Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Life Under Communism: Cuban Couple Gets 2 Years in Jail For Homeschooling

Evangelical Pastor Ramón Rigal and his wife Ayda Expósito were both sentenced to prison after engaging in and promoting homeschooling in the communist country of Cuba.

Breitbart reports:

“Homeschooling is illegal in Cuba, as it is considered a “capitalist” practice and prevents the state from indoctrinating children in Marxist atheism in public schools. Rigal has been homeschooling his children for years, forcing him into consistent confrontations with the Castro regime, and began helping other Christian families homeschool following his arrest in 2017.”

Rigal and Expósito, who are from Guatemala, were detained last week over their refusal to send their children to government-run schools.

In two previous cases against the couple, journalist Yoe Suarez reported, “the prosecutor indicated that education at home is ‘not permitted in Cuba because it has a capitalist foundation’ and that only [the government] teachers are prepared ‘to instill socialist values’.”

On Monday, the judge presiding over their cases found them guilty of “illicit assembly and incitement to delinquency” for helping other families interested in homeschooling.

Cuban state security wouldn’t let friends or family attend the sentencing and they got violent with attorney and journalist Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces.

“They punched me in the mouth, my shirt is bloody, and I am detained here now, I don’t know why,” Quiñones told a Cuban reporter.

Before the couple was arrested, they were planning on leaving the country for a nation that respects their right to freely educate their children.

Watch Rigal explain his situation in the video below that was released days before his arrest.

The case took place amid rising tension in Cuba after the country adopted a new constitution earlier this year that was met with opposition from religious leaders who say it weakens protections for freedom of religion.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

Florida man dies after trying to remove pet pigeon from power line with ‘20-foot aluminum pole’

A Florida man died this weekend while reportedly trying to remove one of his pet pigeons from a power line by using “a 20-foot aluminum pool pole."

Elian Garcia-Rivera, 36, was electrocuted Saturday in West Palm Beach and found unresponsive near a pigeon coop on his property.

“He attempted to get a pigeon off of the power line in his backyard by using a 20-foot aluminum pool pole,” Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Teri Barbera told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Investigators say Garcia was thrown to the ground after the pole touched the power line. He was then taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Ohio Democrat Pushes For Black Children To Be Aborted

Ohio Rep. Janine Boyd (D-Cleveland Heights) filed an amendment Tuesday aiming to remove protections for African American babies in the “heartbeat bill” the Ohio House is expected to pass Wednesday.

The “heartbeat bill” would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected and allow the state to prosecute doctors who perform abortions after a heartbeat is found.

During her testimony, Boyd argued black women should be allowed to abort their children to counter slavery-era atrocities.

“I consider the slave trade and how black slaves were considered like cattle and put out to stud in order to create generations of more slaves,” she testified.

Continuing, she said, “I consider how many masters raped their slaves. I consider how many masters forced their slaves to have abortions and I consider how many pregnant slaves self-induced abortion so they would not contribute children they have to this slave system.”

“Our country is not far enough beyond our history to legislate as if it is, and so I ask you with all of your values to vote yes to this amendment,” Boyd concluded.

While the statements made regarding the treatment of black women during slavery are accurate, Boyd ignores multiple ironies.

For example, it’s ironic that Boyd, and African American herself, is dehumanizing black fetuses based on their race.

What about white, Asian or Hispanic mothers and babies?

Another irony is that she only targets black children for abortion which was one of the goals of eugenicist and KKK sympathizer Margaret Sanger who founded Planned Parenthood.

Sanger believed black people were like weeds who need to be controlled and was the founder of the “Negro Project,” which sought to completely eliminate black births.

Now, recent statistics show more black babies are aborted in the state of New York City than are born, while nationally, the CDC reports that nearly half of all pregnancies among black women end in abortion.

As the abortion battle to intensify nationwide, the race issue is sure to be a focal point as the Democratic Party is completely obsessed with identity politics.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

‘Dumbo’ and the elephant not in the room

European premiere of
Producer Katterli Frauenfelder, actor Colin Farrell, actor Nico Parker, director Tim Burton, actor Finley Hobbins, actor Eva Green, actor Danny DeVito, producers Derek Frey and Justin Springer attend the European premiere of "Dumbo" movie in London, Britain March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

March 25, 2019

By Rollo Ross

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Big-eared baby elephant Dumbo may be the star of Walt Disney Co’s remake of its 1941 animated movie classic but the film was shot without its adorable star ever making an appearance on set.

The cast of the live action “Dumbo,” arriving in movie theaters worldwide this week, had to act opposite an assortment of models and stunt men and women while the elephant was being created by computer-generated imagery (CGI).

“It is weird that you’re making a movie with all these great actors and the main character is not there,” director Tim Burton told Reuters Television.

“Dumbo,” which stars Colin Farrell, Danny DeVito and Michael Keaton, is the tale of an elephant born to a struggling circus who is ridiculed for his huge ears, until he uses them to fly and becomes the main attraction of the show.

Farrell, who plays the father of two children who adopt Dumbo, said he never saw an elephant while making the film.

“There wasn’t an elephant to be found. They did have models. They had a beautiful huge model in luminous green of an elephant that played Dumbo’s mom, Jumbo, and then they had multiple, multiple stand-ins for Dumbo,” Farrell said.

“They had a model that didn’t move. They had a couple of actors… dressed in green spandex onesies and they’d come in and do their thing, and they had stilts on the front of their arms and their movement was extraordinary and the character work was extraordinary,” Farrell added.

One of the stand-ins was Burton himself.

“You should see me get on all fours,” Burton said. “Throwing my trunk all over the place.”

Farrell said he didn’t get to see Dumbo until he watched the finished film for the first time as a member of the audience.

“Dumbo falls down, and the straw goes awry and then the ears come out and I’m seeing it for the first time. Beautiful, really lovely to see. They did extraordinary work,” he said.

(Reporting by Reuters Television; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

0 0

The Latest: Ship taken back from migrants arrives in Malta

The Latest on a ship seized by migrants in the Mediterranean (all times local):

8:45 a.m.

A tanker that had been hijacked by migrants it had rescued at sea has arrived in a Maltese port after armed forces restored control to the captain.

Several military personnel with weapons could be seen on board the Turkish oil tanker El Hiblu 1 when it arrived at port in the capital, Valletta, Thursday morning. Armed forces said that the migrants would be turned over to police for investigation.

A Maltese special operations team had earlier boarded the ship, returning control to the captain, who sailed to Malta under military escort.

Authorities in Italy and Malta said that the migrants had hijacked the ship on Wednesday after it rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea, and forced the crew to put the Libya-bound vessel on a course north toward Europe.

___

7:35 a.m.

Malta armed forces say a special operations team has seized a tanker that was hijacked by migrants and it is now heading to a Maltese port with the migrants and crew.

Malta armed forces said Thursday that control of the vessel was returned to the captain and it was being escorted and monitored to Malta, where the migrants will be handed over to police for investigation.

Authorities in Malta and Italy said the migrants had hijacked the cargo ship after it rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea and forced the crew to put the Libya-bound vessel on a course north toward Europe. The tanker had rescued about 120 people before it was taken over in what Italy's interior minister described as "the first piracy on the high seas with migrants."

Source: Fox News World

0 0

51 victims of Larry Nassar's sexual assault sue USOC over abuse claims

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) is being sued by 51 victims of disgraced USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar because the committee allegedly failed to prevent the sexual assault.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Denver. It details Nassar’s abuse from as far back as the late 1990s with one victim as young as 8 years old.

USOC board members and several former high-ranking officials were also included in the lawsuit.

ALY RAISMAN OPENS UP ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE, SAYS IT’S HARD TO HEAR OTHER SURVIVORS’ STORIES

The lawsuit describes alleged abuse by six other coaches, though most of the plaintiffs said they were abused by Nassar himself.

It also claims the USOC violated Title IX and the constitution by not acting promptly and more forcefully.

Many of the plaintiffs' claims in the lawsuit are similar to those of other victims: Often their parents were present during the examinations but Nassar positioned himself in a way that they could not see what was happening.

Many also claimed they were not aware they were being abused at the time because they were young and sexually inexperienced. Some said they only became aware when other victims came forward at Nassar’s 2018 sentencing hearing for child pornography and sex abuse.

LARRY NASSAR SENTENCED TO 40 TO 175 YEARS IN GYMNASTICS MOLESTATION CASE

Others acted after the release of a report in December that detailed the USOC's allegedly slow response to sex-abuse cases.

In addition to compensation, the plaintiffs are asking for institutional reform at the USOC.

The USOC said the federation would have no comment on pending litigation. The governing body has tried to remove itself as a defendant in a number of other similar lawsuits, contending it should not be held legally responsible for Nassar's crimes.

OLYMPIC GYMNAST ALY RAISMAN BREAKS ELBOW IN FALL ON STAIRS

Those lawsuits include USA Gymnastics as defendants, but this one singles out the USOC, which is based in Colorado Springs.

Virtually all the top executives — including the chairman, CEO and sports performance director — have left voluntarily or been fired since Nassar's sentencing in January 2018.

In January 2018, Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting seven people in the Lansing, Michigan, area between 1998 and 2015. He has already been sentenced to 60 years in prison for child pornography crimes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow promises big cuts in domestic spending for 2020 budget

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow revealed Sunday that President Trump wants a 5 percent cut “across the board” on all domestic spending as part of his proposed 2020 budget.

“It will be a tough budget,” Kudlow said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” “We’re going to do our own caps this year and I think it’s long overdue.”

Kudlow added: “Some of these recent budget deals have not been favorable towards spending. So, I think it’s exactly the right prescription.”

GOVERNMENT REPORT SAYS US BUDGET DEFICIT SET TO HIT $897B 

Kudlow said that "there's no reason to obsess" about the budget deficit, even as it approaches $1 trillion, as long as it remains below 5 percent of the overall economy.

He said the budget will contain a proposed 5 percent across-the-board reduction in domestic spending.

Like previous spending blueprints, Trump's plan for the 2020 budget year will propose cuts to many domestic programs favored by lawmakers in both parties but leave alone politically popular retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

Washington probably will devote months to wrestling over erasing the last remnants of a failed 2011 budget deal that would otherwise cut core Pentagon operations by $71 billion and domestic agencies and foreign aid by $55 billion. Top lawmakers are pushing for a reprise of three prior deals to use spending cuts or new revenues and prop up additional spending rather than defray deficits that are again approaching $1 trillion.

Trump's 2017 tax cut bears much of the blame for expanding the deficit, along with sharp increases in spending for both the Pentagon and domestic agencies and the growing federal retirement costs of the baby boom generation. Promises that the tax cut would stir so much economic growth that it would mostly pay for itself have been proved woefully wrong.

TRUMP ASKS CABINET TO CUT DEPARTMENT BUDGETS BY 5 PERCENT 

Trump's upcoming budget, however, won't address any of the main factors behind the growing, intractable deficits that have driven the U.S. debt above $22 trillion. Its most striking proposed cuts — to domestic agency operations — were rejected when Tea Party Republicans controlled the House, and they face equally grim prospects now that Democrats are in the majority.

Trump has given no indication he's interested in the deficit, and he has rejected any idea of curbing Medicare or Social Security, the massive federal retirement programs whose imbalances are the chief deficit drivers.

Kudlow – a former Wall Street analyst and economic commentator – said that the 2020 proposal will also keep the 3 percent tax cuts implemented in 2018.

“If you want to deal with budget deficits, you’ve got rapid growth which means keep the tax cuts in place,” He said. “We believe the 3 percent tax rates of 2018 will continue in 2019 and beyond 2020 and so forth.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

One area that won’t see a cut in the proposed budget is for funding for the president’s border wall.

The Washington Post reported on Sunday that Trump will request at least $8.6 billion in new funding to build additional sections of a wall along the Mexico border. Trump also wants $5 billion in additional funds for the Department of Homeland Security and another $3.6 billion in military construction funds.

All this would come in addition to the $6.5 billion Trump vowed last month to redirect for the construction of the wall.

“I would just say that the whole issue of the wall and border security is a paramount of importance,” Kudlow said on Sunday. “We have a crisis down there. I think the president has made that case effectively. It’s a crisis of economics, it’s a crisis of crime and drugs, it’s a crisis of just of humanity.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



FILE PHOTO - A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.

The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.

Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.

But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.

Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.

In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.

Symone Sanders, a prominent Democratic strategist and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., staffer in 2016, was announced as one of the big-name members of Team Biden on Thursday.

But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.

“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.

BIDEN HIRES FORMER BERNIE SANDERS’ SPOKESPERSON AS SENIOR ADVISER

“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.

Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”

Footage of the interview was resurfaced by RealClearPolitics.

After news of her hiring broke on Thursday, Sanders backed her new boss on Twitter.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG

“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.

The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.

While Sanders himself didn’t torch Biden as he jumped into the race, it’s clear that many of his progressive supporters view the former vice president as a threat.

Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.

BIDEN VOWS THAT ‘AMERICA IS COMING BACK,’ SPARKING ‘MAGA’ COMPARISONS

Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”

Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who is facing increased calls for her immediate resignation, remains in poor health and is not “lucid” enough to decide whether to step down, her attorney told reporters late Thursday.

Steve Silverman, speaking outside one of Pugh’s residences which was raided by the FBI and IRS earlier in the day, said the embattled city leader could make a decision as early as next week.

“She is leaning toward making the best decision in the best interest in the citizens of Baltimore City,” he said, adding that Pugh has “several options” to consider.

“She just needs to be physically and mentally sound and lucid enough to make appropriate decisions.”

BALTIMORE MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH, ON LEAVE AMID BOOK PROBE, HAS HOMES AND CITY HALL OFFICE RAIDED BY FEDS

Silverman said Pugh met with a doctor at home Thursday and plans to do so again Friday, the Baltimore Sun reported.

In the latest image-tarnishing scandal for struggling Baltimore, the first-term Democratic mayor faces accusations that she used children’s book deals to cover up kickbacks for favorable treatment as a state lawmaker and city leader that earned her roughly $800,000 over several years.

BALTIMORE’S ACTING MAYOR SAYS HE ‘WOULD HATE TO SEE’ EMBATTLED MAYOR RETURN AFTER BOOK SCANDALS

As a state senator, 69-year-old Pugh sold $500,000 worth of her self-published “Healthy Holly” illustrated paperbacks to the University of Maryland Medical System, a major state employer whose board she sat on for nearly 20 years.

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

UMMS reportedly paid Pugh for 100,000 copies of her books between 2011 and 2018 with the stated intention of distributing the books to schools and day care centers. But some 50,000 copies remain unaccounted for and officials are probing if they were even printed.

Pugh also made $300,000 in bulk sales to other customers including health carriers that did business with the city of Baltimore.

BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL CALLS ON EMBATTLED MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH TO RESIGN IMMEDIATELY

The politically isolated Pugh slipped out of sight on April 1 after a hastily organized press conference where she called her no-contract book deals a “regrettable mistake.” That same day, Maryland’s governor called on the state prosecutor to investigate allegations of “self-dealing.”

Pugh took an indefinite leave of absence, citing her health deteriorating intensely after a bout with pneumonia.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide. (Loyd Fox/Baltimore Sun via AP)

On Thursday morning, agents with the FBI and IRS searched her two Baltimore homes, her City Hall offices, and a nonprofit organization she once led. The home of at least one of Pugh’s aides was also scoured.

Silverman said federal agents also served a subpoena at his law firm, retrieving Pugh’s original financial records. They did not seek any attorney-client privileged communications, he said.

Pugh’s attorney said she was “emotionally extremely distraught” following the searches by FBI and IRS agents.

“There was nothing incriminating that came out of her home,” Silverman said.

UMMS spokesman Michael Schwartzberg told reporters that the medical system received a grand jury witness subpoena seeking documents and information related to Pugh.

Other probes against Pugh include a review by the city ethics board and the Maryland Insurance Administration.

BALTIMORE MAYOR’S $500G DEAL FOR ‘HEALTHY HOLLY’ CHILDREN’S BOOKS DRAWS SCRUTINY

In recent weeks, the calls for Pugh’s resignation have intensified with the strongest voice coming from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who did not mince words after Thursday’s early morning raids.

“Now more than ever, Baltimore City needs strong and responsible leadership. Mayor Pugh has lost the public trust,” he said. “She is clearly not fit to lead. For the good of the city, Mayor Pugh must resign.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall.

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun via AP)

Many of her fellow Democrats, including those on Baltimore’s demoralized City Council and state lawmakers, are also insisting that Pugh put the citizens’ interests above any attempt to preserve her political career.

City Council member Brandon Scott called the Thursday raids “an embarrassment to the city.”

However, only a conviction can trigger a mayor’s removal from office, according to the city solicitor. Baltimore’s mayor-friendly City Charter currently provides no options for ousting its executive.

Six of Pugh’s staffers joined her on paid leave earlier this month; three of them were fired this week by the acting mayor.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Pugh came to office in late 2016 after edging out ex-Mayor Sheila Dixon, who had spent much of her tenure fighting corruption charges before being forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal connected to the misappropriation of about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families.

She would certainly face a bruising 2020 Democratic primary if she were to return and run for reelection. Veteran City Council leader Bernard “Jack” Young, who is serving as acting mayor, said as she went on leave that he would merely be a placeholder. But this week, before the raids, he said “it could be devastating for her” if she tried to return.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.

Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.

PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.

The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.

“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.

Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.

A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.

“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”

PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.

The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.

The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.

Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)

(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.

ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”

Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.

Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.

The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.

In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.

ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist