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Interserve set for pre-pack administration if debt deal fails: source

FILE PHOTO: The Interserve logo is seen on a flag at Interserve offices in Twyford
FILE PHOTO: The Interserve logo is seen on a flag at Interserve offices in Twyford, Britain January 17, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

March 9, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Banks for Interserve have lined up a so-called pre-pack administration that will wipe out existing shareholders but enable the troubled outsourcer to keep operating, a person familiar with the situation said on Saturday.

Seeking to avoid a collapse like rival Carillion, the plan would come into force if investors reject Interserve’s debt-for-equity swap at a vote on Friday.

The British company, which employs 68,000 people globally to provide cleaning and building services, is fighting for survival after struggling to service debt due to project delays, a weak construction market and a mistaken push into the energy-from-waste market.

A pre-pack administration enables the company to sell itself or its assets before it appoints administrators who take over the running of the business to protect creditors.

Interserve struck a deal in February under which existing shareholders would retain 5 percent of the group while creditors take control.

However its biggest shareholder Coltrane Asset Management has objected to the deal and a vote will take place on Friday.

Interserve declined to comment but the company’s chairman, Glyn Barker, told the Telegraph newspaper on Saturday that Coltrane would be to blame if the company has to opt for a pre-pack deal.

“If we lose that vote because of Coltrane, then it will be because of Coltrane that shareholders get nothing out of this,” he said.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

Source: OANN

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Exclusive: Coal deal showcases lack of transparency in Ukraine

A miner works inside the Novovolynska-9 coal mine in Novovolynsk
A miner works inside the Novovolynska-9 coal mine in Novovolynsk, Ukraine August 2, 2018. Picture taken August 2, 2018. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

March 25, 2019

By Natalia Zinets

NOVOVOLYNSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainian police are investigating two companies and a factory over a coal deal which some anti-corruption campaigners say epitomizes the difficulties of doing business in the east European country.

The sums involved in the deal are small but the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, an independent watchdog, says it illustrates the lack of transparency in Ukrainian business, an issue in a presidential election on Sunday that has cost President Petro Poroshenko support.

State-run coal company Volynvuhillia ordered the Novovolynska-9 mine it oversees in Novovolynsk, northwestern Ukraine, to sell coal to privately held Ukrainskiy Natsionalniy Product (UNP), company documents show. A contract was agreed in December 2017 and sales began two months later.

Volodymyr Yurkiv, the mine’s director at the time, told Reuters he complained to the energy ministry about the contract because it allowed UNP to pay eight percent less for its coal than the minimum price set by the ministry for private buyers.

He and trade unions also protested to the ministry when miners went unpaid as Volynvuhillia spent on other projects and went into the red. Police are now probing Volynvuhillia over the non-payment of 5.9 million hryvnias ($220,000) in salaries from July 15 to Sept. 5, 2018, suspecting unnamed UNP officials of lining their pockets while the miners struggled to make ends meet, according to court documents. Police declined to name the officials.

Energy ministry figures show wage arrears in state mines had reached 138.8 million hryvnias by Jan 1. Former Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk told Reuters the arrears were largely caused by company officials spending money that should go to salaries on big purchases such as equipment because of the kickbacks that often go with such purchases.

Asked about the sales contract with UNP, Andriy Pylypiuk, acting manager of Volynvuhillia, said the coal purchase price in the original contract was an error that was corrected after the deal and that UNP quickly started paying more for its coal.

Company documents seen by Reuters confirmed the price increase.

Pylypiuk said his company supported selling to UNP because no other firm wanted to buy coal from Novovolynska-9 and that UNP had offered to pay up front. He denied wrongdoing.

Andriy Dombrov, who owns UNP, declined to answer Reuters’ questions. Police provided no details of how the investigation is going. The energy ministry declined comment.

(For election graphic click https://tmsnrt.rs/2EEQ22R)

COAL ENRICHMENT

A second police investigation is underway into an arrangement under which Volynvuhillia pays a local factory to enrich, or clean, the coal sold to UNP. Police are probing whether this arrangement, part of the sales contract between UNP and Volynvuhillia, is a criminal conspiracy.

Mykhailo Bondar, head of a parliamentary subcommittee on the coal industry, says Lvivska Vugilna Compania (LVC) enrichment factory is being paid for a job it does not do because it lacks the technology needed. Yurkiv said the coal had previously gone directly to electricity generators without being enriched.

Andriy Vengryn, who is a principal at LVC as well as a representative of UNP, denied any wrongdoing in the deal with Volynvuhillia. He confirmed LVC is doing the enriching and said the factory needs the extra coal to improve its financial well-being, telling Reuters: “I am in full compliance with the law.”

He added that under his management LVC had been rescued from the verge of bankruptcy. “There are a lot of unfair rumors about me,” he said.

When Energy Minister Ihor Nasalyk tried to step in last May, his order that the deal with UNP be canceled was not acted on. Nasalyk did not respond when asked about his order not being carried out.

A special energy ministry commission has twice recommended Pylypiuk’s dismissal, in March last year and in May. But the energy ministry said Pylypiuk had provided written justifications for his and Volynvuhillia’s actions and that it found no grounds to dismiss him.

“The deal between UNP and Volynvuhillia epitomizes many of the problems of doing business in Ukraine,” Andriy Savin, a lawyer at the Anti-Corruption Action Centre in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, told Reuters. “Such deals show why foreign investors are so wary of investing in Ukraine.”

“This (situation around the sales deal between Volynvuhillia and UNP) … is undermining Poroshenko’s authority,” said Mykhailo Volynets, leader of the Ukrainian miners’ trade union.

Looking ahead to this month’s election, he said the situation helped explain why people “want changes, new faces in power,” he said.

Poroshenko’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment but the president has dismissed such criticism in the past.

“We launched the first decisive battle against corruption in Ukraine — we have created reliable independent anti-corruption bodies … We have cleared the stable of corruption schemes in the energy sector and public procurement,” he said in January.

($1 = 26.8645 hryvnias)

(Writing by Matthias Williams, Editibg by Timothy Heritage)

Source: OANN

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Brazil president raises eyebrows saying Holocaust can be forgiven

FILE PHOTO: Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro speaks during inauguration ceremony of the new Education Minister Abraham Weintraub at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia
FILE PHOTO: Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro speaks at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo

April 13, 2019

JERUSALEM/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro drew veiled rebukes from Israel on Saturday after saying the Nazi genocide of the Jews during World War Two could be forgiven.

The far-right Bolsonaro made a solidarity visit to Israel last month during which he raised eyebrows by asserting, after a tour of the Holocaust memorial Yad Vadshem, that the Nazis had been “leftists.”

Addressing a group of Brazilian evangelicals on Thursday, Bolsonaro said: “We can forgive, but we can’t forget. That’s my phrase. Those who forget their past are condemned not to have a future.”

There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has cultivated ties with Bolsonaro.

But President Reuven Rivlin, whose role in Israel is largely ceremonial, wrote on Twitter: “Whether they be individuals or organizations, party heads or heads of state, no one will ordain the Jewish people’s forgiveness, nor can this be obtained through any interest.”

Yad Vashem said in a separate statement: “It is no one’s place to decide who can be forgiven and whether there should be forgiveness for the crimes of the Holocaust.”

(Reporting by Dan Williams and Gram Slattery; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Myanmar pardons more than 9,000 prisoners in New Year amnesty

A newly released prisoner, part of over 8,000 inmates granted amnesty by Myanmar's President Win Myint to mark Myanmar's new year, hugs his family outside Insein prison in Yangon
A newly released prisoner, part of over 8,000 inmates granted amnesty by Myanmar's President Win Myint to mark Myanmar's new year, hugs his family outside Insein prison in Yangon, Myanmar April 17, 2018. REUTERS/Ann Wang

April 17, 2019

By Thu Thu Aung

YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar began releasing more than 9,000 prisoners from jails on Wednesday, after the president announced an amnesty on the first day of the traditional New Year.

President Win Myint said 9,353 prisoners, including 16 foreigners, had been pardoned “as a gesture of marking the Myanmar New Year, for the peace and pleasure of the people, and taking into consideration humanitarian concerns”.

Authorities were continuing to scrutinize remaining prisoners “who should be pardoned”, he said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.

Such releases from prisons across the country are regularly ordered to mark the holiday.

Several prisons had begun releasing inmates by early afternoon, with two political prisoners among them, said Aung Myo Kyaw from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a non-profit human rights group.

A total of 364 political prisoners are behind bars or facing trial, according to AAPP, including people accused of criticizing the army and ethnic minority activists jailed after protesting against war between government forces and minority insurgents.

Two Reuters reporters jailed for breaking the Official Secrets Act were not among those being pardoned, a senior official at Insein prison, the colonial-era jail on the outskirts of the commercial capital of Yangon where they are being held, told Reuters.

(Reporting by Thu Thu Aung; Writing by Poppy McPherson; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

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GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz unveils ‘Green Real Deal,’ as conservative answer to AOC pet project

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz unveiled the “Green Real Deal” on Wednesday as a free-market counterproposal to the Green New Deal being pushed by Democrats to combat climate change.

“The question for America is pretty simple: either we want a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington telling us what we can’t do, or we empower American innovators to unlock things that we can do,” the Florida congressman said at a press conference in front of the Capitol building.

AOC MOCKS CRITICS OF GREEN NEW DEAL'S ESTIMATED $93 TRILLION PRICE TAG: 'THEY SOUND LIKE DR. EVIL'

His plan, which he is putting forward in a House resolution, involves a number of planks including revisiting global trade and intellectual property policies to create “an international marketplace fair to American innovators.”

Gaetz's plan also aims to modernize the electric grid, which he says currently “functions as a wet blanket over American innovation.” Gaetz claims that upgrading the grid will create an “entire class of energy entrepreneurs across the country.” He also wants to "unlock federal lands" from current regulations, saying they can be “an open canvas” for renewable energy research, testing and evaluation.

The plan comes in response to the Green New Deal, a once-fringe policy that seeks to overhaul the nation’s economy and energy use to combat climate change and combat income inequality. But this year it has emerged in the Democratic mainstream, with a resolution introduced in the House and support from most major 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. However, a test vote on the proposal recently failed in the Senate with no senator voting to begin debate on the legislation.

The proposal includes a host of costly and controversial big-government programs -- including a push for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, universal health care and job guarantee programs.

In the press conference, Gaetz made references to FAQs released by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, D-N.Y., office that said the deal aims to "upgrade or replace every building" for energy efficiency and render air travel unnecessary, while joking about getting rid of “farting cows.”

"Do we really believe that if we outlaw cars, cows, planes and buildings that the rest of the world will follow?” he said. “Of course not, they will laugh at us.”

While Gaetz’s proposal consists of free-market and small-government ideas of the kind Republicans have long embraced, the plan is a notable shift for the party toward tackling climate change in some fashion.

WASHINGTON STATE COLLEGE OFFERS COURSE ON 'ECO-ANXIETY,' 'CLIMATE GRIEF'

Traditionally, Republicans have been more skeptical about man’s influence on the climate. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler was asked in January at his confirmation hearing if he believed warnings from scientists about the threats of climate change.

“I would not call it the greatest crisis, no” he said.

In an indication of likely conservative opposition to Gaetz's plan, advocacy group FreedomWorks issued a statement calling it a "sad example of Republicans thinking they’re conservatives by being slightly to the right of far left."

"What’s more, it is presented as a collection of bold, new ideas yet most of them are policies and programs that exist and aren’t working. This is perhaps the only thing ‘real’ about the ‘Green Real Deal,'” the statement said.

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Gaetz said at the press conference that he doesn't think the EPA has done a good job of combating climate change and said he wants to shift the debate among Republicans -- from focusing on the existence of climate change, to how to combat it.

"I didn't come to Congress to argue with a thermometer and I think that more of my colleagues need to realize that the science of global warming is irrefutable," he said.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Hillary Clinton to join DNC's Perez at party fundraiser

Hillary Clinton is jumping back into the fundraising game, even if she's not running for president again.

The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee will join Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez later this month for a fundraiser in Washington as the party looks to take back the White House in next year’s election, a source familiar with the event confirmed to Fox News.

The event, expected to be attended by roughly 20-30 people, is being billed as a “dinner and conversation” and comes as Democratic candidates are ramping up their campaigns to challenge President Trump in the 2020 election.

HILLARY CLINTON SAYS SHE'S NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT

The news of the Clinton event comes a day after the DNC announced it will hold its 2020 national convention in Milwaukee – in a nod to the party’s hopes of winning back Midwestern working-class voters who voted for Trump in a state that Clinton famously avoided in 2016.

Clinton, a former secretary of State under President Barack Obama, has ruled out running for president in 2020. She previously lost the Democratic nomination to Obama in 2008 and to Trump in the general election in 2016.

"I'm not running, but I'm going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe," Clinton told a local New York news station earlier this month, but added that she is "not going anywhere."

"What's at stake in our country, the kind of things that are happening right now are deeply troubling to me. And I'm also thinking hard about how do we start talking and listening to each other again?" she said. "We've just gotten so polarized. We've gotten into really opposing camps unlike anything I've ever seen in my adult life."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Clinton has met with numerous Democratic presidential contenders over the last few months, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. She also sat down with former Vice President Joe Biden in February, as he mulls entering the Democratic presidential fray.

Other Democrats Clinton has met with about the 2020 race include former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, an aide said. She has also spoken over the phone with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Fox News' Amy Lieu contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News Politics

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DNA helps identity 2 women found dead in Texas ‘killing fields’ decades ago

Cold case detectives on Monday announced a breakthrough in identifying two women believed killed by a serial killer decades ago in Texas.

League City police said DNA and genetic genealogy helped them identify the women whose bodies were found in an abandoned oil field where two other murdered women were found.

The four victims were found between 1984 and 1991 and the area where the discoveries occurred is known as the “killing fields,” the Houston Chronicle reported.

Over the years, cops called the two unidentified women Jane and Janet Doe.

DNA FROM COFFEE CUP LEADS TO ARREST IN WASHINGTON STATE 1972 COLD CASE, COPS SAY

At Monday’s news conference, League City police chief Gary Ratliff identified Jane Doe as 32-year-old Audrey Cook, of Memphis, Tenn. and Janet Doe as 34-year-old Donna Prudhomme, of Port Arthur, Tex.

For years cold case detectives in League City, Tex., knew Audrey Cook, left, and Donna Prudhomme, right, as Jane and Janet Doe. Cops believe they were the victims of a serial killer.

For years cold case detectives in League City, Tex., knew Audrey Cook, left, and Donna Prudhomme, right, as Jane and Janet Doe. Cops believe they were the victims of a serial killer. (League City Police Department)

Police said the families of the two women have been informed of the news.

“We’ve had some emotional conversations with the family members,” Lt. Michael Buffington said. “This has been not unlike telling someone their family member was murdered yesterday.”

Detectives found relatives of Cook and Prudhomme after uploading their DNA to the genealogy website FamilyTreeDNA.

FLORIDA MAN WITH TATTOO-COVERED FACE ARRESTED IN 2001 COLD CASE MURDER

The FBI suspects a serial killer in the four homicides, the Houston Chronicle reported in 1993.

Police said the other two victims are Heidi Fye and Laura Miller. Fye, 25, of League City, had been missing about six months when police found her body in April 1984. Two kids riding bikes found Miller’s body in February 1986. Miller was a 16-year-old runaway from League City who had been reported missing five months earlier.

Investigators stumbled on Cook’s body as they were investigating the Miller case. She was last seen two months earlier. She had been shot in the back of the head with a small caliber weapon, according to police -- who have not revealed how the others died. Police found Prudhomme’s body in September 1991. She had been last heard from two months earlier.

"We have girls with similar appearances and similar hair color. The area where the bodies are being left [is similar]. The girls are all left nude," League City Sgt. Pat Bittne told the Austin American Statesman in 1993.

Buffington said police are hoping to learn more about Cook and Prudhomme as they continue to work the cold case.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“We want to hear from people who knew these girls before they went missing,” he said.

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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