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U.S. core capital goods orders dip in February, shipments flat

FILE PHOTO: Shipping containers are pictured stacked on a ship docked at Yusen Terminals at the Port of Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO: Shipping containers are pictured stacked on a ship docked at Yusen Terminals (YTI) on Terminal Island at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 2, 2019

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New orders for key U.S.-made capital goods slipped in February and shipments were unchanged, but data for January was revised slightly higher, which could support views that the manufacturing sector was stabilizing.

The Commerce Department report on Tuesday came on the heels of a survey showing a rebound in a measure of factory activity in March from a more than two-year low. Manufacturing has been hurt by slowing global growth, a trade war between the United States and China, as well as the dollar’s strength last year.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, fell 0.1 percent, pulled down by declining demand for machinery and computers and electronic products.

Data for January was revised slightly up to show these so-called core capital goods orders increasing 0.9 percent instead of rising 0.8 percent as previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast core capital goods orders unchanged in February. Core capital goods orders increased 2.6 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Shipments of core capital goods were unchanged in February after an upwardly revised 1.0 percent rise in the prior month. Core capital goods shipments are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement.

They were previously reported to have gained 0.8 percent in January. The February report was delayed by a 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government that ended on Jan. 25. The March report will be published on April 25 as scheduled.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the data. The Institute for Supply Management said on Monday that its index of national factory activity rose to a reading of 55.3 in March from 54.2 in February, which had marked the lowest level since November 2016. The ISM reported strong order growth in March.

The strong ISM survey, together with a mixed February retail sales report, solid construction spending and January business inventory data, tempered expectations of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter.

Growth estimates for the first-quarter range from as low as a 1.2 percent annualized rate to as high as a 2.1 percent pace. The economy grew at a 2.2 percent pace in the fourth quarter, with growth in business spending on equipment accelerating.

The economy is losing momentum, largely as the stimulus from a $1.5 trillion tax cut fades.

In February, orders for machinery dropped 0.3 percent after rising 2.0 percent in January. Energy firms have been reducing the oil rigs operating, despite a rebound in oil prices, to focus on growing earnings.

Orders for computers and electronic products fell 0.3 percent. Orders for electrical equipment, appliances and components rose 1.0 percent in February after increasing 1.3 percent in the prior month

There were also increases in orders for primary metals and for fabricated metal products in February.

Overall orders for durable goods, items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, tumbled 1.6 percent in February. That reflected a 4.8 percent drop in demand for transportation equipment. Durable goods orders gained 0.1 percent in January.

Orders for motor vehicles and parts dipped 0.1 percent in February. Orders for non-defense aircraft plunged 31.1 percent after rising 9.2 percent in January. Boeing reported on its website that it had received only five aircraft orders in February compared to 46 in January.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: OANN

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EU needs financial police, money-laundering watchdog: lawmakers

FILE PHOTO: A EU flag is seen outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: A European Union flag is seen outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium November 14, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo

February 27, 2019

By Francesco Guarascio

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union should set up a police force to investigate tax evasion and financial crime and create a watchdog to counter money-laundering, EU lawmakers said in a report on Wednesday, which accuses seven member states of acting as tax havens.

The report is the result of a year’s work by a committee of the EU Parliament, set up after a series of revelations of alleged financial crime in some EU states and in tax havens across the world, such as the Luxleaks and Panama Papers.

The committee concluded that not enough has been done by EU states to close loopholes on tax rules, as many governments showed a “lack of political will to tackle tax avoidance and financial crime.”

Under pressure from media revelations, EU states did approve some reforms in past years to reduce tax avoidance, but blocked the most relevant overhauls over a common tax base and a digital levy.

New loopholes have also emerged, such as the “cum/ex” tax trade trick revealed last year by Reuters and other media organizations.

The European Commission, led by former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, shunned proposing a reform that could end governments’ veto power on tax matters.

The lack of appetite for reform is partly due to the fact that some of the 28 EU states “display traits of a tax haven and facilitate aggressive tax planning,” the report said, citing Luxembourg, Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Malta and The Netherlands.

“Europe has a serious money-laundering and tax fraud problem,” said socialist lawmaker Jeppe Kofod, who took part in drafting the report.

The report was backed by the main parties in the European Parliament, including the conservatives and the socialists, and will be put to a vote of the whole assembly in coming weeks.

To counter cross-border tax evasion and financial crime, the committee recommended the European Commission immediately starts working on a proposal for a European financial police force with investigative powers.

The EU’s police agency Europol has limited powers and largely coordinates the work of national forces – when they are willing to cooperate.

The report, which is not binding but bears political weight, also called on EU states to set up a watchdog in charge of countering money-laundering in the bloc, after scandals at several EU banks in recent months.

States have so far ignored European Central Bank calls to create such a body, fearing the loss of national competences.

They have only agreed on a minor reform that would allow the European Banking Authority (EBA) to increase to a dozen the officials working on money-laundering, an overhaul the EBA’s incoming head deems insufficient.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: OANN

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Corruption scandal casts long shadow over Latvia

Latvian Minister of Justice Bordans speaks during an interview in Riga
Latvian Minister of Justice Janis Bordans speaks during an interview in Riga, Latvia April 11, 2019. Picture taken April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

April 12, 2019

By John O’Donnell and Gederts Gelzis

RIGA (Reuters) – A year after closing one of its largest banks for money laundering and the detention of its central bank governor for alleged bribery, Latvia is struggling to deal with the fallout from the corruption scandal.

The country’s new government, formed in January after months of political deadlock, is trying to introduce reforms ahead of a review by international money-laundering standards watchdog Moneyval, which Latvian officials fear could label the Baltic state as high risk.

The stakes are high for Latvia, tarnished by a string of money laundering and corruption scandals, including the shuttering of banking group ABLV last year.

But efforts to clean up the country’s reputation are moving slowly. Central Bank Govenor Ilmars Rimsevics is still awaiting trial 14 months on from his brief detention. A top European court has ruled that he should not have been barred from office, in an embarrassing setback for the tiny state.

“Latvia is coming to crunch time,” said Valdis Liepins, chairman of anti-corruption group Transparency International in Latvia. “The whole system is corrupt. We finally need to do something.”

Latvia’s prime minister, Krisjanis Karins, has promised to accelerate an overhaul of the banking sector but his efforts have been overshadowed by lack of progress in the Rimsevics corruption case, the biggest in the former Soviet-ruled state’s history.

Rimsevics was accused last year by Latvia’s public prosecutor of accepting an offer of a 500,000 euro ($566,100) bribe from a Latvian bank.

Rimsevics, also a top policy-maker at the European Central Bank and who led Latvia into the euro, has denied wrongdoing.

He has returned to work following the European court ruling that Latvia broke EU law by barring him from office, and travels to ECB meetings in Frankfurt.

The Rimsevics case has sparked a public row between Latvia’s justice minister and the state prosecutor over how to tackle corruption and financial crime.

Justice minister Janis Bordans told Reuters he was looking at how to reorganize work in enforcement agencies, promising radical reform after what he said was a mishandling of the case.

“This is the failure of the investigation agencies,” Bordans said, singling out the state prosecutor. “It shows that there is some lack of efficiency and professionalism.”

Bordans blamed “inefficient representatives … in legal agencies” and poor leadership.

Latvia’s prosecutor general Eriks Kalnmeiers responded that the minister had no information about the details of the case that would qualify him to comment.

Unless there are meaningful reforms, the Moneyval review, due out in coming months, could label Latvia as high risk.

The Rimsevics investigation is also being watched closely by the United States, which has become frustrated with Latvia’s often years-long probes of corruption cases.

Rimsevics is also suspected of bribery linked to ABLV, prosecutor Viorika Jirgena and Jekabs Straume, who leads Latvia’s anti-corruption agency KNAB, told Reuters.

Rimsevics told Reuters he denied these allegations.

ABLV was shut last year when U.S. authorities accused it of money laundering and U.S. sanctions breaches, plunging the country into its worst financial crisis in a decade.

Marshall Billingslea, who leads the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the U.S. Treasury, will visit the country again in the coming weeks, people familiar with the matter said, highlighting Washington’s continued concern about the country’s progress.

Corruption investigator Straume said Latvia was undertaking “thorough” reforms to avoid a so-called grey-listing in the international Moneyval audit. “We don’t want to be on any list,” he said. “We are a normal country.”

But showing how the reforms are translating into action is tough.

Morten Hansen of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga said Latvia was at a critical juncture: “This country is still struggling to prevail as a modern country.”

($1 = 0.8832 euros)

(Reporting By John O’Donnell. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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U.S. antitrust scrutiny tests T-Mobile’s $26 billion bet on Sprint

FILE PHOTO: A smartphones with Sprint logo are seen in front of a screen projection of T-mobile logo, in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: A smartphones with Sprint logo are seen in front of a screen projection of T-mobile logo, in this picture illustration taken April 30, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 18, 2019

By Carl O’Donnell and Liana B. Baker

(Reuters) – T-Mobile US Inc’s $26 billion deal to buy Sprint Inc banked on changes in wireless technology and media streaming to win U.S. antitrust approval, but the bet now looks precarious.

Growing skepticism from the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust staff over the impact of the merger on competition in the market will test the resolve of the companies to complete the deal that would see the top U.S. wireless carriers shrink to three from four.

While the Department of Justice has yet to reach a decision on whether to approve the deal, it is pushing Sprint and T-Mobile for evidence that the merger would be in the interest of U.S. consumers, people familiar with the matter said this week.

The deal would be the third major attempt in less than a decade to consolidate the U.S. wireless market, after AT&T Inc’s $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile in 2011 was blocked, and Sprint and T-Mobile abandoned a previous attempt to negotiate a merger in 2014 following regulatory opposition.

If completed, the deal would create a carrier with 127 million customers that will be a more formidable competitor to the No.1 and No.2 wireless players, Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T, respectively.

“It is time to acknowledge that the odds of the deal are less than a coin toss,” said Craig Moffett, a senior analyst at Moffett Nathanson, in a note.

Sprint shares are down more than 6 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported the merger is unlikely to be approved as currently structured, despite T-Mobile CEO John Legere tweeting that the premise of the story was “simply untrue”.

Sprint and T-Mobile are arguing that the U.S. wireless telecommunications industry has changed substantially since 2014, when they last attempted to merge.

The changes include the development of ultra-fast 5G networks, Sprint’s struggles to operate on its own given its swelling debt load, and the marriage of telecommunications infrastructure with media production, as epitomized in AT&T’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc.

These changes, as well as the companies’ belief that the current Department of Justice antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, will take a more generous view of the deal than past leadership did, gave the two companies the confidence to take another shot at merging last year, they added.

Antitrust staff at the Department of Justice have taken a skeptical stance, however. They have been asking for more information about the extent of Sprint’s challenges as a standalone company, the two companies’ plans to merge their wireless network, and the benefits of the merger for the companies’ planned 5G network buildout, the sources said.

T-Mobile has also been very efficient in cutting prices for consumers, and there are questions within the Department of Justice whether this would continue after a merger with Sprint, the sources added.

In a sign of the regulatory challenges facing the deal, T-Mobile and Sprint did not agree to any breakup fee should regulators scuttle the merger.

KEEPING UP WITH RIVALS

Sprint, which is majority owned by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, has struggled to keep pace with rivals, hemorrhaging cash and losing subscribers despite price cuts designed to keep pace with T-Mobile, which has been steadily gaining market share from rivals. T-Mobile is majority owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG.

At the same time, China has poured vast amounts of money into the development of 5G networks, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to prioritize the rollout of the technology in the United States.

Meanwhile, AT&T’s Time Warner deal, and Comcast Corp and Charter Communications Inc, which developed wireless offerings to compete with T-Mobile and Sprint, increased some telecommunication companies’ ability to bundle wireless plans with other offerings, including streaming video content.

That has increased pressure on T-Mobile and Sprint to increase investment in their own networks, which they can afford to do more if they gain scale through the merger.

T-Mobile acquired cable company Layer3 TV in 2017 and rolled out its own television service in 2018. That combination of content and wireless plans, the companies have argued to regulators, could position a combined company as a more serious competitor to companies such as AT&T that offer bundled services.

(Reporting by Carl O’Donnell and Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Source: OANN

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Pound pauses after UK parliament gives nod to Brexit delay

British five pound banknotes are seen in this picture illustration
British five pound banknotes are seen in this picture illustration taken November 14, 2017. REUTERS/ Benoit Tessier/Illustration

March 15, 2019

By Hideyuki Sano

TOKYO (Reuters) – The British pound paused for breath on Friday after the UK parliament voted overwhelmingly to seek a delay in Britain’s exit from the European Union while the yen looked to the Bank of Japan’s guidance on its policy later in the day.

Sterling fetched $1.3253, having slipped further from Wednesday’s nine-month high of $1.3380, with its fall of 0.76 percent on Thursday.

Against the euro, the pound retreated to 85.25 pence from Wednesday’s 22-month peak at 84.725.

British lawmakers approved a motion setting out the option to ask the EU for a short delay if parliament can agree on a Brexit deal by March 20, or a longer delay if no deal can be agreed in time.

The pound was mostly steady after the motion was passed late on Thursday.

“There has been a soft consensus in the market that the Brexit will be delayed. Things have been moving in line with that,” said Kyosuke Suzuki, director of forex at Societe Generale.

“But tail risk has not completely disappeared yet. The next week’s EU summit will probably be the climax,” he said, noting the fact that all 27 EU members must approve any extension.

Before UK Prime Minister Theresa May meets EU leaders on Wednesday and Thursday, a new vote on her twice-rejected deal is likely next week.

Lawmakers must now decide whether to back a deal they feel does not offer a clean break from the EU, or reject it and accept that Brexit could be watered down or even thwarted by a long delay.

The yen slipped to a one-week low of 111.83 per dollar on Thursday partly on speculation that the BOJ could make a stronger show of its readiness to ease policy further at its review ending later on Friday.

Still, most market players expect the BOJ to refrain from any drastic changes to its policy framework. The yen last stood at 111.77.

The euro eased to $1.1307 from Wednesday’s one-week high of $1.1339, in tandem with sterling.

The Australian dollar traded at $0.7064, off this week’s high of $0.7098 as its recent rebound was dented by reports that a possible summit meeting the United States and China to hammer out a trade deal will be delayed.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that a trade summit between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping would not happen at the end of March as had been previously suggested because there was still more work to do in trade negotiations.

Trump said whether a trade deal can be reached with China would probably be known in the next three or four weeks.

U.S. data on Thursday underscored growing pressure on the U.S. economy and kept the dollar in check.

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week while new home sales fell more than expected in January.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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EU parliament votes to fine internet firms for not removing extremist content quickly

FILE PHOTO: The building of the European Parliament is seen in Strasbourg
FILE PHOTO: The building of the European Parliament, designed by Architecture-Studio architects, is seen in Strasbourg, France March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler/File Photo

April 17, 2019

By Foo Yun Chee

STRASBROUG (Reuters) – The European parliament voted on Wednesday to fine firms like Facebook, Google and Twitter up to 4 percent of their turnover if they persistently fail to remove extremist content within one hour of being asked to do so by authorities.

The measures have been brought into sharper focus since the live streaming on one of Facebook’s platforms of a lone gunman killing 50 people at two New Zealand mosques in March.

The parliament voted 308 to 204 with 70 abstentions to back the proposal to tackle the misuse of internet hosting services for “terrorist purposes” .

“Companies that systematically and persistently fail to abide by the law may be sanctioned with up to 4 percent of their global turnover,” it said.

A new European Parliament, to be elected on May 23-26, will finalize the text of the law in negotiations with the European Commission and representatives of EU governments, a process likely to take many months.

“There is clearly a problem with terrorist material circulating unchecked on the internet for too long,” said Daniel Dalton, the parliament’s rapporteur for the proposal.

“This propaganda can be linked to actual terrorist incidents and national authorities must be able to act decisively. Any new legislation must be practical and proportionate if we are to safeguard free speech,” he said.

“It …absolutely cannot lead to a general monitoring of content by the back door.”

EU officials moved to regulate because they believe internet companies are not doing enough under voluntary measures, even though the first hour is the most vital to stemming the viral spread of online content.

Facebook said it removed 1.5 million videos containing footage of the New Zealand attack in the first 24 hours after the shootings.

Worries the new rules are lacking and could be misused have been expressed by three U.N. special rapporteurs for human rights and by the EU’s own rights watchdog.

Companies rely on a mix of automated tools and human moderators to spot and delete extremist content. However, when illegal content is taken down from one platform, it often crops up on another, straining authorities’ ability to police the web.

In response to industry concerns that smaller platforms do not have the same resources to comply as speedily with tougher EU rules, lawmakers said authorities should take into account the size and revenue of companies concerned.

Draft measures call on the bloc’s national governments to put in place the tools to identify extremist content and an appeals procedure. The one-hour rule would apply from the point of notification by national authorities.

Brussels has been at the forefront of a push by regulators worldwide to force tech companies to take greater responsibility for content on their sites.

(Writing By Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States over safety issues in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc cut its 2019 profit forecast on Friday, saying it expected to take a $350 million hit from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes after cancelling 1,200 flights in the first quarter.

The company said it now expects its 2019 adjusted profit to be between $4.00 per share and $6.00 per share.

Analysts on average had expected 2019 earnings of $5.63 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

The No. 1 U.S. airline by passenger traffic said net income rose to $185 million, or 41 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $159 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total operating revenue rose 2 percent to $10.58 billion.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) – Four years ago, Donald Trump campaigned in small towns like Marshalltown, Iowa, vowing to restore economic prosperity to the U.S. heartland.

In his bid to replace Trump in the White House, Pete Buttigieg is taking a similar tack. The difference, he says, is that he can point to a model of success: South Bend, Indiana, the revitalized city where he has been mayor since 2012.

The Democratic presidential contender has vaulted to the congested field’s top tier in recent weeks, drawing media and donor attention for his youth, history-making status as the first openly gay major presidential candidate and a resume that includes military service in Afghanistan.

But Buttigieg’s main argument for his candidacy is that he is a turnaround artist in the mold of Trump, although the Democrat does not expressly invoke the comparison with the Republican president.

“I’m not going around saying we’ve fixed every problem we’ve got,” Buttigieg, 37, said after a house party with voters in Marshalltown. “But I’m proud of what we have done together, and I think it’s a very powerful story.”

Critics argue improving the fortunes of a Midwestern city of 100,000 people does not qualify Buttigieg, who has never held national office, for the presidency of a country of 330 million. Others say South Bend still has pockets of despair and that minorities, in particular, have failed to benefit from its growth.

Buttigieg has told crowds in Iowa and elsewhere that his experience in reviving a struggling Rust Belt community allows him to make a case to voters that other Democratic candidates cannot. That may give him the means to win back some of the disaffected Democratic voters who turned their backs on Hillary Clinton in 2016 to vote for Trump.

Watching Buttigieg at a union hall in Des Moines last week, Rick Ryan, 45, a member of the United Steelworkers, lamented how many of his fellow union workers voted for Trump. The president turned in the best performance by a Republican among union households since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Ryan said he hoped someone like Buttigieg could return them to the Democratic fold.

“He’s aware of the decline in the labor force in America, not just in Indiana or Des Moines or anywhere else,” Ryan said. “Jobs are going overseas. We need a find to way to bring that back.”

Randy Tucker, 56, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Trump appealed to union members “desperate for somebody to reach out to them, to help them, to listen to their voice.”

Buttigieg could do the same, he said. “In my heart right now, he’s No. 1.”

PAST VS. FUTURE

Buttigieg stresses a key difference in his and Trump’s approaches.

Trump, he tells crowds, is mired in the past, promising to rebuild the 20th century industrial economy. Buttigieg argues the pledge is misleading and unrealistic.

Buttigieg says his focus is on the future, and he often talks about what the country might look like decades from now.

“The only way that we can cultivate what makes America great is to look to the future and not be afraid of it,” Buttigieg said in Marshalltown.

Buttigieg knows his sexual preference may be a barrier to winning some blue-collar voters. But he notes that after he came out as gay in 2015, he won a second term as mayor with 80 percent of the vote in conservative Indiana.

Earlier this month, he announced his presidential bid at the hulking plant in South Bend that stopped making Studebaker autos more than 50 years ago. After lying dormant for decades, the building is being transformed into a high-tech hub after Buttigieg and other city leaders realized it would never again attract a large-scale industrial company.

“That building sat as a powerful reminder. We hoped we would get back that major employer that would fix our economy,” said Jeff Rea, president of the regional Chamber of Commerce.

Buttigieg is praised locally for spurring more than $100 million in downtown investment. During his two terms, unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent from 11.8 percent.

But a study released in 2017 by the nonprofit group Prosperity Now said not all of the city’s residents had shared in its rebound. The median income for African-Americans remained half that of whites, while the unemployment rate for blacks was double.

Regina Williams-Preston, a city councilor running to replace Buttigieg as mayor, credits him for the revitalized downtown. But she said he had a “blind spot” when it came to focusing on troubled neighborhoods like the one she represents and only grew more engaged after community pressure.

“He understands it now,” she said. “The next step is figuring out how to open the doors of opportunity for everyone.”

‘ONE OF US’

Trump touts the fact that the United States added almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs last year as evidence he made good on his promise to restore the industrial sector. But that growth still left the country with fewer manufacturing jobs than in 2008.

The robust U.S. economy is likely the president’s greatest asset in his re-election bid, particularly in states he carried in 2016 such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He won Buttigieg’s home state by 19 points over Clinton in 2016.

Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, Iowa, said Buttigieg would be well positioned to compete with Trump in the Midwest.

“People love the fact that he’s a mayor,” said Bagniewski, who has not endorsed a candidate in the nominating contest. “If you can talk about a positive future, and if you actually have experience that can do it, that’s a compelling vision in Iowa.”

Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, which faces many of the same challenges as South Bend, agreed.

“He’s one of us,” Whaley said. “That helps.”

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

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A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 26, 2019

MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.

In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.

He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”

Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.

Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.

The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.

Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.

The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.

“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.

The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

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