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Democrats face a 2020 choice problem


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On the roster: Democrats face a 2020 choice problem - Beto, Warren call abolish the Electoral College - Report: Deutsche Bank loaned Trump over $2 billion - Keep an eye on Andrew Yang - Better late than never?

DEMOCRATS FACE A 2020 CHOICE PROBLEM
Boston Globe: “With the party’s first national debates less than three months away, and the New Hampshire primary less than 11 months away, the big challenge for … [candidates:] how to stand out in such a crowded pack, without doing anything so bold it could backfire. …  A big field without an obvious front-runner could shake out in any number of ways, but history suggests it will most likely end up following one of two paths. The first is the long, (mostly) collegial search for a consensus candidate. That’s what we saw with the relatively large Democratic field in 1988 (11 candidates, plus a few fringe). In that race, the big names either sat out or flamed out early, and the campaign turned into a slow-moving grind… The 2004 campaign started out in similar fashion… The model for the second possible path is a lot more recent: The Republicans in the 2016 campaign. … After all, what an effective primary campaign does is put the candidates through a punishing stress test that toughens and strengthens them, giving everyone confidence that they have identified the strongest possible contender for the general election. … So this is the tightrope that Democratic contenders will have to walk: They’ll need to be unfiltered and distinctive enough to break out of the pack, but not so candid that they get disqualified by the wrath of summary judgment on social media.”

California’s early primary poised to pull 2020 Democrats further left - Fox News: “Unlike past elections, California will hold its primary early in the season – on March 3, 2020. That means the West Coast state, and its famously liberal voters, will hold extra influence this cycle. And while the 2020 candidates still have to connect with supporters in earliest-voting Iowa and New Hampshire – with their more moderate-leaning electorates – California’s combination of an early primary and massive delegate count could motivate the field to run decisively in the progressive lane from the start. … In another sign of California’s emerging influence this cycle, putative front-runner Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to visit the state this week. … Not only is California’s primary now slated for Super Tuesday in March, but early voting is set to start around the time of the Iowa caucuses. With that in mind, Sanders’ visit this week is likely the start of a political gold rush of sorts, as the 2020 candidates look west for electoral gold.”

THE RULEBOOK: MORE THE MERRIER
“The choice of SEVERAL, to form an intermediate body of electors, will be much less apt to convulse the community with any extraordinary or violent movements, than the choice of ONE who was himself to be the final object of the public wishes.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 68

TIME OUT: HOUSTON, WE HAVE A GOOD BOY PROBLEM
Atlantic: “To be clear, NASA’s ambitious plans for missions to the moon and Mars do not include dogs. … But dogs have been to space. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union strapped dogs into capsules and launched them into the sky. … But [NASA] suggests that, unlike the Soviet dogs, a canine on Mars would not be a lab animal, but a valued companion on the journey to a distant land. … Designing a spacesuit for a dog wouldn’t be the hard part… NASA has decades’ worth of experience in manufacturing spacesuits, which are like little spacecraft of their own… The problem is the dog’s experience inside that spacesuit, which would circulate the same air over and over. … The enclosed environment of a spacesuit would be stifling. … There’s also the question of the dog relieving itself. Astronauts wear adult diapers during spacewalks; Mars explorers would have to train their canine companions to become comfortable with a similar arrangement.”

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval: 
41 percent
Average disapproval: 53.6 percent
Net Score: -12.6 points
Change from one week ago: down 1.8 points 
[Average includes: CNN: 43% approve - 51% disapprove; Gallup: 39% approve - 57% disapprove; Monmouth University: 44% approve - 52% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 55% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 53% disapprove.]

BETO, WARREN CALL ABOLISH THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Fox News: “Another 2020 Democrat has come out against the Electoral College. After addressing students at Penn State University on Tuesday afternoon, Beto O’Rourke lamented Hillary Clinton’s failure to take the White House despite winning the popular vote, adding there is ‘a lot of wisdom’ in calls for change. ‘I think there’s a lot to that. Because you had an election in 2016 where the loser got 3 million more votes than the victor,’ O’Rourke said in a video posted online. ... ‘If we really want everyone to vote, to give them every reason to vote, we have to make sure their votes count and go to the candidate of their choosing. So I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that.’ O’Rourke’s support for potentially abolishing the Electoral College came one day after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pushed a similar proposal. ‘Every vote matters and the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College,’ Warren told an audience at the historically black Jackson State University in Mississippi.”

History shows Dems’ call isn’t all that surprising - WaPo: “Defenders of the electoral college system argue that it mandates visits to states like those above which might otherwise be overlooked. … That debate aside, there’s certainly no reason to be surprised that Warren would call for the electoral college system to be thrown out. There have been four elections since 1860 in which the electoral vote has given the presidency to the candidate who lost the popular vote: 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016. As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has pointed out, Republicans have won the popular vote only once in her lifetime, but have held the White House for 10 years. In each of those four elections where the popular vote winner lost the electoral vote, the losing candidate was a Democrat.”

Court-packing is another test on the left - The Hill: “Whether or not to expand the Supreme Court is emerging as a key litmus test in the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential primary field. Once dismissed as a fringe idea, reforming the nation’s highest court is gaining traction with a growing number of Democratic 2020 candidates as progressive outside groups and high-profile officials, including former Attorney General Eric Holder, have vaulted the idea into the national spotlight. The courts have emerged as a lightning rod during the Trump administration for the Democratic Party’s resurgent base, which remains deeply bitter over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) decision to block Merrick Garland, President Obama’s final Supreme Court nominee. Supporters argue that sweeping reforms, including expanding the number of justices, are needed to counteract Trump and McConnell, who they say have 'packed' the judicial system with conservative judges — including two Supreme Court justices and a record number of influential appeals court picks.”

REPORT: DEUTSCHE BANK LOANED TRUMP OVER $2 BILLION
NYT: “Mr. [Donald] Trump and Deutsche Bank were deeply entwined, their symbiotic bond born of necessity and ambition on both sides… Then Mr. Trump won the 2016 election, and the German bank shifted into damage-control mode, bracing for an onslaught of public scrutiny, according to several people involved in the internal response. … More than two years later, Mr. Trump’s financial ties with Deutsche Bank are the subject of investigations by two congressional committees and the New York attorney general. Investigators hope to use Deutsche Bank as a window into Mr. Trump’s personal and business finances. Deutsche Bank officials have quietly argued to regulators, lawmakers and journalists that Mr. Trump was not a priority for the bank or its senior leaders and that the lending was the work of a single, obscure division. But interviews with more than 20 current and former Deutsche Bank executives and board members, most of them with direct knowledge of the Trump relationship, contradict the bank’s narrative.”

FOX TO HOST HOWARD SCHULTZ TOWN HALL
Politico: “He may not yet be a 2020 presidential candidate, but Fox News is already treating former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz like one, complete with his own town hall event scheduled for next month. Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will host the event, which is scheduled for for April 4 in Kansas City, Missouri, the network announced Tuesday. The town hall event will focus on ‘Schultz’s potential candidacy and the issues he plans to tackle,’ Fox News said. Schultz sparked a wave of criticism from the left earlier this year when he announced he would explore a possible run for president as a centrist, independent candidate. In touting his potential bid, Schultz trashed the Democratic Party, of which he was previously a member, criticizing its lurch to the left in recent years. He argued that he could garner the votes of centrist Democratic and Republican voters unhappy with President Donald Trump but uncomfortable with voting for a liberal Democrat.”

Keep an eye on Andrew Yang - FiveThirtyEight: “[Andrew] Yang is the only 2020 candidate thus far to put a universal income front and center, and his campaign says it’s been key to attracting support. But it’s probably not a strong enough issue to propel Yang to victory on its own. A Gallup poll from 2017 found the concept to be divisive — 48 percent supported a universal basic income, while 52 percent opposed it. … That said, if Yang does indeed make the debate stage, he could succeed in making the issue a part of the national conversation. … We’d expect Yang to get a good deal of support from The Left; most Americans think providing a universal income is a socialist position (though it has conservative adherents as well), and Yang has taken progressive views on a host of other issues. But he may not speak the language of The Left: He’s frank in saying ‘I’m a capitalist,’ and his campaign manager, Zach Graumann, says that the campaign doesn’t subscribe to the ‘capitalist/socialist dichotomy.’ Yang’s strongest constituencies might be Millennials and Hispanic and Asian voters.”

Klobuchar lists accomplishments while facing obstacles - NPR: “Minnesotans like Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar. … She's hoping that strong support in her home state… But on the way, Klobuchar faces some obstacles: her moderate politics (at least, relative to many of her competitors for the nomination) may turn off some Democratic primary voters, as may some of the reports that she has mistreated her staff. … Her route to ‘universal health care’ doesn't mean putting everyone on a government-administered insurance plan. Rather, she first supports a … bill, which ultimately failed, would have stabilized the Obamacare exchanges. In addition, Klobuchar has said that she wants to allow people to buy into Medicaid via a bill sponsored by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii — a ‘public option’ plan. That said, Klobuchar explains that she's not exactly against Medicare for All.”

Booker swipes at candidates for bragging about marijuana use - WaPo: “Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) appeared to take a swipe at two of his fellow 2020 presidential hopefuls during an MSNBC interview Monday night in which he criticized ‘senators bragging about their pot use.’ Booker did not mention anyone by name during the ‘Hardball’ interview with host Chris Matthews. But he suggested that it was inappropriate for lawmakers to make light of the issue when some in society face legal repercussions for similar actions. ‘We have presidential candidates — senators — bragging about their pot use while there are kids who can’t get a job because they have a nonviolent offense,’ Booker said. In a radio interview last month, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) … laughingly acknowledged that she has used marijuana in the past… Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), another 2020 candidate, has also recently spoken about having used marijuana, although his comments were not as widely reported as Harris’s. … Booker’s remarks in the MSNBC interview come one day after he made a similar statement during a campaign event in Davenport, Iowa.”

Bernie announces top staffers in wake of shakeup - Fox News: “One month after Sen. Bernie Sanders launched his second straight bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, his campaign is announcing major staffing decisions. The independent senator from Vermont on Tuesday formally announced a slate of national staffers. The move comes just four days after Sanders highlighted that his presidential campaign would be the first in history to unionize. And the announcements come three weeks after a major shakeup at the campaign, with several top advisers from Sanders’ 2016 White House bid heading for the exits. … Regardless of the shakeup, Sanders came out of the gate in strong position. He drew large crowds to his first two rallies in New York City and Chicago and along with former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s likely to announce his bid next month, is near the top of the public opinion polls.”

Give this a read: ‘The politics of Beto and Amy O’Rourke’s marriage’ - WaPo: “Then, there’s Amy and Beto. They are at once the most modern and most conventional of the families running for president in 2020. They are pioneers of social media, broadcasting much of their lives in real time; affluent, white and traditional — the political equivalent of ‘The Truman Show.’ They captured the hearts and minds of the left in their 2018 run for the Senate, but now, Beto won’t call himself a progressive. Amy, before putting her career on the back burner for her husband, ran a charter school. … In truth, even though Amy is fully on board, this isn’t the life she would have chosen. She recently finished Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming.’ Like Michelle, Amy says of being first lady, ‘I wouldn’t put it on the list of things that I’ve ever aspired to.’”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Trump 2020 looks like another Facebook election - Axios

Nadler ‘encouraged’ by documents provided in Trump obstruction probe - Politico

Pergram: ‘Border wall standoff could lead to another government shutdown this fall’ - Fox News

SupCo rules in favor of Trump’s immigration detention - Reuters

Cornyn prepares for 2020 fight - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan joins board of new Fox Corp. - Bloomberg

Trump admin proposes news limits on student loans - AP

AUDIBLE: BUT HAVE YOU TRIED A CHAI TEA LATTE?  
“I broke up with sleep last night and I’m dating coffee this morning. . . I appreciate her warmth and stimulating company.” – A series of old tweets from Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., from over the years have resurfaced about his on and off again relationship with sleep.

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER?
Fox News: “A New Jersey man has finally returned a school library book he checked out 53 years ago. Harry Krame, of Fair Lawn, said he recently discovered ‘The Family Book Of Verse’ by Lewis Gannet while cleaning the basement of his home. ‘When he asked my name I told him I can’t give it to him because I was in the witness protection program,’ Krame, 65, told WCBS-TV. ‘I took it out to read and never brought it back.’ Krame checked out the novel when he was 13 years old in 1966. When he realized he still had the book all these years later, he said he felt guilty for ‘a few seconds. ... It was like, I still have (it), sorry about that.’ Dominick Tarquinio, the vice principal of Memorial Middle School, told the news outlet he was shocked when a former student returned his late book. He said that at today's rate, Krame would owe around $2,000 in late fees. However, he said: ‘We’re not looking to collect.’”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Regarding terrorism, we’ve developed a fairly reasonable balance. But it took time. With Ebola, we don’t have time. Viruses don’t wait. The sooner we reset the balance — the sooner we get serious — the safer we will be.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing for the Washington Post on Oct. 16, 2014.

Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Source: Fox News Politics

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At least a dozen people may be buried after avalanche at popular Swiss resort

About a dozen people may have been buried following an avalanche Tuesday at a popular Swiss Alps ski resort.

Rescuers were searching for people with the aid of dogs and helicopters, the BBC reported. The avalanche happened at the Crans-Montana resort in southern Valais.

Published reports say that the avalanche may have resulted from warmer weather in recent days. But avalanche risk warnings for the area had been set at a level of two out of five, the BBC said.

HIGH AVALANCHE RISK IN ALPS AMID HEAVY SNOW; 1 DEAD 

A journalist who was at the scene posted a picture on Twitter of what appears to be the avalanche. A marked slope reportedly was affected.

Manager Michele Vizzino of the nearby La Violette restaurant, at the foot of the gondola heading up to the peak, told Associated Press that he heard the loud noise of the avalanche but didn't see it. He said it only left a "small trail" afterward.

Vizzino said such avalanches were rare in the area, known for its skiing. The police statement did not specify whether the people buried under the snow were skiers.

The slopes were busier this week because of school breaks. Philippe Magistretti, president of the resort's ski lift company, told the Reuters news agency that the Army was assisting in the search and rescue effort.

"About 100 rescue workers are on the site," he said to Reuters.

A local newspaper, Le Nouvelliste, quoted the head of Crans-Montana's municipal government, Nicolas Feraud, as estimating that "between 10 and 12 people" remained buried under the snow.

There was no official confirmation of any deaths.

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"We are shocked and hope for good news about these people," Nicolas Feraud was quoted as telling local reporters. 

The affected area covers the resort's highest ski track, which is almost 10,000 feet high.

MSN.com said that usually most deadly avalanches in Switzerland occur in places that are away from conventional ski runs. But Tuesday's avalanche hit a designated ski track.

Source: Fox News World

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Suicide bomber kills 2 police by famed Cairo tourist market

Egypt's Interior Ministry says a suicide bomber killed two police officers and wounded three more while he was being pursued near Cairo's famed Khan el-Khalili tourist marketplace.

The Monday night explosion in the Gamaliya district was a rarity for a central area of the capital, after progress from a security crackdown under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

A body was seen on the street behind areas cordoned off by dozens of police and soldiers after the explosion, which shattered windows and blew curtains off nearby balconies. Egypt's renowned Al-Azhar mosque is nearby.

Egypt is facing an Islamic State-led insurgency that is largely limited to the northern Sinai but which occasionally spills out to the mainland.

Source: Fox News World

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AT&T, Viacom continue contract negotiations past deadline

FILE PHOTO: The Viacom office is seen in Hollywood, Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO: The Viacom office is seen in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, April 24, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

March 23, 2019

(Reuters) – MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and other Viacom Inc channels were still available on AT&T Inc’s DirecTV satellite TV service on early Saturday morning as the companies continued to hash out a new carriage contract.

It was not immediately clear if a deal could be reached, sources briefed on the matter said. AT&T and Viacom declined to comment.

The previous contract, in which AT&T paid Viacom about $1 billion in fees annually, expired at midnight Friday. Failing to reach a deal means Viacom channels would not be available to AT&T’s 24.5 million customers.

These types of conflicts have become increasingly common amid waves of media consolidation and the migration of viewers from traditional pay television services to streaming TV services such as Netflix and Amazon.

The current discussions have weighed on any potential tie-up of CBS Corp and Viacom, both of which are controlled by the Redstone family’s National Amusements Inc.

Viacom had begun warning AT&T subscribers on Tuesday that its channels could stop being shown on the DirecTV service if it failed to reach a new contract by midnight on March 22.

Viacom, owner of MTV, Nickelodeon, BET and Comedy Central, accused AT&T of abusing its powers after buying Time Warner Inc, which owns the Warner Bros Hollywood studios and HBO premium cable network.

AT&T has said Viacom channels are no longer as popular as they once were and accused them of being a “serial bad actor” in contract renewal negotiations.

(Reporting by Kenneth Li; Editing by Tom Hogue)

Source: OANN

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MLB notebook: Braves’ Acuna signs $100 million extension

FILE PHOTO: MLB: Spring Training-New York Mets at Atlanta Braves
FILE PHOTO: Mar 23, 2019; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves left fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. (13) hits a solo home run against the New York Mets in the fifth inning at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

April 3, 2019

The Atlanta Braves and 21-year-old outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. have agreed to an eight-year, $100 million contract extension, the team announced Tuesday.

The deal begins this season and is the largest in history for a player with as little major league service time as Acuna has (165 days), according to the Braves. He also is believed to be the youngest player to receive a $100 million contract.

It also is the second-largest contract in franchise history, trailing the eight-year, $135 million deal for Freddie Freeman in 2014.

Acuna’s contract runs through 2026 and includes club options for 2027 and 2028, with ESPN and other outlets reporting that the options were worth $17 million each.

–The Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a five-year, $52 million contract extension with outfielder Randal Grichuk, according to a report from Sportsnet.

The deal buys out three seasons of potential free agency and keeps Grichuk under contract through the 2023 season. Grichuk will receive a $5 million signing bonus as well as a salary increase from $5 million to $7 million in 2019. He is due to receive $12 million in 2020 and $9.3 million per year from 2021 through 2023.

The 27-year-old Grichuk is in his second season with the Blue Jays, who acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals in January 2018 for right-handed reliever Dominic Leone and a minor-league prospect. Grichuk hit .245 with 25 home runs and 61 RBIs in 124 games in his first season with Toronto.

–The Blue Jays traded center fielder Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants in return for right-handed pitchers Juan De Paula and Derek Law and infielder Alen Hanson.

Pillar is a career .260 hitter in 695 games, but his defense is first-rate, as a three-time Gold Glove finalist (2015, ’16, ’17) in center.

He signed a one-year, $5.8 million deal with the Blue Jays in January.

–The Colorado Rockies agreed with right-handed starter German Marquez on a five-year, $43 million contract extension, according to multiple reports.

Marquez, 24, was not yet arbitration-eligible but is now under contract through 2023. ESPN reports the deal includes a club option that could become a mutual option for 2024 if Marquez has two top-three finishes in Cy Young Award voting, with other escalators for top-five finishes.

The deal marks the second-largest guarantee for any pitcher with two or fewer years of service in the majors. Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell, who won the 2018 AL Cy Young Award, received a five-year, $50 million extension last month.

–Rockies infielder Daniel Murphy will be sidelined at least a month with a broken index finger, manager Bud Black told MLB Network Radio.

Murphy, who signed a two-year, $24 million contract with the Rockies in December, was injured in his second game with his new team. He was placed on the 10-day injured list Monday, his 34th birthday.

Black said the team is waiting on official word from a hand specialist, but an X-ray on Saturday revealed an avulsion fracture in Murphy’s left index finger.

–Former New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling stood by the allegation he made in his new book that Lenny Dykstra shouted racial slurs at a Boston Red Sox pitcher in the 1986 World Series.

Darling went on the ESPN radio show “Golic and Wingo” to reassert his claim that Dykstra, his former teammate, hurled racial insults at Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd prior to his first at-bat of Game 3 of the World Series.

“I heard what I heard and I put it in the book for a reason,” Darling said, referring to his new book titled, “108 Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game.”

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Novartis’s Alcon spinoff ousts Baer from Swiss benchmark SMI

FILE PHOTO: Logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is seen in Hueninge, France
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is seen at the company's plant in Hueninge, France, Jan. 27, 2016. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

April 3, 2019

By John Miller and Paul Arnold

ZURICH (Reuters) – Novartis’s spinoff of its eyecare division Alcon, set for Tuesday April 9, marks the largest Swiss stock deal in a decade and forces a reshuffle of the benchmark Swiss Market Index (SMI) as private bank Julius Baer gets booted out.

Novartis has estimated Alcon’s value at around 25 billion Swiss francs ($25 billion), while some analysts predict an initial market capitalization of 21 billion francs ($21 billion) to 23 billion, implying shares worth from 43 to 47 francs.

By contrast Baer’s value has tumbled by a third in a year to 9.3 billion francs. It will instead be included in the SMIM index, replacing Aryzta, SIX Swiss Exchange said after Tuesday’s market close.

Dominated by Nestle, Novartis and Roche, the SMI is Switzerland’s most important index. Membership is based on market capitalization, adjusted for the free float of readily tradable shares in its constituents.

Alcon is being spun off in a one-for-five share deal announced by Novartis last June as it focuses on new drugs rather than the surgical devices and contact lenses Alcon makes.

Joining the SMI may boost demand from funds focusing on the top Swiss companies. Yet Alcon’s inclusion means healthcare and medical technology will weigh even more heavily on the SMI.

Novartis’s weighting had been capped 18 percent, but with Alcon the two will account for up to 21.5 percent of the SMI, Zuercher Kantonalbank analysts estimated on Wednesday.

Novartis’s biggest owners – BlackRock, the Sandoz family, Capital Research Global Investors and Vanguard Group – will have similar holdings in Alcon, between 2.5 percent and 4.5 percent.

“We anticipate incremental buying of Alcon shares by some funds seeking to build a full-size position, offset by others not wanting to own a non-pharma eyecare company,” Jefferies analyst Peter Welford said.

Novartis bought Alcon’s eye surgery and contact lens portfolio in stages through 2010 for $52 billion from Nestle, only to see it lose ground to competitors as sales and profitability slipped.

In surgical equipment, Alcon competes against Johnson & Johnson, Germany’s Zeiss and Bausch in a $9 billion per year market. Rivals in vision care, worth $14 billion annually, include J&J, Cooper and Bausch.

In 2016, a new Alcon head, Mike Ball from Hospira, redoubled research and marketing spending to resurrect revenue, before Novartis chief Vas Narasimhan decided to shed the division.

The last comparable-sized Swiss listing was in 2010, when oil driller Transocean floated on the same day its Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.

(Editing by David Holmes)

Source: OANN

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Saudi court postpones hearing for women activists after new arrests

FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators from Amnesty International protest outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy on International Women's day in Paris
FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators from Amnesty International stage the protest on International Women's day to urge Saudi authorities to release jailed women's rights activists Loujain al-Hathloul, Eman al-Nafjan and Aziza al-Yousef outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Paris, France, March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

April 17, 2019

By Stephen Kalin

RIYADH (Reuters) – A Saudi court on Wednesday postponed a fourth hearing in the trial of several women rights activists, a case that has intensified Western criticism of Saudi Arabia following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A court official informed some of the women’s relatives that the session would not take place, citing the judge’s “private reasons”. He could not provide a new date.

The public prosecutor said last May that some of the women had been arrested on suspicion of harming Saudi interests and offering support to hostile elements abroad.

Most of the 11 women on trial had campaigned for the right to drive and an end to the kingdom’s male guardianship system.

Accusations by some of the women that they were tortured in detention have fueled criticism of the Saudi authorities, already under global scrutiny over Khashoggi’s murder, which some Western countries believe was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The public prosecutor has denied the torture allegations, and Saudi officials say the crown prince had no role or knowledge in Khashoggi’s murder.

The temporary release last month of three of the women and the case’s earlier transfer from a high-security terrorism court without explanation suggested a possibly more lenient handling after months of lobbying by Western governments.

But a fresh spate of arrests earlier this month cast doubt on this. The authorities detained least 14 people seen as supportive of the women, including one of their sons, according to people close to them. Two of the new detainees are dual U.S. citizens and one is pregnant.

Scores of other activists, intellectuals and clerics have been arrested separately in the past two years in an apparent bid to stamp out any opposition to the crown prince.

(Reporting By Stephen Kalin; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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Well, Joe Biden didn’t exactly clear the field.

I don’t think it matters much that Biden waited until yesterday to become the 20th Democrat vying for the nomination, even though it exposed him to weeks of attacks while he seemed to be dithering on the sidelines.

A much greater warning sign, in my view, is the largely negative tone surrounding his debut. He is, after all, a former vice president, highly praised by Barack Obama, who has consistently led in the early primary polls, and beating President Trump in head-to-head matchups. Yet much of the press is acting like he’s an old codger and it’s just a matter of time before he keels over politically.

This is all the more remarkable in light of the fact that the vast majority of journalists and pundits know and like Joe Biden and his gregarious personality.

The reason is that Biden, after a half-century in politics, lacks excitement, and the press is magnetically attracted to novel and unorthodox types like Beto and Mayor Pete. You don’t see Biden on the cover of Vanity Fair, and a grind-it-out win by a conventional warrior doesn’t set journalistic hearts racing.

JOE BIDEN ANNOUNCES 2020 PRESIDENTIAL BID: 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE FORMER VICE PRESIDENT

For many in the media, Biden isn’t liberal enough, at least not for the post-Obama era. He doesn’t promise free college and free health care and has a history of working with Republicans, such as John McCain (whose daughter Meghan loves him, and Biden will hit “The View” today.)

What’s more, Biden’s campaign style — speak at rallies, rack up union endorsements — seems hopelessly old-fashioned when we measure popularity by Instagram followers. News outlets are predicting he’ll have trouble getting in the online fundraising game, leaving him reliant on big donors, which used to be standard practice.

And then there’s the age thing. Biden would be the oldest president to be inaugurated, at 78, and he looked a step slow in encounters with reporters yesterday and a few weeks ago.

But what if the journalists are in something of a Twitter bubble, and the actual Democratic Party is much more moderate? We saw that with the spate of allegations by women of unwanted touching, which dominated news coverage until polls showed that most Dem voters weren’t concerned. In that wider world, the Scranton guy’s connection to white, working-class voters could help him against Trump in the industrial Midwest.

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Biden denounced the president’s term as an “aberrant moment” in his launch video, saying four more years would damage the country’s character and “I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”

But first, he’d have to win the nomination in the face of an unenthusiastic press corps.

A New York Times news story said Biden would be “marshaling his experience and global stature in a bid to lead a party increasingly defined by a younger generation that might be skeptical of his age and ideological moderation.”

The Washington Post quoted Democratic strategists as saying that Biden faces an “uphill battle” and “isn’t necessarily the heir apparent to Obama, despite being his No. 2 in the White House for eight years. They argue voters will judge Biden by the span of his decades-long career and are worried the veteran pol hasn’t yet found a winning formula for his own candidacy.”

The liberal Slate said the ex-veep’s rivals view him as a “paper tiger”:

“Biden is something more like a 2016 Jeb Bush: a weak establishment favorite whose time might be past … Biden’s biggest challenge in the primary will be a compromised past spanning nearly 50 years.”

“Compromised” suggests a history of scandal, yet what Slate means is political baggage, such as his backing of a Clinton-era crime bill unpopular with black voters today. Yet I think the rank and file isn’t as concerned about a vote back in 1994, or even the Anita Hill hearings, as the chattering classes.

BIDEN’S SENATE RECORD, ADVOCACY OF 1994 CRIME BILL WILL BE USED AGAINST HIM, EX-SANDERS STAFFER SAYS

One of the few left-leaning pundits to suggest the press is underestimating Biden is data guru Nate Silver at 538:

“Media coverage could nonetheless be a problem for Biden. Within the mainstream media, the story of Biden winning the nomination will be seen as boring and anticlimactic. That tends not to lead to favorable coverage. Meanwhile, some left-aligned media outlets may prefer candidates who are some combination of more leftist, more wonkish, more reflective of the party’s diversity, and more adept on social media.

“If Biden is framed as being out of touch with today’s Democratic Party and that narrative is repeated across a variety of outlets, it could begin to resonate with voters who don’t buy it initially. If he’s seen as a gaffe-prone candidate, then minor missteps on the campaign trail could be blown up into big fumbles.”

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Look, it’s entirely possible that Biden could stumble, get lapped in fundraising and just be outclassed by younger and savvier rivals. He was hardly a great candidate in 1987 and in 2008.

But if the former vice president finds his footing and the field narrows, the press will be forced to change its tune, and we’ll see a spate of stories about how Joe Biden has “grown.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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South Africa's 400m Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk looks on as he attends South African Championships in Germiston
South Africa’s 400m Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk looks on as he attends South African Championships in Germiston, South Africa, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

April 26, 2019

GERMISTON, South Africa (Reuters) – Olympic 400 meters champion Wayde van Niekerk has backed South African compatriot Caster Semenya in her battle with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which now appears to have taken a new twist.

Semenya, a double 800 meters Olympic gold medalist, is waiting for the outcome of her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to halt the introduction of new regulations by governing body IAAF that would require her to take medicine to limit her natural levels of testosterone.

The IAAF wants female athletes with differences of sexual development who run in events from 400 meters to a mile, to reduce their blood testosterone level to below five (5) nmol/L for a period of six months before they can compete, saying they have an unfair advantage.

“She’s fighting for something beyond just track and field, she’s fighting for woman in sports, in society and I respect her for that,” Van Niekerk told reporters.

“I will support her and with the hard work and talent that she’s been putting into the sport. With what she believes in and what she’s dreaming for, I’ve got a lot of respect for her.

“I really hope and pray that everything just goes from strength to strength for her.”

Semenya has sprung a surprise at the on-going South African Athletics Championships though, ditching the 800 meters and instead competing over 1,500 and 5,000-metres – the latter one would not require her to medically lower her testosterone level.

She stormed to victory in the 5,000-metres final in a modest time of 16:05.97, but looked to have lots left in the tank as she passed the finish line.

Semenya beat fellow Olympian and defending national 5,000m champion Dominique Scott in Thursday’s final but the latter admitted she is unsure whether the 800m specialist could be a serious Olympic contender over the longer distance.

“Honestly‚ I have no idea‚” Scott said. “Before today I probably would have said no. It’s hard to compare a 5,000 at altitude to a 5,000 at sea level.

“But I think she’s an amazing runner and I don’t think there’s any limit or ceiling on what she can do.”

Van Niekerk, the 400m world record holder, had to abort his comeback from a knee injury, that had sidelined him for 18 months, following a combination of cold weather and a wet track.

“We are trying to take the correct decisions now early in the year so as not to put myself in any harm,” he said.

“It was a bit chilly this entire week prepping and coming through here as well it was quite cold and it caused bit of tightness in my leg. We decided to not risk it.

“My recovery is going well and I would like to be back in competition this year, but will only do so if I can deliver a good performance.

“I am a competitor and respect my opponents, so I need to be at my best when I return.”

(Reporting by Nick Said, additional reporting by Siyabonga Sishi; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

Source: OANN

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The suspected leader of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka died in the Shangri-La hotel, one of six hotels and churches targeted in the attacks that killed at least 250 people, authorities said.

Police said Mohamed Zahran, leader of the National Towheed Jamaat militant group, had been killed in one of the bombings. The group’s second in command was also arrested, police said.

Zahran amassed an online following for his hate-filled sermons. Some were delivered before a banner depicting the Twin Towers.

Sri Lankan authorities said Friday that Islamic cleric Mohammed Zahran died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel during the Easter Sunday atatcks that killed at least 250 people. 

Sri Lankan authorities said Friday that Islamic cleric Mohammed Zahran died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel during the Easter Sunday atatcks that killed at least 250 people.  (YouTube)

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that the attackers responsible for the bombings were supported by the Islamic State group. Around 140 people in Sri Lanka had connections to ISIS, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said.

“We will completely control this and create a free and peaceful environment for people to live,” he said.

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Investigators determined the attackers received military training from someone called “Army Mohideen.” They also received weapons training overseas and at some locations in Sri Lanka, according to authorities.

A copper factory operator arrested in connection with the bombings helped Mohideen make improvised explosive devices, police said. The bombings have led to increased security throughout the island nation as authorities warned of another attack.

Source: Fox News World

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