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Corona maker Constellation to sell about 30 brands in a $1.7 billion deal

FILE PHOTO: Corona beers are pictured at a BevMo! store ahead of Constellation Brands Inc company results in Pasadena
FILE PHOTO: Corona beers are pictured at a BevMo! store ahead of Constellation Brands Inc company results in Pasadena, California U.S., October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

April 3, 2019

(Reuters) – Constellation Brands Inc said on Wednesday it would sell about 30 of its low-end wine and spirits brands and related facilities to E. & J. Gallo Winery for $1.7 billion, as the Corona beer maker focuses on its more premium and profitable brands.

The deal, which includes brands such as Clos du Bois, Black Box and Mark West, is expected to close at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2020.

(Reporting by Soundarya J in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel)

Source: OANN

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Bed Bath & Beyond activist investors pushing to replace board, CEO

Shopping carts are stacked up at a Bed Bath & Beyond store in Somerville
Shopping carts are stacked up at a Bed Bath & Beyond store in Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S. June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

March 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Three activist investors disclosed a combined 5 percent stake in Bed Bath & Beyond Inc on Tuesday, seeking to replace the entire board and oust long-time Chief Executive Officer Steven Temares.

Legion Partners Asset Management LLC, Macellum Advisors GP LLC and Ancora Advisors LLC also announced the nomination of 16 independent candidates to the home furnishing retailer’s board.

The Wall Street Journal first reported about the developments late on Monday, sending the company’s shares up 24 percent before the opening bell on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Source: OANN

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House Judiciary Chair Seeks Any Mueller Summaries on Trump-Russia Probe Report

House Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler called on Attorney General William Barr on Thursday to release any summaries of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report that were prepared by Mueller's team.

Nadler, a Democrat who is also demanding release of the full Mueller report to Congress, sent a letter to Barr citing media reports that Mueller's team prepared their own summaries of the special counsel's report.

"If these recent reports are accurate ... then those summaries should be publicly released as soon as possible," Nadler said.

Nadler also called on Barr to produce "all communications" about the Mueller report between the special counsel's office and the Justice Department, including those on Barr's March 24 letter to Congress summarizing the investigation's main conclusions and the disclosure of the report to Congress and the public.

Thursday's letter surfaced hours after the Justice Department defended its handling of Mueller's report on the investigation of Russian election meddling and contacts between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. The department maintains that Barr must redact confidential and classified information from the nearly 400-page document.

But news media reports said that members of Mueller's team were unhappy with the way Barr had characterized its main conclusions in his four-page summary. The Barr summary said Mueller did not establish that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia but also did not exonerate the president on obstruction of justice. But Barr said he concluded there was not enough evidence to show that Trump committed the crime of obstruction.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to authorize Nadler to issue subpoenas for the full report, underlying evidence from the 22-month investigation and documents and testimony from five former Trump aides.

Congress, not Barr, should determine what gets made public, Nadler said. He has yet to issue a subpoena.

"We are entitled to that information and we need that information," Nadler told reporters on Thursday.

Source: NewsMax America

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College Admissions Scandal Unmasks Hollywood Hypocrisy

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This week’s announcement of the extraordinary college admissions scandal — dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues” by the FBI officials who have been working on the investigation for years — was met by an equally extraordinary (and unique) silence from Hollywood.

It’s not surprising.  The scandal has unmasked the entertainment capital’s liberalism as nothing before.  The word hypocrisy only begins to encompass it.  What we have before us is nothing less than child abuse -- by the very people who, while exhibiting contempt for the great unwashed in “flyover country,” pontificate endlessly about every liberal cause known to woman or man.

Nevertheless, cheating to get their kids into college is okay.

Oscar nominee Felicity Huffman (“Transamerica”) paid -- in the form of a phony charitable contribution -- to have someone doctor the answers on her daughter’s SATs.  (The score went up a staggering 400 points.)  TV star Lori Loughlin (“Full House”) and her husband ponied up an astonishing $500,000 to obtain University of Southern California admissions for their daughters.  This was done by making it appear on their applications that the girls were crew team stalwarts when they had barely picked up an oar. 

Huffman and Loughlin are now out on bail. Dozens of others have been swept up by this metastasizing scandal, a number of them also media or sports personalities.  An estimated $25 million in bribes have been paid.

What made these people, among the most privileged in our society, act this way?  Did they not think that they were either teaching their children to lie or, almost as bad, plunging them into situations where they were doomed to fail? Or were they relying on the current spate of grade inflation to save the day for their underqualified offspring?

Whatever the case, what accounts for this particularly repellent version of do what I say, not as I do? Is it just an insatiable desire for status by an insecure community, this time on the backs of their children?

Unfortunately, it’s more. In my book “Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine: The Perils of Coming Out Conservative in Tinseltown,” I likened the approach to social and political issues in Hollywood to the “mini-me” in an Austin Powers movie.  The mini-me’s task is to make the most extreme liberal pronouncements in public on virtually any subject, virtue-signaling to its heart’s content, so it can be loved by all the world.  Meanwhile, the “real me” gets to be as selfish as he or she wishes in private, demanding ever more money and power.

Hollywood is rampant with this excessive public moral posturing, which disguises often equally excessive private amorality or even immorality. The biggest liberal or progressive stars are frequently the most avaricious and nasty people in their personal lives.  It’s a form of split personality cum self-hypnosis that has been employed successfully by the entertainment industry for some time, but the college admissions scandal is bringing it unpleasantly to the surface, as did the recent #MeToo controversy.

Hollywood, however, is far from alone in deserving blame for the admissions scandal.  Although the FBI has not taken legal action against the colleges involved, they should be considered at minimum unindicted co-conspirators.  Our universities have come under increasing criticism of late for political bias — in one study, only 39 percent of colleges had even one Republican professor — suppression of freedom of speech, and their own covert form of racial discrimination. Asian-Americans, with justification, are currently suing Harvard for admissions bias against them. 

These days our colleges seem as much, if not more, bent on social engineering as they are on education.  This encourages many students to compete in what is, in essence, a victimhood derby under the trendy rubric of intersectionality.  Besides being a waste of educational time and money, this does not augur well for the future of our country. 

What we have in the college admissions scandal is corrupt people applying for an already corrupted system.  If the attention that glamorous Hollywood usually attracts brings more attention to this problem, it is all to the good.  And if it helps to begin to solve it, better yet.  Then we can once more say as we have in the past, although this time somewhat ironically, “Hooray for Hollywood!”

Roger L. Simon, co-founder and CEO emeritus of PJ Media, is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter.

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Decision on car tariffs depends on getting trade deal with Europe: Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) greets Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz as he arrives at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young

February 20, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a U.S. decision on whether to impose tariffs on car imports depends on reaching a trade deal with Europe.

Speaking to reporters at a White House meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Trump said the auto tariffs are something his administration is thinking about.

Earlier this week, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the U.S. president, known for a strong protectionist approach to trade, had promised him he would not impose additional import tariffs on European cars for the time being.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Building fire, explosion kills at least one and injures more than a dozen in North Carolina

One person has been killed and at least 15 are injured after an explosion and massive fire at a building in downtown Durham, North Carolina on Wednesday.

Plumes of smoke can be seen for miles and debris covers the busy street as firefighters work to secure the area where the blast took place after a construction worker drilled into the sidewalk and struck a two-inch gas line, police told ABC News.

Among those injured is a firefighter who was hospitalized in serious condition, police say, and a Dominion Energy worker.

The explosion, which took place near the Durham School of the Arts, was so severe that it blew out the windows of surrounding buildings, causing injuries such as deep cuts and head wounds to those inside, 58-year-old Jim Rogalski said.

MASSIVE FIRE CAUSES EXPLOSION AT RESIDENTIAL BUILDING IN PARIS

'MAJOR' NEW JERSEY FOREST FIRE CLOSES ROADS; SMOKE FROM BLAZE REPORTED IN NEW YORK CITY

"It was terrifying," he said. "The whole building shook. Things started falling — ceiling tiles, and structure and glass and debris. Lots and lots of dust. It was tough to see beyond 20 feet or so."

The explosion reportedly took place just 15 minutes after his human resource's manager emailed the company alerting employees that the fire department was investigating the smell of gas.

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The site of the explosion is the historic Studebaker Building, which was built in 1920 as a car dealership and auto parts store. It has since been leased out as an office space to the Prescient Company, an industrial construction firm.

Source: Fox News National

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Colorado sheriffs who refuse to enforce anti-gun 'red flag' law should 'resign,' state AG says

Colorado's attorney general testified said week that country sheriffs vowing not to enforce the state's proposed anti-gun "red flag" bill should "resign" -- a challenge that threatened to ramp up tensions between state officials and local leaders who were already creating droves of so-called Second Amendment "sanctuary counties" to resist the legislation.

Democrat Phil Weiser made the remarks, which were first reported by The Colorado Sun, while testifying before a state committee on Friday. Weiser has said that the red flag legislation, which would permit a court to the seizure of weapons from people determined to be a threat to others or themselves, would save lives, particularly in domestic violence situations.

“If a sheriff cannot follow the law, the sheriff cannot do his or her job,” Weiser said. “The right thing to do for a sheriff who says, ‘I can’t follow the law’ is to resign.”

The proposed state law, House Bill 1177, is expected to secure passage in the Colorado legislature and be approved by the state's Democrat governor, Jared Polis. It says petitioners, under oath, must establish by a "preponderance of the evidence" -- a relatively lax legal standard essentially meaning that something is "more likely than not" -- that a person "poses a significant risk to self or others by having a firearm in his or her custody or control or by possessing, purchasing or receiving a firearm."

An emergency hearing must then be held within 24 hours, and if an "extreme risk protection order" (ERPO) is issued by a judge, an individual will be barred from "possessing, controlling, purchasing or receiving a firearm for 364 days," and must "surrender all of his or her firearms and his or her concealed carry permit."

CALIFORNIA'S GUN SEIZURE PROGRAM HITS HURDLES

Defendants can successfully override the ERPO only by establishing by "clear and convincing evidence" -- a legal standard even more strict than guilt beyond a reasonable doubt -- "that he or she no longer poses a significant risk of causing personal injury to self or others."

“Because ERPO will be constitutionally upheld, every sheriff will be required and, I believe, will follow through to uphold an act under that law," Weiser told the state Senate panel.

Several other states are considering similar red flag laws, and counties in states as far apart as New Mexico and Illinois have responded by creating Second Amendment sanctuaries, leading to court challenges. But Weiser's comments were perhaps the most direct repudiation by state officials of local leaders who have resisted their gun control efforts.

Weiser did not respond to Fox News' request for clarification on his remarks.

A man wears a patriotic-themed cowboy hat during a pro gun-rights rally at the state capitol, Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Austin, Texas. Gun rights supporters rallied across the United States to counter a recent wave of student-led protests against gun violence. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A man wears a patriotic-themed cowboy hat during a pro gun-rights rally at the state capitol, Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Austin, Texas. Gun rights supporters rallied across the United States to counter a recent wave of student-led protests against gun violence. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Conservatives have said Colorado's legislation should focus more on providing mental health services, and they warn that the bill would only discourage distressed individuals from seeking help. Legislators, critics say, should focus instead on expanding and improving the state's existing provisions for 72-hour mental health holds.

"The criteria for a 72-hour hold is you are a danger to yourself and others,” Assistant State Senate Minority Leader John Cooke, a Republican and former sheriff, told The Colorado Times. “Well, that’s what this bill is saying, too — to come in and take your guns. But the problem is you leave the person at the house. It’s gun confiscation, and it’s really short on mental health. So, if you’re going to take the gun, you ought to take the person instead if they are that dangerous.”

Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams told Fox News that Weiser, effectively, could take a hike.

NRA'S DANA LOESCH RIPS CNN'S AWARD FOR TOWN HALL IN WHICH SHE WAS HECKLED, RUBIO WAS COMPARED TO SERIAL KILLER

“If you pass an unconstitutional law, our oaths as commissioners or myself as the sheriff — we’re going to follow our constitutional oath first,” Reams, whose county commissioners recently voted to become a Second Amendment "sanctuary," told Fox News. “And we’ll do that balancing act on our own.”

On Wednesday afternoon, commissioners in Logan County, Colo., became the latest officials to pass such a sanctuary measure. The vote among commissioners was unanimous.

"It's time we quit trying to put lipstick on a pig and start funding our mental health facilities, instead of trying to take the rights from our people," Logan County Sheriff Brett Powell said in public remarks prior to the vote.

He added that law enforcement searches are traditionally only acceptable during criminal investigations.

"In Colorado, it's not a crime to harm yourself," Powell said.

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According to a list compiled by Rally for Our Rights, a nonprofit, 22 Colorado counties have become "Second Amendment sanctuaries" in the last month, including El Paso County, the state's largest.

El Paso last week vowed to fight the Colorado measure in court if needed, and pledged not to “appropriate funds, resources, employees, or agencies to initiate unconstitutional seizures in unincorporated El Paso County." The country affirmed its "support for the duly elected Sheriff of El Paso County, Colorado and collaborate with the Sheriff to refuse to initiate unconstitutional actions against citizens."

El Paso Commissioner Stan VanderWerf called on the state's Democrat leaders to change course.

“I would ask Governor Polis to refuse to sign it,” VanderWerf said, “because of the unconstitutionality of the bill as presently written. No governor or senate should willfully sign into law or pass legislation that are violations of a set of documents that protect our rights.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain's far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.

No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.

Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.

By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.

Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.

The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.

The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.

The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.

Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.

It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.

While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.

TRENDING

According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.

Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.

Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.

Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.

“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said

For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.

“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.

For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.

The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.

The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.

That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.

(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)

(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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