A cruise ship Viking Sky drifts towards land after an engine failure, Hustadvika, Norway March 23, 2019. Odd Roar Lange/NTB Scanpix/via REUTERS
March 23, 2019
OSLO (Reuters) – A cruise ship has suffered engine failure in windy conditions off the west coast of Norway and its 1,300 passengers will be evacuated, Norwegian police said on Saturday.
The maritime rescue service said the Viking Sky was drifting toward land and had sent out a mayday signal.
The ship belongs to Viking Ocean Cruises, part of the Viking Cruises group founded by Norwegian billionaire Torstein Hagen. According to the company website, its passenger capacity is 930.
Helicopters and vessels were headed toward the area and facilities to receive passengers were being prepared on land, the rescue service added.
Wind was blowing at a speed of 38 knots, police told Norwegian newspaper VG.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tore into House Democrats on Sunday, arguing that they absolutely intend to impeach President Donald Trump — and that they don’t even care why.
Listen, if anyone thinks that the Mueller report being concluded is the end of the Democrats’ attempt to take down President Trump, they haven’t been paying attention the last two years. It’s striking as I listened to your interview with Congressman Nadler that he was immediately pivoting away.
He then turned back to Bash, saying, “You asked Congressman Nadler whether the House is going to impeach the president. I’ll answer that for you. Yes. They fully intend to impeach the president and they don’t care about the basis.”
But then Cruz brought up the point he found telling. “Twice Congressman Nadler said something remarkable,” he began. “He said, ‘listen, the special counsel is focused on crimes. We’re not all that concerned with crimes. Our focus, this is Democrats in the House, is much broader than crimes.’ What they are basically saying is they are going to impeach the president for being Donald Trump. And they don’t care about the evidence.”
Cruz concluded by saying that the Mueller report should be made public and that we should all reserve judgment until we have seen what is actually in it.
He also called for Democrats to stop “obsessively trying to destroy the president and this administration,” saying, “We ought to be coming together and solving the real problems, not just engage in relentless political warfare.”
The FBI discovered a trove of Hillary Clinton’s missing emails in the Obama White House – specifically the Executive Office of the President, according to FBI testimony obtained by watchdog group Judicial Watch.
Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, disclosed under oath to Judicial Watch as part of a court order that the Executive Office of the President was one of various “repositories” Clinton used for her secretive emails.
“This astonishing confirmation, made under oath by the FBI, shows that the Obama FBI had to go to President Obama’s White House office to find emails that Hillary Clinton tried to destroy or hide from the American people.” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
BREAKING: JW announced today that a senior FBI official admitted, in writing and under oath, that the agency found Clinton email records in the Obama White House, specifically, the Executive Office of the President (1/4). https://t.co/W0YV9yyH7r
“No wonder Hillary Clinton has thus far skated – Barack Obama is implicated in her email scheme.”
Priestap listed several other repositories for Clinton’s emails, including the State Department, the US Secret Service, and the offices of her senior staffers Cheryl Mills and Jake Sullivan.
Additionally, Priestap also confirmed Infowars reports from 2016 that the FBI reviewed nearly 49,000 other Clinton emails found on the laptop of sex offender Anthony Weiner, then-husband to Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Read Priestap’s full testimony below:
Democrats have been projecting obstruction onto President Trump, yet they are the ones responsible for obstructing the 2016 election. Alex Jones takes your calls on the days breaking news.
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a UBS logo projected on a screen in Singapore, January 14, 2019. REUTERS/Feline Lim/File Photo
February 22, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – UBS plans to stick to its proposed dividend for 2018 despite a 4.5 billion euro ($5.10 billion) hit from a French tax ruling that the bank has appealed, CEO Sergio Ermotti said on Friday.
“There is no intention to deviate from our proposed 2018 dividend of 0.70 Swiss francs ($0.6994) per share,” Ermotti said in a call discussing the ruling’s implications with investors and analysts.
“In respect to the outlook for our capital returns beyond the financial year 2018, we remain committed to our policy,” he said, adding that included increasing the group’s dividend by a mid- to high-single digit percentage each year and returning any excess capital, mainly through share buybacks.
(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi in London, editing by John Miller in Zurich)
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) greets Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz as he arrives at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young
February 20, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a U.S. decision on whether to impose tariffs on car imports depends on reaching a trade deal with Europe.
Speaking to reporters at a White House meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Trump said the auto tariffs are something his administration is thinking about.
Earlier this week, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the U.S. president, known for a strong protectionist approach to trade, had promised him he would not impose additional import tariffs on European cars for the time being.
(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
FILE PHOTO: Banners of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are pictured in front of the German share price index, DAX board, at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, September 30, 2016. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
February 27, 2019
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – U.S. investor Cerberus is open to a merger between Germany’s two largest private banks, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Cerberus is a major shareholder in both banks, and the statement is likely to heat up speculation of a deal.
(Reporting by Hans Seidenstuecker and Tom Sims; editing by Kathrin Jones and Thomas Seythal)
Former Argentina's Economy Minister and potential 2019 presidential candidate, Roberto Lavagna, gestures during a news conference at the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
April 9, 2019
By Nicolás Misculin and Eliana Raszewski
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – In the run-up to Argentina’s presidential election this year, a third potential candidate is seeking to stake out the middle ground, tapping into rising discontent among the country’s voters amid swirling economic crisis.
Roberto Lavagna, a former economy minister and part of the moderate flank of the Peronist opposition, is positioning himself between President Mauricio Macri’s austerity economics and left-leaning former leader Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
“We’re looking for a future outside the two extremes that have been dominating Argentine politics for the last eight years,” he told Reuters and other media on Tuesday.
“That’s not Macri’s economic tweaks, and not the indiscriminate intervention of the previous government,” he said, referring to Fernandez, whose policies included high subsidies and currency controls.
He did not announce or rule out an election run. People close to him politically said he would likely stay quiet until closer to a June deadline for candidates to formally enter the race.
He would be a dark horse candidate, but has been rising lately in opinion polls. Fernandez and Macri currently command around 30 percent support each, while Lavagna polls at a little over 10 percent.
Lavagna is best-known for his stewardship of Argentina’s tumultuous economy during 2002 to 2005, when he led a devaluation of the peso currency and the restructuring of Argentina’s debt, months after the largest sovereign default in history of nearly $100 billion.
That was followed by a strong revival in growth of over 8 percent annually, memories of which could benefit Lavagna at a time when voters are increasingly worried about the recession-hit economy, rampant inflation and volatile peso currency.
Even opponents agree he is a good man in a crisis.
“He’s a moderate, politically in the center, and he’s a ‘storm pilot’,” a former minister who worked with Lavagna and is now in the Fernandez camp told Reuters.
The person, who declined to be named, added that Lavagna’s age could count against him, however. Lavagna is 77 and would finish his potential four-year term at the age of 81.
That raises a question as to whether he can appeal to younger voters, in particular.
His policies would include seeking to boost flagging domestic demand and renegotiating the terms of a financing deal Argentina agreed with the International Monetary Fund last year for $56 billion, he said on Tuesday.
Candidates compete in a first round in October, after which if no individual has 45 percent of the vote, or 40 percent and a ten point lead over second place, a second round run-off is held in November.
Analysts say that if Lavagna could make it to the second round, he would have a better shot than Fernandez of beating Macri.
“If at the end of May, moderate Peronists like Lavagna can reach 30 points of voter support, they will keep rising,” Mariel Fornoni, director of consultancy Management & Fit, said.
“If not, the election will be polarized between Macri and Fernandez.”
(Reporting by Nicolas Misculin and Eliana Raszewski; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond looks on during an interview with Reuters at the British Ambassador’s residence in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Pool
April 26, 2019
BEIJING (Reuters) – British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday that he had a “very constructive meeting” with his counterpart in the opposition Labour Party before leaving for Beijing and that he was optimistic about finding common ground.
Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing, said talks with Labour aimed at finding a way forward on Brexit had not stalled.
“I’m optimistic that we will find common ground,” he said. “Both sides have got clear positions and both sides will have to compromise in order to reach an agreement.”
Hammond added that he absolutely did not favor a no deal exit from the European Union.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; editing by Darren Schuettler)
Police secure the area where the body of a woman was discovered near the village of Orounta, Cyprus, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Stefanos Kouratzis
April 26, 2019
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cypriot police searched on Friday for more victims of a suspected serial killer, in a case which has shocked the Mediterranean island and exposed the authorities to charges of “criminal indifference” because the dead women were foreigners.
The main opposition party, the left-wing AKEL, called for the resignation of Cyprus’s justice minister and police chief.
Police were combing three different locations west of the capital Nicosia for victims of the suspected killer, a 35-year-old army officer who has been in detention for a week.
The bodies of three women, including two thought to be from the Philippines, have been recovered. Police sources said the suspect had indicated the location of the third body, found on Thursday, and had said the person was “either Indian or Nepali”.
Police said they were searching for a further four people, including two children, based on the suspect’s testimony.
“These women came here to earn a living, to help their families. They lived away from their families. And the earth swallowed them, nobody was interested,” AKEL lawmaker Irene Charalambides told Reuters.
“This killer will be judged by the court but the other big question is the criminal indifference shown by the others when the reports first surfaced. I believe, as does my party, that the justice minister and the police chief should resign. They are irrevocably exposed.”
Police have said they will investigate any perceived shortcomings in their handling of the case.
One person who did attempt to alert the authorities over the disappearances, a 70-year-old Cypriot citizen, said his motives were questioned by police.
The bodies of the two Filipino women reported missing in May and August 2018 were found in an abandoned mine shaft this month. Police discovered the body of the third woman at an army firing range about 14 km (9 miles) from the mine shaft.
Police are now searching for the six-year-old daughter of the first victim found, a Romanian mother who disappeared with her eight-year-old child in 2016, and a woman from the Phillipines who vanished in Dec. 2017.
The suspect has not been publicly named, in line with Cypriot legal practice.
A public vigil for the missing was planned later on Friday.
(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Gareth Jones)
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson
April 26, 2019
LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.
The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.
The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo
April 26, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.
The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.
Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.
But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.
Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.
High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.
It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.
Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.
“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.
The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.
Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.
Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.
Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.
Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.
This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff
April 26, 2019
By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh
(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.
The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.
Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.
Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.
“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.
Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.
“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.
U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.
Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.
Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.
Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.
Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.
Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.
Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.
Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.
Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.
Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.
(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)
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