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Romanian Senate approves draft bill that could close graft cases

FILE PHOTO: Romanian Prime Minister Dancila attends a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg
FILE PHOTO: Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila attends a debate on the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the E.U. for the next six months, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler/File Photo

April 17, 2019

By Luiza Ilie and Radu-Sorin Marinas

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s Senate approved changes to the criminal code on Wednesday that could shut down a number of ongoing high-level graft cases in one of the European Union’s most corrupt states.

The changes are the latest in a series made by the ruling Social Democrats since they came to power in 2017 that are seen by critics as threats to judicial independence. They could further heighten EU concerns about democratic values in some of its eastern states.

Among the changes to the criminal code is shortening the statute of limitations covering some offences, a move that would automatically shut down a number of ongoing cases. The lower house has the final say on the revised criminal code, and is likely to pass the law in a final vote expected next week.

However, opposition lawmakers and centrist President Klaus Iohannis could challenge the changes at the Constitutional Court, delaying enforcement.

Ruling party leader Liviu Dragnea, who has a suspended jail term in a vote-rigging case and an ongoing appeal against a second conviction for inciting others to commit abuse of office, would be among the politicians to benefit from the changes.

Social Democrat lawmakers initially spearheaded an overhaul of the country’s criminal codes last year. The European Commission said the proposed changes were a reversal of a decade of democratic and market reforms in the former Communist country.

The Constitutional Court struck down many of the changes following challenges by opposition lawmakers. Since then, the Social Democrats have been pressuring their own government to approve a smaller revision via emergency decree.

Unlike parliament bills, emergency decrees come into effect immediately and are much harder to challenge at the Constitutional Court.

Previous attempts to decriminalize several graft offences via decree triggered the largest street protests in decades.

The government has delayed approving the decree and a second one that would allow politicians and others convicted of graft since 2014 to retroactively challenge the verdicts handed down by the supreme court.

Twelve Western nations urged Bucharest earlier this month to scrap the decrees.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said she will fire Justice Minister Tudorel Toader unless he resigns first, potentially making way for a replacement who would push the decrees through.

Senior members of the ruling party have criticized Toader in recent weeks for delaying passage of the decrees.

“Minister (Toader) was wrong when he said he would do some things and then didn’t finalize them,” Dancila told reporters.

Asked about the decrees, Dancila said, “To approve an act in the government, I would have to have it on my table: I did not have it”.

Toader said on his Facebook page that there was not enough time to answer all of what he called misinformation.

He has been criticized by those advocating more transparency in Romania after he campaigned successfully to force out former chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi – a frontrunner to become the EU’s first fraud prosecutor.

He also created a special unit to investigate magistrates, seen by critics as a political tool to muzzle prosecutors.

Transparency International ranks Romania, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, among the bloc’s most corrupt states. Brussels has praised Romanian magistrates for their efforts to curb graft.

The EU stepped up its defense of judicial independence and rule of law across the EU this month, announcing new legal measures against Poland and cautioning Romania not to pardon corrupt politicians.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie and Radu Marinas; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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Woman charged in massacre probe wants charges dismissed

Attorneys for a woman facing charges in connection with an Ohio family massacre have filed a motion to have obstruction of justice and perjury charges against her dismissed.

Fredericka Wagner's son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons are jailed in southern Ohio awaiting trial in the slayings of eight people in Pike County in April 2016. They have pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder charges and other counts that could lead to the death penalty if they are convicted.

Wagner, 76, also has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her and is under house arrest.

The victims included seven adults and a teenager of the Rhoden family. One of Wagner's grandsons shared a daughter with one of the victims, and authorities say a custody dispute was a possible motive. That child was not with the Rhodens the night of the slayings.

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reported that Wagner's attorneys filed a motion Friday in Pike County Pleas Court to dismiss the charges against her. Authorities have accused Wagner of covering up the homicides by lying about two bulletproof vests she bought online. Court documents and interviews show authorities suspected Wagner's family members wore the vests during the slayings, the newspaper reported.

Angela Canepa, an attorney for the Ohio Attorney General's Office, said Friday she couldn't comment on the attorneys' filing, but would file a response in the coming days. A message seeking comment was left Sunday at the Pike County Prosecutor's Office.

Wagner told a grand jury last year that she bought two bulletproof vests after the shootings through Amazon, but investigators found no record of those purchases, according to the newspaper.

Wagner's attorneys say she was charged with obstruction and lying to the grand jury because of the vests they say she bought from eBay through her PayPal account.

"I made a mistake; I'm nearly 77-years-old," she said of citing Amazon.

"We were terrified; everybody was," Wagner told The Plain Dealer in a recent interview. She said when she heard about the slayings, she first thought they were the result of a "terrorist attack."

Her Columbus attorneys say the error should not have led to charges.

"It's like telling people that you paid for your wife's Christmas present with a MasterCard," Wagner's attorney, James Owen, told the newspaper. "But you made a mistake and really used a Visa. It's a distinction without a difference."

Authorities have said Wagner's son, George "Billy" Wagner III; her daughter-in-law, Angela Wagner; and grandsons George Wagner and Edward "Jake" Wagner planned the attacks for months.

Fredericka Wagner stressed to the newspaper her belief in her family's innocence.

"I believe with all my heart and soul that they didn't do it," she said.

___

Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

Source: Fox News National

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White House defends Trump’s Omar 9/11 tweet; Bernie Sanders town hall on Fox News tonight

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Developing now, Monday, April 15, 2019

REP. OMAR BLAMES TRUMP TWEET FOR DEATH THREATS: Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., says she's received an influx of death threats since President Trump tweeted a video on Driday that combined comments from the congresswoman — which critics said were dismissive of the Sept. 11 attacks — with footage from Ground Zero ... "I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life—many directly referencing or replying to the President's video," Omar tweeted in a statement on Sunday night. Omar said that hate crimes around the world by right-wing extremists and whte nationalists are on the rise around the world and accused Trump of encouraging acts of hate.

Omar's comments came as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she had taken steps to ensure the freshman congresswoman's safety and called on the president to take the tweet down. The White House defended Trump, saying the president had a duty to highlight Omar’s history of comments that others have found offensive, blamed Democrats for not holding the congresswoman accountable for her alleged anti-Semitic comments and that he wished no “ill will” upon the first-term lawmaker.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP.

BERNIE SANDERS TOWN HALL ON FOX NEWS TONIGHT: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is getting ready to make his pitch for president in front of a large audience at Fox News' town hall tonight ... Fox News' Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will moderate the hour-long event. It will be the Vermont senator's first appearance on Fox News Channel since he agreed to be a guest on "Special Report" in December 2018. He also participated in Fox News Channel's Democratic town hall back in 2016 alongside his then-competitor Hillary Clinton. Sanders, who raised $18 million in the first six weeks of his campaign, is considered a front-runner among a crowded field of 2020 presidential hopefuls. His town hall on Fox comes the same day he has promised to release his tax records.

TRUMP'S $30M CAMPAIGN WAR CHEST: President Trump's re-election campaign raised $30.3 million in the first quarter of this year, far pacing the leading fundraisers among the Democrats, Fox News confirmed Sunday ... The Trump campaign said nearly 99 percent of its donations were of $200 or less, with an average donation of $34.26. In all, the campaign had $40.8 million cash on hand, an unprecedented war chest for an incumbent president this early in the campaign.

Among Trump's would-be Democratic challengers, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was leading the money race after taking in $18.2 million in the first quarter of this year. He was followed by California Sen. Kamala Harris, with $12 million. Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke ($9.4 million), South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg ($7 million) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ($6 million) rounded out the top five fundraisers among Democrats.

ICYMI: LINDSEY GRAHAM'S PLAN TO COMBAT THE MIGRATION CRISIS: Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that he is currently working on a drastic overhaul of the United States’ asylum laws in an effort to deal with the ongoing migration crisis at the country’s southern border with Mexico ... While Graham, R-S.C., agreed with President Trump’s call for more U.S. troops on the border and the need for a physical barrier, he argued on "Sunday Morning Futures" that the only way to make real progress in combating the flow of migrants over the southern border is to change laws regarding how and when the U.S. grants asylum. (Click on the video above to watch the interview.)

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed to "Fox News Sunday" that President Trump's prospective plan to send illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities is undergoing a "complete and thorough review."

Tiger Woods reacts as he wins the Masters golf tournament Sunday, April 14, 2019, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Tiger Woods reacts as he wins the Masters golf tournament Sunday, April 14, 2019, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

EYE OF THE TIGER: Tiger Woods is basking in the glory of his fifth -- and perhaps most improbable and emotional -- major title victory after winning the Masters on Sunday ... Woods' comeback has come full-circle. Only two years ago at Augusta National, Woods needed a nerve block just to hobble upstairs to the Champions Dinner, unsure he would ever play another round of golf. He had a fourth back surgery with hopes of simply playing with his two children. Now, at age 43, he is a Masters champion again, his first green jacket since 2005 and his first major since the 2008 U.S. Open.

In addition to Woods' fifth Masters championship and 15th major title (trailing only the great Jack Nicklaus in both categories), Sunday marked his 81st victory on the PGA Tour, one away from the career record held by Sam Snead. Perhaps most gratifying for Woods is that his two children, ages 10 and 11, got to see him win a championship live and not just relive his past glory on YouTube.


THE SOUNDBITE

'A DISGUSTING OVERREACH' - "This is all about political partisanship. This is a dangerous, dangerous road and frankly, Chris, I don't think Congress, particularly not this group of congressmen and women, are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trump's taxes will be. My guess is most of them don't do their own taxes and I certainly don't trust them to look through the decades of success that the president has and determine anything. "– Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary, on "Fox News Sunday," on Democrats pushing for the release of President Trump's tax records. (Click the image above to watch the full video.)

TODAY'S MUST-READS
Michael Goodwin: As Trump soars higher, Dems reach their lowest point yet.
Fordham University senior, 22, dies after she fell from campus bell tower.
Death toll from tornadoes, severe storms in South rises to eight.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Charlie Kirk: Why China is America's greatest enemy.
Russia’s Rusal makes $200 million Kentucky aluminum investment.
What the end of 'Game of Thrones' means for HBO's future.

STAY TUNED

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow; Ashley Bratcher, star of the movie, "Unplanned."

Hannity, 9 p.m. ET: Special guests include: Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus.

On Fox Business:

Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Stephen Moore, prospective Trump nominee to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.

After the Bell, 4 p.m. ET: Connell McShane is live in Bethlehem, Pa. to preview Fox News' Town Hall with Bernie Sanders.

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: "POTUS Proposes A New Way to House Migrants" - Fox News Radio's Jeff Paul has the latest of President Trump's mulling a plan to sending migrants to sanctuary cities. Plus, do you have a hard time seeing eye-to-eye with someone that is on the other side of the aisle? Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers discuss the inspiration behind their new book, "I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening)." Plus, commentary by Christian Whiton, senior fellow at the Center for the National Interest.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. on Julian Assange's arrest, the Mueller report, and the latest from Venezuela; Michael Goodwin, New York Post columnist, on why President Trump is soaring while Democrats are reaching new lows and the latest in the 2020 presidential race. Sports Illustrated writer and Tiger Woods biographer Jeff Benedict on Woods' Masters tournament victory. Brian Brenberg, executive vice president and chair of the Program in Business and Finance at The King’s College, on Tax Day and the state of the economy.

Benson & Harf, 6 p.m. ET: House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., will sit down with Guy Benson, live from New Orleans.

#TheFlashback
2013: Two bombs made from pressure cookers explode at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing two women and an 8-year-old boy and injuring more than 260.
1947: Jackie Robinson, baseball's first black major league player, makes his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day at Ebbets Field..
1865: President Abraham Lincoln dies nine hours after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; Andrew Johnson becomes the nation's 17th president.

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Tuesday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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Indianapolis shootings leave 6 dead in 24-hour period

Indianapolis police are searching for numerous shooters Monday after gun violence rocked the city this past weekend, leaving at least six people dead over a 24-hour period.

The fatal attacks throughout the city between Saturday night and Sunday night included a double-murder at a building police described to FOX59 as being a “motorcycle club hangout.” In another, a 17-year-old was said to have been gunned down in the street by an unknown assailant who pulled up beside him in a car.

“I don't know what's wrong with people...everybody shooting each other,” Arthur Littleton, a resident of the city, told the Indianapolis Star. “This isn't how it's supposed to be."

The violence began Saturday night when a man was found lying in the middle of a street with gunshot wounds. Less than two hours later, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was called to another scene at an apartment complex, where a man had been targeted after visiting his friends, FOX59 reported. Both are said to have died from their injuries.

In the “motorcycle club hangout” shooting around 1 a.m. Sunday, which left a man and a woman dead, investigators told the station they believe some kind of disagreement between two or three groups hanging out in the building led to the attack.

The 17-year-old was killed Sunday afternoon and the final victim was gunned down that night.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Police told FOX59 they are still investigating the shootings and, as of Monday, no arrests have been made. The names of the victims were not immediately released.

“As a city Indianapolis we cannot continue to tolerate this level of senseless violence that has a disregard for the sanctity of human life,” Rev. Charles Harrison, the president of the anti-gun violence Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition Board, said Monday. “This is our city, Indianapolis, and all of us must care and do all we can together to reduce violence, restore hope, and help improve the quality of life for every resident in this city.”

Source: Fox News National

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Egypt schedules referendum on constitutional changes

Egypt authorities have scheduled a nationwide referendum on proposed constitutional changes that could see President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi remain in power until 2030.

Lasheen Ibrahim, chairman of the National Election Authority, says Wednesday the vote will take place Saturday through Monday. He says Egyptian expatriates will vote Friday through Sunday.

Parliament overwhelmingly approved the amendments on Tuesday. They would only extend a president's term in office from four to six years. But they include a special article specific to el-Sissi to extend his current, second term to six years and allow him to run for another six-year term in 2024.

The proposals are seen by critics as another step back to authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule.

Source: Fox News World

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Kellyanne Conway: There’s ‘Trouble in Pelosi Paradise’

White House counsel Kellyanne Conway on Sunday taunted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., asserting there’s rancor among the Democrat rank-and-file that’s causing “trouble in Pelosi paradise.”

In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Conway declared new Democrat House members are “upset with the leadership.”

“There is a great frustration against rank and file members who represent districts that President [Donald] Trump won in 2016,” she said. “They have been to the White House, talked to people like me quietly, saying they wish that the radical… freshmen who get the magazine covers and all the ink and air time, I guess they are upset with the leadership today.”

Conway went on, saying Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., “tweeted they are tired of being used because the party is diverse, can't get a seat at the table, something… re-tweeted by [Rep.] Ilhan Omar [D-Minn.].”

“I think there is trouble in Pelosi paradise,” Conway said.

Conway also declared the immigration problems in the country could be fixed “easily” but that Democrats are too anti-Trump to get the job done.

“Congress can fix this easily,” she said. “All the time that they spend reacting to every single Donald Trump tweet or the president's statements, they can sit down and do three things.”

According to Conway, the three fixes would be to address trafficking victims, fix a judicial decision on filing asylum claims and to “fix the asylum law so those who actually have a credible claim of asylum can have that process faster. “

Related Stories:

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Media Matters President Wrote Blog Posts About ‘Japs,’ ‘Jewry’ And ‘Trannies’

Media Matters President Angelo Carusone is currently leading a boycott campaign against Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a co-founder of The Daily Caller News Foundation, in an attempt to get him fired.

Carusone and Media Matters, which openly pine for the destruction of Fox News, have justified the left-wing boycott campaign by pointing to a number of statements that Carlson made on a radio shock jock show between 2006 and 2011.

But Carusone has his own track record of inflammatory statements. Carusone’s now-defunct blog included degrading references to “trannies,” “jewry” and Bangladeshis.

Carusone posted a lengthy diatribe in November 2005 about a Bangladeshi man who was robbed by “a gang of transvestites,” as Carusone described it. Carusone was offended that the gang was described as “attractive” in an article.

“Did you notice the word attractive? What the fuck is that doing in there? Is the write[r] a tranny lover too? Or, perhaps he’s trying to justify how these trannies tricked this Bangladeshi in the first place? Look man, we don’t need to know whether or not they were attractive. The fucking guy was Bangladeshi,” Carusone wrote. “And while we’re out, what the hell was he doing with $7,300 worth of stuff. The guy’s Banladeshi! [sic]”

Carusone also chided police for not advising the public to “stay away from tranny bars, stay away from places [sic] where Eddie Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. have/are visiting, don’t fucking kiss a transvestite, don’t bring a group of transvestites back to your room, etc…”

The future Media Matters president titled his post, “Tranny Paradise.”

Screenshot/web.archive.org

In another post that same month, Carusone downplayed a male basketball coach’s alleged sexual and physical abuse of his female players, adding, “lighten up Japs,” using what is considered an ethnic slur.

Screenshot/web.archive.org

In another November 2005 blog post, Carusone praised former Democratic West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, a former grandmaster of the Klu Klux Klan, as one of his ten favorite public figures. “In his lunacy, we trust,” Carusone wrote of Byrd.

Carusone made anti-Semitic comments on his blog as well.

He wrote in one October 2005 post that “despite his jewry, you KNOW he’s adorable,” referring to his boyfriend.

Screenshot/web.archive.org

In another post, Carusone claimed that his boyfriend only leaned conservative “as a result of his possession of several bags of Jewish gold.”

Screenshot/Web.Archive.Org

Carusone did not return an inquiry from TheDCNF asking whether he sees any contradiction between his boycott campaigns and his own past comments.

Carusone previously dismissed concerns about his past anti-Semitic comments on the grounds that his longtime partner is Jewish.

Prominent conservatives have rallied behind Carlson.

Ben Shapiro derided Media Matters as “a political smear factory designed to perform precisely that function against anyone to the right of Hillary Clinton.”

“Our nation cannot maintain its culture of free speech if we continue to reward those who seek to destroy careers rather than rebut ideas,” National Review’s David French wrote in a column on Monday.

“And when you reward a Media Matters search-and-destroy fishing expedition with calls for boycotts or reprisals, then you are doing your part to destroy debate. It’s vengeful. It’s cowardly. And it’s exactly the online world that spiteful partisans want to build,” French added.


Source: InfoWars

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FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain's far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.

No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.

Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.

By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.

Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.

The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.

The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.

The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.

Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.

It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.

While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.

TRENDING

According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.

Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.

Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.

Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.

“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said

For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.

“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.

For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.

The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.

The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.

That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.

(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)

(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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