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Trump to pressure Iran by branding its Guard a terror group

In an unprecedented step to ramp up pressure on Tehran, the Trump administration is planning to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard a "foreign terrorist organization." The move is expected to further isolate Iran and could have widespread implications for U.S. personnel and policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The Trump administration has escalated rhetoric against Iran for months, but this will mark the first such designation by any American administration of an entire foreign government entity. Portions of the Guard, notably its elite Quds Force, have been targeted previously by the United States.

Officials informed of the step said an announcement was expected as early as Monday.

Two U.S. officials and a congressional aide confirmed the planned move. They were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, seemed to anticipate the designation, saying in a tweet Sunday aimed at President Donald Trump that Trump "should know better than to be conned into another US disaster."

This would be just the latest move by the Trump administration to isolate Iran. Trump withdrew from the Obama administration's landmark nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018 and, in the months that followed, reimposed punishing sanctions including those targeting Iran's oil, shipping and banking sectors.

The Revolutionary Guard designation, planning for which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes with sanctions, including freezes on assets the Guard may have in U.S. jurisdictions and a ban on Americans doing business with it or providing material support for its activities.

Although the Guard has broad control and influence over the Iranian economy, such penalties from the U.S. may have limited impact. The designation, however, could significantly complicate U.S. military and diplomatic work, notably in Iraq, where many Shiite militias and Iraqi political parties have close ties to the Guard. And in Lebanon, where the Guard has close ties to Hezbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government.

Without exclusions or waivers to the designation, U.S. troops and diplomats could be barred from contact with Iraqi or Lebanese authorities who interact with Guard officials or surrogates.

The Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies have raised concerns about the impact of the designation if the move does not allow contact with foreign officials who may have met with or communicated with Guard personnel. Those concerns have in part dissuaded previous administrations from taking the step, which has been considered for more than a decade.

It was not immediately clear whether the designation would include such carve-outs.

In addition to those complications, American commanders are concerned that the designation may prompt Iran to retaliate against U.S. forces in the region, and those commanders plan to warn U.S. troops remaining in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere of that possibility, according to a third U.S. official. This official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Aside from Iraq, where some 5,200 American troops are stationed, and Syria, where some U.S. 2,000 troops remain, the U.S. 5th Fleet, which operates in the Persian Gulf from its base in Bahrain, and the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, are potentially at risk.

A similar warning is also expected from the State Department of possible Iranian retaliation against American interests, including embassies and consulates, and anti-American protests, the first two U.S. officials said. Similar alerts were issued at the start of the Iraq War in 2003 and more recently when the Trump administration announced it would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Despite the risks, Iran hard-liners on Capitol Hill, such as Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and elsewhere have long advocated for the designation. They say it will send an important message to Iran as well as deal it a further blow after Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed economic sanctions.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton have taken up the call and have in recent months spoken stridently about Iran and its "malign activities" in the region.

Pompeo has made clear in public comments that pressure on Tehran will only increase until it changes its behavior. Just last week, Pompeo's special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, accused Iran and its proxies of being responsible for the death of 608 U.S. troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. He cited newly declassified Defense Department information for the claim, which is expected to be used in the justification for the Guard designation.

"Secretary Pompeo will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to press the regime to change its destructive policies for the benefit of peace in the region and for the sake of its own people, who are the longest-suffering victims of this regime," Hook said, in an indication that new action is coming.

The department currently designates 60 groups, such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State and their various affiliates, Hezbollah and numerous militant Palestinian factions, as "foreign terrorist organizations." But none of them is a state-run military.

Once a designation is announced by the secretary of state in coordination with the Treasury secretary, Congress has seven days to review it. If there are no objections, it then will take effect.

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Associated Press reporter Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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FAA to meet with U.S. airlines, pilot unions on Boeing 737 MAX

FILE PHOTO: A Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is parked at a Boeing production facility in Renton
FILE PHOTO: A Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft is parked at a Boeing production facility in Renton, Washington, U.S., March 11, 2019. REUTERS/David Ryder/File Photo

April 11, 2019

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration will hold a meeting Friday with major U.S. airlines that fly now grounded Boeing 737 MAX airplanes and three major pilots’ unions, the agency confirmed.

The meeting with safety representatives from the airlines and unions is set for three hours at FAA headquarters in Washington and will include American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co and officials from the three unions.

More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX jets have been grounded worldwide after nearly 350 people died in two crashes, one in Indonesia in October and one in Ethiopia last month. The FAA is also convening a joint review with aviation regulators from China, Europe, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, Ethiopia and other countries.

American and United have canceled flights through early June, while Southwest has canceled flights until the end of May because of the 737 MAX grounding.

Boeing said it has reprogrammed software on its 737 MAX passenger jet to prevent erroneous data from triggering an anti-stall system that is under mounting scrutiny following the two deadly nose-down crashes and revised pilot training. On April 1, Boeing said it delayed submitting the proposed revisions to the FAA for approval.

The FAA said the meeting is to help “the FAA to gather facts, information, and individual views to further understand their views as FAA decides what needs to be done before returning the aircraft to service.” The FAA added it “continues to gather all available information and data in considering the return of the 737 MAX to service.”

Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association that represents pilots at American Airlines, said he expected the union would be able to “provide feedback and input regarding pilot training related to the 737 MAX.” The airlines did not immediately comment.

Federal prosecutors aided by the FBI, the Transportation Department inspector general’s office and a blue-ribbon panel are also reviewing the plane’s certification and other issues surrounding the 737 MAX.

Lawmakers and the National Transportation Safety Board are also reviewing the FAA’s certification process that delegates some tasks to the airplane manufacturers.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Source: OANN

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Michigan men accused of wiring $88M overseas claim it was for their families

Three Michigan men accused of wiring $88 million to multiple overseas accounts claim they did nothing wrong, arguing they were just sending the money to relatives.

Federal prosecutors, however, claim the trio created phony businesses with the express purpose of moving large amounts of cash out of the country.

Omar Alhalmi, 38, was charged last month with funneling $22.3 million to Yemen and other countries, while Fahd Samaha, 45, and Maged Alsabahi, 29, are accused of running an illegal cash delivery operation from 2013 through 2015, the Detroit Free Press.

4 PEOPLE KILLED, INCLUDING 3 CHILDREN, IN POSSIBLE MURDER-SUICIDE IN MICHIGAN: OFFICIALS

According to indictments filed Jan. 22, the three men engaged in secret banking practices by creating multiple fake businesses by using the addresses of vacant buildings, storefronts of residences and used “straw business owners” or “fronts” to help send millions to various countries, including Yemen and China.

Prosecutors claim Alhalmi never disclosed where the money came from and where it was going and created at least 13 phony business bank accounts from 2011 to 2016 to access the banking industry’s wiring service, the Free Press reported.

However, Alhalmi’s attorney claims the government knew exactly what he was doing and there was nothing illicit about where the money came from or where it was going.

Nabih Ayad told the Free Press that Alhalmi and the other two men collected from people in the Yemeni community who wanted to send cash to loved ones back home. He said users were charged a fee to have their money wired back to Yemen.

MICHIGAN COMMUNITY REELING AFTER 3 TEENS COMMITTED SUICIDE IN LAST EIGHT MONTHS

“Not everyone has a bank in the old country,” he told the newspaper. “You’re talking about a large Yemeni community (in metro Detroit). That how they get money back home.”

He added: “They are just creating an opportunity for their loved ones to receive money…In the olden days, they used to just pass it off by hand. Here, they are doing it through a wiring service.”

Ayad said he believes the government is being overzealous in the case and that the government has never suggested the money wound up in the wrong hands.

“In my client’s case, the government had already visited his business in 2013 and never told him to stop doing it,” he added.

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The three men are charged with using the filing of a false currency transaction report and operating an unlicensed money transmitting businesses. The crimes carry a maximum punishment of five years in prison.

Source: Fox News National

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Ethiopia mourns crash victims as plane's 'black box' found

Ethiopian Airlines has grounded all of its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft as "an extra safety precaution" following the crash of one of its planes in which 157 people were killed, a spokesman said Monday, as Ethiopia marked a day of mourning and the plane's damaged "black box" of data was found.

Although it wasn't yet known what caused the crash of the new plane in clear weather outside Addis Ababa on Sunday, the airline decided to ground its remaining four 737 Max 8s until further notice, spokesman Asrat Begashaw said. Ethiopian Airlines had been using five of the planes and awaiting delivery of 25 more.

Some other airlines around the world were deciding to do the same. China's civilian aviation authority ordered all Chinese airlines to temporarily ground their Max 8s, and Caribbean carrier Cayman Airways said it was temporarily grounding the two it operates.

Red Cross workers slowly picked through the widely scattered debris near the blackened crash crater, looking for the remains of 157 lives. A shredded book. A battered passport. Business cards in multiple languages. Heavy machinery dug for larger pieces of the plane.

The plane's "black box" of flight data and cockpit voice recorder had been found, Ethiopian Airlines said. An airline official, however, told The Associated Press that the box was partially damaged and "we will see what we can retrieve from it." The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.

Forensic experts from Israel had arrived to help with the investigation, said Ethiopian Airlines' spokesman Asrat. Ethiopian authorities lead the investigation into the crash, assisted by the U.S., Kenya and others.

"These kinds of things take time," Kenya's transport minister, James Macharia, told reporters.

People from 35 countries died in the Sunday morning crash six minutes after the plane took off from Ethiopia's capital en route to Nairobi. Ethiopian Airlines said the senior pilot issued a distress call and was told to return but all contact was lost shortly afterward. The plane plowed into the ground at Hejere near Bishoftu.

"I heard this big noise," one local resident, Tsegaye Reta, told the AP on Monday. "The villagers said that it was a plane crash, and we rushed to the site. There was a huge smoke that we couldn't even see the plane. The parts of the plane were falling apart."

Kenya lost 32 people, more than any country. Relatives of 25 of the victims had been contacted, Macharia said, and taking care of their welfare was of utmost importance.

"Some of them, as you know, they are very distressed," he said. "They are in shock like we are. They are grieving."

Canada, Ethiopia, the U.S., China, Italy, France, Britain, Egypt, Germany, India and Slovakia all lost four or more citizens.

Leaders of the United Nations, the U.N. refugee agency and the World Food Program announced that colleagues had been on the plane. The U.N. migration agency estimated that 19 U.N.-affiliated employees were killed.

Both Addis Ababa and Nairobi are major hubs for humanitarian workers, and some had been on their way to a large U.N. environmental conference set to begin Monday in Nairobi. The U.N. flag at the event flew at half-staff.

The crash was strikingly similar to that of a Lion Air jet of the same Boeing model in Indonesian seas last year, killing 189 people. The crash was likely to renew questions about the 737 Max 8, the newest version of Boeing's popular single-aisle airliner, which was first introduced in 1967 and has become the world's most common passenger jet.

Safety experts cautioned against drawing too many comparisons between the two crashes until more is known about Sunday's disaster.

The Ethiopian plane was delivered to the airline in November. The jet's last maintenance was on Feb. 4, and it had flown just 1,200 hours.

The crash shattered more than two years of relative calm in African skies, where travel had long been chaotic. It also was a serious blow to state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, which has expanded to become the continent's largest and best-managed carrier and turned Addis Ababa into the gateway to Africa.

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Meseret reported from Addis Ababa.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Source: Fox News World

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Australian prime minister greets woman in Chinese who corrects him: ‘No, I’m Korean’

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is on the campaign trail ahead of the May 18 federal election which will determine whether the country’s conservative government will get a third term.

Morrison was greeting voters in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield on Saturday. Morrison shook hands with people in the community and was mingling with the residents.

AUSTRALIA OPPOSES DEATH PENALTY AS ASSANGE SUPPORTERS MARCH

Sky News Australia captured the moment Morrison shook a woman’s hand and greeted her with, “Hello, how are you, ni hao” which is Mandarin for, “hello.”

However, the women quickly corrected the prime minister.

“No, no, no, I’m Korean,” she replied.

Morrison recovered to tell the crowd that he was “no Asian languages expert, so I’m gonna say g’day to everybody”, The Guardian reported.

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A recent Ipsos poll, published by the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, gave Bill Shorten's Labor party a lead over Morrison's Coalition 53-47 ahead of the election on May 18.

"[The election] will determine the economy that Australians live in, not just for the next three years, but for the next decade," Morrison said at a press conference earlier this month.

Source: Fox News World

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Germany criticizes Turkey in row over reporters

FILE PHOTO: Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan hold a rally before the official inauguration of the Cologne Central Mosque in Cologne
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan hold a rally before the official inauguration of the Cologne Central Mosque in Cologne, Germany, September 29, 2018. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen/File Photo

March 10, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Two German journalists left Turkey on Sunday after authorities there rejected their press accreditations, a step that drew condemnation from Germany’s foreign minister and revived diplomatic tensions.

The departure of Joerg Brase, a correspondent for ZDF television, and Thomas Seibert, who works for newspaper Tagesspiegel, came a day after Germany warned its citizens they risked arrest in Turkey for expressing views Ankara may not like.

“This is not acceptable to us,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said of the journalists being stripped of their credentials. “It has nothing to do with our understanding of press freedom,” he told broadcaster ARD.

ZDF confirmed Brase had arrived back in Germany on Sunday afternoon and Tagesspiegel said Seibert had also arrived back in Germany.

The increase in diplomatic tensions follows a period of relative calm since September last year, when Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan came to Germany on a state visit aimed at repairing relations after bitter disputes.

Ankara has been smarting at what it sees as Europe’s slowness to condemn a failed coup against Erdogan in 2016, while Germany and other EU countries are concerned about the mass arrests that followed, Turkey’s clampdown on press freedom and Erdogan’s influence over Turkish diaspora communities in Europe.

Before leaving Istanbul, Brase told ZDF: “The Turkish government has managed to more or less silence the national media. They are now trying to do it with international media. And we should not submit to that.”

Seibert added: “Turkey will not succeed in muffling our media. We will keep reporting about Turkey from wherever that might be.”

ZDF director Thomas Bellut said Brase had reported from Turkey factually and knowledgeably, adding: “ZDF will continue to report about this important country extensively, impartially, factually and critically.”

Maas also expressed alarm at comments made by a Turkish minister threatening those in Germany who supported the Kurdish PKK guerrilla group, fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey, while at home, then spent vacations in Turkey.

Both sides are eager to avoid a severe deterioration in ties with Turkey’s economy in crisis and Germany, home to 3 million people of Turkish origin, reliant on Turkey to help contain a Syrian migrant crisis beyond Europe’s borders.

In February last year, a Turkish court freed German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel pending trial after indicting him for alleged security offences – a move that helped ease tensions between the two NATO allies for a period.

Asked about the rejection of the accreditations on Friday, Turkish Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Germany and Turkey could have disagreements but “these are not impossible to solve … What will remain is the Turkish-German friendship”.

(Reporting by Reuters TV and by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay in Ankara; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

Source: OANN

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Nipsey Hussle music fans stream into Los Angeles memorial

Mourners begin to arrive at Staples Center ahead of a memorial for rapper Nipsey Hussle in Los Angeles
Mourners begin to arrive at Staples Center ahead of a memorial for rapper Nipsey Hussle in Los Angeles, California, April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon

April 11, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Thousands of people streamed into a public memorial in Los Angeles on Thursday for slain rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was gunned down in the city last month.

Free tickets were all snapped up this week for the two-hour event at the 21,000-capacity Staples Center, a popular sports and pop concert venue. Performers have not been announced.

Fans, many wearing T-shirts bearing Hussle’s face, or carrying flowers, lined up early to get into the Downtown venue, watched by dozens of police in cars, on motorcycles and on bicycles.

The memorial will be livestreamed on Black Entertainment Television (BET) and followed by a 25-mile long procession through the streets of south Los Angeles where the musician was raised and shot dead on March 31.

Security was tight in and around the Staples Center because of Hussle’s former connections with some of Los Angeles notorious street gangs. A stampede erupted at a local vigil for Hussle last week after reports of a gunman in the crowd.

More recently Hussle, 33, had parlayed his fame into a role as a community organizer and activist combating gang violence. He was shot outside a clothing store he owned in south Los Angeles.

Los Angeles police last week arrested a 29-year-old man who has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. Police said the shooting was motivated by a personal dispute between Hussle and the suspect, Eric Ronald Holder, although they said it took place against a surge in gang-related violence and shootings in south Los Angeles in March.

Hussle, whose real name was Ermias Asghedom, was Grammy-nominated earlier this year for his debut studio album “Victory Lap.”

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Richard Chang)

Source: OANN

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Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta
Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta, Cyprus, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Stefanos Kouratzis

April 26, 2019

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cypriot police searched on Friday for more victims of a suspected serial killer, in a case which has shocked the Mediterranean island and exposed the authorities to charges of “criminal indifference” because the dead women were foreigners.

The main opposition party, the left-wing AKEL, called for the resignation of Cyprus’s justice minister and police chief.

Police were combing three different locations west of the capital Nicosia for victims of the suspected killer, a 35-year-old army officer who has been in detention for a week.

The bodies of three women, including two thought to be from the Philippines, have been recovered. Police sources said the suspect had indicated the location of the third body, found on Thursday, and had said the person was “either Indian or Nepali”.

Police said they were searching for a further four people, including two children, based on the suspect’s testimony.

“These women came here to earn a living, to help their families. They lived away from their families. And the earth swallowed them, nobody was interested,” AKEL lawmaker Irene Charalambides told Reuters.

“This killer will be judged by the court but the other big question is the criminal indifference shown by the others when the reports first surfaced. I believe, as does my party, that the justice minister and the police chief should resign. They are irrevocably exposed.”

Police have said they will investigate any perceived shortcomings in their handling of the case.

One person who did attempt to alert the authorities over the disappearances, a 70-year-old Cypriot citizen, said his motives were questioned by police.

The bodies of the two Filipino women reported missing in May and August 2018 were found in an abandoned mine shaft this month. Police discovered the body of the third woman at an army firing range about 14 km (9 miles) from the mine shaft.

Police are now searching for the six-year-old daughter of the first victim found, a Romanian mother who disappeared with her eight-year-old child in 2016, and a woman from the Phillipines who vanished in Dec. 2017.

The suspect has not been publicly named, in line with Cypriot legal practice.

A public vigil for the missing was planned later on Friday.

(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.

The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.

The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

Source: OANN

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo

April 26, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.

The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.

Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.

But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.

Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.

High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.

It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.

Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.

“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.

The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.

Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.

Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.

Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.

Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.

This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

April 26, 2019

By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.

The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.

Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.

“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.

Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.

“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.

U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.

Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.

Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.

Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.

Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.

Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.

Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.

Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan

(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.

Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.

Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.

WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?

The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.

Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.

HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?

The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.

Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.

The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.

The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.

No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.

Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.

Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.

CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?

No.

Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.

“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.

“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”

PROOF OF WRONGDOING?

In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.

Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”

PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?

Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.

In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.

The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.

WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?

A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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