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Long Thai crisis morphed coup leader's career into politics

Prayuth Chan-ocha became prime minister in a very Thai way: He led a military coup.

Now after five years of running Thailand with absolute power, he's seeking to hold on to the top job through the ballot box. The military's thinly veiled proxy party has put forward Prayuth as its nominee for prime minister after Sunday's election.

"He knows he can't be a dictator like this forever," said Prajak Kongkirati, a political science lecturer at Bangkok's Thammasat University. "He wants to gain more legitimacy and that's why he's holding the elections. He wants to return as a prime minister under normal politics."

After toppling the elected government in May 2014 with a pledge to "return happiness to the people," Prayuth outlawed criticism of his regime and vowed the country would not have elections as long as there was dissent. He promised elections and then delayed them every year he was in power.

That's given Prayuth time to smooth out some rough edges. He's shed some awkward military stiffness, while keeping a general's swagger. He's worn increasingly well-tailored suits — for which his wife takes credit — and, as pressure for an election mounted, largely transformed himself into the Thai equivalent of your typical baby-kissing politician.

He can boast some accomplishments during his time at the helm, most notably cleaning up the aviation, fishing and wildlife industries — which had put Thailand at peril of foreign economic sanctions — along with stepping up the fight against human trafficking, which also risked trade retaliation.

Running the show has been fairly smooth though thanks to his government's clampdown on opponents, the rubberstamp legislature he hand-picked and the law he enacted making all of his actions legal.

Should he remain prime minister after the election, he will be without what he refers to as his "special powers" and his patience could be tested as he has to deal with actual elected lawmakers who may be unwilling to dance to his tune.

"He has a strong personality, vigorous, and direct. If he tries to become a politician, he could try to change but he would never really be able to change 100 percent," said Supparuek Tongchairith, a veteran military beat reporter for Thai Rath, the country's largest-circulation newspaper. "Because his boiling point is low, if anyone pokes at him, he will explode. And for him to sit in the parliament, I guarantee, he will run into troubles."

Prayuth's situation is inextricably tied to Thailand's last 13 years of political tumult.

In one respect he has been the instrument of the conservative forces in Thai society. They could not accept the rise of billionaire politician Thaksin Shinawatra, whose populist policies after being elected prime minister in 2001 threatened to unravel the country's long-established power structure: Bangkok-oriented, devoted to the monarchy and safeguarded by the military.

Prayuth, 65, was born and raised in an army family at a military camp in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima. He attended a military preparatory school and graduated from Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, Thailand's West Point.

Prayuth was already a senior figure in the army when it staged a 2006 coup against Thaksin, justifying its action with allegations against him of abuse of power, self-enrichment and corruption that had triggered large protests. Some suggested that Thaksin sought to usurp the monarchy's place in Thai society.

Instead of easing tensions, the coup set off a bitter and often violent struggle for power between Thaksin's supporters and his opponents. Thaksin had his fortune and newly empowered poor and rural followers on his side; arrayed against him were the courts and the military, deeply loyal to the monarchy, which traditionally has been the country's most influential institution.

It was in this period that Prayuth climbed the ladder to the top of the military hierarchy. As commander of the First Army Region, he helped lead the bloody suppression of pro-Thaksin demonstrators in central Bangkok in 2010. In October that year, he became the army commander-in-chief.

After abandoning a sham effort to mediate between the Thaksin-backed government and its opponents who had been staging violent protests against it, Prayuth and the leaders of the other armed forces announced they were seizing power on May 22, 2014.

Prayuth and his junta spelled out their major tasks, including brokering national reconciliation and enacting reforms across Thai society to save the nation from what is said was the inherent corruption of politicians.

The leaders of the 2006 coup restored electoral democracy after about a year in power only to see Thaksin's allies bounce back.

It quickly became evident that this junta had no intention of allowing any Thaksin-allied party from coming to power again and that any attempts at reconciliation were going to be one-sided.

Under Prayuth's junta, called the National Council for Peace and Order, many civil liberties were curbed and military courts judged civilian political offenders. Government critics were summoned, or sometimes snatched off the streets, for "attitude adjustment" at army camps, a week or so in detention at an army base with a stern lecture to elicit a promise not to do it again. Longer term measures, such as a new constitution and election laws fashioned to handicap Thaksin's political machine, were also enacted.

Prayuth, who was unanimously elected prime minister by his appointed legislature, has a famously quick temper and can bristle at anyone who questions him. Couple that with a sometimes off-color sense of humor and it can lead to verbal attacks, gaffes or just plain bizarre moments.

He's jokingly told reporters he would have them executed, quipped that he might behead a soap opera star who called for elections, flung a banana peel at a cameraman and given an entire news conference in which he fondled the ear of a nearby sound technician.

Since the coup, the general has also drawn attention for his songwriting, penning a number of sappy ballads with nationalistic lyrics.

Prayuth — who has twin daughters, now grown, who for a time were in a pop band called Badz — has at times taken on the role of tough-love dad, especially during his weekly primetime television broadcast aired on all major Thai stations, "Returning Happiness to the People." The monologues can last an hour and half and touch on everything from the moral responsibility of youth to tips on cultivating orchids.

Yet allegations of nepotism against Prayuth's own relatives have led to uncomfortable accusations of hypocrisy. After the coup, a company owned by one of Prayuth's nephews that had no track record of projects was awarded lucrative army construction contracts. Prayuth's brother, also a former high-ranking army man, drew criticism when it was revealed that he made another son who had no military experience to an army officer.

Of course the most glaring contradiction may be Prayuth's own transformation.

As it became more likely he would seek to stay on as prime minister, he began allying with the very politicians he initially declared were the targets of junta reforms and launched government handouts that were nearly carbon copies of Thaksin's populist policies.

Early last year he made it clear, telling reporters: "I am no longer a soldier. Understood? I'm just a politician who used to be a soldier."

___

Associated Press journalists Tassanee Vejpongsa and Kaweewit Kaewjinda contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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Watch Live: Globalists Restricting Free Speech Following New Zealand Attack

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Asia’s mega-cities need clean energy drive to cope with environmental threats

People walk on a bridge in front of the financial district of Pudong during a polluted day in Shanghai
People walk on a bridge in front of the financial district of Pudong, which is covered in smog, during a polluted day in Shanghai, China November 28, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song

March 28, 2019

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Avoiding threats from climate change and pollution will require Asia’s booming cities to become much more efficient in their use of energy resources, delegates at a city development conference said on Thursday.

Asia is home to 15 out of the world’s 20 biggest cities, and the United Nations estimates another 2.5 billion people will live in cities by 2050, by far the most in Asia.

This growth caused serious pollution problems and will challenge transport networks, food supply chains, and energy supplies, the delegates said.

“Cities occupy 2 to 3 percent of our planet’s surface, yet they consume 70 percent of all energy,” said Soren Kvorning, President for Asia Pacific at Danfoss, a Danish engineering firm with a strong focus on Asia.

“The longer we wait, the higher the cost will be,” he said, adding there were three key improvement areas: building efficiency, cold chains for food supplies and a transition away from fossil fuels in transport.

Transportation is the biggest contributor to air pollution, which as per the World Health Organization estimates kills 4.2 million people every year.

“We can no longer stand by and watch. Electric cars and buses are an attractive option, and cities can also go fully electric in ports,” Kvorning said.

In most cities, buildings are the biggest energy consumers, making investment into better energy efficiency important.

“Efficiency measures all come back with a return on investment within 2 to 4 years, at current technologies,” he said.

To improve efficiency, Ang Kian Seng, Director for Environmental Sustainability at Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority, said the government had last year launched a “super low energy program” to cut emissions as far as possible.

“We will set the highest efficiency standards for these top echelon buildings, and then move the mass population towards that standard,” he said.

In food supply, Kvorning said a third of all food produced was lost because of lacking cold chains. He estimated current cooling technologies could save 40 percent of the lost food.

One of the biggest problems is the scope of the problems, the delegates said, with Asian cities – several of which have populations of over 20 million – struggling to provide enough housing, electricity, food and infrastructure.

“When you’re trying to put out fire, you don’t tend to think about integrated solutions. That’s a problem,” said Lauren Sorkin, Asia Pacific Director at 100 Resilient Cities, an consultancy.

Still, change is happening, delegates said, with most major Asian cities now having sustainability plans, with credit readily available.

“There is more capital available for sustainable solutions than there are projects. We will see quite a lot of change soon,” said Nicolas Parrot, Asia Pacific Head of Transportation Investment at French bank BNP Paribas.

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; additional reporting by Gavin Maguire; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

Source: OANN

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Doctors assessing when Madeira bus crash survivors can fly home to Germany

Flowers are seen at the site of a bus accident in Canico
Flowers are seen at the site of a bus accident in Canico, in the Portuguese Island of Madeira, April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

April 19, 2019

By Miguel Pereira and Rafael Marchante

CANICO, Portugal (Reuters) – Doctors from Germany are working with a Portuguese medical team to evaluate when the German tourists who survived a fatal bus crash on the island of Madeira can be transferred home, the hospital said on Friday.

The bus – carrying 55 tourists and a tour guide – veered off a steep road in the coastal town of Canico on Wednesday, and came to a halt next to a house, killing 29 Germans and injuring 27, including the Portuguese driver and tour guide.

Portugal’s public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the accident.

Heiko Maas, Germany’s foreign minister, landed in Madeira on Thursday evening with a team of doctors, psychologists and consular officials to meet those affected.

“We are working flat out to bring people who are injured and capable of being transported, to identify those who have died and to inform their families,” Maas said.

Maas laid a wreath a wreath at the site of the crash and held a minute of silence alongside his Portuguese counterpart.

After visiting the injured at a hospital in Funchal, Madeira’s capital city, Maas said an airplane would be made available to take the injured back to Germany.

A hospital spokesman told reporters on Friday they were working with medical staff from Germany to determine when the patients would be well enough to be flown home.

The spokesman said 16 of the 27 injured remained in hospital and 11 people had already been discharged.

Two of the injured were Portuguese and the rest were German, a hospital spokesman added.

Bus owner Sociedade de Automoveis da Madeir said it was cooperating with the authorities investigating the crash.

“It is our will and deep commitment to determine all the facts, causes and responsibilities of the accident,” Portugal’s Lusa news agency quoted its statement as saying.

(Reporting and writing by Catarina Demony in Lisbon; Additional reporting by Thomas Escritt and Madeline Chambers in Berlin; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: OANN

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Newmont shareholders OK $10 billion Goldcorp takeover, creating biggest gold producer

FILE PHOTO: Visitors pass the Newmont Mining Corporation booth during the PDAC convention in Toronto
FILE PHOTO: Visitors pass the Newmont Mining Corporation booth during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo

April 11, 2019

By Nichola Saminather

TORONTO (Reuters) – Newmont Mining shareholders on Thursday approved the company’s $10 billion takeover of Goldcorp Inc which is set to create the world’s biggest gold producer with assets across the Americas, Africa and Australia.

About 98 percent of votes at a special meeting were in support of Newmont’s proposal to issue new stock to fund its takeover of Goldcorp, the Denver-based company said in a statement. Goldcorp’s investors voted to approve the acquisition last week.

The deal, the biggest takeover in the gold sector’s history according to Refinitiv data, faced some initial opposition from Newmont investors who said it overly favored Goldcorp shareholders. But they rallied behind the proposal on the promise of a special dividend.

The 88-cent-per-share special dividend will be paid on May 1 to those who hold Newmont shares as of April 17, according to the statement.

Newmont shares were 0.7 percent lower at $36.01 in morning trading in New York, in line with the benchmark S&P/TSX Global Gold Index. Goldcorp shares slipped 0.26 percent to C$15.41 in Toronto.

“We thank Newmont’s shareholders for their overwhelming support for this compelling value creation opportunity as we build the world’s leading gold company,” Newmont Chief Executive Gary Goldberg said in the statement.

The new company, to be called Newmont Goldcorp, will overtake current market leader Barrick Gold Corp in annual production, churning out 6 million to 7 million ounces of gold annually over the next 10 years, compared with Barrick’s forecast of 5.1 million to 5.6 million ounces for 2019.

Newmont Goldcorp expects to shed between $1 billion and $1.5 billion of assets to focus on its most promising operations. This, combined with mines Barrick plans to sell in the wake of its acquisition of Randgold Resources, is expected by analysts to fuel a flurry of deals in a sector that has been focused on cutting costs rather than pursuing growth for several years.

Newmont’s acquisition of Goldcorp had faced several hurdles, beginning with Barrick’s hostile takeover bid for Newmont in February, which required it to abandon its deal with Goldcorp.

That was resolved through the creation of a joint venture of Newmont and Barrick’s operations in Nevada, which was estimated to create $4.7 billion in synergies.

(Reporting By Nichola Saminather; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: OANN

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China must not ‘colonize’ Italian business: ruling League

FILE PHOTO: Italian PM Giuseppe Conte holds his end-of-year news conference in Rome
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte speaks during his end-of-year news conference in Rome, Italy, December 28, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

March 11, 2019

By Sara Rossi

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s ruling League party gave hesitant backing on Monday to government plans to endorse China’s “Belt and Road” initiative, saying the venture had to boost local businesses and not threaten national security.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said he might sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to become a part of China’s giant infrastructure plan when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Rome and Palermo later this month.

The prospect has alarmed Italy’s main Western ally, the United States, which has urged Conte to drop the plan, calling the Chinese venture a “vanity project” that would bring no benefit to the Italian economy.

The U.S. admonition has created tensions within the ruling coalition and one senior League official has called for the MOU to be put on ice. But the party leadership gave the idea conditional backing following a meeting near Milan.

“If it’s about helping Italian companies invest abroad, then we are ready to talk to anyone,” League leader Matteo Salvini told reporters. “But we’re absolutely not ready to do so if it’s a question of foreign companies colonizing Italy.”

Giancarlo Giorgetti, a senior League figure and cabinet undersecretary, added that Italy had “golden share” powers to protect strategic sectors such as defense, energy, transport and communications, and would not hesitate to use them.

Looking to allay any such concerns, the industry ministry put out a statement saying the mooted deal did not include any accord over the creation of a 5G high-speed telecom network — a major worry for Washington, which has accused Beijing of looking to insert equipment for espionage in next-generation technology.

Chinese companies have denied this.

CATCH UP

The Belt and Road plan, championed by Xi, aims to link China by sea and land with southeast and central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, through an infrastructure network on the lines of the old Silk Road.

Washington has said China is using the initiative to bolster authoritarian regimes and export standards for technology applications that could threaten U.S. businesses and market access across the globe. It is also worried the plan might enable Beijing to extend its military influence.

A number of European Union states have already signed MOUs with China, including Hungary, Greece and Poland. If Italy does likewise, it would be the first Group of Seven major industrialized nation to do so.

Junior Trade Minister Michele Geraci, who has championed the China deal, said on Monday that Italy needed to convince Western allies that their fears over the planned accord were unfounded.

Geraci, who spent a decade teaching in China, says Italy is simply playing economic catch up with its main trading partners, particularly regarding job creation and so-called green-field investment to build local companies from the ground up.

“China has invested $5.5 billion in Britain and just $130 million in Italy,” Geraci told a foreign policy seminar at the weekend, speaking of green-field projects.

“There is huge potential there that other countries are already taking advantage of,” he said.

Italy went into recession at the end of 2018 for the third time in a decade and the government is anxious to find ways to boost the economy and revive the stalled construction sector.

(Reporting by Sara Rossi and Francesca Piscioneri; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

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N. Macedonia marks destruction of its Jewish community

North Macedonia is commemorating the deportation of almost the country's entire Jewish community to the Nazi death camp of Treblinka with a ceremony in the capital, Skopje.

The Holocaust Memorial Center in Skopje unveiled its permanent exhibit Monday, 76 years since 98 percent of the Jewish population of what was then a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was rounded up and transported to Treblinka, in occupied Poland. A 500-year-old Torah scroll, smuggled from Spain when the Jews fled the Inquisition to settle in the Balkans, is part of the exhibit.

The German occupiers turned over the province to their Bulgarian allies to run. More than 7,100 Jews from Skopje, Bitola and Stip were confined to ghettos ahead of transportation to the death camp.

Source: Fox News World

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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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