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Australian senator slammed over mosque shooting comments

The Australian senator whose comments about the New Zealand mosque shootings led to him having an egg cracked on his head by a teenage boy has faced a stinging attack in the first sitting of Australia's Parliament since last month's attacks.

In the wake of the atrocity — over which an Australian white supremacist has been charged with murder — Sen. Fraser Anning was condemned for laying the blame on policies allowing Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand.

Anning was further lambasted for striking the boy who cracked an egg on his head during a public appearance.

When Parliament resumed from a break Tuesday, acting government Senate leader Simon Birmingham said that Anning had shown a "lack of humanity," and that he should be charged for striking the boy.

Source: Fox News World

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U.S.-China trade talks to continue next week by video link: Kudlow

FILE PHOTO: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow listens to a question from the media outside the White House in Washington
FILE PHOTO: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow listens to a question from the media outside the White House in Washington, U.S., December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Young /File Photo

April 5, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators will continue their talks next week by video conference as they try to reach a deal to resolve a nine-month-old trade war, White House adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He was meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for a third straight day on Friday after President Donald Trump hailed progress in the talks and said a deal could be announced in the next four weeks.

Kudlow, speaking on Bloomberg Television, said Liu was due back in Beijing after today’s talks but the two sides would press ahead to resolve remaining differences by video link.

“There’s no letup here, this is an ongoing process,” Kudlow said.

The United States is seeking reforms to Chinese practices that it says result in the theft of U.S. intellectual property and the forced transfer of technology from U.S. companies to Chinese firms. Washington also has demanded that Beijing curb industrial subsidies and open its economy wider to U.S. companies and that it increase purchases of U.S. goods including farm and energy commodities to shrink the gaping U.S. trade deficit with China.

“We are making headway in a lot of areas. That includes enforcement, that includes IP (intellectual property) theft, that includes forced technology transfers, ownership, cyberspace, commodities and all the rest of it,” Kudlow said. “Those are of course in the middle of the negotiations that are ongoing but we’ve come further and farther than ever before.”

(Reporting by David Lawder and Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Source: OANN

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Japan’s March factory output to shrink, BOJ seen keeping policy unchanged: Reuters poll

FILE PHOTO: A worker cycles near a factory at the Keihin industrial zone in Kawasaki
FILE PHOTO: A worker cycles near a factory at the Keihin industrial zone in Kawasaki, Japan February 28, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato

April 19, 2019

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s March factory output is forecast to have slipped for the first time in two months, a Reuters poll showed on Friday, though the central bank is expected to stand pat on policy as it bets on a gradual economic recovery despite rising risks to growth.

The poll of 17 economists predicted the Bank of Japan will retain its massive stimulus as well as the short-term interest rate target at minus 0.1 percent, while also maintaining its pledge to guide 10-year government bond yields around zero percent at its April 24-25 meeting.

The BOJ is facing a daunting task in its years-long efforts to help push up inflation toward its 2 percent goal, with a slowdown in global growth and trade making its task even more difficult.

Factories have been under strain in the past few months, and the poll forecast industrial production to have slipped 0.1 percent in March from the previous month after it rose 0.7 percent in February.

“Exports are weakening due to the global economic slowdown, which appears to have impacted on factory output,” said Yoshiki Shinke, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute.

“The economy is either at a temporarily lull or worsening slightly. But it requires more data to assess whether the economy contracted in the first quarter.”

The trade ministry will publish the factory output at 8:50 a.m. April 26, Japan time (2350 GMT April 25).

Data on the nation’s retail sector, due at the same time with the factory output numbers, is projected to show sales rising 0.8 percent last month from a year earlier, the poll found, accelerating from a 0.4 percent increase in February.

Recent gains in oil prices appear to have supported fuel retailers and demand from inbound tourists likely also boosted the overall retail sales, analysts said.

Yet the positive retail impulse would need to be sustained for some months to help boost inflation and overall consumption.

Indeed, the BOJ is expected to forecast next week that inflation will remain below its 2 percent target through the fiscal year that ends in March 2022, sources say.

The central bank is also seen sticking to its view that Japan’s economy will emerge from a soft patch and resume a moderate expansion in the second half of 2019.

“We forecast the BOJ won’t largely change its economic view, so the central bank will likely keep its current pace of stimulus policy,” said Shuji Tonouchi, senior market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

The poll also found Tokyo’s core consumer prices (CPI) index, which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, rose 1.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the same pace as in March.

Price gains in oil related products probably contributed to Tokyo’s core CPI, while falls in costs of electricity and city gas weighed on the index, analysts said.

The poll showed the jobless rate pushed up to 2.4 percent in March from 2.3 percent in February, and the jobs-to-applicants ratio improved to 1.64, which would be an over 40-year high, from 1.63 in February.

The government will publish Tokyo’s core CPI and jobs data at 8:30 a.m. on April 26 (2330 GMT on April 25).

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Judge allows video of face-biting suspect as evidence

A judge will allow as evidence a video of a former college student struggling against his restraints at a Florida hospital on the night he's accused of killing two people.

Austin Harrouff's attorneys say the video shows the "mental status" of the 22-year-old hours after he's accused of killing 59-year-old John Stevens III and 53-year-old Michelle Mishcon. Police say the Florida State University student was found biting and chewing on Stevens' face in the couple's driveway.

Harrouff is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

TC Palm reports Monday's hearing centered on 1:14 seconds of video described in a defense motion as Harrouff in his hospital bed "fighting against his restraints."

Forensic psychologist Dr. Phillip Resnick has said Harrouff believed he was "half-dog, half man" when he attacked the couple.

Source: Fox News National

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Barr feels backlash after saying Trump campaign was spied on; Pence-Buttigieg feud heats up

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Developing now, Thursday, April 11, 2019

SPY GAMES: Attorney General William Barr is feeling backlash from both Democrats and the mainstream media for testifying Wednesday that federal authorities spied on the Trump campaign in 2016 ... Despite mounting evidence that the FBI pursued an array of efforts to gather intelligence from within the Trump campaign -- and the fact that the FBI successfully pursued warrants to surveil a former Trump aide in 2016 -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told the Associated Press, "I don't trust Barr, I trust Mueller." House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told Fox News that Barr's loyalties were compromised. Various members of the media accused Barr of peddling right-wing "conspiracy theories" and being part of a White House cover-up.

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STANDOFF OVER TRUMP'S TAXES: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the department hasn't decided if it'll comply with a demand by a key House Democrat to deliver President Trump's tax returns as a Wednesday deadline to turn over the records came and went ... In a letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., who asked for Trump's returns a week ago, Mnuchin said Treasury would consult with the Justice Department and further review the request. The news came a day after Mnuchin faced off in a contentious exchange with California Rep. Maxine Waters, the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee.

PENCE-BUTTIGIEG FEUD HEATS UP: The war of words between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg over homosexuality is slowly escalating ... On Wednesday, Pence fired back after the openly gay South Bend, Ind., mayor criticized the vice president for his belief that homosexuality is a choice. "He said some things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally. And he knows better. He knows me," Pence told CNBC in an interview scheduled to air Thursday morning. "But I get it. You know, it’s – look, again, 19 people running for president on that side in a party that’s sliding off to the left. And they’re all competing with one another for how much more liberal they are."

EX-OBAMA WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL TARGETED IN MUELLER PROBE: Greg Craig, who formerly served as counsel to the Obama White House, is expected to be charged with foreign lobbying violations, his lawyers reportedly said Wednesday ... The case against Craig stemmed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, centering around the lobbying work he performed in 2012 for the Russian-backed president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, while Craig was a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Craig allegedly never registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which requires lobbyists to declare publicly if they represent foreign leaders, governments or their political parties.

British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a media conference at the conclusion of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, April 11, 2019. European Union leaders on Thursday offered Britain an extension to Brexit that would allow the country to delay its EU departure date until Oct. 31. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a media conference at the conclusion of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, April 11, 2019. European Union leaders on Thursday offered Britain an extension to Brexit that would allow the country to delay its EU departure date until Oct. 31. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

FINAL BREXIT DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL HALLOWEEN: European leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed Wednesday to push the final deadline for the U.K. to depart the bloc until Halloween, with European Council President Donald Tusk warning British politicians to "not waste this time" without ratifying a formal withdrawal agreement ... Britain had been due to leave the EU on Friday, but May rushed to an emergency summit in Brussels to plead with her European counterparts to hold off on saying goodbye for a couple more months. The prime minister had asked for a delay only until June 30, but Tusk said in a tweet that she had agreed to a longer "flexible" extension, which provides for Britain to leave any time before Oct. 31 provided Parliament ratifies a divorce deal and passes accompanying legislation to ensure a smooth transition out of the EU.

THE SOUNDBITE

CANDACE OWENS VS. LEO TERRELL: "That’s a personal attack ... That was an ad hominem attack and it was childish and I’m not going to play these playground tactics with you. I’m going to keep the focus on black America and the things actually impacting us. This is an adult conversation that needs to be had."–Candace Owens, conservative commentator and communications director for Turning Point USA, facing off against civil rights attorney Leo Terrell on "The Ingraham Angle." Terrell accused Owens of promoting herself and getting "15 minutes of fame" during a controversial appearance before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on online hate speech. (Click the image above to watch the full video.)

TODAY'S MUST-READS
Tammy Bruce: The fraying edges of universal health care.
Elizabeth Warren releases tax returns showing million-dollar income, moments after pitching wealth tax.
Howard Kurtz: Black hole politics - Why no progress escapes DC's gravity.
Meet Katie Bouman, the 29-year-old scientist behind first image of black hole.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
IRS chief grilled over tax credit for low-income working families.
Chase CEO Jamie Dimon defends bank's firearm policy.
Retirement realities: What's in, and what's out.

STAY TUNED

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of Homeland Security; Corey Lewandowski, former Trump campaign manager; Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News senior judicial analyst.

On Fox Business:

Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., House Minority Whip; Steve Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media; Tom Bevan, president and co-founder of RealClearPolitics.

Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Kimberley Strassel, Wall Street Journal columnist.

After the Bell, 4 p.m. ET: Connell McShane will report live from Washington, D.C. with an interview with IMF Director Christine Lagarde.

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: "Redacted or Unredacted Mueller Report" - Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz weighs in on Democrats' threats to subpoena an unredacted version of the Mueller report. For the first time an Israeli spacecraft will be landing on the moon. Morris Kahn, the South African born Israeli billionaire behind the mission, talks about what this means for Israel. Plus, commentary by Leslie Marshall, Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: The Mueller report, Attorney General Barr's testimony about spying on the Trump campaign and the latest in the 2020 presidential race will be among the topics discussed by the following guests: Andrew McCarthy, Fox News contributor and contributing editor at the National Review; Chris Wallace, "Fox News Sunday" host; Steve Doocy, "Fox & Friends' co-host. Author Charles Lane discusses his new book, "Freedom's Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror."

The Todd Starnes Show, Noon ET: Todd speaks with U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., about Yale Law School allegedly discriminating against students of faith, and retired former police Lt. Randy Sutton discusses an outrageous display of anti-police vandalism.

#TheFlashback
2009: Susan Boyle, a middle-aged volunteer church worker, wows judges and audiences alike with her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables" on the British TV show "Britain's Got Talent."
1968: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which includes the Fair Housing Act, a week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
1945: During World War II, American soldiers liberate the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany.

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Friday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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Groom accused of assaulting wedding waitress to stand trial

A judge has ruled that a groom can go to trial on charges he forced himself on a teenage waitress at his wedding reception.

Matthew Aimers, of Willingboro, New Jersey, arrived at court Thursday in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his new wife at his side.

The judge upheld all charges, including indecent assault, indecent exposure, imprisonment of a minor and related offenses in the November conflict at the Northampton Valley Country Club in Richboro.

Aimers' attorney, Louis Busico, says his client "denies and rejects" the accusations by the waitress, who is now 18. He says Aimers' wife, Kayla, "150 percent supports him."

An affidavit says the waitress had spurned Aimers' advances during the reception. Police allege he followed her into a bathroom and sexually assaulted her. He was taken from the hall in handcuffs after a drunken brawl.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the accuser testified Thursday and that spectators were removed from the courtroom.

Source: Fox News National

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On federal logorrhea


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On the roster: On federal logorrhea - I’ll Tell You What: Shut up, they explained - House Dems huddle; Pelosi wants Mueller messaging - Biden will hit Va., Pa. on announcement day - ‘The fluffy vigilante’ 

ON FEDERAL LOGORRHEA
When the Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday on whether the Trump administration can include a question about citizenship in the 2020 Census, most of the debate will center on whether doing so would skew the results by discouraging immigrants from participating.

(The discussion will also no doubt include the ways in which Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the cabinet member in charge, has screwed things up.)  

But what really matters here isn’t just the latest in the ongoing antagonism between the Trump administration and blue states but rather the larger trend: An increasing number of Americans from all ethnicities and origins don’t trust their government enough to reply to its questions.

Here’s the WSJ: “Survey-response rates have been falling over recent decades. In 1990, when Americans were asked to participate in the Labor Department’s population survey, which is used to calculate the monthly unemployment rate, 4% declined. As of 2018, the nonresponse rate nearly quadrupled, to 15.2%. Another survey, used to calculate inflation, asks Americans to track spending on goods and services. In 1985, 86% agreed to help. Today, 61% do.”

Fewer responses mean less reliable data and less reliable data means less- or wrongly-informed decision making.

Some of it may just be sloth and some of it may be a general aversion to surveys, a trend that afflicted private-sector pollsters, too. But given the corresponding drop in Americans’ overall trust and confidence in government institutions, it’s hard to believe it’s not a significant factor.     

We can blame the distrust of citizens for the government on a lot of things, existing as it does within the general public paranoia of the information age. But we can also blame it on the fact that the government has often been unworthy of our trust.  

The government did not truly, systematically start domestic propaganda until the First World War.

For as long as we have been a nation, controversy has surrounded the use of government resources to tell partial or sometimes even entirely untrue stories to the same citizens on whom the government is supposed to be dependent.

In fact, there are none who would say it is a wholly good thing. There are many, though, who say it is at least sometimes needful.

And in that claim they have been right many times. Our back-to-back-to-back victories in the major global conflicts of the 20th century will stand in history long past the end of this millennium. They would not have been possible with a government that was entirely servile and transparent.

They wrote the Constitution in secret for a reason, people.

Sometimes effective and reasonable governance, especially during periods of national threat or dire uncertainty, requires the government to operate at some distance from the citizens who elected it. Abraham Lincoln still has his critics, but there are precious few outside the ranks of honest-to-goodness Confederate sympathizers who wish he had been even more restrained in his defense of the republic.

But Woodrow Wilson has a different story to tell.

He created the first ever organization inside the United States government that had the sole purpose of misleading the American people. If our enemies in the Great War could use mass media to direct the thoughts and ambitions of their citizens, would we rather lose the fight by self-restraint? If “the world must be made safe for democracy,” then maybe you have to fiddle with the democratic process just enough to make sure we the people don’t make bad choices?

The creation of the Committee of Public Information in 1917 is a watershed that does not get enough attention in our view of modern history – a true departure from the first 128 years of our history.

Does the government have a role to play in reinforcing the attitude and outlook reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? You bet. Does the military have the need to encourage able, sound recruits or motivate conscripts? We should hope so.

This is a government designed to serve the people of this particular nation. The government we elect gets to pick our flag, our symbols, our currency and our even our name.

Moreover, there is an unwritten, yet tradition-bound role of our national political leaders in the major and minor civic sacrosanctities. Somebody has to throw out the first pitch, why not the guy who has George Washington’s job?

But anything beyond that, especially that which is funded by taxes paid by the same citizens whom the government is trying to manipulate, are found objectionable by many — especially if the political party opposite of theirs is the one doing the manipulation.

Most of the object of the American system is on making sure that the government is responsive to the direction and needs of the populace. But the object of the Bill of Rights is substantially about what the government can tell the people. The government cannot people what to say. The government cannot tell the people with whom they will associate. The government cannot tell the people what and where to worship.

But on seemingly every issue not circumscribed by the Constitution, the government tells and tells and tells us. Happy Asian-Pacific American Heritage/Celebrate Diversity/Distracted Driving Awareness/Donate Life Awareness/Jazz Appreciation Month to all who celebrate…

And when the executive branch changes hands between parties, the priorities and spin can turn on a dime. One day it’s all about energy efficiency, the next day it’s all about energy production. And nearly all of it, even the stuff that isn’t obvious cant, has a political motivation within it.

Just image when the Founders would have said about the resources of a $4-trillion-a-year federal government being used to employ an army of flacks and spin-meisters the very purpose of which is to shape the way Americans think, act and feel – including about the government itself. The Constitution did not contemplate the communications director.

No matter. The howitzers pounding out this pap will blaze on undiminished. And few will likely consider the fact that if the government wanted to hear more from citizens on surveys and elsewhere, it might be wise to listen instead of talk once in a while.

THE RULEBOOK: BUT OTHER THAN THAT, IT’S GREAT  
“To look for a continuation of harmony between a number of independent, unconnected sovereignties in the same neighborhood, would be to disregard the uniform course of human events, and to set at defiance the accumulated experience of ages.” – Alexander HamiltonFederalist No. 6

TIME OUT: SCOOT
Smithsonian: “The Online Bike Museum explains that the Autoped, the first mass-produced motorized scooter ride in the U.S., was ‘[e]ssentially an enlarged child’s scooter with an engine mounted over the front wheel.’ Though some reports claimed it could reach speeds of 35 miles per hour, the steering column operated the clutch and brake, which the museum noted made the ride ‘unsteady’ when it pushed 20 mph. Later, a battery-operated version of the Autoped was made available when the Everready Battery Company bought the outfit. The concept of the scooter stretches back at least a century before to 1817 and Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun of Germany. After he debuted his early two-wheeled, human-powered ride, the velocipede concept was quickly spun off into bicycles, tricycles and kick scooters. … Come the turn of the 19th century, battery-powered machines were also entering into the fold; Ogden Bolton Jr. was issued a U.S. patent for his battery-powered bicycle in 1895.”

Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 42.8 percent
Average disapproval: 52 percent
Net Score: -9.2 points
Change from one week ago: down 0.8 points 
[Average includes: Fox News: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; Monmouth University: 40% approve - 54% disapprove; Gallup: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; GU Politics/Battleground: 43% approve - 52% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 52% disapprove.]

I’LL TELL YOU WHAT: SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED 
On Friday, Dana Perino and Chris Stirewalt discussed the findings of the Mueller report, what will happen to Democrats once Joe Biden enters the 2020 race, and Dana shares a musical hit from when The Five were in Nashville. Plus, Dana asks Chris mailbag questions and fires off some trivia questions. LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE HERE

HOUSE DEMS HUDDLE; PELOSI WANTS MUELLER MESSAGING
Politico: “Now that the dust has started to settle after last week’s release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, Democrats will try to figure out how to move forward. House Democrats, who are in the middle of a two-week recess, will hold a conference call later today so the caucus can start to plot their next steps and sharpen their strategy in a post-Mueller world. Per a Dem aide, the call is expected to focus on the ‘need to see the full report and need to hear from Mueller ASAP.’ Democrats have already made some strategic moves, formally issuing a subpoena on Friday for the full report and all its underlying materials — an immediate top priority for the caucus. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also rejected an offer from the DOJ to view a less-redacted version of the report, arguing that every lawmaker has a right to view the entire report…”

Schiff hedges on impeachment - WaPo: ‘House Democrats will hold a meeting to discuss whether to pursue impeachment proceedings against President Trump, a key lawmaker said Sunday. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said on ‘Fox News Sunday’ that the House Democratic caucus will meet in the coming weeks to discuss the matter. ‘That’s going to be a very consequential decision and one that I’m going to reserve judgment on until we’ve had a chance to fully deliberate on it,’ Schiff said. In an appearance on ABC News’s ‘This Week,’ Schiff said that although the findings of the Mueller report are ‘serious and damning,’ he does not believe the Senate would convict Trump if the House were to impeach him. ‘Now, it may be that we undertake an impeachment nonetheless. I think what we are going to have to decide as a caucus is: What is the best thing for the country?’ he said.”

Trump sues to block probe of his business practices - WaPo: “President Trump and his business sued House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) in a bid to block a congressional subpoena of his financial records on Monday. The lawsuit seeks a court order to prevent Trump’s accounting firm from complying with what his lawyers say is an improper use of subpoena power by congressional Democrats. … Last week, Cummings subpoenaed Mazars USA, an accounting firm long used by Trump. For more than a decade, Mazars and a predecessor firm signed off on financial statements for Trump that he used when seeking loans. Some of the statements include frequent exaggerations or inaccuracies and were accompanied by a note from the firm saying it was not responsible for the accuracy of the information.”

BIDEN WILL HIT VA., PA. ON ANNOUNCEMENT DAY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Two sources familiar with Biden’s preliminary plans said the former vice president will announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president on Wednesday in Charlottesville, Va., the site of a clash in August 2017 between white supremacists and counterprotesters that claimed one life. Biden then will fly to Pittsburgh for a rally in the afternoon and then come to Philadelphia, where he will hold a rally at the Art Museum, though the sources said the plans have been shifting in recent days and could change again. David L. Cohen, a Comcast senior executive vice president and an influential Democratic figure, is planning a fund-raiser for Biden at his Philadelphia home Thursday, one sign of the support the former vice president can expect from much of the party establishment, particularly in Pennsylvania. Former Gov. Ed Rendell said he would support Biden, making him one of the most prominent figures in a host of Keystone State insiders expected to do the same.”

Buttigieg likens Bernie backers to Trump fans - Fox News: “Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Friday said that President Trump’s supporters were similar to Bernie Sanders’ supporters because they both feel marginalized and want to tear down the system. The comments came during a campaign stop in downtown Nashua, N.H. before a crowd of mostly high school students, according to The Washington Examiner. The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind. said that a sense of ‘anger and disaffection’ grows from neighborhoods and families who are struggling to get by despite reports of a healthy economy. ‘It just kind of turns you against the system in general and then you’re more likely to want to vote to blow up the system, which could lead you to somebody like Bernie and it could lead you to somebody like Trump. That’s how we got where we are,’ Buttigieg said. Buttigieg drew a distinction between himself and the 77-year-old Vermont Senator…”

Can Buttigieg turn buzz into ballots? - AP: “There are no policy positions on his website. He has virtually no paid presence in the states that matter most. And his campaign manager is a high school friend with no experience in presidential politics. Welcome to the campaign of Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old Indiana mayor who has suddenly become one of the hottest names in the Democrats’ presidential primary season. Yet there is an increasing urgency, inside and outside of the campaign, that his moment may pass if he doesn’t take swift action to build a national organization capable of harnessing the energy he’ll need to sustain his surge in the nine months or so before the first votes are cast. … Aware of the daunting road ahead, Buttigieg’s team is plowing forward with an ambitious push to expand his operation, attract new campaign cash and pound the airwaves with virtually every media opportunity available.”

A struggling Warren grabs impeachment issue - NYT: “Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has worked for months to find traction in a crowded Democratic presidential primary, stepped forward on Friday with a call to arms: President Trump must be impeached. What followed, generally, was conspicuous silence – and not just from her colleagues in Congress. After sidestepping the explosive issue of impeachment for months by citing the inquiry by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, most of the other 17 Democratic presidential candidates have responded to the special counsel’s report with tentative remarks about impeaching Mr. Trump, demands for the unredacted Mueller findings, calls for further hearings or attempts to simply change the subject. Anything, that is, to avoid clearly answering the question of whether lawmakers should remove the president from office. … But some strategists and lawmakers say that a failed effort would only strengthen Mr. Trump’s re-election chances, allowing him to claim further vindication.”

Moulton becomes the fourth House member to join 2020 field - Politico: “Rep. Seth Moulton announced Monday that he is running for president, vowing to engage young people and military veterans and becoming the third Massachusetts politician to throw a hat into the 2020 ring. An Iraq veteran who led an unsuccessful effort to oust Nancy Pelosi from the House leadership last year, the 40-year-old Moulton has said he plans to run a campaign focused on national security and defense issues, which his campaign argues will make him a foil to President Donald Trump. Moulton was elected to Congress in 2014, after he upset former Democratic Rep. John Tierney in a primary fight. The Salem lawmaker is serving his third term. … Moulton's 2020 website went live on Monday morning, highlighting Moulton's positions on foreign policy and national security, jobs, health care, climate change and leadership. The website also has a store with T-shirts, hats and tote bags.”

THE SWAMP HEARTS TRUMP 2020
Politico: “Deep-pocketed Republicans who snubbed Donald Trump in 2016 are going all in for him in 2020, throwing their weight behind a newly created fundraising drive that’s expected to dump tens of millions into his reelection coffers. The effort involves scores of high-powered businessmen, lobbyists and former ambassadors who raised big money for George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney – and who are now preparing to tap their expansive networks for Trump after rebuffing his first presidential bid. The project, which is closely modeled after the famed Pioneers network that helped to fuel Bush’s 2000 campaign, is slated to be formally unveiled on May 7, when well-connected Republican fundraisers from around the country descend on Washington for a closed-door event with Trump 2020 aides. … Party officials have been reaching out to top fundraisers in recent weeks and wooing them with the prospect of joining ‘raiser clubs,’ with names like 45 Club, Trump Train and Builders Club.”

Trump bashes Bernie in public, praises in private - Daily Beast: “To his rally-goers, Donald Trump openly craves a 2020 showdown with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), salivating at the prospect of getting to run against an elderly, self-declared democratic socialist. But in private, his view of a potential run against the senator is a lot more complex and less swaggeringly self-assured. Those around the president say he’s been of two minds when the topic of facing Sanders in 2020 comes up. While he sees the senator as a vulnerable opponent, he also has offered begrudging respect for his political acumen. Trump will—sometimes unprompted—bring up Sanders’s own working-class support, and acknowledge that there is, in fact, potential for the senator to win over Trump voters with his populist appeal, three sources who’ve discussed this with the president tell The Daily Beast. The president has been impressed with Sanders’ ability to ignite his base and draw a large crowd, though not, in his words, as ‘good as Trump.’”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Herman Cain withdraws from consideration for Federal Reserve seat - WaPo

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., announces successful surgery to treat prostate cancer - Politico

NRCC names first eight members to benefit from Patriot Program ahead of 2020 - Roll Call

Meet the 2020 spouses: The high-powered men and women behind the candidates - Fox News

AUDIBLE: LIKE, ARE WE TALKING ABOUT REAL PRIMO STUFF? 
“It depends on the stolen material.” – Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to President Trump, when asked by NBC News whether it is “okay for political campaigns to work with material stolen by foreign adversaries.”

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“Senators running for president who miss voting due to campaigning should have a pay cut for each missed vote!” – Michael Carter, Kenton County, Ky.

[Ed. note: I have never understood the desire some Americans have about getting members of Congress to work more days. I might even consider a bonus program that would give them bonus cash for every day spent outside of the capital! (I kid… mostly.) The problems with our legislative branch won’t be solved by having them spending more time in Washington. I’d instead say there’s probably a great deal to be said for members being with normal Americans. And I promise that for every vote in which they would be more than just padding, all five of the senators running would be there.]   

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

‘THE FLUFFY VIGILANTE’ 
Orlando Weekly: “In what is probably downtown Orlando's weirdest fight yet, someone dressed as the Easter Bunny ran into an ongoing brawl and beat up a man on Orange Avenue Sunday. An Orlando promoter who goes by Workkk caught the whole thing on video and told Orlando Weekly the fight started when a man bumped into a woman with dreads. The two were already punching each other when the fluffy vigilante suddenly jumped in and started swinging. … ‘As you can see the Easter rabbit been taking boxing classes,’ the promoter says. … The video shows the fight was quickly broken up by a bystander and a bike cop from Orlando Police. Orlando Weekly reached out to OPD for more information but did not receive an immediate comment.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“In Trump World, the better angels are not in evidence.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the National Review on July 28, 2017.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Source: Fox News Politics

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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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A man accused of fatally beating a 4-month-old boy after finding out the infant wasn’t his son had been previously deported from the United States five times, most recently in late 2016, immigration officials said.

Carlos Zuniga-Aviles, a 33-year-old Honduran national, has used multiple aliases, including the fake name of Jose Agurcia-Avila he gave police in Memphis, Tennessee, following his arrest in the boy’s death earlier this month, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told WMC-TV.

ICE officials have since filed an immigration detainer against Zuniga-Aviles, who was initially deported back to Honduras in February 2010. He was also returned to the Central American country in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE NEW YORK POST

“ICE will seek to take him into custody to reinstate his removal order following the resolution of the criminal charges he currently faces,” the statement reads. “Mr. Zuniga-Aviles has been removed from the US five prior times: his most recent removal by ICE to Honduras took place in December 2016.”

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WITH CRIMINAL HISTORY ARRESTED IN CALIFORNIA WOMAN’S MURDER

Zuniga-Aviles later returned to the U.S. following his removal, a felony under federal law, immigration officials said. It’s unclear exactly when he returned, but he was living with his girlfriend and the woman’s 4-month-old son in Memphis at the time of his arrest, WREG reports.

DAD OF MAN KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BLASTS CALIFORNIA GOV. NEWSOM’S TRIP TO CENTRAL AMERICA: ‘IT’S DISGUSTING’

The infant, Alexander Lizondro-Chacon, was pronounced dead at a hospital from blunt force trauma to the head after his mother, Mercy Lizondro-Chacon, called police on April 12 to report that the boy was having trouble breathing, according to an affidavit of complaint obtained by the Commercial Appeal.

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This article originally appeared in the New York Post. For more from the Post, click here.

Source: Fox News National

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