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British troops criticized for Corbyn “target practice” video

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks in Parliament, following the vote on extending Brexit negotiating period in London
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks in Parliament, following the vote on extending Brexit negotiating period in London, Britain, March 14, 2019, in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

April 3, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s defense ministry said on Wednesday it had launched an investigation into a video circulating on social media apparently showing soldiers using a picture of opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn for target practice.

The video, posted on Snapchat, shows four paratroopers firing shots at the picture with the caption “happy with that”.

“We are aware of a video circulating on social media,” an Army spokesperson said. “This behavior is totally unacceptable and falls well below the high standards the Army expects. A full investigation has been launched.”

A Labour spokesman called the behavior alarming and unacceptable but said the party was confident the Army would investigate and act on the incident.

The soldiers have been widely criticized by lawmakers.

“I’m shocked obviously that this sort of thing has happened,” Corbyn said. “I hope the Ministry of Defense will conduct an inquiry into it and find out what was going on and who did that.”

(Reporting by Rachel Cordery; editing by Stephen Addison/Guy Faulconbridge)

Source: OANN

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TWITTER URGED TO SUSPEND DONALD TRUMP AFTER PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF ‘SHARING PROPAGANDA VIDEOS #MAGAFirstNews with @PeterBoykin

TWITTER URGED TO SUSPEND DONALD TRUMP AFTER PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF ‘SHARING PROPAGANDA VIDEOS TRAFFICKING IN HATE SPEECH’ OVER OMAR ATTACK #MAGAFirstNews with @PeterBoykin U.S. TWITTER URGED TO SUSPEND DONALD TRUMP AFTER PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF ‘SHARING PROPAGANDA VIDEOS TRAFFICKING IN HATE SPEECH’ OVER OMAR ATTACK By Christina Zhao On 4/14/19 at 6:05 PM EDT US President Donald Trump delivers remarks on 5G deployment in the United States on April 12, 2019 in Washington, DC. The Women's March ... See More launched a petition on Saturday to get Twitter to suspend President Donald Trump's account after the president posted a video attacking Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar.PHOTO: TOM BRENNER/GETTY IMAGES The Women’s March—a women-led rights advocacy group—urged Twitter to suspend President Donald Trump’s account for posting a video showing Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar intercut with footage of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Trump on Friday — and then again on Saturday — shared a clip of Omar speaking at a banquet in California hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) last month, with the caption “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!” In the footage, Omar can be seen saying "CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something,” edited alongside footage of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Omar’s out-of-context words were taken from a speech where she said: "Far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen, and frankly, I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it…CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties." CAIR was actually founded in 1994, but did grow significantly in prominence in the years after the 2001 attack. “@realDonaldTrump is sharing propaganda videos trafficking in hate speech and inciting real violence against @IlhanMN. We’re calling on @jack to suspend him from @Twitter. Seriously. Add your name here:” the Women’s March tweeted, alongside a link to a petition to “suspend Trump from Facebook and Twitter.” “Trump has launched a despicable and irresponsible attack on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, sharing a propaganda video questioning the Congresswoman's loyalty to the United States,” the petition’s description read. “This is as dangerous as it is unprecedented. Representative Omar is receiving countless death threats as the president of the United States is inciting violence against a Black Muslim sitting member of congress, putting her life at risk.” The petition, which urges Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to “take down Trump’s hateful video and permanently suspend his account,” has gathered over 9,000 signatures since it was launched on Saturday evening. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, were among several Democrats who have condemned the president’s controversial video. “Members of Congress have a duty to respond to the President’s explicit attack today.@IlhanMN’s life is in danger. For our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit in the outright, dangerous targeting of a member of Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Saturday evening. “We must speak out. ‘First they came…’” Pelosi issued a statement on Sunday demanding Trump remove the “dangerous” post and announcing that she has taken measures to ensure Omar’s safety. “Following the President’s tweet, I spoke with the Sergeant-at-Arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff. They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces,” Pelosi said. “The President’s words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video," she added. Trump, who pinned the video to the top of his Twitter feed on Saturday, re-tweeted his post a day later but appears to have removed the pin by Sunday evening The original video remains on his Twitter feed as of Sunday afternoon. The White House did not immediately respond to Newsweek’s request for comment. Despite repeated calls and petitions accusing Trump of violating Twitter policies, the social media platform has resisted taking any action against his account. In a January 2018 blog post, the company explained — without naming Trump — why it does not hold world leaders to the same standards it holds private citizens. "Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate," wrote the company. "It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions." In an August 2018 interview with Buzzfeed, Dorsey made basically this same argument, though he did seem to indicate that the president could cross a line of accceptability if he attacked a private citizen. "I do believe private citizens versus public figures deserve more of our protection, but it has to be done in the context of how we’re actually seeing our global leaders," said the CEO.  In that same interview, Twitter’s Legal, Policy and Trust & Safety Lead Vijaya Gadde was not as forgiving about things a world leader could say on Twitter.  RELATED STORIES Nancy Pelosi Orders More Omar Security Over Trump Tweet How Pete Buttigieg Plans to Reach Rural Voters Trump Congratulates Tiger Woods On Masters Win Rick Scott: Trump 'Sanctuary City' Threat is Trolling "I think that if you asked me very directly, like, 'is everything the president says, part of public interest?' I would say no, but if you asked me what’s not, I think that it’s going to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis using the criteria we set forth," Gadde clarified to Buzzfeed. "I agree that it is subjective and nuanced and I would like to build more framework around that so we have a more consistent way to enforce going forward."

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Hiring rebounds as US employers add a solid 196,000 jobs

Hiring rebounded in March as U.S. employers added a solid 196,000 jobs, up sharply from February's scant gain and evidence that many businesses still want to hire despite signs that the economy is slowing.

The unemployment rate remained at 3.8%, near the lowest level in almost 50 years, the Labor Department reported Friday. Wage growth slowed a bit in March, with average hourly pay increasing 3.2% from a year earlier. That was down from February's year-over-year gain of 3.4%, which was the best in a decade.

The figures reported Friday suggest that February's anemic job growth — revised to 33,000, from an initial 20,000 — was merely a temporary blip and that businesses are confident the economy remains on a firm footing. Even with the current expansion nearly 10 years old, the U.S. economy is showing resilience.

At the same time, the economy is facing several challenges, from cautious consumers to slower growth in business investment to a U.S.-China trade war that is contributing to a weakening global economy.

So far this year, job gains have averaged 180,000 a month, easily enough to lower the unemployment rate over time, though down from a 223,000 average last year.

In March, job growth was strongest in the service sector. Health care added 61,000 jobs, restaurants and bars 27,000 and professional and business services, which includes high-paying fields such as engineering and accounting, added 37,000.

Manufacturers cut 6,000 jobs, while construction added 16,000.

The overall economy is sending mixed signals. Most indicators suggest slower growth this year compared with 2018. That would mean that hiring might also weaken from last year's strong pace.

In February, employers added a surprisingly low 20,000 jobs, the fewest in nearly a year and a half, though that pullback likely reflected extreme weather and other temporary factors. Another weak jobs report Friday, though, would fuel concerns about a downshift in growth.

Consumers have shown caution so far this year. Retail sales fell in February, and a broader measure of consumer spending slipped in January, potentially reflecting a waning effect of the Trump administration's tax cuts. Businesses have also reined in their spending on industrial machinery and other equipment and on factories and other buildings.

And in Europe and Asia, weaker economies have reduced demand for U.S. exports. Europe is on the brink of recession, with its factories shrinking in March at the fastest pace in six years, according to a private survey.

The U.S. trade war with China has weighed on the Chinese economy, which has hurt Southeast Asian nations that ship electronic components and other goods that are assembled into consumer products in China's factories.

Economists now forecast that the U.S. economy will expand roughly 2% to 2.5% this year, down from 2.9% last year. Still, most economists have forecast a bounce-back in hiring in March to about 170,000 added jobs, according to data provider FactSet. The unemployment rate is expected to remain near a half-century low of 3.8%.

Some positive signs for the economy have emerged in recent weeks: Sales of both new and existing homes rose in February after declining last year. More Americans are applying for mortgages now that rates have fallen.

And some of the weakness in spending earlier this year likely reflected delays in issuing tax refunds because of the government shutdown. Refunds largely caught up with their pace in previous years in March, economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said, suggesting that spending may as well.

The low unemployment rate and steady hiring have also raised Americans' paychecks. Average wages grew 3.4% in February compared with a year ago, the fastest such pace since the recession.

If wage growth continues to accelerate, it should fuel more spending and lift the economy in the coming months.

Source: Fox News National

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Malaysia urged to reinvestigate 2 apparent police abductions

Malaysia's government has been urged to reinvestigate the disappearances of a Christian pastor and a Muslim activist after a public inquiry concluded the duo were abducted by the police special branch over matters against Islam.

Amri Che Mat, who ran a Muslim organization, disappeared on Nov. 24, 2016. Pastor Raymond Koh disappeared on Feb. 13, 2017, while being investigated for proselytization of Muslims.

The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday concluded after a two-year investigation that the men were victims of "enforced disappearance" involving the special branch. It said the men had been targeted and abducted in similar fashion by men in black.

Rights groups, lawmakers and a Christian body said Thursday a new investigation should be done to find the truth and punish the perpetrators.

Source: Fox News World

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Congo’s president says 150 reported missing after boat sinks

Congo's president says 150 people are reported missing after a boat sank on Lake Kivu in the country's east.

The motorized boat was headed toward the commercial hub of Goma when it sank Monday evening. Many of the victims were believed to be traders who make the journey each week.

President Felix Tshisekedi says in a Twitter post that officials will work to punish those responsible for the fatal sinking.

Local authorities say only four bodies had been recovered as of late Tuesday, while 35 people had been saved.

Delphin Birimbi, a civil society leader in Mbinga, told the United Nations-backed Radio Okapi that authorities need to step up surveillance of overladen boats, which frequently contribute to fatal accidents.

Source: Fox News World

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Dozens of Dems vote 95 percent of time with AOC despite Pelosi’s claim that bloc is ‘like five people’

Nearly 70 Democrats have been voting in tandem with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s scoffing that the far-left Democratic wing was only “like five people.”

Pelosi downplayed the influence of the new-wave progressives, particularly Ocasio-Cortez, who pushed the party leftwards, during an interview with CBS News' Lesley Stahl on “60 Minutes,” saying that despite the noise, the party is still largely centrist and rejects socialism “as an economic system.”

“You have these wings, AOC and her group on one side,” Stahl told Pelosi, to which the 79-year-old replied: “That's like five people.”

PELOSI PLAYS DOWN INFLUENCE OF AOC WING OF DEMOCRATS, SAYS IT'S 'LIKE 5 PEOPLE'

But according to Fox News’ review of voting records using ProPublica data tools, 68 lawmakers voted with Ocasio-Cortez at least 95 percent of the times since January, representing over a fourth of all seats held by Democrats.

The lawmakers voting in tandem with the New York Democrat aren’t just freshmen lawmakers, but includes a number of other high-profile Democrats.

Presidential candidates Eric Swalwell and Tusli Gabbard both voted with Ocasio-Cortez 95 percent of the times. Rep. Adam Schiff,  the House Intelligence Committee chair, also voted with her 95 percent percent of the time.

Pelosi’s claim that the progressive caucus represents about “five people” appears to be correct only when counting lawmakers who voted 97 percent of the time with the New York Democrat. Those include Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Donald Payne, D-N.J.

During the CBS interview, Pelosi’s remarks were met with pushback, pointing out that the progressive group has more than five people, to which she responded saying she’s a progressive as well.

PELOSI APPEARS TO TAKE NEW JAB AT OCASIO-CORTEZ, SAYS ‘A GLASS OF WATER’ WITH A ‘D’ COULD WIN THEIR DISTRICTS

She added that Congressional Democrats “by and large ... know that we have to hold the center, that we have to go down the mainstream,” and said she “reject[s] socialism as an economic system.”

“If people have that view, that's their view," she said. "That is not the view of the Democratic Party.”

Pelosi continued taking a swipe at far-left Democrats during her trip to Ireland and the United Kingdom, telling an audience on Monday that both she and Ocasio-Cortez won in districts where “glass of water" with a "D" next to it could win.

“When we won this election, it wasn’t in districts like mine or Alexandria’s,” Pelosi said. “[S]he’s a wonderful member of Congress as I think all of our colleagues will attest. But those are districts that are solidly Democratic.”

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To drive the point home she picked up a water glass next to her and said: “This glass of water would win with a ‘D’ next to its name in those districts.”

Fox News’ Nicole Darrah and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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France’s yellow vests: Who they are, what they want, and why

France's yellow vest protesters are still a force to be reckoned with as they hold their 23rd straight weekend of demonstrations since the movement started in November. Here's a look at their movement:

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WHO THEY ARE

The movement started among provincial workers camped out at traffic circles to protest a hike in fuel taxes, sporting the high-visibility vests all French drivers must keep in their cars for emergencies.

It quickly spread to people across political, regional, social and generational divides angry at economic injustice and the way President Emmanuel Macron is running France. At its height, a quarter of a million people marched around France, and polls suggested more than 80 percent of French people supported the movement.

Its numbers have dwindled as Macron has addressed some concerns — and as violent troublemakers have hijacked peaceful protests and trashed treasured monuments and police have responded in force. The movement notably attracted extremists from the far right, and now increasingly from the far left, and those exhibiting anti-Semitic views.

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WHAT THEY WANT

At first, they wanted an end to the fuel tax hike. The wish list swiftly mushroomed.

Most of the demands focus on social justice: lower taxes on workers and pensioners, higher taxes on the rich, more public spending to help the working class.

Many want to make it easier for the public to mount national referendums. Some want more action to save the planet. Some want mass nationalization of French corporations, or even full-on revolution. And every week, crowds demand that Macron step down.

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WHAT THE PRESIDENT SAYS

Macron caved quickly to their first demand, scrapping the fuel tax rise. He offered 10 billion euros in tax cuts or other gestures for pensioners and workers.

He doesn't want, however, to re-introduce a wealth tax, is cool to the idea of national referendums — and has no plans to quit his job.

His government launched a national debate aimed at addressing the protesters' concerns, traveling the country for town hall meetings and collecting complaints online. He's expected to announce the resulting government measures next week.

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WHY IT'S ENDURING

The hard-core protesters say Macron still doesn't get it. They see the highly educated former investment banker as a president of the rich, and out of touch with the struggles of taxpayers who help sustain the world's No. 5 economy. The hard-liners are also pushing for early elections — Macron's term isn't set to expire until 2022.

His performance this week as fundraiser-in-chief for fire-gutted Notre Dame Cathedral sharpened the anger. Some prominent yellow vest voices are indignant that billionaires quickly offered fortunes to rebuild the landmark cathedral, arguing they should pay more taxes instead.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain's far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.

No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.

Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.

By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.

Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.

The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.

The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.

The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.

Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.

It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.

While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.

TRENDING

According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.

Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.

Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.

Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.

“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said

For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.

“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.

For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.

The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.

The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.

That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.

(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)

(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera has warned that if Democratic 2020 presidential candidates don’t take the crisis at the border seriously, they’ll do so at their own risk.

Speaking with “Fox & Friends” hosts on Friday morning, Rivera discussed the influx of candidates entering the race, including former Vice President Joe Biden, and gave an update on the newest developments at the border.

“If [Democrats] don’t take it seriously they ignore it at their peril,” Rivera said.

He went on to discuss the fact that Mexico is experiencing the same problems dealing with volumes of people at the border as the United States is. Processing facilities, as many have argued, are understaffed and underresourced, resulting in conditions that have been controversial.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG 

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“It is very, very difficult when hundreds and hundreds become thousands and thousands ultimately become tens of it is very difficult to have an orderly system,” he said.

Rivera asserted his opinion that the United States could lessen the influx of migrants coming into the country by investing in the development of Central American countries, where many are fleeing from violence and economic instability.

“I believe, as I have said before on this program, that we have to stop the source of the migrant explosion, by a comprehensive system of political and economic reform in Central America where people have the incentive to stay home,” Rivera said.

“I think we have help Mexico with its infrastructure. Mexico has a moral burden, as the president made very clear, not to let unchecked herds of desperate people flow through 2,000 miles of Mexican territory to get our southern border.”

Rivera also brought up President Trump’s controversial comments about Mexican immigrants during his campaign in 2016.

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The Fox News correspondent said that having been so excited about Trump’s campaign, the comments made him feel “deflated” as a Hispanic American.

However, as the crisis at the border has accelerated over the last few years, Rivera argued that ultimately, the president’s comments weren’t incorrect.

“He is now in a position where he can justly say I was right, that the that the anarchy at the border doesn’t serve anybody,” Rivera said. “Maybe he said it in a language I felt was a little rough and insensitive, but there is no doubt.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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