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American Christian missionary gunned down in Paraguay

An American Christian missionary was shot and killed last week in Paraguay, the mission organization that sent him confirmed.

Wayne Goddard, 50, a missionary to the Ava Guaraní and Paī Tavyterã tribes for over 25 years, was gunned down on April 9.

'THE SEND' MARKS START OF 'GREATEST JESUS MOVEMENT,' OVER 40,000 CHRISTIANS GATHER, COMMIT TO MISSIONS

Goddard served as a cross-cultural worker for Ethnos360, an international missions agency which trains and sends missionaries around the world to reach the unreached people groups, and worked with the mission agency's partner, Misión a Nuevas Tribus en el Paraguay, since 1994.

AMERICAN MISSIONARY WROTE 'GOD, I DON'T WANT TO DIE' BEFORE BEING KILLED BY REMOTE TRIBE

“We feel deep sorrow and are mourning the loss of Wayne Goddard, one of our own," Ian Fallis, a spokesperson for Ethnos360, told Fox News. "Please join us in prayer for his family and the people he served and loved in Paraguay.

"We also want to recognize the sacrifice that Wayne made as he followed our Lord in willing service for more than two decades."

His funeral was held in Paraguay on Sunday and a memorial service is being planned for May in Nebraska. Goddard is survived by his brother and father.

One suspect is in custody in connection with his killing and the investigation is ongoing, according to local authorities.

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The mission group, founded as New Tribes Mission in 1942, has a global network of about 2,500 missionaries from a variety of evangelical churches serving in Africa, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Source: Fox News World

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Kentucky education commissioner still wants protester names

Kentucky's largest school district has asked the state's education commissioner to withdraw his request for names of teachers who used sick days to protest at the state Capitol, but the commissioner says he will not back down.

News outlets report Commissioner Wayne Lewis told Jefferson County's Board of Education on Tuesday he still wants the names but won't punish the teachers if school remains in session.

Lewis last week wouldn't rule out disciplining teachers who used sick days to close multiple school districts so they could protest.

Lawmakers were considering proposals that would change who manages the teachers' pension fund and indirectly support private schools with tax credits.

At least 10 school districts closed because of too many teacher absences. Jefferson County, one of the largest districts in the country, closed six times in two weeks.

Source: Fox News National

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Partner of accused ex-cop: Feared ambush before woman shot

The partner of a Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman who had called 911 to report a possible crime testified Thursday that he heard a thump on the officers' squad car right before the shooting and feared a possible ambush.

Officer Matthew Harrity's testimony echoed a key claim by Mohamed Noor, who fired a single shot at Justine Ruszczyk Damond as she approached the officers' squad car on July 15, 2017. Damond had placed two 911 calls that night to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. Struck in the abdomen, the 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, quickly bled to death in an incident that sparked anger and disbelief in both countries.

Harrity, who was driving, described a tense scene, with he and Noor rolling down the dark alley with headlights off, using a spotlight to search for any evidence of a woman in trouble. Harrity said at one point took a safety off his holster, but that when they neared the end of the alley without finding anything, he thought he had replaced it.

Harrity — wearing his uniform and appearing composed on the stand — testified that he had a "weird feeling" to his left but couldn't make out what it was.

"At this time I hear something hit the car and I also hear some sort of murmur," he said. He immediately drew his gun and held it to his ribs pointing downward, he said.

Prosecutor Amy Sweazy asked Harrity if he always pulled his gun when startled. He said it depends.

"In this situation, with the thump and being startled, I went straight to, 'This could be an ambush,'" Harrity answered. He added: "My first thought is, I'm going to make sure whatever it was is not a threat to me."

Harrity said as he tried to make sense of what was happening, he heard a pop and looked over to see that Noor had fired across him and through the window.

Neither officer had their body cameras running at that point, something Harrity blamed on what he called a vague policy that didn't require it. Both men switched them on afterward, and a portion of Harrity's was played Thursday.

It shows efforts by the two men to save Damond with CPR. Damond's labored breathing is hard, with Harrity saying, "Stay with me, stay with me, stay breathing." He also is heard addressing his partner: "Noor, breathe, just breathe."

At one point, as Harrity steps away to get medical supplies, he cautions Noor to slow down the CPR, and reassures Noor that an ambulance is coming.

A medical examiner testified earlier that Damond was hit in a key artery and lost so much blood so quickly that even faster medical care might not have saved her.

It's not clear whether Noor will testify.

Damond was white. Noor , 33, is a Somali American whose hire two years before the shooting was celebrated by Minneapolis leaders as a sign of a diversifying police force in a city with a large population of Somali immigrants.

Much of the prosecution's early case focused on the handling of the crime scene by police and state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents, including possible missteps. They also highlighted officers turning their body cameras on and off repeatedly after the shooting.

___

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti

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Check out the AP's complete coverage of Mohamed Noor's trial.

Source: Fox News National

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Mueller navigates dangerous currents in probing Trump-Russia nexus

FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Mueller testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill
FILE PHOTO: Robert Mueller, as FBI director, testifies before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sept. 16, 2009. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

March 11, 2019

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Robert Mueller brought an enviable reputation as the architect of the modern FBI and a force behind major criminal prosecutions to his job as special counsel investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election but has encountered a relentless campaign by President Donald Trump to discredit the probe.

Mueller, a longtime Republican, received bipartisan praise when he was named as special counsel in May 2017 to take over the Russia investigation after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, whose agency had led the probe.

Trump and allies in the Republican Party and conservative media have sought to disparage Mueller, a 74-year-old former U.S. Marine Corps officer, and paint the entire Russia investigation as illegitimate and politically motivated.

Mueller, known for a tough, no-nonsense managerial style, has remained silent throughout the investigation that threatens Trump’s presidency, letting his team’s court filings and indictments do the talking. Several Trump aides and advisers already have been convicted or pleaded guilty as a result of the investigation.

The big question is whether Mueller will present evidence of criminal conduct by the president himself. Such findings could prompt the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to begin the impeachment process laid out in the Constitution for removing a president from office for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Mueller was appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by Republican President George W. Bush in 2001 and, after unanimous Senate confirmation, started the job a week before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States by al Qaeda militants using hijacked airliners that killed about 3,000 people.

Democratic President Barack Obama extended Mueller’s service. By the time Mueller left the position in 2013, his tenure was exceeded in length only by J. Edgar Hoover’s 48-year stint.

Mueller was credited with transforming the premier U.S. law enforcement agency after Congress and an independent government commission found that the FBI and CIA had failed to share information before the Sept. 11 attacks that could have helped prevent them. Mueller revamped the FBI into an agency centered on protecting national security in addition to law enforcement, putting more resources into counterterrorism investigations and improving cooperation with other U.S. agencies.

He put his career on the line in 2004 when he and Comey, then the deputy attorney general, threatened to resign when White House officials sought to reauthorize a domestic eavesdropping program that the Justice Department had deemed unconstitutional.

The two rushed to a Washington hospital room and prevented top Bush aides from persuading an ailing Attorney General John Ashcroft, recovering from gall bladder surgery, to reauthorize the surveillance program.

Comey succeeded Mueller as FBI director in 2013.

‘HIGH IDEALS’

In nominating Mueller in 2001, Bush said, “As a lawyer, prosecutor and government official, he has shown high ideals, a clear sense of purpose and a tested devotion to his country.”

When Mueller stepped down as FBI chief, Obama called him “one of the most admired public servants of our time,” adding, “I know very few people in public life who have shown more integrity more consistently under more pressure than Bob Mueller.”

Trump has given a darker assessment, accusing Mueller of pursuing a “rigged witch hunt” while declining to sit for an interview with the special counsel’s team.

The president in November 2018 wrote on Twitter: “Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue. The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. … Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his terrible Gang of Angry Democrats.”

He also has faulted Mueller for not investigating Hillary Clinton, the defeated 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.

Trump’s attacks on Mueller appeal to his conservative political base as shown when he won cheers denigrating the special counsel during a March 2 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.

After graduating from Princeton University, Mueller served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, leading a rifle platoon and receiving commendations including the Bronze Star.

He became a U.S. assistant attorney general in 1991 and was a key player on high-profile federal prosecutions such as the 1992 convictions of former Panamanian leader Manuel Antonio Noriega and organized crime boss John Gotti and the investigation into the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Mueller’s investigation has resulted in charges against 34 people and three Russian entities. Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted on a series of charges and pleaded guilty to others. Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and former campaign aides Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos have entered guilty pleads. Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges.

After months of negotiations about a presidential interview with the special counsel’s team, Mueller let Trump give written responses to questions about whether his campaign conspired with what U.S. intelligence agencies have described as Russian hacking and propaganda aimed at causing division in the United States and boosting Trump’s candidacy. Trump provided the written answers in November 2018.

During his career Mueller had stints in private law practice but preferred government work. In the 1990s, he left a major law firm to take a low-level job in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia, specializing in homicide cases at a time when the capital city had a high murder rate.

“I’ve always loved investigations,” Mueller told Washingtonian magazine in 2008.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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Poland's ruling chief speaks strongly against LGBT rights

The leader of Poland's right-wing ruling party has used hostile language while speaking against rights for LGBT persons, a subject that has risen to prominence in his political campaign ahead of crucial elections in Poland this year.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski spoke Saturday to Law and Justice party activists at a convention ahead of the May 23-26 elections to the European Parliament and Poland's general election in the fall.

It was the second time that he used the issue of LGBT rights to rally conservative voters in the predominantly Catholic nation.

Kaczynski, who is Poland's most powerful politician, said a recent LGBT rights declaration in Warsaw is for same-sex marriages and their adoption rights. He said the answer is "No" and emphatically added "stay away from our children!"

Source: Fox News World

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UK factories stockpile for Brexit at fastest pace since records began in 1950s: CBI

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

Source: OANN

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Marines ID 2 pilots killed in Arizona helicopter crash

U.S. Marine Corps officials identified the pilots who died in a helicopter crash during a training mission in southwestern Arizona as Maj. Matthew M. Wiegand, 34, of Ambler, Pennsylvania, and Capt. Travis W. Brannon, 30, of Nashville, Tennessee.

They said the AH-1Z Viper crashed about 8:45 p.m. Saturday on the vast Marine Corps Air Station Yuma training grounds while the pilots were conducting a training mission as part of a weapons and tactical instructor course.

Officials said Wiegand held qualifications in the AH-1Z Viper and AH-1W Super Cobra and Brannon was attending the semi-annual weapons and tactics instructor course hosted by the Yuma base.

“It is a somber day for the entire Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command as we mourn this tremendous loss,” Brig. Gen. Roger B. Turner Jr., a commanding general at the base in Twentynine Palms, California.

U.S. MARINES TEST DISPOSABLE DRONE

Wiegand, who joined the Marines in 2008, was assigned to the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One in Yuma. His previous duty stations included the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida; the Marine Corps Base Camp in Pendleton, California; and the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma.

Marine officials said Wiegand previously deployed in support of a Unit Deployment Program in Okinawa, Japan, and his personal decorations included the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with a gold star.

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Brannon was assigned to the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367, Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

His previous duty stations included the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, the Marine Corps Base Camp in Pendleton, and the Marine Corps Air Station in Kaneohe Bay.

Brannon also participated in Marine Rotational Force Darwin in Northern Territory, Australia, and his personal decorations included the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.

Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.

PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.

The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.

“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.

Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.

A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.

“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”

PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.

The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.

The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.

Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)

(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.

ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”

Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.

Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.

The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.

In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.

ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Slack Technologies Inc, operator of the popular workplace instant-messaging app, reported a loss of $140.7 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2019, the company said on Friday in a regulatory filing ahead of its planned public market debut.

The company said its daily active users exceeded 10 million in the three months ended Jan. 31, 2019.

Slack expects to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SK”, it said.

The San Francisco-based company is seeking to go public via a direct listing, making it the second big technology company after Spotify Technology SA to bypass the traditional route of listing shares through an initial public offering.

A direct listing is a cheaper way of becoming a public company as the process requires fewer investment banks and therefore lower fees.

In a direct listing, however, a company does not sell any new shares to raise money. Instead, it gives existing shareholders the opportunity to cash out.

Slack is the latest in a string of high-profile technology companies looking to go public this year. Lyft Inc, Pinterest and Zoom Video Communications have completed IPOs so far in 2019.

The company is hoping for a valuation of more than $10 billion in the listing, Reuters had previously reported. Some early investors and employees have been selling the stock at around $28, valuing the company close to $17 billion, Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge, a brokerage company, told CNBC on Thursday.

Slack set a placeholder amount of $100 million to indicate the size of the IPO. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

Its competitors include Microsoft Teams, a free chat add-on for Microsoft’s Office365 users.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Joshua Franklin in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Candidate Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of an exit poll in Ukraine's presidential election in Kiev
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Matthias Williams

KIEV (Reuters) – Russia’s decision to make it easier for residents of rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to obtain a Russian passport is meant to test Ukraine’s new leader and the West should not recognize the documents, Lithuania’s foreign minister said on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the order on facilitating passports on Wednesday, three days after comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a political novice, won a landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election.

Linas Linkevicius, whose own country also has strained relations with Moscow, told Reuters in an interview that the West should consider imposing new sanctions on Russia.

“This is a blatant violation of international law. And basically also a kind of test to the new (Ukrainian) leadership, which is also a usual game,” Linkevicius said.

“The least we can do (is) we shouldn’t recognize these passports. How to do that technically, it’s another issue to discuss. Also (we need) to look at additional sanctions,” said Linkevicius, whose small Baltic nation is a member of NATO and the European Union.

Western nations imposed sanctions on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its support for armed separatists battling Kiev’s forces in eastern Ukraine. Some 13,000 people have been killed in that conflict despite a notional ceasefire signed in Minsk in 2015.

Linkevicius, who in Kiev on Friday became the first minister of an EU country since Ukraine’s election to meet President-elect Zelenskiy, said they had discussed the passport issue.

Zelenskiy also raised the possibility of resetting the Minsk ceasefire agreement without giving any concessions to Russia, Linkevicius said.

“DANGEROUS CANCER” OF GRAFT

The minister urged Zelenskiy to deliver on his electoral promise of tackling corruption, which he described as the “most dangerous cancer” facing Ukraine, which hopes one day to join the EU.

Last month, Lithuania’s own relations with Russia came under renewed strain after a Vilnius court found former Soviet defense minister Dmitry Yazov, in absentia, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in a 1991 crackdown against Lithuania’s pro-independence movement.

Russia branded the verdict “extremely unfriendly and essentially provocative” and opened a probe into the judges involved.

Linkevicius accused Russia of seeking to politicize the judicial process by trying to take revenge on the judges, adding: “This is lamentable.”

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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A Cook County judge recently called out embattled State Attorney Kim Foxx for upholding a double standard by prosecuting a woman for filing a false police report — but dropping similar charges against embattled “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.

Foxx has faced intense criticism over her office’s decision to drop a 16-count indictment against Smollett, just weeks after bringing the charges against the high-profile TV star. Foxx’s deal with Smollett, which did not require him to admit guilt, drew ire from the public, the city’s top cop and the former mayor who called it a “whitewash of justice.”

JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHICAGO PROSECUTOR KIM FOXX CHIDED BY NATIONAL ATTORNEYS GROUPS AFTER JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHARGES DROPPED 

Cook County Judge Marc Martin, who was presiding over an unrelated case, chastised Foxx and her office for creating a situation where anyone charged with filing a false report would expect the same leniency her office afforded Smollett.

Candace Clark, 21, is facing one felony count of making a false report. Prosecutors accused her of giving a friend access to her bank account and then telling authorities the money had been stolen. She denies the charges and claims she’s the victim of Foxx’s double standard — something the judge weighed in on.

“Well, Ms. Clark is not a movie star, she doesn’t have a high-price lawyer, although, her lawyer’s very good. And this smells, big time,” Martin said to prosecutors during a recent hearing, Fox 32 reported. “I didn’t create this mess, your office created this mess. And your explanation is unsatisfactory to this court. She’s being treated differently.”

The judge continued, “There’s no publicity on this case. She doesn’t have Mark Geragos as her lawyer or Ron Safer or Judge Brown. It’s not right. And (if) I proceed in this matter, you’re just digging yourselves further in a hole. (If the) press gets a hold of this, it’ll be in a newspaper. Why is Ms. Clark being treated differently than Mr. Smollett?”

Foxx recused herself from the Smollett case in February but continued to oversee the investigation through text messages with her assistant Joseph Magats.

The text messages revealed Foxx called Smollett a “washed up celeb who lied to cops.” They also show she cautioned Magats about throwing the book at Smollett.

“Sooo……I’m recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases…16 counts on a class 4 becomes exhibit A,” Foxx wrote to Magats on March 8.

“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should,” she added, referring to the case of R&B singer R. Kelly, who was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connection with four women, three of whom were underage.

KIM FOXX’S CHIEF ETHICS OFFICER RESIGNS FOLLOWING SMOLLETT CONTROVERSY

President Trump said last month he asked for a federal review of Foxx’s decision to drop the charges against Smollett. He also called the actor “an absolute embarrassment to our country.”

The Smollett case garnered national attention and threatened to tear Chicago apart. It pit the police department and mayor against prosecutors and underscored the idea that wealthy people are somehow above the law.

Smollett told police he was attacked on Jan. 29 around 2 a.m. as he was returning home from a sandwich shop in Chicago. He said two masked men shouted racial and anti-gay slurs, poured bleach on him, beat him and tied a rope around his neck. He claimed they shouted, “This is MAGA country” — a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

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After an intense investigation, police said Smollett staged the entire incident to drum up publicity for his career.

Smollett has strongly denied the accusations.

Source: Fox News National

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