Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Maga First News with Peter Boykin

8:00 am 9:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

‘I’m winning!’ Trump attacks ‘Wacky Nut Job’ Ann Coulter for her border wall criticism

DNA Force Plus

Limited Advanced Release

149.95

99.50

With one of our most advanced formulas yet, DNA Force Plus is finally here. Focusing on overhauling your body's cellular engines and protecting them from reactive oxygen species, DNA Force Plus has one of the best combinations of antioxidants on the market.

https://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/dna-210.jpg

https://www.infowarsstore.com/dna-force-plus.html?ims=byhxx&utm_campaign=Widget+-+DNA+Force+Plus+-+33%25+Off+-+Finally+Back&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-DNAFP-Widget-33%25off

https://www.infowarsstore.com/dna-force-plus.html?ims=byhxx&utm_campaign=Widget+-+DNA+Force+Plus+-+33%25+Off+-+Finally+Back&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-DNAFP-Widget-33%25off

DNA Force Plus

149.95

99.50

With one of our most advanced formulas yet, DNA Force Plus is finally here. Focusing on overhauling your body's cellular engines and protecting them from reactive oxygen species, DNA Force Plus has one of the best combinations of antioxidants on the market.

https://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/dna-210.jpg

https://www.infowarsstore.com/dna-force-plus.html?ims=byhxx&utm_campaign=Widget+-+DNA+Force+Plus+-+33%25+Off+-+Finally+Back&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-DNAFP-Widget-33%25off

https://www.infowarsstore.com/dna-force-plus.html?ims=byhxx&utm_campaign=Widget+-+DNA+Force+Plus+-+33%25+Off+-+Finally+Back&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-DNAFP-Widget-33%25off

DNA Force Plus

149.95

99.50

With one of our most advanced formulas yet, DNA Force Plus is finally here. Focusing on overhauling your body's cellular engines and protecting them from reactive oxygen species, DNA Force Plus has one of the best combinations of antioxidants on the market.

https://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/dna-210.jpg

https://www.infowarsstore.com/dna-force-plus.html?ims=byhxx&utm_campaign=Widget+-+DNA+Force+Plus+-+33%25+Off+-+Finally+Back&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-DNAFP-Widget-33%25off

https://www.infowarsstore.com/dna-force-plus.html?ims=byhxx&utm_campaign=Widget+-+DNA+Force+Plus+-+33%25+Off+-+Finally+Back&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-DNAFP-Widget-33%25off

BodEase

59.95

29.95

This is the ultimate turmeric and inflammatory support product on the market.

https://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bodease-210.jpg

https://www.infowarsstore.com/bodease.html?ims=vafom&utm_campaign=IW+Bodease+50%25+Off+Widget&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-Bodease-50%25-Widget

https://www.infowarsstore.com/bodease.html?ims=vafom&utm_campaign=IW+Bodease+50%25+Off+Widget&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-Bodease-50%25-Widget

BodEase

59.95

29.95

This is the ultimate turmeric and inflammatory support product on the market.

https://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bodease-210.jpg

https://www.infowarsstore.com/bodease.html?ims=vafom&utm_campaign=IW+Bodease+50%25+Off+Widget&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-Bodease-50%25-Widget

https://www.infowarsstore.com/bodease.html?ims=vafom&utm_campaign=IW+Bodease+50%25+Off+Widget&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-Bodease-50%25-Widget

BodEase

59.95

29.95

This is the ultimate turmeric and inflammatory support product on the market.

https://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bodease-210.jpg

https://www.infowarsstore.com/bodease.html?ims=vafom&utm_campaign=IW+Bodease+50%25+Off+Widget&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-Bodease-50%25-Widget

https://www.infowarsstore.com/bodease.html?ims=vafom&utm_campaign=IW+Bodease+50%25+Off+Widget&utm_source=Infowars+Widget&utm_medium=Widget&utm_content=IW-Bodease-50%25-Widget

Source: InfoWars

0 0

ACLU reaches settlement with Facebook on discriminatory ads

FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of laptop users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of laptop users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

March 19, 2019

(Reuters) – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Tuesday as part of a settlement with Facebook Inc the social network will make changes to its paid advertising platform to prevent discrimination in employment, housing and credit ads.

Facebook will also take proactive steps to prevent advertisers from discriminating users based on race, sex and age, ACLU said in a statement.

Since late 2016, Facebook has faced legal pressure related to its ad targeting practices from the ACLU, Outten & Golden LLP, the Communications Workers of America, job seekers and consumers, and fair housing and civil rights organizations.

Facebook in the past had reached a similar agreement with the Washington state to end discriminatory ad targeting, and had said it removed thousands of categories related to potentially sensitive personal attributes from its exclusion ad targeting tools.

(Reporting by Akanksha Rana and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

Source: OANN

0 0

Argentine Senate mulls law for oversight of Chinese space tracking station

FILE PHOTO: The installations of a Chinese space station are seen in Las Lajas
FILE PHOTO: The installations of a Chinese space station are seen in Las Lajas, Argentina, January 22, 2019. Picture taken January 22, 2019. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian

March 29, 2019

By Cassandra Garrison

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine legislators are discussing a new law to boost oversight of a Chinese space tracking station that has stirred unease among local residents, fueled conspiracy theories and sparked concerns amongst critics about its true intent.

Six lawmakers, including the Senate majority leader, submitted a bill proposing the creation of a commission “for monitoring the cooperation agreement” with the Chinese government related to China’s lunar exploration program.

Reuters reported in January that the remote 200 hectare (494 acre) station operated with little oversight by Argentine authorities. President Mauricio Macri’s former foreign minister, Susana Malcorra, told Reuters that Argentina had no physical oversight of the station’s operations.

The law, dated March 25, was referred to in a list of proposed bills on the Senate’s official website, though the full text of the bill was not publicly available.

Miguel Ángel Pichetto, the majority leader, said in a post on his official Twitter account that he had presented the bill to create a commission to control the space tracking station, run by the Chinese military, located in the central province of Neuquén in Patagonia.

He added that the proposed team would include seven members from the Senate and seven from the Chamber of Deputies, the two houses of Argentina’s National Congress.

The station’s stated aim is peaceful space observation and exploration and, according to Chinese media, it played a key role in China’s landing of a spacecraft on the dark side of the moon in January.

Argentina’s space agency CONAE did not respond to requests for comment. The agency has previously said the agreement between the two countries stated a commitment to “peaceful use” of the project.

The Chinese embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

China’s space program is run by the People’s Liberation Army. The Patagonian station is managed by the China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General (CLTC), which reports to the PLA’s Strategic Support Force.

Argentina’s Congress debated the space station in 2015, during the presidency of Cristina Fernandez. Opposition lawmakers questioned why there was no stipulation it only be for civilian use, but Congress nevertheless approved the deal.

The station, about a 40 minutes’ drive from Las Lajas, became operational in April last year. Thirty Chinese employees work and live on site, which employs no locals, Maria Espinosa, the mayor of the town of 7,000 people, previously told Reuters.

(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Phil Berlowitz)

Source: OANN

0 0

Vatican's legal procedures for handling sex abuse, explained

For centuries, the Vatican's canon law system busied itself with banning books and dispensing punishments that included burnings at the stake for heretics.

These days, the Vatican office that eventually replaced the Roman Catholic Inquisition is knee-deep in processing clergy sex abuse cases. The procedures of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will be on display this week as high-ranking bishops summoned by Pope Francis attend an unprecedented four-day tutorial on preventing sex abuse and prosecuting pedophile priests

Here is a primer on the Catholic Church's regulations for investigating both priests accused of molesting children and superiors who have been accused of covering up those crimes.

___

ARE POLICE CALLED IN SUSPECTED SEX ABUSE CASES?

In countries where clergy are required to report child abuse, bishops and superiors of religious orders are supposed to notify police when someone alleges that a priest molested a child and they are supposed to cooperate with any investigations.

However, the policy is nonbinding and only was articulated publicly in 2010 when the Vatican posted it on its website. Prior to that, the Vatican long sought to prevent public law enforcement agencies from learning about abusers in the clergy.

Irish bishops who considered adopting a mandatory reporting policy in 1997 received a letter from the Vatican warning that their in-house church investigations could be compromised if they referred cases to Irish police.

Nowadays, the Vatican justifies not having a binding policy that requires all sex crimes to be reported to police by arguing that accused clergy could be unfairly persecuted in places where Catholics are a threatened minority.

___

WHAT'S THE CANONCAL PROCEDURE?

Once a bishop or superior receives an allegation of abuse by one of his priests, he is supposed to conduct a preliminary investigation. If the claim has a "semblance of truth" he sends the case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for review.

The superior often will remove the priest from public ministry pending the outcome of the investigation.

The CDF, as the congregation is known, has a staff of 17 canon lawyers who process the cases. There has long been a case backlog, however, and at one point Francis acknowledged it had topped 2,000, with cases taking years to reach a verdict.

Usually, the CDF sends the case back to the bishop to investigate more fully, either through a full canonical trial or via an expedited administrative process. If the evidence is overwhelming and serious, the CDF can send the case straight to the pope to decide the priest's fate.

___

WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES FOR SEX ABUSERS?

Penalties can range from the mild — a temporary suspension from publicly celebrating the sacraments or exercising ministry — to the more serious, such as defrocking, which is removing a cleric from the priesthood.

Elderly priest abusers often have been spared defrockings, even for heinous crimes. Instead, they were given a lifetime of "penance and prayer."

Just last week, though, Francis defrocked 88-year-old Theodore McCarrick, the once-prominent American cardinal who was convicted by the Vatican's canon law tribunal of sexually abusing minors and adults.

___

HOW MANY PRIESTS HAVE BEEN DEFROCKED FOR SEX ABUSE?

The Vatican told a United Nations committee that 848 priests had been defrocked and another 2,572 given lesser sanctions from 2004-2014.

Since then, the Vatican has not released any more data on defrockings, evidence that such transparency was not universally welcomed in the Holy See.

There is a fierce debate within the Catholic hierarchy about whether priests should be defrocked for sex abuse or given lesser sanctions. Many powerful cardinals close to Francis, aghast at the thinning of clerical ranks from so many defrockings, favor a more "merciful" approach.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who enforced a tough line on abusers when he was the Vatican's lead sex crimes prosecutor from 2002-2012, has recently returned to a position of power at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He said this week he would support releasing new defrocking statistics.

___

WHAT ABOUT ABUSE COVER-UPS?

While the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI cracked down on abusive priests, the bishops who shielded them largely got a pass.

In 2015, with demands for accountability growing, Francis agreed to create a tribunal section within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to handle cases accusing bishops of negligence. But a year later, he scrapped the plan.

Instead, the pope outlined procedures to investigate bishops and punish them, making clear they could be removed from office if they were found to have been negligent in handling abuse cases of their clergy.

In addition, the Vatican office that vets new bishops, in soliciting comments about potential candidates, now includes an "explicit question on how the candidate has dealt with sexual abuse issues and whether he has been criticized for not doing the right thing," Scicluna said.

___

More AP coverage of clergy sex abuse at https://www.apnews.com/Sexualabusebyclergy

Source: Fox News World

0 0

U.S. new home sales fall more than expected in January

A real estate sign advertising a new home for sale is pictured in Vienna, Virginia
FILE PHOTO: A real estate sign advertising a new home for sale is pictured in Vienna, Virginia, U.S. October 20, 2014. REUTERS/Larry Downing/File Photo

March 14, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales of new U.S. single-family homes fell more than expected in January, suggesting the housing market weakness persisted early in the first quarter, despite a moderation in mortgage rates.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday new home sales declined 6.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 607,000 units. December’s sales pace was revised higher to 652,000 units from the previously reported 621,000 units.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new home sales, which account for about 11 percent of housing market sales, slipping 0.6 percent to a pace of 620,000 units in January.

New home sales are drawn from permits and tend to be volatile on a month-to-month basis. They fell 4.1 percent from a year ago. Affordability remains a challenge, especially at the lower end of the market, even as mortgage rates have dropped to last year’s highs and house price inflation has slowed.

Expensive lumber as well as land and labor shortages continue to constrain builders.

Economists expect the housing market, which hit a soft patch last year, to remain sluggish through the first half of 2019. Investment in homebuilding contracted 0.2 percent in 2018, the weakest performance since 2010.

The release of the January new home sales report was delayed by a 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government that ended on Jan. 25. February’s new home sales report, which was scheduled for release on March 25, will now be published on March 29.

New home sales in the South, which accounts for the bulk of transactions, tumbled 15.1 percent in January. Sales dropped 11.4 percent in the Northeast. Sales in the Midwest plunged 28.6 percent to the lowest level since January 2014. But sales rose 27.8 percent in the West to a 10-month high.

The median new house price fell 3.8 percent to $317,200 in January from a year ago. There were 336,000 new homes on the market in January, down 1.5 percent from December. Supply is, however, just over half of what it was at the peak of the housing market boom in 2006.

At January’s sales pace it would take 6.6 months to clear the supply of houses on the market, up from 6.3 months in December. Just under two-thirds of the houses sold last month were either under construction or yet to be built.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: OANN

0 0

Brazil president seeks $270 billion pension savings, Congress has doubts

Brazil's President Bolsonaro arrives for a meeting to deliver the pension reform bill proposal at the National Congress, in Brasilia
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro arrives for a meeting to deliver the pension reform bill proposal at the National Congress, in Brasilia, Brazil February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

February 20, 2019

By Jamie McGeever and Marcela Ayres

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro delivered his proposed pension overhaul to Congress on Wednesday, a plan to save over 1 trillion reais ($270 billion) in a decade, which raised doubts about whether lawmakers would pass a package of that scale.

The social security bill is the cornerstone of the new president’s effort to close what most economists call an unsustainable public deficit and boost a weak economic recovery.

The government pledged to present changes soon for military pensions that would increase the savings, a delay that also raised a red flag among some legislators.

“A reform plan that does not include the military will not move ahead in Congress,” Senator Ciro Nogueira, head of the center-right Progressive Party, told reporters.

Bolsonaro’s savings target of 1.072 trillion reais in a decade is more ambitious than the roughly 600 billion reais of savings proposed by his predecessor Michel Temer, who gave up on the idea amid public backlash and graft scandals.

Brazilian market reaction to the proposal was mixed throughout the day, with the stock market and the real eventually closing lower. Financial analysts and investors mostly welcomed the proposals, but few expected swift approval.

Delay and dilution could sour investor confidence and dampen any positive economic impact, analysts warned.

“One thing is a solid, well thought out and crafted reform proposal, the other is what will ultimately emanate from Congress. The risk is that the initial proposal will be significantly watered down by Congress,” wrote Alberto Ramos, head of Latin American economic research at Goldman Sachs.

Bolsonaro’s opponents on the left slammed the plan saying it would hurt poor Brazilians. Even some of the president’s allies questioned the delay on military pensions.

Final approval is unlikely until the fourth quarter, Ramos told clients in a note, far later than the government’s target of June or sooner. Rogerio Marinho, the Economy Ministry’s secretary of social security and labor, also told reporters approval could be in the second half of the year.

Brazil’s social security shortfall widened 7 percent last year to 195.2 billion reais, the biggest factor by far in Brazil’s budget deficit. The pension deficit including private- and public-sector employees and military personnel is expected to top 300 billion reais this year, more than 4 percent of GDP.

The Bovespa stock index fell 1.1 percent on Wednesday, the real weakened 0.3 percent and interest rates futures a year out rose 4 basis points to 6.42 percent.

POLITICAL CHALLENGES

Bolsonaro’s stumbles in other matters ahead of the pension reform rollout raised questions about his ability to pull off the ambitious legislative effort.

On Tuesday evening, the lower chamber voted overwhelmingly to overturn an executive order on state secrets. It was Bolsonaro’s first legislative defeat, underscoring the resistance he faces in a fragmented Congress.

On Monday, Bolsonaro fired one of his most senior aides and principal negotiators with Congress, Secretary General Gustavo Bebianno, amid a scandal involving campaign financing for some of his party’s congressional candidates.

“The big risk is the presidential palace’s lack of appetite for political dealmaking. I am waiting to see how the opposition takes advantage of the government’s weakness,” said Jose Francisco de Lima Goncalves, chief economist at Banco Fator.

Under Bolsonaro’s pension proposal, wealthier taxpayers would contribute more while the minimum retirement ages would rise to 62 for women and 65 for men and new individual savings accounts would give workers “an alternative to the current system,” according to a presentation by the economy minister.

The transition to the new rules would take 12 to 14 years, depending on which transition option individuals choose.

Changes to military pensions, which the government vowed to propose within 30 days, would increase total savings over 10 years to 1.165 trillion reais. Pensions for military police and firefighters would follow the same rules as the armed forces.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain and congressman who got his start in politics advocating better compensation for troops and police, told lawmakers he had overcome his previous resistance to pension reform and hoped they would too.

“Together, we have to admit to ourselves that we were wrong in the past — I was wrong in the past — and we have a rare chance to guarantee pensions for future generations,” he said.

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever and Marcela Ayres; Additional reporting by Ricardo Brito, Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Paula Laier in Sao Paulo; Editing by Brad Haynes, Jeffrey Benkoe and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

0 0

Politicians who jumped on Jussie Smollett attack claim in awkward spot

Democratic politicians are backtracking from their initial comments about what was originally described as a hate crime against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, after a Chicago police spokesperson said over the weekend the "trajectory of the investigation" shifted and they no longer consider Smollett a victim in the case.

JUSSIE SMOLLETT'S LAWYERS DENY HE PLANNED ATTACK AFTER CHICAGO POLICE CLAIM HE'S NO LONGER CONSIDERED A VICTIM IN CASE

When the incident was first reported last month, Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker called it "an attempted modern-day lynching." But on Sunday, Booker told reporters he is now withholding comment on the case “until all the information actually comes out from on-the-record sources.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Jan. 29 tweeted that the “racist, homophobic attack” against Smollett is “an affront to our humanity.” But over the weekend, Pelosi's tweet had been deleted.

Smollett, who is black and openly gay, has claimed he was attacked by two masked men early on Jan. 29 as he walked to his Chicago apartment from a Subway restaurant. Smollett alleged the men shouted racial and anti-gay slurs at him.

Last week, Chicago police questioned two Nigerian brothers in the reported attack but released them Friday without charges. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the pair had given officers information that had "shifted the trajectory of the investigation.” Local reports have cited sources saying the attack was a hoax, though the Chicago Police Department has not confirmed that.

CORY BOOKER 'WITHHOLDING' JUDGMENT ON SMOLLETT CASE AFTER CALLING IT 'ATTEMPTED MODERN-DAY LYNCHING'

"While we are not in a position to confirm, deny or comment on the validity of what's been unofficially released, there are some developments in this investigation and detectives have some follow-ups to complete which include speaking to the individual who reported the incident, " Guglielmi said Sunday.

Smollett received an outpouring of support from politicians and celebs when he first went public about the alleged attack in January. Smollett has claimed at least one of the attackers said to him, "this is MAGA country," in reference to President Trump's campaign slogan.

While some lawmakers are now backtracking, others have stayed mum as the narrative rapidly shifts. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, called out Democrats on Twitter who were outspoken initially about the case, but haven’t said anything since the new developments.

“I’m wondering if @KamalaHarris still wants #JusticeForJussie? Will she be as vocal about it now or has she moved on?” Trump Jr. tweeted.

Last month, Sen. Harris, like Booker, referred to the incident as “an attempted modern day lynching.”

“No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin,” the 2020 presidential candidate said. “We must confront this hate.”

ROBIN ROBERTS SAYS COPS FELT JUSSIE SMOLLETT WAS CREDIBLE AT TIME OF INTERVIEW

Others, like New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said last month, “There is no such thing as ‘racially charged.’ This attack was not ‘possibly’ homophobic. It was a racist and homophobic attack. If you don’t like what is happening to our country, then work to change it. It is no one’s job to water down or sugar-coat the rise of hate crimes.”

John Dickerson, the co-anchor of CBS This Morning, responded to Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday and asked, “Is there an update on this?”

Meanwhile, Smollett's attorneys, Todd S. Pugh and Victor P. Henderson, are vehemently denying that the attack was a hoax.

"As a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with,” the lawyers said in a weekend statement. “He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying."

Fox News' Mike Tobin and Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Maga First News with Peter Boykin

8:00 am 9:00 am



Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News Politics

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist