FILE PHOTO: Logo of Tencent is displayed at a news conference in Hong Kong, China March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
March 19, 2019
(Reuters) – Tencent Holdings Ltd is putting about 10 percent of its managers on notice, as China’s largest gaming and social media company shakes up its workforce amid cooling growth and intensified competition, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
The company’s lowest-performing general managers will need to leave or be demoted, mainly because not much staff-pruning has occurred in the past, President Martin Lau told an internal meeting late last year, the report said.
Tencent, which will report earnings later this week, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
This comes after a report said last month JD.com Inc, one of China’s largest e-commerce sites, would lay off 10 percent of its senior executives this year.
(Reporting by Bhanu Pratap in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
This Sept. 12, 2015, photo provided by Jacqueline Sones shows a Janolus Nudibranch in Bodega Harbor, Calif. A new study reports that dozens of warm-weather species of sea slugs, jellyfish and other marine life migrated into the northern California region over an unusually long two-year period of severe heatwaves. The University of California, Davis report is to be published Tuesday, March 12, 2019, in Scientific Reports. (Jacqueline Sones via AP)
SAN FRANCISCO – Dozens of species of sea slugs, jellyfish and other marine life from toastier southern waters migrated into the Northern California region over an unusually long two-year period of severe heatwaves, says a new scientific report.
The 67 species identified in the report include a carnivorous sea slug that preys on other sea slugs and a sea snail "butterfly" usually spotted hundreds of miles away off the coast of Mexico. The study by the University of California, Davis is to be published Tuesday in Scientific Reports.
Not all the species stuck around, but the abundance of migration provides a glimpse of what the Northern California coast might look like in the future, said Eric Sanford, lead author and UC Davis professor.
"I've been working here for 14 years and before our very eyes we are seeing a shift in the local marine communities," he said.
The 2014-2016 period studied by researchers began in the Gulf of Alaska as a persistently warm patch in 2013 known as the "warm-water Blob" that spread south. Later, an El Nino event along the equator moved north, and the two factors led to unusually warm waters.
Temperatures in Northern California waters, which normally range from 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 13 Celsius), increased 3.5 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit.
Larry Crowder, a professor at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station who is not affiliated with the study, said the report is impressive in documenting how species respond to change differently and, in some cases, dramatically.
He said the report could help studies in fisheries management.
"We're not sure what it means in terms of positive or negative consequences," Crowder said, but he says "the system is changing under our feet."
Of the 67 species, researchers documented 37 had set new records in traveling north.
Sanford said the first species they noticed was a purple striped jellyfish that washed up by their research laboratory in Bodega Bay, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of San Francisco. That was in July 2014.
"That was the first indication that we were starting to see unusual things," he said.
From there, researchers catalogued chocolate porcelain crabs, a species that has been in Northern California for about a decade but which boomed in population in warmer temperatures. They found violet sea snails, only the fourth known record of the species north of Santa Barbara County, and a type of sea slug called the Janolus Nudibranch, usually found south of Monterey County.
Sanford doesn't necessarily view the changes as negative, but migration will affect the ecosystem. Researchers, for example, discovered that a species of sea slug that eats other sea slugs has moved north —and appears to be sticking around.
"There's potential for that species to change the community by eating other species," he said.
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JERUSALEM – Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be headed toward a historic fifth term as Israel's prime minister on Wednesday, with near-final election results giving his right-wing Likud and its traditional Jewish ultra-Orthodox and nationalist allies a solid majority in parliament.
Here's a look at what comes next:
FINAL RESULTS
There are still some votes to be counted as ballots of soldiers, diplomats, prisoners, hospital patients and some others who vote in unusual circumstances take a bit longer to tally. The full picture usually emerges within a day, in this case Thursday, but since a couple of parties are teetering along the electoral threshold and their political survival depends on every vote, legal appeals seem likely. That could extend the process, with no specific guidelines on how long this could take. The Central Elections Committee releases final results eight days after an election — meaning April 17.
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THE PRESIDENT
Once the full picture is clear, attention shifts to President Reuven Rivlin. Though his responsibilities are mostly ceremonial, the president is charged with choosing a candidate for prime minister after consulting with party leaders and determining who has the best chance of putting together a stable majority coalition. That responsibility is usually given to the head of the largest party, but not necessarily.
Rivlin will meet with the heads of all parties and hear their recommendation in the coming days. He will then task the leading candidate, who will have 42 days to form a coalition government. If he fails, the president can turn to another candidate and give him 28 days to form an alternative coalition. If that too fails, which has never happened, new elections are called.
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RULING COALITION
Israeli democracy operates on a parliamentary system of proportional-representation in which the government needs a majority to rule. Since no party has ever earned more than 61 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, a coalition is required.
Netanyahu's Likud and Benny Gantz's Blue and White party were deadlocked on Wednesday at 35 seats in the 120-seat parliament. But even if Likud eventually drops below, Netanyahu will likely still get the nod given the size of his bloc, which currently holds a 65-55 advantage. Likud has traditionally had an alliance with the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, and the pro-settler Jewish Home party that this time aligned with the anti-Arab Jewish Power faction. Though nationalist ministers Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked of the newly formed "New Right" party look to have come up short of the electoral threshold, Netanyahu still has enough other right-wing and religious parties at his disposal.
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WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THAT?
The ceremonial opening of the 21st Knesset, or parliament, will take place on April 29 or 30. This ceremony usually happens two weeks after the election, but due to the Passover holiday, it will be delayed this year by a week. By the end of May, the candidate tasked with building a coalition is required to sign agreements with his partners to present the new government. By early June, the new government is sworn in.
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NETANYAHU'S LEGAL TIMETABLE
Israel's attorney general has recommended indicting Netanyahu on bribery and breach of trust charges in three separate cases, and Netanyahu's legal situation will hover over his next term in office. Attorney General Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will only decide on indicting Netanyahu after a legally mandated hearing. Legal experts expect at least some charges to be filed. Mandelblit said he will send detailed material to Netanyahu's lawyers after the election in advance of the hearing, though it was not clear exactly when this would happen.
Once the lawyers have all the paperwork, they usually get a month to prepare. But since the various Netanyahu cases are complicated it may take longer, with the hearing pushed back to later in the summer. Though not legally required to resign if formally charged, Netanyahu may be pushed out by some coalition partners who will refuse to keep serving under him in such a circumstance.
Mug shot for Suse Antunez-Garcia, 26, accused of murder trying to stop a "beer skip" at a Las Vegas convenience store where she worked. (Las Vegas Metro Police )
Las Vegas police say a woman working at a convenience store has been charged with murder after using deadly lethal force trying to stop a “beer skip” theft.
Police said Suse Antunez-Garcia, 26, was working at the gas station convenience store just before 6:15 a.m. Friday when she fired two rounds into a vehicle, striking the victim, a man in his 40s, in the lower back and in the leg.
“The male victim was shot while he was getting back into the vehicle during the beer skip,” Lt. Ray Spencer said, according to video posted by Fox 5 Las Vegas.
He was dropped off at a hospital 15 minutes after the shooting and was pronounced dead.
The victim was shot after he and a female accomplice entered the store and stole three cases of beer, Spencer said. They arrived in a vehicle being driven by a second man.
Antunez-Garcia fired her weapon after she chased after the store manager who ran out first and tried to stop the man and woman from fleeing, the lieutenant said.
This comes after Venezuelan President Maduro said he would request China, Russia, Cuba and Iran, as well as the UN, to probe a recent attack on the country’s power grids that left the country’s vast territories without electricity for several days.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has voiced Beijing’s readiness to help Venezuela restore its energy supply system.
At the same time, according to a statement made by Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information Jorge Rodriguez on Tuesday, operation of the country’s power grids has almost fully resumed throughout the country, which had experienced a blackout for five days.
FEDERICO PARRA/AFP/Getty Images
While Caracas blames the US and the Western-backed opposition for the “sabotage” of the electricity system, President Nicolas Maduro has also announced he would ask the United Nations, Russia China, Cuba and Iran to probe the reasons behind the cyberattack on the energy supply system.
According to Maduro, after a five-day nationwide blackout the Venezuelan authorities have managed to eliminate the consequences of the attack that “was carried out from the US territory”.
The blackout hit Venezuela on 7 March, as national electricity supplier Corpoelec reported of “sabotage” at a major hydroelectric power plant called Guri. Media subsequently reported about power outages in 21 of 23 Venezuelan states. Maduro has blamed the United States for waging an energy war against Venezuela, while Washington has denied having a role in the crisis.
Dr. Nick Begich breaks down the booming middle class in Asia and exposes how the west’s economy has been systematically transferred eastward to allow for this financial boom, especially in China.
Video showing heavily-armed men escorting illegal migrants across the U.S. southern border was shared by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
At least five men appearing to be wearing tactical gear and toting rifles can be observed bringing a Guatemalan woman and her child to a border fence near Lukeville, Arizona, under cover of darkness.
One of the men can be seen crossing the barrier with the two migrants and walking a short distance with them before rejoining his comrades.
“Border Patrol cameras observed armed men escorting a mother and her 8-year-old son to the int’l boundary west of Lukeville, AZ,” CBP tweeted.
“The armed men dropped off the pair in an area commonly used by smugglers to bring large groups of Central Americans into the country illegally.”
#BorderPatrol cameras observed armed men escorting a mother and her 8-year-old son to the int’l boundary west of Lukeville, AZ. The armed men dropped off the pair in an area commonly used by smugglers to bring large groups of Central Americans into the country illegally. pic.twitter.com/xwJZZgvlbD
“Roughly a dozen agents responded when camera operators noticed the incursion Saturday night,” Fox News reports. “The mother and son remain in government custody.”
“Border officials said the incident represents how criminal organizations are behind the lucrative surge of Central American immigrants. Guatemalans are paying roughly $7,000 to smugglers for transport from their home to the U.S. border.”
A border official expressed their concern about the organized and militant nature of the operation.
“This is highly unusual and highly concerning to the agency,” the official told Fox News. “These armed individuals along the border represent an escalation of tactics. This is not mom and dad and kids deciding to head to the border. This is a no kidding, orchestrated effort to bring individuals to the US. It is not just the numbers. It’s who is running this enterprise.”
Alex Jones breaks down the globalists’ plan to destroy borders worldwide before bringing in their New World Order under complete totalitarian rule, and the United States is the biggest, strongest bordered nation that stands in the way of the globalists bringing all the people of the world into domesticated submission under their race-based communist system.
Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta, Cyprus, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Stefanos Kouratzis
April 26, 2019
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cypriot police searched on Friday for more victims of a suspected serial killer, in a case which has shocked the Mediterranean island and exposed the authorities to charges of “criminal indifference” because the dead women were foreigners.
The main opposition party, the left-wing AKEL, called for the resignation of Cyprus’s justice minister and police chief.
Police were combing three different locations west of the capital Nicosia for victims of the suspected killer, a 35-year-old army officer who has been in detention for a week.
The bodies of three women, including two thought to be from the Philippines, have been recovered. Police sources said the suspect had indicated the location of the third body, found on Thursday, and had said the person was “either Indian or Nepali”.
Police said they were searching for a further four people, including two children, based on the suspect’s testimony.
“These women came here to earn a living, to help their families. They lived away from their families. And the earth swallowed them, nobody was interested,” AKEL lawmaker Irene Charalambides told Reuters.
“This killer will be judged by the court but the other big question is the criminal indifference shown by the others when the reports first surfaced. I believe, as does my party, that the justice minister and the police chief should resign. They are irrevocably exposed.”
Police have said they will investigate any perceived shortcomings in their handling of the case.
One person who did attempt to alert the authorities over the disappearances, a 70-year-old Cypriot citizen, said his motives were questioned by police.
The bodies of the two Filipino women reported missing in May and August 2018 were found in an abandoned mine shaft this month. Police discovered the body of the third woman at an army firing range about 14 km (9 miles) from the mine shaft.
Police are now searching for the six-year-old daughter of the first victim found, a Romanian mother who disappeared with her eight-year-old child in 2016, and a woman from the Phillipines who vanished in Dec. 2017.
The suspect has not been publicly named, in line with Cypriot legal practice.
A public vigil for the missing was planned later on Friday.
(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Gareth Jones)
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson
April 26, 2019
LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.
The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.
The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo
April 26, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.
The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.
Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.
But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.
Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.
High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.
It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.
Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.
“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.
The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.
Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.
Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.
Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.
Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.
This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff
April 26, 2019
By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh
(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.
The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.
Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.
Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.
“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.
Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.
“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.
U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.
Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.
Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.
Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.
Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.
Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.
Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.
Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.
Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.
(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
April 26, 2019
By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan
(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.
Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.
Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.
WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?
The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.
Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”
Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.
HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?
The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.
Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.
The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.
The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.
No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.
Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.
Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.
CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?
No.
Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.
“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.
“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”
PROOF OF WRONGDOING?
In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.
Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”
PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?
Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.
In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.
The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.
WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?
A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)
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