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Those Pushing Collusion Hoax Must Face Consequences

Tucker Carlson called for consequences for those who pushed the Trump-Russian collusion narrative if the report by special counsel Robert Mueller shows none in a monologue delivered on the Thursday broadcast of his FOX News show.

For now, we’d like to take a second to put this entire, sprawling story in perspective. Our job on this show is to remember things, to create a record of what’s happened in this country over the past few years, and what’s happened to it. Our grandchildren will want to know. If the left has its way, they will never see the details. It will all be whitewashed, like so much else in our history. So let’s recall, for the record, what the Robert Mueller investigation is about, why we got a special counsel in the first place. The point wasn’t to discover whether the president fudged deductions on his tax returns thirty years ago. It wasn’t to find out whether he wanted to build another hotel in foreign country. From its first day, the Mueller investigation was justified by a single question: Did Donald Trump collude with the Russian government to steal the 2016 presidential election? Did the president betray his country? For close to three years, Democrats have told us that, yes, he did:

BETO: It’s beyond a shadow of a doubt that if there was not collusion, there was at least the effort to collude

(edit)

ADAM SCHIFF: I think there’s plenty of evidence of collusion or conspiracy in plain sight

(edit)

MAXINE WATERS: There’s more to be learned about it. I believe there has been collusion.
(edit)

JOHN PODESTA: It's starting to smell more and more like collusion

(edit)

NANCY PELOSI: We saw cold, hard evidence of the Trump campaign, the Trump family eagerly intending to collude possibly with Russia.

If you grew up in this country, it’s hard to shrug off charges like the ones you just heard. Maxine Waters is an irrelevant person, a living sideshow. But Nancy Pelosi is hardly that. She is the speaker of the House of Representatives. She’s third in line to the presidency. Adam Schiff is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He’s privy to the most highly-classified information our government possesses. John Podesta was the Chief of Staff in one White House and a senior advisor in another. Beto O’Rourke has raised more money than anyone else running for president in 2020. These are not peripheral figures. They are the most serious people in the modern Democratic Party. We took them seriously. We felt we had a duty to understand why they were calling the president of the United States a traitor. So we asked them. We interviewed a number of them on this show. One of the most persistent accusers was congressman Eric Swalwell of California, who is also a member of the House intelligence committee. If there was indeed evidence of collusion with Russia, Swalwell would have it. Yet he never produced any. We asked him repeatedly. Swalwell accused us of cutting him off, of not letting him make his case on the air. Finally, in frustration, we offered him a full half an hour, live on this show to do that:

CARLSON: If you have any evidence at all of collusion, any, and I don't care how small it is, I will give the floor to you and I mean that. I want to wrap this up. I'm sure you do too.

Months later, Swalwell accepted our invitation. He never produced a single piece of evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with anyone. Instead, he accused us of working for a foreign power. We asked Swalwell why the public couldn’t see a memo related to the Russia investigation. Here’s how he responded:

CARLSON: In the case of today's memo, what specifically have I espoused that empowers threats to our country?

SWALWELL: You are peddling the narrative that the Trump administration is putting out, which also is the Putin narrative because they are retweeting this with their Russian bots. If you're on the same side as WikiLeaks and Putin ---

CARLSON: I wonder, do you perceive the total collapse -

SWALWELL: If you're on the same side as WikiLeaks and Putin, you should take a step back and wonder whose bidding are you really doing?

For wanting to see a government document that he himself had seen, Congressman Swalwell suggested we were treasonous. There’s been a lot of talk like that over the past couple of years. It has completely changed Washington. People in this city are afraid. They watch what they say. They don’t send emails. They worry about being denounced. Demagogues like Swalwell have terrified them. From the beginning of this investigation, there has been virtually no honest public debate about what’s happening. Watch this exchange from the early days of the administration. Congressman Adam Schiff appeared on this show. We asked a simple, fact-based question about what we know and what we don’t know: Are we certain the Russian government hacked John Podesta’s email account? Here’s how Schiff responded:

CARLSON: Can you look right into the camera and say I know for a fact the government of Vladimir Putin was behind the hacks of John Podesta's email?

SCHIFF: Absolutely. The government of Vladimir Putin was behind the hacks of our institution and the dumping of information --

CARLSON: Of John Podesta's email?

SCHIFF: Not only in the United States, but also in Europe.

CARLSON: You know what? You are dodging.

SCHIFF: And, Tucker, you are --

CARLSON: Look and say I know they did John Podesta's email. They hacked those.

SCHIFF: And I think that Ronald Reagan would be rolling over in his grave and you are carrying water for the Kremlin.

CARLSON: I'm not carrying water. Look, you are sitting member of congress on the Intel committee and you can't say they hacked --

SCHIFF: You're going to have to move your show to RT, Russian Television.

To this day, even the most basic questions about the Russia story remained unanswered. Meanwhile we’ve upended our entire foreign policy, we’ve put Americans in prison, all on the basis of charges nobody was willing to prove. “How do we know that, Congressman?” “Shut up. You’re a Russian agent.” The conspiracy hawks seemed totally impervious to shame or reason. You couldn’t debate them, because they wouldn’t engage. They just threw slurs. They felt no need to demonstrate any of it was true:

MARGARET HOOVER: At what point do you draw the line and not accuse the president of the United States without any evidence of being an agent of Russia?

SWALWELL: Yeah. He’s betrayed our country, and I don’t say that lightly. I worked as a prosecutor for 7 years

HOOVER: But betraying the country — by the way, we want evidence before you say that, but you said an agent of Russia.

SWALWELL: Yeah. He works on their behalf

HOOVER: But as a prosecutor that wouldn’t be evidence in court. You know the difference between hard evidence and circumstantial evidence I’m still not hearing evidence that he’s an agent of Russia.

SWALWELL: I think it’s pretty clear. It’s almost hiding in plain sight.

It wasn’t just Swalwell and Schiff. Some of the most respected, supposedly sober figures in our society engaged in this behavior. They said things that were so reckless and damaging to our country, that it was almost hard to believe it was happening. Keep in mind as you watch this clip that not so long ago, John Brennan was the Director of the CIA, the most powerful intelligence agency in the world:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: McClatchy is reporting right now that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has evidence that Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen took a secret summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign according to two sources familiar with the matter. Confirmation of the trip would confirm part of the Steele Dossier.

JOHN BRENNAN: The reports that Mr. Cohen was in Prague despite his repeated denials. There is more and more indications that there is something here that is far, far from being anything near a witch hunt.

Michael Cohen was in Prague, meeting with his Russian handlers. That’s Brennan’s claim. You’d think if anyone would know that, it would be the CIA director. The CIA knows all. Except, perhaps, on this one question, Michael Cohen himself might know more. Cohen was asked about it when he testified before congress. Cohen had no reason to protect Donald Trump, and many reasons to hurt him. Here’s what he said:

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC): Have you ever been to Prague?

Cohen: I’ve never been to Prague. I’ve never been to the Czech Republic.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC): I yield the balance of my time.

At the same hearing, Cohen also told congress than in all his years as Donald Trump’s personal attorney, one of the most intimate relationships in Trump’s life, he’d never seen any evidence of collusion with Russia. Any fair person would consider that the end of this story. Case closed. But it was too late. By that point, the Russia investigation had become a ratings bonanza for the cable news channels. They had no incentive to admit defeat, or even acknowledge reality. So they continued as they had since the inauguration, as if the story was entirely real. Night after night, they brought us an endless parade of screamers, buffoons and halfwits, all claiming knowledge of the conspiracy. Here, to pick one among a thousand examples, is self-described intelligence expert Malcolm Nance delivering his analysis on MSNBC:

MALCOLM NANCE: When Benedict Arnold gave the plans to West Point, to Major André, and they captured Major André, they didn't have any real information linking those plans to Benedict Arnold other than the fact that he was in his presence at one point during that day, but everyone knew it was treason when they caught the man and they hung him. So, at some point there's going to be a bridge of data here that is going to be unassailable.

Thanks for the history lesson: they hung him. Let’s hang this guy. After a while, voters started to agree. Thanks to propaganda like this, 53 percent of registered voters now believe the Trump campaign quote “worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election.” Among Democrats, fully 67 percent believe that Russia somehow rigged the vote tally. Nobody’s ever explained how the Russians might have done that, but of course they did. Russia rigged the election. CNN says so every night.

There need to be consequences for this. Once the Mueller report appears and it becomes incontrovertible that, whatever his faults, Donald Trump did not collude with the Russians, the many people who’ve persistently claimed on the basis of no evidence that he did collude with the Russians must be punished. Not indicted or imprisoned, but thoroughly shamed and forced to apologize. If Republicans spent three full years falsely claiming that Barack Obama colluded with the government of Iran, would those who claimed it, ever work in politics or media again? That’s a rhetorical question.

Lying and recklessness should never be ignored. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq on the premise that Saddam Hussein possessed massive stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. Many of us believed it. But the claim was false. Thousands of Americans died. Trillions were wasted. Nobody was punished. To this day, Max Boot takes a paycheck from the Washington Post. Bill Kristol appears on MSNBC. John Bolton is this country’s National Security Advisor. There were no consequences to their foolishness and dishonesty. None. And so we started a series of eerily similar wars, all with entirely predictable results. Nobody learned anything.

Will we learn anything from the Russia collusion hoax? Or will the same cast of liars and buffoons simply move on to the next scam? “Climate Change! The Green New Deal! We can’t give you details. It’s too important. Obey or else!” That could easily happen. In fact it will happen, for certain, unless we remember exactly what we’ve just seen.

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Pope washes feet of prisoners at Holy Thursday service

Pope Francis holds a Mass on Holy Thursday
Pope Francis spreads incense as he holds a Mass on Holy Thursday at Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

April 18, 2019

By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) – Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 prisoners on Thursday at a traditional service, telling them to shun any inmate hierarchy structure or law of the strongest and to help each other instead.

Francis’ predecessors held the traditional Holy Thursday rite in one of Rome’s great basilicas, washing the feet of 12 priests. But to emphasize its symbolism of service, Francis transferred it to places of confinement, such as prisons, immigrant centers or old age homes.

He traveled this year to a prison in the town of Velletri, about 40 km south of Rome.

It is the fifth time since his election in 2013 that he has held the service, which commemorates Jesus’ gesture of humility toward his apostles on the night before he died, in jail.

Francis told the inmates that in Jesus’s time, washing the feet of visitors was the job of slaves and servants.

“This is the rule of Jesus and the rule of the gospel. The rule of service, not of domination or of humiliating others,” he said.

Of the male inmates whose feet Francis washed, there were nine Italians, one Brazilian, one Moroccan and one Ivorian. The Vatican did not give their religions.

In the past, conservative Catholics criticized the pope for washing the feet of women and Muslim inmates.

The Velletri prison, which is overcrowded like most Italian jails, mostly holds foreigners for common crimes, but one section holds turncoats who collaborated with investigators and get special protection.

On Good Friday, Francis, marking his seventh Easter season as Roman Catholic leader, is due to lead a Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession around Rome’s ancient Colosseum.

The 82-year-old leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics leads an Easter vigil service on Saturday night and on Easter Sunday reads the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” (To The City and The World) message.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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Nielsen resigns as DHS secretary after White House meeting with Trump

President Trump announced Sunday afternoon that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen "will be leaving her position" after 16 months in the job.

Trump also announced that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan will replace Nielsen as acting secretary, tweeting: "I have confidence that Kevin will do a great job!"

Nielsen tweeted Sunday evening that she had submitted her resignation and added: "Its [sic] been an honor of a lifetime to serve with the brave men and women of @DHSgov. I could not be prouder of and more humbled by their service, dedication, and commitment to keep our country safe from all threats and hazards." She included an image of a resignation letter to Trump in which she wrote: "Despite our progress in reforming homeland security for a new age, I have determined that it is the right time for me to step aside."

In a subsequent tweet, Nielsen addressed "the brave and dedicated men and women of @DHSgov," saying she was "eternally grateful and proud of what you do each and everyday [sic] to protect our homeland".

"Our missions as a Department are vast and have never been more vital," Nielsen wrote. "You are in the arena- keep up the good fight. Thank you for your sacrifices and those of your families. God bless you and God bless our great country."

Nielsen met with Trump at the White House Sunday amid an ongoing influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border that has been taxing America's immigration system and sparking frustration within the administration. The Associated Press, citing two sources, reported that Nielsen had been frustrated with the difficulty of getting other departments to help deal with the growing number of families crossing the southwestern border.

TRUMP DECLARES 'COUNTRY IS FULL' IN FOX NEWS INTERVIEW, SAYS US CAN NO LONGER ACCEPT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Administration sources told Fox News Sunday evening that Nielsen's background in cybersecurity made her a poor fit to handle border issues, while McAleenan best fits Trump's requirement of being the "toughest cop" on the frontier.

Nielsen skipped last week's meeting of interior ministers from the Group of Seven countries (G-7) in Paris to deal with the migration crisis, which she compared to the aftermath of a Category 5 hurricane.

She also had taken to social media in recent days, tweeting that Congress must give border and immigration officials the tools and resources needed to "fulfill our humanitarian and security mission."

Nielsen visited El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, marking her first stop on a border tour aimed at assessing the surge of migrants and the department's response. "Our system and facilities were never structured to withstand the current influx of immigrants," she said.

TRUMP SAYS HE NIXED ICE DIRECTOR NOMINATION, SAYS HE WANTS TO GO 'IN A TOUGHER DIRECTION'

On Friday, Nielsen and Trump participated in a roundtable with border officers and local law enforcement. There she echoed Trump's comments on the situation at the border, though she ducked out of the room without explanation for some time while Trump spoke. As they toured a section of newly rebuilt barriers, Nielsen was at Trump's side, introducing him to local officials. She returned to Washington afterward on a Coast Guard Gulfstream, as Trump continued on a fundraising trip to California and Nevada.

Trump nominated Nielsen as Homeland Security secretary in October 2017, replacing her former boss John Kelly, whom Trump had named White House chief of staff months earlier. She was confirmed by the Senate in December of that year.

Nielsen was viewed as resistant to some of the harshest immigration measures supported by the president and his aides, particularly senior adviser Stephen Miller, both around the border and on other matters like protected status for some refugees. Once Kelly left the White House at the end of last year, Nielsen's days appeared to be numbered. She had expected to be pushed out last November, but her exit never materialized. And during the government shutdown over Trump's push for funding for a border wall, Nielsen's stock inside the White House even appeared to rise.

Trump nominated McAleenan as CBP commissioner on the first day of his presidency, but McAleenan as not confirmed by the Senate until March of 2018. He was appointed CBP deputy commissioner in November 2014 by President Barack Obama.

Sources tell Fox News that it reminds to be seen whether McAleenan can handle the political duties required to be permanent homeland security secretary, though they noted that he has excellent relationships with the Pentagon, State Department, and National Security Council. McAleenan also has a reputation within CBP as a "brilliant" mind with "tremendous organizational skills."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Nielsen's departure is the latest staffing shakeup in the department, which was founded to combat terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

On Friday, Trump confirmed he had withdrawn the nomination of acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Ron Vitiello to become the permanent head of the agency, telling reporters that "Ron’s a good man, but we’re going in a tougher direction, we want to go in a tougher direction." Administration sources tell Fox News that the withdrawal of Vitiello's nomination was the first step in Trump's plan to control the border crisis.

The second step was asking for Nielsen's resignation.

Fox News' John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Boy called 'Little Hitler' for using hot chocolate stand to raise money for border wall, parents say

A seven-year-old boy was harassed and called "Little Hitler" after setting up a hot chocolate stand to raise money for President Trump's border wall, his parents say.

Benton Stevens, of Austin, Texas was reportedly motivated to help fund the border wall between the United States and Mexico after watching Trump's State of the Union on February 5 with his parents Jennifer and Shane, who are both active members with the Republican National Committee, KXAN reports.

Between his hot chocolate stand, a matching donor and Venmo receipts, Benton has raised close to $5,000 - but his parents say it was at the cost of his privacy after videos and photos of their son were posted to Facebook

“People think he’s brainwashed,” his mother, Jennifer, said. “Well, of course, he supports Trump because we do, and he hears how we talk and this and that. Call that brainwashing, but I call it parenting, because we instill our values in him.”

Benton set up his stand on Saturday at a strip mall northeast of Austin with the help of his brothers and parents, who made signs and brewed hot chocolate with him. Within an hour, his parents say, he made about $231 - but was forced to shut down after patrons complained to the store owner Benton had placed his stand in front of.

NATIONAL BORDER WALL MUSEUM IN TEXAS VANDALIZED BY DOZENS OF PROTESTERS, DIRECTOR SAYS

“I guess some liberals – or whatever you want to call them – they were griping at the owner (of the store) and going in and yelling at him and slamming him on Facebook,” Jennifer said.

Benton, however, wasn't deterred, and was actually fired up by the responses he got from the public. He decided to set up his stand again on Sunday, and again, received criticism in person and online.

“He was called a little Hitler yesterday,” his mother said. “A guy pointed at him in his car and then he said that we didn’t like brown people. I don’t understand that at all.”

Despite the blowback, the Stevens family has promised that the money they raised will go directly to the wall.

TEXAS DAD SPINS GUN WITH FINGER AT DAUGHTER'S BIRTHDAY, ACCIDENTALLY SHOOTS HIMSELF IN THE STOMACH

“There’s a GoFundMe page and we’re also part of the RNC and we’re pretty connected there so we will 100 percent make sure it goes towards the wall," they said.

GoFundMe donations can be funneled to the Trump administration through a category called "Gifts to the United States" for "general use by the federal government," but donating to specific government projects is a much more complicated and unclear process, according to Business Insider.

In light of all the publicity surrounding Benton's border wall fundraiser, his father told Fox News that it's actually inspired some reconciliation across party lines in their Texas town.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

"People who were originally very mean have started apologizing for what they said and sticking up for Benton," Shane said.

"He is close to $5,000 raised now and is thinking about doing a free hot chocolate stand for people from both sides of the debate since there are so many from both sides sticking up for him."

Source: Fox News National

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Hong Kong regulator bans UBS from sponsoring IPOs for one year; StanChart fined

FILE PHOTO: Logo of Swiss bank UBS is seen in Zurich
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Swiss bank UBS is seen in Zurich, Switzerland October 25, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

March 14, 2019

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s securities regulator banned UBS on Thursday from sponsoring initial public offerings (IPOs) in the city for one year for failures as a sponsor of three IPOs.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) also fined the Swiss bank HK$375 million ($47.77 million). The three IPOs UBS was fined for were those of China Forestry, Tianhe Chemicals, and one other firm, the regulator said in a statement.

The SFC also fined Standard Chartered HK$59.7 million for failing to discharge its obligations as sponsor of China Forestry’s 2009 IPO.

The regulator suspended the licence of UBS banker Cen Tian for failing to discharge his duties as sponsor principal in charge of the IPO of China Forestry, it said.

“UBS takes note of the findings of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) investigations. We are pleased to have resolved these legacy issues relating to our Hong Kong IPO sponsorship license. We look forward to continuing to service our clients in Hong Kong,” UBS said in a statement.

“We welcome the opportunity to resolve this case with the SFC, which stems from matters arising over 10 years ago. We note that on 8 January 2015, Standard Chartered Group announced the closure of institutional cash equities, equity research and equity capital markets activities (including IPO sponsor activities),” StanChart said in a statement.

“Going forward, the Bank remains committed to ensuring that it has a robust controls framework in place to ensure compliance and continues to invest in improving standards across all our business segments,” the British bank said.

(Reporting by Alun John, additional reporting by Anshuman Daga; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Source: OANN

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Maldives president hoping for election majority to probe China deals

FILE PHOTO - Maldivian President Mohamed Solih and his wife Ahmed look on during a welcome ceremony at the airport as he is on a 3-day visit, in Katunayake
FILE PHOTO - Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and his wife Fazna Ahmed look on during a welcome ceremony at the airport as he is on a 3-day visit, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka February 3, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

April 4, 2019

By Mohamed Junayd

MALE (Reuters) – The Maldives heads for a parliamentary election on Saturday with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih seeking a majority for his party to investigate debts to China, which it fears could run as high as $3 billion and risk sinking the economy.

Since he unseated pro-China leader Abdulla Yameen in September, Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which has governed in a coalition with three other parties, has warned that a building boom has left huge debts to Chinese lenders.

The Maldives, a tropical archipelago in the Indian Ocean with some 260,000 voters, has been caught in a battle for influence between India and China, which invested millions of dollars during Yameen’s rule as part of its Belt and Road plan.

The MDP has pledged to investigate the infrastructure projects and determine the islands’ true debt to China, which it says could be as a high as $3 billion. Yameen denies any wrongdoing in relation to the Chinese debt.

The MPD currently only has a majority with the support of its coalition partners, including The Jumhooree Party, which has been absent from votes to begin any graft investigation.

“The president has not been getting the support and cooperation he needs,” MDP spokesman Afshan Latheef said.

“It’s vital that the MDP gets a majority in parliament in order to fully investigate corruption and embezzlement, to seek justice for those disappeared and murdered and to fulfill the pledges of the government,” he added.

The Jumhooree leader, parliament speaker Gasim Ibrahim, could not immediately be reached for comment. In past he has said appointing commissions to conduct inquiries is unconstitutional.

The Jumhooree Party and Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) are both campaigning on a nationalist, religious platform.

Gasim has said an MDP majority would allow it to push for a secular Maldives and build churches and temples in the Muslim-majority country.

The MDP, which is competing against its current coalition partners in many constituencies, has fielded candidates for 85 seats in the 87-member parliament, while the Jumhooree Party has put up 51 candidates. PPM is contesting 50 seats.

There are no independent election opinion polls.

Last month, Yameen spent more than a month in police custody over a graft scandal aimed at siphoning money from the islands’ tourism board.

He was released on bail on March 28 in time for the last week of campaigning, and denies the charges.

(Additional reporting and writing by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Alasdair Pal and Alison Williams)

Source: OANN

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Trump nominates naval aviator as next Navy chief

President Donald Trump is nominating a naval aviator with extensive experience in budgeting and personnel reform to become the next officer to lead the Navy.

Navy Adm. Bill Moran, who piloted P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft during the Cold War, is currently the Navy's vice chief. If confirmed by the Senate, he would become the 32nd chief of naval operations and take over from Adm. John Richardson, who is retiring.

Trump nominated Vice Adm. Robert Burke, a submariner with experience on both attack and nuclear-armed vessels, to be the next vice chief of the Navy. He is currently the deputy for personnel and training.

Richardson called Moran an amazing leader who has been a central figure as the Navy transforms to fight other great powers around the globe.

Source: Fox News National

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Joe Biden’s brain surgeon said his former patient is “totally in the clear” as speculation over the candidate’s health — with Biden possibly becoming the oldest president in U.S. history — is likely to become a campaign issue.

The former vice president, who had been perceived by many as the strongest potential contender for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, formally announced his candidacy Thursday.

But Biden’s age – 76 – is expected to become a source of attacks from a younger generation of Democrats not because of obvious generational differences, but possibly for actual health concerns if Biden gets into office.

WHY THE MEDIA ARE CONVINCED JOE BIDEN WILL IMPLODE

Biden himself agreed last year that “it’s totally legitimate” for people to ask questions about his health if he decides to run for president, given his medical history — which has included brain surgery in 1988.

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality,” Biden told “CBS This Morning.” “Can I still run up the steps of Air Force Two? Am I still in good shape? Am I – do I have all my faculties? Am I energetic? I think it’s totally legitimate people ask those questions.”

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality. …  I think it’s totally legitimate [that] people ask those questions.”

— Joe Biden

But Dr. Neal Kassell, the neurosurgeon who operated on Biden for an aneurysm three decades ago, told the Washington Examiner that Biden appears to be “totally in the clear” — and even joked that the operation made Biden “better than how he was.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it,” Kassell said. “That’s more than I can say about all the other candidates or the incumbents.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it.”

— Dr. Neal Kassell

BIDEN’S CLAIM HE DIDN’T WANT OBAMA TO ENDORSE TRIGGERS MOCKERY

At the same time, however, Biden hasn’t been forthcoming about his health at least since 2008 when he released his medical records as a vice presidential candidate. The disclosure that time revealed some fairly minor issues such as an irregular heartbeat in addition to detailing previous operations, including removing a benign polyp during a colonoscopy in 1996, the outlet reported.

It remains unclear if Biden had more aneurysms. Some medical experts say that people who have had an aneurysm can have another one.

An aneurysm, or a weakening of an artery wall, can lead to a rupture and internal bleeding, potentially placing a patient’s life in jeopardy.

Biden won’t be the only Democrat grappling with old age. Sen. Bernie Sanders, another 2020 frontrunner, is currently 77 years old and agreed with Biden last year that their ages will be an issue in the race.

“It’s part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished,” Sanders told Politico.

“Look, you’ve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? You’ve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day, doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and wellbeing of the individual.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Sanders released his medical records in 2016, with a Senate physician saying in a letter that the senator was “in overall very good health.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

Source: Fox News World

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The Wider Image: China's start-ups go small in age of 'shoebox' satellites
LinkSpace’s reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby, is carried to a vacant plot of land for a test launch in Longkou, Shandong province, China, April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

LONGKOU, China (Reuters) – During initial tests of their 8.1-metre (27-foot) tall reusable rocket, Chinese engineers from LinkSpace, a start-up led by China’s youngest space entrepreneur, used a Kevlar tether to ensure its safe return. Just in case.

But when the Beijing-based company’s prototype, called NewLine Baby, successfully took off and landed last week for the second time in two months, no tether was needed.

The 1.5-tonne rocket hovered 40 meters above the ground before descending back to its concrete launch pad after 30 seconds, to the relief of 26-year-old chief executive Hu Zhenyu and his engineers – one of whom cartwheeled his way to the launch pad in delight.

LinkSpace, one of China’s 15-plus private rocket manufacturers, sees these short hops as the first steps towards a new business model: sending tiny, inexpensive satellites into orbit at affordable prices.

Demand for these so-called nanosatellites – which weigh less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and are in some cases as small as a shoebox – is expected to explode in the next few years. And China’s rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles than their home country.

“For suborbital clients, their focus will be on scientific research and some commercial uses. After entering orbit, the near-term focus (of clients) will certainly be on satellites,” Hu said.

In the near term, China envisions massive constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Universities conducting experiments and companies looking to offer remote-sensing and communication services are among the potential domestic customers for nanosatellites.

A handful of U.S. small-rocket companies are also developing launchers ahead of the expected boom. One of the biggest, Rocket Lab, has already put 25 satellites in orbit.

No private company in China has done that yet. Since October, two – LandSpace and OneSpace – have tried but failed, illustrating the difficulties facing space start-ups everywhere.

The Chinese companies are approaching inexpensive launches in different ways. Some, like OneSpace, are designing cheap, disposable boosters. LinkSpace’s Hu aspires to build reusable rockets that return to Earth after delivering their payload, much like the Falcon 9 rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“If you’re a small company and you can only build a very, very small rocket because that’s all you have money for, then your profit margins are going to be narrower,” said Macro Caceres, analyst at U.S. aerospace consultancy Teal Group.

“But if you can take that small rocket and make it reusable, and you can launch it once a week, four times a month, 50 times a year, then with more volume, your profit increases,” Caceres added.

Eventually LinkSpace hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters.

That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable.

(Click https://reut.rs/2UVBjKs to see a picture package of China’s rocket start-ups. Click https://tmsnrt.rs/2GIy9Bc for an interactive look at the nascent industry.)

NEED FOR CASH

LinkSpace plans to conduct suborbital launch tests using a bigger recoverable rocket in the first half of 2020, reaching altitudes of at least 100 kilometers, then an orbital launch in 2021, Hu told Reuters.

The company is in its third round of fundraising and wants to raise up to 100 million yuan, Hu said. It had secured tens of millions of yuan in previous rounds.

After a surge in fresh funding in 2018, firms like LinkSpace are pushing out prototypes, planning more tests and even proposing operational launches this year.

Last year, equity investment in China’s space start-ups reached 3.57 billion yuan ($533 million), a report by Beijing-based investor FutureAerospace shows, with a burst of financing in late 2018.

That accounted for about 18 percent of global space start-up investments in 2018, a historic high, according to Reuters calculations based on a global estimate by Space Angels. The New York-based venture capital firm said global space start-up investments totaled $2.97 billion last year.

“Costs for rocket companies are relatively high, but as to how much funding they need, be it in the hundreds of millions, or tens of millions, or even just a few million yuan, depends on the company’s stage of development,” said Niu Min, founder of FutureAerospace.

FutureAerospace has invested tens of millions of yuan in LandSpace, based in Beijing.

Like space-launch startups elsewhere in the world, the immediate challenge for Chinese entrepreneurs is developing a safe and reliable rocket.

Proven talent to develop such hardware can be found in China’s state research institutes or the military; the government directly supports private firms by allowing them to launch from military-controlled facilities.

But it’s still a high-risk business, and one unsuccessful launch might kill a company.

“The biggest problem facing all commercial space companies, especially early-stage entrepreneurs, is failure” of an attempted flight, Liang Jianjun, chief executive of rocket company Space Trek, told Reuters. That can affect financing, research, manufacturing and the team’s morale, he added.

Space Trek is planning its first suborbital launch by the end of June and an orbital launch next year, said Liang, who founded the company in late 2017 with three other former military technical officers.

Despite LandSpace’s failed Zhuque-1 orbital launch in October, the Beijing-based firm secured 300 million yuan in additional funding for the development of its Zhuque-2 rocket a month later.

In December, the company started operating China’s first private rocket production facility in Zhejiang province, in anticipation of large-scale manufacturing of its Zhuque-2, which it expects to unveil next year.

STATE COMPETITION

China’s state defense contractors are also trying to get into the low-cost market.

In December, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) successfully launched a low-orbit communication satellite, the first of 156 that CASIC aims to deploy by 2022 to provide more stable broadband connectivity to rural China and eventually developing countries.

The satellite, Hongyun-1, was launched on a rocket supplied by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation’s main space contractor.

In early April, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a subsidiary of CASC, completed engine tests for its Dragon, China’s first rocket meant solely for commercial use, clearing the path for a maiden flight before July.

The Dragon, much bigger than the rockets being developed by private firms, is designed to carry multiple commercial satellites.

At least 35 private Chinese companies are working to produce more satellites.

Spacety, a satellite maker based in southern Hunan province, plans to put 20 satellites in orbit this year, including its first for a foreign client, chief executive Yang Feng told Reuters.

The company has only launched 12 on state-produced rockets since the company started operating in early 2016.

“When it comes to rocket launches, what we care about would be cost, reliability and time,” Yang said.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source: OANN

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At least one person is reported dead and homes have been destroyed by a powerful cyclone that struck northern Mozambique and continues to dump rain on the region, with the United Nations warning of “massive flooding.”

Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people and displacing scores of thousands. The U.N. says this is the first time in known history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season.

Forecasters say the new cyclone made landfall Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that has not seen such a storm in at least 60 years.

Mozambique’s local emergency operations center says a woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree.

Source: Fox News World

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