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Spurned by Washington, North Korea’s Kim seeks a friend in Putin

North Korea's Kim arrives in Vladivostok for summit with Russian President Putin
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a welcome ceremony as he arrives at the railway station in the Russian far-eastern city of Vladivostok, Russia, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

April 24, 2019

By Maria Vasilyeva and Vladimir Soldatkin

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday at a summit designed to show that Washington is not the only power able to set the agenda on Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

The two men will sit down together on an island off the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok two months after Kim’s summit with U.S. President Donald Trump ended in disagreement, cooling hopes of a breakthrough in the decades-old nuclear row.

The summit in Vladivostok – the first ever between Putin and Kim – provides Pyongyang with an opportunity to seek support from a new quarter, Russia, and possible relief from the sanctions hurting its economy.

For the Kremlin, the summit is a chance to show it is a global diplomatic player, despite efforts by the United States and other Western states to isolate it.

But with Moscow committed to upholding sanctions until the North dismantles its nuclear program, analysts said the summit was unlikely to produce any tangible help for Pyongyang, beyond a show of camaraderie.

In an interview with Russian state television as his train made a stop off on the journey to Vladivostok, Kim said he was looking forward to useful talks.

“I hope that we can discuss concrete questions about peace negotiations on the Korean peninsula, and our bilateral relations,” he said through an interpreter.

ARMORED TRAIN

Kim Jong Un, making his first trip to Russia as North Korean leader, arrived at the train station in Vladivostok on Wednesday on board an armored train — his preferred mode of international transport.

After a brief delay while the train had to be repositioned to line up with the red carpet laid out on the platform, he disembarked and headed in a convoy of limousines and minivans across a bridge linking mainland Vladivostok to Russky island, the summit venue. Putin has yet to arrive in Vladivostok.

Putin’s last summit with a North Korean leader was in 2002 when his counterpart was Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor. Kim Jong Il also met in 2011 with Dmitry Medvedev, the Putin lieutenant who was then Russian president.

There was heightened security around Vladivostok in preparation for the summit, with an unusually heavy police presence, especially at the university campus on Russky island where the talks will take place.

Classes were still in progress on Wednesday but students were having their documents checked on the way in, and vehicles were no longer allowed to enter the campus. The Russian and North Korean flags fluttered from lamp-posts around the university.

(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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US housing starts slumped 8.7 percent in February

The number of homes under construction fell 8.7 percent in February, as ground breakings for single-family houses plunged to their lowest level in nearly two years.

The Commerce Department says builders started construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million units last month, down from a 1.27 million pace in January. The setback stems from a 17 percent drop in the building of single-family houses, which posted the weakest pace since May 2017.

Home construction is running nearly 1.9 percent below last year's pace. Lower mortgage rates at the start of 2019 appear to be boosting demand for housing, but builders are contending with rising costs for labor and land.

Housing permits, an indicator of future activity, fell 1.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.30 million.

Source: Fox News National

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Sri Lankans urged to avoid mosques, churches amid fears of more attacks

A man stands in a doorway near the security cordon surrounding St. Anthony's Shrine, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo
A man stands in a doorway during heavy rain near the security cordon surrounding St. Anthony's Shrine, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

April 26, 2019

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Muslims in Sri Lanka were urged to pray at home on Friday and not attend mosques or churches after the State Intelligence Services warned of possible car bomb attacks, amid fears of retaliatory violence for the Easter Sunday bombings.

The U.S. embassy in Sri Lanka also urged its citizens to avoid places of worship over the coming weekend after authorities reported there could be more attacks targeting religious centers.

Sri Lanka remains on edge after suicide bombing attacks on three churches and four hotels that killed 253 people and wounded about 500. The attacks have been claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.

Nearly 10,000 soldiers are being deployed across the Indian Ocean island state to carry out searches and provide security for religious centers, the military said on Friday.

Fears of retaliatory sectarian violence has already caused Muslim communities flee their homes amid bomb scares, lockdowns and security sweeps.

The All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ullama, Sri Lanka’s main Islamic religious body, urged Muslims to conduct prayers at home on Friday in case “there is a need to protect family and properties”.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith also appealed to priests not to conduct mass at churches until further notice.

“Security is important,” he said.

Police have detained least 76 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, in their investigations so far.

Islamic State provided no evidence to back its claim that it was behind the attacks. If true, it would be one of the worst attacks carried out by the group outside Iraq and Syria.

Islamic State released a video on Tuesday showing eight men, all but one with their faces covered, standing under a black Islamic State flag and declaring their loyalty to its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

The Sri Lankan government said there were nine homegrown, well-educated suicide bombers, eight of whom had been identified. One was a woman.

Authorities have focused their investigations on international links to two domestic Islamist groups – National Thawheed Jama’ut and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim – they believe carried out the attacks.

Government officials have acknowledged a major lapse in not widely sharing an intelligence warning from India before the attacks. Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando resigned over the failure to prevent the attacks.

The Easter Sunday bombings shattered the relative calm that had existed in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka since a civil war against mostly Hindu ethnic Tamil separatists ended 10 years ago.

Sri Lanka’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Until now, Christians had largely managed to avoid the worst of the island’s conflict and communal tensions.

Most of the victims were Sri Lankans, although authorities said at least 38 foreigners were also killed, many of them tourists sitting down to breakfast at top-end hotels when the bombers struck.

They included British, U.S., Australian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals. Britain warned its nationals on Thursday to avoid Sri Lanka unless it was absolutely necessary because there could be more attacks.

(GRAPHIC: Sri Lanka bombings – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Xy02BA)

(GRAPHIC: A decade of peace shattered – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W4wZoU)

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: OANN

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Congo president allows senators to take office, ending feud with predecessor’s camp

FILE PHOTO: Democratic Republic of Congo's Felix Tshisekedi swears into office during an inauguration ceremony as the new president of the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Palais de la Nation in Kinshasa
FILE PHOTO: Democratic Republic of Congo's Felix Tshisekedi swears into office during an inauguration ceremony as the new president of the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Palais de la Nation in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo January 24, 2019. REUTERS/ Olivia Acland/File Photo

March 29, 2019

KINSHASA (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has lifted a ban on the installation of new senators, walking back a decision that had put him at odds with his predecessor Joseph Kabila, whose allies won an overwhelming majority of seats.

    Tshisekedi blocked the newly elected senators from taking office earlier this month, citing allegations that provincial assembly members, who elect senators, had demanded bribes of tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for their votes. 

That move was seen by many Congolese as an effort by Tshisekedi, who took power in January, to assert his independence from Kabila, whose parliamentary majorities and grip on the security services after 18 years in power raise questions about Tshisekedi’s ability to govern freely.

    In a brief announcement read on state television late on Thursday, Tshisekedi’s office said it was lifting the suspension on new senators after preliminary findings by prosecutors found there was no evidence of corruption in the senate elections.

    Kabila’s Common Front for Congo (FCC) won more than 80 out of 100 senate seats in the March 15 election, compared to just three for Tshisekedi’s UDPS party and its allies.

It also obtained about 70 percent of seats in the lower house of parliament and a clear majority of provincial assembly seats in elections held the same day as the presidential vote in December.

    About 20 candidates from across the political spectrum withdrew from their senate races because they said they were asked for bribes, but Kabila’s camp decried Tshisekedi’s decision to suspend the new senators’ installation as unconstitutional.

    Tshisekedi’s own victory, which led to Congo’s first transfer of power via the ballot box, was marred by widespread accusations of fraud. Runner-up Martin Fayulu accused Tshisekedi, who had long been an opponent of Kabila, and Kabila of striking a backroom deal to fix the result.

Kabila was barred by term limits from standing for re-election, and his chosen successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, finished a distant third.

Congolese sources in contact with senior government officials told Reuters that the vote was rigged to deny Fayulu the win.

Tshisekedi and Kabila’s camps deny that the vote was rigged or that they struck a deal.

(Reporting By Stanis Bujakera; Additional reporting and writing by Giulia Paravicini; Editing by Aaron Ross and Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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Brexit fallout on UK finance intensifies: think tank

FILE PHOTO: Rain clouds pass over Canary Wharf financial financial district in London
FILE PHOTO: Rain clouds pass over Canary Wharf financial financial district in London, Britain July 1, 2016. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause/File Photo

March 11, 2019

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) – More than 275 financial firms are moving a combined $1.2 trillion in assets and funds and thousands of staff from Britain to the European Union in readiness for Brexit at a cost of up to $4 billion, a report from a think tank said on Monday.

UK lawmakers are due to vote on Tuesday on an EU divorce settlement. But with less than three weeks to go before Brexit day on March 29, it is still unclear whether the deal will be approved, whether departure from the EU will be delayed, or whether it will happen without agreement.

The report by the New Financial think tank, one of the most detailed yet on the impact of Brexit on financial services, said Dublin alone accounted for 100 relocations, ahead of Luxembourg with 60, Paris 41, Frankfurt 40, and Amsterdam 32.

The independent think tank said half of the affected asset management firms, such as Goldman Sachs Investment Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Vanguard, had chosen Dublin, with Luxembourg the next port of call, attracting firms like Schroders, JP Morgan Wealth Management and Aviva Investors.

Nearly 90 percent of all firms moving to Frankfurt are banks, while two-thirds of those going to Amsterdam are trading platforms or brokers. Paris is carving out a niche for markets and trading operations of banks and attracting a broad spread of firms.

New Financial identified 5,000 expected staff moves or local hires, a figure that is expected to rise in coming years.

A better measure of Brexit’s impact is the scale of assets and funds being transferred, it said.

Ten large banks and investment banks are together moving 800 billion pounds of assets from Britain – or 10 percent of banking assets in the country. A small selection of insurers have shifted a combined 35 billion pounds in assets, and a handful of asset managers have moved a total of 65 billion pounds in funds.

William Wright, founder and managing director of New Financial, said the hit to London was bigger than expected and would get worse.

“Business will continue to leak from London to the EU, with more activity being booked through local subsidiaries,” Wright said.

“This will reduce the UK’s influence in European banking and finance, reduce tax receipts from the industry, and reduce financial services exports to the EU.”

A 10 percent shift in banking and finance activity would cut UK tax receipts by about 1 percent, the report said.

Relocations have cost firms $3 billion to $4 billion, which will be passed on to customers and shareholders, the report said.

But the breadth and depth of relocations so far, combined with pacts between regulators in Britain and the EU, mean the industry is well prepared for whatever form Brexit takes, New Financial said.

London will remain the dominant financial center for the foreseeable future, but other European cities will chip away at London’s lead over time, it added.

New Financial chart: https://tmsnrt.rs/2NMO9DS

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

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Is the Federal Bureau of Prisons Scamming Taxpayers With Its Pension System?

Bernie Madoff and the warden at his federal prison may have something in common. Except Bernie didn’t have the Justice Department backing him and a nearly unlimited supply of taxpayers whose paychecks he could tap into to keep the money flowing.

You see, when I first got to the Federal Bureau of Prisons MCC New York facility, which is curiously located in Park Row, Manhattan on some of the most expensive real estate in the world, it seemed that nearly all of the mid-level bureaucrats there were quite sure of when the warden would retire – almost down to the exact day. And he hadn’t yet announced his retirement nor been at the facility for very long.

You see, there’s been a sizable list of wardens at that facility, and certain other places in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) system, who retire a conspicuously short time into the gig before collecting lavish lifelong federal pensions, which appear to be derived in an unduly disproportionate extent from the paychecks of the taxpayers rather than from the bureau’s sound financial management of employee contributions.

Here’s how the system works and what perhaps needs to change.

Like many public employee pension systems, the yearly retirement payout for a given worker at the FBOP is not actually based on the total amount, which they paid into the system across their entire career. That would be fair, make common sense, and, one would hope, lead to the fiscal solvency of the pension fund, at least as long as it’s properly managed.

Instead, the yearly payout for a given FBOP retiree is based on their 3 highest years of salary. Once again, this is not uncommon in the public sector and it often leads to lavish golden parachutes, which have frequently become the subject of public scrutiny, especially when newly-promoted top earners retire shortly into their latest role and then collect disproportionately far more out of the pension system than it seems that their contributions could have produced in the first place, leaving taxpayers to make up the difference.

However, for its favorite wardens and other high-ranking officials, the Federal Bureau of Prisons appears to be taking things at least one step further.

You see, unlike state and local public sector agencies, the FBOP is a national organization with a nationwide footprint. And it pays higher cost of living adjustments to wardens who operate facilities in expensive parts of the country, like for possible examples, Park Row Manhattan or South Slope downtown Brooklyn.

So, perhaps it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that many of these facilities, which are also money pits in a multitude of other ways and which have frequently proved very problematic for the bureau to operate, tend to see wardens who come from other parts of the country and who stay on the job for just long enough to max out their federal pensions.

This leads to questions about the seemingly inevitable shortfall in any Ponzi-like scheme where the withdrawals will exceed the available funds. For instance, how much of any such difference has been siphoned out of the pockets of taxpayers and for how long has this been happening?

My team is issuing federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in an effort to find out.

Further, the timing may be very good to ask these questions now. Very recently federal prison reform was the subject of a rare, successful, bipartisan bill which passed both houses to seemingly thunderous applause emanating from both sides of the aisle and that was just before incredibly poor management at the highest levels of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and its Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in expensive downtown Brooklyn led to yet another homegrown humanitarian crisis in one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

Somehow, an electrical fire led to a week-long blackout and loss of heat and hot water during a cold snap in a northeast winter. It seems this was only possible due to the blatant disregard of years-old calls for random, unannounced surprise audits and inspections of all the FBOP facilities in the region.

Yet, despite apparent on-the-job performance like the above, Warden Herman Quay stands to retire with a full federal pension which may have been enhanced by gaming FBOP’s retirement system. Did he deserve that job as a warden at such a high-profile facility? Is he competent to handle it?

Or was Warden Quay moved here for other reasons, leaving the inmates and the American public to pay the price through blackouts, tax dollars, and the tarnishing of America’s image abroad when it comes to humanitarian standards?

The author, Martin Gottesfeld, is an Obama-era federal political prisoner and conservative journalist. He wrote this article in “the hole” at MDC Brooklyn, into which he was thrown upon his arrival at the facility on Friday, February 15th, 2019, ten days after the aforementioned blackout. Warden Quay now claims that he is keeping Gottesfeld in “the hole” due to so-called “security concerns.” However, there are reasons to doubt Quay’s word in light of the dishonesty demonstrated during the blackout, not to mention his likely desire to keep his pension despite the millions of tax dollars which may be spent on the lawsuits originating during his tenure.

Warden Quay did not immediately respond to a request for comment as to whether he plans to reimburse taxpayers.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a request for comment as to whether Warden Quay was transferred to MDC Brooklyn to maximize his pension and whether it is considering firing him.

Source: InfoWars

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Top Iditarod mushers, 41 minutes apart, near final push to Nome

FILE PHOTO: Aliy Zirkle and her dogs head out at the ceremonial start of the 47th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage
FILE PHOTO: Aliy Zirkle and her dogs head out at the ceremonial start of the 47th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. March 2, 2019. REUTERS/Kerry Tasker/File Photo

March 12, 2019

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a topsy-turvy slog this year marked by heavy wet snow, occasional rain, dwindling ice and a dog rebellion, was expected to conclude early on Wednesday with either an Alaskan or Norwegian musher crowned the winner.

Pete Kaiser of Bethel, Alaska, was out in front early on Tuesday, but only narrowly, with a 41-minute lead over defending champion Joar Leifseth Ulsom of Norway. The two front-runners led a field of 42 remaining mushers, after 10 teams dropped out during the contest.

Kaiser and Liefseth Ulsom both arrived in the morning at the native Inupiat village of White Mountain, a checkpoint 77 miles (124 km) from the finish line at the Gold Rush town of Nome. Rules require an eight-hour stop at White Mountain before the final push to Nome. The two contenders were expected to leave the village late Tuesday afternoon.

If he wins, Kaiser, who is Yupik, will be the first Alaska Native Iditarod champion since 2011, when Inupiat John Baker claimed victory. Should Liefseth Ulsom cross the finish line first, he would become only the second Norwegian champion, following two previous victories by his countryman Robert Sorlie in the 1,000-mile (1,600-km) Alaska race.

The winner this year will be awarded a new truck and about $50,000 in cash, the top prize from a total $500,000 purse. The world’s best-known dog-sled race commemorates a rescue mission that used a dog-team relay to deliver lifesaving medicine to Nome during a 1925 diphtheria outbreak.

FRENCH MUSHER

Until Monday, French-born musher Nicolas Petit of Girdwood, Alaska, had appeared to be en route to victory – until his dogs stopped along a stretch of the Bering Sea coastline, about 200 miles (320 km) from Nome, and refused to go farther. Petit sent his dogs off the trail by snowmobile and officially dropped out of the race on Monday night.

In third and fourth place on Tuesday were the Iditarod’s top women: Jessie Royer of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Aliy Zirkle of Two Rivers, Alaska.

The Iditarod speed record is eight days, three hours and 40 minutes, set by Mitch Seavey in 2017. This year’s race, which began on March 2 in Anchorage, has been significantly slower.

Higher-than-normal temperatures created soft conditions, bogging down the teams. The Bering Sea, usually coated with a layer of ice on the northern section, is almost entirely free of ice, so race officials made course alterations that slightly lengthened part of the route. Racers also had to detour around some spots of open river water.

Many contestants timed their runs for after dark to take advantage of cooler weather favored by their dogs.

(Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage; Editing by Steve Gorman and Jonathan Oatis)

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)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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