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Busch captures 52nd career Cup victory with Phoenix win

NASCAR: TicketGuardian 500
Mar 10, 2019; Avondale, AZ, USA; Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch (18) races during the TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports

March 10, 2019

Kyle Busch easily could have laid claim to being the top Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver not driving a Team Penske Ford through the first three races of the 2019 season. Following Sunday’s victory at ISM Raceway near Phoenix, Busch can now lay claim to be the series’ top driver. Period.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver dominated in Arizona, leading a race-best 177 of 312 laps in winning the TicketGuardian 500 — a race that began with Busch being the only driver in Cup to have notched top-10 finishes in the previous three events.

The victory was his 52nd in Cup and it gave him a weekend sweep at ISM as he won Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. It also gave him 199 victories over NASCAR’s top three series and two straight wins in Arizona as he won at the one-mile oval last November.

With the win, Busch joins teammate Denny Hamlin and Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano as drivers having won races and securing berths in the season-ending Playoffs.

Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing finished second and Ryan Blaney third.

Aric Almirola of Stewart-Haas Racing and Hamlin rounded out the top five.

To get the victory, Busch had to track down Blaney of Team Penske — who led 95 laps — over the final 50 laps. He made the pass for the lead with 16 laps to go and then drove to the victory.

At the end, Truex had moved past Blaney into second place and finished 1.2-seconds back.

Team Penske’s run of two straight victories came to an end at ISM. Brad Keselowski, who won at Atlanta two weeks ago, suffered a couple of scrapes with walls and finished 19th. Last week’s winner at Las Vegas, Joey Logano, finished 10th.

Pole-sitter Blaney started from the pole and led 46 of the first 75 laps to win Stage 1. Busch led all 75 laps in winning Stage 2.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Thai election results delayed, anti-junta party claims win

Thailand's election commission says it will release full vote counts from the first election since a 2014 coup on Friday as an anti-junta party claimed it won the most seats and will try to form a government.

The commission said Monday it will announce the results of 350 constituency seats later in the day but full vote counts, which are needed to determine the allocation of 150 other seats in parliament, won't be available for several days.

The Pheu Thai party, which was ousted from government in the coup, said it won the most constituency seats in Sunday's election and will try to form a government with similar-minded parties.

Unofficial results show the military-backed Palang Pracharat party won the popular vote.

Source: Fox News World

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Ex-Obama adviser David Axelrod condemns 'weird turn' in Jussie Smollett case

In a thread on Twitter, ex-Obama adviser David Axelrod condemned “this weird turn in the (Jussie) Smollett case.”

He tweeted Tuesday afternoon: “Unless some better explanation surfaces, here’s the lesson of this weird turn in the Smollett case: You can contrive a hate crime, make it a national news, get caught and-if you are a well-connected celebrity-get off for $10K and have your record expunged and files sealed.”

JUSSIE SMOLLETT'S ALLEGED HATE CRIME ATTACK: A TIMELINE OF EVENTS

In an astonishing reversal, prosecutors on Tuesday abruptly dropped all charges against Smollett, abandoning the case barely five weeks after the “Empire” actor was accused of lying to police about being the target of a racist, anti-gay attack in downtown Chicago.

Smollett’s attorneys said his record had “been wiped clean” of the 16 felony counts related to making a false report that he was assaulted by two men. The actor insisted that he had “been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one.”

Axelrod, who majored in political science at the University of Chicago and now is a political consultant and analyst, added on Twitter, “No. Sorry, folks. The brief statement offered by the prosecutor didn’t dispute the basic facts in the original charge. That’s why he was compelled to sacrifice his bond. They simply said that in light of his voluntary work in the community, this was a just resolution.”

The former political writer for the Chicago Tribune concluded: “Hate crimes are loathsome. Faking them is insidious and shouldn’t be excused. Despite Smollett’s denials, nothing the prosecutor said in dismissing the case supports that. If prosecutors have evidence that contradicts the indictment THEY brought, they should share it today.”

The mayor and police chief blasted the decision and stood by the investigation that concluded Smollett staged a hoax. A visibly angry Mayor Rahm Emanuel called it “a whitewash of justice” and lashed out at Smollett, asking, “Is there no decency in this man?”

Emanuel, who is in his final weeks in office after two terms, said the city saw its reputation “dragged through the mud” by Smollett’s alleged plan to promote his career. The hoax, the mayor said, could endanger other gay people who report hate crimes.

“Now this casts a shadow of whether they’re telling the truth, and he did this all in the name of self-promotion,” he said.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson stood by the department’s investigation and said Chicago is “is still owed an apology.”

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It was not immediately clear what prompted the decision to dismiss the case. In a statement, the Cook County prosecutors’ office offered no detailed explanation. The city will keep the $10,000 in bail money that Smollett paid to get out of jail after his arrest.

“After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case,” said the statement from spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.

Typically, a minimum condition of dropping cases is some acceptance of responsibility.

Outside court, neither Smollett nor his legal team appeared to concede anything about his original report.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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On offense in Russia probe, Trump urged to consider new special counsel, criminal referrals

With President Trump entering the "counter-punch" phase of the Russia investigation, allies are urging him to consider two avenues -- each with its own potential payoffs and pitfalls -- to investigate the origins of the probe and hold top Justice Department officials accountable for alleged wrongdoing.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced the completion of his investigation last week, transmitting his more than 300-page report to the Justice Department for review. Attorney General Bill Barr released a four-page summary of Mueller’s report Sunday, stating the special counsel found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election, despite numerous offers from Kremlin-linked individuals.

MORE THAN HALF OF AMERICANS BELIEVE MUELLER PROBE WAS FAIR, ARE SATISFIED WITH RESULTS: POLL 

This week, Trump allies are seizing on the results of the nearly two-year-long investigation and presenting options for the president to pivot to uncover alleged misconduct at the start of the probe.

Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced a sweeping investigation into “the other side,” focusing on alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses and the hazy origins of the Russia investigation at the FBI. He also called for Barr to appoint a new special counsel to review the issues.

“I’d like to find somebody, like a Mr. Mueller, that can look into what happened with the FISA warrants, the counterintelligence investigation,” Graham said Monday. “There are some people that are never going to accept the Mueller report, but by any reasonable standard, Mueller thoroughly investigated the Trump campaign. You cannot say that about the other side of the story.”

Graham added that “due to the emotional nature of this,” he hoped the attorney general would “appoint somebody outside the current system to look into these allegations, somebody we all trust, and let them do what Mueller did,” noting he’s been calling for the appointment of a second special counsel since 2017 to investigate “whether or not a counterintelligence investigation was opened as a backdoor to spy on the Trump campaign.”

Graham said he wanted answers on how much money the Democrats paid research firm Fusion GPS to commission the dossier, or if the contents of the dossier ever were verified. Republicans have also long scrutinized the decision to surveil former Trump adviser Carter Page in 2016, based on dossier allegations. Page, despite being surveilled by the FBI and investigated during Mueller's probe, has never been charged with a crime.

Sources told Fox News this week that during a luncheon with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill this week, the president was enthusiastic about the idea of appointing a new special counsel, and seemed excited about Graham’s “deep-dive” investigation.

Former senior Justice Department official James Trusty, though, told Fox News that while these activities “deserve a hard second look,” they “should not necessarily generate criminal referrals.”

“If we don’t want to have a politicized FBI and Justice Department, then somebody, whether it’s the inspector general or Congress, or somebody else, should look hard at some of these things that are troubling,” Trusty, now with Ifrah Law, told Fox News. “I don’t have complete faith in the inspector general’s office making the types of judgments that might need to be made, but I’m not enamored by the idea of having endless special counsels auditing the last special counsel.”

TRUMP RECEPTIVE TO GRAHAM'S CALL FOR 2ND SPECIAL COUNSEL TO REVIEW RUSSIA PROBE ORIGINS, SOURCE SAYS

But the appointment of a second special counsel is just one avenue Republicans are presenting.

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who, while chairman of the House Intelligence Committee during the last Congress probed alleged FISA abuse, said this week that he was considering issuing criminal referrals for top Justice Department and FBI officials involved in the origins of the Russia investigation “by the end of next week.”

Nunes, who Trump recently said may one day be hailed as a "great American hero" for his work on the Intelligence Committee, said he would go after “people who lied to Congress, perjury, criminal conspiracy,” and hoped to “make as much public as possible.”

“The FBI and DOJ should not be able to use counter-intelligence capabilities that are used to target terrorists and other bad guys around the globe against political parties,” Nunes said this week on “The Story.” “Republicans and Democrats should agree political opposition research for one candidate should not be used to let the nation’s top spy capabilities be used against political parties.”

NELLIE OHR, WIFE OF DOJ OFFICIAL, DID EXTENSIVE OPPO RESEARCH ON TRUMP FAMILY, AIDES: TRANSCRIPT

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is currently investigating any alleged misconduct related to FISA warrants delivered from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The status of that investigation, or a timeline of when the review will be complete, is unclear.

Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also is pushing for transparency on the matter. This week, Paul offered an amendment which would reveal what role, if any, former President Barack Obama played in the origin of the Trump-Russia investigation.

“What we need to discover, and we do not yet know, was President Obama involved? Was this done for partisan purposes? Was this done to try to elect Hillary Clinton?” Paul asked on the Senate floor this week.

Source: Fox News Politics

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76-year-old man charged with killing wife last seen in 1981

A 76-year-old man was charged Thursday with killing his wife nearly 40 years ago and plotting to murder a suburban Philadelphia police sergeant who investigated the case in the 1980s.

William W. Korzon, of East Prospect, Pennsylvania, was charged with criminal homicide in the death of Gloria Korzon, who has not been seen or heard from since 1981.

William Korzon, who is known as Bill, was jailed after being arraigned at district court in Jamison, and court workers said no attorney appeared for him at the hearing. He was also charged with solicitation to commit criminal homicide, forgery and perjury.

He denied killing Gloria Korzon after the arraignment.

As he was led from the courthouse Thursday, he told reporters "she went to Florida" and that he has no idea where her body is.

Gloria Korzon, who would be 75 years old, was declared dead in 1997.

Gloria Korzon's brother, Ralph Kidder, of Springfield, Massachusetts, said the arrest gave him hope.

"It's been a long time waiting to have justice," Kidder said Thursday. "Until we find out what happened and where she is, it's still not going to be put to rest. This is a step in the right direction, but until we absolutely know, it's still not over."

A police affidavit said Korzon repeatedly abused his wife over many years. Kidder said the couple met while working at an electronics plant in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

About a year after their 1967 marriage in Massachusetts, he was committed to a psychiatric facility following an arrest on charges he threatened to kill her.

The abuse continued after the couple moved to Pennsylvania in 1968, police said in the affidavit. The couple had no children.

"During these incidents of domestic violence, Gloria suffered multiple injuries, including a broken arm, a broken collarbone, damage to her nasal bone and a black eye. Many of these injuries required hospitalizations," police said. Gloria Korzon documented the abuse in letters to her attorney.

Gloria Korzon was last seen working at an electronics plant in the Philadelphia suburb of Horsham on March 6, 1981. A few days later, police said, Bill Korzon told her employer to terminate her because of mental and physical health problems, retrieved her belongings and directed that her last paycheck be mailed to their home.

"In the months and years following Gloria's disappearance, Bill Korzon engaged in a series of actions to lie, conceal and profit from it," police said.

He allegedly forged her signatures on two checks in 1981 and filed a joint tax return months after she disappeared, police said.

A tenant who lived in the Korzon home in 1981 told police five years later that Korzon had asked him to help ambush and kill a Warrington Township Police sergeant who was investigating Gloria Korzon's disappearance, the charging documents allege.

The Bucks County Courier Times said police dug up the Korzon home's yard in 1986, but found only the remains of a dog.

Police said that Korzon told them earlier this year he had battered his wife for years, including breaking her collar bone.

"Korzon further admitted that following the date that Gloria was last seen alive, he forged Gloria's final paycheck, credit union check and tax return so that he could illegally access Gloria's money," the affidavit said. "He further admitted to having perjured himself during a 1988 Orphan's Court hearing that he initiated, in order to determine what percentage of property he was entitled to from Gloria's estate."

During the police interview this year, investigators say, Korzon admitting signing a 1981 Mother's Day card in Gloria Korzon's name and sending it to her mother to make her think her daughter was still alive.

He's also alleged to have asked investigators this year: "Did you find the body?"

Source: Fox News National

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House Dems prepare for subpoena battle over Mueller report

House Judiciary Committee Democrats are preparing to authorize subpoenas this week seeking Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report after the Justice Department indicated it will miss a Democrat-imposed deadline of April 2, in a major escalation of the battle between Congress and the administration over access to the underlying documents and evidence from the probe.

Last week, Attorney General Bill Barr announced that the Justice Department and the special counsel were “well along in the process of identifying and redacting” sensitive material in the more than 300-page report and would likely have it to Congress by mid-April, “if not sooner.”

DEMS WHO FUMED AT NUNES FOR JEOPARDIZING 'SOURCES AND METHODS' NOW DEMAND MUELLER REPORT IN FULL

But Monday, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., announced that the panel will vote Wednesday to authorize the option of issuing subpoenas.

“As I have made clear, Congress requires the full and complete Special Counsel report, without redactions, as well as access to the underlying evidence,” Nadler said in a statement Monday. “Attorney General Barr has thus far indicated he will not meet the April 2 deadline set by myself and five other Committee chairs, and refused to work with us to provide the full report, without redactions, to Congress.”

Nadler added that Barr should “reconsider so that we can work together to ensure the maximum transparency of this important report to both Congress and the American people.”

“The full and complete report must be released to Congress without delay,” Nadler said.

The authorization of subpoenas does not mean the committee is issuing them, but rather gives Democrats on the panel the option to do so should they feel it necessary.

The Judiciary Committee cited “historical precedent” for the full release of the Mueller report—specifically Watergate, when a judge ordered a 55-page grand jury roadmap to be provided to the committee; and during the Ken Starr investigation of former President Bill Clinton, when a 455-page report along with evidence including grand jury material was provided to the panel.

Despite the firm demands from House Democrats, Barr has indicated he does plan on sharing much of the report itself, noting that, with the help of the special counsel’s office, the Justice Department is reviewing material that ““by law cannot be made public” -- covering “material the intelligence community identifies as potentially compromising sensitive sources and methods; material that could affect ongoing matters, including those that the Special Counsel has referred to other Department offices; and information that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.”

Barr added that: “Although the President would have the right to assert privilege over certain parts of the report, he has stated publicly that he intends to defer to me and, accordingly, there are no plans to submit the report to the White House for privilege review."

BARR TO RELEASE MUELLER REPORT TO CONGRESS BY 'MID-APRIL, IF NOT SOONER;' WILL NOT TRANSMIT TO WHITE HOUSE FOR PRIVILEGE REVIEW

Barr released his summary of Mueller's report last week, stating that the special counsel found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election. The special counsel was also reviewing whether the president had obstructed justice in any way, but ultimately did not come to a conclusion on that issue. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, though, said the evidence was “not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”

The top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Ranking Member Doug Collins, R-Ga., slammed the Democrats for "setting arbitrary deadlines," in a written statement:

“Judiciary Democrats have escalated from setting arbitrary deadlines to demanding unredacted material that Congress does not, in truth, require and that the law does not allow to be shared outside the Justice Department. It’s unfortunate that a body meant to uphold the law has grown so desperate that it’s patently misrepresenting the law, even as the attorney general has already demonstrated transparency above and beyond what is required.”

Meanwhile, Nadler's committee is also leading its own Trump-focused investigation, which was announced last month. Nadler and the Democrats said they are probing “alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump." As part of that probe, Nadler has requested documents from 81 individuals and entities connected to the president.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Vatican upholds sex abuse conviction against Guam archbishop

The Vatican has upheld its conviction of Guam's ousted archbishop for sexually abusing minors and has added a further penalty on appeal.

The Vatican announced the definitive decision against Archbishop Anthony Apuron Thursday. In doing so, it revealed for the first time that he had been originally convicted of sexually abusing minors.

The Vatican confirmed that conviction and the original sentence, which removed Apuron from office and prohibited him from living on the Pacific island. And in an additional penalty, the Vatican has prohibited him for life for using the insignia of a bishop.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

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FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren suggested that doctors and nurses don’t treat African American women the same way they do white women.

Warren appeared on Wednesday together with a number of other 2020 Democratic candidates at the She The People Forum in Houston, discussing issues concerning women of color.

WARREN’S $1.25T EDUCATION PLAN ‘SWEEPING’ GIVEAWAY TO THE WEALTHY AT EXPENSE OF THE POOR, WAPO EDITORIAL BOARD SAYS

The Massachusetts senator announced on stage a plan to decrease the childbirth mortality rate among black women while identifying a systematic problem with how they are treated.

“And there is a specific problem, as you rightly identified, for women of color who are three, four times more likely to die in childbirth,” Warren said.

“And here’s the thing, even after we do the adjustments for income, for education, this is true across the board. This is true for well-educated African American women, for wealthy African American women, and the best studies that I’m seeing put it down to just one thing, prejudice,” she added.

“That doctors and nurses don’t hear African American women’s medical issues the same way that they hear the same things from white women.”

“That doctors and nurses don’t hear African American women’s medical issues the same way that they hear the same things from white women.”

— Elizabeth Warren

CHARLIE KIRK: WARREN AND OTHER DEMS OFFER FREE MONEY – BUT DON’T TELL YOU PRICE WILL BE YOUR FREEDOM

Warren went on to get into details of her plan, noting that hospitals will be given bonuses if they manage to reduce the childbirth mortality rate among black women in an effort to give financial incentives for those doctors and nurses to provide better care.

“And if they don’t, then they’re going to have money taken away from them,” Warren added.

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“I want to see the hospitals see it as their responsibility to address this problem head-on and make it a first priority. The best way to do that is to use the money to make it happen because we gotta have change, and we gotta have change now.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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