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Release of long-awaited Mueller report on Russia a watershed moment for Trump

FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Mueller testifies at a security threat hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Robert Mueller, as FBI director, testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington March 12, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

April 18, 2019

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report on Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election will be released on Thursday, providing the first public look at the findings of an inquiry that has cast a shadow over Donald Trump’s presidency.

Attorney General William Barr’s planned release of the nearly 400-page report comes after Mueller wrapped up his 22-month investigation last month into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia and questions about obstruction of justice by the president.

Its disclosure, with portions expected to be blacked out by Barr to protect some sensitive information, is certain to launch a new political fight spilling into the halls of Congress and the 2020 presidential campaign trail, as Trump seeks re-election in a deeply divided country.

The release marks a watershed moment in Trump’s presidency, promising new details about some of the biggest questions in the probe, including the extent and nature of his campaign’s contacts with Russia and actions Trump may have taken to hinder the inquiry including his 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey.

It also may deepen an already bitter partisan rift between Trump’s fellow Republicans, most of whom have rallied around the president, and his Democratic critics, who will have to decide how hard to go after Trump as they prepare congressional investigations of his administration.

Barr said he would hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) on Thursday to discuss the report, along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel in May 2017.

Copies of the report will be delivered to Capitol Hill more than an hour later, between 11 a.m. and noon (1500-1600 GMT), a senior Justice Department official said. The delay in seeing the report sparked Democratic complaints that Barr, a Trump appointee, wanted to shape the public’s views during his news conference before others had a chance to draw their own conclusions.

Mueller’s investigation, which Trump has called a “witch hunt,” raised questions about the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency and laid bare what the special counsel and U.S. intelligence agencies have described as a Russian operation to derail Democrat Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and elevate Trump, the Kremlin’s preferred candidate.

Some Democrats have spoken of launching impeachment proceedings against Trump in Congress, allowed under the U.S. Constitution to remove a president from office for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” but top Democrats have been notably cautious.

Mueller charged 34 people and three Russian companies. Those who were convicted or pleaded guilty included figures close to Trump such as his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, personal lawyer Michael Cohen and national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Mueller submitted the report to Barr on March 22. Two days later, Barr sent lawmakers a four-page letter saying the inquiry did not establish that Trump’s 2016 campaign team engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia and that Mueller had not exonerated Trump of committing the crime of obstruction of justice. Barr subsequently concluded that Trump had not committed obstruction of justice.

‘SMEARS AND SLANDER’

Since Barr released that letter, Trump has claimed “complete and total exoneration,” and condemned the inquiry as “an illegal takedown that failed.” At a March 28 rally in Michigan, Trump said that “after three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead.”

Citing people with knowledge of the discussions, the New York Times reported on Wednesday that White House lawyers held talks with U.S. Justice Department officials in recent days about the conclusions in Mueller’s report, aiding them in preparing for its release.

Justice Department regulations gave Barr broad authority to decide how much of Mueller’s report to make public, but Democrats have demanded the entire report as well as the underlying investigative files. Barr is due to testify to Congress in public about the report in early May.

The Justice Department has been working for weeks to prepare the redactions, which will be color coded to reflect the reason material is omitted.

Barr said he would redact parts to protect secret grand jury information, intelligence-gathering sources and methods, material that could affect ongoing investigations and information that unduly infringes on the privacy of “peripheral third parties” who were not charged.

Democrats are concerned that Barr, appointed by Trump after the president fired former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, could black out material to protect the president.

(Reporting by Sarah Lynch; Additional reporting by David Morgan, Andy Sullivan, Jan Wolfe, Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: OANN

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NYC jogger Karina Vetrano’s killer boasts about landing ‘front page’ of newspapers following conviction

Convicted killer Chanel Lewis boasted about landing the “front page” of the two major New York City tabloids a day after he was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling jogger Karina Vetrano in August 2016.

“I’m on the front page — of both papers,” Lewis said in his jailhouse phone interview with the New York Daily News on Tuesday. The "papers" Lewis was referring to are the Daily News and The New York Post.

He also recalled how many times news of the murder has appeared on the front pages of the city's newspapers.

The 22-year-old’s first trial, in November, ended in a hung jury -- but Monday jurors deliberated only five hours before returning the "guilty" verdicts.

Chanel Lewis at the defense table at Supreme Court in the Queens Borough of New York for the retrial of Karina Vetrano's murder.

Chanel Lewis at the defense table at Supreme Court in the Queens Borough of New York for the retrial of Karina Vetrano's murder. (AP)

His conviction was met with emotional cheers from Vetrano’s family and friends in court and also gave the slain woman's parents, Cathie and Phil Vetrano, some closure nearly two years after their daughter’s death.

NYC JOGGER KARINA VETRANO MURDER CASE JUROR SAYS HE FELT PRESSURE TO CONVICT

Lewis told the Daily News he plans to appeal the verdict.

“We’re going to appeal the process,” he said. “I’m going to let my lawyers handle that.”

But when asked about murdering the 30-year-old Vetrano, he simply responded with, “nothing," instead preferring to talk about how his family is coping.

“They’re trying to hang in there,” he said.

DEFENSE IN NYC JOGGER KARINA VETRANO MURDER CASE SAYS ANONYMOUS LETTER SHOWS EVIDENCE WITHHELD DURING RETRIAL

Lewis previously called the New York Daily News to complain about jail conditions at Riker's Island.

He was arrested in February 2017 and soon confessed to the slaying in a taped interview. He told investigators that, on Aug. 2, 2016, he stormed out of his home because he was upset about a neighbor playing loud music. Lewis told cops he encountered Vetrano and suggested she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“She didn’t do anything,” he told police. “I was just mad at that time. I beat her to let my emotions out. I didn’t really mean to hurt her. It just happened.”

JOGGER KARINA VETRANO'S SUSPECTED KILLER COMPLAINS ABOUT LEWD RIKER'S ISLAND INMATES, GUARDS

Lewis' lawyers, however, insisted during the trial that the confession was coerced and the DNA evidence wasn’t gathered properly. They also say potentially exculpatory evidence wasn't turned over to them by the prosecution, touting a late, anonymous letter that said cops were under pressure to find Vetrano's killer and police had initially focused on finding "two jacked up white guys" before settling on Lewis.

Vetrano’s parents told reporters Tuesday they believe Lewis killed their daughter.

“No matter what anyone says, Chanel Lewis is the person who did this to my daughter. No question about it,” Cathie Vetrano said outside the couple’s Howard Beach home.

Phillip and Catherine Vetrano, parents of Karina Vetrano, arrive to court in New York, Wednesday.

Phillip and Catherine Vetrano, parents of Karina Vetrano, arrive to court in New York, Wednesday. (AP)

“I sat for two and a half years listening to the most disgusting details of my daughter, her most horrendous death and last moments of her life at the hands of a savage demon,“ she said.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Phil Vetrano said hearing the guilty verdict was “just total jubilation.”

“He is definitely going to get what he deserves,” Vetrano said. “Sometime down the road, he’s going to meet up with Karina again, and this time, he’s not going to bushwhack her, and this time, she’s going to have [the angel] Gabriel on one side and [the angel] Michael on the other and on his way down, she’s going to take care of him for good.”

Source: Fox News National

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U.S. Treasury says Trump has privacy rights over any tax return request

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin speaks at the Jordan Growth and Opportunity Conference in London
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin speaks at the Jordan Growth and Opportunity Conference in London, Britain February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Pool

March 14, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury will try to shield President Donald Trump from a congressional request to see his tax returns but its efforts to protect his privacy will be the same given any taxpayer, the Treasury secretary said on Thursday.

“We will protect the president as we would protect any individual taxpayer under their rights,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives, saying he had met with legal experts at the Treasury Department to discuss the matter.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Brexit reprieve 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, March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

March 22, 2019

(Reuters) – European stock markets rose on Friday, relieved at the European Union’s agreement on a two-week reprieve that precludes Britain crashing out of the bloc without a deal next week.

The communique from Thursday’s meeting of EU leaders also kept the door open to a longer extension if Prime Minister Theresa May, as expected, fails at the third attempt to gain parliament’s approval for her negotiated exit deal.

After two days of losses, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.3 percent, led by 0.6 percent gains for Germany’s DAX and a 0.2 percent rise in French stocks.

As has often been the case on Brexit, London’s blue chip FTSE 100, packed with companies dependent on international revenues which tend to lose when sterling rises, dipped 0.2 percent.

The pound, fluctuating heavily in the past week on Brexit twists and turns, was up 0.3 percent in early trade.

Shares in Deutsche Bank, up earlier this week on the prospect of a merger with Commerzbank, rose more than 2 percent after disclosures showed its board members received their first bonuses in four years.

The retail sector led gains with a roughly 1 percent rise, while tech stocks, on a tear after surprisingly upbeat results from chipmaker Micron earlier this week, gained another 0.6 percent, tracking gains on Wall Street and in Asia.

German chipmaker Siltronic AG was the Stoxx 600’s top gainer with a 3.6 percent rise.

Adidas AG and Puma SE both gained after a disappointing quarterly report from rival Nike Inc which hinted at a slowing of the U.S. firm’s momentum in its home market.

Despite the relief, there were more signs of firms making preparations for a no-deal Brexit that is likely to send a depressive shock coursing through Europe’s major economies.

British low-cost airline EasyJet said on Friday it was ready to suspend the voting rights of a small number of shares to comply with rules that require 50 percent plus one share of the company to be owned by EU shareholders following Brexit.

Goldman Sachs analysts reduced the likelihood of May’s deal passing to just 50 percent, while raising the chances of “no-deal” to 15 percent. The bank continues to put the chances of no Brexit at all at 35 percent.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Patrick Graham,)

Source: OANN

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Investors brace for more euro pain as U.S. economy, dollar flex muscles

The German Bundesbank presents the new 50 euro banknote at it's headquarters in Frankfurt
FILE PHOTO: The signature of the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, is seen on the new 50 euro banknote during a presentation by the German Central Bank (Bundesbank) at its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

April 25, 2019

By Tommy Wilkes and Richard Pace

LONDON (Reuters) – After the euro’s slide to 22-month lows against the dollar, investors are scrambling to shield themselves from more weakness as Europe’s poor data contrasts with an upbeat U.S. economy that is sending the dollar surging.

Options markets suggest investors this week bought sizeable downside protection against further euro weakness against the dollar, after the single currency broke below its 2019 low of $1.1170, a level that has opened the door to more selling.

On Thursday, the pair traded as low as $1.1117, the lowest since May 2017. The dollar, meanwhile, soared against a basket of currencies as robust data on jobs and durable goods orders took its year-to-date gains to 2.2 percent.

“We have been increasingly doubtful that the euro can hold,” said Neil Mellor, currencies analyst at BNY Mellon. “Growth forecasts have been slumping and the ECB (European Central Bank) might have to revise its expectations again.”

This week’s fall — more than 1 percent so far — follows a period of calm during which euro/dollar, the world’s most traded currency pair, has been stuck in its narrowest ever trading range. The tiny price fluctuations have frustrated investors keen on volatility and clear direction.

(GRAPHIC: Euro hits 22-month low – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W4eDnX)

The Federal Reserve’s dovish shift at the start of 2019 would normally have hurt the dollar. But the Fed move was followed in March by the ECB’s decision to push back further planned interest rate rises.

Since then, euro zone business surveys have pointed to further gloom, with a widely-watched German business climate index showing deteriorating morale in April.

The U.S. economy, on the other hand, appears to be blooming; latest data showed new orders for U.S.-made capital goods increased by the most in eight months, while U.S. first-quarter growth could be as much as 2.4 percent, according to some estimates.

Until now, investors have had to pay relatively little to protect their portfolios against a euro downside, because currency volatility has been so low and few were buying options.

But that has changed – forex dealers said that a swathe of options were bought on Thursday giving holders the right to sell euros for $1.1000, including one for 500 million euros.

The market is already heavily long dollars, with speculative investors holding their biggest short position in euros since December 2016, CFTC data indicates.

(GRAPHIC: Euro positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W4JD73)

One-month implied volatility – a gauge of expected price moves – has also jumped, after threatening to hit record lows only last week.

(GRAPHIC: Euro/dollar implied volatility – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XOzlZx)

Euro/dollar volatility is likely to be boosted by the run-up to the May 23 European parliamentary elections, where populist parties could make a strong showing by tapping into anger about public expenditure cuts and income inequality.

Of course, not everyone believes the euro will spiral lower. Societe Generale analyst Kit Juckes, for instance, said the dollar – supported by an interest rate advantage of at least 70 basis points above its main economic competitors – was expensive, while the euro looked cheap.

“The risk, then, is that, having broken through the bottom of the recent euro-dollar range, all we do is add another coat of paint to the bottom of it, and settle into a marginally lower range,” he said.

(GRAPHIC: YTD G10 FX performance – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W4dZGQ)

But $1.10 is not unknown territory for the euro, which spent much of 2016 and 2017 below that level.

“It’s not really hard to rationalize,” said BNY Mellon’s Mellor. “The bad news is going to continue to mount from an (European) economic perspective.”

(Editing by Sujata Rao and Kevin Liffey)

Source: OANN

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The 10 Best Cities to Live in America Are . . .

Which cities in America are the best to live in? It is an age-old debate and in an effort to settle it, for 2019 at least, U.S. News & World Report has just released its annual list of the best places to live in America.

In order to establish the winners, the survey analyzed the 125 most populous metropolitan areas in the country. To make the top of the list, each city had to have good value, be a desirable place to live, have a strong job market, and a high quality of life. Additional factors such as median household income, crime rates, and the overall availability to healthcare were also taken into account then compared to results from a poll that asked 2,500 people from across the country where they would ultimately prefer to live, Today noted.

Topping the list for the third time in a row was Austin, Texas, which also ranked as one of the top cities to retire in. Denver and Colorado Springs ranked second and third respectively, followed by Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Des Moines, Iowa, rounding out the top five.

"Our Northeastern cities, which are epicenters of higher education and economic development, are not growing nearly as much as places in Florida, California, and Texas," said Devon Thorsby, real estate editor for U.S. News & World Report, according to Today. "Plus, they are expensive to live in. Top-ranked places have the characteristics people are looking for, including steady job growth, affordability, and a high quality of life."

On the opposite end of the scale, San Juan, Puerto Rico, ranked at the bottom of the list along with Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, and several California cities.

Here are the top 10 best cities to live in America, according to U.S. News & World Report:

  1. Austin, Texas
  2. Denver, Colorado
  3. Colorado Springs, Colorado
  4. Fayetteville, Arkansas
  5. Des Moines, Iowa
  6. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
  7. San Francisco, California
  8. Portland, Oregon
  9. Seattle, Washington
  10. Raleigh & Durham, North Carolina

Source: NewsMax America

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PC maker Lenovo returns to third-quarter profit, beats estimates

FILE PHOTO: A Lenovo ultrabook and a tablet are displayed during a news conference in Hong Kong
FILE PHOTO: A Lenovo ultrabook and a tablet are displayed during a news conference in Hong Kong, China May 21, 2015. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/File Photo

February 21, 2019

By Sijia Jiang and Donny Kwok

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Lenovo Group Ltd said on Thursday it swung back to a net profit in the December quarter, beating market expectations, due to a strong performance across its major business groups.

Profit for the quarter was $233 million, versus a loss of $289 million in the same period a year earlier when the world’s largest personal computer (PC) maker by shipments took a one-off hit following U.S. tax reform.

The result was ahead of the $207 million average of 10 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv.

Revenue rose 8.5 percent to $14.04 billion on a strong performance in its PC and Smart Device business and its Data Center business, just beating the $13.95 billion analyst view.

Its Mobile Business Group also recorded a pre-tax profit for the first time since it bought Motorola in 2014 for $2.9 billion, having struggled to integrate the assets.

Lenovo said revenue for its PC and Smart Device Business rose 12 percent in the three months period.

(Reporting by Sijia Jiang; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Richard Pullin)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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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)

Source: OANN

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Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren suggested that doctors and nurses don’t treat African American women the same way they do white women.

Warren appeared on Wednesday together with a number of other 2020 Democratic candidates at the She The People Forum in Houston, discussing issues concerning women of color.

WARREN’S $1.25T EDUCATION PLAN ‘SWEEPING’ GIVEAWAY TO THE WEALTHY AT EXPENSE OF THE POOR, WAPO EDITORIAL BOARD SAYS

The Massachusetts senator announced on stage a plan to decrease the childbirth mortality rate among black women while identifying a systematic problem with how they are treated.

“And there is a specific problem, as you rightly identified, for women of color who are three, four times more likely to die in childbirth,” Warren said.

“And here’s the thing, even after we do the adjustments for income, for education, this is true across the board. This is true for well-educated African American women, for wealthy African American women, and the best studies that I’m seeing put it down to just one thing, prejudice,” she added.

“That doctors and nurses don’t hear African American women’s medical issues the same way that they hear the same things from white women.”

“That doctors and nurses don’t hear African American women’s medical issues the same way that they hear the same things from white women.”

— Elizabeth Warren

CHARLIE KIRK: WARREN AND OTHER DEMS OFFER FREE MONEY – BUT DON’T TELL YOU PRICE WILL BE YOUR FREEDOM

Warren went on to get into details of her plan, noting that hospitals will be given bonuses if they manage to reduce the childbirth mortality rate among black women in an effort to give financial incentives for those doctors and nurses to provide better care.

“And if they don’t, then they’re going to have money taken away from them,” Warren added.

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“I want to see the hospitals see it as their responsibility to address this problem head-on and make it a first priority. The best way to do that is to use the money to make it happen because we gotta have change, and we gotta have change now.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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