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Sudanese women protesters sentenced to 20 lashes, month in jail

FILE PHOTO: Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir speaks during a press conference in Khartoum
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir speaks during a press conference after the swearing-in of the prime minister and first vice president at the presidential palace in Khartoum, Sudan March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo

March 9, 2019

By Khalid Abdelaziz

CAIRO (Reuters) – Nine female Sudanese protesters were sentenced on Saturday to 20 lashes and one month in prison for rioting, the Democratic Alliance of Lawyers said, a day after President Omar al-Bashir ordered the release of all women detained in anti-government demonstrations.

Bashir declared a state of emergency last month that produced a raft of measures including the establishment of emergency courts across the country such as the one in Khartoum that convicted the nine women.

The Democratic Alliance of Lawyers, part of the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, the main organizer of the protests, has said more than 800 people have been tried in the emergency courts.

Protests against Bashir and his National Congress Party have taken place almost daily since Dec. 19 in towns and cities all over Sudan, in what has become the most sustained popular challenge to him since he took power in a coup 30 years ago.

On Friday, International Women’s Day, Bashir ordered the release of all women arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

Hundreds turned out for protests in Khartoum and Omdurman that day, undeterred by the emergency measures.

Bashir has also dissolved the central government, replaced state governors with security officials, expanded the powers of security forces and banned unlicensed public gatherings.

The Sudanese Professionals’ Association called for fresh demonstrations in Omdurman on Sunday.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Cairo; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: OANN

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Taylor Swift announces release of new single “ME!” during NFL draft

FILE PHOTO: Time celebrates its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in New York
FILE PHOTO: Taylor Swift poses upon arriving for the Time 100 Gala celebrating Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in New York, U.S., April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Grammy-winning singer Taylor Swift announced the release of her new single “ME!” on ABC television’s broadcast of the National Football League draft in Nashville on Thursday.

Swift, 29, said the song and its music video will be released at midnight on Friday and will feature Brendon Urie, the lead singer of Panic! at the Disco.

“‘ME!’ is a song about embracing your individuality and really celebrating it and owning it,” she said during an interview with ABC host Robin Roberts.

“With a pop song, we have the ability to get a melody stuck in people’s heads and I just want it to be one that makes them feel better about themselves,” she said.

Swift began her career as a country singer in Nashville at age 15 before branching out with pop hits such as “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood.”

The NFL held the first round of its annual draft on Thursday. The rest of the seven-round draft will be held at the weekend.

Swift had been hinting on social media about a coming announcement and posting photos of flowers, kittens and jewels, all in a pastel palette.

On Thursday afternoon, Swift surprised hundreds of her fans by joining them at the unveiling of a butterfly wing mural in the Gulch area of the city. “ME!” was written in the center of the mural as a hint to her evening announcement.

Her last album was 2017’s revenge-oriented “Reputation,” which included songs such as “Look What You Made Me Do” that took aim at people who had attacked her personally and professionally.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Brendan O’Brien; Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: OANN

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US-Russian crew blasts off to International Space Station

A Russian-American crew of three has blasted off to the International Space Station, making a second attempt to reach the outpost after October's aborted launch.

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch along with Roscosmos' Alexei Ovchinin lifted off as planned from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:14 a.m. Friday (1914 GMT Thursday). They are set to dock at the space station in about six hours.

On Oct. 11, a Soyuz that Hague and Ovchinin were riding in failed two minutes into its flight, activating a rescue system that allowed their capsule to land safely. That accident was the first aborted crew launch for the Russian space program since 1983, when two Soviet cosmonauts safely jettisoned after a launch pad explosion.

Source: Fox News World

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Official: Islamic extremists abduct 2 Cuban doctors in Kenya

A Kenyan official says suspected Islamist militants have abducted two Cuban doctors after killing their bodyguard in Kenya's northern county of Mandera.

David Ohito, the communications director of the Mandera County government, said the doctors were ambushed on the road as they headed to work Friday.

A police official identified the two as Dr. Assel Herera Correa, a general physician, and Dr. Landy Rodriguez, a surgeon. More than 100 Cuban doctors were brought to Kenya in an exchange program that saw around 50. travel to Cuba for specialized training last year.

Source: Fox News World

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Swiss National Bank unites economists in expecting rate freeze: Reuters Poll

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is pictured next to the Swiss Federal Palace in Bern
FILE PHOTO: The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is pictured next to the Swiss Federal Palace (Bundeshaus) in Bern, Switzerland December 7, 2018. Picture taken December 7, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

March 19, 2019

ZURICH (Reuters) – The Swiss National Bank will leave its ultra-loose policy alone on Thursday, said all the economists polled by Reuters, and most don’t expect any change until at least 2021.

All 32 economists polled by Reuters expect SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan to maintain the bank’s negative interest rates and readiness to intervene in currency markets to restrain the safe-haven Swiss franc.

They expect the SNB to keep its target range for the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) locked at -1.25 to -0.25 percent, the same level since it ditched its minimum exchange rate of 1.20 Swiss francs to the euro four years ago.

None of the respondents expect any change until the end of this year, especially in view of the European Central Bank’s slowing of its own policy normalization. Most forecast it will come in 2021 at the earliest.

“We do not expect the SNB to change interest rates before the end of 2020. In fact, if we are correct in our assessment that the ECB will be forced to re-start QE next year, upward pressure on the franc – and SNB concerns about deflation – are likely to intensify into 2020,” said Jack Allen at Capital Economics.

“This means the SNB may have to delve into its toolbox to ease policy next year,” Allen said. He thinks the SNB might take rates even further into negative territory if necessary.

There was also no disagreement about the negative interest rate the SNB charges on sight deposits. All the economists expect -0.75 percent to be maintained this week.

All but one expected the bank to retain its description of the franc as “highly valued”. That one expected it will be described as “significantly overvalued”. The franc has gained 3 percent against the euro in the last 12 months to trade around 1.1360.

A strong franc weighs on Switzerland’s export-reliant economy and also adds deflationary pressure. The SNB is expected to cut its 2019 inflation forecast on Thursday from its current view of 1 percent.

The SNB will have to wait at least until the ECB starts its monetary policy tightening — now delayed to 2020 at the earliest — before it begins its own path to normalization, analysts said.

“Pressure on the SNB is mounting from two sides: on the one hand, the financial industry and pension funds are increasingly coming under pressure, which puts pressure on the SNB to end the negative interest rate phase as early as possible,” said Alessandro Bee at UBS.

“On the other hand, the weakness in European growth and the various political risks lead to a higher risk of a Swiss franc appreciation. The SNB is between a rock and a hard place.”

(Reporting by John Revill, polling by Manjul Paul and Richa Rebello, editing by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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Job insecurity weighs on Portuguese growth prospects

A person is seen in Orient Station terminal, in Lisbon
A person is seen in Orient Station terminal, in Lisbon, Portugal, February 28, 2019. Picture taken February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes

March 12, 2019

By Catarina Demony

LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s jobless rate has tumbled from record highs as it recovers from an economic crisis, but with more than one in five workers on temporary contracts, insecurity of employment is increasingly acting as a drag on growth.

The situation has led Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s government to promise restrictions on the use of non-permanent contracts, which are most prevalent in the services sector that represents some 65 percent of Portugal’s gross domestic product.

“The main limitation to the growth of Portuguese companies now is not financial but constraints on human capital,” said Joao Cerejeira, a labor market researcher at Minho University.

Nuno, an IT expert, was hired on a temporary contract in 2011, working up to 12 hours a day at a call center on a salary of 660 euros ($746) per month — just above the minimum wage, and with no health insurance or benefits.

“We were treated like numbers,” said the 30-year-old, who did not want to give his full name.

He was one of about 890,000 Portuguese whose employment status last year was officially described as precarious, a term used to refer to non-standard forms of employment, including temporary work and fixed-term contracts.

According to Eurostat, some 22 percent of Portuguese jobs are classed as temporary, well above the European Union average of 14.3 percent and second in western Europe only to neighboring Spain’s 26.7 percent.

Economists see such job insecurity as a key flaw of the economy, which recorded its strongest expansion in almost two decades in 2017 as Portugal recovered from a debt crisis that required an international bailout, but is now cooling.

The crisis wiped out 700,000 jobs between 2008 and 2013, when the jobless rate peaked at more than 17 percent. Unemployment has since been slashed, to just under 7 percent last year, a 14-year low.

Costa’s Socialist government takes pride in the fact that 321,000 new jobs have been created since it came to power in late 2015 pledging to reverse many austerity measures imposed under the 2011-14 bailout.

But the number of non-permanent contracts has grown by almost 10 percent in the same period, to 890,000 in 2018, the same data from the National Statistics Institute show.

“We are increasingly precarious, we have less rights and we are poorer,” said Alexandra Martins. The 44-year-old says she is suffering from physical and emotional burnout after five years working at a call center.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said in a report in October that the quality of jobs in Portugal remained low while the labor market is heavily segmented, with stable and secure jobs rationed, especially for the young.

Maurizio Bussi, ILO regional director, said that over 60 percent of those under 25 in the country are employed on temporary jobs, which do not provide the same benefits and protections as regular jobs. He also pointed to a “persistence of temporary employment contracts characterized by precarious conditions”.

Experts say the labor situation is discouraging hundreds of thousands of Portuguese who emigrated during the crisis from returning home.

The minimum wage of 600 euros a month, compared with 1,050 euros in Spain, also makes the country unattractive to workers from most European countries, says Cerejeira.

The government is aware of the problem and plans to reduce “excessive” use of non-permanent contracts, and make it illegal for companies to hire first-time job-seekers on fixed-term contracts when they in fact need to fill a permanent position.

“For us precariousness is a structural issue in our job market and it is our priority to tackle it,” Secretary of State for Employment Miguel Cabrita told Reuters.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

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Feds' Michael Cohen investigation began nearly a year before raid, court files reveal

The federal investigation into former Trump attorney Michael Cohen began nearly a year before agents raided his home and business in April 2018, newly unsealed court documents revealed Tuesday.

The massive trove of files, pertaining to the government's search warrants, showed that federal investigators obtained a warrant for emails from Cohen’s Gmail account “on or around July 18, 2017.” The emails that were obtained and reviewed were dated between Jan. 1, 2016 and July 18, 2017.

ANOTHER TOP PROSECUTOR EXITS ROBERT MUELLER'S TEAM, RAISING SPECULATIONS INVESTIGATION IS NEARING ITS END

Weeks later, the FBI sought and obtained a search warrant -- on or around Aug.  8, 2017 -- for communications and records stored in Cohen’s iCloud account. In November 2017, the FBI sought and obtained a separate search warrant for Cohen’s Gmail account, related to communications “sent or received between June 1, 2016, and November 13, 2017.”

Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty to a range of charges related to bank and tax fraud, campaign finance violations and making false statements to Congress. The latter arose from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, but the rest of the charges came from an investigation handled by New York federal prosecutors. Cohen, who recently delivered explosive testimony to Congress critical of Trump, is expected to report to prison in May to serve a three-year sentence.

The documents unsealed Tuesday show that Mueller was investigating Cohen until February 2018, before turning the case over to prosecutors with the Southern District of New York. The documents show that Mueller’s team was reviewing all communications and records from the warrant, specifically related to Cohen’s relations with foreign entities and whether he was acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

The court files documented Mueller's handoff to the SDNY.

“The SCO has since referred certain aspects of its investigation into Cohen to the USAO, which is working with the FBI’s New York Field Office,” the court files state. “As part of that referral, on or about Feb. 8, 2018, the SCO provided the USAO with all non-privileged emails and other content information obtained pursuant to the Cohen email address and Cohen iCloud account.”

Cohen, who has been criticized for his unregistered foreign contacts and relationships, was never charged with failing to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

But Tuesday’s court filings detail Cohen’s financial exchanges with foreign entities—including Russia-linked U.S.-based company Columbus Nova; Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis; a South Korean company; and a Kazakhstani bank. All entities transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars into a Cohen bank account dubbed “Essential Consulting”—the account that ultimately paid former adult film star, Stormy Daniels. In total, between January 2017 and January 2018, Cohen received nearly $2.9 million in transfers and checks from foreign entities.

Despite getting initial warrants nearly a year prior, the FBI did not conduct the raid of Cohen’s home, office and hotel room until April 9, 2018. Agents scooped up evidence related to several issues including his relations with foreign entities, his personal business dealings involving taxi medallions, and his payments to Daniels in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election to cover up an alleged affair with then-candidate Donald Trump.

ROSENSTEIN HANGING ON AT DOJ AMID MUELLER PROBE WIND-DOWN, DESPITE PLANS TO LEAVE BY NOW

The newly released documents reference an “Illegal Campaign Contribution Scheme,” but all sections related to that topic are completely redacted. The heavy redactions signal that the hush-money payments could still be a factor in Mueller's Russia probe.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.

He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.

Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.

Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.

He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.

He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.

“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.

Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.

Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.

But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.

Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.

With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.

The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.

Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.

“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.

According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.

Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.

However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.

Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.

FOREX SURCHARGE

Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.

Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.

Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.

But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.

Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.

The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., threatened possible jail time for White House officials refusing to comply with subpoenas to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

Connolly, a member of the House panel, made his comments during an interview on CNN on Thursday. He said that “if a subpoena is issued and you’re told you must testify, we will back that up.”

He added: “And we will use any and all power in our command to make sure it’s backed up — whether that’s a contempt citation, whether that’s going to court and getting that citation enforced, whether it’s fines, whether it’s possible incarceration.”

“We will go to the max to enforce the constitutional role of the legislative branch of government.”

His comments came after three officials have refused to comply with congressional requests to testify, CNN noted.

Trump told The Washington Post that his staff should not testify on Capitol Hill, explaining that the White House cooperated fully with special counsel Robert Mueller and “there is no reason to go any further, especially in Congress where it’s very partisan.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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“Outdated laws” need fixing to deal with the surge in illegal immigrant families crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, a top Border Patrol official said Friday.

Migrant families face no consequences if apprehended trying to cross the border illegally under present law, Border Patrol chief of Operations Brian Hastings claimed during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“We need a change in the current outdated laws that we’re dealing with for this current demographic and this crisis that we have,” he said.

Hastings said as of Thursday there have been 440,000 apprehensions along the southwest border. There were 396,000 apprehensions all of last year.

SOUTHERN BORDER AT ‘BREAKING POINT’ AFTER MORE THAN 76,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TRIED CROSSING IN FEBRUARY, OFFICIALS SAY

And those numbers continue to rise, he said.

Historically 70 to 90 percent of apprehensions at the border were quickly returned to Mexico, Hastings said.

Now, 83 percent of those apprehended have come from the Central American northern triangle which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and of those 63 percent are “family units” and children who cannot be returned, he said.

“There are no consequences that we can apply to this group currently,” Hastings said. “We’re overwhelmed. If you look at agents there doing a tremendous job trying to deal with the flow.”

The law dictates children have to be released after 20 days of detention.

FLORIDA SHERIFF ON BORDER CRISIS AFTER MAJOR DRUG BUST: ‘IT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says that has forced immigration officials to release entire families because “you don’t want to separate families.”

Recently, he said he is drafting legislation that would allow children to be detained for more than 20 days.

Hastings said agents are frustrated with the situation but are doing the best they can with the resources they have.

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“Up to 40 percent of our agents are processing at any given time,” he said. “That should say that in and of itself is pulling from those border security resources.”

Source: Fox News National

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