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Kazakhstan’s acting leader to run for president

Kazakhstan's ruling party has nominated the interim president to run in the presidential election later this year.

The Nur Otan party on Tuesday voted to nominate Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who became acting head of state after the long-time leader Nursultan Nazarbayev abruptly resigned mid-March.

Tokayev, former speaker of the upper house of parliament, was considered a possible successor for Nazarbayev, who ruled Kazakhstan throughout its post-Soviet history, along with Nazarbayev's elder daughter.

The presidential election is set for June 9.

Source: Fox News World

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U.S. oil drillers cut rigs for first week in three: Baker Hughes

A pump jack operates in front of a drilling rig at sunset in an oil field in Midland
FILE PHOTO: A pump jack operates in front of a drilling rig at sunset in an oil field in Midland, Texas U.S. August 22, 2018. REUTERS/Nick Oxford

April 18, 2019

By Scott DiSavino

(Reuters) – U.S. energy firms this week reduced the number of oil rigs operating for the first time in three weeks as production growth forecasts from shale, the country’s largest oil fields, continue to shrink.

Drillers cut eight oil rigs in the week to April 18, bringing the total count down to 825, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Thursday.

Baker Hughes released the report a day early this week due to the Good Friday holiday.

The U.S. rig count, an early indicator of future output, is still a bit higher than a year ago when 820 rigs were active.

The rig count fell for the past four months and production growth in the Permian and other key shale basins have slowed as oil prices fell in the fourth quarter and many independent shale companies cut spending in the face of investor pressure to focus on earnings growth instead of increased output.

Major oil companies, like Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp, however, are boosting their presence, particularly in the Permian, the largest U.S. shale oil field.

U.S. crude oil output from seven major shale formations is expected to rise by about 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May to a record 8.46 million bpd, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its monthly drilling productivity report on Monday.

Although May’s total, if accurate, would be a record high, the increase continues a pattern of shrinking growth since February.

Since the start of the year, several independent producers have announced job cuts, including Encana Corp and Pioneer Natural Resources Co, while oilfield service company Schlumberger NV projected onshore domestic exploration and production investments will fall by 10 percent in 2019.

“Collectively, these are all signs that U.S. crude and natural gas production growth should moderate in the months ahead, following the trend of slowing rig activity that is starting to build,” said Trey Cowan, senior analyst at S&P Global Platts Analytics.

U.S. crude futures, meanwhile, traded near a five-month high of almost $65 per barrel for a second week in a row this week as a drop in crude exports from OPEC’s defacto leader Saudi Arabia and a draw in U.S. oil inventories supported prices. [O/R]

Looking ahead, crude futures were trading around $64 a barrel for the balance of 2019 and $61 in calendar 2020.

Year-to-date, the total number of oil and gas rigs active in the United States has averaged 1,039. That keeps the total count for 2019 on track to be the highest since 2014, which averaged 1,862 rigs. Most rigs produce both oil and gas.

Analysts at Simmons & Co, energy specialists at U.S. investment bank Piper Jaffray, however, forecast the average combined oil and gas rig count will slide from 1,032 in 2018 to 1,019 in 2019 before rising to 1,097 in 2020.

That is the same as Simmons predictions last week.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Source: OANN

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Kazakhstan to have early presidential vote in 2 months

Kazakhstan's interim president has ordered an early presidential election in two months' time.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who became the acting head of state after last month's unexpected resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev, said in Tuesday's televised address to the nation that the vote will be held on June 9.

Nazarbayev took the helm in Kazakhstan when it was still part of the Soviet Union and led it for three decades.

The 78-year-old has retained the honorary title of "Elbasy" or "Leader of the Nation" and is expected to continue to wield considerable political power as chairman of the nation's Security Council and the head of the ruling Nur Otan party.

Nazarbayev's eldest daughter has been named speaker of the upper chamber of parliament.

Source: Fox News World

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Whoopi Goldberg Defends Biden: ‘I Don’t Want Joe to Stop’ Kissing and Smelling Women’s Hair

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Indiana murder suspect convicted days after he died in jail

A judge has convicted a man who died in jail after pleading guilty to murder in the 1988 beating death of a pregnant South Bend woman.

St. Joseph Superior Court Judge John Marnocha on Wednesday accepted the plea that 78-year-old George Kearney entered on March 11.

Kearney was scheduled to be sentenced Friday, but he died Sunday in jail. Prosecutors say Kearney had been terminally ill and that his health had deteriorated over the past week.

Kearney admitted killing 28-year-old Miriam Rice, who was abducted June 24, 1988, while walking her dog in a park. Her body was found about a week later obscured by foliage.

Kearney's former girlfriend, 56-year-old Barbara Brewster also was charged with murder and is due to stand trial in June.

Source: Fox News National

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Pentagon Hasn't Discussed 'Cost Plus 50' Plan With Euro Allies

The Defense Department has not brought up with European allies President Donald Trump's controversial idea for countries to pay the full cost of stationing American forces on their land, plus 50 percent, a top Pentagon official told a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday, The Hill reported.

Acting assistant secretary of Defense for international security affairs Kathryn Wheelbarger said the president's demand might have been raised with Pacific allies, but "it's not a conversation we've had in my portfolio at all."

In Trump's so-called "cost plus 50" formula, first reported by Bloomberg, he is demanding countries where American troops are based pay the full price of keeping those forces in their nation, plus another 50 percent, meaning they would have to pay at least five times more than they do now.

Former senior American military commanders have slammed the idea as a "colossal mistake" and "pure idiocy," according to Defense One.

Retired three-star general Ben Hodges, who was the most recent commanding general of U.S. Army Europe, said the idea "shows either a complete lack of understanding or a complete disregard for the value of the access we get from having bases in Europe . . . You can't defend America from Virginia, North Carolina, and California."

Politicians, including top Republican lawmakers, have also blasted the plan as harmful to American interests and its ties with needed allies.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney added the proposal would be "absolutely devastating" to American diplomacy, according to The Hill.

Source: NewsMax America

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The Latest: West Virginia mom charged after abduction tale

The Latest on criminal charges against a West Virginia mom accused of falsely reporting that an Egyptian man tried to kidnap her daughter (all times local):

4:20 p.m.

A West Virginia mother whose story about foiling a brazen kidnapping attempt unraveled under questioning has been criminally charged and jailed.

Barboursville Police Detective Greg Lucas tells The Associated Press on Friday that Santana Renee Adams has been charged with falsely reporting an emergency incident, a misdemeanor.

He says Adams turned herself in about 2 p.m. and was jailed after a magistrate judge set bail at $20,000. Lucas said she didn't have an attorney yet.

The charge caps a sensational tale that had Adams using a gun to stop an Egyptian man from kidnapping her daughter in a West Virginia shopping mall. But the story fell apart amid inconsistencies in her story and led to police dropping all charges against the man, Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan.

Authorities say Zayan may have simply been patting the girl on the head.

___

11:15 a.m.

A detective in West Virginia says criminal charges will be brought against a woman for falsely reporting that an Egyptian man tried to kidnap her daughter from a shopping mall.

Barboursville Police Detective Greg Lucas tells The Associated Press on Friday that they're going to charge Santana Renee Adams with falsely reporting an emergency incident.

The charge would be the latest turn in a sensational tale of a mother who used a gun to thwart an abduction but quickly unraveled amid inconsistencies in her story.

Authorities on Thursday announced they were dropping charges against the man, Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan. Police say he may have simply been patting the girl on the head.

Adams couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Source: Fox News National

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A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing
A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Ng Han Guan/Pool (CHINA – Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

April 26, 2019

By April Joyner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even as the lift from optimism over prospects for U.S.-China trade detente shows signs of wearing off for the wider U.S. stock market, upbeat sentiment around China’s economy could bolster shares of materials companies.

Shares of S&P 500 industrial and technology companies, which were buffeted by last year’s tit-for-tat tariffs as well as slowing global demand, have been very responsive to progress in U.S.-China trade relations and a strengthening Chinese economy. This year, those sectors have outpaced the ascent in the S&P 500, which reached a record closing high on Tuesday.

Materials stocks have not been as sensitive, however, even though they also stand to benefit as a stronger Chinese economy lifts global consumption and industrial output. As China has taken measures to stimulate its economy, its economic data have turned more upbeat. That in turn could aid global growth, which has flagged as a result of China’s cooldown.

“What we’re seeing is China spending more on stimulus: fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York. “That’s likely to be a positive for materials.”

The People’s Bank of China has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs. The stimulus appears to have boosted Chinese economic data, with factory activity growing in March for the first time in four months.

Yet so far in 2019, the S&P 500 materials index has underperformed the S&P 500 at large, rising just 11.9% compared with 16.7% for the benchmark index. Moreover, it is among the biggest decliners in the period since the S&P’s previous record closing level on Sept. 20. The materials index has fallen 7% over those seven months, versus a 5.2% gain for technology and a 3% loss for industrials. Only the energy index has dropped more over that period.

A trade agreement could serve as a catalyst for a bump in materials shares as a drag on China’s economy is lifted, some market strategists say. Some commodity prices, including those for copper and oil, have ascended this year as the prospects for the global economy have somewhat brightened.

“It all goes back to the global growth outlook,” said Andrea DiCenso, portfolio manager for alpha strategies at Loomis Sayles in Boston. “With the front run in hard data, we’re beginning to see a pretty significant rally.”

Additionally, a trade agreement is expected to include commitments from China to purchase higher quantities of U.S. products such as soybeans, which could benefit companies that make agricultural chemicals, including DowDuPont Inc and CF Industries Holdings Inc.

CF Industries is scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, and DowDuPont is scheduled to report before the market open on Thursday.

To be sure, even with a trade agreement, some materials companies could face price pressures. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc fell 10.1% on Thursday after the copper mining company posted a lower-than-expected profit as its production slipped and its costs rose.

A rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports, particularly aluminum and steel, would likely prompt a fall in some commodity prices, which could hurt prospects for certain materials companies, said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management in El Segundo, California.

Even so, those drawbacks may be outweighed by the support for global demand fostered by a U.S.-China trade agreement.

“You could see a number of companies with lowered expectations bring them back up as they talk favorably about the impact that a trade deal would have on them,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

(Reporting by April Joyner; additional reporting by Sinéad Carew; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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A former ICE special agent told Fox News that he hopes the case of the Massachusetts judge accused of helping an illegal immigrant flee federal authorities will “send a message to other activist judges that immigration laws aren’t optional.”

Jim Hayes made the comments Friday on ‘Fox & Friends’ a day after Newton District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and court officer Wesley MacGregor were indicted by a federal grand jury for obstruction of justice and three other counts. The pair allegedly helped Jose Medina-Perez get out of the Massachusetts courthouse in 2018 through a back door in order to elude the ICE agent who sought him.

“I think that the judge certainly faces the criminal charges that are pending. I think certainly that bar card is up for grabs at this point, depending on the outcome of that case,” Hayes told ‘Fox & Friends’.

“I think that, hopefully, these charges will send a message to other activist judges that immigration laws aren’t optional,” he added.

District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph departs federal court on Thursday in Boston after facing obstruction of justice charges for allegedly helping a man in the country illegally evade immigration officials as he left her Newton, Mass., courthouse after a hearing in 2018. (AP)

District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph departs federal court on Thursday in Boston after facing obstruction of justice charges for allegedly helping a man in the country illegally evade immigration officials as he left her Newton, Mass., courthouse after a hearing in 2018. (AP)

MASSACHUSETTS JUDGE WHO ALLEGEDLY HELPED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ESCAPE ICE IS INDICTED

Medina-Perez, a twice-deported illegal immigrant with a fugitive warrant for drunken driving in Pennsylvania, had been in Joseph’s courtroom in order to be arraigned on drug charges, the Boston Globe previously reported.

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Joseph, who has been suspended without pay, and MacGregor appeared in court Thursday and pleaded not guilty to all counts. No date has been set for their next court appearance.

“People who serve in the criminal justice system have to have honesty and integrity in order for the system to work and for our system and our justice system to continue,” Hayes said.

Fox News’ Katherine Lam and Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Cyprus police on Friday widened their search for more victims of a suspected serial killer after the 35-year-old national guard captain told investigators he killed four more people that he previously admitted to on the small Mediterranean nation.

The count now has climbed to seven.

CYPRUS FEARS POSSIBLE SERIAL KILLER AFTER BODIES OF TWO WOMEN ARE DISCOVERED IN MINESHAFT

Authorities said they are focusing on a military firing range, a man-made lake and an abandoned mine about 20 miles west of the capital Nicosia.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades expressed “deep sorrow and concern” at the slayings and said he shared the public’s revulsion at “murders that appear to have selectively targeted foreign women who are in our country to work.”

“Such instincts are contrary to our culture’s traditions and values,” he said in a statement from China, where he was on an official visit. He urged calm so police can complete their investigation.

The scale of the alleged crimes by a Cypriot National Guard captain has horrified the small nation of over a million people, where multiple killings are rare. Five British law enforcement officials — including a coroner, a psychiatrist and investigators who specialize in multiple homicides — have been dispatched to help with the investigation.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old suspect, who can’t yet be named because he hasn’t been formally charged, told investigators that he had killed four more people than he had previously admitted to. Police said the suspect will appear in court Saturday for another custody hearing.

Cypriot investigators and police officers search a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week's discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six-year-old daughter of one of the victims. 

Cypriot investigators and police officers search a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week’s discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six-year-old daughter of one of the victims.  (AP)

The victims — all foreigners— include Marry Rose Tiburcio, 38, from the Philippines, whose bound body was found April 14 in a flooded mineshaft. She and her six-year-old daughter had been missing since May of last year.

The girl remains missing and authorities believe she was also slain by the suspect. Divers have entered the reservoir to search for her but have not found her body yet.

CYPRUS: GROUND NOT YET READY FOR PEACE TALKS RESUMPTION 

Authorities tracked down the officer last week by scouring Tiburcio’s online messages.

Six days later, police discovered another body April 20 in the same mineshaft, identified by Cypriot media as 28-year-old Arian Palanas Lozano, also from the Philippines.

A third alleged victim, also of Filipino descent, is 31-year-old Maricar Valtez Arquiola, who had been missing since December 2017. The suspect initially denied killing Arquiola but reversed himself after a court hearing Thursday, a police official said.

The suspect on Thursday also pointed investigators to a military firing range, where they discovered another unidentified body, which according to the suspect belongs to a woman of either Nepalese or Indian descent.

SERIAL KILLER WHO MAY HAVE COMMITTED 90 MURDERS IS LINKED TO YET ANOTHER KILLING 

Cypriot police are also looking for a Romanian mother and daughter. Cypriot media identified them as Livia Florentina Bunea, 36, and eight-year-old Elena Natalia Bunea, who are believed to have been missing since September 2016.

The man-made lake remains off-limits to a manned search because of high levels of toxic heavy metals from the copper pyrite mine, Fire Service Chief Marcos Trangolas said, adding that authorities will use other means to scour the lake.

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, center, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019.

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, center, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus police have faced criticism from immigrant activists who said they didn’t act fast enough to investigate the whereabouts of some of the victims, many of them domestic workers. The island nation has 80 unsolved missing persons cases, going back to 1990.

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Police chief Zacharias Chrysostomou said a three-member panel has been assigned to probe whether police followed all the correct protocol in recent missing persons cases.

According to the state-run Cyprus News Agency, an investigator had told the court at an earlier hearing that the suspect admitted to killing one woman he met online after having sex with her.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News World

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Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro is seen delivering a speech at a forum on human rights in Caracas
Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro is seen delivering a speech at a forum on human rights in Caracas, Venezuela June 12, 2018 in this still image taken from a video. REUTERS TV/ via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition-run National Assembly said on Friday that opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro was detained, which it described in a Twitter post as a violation of diplomatic immunity.

Caro had previously spend a year and a half in jail, before being freed in June 2018. The arrest comes as Juan Guaido, the National Assembly’s leader, mounts a challenge to President Nicolas Maduro, arguing his 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Guaido in January invoked the country’s constitution to assume an interim presidency.

(Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Customers shop in a Sainsbury's store in Redhill
FILE PHOTO: Customers shop in a Sainsbury’s store in Redhill, Britain, March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) – With Sainsbury’s dream of creating Britain’s biggest supermarket group in tatters, its chastened CEO Mike Coupe needs to reassure investors he has the plan to arrest a sales decline when he presents annual results next week.

Britain’s competition regulator blocked Sainsbury’s 7.3 billion pound ($9.4 billion) takeover of Walmart’s Asda on Thursday, saying the deal would increase prices. Sainsbury’s shares fell 5 percent and are down 22 percent over the last three months.

For Sainsbury’s fourth quarter to March 9 analysts are on average forecasting a 1.6 percent fall in like-for-like sales, which would follow 1.1 percent decline over the Christmas period.

Monthly industry data from researcher Kantar has also shown Sainsbury’s as the weakest performer of the big four grocers this year and this month it lost its status as Britain’s No. 2 supermarket group by market share to Asda.

While Sainsbury’s has struggled, market leader Tesco has gained momentum, this month reporting a 34 percent jump in full year profit.

Prohibition of the deal was a major blow to Coupe, its architect and Sainsbury’s boss since 2014.

Martin Scicluna became Sainsbury’s chairman last month and when bedded-in may decide that if the group needs a major shake-up it is best carried out by a new leader.

Much will depend on the attitude of 22 percent shareholder the Qatar Investment Authority, which has so far declined to comment, as well as Coupe’s own appetite to continue after 15 years at the group.

THE RIGHT STRATEGY?

Coupe said on Thursday he was confident Sainsbury’s was pursuing the right strategy.

That was a clear indication that Wednesday’s results statement will not include radical changes to the group’s plans, such as a big margin reset — sacrificing profit to drive sales.

However, sources connected to Sainsbury’s said Coupe would likely acknowledge that more needs to be done on prices, so the supermarket business can better compete with its big four rivals – Tesco, Asda and No. 4 Morrisons – as well as German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Coupe’s strategy is based on differentiating Sainsbury’s food offer, growing its general merchandise, clothing business and bank, while investing in convenience and online channels.

Some analysts believe major change is needed.

HSBC analyst David McCarthy reckons Sainsbury’s needs a margin reset, should allocate more space for core lines and needs to drive better store standards. He said Sainsbury’s might consider closing down space in some of its larger stores and reducing its non-food offer.

For the full 2018-19 year analysts are on average forecasting a pretax profit of 626 million pounds, up from 589 million pounds in 2017-18 – a second straight year of profit growth. A full year dividend of 10.5 pence per share is forecast versus 10.2 pence last time.

Bank and lawyer fees related to the proposed combination with Asda were 17 million pounds in the first half and have reportedly jumped to around 50 million pounds.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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