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U.S., Taliban talks end for now with no Afghan peace deal

FILE PHOTO: Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations and now the chief U.S. negotiator with the Taliban
FILE PHOTO: Zalmay Khalilzad, who heads the U.S. team in negotiations with the Taliban, is shown at a panel discussion in Washington, February 12, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

March 12, 2019

KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) – U.S. and Taliban negotiators wrapped up their longest round of consecutive peace talks on Tuesday with progress made but no agreement on when foreign troops might withdraw, multiple sources said.

The 16 days of talks, in which the United States also sought assurances that Taliban insurgents will not use Afghanistan to stage attacks, are expected to resume in late March.

“Withdrawal of the foreign forces and the guarantee that Afghanistan will not be used (to attack) any other country were the only two topics of discussion,” a source familiar with the meetings said.

The negotiations in Doha, Qatar included the Taliban’s political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and a U.S. negotiating team led by special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

Khalilzad is now expected to travel back to Washington to brief U.S. officials, the sources said.

Around 14,000 U.S. troops are based in Afghanistan as part of a U.S.-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some U.S. forces also carry out counter-terrorism operations.

(Reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Eric Knecht in Doha and Abdul Qadir Sediqi in Kabul; Writing by Rupam Jain and Rod Nickel in Kabul; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Top-Ranking Democrat Says Mueller Report Doesn’t Matter — ‘We Know There Was Collusion’

Virginia Kruta | Associate Editor

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler confirmed Sunday that Congress will continue to investigate President Donald Trump regardless of the conclusions reached by special counsel Robert Mueller.

“We know there was collusion,” Nadler insisted several times during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” with guest host Dana Bash. “Why there’s been no indictments, we don’t know.” (RELATED: Nadler Unleashes Massive Document Requests Into Threats Against Rule Of Law)

WATCH:

Nadler listed the Trump Tower meeting — which has been the subject of numerous false reports — and the way Trump “pressured the FBI to go easy, to stop investigating Flynn,” and Trump firing Comey as evidence of the alleged “collusion.”

Bash pointed out several times that none of that rose to the level of indictment from the Mueller team, but Nadler quickly shrugged it off.

“Well, there have been obstructions of justice, whether they are — clearly, whether they are criminal obstruction is another question,” Nadler explained. “But we have — the special prosecutor is limited in scope. His job was limited in scope and limited to crimes. What Congress has to do is look at a broader picture. We are in charge — we have the responsibility of protecting the rule of law, of looking at obstructions of justice, abuses of power, at corruption, in order to protect the rule of law so that our democratic institutions are not greatly damaged by this president.”

Nadler’s response made it clear that Congressional Democrats are likely moving forward with any number of investigations — in spite of warnings from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell regarding the possible consequences of “presidential harassment.”

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Source: The Daily Caller

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Bill to force college campuses to provide ‘abortion pills’ advances in California

California Democrats approved a bill last week that will force health clinics on college campuses to provide abortion pills.

Senate Bill 24, or the “College Student Right to Access Act,” was approved in a 7-3 vote last Wednesday by the California State Senate Health Committee.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the same bill in October. He argued that abortion services were already “widely available off-campus,” making the bill unnecessary.

But state Sen. Connie Leyva, the bill’s chief sponsor, argued that “students should not have to travel off campus or miss class or work responsibilities in order to receive care that can easily be provided at a student health center.”

DEAN CAIN SAYS ALYSSA MILANO-LED HOLLYWOOD BOYCOTT OVER GEORGIA’S ‘HEARTBEAT BILL’ IS A ‘HUGE MISTAKE’

At the time, Gavin Newsom, the former lieutenant governor who succeeded Brown as governor in January, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he “would have supported that [bill]” and subscribes to “Planned Parenthood and NARAL’s position on that.”

Newsom’s outspoken position has assured the bill’s proponents of its guaranteed passage.

According to the legislation, the bill would kick in beginning 2023 and would require $10.2 million in private funds to cover equipment and training, the Washington Times reported.

REP. ROB WHITTMAN: THE MOST VULNERABLE AMONG US DESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIVE

Per California law, abortion is covered by health insurance policies. Health clinics on college campuses offer birth control services but not the abortion pill itself.

Opponents argue that the bill will turn colleges into “abortion vendors,” and that students will inevitably go up to cover the costs. Others are concerned about the health risks involved.

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To become law, the bill must pass through the state Senate’s education and appropriations committees before a full Senate vote. But with Democrats controlling both chambers, the bill’s passage is all but guaranteed.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Bad loan build-up clouds emerging share market picture

A broker reacts while trading at his computer terminal at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai
FILE PHOTO: A broker reacts while trading at his computer terminal at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai, India, December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

March 11, 2019

By Tom Arnold

LONDON (Reuters) – Emerging equities markets have soared this year as investor sentiment toward them rebounds, but for some the enthusiasm is being tempered by worries about surging bad loans at many banks.

Non-performing loans have shot up to a global high of close to 10 percent of gross credit exposures in India, and they are expected to edge up this year in China, Mexico, Indonesia, Russia, Turkey and Argentina, say analysts.

A gloomy outlook on the final two issued by Standard & Poor’s undercuts the assumption that fallout from currency crises last year in both countries was already priced in.

For an interactive version of the below graphic, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2EQt5cM.

As well as holding back financial sector growth and national economies, hefty levels of soured debt pose a particular risk for foreign investors, who have long favored retail lenders as picks for getting exposure to rising middle classes in emerging markets.

EM bank lending swelled to an average of 128 percent of GDP among the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – in 2017, from 98 percent in 2007, according to World Bank data.

But such activity is vulnerable to swings in the credit cycle, and some fund managers are growing more cautious.

Asset manager Ashmore Group is negative on banks in seven emerging countries – China, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Mexico and Russia – and positive on just Indonesia, India and Peru, said emerging markets equity portfolio manager Edward Evans.

There have been signs of policy softening by some emerging market central banks, and some commercial lenders have been cutting foreign exchange exposure and slashing risk on their balance sheet.

But broad financial conditions are tighter at the start of 2019 than they were a year ago after several interest rate rises in the United States and concerns about weaker global growth.

Asked which banking sectors he was bearish on, Eaton Vance emerging markets corporate strategist Akbar Causer cited risks if China’s economic slowdown continued.

The outlook for lenders in Turkey and Argentina was also “not so strong”, he added.

Turkey’s banks are vulnerable as the lira’s depreciation and its lurch into recession – data on Monday showed the economy slumped 3.0 percent year on year at the end of 2018 – hampers borrowers’ ability to meet debt obligations

S&P, in a note last month, said it expected Turkish NPLs to swell to around 6 percent this year, roughly double its earlier forecast. Official data showed it at 4 percent at the end of January.

For an interactive version of the below graphic, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2VBzjCW.

FX DEBT RISK

High dependence on external funding is a source of risk in Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia and Mexico, said Tan Nguyen, senior research analyst at OppenheimerFunds.

Their combined external debt stands at around $1.37 trillion. That and heightened financial stress among companies based there could lead to difficulties for them repaying their debt, pushing up non-performing loans, Nguyen warned.

S&P this month took ratings action on 22 Mexican financial institutions, cutting the outlook on several to “negative” from “stable”. They included Citigroup subsidiary Citibanamex and Banco Inbursa, controlled by the family of billionaire Carlos Slim.

S&P added, however, that cautious lending practices would help Mexican banks avoid a sharp rise in NPLs.

Others see more immediate risks, particularly in Turkey, where the central bank last week held its base interest rate at an above-inflation 24 percent.

“The fact we have higher interest rates and a weaker currency means there’s a rising probability of corporate defaults and non-performing loans,” said Jon Harrison, managing director, emerging markets macro strategy at TS Lombard.

Even Garanti Bank, Turkey’s second-largest private bank and considered one of the best-run lenders across emerging markets, had a non-performing loan rate of 5.2 percent last year, above its forecast.

In India, banks had been under pressure to clean up a $190 billion pile of soured loans. But that pressure has eased since Shaktikanta Das – seen as closely aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government – took over as central bank governor in December.

“What that means is they avoid a short-term potential crisis by enabling banks to avoid recognizing the problem, but at the cost of slower long-term credit growth,” said Harrison.

(Reporting By Tom Arnold; Graphics by Ritvik Carvalho; editing by John Stonestreet)

Source: OANN

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High-end cigar businesses fear going up in smoke because of ‘harsh’ FDA rules

YBOR CITY, Fla. – Cigars helped define this neighborhood in Tampa that, in its prime almost a century ago, was known as the “Cigar Capital of the World.” Home to over 100 factories, the city produced millions of cigars to ship worldwide.

Today, family-owned J.C. Newman Cigar Company is the sole survivor and the oldest premium cigar maker in the U.S. But its fourth-generation owners say their future is now threatened because of regulations from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that they are fighting to overturn. The cigar owners are gaining support among prominent lawmakers, to the chagrin of health advocates who claim the industry is putting lives at risk.

“Our company has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, the Cuban Embargo, but proposed FDA regulations would be the nail on the coffin for our factory and 135 employees,” said owner and president of the 124-year-old company, Eric Newman. “These are American jobs…this is all they know…this is all they have.”

Cigars have long been a cultural cornerstone in places like Cuba and the Dominical Republic and, at one point, was a status symbol in the U.S., popular among movers and shakers. But health concerns and tightened regulations have strangled the industry. Owners say the FDA’s well-meaning effort to curb tobacco use by minors became a one-size-fits-all approach, enforcing the same regulations on cigarettes and vaporizers as they do for handcrafted, premium cigars.

The owners say if the FDA rules are not loosened, their industry will die.

“The FDA regulated the entire cigar industry…we have been the unintended victims of this,” said Bobby Newman, Eric’s brother and vice president of the company.

In 2009, Congress gave the FDA the power to regulate the tobacco industry. Prior to the change, new products flowed freely from cigarmakers to store shelves. The Newmans said what happened next wasn’t part of the plan.

In May 2016, the FDA expanded oversight of all tobacco products, including premium cigars, e-cigarettes and other previously unregulated tobacco products.

“This is America…it’s supposed to be of the people by the people for the people, not screw the people…We've been screaming and shouting from the rooftops that premium cigars are different than other tobacco products,” Eric Newman said.

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One regulation calls for manufacturers to cover 30 percent of their packaging with a health risk label, something the brothers say would destroy one of the main reasons people buy cigars -- for the specialty boxes. After widespread pushback, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia placed a temporary injunction on the rule.

The policy would also prohibit manufacturers from giving out cigars as gifts or samples. They also said the agency imposed new product standard rules that will cost them millions.

“It would cost us $30 million dollars to totally comply with the FDA regulations when we sell $10 million out of this factory,” Eric said. “We need people to stand up for us…”

"We're going to fight like hell to keep our factory from shutting down," said fourth-generation owner Eric Newman, whose factory employs 135 people.

"We're going to fight like hell to keep our factory from shutting down," said fourth-generation owner Eric Newman, whose factory employs 135 people. (Fox News)

The industry has found support, particularly among Florida's lawmakers. Democratic Tampa Congresswoman Kathy Castor supports changing the regulations. Having worked on the law, she said it was never meant to apply to premium cigars.

“…The rule went beyond congressional intent and ignored the distinction between traditional handcrafted premium cigars and other products that are marketed to children," she said. "It is critical that we ensure Tampa’s premium cigar manufacturing industry continues to thrive!”

But health advocates say an exclusion for the specialty industry shouldn’t happen.

“The [FDA] took a long time before it acted to protect the public both from cigars and from e-cigarettes. And, unfortunately, during that delay we saw a dramatic increase in the use of both e-cigarettes and cigars...because there was no oversight of these products for decades, it became the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.,” said Erika Sward, national assistant vice president of advocacy for The American Lung Association. “We would not stand for a so-called premium car not having airbags or seatbelts just because it had more steel in it to reinforce it. There should be no exceptions for cigars, either.”

A recently released National Youth Tobacco Survey showed that youth use of e-cigarettes fell for the first time in 2016, after skyrocketing since 2011. But data showed that high school boys smoke cigars at a slightly higher rate than cigarettes.

Florida Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio have both introduced bills to defend the cigar industry from the regulations.

Florida Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio have both introduced bills to defend the cigar industry from the regulations. (Fox News)

Castor and Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio have both introduced bills to exempt the cigar industry from the burdensome regulations. Senators from both sides of the aisle have signed on as co-sponsors.

The moves come as the premium industry, once a booming enterprise, has fallen drastically.

In 1895, there were 40,000 federally licensed cigar manufacturers in the United States. Less than 100 remain in business today.

But the Newmans say they won’t go down without a fight.

“We're David against Goliath…if you don't fight for your rights, you don't deserve to win,” said Bobby Newman.

“We’re not going down easy,” added his brother.

The FDA told Fox News it "does not comment on proposed or pending legislation.”

The agency is currently holding a public commenting period through June 17 to receive feedback on the regulatory plan.

The Cigar Association of America, the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association and the Cigar Rights of America, have all joined forces to file a lawsuit against the FDA.

“From the beginning of this process, we have stated that this was a clear case of bureaucratic overreach, with the end goal being nothing short of a modern era prohibition. The regulations looming over this industry, in many ways, are more harsh and burdensome than on those products which Congress actually told the agency to regulate. That’s why we are forced into the courts, halls of Congress and other offices and agencies within the president’s administration to tell our story, make the case for relief, so that we can protect this skilled artisan profession -- and the simple enjoyment of a cigar. Honestly, we think there are higher priorities for our government,” said J. Glynn Loope, executive director of Cigar Rights of America.

The Newmans say they hope President Trump delivers on one of his key campaign promises—to crack down on government regulations—so they can stay in business for another 124 years.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Chicago police unions call for Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx to resign

Police groups from in and around Chicago called Thursday for Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx to step down, saying at a news conference they no longer had confidence in her ability to competently execute her duties in office.

The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and associations of police chiefs throughout Cook County voted to call for Foxx to resign, but they cautioned it was not only due to the Jussie Smollett case that has rocked the Windy City.

“This is not just about the Jussie Smollett case, which undermined the public confidence and law enforcement’s faith in Cook County criminal justice system…this is about many cases that have gone un-prosecuted or had charges reduced, especially assaults against police officers,” said Chicago FOP President Kevin Graham.

The FOP has requested a federal investigation into her conduct, Graham added.

Speaking to reporters, Graham cited the murder of an off-duty Chicago police officer, John Rivera, 23, last week in the city’s River North neighborhood.

“The persons that were involved in that case, one of them should have been in jail at the time he [Rivera] was murdered, but because the charges were reduced, he was out on the street and murdered a Chicago police officer," Graham said.

But the kickstart for the movement to remove Foxx, who took office in 2016, began when her office dropped 16 felony counts of filing a false police report for “Empire” actor Jussie Smollet in an otherwise opaque and questionable proceeding. The move outraged Chicago Police Chief Eddie Johnson and then-Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who called it “a whitewash of justice.”

The "Empire" actor was accused of faking a racist, anti-gay attack on himself. He agreed to let the city keep his $10,000 bail. Smollett maintains his innocence and insists he was attacked.

The calls for Foxx’s resignation came on the same day Smollett was to pay more than $130,000 to Chicago for costs the city incurred investigating his allegedly staged hoax. Smollet had seven days to pay back the city, per a letter delivered to his legal team from city police officials.

An internal email obtained by Fox News from Foxx’s office asked assistant state’s attorneys to dig for any examples to bolster her claim that the dropped charges were not uncommon or unique.

Other groups have echoed the police frustrations. The Illinois Prosecutor’s Bar Association called the manner in which the Smollet case was handled “abnormal and unfamiliar.”

MAXINE WATERS SAYS IT WAS 'CORRECT THING' FOR SMOLLETT CHARGES TO BE DROPPED

The appearance of alleged impropriety is compounded by the fact that this case was not on the regularly scheduled court call, the public had no reasonable notice or opportunity to view these proceedings, and the dismissal was done abruptly at what has been called an “emergency” hearing,” an IPBA statement read.

Foxx has defended her decision and has not indicated she has any intention of resigning.

Brendan Shiller, a Chicago lawyer supportive of Foxx but not representing her, told Fox News, “They are using the Jussie Smollet case as a thin veil to protest the Cook County State's Attorney's criminal justice reform, and as an excuse to push a racist agenda of locking up black and brown people for even the most minimalist of crimes."

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He defended her record amid the torrent of protest and rancor from the police community.

“Since Foxx took office, violent crime in the County is down in part because her office is focusing on violent crime and resolutions that are alternative to incarceration--but law enforcement homicide clearance rates are still abysmal, because a large portion of law enforcement cares more about locking up black men than they care about solving violent crimes," Shiller said.

Fox News' Matt Finn in Chicago contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Mother charged in massacre probe wants charges dismissed

Attorneys for a woman facing charges in connection to an Ohio family massacre are seeking dismissal of obstruction and perjury charges against her.

Seventy-six-year-old Fredericka Wagner's son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons pleaded not guilty to the 2016 slayings of eight Rhoden family members in Pike County.

Wagner pleaded not guilty to charges against her. The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reports her attorneys filed a motion Friday to dismiss those charges. The newspaper reports Wagner testified she bought two bulletproof vests after the shootings through Amazon, but investigators found no purchase records of the vests they suspect Wagner's family wore during the slayings.

Wagner now says she bought them on eBay.

An Ohio Attorney General's Office prosecutor says she couldn't comment on the filing.

___

Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

Source: Fox News National

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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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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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U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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