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Disney’s ‘Avengers: Endgame’ sets opening day record in China

Actors Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige place their handprints in cement at a ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood
Actors Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo show their hands after placing their handprints in cement at a ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles,California, U.S. April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

April 24, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel superhero movie “Avengers: Endgame” set an opening-day record in China with an estimated $107.2 million in ticket sales, distributor Walt Disney Co said on Wednesday.

“Endgame” is the finale of a story told across 22 Marvel films featuring popular characters such as Iron Man, Thor and Black Widow.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine)

Source: OANN

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Mexico's last penal colony starts new life as nature center

It's unclear if Islas Marias ever really worked as a penal colony: The remote Mexican archipelago is battered regularly by hurricanes, and its ramshackle, often century-old installations are sprinkled with the ruins of failed "productive" projects that once aimed to make the prison population self-sustaining.

Now, with the prison just closed, the hurdles of distance, weather and decayed infrastructure may not make it easy for the islands to prosper in their new role as a nature center and education camp for children.

It's a rough, eight-hour boat ride out to the islands, which lie 70 miles (110 kilometers) off the Pacific shores of Mexico's Nayarit state. Appropriately for a place where most of the few dozen prisoners who attempted to escape drowned, the Environment Department says it is thinking about offering survival courses. Bird watching, nature walks and arts programs are also planned.

All that remains for now are a few goats, some cattle and once-domesticated cats that roam the main island where thousands of prisoners once lived.

The thick-walled remains of an old salt-evaporation warehouse and the disused pools of a former shrimp farm are a mute testament to the idea that Islas Marias was founded on in 1905 — that penal colonies could earn their keep, and reform inmates through clean living, ocean air and hard work.

Bars and cells weren't necessary because the surrounding ocean effectively prevented escape. Islas Marias was the last of its kind, the final of a half dozen island penal colonies that were scattered around Latin America. It was done in by high costs — almost $150 per day per inmate, far beyond what mainland prison costs — and by the increasing space available at mainland prisons as legal reforms reduced jail populations.

Rogelio Zedillo, a former employee in the island's legal area, is one of the believers in the penal colony. Some of his fellow prison employees even want to stay on and are trying to swing transfers to the Environment Department, which will now oversee the islands.

"I think it's a pity that they have closed what could have been a model prison," Zedillo said. "They were self-supporting, they (inmates) were producing. They grew vegetables. They had cattle, goats, pigs. There was a fish farm and a salt works ... the problem was political, the authorities decided not to continue as a penal colony, and so little by little it fell apart."

Prison official Marco Antonio Rugerio Estrada spent the past 31 years on the main island, known as Maria Madre. He also is sad to see the prison go.

"It was a very healthy life," Rugerio Estrada said. "We started off every day in a very beautiful environment, and that allows you to see life in a different way. You wake up and say, 'I am in a very pretty place,' and you start to recognize yourself."

But it was far from a tropical paradise for the inmates. They weren't allowed to go the island's beaches. They led a fairly regimented life, with designated areas, bunk beds in small houses and 5 a.m. morning wake-up calls.

Officials say inmates also brewed homemade liquor out of fermented fruit and some tried to grow marijuana. The moonshine, known on the island as "turbo," led to a ban on the possession of sugar by inmates, since it accelerated the fermentation process.

The prison was started as a way to isolate and punish political prisoners, such as striking workers and socialists, and the inmates helped pay its way by working on the salt flats or at the shrimp farm. But in its waning years, salt could be harvested from evaporation ponds on the mainland more cheaply, and transportation costs for the island's shrimp production made it less profitable.

A further blow was the decision in 2006 during Mexico's drug war to turn the colony into a regular prison holding as many as 8,000 to 10,000 inmates. The "semi-freedom" the island once offered inmates, and the production schemes, suffered under the influx. The overcrowded, under-fed inmates rioted in 2013, killing six people before marines regained control of the island.

A final blow came this past October, when Hurricane Willa made a direct hit as a Category 3 storm and caused about $100 million in damages to the prison. Buildings can be seen around the island with their roofs torn off.

When it closed in February, the penal colony housed just 659 prisoners.

One of the most charming of the prison's features — that families, including children, could come live with some inmates — also proved one of its most costly burdens. And people worried whether the kids were getting a decent childhood on the island and questioned the cost of providing schooling and recreational facilities.

"There are a lot of people in the non-prison population who deserve that funding, to live a decent life," said Francisco Garduno Yanez, director of Mexican prisons who was assigned with the task of shutting down the penal colony.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump wields first presidential veto to nix border emergency rebuff

President Trump on Friday used the first veto of his administration to reject a bipartisan resolution that sought to block his declaration of a national emergency at the border, a move almost certain to kill the measure.

SENATE VOTES TO BLOCK TRUMP'S BORDER EMERGENCY DECLARATION, IN BIPARTISAN REBUKE TEEING UP VETO

Trump’s veto came a day after 12 Senate Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the resolution, despite last-minute efforts between the White House and GOP lawmakers to keep the Republican Party united. The measure ultimately passed 59-41, and Trump immediately vowed to veto.

While the original passage marked a stinging rebuke from members of Trump's own party, his veto is likely the last word as lawmakers are unlikely to muster the two-thirds majority required to override.

Trump originally declared a national emergency on the border last month after Congress granted only a fraction of the $5.7 billion he requested for a wall on the border. Declaring a national emergency allows Trump to steer an extra $3.6 billion to the wall.

Senate Democrats, who have consistently opposed many of Trump’s hardline immigration policies, were joined by Republicans who expressed support for Trump’s calls to build a wall -- but cited concern about the expansion of presidential power. The resolution had previously passed the Democrat-controlled House.

SENATE VOTES TO END US SUPPORT FOR SAUDI FORCES IN YEMEN

“This is a constitutional question, it’s a question of the balance of power that is core to our constitution,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters. “This is not about the president or border security, in fact I support border security, I support a barrier.”

The other Republicans who voted to oppose the declaration were Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; and Pat Toomey, R-Pa.

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Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., had said he would oppose the declaration but reversed course on the Senate floor, saying that he was "sympathetic" to Trump's push to deal with the crisis at the border.

Lee, meanwhile, had introduced a bill that would end future emergency declarations after 30 days, in an effort to allow Republicans to vote against the resolution. But after Trump said he opposed that legislation, Lee eventually backed the measure to rebuff Trump.

Fox News' Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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As Trump eyed Cain for Fed, Cain raised money for Trump

FILE PHOTO: Former Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Former Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain in Washington January 24, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

April 5, 2019

By Ann Saphir

(Reuters) – Former pizza chain executive Herman Cain, U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick for a position on the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting panel, runs a political fundraising group that has spent more than half its money supporting Trump’s reelection.

Cain, himself a former Republican presidential candidate and a long-time conservative activist, chairs America Fighting Back PAC, a political action committee created “by a group of President Trump’s most committed supporters,” according to the group’s website. Its mission is to fight “disrespectful, dishonest and destructive news” about Trump and bolster a movement of voters to fight for his reelection in 2020.

Trump, who described Cain as “a friend” on Thursday, said he plans to nominate the former head of Godfather’s Pizza to one of two vacancies on the Fed’s seven-member Board of Governors. Trump just two weeks ago said he would nominate conservative economic commentator Stephen Moore to the other vacant seat on the Fed’s board.

Trump’s plan to nominate an overt loyalist for a spot on the Fed board comes as Trump over and over again lambastes the central bank for raising interest rates four times last year and could checker the Fed’s long-cherished standing as an independent, apolitical body. Moore is also a longtime Trump ally who has joined him in criticizing last year’s rate hikes. 

Cain was a Republican candidate for president in 2012 before dropping out amid allegations by several women of sexual harassment, which he has vehemently denied.

His America Fighting Back PAC has raised $347,000 during the current election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

At least $190,500 of that has gone to Canton, Ohio-based RRTV Media for television advertising in support of Trump, filings with the Federal Election Commission show. The total includes $10,000 just weeks before Cain met with Trump to discuss the Fed job on Jan. 30, and another $9,000 in early March.

Cain appears to be the only one of Trump’s Fed nominees so far to have actively raised funds for his benefit. He has not individually made any contributions to Trump’s campaign.

The White House declined comment.

A campaign solicitation email signed by Cain was circulated on Feb. 5, less than a week after his interview with Trump. Reuters received a copy of the email directly.

“Friend, I couldn’t stand to see our President and his family abused and attacked by the mainstream media and Washington swamp any longer,” the email began.

“With the 2020 election on the horizon, please become a Founding Member with America Fighting Back PAC by making a contribution of $25, $50, $100, $500, or even $1000 to help us take on all the D.C. forces out to get President Trump,” the email said.

Floyd Brown, a conservative activist who co-chairs the PAC with Cain, said in an email that when Cain learned about Trump’s interest in appointing him to the Fed, he voluntarily “stepped away from day to day involvement with the PAC… (and) has let us know he will resign if nominated.”

Brown said the Feb. 5 fundraising email was likely approved before Cain’s meeting with Trump, after which “he immediately ceased his efforts.” The PAC’s TV ads were also changed to remove Cain from them, Brown said.

Cain, whose Twitter feed continues to be chock full of partisan support for Trump and opposition to his Democratic rivals, did not respond to requests for comment.

POLICYMAKERS AND POLITICAL DONATIONS

Fed officials assiduously guard their political independence, seen as crucial for its ability to steer the economy. Close ties with politicians have led central banks in other countries to keep monetary policy too loose, eventually stoking inflation.

Trump has stridently criticized the Fed’s interest rate hikes, saying they have hurt the economy.

Cain’s political fundraising could ignite criticism from legislators. The central bank’s Washington-based board is picked by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The members of the Board of Governors and the president of the New York Fed are permanent voters on the U.S. central bank’s policy-setting committee, while four of the remaining 11 presidents of the regional Fed banks serve on a rotating basis.

In 2016 Fed Governor Lael Brainard drew fire from Republican lawmakers for donations to Democrat Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated to win the White House. Brainard’s contributions eventually totaled $2,700, the maximum allowed under law.

Donations to political candidates by sitting Fed governors are extremely rare, though they are generally allowed under rules which govern the political activities of top Fed officials and other federal employees. Soliciting political contributions is prohibited under those same rules.

Four current Fed board members were appointed by Trump, including Chairman Jerome Powell, an appointment Trump apparently regrets. Trump’s three other appointees are Randal Quarles, Richard Clarida and Michelle Bowman.

Quarles has donated frequently to Republican candidates over the years. His most recent donation, according to the Federal Election Commission, was $35,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in November 2016. That was about seven months before he was picked by Trump for the Fed.

Powell, who first became a Fed governor in 2016 as an appointee of President Barack Obama, has not made a federal political donation since 2008, when he gave $28,500 to the Republican National Committee.

Bowman’s most recent political donation was $500 to Republican Mitt Romney for his presidential run in 2012, FEC records show.

Clarida gave $2,000 to George W. Bush in 2004 and has made no political donations since.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann, Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: OANN

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Malaysia to begin delayed graft trial of former PM Najib next week

FILE PHOTO: Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak leaves a court in Kuala Lumpur
FILE PHOTO: Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak leaves a court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin

March 28, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – The corruption trial of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak on charges linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB will start next week after a delay of nearly two months, his lawyer said on Thursday.

The postponement was seen as a blow for the government of Mahathir Mohamad, which reopened investigations into the alleged theft of $4.5 billion from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) after winning elections last May and vowed swift justice.

Originally set to begin on Feb. 12, Najib’s trial was postponed because of appeals over procedural matters raised in pre-trial hearings.

It will now begin on Wednesday, his lawyer, Farhan Read, told Reuters in a brief text message.

Najib has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power over a suspected transfer of 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) into his bank account from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit.

The trial is the first of several criminal proceedings Najib is expected to face over the scandal, and the sum involved is a fraction of the $1 billion investigators allege made its way to his bank accounts.

He faces years in prison if convicted on a total of 42 criminal charges, most of them linked to 1MDB.

At least six countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, have launched money laundering and graft investigations into 1MDB, set up by Najib in 2009.

U.S. prosecutors say money stolen from the fund went to buy a private jet, luxury real estate, artwork by Picasso and Monet, as well as jewelry for Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, who has also been charged.

(Reporting by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source: OANN

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Nadler vows to subpoena full Mueller report, does not rule out impeachment

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said on Thursday that he plans to issue a subpoena for the full, unredacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, while blasting Attorney General Bill Barr for not giving Congress such a copy from the start.

Nadler said even the redacted version released earlier in the day "outlines disturbing evidence" that President Trump engaged in misconduct and possibly obstructed justice.

“The attorney general deciding to withhold the full report from Congress is regrettable, but not surprising,” Nadler said during a press conference. “Even in its incomplete form, the Mueller report shows disturbing evidence that President Trump obstructed justice.”

SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT MUELLER'S RUSSIA PROBE REPORT RELEASED BY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Trump and his allies have declared victory in the wake of the report's release, based on Mueller not finding evidence of collusion with Russia and not reaching a conclusion on the obstruction issue. But Nadler is among the key Democrats sure to pick up where Mueller left off.

Nadler would not speculate on whether or not congressional Democrats would file articles of impeachment against Trump, but added that he was not taking the option off the table.

“Congress must get the full, unredacted report along with all the underlying materials from Special Counsel Mueller,” Nadler said. “We have to get to the bottom of this and we’ll see what happens.”

Nadler also noted that Barr will be testifying before the House Judiciary Committee next month and he has requested that Mueller also appear before the committee to testify on his findings.

“I have been and continue to be prepared to make every effort to work with the Attorney General to find a solution that allows Congress to review the entire record—and not merely the fragments he chose to share with us today,” Nadler said in a statement.

Barr on Thursday said that a version of Mueller's report with fewer redactions will be made available to a small group of lawmakers.

In a letter to Congress, Barr noted the second version of the report would be given to the "Gang of Eight," the top-ranking House and Senate lawmakers from both parties who can view sensitive classified information. The chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate judiciary committees will also receive it.

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Barr said all redactions would be removed from that version of the report except those relating to grand-jury information.

The attorney general said, "I do not believe that I have discretion to disclose grand-jury information to Congress. Nevertheless, this accommodation will allow you to review the bulk of the redacted material for yourselves."

The Mueller report is most heavily redacted in its first section, which covers Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and examines contacts between Russian representatives and the Trump campaign. The report concluded there was no criminal culpability by Trump aides.

Several pages in that first section are almost entirely blacked out. The report's second section, examining possible obstruction by Trump, appears more lightly redacted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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In early campaigning, 2020 Democrats try out tactics for taking on Trump

Combination photo of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates
2020 Democratic presidential candidates are seen in a combination of file photos (L-R top row): U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, (L-R bottom row): U.S.Senator Kamala Harris, Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke, U.S. Senator Cory Booker and Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. REUTERS/Files

March 20, 2019

By Ginger Gibson

HEMINGWAY, S.C. (Reuters) – In the most polarized political environment in decades, Democratic voters want to know how their eventual nominee will match up against President Donald Trump in the November 2020 general election.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York appears willing to go the furthest yet, at least symbolically, in trying to prove she is ready to go toe-to-toe with the president.

On Sunday, she will deliver her campaign launch speech at a rally in view of one of Trump’s hotels in New York City, taking her “vision of restoring America’s moral integrity straight to President Trump’s doorstep,” her campaign said.

The backdrop for her speech underscores a defining theme of the Democratic nominating contest. Trump is present at every campaign stop – not physically, but as a constant topic of discussion, even if his name is not uttered by those seeking to defeat him.

Candidates are trying to convince voters in early primary states that they would provide the best Trump opposition. And in a large field with few variations on policy so far, each contender is using different tactics to make their case.

“Voters need to believe that a candidate can stand on stage, take a rhetoric punch from Trump and still look strong and viable,” said Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist who worked for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 White House race.

Potential and declared candidates including former Vice President Joe Biden and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders “have likely already passed that litmus test with voters,” Payne added. “Others who are less known to the public probably still have some proving to do.”

A February poll by Emerson College found every Democratic hopeful out-performed Trump in a hypothetical general election matchup, except when a third-party candidacy was added to the equation.

At campaign events in rural South Carolina this month, Senator Kamala Harris used a simple refrain to begin answers about complicated policy questions: “We need a new president.”

Harris, a former prosecutor, is seeking to convince voters that her courtroom experience prepared her to be able to successfully “prosecute” Trump on the debate stage, a campaign aide said.

But Harris does not plan to make her case using any demeaning nicknames for Trump, something the president did during the 2016 campaign to deride his opponents.

“They don’t want someone who is going to mimic his tactics,” the aide said of Democratic voters. “Democrats want someone who can confront from him.”

VOTERS FOCUSED ON ELECTABILITY

A February poll by Monmouth University found that 56 percent of Democrats would prefer a nominee who has a good shot at defeating Trump even if they do not agree on policy positions.

The poll found women voters – who turned out in droves during the 2018 midterm elections to help send a historic number of women to Congress – were even more inclined to prioritize electability over ideology with 61 percent putting their positions aside in favor of a candidate who can defeat the president, compared to 45 percent of men.

The high level of Democrats citing electability over “kitchen table” issues like jobs and the economy was surprising to Tim Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa.

But Hagle thinks it could be a product of the large field of Democrats, with voters looking for ways to whittle it down. Once the field narrows, policy issues such as immigration and jobs could again emerge as top concerns, he said.

“What is different this time is the intensity about wanting to defeat Trump,” Hagle said.

Even candidates who are inclined not to tussle with Trump directly still talk about him a lot.

In Mount Vernon, Iowa on Friday, Beto O’Rourke largely spoke of Trump in the context of using his campaign to try and bring people together. He criticized Trump – not using his name – for how the president talks about immigrants and Muslims.

“We’ve never been as divided as we are right now. And we’ve never seen the kind of rhetoric employed by this president in our history,” said O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman. “This is absolutely wrong. And there’s a consequence to this rhetoric and the policies employed by the president.”

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, a Democratic hopeful, insists Trump can be defeated by a candidate who offers a calmer tone instead of attacks.

“I know there’s some ‘fight fire with fire’ people out there, and God bless ’em, if they become the nominee, I’m behind them,” Booker told a group of voters at a New Hampshire pub last week. “But I’m willing to die on this hill, because I believe that when we as Americans extend grace to one another, we’re not weaker, but stronger.

“My mom taught Sunday school, and she taught me to love my enemies,” Booker said. “I’m not going to let anybody drag me so low as to contort my soul and make me hate them.”

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax in New Hampshire and James Oliphant in Iowa; Editing by Alistair Bell)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China are going very well, as the world’s two largest economies seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.

Trump said on Thursday he would soon host China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House.

Earlier this week, the White House said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more talks on a trade dispute marked by tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on North Korea this week following the Russian leader’s summit with Pyongyang’s Kim Jong Un.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also said China was helping with efforts aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk
Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk, Belarus April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

April 26, 2019

By Katya Golubkova and Andrei Makhovsky

MOSCOW/MINSK (Reuters) – Russia is confident it can soon resolve a problem of polluted Russian oil contaminating a major pipeline serving Europe and affecting supplies as far west as Germany, a senior official said on Friday at talks with importers about the issue.

Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin did not give a precise timeframe but Moscow has previously said it would pump clean oil to the border with Belarus from April 29, seeking to end a crisis hitting the world’s second-largest crude exporter.

Sorokin was speaking at talks with officials from Belarus, Poland and Ukraine in Minsk on the issue. Belarus said the issue had cost it $100 million, while analysts say alternative supply routes for refiners cannot fully fill the gap.

Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia have suspended imports of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Halting those supplies has knock-on effects further along the network.

The problem arose last week when an unidentified Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride used to boost oil output but which must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.

Russia’s Energy Ministry said pipeline monopoly Transneft and other Russian companies had a plan to mitigate the effects of the contaminated oil. It did not give details.

Russian officials have said contaminated oil has already been pumped into storage in Russia and Friday’s talks would focus on how to partially withdraw the tainted crude from the Druzhba pipeline running via other countries.

The suspension cuts off a major supply route for Polish refineries owned by Poland’s PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, as well as plants in Germany owned by Total, Shell, Eni and Rosneft.

Some refiners have outlined plans for alternative supplies, but analysts say other routes cannot meet the shortfall.

OIL PRICES

Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta suspended the transit of oil through the pipeline on Thursday, closing supplies via Druzhba’s southern route to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

The pipeline issue, which has supported global oil prices, lifted Russian Urals crude differentials to an all-time high on Thursday.

With pipeline supplies to Europe shut, Russia faces a challenge of how to divert about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) that was meant to be shipped through the network to other destinations at the time when export capacity is at its limits.

State-run Russian Railways held talks with energy firms on using up to 5,000 rail tankers to transport crude, RIA news agency reported on Friday.

Concerns about the quality of Urals crude also caused delays in loadings at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, when buyers refused to lift cargoes, resulting in a brief shutdown of the port on Wednesday and Thursday. An Ust-Luga official and traders said on Friday loadings had resumed.

Russian loading plans indicate it aims to boost Urals exports in May before the expiry of a deal on output cuts agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, Reuters calculations and Energy Ministry data show.

The provisional loading plan for Russia’s Baltic Sea ports and Novorossiisk in May show exports rising to 10.7 million tonnes, the highest level in half a decade.

Minsk estimated its loss from lower oil product exports due to contaminated Russian oil at around $100 million, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing Belarusian state oil company Belneftekhim.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, in charge of government energy policy, said this week that those found responsible for contaminating the oil could be fined. He did not provide names.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko in WARSAW, Sandor Peto in BUDAPEST, Jason Hovet in PRAGUE, Matthias Williams and Natalia Zinets in KIEV, Katya Golubkova, Olesya Astakhova, Gleb Gorodyankin, Olga Yagova and Maxim Rodionov in MOSCOW, Andrei Makhovsky in MINSK; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Michael Perry and Edmund Blair)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO - A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.

The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.

Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.

But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.

Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.

In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.

Symone Sanders, a prominent Democratic strategist and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., staffer in 2016, was announced as one of the big-name members of Team Biden on Thursday.

But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.

“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.

BIDEN HIRES FORMER BERNIE SANDERS’ SPOKESPERSON AS SENIOR ADVISER

“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.

Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”

Footage of the interview was resurfaced by RealClearPolitics.

After news of her hiring broke on Thursday, Sanders backed her new boss on Twitter.

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“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.

The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.

While Sanders himself didn’t torch Biden as he jumped into the race, it’s clear that many of his progressive supporters view the former vice president as a threat.

Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.

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Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”

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But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”

Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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