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Taliban kill 6 paramilitary troops in southwestern Pakistan

Pakistani authorities say militants overran a remote security outpost in southwestern Baluchistan province, killing six members of the paramilitary forces.

The Pakistani Taliban — known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan — claimed responsibility for the attack in Ziarat district early on Wednesday morning, saying in an Urdu-language statement that it was revenge for the deaths earlier of their comrades at the hands of the paramilitary Baluchistan Levies Force.

Qadir Baksh Pirkani, Ziarat district deputy commissioner, said the assault began in the early morning hours and that an investigation into the killing is underway.

Several insurgent groups operate in Baluchistan, including the Pakistani Taliban, a secessionist Baluchistan group and members of an Islamic State affiliate, which is based across the border in Afghanistan.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump tells GOP to back border emergency, but defeat likely

Republican opposition grew Thursday to President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southwest border as the Senate chugged toward a showdown vote that seemed certain to rebuff him despite his last-minute warnings.

GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Mitt Romney of Utah Romney became the sixth and seventh Republicans to say they'd vote Thursday for a resolution to annul the border emergency Trump declared last month.

Just four GOP defections would ensure the measure would be sent to the White House, where Trump has promised a veto. There is no indication that foes of his declaration have the votes to overturn his veto, and Trump said as much at midday.

"It's not going to be overturned," he said firmly at the White House.

He did not answer when reporters asked if there would be consequences for Republicans who vote against him. But a White House official said Trump won't forget when senators want him to attend fundraisers or provide other help. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on internal deliberations.

Trump wants to use his declaration to steer $3.6 billion more than Congress has approved for building border barriers than Congress has approved.

On the Senate floor, Alexander — one of the chamber's more respected lawmakers — said Trump's emergency action was "inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution that I took an oath to support," citing the power Congress has to control spending. Romney, his party's 2012 presidential nominee, used a written statement to called Trump's declaration "an invitation to further expansion and abuse by future presidents."

The defections by the two high-profile lawmakers added weight to the growing list of GOP opponents to his border emergency, and left little doubt that the Republican-run Senate would snub Trump. The challenge in a battle related to his signature issue — building barriers along the Mexican border — is striking.

On Twitter, Trump called on Republicans to oppose the resolution, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., helped drive through the House last month.

"Today's issue is BORDER SECURITY and Crime!!! Don't vote with Pelosi!" he tweeted, invoking the name of a Democrat who boatloads of GOP ads have villainized in recent campaign cycles.

Republicans had hoped that if Trump would endorse a separate bill by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, constraining emergency declarations in the future, it would win over enough GOP senators to reject the resolution blocking his border emergency.

But Trump told Lee on Wednesday that he opposed Lee's legislation, prompting Lee himself to say he would back the resolution thwarting the border emergency in Thursday's vote. Trump tweeted Thursday if Congress wants to amend the law governing emergency declarations in the future, "I will support those efforts."

Trump's rejection of Lee's proposal left many Republicans boxed in: defy Trump and the conservative voters who back him passionately, or assent to what many lawmakers from both parties consider a dubious and dangerous expansion of presidential authority.

Other GOP senators who've said they'd vote to overturn Trump's border emergency were Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Tillis, though, has wavered in recent days. He and Collins face potentially competitive re-election fights in 2020.

Republicans control the Senate 53-47.

"Congress has been giving far too much legislative power to the executive branch," Lee said. He said he'd vote to block Trump's emergency because his own bill "does not have an immediate path forward."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is backing Trump, went to the White House late Wednesday to see if some compromise could be reached that would help reduce the number of GOP senators opposing the border emergency, according to a person familiar with the visit who described it on condition of anonymity. Trump's Thursday comments indicated the visit didn't produce results.

Under a four-decade-old law, presidents have wide leeway in declaring a national emergency. Congress can vote to block a declaration, but the two-thirds majorities required to overcome presidential vetoes make it hard for lawmakers to prevail. Presidents have never before declared an emergency after Congress voted to deny them money for the same purpose.

Lee proposed letting a presidential emergency last 30 days unless Congress votes to extend it. That would have applied to future emergencies but not Trump's current order unless he sought to renew it next year.

The strongest chance of blocking Trump is likely several lawsuits filed by Democratic state attorneys general, environmental groups and others.

___

Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Women’s tournament helps Augusta National erase stain

Jennifer Kupcho of the U.S. celebrates a birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the inaugural Augusta National Women's Amateur championship at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta
Jennifer Kupcho of the U.S. celebrates a birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the inaugural Augusta National Women's Amateur championship at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S., April 6, 2019. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

April 7, 2019

By Steve Keating

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) – With the successful staging of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur on Saturday, the home of the Masters removed a little more of the stain left by decades of gender discrimination.

But more polish will be needed if one of the world’s most exclusive clubs hopes to clean the slate entirely.

“You are now part of history of Augusta National along with all the great Masters champions who have been right here in this Butler Cabin,” said Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley as he presented the winner’s trophy to Jennifer Kupcho.

The fact is, however, that women have long been a part of the history of Augusta National, albeit the dark chapter of exclusion.

Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts and opened for play in January 1933, Augusta National was a private sanctuary for some of the world’s most powerful white men and for decades immune to outside influences and pressures.

Ron Townsend became the first African-American member in 1990 but it would be another two decades before women were admitted with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and financier Darla Moore allowed through the doors in 2012.

While the pace remains glacial, change has nonetheless crept into the Augusta DNA.

Club membership is top secret but it is believed that four to six of the 300 or so members are women and have one of the iconic green jackets hanging in their lockers.

Augusta National also hosts the hugely popular Drive, Chip and Putt Championship for both boys and girls and has now put its name and branding muscle to a women’s tournament.

The images of women competing at a club where they had previously been denied entry was a powerful one that was universally applauded.

Some, like activist Martha Burk, who in 2003 led a protest against Augusta National’s men only policy, remain skeptical. She described the event as a “baby step” and “tokenism”.

Certainly it was an emotional day for golfing greats Nancy Lopez, Pak Se-ri, Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam, who took part in a ceremonial tee shot then watched as 30 young women seized an opportunity that had never been open to them.

“When we were talking I was tearing up,” said Lopez. “I was trying to hold back tears because there’s so much pride involved in this.

“It was just a tremendous feeling to be there and represent amateur golf, professional golf and what golf stands for here at Augusta National.”

“GREAT MOTIVATION”

There was no downplaying the significance of the moment for Lorena Ochoa, who compared it to golf being played at the Olympics.

“It’s going to be a great motivation for the new generations,” she said.

“This is as big as a tournament that you have in your mind — the U.S. Amateur, or the Olympics — that you dream that you want to win.”

Without the Augusta National name attached to it, a tournament of this type would have been one watched by no more than a handful of family and friends.

Instead women’s amateur golf on Saturday found itself in the sporting spotlight.

The final round was broadcast live on national television and a gallery worthy of a major tournament descended on the course to witness a bit of history.

While the golfing world was all but silent in 2003 when Burk was pushing for change, top men’s players were squarely behind the women on Saturday.

Masters champion Bubba Watson, wearing his green jacket, watched from the first tee, while others like Rory McIlroy and Jack Nicklaus offered support on social media.

While Augusta has put its name to the tournament, only one round was played at the iconic course and the question remains as to what happens next for women’s golf and Augusta National.

“This is an historic moment, and hopefully they will continue to carry the torch, and who knows what opportunities will come 10, 15 years from now,” said Sorenstam. “This is just the beginning.

“We are trying to increase the interest in the game of golf, and tournaments like this will certainly do it.

“I’ve never seen so much exposure for a tournament, and to see these girls come up here and step it up and have so much fun and enjoy it, I mean, this is a dream come true.”

(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)

Source: OANN

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Newt Gingrich Urges Trump: Don’t Shut Down the Border

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Wednesday urged President Donald Trump to keep the U.S-Mexico border open, as the consequences to the economy, the national relationship with Mexico, and to millions of families would be "absurd."

"I would strongly urge the president not to try to shut down the border," Gingrich told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We have so many people every day who go back and forth. We have so much economic goods on both sides. It would truly be a mess and it would frankly mess up the very economy he is proud of. You would have tremendous side effects from closing the border."

However, that does not mean the borders should be open to all who want to cross, said Gingrich, while responding to a call from Democratic presidential candidate Julan Castro to decriminalize border crossings and extend amnesty to millions of immigrants.

"I think you have to give him credit for being honest," said Gingrich. "He is for open borders. The truth is the Democratic Party is the open border party. They would welcome any number of immigrants."

Welcoming immigrants would change the nation's healthcare system, its tax structure, and the "very nature of our culture," Gingrich continued. "We have been a very open country with legal immigration. But we have expected people to become Americans. Once you open the border totally, you have no idea 10 years from now what kind of country you are going to live in."

He added that Republicans in the House and Senate should offer plans for commonsense reforms, and force them to a vote in the House through a discharge petition, if necessary.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Trump: Investigate How ‘Fraudulent’ Mueller Probe Started

President Donald Trump on Sunday called for an investigation into how Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “fraudulent” probe started.

“Everybody is asking how the phony and fraudulent investigation of the No Collusion, No Obstruction Trump Campaign began,” Trump tweeted. “We need to know for future generations to understand. This Hoax should never be allowed to happen to another President or Administration again!”

Trump has criticized Mueller’s probe since it ended last week.

Mueller's report, as summarized last Sunday by Attorney General William Barr, "did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

There was also insufficient evidence to pursue obstruction of justice claims against the president.

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney earlier Sunday questioned how the media bungled stories on the Russia probe.

“We need to figure out what went wrong with the Mueller report, why — in all fairness to your network, why the media got it so wrong for so long,” he told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union.” 

“How did the media get it so wrong? I think the president is just venting the same frustration a lot of people had when the Mueller report came out, and it turned out exactly like he said that it would,” he added.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Amid crisis, Cuba plans revamp of state and legal system

In the midst of a regional crisis over Venezuela and tough economic straits, the Cuban government is about to launch a sweeping makeover of its centrally planned, single-party system with dozens of new laws that could reshape everything from criminal justice to the market economy.

Nearly a year of debate and discussion ended last month with the approval of Cuba's first constitutional reform since 1976. Some observers see the new constitution as a merely cosmetic update aimed at assuring one of the world's last communist systems won't get another revamp until long after the passing of its founding fathers, now in their late 80s and early 90s. Others see the potential for a slow-moving but deep set of changes that will speed the modernization of Cuba's economically stagnant authoritarian bureaucracy.

Cuban legal experts told The Associated Press that they expect the government to send the National Assembly between 60 and 80 new laws over the next two years to replace ones rendered obsolete by the new constitution. The assembly is virtually certain to unanimously approve all government proposals, as it has for decades.

"I expect to see big changes in Cuba with the new constitution," said Julio Antonio Fernandez, a constitutional law professor at the University of Havana. "A new state structure, a transformed political system, led by the Communist Party, of course, but different and confronting big challenges."

One of the first changes will be in Cuba's political system. Within five months, the government is required to pass a new electoral law that splits the roles of head of state and government between the current president and the new post of prime minister. A new set of governors will replace the Communist Party first secretaries as the highest official in Cuba's 15 provinces.

While the Communist Party remains the only permitted political group, the wording of the new constitution could allow voters to choose between various candidates rather than simply voting yes or no for a candidate pre-selected by a government commission, experts said.

A new business law could create a formal role for small- and medium-sized businesses. Until now, all private workers and employers are legally classified as "self-employed," leading to situations in which hundreds of thousands of "self-employed" waiters, cooks, maids, construction workers and janitors go to work each day for the "self-employed" owners of restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts and construction contractors.

Business owners hope legal recognition will bring them privileges like the right to import and export, now held only by state monopolies.

"There's a full-on effort to give life to the new constitution, to accompany it with laws so it doesn't become a dead letter," Homero Acosta, the secretary of the Cuba's Council of State and one of the key figures in the reform, said on state television this month.

A new family code is expected to address the issue of gay marriage, which was struck from the new constitution after popular resistance.

A new criminal code will for the first time create the right of habeas corpus, requiring the state to justify a citizens' detention, and give Cubans the right to know what information the government holds about them.

The revamped criminal law could also, experts said, contain stronger provisions against domestic violence, greater environmental protections and animal rights and create tougher punishments for government mismanagement and corruption.

Cuba's powerful military and intelligence ministries employ tens of thousands of agents and informants, control much of the economy and are often exempted from the rules governing civilian sectors of the government. Whether the Interior Ministry and Revolutionary Armed Forces will be subject to the new limits in the legal reform remains an open question.

Cuba is in its fourth year of expected zero to minimal growth, and the government feels increasingly threatened by the Trump administration's effort to overthrow Venezuela's Cuban-allied government as the first step in an offensive against socialist states throughout Latin America.

Only 78 percent of registered voters, some 6.8 million out of 8.7 million, said "yes" to the new constitution in a Feb. 24 referendum. That's a massive approval rate in any other country but relatively low for Cuba, where voters usually approve government proposals by margins well over 90 percent.

In this case, some 700,000 voted "no," while others abstained or filed marred or blank ballots.

That could put unusual pressure on the government to come up with new laws that win widespread public approval, rather than simply imposing new regulations after closed meetings of Communist Party and government leaders.

"The referendum showed that Cuba is a more politically diverse society than it often seems on the surface," constitutional lawyer Raudiel Pena said. "Now let's hope that lawmakers really take that into consideration."

___

Associated Press writer Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

___

Andrea Rodríguez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP

Source: Fox News World

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Lyft’s shares rise after Citron advises against shorting stock

FILE PHOTO: Lyft supporters gather for the Lyft IPO as the company lists its shares on the Nasdaq in the first-ever ride-hailing initial public offering, in Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO: Lyft supporters gather for the Lyft IPO as the company lists its shares on the Nasdaq in the first-ever ride-hailing initial public offering, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 5, 2019

(Reuters) – Shares of ride-hailing company Lyft Inc rose as much as 4 percent on Friday, setting the stock for its best day since its market debut last week, after short-seller Citron Research advised investors to hold on to the stock.

The number of active Lyft riders has surged fivefold to 18.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, from the first quarter of 2016, and those numbers are set to rise further, Citron said, listing several other reasons to not be short on Lyft.

As of Thursday, Lyft’s short interest was $937 million, with 13.38 million shares shorted, which makes up about 41.2 percent of its float, according to data from S3 Partners, a financial technology and analytics firm.

Citron, which has held a stake in Lyft for the last two years, said it has increased its position in the company in the open market.

Describing ride-sharing as a “megatrend”, and not just a fad, Citron said Lyft has good prospects, especially since millennials are foregoing car ownership for ride-sharing.

“This is not a trendy video game or a GoPro camera… this is a way of life that is saving people time and ensuring safety,” the note said.

“The entire rideshare market in the U.S. only accounts for 1 percent of miles traveled today…. we have only just begun,” Citron said.

But brokerage Seaport Global, which started coverage on Lyft with a “sell” rating on Tuesday, said it was skeptical that consumers will give up car ownership in favor of relying on ride-hailing services.

Daiwa Capital Markets also initiated coverage on the company on Thursday, with an ‘outperform’ rating and a price target of $80.

The rating reflects strong revenue growth potential ahead for the company, the brokerage said, but added it expects losses to increase through 2020, and then reach break even by the end of 2022.

Lyft’s shares fell below their IPO price of $72 on their second day of trading, erasing all debut gains, after market research companies cited lack of a clear path to profitability.

The company did not mention when it would turn profitable. It reported a loss of $911 million in 2018, wider than its $688 million loss in 2017, despite revenue doubling in 2018 to $2.16 billion.

Daiwa added autonomous robotaxis, currently under development at tech and auto companies, are among the biggest threats to the company.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Naqvi Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the WEF in Davos
FILE PHOTO: Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Arnold

LONDON (Reuters) – A London court case to extradite Arif Naqvi, founder of collapsed private equity firm Abraaj Group, to the United States on fraud charges was adjourned until May 24, a court official said on Friday.

Naqvi was remanded in custody until that date, the official said. A former managing partner of Dubai-based Abraaj, Sev Vettivetpillai, was released on conditional bail to appear again at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 12, the official said.

Under the U.S. charges, both men are accused of defrauding U.S. investors by inflating positions held by Abraaj in order to attract greater funds from them, causing them financial loss, the official said.

Vettivetpillai could not be reached for a comment.

Naqvi, in a statement released through a PR firm, has pleaded innocent.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from U.S.-based charitable organizations and other U.S. investors.

Naqvi and Vettivetpillai were arrested in Britain earlier this month. Another executive, Mustafa Abdel-Wadood was arrested at a New York hotel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on April 11.

Abdel-Wadood appeared at the Manhattan hearing and pleaded not guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Former Vice President Joe Biden announces his 2020 candidacy
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in this still image taken from a video released April 25, 2019. BIDEN CAMPAIGN HANDOUT via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in his first interview as a Democratic presidential candidate, said on Friday that he does not believe he treated law professor Anita Hill badly during the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Biden had joined the burgeoning 2020 Democratic field a day earlier.

Biden’s conduct during those hearings, when he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, became a renewed subject of controversy after the New York Times reported that Biden had called Hill earlier this month in the run-up to his presidential bid and that Hill was dissatisfied with Biden’s expression of regret.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View,” Biden largely defended his actions as a senator almost 30 years ago, saying he believed Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment levied at Thomas and tried to derail his confirmation.

Activists have long been unhappy that Hill was questioned in graphic detail by the all-white, all-male committee chaired by Biden.

“I’m sorry she was treated the way she was treated,” Biden said, but later, he asserted, “I don’t think I treated her badly. … How do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions?”

“There were a lot of mistakes made across the board and for those I apologize,” he said.

Biden praised Hill as “remarkable” and said she is “one of the reasons we have the #MeToo movement.”

Asked why he had not reached out to Hill earlier, Biden said he had previously publicly stated he had regrets about her treatment and that he “didn’t want to quote invade her space.”

That seemed to be a reference to another controversy that looms over Biden’s presidential run: allegations by several women that he made them uncomfortable by touching them at political events.

Biden also addressed that criticism, saying he was now more “cognizant” about a woman’s “private space.” But he maintained that he had been “trying to bring solace.”

He suggested he was still trying to sort out the guidelines for his conduct going forward.

“I should be able to read better,” he said. “I have to be more careful.”

Pressed by the show’s panel for an apology to his accusers, Biden would not entirely capitulate.

“So, I invaded your space,” he replied. “I mean, I’m sorry this happened. But I’m not sorry in a sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.”

Biden, 76, served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president for two terms. He is competing with 19 others for the Democratic presidential nomination and the chance to likely face President Donald Trump next year in the general election.

His first public event as a presidential candidate is scheduled for Monday in Pittsburgh.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei, Taiwan August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s stock slumped over 4% on Friday to its lowest price in two years, rounding out a rough week that included worse-than-expected quarterly results and a pitch by Chief Executive Elon Musk on autonomous cars that failed to win over investors.

With investors betting Tesla will soon raise capital, the stock has fallen 13% for the week to its lowest level since January 2017, before the launch of the Model 3 sedan aimed at making the electric car maker profitable.

One positive development for Tesla: a U.S. District Court judge on Friday granted a request by Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission for a second extension to resolve a dispute over Musk’s use of Twitter.

On Wednesday, Tesla posted a worse-than-expected loss of $702 million for the March quarter. Musk said Tesla would return to profit in the third quarter and that there was “some merit” to raising capital.

Musk is still battling to convince investors that demand for the Model 3, the company’s first car aimed at the mass consumer market, is “insanely” high, and that it can be delivered efficiently to customers around the world.

Tesla ended its first quarter with $2.2 billion, down from $3.7 billion in the prior quarter, and the company is planning expansions including a Shanghai factory, an upcoming Model Y SUV, and other projects.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s cash – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DyJjX6)

On Monday, Musk hosted a self-driving event, where he predicted Tesla would have over a million autonomous vehicles by next year. Some analysts perceived the presentation as a way to deflect attention from questions about demand, margin pressure, increasing competition and even Musk’s ongoing battle with U.S. regulators.

Tesla’s stock has now fallen 29 percent in 2019 and the company’s market capitalization has declined to $41 billion from $63 billion in mid-December.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s declining market cap – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dwd62r)

Analysts now expect Tesla’s revenue to expand 19% in 2019, compared with 83% growth in 2018 and 68% growth in 2017, according to Refinitiv.

Following Tesla’s quarterly report, 12 analysts recommend selling the stock, while 11 recommend buying and eight are neutral. The median analyst price target is $275, up 16% from the stock’s current price of $236. Berenberg analyst Alexander Haissl has the most optimistic price target, at $500, while Cowen and Company’s Jeffrey Osborne has the lowest, at $160, according to Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s rare public criticism of the Obama administration was a “soft” way of accusing the previous administration of covering up Russia’s attempts at hacking the 2016 presidential election.

While speaking Thursday in New York at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, Rosenstein said that the Obama administration “chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls and how they relate to Russia’s broader strategy to undermine America.”

During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” Friday morning, Huckabee called the comments an “unusually candid moment for Rosenstein.”

“I thought it was a soft way of him saying there was a cover-up,” Huckabee said. “They knew the Russians were attempting to influence the election and attempting to hack the election but they didn’t fully disclose that to the American people and certainly didn’t disclose it to the Trump campaign.

SWALWELL NOT CERTAIN TRUMP ISN’T A ‘RUSSIAN ASSET’

“Instead they tried to set a trap for them. It failed. The Trump team did not take the bait. And that’s the one conclusion that we can certainly come away with from the $35 million worth of investigation,” Huckabee continued.

Next week, Attorney General William Barr will testify before Congress and is expected to answer questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump, which found that there was not adequate evidence to conclude that President Trump and his administration colluded with Russia, though the president could not be exonerated in terms of the possibility that he obstructed justice.

Barr will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee next Wednesday and to the House Judiciary Committee the following day.

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

“It is going to be a theater, an absolute show,” Huckabee said of the hearings. “Just like the Kavanaugh hearings were and like everything else is in Congress. We ought to close the curtain on them and can’t come back until after the election. They aren’t doing their job anyway. We aren’t paying them because they’re doing a wonderful service to the country and spare us the hypocrisy of thinking they’re interested in getting to the bottom of the facts,” he continued.

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Ultimately, Huckabee argued, if Americans “took their partisan hats off,” they would see that President Trump was exonerated by the investigation.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Sri Lanka's former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake
Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

April 26, 2019

By Sanjeev Miglani and Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens.

Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the two led the country to a crushing defeat of separatist Tamil rebels a decade ago after a 26-year civil war.

More than 250 people were killed in bomb attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday that the government has blamed on Islamist militants and that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Gotabaya said the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.

“Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent”, firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections, which are due by December.

He was critical of the government’s response to the bombings. Since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat is from Islamic State to the country.

“Various people are blaming various people, not giving exactly the details as to what happened, even people expect the names, what organization did this, and how they came up to this level, that explanation was not given,” he said.

On Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena said the government led by premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

Wickremesinghe said earlier he was not advised about warnings that came from India’s spy service either, presenting a picture of a government still in disarray since the two leaders fell out last October.

Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States, where he is a dual citizen, over his role in the war and afterwards.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor.

In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father.

Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidature.

‘DISMANTLE THE NETWORKS’

He said that if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radical Islam and to rebuild the security set-up.

“It’s a serious problem, you have to go deep into the groups, dismantle the networks,” he said, adding he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism.

Gotabaya said that a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in eastern Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government.

“They did not give priority to national security, there was a mix-up. They were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, they were talking about individual freedoms,” he said.

President Sirisena’s government sought to forge reconciliation with minority Tamils and close the wounds of the war and launched investigations into allegations of rights abuse and torture against military officers.

Officials said many of these secret intelligence cells were disbanded because they faced allegations of abuse, including torture and extra judicial killings.

Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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