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

Italy: Teacher's 'experiment' with black pupil arouses anger

An elementary school teacher in central Italy who told his students a black classmate was "ugly" is learning about the outrage his action caused.

Several parents complained after their children told them the teacher directed the boy to turn his back to the the class and then instructed the other students to "look how ugly he is."

The teacher told Italian state TV he was conducting a social experiment.

Italian Education Minister Marco Bussetti condemned the incident in a public school in Foligno, a town in the Umbria region, as "very grave." Bussetti tweeted Thursday that urgent measures would be taken to address it.

Immigration to predominantly white Italy is a relatively recent phenomenon. The anti-migrant League, one of the two parties in government, issues statements associating foreigners with crime.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Family plans to take Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild private

FILE PHOTO: A logo of Banque Privee Edmond de Rothschild is seen on the bank building before a news conference for the group's 2010 results, in Geneva
FILE PHOTO: A logo of Banque Privee Edmond de Rothschild is seen on the bank building before a news conference for the group's 2010 results, in Geneva March 31, 2011. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

March 13, 2019

ZURICH (Reuters) – The Benjamin de Rothschild family plans to take Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) S.A. private as a way to consolidate Edmond de Rothschild banking activity and make the Swiss group its operative holding company, the bank said on Wednesday.

The offer price for each bearer share is 17,945 Swiss francs in cash, or 15,500 francs after deducting its proposed dividend, it said. The stock closed on Tuesday at 16,400. Founded in 1953, the private banking and asset management group has 170 billion Swiss francs ($168.72 billion) in assets under management.

(Reporting by Michael Shields)

Source: OANN

0 0

Austria Warns EU of “New Massive Migration Movement”

A new migration wave is on the verge of flooding Europe, Austria's interior minister has warned.

In a letter to Brussels obtained by Kronen Zeitung, Interior Minister Herbert Kickl cites Europol statistics indicating that thousands of migrants are already on Europe's southeastern doorstep, and many more can be expected.

"We all still remember the images of the mass immigration of 2015/2016," Kickl says. "It would be irresponsible to twiddle one's thumb and wait until tens of thousands of migrants are on the border."

"A political repair-and-patchwork mentality does not bring us anywhere in the E.U. — only a clear, proactive strategic approach. It's about averting a new crisis rather than waiting for it to erupt."

"Large-scale migration from Turkey to Europe" is kicking into gear as the weather improves, he says, with some 60,000 'asylum seekers' in Greece, and another 5,000 each in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, respectively.

"5.6 million Syrian refugees in the Middle East show the clear potential of a new massive migration movement," Kickl says.

The interior minister provided the following statistics regarding migrant arrivals and apprehensions to support his case:

  • Greece: around 7850 arrivals (up 5% over the same period last year)
  • Macedonia: around 3380 apprehensions (up 185%)
  • Serbia: about 1400 apprehensions (down 33%)
  • Albania: around 1,460 apprehensions (up 6%)
  • Bosnia-Herzegovina: around 3,700 apprehensions (up 183%)
  • Hungary: around 720 border crossings (up 31%)
  • Slovenia: around 1300 apprehensions (up 120%)

Kickl has vowed that Austria is "determined to take every measure necessary to prevent illegal migration," and is calling upon top EU officials to "coordinate our respective contingency plans for a new mass influx."

Kickl is also requesting cooperation from governments in Turkey and the Western Balkans to hold the line and prevent "the onward journey of refugees and migrants" – a task he says will require substantially more financial support from the EU.

Italy's Matteo Salvini recently said his nationalist party, Lega, is here to stay. Dan Lyman with Infowars Europe joins Owen to discuss the future of Europe and solutions for the migration crisis.

(PHOTO: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Source: InfoWars

0 0

'Dreamer' Flight Attendant Detained on Return to US

A Texas flight attendant who was enrolled in the government's program for "Dreamers" flew to Mexico for work and was stopped by immigration authorities who forced her to spend more than a month in detention, her attorney said.

Selene Saavedra Roman, 28, who immigrated illegally to the U.S. as a child, was released Friday from a detention center in Conroe, Texas, according to a statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"Being released is an indescribable feeling," she said through a spokesman. "I cried and hugged my husband and never wanted to let go. I am thankful and grateful for the amazing people that came to fight for me, and it fills my heart. Thank you to everyone that has supported. I am just so happy to have my freedom back."

Originally from Peru and married to an American citizen, she raised concerns with Mesa Airlines about her immigration status after being assigned to an international flight, attorney Belinda Arroyo said.

The airline assured her she would be fine, but she was stopped by U.S. authorities on Feb. 12, when she returned to Houston, and was sent to detention, where she remained for more than five weeks, Arroyo said.

Soon after her lawyer, her husband, the airline and a flight attendants' group publicly demanded her release, Saavedra Roman called to tell her husband she was getting out.

"She was crying and she said, 'Please come get me,'" her husband, David Watkins, told reporters.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency was looking into her status. Earlier, the agency said Saavedra Roman did not have a valid document to enter the country and was being detained while going through immigration court proceedings.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — the agency that oversees the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA — declined to discuss the case. But the agency says on its website that participants who travel outside the country without a special document allowing them to do so are no longer covered by the program.

The agency no longer issues the document to the program's enrollees, according to the website.

People enrolled in the program are commonly referred to as "Dreamers," based on never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act.

The Trump administration sought to end the Obama-era program but was blocked by litigation. New applications have been halted, but renewals continue for hundreds of thousands of immigrants already enrolled.

In a joint statement with the Association of Flight Attendants, Mesa Airlines chief executive Jonathan Ornstein apologized to Saavedra Roman and asked U.S. authorities to release her, arguing that it was unfair to continually detain someone "over something that is nothing more than an administrative error and a misunderstanding."

"She should have never been advised that she could travel," Arroyo said. "It was a big mistake."

Saavedra Roman — who is scheduled to appear before an immigration judge in April — attended Texas A&M University, where she met her husband.

Watkins said he was not initially worried about her assignment because they already obtained approval from Citizenship and Immigration Services to apply for her green card as the wife of an American citizen. She has no criminal record and has long paid her taxes, he said, and she checked with her employer before the trip.

Then she was detained. He could visit her only once a week and could only see her through thick glass. She sounded hopeless, he said.

"I told her, 'Even if you get deported to Peru, I'll just go with you,'" he said to reporters. "Regardless of whatever happens in the future, I am not giving up. I am going to keep fighting."

In a statement, the union representing Saavedra Roman and her colleagues said the event "highlights the urgency of commonsense immigration reform and resolution for America's children who are part of DACA."

Source: NewsMax America

0 0

Trump scuttles deal that would avoid Senate rebuke


**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.**

On the roster: Trump scuttles deal that would avoid Senate rebuke - Warren, Biden poised for another showdown - Schultz outlines presidential prerogatives - Audible: Earmuffs! - Wo ist das Toilettenpapier?

TRUMP SCUTTLES DEAL THAT WOULD AVOID SENATE REBUKE 
WaPo:President Trump said Wednesday he opposes Republican legislation to rein in presidential emergency powers — crippling an attempt at compromise on the eve of a crucial Senate vote. Trump made his views known in a phone call with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) as Lee lunched with fellow Republican senators at the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe it. Lee then relayed the information to his colleagues. The development came a day before the Senate votes on a disapproval resolution that would nullify the national emergency Trump has declared at the U.S.-Mexico border as a way to circumvent Congress and get billions for his wall. Lee’s effort to craft legislation limiting the scope of presidential emergency powers going forward was seen as a way to limit GOP defections on the separate disapproval resolution vote.”

Undercuts Pence (again) - NYT: “But that near certainty appeared to shift on Tuesday as Vice President Mike Pence pressed Senate Republicans at a closed-door meeting before their weekly policy lunch. A measure sponsored by Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, and supported by more than a dozen Republican senators, would curtail the president’s powers under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, requiring a congressional vote of approval for any new emergency declaration after 30 days.”

Buuuutttt… Pelosi had nixed it already - Fox News: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday that she would not allow the House to take up legislation that would potentially spare President Trump from an embarrassing rebuff from Congress over his decision to declare a national emergency on the border. ‘In an effort to avoid voting in favor of the House's resolution to terminate Trump’s #FakeEmergency, GOP senators are proposing legislation to allow Trump to violate the Constitution *just this once.* The House will not take up this legislation to give President Trump a pass,’ Pelosi tweeted.”

Senate GOP feeling froggy about challenging Trump on foreign policy - Bloomberg: “With Democrats controlling the House and GOP senators joining with Democrats to rebuke Trump, the odds are higher that Congress in coming months could send the president legislation that contradicts his will and forces a veto. ‘Congress is definitely stepping up and expressing its views,’ said Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican and Trump ally. … GOP willingness to buck the president began growing last summer with a vote reaffirming U.S. support for NATO. The measure drew support from nearly every Republican in the Senate and followed Trump’s statements questioning the alliance’s relevance and warnings that the U.S. was spending too much money to protect European nations and getting too little in return.”

THE RULEBOOK: EVEN WHEN MEASURED IN THE MILLIONS 
“The number of individuals employed under the Constitution of the United States will be much smaller than the number employed under the particular States.” – James MadisonFederalist No. 45

TIME OUT: BAD, BAD BIRDS 
FiveThirtyEight: “The 2018 Baltimore Orioles were so bad that we questioned whether they belonged in the major leagues at all. … There have been a few teams who went into a season with less apparent talent than Baltimore — but not many. Using Baseball-Reference.com, we gathered data for each American League team’s opening day lineup since 1973 (to include every team who used the designated hitter full-time) and calculated those players’ established WAR track records going into the season. The track records for these Orioles — to the extent they have track records at all — place the team at or near the low-water mark at each position relative to all other AL opening day starting lineups since 1973… Only three teams in our sample — the 1977 and 1982 Toronto Blue Jays and the 1980 Oakland Athletics — had lower established WAR levels for their starting lineups on Opening Day than the Orioles will have this season.”

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 42.4 percent
Average disapproval: 53.2 percent
Net Score: -10.8 points
Change from one week ago: no change  
[Average includes: Monmouth University: 44% approve - 52% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 38% approve - 55% disapprove; Gallup: 43% approve - 54% unapproved; IBD: 41% approve - 53% disapprove; NBC/WSJ: 46% approve - 52% disapprove.]

WARREN, BIDEN POISED FOR ANOTHER SHOWDOWN 
Politico: “On a February morning in 2005 in a hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Joe Biden confronted Elizabeth Warren over a subject they’d been feuding over for years: the country’s bankruptcy laws. … Fourteen years later, Warren and Biden are expected to find themselves facing off again, this time on a much larger stage. And while a bill that passed in 2005 is unlikely to dominate the 2020 Democratic primaries, the fight over the bankruptcy legislation helped shape Warren politically and could be a surprising liability for Biden in the race to become his party’s choice to replace President Donald Trump. … Delaware was home to one of the nation’s biggest credit card issuers at the time, and advocates on both sides of the debate saw Biden as trying to represent his state’s interests in Congress. But with emotions still raw about the banking bailouts of the Great Recession, some Democrats see Biden’s vote for the bill as part of a broader record that’s not as progressive as he’d like it to appear.”

Sanders’ secret weapon: Sincerity - Vanity Fair:Tom Townsend, the president of the AFL-CIO in Dubuque, called it an uncomplicated political formula that national Democrats seemed to have lost sight of before 2016. And yet, he told me, several of the Democrats currently running for president aren’t presenting a coherent rationale for their campaigns. ‘There are a couple I have talked to, and I don’t have a clue why they are running,’ he said. ‘Other than they want to run.’ One candidate who does make sense for many of his fellow workers, he said, is Sanders. ‘He talks to average people in a language they understand. It’s been a long time since people came to Dubuque and talked about real Midwestern issues, not what donors wanted to talk about or what national people want to talk about it. What people liked about Bernie is he was genuine. No one thinks he was making crap up to get corporate donations.’”

Beto does Iowa - AP: “Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke is planning a series of stops in Iowa beginning Thursday as he nears an announcement on a 2020 White House bid. O’Rourke, a former congressman, is set to make stops in Burlington, along the Mississippi River in southeast Iowa, and Dubuque, to the north, during his three days in Iowa, according to two people familiar with the plans. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose details of the plans. A spokesman said Monday that O’Rourke planned to visit the University of Northern Iowa on Saturday to campaign for Eric Giddens, the Democratic candidate running in a state Senate special election this month. O’Rourke released a video Monday night from Texas, announcing his support for Giddens and wearing a University of Northern Iowa cap.

Wasserman: Dems’ messy process may spare Trump - NYT: “Donald Trump’s low approval ratings have attracted a crush of Democrats vying to make him a one-term president. But he might have an unlikely ally in his re-election bid: Democrats’ mess of a primary system…. By contrast, the Democratic Party’s egalitarian-minded rules allocate all pledged delegates to its convention on a proportional basis: A presidential candidate who receives at least 15 percent of the vote in any state or congressional district receives a corresponding share of delegates, making it difficult for a leading candidate to become a runaway train. In fact, had the 2016 Republican primary played out under Democrats’ rules, it would have almost assuredly resulted in an ugly, contested convention. … But for 2020, Democrats' jam-packed field is already on track to surpass the Republican 17-way rumble of 2016 and lacks an obvious front-runner.”

Big tech’s growing 2020 woes - Rolling Stone: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) rolled out the most ambitious policy plan of her presidential campaign — and arguably of any 2020 candidate — when she called for breaking up of the nation’s three tech giants: Facebook, Amazon and Google. … Rolling Stone can report that Warren, [Sen. AmyKlobuchar, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) and ex-Congressman John Delaney will appear on Saturday, March 30th, at the Heartland Forum in Storm Lake, Iowa, to discuss America’s monopoly problem and other rural issues and offer solutions. (Every declared and likely Democratic candidate was invited, a spokesman for the event says.) … The driving force behind the event — and perhaps the larger resurgence in public understanding and desire for action around antitrust and monopolies — is Barry Lynn, the 57-year-old founder and director of the Open Markets Institute.”

SCHULTZ OUTLINES PRESIDENTIAL PREROGATIVES
AP: “Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on Wednesday offered his vision for what an independent presidency could look like, even though he still hasn't decided whether to enter the White House race himself. In a speech at Miami Dade College, Schultz laid out his plans for protecting democracy and free enterprise and sought to show how a president elected outside the two-party system could repair the current dysfunction in Washington. Schultz also vowed to sign only legislation that has bipartisan support and to not put forward any Supreme Court nominee who cannot be confirmed by two-thirds of the Senate. … Schultz also said that he would assemble a Cabinet that includes members from across the political spectrum and consists of a larger share of women than that of any previous president.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Former Trump campaign boss, Manafort, 69, to serve nearly seven years for his crimes - Fox News

Paralysis in London as Parliament rejects another Brexit planBBC

Impeachment fight still simmering among DemsRoll Call

Newsom grants reprieves for all 737 on California death rowSan Francisco Chronicle 

Q Poll: DeSantis most popular Florida governor in a decade Orlando Sentinel

After Florida gubernatorial defeat, Putnam to lead conservation group Ducks Unlimited - Memphis Commercial Appeal

Neomi Rao confirmed to replace Kavanaugh on D.C. Circuit Fox News

Office space: Pelosi boots Pence from House digs - NPR

AUDIBLE: EARMUFFS!
“Motherf***ers! … Sorry, kids.” – Beto O’Rourke while “darting” through an intersection while driving his kids home from school, as quoted by Vanity Fair in their latest piece on the potential presidential candidate. 

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“G'day Chris, Just a brief point from someone here ‘at the end of the world’ (New Zealand - we have spoken before!) Why is that the new freshmen, who have achieved nothing in actual governing, are allowed to act as though they have achieved something in government? Why does nobody remind them (and the people) that they are - almost by definition - amateurs, as yet? Truly an example of the disaster of ‘arrogance’ plus ‘ignorance’ perhaps?” – Mike O'Neill, New Zealand

[Ed. note: Be careful, Mr. O’Neill, or the populists will hear you. One of the core tenets of populism, no matter what political ideology, is that expertise and experience are overrated. Voters in the United States and much of the world these days have a strong feeling that the hard-won wisdom that comes through in a career in public service is outweighed by the tendency of such individuals to be elitists. When Donald Trump was running for president his inexperience was touted as an advantage by supporters. Those who are excited about the congresswomen to whom you allude would certainly say the same thing. Always good to hear from you!

“Wasn’t it Bob Dole who was mocked for referring to the ‘Brooklyn’ Dodgers? So now the President is referring to Tim Cook as Tim Apple, and it's a joke? Let's check that neuro workup.” – Norman F. Smith, Jr., Newtown, Pa.

[Ed. note: Poor Bob Dole. You are referencing the then-Republican nominee’s Sept. 18, 1996 mishap in which he likened himself to Hideo Nomo, the Dodgers’ ace who pitched a no-hitter that week. Dole was trailing President Bill Clinton substantially and Dole sought to rally supporters at a Los Angeles area speech saying that he would do as Nomo did and “wipe them out between now and Nov. 5.” But in making his joke, Dole slipped and referenced the pre-1958 home of the Dodgers, Brooklyn, N.Y. Now, Dole obviously knew that the Dodgers were in Los Angeles, otherwise he wouldn’t have referenced the team and its star player while visiting the city. But he slipped and referenced the team’s home for the first 35 years of his life. Reporters looking for something that would both highlight Dole’s reputation as an out-of-touch oldster and a hapless campaigner pounced. Plus, 1996 was one of the most boring elections of recent memory, and reporters will always find a way to make a living out on the dusty campaign trail. “Dole delivers a no-no to the glory days of Brooklyn” announced the NYT’s headline. I don’t know whether “Tim Apple” is better or worse than Dole’s gaffe, but the times have certainly changed. Not only does Trump commit so many transgressions against syntax, fact and reason in his remarks that reporters can’t keep up, but thanks to social media, the half-life of these moments for any politician is astonishingly short. When Adam Nagourney filed his dispatch for the Times 23 years ago from Los Angeles, the story of Dole’s senior moment in California would still be unknown to almost all. Cable news was in its infancy and social media was still far off in the future. Much like the bogus story of George H.W. Bush being astounded by the existence of supermarket scanners four years prior, the Dole/Dodgers story could be shaped and mature into a meme before it was released to the general public. By the time reporters could get around to making fun of Trump for his synaptic slip, Twitter had already used up every gag, pun and jab. Pity us poor headline writers in the days of social media. All the good ones are all already taken.]

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

WO IST DAS TOILETTENPAPIER?
Fox News: “A Bavarian town that accidentally ordered a 12-year supply of toilet paper is officially wiped out. The mayor of Fuchstal, a small German town of around 4,000 people near Munich, says ‘the last roll has now been used up.’ The toilet roll tale started in 2006 when a council employee mistakenly ordered two massive truckloads of the paper product. When the first vehicle rolled into the town, authorities realized their mistake and were able to successfully cancel the second truck. However, they were still stuck with roll upon roll on the first truck. … Part of the reason why it took the town more than a decade to use up the toilet paper was because of the condition of the paper itself. Residents complained the gray-colored 1-ply was too flimsy, turned brittle and yellow under exposure to sunlight. Some workers refused outright to use it and opted to bring their own toiled paper from home. The silver-gray lining in the fiasco is that the botched order saved the city money because the price of wood rose the following year.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“[Politics] is the only American industry whose participants devote prodigious sums to destroying whatever shred of allegiance any of them might once have won with their customers.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on Oct. 28, 1994.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Motor racing: Hamilton wins Formula One’s 1,000th race

Chinese Grand Prix
Formula One F1 - Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China - April 14, 2019 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in action during the race REUTERS/Thomas Peter

April 14, 2019

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday to retake the overall lead from Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas in Formula One’s 1,000th world championship race.

Bottas, who had started on pole but lost out to five times world champion Hamilton into the first corner, finished second for his team’s third one-two finish in as many races this season.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took third place, the German’s first podium appearance of the campaign, with Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly taking the fastest lap.

(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

Source: OANN

0 0

Florida woman whacks half-naked attacker with baseball bat: ‘He better be glad I didn’t have a gun’

A baseball bat-wielding Florida woman slugged a man after he attempted to break into her parked vehicle and then charged at her Sunday.

Clarese Gainey, 65, of Gainesville, told WGFL she heard a noise coming from outside her home and peeked out the window. That was when she says she saw a large man -- dressed only in his boxers -- attempting to get into her car.

"I grab my bat, I brace myself, and I ease the door open," Gainey told WGFL.

At that moment, the man -- identified by police as 37-year-old Antonio Mosely -- charged at her, authorities said, according to WGFL.

FLORIDA WOMAN BREAKS BACK, FOOT AFTER JUMPING OFF PIER TO RESCUE BOY FROM RIPTIDE: REPORT

"I took that bat and hit him upside the head, like, 'pi-yah!' He said, 'Ow!'" Gainey recalled.

The man reportedly fled to a nearby mobile home park but left behind a sock, shirt and pants.

“He was in his drawers,” she recalled.

A K-9 unit was able to track Mosely to a mobile home where officials said he was found with a pair of pants on. WGFL reported cocaine was found his pocket, and he was brought to Gainey for identification.

“I said, ‘That’s him right there,’” Gainey said.

Officers said they also noticed a large bump on the suspect’s head.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Mosley was charged with “attempted burglary to both an occupied and unoccupied conveyance and possession of a controlled substance,” the media outlet reported.

Gainey had a warning for the suspect, saying he “better be glad I didn’t have a gun.”

"Because I would have shot him," she said.

Then, pointing at her baseball bat, she added: "But this is my gun right here. Because I would have gone 'pi-yow!'"

Source: Fox News National

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad, California September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is growing at a 2.08% annualized pace in the second quarter based on upbeat data on durable goods orders and new home sales in March, the New York Federal Reserve’s Nowcast model showed on Friday.

This was faster than the 1.92% growth rate calculated by the N.Y. Fed model the week before.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he had assured China’s Huawei Technologies that it would not face discrimination in the rollout of Italy’s 5G telecoms network.

Conte was speaking on a visit to China where he said he met Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei. The prime minister’s comments were carried in Italy by TV broadcaster Sky Italia.

“I told him that we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests that demand very high levels of security … not only from Huawei but any company entering into the 5G arena,” he said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

(Writing by by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Angelo Amante)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday was expected to announce his intention to revoke the United States’ status as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but never ratified by Congress, two U.S. officials said.

Trump was expected to announce the decision in a speech in Indianapolis, to the National Rifle Association, the officials said. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby group, has long been opposed to the treaty, which was negotiated at the United Nations.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
A remote controlled robot for the 'Isotopium: Chernobyl' game is seen at the game's location in Brovary
A remote controlled robot for the ‘Isotopium: Chernobyl’ game is seen at the game’s location in Brovary, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 26, 2019

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian computer game that brings to life a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun but has attracted 60,000 people globally since its launch in October.

Players of “Isotopium: Chernobyl” drive tanks around the ghost town of Prypyat near Chernobyl, knocking out competitors as they search for an energy source called isotopium and collecting points every time they find some.

While the game takes its theme from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, which marked its 33rd anniversary on Friday, it was also inspired by the 2009 science fiction film “Avatar”.

Newcomers to the game think they have entered a virtual world when in fact they are controlling a real robot, equipped with a camera and computer, which makes its way around a model of the town rendered down to the tiniest detail.

“When playing our game, for the first 5-10 minutes many players don’t understand that it is not fictional,” said the game’s co-founder Sergey Beskrestnov. “They message us saying: ‘You have cool texture, you have good graphics, your designer is good, well done. You have a cool operating system.’

“People then reply: ‘It is not an operating system, it is real,’ and the player can’t believe it is real,” said Beskrestnov, speaking mid-game from Prypyat city square as he towers over surrounding five-storey buildings.

Kiev-born Beskrestnov was just 12 years old when on April 26, 1986 a botched test at the nuclear plant in the then Soviet Union sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people, including Beskrestnov’s family, to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

Beskrestnov and his partner Alexey Fateyev used Google maps and hundreds of pictures from the Chernobyl area to recreate Prypyat landmarks, including residential buildings, a hotel, concert hall, amusement park and a stadium.

The game’s real-scale model occupies a 180 square meter (1,938 sq. ft) basement of a residential building in the Ukraine city of Brovary, just 150 km (93 miles) from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 30 km east of Kiev.

Miniature radioactivity warning signs, graffiti on the walls of abandoned buildings and tables and chairs left scattered inside a small cafe all add to the creepy atmosphere of a once lively town.

“It’s a really neat concept …,” Shaun Prescott wrote in a review of the game published by PC Gamer magazine in January. “Controlling the tanks is kinda cumbersome, but they are tanks, after all.”

An attentive player will notice at least one inaccuracy – the real Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not located in town as it is in the game.

It costs $9 to immerse in the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic town for an hour but only 20 people at a time can play simultaneously. Beskrestnov’s company, Remote Games, said 62,615 people around the world have registered to play the game, including around 15,000 in France and 10,000 in the United States.

A camera fixed on top of a moving tank broadcasts high quality signal in real time, allowing players from as far apart as Australia and Canada enjoy the game without facing any time delay in delivering video signals.

Its creators next ambition is to devise a game featuring the colonization of Mars in which 1,000 people will be able to simultaneously control robots on different missions involved in the operation.

“Many people advise us to contact Elon Musk directly because it resonates his dreams and ideas,” Beskrestnov jokes.    

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 19,2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Initial optimism over first-quarter results from Starbucks Corp was waning fast on Wall Street on Friday, as analysts questioned the longer-term prospects of its new sales push given subdued overall customer traffic numbers especially in China.

The company on Thursday beat brokerage estimates for quarterly same-store sales on the back of demand for its new Cloud Macchiato, Matcha tea and cold brews in the United States.

However, BTIG’s Peter Saleh was one of a number of sector analysts who said while customers forking out for higher-priced new drinks had helped drive growth in same-store sales, “anemic” traffic at cafes remained a concern.

He and others pointed to a 1 percent decline in footfall at cafes in the Chinese market, viewed as crucial to the chain’s growth for the foreseeable future.

More broadly, transaction numbers, the substitute analysts use for customer traffic, were unchanged in all three of the company’s global regions.

Shares in the company, which hit a record high after the results on Thursday, fell 1 percent in morning trade.

“We remain cautious given near-term headwinds surrounding China, including cannibalization, increasing competition (and) a slowing economy,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan said.

Starbucks has also poured money into beefing up its delivery network in China as it battles with local startup Luckin Coffee, whose speedy growth led it to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this week.

New menu items and partnerships with delivery services, the heart of the company’s strategy to win back customers lost to artisanal coffee shops and cheaper fast-food rivals, did help Starbucks’ sales in its home market.

However, analysts said growth in China may continue to be subdued.

Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said she expects store expansion in China to take priority over comparable sales growth.

She downgraded her rating on Starbucks’ to “market perform” from “outperform”, arguing that the company facing tough sales comparisons later on in 2019 from last year and the current rich valuation of shares meant the stock had limited room to rise.

“Investors will be hesitant to invest new money in a stock with a topline that, while still strong, is unlikely to meaningfully accelerate,” Herzog said.

Still, the company’s solid same-store growth in the United States, improving profit margins and a lower tax rate for the rest of the year led at least 6 Wall Street brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock to as high as $81.

11 of 29 brokerages rate Starbucks “buy” or higher, 17 “hold” and 1 “sell” or lower. Their median price target is $75.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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