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Robert Mueller's Russia investigation by the numbers

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign concluded with the final report submitted to the Justice Department this past Friday. In a letter released Sunday, Attorney General William Barr publicly revealed the "principal conclusions" and more about the under-wraps investigation.

Just months after President Trump was inaugurated into office, Mueller was appointed to the special counsel's office on May, 17 2017. In total, it lasted close to two years — 675 days, or one year, 10 months and six days, to be exact.

READ THE MUELLER REPORT FINDINGS

The intent of the investigation was to determine whether Trump and his campaign illegally worked with Russia to sway the 2016 presidential election. The special counsel's office determined that it "did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia."

The president on Sunday responded to Mueller's report in two different ways. Speaking to reporters, Trump called the investigation "an illegal takedown that failed."

He also tweeted: "No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!" It was Trump's 78th tweet regarding the probe, excluding retweets.

In total, 19 attorneys worked with the special counsel's office at some point during the nearly two-year-long probe, which, between May 2017 and September 2018, spent $25.2 million. Of that, $12.3 million was direct spending, while $12.9 million was spent on "indirect" component expenses for the Justice Department.

The special counsel's office has said that the indirect expenses don't amount to additional taxpayer expenditures since those resources — especially personnel, such as employees of the FBI or other agencies — would have been devoted to other cases had there been no special-counsel investigation.

During the investigation, at least 42 people were interviewed by Mueller or his team or testified before a grand jury, and 34 people -- in addition to 3 companies -- either have been indicted or have pleaded guilty in connection to the probe.

Of the 34, 6 were former advisers or associates of Trump, while 2 were not considered Trump advisers or associates. Additionally, 26 Russians have been charged.

Mueller's office worked with a team of "approximately 40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants, and other professional staff" during the investigation.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Ultimately, the special counsel's office "issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 orders for communication records, issued almost 50 orders authorizing use of pen registers, made 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence, and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses," according to Barr's letter.

On Friday evening, Mueller submitted his report to Barr, marking the end of the politically explosive probe and the beginning of a new battle over its contents and implications.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Swiss financial watchdog finds $90 million initial coin offering illegal

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA is seen outside their headquarters in Bern
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA is seen outside their headquarters in Bern, Switzerland April 5, 2016. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

March 27, 2019

By Tom Wilson

LONDON (Reuters) – The Swiss financial watchdog said on Wednesday the firm behind a $90 million initial coin offering (ICO) took money illegally from investors, highlighting a readiness by regulators to apply traditional market rules to cryptocurrency-related fundraising.

Swiss firm Envion AG, which is now in liquidation, accepted more than 90 million Swiss francs ($91 million) from at least 37,000 investors in exchange for bond-like tokens issued without a license, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) said in a statement.

FINMA said the conditions under which the tokens were issued were not equal for all investors; that the prospectuses did not meet minimum requirements; and that Envion did not have an internal audit arm – a legal requirement.

Envion’s former chief executive Matthias Woestmann said in a statement that a FINMA report, which has not been made public, said investigators could not find any misappropriation of funds, and that it was evident there had been no intention to damage investors.

“There was no misappropriation of assets,” he said.

Policymakers around the world have wrestled with how to craft legal frameworks for ICOs and so-called security token offerings (STOs) – where tokens with features akin to traditional securities are sold.

The new forms of fundraising have allowed start-ups founded on cryptocurrency technologies such as blockchain to quickly raise capital by issuing virtual tokens or coins. But the risk of fraud and lack of transparency about who owns cryptocurrencies have made regulators wary.

Some states, like Switzerland, have moved to treat ICOs as securities, applying rules used for traditional capital markets. That means a step up in regulation for many projects, subjecting them to trading laws and detailed disclosure requirements, and offering protection to investors.

Other countries, like China and India, have banned ICOs altogether. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year deemed that some ICOs could count as securities.

Switzerland has become a global leader in ICOs and STOs. Six of the biggest 15 ICOs and STOs since 2016 have taken place in the country, according to PwC.

Last year, the worldwide number of successful ICOs and STOs more than doubled to over 1,130 from a year earlier, PwC said.

As FINMA investigated Envion, a court in the Zug canton – known as “Crypto Valley” for its concentration of virtual coin-related firms, opened bankruptcy proceedings against the firm over “organizational shortcomings”.

As a result, FINMA said, further measures against the firm were not necessary.

(Reporting by Tom Wilson; Additional reporting by John Revill; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

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Zion Williamson is NBA-bound, with a Big O endorsement

NCAA Basketball: Final Four-Practice Day
Apr 5, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Zion Williamson accepts the Oscar Robertson Trophy during a press conference for the 2019 men's Final Four at US Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

April 6, 2019

MINNEAPOLIS — NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson was eyeball to shoulder alongside larger-than-life freshman Zion Williamson on Friday night, posing for photographers as he handed off the national player of the year award that bears his name and likeness, when he offered a warning for the basketball world.

“You may not believe it now, but you can get a whole lot better,” Robertson said of Williamson.

Williamson averaged 22.9 points and 8.8 rebounds, shooting 68.8 percent with a package of ferocious finishes at the rim and a soft touch from the perimeter.

“When I watched Zion, I watched his footwork and his intelligence when he went into the basket because everyone was after him. They were going to double-team him and triple-team him and do all these things to try to keep him from around the basket,” said Robertson. “He’s so gifted and he’s just so quick and so high, it’s difficult for any one person to guard him.

“And as I said before, he’s going to get better when he gets to the next level.”

Williamson was not a unanimous pick for either player of the year award he took home Friday night, but he is universally expected to be the first player drafted in June.

Williamson, who is 6-7, 280 pounds, said he still wants to talk to his family and teammate RJ Barrett — another Duke freshman projected as a lottery pick in 2019 — before making anything official.

But every indication from Williamson, Robertson and Williamson’s family in attendance suggested that his college career is over.

“Whatever NBA team I land on, that’s the team I want to — that’s where I want to be. Like whoever drafts me, that’s where I want to be,” said Williamson, who reacted to questions implying he wouldn’t want to play for the lottery-odds-leading Knicks by shaking his head and putting his massive hand over his face.

“If they draft me, I would love to play for them.”

–By Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Kosovo PM fires deputy minister over comments about NATO

FILE PHOTO: Kosovo's Prime Minister Haradinaj talks during an interview withe Reuters in Pristina
FILE PHOTO: Kosovo's Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj talks during an interview withe Reuters in Pristina, Kosovo, October 16, 2017. REUTERS/Hazir Reka/File Photo

March 25, 2019

PRISTINA (Reuters) – Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has fired the country’s ethnic Serb deputy justice minister after she called NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign against Serbia a “planned genocide”.

Deputy minister Vesna Mikic comes from Kosovo’s Serb minority which accounts for about 5 percent of the country’s population of 1.8 million.

“The NATO alliance committed a deliberately planned genocide against a sovereign country that fought Albanian terrorism inside its own borders,” Mikic said on her Facebook account on Sunday, marking the 20th anniversary of the NATO bombing.

NATO carried out air strikes in 1999 against the now defunct Yugoslavia, comprised of Serbia and Montenegro, to halt a brutal crackdown against Kosovo Albanians by Serbian security forces.

After 78 days of bombing, under the terms of an armistice, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic ordered his troops to withdraw from Kosovo and be replaced with NATO control.

Mikic’s post sparked criticism in the predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo where most people praise NATO for halting the two-year war and clearing the way for its independence in 2008. As many as 4,000 NATO peacekeepers are still deployed.

Mikic was not immediately available for comment.

Haradinaj dismissed the deputy minister with immediate effect.

“In Kosovo government there will be no place for individuals, despite their ethnicity, to denigrate our common euro-Atlantic values,” Haradinaj said in a statement.

More than 13,000 thousand people, mainly local Albanians, were killed in the 1998-99 war.

Kosovo has earned recognition from the United States and most EU countries, but Serbia and its major allies Russia and China remain adamantly opposed to Kosovo’s independence.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade, editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

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Notre-Dame smolders as investigation begins

Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris
Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France April 16, 2019. A massive fire consumed the cathedral on Monday, gutting its roof and stunning France and the world. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

April 16, 2019

By Matthias Blamont and Inti Landauro

PARIS (Reuters) – Firefighters doused the smoldering ruins of Notre-Dame with water on Tuesday, the morning after a raging inferno swept through the gothic cathedral in the heart of Paris as investigators tried to establish what started the fire.

Hundreds of firemen battled the blaze which consumed the roof and collapsed the eight-centuries-old cathedral’s spire for more than eight hours before bringing it under control, saving its bell towers and outer walls. [nL5N21X56Y]

Pockets of fire continued to burn inside the building and thorough checks on the cathedral’s structural soundness would be needed, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had launched an inquiry into the fire. Several police sources said they were working on the assumption for now that the fire was accidental.

“It’s a symbol of our country that risked being destroyed,” Culture Minister Franck Riester told CNews television.

Firefighters who entered the burning cathedral saved many of its treasures, Riester said, although some paintings remained inside and risked smoke and water damage.

The fire tore through the cathedral’s timbered roofing, where workmen were carrying out extensive renovations to collapsed balustrades and crumbling gargoyles and the spire’s wooden frame.

Hundreds of stunned onlookers lined the banks of the Seine river as the fire raged, reciting prayers and singing liturgical music in harmonies late into the night as they stood vigil. [nL5N21X5QJ]

MULTI-MILLION DONATIONS

President Emmanuel Macron promised France would rebuild Notre-Dame, considered among the finest examples of French Gothic cathedral architecture and visited by more than 13 million people annually.

“We will rebuild it together. It will undoubtedly be part of French destiny and our project for the years to come,” Macron said outside the cathedral shortly before midnight.

France’s Fondation du Patrimoine, a charity which works to protect French heritage, is launching an international appeal to raise funds for the rebuilding that is likely to cost hundreds of millions of euros.

Other campaigns were swiftly launched in the United States as well-wishers around the world pledged contributions via social media. [nL1N21X1MC]

Two of France’s wealthiest men, Francois-Henri Pinault, chief executive of the Kering group which owns brands including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, and Bernard Arnault, the main shareholder of luxury group LVMH, said they would donate 100 million euros ($113 million) and 200 million euros respectively.

“This tragedy strikes all the French and beyond all those who are attached to spiritual values,” Pinault said in a statement.

A centuries-old crown of thorns made from reeds and gold and the tunic believed to have been worn by Saint Louis, a 13th century king of France, were saved, Notre-Dame’s top administrative cleric, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, said.

Copper statues representing the Twelve Apostles and four evangelists were removed by crane last week as part of the renovation work.

American tourist Susan Hargrove said she’d been left breathless by the scale of devastation.

“We are talking of world history, of our Western culture but also of something that is truly universal,” Hargrove said. “Notre-Dame means something to everybody.”

($1 = 0.8843 euros)

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Inti Landauro, Richard Lough, Sarah White; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Leigh Thomas and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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Pope's sex abuse prevention summit explained

Pope Francis is hosting a four-day summit on preventing clergy sexual abuse, a high-stakes meeting designed to impress on Catholic bishops around the world that the problem is global and that there are consequences if they cover it up.

The meeting, which opened Thursday, comes at a critical time for the church and Francis' papacy, following the explosion of the scandal in Chile last year and renewed outrage in the United States over decades of cover-up that were exposed by the Pennsylvania grand jury report.

___

WHAT'S ON THE AGENDA?

The meeting is divided into three thematic days, with the final day — Sunday — devoted to Mass and a concluding address from the pope.

Day 1 explored bishops' responsibilities to their flocks, including their legal responsibility to investigate and prevent abuse.

Day 2 was dedicated to accountability and focused on church leaders working together, along with rank-and-file Catholics, to protect children.

Day 3 focused on transparency, and featured remarks from a Nigerian religious sister, a German cardinal and a Mexican journalist.

The summit began with videotaped testimony of survivors, but there were no sessions devoted specifically to hearing their stories. Participants were told to meet with victims before coming to Rome to learn first-hand of their pain — and to drive home the idea that clergy sex abuse isn't confined to certain parts of the world.

___

WHO IS ATTENDING?

More than 100 presidents of bishops conferences are attending, though at least two — Chilean Archbishop Santiago Silva and Costa Rican Archbishop Jose Rafael Quiros — sent deputies because they themselves are implicated in covering up abuse.

The guest list includes 14 leaders from eastern rite churches, 12 religious superiors of men's orders and 10 from women's religious orders. About a dozen Vatican prefects, as well as a half-dozen of the pope's cardinal advisers and a handful of others, round out the 190 participants.

Only a handful are women, a point driven home by the attention given to the few who were invited to attend.

Three women were selected to address the summit, and after the first of their speeches was delivered Friday by leading canon lawyer Linda Ghisoni, Francis gave a spontaneous meditation on the "feminine mystery" of the church.

"It's not about giving more jobs to women in the church — yes, this is good but it doesn't resolve the problem," he said. "It's about integrating the woman as the figure of the church into our thinking."

___

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTED OUTCOMES?

Organizer Cardinal Blase Cupich issued a detailed set of proposals in his address Friday for investigating and holding bishops accountable when they cover up sex abuse, suggesting that new norms are in the works. Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley said Friday that a "clarification" to the existing norms is expected soon.

In addition, organizer the Rev. Hans Zollner has said he hopes the summit will result in the creation of task forces on each continent to help national bishops' conferences develop guidelines to fight abuse and tend to victims.

The Vatican in 2011 told these conferences to draft such guidelines, but to date only about half have adopted policies that have been approved by the Holy See. Not even Vatican City has a policy on the books.

Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican sex crimes investigator, stressed that follow-up for the meeting would be key, mentioning "audits" of conferences to check their progress.

___

HAVE GAY PRIESTS AND SEXUAL ABUSE OF ADULTS BE DISCUSSED?

The scandal over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked last week after being convicted by the Vatican of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians, exposed both the issue of homosexuality among Catholic leaders and the sexual abuse of adults under their authority. Francis' recent comments about the sexual abuse of nuns also made clear that minors aren't the only victims of predator priests.

Neither was on the summit agenda, but the issue has come up in discussion, participants said.

Cupich said the sexual abuse of adults needs to be addressed, but he said the four-day summit must remain focused on its original intent.

"Young people, minors don't have a voice. They are kept in silence," he said earlier this week. "This is about making sure their voice is heard."

Source: Fox News World

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Israeli police arrest 5 Palestinians at flashpoint holy site

Israeli police say they have arrested five Palestinians for allegedly "causing a disturbance" at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.

The men took part in a prayer protest Monday outside a section of the hilltop compound that has been closed by Israeli court order for over a decade.

Muslim religious officials convened in the closed area last week, and Israeli police placed a lock on a fence in response. Videos purportedly of Monday's incident show several men damaging the fence.

The site — known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary — is considered the holiest place in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. Any change to the status quo, no matter how minor, has the potential to ignite tensions.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.

Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.

PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.

The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.

“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.

Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.

A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.

“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”

PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.

The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.

The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.

Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)

(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.

ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”

Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.

Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.

The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.

In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.

ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Slack Technologies Inc, operator of the popular workplace instant-messaging app, reported a loss of $140.7 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2019, the company said on Friday in a regulatory filing ahead of its planned public market debut.

The company said its daily active users exceeded 10 million in the three months ended Jan. 31, 2019.

Slack expects to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SK”, it said.

The San Francisco-based company is seeking to go public via a direct listing, making it the second big technology company after Spotify Technology SA to bypass the traditional route of listing shares through an initial public offering.

A direct listing is a cheaper way of becoming a public company as the process requires fewer investment banks and therefore lower fees.

In a direct listing, however, a company does not sell any new shares to raise money. Instead, it gives existing shareholders the opportunity to cash out.

Slack is the latest in a string of high-profile technology companies looking to go public this year. Lyft Inc, Pinterest and Zoom Video Communications have completed IPOs so far in 2019.

The company is hoping for a valuation of more than $10 billion in the listing, Reuters had previously reported. Some early investors and employees have been selling the stock at around $28, valuing the company close to $17 billion, Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge, a brokerage company, told CNBC on Thursday.

Slack set a placeholder amount of $100 million to indicate the size of the IPO. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

Its competitors include Microsoft Teams, a free chat add-on for Microsoft’s Office365 users.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Joshua Franklin in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Candidate Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of an exit poll in Ukraine's presidential election in Kiev
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Matthias Williams

KIEV (Reuters) – Russia’s decision to make it easier for residents of rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to obtain a Russian passport is meant to test Ukraine’s new leader and the West should not recognize the documents, Lithuania’s foreign minister said on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the order on facilitating passports on Wednesday, three days after comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a political novice, won a landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election.

Linas Linkevicius, whose own country also has strained relations with Moscow, told Reuters in an interview that the West should consider imposing new sanctions on Russia.

“This is a blatant violation of international law. And basically also a kind of test to the new (Ukrainian) leadership, which is also a usual game,” Linkevicius said.

“The least we can do (is) we shouldn’t recognize these passports. How to do that technically, it’s another issue to discuss. Also (we need) to look at additional sanctions,” said Linkevicius, whose small Baltic nation is a member of NATO and the European Union.

Western nations imposed sanctions on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its support for armed separatists battling Kiev’s forces in eastern Ukraine. Some 13,000 people have been killed in that conflict despite a notional ceasefire signed in Minsk in 2015.

Linkevicius, who in Kiev on Friday became the first minister of an EU country since Ukraine’s election to meet President-elect Zelenskiy, said they had discussed the passport issue.

Zelenskiy also raised the possibility of resetting the Minsk ceasefire agreement without giving any concessions to Russia, Linkevicius said.

“DANGEROUS CANCER” OF GRAFT

The minister urged Zelenskiy to deliver on his electoral promise of tackling corruption, which he described as the “most dangerous cancer” facing Ukraine, which hopes one day to join the EU.

Last month, Lithuania’s own relations with Russia came under renewed strain after a Vilnius court found former Soviet defense minister Dmitry Yazov, in absentia, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in a 1991 crackdown against Lithuania’s pro-independence movement.

Russia branded the verdict “extremely unfriendly and essentially provocative” and opened a probe into the judges involved.

Linkevicius accused Russia of seeking to politicize the judicial process by trying to take revenge on the judges, adding: “This is lamentable.”

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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A Cook County judge recently called out embattled State Attorney Kim Foxx for upholding a double standard by prosecuting a woman for filing a false police report — but dropping similar charges against embattled “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.

Foxx has faced intense criticism over her office’s decision to drop a 16-count indictment against Smollett, just weeks after bringing the charges against the high-profile TV star. Foxx’s deal with Smollett, which did not require him to admit guilt, drew ire from the public, the city’s top cop and the former mayor who called it a “whitewash of justice.”

JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHICAGO PROSECUTOR KIM FOXX CHIDED BY NATIONAL ATTORNEYS GROUPS AFTER JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHARGES DROPPED 

Cook County Judge Marc Martin, who was presiding over an unrelated case, chastised Foxx and her office for creating a situation where anyone charged with filing a false report would expect the same leniency her office afforded Smollett.

Candace Clark, 21, is facing one felony count of making a false report. Prosecutors accused her of giving a friend access to her bank account and then telling authorities the money had been stolen. She denies the charges and claims she’s the victim of Foxx’s double standard — something the judge weighed in on.

“Well, Ms. Clark is not a movie star, she doesn’t have a high-price lawyer, although, her lawyer’s very good. And this smells, big time,” Martin said to prosecutors during a recent hearing, Fox 32 reported. “I didn’t create this mess, your office created this mess. And your explanation is unsatisfactory to this court. She’s being treated differently.”

The judge continued, “There’s no publicity on this case. She doesn’t have Mark Geragos as her lawyer or Ron Safer or Judge Brown. It’s not right. And (if) I proceed in this matter, you’re just digging yourselves further in a hole. (If the) press gets a hold of this, it’ll be in a newspaper. Why is Ms. Clark being treated differently than Mr. Smollett?”

Foxx recused herself from the Smollett case in February but continued to oversee the investigation through text messages with her assistant Joseph Magats.

The text messages revealed Foxx called Smollett a “washed up celeb who lied to cops.” They also show she cautioned Magats about throwing the book at Smollett.

“Sooo……I’m recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases…16 counts on a class 4 becomes exhibit A,” Foxx wrote to Magats on March 8.

“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should,” she added, referring to the case of R&B singer R. Kelly, who was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connection with four women, three of whom were underage.

KIM FOXX’S CHIEF ETHICS OFFICER RESIGNS FOLLOWING SMOLLETT CONTROVERSY

President Trump said last month he asked for a federal review of Foxx’s decision to drop the charges against Smollett. He also called the actor “an absolute embarrassment to our country.”

The Smollett case garnered national attention and threatened to tear Chicago apart. It pit the police department and mayor against prosecutors and underscored the idea that wealthy people are somehow above the law.

Smollett told police he was attacked on Jan. 29 around 2 a.m. as he was returning home from a sandwich shop in Chicago. He said two masked men shouted racial and anti-gay slurs, poured bleach on him, beat him and tied a rope around his neck. He claimed they shouted, “This is MAGA country” — a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

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After an intense investigation, police said Smollett staged the entire incident to drum up publicity for his career.

Smollett has strongly denied the accusations.

Source: Fox News National

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