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SPLC: Trump 'Fear-Mongering' Fuels Rise of Hate Groups

The number of hate groups operating in the United States rose 7 percent to an all-time high last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center said on Wednesday, attributing the increase largely to anti-immigrant rhetoric from President Donald Trump.

The SPLC, which has tracked hate groups since 1971, found there were 1,020 operating in the United States in 2018, breaking the 1,018 record set in 2011. It marked the fourth consecutive year of growth.

The group blamed Trump, whose administration has focused on reducing illegal and legal immigration into the United States.

"The words and imagery coming out of the Trump administration and from Trump himself are heightening these fears," Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, told reporters on a conference call. "These images of foreign scary invaders threatening diseases, massive refugee caravans coming from the south. This is fear-mongering."

The White House has repeatedly rejected charges of bias leveled at Trump, often citing the effects that a strong economy have had on minority communities. It did not respond to a request for comment on the report on Wednesday.

The SPLC defines hate groups as organizations with beliefs or practices that demonize a class of people. The number of groups has risen 30 percent since 2015 when Trump declared his presidential candidacy.

The last surge in new hate groups came in the early years of Barack Obama's presidency, a reaction to the first black U.S. president, the group said. The number rose 9 percent during the first three years of Obama's administration to reach the prior record then dropped until 2015.

The group also cited online incitement for the rise. Despite efforts to regulate content on mainstream websites including Facebook, the internet still provides the most fertile ground for hate groups to recruit new members, SPLC said.

The non-profit said the growth of hate groups appeared to spur some who share their ideologies to take violent action. It cited Robert Bowers, who is accused of killing 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October while shouting "All Jews must die."

As part of SPLC's count of hate groups, black nationalist groups rose 13 percent to 264 in 2018, an increase SPLC attributed to a backlash against Trump's policies.

Some of the SPLC's targets have criticized the Montgomery, Alabama-based organization's findings, saying it mislabeled legitimate organizations.

Earlier this month the founder of the Proud Boys, a self-described men-only club of "Western chauvinists," sued the center for defamation. He contended the Proud Boys oppose racism, while the SPLC said it stood by its research.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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7 arrested in Pakistan over abduction, religious conversion and forced marriage of Hindu minors

Seven people were arrested Monday by police in Pakistan in connection to the alleged abduction, forced religious conversion and illegal marriage of two minor Hindu girls, according to local media reports.

The two teenagers, Raveena, 13, and Reena 15, were allegedly taken by a group of "influential" men from their home in Ghotki district in the Sindh province, on the eve of Holi - a Hindu spring festival. After being kidnapped, the girls were forced to convert to Islam and wed against their will. Soon after the kidnapping, a video in which a cleric was purportedly shown marrying off the underage sisters went viral, triggering a national outrage.

ANALYSIS: INDIA, PAKISTAN DE-ESCALATE BUT TRIGGERS REMAIN

The two girls ultimately made their way to a court in Bahawalpur, a city located in the Punjab province of Pakistan, seeking protection. Police have not released the names of the people arrested or their alleged roles in the incident.

Pakistani police had received intense backlash for initially ignoring pleas from the girls' family to investigate the disappearance because the girls were Hindu. The police later said they had registered an official complaint and were looking into the matter.

The incident -- and its handling by Pakistan -- triggered a mini-spat amid the ever-present tension that exists between the neighboring nations.

The war of words began Sunday when India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted that she had asked the country's high commissioner in Islamabad to send a report on a news article that detailed the allegations made by the girls and their parents. It was a rare public intervention by a top Indian official that prompted a reply from Pakistan.

INDIA BANS INSTANT DIVORCE BY MUSLIM MEN

Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that while the country was "totally behind the girls," he wanted the Hindu-majority in India to look after its own Muslim-minority.

"Madam Minister, I am happy that in the Indian administration we have people who care for minority rights in other countries," Chaudhry replied to Swaraj's tweet. "I sincerely hope that your conscience will allow you to stand up for minorities at home as well. Gujarat and Jammu must weigh heavily on your soul."

Swaraj tweeted back: "Mr.Minister @fawadchaudhry - I only asked for a report from Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad about the kidnapping and forced conversion of two minor Hindu girls to Islam. This was enough to make you jittery. This only shows your guilty conscience."

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Nearly 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in religious riots in Gujarat in 2002. Pakistan has accused India of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state. India has denied the charge.

As Pakistan was lobbing accusations of mistreatment of Muslims by India, India's foreign ministry detailed three more examples of forced marriages of Hindu or Sikh women in Pakistan over the past two years.

Source: Fox News World

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Booker pushes plan to cut taxes for workers by hiking capital gains tax

On the day that Americans faced the annual deadline to file their tax returns, presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker unveiled a plan that he said would cut taxes for some 150 million people.

The New Jersey Democrat on Monday proposed what he's called the Rise Credit, which would nearly double the number of people eligible to receive the benefits of the existing Earned Income Tax Credit.

“Creating a fairer, more just tax code begins with putting money in the pockets of Americans who are struggling to get ahead,” the senator emphasized in a statement.

CORY BOOKER'S NOT SURGING AND THAT'S JUST FINE WITH HIS CAMPAIGN

Booker’s plan would raise the cap for eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit from a maximum of $54,000 to $90,000 for married couples, which his campaign said would allow more working and middle-class families to enjoy the benefit.

The campaign added that qualifying workers without children at home would receive the maximum individual credit of $4,000, nearly eight times what they currently receive from the tax credit.

The campaign – touting his plan as “the most dramatic expansion of the tax credit - spotlighted that the non-partisan Tax Policy Center estimated the broadening of the tax credit benefit would affect 154 million people and touted that Booker’s plan would lift some 15 million people out of poverty.

BOOKER VOWS TO 'BRING A FIGHT TO THE NRA'

Booker said funds to cover the expanded tax credit would come from taxing capital gains income at the same rates as other income.

“Cory would help fund the Rise Credit by ending the preferential tax treatment of capital gains investment income that overwhelmingly favors the wealthiest Americans, because income from selling stocks and other investments should be taxed the same as income from work,” his campaign said.

Booker lamented that “families’ earnings are not keeping up with the cost of living, and many people are living paycheck to paycheck with little to nothing left over to save.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“But instead of helping hard-working Americans who are struggling to get by, our tax code concentrates benefits to those at the very top. It’s unconscionable that hedge fund managers can pay a lower percentage of their income in taxes than their secretaries. That’s wrong and must change,” he stressed.

Booker was scheduled to highlight his Rise Credit plan at a campaign event later Monday in Sioux City, Iowa, as well as at events in Des Moines, Iowa, and Carroll, Nevada, on Tuesday.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Why So Many Hate Crime Hoaxes?

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Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., not only believed black and openly gay actor Jussie Smollett's tale of being attacked by two N-word-spouting homophobic Trump-supporters, she -- and many other big-name Democrats -- knew exactly whom to blame.

Waters said: "I know Jussie. I love him. His family's a friend of mine. I know his sisters, I met his mom and I called already to Jazz, one of the sisters, to talk to her about what's happening, what's going on. ... I'm pleased that he's doing okay. But we have to understand this is happening for a reason. Why, all of a sudden, do we have people unable to study while black, unable to mow a lawn while black, unable to have a picnic while black, and being attacked? It's coming from the President of the United States. He's dog whistling every day. He's separating and dividing, and he is basically emboldening those folks who feel this way."

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who became famous by falsely accusing an assistant district attorney of raping a black teenage girl, weighed in. He said: "[The Smollett attack] is only a reminder of the times that we are living in, that people feel empowered to express their hate and feel there will be no accountability. ... The President should have said, 'My brand shouldn't stand for that.' This hate-filled climate is set by ... the President of the United States, who gets the award for climate setting, if he is not at fault for a direct act."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson released a statement: "Hatred against another simply because of who they are is like acid rain. It falls from the top down and pollutes the environment." Former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted: "What happened today to @JussieSmollett must never be tolerated in this country. We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts." Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., in a tweet, called the alleged attack "a modern day lynching."

Isn't it good news that the story is alleged to be false? Isn't it good news that Trump-supporting goons are not patrolling the streets at night, armed with bleach and a noose, to find, attack, whitewash and lynch black and gay Trump-bashers? A PeopleTV host actually said she was "hoping" and "praying" that Smollett's story was true.

Why did so many uncritically buy Smollett's story? One reason is that an Axios poll last November found that 61 percent of Democrats believe Republicans are "racist/ bigoted/sexist." Thirty-one percent of Republicans feel that way about Democrats. And most Democrats and members of the media believe Trump is a racist. So why doubt such a juicy story that falsely advances two narratives? Trump is Exhibit A that racism remains a major problem in America. And if Trump is a "racist," therefore so are his supporters.

But what does it say about America's alleged "systemic," "structural" and "institutional" racism when, in 2019, the cupboard is so bare that "racist attacks" have to be manufactured? Last year, in a span of a few weeks, three black motorists claimed they were victims of racism by the white cops who pulled them over. One, a reverend, was the president of a local branch of the NAACP. He posted on social media a long, detailed description of the alleged interaction with the cop whom he claimed racially profiled him and made harassing comments. A black female motorist took to social media to say she had a "traumatic experience" in Virginia when she was pulled over for speeding and "threatened" by a "white cop, who "degraded" her "as an African-American." And a viral post by a civil rights "activist" claimed a Texas trooper sexually assaulted another black woman following a traffic stop and then arrested her for DUI. But they were all unaware that they were being recorded. The tapes show all three were lying. The cops involved were courteous, polite and respectful. The black motorists lied about the white cops. But if not for the recordings, who knows what might have happened to the careers of the officers.

As to the belief that racism remains a serious problem in America, can we agree that nirvana is not an option? In a nation of 330 million people, bad actors abound. After all, one survey in 2017 found that 7 percent of adult Americans believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows. That works out to over 17 million adults. And a 1997 Gallup poll found that 4 percent of Americans believed Elvis was still alive.

But today's definition of "race relations" pretty much comes down to this: how black people feel about white people and how white people feel about how black people feel about white people. Racism has so receded as an impediment to progress that new terms became necessary to describe offensive "racist" behavior, such as "microaggressions." This means whites are racist, even if they don't think they are, because of their "white privilege." If white people spent as much time thinking about how to oppress black people as black people think they do, white people wouldn't have enough time to oppress black people.

COPYRIGHT 2019 LAURENCE A. ELDER
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Florida great-grandma fends off 300-pound, burglar with a baseball bat: cops

Florida great-grandmother, armed with a baseball bat on Sunday taught a 300-pound burglary suspect, who police said tried to break into her car a valuable lesson: Don’t mess with grandma.

Clarese Gainey, 65, heard banging coming from outside her Gainesville home when police said she spotted 37-year-old Antonio Mosley attempting to break into her car, FOX35 Orlando reported. Mosley allegedly charged at her, but Gainey was reportedly prepared.

FLORIDA TEEN DISARMS, STABS GAS STATION CLERK WHO TRIED TO SEXUALLY ASSAULT HER AT KNIFEPOINT: POLICE

“I mean I popped him! I said 'Biya!' he said, 'Auuugh! You hit me!'” Gainey told the station.

Mosely then ran off in only his boxer shorts to a nearby mobile home, reports said. A gash was left on his head.

“He had nothing but his drawers on! No shoes, no shirt or nothing!” she told FOX35.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP 

A police K-9 unit tracked Mosley to the mobile home, where they said they found the 5-foot-6 burglary suspect wearing a pair of pants with cocaine in its pocket, Gainesville station WGFL-TV reported.

Mosely was held in the Alachua County Jail on $20,000 bond. He faces burglary and drug possession charges.

Source: Fox News National

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Prosecutors Say Avenatti Wanted in on NY Sex-Slave Case

An already bizarre case accusing a secretive self-help group in upstate New York of engaging in sex-trafficking took another strange turn Wednesday thanks to firebrand attorney Michael Avenatti and a courtroom scene caused by a wealthy defendant he's tried to represent.

At a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn, prosecutors confirmed that Avenatti appeared on behalf of liquor fortune heiress Clare Bronfman at a closed-door meeting last week that also included Mark Geragos, another high-profile lawyer representing Bronfman.

When U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis asked Geragos whether he and Avenatti had told prosecutors Avenatti was being brought into the case, he responded, "That's exactly what happened."

The revelation came only two days after Avenatti, the lawyer best known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels, was arrested on charges accusing him of trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike. He wasn't in court Wednesday and didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Geragos has been linked to the Nike case by reports naming him as the unidentified co-conspirator mentioned in court papers. Asked outside court Wednesday if he was cooperating in the case, he said no, but declined comment on whether he was the alleged co-conspirator.

Bronfman, a daughter of the late billionaire philanthropist and former Seagram chairman Edgar Bronfman Sr., has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing her of bank-rolling a cult-like organization that brainwashed and branded women who served as sex slaves for its spiritual leader.

Under stern questioning by the judge Wednesday about which lawyers are actually representing her and whether she knew if Geragos was involved in the Nike case, Bronfman turned pale, staggered away from the bench and collapsed into a chair. An ambulance was called, but she later left the courthouse on the arm of Geragos.

The judge adjourned the hearing but told lawyers Bronfman would need to come back to court Thursday to give some answers.

"You're going to tell me who the lawyers are," he said. "You're going to tell me when they were retained."

Source: NewsMax America

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‘Cox killed it,’ EU says of UK lawyer’s failed mission to fix Brexit deal

Britain's Attorney General Cox walks outside Downing Street in London
Britain's Attorney General Geoffrey Cox walks outside Downing Street in London, Britain March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

March 13, 2019

By Gabriela Baczynska and Alastair Macdonald

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Her back to the wall on Brexit, Theresa May turned to her legal adviser to rescue her deal with the EU – only to see Geoffrey Cox deliver it a mortal blow as parliament voted down the treaty for a second time.

European Union officials familiar with the negotiations Cox conducted lately said the prime minister should not have been surprised. Cox has been a bullish star performer in London courtrooms but rubbed Brussels’ technocrats up the wrong way as he pursued what they saw as unrealistic demands for amendments.

Some in the EU accused the barrister, who unlike May had campaigned for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, of sabotaging a deal which many fellow Conservatives believe binds Britain too tightly to EU rules. Some in Britain commended him for sticking honestly to his legal guns, despite political pressure.

“Mr. Cox killed it all,” said Elmar Brok, a veteran EU lawmaker and confidant of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Because he is a Brexiteer, he wanted to kill it. There was no legal and political reason for what he did. He carries the responsibility,” Brok told Britain’s Sky News television.

By contrast, Sammy Wilson, the Brexit spokesman for May’s pro-Brexit Northern Irish parliamentary allies the Democratic Unionists, said: “Some people worried that (Cox) was marking his own homework. But he was honest – and we appreciated that.”

If May was peeved by Cox saying on Tuesday that commitments he had himself wrung from the EU were not enough to end a risk of Britain being trapped in EU rules after leaving the bloc, she gave little away. Cox just did his job in offering independent legal advice, aides to the premier insisted on Wednesday.

His earlier opinion, which lawmakers forced the government to publish in December, was that a “backstop” clause obliged Britain to maintain EU customs and economic rules until better ways were found to avoid a disruptive “hard” border between the EU and Northern Ireland. Many lawmakers cited that to justify rejecting by a huge margin May’s withdrawal treaty in January.

The prime minister then pledged to secure changes to the deal that would convince Cox to change his mind. To secure them, she despatched the attorney general himself to Brussels.

But after several weeks of his own shuttle diplomacy, and hours after May had declared herself satisfied with a tweaked package after a late-night dash to Strasbourg, Cox said on Tuesday that, despite some improvement, the legal risk remained that Britain might be unable to get out of the backstop.

CONFRONTATION, NOT COLLABORATION

EU officials familiar with Cox’s recent discussions with Michel Barnier’s team of Brexit negotiators said the blunt conclusion seemed in tune with a man whose manner, steeped in the adversarial oratory of the English bar, had disappointed – even offended – Brussels experts who had hoped for more a more collaborative approach to securing parliament’s ratification.

Where May had seemed willing to accept a mechanism by which Britain could seek to get out of the backstop conditions if the EU was being unreasonable, several diplomats and officials told Reuters, Cox pushed for complete freedom to opt out.

A former head of the European Council legal service, Jean-Claude Piris, said Cox’s goal appeared to breach international law by giving London a unilateral right to break a treaty.

“Barnier’s people were expecting to work on May’s demands,” one senior EU diplomat said. “Then Cox showed up with a completely different way and said ‘it’s my way or no way’.

“He was arrogant and patronizing. Just a disaster.”

The publication on Sunday of an interview which Cox given days earlier to a British newspaper, also angered Brussels.

In it, he declared that his reputation as a trial lawyer for 36 years meant much more to him than that as a politician after just seven months as a minister. A comment about blocking any use of the backstop led some EU officials to conclude that he spent subsequent days negotiating on the terms in “bad faith”.

“This is what you get when you ask a criminal lawyer to give advice on EU law,” one EU diplomat said. “He comes here saying he has 36 years of experience and that we should educate ourselves. Outrageous from a man who then goes on to show he has very little idea on EU law, trade law, customs and all these other crucial but technical things he considers himself above.”

Cox, however, garnered praise at home for his legal integrity. Some commentators compared him favorably to a predecessor whose shift in advice to let a government wage war on Iraq dogged that attorney general in controversy for years.

And criticism from Brussels seems unlikely to worry a man whose terse response on Twitter to a media report that he was under orders to support May’s backstop deal was “Bollocks”.

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper in London; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard
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)

Source: OANN

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
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)

Source: OANN

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The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
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)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
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)

Source: OANN

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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes
FILE PHOTO: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s lawyers on Friday are set to ask a Florida judge to toss out hidden-camera videos that prosecutors say show the 77-year-old billionaire receiving sexual favors for money inside a Florida massage parlor.

The owner of the reigning Super Bowl champions plans wants the video to not be used as evidence against him as he contests two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Spa in Jupiter, Florida, along with some two dozen other men.

His legal team is fresh off a win on Tuesday, when they successfully persuaded Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser to block prosecutors from releasing the hidden-camera footage to media outlets, which had requested copies under the state’s robust open records law.

Kraft, who has owned the franchise since 1994, pleaded not guilty, but has issued a public apology for his actions.

His attorneys have argued in court papers that the surreptitious videotaping of customers, including Kraft, inside a massage parlor was governmental overreach and the result of an illegally obtained search warrant.

The warrant, Kraft’s lawyers claim, was secured under false pretenses because police officers cited human trafficking as a potential crime in their application. Prosecutors have since acknowledged that the investigation yielded no evidence of trafficking.

Palm Beach County prosecutors in a court filing on Wednesday said Kraft’s motion should be rejected because he could not have had any expectation of privacy while visiting a commercial establishment to engage in criminal activity.

That prompted an indignant response from Kraft’s attorneys, who said the prosecution’s position on privacy was “unhinged.”

“It should go without saying that Mr. Kraft and everyone else in the United States have a reasonable expectation that the government will not secretly spy on them while they undress behind closed doors,” they wrote.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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