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Ionescu will return for senior season at Oregon

NCAA Womens Basketball: Final Four-Semifinals-Oregon vs Baylor
FILE PHOTO: Apr 5, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Oregon Ducks guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) reacts during player introductions prior to the semifinals of the women's Final Four of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Amalie Arena against the Baylor Lady Bears. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

April 7, 2019

Passing up the possibility of being the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, All-America guard Sabrina Ionescu announced Saturday that she will return to Oregon for her senior season.

Ionescu, the all-time NCAA triple-double leader with 18, guided the Ducks to the Final Four before they lost 72-67 to Baylor in the national semifinals on Friday in Tampa, Fla.

In a post on the Player Tribune titled, “A Letter to Ducks Nation,” Ionescu wrote Saturday, “I came to the University of Oregon as a freshman in 2016-2017. We made the Elite Eight (and lost big).

“I came back to the University of Oregon as a sophomore in 2017-2018. We made the Elite Eight (and lost close).

“I came back to the University of Oregon as a junior in 2018-2019. We made the Final Four.

“And now I couldn’t be happier to announce that I’m coming back to the University of Oregon for the 2019-2020 basketball season. I won’t predict exactly how far we’re going to go … but I’ll just say this.

“We have unfinished business.”

Ionescu averaged 19.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game this season. The Walnut Creek, Calif., product scored 18 points in the loss on Friday.

According to espnW, Ionescu was likely to be the top selection in the WNBA draft, scheduled for Wednesday, had she decided to turn pro. She was eligible to enter the WNBA because she will turn 22 this year.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Safety first: Volvo to add in-car sensors to prevent drunk driving

FILE PHOTO: The 2016 Volvo XC90, winner of the Truck of the Year award at the North American International Auto Show, is displayed in Detroit
FILE PHOTO: The 2016 Volvo XC90, winner of the Truck of the Year award at the North American International Auto Show, is displayed in Detroit, Michigan, January 11. 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

March 20, 2019

By Esha Vaish

GOTHENBURG (Reuters) – Swedish automaker Volvo hopes to reinforce its reputation for safety-first driving by installing cameras and sensors in its cars from the early 2020s, monitoring drivers for signs of being drunk or distracted and intervening to prevent accidents.

The safety features, detailed at a briefing in Gothenburg on Wednesday which fleshed out plans outlined earlier this month, mark another step by Volvo toward its pledge to eliminate passenger fatalities by 2020.

Volvo, which in the 1950s was the first carmaker to introduce the three-point seatbelt, had said on March 4 it would introduce a 180 km per hour speed limit on all new vehicles.

Volvo said the cameras and sensors will be installed on all models built on its SPA2 platform for larger cars such as the XC90 SUV, on which its driverless cars will also be built, starting in the early part of the next decade.

Intervention if the driver is found to be drunk, tired or distracted by checking a mobile phone – among the biggest factors in accidents – could involve limiting the car’s speed, alerting the Volvo on Call assistance service, or slowing down and parking the car, it said.

Development of technology that would support such maneuvers has accelerated in the past year as the industry increasingly focuses on electric and autonomous cars.

Volvo Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson told journalists the technology developments meant carmakers had the responsibility to take on the role of Big Brother to ensure safety on roads.

While the strategy meant Volvo, owned by China’s Geely, might lose some customers keen on high speeds, it also opened opportunities to win parents who wanted to buy the safest car to carry their children, he said.

Volvo also said it would introduce Care Key, allowing a Volvo buyer to set a speed limit for themselves or before lending the car to younger or inexperienced drivers, as standard on all its cars from 2021.

Samuelsson said Volvo was talking to insurers to offer favorable terms to what it termed as “club max 180” customers who were using the safety features.

“If we can encourage and support better behavior with technology that helps drivers to stay out of trouble, that should logically also have a positive impact on insurance premiums,” Samuelsson said.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Gothenburg; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: OANN

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Will Consumers Benefit From the Streaming Wars?

Netflix was the poster child of technological “disruption” when it first rolled out its video streaming app. For less than $10 a month, users could watch any movies or TV shows they wanted from a vast library that seemed unrestricted by production company or brand.

Netflix built an empire that media companies everywhere admired — and eventually, wanted to copy.

A handful of competitors, including Hulu and Amazon Prime, have emerged to threaten some of Netflix’s market share, but even more competitors are coming — and the landscape is becoming more aggressive.

For example, Disney is planning to launch Disney Plus later this year and taking all its Disney core, Star Wars, and Marvel branded franchises with it. AT&T, Facebook, Apple, and Viacom are all planning to launch services of their own, presumably hoarding whatever media properties they can get their hands on and producing new content to dominate even more exclusive content.

This has led to a phenomenon increasingly being referred to as the “streaming wars,” and consumers are going to have to start making some hard choices.

The Streaming Wars

For many years, cable was the go-to choice to have practically unlimited content options. Though it’s possible to find a competitively priced cable service in your area, some plans were ridiculously expensive and complex to maintain. Streaming in the early days of Netflix was a low-cost, all-in-one alternative.

But in the years to come, each streaming app will presumably offer a basket of original exclusives, and not much else.

If a consumer wants access to all of the best-reviewed movies and TV shows of a given timeframe, they’ll have no choice but to subscribe to many different streaming apps simultaneously. Even at the low rate of $10 per month, per subscription, this can quickly spiral out of control, making users pay an egregious sum of money and manage dozens of different subscriptions.

Ultimately, this increased competition will undermine two of the biggest advantages streaming had in the first place: low prices and user convenience. How will users react when confronted with an industry whose biggest advantages have been reversed?

User Choices

Few users will be willing to subscribe to every streaming app. But if they want access to the latest and greatest content, they’ll have to make a decision.

This could mean:

  • Increased piracy. There’s already evidence to suggest that the rise of new streaming services is leading to an increase in media piracy. Content pirates took a break from illegally distributing content (for free) when there was a single, low-cost way to watch the content they wanted. Now that the costs are rising and the selection is becoming more limited, users are resorting to piracy to meet their content desires. If pushed far enough, it could end up stifling the revenue available to the entire industry.
  • A return to cable TV. Cable companies have been well aware of the threat that streaming services have presented. That’s why they’ve come up with inventive alternatives, including streaming services and new content packages designed to make things less expensive and more convenient for customers. If streaming services continue to look less and less appealing, customers might start going back to their cable providers.
  • Silos. Clusters of customers may choose to stick with one company due to being a loyal subscriber for years, or because they disproportionately favor one or two original series from that brand. Over time, this can lead to a kind of “siloing” effect, where some customers are wholly unaware of original content produced by other brands. These silos could end up segmented by area, by demographic, or by less obvious factors.

Room for Disruption

There is significant room for disruption in this new streaming model.

The streaming wars are going to be good for the individual media companies competing for a slice of the pie — after all, many of them will be generating revenue from streaming for the first time, which is almost automatically a net positive — but bad for the streaming industry as a whole. Customers are going to be faced with more aggressive competitors and stratified competition, as well as higher prices for a narrower selection of content choices. This kind of strife is exactly what typically opens the door to a truly novel competitor — something new that defies expectations and wins the market share.

Startup entrepreneurs and innovators are already brainstorming how to take advantage of this.

It could be a “best of” app that neutrally consolidates the best original series from each streaming service, or a “pay as you go” plan that allows you to only pay for the TV shows or movies you watch, regardless of which platform you’re using. In any case, the industry’s about to get more complicated.

Larry Alton is a professional blogger, writer, and researcher. A graduate of Iowa State University, he's now a full-time freelance writer and business consultant.Currently, Larry writes for Entrepreneur.com, Inc.com, and Forbes.com, among others. In addition to journalism, technical writing and in-depth research, he’s also active in his community and spends weekends volunteering with a local non-profit literacy organization and rock climbing. Follow him on Twitter (@LarryAlton3), at LinkedIn.com/in/larryalton, and on his website, LarryAlton.com. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.

Source: NewsMax America

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Cycling: Team Sky confirms Ineos as new owner from May

Tour de France
FILE PHOTO: Cycling - Tour de France - Rest day - Carcassonne, France, July 23, 2018. The logo of Team Sky is seen on a bus on the second rest day. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

March 19, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s hugely successful Team Sky has been bought out by chemicals giant Ineos and will change its to Team Ineos from May this year, the cycling team confirmed on Tuesday.

Ineos is owned by Britain’s richest man Jim Ratcliffe.

Broadcaster Sky said last December that it would end its involvement with the team that has won six Tour de France’s since it was founded by Dave Brailsford in 2010.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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Midwest floods threaten ethanol supply, could affect prices at the pump

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- As waters from last week’s catastrophic floods in the Midwest begin to recede, people are getting a chance to assess the damages in the region.

Several people have lost their homes, farms, and livestock. In Nebraska alone, farmers and ranchers face up to $880 billion in losses. But, the consequences of the devastation are being felt beyond the heartland. Several railroad tracks are damaged, affecting the shipment of ethanol and, in turn, potentially raising gas prices weeks before summer driving season.

“It is going to impact our pocketbooks. It is also going to impact our environment,” said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, chief energy officer at the University of Houston.

FLOODING DAMAGE EXTENSIVE IN MIDWEST AND MORE RAIN FORECAST

Several railroad tracks were damaged by the floods, affecting the shipment of ethanol from the Midwest to refineries throughout the country. 

Several railroad tracks were damaged by the floods, affecting the shipment of ethanol from the Midwest to refineries throughout the country.  (Fox News)

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Ethanol is an alternative fuel commonly made from corn. It’s typically shipped out of the Midwest by train or truck to coastal refineries like those in Texas. The product is then blended with refinery-made fuel so it can meet the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Almost all U.S. gasoline is blended with 10 percent ethanol. Now, disruptions in the railway service are threatening a supply crunch.

“There’s been about a 15 percent disruption. There are about 200 units that are producing it. They’re able to make the ethanol, they just can’t get it out to markets,” Krishnamoorti said.

Geoff Cooper, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said it's definitely impacting supply.

“There are a handful of ethanol facilities that are temporarily halted or have certainly reduced output because of the flooding,” Cooper said.

MIDWEST, SOUTH FACE 'POTENTIALLY UNPRECEDENTED FLOODING THROUGH MAY, NOAA SAYS

A spokesman for Valero, a Texas-based fuel company, confirmed its stations in the Austin market switched to non-ethanol blended gasoline this week.

Growth Energy, an American trade association representing ethanol producers, sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, asking for help.

“Several markets in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest have become very tight and ethanol prices have risen in those markets because of the supply situation," the letter said, in part. "Additionally, markets in Texas are now solely providing finished ethanol-free gasoline, usually sold at a cost of 20-40 cents higher than regular ethanol-blended fuel.”

“We’re seeing a direct reflection of the shortage of ethanol in ethanol prices being escalated in the commodities market,” added Krishnamoorti.

Waters are receding. Still, many face a long road to recovery after the catastrophic floods led to property, crop, and livestock losses.

Waters are receding. Still, many face a long road to recovery after the catastrophic floods led to property, crop, and livestock losses. (Fox News)

But Cooper believes there is no need for alarm just yet. He said the large amounts of ethanol in storage would help offset the disruptions in the market.

“It’s our hope that the ethanol that’s in storage in the Gulf Coast region and across the nation is going to be sufficient to tide those markets over until the rail lines get reopened,” he said.

Union Pacific and BNSF Railway did not mention when repairs to the tracks will be finished.

Source: Fox News National

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Idaho pilot rescued after small plane crash-lands on top of tree

The pilot of a small plane that got stuck on top of a white fir tree in Idaho Monday evening was forced to stay put for about two hours before rescuers were able to scale the tree and retrieve him.

John Gregory, 79, was piloting his lightweight Piper Cub PA-18 when he began to lose power and flew into a tree a few miles east of McCall Airport, located 100 miles north of Boise, according to a press release from the Valley County Sheriff’s Office. The strut of the aircraft appeared to be wrapped around the tree, which stood 60 feet above the ground.

ANOTHER AIRLINE PASSENGER TOSSES COINS AT PLANE FOR GOOD LUCK, GETS WHOLE FLIGHT DELAYED

“We were very impressed that it was at the top of a tree,” McCall Fire Capt. Brandon Swain told the Idaho Statesman. “We really didn’t say much when we got on scene. We didn’t expect to see it as high up.”

Gregory wasn’t injured. The plane remained largely intact -- one wheel fell off -- and will most likely be removed in the next week or two, officials told the paper. The aircraft was secured to the tree with a rope to prevent it from falling.

The public is being asked to stay away from the crash site.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Source: Fox News National

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Brazil military takes up coup commemoration at Bolsonaro’s behest

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro attends a flag hoisting ceremony at Alvorada Palace in Brasilia
FILE PHOTO: Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro attends a flag hoisting ceremony at Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil March 29, 2019. Antonio Cruz/Agencia Brasil/Handout via REUTERS

March 31, 2019

By Brad Brooks

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s armed forces on Sunday paid tribute to a 1964 coup leading to a two-decade dictatorship, after far-right President Jair Bolsonaro – who argues that military intervention saved the country from communism – reversed an 8-year-ban on celebrations.

The move has stirred debate and underscored Bolsonaro’s support for a military government that executed hundreds, tortured thousands, shuttered Congress and left most Brazilians with dark memories of the period.

The military has not been allowed to observe the 1964 coup since 2011, when former President Dilma Rousseff, a one-time leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured under the dictatorship, ordered an end to events marking the date.

Brazil’s Defense Ministry said the armed forces will not hold public commemorations on Sunday. Bolsonaro is traveling abroad, but scheduled an event at the presidential palace on Friday to mark the anniversary with top military brass.

Bolsonaro, a retired Army captain, has long praised the 1964-85 military government and often said its biggest mistake was not killing enough leftists. Early in his political career he said on the floor of Congress that he was “in favor of a dictatorship” and that Brazil would “never resolve grave national problems with this irresponsible democracy.”

Like many in the military and part of the wider population, Bolsonaro considers the 1964 coup a saving grace. He has pointed to the collapse of the Venezuelan economy under its socialist government as proof the military saved Brazil from such a fate.

Instead of public celebrations, Brazil’s armed forces say they will hold internal programs and panels looking at events that led to Brazil’s coup, what happened during the military regime and the importance of the 1985 return to democracy.

Despite the more sober approach from the military, Bolsonaro’s public encouragement has dismayed many.

“By insisting on a celebratory tone, the president has once again shown that he is ambiguous about the democratic principles he claims to defend,” the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper wrote in an editorial this week.

“It’s evident he is more inclined to stir up the most extreme sectors of public opinion, who were among his earliest supporters in his presidential campaign.”

Federal prosecutors lashed out at Bolsonaro’s decision, saying in a written statement that allowing the celebration went against the president’s sworn duty to defend the Constitution.

“The 1964 coup, without a doubt and with no revisionist history, was a violent and undemocratic break of the Constitutional order,” the federal prosecutors’ office of citizen rights said.

While a majority of Brazilians look dimly on the dictatorship, some recall it as a time of order and relative safety, compared to the rise of violent crime in recent decades. Brazil in 2017 had 64,000 murders, by far more than any other country.

Fifty-one percent of Brazilians in a Datafolha poll published in October felt the dictatorship had left a negative legacy, while 32 percent said the period had been good for Brazil. The remaining 17 percent said they had no opinion.

The survey of 9,137 people across Brazil had a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

Brazil, unlike South American neighbors Argentina and Chile that also endured brutal, U.S.-backed military regimes during the Cold War, has never tried anyone for the murders, torture and other abuses carried out during its dictatorship.

In 2014, a Truth Commission report presented evidence that Brazil’s military regime had murdered or “disappeared” 434 political dissidents and tortured upward of 50,000 others.

But a 1979 amnesty law remains in effect, meaning that neither the military nor leftist guerrillas at the time have been held accountable.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks; Editing by Richard Chang)

Source: OANN

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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)

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The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Slack Technologies Inc, operator of the popular workplace instant-messaging app, reported a loss of $140.7 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2019, the company said on Friday in a regulatory filing ahead of its planned public market debut.

The company said its daily active users exceeded 10 million in the three months ended Jan. 31, 2019.

Slack expects to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SK”, it said.

The San Francisco-based company is seeking to go public via a direct listing, making it the second big technology company after Spotify Technology SA to bypass the traditional route of listing shares through an initial public offering.

A direct listing is a cheaper way of becoming a public company as the process requires fewer investment banks and therefore lower fees.

In a direct listing, however, a company does not sell any new shares to raise money. Instead, it gives existing shareholders the opportunity to cash out.

Slack is the latest in a string of high-profile technology companies looking to go public this year. Lyft Inc, Pinterest and Zoom Video Communications have completed IPOs so far in 2019.

The company is hoping for a valuation of more than $10 billion in the listing, Reuters had previously reported. Some early investors and employees have been selling the stock at around $28, valuing the company close to $17 billion, Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge, a brokerage company, told CNBC on Thursday.

Slack set a placeholder amount of $100 million to indicate the size of the IPO. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

Its competitors include Microsoft Teams, a free chat add-on for Microsoft’s Office365 users.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Joshua Franklin in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Candidate Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of an exit poll in Ukraine's presidential election in Kiev
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Matthias Williams

KIEV (Reuters) – Russia’s decision to make it easier for residents of rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to obtain a Russian passport is meant to test Ukraine’s new leader and the West should not recognize the documents, Lithuania’s foreign minister said on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the order on facilitating passports on Wednesday, three days after comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a political novice, won a landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election.

Linas Linkevicius, whose own country also has strained relations with Moscow, told Reuters in an interview that the West should consider imposing new sanctions on Russia.

“This is a blatant violation of international law. And basically also a kind of test to the new (Ukrainian) leadership, which is also a usual game,” Linkevicius said.

“The least we can do (is) we shouldn’t recognize these passports. How to do that technically, it’s another issue to discuss. Also (we need) to look at additional sanctions,” said Linkevicius, whose small Baltic nation is a member of NATO and the European Union.

Western nations imposed sanctions on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its support for armed separatists battling Kiev’s forces in eastern Ukraine. Some 13,000 people have been killed in that conflict despite a notional ceasefire signed in Minsk in 2015.

Linkevicius, who in Kiev on Friday became the first minister of an EU country since Ukraine’s election to meet President-elect Zelenskiy, said they had discussed the passport issue.

Zelenskiy also raised the possibility of resetting the Minsk ceasefire agreement without giving any concessions to Russia, Linkevicius said.

“DANGEROUS CANCER” OF GRAFT

The minister urged Zelenskiy to deliver on his electoral promise of tackling corruption, which he described as the “most dangerous cancer” facing Ukraine, which hopes one day to join the EU.

Last month, Lithuania’s own relations with Russia came under renewed strain after a Vilnius court found former Soviet defense minister Dmitry Yazov, in absentia, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in a 1991 crackdown against Lithuania’s pro-independence movement.

Russia branded the verdict “extremely unfriendly and essentially provocative” and opened a probe into the judges involved.

Linkevicius accused Russia of seeking to politicize the judicial process by trying to take revenge on the judges, adding: “This is lamentable.”

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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A Cook County judge recently called out embattled State Attorney Kim Foxx for upholding a double standard by prosecuting a woman for filing a false police report — but dropping similar charges against embattled “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.

Foxx has faced intense criticism over her office’s decision to drop a 16-count indictment against Smollett, just weeks after bringing the charges against the high-profile TV star. Foxx’s deal with Smollett, which did not require him to admit guilt, drew ire from the public, the city’s top cop and the former mayor who called it a “whitewash of justice.”

JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHICAGO PROSECUTOR KIM FOXX CHIDED BY NATIONAL ATTORNEYS GROUPS AFTER JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHARGES DROPPED 

Cook County Judge Marc Martin, who was presiding over an unrelated case, chastised Foxx and her office for creating a situation where anyone charged with filing a false report would expect the same leniency her office afforded Smollett.

Candace Clark, 21, is facing one felony count of making a false report. Prosecutors accused her of giving a friend access to her bank account and then telling authorities the money had been stolen. She denies the charges and claims she’s the victim of Foxx’s double standard — something the judge weighed in on.

“Well, Ms. Clark is not a movie star, she doesn’t have a high-price lawyer, although, her lawyer’s very good. And this smells, big time,” Martin said to prosecutors during a recent hearing, Fox 32 reported. “I didn’t create this mess, your office created this mess. And your explanation is unsatisfactory to this court. She’s being treated differently.”

The judge continued, “There’s no publicity on this case. She doesn’t have Mark Geragos as her lawyer or Ron Safer or Judge Brown. It’s not right. And (if) I proceed in this matter, you’re just digging yourselves further in a hole. (If the) press gets a hold of this, it’ll be in a newspaper. Why is Ms. Clark being treated differently than Mr. Smollett?”

Foxx recused herself from the Smollett case in February but continued to oversee the investigation through text messages with her assistant Joseph Magats.

The text messages revealed Foxx called Smollett a “washed up celeb who lied to cops.” They also show she cautioned Magats about throwing the book at Smollett.

“Sooo……I’m recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases…16 counts on a class 4 becomes exhibit A,” Foxx wrote to Magats on March 8.

“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should,” she added, referring to the case of R&B singer R. Kelly, who was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connection with four women, three of whom were underage.

KIM FOXX’S CHIEF ETHICS OFFICER RESIGNS FOLLOWING SMOLLETT CONTROVERSY

President Trump said last month he asked for a federal review of Foxx’s decision to drop the charges against Smollett. He also called the actor “an absolute embarrassment to our country.”

The Smollett case garnered national attention and threatened to tear Chicago apart. It pit the police department and mayor against prosecutors and underscored the idea that wealthy people are somehow above the law.

Smollett told police he was attacked on Jan. 29 around 2 a.m. as he was returning home from a sandwich shop in Chicago. He said two masked men shouted racial and anti-gay slurs, poured bleach on him, beat him and tied a rope around his neck. He claimed they shouted, “This is MAGA country” — a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

CLICK HERE FOF THE FOX NEWS APP

After an intense investigation, police said Smollett staged the entire incident to drum up publicity for his career.

Smollett has strongly denied the accusations.

Source: Fox News National

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