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Brexit hangs in the balance: Corbyn’s Labour says no breakthrough yet

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in London
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home, as Brexit uncertainty continues, in London, Britain April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 8, 2019

By Guy Faulconbridge and Elizabeth Piper

LONDON (Reuters) – The opposition Labour Party said on Monday that Prime Minister Theresa May had so far failed to convince it to support a divorce deal, two days before a European Union emergency summit where she will try to delay Britain’s April 12 departure.

Brexit has already been delayed once but May is asking the EU for yet more time as she courts veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour Party wants to keep Britain more closely tied to the EU after Brexit.

Nearly three years after the United Kingdom shocked the world by voting by 52 percent to 48 to leave the EU, May warned that Brexit might never happen but said that she would do everything possible to make sure that it did.

Labour’s Brexit point man, Keir Starmer, said May’s government had so far not changed its position on Brexit and so no way forward had been agreed.

“Both us and the government have approached this in the spirit of trying to find a way forward. We haven’t found that yet. We will continue to do that,” Starmer said.

“The ball is the government’s court,” he added. “We need to see what they come back with and, when they do, we will take a collective position on that.”

What Starmer termed exchanges of communication had taken place over the weekend and, while no talks were scheduled for Monday, he said things could develop. He said an agenda had been circulated that included the idea of a confirmatory referendum.

May’s spokesman said she hoped further formal talks could take place later on Monday, and that she wanted to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

The spokeswoman said May wanted Britain to have an independent trading policy – something hard to reconcile with Labour’s demand for membership of a customs union – and that both sides would need to compromise.

The 2016 referendum revealed a United Kingdom divided over much more than EU membership, and has sparked impassioned debate about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and what it means to be British.

Yet, more than a week after Britain was originally supposed to have left the EU, nothing is resolved as the weakest leader in a generation battles to get a divorce deal ratified by a deadlocked parliament.

BREXIT DELAY?

EU leaders, fatigued by the serpentine Brexit crisis, must decide on Wednesday whether to grant May, who has asked for a postponement until June 30, a further delay. The decision can be vetoed by any of the other 27 member states.

Without an extension, the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU at 2200 GMT on Friday, without a deal to cushion the economic shock.

While the EU is not expected to trigger such a potentially disorderly no-deal exit, diplomats said all options were on the table – from refusing a delay to granting May’s request or pushing for a longer postponement.

May needs to convince EU leaders that she has a viable plan; she will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday to discuss Brexit.

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, was on Monday meeting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Ireland, which depends heavily on Britain as both a market and a transit point and would be hit hardest by a no-deal Brexit.

As the crisis grinds on, one survey suggested that voters wanted a strong leader willing to force through broad political reform.

Research by the Hansard Society found that 54 percent of voters wanted a strong leader willing to break the rules, while 72 percent said the political system needed “quite a lot” or “a great deal” of improvement.

Confidence in the system is at the lowest level in the 15-year history of the survey, lower even than after a 2009 scandal when lawmakers were shown to have charged taxpayers expenses for everything from an ornamental duck house to cleaning out a moat.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: OANN

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Baby girl found dead inside California apartment after mom, son fall from balcony

UPLAND, Calif. — A mother suspected in the death of her baby girl in California threw her young son from a second-story apartment landing and jumped herself as police arrived, authorities said Tuesday.

The mother and 1-year-old boy were hospitalized in stable condition, police said.

"This is very unusual. It's extremely tragic," Upland police Capt. Marcelo Blanco said. The name of the woman was not released.

Officers in Upland, 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, went to the apartment building Tuesday after a neighbor called 911 to report that a child was screaming or crying, Blanco said.

MICHIGAN MOM WHO KILLED HER 3 CHILDREN USED FAKE DOCTOR'S NOTE TO GET THEM OUT OF SCHOOL, INVESTIGATORS SAY

The woman then noticed that the child's mother was holding the boy over the landing.

"She proceeded to drop the child down from the second story," the captain said.

The boy fell about 12 to 15 feet and the mother jumped when officers arrived, Blanco said. She landed face down, suffering facial injuries.

Police then made a safety check of the second-story apartment and found the woman's approximately 7-month-old daughter inside. She wasn't breathing.

Her breathing was restored but she died at a hospital, Blanco said.

The cause of her death will be determined but she had a possible skull fracture and internal injuries, he said.

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The mother is considered a suspect in her death and the case is being investigated as a homicide, he said. Police had not yet determined a motive.

The distraught father spoke to police but "has no idea what led to this," the captain said.

Blanco wasn't aware of police being called to the apartment previously.

Source: Fox News National

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Exclusive: Deutsche Boerse nears $3.5 billion deal to buy Refinitiv’s FXall – sources

FILE PHOTO: The German share prize index (DAX) board is seen at the end of a trading day at the German stock exchange (Deutsche Boerse) in Frankfurt
FILE PHOTO: The German share prize index (DAX) board is seen at the end of a trading day at the German stock exchange (Deutsche Boerse) in Frankfurt, Germany, February 12, 2019. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

April 10, 2019

By David French, Andreas Framke and Arno Schuetze

NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse AG is in advanced talks to buy FXall, a foreign exchange electronic trading platform owned by data provider Refinitiv, for about $3.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The deal would further diversify Deutsche Boerse’s business beyond stock trading, while enabling Refinitiv to trim its debt pile following its acquisition last year by a consortium led by Blackstone Group LP in a $20-billion leveraged buyout.

If the negotiations conclude successfully, a deal could be announced as early as next week, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential.

Deutsche Borse declined to comment, while Refinitiv did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FXall has more than 2,300 institutional clients who are trading foreign exchange on its platform, offering more than 500 different currency pairs through methods including on-the-spot trading, forward and option contracts, according to its website.

Deutsche Borse, operator of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, has been seeking new avenues for growth, as the profitability of facilitating trades is eroded by new digital rivals and the rise of passive investment funds that track indices.

On Tuesday, Deutsche Borse announced it would buy risk management software provider Axioma for $850 million, with plans to merge it with its existing index business to create a new analytics firm.

Deutsche Boerse’s Global Head of FX, Carlo Koelzer, was quoted by the Handelsblatt business daily on Apr. 1 saying that the firm would be interested in buying FXall, should it ever come up for sale.

Blackstone acquired a 55-percent stake in Refinitiv last year from information provider Thomson Reuters Corp, the parent of Reuters News.

Thomson Reuters retains a 45 percent stake in Refinitiv, which provides financial information, security pricing, analytics, risk management and compliance support tools. Refinitiv took on $13.5 billion in debt as part of its leveraged buyout, according to Moody’s Investors Service Inc.

(Reporting by David French in New York and Andreas Framke and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Source: OANN

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Israel Strikes Hamas Targets Amid Election Tensions

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Sunday that it launched airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza in response to a projectile fired into Israeli territory.

On Twitter, the IDF said a rocket was fired on Saturday night, prompting air raid sirens. “We responded by striking several military targets in a Hamas compound in Gaza and two Hamas vessels,” the IDF said.

The airstrikes were also in response to “continued violence emanating from the Gaza Strip, which has included the launching of balloons carrying explosive devices and attempts to damage security infrastructure over the last number of days.”

On Friday, a 23-year-old Palestinian was shot dead during clashes at the Israel-Gaza border. Forty-three other protesters were also wounded during the clashes.


David Knight breaks down how in a recent radio broadcast, former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke praised Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for her recent statements against Israel.

Rising Tensions Ahead of Elections

Tensions are rising between Israel and the Hamas militant group, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since wrestling control from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. Since then, the militant organization has fought three wars against Israel.

The escalation comes as Israel gears up for elections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of incitement throughout his campaign, with challengers saying he is invoking “Arab hatred” to appeal to his nationalist base.

However, support for Netanyahu has dwindled after Israeli’s attorney general announced last month that he intends to indict the prime minister on corruption charges. In the 2015 election, Netanyahu won the election by galvanizing last-minute voters, alleging on election day that “Arab voters are heading to the polling stations in droves” and that “left-wing NGOs are bringing them in buses.”

Political Gamble

But Netanyahu could lose votes if the escalation translates into Israeli casualties. According to some analysts, constituencies that see soldiers from their area killed during a conflict often vote against the ruling party. However, Netanyahu remained defiant on Sunday.

“I have heard people from Gaza saying that since we are in an election campaign, a large-scale operation is out of the question,” said Netanyahu on Sunday. “I suggest to Hamas — don’t count it. We will do whatever it takes to restore security and quiet to the Gaza border communities and to the south in general.”

In February, Israeli media reported that the government used mediators to warn Hamas against any escalation, saying: “Israel can make tough decisions during elections and is not afraid of a military campaign.”


Greg Reese exposes the hypocrisy of the MSM as 8 journalists are fired for reporting on George Soros accurately. Alex Breaks down this bombshell report.

Source: InfoWars

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Feds Raid Baltimore Mayor’s Homes As ‘Children’s Book’ Corruption Scandal Snowballs

As one of the most absurd corruption scandals in recent American memory continues to snowball, agents from the FBI and IRS on Thursday raided two homes owned by Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, as well as city hall, presumably in connection with the “children’s book” corruption scandal that has inflamed tensions in the city and prompted calls for Pugh to resign immediately.

According to AP, Dave Fitz, an FBI spokesman from the agency’s Baltimore office, said the agents were “executing court-authorized search warrants” but couldn’t release any more details because the warrants were sealed.

On April 1, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan asked state prosecutors to begin a criminal investigation into what appears to be a brazen kickback scheme involving sales of Pugh’s “Healthy Holly” book series. Agents also raided a non-profit with which Pugh has been associated.

Yes, you read that right. The mayor of Baltimore has been accused of using her position to secure contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from the University of Maryland Medical System and managed-care consortium KaiserPermanente. The contracts were agreements to buy thousands of copies of Pugh’s “Healthy Holly” books, a series written by Pugh.

Pugh was sitting on the organization’s board when she received the contract from the University of Maryland system. And shortly after she received a payment from KaiserPermanente, the company received a $48 million contract from the city. Though we’re sure that’s just a coincidence. Furthermore, some of the “Healthy Holly” copies that Pugh sold to the University of Maryland Medical System remain unaccounted for, and some suspect they may never have been printed.

In response to the scandal, which was uncovered by reporters from the Baltimore Sun earlier this month, the city council demanded that Pugh resign in a terse letter signed by the entire membership. The city’s congressional delegation has also called on Pugh to resign, as have other state officials.

Adding to the farce, Pugh and five of her closest aids took a paid leave a few weeks ago, around the time Hogan called for a criminal investigation, with Pugh claiming that she has been recuperating after a brutal bout of pneumonia. She has barely been heard from or seen in that time.

Maryland’s chief accountant called Pugh’s “self-dealing” arrangements to sell her books as “brazen, cartoonish corruption.”

Unfortunately for its long-suffering residents, who have been fleeing the city in droves as crime spirals out of control, City Hall is no stranger to absurd corruption cases. Pugh won the mayor’s seat after triumphing over ex-Mayor Sheila Dixon, who spent much of her prior tenure as mayor battling corruption allegations stemming from her ‘misappropriation’ of $500 in gift cards intended for needy families. Dixon was accused of taking the gift cards and using them as gifts for family members. Dixon left office in 2010 as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

Pugh’s predecessor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who took over from Dixon after her resignation, opted not to seek another term after she was roundly criticized for her handling of the Freddie Gray protests/riots.

Unfortunately for the city, only a conviction can force a Baltimore mayor’s removal from office. The city’s charter leaves no options for ousting the mayor, which amounts to a major bargaining chip for Pugh.

However, now that she appears to have become the target of a federal investigation, it will likely become increasingly difficult for her to hang on. Perhaps she’ll need to invent another illness to avoid dealing with the public fallout from these raids.



On his way to bullhorn the White House, Alex Jones bumped into Max Keiser of MaxKeiser.com.

Source: InfoWars

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German court blocks spies from designating AfD as ‘case to investigate’

FILE PHOTO: Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland of Alternative for Germany (AfD) attend a session of Germany's Bundestag (lower house of parliament) in Berlin
FILE PHOTO: Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland of Alternative for Germany (AfD) attend a session of Germany's Bundestag (lower house of parliament) in Berlin, November 21, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo

February 26, 2019

By Madeline Chambers and Joseph Nasr

BERLIN (Reuters) – A German court banned the domestic spy agency from classifying the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a “case to investigate”, handing a symbolic victory to the far-right party before five important elections later this year.

The AfD has been ostracized by political opponents despite being the biggest opposition party in parliament after gaining seats there in the 2017 election. Other parties have rejected coalitions with the AfD at national or regional level.

In January, domestic intelligence (BfV) chief Thomas Haldenwang said his agency had classified the anti-immigrant AfD as a “case to investigate”.

On Tuesday, the Cologne administrative court ruled that the BfV had failed to legally justify its January announcement that it would examine whether the AfD had breached constitutional safeguards against extremism.

“Legally speaking this is a total victory for the AfD,” the party co-leader Alexander Gauland told reporters.

The court said the BfV’s announcement was disproportionate and breached constitutional rules protecting political parties.

“The description as a ‘case to investigate’ gives a negative public impression,” the court’s ruling read, adding that an evaluation of AfD policies and views was not relevant.

A spokeswoman for the BfV said it was considering whether to appeal the court’s decision.

Germany’s constitution contains strict protections against extremism but also sets out democratic safeguards for political parties.

Gauland said the court ruling was a signal for other parties to rethink their attitude toward the AfD. “I advise our political competitors – meaning the other parties in parliament – to stop exploiting the BfV,” Gauland said. “Putting pressure on public servants leads to bad decisions.”

The BfV’s credibility was tarnished last year by accusations that its then-director, Hans-Georg Maassen, harbored far-right sympathies.

Maassen was replaced by Haldenwang in September after a public backlash against comments in which he questioned the authenticity of video footage showing radicals hounding migrants in the eastern city of Chemnitz.

AfD co-chief Alice Weidel said the court’s decision was proof Haldenwang lacked the “neutrality” needed to head the agency in charge of protecting the constitution, and called for his dismissal.

The AfD entered parliament for the first time in 2017 by scooping up voters angry with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 2015 decision to welcome almost one million mainly Muslim asylum seekers.

Polls indicate the AfD is running almost neck-and-neck with Merkel’s Christian Democrats in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia, which vote on Sept. 1 and Oct. 27 respectively. It is forecast to come third in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

(Additional reporting by Michelle Martin and Sabine Siebold; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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US and China clash over 'belt and road' in Afghan resolution

The United States and China have clashed over Beijing's $1 trillion "belt and road" infrastructure program after the Security Council unanimously approved a bare bones resolution extending the mandate of the U.N. political mission in Afghanistan for six months.

Last year's resolution extending the mission's mandate for a year welcomed and urged further efforts to strengthen regional economic cooperation involving Afghanistan, including through the "belt and road" program linking China to Europe, Africa and other parts of Asia.

Council diplomats said China wanted that language included this year — but the U.S. objected.

U.S. deputy ambassador Jonathan Cohen said after Friday's vote that "China held the resolution hostage and insisted on making it about Chinese national political priorities rather than the people of Afghanistan," citing the "belt and road" initiative.

Source: Fox News World

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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President Trump on Friday said “no money” was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, after reports that the U.S. received a $2 million hospital bill from Pyongyang for the late American prisoner’s care.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else. This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist[sic] hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!” Trump tweeted Friday.

NORTH KOREA GAVE US $2M HOSPITAL BILL OVER CARE OF AMERICAN OTTO WARMBIER, SOURCES SAY

The Washington Post first reported that North Korean authorities insisted the U.S. envoy sent to retrieve Warmbier, 21, who was a student of the University of Virginia, sign a pledge to pay the bill before allowing Warmbier’s comatose body to return to the United States. Sources confirmed the bill and the amount to Fox News on Thursday.

Sources told the post that the envoy signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions from the president, but a source told Fox News that the U.S. did not ever pay money to North Korea.

The White House declined to comment when asked on the bill, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying in a statement that: “We do not comment on hostage negotiations, which is why they have been so successful during this administration.”

Meanwhile, the president added: “’President[sic] Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.’ Cheif[sic] Hostage Negotiator, USA!”

Warmbier was on tour in North Korea when he allegedly stole a propaganda sign from a hotel. He was arrested in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in March 2016. Warmbier, for unknown reasons, fell into a coma while in custody and was held in that condition for an additional 17 months.

North Korean officials did not tell American officials until June 2017 that Warmbier had been unconscious the entire time. He died less than a week after he returned to the U.S. North Korean officials, though, have repeatedly denied accusations that Warmbier was tortured, instead claiming that he had suffered from botulism and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

AMERICAN PRISONERS HELD IN NORTH KOREA ON THEIR WAY HOME AFTER POMPEO VISIT, TRUMP SAYS

Fred and Cindy Warmbier sued North Korea over their son’s death and in December were awarded $501 million in damages – money that the Hermit Kingdom will probably never pay.

While the Warmbiers blamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump has said he believes Kim’s claims that he did not know about the student’s treatment.

Trump and Kim have met in two separate summits. The most recent, held in February, ended without an agreement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Fox News: “Otto Warmbier was mistreated by North Korea in so many ways, including his wrongful conviction and harsh sentence, and the fact that for 16 months they refused to tell his family or our country about his dire condition they caused.  No, the United States owes them nothing. They owe the Warmbier family everything.”

Last year, the Trump administration was also able to save three American prisoners held by North Korea. Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, and Kim Hak Song were all detained in North Korea. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the three Americans home last May, and said they were all in “good health.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Rich Edson, Nicholas Kalman, and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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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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FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States over safety issues in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc cut its 2019 profit forecast on Friday, saying it expected to take a $350 million hit from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes after cancelling 1,200 flights in the first quarter.

The company said it now expects its 2019 adjusted profit to be between $4.00 per share and $6.00 per share.

Analysts on average had expected 2019 earnings of $5.63 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

The No. 1 U.S. airline by passenger traffic said net income rose to $185 million, or 41 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $159 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total operating revenue rose 2 percent to $10.58 billion.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) – Four years ago, Donald Trump campaigned in small towns like Marshalltown, Iowa, vowing to restore economic prosperity to the U.S. heartland.

In his bid to replace Trump in the White House, Pete Buttigieg is taking a similar tack. The difference, he says, is that he can point to a model of success: South Bend, Indiana, the revitalized city where he has been mayor since 2012.

The Democratic presidential contender has vaulted to the congested field’s top tier in recent weeks, drawing media and donor attention for his youth, history-making status as the first openly gay major presidential candidate and a resume that includes military service in Afghanistan.

But Buttigieg’s main argument for his candidacy is that he is a turnaround artist in the mold of Trump, although the Democrat does not expressly invoke the comparison with the Republican president.

“I’m not going around saying we’ve fixed every problem we’ve got,” Buttigieg, 37, said after a house party with voters in Marshalltown. “But I’m proud of what we have done together, and I think it’s a very powerful story.”

Critics argue improving the fortunes of a Midwestern city of 100,000 people does not qualify Buttigieg, who has never held national office, for the presidency of a country of 330 million. Others say South Bend still has pockets of despair and that minorities, in particular, have failed to benefit from its growth.

Buttigieg has told crowds in Iowa and elsewhere that his experience in reviving a struggling Rust Belt community allows him to make a case to voters that other Democratic candidates cannot. That may give him the means to win back some of the disaffected Democratic voters who turned their backs on Hillary Clinton in 2016 to vote for Trump.

Watching Buttigieg at a union hall in Des Moines last week, Rick Ryan, 45, a member of the United Steelworkers, lamented how many of his fellow union workers voted for Trump. The president turned in the best performance by a Republican among union households since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Ryan said he hoped someone like Buttigieg could return them to the Democratic fold.

“He’s aware of the decline in the labor force in America, not just in Indiana or Des Moines or anywhere else,” Ryan said. “Jobs are going overseas. We need a find to way to bring that back.”

Randy Tucker, 56, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Trump appealed to union members “desperate for somebody to reach out to them, to help them, to listen to their voice.”

Buttigieg could do the same, he said. “In my heart right now, he’s No. 1.”

PAST VS. FUTURE

Buttigieg stresses a key difference in his and Trump’s approaches.

Trump, he tells crowds, is mired in the past, promising to rebuild the 20th century industrial economy. Buttigieg argues the pledge is misleading and unrealistic.

Buttigieg says his focus is on the future, and he often talks about what the country might look like decades from now.

“The only way that we can cultivate what makes America great is to look to the future and not be afraid of it,” Buttigieg said in Marshalltown.

Buttigieg knows his sexual preference may be a barrier to winning some blue-collar voters. But he notes that after he came out as gay in 2015, he won a second term as mayor with 80 percent of the vote in conservative Indiana.

Earlier this month, he announced his presidential bid at the hulking plant in South Bend that stopped making Studebaker autos more than 50 years ago. After lying dormant for decades, the building is being transformed into a high-tech hub after Buttigieg and other city leaders realized it would never again attract a large-scale industrial company.

“That building sat as a powerful reminder. We hoped we would get back that major employer that would fix our economy,” said Jeff Rea, president of the regional Chamber of Commerce.

Buttigieg is praised locally for spurring more than $100 million in downtown investment. During his two terms, unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent from 11.8 percent.

But a study released in 2017 by the nonprofit group Prosperity Now said not all of the city’s residents had shared in its rebound. The median income for African-Americans remained half that of whites, while the unemployment rate for blacks was double.

Regina Williams-Preston, a city councilor running to replace Buttigieg as mayor, credits him for the revitalized downtown. But she said he had a “blind spot” when it came to focusing on troubled neighborhoods like the one she represents and only grew more engaged after community pressure.

“He understands it now,” she said. “The next step is figuring out how to open the doors of opportunity for everyone.”

‘ONE OF US’

Trump touts the fact that the United States added almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs last year as evidence he made good on his promise to restore the industrial sector. But that growth still left the country with fewer manufacturing jobs than in 2008.

The robust U.S. economy is likely the president’s greatest asset in his re-election bid, particularly in states he carried in 2016 such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He won Buttigieg’s home state by 19 points over Clinton in 2016.

Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, Iowa, said Buttigieg would be well positioned to compete with Trump in the Midwest.

“People love the fact that he’s a mayor,” said Bagniewski, who has not endorsed a candidate in the nominating contest. “If you can talk about a positive future, and if you actually have experience that can do it, that’s a compelling vision in Iowa.”

Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, which faces many of the same challenges as South Bend, agreed.

“He’s one of us,” Whaley said. “That helps.”

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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