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Portugal antitrust body says top retail chains fixed drinks prices

FILE PHOTO: Consumers wait to buy meat products at a Pingo Doce supermarket in Lisbon
FILE PHOTO: Consumers wait to buy meat products at a Pingo Doce supermarket in Lisbon, Portugal July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

March 22, 2019

LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s competition authority on Friday accused six big supermarket chains of illegally fixing prices for some drinks in collusion with three beverage suppliers between 2003 and 2017.

It said it found that Modelo Continente, owned by Portugal’s retailer Sonae, Pingo Doce, run by Jeronimo Martins, and France’s Auchan and Intermarche aligned prices for beer and beverages distributed by Heineken-owned Central de Cervejas e Bebidas and by the local Super Bock Group.

The four supermarket chains, as well as the local units of Germany’s Lidl and France’s E.Leclerc, also used the same scheme with the Portuguese wine and liquor distributor Prime Drinks, the authority said.

“If confirmed, that conduct is very serious,” the competition authority said in a statement late on Friday, adding that the case was one of the first “hub-and-spoke” schemes to be investigated in Portugal.

“This practice is equivalent to a cartel where distributors, without communicating between themselves, resort to bilateral contracts with suppliers to promote and guarantee that all practice the same public price in the retail market.”

Central de Cervejas e Bebidas denied any wrongdoing and said in a statement that it would cooperate with the authority to prove that it had acted in line with anti-trust rules.

Pingo Doce also denied wrongdoing and said it was surprised by the accusations because half of its revenues come from promotional campaigns, in which prices are often discounted.

Nobody was available for comment at the other companies.

The competition authority said it would not pre-judge the final outcome of the investigation, and that the companies will have an opportunity to defend themselves. It did not say what sanctions they could face.

(Reporting By Andrei Khalip; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

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Hikers call 911 after capturing video of paraglider falling toward ground

A paraglider fell from the sky near Golden Wednesday afternoon. The 45-year-old paragliding pilot survived the crash but was injured.

Kent Kovack, who witnessed the terrifying moments, talked with FOX31 Wednesday evening. Kovack, his wife and daughter were hiking the Hogback when they saw the man fall near Green Mountain off C-470 and West Alameda Parkway.

“My daughter heard him yelling, like, ‘Woo hoo,’” Kovack said.

Initially, Kovack said he thought the fall was an impressive midair maneuver. He started capturing video with his smartphone until the paraglider got closer to the ground.

“Once I realized that he was not yelling for joy — he was screaming for his life — I immediately quit videotaping and called 911,” Kovack said.

West Metro Fire Rescue put out an alert on Twitter around 4 p.m. The fire department said the man’s parachute collapsed amid "erratic winds," dropping him some 200 feet.

“Once you see the video, you realize he’s a very lucky man,” Kovack said. “God was on his side today.”

Click for more from KDVR.com.

Source: Fox News National

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German ministry stands by 'sexist' bike helmet campaign

Germany's transport ministry says it stands by a cycling safety campaign that has drawn accusations of sexism even inside the governing coalition for featuring scantily clad women.

The campaign, launched by the conservative transport minister, aims to persuade young cyclists to wear helmets and uses the English-language slogan: "Looks like s---. But saves my life."

Critics have focused on the models' skimpy clothing. In response, Franziska Giffey, the center-left minister for women, posted a picture of herself on a bike with a helmet and the words: "You can wear a helmet even when you're dressed."

Transport ministry spokeswoman Svenja Friedrich said Monday the campaign was meant to get attention and also features male models. She said: "We can absolutely understand the criticism from various sides, but we still stand by the images."

Source: Fox News World

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GOP Set to Use Venezuela as an Issue Against Dems in Fla.

Republicans are gearing up to use the political and economic crisis in Venezuela as an issue against Democrats in Florida, The Hill is reporting.

Republicans are already pointing out that the unrest in Venezuela should serve as a warning against Democrats pushing for universal healthcare, high taxes on the wealthy, and the Green New Deal, according to The Hill.

The website noted South Florida has been shaped by Cuban exiles who left Communist rule. It is also has the largest Venezuelan population in the U.S.

"So many people here have fled socialist or really far left governments," said Nelson Diaz, the chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party.

"To come here and see the Democratic Party shifting and moving quickly in the direction of the governments they fled, I think it's making them realize they may be registered as Democrats, but that it's time to switch."

President Donald Trump was in Miami last month and condemned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Trump warned "the days of socialism and communism are numbered not only in Venezuela, but in Nicaragua and in Cuba, as well."

"Socialism is about one thing only: power for the ruling class," Trump said. "The more power they get, the more they crave."

But Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., maintained from both parties are standing behind opposition leader Juan Guaidó, according to a report from NBC Miami.

Related Stories

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Is the Federal Bureau of Prisons Scamming Taxpayers With Its Pension System?

Bernie Madoff and the warden at his federal prison may have something in common. Except Bernie didn’t have the Justice Department backing him and a nearly unlimited supply of taxpayers whose paychecks he could tap into to keep the money flowing.

You see, when I first got to the Federal Bureau of Prisons MCC New York facility, which is curiously located in Park Row, Manhattan on some of the most expensive real estate in the world, it seemed that nearly all of the mid-level bureaucrats there were quite sure of when the warden would retire – almost down to the exact day. And he hadn’t yet announced his retirement nor been at the facility for very long.

You see, there’s been a sizable list of wardens at that facility, and certain other places in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) system, who retire a conspicuously short time into the gig before collecting lavish lifelong federal pensions, which appear to be derived in an unduly disproportionate extent from the paychecks of the taxpayers rather than from the bureau’s sound financial management of employee contributions.

Here’s how the system works and what perhaps needs to change.

Like many public employee pension systems, the yearly retirement payout for a given worker at the FBOP is not actually based on the total amount, which they paid into the system across their entire career. That would be fair, make common sense, and, one would hope, lead to the fiscal solvency of the pension fund, at least as long as it’s properly managed.

Instead, the yearly payout for a given FBOP retiree is based on their 3 highest years of salary. Once again, this is not uncommon in the public sector and it often leads to lavish golden parachutes, which have frequently become the subject of public scrutiny, especially when newly-promoted top earners retire shortly into their latest role and then collect disproportionately far more out of the pension system than it seems that their contributions could have produced in the first place, leaving taxpayers to make up the difference.

However, for its favorite wardens and other high-ranking officials, the Federal Bureau of Prisons appears to be taking things at least one step further.

You see, unlike state and local public sector agencies, the FBOP is a national organization with a nationwide footprint. And it pays higher cost of living adjustments to wardens who operate facilities in expensive parts of the country, like for possible examples, Park Row Manhattan or South Slope downtown Brooklyn.

So, perhaps it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that many of these facilities, which are also money pits in a multitude of other ways and which have frequently proved very problematic for the bureau to operate, tend to see wardens who come from other parts of the country and who stay on the job for just long enough to max out their federal pensions.

This leads to questions about the seemingly inevitable shortfall in any Ponzi-like scheme where the withdrawals will exceed the available funds. For instance, how much of any such difference has been siphoned out of the pockets of taxpayers and for how long has this been happening?

My team is issuing federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in an effort to find out.

Further, the timing may be very good to ask these questions now. Very recently federal prison reform was the subject of a rare, successful, bipartisan bill which passed both houses to seemingly thunderous applause emanating from both sides of the aisle and that was just before incredibly poor management at the highest levels of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and its Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in expensive downtown Brooklyn led to yet another homegrown humanitarian crisis in one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

Somehow, an electrical fire led to a week-long blackout and loss of heat and hot water during a cold snap in a northeast winter. It seems this was only possible due to the blatant disregard of years-old calls for random, unannounced surprise audits and inspections of all the FBOP facilities in the region.

Yet, despite apparent on-the-job performance like the above, Warden Herman Quay stands to retire with a full federal pension which may have been enhanced by gaming FBOP’s retirement system. Did he deserve that job as a warden at such a high-profile facility? Is he competent to handle it?

Or was Warden Quay moved here for other reasons, leaving the inmates and the American public to pay the price through blackouts, tax dollars, and the tarnishing of America’s image abroad when it comes to humanitarian standards?

The author, Martin Gottesfeld, is an Obama-era federal political prisoner and conservative journalist. He wrote this article in “the hole” at MDC Brooklyn, into which he was thrown upon his arrival at the facility on Friday, February 15th, 2019, ten days after the aforementioned blackout. Warden Quay now claims that he is keeping Gottesfeld in “the hole” due to so-called “security concerns.” However, there are reasons to doubt Quay’s word in light of the dishonesty demonstrated during the blackout, not to mention his likely desire to keep his pension despite the millions of tax dollars which may be spent on the lawsuits originating during his tenure.

Warden Quay did not immediately respond to a request for comment as to whether he plans to reimburse taxpayers.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a request for comment as to whether Warden Quay was transferred to MDC Brooklyn to maximize his pension and whether it is considering firing him.

Source: InfoWars

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Ex-boyfriend of victim arrested in ax attack that left one woman dead and another fighting for her life

Police have arrested the ex-boyfriend of one of the victims of a brutal ax attack on Saturday that left one woman dead and another fighting for her life.

Jerry Brown, 34, has been charged with murder and attempted murder after allegedly chopping his girlfriend, Angela Valle, and her pregnant friend Savannah Rivera, with an ax at an apartment building in Brooklyn, New York.

Police found Rivera, who also has a three-year-old son, partially decapitated with her fingers severed at the grisly scene early Saturday morning. Valle, 21, called an Uber to take her to the hospital after the attack left her with gashes to her head, chest, arms, stomach, and throat, the New York Post reports. The Uber driver then called 911, and Valle, 21, informed medics before losing consciousness that her boyfriend was the attacker and that her four-year-old daughter Aliana was in the room next to the scene of the crime.

The girl was found asleep and unharmed. She is now with family as they wait with Valle at the Elmhurst Hospital Center and hope that she pulls through from the vicious attack.

TEEN, 3 FRIENDS CHARGED IN BEATING, STABBING DEATH OF GRANDFATHER, 71, FOR $30G KEPT IN SAFE, POLICE SAY

Brown is said to suffer from mental health issues and told Pix 11 before being arrested that he is schizophrenic, bipolar, and paranoid. He said he was trying to get medication from a hospital, and that he did not remember the attack. When he learned that his girlfriend was fighting for her life, he began to cry while speaking to reporters over the phone.

Police found the ax covered in blood and tossed in a trash compactor at the Bushwick Houses, where the attack took place

Police found the ax covered in blood and tossed in a trash compactor at the Bushwick Houses, where the attack took place (Google Earth)

Brown allegedly purchased the ax at a Florama Hardware store about two weeks ago, employees said. They added that he asked 39-year-old worker Udi Amrussi if he could sharpen the ax for him, but the man refused.

Police found the ax covered in blood and tossed in a trash compactor at the Bushwick Houses, where the attack took place.

PENNSYLVANIA MAN, 76, CHARGED WITH KILLING WIFE WHO VANISHED IN 1981

Valle has previously gushed about Brown on Facebook, where the alleged attacker goes by the name "Grim Creepa." Six weeks ago, she posted a photo of Brown and referred to him as "Mr. 187," believed to be street slang identifying Brown as a murderer.

“I love you Daddy,” she wrote in the caption.

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“I love u my queen,” he responded.

Source: Fox News National

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ECB determined to push forward its payment system: Mersch

Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank delivers a speech during Lamfalussy Lectures Conference in Budapest
Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank delivers a speech during Lamfalussy Lectures Conference in Budapest, Hungary, February 4, 2019. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

February 26, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Central Bank is “determined” to push forward an instant payment system it launched last year through regulatory moves if the service failed to spread through collaboration with the industry, ECB board member Yves Mersch said on Tuesday.

“We will do it either through our collaborative, cooperative efforts together with the industry or we will do it through our regulatory capacity,” Mersch told a fintech conference in Brussels.

The ECB’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) system will let people and companies in Europe transfer euros to each other within seconds and regardless of the opening hours of their local bank.

This is seen as a direct challenge to U.S. firms like PayPal, Google, Facebook and Amazon, and China’s Alibaba and Tencent which currently dominate such services in Europe.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio)

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

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

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

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

BIDEN HIRES FORMER BERNIE SANDERS’ SPOKESPERSON AS SENIOR ADVISER

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

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

Footage of the interview was resurfaced by RealClearPolitics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

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

Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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