA (Reuters) – Alan Garcia was the charismatic chameleon of Peruvian politics, once popular enough to be elected president twice. But his terms were filled with ups and downs and he eventually became caught up in the Odebrecht bribery scandal that rocked Latin America.

Garcia, 69, fatally shot himself in the head on Wednesday at his home in Lima as police waited in another room to arrest him in the Odebrecht case, which has ensnared three other former Peruvian presidents.

Garcia had denied the corruption allegations that had long dogged him until the end, saying he was victim of political persecution.

“Others might sell out, not me,” he told journalists in some of his last public comments on Tuesday, repeating a phrase he used often as his foes became ensnared in the bribery investigation into Brazilian builder Odebrecht in recent years.

The son of an accountant and a schoolteacher, Garcia became one of Latin America’s greatest orators and governed Peru as a firebrand leftist from 1985-1990. He remade himself as a champion of foreign investment and free trade to win another five-year term in 2006.

Garcia benefited from his family’s connections with Victor Raul Haya de La Torre, the founder of Apra, which was once Peru’s largest and most powerful political party.

After earning a law degree in Lima and studying political science in Madrid, he won a seat in Congress and in 1985 became Apra’s first president at age 36. He had promised to bring historically excluded Peruvians into the political fold and extend the country’s vast minerals wealth to the millions who lived in desperate poverty.

He once enjoyed tremendous support – near 90 percent at his height – and was touted as Peru’s John F. Kennedy.

But the popularity soon began to crack. In June 1986, security forces killed hundreds of rioting guerrilla inmates in Lima jails, putting in doubt Garcia’s reputation as a defender of human rights.

His approval sank further when he tried to nationalize banks in 1987 and refused to pay foreign debt, alienating the business class and sparking a deep recession.

The end of his term was marred by an escalating war with Shining Path guerrillas, hyperinflation surpassing 2,000,000 percent and accusations of widespread corruption.

In July 1990, he left office in disgrace.

A SECOND CHANCE

Garcia was down but not out.

After spending nine years abroad to avoid corruption probes, he eventually returned to Peru and charmed his way back into politics by convincing voters he had returned older and wiser.

He ran and lost the 2001 presidency but succeeded in re-creating his image. This time, Garcia promised, he would avoid of the mistakes of his first presidency and would control spending, attract investment and handle insurgent rebels with a heavy hand.

In 2006, Garcia again ran for the presidency and eked out a win, defeating Ollanta Humala, who had spooked investors and was closely connected in many voters’ minds with the socialist politics of Venezuela’s late former president Hugo Chavez.

In his second term, a visibly pudgier Garcia oversaw explosive economic growth. He brought billions of dollars of mining and energy investment to Peru and is credited with opening its economy to the world.

The country became a darling of global investors under his watch but his popularity continued to sink after he left office in 2011, in part due to thousands of pardons his government granted to drug traffickers in his second term.

Garcia, who had six adult children, ran for president again in 2016 but came in a distant fifth in a race of 10. He resigned as president of Apra and urged members to revamp the party without him.

Garcia was one of nine people whom a judge had ordered arrested in connection with the bribery investigation into Odebrecht on Wednesday. But he shot himself after police arrived to arrest him and died at a hospital hours later.

President Martin Vizcarra, who Garcia had accused of trying to silence him, ordered Peru’s flags to be flown at half staff.

(Reporting by Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino; Editing by Bill Trott)

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.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

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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FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.

Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.

PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.

The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.

“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.

Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.

A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.

“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”

PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.

The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.

The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.

Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)

(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.

ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”

Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.

Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.

The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.

In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.

ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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