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Brazilian court reduces sentence of ex-president da Silva

Brazil's second-highest court is reducing the sentence of incarcerated former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva from 12 years and one month to eight years and 10 months.

The Supreme Court of Justice voted Tuesday on a request by da Silva's lawyers that it annul the ex-president's corruption conviction or reduce his sentence. The session's four judges voted unanimously in favor of reducing the sentence.

Da Silva was convicted of corruption and money laundering over a beachfront apartment that prosecutors say he received from a construction company in exchange for lucrative government contracts. He was jailed in April 2018.

Da Silva maintains his innocence and has said he will continue to appeal to higher courts.

Source: Fox News World

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No agreement yet on individual trade issues with U.S. – Japan’s Motegi

Japan's Minister of Economic Revitalization Toshimitsu Motegi speaks during the signing agreement ceremony for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, in Santiago
Japan's Minister of Economic Revitalization Toshimitsu Motegi speaks during the signing agreement ceremony for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, in Santiago, Chile March 8, 2018. Picture Taken March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

April 16, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Japan’s Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday that no agreement had been reached on individual trade issues with the United States after two days of talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Motegi told journalists in Washington he hoped to reach a “good result” on the talks “at an early stage.”

He said he may accompany Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he visits the United States next week.

The two-day trade talks came after U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed last September to start trade talks in an arrangement that protects Japanese automakers from further tariffs while talks are underway.

(Reporting by David Lawder in Washington; Writing by Malcolm Foster in Tokyo; Editing by Richard Chang)

Source: OANN

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Out-of-sync and out-performing China markets lure foreign inflows

Man stands in front of an electronic board displaying stock information at a brokerage firm in Hangzhou
A man stands in front of an electronic board displaying stock information at a brokerage firm in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China April 1, 2019. Picture taken April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT.

April 8, 2019

By Andrew Galbraith and Daniel Leussink

SHANGHAI/TOKYO (Reuters) – Not for the first time, China’s markets are marching to their own beat.

Just as investors come to terms with a bleak outlook for global growth and earnings, with weak German industrial and trade data just the latest portents of gloom, China’s economy may be bottoming out, helped by Beijing’s early moves to prop up a stuttering economy.

At the same time, Chinese regulators’ drive to open up financial markets to foreign involvement is making the country more accessible, and a potentially rich target for foreign investors looking to diversify.

“The more you see stabilization of the Chinese growth story – and I think you’ll see that coming through in the middle of the year – the more comfortable you’ll be with looking at the debt and equity side of things in China,” said Kerry Craig, Global Market Strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in Melbourne.

To be fair, global markets are having a good year. Index provider MSCI’s broadest gauge of global shares is up more than 13 percent since January, erasing last year’s losses even against the backdrop of the U.S.-China trade war and Brexit.

But dovish shifts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have in recent weeks sparked market jitters, pushing down bond yields and jolting equity indexes.

China’s markets have been comparatively unfazed. The blue-chip CSI300 index has risen more than a third so far this year, making it the world’s best-performing major index.

Yields on benchmark 10-year Chinese government bonds have also jumped in recent days alongside rallying shares as investors’ appetite for the safest investments has ebbed.

Faced with a slowing economy due in part to a multi-year campaign to reduce risky leverage and to headwinds from the trade war, Beijing began easing policy selectively last year, channeling more money into the real economy to boost growth.

Tax cuts, infrastructure spending and pledges to boost lending and lower borrowing costs have helped revive stagnant credit growth, brightening the outlook for corporate earnings.

“With easing policies starting to have an impact on credit creation, credit growth should continue to pick up this year,” Chen Long, China economist at Gavekal Dragonomics in Beijing, said in a note.

“It’s clear that China’s economy slowed further in the first quarter of 2019, but there’s an increasingly strong consensus that growth will bottom out and improve later in the year.”

Chinese shares have also been bolstered by rising foreign interest.

Net flows into China’s stock market through the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Connect program topped 125 billion yuan ($18.6 billion) in the first quarter of 2019, nearly triple the same period a year earlier, data from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd showed.

In February, the Institute for International Finance said foreign investors put more than $10 billion into Chinese onshore equities ahead of an announced rise in the weighting of A-shares in MSCI’s benchmark indexes.

Graphic: Different drummers, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2WUNt2W

BOND BOOST

Global index changes have extended beyond equities.

On April 1, index provider Bloomberg Barclays began a 20-month process of including some Chinese government and policy bank bonds in its Global Aggregate index, a move expected to draw billions of foreign dollars into China’s $13 trillion bond market.

While initial flows tracking the index will be gradual, “at some point in time there will be an inflection point,” said Dhiraj Bajaj, fixed income portfolio manager at Lombard Odier in Singapore.

For active investors, Chinese bonds provide advantages to a diversified portfolio, including lower average durations and significant yield premiums.

Frances Cheung, head of macro strategy for Asia at Westpac, said the yuan’s relative stability could burnish the appeal of yuan-denominated assets to some investors.

“The RMB is less sensitive to risk sentiment than some of its regional peers including the IDR, KRW and MYR. The correlation between USD/CNY and Chinese government bonds is also low. These features render CNY bonds a good avenue for portfolio diversification, especially when initial exposure is low for many investors,” she said.

Data from Bond Connect, which gives foreign investors access to China’s interbank market, shows trading volumes through the scheme jumped 70 percent, and the number of registered Bond Connect investors rose 41 percent, in the first quarter of 2019.

Bond Connect says index inclusion has shifted the focus of trading toward government and policy bank bonds, which accounted for 66 percent of turnover in March, up from 37 percent in December.

But following a year-long rally that pushed yields on 10-year Chinese government bonds down nearly a full percentage point from highs in late January 2018, some investors may be seeing less room for profit, said Bajaj.

A lack of familiarity with Chinese bonds may also deter some foreign investors, while technical issues such as limited hedging tools and patchy trading of newly issued government bonds remain nagging concerns.

“I imagine a lot of investors in similar positions like myself have just kind of a lack of experience of the market that probably limits its global safe-haven flow,” said Ross Hutchison, a global bond fund manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments in Edinburgh. “But that doesn’t mean that won’t change.”

Craig at J.P. Morgan said foreign investors should approach Chinese bonds with care. “We do know that the Chinese government has a large amount of debt. We have to think about the quality of what’s backing up those bonds,” he said.

But if investors are comfortable with China’s ability to contain debt, those concerns should ease, Craig added.

“We talk about the U.S. market being a safe haven, but U.S. debt is going to go up if they continue to spend at this rate,” he said.

Graphic: Benchmark moves, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2WPCXtv

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Andrew Galbraith; Additional reporting by Vidya Ranganathan in SINGAPORE; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

Source: OANN

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Israel set to join elite lunar club with first mission to moon

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Israel's first spacecraft designed to land on the moon is prepared for launch on the first privately-funded lunar mission at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Israel's first spacecraft designed to land on the moon is prepared for launch on the first privately-funded lunar mission at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 21, 2019. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

February 22, 2019

By Joey Roulette

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Israel’s first spacecraft built to land on the moon was set for launch on Thursday from Florida on a mission that, if successful, would make the Jewish state only the fourth nation to achieve a controlled touchdown on the lunar surface.

The unmanned robotic lander dubbed Beresheet – Hebrew for the biblical phrase “in the beginning” – was due for liftoff at 8:45 p.m. EST (0145 GMT Friday) atop a Falcon 9 rocket launched by California-based entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX company from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

If all goes according to plan, Beresheet, about the size of a dishwasher, will arrive on the near-side of the moon in mid-April following a two-month journey through 4 million miles (6.5 million km) of space. A flight path directly from the Earth to the moon would cover roughly 240,000 miles (386,242 km).

Once launched, the spacecraft will enter a gradually widening Earth orbit that will eventually bring the probe within the moon’s gravitational pull, setting the stage for a series of additional maneuvers leading to an automated touchdown.

Beresheet was one of three payloads to be carried aloft by the SpaceX rocket. The two others are a telecommunications satellite for Indonesia and an experimental satellite for the U.S. Air Force.

So far, only three other nations have carried out controlled “soft” landings on the moon – the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. Spacecraft from several countries, including India’s Moon Impact Probe, Japan’s SELENE orbiter and a European Space Agency orbital probe called SMART 1, have intentionally crashed on the lunar surface.

The U.S. Apollo program tallied six manned missions to the moon – the only ones yet achieved – between 1969 and 1972, with about a dozen more robotic landings combined by the United States and Soviets. China made history in January with its Chang’e 4, the first to touch down on the dark side of the moon.

Beresheet would mark the first non-government lunar landing. The 1,290-pound (585 kg) spacecraft was built by Israeli nonprofit space venture SpaceIL and state-owned defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) with $100 million furnished almost entirely by private donors.

SpaceIL officials have said they hope Beresheet will help inspire Israel’s defense-focused space program to pursue more science-oriented missions.

Beresheet is designed to spend just two to three days using on-board instruments to photograph its landing site and measure the moon’s magnetic field. Data will be relayed via the U.S. space agency NASA’s Deep Space Network to SpaceIL’s Israel-based ground station Yehud.

A series of future moon landings has already been jointly planned by IAI and German’s OHB System on behalf of the European Space Agency.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette in Cape Canaveral; Editing by Steve Gorman, Bill Berkrot and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: OANN

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Mueller Report Gives Russia 'I Told You So' Moment

Russia is reacting with an "I told you so" on Monday in state media after the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Moscow's involvement in the U.S. presidential election didn't find evidence of collusion.

Wrapping up 22 months of the investigation, Mueller's report that was delivered over the weekend found no evidence that U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign conspired with Russian officials to influence the 2016 election.

The released summary, however, didn't clear the president of improper behavior regarding Russia but didn't establish that "he was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference," Mueller said in a passage from the report quoted by U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

Russian officials and state media who have vehemently denied that the Kremlin wanted Trump to win and was helping him in the campaign on Monday relished the news.

"The results of Mueller's investigation are a disgrace for the U.S. and its political elites," Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the information committee at the Federation Council, tweeted on Monday. "All of the accusations were proved to be trumped up."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had a more muted reaction on Monday, saying that Russia has never interfered in elections in other countries and "doesn't intend to do so."

"It's hard to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if it isn't there," he said.

Thirty-four people, including six Trump aides and advisers, were charged in the investigation. Twenty-five are Russians accused of election interference either through hacking into Democratic accounts or orchestrating a social media campaign to spread disinformation on the internet.

Russian authorities over the past months portrayed the Mueller probe as a witch hunt against Trump and a tool of the Democratic Party to fan the flames of the anti-Russian sentiment in the U.S.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the Federation Council, on Monday described the probe and the discussions around it as "two years of incessant lies."

State-owned Channel One on its morning news show suggested that U.S. media had been consciously whipping up the hysteria about possible collusion in order to sway the public opinion against Russia.

"There were so many fake scoops: the one about the non-existent back channel between Washington and Moscow, the one about the so-called Russia Dossier with the Kremlin's alleged compromising information on Trump," Channel One's U.S. correspondent said. "But will the viewers hear the rebuttals now?"

The conclusions of the probe led some to believe that Trump will have a free hand now to improve ties with Russia.

"There's an opportunity to reset out relations but the question is whether Trump will take the risk," Kosachev said.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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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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The Latest: Hickenlooper reaches out to black voters

The Latest on the 2020 presidential race (all times EDT):

7 p.m.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is wrapping up three days of campaigning aimed at reaching out to black voters, who are key to a Democratic presidential effort in southern states.

Hickenlooper said Saturday in Charleston, South Carolina, that he's making an effort to "meet people where they are" in getting to know the diverse electorate in states outside his own.

Hickenlooper this week addressed the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, using his speech to the group in New York to outline his record on policing. Hickenlooper suggested that the nation "shutter some prisons altogether." He then visited a lynching memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.

On Saturday, Hickenlooper met with two survivors of a racist attack on a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

South Carolina is the first state on the primary calendar with a largely black electorate.

___

3:45 p.m.

Elizabeth Warren says the Democrats running for president will have to do more than campaign on an anti-Donald Trump message if they want to take back the White House in 2020.

The Massachusetts senator says they'll have to explain their own vision for the future of the country.

Warren is visiting the early caucus state of Nevada. She tells about 500 people at a rally in a high school gymnasium in Reno that she has an ambitious agenda that would force billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes, strengthen labor unions and protect everyone's right to vote.

She says it's important to build a broad grassroots campaign in Nevada and other places now to have a chance to win next year.

Warren says that "if our message is 'not Trump,' it's not going to work."

___

3:45 p.m.

Beto O'Rourke may be competing against Pete Buttigieg (BOO'-tuh-juhj) for the Democratic presidential nomination, but the former Texas congressman is still a fan of the South Bend, Indiana mayor.

O'Rourke says "I like him a lot" when he was asked about the fact that the two politicians have a similar message and profile, and may be competing for similar voters.

O'Rourke, who's making a series of stops in Iowa, says he likes the way Buttigieg is approaching voters and "the seriousness with which he answers questions, the thought that he's put into it. I think he's terrific."

O'Rourke made the comments while leaving a house party in the Des Moines area.

___

8 a.m.

It's Bernie versus Beto in Iowa.

The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are holding dueling events Saturday just days after Bernie Sanders won the campaign cash derby for the first quarter of the year.

The Vermont senator raised more than $18 million in 41 days, while Beto O'Rourke, a former Texas congressman, reported $9.4 million in 18 days.

Iowa hosts the nation's first nominating caucuses.

Other declared or prospective candidates are in early-voting New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg (BOO'-tuh-juhj) of South Bend, Indiana, along with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (KEER'-sten JIHL'-uh-brand) of New York and Michael Bennet of Colorado are visiting New Hampshire.

John Hickenlooper, a former Colorado governor, is meeting with survivors of the 2015 church massacre in Charleston, South Carolina.

Source: Fox News National

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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)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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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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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan

(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.

Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.

Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.

WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?

The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.

Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.

HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?

The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.

Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.

The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.

The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.

No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.

Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.

Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.

CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?

No.

Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.

“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.

“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”

PROOF OF WRONGDOING?

In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.

Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”

PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?

Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.

In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.

The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.

WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?

A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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