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Wirecard seeks to refocus on growth after audit approval

The headquarters of Wirecard AG is seen in Aschheim near Munich
The headquarters of Wirecard AG, an independent provider of outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payment transactions is seen in Aschheim near Munich, Germany April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

April 25, 2019

By Douglas Busvine

MUNICH (Reuters) – German payments company Wirecard sought on Thursday to refocus on growth after securing audit approval of annual results which had been delayed by allegations of fraud and false accounting at its Singapore office.

Germany’s leading fintech company has been shaken by a string of reports in the Financial Times, which it has denied, citing a whistleblower’s allegations that local staff padded revenues through sham transactions.

Wirecard said auditor EY had found “no objections against the accounting treatment of the facts that were the subject of various allegation made by a purported whistleblower in Singapore”.

Wirecard won the backing of a heavyweight investor on Wednesday when it announced a partnership with Japan’s Softbank that included the sale of a 900 million euro five-year bond convertible into a 5.6 percent stake in the company.

Its annual results were delayed by an investigation by Wirecard’s outside law firm Rajah & Tann, which exonerated head office but did find that local staff in Singapore may have committed crimes that were not material to the company’s finances.

CEO Markus Braun, who remains the company’s largest shareholder with a 7 percent stake, said that management recognized weaknesses in the handling of software licenses used by its partners and would tighten up compliance in this area.

“We are a growth company,” Braun told a news conference in Munich.

“This is all about innovation and expansion, but of course we must catch up when it comes to compliance, audit and controlling.”

SOFTBANK ALLIANCE

Management confirmed guidance that earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) would rise to between 740 and 800 million euros ($825-$892 million) this year.

Wirecard, which recently displaced Commerzbank from Germany’s DAX blue-chip index, reported a 36.6 percent gain in EBITDA to 560.5 million euros in 2018, while EBITDA margin widened by 0.2 percentage points to 27.8 percent.

Management proposed a dividend of 20 euro cents.

Braun said the Softbank deal offered the chance to work with companies backed by a group which runs the world’s largest venture fund and counts ride hailing firms Uber, Grab and Didi in its portfolio.

Digital payments scenarios that the alliance could work on included connected vehicles or food delivery, said Braun, who will seek shareholder approval for the arrangement.

Wirecard, founded in 1999, has profited from a boom in online payments by acting both as an acquirer, handling payments to merchants, and as an issuer of real and ‘virtual’ payment cards to consumers.

It handled a total of 125 billion euros in transactions for 280,000 merchants last year, generating revenues of 2 billion euros. It expects revenues to grow to 3 billion euros in 2020 and 10 billion in 2025 as digital payments become increasingly pervasive.

ANOTHER FT DENIAL

Even as Wirecard has grown apace, it has remained a favorite target of ‘short’ sellers seizing on negative reports to try to profit from declines in its share price. This has sparked investigations into suspected market manipulation by German prosecutors and the market regulator.

Wirecard, which has already sued the FT, denied another report in the newspaper on Wednesday that alleged the accounts of a Dubai-based unit were not audited in 2016 and 2017. It said all its subsidiaries were audited regularly.

The FT’s reporting, starting Jan. 30, triggered a 50-percent slide in Wirecard’s share price, while Singapore police have opened an investigation and raided Wirecard’s office there.

Braun said he retained his appetite for running a listed company.

“I enjoy being on the stock market,” the Austrian said, “and I haven’t lost my passion for the job in the last two months.”

(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Additional reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Paul Carrel/Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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McConnell Caught in the Middle of Fight Over Disaster Relief

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is caught in the middle between President Donald Trump and some Republican lawmakers over the stalled disaster relief bill, The Hill is reporting.

The bill is being held up over the issue of more assistance for hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.

Trump opposes more money being sent to the island and claims it is taking resources away from other states in need.

The president had tweeted on Monday: “Puerto Rico got far more money than Texas (and) Florida combined, yet their government can’t do anything right, the place is a mess - nothing works.”

And he railed against Puerto Rico consuming more than its fair share of disaster relief money during a meeting with Senate Republicans last week, according to The Hill.

Democrats have stalled the Republican-drafted saying it must include extra money for Puerto Rico. The Hill noted, however, that some of the states in most dire need or relief – Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Nebraska – have all-Republican Senate delegations.

Included in the bill is $3 billion for crop losses in agriculture-heavy states, The Hill noted.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., is trying to convince McConnell to get the bill passed as soon as possible.

“Oh yeah, I’ve talked to him,” Isakson said. “I told him it’s the most important thing here, period.”

One unidentified lawmaker added: “There’s a lot of money in the disaster relief budget right now but the Georgia, Nebraska and Iowa folks are extremely concerned.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Congress Must Act to End Crisis on Our Border

Congress Must Act to End Crisis on Our Border

Joel Martinez/The Monitor via AP

This week, Mayor Douglas Nicholls of Yuma, Arizona, declared a state of emergency as thousands of illegal immigrants poured into the city and pushed it to its breaking point. As the mayor warned, the sudden influx of people is above our capacity as a community to sustain.

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Volkswagen warns on jobs as margins slip, electric plans accelerate

Herbert Diess, CEO of German carmaker Volkswagen addresses the media during the annual news conference at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg
Herbert Diess, CEO of German carmaker Volkswagen addresses the media during the annual news conference at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

March 12, 2019

By Edward Taylor

WOLFSBURG, Germany (Reuters) – Volkswagen will cut jobs as it speeds up the rollout of less labor-intensive electric cars and will review its sprawling portfolio of brands as it battles to reverse a slide in profit margins, the German carmaker said on Tuesday.

The company said it planned to launch almost 70 new electric models by 2028, aiming to put itself at the forefront of the industry’s shift to zero-emissions driving following the 2015 scandal over its cheating of U.S. diesel emissions tests.

However, it said investments to retool factories, as well as adverse currency moves and a sales slowdown triggered by new emissions certification tests, led to a fall in operating margins at its VW, Skoda, Audi and Porsche marques last year.

The margin at its top-selling VW brand slipped to 3.8 percent in 2018 from 4.2 percent in 2017.

“Despite all the rhetoric, the opportunity to reduce an historically high fixed cost base, 2018 actually saw a new high,” Evercore ISI analysts said. “This is unacceptable.”

At 1550 GMT, Volkswagen shares were down 2.1 percent at 143.54 euros.

The group said it would respond by aligning management pay and bonuses more closely with profitability, cutting manufacturing complexity and reducing headcount by an unspecified amount.

Chief Executive Herbert Diess also said it is reviewing its portfolio of brands, which also include Lamborghini, Ducati and Bentley, and whether to divest some non-core businesses.

He said there might be an update in the second half of this year, but added he was not thinking about selling Skoda or Porsche, as they used vehicle platforms of the wider group.

Diess said it had not been possible to strike a deal with unions to raise profitability at the VW brand in 2018. The group is now focusing on cost cuts at the VW brand and Audi, it said.

“Labor cost is a big concern for us. It’s part of the dispute we are having currently with the union. Our plan was to improve productivity and decrease costs which didn’t work out in 2018,” Diess told analysts after the company’s annual results.

Volkswagen is preparing to roll out a new compact electric car, known as the ID, in 2020 as part of a drive that it expects will see it building 22 million electric cars by 2028 – despite uncertainty about the level of demand for such vehicles.

“The reality is that building an electric car involves some 30 percent less effort than one powered by an internal combustion engine,” Diess said. “That means we need to make job cuts.”

AUDI CHALLENGES

The VW brand has brought forward its target of achieving a return on sales of 6 percent to 2022, but this will also involve cutting jobs, the company said.

The brand has ruled out compulsory redundancies until 2025 and is counting on natural attrition and voluntary retirements.

In addition, the group is raising efficiency in production. The VW brand has reduced the number of its model variants by 25 percent. At Audi, the drop is 30 percent.

Volkswagen said it was also ramping up investments in China, the world’s’ largest autos market, where it has joint ventures with local companies JAC and FAW. It will increase the number of SUVs it offers in China to 14 from six.

Along with its local partners, Volkswagen plans to invest 4 billion euros in 2019, China Chief Stephan Woellenstein told analysts. The group, which has 4,200 research and development engineers in China, wants to develop connectivity, autonomous driving and smart infrastructure expertise in China, he added.

Volkswagen also announced a push to hire software engineers as a way to better compete with newer technology focused rivals like Tesla, which have gained an edge with over-the-air software updates for cars.

“Today our 20,000 developers are 90 percent hardware-oriented. That will change radically by 2030. Software will account for half of our development costs,” Diess said.

Volkswagen’s scale would be an important asset in the race to succeed in electric cars, he added. “I take start ups seriously like Tesla … But this is a scale game I think we have a good chance to succeed.”

Volkswagen released detailed 2018 results after announcing some figures last month, when it said group operating profit rose 0.7 percent to 13.92 billion euros ($15.8 billion), below the 14.53 billion euros forecast in a poll.

Audi and Porsche made up the lion’s share of group operating profit – 4.7 billion euros and 4.1 billion euros respectively, before one-off items. The VW brand contributed 3.2 billion.

But Audi’s profitability slipped, due to a 1.2 billion euros diesel-related charge and delays getting its vehicles to conform to a stricter emissions testing standard known as WLTP.

“Audi was hit particularly hard. It will probably be the end of the first quarter before all variants are available again,” Diess said.

The luxury Bentley brand plunged to an operating loss of 288 million euros last year, from a profit of 55 million a year earlier, hit by delays ramping up production of the new Continental GT and exchange rate effects.

Volkswagen stuck to its forecast for revenue to grow up to 5 percent this year, and for a group operating return on sales of 6.5-7.5 percent.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Keith Weir and Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

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Algerian army chief says military is considering all options to end crisis

A student gestures during a protest seeking the departure of the ruling elite in Algiers
A student gestures during a protest seeking the departure of the ruling elite in Algiers, Algeria April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina

April 16, 2019

By Hamid Ould Ahmed and Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algeria’s army chief said on Tuesday the military was considering all options to resolve the country’s political crisis and warned that “time is running out”, after weeks of anti-government protests.

Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaed Salah’s remarks were the strongest indication yet that the military, which has said it supports a transition period after the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, is losing patience.

In a speech broadcast on state television, Salah, who was speaking at a military base in the central town of Ouargla, urged protesters to avoid violence.

“All options are open in the pursuit of overcoming the different difficulties and finding a solution to the crisis as soon as possible, in a way that serves our nation’s interests without regard to individual interests,” he said.

Salah did not specify what options the army would pursue. But he said: “We have no ambition but to protect our nation.”

Hours earlier, the chairman of Algeria’s Constitutional Council, Tayib Belaiz, quit his post, state news agency APS said. That followed calls for his resignation by protesters who say he is part of a ruling elite they want abolished.

Bouteflika stepped down on April 2 after weeks of mass protests demanding an end to his 20-year rule. But his departure failed to placate many Algerians who want to topple the old guard and its associates.

Belaiz submitted his resignation to Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah, APS reported, citing a statement from the council.

Meanwhile thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Algiers and in cities across the country calling for political change in the eighth week of mass protests.

Belaiz’s departure could herald that of other senior political figures who protesters want removed.

These include Bensalah, who was appointed interim president after Salah declared Bouteflika unfit for office and said the military would back a transition period leading to a presidential election on July 4.

Protesters are seeking radical change that would introduce sweeping political reforms in Algeria, an OPEC oil producer and major supplier of natural gas to Europe.

(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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FMC expects NxStage deal to close in next couple of days

Rice Powell, CEO of Fresenius Medical Care, addresses the media during the company's annual news conference at their head quarters in Bad Homburg
Rice Powell, CEO of Fresenius Medical Care, addresses the media during the company's annual news conference at their head quarters in Bad Homburg Germany, February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

February 20, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) said on Wednesday it has won the green light from U.S. regulators to acquire U.S. home dialysis equipment maker NxStage and expects the deal to close in the next few days.

FMC agreed to buy NxStage in August 2017 for $2 billion but the deal has been held up due to competition concerns and most recently the U.S. government shutdown.

“Very early this morning, we were notified the Federal Trade Commission has approved our NxStage deal,” Chief Executive Rice Powell told reporters. “We would anticipate closing the NxStage deal over the next couple of days.”

FMC’s Chief Financial Officer Michael Brosnan also announced he planned to retire once a successor has been identified. FMC said it expects to name a new CFO by the end of the year.

(Reporting by Caroline Copley; editing by Thomas Seythal)

Source: OANN

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Brazil’s vice president to visit China, top trading partner, next month

Brazil's Vice President Hamilton Mourao delivers a speech during the opening of LAAD, the biggest military industry expo in Latin America, in Rio de Janeiro
Brazil's Vice President Hamilton Mourao delivers a speech during the opening of LAAD, the biggest military industry expo in Latin America, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes

April 24, 2019

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s Vice President Hamilton Mourao said on Wednesday he will travel to China on May 16, staying for 10 days with stops in Beijing and Shanghai.

Mourao, a former general who is seen as a moderate in the far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro, has recently become embroiled in a nasty war-of-words with the president’s sons, who are both influential lawmakers.

In comparison with Bolsonaro, who often criticized China’s large role in Brazil’s economy during his presidential campaign, Mourao has taken a more pragmatic approach toward his country’s top trading partner, seeking to maintain commercial ties.

Mourao’s visit to the world’s second-largest economy should mark the reactivation of the Sino-Brazilian Bilateral Cooperation Commission. Additionally, there is also hope that new meat export permits may be announced during the visit, according to Chinese Ambassador to Brazil Yang Wanming.

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Tom Brown)

Source: OANN

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday said his government must make men aware of the dangers of poor hygiene after expressing dismay over the 1,000 penis amputations that apparently occur in his country each year.

“In Brazil, we have 1,000 penis amputations a year due to a lack of water and soap,” he said while speaking to reporters in Brasilia after visiting the Education Ministry. “We have to find a way to get out of the bottom of this hole.”

The far-right leader called the figure “ridiculous and sad,” Reuters reported. A spokeswoman for the Brazilian urology society told the news agency the number is based on its official data for penis amputations.

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The amputations were conducted out of necessity over untreated infections, along with complications from HIV and various cancers, she said.

Source: Fox News World

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A top Russian diplomat says Russia is willing to negotiate a new nuclear weapons treaty with the United States and China.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Friday Moscow is closely following reports in the United States that the U.S. would like to reach a nuclear weapons deal with both Russia and China, and is “willing” to negotiate. The story was reported by CNN earlier Friday.

Ryabkov also said that Russia “would like to convince” the U.S. to adopt a joint statement that would condemn any use of nuclear weapons.

Ryabkov’s comments come just months after the U.S. withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a cornerstone of the post-Cold War security, and Russia followed suit. Each claims breaches by the other.

Source: Fox News National

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Government dysfunction and an intelligence failure that preceded the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka are traced to simmering divisions between the president and prime minister after a weekslong political crisis that crippled the country last year.

The government has admitted to a “lapse of intelligence” after officials failed to act upon near-specific information received from foreign agencies. Suicide bombers exploded themselves last Sunday in three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 253 people and wounding 400 more. Authorities said eight Muslim militants blew themselves up at their targets while the wife of one of the attackers blasted herself on being rounded up by police.

The carnage has brought forth arguments that worshippers and holidaymakers fell victim to the rivalry and a lack of communication between the country’s two leaders — President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Cabinet led by Wickremesinghe says neither he nor his ministers were informed of the intelligence received by the defense authorities. Sirisena is the head of state, defense minister, minister in charge of the police and head of the armed forces. He also chairs the National Security Council, which includes the heads of security agencies and departments. Traditionally the prime minister also plays an important role on the council.

According to Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Sirisena has not included Wickremesinghe in national security affairs since a dispute between them came into the open in October last year. This is an unusual departure from the protocol, he said.

Senaratne said that Sirisena was overseas when the attacks took place and even after that, the National Security Council refused to meet with Wickremesinghe as he tried to give them instructions.

Sirisena has also said that he was not informed of the intelligence received and vowed to overhaul the leadership of the defense forces.

The top bureaucrat at the Defense Ministry, Hemasiri Fernando, has resigned at Sirisena’s insistence.

“It is a major factor,” said Jehan Perera, the head of local activist group National Peace Council, referring to the alleged lack of coordination between the leaders contributing to the failure to prevent the attacks.

“The primary responsibility has to be taken by the president, he did not give the information and he did not act,” Perera said. “He had the Ministry of Defense, took the police from the prime minister, chaired the National Security Council meetings and did nothing,” Perera said.

Kusal Perera, a journalist and political commentator, says security and intelligence officials should have acted on the information whether or not they received orders from politicians.

“If they (Wickremesinghe and his party) were not invited to the National Security Council, why did not they say in Parliament that they were not responsible for the security of the country any longer,” said Perera, who is not related to Jehan Perera.

“Saying that now is taking political advantage, not taking responsibility,” he said.

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe belong to different political parties but came together for Sirisena’s presidential campaign in 2015. Their relationships broke down and their differences exploded last year when Sirisena suddenly sacked Wickremesinghe as prime minister and appointed in his place former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom he defeated in the presidential election. The crisis crippled the country for more than seven weeks to the point of not being able to pass this year’s national budget on time.

A court decision compelled Sirisena to reappoint Wickremesinghe, but the two leaders have been rivals within the same government.

Rajapaksa, who is the minority leader in Parliament, blames the government for weakening intelligence and dropping its guard, which he had maintained to defeat the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels 10 years ago to end the 26-year-old civil war. He also criticized the government for the detention of intelligence officers accused of extrajudicial killings and abductions during the closing days of the war, which he said crippled the security apparatus before the bombings. According to conservative U.N estimates, some 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka’s conflict.

Sirisena summoned an all-party conference Thursday to which Wickremesinghe was also invited. At the conference, Sirisena stressed “setting aside all the political beliefs and difference (so that) everybody should collectively commit towards building a peaceful environment within the country,” a statement from his office said.

“It is not a secret that the disagreements between me and the government aggravated over the past two years,” Sirisena told the country’s media executives Friday. “One of the reasons for that is weakening of military intelligence and arresting military officials unnecessarily and my speaking up against it within and outside the government.”

Jehan Perera said that the security threat could prove politically advantageous to Rajapaksa and his family, with a presidential election scheduled at the end of this year. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a younger brother of Mahinda, was the powerful defense secretary during his brother’s reign and has expressed his interest to join the contest.

“People are saying we want a stronger leader and they are talking about Gotabhaya. It (the blasts) has worked to their benefit,” Perera said.

Source: Fox News World

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Cyprus police are intensifying a search for the remains of more victims at locations where an army officer, who authorities say admitted to killing five women and two girls, allegedly had dumped their bodies.

Police said Friday’s search will concentrate on a military firing range, a reservoir and a man-made lake near an abandoned mine approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Nicosia.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old suspect told investigators that he had killed four more people than he had previously admitted to. All the suspect’s alleged victims are foreign nationals.

Police have already found the bodies of a 38-year-old Filipino woman and two as yet unidentified women.

Search crews are now looking for the daughter of the 38-year-old, a Romanian mother and daughter and another Filipino woman.

Source: Fox News World

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A California man who allegedly fatally shot his ex-girlfriend in broad daylight last month before fleeing the country has been returned to the U.S. following his arrest in Mexico on Wednesday, authorities said.

Julio Cesar Rocha, 25, of Montlcair, is accused of shooting his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend Thalia Flores and a second unidentified male victim March 21 around 2:45 p.m. while the two were sitting in a vehicle in the parking lot of a discount store in Chino. Both communities are about 36 miles east of Los Angeles.

ARREST MADE IN DOUBLE HOMICIDE OF EX-PRO HOCKEY PLAYER, COMMUNITY ADVOCATE, POLICE SAY

Julio Cesar Rocha, 25, of Montlcair, Calif. was located in Mexico Wednesday and returned to California where he faces murder and attempted murder charges related to the death of his ex-girlfriend, Thalia Flores.

Julio Cesar Rocha, 25, of Montlcair, Calif. was located in Mexico Wednesday and returned to California where he faces murder and attempted murder charges related to the death of his ex-girlfriend, Thalia Flores. (City of Chino Police Department)

Flores died at the scene. The man, whose name was not released, walked to a nearby hospital where he’s recovering from his gunshot wounds.

Rocha allegedly fled the scene and remained at large for more than a month, the Daily Bulletin reported. He was formally arrested at 4:30 p.m. after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport from Mexico, KTLA-TV reported.

The suspect was booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on murder and attempted murder charges, the City of Chino Police Department said on Facebook.

Flores ended her seven-year relationship with Rocha just two months before her death and still lived in fear of him until that point, a sister of the victim, Bernice Flores, told the Daily Bulletin.

“He said himself so many times to other people, ‘If I can’t have her, no one will.’ ” Flores said, adding that her sister stayed in the relationship longer that she would have liked in fear that Rocha would hurt her or her family if they broke up.

Rocha was convicted on misdemeanor battery in 2016 and sentenced to 60 days in prison. He was originally charged with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon, but the charges were lowered in a plea deal, the Daily Bulletin reported.

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Rocha was convicted of misdemeanor resisting or obstructing a peace officer in 2014. A second charge of misdemeanor battery was dropped in a plea deal, and Rocha was ordered to complete a 26-week anger management course, according to San Bernardino County Superior Court records. Rocha was later arrested and sentenced to 10 days behind bars for failing to complete the course.

Source: Fox News National

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