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Marlins release SP Straily three days before opener

MLB: Spring Training-Miami Marlins at New York Mets
Mar 8, 2019; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Dan Straily (58) throws against the New York Mets during a spring training game at First Data Field. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

March 25, 2019

In somewhat of a surprise move, the Miami Marlins released veteran starting pitcher Dan Straily just three days before the start of the regular season, the team announced Monday.

The 30-year-old right-hander was expected to be the most experienced member of the young Marlins’ rotation this season, and had settled for a $5 million contract this season to avoid arbitration. But the team instead says it was impressed enough with the young arms this spring that it decided to go all-in with their inexperienced, but talented starters.

“We talked about competition and taking the best 25 south with us [to Miami],” Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill told the Sun-Sentinel of the roster. “We had seven [starting pitchers] competing going into spring and the competition did not disappoint.

“We saw the growth of Trevor Richards (25), Pablo Lopez (23) and Sandy Alcantara (23) — these guys came ready to make the team. Caleb Smith (27) was recovering from injury, but everything was great with his recovery. We just wanted to monitor and make sure that he was getting the workload that he needed to be sharp and to help us as we approached Opening Day.”

Jose Urena, 27, is tabbed as the top starter for Miami, and the youth movement leaves Straily as the odd man out after the team decided to move Wei-Yin Chen to the bullpen a day earlier.

Straily, who was traded from the Cincinnati Reds before the 2017 season, produced respectable numbers in his two seasons with the Marlins — going 15-15 in 56 starts with a 4.20 ERA. But he struggled on the mound this spring, allowing six home runs in five starts with a 5.94 ERA.

Since coming up with the Oakland A’s in 2012, Straily has pitched for five teams in seven seasons — including the A’s (2012-14), Chicago Cubs (2014), Houston Astros (2015), Reds (2016) and the Marlins.

In seven big-league seasons Straily is 42-36 with a 4.23 ERA in 142 appearances (132 starts), with a career-best season in 2016 with the Reds (14-8, 3.76 ERA).

–Field Level Media

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Fleeing battle for Tripoli, Libyan families take refuge in abandoned factory

A Libyan displaced family, who fled their house because of the fighting between the Eastern forces commanded by Khalifa Haftar and the internationally recognised government, is seen at an industrial complex which is used as a shelter, in Tripoli
A Libyan displaced family, who fled their house because of the fighting between the Eastern forces commanded by Khalifa Haftar and the internationally recognised government, is seen at an industrial complex which is used as a shelter, in Tripoli, Libya April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

April 16, 2019

By Ahmed Elumami

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – At a shut-down factory in the Libyan capital, traumatized men, women and children are living in cramped huts that used to house workers but are now makeshift shelter for civilians uprooted by conflict.

More than 18,000 people have been displaced, according to the United Nations, by a two-week offensive by forces from eastern Libya trying to take the capital from the internationally recognized government.

Many been unable to leave the southern districts of Tripoli, trapped by non-stop shelling and gun battles where the advance has been stopped for now by Tripoli forces.

Streets have been changing hands as both sides have been unable to gain significant ground, leaving families trapped near the frontline seeking shelter with neighbors.

Among those who got out was 19-year-old Ali, who fled with his family and is now living in a hut built for men making truck trailers at the now defunct factory.

“We were evacuated from our home after three days of clashes,” Ali said. “This shirt I’m wearing is the only item of clothing I have.”

He is a former fighter for one of the myriad of armed groups that have dominated life in Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, filling the political and security vacuum.

Wounded in fighting last summer, he quit the group.

“They paid me 100 dinars ($70) a day … now I’m broke but this is better than fighting,” he said.

Some 47 families are housed in the camp with up to six individuals to each small room.

The factory itself if a victim of the chaos that has reigned in Libya as foreign firms pulled out since 2011 and workplaces closed.

One mother at the factory was away on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia when the latest fighting broke out. She came straight from Tripoli airport to the shelter to be with the rest of her family who had fled their home.

“My family managed to bring the family papers but not my jewelery,” she said, sitting next to her daughter on a mattress on the floor, her head in her hands.

Her father, suffering from Parkinson’s, only muttered: “What can we do?”

In another hut, 34-year-old housewife Nabila Ayad al-Ammari prayed for the friends she had left behind.

“After we left we received news that there are killed and wounded among our neighbors,” she said.

More families were arriving, some queuing at a municipal office a 10-minute drive away to speak to officials struggling to find places in schools or workers’ huts.

“Since the beginning … the state has not provided us with aid,” said Abdulfatah Mohamed Ottman, head of a local crisis council.

“Some families and businesses have been offering support but under these circumstances we will be unable to help.”

(Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: OANN

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Migrant camps overflow as Mexico cracks down after Trump threats

A migrant from Central America talks with his famiy by a river during a break in his journey towards the United States, in Huixtla
A migrant from Central America talks with his famiy by a river during a break in his journey towards the United States, in Huixtla, Mexico April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

April 17, 2019

By Delphine Schrank

MAPASTEPEC, Mexico (Reuters) – Amid pressure from Washington, Mexico is backpedaling on promises of better treatment for Central American migrants, leaving hundreds stranded in unsanitary camps near its southern border and allegations of irregular detentions.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador promised more humane treatment for Central American migrants when he took office in December. His left-leaning government issued thousands of year-long humanitarian visas in January, giving migrants legal access to jobs and the right to travel to the United States.

However, caught off guard by a surge in arrivals, Lopez Obrador’s administration is resorting to old tactics based on tough law enforcement.

Mexico has halted the liberal visa policy and ramped up detentions of migrants heading north, government data shows, following criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump of a jump in the number of Central American asylum seekers reaching the U.S. border in February.

Trump, who is expected to make border security central to his 2020 re-election bid, has vowed to limit trade with Mexico if it does not help slow immigration.

While Lopez Obrador’s government has said it will not react to “threats”, sources familiar with Mexican policy, who asked not to be identified, said near-daily U.S. government pressure had led the interior and foreign ministries to push the National Migration Institute (INM) for tougher action.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Unreleased INM data, reviewed by Reuters, showed that it detained 12,746 undocumented migrants for registration in March, up by nearly one-third from February and two-thirds from January.

The agency also suspended its humanitarian visa program on Jan. 28, after issuing some 13,000, mostly to Central Americans arriving that month in the southern border state of Chiapas, site of most migrant arrivals.

A few visas were issued in February but none since, said an INM official in Mexico City, who was not officially authorized to speak to media and asked to remain anonymous.

INM said in a statement it remained open to issuing humanitarian visas, with priority given to women, children and the elderly.

In Chiapas, the INM’s decision to close its main office in the border city of Tapachula a month ago has forced hundreds of migrants 65 miles (105 km) north to the smaller town of Mapastepec, where they have languished in sweltering temperatures, hoping for humanitarian visas.

“It’s a madness that they’re making us wait so long. For what? For nothing!” said Daisy Maldonado, a 26-year-old from Honduras, camping in a field in Mapastepec opposite a sports stadium.

Hundreds of bedraggled men, women and children have been sheltering for nearly three weeks inside the stadium, as migration officials registered their identities while neglecting the group camped over the road, rights groups and migrants said.

Without water, medical help or government attention, Maldonado’s group was dependent on scant handouts from locals, they said. Maldonado’s daughter, Marisol, 5, wailed with hunger beside her, in a bivouac she had built from dried palm branches.

A coalition of 14 rights and aid groups operating in Chiapas has called the build up of stranded migrants a “humanitarian crisis”.

“The government is responding with practices and repressive methods similar to the previous administration in terms of control and deportation, but in a way that’s even more disorderly,” said Salva Lacruz, a coordinator at Fray Matias de Cordova, a migrant group that operates in Chiapas. “In some ways, it’s worse.”

INM Commissioner Tonatiuh Guillén López said in a recent interview his agency was taking a “stricter” approach in southern Mexico because of the influx of migrants in Chiapas. However, he denied that was a response to U.S. pressure and said Mexico was pressing ahead with more humane migration policies.

‘HUMANITARIAN CRISIS’

INM officials said they closed the main regional office in Tapachula on March 15 after Cuban migrants stormed the premises, enraged that they were not seeing faster results. Rights groups and migrants dispute this.

The closure created a bottleneck of visa applicants, hundreds of whom headed north to Mapastepec.

On Saturday, INM suddenly halted registration at the stadium in Mapastepec and said migrants would have to wait at least a month longer.

INM said work had been stopped after some migrants had caused a disturbance requiring police to intervene and registration would continue at another site, without providing details.

Even those who had been registered inside the stadium had been given no indication from INM officials if or when they would receive visas almost two weeks after being processed, said Silvia Rodriguez, 26, a Honduran.

Despite the uncertainty, many migrants preferred to wait to request legal status before continuing their journey in caravans. Migrants who travel alone and without papers in Mexico are frequent prey for kidnappers and smugglers, in addition to risking detention or extortion by police.

Erick Morazan, a 28-year-old from Honduras, said he traveled to Mapastepec by night with a group of other migrants to avoid sweeps by immigration officials, in what he called a “caravan of zombies.”

“Migration officials are grabbing us like pigs,” said Morazan, traveling with two children.

In an effort to stem the build up of migrants in Chiapas, INM said this month that citizens of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala will be able to register for the visas through Mexican consulates in their home countries from late May.

DETENTION OVERCROWDING

While INM closed its registration offices in Tapachula, a detention center at the site remains open. An increase in detentions in the border area means the site is crammed with 1,700 people, the rights collective said in its report.

That’s about double its capacity and double the usual number held there, according to migrant group Fray Matias, which monitors the center.

The collective reported black eyes and bruised bodies among detainees it said were the result of beatings by police who entered the center to control a disturbance last week. Reuters was not able to independently verify this.

Mexican law enforcement representatives did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Lacruz of Fray Matias said at least 30 migrants had been irregularly detained at the Tapachula facility despite having applied for asylum with the Mexican Refugee Help Commission (COMAR), in contravention of Mexican law.

INM did not respond to requests for comment about the allegations of overcrowding and irregular detentions.

The institute says that migrants held in its facilities are not detained but are simply being held for processing, though rights groups and migrants say they are not free to leave, often for days or weeks.

Many undocumented migrants are also deported after processing in the centers. Mexico flew about 60 Cubans back to the island this month and sent 204 Hondurans home on Saturday..

Richard Pioenza, a U.S. citizen originally from Cuba, said his wife Yildiz Gomez had been held more than 20 days in the center despite having papers showing she had applied for asylum.

“She’s inside. She’s not eating well,” Pioneza said. “She’s sleeping on the floor.”

Reuters was unable to contact Gomez directly.

Pioenza said his wife applied for refugee status after arriving in Mexico in March to ease her passage to the U.S. border where she was planning to apply for asylum from political repression in Cuba.

After a request from Reuters for verification on Gomez and five other cases of suspected irregular detentions, the Mexican refugee agency said on Monday it would send a team to the center.

(Reporting by Delphine Schrank; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Susan Thomas)

Source: OANN

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Hundreds of thousands protest in London demanding second Brexit vote

Hundreds of thousands of marchers filled London streets Saturday to demand a second Brexit referendum as pressure builds on Prime Minister Theresa May to resign.

The massive demonstration--one of the city's largest protest gatherings in years-- took place with May unable to convince Parliament on a plan for the U.K. to leave the European Union--despite two attempts in the House of Commons.

Several British newspapers, including the London Times and The Daily Telegraph, have reported that pressure is growing on May to resign.

The "Put It To The People" demonstrators planned a rally in front of Parliament after marching from Park Lane to Parliament Square.

THERESA MAY'S BREXIT DEAL FACES NEW VOTE IN BRITISH PARLIAMENT: WHAT TO KNOW

“I would feel differently if this was a well-managed process and the government was taking sensible decisions. But it is complete chaos,” demonstrator Gareth Rae, 59, told Reuters. “The country will be divided whatever happens and it is worse to be divided on a lie."

A 2016 referendum to leave the EU passed by 1.3 million votes.

A demonstrator wears a hat decorated with the EU and British colors during a Peoples Vote anti-Brexit march in London, Saturday. 

A demonstrator wears a hat decorated with the EU and British colors during a Peoples Vote anti-Brexit march in London, Saturday.  (AP)

London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted a video of himself with demonstrators holding up a 'Put it to the People' banner at the front of the march as it began.

Joining him was Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, who tweeted that there was a "huge turnout of people here from all walks of life."

The embattled May wrote to lawmakers Friday night saying she would only bring the European Union withdrawal plan back to Parliament if there seems to be enough backing for it to pass.

“If it appears that there is not sufficient support to bring the deal back next week, or the House rejects it again, we can ask for another extension before 12 April, but that will involve holding European Parliament elections,” she said.

EU LEADERS AGREE TO SHORT-TERM BREXIT DELAY, GRANTING PM THERESA MAY A LIFELINE

The Associated Press interviewed 63-year-old Edmund Sides, who spent the last three weeks walking from Wales to London in order to take part in the demonstration.

A puppet character depicting British Prime Minister Theresa May is brandished among Anti-Brexit campaigners, during the People's Vote March in London, Saturday.

A puppet character depicting British Prime Minister Theresa May is brandished among Anti-Brexit campaigners, during the People's Vote March in London, Saturday. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

He expressed worry about the vicious tone that arguments have started to take and worries about national cohesion.

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“People fear the atmosphere is very dangerous in this country,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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Rallying-Via farm field and volcano, Munnings primed for WRC debut

A handout photo of British rally driver Catie Munnings posing for a photo during an interview in Saint-Etienne
A handout photo of British rally driver Catie Munnings posing for a photo during an interview in Saint-Etienne, France March 5, 2019. Handout picture taken March 5, 2019. Olaf Pignataro/Red Bull Media House/Handout via REUTERS

March 15, 2019

By Martyn Herman

LONDON (Reuters) – Self-confessed adrenaline junkie Catie Munnings likes to live out of her comfort zone, which is why next week the British rally driver will accelerate her Peugeot 208 at 160mph along the rim of an Azores volcano.

The 21-year-old livewire is set for her fourth season in the European Rally Championship (ERC), for the French-based Sainteloc team, and she cannot wait to put her foot down.

Munnings is not just making up the numbers in a male-dominated sport either.

In her rookie ERC season in 2016, the year she passed her driving test at the second attempt and three A levels, she won the Ladies Trophy, the first European rallying title for a British driver in 49 years.

Last year she scored points in six of the eight ERC3 rounds, finishing fourth overall, and this season is setting her sights on making her World Rally Championship (WRC) debut in Wales — following in the tracks of her idol Michele Mouton who blazed a trail for female drivers by finishing runner-up in the sport’s elite division in 1982.

The starting-point is next week’s Azores Rally and the daunting Sete Cidades stage, a precipitous car-width stretch of gravel flanked by a dizzying drop into a volcanic lake.

Next to her will be co-driver Veronica Engen who once worked for world champion Petter Solberg.

“There’s no guard rails and when you’re at the top of the volcano there’s nothing below you but the lake. It’s insane,” Munnings, Red Bull’s first female motorsport driver, told Reuters close to the family farm in Kent where, as a young girl, she would roar around muddy fields on quad bikes.

“It’s a rally of survival. The amount of people that go off is ridiculous. Fifty percent don’t finish. But I love the fact it’s out of your comfort zone. I love the thrill. It’s a bit like being on a rollercoaster.”

Two years ago there Munnings hit a tree and retired, the sort of crash that would make normal drivers nervous wrecks, but which she shrugs off. Her first “big one” was before her first-ever international rally in Ypres, Belgium in 2016.

“I got a wheel on the grass, nudged a bridge and rolled it,” she said. “The car was wrecked and had to be rebuilt overnight.”

Remarkably, she dashed home on the Eurostar, sat her biology A-level in the morning, then returned to qualify for the rally.

Not only did she qualify, she was the only female to finish and went on to seal the Ladies Trophy — a feat that enabled her to join forces with ex F1 driver Susie Wolff whose “Dare to be Different” scheme helps girls pursue their motorsport dreams.

Going fast on four wheels has always been appealing to Munnings, whose father Chris was a rally driver and now runs Wacky Sports, an events firm using off-road vehicles.

HANDBRAKE TURN

At 13, she could execute a perfect handbrake turn on the circuit her dad cut into a field. On one occasion she literally scorched the earth when the red-hot brakes of her old Peugeot 107 set the grass ablaze.

She insists it was initially for practical reasons.

“The lanes near us were never get gritted in winter so my dad always wanted my sister and I to have good car-handling skills,” she said.

“But once I started doing grass auto-testing at a local club when I was 14 or so, I was hooked.

“I just love the competitive part of rallying.”

Munnings had mapped a career as a vet and admits her schoolteachers thought she was having a “teen crisis” when she shunned university to pursue rallying. Now she gets invited back to give motivational talks.

The bubbly Munnings admits to hearing tired old jibes about “nail varnish and hair dryers” but can look after herself, in and out of the car, whether it is changing broken wheels in oven-like heat in Cyprus, pitching to company CEOs or bagging second-hand tyres from better-funded drivers.

After a day wrestling the 200BHP car around corners, sister Hannah, a yoga teacher, is often on hand to loosen the back while mum Tracey keeps her calm with the aid of Reiki.

“She’s known as Rally Mum in the service area, all the drivers go to her when they have a problem,” she said.

Life is full-tilt for Munnings who spends part of her winter testing tyres on frozen Arctic lakes, is an ambassador for road safety charity IAM RoadSmart and presents “Catie’s Amazing Machines” a TV show in which she takes control of fighter jets, monster trucks, piste bashers and even submarines.

But there is nothing quite like sliding around on gravel.

“It’s like dancing with a car,” she said.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

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Albania opposition blocks highways in its anti-govt protest

Albanian opposition members have blocked national highways in their latest protest of a government they accuse of being corrupt and linked to organized crime, claims the government denies.

Supporters of the center-right Democratic Party-led opposition blocked five separate crossroads for an hour Thursday, asking that a transitory Cabinet be set up to hold an early parliamentary election.

In protests since February, opposition supporters have tried to enter parliament or government buildings and police have responded with tear gas and water cannon.

Opposition lawmakers have relinquished their seats in the 140-seat parliament where the governing Socialists have 74 seats. Most of the vacant seats have been taken by other opposition candidates.

In June, Albania expects to hear from the European Union whether full membership negotiations will be launched and will also hold municipal elections.

Source: Fox News World

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Feinstein fumes as Trump administration pushes forward with 9th Circuit nominees without consulting her

The Senate is poised this week to consider two more nominees selected by President Trump to sit on the left-leaning 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- and the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee isn't happy about it.

That's because the nominees, Ken Lee and Dan Collins, were picked without any input from either Sen. Dianne Feinstein or Sen. Kamala Harris. Traditionally, the White House seeks to obtain a so-called "blue slip," or approval, from a judicial nominee's two home-state senators before pressing on with their nominations.

But the Trump administration, which has successfully nominated several conservative judges to the 9th Circuit already, has pointedly disregarded that process as it continues its push to transform the appellate court that the president repeatedly has derided as hopelessly biased and "disgraceful."

"Before President Trump took office, the blue slip had been a Senate practice for nearly one century," Feinstein said in televised remarks on Thursday. "And during the past 100 years, before this presidency, the Senate confirmed only five judges with only one blue slip, and the last one was in 1989 – and in 100 years the Senate had never confirmed a judge without two blue slips."

But "since President Trump took office," Feinstein charged, "Republicans have held hearings for 12 circuit court nominees and voted to confirm seven – seven – over the objection of home-state Democrats."

TRUMP: 9TH CIRCUIT WOULD OVERTURN MY THANKSGIVING TURKEY PARDON IF IT COULD

Among those nominees was Seattle attorney Eric Miller, who was confirmed to the 9th Circuit in February by a vote of 53-46. Progressives fiercely attacked Miller as a corporate lawyer and Federalist Society member whose career supposedly had been hostile to Native American rights.

Feinstein continued: "There is no justification for disregarding Democratic blue slips. Democratic senators have made and continue to make good faith efforts to find consensus picks for the circuit courts.

"As Senator Harris and I have made clear, we’ve been willing to work from the start with this president to choose consensus, mainstream nominees to the 9th Circuit," Feinstein added. "One of the things I’ve learned is: what goes around, comes around. I had hoped that we would be able to work in a very cooperative way.”

With a sprawling purview representing nine Western states, the 9th Circuit has long been a thorn in the side of the Trump White House, with rulings against his travel ban policy and limits on funding to "sanctuary cities."

Just weeks ago, the 9th Circuit broke ranks with another federal appellate court and ruled that a Sri Lankan man who failed his initial asylum screening had the constitutional right to go before a judge -- threatening to clog the immigration court system further with tens of thousands of similar claims per year and setting up an all-but-certain Supreme Court showdown.

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However, the court's left-wing reputation might be changing, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Republicans have continued to use the GOP majority to confirm judge after judge appointed by the president.

Among Trump's other recent successful picks to the 9th Circuit: Ryan Nelson, a former staffer to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions; former Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett; and Magistrate Judge Bridget Bade.

Following Miller's confirmation month, in an analysis titled "Thanks to Trump, the liberal 9th Circuit is no longer liberal," The Washington Post noted that once all of Trump's current nominees to the bench are confirmed as expected, there will be 12 Republican-appointed judges on the 9th Circuit, which consists of 29 full-time judges.

Source: Fox News Politics

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The headquarters of Wirecard AG is seen in Aschheim near Munich
FILE PHOTO: The headquarters of Wirecard AG, an independent provider of outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payment transactions is seen in Aschheim near Munich, Germany April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

April 26, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Wulf Matthias will not stand for a second term as Wirecard’s chairman in 2020, German daily Handelsblatt said on Friday, citing sources in the financial industry.

For age reasons alone this would not be an option for Matthias, aged 75, Handelsblatt added.

Matthias will keep his mandate until it ends in 2020, the paper quoted a company spokeswoman as saying.

Wirecard was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Thomas Seythal)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Credit Suisse logo is pictured on a bank in Geneva
FILE PHOTO: The Credit Suisse logo is pictured on a bank in Geneva, Switzerland, October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

April 26, 2019

ZURICH (Reuters) – Shareholders approved Credit Suisse’s 2018 compensation report with an 82 percent majority on Friday, overriding frustrations expressed at its annual general meeting over jumps in executive pay during a year its share price plummeted.

Three shareholder advisers had recommended investors vote against Switzerland’s second-biggest bank’s remuneration report, while a fourth backed the report but expressed reservations about whether management pay matched performance.

The approval marked a slight increase over the 80.8 percent support garnered for the bank’s 2017 compensation report.

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Michael Shields)

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FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the trading floor of Barclays Bank at Canary Wharf in London
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the trading floor of Barclays Bank at Canary Wharf in London, Britain December 7, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Simon Jessop and Sinead Cruise

LONDON (Reuters) – Activist investor Edward Bramson is likely to fail in his attempt to get a board seat at Barclays’ annual meeting next week, even though shareholders are dissatisfied with performance of the group’s investment bank.

New York-based Bramson’s Sherborne Investors and the board of the British bank have been sparring for months over Barclays’ strategy.

Bramson wants to scale back Barclays’ investment bank to reduce risk and boost shareholder returns. Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley remains staunchly committed to growing the business out of trouble.

After failing to persuade Staley to change course since he began building a 5.5 percent stake in the bank in March last year, Bramson hopes a board seat will rachet up the pressure.

Both sides have written to shareholders pitching their case and Bramson has courted investors in one-on-one meetings, although none have publicly backed him yet.

Interviews by Reuters with five institutional investors in Barclays suggest Bramson has failed to persuade them.

Sherborne declined to comment.

Mirza Baig, head of investment stewardship at top-40 shareholder Aviva Investors, said Bramson was welcome on the bank’s register but the boardroom was a step too far.

“He has created a lot of value at other businesses, but, generally, when he has come in as executive chair and taken full control. This would be a different case where he would just be one lone voice on the board,” he said.

A second Barclays shareholder said he backed Bramson’s goal of improving returns but via an “evolutionary” approach.

“If you look at banks that have tried to restructure their operations in investment banking – you look at Natwest Markets, Deutsche Bank – I struggle to think of an example where a roughshod restructuring has been accretive to shareholder value.”

A third, top-30 investor said he had been impressed by incoming Chairman Nigel Higgins’ grasp of the challenge in hand, and felt investors would give him time.

“Management know they have to execute and deliver improved returns… [Higgins] will continue to re-shape the board but obviously he didn’t feel that having someone with a diametrically opposed view on it would be helpful.”

A fourth, top-30 investor agreed: “We voted for the chairman to come in and it would be crazy to allow an activist to join the board (at this time).”

Jupiter Fund Management, the 24th largest investor, said it also planned to vote against Bramson.

Barclays has nearly 500 institutional shareholders, Refinitiv data showed.

Since Staley joined Barclays in 2015, the investment bank returns relative to capital invested have increased but are still underperforming the overall business.

Barclays’ first-quarter figures showed the investment bank posted a 6 percent drop in income from its markets business and a 17 percent fall in banking advisory fees.

Returns in the investment bank fell to 9.5 percent from 13.2 percent a year ago.

Famed for successful campaigns against smaller British companies in sectors from chemicals to advertising, Bramson’s board seat pitch has been rebuffed by shareholder advisory firms.

Institutional Shareholder Services, the world’s biggest, said Bramson’s proposal “falls short of what can reasonably be expected from a shareholder trying to address issues at a 28 billion pounds, systemically important bank”.

Glass Lewis also flagged concern about Bramson’s lack of banking experience and “questionable” shareholding structure, referring to Sherborne’s use of derivative contracts to hedge losses should its strategy fail.

Critics said the arrangement meant his interests are not truly aligned with those of other long-term shareholders.

British advisory firm Pirc, however, said it recommended that investors abstain in the vote on Bramson’s proposal as a challenge to the board to do better in the year ahead – or face a similar contest in 2020.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2019/04/918/516/02_2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

After an over 15-month pregnancy, “Akuti,” a 7-year-old Greater One Horned Indian Rhinoceros, gave birth as a result of induced ovulation and artificial insemination at Zoo Miami, April 23, 2019.

Ron Magill/Zoo Miami

https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2019/04/918/516/02_2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

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FILE PHOTO: File photo of a Chevron gas station sign in Del Mar, California
FILE PHOTO: A Chevron gas station sign is seen in Del Mar, California, in this April 25, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – U.S. oil and natural gas producer Chevron Corp reported a 27 percent fall in quarterly earnings on Friday, hit by lower crude prices and weaker margins in its refining and chemicals businesses.

Net income attributable to the company fell to $2.65 billion, or $1.39 per share, for the first quarter ended March 31, from $3.64 billion, or $1.90 per share, a year earlier.

Earlier in the day, larger rival Exxon Mobil Corp reported earnings well below analysts’ estimates, as margins in its refining business were hurt by higher Canadian prices and heavy scheduled maintenance.

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Source: OANN

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