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Democratic presidential candidate Gillibrand releases tax returns in challenge to rivals

FILE PHOTO: Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) speaks during her campaign kick off event in New York
FILE PHOTO: Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) speaks during her campaign kick off event in New York, New York, U.S., March 24, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

March 27, 2019

By Amanda Becker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s presidential campaign on Wednesday released her tax returns for the years 2007 through 2018, offering the most comprehensive look to date at the finances of a 2020 White House candidate’s finances, as she called on her rivals to do the same.

Gillibrand reported about $218,000 in income for the tax year 2018, including $167,634 from her Senate salary and $50,000 from a book deal that was reported as business income, the tax filing shows. Gillibrand’s husband, who in previous years had worked as a financial consultant, reported no income in 2018.

The New York senator paid $29,170 in federal taxes – an effective tax rate of 13.6 percent – and an additional $12,523 in state taxes, according to the 2018 return.

“I want voters to know that I’m beholden to no one, that my values are not for sale and that I’m working only for you,” Gillibrand said in a video released by her campaign.

“Join me in calling on every presidential candidate to disclose their taxes, this is what transparency and accountability is all about.”

Gillibrand’s release of tax filings is a contrast with President Donald Trump, who was the first modern U.S. president not to release his tax returns to the public. Gillibrand, who formally joined the presidential race on March 17, gave a fiery speech on Sunday in which she called Trump a “coward” who “is tearing apart the moral fabric of this country.”

The release of her tax documents indicates Gillibrand, 52, likely will make transparency a theme of her campaign. She is trying to build momentum among a group of more than 15 announced and potential candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, including five other senators and former Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to join the race soon.

Gillibrand, along with other candidates such as Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, is trying to position herself as a progressive in race, with many making anti-corruption efforts and getting big money out of politics central to their campaigns.

Warren previously released her tax returns for 2007 through 2017 but not her 2018 filing, which is not due to the Internal Revenue Service until April 15. Sanders, who released one annual tax filing during his 2016 presidential primary campaign, said last month that he will soon release more filings but they “will bore you to death.”

After taking control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 elections, Democrats passed a bill that would require presidential candidates to release their tax returns. It has not been voted on by the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans.

(Reporting By Amanda Becker; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Fire chief: Team effort to save Notre Dame relic

The Latest on the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and its aftermath (all times local):

1 p.m.

The chaplain of the Paris fire brigade credits saving the crown of thorns from fire that gutted Notre Dame to a team of rescuers who broke the relic's protective covering and an official who had the secret code to unlock the protection.

Fire chaplain Jean-Marc Fournier told France Info on Thursday that his own team arrived on the heels of the salvaging, and praised the action "to preserve this extraordinary relic, this patrimony of humanity."

Others had earlier credited Fournier with saving the crown of thorns.

Fournier told daily Le Parisian that he himself was able to save the most precious thing for Catholics from the fires, the concentrated hosts. The paper said he climbed on altars to remove large paintings, but that he felt especially proud of another personal salvaging operation: "to have removed Jesus" from the Cathedral.

He was referring to the chalice containing consecrated hosts that for Catholics are the body of Christ.

___

12:20 p.m.

Workers are securing the support structure above one of Notre Dame's famed rose windows with wooden planks after this week's devastating fire.

A huge crane and renovation teams worked at the site Thursday, after authorities warned that some of the structure remains at risk. Firefighters walked on what the remains of the roof to inspect damage.

The island housing Notre Dame at the heart of the French capital remained largely empty Thursday and closed to everyone but residents. Businesses were shuttered and the usual tourist throngs were nowhere to be seen.

Passersby praised the French firefighters who helped save the overall structure of the cathedral, although its spire collapsed and its roof was destroyed in Monday's devastating fire.

Benedicte Contamin, who came to see the cathedral Thursday, said she's sad but grateful it's still there. She said this is "a chance for France to bounce back, a chance to realize what unites us, because we have been too much divided over the past years."

___

9 a.m.

France is paying a daylong tribute Thursday to the Paris firefighters who saved the internationally revered Notre Dame Cathedral from collapse and rescued its treasures from encroaching flames.

French President Emmanuel Macron will host the firefighters for a special gathering to share "words of thanks." Top government ministers will also take part in the event at the presidential palace in Paris.

Later, Paris City Hall will hold a ceremony in the firefighters' honor, with a Bach violin concert, two giant banners strung from the monumental city headquarters and readings from Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

More than 400 firefighters took part in the nine-hour battle to save the 12th-century Notre Dame on Monday evening. Its spire collapsed and roof was destroyed, but its iconic towers, rose windows, famed organ and precious artworks were saved.

Remarkably, no one was killed in the fire, which occurred during a Mass, after firefighters and church officials speedily evacuated those inside.

___

Read and watch all AP coverage of the Notre Dame fire at https://apnews.com/NotreDameCathedral

Source: Fox News World

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Cathay Pacific halts union ban on pilot training

A Cathay Pacific Airways passenger plane flies, in Hong Kong
A Cathay Pacific Airways passenger plane flies, in Hong Kong, China August 15, 2017. Picture taken August 15, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

March 27, 2019

By Jamie Freed

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd on Wednesday said it would no longer allow its unionized pilots to refuse training roles despite a near four-year union ban in a move that a pilot said could raise workplace tensions.

Relations between Cathay and its 3,000-plus pilots have become strained as the airline seeks to cut costs as part of a three-year transformation plan designed to make it more competitive against Chinese and Middle Eastern rivals and low-cost carriers.

The union ban on pilot training has made it more difficult for the airline to promote pilots quickly when it has been expanding capacity and also when a global pilot shortage prompted some expat pilots to take other jobs.

A Cathay spokesman said the ban had been in place since 2015.

“The selection and appointment of training captains will be solely at the company’s discretion,” the Cathay spokesman said of the new policy on Wednesday. “This means, suitable pilots no longer have the right to refuse a training appointment.”

A Cathay pilot, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters these roles attracted extra pay and some captains had quit the union to take them up during the ban. But the pilot also said the company’s action was not likely to be received well by the workforce.

The Cathay spokesman said the airline’s trainers had faced undeserved criticism during the ban for supporting the company’s training programs which enable more junior pilots to progress.

The Hong Kong Aircrew Officer Association (HKAOA) said on Wednesday evening that it could not comment immediately.

In January, the HKAOA members overhwelmingly voted down a contract proposal which offered at least a 1 percent pay rise and some housing guarantees even though it had been recommended by the union’s leadership.

The announcement to pilots on the ban was made shortly after Cathay agreed to buy low-cost carrier Hong Kong Express Airways Ltd from cash-strapped Chinese conglomerate HNA Group for HK$4.93 billion ($628 million), giving it a foothold in the fast-growing budget travel market.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Yemen’s Houthis say ready to strike Riyadh, Abu Dhabi if coalition moves on Hodeidah

A Houthi security officer rides a motorbike during a funeral of people killed by an air strike last week in the northwestern province of Hajja, in Sanaa
A Houthi security officer rides a motorbike during a funeral of people killed by an air strike last week in the northwestern province of Hajja, in Sanaa, Yemen March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

March 17, 2019

ADEN (Reuters) – Yemen’s Houthi group said they were building their ballistic capabilities and their forces stand ready to strike Riyadh and Abu Dhabi if implementation of a U.N. peace deal in the port city of Hodeidah is breached.

A spokesman of the Houthi forces said the group has a “stockpile of missiles” and the group can hit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the two Gulf states leading the coalition backing the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, whenever the military command decides on the timing.

“We have intelligence asserting that the enemy is preparing for an escalation in Hodeidah and we are following their movements closely. Our forces stand ready for any requested and adequate measure,” colonel Yahya Sarea, a spokesman of the Houthi forces, was quoted as saying by the group-controlled state news agency SABA late on Saturday.

Sarea said the nature of the conflict, which is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and its regional rival Iran, has made ballistic missiles and drones a “strategic choice” and the only response to the Saudi-led coalition air strikes.

The Saudi-led coalition accuses the Houthis of breaching an agreement signed in Stockholm last December, after they failed to withdraw from the port of Hodeidah, the first step of the peace plan. The Houthis say they want more guarantees from the U.N. that the other side will not exploit their withdrawal.

The two sides have agreed on a ceasefire and troop withdrawal in Hodeidah, an exchange of prisoners, and the reopening of humanitarian corridors to help millions of starving Yemenis, with international monitors to oversee things.

The ceasefire in Hodeidah has largely held but violence escalated elsewhere. Last week, air strikes on a village in the northern Hajjah province killed 10 women and 12 children and wounded 30 people.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict since the Sunni Muslim alliance intervened in the war in March 2015 in support of Hadi after his government was driven out of Sanaa by Houthi forces in late 2014.

(Reporting By Mohamed Ghobari, writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Ex-cop’s partner explains delay in citing thump

The Latest on the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who had called 911 (all times local):

4:40 p.m.

The partner of a Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman is explaining why he didn't tell other officers at the scene about a thump on the officers' squad car he says he heard right before the shooting.

Officer Matthew Harrity is a key witness at the murder and manslaughter trial of Mohamed Noor. Noor fired a single shot in July 2017 that killed Justine Ruszczyk Damond, when she approached the officers' squad car minutes after calling 911 to report a possible rape behind her home.

Harrity testified Thursday that he feared an ambush after hearing the thump. In explaining why he didn't mention the thump in the aftermath of the shooting, Harrity said he was required to give only a brief public safety statement at the scene.

Harrity says he knew from training that he would be giving a full statement in days to come.

Ruszczyk Damond was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia and her death sparked anger in both countries. Noor was fired from the Minneapolis police force after being charged in her death.

___

12:50 p.m.

The partner of a former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman says he was startled by a thump on the officers' squad car and feared a possible ambush.

Officer Matthew Harrity is a key witness at the trial of Mohamed Noor. Noor killed Justine Ruszczyk Damond with a single shot as she approached the officers' squad car in July 2017. Damond was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home.

Defense attorneys have said Noor was reacting to a noise and feared an ambush when he fired his weapon.

Harrity was driving the police SUV. In his testimony Thursday, he described a glimpse of something to his left, then hearing something hitting the car and "some sort of murmur."

He said he immediately drew his gun. Harrity said that's when Noor fired.

___

11:27 a.m.

The partner of a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman who had called 911 to report a possible rape near her home is describing the moments before the shooting.

Officer Matthew Harrity is a critical witness in the trial of Mohamed Noor. Noor killed Justine Ruszczyk Damond with a single shot as she approached the officers' squad car in July 2017.

Harrity testified Thursday that he and Noor were rolling down the alley behind Damond's house searching for anything related to the 911 call of a woman in trouble. Harrity testified he had pulled the hood off his gun's holster in case he needed to draw it.

Asked why, Harrity said he considers every call a threat until it's not.

His testimony is continuing.

Source: Fox News National

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Why This Israeli Election Is Different

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Tomorrow, Israelis will elect the 21st Knesset, or parliament, in Israel’s 70-year history. Politics are always tricky, and more so now. What’s real and what’s fake news? What does each candidate say and what do they actually intend to do?

In Israel’s representative parliamentary system, things can be even harder to understand. There are many parties. They rise and fall each year alongside the legacy parties, and there is a 3.25 percent threshold for admittance to the Knesset. The left-right paradigm breaks down differently in Israel than it does in the United States or Europe, and within the Israeli context, that paradigm is undergoing a fundamental realignment.

This year’s elections are vitally important. The outcome could have a major impact on Israel’s future, its role in the region, and its relationship with the United States and American Jews.

Who’s who?

Israel’s Knesset consists of 120 seats. Votes are for a pre-determined party list, meaning Israelis vote for a party and its candidate for prime minister with the same ballot. Two main parties are battling for the premiership and the right to form the governing coalition. The first is the ruling Likud party, headed by Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, who seeks his fourth term as prime minister. Former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff and political rookie Benny Gantz is Netanyahu’s main competitor. Gantz leads the Blue and White Party alongside former Finance Minister Yair Lapid and another pair of former IDF chiefs, Moshe Ya’alon and Gabi Ashkenazi. Netanyahu stands to the right of center, while Gantz and Lapid bill themselves as the new “center,” a term that changes meaning from election to election. Each side expects to win some 30 seats.

To the left, we have the heir to Israel’s founding party, the left-of-center Avodah, or Labor. Further left sits Israel’s progressive party, Meretz. Together they are expected to land around 15 seats. Israel’s Arab minority (20 percent of the country) is represented in the main by two parties: Hadash/Ta’al is more moderate and seeks to integrate into Israeli society, and Ra’am/ Balad is the more Palestinian-nationalist and Islamist party. This latter might not pass the 3.25 percent entry threshold, a ratio that translates to 4 seats out of 120.

Floating alongside the Likud in the right-of-center space are two small parties: Kulanu, headed by current Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, and Gesher, headed by Orli Levi-Abekasis. Both lean right on security matters but have preferred to focus on economic and social matters. Both teeter on the verge of the electoral threshold.

To Likud’s right are a handful of small parties, some new and some more familiar. Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked broke away from the religious-Zionist Jewish Home party a few months back in order to form New Right, an alternative party that is younger, further to the right, and not beholden to religious interests. They are expected to barely pass the electoral threshold. What remained of Jewish Home merged with two religious-Zionist parties, each more right-wing on security and religious matters, to ensure they all pass the electoral threshold. This is called the Union of the Right Wing Parties and includes the Jewish Power party, whose head was banned from office by the election committee for blatant racism. Together, they are expected to pass the threshold. Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu (“Israel is Our Home”) party offers a right-wing approach on security matters with a strong secular appeal, and it draws mainly on older Russian immigrant voters. Russians have integrated more and more into Israeli society, and Lieberman will struggle to pass the threshold.

There are two main ultra-Orthodox parties: United Torah Judaism represents the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox, and Shas represents the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox. Both parties have committed voter bases, all but ensuring them tickets into the Knesset.

The last party is the surprise of these elections: Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut (“Identity”) party has shot up the polls based on an original but not fully understood platform that combines Jewish fundamentalism, far-right nationalism, and economic and social libertarianism. A sideshow just two months ago, Feiglin, who is accompanied by a maverick ultra-Orthodox rabbi and an anti-vaxxer, could be the kingmaker in these elections.

Did I forget anyone? I hope not. 

Likely outcomes

The publishing of polling data is forbidden in the days ahead of the elections, but the last polls gave a fair sense of where most parties stand. Barring an election day surprise, the two frontrunners will each take around 30 seats. The right-wing parties, however, are expected to win more than their left-wing counterparts. Right-wing parties, most of whom would sit in a Knesset with Netanyahu as prime minister, are expected to win around 65 seats. The parties that would refuse to sit with Netanyahu are expected to win no more than 55 seats. Considering this includes the Arab parties, who are not expected to actively partake in any governing coalition, this puts Blue and White considerably behind Netanyahu.

The president chooses the party he believes has the best chance of forming at least a 61-seat coalition as the ruling party -- and its head as the putative prime minister. This is usually the largest party, but not always. Gantz’s Blue and White could win more votes than Likud but lack the backing needed to assemble a coalition. If this is the case, Netanyahu will head the next government.

However, if Gantz wins by a large enough margin -- say 5 seats -- the president would be less likely to offer Netanyahu the first crack at putting together a coalition. Moreover, if a number of the smaller parties fall short of the threshold, a likely scenario, the redistribution of their votes among the parties that did pass could change the entire equation.

Therefore, Israelis could conceivably wake up Wednesday morning to some unexpected outcomes. Best to wait and see.

One possibility to keep in mind is that if Netanyahu is forced to step down due to anticipated indictments, we could see a reshuffling of the expected right-wing coalition into a unity government headed by Likud and Blue and White in some sort of rotational, power-sharing government.

Left, right, center? Depends what Issue we are discussing

Notions like left and right usually connote a party’s position on security, social, and economic matters. In Israel, we could say the left has traditionally promoted a combination of more government regulation, socialist-leaning economic policies, secular or liberal attitudes on social-religious matters, and actively seeking to end the conflict with the Palestinians and the control over them. Traditionally, the right has stood for the exact opposite set of policies, with some exceptions among the ultra-Orthodox who never fit these labels.

The past two decades have seen a scrambling of these definitions and groupings. Although you still have a left and a right by self-definition, you have a significant group of Israelis -- one-third, if not more -- who eschew such definitions and place themselves in the less-definable center. Although taking heat from the ideological left and right as being indecisive or simply confused about themselves, the new center simply doesn’t fit into existing paradigms.

For example, we can talk about a right and left as concerns security and the matter of a potential Palestinian state. The left seeks to end the occupation of the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria (depending on your political views). It believes Israel can reach a diplomatic agreement with the Palestinian Authority and wants to dismantle outlying settlements (outside of the major blocs, which have near-consensus support in Israel). The center would support all of that in theory but doesn’t believe there is a negotiating partner capable of upholding such a deal on the other side. Centrists talk about stopping or even dismantling outlying settlements, but retaining military control, to preserve the possibility of a future, demilitarized Palestinian state. It’s important to recall that the centrist Blue and White party just happens to be led by three former IDF Chiefs, in part to neutralize the right’s claim that it is the only side that can ensure Israel’s security in a country that can literally go to war at any given time.

The right has a range of opinions on this issue. The range starts from essentially what the center believes, but with more skepticism; to allowing a sub-state entity with local autonomy; to encouraging migration (with economic incentives); to full annexation and offering either limited-rights residency or even full citizenship to those who swear loyalty to Israel (as a Jewish state of course). These positions shouldn’t be able to exist in the same coalition, but they do share one major characteristic: They believe there is absolutely nobody to trust on the other side. They also share the notion that the Palestinians missed their opportunity and will have to settle with less than what was previously offered them. As to Gaza, suffice it to say that no mainstream party really knows what to do with the intransigent Hamas and the growing humanitarian disaster in the coastal strip. So far, aside from “we’ll handle it better,” nobody is really offering an alternative.

Beyond security, “right” and “left” don’t translate to economic matters or questions of religion and state. This is partly why the “center” has come into play as a new construct. Meretz and Avodah certainly represent the classic left. But while Blue and White is centrist on security matters, it espouses free-market capitalism on economic issues alongside greater separation of religion and state. Yisrael Beiteinu is “right” on security matters but “left” on religion and state. Bennett’s New Right is “right” on security, “right” on free-market capitalism, but “center” on religion and state matters. Kulanu and Gesher are “center” or “right” on security matters but support a wider economic and social safety net, along traditionally leftist lines. Zehut totally shuffles the cards by offering hard-right security policies alongside a total separation of religion and state.

What are these elections really about?

Beyond labels, there seem to be two main issues at play in these elections -- issues that have been dividing Israeli society for at least four years. The first issue is Netanyahu himself. The prime minister faces indictment in three different corruption and breach of public trust cases in the coming year. These investigations have been ongoing throughout his entire previous term. The public is essentially split on Netanyahu. Clearly a talented and experienced politician, Netanyahu has led a campaign to sow public mistrust of the press (all biased leftists), the judicial system (activists leftists), and even the police (out to get him). That the attorney general and former police chief were his own appointments is of little consequence. By bypassing the mainstream press and making deft use of social media, Netanyahu has managed to galvanize half of the public behind him against these institutions. Public trust in the press, judiciary, and police has never been lower. Recall that elections were originally scheduled for November. Netanyahu pushed for early elections, seeking to upend the timing of potential indictments and bring public counter-pressure to the impending hearings.

Moreover, it is no longer clear where Netanyahu stops and the party and government begin. Most of the Likud campaign ads are personally focused on Netanyahu and it is no accident that he is also defense minister as well as foreign affairs and health minister. Is Netanyahu channeling his inner Louis XIV (“L'État, c'est moi”)? Does he believe that heis the state? It's not clear, to voters or to the Likud party itself, that he can tell the difference anymore. In many ways, this election is therefore a referendum on Netanyahu. Indeed, there are few practical policy differences between Likud and Blue and White. Netanyahu is the difference.

This is no small matter. Many Blue and White voters who might otherwise vote Likud feel that Netanyahu, in an attempt to shield himself from his legal woes, might trade important political favors to the more extreme religious or nationalist right that could cause deep and long-term changes to the nation's character. Netanyahu supporters, on the other hand, draw on his real foreign-policy achievements and his personal relations with many world leaders. With Israel surrounded by threats, they argue that now is not the time to put political novices at the helm. The allegations of corruption are either overstated or conspiratorial, they add, and entirely forgivable given the experience and stability Netanyahu brings to the office.

But there is a larger issue at stake, one that perhaps is drawing the new division between Israel’s left and right: What does it means to be a representative democracy? Does being a democracy mean that the government should reflect the will of the majority of voters or does being a democracy mean safeguarding freedom of press, an independent judiciary, rule of law, and respect for individual and minority rights? The current forces of the new right, including the aptly named New Right party and rising stars within the Likud, are pushing for major reforms to rein in the judicial activism of the Supreme Court and a greater democratic say in appointing its justices as well as lower-court judges. They also want to give the Knesset the ability to overturn the Court’s decisions with a special majority. Taken together with the unprecedented attacks on the press and the integrity of the police, we can see a clear and new fault-line. The more liberal old guard of the Likud, most of which has been slowly pushed out of the party by the more populist new guard, is uncomfortable with this development. Indeed, one of its most prominent members endorsed the Blue and White party last week.

Regional and international implications

If the outcome is as predicted by most political observers, the next government will look a lot like the current one, only with more confidence and a stronger hard-right contingent on security and matters of religion and state.

As for the region, many are anxiously awaiting the Trump administration’s peace plan, expected to be presented following the elections. Parties to the right of Likud have already proclaimed their rejection of any such agreement. Netanyahu, seeking to take away last-second votes from his right-wing adversaries, stated in a series of rare radio and television interviews that he would seek annexation of (parts of?) the West Bank, something he has hesitated to say before. Is this an election-week jump to the right? Or has he abandoned any pretense to supporting a two-state solution? Is he preparing skeptical right-wing voters for political compromise with the Palestinians? Or is he emboldened by recent diplomatic victories, such as on the Golan Heights, and going for broke? It's hard to know at this point. Keep in mind that it was right-winger Menachem Begin who made peace with Egypt and returned the Sinai Peninsula despite strong opposition on the right, and Ariel Sharon who withdrew from Gaza, against similar opposition.

Whatever happens on the Palestinian issue will surely affect Israel’s regional standing. Israel has taken its once-secret relations with the Sunni Arab world to new levels in recent years. It has been able to do so thanks to Arab fears of a resurgent Iran, a regional sense of abandonment by the United States, and growing apathy toward the Palestinian cause. But part of that relies at least on the illusion that Israel seeks peace with the Palestinians. Should Israel discard even this illusion, the Arabs would be hard-pressed to continue this positive regional trend without risking their own internal political stability.

The same holds true for Israel’s relationship with the United States and American Jews. Israel has become more and more of a partisan issue in American politics. There are a number of reasons for this, from domestic political and social trends in the United States, to the lack of progress on the Palestinian issue and Netanyahu's openly challenging President Obama, to Israel's domestic shift to the right in recent decades. With roughly 70 percent of American Jews being loyal Democrats, Israel risks cementing its perceived abandonment of half of America and most of American Jews in order to curry favor with the other half -- a risky strategy in the long run.

Given the likelihood that a right-wing government will continue to take hardline stances on matters of religion and state, Israel risks further alienating most American Jews, who have been able to overlook, to some extent, the diplomatic stalemate with the Palestinians. Furthermore, Israel could find itself continuing along the path of deepening relations with the Trumps, Putins, Bolsonaros, Modis, and Orbans of the world, at the expense of more moderate leaders. If the Democrats retake the White House, Israel’s standing in Washington will surely be affected, and American Jews will be more hesitant to come to its rescue as they have done in the past.

Right, left, center, whatever -- the outcome of these elections will have more significance than most realize. How this plays out, we will find out in the coming weeks. One thing is for certain: If you live in Israel, make sure to vote.

Dan Feferman is a major (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces, where he served as a foreign policy planner, assistant to the deputy chief of staff, and as an intelligence analyst. He researches, writes and speaks on Israel and the Middle East. The views expressed are the author's own.

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Five men convicted of torturing, killing police informant, stuffing body into trunk: report

Five members of the brutal Gangster Disciples street gang were found guilty Monday of raping, torturing, and killing a police informant and then stuffing his body into the trunk of car that was left at an Atlanta rail station in the fall of 2016.

The defendants were identified as Christopher Lockett, 30; Xavier Gibson, 23; Quatez Clark, 21; Joshua Rooks, 27; and Jasper Green, 27. They were convicted of multiple felony charges, including murder and participating in criminal street gang activity, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said.

The five men, all of whom authorities said were Gangster Disciples members, murdered 33-year-old Christopher Dean after learning he had once been a police informant in California, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, citing authorities.

DEPORTED MS-13 MEMBER, A CONVICTED KILLER IN THE US, CAUGHT BACK ON NEW YORK’S LONG ISLAND

In October 2016, Lockett lured Dean to an Atlanta home under the guise of a drug transaction, prosecutors said. It was there that several men tortured and raped Dean, investigators said. Green and another man named Lamar Almon arrived at the house, stuffed Dean’s ravaged body into the trunk of Lockett’s car, and left the vehicle parked at a MARTA rail station, Atlanta's WXIA-TV reported.

Christopher Dean was tortured and killed by five members of the Gangster Disciples street gang after they discovered he had once been a police informant, authorities say.

Christopher Dean was tortured and killed by five members of the Gangster Disciples street gang after they discovered he had once been a police informant, authorities say. (Fulton County District Attorney's Office)

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District Attorney Paul Howard said the murder “with its torture which included a brutal beating, sodomy with a wooden or metal object, penile sodomy by one or all of the defendants, shooting of the victim to the back of the head and the partial decomposition of the body” represented the most “horrific death in our county in recent history.”

Lockett, Gibson, Clark, Rooks, and Green will be sentenced later this month, Fulton County District Attorney's Office said.

Source: Fox News National

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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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FILE PHOTO: Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
FILE PHOTO: Pallbearers carry the coffin of journalist Lyra McKee at her funeral at St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

April 26, 2019

BELFAST (Reuters) – Detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland last week suspect the gunman who shot her dead is in his late teens as they made a further appeal to the local community who they believe know his identity.

McKee’s killing by an Irish nationalist militant during a riot in Londonderry has sparked outrage in the province where a 1998 peace deal mostly ended three decades of sectarian violence that cost the lives of some 3,600 people.

The New IRA, one of a small number of groups that oppose the peace accord, has said one of its members shot the 29-year-old reporter dead in the Creggan area of the city on Thursday when opening fire on police during a riot McKee was watching.

The killing, which followed a large car bomb in Londonderry in January that police also blamed on the New IRA, has raised fears that small marginalized militant groups are exploiting a political vacuum in the province and tensions caused by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

Police released footage on Friday of immediately before and after the shooting showing three men who were involved in the rioting and identified one as the gunman who they believe is in his late teens. 

“I believe that the information that can help us to bring those responsible for her murder to justice lies within the community. I need the public to tell me who he is,” Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy told reporters.

Murphy said those involved in the disorder on the night were teenagers or in their early 20s, and that about 100 people were on the ground watching the trouble as it unfolded.

He added that police believed the gun used in the attack was of a similar caliber to those used before in paramilitary type attacks in Creggan. 

“I recognize that people living in Creagan may find it’s difficult to come forward to speak to police. Today, I want to provide a personal reassurance that we are able to deal with those issues sensitively,” Murphy said, echoing similar appeals in recent days.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, editing by Padraic Halpin and Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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Traders work on the floor at the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 26, 2019

By Sruthi Shankar and Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were flat on Friday, as investors paused ahead of GDP data, which is expected to show the world’s largest economy maintained a moderate pace of growth in the first quarter.

Gross domestic product probably increased at a 2% annualized rate in the quarter as a burst in exports, strong inventory stockpiling and government investment in public construction projects offset a slowdown in consumer and business spending, according to a Reuters survey of economists.

The Commerce Department report will be published at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The GDP data comes as investors look for fresh catalysts to push the markets higher. The S&P 500 index is about 0.5% below its record high hit in late September, after surging nearly 17% this year.

First-quarter earnings have been largely upbeat, with nearly 78% of the 178 companies that have reported so far surpassing earnings estimates, according to Refinitiv data.

Wall Street now expects S&P 500 earnings to be in line with the year-ago quarter, a sharp improvement from the 2.3% fall expected at the start of April.

Amazon.com Inc rose 0.9% in premarket trading after the e-commerce giant reported quarterly profit that doubled and beat estimates on soaring demand for its cloud and ad services.

Ford Motor Co shares surged 8.5% after the automaker posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings largely due to strong pickup truck sales in its core U.S. market.

Mattel Inc jumped 8% after the toymaker beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue, as a more diverse range of Barbie dolls powered sales in the United States.

At 6:52 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 35 points, or 0.13%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 1.5 points, or 0.05% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 10.75 points, or 0.14%.

Among decliners, Intel Corp slumped 7.7% after it cut its full-year revenue forecast and missed quarterly sales estimate for its key data center business.

Rival Advanced Micro Devices declined 0.8%.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp are expected to report results later in the day.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

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General view of a destroyed building during World War II is pictured in Warsaw
General view of a destroyed building during World War II is pictured in Warsaw, Poland April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

April 26, 2019

By Joanna Plucinska

WARSAW (Reuters) – Germany could owe Poland more than $850 billion in reparations for damages it incurred during World War Two and the brutal Nazi occupation, a senior ruling party lawmaker said.

Some six million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed during the war and Warsaw was razed to the ground following a 1944 uprising in which about 200,000 civilians died.

Germany, one of Poland’s biggest trade partners and a fellow member of the European Union and NATO, says all financial claims linked to World War Two have been settled.

The right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) has revived calls for compensation since it took power in 2015 and has made the promotion of Poland’s wartime victimhood a central plank of its appeal to nationalism.

PiS has yet to make an official demand for reparations but its combative stance towards Germany has strained relations.

“Poland lost not only millions of its citizens but it was also destroyed in an unusually brutal way,” Arkadiusz Mularczyk, who heads the Polish parliamentary committee on reparations, told Reuters in an interview.

“Many (victims) are still alive and feel deeply wronged.”

His comments come a month before European Parliament elections in which populist and nationalist parties are expected to do well. Poland will also hold national elections later this year, with PiS still well ahead of its rivals in opinion polls.

EU LARGESSE

Mularczyk said the reparations figure could amount to more than 10 times the estimated 100 billion euros ($111 billion) that Poland has received so far in European Union funds since it joined the bloc in 2004.

Germany is the biggest net donor to the EU budget and some Germans regard its contributions as generous compensation to recipient countries like Poland which suffered under Nazi rule.

In 1953 Poland’s then-communist rulers relinquished all claims to war reparations under pressure from the Soviet Union, which wanted to free East Germany, also a Soviet satellite, from any liabilities. PiS says that agreement is invalid because Poland was unable to negotiate fair compensation.

Mularczyk said his committee hoped to complete its report on the reparations issue by Sept. 1, the 80th anniversary of Hitler’s invasion.

Accusing Berlin of playing “diplomatic games” over the issue, he said: “The matter is being swept under the rug (by Germany) … until it’ll be wiped from the memory, from people’s awareness.”

His comments come after the Greek parliament voted this month to seek billions of euros in German reparations for the Nazi occupation of their country.

(Additional reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Editing by Justyna Pawlak and Gareth Jones)

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FILE PHOTO - Otto Frederick Warmbier is taken to North Korea's top court in Pyongyang North Korea
FILE PHOTO – Otto Frederick Warmbier (C), a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea since early January, is taken to North Korea’s top court in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo March 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States did not pay any money to North Korea as it sought the release of comatose American student Otto Warmbier.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had approved payment of a $2 million bill from North Korea to cover its care of the college student, who died shortly after he was returned to the United States after 17 months in a North Korean prison.

(Reporting by Makini Brice and Susan Heavey)

Source: OANN

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