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Jerome Corsi to Newsmax TV: Mueller’s ‘Abusive’ Team Won’t Charge Me

Jerome Corsi, an associate of former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone who was caught up in the Russia investigation, told Newsmax TV the Mueller report released Thursday shows no legal action will be taken against him.

"I'm feeling pretty good, John," Corsi told "Newsmax Now" host John Bachman. "First of all, it's very clear I'm not gonna be indicted, even though they gave me a plea deal, that they wanted me to plead to one charge on.

"In my most recent book, 'Silent No More,' I explain it was psychologically very abusive. These Mueller people, I think, used prosecutorial misconduct techniques in the way I was questioned. They were desperate to have me make a link between Roger Stone and Julian Assange, which then I think was fundamental, very key to their whole collusion argument."

President Donald Trump was cleared of conspiring with the Russians, and the Department of Justice said there was not enough evidence to show he obstructed justice by trying to squash the investigation.

Corsi echoed his past claims Mueller's team tried to have him admit he was the conduit between WikiLeaks, which published documents damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016, and Stone.

"The prosecutors went insane that I figured this out on my own that [WikiLeaks founder Julian] Assange had [Clinton campaign chairman John] Podesta's emails, and I did not have a contact with Julian Assange or Wikileaks whatsoever," Corsi said.

Important: Newsmax TV is now carried in 65 million cable homes on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Comcast/Xfinity Ch. 1115, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615 or More Systems Here.

Source: NewsMax America

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Chinese premier confident economy will meet annual growth target

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attends a news conference following the closing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attends a news conference following the closing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China March 15, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

April 13, 2019

By Alexandra Harney

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China is confident that it will meet its 2019 economic growth target of six percent to 6.5 percent, premier Li Keqiang said on Friday.

Speaking at a summit between China and Central and Eastern European countries in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, Li listed several positive indicators of economic activity and pledged to continue policies to help support growth.

Li said China would maintain the direction of its macroeconomic policies but would not move toward quantitative easing or flood the economy with bank bills.

A Reuters poll on Friday showed China’s economic growth is expected to slow to a near 30-year low of 6.2 percent this year, as sluggish demand at home and abroad weigh on activity despite a flurry of policy support measures.

(Reporting by Alexandra Harney; Additional reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source: OANN

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Former Olympic champion Kiprop gets four-year doping ban

FILE PHOTO - Asbel Kiprop of Kenya reacts after winning the men's 1500 metres final during the 15th IAAF World Championships at the National Stadium in Beijing
FILE PHOTO - Asbel Kiprop of Kenya reacts after winning the men's 1500 metres final during the 15th IAAF World Championships at the National Stadium in Beijing, China, August 30, 2015. REUTERS/Phil Noble

April 20, 2019

(Reuters) – Kenya’s former Olympic 1500 meters champion Asbel Kiprop has been handed a four-year ban for doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Saturday.

The 29-year-old, who also won three world championship golds, tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) in November 2017.

Kiprop had argued his urine sample, which was taken out of competition, could have been tampered with by his testers, who had tipped him off about their visit and taken a payment from him.

But the AIU, an independent body managing all doping-related matters, said they were satisfied that there had been no interference.

“The panel is aware that its order will interrupt, and may even terminate, the athlete’s sporting career and cast a shadow over his impressive competitive record,” it said in a statement.

“But in its opinion the laboratory results viewed in the context of the evidential record and the regulatory framework unit admit of no other conclusion than the case against the athlete is convincingly made out.”

Kiprop was awarded the 1500m gold medal from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing after original winner Rashid Ramzi tested positive for doping. Kiprop won his three world titles in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; editing by Tony Lawrence)

Source: OANN

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Disney to pitch video streaming service to Wall Street

FILE PHOTO: The entrance to Walt Disney studios is seen in Burbank
FILE PHOTO: The entrance to Walt Disney studios is seen in Burbank, California, U.S. August 6, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

April 11, 2019

By Lisa Richwine

BURBANK, Calif. (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co on Thursday will unveil a family-friendly streaming service with TV shows and movies from some of the world’s most popular entertainment franchises in a bid to challenge the digital dominance of Netflix.

The ad-free monthly subscription called Disney+ is set to launch later this year. In addition to Disney films and TV shows, it will feature programming from the Marvel superhero universe, the “Star Wars” galaxy, “Toy Story” creator Pixar animation and the National Geographic channel.

Disney is hosting Wall Street analysts at its Burbank, California, headquarters to showcase the Disney+ app and provide additional details about its online media strategy.

The entertainment giant is trying to transform itself from a cable television powerhouse into a leader of streaming media. Chief Executive Bob Iger in February called streaming the company’s “No. 1 priority.”

The digital push is Disney’s response to cord-cutting, the dropping of cable service that has hit its ESPN sports network and other channels, and the rise of Netflix Inc. The Silicon Valley upstart has amassed 139 million customers worldwide since it began streaming 12 years ago.

The Mouse House will join the market at a time when audiences are facing a host of choices, and monthly bills, for digital entertainment. IPhone maker Apple Inc, AT&T Inc’s WarnerMedia and others plan new streaming services.

Disney has not yet announced a price for its new service.

To bolster its potential digital portfolio, Disney recently purchased film and TV assets from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and gained prized properties such as “Avatar.”

In a January regulatory filing, Disney reported losses of more than $1 billion for streaming-related investments in Hulu and technology company BAMtech.

Disney had been supplying new movies such as “Black Panther” and “Beauty and the Beast” to Netflix after their runs in theaters but ended that arrangement this year to feed its own streaming ambitions. The company estimated it is foregoing $150 million in licensing revenue this fiscal year by saving programming for its own platforms.

The Disney+ programming will draw in part from Disney’s deep library of classic family films. It also will include exclusive original content such as a live-action “Star Wars” series called “The Mandalorian,” a show focused on Marvel movie villain Loki, and animated “Monsters at Work,” inspired by hit Pixar movie “Monsters Inc.”

Some new Disney movies, such as a “Lady and the Tramp” remake, will go directly to the Disney+ app. Other new releases will appear on Disney+ after their run in theaters, executives have said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

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Emergency FOIA request filed seeking public release of Mueller report, related docs

A nonprofit organization has filed the first known Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking the immediate and total public disclosure of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's completed report, echoing bipartisan calls for transparency following his nearly two-year probe into whether the Trump campaign illegally colluded with Russia.

The lawsuit, filed Friday night, comes as Fox News confirms that House Democrats will conduct a conference call at 3 p.m. E.T. Saturday with “chairs of relevant committees” to discuss next steps regarding the Mueller report and messaging. New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries will host as Caucus Chair.

Mueller is not recommending any further indictments as part of his inquiry, which effectively ended Friday, according to a senior Justice Department official. Attorney General William Barr notified key congressional leaders in a letter Friday evening that Mueller finished his investigation, adding that a summary of the probe’s findings may be provided to lawmakers as soon as this weekend.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) wrote in an emergency complaint filed in a Washington, D.C., federal district court that the "public has a right to know the full scope of Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election and whether the president of the United States played any role in such interference."

The lawsuit continued: "The public also has a right to know whether the president unlawfully obstructed any investigation into Russian election interference or related matters. The requested records are vital to the public’s understanding of these issues and to the integrity of the political system of the United States.”

The delivery of the Mueller report, which a DOJ official called "comprehensive," does mean the investigation has concluded without any public charges of a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and Russia or of obstruction by the president.

Attorney General William Barr leaves his home in McLean, Va., on Friday, March 22, 2019. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is expected to present a report to the Justice Department any day now outlining the findings of his nearly two-year investigation into Russian election meddling, possible collusion with Trump campaign officials and possible obstruction of justice by Trump.

Attorney General William Barr leaves his home in McLean, Va., on Friday, March 22, 2019. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is expected to present a report to the Justice Department any day now outlining the findings of his nearly two-year investigation into Russian election meddling, possible collusion with Trump campaign officials and possible obstruction of justice by Trump. (AP)

That's good news for a handful of Trump associates and family members dogged by speculation of possible wrongdoing. They include Donald Trump Jr., who had a role in arranging a Trump Tower meeting at the height of the 2016 election campaign with a Kremlin-linked lawyer, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was interviewed at least twice by Mueller's prosecutors.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA, PUNDITS MELT DOWN ON NEWS MUELLER WON'T ISSUE ANY MORE INDICTMENTS

Still, some key details remain unanswered, EPIC said, prompting its litigation. EPIC first filed a FOIA request seeking access to Mueller-related documents in November 2018 and requested expedited processing, citing the "overwhelming" public interest in the case. But the Justice Department, on behalf of Mueller's office, wrote back that EPIC could effectively take a hike because the DOJ could not “identify a particular urgency to inform the public about an actual or alleged federal government activity."

"Today—March 22, 2019—is the 92nd working day since the DOJ received EPIC’s FOIA request," the complaint stated, charging that "the DOJ has failed to make a determination regarding EPIC’s FOIA request within the time period allowed" by federal law.

EPIC's lawsuit demanded not only the full release of the Mueller report but also any supporting exhibits and documentation relied upon by Mueller's team, including "all drafts, outlines, exhibits, and supporting materials associated with any actual or planned explanation for any investigative or prosecutorial step."

House Democrats, meanwhile, have somewhat downplayed the Mueller probe and suggested that the left-leaning lawmakers themselves might take on the job of trying to prove collusion, not ruling out the possibility of Mueller being asked or subpoenaed to testify before congressional committees.

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“If the Justice Department doesn't release the whole report or tries to keep parts of it secret, we will certainly subpoena the parts of the report and we will reserve the right to call Mueller to testify before the committee or to subpoena him,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrives at his office building, Thursday, March 21, 2019, in Washington. Mueller has concluded his investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with associates of President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrives at his office building, Thursday, March 21, 2019, in Washington. Mueller has concluded his investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with associates of President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

While the Mueller probe’s conclusions are not yet known, the investigation already has led to indictments, convictions or guilty pleas for nearly three dozen people and three companies. All told, Mueller charged 34 people, including the president's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort; his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn; and three Russian companies. Twenty-five Russians were indicted on charges related to election interference, accused either of hacking Democratic email accounts during the campaign or of orchestrating a social media campaign that spread disinformation on the internet.

Five Trump aides pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with Mueller, and a sixth, longtime confidant Roger Stone, is awaiting trial on charges that he lied to Congress and engaged in witness tampering.

OPINION: WHY ALL AMERICANS SHOULD REJECT THE MUELLER REPORT

Despite all that prosecutorial activity, though, no Americans have been charged with improperly conspiring with Russia. In a series of posts on Twitter on Friday, journalist Glenn Greenwald -- who also called for the release of the Mueller report -- repeatedly emphasized that point, and condemned pundits for hyping the Mueller report irresponsibly for nearly two years.

President Donald Trump talks with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, March 22, 2019, in Washington. Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday turned over his long-awaited final report on the contentious Russia investigation, ending a probe that has cast a dark shadow over Donald Trump's presidency with no new charges but launching a fresh wave of political battles over the still-confidential findings. 

President Donald Trump talks with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, March 22, 2019, in Washington. Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday turned over his long-awaited final report on the contentious Russia investigation, ending a probe that has cast a dark shadow over Donald Trump's presidency with no new charges but launching a fresh wave of political battles over the still-confidential findings.  (AP)

"It's truly fascinating to watch Dems grapple with the fact that Mueller finished his work without indicting a single American for conspiring with Russia over the election: everything from "nobody has read his report!" (irrelevant to that fact) to 'sealed indictments!' (unhinged)." Greenwald wrote.

In another post, he criticized media outlets for promoting the anti-Trump rhetoric of partisan commentators like ex-CIA Director John Brennan -- an Obama appointee whose security clearance was revoked last year because, the Trump administration said, he was using it to lend credence to political attacks.

"You can't blame MSNBC viewers for being confused," Greenwald continued. "They largely kept dissenters from their Trump/Russia spy tale off the air for 2 years. As recently as 2 weeks ago, they had @JohnBrennan strongly suggesting Mueller would indict Trump family members on collusion as his last act. ... Oh gosh - turns out that if you hire ex-CIA Directors to be 'news analysts,' they'll abuse our airwaves to disseminate self-serving disinformation."

A copy of a letter from Attorney General William Barr advising Congress that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his investigation, is shown Friday, March 22, 2019 in Washington. Robert Mueller on Friday turned over his long-awaited final report on the contentious Russia investigation that has cast a dark shadow over Donald Trump's presidency, entangled Trump's family and resulted in criminal charges against some of the president's closest associates. 

A copy of a letter from Attorney General William Barr advising Congress that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his investigation, is shown Friday, March 22, 2019 in Washington. Robert Mueller on Friday turned over his long-awaited final report on the contentious Russia investigation that has cast a dark shadow over Donald Trump's presidency, entangled Trump's family and resulted in criminal charges against some of the president's closest associates.  (AP)

He concluded: "How - if you're an MSNBC viewer (or consumer of similar online content) - can you not be angry & disoriented having been fed utter [bulls--t] like this for 2 straight years with basically no dissent allowed? Just listen to what they were telling you to believe & how false it was."

JEROME CORSI CELEBRATES END OF RUSSIA PROBE, SAYS HE'S VINDICATED IN DECISION TO RESIST MUELLER BULLYING

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared it "imperative" to make the full report public, a call echoed by several Democrats vying to challenge Trump in 2020.

"The American people have a right to the truth," Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement.

Democrats also expressed concern that Trump would try to get a "sneak preview" of the findings.

"The White House must not be allowed to interfere in decisions about what parts of those findings or evidence are made public," they said in a joint statement.

A presidential helicopter takes off in a practice run as the White House is reflected in a puddle, Friday March 22, 2019, in Washington, amid news that special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with associates of President Donald Trump. 

A presidential helicopter takes off in a practice run as the White House is reflected in a puddle, Friday March 22, 2019, in Washington, amid news that special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with associates of President Donald Trump.  (AP)

It was not clear whether Trump would have early access to Mueller's findings. Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders suggested the White House would not interfere, saying, "We look forward to the process taking its course." But Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, told The Associated Press Friday that the legal team would seek to get "an early look" before they were made public.

Giuliani said it was "appropriate" for the White House to be able "to review matters of executive privilege." He said had received no assurances from the Department of Justice on that front. He later softened his stance, saying the decision was "up to DOJ and we are confident it will be handled properly."

The White House did receive a brief heads-up on the report's arrival Friday. Barr's chief of staff called White House Counsel Emmet Flood Friday about 20 minutes before sending the letter went to the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary committees.

Fox News' Mike Emanuel, Brooke Singman, Jake Gibson, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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UN: Pro-government forces kill more Afghans than insurgents

The U.N. says Afghan and international forces killed more civilians than insurgents in the first three months of the year, the first time the deaths caused by the government and its allies exceeded their enemies.

Still it was insurgents who were responsible for the majority of dead and wounded civilians combined, according to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan's report, which was released in Kabul. Most of the deaths were the result of airstrikes, most often by international forces.

The report says 1,773 civilians were hurt or died in the first three months, which is a significant drop from the same period last year when 2,305 civilians were killed or wounded. Last year, many brutal suicide bombings were blamed for the high casualties.

Source: Fox News World

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Alex Jones – Info Wars

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FILE PHOTO: Sri Lankan Special Task Force soldiers stand guard in front of a mosque as a Muslim man walks past him during the Friday prayers at a mosque, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday, in Colombo
FILE PHOTO: Sri Lankan Special Task Force soldiers stand guard in front of a mosque as a Muslim man walks past him during the Friday prayers at a mosque, five days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on Catholic churches and luxury hotels across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Lasseter and Shri Navaratnam

KATTANKUDY, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Mohamed Hashim Mohamed Zahran was 12 years old when he began his studies at the Jamiathul Falah Arabic College. He was a nobody, with no claim to scholarship other than ambition.

Zahran and his four brothers and sisters squeezed into a two-room house with their parents in a small seaside town in eastern Sri Lanka; their father was a poor man who sold packets of food on the street and had a reputation for being a petty thief.

“His father didn’t do much,” recalled the school’s vice principal, S.M. Aliyar, laughing out loud.

The boy surprised the school with his sharp mind. For three years, Zahran practiced memorizing the Koran. Next came his studies in Islamic law. But the more he learned, the more Zahran argued that his teachers were too liberal in their reading of the holy book.

“He was against our teaching and the way we interpreted the Koran – he wanted his radical Islam,” said Aliyar. “So we kicked him out.”

Aliyar, now 73 with a long white beard, remembers the day Zahran left in 2005. “His father came and asked, ‘Where can he go?’.”

The school would hear again of Mohamed Zahran. And the world now knows his name. The Sri Lankan government has identified him as the ringleader of a group that carried out a series of Easter Sunday suicide bombings in the country on April 21.

The blasts killed more than 250 people in churches and luxury hotels, one of the deadliest-ever such attacks in South Asia. There were nine suicide bombers who blew apart men, women and children as they sat to pray or ate breakfast.

Most of the attackers were well-educated and from wealthy families, with some having been abroad to study, according to Sri Lankan officials.

That description does not, however, fit their alleged leader, a man said to be in his early 30s, who authorities say died in the slaughter. Zahran was different.

INTELLIGENCE FAILINGS

Sri Lanka’s national leadership has come under heavy criticism for failing to heed warnings from Indian intelligence services – at least three in April alone – that an attack was pending. But Zahran’s path from provincial troublemaker to alleged jihadist mastermind was marked by years of missed or ignored signals that the man with a thick beard and paunch was dangerous.

His increasingly militant brand of Islam was allowed to grow inside a marginalized minority community – barely 10 percent of the country’s roughly 20 million people are Muslim – against a backdrop of a dysfunctional developing nation.

The top official at the nation’s defense ministry resigned on Thursday, saying that some institutions under his charge had failed.

For much of his adult life, Zahran, 33, courted controversy inside the Muslim community itself.

In the internet age, that problem did not stay local. Zahran released online videos calling for jihad and threatening bloodshed.

After the blasts, Islamic State claimed credit and posted a video of Zahran, clutching an assault rifle, standing before the group’s black flag and pledging allegiance to its leader.

The precise relationship between Zahran and Islamic State is not yet known. An official with India’s security services, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that during a raid on a suspected Islamic State cell by the National Investigation Agency earlier this year officers found copies of Zahran’s videos. The operation was in the state of Tamil Nadu, just across a thin strait of ocean from Sri Lanka.

“LIKE A SPOILED CHILD”

Back in 2005, Zahran was looking to make his way in the world. His hometown of Kattankudy is some seven hours’ drive from Colombo on the other side of the island nation, past the countless palm trees, roadside Buddha statues, cashew hawkers and an occasional lumbering elephant in the bush. It is a town of about 40,000 people, a dot on the eastern coast with no clear future for an impoverished young man who’d just been expelled.

Zahran joined a mosque in 2006, the Dharul Athar, and gained a place on its management committee. But within three years they’d had a falling out.

“He wanted to speak more independently, without taking advice from elders,” said the mosque’s imam, or spiritual leader, M.T.M. Fawaz.

Also, the young man was more conservative, Fawaz said, objecting, for instance, to women wearing bangles or earrings.

“The rest of us come together as community leaders but Zahran wanted to speak for himself,” said Fawaz, a man with broad shoulders lounging with a group of friends in a back office of the mosque after evening prayers. “He was a black sheep who broke free.”

Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed Thaufeek, a friend who met Zahran at school and later became an adherent of his, said the problems revolved around Zahran’s habit of misquoting Islamic scriptures.

The mosque’s committee banned him from preaching for three months in 2009. Zahran stormed off.

“We treated him like a spoiled child, a very narrow-minded person who was always causing some trouble,” said the head of the committee, Mohamed Ismail Mohamed Naushad, a timber supplier who shook his head at the memory.

Now on his own, Zahran began to collect a group of followers who met in what Fawaz described as “a hut”.

At about that time, Zahran, then 23, married a young girl from a small town outside the capital of Colombo and brought his bride back to Kattankudy, according to his sister, Mathaniya.

“I didn’t have much of a connection with her – she was 14,” she said.

Despite being “a bit rough-edged”, Zahran was a skilled speaker and others his age were drawn to his speeches and Koranic lessons, said Thaufeek. He traveled the countryside at times, giving his version of religious instruction as he went.

Also, Zahran had found a popular target: the town’s Sufi population, who practice a form of Islam often described a mystical, but which to conservatives is heresy.

Tensions in the area went back some years. In 2004, there was a grenade attack on a Sufi mosque and in 2006 several homes of Sufis were set afire. Announcements boomed from surrounding mosques at the time calling for a Sufi spiritual leader to be killed, said Sahlan Khalil Rahman, secretary of a trust that oversees a group of Sufi mosques.

He blamed followers of the fundamentalist Wahhabi strain of Islam that some locals say became more popular after funding from Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Wahhabism, flowed to mosques in Kattankudy.

It was, Rahman said, an effort “to convert Sufis into Wahhabis through this terrorism”. Rahman handed over a photograph album showing charred homes, bullet holes sprayed across an office wall and a shrine’s casket upended.

ONLINE RADICAL

It was an ideal backdrop for Zahran’s bellicose delivery and apparent sense of religious destiny.

He began holding rallies, bellowing insults through loudspeakers that reverberated inside the Sufis’ house of worship as they tried to pray.

In 2012, Zahran started a mosque of his own. The Sufis were alarmed and, Rahman said, passed on complaints to both local law enforcement and eventually national government offices. No action was taken.

The then-officer in charge of Kattankudy police, Ariyabandhu Wedagedara, said in a telephone interview that he couldn’t arrest people simply because of theological differences.

     “The problem at the time was between followers of different Islamic sects – Zahran was not a major troublemaker, but he and followers of other sects, including the Sufis, were at loggerheads,” Wedagedara said.

Zahran found another megaphone: the internet. His Facebook page was taken down after the bombings, but Muslims in the area said his video clips had previously achieved notoriety.

His speeches went from denouncing Sufis to “kafirs”, or non-believers, in general. Zahran’s sister, Mathaniya, said in an interview that she thought “his ideas became more radical from listening to Islamic State views on the Internet”.

In one undated video, Zahran, in a white tunic and standing in front of an image of flames, boomed in a loud voice: “You will not have time to pick up the remains of blown-up bodies. We’ll keep sending those insulting Allah to hell.”

“HARD TO TAKE”

Zahran spoke in Tamil, making his words available to young Muslims clicking on their cellphones in Kattankudy and other towns like it during a period when, in both 2014 and 2018, reports and images spread of Sinhalese Buddhists rioting against Muslims in Sri Lanka.

In 2017, Zahran’s confrontations boiled over. At a rally near a Sufi community, his followers came wielding swords. At least one man was hacked and hospitalized. The police arrested several people connected to Zahran, including his father and one of his brothers. Zahran slipped away from public view.

That December, the mosque Zahran founded released a public notice disowning him. Thaufeek, his friend from school, is now the head. He counted the places that Zahran had been driven away from – his school, the Dharul Athar mosque and then, “we ourselves kicked him out, which would have been hard for him to take”.

The next year, a group of Buddha statues was vandalized in the town of Mawanella, about five hours drive from Kattankudy. There, in the lush mountains of Sri Lanka’s interior, Zahran had taken up temporary residence.

“He was preaching to kill people,” said A.G.M. Anees, who has served as an imam at a small mosque in the area for a decade. “This is not Islam, this is violence.”

Zahran went into hiding once more.

On the Thursday morning before the Easter Sunday bombings, Zahran’s sister-in-law knocked on the door of a neighbor who did seamstress work near Kattankudy. She handed over a parcel of fabric and asked for it to be sewn into a tunic by the end of the day.

“She said she was going on a family trip,” said the neighbor, M.H. Sithi Nazlya.

Zahran’s sister says that her parents turned off their cellphones on the Friday. On Sunday, when she visited their home, they were gone.

She does not know if Zahran arranged for them to be taken somewhere safe. Or why he would have carried out the bombing.

But now in Kattankudy, and in many other places, people are talking about Mohamed Hashim Mohamed Zahran.

(Reporting by Tom Lasseter and Shri Navaratnam; Additional reporting by Sanjeev Miglani, Shihar Aneez and Alasdair Pal; Editing by John Chalmers and Alex Richardson)

Source: OANN

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A Wells Fargo logo is seen in New York City
FILE PHOTO: A Wells Fargo logo is seen in New York City, U.S. January 10, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

April 26, 2019

By Jessica DiNapoli and Imani Moise

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co’s board has retained executive search firm Spencer Stuart to hunt for a new chief executive, ideally a woman who can tackle its regulatory and public perception issues, two people familiar with the matter said.

Wells Fargo’s ambition to become the only major U.S. bank with a female CEO underscores the need to restore its image with a wide range of constituents, including customers, shareholders, regulators and politicians, after it became mired in a scandal in 2016 for opening potentially millions of unauthorized accounts.

Former CEO Tim Sloan left abruptly last month, becoming the second CEO to leave the bank in the scandal’s fallout.

The board plans to approach Citigroup Inc’s Latin America chief Jane Fraser, one of the sources said. During Fraser’s 15-year tenure at Citigroup, she has gained experience running consumer and commercial businesses as well as its private bank.

Fraser could not be immediately reached for comment.

The board also discussed approaching JPMorgan Chase & Co’s Marianne Lake, but after the bank named her to run JPMorgan’s consumer lending business last week, that option became less viable, the source added. The board wants someone who can convince regulators, employees, investors and customers that the bank has fixed problems underpinning the sales scandal, the sources said.

The bank’s board feels that choosing a woman might please lawmakers in Washington who have been critical not only of Wells Fargo’s misbehavior, but of the broader banking industry for a lack of diversity and gender equality, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

It also believes that such a move could bolster Wells Fargo’s image with the households of customers where women play a leading role in managing finances, one of the sources added.

The new CEO will also have to resolve litigation and regulatory matters. There are 14 outstanding consent orders with government entities, as well as probes by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Labor and the Department of Justice.

To be sure, Spencer Stuart will approach and consider several male candidates for the CEO job as well, one of the sources said. The top priority is to find an external candidate who can navigate the bank’s regulatory issues, the source added.

Finding an outsider who meets all those qualifications and wants the job will be difficult, the sources said. There are few people with the necessary experience, even fewer of those who are women, and it is not clear if any of the obvious candidates would be open to taking the role.

The sources asked not to be identified because Wells Fargo’s board deliberations are confidential.

Spokespeople for Wells Fargo and Spencer Stuart declined to comment.

Wells Fargo’s board has not made any public statements about its requirements for a new CEO, beyond Chair Betsy Duke saying the job should attract the “top talent in banking.”

The board wants to complete the search within the next three to six months, one of the sources said.

STALLED SHARES

After Sloan’s ouster, Wells Fargo’s board appointed Allen Parker, who had been general counsel, as interim CEO. The board has said it is looking for an external candidate as a permanent replacement. It is not clear whether Parker will stay at the bank.

Others whose names have been mentioned by analysts, recruiters and industry sources as perspective CEO candidates include Alphabet Inc finance chief Ruth Porat and Bank of America Corp’s chief technology officer Cathy Bessant.

Wells Fargo shares have stalled since Sloan’s departure on March 29th, while the KBW Bank index has rallied more than 7 percent.

Wells Fargo would be “the best stock on earth to buy” if it had the right CEO, said Greg Donaldson, chairman of Donaldson Capital Management in Indiana.

Donaldson held about 50,000 Wells Fargo shares, but sold the stake last year as problems mounted. The CEO change could convince him to re-invest, depending on who it is, he told Reuters.

“It would be very smart for them to get a woman,” he said.

(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli and Imani Moise in New York; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra, Greg Roumeliotis and Susan Thomas)

Source: OANN

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A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad, California September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is growing at a 2.08% annualized pace in the second quarter based on upbeat data on durable goods orders and new home sales in March, the New York Federal Reserve’s Nowcast model showed on Friday.

This was faster than the 1.92% growth rate calculated by the N.Y. Fed model the week before.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he had assured China’s Huawei Technologies that it would not face discrimination in the rollout of Italy’s 5G telecoms network.

Conte was speaking on a visit to China where he said he met Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei. The prime minister’s comments were carried in Italy by TV broadcaster Sky Italia.

“I told him that we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests that demand very high levels of security … not only from Huawei but any company entering into the 5G arena,” he said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

(Writing by by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Angelo Amante)

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) – President Donald Trump on Friday was expected to announce his intention to revoke the United States’ status as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but never ratified by Congress, two U.S. officials said.

Trump was expected to announce the decision in a speech in Indianapolis, to the National Rifle Association, the officials said. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby group, has long been opposed to the treaty, which was negotiated at the United Nations.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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