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Theresa May is latest Conservative leader swamped by Europe

Theresa May is set to join the ranks of Conservative prime ministers whose time in office has been overwhelmed — and cut short — by the issue of Europe.

Ever since Edward Heath took the U.K. into what was then the European Economic Community in 1973, the Conservative Party has been anguished by how close the country's ties should be with the continent.

All of Heath's Conservative successors in 10 Downing Street — Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David Cameron — have been swamped by Europe. On Wednesday, May told lawmakers from her own party that she will step down once she has secured Britain's departure from the European Union. Though the actual Brexit date remains clouded in mystery, few expect May to last more than a few more months.

"Throughout my adult lifetime, every Conservative prime minister has been brought down by Europe," Damian Green, a long-time close associate of May and a former member of her Cabinet, told BBC radio Thursday.

"For a successful political party that represents a very significant part of this country .... that is extraordinary."

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EDWARD HEATH, Prime Minister 1970-1974

On taking office, Heath made membership of the EEC a key objective. He was fortunate to have in Georges Pompidou a French president more amenable to the prospect of Britain joining the bloc than his predecessor Charles de Gaulle, who twice in the 1960s vetoed British membership.

In October 1971, the House of Commons voted by a margin of 356 votes to 244 to join the EEC in 1973, with a sizeable chunk of Heath's own party voting against. Though Heath and the Conservatives were voted out of office a year later after an economic crisis, his passionate pro-European stance weighed against him when Thatcher challenged him for the party's leadership in 1975.

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MARGARET THATCHER, Prime Minister 1979-1990

Thatcher was a keen backer of the EEC at first — she even wore a sweater with the flags of the member countries during Britain's first referendum on membership of the bloc in 1975. But her 11 years in Downing Street were marked by growing opposition to Europe.

Though her government backed the creation of the single European market in the mid-1980s, she became increasingly hostile to the move to further integrate European countries.

The appointment of French socialist Jacques Delors to head the executive European Commission added fuel to her fire. Thatcher and a growing part of the Conservative Party were aghast at Delors' ambition for a single currency.

In a 1988 speech, Thatcher rejected the prospect of a "European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels." Not everyone in her party was that hostile, and Thatcher's growing antipathy to Europe prompted the 1990 resignation of her deputy. In a cricket reference, Geoffrey Howe savaged Thatcher, arguing that she was sabotaging discussions with Europe: "It's rather like sending our opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find that before the first ball is bowled, their bats have been broken by the team captain."

Thatcher's time was up.

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JOHN MAJOR, Prime Minister 1990-1997

Her successor, John Major, sought to mend fences with Europe, even while keeping Britain out of the single currency. His government would soon after descend into civil war over the Maastricht Treaty, which bolstered integration on an array of issues, including foreign policy, and led to the creation of what is now known as the European Union.

Many of the hard-line euroskeptic lawmakers who have bedeviled May's leadership came to the fore during Major's premiership. John Redwood, one of the more passionate Brexit-backers in Parliament, challenged Major for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1995. Though he lost overwhelmingly, it was clear that the party was riven by the issue of Europe, both in parliament and beyond.

Hugely divided, the Conservatives, after 18 years in office, suffered one of their worst defeats in history in 1997 in an election that saw Tony Blair lead a decidedly pro-European Labour Party into power. His ambition was to put Britain at the "heart of Europe" and he even indicated a willingness for the country to join the euro, which launched in 1999.

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DAVID CAMERON, Prime Minister 2010-1016

During the Blair years, the Conservatives became more and more hostile to the EU. But Cameron promised that his party would no longer carry on "banging on about Europe."

Despite his intention, Cameron couldn't avoid the issue of Europe when becoming prime minister in 2010, leading a coalition with the far-more pro-European Liberal Democrats. With the U.K. Independence Party making headway with its demand for a fresh vote on Britain's membership, and its assertion that Britain had ceded too much sovereignty to Brussels, Cameron felt compelled to promise a referendum to bind his party together.

That referendum took place on June 23, 2016 and the British people voted by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU. Cameron resigned the day after and May won the ensuing succession battle on a promise to deliver Brexit.

Nearly three years on, that's proven more difficult than she could possibly have imagined. And in perhaps her final roll of the dice, she promised to step down if Parliament backs her twice-rejected Brexit deal.

Whenever she leaves, her successor, whoever he or she is, will likely face the same problems.

"Prediction: the same fate awaits her successor, whoever it is," Nick Boles, a Conservative lawmaker, tweeted soon after May's announcement.

___

Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit

Source: Fox News World

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With resilient Germany, euro zone recession risk low: ECB’s Makuch

National Bank of Slovakia Governor Makuch is seen during the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole
FILE PHOTO: National Bank of Slovakia Governor Jozef Makuch is seen during the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, August 29, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Crosby

March 26, 2019

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) – The risk of euro zone recession remains very low as Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy, is showing resilience and some recent indicators point to some improvement, European Central Bank policymaker Jozef Makuch said on Tuesday.

“The German economy, which is the backbone of the euro zone economy and (Slovakia’s) biggest trading partner, is resilient enough against market impacts. We see the likelihood of recession as very low,” said Makuch, who is stepping down later this year as Slovakia’s central bank chief.

(Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova; Writing by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Francesco Canepa)

Source: OANN

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What time will the Mueller report be released? What to know about the document dump

Both lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the general public are on pins and needles as they wait for Attorney General William Barr to dump a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's nearly 400-page report on the Russia investigation Thursday.

Google searches for "Mueller report" spiked early Thursday — just before Barr was expected to take to a podium at a scheduled 9:30 a.m. ET news conference to present his interpretation of the report's findings before releasing the full document to Congress.

IN MUELLER REPORT'S RELEASE, TRUMP LOOKS FOR VINDICATION, BUT NEW FIGHTS LOOM

Here's what you need to know about the expected document dump.

What time will the Mueller report be released?

Barr took the stage to discuss his views on the materials at a 9:30 a.m. ET news conference, which is available to view via live stream.

After the news conference, the report will be delivered to Congress on CDs between 11 a.m. and noon and then posted on the special counsel's website to the wider public.

Which portions will be redacted?

It's currently unclear what documentation will be produced, but it's up to Barr to determine how much information Congress will see.

It's likely Barr will redact any information he deems inappropriate or harmful to a person's character if he or she has not been charged with a crime. Classified information, grand jury items and closed-door testimony will also be protected.

At a later date, the Justice Department also plans to provide a "limited number" of members of Congress and their staff access to a copy of the Mueller report with fewer redactions than the public version, according to a court filing Wednesday.

BARNES & NOBLE OFFERS FREE MUELLER REPORT DOWNLOAD

During his confirmation hearing, Barr stressed that he would be as transparent as possible while following federal laws.

"I also believe it is very important that the public and Congress be informed of the results of the special counsel's work," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in January, adding that he doesn't believe Mueller would be involved in a "witch hunt."

Why did Barr get to view the documents first?

When the investigation — which began in May 2017 — concluded, Mueller first released his final report to Barr, who was overseeing the special counsel since he took office in February.

"At the conclusion of the Special Counsel's work, he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel," Cornell Law School explains in a blog post detailing the federal regulations.

Throughout the two-year probe, Mueller has also been required to flag any documents that detail any impending prosecutions or witness interviews, among other actions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Tunisia says it will coordinate Arab response to U.S. move on Golan

Tunisia's Foreign Affairs Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui attends a preparatory meeting between Arab foreign ministers ahead of the Arab summit in Tunis
Tunisia's Foreign Affairs Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui attends a preparatory meeting between Arab foreign ministers ahead of the Arab summit in Tunis, Tunisia March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

March 29, 2019

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia will coordinate with fellow Arab countries to contain any fallout from the U.S. decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui said on Friday.

He was speaking to a meeting of Arab ministers ahead of the annual Arab League summit, hosted this year by Tunisia and likely to focus on Washington’s decision and its earlier move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“We will work with fellow Arab countries and the international community to contain the expected repercussions of this decision in the various regional and international forums,” Jhinaoui told the meeting in Tunis.

He did not elaborate, but Arab countries want Washington to retract its decision, and to stop other countries following suit.

Arab states consider the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as occupied Syrian land.

U.S. President Donald Trump also angered Arabs by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv last year.

But a person familiar with the matter said Washington’s decisions did not appear to have blocked behind-the-scenes security contacts developed in recent years between Israel and the United States’ Gulf Arab allies over their common enemy, Iran.

Tunisia currently holds the rotating presidency of the Arab League and is vying for one of the rotating non-permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria and Arab East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed both in moves not recognized internationally.

A spokesman for the summit said Arab heads of state were expected to renew their commitment to an Arab initiative that calls for peace with Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all lands occupied in 1967, but would reject any proposal that is not in line with U.N. resolutions.

Mahmoud Al-Khmeiry appeared to be referring to a still-unannounced U.S. peace plan by White House adviser Jared Kushner and Trump son-in-law which Palestinians have refused to discuss.

SAUDI SEES IRANIAN THREAT

Saudi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf told the gathering that Saudi Arabia considered the Palestinians’ quest for statehood in Israeli-occupied territory – peace talks have been stalled for five years – to be the central cause for all Arabs.

But Assaf singled out what he described as the Iranian threat as the main challenge facing Arabs, calling for action to confront Tehran.

“One of the most dangerous forms of terrorism and extremism is what Iran practises through its blatant interference in Arab affairs, and its militias … the Revolutionary Guards in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, which requires cooperation from us to confront it,” he said.

Iran has denied posing any such threats.

Assaf said Arabs needed to work to stop Iran’s ballistic missile program, saying the Islamic Republic was supplying Yemen’s Houthi movement with rockets to attack Saudi cities.

Saudi Arabia is leading a Sunni Muslim coalition that intervened in 2015 in Yemen’s war against the Houthis to restore the internationally recognized government ousted from power.

Assaf also voiced Saudi support for Syria’s territorial integrity and a political solution to its war based on dialogue between the opposition and government, but said a unified Syrian opposition should emerge before the start of any dialogue.

Syria’s membership of the Arab League has been suspended it descended into violence in 2011 after Arab Spring protests.

President Bashar al-Assad’s government, backed by Russia and Iran, has regained control over most of the country after years of fighting that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Five sources told Reuters last month that the United States had been lobbying Gulf states to hold off restoring ties with Syria, including the UAE, which has moved closer to Damascus to counter the influence of its rival Iran.

(Reporting by Maher Chamytelli in Dubai and Omar Fahmy and Hesham Hajali in Cairo; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: OANN

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Prominent Venezuelan critic to run for European Parliament

Spain's Popular Party says that the father of prominent Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López will run in the conservative party's ballot for a seat in the European Parliament at the end of May.

The senior Leopoldo López has Spanish nationality. He has campaigned from Madrid against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and for the release of his son from house arrest.

A party statement on Thursday said he will be running in the 12th position in the May 23-26 election.

The Popular Party currently has 16 lawmakers in the Strasbourg-based bloc's chamber.

Leopoldo López, the son, is the leader of the self-described social democrat Voluntad Popular party in Venezuela.

He is also the mentor of Juan Guaidó, who leads the opposition's efforts to remove Maduro from power.

Source: Fox News World

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Scaffolding firm says workers smoked at Paris’ Notre-Dame

A view shows Notre-Dame Cathedral, a week after a massive fire devastated large parts of the gothic structure in Paris
A view shows Notre-Dame Cathedral, a week after a massive fire devastated large parts of the gothic structure in Paris, France, April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

April 24, 2019

By Julie Carriat and Emmanuel Jarry

PARIS (Reuters) – A scaffolding firm that has worked on the roof of Notre-Dame said some of its workers had smoked on the site, but ruled out that a cigarette butt might have started the fire that destroyed the cathedral’s oak-framed roof last week.

A spokesman for family-owned Le Bras Freres, confirming a report in French weekly Le Canard Enchaine, told Reuters that some workers of its Europe Echafaudage scaffolding unit had informed police that they had “sometimes” smoked on the scaffolding, despite a smoking ban on the site.

“We condemn it. But the fire started inside the building… so for company Le Bras this is not a hypothesis, it was not a cigarette butt that set Notre-Dame de Paris on fire,” Le Bras Frères spokesman Marc Eskenazi said.

The Canard Enchaine reported that police had found the remains of seven cigarette butts in the burnt-out cathedral.

“This is not wrong,” said a source close to the investigation, who declined all other comment.

Eskenazi said it was impossible to set a log on fire with a cigarette butt and questioned how cigarette butts could have been found on the site.

“If cigarette butts have survived the inferno, I do not know what material they were made of,” he said.

Europe Echaffaudage also ruled out the possibility that the fire might have been started by an electricity incident at one of the two lifts on the site.

“The lifts’ electricity was perfectly within specifications and well maintained,” he said.

He added that the two lifts were on the outside of the building, situated at 45 and 65 meters (71 yards) from the base of the spire, where the first smoke and flames had been spotted and that the workers had cut the power to the lifts at 1750 when they had left the site for the day.

The Canard Enchaine also reported that electrical wiring ran through the roof of the cathedral, but the church administration denied that safety norms had not been respected.

“Nothing was ever done without the authorization of the state…There were no wires dangling, everything was properly installed,” Notre-Dame spokesman Andre Finot said.

In 2012, electrical engines had been installed to sound the bells in the spire.

Finot said that when a first smoke alarm rang, security staff had made verifications but had not remarked anything unusual.

“I don’t know whether they might have checked the wrong place,” he said. He added that when a second alert rang shortly after, they spotted flames at the base of the fire.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said that it is not ruling out any hypothesis about the origin of the fire and that investigators are considering all possibilities.

President Emmanuel Macron has pledged that Notre-Dame will be rebuilt within five years.

The cathedral was built over nearly 200 years starting in the middle of the 12th century, but the spire on its roof was added during a 19th century restoration.

(Reporting Julie Carriat and Emmanuel Jarry; Writing by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: OANN

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Mueller Grand Jury Still 'Continuing Robustly'

Robert Mueller’s federal grand jury is continuing its work “robustly” even though the special counsel completed his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and submitted his report last Friday, assistant U.S. Attorney David Goodhand said Wednesday during a court hearing.

Goodhand made the revelation during a court hearing over whether court filings in the Mueller probe should be unsealed related to a foreign-owned company that has been held in contempt for avoiding a grand jury subpoena issued by Mueller.

Last year, a federal court in Washington ordered the corporation to pay a $50,000 daily fine until it complied with the subpoena. The company has argued the subpoena to be "unreasonable and oppressive" and has claimed immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

Mueller handed off his cases following the conclusion of his probe, including one against Roger Stone and Russian troll farm Concord Management.

"I worked with the prosecutor [Goodhand] in this matter,” said Gene Rossi, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia. “He uses his words very carefully. The use of 'robustly' is not bluster or gratuitous. That word strongly suggests that the handoffs from Robert Mueller's office are alive and kicking, and that the Washington U.S. Attorney's office could be another troubling front for the president and the White House."

Source: NewsMax America

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States over safety issues in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc cut its 2019 profit forecast on Friday, saying it expected to take a $350 million hit from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes after cancelling 1,200 flights in the first quarter.

The company said it now expects its 2019 adjusted profit to be between $4.00 per share and $6.00 per share.

Analysts on average had expected 2019 earnings of $5.63 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

The No. 1 U.S. airline by passenger traffic said net income rose to $185 million, or 41 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $159 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total operating revenue rose 2 percent to $10.58 billion.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) – Four years ago, Donald Trump campaigned in small towns like Marshalltown, Iowa, vowing to restore economic prosperity to the U.S. heartland.

In his bid to replace Trump in the White House, Pete Buttigieg is taking a similar tack. The difference, he says, is that he can point to a model of success: South Bend, Indiana, the revitalized city where he has been mayor since 2012.

The Democratic presidential contender has vaulted to the congested field’s top tier in recent weeks, drawing media and donor attention for his youth, history-making status as the first openly gay major presidential candidate and a resume that includes military service in Afghanistan.

But Buttigieg’s main argument for his candidacy is that he is a turnaround artist in the mold of Trump, although the Democrat does not expressly invoke the comparison with the Republican president.

“I’m not going around saying we’ve fixed every problem we’ve got,” Buttigieg, 37, said after a house party with voters in Marshalltown. “But I’m proud of what we have done together, and I think it’s a very powerful story.”

Critics argue improving the fortunes of a Midwestern city of 100,000 people does not qualify Buttigieg, who has never held national office, for the presidency of a country of 330 million. Others say South Bend still has pockets of despair and that minorities, in particular, have failed to benefit from its growth.

Buttigieg has told crowds in Iowa and elsewhere that his experience in reviving a struggling Rust Belt community allows him to make a case to voters that other Democratic candidates cannot. That may give him the means to win back some of the disaffected Democratic voters who turned their backs on Hillary Clinton in 2016 to vote for Trump.

Watching Buttigieg at a union hall in Des Moines last week, Rick Ryan, 45, a member of the United Steelworkers, lamented how many of his fellow union workers voted for Trump. The president turned in the best performance by a Republican among union households since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Ryan said he hoped someone like Buttigieg could return them to the Democratic fold.

“He’s aware of the decline in the labor force in America, not just in Indiana or Des Moines or anywhere else,” Ryan said. “Jobs are going overseas. We need a find to way to bring that back.”

Randy Tucker, 56, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Trump appealed to union members “desperate for somebody to reach out to them, to help them, to listen to their voice.”

Buttigieg could do the same, he said. “In my heart right now, he’s No. 1.”

PAST VS. FUTURE

Buttigieg stresses a key difference in his and Trump’s approaches.

Trump, he tells crowds, is mired in the past, promising to rebuild the 20th century industrial economy. Buttigieg argues the pledge is misleading and unrealistic.

Buttigieg says his focus is on the future, and he often talks about what the country might look like decades from now.

“The only way that we can cultivate what makes America great is to look to the future and not be afraid of it,” Buttigieg said in Marshalltown.

Buttigieg knows his sexual preference may be a barrier to winning some blue-collar voters. But he notes that after he came out as gay in 2015, he won a second term as mayor with 80 percent of the vote in conservative Indiana.

Earlier this month, he announced his presidential bid at the hulking plant in South Bend that stopped making Studebaker autos more than 50 years ago. After lying dormant for decades, the building is being transformed into a high-tech hub after Buttigieg and other city leaders realized it would never again attract a large-scale industrial company.

“That building sat as a powerful reminder. We hoped we would get back that major employer that would fix our economy,” said Jeff Rea, president of the regional Chamber of Commerce.

Buttigieg is praised locally for spurring more than $100 million in downtown investment. During his two terms, unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent from 11.8 percent.

But a study released in 2017 by the nonprofit group Prosperity Now said not all of the city’s residents had shared in its rebound. The median income for African-Americans remained half that of whites, while the unemployment rate for blacks was double.

Regina Williams-Preston, a city councilor running to replace Buttigieg as mayor, credits him for the revitalized downtown. But she said he had a “blind spot” when it came to focusing on troubled neighborhoods like the one she represents and only grew more engaged after community pressure.

“He understands it now,” she said. “The next step is figuring out how to open the doors of opportunity for everyone.”

‘ONE OF US’

Trump touts the fact that the United States added almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs last year as evidence he made good on his promise to restore the industrial sector. But that growth still left the country with fewer manufacturing jobs than in 2008.

The robust U.S. economy is likely the president’s greatest asset in his re-election bid, particularly in states he carried in 2016 such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He won Buttigieg’s home state by 19 points over Clinton in 2016.

Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, Iowa, said Buttigieg would be well positioned to compete with Trump in the Midwest.

“People love the fact that he’s a mayor,” said Bagniewski, who has not endorsed a candidate in the nominating contest. “If you can talk about a positive future, and if you actually have experience that can do it, that’s a compelling vision in Iowa.”

Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, which faces many of the same challenges as South Bend, agreed.

“He’s one of us,” Whaley said. “That helps.”

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 26, 2019

MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.

In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.

He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”

Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.

Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.

The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.

Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.

The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.

“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.

The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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