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Presidential Candidate Calls for Mandatory Buyback of ‘Assault Weapons’

California Congressman Eric Swalwell has thrown his hat into the crowded 2020 Democrat presidential field and will center his campaign on gun control, including a “mandatory buyback” of all ‘assault weapons’ currently in possession of lawful firearms owners.

Swalwell stated his objectives in an interview with Esquire published to coincide with his formal campaign announcement on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Monday.

“I’m going to be an aspirational candidate who believes that in our lifetime we could… buyback and ban every single assault weapon,” Swalwell said. “I will be the first candidate to say that reducing gun violence has to be a top three issue.”

“Last year I wrote a bill calling for a buyback and ban on assault weapons — not just to ban future manufacturing, but to just take the 15 million that are out there and buy them back. And do what Australia did, do what New Zealand did. They’ve shown us — Australia in the 90s, New Zealand just this week — that courage in doing the right thing can protect people.”

Swalwell confirmed his intention that the “buyback” would be mandatory in an op-ed also published on Monday.

“I’m the only candidate calling for a mandatory national ban and buyback of military-style semiautomatic assault weapons,” he wrote. “It’s bold and will cost money, but it is constitutional and it rightly treats gun violence as a life-or-death matter.”

“Our children deserve better than an attempt to reduce or contain gun violence. Our goal must be to end it.”

Swalwell recently ignited a firestorm when he insinuated that the U.S. government could deploy nuclear weapons against gun owners who resist his confiscation plans.

“Make no mistake, Democrats want to eradicate the Second Amendment, ban and seize all guns, and have all power rest with the state,” tweeted Newsmax host and former NYPD officer John Cardillo with a link to an article quoting Swalwell’s call to, “Ban assault weapons, buy them back, go after resisters.”

Military veteran Joe Biggs responded to Cardillo, “So basically Rep. Swalwell wants a war. Because that’s what you would get. You’re outta your fucking mind if you think I’ll give up my rights and give the gov all the power.”

Swalwell, who was tagged in the conversation, weighed in.

“And it would be a short war my friend,” Swalwell wrote. “The government has nukes. Too many of them. But they’re legit.”



Alex Jones breaks down how the globalists are attempting to collapse civilization within the next six months by intensifying their migrant-fueled destabilization of the West.

Dan Lyman:

Source: InfoWars

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Australian father rescues infant son from dingo’s jaws

An Australian father rescued his 14-month-old son from a dingo’s jaws while vacationing on a remote tourist island, authorities said Friday.

The animal dragged the infant from his family's camper on Fraser Island, located off the coast of Queensland. The parents were alerted to the attack when they awoke to their son’s cries late Thursday, Agence France-Presse reported.

CORONER RULES DINGO REALLY DID TAKE AUSTRALIAN BABY IN 1980

“The parents awoke with the toddler crying and heard the crying getting further away from the campervan," Fraser Island paramedic Ben Du-Toit said. "The dad got out of the campervan to investigate and found the dingo dragging the toddler away from the campervan. He also spotted several other dingoes in the... immediate vicinity.”

The father grabbed his son and chased away the dingos in the area, he said. The boy was treated for two deep cuts to his neck and the back of his head and small cuts to his scalp. He was flown by helicopter to a hospital for further treatment, the news agency reported.

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The attack was the third on Fraser Island this year. Two dingos were put down in March after attacking a French mother and her son. A six-year-old boy was also mauled by one in January.

Source: Fox News World

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Notre Dame Cathedral fire being investigated as accident for now, prosecutors say

Investigators are treating the fire that engulfed Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral as an accident for now, the local prosecutor's office said Monday evening.

Paris police will investigate the disaster as "involuntary destruction caused by fire" and have ruled out arson and potential terror-related motives for starting the blaze, officials said.

The prosecutors' statement came moments after a government official and the Paris fire chief said they were optimistic that the cathedral's world-famous bell towers had been saved from the fire, and that the main structure of the building remained intact. It was a rare piece of good news on a night that left thousands in the streets of the French capital and millions around the world looking on in shock as one of the world's great religious, cultural and historic landmarks was consumed by flames.

Fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet confirmed that firefighters had managed to stop the fire spreading to the northern belfry, the stomping ground of the fictional hunchback Quasimodo in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." He added that two-thirds of the cathedral's roof "has been ravaged" and confirmed that one firefighter was injured, the only known injury from the fire.

Late Monday, signs pointed to the fire nearing an end as lights could be seen through the windows moving around the front of the cathedral, apparently investigators inspecting the scene. Gallet said firefighters would keep working overnight to cool down the building.

CENTRAL SPIRE, ROOF OF HISTORIC CATHEDRAL COLLAPSE IN MASSIVE BLAZE

The blaze collapsed the cathedral's spire, which had been shrouded in scaffolding as part of a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project on the spire and its 250 tons of lead. French media quoted the Paris fire brigade as saying the fire was "potentially linked" to that construction. As the spire fell, the sky lit up orange and flames shot out of the roof behind the nave of the cathedral, among the most visited landmarks in the world. Hundreds of people lined up bridges around the island that houses the church, watching in shock as acrid smoke rose in plumes

The fire came less than a week before Easter amid Holy Week commemorations. As the cathedral burned, Parisians gathered to pray and sing hymns outside the church of Saint Julien Les Pauvres across the river from Notre Dame while the flames lit the sky behind them.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who canceled a planned address to the nation about the ongoing "yellow vest" crisis, rushed to the scene and straight into meetings at the Paris police headquarters nearby. After emerging to face a throng of reporters, Marcon vowed the cathedral would be rebuilt and announced the launch of an international fundraising drive to begin raising the millions of dollars necessary to restore the building to its former glory.

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL FIRE WITNESSES: 'IT KEEPS GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER'

"We will rebuild this cathedral," said Macron, who added that "The worst has been avoided although the battle is not yet totally won." The French leader also praised the "courage" and "great professionalism" of firefighters who battled the blaze for approximately four hours.

Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit invited priests across France to ring church bells in a call for prayers for the beloved Paris cathedral.

Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, Notre Dame is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages as well as one of the most beloved structures in the world. Situated on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine river, its architecture is famous for, among other things, its many gargoyles and its iconic flying buttresses.

Among its most celebrated art: three stained-glass rose windows, placed high up on the west, north and south faces of the cathedral. Its priceless treasures also include a Catholic relic, the crown of thorns, which is only occasionally displayed, including on Fridays during Lent. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said late Monday that the collection of artwork and holy objects kept inside the church had been recovered, though it was not clear if any items were damaged.

French historian Camille Pascal told the BFM broadcast channel the fire marked "the destruction of invaluable heritage."

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"It's been 800 years that the Cathedral watches over Paris", Pascal said. "Happy and unfortunate events for centuries have been marked by the bells of Notre Dame."

He added: "We can be only horrified by what we see."

Fox News' Lucia Suarez Sang and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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Climate-change protesters say they will target London’s Heathrow Airport

Extinction Rebellion protest in London
A person walks across Waterloo Bridge during the Extinction Rebellion protest in London, Britain April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

April 18, 2019

By Emily G Roe and David Milliken

LONDON (Reuters) – The Extinction Rebellion group of climate change campaigners said it planned to hold a protest at London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday, opening a new front in its demonstrations that have caused transport snarl-ups in the British capital.

Extinction Rebellion has blocked several locations in central London in recent days after it staged a semi-nude protest in parliament earlier this month.

More than 500 people have been arrested this week and 10 charged so far, police said.

London’s police force said it had canceled some officers’ leave and was calling in assistance from other forces to deal with protesters who were causing “unacceptable” disruption.

Extinction Rebellion sent a message to media titled “Statement on the Extinction Rebellion Heathrow Action Tomorrow” but the body of the message did not give further protest details.

The group has called for non-violent civil disobedience to push the British government to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025 and to stop what it says is a global climate crisis.

“If we don’t do something now it’s going to have a catastrophic effect,” said 23-year-old media student Fflur Harman, who had traveled from central England and spent the night at one central London protest site.

The pace of reduction in emissions called for by Extinction Rebellion is far faster than that urged by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year recommended they be cut to zero on a global basis by 2050.

Britain has lowered net emissions by 42 percent since 1990, and currently aims to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Government advisors will suggest new targets next month.

Heathrow said it was working with authorities to address any threat of protests which could disrupt the airport on one of the busiest travel days of the year as the Easter getaway begins.

“While we respect the right to peaceful protest and agree with the need to act on climate change, we don’t agree that passengers should have their well-earned Easter Break holiday plans with family and friends disrupted,” the airport said.

London’s Metropolitan Police said it had “strong plans in place that would enable it to deploy a significant number of officers to Heathrow and take firm action” if needed.

Interior minister Sajid Javid said he wanted police to “take a firm stance and use the full force of the law”.

However, police said they were limited in the action they could take as the protests were disruptive, rather than violent.

“The question really is can we arrest our way out of this issue, given there are several thousand people in London who are willing to be arrested,” Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave told broadcaster Sky News.

(Additonal reporting by Michael Holden; Writing by William Schomberg and David Milliken; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: OANN

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China using ‘pay-day loan diplomacy’ in the Pacific: U.S. diplomat

U.S. and Chinese flags are placed for a joint news conference in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: U.S. and Chinese flags are placed for a joint news conference by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China June 14, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee

March 13, 2019

By Colin Packham

SYDNEY (Reuters) – China’s is using “pay-day loan diplomacy” to exert influence in the Pacific, the new U.S. ambassador to Australia said on Wednesday, comments that threaten to inflame regional tensions.

The United States and its regional allies have been battling China for greater influence in the Pacific – a region that has votes at international forums like the United Nations and controls vast swathes of a resource-rich ocean.

The geopolitical competition has seen both sides increase foreign aid to the region in recent months, which the West says is needed to prevent the Pacific falling into financial distress and becoming susceptible to diplomatic pressure from Beijing.

Late last year U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused China of ensnaring tiny island nations in foreign aid “debt traps”.

New U.S. Ambassador to Australia Arthur Culvahouse said Pence’s criticism was not strong enough. “I would use stronger language – I would use payday loan diplomacy,” Culvahouse told reporters in Canberra after presenting his diplomatic credentials to Australia’s Governor-General.

“The money looks attractive and easy upfront, but you better read the fine print,” he said.

Lenders of pay-day loans typically charge a higher interest rate.

China’s embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but China’s Ambassador to Australia last year said Beijing does not place undue debt on the region.

The arrival of Culvahouse, the first U.S. ambassador to Australia in more than two years, comes at time of bilateral tensions between Canberra and Beijing.

In 2017, then Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull accused China of meddling in domestic affairs. In 2018 Canberra banned foreign-government linked companies from investing in a nascent 5G network, effectively blocking China’s Huawei Technologies.

China denied the allegations and has called on Australia to shed its “Cold War” mentality.

Analysts believe Beijing may now be using trade to punish Canberra for its criticism.

Sources at Chinese ports told Reuters last month that Australian coal imports are facing longer waiting times to clear customs than other supplies, and the northern port of Dalian was halting Australian coal shipments.

(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Michael Perry)

Source: OANN

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New Zealand mosque killings spark debate over free speech

New Zealanders are debating the limits of free speech after their chief censor banned a 74-page manifesto written by the man accused of slaughtering 50 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch.

The ban, issued Saturday, means anybody caught with the document on their computer could face up to 10 years in prison, while anyone caught sending it could face 14 years. Some say the ban goes too far and risks lending both the document and the gunman mystique.

At the same time, many local media organizations are debating whether to even name the Australian man charged with murder in the March 15 attacks, 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant, after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed she would never mention him by name.

In some ways, Tarrant's manifesto provides the greatest insight into his character and thinking, with neighbors and those he met in a gym in the sleepy seaside town of Dunedin recalling nothing particularly remarkable about him.

Chief Censor David Shanks said Tarrant's manifesto contains justifications for acts of tremendous cruelty like killing children and encourages acts of terrorism, even outlining specific places to target and methods to carry out attacks.

He said that in banning the document, he and his staff worried about drawing more attention to it. But in the end, he said, they decided they needed to treat it the same way as propaganda from groups like the Islamic State, which they have also banned.

Shanks had earlier placed a similar ban on the 17-minute livestream video the killer filmed from a camera mounted on his helmet during the shootings. He said researchers and journalists could apply for exemptions from both bans.

But while free speech advocates haven't questioned banning the graphic video, they said banning the manifesto is a step too far.

"People are more confident of each other and their leaders when there is no room left for conspiracy theories, when nothing is hidden," said Stephen Franks, a constitutional lawyer and spokesman for the Free Speech Coalition. "The damage and risks are greater from suppressing these things than they are from trusting people to form their own conclusions and to see evil or madness for what it is."

Franks said he had no interest in reading the manifesto until it was banned. He now is curious because it is "forbidden fruit," he said, and he worries others may feel the same way. He said the ban makes no sense when New Zealanders remain free to read Adolf Hitler's autobiography, "Mein Kampf."

Ardern told Parliament last week that she wouldn't give the gunman anything he wanted.

"He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety," she said. "And that is why you will never hear me mention his name."

She said people should instead remember the names of the victims.

Some media organizations appear to be taking up her call. News website Stuff on Saturday published an 1,800-word profile on Tarrant without once naming him.

"Our view at the moment is that we're dialing back on naming him, unless it's pertinent or important," said Mark Stevens, the editorial director at Stuff.

The New Zealand Herald also published a profile on Tarrant with an accompanying editorial that mentions Ardern's stance. The editorial says, "Our piece keeps the mention of his name to a minimum."

News organizations fear Tarrant will use his trial as a soapbox to promote his white nationalist views, especially after he fired his lawyer and said he'd represent himself.

But Danish journalist Claus Blok Thomsen, who works for the Politiken newspaper and covered the trial of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, said there are dangers in censoring Tarrant. He said that during the Breivik trial, many media outlets, including his own, were careful to report only what happened in court without discussing Breivik's far-right ideology.

He said it was an approach favored by intellectuals and so-called experts, but when he interviewed the families of the victims, he found many of them were angry.

"They said when we start to censor ourselves, we just make him into a martyr," Thomsen said. "We are not able to learn how mad this guy was, what his thinking was, until everything is out in the light."

In his manifesto, Tarrant describes himself as being born into a working-class family and not being interested in university. He says he made some money investing, although in other internet posts he talks about getting an inheritance when his father died.

In Dunedin, about a five-hour drive south of Christchurch, Tarrant lived in a modest pale-green wooden apartment. His neighbors said they'd see him out running sometimes, but that he mostly kept to himself. At the Anytime Fitness gym, those who knew him described him as polite and interested mainly in pumping weights that build upper-body strength.

Tarrant was also a member of the Bruce Rifle Club, which has a shooting range down a dusty forest road that's used mostly by hunters and loggers, about a 45-minute drive southwest of Dunedin near the rural town of Milton.

Dozens of boxes of bowling pins stacked in teetering towers and a few fluorescent vests are all there is inside a simple hut at the range. The club closed indefinitely last week after it emerged that Tarrant was a member.

But like much of his life in Dunedin, Tarrant was something of a ghost at the club. Polite, low-key, helpful, normal. Club vice president Scott Williams told the Otago Daily Times that Tarrant seemed "as normal as anyone else" and never mentioned anything about his white supremacist beliefs.

"I think we're feeling a bit stunned and shocked and a bit betrayed, perhaps, that we've had this person in our club who has ended up doing these horrible things," he told the newspaper.

Williams said Tarrant was always helping out around the club, including setting up and packing down the range. He said Tarrant used a hunting rifle and an AR-15, which wasn't unusual.

One of the few people who has publicly said he had concerns about Tarrant before the attacks is hunting guide Pete Breidahl. He said he complained in 2017 to a local police officer who monitors gun licenses about the disturbing behavior of some members of the rifle club.

In a Facebook video and comments posted online, Breidahl said some club members had Confederate flags, wore camouflage clothing with rank insignia, vilified Muslims and had homicidal fantasies. He claimed to have met Tarrant, calling him "not right." Police said they had no record of a complaint but were looking into Breidahl's claims.

In his manifesto, Tarrant claims he got approval for his attack from Breivik, who killed 77 people in Oslo and a nearby island in 2011. Breivik's lawyer has said that's very unlikely because his client has limited contact with the outside world from his prison cell.

Thomsen, the journalist, said the biggest fear he and other reporters had when they were covering Breivik was that he would inspire a copycat killer. Now he's traveled to Christchurch to learn more about what happened there.

"I think it's safe to say that this is what we feared," he said.

Source: Fox News World

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Olive tree with soil from Ethiopia crash site unites mourners

Canadian relatives of the Ethiopian Flight ET 302 plane crash victims plant a memorial tree during a memorial ceremony at the Embassy of Canada in Addis Ababa
Canadian relatives of the Ethiopian Flight ET 302 plane crash victims plant a memorial tree during a memorial ceremony at the Embassy of Canada in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

March 26, 2019

By Jason Neely

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Families and friends grieving the victims of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 gathered for a tearful ceremony in Addis Ababa on Tuesday to unveil a plaque and plant an olive tree with soil from the crash site.

Citizens of 35 countries were lost on March 10 when the flight, just six minutes into the blue skies near the capital, plunged to the ground, killing all 157 aboard.

Kenya, Canada and Ethiopia suffered the biggest losses of life and their representatives and others joined about 100 relatives and friends at the memorial ceremony.

“Angela was a bright, compassionate, beautiful woman whose smile was infectious,” Roland Rehhorn from Canada said, describing his daughter, 24.

“In 2011 Angela fell in love with Kenya after being there for 14 days on a high school mission.

“This adventure helped shape Angela’s love of the wild, the planet, and the sea,” he said, before reading a poem dedicated to the conservationist, who was on the Nairobi-bound flight to attend a session of the U.N. Environment Assembly.

Ethiopia’s transport ministry said on Tuesday a preliminary report into the crash was likely be released this week.

“We cannot imagine what you have been through … we admire your courage and you need to know that we’re here and there for you not only right now but every step of the way,” Canada’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Antoine Chevrier, told the gathering.

“We are planting an olive tree today. Why? Because olive trees are beautiful, they are also resilient, and represent peace and solidarity,” he said, before a black marble plaque honoring the dead was unveiled.

Mourners then took turns spreading soil removed from the crash site around a young olive tree in the Canadian embassy compound.

“It’s closure, but it’s definitely a process,” said Miriam, an academic from Addis Ababa University there to honor her 26-year-old nephew Sidrak.

Mahlet Hailu, permanent secretary at Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, said the government wished to assure those mourning it would “efficiently and effectively conduct follow-up in the aftermath of this tragic accident”.

Families have been told it could take six months to properly identify remains of the 149 passengers and eight crew lost.

“While much has happened since March 10, there is of course much more that needs to be done,” Chevrier said.

(Reporting by Jason Neely; Editing by Mark Potter)

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

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China are going very well, as the world’s two largest economies seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.

Trump said on Thursday he would soon host China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House.

Earlier this week, the White House said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more talks on a trade dispute marked by tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on North Korea this week following the Russian leader’s summit with Pyongyang’s Kim Jong Un.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also said China was helping with efforts aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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