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NRCC Makes Largest January Fundraising Haul to Date

The National Republican Congressional Committee has made its largest January fundraising haul to date, pulling in $5.58 million as it faces several key races coming up in 2020.

Republican Sens. Cory Gardner, Colorado; Joni Ernst, Iowa; Susan Collins, Maine; Thom Tillis, North Carolina; and David Perdue, Georgia are all coming up for re-election, reports Politico, while quoting a committee aide about the record fundraising haul.

Overall in 2018, the NRCC raised approximately $151.6 million, according to Open Secrets.org, reporting data from the Center for Responsive Politics and based on Federal Election Commission data.

The organization spent $151.2 million, leaving $7.5 million cash on hand.  

The NRCC is the chief fundraising committee whose goal is electing Republican candidates to the Senate. The totals reported by the Center for Responsive Politics show expenditures and fundraising from both the main committee and others affiliated to it, noted Open Secrets.

In 2016, the year President Donald Trump was elected to office, the NRCC and affiliated committees raised approximately $138.4 million, spending approximately $134 million.

Figures were not immediately available Tuesday concerning fundraising totals for January for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Potential 2020 Dem Michael Bennet blasts Omar's comments as 'hateful'

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Potential presidential contender Sen. Michael Bennet took aim Friday at recent controversial comments by freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota that were widely condemned as anti-Semitic, calling them "hateful."

“I think that what she said was something that shouldn’t be said,” the Democrat from Colorado said in an interview on Friday, as he made a swing through New Hampshire as he weighs running for the White House.

REP. OMAR CRITICIZES FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Omar, a Somali-American and one of two Muslim women in Congress, ignited a intra-party firestorm last week when she once again suggested that groups supportive of Israel were pushing members of Congress to have "allegiance to a foreign country."

After several days of infighting by Democrats, the House of Representatives on Thursday passed a broad anti-bigotry and anti-hate resolution prompted by Omar's comments. The resolution was overwhelming approved in a bipartisan vote, but some Republicans argued the broadening of the language was a ploy to distract from Omar’s remarks.

“I’m comfortable with what they passed,” Bennet said. “I think that it was right in this case to demonstrate that the House of Representatives wasn’t going to tolerate hateful statements like the one that was made.”

And Bennet spotlighted his heritage, saying “my mom and her parents were Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust and almost all the rest of the family was killed.”

He explained that “they eventually made their way to America” to escape anti-Semitism.

TRUMP CLAIMS DEMOCRATS HAVE BECOME 'ANTI-ISRAEL PARTY'

Republican President Donald Trump on Friday – pointing to the final resolution – attacked the Democrats and said they “have become an anti-Israel party. They have become an anti-Jewish party.”

Bennet took issue with the president’s comments, saying “he’s way off base. It’s absolutely untrue. Look. This is part of what Donald Trump does and people should understand it. At every turn – because he knows he’s fading – he tries to disqualify Democrats and the Democratic Party.”

“The Democratic Party in Washington supports Israel,” he emphasized.

And taking aim at the president, he called Trump’s tenure in the White House “a sorry chapter.”

BUTTIGIEG URGES SCRAPPING ELECTORAL COLLEGE DURING NH SWING

The Republican National Committee questioned whether Bennet could resonate in Democratic nomination race that they say is moving further to the left.

“Bennet will be forced to choose between endorsing out-of-touch policy proposals that will cost taxpayers trillions of dollars, or staying barely known and barely registering with voters,” RNC Spokesperson Mandi Merritt said.

Bennet sat down for an interview during a jam-packed quick trip to New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary in the race for the White House. Last month he stopped in Iowa, which votes first in the presidential caucus and primary calendar.

He said his decision on running for the White House would come in “weeks, not months.

Bennet, who traveled to the Granite State with his teenage daughter and an aide, said his family seems to be OK with a potential presidential run.

“I need know there’s a real opportunity for me to make difference in the race and that I could have a chance to win the race. That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” he explained.

But he added that “I’m inclined to do it.”

If he runs, Bennet would face off against a large field of contenders (it currently stands at 14), many with bigger name ID and bigger campaign war chests. And there’s already a candidate from Colorado in the race. The state’s former two-term governor – John Hickenlooper – launched his campaign on Monday.

“I don’t think two candidates from Colorado are a bad thing at all,” he said.

Bennet, who used to work for Hickenlooper, added that the former governor’s “a good friend of mine” but added “we’ve very different people with very different experiences.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Venezuelans find ways to cope with inflation and hunger

Francibel Contreras brings her three malnourished children to a soup kitchen in the dangerous hillside Caracas slum of Petare where they scoop in spoonfuls of rice and scrambled eggs in what could be their only meal of the day.

Part of the tragedy of daily life in socialist Venezuela can be glimpsed in this small volunteer soup kitchen in the heart of one of Latin America's biggest slums, which helps dozens of children as well as unemployed mothers who can no longer feed them.

Some Venezuelans manage to endure the nation's economic meltdown by clinging to the shrinking number of well-paid jobs or by receiving some of the hundreds of millions of dollars sent home by friends and relatives abroad — a quantity that has swollen in recent years as millions of Venezuelans have fled.

But a growing percentage of people across the country, especially in slums like Petare, are struggling to cope.

Contreras's husband, Jorge Flores, used to have a small stand at a local market selling things like bananas and yucca, eggs and lunchmeat — trying to scrape out a profit in a place where hyperinflation often made his wholesale costs double from day to day. Then he was robbed at gunpoint by a local gang. And his brother crashed the motorcycle he used to supply his stand.

So Flores abandoned the market stall and looked for other work. He does some plumbing jobs and the family has turned its living room into a barbershop, sheltered beneath a corrugated metal roof held down by loose bricks and planks. It's decorated with origami-like stars that the family has made out Venezuela's colorful but rapidly depreciating bolivar bills.

"Our currency is worthless," Contreras said. "These days, I prefer trading a bag of flour for a manicure or a haircut."

The scarcity of milk, medicine and other basics — along with routine violence — has eroded support for socialist President Nicolas Maduro even in poor neighborhoods like Petare that once were his strongholds. Maduro says there's an opposition-led plot to oust him from power and says U.S. economic sanctions and local opposition sabotage are responsible for the meltdown.

Various local polls show he retains support from roughly a fifth of the population, many of them ideological stalwarts, government-connected insiders or poor voters dependent on government handouts, including the so-called CLAP boxes of oil, flour, rice, pasta, canned tuna and other goods that arrive several times a year.

Contreras' family of four gets those boxes, but it's not enough to get by on for long. For months, they've been relying on the soup kitchen launched by opposition politicians as the main source of protein for their children. On a recent day, her 7-year-old son Jorbeicker played a pickup soccer game in the hilly, dusty streets in front of her home, while her husband practiced styling his mother's hair.

"I'm barely getting by," Flores said, scissors in hand.

The four-day power outage that brought most of Venezuela to a halt this month added to Flores' misery. He wasn't able to use the electric clippers needed to give customers the sort of trims they demand.

"It hit us in a big way," he said. "You absolutely need the clippers."

The couple estimates the power outage cost the family the equivalent of $11 in missed haircuts — a significant sum in a country where the minimum wage amounts to $6 a month, even if most people supplement that figure by working side jobs and pooling resources with friends and neighbors.

Contreras and Flores charge 2,500 bolivars — about 70 U.S. cents — for a trim. A government-subsidized kilogram of flour can cost almost three times that, and Contreras says that lines for the rationed goods can be endless and she sometimes comes back empty-handed. She also said she feels unsafe in the lines. Dozens of people have been killed in gang crossfires over the years, and some have been crushed to death when lines of shoppers turned into stampedes of desperate looters.

Next-door neighbor Dugleidi Salcedo sent her 4-year-old daughter to live with an aunt in the city of Maracay, two hours away, because she could no longer feed her. "My boys cry," the single mother of four said. "But they resist more than her when I tell them that there's no food."

After walking back from the soup kitchen, she opened the rusty door to her home of scraped, mint-colored walls. Inside, her 11-year-old son Daniel, who was born partially paralyzed and with developmental disabilities, lay on a stained couch while flies flew over his twisted, uncovered legs.

When she took the lid off a plastic container to show her last bag of flour, a cockroach crawled out, making her jump back and scream.

"This is so tough," she said. "I don't have a job. I don't have any money."

Salcedo used to sell baked goods and juices to neighbors from the window of her kitchen. Then, her fridge broke down and she couldn't find the money to fix it.

These days, she relies on the kindness of neighbors, or asks a friend who owns a small food shop for credit while she waits for loans from family members in other parts of Venezuela.

"This country has never been as bad," the 28-year-old said. "Just buying some rice or flour is something so hard, so expensive, and often, they don't even have any."

A few days later, thieves broke into the soup kitchen and stole food. Then, a fire broke out in the slum, burning 17 homes to the ground. It was caused by candles that were apparently being used for light after a power outage — an almost everyday occurrence in many parts of Venezuela. Opposition lawmaker Manuela Bolivar, whose Nodriza Project runs the soup kitchen, said that when firefighters arrived, they lacked water and had to put out the blaze with dirt.

"It's a social earthquake," Bolivar said.

"They lose their homes. They're left in the open air. The soup kitchen was robbed. It's so many adversities: It's the infections, the lack of water and food."

At an outdoor market a short distance from Petare in the middle-class district of Los Dos Caminos, Carmen Gimenez shopped for carrots and other vegetables for a stew. When her 14-year-old daughter Camila asked if they could take some other products, she told her that they would have to stick to the basics.

Although she has a job at a bank, she still struggles to make ends meet.

"It doesn't matter where you live. The need is the same," said Gimenez, 43.

"The poor, the rich, and the middle class — we're all suffering somehow because the government has leveled us all downwards," she adds with anger. "How did they dominate us? Through the stomach."

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Associated Press writer Scott Smith contributed to this story.

Source: Fox News World

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Michael Avenatti's a 'fool' who seemingly exploited Stormy Daniels for attention, Tammy Bruce says

Radio host Tammy Bruce blasted attorney Michael Avenatti calling him a "fool" and mocking his recent legal troubles Tuesday while appearing on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

“Look, what I really enjoyed, what was very important about your initial coverage of this fool was the fact that he appeared to be exploiting one of his clients, Stormy Daniels,” Bruce told Tucker Carlson. “He was making money from her and she was reduced to doing tours of strip clubs in the process of him representing her.”

WATCH FOX NEWS' LIVE COVERAGE

“I feel bad for her,” Carlson interjected. “I said that to him and he said that her stripping in some sad club in Richmond, Virginia, was an act of female empowerment.”

“You know when you're 7 years old... show me a 7-year-old who says, 'when I grow up I want to be stripping at some clubs,'” Bruce said.

Daniels, an adult-film star, cut ties with Avenatti last month.

Avenatti was accused Monday by federal prosecutors in New York of trying to extort between $15 and $25 million from sports apparel company Nike.

The attorney was charged with wire fraud and bank fraud in a separate case out of California

“And look, if all of the charges against him are true, this guy is like the 'Zelig' of criminals. So I mean, he's trying. He's trying to adjust or would seem to be involved in so many different kinds of behaviors and crime,” Bruce said, seemingly alluding to a 1983 film in which Woody Allen adapts to different environments.

Avenatti denied the charges in a "CBS Evening News" interview Tuesday. He cited unnamed "legal experts," who he said contended that he was "well within the line as an aggressive attorney."

Carlson and Bruce noted that just last year Avenatti was touted as a possible 2020 Democratic presidential contender.

AVENATTI SUGGESTS LOS ANGELES FRAUD CASE IS CONNECTED TO TRUMP

The conversation also addressed an appearance Avenatti made on “The View” last year where his sexual fantasies came up. Avenatti told the hosts they involved handcuffs.

“It looks like he's gotten one part of his dream fulfilled,” Bruce said.

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“We always get what we want in the end, don't we,” Carlson added.

“You do. You just watch out for what you wish for because you just might get it,” Bruce said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Ex-cop says thought gun was pointed at him when he shot teen

A white former police officer said Thursday he thought a weapon was pointed at him when he shot and killed an unarmed black teenager outside Pittsburgh last summer.

Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld took the stand at his homicide trial and insisted he was in fear for his life when he gunned down 17-year-old Antwon Rose II.

Rosfeld, 30, got choked up and dabbed away tears as he recounted finding the mortally wounded Rose on the ground.

"I was upset, shocked," Rosfeld said. "He was moaning, trying to breathe."

The former officer testified after the prosecution rested its case earlier Thursday. Prosecutors said Rosfeld gave inconsistent statements about the shooting, including whether he thought Rose had a gun.

A prosecution witness has said that after the shooting, he heard Rosfeld say repeatedly, "I don't know why I shot him. I don't know why I fired." But another prosecution witness said he heard the officer ask, "Why did he do that? Why did he take that out of his pocket?"

Rosfeld fired three bullets into Rose after pulling over an unlicensed taxi he suspected — correctly, as it turned out — to have been involved in a drive-by shooting. Rose, a passenger in the car, was shot in the back as he fled.

Rosfeld testified the car that Rose was riding in had its rear windshield shot out. He chirped his siren and turned on his police lights, and the driver complied and pulled over. Rosfeld said he got out of his car with his gun drawn and ordered the driver to the ground.

That's when he said Rose and another occupant, Zaijuan Hester, "jumped out" of the car.

Demonstrating for the jury what threatening gesture he believed he saw, Rosfeld stood up, raised his right arm to shoulder length and fully extended it as if pointing a weapon.

"It happened very quickly," Rosfeld said. "My intent was to end the threat that was made against me. I just wanted to end the threat to me. I followed the threat and fired. I just saw that person moving, so I assumed the threat was still there."

Asked by his attorney, Patrick Thomassey, why he fired his gun and did not simply let the suspects get away, Rosfeld said: "Because I thought one of them was pointing a weapon at me. They were dangerous felon suspects. They had just fired a gun at someone."

Rose had been riding in the front seat of the cab when Hester, in the backseat, rolled down a window and shot at two men on the street, hitting one in the abdomen.

Hester, 18, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated assault and firearms violations. Hester told a judge that he, not Rose, did the shooting.

Earlier Thursday, Judge Alexander Bicket rejected a defense motion to acquit Rosfeld on the murder counts he faces.

Prosecutors charged Rosfeld with an open count of homicide, meaning the jury can convict Rosfeld of murder or manslaughter. The defense argued a murder charge wasn't appropriate in the case.

"What we have is a police officer doing his duty. There's not a hardness of heart required for first- or third-degree murder," Thomassey argued in court. "We have a burst of three shots in one second on a fleeing felon and we're going to charge him with murder? It's not fair."

Prosecutor Daniel Fitzsimmons said the fact that Rosfeld shot a fleeing Rose in the back was evidence of malice, and the judge ruled the murder counts would stand.

Rosfeld's decision to testify wasn't unusual. At least three other white officers charged in the on-duty fatal shootings of black people have taken the witness stand in recent years.

In October, a Chicago jury convicted former officer Jason Van Dyke of murder in the shooting death of teenager Laquan McDonald. After the trial, jurors said Van Dyke's testimony hurt his defense. Van Dyke got fewer than seven years in prison.

An officer in Balch Spring, Texas, was convicted of murder last August and sentenced to 15 years after a jury didn't buy his explanation that he was trying to protect his partner when he fired into a car full of black teenagers, striking a 15-year-old.

And in 2017, a former South Carolina patrolman was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing an unarmed motorist. The officer pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges following a state trial at which he testified and the jury deadlocked.

___

Associated Press writer Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this story.

Source: Fox News National

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France’s yellow vests: Who they are, what they want, and why

France's yellow vest protesters are still a force to be reckoned with as they hold their 23rd straight weekend of demonstrations since the movement started in November. Here's a look at their movement:

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WHO THEY ARE

The movement started among provincial workers camped out at traffic circles to protest a hike in fuel taxes, sporting the high-visibility vests all French drivers must keep in their cars for emergencies.

It quickly spread to people across political, regional, social and generational divides angry at economic injustice and the way President Emmanuel Macron is running France. At its height, a quarter of a million people marched around France, and polls suggested more than 80 percent of French people supported the movement.

Its numbers have dwindled as Macron has addressed some concerns — and as violent troublemakers have hijacked peaceful protests and trashed treasured monuments and police have responded in force. The movement notably attracted extremists from the far right, and now increasingly from the far left, and those exhibiting anti-Semitic views.

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WHAT THEY WANT

At first, they wanted an end to the fuel tax hike. The wish list swiftly mushroomed.

Most of the demands focus on social justice: lower taxes on workers and pensioners, higher taxes on the rich, more public spending to help the working class.

Many want to make it easier for the public to mount national referendums. Some want more action to save the planet. Some want mass nationalization of French corporations, or even full-on revolution. And every week, crowds demand that Macron step down.

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WHAT THE PRESIDENT SAYS

Macron caved quickly to their first demand, scrapping the fuel tax rise. He offered 10 billion euros in tax cuts or other gestures for pensioners and workers.

He doesn't want, however, to re-introduce a wealth tax, is cool to the idea of national referendums — and has no plans to quit his job.

His government launched a national debate aimed at addressing the protesters' concerns, traveling the country for town hall meetings and collecting complaints online. He's expected to announce the resulting government measures next week.

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WHY IT'S ENDURING

The hard-core protesters say Macron still doesn't get it. They see the highly educated former investment banker as a president of the rich, and out of touch with the struggles of taxpayers who help sustain the world's No. 5 economy. The hard-liners are also pushing for early elections — Macron's term isn't set to expire until 2022.

His performance this week as fundraiser-in-chief for fire-gutted Notre Dame Cathedral sharpened the anger. Some prominent yellow vest voices are indignant that billionaires quickly offered fortunes to rebuild the landmark cathedral, arguing they should pay more taxes instead.

Source: Fox News World

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Poirier defeats Holloway at exhilarating UFC 236

MMA: UFC 236- Holloway vs Poirier
Apr 13, 2019; Atlanta, GA, USA; (Editors Note: Graphic Content) Max Holloway (red gloves) fights Dustin Poirier (blue gloves) during UFC 236 at State Farm Arena. Poirier won by unanimous decision. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

April 14, 2019

The championships on the line at UFC 236 on Saturday night were just of the interim variety, but the competitors in both bouts put in Fight of the Year-caliber performances nonetheless.

Dustin Poirier (25-5) of Lafayette, La., won the interim lightweight belt in the main event at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, defeating current UFC featherweight titleholder Max Holloway (20-4) of Waianae, Hawaii, via unanimous decision.

Poirier came out with a sensational start in an offensive onslaught that would have felled most fighters. Holloway persevered, though, and hung in there for five compelling rounds. Poirier’s power against an opponent coming up in weight spelled the difference as he won on scores of 49-46 across the board that didn’t indicate how competitive the fight was.

“This feels amazing, I feel like I’m in a dream right now,” Poirier said. “I just beat one of the pound-for-pound best in the world. This is my belt, I earned it in full, paid in blood.”

The main event came just one bout after what might be 2019’s Fight of the Year as Israel Adesanya (17-0) of New Zealand and Kelvin Gastelum (16-4) of Yuma, Ariz., threw down in a tremendous battle won by Adesanya on a unanimous decision to claim the interim middleweight belt.

The undersized but hard-hitting Gastelum took the first round by closing the distance and landing heavy left hands. Adesanya, a kickboxer, mixed up his strikes to take the second and third. Gastelum landed a surprise head kick in the fourth to claim that round. But Adesanya answered with a hellacious fifth round, battering Gastelum, who was saved by the bell.

Adesnaya took scores of 48-46 from all three judges for the victory.

“I was ready for war,” Adesanya said. “I was ready for war, I fought through this adversity.”

The interim middleweight title was created because current champ Robert Whittaker is out following hernia surgery; the lightweight belt due to champion Khabib Nurmagomedov’s ongoing suspension, related to his October arena brawl after a fight with Conor McGregor.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.

The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.

The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

Source: OANN

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo

April 26, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.

The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.

Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.

But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.

Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.

High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.

It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.

Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.

“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.

The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.

Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.

Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.

Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.

Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.

This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

April 26, 2019

By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.

The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.

Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.

“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.

Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.

“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.

U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.

Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.

Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.

Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.

Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.

Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.

Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.

Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan

(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.

Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.

Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.

WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?

The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.

Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.

HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?

The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.

Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.

The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.

The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.

No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.

Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.

Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.

CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?

No.

Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.

“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.

“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”

PROOF OF WRONGDOING?

In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.

Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”

PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?

Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.

In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.

The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.

WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?

A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes
FILE PHOTO: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s lawyers on Friday are set to ask a Florida judge to toss out hidden-camera videos that prosecutors say show the 77-year-old billionaire receiving sexual favors for money inside a Florida massage parlor.

The owner of the reigning Super Bowl champions plans wants the video to not be used as evidence against him as he contests two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Spa in Jupiter, Florida, along with some two dozen other men.

His legal team is fresh off a win on Tuesday, when they successfully persuaded Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser to block prosecutors from releasing the hidden-camera footage to media outlets, which had requested copies under the state’s robust open records law.

Kraft, who has owned the franchise since 1994, pleaded not guilty, but has issued a public apology for his actions.

His attorneys have argued in court papers that the surreptitious videotaping of customers, including Kraft, inside a massage parlor was governmental overreach and the result of an illegally obtained search warrant.

The warrant, Kraft’s lawyers claim, was secured under false pretenses because police officers cited human trafficking as a potential crime in their application. Prosecutors have since acknowledged that the investigation yielded no evidence of trafficking.

Palm Beach County prosecutors in a court filing on Wednesday said Kraft’s motion should be rejected because he could not have had any expectation of privacy while visiting a commercial establishment to engage in criminal activity.

That prompted an indignant response from Kraft’s attorneys, who said the prosecution’s position on privacy was “unhinged.”

“It should go without saying that Mr. Kraft and everyone else in the United States have a reasonable expectation that the government will not secretly spy on them while they undress behind closed doors,” they wrote.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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