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Jobs With the Highest Gender Pay Gaps

The topic of gender pay gap has become a hot one in recent years and a fresh wave of studies have been released highlighting the issue and identifying jobs that pay women the least.

The Pew Research Center noted last month, while the gender gap in pay has narrowed since 1980, it has remained relatively stable over the past 15 years. According to the report, women earned 85 percent of what men earned last year. Based on this estimate, it would take an extra 39 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2018.

Heidi Hartmann, president of the Washington-based Institute for Women's Policy Research noted there have been numerous debates on whether or not this wage gap is due to occupational differences, or "women's choices," but data shows the gap is not a result of choices by women.

"Analysis finds that we have actually been underestimating the extent of pay inequality in the labor market," Hartmann said, according to Reuters.

Amid ongoing investigations, Stacker set out to do an analysis of its own, examining 113 occupations against data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to establish the jobs that had the highest gender pay gaps. According to the report, women were hit the hardest in the financial world, where roles of securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents were dominated by men. The weekly difference in earnings between men and women in the field was $592, the report noted.

Insurance is another field with a large gender pay gap. Stacker noted women in credit counselors and loan officer positions earned only 65.7 percent of a man's salary, making a net loss of nearly $26,000 a year.

The medical field sees its share of wage gaps, with a weekly difference in earnings of $836 between men and women. However, Stacker noted, as more women enroll into medical school, the pay gap may close.

Truck driving is another job that sees a high gender pay gap but the occupation is largely seen as a "man's" job. Meanwhile in the office, Stacker found a whopping $752 difference in weekly earnings between men and women in Chief executive roles.

The report found, in many companies across the U.S., female employees accounted for just over 40 percent of the staff complement, with 37 percent of first-level and middle-level officials, and 27 percent of executive and senior-level managers.

Other jobs with a notable gender pay gap, according to Stacker, include:

  • Real estate brokers and sales agents: With a $381 difference in weekly earnings between men and women.
  • Financial managers: With a $522 difference in weekly earnings between men and women.
  • First-line supervisors of production and operating workers: With a $305 difference in weekly earnings between men and women.
  • Retail salespersons: With a $221 difference in weekly earnings between men and women.
  • Taxi drivers and chauffeurs: With a $178 difference in weekly earnings between men and women.

Source: NewsMax America

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Apple’s Cook to China: keep opening for sake of global economy

FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing, China, March 18, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

March 23, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – Apple chief executive Tim Cook nudged China on Saturday to open up and said the future would depend on global collaboration, as the United States and China remained locked in a bitter trade dispute.

“We encourage China to continue to open up, we see that as essential, not only for China to reach its full potential, but for the global economy to thrive,” Cook said at a China Development Forum in Beijing.

Despite official pledges and repeated assurances that China would continue to open its markets, some analysts worry that its reform project has slowed or even stalled under President Xi Jinping, who has sought greater control over the economy and a bigger role for state-owned firms at the expense of the private sector.

Cook’s comments come as Apple weathers sinking sales in China because of a contracting smartphone market, increasing pressure from Chinese rivals, and slowing upgrade cycles. The company reported a revenue drop of 26 percent in the greater China region during the quarter ending in December.

Before those results came out, in a January letter to investors, Cook blamed the company’s poor China performance on trade tension between the United States and China, suggesting that pressure on the economy was hurting sales in China.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Writing by John Ruwitch; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

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Sen. Ron Johnson: People Entering US Illegally Must Face Consequences

There must be consequences for people entering the United States illegally, or there will continue to be an increase in people trying to cross the border, Sen. Ron Johnson said Wednesday, while agreeing with Attorney General William Barr that illegal immigrants must remain in jail while their deportation cases are being heard.

"I was down at the border Monday night and yesterday," the Wisconsin Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."  "What we are seeing and what we're witnessing what people need to understand the human traffickers are using our law enforcement, border, and law enforcement officers as just part of their process of funneling people into the United States for long-term residency."

Meanwhile, only about 15% of those claiming asylum have a valid asylum claim, Johnson said, and a higher standard must be made so their claims can be assessed.

Smugglers are using U.S. law and "beating us at our own system, and they have been for some time," he added.

"The people just turn themselves in," said Johnson. "They are completely relaxed. They have no fear. They realize they are only a couple of days away from being processed and being sent to all corners of America."

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals law sparked the attitude, said Johnson, because since 2012, "we're approaching 900,000 unaccompanied children and people in family units having been let into the country and staying long term. Nobody knows where they went. We have no real accounting where these people are. The numbers are growing."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Backstory – From a dusty town to a flowing river: how Reuters photographers won a Pulitzer

Award Winner: From a dusty town to a flowing river: how Reuters photographers won a Pulitzer
Luis Acosta helps carry 5-year-old Angel Jesus, both from Honduras, as a caravan of migrants from Central America en route to the United States crossed through the Suchiate River into Mexico from Guatemala in the outskirts of Tapachula, Mexico, October 29, 2018. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

April 16, 2019

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) – From the dusty town in Honduras where thousands are fleeing violence to the currents of the Rio Grande, Reuters photographers walked, waded and flew to capture images of thousands of Central American migrants seeking asylum in the United States.

The effort to document the human hardship and its political consequences was honored with a 2019 Pulitzer Prize on Monday, winning the breaking news photography award for “a vivid and startling visual narrative of the urgency, desperation and sadness of migrants as they journeyed to the U.S. from Central and South America,” the Pulitzer board said.

(For the package, see: https://reut.rs/2v4YVNm)

The entry included 20 pictures from 11 photographers, part of a larger team of people from 14 countries that were assigned to cover the story, some of them joining migrants for daylong journeys on foot. Colleagues were flown in from around the world to reinforce the U.S.- and Latin American-based team of photographers, drivers and fixers, many of them spending weeks or months on the road.

“It was important to us to have photographers from different backgrounds,” said Claudia Daut, Reuters Latin America picture editor based in Mexico City. “People from different countries look at the same thing differently because of their cultural backgrounds.”

Daut and Corinne Perkins, Reuters North America pictures editor based in New York City, had already identified immigration as the top news priority in the region, marshalling staff and resources to cover it even before U.S. President Donald Trump turned his attention to the caravans.

Nine of the 20 images came from Reuters photographer Adrees Latif, a 2008 Pulitzer winner who spent five months on the border.

One of Latif’s pictures, taken in waist-deep water on the Rio Grande river marking the U.S.-Mexican border, shows an approaching smuggler whose raft is laden with asylum-seekers. He had spent hours on the northern bank of the river, dressed in camouflage, waiting for that moment.

Later that same month, October 2018, Latif took another picture from the Rio Suchiate, marking Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, depicting a Honduran man in chest-high water carrying a 5-year-old child in one arm.

Both were taken with a 35 mm lens, meaning Latif had to get close.

“I wanted to show what the migrants are willing to risk to achieve a better life for themselves and their children,” Latif said. “I wanted to get in the water to make the viewer feel what they were going through.”

FROM THE AIR

In a series of photos from June 2018, Reuters photographer Mike Blake captured images of a migrant detention facility in Tornillo, Texas. Taking a bumpy ride in a small plane flying 1,000 feet (300 meters) overhead, Blake snapped pictures of children being marched in single file, like prisoners.

The pictures were used on the front pages of the Washington Post and the New York Times, generating public anger around the world. Within hours, Trump signed an executive order reversing his administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border.

Another picture also grabbed the public’s attention: Kim Kyung-Hoon’s image of a mother grabbing her twin daughters by the arm, one in diapers and wearing rubber sandals, the other barefoot, as a teargas cannister launched by U.S. authorities into Mexico at the San Diego-Tijuana border emitted its fumes. Kim is a South Korean national based in Tokyo who was on special assignment to cover the migrant caravan in Mexico.

On the Mexican side of the Mexican-Guatemalan border, Ueslei Marcelino of Brazil snapped a picture of a gap-toothed Honduran man clutching his baby before a phalanx of shielded Mexican riot police.

The migrant caravans departed from San Pedro Sula, a city in Honduras with one of the highest murder rates in the world. It was there that Goran Tomasevic, a Serbian based in Istanbul, captured a shot of a rooster walking past the slain body of a gang member, a demonstration of the violence that has caused so many migrants to flee.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Bill Rigby)

Source: OANN

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Injured LeBron to sit out rest of season

NBA: Washington Wizards at Los Angeles Lakers
Mar 26, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton and forward LeBron James (23) react in the second half against the Washington Wizards at Staples Center. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

March 30, 2019

By Rory Carroll

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James will sit out the remaining six games of the NBA season to nurse a lingering groin injury, the team said on Saturday.

“After consulting with our team doctors and medical staff, we have decided to hold LeBron out of games for the remainder of the season,” the team said in a statement.

“This decision will allow his groin to fully heal, and is best for the future success of both LeBron and the Lakers.”

LeBron’s first season with the Lakers was largely a disappointment.

The team was eliminated from playoff contention last week and the 34-year-old James missed 17 games during the season with the injured groin.

The Lakers will turn their attention this offseason to finding another player to complement James, with many expecting Lakers president Magic Johnson to target New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis.

LeBron joined in Lakers in July when he signed a four-year, $153 million deal as part of an effort to restore the storied franchise to relevance.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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Missouri police search stage 4 pancreatic cancer patient’s hospital room for marijuana, video shows

Police reportedly searched the hospital room of a cancer patient for marijuana after someone called to report the smell of weed coming from his room in Bolivar, Missouri.

Nolan Sousley, who has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, captured their search on a Facebook Live video last Wednesday that has since gone viral.

The Bolivar Police Department had gotten a call that the smell of marijuana was coming from Sousley’s room at Citizens Memorial Hospital last week, so they followed up on the call, despite Sousley allegedly telling them he had only taken THC oil capsules before going into the hospital.

TERMINALLY ILL WISCONSIN GIRL WHO LOVES DOGS VISITED BY K-9 OFFICERS, NEARLY 40 POLICE DEPARTMENTS

“I had some capsules that had some THC oil in them,” Sousley can be heard saying in the video. “I took them outside on the parking lot.”

Meanwhile, in the video, an officer can be seen going through one of Sousley’s bags while another stands at the back of the room.

“If we find marijuana, we’ll give you a citation. We’re not taking you down to the county jail,” the officer at the back of the room said.

Marijuana is illegal in Missouri after a November 2018 bill was passed to allow it to be used for medical purposes, though the regulations have not been formalized. Until that occurs, possessing marijuana is still illegal.

At one point in the video, a woman in a white lab coat walked into the room. The officers explained the situation to her, adding that Sousley had another bag he wouldn’t let them search.

“I’m not letting them dig through it. It has my final-day things in there, and nobody’s going to dig in it,” Sousley told her.

MISSOURI WOMAN ARRESTED AFTER CLAIMING SHE SHOT BOYFRIEND REENACTING MOVIE SCENE, COPS SAY

Eventually, Sousley stopped recording, but later told a local outlet that he did let the officers go through his bag. They didn’t find any marijuana, The Washington Post reported.

Sousley’s video has since been viewed more than 771,000 times and the Bolivar Police Department’s Facebook page has been shut down because it was “inundated by negative feedback,” Bolivar Police Chief Mark Webb said.

The hospital also later apologized for the incident.

“We pride ourselves in providing compassionate care to all patients and we fell short of expectations,” Tamera Heitz-Peek, a hospital spokeswoman told The Post.

“We apologize to our patient and his family and friends who were affected by our actions. We are reviewing the incident and will retrain our employees in the core values and the importance of respect and dignity to our patients and the community,” she added.

Source: Fox News National

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Trump vows to release FISA docs in 'Hannity' exclusive; Border at 'breaking point'

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Developing now, Thursday, March 28, 2019

FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP VOWS TO RELEASE FISA DOCS USED IN RUSSIA PROBE - President Trump, in an exclusive wide-ranging interview Wednesday night on Fox News' "Hannity," vowed to release the full and unredacted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants and related documents used by the FBI to investigate his campaign, saying he wants to "get to the bottom" of how the long-running Russia collusion narrative began ... Trump told anchor Sean Hannity that his lawyers previously had advised him not to take that dramatic step out of fear that it could be considered obstruction of justice.

The president also accused FBI officials of committing "treason" -- slamming former FBI Director James Comey as a "terrible guy," former CIA Director John Brennan as potentially mentally ill, and Democrat House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff as a criminal.

  • TUNE IN TONIGHT: Don't miss Fox News' live coverage of President Trump's rally in Michigan at 7 p.m. ET
  • Comey tells NBC News: When Trump fired me, 'I thought that's potentially obstruction of justice'

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP.

RAND PAUL: EX-CIA CHIEF JOHN BRENNAN PUSHED STEELE DOSSIER - Citing a "high-level source," Republican Sen. Rand Paul charged in a bombshell Twitter post late Wednesday that anti-Trump ex-CIA Director John Brennan "insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier" be included in a classified intelligence community report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections -- a decision that ultimately lent credibility to the dossier and may have played a key role in fomenting unfounded fears of Russia collusion for two years ... Paul called on Brennan to testify under oath immediately, as Republicans continue to aggressively seek out the origins of the collusion narrative. Fox News had not independently verified Paul's source, and Brennan has not replied to Fox News' requests for comment.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, center, announced that the Trump administration will temporarily reassign several hundred border inspectors during a news conference at the border in El Paso, Texas on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, center, announced that the Trump administration will temporarily reassign several hundred border inspectors during a news conference at the border in El Paso, Texas on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

BORDER AT ‘BREAKING POINT’: During a visit to Texas on Wednesday, the nation’s top border security official said the U.S.-Mexico border was at its "breaking point," with the U.S. lacking enough agents to adequately respond ... U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan said the Border Patrol is on pace for more than 100,000 apprehensions and encounters with migrants – mostly from Central America seeking asylum in the U.S. On Monday, agents encountered an estimated 4,000 migrants border-wide, he said, and faced even more Tuesday.

SCRAMBLING FOR DAMAGE CONTROL IN SMOLLETT CASE: An internal email obtained by Fox News suggests that officials in the office of Chicago's top prosecutor were looking for ways to justify the surprise decision to drop hate-crime hoax charges against "Empire" star Jussie Smollett ... An email from the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx asked assistant state's attorneys to dig for any examples to bolster Foxx’s claim that the dropped charges in the Jussie Smollett case weren’t as uncommon or shocking as they seemed. It was not clear who sent the email or exactly when it was sent. Foxx recused herself from the case last February but defended her office's use of an "alternative prosecution model" with Smollett in a series of interviews Wednesday.

WINNING POWERBALL TICKET SOLD IN WISCONSIN: For the first time in three months, we have a winner in the Powerball jackpot ... A single ticket sold in Wisconsin matched all six numbers in the Powerball drawing, lottery officials confirmed early Thursday. A statement on the Powerball website says that due to strong ticket sales, the jackpot climbed from $750 million to an estimated $768.4 million at the time of the drawing with a cash option of $477 million. The winning numbers are: 16-20-37-44-62 and the Powerball is 12.


THE SOUNDBITE

WALL-TO-WALL COVERAGE -  "A lot of people don’t think we’re building walls. We’re building massive, many, many miles of walls right now and we’re gearing up to do many more." President Trump, telling Fox News' Sean Hannity that he wants to hold a news conference from San Diego, where he said authorities have completed a stretch of wall. (Click the image above to watch the full video.)

TODAY'S MUST-READS
DeVos blasts media over ‘shameful’ coverage of Special Olympics proposed cuts.
Tammy Bruce: Not a witch hunt, but a Trump hunt.
How to reheat french fries so they don't turn into a soggy, sloppy mess

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Boeing's Max jet lobbying part of Transportation Department probe.
Fannie and Freddie reform could get snarled in White House infighting.
Five things to know about Lyft ahead of its IPO.

STAY TUNED

On Fox Nation:

America’s Preacher: The Reverend Billy Graham
Fondly remembered as "America's Preacher," the Rev. Billy Graham reached millions of people as he spread the Gospel all over the world. This moving special explores the spiritual leader’s incredible six-decade career. Watch a preview HERE.
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Fox Nation is a subscription streaming service offering daily shows and documentaries that you can’t watch anywhere else. Watch from your phone, computer and select TV devices.

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Border Patrol agent Hector Garza on the migrant crisis. "Fox & Friends" celebrates Opening Day in Major League Baseball with country singer Lucas Hoge and more!

On Fox Business

Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee; U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga.; Ben Carson, secretary of HUD; Steve Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media.

Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Countdown to the Closing Bell with Liz Claman, 3 p.m. ET: Stephan Paternot, co-founder & CEO of Slated.

Lou Dobbs Tonight, 7 p.m. ET: Tom Fitton, president of Judicial watch.

Kennedy, 9 p.m. ET: U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.; Katie Pavlich, Fox News contributor

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: "Measles Outbreak Causes County's Concern" - Rockland County in New York state has declared a state of emergency over a measles outbreak and has banned unvaccinated minors from public places. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Diseases of Health, weighs in on the outbreak. It’s Opening Day 2019 and all 30 Major League Baseball teams are scheduled to take to the field Thursday. Ken Davidoff, baseball columnist for the New York Post, previews the season ahead. Plus, commentary by Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News senior judicial analyst.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: The Mueller report, fired former FBI Director James Comey's NBC News interview, Trump's interview on "Hannity" and the Smollett case will the leading topics of debate with the following guests: Mark Morgan, former FBI assistant director and LAPD officer; Chris Wallace, host of "Fox News Sunday"; Karl Rove, former White House deputy chief of staff under President George W. Bush. Plus, Elisabeth Hasselbeck discusses her new book, "Point of View: A Fresh Look at Work, Faith, and Freedom" and Janice Dean reveals the genesis of her new memoir, "Mostly Sunny."

The Todd Starnes Show, Noon ET: Todd discusses the importance of religious liberty with Sam Brownback, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He also speaks with Pennsylvania state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz about the prayer she gave before a voting session that caused an uproar.

Benson & Harf, 6 p.m. ET: Special guests include: Lanhee J. Chen, Ph.D., the David and Diane Steffy research fellow at the Hoover Institution; Mercedes Schlapp, White House director of strategic communications; Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News senior judicial analyst and host of the new Fox Nation show "Liberty File."

#TheFlashback
2017: Wells Fargo says it will pay $110 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over as many as 2 million accounts its employees opened for customers without getting their permission.
1979: America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurs with a partial meltdown inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.
1941: Novelist and critic Virginia Woolf, 59, drowns herself near her home in Lewes, East Sussex, England.

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Friday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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Maga First News with Peter Boykin

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Logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro
FILE PHOTO: A logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September 24, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday reported first-quarter profit fell sharply on lower oil and gas prices and weakness in its refining and chemicals businesses that offset modest production gains.

The largest U.S. oil producer’s first quarter earnings fell to $2.35 billion, or 55 cents a share, from $4.65 billion, or $1.09 a share, a year ago.

Analysts had expected Exxon to earn 70 cents per share, according to Refinitiv Eikon estimates.

Shares were trading down about 2.7 percent in premarket trading on Friday.

Exxon’s oil equivalent production rose 2 percent to 4 million barrels per day, up from 3.9 million bpd in the same period the year prior. The company said its output in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale basin, rose 140 percent over a year ago.

(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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A Baha’i advocacy group has expressed concerns over the fate of minority Baha’is at the hands of Yemen’s Houthi rebels ahead of the appeals hearing for one of the community leaders sentenced to death.

The Baha’i International Community said in a statement Friday that the hearing for Hamed bin Haydara, detained in 2013 and sentenced to death last year on espionage and apostasy charges, is due on Tuesday.

The statement quotes Bani Dugal, the Baha’i community representative at the United Nations, as saying the prosecution hasn’t addressed Haydara’s appeal but is instead making “absurd, wide-ranging accusations.”

International rights groups have decried the prosecution of Yemeni Baha’is by the Iran-backed Houthis.

Iran has banned the Baha’i religion, which was founded in 1844 by a Persian nobleman considered a prophet by followers.

Source: Fox News World

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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