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Brookfield buys most of Oaktree to build juggernaut to rival Blackstone

People walk to Brookfield Place off Bay Street on the day of the AGM for Brookfield Asset Management shareholders in Toronto
FILE PHOTO: People walk to Brookfield Place off Bay Street on the day of the annual general meeting for Brookfield Asset Management shareholders in Toronto, May 7, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

March 13, 2019

By Joshua Franklin and Debroop Roy

(Reuters) – Brookfield Asset Management Inc said on Wednesday it will buy most of Oaktree Capital Group LLC in a roughly $4.8 billion deal, creating an alternative-asset manager that would rival industry leader Blackstone Group in size.

The decision by Oaktree, led by distressed debt investor Howard Marks, to sell a majority stake of itself comes after a sustained period in which its stock has underperformed the broader market.

Oaktree’s stock is down around 13 percent in the last five years, even after a price bump on Wednesday following the deal’s announcement. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index is up more than 50 percent over the same time and Blackstone’s share price is up 4 percent.

Brookfield approached Oaktree about the deal sometime during the fall season, a person familiar with the matter said.

The deal is also a bet by Brookfield, which currently focuses on private equity, real estate, infrastructure and renewable power, on the prospects for investing in debt, which makes up around 70 percent of Oaktree’s assets under management.

“This transaction enables us to broaden our product offering to include one of the finest credit platforms in the world, which has a value-driven, contrarian investment style, consistent with ours,” Brookfield Chief Executive Bruce Flatt said in a statement.

The combined businesses will have about $475 billion of assets under management, Brookfield said in a statement.

Industry leader Blackstone had $472 billion in assets under management at the end of 2018.

Oaktree shareholders can exchange each of their shares for either $49 in cash or 1.0770 Class A shares of Brookfield. However, Brookfield said the total amount will be paid in 50 percent stock and rest in cash.

The offer represents an 11.8 percent premium to Oaktree’s Tuesday closing price. The stock was up 11.8 percent in mid-day trading.

Both companies will continue to operate as independent businesses, while Marks, Oaktree’s co-chairman, would join Brookfield’s board of directors.

Oaktree shareholders, consisting primarily of its founders, certain members of management and employees, will own the remaining 38 percent of the company.

Starting from 2022, Oaktree’s founders, senior management as well as current and former employee shareholders will be able to sell their remaining Oaktree units to Brookfield over time.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin in New York and Debroop Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shinjini Ganguli)

Source: OANN

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Report: Russian Hackers Accessed Florida County’s Computers in ’16

Hackers from Russia were able to gain access to at least one county's election computer network in Florida ahead of the 2016 election, it was revealed Thursday.

As the Miami Herald pointed out, special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the election included a portion about how hackers from the GRU, the foreign military intelligence agency in Russia, used a spear phishing email to get into one county. The report did not name which county, and the FBI would not reveal the name of the county when the Florida Department of State asked about it.

"We understand the FBI believes that this operation enabled the GRU to gain access to the network of at least one Florida county government," the Mueller report reads. Mueller's team of prosecutors and FBI agents "did not independently verify that belief."

Florida's Department of State told the Herald in a statement it is confident in its assessment the 2016 election was not compromised.

"The Department maintains that the 2016 elections in Florida were not hacked," spokesperson Sarah Revell said. "The Florida Voter Registration System was and remains secure, and official results or vote tallies were not changed."

The Mueller report was released Thursday, with many redacted parts to hide classified and privileged information. President Donald Trump was exonerated from conspiring with the Russians to win the 2016 election, but the report outlined several instances where Russia meddled in it.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Guests at hotel where 3 died can’t get to clothes, cars

Guests who were staying at the New Hampshire hotel where three people died in a standoff with police may have to wait a while before retrieving their belongings and vehicles.

WMUR-TV reports guests aren't sure when they'll be able to return to the Quality Inn in Manchester.

The hotel was evacuated Wednesday night when a man with a gun was shot and killed by law enforcement officials. Two people barricaded themselves in a room, and shots were fired at officers. Police found them the two people Thursday.

The attorney general's office says guests may have to wait until early next week to return.

Amy Willey, of Keene, says that a friend gave her a ride to another hotel and that she had to buy clothes. But she says she's thankful the police were there.

___

Information from: WMUR-TV, http://wmur.com

Source: Fox News National

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THE #MAGA NETWORK, https://magaoneradio.net ~PRESENTS~ EXCLUSIVE VIP PRE-SCREENING OF DINESH D’SOUZA’S ‘DEATH OF A NATION’

THE MAGA NETWORK, MAGA ONE RADIO ~PRESENTS~ EXCLUSIVE VIP PRE-SCREENING OF DINESH D’SOUZA’S ‘DEATH OF A NATION’   New York Times #1 bestselling author, writer and political intellect Dinesh D’Souza is one of the most profound filmmakers of this century. His highly anticipated movie ‘Death of a Nation’ is set to be released August 3 in […]

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Music and motorbikes mark UK funeral of Prodigy frontman Keith Flint

Prodigy frontman Keith Flint's funeral procession route in Braintree
Fans gather for British singer Keith Flint of techno group The Prodigy funeral in Braintree, Essex, Britain, March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

March 29, 2019

By Rachel Cordery

BRAINTREE, England (Reuters) – Dance music played out for the hundreds of fans who flocked to the town of Braintree in eastern England on Friday for the funeral of Keith Flint, former frontman of the Prodigy.

Face painting and free tattoos were on offer to those who had come to pay their respects to the “Firestarter” star.

Flint, a figurehead of the 1990s rave movement, was found dead at his home earlier this month aged 49.

An inquest which opened this month confirmed he had died as the result of hanging. It has been adjourned until July 23 for a full hearing.

Renowned for his facial piercings, heavy makeup and eccentric devil-horned hair cut, Flint played a major role in establishing the credibility of dance and electronic music.

The funeral procession followed a 2-1/2-mile path to St Mary’s Church and while the church service itself was reserved for friends and family, Flint’s bandmates had invited fans to line the route to “raise the roof for Keef!”

Steve Hales was among those who heeded the call.

With dark makeup and a single strip of green hair reminiscent of Flint’s style, Hales said the amount of support for him was hardly surprising.

“His was music for generations,” he began, before being drowned out by motorbikes roaring up and down the streets.

The horse-drawn hearse was decorated by vibrant orange flowers spelling “Keef” and “Chief”, while his infamous fluorescent green microphone and an elegant arrangement of white and red roses adorned the coffin.

Actor Paul Kaye delivered the eulogy, recalling tales from Flint’s years on the road and his love for motorbikes, animals and jujitsu, to name but a few of his passions.

“You liked to live your life on the razor’s edge for the buzz,” Kaye said on behalf of bandmate Liam Howlett. “You were an anti-star, a pirate and committed to our cause of shaking people’s souls and buildings.”

Fans have launched a petition to have a statue of the late singer erected in Braintree. According to the petition, which has amassed almost 9,000 signatures, residents of the town want “to pay homage and honor its most famous son.”

Born in northeast London, Flint moved there in the mid-70s with his parents and in 1990 co-founded The Prodigy with Howlett and Leeroy Thornhill.

The group had been due to tour the United States in May and released their latest album “No Tourists” in November.

(Editing by Stephen Addison)

Source: OANN

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‘Gangnam style’ sex crime: K-pop scandals uncover dark side of Seoul’s flashiest district

FILE PHOTO: South Korean singer Jung Joon-young arrives for questioning on accusations of illicitly taping and sharing sex videos on social media, at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul
FILE PHOTO: South Korean singer Jung Joon-young arrives for questioning on accusations of illicitly taping and sharing sex videos on social media, at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

April 14, 2019

By Joyce Lee and Joori Roh

SEOUL (Reuters) – On a recent weekend night, the dance floor at one of the hottest clubs in Seoul’s swanky Gangnam district held only a few dozen people surrounded by mostly empty tables.

A few months ago, the nightclub would have been packed with hundreds of gyrating men and women, and full tables, many costing 650,000 won ($570) or more for a night of drinking and dancing.

The world was introduced to Gangnam by the 2012 K-pop hit “Gangnam Style,” a parody of the South Korean highlife with a viral tune and amusing dancing that became the first video to reach a billion views on YouTube.

But a wave of sex crimes and other illegal activity has revealed a dark underbelly in the district, driving club-goers and celebrities away.

According to police investigators, a network of pop stars, businessmen and cops are alleged to have colluded and enabled tax evasion, bribery, and prostitution at some of Gangnam’s glitziest clubs.

Most seriously, some are being investigated over the use of date rape drugs to incapacitate women and assault them, sometimes filmed by hidden cameras.

“There aren’t many people coming to Gangnam (clubs) right now,” a worker told Reuters at a club that was relatively quiet, despite not being implicated in any of the allegations. “There’s an investigation on.”

The scandals have already led to the resignation of four K-pop stars, the closure of one of Gangnam’s most lucrative club, and investigations into at least six police officers suspected of colluding with club operators.

President Moon Jae-in called for a thorough investigation, saying the Gangnam club cases suggest possible collusion between police, tax authorities and a new privileged class including celebrities to engage in illegal operations.

More than 500 people have been investigated for drug use and sexual assault and more than 200 arrested in a nationwide roundup since Feb. 25.

Tax authorities have launched investigations into 21 clubs and host bars for possible evasion.

“If we don’t set this right, we cannot call this a just society,” Moon said.

SEX CRIME CONCERNS

The investigations, revolving around two Gangnam clubs, Burning Sun and Arena, began late last year when 29-year-old film art director Kim Sang-kyo says he tried to stop an incident of sexual harassment and was attacked by Burning Sun staff, and then abused by police who instead arrested him.

A government commission concluded that police in Gangnam violated Kim’s rights during his arrest, but Kim is still being investigated for sexual harassment and defamation. He denies any wrongdoing.

Calls to Burning Sun, which closed down after the scandal broke, were not answered, while a man who answered the number listed for Arena hung up when asked for comment. Arena has also been closed since early March for what it said were renovations. Gangnam police declined to comment.

Kim said once he shared his story he began to receive messages from other people who said they had been victimized in Gangnam clubs, and he realized the scope of the problem.

“When people saw me raising questions, they said ‘why you? Why now?'” Kim said. “‘This has been going on for 10 years, 15 years, and you can’t touch it. You can’t win.’ I’ve heard a lot of people say this, and I think it’s really scary.”

The string of scandals gained wider attention when several K-pop stars who had ties to some of the clubs were implicated in crimes unrelated to Kim’s arrest.

Singer Lee Seung-hyun, 28, better known by the stage name Seungri, is under investigation for paying for prostitutes in return for favors from foreign businessmen at Arena.

He is also accused of embezzlement at another club he was involved with until last year.

Lee has denied all wrong doing, but resigned from his position as a member of the boy band BIGBANG. Lee’s lawyer told Reuters this week his client maintains his innocence.

At least three other K-pop stars resigned after they were accused by police of sharing illicitly filmed sex tapes. It is not yet clear whether any of the shared videos and photos were taken at either nightclub.

One singer, Jung Joon-young admitted to having shared videos he took secretly while having sex with women.

“I am truly sorry. I committed a crime that cannot be forgiven,” Jung read from a handwritten statement on March 21.

WEB OF CONNECTIONS

Besides Seungri, who was an internal director at Burning Sun and previously helped run the club, police are investigating two of the club’s co-presidents and an operating director for various crimes including distributing drugs, assaulting a customer, and bribing police.

Investigators have also questioned 15 people and arrested four people with links to Burning Sun on drug charges. At least one club promoter was arrested for distributing illegal sex videos.

A man identified as the de facto owner of Arena, surnamed Kang, was arrested in late March, a Seoul Central District Court spokesman said.

Kang and other Arena executives are accused of tax evasion by avoiding paying 16.2 billion won ($14.31 million) in taxes between 2014-2017. Kang refused to answer questions on March 25 as he emerged from court. He could not be reached for comment.

Authorities are also investigating allegations that club officials provided bribes to police officers.

Six officers are now under investigation for possible collusion with the clubs, including a senior superintendent, lawmakers briefed by Police Commissioner General Min Gab-ryong said.

The superintendent, surnamed Yoon, admitted playing golf and sharing meals with a man known to be Seungri’s business partner, but denies all allegations of corruption.

He is accused of leaking confidential information and accepting bribes, including K-pop concert tickets from singer Seungri, an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said.

In Gangnam, former patrons and workers lament the impact the scandals have had on the clubs and the broader entertainment industry, a key identity and export for South Korea.

Kim Se-rim, 27, said she no longer goes to clubs.

“People are like, why would you go when you know there are so much drugs, GHB, rape going on?,” she said, referring to a known date-rape drug. “And they have a point.”

($1 = 1,134.5200 won)

(Additional reporting and writing by Josh Smith.; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

Source: OANN

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Tennessee fires Warlick after seven seasons

NCAA Womens Basketball: SEC Conference Tournament - Mississippi State vs Tennessee
Mar 8, 2019; Greenville, SC, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick reacts during the first half of game seven against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the women's SEC Conference Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

March 27, 2019

Tennessee, which became a storied women’s basketball program under legendary coach Pat Summitt, has fired her replacement, the school announced Wednesday.

Holly Warlick was promoted from associate head coach in April 2012 when Summitt stepped down amid health concerns. In all, she spent 38 years with the Volunteers as a player and a coach.

“Holly and I met this afternoon, and I informed her of the decision to change leadership within the program,” athletic director Phillip Fulmer said in a prepared statement. “Holly has dedicated most of her adult life to the University of Tennessee and the Lady Vols program. She loves Tennessee, and Tennessee needs to always love her back. She was front and center as this program developed into the model for women’s intercollegiate excellence.

“While it certainly stings to make this decision, I am charged with doing what I believe is best for this storied program. It’s important to all of us that Lady Vols basketball maintains its status among the elite.”

Assistant coach Dean Lockwood will oversee the program until a head coach is hired.

Warlick posted a 172-67 record in seven seasons, went to the NCAA Tournament every year and led the Vols to regular-season SEC championships in 2013 and 2015. But the team’s success slipped in the past few years, with Tennessee finishing 19-13 this season after eking into the NCAA Tournament as an 11th seed — its lowest in school history.

While the Vols maintained their streak of making every NCAA Tournament since the event began in 1982, they lost in the first round to UCLA.

Tennessee has failed to finish better than tied for fourth in the SEC in the past four seasons.

Warlick, a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, was an All-America player under Summitt, competing for the Vols from 1976-1980. She was an assistant coach to Summit from 1985 to 2012.

She was on the bench for all eight of the program’s national championships (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007 and 2008).

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: A worker walks on the roof of a new home under construction in Carlsbad, California September 22, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is growing at a 2.08% annualized pace in the second quarter based on upbeat data on durable goods orders and new home sales in March, the New York Federal Reserve’s Nowcast model showed on Friday.

This was faster than the 1.92% growth rate calculated by the N.Y. Fed model the week before.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he had assured China’s Huawei Technologies that it would not face discrimination in the rollout of Italy’s 5G telecoms network.

Conte was speaking on a visit to China where he said he met Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei. The prime minister’s comments were carried in Italy by TV broadcaster Sky Italia.

“I told him that we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests that demand very high levels of security … not only from Huawei but any company entering into the 5G arena,” he said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

(Writing by by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Angelo Amante)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday was expected to announce his intention to revoke the United States’ status as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but never ratified by Congress, two U.S. officials said.

Trump was expected to announce the decision in a speech in Indianapolis, to the National Rifle Association, the officials said. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby group, has long been opposed to the treaty, which was negotiated at the United Nations.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

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A remote controlled robot for the 'Isotopium: Chernobyl' game is seen at the game's location in Brovary
A remote controlled robot for the ‘Isotopium: Chernobyl’ game is seen at the game’s location in Brovary, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 26, 2019

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian computer game that brings to life a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun but has attracted 60,000 people globally since its launch in October.

Players of “Isotopium: Chernobyl” drive tanks around the ghost town of Prypyat near Chernobyl, knocking out competitors as they search for an energy source called isotopium and collecting points every time they find some.

While the game takes its theme from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, which marked its 33rd anniversary on Friday, it was also inspired by the 2009 science fiction film “Avatar”.

Newcomers to the game think they have entered a virtual world when in fact they are controlling a real robot, equipped with a camera and computer, which makes its way around a model of the town rendered down to the tiniest detail.

“When playing our game, for the first 5-10 minutes many players don’t understand that it is not fictional,” said the game’s co-founder Sergey Beskrestnov. “They message us saying: ‘You have cool texture, you have good graphics, your designer is good, well done. You have a cool operating system.’

“People then reply: ‘It is not an operating system, it is real,’ and the player can’t believe it is real,” said Beskrestnov, speaking mid-game from Prypyat city square as he towers over surrounding five-storey buildings.

Kiev-born Beskrestnov was just 12 years old when on April 26, 1986 a botched test at the nuclear plant in the then Soviet Union sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people, including Beskrestnov’s family, to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

Beskrestnov and his partner Alexey Fateyev used Google maps and hundreds of pictures from the Chernobyl area to recreate Prypyat landmarks, including residential buildings, a hotel, concert hall, amusement park and a stadium.

The game’s real-scale model occupies a 180 square meter (1,938 sq. ft) basement of a residential building in the Ukraine city of Brovary, just 150 km (93 miles) from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 30 km east of Kiev.

Miniature radioactivity warning signs, graffiti on the walls of abandoned buildings and tables and chairs left scattered inside a small cafe all add to the creepy atmosphere of a once lively town.

“It’s a really neat concept …,” Shaun Prescott wrote in a review of the game published by PC Gamer magazine in January. “Controlling the tanks is kinda cumbersome, but they are tanks, after all.”

An attentive player will notice at least one inaccuracy – the real Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not located in town as it is in the game.

It costs $9 to immerse in the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic town for an hour but only 20 people at a time can play simultaneously. Beskrestnov’s company, Remote Games, said 62,615 people around the world have registered to play the game, including around 15,000 in France and 10,000 in the United States.

A camera fixed on top of a moving tank broadcasts high quality signal in real time, allowing players from as far apart as Australia and Canada enjoy the game without facing any time delay in delivering video signals.

Its creators next ambition is to devise a game featuring the colonization of Mars in which 1,000 people will be able to simultaneously control robots on different missions involved in the operation.

“Many people advise us to contact Elon Musk directly because it resonates his dreams and ideas,” Beskrestnov jokes.    

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California
FILE PHOTO: A Starbucks sign is show on one of the companies stores in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 19,2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Initial optimism over first-quarter results from Starbucks Corp was waning fast on Wall Street on Friday, as analysts questioned the longer-term prospects of its new sales push given subdued overall customer traffic numbers especially in China.

The company on Thursday beat brokerage estimates for quarterly same-store sales on the back of demand for its new Cloud Macchiato, Matcha tea and cold brews in the United States.

However, BTIG’s Peter Saleh was one of a number of sector analysts who said while customers forking out for higher-priced new drinks had helped drive growth in same-store sales, “anemic” traffic at cafes remained a concern.

He and others pointed to a 1 percent decline in footfall at cafes in the Chinese market, viewed as crucial to the chain’s growth for the foreseeable future.

More broadly, transaction numbers, the substitute analysts use for customer traffic, were unchanged in all three of the company’s global regions.

Shares in the company, which hit a record high after the results on Thursday, fell 1 percent in morning trade.

“We remain cautious given near-term headwinds surrounding China, including cannibalization, increasing competition (and) a slowing economy,” Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan said.

Starbucks has also poured money into beefing up its delivery network in China as it battles with local startup Luckin Coffee, whose speedy growth led it to file for an IPO in the United States earlier this week.

New menu items and partnerships with delivery services, the heart of the company’s strategy to win back customers lost to artisanal coffee shops and cheaper fast-food rivals, did help Starbucks’ sales in its home market.

However, analysts said growth in China may continue to be subdued.

Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog said she expects store expansion in China to take priority over comparable sales growth.

She downgraded her rating on Starbucks’ to “market perform” from “outperform”, arguing that the company facing tough sales comparisons later on in 2019 from last year and the current rich valuation of shares meant the stock had limited room to rise.

“Investors will be hesitant to invest new money in a stock with a topline that, while still strong, is unlikely to meaningfully accelerate,” Herzog said.

Still, the company’s solid same-store growth in the United States, improving profit margins and a lower tax rate for the rest of the year led at least 6 Wall Street brokerages to raise their price targets on the stock to as high as $81.

11 of 29 brokerages rate Starbucks “buy” or higher, 17 “hold” and 1 “sell” or lower. Their median price target is $75.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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