Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Fed must ‘tread carefully’ given market signals on outlook

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard speaks at a public lecture in Singapore
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard speaks at a public lecture in Singapore October 8, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo/File Photo

April 11, 2019

(Reuters) – Financial markets are sending worrisome signals about the U.S. economic outlook and the Federal Reserve needs to “tread carefully” to keep the economy growing, a policymakers at the U.S. central bank said on Thursday.

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said two particularly important signals were coming in the form of yields on different U.S. federal debt securities and on investor bets on the inflation outlook.

Bullard, who has a vote this year on the Fed’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, released slides for a presentation at a community development event in Tupelo, Mississippi.

“These market-based signals indicate that the FOMC needs to tread carefully going forward in order to sustain the economic expansion,” according to one of the slides.

Bullard said in the slides that policymakers need to take seriously the possibility of a prolonged period in which interest rates are lower for short-term U.S. government debt than for long-term debt could signal a recession.

Market observers pay attention to numerous spreads between different U.S. Treasury securities.

Bullard said in his slides that some parts of the yield curve are already inverted. Indeed, currently yields the 3-year and 5-year U.S. Treasury notes are lower than those on 2-year notes and Treasury bills.

Bullard also noted that investors appear to be betting that inflation will fall short of the Fed’s 2 percent target rate in 2019 and also over the next five years.

(Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

0 0

German government extends ban on arms exports to Saudi

The German government has extended a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia by six months until the end of September.

However, in a decision late Thursday, the government made a partial exception for programs that aren't purely German. It said it would push for jointly produced weapons not to be used in the war in Yemen and for no "fully assembled" products to be delivered to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates through the end of this year.

Germany imposed the ban following the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul last year. Britain and France have criticized Germany's stance, saying the ban prevents them selling jointly developed equipment with German components to the Gulf nation.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

New Zealand to target online giants with digital tax

FILE PHOTO - 2019 World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos
FILE PHOTO - New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern smiles as she attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

February 18, 2019

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand said on Monday that it plans to update its laws so it can tax revenue earned by multinational digital firms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, extending a global effort to bring global tech giants into the tax net.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the cabinet had agreed to issue a discussion document about how to update the country’s tax framework to ensure multinational companies pay their fair share.

“Our current tax system is not fair in the way it treats individual tax payers, and how it treats multinationals,” Ardern told reporters at her weekly post-cabinet news conference.

Highly digitalized companies, such as those offering social media networks, trading platforms, and online advertising, currently earn a significant income from New Zealand consumers without being liable for income tax, the government said in a statement released after the announcement.

The value of cross-border digital services in New Zealand is estimated to be around NZ$2.7 billion ($1.86 billion).

The revenue estimate for a digital services tax is between NZ$30 million and NZ$80 million, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in the statement.

Digital services taxes (DST) are generally charged at a flat rate of two to three percent on the gross revenue earned by a multinational company in that country.

A number of countries including the U.K, Spain, Italy, France, Austria and India have enacted or announced plans for a DST. The EU and Australia are also consulting on a DST.

Officials will now finalize the New Zealand discussion document on the matter, which is likely to be publicly released by May 2019.

($1 = 1.4526 New Zealand dollars)

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: OANN

0 0

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

0 0

Exclusive: Spain’s Repsol suspends swap deal for Venezuelan oil under U.S. pressure

FILE PHOTO: The corporate logo of Repsol is seen in their office in Caracas
FILE PHOTO: The corporate logo of Repsol is seen in their office in Caracas, Venezuela April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

April 17, 2019

By Collin Eaton and Marianna Parraga

HOUSTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Spain’s Repsol has suspended its swaps of refined products for crude with Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA, people familiar with the matter said, as U.S. officials weigh penalties for foreign firms doing business with Venezuela.

The Spanish oil company has been swapping fuel and waiving payments due from a joint venture with PDVSA in exchange for crude, even as the United States rolled out new sanctions aimed at ousting Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

The arrangement made Repsol one of the OPEC-member nation’s main fuel suppliers, alongside Russia’s Rosneft and India’s Reliance Industries, according to three sources and vessel-tracking data.

The Trump administration blames Maduro for a severe economic crisis that has forced millions of Venezuelans to flee. The United States and dozens of other countries recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation’s interim president. Maduro considers Guaido a U.S. puppet.

A final decision on whether Repsol will cancel the Venezuelan swap deal altogether, after it was first arranged in late 2018, has not yet been made, the sources said.

A Repsol spokesman declined to comment on the petroleum swaps. But one of the sources said the company had been communicating with the Trump administration through the U.S. embassy in Spain, which declined to comment.

Repsol has said previously that it was complying with U.S. sanctions on PDVSA, which bar any use of the U.S. financial system or subsidiaries based in the United States for oil deals with Venezuela.

Companies have been given until April 28 to wind down their existing transactions.

Repsol’s most recent shipment of gasoline arrived in Venezuela on March 25 aboard the Torm Laura, according to vessel-tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon and consulting firm Kpler.

As of Wednesday, the Achilleas, a Suezmax tanker chartered by Repsol, remained anchored off Venezuela’s Jose oil port, after loading about 1 million barrels of heavy crude on April 6, the Refinitiv data showed.

Another Suezmax chartered by Repsol has been anchored off Jose for at least a week after loading Venezuelan oil, according to shipping sources and Refinitiv data.

The tankers are awaiting directions from Repsol before they set sail, according to one of the sources.

A separate group of 11 loaded tankers, chartered by U.S. firms Chevron Corp, Valero Energy and Citgo Petroleum have been anchored off Jose for over two months following payment complications from sanctions.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton told Reuters last month the administration was considering imposing sanctions on any companies outside the United States that do business with Venezuela.

On Wednesday in Miami, Bolton announced a series of new sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela, ratcheting up pressure on Maduro and the countries that support him.

In February, Spain imported some 75,920 barrels per day (bpd) of Venezuelan oil, down from 84,650 bpd the month before, when arrivals were boosted by the Repsol-PDVSA swap. The European country imported an average of 12,630 bpd of the crude during 2018.

(Reporting by Collin Eaton in Houston, Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Isla Binnie in Madrid; Editing by Tom Brown)

Source: OANN

0 0

Texas cops find 275 pounds of pot next to baby in car seat, women arrested: report

Texas Border Patrol officials said they discovered a baby in a car seat next to 275 pounds of marijuana after they pulled a vehicle over last Friday, a report said.

Ashley Renee Resendiz, 22, and Carla Michelle Resendiz, 47, both of Texas, were arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute, according to Dallas Morning News.

BORDER PATROL SPOTS DRONE TRYING TO HELP MIGRANTS ILLEGALLY ENTER AMERICA

A witness called Border Patrol Friday after allegedly seeing the suspects’ vehicle being loaded with what looked like drugs.

Agents released the baby into the custody of a relative and confiscated the five bundles (totaling 275.36 pounds) of marijuana, Dallas Morning News reported.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Carla Resendiz’s bail was set at $75,000 Thursday. Ashley Resendiz's hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Source: Fox News National

0 0

Florida city dismantles, relocates Confederate statue

A statue of a Confederate soldier is being removed from a Florida park.

The statue had stood at the center of Lakeland's Munn Park for 109 years. City officials began dismantling the monument Friday.

City commissioners voted in December 2017 to start the process to move the statue after receiving complaints from residents. In November, commissioners approved funding the $150,000 cost of moving the statue with citations issued as part of the city's red-light camera program.

The Ledger reports the statue is being relocated to a different park where the city honors soldiers and first responders. Veterans Park is adjacent to a city-owned convention and entertainment complex.

The director of the city's parks and recreation department, Bob Donahay, says dismantling the monument and relocating it will take several days.

___

Information from: The Ledger (Lakeland, Fla.), http://www.theledger.com

Source: Fox News National

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

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

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

“Outdated laws” need fixing to deal with the surge in illegal immigrant families crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, a top Border Patrol official said Friday.

Migrant families face no consequences if apprehended trying to cross the border illegally under present law, Border Patrol chief of Operations Brian Hastings claimed during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“We need a change in the current outdated laws that we’re dealing with for this current demographic and this crisis that we have,” he said.

Hastings said as of Thursday there have been 440,000 apprehensions along the southwest border. There were 396,000 apprehensions all of last year.

SOUTHERN BORDER AT ‘BREAKING POINT’ AFTER MORE THAN 76,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TRIED CROSSING IN FEBRUARY, OFFICIALS SAY

And those numbers continue to rise, he said.

Historically 70 to 90 percent of apprehensions at the border were quickly returned to Mexico, Hastings said.

Now, 83 percent of those apprehended have come from the Central American northern triangle which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and of those 63 percent are “family units” and children who cannot be returned, he said.

“There are no consequences that we can apply to this group currently,” Hastings said. “We’re overwhelmed. If you look at agents there doing a tremendous job trying to deal with the flow.”

The law dictates children have to be released after 20 days of detention.

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

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says that has forced immigration officials to release entire families because “you don’t want to separate families.”

Recently, he said he is drafting legislation that would allow children to be detained for more than 20 days.

Hastings said agents are frustrated with the situation but are doing the best they can with the resources they have.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Up to 40 percent of our agents are processing at any given time,” he said. “That should say that in and of itself is pulling from those border security resources.”

Source: Fox News National

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist