Prince Charles drives a vintage car with his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, during a cultural event in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. The heir to the British throne arrived in Cuba Sunday with an agenda including visits to historic sites, a solar park, organic farm, bio-medical research center, a meeting with entrepreneurs, a cultural gala and a dinner with Cuba's president. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, sit on a park bench next to a statue depicting John Lennon as they pose for photos, during a cultural event in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. The heir to the British throne arrived in Cuba Sunday with an agenda including visits to historic sites, a solar park, organic farm, bio-medical research center, a meeting with entrepreneurs, a cultural gala and a dinner with Cuba's president. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
HAVANA – Prince Charles and his wife Camilla briefly drove a classic British car, visited a statue of John Lennon and cut the ribbon on a British renewable energy project Tuesday, the royal couple's second full day visiting Cuba.
They began their public schedule with a short drive in a 1953 MG alongside a park that hosts a statue of Lennon that draws thousands of tourists a year. A local rock band played Beatles songs at the Yellow Submarine, a nearby bar and cultural center.
The couple strolled around the park, sat on a park bench next to the statue of Lennon, and talked with local residents and British residents of Havana.
Charles later inaugurated the first phase of a $250 million dollar British-led renewable energy project in the Mariel free-trade zone outside Havana, part of an effort to bring solar and alternative energy sources to the island.
Solar Mariel, a wholly owned British company, is expected to begin providing power to the Port of Mariel and local communities by the end of 2019, and once other phases of the project are complete, will add renewable energy to Cuba's power grid.
The Cuban Government hopes to have as much as 24 percent of the island's energy needs met by alternative energy sources by 2030, reducing oil-based power generation on the island.
The royal couple was expected to assist a gala dance performance at the Alicia Alonso Theater late Tuesday.
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is introducing legislation to expand the electric vehicle tax credit by 400,000 vehicles per manufacturer, according to Reuters.
The legislation is expected to be introduced on Wednesday and could give companies like Tesla and General Motors a substantial boost.
The bill is sponsored by Democrats Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, Republican Senators Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins and Democratic Representative Dan Kildee. The passage of such a bill could catalyze more purchases of electric vehicles from automakers who are now sinking billions of capital into EVs.
The existing tax credit, which is $7500, phases out over 15 months after an automaker hits a cumulative 200,000 in sales of electric vehicles. GM’s tax credit was cut on April 1 of this year and Tesla’s tax credit was cut on January 1 of this year. Both credits now stand at $3,750. GM’s credit falls to $1,875 in October and will disappear in April 2020, while Tesla’s credit drops to $1,875 in July and expires at the end of 2019.
Like every bill, this one has a ridiculous name with a stupid pun: it’s being called the “Driving America Forward Act” and would grant each automaker a $7,000 credit for another 400,000 vehicles on top of the already existing 200,000 vehicles eligible. On the other hand, it would shorten the phase out schedule to 9 months from one year.
The bill would also seek to extend the hydrogen fuel cell credit through 2028.
And since taxpayers will foot the bill, here is the damage: the EV tax credits are estimated to cost $11.4 billion if the bill is passed.
Debbie Stabenow said: “We have a cap that’s got to go up. I want to get this done as soon as possible.” It wasn’t exactly clear why it it has “got to go up”, exactly?
Meanwhile, this proposal runs in stark contrast to the White House, who proposed immediately eliminating the $7,500 existing tax credit last month. It said this would save the US government $2.5 billion over a decade. Senator John Barrasso, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, proposed legislation in February to end the credit and to impose a highway user fee on electric vehicles to pay for road repairs.
This new bill is predictably backed by most automakers including GM, Tesla, Toyota Motor Corp, Ford Motor Co, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Honda Motor Co, BMW AG, Nissan Motor Co and Volkswagen. In fact, GM President Mark Reuss said: “…the EV tax credit provides customers with a proven incentive as we work to establish the U.S. as a leader in electrification.”
And what would a proposed $11 billion in government spending be without the Sierra Club weighing in? Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said: “…as we build and grow the clean energy economy, we must continue to invest in tackling the sector that generates the most pollution: transportation.”
Tesla stock rose 2% on the news, even though it was not clear what were the odds of the bill’s ultimate passage into law.
Here’s why politicians were no match for Candice Owens because she’s more authentic.
FILE PHOTO: A Mini badge is seen at the car making plant in Oxford, western England July 9, 2012. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh/File Photo
April 1, 2019
By Costas Pitas
LONDON (Reuters) – BMW’s Mini plant in Britain closes for four weeks from Monday in a move planned over a half year ago to help the company deal with any disruption resulting from Brexit, which has since been delayed.
The German carmaker, which builds just over 15 percent of Britain’s 1.5 million cars, moved its annual summertime shutdown to April to “minimise the risk of any possible short-term parts-supply disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit.”
But Britain’s departure from the EU has now been pushed back from March 29 until at least April 12 or potentially much later, scuppering the timing of major contingency plans for some carmakers.
Shutdowns are organized far in advance so employee holidays can be scheduled and suppliers can adjust volumes, making them hard to move.
“This is what our company and our workforce have planned for over many months and it is fixed into our business planning,” said a BMW spokesman.
It represents the latest headache for Britain’s once roaring car sector which had been on track for record production but since 2017 has posted sharp falls in sales, output and investment.
The overwhelmingly foreign-owned industry has become increasingly incredulous as a stable and attractive investment environment descends into one of its deepest political crises, risking the free and frictionless trade the sector relies on.
BMW’s Rolls-Royce factory in Goodwood will close for two weeks whilst Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) three car plants and engine facility and Honda’s Swindon facility will also shut for a few days this month as part of Brexit contingencies.
It has been a turbulent few months for the sector after Nissan canceled plans to build a new sport utility vehicle at its English Sunderland plant and Honda said it would shutter its plant in 2021 in the biggest blow to the sector for years.
Toyota provided a rare boost when it announced plans to build cars for Suzuki at its English car plant.
BMW, which is also closing its central English Hams Hall engine facility and Swindon press shop and sub-assembly site for four weeks, has said it could move some engine and Mini output out of Britain if there is not an orderly Brexit.
Carmakers face a number of risks if there is a disorderly Brexit, including delays to the supply of ports and finished models, new customs bureaucracy, the need to recertify models and an up to 10 percent tariff on finished vehicles.
A series of investment decisions are coming up, including whether Peugeot’s parent company PSA will keep its Ellesmere Port plant open and if it will build electric vans at its southern English Luton facility.
Petrochemicals firm Ineos is also due to choose the location for its off-roader whilst a decision is pending on whether JLR will build electric vehicles in its home market.
FILE PHOTO: Independent MP Jody Wilson-Raybould speaks during a news conference with Jane Philpott on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File Photo
April 4, 2019
By Steve Scherer
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Two former ministers who were expelled from Canada’s ruling Liberal Party this week kept up pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, saying he should have apologized for inappropriately trying to influence a criminal proceeding.
The two-month old scandal centers on Jody Wilson-Raybould, who in February said officials had leaned on her while she was justice minister last year to ensure construction company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc escaped a corruption trial.
Former Treasury Board chief Jane Philpott resigned her post because she disagreed with how Trudeau had handled the matter. He turfed both women from the Liberal caucus on Tuesday in a bid to end a scandal which is undermining his support ahead of a federal election in October. [L1N21K1V6]
“There is very good evidence that there were attempts to have political interference with a very serious criminal trial,” Philpott said in an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
“I have tried to suggest that the way to deal with this is to speak the truth, to admit that mistakes were made, to apologize to Canadians for it and find out how it happened and make sure it never happens again,” Philpott said in one of her first interviews since being ejected from caucus.
Wilson-Raybould, in an interview with the Globe and Mail newspaper, also said Trudeau should have “accepted responsibility and apologized to Canadians”.
Wilson-Raybould says officials urged her to overrule prosecutors who insisted SNC-Lavalin must face trial on charges of bribing Libyan officials between 2001 and 2011. The firm wanted to take advantage of a law passed last year allowing it to escape with a fine.
Trudeau has denied any wrongdoing, saying he and officials had wanted to make sure Wilson-Raybould understood the potential for job losses if SNC-Lavalin were found guilty.
In an editorial, the Globe and Mail, which broke the SNC-Lavalin story in February, said Trudeau should have immediately apologized and moved on.
“Name the error. Make it right. End the story,” the newspaper said. Instead, the slow-burning affair, with details trickling out of a House of Commons justice committee inquiry, has taken a heavy toll.
At the start of the year, the Liberals looked well placed to win the October election, but an Ipsos poll last week showed them trailing the rival Conservative Party by 10 percentage points.
Trudeau may address the affair when he speaks later on Thursday in Quebec, the province where SNC-Lavalin has its headquarters.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer; editing by David Ljunggren and Susan Thomas)
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh tore into Democrat presidential loser Hillary Clinton, saying she is the person who colluded with Russia, not President Trump.
“Hillary Clinton is who tried to rig a presidential election…Hillary Clinton and her pals in the Obama Department of Justice and the FBI, they are the ones who colluded with the Russians. They colluded to produce this entirely bogus Steele Dossier,” Limbaugh said Monday on Fox News.
“Talk about irony,” he continued. “For Hillary Clinton to be talking about impeaching Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton needs to be investigated, she needs to be indicted and she needs to be in jail [with] many of her co-conspirators in this whole sordid affair.”
Limbaugh went on to say that Clinton’s attempts to overthrow Trump using the debunked Steele Dossier compiled with Russian intelligence amounted to the real collusion.
“Unelected people came close to pulling off what is a coup,” said the Republican host.
“Who’s working with Russians? Steele, Hillary’s guy! They are working with the Russians…the dossier traces right back to Hillary and her campaign in the DNC.”
“I think there is enough there that any other person who had engaged in those acts would certainly have been indicted,” Clinton said Monday during the Time 100 conference.
Alex Jones and a caller discuss how President Trump must now go on the offense, after the democrats’ Mueller report led impeachment fail, to stop the deep state criminals before they organize another coup to remove him from office.
FILE PHOTO: Boxing - Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev Press Conference - Cardiff, Britain - September 11, 2017 Kubrat Pulev after the press conference Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge
March 29, 2019
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgarian boxer Kubrat Pulev, known as The Cobra, has been ordered to appear before the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) to explain why he abruptly kissed a reporter on the lips following a post-fight interview on Saturday.
The 37-year-old heavyweight contender, who has only one loss in 27 fights, grabbed Jennifer Ravalo’s face and kissed her on the lips after knocking out Romania’s Bogdan Dinu in the seventh round in Costa Mesa, California.
Ravalo said she would take legal action against Pulev over the incident.
“We take this incident seriously,” CSAC Deputy Director of Communications Veronica Harms said.
“Before he will be licensed to fight in California again, boxer Kubrat Pulev must appear in front of the commission and demonstrate that he will conform to this principle of respect.”
Next CSAC hearing is scheduled for May 14 with Ravalo planning to attend.
“It made me feel uncomfortable and frustrated that Kubrat Pulev would treat me in such an unprofessional manner,” Ravalo said. “I did not encourage or consent to Mr. Pulev grabbing my face, kissing me, or grabbing my backside.
“I was there at the event covering the boxing match as a professional member of the press. Kissing a woman on her lips without her consent and grabbing her is not acceptable.”
Pulev, one of Bulgaria’s most popular sportsmen, has refused to apologize for kissing Ravalo.
“The reporter, Jenny, is actually a friend of mine, and after the interview, I was so elated I gave her a kiss,” Pulev said. “Later that night, she joined me and my other friends at a post-fight celebration.”
(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
Bridgeport City Councilman Ernest Newton is in a feud with another politician over drug use allegations. (AP Photo/Bob Child)
Some political feuds end with an election. This one ended with a urine test.
Two local lawmakers in the Connecticut city of Bridgeport spent the last week hurling insults and accusations of drug use at each other -- before deciding to settle the matter by peeing in a cup for a drug test.
The nasty – in so many ways – public feud ended on Monday after the results of the tests for Bridgeport City Councilman Ernest Newton and Board of Education member Maria Pereira were revealed. It turns out that both lawmakers tested negative for 10 substances -- marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, opiates, oxycodone, PCP, barbiturates, benzodiazepine and methadone -- according to The Connecticut Post.
The feud between Newton and Pereira began when they started attacking each other in the comments section of a story that appeared on the popular local website Only in Bridgeport.
“Please remember to take your meds,” Newton wrote earlier this month.
Pereira fired back, saying: “Ernie, I promise I will continue to take any and all prescribed medicine. In turn, please ensure you take anything you need that may have to be swallowed, snorted, inhaled, or injected.”
She added later: “Stop taking drugs…It is killing the few remaining brain cells you have left.”
The insult from the Bridgeport Board of Education member hit Newton hard, as the local lawmaker had previously served five years in prison on federal corruption charges and has admitted to struggling in the past with a crack cocaine addiction. Since his release and a stint in rehab, Newton has been a champion of programs that help former offenders readjust into society.
Pereira’s comments prompted Newton to hit back with an allegation that Pereira has once been placed in a psychiatric ward for overdosing on medication – a claim she called “wild” and has denied.
“I’ll tell you what, Ernie,” she wrote to Newton. “I will gladly pay for both you and I to take a drug test with the understanding the results, whatever they may be, will be released to [Only in Bridgeport].”
“Name the time and place,” Newton replied.
Over the next two days, both Newton and Pereira went to a walk-in testing facility to have their urine tested.
Despite both the results coming back negative, Newton has not let the subject drop – arguing on Monday that his results had been returned on the same day, but Pereira’s had not, and accusing her of being addicted to prescription pills.
The pissing contest between the two seems to have riled up a number of Bridgeport residents, who would like to see fewer accusations and more action from their officials.
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
April 26, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China are going very well, as the world’s two largest economies seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.
Trump said on Thursday he would soon host China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House.
Earlier this week, the White House said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more talks on a trade dispute marked by tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on North Korea this week following the Russian leader’s summit with Pyongyang’s Kim Jong Un.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also said China was helping with efforts aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk, Belarus April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
April 26, 2019
By Katya Golubkova and Andrei Makhovsky
MOSCOW/MINSK (Reuters) – Russia is confident it can soon resolve a problem of polluted Russian oil contaminating a major pipeline serving Europe and affecting supplies as far west as Germany, a senior official said on Friday at talks with importers about the issue.
Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin did not give a precise timeframe but Moscow has previously said it would pump clean oil to the border with Belarus from April 29, seeking to end a crisis hitting the world’s second-largest crude exporter.
Sorokin was speaking at talks with officials from Belarus, Poland and Ukraine in Minsk on the issue. Belarus said the issue had cost it $100 million, while analysts say alternative supply routes for refiners cannot fully fill the gap.
Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia have suspended imports of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Halting those supplies has knock-on effects further along the network.
The problem arose last week when an unidentified Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride used to boost oil output but which must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.
Russia’s Energy Ministry said pipeline monopoly Transneft and other Russian companies had a plan to mitigate the effects of the contaminated oil. It did not give details.
Russian officials have said contaminated oil has already been pumped into storage in Russia and Friday’s talks would focus on how to partially withdraw the tainted crude from the Druzhba pipeline running via other countries.
The suspension cuts off a major supply route for Polish refineries owned by Poland’s PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, as well as plants in Germany owned by Total, Shell, Eni and Rosneft.
Some refiners have outlined plans for alternative supplies, but analysts say other routes cannot meet the shortfall.
OIL PRICES
Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta suspended the transit of oil through the pipeline on Thursday, closing supplies via Druzhba’s southern route to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
The pipeline issue, which has supported global oil prices, lifted Russian Urals crude differentials to an all-time high on Thursday.
With pipeline supplies to Europe shut, Russia faces a challenge of how to divert about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) that was meant to be shipped through the network to other destinations at the time when export capacity is at its limits.
State-run Russian Railways held talks with energy firms on using up to 5,000 rail tankers to transport crude, RIA news agency reported on Friday.
Concerns about the quality of Urals crude also caused delays in loadings at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, when buyers refused to lift cargoes, resulting in a brief shutdown of the port on Wednesday and Thursday. An Ust-Luga official and traders said on Friday loadings had resumed.
Russian loading plans indicate it aims to boost Urals exports in May before the expiry of a deal on output cuts agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, Reuters calculations and Energy Ministry data show.
The provisional loading plan for Russia’s Baltic Sea ports and Novorossiisk in May show exports rising to 10.7 million tonnes, the highest level in half a decade.
Minsk estimated its loss from lower oil product exports due to contaminated Russian oil at around $100 million, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing Belarusian state oil company Belneftekhim.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, in charge of government energy policy, said this week that those found responsible for contaminating the oil could be fined. He did not provide names.
(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko in WARSAW, Sandor Peto in BUDAPEST, Jason Hovet in PRAGUE, Matthias Williams and Natalia Zinets in KIEV, Katya Golubkova, Olesya Astakhova, Gleb Gorodyankin, Olga Yagova and Maxim Rodionov in MOSCOW, Andrei Makhovsky in MINSK; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Michael Perry and Edmund Blair)
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo
April 26, 2019
(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.
The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.
Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.
But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.
Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.
In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)
Joe Biden has hired Symone Sanders, a prominent political strategist, as a senior adviser to his newly launched presidential campaign. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)
One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.
But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.
“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.
“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.
Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”
“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.
The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.
Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.
Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.
Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”
And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”
Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”
But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”
Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.
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