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Court orders Russian ex-minister jailed for 2 months

A court in Moscow has ordered a former Cabinet minister in the Russian government charged with embezzling $62 million jailed for two months.

The Basmanny District Court ordered Mikhail Abyzov kept in custody Wednesday while an investigation continues.

Abyzov is accused of leading a criminal group that allegedly embezzled the money from energy companies and deposited it in foreign banks. His lawyer said Abyzov denied the charges.

Abyzov was Russia's minister for open government affairs in 2012-2018, overseeing information technologies and efforts to increase government transparency.

He was a close associate of Dmitry Medvedev, who was Russian president in 2008-2012 when term limits forced Vladimir Putin to move into the premier's seat. Abyzov's arrest could cloud Medvedev's political future.

Medvedev has been prime minister since Putin reclaimed the presidency in 2012.

Source: Fox News World

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Ahead of EU polls, Facebook voids accounts targeting Moldovan election

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

February 18, 2019

(This February 14 story corrects to make clear Ukraine is not an EU member)

By Alexander Tanas and Alissa de Carbonnel

CHISINAU/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Facebook Inc said on Thursday it had disrupted an attempt to influence voters in Moldova, increasing concerns that EU elections in May could be prey to malign activity.

Employees of the Moldovan government were linked to some of the activity, the California-based social media company said.

Authorities in Chisnau, capital of the tiny former Soviet republic, denied knowledge.

Facebook said it dismantled scores of pages and accounts designed to look like independent opinion pages and to impersonate a local fact-checking organization ahead of Moldova’s elections later this month.

“So they created this feedback loop,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, told reporters in Brussels. “We did assess that there were links between some of that activity and individuals associated with the Moldovan government.”

The government said it welcomed any initiative to combat “fake news”, saying it did not check the private accounts of its more than 200,000 state employees.

“They have different political views and opinions, and the state is obliged to maintain the boundary between fighting the phenomenon of Fake News and guaranteeing the freedom of expression for citizens,” it said.

Facebook said it removed 168 accounts, 28 pages and eight Instagram accounts involved in “inauthentic behavior”. Some 54,000 accounts followed at least one of these Facebook pages.

The owners of pages and accounts typically posted about local news and political issues such as requirements for Russian- or English-language education and potential reunification with Romania, the company said.

GUARDING ELECTIONS

Facebook stepped up efforts to combat disinformation, including accounts in Russia, Iran and Indonesia, over the last year after coming under public scrutiny for not doing enough to stem the spread extremism and propaganda online.

The vulnerabilities exposed in Moldova, sandwiched between EU member Romania and Ukraine on the fringes of the bloc, were a warning ahead of polls in neighboring Ukraine and for the European legislature.

The European Union has pushed tech companies to do more to stop what it fears are Russian attempts to undermine Western democracies with disinformation campaigns that sow division.

Russia has repeatedly denied any such actions.

The sheer perception of manipulation can damage polls, Gleicher warned. “We are starting to see actors try to create the impression that there is manipulation without owning lots and lots of accounts,” he said.

“We already have the teams up and running and focused on the European parliamentary elections and that is only going to grow as the elections get closer and the pace of threats increases.”

Dogged by scandal, Moldova’s pro-Western government has failed to lift low living standards. That has driven many voters toward the Socialists, who favor closer ties with Russia.

The European Parliament called Moldova a “state captured by oligarchic interests” in November, and there are concerns whether the parliamentary election on February 24 will be fair.

The election is likely to produce a hung parliament, which could set the scene for months of wrangling or possibly further elections.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru and Alexander Tanas in Chisinau and Alissa de Carbonnel in Brussels; Editing by Matthias Williams and Andrew Cawthorne)

Source: OANN

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Fight over luggage at Fort Lauderdale airport sees 2 arrested, 2 deputies hurt: officials

A  pair of tourists were arrested at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Tuesday after an argument broke out over carry-on luggage, officials said.

Ida Shafir, 67, and Nick Bogomolsky, 61, were taken into custody on the day they were scheduled to fly from the Florida airport to New York around 7:30 a.m., according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

AIRLINE PRESSING CHARGES AFTER PASSENGER THROWS COINS INTO PLANE ENGINE FOR 'GOOD LUCK'

Before they boarded Delta flight 891, airline staff reportedly informed passengers that the flight was at capacity and since overhead luggage bins were full, they'd have to check their carry-on luggage for free.

Shafir, according to charging documents obtained by Fox News, became "upset, and refused to check their luggage." She was allegedly "causing a commotion at the gate," so Delta staff pulled them onto the jetway to speak with them, and said that if Shafir and her companion did not check their luggage, they would not be allowed on the plane.

The two "refused to leave" and Shafir told a responding Broward County Sheriff's deputy to arrest her, police said. But when the deputy tried to arrest Shafir, she allegedly "got out of control and resisted arrest."

At one point, Shafir and the deputy fell to the ground, and the 67-year-old allegedly bit the deputy, who started bleeding. A deputy said that during this time, he felt Bogomolsky's "hand attempting to grab his firearm."

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Shafir continued to resist arrest until multiple other officers arrived, police alleged.

Bogomolsky and Shafir, of Brooklyn, New York, were both hit with a slew of charges, including resisting arrest and trespassing.

Source: Fox News National

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Troubled Secret Service Faces New Leadership – Again

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The Secret Service, the once vaunted force charged with protecting the president, is again bracing for new leadership – the third director to helm the troubled agency in five years.

The White House on Monday announced that Randolph “Tex” Alles would be stepping down amid a shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security, where DHC Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was forced to resign, effective April 10. Trump tapped James Murray, a career Secret Service agent and official who is currently the assistant director of the Office of Protective Operations, as the agency’s new director.

Murray also has served as Secret Service’s liaison to Congress, the special agent in charge of the Washington field office and held the top leadership role at the agency’s training center in Maryland.

There was no immediate reason given for Alles’ departure, which appeared to be part of a housecleaning of sorts of DHS officials with ties to John Kelly, President Trump’s former chief of staff and, prior to that, secretary of Homeland Security. The moves coincides with White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, taking over the DHS portfolio.

Kelly is a retired U.S. Marine Corps general who was pushed out of the administration at the end of last year after months tangling with Trump and other White House officials. Kelly helped pull in Alles, a former major general in the Marine Corps, to lead the Secret Service, at the beginning of Trump’s presidency.

In a memo to other Secret Service officials and staff on Monday, Alles denied being fired and said administration officials had told him “weeks” ago – before a serious security breach at Mar-a-Lago — to plan for “transitions in leadership” across DHS.

“No doubt you have seen media reports regarding my ‘firing,’” he wrote in the memo addressed to “All the Men and Women of the U.S. Secret Service” and obtained by RealClearPolitics.

“I assure you that is not the case, and in fact was told weeks ago by the administration that transitions in leadership should be expected across the Department of Homeland Security,” he wrote.

“The president has directed an orderly transition in leadership for this agency, and I intend to abide by that direction. It is my sincere regret that I was not able to address the workforce prior to this announcement,” he continued.

Both Alles and the administration made it clear that the arrest of a Chinese woman carrying a malware-laced device at Mar-a-Lago did not lead to the director’s departure. An administration source told RCP the decision “has been in the works for two weeks and is no way related” to the Mar-a-Lago incident.

Alles, in his staff memo, also called Murray a “consummate professional, a true leader” and someone whose capabilities have earned his confidence.

At the beginning of his administration, Trump followed recommendations made by a blue-ribbon panel convened in 2014 at the height of several Secret Service scandals to tap an “outsider” to head the agency.

Alles was the first non-Secret Service employee to be named director in the agency’s storied history. The panel, and several key members of Congress, all called for a new director who was unconnected to the current and former leadership who could truly change the insular culture and uneven discipline partially responsible for low morale.

Before that recommendation, President Obama named Julia Pierson, a career agency official, to be the first woman Secret Service director. Even after the recommendation, he turned to known quantity Joseph Clancy to replace Pierson when security lapses continued. Clancy had served as the head of the service’s presidential protective division during Obama’s time in office before retiring. Obama brought him back to try to reform the agency, but it continued experiencing security breaches, as well as discipline and retention problems.

Murray is very well-liked and respected but it’s unclear if he can truly shake up the culture to make necessary changes, sources close to the Secret Service community told RCP.

In order to fix the morale problem, one source said Murray needs “to set friendship aside and promote competence, fairness – [that’s] easier said than done in D.C.”

Gary Byrne, a former Secret Service Uniformed Division officer who wrote a tell-all book about the Clintons and their misbehavior in the White House and another about the history of the service, said the agency on Monday was reeling after the announcement of Alles’ departure and Murray’s ascension.

Even though Murray is well-respected, he said officers he’s talked to “still want somebody from the outside” to lead the agency.

“They just keep repeating the same mistakes,” Byrne said of the quick succession of directors.

“Nothing has really changed – unless they fix the problem with the Uniformed Division pay scale and reduce the number of hours everyone is working. It’s an insane amount of hours these guys work,” he said.

The agency’s uneven discipline problems and claims of top officials contributing to a culture of corruption have also exacerbated tensions among the rank and file.

In the first few weeks of the Trump administration, a senior Secret Service agent faced an internal disciplinary investigation after posting on Facebook that she would not take a bullet for the new president. But the agency declined to act on a complaint about Kerry O’Grady, the senior agent in question, until a media report exposed the Facebook post.

After nearly two years on paid administrative leave, O’Grady is being allowed to leave the service in just a few weeks virtually unscathed financially with her retirement largely intact.

“They let her get away with what she did because they didn’t want her spilling the beans on the dirt of the Secret Service,” Byrne said, noting that it “absolutely degraded morale.”

“The senior officials and staff of the Secret Service knew what was going on … and they were ignoring her behavior until” the issue became public and others in the community started to “raise a stink,” Byrne said.

In recent years, the Secret Service has ranked either dead last or near the bottom of a government employee survey of job satisfaction conducted annually by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service. The agency’s most-recent ranking, released late last year, is near the bottom at No. 398.

Many of the morale problems are tied to agents’ and officers’ crushing workload -- long hours amid increased security demands from the White House and in protecting presidential candidates in recent years, as well as lagging employment recruitment and poor retention rates.

As of August of 2017, just nine months into the Trump presidency, more than 1,000 agents had hit their federally mandated caps for salary and overtime allowances that were meant to cover the entire year.

Responding to that crisis, Alles was able to convince Congress to provide more funding in a 2018 bill aptly titled the Secret Service Recruitment and Retention Act, but it mainly played a stop-gap role in fixing the overtime funding shortfall.

Solving the underlying workload issues would mean expanding the Secret Service workforce, giving each agent and officer time to take longer breaks from duty to recharge and attend training sessions to sharpen skills.

Trump’s 2019 budget aimed to accomplish this by providing hundreds of millions of dollars more to support an additional 450 agents and officers for a total of 7,600 positions by the end of the fiscal year. However, the DHS inspector general testified to Congress last year that even that number is insufficient – that the agency needs a total of 8,200 personnel, 1,700 more than it currently has.

After Congress provided more money for overtime, agents are now getting paid for all the work they do but are still working far too many hours and being stretched too thin, insiders say.

“If you’re working 120 hours a pay period, which a lot of these guys are, you’re still working too much,” Byrne said.

Susan Crabtree is a veteran Washington reporter who has spent two decades covering the White House and Congress.

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Tesla delivers fewer than expected Model 3 sedans in first quarter

FILE PHOTO: A Tesla Model 3 car is displayed at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Canada
FILE PHOTO: A Tesla Model 3 car is displayed at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

April 4, 2019

(Reuters) – Tesla Inc delivered fewer than expected Model 3 sedans in its first quarter as the electric car maker shifted its sales focus to international markets, where transit times are longer.

Tesla delivered 50,900 Model 3s in the quarter, falling short of analysts’ estimates of 58,900, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Deliveries of all models fell 31 percent from the fourth quarter to 63,000 vehicles, including 12,100 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs.

(Reporting By Alexandria Sage in San Fransisco and Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: OANN

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Man charged in spa bombing indicted on 4 federal counts

A federal grand jury on Wednesday returned a four-count indictment against a man previously charged in connection with a bombing of a Southern California spa that killed his ex-girlfriend, prosecutors said.

Stephen William Beal, 59, faces charges including use of a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of a building resulting in death, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Beal had been arrested shortly after the bombing last year, but explosives charges were dropped and he was freed when prosecutors questioned whether material found at his home constituted a "destructive device." Further testing and investigation led to Beal's re-arrest this month.

The May 15 bombing killed Ildiko Krajnyak, 48, and seriously wounded two female clients when she opened a box that erupted in a fiery explosion at the spa in the city of Aliso Viejo, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Los Angeles.

Beal's lawyer didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday. He is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned March 25.

Krajnyak had told friends she was afraid of Beal after he made threats following their breakup. Beal told investigators he felt betrayed when she told him she was in a relationship with another man, U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said at a news conference March 4.

The explosion blew out a big chunk of the building and body parts were found in the parking lot.

Over nine months, investigators were able to make the case by piecing together fragments from the bomb they could connect to Beal, including a battery, a wire and boxes similar to the one that contained the deadly bomb.

Source: Fox News National

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MLB notebook: Tulowitzki (calf) likely to go on Yankees’ IL

MLB: Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees
Apr 1, 2019; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (12) throws out Detroit Tigers left fielder Mikie Mahtook (8) during the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

April 4, 2019

New York Yankees shortstop Troy Tulowitzki exited Wednesday’s game against the visiting Detroit Tigers after the third inning with a Grade 1 strain in his left calf, manager Aaron Boone said afterward.

Tulowitzki popped out in his first at-bat in the second inning and exited one inning later, as second baseman Gleyber Torres moved to shortstop to replace Tulowitzki. The Yankees said he was being taken to nearby New York Presbyterian Hospital for further tests.

Boone said the injury will “almost certainly” send Tulowitzki to the Yankees’ already crowded injured list.

Signed to a one-year free-agent contract in January following a workout for teams, Tulowitzki is 2-for-11 on the young season with a home run. The five-time All-Star shortstop was signed by the Yankees to fill the void left by Didi Gregorius, who had Tommy John surgery on his throwing shoulder in October. He is expected to be out until June or July.

–Indians manager Terry Francona signed a two-year extension to remain in Cleveland through the 2022 season.

“Simply put, Tito has been a transformational leader, who has not only impacted our major league clubhouse, but also the entire organization,” Chris Antonetti, the club’s president of baseball operations, said in a statement.

“Our relationship has been truly collaborative and we are all fortunate to have a future Hall-of-Fame manager guiding our team as we continue to pursue our ultimate goal of bringing a World Series championship to the city of Cleveland.”

Francona, 59, is in his seventh season with the Indians, who have the American League’s best record since 2013 (547-427). The Indians have four playoff appearances and three division titles in Francona’s first six seasons.

–Former Braves manager Bobby Cox remains in an Atlanta-area hospital after suffering a possible stroke and being admitted on Tuesday, according to multiple outlets.

Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos visited Cox on Wednesday and told the MLB Network that he was “in as good a spirits as can be.”

The Braves, who have not provided any details on Cox’s condition, also released this statement Wednesday: “We know no one stronger or more determined than Bobby Cox. Our thoughts and prayers are with him as he recovers. We look forward to seeing him soon and would like to thank the baseball community for joining together to support our dear friend.”

–The Chicago Cubs and infielder David Bote have agreed to a five-year contract extension, plus two team options, the team announced.

The deal covers the 2020-24 seasons and will reportedly guarantee him just over $15 million. The option years are valued at $7 million in 2025 and $7.6 million for 2026, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Bote, who turns 26 on Sunday, was already under team control through 2024, with the new contract providing Bote security while the Cubs avoid his arbitration years and gain control on two free agent seasons.

–Cleveland Indians All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor has been cleared to resume light baseball activities, and his sprained left ankle will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days.

Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told reporters there was no firm timetable for Lindor’s return from the injured list.

A return by late April or early May, after a minor league rehab assignment, seems probable if he has no setbacks.

–The Yankees reinstated left-hander CC Sabathia from the MLB suspended list and moved him to the 10-day injured list as he continues his rehabilitation from offseason cardiac and knee surgeries.

To fill his roster spot, they recalled right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The 24-year-old started Wednesday afternoon against Detroit at Yankee Stadium, allowing one run in four innings.

Sabathia, 38, who is heading into his 19th major league season, could miss as many as two starts, pushing his season debut to the middle of April, manager Aaron Boone said previously.

–Shortstop Trea Turner was placed on the 10-day injured list by the Washington Nationals.

Turner left Tuesday’s game with a broken right index finger and could miss several weeks. To replace Turner, the Nationals recalled infielder Adrián Sanchez from Triple-A Fresno.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Elizabeth Warren

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News Politics

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