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Marine Raider killed in Camp Pendleton crash ID’d

A 29-year-old Marine Raider has been identified as the victim of a deadly crash during training at a Southern California base over the weekend.

Staff Sgt. Joshua Braica was injured Saturday when an MRZR tactical vehicle he was driving rolled over during an exercise at Camp Pendleton. He died at a local hospital the following day. Two other Marines suffered minor injuries.

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Joshua Braica.

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Joshua Braica. (United States Marine Corps)

Braica, of Sacramento, Calif., was a critical skills operator with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion and was an eight-year veteran. He is survived by his wife and son.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

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Braica's death was the second tragedy at Camp Pendleton in less than a week. On April 11, the Marine Corps announced that 1st Lt. Matthew Kraft, who failed to return from a ski trip in the Sierra Nevada mountain range more than a month ago, had likely died of exposure.

Fox News' Travis Fedschun and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Thailand collects sacred waters for king’s coronation rituals

Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn attends the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony in central Bangkok
FILE PHOTO: Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn attends the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony in central Bangkok, Thailand, May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

April 6, 2019

By Panu Wongcha-um and Chayut Setboonsarng

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand began rituals on Saturday for the coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn next month, with officials collecting water in ceremonies across the country for use in purification rites.

The elaborate coronation for King Vajiralongkorn will take place over three days, from May 4 to 6, in the capital Bangkok with many Buddhist and Brahmin rituals performed in the month leading up to the event.

The 66-year-old King Vajiralongkorn became Thailand’s constitutional monarch following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in 2016 following a 70-year reign.

His coronation was delayed until after the mourning period for Bhumibol, who was cremated in October 2017.

Reverence for the monarch, who is also the sworn patron of Buddhism in Thailand, is central to traditional Thai culture.

For most Thais, the coronation will be the first in their lifetimes.

The water gathered on Saturday will be use for ablution of the king in the purification and anointment ceremonies on May 4 before the crowning ritual.

The use of water is based on a Brahmin tradition that dates back to the 18th century coronation ceremonies, since the founding of the Chakri dynasty.

Saturday is Chakri Day in Thailand, which observes the beginning of the dynasty.

King Vajiralongkorn holds the title Rama X, or the 10th king of the Chakri dynasty.

The waters were collected simultaneously between 11.52 a.m. to 12:38 p.m. on Saturday – times deemed especially auspicious in Thai astrology – by senior officials from more than a 100 water sources across 76 Thai provinces.

The ceremony was broadcast on all Thai television channels.

The water, stored in traditional vases, will be blessed in Buddhist ceremonies at major temples around the country on April 8 to 9, before being combined in another consecration rite at Wat Suthat, one of Bangkok’s oldest temples, on April 18.

Vajiralongkorn is the second child of King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit’s four children and their only son.

He was educated at private schools in Britain and Australia before attending the Royal Military College Duntroon in Canberra.

According to the official biography, he is a qualified helicopter and fighter pilot, who saw action against communist insurgents in Thailand in the 1970s. He holds the honorary military ranks of general, admiral and air chief marshal.

Vajiralongkorn has spent a significant amount of his adult life abroad, mostly in Germany where he has a home.

(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: OANN

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How Libya’s Haftar blindsided world powers with advance on Tripoli

FILE PHOTO: Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who dominates eastern Libya, arrives to attend an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris
FILE PHOTO: Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who dominates eastern Libya, arrives to attend an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo

April 10, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TUNIS (Reuters) – Western diplomats sat down for three hours with Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in his eastern stronghold last month to try to dissuade him from launching an offensive against the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.

They urged him not to plunge the country into a civil war and told him he could become a successful civilian leader if he committed himself to pursuing a political settlement, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting outside Benghazi.

But Haftar, a military strongman who critics describe as the new Muammar Gaddafi, paid them little heed, said the sources who spoke on condition the ambassadors were not identified. He said he was prepared to negotiate with the prime minister, but if no power-sharing deal was reached, he could invade the capital.

Two weeks later, on April 4, he sent troops from his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) streaming towards Tripoli – just at a time when U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in the city to prepare for a national reconciliation conference this month which Guterres’ aides thought Haftar supported.

For world powers including France, Italy and Britain, the general’s military campaign, the biggest in Libya since the 2011 uprising that deposed Gaddafi, represented a major setback.

They had tried for years to co-opt Haftar, 75, into a political settlement that would stabilize the major oil and gas producer after almost a decade of conflict that had acted as a breeding ground for Islamist militancy.

Even the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which have backed Haftar and see him as a bulwark against Islamists in north Africa, appear to have been surprised by his rapid advance. A French diplomatic source said Paris, which has also aided the general, had no prior warning of the offensive.

The diplomats’ calls for military restraint in the meeting last month had echoed those from other Western and U.N. envoys who had traveled to Haftar’s base outside the city of Benghazi in the preceding weeks, four separate diplomatic sources said.

In a sign of how far the situation in Libya – and Haftar – was beyond their control, U.N. and Western envoys in daily contact with his camp about the conference had no idea he was about to launch the offensive, the four diplomatic sources said.

Some even thought the general was bluffing.

“These are just psycho games,” one U.N. official texted Reuters when the first LNA troops were spotted south of Tripoli.

Some diplomats who had met Haftar many times and lobbied their governments to overlook his hardline comments – such as that Libya was not ready for democracy – despaired when it became clear he was committed to taking the city by force.

“I’ve wasted almost two years on Haftar,” said one who met Haftar regularly. “If the national conference doesn’t happen, it was for nothing.”

EGYPT, UAE, FRANCE

Haftar, for his part, has been consistent in speeches and statements about his commitment to military force in his declared mission to restore order to the north African country and also dropped hints about ultimately ruling the country.

When he first announced his intentions in February 2014 he stood in front of a map of Libya, a somber-looking, gray-haired man wearing an immaculate army uniform, and vowed to stage a coup.

Western countries left Libya after fighting in Tripoli in 2014, closing embassies and ending NATO training programs, before returning in 2016.

Their period of absence opened the door for Arab countries such as Egypt and the UAE, which provided training and military assistance, according to reports from U.N. experts monitoring an arms embargo imposed on Libya in 2011, and diplomats.

Haftar’s forces received aircraft as well as military vehicles from the UAE, which had also built up an air base at Al Khadim, allowing the LNA to gain air superiority by 2016, a U.N. report said in June 2017.

But on the ground Haftar was struggling to make progress in his initial campaign launched in May 2014 against Islamist militants in Benghazi, which he dubbed “Operation Dignity”. His heavy guns and aircraft flattened residential buildings but could not dislodge the foreign jihadists holed up in booby-trapped houses.

It was at this point that France, which has oil assets in eastern Libya and is politically close to the UAE and Egypt, offered assistance, according to Libyan and French sources.

In late 2015, Paris sent military advisers and special forces familiar in urban warfare who camped out at an air base near Benghazi, the sources said. The French assistance helped turn the tide and allowed him to declare victory in Benghazi in 2017, they added.

Arab countries had recognized Haftar as Libya’s official army commander for years but France helped him gain further international legitimacy as his campaign progressed.

In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron received Haftar and the U.N.-backed Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Serraj, on the outskirts of Paris to try to persuade them to make a deal, which instantly upgraded the general’s diplomatic status.

Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian see Haftar, much like Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, as a buffer against Islamist militants in north Africa, according to French officials.

Le Drian has been to Libya three times in two years and on his last trip, on March 20, he saw Serraj in Tripoli and then traveled east to see Haftar to try to broker a detente.

According to a French diplomatic source, when Haftar asked him why he hadn’t come for such a long time, Le Drian responded: “We were waiting for your victories.”

He was referring to the general’s campaign to take the south of the country earlier this year, the source said.

Following Haftar’s Tripoli advance, Egypt’s Sisi stressed the need for urgent international action to stop the situation deteriorating, without naming the LNA offensive. The governments of France, Italy, the UAE, Britain and the United States said in a joint statement they were deeply concerned about the fighting.

Le Drian told lawmakers on Tuesday that France feared more serious conflict, adding that Haftar and Serraj needed to agree on a ceasefire before resuming their dialogue.

The UAE mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. reports of military aid to Haftar. Egyptian officials also had no immediate comment on the reports.

RESCUED BY CIA

Haftar was among officers who helped Gaddafi rise to power in 1969 but fell out with him during Libya’s war with Chad in the 1980s. Haftar was taken prisoner by the Chadians and had to be rescued by the CIA after having worked from Chad to overthrow Gaddafi.

He lived for around 20 years in the U.S. state of Virginia before returning home in 2011 to join other rebels in the uprising that ousted Gaddafi.

Three years later Haftar made his own move, launching the campaign in Benghazi.

At the time he had gathered only around 200 soldiers and 13 helicopters under his LNA banner, said Jalel Harchaoui, research fellow at the Clingendael Institute international relations think-tank in The Hague.

However Haftar quickly attracted other soldiers such as the Saiqa (Lightning) elite unit as well as tribesmen.

There is no reliable figure for the current size of the LNA, though analysts say it runs into the thousands. The Saiqa alone has 3,500 men and Haftar’s sons also have well-equipped units.

Haftar’s forces outnumber his opponents scattered in different western cities but he has filled his ranks beyond a core of former Gaddafi soldiers with less trained tribesmen and Salafist fighters and foreign mercenaries, analysts say.

After Benghazi, Haftar gradually took control of the entire east of Libya, before turning his attention to the south.

However this month’s Tripoli offensive is the commander’s highest-stakes gamble yet.

He has moved much of his forces west, leaving his eastern home base exposed, and making it almost impossible for him to retreat without losing standing among friends and foes alike.

The battle for the capital is still raging, and little is certain. Some pro-Haftar media had predicted victory in 48 hours but the fighting is still mostly outside the city.

Meanwhile, his lightning drive has united opponents in western Libya who had not talked to each other for a long time but have now joined arms.

“Although none of the foreign sponsors behind Haftar is likely pleased with the dramatic deterioration, they have no option but to continue backing him,” said Harchaoui. “They have been concentrating most of their bets on one key figure for almost half a decade. This cannot be walked back overnight.”

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Michael Georgy in Dubai, Stephen Kalin in Riyadh, Aziz El Yakooubi in Dubai and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: OANN

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Oil prices rise to 2019 highs on OPEC cuts, U.S. sanctions

FILE PHOTO: Pumpjacks are seen against the setting sun at the Daqing oil field in Heilongjiang
FILE PHOTO: Pumpjacks are seen against the setting sun at the Daqing oil field in Heilongjiang province, China December 7, 2018. REUTERS/Stringe

March 19, 2019

By Dmitry Zhdannikov

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices rose to new 2019 highs on Tuesday, supported by supply cuts from OPEC and falling output from Iran and Venezuela due to U.S. sanctions.

Brent crude oil futures were up 55 cents at $68.09 per barrel at 1145 GMT, having earlier risen to a new 2019 high of $68.16 a barrel, their highest since November 2018.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $59.47 per barrel, up 38 cents from their last settlement. They have also risen on Tuesday to their highest since November 2019 of $59.57 a barrel.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Monday scrapped its planned meeting in April, effectively extending supply cuts that have been in place since January until its next regular meeting in June.

OPEC and a group of non-affiliated producers including Russia, known as OPEC+, cut supply in 2019 to halt a sharp price drop which began in the second-half of 2018 due to booming U.S. production and fears of a global economic slowdown.

Saudi Arabia has signaled that OPEC and its allies may continue to restrain oil output until the end of 2019.

“The OPEC+ deal has brought stability to crude prices and signs of an extension have taken crude higher,” said Alfonso Esparza, senior market analyst at futures brokerage OANDA.

Prices have been further supported by U.S. sanctions against oil exports from Iran and Venezuela, traders said.

Venezuela has suspended its oil exports to India, one of its key export destinations, the Azeri energy ministry said on Tuesday, citing Venezuela’s oil minister.

Because of the tighter supply outlook for the coming months, the Brent forward curve has gone into backwardation since the start of the year, meaning that prices for immediate delivery are more expensive than those for dispatch in the future, with May Brent prices around $1.20 per barrel more expensive than December delivery Brent.

(GRAPHIC: Brent crude oil forward curves – https://tmsnrt.rs/2FlM7YZ)

Outside OPEC, analysts are watching U.S. crude oil production, which has risen by more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd) since early 2018, to around 12 million bpd, making the United States the world’s biggest producer ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Weekly output and storage data will be published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note that economic “risks are skewed to the downside” and that “we forecast global demand growth of 1.2 million bpd year-on-year in 2019 and 1.15 million bpd during 2020”.

The bank said it expected “Brent and WTI to average $70 per barrel and $59 per barrel respectively in 2019, and $65 per barrel and $60 per barrel in 2020.”

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing Joseph Radford and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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Notre Dame cathedral donations swell past $700 million mark

Donations to help rebuild Notre Dame cathedral hit the $700 million mark midday Tuesday - with two of France's rival billionaires pledging the bulk of the cash.

Just 24 hours earlier, the world watched in horror as 500 firefighters battled the blaze in Paris for nearly five hours. The extensive fire caused the cathedral's delicate spire to collapse and burn through the roof of the 12th-century building.

NOTRE DAME GOLDEN ALTER CROSS SEEN GLOWING AS IMAGES EMERGE FROM INSIDE SHOWING FIRE-RAVAGED CATHEDRAL

Nations around the world expressed solidarity with France and offered their support for the recovery.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced an international fundraising campaign even as the fire still burned.

“Notre-Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicenter of our lives,” he said.

Macron added: “Let’s be proud, because we built this cathedral more than 800 years ago, we’ve built it and, throughout the centuries, let it grow and improved it. So I solemnly say tonight: we will rebuild it together."

Since his comments, donations have flooded in to help rebuild the historic landmark.

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRALS MOST ICONIC MOMENTS IN FILM

Bernard Arnault, who heads LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton in France, said his family and the luxury-goods company it controls would donate $226 million to help with reconstruction costs. LVMH also offered up an army of "creative, architectural and financial specialists" to help with rebuilding.

French luxury magnate François-Henri Pinault said his family would dedicate about $113 million to the effort. Pinaut heads Kering, a group of luxury brands including Gucci and Alexander McQueen.

"Faced with such a tragedy, everyone wants to revive this jewel of our heritage as quickly as possible.” Pinault said.

L'Oreal said the company, the Bettencourt Meyers family and the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, would donate $226 million, while Patrick Pouyanné, chairman of French oil giant Total, tweeted his company would donate $113 million dollars.

Other big-money donors included Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, head of French investment firm Fimalac, who offered $11.3 million and American philanthropist Henry Kravis who also pledged $11.3 million.

Financial consulting firm Capgemini said it would donate $1.1 million while JCDecaux offered $11.3 million.

Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted the company would donate to helping rebuild Notre Dame though he did not include a dollar amount.

"We are heartbroken for the French people and those around the world for whom Notre Dame is a symbol of hope," he said. "Relived that everyone is safe. Apple will be donating to the rebuilding efforts to help restore Notre Dame's precious heritage for future generations."

On a smaller scale, the blaze prompted several fundraising efforts in the U.S.  - some a little more successful than others.

The website Friends of Notre Dame - which was set up in 2016 to receive donations to help with renovation costs - crashed after a flood of contributions came in.

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At the website GoFundMe.com, more than 50 campaigns related to the fire launched Monday, John Coventry, a spokesman for Go Fund Me told Reuters.

“In the coming hours we’ll be working with the authorities to find the best way of making sure funds get to the place where they will do the most good,” Coventry said.

Source: Fox News World

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U.S. mortgage applications post biggest drop in four months: MBA

Homes are seen for sale in the northwest area of Portland
FILE PHOTO: Homes are seen for sale in the northwest area of Portland, Oregon March 20, 2014. REUTERS/Steve Dipaola

April 24, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. mortgage applications to buy a home and to refinance one recorded their steepest weekly decline in four months as some mortgage rates increased to one-month highs in step with higher bond yields, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

The Washington-based industry group said its seasonally adjusted index on home loan requests to lenders fell by 7.3% to 425.6 in the week ended April 19. Last week’s drop was the biggest since a 9.9% decrease in the week of Dec. 21.

(Reporting by Richard Leong)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Storm topples tree, kills girl in Florida

The Latest on severe weather in the South (all times local):

1:40 p.m.

A storm system moving through the South is being blamed for the death of an 8-year-old girl in Florida.

The Leon County Sheriff's Office says a tree fell Friday into a house in Woodville south of Tallahassee, killing the girl and injuring a 12-year-old boy.

The office said in a statement that the girl died at the hospital while the boy has non-life-threatening injuries. Their names weren't immediately released.

Much of Florida was being hit Friday by strong storms that were also creating a threat of tornadoes in parts of the Carolinas and Virginia.

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1:15 p.m.

A storm system moving through Georgia has knocked down trees, caused minor flooding and cut off power to thousands of residents.

Georgia power companies reported that more than 37,000 customers were without power around the state Friday afternoon.

A tree came down on an apartment complex in an Atlanta suburb. Gwinnett County fire spokesman Capt. Tommy Rutledge told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that people were inside at the time, but only one person reported a minor injury and was treated at the scene.

In Forsyth County northeast of Atlanta, Fire Department Division Chief Jason Shivers told the newspaper three firefighters suffered minor injuries when their firetruck overturned during heavy rain and wind.

The storm system was expected to hit the Carolinas and Virginia later, bringing the possibility of tornadoes to parts of those states.

___

1:15 p.m.

Meteorologists say they have a high level of confidence that a tornado touched down in western Virginia.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Phil Hysell in Blacksburg said Friday that the damage on the ground still must be assessed. But he said radar readings appear to show a tornado formed in Franklin County, which is south of Roanoke.

The National Weather Service has been warning Virginians of heavy rain that can hide the tornadoes and of quarter-sized hail.

The Martinsville Bulletin reported that people saw some buildings that were damaged. The storms have also knocked down trees and power lines.

___

10:15 a.m.

Storms roaring through the South have smashed a daily record for rainfall in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The National Weather Service says more than 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) of rain fell in the capital city Thursday.

Thursday's downpour caused flash flooding and prompted the closure of several schools in Pulaski and Saline counties. The storm system that drenched central Arkansas also killed two Mississippi drivers and a woman in Alabama and left more than 100,000 people without power across Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

It's now rumbling through Georgia.

___

9:40 a.m.

Forecasters say the area at highest risk of severe storms and tornadoes Friday is home to 9.7 million people in the Carolinas and Virginia and includes the Charlotte, North Carolina metro area.

The national Storm Prediction Center says that area will be at moderate risk of severe weather and tornadoes will be possible Friday.

The National Weather Service in Raleigh, North Carolina, says that "torrential downpours," large hail and a few tornadoes are among the hazards.

Strong storms were rumbling through Georgia on Friday, after killing two Mississippi drivers and a woman in Alabama and leaving more than 100,000 people without power across Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

___

9 a.m.

Strong storms are roaring across the South on Friday, after killing two Mississippi drivers and a woman in Alabama and leaving more than 100,000 people without power across Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

The threat Friday shifted to Georgia, where multiple tornado warnings covered parts of northeast Georgia. There were no immediate reports of any damage from those storms, but the tornado threat was expected to continue well into the day in the Carolinas and Virginia.

National Weather Service forecasters said they believe multiple tornadoes hit southwest and central Mississippi on Thursday, although they won't be sure until the damage is surveyed. Heavy winds also were reported in Louisiana earlier in the day and in central Alabama as the system quickly pushed eastward.

Source: Fox News National

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Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s foreign minister and a Venezuelan judge, according to a statement on the department’s website.

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and a judge, Carol Padilla, were targeted over the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Treasury Department said, the latest in a list of officials blacklisted by U.S. authorities for their role in President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Makini Brice and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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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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A bedridden 67-year-old woman and more than a dozen animals were rescued Thursday after a welfare check found that they were living in a home filled with trash, urine, and feces, Florida police said.

Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said when they arrived at the home in Dunedin around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, they could smell the odor of rotting trash and animal feces as they walked up to the driveway.

“Inside the residence, the odor of feces and urine was so overwhelming that deputies had to don masks,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

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

Walking throughout the residence, the deputies found 10 emaciated dogs and puppies living in bins filled with their own feces, five large Macaw birds flying freely, rats, bugs and overall squalor.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

Deputies said due to the large amounts of trash in the home, they had to clear a path to reach the victim’s bedroom.

“None of the home’s toilets were working and all were found to be overflowing with feces,” deputies said. “The only working sink was located on the opposite end of the house from the victim’s bedroom.”

They said there was no food or water for the victim or the animals.

FLORIDA MAN IN EASTER BUNNY COSTUME CAUGHT IN VIRAL BRAWL IS WANTED IN NEW JERSEY, HAS HISTORY OF ARRESTS

The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that were non-life threatening, while the animals were transported to shelters.

The woman’s caretaker, Richard Lawrence Goodwin, 65, was arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of an elderly person, disabled person, and cruelty to animals.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

The sheriff’s department said this was Goodwin’s second arrest for abuse and neglect of the same victim. He was previously arrested in May 2018.

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Neighbor Victoria Muenzerbeer told FOX 13 that Goodwin and the victim were hoarders and the conditions inside the home were horrible years ago when she visited once.

“I went in and it was absolutely, a human being couldn’t live there,” she said. “The kitchen wasn’t usable and part of the wall was falling in.”

Source: Fox News National

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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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