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American suspect ID’ed in Australia killing to be extradited

Authorities have identified an American suspect in the killing of a Thai national whose battered body was found bound and gagged on the side of a road in a high-profile case in Australia.

A federal search warrant filed by the FBI on Friday says Australian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Alex Dion in the killing of 33-year-old Wachira "Mario" Phetmang in June in Sydney. Dion already was in custody on a domestic violence charge in San Diego when the warrant was issued.

The warrant, which marks the first time a suspect was publicly named in the case, was first obtained by a terrorism researcher at George Washington University.

The warrant says Dion is to be extradited to Australia on Friday. It's unclear whether he has an attorney.

Source: Fox News National

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In Spanish election debate, Sanchez snubs Ciudadanos as tempers fray

Main candidates for Spanish general election hold their second televised debate in Madrid
Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) candidate Pedro Sanchez is pictured before a televised debate ahead of general election in Sebastian de los Reyes, outside Madrid, Spain, April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Juan Medina

April 23, 2019

By Belén Carreño and John Stonestreet

MADRID (Reuters) – The main contenders in Spain’s parliamentary election traded verbal blows over jobs and national identity on Tuesday, as Socialist frontrunner Pedro Sanchez said he had no plans to include center-right Ciudadanos in any governing alliance.

A day after an inconclusive first televised debate, the leaders of the four main parties represented appeared to step up efforts to grab extra votes ahead of Sunday’s ballot – and tempers frayed.

The election is the country’s most divisive in decades and, with no single party close to winning a parliamentary majority, its outcome is uncertain. Polls have showed that up to four in 10 voters have yet to decide whom to cast their ballot for.

Outgoing Prime Minister Sanchez looks best placed to form a government if his Socialist Party wins the around 30 percent of the vote that surveys have suggested.

But he would need to team up with one or more other party to form a parliamentary majority, and on Tuesday he distanced himself from one option.

“Entering an alliance with a party that has put cordon sanitaire around the Socialist Party is not part of my plans,” he said in reference to Ciudadanos at the start of the debate.

Ciudadanos has previously said it will not join any coalition led by Sanchez, and its leader Albert Rivera – together with Conservative Partido Popular’s (PP) Pablo Casado – renewed the two-pronged attack they had directed at the prime minister on Monday.

The economy made a late appearance as an election topic in a wide-ranging and at times chaotic debate that also took in immigration, housing and gender equality.

But as on Monday, one of the most emotive issues remained Catalonia and the region’s botched 2017 independence bid, which came close to triggering a constitutional crisis.

Casado called Sanchez “the favorite candidate of the enemies of Spain” and Rivera told him: “Many Socialists are disappointed with you because you want to liquidate Spain.”

Sanchez, who became prime minister in June, has been more open to dialogue with Catalan separatists than his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy.

But he reiterated on Tuesday that he was ruling out any moves toward independence by the region, and that its pro- and anti-secessionist factions needed to negotiate with each other.

‘NERVOUS’ OR LOOKING ON?

The rightist candidates also attacked Sanchez over unemployment. Casado compared Spain’s economy to thrice bailed-out Greece and Rivera called the country “the European joblessness champion”.

The Ciudadanos leader also repeatedly told Sanchez he looked “nervous.”

Spain’s jobless rate has nearly halved from its 2013 peak, and growth in the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy has consistently outpaced the bloc’s average since shortly after it exited recession in the same year.

The bulk of the recovery took place under Sanchez’s PP predecessor, Mariano Rajoy, though unemployment has continued to fall since Sanchez took office almost a year ago and hit a 10-year low in the last quarter of 2018.

But the jobless rate remains above 14 percent, and a stretched pension system and the labor market are overdue for structural reform.

“This country’s problem is short-term employment,” said Pablo Iglesias of far-left Podemos Unidas.

For Pablo Simon, professor of political science at Carlos III University in Madrid, Casado and Rivera and failed to land telling blows on Sanchez.

The Socialist leader “saw the bulls and stayed behind the barrier, as he did yesterday, letting the others slug it out though he did venture into the ring a little more,” he said.

Publication of official opinion polls ended six days before the election and in Monday’s final survey, by GAD3 in ABC newspaper, the Socialists scored 31.5 percent of the vote, giving Sanchez far more leeway than others to pitch for coalition partners.

However, he may well need to bring separatist lawmakers on board, which would complicate any broader alliance.

A putative coalition of PP, Ciudadanos and the far-right Vox of Santiago Abascal scored a combined 45 percent – putting them short of a parliamentary majority.

Vox was not invited to the debate as it is not currently represented in Spain’s parliament.

(Additional reporting by Andres Gonzalez; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: OANN

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Suspect held in shootout near US-Mexico border; Texas trooper ‘critical’ but stable

A Texas state trooper was in critical but stable condition early Sunday after being shot while approaching a driver who had fled from a crash scene not far from the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said.

Further information on the trooper’s condition, along with his name, was not immediately available.

CALIFORNIA MOTORCYCLE OFFICER INVOLVED IN CRASH DIES

The trooper was shot multiple times late Saturday and rushed to an Edinburg hospital, where he underwent surgery and was “fighting for his life,” Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra wrote on Twitter. Edinburg is about 64 miles northwest of Brownsville in the state's border region.

At the time, multiple law enforcement and government sources told the Rio Grande Valley's KGBT-TV that the trooper was left "brain dead," but that has yet to be confirmed.

The suspect, identified as Victor Alejandro Godinez, evaded immediate capture but was taken into custody early Sunday in the Edinburg area, authorities said. Police later confirmed that Godinez is a U.S. citizen and resident of Edinburg.

The unidentified trooper was responding to a report of a vehicle crash around 8:45 p.m. Saturday, when the driver fled on foot, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said in a statement. The trooper was shot after locating the suspect.

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DPS said the agency worked with local law enforcement to find the suspect. Bystanders reported seeing tactical units and a SWAT team canvassing the area, according to the Monitor, a McAllen-based newspaper.

The investigation was ongoing and DPS said more information will be released as it becomes available.

Source: Fox News National

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Brexit hangs in balance as lawmakers to vote on May’s tweaked deal

British Prime Minister Theresa May arrives for a news conference with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Strasbourg
British Prime Minister Theresa May arrives for a news conference with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Strasbourg, France March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

March 12, 2019

By Guy Faulconbridge and Kylie MacLellan

LONDON (Reuters) – The future of Britain’s exit from the European Union hung in the balance on Tuesday as lawmakers prepared to vote on a divorce deal after Prime Minister Theresa May won last-minute assurances from the European Union.

Scrambling to plot an orderly path out of the Brexit maze just days before the United Kingdom is due to leave, May rushed to Strasbourg on Monday to agree ‘legally binding’ assurances with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

British lawmakers, who on Jan. 15 voted 432-202 against her deal, were on Tuesday studying the assurances with lawyers. The government’s top lawyer, Geoffrey Cox, is due to give his opinion on Tuesday ahead of the vote due around 1900 GMT.

“We have secured legal changes,” May said in a late night news conference in Strasbourg beside Juncker, 17 days before the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29.

After two-and-a-half years of haggling since the 2016 Brexit referendum, Juncker cautioned that this was the last chance for Britain.

“It is this deal or Brexit might not happen at all,” he said. Sterling rose 1.5 percent against the dollar and to a near two-year high against the euro.

If lawmakers vote down May’s deal, she has promised a vote on Wednesday on whether to leave without a deal and, if they reject that, then a vote on whether to ask for a limited delay to Brexit.

The United Kingdom’s labyrinthine crisis over EU membership is approaching its finale with an array of possible outcomes, including a delay, a last-minute deal, a no-deal Brexit, a snap election or even another referendum.

Brexit will pitch the world’s fifth largest economy into the unknown and many fear it will divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

BREXIT VOTE

Supporters of Brexit say while the divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term it will allow the United Kingdom to thrive and also enable deeper EU integration without such a powerful reluctant member.

Brexit-supporting lawmakers in May’s party had accused her of botching the negotiations with Brussels and surrendering on the detail of the backstop which sets out what happens to the Irish border if the sides fail to find a solution.

Many Brexiteers worried that the backstop, aimed at avoiding controls on the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland, could trap the United Kingdom in the EU’s orbit indefinitely.

May announced three documents – a joint instrument, a joint statement and a unilateral declaration – which she said were aimed at addressing the Irish backstop, the most contentious part of the divorce deal she agreed with the EU in November.

The immediate reaction was cautious from Brexit-supporting lawmakers and from the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which props up her minority government.

“We will be taking appropriate advice, scrutinizing the text line by line and forming our own judgment,” a DUP spokesman said.

The motion put forward by the government said the joint instrument “reduces the risk” that the United Kingdom would be trapped in the backstop.

If the backstop comes into force and talks on the future relationship break down with no prospect of an agreement, May said the unilateral declaration she announced would make clear there was nothing to stop London from moving to leave the backstop.

Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, an opponent of Brexit, said the changes to May’s deal did not make a material difference.

(Additional reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary and Alistair Smout; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: OANN

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USGA wants communication on rules but no popularity contest

PGA: THE PLAYERS Championship - Second Round
FILE PHOTO: Mar 15, 2019; Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, USA; Justin Thomas reacts to his putt on the 17th green during the second round of THE PLAYERS Championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass - Stadium Course. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

March 21, 2019

By Andrew Both

(Reuters) – The U.S. Golf Association (USGA) wants professionals to feel comfortable questioning the rules, but the organization’s mission does not include engaging in a popularity contest, says senior director of governance Thomas Pagel.

A raft of new rules were introduced for 2019 and there has been vocal dissent from certain players, including American Justin Thomas.

The world number five’s latest outburst came three weeks ago at the Honda Classic, where he was unable to replace a nine-iron he had bent striking a tree on his follow-through.

Under the old rule, had an official deemed the club unfit for play Thomas could have replaced the club, assuming there was a replacement handy.

The new rule allows players to continue using a damaged club, even bending it back into shape if possible, but not to replace it during a round.

“You can just add that one to the list of rules that don’t make any sense,” Thomas told reporters.

“If you break or bend the club in play, I don’t see where the harm is in replacing it.”

Pagel disputes the new rule does not make sense.

“That rule used to be so complicated (determining) when a club was damaged, unfit,” Pagel told Reuters in an interview.

“We said let’s simplify it. You can start with up to 14 (clubs) and if one becomes damaged you’re not able to replace it.

“Justin and I have connected. I thought it was very positive conversation. I want to keep the nature of it private.”

The Thomas criticism followed what at times was a rocky rollout of the new rules in January, though Pagel says he expected growing pains after such a significant overhaul.

The first major controversy involved a rule banning caddies from standing behind players and lining them up toward a target.

PENALTY RESCINDED

An incident at the Phoenix Open where Denny McCarthy had a two-stroke penalty rescinded prompted the USGA and its joint ruling body the R&A to rewrite the rule in a matter of days.

Pagel said the rule as it was originally written was too unforgiving.

“That’s one of the things we learnt and went in and quickly changed,” he said.

Another change required players taking a drop to do so from knee height, rather than shoulder height.

This also was put under the microscope when Rickie Fowler at the WGC-Mexico Championship became the first player penalized.

Fowler was well aware of the rule change, but simply forget in the heat of the moment and took a drop from shoulder height so quickly that his caddie, who was zipping up a pocket in the golf bag, did not even see it.

The drop rule was introduced so the ball will not roll as far when it hits the ground.

Pagel said the USGA had expected “growing pains” given the scope of the changes.

“The first six weeks we had a member on site at every PGA Tour event,” he said.

“We’ve kept an open mind all along. Going back to last year, we acknowledged this is a lot of change.

“We want to have conversations with players and understand their perspectives.”

But that does not mean the players will always get their way.

“Governance is not easy but it’s a role we take (seriously),” Pagel said. “It’s not about a popularity contest.”

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

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Ex-Border Chief: US Border Crisis ‘Worst in Our History’

The national emergency unfolding at the U.S. Southern border is a “meltdown” of unprecedented scale, according to correlating statements made by a former Border Patrol chief and a current director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Mark Morgan, who led Customs and Border Patrol under President Obama, asserts that this is the worst immigration catastrophe in U.S. history.

“This is a question that people really need to pay attention to: I am saying, based on 30 years of public service, that the crisis we face right now along the Southwest border is actually the worst we’ve ever experienced in our history — the worst,” Morgan told Tucker Carlson.

“People want to talk about the numbers back in the 2000s, 1.5 million — it’s the demographics, Tucker. Back then, 90 percent — the overwhelming majority — were Mexican males and we were deporting them. Now it’s family units and unaccompanied minors, and because our laws are broken, we’re allowing them in.”

Morgan explained that roughly 65% of those who attempt to enter the U.S. illegally or via asylum loopholes end up staying.

“We’re going to reach a million this year — that means we’re going to allow 650,000 into this country, much of which we don’t know who they are and we’ll never hear from them again,” Morgan said.

Concurrently, acting ICE director Ron Vitiello offered a grim assessment of the status of America’s Southern frontier.

“It’s an absolute crisis down there, it has humanitarian aspects, it has border security aspects — this policy can’t continue,” Vitiello told Fox News. “The system is in a meltdown. It’s just getting worse day by day.”

Vitiello revealed that over 130,000 migrant families have been released into the interior of the United States since December alone.

Commenting on President Trump’s imminent visit to Calexico to meet with officials, Vitiello said, “What he is going to see is this unbelievable flow at the border and no way for us to legally address it without Congress acting.”



Alex Jones issues an emergency message to President Trump, suggesting that he must close the U.S. southern border, finish building the wall, and stop the flow of illegal immigration to stop America’s collapse.

Source: InfoWars

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Mick Mulvaney: NKorea Resuming Missile Testing Would Be 'Breach of Trust'

North Korea would breach an informal understanding with the United States by restarting its nuclear weapons testing program, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday.

Mulvaney was on "Fox News Sunday" and told host Chris Wallace the Trump administration would be disappointed if the North Korean regime under leader Kim Jong Un started testing missiles again.

"I think the resumption of the missile testing would be seen as sort of a violation of some sort of breach of trust," Mulvaney said. "I think there was a general understanding that there was no reason for that to continue, as long as we were continuing to have conversations. And the conversations continue."

Kim and President Donald Trump recently met in Hanoi, Vietnam, their second face-to-face meeting, but their talks to put an end to North Korea's nuclear weapons program ended without an agreement.

Mulvaney said hashing out an agreement that satisfies both sides is not easy and will take more time.

"We did not get a deal in Vietnam. I think those folks who thought it might be easy for us to get a deal don't understand the complexities of the issue. It took Reagan and [Mikhail] Gorbachev many, many times to solve just a piece of the nuclear weapons problem. To think we will solve the Korean issue in one meeting or two meetings is probably not reasonable," he said.

"The discussions can and should continue, I can foresee the president and the chairman sitting down at some point in the future. But if they were to begin testing again, that would be seen as a truly disappointing turn of events."

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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Well, Joe Biden didn’t exactly clear the field.

I don’t think it matters much that Biden waited until yesterday to become the 20th Democrat vying for the nomination, even though it exposed him to weeks of attacks while he seemed to be dithering on the sidelines.

A much greater warning sign, in my view, is the largely negative tone surrounding his debut. He is, after all, a former vice president, highly praised by Barack Obama, who has consistently led in the early primary polls, and beating President Trump in head-to-head matchups. Yet much of the press is acting like he’s an old codger and it’s just a matter of time before he keels over politically.

This is all the more remarkable in light of the fact that the vast majority of journalists and pundits know and like Joe Biden and his gregarious personality.

The reason is that Biden, after a half-century in politics, lacks excitement, and the press is magnetically attracted to novel and unorthodox types like Beto and Mayor Pete. You don’t see Biden on the cover of Vanity Fair, and a grind-it-out win by a conventional warrior doesn’t set journalistic hearts racing.

JOE BIDEN ANNOUNCES 2020 PRESIDENTIAL BID: 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE FORMER VICE PRESIDENT

For many in the media, Biden isn’t liberal enough, at least not for the post-Obama era. He doesn’t promise free college and free health care and has a history of working with Republicans, such as John McCain (whose daughter Meghan loves him, and Biden will hit “The View” today.)

What’s more, Biden’s campaign style — speak at rallies, rack up union endorsements — seems hopelessly old-fashioned when we measure popularity by Instagram followers. News outlets are predicting he’ll have trouble getting in the online fundraising game, leaving him reliant on big donors, which used to be standard practice.

And then there’s the age thing. Biden would be the oldest president to be inaugurated, at 78, and he looked a step slow in encounters with reporters yesterday and a few weeks ago.

But what if the journalists are in something of a Twitter bubble, and the actual Democratic Party is much more moderate? We saw that with the spate of allegations by women of unwanted touching, which dominated news coverage until polls showed that most Dem voters weren’t concerned. In that wider world, the Scranton guy’s connection to white, working-class voters could help him against Trump in the industrial Midwest.

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Biden denounced the president’s term as an “aberrant moment” in his launch video, saying four more years would damage the country’s character and “I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”

But first, he’d have to win the nomination in the face of an unenthusiastic press corps.

A New York Times news story said Biden would be “marshaling his experience and global stature in a bid to lead a party increasingly defined by a younger generation that might be skeptical of his age and ideological moderation.”

The Washington Post quoted Democratic strategists as saying that Biden faces an “uphill battle” and “isn’t necessarily the heir apparent to Obama, despite being his No. 2 in the White House for eight years. They argue voters will judge Biden by the span of his decades-long career and are worried the veteran pol hasn’t yet found a winning formula for his own candidacy.”

The liberal Slate said the ex-veep’s rivals view him as a “paper tiger”:

“Biden is something more like a 2016 Jeb Bush: a weak establishment favorite whose time might be past … Biden’s biggest challenge in the primary will be a compromised past spanning nearly 50 years.”

“Compromised” suggests a history of scandal, yet what Slate means is political baggage, such as his backing of a Clinton-era crime bill unpopular with black voters today. Yet I think the rank and file isn’t as concerned about a vote back in 1994, or even the Anita Hill hearings, as the chattering classes.

BIDEN’S SENATE RECORD, ADVOCACY OF 1994 CRIME BILL WILL BE USED AGAINST HIM, EX-SANDERS STAFFER SAYS

One of the few left-leaning pundits to suggest the press is underestimating Biden is data guru Nate Silver at 538:

“Media coverage could nonetheless be a problem for Biden. Within the mainstream media, the story of Biden winning the nomination will be seen as boring and anticlimactic. That tends not to lead to favorable coverage. Meanwhile, some left-aligned media outlets may prefer candidates who are some combination of more leftist, more wonkish, more reflective of the party’s diversity, and more adept on social media.

“If Biden is framed as being out of touch with today’s Democratic Party and that narrative is repeated across a variety of outlets, it could begin to resonate with voters who don’t buy it initially. If he’s seen as a gaffe-prone candidate, then minor missteps on the campaign trail could be blown up into big fumbles.”

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Look, it’s entirely possible that Biden could stumble, get lapped in fundraising and just be outclassed by younger and savvier rivals. He was hardly a great candidate in 1987 and in 2008.

But if the former vice president finds his footing and the field narrows, the press will be forced to change its tune, and we’ll see a spate of stories about how Joe Biden has “grown.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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South Africa's 400m Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk looks on as he attends South African Championships in Germiston
South Africa’s 400m Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk looks on as he attends South African Championships in Germiston, South Africa, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

April 26, 2019

GERMISTON, South Africa (Reuters) – Olympic 400 meters champion Wayde van Niekerk has backed South African compatriot Caster Semenya in her battle with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which now appears to have taken a new twist.

Semenya, a double 800 meters Olympic gold medalist, is waiting for the outcome of her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to halt the introduction of new regulations by governing body IAAF that would require her to take medicine to limit her natural levels of testosterone.

The IAAF wants female athletes with differences of sexual development who run in events from 400 meters to a mile, to reduce their blood testosterone level to below five (5) nmol/L for a period of six months before they can compete, saying they have an unfair advantage.

“She’s fighting for something beyond just track and field, she’s fighting for woman in sports, in society and I respect her for that,” Van Niekerk told reporters.

“I will support her and with the hard work and talent that she’s been putting into the sport. With what she believes in and what she’s dreaming for, I’ve got a lot of respect for her.

“I really hope and pray that everything just goes from strength to strength for her.”

Semenya has sprung a surprise at the on-going South African Athletics Championships though, ditching the 800 meters and instead competing over 1,500 and 5,000-metres – the latter one would not require her to medically lower her testosterone level.

She stormed to victory in the 5,000-metres final in a modest time of 16:05.97, but looked to have lots left in the tank as she passed the finish line.

Semenya beat fellow Olympian and defending national 5,000m champion Dominique Scott in Thursday’s final but the latter admitted she is unsure whether the 800m specialist could be a serious Olympic contender over the longer distance.

“Honestly‚ I have no idea‚” Scott said. “Before today I probably would have said no. It’s hard to compare a 5,000 at altitude to a 5,000 at sea level.

“But I think she’s an amazing runner and I don’t think there’s any limit or ceiling on what she can do.”

Van Niekerk, the 400m world record holder, had to abort his comeback from a knee injury, that had sidelined him for 18 months, following a combination of cold weather and a wet track.

“We are trying to take the correct decisions now early in the year so as not to put myself in any harm,” he said.

“It was a bit chilly this entire week prepping and coming through here as well it was quite cold and it caused bit of tightness in my leg. We decided to not risk it.

“My recovery is going well and I would like to be back in competition this year, but will only do so if I can deliver a good performance.

“I am a competitor and respect my opponents, so I need to be at my best when I return.”

(Reporting by Nick Said, additional reporting by Siyabonga Sishi; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

Source: OANN

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The suspected leader of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka died in the Shangri-La hotel, one of six hotels and churches targeted in the attacks that killed at least 250 people, authorities said.

Police said Mohamed Zahran, leader of the National Towheed Jamaat militant group, had been killed in one of the bombings. The group’s second in command was also arrested, police said.

Zahran amassed an online following for his hate-filled sermons. Some were delivered before a banner depicting the Twin Towers.

Sri Lankan authorities said Friday that Islamic cleric Mohammed Zahran died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel during the Easter Sunday atatcks that killed at least 250 people. 

Sri Lankan authorities said Friday that Islamic cleric Mohammed Zahran died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel during the Easter Sunday atatcks that killed at least 250 people.  (YouTube)

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that the attackers responsible for the bombings were supported by the Islamic State group. Around 140 people in Sri Lanka had connections to ISIS, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said.

“We will completely control this and create a free and peaceful environment for people to live,” he said.

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Investigators determined the attackers received military training from someone called “Army Mohideen.” They also received weapons training overseas and at some locations in Sri Lanka, according to authorities.

A copper factory operator arrested in connection with the bombings helped Mohideen make improvised explosive devices, police said. The bombings have led to increased security throughout the island nation as authorities warned of another attack.

Source: Fox News World

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