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Japan reporter sues government after passport is invalidated

A Japanese journalist known for covering war zones has sued the Foreign Ministry after it invalidated his passport and demanded he surrender it, saying it deprives him of his right to travel and interferes with press freedom.

Kosuke Tuneoka was stopped at Tokyo's Haneda airport in February on his way to Yemen for reporting. He was told his passport had been invalidated and then received a ministry order to immediately surrender it.

Tsuneoka says he filed a lawsuit to stop the government from taking similar steps against others.

Tsuneoka was held captive for five months in Afghanistan in 2010.

A Syria-bound Japanese photographer had his passport taken in 2015 to prevent him from traveling there.

Source: Fox News World

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Daimler opens Mercedes-Benz plant in Moscow region

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the opening ceremony of a Mercedes Benz automobile assembly plant outside Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the opening ceremony of a Mercedes Benz automobile assembly plant outside Moscow, Russia, April 3, 2019. Pavel Golovkin/Pool via REUTERS

April 3, 2019

ESIPOVO, Russia (Reuters) – German automaker Daimler officially opened a Mercedes-Benz factory near Moscow on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin, marking a rare foreign investment into Russia’s car industry.

The plant in the town of Esipovo 40 kilometers north west of Moscow is the first in years to be opened by a foreign carmaker in Russia where investment into the once burgeoning auto industry dried up amid western sanctions and a stagnant economy.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Putin said the plant would produce 25,000 cars a year and that investment in the project had totaled 19 billion roubles ($291 million).

Putin said the factory, built after Daimler signed a deal with Russia’s authorities in early 2017, would employ almost 1,000 people.

Most global automakers opened plants in Russia in the first half of the 2000s, but after peaking in 2012 car sales slumped to a ten-year low of 1.42 million in 2016. The market is picking up again, and a total of 1.8 million cars were sold last year.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

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African soccer whistleblower fired after accusing boss of corruption

FILE PHOTO: Africa Cup of Nations Draw
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Africa Cup of Nations Draw - The Great Pyramids, Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt - April 12, 2019 Confederation of African Football President Ahmad Ahmad during the draw REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo

April 15, 2019

By Mark Gleeson

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – African soccer’s ruling body has fired a senior official after he made corruption accusations against the organization’s president in a potential blow to FIFA’s efforts to clean up the game after a raft of scandals worldwide.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) sacked general secretary Amr Fahmy after the Egyptian accused his boss Ahmad Ahmad of bribes and misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to officials and an internal document.

The document, sent on March 31 by Fahmy to a FIFA body that investigates alleged ethics breaches and seen by Reuters, accuses Ahmad of ordering his secretary-general to pay $20,000 bribes into accounts of African soccer association presidents.

They included Cape Verde and Tanzania.

The document also accused Ahmad of costing CAF an extra $830,000 by ordering equipment via a French intermediary company called Tactical Steel.

Furthermore, it accuses him of harassing four female CAF staff, whom it did not name; violating statutes to increase Moroccan representation within the organization; and over-spending more than $400,000 of CAF money on cars in Egypt and Madagascar, where a satellite office has been set up for him.

LATEST FIFA CONTROVERSY

Senior CAF officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Fahmy was fired after compiling the document with the allegations against Ahmad, from Madagascar, who took the top African soccer post two years ago.

CAF confirmed to Reuters that Fahmy lost his job at an executive committee meeting in Cairo on Thursday, prior to the draw for the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

It declined to give more details about the reason for his dismissal. “There’s no explanation. It’s the Executive Committee decision,” communications director Nathalie Rabe said in an email exchange with Reuters on Sunday.

Ahmad, who is also a vice-president of world governing body FIFA, did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations against him.

Requests for comment to the soccer presidents and authorities of Cape Verde and Tanzania, and to Tactical Steel in France, were also not immediately answered.

Fahmy was replaced by Mouad Hajji, from Morocco.

The allegations against Ahmad follow a string of scandals related to FIFA’s practices in Latin America and Asia in recent years, which have led to the indictment and jailing of numerous senior soccer administrators.

The corruption scandals first broke in 2015.

The CAF case is potentially problematic for FIFA president Gianni Infantino – set to be re-elected unopposed in June for a four-year term – as Ahmad is one of his deputies.

FIFA declined comment.

“The Ethics Committee does not comment on potential ongoing proceedings nor on whether or not investigations are underway into alleged ethics cases,” a spokesperson said.

Ahmad, 59, served as Minister of Fisheries in Madagascar and in the country’s senate before a quick rise to the CAF presidency. His accuser Fahmy, 35, was appointed as general secretary in late 2017, keeping up a family tradition that stretches across three generations.

(Reporting By Mark Gleeson; Additional reporting by Luke Baker in Paris; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Source: OANN

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Ecuador reserves the right to investigate Assange: foreign minister

FILE PHOTO - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London
FILE PHOTO - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Britain, May 19, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

April 8, 2019

QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador reserves the right to conduct an investigation of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for allegedly leaking information about President Lenin Moreno’s personal life, the foreign minister said on Monday.

Assange, an Ecuadorian citizen, has lived in the country’s London embassy for nearly seven years. Moreno has said Assange has violated the terms of his asylum, but that the country has no imminent plan to expel him from the embassy.

The Ecuadorian government told the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to privacy last week that Wikileaks could be involved in the posting on social media of communications and photographs of Moreno and his family.

“Ecuador reserves the right to conduct investigations,” foreign minister Jose Valencia told reporters. “The state has the ability to assign and revise this diplomatic asylum; therefore we can conduct some investigations.”

“We have reports that he possibly has access (to the internet). This specifically determines the investigations that we will take forward,” Valencia said.

The investigation will be independent from the one conducted by the UN’s rapporteur, who is set to visit Assange in London on April 25, according to Valencia.

Assange says Ecuador is seeking to end his asylum, which began in 2012, by implicating him and Wikileaks in accusations of corruption leveled against Moreno and his family that have been shared on social media.

Assange’s lawyer in Ecuador, Carlos Poveda, has asked Ecuador to clarify if it is planning to terminate Assange’s asylum.

“That decision will be made between two options: continue asylum or revise the situation depending on the merits that may or may not exist,” Valencia said.

Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where authorities wanted to question him as part of a sexual assault investigation.

That probe was later dropped, but Assange fears he could be extradited to face charges in the United States, where federal prosecutors are investigating WikiLeaks.

Ecuador last year established new rules for Assange’s behavior while in the embassy, requiring he pay his medical bills and clean up after his pet cat. He challenged the rules in local and international tribunals, arguing they violated his human rights. Both courts ruled against him.

Last month, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which is linked to the Organization of American States, rejected Assange’s request that Ecuador ease the conditions it has imposed on his residence in the London embassy.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Source: OANN

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Irish border still a key Brexit obstacle

The issue of a physical border between the United Kingdom's Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a European Union member, received scant attention during the 2016 Brexit referendum. But it has proven to be a major stumbling block in the British government's quest for a divorce deal.

It's extremely difficult to resolve due to the tangled history tying Northern Ireland to the United Kingdom despite its cultural and geographic ties to the Irish republic. Brexit forces the issue because once Britain leaves the bloc, the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland will be the only land border between the EU and the U.K.

The border has been open and unguarded for 20 years since the Good Friday agreement ended the armed conflict in Northern Ireland, but that status will be much more difficult to maintain once Britain is no longer part of the EU. A host of new trade rules and tariffs are likely to apply, along with possible vehicle checks.

That could mean a "hard border" is put in place, potentially reigniting old passions and leading to violence.

Colm Barton of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, said Tuesday the changes Brexit would bring have "the potential to destroy" the peace process that ended decades of violence known as "The Troubles." A hard border is unacceptable, he said.

"No matter what we dress it up as, it will ultimately end with (the) British army protecting British installations on the island of Ireland, and it is absolutely insane," he said.

Other residents simply detest the hassles a hard border would bring.

"That means it's going to be back to the old days," said Seanna Happsley, who crosses the border daily for her commute. "Back to the way it was before. Just practical things, school, going to work every day, taking the kids to school and so on, that is going to take a lot of time and so on."

The so-called backstop that is part of the U.K.'s withdrawal agreement from the EU is designed to ensure there is no hard border — no customs checks or other border structures — after Britain withdraws from the bloc. It says if no other solution is found, Britain will remain in a customs union with the EU in order to keep the Irish border open.

Brexit supporters fear that the backstop could last indefinitely, tying Britain to the EU even after it formally left — in effect, defeating one of the main purposes of leaving in the first place.

One possible solution would be for Northern Ireland to stay in a customs union with the EU while Britain departs, but British leaders have categorically ruled this out because it would effectively place a border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the British mainland.

Some officials believe a technological solution may eventually make physical border checks unnecessary. For now, the backstop remains a considerable obstacle to a divorce deal.

___

Katz reported from London.

Source: Fox News World

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Parents Outraged Over ‘Drag Queen Story Time’ Hosted By Convicted Child Rapist in Houston

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No Brexit breakthrough with May’s government, Britain’s Labour says

Britain's Labour Party's Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer is seen outside the Cabinet Office in London
FILE PHOTO - Britain's Labour Party's Shadow Secretary of State for Departing the European Union Keir Starmer is seen outside the Cabinet Office in London, Britain, April 4, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville

April 8, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s opposition Labour Party and Prime Minister Theresa May’s government have not yet found a way forward on reaching an agreement on a Brexit divorce deal, Labour’s Brexit point man Keir Starmer said on Monday.

“We haven’t found that yet,” Starmer said of finding a way forward.

“There aren’t any scheduled talks yet but I have no doubt things will develop today,” he said.

Starmer said the ball was in the government’s court.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Andrew MacAskill)

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.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

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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FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.

Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.

PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.

The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.

“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.

Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.

A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.

“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”

PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.

The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.

The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.

Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)

(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.

ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”

Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.

Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.

The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.

In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.

ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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