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Report: AOC, Top Aide Quietly Removed From PAC

New York freshman lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was dropped from her role as a board member of a political action committee last week, The Daily Caller reports, days after campaign finance experts questioned whether her role with the group was legal and ethical.

Ocasio-Cortez’ top aide and former campaign chair, Saikat Chakrabarti, was also removed from his role with Justice Democrats, which raised more than $1.8 million for the Democratic congresswoman before her June 2018 primary.  

The pair joined the PAC in December 2017 but Ocasio-Cortez never disclosed to the Federal Election Commission that they "controlled the PAC while it was simultaneously supporting her primary campaign."

Chakrabarti founded the Justice Democrats PAC.

Justice Democrats officially removed them on March 15, according to a corporate document filed that day to the Washington, D.C., Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, the Caller reports.

The news outlet last week said if the FEC finds her campaign and the PAC were operating together, it could result in “massive reporting violations.”

“If the facts as alleged are true, and a candidate had control over a PAC that was working to get that candidate elected, then that candidate is potentially in very big trouble and may have engaged in multiple violations of federal campaign finance law, including receiving excessive contributions,” former Republican FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky told the outlet.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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2nd Amendment Foundation: Gun Control Efforts Misguided After New Zealand Attack

Proponents of gun control are misguided in their attempt to renew efforts on firearms restrictions in the United States in the wake of last week’s terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a gunman killed 50 worshipers in two mosques, says Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, USA reports.

In an opinion piece on Tuesday, Gottleib argues that gun control proponents hope American citizens “gripped by emotion, will overlook the obvious and agree that law-abiding gun owners should face additional restrictions on their rights.” He writes stricter gun laws would have no effect with people bent on doing harm, and said citizens needed to be able to protect themselves.

“The real lesson to be learned from the Christchurch massacre is that madmen aren’t deterred by gun control laws, or laws against murder. Morality doesn’t enter into their thinking, so honest people must be prepared for the unthinkable and be able to respond.

“The gun prohibition lobby hopes to capitalize on a terror attack half a world away in an effort to advance its agenda. Forget, for a moment, that the Second Amendment stands in their way. Focus on the irrational notion that somehow a defenseless victim is morally superior to an armed private citizen who can fight back and save lives,” he writes, adding, “Millions of law-abiding American gun owners should not be penalized because of murderers’ misdeeds.”

Instead, Gottlieb posits that the New Zealand attack “provides ample justification of our right to carry now exercised by millions of citizens who choose not to be victims.” He said Americans’ Second Amendment rights were “not negotiable.”

Gottlieb also notes that the New Zealand shooter acquired his firearms legally, as have most mass shooters in the U.S.

“We must not allow hysteria to overcome common sense. We must protect our right to defend ourselves, our families, and our communities from those to whom laws mean nothing,” Gottlieb concluded.

Source: NewsMax America

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Authorities: Mom, daughter charged in deaths of 5 relatives

A woman and her teenage daughter are facing homicide charges in the deaths of five relatives, including three children, inside an apartment in suburban Philadelphia, according to authorities.

Philly.com reports that Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub said Shana S. Decree, 45, and Dominique Decree, 19, will be charged with five counts of homicide and one count each of conspiracy in the deaths.

The victims include Shana Decree's children, Naa'Irah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville; as well as Shana Decree's sister Jamilla Campbell, 45, of Trenton, and Campbell's 9-year-old twin daughters Imani and Erika Allen. Weintraub said that authorities are looking for Campbell's 17-year-old son Joshua. He stressed that the teen is not a suspect in the slayings and that they just want to "ensure his safety."

"I wanted to make sure everybody knew that the people who committed these atrocious acts are now in custody and (will) be made to pay for their crimes," Weintraub said at the scene late Monday night.

The bodies were found about 4 p.m. Monday after police went to check on the welfare of residents at a unit in the Robert Morris Apartments in Morrisville, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Philadelphia.

Weintraub said the causes of death remain under investigation and that it was premature to discuss a motive.

Source: Fox News National

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Left out of peace talks, U.S. allies reassess Afghan support

FILE PHOTO: German troops take part in a military exercise in Mazar-i-Sharif
FILE PHOTO: German troops take part in a military exercise during a visit by German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan December 23, 2013. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani/File Photo

March 15, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Rod Nickel

KABUL (Reuters) – At a dinner party in Kabul’s high-security “green zone” in March, a senior European diplomat poured himself a glass of red wine and pulled up a photograph on his iPhone.

Released by Qatar’s foreign ministry on Feb. 25, it showed seven Qatari officials alongside U.S. and Taliban negotiators as talks on ending the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan had restarted in the Gulf state the previous day.

“If Qatari officials can be at the negotiating table, then how did the U.S. forget to invite its key allies who have fought the Afghan war since 2001?” said the diplomat, whose nation has contributed hundreds of troops to NATO’s mission in the country.

“We continue to pour millions of dollars as an act of solidarity, but when it comes to peace talks, the U.S. decided to go solo.”

Reuters spoke with 10 diplomats from countries spanning three continents that are among the 39 that provide military personnel to the NATO training operation, known as Resolute Support, in Afghanistan, and those that provide development aid.

Many of those countries are significant, consistent donors. Most of the diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the situation.

The diplomats interviewed said their governments were broadly rethinking their commitments to rebuilding the country. That process had been hastened by feeling excluded from peace talks, and also by a weariness for supporting the Afghan campaign among voters and lawmakers in their respective countries, they said.

Asked about those comments, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said regular reviews of foreign assistance was “good practice” and Afghanistan’s development remained in the interest of the international community.

“We see no signs that interest and investment are wavering,” said the spokesperson, adding that U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad has briefed NATO allies and other partners three times since December, and effective coordination remained a priority.

Nick Kay, NATO’s newly appointed senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, said NATO allies “fully support” Khalilzad’s efforts to negotiate a settlement.

But even the Afghan government has complained of being left out. President Ashraf Ghani’s national security adviser on Thursday accused Khalilzad of “delegitimizing” the Kabul government by excluding it from deliberations.

Qatari officials did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2017, U.S. development aid for Afghanistan totaled about $1.2 billion, well ahead of the next biggest donors Germany, European Union institutions, Britain and Japan, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data. But the United States’ junior aid partners collectively contributed nearly two-thirds of all development assistance, highlighting their critical if less visible importance to the country’s future.

CHANGING PRIORITIES

U.S. and Taliban negotiators wrapped up their longest round of peace talks on Tuesday with progress made but no agreement on when foreign troops might withdraw.

Whether funding countries keep investing in Afghanistan could prove pivotal to sustaining any peace. Diplomats say that, after troops leave, it may be the only leverage they have to retain influence over future Afghan governments.

Since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, Afghanistan has been among the top recipients of foreign government aid to promote economic and social development. In 2016, international donors pledged $15.2 billion in aid for Afghanistan until 2020.

With those pledges due to expire, many countries are re-evaluating their military and funding commitments.

“Priorities have changed for every EU nation,” a European diplomat said, adding that countries besides Afghanistan needed support.

“The donor fatigue is intense and no one is in the mood to overlook it after 2020,” another diplomat said.

A third diplomat said their country was re-evaluating its future aid with different scenarios in mind, including whether to continue development if the Taliban joins Afghanistan’s government, and what to do if peace talks fail.

Any drop-off in international aid would be disastrous for Afghanistan, since much of it funds basic health and education services, said Adele Khodr, country representative for Unicef.

“It is definitely something we are concerned about. Imagine what would happen – (Afghanistan) would be Yemen,” Khodr said. “(By) pulling out, the international community will pay a much higher price in insecurity across the world.”

Ninety percent of the money spent on the health sector in Afghanistan comes from the international community, said Toby Lanzer, deputy special representative in Afghanistan for the UN.

An official in Ghani’s office in Kabul declined to comment on potential risks to future aid.

He said the government was making every effort to hold peace talks with the Taliban. The militant group said on Tuesday that such talks would have to wait until after a troop withdrawal plan is set.

‘CRUCIAL TO STICK TOGETHER’

Some diplomats caution against a quick retreat.

“If we leave the country hastily, all these (advances) will go down the drain,” Ambassador Markus Potzel, Germany’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and one of the 10 diplomats interviewed, told Reuters in Kabul.

Potzel was referring to gains such as Afghan girls’ attendance in school and new employment opportunities.

Maintaining aid was also critical to holding influence in Afghanistan, he said.

“That’s our leverage. We can attach strings,” Potzel said. “It is crucial to stick together.”

A spokesperson at the British Embassy in Kabul said any changes to Britain’s troop contribution would be made in consultation with coalition partners.

As of March 2019, 39 countries contributed 17,034 foreign forces in Afghanistan for Resolute Support, of which the U.S. provided 50 percent, according to NATO. U.S. troops are also deployed in a separate mission directed against groups such as al Qaeda and Islamic State.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s questioning of NATO’s value to Washington, along with the absence of allies at the negotiating table, has deepened the unease within the military alliance created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and Western European nations.

“The concern is that we need to be appraised of the progress of the discussions and to be involved. We have invested a lot,” said a European diplomat. “This commitment should be reflected in influence or at least information on the peace talks.”

The diplomat said it was understandable that access to the negotiating table was narrow right now, but “what I would find abnormal is that we would be served a deal in which we had nothing to say and then be asked to foot the bill”.

SHRINKING FOOTPRINT?

The senior diplomats interviewed by Reuters, who are based in Kabul and Islamabad, said their governments were finding it harder to justify the continuing presence of their troops and the steady drain of aid funding to Afghanistan.

“It is increasingly difficult to tell our people why we are still here especially when they read reports about more than half of country being under the Taliban control,” said a Western diplomat. “Almost all NATO countries are now struggling to justify their presence in Afghanistan to voters back home.”

The war’s long duration has also weakened commitment.

“If we had known that the war could go on as it has been for 18 years, we would have had a rethink in 2001,” the Western diplomat said.

The withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan has always been the Taliban’s main demand, and Trump’s interest in drawing down U.S. troops has stimulated efforts to end the war.

“The prime concern is that we may wake up one day to a tweet by Trump about a unilateral withdrawal of U.S. troops before a peace agreement has been negotiated,” said a diplomat whose country supports Afghan healthcare projects.

Neighboring Pakistan sees a similar danger, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.

“An immediate vacuum can also be detrimental for peace and security and an indefinite presence is also not acceptable, so this is the detail that has to be worked out,” he said.

NATO members and partners said they also expect regional powers to share costs and step up their roles in Afghanistan to prevent civil war after foreign forces depart.

“China has been sitting on the bleachers for a long time now,” a diplomat said.

The Chinese embassy in Kabul did not respond to requests for comment.

Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center, said the U.S. continues to count on friends to share the burden in Afghanistan.

“But so long as the war continues with no peace deal, that supply of states willing to assist will shrink,” said Kugelman.

(Reporting by Rupam Jain and Rod Nickel in Kabul; additional reporting by Eric Knecht in Doha, James Mackenzie in Islamabad and Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Source: OANN

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Elizabeth Warren proposes breaking up Apple, in addition to Google, Facebook, and Amazon

Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren announced in an interview on Saturday that she wants to break up not only Amazon, Google, and Facebook, but also Apple -- as the Massachusetts senator pushes further to the left of her numerous Democratic rivals on a host of populist issues.

Speaking to The Verge at the South by Southwest (SXSW) technology conference in Austin, Texas, Warren specifically demanded that Apple must be forced to either surrender control over the App Store, or cease selling its own apps within it.

"Apple, you’ve got to break it apart from their App Store. It’s got to be one or the other," Warren said. "Either they run the platform or they play in the store. They don’t get to do both at the same time."

She elaborated: "If you run a platform where others come to sell, then you don’t get to sell your own items on the platform because you have two comparative advantages. One, you’ve sucked up information about every buyer and every seller before you’ve made a decision about what you’re going to to sell. And second, you have the capacity — because you run the platform — to prefer your product over anyone else’s product. It gives an enormous comparative advantage to the platform."

Warren asserted that similar antitrust principles were "applied to railroad companies more than a hundred years ago," and that "we need to now look at those tech platforms the same way."

Responding to a federal appeals court's recent rejection of the Trump Justice Department's bid to block the planned AT&T-Time Warner merger, Warren told The Verge: "How well do I think the Justice Department and the FTC are doing? Not well at all, and not well for a long time now."

WARREN FLOATS IDEA OF TAXPAYER-FUNDED REPARATIONS FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS, BUT ALSO NATIVE AMERICANS

In a lengthy post on the website Medium on Friday, Warren targeted Amazon, Facebook, and Google for breakup, but did not mention Apple.

Warren said the large tech giants had used mergers to "limit competition," citing examples such as Facebook's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp; Amazon using its market power to "force" smaller competitors, such as Diapers.com to sell to the company; and Google buying mapping company Waze and advertising company DoubleClick.

President Donald Trump talks to Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook during the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board's first meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump talks to Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook during the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board's first meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

She also mentioned that their marketplaces were used to limit competition. "Amazon crushes small companies by copying the goods they sell on the Amazon Marketplace and then selling its own branded version. Google allegedly snuffed out a competing small search engine by demoting its content on its search algorithm, and it has favored its own restaurant ratings over those of Yelp," Warren wrote.

Warren, who specifically denied being a Socialist as recently as this weekend, proposed two ways of restoring competition to the tech sector, including passing legislation that would designate the large platforms as "platform utilities" and reversing already approved mergers, which she deemed "illegal and anti-competitive."

TRUMP CALLS TIM COOK 'TIM APPLE' TO HIS FACE; COOK REACTS BY CHANGING NAME ON TWITTER

Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a think tank for science and technology policy, sharply disagreed with Warren's proposal.

"The Warren campaign’s call to break up big tech companies reflects a 'big is bad, small is beautiful' ideology run amok," Atkinson said in a statement obtained by Fox News. "The proposal ignores the fact that many of the services big tech companies now provide free used to cost consumers money. Breaking up large Internet companies just because they are large won’t help consumers. It will hurt them by reducing convenience, reducing quality of service and innovation, and in some cases leading to the introduction of priced services."

"Breaking up large Internet companies just because they are large won’t help consumers."

— ITIF president Rob Atkinson

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Warren herself tempered some of her rhetoric on Saturday, saying simply, "I am not" when asked if she considered herself a democratic Socialist, in the vein of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“All I can tell you is what I believe – there’s an enormous amount to be gained from markets. Markets create opportunities. … but markets have to have rules. They have to have a cop on the beat,” Warren told an energetic crowd at the Austin City Limits’ Moody Theater.

Warren's calls for major changes in antitrust law follow her other relatively radical proposals, including her idea of taxing idle wealth. Specifically, Warren has proposed an annual 2 percent tax on every dollar of net worth above $50 million and a 3 percent tax on every dollar of net worth above $1 billion.

But because Warren would seek to tax wealth itself -- as opposed to income or some other kind of transfer -- without equally apportioning such a tax among the states, legal experts say it is likely unconstitutional.

Warren has also said that Native Americans should be “part of the conversation” on reparations for African-Americans -- a move that threatens to bring back her own history with Native Americans.

Her fellow 2020 hopefuls Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro have come out in favor of reparations for African Americans, but have so far not gone as far as Warren in opening the door to reparations for Native Americans.

Fox News' Chris Ciaccia and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Vegan Feminist Cafe That Imposed 18% “Gender Surcharge” on Men Closes Down

A vegan feminist cafe in Australia that imposed an 18 per cent “gender surcharge” on men and gave women priority seating has closed down.

The Handsome Her cafe, which only opened a few years ago and was located in inner city Melbourne, described itself as “by women, for women”.

The venue attracted headlines in 2017 for challenging the “gender pay gap” (which doesn’t exist) by charging men extra.

At the time, the cafe’s management claimed the attention left them “jam-packed with customers showing their support”.

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Not anymore.

A notice on the cafe’s website says it’s closing for good on April 28.

The cafe attracted numerous negative reviews on Trip Advisor, with one man saying he had to deal with an “aggressive and irate woman” who called him a “vile beast” because he said he was dissatisfied with his meal.

Perhaps if the staff had focused on providing a good service for everyone and not discriminating against men, it might have been more profitable.

Source: InfoWars

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Michigan boy, 12, fed up with potholes, decides to fix them himself

A 12-year-old boy in Michigan has decided he's not going to wait for officials to fill the large potholes dotting a street near his home and is instead getting his hands dirty and filling the craters himself.

Monte Scott starting filling potholes last week using a shovel and dirt from his backyard in Muskegon Heights after he grew fed up with the state of neighborhood roads.

“I didn't want people messing up their cars like my mom did,” he told WZZM-TV. “If somebody were to drive down the street and hit a pothole, and then would have to pay like $600-700 to get their car fixed, they would be mad."

SCIENTISTS HOPE BACTERIA COULD BE THE CURE FOR POTHOLES

The 12-year-old didn't tell anyone of his plans. His mother, Trinell Scott, told the television station she only found out after she got a text message from her niece saying she saw Michael in a video posted to Facebook filling in the holes.

In the video, Monte can be seen filling in a pothole on the road that's larger than the base of his trash can.

“He just took it upon himself to [fix the road],” Trinell Scott told WZZM. “That’s just the type of kid he is. When he sees there’s a problem or a need, and he thinks he can fix it, he’ll try to fix it.”

The video has been viewed more than 62,000 times since it was posted on Wednesday.

SECRET UNDERGROUND TUNNEL DISCOVERED IN FLORIDA UNDER INVESTIGATION BY FBI

Since starting out last week, the 12-year-old has filled 15 potholes around his family's home. His mother said it just shows that her son is a good kid, one of many in the community.

Monte Scott starting filling potholes last week using a shovel and dirt from his backyard in Muskegon Heights, Mich.

Monte Scott starting filling potholes last week using a shovel and dirt from his backyard in Muskegon Heights, Mich. (WZZM via NNS)

“Everything is not bad out of Muskegon Heights," she told WZZM.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

County and city officials have not yet commented on the 12-year-old's endeavor, but the issue of crumbling roads across Michigan is something that's struck a chord with residents.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who campaigned in 2018 on a bold promise to "fix the damn roads" has proposed to nearly triple the state's per-gallon gasoline tax to make it the highest in the nation. Her plan is pending legislative approval, according to FOX2.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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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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President Trump on Friday said “no money” was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, after reports that the U.S. received a $2 million hospital bill from Pyongyang for the late American prisoner’s care.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else. This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist[sic] hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!” Trump tweeted Friday.

NORTH KOREA GAVE US $2M HOSPITAL BILL OVER CARE OF AMERICAN OTTO WARMBIER, SOURCES SAY

The Washington Post first reported that North Korean authorities insisted the U.S. envoy sent to retrieve Warmbier, 21, who was a student of the University of Virginia, sign a pledge to pay the bill before allowing Warmbier’s comatose body to return to the United States. Sources confirmed the bill and the amount to Fox News on Thursday.

Sources told the post that the envoy signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions from the president, but a source told Fox News that the U.S. did not ever pay money to North Korea.

The White House declined to comment when asked on the bill, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying in a statement that: “We do not comment on hostage negotiations, which is why they have been so successful during this administration.”

Meanwhile, the president added: “’President[sic] Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.’ Cheif[sic] Hostage Negotiator, USA!”

Warmbier was on tour in North Korea when he allegedly stole a propaganda sign from a hotel. He was arrested in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in March 2016. Warmbier, for unknown reasons, fell into a coma while in custody and was held in that condition for an additional 17 months.

North Korean officials did not tell American officials until June 2017 that Warmbier had been unconscious the entire time. He died less than a week after he returned to the U.S. North Korean officials, though, have repeatedly denied accusations that Warmbier was tortured, instead claiming that he had suffered from botulism and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

AMERICAN PRISONERS HELD IN NORTH KOREA ON THEIR WAY HOME AFTER POMPEO VISIT, TRUMP SAYS

Fred and Cindy Warmbier sued North Korea over their son’s death and in December were awarded $501 million in damages – money that the Hermit Kingdom will probably never pay.

While the Warmbiers blamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump has said he believes Kim’s claims that he did not know about the student’s treatment.

Trump and Kim have met in two separate summits. The most recent, held in February, ended without an agreement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Fox News: “Otto Warmbier was mistreated by North Korea in so many ways, including his wrongful conviction and harsh sentence, and the fact that for 16 months they refused to tell his family or our country about his dire condition they caused.  No, the United States owes them nothing. They owe the Warmbier family everything.”

Last year, the Trump administration was also able to save three American prisoners held by North Korea. Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, and Kim Hak Song were all detained in North Korea. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the three Americans home last May, and said they were all in “good health.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Rich Edson, Nicholas Kalman, and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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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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