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Pakistan PM Khan appoints new finance ministry chief in major reshuffle

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan & Pakistan Holbrooke co-chairs a session with Pakistan's Finance Minister Shaikh during the Pakistan Development Forum in Islamabad
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan & Pakistan Richard Holbrooke (L), co-chairs a session with Pakistan's Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh during the Pakistan Development Forum in Islamabad November 14, 2010. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

April 19, 2019

By Asif Shahzad and Drazen Jorgic

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan made a sweeping cabinet reshuffle on Thursday after only seven months in power and appointed Abdul Hafeez Shaikh as de facto finance minister to steer the country through worsening economic turmoil.

Pakistan is on the brink of signing up for it 13th International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout since the late 1980s in a bid to stave off a balance of payments crisis and ease ballooning current account and fiscal deficits.

Khan’s government inherited a wobbly economy but the former cricketer has come under intense criticism for failing to fulfill his promises that he would steady the ship and bring prosperity to Pakistan.

Khan late on Thursday announced 10 ministerial appointments in a shakeup that included the departure of Finance Minister Asad Umar, who has been a close ally to Khan for many years.

Shaikh, who already served as finance minister from 2010-2013 under the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party when it was in power, has been appointed as “Adviser on Finance” but will be heading the finance ministry once again.

In Pakistan it is common for financial experts to be given the title of “adviser”, rather than federal minister, to head the finance ministry when they are not a sitting member of parliament.

Earlier in the day Umar, announcing that he would step down, said Pakistan would still go into an IMF program but warned his successor that he faces a tough job ahead.

“No one should expect from the new finance minister that things could be better in three months’ time,” Umar told reporters in capital Islamabad on Thursday afternoon.

“The next budget will be a difficult one,” he added, referring to annual spending plans for the financial year ending June 2020 due to announced in May.

Umar, who had been asked to quit on Wednesday night, said he still strongly believed Khan was the best hope for the country.

Influential Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has been moved to the science and technology ministry, while retired Brigadier Ijaz Ahmed Shah has been appointed as Interior Minister. Energy expert Nadeem Babar has been appointed to lead the petroleum ministry.

GLOOMY PICTURE

Khan was widely expected to turn to a steady hand to replace businessman Umar, who was the former chief executive of Engro, Pakistan’s biggest private conglomerate.

Shaikh, a U.S-educated economist who worked at Harvard University, also spent many years working for the World Bank and had also been the privatization minister during the government of former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf.

Speculation that Umar would be replaced had been rife for months, with some business groups and investors unhappy with Umar’s strategy of seeking short-term loans from allies such as China and Saudi Arabia instead of finalizing an IMF rescue package after Khan assumed power in August.

Khan’s government has got temporary relief from allies, including China and Saudi Arabia, who offered short-term loans worth more than $10 billion to buffer foreign currency reserves and ease pressure on the current account.

But it was not enough.

Umar has been leading negotiations with the IMF but has faced criticism over a worsening economic outlook on his watch, with inflation at a five-year high and the local rupee currency down about 35 percent since Dec 2017.

The central bank last month cut growth estimates, forecasting the economy to expand 3.5 to 4 percent in the 12 months to the end of June, well short of a government target of 6.2 percent. The IMF paints a gloomier picture, predicting growth of 2.9 percent in 2019 and 2.8 percent next year.

(Additional reporting by Saad Sayeed; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Robert Birsel, Clarence Fernandez and Andrew Heavens)

Source: OANN

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Preschool staffers suspended after allegedly forcing children to stand naked inside closet as punishment

Preschool children were allegedly forced to strip naked and stand in a closet for five or 10 minutes as punishment last week in East St. Louis, Ill., prompting the suspensions, without pay, of a teacher and her assistant, reports said Tuesday.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) runs the Head Start program held at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in East St. Louis, where there is a class of about 20 preschoolers, SIUE Police Chief Kevin Schmoll told reporters.

“The one teacher said she didn’t learn this anywhere, this is what she tried and felt it would calm the children down by doing this,” Schmoll told FOX 2 of St. Louis. “But it’s obviously in no teaching manual anywhere. It’s inappropriate and against the law to do this.”

GEORGIA SCHOOL BRINGS BACK PADDLING TO PUNISH STUDENTS -- WHEN PARENTS GIVE CONSENT

Police believe the students were ages 4 and 5, and at least four young boys in the classroom were punished in the alleged incident, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The teacher is a 26-year-old woman, while her assistant is 41 years old, FOX 2 reported. Schmoll told the station that the teacher admitted to the punishment, while the assistant is in trouble for not intervening or reporting it.

Program leaders sent parents a letter to explain a "child safety violation" in the classroom, the Post-Dispatch reported.

“Under no circumstances does the program condone or tolerate inappropriate treatment towards children, family or staff,” the letter said.

A spokesperson for the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation issued a statement late Tuesday saying that program is run "completely independently" from the center programming and foundation.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"Our staff was in no way involved in this alleged incident and had no knowledge of what happened in this case," the statement said. "As a Foundation that dedicates itself to improving the lives of children, we were deeply saddened to hear this alleged incident occurred and know that appropriate legal actions are being taken."

The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s office is expected to review the case for potential charges, Schmoll told the Post-Dispatch.

Source: Fox News National

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US WWII bomb detonated in Germany, causing widespread damage

The controlled detonation of an American World War II bomb in the southern German city of Regensburg has still caused widespread damage to nearby houses.

Some 4,500 residents had to be evacuated from the area before experts performed the detonation. A spokeswoman for the Bavarian city, Dagmar Obermeier-Kundel, said the 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb still shattered windows in several surrounding buildings early Wednesday. Photos also showed damaged roofs.

Munitions expert Andreas Heil told The Associated Press that the bomb couldn't be safely defused because the type of detonator it contained was tamper-proof, very sensitive and could have triggered an explosion at any moment.

Thousands of unexploded relics of World War II's extensive aerial bombardment are found in Germany every year, even 74 years after the end of the war.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump Attacks on Obamacare May Unite Democrats

President Donald Trump is calling on Republicans to revive the effort to quash the Affordable Care Act, handing Democrats an opportunity to unite in defense of the law as they try to move past the Russia investigation and win the White House in 2020.

Trump's administration is asking a federal appeals court to strike down the entire healthcare law. The president vowed on Tuesday to make the GOP the "party of healthcare" and told Senate Republicans to lean into their own agenda on the issue as they head into next year's election.

The moves could help Trump rally his conservative base as he celebrates Attorney General William Barr's summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report that said there was no evidence that the president or his associates colluded with Russia in the 2016 campaign. But the push also poured political kerosene on an issue that many Democrats credit with powering their midterm election victories in November.

Top Democrats, including presidential candidates, said healthcare is an issue that resonates with voters more than the Mueller investigation.

"This is something that Americans care deeply about," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, a White House hopeful. "I may not have been asked about the Mueller report at town hall meetings, but I was sure asked about healthcare."

Other Democrats appeared to relish the chance to shift to healthcare. Asked if the Trump administration's court filing allowed Democrats to turn the page on Mueller, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would have been talking about healthcare no matter what.

"We have been dealing with healthcare constantly," the California Democrat said. "The public attention has been on the Mueller report, but we have been focused on healthcare."

Another 2020 contender, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, said if Trump "wants to have a fight on healthcare, it's a fight we're willing to have. And it's a fight he is going to lose."

That confidence is in part because healthcare was a big political winner for Democrats last year. According to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters nationwide, nearly 4 in 10 Democratic voters identified healthcare as the most important among a list of key issues including immigration, the economy and the environment. A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday found 55 percent of Americans supporting the improvement and not the replacement of the nation's healthcare system.

The Supreme Court has twice upheld President Barack Obama's healthcare law, known as "Obamacare." Five justices — a majority — who upheld the law in 2012 are still on the bench.

Trump's effort to repeal Obamacare narrowly failed in the Senate in 2017. Nearly two years later, it's unclear where the White House plans to focus its healthcare efforts. Trump's most recent budget backs one piece of the legislation that stalled in the Senate.

Republicans gained Senate seats last fall, but there's no indication that GOP senators want another fight over repealing Obamacare — particularly not those up for re-election next year. The GOP also lost control of the House, which means any attempt to dismantle the law could not pass Congress.

One White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to address still-early talks, said discussions are ongoing with Pelosi's office on legislation to lower prescription drug prices, but no substantive path forward for a broader healthcare bill has emerged.

As the debate plays out on Capitol Hill, the White House made a surprising legal argument for eliminating the healthcare bill. In a Monday court filing, the administration said the entire healthcare law should be struck down as unconstitutional after Congress repealed fines on people who remain uninsured.

That's at odds with previous statements by leading congressional Republicans who said they didn't intend to repeal other parts of the law when they cut out its fines, effective this year. It's also a departure from the administration's earlier stance in a lower court, where it had argued that only federal safeguards for people with pre-existing medical conditions and limits on premiums charged to older, sicker people should be struck down.

Repeal of Obamacare in its entirety would risk making more than 20 million people uninsured. That includes some 12 million low-income people covered through its Medicaid expansion and some 11 million purchasing subsidized private health insurance through HealthCare.gov and state-run insurance markets.

Some Republicans say that wouldn't happen because the Trump administration's "repeal and replace" plan would send grants to states for them to run their own health insurance programs. However, during the 2017 congressional debate over repealing the health law, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the GOP replacement plans would result in steep coverage losses.

Several GOP senators said Tuesday that Trump told them to ensure those with pre-existing conditions stayed protected as they work on an Obamacare replacement. Republicans appeared ready to back up the president on healthcare for now.

Trump is "thinking that's the issue that defines us as conservatives," Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., told reporters after the president addressed a closed-door meeting of GOP senators.

Rep. Steve Scalise, the House minority whip, said Democrats have "misled" voters about the benefits of Obamacare.

"They were misled about collusion with Russia," said Scalise, R-La. "The same people that have been misleading on all those other issues want to try to mislead people on healthcare costs."

The sudden focus on the healthcare law comes as Democratic presidential candidates have embraced a move toward a single-payer healthcare system known as "Medicare for All." The momentum for that effort could wane if congressional Democrats instead have to focus on defending Obamacare.

House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled legislation to shore up the Affordable Care Act and expand enrollment to millions more people.

"For (Trump) to bring this back up is traumatic, and it shines a real light on what the contrast is going to be between him and whoever the Democratic nominee is," said Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the Democratic group American Bridge. The group's planned $50 million investment in deterring swing-state voters from backing Trump in 2020 will focus in part on healthcare, as well as other economic issues, Bates said.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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EU’s Tusk says ‘dream’ of Brexit U-turn not dead

FILE PHOTO: Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: European Council President Donald Tusk leaves after holding a news conference following an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 16, 2019

STRASBOURG (Reuters) – EU summit chair Donald Tusk on Tuesday called on Tuesday for the “dream” that Britain might give up on leaving the European Union not to be dismissed and urged politicians not to let exhaustion with Brexit negotiations make for a hasty exit.

Giving an account of last week’s summit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, European Council President Tusk said he was responding to a statement by one national leader who had warned “dreamers” not to think “Brexit could be reversed”.

“At this rather difficult moment in our history, we need dreamers and dreams. We cannot give in to fatalism. At least I will not stop dreaming about a better and united Europe,” said Tusk, long a vocal proponent of Britain having a chance to stay.

It was not immediately clear which leader he was referring to, but French President Emmanuel Macron stood out at the summit for pushing for Britain to be given only a few weeks more to decide whether to leave on negotiated terms or without them. The summit compromised by giving Britain another six months.

Tusk said: “I know that, on both sides of the Channel, everyone, including myself, is exhausted with Brexit, which is completely understandable. However, this is not an excuse to say: “let’s get it over with”, just because we’re tired.”

(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: OANN

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Schwarzenegger: McCain Attack 'Absolutely Unacceptable'

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger joined a packed chorus to defend the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., against President Donald Trump's renewed assault on the Vietnam War pilot who spent five and a half years as a POW.

"He was just an unbelievable person," Schwarzenegger told The Atlantic. "So, an attack on him is absolutely unacceptable if he's alive or dead — but even twice as unacceptable since he passed away a few months ago. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever to do that. I just think it's a shame that the president lets himself down to that kind of level. We will be lucky if everyone in Washington followed McCain's example because he represented courage."

Trump and McCain feuded since the 2016 campaign when Trump questioned McCain's war hero status. The pair never got along after that, and McCain cast the deciding vote to shoot down the GOP-backed measure to repeal Obamacare in 2017.

Trump has spoken ill of McCain, who died last August after a battle with brain cancer, on multiple occasions in recent days.

"He was a great public servant, no two ways about that," Schwarzenegger said. "He was known for his honesty, for his courage, and his patriotism and his service.

"The president should lift people up, should lift the nation up rather than always tearing people down."

Schwarzenegger then doled out some advice to Trump regarding bullying.

"Why don't you go and sit down with your wife for just a few minutes, Mr. President, and listen to the first lady when she's talking about stopping online bullying," he said. "That is a really great message. Which way do we go? Your way, or her way. That's really the question here."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Virginia Tech guard Outlaw charged with misdemeanor

NCAA Basketball: Miami-Florida at Virginia Tech
Mar 8, 2019; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies guard/forward Ty Outlaw (42) reacts following a made three pointer against the Miami Hurricanes in the first half at Cassell Coliseum. Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

March 27, 2019

A charge of possession of marijuana against Virginia Tech senior guard Ty Outlaw came to light Wednesday, two days before the Hokies take on No. 1-seed Duke in the NCAA Tournament.

Multiple outlets reported the misdemeanor charge, which, according to Montgomery County District Court records, was dated March 21 when Outlaw was with the Virginia Tech team in San Jose, Calif., for the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

The charge reportedly stemmed from a police visit to Outlaw’s apartment on March 20.

Outlaw scored seven points with seven rebounds in Friday’s victory over Saint Louis in the opening round, then scored 10 points with 11 rebounds in a second-round game Sunday against Liberty to secure fourth-seeded Virginia Tech’s trip to the Sweet 16.

As of Wednesday evening, the Virginia Tech athletic department had not publicly commented on the charge. Outlaw’s status for Friday’s game against the Blue Devils remained unknown. Virginia Tech is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1967.

He has scored 8.7 points and grabbed 5.4 rebounds per game this season, having made 45.6 percent of his 3-point attempts (78 of 171).

Outlaw spent time at UNC Greensboro and Lee College, a community college in Texas, before arriving at Virginia Tech. He redshirted a season with the Hokies while dealing with a heart condition before returning to the court last season. Earlier this month, the ACC honored Outlaw with the Bob Bradley Spirit and Courage Award.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Candidate Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of an exit poll in Ukraine's presidential election in Kiev
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Matthias Williams

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“DANGEROUS CANCER” OF GRAFT

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

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

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

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

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KIM FOXX’S CHIEF ETHICS OFFICER RESIGNS FOLLOWING SMOLLETT CONTROVERSY

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

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

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

CLICK HERE FOF THE FOX NEWS APP

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

Smollett has strongly denied the accusations.

Source: Fox News National

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