A Japan Yen note in front of U.S. Dollar and British Pound Sterling notes are seen in this June 22, 2017 illustration photo. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration
March 12, 2019
By Daniel Leussink
TOKYO (Reuters) – Sterling rose sharply on Tuesday as speculation swirled that British Prime Minister Theresa May might be closer to securing approval for her Brexit deal.
The pound extended earlier gains as May won legally binding Brexit assurances from the European Union, in a last ditch attempt to sway rebellious British lawmakers who have threatened to vote down her divorce deal in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday.
Sterling, jumped as high as $1.3290 as some investors bolstered bet the prime minister could secure a divorce deal before Britain’s scheduled March 29 departure from the EU.
The pound was last trading 0.6 percent higher on the day at $1.3223, having been as low as $1.2945 at one stage on Monday.
The euro slid to its lowest on the pound since mid-2017 at 84.71 pence. It was last quoted down about 0.4 percent on the day at 85.15 pence.
At a joint news conference with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker late on Monday, May announced three documents aimed at addressing the most contentious part of the exit deal she agreed in November – the Irish backstop.
“Seeing them together in the same screen, is a positive – that there is some hand holding there and working together to move forward,” said Bart Wakabayashi, Tokyo branch manager at State Street Bank.
The Irish backstop is an insurance policy aimed at avoiding controls on the sensitive border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.
“If they can break (the backstop) down to a level where there can be some negotiation or at least compromise on both sides, there definitely does seem (to be) light at the end of the tunnel,” added Wakabayashi.
If May loses the vote on Tuesday, she has said lawmakers will get a vote on Wednesday on whether to leave without a deal and, if they reject that, then a vote on whether to ask for a limited delay to Brexit.
Most other currencies stayed within familiar trading ranges before U.S. February inflation figures expected later on Tuesday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six rivals, fell almost 0.2 percent to 97.063 on a modest improvement in investors’ risk appetite.
Against the Japanese yen, a safe-haven currency often bought in times of rising volatility, the dollar was 0.2 percent higher at 111.43 yen.
Data on Monday showed U.S. retail sales rose modestly in January, lifted by an increase in purchases of building materials and discretionary spending, but a drop in December was even larger than initially thought.
The euro found support against the dollar on the Brexit news and the improvement in risk appetite. The single currency was last up about 0.15 percent at $1.1259.
MILAN – European Parliament President Antonio Tajani has come under fire for comments praising Italian dictator Bettino Mussolini.
Tajani told Radio 24 Wednesday evening that Mussolini did some "positive things," including improving Italy's infrastructure, until "he declared war on the entire world, following Hitler, until he promoted the racial laws" that restricted the rights of Jews.
Tajani, who is a member of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, was criticized from across the political spectrum, inside and outside of Italy.
Italy has struggled to come to terms with its fascist past and the rise of populism has brought reminders of Mussolini's two-decades in power until his execution in 1945.
FILE PHOTO: A 3D plastic representation of the Facebook logo is seen in front of displayed cables in this illustration in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina May 13, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
April 4, 2019
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Social media giant Facebook Inc said on Friday it would block electoral advertisements purchased outside Australia from being displayed there ahead of a national election due in May.
“Combating foreign interference is a key pillar of our approach to safeguarding elections on our platform,” Facebook Director of Policy for Australia and New Zealand, Mia Garlick, said in a statement. “We’re temporarily not allowing electoral ads purchased from outside Australia ahead of the election in May.”
Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google have been facing political and regulatory scrutiny in Australia and around the world as lawmakers wrestle with the large and growing influence of the powerful online platforms in public life.
Australia on Thursday passed new laws allowing big fines for social media firms if violent content is not removed quickly, a move in response to a lone gunman live streaming his attack on two mosques in Christchurch last month.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to imminently call a general election due by the end of next month.
(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by David Gregorio)
FILE PHOTO: A logo of the Brazilian mining company Vale SA is seen in Brumadinho, Brazil January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Adriano Machado
April 8, 2019
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian mining company Vale SA has opened negotiations with prosecutors and families of victims of the deadly January dam disaster in Minas Gerais state, with an aim of defining compensation, the company said on Monday.
Vale said it has signed a term of commitment with an arm of Minas Gerais state prosecutors’ office, which will be in charge of receiving expressions of interest from families seeking compensation for losses related to the disaster, which killed an estimated 300 people.
(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
As former vice president Joe Biden prepares to launch his 2020 presidential campaign on Thursday, his long public record working for gun control has been consistently in line with the values of today's Democratic Party, but potential political danger lurks for him even on this issue, NBC News reported on Wednesday.
As a Delaware senator and ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Biden voted in favor of the Firearm Owners Protection Act in 1986, which the NRA has called "the law that saved gun rights."
Reflecting a vastly different era decades ago, when compromise was common in the Senate and guns were less of a partisan and emotional issue, the act passed by a wide margin.
It overturned six Supreme Court rulings and various regulations, leaving a legacy as one of the most important gun laws of the past century and a major political boost for the growing gun rights movement.
The act allowed dealers to sell rifles, shotguns and ammunition through the mail and limited federal inspections of firearms dealers while allowing them to sell at gun shows.
Biden praised it at the time as a “balanced piece of legislation that protects the rights of private gun owners while not infringing on law enforcement's ability to deal with those who misuse guns or violate laws," adding that “I have never believed that additional gun control or Federal registration of guns would reduce crime.”
Biden spokesman Bill Russo said "Cherry-picking an out of context quote from 1986 doesn't even begin to address Joe Biden's unparalleled record on gun safety. Let's be clear on the facts: Joe Biden took on the NRA and won - twice.”
The grand jury returned two separate sets of charges.
The first set are related to what Smollett told officers about the alleged attack, including that the attackers called him racial and homophobic slurs, struck him with their hands, put a noose around his neck, and poured some sort of chemical substance on him.
The second set of charges are related to the second interview Smollett had with police about the alleged attack later that day.
Smollett’s legal troubles will likely not end with the 16 felonies as the FBI is reportedly investigating a letter sent to the “Empire” set that contained a white powder and threatened Jussie.
If the agency concludes Smollett was behind the anonymous letter, he could be facing federal charges.
Additionally, Infowars exclusively reported the FBI is looking into whether or not the actor’s many Democratic politician friends were involved in any capacity.
Infowars covered the Smollett saga closely and was among the first media outlets to see the hoax for what it was.
Watch Paul Joseph Watson’s epic report, “Jussie Smollett Is A Complete Idiot,” below.
CHICAGO -- As Chicago police and prosecutors play the blame game over this week's surprise decision to drop a 16-count indictment against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, the fallout is now dominating the city's upcoming mayoral election.
Candidates Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot have both been peppered with questions about the case and its handling. Both have faulted State's Attorney Kim Foxx for failing to provide details on why the charges were dropped.
“The state's attorney has to be really forthcoming about the reasons for the dismissal,” Preckwinkle said. “And I think, in this instance, the judge needs to unseal the record so that the public has an opportunity to see what really transpired. This is a case in which there are a lot of questions. And those questions are unanswered.”
During a Fox 32 mayoral debate, Lightfoot said the public has the right to know "why these charges were dismissed, what the underlying basis was, particularly in light of the allegations that were made by the state’s attorney at the time the charges were first announced that looked like they had a very airtight case against Smollett for faking a hate crime."
Candidates Lori Lightfoot (left) and Toni Preckwinkle (right) have both been peppered with questions about the Smollett (center) case and its handling. Both have faulted State's Attorney Kim Foxx for failing to provide details on why the charges were dropped. (Getty/AP/Getty)
Ironically, Foxx ran on a platform of transparency when she campaigned to be Cook County's State's Attorney in 2016. She promised a sweeping "new path" of transparency and community involvement and said she was "ready to go meet the community where they are because they are angry and they are grieving, because not only is the violence high, but the trust in law enforcement right now is dangerously low."
Preckwinkle helped launch Foxx's political career - first as chief of staff and then into the role of Cook County's State's Attorney. Foxx won her election as states attorney with the strong backing of Preckwinkle who at the time was Cook County's Board President.
Both Preckwinkle and Foxx have gone on to say they have a common goal of correcting what they deem as unfair incarceration of young black males.
According to a new poll of registered voters on Monday, Preckwinkle leads Lightfoot by a margin of 53 percent to 17 percent, according t the WTTW/Crain's Temkin/Harris poll. Both candidates will square off against one another Friday night in a debate.
Brian Gaines, a University of Illinois political science professor, told The Chicago Tribune that the Smollett case could pull votes from Preckwinkle.
“I assume that the candidates will do their best to stay away from opining on this, but for voters it could reinforce this feeling that ‘we need new people, different people in office — because justice isn’t done the right way.’ They may be thinking we need an outsider, and that may help Lightfoot,” Gaines said.
Chicago's current mayor, Rahm Emanuel, came out swinging this week first criticizing his city's prosecutors and then blaming President Trump for creating a "toxic" environment that would allow Smollett to allegedly fake a hate crime.
Smollett was accused of faking an anti-black, anti-gay hate crime against himself in order to drum up publicity for his role on a Fox television show. Denying the claims of fraud, Smollett maintained that on Jan. 29, two men beat him, poured bleach on him and placed a rope around his neck before yelling, "This is MAGA country" (a blunt reference to Trump's campaign slogan "Make American Great Again").
A week before the alleged attack, Smollett told authorities he received a threatening letter at work. Chicago police believe he made that up, too.
The city of Chicago on Thursday sent a letter to Smollett's attorneys demanding he pay $130,000 to cover the cost of investigating the case. The exiting mayor suggested that Smollett write the check to Chicago with "I'm accountable for the hoax" written on the memo line. Smollett's attorneys hit back and demanded an apology from Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson for "dragging an innocent man's character through the mud."
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)
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)
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.
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)
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie
April 26, 2019
MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.
In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.
He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”
Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.
Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.
The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.
Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.
The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.
“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.
The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.
(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)
Click below to consent to the use of the cookie technology provided by vi (video intelligence AG) to personalize content and advertising. For more info please access vi's website.