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House rejects Trump emergency declaration, setting up potential veto showdown

Democrats on Tuesday pushed unprecedented legislation through the House to block President Trump's national emergency declaration to steer billions of extra dollars to his southern border wall, raising the prospect that Trump might issue his first-ever veto to defeat the effort.

Monday's vote marked the first time the House or Senate has tried to terminate a presidential declaration of a national emergency, using the provisions of the National Emergencies Act of 1976. Former Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., attempted a similar effort regarding a national emergency declared by then-President George W. Bush, but the measure never came to a vote on the House floor.

Should enough Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate defect and support the House bill, a two-thirds supermajority in both the Senate and House would be needed to override Trump's veto. The White House issued a formal veto threat Tuesday ahead of the House vote, ramping up pressure on Republicans to hold the line.

It took President George W. Bush more than five years before he used his veto, and President Barack Obama only 11 months. For President Bill Clinton, it took two and a half years.

With three Senate Republicans saying they would support the legislation, only one more was needed to vote with all the Democrats to pass the measure and send it to Trump.

House Democrats have aimed to block the national emergency declaration that President Trump issued last week to fund his long-sought wall along the U.S-Mexico border, setting up a fight that could result in Trump's first-ever veto. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

House Democrats have aimed to block the national emergency declaration that President Trump issued last week to fund his long-sought wall along the U.S-Mexico border, setting up a fight that could result in Trump's first-ever veto. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

"When you see the vote today there will be nowhere near the votes to override a veto," House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters.

Even many GOP lawmakers who have viewed themselves as protectors of Congress' power of the purse said they would defer to Trump in this case, saying he has the authority under a mid-1970s statute.

"They love Trump in my district," said Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo. "I'm for Trump."

CROWD OF FOUR PEOPLE HOLDS PRO-TRUMP, PRO-WALL RALLY IN SAN FRANCISCO

Democratic leaders said the vote was not about the merits of Trump's wall but how Trump was trampling on the Constitution by grabbing money that he couldn't obtain through the usual means.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Trump's action "steals billions of dollars" from military construction projects— including, possibly, family housing and child care centers — to build the wall along the Mexico border.

Republicans have countered that problems with drug runners and human trafficking gave merit to Trump's maneuver.

"I went down there neutral on this question, didn't know whether or not I'd support a national emergency," said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who recently returned from a National Guard deployment along the border in Arizona. "And, I came back more convinced than probably anybody that this is the right thing to do."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., seen here on Tuesday, said Trump was trying to "bend the law" with his declaration of a national emergency on the southern border. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., seen here on Tuesday, said Trump was trying to "bend the law" with his declaration of a national emergency on the southern border. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

"If Republicans vote their beliefs, we'll get a lot. If they vote their party, we won't get a lot," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

Trump on Monday urged Senate Republicans to stick with him.

"I hope our great Republican Senators don't get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security," Trump tweeted. "Without strong Borders, we don't have a Country — and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don't fall into the Democrats 'trap' of Open Borders and Crime!"

TRUMP'S BORDER WALL PROTOTYPES TO COME DOWN

Vice President Mike Pence discussed the issue with GOP senators during their weekly private lunch. In a statement after the sit-down, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham accused Democrats of hypocritically changing their mind about realities on the southern border.

“We had a great presentation from Vice President Pence and his team regarding the emergency declaration and the need for additional spending to protect our southern border," Graham said. "The Vice President made a compelling case that the border crisis is real and President Trump has both the authority and legal backing to declare a national emergency."

Graham added: "In 2014, President Obama declared a humanitarian crisis at our southern border because 120,000 unaccompanied minors were apprehended.  As of today, we have already apprehended 120,000 in Fiscal Year 2019.  The problems of 2014 are only getting worse."

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Trump was trying to "bend the law" with his declaration of a national emergency on the southern border. He called on lawmakers to "speak up with one bipartisan voice" to put a check on the executive branch as the founding founders envisioned.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, center, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, second from the right, during a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border at Santa Teresa Station in Sunland Park, N.M., on Saturday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, center, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, second from the right, during a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border at Santa Teresa Station in Sunland Park, N.M., on Saturday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

"What would stop a future president from claiming an emergency every week?" he asked.

On Monday, GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he would vote to block the order, joining Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski as Republicans supporting the resolution. Congress must defend its power of the purse and warned that a future Democrat in the White House might abuse the power to advance "radical policies," Tillis said.

Another Republican, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, called Trump's order "unnecessary, unwise, and inconsistent with the United States Constitution and I'll decide how to vote when I'm presented with something to vote on."

Senate voting on Trump's emergency order could drag under a rarely used procedure, which an aide said is possibly a first for the chamber. The law allows for up to 15 days of committee review— in this case, at the Armed Services panel — with a full Senate vote three days later. Senators, though, said the process could be expedited.

At issue is Trump's longstanding vow to build a wall along the 1,900-mile southwest border, perhaps his top campaign promise. He has long since dropped any pretense that money for the wall would come from Mexico, which he once claimed would be the source of funding.

Earlier this month Congress approved a huge spending bill providing nearly $1.4 billion to build 55 miles of border barriers in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, ending a dispute that had led to a record 35-day partial shutdown of the government. Trump had demanded $5.7 billion to construct more than 200 miles.

Trump's declaration of a national emergency gives him access to about $3.6 billion in funding for military construction projects to divert to border fencing. Lawmakers in both parties are recoiling at the politically toxic prospect of losing cherished projects at back-home military bases. The Defense Department has not identified which projects may face the ax.

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But, the administration is more likely to tap $600 million from a federal asset forfeiture fund first. In addition, it is considering shifting more than $2 billion from Defense Department accounts into a Pentagon counter-drug fund to be tapped for wall construction.

Trump's edict is also being challenged in the federal courts, where a host of Democratic-led states such as California are among those that have sued to overturn the order. The House may also join in.

Fox News' Chad Pergramm, Alex Pappas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Sides clash in officer's trial for killing black motorist

Both sides agreed Tuesday that the fatal shooting of a stranded black motorist by a then-Florida police officer was a tragedy.

But while a prosecutor told jurors during opening statements that former Palm Beach Gardens officer Nouman Raja's actions turned what should have been a routine interaction with Corey Jones in October 2015 into a deadly confrontation, Raja's attorney said Jones pointed his gun without cause and made the officer fear for his life.

Prosecutor Brian Fernandes gave an impassioned presentation to the four-man, two-woman jury, telling them an audio recording of the confrontation shows Raja was the aggressor and made Jones, who had a concealed weapons permit, fear for his safety and draw his .38-caliber handgun. He said Raja, who was in plain clothes and driving an unmarked van, drove the wrong way up an Interstate 95 off-ramp, never identified himself as a police officer and aggressively confronted Jones, 31, creating Jones' fear and caused him to draw his gun.

"Instead of being his saving grace, he (Raja) was his angel of death," Fernandes said. "As (Jones) was laying on the ground, breathing his last breath, there was no way to actually know (Raja) was a law enforcement officer."

Richard Lubin, Raja's lead attorney, told jurors he was going to stick to facts, not emotion. He said Jones jumped out of his car, that Raja identified himself and offered his help, but Jones pulled a gun, giving Raja no choice but to defend himself.

"This is a terrible, sad and tragic case," Lubin said. "It was a perfect storm that turned deadly when Corey Jones points his handgun."

Raja, dressed in a dark suit, sat quietly but intently during the opening statements. Raja, 41 and of South Asian descent, faces a possible life sentence if convicted of manslaughter and attempted murder charges.

It is the first time in 26 years that a Florida police officer is standing trial for an on-duty killing.

Jones, a part-time drummer who also worked as a housing inspector, was returning home from a nightclub performance early on the morning of Oct. 18, 2015, when his SUV broke down. His drums, valued at $10,000, were in the back. Jones, the brother of former NFL player C.J. Jones, had just purchased his gun days earlier.

Raja spotted Jones' SUV about 3:15 a.m. He was wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a baseball cap because he was investigating auto burglaries. His sergeant testified at a hearing that he told Raja to don a vest marked "police" if he confronted anyone, but the vest was found inside the unmarked van.

Raja drove up the off-ramp, blocking Jones' SUV. He told Palm Beach County sheriff's investigators that when Jones got out, he identified himself, but then fired because Jones pulled a gun. He said Jones ran down an embankment and pointed the gun again, so he fired more shots. Jones died at the scene.

Investigators have said Raja didn't know Jones was speaking to a tow truck dispatcher on a recorded line. Raja is never heard identifying himself.

Jones is heard first, saying, "Huh?" just before Raja yells, "You good?" Jones says he is. Raja twice replies, "Really?" with Jones replying "Yeah."

Lubin says Jones' "Huh?" proves Raja said something that wasn't picked up by the recording. He told jurors Raja said, "Police — Can I help you?"

Suddenly, Raja shouts at Jones to raise his hands, using an expletive. Jones replies "Hold on!" and Raja repeats his demand. Prosecutors believe it was then that Jones pulled his gun. Raja fired three shots. Ten seconds later, Raja fired three more shots.

Prosecutors say Raja saw Jones throw down his gun but kept firing, which is why he is charged with attempted murder. Investigators were unable to determine when the fatal shot was fired, but it struck Jones in the back.

Raja then used his personal cellphone to call 911 with the operator picking up 33 seconds after the last shot. Raja is recorded yelling orders to drop the gun; prosecutors say he was trying to mislead investigators into believing he hadn't seen the gun thrown. Jones' body was found 200 feet (60 meters) from the SUV and 125 feet (38 meters) from his unfired gun.

Palm Beach Gardens fired Raja, who was in his employee probation period after transferring there months earlier from a neighboring city. He was charged in 2016 and has been under house arrest.

The last Florida officer tried for an on-duty killing was Miami's William Lozano. The Hispanic officer fatally shot a black motorcyclist who he said tried to hit him in 1989. A passenger died when the motorcycle crashed. The deaths resulted in three days of rioting.

Lozano was convicted of two manslaughter counts in a Miami trial later that year, but an appeals court dismissed the verdict, saying the case should have been moved because of racial tensions. Lozano was acquitted at a 1993 retrial in Orlando.

Raja's trial is expected to last two to three weeks.

Source: Fox News National

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The Latest: Pope in Morocco highlights Christian-Muslim ties

The Latest on the Pope's trip to Morocco (all times local):

2:25 p.m.

Pope Francis has arrived in Morocco for a trip aimed at highlighting the North African nation's tradition of Christian-Muslim ties, while also letting him show solidarity with migrants at Europe's door and tend to a tiny Catholic flock.

Francis will address the first two items Saturday, and the third when he wraps up the visit with a Mass and a meeting with Moroccan clergy on Sunday.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI was on hand to greet Francis when he landed under a pouring rain in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, for a 27-hour visit.

The highlight of the trip is likely to be Francis' visit Saturday to the Mohammed VI Institute, a school of learning for imams that epitomizes Morocco's efforts to promote a moderate brand of Islam and export it via preachers to Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

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10 a.m.

Pope Francis's weekend trip to Morocco aims to highlight the North African nation's tradition of Christian-Muslim ties while also letting him show solidarity with migrants at Europe's door and tend to a tiny Catholic flock on the peripheries.

Francis will address the first two items on the agenda Saturday when he begins his 27-hour visit to Rabat, the Moroccan capital. He'll tend to the third when he wraps up the visit with a Mass and a meeting with Moroccan clergy on Sunday.

The highlight of the trip is likely to be Francis' visit Saturday to the Mohammed VI Institute, a school of learning for imams that epitomizes Morocco's efforts to promote a moderate brand of Islam and export it via preachers to Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Morocco, a Sunni Muslim kingdom of 36 million, reformed its religious policies and education to limit the spread of fundamentalism in 2004, following terrorist bombings in Casablanca that killed 43 people.

Source: Fox News World

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Sol Wisenberg: Barr would be ‘derelict in his duty’ if he didn’t investigate spying allegations

Former deputy independent counsel Sol Wisenberg on Thursday defended Attorney General Bill Barr's Capitol Hill comments that federal authorities had spied on the Trump campaign in 2016.

"It's a big deal when a presidential campaign is spied on by the government particularly when the government is in the hands of the opposition party," Wisenberg told Fox News."It doesn't mean anything was necessarily done that was wrong - and Barr has said that - but it's a big deal and he would be derelict in his duty if he didn't look into it."

Wisenberg added that Barr, who is facing accusations by Democrats that he is not acting "in the best interest of the DOJ or the country," is merely doing his job.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: BARR IS RIGHT TO REVIEW WHY TRUMP-RUSSIA INVESTIGATION BEGAN

"Bill Barr is all about restoring the integrity of the Department of Justice and that's part of it - to see if anything that was done was wrong," he said.

On Wednesday, Barr testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that he thought "spying did occur."

"The question is whether it was adequately predicated... Spying on a political campaign is a big deal," Barr said. He later clarified, "I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred; I’m saying that I am concerned about it and looking into it, that’s all.”

HANS VON SPAKOVSKY: DEMS WRONG TO ATTACK BARR FOR TELLING TRUTH ABOUT FED SPYING ON TRUMP CAMPAIGN

There has been mounting evidence that the FBI looked into ways to gather intelligence from within the Trump campaign, including pursuing warrants to surveil a former Trump aide in 2016.

Wisenberg, a Fox News contributor, also weighed in on President Trump's comments that the Muller investigation into him was "an attempted coup" and an "attempted takedown of a president."

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"Every president who's ever been investigated has claimed an attempted coup. Nixon said it in Watergate. Bill Clinton said it in Whitewater and Lewinsky so that's par for the course," Weisenberg said. "The president has made a number of false statements about the case. I understand that he's upset but he's made a number of demonstrably false statements."

Source: Fox News Politics

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Q&A: What’s in a name for Japan emperor’s new era?

Japan's government has unveiled an era name, "Reiwa," or "pursuing harmony," for soon-to-be Emperor Naruhito, who will succeed the Chrysanthemum throne on May 1. His father, Emperor Akihito, is abdicating, with his "Heisei" era coming to an end the day before. A selection of the name was a top secret and the decision comes after highly guarded closed meetings and intense media speculation.

On Monday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ultra-conservative government chose the name for the first time from an ancient Japanese document, breaking with the tradition of taking them from Chinese classic literature, a step seen as reflecting Abe's attempt to bolster national pride.

Some questions and answers regarding the process of picking an era name:

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WHAT IS THE ERA NAME?

The era name, or "gengo," is a 1,400-year-old Japanese tradition tied to emperors' reigns to showcase their power. The names change when a new emperor takes the throne. It becomes an emperor's official posthumous name — Akihito's father, Hirohito, is now named after his era, "Showa."

Originally a Chinese tradition, the era name is made of two Chinese characters taken from classic Chinese literature. Japan adopted the system in 645 and has since had 247 eras, including Akihito's 1989-2019 "Heisei," which means "achieving peace." Showa is the longest era, at 64 years. Akihito's Heisei is the first decided by the government under the postwar constitution, in which the emperor is stripped of political power and had no say over the choice.

Still, the government, with its highly secretive and sensitive handling of the process, is underscoring that "the emperor has power in an invisible, subtle way," said Hirohito Suzuki, a Toyo University sociologist.

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HOW WIDELY IS THE ERA NAME USED?

The era name is only for domestic use. Although its use is not compulsory, Japanese government offices and businesses still widely use the system in official documents, coins, calendars and for other paperwork. Middle-age to elderly people often use "gengo" to identify their generations, while younger people prefer the Western calendar over the era name as conversions are cumbersome in a highly globalized and digitalized society.

Popularity of era names has dropped to less than half over the past four decades since the late 1970s. Though impractical, the era name is considered Japan's traditional culture and is expected to continue despite persistent calls by some to abolish it.

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WHO DECIDES THE ERA NAME AND HOW?

The procedures to change the era name is based on a 1979 law, with the government picking a team of experts on classical literature in Chinese to find and nominate several names each for top officials to review. It is a complicated process that must meet certain criteria — easy to read and write but not commonly or previously used. Japanese media have been scrambling to get scoops out. The names of the scholars and their nominations have been and will be classified for decades.

On Monday, Abe's government chose the name drawn from Japan's oldest poetry book, "Manyoshu" from the 7th century, breaking with Japan's 1,400-year-old tradition — a step seen reflecting Abe's attempt to bolster national pride that he says was weakened by war-guilt campaigns during U.S. occupation after Japan's World War II defeat.

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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE ERA NAME CHANGES?

A change of an era name causes a major hassle for government offices and businesses, which have to revise computer systems and software. It also leads to printing new train tickets, stamps, coins, receipts and calendars. The new era name was announced a month ahead of the start of Naruhito's reign to allow for time to adjust.

Because of a festive mood surrounding the upcoming era change, the event is also creating businesses for both the outgoing and the incoming eras. The abdication and succession events that come in the middle of the annual "golden week" expand the holidays to 10 days, bolstering tourism and other consumer spending.

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Follow Mari Yamaguchi at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

Source: Fox News World

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Spanish politicians call Mexican president letter an ‘offense’

A man reads a text engraved on the Monument to the Discovery of America in Plaza Colon (Columbus Square) in Madrid
A man reads a text engraved on the Monument to the Discovery of America in Plaza Colon (Columbus Square) in Madrid, Spain, March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Susana Vera

March 26, 2019

MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish politicians reacted with anger on Tuesday to a request by Mexico’s president for an apology for the wrongs committed by conquerors to indigenous peoples 500 years ago, calling it an affront to Spanish history.

Spanish conquistadors arrived in the territory of Mexico in 1521 and ruled it as a colony until 1821, sweeping away the Aztec empire.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday he had written to Spain’s King Felipe and Pope Francis “so that they ask forgiveness of indigenous peoples for violations” including massacres.

“Lopez Obrador’s letter is an intolerable offense to the Spanish people,” said Alberto Rivera, head of the center-right Ciudadanos party, in a tweet.

The Socialist government said in a statement it “firmly rejected” the contents of the letter, adding that the actions of Spaniards 500 years ago cannot be judged by “contemporary considerations”.

Spain is one of Mexico’s biggest sources of foreign direct investment.

Pablo Casado, the head of Spain’s main center-right opposition party, said Lopez Obrador’s statement was an “affront to Spain and its history”.

(Reporting by Axel Bugge; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: OANN

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North Korea’s ‘socialist utopia’ needs mass labor. A growing market economy threatens that

Cho Choung-hui, a North Korean defector and economist at the Northern Studies Society, poses for photographs during an interview with Reuters in Seoul
Cho Choung-hui, a North Korean defector and economist at the Northern Studies Society, poses for photographs during an interview with Reuters in Seoul, South Korea, February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Shin Hyon-hee

February 18, 2019

By Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) – In January, thousands of North Korean students traveled to Mount Paektu, a sacred mountain where the ruling family claims its roots and where leader Kim Jong Un is building a massive economic hub at the alpine town of Samjiyon.

It is one of the largest construction initiatives Kim has launched, part of his campaign for a “self-reliant economy” even as he seeks to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to lift economic sanctions at their second summit later this month.

State media painted an inspiring picture of patriotic students braving harsh weather, eating frozen rice, and ignoring supervisors’ worries about their health in order to work harder on the huge building site.

Kim has visited Samjiyon, near the Chinese border, at least five times for inspections over the past year.

He envisages a “socialist utopia” with new apartments, hotels, a ski resort and commercial, cultural and medical facilities by late 2020, barely four years after Kim ordered modernization of the “sacred land of the revolution”.

North Korean defectors and human rights activists say such mass mobilizations amount to “slave labor” disguised as loyalty to Kim and the ruling Workers’ Party. Young workers get no pay, poor food and are forced to work more than 12 hours a day for up to 10 years in return for better chances to enter a university or join the all powerful Workers’ Party.

But as private markets boom and more people cherish financial stability above political standing, the regime has been struggling to recruit the young laborers in recent years, they say.

“Nobody would go there if not for a party membership or education, which helps you land a better job. But these days, you can make a lot more money from the markets,” said Cho Chung-hui, a defector and former laborer.

“Loyalty is the bedrock of the brigades but what do you expect from people who know the taste of money?”

‘BOILING BLOOD OF YOUTH’

Last year, after declaring his nuclear weapons program complete, Kim shifted his focus toward the economy, saying people’s well-being was a top priority.

Samjiyon is at the center of his new economic initiative, touted as what would be a “model of modern mountainous city to be the envy of the world,” alongside an ongoing project to create a tourist hotspot in the coastal city of Wonsan. http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/NORTHKOREA-TOURISM/0100516J2NK/index.html

The labor units, called dolgyeokdae or youth brigades, were created by Kim’s late grandfather Kim Il Sung to build railways, roads, electricity networks and other infrastructure projects after the Korean peninsula was liberated from Japan’s 1910-45 occupation.

Open North Korea, a Seoul-based rights group, estimated the total brigade workforce at 400,000 as of 2016. A landmark 2014 U.N. report on North Korean human rights put it at between 20,000 and 100,000 per municipality, depending on its size.

“How did Kim rally manpower and resources for so many big construction programs despite sanctions? It’s simple – whatever you need, suck it out of the people,” said Kwon Eun-kyoung, director of the group, who has interviewed more than 40 former brigade members.

North Korean state media has run a series of articles over the past month appealing for young people to dedicate their “boiling blood of youth” to renovate Samjiyon, while Kim has expressed his gratitude to those who sent construction materials and supplies.

Articles and photos show factories, families and individuals packaging winter jackets, tools, shoes, blankets and biscuits in boxes to be delivered to Samjiyon.

The state provides a limited amount of materials including cement and iron bars, leaving brigades to bring gravel and sand from river banks themselves, Cho and Kwon said.

A 60-minute documentary on state television, broadcast 10 times since December, shows young men carrying stones in heavy snow and doing masonry work on a tall structure without any apparent safety devices.

Last month, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said thousands of university students produced 100 meter-high (300 ft-high) piles of gravel by crushing rocks with nothing but hand tools on their first day alone. It likened the feat to the efforts of forefathers who fought against Japanese imperial forces during World War II.

“The weather was so cold the rice were like ice cubes, but we didn’t want to waste a single precious second heating it up. I thought of our anti-Japan revolutionary martyrs while chewing frozen rice,” the article quoted one student’s diary.

State media often exaggerates loyalty pledges of the citizens toward the leaders as part of efforts to craft a personality cult around them.

But Cho, the defector, said the reports were “far from reality” as most workers would not even get a safety helmet, and labor conditions were so hostile that many ran away.

MONEY OVER LOYALTY

The untrained workers, along with the military, provide most of the construction labor essential to accomplish Kim’s pet economic projects.

But mounting public resistance toward the mobilization of free labor and supplies may spell trouble for Kim’s ambition to transform Samjiyon, defectors and observers say.

Cho said authorities offered him party membership and college entrance if he gave three years service to the brigades. The commitment eventually stretched to eight years before he received the suggested rewards in 1987.

Not all promises are kept. Lee Oui-ryok, 29, said he fled a brigade he had served for three years from age 17 and came to the South in 2010 after realizing he would never be allowed to join the party due to his background.

In addition, human rights abuses of brigade members are rampant, prompting many to escape or injure themselves to be discharged, said Cho, who defected to the South in 2011 and is now an economist in Seoul.

Nowadays, those who have money exempt themselves from the service by sending supplies, paying someone else to fulfill the duty, or bribing brigade leaders to turn a blind eye, Cho and Kwon said.

Most new labor unit members are from the most underprivileged households and harbor ill feelings about the system and its growing inequality, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“They will push out the propaganda claims about these projects and the love of Kim Jong Un motivating people to work, but the reality is punishments await those who refuse,” said Robertson.

“It’s usually the poorest denizens in the area who have few connections and cannot afford to pay bribes – so they are the ones being targeted.”

The North Korean mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to a request for comment.

In late 2017, the U.S. State Department described the mass mobilization of forced labor as one of the human rights abuses underwriting North Korea’s weapons program. It blacklisted seven individuals and three entities, including two construction agencies.

The rise of markets and growing public resentment toward forced labor have eroded the quality of labor at most brigades nationwide, defectors say.

Kang Mi-jin, a defector who regularly speaks with North Koreans for the defector-run Daily NK website, said some construction work at Samjiyon was temporarily halted last month due to safety problems.

“It’s inconceivable for North Korea to complete such a large project without these brigades, but there’s no way they have the full labor force they need, which is why they’re trying to mobilize more through state media,” Cho said.

“But they would only continue to see more people run away and more cracks in buildings. That’s the reality.”

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

Source: OANN

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A Florida measure that would ban sanctuary cities is set for a vote Friday in the state’s Senate after clearing its first hurdle earlier this week.

The bill would effectively make it against the law for Florida’s police departments to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

“The Governor may initiate judicial proceedings in the name of the state against such officers to enforce compliance,” a draft version of the Senate bill reads.

A House version of the bill, which passed by a 69-47 vote Wednesday, adds that non-complying officials could be suspended or removed from office and face fines of up to $5,000 per day. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign off on the measure, although it’s not clear which version.

FLORIDA MAY SEND A BIG MESSAGE TO SANCTUARY CITIES

Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando), during a press conference at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, speaks out against bills in the House and Senate that would ban sanctuary cities in the state.

Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando), during a press conference at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, speaks out against bills in the House and Senate that would ban sanctuary cities in the state. (AP)

LAWRENCE JONES: NEEDLES, DRUG USE AND HUMAN WASTE ARE THE NEW NORMAL IN SAN FRANCISCO

Florida is home to 775,000 illegal immigrants out of 10.7 million present in the United States, ranking the state third among all states.

Nine states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas — already have enacted state laws requiring law enforcement to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Florida doesn’t have sanctuary cities like the ones in California and other states. But Republican lawmakers say a handful of their municipalities — including Orlando and West Palm Beach – are acting as “pseudo-sanctuary” cities, because they prevent law enforcement officials from asking about immigration status when they make arrests.

“There are still people here in the state of Florida, police chiefs that are just refusing to contact ICE, refusing to detain somebody that they know is here illegally,” Florida Republican Rep. Blaise Ingoglia said earlier this month. “So while the actual county municipality doesn’t have an actual adopted policy, they still have people in power within their sheriff’s department or police department that refuse to do it anyway.”

Florida’s Democratic Party has blasted the anti-Sanctuary measures, while the Miami-Dade Police Department says it should be up to federal authorities to handle immigration-related matters.

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“House Republicans today sold out their communities to Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis by passing this xenophobic and discriminatory bill,” the state’s Democratic Party said Wednesday after the House passed their version of the bill. “It’s abhorrent that Republican members who represent immigrant communities are now turning their backs on their constituents and jeopardizing their safety.

“Florida has long stood as a beacon for immigrant communities — and today Republicans did the best they could to destroy that reputation,” they added.

Fox News’ Elina Shirazi contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain's far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.

No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.

Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.

By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.

Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.

The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.

The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.

The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.

Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.

It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.

While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.

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According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.

Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.

Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.

Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.

“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said

For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.

“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.

For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.

The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.

The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.

That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.

(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)

(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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The Amish population in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County is continuing to grow each year, despite the encroachment of urban sprawl on their communities.

The U.S. Census Bureau says the county added about 2,500 people in 2018. LNP reports that about 1,000 of them were Amish.

Elizabethtown College researchers say Lancaster County’s Amish population reached 33,143 in 2018, up 3.2% from the previous year.

The Amish accounted for about 41% of the county’s overall population growth last year.

Some experts are concerned that a planned 75-acre (30-hectare) housing and commercial project will make it more difficult for the county to accommodate the Amish.

Donald Kraybill, an authority on Amish culture, told Manheim Township commissioners this week that some in the community are worried about the development and the increased traffic it would bring.

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Information from: LNP, http://lancasteronline.com

Source: Fox News National

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Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera has warned that if Democratic 2020 presidential candidates don’t take the crisis at the border seriously, they’ll do so at their own risk.

Speaking with “Fox & Friends” hosts on Friday morning, Rivera discussed the influx of candidates entering the race, including former Vice President Joe Biden, and gave an update on the newest developments at the border.

“If [Democrats] don’t take it seriously they ignore it at their peril,” Rivera said.

He went on to discuss the fact that Mexico is experiencing the same problems dealing with volumes of people at the border as the United States is. Processing facilities, as many have argued, are understaffed and underresourced, resulting in conditions that have been controversial.

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“It is very, very difficult when hundreds and hundreds become thousands and thousands ultimately become tens of it is very difficult to have an orderly system,” he said.

Rivera asserted his opinion that the United States could lessen the influx of migrants coming into the country by investing in the development of Central American countries, where many are fleeing from violence and economic instability.

“I believe, as I have said before on this program, that we have to stop the source of the migrant explosion, by a comprehensive system of political and economic reform in Central America where people have the incentive to stay home,” Rivera said.

“I think we have help Mexico with its infrastructure. Mexico has a moral burden, as the president made very clear, not to let unchecked herds of desperate people flow through 2,000 miles of Mexican territory to get our southern border.”

Rivera also brought up President Trump’s controversial comments about Mexican immigrants during his campaign in 2016.

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The Fox News correspondent said that having been so excited about Trump’s campaign, the comments made him feel “deflated” as a Hispanic American.

However, as the crisis at the border has accelerated over the last few years, Rivera argued that ultimately, the president’s comments weren’t incorrect.

“He is now in a position where he can justly say I was right, that the that the anarchy at the border doesn’t serve anybody,” Rivera said. “Maybe he said it in a language I felt was a little rough and insensitive, but there is no doubt.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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