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Mueller's report on Russia investigation: What happens when it finally drops?

For weeks, rumors have been swirling that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is nearing the end of his years-long Russia investigation — and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are eager to make his final report public.

The House of Representatives unanimously voted (420-0) Thursday in favor of a resolution to urge Attorney General William Barr to release Mueller’s full report to Congress and the country for the sake of "transparency." The probe was intended to examine Russian election interference and whether President Trump's campaign colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 election -- and has since resulted in charges for several former Trump campaign associates, though none have directly related to collusion.

Trump called the investigation "illegal" and "conflicted" this week, arguing Mueller should have never been appointed in the first place.

WHAT IS 'COLLUSION,' AND IS IT A CRIME? RUSSIA INVESTIGATION'S BUZZWORD EXPLAINED

“THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN TO A PRESIDENT AGAIN!” Trump exclaimed in a tweet after claiming "collusion" was an excuse invented by Democrats after Hillary Clinton lost the election.

Here's a look at what happens when Mueller finally drops the long-awaited files that spell out his findings.

Mueller submits his report to Barr

When the investigation — which began in May 2017 — concludes, Mueller will release his final report to Barr, who has been overseeing the special counsel since he took office in February.

"At the conclusion of the Special Counsel's work, he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel," Cornell Law School explains in a blog post detailing the federal regulations.

ANDREW WEISSMANN, A TOP PROSECUTOR ON MUELLER TEAM, TO LEAVE SPECIAL COUNSEL'S OFFICE 'IN NEAR FUTURE'

Throughout the two-year probe, Mueller has also been required to flag any documents that detail any impending prosecutions or witness interviews, among other actions.

Barr reviews the documents

Attorney General William Barr will be the first to receive the official copy of Mueller's report.

Attorney General William Barr will be the first to receive the official copy of Mueller's report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

It's currently unclear what documentation will be produced at the end of the probe, but it's up to Barr to determine how much information Congress will see.

“He could write a two-sentence explanation — or he could write something very detailed,” Andrew Kent, a professor at Fordham University School of Law, previously told The Washington Post. “There appears to be a great deal of discretion vested by the regulations to determine how detailed a report to write. The regulations don’t limit that.”

He is obligated to tell members of Congress why Mueller decided to end the investigation but he's not legally required to provide any supporting paperwork, according to The New York Times.

It's likely Barr will redact any information he deems inappropriate or harmful to a person's character if he or she has not been charged with a crime. Classified information, grand jury items and closed-door testimony will also be protected.

In a February letter to Barr, Democratic leaders argued that Trump, given his status, should not fall under those categories of protection.

"I also believe it is very important that the public and Congress be informed of the results of the special counsel's work."

— William Barr

"Although we recognize the policy of the Department to remains sensitive to the privacy and reputation interests of individuals who will not face criminal charges, we feel that it is necessary to address the particular danger of withholding evidence of misconduct by President Trump from the relevant committees," the lawmakers wrote.

During his confirmation hearing, Barr stressed that he would be as transparent as possible while following federal laws.

"I also believe it is very important that the public and Congress be informed of the results of the special counsel's work," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in January, adding that he doesn't believe Mueller would be involved in a "witch hunt."

Congress receives Barr's summary of the report

Once Barr sifts through what's anticipated to be a lengthy report — which could take days or even weeks to fully read — then he will give lawmakers a summary.

If lawmakers are dissatisfied with the documents Barr has provided, they could call for hearings or private depositions seeking more information.

WHO IS WILLIAM BARR? 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

"This is going to be a legal battle," Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., commented on the likelihood of lawmakers attempting to seek confidential information from the report, according to USA Today.

Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor who is in private practice in Chicago, expressed doubt that lawmakers would subpoena the report or call on Mueller to discuss the high-profile case publicly.

"This notion that Congress is going to throw a subpoena on Bob Mueller and say, 'Box up all the grand jury stuff, and give it to me': I think that's a fantasy," Cotter told USA Today.

Fox News' Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Youngest captain, loving son: Ethiopian pilots honored in death

A relative carries a portrait photograph of Ethiopian Airlines pilot Yared Getachew as he mourns at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town Bishoftu
A relative carries a portrait photograph of Ethiopian Airlines pilot Yared Getachew as he mourns at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

March 20, 2019

By Maggie Fick

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The dreams of the two young men soared as high as the Ethiopian Airlines planes they proudly flew.

Handsome, cosmopolitan Yared Getachew was to marry another plane captain this year. Studious, serious Ahmednur Mohammed rented his first apartment with his maiden paycheck in February.

Their lives, along with 155 others, ended when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 plunged into a field moments after take-off in a still unexplained disaster.

Yared, 29, was captain; Ahmednur, 25, his first officer.

Yared was a popular and brilliant student who became the airline’s youngest ever captain at 27, said his father Getachew Tessema, a retired plastic surgeon and dentist.

He spoke to Reuters after a ceremony at the Kenyan embassy in Addis Ababa to honor the 32 Kenyan victims from the crash. Yared’s mother was Kenyan, making him a citizen of two nations.

“I’m very bitter,” 80-year-old Getachew said, sitting hunched with his head in his hand as he reflected on Yared’s shattered marriage plans.

“At least if he had had a child,” he trailed off painfully as friends nodded in understanding.

Yared’s brother Meno Getachew Tessema, 39, sat next to his father, sometimes putting an arm around him as the ceremony progressed. Yared visited Meno’s family in Toronto when the young pilot came to train on flight simulators in Miami twice in the past two years.

By the time of the crash, Yared had amassed 8,100 hours of flying experience, the airline said, unusual at his age but no surprise to the family. They remembered him as a committed student who shone at school as a child in his mother’s native Kenya and as a teenager in his father’s home country Ethiopia.

He went straight into Ethiopian Airlines’ Aviation Academy after high school. “His dream was to be a pilot,” said Meno, a corporate lawyer. “He was diligent, hardworking, he had a consistent work ethic … he was a rising star of Ethiopian Airlines.”

ARCHITECT TURNED PILOT

Sitting next to Yared in the cockpit on March 10 was Ahmednur Mohammed.

While the pair’s professionalism has been lauded, air safety experts fear they – and pilots in a similar crash in Indonesia in October – may not have been sufficiently versed in a new automated anti-stall system in the Boeing 737 MAX series.

The middle of three sons of a small business owner, friends from the sleepy eastern city of Dire Dawa remember Ahmednur as unusually driven to study when others would spend afternoons relaxing in the shade, chewing the narcotic leaf qat.

He spent five years at college studying his first love – architecture – where he earned the nickname 5-10 for his legendary 17-hour library stints, and received gentle ribbing for the neatness of his room.

Even as a student, Ahmednur’s skill earned him some small interior design commissions, friends said.

But the dutiful son feared he would not be able to make enough money as an architect to help his family, said his father Mohammed Omar, a white-haired 60-year-old in a carefully pressed worn suit.

So he switched to aviation school and completed two years of training. After school hours, he would visit a friend whose brother was a pilot and sit in the living room, running through cockpit checklists and motions on the couch, the friend said. He graduated with a commercial pilot’s license, the airline said.

“He would call me every three days. He would talk about his plans, he said that he was going to help his family,” his father told Reuters after Islamic prayers in Ahmednur’s memory at a relative’s house on the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

Last Friday, mosques in both the capital and Dire Dawa held prayers for Ahmednur, the family said.

After a few months rest, he began working for Ethiopian Airlines, visiting other nations — Israel, South Africa, Burkina Faso — and earning his first salary.

He adored it, said his brother Menur Mohammed.

Ahmednur amassed 350 flying hours and had just started living alone for the first time when the family heard his plane had gone down.

“It took us long to believe he was dead,” his cousin Imran Mohammed, 30, told Reuters.

“He was so excited to live on his own.”

The family wants the airline or government to build a bridge or a school, something tangible to commemorate Ahmednur: pilot, architect, son. “We want to see something in his name, to remember him,” his father said softly.

(Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Source: OANN

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Del Vecchio wants to split powers with aide as EssilorLuxottica seeks CEO

FILE PHOTO: Lens producers Essilor' s logo is seen in an optician shop in Paris
FILE PHOTO: Lens producers Essilor' s logo is seen in an optician shop in Paris, France, March 15, 2016. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo

March 13, 2019

By Claudia Cristoferi

MILAN (Reuters) – The top shareholder in EssilorLuxottica sought to ease concerns over governance at the merged Franco-Italian group on Wednesday by saying he would not insist on his right-hand man becoming chief executive of the combined company.

Italy’s Luxottica and France’s Essilor merged last October to create the world’s biggest producer of spectacles and lenses. Analysts say the division of power at the group is unclear and that tensions could undermine the integration process.

The group has just launched the search for a new chief executive, to be appointed by the end of next year.

Leonardo Del Vecchio, the founder of Luxottica who is now the largest shareholder and the executive chairman of the combined group, had appeared to indicate in November that he wanted his right-hand man Francesco Milleri to get the CEO job – a prospect that has irked the French side.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Del Vecchio, 83, said his November comments “shouldn’t be interpreted as his desire to appoint Francesco Milleri as CEO of EssilorLuxottica.”

The spokesman added that Del Vecchio, who has 32 percent of EssilorLuxottica, wanted to transfer some operational functions to Milleri, so that he could focus more on strategic matters.

The governance issue came back into focus on Wednesday after a Financial Times report said the French and Italian sides were pushing their own candidates for the top job.

Milleri started off as an IT consultant to Luxottica and grew closer to Del Vecchio over the years, eventually becoming the billionaire founder’s most trusted aide and CEO of the Italian company.

The spokesman said giving additional powers to Milleri now would not alter the balance of power with the French side of the group and would not affect the search for the new CEO. Under the terms of the merger, Del Vecchio and Essilor CEO Hubert Sagnieres are sharing powers for the first three years.

“(Del Vecchio’s holding) Delfin wants to respect all the merger agreements,” the spokesman said.

EssilorLuxottica declined to comment.

Analysts said the group should urgently define a clear leadership.

“It is essential for the execution of the plan. We think this should be a priority and cannot wait until 2020,” said analysts at broker Equita in a note.

(Reporting by Claudia Cristoferi; editing by Silvia Aloisi and Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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Ancient shipwreck to be made accessible to divers in Greece

Near the northern Greek island of Alonissos lies a remarkable ancient shipwreck: the remains of a massive cargo ship that changed archaeologists' understanding of shipbuilding in antiquity.

Now this spectacular find is to become the first ancient shipwreck to be made accessible to the public in Greece, including to recreational divers.

Greece's rich underwater heritage has long been hidden from view, off-limits to all but a select few, mainly archaeologists. Scuba diving was banned throughout the country except in a few specific locations until 2005, for fear that divers might loot the countless antiquities that still lie scattered on the country's seabed.

Ancient shipwrecks and even many more recent ones are still off-limits.

Now that seems to be gradually changing, with a new project to create underwater museums.

Divers will be able to tour certain shipwrecks and non-divers will experience the sites through virtual reality in information centers on land.

The first of these sites is the Peristera shipwreck, named for the uninhabited Greek island opposite Alonissos where it was discovered in the early 1990s. The cargo ship was laden with thousands of amphoras, or vases, probably containing wine, when it sank in the late 5th century B.C.

All that survives is the cargo, the exposed parts of the wooden ship having long since rotted away. But the sight is spectacular.

Thousands of ancient vases, the vast majority intact, lie in layers. Fish, sponges and other sea creatures have made the amphoras their home, adding color and life to the site. In some places, the cargo towers above divers as they pass along the perimeter of the wreck.

"It is very impressive. Even I, who have been working for years in underwater archaeology, the first time I dived on this wreck I was truly impressed," said Dimitris Kourkoumelis, the lead archaeologist on the project preparing the site for visitors. "It's different to see amphoras ... individually in a museum and different to see them in such concentration."

The wreck still holds mysteries. Only a small part has been excavated, and experts have yet to determine how or why it sank, or what other treasures it might have carried beneath the estimated 4,000 amphoras in its hold.

There are indications a fire had broken out on board, but it's unclear whether that contributed to its sinking.

"Was it a piracy act? Was it overloaded?" said Elpida Hadjidaki, the first archaeologist to excavate the site. These questions remain unanswered.

The Peristera wreck is the largest ship of its time to have been found and its discovery was of major significance to historians.

"Up to then, we thought that large ships that were carrying 1,500 amphoras and were up to 70 tons, they were built by the Romans in the 1st century B.C.," Hadjidaki explained. "Well, now we have a ship that was not built in the 1st century B.C., it was built in the 5th century B.C., it carried 4,000 amphoras and God knows what else and it's 126 tons."

Hadjidaki said she is thrilled the wreck is being opened to visitors.

"It's fantastic. Twenty-five years ago, I was the first person that proposed that and people were jumping at me, they thought I was crazy," she said. "Why should we keep it to ourselves? We have to give knowledge to people."

The first test for guided tours of the wreck, which lies at a depth of about 22-28 meters (72-92 feet), was carried out last weekend with small groups of recreational and professional divers.

A thorough briefing, complete with historical information and the rules of the dive, preceded the short boat ride from the tiny harbor of Steni Valla on Alonissos to the site. On the wreck itself, explanatory signs have been suspended along the perimeter.

The initial feedback has been positive.

"It was an amazing opportunity ... to dive at last on an ancient wreck," said Kostas Menemenoglou, a 39-year-old recreational diver from the central town of Volos. "It was a fantastic experience. It's really like diving into history."

Three other shipwrecks in the Pagasitic Gulf in central Greece are also included in the project, which is part of a European Commission-funded BlueMed program, which plans to expand the project to Italy and Croatia. More test dives will be held this summer and next year, with hopes of fully opening the sites to recreational diving in early 2021.

"Accessible archaeological sites are one of the most interesting projects — not just a Greek project but a worldwide project," said Kourkoumelis, who noted it has taken a long time to get to the point of allowing visitors to access an ancient wreck.

"It took years. And that's logical, because underwater ancient sites and particularly ancient shipwrecks are exposed ... and fragile," he said, noting it was crucial to properly set up the project and the dive conditions, making sure the sites are protected before they can be opened to the public.

"All the conditions must be ensured so that these sites remain safe in the future and for future generations," he added.

____

Follow Becatoros on https://twitter.com/ElenaBec

Source: Fox News World

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Tennessee church shooting suspect objects to phone evidence

The man accused of fatally shooting a woman and wounding seven people at a Tennessee church in September 2017 is objecting to using evidence from his cellphone.

Emanuel Kidega Samson made his first public court appearance Wednesday during a Davidson County Criminal Court hearing. The 27-year-old faces a 43-count indictment, including a first-degree murder charge, in the Nashville shooting at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ.

Samson's attorney, Jennifer Lynn Thompson, said a search warrant affidavit doesn't tie the phone's potential contents with Samson's charges.

An arrest affidavit says Samson waived his rights and told police he arrived armed and fired at Burnette.

Prosecutors have said they're seeking a life sentence without parole.

Samson is black and the victims are white. Authorities haven't definitively said whether they believe Samson targeted them based on race.

Source: Fox News National

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Mexican president touts good ties with US in first 100 days

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is celebrating what he called his administration's "cordial" relations with the United State as he marks his first 100 days in office.

When Lopez Obrador took office Dec. 1, many feared the leftist was headed for a certain clash with conservative U.S. President Donald Trump.

But the two have maintained civil relations, without the frequent insults and name-calling Trump had once subjected Mexico to.

Mexico has quietly cooperated with the United States by allowing asylum applicants to be sent back to Mexico while they await resolution of their cases.

Lopez Obrador said Monday that "accusatory and angry talk is no longer heard. Instead we use diplomacy and constant communication."

Source: Fox News World

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Israeli kills suspected Palestinian attacker in West Bank

An Israeli shot and killed a Palestinian who he said tried to attack him with a knife near the West Bank city of Nablus.

A Nablus hospital says another Palestinian was moderately wounded in Wednesday's shooting.

The Israeli military says an Israeli civilian shot a Palestinian who attempted to carry out a stabbing. Israel's Beilinson hospital says the Palestinian later died of his wounds.

The Israeli man told local media the Palestinian "jumped on the car with a knife and tried to open the door."

Since 2015, Palestinians have killed over 50 Israelis in West Bank stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks. Israeli forces have killed over 260 Palestinians in that same period. Israel says most were attackers, but clashes between protesters and soldiers have also turned deadly.

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.

He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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A bedridden 67-year-old woman and more than a dozen animals were rescued Thursday after a welfare check found that they were living in a home filled with trash, urine, and feces, Florida police said.

Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said when they arrived at the home in Dunedin around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, they could smell the odor of rotting trash and animal feces as they walked up to the driveway.

“Inside the residence, the odor of feces and urine was so overwhelming that deputies had to don masks,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

FLORIDA SHERIFF ON BORDER CRISIS AFTER MAJOR DRUG BUST: ‘IT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’

Walking throughout the residence, the deputies found 10 emaciated dogs and puppies living in bins filled with their own feces, five large Macaw birds flying freely, rats, bugs and overall squalor.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

Deputies said due to the large amounts of trash in the home, they had to clear a path to reach the victim’s bedroom.

“None of the home’s toilets were working and all were found to be overflowing with feces,” deputies said. “The only working sink was located on the opposite end of the house from the victim’s bedroom.”

They said there was no food or water for the victim or the animals.

FLORIDA MAN IN EASTER BUNNY COSTUME CAUGHT IN VIRAL BRAWL IS WANTED IN NEW JERSEY, HAS HISTORY OF ARRESTS

The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that were non-life threatening, while the animals were transported to shelters.

The woman’s caretaker, Richard Lawrence Goodwin, 65, was arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of an elderly person, disabled person, and cruelty to animals.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

The sheriff’s department said this was Goodwin’s second arrest for abuse and neglect of the same victim. He was previously arrested in May 2018.

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Neighbor Victoria Muenzerbeer told FOX 13 that Goodwin and the victim were hoarders and the conditions inside the home were horrible years ago when she visited once.

“I went in and it was absolutely, a human being couldn’t live there,” she said. “The kitchen wasn’t usable and part of the wall was falling in.”

Source: Fox News National

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Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.

Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.

Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.

He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.

He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.

“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.

Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.

Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.

But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.

Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.

With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.

The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.

Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.

“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.

According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.

Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.

However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.

Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.

FOREX SURCHARGE

Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.

Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.

Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.

But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.

Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.

The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., threatened possible jail time for White House officials refusing to comply with subpoenas to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

Connolly, a member of the House panel, made his comments during an interview on CNN on Thursday. He said that “if a subpoena is issued and you’re told you must testify, we will back that up.”

He added: “And we will use any and all power in our command to make sure it’s backed up — whether that’s a contempt citation, whether that’s going to court and getting that citation enforced, whether it’s fines, whether it’s possible incarceration.”

“We will go to the max to enforce the constitutional role of the legislative branch of government.”

His comments came after three officials have refused to comply with congressional requests to testify, CNN noted.

Trump told The Washington Post that his staff should not testify on Capitol Hill, explaining that the White House cooperated fully with special counsel Robert Mueller and “there is no reason to go any further, especially in Congress where it’s very partisan.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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