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Robert Durst faces new lawsuit in death of first wife

The legal saga surrounding real estate scion Robert Durst found yet another venue Friday, as a new lawsuit accused him of killing his first wife in New York and disposing of her body in 1982.

The wrongful death claim, filed in state court, came two years after a judge declared Kathleen Durst legally dead. It accuses Durst of killing the woman in their suburban New York City home after she threatened to divorce him.

Durst for decades has denied involvement in his first wife's death. But the lawsuit claims he has made "multiple admissions" to the killing, including remarks featured in a sensational HBO documentary that examined Kathleen Durst's disappearance and two other killings for which Durst was charged.

During the finale of that series, "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," he was heard muttering to himself on a live microphone: "You're caught! What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

Durst, 75, was arrested in New Orleans in March 2015, just hours before the airing of the final episode.

He has not been charged in his first wife's disappearance but is scheduled to stand trial later this year in Los Angeles in the killing of Susan Berman, his best friend and spokeswoman. Durst allegedly told her about his role in his first wife's death and then fatally shot Berman in 2000 after the authorities in New York reopened their investigation and planned to talk with her.

Prosecutors say he ambushed Berman in her home near Beverly Hills and shot her in the back of the head.

Phone and email messages were left with Durst's lawyer seeking comment.

An attorney for Kathleen Durst's sister declined to comment.

The lawsuit filed Friday differs from a prior legal action brought by Kathleen Durst's sisters accusing Robert Durst of interfering with the family's efforts to recover the woman's body.

The wrongful death claim, which seeks damages, alleges that there is "overwhelming evidence" Durst abused his wife before her disappearance, citing a host of possible motives for her killing. It alleges that Durst's "modus operandi lends itself to the conclusion that Kathie (Durst) was shot in the back of her head and that her body was cut into little pieces and her remains were then disposed of."

The filing refers to another killing for which Durst was acquitted of murder in Texas in 2003 after testifying he fatally shot a neighbor in self-defense before dismembering the man's body and tossing it out to sea.

Durst, who inherited a fortune from his family's New York City real estate empire, had gone into hiding in Galveston disguised as a mute woman living in a low-rent apartment.

Prosecutors claimed Durst killed the neighbor, Morris Black, to prevent him from revealing his whereabouts.

Source: Fox News National

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Irish regulator opens inquiry into Facebook over password storage

The logo of Facebook is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Facebook is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

April 25, 2019

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Facebook’s lead regulator in the European Union, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner, on Thursday said it had launched an inquiry into whether the company violated EU data rules by saving user passwords in plain text format on internal servers.

The probe is the latest to be launched out of Dublin into the social network giant. The Irish regulator in February said it had seven statutory inquiries into Facebook and three more into Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp.

Facebook in March announced that it has resolved a glitch that exposed passwords of millions of users stored in readable format within its internal systems to its employees.

The passwords were accessible to as many as 20,000 Facebook employees and dated back as early as 2012, cyber security blog KrebsOnSecurity, which first reported the issue, said in its report.

“The Data Protection Commission (DPC) was notified by Facebook that it had discovered that hundreds of millions of user passwords, relating to users of Facebook, Facebook Lite and Instagram, were stored by Facebook in plain text format in its internal servers,” the DPC said in a statement.

“We have this week commenced a statutory inquiry in relation to this issue to determine whether Facebook has complied with its obligations under relevant provisions of the GDPR,” it added.

The DPC said in February that it expected to conclude the first of its investigations into Facebook’s use of personal data this summer and the remainder by the end of the year.

Ireland hosts the European headquarters of a number of U.S. technology firms. Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation’s (GDPR) “One Stop Shop”, the Irish commissioner is also the lead regulator for Twitter, LinkedIn Apple and Microsoft.

As part of regulations introduced last year, a firm found to have broken data processing and handling rules can be fined up to 4 percent of their global revenue of the prior financial year, or 20 million euros, whichever is higher.

Canada’s federal privacy commissioner on Thursday announced the results of a probe that found Facebook had committed serious contraventions of privacy law and failed to take responsibility for protecting the personal information of citizens.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries, editing by Padraic Halpin and Alexandra Hudson)

Source: OANN

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Philippines gets $9.8 billion FDI in 2018, posts first drop in three years

Man counts wad of Philippine Peso bills in Makati
A man counts a wad of Philippine Peso bills he received from a relative working abroad at a money remittance center in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines September 19, 2018. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

March 11, 2019

MANILA (Reuters) – Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Philippines fell for the first time in three years in 2018 to $9.8 billion, nearly 4.5 percent lower than prior year’s record inflow, the central bank data showed on Monday.

Net FDI in 2017 had hit an all-time high of $10.26 billion.

Equity capital investment in 2018 dropped to $2.3 billion from $3.4 billion the year before. A bulk of these inflows came from Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, and China, and channelled mainly to manufacturing, financial, real estate, and a few other sectors.

Investment in debt instruments rose 11 percent to $6.7 billion from $6.0 billion in 2017.

Despite it being one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, the Philippines lags regional peers in terms of attracting foreign direct investments because of foreign ownership restrictions, high power costs and poor infrastructure.

The Philippines’ 2018 FDI figure pales in comparison with the $29.3 billion and $19.1 billion that Indonesia and Vietnam respectively received last year.

Late last year, President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order further liberalizing investment rules to lure much needed foreign capital and help boost economic growth.

The order removed ownership restrictions and further opened up certain sectors and activities such as construction and repair of locally-funded public works projects to foreigners.

(Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)

Source: OANN

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Research Ties Common Heartburn Meds to Kidney Disease

Common medications prescribed to treat heartburn, acid reflux and ulcers are linked to increased risks for kidney failure and chronic kidney disease, found a recent University at Buffalo study.

Use of proton pump inhibitors (PPI), a group of drugs that reduce the production of stomach acid, increases the risk of chronic kidney disease by 20 percent and raises the risk of kidney failure by four times. Risks were highest among people at least 65 years old.

The research, published in February in Pharmacotherapy, is one of the first large, long-term studies to examine the effects of PPIs on kidney function. Researchers examined the health data of more than 190,000 patients over a 15-year period.

“This study adds to a growing list of concerning side effects and adverse outcomes associated with PPIs,” says David Jacobs, PharmD, PhD, lead investigator and assistant professor of pharmacy practice in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

“Given the increasing global use of PPIs, the relationship between PPIs and renal disease could pose a substantial disease and financial burden to the health care system and public health.”


A new article exposes how unhealthy antibiotics can be for humans. Alex Jones discusses the negative affects when we give them to children as well as farmers feeding them into our food supply.

PPIs are one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the U.S., with an estimated 113 million prescriptions filled in 2008, costing patients nearly $14 billion, says Jacobs.

Due to acid reflux and related conditions only requiring short-term treatment with PPIs, he adds, up to 70 percent of patients overuse these medications without benefit and are subjected to unnecessary adverse effects.

(Photo by Quinn Dombrowski / Flickr)

The prevalence of PPI use in the U.S. could have a devastating effect on public health. Because these drugs are still considered safe, education and deprescribing initiatives are needed to raise awareness among health care providers, says Jacobs. Deprescribing may involve reducing dosage or stopping usage.

Data for the investigation was gathered from medical insurance and prescription claims from a Western New York insurer. Researchers examined medical history from 1993-2008 of adult patients with no history of kidney disease.

Kidney health was compared between patients who underwent PPI therapy and those who were unexposed. Examined PPIs included esomeprazole, lansoprazole, omeprazole, pantoprazole and rabeprazole (commonly known by brand names as Vimovo, Prevacid, Prilosec, Protonix and Aciphex, respectively).


The MSM is pushing the narrative of racial division after the tragic shooting in New Zealand. Alex breaks down this divide and conquer tactic being promoted by propaganda.

Source: InfoWars

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Japan’s new emperor Naruhito: A cosmopolitan team player

Japan's future new emperor is a musician and historian who is expected to bring a global perspective to an ancient institution when he ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1.

The 59-year-old Naruhito will be Japan's first emperor to have studied abroad and will enjoy greater liberty in shaping his own role than his father.

Japan's constitution limits the emperor to a symbolic role, and Naruhito is likely to emulate his father, 85-year-old Akihito.

Akihito chose to end his three-decade reign by abdicating April 30.

In an annual news conference ahead of his Feb. 23 birthday, Naruhito said he was open to taking up a new role that "suits the times."

Source: Fox News World

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Ultimate Fail! How The MSM And Deep State Botched Their Takedown of Trump

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Source: InfoWars

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Terminally ill Wisconsin girl who loves dogs visited by nearly 40 K-9 officers

A young Wisconsin girl with an inoperable brain tumor and a love of dogs experienced quite the day when nearly 40 K-9 officers visited her at home.

In January, 7-year-old Emma Mertens was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a rare brain tumor, as Fox 6 reported. Soon after her diagnosis, Mertens asked people for photos of their dogs.

During the time since, Mertens, of Hartland, roughly 25 miles west of Milwaukee, has received countless letters and photos from friends and supporters trying to cheer her up.

And on Saturday, she received an even bigger act of kindness when K-9 officers with the police force in Hartford — north of Hartland — stopped by her house.

"Today, just a few of us (roughly 40) stopped by to see Emma," the department wrote in a Facebook post. "She had no idea we were coming so she was VERY excited. What an amazing and strong little girl. It was such a great morning."

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Photos of the happy day show the officers and the K-9s lined up to see Mertens. Her family wrote online that," There are no words....Pure Joy!" in response to the 7-year-old's special visit.

"Thank you to everyone who took the time to organize and participate in this. Emma is still all smiles! Over 35 different departments and many more K9s and officers," her family wrote.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo looking north shows shipping containers at the Port of Seattle and the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle
FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo looking north shows shipping containers at the Port of Seattle and the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, U.S. March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. economic growth is running at a 1.1% pace in the second quarter as the gains in exports and inventories recorded in the first quarter are expected to reverse, Morgan Stanley economists said on Friday.

“Our preliminary expectations for growth in the second quarter sees large drags from net exports and inventories after their contributions in 1Q,” they wrote in a research note.

Gross domestic product increased at a 3.2% annualized rate in the first three months of the year, driven by a smaller trade deficit and the largest accumulation of unsold merchandise since 2015, the Commerce Department said earlier Friday.

(Reporting by Richard Leong)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Deutsche Bank headquarters are pictured in Frankfurt
FILE PHOTO: The Deutsche Bank headquarters are pictured in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Sims

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Within hours of the collapse of merger talks with Commerzbank, Christian Sewing scrambled to convince investors and employees that Deutsche Bank can stand on its own two feet.

The Deutsche Bank chief executive told staff, many of whom opposed a merger because of significant job losses, that while he had not been “skeptical” about the Commerzbank talks, he was cautious about the chances of success from the start.

And another top Deutsche Bank executive said on Friday that it had been Commerzbank that initiated the talks, suggesting there was no desperation on their part for a deal.

Commerzbank denied that version of events, ending the apparent truce between the normally highly competitive cross-town Frankfurt rivals over the past six weeks.

German hopes of creating a national banking champion able to challenge global competitors were finally dashed on Thursday when Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank ended their talks due to the risks of doing a deal, restructuring costs and capital demands.

For Sewing, the failure to clinch a deal has left the 49-year-old chief executive of Germany’s largest bank, who took over just over a year ago, with his back to the wall.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, which downgraded Deutsche Bank last year, said on Friday that Deutsche Bank “will remain under strain”, adding that it “seems to have acknowledged the need to adjust its strategy”.

Under Sewing, a new leadership has tried to revive Deutsche Bank’s fortunes, but it has faced money laundering allegations and failed stress tests, as well as ratings downgrades.

At the heart of the debate over its future is whether it should focus its business on Germany and draw a line under its costly global ambitions to take on Wall Street’s big guns.

“MARKET PLAY”

Without a deal, Deutsche Bank now finds itself back at the mercy of equity and debt markets, with UBS analysts warning that in a “stress scenario” it could again “be forced into a ‘debt-driven capital increase’ even with solid capital ratios”.

“Deutsche remains a levered market play vulnerable to external events,” the UBS analysts said in a note.

Sewing, along with many analysts, believes Deutsche Bank can go it alone in the short-term, but will be counting on a turnaround in market conditions to do so in the long-run given its dependence on volatile investment bank earnings.

“To reach our return objective, we also need to see a revenue recovery in our more market-sensitive business,” Sewing said on Friday after reporting results.

“These revenues are available to us in better market conditions given our leading positions in many of these businesses, but we need to capture them,” he added.

Revenue at Deutsche Bank’s bond trading division fell 19 percent in the first quarter, it said on Friday, underscoring weakness at its investment bank.

If those earnings do not improve, Berlin’s desire to keep its biggest bank out of foreign hands may start to wane.

“Germany’s globally active companies need competitive financial institutions that can support them around the world,” German finance minister Olaf Scholz said on Thursday.

(Writing by Alexander Smith; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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Panama's former president Ricardo Martinelli yells to the media while arriving to the Electoral Court in Panama City
Panama’s former president Ricardo Martinelli reacts to the media while arriving to the Electoral Court in Panama City, Panama April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Erick Marciscano

April 26, 2019

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Panama’s electoral tribunal has ruled that former President Ricardo Martinelli, who is awaiting trial on wiretapping charges, cannot take part in elections on May 5 in which he was running for mayor of Panama City and a seat in Congress, a spokesman for Martinelli said on Friday.

“The ruling of the electoral tribunal has disqualified him as candidate,” said the spokesman, Eduardo Camacho, calling the court’s ruling a “political decision.”

Officials at the tribunal did not immediately confirm the ruling, which also was reported in local media in Panama.

Martinelli, a supermarket tycoon who ran the Central American country from 2009 to 2014, was extradited to Panama last June from the United States and charged with spying on 150 people, including politicians, union leaders and journalists.

A judge had previously cleared Martinelli to run for mayor of the capital. His critics vowed to appeal that decision.

(Reporting by Elida Moreno and Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City
FILE PHOTO: Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Shares of Walmart, Target and other U.S. retailers fell on Friday as Amazon.com Inc unveiled a one-day delivery plan for its Prime members in a move to further disrupt the fiercely competitive retail landscape.

The e-commerce giant’s announcement on Thursday could cause other brands, manufacturers, retailers, and logistics companies to have to invest more aggressively to compete with Amazon and its delivery, analysts said.

Retailers in recent years have poured billions into ecommerce and faster shipping options and are trying to close the gap with Amazon.

“This is about making it more expensive to catch up and affirms our world view that only the largest and smartest will survive,” Bernstein analyst Brandon Fletcher said.

The move is expected to heighten consumer expectations on e-commerce delivery just like Amazon did with its two-day shipping option for members of its loyalty club Prime, noted analysts.

“The faster you ship, the more people buy,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney said.

The challenge for non-Amazon players was that very few of the existing logistics and parcel delivery players now have the ability to do nationwide one-day delivery, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak said.

“And even fewer can do it at the vast scale and reasonable cost that AMZN would need for Prime delivery,” Nowak said in a note.

Walmart Inc’s shares fell about 3 percent, while Target Corp dropped about 5 percent in morning trade.

Shares of Kohl’s Corp, Macy’s Inc and Nordstrom Inc fell about 1 percent. Grocer Kroger Co was nearly 3 percent lower, while consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Inc dropped 2.1 percent.

(Reporting by Soundarya J and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Source: OANN

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A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing
A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Ng Han Guan/Pool (CHINA – Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

April 26, 2019

By April Joyner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even as the lift from optimism over prospects for U.S.-China trade detente shows signs of wearing off for the wider U.S. stock market, upbeat sentiment around China’s economy could bolster shares of materials companies.

Shares of S&P 500 industrial and technology companies, which were buffeted by last year’s tit-for-tat tariffs as well as slowing global demand, have been very responsive to progress in U.S.-China trade relations and a strengthening Chinese economy. This year, those sectors have outpaced the ascent in the S&P 500, which reached a record closing high on Tuesday.

Materials stocks have not been as sensitive, however, even though they also stand to benefit as a stronger Chinese economy lifts global consumption and industrial output. As China has taken measures to stimulate its economy, its economic data have turned more upbeat. That in turn could aid global growth, which has flagged as a result of China’s cooldown.

“What we’re seeing is China spending more on stimulus: fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York. “That’s likely to be a positive for materials.”

The People’s Bank of China has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs. The stimulus appears to have boosted Chinese economic data, with factory activity growing in March for the first time in four months.

Yet so far in 2019, the S&P 500 materials index has underperformed the S&P 500 at large, rising just 11.9% compared with 16.7% for the benchmark index. Moreover, it is among the biggest decliners in the period since the S&P’s previous record closing level on Sept. 20. The materials index has fallen 7% over those seven months, versus a 5.2% gain for technology and a 3% loss for industrials. Only the energy index has dropped more over that period.

A trade agreement could serve as a catalyst for a bump in materials shares as a drag on China’s economy is lifted, some market strategists say. Some commodity prices, including those for copper and oil, have ascended this year as the prospects for the global economy have somewhat brightened.

“It all goes back to the global growth outlook,” said Andrea DiCenso, portfolio manager for alpha strategies at Loomis Sayles in Boston. “With the front run in hard data, we’re beginning to see a pretty significant rally.”

Additionally, a trade agreement is expected to include commitments from China to purchase higher quantities of U.S. products such as soybeans, which could benefit companies that make agricultural chemicals, including DowDuPont Inc and CF Industries Holdings Inc.

CF Industries is scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, and DowDuPont is scheduled to report before the market open on Thursday.

To be sure, even with a trade agreement, some materials companies could face price pressures. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc fell 10.1% on Thursday after the copper mining company posted a lower-than-expected profit as its production slipped and its costs rose.

A rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports, particularly aluminum and steel, would likely prompt a fall in some commodity prices, which could hurt prospects for certain materials companies, said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management in El Segundo, California.

Even so, those drawbacks may be outweighed by the support for global demand fostered by a U.S.-China trade agreement.

“You could see a number of companies with lowered expectations bring them back up as they talk favorably about the impact that a trade deal would have on them,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

(Reporting by April Joyner; additional reporting by Sinéad Carew; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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