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Five challenges for Ukraine’s new president

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Zelenskiy reacts during a news conference in Kiev
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacts during a news conference at his campaign headquarters following a presidential election in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

April 24, 2019

By Marc Jones and Tom Arnold

LONDON (Reuters) – Ukraine has entered uncharted political waters by choosing Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian with no previous political experience and few detailed policies, as its new president.

Zelenskiy is the latest anti-establishment figure to unseat an incumbent leader, both in Europe and further afield, but he has a lot to get to grips with. Below are five big questions investors and the international community have.

1/STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT?

Zelenskiy is expected to take office next month and his ability to work with Ukraine’s parliament, the Rada, will be crucial to meeting the expectations of his voters.

The president appoints the head of the state security service, the head of the military, the general prosecutor, the central bank governor and the foreign and defense ministers. But parliament must confirm each appointment — and there’s the rub.

While Zelenskiy beat incumbent Petro Poroshenko decisively in Sunday’s presidential vote, parliamentary elections are not due until October and opinion polls suggest he is unlikely to win an outright majority.

That means he would need to ally with at least one other party if he is to get many of his policies and appointments through. The other alternative is to try to bring the elections forward in order to capitalize on the momentum from his presidential victory.

2/TEAM BUILDING EXERCISE

With no political experience himself, investors want Zelenskiy to build a team with enough know-how to avoid any policy missteps.

He does not actually have a full slate of policies yet but he brought in two former ministers as advisers for his campaign: former finance minister Oleksandr Danylyuk and former economy minister Aivaras Abromavicius.

Danylyuk is rumored to be in line to become either foreign minister or the head of the presidential administration, which would give him a powerful gatekeeper role.

“Zelenskiy might be inexperienced in foreign affairs but I think he will have plenty of choice of experienced individuals to serve as foreign minister, and will receive plenty of support, advice from Western governments,” wrote Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management.

3/IMF

International Monetary Fund aid has kept Ukraine’s economy above water so its ongoing support is seen as crucial, especially with around $3 billion (about 2 percent of GDP) of external debt obligations, including interest, coming due in the remainder of 2019. Another $5.5 billion (about 4 percent of GDP) must be repaid in 2020.

But Ukraine’s patchy reform efforts led to repeated delays in its previous IMF program that ended up disbursing only $8.7 billion of a planned $17.5 billion.

That was replaced by a new $3.9 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) in December. While Kiev hopes for another tranche of that money as early as next month, investors will want to see a fuller program put back in place soon.

It could be an interesting negotiation. Zelenskiy already wants to talk the IMF about reversing some gas price rises the Fund saw as crucial to mending Kiev’s finances.

Ukraine’s economic backdrop has improved in recent years though, with much smaller twin deficits (2-3 percent of GDP), lower public sector debt (just over 60 percent) and a stable currency. It also has over $20 billion in FX reserves, which is over four months of import cover, according to S&P Global.

4/PRIVATBANK PROBLEMS

One concern is Zelenskiy’s ties to oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, the former owner of Ukraine’s biggest lender PrivatBank, which was nationalized in 2016.

With the international community already concerned about corruption and influence, some have raised questions about what their relationship might mean for the future of PrivatBank and other interests of Kolomoisky in Ukraine.

A court ruling last week could threaten to overturn the nationalization of PrivatBank.

The central bank has said it will appeal — in fact there could be many appeals as well as other legal manoeuvres — but any sign that Zelenskiy might be in Kolomoisky’s camp on this could do serious damage, not least to relations with the IMF.

5/RUSSIA RELATIONS

As world leaders clamored to offer their congratulations to Zelenskiy, one notable name was absent: Russian President Vladimir Putin. How the Russian-speaking Zelenskiy handles Ukraine’s relationship with Moscow will go a long way to determining the success of his term in office.

He has already suggested taking a fresh perspective to try to secure peace with Moscow, while pushing ahead with European Union-friendly moves. That could prove a difficult path to tread.

For its part, Russia has signaled it intends to respect the vote of the Ukraine people, although Putin is not planning talks with Zelenskiy.

Also rumbling in the background is a legal dispute between the two surrounding Ukraine’s $3 billion Eurobond, which Moscow wants repaid in full but which Kiev argues should have been written down along with most of its other debt in 2015.

Any repairing of ties could also bring rewards for Ukraine. Improved relations could help it regain control over the separatist-controlled east, as well as cheap gas and major investment, a Kremlin ally in Ukraine said last week.

(Additional reporting by Matthias Williams in Kiev, Graphics by Karin Strohecker, Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

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Rep. Collins: Mueller report 'a breakup letter' to Democrats

Congressman Doug Collins, R-Ga., said Democrats still can’t get over the fact that Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton for the presidency in 2016, comparing the Mueller report summary to a breakup letter for Democrats.

“I think the weekend was a tough time for them because I think they lost their first love,” Collins said on “America’s Newsroom" Wednesday.

“They got a note back from Mr. Mueller saying we're wanting to break up because the collusion wasn't there, because obstruction wasn't there. So I think they're now trying to figure out what do they do next.”

CNN'S CHRIS CUOMO SAYS 'NO COLLUSION' NOT TRUE

Collins added, “And sometimes they just go out and they want to do other investigations because simply they still cannot get over the fact that November 2016 happened, Donald Trump became president, not Hillary Clinton.”

Tuesday the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation introduced by Collins last week unanimously asking for details on the obstruction of justice investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into President Trump.

“Let's go back and find out exactly where we started this. Why did we come to this part. And this is something Bill Barr has said that he's willing to look into. It's something that our transcripts that we've been releasing have shown that there was a bias, that there was an agenda driven at the Department of Justice and at the FBI,” Collins told co-host Sandra Smith.  “This is the truth that the American people need to see. They need to have confidence in their Department of Justice.”

MUELLER REPORT CONCLUSION RAISES QUESTION OF TRUMP PARDONS 

Collins said Republicans will address other issues but want to focus on the DOJ and how the two-year investigation by Mueller began.

“We have a policy agenda. We're going to continue to talk about a president who has done great things with the economy with deregulation. We want to focus on those things but we're also going to focus on the truth of what happened at the DOJ,” Collins said.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Wisconsin brothers accused of years-long sexual abuse of siblings; father blamed ‘raging hormones’

Three brothers in Milwaukee were charged with the alleged sexual assault of their younger siblings while their father, aware of the abuse, is accused of doing nothing to stop it.

The father, Brian Keene, who is 62, faces child neglect charges and failure to protect a minor, according to WTMJ.com

His sons, James, 29, Elijah, 27 and Josiah, 20, face first-degree charges of sexual assault on a child, and charges of sexual assault on a child below the age of 13, the news site reported.

The abuse, which happened for at least 10 years, came to light earlier this month when police received a call about a suspicious car and found one of the abuse victims, a 19-year-old woman, who told them that her younger siblings had run away from the home because of the assault and dirty conditions.

The younger siblings include girls and one boy.

WISCONSIN TEEN WHO GUNNED DOWN GRANDPARENTS HAD 'PLAN TO CAUSE HARM' AT HIGH SCHOOL, OFFICIALS SAY

Police found the children, who spoke of the sex abuse by the older brothers and the unsafe conditions – holes in the walls, floors, and lack of heat -- in the home. The children had been reported as being home-schooled, but police believe they received no academic instruction. It was not immediately clear where the children were found.

The 19-year-old woman told police that Elijah sexually assaulted her from the time she was 12 to when she was 15.

A 22-year-old sister said that Elijah sexually assaulted her several times when she was 8 years old. Another sister, 16, said Elijah molested her from the time she was a small child, forcing her to perform oral sex. She said that the oldest brother, James, made her touch him sexually, the Milwaukee Journal reported. A 12-year-old sister and 14-year-old brother told police their older brothers also assaulted them.

The victims accused the brothers of taking them to the basement and sexually assaulting them several times a week. The victims said their father knew but did nothing.

Brian reportedly told police he suspected his older sons were sexually abusing the girls when the boys were teenagers but chalked it to “raging hormones.”

Elijah admitted to the abuse of three of the four sisters who reported it and said he tried to stop but had a sexual addiction, police said.

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Police said the investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible.

A preliminary hearing for the father and the sons is scheduled for April 23. They have not entered pleas, according to People magazine.

Bail was set at $50,000 each for the father and James, at $100,000 for Elijah, and $25,000 for Josiah.

The mother, who left the father in 2014, is believed to have died several years ago.

Source: Fox News National

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Christians, hotel workers, tourists among Easter attack dead

More than 350 people were killed in bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

Some details on the victims:

___

SRI LANKA

The vast majority of victims were Sri Lankan, many from the nation's Christian minority. Their names and details of their lives were slow to trickle in and difficult to report, in part because authorities blocked most social media after the blasts.

Colombo archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith says at least 110 people were killed at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, a seaside town that's the center of Sri Lanka's small Catholic community

Sneha Savindi, 12, was among them. Her uncle, Duminda, said her badly wounded body was only identifiable by a birthmark on her foot. Stroking the sealed coffin, Savindi's aunt, Lalitha, said, "I wanted to see you as a bride, but now you're in this box."

The Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, the capital, said three of its employees died at work.

At the hotel restaurant, Nisanga Mayadunne posted a selfie on Facebook showing her and her relatives around a table, eating eggs and sausages. Moments later, she and her mother, Shantha Mayadunne, were killed.

Shantha was an acclaimed chef who hosted live cooking programs on Sri Lankan television.

"They were the most loving family anyone could ask for," Manik Mayadunne, Nisanga's cousin, wrote on his Facebook page Monday.

In some places, the violence struck entire families. On Easter Sunday, as they did every Sunday, Berlington Joseph Gomez, 33, and his wife, Chandrika Arumugam, 31, went to church at Colombo's St. Anthony's Shrine. As always, they brought their three sons: 9-year-old Bevon, 6-year-old Clavon and baby Avon, just 11 months old.

Two days later, they were all being mourned by dozens of neighbors gathered at the modest home of Berlington's father, Joseph Gomez.

Candles burned beside three coffins and women sang hymns. The bodies of two grandsons have yet to be recovered.

"All family, all generation, is lost," Gomez said.

Negombo resident Herman Peiris lost two sisters and two nieces — one of whom was about to get married. He said his sisters, Celine and Elizabeth, spent most of their time as involved members at St. Sebastian church, and now people in the community are afraid to go there. He called for more security and for leaders to take both the blame and action.

"We villagers, or civil people, we can't do much," Peiris said.

Carpenter Dileep Roshan, 37, left behind a wife and daughter, his family said.

"His wife and daughter won't be able to do much now because he is gone," said his older brother, Sanjeevani Roshan. "The real question is what will happen to their future."

In addition to the suicide attacks at the hotels and churches, authorities have said two people were killed at a guesthouse and three police officers were killed by an explosion later Sunday that was set off by suspects trying to evade arrest.

___

UNITED KINGDOM

Sri Lanka's top diplomat in Britain says authorities know of eight British nationals killed in the bombings.

Londoner Matthew Linsey's 15-year-old daughter, Amelie, and 19-year-old son, Daniel, died on the final day of their holiday while in the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo. They apparently survived the first explosion but were killed by a second. Linsey described the event to The Times of London newspaper: "People were screaming. I was with my children. I couldn't tell whether they were all right; it was dark. I was worried there would be another blast. We ran out — another blast."

Lawyer Anita Nicholson, son Alex Nicholson and daughter Annabel Nicholson also died while on holiday and sitting at the Shangri-la Hotel restaurant, her husband, Ben Nicholson, said in a statement. He said, "The holiday we had just enjoyed was a testament to Anita's enjoyment of travel and providing a rich and colorful life for our family, and especially our children."

Former firefighter Bill Harrop and doctor Sally Bradley, a British couple who lived in Australia, were killed in one of the hotels, a family statement to The Australian newspaper said.

___

INDIA

The Indian Embassy in Colombo says 10 Indian nationals died in the blasts.

H.D. Kumaraswamy, the chief minister of southern Karnataka state, mourned the deaths of two fellow Janata Dal Secular party members, K.G. Hanumantharayappa and M. Rangappa.

"I am deeply shocked at the loss of our JDS party workers, whom I know personally," he wrote Monday on Twitter.

___

UNITED STATES

The State Department says at least four Americans were killed and several others seriously injured. It did not identify the victims.

Fifth-grader Kieran Shafritz de Zoysa, spending a year in Sri Lanka on leave from the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., was among those killed, the school said in an email to parents. The email said, "Kieran was passionate about learning, he adored his friends, and he was incredibly excited" about returning to school.

Dieter Kowalski, who lived in Denver and worked for international education company Pearson, died in the blasts shortly after he arrived at his hotel for a business trip, the company and his family told the AP.

___

DENMARK

The Bestseller clothing chain confirmed Danish media reports that three of the children of its owner, business tycoon Anders Holch Povlsen, were killed in the attacks. However, spokesman Jesper Stubkier gave no details in an emailed response to a query on the matter and said the company had no further comment.

___

SWITZERLAND

Switzerland's foreign ministry says a Swiss national, a Swiss dual national and a non-Swiss member of the same family were killed in the bombings. It didn't identify the second country or give other details on the victims.

___

SPAIN

Spain's foreign ministry says a Spanish man and woman were killed but didn't provide further details. The mayor of Pontecesures in northwest Spain, Juan Manuel Vidal, told Radio Galega that he knew the local pair and says they were in their 30s, according to a report by the Spanish private news agency Europa Press.

___

AUSTRALIA

Australia's prime minister says a mother and daughter from that country were killed. Manik Suriaaratchi and her 10-year-old daughter, Alexendria, were attending a church service in Negombo when they died.

___

CHINA

China's foreign ministry says one Chinese citizen was killed in the blasts, while five are missing. Five others were injured, including two who suffered severe injuries.

___

OTHERS

The Netherlands, Japan and Portugal have confirmed that some of their nationals were among the dead.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump says he is considering placing illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities

U.S. President Trump welcomes South Korea’s President Moon to the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump listens to questions as he and first lady Melania Trump meet with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

April 12, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was considering sending immigrants in the country illegally to so-called sanctuary cities.

“Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: OANN

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The Departed: History will likely remember invective President Trump has lobbed at John McCain

We hear from the dead all the time in Congress.

Those who have passed are part of the daily lingo on Capitol Hill.

The senator’s office is over in Hart. Republicans are meeting in the Mansfield Room. Cannon Rotunda? I thought you said the live shot was in the Russell Rotunda. Are you going to the hearing in Longworth?

Here’s a key to decode the references:

The Hart Senate Office Building is named for the late Sen. Phil Hart (D-MI). The Mansfield Room is a formal space in the Capitol, named after the late Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT). The Cannon Rotunda is in the Cannon House Office Building, named after the late House Speaker Joe Cannon (R-IL). The Russell Rotunda is in the Russell Senate Office Building, the namesake of Sen. Richard Russell (D-GA). TV news crews often do live hits and interviews from both rotundas. And the Longworth House Office Building is named after the late Speaker Nicholas Longworth (R-OH).

JOHN MCCAIN'S YOUNGEST DAUGHTER SLAMS TRUMP IN RARE PUBLIC STATEMENT

Statues of late Congressional figures, American presidents and other persons of historical importance saturate the Capitol complex. President Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King Jr. in the Capitol Rotunda. Rosa Parks and Thomas Edison in Statuary Hall. Sakakawea and Helen Keller in the Capitol Visitor’s Center.

I recently unearthed two dusty CD’s of public radio stories I did about Congress between 2004 and 2006. What struck me about these aural time capsules was how many lawmakers spoke from the grave in the reports:

Sens. Ted Stevens (R-AK), George Voinovich (R-OH), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Craig Thomas (R-WY), Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Pete Domenici (R-NM), along with Reps. John Dingell (D-MI), Steven LaTourette (R-OH), Vern Ehlers (R-MI), Leonard Boswell (D-IA) and Julia Carson (D-IN).

We talk about the departed all the time.

Senators invoke the “Byrd Rule” when discussing the complex, budget reconciliation process, named after the late Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd (D-WV). The “Byrd Rule” bars provisions attached a budget reconciliation measure which would add significantly to the deficit. Joe Cannon has come up a lot of late. Cannon faced a rebellion from lawmakers after he ran the House with an iron fist. The creation of the “motion to recommit” or “MTR” grew out of that uprising. An MTR is the last chance for the minority party to kill or alter legislation on the floor. Some Democrats want to change the MTR as Republicans have recently prevailed on two MTR’s on the floor, against the wishes of most Democrats.

DIRECTOR JUDD APATOW SLAMS DONALD TRUMP'S 'CULT-LIKE' FOLLOWERS OVER JOHN MCCAIN JABS

We bring this all up because President Trump is again railing about the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

McCain has seemingly crept under the President’s skin. And so Mr. Trump is unloading broadsides against the late senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee. President Trump has said he “never liked McCain,” rekindling an old feud with the Arizona Republican. The President lashed out at McCain for not supporting a Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. As a result, a host of lawmakers from both sides are now rallying to the defense of McCain, who laid in state in the Capitol Rotunda late last summer.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wants to rename the Russell Senate Office Building after McCain.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is one of President Trump’s biggest backers and perhaps McCain’s most loyal colleague. But Graham says he doesn’t “like it” when the President attacks his late friend.

TRUMP SAYS JOHN MCCAIN 'WAS HORRIBLE, WHAT HE DID WITH REPEAL AND REPLACE'

In an interview with Georgia Public Broadcasting, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) called Mr. Trump’s onslaught about McCain “deplorable” and “damaging.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called McCain “a rare patriot and genuine American hero” via Twitter. Yet some criticized McConnell for only defending McCain and not denouncing Mr. Trump’s disparagements.

The President’s aggressive condemnations of McCain even compelled the McCain Institute for International Leadership, associated with Arizona State University, to publish a news release titled “The Facts About John McCain.” The missive talked about McCain’s military service, time as a prisoner of war and included a lengthy justification about the senator’s position on health care.

“John McCain opposed Obamacare and fully supported ‘repeal and replace,’” punched back the release. “John McCain voted against the bill presented to the U.S. Senate – his famous ‘thumbs down’ – because it was ‘repeal,’ without ‘replace.’”

In an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business, President Trump reiterated that he is “not a fan” of McCain, even suggesting that the furor over McCain is the press’s fault.

“You people bring it up,” said the President.

Yet it was President Trump who again began tearing into McCain after a period of dormancy.

“What he did to the Republican party and to the nation, the sick people who could have had great health care… Not good,” said Mr. Trump.

It’s not strange to hear about deceased lawmakers in Washington. So many of them are etched into the day-to-day patter of Capitol Hill that most who utter their names probably don’t even know much about the name of a room or a building they’re talking about. Rayburn. Dirksen. LBJ. And it may not be long until something in the Senate is named after John McCain. It’s as though these figures are kind of still living, influencing events.

There’s a thing in Star Wars about the dead. On multiple occasions, those who have passed on sometimes return as a “Force ghost.” They speak to the living and stage-manage events from the grave.

After Darth Vader cut down Obi-Wan Kenobi in a lightsaber duel, the latter returned via metempsychosis as a Force Ghost. Kenobi periodically re-emerges, instructing Luke Skywalker from the great beyond.

Death in Congress is a little bit like what happens in Star Wars.

People still talk about “Sarbanes-Oxley,” a major piece of consumer and financial regulation legislation. It’s named after former Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) and the late Rep. Mike Oxley (R-OH) who crafted the measure. Every college student in the country knows about “Pell Grants,” named after the late Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI). Americans have long held tax-free “Roth IRA’s,” engineered by the late Sen. William Roth (R-DE). The “Hyde Amendment” is a provision sponsored by the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) prohibiting the use of federal dollars for abortions. There is even “McCain-Feingold.” McCain teamed up with former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) to regulate campaign financing.

Legislation and Congressional infrastructure are usually where we continue to hear from former leaders, impacting the daily lives of Americans, long after they died. President Trump’s fixation with McCain is different. Mr. Trump routinely changes the ground rules in politics.

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No one can recall if other Presidents lobbed opprobrium toward late Senate Majority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) or late House Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-TX). But it’s likely historians will remember the invective President Trump lobbed at McCain.

Source: Fox News Politics

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AOC calls new campaign finance complaint ‘bogus’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told Fox News Wednesday that new claims of campaign finance violations by her and her campaign manager were "bogus."

According to a complaint filed earlier Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Ocasio-Cortez and her then-campaign manager Saikat Chakrabarti created a "shadowy web" of political action committees (PACs) allowing them to raise more money than they otherwise could have mustered.

"I mean, it’s conservative interest groups just filing bogus proposals," Ocasio-Cortez said while heading to a meeting of the House Financial Services Committee.

OCASIO-CORTEZ HIT WITH ETHICS COMPLAINT OVER BOYFRIEND'S EMAIL ACCOUNT

The complaint also alleges that Chakrabarti, now Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, established a limited liability company (LLC) that offered Ocasio-Cortez and other Democratic candidates political consulting services at below-market rates, something the complaints says is in violation of FEC rules. At the same time, the complaint says, Chakrabarti served as Ocasio-Cortez's campaign manager, sat on the board of the Justice Democrats PAC and co-founded the Brand New Congress PAC.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Saikat Chakrabarti are seen in this July 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Saikat Chakrabarti are seen in this July 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

"While I agree with everyone from Alexandria Ocasio Cortez to [Rep.] Mark Meadows [R-N.C.] that super PACs should be banned, for years I’ve noted that creating an LLC to funnel political money is worse than a super PAC because you never learn the donors to an LLC," says John Pudner, a former George W. Bush campaign and the executive director of the conservative campaign finance reform group Take Back Our Republic.

OCASIO-CORTEZ DE-LISTED FROM BOARD OF JUSTICE DEMOCRATS AFTER CONTROVERSY

According to a July 2018 post on the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets blog, Ocasio-Cortez received $5,000 from each of two left-wing PACs --Justice Democrats and MoveOn.org -- following her primary win over incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley.

Wednesday's complaint is the second filed against Ocasio-Cortez in less than a month by conservative Virginia attorney Dan Backer. His previous complaint alleged that Ocasio-Cortez's campaign funneled at least $6,000 to her boyfriend through the Brand New Congress PAC.

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A separate complaint filed last month alleges that Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti redirected $885,000 in campaign contributions from Congress PAC and Justice Democrats PAC to Brand New Campaign LLC and Brand New Congress LLC. The PACs claimed at the time that the payments were for "strategic consulting."

A couple of weeks after the initial complaints were filed, Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti were removed from the board of Justice Democrats.

Fox News' Andrew Keiper, Gregg Re, Perry Chiaramonte and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States over safety issues in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc cut its 2019 profit forecast on Friday, saying it expected to take a $350 million hit from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes after cancelling 1,200 flights in the first quarter.

The company said it now expects its 2019 adjusted profit to be between $4.00 per share and $6.00 per share.

Analysts on average had expected 2019 earnings of $5.63 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

The No. 1 U.S. airline by passenger traffic said net income rose to $185 million, or 41 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $159 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total operating revenue rose 2 percent to $10.58 billion.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) – Four years ago, Donald Trump campaigned in small towns like Marshalltown, Iowa, vowing to restore economic prosperity to the U.S. heartland.

In his bid to replace Trump in the White House, Pete Buttigieg is taking a similar tack. The difference, he says, is that he can point to a model of success: South Bend, Indiana, the revitalized city where he has been mayor since 2012.

The Democratic presidential contender has vaulted to the congested field’s top tier in recent weeks, drawing media and donor attention for his youth, history-making status as the first openly gay major presidential candidate and a resume that includes military service in Afghanistan.

But Buttigieg’s main argument for his candidacy is that he is a turnaround artist in the mold of Trump, although the Democrat does not expressly invoke the comparison with the Republican president.

“I’m not going around saying we’ve fixed every problem we’ve got,” Buttigieg, 37, said after a house party with voters in Marshalltown. “But I’m proud of what we have done together, and I think it’s a very powerful story.”

Critics argue improving the fortunes of a Midwestern city of 100,000 people does not qualify Buttigieg, who has never held national office, for the presidency of a country of 330 million. Others say South Bend still has pockets of despair and that minorities, in particular, have failed to benefit from its growth.

Buttigieg has told crowds in Iowa and elsewhere that his experience in reviving a struggling Rust Belt community allows him to make a case to voters that other Democratic candidates cannot. That may give him the means to win back some of the disaffected Democratic voters who turned their backs on Hillary Clinton in 2016 to vote for Trump.

Watching Buttigieg at a union hall in Des Moines last week, Rick Ryan, 45, a member of the United Steelworkers, lamented how many of his fellow union workers voted for Trump. The president turned in the best performance by a Republican among union households since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Ryan said he hoped someone like Buttigieg could return them to the Democratic fold.

“He’s aware of the decline in the labor force in America, not just in Indiana or Des Moines or anywhere else,” Ryan said. “Jobs are going overseas. We need a find to way to bring that back.”

Randy Tucker, 56, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Trump appealed to union members “desperate for somebody to reach out to them, to help them, to listen to their voice.”

Buttigieg could do the same, he said. “In my heart right now, he’s No. 1.”

PAST VS. FUTURE

Buttigieg stresses a key difference in his and Trump’s approaches.

Trump, he tells crowds, is mired in the past, promising to rebuild the 20th century industrial economy. Buttigieg argues the pledge is misleading and unrealistic.

Buttigieg says his focus is on the future, and he often talks about what the country might look like decades from now.

“The only way that we can cultivate what makes America great is to look to the future and not be afraid of it,” Buttigieg said in Marshalltown.

Buttigieg knows his sexual preference may be a barrier to winning some blue-collar voters. But he notes that after he came out as gay in 2015, he won a second term as mayor with 80 percent of the vote in conservative Indiana.

Earlier this month, he announced his presidential bid at the hulking plant in South Bend that stopped making Studebaker autos more than 50 years ago. After lying dormant for decades, the building is being transformed into a high-tech hub after Buttigieg and other city leaders realized it would never again attract a large-scale industrial company.

“That building sat as a powerful reminder. We hoped we would get back that major employer that would fix our economy,” said Jeff Rea, president of the regional Chamber of Commerce.

Buttigieg is praised locally for spurring more than $100 million in downtown investment. During his two terms, unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent from 11.8 percent.

But a study released in 2017 by the nonprofit group Prosperity Now said not all of the city’s residents had shared in its rebound. The median income for African-Americans remained half that of whites, while the unemployment rate for blacks was double.

Regina Williams-Preston, a city councilor running to replace Buttigieg as mayor, credits him for the revitalized downtown. But she said he had a “blind spot” when it came to focusing on troubled neighborhoods like the one she represents and only grew more engaged after community pressure.

“He understands it now,” she said. “The next step is figuring out how to open the doors of opportunity for everyone.”

‘ONE OF US’

Trump touts the fact that the United States added almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs last year as evidence he made good on his promise to restore the industrial sector. But that growth still left the country with fewer manufacturing jobs than in 2008.

The robust U.S. economy is likely the president’s greatest asset in his re-election bid, particularly in states he carried in 2016 such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He won Buttigieg’s home state by 19 points over Clinton in 2016.

Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, Iowa, said Buttigieg would be well positioned to compete with Trump in the Midwest.

“People love the fact that he’s a mayor,” said Bagniewski, who has not endorsed a candidate in the nominating contest. “If you can talk about a positive future, and if you actually have experience that can do it, that’s a compelling vision in Iowa.”

Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, which faces many of the same challenges as South Bend, agreed.

“He’s one of us,” Whaley said. “That helps.”

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

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A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 26, 2019

MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.

In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.

He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”

Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.

Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.

The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.

Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.

The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.

“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.

The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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