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Lives forever changed by Christchurch shootings

The Wider Image: Lives forever changed by Christchurch shootings
A flower tribute is seen outside Al Noor mosque where more than 40 people were killed by a suspected white supremacist during Friday prayers on March 15, in Christchurch, New Zealand March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Edgar Su

April 8, 2019

By Edgar Su and Charlotte Greenfield

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (Reuters) – On a small farm on the outskirts of Christchurch in New Zealand, Omar Nabi digs a small hole and sharpens a knife as he prepares to slaughter a sheep as a blessing to his father – a victim of the mass killings at the Al Noor mosque.

Hunched between his father’s collection of rusted cars, Nabi softly said a prayer and slit the animal’s neck, facing it towards Mecca. He removed the pelt and prepared the meat for cooking. Blood was pooled in a hole where he plans to plant a tree. No part of the animal was wasted, he said.

Nabi first slaughtered a sheep when he was 11, each step supervised by his father. Nabi is now 43.

“My father was my whole life… I give thanks for my father, he’s done a lot,” he said. His father, Haji Daoud Nabi, had hoped to build a small mosque on the property, a plan his son intends to complete. “This means a lot to me, Dad put a piece of heaven in Christchurch.”

Several weeks after an attack on Muslim worshippers that killed fifty people and left dozens wounded, the lives of survivors and the families of victims have changed irrevocably. Some survivors feel emboldened, others are haunted by memories of the attack and haven’t been able to return to the mosque.

Burying loved ones brought relief to many families, but reminders of their losses are never far away, from an empty seat at a dinner table to the prospect of Ramadan celebrations in a few weeks.

The shootings on March 15 shook New Zealand and prompted the government to tighten gun laws and launch a powerful national inquiry into the country’s worst peacetime massacre. An Australian man, a suspected white supremacist, has been charged with 50 murders and 39 attempted murders.

(For a photo essay of survivors of the attack and victim’s families, please click this link: https://reut.rs/2WSIG1M)

IN LIMBO

Survivor Mark Rangi, 59, feels his future is in limbo following wounds to both legs. The New Zealander, who lives in Sydney, had never been to Al Noor Mosque before the attack.

After visiting relatives in a nearby town, he had attended the mosque before his return flight to Sydney so he could seek spiritual guidance on the direction of his life.

Instead, he ended up running for his life, bleeding heavily from shrapnel wounds in his legs. After surgery, he is able to walk slowly but Rangi is doubtful he can return to work as a baggage handler in Sydney.

“I wouldn’t have a clue (what to do now). I want to be independent,” he said from a youth hostel where he is staying, overlooking piles of flowers placed in a makeshift memorial. “I’m very lucky that I didn’t get injured worse, so I’m grateful for that.”

SOMETHING’S MISSING

In a one-storey house a short drive from Al Noor mosque, Zahra Fathy turned pages in a photo album compiled by her husband Hussein Moustafa, who died in the massacre. As part of the customary four-month and 10 day-mourning period, she wears simple, unadorned clothing and spends most of her time at home.

“It’s hard to stay thinking about what happened, so I have to escape this and think about what’s next,” she said.

Her husband had spent time at the mosque on most days, organizing its library of religious texts and tending to a vegetable garden, which provided the community with pumpkins, rocket and broccoli.

She is now considering visiting her extended family in Alexandria, Egypt, where she and her husband both grew up, for Ramadan.

“Being all on your own during Ramadan is tough,” said her son, Mohammed, who flew home from a new job in Saudi Arabia on learning of his father’s death.

After some trepidation, Mohammed worshipped last Friday at the Al Noor mosque for the first time since his father’s death.

“I’m praying in the same area, the same corner that my dad used to pray. I wanted to do that,” he said. “It was a bit emotional at first, I got a few tears, it was quite tough. I kept imagining him next to me, I kept looking around, looking for the bullet holes.”

Before Ramadan, Zahra and her family plan to mark the graduation of her youngest son, Zeyad, 22, who also returned to Christchurch from a new job, in Canberra. “He was very, very proud of you,” Zahra told her son.

The family had an active WhatsApp messaging group to stay in touch. Zeyad had shared a recent trip to Europe, where his father had also traveled as a young man, and to Egypt. His father had provided long history lessons on the places Zeyad visited and was overjoyed his son was meeting his Egyptian relatives. Now, the WhatsApp group is not so active.

“It feels like something’s missing… It’s hard to explain, I think it just feels weird if we use it,” Zeyad said.

SENSE OF MISSION

In a sleepy Christchurch suburb where he owns a homeopathy business, Farid Ahmed has worked to bring his community and his country together. Farid, a wheelchair user, survived the shooting but his wife Husna was killed.

He spent one recent Sunday going door-to-door to thank his neighbors for their support. 

When his neighbors heard of his wife’s death, “they came running… they were in tears,” he said. “That was wonderful support and expression of love.”

His message of forgiveness and peace to avoid “a heart that is boiling like a volcano” has made headlines around the world and was broadcast in a heartfelt speech at a national memorial service.

“I admire him. I couldn’t do that,” said a neighbor, a Christian who lives four doors down. “We’ve learnt a lot about Islam over the last few days… (it’s) crazy how similar our two faiths are.”

COPING

Across the city, survivor Sardar Faisal has thrown himself with vigor into helping co-ordinate dozens of volunteers who prepare meals and run errands for the widows of victims of the attack. As a result, he realized he was not spending much time with his own wife and young children.

“Maybe it’s survivor’s guilt, maybe it’s empathy because whenever I visit the affected families, the only thing I think about is that when I was in that area, they were being shot, the bullets that I heard,” he said over tea at a friend’s house.

On the day of the shootings, Faisal was late to the mosque, an uncharacteristic trait that possibly spared his life. When the gunman burst in and started shooting worshippers at prayer, Faisal was in the bathroom, just about to wash in preparation for prayer and so was able to hide from the gunman.

What he saw and heard that day haunts him, he said. He struggles to focus at work and suffers nightmares as deadly scenarios, almost like a video game, run on repeat through his sleep.

REBORN

Alongside sorrow and pain, others feel the close call has reinvigorated their lives.

“It gave me courage,” said Hazem Mohammed, originally from Baghdad, who played dead in Al Noor mosque as the gunman stood over him, wounded and surrounded by the bodies of fellow worshippers.

“I cry for two reasons. The first half because I lost friends, they are gone,” he said. “And the other tears… these tears are for joy, because I was reborn again on Friday the 15th of March 2019.”

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield and Edgar Su in Christchurch; additional reporting by Jill Gralow, Natasha Howitt and Tom Westbrook; Editing by Neil Fullick)

Source: OANN

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U.S. lawmaker says tech companies must quickly remove violent content after New Zealand

FILE PHOTO: Homeland Security Committee Chairman Thompson chairs hearing on border security on Capitol Hill in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) listens to testimony from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on “The Way Forward on Border Security” on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts?

March 19, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Following the live-streaming on social media of the mass shooting in New Zealand, the chair of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security wrote a letter to top executives of four major technology companies urging them to do a better job of removing violent political content.

In a letter dated Monday and released on Tuesday, Representative Bennie Thompson urged the chief executives of Facebook, Alphabet’s Google, which owns YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft to more swiftly remove content that would spawn political extremism.

The letter follows the fatal shootings of 50 worshippers in two mosques in Christchurch last week. The shooter, a suspected white supremacist, live-streamed the killings on social media, where it was widely shared.

“Your companies must prioritize responding to these toxic and violent ideologies with resources and attention,” Thomson wrote. “If you are unwilling to do so, Congress must consider policies to ensure that terrorist content is not distributed on your platforms, including by studying the examples being set by other countries.

“The video was widely available on your platforms well after the attack, despite calls from New Zealand authorities to take these videos down,” he wrote.

Facebook said it removed 1.5 million videos showing the attack in the first 24 hours after it occurred.

Thompson also asked the companies for a briefing on the matter.

A Facebook spokesman said the company “will brief the committee soon.” Google, Twitter and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has been critical of Facebook for privacy lapses, said on Tuesday that the government should tread carefully in reining in tech companies for fear of aiding dictators and other bad actors.

Wyden warned against revoking protections given in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that specifies tech companies are not responsible for what users say on their platform.

“If politicians want to restrict the First Amendment or eliminate the tools with which much of the world communicates in real time, they should understand they are also taking away the tools that bear witness to government brutality, war crimes, corporate lawlessness and incidents of racial bias,” Wyden said in a statement. 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit that advocates for civil liberties in the digital world, cautioned policymakers last week not to rush to regulate speech on online platforms or else it could “disproportionately silence” the most vulnerable users, such as Egyptian journalist Wael Abbas, who was kicked off YouTube for posting videos on police brutality.

EFF also called for guidelines that urge social platforms to be transparent about how many posts and accounts they remove, and give users notice and a chance to appeal if one of their posts is taken down.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Additional reporting by David Shepardson and Sarah Lynch; editing by Bill Berkrot)

Source: OANN

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Where’s the cat WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange kept at Ecuadorian embassy in London?

Don’t worry, the cat is feline fine.

Julian Assange was carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday after the South American nation revoked the WikiLeaks founder’s political asylum, ending his nearly seven-year stay there. Ecuador accused Assange of “repeatedly violating international conventions and protocol.”

As Assange was whisked away by British police, questions emerged about the 47-year-old’s feline, known as the “Embassy Cat,” who had been living with Assange since at least May 2016. Assange even created Twitter and Instagram profiles -- both called “Embassy Cat” -- where he had posted updates.

Julian Assange's cat sits behind a window at Ecuador's embassy in London, Britain in February 2018.

Julian Assange's cat sits behind a window at Ecuador's embassy in London, Britain in February 2018. (Reuters)

Turns out, Assange let his beloved pet go in November so he wouldn’t be trapped at the embassy anymore, Italian newspaper La Repubblica previously reported. The “isolation became unbearable” for the embassy cat and Assange allowing the feline to run free will give it “a healthier life.”

It's unclear where the cat is now.

WIKILEAKS FOUNDER JULIAN ASSANGE ARRESTED AFTER ECUADOR WITHDRAWS ASYLUM

Ecuador threatened in October to take the cat away if Assange didn’t follow a set of house rules that included cleaning the bathroom and other spaces he and his guests used in the embassy.

“Mr. Julian Assange will be responsible for the well-being, food, cleanliness and proper care of his pet. If due attention is not paid to the pet, the Head of Mission will request Mr. Assange to deliver the pet to another person or an animal shelter outside the Diplomatic Mission,” the memo to Assange stated.

The embassy cat’s social media bio still states, “I live in the Ecuadorian Embassy with Julian Assange : Interested in counter-purrveillance.”

PAMELA ANDERSON BLASTS BRITAIN, US AFTER JULIAN ASSANGE ARREST: 'HOW COULD YOU U.K.?'

Assange was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for aiding Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army analyst, in breaking a password stored on a U.S. Defense Department computer connected to a U.S. government computer network for classified documents and communications, the Justice Department said.

Julian Assange was arrested after Ecuador withdrew his asylum for “repeatedly violating international conventions and protocol.”

Julian Assange was arrested after Ecuador withdrew his asylum for “repeatedly violating international conventions and protocol.” (Getty Images)

“During the conspiracy, Manning and Assange engaged in real-time discussions regarding Manning’s transmission of classified records to Assange,” the Justice Department said. “The discussions also reflect Assange actively encouraging Manning to provide more information.  During an exchange, Manning told Assange that ‘after this upload, that’s all I really have got left.’ To which Assange replied, ‘curious eyes never run dry in my experience.’"

Assange faces a maximum of five years in prison if he’s convicted of the charge.

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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Farage: UK Headed For Greatest Democratic Betrayal In Nation’s History

Brexit architect Nigel Farage blistered European Parliament in a scathing rebuke of the “betrayal” of Brexit, comparing Prime Minister May’s current deal to the Treaty of Versailles.

Farage slammed the sabotage of Britain’s exit from the European Union, which has dragged on for over two years and has now been extended to at least April 12 – some two weeks past the original March 29 deadline.

“We have in Mrs. May a prime minister who hasn’t got the courage, who hasn’t got the vision to carry out her many repeated promises — namely to take us out of the European Union this Friday, March the 29th,” Farage said. “It is not happening, and we’re witnessing a slow-motion betrayal, perhaps the greatest betrayal of any democratic vote in the history of our nation.”

“The reason, of course, is this withdrawal treaty. And I’ll go back to the First World War: We won the war, but we have the Treaty of Versailles, and this treaty is the modern day equivalent.”

Farage supplemented his speech with a follow-up tweet, writing, “This WA is the modern day equivalent of the Treaty of Versailles, it guarantees future conflict and it is not Brexit. The shame is not on [EU head Brexit negotiator] Michel Barnier but British Prime Minister Theresa May for agreeing to it.”

Many historians, Farage included, believe the Treaty of Versailles laid the groundwork for the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

“The consensus is that the treaty of Versailles was too punitive,” Farage is quoted as saying. “It led directly to German hyper-inflation, which in turn led to seven million unemployed, and which in turn led to National Socialism.”

“But I don’t actually think Versailles was the mistake. I believe the real mistake, the anniversary of which we remember today, was the armistice.”



Paul Joseph Watson breaks down how the European Union has officially voted to adopt the Article 13 provision into law which would govern the production and distribution of online content under the presumption of copyright protections, but what this really means is no more creative memes.

Dan Lyman:

Source: InfoWars

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NBA roundup: Sixers, Raptors advance

NBA: Playoffs-Brooklyn Nets at Philadelphia 76ers
Apr 23, 2019; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) celebrates with forward Tobias Harris (33) and forward Jonathon Simmons (17) against the Brooklyn Nets during the third quarter in game five of the first round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

April 24, 2019

Joel Embiid collected 23 points and 13 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers cruised to a wire-to-wire, 122-100 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday and closed out their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series in five games.

The 76ers advanced to the conference semifinals for the second straight season. They next will face the second-seeded Toronto Raptors in the first postseason meeting between the teams since the 2001 East semifinals, a series the 76ers won in seven en route to their most recent NBA Finals appearance.

Philadelphia posted its third double-digit win of the series, but unlike the wins in Games 2 and 3, when the 76ers pulled away after halftime, the dominating tone was established early.

Embiid scored 10 points as the 76ers scored the game’s first 14 points. The Nets went 0-for-8 on the first 14 possessions before scoring, and the 76ers held a 25-3 lead late in the first and a 32-15 edge after the opening quarter.

Raptors 115, Magic 96

Kyle Lowry scored Toronto’s first nine points as part of a game-opening, 12-1 flurry to propel the Raptors to a blowout win over visiting Orlando and a 4-1 win in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

With a chance to wrap up the best-of-seven set at home, the Raptors wasted no time taking charge. Lowry hit four field goals — including a 3-pointer — in his early burst, and Kawhi Leonard added a three-point play as Toronto went up by 11 before the game was three minutes old.

Leonard finished with 27 points and Pascal Siakam scored 24 for the Raptors, who had never previously won four straight games in the same playoff series. D.J. Augustin scored a team-high 15 points for the Magic.

Nuggets 108, Spurs 90

Jamal Murray had 23 points and seven assists, and host Denver beat San Antonio in Game 5 of a Western Conference playoff series.

The Nuggets lead the series 3-2 heading into Game 6 at San Antonio on Thursday night. Game 7, if necessary, would be played Saturday in Denver.

Nikola Jokic amassed 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, Will Barton scored 17 points off the bench, and Gary Harris had 15 points for Denver. LaMarcus Aldridge had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and DeMar DeRozan also scored 17 for the Spurs, who lost a second game in a row.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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World’s largest plane makes first flight over California

The world's largest airplane, built by the late Paul Allen's company Stratolaunch Systems, makes its first test flight in Mojave
The world's largest airplane, built by the late Paul Allen's company Stratolaunch Systems, makes its first test flight in Mojave, California, U.S. April 13, 2019. REUTERS/Gene Blevins

April 14, 2019

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The world’s largest aircraft took off over the Mojave Desert in California on Saturday, the first flight for the carbon-composite plane built by Stratolaunch Systems Corp, started by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, as the company enters the lucrative private space market.

The white airplane called Roc, which has a wingspan the length of an American football field and is powered by six engines on a twin fuselage, took to the air shortly before 7 a.m. Pacific time (1400 GMT) and stayed aloft for more than two hours before landing safely back at the Mojave Air and Space Port as a crowd of hundreds of people cheered.

“What a fantastic first flight,” Stratolaunch Chief Executive Officer Jean Floyd said in a statement posted to the company’s website.

“Today’s flight furthers our mission to provide a flexible alternative to ground launched systems, Floyd said. “We are incredibly proud of the Stratolaunch team, today’s flight crew, our partners at Northrup Grumman’s Scaled Composites and the Mojave Air and Space Port.”

The plane is designed to drop rockets and other space vehicles weighing up to 500,000 pounds at an altitude of 35,000 feet and has been billed by the company as making satellite deployment as “easy as booking an airline flight.”

Saturday’s flight, which saw the plane reach a maximum speed of 189 miles per hour and altitudes of 17,000 feet, was meant to test its performance and handling qualities, according to Stratolaunch.

Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, announced in 2011 that he had formed the privately funded Stratolaunch.

The company seeks to cash in on higher demand in coming years for vessels that can put satellites in orbit, competing in the United States with other space entrepreneurs and industry stalwarts such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and United Launch Alliance – a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Stratolaunch has said that it intends to launch its first rockets from the Roc in 2020 at the earliest. Allen died in October 2018 while suffering from non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma, just months after the plane’s development was unveiled.

“We all know Paul would have been proud to witness today’s historic achievement,” said Jody Allen, Chair of Vulcan Inc and Trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. “The aircraft is a remarkable engineering achievement and we congratulate everyone involved.”

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; editing by Grant McCool)

Source: OANN

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NZ On Edge: Festival Evacuated Over ‘Far-Right’ Tattoo; Crime To Download, Distribute Manifesto

New Zealand is on edge following the March 15 terror attacks at two Christchurch mosques that left 50 dead.

On Saturday, around 5,000 concertgoers were evacuated from the Homegrown Music Festival in Wellington because a festival worker reported someone with a ‘far-right’ tattoo.

After the roughly 30 minute evacuation, the tattoo was discovered to be “traditional” instead, according to the New Zealand Herald (h/t Cassandra Fairbanks of Gateway Pundit)

“Some of the Homegrown crew identified a person that they were concerned about and police made the call that person needed to be found,” said Homegrown spokeswoman Kelly Wright, adding that the incident was an “innocent misunderstanding.”

“It all happened at the change-over of the music so people were moving around and police couldn’t spot the person immediately so they made the call to evacuate the stage. The person was found and it turned out that is was a completely innocent misunderstanding and everyone was allowed to return.”

Illegal manifesto

According to New Zealand’s Chief Censor David Shanks, a so-called manifesto attributed to suspected gunman Brenton Tarrant was ruled “objectionable” on Saturday, making it a crime to possess or distribute it anywhere in the country.

People who have downloaded this document, or printed it, should destroy any copies,” said Shanks.

There is an important distinction to be made between ‘hate speech,’ which may be rejected by many right-thinking people but which is legal to express, and this type of publication, which is deliberately constructed to inspire further murder and terrorism,” said Shanks, adding “It crosses the line.”

Prosecutors have also gone after people who shared that video.

As of Thursday, at least two people had been charged with sharing the video via social media, under a law that forbids dissemination or possession of material depicting extreme violence and terrorism.

Others could face related charges in connection with publicizing the terrorist attack, under a human rights law that forbids incitement of racial disharmony. –NYT

“It promotes, encourages and justifies acts of murder and terrorist violence against identified groups of people,” said Shanks. “It identifies specific places for potential attack in New Zealand, and refers to the means by which other types of attack may be carried out. It contains justifications for acts of tremendous cruelty, such as the deliberate killing of children.”

As far as ‘hate speech’ which is ‘legal to express,’ Shanks may want to touch base with police in Masterton, who announced that they were charging a 28-year-old woman with ‘inciting racial disharmony‘ over a Facebook post which contained an “upsetting” message related to “the events in Christchurch and this person’s views on what had occurred.”

Senior Sergeant Jennifer Hansen

“We were made aware that this post had been put up on Facebook which had upset a number of people to the point that they felt uncomfortable taking kids to school because of the comments that had been made,” said Sergeant Jennifer Hansen.

Meanwhile, several Kiwis who have shared videos of the Christchurch massacre at work have been fired.

Last week, New Zealand authorities have reminded citizens that they face up to 10 years in prison for “knowingly” possessing a copy of the New Zealand mosque shooting video – and up to 14 years in prison for sharing it. Corporations (such as web hosts) face an additional $200,000 ($137,000 US) fine under the same law.

Free speech advocates, however, are concerned with Ardern’s censorship-heavy approach.

“People are more confident of each other and their leaders when there is no room left for conspiracy theories, when nothing is hidden,” Stephen Franks, a constitutional lawyer and spokesman for the Free Speech Coalition, told AP.

“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.”

Speaking about Tarrant’s first-person-shooter-style video, counterterrorism expert Jennifer Breedon told RT that banning such videos does nothing to prevent future attacks.

“We need to stop putting band-aids on gunshot wounds,” she said. “We’re spending so much time talking about ‘we can’t have videos like this’…rather than answering questions that need to be asked.”

Into the memory hole

Meanwhile, journalist Nick Monroe noted that New Zealand news outlet Stuff has deleted an article in which a 30-year-old New Zealand resident converted to Islam and was “introduced to radical Islam at the Al-Noor mosque in Christchurch.”

New Zealand has also banned books by author Jordan Peterson

In short, “never let a good crisis go to waste” applies in New Zealand.

Source: InfoWars

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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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Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk
Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk, Belarus April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

April 26, 2019

By Katya Golubkova and Andrei Makhovsky

MOSCOW/MINSK (Reuters) – Russia is confident it can soon resolve a problem of polluted Russian oil contaminating a major pipeline serving Europe and affecting supplies as far west as Germany, a senior official said on Friday at talks with importers about the issue.

Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin did not give a precise timeframe but Moscow has previously said it would pump clean oil to the border with Belarus from April 29, seeking to end a crisis hitting the world’s second-largest crude exporter.

Sorokin was speaking at talks with officials from Belarus, Poland and Ukraine in Minsk on the issue. Belarus said the issue had cost it $100 million, while analysts say alternative supply routes for refiners cannot fully fill the gap.

Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia have suspended imports of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Halting those supplies has knock-on effects further along the network.

The problem arose last week when an unidentified Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride used to boost oil output but which must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.

Russia’s Energy Ministry said pipeline monopoly Transneft and other Russian companies had a plan to mitigate the effects of the contaminated oil. It did not give details.

Russian officials have said contaminated oil has already been pumped into storage in Russia and Friday’s talks would focus on how to partially withdraw the tainted crude from the Druzhba pipeline running via other countries.

The suspension cuts off a major supply route for Polish refineries owned by Poland’s PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, as well as plants in Germany owned by Total, Shell, Eni and Rosneft.

Some refiners have outlined plans for alternative supplies, but analysts say other routes cannot meet the shortfall.

OIL PRICES

Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta suspended the transit of oil through the pipeline on Thursday, closing supplies via Druzhba’s southern route to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

The pipeline issue, which has supported global oil prices, lifted Russian Urals crude differentials to an all-time high on Thursday.

With pipeline supplies to Europe shut, Russia faces a challenge of how to divert about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) that was meant to be shipped through the network to other destinations at the time when export capacity is at its limits.

State-run Russian Railways held talks with energy firms on using up to 5,000 rail tankers to transport crude, RIA news agency reported on Friday.

Concerns about the quality of Urals crude also caused delays in loadings at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, when buyers refused to lift cargoes, resulting in a brief shutdown of the port on Wednesday and Thursday. An Ust-Luga official and traders said on Friday loadings had resumed.

Russian loading plans indicate it aims to boost Urals exports in May before the expiry of a deal on output cuts agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, Reuters calculations and Energy Ministry data show.

The provisional loading plan for Russia’s Baltic Sea ports and Novorossiisk in May show exports rising to 10.7 million tonnes, the highest level in half a decade.

Minsk estimated its loss from lower oil product exports due to contaminated Russian oil at around $100 million, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing Belarusian state oil company Belneftekhim.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, in charge of government energy policy, said this week that those found responsible for contaminating the oil could be fined. He did not provide names.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko in WARSAW, Sandor Peto in BUDAPEST, Jason Hovet in PRAGUE, Matthias Williams and Natalia Zinets in KIEV, Katya Golubkova, Olesya Astakhova, Gleb Gorodyankin, Olga Yagova and Maxim Rodionov in MOSCOW, Andrei Makhovsky in MINSK; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Michael Perry and Edmund Blair)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO - A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.

The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.

Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.

But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.

Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.

In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.

Symone Sanders, a prominent Democratic strategist and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., staffer in 2016, was announced as one of the big-name members of Team Biden on Thursday.

But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.

“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.

BIDEN HIRES FORMER BERNIE SANDERS’ SPOKESPERSON AS SENIOR ADVISER

“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.

Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”

Footage of the interview was resurfaced by RealClearPolitics.

After news of her hiring broke on Thursday, Sanders backed her new boss on Twitter.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG

“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.

The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.

While Sanders himself didn’t torch Biden as he jumped into the race, it’s clear that many of his progressive supporters view the former vice president as a threat.

Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.

BIDEN VOWS THAT ‘AMERICA IS COMING BACK,’ SPARKING ‘MAGA’ COMPARISONS

Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”

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But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”

Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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