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China central bank pledges more policy support as bank lending slides

FILE PHOTO: Headquarters of the PBOC, the central bank, is pictured in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: Headquarters of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, is pictured in Beijing, China September 28, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee

March 10, 2019

By Kevin Yao and Yawen Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central bank on Sunday pledged to further support the slowing economy by spurring loans and lowering borrowing costs, following data that showed a sharp drop in February’s bank lending due to seasonal factors.

The central bank is widely expected to ease monetary policy further this year to encourage lending especially to small and private firms vital for growth and job creation.

The central bank’s “prudent” monetary policy will emphasize on counter-cyclical adjustments, said People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang, using a phrase that implies the need to fight an economic slowdown.

“The global economy still faces some downward pressure and China faces many risks and challenges in its economy and financial sector,” Yi said at a press conference on the sidelines of the country’s annual meeting of parliament.

There is still some room for the PBOC to cut reserve requirement ratios (RRRs), although the amount of room is less compared with a few years ago, Yi said.

The PBOC has cut the amount of cash that commercial banks need to set aside as reserves five times in the past year to spur lending to small businesses in the private sector. The RRR for big banks is now at 13.5 percent and the ratio for small- to medium-size banks is at 11.5 percent.

Yi said lending rates for small firms are still relatively elevated due to higher risk premiums and the central bank will forge ahead with reforms to lower such risk premiums.

High risk premiums on loans to small firms reflect commercial banks’ traditional reluctance to extend credit to the sector because of concerns about their creditworthiness.

PBOC data on Sunday showed new bank loans in China fell sharply in February from a record the previous month, but the drop was likely due to seasonal factors, while policymakers continue to press lenders to help cash-strapped firms stay afloat.

A pull-back in February’s tally had been widely expected as Chinese banks tend to front-load loans at the beginning of the year to get higher-quality customers and win market share.

Chinese banks made 885.8 billion yuan ($131.81 billion) in net new yuan loans in February, down sharply from a record 3.23 trillion yuan in January, when several other key credit gauges also picked up modestly in response to the central bank’s policy easing.

Yi said combined January-February new loans and total social financing (TSF), a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, could paint a more accurate picture as they showed a rise of 374.8 billion yuan and 1.05 trillion yuan from a year earlier, respectively.

DEBT DEFAULTS

Analysts say China needs to revive weak credit growth to help head off a sharper economic slowdown this year, but investors are worried about a further jump in corporate debt and the risk to banks as they relax their lending standards.

Corporate bond defaults hit a record last year, while banks’ non-performing loan ratio notched a 10-year high.

Pan Gongsheng, a vice governor at the PBOC, told the same briefing that China will control the amount of bond defaults in 2019, using both legal and market means.

Pan conceded that bond defaults increased last year, but the level of defaults was not high compared with China’s average bad loan ratio.

Premier Li Keqiang told parliament on Tuesday that monetary policy would be “neither too tight nor too loose”. Li also pledged to push for market-based reforms to lower real interest rates.

Chinese policymakers have repeatedly vowed not to open the credit floodgates in an economy already saddled with piles of debt – a legacy of massive stimulus during the global financial crisis in 2008-09 and subsequent downturns.

Sources have told Reuters the central bank is not ready to cut benchmark interest rates just yet, but is likely to cut market-based rates.

Yi said the downward trend in TSF has been initially curbed and broad M2 money supply growth will be more or less in line with nominal gross domestic product growth in 2019, Yi added.

Central bank data showed growth of outstanding TSF, a rough gauge of broad credit conditions, slowed to 10.1 percent in February from January’s 10.4 percent, versus a record low of 9.8 percent in December.

M2 money supply grew 8.0 percent in February from a year earlier, missing forecasts, the central bank data showed. Yi said China’s macro leverage ratio, or the amount of debt relative to GDP, was at 249.4 percent at the end of 2018, a fall of 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier, Yi said.

Analysts note there is a time lag before a jump in lending will translate into growth, suggesting business conditions may get worse before they get better.

Most economists expect a rocky first half before conditions begin to stabilize around mid-year as support measures begin to have a greater impact.

China’s economic growth is expected to cool to around 6.2 percent this year, a 29-year low, according to Reuters polls.

Growth slowed to 6.6 percent last year, with domestic demand curbed by higher borrowing rates and tighter credit conditions and exporters hit by the escalating trade war with the United States.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Woo and Lusha Zhang; Editing by Michael Perry)

Source: OANN

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Hungary Accuses Sweden of “Trying to Force” Migrants Into Country

The Swedish prime minister is a known “pro-migration politician” who is now “trying to force illegal migrants on Hungary and punish Hungarians for saying no to mandatory resettlement quotas”, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a statement to MTI on Monday, commenting on Stefan Lofven’s remarks in a Swedish daily slamming Hungary’s migration policy.

In a statement published on the internet site of the Dagens Nyheter, Lofven said those refusing to shoulder responsibility in the EU should “pay a price.” Those states “cannot receive the same EU funding they receive today. Hungary is one of the member states getting the most. A country that is given one of the largest funding in the bloc cannot shun responsibility when it comes to migration,” Lofven said.

Szijjarto said Hungary had shouldered “real responsibility” by protecting western and northern Europe from migration by sealing the EU’s external border. EU funds are not handouts, he said, but compensation laid down in EU treaties, allocated for opening our markets to western European players, he said.


An increase in rape of 44% in Sweden in the last 10 years is a catastrophic number to say the least.

At stake in the upcoming elections in May is whether the European Parliament will have politicians promoting security in Europe rather than resettlement quotas, no-go zones, gang warfare and terror threats, he insisted.

(Photo by Arno Mikkor / Wiki)

Lorinc Nacsa, an MP of the co-ruling Christian Democrats, told a separate press conference that it was “unacceptable” that “pro-migration politicians should openly threaten those who stand against migration”.

“The pro-migration politicians seek to force their own will on all European nations,” he said. “Hungarians have made it clear several times that they do not want Hungary to become a migrant destination,” Nacsa said, adding that a focal point of the ruling parties’ programme is that “no country should be obliged to take in migrants against its own will.”


Now that the Russia collusion conspiracy has crumbled, the cries from the left for Trump’s taxes to be released are getting louder. Former special agent of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, Joe Banister, joins Alex to reveal why Trump should not release his taxes.

Source: InfoWars

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Marine shot, killed while on guard duty at California base

The Navy is investigating after a Marine from Colorado was found shot to death while on guard duty at Southern California's Camp Pendleton, according to a report Tuesday.

Lance Cpl. Riley Schultz was discovered dead around 4 a.m. March 15 with a gunshot wound to the head, the Orange County Register reported.

His mother, Misty Schultz-McCoy, said she begged one of the Marines who broke the news to "'unofficially' tell us what they thought" led up to the shooting.

"She said, they thought it was suicide. The next day they acted differently and said there would be an official memorial because they did not believe he committed suicide," Schultz-McCoy told the newspaper from her home in Longmont, Colorado.

Officials from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force would not discuss details of the death or the investigation.

The Marine Corps presented Schultz-McCoy with a Gold Star and a citation that said her 19-year-old son died while in the service of his country.

Schultz-McCoy said both her son's grandfathers served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, and he had wanted to become a Marine since he was a boy.

Schultz enlisted after high school and went to boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in the summer of 2017.

"All he wanted to do was protect people," his mother said.

Schultz's body will be flown this week to Colorado for services scheduled for April 6. A memorial service is planned for April 3 at Camp Pendleton.

___

Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com

Source: Fox News National

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China goes all-in on home grown tech in push for nuclear dominance

FILE PHOTO: Model of nuclear reactor
FILE PHOTO: A model of the nuclear reactor "Hualong One" is pictured at the booth of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) at an expo in Beijing, China April 29, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

April 17, 2019

By David Stanway

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China plans to gamble on the bulk deployment of its untested “Hualong One” nuclear reactor, squeezing out foreign designs, as it resumes a long-delayed nuclear program aimed at meeting its clean energy goals, government and industry officials said.

China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, was once seen as a “shop window” for big nuclear developers to show off new technologies, with Beijing embarking on a program to build plants based on designs from France, the United States, Russia and Canada.

But after years of construction delays, overseas models such as Westinghouse’s AP1000 and France’s “Evolutionary Pressurised Reactor” (EPR) are now set to lose out in favor of new localized technologies, industry experts and officials said.

China signed a technology transfer deal with the United States in 2006 that put the AP1000 at the “core” of its atomic energy program. It also pledged to use advanced third-generation technology in its safety review after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

But by the time the world’s first AP1000 and EPR made their debuts in China last year, Chinese designs had become just as viable.

Though China has yet to complete its first Hualong One, officials are confident it will not encounter the delays suffered by rivals, and say it can compete on safety and cost.

Beijing has already decided to use the Hualong One for its first newly commissioned nuclear project in three years, set to begin construction later this year at Zhangzhou, a site originally earmarked for the AP1000. [nL3N2152KM]

“The problem with AP1000 – the delays, the design changes, the supply chain issues and then the trade problems – has forced their hand, and it has become Hualong,” said Li Ning, a nuclear scientist and dean of the College of Energy at Xiamen University.

He added that China’s licensing procedures would also be an advantage for the home grown tech. “For the Hualong, there are four reactors already under construction and one of them is near completion already. It is a Chinese design so it wouldn’t be very hard to license the next four,” he said.

EDF, France’s state-run utility, which helped build the EPR project at Taishan in Guangdong province, declined to comment. Westinghouse, now owned by Brookfield after entering bankruptcy restructuring, also did not respond to a request for comment.

INTERNATIONAL AMBITIONS

China’s ambitions for the Hualong One extend overseas as well. The first foreign project using the reactor is under construction in Pakistan and the model is in the running for projects in Argentina and Britain.

“(Hualong One) is competitive,” said Li Xiaoming, assistant general manager of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). “The technologies are now just about the same as those of the United States, France and Russia.”

“This is the foundation that we will rely on for our future survival and our international competitiveness,” Li said.

China already has four Hualong Ones under construction, with the first, in the southeastern coastal province of Fujian, set to go into operation late next year, ahead of schedule, said Huang Feng, a member of the expert committee of the China Nuclear Energy Association.

“China has already become one of the small number of countries that has independently mastered third-generation nuclear power technology, and it has the conditions and comparative advantages to scale up and go into mass production,” he told an industry conference.

As Beijing gets ready to commission eight reactors a year in order to meet its 2030 clean energy and emissions targets, construction speed will be a crucial consideration, benefiting local developers.

Huang said the estimated costs of Hualong One and the AP1000 were now roughly the same, and much now depended on scaling up production to cut costs and allow the Chinese design to compete not only with other reactors, but also with coal-fired power.

Li of CNNC said while foreign-designed projects would still be built, it would “make no sense” to rely on foreign technology if China’s own domestic reactors were equally safe and reliable.

“There are probably some technologies where we will continue to cooperate, but overall we will gradually turn to our own,” he said.

($1 = 6.7139 yuan)

(Reporting by David Stanway; editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Source: OANN

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Ken Starr grades Mueller report ‘incomplete’ on obstruction of justice

Whitewater Independent Counsel Ken Starr said Monday he grades Robert Mueller’s report into obstruction of justice by President Trump an "incomplete" following the public release of the report's "principal conclusions."

Bob Mueller did this incredibly thorough investigation,” Starr told “Fox & Friends” Monday. “But with obstruction he gets an incomplete.”

“He kicked that over to (Attorney General) Bill Barr,” he said. “Bill, showing his wisdom, said, ‘Okay. Bob Mueller you’ve been reporting to Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who appointed you. The two of us are going to review your paper. We’re going to complete the paper for you.’”

GIULIANI CRYPTICALLY WARNS PERSON BEHIND RUSSIA COLLUSION CLAIM WILL BE OUTED: ‘JUST PAY ATTENTION’

He added: “And they found—and I think given what we know in the public domain—there was no obstruction of justice whatsoever.”

Mueller's report drew no conclusion as to whether Trump obstructed justice in his report, which also found that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia to influence the presidential election, Barr said Sunday in a letter notifying Congress of the report's major findings.

KEN STARR: TRUMP IS VINDICATED ON COLLUSION, MUELLER PUNTS ON OBSTRUCTION, AND THE RULE OF LAW TRIUMPHS

Barr said the Mueller report neither found Trump committed a crime nor exonerated him.

Starr, whose investigation into Whitewater led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, said it was Mueller’s responsibility to come to a decision.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“But the way the report came to Bill Barr, our Attorney General, it’s difficult, he said. “There’s evidence here and there’s evidence there. As I said this is sort of Hamlet-like, I don’t know what to do, so I’m going to kick it to the fifth floor of the Justice Department.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Watch & Share: Save The First Amendment, Stop Big Tech Censorship 50-Hour Emergency Broadcast

WATCH NOW: Save the First Amendment, Stop Big Tech Censorship

March 21, 2019


Join Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew for this live special 50 hour broadcast, analyzing the latest attacks in big tech censorship.

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March 21, 2019


Join Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew for this live special 50 hour broadcast, analyzing the latest attacks in big tech censorship.

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March 20, 2019


Wednesday, March 20th: Mueller Meltdown - With Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe findings expected to be made public any day now, all factions are bracing for what Infowars predicted all along: there's no conspiracy between Trump and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. The reveal of the most hyped nothing-burger in decades is set to trigger an unprecedented meltdown from leftists across America. Joining today’s show is American Attorney Robert Barnes sharing his fight to help innocent people against fake news and the DC Swamp. Also, citizen-journalist Laura Loomer explains her groundbreaking tactics against leftists. Call and tune in now!

Watch Live

March 20, 2019


Wednesday, March 20th: Mueller Meltdown - With Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe findings expected to be made public any day now, all factions are bracing for what Infowars predicted all along: there's no conspiracy between Trump and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. The reveal of the most hyped nothing-burger in decades is set to trigger an unprecedented meltdown from leftists across America. Joining today’s show is American Attorney Robert Barnes sharing his fight to help innocent people against fake news and the DC Swamp. Also, citizen-journalist Laura Loomer explains her groundbreaking tactics against leftists. Call and tune in now!

Watch Live

Watch Live

Source: InfoWars

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Trump declares victory as Mueller report drops: ‘No collusion, no obstruction’

President Trump and his legal team declared victory Thursday as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report was released -- with the president repeating his "no collusion" mantra and saying “this should never happen to another president again.”

“I’m having a good day, too, it’s called ‘no collusion, no obstruction,’” he said in remarks for the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride, at the White House. “There never was by the way, and there never will be.”

READ THE ROBERT MUELLER REPORT

“This should never happen to another president again, this hoax, it should never happen to another president again,” he added.

He also promised “to get to the bottom of these things,” hinting at calls for the origins of the two-year investigation to be reviewed.

Mueller’s report dropped at 11 a.m., spanning over 400 pages. Attorney General William Barr, who had issued a four-page summary of its findings last month, held a press conference Thursday morning and repeated his conclusions that the investigation found no evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump campaign officials in the 2016 presidential election.

The report itself said: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

As for allegations of obstruction of justice, the report recounts 10 episodes involving Trump and, Barr said, “discusses potential legal theories for connecting these actions to elements of an obstruction offense.” But Barr said the White House “fully cooperated” with the investigation, and that he concluded that the evidence is not sufficient to establish an obstruction-of-justice offense by Trump.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly declared victory even as Democrats have indicated that they intend to continue their own investigations, and are seeking to question Mueller and to challenge the decision by the Department of Justice to redact parts of the report.

EX-FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR ON MUELLER REPORT: 'WE NEED TO TAKE A LOOK AT HOW THIS STARTED'

Trump himself tweeted that it was “game over” for his political opponents on Thursday, while his legal team issued a lengthy statement, describing the report as a “total victory for the President.”

“The report underscores what we have argued from the very beginning -- there was no collusion -- there was no obstruction. After a 17-month investigation, testimony from some 500 witnesses, the issuance of 2,800 subpoenas, the execution of nearly 500 search warrants, early morning raids, the examination of more than 1.4 million pages of documents, and the unprecedented cooperation of the President, it is clear there was no criminal wrongdoing," the statement said.

"This vindication of the President is an important step forward for the country and a strong reminder that this type of abuse must never be permitted to occur again," it said.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rudy Giuliani, one of the members of that team, appeared on "America's Newsroom" and brushed off questions about obstruction, saying that "the big victory is no collusion with the Russians."

“You’re not going to find a darn thing [in the report] that President Trump or anyone on his campaign had anything to do with whatever the Russians were doing," he said.

Fox News' Shannon Bream contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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President Trump on Friday said “no money” was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, after reports that the U.S. received a $2 million hospital bill from Pyongyang for the late American prisoner’s care.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else. This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist[sic] hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!” Trump tweeted Friday.

NORTH KOREA GAVE US $2M HOSPITAL BILL OVER CARE OF AMERICAN OTTO WARMBIER, SOURCES SAY

The Washington Post first reported that North Korean authorities insisted the U.S. envoy sent to retrieve Warmbier, 21, who was a student of the University of Virginia, sign a pledge to pay the bill before allowing Warmbier’s comatose body to return to the United States. Sources confirmed the bill and the amount to Fox News on Thursday.

Sources told the post that the envoy signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions from the president, but a source told Fox News that the U.S. did not ever pay money to North Korea.

The White House declined to comment when asked on the bill, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying in a statement that: “We do not comment on hostage negotiations, which is why they have been so successful during this administration.”

Meanwhile, the president added: “’President[sic] Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.’ Cheif[sic] Hostage Negotiator, USA!”

Warmbier was on tour in North Korea when he allegedly stole a propaganda sign from a hotel. He was arrested in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in March 2016. Warmbier, for unknown reasons, fell into a coma while in custody and was held in that condition for an additional 17 months.

North Korean officials did not tell American officials until June 2017 that Warmbier had been unconscious the entire time. He died less than a week after he returned to the U.S. North Korean officials, though, have repeatedly denied accusations that Warmbier was tortured, instead claiming that he had suffered from botulism and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

AMERICAN PRISONERS HELD IN NORTH KOREA ON THEIR WAY HOME AFTER POMPEO VISIT, TRUMP SAYS

Fred and Cindy Warmbier sued North Korea over their son’s death and in December were awarded $501 million in damages – money that the Hermit Kingdom will probably never pay.

While the Warmbiers blamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump has said he believes Kim’s claims that he did not know about the student’s treatment.

Trump and Kim have met in two separate summits. The most recent, held in February, ended without an agreement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Fox News: “Otto Warmbier was mistreated by North Korea in so many ways, including his wrongful conviction and harsh sentence, and the fact that for 16 months they refused to tell his family or our country about his dire condition they caused.  No, the United States owes them nothing. They owe the Warmbier family everything.”

Last year, the Trump administration was also able to save three American prisoners held by North Korea. Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, and Kim Hak Song were all detained in North Korea. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the three Americans home last May, and said they were all in “good health.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Rich Edson, Nicholas Kalman, and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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