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Al Shabaab attacks Somali government building in Mogadishu, at least nine dead

A rickshaw is seen near the scene of a suicide explosion after al-Shabaab militia stormed a government building in Mogadishu
A rickshaw is seen near the scene of a suicide explosion after al-Shabaab militia stormed a government building in Mogadishu, Somalia March 23, 2019. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

March 23, 2019

By Abdi Sheikh

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somalia’s al Shabaab stormed a government building on Saturday, detonating a suicide car bomb in the heart of the capital Mogadishu with at least nine people, including an assistant minister, killed during an ensuing gun battle.

The large explosion shook the center of Mogadishu and a large plume of smoke rose above the scene of the blast, a building that houses Somalia’s ministries of labor and works.

It was the latest bombing claimed by Al Shabaab, an Islamist group which is fighting to establish its own rule in Somalia, based on a strict interpretation of sharia law.

“So far seven people died including an assistant minister who is also an MP,” Major Mohamed Hussein, a police officer told Reuters, identifying the minister as Saqar Ibrahim Abdala, assistant labor minister.

Hussein said two of the al Shabaab fighters who entered the building after an initial suicide car bomb had been killed in a firefight and that much of the building had been secured.

“We believe there are other militants hiding themselves,” he said, adding that 20 people had been injured in the assault.

Dr. Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Amin Ambulance Service told Reuters some people were still trapped inside the building and that it was not possible to rescue them because of an ongoing gun battle.

Al Shabaab said one of its fighters had rammed the ministry building with a suicide car bomb, allowing others to enter.

“We are inside the building and (the) fighting goes on. We shall give details later,” Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al Shabaab’s military operation spokesman told Reuters.

Al Shabaab, which is trying to topple Somalia’s western backed central government, was ejected from Mogadishu in 2011 and has since been driven from most of its other strongholds.

But it remains a threat, with its fighters frequently carrying out bombings in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, whose troops form part of the African Union mandated peacekeeping force AMISOM that helps defend Somalia’s central government.

(Additional reporting Feisal Omar; writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Louise Heavens and Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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U.S. judge rebuts Trump on transgender troop limits

FILE PHOTO - Members of the Army march up 5th Avenue during the Veterans Day Parade in New York
FILE PHOTO - Members of the Army march up 5th Avenue during the Veterans Day Parade in New York November 11, 2012. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

March 19, 2019

By Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday contradicted the Trump administration’s “incorrect” claim that no legal blocks remain for it to enforce a contentious policy to restrict many transgender individuals from the U.S. armed forces starting on April 12.

In a three-page notice, U.S. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said an injunction that she issued against the policy in 2017 remains in place.

“Defendants were incorrect in claiming that there was no longer an impediment to the military’s implementation” of the transgender policy, the judge wrote.

A spokeswoman for Pentagon said it was consulting with the U.S. Justice Department, which declined to comment.

Three other injunctions issued by judges in separate cases have already been lifted, in part by a Jan. 22 U.S. Supreme Court decision and subsequent action by a federal judge in Maryland.

That prompted the U.S. Defense Department to sign a memo on March 12 that would enforce its service limitations on transgender people, effective one month later.

Kollar-Kotelly’s injunction, however, had been set aside by a three-judge panel of the District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Jan. 4. The panel said it would hold off on issuing a “mandate” to finalize the higher court’s decision until it resolves any request by the plaintiffs who challenged the transgender policy as a violation of the U.S. Constitution to rehear their appeal.

“The Trump administration cannot circumvent the judicial process just to fast track its baseless, unfair ban on transgender servicemembers,” said attorney Jennifer Levi of the anti-discrimination group GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, who represents the plaintiffs.

President Donald Trump in 2017 announced a plan to ban transgender people from the military, reversing Democratic former President Barack Obama’s policy of allowing transgender troops to serve openly and get medical transition care.

In March 2018, Trump backed a revised policy from then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It banned, in some circumstances, transgender people with gender dysphoria, or distress due to internal conflict between physical gender and gender identity.

The Mattis policy also banned transgender people who seek or have undergone gender transition steps.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Richard Chang)

Source: OANN

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Italy requests EU plan against migrant wave from Libya

Italy's government has written to the European Union asking it to prepare a plan of action to address the risk of a new wave of migrants escaping from the armed conflict in Libya.

Italy's Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero spoke on Wednesday at a joint news conference in Rome after meeting with the United Nation envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame. Moavero didn't provide additional details on Italy's request.

Italy's anti-immigration Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has ordered that migrant rescue boats cannot enter Italian ports.

Salame downplayed Italy's fears that a huge number of African refugees could leave Libya trying to reach Europe.

"We know that about 700,000 migrants are in our country now, but not even a minority of them wants to cross the Mediterranean," Salame told journalists.

Source: Fox News World

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Argentina’s new trillion-peso risk: mounting ‘Leliq’ debt

FILE PHOTO: A man shows Argentine pesos outside a bank in Buenos Aires' financial district
FILE PHOTO: A man shows Argentine pesos outside a bank in Buenos Aires' financial district, Argentina August 30, 2018. Picture taken August 30, 2018. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

March 13, 2019

By Gabriel Burin

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina has a new debt worry. The country’s pile of short-term “Leliq” notes has broken through 1 trillion pesos (around $24 billion), a potential strain on the central bank’s coffers and a fresh headache for the government in an election year.

The Leliq debt, denominated in pesos and auctioned daily to mostly domestic banks, helps the central bank mop up funds in the market to bolster a weak currency and bring down stubborn inflation. But with sky-high interest rates it is also raising concerns that it could become unsustainable.

The spike in the short-term government debt instrument is significant in a country where a tumbling peso, stalling growth and problems repaying debt last year led to an emergency $56 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.

“If investors start thinking that this is a problem, then it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Carlos de Sousa, senior Latin America economist at Oxford Economics.

“Banks could be discouraged from holding Leliqs, the interest will go up further, and that may end up in the BCRA (central bank) having to rethink its monetary policy framework once again.”

A central bank spokesman said when inflation was taken into account the rise in Leliq volumes was “considerably more moderate.” Monthly inflation in January was 2.9 percent and is expected to rise around 32 percent this year.

The central bank auctioned around 200 billion pesos in Leliq notes on Wednesday at a four-month high average interest rate of 63.328 percent, with net Leliq debt rising above the trillion peso mark for the first time this week, according to official bank data and traders.

(GRAPHIC: Argentina’s trillion-peso Leliq debt – https://tmsnrt.rs/2UEgejH)

“SNOWBALL EFFECT”

In theory, if rates remained elevated, that could put the government on the line for annual interest of around 600 billion pesos or more, considering compound interest. Most analysts expect rates to drop, though they have spiked again recently.

Rates peaked at over 70 percent in October before easing to just above 40 percent last month as economic fears abated. However, higher-than-expected inflation and renewed fears about the peso have forced rates back up sharply over the last month.

The issue would arise if high rates created a “snowball” effect with Leliq notes, some analysts said, as the central bank issued more of the instrument to repay the debt. Leliqs set the benchmark lending rate and are a main tool to control inflation.

“The face value of Leliqs is really high now so we need to watch it closely,” said Juan Lezica, a Buenos Aires-based economist with consultancy ACM. “It starts to get a bit dangerous if it continues to grow at this rate.”

Rating agency Moody’s said on Wednesday the high rates were negative for the country’s banks because they increased loan delinquencies and stymied economic activity.

The sharp ramp-up of high-interest Leliq debt underscores how Argentina’s central bank is having to fire on all cylinders to defend the peso, which lost half its value against the dollar last year, and draw down inflation running at nearly 50 percent.

High-interest peso debt encourages banks to keep their money in the currency, rather than moving it into safer dollars – a trend which last year pummeled the peso.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri also wants to avoid a flight from the peso at all costs, which would destabilize an already fragile economic situation and derail his plans to seek re-election when the country heads to the polls in October.

Eric Ritondale, Buenos Aires-based economist at consultancy Econviews, said if markets remained stable then the central bank should be able to turn over the rising Leliq debt, but that rates – up twenty points in the last month – were the issue.

“The amount (of Leliq) itself doesn’t worry me so much,” he said. “What worries me is that rates have gained so much again after their lows earlier this year.”

($1 = 41.5000 Argentine pesos)

(Reporting by Gabriel Burin; Additional reporting by Jorge Otoala; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Rosalba O’Brien)

Source: OANN

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Golf: Win, lose or not even here, Woods always in Masters spotlight

Tiger Woods of the U.S. chips onto the practice green during the second day of practice for the 2019 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Tiger Woods of the U.S. chips onto the practice green during the second day of practice for the 2019 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S., April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 9, 2019

By Steve Keating

AUGUSTA, Ga. (Reuters) – It has been 11 years since Tiger Woods last won a major and 14 since he claimed a Green Jacket yet like Augusta National itself some things never seem to change as the 43 year-old again took his place in the Masters spotlight on Tuesday.

“If Tiger wins my goodness what’s that story going to be, it might make the morning papers — for the next three months,” six-time major winner Nick Faldo replied when asked what might be the Masters’ biggest storylines when play begins.

Since Woods made his Masters debut in 1995 until a rainy practice round on Tuesday, the American has been the main attraction at the year’s first major.

Even when Woods was not at Augusta National, missing the 2014, 2016 and 2017 tournaments due to injury, he was never out of the Masters conversation.

Without a major win since notching number 14 at the 2008 U.S. Open, Woods’s Masters drought stretches back even further to 2005 before either of his children, 11 year-old Sam and 10 year-old Charlie, were born.

For golf fans it is a dry spell that is hard to comprehend and for Woods one he admits he never saw coming.

“I would say that I wouldn’t have foreseen that, for sure,” said Woods. “After I won my 14th, I felt like I still had plenty more major championships that I could win, but unfortunately I just didn’t do it.

“Hopefully this year, I put myself there again, and hopefully I’ll get it done.”

PROMISING SIGNS

As Thursday’s first round approaches Tiger-mania is picking up steam.

After successful back fusion surgery and a long tedious recovery Woods returned to the winner’s circle last year, picking up his 80th career title with a stunning victory at the Tour Championship.

Perhaps an even more promising sign of a major breakthrough came at last year’s British Open and PGA Championship where he contended in both events.

“It proved to me that I could win again,” Woods said of his Tour Championship victory. “You know, I was close a couple of times.

“I just need to clean up my rounds and maybe need to get a break here or there.”

Nowhere does the Tiger mystique hang over an event more than at the Masters.

Augusta National has long been a happy place for Woods who along with his four wins has been runner-up twice with a third and three fourth-place finishes.

“I know that I can play this golf course,” he said. “I’ve had some success here. This is unlike any other golf tournament. The golf course is special.

“The tournament does an incredible job of creating a special atmosphere but it’s also the patrons and how you can tell birdie roars and eagle roars. It’s neat to hear.

“I’ve felt it and it’s exciting to be part of and hopefully I can be part of it come Sunday night.”

(Editing by Ken Ferris)

Source: OANN

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Hurricanes create natural climate change labs in Puerto Rico

The hurricanes that pounded Puerto Rico in 2017, blasting away most of its forest cover, may give scientists clues to how the world will respond to climate change and increasingly severe weather.

Researchers at El Yunque, the only tropical rain forest overseen by the U.S. Forest Service, are running controlled studies on how plants respond to higher temperatures combined — since the cataclysmic blow from Hurricane Maria — with severe weather. Not far away, another group is looking at how hurricanes affect the forest environment.

"It's a once-in-a-century opportunity to look at these two aspects of climate change together," said Tana Wood, a research ecologist with the Forest Service.

Wood heads a team testing how plants themselves respond to higher temperatures. The 2017 hurricane season, with Maria following a lesser blow from Hurricane Irma, has given them a chance as well to see how storms affect the recovery of ecosystems already under stress, a key concern in the Caribbean, where scientists say warmer temperatures could lead to more intense hurricanes.

On a recent trek to the site, Wood brushed aside thick branches and leaves the size of laptops as she made her way to three plots surrounded by infrared panels that heat the air and soil by 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit). The vegetation there was shorter and a bit browner compared with the three unheated control plots. The warmed plots run on 480 volts of electricity, and while the lines are isolated from the soil, the scientists use insulated boots to avoid getting electrocuted in case of an accident.

Nearby, plant physiologist Rob Tunison clamped what looked like a small compact mirror around a dark green leaf to measure photosynthesis, spending 30 minutes to an hour per leaf.

Wood said they are looking at how temperatures affect basic processes such as photosynthesis — by which plants transform sunlight into energy while absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing that gas along with oxygen into the atmosphere — as well as how soils respond.

The researchers are also studying nutrients and microbes in the artificially warmed plots of land, keeping sending frozen samples to a lab in California for analysis.

Knowledge about tropical plants and soils could eventually be plugged into models to determine how vastly broader ecosystems respond to changes.

"We are also able to look at the potential for tropical plants and soils to acclimate to consistently warmer conditions over time," Wood said.

Tropical forests play a key role in recycling carbon dioxide, and they store about a third of the world's carbon, she said. They also help generate rainfall across the world by releasing water vapor, which in turn creates clouds.

"Anything that happens in these systems can have an effect on the world's climate," she said.

U.S., British and international climate agencies reported this month that 2018 was the fourth-warmest year on record, and global emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide saw their largest spike in seven years. Overall, global carbon dioxide emissions have increased 55 percent in the past two decades, and Earth has warmed on average about two-thirds of a degree Celsius, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

British meteorologists said in early February that the next five years could see record-breaking temperatures. Scientists expect the world this year will spew 40.9 billion tons (37.1 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide, up from 39.8 billion tons (36.2 billion metric tons) last year, according to studies by the Global Carbon Project.

Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology who is not involved in the experiments at El Yunque, said she was not aware of any other long-term warming experiments in tropical rainforests.

"What will happen at their site is highly uncertain, because the rainforest itself controls so many aspects of the regional water cycle. It's not a system that we can model extremely well today, let alone under climate change scenarios," Cobb said. "But there is little doubt that these kinds of long-term monitoring sites are extremely valuable in advancing our understanding of the water and carbon cycle, and how they might change with climate change."

The $3 million project, partly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, is in its fourth year and Wood said she hopes it can run indefinitely. Scientists took a one-year hiatus after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017, so they could separate the effect of warming from the effect of the storm, which caused more than $100 billion in damage and toppled trees like dominoes.

A couple of miles from Woods' experiment, scientists including those from the International Institute of Tropical Forestry are looking at how hurricanes affect the tropical forest. They began by trimming away the canopy leaves above patches of forest to mimic the effects of a storm. They hired arborists to cut tree branches and spread them across the forest floor to study how light and water move through the changed ecosystem and the impact that the debris has on soil microbes. They also monitor cloud base heights to get a sense of how changes could affect rainfall.

Maria suddenly gave them a real-life test.

"It poses a lot of challenges but a lot of opportunities to move the science forward," said Grizelle Gonzalez, a project leader.

The experiments are expected to continue for several years, barring any interruptions from storms as the Caribbean prepares for another Atlantic hurricane season that starts June 1.

Cobb, the global warming scientist, praised the ongoing experiments.

"It is well worth the effort," she said. "The raw beauty of these environments is really only matched by their immense scientific potential."

Source: Fox News World

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Pac-12 Player of Year Nowell to enter NBA draft

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-Second Round: University of Washington vs UNC
Mar 24, 2019; Columbus, OH, USA; Washington Huskies guard Jaylen Nowell (5) looks to move the ball in the second half against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

April 1, 2019

Guard Jaylen Nowell, the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year, is taking his game to the NBA, he announced Sunday on Twitter.

The Washington sophomore guard, named to the All-Pac-12 first team, said he will enter the 2019 NBA Draft, set for June 20.

Nowell averaged 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists, and he shot 50.2 percent from the field and 44.0 percent from the 3-point line.

“This season has been nothing less than amazing,” Nowell said in the statement, indicating that the decision came after input from his family, teammates and coaching staff.

“I want to thank everyone, especially the city of Seattle, for your support. I hope you all will continue to support me through my professional career. I will always be a Dawg for life,” Nowell said.

Projections have indicated that Nowell could be drafted as early as the middle of the first round.

Said Washington coach Mike Hopkins about Nowell, also in a statement, “When he chose to stay with us two years ago and come to the University of Washington, we have seen him grow every single day, both on and off the court.”

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.

The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.

The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo

April 26, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.

The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.

Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.

But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.

Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.

High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.

It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.

Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.

“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.

The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.

Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.

Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.

Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.

Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.

This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

April 26, 2019

By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.

The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.

Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.

“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.

Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.

“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.

U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.

Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.

Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.

Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.

Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.

Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.

Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.

Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan

(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.

Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.

Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.

WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?

The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.

Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.

HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?

The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.

Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.

The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.

The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.

No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.

Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.

Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.

CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?

No.

Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.

“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.

“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”

PROOF OF WRONGDOING?

In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.

Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”

PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?

Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.

In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.

The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.

WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?

A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes
FILE PHOTO: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s lawyers on Friday are set to ask a Florida judge to toss out hidden-camera videos that prosecutors say show the 77-year-old billionaire receiving sexual favors for money inside a Florida massage parlor.

The owner of the reigning Super Bowl champions plans wants the video to not be used as evidence against him as he contests two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Spa in Jupiter, Florida, along with some two dozen other men.

His legal team is fresh off a win on Tuesday, when they successfully persuaded Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser to block prosecutors from releasing the hidden-camera footage to media outlets, which had requested copies under the state’s robust open records law.

Kraft, who has owned the franchise since 1994, pleaded not guilty, but has issued a public apology for his actions.

His attorneys have argued in court papers that the surreptitious videotaping of customers, including Kraft, inside a massage parlor was governmental overreach and the result of an illegally obtained search warrant.

The warrant, Kraft’s lawyers claim, was secured under false pretenses because police officers cited human trafficking as a potential crime in their application. Prosecutors have since acknowledged that the investigation yielded no evidence of trafficking.

Palm Beach County prosecutors in a court filing on Wednesday said Kraft’s motion should be rejected because he could not have had any expectation of privacy while visiting a commercial establishment to engage in criminal activity.

That prompted an indignant response from Kraft’s attorneys, who said the prosecution’s position on privacy was “unhinged.”

“It should go without saying that Mr. Kraft and everyone else in the United States have a reasonable expectation that the government will not secretly spy on them while they undress behind closed doors,” they wrote.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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