Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

China goes all-in on home grown tech in push for nuclear dominance

FILE PHOTO: Model of nuclear reactor
FILE PHOTO: A model of the nuclear reactor "Hualong One" is pictured at the booth of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) at an expo in Beijing, China April 29, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

April 17, 2019

By David Stanway

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China plans to gamble on the bulk deployment of its untested “Hualong One” nuclear reactor, squeezing out foreign designs, as it resumes a long-delayed nuclear program aimed at meeting its clean energy goals, government and industry officials said.

China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, was once seen as a “shop window” for big nuclear developers to show off new technologies, with Beijing embarking on a program to build plants based on designs from France, the United States, Russia and Canada.

But after years of construction delays, overseas models such as Westinghouse’s AP1000 and France’s “Evolutionary Pressurised Reactor” (EPR) are now set to lose out in favor of new localized technologies, industry experts and officials said.

China signed a technology transfer deal with the United States in 2006 that put the AP1000 at the “core” of its atomic energy program. It also pledged to use advanced third-generation technology in its safety review after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

But by the time the world’s first AP1000 and EPR made their debuts in China last year, Chinese designs had become just as viable.

Though China has yet to complete its first Hualong One, officials are confident it will not encounter the delays suffered by rivals, and say it can compete on safety and cost.

Beijing has already decided to use the Hualong One for its first newly commissioned nuclear project in three years, set to begin construction later this year at Zhangzhou, a site originally earmarked for the AP1000. [nL3N2152KM]

“The problem with AP1000 – the delays, the design changes, the supply chain issues and then the trade problems – has forced their hand, and it has become Hualong,” said Li Ning, a nuclear scientist and dean of the College of Energy at Xiamen University.

He added that China’s licensing procedures would also be an advantage for the home grown tech. “For the Hualong, there are four reactors already under construction and one of them is near completion already. It is a Chinese design so it wouldn’t be very hard to license the next four,” he said.

EDF, France’s state-run utility, which helped build the EPR project at Taishan in Guangdong province, declined to comment. Westinghouse, now owned by Brookfield after entering bankruptcy restructuring, also did not respond to a request for comment.

INTERNATIONAL AMBITIONS

China’s ambitions for the Hualong One extend overseas as well. The first foreign project using the reactor is under construction in Pakistan and the model is in the running for projects in Argentina and Britain.

“(Hualong One) is competitive,” said Li Xiaoming, assistant general manager of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). “The technologies are now just about the same as those of the United States, France and Russia.”

“This is the foundation that we will rely on for our future survival and our international competitiveness,” Li said.

China already has four Hualong Ones under construction, with the first, in the southeastern coastal province of Fujian, set to go into operation late next year, ahead of schedule, said Huang Feng, a member of the expert committee of the China Nuclear Energy Association.

“China has already become one of the small number of countries that has independently mastered third-generation nuclear power technology, and it has the conditions and comparative advantages to scale up and go into mass production,” he told an industry conference.

As Beijing gets ready to commission eight reactors a year in order to meet its 2030 clean energy and emissions targets, construction speed will be a crucial consideration, benefiting local developers.

Huang said the estimated costs of Hualong One and the AP1000 were now roughly the same, and much now depended on scaling up production to cut costs and allow the Chinese design to compete not only with other reactors, but also with coal-fired power.

Li of CNNC said while foreign-designed projects would still be built, it would “make no sense” to rely on foreign technology if China’s own domestic reactors were equally safe and reliable.

“There are probably some technologies where we will continue to cooperate, but overall we will gradually turn to our own,” he said.

($1 = 6.7139 yuan)

(Reporting by David Stanway; editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Source: OANN

0 0

Beto O'Rourke seemingly endorses third-trimester abortions: 'That should be a decision the woman makes'

White House hopeful Beto O'Rourke seemingly endorsed the practice of third-trimester abortions at a campaign event in Ohio on Monday, less than a month after Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would have required doctors to provide medical care to newborns amid a swirling infanticide controversy in Virginia.

The third trimester extends from the 28th week of pregnancy up until birth, and polls consistently show that nearly 80 percent of Americans oppose such late abortions.

"Are you for third-trimester abortions?" an attendee of the campaign event in Cleveland asked O'Rourke, before describing the medical alternatives to such a procedure and disputing the medical necessity of late-term abortions. "Are you going to protect the lives of third-trimester babies? ... Are you for or against third-trimester abortions?"

O'Rourke responded: "The question is about abortion and reproductive rights. And, my answer to you is, that should be a decision the woman makes. I trust her."

He then quickly took another question, as sustained applause broke out.

Fox News reached out to O'Rourke's campaign to confirm his position on third-trimester abortions but did not receive a reply.

Alexandra Desanctis, a staff writer at the conservative National Review, characterized O'Rourke's remarks as a cynical sleight of hand.

“Notice how Beto takes an articulate question about abortion *after fetal viability* and the medical details of these procedures and restates it to the crowd as a question about “abortion and reproductive rights,” DeSanctis tweeted. “That’s what they have to do to defend third-trimester abortion."

BETO'S ROCKY ROLLOUT: LOTS OF CROWDS AND CASH, BUT ALSO LOTS OF STUMBLES 

O'Rourke already has become known on the campaign trail for speaking in generalities, and it remained unclear whether he intended specifically to endorse third-term abortions during his comments on Monday. In January, O'Rourke sat for a widely panned interview with The Washington Post, during which he refused to offer specifics on an array of policy issues. Last week, O'Rourke said he was "kicking himself" for his answers during that interview -- including when he offered the following prescription for the immigration crisis: "I don't know."

Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, last Friday. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, last Friday. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

However, there was perhaps at least one clue as to O'Rourke's intent in his career as a legislator. He co-sponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act when he was a Texas congressman in 2017 -- a bill that would have lifted most state restrictions on abortion, including waiting periods.

Abortion already has emerged as a hot-button issue in the upcoming presidential campaign -- as progressives fear that the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court could roll back abortion rights that have existed for generations, while conservatives have accused prominent Democrats of indifference to infanticide.

All prominent Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls in the Senate last month voted down The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act last month, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The GOP-backed bill would have required "any health care practitioner present" at the time of a birth, including during a failed abortion, to "exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age."

In response, President Trump tweeted that "This will be remembered as one of the most shocking votes in the history of Congress." Many Democrats had panned the bill as merely a stunt.

The legislation was introduced after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, endorsed post-birth abortions while discussing The Repeal Act, a state bill which sought to repeal restrictions on third-trimester abortions. Virginia Democratic Del. Kathy Tran, a sponsor of that bill, was asked at a hearing if a woman about to give birth and dilating could still request an abortion.

"My bill would allow that, yes,” Tran said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Northam, in a later interview with a radio station, backed up Tran. "When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of, obviously, the mother, with the consent of the physicians, more than one physician, by the way," he said. "And, it's done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that's non-viable."

Northam continued: "So, in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. So, I think this was really blown out of proportion."

Fox News' Patrick Ward contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

US Government’s Net Worth: Negative $21.5 Trillion

The net worth of the US comes in at negative $21.5 trillion.

This according to the Financial Report of the United States Government recently released by the Treasury Department.

The report is a summary of the financial condition of the United States. In a nutshell, it’s less than ideal.

Total net worth — the country’s assets minus its liabilities — is just one of many disturbing data points you will find in the report.

The US government owns $3.8 trillion in assets. The largest asset is $1.4 trillion in “net loans receivable.” These are primarily government-backed student loans totaling $1.08 trillion. In an article published by Sovereign Man, Simon Black it neatly into perspective.

“In other words, the government’s #1 asset is the debt owed to it by young people across America. That’s pretty sad.”


Prepare yourself to learn how truly uneducated college students are.

Meanwhile, the government’s liabilities total more than $25 trillion. This includes the national debt, accrued interest, and federal employee and veteran benefits.

When you include the government’s estimate of Social Security’s unfunded liabilities, the country’s net worth drops to negative $75 trillion. Black notes that this is roughly the size of the entire global economy.

It seems a bit of an understatement when the Treasury Department calls current US fiscal policy “not sustainable.”

“The long-term fiscal projections indicate that the government’s debt-to-GDP ratio will rise from 78 percent in 2018 to 530 percent over the 75-year projection period, and will continue to rise thereafter, if current policy is kept in place. The projections in this Financial Report show that current policy is not sustainable. These projections assume that current policy will continue indefinitely, and are, therefore, neither forecasts nor predictions. Nevertheless, policy changes must be enacted so that financial outcomes will be different than those projected.”

Keep in mind, the government uses a conservative debt to GDP ratio. Many analysts say the ratio already stands at 105%.

In fiscal 2018, Uncle Sam showed a net loss of $1.16 trillion. The federal government collected $3.4 trillion in tax revenue, but it spent over $4.5 trillion.

Nearly half of government spending went to Social Security and Medicare.

The government spent $523 billion paying interest on the national debt.

During fiscal year 2018, the budget deficit increased by 17.0% and gross cost increased by 4.4%.

For Fiscal Year 2018, the government reported $581 billion in equipment (mostly military), and about $500 billion in real estate.


Owen discusses this breaking news about Bernie’s platform.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

Divide: AOC Calls For Trump Impeachment Despite Pelosi Order Not To Bring Up

Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called for President Trump’s impeachment despite repeated pleas by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to bring up that subject ahead of the 2020 election.

“I think you could reach in a bag and pull so many things out that are impeachable of this President,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a Sunday interview. “I support impeaching this President.”

The remarks came the same day Pelosi appeared on “60 Minutes” to downplay Ocasio-Cortez’s socialist influence on the Democrat Party after her leadership was called into question, saying the socialist wing of the party comprises of “like five people.”


(Start at 8:00 min)

Lesley Stahl: “So you are contending with a group in Congress: Over here on the left flank are these self-described socialists, on the right, these moderates. And you yourself said that you’re the only one who can unify everybody. And the question is can you?”

Nancy Pelosi: “By and large, whatever orientation they came to Congress with, they know that we have to hold the center. That we have to be m– go down the mainstream.”

Stahl: “They know that –”

Pelosi: “They do.”

Stahl: “But it doesn’t look like that. It looks as if it – you’re – it’s fractured.”

Stahl: “You have these wings — AOC, and her group on one side –”

Pelosi: “That’s like five people.”

Stahl: “No, it’s– the progressive group is more than five.”

Pelosi: “Well, the progressive– I’m a progressive. Yeah.”

Stahl then pointed out several policies being championed by socialists, such as Medicare For All, that Pelosi had either dismissed or criticized.

Stahl: “Well, as I understand it the progressives want radical change. They wanna get rid of Obamacare and replace it with Medicare for all. I was under the impression that you had said that you do not favor Medicare for all, that– ACA, Obamacare is better.”

Pelosi last month tried to get the far-left wing of her caucus to pivot from impeachment talks after Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) submitted an impeachment resolution to Congress.

“I’ve made it really clear on impeachment,” Pelosi said. “Everybody can do whatever they want to do but that’s not a place where we are right now. Right now, we are talking about health care, we are talking about climate and building the infrastructure of America in a green way. Just like we promised in the campaign. That is what we are spending our time on.”

The fact is, Pelosi has almost no practical power over her liberal base compared to Ocasio-Cortez when it comes to setting the far-left agenda like the Green New Deal, as several Democrat presidential contenders have come out in support of the far-left’s socialist platform.

In addition to AOC, several prominent Democrats and the media are still calling for Trump’s impeachment.

“What more do we need to know? Impeachment is the only answer,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) last month.


Twitter: 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now being criticized for changing her tone while speaking to a group of African Americans. Alex Jones calls in from the road to break down the condescending attitude now common on the left.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

Turkish court upholds jail sentences on Cumhuriyet staff: paper

Headquarters of Cumhuriyet newspaper is pictured in Istanbul
Headquarters of Cumhuriyet newspaper, an opposition secularist daily, is pictured in Istanbul, Turkey, October 31, 2016. REUTERS/Murad Sezer TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

February 19, 2019

ANKARA (Reuters) – A Turkish appeals court upheld a ruling to jail journalists and executives from the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet, the paper said on Tuesday, adding that its employees will be sent back to prison to serve the remainder of their sentences.

A court last year sentenced 14 staff of Cumhuriyet – one of the few remaining voices critical of the government – to jail on charges of terrorism and supporting a U.S.-based cleric blamed for organizing an attempted coup in July, 2016.

Human rights organizations have voiced increasing concern about media freedom in Turkey, accusing President Tayyip Erdogan of using the abortive putsch as a pretext to quash dissent.

Cumhuriyet said that an appeals court had found the trial lawful and approved the convictions against its staff. The court’s decision finalizes prison sentences under five years and the rest will now go to a higher court.

Journalists Kadri Gursel and Hakan Kara, cartoonist Musa Kart, lawyer Bulent Utku, and accountant Emre Iper will be sent back to prison to complete their sentences, all of which are less than five years, Cumhuriyet said.

Editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, prominent journalist Ahmet Sik, Hikmet Cetinkaya, Orhan Erinc, Akin Atalay and Aydin Engin will appeal against their sentences, all longer than five years, at a higher court, the paper added.

The staff of Cumhuriyet were charged with supporting the network of Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric Ankara holds responsible for the failed 2016 coup attempt. They have denied the charges.

Since the failed coup, more than 77,000 people have been jailed pending trial, while about 150,000 civil servants and military personnel have been sacked or suspended from their jobs. Widespread operations and arrests are still routine.

Turkish authorities on Tuesday carried out three separate operations against alleged followers of Gulen’s network across the country, ordering the arrests of 311 people.

Authorities ordered the arrests of 53 military personnel from the army, air force and navy, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office said in a statement. The state-run Anadolu news agency said three other operations were underway the coastal province of Izmir and Ankara.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu, editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

0 0

FBI dropped requests for classified info during Clinton probe, and GOP asks why

FBI investigators looking into Hillary Clinton's email use in 2016 sought access to "highly classified information" they said was "necessary" to complete their probe, but later withdrew the request and cleared Clinton of wrongdoing.  Now, the Justice Department (DOJ) has 10 days to explain itself, three top Republican Senate committee chairmen said Tuesday.

The renewed GOP push for answers comes a month after it emerged that the DOJ negotiated an agreement with Clinton's legal team that ensured the FBI did not have access to emails on her private servers relating to the Clinton Foundation. Republicans, citing whistleblowers, have contended that the charitable organization may have been involved in pay-to-play schemes, misappropriation of funds and quid-pro-quo promises made to donors during Clinton's tenure as secretary of state.

Meanwhile, sources confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that as many as two dozen individuals may be implicated in House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes' criminal referrals to the DOJ arising out of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's recently concluded Russia probe. The sources confirmed that the referrals related in part to the anti-Trump dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele, and his work for the Clinton camp and the Democratic National Committee-funded firm Fusion GPS.

In a letter to the DOJ, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson demanded more information as to why the FBI's Clinton email investigation, known as "Midyear Exam," concluded without apparently accessing classified materials.

DOJ IG BLAMES SYSTEM-WIDE SOFTWARE GLITCH FOR MISSING FBI TEXT MESSAGES -- STRZOK'S MUELLER PHONE TOTALLY WIPED

Relying on the findings in an unclassified DOJ Inspector General (IG) report and a classified annex attached to the report, the senators noted that the FBI "acquired classified material that 'may have included information potentially relevant to the Midyear investigation,' and the bureau later "drafted a memorandum in May of 2016 stating that access to the information was 'necessary to complete the investigation.'"

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., earlier this year in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., earlier this year in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

At that time, the GOP senators noted, then-FBI Director James Comey was drafting his public statement exonerating Clinton while noting she had mishandled classified information.

However, the memorandum seeking the classified information from the DOJ "was never completed," the senators noted, and FBI witnesses claimed in interviews with the IG that the information would not have materially impacted their conclusions -- despite the language in the memo.

FBI WON'T EXPLAIN SECRETIVE COMMS BETWEEN CLINTON LAWYER AND BUREAU'S THEN-GENERAL COUNSEL, JUDICIAL WATCH SAYS

Grassley, then the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, requested an explanation for the apparent discrepancy in October 2018, but was denied.

In a Sept. 17, 2018, phone call, the DOJ "declined to brief the Judiciary Committee, asserting without any clear basis, that it would interfere with Special Counsel Mueller’s equities," the senators said Tuesday. "Now that the special counsel’s investigation has concluded, we are unaware of any legitimate basis upon which the department can refuse to answer the Judiciary Committee’s inquiries."

The senators concluded: "Accordingly, we are reissuing the attached classified letter regarding the important questions raised by the appendix and reiterating our request for a classified briefing on the subject.  Please respond to these questions no later than April 26, 2019."

“That we had to sue for this basic information shows the FBI may have something more to hide.”

— Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton

Separately on Tuesday, the transparency group Judicial Watch charged that the FBI failed to respond to its October 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking more information about secretive communications in late 2016 between a top Clinton campaign lawyer and the bureau's then-general counsel.

Additionally, the group said, the FBI has ignored September 2018 FOIA requests concerning bureau communications with, and payments to, British ex-spy Christopher Steele -- who authored the infamous anti-Trump dossier.

In response, Judicial Watch announced Tuesday it has filed lawsuits seeking the full release of all relevant documents. The flurry of litigation comes just days before Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report is set to be publicly released, with some redactions.

The Mueller report's Thursday release is expected to shed more light on the Russia investigation's conclusions that the Trump campaign did not improperly collude with Russia, despite multiple attempts by Russian-affiliated individuals to involve the Trump team in computer hacking.

The ongoing litigation and document requests could provide more information on the beginnings of the Russia investigation, which Republicans have charged was tainted with visible anti-Trump bias from the start.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“How and why did the FBI pay Christopher Steele, who was already being funded by the Clinton campaign and DNC through Fusion GPS?” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton asked in announcing the lawsuits. “That we had to sue for this basic information shows the FBI may have something more to hide.”

The separate suit to obtain the Clinton-related communications, Fitton said, aims to "fully expose the scandalous collusion between the Obama FBI and the Clinton-DNC political operation to target Hillary Clinton’s political opponent, Donald J. Trump."

Fox News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Frequent crossers of U.S.-Mexico border fret over threatened shutdown

The border fence between Mexico and the United States is pictured from Tijuana
The border fence between Mexico and the United States is pictured from Tijuana, Mexico March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Duenes

March 30, 2019

By Julio-Cesar Chavez

EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) – Workers and students who frequently cross the U.S. border with Mexico worried over the weekend about the impact on their lives if President Donald Trump follows through on a threat to shut entry points used by hundreds of thousands of people every day.

Faced with a surge of asylum seekers from Central American countries who travel through Mexico, Trump said on Friday that there was a “good likelihood” he would close the border this coming week if Mexico does not stop unauthorized immigrants from reaching the United States.

Shutting the southern frontier completely would disrupt billions of dollars in trade and millions of legal border crossings, including those made by U.S. citizen Andrea Torres.

The 22-year-old student spends weekdays with her aunt in El Paso, where she attends the local campus of the University of Texas, and weekends with her mother in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

On the border bridge linking the two cities, so many students cross every day that authorities have assigned them their own pedestrian lane.

“Right now, it’s better for me to stay in El Paso because I need to finish school,” Torres, who is studying art history, said on Friday as she headed to Juarez for the weekend.

That would mean missing her mom. “It would be really hard,” Torres said. “I’m really close to her.”

Gerardo Pozas, a 38-year-old mechanic, moved to El Paso from Juarez in 1997 to attend high school and later became a U.S. citizen. He has always retained strong ties with his birthplace. He worried what he would do if Trump closed the border.

“My family, my church and my girlfriend are (in Juarez). I wouldn’t be able to go,” Pozas said. “But if I stay there, in Ciudad Juarez, I wouldn’t be able to come to my house.”

Department of Homeland Security officials had already warned traffic with Mexico could slow as the agency shifts personnel from ports of entry to help process asylum seekers.

Delays were already being felt on Friday, with waiting times longer than usual on the Mexican side of the crossing between Juarez and El Paso, and hours-long lines for trucks carrying goods from Mexican factories into the United States.

Trade between the United States and its third-largest trading partner totaled $612 billion last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Trump, who launched his presidential campaign in 2015 with a promise to crack down on illegal immigration, has repeatedly threatened to close the border during his two years in office but has not followed through.

Mexico has played down the possibility of a border shutdown. On Friday its foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said the country does not act on the basis of threats.

(For a graphic on ‘Trump threatens to shut U.S.-Mexico border’ click https://tmsnrt.rs/2V59n2R)

(Additional reporting by Jose Luis Gonzalez in Ciudad Juarez and Julia Love in Mexico City; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Daniel Wallis and James Dalgleish)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Story Time

1:00 am 6:00 am



FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Well, Joe Biden didn’t exactly clear the field.

I don’t think it matters much that Biden waited until yesterday to become the 20th Democrat vying for the nomination, even though it exposed him to weeks of attacks while he seemed to be dithering on the sidelines.

A much greater warning sign, in my view, is the largely negative tone surrounding his debut. He is, after all, a former vice president, highly praised by Barack Obama, who has consistently led in the early primary polls, and beating President Trump in head-to-head matchups. Yet much of the press is acting like he’s an old codger and it’s just a matter of time before he keels over politically.

This is all the more remarkable in light of the fact that the vast majority of journalists and pundits know and like Joe Biden and his gregarious personality.

The reason is that Biden, after a half-century in politics, lacks excitement, and the press is magnetically attracted to novel and unorthodox types like Beto and Mayor Pete. You don’t see Biden on the cover of Vanity Fair, and a grind-it-out win by a conventional warrior doesn’t set journalistic hearts racing.

JOE BIDEN ANNOUNCES 2020 PRESIDENTIAL BID: 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE FORMER VICE PRESIDENT

For many in the media, Biden isn’t liberal enough, at least not for the post-Obama era. He doesn’t promise free college and free health care and has a history of working with Republicans, such as John McCain (whose daughter Meghan loves him, and Biden will hit “The View” today.)

What’s more, Biden’s campaign style — speak at rallies, rack up union endorsements — seems hopelessly old-fashioned when we measure popularity by Instagram followers. News outlets are predicting he’ll have trouble getting in the online fundraising game, leaving him reliant on big donors, which used to be standard practice.

And then there’s the age thing. Biden would be the oldest president to be inaugurated, at 78, and he looked a step slow in encounters with reporters yesterday and a few weeks ago.

But what if the journalists are in something of a Twitter bubble, and the actual Democratic Party is much more moderate? We saw that with the spate of allegations by women of unwanted touching, which dominated news coverage until polls showed that most Dem voters weren’t concerned. In that wider world, the Scranton guy’s connection to white, working-class voters could help him against Trump in the industrial Midwest.

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF OF THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES

Biden denounced the president’s term as an “aberrant moment” in his launch video, saying four more years would damage the country’s character and “I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”

But first, he’d have to win the nomination in the face of an unenthusiastic press corps.

A New York Times news story said Biden would be “marshaling his experience and global stature in a bid to lead a party increasingly defined by a younger generation that might be skeptical of his age and ideological moderation.”

The Washington Post quoted Democratic strategists as saying that Biden faces an “uphill battle” and “isn’t necessarily the heir apparent to Obama, despite being his No. 2 in the White House for eight years. They argue voters will judge Biden by the span of his decades-long career and are worried the veteran pol hasn’t yet found a winning formula for his own candidacy.”

The liberal Slate said the ex-veep’s rivals view him as a “paper tiger”:

“Biden is something more like a 2016 Jeb Bush: a weak establishment favorite whose time might be past … Biden’s biggest challenge in the primary will be a compromised past spanning nearly 50 years.”

“Compromised” suggests a history of scandal, yet what Slate means is political baggage, such as his backing of a Clinton-era crime bill unpopular with black voters today. Yet I think the rank and file isn’t as concerned about a vote back in 1994, or even the Anita Hill hearings, as the chattering classes.

BIDEN’S SENATE RECORD, ADVOCACY OF 1994 CRIME BILL WILL BE USED AGAINST HIM, EX-SANDERS STAFFER SAYS

One of the few left-leaning pundits to suggest the press is underestimating Biden is data guru Nate Silver at 538:

“Media coverage could nonetheless be a problem for Biden. Within the mainstream media, the story of Biden winning the nomination will be seen as boring and anticlimactic. That tends not to lead to favorable coverage. Meanwhile, some left-aligned media outlets may prefer candidates who are some combination of more leftist, more wonkish, more reflective of the party’s diversity, and more adept on social media.

“If Biden is framed as being out of touch with today’s Democratic Party and that narrative is repeated across a variety of outlets, it could begin to resonate with voters who don’t buy it initially. If he’s seen as a gaffe-prone candidate, then minor missteps on the campaign trail could be blown up into big fumbles.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Look, it’s entirely possible that Biden could stumble, get lapped in fundraising and just be outclassed by younger and savvier rivals. He was hardly a great candidate in 1987 and in 2008.

But if the former vice president finds his footing and the field narrows, the press will be forced to change its tune, and we’ll see a spate of stories about how Joe Biden has “grown.”

Source: Fox News Politics

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
South Africa's 400m Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk looks on as he attends South African Championships in Germiston
South Africa’s 400m Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk looks on as he attends South African Championships in Germiston, South Africa, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

April 26, 2019

GERMISTON, South Africa (Reuters) – Olympic 400 meters champion Wayde van Niekerk has backed South African compatriot Caster Semenya in her battle with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which now appears to have taken a new twist.

Semenya, a double 800 meters Olympic gold medalist, is waiting for the outcome of her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to halt the introduction of new regulations by governing body IAAF that would require her to take medicine to limit her natural levels of testosterone.

The IAAF wants female athletes with differences of sexual development who run in events from 400 meters to a mile, to reduce their blood testosterone level to below five (5) nmol/L for a period of six months before they can compete, saying they have an unfair advantage.

“She’s fighting for something beyond just track and field, she’s fighting for woman in sports, in society and I respect her for that,” Van Niekerk told reporters.

“I will support her and with the hard work and talent that she’s been putting into the sport. With what she believes in and what she’s dreaming for, I’ve got a lot of respect for her.

“I really hope and pray that everything just goes from strength to strength for her.”

Semenya has sprung a surprise at the on-going South African Athletics Championships though, ditching the 800 meters and instead competing over 1,500 and 5,000-metres – the latter one would not require her to medically lower her testosterone level.

She stormed to victory in the 5,000-metres final in a modest time of 16:05.97, but looked to have lots left in the tank as she passed the finish line.

Semenya beat fellow Olympian and defending national 5,000m champion Dominique Scott in Thursday’s final but the latter admitted she is unsure whether the 800m specialist could be a serious Olympic contender over the longer distance.

“Honestly‚ I have no idea‚” Scott said. “Before today I probably would have said no. It’s hard to compare a 5,000 at altitude to a 5,000 at sea level.

“But I think she’s an amazing runner and I don’t think there’s any limit or ceiling on what she can do.”

Van Niekerk, the 400m world record holder, had to abort his comeback from a knee injury, that had sidelined him for 18 months, following a combination of cold weather and a wet track.

“We are trying to take the correct decisions now early in the year so as not to put myself in any harm,” he said.

“It was a bit chilly this entire week prepping and coming through here as well it was quite cold and it caused bit of tightness in my leg. We decided to not risk it.

“My recovery is going well and I would like to be back in competition this year, but will only do so if I can deliver a good performance.

“I am a competitor and respect my opponents, so I need to be at my best when I return.”

(Reporting by Nick Said, additional reporting by Siyabonga Sishi; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

The suspected leader of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka died in the Shangri-La hotel, one of six hotels and churches targeted in the attacks that killed at least 250 people, authorities said.

Police said Mohamed Zahran, leader of the National Towheed Jamaat militant group, had been killed in one of the bombings. The group’s second in command was also arrested, police said.

Zahran amassed an online following for his hate-filled sermons. Some were delivered before a banner depicting the Twin Towers.

Sri Lankan authorities said Friday that Islamic cleric Mohammed Zahran died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel during the Easter Sunday atatcks that killed at least 250 people. 

Sri Lankan authorities said Friday that Islamic cleric Mohammed Zahran died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel during the Easter Sunday atatcks that killed at least 250 people.  (YouTube)

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that the attackers responsible for the bombings were supported by the Islamic State group. Around 140 people in Sri Lanka had connections to ISIS, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said.

“We will completely control this and create a free and peaceful environment for people to live,” he said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Investigators determined the attackers received military training from someone called “Army Mohideen.” They also received weapons training overseas and at some locations in Sri Lanka, according to authorities.

A copper factory operator arrested in connection with the bombings helped Mohideen make improvised explosive devices, police said. The bombings have led to increased security throughout the island nation as authorities warned of another attack.

Source: Fox News World

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist