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Poppy-viewing crowds overwhelm Southern California city

Like Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz," the Southern California city of Lake Elsinore is being overwhelmed by the power of the poppies.

About 150,000 people flocked over the weekend to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near the city of about 60,000 residents, about a 90-minute drive from either San Diego or Los Angeles.

Interstate 15 was a parking lot. People fainted in the heat; a dog romping through the fields was bitten by a rattlesnake.

The city had tried to prepare for the crush of people drawn by the super bloom, a rare occurrence that usually happens about once a decade because it requires a wet winter and warm temperatures that stay above freezing.

It offered a free shuttle service to the top viewing spots, but it wasn't enough.

It became so bad Sunday that Lake Elsinore officials requested law enforcement assistance from neighboring jurisdictions. At one point, the city pulled down the curtain and closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon.

"It was insane, absolutely insane," said Mayor Steve Manos, who described it as a "poppy apocalypse."

By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened.

And people were streaming in again Monday.

The lure of poppies was used in the "Wizard of Oz" when the wicked witch infuses them with poison knowing Dorothy cannot resist them. She falls asleep in a vibrant field before her friends carry her off to break the spell.

Young and old visitors to the Lake Elsinore area seemed equally enchanted as they snapped selfies against the natural carpet of iridescent orange.

Some contacted friends and family on video calls so they could share the beauty in real time. Artists propped canvasses on the side of the trail to paint the super bloom, while drones buzzed overhead.

Patty Bishop, 48, of nearby Lake Forest went back Monday for her second visit. The native Californian has never seen such an explosion of color from the state flower. She battled traffic Sunday but that didn't deter her from going back Monday for another look. She got there at sunrise and stayed for hours.

"There's been so many in just one area," she said. "I think that's probably the main reason why I'm out here personally, is because it's so beautiful."

Stephen Kim and his girlfriend got to Lake Elsinore even before sunrise Sunday to beat the crowds but there were already hundreds of people.

The two wedding photographers hiked on the designated trails with an engaged couple to do a photo shoot with the flowers in the background, but they were upset to see so many people going off-trail.

"There were lots of disrespectful tourists flying drones, letting their dogs off leash, taking photos in the fields, stomping on flowers to get on top of a rock for a selfie," said Kim, 24, of Carlsbad. "Looking at all these people, I realized this is not sustainable. This bubble is going to burst and it's going to get taken away because people are taking advantage. Four hours later I looked at Facebook and saw it was closed."

Kim said they were also distraught to see so much garbage. They picked up as many discarded water bottles as they could carry.

"You see this beautiful pristine photo of nature but then you look to the left and there's plastic Starbucks cups and water bottles on the trail and selfie sticks and people having road rage because some people were walking slower," he said.

Andy Macuga, honorary mayor of the desert town of Borrego Springs, another wildflower hotspot, said he feels for Lake Elsinore.

In 2017, a rain-fed super bloom brought in more than a half-million visitors to the town of 3,500. Restaurants ran out of food. Gas stations ran out of fuel. Traffic backed up on a single road for 20 miles.

The city is again experiencing a super bloom.

The crowds are back. Hotels are full. More than 6,000 people on a recent Saturday stopped at the visitor's center at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California's largest park with 640,000 acres (1,000 square miles).

It helps that the masses of blooms are appearing in several different areas this time, and some sections are fading, while others are lighting up with flowers, helping to disperse the crowds a bit.

Macuga said, most importantly, the town's businesses prepared this time as if a major storm was about to hit. His restaurant, Carlee's, is averaging more than 550 meals a day, compared to 300 on a normal March day.

"We were completely caught off guard in 2017 because it was the first time that we had had a flower season like this with social media," he said. "It helps now knowing what's coming."

_____

Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writer Amanda Lee Myers in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Hillary Clinton: President Trump Should Have Been Indicted By Mueller!

President Trump would have been indicted by Special Counsel Mueller for obstruction of justice if he wasn’t President of the United States, according to Hillary Clinton.

“I think there is enough there that any other person who had engaged in those acts would certainly have been indicted,” she said during the Time 100 conference on Tuesday.

“But because of the rule in the Justice Department that you can’t indict a sitting president, the whole matter of obstruction was very directly sent to the Congress.”

Clinton went on to say that the Mueller report was only “the beginning,” because the Democrats in Congress are planning more investigations.

“I’m really of the mind that the Mueller report is part of the beginning,” she said. “It’s not the end. Because there’s still so much more that we should know and that we should act upon…And we’re a long way from knowing because we need to get the full report — the unredacted version.”

“If at that point they believe high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed, then I think it is the obligation of the Congress to put forward articles of impeachment,” she added.

The former First Lady’s reaction to Mueller’s “no collusion” findings is unsurprising given Trump’s remarks about investigating the investigators.

“Only high crimes and misdemeanors can lead to impeachment. There were no crimes by me (No Collusion, No Obstruction), so you can’t impeach,” he tweeted Monday.

“It was the Democrats that committed the crimes, not your Republican President! Tables are finally turning on the Witch Hunt!”


Twitter: 

Democrats have been projecting obstruction onto President Trump, yet they are the ones responsible for obstructing the 2016 election. Alex Jones takes your calls on the days breaking news.

Source: InfoWars

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A Rough Week for Socialism

COMMENTARY

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Socialist politicians have been getting a lot of attention lately but the good news is they haven’t been getting much done. Last week a major legislative setback for socialism in Washington was followed by a remarkable vote of confidence in American capitalism by investors at home and abroad.

Few pieces of legislation have enjoyed as much buzz as the Green New Deal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey. So grand are its socialist ambitions that converting the entire U.S. health care system to government management is just one part of an economic overhaul estimated to cost as much as $94 trillion over 10 years.

But putting the Green New Deal to a vote on the Senate floor turned out to be a buzzkill for socialists. Not a single senator voted for it, all Republicans voted against, and the GOP was joined in opposition by Democrats Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, along with Maine independent Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats. All the Senate Democrats running for president voted “present” even though they had all signed their names as co-sponsors of the Green New Deal.

While socialist economics was getting whacked in Washington, outside the Beltway capitalists were preparing for what could be a historic year for the creation of publicly traded corporations. On Thursday the money-losing ride-hailing service Lyft responded to huge investor demand by increasing the price of shares in its initial public offering. Despite being a distant second to Uber in the young industry of connecting riders with drivers, Lyft raised its IPO price to $72 per share and a total valuation of more than $23 billion and traded up from there.  

Capitalists like to talk about animal spirits in a healthy market -- the instinct to take risks and seize opportunities in an open and competitive economy. The animal spirits in this space have been so spirited and excited about the possibilities of ride-hailing and driverless cars that they’ve been pouring billions into Lyft and Uber despite years of losses. Now the capitalists who invest in U.S. stocks are showing that same spirit, and not just for young tech stars. Iconic jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. went public last week for the second time in its 166-year history and its shares have been trading more than 30% above the offering price.    

Expect Uber to also go public soon, with a valuation that may exceed $120 billion. The ride-hailing giant could be followed quickly into the public markets by other “unicorns” -- start-ups valued above $1 billion. Workplace messaging app Slack, home rental platform Airbnb, Elon Musk’s rocket company Space X, stationary bike and related media seller Peloton and photo-sharing app Pinterest are also likely 2019 IPO candidates.

Buyers should be careful because the rush to sell shares to the public may reflect in part a belief among early private investors that markets are frothy and the economy is in the later stages of a recovery. But the increasing desire of private companies to go public is also a welcome sign of a robust economy that has driven markets higher as well as policy changes focused on allowing everyday investors to own America’s most innovative companies.

Neil Dhar, a partner at accounting giant PwC, tells me that “we’re living in a bit more of a deregulated environment.” He expects a surge of IPO activity over the next several months.

Make no mistake, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists deserve the credit for creating new businesses. But when it comes to a more welcoming environment for companies considering going public, both President Trump and former President Obama helped build this.

Trump tax cuts and deregulation have driven economic growth and stock market valuations higher, enticing start-ups to sell shares to the public. Meanwhile, Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, Jay Clayton, has been seeking to maximize the benefits of  Obama’s 2012 JOBS Act, which sought to make it easier for young companies to prepare for a public offering and test investor appetite before having to make wholesale public disclosures.

A surge of new public companies would represent a big change. Backed by abundant venture capital and free of the regulatory hassles imposed on public companies, start-ups in recent years have often chosen to remain private -- even as their revenues and valuations soared. The result is a smaller menu of companies for retail investors to consider. Clayton noted last year that exchange-listed operating companies in the U.S. numbered fewer than 4,500, down about 40% from the 7,400 that were listed at the end of 1998. This means fewer options for mom-and-pop investors.

But this year should mark a sharp departure from this trend following an encouraging 2018. Renaissance Capital reports that last year the IPO market hit a four-year high with 191 IPOs and $47 billion in proceeds. 2019 should be much bigger.

A great year for new companies will require calm or rising markets, a tall order given slowing global growth and continued uncertainty about trade and interest rates. But individual investors who enjoy using apps created by companies like Uber and Pinterest should soon be able to own them, too. Just like the institutional players, individuals still want to back young and innovative companies with the potential to change the world. This is no guarantee of great returns, but opportunities that have only been available to the wealthy are becoming options for the average investor. And this could mean a lot of bad days ahead for capitalism’s critics. Could socialists get sick of losing?

Maria Bartiromo is anchor of "Mornings with Maria" on Fox Business Network and "Sunday Morning Futures" on Fox News Channel. @mariabartiromo on Twitter

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Soccer: England women must win trophies before fighting for equal pay – Duggan

Women's International Friendly - England v Sweden
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Women's International Friendly - England v Sweden - New York Stadium, Rotherham, Britain - November 11, 2018 England's Toni Duggan Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough

April 19, 2019

By Richard Martin

BARCELONA (Reuters) – England women’s forward Toni Duggan says her nation must match the achievements of three-times world champions the United States and “put trophies on the table” before they also ask for equal conditions as the men’s team.

All 28 members of the U.S. 2015 World Cup winning squad have filed a lawsuit against their national federation, complaining about wages and working conditions compared to the men’s side, who failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

“You look at the U.S. team and they’re a lot more successful than the men’s and that’s their argument. So first and foremost England need to be more successful,” Duggan told Reuters in an interview at Barcelona’s training ground.

“I can’t sit here and say we’re going to get to that stage, we need to be putting trophies on the table. Hopefully one day we’ll be like that, but fair play to the U.S. team because it (equal pay) is what they deserve.”

Duggan was part of the England side which reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2015 and the last four of the 2017 European Championships.

After the Lionesses piped the U.S. to win the four-nation SheBelieves Cup in March, she challenged the team to take the next step and go all the way in this year’s World Cup in France.

“I believe we can, we’ve got to two semi-finals at major tournaments, we’ve beat all the tough opponents. So it’s possible but it’s OK saying it, it’s about doing it,” Duggan said.

She is also confident her side will be able to continue the feel-good factor Gareth Southgate’s men’s side provided back home with their run to the last four in Russia, which she said began with the women’s excellent 2015 World Cup campaign.

“To be honest, we started it, we had amazing support in Canada and Gareth followed on from that, great credit to him because he got them playing nice soccer and people wanted to be part of supporting England again,” she said.

“There was a dip in the past few years but the buzz is back and I’m sure everyone will be behind us this summer.”

Former Manchester United and Everton player Phil Neville had no experience of the women’s game when he succeeded Mark Sampson as England coach last year but Duggan praised the impact he has had on the team.

“We need people like Phil who have experienced winning trophies to share that experience with us,” she said. “The standards he sets are important to him, everyone’s enjoying life under him and the new style we play, hopefully we can see that in the summer.”

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PUSH

Before the World Cup, Duggan can look forward to a thrilling end to the season with Barcelona, who are involved in a close-run title-tilt with Atletico Madrid and meet Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals.

Barca have missed out on the last-four stage on three occasions and last year were beaten in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Olympique Lyonnais.

“I just felt Lyon had a little more than us. We were a new team but we’re more together now,” Duggan said.

“We’re on a good run, winning games comfortably. Bayern won’t be easy but I believe this is our chance.”

Duggan has already made history with Barca, scoring in a 2-0 win at title rivals Atletico in front of 60,739 people at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium which smashed the world attendance record for a women’s game.

More than 20,000 people watched last week’s derby between Real Betis and Sevilla, while 48,000 went to Athletic Bilbao’s San Mames to see their women’s side take on Atletico Madrid in January.

“I’ve played in big games, at Wembley, a World Cup semi-final, but the atmosphere with 60,000 people was amazing,” Duggan added.

“In Spain they’re doing something right because the attendances keep creeping up and teams are getting the opportunity to play at the men’s stadiums.

“That’s the way forward for this women’s game and you see it spreading across the world with Juventus doing it. It was a great occasion and hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.”

(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Christian Radnedge)

Source: OANN

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Jon Stewart calls on Congress to step up and help 9/11 heroes, their families

Jon Stewart isn’t joking when it comes to getting the proper funding to help 9/11 responders and their families who continue to deal with the lingering damage from America’s most horrific terrorist attack.

The former “Daily Show” host told “America’s Newsroom” those still suffering for their heroic actions “deserve our attention.”

“We don’t want the 9/11 community and the first responders to have their issue be swept under the rug or be ignored,” Stewart said.

9/11 FUND RUNNING OUT OF MONEY FOR THOSE WITH ILLNESSES

“These are men and women who have suffered great illnesses because of their heroic work down on ‘Ground Zero’ during 9/11 and during the months that passed and they deserve our attention.”

Stewart is in Washington, D.C. with John Feal, a 9/11 demolition supervisor, to support the “Never Forget the Heroes” Fund Act.

The bipartisan legislation would make sure that all first responders and survivors who were injured or are suffering illnesses from that day receive their full compensation.

The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund announced earlier this month that they were running out of money and were cutting payments by as much as 50 and 70 percent.

“I’ve been to 181 funerals. The pain, the struggle, the fight is real,” Feal told co-host Sandra Smith.

FLASHBACK: AS 9/11 VICTIMS CONTINUE TO COME FORWARD, OFFICIALS AND ADVOCATES FEAR COMPENSATION FUND MAY DRY UP

“When this went into effect the conversations are, 'Now do I put gas in the car or do I put food on the table? Do I keep a roof over my head or do I pay the utilities?'

“This is real and this policy effect is devastating to the 9/11 community.”

“This has been a fight.  It’s not something they’re unaccustomed too but it’s something that I find… It’s unconscionable.  It cannot continue,” Stewart added.

“We cannot force the men and women that so heroically went down to ‘Ground Zero’ and stayed there for 9, 10 months disrupting their lives as well. We can’t force them to have to fight for this anymore.”

Both men took the opportunity to express to Congress that this was their opportunity to turn one of America’s horrific moments into a positive.

“Congress has a chance… I think Congress and the Senate need this more than anything to come together like we did 18 years ago,” Feal said.  “They can take our worst day, our worst weeks and our worst months. Especially our worst 18 years since and come together and make Congress’ finest hour.”

“This is a national embarrassment and crisis,” Stewart said.  “They’ve got to step up.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Costa Rican accused of sexual abuse expelled from priesthood

Roman Catholic officials in Costa Rica's capital say that a cleric accused of sexually abusing minors has been expelled from the priesthood.

Church spokesman Jason Granados says that the Vatican expelled Mauricio Viquez two weeks ago, but has been unable to locate him to notify him of the decision.

A Costa Rican court has issued an international detention request for Viquez, who is accused of abusing two teenagers in 2003. He took a leave of absence from teaching at a local university last month and immigration records indicate he left the country on Jan. 7.

The Vatican is also investigating San Jose Archbishop Jose Rafael Quiros, who is accused by Viquez's reported victims of covering up the abuse.

Source: Fox News World

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U.S. border agents redeployed to handle migrant humanitarian needs

FILE PHOTO: Migrants from Central America are seen escorted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials after crossing the border from Mexico to surrender to the officials in El Paso, Texas, U.S., in this pictured taken from Ciudad Juarez
FILE PHOTO: Migrants from Central America are seen escorted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials after crossing the border from Mexico to surrender to the officials in El Paso, Texas, U.S., in this pictured taken from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File Photo

March 27, 2019

By Julio-Cesar Chavez

(Reuters) – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will pull around 750 officers off ports of entry and redeploy them to process record numbers of migrant families entering the United States at the Mexico border, the head of the agency said on Wednesday.

The agency is also redirecting service personnel and expanding food, transportation and medical contracts to meet migrants’ humanitarian needs while maintaining border security, CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said at a news conference in El Paso, Texas.

“There will be impacts to traffic at the border. There will be a slowdown in the processing of trade. There will be wait times in our pedestrian and passenger vehicle lanes,” he said.

March is on track for the highest monthly border crossings in over a decade, with more than 100,000 apprehensions and encounters of people deemed inadmissible at U.S. ports of entry, McAleenan said.

Apprehensions and encounters of families were expected to reach over 55,000 people in March, McAleenan said, marking a one-month record according to CBP data.

In recent years, there has been a shift in border crossings from mainly single, adult Mexicans trying to evade capture to Central American families and unaccompanied minors turning themselves in to border agents to seek asylum. Because of limits on how long children can be held in detention, most families are released to pursue their claims in U.S. immigration courts, a process that can take years.

McAleenan said up to 40 percent of CBP personnel in sectors like El Paso were now working to care for migrants’ humanitarian needs. “Smugglers are using the distraction of large groups of asylum seekers to traffic drugs and migrants seeking to evade capture, he said.

For the first time in over a decade, CBP is directly releasing migrants into the United States when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is unable to provide bed space to relieve overcrowding, McAleenan said.

The Trump administration has taken aim at the asylum system and earlier this year began sending a small number of migrants back to Mexican border towns to wait our their U.S. hearings. That program, known as the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” started in late January California but has expanded to El Paso. As of March 26 around 370 migrants had been returned to Mexico under the program, according to a Mexican immigration official.

(Reporting by Julio-Cesar Chavez in San Antonio, Texas; Additional reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Editing by Mica Rosenberg and Leslie Adler)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Naqvi Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the WEF in Davos
FILE PHOTO: Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Arnold

LONDON (Reuters) – A London court case to extradite Arif Naqvi, founder of collapsed private equity firm Abraaj Group, to the United States on fraud charges was adjourned until May 24, a court official said on Friday.

Naqvi was remanded in custody until that date, the official said. A former managing partner of Dubai-based Abraaj, Sev Vettivetpillai, was released on conditional bail to appear again at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 12, the official said.

Under the U.S. charges, both men are accused of defrauding U.S. investors by inflating positions held by Abraaj in order to attract greater funds from them, causing them financial loss, the official said.

Vettivetpillai could not be reached for a comment.

Naqvi, in a statement released through a PR firm, has pleaded innocent.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from U.S.-based charitable organizations and other U.S. investors.

Naqvi and Vettivetpillai were arrested in Britain earlier this month. Another executive, Mustafa Abdel-Wadood was arrested at a New York hotel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on April 11.

Abdel-Wadood appeared at the Manhattan hearing and pleaded not guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Former Vice President Joe Biden announces his 2020 candidacy
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in this still image taken from a video released April 25, 2019. BIDEN CAMPAIGN HANDOUT via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in his first interview as a Democratic presidential candidate, said on Friday that he does not believe he treated law professor Anita Hill badly during the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Biden had joined the burgeoning 2020 Democratic field a day earlier.

Biden’s conduct during those hearings, when he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, became a renewed subject of controversy after the New York Times reported that Biden had called Hill earlier this month in the run-up to his presidential bid and that Hill was dissatisfied with Biden’s expression of regret.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View,” Biden largely defended his actions as a senator almost 30 years ago, saying he believed Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment levied at Thomas and tried to derail his confirmation.

Activists have long been unhappy that Hill was questioned in graphic detail by the all-white, all-male committee chaired by Biden.

“I’m sorry she was treated the way she was treated,” Biden said, but later, he asserted, “I don’t think I treated her badly. … How do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions?”

“There were a lot of mistakes made across the board and for those I apologize,” he said.

Biden praised Hill as “remarkable” and said she is “one of the reasons we have the #MeToo movement.”

Asked why he had not reached out to Hill earlier, Biden said he had previously publicly stated he had regrets about her treatment and that he “didn’t want to quote invade her space.”

That seemed to be a reference to another controversy that looms over Biden’s presidential run: allegations by several women that he made them uncomfortable by touching them at political events.

Biden also addressed that criticism, saying he was now more “cognizant” about a woman’s “private space.” But he maintained that he had been “trying to bring solace.”

He suggested he was still trying to sort out the guidelines for his conduct going forward.

“I should be able to read better,” he said. “I have to be more careful.”

Pressed by the show’s panel for an apology to his accusers, Biden would not entirely capitulate.

“So, I invaded your space,” he replied. “I mean, I’m sorry this happened. But I’m not sorry in a sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.”

Biden, 76, served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president for two terms. He is competing with 19 others for the Democratic presidential nomination and the chance to likely face President Donald Trump next year in the general election.

His first public event as a presidential candidate is scheduled for Monday in Pittsburgh.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei, Taiwan August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s stock slumped over 4% on Friday to its lowest price in two years, rounding out a rough week that included worse-than-expected quarterly results and a pitch by Chief Executive Elon Musk on autonomous cars that failed to win over investors.

With investors betting Tesla will soon raise capital, the stock has fallen 13% for the week to its lowest level since January 2017, before the launch of the Model 3 sedan aimed at making the electric car maker profitable.

One positive development for Tesla: a U.S. District Court judge on Friday granted a request by Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission for a second extension to resolve a dispute over Musk’s use of Twitter.

On Wednesday, Tesla posted a worse-than-expected loss of $702 million for the March quarter. Musk said Tesla would return to profit in the third quarter and that there was “some merit” to raising capital.

Musk is still battling to convince investors that demand for the Model 3, the company’s first car aimed at the mass consumer market, is “insanely” high, and that it can be delivered efficiently to customers around the world.

Tesla ended its first quarter with $2.2 billion, down from $3.7 billion in the prior quarter, and the company is planning expansions including a Shanghai factory, an upcoming Model Y SUV, and other projects.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s cash – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DyJjX6)

On Monday, Musk hosted a self-driving event, where he predicted Tesla would have over a million autonomous vehicles by next year. Some analysts perceived the presentation as a way to deflect attention from questions about demand, margin pressure, increasing competition and even Musk’s ongoing battle with U.S. regulators.

Tesla’s stock has now fallen 29 percent in 2019 and the company’s market capitalization has declined to $41 billion from $63 billion in mid-December.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s declining market cap – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dwd62r)

Analysts now expect Tesla’s revenue to expand 19% in 2019, compared with 83% growth in 2018 and 68% growth in 2017, according to Refinitiv.

Following Tesla’s quarterly report, 12 analysts recommend selling the stock, while 11 recommend buying and eight are neutral. The median analyst price target is $275, up 16% from the stock’s current price of $236. Berenberg analyst Alexander Haissl has the most optimistic price target, at $500, while Cowen and Company’s Jeffrey Osborne has the lowest, at $160, according to Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s rare public criticism of the Obama administration was a “soft” way of accusing the previous administration of covering up Russia’s attempts at hacking the 2016 presidential election.

While speaking Thursday in New York at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, Rosenstein said that the Obama administration “chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls and how they relate to Russia’s broader strategy to undermine America.”

During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” Friday morning, Huckabee called the comments an “unusually candid moment for Rosenstein.”

“I thought it was a soft way of him saying there was a cover-up,” Huckabee said. “They knew the Russians were attempting to influence the election and attempting to hack the election but they didn’t fully disclose that to the American people and certainly didn’t disclose it to the Trump campaign.

SWALWELL NOT CERTAIN TRUMP ISN’T A ‘RUSSIAN ASSET’

“Instead they tried to set a trap for them. It failed. The Trump team did not take the bait. And that’s the one conclusion that we can certainly come away with from the $35 million worth of investigation,” Huckabee continued.

Next week, Attorney General William Barr will testify before Congress and is expected to answer questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump, which found that there was not adequate evidence to conclude that President Trump and his administration colluded with Russia, though the president could not be exonerated in terms of the possibility that he obstructed justice.

Barr will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee next Wednesday and to the House Judiciary Committee the following day.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG 

“It is going to be a theater, an absolute show,” Huckabee said of the hearings. “Just like the Kavanaugh hearings were and like everything else is in Congress. We ought to close the curtain on them and can’t come back until after the election. They aren’t doing their job anyway. We aren’t paying them because they’re doing a wonderful service to the country and spare us the hypocrisy of thinking they’re interested in getting to the bottom of the facts,” he continued.

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Ultimately, Huckabee argued, if Americans “took their partisan hats off,” they would see that President Trump was exonerated by the investigation.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Sri Lanka's former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake
Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

April 26, 2019

By Sanjeev Miglani and Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens.

Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the two led the country to a crushing defeat of separatist Tamil rebels a decade ago after a 26-year civil war.

More than 250 people were killed in bomb attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday that the government has blamed on Islamist militants and that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Gotabaya said the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.

“Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent”, firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections, which are due by December.

He was critical of the government’s response to the bombings. Since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat is from Islamic State to the country.

“Various people are blaming various people, not giving exactly the details as to what happened, even people expect the names, what organization did this, and how they came up to this level, that explanation was not given,” he said.

On Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena said the government led by premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

Wickremesinghe said earlier he was not advised about warnings that came from India’s spy service either, presenting a picture of a government still in disarray since the two leaders fell out last October.

Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States, where he is a dual citizen, over his role in the war and afterwards.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor.

In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father.

Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidature.

‘DISMANTLE THE NETWORKS’

He said that if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radical Islam and to rebuild the security set-up.

“It’s a serious problem, you have to go deep into the groups, dismantle the networks,” he said, adding he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism.

Gotabaya said that a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in eastern Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government.

“They did not give priority to national security, there was a mix-up. They were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, they were talking about individual freedoms,” he said.

President Sirisena’s government sought to forge reconciliation with minority Tamils and close the wounds of the war and launched investigations into allegations of rights abuse and torture against military officers.

Officials said many of these secret intelligence cells were disbanded because they faced allegations of abuse, including torture and extra judicial killings.

Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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