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Man accused of throwing pancake batter faces battery charge

A 45-year-old Florida man is accused of throwing a bowl of pancake batter at a woman who was making dinner.

An arrest report says Dwayne Zimmerman was drunk on Friday night when he went onto the porch of a home where the woman was making pancakes.

The woman told Hernando County Sheriff's deputies that Zimmerman insulted her and then threw a cooking pan before picking up the bowl of batter and tossing that at her. The bowl missed the woman but was thrown with enough force to break it.

Deputies said the woman had pancake batter in her hair and on her clothes.

Zimmerman was arrested on a felony battery charge. He remained jailed Monday.

Jail records don't indicate whether Zimmerman has a lawyer.

Source: Fox News National

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Vatican China negotiator reveals decades-long path to deal

The Vatican official who negotiated the landmark agreement between the Holy See and China over bishop nominations says the path of normalizing Catholic life there "is still long" but that a new future is now possible.

Speaking in public for the first time since the accord was signed Sept. 22, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli revealed details of his nearly four-decade-long effort to heal the rift with China at a high-level book launch Monday.

Celli choked up at times, recalling the suffering he witnessed over years meeting with clandestine bishops, as well as the "profound suffering" of illegitimate bishops forced to accept episcopal consecration without papal consent.

The book launch also featured the Italian premier, days after he signed an agreement with China's president supporting Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative.

Source: Fox News World

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Strong quake hits Alaska’s remote Aleutians

A strong earthquake has struck a remote section of Alaska's western Aleutian Islands, but seismologists say it didn't generate a tsunami.

The Alaska Earthquake Center says the 6.5 magnitude quake occurred at 1:36 p.m. Tuesday. It was centered about 55 miles (89 kilometers) northwest of Amchitka, in the Rat Islands.

Seismologist Natalia Rupert says there are no immediate reports the quake was felt.

Source: Fox News National

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Qatar Airways backs Boeing despite MAX crash crisis

FILE PHOTO - Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways CEO, talks to media during a roundtable conference in New Delhi
FILE PHOTO - Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways CEO, talks to media during a roundtable conference in New Delhi, India, September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

March 25, 2019

By Sylvia Westall

MUSCAT (Reuters) – Qatar Airways threw its support behind Boeing on Monday as the U.S. planemaker faces its biggest crisis in years after deadly crashes of its flagship 737 MAX jet.

Regulators grounded the worldwide MAX fleet after an Ethiopian Airlines MAX crash killed all 157 people on board this month, wiping nearly 15 percent off shares in the world’s biggest planemaker.

“We have confidence in the Boeing airplanes and we are sure they will find the issue they had which is still under investigation,” Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar al-Baker told reporters in Muscat.

Qatar Airways, one of the largest Middle East carriers, is a major Boeing customer. It has ordered 20 MAX jets and committed to buying a further 40. It has taken delivery of five of the aircraft, according to Boeing’s website.

The airline will delay the April delivery of a single MAX jet until the cause of the crash is known, Baker said.

“I am sure that the aircraft will get back into the skies soon and that Boeing will get to the bottom of what happened and if there is something technical wrong that they will find a fix for it,” he said.

Attention has focused on the anti-stall system, known as MCAS, and the sensors that activate it. MCAS pushes the plane’s nose down if it believes it is ascending at too steep an angle.

Qatar Airways will attend a Boeing briefing this week on software and training updates for the MAX, Baker said.

The MAX is an upgrade to Boeing’s best-selling 737 narrowbody jet and only entered service in 2017. Boeing has booked orders worth more than $500 billion for the MAX.

The Ethiopian crash is the second fatal crash involving the MAX jet. In October, a MAX operated by Indonesia’s Lion Air fatally crashed killing all 189 on board.

Baker said he believed the worldwide grounding was driven by public perception. Passengers around the world asked airlines to change flights or refunds to avoid flying on the MAX after the Ethiopian crash.

“The regulator had to act to give confidence to the people, that the regulators were looking after their interests,” he said.

(Reporting by Sylvia Westall, writing by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Louise Heavens and Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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FBI investigating Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoisky over alleged financial crimes: reports

The FBI is reportedly investigating Ukrainian business tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky for financial crimes, including money laundering, as part of a wide-ranging probe -- but news of the inquiry has raised eyebrows given Ukraine's presidential vote is fewer than two weeks away and Kolomoisky is tied to the leading candidate.

PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE PRAISES WAY TRUMP HANDLES PUTIN

Kolomoisky is not currently charged by the FBI with a crime.

His lawyer Mike Sullivan told The Daily Beast that "Mr. Kolomoisky categorically denies that he has laundered any funds into the United States, period. He's a businessperson. His bank was seized by the government, claiming the bank was on the verge of collapse. That information turned out to be false."

According to the Kyiv Post, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Ohio is involved in the investigation because Kolomoisky had investments there. Calls to the U.S. Attorney's Office by Fox News were not immediately returned.

Kolomoisky is the founder of business group Privat and a former owner of one of the largest commercial banks in Ukraine, the PrivatBank. In 2016, Kiev nationalized the bank as part of the 2014 investigation into the misappropriation of its money. The bank bailout scandal cost Ukraine $5.6 billion - a fortune for a country whose government was basically running on loans from the International Monetary Fund.

Kolomoisky has also been extremely vocal about his country's politics and has taken Petro Poroshenko, the president of Ukraine who is up for reelection, to task. But after complicating relations in Ukraine, Kolomoisky, whose net worth hovers around $1.2 billion, has moved to Israel -- something which could complicate any potential extradition attempts made by the U.S.

EXIT POLL SHOWS COMEDIAN LEADING UKRAINE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reacts as he responds to a journalist question during a press conference, after the presidential elections in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, March. 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reacts as he responds to a journalist question during a press conference, after the presidential elections in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, March. 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

News of the investigation also comes at a pivotal point in Ukrainian politics -- and Kolomoisky's ties to a leading candidate means the reported FBI investigation has to be viewed through a political prism, too.

On March 31, comedian Volodymyr Zelensky won the first round in the country's presidential election and the right to face incumbent Poroshenko in a runoff on April 21. Zelensky is widely known for his role in "Servant of the People," a popular Ukrainian sitcom about a schoolteacher whose speech about corruption goes viral on YouTube and inadvertently propels him to the highest office in the land. The sitcom airs on a television channel owned by Kolomoisky.

Ukrainian artist Dasha Marchenko adds a chocolate wrapper to her portrait of Ukraine's President and chocolate tycoon Petro Poroshenko at her studio in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, March 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian artist Dasha Marchenko adds a chocolate wrapper to her portrait of Ukraine's President and chocolate tycoon Petro Poroshenko at her studio in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, March 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Acting aside, Zelensky's popularity in Ukraine rose in part by an insurgent campaign that railed against corrupt politicians influenced by the country's rich oligarchs, and Zelensky has been known to take on oligarchs -- including his boss -- too. Ukrainian politics have been mired in scandals and corruption for the past half decade and Zelensky is seen as a fresh face in Ukrainian politics.

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But Zelensky's meteoric political ascent has some government officials and Western-Ukraine watchers worried. In 2014, Zelensky, then just a performer and not a political candidate, said he would go "down on his knees" to beg Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay away from Ukraine. Still, the comedian-turned-politician is doing well in the polls.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a candidate for the presidential elections, talks to the media after casting her ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, March 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a candidate for the presidential elections, talks to the media after casting her ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, March 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

According to a survey released last month by Ukrainian polling agency Rating, Zelensky is in the lead with support from 25 percent of the voters. Incumbent Poroshenko, has 17 percent while former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko comes in third with 16 percent.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump ‘wall’ in desolate stretch of New Mexico has some asking: Why here?

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Joe Romero walks next to new bollard-style U.S.-Mexico border fencing in Santa Teresa
Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Joe Romero walks next to new bollard-style U.S.-Mexico border fencing in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

March 15, 2019

By Andrew Hay and Richard Cowan

SANTA TERESA, New Mexico/ WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The 18-foot-tall steel slats extend 20 miles across the rugged Chihuahuan desert in southern New Mexico, cutting through high sand dunes and brush.

On a recent day, there were none of the usual signs of migrant traffic – no discarded water bottles, clothes or trash. The radio on a Border Patrol SUV driving along the divide was mostly silent.

To many locals and public officials familiar with the area, the $74-million structure just west of tiny Santa Teresa marks a surprising priority in the Trump administration’s efforts to build a wall against illegal immigration, drugs and human trafficking.

“Most of us here say why spend that money? Just dead money going into the middle of the desert,” said Jerry Pacheco, president and CEO of the Border Industrial Association, a nonprofit representing industries in southern New Mexico.

The barrier, completed last year, provides an early peek at the administration’s efforts to provide the layer of national security President Donald Trump’s supporters demand. Although the fence does not break new ground – it replaces less formidable vehicle barriers – it is the longest section erected to date under Trump, who has said generally that he is starting in the most important places.

During more than two dozen interviews by Reuters reporters with the project’s opponents and advocates, few described the Santa Teresa stretch as having been a hub of illegal activity. Residents said they had found evidence of drug smuggling, such as packages of marijuana and other drugs dumped in the desert, and had seen individuals or small groups of migrants cross from time to time.

During a recent tour along the Santa Teresa-area wall – or fence, as some call it – a U.S. Border Patrol official explained to a Reuters reporter why the project was necessary.

“This was an extremely popular place for both drugs and people,” said supervisory agent Joe Romero, referring to the stretch next to New Mexico Highway 9 where the rust-brown slats rise above mesquite trees and soaptree yuccas.

The agency would not provide figures for migrant apprehensions by the Santa Teresa station before and after the wall was built.

Romero confirmed the Santa Teresa area was not typically a destination for the large groups of immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala seeking asylum in the United States. That is the group Trump has mainly been targeting.

But Romero said the Santa Teresa fence allows the border patrol to police the area with fewer agents and shift manpower to nearby urban and semi-urban areas where the most migrants are now illegally crossing. With agents tied up by large numbers of asylum seekers and their humanitarian needs, the under-staffed agency needs the extra personnel in areas where smugglers are taking advantage of these distractions, Romero said.

A ‘STATE OF EMERGENCY’

Trump’s proposed “great wall” extending along the border has come to define his presidency, just as Trump Tower has defined his real estate brand. He cites “an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people” and says the only way to put a stop to it is a hard barrier along much of the 2,000 mile (3,200 km) southwest border.

Around 650 miles (1,046 km) of barriers already exist.

The problem for the president is that while his Department of Homeland Security selects possible building sites, including Santa Teresa, the administration generally needs Congress to appropriate the money. And Congress has balked at the billions Trump wants.

On Feb. 15, the president declared a national emergency, which he said would allow him to seize federal funds already appropriated for other programs and use them to build the wall.

On Thursday, the Senate voted to terminate that declaration, setting up an avowed veto by Trump that will be difficult for lawmakers to override.

Amid the political warfare, Santa Teresa is the first significant project to materialize under the president’s watch.

Critics in Congress, including some Republicans, say the project was about politics, not protection.

“They’re sending a message – they’re not trying to meet operational security needs,” said U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, of politicians who favored the project.

Others say expanding on existing barriers provides a relatively quick, easy way for the administration to argue that Trump is delivering on his 2016 campaign promise.

Gabriel Vasquez, a Democrat who serves on the city council of nearby Las Cruces, noted that the relatively small population in the Santa Teresa area meant the project would meet little public resistance. And the federal government already owned most of the land around the border there so did not have to spend time and money buying it from private ranchers or other landholders.

At least one other site for wall-building also is proposed in a desolate location: According to the Washington Post, the Trump administration plans a 31-mile barrier adjacent to a bombing range in the Arizona desert.

Democrat Tom Udall, the other U.S. senator from New Mexico, said he pressed federal officials to justify the Santa Teresa project before construction started.

“‘What is the pressure on this particular area, why are you doing that?’” he recalled asking. “And they said, ‘Oh in 2012 there were 300 people and in 2017 there were 500 that they know that crossed” illegally, Udall said.

By comparison, more than 300,000 migrants were apprehended in 2017 across the entire southern border.

Instead of building large, expensive barriers in remote areas, Udall and Heinrich say it makes more sense to invest federal dollars in high-tech detection equipment there.

They also want to improve infrastructure and inspections at the major ports-of-entry, including El Paso (about 15 miles southeast of Santa Teresa), where experts say the bulk of drug smuggling occurs.

Gil Kerlikowske, who was the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner from 2014-2017, suggested that the emphasis on erecting physical barriers was recent.

During his tenure, Kerlikowske said, agents at southwest border stations spoke of the need for a big bag of tools: Predator drones, boats, helicopter support, remote video, ground sensors, research and development of tunnel detection and agents on horseback, ATVs and motorcycles.

“Border Patrol never mentioned walls” then, he said.

DEFENDERS OF THE WALL

Locally, however, the Santa Teresa fence has some defenders.

Former U.S. Representative Steve Pearce, now the chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said that ranchers on the border with Mexico want a wall on their properties, believing it will not only stop immigrants from interfering with their livestock operations but also protect their families from violent drug cartels.

Pearce, an early Trump supporter, added, “I have always felt that the wall by itself has got to be supplemented” with a range of border enforcement tools, from more agents to technology.

Rancher Chip Johns, who said he has found bales of drugs dropped by fleeing smugglers and who sleeps with a gun by his bed, said he felt safer with the fence running along his 250,000-acre property. He hopes it marks just the beginning of a more extensive project.

To stop the wall after 20 miles, allowing drug smugglers to cross where it ends, would be “ridiculous,” he said.

(Andrew Hay reported from Santa Teresa, New Mexico and Richard Cowan from Washington; Additional reporting by Jane Ross and Lucy Nicholson; Editing by Julie Marquis and Marla Dickerson)

Source: OANN

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Minnesota toddler tossed from balcony having miraculous recovery, pastor says

The 5-year-old boy who was thrown off a balcony inside Mall of America earlier this month is making a miraculous recovery and an MRI scan show that his injuries are similar to that of a child who fell off his bike, not someone who fell 40 feet, the family’s pastor said.

Landen Hoffman underwent a five-hour long MRI scan and doctors determined that his injuries were not as serious as they once feared, Mac Hammond, a pastor from the family's church, said on Easter Sunday, according to KARE.

R. Stephen Tillitt, an attorney who represents the family, told The Associated Press he couldn't confirm or deny that information as if would invade the Hoffmans' privacy.

The story made national headlines. Landen and his mother were standing outside a restaurant when police said they were approached by a man who threw the boy over the railing.

Emmanuel Aranda, 24, of Minneapolis, faces attempted murder charges, WQAD reported.

MAN ACCUSED OF TOSSING BOY FROM MALL OF AMERICA BALCONY FACES JUDGE

Landen Hoffman, the 5-year-old boy who was thrown nearly 40 feet from the third story balcony at the Mall of America, is said to be making a miraculous recovery.

Landen Hoffman, the 5-year-old boy who was thrown nearly 40 feet from the third story balcony at the Mall of America, is said to be making a miraculous recovery. (Christian Broadcasting Service)

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After years of visiting the mall trying to pick up women, Aranda allegedly told police the constant rejection made him lash out, WQAD reported.

A GoFundMe page created by a family friend raised almost $1 million for Landen’s healing process.

"Doctors said they found no brain damage...not even any swelling," Hammond said. "No spinal damage, no nerve damage ... doctors are saying it is truly a miracle."

Source: Fox News National

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Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond looks on during an interview with Reuters at the British Ambassador's residence in Beijing
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond looks on during an interview with Reuters at the British Ambassador’s residence in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Pool

April 26, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday that he had a “very constructive meeting” with his counterpart in the opposition Labour Party before leaving for Beijing and that he was optimistic about finding common ground.

Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing, said talks with Labour aimed at finding a way forward on Brexit had not stalled.

“I’m optimistic that we will find common ground,” he said. “Both sides have got clear positions and both sides will have to compromise in order to reach an agreement.”

Hammond added that he absolutely did not favor a no deal exit from the European Union.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta
Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta, Cyprus, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Stefanos Kouratzis

April 26, 2019

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cypriot police searched on Friday for more victims of a suspected serial killer, in a case which has shocked the Mediterranean island and exposed the authorities to charges of “criminal indifference” because the dead women were foreigners.

The main opposition party, the left-wing AKEL, called for the resignation of Cyprus’s justice minister and police chief.

Police were combing three different locations west of the capital Nicosia for victims of the suspected killer, a 35-year-old army officer who has been in detention for a week.

The bodies of three women, including two thought to be from the Philippines, have been recovered. Police sources said the suspect had indicated the location of the third body, found on Thursday, and had said the person was “either Indian or Nepali”.

Police said they were searching for a further four people, including two children, based on the suspect’s testimony.

“These women came here to earn a living, to help their families. They lived away from their families. And the earth swallowed them, nobody was interested,” AKEL lawmaker Irene Charalambides told Reuters.

“This killer will be judged by the court but the other big question is the criminal indifference shown by the others when the reports first surfaced. I believe, as does my party, that the justice minister and the police chief should resign. They are irrevocably exposed.”

Police have said they will investigate any perceived shortcomings in their handling of the case.

One person who did attempt to alert the authorities over the disappearances, a 70-year-old Cypriot citizen, said his motives were questioned by police.

The bodies of the two Filipino women reported missing in May and August 2018 were found in an abandoned mine shaft this month. Police discovered the body of the third woman at an army firing range about 14 km (9 miles) from the mine shaft.

Police are now searching for the six-year-old daughter of the first victim found, a Romanian mother who disappeared with her eight-year-old child in 2016, and a woman from the Phillipines who vanished in Dec. 2017.

The suspect has not been publicly named, in line with Cypriot legal practice.

A public vigil for the missing was planned later on Friday.

(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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

April 26, 2019

By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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