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Mexico to receive UN help in missing students case

Mexico has signed an agreement with the United Nations' top human rights official for technical assistance in its latest attempt to determine what happened to 43 missing students.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called the case of the students from the teacher's college in Ayotzinapa "emblematic."

The former Chilean president said Monday that Mexico's government is obligated to find the truth and that the process would be an opportunity to make deep changes to its justice system.

Police seized the students in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2014 and allegedly handed them to a drug gang.

Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard says the case is a priority for the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who created a truth commission to re-investigate the case in January.

Source: Fox News World

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Film cameras start to roll again in Damascus studios

Qays al-Sheikh Najib, 41, a Syrian actor performs a scene in the new Syrian series called
Qays al-Sheikh Najib, 41, a Syrian actor performs a scene in the new Syrian series called "A Safe Distance", in Damascus, Syria March 13, 2019. Picture taken March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

March 26, 2019

By Kinda Makieh

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – On a long-disused film set outside Damascus featuring mud houses, palm trees, alleyways and camels, actors in flowing robes are making a television series that the producers say is part of a gradual revival of their industry.

Like most other sectors of the economy in Syria, the film and television business has been hit hard by a war that has killed half a million people, forced millions from their homes and laid waste to swathes of the country since 2011.

Any films or TV series made by Syrian production houses during the war were rarely bought by the customers in the Gulf and elsewhere that once made up an important part of their market. Actors and directors moved abroad. Studios lay silent.

However, fighting around Damascus ended last year after a series of massive government offensives, reflecting a wider increase in state control around the country, and Syrian studios are starting to work again.

Ziad al-Rayes, head of the television producers’ association in Syria, said it was again possible to film comfortably and effectively.

“Here you can find four seasons. Here you have mountains, desert, valleys and snow,” he said. It is cheaper to film in Syria than elsewhere, he added.

The television series being produced outside Damascus is about a Sufi cleric called Muhiy al-Din bin Arabi, and is set in historic Mecca, the holiest city of Islam located in modern-day Saudi Arabia.

It is being made to air in the United Arab Emirates, the producers said. Television series are also being made for broadcast in Lebanon and in Syria’s two closest allies Russia and Iran, the producers’ association said.

The film set was part of a large studio lot that was unused for most of the war and shows signs of disrepair. A nearby set in the same studio is made up like an ancient Roman city.

During the war many famous Syrian actors left the country to work in other Arab states. One well-known actor, 41-year-old Qays al-Sheikh Najib, is now filming for the first time in Syria for eight years, playing a photographer in a new series called A Safe Distance, which looks at how the Syrian war affected people.

“Syrian actors always tried to keep up their good level and they could maintain their level in the Arab world,” he said.

(Reporting By Kinda Makieh, writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Source: OANN

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In Indian election, Gandhi sibling charms but may struggle to win votes

FILE PHOTO: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra waves to her supporters after addressing an election campaign meeting in Ayodhya
FILE PHOTO: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of India's main opposition Congress party and sister of the party president Rahul Gandhi, waves to her supporters after addressing an election campaign meeting in Ayodhya, India March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar/File Photo

April 5, 2019

By Devjyot Ghoshal

AYODHYA, India (Reuters) – Priyanka Gandhi Vadra became the latest member of India’s storied Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to enter politics in January, but the boost she brings the opposition campaign may not turn the tide against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, polls show.

After years of speculation, the charismatic Vadra joined Congress to help its leader, her brother Rahul, in general elections that begin next week, pitching the party and regional groups against Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led alliance.

Congress hopes the fourth-generation siblings of a dynasty that ruled India for decades after independence from Britain in 1947 and is still revered by many will help energize its ranks and counter Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In the run-up to the election that starts on Thursday, the 47-year-old Vadra has spent hours campaigning in cars, trucks and even a boat, to woo voters in northern Uttar Pradesh, which sends more lawmakers to parliament than any other Indian state.

Reuters followed her at two roadshows where she smiled, waved, and shook hands, occasionally wading into crowds as her security detail scrambled along. Her father and grandmother, both former prime ministers, were assassinated.

Thousands of people lined the streets for several kilometers, waving Congress flags and chanting her name.

“There is support for Congress because of Priyanka,” said Mahesh Gupta, a shopkeeper in the temple town of Ayodhya, where she visited a shrine in late March.

Gupta, who referred to Vadra by her first name, as many Indians do, voted for Modi in the last election, but said he was considering Congress after seeing her campaign.

Ayodhya is at the heart of decades of tension between Hindus and minority Muslims, as Hindu groups led by the BJP have campaigned for a temple to the god-king Rama to be built on the site of a mosque razed to the ground by Hindu zealots in 1992.

Vadra, a marquee campaigner for Congress, chose Ayodhya as one of her first tours to take on the BJP in its own bastion.

Even so, in the face of the formidable political machine of the BJP which also rules the state, Congress may be unable to capitalize on her appeal, pollsters and some party leaders said.

Vadra’s campaigning was getting attention for Congress it would not have got otherwise, but it did not look like the party was making gains, said Milan Vaishnav, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Many in Congress say the Priyanka play is more about building up the party for 2022 assembly elections and beyond,” he said, referring to state elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Last month, polling agencies CVoter and CNX separately estimated Congress would win just 4 of the 80 seats up for grabs in the state, doubling its tally since the last general election in 2014.

That year’s sweep of 71 seats for the BJP paved the way for Modi’s clear majority in India’s 545-member lower house of parliament.

A broader poll published by the Hindu newspaper on Friday showed Modi’s approval ratings across India were higher even than in 2014, when he was making a bid for power.

The poll, by the Hindu CSDS-Lokniti, showed 43 percent of respondents wanted Modi as the next prime minister, with 24 percent for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

VOTE WISELY

For years, Vadra helped manage elections for her brother and mother, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in their own constituencies, but was reluctant to get into politics herself.

A mother of two, she is married to businessman Robert Vadra, and has long been seen as a natural politician with strong speaking skills and an ability to easily connect with people.

One afternoon last week, her 12-car convoy sped past lush fields and small settlements, kicking up a cloud of dust before stopping at the village of Atka in the Ayodhya district.

The saree-clad Vadra jumped out of her car and settled down on the ground surrounded by a group of women, many veiled and others smiling.

“If someone doesn’t work for you, how will you teach them a lesson?” she asked, imploring them to vote wisely. “Vote for those who want to work for you.”

CVoter, which has run a daily opinion poll since January, said Congress support in Uttar Pradesh has dropped off after jumping 10 percentage points in the days following the news that Vadra had taken a party post.

Late in March, about 8.9 percent of state voters backed Congress, a far cry from the 43.4 percent supporting the BJP and the 44 percent behind an alliance of two major regional parties.

However, even with Vadra’s hectic campaigning, Congress is struggling to get its message of welfare to voters, party officials said.

Six voters in Uttar Pradesh said they had not heard of a Congress election promise for a program to give India’s poorest families monthly handouts of 6,000 rupees.

“They brought her in at a very wrong time,” said one Congress official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak formally to media.

A better time would have been December, just days after Congress won power in three key states, giving her more time to prepare, he added. Others in the party have said it should have been years earlier.

The BJP has dismissed Vadra’s formal entry into politics as inconsequential and Modi said it only showed that for some “the family is the party”.

Vadra’s office did not respond to a request from Reuters for an interview.

But Congress will seize on momentum building against the BJP, said Kamal Nath, a top Congress leader and chief minister of the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

“You have to time everything,” he told Reuters. “You don’t want to peak out too fast.”

(Additional reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Clarence Fernandez)

Source: OANN

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UN Fights To Destroy Border To Bring In New World Order

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Source: InfoWars

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Algeria's leader: Freedom fighter, peacemaker, enigma

Algeria's longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been known as a wily political survivor ever since he fought for independence from France in the 1950s and 1960s. And his crafty concessions Monday aimed at quelling mass protests show he's not ready to give up yet.

While he abandoned his bid for a fifth term in office , his simultaneous postponement of an election set for next month has critics worried he intends to hold on to power indefinitely.

So much about the 82-year-old Bouteflika, badly weakened by a 2013 stroke, has remained an enigma. The president returned Sunday from two weeks in a Geneva hospital, but the exact state of his health is unclear.

A slow, frail Bouteflika shown in rare televised images released on Monday night gave little hint of his firebrand past.

Bouteflika famously negotiated with the terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal to free oil ministers who had been taken hostage in a 1975 attack on OPEC headquarters in Vienna and flown to Algiers.

He became foreign minister at the young age of 25, and stood up to the likes of Henry Kissinger at the height of the Cold War. At the time, Algeria was a model of doctrinaire socialism tethered to the former Soviet Union and the country's capital, Algiers, was nicknamed "Moscow on the Med."

More recently, Bouteflika helped reconcile his own citizens after a decade of civil war between radical Muslim militants and Algeria's security forces.

In 20 years as president, however, age and illness took its toll on the once-charismatic figure. Corruption scandals over infrastructure and hydrocarbon projects have also dogged him for years and tarnished many of his closest associates.

Secrecy surrounds Algeria's leadership and Bouteflika himself — it has never been clear whether full power lay in his hands, or whether army generals who molded the North African nation called the shots from offstage.

All this has driven unprecedented protests that have shaken Algeria since last month, demanding Bouteflika abandon plans for a fifth term in the April 18 elections.

In a letter to the nation released by state news agency APS on Monday, Bouteflika stressed the importance of including Algeria's disillusioned youth in the reform process and putting the country "in the hands of new generations."

But for many of the protesters, the most important sentence said: "There will be no fifth term."

Others were more cautious, as Bouteflika gave no date or timeline for the delayed election. Critics said they fear the moves could pave the way for the president to install a hand-picked successor. Others saw his decision to postpone the election indefinitely as a threat to democracy in Algeria.

Born in the border town of Oujda, Morocco, Bouteflika became one of his country's most enduring politicians. In Algeria's bloody independence war, he commanded the southern Mali front and slipped into France clandestinely in 1961 to contact jailed liberation leaders.

He later embodied the Third World revolutionary who defied the West, acting as a prominent voice for the developing nation's movement. He was active in the United Nations, and presided over the U.N. General Assembly in 1974.

Yet Bouteflika stood firmly with the United States in the fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, particularly on intelligence-sharing and military cooperation.

After becoming president in 1999, Bouteflika managed to bring stability to a country nearly brought to its knees in the 1990s as an Islamic insurgency left an estimated 200,000 people dead. He unveiled a bold program in 2005 to reconcile a nation fractured by a civil war by persuading Muslim radicals to lay down their arms. Many victims' families still oppose it.

Bouteflika and the country's armed forces neutralized Algeria's Islamic insurgency, but then watched it metastasize into a Sahara-wide movement linked to smuggling and kidnapping — and to al-Qaida.

He also failed to create an economy that could offer enough jobs for Algeria's growing youth population despite the nation's vast oil and gas wealth.

When Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 overthrew dictators to the east, Bouteflika balked at the region-wide calls for change. He then kept his job through a combination of swift salary and subsidy increases, a vigilant security force and taking advantage of the lack of unity among the country's opposition.

Concerns over Bouteflika's health began during his second term in 2005, when he secretly entered the Val de Grace military hospital in Paris for a bleeding ulcer. Numerous hospitalizations and medical visits followed, few publicly reported. In April 2013, he had a stroke.

Whole sections of Bouteflika's life have been kept secret, including his marital status — or how he was allowed to assume the presidency when the constitution demands that any head of state be wedded to an Algerian. There have been reports of a secret 1990 marriage to the daughter of a diplomat.

Said Bouteflika, 61, a brother of the president and top aide, is said to hold enormous influence in the presidential apparatus. Critics claim he is at the center of the circle of businessman, pejoratively called "oligarchs," who grew rich during Bouteflika's presidency.

After years in office, Bouteflika's powerful political machine had the constitution changed to cancel the presidency's two-term limit. He was then re-elected in 2009 and 2013, amid charges of fraud and a lack of powerful challengers.

The recent protests surprised Algeria's opaque leadership and freed the country's people, long fearful of a watchful security apparatus, to openly criticize the president. The citizens' revolt drew millions into the streets across the country to demand Bouteflika abandon his candidacy.

___

Associated Press writer Aomar Ouali in Algiers, Algeria, contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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FEMA exposed sensitive private data of 2.3M survivors of 2017 hurricanes, wildfires

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) potentially exposed millions of people to identity theft and fraud after wrongly sharing sensitive personal information of survivors of devastating 2017 hurricanes and wildfires with a contractor.

The Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General said Friday that the information of 2.3 million survivors was released when working with a contractor that helps provide temporary housing to those affected by disasters.

The information provided to the contractor, which wasn’t named, included names, last four digits of a Social Security number and how many people live in a household.

AS FLOODS SWEEP MIDWEST, INDIVIDUAL OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS CAN REACH HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

It also contained bank names, electronic funds transfer numbers and bank transit numbers, even though such information wasn’t required for the contractor to confirm the survivors’ eligibility for housing.

About 2.3 million people suffered due to California wildfires and Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

The inspector general that FEMA violated not only federal privacy laws but Homeland Security policy by giving the additional information to the contractor.

The contractor also knew that FEMA provided the data they didn’t need, yet it didn’t inform the agency about it.

FEMA officials said that following the discovery of the issue, the agency was no longer giving data to the contractor. They added that after conducting a detailed review of the contractor’s information system, there’s no indication that the data has been compromised.

“FEMA’s goal remains protecting and strengthening the integrity, effectiveness, and security of our disaster programs that help people before, during, and after disasters,” FEMA Press Secretary Lizzie Litzow said in a statement.

“FEMA’s goal remains protecting and strengthening the integrity, effectiveness, and security of our disaster programs that help people before, during, and after disasters.”

— FEMA Press Secretary Lizzie Litzow

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The agency noted that it’s working with the contractor to scrub the data and mandated staff to complete additional privacy training.

Hurricane Harvey, a powerful Category 4 storm, slammed Texas on Aug. 25, 2017, killing 68 people and destroying much of the Houston metropolitan area where over 6 million people lived.

Irma, meanwhile, struck Florida and then battered Georgia and North Carolina, killing 129. Hurricane Maria made landfall Sept. 20, leaving Puerto Rico devastated for months, which left reportedly 3,000 people dead.

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The California wildfires in 2017 burned some 1.2 million acres of land and killed at 46 people. The insurance claims topped $3.3 billion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Pelosi’s office sought to sabotage ‘Medicare-for-all’ push: report

An adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reportedly urged health policy groups to raise their concerns about “Medicare-for-all” proposals, just as the plan was beginning to be embraced by top 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.

Politico reported that Wendell Primus, Pelosi’s health policy adviser, told a private meeting of policy groups on Nov. 30 that the push for the radical, single-player goal risked diverting from the party’s main health care message.

NANCY PELOSI: JOE BIDEN IS NOT 'DISQUALIFIED FROM BEING PRESIDENT' BY RECENT ALLEGATIONS OF INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING

Most top 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have backed a Medicare-for-all plan, with some proponents like Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., embracing the possibility that it would end most private insurance plans.

But while Democratic leaders have pushed for further health care reform, Pelosi has shied away from a full embrace of a Medicare-for-all plan. In an interview with Rolling Stone in February, she said that it would not be “as good a benefit as the Affordable Care Act.”

“It doesn’t have catastrophic [coverage] -- you have to go buy it. It doesn’t have dental. It’s not as good as the plans that you can buy under the Affordable Care Act. So I say to them, come in with your ideas, but understand that we’re either gonna have to improve Medicare — for all, including seniors — or else people are not gonna get what they think they’re gonna get,” she said. “And by the way, how’s it gonna be paid for?”

As to the broader concept of a single-payer plan, she put the cost at $30 trillion and asked: “Now, how do you pay for that?”

According to Politico, Primus called Medicare-for-all an unhelpful distraction and expressed a need for more scrutiny of the policy implications. Some who attended the meeting said it left them with the impression that Democratic leadership wanted them to undermine the proposal.

DEM LEADERS DEFEND HOUSE CAMPAIGN ARM AFTER ATTACKS FROM OCASIO-CORTEZ, ALLIES

“It came across as, we need this so we can get on with our agenda,” one person present told the outlet. “Can you help us point out the problems?”

A Pelosi spokesman disputed that Primus was looking for a “one-sided analysis” of the proposal.

“Wendell absolutely did not ask for any kind of one-sided analysis of Medicare for All, and anyone who says otherwise wasn’t actually listening,” spokesman Henry Connelly said. “As Democrats, across the entire spectrum, we believe in legislating based on facts, data and honest analysis.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who had introduced her own Medicare-for-all bill in the House, told Politico that if true, the remarks were disappointing.

“I will take it up with our leadership to make sure we’re not undermining members’ bills,” she said.

The revelation is likely to only fuel the division between the more centrist Democratic leadership and the growing far-left wing of Democratic freshmen, presidential candidates and other lawmakers.

Pelosi has in the past expressed doubt about liberal proposals such as the Green New Deal -- which she called “Green dream or whatever they call it,” although she has since praised the enthusiasm behind the ambitious push to tackle income inequality and climate change.

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That tension was on display this week when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., criticized a policy by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to blacklist political firms that work against sitting members of Congress.

Ocasio-Cortez called it “extremely divisive & harmful to the party” and recommended a pause in all donations to the DCCC.

Fox News' Stephen Sorace and Judson Berger contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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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

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FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: A Canadian dollar coin commonly known as the
FILE PHOTO: A Canadian dollar coin, commonly known as the “Loonie”, is pictured in this illustration picture taken in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, January 23, 2015. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada posted a budget surplus in the first 11 months of the 2018/19 fiscal year compared to a deficit the year earlier as revenues increased mostly on higher tax incomes, the finance department said on Friday.

The surplus for April-February was C$3.1 billion, compared to a deficit of C$6 billion in the same 2017/18 period. Revenues climbed by 8.5 percent, mainly due to higher tax receipts, while program expenses rose by 4.8 percent.

The surplus for February was C$4.3 billion compared with C$2.8 billion in February 2018. Revenues jumped by 12.2 percent while program expenses posted a more modest 6.9 percent gain.

Last month, the Liberals unveiled their new budget, projecting a C$14.9 billion deficit in 2018/19, with the deficit rising to C$19.8 billion in fiscal 2019/20.

(Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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President Trump said Friday he would beat Joe Biden “easily” in the 2020 presidential election, suggesting the former vice president could not have enough “energy” to hold the post—taking an apparent swipe at his age.

The president, departing the White House, was asked about Biden’s entrance into the Democratic primary field. Biden announced his presidential bid early Thursday morning, marking his third attempt at the White House.

JOE BIDEN OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES 2020 PRESIDENTIAL BID

“I think we’d beat him easily,” Trump told reporters Friday.

Trump, 72, said he feels “young” and is ready for 2020, and another term for his administration.

“I feel like a young man. I am a young, vibrant man,” Trump said. “I look at Joe, I don’t know about him.”

The president’s comments seemingly were a shot at the age of Biden, who is 76.

BIDEN ENTERS WHITE HOUSE RACE WITHOUT OBAMA’S ENDORSEMENT

“I would never say anyone’s too old,” Trump said. “I know they’re all making me look very young both in terms of age and in terms of energy.”

Biden became the 20th candidate to join the crowded Democratic primary field Thursday. But Biden is not the oldest in the pack. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is 77 and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is 69.

Should Trump be re-elected, he would be 74 on Jan. 20, 2021—Inauguration Day. Should the presidency go to one of the elder Democrats in the field—Biden would be 78; Sanders would be 79; and Warren would be 71.

Meanwhile, in a wide-ranging interview on “Hannity” Thursday night, Trump dismissed Biden’s candidacy, nicknaming him “Sleepy Joe,” and saying he’s “not the brightest bulb.” Trump also said that while the former vice president has name recognition, he won’t “be able to do the job.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s foreign minister and a Venezuelan judge, according to a statement on the department’s website.

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and a judge, Carol Padilla, were targeted over the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Treasury Department said, the latest in a list of officials blacklisted by U.S. authorities for their role in President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Makini Brice and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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