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Sainsbury’s, Swedbank sink while trade talk progress boosts European shares

The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

February 20, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Encouraging signs from trade talks between the world’s two biggest economies helped boost European shares on Wednesday while the threat of a blocked merger deal sank Sainsbury’s shares.

Germany’s trade-sensitive DAX led the way with a 0.6 percent gain and the pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.4 percent.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that trade talks with China were going well and suggested he was open to pushing off the deadline to complete negotiations, saying March 1 was not a “magical” date.

The autos sector, which has been very vulnerable to rising protectionism, jumped 1.7 percent and miners gained 1.1 percent.

The top gainers — Glanbia, Simcorp, and Fresenius — were boosted by well received results.

Fresenius shares jumped 5.9 percent after the German healthcare firm said it expects earnings to grow faster than sales from 2020 after investments dent profit this year.

The company’s separately-listed dialysis business Fresenius Medical Care gained 6.8 percent after announcing a 1 billion euro share buyback.

Irish nutrition company Glanbia jumped 9.5 percent after its fourth-quarter results, while Danish software company Simcorp also rose 7.4 percent after reporting.

British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s and Swedish lender Swedbank marred the positive picture overall.

Sainsbury’s shares sank 12.5 percent after Britain’s competition regulator said its merger with Asda should either be blocked or require significant concessions.

Swedbank shares fell 5.6 percent after a Swedish television programme said it had uncovered documents linking the lender to a money laundering scandal involving Denmark’s Danske Bank.

(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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Cain On Withdrawal From Fed Consideration: Not a Good ‘Trade-Off’

Herman Cain, the businessman, radio host and columnist President Donald Trump wanted on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank, said Monday he decided the personal and professional cost was too high.

In an opinion piece for the Western Journal, Cain wrote he was well through an arduous vetting process when he realized he’d be giving up “too much influence to get a little bit of policy impact.”

“It was an honor to be considered,” Cain wrote. “Under different circumstances, I would like to have served. I realize not everyone was a fan of my prospective nomination, and that’s OK. I was prepared to make the case for myself and I was prepared to live with the outcome.”

“But look: I’m 73 years old and at this stage of my life, I’m doing all the things I want to do,” he continued. “I can go where I want and say what I want and work with the team I’ve enjoyed working with for years now. It’s remarkable how we’ve all stayed together and we all enjoy each other still, and I get a lot of joy out of that at this stage of my life.”

“It’s still fun and I do think it’s making a difference,” he added.

The decision wasn’t easy.

Cain wrote that he not only liked “the idea of serving on the Fed,” but was “convinced I could make a positive difference advocating for better growth and monetary policies”

“As recently as last Monday I had told President Trump I was all in, and on Friday I was making plans to come to Washington and visit with the senators who were skeptical of my qualifications,” he added.

He wrote even after publishing an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that explained his stand on the issues the Fed deals with, “I was prepared to defend these beliefs in meetings with senators and in confirmation hearings.”

“But the cost of doing this started weighing on me over the weekend,” Cain wrote. “I also started wondering if I’d be giving up too much influence to get a little bit of policy impact. With my current media activities, I can reach close to 4 million people a month with the ideas I believe in. If I gave that up for one seat on the Fed board, would that be a good trade-off?”

The answer was “no.”

And he jokingly warned not to believe everything written about him.

“Anything you hear about a reason other than what I’ve laid out here is (OK, I’ll go ahead and say it) fake news,” he wrote. “They don’t have a source. They don’t have inside information. Only you do, because I just gave it to you.”

Related Stories:

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Police officer shot in suburban Atlanta; suspect dead

A police officer in suburban Atlanta has been shot and the suspect is dead.

Union City police spokesman Jerald January tells news outlets that the unidentified officer was shot multiple times.

The officer was taken to an Atlanta hospital. His condition is unknown.

The suspect's identity has not been released and it's unclear what prompted the shooting.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says it has been called in to investigate the shooting.

This is the 27th shooting involving a police officer in Georgia so far this year.

Source: Fox News National

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Volunteers fly in to wash the dead in New Zealand

People visit a memorial site for victims of Friday's shooting, in front of the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch
People visit a memorial site for victims of Friday's shooting, in front of the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

March 18, 2019

CHRISTCHURCH (Reuters) – Kamran Nasir was in a finance lecture in Australia when a gunman slaughtered 50 people during Friday prayers at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

Within hours he had joined a band of about 60 volunteers on their way to wash the dead victims, in the somber aftermath of New Zealand’s worst modern mass shooting spree.

“We got this text – they need volunteers,” Nasir, 35, told Reuters.

“It literally unfolded in an hour and half and we were running to the airport to catch a flight,” he said, sitting with four friends who had also dropped everything to offer help.

Experienced in Islamic funeral rites, the men from Brisbane who are connected to Brothers in Need, a charity group, are part of a contingent drawn from Australia and cities across New Zealand to help a community overwhelmed by the number of bodies which must be dealt with according to ritual.

They also epitomize a spirit of generosity that has pulsed across a grieving city this week.

“The first thing that went through my head was: They need us,” Nasir said.

He arrived in the early hours of Saturday, the same day Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder over the killings. Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5 where police said he was likely to face more charges.

Christchurch is subdued. Bunches of flowers have been piled up outside the botanical gardens and underneath oak trees opposite one of the mosques, which are guarded by armed police.

The majority of victims were migrants or refugees from countries such as Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The youngest was a three year old boy, born in New Zealand to Somali refugee parents.

The victims, after their bodies were removed from the crime scenes, had to be examined by investigators before they can be prepared for burial.

“It is a spiritual process, preparing the body to go into the next life,” said Taufan Mawardi, who is 38 and one of Nasir’s fellow volunteers.

“I’ve never personally done anything that’s got to do with violent crime, particularly bodies that have been riddled with bullet holes or knife wounds or whatever that may be. So it is a bit confronting as well, anticipating what it’s going to be like in there,” he said.

Eight teams of six people are carrying out the work of cleansing the bodies before burial.

“You start from the head, working down from the right to the left side, to the feet. The mouth and the nose have to be washed,” Nasir said.

Officials say they have released one body and that they hope to complete their examinations of the other 49 killed as soon as possible.

“As much as it is emotional, we’ve got a very good support network,” said Nasir.

“For me it is an honor. It is an honor to be washing these bodies.”

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

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Colorado sheriffs who won't enforce anti-gun 'red flag' law should 'resign,' state AG says

Colorado's attorney general testified said week that country sheriffs vowing not to enforce the state's proposed anti-gun "red flag" bill should "resign" -- a challenge that threatened to ramp up tensions between state officials and local leaders who were already creating droves of so-called Second Amendment "sanctuary counties" to resist the legislation.

Democrat Phil Weiser made the remarks, which were first reported by The Colorado Sun, while testifying before a state committee on Friday. Weiser has said that the red flag legislation, which would permit a court to the seizure of weapons from people determined to be a threat to others or themselves, would save lives, particularly in domestic violence situations.

“If a sheriff cannot follow the law, the sheriff cannot do his or her job,” Weiser said. “The right thing to do for a sheriff who says, ‘I can’t follow the law’ is to resign.”

Phil Weiser, seen here in October 2018, said sheriffs unwilling to enforce Colorado's "red flag" bill should resign.

Phil Weiser, seen here in October 2018, said sheriffs unwilling to enforce Colorado's "red flag" bill should resign. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

The proposed state law, House Bill 1177, is expected to secure passage in the Colorado legislature and be approved by the state's Democrat governor, Jared Polis. It says petitioners, under oath, must establish by a "preponderance of the evidence" -- a relatively lax legal standard essentially meaning that something is "more likely than not" -- that a person "poses a significant risk to self or others by having a firearm in his or her custody or control or by possessing, purchasing or receiving a firearm."

An emergency hearing must then be held within 24 hours, and if an "extreme risk protection order" (ERPO) is issued by a judge, an individual will be barred from "possessing, controlling, purchasing or receiving a firearm for 364 days," and must "surrender all of his or her firearms and his or her concealed carry permit."

CALIFORNIA'S GUN SEIZURE PROGRAM HITS HURDLES

Defendants can successfully override the ERPO only by establishing by "clear and convincing evidence" -- a legal standard even more strict than guilt beyond a reasonable doubt -- "that he or she no longer poses a significant risk of causing personal injury to self or others."

“Because ERPO will be constitutionally upheld, every sheriff will be required and, I believe, will follow through to uphold an act under that law," Weiser told the state Senate panel.

Several other states are considering similar red flag laws, and counties in states as far apart as New Mexico and Illinois have responded by creating Second Amendment sanctuaries, leading to court challenges. But Weiser's comments were perhaps the most direct repudiation by state officials of local leaders who have resisted their gun control efforts.

Similar red flag laws have passed since 2018 in Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Connecticut, California, Indiana, Oregon and Washington had versions of red flag laws prior to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February 2018.

Weiser did not respond to Fox News' request for clarification on his remarks.

A man wears a patriotic-themed cowboy hat during a pro gun-rights rally at the state capitol, Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Austin, Texas. Gun rights supporters rallied across the United States to counter a recent wave of student-led protests against gun violence. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A man wears a patriotic-themed cowboy hat during a pro gun-rights rally at the state capitol, Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Austin, Texas. Gun rights supporters rallied across the United States to counter a recent wave of student-led protests against gun violence. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Conservatives have said Colorado's legislation should focus more on providing mental health services, and they warn that the bill would only discourage distressed individuals from seeking help. Legislators, critics say, should focus instead on expanding and improving the state's existing provisions for 72-hour mental health holds.

"The criteria for a 72-hour hold is you are a danger to yourself and others,” Assistant State Senate Minority Leader John Cooke, a Republican and former sheriff, told The Colorado Times. “Well, that’s what this bill is saying, too — to come in and take your guns. But the problem is you leave the person at the house. It’s gun confiscation, and it’s really short on mental health. So, if you’re going to take the gun, you ought to take the person instead if they are that dangerous.”

Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams told Fox News that Weiser, effectively, could take a hike.

NRA'S DANA LOESCH RIPS CNN'S AWARD FOR TOWN HALL IN WHICH SHE WAS HECKLED, RUBIO WAS COMPARED TO SERIAL KILLER

“If you pass an unconstitutional law, our oaths as commissioners or myself as the sheriff — we’re going to follow our constitutional oath first,” Reams, whose county commissioners recently voted to become a Second Amendment "sanctuary," told Fox News. “And we’ll do that balancing act on our own.”

On Wednesday afternoon, commissioners in Logan County, Colo., became the latest officials to pass such a sanctuary measure. The vote among commissioners was unanimous.

"It's time we quit trying to put lipstick on a pig and start funding our mental health facilities, instead of trying to take the rights from our people," Logan County Sheriff Brett Powell said in public remarks prior to the vote.

He added that law enforcement searches are traditionally only acceptable during criminal investigations.

"In Colorado, it's not a crime to harm yourself," Powell said.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

According to a list compiled by Rally for Our Rights, a nonprofit, 22 Colorado counties have become "Second Amendment sanctuaries" in the last month, including El Paso County, among the state's largest.

El Paso last week vowed to fight the Colorado measure in court if needed, and pledged not to “appropriate funds, resources, employees, or agencies to initiate unconstitutional seizures in unincorporated El Paso County." The country affirmed its "support for the duly elected Sheriff of El Paso County, Colorado and collaborate with the Sheriff to refuse to initiate unconstitutional actions against citizens."

El Paso Commissioner Stan VanderWerf called on the state's Democrat leaders to change course.

“I would ask Governor Polis to refuse to sign it,” VanderWerf said, “because of the unconstitutionality of the bill as presently written. No governor or senate should willfully sign into law or pass legislation that are violations of a set of documents that protect our rights.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Unrealistic Promises to Rust Belt May Haunt Trump

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WASHINGTON -- When General Motors idled its auto plant in Lordstown, Ohio, this month, President Trump adopted a familiar strategy: He issued a nasty string of tweets blaming other people and promised, in effect, that he would restore the past.

Trump's angry, backward-looking approach may still appeal to some Rust Belt voters. But in the Ohio and Pennsylvania towns that helped win the presidency for Trump in 2016, his vow to turn back the clock hasn't worked out very well, and there are signs the Rust Belt may be corroding for him politically.

Lordstown's struggles, like those of other nearby mill towns, illustrate the harsh fact that manufacturing is a dynamic process. Old jobs are disappearing because of changes in technology or consumer preferences; trying to resist change is usually a fool's game. Rust Belt communities that are succeeding are the ones that have adapted by embracing new technologies and innovation.

Presidential leadership in this period of technological transition should focus on the future, rather than the past. But Trump seems almost a technophobe. Axios reported this week that he thinks driverless cars are "crazy." He tweeted March 12, after the crash of a high-tech Boeing jetliner: "Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly ... I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better."

Trump's response to Lordstown was to attack David Green, the UAW local president, implying that he was at fault along with GM, and demanding that he "get his act together and produce." Green had sent letters to Trump in July 2018 and February 2019 warning about threats to the plant. Trump didn't respond.

After Trump's Twitter tirade, Rep. Tim Ryan, the Ohio Democrat who represents the Lordstown area, fired back: "The President's tweet ... is offensive and does nothing to help bring back the manufacturing jobs he promised to my district."

Ryan argued that "the best thing is to help" GM renovate Lordstown and perhaps build electric vehicles there. Local residents said much the same thing to the Youngstown Vindicator this month: GM or a new owner should focus on new technology and making products people want to buy, rather than restore production of the low-selling Chevrolet Cruze.

Trump is vulnerable in the Rust Belt because he made such extravagant promises when he successfully wooed voters in 2016. "He won this area -- a largely Democratic area -- and he has not said a word yet, and that's just pathetic," warned Jim Graham a former UAW leader at Lordstown, in an interview with the Vindicator back in November, when GM said it planned to halt Cruze production there.

Local residents remember Trump's proclamation at a July 2017 rally in nearby Youngstown: "Those jobs [that] have left Ohio, they're all coming back ... Don't sell your house." Tommy Wolikow, a Lordstown worker, told the Vindicator: "I kind of turned into a Trump supporter at that time. I believed what he said. ... Almost two years later, I'm seeing nothing but job losses."

Homeowners in Youngstown certainly haven't seen a boom. According to Zillow, the online realty broker, the median price for a house in Youngstown is $39,900. The national median price of homes currently listed is $279,000. Browse the real estate ads for mill towns across Ohio and Pennsylvania and you'll see just how tough it is to be a Rust Belt resident, trapped in a downward cycle.

What's the right answer for Rust Belt towns where the old manufacturing base has disappeared? An interesting example is Erie, Pennsylvania. Most big factories there have closed in recent years, but the city is rebuilding itself around its local universities and a big insurance company. Profits from a big gambling casino in Erie County are funneled partly to "innovation spaces" at four local campuses.

Erie may have lost manufacturing jobs, but it's above the state average in advanced industries, says Ben Speggen, a local journalist who helps run a think tank in Erie called the Jefferson Educational Society. "There has been a real shift in understanding that our Rust Belt economy is not solely tied to manufacturing," he says.

Another key to success is welcoming foreigners. About 10 percent of Erie's population is refugees, according to James and Deborah Fallows in their recent book, "Our Towns." One of the 10 characteristics they found in successful local communities adapting to change is that "they make themselves open."

One more lesson from Erie County, in the heart of the Rust Belt: Trump won there in the 2016 presidential election, but in the 2018 midterm congressional election, the county voted Democratic.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group

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Weekend preview: Fords hope to continue roll at Talladega

NASCAR: Toyota Owners 400
Apr 13, 2019; Richmond, VA, USA; Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski (2) races Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie (32) during the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

April 25, 2019

Certainly in recent years, Ford drivers have shown the way to Talladega Superspeedway’s famous Victory Lane — the seven most recent race trophies all belong to the manufacturer and its teams.

Yet NASCAR’s biggest and fastest speedway always remains a place where last-lap maneuvers and daring from-the-gut calls have produced some of the most thrilling and unpredictable finishes of the racing season. Ford has hoisted a string of trophies in recent seasons but the statistical examination of past driver performance keeps this historic venue one of the schedule’s most fickle and NASCAR’s best drivers perpetually on the verge of breakthrough and triumph.

Sunday’s GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the next great superspeedway chapter. And for all of Ford’s recent winning patterns, Chevrolet and Toyota drivers are every bit a part of the statistical high expectation.

Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski owns five Talladega trophies — most of anyone competing this weekend. His Ford teammate Joey Logano is the defending winner of this race and has three Talladega trophies of his own.

But it’s Chevrolet driver Chase Elliott who boasts the top driving rating (91.3) and best average running position (10.8) even as he looks for his first win on the track. Fellow Chevrolet driver, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch is hoping his 36th start will result in his first win at the famed track. He leads this weekend’s field in quality passes (7,406) and laps run in the top 15 (66.7%) and more importantly top-five (eight) and top-10 finishes (19) even as he races for his first trophy.

Seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is looking to snap a nearly two-year winless streak — the longest time in his 83-victory career between trophy hoists and champagne toasts. A two-time Talladega winner, he’s led the most laps (322) at this track among his competitors this weekend. This year’s Daytona 500 winner, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is second with 302 laps led.

“I think superspeedway racing is just something where you have to stay out of trouble,” Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman said. “Things can change on track quickly and you just have to be able to stay out of harm’s way.

“We were strong in Daytona and our Nationwide Camaro ZL1 is usually pretty good on superspeedways. The new aero package that we tested in Daytona a few months ago should be interesting to run and I am definitely looking forward to how it does on track. I am ready to see how it does and get to the track.”

XFINITY DASH 4 CASH RAISES THE STAKES IN TALLADEGA

The NASCAR Xfinity Series’ next stop on the schedule is at Talladega Superspeedway for the MoneyLion 300 (Saturday, April 27 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) which presents a new chapter for all the championship contenders. For the first time this season there are no former Talladega winners or pole-winners entered in the race.

Add to that the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus is up for grabs between four of the series’ hottest drivers — Cole Custer, Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier and reigning series champ Tyler Reddick — and this weekend’s 300-miler on the series’ fastest track couldn’t be more wide-open. The highest finisher among those drivers earns the $100,000 check from Xfinity and qualifies for next week’s Dash 4 Cash. In addition, the highest top-three championship contending Xfinity finishers this week at Talladega will also qualify to compete for the big check next week at Dover International Speedway.

Among those talented drivers, Allgaier, in particular, is eyeing this race to get back in Victory Lane. The veteran is on a remarkable run of six consecutive top-10 finishes at Talladega — including a runner-up showing in 2016 and a third-place finish last year. His average finish (10.0) is tops among those with more than one start at Talladega and the worst he’s finished since 2011 is eighth (twice). He is currently fifth in the championship — 87 points behind leader Reddick. Only two-time race winners Cole Custer (227 laps) and Christopher Bell (428 laps) have led more than Allgaier’s 224 laps this season.

Not only will the JR Motorsports driver Allgaier be in a car to watch, Jeffrey Earnhardt will be back behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota this week. Earnhardt, the grandson of the late 10-time Talladega Cup Series winner Dale Earnhardt, was a major storyline in the series’ first superspeedway race in Daytona Beach in February. He started on the outside pole at Daytona and led a career-best 29 laps in the perennially contending JGR No. 18. This will be Earnhardt’s first start for JGR since Texas last month and first Talladega start since a career-best 12th-place finish there running a part-time schedule for a different team in 2015.

Championship leader Tyler Reddick is still looking for his first victory as well, and Talladega has traditionally been a positive place for him. He finished eighth last year in the Xfinity race and has two top-five finishes in three starts in the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series, winning the pole position in his first ever race (2014) at the superspeedway.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

Next Race: GEICO 500

Defending race winner: Joey Logano

The Place: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

The Date: Sunday, April 28

The Time: 2 p.m. ET

TV: FOX

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 500 miles (188 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 55),

Stage 2 (Ends on lap 110), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 188)

What to Watch For: Among active drivers Kurt Busch holds the top mark for top-five (eight) and top-10 (19) finishes. The late Dale Earnhardt holds the all-time record with 23 top-fives — including a record 10 wins — and 27 top-10s at the track. … Eight drivers currently ranked among the top-16 in the championship standings have never won at Talladega. … Four drivers have multiple series wins including Brad Keselowski (5), defending race winner Joey Logano (3), Clint Bowyer (2) and Jimmie Johnson (2). … Dave Marcis and NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte share the record for most Talladega starts (61). Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick hold the mark among active drivers at 36 races. Busch has the most starts without a win. … Chase Elliott leads active drivers in best average starting position (4.167) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads all active drivers in average finishing position (10.6). Ty Dillon is second to Stenhouse with an average finish of 13.5. Stenhouse has 11 starts and Dillon has four. … Seven drivers have won back-to-back series races at Talladega, but no current driver has. …. Jimmie Johnson has led the most laps (470) at Talladega in this week’s field. … The outside front row starting position (2nd) has produced the most winners (20). … The deepest on the grid a winner has started is 36th (Jeff Gordon in spring, 2000). The deepest on the grid an active driver has started and won is 34th (Denny Hamlin, spring, 2014). …Richard Childress Racing and Hendrick Motorsports are tied for most wins (12) at Talladega. … Ford has won the last seven races but Chevrolet (40 wins) leads the overall victory tally. Ford has 28 wins and Toyota has three. … The late Buddy Baker and three-time series champion Tony Stewart are tied for most runner-up finishes at Talladega with six each. Johnson and Harvick have the most (three) among active drivers. … In seven of the last nine races the margin of victory was .129-seconds or less. … Two-time Talladega winner Clint Bowyer has been involved in two of the closest four race finishes. He lost to Johnson by .002-seconds in April, 2011 in the closest race in Talladega history. Bowyer beat Jeff Burton by .018-seconds that Fall in the track’s fourth closest Cup race. … Bill Elliott holds the qualifying record of 212.809 mph (set in April, 1987). His eight poles is a record, too. Only Harvick has won multiple poles (2) among this week’s field. … No active driver won his first pole position at Talladega. Only David Ragan (spring, 2013) scored his first career Cup win here among active drivers. … Justin Haley will be making his Cup debut this week in the No. 77 Chevrolet. He won the ARCA Menards Series race at Talladega last year.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Next Race: MoneyLion 300

Defending race winner: Spencer Gallagher

The Place: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

The Date: Saturday, April 27

The Time: 1 p.m. ET

TV: FS1

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 300 miles (113 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 25),

Stage 2 (Ends on lap 50), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 113)

What to Watch For: There are no former race or pole winners entered in Saturday’s race so a guaranteed first-timer will celebrate both those achievements. … Two of the last three winners of this race led only the final lap — Spencer Gallagher last year and Elliott Sadler in 2016. … Only one driver — Martin Truex Jr. — has won consecutive Xfinity Series races at Talladega. Truex won three straight from 2004-06. … The last time a manufacturer won consecutive races was 2011-12 when Kyle Busch then Joey Logano hoisted trophies. … Five active drivers have won both Cup and Xfinity races at Talladega — David Ragan, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the last driver to sweep both Cup and Xfinity races in a single weekend, doing so in April, 2003. … In 15 of the last 17 years this race has had at least 20 lead changes. The most ever was 56 in 2011 when Kyle Busch won the race. … Only twice in 27 races has the polesitter won — Joe Nemechek in 1998 and Tony Stewart in 2008. … The farthest back a winner has started on the grid is 35th — Nemechek won from there in 2000. … Third place has been the winningest starting position producing three race winners. … Justin Allgaier holds a series-best six consecutive top-10 finishes at Talladega, but has never won at the big track. …. Cole Custer, Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier and Tyler Reddick are eligible for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus this weekend. The highest finisher among them gets to cash the check. … Chevrolet has twice as many victories (15) at Talladega as any manufacturer. Ford has six and Toyota has four. … Reigning NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt will be making his season debut Saturday in the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain's far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.

No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.

Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.

By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.

Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.

The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.

The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.

The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.

Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.

It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.

While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.

TRENDING

According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.

Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.

Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.

Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.

“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said

For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.

“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.

For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.

The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.

The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.

That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.

(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)

(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

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FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

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U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

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