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Police: North Dakota suspect planned carefully, hid evidence

A North Dakota man charged Friday with killing four people at a business that manages the mobile home park where he lives tried to avoid detection by picking up shell casings, changing his clothing, and cleaning a knife and gun with bleach, according to court documents.

Court documents allege that after shooting and stabbing the victims, Chad Isaak, 44, stole one of the company's vehicles to drive about one block, then walked to his own truck parked less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) away at a McDonald's. Authorities traced his steps with help from surveillance video at businesses along the route, the documents say.

The affidavit and complaint filed Friday offer the most details yet on a mystery that has gripped the area since authorities found the bodies of four people Monday morning at RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, a town of 22,000 near the state capital of Bismarck.

A judge set bond for Isaak at $1 million after a hearing where Morton County Assistant State's Attorney Gabrielle Goter argued that the killings "show a level of preplanning and a level of intent to disguise his actions" that suggested that witnesses and others could be at risk if he is freed.

"It appears that RJR was targeted," said Goter, although court documents do not reveal a motive.

Isaak's attorney, Robert Quick, had requested $100,000 cash bond, citing "zero criminal history" and family in community.

Isaak, a chiropractor and Navy veteran, faces four counts of murder and other charges. The victims were RJR co-owner Robert Fakler, 52; employee Adam Fuehrer, 42; and married co-workers Lois Cobb, 45, and William Cobb, 50.

The police affidavit portrays a grisly crime scene in which the Cobbs and Fuehrer were shot and stabbed several times. Fakler had multiple lacerations and stab wounds, and first responders tried in vain to resuscitate him. Fuehrer and the Cobbs were all dead when officers arrived. Lois Cobb's death was attributed to a cut of her neck, though she also had been shot, according to the affidavit.

Surveillance video shows the assailant entering RJR wearing brightly colored clothing, then leaving in dark clothing about 15 minutes later, the documents say. An employee at the McDonald's told police that she saw a man wearing a camouflage ski mask, dark pants and dark shoes get into a white Ford F-150 that morning.

Police later linked the vehicle to Isaak, who lives in the small town of Washburn, about 35 miles north (56 kilometers) of Mandan. At his home, they found clothing matching what they had seen on video, nine spent shell casings, a knife with a bent tip, and gun parts in a kitchen freezer. The clothing, knife and gun parts all smelled of chlorine bleach, court documents say.

RJR began managing the mobile home park after Rolf Eggers bought the property last fall. Eggers, a Bismarck resident who spends his winters in Florida, said he never met Isaak and that Fakler never mentioned any issues with him.

The previous owner, Mike Nelson, described Isaak as "a model tenant."

"Paid his rent on time. Took care of his property," Nelson said.

Navy records show Isaak enlisted in the service in 1992 and left in 1997 as a hospital corpsman 3rd Class, with a Good Conduct Medal and National Defense Service Medal.

Isaak appeared in court Friday in a black-and-white striped jail uniform, cuffed at the wrists and waist, and showed no emotion. He spoke only to say, "Yes sir," when Judge James Hill asked him whether he understood the charges.

Dora Sorenson, a client of Isaak's chiropractic business, told The Associated Press that he called her the day before the killings and asked to change her appointment from noon Monday to 4 p.m. because he said he had a dental appointment.

"He didn't appear any different. He was just ... Chad," Sorenson said. "I am in total shock."

Felony murder carries a maximum punishment of life in prison without parole; North Dakota does not have the death penalty. Isaak is also charged with burglary, unlawful entry into or concealment within a vehicle and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

___

Associated Press news researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Sudan’s gum arabic dealers shrug off strife to tap fizzy drink market

FILE PHOTO: Gum arabic is seen on an Acacia trees in the western Sudanese town of El-Nahud
FILE PHOTO: Gum arabic is seen on an Acacia trees in the western Sudanese town of El-Nahud that lies in the main farming state of North Kordofan December 18, 2012. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo

February 26, 2019

By Patrick Werr

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan has faced multiple armed conflicts, economic slumps and nationwide protests, but one of its little known exports has proved resilient through all the turmoil: gum arabic, an essential ingredient in fizzy drinks.

The gum, tapped from acacia trees, is a bonding agent and emulsifier crucial for soft drinks such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, keeping the sugar from separating and sinking to the bottom of the bottle.

It is so crucial to the world beverages industry that the United States specifically exempted it from the economic sanctions it imposed on Sudan in 1997 over allegations of human rights abuses and supporting terrorism.

Gum arabic is grown mainly in Darfur, Kordofan and Blue Nile – Sudan’s poorest and most strife-ridden regions, where insurgencies have simmered for years, in a country awash with other economic obstacles.

“There has been a lack of petrol, diesel, electricity, plus the ability to transfer funds,” said Hisham Salih Yagoub, whose company Afritec cleans, dries and processes 17,000 tonnes a year before sending it to France for further processing.

The gum, also used in paints, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, comes from two species of acacia tree native to the Sahel, the narrow strip of arid land along the Sahara’s southern border.

Sudan, with the densest acacia forests of them all, is the world’s largest exporter, accounting for two-thirds of the total, according to a 2018 UNCTAD report.

Despite the problems, Sudan’s gum arabic exports have grown from $33.1 million in 2009, when the government ended a state monopoly on the business, to $114.7 million in 2017, according to central bank statistics.

TRADING OBSTACLES

But getting that product to international markets has not been easy.

Last year a new problem emerged, a shortage of Sudanese banknotes needed to pay the gum collectors, most of whom live in remote and rudimentary conditions at the edge of the desert.

The collectors are often family groups of about ten members who begin tapping the trees in late September by making a cut in the trunk using a special knife.

About 40 days after the acacias are wounded, the sap oozes out and hardens into beads. The tree requires daily attention. If left unpicked for two or three days the beads cover up and the tree stops bleeding, maybe for the rest of the season, which lasts until May or June.

Tapped correctly – no more than 2 cm deep at the right time – the best trees will produce up to 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) per day. Deeper wounds can cause a tree to stop producing for months.

Afritec’s Yagoub said the banknote shortage has largely stopped him from buying this season. “Some farmers have been accepting checks but it costs 15 percent more,” he said.

But Azhari Eltigani Elsheikh, whose company Migana Industries exports 10,000 tonnes of gum a year, continues to buy, saying his 20-year relationship with his pickers and agents has created trust, allowing him to buy with promises to deliver cash later.

The gum is taken from the auctions for cleaning, drying and processing at plants in Khartoum, then loaded into containers for shipment to Europe.

Yet despite the exemption from sanctions, exporters have had to work around separate U.S. financial sanctions imposed on Sudanese banks.

Yagoub exports to Nexira, a specialties food company based in Rouen, France.

To avoid settling in dollars and exposing themselves to U.S. scrutiny, both Nexira and Yagoub’s bank, the Bank of Khartoum, have opened euro-denominated accounts in KBC, a Belgian bank, with funds moved discreetly within the bank, Yagoub said.

Elsheikh has followed an even more circuitous route, setting up trading companies in Britain and the UAE and channelling payments through the Emirates. Transfers can take six months.

Even with Sudan’s political turmoil, both Yagoub and Elsheikh have plans to expand their operations.

“The land, the studies are ready,” Yagoub said.

(Reporting by Patrick Werr; editing by Sami Aboudi and Andrew Heavens)

Source: OANN

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Brewer Constellation tops Wall Street estimates for sales

FILE PHOTO: Corona beers are pictured at a BevMo! store ahead of Constellation Brands Inc company results in Pasadena
FILE PHOTO: Corona beers are pictured at a BevMo! store ahead of Constellation Brands Inc company results in Pasadena, California U.S., October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

April 4, 2019

(Reuters) – Constellation Brands Inc on Thursday reported quarterly sales well above analysts’ estimates, as its popular beer brands Corona and Modelo performed well.

Net sales fell about 2 percent to $1.80 billion, but was above analysts’ estimates of $1.74 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Net income attributable to the company rose to $1.24 billion, or $6.37 per class A common share, for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, from $910.5 million, or $4.56 per share, a year earlier.

On Wednesday, the company said it would sell about 30 of its wine and spirit brands that retail under $11 a bottle to California-based E. & J. Gallo Winery for $1.7 billion, as the brewer streamlines its portfolio of premium brands such as Robert Mondavi, Meiomi and Kim Crawford.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

Source: OANN

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Mother of girl who was brutally killed, dismembered in 2016 testifies she became 'a non-entity'

A Pennsylvania mother of a girl who was raped, murdered and dismembered testified in court Wednesday she helped plot the attack and carry it out, but said it was her boyfriend’s idea to rape her daughter.

Sara Packer recalled in a Doylestown courtroom how she watched Jacob Sullivan sexually assault her 14-year-old daughter Grace Parker and then strangle her inside a hot attic at their home. Packer made the comments during a sentencing hearing for Sullivan, who had already pleaded guilty to rape, first-degree murder and other crimes in the teen’s death.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED IN 4 MURDERS TOLD POLICE HE KILLED BECAUSE HE NEEDED MONEY FOR METH, OFFICIAL SAYS

“I got wrapped up in Jake’s fantasy. I didn’t think I could tell him 'no' without losing him,” Packer told the court, according to the Allentown Morning Call.

Packer, who already agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a life sentence, said her daughter looked at her as she was being choked to death and Packer told her it was “OK to go.”

“Grace had become, for lack of a better word, a non-entity,” Packer said. “She just didn’t exist anymore. I wanted her to go away.”

Packer also said that killing the girl wasn’t part of the plan, according to the Morning Call. She said she and Sullivan planned to imprison the teen in their home so Sullivan could “rape her whenever he wanted." But she said she thinks Sullivan “panicked.”

“The reality of what he had done set in, and there was no going back. So, he decided that it was time for her to die,” she said.

Grace asked for help when Sullivan began to rape her, Packer said.

“I can’t help you anymore,” Packer said, according to the Morning Call. “This is your life now.”

Packer also testified that she and Sullivan attempted to kill the teen with an overdose of over-the-counter medicine, thinking the combination of pills and the heat would kill her. Packer admitted to helping bind the child with zip ties and stuffing a ball gag in her mouth as she and her boyfriend left her to die.

Grace attempted to escape the house before the couple returned, but it was too late, and she was strangled. The pair then stored her body in a cat litter for months before dismembering it and dumping it in a remote area. Hunters found the remains in October 2016.

Sara Packer and her then-husband David Packer adopted Grace and her younger brother Josh in 2007. The couple cared for dozens of foster children before David Packer was jailed for sexually assaulting Grace and another 15-year-old foster daughter at their home.

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Sara Packer was let go from her job as an adoptions supervisor in 2010 and was prohibited from taking in more children, but Grace was allowed to stay in the home despite evidence of abuse.

Packer faces life in prison in her plea deal while Sullivan may get the death penalty.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Myanmar says 9 police killed in Arakan Army attack

Myanmar's Information Ministry says nine policemen were killed in an attack in the western state of Rakhine by the increasingly active Arakan Army rebel group.

The ministry's website said 60 Arakan Army insurgents on Saturday night attacked the police post, which was safeguarding question and answer sheets from the national high school matriculation examination.

The Arakan Army, which is aligned with Rakhine's Buddhist population, seeks autonomy for the region. Rakhine is better known as the site of a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by the military against the Muslim Rohingya minority, causing more than 700,000 to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Attacks on police by Rohingya insurgents triggered the crackdown.

The government declared the Arakan Army a terrorist organization after it killed 13 police officers and wounded nine in Jan. 4 attacks.

Source: Fox News World

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Kings reach deal to hire Walton as coach

FILE PHOTO: NBA: Los Angeles Lakers at New Orleans Pelicans
FILE PHOTO: Mar 31, 2019; New Orleans, LA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton reacts during the second half against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

April 13, 2019

Luke Walton and the Kings have agreed to a multi-year contract to make him Sacramento’s next coach, The Athletic reported.

Walton met with Kings general manager Vlade Divac on Saturday, and The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported the two had reached agreement on a deal that is expected to run through the 2022-23 season.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said an official announcement could come this weekend.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Walton, 39, parted ways on Friday.

Walton compiled a 98-148 record in three seasons as the Lakers’ head coach. Los Angeles missed the playoffs in all three campaigns.

Since Rick Adelman left Sacramento in 2006 after eight seasons, the Kings have had nine head coaches.

The most recent was Dave Joerger, who was fired on Thursday.

Joerger led the Kings to a 39-43 record this season, good for ninth place in the NBA’s Western Conference. It was their best record since 2005-06 — the last time they qualified for the playoffs.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Democrats Press for Full Release of Mueller's Report

Democrats are pressing for full disclosure of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia investigation and vowing to use subpoena powers and other legal means if necessary to get it.

Attorney General William Barr was expected to release his first summary of Mueller's findings on Sunday, people familiar with the process said, on what lawmakers anticipated could be a day of reckoning in the two-year probe into President Donald Trump and Russian efforts to elect him. Since receiving the report Friday, Barr has been deciding how much of it Congress and the public will see.

Democrats are on a hair trigger over the prospect that some information may be withheld.

"I suspect that we'll find those words of transparency to prove hollow, that in fact they will fight to make sure that Congress doesn't get this underlying evidence," Rep. Adam Schiff of California, chairman of the House intelligence committee, said on ABC's "This Week."

His plan: Ask for information and if that's denied, "subpoena. If subpoenas are denied, we will haul people before the Congress. And yes, we will prosecute in court as necessary to get this information."

At his resort in Florida, Trump stirred from an unusual, nearly two-day silence on Twitter with the anodyne tweet Sunday morning: "Good Morning, Have a Great Day!" Then followed up: "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Democrats won't be willing to wait long for the Justice Department to hand over full information on the probe into whether Trump's 2016 campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the election and whether the president later sought to obstruct the investigation.

"It won't be months," he said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Asked if he still believes Trump obstructed justice, he indicated there has been obstruction but "whether it's criminal is another question."

Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller and oversaw much of his work, analyzed the report on Saturday, laboring to condense it into a summary letter of main conclusions.

The Russia investigation has shadowed Trump for nearly two years and has ensnared his family and close advisers. And no matter the findings in Mueller's report, the probe already has illuminated Russia's assault on the American political system, painted the Trump campaign as eager to exploit the release of hacked Democratic emails to hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton and exposed lies by Trump aides aimed at covering up their Russia-related contacts.

Barr has said he wants to release as much as he can under the law. That decision will require him to weigh the Justice Department's longstanding protocol of not releasing negative information about people who aren't indicted against the extraordinary public interest in a criminal investigation into the president and his campaign.

Democrats are citing the department's recent precedent of norm-breaking disclosures, including during the Clinton email investigation, to argue that they're entitled to Mueller's entire report and the underlying evidence he collected.

Even with the details still under wraps, Friday's end to the 22-month probe without additional indictments by Mueller was welcome news to some in Trump's orbit who had feared a final round of charges could target more Trump associates or members of the president's family.

The White House sought to keep its distance, saying Sunday it had not been briefed on the report. Trump, who has relentlessly criticized Mueller's investigation as a "witch hunt," went golfing Saturday and was uncharacteristically quiet on Twitter. Not so one of his guests, musician Kid Rock, who posted a picture with the president and the tweet, "Another great day on the links!" He added: "What a great man, so down to earth and so fun to be with!!"

The conclusion of Mueller's investigation does not remove legal peril for the president.

He faces a separate Justice Department investigation in New York into hush money payments during the campaign to two women who say they had sex with him years before the election. He's also been implicated in a potential campaign finance violation by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who says Trump asked him to arrange the transactions. Federal prosecutors, also in New York, have been investigating foreign contributions made to the president's inaugural committee.

As for Mueller, absent the report's details it was not known whether he concluded the campaign colluded with the Kremlin to tip the election in favor of the celebrity businessman. A Justice Department official did confirm that Mueller was not recommending any further indictments, meaning the investigation had ended without any public charges of a criminal conspiracy, or of obstruction of justice by the president.

In a letter to the Republican and Democratic leaders of the congressional judiciary committees, Barr noted on Friday that the department had not denied any request from Mueller, something Barr would have been required to disclose to ensure there was no political interference. Trump was never interviewed in person by Mueller's team, but submitted answers to questions in writing.

In a conference call Saturday about next steps, Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a warning for his fellow Democrats, some of whom have pinned high political hopes on Mueller's findings: "Once we get the principal conclusions of the report, I think it's entirely possible that that will be a good day for the president and his core supporters."

A number of Trump associates and family members have been dogged by speculation of possible wrongdoing. Among them are Donald Trump Jr., who helped arrange a Trump Tower meeting at the height of the 2016 campaign with a Kremlin-linked lawyer, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was interviewed at least twice by Mueller's prosecutors.

All told, Mueller charged 34 people, including the president's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and three Russian companies. Twenty-five Russians were indicted on charges related to election interference, accused either of hacking Democratic email accounts during the campaign or of orchestrating a social media campaign that spread disinformation on the internet.

Five Trump aides pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with Mueller and a sixth, longtime confidant Roger Stone, is awaiting trial on charges that he lied to Congress and engaged in witness tampering.

Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel, said Saturday that the case of former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates will be handed off to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Gates was a key cooperator in Mueller's probe and court papers show he continues to help with several other federal investigations.

Justice Department legal opinions have held that sitting presidents may not be indicted. But many Democrats say Trump should not be immune from a public accounting of his behavior. Though the department typically does not disclose negative information about people who are not indicted, officials have at times broken from that protocol.

Former FBI Director James Comey famously held a July 2016 news conference in which he criticized Clinton as "extremely careless" in her use of a private email server but said the FBI would not recommend charges. The Justice Department also took the extraordinary step of making available to lawmakers the details of a secret surveillance warrant obtained on a Trump campaign aide in the early days of the Russia probe.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo looking north shows shipping containers at the Port of Seattle and the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle
FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo looking north shows shipping containers at the Port of Seattle and the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. economic growth is running at a 1.1% pace in the second quarter as the gains in exports and inventories recorded in the first quarter are expected to reverse, Morgan Stanley economists said on Friday.

“Our preliminary expectations for growth in the second quarter sees large drags from net exports and inventories after their contributions in 1Q,” they wrote in a research note.

Gross domestic product increased at a 3.2% annualized rate in the first three months of the year, driven by a smaller trade deficit and the largest accumulation of unsold merchandise since 2015, the Commerce Department said earlier Friday.

(Reporting by Richard Leong)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Deutsche Bank headquarters are pictured in Frankfurt
FILE PHOTO: The Deutsche Bank headquarters are pictured in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Sims

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Within hours of the collapse of merger talks with Commerzbank, Christian Sewing scrambled to convince investors and employees that Deutsche Bank can stand on its own two feet.

The Deutsche Bank chief executive told staff, many of whom opposed a merger because of significant job losses, that while he had not been “skeptical” about the Commerzbank talks, he was cautious about the chances of success from the start.

And another top Deutsche Bank executive said on Friday that it had been Commerzbank that initiated the talks, suggesting there was no desperation on their part for a deal.

Commerzbank denied that version of events, ending the apparent truce between the normally highly competitive cross-town Frankfurt rivals over the past six weeks.

German hopes of creating a national banking champion able to challenge global competitors were finally dashed on Thursday when Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank ended their talks due to the risks of doing a deal, restructuring costs and capital demands.

For Sewing, the failure to clinch a deal has left the 49-year-old chief executive of Germany’s largest bank, who took over just over a year ago, with his back to the wall.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, which downgraded Deutsche Bank last year, said on Friday that Deutsche Bank “will remain under strain”, adding that it “seems to have acknowledged the need to adjust its strategy”.

Under Sewing, a new leadership has tried to revive Deutsche Bank’s fortunes, but it has faced money laundering allegations and failed stress tests, as well as ratings downgrades.

At the heart of the debate over its future is whether it should focus its business on Germany and draw a line under its costly global ambitions to take on Wall Street’s big guns.

“MARKET PLAY”

Without a deal, Deutsche Bank now finds itself back at the mercy of equity and debt markets, with UBS analysts warning that in a “stress scenario” it could again “be forced into a ‘debt-driven capital increase’ even with solid capital ratios”.

“Deutsche remains a levered market play vulnerable to external events,” the UBS analysts said in a note.

Sewing, along with many analysts, believes Deutsche Bank can go it alone in the short-term, but will be counting on a turnaround in market conditions to do so in the long-run given its dependence on volatile investment bank earnings.

“To reach our return objective, we also need to see a revenue recovery in our more market-sensitive business,” Sewing said on Friday after reporting results.

“These revenues are available to us in better market conditions given our leading positions in many of these businesses, but we need to capture them,” he added.

Revenue at Deutsche Bank’s bond trading division fell 19 percent in the first quarter, it said on Friday, underscoring weakness at its investment bank.

If those earnings do not improve, Berlin’s desire to keep its biggest bank out of foreign hands may start to wane.

“Germany’s globally active companies need competitive financial institutions that can support them around the world,” German finance minister Olaf Scholz said on Thursday.

(Writing by Alexander Smith; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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Panama's former president Ricardo Martinelli yells to the media while arriving to the Electoral Court in Panama City
Panama’s former president Ricardo Martinelli reacts to the media while arriving to the Electoral Court in Panama City, Panama April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Erick Marciscano

April 26, 2019

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Panama’s electoral tribunal has ruled that former President Ricardo Martinelli, who is awaiting trial on wiretapping charges, cannot take part in elections on May 5 in which he was running for mayor of Panama City and a seat in Congress, a spokesman for Martinelli said on Friday.

“The ruling of the electoral tribunal has disqualified him as candidate,” said the spokesman, Eduardo Camacho, calling the court’s ruling a “political decision.”

Officials at the tribunal did not immediately confirm the ruling, which also was reported in local media in Panama.

Martinelli, a supermarket tycoon who ran the Central American country from 2009 to 2014, was extradited to Panama last June from the United States and charged with spying on 150 people, including politicians, union leaders and journalists.

A judge had previously cleared Martinelli to run for mayor of the capital. His critics vowed to appeal that decision.

(Reporting by Elida Moreno and Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City
FILE PHOTO: Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Shares of Walmart, Target and other U.S. retailers fell on Friday as Amazon.com Inc unveiled a one-day delivery plan for its Prime members in a move to further disrupt the fiercely competitive retail landscape.

The e-commerce giant’s announcement on Thursday could cause other brands, manufacturers, retailers, and logistics companies to have to invest more aggressively to compete with Amazon and its delivery, analysts said.

Retailers in recent years have poured billions into ecommerce and faster shipping options and are trying to close the gap with Amazon.

“This is about making it more expensive to catch up and affirms our world view that only the largest and smartest will survive,” Bernstein analyst Brandon Fletcher said.

The move is expected to heighten consumer expectations on e-commerce delivery just like Amazon did with its two-day shipping option for members of its loyalty club Prime, noted analysts.

“The faster you ship, the more people buy,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney said.

The challenge for non-Amazon players was that very few of the existing logistics and parcel delivery players now have the ability to do nationwide one-day delivery, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said.

“And even fewer can do it at the vast scale and reasonable cost that AMZN would need for Prime delivery,” Nowak said in a note.

Walmart Inc’s shares fell about 3 percent, while Target Corp dropped about 5 percent in morning trade.

Shares of Kohl’s Corp, Macy’s Inc and Nordstrom Inc fell about 1 percent. Grocer Kroger Co was nearly 3 percent lower, while consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Inc dropped 2.1 percent.

(Reporting by Soundarya J and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Source: OANN

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A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing
A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Ng Han Guan/Pool (CHINA – Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

April 26, 2019

By April Joyner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even as the lift from optimism over prospects for U.S.-China trade detente shows signs of wearing off for the wider U.S. stock market, upbeat sentiment around China’s economy could bolster shares of materials companies.

Shares of S&P 500 industrial and technology companies, which were buffeted by last year’s tit-for-tat tariffs as well as slowing global demand, have been very responsive to progress in U.S.-China trade relations and a strengthening Chinese economy. This year, those sectors have outpaced the ascent in the S&P 500, which reached a record closing high on Tuesday.

Materials stocks have not been as sensitive, however, even though they also stand to benefit as a stronger Chinese economy lifts global consumption and industrial output. As China has taken measures to stimulate its economy, its economic data have turned more upbeat. That in turn could aid global growth, which has flagged as a result of China’s cooldown.

“What we’re seeing is China spending more on stimulus: fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York. “That’s likely to be a positive for materials.”

The People’s Bank of China has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs. The stimulus appears to have boosted Chinese economic data, with factory activity growing in March for the first time in four months.

Yet so far in 2019, the S&P 500 materials index has underperformed the S&P 500 at large, rising just 11.9% compared with 16.7% for the benchmark index. Moreover, it is among the biggest decliners in the period since the S&P’s previous record closing level on Sept. 20. The materials index has fallen 7% over those seven months, versus a 5.2% gain for technology and a 3% loss for industrials. Only the energy index has dropped more over that period.

A trade agreement could serve as a catalyst for a bump in materials shares as a drag on China’s economy is lifted, some market strategists say. Some commodity prices, including those for copper and oil, have ascended this year as the prospects for the global economy have somewhat brightened.

“It all goes back to the global growth outlook,” said Andrea DiCenso, portfolio manager for alpha strategies at Loomis Sayles in Boston. “With the front run in hard data, we’re beginning to see a pretty significant rally.”

Additionally, a trade agreement is expected to include commitments from China to purchase higher quantities of U.S. products such as soybeans, which could benefit companies that make agricultural chemicals, including DowDuPont Inc and CF Industries Holdings Inc.

CF Industries is scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, and DowDuPont is scheduled to report before the market open on Thursday.

To be sure, even with a trade agreement, some materials companies could face price pressures. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc fell 10.1% on Thursday after the copper mining company posted a lower-than-expected profit as its production slipped and its costs rose.

A rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports, particularly aluminum and steel, would likely prompt a fall in some commodity prices, which could hurt prospects for certain materials companies, said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management in El Segundo, California.

Even so, those drawbacks may be outweighed by the support for global demand fostered by a U.S.-China trade agreement.

“You could see a number of companies with lowered expectations bring them back up as they talk favorably about the impact that a trade deal would have on them,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

(Reporting by April Joyner; additional reporting by Sinéad Carew; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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