Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Large blast outside crowded restaurant in Somalia's capital

A Somali police officer says an explosives-laden vehicle has detonated outside a restaurant in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein says the blast occurred as the restaurant in Waberi district was crowded with diners.

There is no immediate word of casualties.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group often targets high-profile areas in Mogadishu with suicide bombings.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Combined NCAA championships planned for 2020, 2023

NCAA Basketball: Final Four-City Scenes
Apr 8, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; A general view of a national championship trophy sculpture outside before the championship game between the Virginia Cavaliers and Texas Tech Red Raiders. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

April 24, 2019

The NCAA will crown the men’s basketball champions from Divisions I, II and III in Atlanta in 2020, with the women to follow the same combined format in Dallas in 2023.

The 2020 NCAA Men’s Final Four will be April 4 and 6 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, with the Division II and Division III championships decided April 5 at State Farm Arena.

The 2023 Women’s Final Four will take place March 31 and April 2, and the D-II and D-III title games will be on April 1. All games will be at the American Airlines Center.

“Conducting all three basketball championships in one city on the same weekend provides student-athletes from each division a unique experience,” Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, said in a statement Wednesday. “We’re thrilled that our membership approved of doing this again, and we’re confident that this is going to be another huge success.”

This is the second time for both sports that the same city has hosted all three championship events, with Atlanta hosting the men in 2013 and the women finishing in Indianapolis in 2016.

“What struck me when we last did this in Atlanta in 2013 were the looks on the faces of the Division II and III student-athletes when they were introduced during the Final Four in front of 70,000 people,” Gavitt said. “You could tell how special it was for them, their families and the fans of those schools to get that type of recognition.”

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

0 0

New Zealand citizens open to gun reform after massacre

The New Zealand leader's promise of tightened gun laws in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings has been widely welcomed by a stunned population.

Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern said her Cabinet will consider the details of the change on Monday. She has said options include a ban on private ownership of semi-automatic rifles that were used with devastating effect in Christchurch and a government-funded buyback of newly outlawed guns.

Christchurch gun owner Max Roberts predicted Ardern won't face serious opposition to her in-principle agenda.

Elliot Dawson survived the shooting at Christchurch's Linwood mosque by hiding in a bathroom. She hopes New Zealand follows Australia's lead on gun control.

Australia's virtual ban on private ownership of semi-automatic rifles cut the size of the country's civilian arsenal by almost a third.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Vultures circle Berlusconi’s Forza Italia as support ebbs away

Forza Italia leader Berlusconi speaks following a talk with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale palace in Rome
FILE PHOTO: Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi speaks following a talk with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale palace in Rome, Italy, April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Max Rossi

April 14, 2019

By Angelo Amante and Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) – Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could suffer mass defections from his Forza Italia group if it performs badly in next month’s EU elections, putting the very future of the group at risk, party politicians said.

Any fragmentation of Forza Italia would reinforce the position of Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who heads the rightist League, as undisputed leader of Italy’s conservative bloc, and potentially strengthen the government in parliament.

It would also almost certainly trigger Berlusconi’s retreat from frontline politics and open the way for a new leadership to try to rebuild the once dominant moderate, center-right, now under siege from eurosceptic nationalist groups.

Berlusconi’s political obituary has been written repeatedly in the past, only for the 82-year-old media tycoon to defy the naysayers and reclaim a central role in Italian public life.

But with his party’s polling numbers in a prolonged decline and with his once-junior partner, the League, now Italy’s most popular party, Forza Italia veterans are growing anxious.

“For our future it’s very important that we get at least 10 percent at the European election,” said a senior Forza Italia lawmaker and former minister who asked not to be named.

“Below that psychological threshold people will jump ship and try to join up with the League. It’s Newton’s rule of gravity, larger forces pull in little ones,” he told Reuters.

Opinion polls since the start of April have put the party at anywhere between 8.7 and 12.1 percent, down from 14 percent it took in the 2018 national election and compared to a 30.5-35.7 percent banding for the League.

“If Forza Italy is unable to redefine its leadership and its agenda, it runs big risks,” Roberto Weber, head of the Ixe polling institute, told Reuters.

DESERTERS

Although the League and Forza Italia ran together in last year’s ballot, their relationship has soured since Salvini abandoned his allies and formed a coalition with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement — Berlusconi’s bete noire.

The two groups still stand united in local elections, but the League has suggested it might not tie the knot again at a national level, worried that being associated with the elderly, out-of-mode Berlusconi would dent its newfound popularity.

“The longer we govern with 5-Star, the more it enters the public conscience and it would be hard to understand why the League would run with the center-right,” said Riccardo Molinari, the League’s parliamentary party leader in the lower house.

That League might nonetheless be interested in signing up disenchanted Forza Italia politicians, especially in the south where it is looking to extend its reach. The nationalist Brothers of Italy, another longtime Berlusconi ally, also appears eager to cannibalize its partner.

Italian politicians have a long tradition of switching parties — in the last legislature almost 350 of the 945 parliamentarians changed sides for various reasons. They also have a habit of abandoning sinking ships.

Molinari laughed when asked if the League might be tempted to try to lure away Forza Italia lawmakers, particularly in the Senate where the coalition majority is in single digits.

“I think they might be tempted to join us. It is clear that there are lots of elected politicians from lots of parties that want to join the League,” he said.

A Forza Italia senator, who declined to be named, agreed: “Lawmakers have to deal with their survival instinct,” he said.

DISAFFECTED

Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni is already poaching Forza Italia members and will put forward four ex-Berlusconi men as candidates for her own party in the May 26 EU vote.

“Berlusconi’s political project has come to an end,” said Stefano Maullu, a member of the European parliament, who had been a member of Forza Italia for 24 years before switching to Brothers of Italy last November.

Meloni is working with one of Forza Italia’s best known faces, Giovanni Toti, the governor of the northern region of Liguria, with an eye to creating a newlook party after the European elections, political sources said.

Brothers of Italy is on around 5 percent in the polls but hopes to boost this number by siphoning away disaffected Berlusconi stalwarts and thereby broaden its voter base.

A newly minted group would be allied to the League in future elections, but would not join the coalition because 5-Star did not want to broaden the ruling alliance, sources said.

Another source in Forza Italia, who declined to be named, said she expected Berlusconi would finally take a step back if next month’s vote went badly, with model-turned-politician Mara Carfagna a leading contender to take the reins.

Berlusconi created Forza Italia 25 years ago and despite repeated legal woes and health alarms, he has never shown any sign of wanting to relinquish control or retire from politics.

Although he is standing in next month’s European election, there are nonetheless signs that the end of an era is nearing.

Last month Il Giornale newspaper, which is controlled by the Berlusconi family, announced it was closing its newsroom in Rome — the epicenter of Italian politics — and refocusing on the business capital Milan.

Berlusconi told reporters this month that he was looking into the matter and had no other comment to make.

“When Berlusconi was strong something like this would never have happened,” said a journalist with the paper, who declined to be named because of ongoing union negotiations.

(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones; editing by Anna Willard)

Source: OANN

0 0

Gillibrand Says She Wants to ‘Fight Back’ on Trump Hate

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said Friday she's running for president because she wants to "fight back" against President Donald Trump and how he has "destroyed the moral fabric" of who the United States is as a country.

"I think what the voters want is someone who's authentic, someone who does the right thing, fighting for the right things, someone that wants to serve and put others first," the New York Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."  "What I've shown in my career I do take on the tough fights."

She said she thinks the Democratic base is looking for bold ideas, but they may not agree with all of hers, including a plan for paying for college through national public service or time in the military.

"It's an expansion of the GI Bill," she said, adding that it is a better solution to making college more accessible and affordable.

Biden has said he'll change his behavior and that is important, said Gillibrand, but there is still no reason why women can't "tell their truth and their value and what's happened to them."

When Biden decides to run, it will be up to him to sort out the issue, said Gillibrand, but for everyone else, it allows women to be heard and valued.

"You can have both conversations," she said. "You just have to be clear about what's what."

Source: NewsMax Politics

0 0

An Evil So Great That America May Not Be Able To Ever Recover From It

Approximately 800,000 children go missing in the United States every year, and many of them end up in the hands of sex traffickers. 

After you read what I have to share with you, I guarantee that you will start watching your children much more carefully when they are in public.  Earlier today I received an email from one of my readers encouraging me to check out John W. Whitehead’s latest article.  So I did, and I was absolutely horrified by what I learned.  In America today, authorities believe that the number of under-age sex workers is somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000.  Those children are purchased millions of times a year, and it has become a 9.5 billion dollar industry.  Every major city in the U.S. has a problem with child slavery, but there are certain areas (such as Washington D.C.) that have become central hubs.  This is a major national crisis, and yet for some reason very few members of Congress are making this issue a priority.

Lately I have been writing a lot about how America has become a completely lawless nation, and this is a perfect example.  According to Whitehead, some of the children being bought and sold are as young as 9 years old…

Children, young girls—some as young as 9 years old—are being bought and sold for sex in America. The average age for a young woman being sold for sex is now 13 years old.

This is America’s dirty little secret.

Sex trafficking—especially when it comes to the buying and selling of young girls—has become big business in America, the fastest growing business in organized crime and the second most-lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns.


Now that the Deep State coup has been exposed, insiders say President Trump is ready to use every tool he has to finally defeat the Deep State. Alex explains how more than ever now is the time for patriots to support the president’s America First agenda.

As investigative journalist Amy Fine Collins notes, “It’s become more lucrative and much safer to sell malleable teens than drugs or guns. A pound of heroin or an AK-47 can be retailed once, but a young girl can be sold 10 to 15 times a day—and a ‘righteous’ pimp confiscates 100 percent of her earnings.”

With all of the law enforcement resources at our disposal, our nation could destroy this industry if it really wanted to do so.

In his article, Whitehead says that a single child “might be raped by 6,000 men during a five-year period of servitude“.

Just one child.

And since there are at least 100,000 child slaves in the United States today, we are talking about potentially millions of men that are committing acts of evil so horrific that they should immediately be given the death penalty.

Once a nation has fallen this low, how can it ever recover?

In one federal case, a child slave testified that “she was forced to have sex with as many as 20 men a night”

As David McSwane recounts in a chilling piece for the Herald-Tribune: “In Oakland Park, an industrial Fort Lauderdale suburb, federal agents in 2011 encountered a brothel operated by a married couple. Inside ‘The Boom Boom Room,’ as it was known, customers paid a fee and were given a condom and a timer and left alone with one of the brothel’s eight teenagers, children as young as 13. A 16-year-old foster child testified that he acted as security, while a 17-year-old girl told a federal judge she was forced to have sex with as many as 20 men a night.”

This sort of evil is taking place every night in America, and it should be eradicated.

But our national leaders don’t seem too interested in making that happen.

Every single day, young girls are being abducted and forced into slavery.  They are sold to men for as little as $25, and their pimps make up to $200,000 per childevery year.

Of course many of the children forced into such a lifestyle don’t live very long.  According to Whitehead, the average life expectancy for these victims is just seven years

Those being sold for sex have an average life expectancy of seven years, and those years are a living nightmare of endless rape, forced drugging, humiliation, degradation, threats, disease, pregnancies, abortions, miscarriages, torture, pain, and always the constant fear of being killed or, worse, having those you love hurt or killed.

Stopping this horror should be right at the top of the list of our national priorities, and yet I very rarely hear any politician even mention this crisis.

And even if we put an end to all sex trafficking, we would still have a massive national child abuse problem to deal with.

The following numbers come from the National Center for Victims of Crime

  • 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse;
  • Self-report studies show that 20% of adult females and 5-10% of adult males recall a childhood sexual assault or sexual abuse incident;
  • During a one-year period in the U.S., 16% of youth ages 14 to 17 had been sexually victimized;
  • Over the course of their lifetime, 28% of U.S. youth ages 14 to 17 had been sexually victimized;
  • Children are most vulnerable to CSA between the ages of 7 and 13.

We have now raised several generations of Americans that have absolutely no moral foundation, and so we shouldn’t be surprised that evil is multiplying all around us.

If America is going to have any sort of a positive future, we must turn from lawlessness, but instead our nation continues to run away from God very rapidly.

It has gotten so bad that top political leaders such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton really struggle to even say the word “Christian”.

A political solution is not going to solve the problems that I have talked about in this article.  What we really need is a spiritual revolution, and we need it as soon as possible.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

Factbox: UK car production – Who builds what and where?

FILE PHOTO - Cars made by Nissan are seen parked at the Nissan car plant in Sunderland
FILE PHOTO - Cars made by Nissan are seen parked at the Nissan car plant in Sunderland, Britain February 4, 2019. REUTERS/Phil Noble

February 18, 2019

By Costas Pitas

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s overwhelmingly foreign-owned car industry built 1.52 million cars last year, a decline of 9 percent on the year before, with output forecast to drop further in 2019.

The sector faces challenges including declining diesel vehicle sales, stricter regulations, speeding up the development of electric vehicles and Brexit, which could end free trade terms with the European Union that the industry says is vital.

A British lawmaker told Reuters on Monday that Japanese carmaker Honda was set to announce the closure of its British plant in 2022 with the loss of 3,500 jobs.

Following are details on the major carmakers in Britain.

JAGUAR LAND ROVER

Britain’s biggest carmaker made 449,304 cars last year at its three production sites: Castle Bromwich and Solihull in central England, and Halewood in northwest England.

The firm, owned by India’s Tata Motors, posted a 15.6 percent drop in British output in 2018.

The company’s 2018 British output comprised a series of models: The F-type, F-Pace, XE, XF, XJ, Discovery, Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar.

Its cars are exported around the world.

NISSAN

The Japanese carmaker produced 442,254 cars in 2018 at its Sunderland plant in northeast England, a decline of 10.7 percent on 2017.

Earlier this month, the company canceled plans to build its new X-Trail sport utility vehicle in Britain, citing the need to invest in new technologies but also raising the issue of Brexit uncertainty.

The company makes the Juke, Leaf, Qashqai and Infiniti models in Britain, which are mainly exported to EU countries.

MINI

Mini, owned by Germany’s BMW, was the only one of the six major carmakers in Britain to announce an increase in output in 2018, with volumes rising 7 percent to 234,183 cars.

The company’s Oxford factory in southern England makes the Mini.

TOYOTA

The Japanese carmaker made 129,070 cars at its Burnaston facility in central England in 2018 and is currently ramping up production of its new Corolla model.

Output at the site fell 10.4 percent last year, according to industry data.

Toyota also produces engines at a separate facility and its British-made cars are sold across Europe.

HONDA

The Japanese carmaker’s Swindon site in southern England made 160,676 cars in 2018, down 2.1 percent on 2017.

Honda makes the Civic and CR-V models there but had already announced plans to cut production prior to the decision to shut the site, which is set to be confirmed on Tuesday.

VAUXHALL

Vauxhall, owned by Peugeot maker PSA Group, built 77,481 cars in Britain last year, a 15.9 percent decline on the previous year.

The firm, which trades as Opel in continental Europe, produces its Astra model in Ellesmere Port, northwest England, but the firm has announced a series of job cuts in recent years as demand has dropped.

The company also produces the Vivaro van at its southern English factory in Luton.

OTHERS

Smaller luxury carmakers Aston Martin, BMW-owned Rolls-Royce, McLaren and Bentley are among the other carmakers operating in Britain, which produce smaller volumes.

U.S. automaker Ford makes no vans or cars in the country, but builds nearly 1.3 million engines at two sites, in Dagenham, southeast England, and Bridgend, Wales, accounting for nearly half of Britain’s total automotive engine output.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



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

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

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

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

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.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

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

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

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

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