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ISIS nightmare prompts some Muslims in the Middle East to convert to Christianity

Almost five years after ISIS slaughtered its way onto the scene in Iraq and Syria – brandishing their own extreme and much-denounced version of Islam – some in the Middle East are coming out to announce their conversion to Christianity, seeking another Abrahamic faith to drown out the nightmares of life under the terrorist tirade.

“One day, ISIS came to the house as they were unhappy with my mother and my sister. They wanted to take them away and I begged them not too, I said I would do whatever I could to protect them,” Jamial, a 35-year-old Iraqi, who in recent months made a quiet conversion to Christianity, told Fox News. “So for two years and eight months, we were forced to live under their rule and do what they say.”

Jamial was born in the Old City of Mosul. His dad died three years before ISIS overran his beloved city, and he – as the eldest son – was left to take care of his mother and two younger siblings, working in a local supermarket to make ends meet. As the battle to reclaim Mosul gathered intensity in the first half of 2017, Jamial left behind all his belongings and fled north to a displacement camp in the Kurdish capital of Erbil.

But one saving grace, he said, has been turning to Christianity since leaving Mosul – and doing so in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan, where he feels somewhat safer.

“I know in my heart God will save me,” Jamial said.

ISIS TEEN WIFE BEMOANS UK'S 'UNJUST' DECISION TO REVOKE HER CITIZENSHIP

Many of the Christian churches in the Nineveh Plain in Northern Iraq were defaced or completely decimated by ISIS.

Many of the Christian churches in the Nineveh Plain in Northern Iraq were defaced or completely decimated by ISIS. (Courtesy Knights of Colombus)

Yet the healing process is slow, and the memories still haunt.

“I can never go back to Mosul, there is no civil reconciliation and peaceful coexistence. I have psychological problems and nightmares every night, worrying that ISIS will come back and kill me and take away my mother and my sister because every I worried about that,” Jamial stressed. “Sometimes I can’t sleep at all. I don’t know yet if I can trust anyone, ISIS were savages and killing people for simple mistakes.”

IRAQI CHRISTIANS IN BAGHDAD NEARLY GONE, BUT SOME SHELTER AT CAMP VIRGIN MARY

For Sam, formerly Saleem – a 26-year-old café worker in Baghdad – his conversion came at the height of the ISIS chaos in his country three years ago.

“I was a faithful Muslim, as was my family. But I saw all the bloodshed around me, I became sympathetic to what the Christians were experiencing,” he recalled. “This sadness touched my heart. I first learned more, then I changed.”

Iraqi Christians attend an Easter celebration at St.George Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq April 15, 2017.

Iraqi Christians attend an Easter celebration at St.George Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq April 15, 2017. (REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily)

However, since the very beginning of the rise of ISIS, Imams, Islamic leaders and scholars across the globe have denounced the extreme ideology and accused the barbaric group of twisting their religion to fit a nefarious agenda.

Yet a switch to Christianity often doesn’t come without consequences.

While the passage from another faith into Islam is mainstream and widely discussed, conversions from Islam to other faiths are often staunchly prohibited and come with dangerous repercussions and retribution – meaning most must be kept shrouded in secrecy with names and identities protected.

“Apostasy is a capital offense according to traditional interpretations of Islamic law. Those who convert are customarily threatened to death from either sharia-based states, radical mobs and/or their own families,” explained John Eibner, a human rights advocate and the CEO of Christian Solidarity International-USA. “Those who convert are sometimes secretly baptized, usually after a long, secret period of reflection and instruction in the faith. But it is dangerous, and those involved must exercise great discretion.”

ANDREW MCCARTHY: WHY IT'S SO HARD TO REVOKE THE CITIZENSHIP OF TERRORISTS

Sam said that every day he still feels paralyzed with fear.

“I was afraid; I am still afraid," he said. "My old friends do not communicate with me any longer and my parents have left me on my own. I mostly befriend other Christians but some of them do not believe I have converted completely. They think I could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“They ask why a Muslim would convert? I do not have an answer. I tell them God works in mysterious ways. But even if my friends and family have turned against me, it is like one chapter is done and the next page is turning.”

August 17, 2014: People hold crosses and signs during a rally organized by Iraqi Christians living in Germany denouncing what they say is repression by the Islamic State militant group against Christians living in Iraq, in Berlin. Some of the signs read "Stop ISIS, save the Christians" and "Stop all shipment of weapons into the Middle East.”

August 17, 2014: People hold crosses and signs during a rally organized by Iraqi Christians living in Germany denouncing what they say is repression by the Islamic State militant group against Christians living in Iraq, in Berlin. Some of the signs read "Stop ISIS, save the Christians" and "Stop all shipment of weapons into the Middle East.” (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

Even before ISIS, some in the Middle East said they made a move cloaked in both fear and anticipation.

Azad Barwari, a pastor at Magnolia Baptist Church in Anaheim, California – specializing in ministry to Muslim refugees – said he converted in the year 2000 while living in the Kurdish city of Zakho near the Turkish border.

“As a result of my conversion out of Islam, I was persecuted by my family so I fled Iraq and lived in Lebanon for several years where I was imprisoned and tortured,” Barwari claimed. “I came to the USA in 2009 as a religious refugee.”

In this photo taken Monday, June 23, 2014, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. Islamic State militants have abducted at least 70 Assyrian Christians, including women and children, after overrunning a string of villages in northeastern Syria, two activist groups said Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/File)

In this photo taken Monday, June 23, 2014, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. Islamic State militants have abducted at least 70 Assyrian Christians, including women and children, after overrunning a string of villages in northeastern Syria, two activist groups said Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/File) (The Associated Press)

WHY I LEFT ISIS: FORMER BAGHDADI 'FRIEND' AND AIDE, OTHERS SPEAK OUT

He said that as a result, he has received two death threats in the U.S, which he has reported to authorities, but otherwise refuses to shy away from sharing his thoughts and experiences.

“In the year 2000, someone gave me the New Testament when I was sitting at a store in Zakho. It was during Ramadan and I was fasting,” he recalled. “The book was in an envelope and I didn’t know it was a Bible. I liked reading and I had a spiritual hunger. This touched my heart, and Christ answered me. We Kurds were living in enmity and I was angry and I need peace.”

Christianity has for decades been dwindling in the Middle East amid a climate of persecution and insecurity, but the ISIS onslaught over four years ago prompted tens of thousands more to flee.

It’s believed that less than five percent of the Syrian and Iraqi population is Christian, a sharp decline from the roughly ten percent a decade ago.

For others in the region, the ISIS incursion has not necessarily meant a conversion into another faith, but a deeper reflection and move away from religion altogether.

A Christian militiaman stands guard during Easter Mass in Qaraqosh, Iraq, Sunday, April 16 2017. The town has been gutted by Islamic State militants. Now under government control, residents have not returned. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

A Christian militiaman stands guard during Easter Mass in Qaraqosh, Iraq, Sunday, April 16 2017. The town has been gutted by Islamic State militants. Now under government control, residents have not returned. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) (The Associated Press)

“When ISIS came and the chaos of them kidnapping Yazidi girls and making them sex slaves, and killing anyone who didn’t fit their perspective made me think twice,” one 35-year-old Iraq-based female professional, who can only be identified as Saleema, explained. “I wanted to be free and just be a good person with good manners without following any belief. Now, I don’t follow any religion. I don’t want to hear stories to satisfy or control.”

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According to Alex McFarland, a U.S-based apologist and noted church speaker, conversions to Christianity are far more prevalent in the Middle East than Westerners realize “and the unconscionable actions of ISIS have prompted (that).”

“Interestingly, some ex-Muslims merely become atheists,” he added. “They don’t really land anywhere else, such as another faith system. They just become secular.”

Source: Fox News World

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George Washington's Farewell Address to be read on Senate floor in annual tradition

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., will follow an annual tradition when the Senate meets again next week.

The Senate returns to session next Monday afternoon. The first order of business is for Fischer to read George Washington’s Farewell Address aloud on the floor.

The annual oration stands as one of the Senate’s most enduring customs.

A senator has read the address every year since 1896.

In recent years, the spectacle comes around Presidents’ Day.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., had the honor last year. The list of readers includes the late Sens. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., John McCain, R-Ariz., Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz.,  Hubert Humphrey, D.-Minn., and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

But this year, Washington’s 32-page valedictory screed bears more weight than in years past. Washington was retiring to Mount Vernon when he wrote the speech to “friends and fellow-citizens.” He used the manifest to warn Americans of the dangers of partisanship and politics if they were to maintain values in the fledgling United States.

“It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another,” wrote Washington. “The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.”

One wonders how many people will tune in to C-SPAN2 or digest Fischer’s recitation of Washington’s counsel next week.

Most senators will be jetting back to the Beltway after the Presidents’ Day recess, not yet on the ground to hear Fischer’s presentation. That’s ironic considering the debate which now simmers over whether President Trump overstepped presidential authority to redistribute money for his border wall. This is especially prescient considering how lawmakers guard Congressional prerogatives. Ceding power of the purse to the executive establishes a new precedent in American government. This is precisely the concern Washington raised when he spoke of “encroachment” and limiting power within “constitutional spheres.”

TRUMP NEEDS A TRANSFER, MAY HAVE TO ROB PETER TO PAY PAUL

Policymakers always have exercised a healthy tension between the legislative branch and the executive branch. But none other than Alexander Hamilton called for what he characterized as “energy” in the executive when writing Federalist #70, the precursor set of documents which helped form the Constitution.

Hamilton demanded an active executive to curb legislative overreaches and to pose as a bulwark against Congress. In this instance, Trump asserts there’s an emergency at the border. So he needs the wall. Maybe. Maybe not. But this is why the founders formed a system of checks and balances. There’s a question about just how much latitude the president has when it comes to repurposing funds Congress designated for something else. The Constitution grants Congress the exclusive power of the purse. All presidents can do is either sign or veto bills after lawmakers decide to spend money. Trump’s plan to rejigger billions of dollars of already appropriated spending by Congress could be a problem.

Presidents long have tested the parameters of executive authority. President Woodrow Wilson declared a “national emergency” in 1917 because of an “insufficiency of maritime tonnage” to carry U.S. agricultural and manufacturing commodities. Congress approved the National Emergencies Act of 1976, granting presidents the ability to act on any number of priorities they may deem an emergency. Presidents have declared 58 national emergencies since 1976. Thirty-one are renewed each year.

From a parliamentary perspective, Fox News is told that the National Emergencies Act is a legislative mess. It lacks focus, specificity and is inherently vague.

“It is not the gold standard for writing legislation,” confided one source.

That said, Congress can terminate declarations of national emergencies with the adoption of a joint resolution by both bodies of Congress. It needs a simple majority and must earn a presidential signature. If the president vetoes a House/Senate joint resolution, those bodies can move to override the veto with a two-thirds vote.

The House likely would seek action to revoke the national emergency as it pertains to the wall. But this process is far thornier in the Senate. The statute contains imprecise verbiage as to how the Senate may consider the legislation and whether certain, special procedural motions fly in the face of debating the statute. For instance, the law requires the Senate to vote on overturning the national emergency after “three days.” But what constitutes “three days?” Three full days of debate? A motion to adjourn is one of the most-privileged motions in the Senate. What happens if the Senate were to adjourn without first finishing work to repeal the national emergency?

CAPITOL GRAPPLES WITH COMPLICATED HISTORY ON RACE

As one source said to Fox News, “If (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell doesn’t want the resolution to come up, it won’t.”

When rushing to the Senate floor to announce that Trump would sign the spending package last week, McConnell also declared he was on board with the national emergency. A few weeks ago, McConnell’s position on Congressional action to rebuke a national emergency was hazier. But McConnell’s position grew definitive when asked by Fox News about Trump using executive authority to mine appropriations bills for wall funding.

“He ought to feel free to use whatever tools he wants to use to secure the border. I would not be troubled by that,” replied McConnell, R-Ky.

Democrats are apoplectic that Trump would go to such lengths to bypass Congress. Many Republicans are, too. That’s why a Senate vote to reverse the national emergency could prove so interesting. Some Senate Republicans also have shown a willingness to buck Trump when it comes to foreign policy. Some Republicans have broken with the administration over an early withdrawal from Syria, relaxing of U.S. sanctions on Russia and how the president dealt with Saudi Arabia following the death of Jamal Khashoggi.

The other problem staring at the Trump administration is the “Youngstown Steel Case.” The 1952 Supreme Court case Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer is thought to be the most consequential rebuff of presidential powers in history. In fact during his confirmation hearing, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh cited the case as one of the most important rulings ever handed down by the High Court. It’s possible Trump could face a dim view on his expansion of appropriation powers at the Supreme Court. Moreover, it will be interesting to see how Kavanaugh interprets the president’s maneuver, considering his testimony about “Youngstown Steel” last year.

The question on the table is why Congress should exist if the president is able to trample on legislative spending authority.

The late Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., long worried about what would happen to Congress if it forked over powers to the executive branch. Byrd cited the decline of the Roman Senate once the executive seized the power of the purse.

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“The United States Senate would have set its foot on the same road to decline, subservience, impotence and feebleness that the Roman Senate followed in its own descent into ignominy, cowardice and oblivion,” warned Byrd.

But you don’t have to study the Romans. Consider the warnings Washington issued in his 1796 Farewell Address. Fischer will lay those all out before the Senate next Monday afternoon.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Rugby: What’s in a name? Crusaders ponder change after Christchurch shootings

Canterbury Crusaders players and staff pause during their Captain's Run training session for two minute's silence, a week on from the Christchurch attack, at 11.32am Sydney time, at The Scots College, in Sydney
Canterbury Crusaders players and staff pause during their Captain's Run training session for two minute's silence, a week on from the Christchurch attack, at 11.32am Sydney time, at The Scots College, in Sydney, Australia, March 22, 2019. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts/via REUTERS

April 2, 2019

By Greg Stutchbury

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – For 23 years the name Crusaders was a source of nothing but pride in Christchurch, the uncontroversial identity of a franchise that claims, with some justification, to be the most successful non-national professional rugby team in the world.

The city was changed forever on March 15, however, when 50 people were killed and dozens more injured by a suspected white supremacist in shootings during Friday prayers at two Christchurch mosques.

And after the wave of self-examination that swept across New Zealand in the wake of the attacks, it looks like there might now be nominative change afoot for the nine-times rugby champions of the southern hemisphere.

The juxtaposition of a city embracing those impacted by the attacks with a nickname that recalls medieval wars between Christians and Muslims was quickly recognized on social media with some calling for the Crusaders to be renamed.

The country’s Sports Minister Grant Robertson said it was a “responsible action” to reconsider the name and the Crusaders, after initially saying it merely reflected “the crusading spirit of this community”, agreed to at least discuss it.

While the Crusaders told Reuters last week they were still considering a time frame and process, several fans at the team’s match in Wellington last weekend were of the view that it was “just a name”, albeit one they wanted to keep.

“I think that they have to have a chat to the Muslim community and ask ‘are you okay with this?’,” Scott Wilson, a decorator from Christchurch, told Reuters.

“I don’t think they should change (but) I think it might have been more prudent to think about the name before they adopted it.”

While the name change has been debated widely in the rugby-mad country, Muslim groups have not engaged. The Federation of Islamic associations of New Zealand did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

SWORD-WIELDING KNIGHT

The Crusaders name was adopted by the Canterbury Rugby Union and five neighboring provinces when rugby went professional in 1996 and they were granted a franchise to compete in the competition that became Super Rugby.

New Zealand Rugby made the final decision and chief executive Steve Tew — who in 1996 held a similar post at the Crusaders — said any changes would still need their approval.

The team logo has always featured a sword-wielding knight, while pre-match entertainment at home games has traditionally involved horsemen dressed in chain mail riding around the pitch.

This is not the first time the appropriateness of such imagery being used to promote sporting contests in increasingly multicultural western countries has been questioned.

Several collegiate teams in the United States, including Alvernia University and Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, have jettisoned Crusaders mascots and nicknames in recent years, as did England’s Middlesex Cricket Club in 2008.

Native Americans have also protested against team names and logos in professional American sport that appropriate, or worse mock, their culture.

While baseball’s Atlanta Braves and the National Football League’s Washington Redskins have retained their names and imagery, there has been some change.

Major League Baseball team the Cleveland Indians announced in January that the caricature of a Native American warrior known as “Chief Wahoo” would be removed from their uniforms from the 2019 season.

“OPEN-MINDED AND PROGRESSIVE”

Re-branding an organization as successful as the Crusaders should not be too challenging as long as it was recognized from the start that they could not please everyone, according to marketing academic and branding consultant Dr Michael Lee.

“If the team culture is healthy and they do a lot of good things for society and their community then you don’t want to change that. All you do is change the name,” Lee, an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, told Reuters.

“You still have the same values — you’re a stand up citizen, do the right thing, help out when needed, all those sorts of values and the brand essence can stay the same, so in this situation it is really just changing the name.”

The national conversation about underlying racism in New Zealand triggered by the mosque shootings could also help ease any name transition, he added.

“Within the current climate, I can see why this rebranding has a little bit more impetus to it than other brands,” Lee said.

“There are going to be people who are really annoyed … but New Zealand is very open minded and progressive.

“If a top team like the Crusaders did change their name then that would spark a discussion in the rest of the world as to whether they need to address other similar issues.”

Michael Wagteveld, President of the Canterbury Rugby Supporters Club, told Reuters his body would support whatever decision the team made.

There looks certain to be at least some change on Saturday when the Crusaders play their first home match since the shootings, with chief executive Colin Mansbridge suggesting the mounted knights would be given the evening off.

“It’s not unequivocal yet, but they’re unlikely to be there and the game will reflect the occasion,” he told local media last week.

(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)

Source: OANN

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China’s ShFE launches crude oil futures index; plans more products

FILE PHOTO: A company logo of Shanghai Futures Exchange is displayed at a booth during LME Week Asia in Hong Kong
FILE PHOTO: A company logo of Shanghai Futures Exchange is displayed at a booth during LME Week Asia in Hong Kong, China June 14, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/File Photo

March 26, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) will start on Tuesday publishing an index linked to the prices of its crude oil futures contracts, a year after the launch of futures trading, the ShFE said in a release posted on its WeChat channel.

The crude oil futures index will measure the price movements and the rate of return for the most actively traded contract for the ShFE’s crude futures, according to the release.

The ShFE began calculating the index based on futures trading during the night session of March 25 and the index rose during morning trading on Tuesday.

The ShFE also plans to deepen cooperation with Chinese stock exchanges by launching a crude oil exchange-traded fund (ETF) and other new products.

This will help improve the structure of investors and lower systemic risks of investment portfolio, it said.

China launched its yuan-denominated crude oil futures on March 26, 2018, and it has gained substantial volumes from international Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures.

The total trading volume of the ShFE crude oil futures contracts was 36.7 million lots by March 25, the exchange said in separate release on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Min Zhang in BEIJING and Chen Aizhu in SINGAPORE; editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Source: OANN

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McConnell condemns Dems’ ‘full socialism on display,’ admits Green New Deal vote was for ‘show’

Hours after Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders re-introduced his signature health care legislation on Wednesday, promising Medicare-style coverage for all Americans, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the "socialist"-style program wouldn't see the light of day on his watch.

Four of Sanders' opponents in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination are co-sponsoring his universal health care plan in the Senate: New Jersey's Cory Booker, California's Kamala Harris, New York's Kirsten Gillibrand and Massachusetts' Elizabeth Warren.

Sanders' plan would also lift restrictions on government health insurance for people in the country illegally, and revoke longstanding restrictions on taxpayer-funded abortions.

"Not as long as I'm majority leader. It ought to be called Medicare for none," McConnell said. He said "180 million Americans would lose private health insurance. ... You want to turn America into a socialist country, this is the first step. That, coupled of course with the Green New Deal, which would eliminate a whole lot of jobs.

"I think what we're seeing here is full socialism on display in the Democratic primaries for president."

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT BERNIE SANDERS' UPCOMING FOX NEWS TOWN HALL

McConnell acknowledged that the Green New Deal test vote he called last month was essentially a "show vote," designed to demonstrate that no Democrats were willing to go on record supporting the sweeping program to remake the economy in the name of fighting climate change.

Once in a while, McConnell said, it's appropriate to make it clear where everyone stands -- especially given that Democrats themselves had introduced the Green New Deal resolution in the Senate.

In this March 10 photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., addresses a rally during a campaign stop in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

In this March 10 photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., addresses a rally during a campaign stop in Concord, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

McConnell said Amy Klobuchar, a relative moderate 2020 Democratic contender who has called for a public option instead of universal Medicare, would similarly destroy the private insurance industry.

Sanders has floated the idea of passing Medicare for all using a budgetary procedure known as reconciliation -- it requires only 51 votes for passage -- if Democrats are able to retake the Senate.

But McConnell, who last week pushed a precedent change through the Senate to speed the confirmation of lower-court judicial nominees, told Baier that the Senate should be a deliberative body -- and that means satisfying a 60-vote, filibuster-proof threshold for major new legislation.

Asked by Baier where the GOP proposal on health care is hiding, McConnell said Republicans favor covering Americans with pre-existing conditions, and called for reducing the costs of prescription drugs and co-payments while making other "modest fixes" to ObamaCare.

Separately, McConnell dismissed Democrats' attacks on the integrity of Attorney General Bill Barr, noting that he was confirmed unanimously to the same position decades earlier.

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But McConnell stopped short of embracing President Trump's attacks on the FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections as a "coup" and attempted "treason," saying only that Trump "should be applauding" Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings.

Sanders is quieting critics who questioned whether he could recapture the energy of his upstart 2016 campaign, surpassing his rivals in early fundraising and establishing himself as a front-runner.

With Sanders less than two months into his second White House bid, no other declared candidate in the crowded Democratic field has yet amassed so many advantages: a $28 million war chest, a loyal and enthusiastic voter base and a set of clearly defined policy objectives.

Fox News' Bret Baier, Barnini Chakraborty, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Ocasio-Cortez Is an All-American Socialist

As much as conservatives are aghast at the over-the-top collectivist ideas of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, we cannot ignore the oversize intrigue with this young woman, who has gained instant influence and celebrity. Perhaps it is because people see her as so all-American.

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Records: 75 percent of revoked Illinois gun licenses ignored

More than 75 percent of the people who received gun license revocations last year in Illinois ignored the notices, Illinois State Police said.

State police issued a report late Thursday in response to questions about the gunman who fatally shot five co-workers at a suburban Chicago warehouse last week. The man, Gary Martin, used a gun in the Aurora attack that he never should have been allowed to have because his firearm-owners card was revoked in 2014.

Martin died in a shootout with police shortly after he opened fire.

"The only way we can honor those who died — the only way we will ever be safer — is to shine the brightest light on the good, bad, and ugly of this system and to lay bare for the public and policy makers the depth and breadth of our vulnerabilities," ISP Acting Director Brendan F. Kelly said in the report.

State police say their records show that about 10,800 firearm-owner cards were revoked in 2018 but that only about 2,600 of those individuals returned notices. Revoked card holders are supposed to return the notices, or firearm disposition records, which document individuals receiving transferred firearms from revoked cardholders.

In Martin's case, he was prohibited under Illinois law from having an owner's permit or owning a gun because he was a felon in Mississippi where he was convicted of aggravated assault in 1995. But authorities say Martin passed two background checks before buying the Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun he used in the Feb. 15 shooting at Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora.

The Mississippi conviction was only discovered when Martin was fingerprinted to expedite his concealed carry license in March 2014. His owner's permit was rescinded, and state police say they notified him in April 2014 that he wasn't supposed to possess a gun anymore.

State police said an "exhaustive search" didn't find Martin's returned owner's permit or the record detailing how he relinquished his handgun.

Source: Fox News National

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Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 26, 2019

MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.

In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.

He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”

Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.

Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.

The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.

Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.

The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.

“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.

The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
FILE PHOTO: Pallbearers carry the coffin of journalist Lyra McKee at her funeral at St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

April 26, 2019

BELFAST (Reuters) – Detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland last week suspect the gunman who shot her dead is in his late teens as they made a further appeal to the local community who they believe know his identity.

McKee’s killing by an Irish nationalist militant during a riot in Londonderry has sparked outrage in the province where a 1998 peace deal mostly ended three decades of sectarian violence that cost the lives of some 3,600 people.

The New IRA, one of a small number of groups that oppose the peace accord, has said one of its members shot the 29-year-old reporter dead in the Creggan area of the city on Thursday when opening fire on police during a riot McKee was watching.

The killing, which followed a large car bomb in Londonderry in January that police also blamed on the New IRA, has raised fears that small marginalized militant groups are exploiting a political vacuum in the province and tensions caused by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

Police released footage on Friday of immediately before and after the shooting showing three men who were involved in the rioting and identified one as the gunman who they believe is in his late teens. 

“I believe that the information that can help us to bring those responsible for her murder to justice lies within the community. I need the public to tell me who he is,” Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy told reporters.

Murphy said those involved in the disorder on the night were teenagers or in their early 20s, and that about 100 people were on the ground watching the trouble as it unfolded.

He added that police believed the gun used in the attack was of a similar caliber to those used before in paramilitary type attacks in Creggan. 

“I recognize that people living in Creagan may find it’s difficult to come forward to speak to police. Today, I want to provide a personal reassurance that we are able to deal with those issues sensitively,” Murphy said, echoing similar appeals in recent days.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, editing by Padraic Halpin and Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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Traders work on the floor at the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 26, 2019

By Sruthi Shankar and Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were flat on Friday, as investors paused ahead of GDP data, which is expected to show the world’s largest economy maintained a moderate pace of growth in the first quarter.

Gross domestic product probably increased at a 2% annualized rate in the quarter as a burst in exports, strong inventory stockpiling and government investment in public construction projects offset a slowdown in consumer and business spending, according to a Reuters survey of economists.

The Commerce Department report will be published at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The GDP data comes as investors look for fresh catalysts to push the markets higher. The S&P 500 index is about 0.5% below its record high hit in late September, after surging nearly 17% this year.

First-quarter earnings have been largely upbeat, with nearly 78% of the 178 companies that have reported so far surpassing earnings estimates, according to Refinitiv data.

Wall Street now expects S&P 500 earnings to be in line with the year-ago quarter, a sharp improvement from the 2.3% fall expected at the start of April.

Amazon.com Inc rose 0.9% in premarket trading after the e-commerce giant reported quarterly profit that doubled and beat estimates on soaring demand for its cloud and ad services.

Ford Motor Co shares surged 8.5% after the automaker posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings largely due to strong pickup truck sales in its core U.S. market.

Mattel Inc jumped 8% after the toymaker beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue, as a more diverse range of Barbie dolls powered sales in the United States.

At 6:52 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 35 points, or 0.13%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 1.5 points, or 0.05% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 10.75 points, or 0.14%.

Among decliners, Intel Corp slumped 7.7% after it cut its full-year revenue forecast and missed quarterly sales estimate for its key data center business.

Rival Advanced Micro Devices declined 0.8%.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp are expected to report results later in the day.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

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General view of a destroyed building during World War II is pictured in Warsaw
General view of a destroyed building during World War II is pictured in Warsaw, Poland April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

April 26, 2019

By Joanna Plucinska

WARSAW (Reuters) – Germany could owe Poland more than $850 billion in reparations for damages it incurred during World War Two and the brutal Nazi occupation, a senior ruling party lawmaker said.

Some six million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed during the war and Warsaw was razed to the ground following a 1944 uprising in which about 200,000 civilians died.

Germany, one of Poland’s biggest trade partners and a fellow member of the European Union and NATO, says all financial claims linked to World War Two have been settled.

The right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) has revived calls for compensation since it took power in 2015 and has made the promotion of Poland’s wartime victimhood a central plank of its appeal to nationalism.

PiS has yet to make an official demand for reparations but its combative stance towards Germany has strained relations.

“Poland lost not only millions of its citizens but it was also destroyed in an unusually brutal way,” Arkadiusz Mularczyk, who heads the Polish parliamentary committee on reparations, told Reuters in an interview.

“Many (victims) are still alive and feel deeply wronged.”

His comments come a month before European Parliament elections in which populist and nationalist parties are expected to do well. Poland will also hold national elections later this year, with PiS still well ahead of its rivals in opinion polls.

EU LARGESSE

Mularczyk said the reparations figure could amount to more than 10 times the estimated 100 billion euros ($111 billion) that Poland has received so far in European Union funds since it joined the bloc in 2004.

Germany is the biggest net donor to the EU budget and some Germans regard its contributions as generous compensation to recipient countries like Poland which suffered under Nazi rule.

In 1953 Poland’s then-communist rulers relinquished all claims to war reparations under pressure from the Soviet Union, which wanted to free East Germany, also a Soviet satellite, from any liabilities. PiS says that agreement is invalid because Poland was unable to negotiate fair compensation.

Mularczyk said his committee hoped to complete its report on the reparations issue by Sept. 1, the 80th anniversary of Hitler’s invasion.

Accusing Berlin of playing “diplomatic games” over the issue, he said: “The matter is being swept under the rug (by Germany) … until it’ll be wiped from the memory, from people’s awareness.”

His comments come after the Greek parliament voted this month to seek billions of euros in German reparations for the Nazi occupation of their country.

(Additional reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Editing by Justyna Pawlak and Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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