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18 Real Attacks on the 'Rule of Law'

Donald Trump, we are told over and over and over again, threatens the “rule of law.” To pick a piece at random, I note that Joel Mathis of The Week recently wrote, “When we talk about Trump and the rule of law, mostly we talk about how he’s flouting and evading the constraint of laws he doesn’t like:

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Libya asks UN to probe violations in Tripoli battle

Libya's U.N.-supported government is asking the Security Council to appoint a "fact-finding mission" to investigate alleged violations by the forces attacking the capital.

Ambassador Elmahdi Elmajerbi said in an April 18 letter to the council president circulated Thursday that the violations include "the killing and displacement of civilian citizens, the destruction of public and private properties, the recruitment of children and involving them in wars and hostilities."

It also cited "targeting the civilian neighborhoods and populated areas and exposing them to heavy artillery and Grad missiles."

Forces loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter launched an offensive in Tripoli earlier this month, and are battling militias loosely allied with the U.N.-supported government.

The U.N. health agency says the fighting has killed more than 270 people, including civilians, and wounded nearly 1,300.

Source: Fox News World

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Britain does not support total Huawei network ban: sources

The logo of China's Huawei Technologies shines in the bright sun over the headquarters of the telecommunications giant in Duesseldorf
The logo of China's Huawei Technologies shines in the bright sun over the headquarters of the telecommunications giant in Duesseldorf, Germany, February 18, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

February 18, 2019

By Jack Stubbs and Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – British security officials do not support a full ban of Huawei from national telecoms networks despite U.S. allegations the Chinese firm and its products could be used by Beijing for spying, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and allegations of enabling state espionage, with the United States calling for its allies not to use its technology.

Although no evidence has been produced publicly and Huawei has denied the claims, the allegations have led several Western countries to restrict its access to their markets.

“We don’t favor a complete ban. It’s not that simple,” one of the sources told Reuters on Monday after a Financial Times report on Sunday said that Britain had decided it could mitigate the risks of using Huawei equipment in 5G networks.

The FT cited two sources familiar with what it said was a conclusion by the government’s National Cyber Security Council (NCSC), which last year said technical and supply-chain issues with Huawei’s equipment had exposed national telecom networks to new security risks. Huawei had no immediate comment.

Any decision to allow Huawei to participate in building next-generation 5G networks would be closely watched by other nations, because of Britain’s membership of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group with the United States.

Britain is an important market for Huawei and last month Vodafone, the world’s second-largest mobile operator, said it was “pausing” the deployment of its equipment in core networks until Western governments give the Chinese firm full security clearance.

Other operators in Europe, including Britain’s BT and France’s Orange have already removed Huawei’s equipment or taken steps to limit its future use.

Two sources said the NCSC did not think it was necessary to completely bar Huawei from British networks, believing it could continue to manage any risks by testing the products at a special laboratory overseen by intelligence officials.

Both sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the position was consistent with public statements made by the NCSC and British officials.

“As was made clear in July’s HCSEC oversight board, the NCSC has concerns around Huawei’s engineering and security capabilities. We have set out the improvements we expect the company to make, an NCSC spokeswoman said on Monday.

CONFIDENCE MEASURES

People with knowledge of the matter said the next NCSC report on Huawei’s position in Britain will criticize its slow response to issues raised in last year’s report and detail tense relations with British officials.

The report, which is expected to be released in coming weeks, does not itself set government policy.

The results of a government review of British telecoms infrastructure is expected later in the year and will include recommendations on managing security risks, including in future 5G networks.

Fellow Five Eyes member Australia has banned Huawei from supplying 5G equipment, while New Zealand said on Monday it would make its own independent assessment of the risk of using Huawei equipment in 5G networks.

Huawei has set up security labs in Britain and Germany aimed at building confidence that its equipment does not contain “back doors” for Chinese intelligence services.

It has also offered to build a cyber-security center in Poland, where authorities have arrested a Chinese Huawei employee along with an ex-Polish security official.

Last week Alex Younger, the head of Britain’s MI6 foreign intelligence service, said it was more complicated than “in or out” when asked if Britain was seeking to manage risks perceived as being attached to Huawei rather than simply to ban it.

Younger also told journalists in Munich that it was not desirable that “any piece of significant national infrastructure is provided from a monopoly supplier”.

(Reporting by Jack Stubbs in London and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; writing by Jack Stubbs and Georgina Prodhan; editing by David Evans, Sandra Maler and Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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Think Tank: Trump Transgender Ban Good News for US Military

A leading advocate for a strong U.S. military expects morale and readiness to improve now that the Defense Department has unveiled a new policy restricting military service by transgender soldiers.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday the new policy will take effect April 12. It requires military personnel to serve in the gender of their birth, and they will not be allowed to serve while transitioning to another sex.

A 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in January freed the Trump administration to implement restrictions on prospective service members experiencing “gender dysphoria.”

Last week, a federal judge in Maryland decided to allow the Trump administration to move forward on the new policy, which reverses the Obama-era rule allowing transgender men and women to enlist and serve.

Elaine Donnelly, founder and president of the Center for Military Readiness, a nonpartisan think-tank that defends the morale and readiness of the U.S. Armed Services, tells Newsmax the new policies will lead to a stronger military.

“The Obama administration treated it primarily as a civil rights issue,” says Donnelly. “They mandated that everyone in the military endorse the idea that a person of transgender can transform themselves from one gender to the other. There was no room for dissent allowed.”

According to her data, 994 active duty service members were diagnosed with gender dysphoria during the Obama years.

“This small number of people, 994, less than a thousand, accounted for 30,000 mental health visits. And the medical costs for those service members increased nearly three times,’’ Donnelly tells Newsmax.

Donnelly hasn’t been the only one to criticize the decline of military readiness during the Obama years. The Heritage Foundation’s annual review of America’s armed forces has documented the decline, as well as the modest improvements in readiness that have occurred so far under the new administration.

The Foundation’s 2019 Index of U.S. Military Strength states: “Presidential budgets during the sequestration years of the Obama administration always proved aspirational, and … capability, capacity, and readiness failed to keep pace with the demands placed on the service. When the funding did arrive, it was through continuing resolutions well into the years of execution, which prevented any real form of strategic planning.”

The battle over transgender individuals serving in the military is far from over. Four lawsuits are pending that could eventually work their way back to the Supreme Court. The ACLU is challenging the new rules, as are House Democrats.

Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced a resolution in the House last month challenging the Trump administration’s policy. It reportedly has over 100 cosponsors.

A 2016 study by Rand Corporation indicated that letting transgender people serve would have a minimal effect on medical costs and readiness. But Donnelly emphasizes “mission readiness and lethality" -- that is, defending the United States of America.

“You have to be ready to fight, worldwide on short notice,” she says. “That’s what the military is charged to do. It is not an equal opportunity employer. It’s different. It does have certain eligibility requirements.”

She tells Newsmax the administration is treating the transgender question as a medical issue -- gender dysphoria -- and she supports that approach.

Under Obama, she says, soldiers considering a gender transition could take up to a year off to receive the needed counseling before making their decision. Surgery or hormone treatments were often prescribed as well, she says.

“In fact the Department of Defense reported the cost involved with travel for special treatment was starting to cut into the budget for maintenance and other things," says Donnelly, "and there was also some reason to believe that when personnel are not deployable, either before or after their treatments, it affects everyone else.

The bottom line, she says: “Everything involved with having to buy into the transgender reality was problematic and the administration was correct to change it."

Source: NewsMax America

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Libya holds municipal elections in first vote for five years

A man casts his vote during the municipal election at a polling station in Zwara
A man casts his vote during the municipal election at a polling station in Zwara, Libya March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny

March 30, 2019

By Ahmed Elumami

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya held rare municipal elections in nine communities on Saturday, although turnout in the country’s first voting for five years reached only about 38 percent.

The North African state, which has been mired in conflict and chaos since the 2011 toppling of Muammar Gaddafi, has not held any elections since 2014, when a heavily contested national vote ended up splitting the country into rival administrations and parliaments.

Only nine out of 69 municipal councils in southern and western Libya voted on Saturday, officials said. No violence or sabotage was reported.

Libya created 120 municipal councils in 2013 in a bid to end 42 years of centralization and one man rule under Gaddafi. Some councils held elections in 2014.

The municipal board of each council includes seven members, which then elects a mayor.

“We’ll go on each Saturday until 33 councils hold their elections then we resume after the holy month of Ramadan so all councils are elected,” Salem Bentahia, head of the elections commission, told Reuters.

The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan ends in early June.

In Zuwara, a town west of Tripoli near the Tunisian border, there was a modest turnout in the morning.

“We wish every success to this board and for it to achieve all the aspirations of this city’s residents in all areas,” Abdulsalam Ramdan Abdulsalam said as he cast his vote.

The United Nations is holding a national conference in April in a bid to end the political conflict between the internationally recognized government in Tripoli in the west of Libya and a parallel administration version in the east.

The U.N. efforts aim to prepare the country for long-delayed national elections.

(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Edmund Blair)

Source: OANN

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Germany resists pressure to ease Saudi arms export halt

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin, Germany, February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

February 20, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany is sticking to its weapons exports freeze to Saudi Arabia, the government said on Wednesday, resisting pressure to soften its stance after criticism from Britain and defense firms, including Airbus, who argue it is hurting commerce.

Germany said in November it would reject future arms export licenses to Riyadh over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It has not formally banned previously approved deals but has urged industry to refrain from such shipments for now.

British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt has urged Germany to soften its line, saying it is “imperative” that it exempt big defense projects from its arms sales halt to Saudi Arabia or face damage to its commercial credibility.

A German Economy Ministry spokeswoman said no change was imminent.

“The view of the government is clear and there is no new situation. There is at the moment no basis for further approvals,” she said.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said decisions on arms shipments to Saudi Arabia were tied to the conflict in Yemen.

“We are not delivering any weapons to Saudi Arabia at the moment and we will make future decisions depend on how the Yemen conflict develops and whether what has been agreed in the peace talks in Stockholm is being implemented,” Maas told reporters after meeting Hunt in Berlin.

Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, in separate remarks, declined to say if the German government would extend the freeze beyond March 9. “We review it regularly and then make new decisions on that basis,” he said.

In a letter to Maas this month, Hunt said he had “grave concerns” about the impact Germany’s arms freeze was “having on the supply chains of UK and European defense industry and may ultimately have on Europe’s ability to fulfill its NATO commitments.”

Berlin’s decision was delaying deliveries of Eurofighter Typhoon, Tornado and Hawk warplanes, and could result in contractual penalties for 500 companies in the supply chain of Britain’s BAE Systems were affected, he said.

Hunt also said he saw a risk that Saudi Arabia would turn to Russian or Chinese supplies in future.

Referring to the conflict in Yemen, where the Saudi-backed government is fighting the Iran-backed Houthi movement, Hunt said he was deeply concerned the freeze would dent the ability to influence key figures in coming months in the cause of peace.

His strongly-worded letter, first reported by Der Spiegel and seen by Reuters, followed complaints last week from a top Airbus official who told Reuters that the halt was preventing Britain from completing the sale of 48 Eurofighter Typhoon warplanes to Riyadh. He said the issue was also affecting potential sales of other weapons such as the A400M military transporter.

Eurofighter is built by a consortium of four founding countries – Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain – represented by Airbus, BAE and Italy’s Leonardo

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of Saudi operatives on Oct. 2, provoking an international backlash. Riyadh has denied the crown prince had any involvement.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin, Sabine Siebold, Holger Hansen and Paul CarrelEditing by Frances Kerry, William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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AG Barr Making First Congressional Appearance Since Mueller Report

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Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s foreign minister and a Venezuelan judge, according to a statement on the department’s website.

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and a judge, Carol Padilla, were targeted over the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Treasury Department said, the latest in a list of officials blacklisted by U.S. authorities for their role in President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Makini Brice and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.

He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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A bedridden 67-year-old woman and more than a dozen animals were rescued Thursday after a welfare check found that they were living in a home filled with trash, urine, and feces, Florida police said.

Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said when they arrived at the home in Dunedin around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, they could smell the odor of rotting trash and animal feces as they walked up to the driveway.

“Inside the residence, the odor of feces and urine was so overwhelming that deputies had to don masks,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

FLORIDA SHERIFF ON BORDER CRISIS AFTER MAJOR DRUG BUST: ‘IT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’

Walking throughout the residence, the deputies found 10 emaciated dogs and puppies living in bins filled with their own feces, five large Macaw birds flying freely, rats, bugs and overall squalor.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

Deputies said due to the large amounts of trash in the home, they had to clear a path to reach the victim’s bedroom.

“None of the home’s toilets were working and all were found to be overflowing with feces,” deputies said. “The only working sink was located on the opposite end of the house from the victim’s bedroom.”

They said there was no food or water for the victim or the animals.

FLORIDA MAN IN EASTER BUNNY COSTUME CAUGHT IN VIRAL BRAWL IS WANTED IN NEW JERSEY, HAS HISTORY OF ARRESTS

The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that were non-life threatening, while the animals were transported to shelters.

The woman’s caretaker, Richard Lawrence Goodwin, 65, was arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of an elderly person, disabled person, and cruelty to animals.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

The sheriff’s department said this was Goodwin’s second arrest for abuse and neglect of the same victim. He was previously arrested in May 2018.

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Neighbor Victoria Muenzerbeer told FOX 13 that Goodwin and the victim were hoarders and the conditions inside the home were horrible years ago when she visited once.

“I went in and it was absolutely, a human being couldn’t live there,” she said. “The kitchen wasn’t usable and part of the wall was falling in.”

Source: Fox News National

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Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.

Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.

Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.

He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.

He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.

“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.

Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.

Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.

But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.

Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.

With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.

The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.

Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.

“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.

According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.

Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.

However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.

Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.

FOREX SURCHARGE

Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.

Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.

Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.

But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.

Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.

The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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