Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Jury acquits Florida dad whose baby choked on a lollipop

Jurors in Miami have acquitted a man who was charged with manslaughter after his 6-month-old son choked on a lollipop.

The Miami Herald reports a jury decided late last week that the death of Jermaine Marcell Levy's son Marcell Jr. was accidental and not the result of reckless behavior.

Miami-Dade Assistant Public Defender Adam Saper says the "tragic accident" should have never been charged as a crime. He says the baby died on Father's Day 2018 as his father tried to resuscitate him.

Levy, now 20, was arrested after police said he hit the baby's mother in the mouth before kidnapping the boy who he had never taken care of. An arrest warrant says Levy was homeless and couldn't provide formula for the child and gave him a lollipop.

___

Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com

Source: Fox News National

0 0

The Press Is Just Following a Trail That Trump Created

CNN’s Brian Stelter opened Sunday's edition of "Reliable Sources" with a monologue defending the media's coverage of Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation as the country waits for the first details to be released.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN: News headlines are ubiquitous these days. Our phones alert us to the news. Cable is more like a rolling talk show, letting people be a part of the daily debate about how our country should be governed and how our world should work. I think that's a good thing. Some of the talk shows are really smart. The bad thing is when folks mix up the talk with the news.

Sometimes we let it get too blurry. Let me take this on. Partisans on the right are already claiming the end of the Mueller probe vindicates all of their prior positions. They are saying the media, the evil media, was wrong all along.

Donald Trump Jr. is tweeting out messages like this: "#CollusionTruthers." Accusing the press of pushing a narrative against his dad. Junior is making a rookie mistake. Mueller's assignment was to get to the truth about Russian interference.

Now, did many commentators and Democratic politicians allege collusion? Yes.

Did many journalists ask about it? Yes.

There is a giant difference between asking and telling. The job of the nation's news media is to ask, to question all sides to scrutinize and report on opposing points of view and only take the side of truth and decency. Someone should tell Jesse Watters that.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS: I feel like this delivers a knockout blow to the press and Democrats who have been saying collusion, collusion, collusion for the last two years.

STELTER: Watters should take his blinders off. Obviously, some opinion columnists and point-of-view news outlets have invested in an anti-Trump narrative. Others, like Watters, have promoted a pro-Trump narrative. That is our wild media world. But the president's kids and friends on Fox should be able to tell the difference between agenda-driven columnists and journalists trying to report. There is a big difference. There is difference between news and opinion.

I realize it can be hard to tune out all of the noise and just tune in to the news these days. If I had to pick speculation or solid reporting, I would pick solid reporting in a second. I bet you would too. Reporting is what adds the most value. Finding out something new, putting out new information into the world is the best feeling in journalism. It is the greatest value add. Hundreds of journalists have been trying to solve pieces of this Trump-Russia puzzle.

But here's the thing -- Speculation actually has value too. It helps open our eyes and our minds to what's possible.

I know people like to mock cable news in moments like this. It's an easy punch line, right? We are standing by to find out what the news is going to be. Waiting for AG Barr to tell us something. But that does have value too.

It gives us a place to go, a place to turn to. A recognition that you're not the only one who wants to know. I rearranged my plan so I can be close to a TV all day today with the hope that we are going to get some news from Barr by the end of the day.

This country needs to know what Mueller found and needs to know what he didn't find.

I think all of us as news citizens, news consumers, need to make sure our tuners work so we can distinguish what is true and news versus what is wishful thinking, speculation, opinion. We need to distinguish between what has actually happened and what might happen.

So don't be fooled by the partisans who cherry-pick the worst mistakes over individual journalists or the craziest ideas from commentators and claim that's the entire media. It's not.

We are waiting for the facts.

Here is what I know. You're going to hear it from the right for the next days and weeks to come. That the press has made all of this up to take down President Trump. The press is just following a trail that Trump created. He has proven time and time again he cannot be trusted. He is so dishonest that even America's allies don't know what to believe. He is so unpredictable that his aides sometimes don't know what to say or how to respond. That's the crucial context for whatever comes next.

Maybe every time he said, "no collusion," more than 231 times so far, maybe every time he said no collusion he was telling the truth. Maybe that's what Mueller found. If so, it would be a relief of the country. Trump's daily deceptions have given this country ample reasons to be suspicious. That's why there's so much noise. News coverage doesn't happen in a vacuum, speculation doesn't happen in a vacuum. Reporters don't ask questions for no good reason. Let's hope real research and real reporting can lead us out of this. The name Mueller has come to mean a lot of things. Hopefully it means truth. And hopefully soon.

0 0

Tennis: Azarenka upsets Kerber, faces Muguruza in Monterrey final

Tennis: Miami Open
FILE PHOTO: Mar 21, 2019; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Victoria Azarenka of Belarus hits a forehand against Caroline Garcia of France (not pictured) in the second round of the Miami Open at Miami Open Tennis Complex. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

April 7, 2019

(Reuters) – Victoria Azarenka used her superior serving and punishing groundstrokes to upset top seed Angelique Kerber 6-4 4-6 6-1 and advance to Sunday’s final of the Monterrey Open against Garbine Muguruza.

In a battle of former world number ones the momentum shifted in the Belarusian’s favor early in the third set when Kerber committed two double faults in a careless service game to hand Azarenka a 2-0 lead.

Azarenka seized the opportunity, consolidating the break in the next game before cruising to the finish line to reach her first final in more than three years.

“I’m very pleased with how I played today,” she said in an on-court interview on a warm night in northern Mexico.

“It was an important match and to see how I can do under pressure against a top player,” she said.

“I haven’t won many of those in the last couple years so it’s good that I’m able to turn it around and pick up my level.”

Earlier, second seed Muguruza eased past Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2 6-3 to book her ticket to the final.

Azarenka came out the victor in her only previous meeting with Spaniard Muguruza, a hard-fought 7-6(6) 7-6(4) win on the hard courts in Miami in 2016.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

Source: OANN

0 0

Cars and cheap loans a shaky foundation for Hungary’s baby boom plan

Scharle and her husband play with their daughter in Budakeszi, a western suburb of Budapest
Julia Scharle and her husband play with their daughter in Budakeszi, a western suburb of Budapest, Hungary, February 17, 2019. Picture taken February 17, 2019. REUTERS/Tamas Kaszas

February 21, 2019

By Marton Dunai

BUDAKESZI, Hungary (Reuters) – Tucked away in a leafy hillside suburb west of Budapest, Julia Scharle lives the family-centered life Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long promoted with the slogan “three kids, three rooms, four wheels.”

Scharle, 28, and her husband share a new house with their two year-old daughter, and she’s expecting a second daughter in July.

The couple intend to have at least one more baby after that and, since Orban introduced extra incentives for four-child families, possibly two more.

“It’s still a question whether we plan for three children or four,” she said.

Low birth rates and people heading West have cut Hungary’s population by 1 million to 9.8 million within a generation, fuelling labor shortages and growing alarm among the country’s leaders.

Orban, one of the strongest opponents of immigration among Europe’s leaders, insists natural growth should reverse the population decline.

Last week he promised young Hungarians with large families a package of loan subsidies, tax cuts, grants and car allowances totaling up to 37.5 million forints ($135,000), with those with four or more children eligible for the biggest payouts.

“There are fewer and fewer children born in Europe. For the West, the answer is immigration,” Orban said in his state of the nation speech. “But we …need Hungarian children. To us immigration means surrender.”

Under his program, women who have at least four children will be exempt from income tax while grandmothers can take over maternity leave so their daughters can return to work and public child care centers will add significant capacity.

NOT SO FAST

Will that halt Hungary’s population decline? History suggests not.

Scharle agrees with Orban the solution is in bigger families rather than immigration. But she will not expand hers for money.

“I don’t think this should be the main motivation,” she said. “You need to want it, and if you do, this frees you from the financial doubts.”

The documented experiences of several countries suggest the effects of population growth-focused government policies on actual fertility rates tends to be limited.

They include Hungary, whose birth rate fell off a cliff in the late 1980s and has stayed low ever since despite attempts by several governments to raise it.

Average fertility rates of above 2.1 children per woman are generally required for population growth. Hungary’s stands at 1.5 and, one expert said, is unlikely to rise beyond 1.7 due to Orban’s package.

“Material benefits usually induce a baby boom when support is direct, like a lump sum in exchange for a baby,” said Balazs Kapitany, a demographer at the Central Statistics Office.

“The system outlined here is too complex, conditional, and deferred in time for a quick rise in births.”

The story is similar elsewhere. In Japan, among the quickest declining populations, a 2017 study by a unit of the Boston Consulting Group found that people just ignored government financial incentives to procreate more.

Schemes in Russia and Singapore also failed to significantly boost birth rates, studies show.

OTP Bank analysts said they expect Hungary’s effort to cost 0.3 percent of gross domestic product this year, while Raiffeisen Bank forecasts 0.1 percent.

The program has also sparked frustration among the jobless or less well off, for whom tax subsidies and loans are an irrelevance.

“This program does not motivate us at all,” said nurse Liza Ludmann-Vank, who is bringing up three children aged 4 to 12 on the eastern edge of Budapest. “Without lots of help from grandmas and babysitters raising four kids is impossible anyway.”

(Reporting by Marton Dunai; editing by John Stonestreet)

Source: OANN

0 0

Turkish election board rules in favor of partial Istanbul recount

People walk past by AK Party billboards with pictures of Turkish President Erdogan and mayoral candidate Yildirim in Istanbul
People walk past by AK Party billboards with pictures of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and mayoral candidate Binali Yildirim in Istanbul, Turkey, April 1, 2019. The billboards read: " Thank you Istanbul ". REUTERS/Huseyin Aldemir

April 3, 2019

By Ece Toksabay

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s High Election Board ruled on Wednesday in favor of a recount in seven of Istanbul’s 39 districts after an initial count showed the main opposition candidate earned a narrow victory in the city’s local election.

President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party submitted objections to election results in all districts of Turkey’s commercial hub Istanbul and capital Ankara as initial results showed it was on course to lose control of both cities.

The election setback may complicate Erdogan’s efforts to combat the economy’s slide into recession.

On Tuesday, the provincial election board in Istanbul had halted a recount sought by the AKP in seven Istanbul districts in response to a challenge by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

However the High Election Board (YSK) ruled overnight that the recount of what had been ruled as invalid votes should go ahead in the districts of Sile, Bayrampasa, Atasehir, Umraniye, Beykoz, Fatih and Gaziosmanpasa.

In Istanbul, the mayoral candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ekrem Imamoglu, and his AKP rival, ex-prime minister Binali Yildirim, both said on Monday Imamoglu was around 25,000 votes ahead. Istanbul’s population is 15 million, according to official data.

The AKP filed challenges to results throughout the two cities after saying it would use its right to object to the results where there were voting irregularities, adding that errors at the ballots had affected the outcome.

Ahead of the elections, the CHP had formed an electoral alliance with the Iyi (Good) Party to rival that of the AKP and their nationalist MHP partners. The alliances nominated joint candidates in certain cities, including Ankara and Istanbul.

In Ankara, Yavas received 50.9 percent of votes in Sunday’s vote, ahead of his AKP rival and former minister Mehmet Ozhaseki by nearly 4 percentage points.

Pro-government newspapers on Wednesday said there had been a conspiracy against Turkey in the local elections, with the Star newspaper likening this to an attempted military coup in 2016 and nationwide protests in 2013.

“Who organized the coup at the ballot box,” the front-page headline in Star said. “They wanted to take over the national will through organized theft and cheating methods,” it added.

Yeni Safak newspaper editor Ibrahim Karagul also described the elections as a “coup via elections” and that supporters of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara says carried out the 2016 putsch, were involved.

Karagul said the Istanbul election should be held again.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Dominic Evans)

Source: OANN

0 0

Japan’s incoming imperial couple offers the nation something new

FILE PHOTO : Japan's Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako attend an autumn garden party at Akasaka Palace Imperial garden in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO : (L to R) Japan's Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako attend an autumn garden party at Akasaka Palace Imperial garden in Tokyo, Japan November 9, 2018. Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

April 24, 2019

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife, Masako, represent a lot of firsts for an imperial couple: university-educated, multilingual and with years of experience living overseas, during which Naruhito even did his own laundry.

As they prepare to carve out identities as Japan’s emperor and empress, hopes are high they will make the office both more international and more in touch with the lives of ordinary Japanese.

“I think there’s opportunities for this newest generation of imperial family members to embrace causes that push the envelope a little,” said Shihoko Goto, an analyst at the Wilson Center, citing the 55-year-old Masako’s experience as a diplomat.

“They have a unique background and they have the interest, I believe, and they should have the skill sets to be more engaged,” she added, noting how far the family has come from World War Two, when Emperor Hirohito was considered a god.

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko reached out to ordinary people, especially to comfort them after disasters. Akihito’s abdication, the first in nearly 200 years, sparked discussion about whether that was the correct way to approach the role.

“There were clearly two views. One, that, like Akihito, the emperor must be active and interact with people, and the other, that all he needs to do is pray,” said an ex-royal household agency official. “But considering the future, I don’t think we have both options. An emperor who simply exists would not gain the trust and empathy of the people.”

Though Naruhito, 59, intends to carry on his parents’ work, he also says the monarchy needs to adapt. Observers said that could mean speaking up and reaching out more, leveraging the family’s value as part of Japan’s identity.

“Given these times, the imperial family should use things like social networking to express their opinions to a certain degree,” said Rika Kayama, a psychiatrist and author of a book on the imperial women.

“If not words, then photos on Instagram,” she added, noting Naruhito has posed for selfies with bystanders overseas and Masako in particular may have things she wants to express.

Masako’s long struggle with what palace officials term an “adjustment disorder” is on everybody’s mind, especially because it kept her out of the public eye for roughly a decade. By contrast, Michiko is often termed “flawless” in her dedication.

“When Masako visits disaster victims, they’ll feel she’s gone through hard times, like them,” said Hideya Kawanishi, assistant history professor at Nagoya University. “More than the sense of gratitude they have with Empress Michiko, it’ll be a sense of empathy. She’ll seem closer.”

Masako’s frequent expressions in birthday messages of concern for impoverished or troubled children suggest those are likely to be causes she will pursue.

Naruhito, who studied medieval river transport, is interested in water issues and conservation, and has hinted he may take up climate change as well.

“It plays to his interests, also the national interest, and a cross-border interest too. There are many issues like that … they have a unique platform they could really use,” Goto said.

“Things like the environment, or reaching across borders for greater understanding and dialogue at a time when the world is becoming myopic and insular.”

Patience will be needed in change-averse Japan, however.

“Even the current emperor and empress came in for lots of criticism at the start – for example, when Michiko got on her knees to console people and took their hands, she was criticized for ‘damaging the authority of the Emperor,'” Kawanishi said.

“So they’ll move gradually to put their imprint on things. They’ll change something, wait, then change again.”

(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source: OANN

0 0

Big brands dive into esports to court youth market: Nielsen

ESL One - Dota 2 Major
FILE PHOTO: Esports - ESL One - Dota 2 Major - Arena Birmingham, Birmingham, Britain - May 26, 2018 General view as fans watch on Action Images via Reuters/Ed Sykes

April 24, 2019

By Hilary Russ

NEW YORK (Reuters) – From snack companies to carmakers, a wide range of brands is trying to reach one of the hottest demographic groups around: esports fans.

Those brands are finding their footing with 39 percent of brand exposure in esports’ competitive video game broadcasts coming from non-gaming related companies in 2018, Nielsen said in a report on Wednesday.

“Over all forms of entertainment, their biggest passion is video games,” Nicole Pike, Managing Director of Nielsen Esports, said of enthusiasts of professional video gaming.

Such companies are called “non-endemic” since they are not as naturally aligned with esports as those that manufacture gaming computers, consoles, chairs and other gear, for instance.

The list of non-endemic brands in the sector and already includes State Farm, Disney, Spotify, Toyota, Mastercard, Cheez-It, Hershey, Chipotle, Sephora , Wendy’s and Head & Shoulders, and is getting longer.

Viewership of esports – when fans watch in person or online as professional video game players compete – is expanding.

The bulk of fans are typically between 18 and 35 years old, referred to in the Nielsen report by esports sponsor Doritos as “emerging adults.”

They have more disposable income than other sports fans and many have cut the cord to traditional media.

In fact, 61 percent of esports viewers on Twitch, a main platform for watching esports streams, do not watch television on a weekly basis, according to Nielsen, making traditional forms of marketing a challenge.

Reaching out through esports does seem to work, since 90 percent of Twitch’s esports viewers can name at least one non-endemic sponsor, Nielsen found.

Brands seen as authentically interested in the space fare better than those that just slap their logo on a jersey, advertising and esports experts say.

PepsiCo’s Doritos, for instance, sponsored a “Doritos Bowl” hosted by Twitch for a Call of Duty battle royale tournament between top streamers.

Fans watched nearly 550,000 combined hours of that tournament, Nielsen said.

When 20th Century Fox wanted to promote the digital release of its movie “Deadpool 2 Super Duper Cut,” it turned to the gaming advertising and talent agency Ader.

Ader partnered with top Fortnite influencer DrLupo and also created new custom designed Deadpool “emotes” – essentially emoji characters – that viewers use in Twitch chat windows.

An influx of non-endemic brands also adds credibility to the evolving esports ecoystem, said Chad De Luca, head of gaming and esports at Publicis Sport & Entertainment.

“It is a mark of approval from a blue-chip company,” he said.

(Reporting by Hilary Russ, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



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

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: Candidate Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of an exit poll in Ukraine's presidential election in Kiev
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Matthias Williams

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“DANGEROUS CANCER” OF GRAFT

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

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

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

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

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KIM FOXX’S CHIEF ETHICS OFFICER RESIGNS FOLLOWING SMOLLETT CONTROVERSY

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

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

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

CLICK HERE FOF THE FOX NEWS APP

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

Smollett has strongly denied the accusations.

Source: Fox News National

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist