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The Latest: Brexit stockpiling boosts production in UK

The Latest on Britain's exit from the European Union (all times local):

10:30 p.m.

Further evidence has emerged that British manufacturers are building up their cushions against the possibility the country crashes out of the European Union without a deal.

Financial information firm IHS Markit found that Brexit stockpiling is giving a boost to production — at least temporarily.

According to the firm, its purchasing managers index for the sector rose to a 13-month high in March to 55.1, up three points from the previous month. Anything above 50 indicates an expansion in output.

Stockpiling has become increasingly prevalent over the past few months as Britain's exit looms — originally scheduled for March 29 but since delayed at least to April 12.

Given the uncertainty, firms have stored up on raw materials and on those products they need from elsewhere in the EU.

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8:45 a.m.

Prime Minister Theresa May's chief disciplinarian says the government should have told people they would have to accept a softer form of exiting the European Union after May lost her majority in the 2017 general election.

Chief Whip Julian Smith, whose job is to ensure Conservative Party lawmakers vote for the government, makes the comments in a BBC documentary to be broadcast Monday.

Smith says May called the election to strengthen her hand in delivering Brexit, but was weakened when she lost her majority. He says the government "should have just been clearer the consequences of that, the parliamentary arithmetic, would mean that this would be inevitably a kind of softer type of Brexit."

The comments come after Parliament rejected May's EU withdrawal deal for a third time on Friday.

Source: Fox News World

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

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

March 13, 2019

By Gabriel Burin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“SNOWBALL EFFECT”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

($1 = 41.5000 Argentine pesos)

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

Source: OANN

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Key dates in life of Japanese Emperor Akihito

FILE PHOTO : Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (R) chats with Japanese Emperor Akihito before entering the State Banquet Hall at Buckingham Palace
FILE PHOTO : Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (R) chats with Japanese Emperor Akihito before entering the State Banquet Hall at Buckingham Palace May 26, 1998. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

April 25, 2019

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) – Emperor Akihito, 85, will step down on April 30, the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in nearly two centuries. His son, Crown Prince Naruhito, will inherit the throne the next day.

Below are some key dates in Akihito’s life.

– Aug. 15, 1945 – Akihito, 11, evacuated from Tokyo to the mountains, hears his father, Emperor Hirohito, announce on radio Japan’s surrender ending World War Two. In November he returns to Tokyo, vast swathes of which had been devastated by U.S. firebombing.

– Nov. 10, 1952 – Akihito is formally invested as crown prince in a ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

– June, 1953 – As crown prince, Akihito attends coronation of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.

– August 1957 – Crown Prince Akihito meets Michiko Shoda, daughter of an industrialist, at a tennis tournament in the mountain resort of Karuizawa.

– April 10, 1959 – Wedding of Akihito and Michiko Shoda, the first commoner to marry an heir to the Japanese throne.

– July 17, 1975 – Akihito and Michiko visit Okinawa, site of fierce fighting in final months of World War Two. A fire bomb is hurled at them as they lay flowers at a memorial but the royal couple are unharmed.

– Jan. 7, 1989 – Death of Akihito’s father, Emperor Hirohito (known posthumously as Emperor Showa), in whose name Japanese soldiers fought in World War Two. Akihito becomes emperor.

– Nov. 12, 1990 – Akihito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne in the first enthronement ceremony to be shown on television.

– May 24, 1990 – Akihito expresses “deepest regret” for the suffering of the Korean people caused by Japan’s 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean peninsula and the war.

– Oct. 23, 1992 – Akihito is Japan’s first modern monarch to visit China. Right-wing groups at home oppose the trip, while Chinese activists demand an apology. The emperor expresses “deep sorrow” for the suffering Japan inflicted on the Chinese people.

– April 23, 1993 – Akihito visits Okinawa again, becoming the first Japanese monarch to visit the southern island.

– Jan. 31, 1995 – Akihito and Michiko visit western city of Kobe following a huge earthquake. In a break with conservative tradition, they kneel to speak with survivors.

– May 26, 1998 – Akihito visits Britain, speaks at a banquet hosted by Queen Elizabeth despite protests from former British prisoners of war.

– Jan. 27, 2005 – Akihito and Michiko visit wartime battlesite in the U.S. territory of Saipan to pray for peace and console war dead of all nations, one of several such trips outside Japan.

– March 16, 2011 – Akihito makes unprecedented televised address urging the public to help each other after the March 11 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown.

– Aug. 15, 2015 – On the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War Two, Akihito expressed “deep remorse” over the war, a nuanced departure from his annual script. Liberals and moderate conservatives see it as a subtle rebuke to conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his less apologetic stance.

– Aug. 8, 2016 – In rare video address, Akihito says he worries that age will make it difficult to fully carry out his duties, remarks seen as suggesting that he wanted to abdicate.

– Feb. 24, 2019 – Akihito marks 30 years on the throne with a call for Japan to open up and forge sincere ties with the world.

(Reporting and writing by Linda Sieg; editing by Malcolm Foster and Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Obama’s DOJ/FBI’s Abuse of Power Against Trump

Rep. Devin Nunes joined FNC's Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures" to discuss his investigation into the Obama administration's potential abuses of power with regard to investigations into the 2016 Trump campaign.

Now, one of them, conspiracy to lie to the FISA court, Congressman, we had on your colleague Jim Himes recently, who kept pushing back, saying that there was absolutely no wrongdoing in front of the FISA court.

And you say?

REP. DEVIN NUNES: Well, I don't really care what they say. They have lied multiple times to the American people. All you have to do is look at their phony memos. They have had the full support of the media, 90 percent of the media in this country.

They all have egg on their face. And so the fact of the matter remains, is there going to be -- is justice going to be served or is justice going to be denied? And that's why we're sending over these criminal referrals.

So, you know, there's so much left. Remember, the American people have only seen the pieces that have been declassified so far that we were -- luckily been able to make classified and let the American people know about how the FISA court was abused.

There's still more information. I have said this before. This was their insurance policy. A lot of people think the insurance policy was just the overall investigation of the Trump campaign. It's actually much more conspiratorial than that that's left behind there.

There was exculpatory information. We talked about it on your show many times. So, look, Maria, I -- if you take what the Democrats have said and throughout the last two-and-a-half years, there's only one thing that you can be certain of. And that is, whatever they tell you is wrong or a lie or they actually mean the opposite.

BARTIROMO: Should the Mueller report be made public, Congressman?

NUNES: Well, what I have said about the Mueller -- I think I was one of the first members of Congress to actually say that the Mueller report should be made public, but not just the Mueller report, because, remember, many people that are on the team, the Mueller team, are involved in a lot of these conspiracies, right?

So, you have the leader on the team, the deputy, supposedly, and another top lawyer were both involved in the chain of custody of the Steele dossier, the Democratic oppo dirt. It is impossible for me to believe that those two lawyers, very smart lawyers, didn't know in the middle of 2016 that that information was dirt coming from the Democrats. It's impossible.

The other two, you had two FBI agents, Strzok and Page, who were kicked off the Mueller team. So, I want the underlying information, because I don't believe -- I think the indictments that were made by the Mueller team, I think some are very questionable.

And I think there's pieces of them that always read like Russian spy novels. That was done on purpose to create a narrative to make the American people think, as they were indicting these people, that somehow this had to do with collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

And so what do I want about the Mueller report? I don't care what's in the Mueller report. Matter of fact, I call it the Mueller dossier.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: What I want is the information underlying the report, so that we can actually look into it...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

NUNES: ... because every time we peel back the onion in this case, what do we find? We find out that, somehow, higher-level officials within the DOJ and FBI were misleading the American people and the courts.

BARTIROMO: Yes. Well, we're going to keep watching that. We want to find how far up the chain it goes in the Obama Department of Justice and the Obama administration.

Congressman, we will keep fighting and looking for it. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

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Exclusive: Germany to create fund to foil foreign takeovers after China moves

FILE PHOTO: German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier presents the national industry strategy for 2030 during a news conference in Berlin
FILE PHOTO: German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier presents the national industry strategy for 2030 during a news conference in Berlin, Germany, February 5, 2019. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo

March 20, 2019

By Michael Nienaber

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany plans to pass legislation by the end of 2019 to create a state-owned fund that can protect key companies from takeovers by Chinese and other foreign firms, government sources said, in a marked shift from its “hands-off” approach to business.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier proposed the fund in February as part of a more defensive industrial strategy and three officials told Reuters the government was now working on draft laws so the fund could be up and running next year.

Two senior government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the idea was for the state-owned investment fund to work with the private sector when buying company stakes to foil unwelcome takeovers.

One official said the state could buy a stake initially and then sell it on as soon as possible to private investors while the other official said in some cases the fund could work with private investors from the start.

“In the past, Germany was too reluctant to define its national interests. This is changing now,” the first government official said.

“We see that we cannot lean back anymore and let everything be decided by the free play of market forces,” he said. “And this means more protection from the state.”

Long an ardent advocate of free markets, Germany’s move is a response to China’s state-driven metamorphosis from customer to competitor and U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of unilateral trade sanctions and higher tariffs, the sources said.

For decades, German politicians followed the “ordoliberal” principles of post-war economy minister Ludwig Erhard who said free markets should decide winners and losers, with the state only providing a framework for fair competition.

The German move also comes at a time the European Union as a whole is reconsidering the bloc’s industrial strategy and relations to China in the face of increased investment in critical sectors by Chinese state-owned enterprises.

The European Commission has urged the bloc to back its ideas to curb Chinese companies and EU leaders are due to discuss the issue at a summit in Brussels this week.

WAKE-UP CALL

In Germany, the Chinese takeover of robotics maker Kuka <KU2G.DE> in 2016 was the wake-up call for the government that underlined the urgency for the state to become more active, the officials said.

An attempt by China’s State Grid last year to buy a stake in power grid operator 50Hertz also focused German minds. After Berlin failed to find an alternative private investor in Europe, German state-owned bank KfW https://www.kfw.de/kfw.de-2.html stepped in to keep the Chinese out.

That’s why the German government is now aiming to pass new laws creating the investment fund by the end of the year so it can be ready for use in 2020, the first official told Reuters.

“Ideally, there will be stake acquisitions together with private investors,” the official said, adding that Berlin had no plans to intervene in daily business decisions. “It’s not about the state becoming entrepreneurial.”

The state-owned fund could be managed by KfW, or be an altogether new entity empowered to hold company shareholdings, the second official said.

The plan goes hand in hand with a decision by the government in December to lower the threshold for screening, and even blocking, purchases of stakes in German firms in strategic areas by non-European investors.

An economy ministry spokesman said investment by the state fund would be limited to “very exceptional cases” and stakes would only be bought for a restricted period.

Such cases would mainly involve the protection of critical infrastructure where the government viewed a non-European investor as a threat to Germany’s national interests, the ministry spokesman said.

“The idea and its possible implementation are being discussed now in the further process of the industrial strategy,” said the spokesman, who declined to comment on the fund’s expected size.

‘ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY’

Altmaier said in February after presenting Germany’s industrial strategy for the next decade that key sectors were steel and aluminum, chemicals, machine and plant engineering, optics, autos, medical equipment, Green technologies, defense, aerospace and 3D printing.

Among the companies whose survival Altmaier described as crucial for the economy as a whole were marquee names such as Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE>, thyssenkrupp <TKAG.DE>, Siemens <SIEGn.DE> and Germany’s big carmakers.

Altmaier told Reuters in an interview that his aim was to safeguard global competitiveness and technological leadership of German industry for the coming decades.

“This should also be a top priority for the next European Commission,” he said. “With this, we will secure jobs and prosperity in Germany and Europe. And, above all, it’s what will give Europe its economic sovereignty and independence.”

Germany and France, the two biggest economies in the euro zone, are liaising closely on how the EU could overhaul its competition and state subsidy rules to support European champions that can compete on a global level.

Following a decision by Brussels to block a rail deal between Siemens <SIEGn.DE> and Alstom <ALSO.PA> – a merger that was meant to counter Chinese competition – German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to put reform of Europe’s competition laws high on the agenda during Germany’s EU presidency in 2020.

BUSINESS BACKLASH

While Germany’s powerful BDI https://english.bdi.eu industry association has welcomed the government’s plan to tackle a more assertive China, support national champions and reform competition law, it has criticized the idea of a state investment fund.

“New instruments for state ownership should not be used to fend off company takeovers, they should only support projects of new technologies,” BDI director general Joachim Lang said.

In light of growing unease among coalition lawmakers and industry groups, Altmaier is trying to reassure critics that Germany will remain open for foreign direct investment and that the government wants to intervene as little as possible.

“However, there can be exceptional cases in which the state must take action to avoid severe disadvantages for the economy as a whole and the country’s national welfare,” Altmaier told Reuters. “For example in cases when our critical infrastructure is at stake or when it comes to game changer technologies.”

Carsten Linnemann, deputy leader of Merkel’s conservatives in parliament and head of the bloc’s business-friendly Mittelstand wing, said the government’s focus on national champions was problematic. “We shouldn’t confuse size with competitiveness,” Linnemann told Reuters.

He said Germany’s “hidden champions” – mostly family-run firms that are market leaders in niche segments – were a good example that innovation is often driven by small enterprises.

Linnemann also rejected the idea of state intervention.

“The state simply doesn’t have more knowledge than the market. This basic rule hasn’t changed in times of big technological disruptions, in fact rather the opposite.”

Asked if parliament would block legislation for a state investment fund, Linnemann said coalition lawmakers were still in the process of forming an opinion. He said they generally shared the government’s goal to support the industrial sector.

“But we won’t achieve this by copying the industrial policy of China, the United States and France.”

($1 = 0.8829 euros)

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; additional reporting by Andreas Rinke and Christian Kraemer; editing by David Clarke)

Source: OANN

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NYC trial begins for German woman who allegedly swindled victims out of $275,000 in socialite scam

The onetime darling of the Big Apple social scene — dubbed the “scammer socialite,” she's been accused of posing as a wealthy heiress to infiltrate New York City’s upper echelon — went on trial Wednesday on grand larceny and theft-of-services charges. Authorities allege she swindled various people and businesses out of $275,000 in a 10-month odyssey.

Anna Sorokin traveled in celebrity circles and tossed off $100 tips — all the more reason to believe she was, as she'd claimed, a German heiress.

But behind the jet-set lifestyle, prosecutors says, was a fraudster who got a taste of the high life at the expense of friends, banks and hotels.

Sorokin, 28, lived in luxury New York City hotel rooms she couldn’t afford, promised a friend an all-expenses-paid trip to Morocco and then stuck her with the $62,000 bill, and peddled bogus bank statements in a quest for a $22 million loan, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has alleged.

“Her overall scheme has been to claim to be a wealthy German heiress with approximately $60 million in funds being held abroad,” prosecutor Catherine McCaw said after Sorokin’s October 2017 arrest. “She’s born in Russia and has not a cent to her name, as far as we can determine.”

FELICITY HUFFMAN, LORI LOUGHLIN FACE POSSIBLE JAIL TIME FOR COLLEGE ADMISSIONS CHEATING SCANDAL

Sorokin’s attorney said she never intended to commit a crime.

Lawyer Todd Spodek told jurors in an opening statement that Sorokin was exploiting a system after she saw how the appearance of wealth opened doors. Spodek said she was aiming to ultimately launch a business and repay her debts.

“Anna had to fake it until she could make it,” Spodek said.

Sorokin, jailed since her arrest, faces deportation to Germany regardless of the outcome of the trial because authorities say she overstayed her visa. Her story, however, may stick around.

Shonda Rhimes, the force behind “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal,” is developing a show about Sorokin for Netflix. Lena Dunham, of “Girls” fame, is working on one for HBO.

At different times, it's alleged, Sorokin claimed her dad was a diplomat, an oil baron or a big deal in solar panels. In reality, her father told New York magazine, he’s a former trucker who runs a heating-and-cooling business.

At first, people around Sorokin didn’t see a red flag when she asked them to put cabs and plane fares on their credit cards — she sometimes said she had trouble moving her assets from Europe, they said — and they laughed it off as forgetfulness when they had to hound her to pay them back.

“It was a magic trick,” Rachel Williams, the friend from the Morocco trip, wrote in Vanity Fair. “I’m embarrassed to say that I was one of the props, and the audience, too. Anna’s was a beautiful dream of New York, like one of those nights that never seems to end. And then the bill arrives.”

As she ingratiated herself into the New York party scene, prosecutors said, Sorokin started talking up plans to spend tens of millions of dollars building a private arts club with exhibitions, installations and pop-up shops.

Sorokin kept up the heiress ruse as she went looking for a $22 million loan for the club in November 2016, prosecutors said. She claimed the loan would be secured by a letter of credit from UBS in Switzerland, and showed statements purporting to substantiate her assets, according to an outline of the charges.

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While seeking the loan, prosecutors said, Sorokin convinced one bank to lend her $100,000 to cover due diligence costs. She ended up keeping $55,000 and “frittered away these funds on personal expenses in about one month’s time,” prosecutors said. A few months later, in May 2017, Sorokin allegedly chartered a plane to and from the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., but never paid the $35,400 bill.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Trump says U.S.-China trade talks doing well

U.S. President Trump makes brief remarks to the press on Special Counsel Mueller's investigation as he arrives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump makes brief remarks to the press as he arrives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., after returning from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, March 24, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Theiler

April 24, 2019

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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.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG

“@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.

BIDEN VOWS THAT ‘AMERICA IS COMING BACK,’ SPARKING ‘MAGA’ COMPARISONS

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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Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who is facing increased calls for her immediate resignation, remains in poor health and is not “lucid” enough to decide whether to step down, her attorney told reporters late Thursday.

Steve Silverman, speaking outside one of Pugh’s residences which was raided by the FBI and IRS earlier in the day, said the embattled city leader could make a decision as early as next week.

“She is leaning toward making the best decision in the best interest in the citizens of Baltimore City,” he said, adding that Pugh has “several options” to consider.

“She just needs to be physically and mentally sound and lucid enough to make appropriate decisions.”

BALTIMORE MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH, ON LEAVE AMID BOOK PROBE, HAS HOMES AND CITY HALL OFFICE RAIDED BY FEDS

Silverman said Pugh met with a doctor at home Thursday and plans to do so again Friday, the Baltimore Sun reported.

In the latest image-tarnishing scandal for struggling Baltimore, the first-term Democratic mayor faces accusations that she used children’s book deals to cover up kickbacks for favorable treatment as a state lawmaker and city leader that earned her roughly $800,000 over several years.

BALTIMORE’S ACTING MAYOR SAYS HE ‘WOULD HATE TO SEE’ EMBATTLED MAYOR RETURN AFTER BOOK SCANDALS

As a state senator, 69-year-old Pugh sold $500,000 worth of her self-published “Healthy Holly” illustrated paperbacks to the University of Maryland Medical System, a major state employer whose board she sat on for nearly 20 years.

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

UMMS reportedly paid Pugh for 100,000 copies of her books between 2011 and 2018 with the stated intention of distributing the books to schools and day care centers. But some 50,000 copies remain unaccounted for and officials are probing if they were even printed.

Pugh also made $300,000 in bulk sales to other customers including health carriers that did business with the city of Baltimore.

BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL CALLS ON EMBATTLED MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH TO RESIGN IMMEDIATELY

The politically isolated Pugh slipped out of sight on April 1 after a hastily organized press conference where she called her no-contract book deals a “regrettable mistake.” That same day, Maryland’s governor called on the state prosecutor to investigate allegations of “self-dealing.”

Pugh took an indefinite leave of absence, citing her health deteriorating intensely after a bout with pneumonia.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide. (Loyd Fox/Baltimore Sun via AP)

On Thursday morning, agents with the FBI and IRS searched her two Baltimore homes, her City Hall offices, and a nonprofit organization she once led. The home of at least one of Pugh’s aides was also scoured.

Silverman said federal agents also served a subpoena at his law firm, retrieving Pugh’s original financial records. They did not seek any attorney-client privileged communications, he said.

Pugh’s attorney said she was “emotionally extremely distraught” following the searches by FBI and IRS agents.

“There was nothing incriminating that came out of her home,” Silverman said.

UMMS spokesman Michael Schwartzberg told reporters that the medical system received a grand jury witness subpoena seeking documents and information related to Pugh.

Other probes against Pugh include a review by the city ethics board and the Maryland Insurance Administration.

BALTIMORE MAYOR’S $500G DEAL FOR ‘HEALTHY HOLLY’ CHILDREN’S BOOKS DRAWS SCRUTINY

In recent weeks, the calls for Pugh’s resignation have intensified with the strongest voice coming from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who did not mince words after Thursday’s early morning raids.

“Now more than ever, Baltimore City needs strong and responsible leadership. Mayor Pugh has lost the public trust,” he said. “She is clearly not fit to lead. For the good of the city, Mayor Pugh must resign.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall.

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun via AP)

Many of her fellow Democrats, including those on Baltimore’s demoralized City Council and state lawmakers, are also insisting that Pugh put the citizens’ interests above any attempt to preserve her political career.

City Council member Brandon Scott called the Thursday raids “an embarrassment to the city.”

However, only a conviction can trigger a mayor’s removal from office, according to the city solicitor. Baltimore’s mayor-friendly City Charter currently provides no options for ousting its executive.

Six of Pugh’s staffers joined her on paid leave earlier this month; three of them were fired this week by the acting mayor.

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Pugh came to office in late 2016 after edging out ex-Mayor Sheila Dixon, who had spent much of her tenure fighting corruption charges before being forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal connected to the misappropriation of about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families.

She would certainly face a bruising 2020 Democratic primary if she were to return and run for reelection. Veteran City Council leader Bernard “Jack” Young, who is serving as acting mayor, said as she went on leave that he would merely be a placeholder. But this week, before the raids, he said “it could be devastating for her” if she tried to return.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations has blasted the United State and the European Union for imposing sanctions on his country, describing them as “economic terrorism.”

Bashar Ja’afari made his comments Friday in the Kazakh capital of Astana where Russia, Turkey and Iran held a new round of talks with the Syrian government and the opposition on steps to bring peace to the country.

His comments came as government-held parts of Syria are witnessing widespread fuel shortages that are largely the result of Western sanctions on Syria and its key ally Iran.

Ja’afari says: “This is economic terrorism that is escalating through unilateral economic measures.”

A final statement issued at the end of Astana’s 12th round rejected President Donald Trump’s formal recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over Syria’s occupied Golan Heights.

Source: Fox News World

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