Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Swedish student who tried to stop man's deportation to Afghanistan is reportedly fined

The Swedish student who live-streamed her efforts to stop an Afghan asylum-seeker from being deported has reportedly been fined.

Elin Ersson, 21, was indicted in October by Swedish prosecutors for breaking aviation laws but was fined 3,000 Swedish krona, which translates to roughly $324 in U.S. currency, for her efforts, the BBC reported on Monday.

FLASHBACK: WOMAN REFUSES TO SIT DOWN ON FLIGHT IN EFFORT TO STOP MAN'S DEPORTATION TO AFGHANISTAN, DRAMATIC VIDEO SHOWS

In July, Ersson, a college student and volunteer with refugee groups, bought a ticket for a flight from Gothenburg to Turkey after finding out an Afghan man on the flight was being deported to Afghanistan.

While aboard the plane, she live-streamed herself refusing to take her seat until the Afghan man was removed from the flight, saying the man would most likely be killed in Afghanistan.

“I am doing what I can to save a person’s life. As long as a person is standing up the pilot cannot take off," she said. "All I want to do is stop the deportation and then I will comply with the rules here. This is all perfectly legal and I have not committed a crime."

An annoyed passenger tried to grab the phone from Ersson, saying she was upsetting others — to which the student replied: “It's not my fault that he's getting deported. I'm trying to stop this.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I'm trying to change my country's rules. I don't like them. It's not right to send people to hell,” she added.

The Afghan man who was being deported, however, had received a prison sentence in Sweden for assault, and his asylum application was rejected. The man was eventually deported to Afghanistan.

Fox News' Lukas Mikelionis and Kathleen Joyce contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

France asks Suedzucker to review factories closure plan

FILE PHOTO: French farmers demonstrate against the closure of sugar refineries in France at the headquarters of Sudzucker Group in Mannheim
FILE PHOTO: French farmers demonstrate against the closure of sugar refineries in France at the headquarters of Suedzucker Group in Mannheim, Germany March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo

March 13, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – The French government asked Suedzucker on Wednesday to review its plans to scale down three sites in France, stating French workers should not have to bear the brunt of a restructure by the German sugar maker after an industry slump.

A surge in output after the European Union abolished production quotas in 2017 and a 40-percent slump in prices since early 2017 in an oversupplied world market have left many EU companies struggling with plunging profits.

The crisis prompted Suedzucker, the EU’s largest sugar refiner, to announce a plan to cut capacity by 700,000 tonnes and close five sugar production units to save about 100 million euros ($114 million) a year.

In France, Suedzucker will halt sugar output at two of its Saint Louis Sucre unit factories in the northern towns of Cagny and Eppeville. In addition it will cease packaging operations at its Marseille site in southeastern France.

It will also shut two sugar factories in Germany and one in Poland.

French Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume and Junior Economy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher met with Suedzucker management, including chief executive Wolfgang Heer, in the morning to discuss the plan.

“The government has asked the Suedzucker Group’s management to consider all options to maintain industrial activity on these sites, and in particular to consider the sale of these sites if credible takeover projects were to emerge,” the ministries said in a joint statement.

“It is not acceptable that France suffers a brutal and uncoordinated solution and bears most of the restructuring envisaged by Suedzucker.”

Suedzucker did not immediately answer a request for comment.

Guillaume had told Sud Radio ahead of the meeting that the sugar sector needed restructuring but said Suedzucker was acting like a “predator” in France.

More than 200 people traveled from France to protest in front of Suedzucker’s headquarters in Mannheim, Germany, on Tuesday against the plan, including more than 150 sugar beet growers.

French growers will be directly hit by the closures as they will have few other outlets for their beets, whose guaranteed price had secured some farmers’ income for decades. The government said more than 2,500 growers would be affected.

Rival Tereos said on Wednesday it had reshuffled its management team and hired a new chief financial officer to adapt to a changing European sugar industry and to prepare a planned capital increase.

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Sudip Kar-Gupta, editing by Gus Trompiz and Alexandra Hudson)

Source: OANN

0 0

Amazon plans to launch satellites to offer broadband internet

FILE PHOTO: Amazon logo is pictured in Mexico City
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the web service Amazon is pictured in this June 8, 2017 illustration photo. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso/Illustration/File Photo

April 4, 2019

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc plans to build a network of over 3,000 satellites through a new initiative “Project Kuiper”, an attempt by the e-commerce giant to provide internet access, according to multiple filings made with the International Telecommunication Union last month.

The long-term project will cater to people globally who lack basic access to broadband internet, Amazon said in a statement on Thursday.

Project Kuiper will launch a constellation of low earth orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity, the company added.

Amazon’s plans come as Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is racing to pull his private space company Blue Origin out of start-up mode and move into production.

Bezos’ rocket company is among a crop of billionaire-backed space ventures seeking to disrupt the legacy launch services market with reusable rocket technology.

(Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

Source: OANN

0 0

Kosovo PM fires deputy minister over comments about NATO

FILE PHOTO: Kosovo's Prime Minister Haradinaj talks during an interview withe Reuters in Pristina
FILE PHOTO: Kosovo's Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj talks during an interview withe Reuters in Pristina, Kosovo, October 16, 2017. REUTERS/Hazir Reka/File Photo

March 25, 2019

PRISTINA (Reuters) – Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has fired the country’s ethnic Serb deputy justice minister after she called NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign against Serbia a “planned genocide”.

Deputy minister Vesna Mikic comes from Kosovo’s Serb minority which accounts for about 5 percent of the country’s population of 1.8 million.

“The NATO alliance committed a deliberately planned genocide against a sovereign country that fought Albanian terrorism inside its own borders,” Mikic said on her Facebook account on Sunday, marking the 20th anniversary of the NATO bombing.

NATO carried out air strikes in 1999 against the now defunct Yugoslavia, comprised of Serbia and Montenegro, to halt a brutal crackdown against Kosovo Albanians by Serbian security forces.

After 78 days of bombing, under the terms of an armistice, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic ordered his troops to withdraw from Kosovo and be replaced with NATO control.

Mikic’s post sparked criticism in the predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo where most people praise NATO for halting the two-year war and clearing the way for its independence in 2008. As many as 4,000 NATO peacekeepers are still deployed.

Mikic was not immediately available for comment.

Haradinaj dismissed the deputy minister with immediate effect.

“In Kosovo government there will be no place for individuals, despite their ethnicity, to denigrate our common euro-Atlantic values,” Haradinaj said in a statement.

More than 13,000 thousand people, mainly local Albanians, were killed in the 1998-99 war.

Kosovo has earned recognition from the United States and most EU countries, but Serbia and its major allies Russia and China remain adamantly opposed to Kosovo’s independence.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade, editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

0 0

Growth stumbling but central bank arsenals are near-empty

FILE PHOTO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters building is seen ahead of the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington
FILE PHOTO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters building is seen ahead of the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington, U.S., April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

April 12, 2019

By Jonathan Cable

LONDON (Reuters) – Global economic growth is slowing, according to the International Monetary Fund, policymakers and hundreds of economists polled by Reuters – but that downturn is coming at a time when central banks’ arsenals are running on empty.

On Tuesday, the IMF cut its expectations for world growth to its lowest level since 2016, its third downgrade since October, and said risks to the global financial system have grown over the past six months.

“This is a delicate moment for the global economy,” IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath told a news conference.

Major central banks have reined in their forecasts, and in recent months economists in Reuters polls have repeatedly trimmed their expectations for the countries they cover.

“Last week’s releases provide some reassurance that the world economy is not falling off a cliff, which had seemed a plausible, if relatively small, risk as recently as a month or so ago. This is clearly good news,” said Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics.

“But we remain in the late stages of this global economic expansion. Springtime inevitably brings with it an air of optimism for the future – but in the case of the world economy at least, we expect growth to remain subdued.”

Rising trade protectionism and tighter financial conditions have been blamed for the slowdown. Uncertainty over how to practically implement Britain’s June 2016 decision to quit the European Union has also played its part.

Trade conflict with the United States and sluggish demand means China’s economic growth is expected to slow to a near 30-year low of 6.2 percent this year, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.

While still waging a trade war against China that is widely regarded as harmful to global growth, U.S. President Donald Trump has now threatened to slap tariffs on $11 billion of products from the EU.

Those threats come as British politicians continue to struggle to agree on a way to leave the EU. A messy exit would almost certainly further damage the economies of both sides in the divorce, with the impact likely spreading further afield.

In the early hours of Thursday, EU leaders gave Britain six more months to leave the bloc. But the latest extension still offers little clarity on when, how or even if Brexit will happen.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has so far failed to build support in the UK parliament for the withdrawal terms she agreed with the EU last year, but she now has until Oct 31 to do that or find an alternative course.

“Brexit was originally supposed to have occurred two weeks ago but the intractability of the problem coupled with political incompetence on the part of the UK means that it has been postponed yet again,” said Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank.

“The scope for lifting Brexit-related uncertainty is thus limited, which suggests little prospect of a sustainable rebound in either the economy or sterling.”

THE CUPBOARD WAS BARE

What appears to be a globally synchronized economic slowdown comes as central banks run out of tools for supporting growth.

After the 2008 financial crisis policymakers slashed interest rates – sometimes below zero – and also turned to more unconventional measures to boost growth, such as pumping trillions of dollars into economies.

But as inflation has never really picked up, many of them have yet to change tack and start tightening.

The U.S. Federal reserve led the pack and has hiked rates nine times in the current cycle, but it is probably now done with increases until at least the end of next year.

The Bank of England has lifted Bank Rate twice since the June 2016 referendum, but borrowing costs remain very close to record lows and expectations for a rate hike later this year are far from set in stone.

The European Central Bank, already on its longest break from changing interest rates, may have missed its chance to raise them this time around altogether. According to a median forecast in a Reuters poll, the first increase won’t come until after June next year.

On Wednesday, ECB President Mario Draghi even raised the prospect of more support for the struggling euro zone economy if its slowdown persisted, saying the central bank had “plenty of instruments” with which to react.

However, one problem is that after pushing borrowing costs to record lows and taking 2.6 trillion euros’ worth of bonds out of the market, the ECB’s options are limited and there are fears what it has will not be enough.

“Market pricing is expressing more anxiety that the ECB is either too slow to use whatever is left in its policy toolbox or – worse – that it thinks the tools won’t do much anyway,” said Laurence Mutkin, global head of G10 rates strategy at BNP Paribas.

(Reporting by Jonathan Cable; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

0 0

Brexit deadline extension only makes sense if it raises chances of deal: Barnier

EU chief Brexit negotiator Barnier holds a news conference after a General Affairs Council on Article 50 in Brussels
European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier holds a news conference after a General Affairs Council on Article 50 in Brussels, Belgium March 19, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

March 19, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – An extension of Brexit talks beyond the March 29th deadline would only make sense if it increased the chances of the already agreed deal being ratified by Britain, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Tuesday.

Barnier said that after two years of talks with Britain on its withdrawal from the bloc, the key moment has now come for London to make up its mind and end the genuine uncertainty that its lack of decision on the way forward has created.

“Does an extension increase the chances of ratification of Withdrawal Agreement? What would be the purpose and outcome? How can we ensure that, at the end of a possible extension, we are not back in the same situation as today?” Barnier told a news conference.

“If Theresa May requests an extension before the European Council on Thursday, it will be for the 27 leaders to assess the reason and usefulness […] EU leaders will need a concrete plan from the UK in order to be able to make an informed decision,” he said.

(Reporting By Gabriela Baczynska, writing by Jan Strupczewski)

Source: OANN

0 0

BBVA offices in Mexico City skyscraper evacuated due to threats

A police officer stands guard outside the tower after people were evacuated from the Mexican headquarters of Spain's BBVA, in Mexico City
A police officer stands guard outside the tower after people were evacuated from the Mexican headquarters of Spain's BBVA due to what the bank said were two anonymous emails threatening violent acts against its corporate offices, in Mexico City, Mexico March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Romero

March 13, 2019

By Dave Graham

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Nearly 11,000 people were evacuated on Wednesday from the Mexico City offices of Spanish bank BBVA, including one of the capital’s tallest skyscrapers, where police sent in a team of bomb experts following anonymous threats.

BBVA said in a statement it did not believe the threats were real, but evacuated its headquarters in the 235-meter (771-foot) Torre Bancomer, as well its Parques Bancomer offices in the upscale Polanco neighborhood as a precaution.

“Fortunately everyone is out of the buildings … they are all safe,” a BBVA spokesman said.

Myriam Urzua Venegas, the city’s emergency services chief, told local television station TeleDiario both emails and phone calls warned of “a possible explosive device” in the Torre Bancomer. It could also be a false alarm, she added.

A crowd of office workers from the towering office building, a landmark of the Mexico City skyline, milled around sidewalks just before 1 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) along a busy stretch of Paseo de la Reforma boulevard in the city’s capital.

Moises Gutierrez, a police officer at the scene, said a team of around half a dozen experts had not detected any explosive device inside the building almost two hours after entering.

Workers outside the Torre Bancomer, which opened in 2016, said they were told to go home for the day after they received instructions on a loudspeaker to evacuate the building.

“We weren’t told why,” said Cynthia Sanchez, 32, who came down the stairs via an emergency exit from the 14th floor.

The crowd of hundreds of workers outside the tower quickly dispersed leaving a few dozen police and an ambulance with flashing lights at the entrance to the 50-floor tower.

BBVA said its local branches continued to operate normally.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Writing by Anthony Esposito and David Alire Garcia; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing
A Chinese woman adjusts a Chinese national flag next to U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting, part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Ng Han Guan/Pool (CHINA – Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

April 26, 2019

By April Joyner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even as the lift from optimism over prospects for U.S.-China trade detente shows signs of wearing off for the wider U.S. stock market, upbeat sentiment around China’s economy could bolster shares of materials companies.

Shares of S&P 500 industrial and technology companies, which were buffeted by last year’s tit-for-tat tariffs as well as slowing global demand, have been very responsive to progress in U.S.-China trade relations and a strengthening Chinese economy. This year, those sectors have outpaced the ascent in the S&P 500, which reached a record closing high on Tuesday.

Materials stocks have not been as sensitive, however, even though they also stand to benefit as a stronger Chinese economy lifts global consumption and industrial output. As China has taken measures to stimulate its economy, its economic data have turned more upbeat. That in turn could aid global growth, which has flagged as a result of China’s cooldown.

“What we’re seeing is China spending more on stimulus: fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York. “That’s likely to be a positive for materials.”

The People’s Bank of China has cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs. The stimulus appears to have boosted Chinese economic data, with factory activity growing in March for the first time in four months.

Yet so far in 2019, the S&P 500 materials index has underperformed the S&P 500 at large, rising just 11.9% compared with 16.7% for the benchmark index. Moreover, it is among the biggest decliners in the period since the S&P’s previous record closing level on Sept. 20. The materials index has fallen 7% over those seven months, versus a 5.2% gain for technology and a 3% loss for industrials. Only the energy index has dropped more over that period.

A trade agreement could serve as a catalyst for a bump in materials shares as a drag on China’s economy is lifted, some market strategists say. Some commodity prices, including those for copper and oil, have ascended this year as the prospects for the global economy have somewhat brightened.

“It all goes back to the global growth outlook,” said Andrea DiCenso, portfolio manager for alpha strategies at Loomis Sayles in Boston. “With the front run in hard data, we’re beginning to see a pretty significant rally.”

Additionally, a trade agreement is expected to include commitments from China to purchase higher quantities of U.S. products such as soybeans, which could benefit companies that make agricultural chemicals, including DowDuPont Inc and CF Industries Holdings Inc.

CF Industries is scheduled to report quarterly results after the bell on Wednesday, and DowDuPont is scheduled to report before the market open on Thursday.

To be sure, even with a trade agreement, some materials companies could face price pressures. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc fell 10.1% on Thursday after the copper mining company posted a lower-than-expected profit as its production slipped and its costs rose.

A rollback of tariffs on Chinese imports, particularly aluminum and steel, would likely prompt a fall in some commodity prices, which could hurt prospects for certain materials companies, said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management in El Segundo, California.

Even so, those drawbacks may be outweighed by the support for global demand fostered by a U.S.-China trade agreement.

“You could see a number of companies with lowered expectations bring them back up as they talk favorably about the impact that a trade deal would have on them,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

(Reporting by April Joyner; additional reporting by Sinéad Carew; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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

Cyprus police on Friday widened their search for more victims of a suspected serial killer after the 35-year-old national guard captain told investigators he killed four more people that he previously admitted to on the small Mediterranean nation.

The count now has climbed to seven.

CYPRUS FEARS POSSIBLE SERIAL KILLER AFTER BODIES OF TWO WOMEN ARE DISCOVERED IN MINESHAFT

Authorities said they are focusing on a military firing range, a man-made lake and an abandoned mine about 20 miles west of the capital Nicosia.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades expressed “deep sorrow and concern” at the slayings and said he shared the public’s revulsion at “murders that appear to have selectively targeted foreign women who are in our country to work.”

“Such instincts are contrary to our culture’s traditions and values,” he said in a statement from China, where he was on an official visit. He urged calm so police can complete their investigation.

The scale of the alleged crimes by a Cypriot National Guard captain has horrified the small nation of over a million people, where multiple killings are rare. Five British law enforcement officials — including a coroner, a psychiatrist and investigators who specialize in multiple homicides — have been dispatched to help with the investigation.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old suspect, who can’t yet be named because he hasn’t been formally charged, told investigators that he had killed four more people than he had previously admitted to. Police said the suspect will appear in court Saturday for another custody hearing.

Cypriot investigators and police officers search a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week's discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six-year-old daughter of one of the victims. 

Cypriot investigators and police officers search a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week’s discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six-year-old daughter of one of the victims.  (AP)

The victims — all foreigners— include Marry Rose Tiburcio, 38, from the Philippines, whose bound body was found April 14 in a flooded mineshaft. She and her six-year-old daughter had been missing since May of last year.

The girl remains missing and authorities believe she was also slain by the suspect. Divers have entered the reservoir to search for her but have not found her body yet.

CYPRUS: GROUND NOT YET READY FOR PEACE TALKS RESUMPTION 

Authorities tracked down the officer last week by scouring Tiburcio’s online messages.

Six days later, police discovered another body April 20 in the same mineshaft, identified by Cypriot media as 28-year-old Arian Palanas Lozano, also from the Philippines.

A third alleged victim, also of Filipino descent, is 31-year-old Maricar Valtez Arquiola, who had been missing since December 2017. The suspect initially denied killing Arquiola but reversed himself after a court hearing Thursday, a police official said.

The suspect on Thursday also pointed investigators to a military firing range, where they discovered another unidentified body, which according to the suspect belongs to a woman of either Nepalese or Indian descent.

SERIAL KILLER WHO MAY HAVE COMMITTED 90 MURDERS IS LINKED TO YET ANOTHER KILLING 

Cypriot police are also looking for a Romanian mother and daughter. Cypriot media identified them as Livia Florentina Bunea, 36, and eight-year-old Elena Natalia Bunea, who are believed to have been missing since September 2016.

The man-made lake remains off-limits to a manned search because of high levels of toxic heavy metals from the copper pyrite mine, Fire Service Chief Marcos Trangolas said, adding that authorities will use other means to scour the lake.

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, center, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019.

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, center, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus police have faced criticism from immigrant activists who said they didn’t act fast enough to investigate the whereabouts of some of the victims, many of them domestic workers. The island nation has 80 unsolved missing persons cases, going back to 1990.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Police chief Zacharias Chrysostomou said a three-member panel has been assigned to probe whether police followed all the correct protocol in recent missing persons cases.

According to the state-run Cyprus News Agency, an investigator had told the court at an earlier hearing that the suspect admitted to killing one woman he met online after having sex with her.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News World

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro is seen delivering a speech at a forum on human rights in Caracas
Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro is seen delivering a speech at a forum on human rights in Caracas, Venezuela June 12, 2018 in this still image taken from a video. REUTERS TV/ via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition-run National Assembly said on Friday that opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro was detained, which it described in a Twitter post as a violation of diplomatic immunity.

Caro had previously spend a year and a half in jail, before being freed in June 2018. The arrest comes as Juan Guaido, the National Assembly’s leader, mounts a challenge to President Nicolas Maduro, arguing his 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Guaido in January invoked the country’s constitution to assume an interim presidency.

(Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: Customers shop in a Sainsbury's store in Redhill
FILE PHOTO: Customers shop in a Sainsbury’s store in Redhill, Britain, March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By James Davey

LONDON (Reuters) – With Sainsbury’s dream of creating Britain’s biggest supermarket group in tatters, its chastened CEO Mike Coupe needs to reassure investors he has the plan to arrest a sales decline when he presents annual results next week.

Britain’s competition regulator blocked Sainsbury’s 7.3 billion pound ($9.4 billion) takeover of Walmart’s Asda on Thursday, saying the deal would increase prices. Sainsbury’s shares fell 5 percent and are down 22 percent over the last three months.

For Sainsbury’s fourth quarter to March 9 analysts are on average forecasting a 1.6 percent fall in like-for-like sales, which would follow 1.1 percent decline over the Christmas period.

Monthly industry data from researcher Kantar has also shown Sainsbury’s as the weakest performer of the big four grocers this year and this month it lost its status as Britain’s No. 2 supermarket group by market share to Asda.

While Sainsbury’s has struggled, market leader Tesco has gained momentum, this month reporting a 34 percent jump in full year profit.

Prohibition of the deal was a major blow to Coupe, its architect and Sainsbury’s boss since 2014.

Martin Scicluna became Sainsbury’s chairman last month and when bedded-in may decide that if the group needs a major shake-up it is best carried out by a new leader.

Much will depend on the attitude of 22 percent shareholder the Qatar Investment Authority, which has so far declined to comment, as well as Coupe’s own appetite to continue after 15 years at the group.

THE RIGHT STRATEGY?

Coupe said on Thursday he was confident Sainsbury’s was pursuing the right strategy.

That was a clear indication that Wednesday’s results statement will not include radical changes to the group’s plans, such as a big margin reset — sacrificing profit to drive sales.

However, sources connected to Sainsbury’s said Coupe would likely acknowledge that more needs to be done on prices, so the supermarket business can better compete with its big four rivals – Tesco, Asda and No. 4 Morrisons – as well as German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Coupe’s strategy is based on differentiating Sainsbury’s food offer, growing its general merchandise, clothing business and bank, while investing in convenience and online channels.

Some analysts believe major change is needed.

HSBC analyst David McCarthy reckons Sainsbury’s needs a margin reset, should allocate more space for core lines and needs to drive better store standards. He said Sainsbury’s might consider closing down space in some of its larger stores and reducing its non-food offer.

For the full 2018-19 year analysts are on average forecasting a pretax profit of 626 million pounds, up from 589 million pounds in 2017-18 – a second straight year of profit growth. A full year dividend of 10.5 pence per share is forecast versus 10.2 pence last time.

Bank and lawyer fees related to the proposed combination with Asda were 17 million pounds in the first half and have reportedly jumped to around 50 million pounds.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey rejected demands from a secular group to remove posts on social media where he sent Easter greetings and cited a Bible verse, offering to provide copies of the Constitution to his critics.

Ducey, who’s a practicing Catholic, has been bombarded with calls from Secular Communities for Arizona to remove the post, which included a cross, a Bible verse, and the phrase, “He is risen.”

ARIZONA’S GOP GOVERNOR WAGING WAR AGAINST OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING LAWS

The group argued the posts crossed a line into government sponsorship of religious messages and was unconstitutional.

The governor fired back at the group, saying in a tweet that he will never remove the posts or other religious ones.

“We won’t be removing this post. Ever. Nor will we be removing our posts for Christmas, Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, Palm Sunday, Passover or any other religious holiday,” he tweeted. “We support the First Amendment, and are happy to provide copies of the Constitution to anyone who hasn’t read it.”

Dianne Post, an attorney for the secular group, told the Arizona Republic “elected officials should not use their government position and government property to promote their religious views.”

LICENSE REQUIRED TO REPAIR DOORS? REGS SPARK HEATED DEBATE IN ARIZONA

She added the courts have repeatedly “struck down symbolism that unites government with religion,” adding that Ducey’s office must “represent and protect the rights of all residents of Arizona, including those who do not believe in a monotheistic God or any gods at all.”

Many congratulated Ducey for not backing down amid the pressure, though some Facebook users sided with the secular group and criticized the governor on his original post.

“Why do you use a government platform to bring up your personal religion?” asked one person. “Are there no citizens in your jurisdiction that believe differently from you?”

Another stipulated that the post was somewhat discriminatory. “Great sensitivity, Doug. That’s the last time this Jew votes for you,” one person wrote.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Ducey wished in a statement Arizonans last week a “blessed and joyful Easter and Passover weekend.”

The Associated Press 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!

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

Title

Artist