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The week in pictures, Mar. 9 – Mar. 15

https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2019/03/918/516/05_AP19071349350700.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

Italy's Dominik Paris is airborne during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill training run in Soldeu, Andorra, March 12, 2019.

AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti

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Source: Fox News World

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Denials of U.S. immigrant visas skyrocket after little-heralded rule change

Arturo, a Mexican migrant, reacts next to his sons inside their house in Neutla
Arturo, 33, a Mexican migrant, who was denied a visa to the United States, reacts next to his sons Juan (C), 10 and Javen, 6, inside their house in Neutla, Guanajuato state, Mexico, April 9, 2019. Picture taken April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

April 15, 2019

By Yeganeh Torbati and Kristina Cooke

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – When Arturo Balbino, a Texas construction worker, walked into his visa interview at the American consulate in the northern Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez in March, he wasn’t nervous. He felt good.

Balbino, a 33-year-old Mexican national who had entered the United States illegally 14 years ago, thought he had a strong case for a spousal visa: a wife and children who are U.S. citizens, a father-in-law who had pledged in an affidavit to financially support him if necessary, and a letter from his employer guaranteeing him an $18-per-hour job upon his return.

    When he went for the interview, he was at the final step of legalizing his status, which would, he hoped, pave the way for a more stable life for himself and his family.

Instead, the consular officer denied his application on the grounds that he could become a drain on U.S. taxpayers by requiring government financial assistance, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.

    That decision stranded Balbino in Mexico indefinitely and upended his family’s life.

    More and more aspiring immigrants – especially Mexicans – are being denied visas based on determinations by the U.S. State Department that they might become “public charges,” dependent on the government for support, according to official data and interviews with attorneys, immigrants and their family members.

    Lawyers for some immigrants say consular officers are denying visas even when applicants fulfill legal requirements to prove they will be financially independent.

    The refusals, capping an often complex and lengthy application process, can trap people for months or longer outside the United States, separated from American spouses and children, as they renew their efforts to legally return. Some may never be able to go back.

One reason for the rise in refusals are little-known changes last year in the State Department’s foreign affairs manual that gave diplomats wider discretion in deciding visa denials on public-charge grounds.

The changes occurred in January 2018 as the Department of Homeland Security was preparing a separate, highly controversial proposal to restrict immigration on public-charge grounds. The regulation, officially proposed in October, received more than 200,000 public comments, which will likely take months longer to fully evaluate.

     Some critics say the State Department is using a back door, tightening immigration policy without going through a similarly high-profile rulemaking process.

     “The State Department is trying to bypass public comment and implement changes to public-charge (policy) all on its own,” said Charles Wheeler, an attorney with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. “These changes are already having a terrible effect on people.”

The State Department declined to comment, citing pending litigation over the manual changes.

    In the lawsuit in a Maryland federal court, the government rejected accusations that the manual changes are motivated by any antipathy toward immigrants and argued that such “guidance” is not subject to court review or laws requiring public comment.

    The guidance, government lawyers wrote in a February court filing, is neutral and implements a long-standing U.S. law meant to exclude immigrants who are likely to become burdens on the United States.

The government acknowledged in the filing that the guidance “could potentially lead” to more frequent public-charge denials.

    The changes to the manual are not the only reason for the increase in refusals of immigrant visa applications on public-charge grounds. Those have risen since 2015, when fewer than 900 were issued, according to government data.

    But after the manual changes in January 2018, the refusals shot up. In the 2018 fiscal year, which ended in September, nearly 13,500 immigrant visa applications were refused on public-charge grounds – quadruple the number in the previous fiscal year and the highest total since 2004.

FEWER VISAS FOR MEXICANS

Although the State Department does not release visa refusal data by nationality or consulate, immigration lawyers said public-charge enforcement is particularly rigorous at the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, where all Mexican immigrant visa applications are processed.

Mexicans received 11 percent fewer immigrant visas in fiscal year 2018 compared to 2017. That compares to a 4.6 percent overall decline in such visas to people of all nationalities during that period.

    Previously, the State Department typically considered an “affidavit of support,” signed by an American citizen or permanent resident offering to act as a sponsor of the immigrant, sufficient evidence that the person would not become a government burden, immigration lawyers said.

To qualify as a sponsor, a person must make at least 125 percent of the U.S. poverty level for that person’s household size. According to the affidavit from Balbino’s father-in-law, seen by Reuters, he made almost $90,000 a year – tens of thousands of dollars more than the government requires for a household of his size.

Now, according to the manual, the affidavit is just one factor among many. Consular officers are also now allowed to consider past or current use of public benefits – including health and nutrition services. And that includes use by an immigrant’s family, even if they are citizens.

Under the previous version of the manual, consular officials were not permitted to consider the use of non-cash benefits.

Balbino’s children’s use of the Medicaid program for low-income households and food stamps was an issue that came up in his visa interview, along with questions about his father-in-law’s commitment to supporting him, Balbino said.

    TRAPPED IN MEXICO

Public-charge denials can be particularly devastating for people like Balbino, who entered the United States illegally, built lives and have an opportunity to legalize their status through marriage.

It’s a complex process, but one many immigrants like Balbino are willing to complete. U.S. law requires people who have been present in the United States illegally for longer than six months to leave and remain abroad for several years before attempting to re-enter.

    But visa applicants can ask for waivers that allow them to return more quickly. Balbino obtained such a waiver in 2017. Once a visa is refused on public-charge grounds, however, such waivers are revoked, trapping the person outside the country for months or years.

With Balbino’s waiver now revoked, his wife, Darlene, is considering moving with her children to Balbino’s hometown in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. She doesn’t work and is struggling to pay the bills.

“We can’t make it on our own any more,” she said.

    Because the family is so strapped, two of the five children, aged 6 and 10, have already been sent to live with Balbino – a move they are finding difficult. “They’ve spent their whole life in the United States,” Balbino said in an interview. “They don’t speak much Spanish.”

The 6-year-old boy had been receiving therapy for a speech impediment at his Texas school, but after the move to Mexico his speech has started to regress, said Darlene Balbino, who is still in Texas with her two older daughters and a toddler while she figures out what to do next.

Her husband is contemplating the possibility that the family will be apart for years.

“At times I want to think that everything will be okay and I’ll be able to be with my family again,” Arturo Balbino said. “It’s very difficult to think that I won’t be able to return to watch my children grow up.”

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Washington and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Julie Marquis and Ross Colvin)

Source: OANN

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Ohio vice cop, under investigation in woman’s fatal shooting, also accused of forcing women to have sex

An Ohio vice cop -- currently under investigation in the fatal shooting of a woman during an alleged prostitution sting -- has been accused in a separate case of forcing two women to have sex with him to avoid arrest.

Columbus Detective Andrew Mitchell, a 30-year veteran, was charged Monday in a federal indictment with violating the civil rights of the two women. In August, he shot Donna Castleberry, a 23-year-old mother of two girls, after she stabbed him in the hand inside an unmarked police car, police said.

Federal prosecutors announced Mitchell's arrest at a news conference where state prosecutors also said a grand jury will hear evidence in the Castleberry shooting next month.

"We're glad that there has been a step forward towards getting justice for Donna, but there is still a long way to go," Castleberry’s sister, Bobbi McCalla, told FOX28 Columbus Monday. "I certainly hope that no woman has to go through what the victims of Andrew Mitchell have went through and I am afraid that maybe it took my sister losing her life for him to be held accountable."

CALIFORNIA POLICE OFFICER IN 'VIOLENT FIGHT' CAUGHT ON VIDEO WITH SUSPECT WHO THREATENED TO 'SHOOT YOUR A--'

Photo of Donna Castleberry, (r.). , Mary Laile, shows her cellphone which holds a photo of Castleberry, her cousin.  

Photo of Donna Castleberry, (r.). , Mary Laile, shows her cellphone which holds a photo of Castleberry, her cousin.   (Michelle Dalton via AP/AP Photo/Andrew Welsh-Huggins)

The Columbus vice squad has been under scrutiny since last year's arrest of Stormy Daniels, the porn actress, at a strip club where she was scheduled to perform.

She sued the four vice cops who arrested her, claiming the arrest was politically motivated because of her alleged affair with Donald Trump before he became president. Last week, an internal police investigation concluded the arrest was improper, but not planned or politically motivated, the Associated Press reported Monday.

NYPD POLICE OFFICER CONVICTED OF RUNNING DRUG-TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION WITH BOYFRIEND OUT OF HER APARTMENT

The indictment revealed Monday accuses the 55-year-old Mitchell of not arresting the two women after one had sex with him in July 2017 and the other had sex with him in September 2017 and in June 2018. The incidents occurred when he was working the prostitution beat.

Photo shows what is left of a make-shift memorial to Donna Castleberry near the scene of her August shooting death in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Andrew Welsh-Huggins)

Photo shows what is left of a make-shift memorial to Donna Castleberry near the scene of her August shooting death in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Andrew Welsh-Huggins)

Mitchell was also charged with lying to the FBI in September 2018 when he denied ever having sex with a prostitute. Prosecutors alleged Mitchell had sex with numerous prostitutes, including having paid women money for sex.

At a news conference Monday, Columbus U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman accused Mitchell of a “nightmarish breach of trust,” according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Defense attorney Mark Collins told the paper his client denied the charges against him, “absolutely, 100 percent.”

Source: Fox News National

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U.S. business inventories rise, sales drop biggest in three years

A forklift operator moves a pallet of Imported frozen seafood from China inside the refrigerated warehouse at Pacific American Fish Company imports (PAFCO) in Vernon, California
FILE PHOTO - A forklift operator moves a pallet of Imported frozen seafood from China inside the refrigerated warehouse at Pacific American Fish Company imports (PAFCO) in Vernon, California, U.S. September 25, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake

March 11, 2019

WASHINGTON, March 11 – U.S. business inventories increased in December as sales recorded their biggest drop in three years, potentially pointing to an unplanned piling up of unsold goods.

The Commerce Department said on Monday that business inventories rose 0.6 percent after being unchanged in November.

Inventories are a key component of gross domestic product. December’s increase was in line with economists’ expectations.

The December business inventory report was delayed by a five-week partial shutdown of the federal government that ended on Jan. 25. The January report, which was scheduled to be published on Thursday, will now be released on April 1.

Retail inventories rebounded 0.9 percent in December as previously reported in an advance report last month. Retail inventories fell 0.4 percent in November.

Motor vehicle inventories rose 0.6 percent rather than the 0.7 percent rise reported last month. That followed a similar gain in November. Retail inventories excluding autos, which go into the calculation of GDP, increased 1.0 percent in December as reported last month.

Wholesale inventories jumped 1.1 percent in December and stocks at manufacturers were unchanged.

The government reported last month that inventory investment added 0.13 percentage point to the fourth quarter’s 2.6 percent annualized growth rate. December trade and construction spending data have led economists to expect that the government will lower the fourth-quarter GDP estimate when it publishes revisions to the data later this month.

Business sales tumbled 1.0 percent in December, the most since December 2015, after dropping 0.6 percent in November. Retail sales plunged 1.8 percent in December. Sales at wholesalers dropped 1.0 percent while those at manufacturers fell 0.2 percent.

At December’s sales pace, it would take 1.38 months for businesses to clear shelves, the most since August 2017, up from 1.36 months in November.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: OANN

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Dollar holds modest gains after U.S. jobs report, Brexit in focus

FILE PHOTO: A trader shows U.S. dollar notes at a currency exchange booth in Peshawar
FILE PHOTO: A trader shows U.S. dollar notes at a currency exchange booth in Peshawar, Pakistan December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz/File Photo

April 8, 2019

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) – The dollar retained modest gains on Monday after a U.S. jobs report put to bed fears of a sharper slowdown in the world’s largest economy.

The closely watched data released on Friday showed nonfarm payrolls rose by a solid 196,000 in March, topping expectations and giving riskier assets a much-needed lift.

The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was little changed at 97.383 after edging up 0.1 percent on Friday.

The greenback’s gains were limited as some components of the U.S. employment report suggested the economy wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

Wage gains had slowed in March, with average hourly earnings rising a modest 0.1 percent after jumping 0.4 percent in February. The moderation in wage growth supported the Federal Reserve’s decision to suspend further interest rate increases this year.

“The Fed can neither cut or hike rates in light of Friday’s jobs report, which does not provide the dollar with decisive incentive,” said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities.

“The Sino-U.S. trade talks don’t look to end any time soon and market focus will drift to Europe this week, as Brexit nears its next milestone on April 12.”

U.S. and Chinese negotiators wrapped up their latest round of trade talks on Friday and were scheduled to resume discussions next week to try to secure a pact that would end a months-long tit-for-tat tariff battle.

Britain’s departure from the European Union looms on April 12, but Prime Minister Theresa May has asked Brussels to postpone the exit until June 30 with little progress being made towards the departure.

The pound slipped to a one-week low of $1.2987 on Friday as France and the Netherlands expressed doubt about May’s plan to further delay Brexit. [GBP/]

Sterling last traded at $1.3037, little changed on the day.

The euro was flat at $1.1218 after dipping slightly against the dollar on Friday.

Against the yen, the dollar was a shade lower at 111.65 yen after popping up to a three-week high of 111.825 on Friday following the U.S. jobs report.

The Australian dollar dipped 0.15 percent to $0.7095 in the wake of declining prices of commodities such as copper.

(Graphic: Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 – http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh)

(Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Tens of thousands converge on California 'poppy apocalypse'

Like Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz," the Southern California city of Lake Elsinore is being overwhelmed by the power of the poppies.

About 150,000 people over the weekend flocked to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near the city of about 60,000 residents, about a 90-minute drive from either San Diego or Los Angeles.

Interstate 15 was a parking lot. People fainted in the heat; a dog romping through the fields was bitten by a rattlesnake.

A vibrant field of poppies lures Dorothy into a trap in the "Wizard of Oz" when the wicked witch, acknowledging that no one can resist their beauty, poisons the wildflowers and she slips into a fatal slumber until the good witch reverses the spell.

Lake Elsinore had tried to prepare for the crush of people drawn by the super bloom, a rare occurrence that usually happens about once a decade because it requires a wet winter and warm temperatures that stay above freezing.

It offered a free shuttle service to the top viewing spots, but it wasn't enough.

Sunday traffic got so bad that Lake Elsinore officials requested law enforcement assistance from neighboring jurisdictions. At one point, the city pulled down the curtain and closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon.

"It was insane, absolutely insane," said Mayor Steve Manos, who described it as a "poppy apocalypse."

By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened.

And people were streaming in again.

Young and old visitors to the Lake Elsinore area seemed equally enchanted as they snapped selfies against the natural carpet of iridescent orange.

Some contacted friends and family on video calls so they could share the beauty in real time. Artists propped canvasses on the side of the trail to paint the super bloom, while drones buzzed overhead.

Patty Bishop, 48, of nearby Lake Forest, was on her second visit. The native Californian had never seen such an explosion of color from the state flower. She battled traffic Sunday but that didn't deter her from going back Monday for another look. She got there at sunrise and stayed for hours.

"There's been so many in just one area," she said. "I think that's probably the main reason why I'm out here personally is because it's so beautiful."

Stephen Kim and his girlfriend got to Lake Elsinore even before sunrise Sunday to beat the crowds but there were already hundreds of people.

The two wedding photographers hiked on the designated trails with an engaged couple to do a photo shoot with the flowers in the background, but they were upset to see so many people going off-trail and so much garbage. They picked up as many discarded water bottles as they could carry.

"You see this beautiful pristine photo of nature but then you look to the left and there's plastic Starbucks cups and water bottles on the trail and selfie sticks and people having road rage because some people were walking slower," said Kim, 24, of Carlsbad.

Andy Macuga, honorary mayor of the desert town of Borrego Springs, another wildflower hotspot, said he feels for Lake Elsinore.

In 2017, a rain-fed super bloom brought in more than a half-million visitors to the town of 3,500. Restaurants ran out of food. Gas stations ran out of fuel. Traffic backed up on a single road for 20 miles (32 kilometers).

The city is again experiencing a super bloom.

The crowds are back. Hotels are full. More than 6,000 people on a recent Saturday stopped at the visitor's center at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California's largest park with 1,000 square miles (2,590 sq. kilometers).

But it helps that the masses of blooms are appearing in several different areas this time, and some sections are fading, while others are lighting up with flowers, helping to disperse the crowds a bit.

Most importantly, Macuga said, the town's businesses prepared this time as if a major storm was about to hit. His restaurant, Carlee's, is averaging more than 550 meals a day, compared to 300 on a normal March day.

"We were completely caught off guard in 2017 because it was the first time that we had had a flower season like this with social media," he said. "It helps now knowing what's coming."

_____

Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writer Amanda Lee Myers in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

____

This story has been corrected to show Dorothy was saved in "Wizard of Oz" by good witch after friends failed to carry her out of fields.

Source: Fox News National

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Mueller report provides intimate scenes from the Trump White House

Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrives at his office building in Washington
Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrives at his office building in Washington, U.S., April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

April 18, 2019

(Note: Story includes language throughout that will offend some readers.)

By Ginger Gibson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report builds upon dozens of interviews, notes and communications to piece together what was happening inside President Donald Trump’s White House.

Here are some of those scenes:

‘I’M FUCKED’

Attorney General Jeff Sessions broke the news to Trump on May 17, 2017, that Rod Rosenstein had appointed Robert Mueller to be the special counsel.

Sessions was with Trump in the Oval Office conducting interviews for a new FBI director but stepped outside when Rosenstein called to give him the news.

Trump slumped in his chair after Sessions returned and informed him of the appointment, according to notes taken at the time by Jody Hunt, who was Session’s chief of staff, and provided to Mueller’s team.

“Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked,” Trump said.

Trump then turned his anger toward Sessions.

“You were supposed to protect me,” Sessions recalled Trump telling him.

Trump then again bemoaned the potential fallout of a special counsel.

“Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won’t be able to do anything. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me,” Trump then said, according to both Hunt and Sessions.

A TENSE MEETING

Chief of Staff John Kelly detailed a “tense” Oval Office meeting he convened the morning of Feb. 6, 2018, to try to smooth things over between Trump and White House Counsel Don McGahn.

Months earlier, McGahn had been on the brink of resigning when he said Trump told him to get rid of Special Counsel Mueller. Now, Trump was angry because the New York Times and Washington Post had written articles about McGahn’s refusal to fire Mueller.

“I never said to fire Mueller,” Trump began the meeting, according to McGahn’s retelling to Mueller. “I never said ‘fire.’ This story doesn’t look good. You need to correct this. You’re the White House counsel.”

McGahn refused, saying that the article in the Times was accurate.

“Did I say the word ‘fire’?” Trump then said, according to accounts by both McGahn and Kelly.

McGahn said he responded, “What you said is, ‘Call Rod (Rosenstein), tell Rod that Mueller has conflicts and can’t be the Special Counsel.'”

“I never said that,” McGahn recalled Trump saying.

‘THE RUSSIA THING IS OVER’

On Valentine’s Day 2017, Trump had lunch with then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Trump told Christie, who had become an ally of the president early in the campaign, that the firing of Michael Flynn, the former national security aide, was going to solve his problems.

“Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over,” Trump told Christie, the governor recalled.

Christie laughed and told the president he expected they would still be discussing Russia a year later.

“That was the problem. I fired Flynn. It’s over,” Trump countered.

Christie, a former U.S. attorney, then told the president that he should not talk about the investigation, even if frustrated, and that he was going to be stuck with the Flynn story for a long time.

“Like gum on the bottom of your shoe,” Christie said.

SESSIONS RESIGNATION LETTER

As Trump flew from Saudi Arabia to Tel Aviv in May 2017, he reached into his pocket and produced a resignation letter that had been written two days earlier by Sessions.

Trump showed the letter to senior advisers, including Hope Hicks, who recalled the scene to Mueller’s team.

The letter had already become a point of concern among Trump’s aides. Sessions had delivered the letter to Trump the day before, but ultimately Trump and the attorney general had determined he would remain in the job.

White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus were concerned that Trump was holding on to the letter and that he would use it as leverage against the Justice Department. The two top aides decided to try to get it back.

The president had the Justice Department “by the throat,” Priebus said.

But when Preibus approached Trump on the Middle East trip and asked him to turn it over, the president insisted it wasn’t with him. Instead, Trump claimed, it was somewhere in the White House residence.

It would take another 10 days – three days after Trump returned from his trip – for the president finally turned it over.

(This story has been refiled to fix typographical error in 16th paragraph to make it “saying” instead of “say”.)

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad, California September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is growing at a 2.08% annualized pace in the second quarter based on upbeat data on durable goods orders and new home sales in March, the New York Federal Reserve’s Nowcast model showed on Friday.

This was faster than the 1.92% growth rate calculated by the N.Y. Fed model the week before.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he had assured China’s Huawei Technologies that it would not face discrimination in the rollout of Italy’s 5G telecoms network.

Conte was speaking on a visit to China where he said he met Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei. The prime minister’s comments were carried in Italy by TV broadcaster Sky Italia.

“I told him that we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests that demand very high levels of security … not only from Huawei but any company entering into the 5G arena,” he said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

(Writing by by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Angelo Amante)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday was expected to announce his intention to revoke the United States’ status as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but never ratified by Congress, two U.S. officials said.

Trump was expected to announce the decision in a speech in Indianapolis, to the National Rifle Association, the officials said. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby group, has long been opposed to the treaty, which was negotiated at the United Nations.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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A remote controlled robot for the 'Isotopium: Chernobyl' game is seen at the game's location in Brovary
A remote controlled robot for the ‘Isotopium: Chernobyl’ game is seen at the game’s location in Brovary, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 26, 2019

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian computer game that brings to life a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun but has attracted 60,000 people globally since its launch in October.

Players of “Isotopium: Chernobyl” drive tanks around the ghost town of Prypyat near Chernobyl, knocking out competitors as they search for an energy source called isotopium and collecting points every time they find some.

While the game takes its theme from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, which marked its 33rd anniversary on Friday, it was also inspired by the 2009 science fiction film “Avatar”.

Newcomers to the game think they have entered a virtual world when in fact they are controlling a real robot, equipped with a camera and computer, which makes its way around a model of the town rendered down to the tiniest detail.

“When playing our game, for the first 5-10 minutes many players don’t understand that it is not fictional,” said the game’s co-founder Sergey Beskrestnov. “They message us saying: ‘You have cool texture, you have good graphics, your designer is good, well done. You have a cool operating system.’

“People then reply: ‘It is not an operating system, it is real,’ and the player can’t believe it is real,” said Beskrestnov, speaking mid-game from Prypyat city square as he towers over surrounding five-storey buildings.

Kiev-born Beskrestnov was just 12 years old when on April 26, 1986 a botched test at the nuclear plant in the then Soviet Union sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people, including Beskrestnov’s family, to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

Beskrestnov and his partner Alexey Fateyev used Google maps and hundreds of pictures from the Chernobyl area to recreate Prypyat landmarks, including residential buildings, a hotel, concert hall, amusement park and a stadium.

The game’s real-scale model occupies a 180 square meter (1,938 sq. ft) basement of a residential building in the Ukraine city of Brovary, just 150 km (93 miles) from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 30 km east of Kiev.

Miniature radioactivity warning signs, graffiti on the walls of abandoned buildings and tables and chairs left scattered inside a small cafe all add to the creepy atmosphere of a once lively town.

“It’s a really neat concept …,” Shaun Prescott wrote in a review of the game published by PC Gamer magazine in January. “Controlling the tanks is kinda cumbersome, but they are tanks, after all.”

An attentive player will notice at least one inaccuracy – the real Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not located in town as it is in the game.

It costs $9 to immerse in the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic town for an hour but only 20 people at a time can play simultaneously. Beskrestnov’s company, Remote Games, said 62,615 people around the world have registered to play the game, including around 15,000 in France and 10,000 in the United States.

A camera fixed on top of a moving tank broadcasts high quality signal in real time, allowing players from as far apart as Australia and Canada enjoy the game without facing any time delay in delivering video signals.

Its creators next ambition is to devise a game featuring the colonization of Mars in which 1,000 people will be able to simultaneously control robots on different missions involved in the operation.

“Many people advise us to contact Elon Musk directly because it resonates his dreams and ideas,” Beskrestnov jokes.    

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 19,2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Initial optimism over first-quarter results from Starbucks Corp was waning fast on Wall Street on Friday, as analysts questioned the longer-term prospects of its new sales push given subdued overall customer traffic numbers especially in China.

The company on Thursday beat brokerage estimates for quarterly same-store sales on the back of demand for its new Cloud Macchiato, Matcha tea and cold brews in the United States.

However, BTIG’s Peter Saleh was one of a number of sector analysts who said while customers forking out for higher-priced new drinks had helped drive growth in same-store sales, “anemic” traffic at cafes remained a concern.

He and others pointed to a 1 percent decline in footfall at cafes in the Chinese market, viewed as crucial to the chain’s growth for the foreseeable future.

More broadly, transaction numbers, the substitute analysts use for customer traffic, were unchanged in all three of the company’s global regions.

Shares in the company, which hit a record high after the results on Thursday, fell 1 percent in morning trade.

“We remain cautious given near-term headwinds surrounding China, including cannibalization, increasing competition (and) a slowing economy,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan said.

Starbucks has also poured money into beefing up its delivery network in China as it battles with local startup Luckin Coffee, whose speedy growth led it to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this week.

New menu items and partnerships with delivery services, the heart of the company’s strategy to win back customers lost to artisanal coffee shops and cheaper fast-food rivals, did help Starbucks’ sales in its home market.

However, analysts said growth in China may continue to be subdued.

Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said she expects store expansion in China to take priority over comparable sales growth.

She downgraded her rating on Starbucks’ to “market perform” from “outperform”, arguing that the company facing tough sales comparisons later on in 2019 from last year and the current rich valuation of shares meant the stock had limited room to rise.

“Investors will be hesitant to invest new money in a stock with a topline that, while still strong, is unlikely to meaningfully accelerate,” Herzog said.

Still, the company’s solid same-store growth in the United States, improving profit margins and a lower tax rate for the rest of the year led at least 6 Wall Street brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock to as high as $81.

11 of 29 brokerages rate Starbucks “buy” or higher, 17 “hold” and 1 “sell” or lower. Their median price target is $75.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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