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DOJ Now Argues Obamacare Should be Struck Down

The Trump administration is now looking to the courts to completely throw out Obamacare.

In a letter filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, the Justice Department is asking that a lower court’s ruling that the healthcare law is unconstitutional now be affirmed, USA Today is reporting.

U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas had ruled the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, was no longer constitutional because Congress had repealed the requirement that people buy insurance or pay a penalty.

Axios reported that if the DOJ gets its way the ACA’s insurance exchanges would go away and so would its Medicaid expansion. In addition, millions would lose their coverage.

And Axios noted that the Trump administration had initially argued that the courts should only toss out the individual mandate and protections for pre-existing conditions.

Jonathan Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve School of Law, writing on Reason.com, said the latest DOJ position was “astounding.”

“I was among those who cheered the selection of William Barr as Attorney General and hoped his confirmation would herald the elevation of law over politics within the Justice Department. I am still hopeful, but this latest filing is not a good sign.”

Meanwhile, the DOJ is defending its decision.

 "The Department of Justice has determined that the district court's comprehensive opinion came to the correct conclusion and will support it on appeal," Kerri Kupec, spokesperson for the Justice Department, is quoted by CNN.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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College Scandal Student Speaks Out: 'I Am Sorry'

One of the students whose parents are accused of paying a college admissions consultant to illegally help him get into school has apologized for the situation that has grabbed national headlines this week.

Jack Buckingham, whose mother Jane allegedly paid $50,000 to have someone else take her son's ACT test so he could get a better grade, told The Hollywood Reporter he wanted to speak out despite being told not to.

"I know there are millions of kids out there both wealthy and less fortunate who grind their a– off just to have a shot at the college of their dreams," Buckingham said. "I am upset that I was unknowingly involved in a large scheme that helps give kids who may not work as hard as others an advantage over those who truly deserve those spots.

"For that I am sorry, though I know my word does not mean much to many people at the moment. While the situation I am going through is not a pleasant one, I take comfort in the fact that this might help finally cut down on money and wealth being such a heavy factor in college admissions. Instead, I hope colleges may prioritize [looking at] an applicants' character, intellect, and other qualities over everything else."

Jane Buckingham is the founder of the boutique marketing firm Trendera.

The $25 million admissions scandal also involved Hollywood actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

Source: NewsMax America

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Stock futures subdued after weak manufacturing data from Europe

Traders work on the floor at the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 18, 2019

By Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were muted on Thursday, as weak manufacturing data out of Europe underscored concerns of a global slowdown, while investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the release of a long-awaited Mueller report.

French and German surveys of purchasing managers for April showed that manufacturing activity in euro zone’s two biggest economies continued to contract.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election will be released on Thursday, providing the first public look at the findings of an inquiry that has cast a shadow over Donald Trump’s presidency.

Attorney General William Barr will hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the report, ahead of the release.

At 6:59 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 27 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 1.75 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 4.25 points, or 0.06%.

On trade, Washington and Beijing set a tentative timeline for a fresh round of face-to-face meetings ahead of a possible signing ceremony in late May or early June, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Honeywell International Inc shares rose 1.9% after reporting a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raising its full-year financial forecast.

Of the 54 S&P 500 companies that have posted earnings so far, 79.6% have beaten consensus, according to Refinitiv data.

Analysts now expect first-quarter profits for S&P 500 companies to have dropped 1.8% year-on-year, an improvement from recent estimates, but would still be the first earnings decline since 2016.

Honeywell International Inc shares rose 1.9% after reporting a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raising its full-year financial forecast.

Kinder Morgan Inc rose 1.3 percent after Chief Executive Steven Kean said the company has begun internal discussions about building a third natural gas pipeline in the Permian Basin.

Investors are also awaiting the hotly-anticipated debut of online scrapbook company Pinterest Inc, the first high-profile initial public offering of a “tech unicorn” after Lyft Inc’s struggles.

Commerce Department report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, is likely to show U.S. retail sales rebounded 0.9 percent in March after a 0.2 percent decline in February.

(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Source: OANN

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US: Alabama woman who joined Islamic State is not a citizen

An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria won't be allowed to return to the United States with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen, the U.S. said Wednesday. Her lawyer is challenging that claim.

In a brief statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no details as to how the administration made their determination.

"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," he said. "She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States."

But Hassan Shibly, a lawyer for the woman, insisted Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined the Islamic State in 2014. He says she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.

"She's an American. Americans break the law," said Shibly, a lawyer with the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and that's all she's asking for."

Muthana and her son are now in a refugee camp in Syria, along with others who fled the remnants of the Islamic State.

Shibly said that the administration argues that she didn't qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat. But the lawyer said her father had not had diplomatic status at the time of her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey.

He released a copy of the woman's birth certificate, issued two months after her birth on Oct. 28, 1994, to support his claim.

The lawyer also provided to The Associated Press a letter from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations to what was then known as the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services attesting to the fact that the woman's father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, was a member of the Yemeni diplomatic mission to the U.N. from Oct. 15, 1990 to Sept. 1, 1994.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday on Twitter that he was behind the decision to deny her entry, tweeting that "I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!"

The announcement came a day after Britain said that it was stripping the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old who left the country in 2015 with two friends to join the Islamic State and recently gave birth in a refugee camp.

It also comes as the U.S. has urged allies to back citizens who joined IS but are now in the custody of the American-backed forces fighting the remnants of the brutally extremist group that once controlled a vast area spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.

Muthana's lawyer said she was "just a stupid, naive, young dumb woman," when she became enamored of Islamic State, believing it was an organization that protected Muslims.

Shibly said she fled her family in Alabama and made her way to Syria, where she was "brainwashed" by IS and compelled to marry one of the group's soldiers. After he was killed, she married another, the father of her son.

After her second husband was also killed she married a third IS fighter but she "became disenchanted with the marriage," and decided to escape, the lawyer said.

Shibly, based in Tampa, Florida, said he intends to file a legal challenge to the government's decision to deny her entry to the country.

Muthana's status had been considered by lawyers from the departments of State and Justice since her case arose, according to one U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official would not elaborate but said Pompeo's statement was based on the lawyers' conclusions.

The State Department declined to disclose details about her father or Muthana's case, citing privacy law.

Most people born in the United States are accorded so-called birthright citizenship, but there are exceptions. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a person born in the U.S. to an accredited foreign diplomatic officer is not subject to U.S. law and is not automatically considered a U.S. citizen at birth.

However, Muthana's case is unusual, if not unprecedented in that she once held a U.S. passport. Passports are only issued to citizens by birth or naturalization, according to Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, who has studied the phenomenon of foreign Islamic State fighters and families.

Hughes said the decision is also unusual because it comes just days after the Trump administration urged European nations to repatriate extremists from Syria as the Islamic State nears collapse.

"If you are trying to make the case that others should take back their people, it stands to reason that you would do that, too," he said.

Muthana, who says she dodged sniper fire and roadside bombs to escape, is ready to pay the penalty for her actions but wants freedom and safety for the son, her lawyer said.

In a letter released by Shibly, Muthana wrote that she made "a big mistake" by rejecting her family and friends in the United States to join the Islamic State.

"During my years in Syria I would see and experience a way of life and the terrible effects of war which changed me," she wrote.

"To say that I regret my past words, any pain that I caused my family and any concerns I would cause my country would be hard for me to really express properly."

Shibly said Muthana was brainwashed online before she left Alabama and now could have valuable intelligence for U.S. forces, but he said the FBI didn't seem interested in retrieving her from the refugee camp where she is living with her son.

Muthana's father would welcome the woman back, Shibly said, but she is not on speaking terms with her mother.

Ashfaq Taufique, who knows Muthana's family and is president of the Birmingham Islamic Society, said the woman could be a valuable resource for teaching young people about the dangers of online radicalization were she allowed to return to the United States.

"Her coming back could be a very positive thing for our community and our country," Taufique said.

___

Replogle reported from Tampa, Florida. Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama, contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Dementia and Guns a Lethal Mix With No Legal Remedy

An 80-year-old man living alone with Alzheimer’s received regular care from a health aide whom he shot and killed during period of confusion. In other cases, patients with dementia, who have an increased risk for depression and suicide, have shot themselves in the head.

According to a recent article in Scienmag, there’s a growing dilemma among law makers about extending laws for removing firearms from people with mental illness to include those with dementia.

The American Osteopathic Association notes high rates of gun ownership and dementia risk among baby boomers. In an article published in the Journal of the AOA, study authors note that the lack of public policy could lead to an increase in suicide and accidental shootings among older adults. While physicians can alert authorities if a patient should no longer drive a vehicle, no such process exists for firearm owners with cognitive impairment.

“Nothing about this is easy. People’s identities are formed in a large part by the ways and degree to which they feel self-sufficient,” says lead author Katherine Galluzzi, D.O., chair of the department of geriatrics at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. “However, as physicians and family members, we need to be able to do the hard thing in the interest of public safety.”

Researchers say that older adults have the highest rates of gun ownership, with 27 percent of people 65 and older owning one or more firearms, and 37 percent living in a home with a firearm present.

One study of patients with dementia or related mental health issues reveals that 18 percent lived in a home with one or more firearms. Of that group, it was reported that 37 percent had delusions and 17 percent had documented hallucinations.

Another survey found that 60 percent of households with individuals with a diagnosis of dementia had one or more firearms. Study authors noted that even homes with severely impaired patients were as likely to have firearms in their homes as those with mild cognitive impairment.

In an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, doctors and experts worried not only about the risk of suicide by gun owners with dementia, because the condition itself is a risk factor, but they also warned that dementia patients might put family members and caregivers at risk by becoming confused and mistaking them for intruders.

The doctors suggested drawing up an advance directive that sets up a “firearm retirement date,” according to AARP.

While “red flag laws” offered in some states allow family and law enforcement to petition a judge for temporary removal of firearms from someone who may be a danger to themselves, Dr. Galluzzi notes that the same principle could apply to patients with dementia.

She urges patients and their doctors to discuss these matters. In addition, Dr. Galluzzi encourages patients and their families to make a plan for transferring the gun ownership before the dementia sets in.

“Whether it’s a question of taking away a person’s car or gun, these difficult discussions don’t get easier as the patient’s mental state deteriorates,” she says. “It’s critical for families to talk about this early and decide on power of attorney so someone can act in the best interest of the patient when they are no longer able to do it themselves.”

Source: NewsMax America

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Tempers fray in Mexico as new controls frustrate U.S.-bound migrant caravan

Migrants from Central America, waiting to begin their process to get their humanitarian visas to cross the country on their way to the United States, are seen outside an improvised shelter in Mapastepec
Migrants from Central America, waiting to begin their process to get their humanitarian visas to cross the country on their way to the United States, are seen outside an improvised shelter in Mapastepec, in Chiapas state, Mexico April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Torres

April 3, 2019

By Jose Cortez

MAPASTEPEC, Mexico (Reuters) – Tempers frayed among hundreds of mostly Central American migrants gathered on Wednesday in southern Mexico, delayed as Mexican officials sought to slow down the U.S.-bound flow that President Donald Trump is determined to turn back.

Since last week Trump has repeatedly threatened to close down the U.S.-Mexico border if Mexican officials do not do more to thwart the migrants, potentially harming tens of billions of dollars in trade, but has also praised Mexican efforts following his outbursts.

The Mexican government has vehemently denied changing policy in response to threats, but has appeared to slam the brakes on its practice of awarding so-called humanitarian visas that allow migrants from other countries to pass freely within its borders.

Without such papers, they are vulnerable to harassment and deportation from officials.

As many as 1,500 men, women and children traveling in a large group or caravan from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Cuba were gathered in the town of Mapastepec in Chiapas state, unable to obtain the temporary visas.

Mexico’s immigration institute said it would prioritize giving the visas to vulnerable groups including the elderly and unaccompanied minors, while offering transport home for others.

Officials were issuing very few of the documents, migrants said, and frustrations were mounting as a result.

“It’s been hard for me to get here because there aren’t any visas,” said Cuban migrant Yuremi Garcia, who had traveled without papers from the southern Mexican border a few hours south to a crowded sports ground in Mapastepec, converted into a temporary shelter.

Garcia said he was tired of waiting and had decided to continue northwards together with others, despite the risk that Mexican authorities would deport them.

At the border town of Tapachula, near the southern tip of Mexico bordering Guatemala, another group included people from Sri Lanka, Congo and Haiti, a federal official said. Some migrants said Mexican officials had slowed down the process of awarding the visas or denied them outright without providing any explanation.

A small group lashed out at border officials in Tapachula on Tuesday over the delays, throwing rocks and breaking windows of a local migration institute building.

Edgar Corso, an official with Mexico’s human rights commission, told Reuters that some 45 complaints filed with the commission by Cuban migrants since March 15 allege unreasonable delays in awarding the visas.

He said the attack on the migration office has also been formally documented.

Last week, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has steadfastly avoided any public confrontation with Trump, said he would help ensure more orderly migration.

In December-February, his administration’s first three months, Mexico sent home 19,360 migrants, 17 percent fewer than a year earlier, data from the National Migration Institute show.

In response to Trump’s pressure, the government has been providing daily updates to U.S. officials on how it is acting more aggressively to halt migration flows, and providing specific numbers on how many people are being apprehended, a senior White House official said.

“They’ve shown that they are increasing what they are doing,” the official said on Tuesday, asking not to be named in order to speak freely.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and officials at the State Department have been in regular contact with Mexican officials about their efforts, the official said.

Lopez Obrador told reporters on Wednesday at his regular morning news conference that his administration was “acting with an abundance of prudence,” saying a border shutdown was in nobody’s interest.

“We are looking to ensure that the law is respected,” he added.

(Reporting by Jose Cortez, Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City and Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Rosalba O’Brien)

Source: OANN

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Nigeria’s Buhari, Atiku make final appeal for votes ahead of delayed poll

FILE PHOTO: Nigeria's President Buhari greets his supporters after Friday prayers in his hometown Daura
FILE PHOTO: Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari greets his supporters after Friday prayers in his hometown Daura, in Katsina State, ahead of the country's presidential election, Nigeria February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

February 21, 2019

By Felix Onuah and Alexis Akwagyiram

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and his closest rival Atiku Abubakar made their final appeal for votes on the last day of campaigning on Thursday ahead of a tight contest in a presidential election on Saturday that was delayed by a week.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the delay in the early hours of last Saturday citing logistical reasons, just as some of Nigeria’s 84 million registered voters were preparing to head to the polls.

The stakes are high as Buhari, who took office in 2015 and is seeking a second term, is locked in a race against businessman and former vice president Atiku Abubakar to lead a country that is Africa’s top oil producer.

The election has largely been fought on how to jump-start growth in the country with Africa’s largest economy which has seen low growth since emerging in 2017 from its first recession in 25 years. Security, amid an increase in Islamist attacks in the northeast, and corruption have also been campaign issues.

So far, there are no further public rallies planned by either man, with the unexpected extra week of campaigning stretching resources and stamina. They made their pitches for votes in a statement and via social media.

Buhari, who is campaigning on an anti-corruption platform, touted his economic record in a statement issued by his spokesman Femi Adesina.

Nigeria’s 2.4 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 gave “lots of cause to cheer”, the statement said.

Gross domestic product grew by 1.93 percent last year, up from 0.82 percent in 2017.

“Those who do not see any good in something not initiated by them toil endlessly to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that nothing good is happening on the economic front,” the statement said.

Buhari’s economic reforms are focused on infrastructure development and extending a social welfare program to create jobs and lift the poorest Nigerians out of poverty.

Atiku, candidate of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), urged voters to remove Buhari from office in a video on his Twitter feed.

“If you do not vote you will be accepting that the next four years will be like the last,” said Atiku, who has criticized Buhari’s handling of the economy.

Atiku has promised to create jobs, privatize the state oil company and double the size of the economy to $900 billion by 2025, in large part by handing a larger role to the private sector.

Buhari became the first opposition candidate to unseat a Nigerian president at the ballot box.

Atiku, who backed Buhari’s last election bid but left the president’s ruling party in late 2017, asked his supporters to replicate Buhari’s unprecedented 2015 election victory.

“This Saturday we will have the opportunity to do so again,” Atiku said.

(Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by James Macharia and Alison Williams)

Source: OANN

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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President Trump on Friday said “no money” was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, after reports that the U.S. received a $2 million hospital bill from Pyongyang for the late American prisoner’s care.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else. This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist[sic] hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!” Trump tweeted Friday.

NORTH KOREA GAVE US $2M HOSPITAL BILL OVER CARE OF AMERICAN OTTO WARMBIER, SOURCES SAY

The Washington Post first reported that North Korean authorities insisted the U.S. envoy sent to retrieve Warmbier, 21, who was a student of the University of Virginia, sign a pledge to pay the bill before allowing Warmbier’s comatose body to return to the United States. Sources confirmed the bill and the amount to Fox News on Thursday.

Sources told the post that the envoy signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions from the president, but a source told Fox News that the U.S. did not ever pay money to North Korea.

The White House declined to comment when asked on the bill, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying in a statement that: “We do not comment on hostage negotiations, which is why they have been so successful during this administration.”

Meanwhile, the president added: “’President[sic] Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.’ Cheif[sic] Hostage Negotiator, USA!”

Warmbier was on tour in North Korea when he allegedly stole a propaganda sign from a hotel. He was arrested in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in March 2016. Warmbier, for unknown reasons, fell into a coma while in custody and was held in that condition for an additional 17 months.

North Korean officials did not tell American officials until June 2017 that Warmbier had been unconscious the entire time. He died less than a week after he returned to the U.S. North Korean officials, though, have repeatedly denied accusations that Warmbier was tortured, instead claiming that he had suffered from botulism and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

AMERICAN PRISONERS HELD IN NORTH KOREA ON THEIR WAY HOME AFTER POMPEO VISIT, TRUMP SAYS

Fred and Cindy Warmbier sued North Korea over their son’s death and in December were awarded $501 million in damages – money that the Hermit Kingdom will probably never pay.

While the Warmbiers blamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump has said he believes Kim’s claims that he did not know about the student’s treatment.

Trump and Kim have met in two separate summits. The most recent, held in February, ended without an agreement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Fox News: “Otto Warmbier was mistreated by North Korea in so many ways, including his wrongful conviction and harsh sentence, and the fact that for 16 months they refused to tell his family or our country about his dire condition they caused.  No, the United States owes them nothing. They owe the Warmbier family everything.”

Last year, the Trump administration was also able to save three American prisoners held by North Korea. Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, and Kim Hak Song were all detained in North Korea. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the three Americans home last May, and said they were all in “good health.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Rich Edson, Nicholas Kalman, and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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