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Young NATO states mark anniversary of alliance membership

Defense ministers from Central and Eastern Europe are celebrating the anniversaries of their countries' membership of NATO at a time when Russia's increased military activity has stoked concerns.

The nine ministers are meeting in Poland, the largest of the post-communist countries in the region.

Their nations joined the military alliance, which is based in Brussels, between 1999 and 2004, sealing their new links with the West and away from Russia.

Their membership also shifted the center of Europe's security eastwards, toward Russia, to the increasing annoyance of Moscow.

The two-day meeting that ends Friday is focusing on improving the alliance's combat readiness in the region.

Source: Fox News World

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Ukrainian presidential candidates trade insults in final debate

Ukraine's presidential candidates Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a debate in Kiev
Ukraine's President and presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko attends a policy debate with his rival, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, at the National Sports Complex Olimpiyskiy stadium in Kiev, Ukraine April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 19, 2019

By Polina Ivanova and Pavel Polityuk

KIEV (Reuters) – The two men vying to be Ukraine’s next president traded insults and accusations in a final raucous debate on Friday in front of thousands of supporters ahead of a decisive run-off vote this weekend.

The debate, held in a hulking football stadium, was one of the last opportunities for incumbent President Petro Poroshenko to try to overhaul a significant lead in the opinion polls enjoyed by his challenger Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian with no prior political experience.

The event was light on policy and heavy on theatrics with supporters cheering and booing their respective candidates and shouting “Shame” and “Go away” in a gladiatorial atmosphere.

In a rare break from mutual mud-slinging, both men briefly knelt on stage at one point to honor the memory of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the country’s simmering 5-year war with Russian-backed separatists.

Zelenskiy, who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series, tried to cast Poroshenko as a rich out-of-touch leader who has overseen corruption and failed to end the war.

“I’m not a politician,” Zelenskiy told Poroshenko. “I’m just an ordinary person who has come to break the system. I’m the result of your mistakes and promises.”

He also questioned why living standards were in decline.

“How is it that Ukraine is the poorest country with the richest president?”

Standing in front of a Ukrainian flag surrounded by army veterans, Poroshenko tried to portray Zelenskiy as an inept draft-dodger who would be unable to defend the country against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“You’d be a weak head of state who would be unable to defend yourself from Putin’s blows. I don’t believe that Mr Volodymyr (Zelenskiy) dreams of handing over Ukraine, of dragging Ukraine back into the Russian empire, but Putin has such a dream.”

Zelenskiy was a front for other people, said Poroshenko, accusing him of wanting to further Russian interests and those of Ihor Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s richest businessmen.

He also levelled accusations of financial wrongdoing against Zelenskiy to which the comedian hit back:

“I’m not at the prosecutor’s office, I haven’t done anything to find myself there, but maybe you’ll have to meet with the prosecutor.”

Zelenskiy has put Poroshenko on the backfoot by running an unorthodox campaign that eschewed traditional rallies and relied on quirky social media videos and comedy gigs.

The hour-long debate in the stadium, an unprecedented spectacle in Ukraine’s modern history, came after Zelenskiy challenged Poroshenko to meet him there.

“I think this is the first and last time it’ll be this way in the history of such debates. For them to be in a stadium? Never again. The atmosphere is just super,” said Anya, a 25-year-old Zelenskiy supporter from the Poltava region.

“I loved it.”

(Reporting by Polina Ivanova, Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets; Writing by Matthias Williams and Andrew Osborn; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Prosecutors expected to wrap up case vs. officer

The Latest on the homicide trial of a white Pennsylvania police officer in the shooting of an unarmed black 17-year-old (all times local):

10 a.m.

Prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case against a white former East Pittsburgh police officer charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager.

Michael Rosfeld's trial continues Thursday for a third day in a Pittsburgh courtroom.

Rosfeld fired three bullets into 17-year-old Antwon Rose II in June after pulling over an unlicensed taxicab suspected to have been used in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier. Rose was a front-seat passenger in the cab and was shot as he fled.

After prosecutors rest their case, the defense is expected to call an expert witness on the use of deadly force.

In his opening statement earlier this week, defense attorney Patrick Thomassey said the area where the shooting happened is a high-crime area. He told jurors Rosfeld was "a policeman who did his duty."

___

3 a.m.

Prosecutors will call more witnesses to the stand in the trial of a white former East Pittsburgh police officer charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager.

Michael Rosfeld's trial continues Thursday into its third day in a Pittsburgh courtroom.

The first two days of testimony included compelling statements from witnesses and neighbors, one of whom said he heard Rosfeld panicking, repeatedly saying "I don't know why I shot him. I don't know why I fired."

Rosfeld fired three bullets into 17-year-old Antwon Rose II after pulling over an unlicensed taxicab suspected to have been used in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier. Rose was a front-seat passenger in the cab and was shot as he fled.

The trial is expected to take a week or more.

Source: Fox News National

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Bomb in market kills 16 in southwest Pakistan, half of them ethnic Hazaras

Members of the bomb disposal unit survey the site after a blast at vegetable market in Quetta,
Members of the bomb disposal unit survey the site after a blast at a vegetable market in Quetta, Pakistan April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Naseer Ahmed

April 12, 2019

By Gul Yousafzai

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – A bomb hidden among bags of potatoes at a Pakistani market killed at least 16 people, half of them ethnic Hazaras, officials said, in an attack apparently aimed at minority Shi’ite Muslims.

At least 30 people were wounded in the blast in the southwestern city of Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province, officials said.

The attack came after a lull of at least a year in attacks against Hazaras, though there have been isolated shootings.

The blast took place at Hazar Ganji, a fruit and vegetable market on the outskirts of Quetta.

“So far, I have confirmation of 16 martyrs – eight belong to the Hazara community, seven others who worked here one is from the Frontier Constabulary,” Abdul Razzaq Cheema, Deputy Inspector General of Quetta, told reporters.

The explosive device was hidden between sacks of potatoes, he said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hazaras have been frequently targeted by Taliban and Islamic State militants and other Sunni Muslim militant groups in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In 2013, three separate bombings killed more than 200 people in Hazara neighborhoods.

After a series of attacks, security forces started escorting Hazara buses to the market. On Friday, the same practice was followed but the blast took place inside.

Baluchistan is the focus of projects in the $57 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a transport and energy link planned to run from western China to Pakistan’s southern deepwater port of Gwadar.

(Reporting by Gul Yousafzai; Writing by Syed Raza Hassan; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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3 die in Germany plane crash, 2 more in police car crash

German police say a pilot and two passengers are believed to have died in the crash of a small airplane near Frankfurt and two more people died in a collision with a police vehicle responding to the scene.

Police said the six-seater airplane took off in France and was on its way to the central German town of Egelsbach when it crashed and burned in a field Sunday afternoon near Erzhausen, 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Frankfurt.

Police said they believed three people were aboard but said they were still working on positive identification of the victims as well as confirming the number of occupants.

The dpa news agency, citing police, reported that three people in a police vehicle were seriously injured in the traffic crash while the two people in the other car died.

Source: Fox News World

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IKEA to test furniture rental in 30 markets

People walk past an IKEA kitchen showroom downtown Stockholm
People walk past an IKEA kitchen showroom downtown Stockholm, Sweden April 17, 2018. Picture taken April 17, 2018. REUTERS/Anna Ringstrom

April 3, 2019

KAARST, Germany (Reuters) – IKEA will expand tests to allow customers to rent desks and sofas rather than buy them as it shifts away from selling low-cost disposable furniture in response to growing environmental concerns.

The world’s biggest furniture group first said it was looking into furniture leasing in February. It fleshed out its plans on Wednesday at an event held at its first ‘sustainable’ store in Kaarst, western Germany, opened in 2017.

“Testing out opportunities for leasing offers is one of the ways we are challenging ourselves to deliver on our transformation strategy,” said Jesper Brodin, chief executive of Ingka Group, which owns most IKEA stores.

“Climate change and unsustainable consumption are among the biggest challenges we face in society.”

IKEA’s move toward supporting a more circular economy comes as many young consumers say they want to minimize their impact on the environment, preferring to rent items ranging from clothing to cars.

Its business model has already come under pressure from the rise of online retail and a growing reluctance among younger shoppers to travel to its vast out-of-town stores, get the flat-pack furniture home and assemble it themselves.

Rent the Runway, which has previously only rented out designer apparel and accessories, said last month it will partner with Williams-Sonoma Inc’s West Elm brand to allow subscribers to rent home decor.

IKEA, which had global sales of 39 billion euros ($44 billion) last year, said it wants to develop subscription-based leasing offers to encourage products to be reused as many times as possible before being recycled.

It had already committed to make all its products from renewable and recycled materials by 2030 and also to design all its products to be reused, repaired and recycled. In 2018 it handled 1 million orders for spare parts to repair products.

IKEA has already started testing different furniture rental projects in the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Poland, and aims to expand the tests to all its 30 markets next year.

In Sweden and Switzerland, it is looking into providing furniture to companies on a subscription model, while in the Netherlands it is testing a rental package for students in cooperation with a housing association.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Source: OANN

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NASCAR notebook: Kurt Busch takes quantum leap in qualifying in stride

FILE PHOTO: NASCAR: Food City 500-Practice
FILE PHOTO: Apr 6, 2019; Bristol, TN, USA; Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) during practice for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

April 14, 2019

RICHMOND, Va. – You would have thought Kurt Busch would have been elated at his third-place qualifying effort for Saturday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.

After all, in the previous two races — at Texas and Bristol — Busch had failed to advance past the first round under the knockout format. He started those races 30th and 27th, respectively.

But in the first round of time trials on Friday, the driver of the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet posted the fastest lap of the day at 125.815 mph before securing the third spot in the final round.

But was Busch overjoyed at his performance? Not outwardly, at least.

“I thought it was three good runs,” Busch said matter-of-factly. “The car had a good bit of rear grip to it, which has been our struggle, so I’m really happy that (Friday’s) practice run and the qualifying runs showed us that the car’s got the grip level. Now we just need to make sure the balance stays with it.

“We’re just trying to be more consistent and not have any weak areas. And I think the changes they made, we’re trying to adjust to the weaker areas. So that should help us.”

Busch’s average qualifying position this year is 20.1, but he has picked up on average 11.5 spots during the races, heading into Richmond. Busch’s average finish of 8.6 is significantly better than his career average of 16.3.

GOODYEAR UNVEILS CHARLOTTE SIDEWALL HONORING FALLEN HEROES

On Saturday afternoon outside the Richmond Raceway media center, Stu Grant, Goodyear’s general manager of worldwide racing, unveiled a special sidewall that all Goodyear tires will display for the Charlotte races on Memorial Day weekend.

This is the 10th year Goodyear will replace its familiar “Eagle” branding with an inscription honoring the United States military and fallen heroes. This year’s tires will display the lettering “Honor and Remember,” a national Virginia-based organization whose mission is to “perpetually recognize the sacrifice of America’s military fallen service members and their families.”

“Goodyear and the military have always had a strong association,” Grant said.

“We supply ground tires for a lot of military vehicles. We supply aircraft tires to a lot of military aircraft around the world. We’ve got programs to supply this kind of consumer tires to military bases around the world, and we’ve got a corporate initiative to hire veterans.

“Supporting the military is one thing, but what we want to do is also to support the fallen. That’s why we’re partnering up with Honor and Remember. They’re a terrific organization. They recognize the fallen, but in addition, they recognize the families of the fallen with a positive message.”

SHORT STROKES

–Honorary pace car driver Ronde Barber, a former Pro Bowl defensive back with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said Friday at Richmond Raceway that his identical twin and ex-New York Giants running back Tiki Barber could beat him in a foot race.

“Back in the day, Tiki was always a little bit faster than me,” Ronde said. “He’s turned into a marathoner. He’s like Jimmie (Johnson). He runs the New York Marathon. I think he’s going to Paris to run a marathon. So I don’t think that I can outrun him. However, he drives around New York with a bunch of big SUVs or whatever. I have the sports cars at my house. So I think I’m the better driver.”

–Eight cars, including those of second-place qualifier Erik Jones and three-time Richmond winner Denny Hamlin, failed post-qualifying inspection on Saturday and had their times disallowed. Joining Jones and Hamlin at the rear of the field were Aric Almirola, Daniel Suarez, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Gase, Chase Elliott and Matt Tifft.

The cars of Elliott, Hamlin and Tifft all failed twice, and their teams suffered the additional penalty of the ejection of a crew member from the track. With the demotion of Jones, Kurt Busch earned the outside-front-row starting position next to pole winner Kevin Harvick.

–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

By Matthias Williams

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“DANGEROUS CANCER” OF GRAFT

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

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

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

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

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KIM FOXX’S CHIEF ETHICS OFFICER RESIGNS FOLLOWING SMOLLETT CONTROVERSY

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

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

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

CLICK HERE FOF THE FOX NEWS APP

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

Smollett has strongly denied the accusations.

Source: Fox News National

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