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Bank customers would share more data for benefits: report

People queue to exchange money for small banknotes as part of a mobile bank exchange service in Jakarta
FILE PHOTO: People queue to exchange money for small banknotes as part of a mobile bank exchange service in Jakarta August 9, 2011. REUTERS/Enny Nuraheni

March 14, 2019

By Imani Moise

(Reuters) – Most consumers worldwide would share more personal data with banks and insurers in exchange for cheaper services despite privacy concerns, according to an Accenture Plc study released on Thursday.

Six in 10 consumers polled by the management consultancy, one of the world’s largest, said they would share data such as lifestyle habits if they received benefits ranging from gym membership discounts to offers based on their location.

Among 47,000 consumers surveyed across 28 countries, 81 percent said they would be willing to share more data with banks for faster loan approvals, while 79 percent would provide personal information to their insurer if it would reduce the odds of injury or loss.

While eager to share more, 75 percent of respondents said they were very cautious about privacy. Rising costs were cited as the top reason for leaving a financial institution, followed by data security breaches.

Large financial firms have been seeking to tap into their vast troves of customer data to offer more personalized services, even as technology companies face growing public scrutiny over how they handle such information. But banks have been relatively slow in making headway, partly because they often store the information in various systems.

“That sort of has not allowed banks take advantage of what we think is an enormous potential,” Accenture Senior Managing Director Bruce Holley said in an interview.

More than 30 percent of respondents trust their bank more than a year ago, partly because of strong industry oversight, Holley said. “People have been trained that the regulations are looking out for them.”

(Reporting by Imani Moise; Editing by Anna Irrera and Richard Chang)

Source: OANN

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France preparing to fight activist funds: finance minister

FILE PHOTO: French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire speaks to media after a meeting with his Swedish counterpart in Stockholm
FILE PHOTO: French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire speaks to media after a meeting with his Swedish counterpart in Stockholm, Sweden February 4, 2019. Naina Helen Jama/TT News Agency/via REUTERS/File Photo

April 5, 2019

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – The French government is preparing measures to prevent activist funds destabilizing French companies, the country’s finance minister told Reuters in an interview.

Activist funds are increasingly active in Europe, buying up stakes in companies they feel are underperforming and pushing for changes in strategy to extract more value for shareholders.

The practice has been common in the U.S. for many years but slower to take off in Europe as big stakes held by founding families or even the state proved a deterrent.

In France, New York hedge fund Elliott Management is currently piling pressure on drinks giant Pernod Ricard, CIAM is tussling with reinsurer Scor, Amber Capital has acquired a stake in Lagardere and Searchlight Capital Partners said earlier this week it was investing in aeronautics company Latecoere.

“I am thinking about new national instruments that would make it possible to better resist activist funds,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Reuters in Bucharest, where he was attending an EU finance ministers meeting.

The plan would make it possible for the state to invest in companies it deemed to be of national interest, he said, declining to give further details other than saying the proposals would be ready in the coming months.

“It’s a subject I follow very closely because an activist fund that destroys value does not conform with the new capitalism I want to build,” he added.

Le Maire has championed an overhaul of French corporate law encouraging long-term investment and employee profit-sharing schemes. Parliament is due to vote on the legislation next week.

Le Maire said there was a place for investment funds which helped improve a company’s performance, but activist funds that destroyed longer-term value by trying to boost short-term profitability “should be fought”.

Elliott’s campaign to improve profit margins and corporate governance at Pernod has fueled concerns that no company is immune.

Not only does the group’s founding family hold a large stake, it is generally considered to be well managed already.

Last month, France’s Bpifrance pubic investment bank said it had 2 billion euros available to fend off potential activist attacks on French firms if needed.

Through the bank, the French government last week increased its stake in car parts maker Valeo, which has previously been targeted by activist investors.

Valeo also currently counts among its shareholders Chicago-based activist Harris Associates, which after Bpifrance’s move said it supported management.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

Source: OANN

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Putin to U.S.: I’m ready for another Cuban Missile crisis if you want one

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Federal Assembly in Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Federal Assembly, including the State Duma parliamentarians, members of the Federation Council, regional governors and other high-ranking officials, in Moscow, Russia February 20, 2019. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS

February 21, 2019

By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is militarily ready for a Cuban Missile-style crisis if the United States is foolish enough to want one and that his country currently has the edge when it comes to a first nuclear strike.

The Cuban Missile Crisis erupted in 1962 when Moscow responded to a U.S. missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba, sparking a standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

More than five decades on, tensions are rising again over Russian fears that the United States might deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe as a landmark Cold war-era arms control treaty unravels.

Putin’s comments, made to Russian media late on Wednesday, follow his warning that Moscow will match any U.S. move to deploy new missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own missiles closer to the United States or by deploying faster missiles or both.

Putin fleshed out his warning in detail for the first time, saying Russia could deploy hypersonic missiles on ships and submarines which could lurk outside U.S. territorial waters if Washington now moved to deploy intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe.

“(We’re talking about) naval delivery vehicles: submarines or surface ships. And we can put them, given the speed and range (of our missiles)… in neutral waters. Plus they are not stationary, they move and they will have to find them,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript.

“You work it out. Mach nine (the speed of the missiles) and over 1,000 km (their range).”

TREATY VIOLATIONS

The U.S. State Department dismissed Putin’s earlier warning as propaganda, saying it was designed to divert attention from what Washington alleges are Moscow’s violations of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

The pact, which banned Russia and the United States from stationing short- and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe, is in its death throes, raising the prospect of a new arms race between Washington and Moscow.

Putin has said he does not want an arms race with the United States, but that he would have no choice but to act if Washington deployed new missiles in Europe, some of which he says would be able to strike Moscow within 10-12 minutes.

Putin said his naval response to such a move would mean Russia could strike the United States faster than U.S. missiles deployed in Europe could hit Moscow because the flight time would be shorter.

“It (the calculation) would not be in their favor, at least as things stand today. That’s for sure.” said Putin.

Relations between Moscow and Washington were strained, he added, but the tensions were not comparable to those of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

“They (the tensions) are not a reason to ratchet up confrontation to the levels of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s. In any case that’s not what we want,” said Putin. “If someone wants that, well OK they are welcome. I have set out today what that would mean. Let them count (the missile flight times).”

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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John James, Dina Powell leading candidates for UN envoy, source says

Former U.S. Senate candidate John James and onetime national security aide Dina Powell are President Trump's top candidates to become ambassador to the United Nations, a source familiar with discussions about the matter told Fox News Tuesday.

The source said James is the leading candidate and has expressed interest in the position to the White House. The belief among Trump's inner circle is that James is a rising political superstar, and the U.N. post could provide him with a pathway into elected office.

The 37-year-old James, a West Point graduate and veteran of the Iraq War, won the Republican primary for the Senate in Michigan last year but was defeated in November by three-term incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow. However, the race was unexpectedly close, and GOP officials in Michigan have expressed hope that James will challenge the state's other Democratic senator, Gary Peters, in 2020.

Michigan has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Spencer Abraham in 1994.

HEATHER NAUERT WITHDRAWS FROM CONSIDERATION FOR UN AMBASSADOR, STATE DEPARTMENT SAYS

Powell, 45, served for a year in the Trump administration as a deputy national security adviser and senior counselor to the president for economic initiatives. She departed in January of last year and has since worked as a managing director for Goldman Sachs.

Powell, who was born in Egypt and is fluent in Arabic, previously served in the George W. Bush administration as assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In October, Trump said that Powell is "certainly a person I would consider" appointing to replace the departing Nikki Haley as U.N. ambassador. However, Trump ultimately nominated State Department spokesman Heather Nauert.

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Nauert, a former Fox News anchor and correspondent, withdrew her name from consideration last week, citing "the best interest of her family."

A State Department source told Fox News that the nomination process, on top of the demands of traveling around the world and between Washington and New York to see family, grew to be too much for her.

Since Haley's departure at the end of last year, career diplomat Jonathan Cohen has served as acting U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Thirty years on, U.S.-China politics and tech collide

FILE PHOTO: Pictures of the Year: U.S. Politics
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 9, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj/File Photo

February 22, 2019

By Andy Bruce

LONDON (Reuters) – “U.S. EASES CURBS ON EXPORTS TO CHINA” read a Reuters headline on March 1, 1989, when Washington lifted long-standing restrictions on technology shipments to China.

On that day 30 years ago, U.S. commerce officials talked warmly of improving ties with China and of the need to help its economy — then about half the size of Italy’s — to grow, despite the objections of military strategists at the Pentagon.

Next Friday not only marks the 30th anniversary of the decision, but it is also the deadline set by President Donald Trump for a deal to end the seven-month trade war between the United States and China, now its biggest economic rival.

A different kind of technology transfer is at the center of the trade tussle that is likely to play a big part in defining the path of the world economy in years to come.

The United States has accused Beijing of forcing U.S. companies doing business in China to share their technology with local partners and hand over intellectual property secrets, charges that China denies.

More broadly, the row over trade has produced tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods, disrupting manufacturing supply chains and weighing on the global economy.

Without a deal on March 1, U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods are scheduled to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent, although Trump has said he may be flexible on the deadline if he sees progress being made.

But the current stand-off is widely seen as just part of a broader struggle for hegemony between the world’s two biggest economic powers.

“The tensions between the United States and China are obviously not just about trade,” said Paul Gruenwald, global chief economist at ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.

He said China had offered to buy more U.S. soybeans, liquid natural gas and airplanes, but the bigger issues are about intellectual and technology transfers as well as state subsidies.

“I suspect the negotiations are going to be tricky. I can’t see big changes by China,” Gruenwald said.

TECH-TAC-TOE

Negotiators are drawing up six memorandums of understanding on structural issues: forced technology transfer and cyber theft, intellectual property rights, services, currency, agriculture and non-tariff barriers to trade, two sources familiar with the progress of the talks told Reuters in Washington.

Failure to reach a deal would have big consequences, and not only for the world’s top two economies.

In a full-blown trade war with 25 percent tariffs on all goods flowing in both directions, China could lose up to 171 billion euros ($194 billion) in exports to the United States — around a fifth of the current annual total — according to a new report from EconPol Europe, a research network founded by Germany’s Ifo Institute.

The United States, meanwhile, would lose around 51 billion euros of exports going to China.

The winner — at least in the terms of crude mercantilism favored by some — could be Europe.

“Trump may claim victory as the U.S. manufacturing sector grows while the Chinese one shrinks, and the bilateral trade balance of the U.S. with China improves,” EconPol Europe researchers Gabriel Felbermayr and Marina Steininger said.

“However, with the EU it deteriorates and Europe’s trade (surplus) with the U.S. becomes even larger,” they added, since the United States would turn to Europe to substitute at least some of its Chinese imports.

And that could stoke further antagonism from the United States directed at the European Union, Felbermayr and Steininger said.

Trump on Wednesday said the United States would impose tariffs on European car imports if it cannot reach a trade deal with the EU.

THE BIG TRADE IS TRADE

While Trump is also due to travel to Vietnam for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday and Thursday, the U.S./China trade talks are more likely to be the key driver for markets, Investec economist Philip Shaw said.

“Thus far the direction of travel appears to be positive. But offsetting some of the positive tone are concerns that the U.S. administration may launch a car-based trade war with the EU,” Shaw said.

For the shorter-term prospects of the global economy, investors are waiting to hear U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell answer questions from lawmakers on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Powell and his fellow Fed rate-setters have adopted a new “patient” approach to further interest rate hikes, putting their three-year-old policy tightening on hold.

In Britain, the Brexit process faces a potentially important moment with another vote expected on Wednesday in parliament about Prime Minister Theresa May’s strategy, after she lost the last one by a big margin.

With little more than a month to go until Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, signs of a major breakthrough in talks between Brussels and London remain elusive.

“We think there is a fairly high chance now that the Brexit deadline will be pushed back,” wrote economists at ING.

“The question nobody really has the answer to is how long might an extension last?”

($1 = 0.8817 euros)

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Additional reporting by William Schomberg; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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Financial market ‘pause party’ makes Fed rate cut less likely

Traders work on the floor at the NYSE in New York
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 21, 2019

By Howard Schneider and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Risk-taking has been the rage since the Federal Reserve quit hiking interest rates at the end of last year. U.S. stocks are back near record highs and investors are stockpiling the lowest-grade corporate bonds with only a smidgen of extra compensation for the added risk.

That rebounding mood on Wall Street may be welcomed by a president that has been demanding the Fed cut rates after markets fell sharply last year, and complaining that even pausing at the current level is the wrong call.

But if anything the ‘pause party’ on Wall Street makes it even less likely that the U.S. central bank will cut rates. Recent positive news on retail sales and exports, which have eased concerns of a sharply slowing economy, makes the case for a rate cut even weaker.

Investors at least have gotten the message, and shifted from projecting a rate cut later this year to now putting the odds at only 50-50 that the Fed will move lower by early 2020.

Wall Street celebrates the Fed’s ‘pause: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/11/9740/9650/Pasted%20Image.jpg

The state of financial markets, say some analysts, is evidence the Fed’s rate increases last year were on point, allowing the economy to continue growing while keeping risks in check. A rate cut at this stage would only be courting problems.

“The argument for why they should keep the possibility of a rate hike on the table is because of financial stability,” Citi chief economist Catherine Mann said in remarks on Wednesday to a conference on financial stability at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.

After a decade of near zero interest rates, “moving toward a constellation of asset prices that embodies risks is critical for getting us to a more stable financial market,” she said, noting that both equity prices and low-grade bond yields show a market that remains too sanguine.

In their critiques of the Fed, U.S. President Donald Trump, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow, and possible Fed nominee Stephen Moore have argued that lower rates would allow faster growth and be in line with Trump’s economic plans. They contend that, with the risk of inflation low, the central bank does not need to maintain ‘insurance’ against it by keeping rates where they are.

     Overlooked in that analysis are the financial stability concerns steadily integrated into Fed policymaking since the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis. Mann spoke at a conference named in honor of economist Hyman Minsky, who explored how financial excess can build during good times, and unwind in catastrophic fashion. The downturn a decade ago showed just how deeply that dynamic can scar the real economy.

     Financial stability isn’t a formal mandate for the Fed, which under congressional legislation is supposed to maintain the twin goals of maximum employment and stable prices. But since the crisis the central bank has concluded that keeping financial markets on an even keel is a necessary condition for achieving the other two aims.

    That doesn’t mean an end of volatility or a guarantee of profits, but rather that risks are properly priced and that the use of leverage – investments made with borrowed money – is kept within safe limits.

Keeping an eye on stock valuations: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/11/9738/9648/Pasted%20Image.jpg

     That’s a key reason why even policymakers focused on maintaining high levels of employment, like Boston Fed president Eric Rosengren, at times have taken on a hawkish tone in favor of rate increases. The worse outcome for workers, Rosengren and others have said, would be to let markets inflate too much, and crash again, even if that means risking a bit higher unemployment in the interim. 

Markets are currently “a little rich,” Rosengren said in recent remarks at Davidson College in North Carolina.

Though not enough to warrant a rate increase, he said, it does argue against a rate reduction. Overall, Fed officials including Chairman Jerome Powell say they feel financial risks are within a manageable range, something policymakers feel has been helped along by the rate increases to date.

The state of financial markets is “something that the Fed has to wrestle with,” Rosengren said. “It’s appropriate for interest rates to be paused right now.”

Corporate bond valuations look frothy: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/11/9739/9649/Pasted%20Image.jpg

(Reporting by Howard Schneider and Trevor Hunnicut; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci)

Source: OANN

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Afghan official: Taliban strike checkpoints in north, kill 5

An Afghan official says the Taliban stormed two checkpoints in northern Sari Pul province, killing at least five members of the security forces and setting of an hours-long gunbattle.

Zabihullah Amani, spokesman for the provincial governor, say the attack in the province's Sozma Qala district started late on Sunday night. The fighting lasted until Monday morning and also left two troops wounded.

Amani says the insurgents captured six soldiers before fleeing the scene. Their fate remains unknown. The checkpoints were retaken and the area was brought under control once reinforcements arrived.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Amani blamed the Taliban who are active in the province and have stepped up their attacks against Afghan security forces.

Source: Fox News World

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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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