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Alabama teacher arrested after gun discharges in pocket inside a classroom of first-graders: report

An Alabama substitute teacher was detained after a gun in his pocket allegedly discharged inside a classroom of first-graders on Friday.

One student at Blountsville Elementary School was reportedly struck by a fragment and then checked out by a school nurse after the firearm of Henry Rex Weaver, the teacher, accidentally discharged.

FBI AGENT ACCIDENTALLY FIRES GUN WHILE DANCING AT A DENVER NIGHTCLUB

Authorities told AL.com that the teacher had the gun in his pocket when the incident occurred. Students were present in the class.

“It (the sound) alerted administrators,” Blount County Sheriff Mark Moon told the outlet. “He was detained until we could get him in our jail.”

Weaver was charged with reckless endangerment, third-degree aggravated assault and possession of a firearm on school grounds, authorities said. An investigation is underway.

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“Obviously I’m concerned about a substitute teacher bring a gun to school,’’ the sheriff added, “and what we can do to prevent that in the future.”

Source: Fox News National

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Rhetoric vs. reality: Kamala Harris’ progressive platform undercut by prosecutor past

Kamala Harris began her 2020 presidential campaign with a sweeping anti-Trump speech on Jan. 27 that took pains to mollify progressive critics arguing that, when Harris was a prosecutor and California's attorney general, she shunned some of the same proposals she now claims are critical to stem racial injustice in the court system.

In the weeks since that address to supporters at Oakland City Hall, though, concerns from prominent progressives and members of the legal community back in California have only grown louder -- as has pressure on Harris to prove that her newfound commitment to these issues is genuine.

CALIFORNIA REDUCES CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR THEFT -- YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENS TO THE NUMBER OF THEFTS

A scathing op-ed published in January in The New York Times, written by a law professor who directed the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent in Los Angeles, kickstarted renewed scrutiny on Harris.

The law professor, Lara Bazelon, charged in the piece that Harris previously "fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors."

Bazelon further suggested that Harris should "apologize to the wrongfully convicted people she has fought to keep in prison and to do what she can to make sure they get justice," or otherwise make clear she has "radically broken from her past."

Sen. Kamala Harris talking to a crowd at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, N.H.

Sen. Kamala Harris talking to a crowd at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, N.H. (Fox News)

Asked by Fox News this week whether she thought Harris has since taken the necessary steps to atone for her previous positions, Bazelon responded, "The short answer is no, I don’t."

"I am disappointed in Kamala Harris," Bazelon continued. "Her tenure as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general was riven by the failures to embrace bold necessary change--or even change that wasn’t so bold but merely consistent with her prosecutorial mission--for example, conceding error on wrongful conviction cases rather than weaponize technicalities to keep people locked up."

Harris' "after-the-fact claim to have been a 'progressive prosecutor,'" Bazelon added, "rings hollow for the reasons I said in my [New York Times] piece." She cited shifting comments on marijuana and cash bail, adding: "What progressives like me want to see -- and have not -- is Harris reckon honestly with her record. ... I think voters are hungry for authenticity. It isn’t authentic to claim to be something you were not."

Other progressive advocates had a similar assessment. Just months after she joined the Senate in 2017, Harris touted her bipartisan bail reform package on Facebook, telling her thousands of followers that she wanted states to move away from cash bail entirely, and for judges to set bail amounts based only on the risks posed by defendants -- not the "money they’ve got in their bank account."

The goal, Harris said, was to reduce the effects of the bail system on impoverished minority communities. But her choice surprised some bail reform advocates back in California. In her seven years as a district attorney from 2004 to 2011, and then six as attorney general, Harris was absent on the issue, they say.

In fact, less than a year earlier, her office defended the cash bail system in a pair of federal court cases, shifting course only weeks before she entered the Senate.

"For her entire career, she used some of the highest money bail amounts in the country to keep people in jail cells and saddle poor families with financial debt," Alec Karakatsanis, an attorney who has brought several legal challenges to California's bail system, told The Associated Press. "And as soon as she had no influence on that issue practically, she announces she has a different view on it."

Harris' campaign did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.

JUST HOW MUCH MONEY HAS HARRIS RAISED SO FAR, COMPARED TO OTHER TOP DEM 2020 CONTENDERS?

Now a presidential candidate, Harris is casting herself as a progressive who consistently leveraged her power in the justice system to further civil rights causes and advocate for the disadvantaged. She has pledged a wholesale overhaul of the country's fractured criminal justice system, arguing for marijuana legalization, bail reform and a moratorium on the death penalty. But when she had a chance to take a bold stand on these issues as a top law enforcement officer, Harris often opted for a careful approach or defended the status quo.

In this Friday, March 8, 2019, photo, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, speaks at a town hall gathering in Hemingway, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

In this Friday, March 8, 2019, photo, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, speaks at a town hall gathering in Hemingway, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

"I never had a sense she was forward thinking or reforming," said John Raphling, a bail reform advocate and senior researcher at Human Rights Watch who faced off against Harris's state Justice Department as a criminal defense attorney. "Bail reform is a trendy issue, and a lot of politicians are jumping on it and saying this is unfair. I don't have any evidence that Harris was seeing that unfairness back when she was attorney general — but to her credit, we evolve, we learn, we see things."

Harris' supporters say as a prosecutor she was tasked with upholding the law and, as attorney general, defending the state, not making policy. She had limited ability to effect change within the rigid structure of the courts, they argue.

Argued Lateefah Simon, a civil rights activist who worked for Harris in San Francisco: "Everyone who has experienced the criminal justice system knows it's broken. She would say, 'we're confined by the rules of the law, and in the areas where we have discretion, we are going to work to try to move justice.'"

"I deeply know her convictions about what could be possible and what we needed to do, but also what the boundaries and limitations were," Simon said.

Senate Judiciary Committee members Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., left, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., arrive at the chamber for the final vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, at the Capitol in Washington.

Senate Judiciary Committee members Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., left, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., arrive at the chamber for the final vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, at the Capitol in Washington. (Associated Press)

Simon wrote a response to Bazelon's op-ed, which praised Harris for enacting "the first statewide implicit bias and procedural justice training in the country" and making "officers wear body cameras," as well as for starting "pattern and practice investigations into discriminatory actions" and demanding "that data on in-custody deaths and police shootings be made public to ensure accountability."

Simon also said Harris worked to hire more minority prosecutors. In her first year as San Francisco district attorney, she launched a re-entry program designed to keep low-level drug offenders from returning to prison. That same year she refused to seek the death penalty for a man who killed a police officer, infuriating the Bay Area political establishment and creating friction with the law enforcement community.

But in many cases throughout her career, Harris embraced the traditional role of prosecutor.

"I am disappointed in Kamala Harris."

— Law professor Lara Bazelon

She refused to take a position on a pair of sentencing reform ballot measures, arguing she must remain neutral because her office was responsible for preparing ballot text. She defended the death penalty in court, setting aside her personal opposition to capital punishment.

In response to critics who've pushed her to use her power in the courts to usher in change, she told The New York Times in 2016, "I have a client, I don't get to choose my client."

Harris now says she would call for a federal moratorium on the death penalty if elected president.

Harris' law enforcement approach has at times put her out of step with California's activist community. When she pushed a controversial policy that criminalized truancy, threatening to jail parents of children who missed too much school, even Harris' staff "winced at the plan," she wrote in her first book released just in time for her campaign for attorney general in 2010.

The program has since become a source of tension with criminal justice advocates, who see it as a sign of Harris' outdated approach to dealing with problems that stem from poverty. The Huffington Post recently spotlighted the case of a woman who was arrested under the program over her daughter's inconsistent school attendance -- though much of that was due to medical issues.

In a recent NPR interview, Harris said her truancy initiative was not designed to punish vulnerable families, but "put a spotlight" on the problem and direct resources to needy families. Her campaign hails the effort as a success, and supporters have lauded Harris for prioritizing a child's education.

"As a result of our initiative, which never resulted in any parent going to jail — never — because that was never the goal," Harris said.

But Harris' legacy remains on the state's books: She pushed a state-wide truancy law modeled after her San Francisco program. It has resulted in hundreds of parents in often less affluent and less politically liberal California counties being prosecuted.

Harris' approach at the time was considered smart politics for a politician seeking to run statewide. Throughout her career, Harris worked to win over powerful police unions. She refused to support a bill requiring her office to investigate shootings involving law enforcement officers. In 2015, she declined to back statewide standards for body cameras, arguing that individual departments should decide how to use the technology.

It is true, Bazelon conceded in her op-ed, that "politicians must make concessions to get the support of key interest groups," and that the "fierce, collective opposition of law enforcement and local district attorney associations can be hard to overcome at the ballot box." But, Bazelon charged, Harris "did not barter or trade to get the support of more conservative law-and-order types; she gave it all away."

As Harris transitioned from law enforcement to legislating, the politics of criminal justice issues were changing fast. The deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police in 2014 and 2015 prompted outcry and spawned the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement. Democrats began rethinking their tough-on-crime strategies, focusing more on inequality and abuse in the system. Prosecutors and police came under increasing scrutiny for their roles.

Harris' views appear to have been changing, too.

In 2014, she was opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana, and when she ran against a Republican challenger for re-election as attorney general she took the more conservative view: He wanted to legalize. Harris laughed at the idea in a local television interview.

HARRIS SAID SHE LISTENED TO TUPAC WHILE SHE WAS HIGH IN COLLEGE, BEFORE HE EVEN MADE MUSIC

But Harris's public tone changed as speculation grew about her running for president in 2020. Last year, Harris endorsed Democratic Sen. Cory Booker's bill for federal legalization of marijuana. She argued on Twitter that "making marijuana legal at the federal level is the smart thing to do and it's the right thing to do." She released a video declaring that "marijuana laws are not applied and enforced in the same way for all people."

Last month, she went as far as acknowledging to a pair of morning radio hosts that she's used recreational marijuana: "I have, and I did inhale; that was a long time ago."

Some see a similar pattern when it comes to the call for bail reform. Shortly after announcing her presidential bid in January, Harris declared on Twitter: "It's long past time to address bail reform across the country."

"This is a serious injustice," she wrote.

Three years earlier, Harris's office was defending cash bail in a federal case. "Neither the bail law nor the bail schedule discriminate on the basis of wealth, poverty, or economic status of any kind," Harris wrote. In response to the notion that money bail schemes unfairly punish low-income defendants, Harris shot back, "the state is not constitutionally required to remove obstacles not of its own creation."

Harris appeared to have shifted her stance 10 months later. In December of 2016, Harris filed a motion in a case challenging the application of California's money bail laws saying the system is deserving "of intense scrutiny." She pledged not to defend any bail scheme that fails to take into account a defendant's ability to pay. Three weeks later she was sworn in to the Senate.

Still, she asked the judge to toss the case, arguing that the laws were constitutional even if the way some counties implemented those laws was not. "The bail system at issue here does not categorically deny bail to any group of individuals," she wrote.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The move perplexed bail reform advocates who say she could have used her position of power to do more as the top law enforcement official in the state, overseeing thousands of prosecutors who each day requested cash bail for those they charged with crimes.

"I'm glad she's come to the right position now, but it's too late for tens of thousands of Californians, real human beings who have been detained in jail every day in California throughout the whole state, that the attorney general could have stopped," Phil Telfeyan, one of the plaintiff's attorneys in the bail cases, told the AP.

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Could Thailand’s populists win again despite army obstacles?

Supporters of Pheu Thai Party attend an election campaign in Ubon Ratchathani Province
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of Pheu Thai Party attend an election campaign in Ubon Ratchathani Province, Thailand, Februray 18, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

March 20, 2019

By Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Nearly five years after Thailand’s 2014 military coup, the populist movement that the army has overthrown twice in a decade is contesting an election on Sunday that its leaders say is rigged against it.

Yet, the Pheu Thai party linked to ousted ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is hoping it can beat the system, just as the former telecommunication tycoon’s loyalists have won every general election since 2001.

This time, Pheu Thai has shifted strategy by dividing its forces to capture new votes and to seek a “democratic front” with other parties to overcome junta-written electoral rules that give a huge advantage to the party seeking to retain junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister.

Sunday’s election has 81 parties competing, but the race has shaped up as one between Pheu Thai and “democracy front” allies versus the pro-army Palang Pracharat party that nominated Prayuth as prime minister.

Polls indicate that Pheu Thai will again be the top vote-winner, and it hopes with its allies to make up the largest bloc in the 500-seat House of Representatives.

But that may not matter, because the new constitution written by the junta allows parliament’s upper house, the 250-seat Senate, to vote with the lower house to choose the prime minister – and the Senate is entirely appointment by the junta.

That means pro-junta parties need to win only 126 lower house seats on Sunday to choose the next government, while Pheu Thai and allies, who can’t count on any support in the Senate, need 376 – three-quarters of the total up for grabs.

Despite the disadvantages, Sudarat Keyuraphan, Pheu Thai’s main prime ministerial candidate, said a democratic front could keep the military from controlling the next government.

“I still believe in the heart of the people and we have seen election upsets in many places around the world,” Sudarat told Reuters in an interview.

“Now, they have created a new structure that enables them to hold on to power in a semi-democratic structure,” she said of the military. “So we have to tell people about this and to put an end to this once and for all.”

‘GET RID OF THAKSIN’

However, the complex rules governing the election make it all but impossible for pro-Thaksin parties to form a government on their own as they have in previous elections.

Since he burst onto the political scene in 2001, Thaksin has dominated Thai politics, inspiring devotion among his mostly rural supporters for his pro-poor policies and revulsion from mostly middle-class and establishment opponents who decry him as a corrupt demagogue.

The rivalry has brought intermittent violent protests over almost 15 years. Twice, the military has stepped in, the first time in 2006 to oust Thaksin after he won a second term and again in 2014 to topple a government that had been led by his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Thaksin now lives in self-imposed exile to escape a 2008 corruption sentence. He is officially banned from politics but has been hosting a weekly podcast since January discussing global affairs and politics.

His son, Panthongtae Shinawatra, 38, has made cameo appearances at Pheu Thai rallies, bringing loud cheers in party strongholds in the north and northeast.

Worry that a pro-Thaksin party might yet again win the election was one reason why the post-coup constitution made changes giving the junta a strong say in who will be prime minister, said Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of the faculty of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University.

“The establishment have had a strong determination to get rid of Thaksin once and for all,” Titipol told Reuters.

PRO-DEMOCRACY FRONT

While the rewritten electoral rules give junta leader Prayuth’s party an advantage in choosing the next government, they are by no means a guarantee.

In recent weeks, talk of a “democracy front” has gained ground, with speculation different parties in the House of Representatives might muster the 376 votes needed to choose the prime minister.

That strategy took a hit when Thai Raksa Chart, a key pro-Thaksin ally of Pheu Thai, was disqualified from the election this month.

The constitutional court ruled that the party had broken the electoral law by nominating the sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, as its prime ministerial candidate, crossing the traditional boundary between monarchy and politics.

Still, Pheu Thai has other allies – including Pheu Chart party and Pheu Tham – while politicians from the dissolved Thai Raksa Chart campaign for the democratic front.

Other parties like the youth-oriented Future Forward Party, while not seen as “pro-Thaksin”, could join forces to keep the military out of politics.

The leader of another main party, the Democrats, has also said he won’t support keeping junta leader Prayuth as prime minister, though it is unclear if the staunchly anti-Thaksin Democrats would join any front with Thaksin loyalists.

Even if they unite, it’s unclear whether anti-junta parties can muster enough votes, but Pheu Thai’s Sudarat said Prayuth’s declaration as a prime ministerial candidate has had a galvanizing effect.

“For 10 years the military has been acting as a referee,” she said.

“But now they have reveal themselves and have become a player so this could lead to a new end game … now it is up to the people.”

(Editing by Kay Johnson, Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

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Mexico central bank warns Pemex challenges could put stability at risk

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Mexico's Central Bank (Banco de Mexico) is seen at its building in downtown Mexico City
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Mexico's Central Bank (Banco de Mexico) is seen at its building in downtown Mexico City, Mexico February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril/File Photo

April 11, 2019

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Financial challenges at Mexican state oil company Pemex could pose a risk for the country’s macroeconomic stability, Mexico’s central bank said in minutes published on Thursday.

Credit ratings agencies in recent weeks have issued warnings about Pemex and the country’s sovereign rating, expressing concern about the government’s plans to bail out the deeply indebted oil company. The entity holds roughly $106 billion in financial debt, the highest amount of any state oil firm in Latin America.

A majority of central bank members said any new government support for Pemex should address the company’s structural problems and not affect the country’s budget deficit, to avoid hurting its sovereign credit rating.

For the economy overall, the majority of bank members said available information suggests that growth at the start of the year continues to be low.

Mexican industrial output rose 0.3 percent in February from January, the national statistics agency said on Thursday. Although manufacturing typically has been a bright spot due to U.S. demand, the sector was nearly flat in February from the prior month.

Year-over-year, industrial output was down 0.8 percent, impacted by slower growth in mining and construction.

“Tighter financial conditions, policy uncertainty, soft business confidence, and slowing external demand will likely generate headwinds to both the construction and manufacturing sectors in 2019,” Goldman Sachs said in a report.

Even so, Capital Economics said in a report that February’s increase from the prior month suggests that Mexico’s economy will post stronger growth in 2019 than last year.

Mexico’s central bank held rates steady for the second time in a row at its March 28 monetary policy meeting, after several consecutive hikes. A majority of board members said in the meeting minutes published on Thursday that the entity will adjust monetary policy in an opportune and firm manner to reach its 3 percent inflation target.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon, Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Diane Craft)

Source: OANN

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Selfie-seeking Texas teenager survives fall off bridge, hopes near-death experience serves as warning

A teenager in Texas who was nearly killed while trying to snap the perfect selfie atop a bridge in Dallas has a simple message: No photo is worth it.

Triston Bailey was reportedly with a group of friends headed home from a Dallas Stars game on Nov. 12 when the group decided to pull over for a selfie on the Margaret McDermott Bridge along Interstate 30, hoping to get the perfect shot of the city's skyline behind them.

“I was going over the concrete barriers and they heard me exclaim. They thought I was joking and that I was trying to mess with them that I fell,” the 18-year-old told FOX4. “But then they said they looked over and, just like the movies, I'm just laid out there on the dirt.”

RESEARCHERS RECOMMEND 'NO-SELFIE ZONES' TO PREVENT TOURIST ACCIDENTS

Instead of getting a photo that garnered likes on Instagram, Bailey ended up in the emergency room at Methodist Medical Center in Dallas, where doctors said they were stunned his injuries weren't more severe.

Triston Bailey fell from the Margaret McDermott Bridge when trying to take a selfie with the Dallas skyline.

Triston Bailey fell from the Margaret McDermott Bridge when trying to take a selfie with the Dallas skyline. (Google Street View)

“This is inexplicable,” Dr. Jospeh Darryl Amos, the chief of trauma at Methodist Medical Center, told FOX4. “He bruised both lungs. He had a collapse of the lung. He had multiple lacerations to his spleen, and he had a pelvic fracture.”

Doctors who treated the 18-year-old said his injuries and recovery were miraculous.

Triston Bailey was nearly killed when he fell from a bridge in Texas when trying to snap a selfie.

Triston Bailey was nearly killed when he fell from a bridge in Texas when trying to snap a selfie. (FOX4)

“One more turn or one more twist, it's amazing he didn't snap his neck,” Amos said. “It's amazing he's not a paraplegic or broke his back or he could've hit a stone in the middle of that field and fractured his skull and not been here. This is a constellation of miraculous little events that occurred.”

'SELFIE WRIST' AN EMERGING HAZARD OF DIGITAL AGE, DOCTOR WARNS

The 18-year-old shared his story with FOX4 for the first time on Tuesday -- during his first visit to the bridge since November. Bailey is still undergoing physical therapy twice a week and his plans to join the Air Force are now on hold.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

While his phone survived the tumble from the bridge, Bailey told FOX4 he's being more cautious and thinking about safety instead of selfies

“If I see another person on I-30 about to take a picture, I just stop on the side like, ‘Hey, it's not a good idea,’” he said Tuesday.

Source: Fox News National

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German woman known as 'scammer socialite' will likely get deported

Anna Delvey, the infamous "scammer socialite" who posed as a wealthy heiress to infiltrate the upper echelon of New York City's social scene, is facing deportation after her trial concludes.

The German citizen, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, is currently facing ten counts of larceny after allegedly swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks, hotels and wealthy friends over the course of several years. Delvey, 28, reportedly entered the United States under the Visa Waiver Program in June 2017, but stayed far past the legal timeframe of 90 days.

Rachael Yong Yow, a representative for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said that the department requested that Delvey be handed over to them after her trial, regardless of whether or not she is found guilty.

"ICE is requesting that we be notified prior to her release from local custody so she can be taken into ICE custody," Yow told INSIDER. "Regardless of whether or not she is convicted, she is amenable for removal because she is a visa waiver overstay. If she is convicted, she is sentenced to serve her time in the US."

Delvey's story found viral fame after an article exposing her years-long con was published in New York magazine last year. After successfully convincing the entirety of New York's social scene that she came from a long line of foreign family money, she secured loans using bad checks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to get funding for a business she planned to launch. She subsequently scammed months worth of free stays in some of the city's most luxurious hotels, private jets to meetings with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and vacations on yachts in Ibiza before her crimes were revealed.

FELICITY HUFFMAN, LORI LOUGHLIN FACE POSSIBLE JAIL TIME FOR COLLEGE ADMISSIONS CHEATING SCANDAL

LORI LOUGHLIN'S DAUGHTER OLIVIA JADE WAS ABOARD USC OFFICIAL'S YACHT IN BAHAMAS WHEN MOM WAS CHARGED: REPORTS

Now, even after being arrested, Delvey owed more than $250,000 in unpaid legal fees she allegedly owes to the firm representing her.

U.S. law designates any fraud-related offenses "in which the loss to the victim(s) is more than $10,000 as a "deportable offense." According to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, she stole approximately $275,000.

Shonda Rhimes, who has been involved in the production of shows like "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and "How to Get Away with Murder," is in the process of creating a Netflix series about Delvey's life.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Jurors were selected for her trial this past week, and the proceedings are expected to conclude sometime next month.

Prosecutors have reportedly offered her three to nine years behind bars in exchange for a guilty plea, but she continues to plead not guilty.

Source: Fox News National

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Apple launches new AirPods ahead of March 25 event

Apple AirPods are displayed during a media event in San Francisco
FILE PHOTO: Apple AirPods are displayed during a media event in San Francisco, California, U.S. September 7, 2016. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach/File Photo

March 20, 2019

(Reuters) – Apple Inc on Wednesday launched an updated version of its wireless “AirPods” headphones, ahead of a March 25 event where it is expected to unveil a television and video service.

Earlier this week, Apple also launched a new 10.5-inch iPad Air and updated its iPad Mini as well as iMac PCs.

Apple said its new AirPods will be available on its website and the Apple Store app starting Wednesday, and in Apple Stores from next week.

The new AirPods with a standard charging case are priced at $159, while those with wireless charging case are available for $199, the iPhone maker said in a statement.

(Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

Source: OANN

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Logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro
FILE PHOTO: A logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September 24, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday reported first-quarter profit fell sharply on lower oil and gas prices and weakness in its refining and chemicals businesses that offset modest production gains.

The largest U.S. oil producer’s first quarter earnings fell to $2.35 billion, or 55 cents a share, from $4.65 billion, or $1.09 a share, a year ago.

Analysts had expected Exxon to earn 70 cents per share, according to Refinitiv Eikon estimates.

Shares were trading down about 2.7 percent in premarket trading on Friday.

Exxon’s oil equivalent production rose 2 percent to 4 million barrels per day, up from 3.9 million bpd in the same period the year prior. The company said its output in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale basin, rose 140 percent over a year ago.

(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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A Baha’i advocacy group has expressed concerns over the fate of minority Baha’is at the hands of Yemen’s Houthi rebels ahead of the appeals hearing for one of the community leaders sentenced to death.

The Baha’i International Community said in a statement Friday that the hearing for Hamed bin Haydara, detained in 2013 and sentenced to death last year on espionage and apostasy charges, is due on Tuesday.

The statement quotes Bani Dugal, the Baha’i community representative at the United Nations, as saying the prosecution hasn’t addressed Haydara’s appeal but is instead making “absurd, wide-ranging accusations.”

International rights groups have decried the prosecution of Yemeni Baha’is by the Iran-backed Houthis.

Iran has banned the Baha’i religion, which was founded in 1844 by a Persian nobleman considered a prophet by followers.

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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