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Gulf states, Egypt say will boycott parliament meet in Doha

FILE PHOTO: People gather at Doha Corniche as they celebrate Qatar's National Day
FILE PHOTO: People gather at Doha Corniche as they celebrate Qatar's National Day December 18, 2015. REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon/File Photo

April 5, 2019

DUBAI (Reuters) – Three Gulf Arab states and Egypt said they will not attend a global meeting of parliamentarians due to be held in Doha from Saturday because Qatar has not changed the kind of behavior which made them sever ties two years ago.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and non-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member Egypt cut diplomatic, transport and trade ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and their regional foe Iran – something Doha denies.

The quartet plans to boycott an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) annual meeting in Doha April from 6-10, they said in a statement carried on UAE state news agency WAM late on Thursday. The IPU is a global organization of national parliaments that promotes democracy.

They will not attend because Qatar “has not responded to the just demands of the four countries and has continued its supportive policy for extremism, terrorism and interference in the affairs of the countries of the region,” it said.

Gas-rich Qatar says the boycott is aimed at undermining its sovereignty. It has started charting a course away from its Gulf neighbors, including forging new trade partnerships, strengthening ties with Turkey and quitting OPEC.

Those moves have deepened expectations that the dispute will not be resolved quickly, unnerving the United States, the main Western ally of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council which sees the rift as a threat to efforts to contain Iran.

The United States, which has military bases in both Qatar and some of the countries lined up against it, is trying to mediate the feud.

(Reporting by Sylvia Westall, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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FBI must hand over docs used to keep Comey memos secret, judge rules

Over the objections of the FBI, a federal judge on Thursday sided with CNN in an ongoing lawsuit seeking to make public what the bureau said in two secretive court declarations in October 2017, as part of its aggressive efforts to keep memos documenting former FBI director James Comey's meetings with President Trump hidden.

Comey's memos, whose existence was ultimately leaked with Comey's knowledge and which were later obtained by Congress in redacted form, became a catalyst for the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in May 2017. CNN filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that same month, and later filed a lawsuit seeking access to the memos.

In their original complaint, CNN noted that FBI Section Chief David Hardy and FBI Deputy Assistant Director in the Counterintelligence Division David Archey, as well as an attorney in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office, promptly submitted ex parte declarations to the federal district court in Washington, D.C., as part of their argument that publicly releasing the memos would compromise an ongoing probe.

WHY DID COMEY KEEP TRUMP MEMOS HIDDEN FROM DOJ LEADERSHIP?

Those declarations were sealed. But whatever Hardy, Archey and the special counsel lawyer said, the court indicated that it found their private explanations compelling.

Nevertheless, on April 19, 2018, the FBI turned over redacted versions of the memo to Congress, which then provided them to the media -- raising questions, CNN argued, as to what the FBI had told the court the previous year, and what had suddenly changed.

Former FBI director James Comey speaks during the Canada 2020 Conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Former FBI director James Comey speaks during the Canada 2020 Conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Washington District Court Judge James E. Boasberg -- an Obama appointee who was also tapped by Chief Justice John Roberts for a seat on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court -- issued an order Wednesday demanding the FBI hand over "clean and redacted copies of the documents in dispute here," apparently including the Comey memos and documents relating to the declarations.

Boasberg will review the materials "in camera," meaning privately, as he determines whether to make public the FBI's secretive declarations. The FBI, in its opposition filing, insisted there was no legal basis to turn over the materials.

But CNN's reply brief argued that the FBI had "failed" to establish a compelling reason to keep the documents secret, noting that there is a strong presumption in favor of access to court records -- and that, by releasing the memos to Congress, the FBI had conceded there was no legitimate law enforcement justification for denying the FOIA request in he first place.

The DOJ's inspector general, meanwhile, is reviewing whether some of the Comey memos improperly contained classified information.

Boasberg's order comes as President Trump, in a fiery interview Wednesday night on Fox News' "Hannity," vowed to "get to the bottom" of how the discredited Russia-Trump collusion narrative began.

Trump promised to "declassify and release" key FBI FISA warrant applications and related documents -- including the entirety of a FISA application to surveil a Trump aide that relied heavily on an unsubstantiated, leaked dossier created by an anti-Trump ex-British spy working for a firm hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.

The memos, which a personal Comey friend leaked to the media following Comey's termination, were more widely shared within the government than previously known, three sources familiar with the matter told Fox News last year -- although Comey later admitted to hiding the memos from some senior DOJ officials.

Last April, the DOJ gave lawmakers redacted versions of five of the memos, a congressional source told Fox News.

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The fired FBI director wrote in one of his memos that Trump had told him, "I hope you can let this go," amid reports that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had lied to the FBI and senior White House officials about his contacts with Russia's government.

Flynn was ultimately charged only with making false statements to FBI officials concerning the extent of his discussions with the then-Russian ambassador on U.S. sanctions and a United Nations vote on Israel. He was fired by the Trump administration for lying to Vice President Mike Pence regarding the same topics.

Fox News' Bill Mears, Catherine Herridge and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Trump: Investigate How ‘Fraudulent’ Mueller Probe Started

President Donald Trump on Sunday called for an investigation into how Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “fraudulent” probe started.

“Everybody is asking how the phony and fraudulent investigation of the No Collusion, No Obstruction Trump Campaign began,” Trump tweeted. “We need to know for future generations to understand. This Hoax should never be allowed to happen to another President or Administration again!”

Trump has criticized Mueller’s probe since it ended last week.

Mueller's report, as summarized last Sunday by Attorney General William Barr, "did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

There was also insufficient evidence to pursue obstruction of justice claims against the president.

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney earlier Sunday questioned how the media bungled stories on the Russia probe.

“We need to figure out what went wrong with the Mueller report, why — in all fairness to your network, why the media got it so wrong for so long,” he told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union.” 

“How did the media get it so wrong? I think the president is just venting the same frustration a lot of people had when the Mueller report came out, and it turned out exactly like he said that it would,” he added.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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S. Korean babies born Dec. 31 become 2-year-olds next day

Every baby born in South Korea last year was considered to be 2 on Jan. 1.

According to one of the world's most unusual age-calculating systems, South Koreans become 1 on the day of their birth and then get an additional year tacked on when the calendar hits Jan. 1.

A lawmaker is working now to overturn the centuries-old tradition amid complaints that it's an anachronistic, time-wasting custom that drags down an otherwise ultramodern country.

The origins of this age reckoning system aren't clear. Being 1 upon birth may be linked to the time babies spend in their mothers' wombs or to an ancient Asian numerical system that didn't have the concept of zero.

Source: Fox News World

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Scalia's son speaks out on expanding the Supreme Court; Kellyanne Conway caught in the middle of Trump feud

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Developing now, Thursday, March 21, 2019

SCALIA'S SON SPEAKS OUT ON 2020 DEMS, EXPANDING SUPREME COURT: Christopher Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, told Fox News that the idea of increasing the number of justices on the high court is "maybe an argument worth taking seriously," but added that some proposals by Democratic candidates were "just unconstitutional" ... CLICK HERE to watch Scalia's interview on "Your World with Neil Cavuto" on Wednesday, where he took particular issue with an idea advanced by South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg on "Fox News Sunday" last weekend, where the Democratic presidential candidate proposed expanding the Supreme Court to 15 members.

NEW ZEALAND BANS 'MILITARY STYLE SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPONS': New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday announced the country was immediately banning "military-style semi-automatic weapons" after last week's attack that killed 50 people at two mosques ... Speaking to reporters, the prime minister said the weapons would be banned in addition to "all assault rifles," among other firearms. Ardern said legislation is currently being drafted and she expects the law to take effect by April 11.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP.

KELLYANNE CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE: For months, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, was placed in an awkward position whenever her husband, George Conway, an attorney once considered for U.S. Solicitor General in the Trump administration, would attack her boss on Twitter. The attacks were as cutting as anything said by any Democratic foe and often personal -- and Trump remained uncharacteristically silent.

That all changed this week, as the president responded Wednesday by calling George Conway a "total loser" on Twitter and a "whack job." For her part, Kellyanne Conway sided with Trump, telling Politico, "You think he shouldn't respond when somebody, a non-medical professional, accuses him of having a mental disorder? You think he should just take that sitting down?" Kellyanne Conway is scheduled to appear on "Mornings with Maria" today on Fox Business, between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. ET, to discuss President Trump's trip to a Lima, Ohio, tank plant and more.

AOC STARS IN GOP CAMPAIGN AD: Less than three months after taking office, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., whose favorability numbers have plummeted in some recent polls, is already front and center in a GOP congressional candidate's upcoming campaign advertisement ... The 30-second spot, obtained by Fox News and currently available on YouTube, features Michele Nix, a candidate in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District to replace the late Republican Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., who died in February.

A HEAVEN-SENT CONTRACT: The Los Angeles Angels and star outfielder Mike Trout have agreed to a 12-year contract, the club announced Wednesday evening ... The club did not immediately disclose the terms of the deal, but MLB.com reported that Trout's new contract adds 10 years to his current deal, which is set to expire following the 2020 Major League Baseball season. The total contract is worth $426.5 million, the largest deal in North American sports history.

THE SOUNDBITE

DEBATING TRUMP'S ATTACKS ON MCCAIN - "The president might have lied about it. Does that bother you? That he might have lied about what a dead man did?" Neil Cavuto, in a heated exchange with Matt Braynard, former data chief and strategist for the Trump campaign, on President Trump's recent attacks on Sen. John McCain, during a panel discussion on "Your World." (Click the image above to watch the full video.)

TODAY'S MUST-READS
WATCH: Gillibrand slammed for ‘cringeworthy’ workout video.
Kentucky governor says he intentionally exposed his nine kids to chickenpox.
NRA’s Dana Loesch: CNN's 'embarrassing' Parkland town hall wasn't journalism, it was 'advocacy.'

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Real estate firms accused of 'conspiring' to overcharge home sellers in class-action suit.
GM defends U.S. investment following Trump jabs over Ohio plant.
Federal Reserve signals no interest rate hikes in 2019.

STAY TUNED

On Fox Nation:

America’s Preacher: The Reverend Billy Graham
Fondly remembered as "America's Preacher," the Rev. Billy Graham reached millions of people as he spread the Gospel all over the world. This moving special explores the spiritual leader’s incredible six-decade career. Watch a preview HERE.
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Fox Nation is a subscription streaming service offering daily shows and documentaries that you can’t watch anywhere else. Watch from your phone, computer and select TV devices.

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.; Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News senior judicial analyst; Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire.

Hannity, 9 p.m. ET: A conversation with Mark Levin, host of "Life, Liberty & Levin."

Fox News @ Night, 11 p.m. ET: An exclusive interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

On Fox Business:

Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump

Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Special guests include: Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO and director of intelligence at Quill Intelligence.

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: "Eric Trump on Mueller Probe" - Eric Trump shares his feelings on the Mueller probe and the 2020 presidential race in Part 1 of a two-part, wide-ranging conversation about his father's presidency. The Trump administration is expanding its Migrant Protection Protocols program to additional cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Thomas Homan, former acting director of ICE, and Gregory Chen, director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, weigh in. Plus, commentary by Deroy Murdock, contributing editor with National Review and a Fox News contributor.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: Chris Wallace, host of "Fox News Sunday," discusses President Trump's attacks on the late Sen. John McCain, his feud with George Conway, the 2020 presidential race and the upcoming resumption of U.S.-China trade talks.

#TheFlashback
2018: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologizes for a "major breach of trust" after news that data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, whose clients included the Trump campaign, may have used data improperly obtained from Facebook users to try to sway elections.
2006: The social media website Twitter is established with the sending of the first "tweet" by co-founder Jack Dorsey, who wrote: "just setting up my twttr."
1963: Alcatraz federal prison in San Francisco Bay is emptied of its last inmates and closed at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Friday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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Iraqi victims of Islamic State leadership deserve justice: U.N.

FILE PHOTO: Agnes Callamard, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, speaks at a news conference in San Salvador
FILE PHOTO: Agnes Callamard, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, speaks at a news conference in San Salvador, El Salvador, February 5, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Photo

April 4, 2019

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) – Iraq must ensure that Islamic State leadership faces justice for alleged war crimes and genocide against civilians, not just charges of belonging to a terrorist group, a United Nations human rights investigator said on Thursday.

Four men, two Iraqi and two Syrians, were sentenced to death by a Baghdad court on Oct 30 on charges of membership of Islamic State, a banned terrorist organization, Agnes Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said.

Their identity has not been revealed but she described them in a statement as “four senior affiliates of the ISIL leadership”, using a widespread acronym for the militant group.

“The trial should have shed light on the inner workings of ISIL and created a crucial judicial record of ISIL crimes against people.”

The jihadist group, which took large swathes of Iraq and Syria from 2014, declared a “caliphate” and imposed a reign of terror with public beheadings and sexual enslavement of women and girls including from the Iraqi Yazidi sect. It lost its last territorial stronghold in Syria last month.

“The Government of Iraq should take appropriate steps to prosecute the crimes perpetrated against the Iraqi people, including alleged genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes,” Callamard said.

“At the very least, the Iraqi prosecutors should have brought additional charges from the Iraqi penal code, such as charges of murder, torture or disappearance, against the defendants, for the purpose of accountability,” she said.

International standards guaranteeing a fair trial appear not to have been met at the “hasty” criminal proceedings, during which the men were denied access to legal counsel, Callamard said.

Despite widespread violations, no victims or their families participated in the trial at Karkh criminal court or presented testimony, she said.

Callamard, who made recommendations about criminal accountability after a visit to Iraq in 2017, said on Thursday that the right to truth about gross human rights violations is an inalienable right.

“There is no justice delivered in secrecy,” she said.

“The trial of these four ISIL senior leaders should be an important opportunity for the victims, victims’ families, and witnesses to report on their ordeals and to be heard,” she said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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Egypt to slash fuel subsidies as it nears end of IMF program

A microbus is filled up with fuel by an employe at a petrol station in Cairo
FILE PHOTO: A microbus is filled up with fuel by an employe at a petrol station in Cairo, Egypt June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

April 6, 2019

By Patrick Werr, Aidan Lewis and Yousef Saba

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt will remove subsidies on most energy products by June 15, it told the International Monetary Fund in a January letter released by the IMF on Saturday as part of a review of Cairo’s three-year, $12 billion loan program with the lender.

This will mean increasing the price to consumers of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and fuel oil, which are now at 85-90 percent of their international cost, said the letter, which is dated Jan. 27.

The letter from Egypt’s finance minister and central bank governor was included in an IMF staff report dated Jan. 28 and published following the disbursement in February of the fifth out of six tranches of the loan.

The loan program began in 2016 and is tied to reforms that have included a sharp devaluation of the Egyptian pound and the introduction of a value-added tax. They have helped steady Egypt’s economy but also put millions of Egyptians under increased economic strain.

Fuel prices have increased steadily over the past three years. LPG and fuel oil used for electricity generation and bakeries are not included in the commitment to reaching full cost recovery through subsidy cuts, the letter said.

The government said in its letter that after starting to link less-used Octane 95 petrol to international prices – which it accomplished in April – it would introduce similar indexation mechanisms for other products in June, with the first price adjustments expected in mid-September.

The government noted it had also put in place a hedging mechanism to protect against shocks in oil and other commodities. In its review, however, the IMF “advised caution in using financial instruments with upfront costs that protect only temporarily against extreme price movements”, referring to hedging.

DEBT TARGET

Since starting the IMF loan program, Egypt has borrowed heavily from abroad.

In its letter, the government said it intended to reduce its general debt from a projected 86 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the end of June to 72 percent by June 2023. Debt was equal to 93 percent of GDP in June 2018.

It also committed to fully eliminating arrears held by the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC) by the end of June this year. The arrears stood at $1.043 billion at the end of 2018.

Egypt said it had capped the government’s ability to borrow from the central bank via an overdraft account at 66 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.82 billion) in 2018/19, equal to 10 pct of the previous three years’ revenue, as a way of managing liquidity and reducing inflation.

The central bank would gradually phase out subsidized lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises and social housing programs and instead these programs would be financed directly from the state budget, the letter said.

The sale of stakes in at least 23 state-owned enterprises over between 24 and 30 months starting in April 2018 was expected to raise around 80 billion Egyptian pounds, it added.

The IMF said in its review that Egypt’s reform program was “broadly on track”.

“The progress on structural reforms has been mixed, but the program objectives remain achievable,” it said.

“Sustained efforts are needed to advance critical reforms in competition, industrial land allocation, transparency and governance of state-owned enterprises, and public procurement.”

A recent tightening of global financial conditions had worsened the balance of risks, with Egypt vulnerable to any unexpected increase in oil prices, the IMF said.

“Calls on state-guaranteed loans, which have been increasingly used to finance large infrastructure projects by public entities, or other contingent liabilities could also put pressure on public debt,” the report said.

The IMF did not explain the delay in publishing the review.

(Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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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A remote controlled robot for the 'Isotopium: Chernobyl' game is seen at the game's location in Brovary
A remote controlled robot for the ‘Isotopium: Chernobyl’ game is seen at the game’s location in Brovary, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 26, 2019

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian computer game that brings to life a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun but has attracted 60,000 people globally since its launch in October.

Players of “Isotopium: Chernobyl” drive tanks around the ghost town of Prypyat near Chernobyl, knocking out competitors as they search for an energy source called isotopium and collecting points every time they find some.

While the game takes its theme from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, which marked its 33rd anniversary on Friday, it was also inspired by the 2009 science fiction film “Avatar”.

Newcomers to the game think they have entered a virtual world when in fact they are controlling a real robot, equipped with a camera and computer, which makes its way around a model of the town rendered down to the tiniest detail.

“When playing our game, for the first 5-10 minutes many players don’t understand that it is not fictional,” said the game’s co-founder Sergey Beskrestnov. “They message us saying: ‘You have cool texture, you have good graphics, your designer is good, well done. You have a cool operating system.’

“People then reply: ‘It is not an operating system, it is real,’ and the player can’t believe it is real,” said Beskrestnov, speaking mid-game from Prypyat city square as he towers over surrounding five-storey buildings.

Kiev-born Beskrestnov was just 12 years old when on April 26, 1986 a botched test at the nuclear plant in the then Soviet Union sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people, including Beskrestnov’s family, to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

Beskrestnov and his partner Alexey Fateyev used Google maps and hundreds of pictures from the Chernobyl area to recreate Prypyat landmarks, including residential buildings, a hotel, concert hall, amusement park and a stadium.

The game’s real-scale model occupies a 180 square meter (1,938 sq. ft) basement of a residential building in the Ukraine city of Brovary, just 150 km (93 miles) from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 30 km east of Kiev.

Miniature radioactivity warning signs, graffiti on the walls of abandoned buildings and tables and chairs left scattered inside a small cafe all add to the creepy atmosphere of a once lively town.

“It’s a really neat concept …,” Shaun Prescott wrote in a review of the game published by PC Gamer magazine in January. “Controlling the tanks is kinda cumbersome, but they are tanks, after all.”

An attentive player will notice at least one inaccuracy – the real Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not located in town as it is in the game.

It costs $9 to immerse in the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic town for an hour but only 20 people at a time can play simultaneously. Beskrestnov’s company, Remote Games, said 62,615 people around the world have registered to play the game, including around 15,000 in France and 10,000 in the United States.

A camera fixed on top of a moving tank broadcasts high quality signal in real time, allowing players from as far apart as Australia and Canada enjoy the game without facing any time delay in delivering video signals.

Its creators next ambition is to devise a game featuring the colonization of Mars in which 1,000 people will be able to simultaneously control robots on different missions involved in the operation.

“Many people advise us to contact Elon Musk directly because it resonates his dreams and ideas,” Beskrestnov jokes.    

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 19,2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Initial optimism over first-quarter results from Starbucks Corp was waning fast on Wall Street on Friday, as analysts questioned the longer-term prospects of its new sales push given subdued overall customer traffic numbers especially in China.

The company on Thursday beat brokerage estimates for quarterly same-store sales on the back of demand for its new Cloud Macchiato, Matcha tea and cold brews in the United States.

However, BTIG’s Peter Saleh was one of a number of sector analysts who said while customers forking out for higher-priced new drinks had helped drive growth in same-store sales, “anemic” traffic at cafes remained a concern.

He and others pointed to a 1 percent decline in footfall at cafes in the Chinese market, viewed as crucial to the chain’s growth for the foreseeable future.

More broadly, transaction numbers, the substitute analysts use for customer traffic, were unchanged in all three of the company’s global regions.

Shares in the company, which hit a record high after the results on Thursday, fell 1 percent in morning trade.

“We remain cautious given near-term headwinds surrounding China, including cannibalization, increasing competition (and) a slowing economy,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan said.

Starbucks has also poured money into beefing up its delivery network in China as it battles with local startup Luckin Coffee, whose speedy growth led it to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this week.

New menu items and partnerships with delivery services, the heart of the company’s strategy to win back customers lost to artisanal coffee shops and cheaper fast-food rivals, did help Starbucks’ sales in its home market.

However, analysts said growth in China may continue to be subdued.

Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said she expects store expansion in China to take priority over comparable sales growth.

She downgraded her rating on Starbucks’ to “market perform” from “outperform”, arguing that the company facing tough sales comparisons later on in 2019 from last year and the current rich valuation of shares meant the stock had limited room to rise.

“Investors will be hesitant to invest new money in a stock with a topline that, while still strong, is unlikely to meaningfully accelerate,” Herzog said.

Still, the company’s solid same-store growth in the United States, improving profit margins and a lower tax rate for the rest of the year led at least 6 Wall Street brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock to as high as $81.

11 of 29 brokerages rate Starbucks “buy” or higher, 17 “hold” and 1 “sell” or lower. Their median price target is $75.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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