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Family of slain motorist celebrates after officer sentenced

Corey Jones's family sang the gospel song "Victory is Mine" as they walked out of a Florida courthouse, celebrating after a judge handed a 25-year sentence to a former police officer for killing the stranded black motorist in 2015.

Fired Palm Beach Gardens officer Nouman Raja on Thursday became the first Florida law enforcement agent in nearly 30 years to be convicted and sentenced for an on-duty killing — and one of only a few officers nationwide.

Raja, 41, had told investigators he fired after Jones pulled a gun on him, but an audiotape of their encounter led prosecutors and jurors to believe Raja instigated their altercation. And last month a jury convicted Raja of manslaughter and attempted murder in the death of the 31-year-old musician who was gunned down after his SUV stalled on the road home from a nightclub performance.

"We knew what the truth was and we stood by that," his father, Clinton Jones Sr., told reporters after Thursday's sentencing. He said he never doubted Raja was the aggressor. "Because of the son we had raised and the type of character he had, we knew ... it wasn't our Corey."

The families of both Raja and Jones had packed Circuit Judge Joseph Marx's courtroom, but there was hushed silence as Marx pronounced sentence. He could have given Raja a life term, a sentence prosecutors sought.

"This has been a heartbreaking case," Marx said. "I think it has had a profound effect on every single person who sat through this trial."

Raja's wife, Karine, had sought leniency so her husband could be a father to their two young children. She said the media and others had unfairly portrayed him as "a monster, the angel of death." Raja, in blue jail jumpsuit, looked down often as she spoke.

"The wrong person was chosen to be a sacrificial lamb," she said. "Raja is the man you wanted serving and protecting you." His attorneys vow to appeal.

Prosecutors contended Raja escalated a seemingly routine interaction into a deadly confrontation with Jones, a housing inspector and part-time drummer. Raja's attorneys argued his actions were in self-defense both for a police officer and under Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law.

Raja, of Asian descent, was in plain clothes for an auto burglary investigation team when he spotted Jones' SUV at 3:15 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2015. Jones was headed home from a nightclub performance by his reggae band when his vehicle stalled on a dark highway off-ramp. He had a concealed-weapons permit and carried a handgun, purchased days earlier to protect his $10,000 drum set, which was in the SUV.

Raja, wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a baseball cap, drove an unmarked van the wrong way up an off ramp within feet of the SUV.

Prosecutors said Raja never identified himself as an officer and acted so aggressively Jones must have thought he was about to be carjacked or killed. Raja's supervisor testified the officer had been told to don a police vest if he approached a civilian. He didn't, nor did he pull his badge.

What police didn't know at first was that Jones had been talking to a tow-truck dispatcher on a recorded line. That recording shows Jones saying "Huh?" as his door opens. Raja yells, "You good?" Jones says he is. Raja replies twice, "Really?" with Jones replying "Yeah."

Suddenly, Raja shouts at Jones to raise his hands, using an expletive. Jones replies, "Hold on!" and Raja repeats his demand.

Prosecutors believe Jones pulled his gun and tried to run. Raja fired three shots; Jones ran down an embankment. Prosecutors said he threw his gun, but Raja fired three more times, 10 seconds after the first volley. One of the bullets pierced the man's heart. Jones was also hit in both arms.

Prosecutors said Raja, not knowing of the audio recording, sought to deceive investigators. He claimed he said "Police, can I help you?" as Jones jumped from the SUV. He also told them Jones leapt backward and pointed his gun, forcing him to fire. Raja said Jones ran but turned and again pointed his gun, forcing him to fire the second volley.

Prosecutors charged Raja with manslaughter, saying his actions created the confrontation and showed "culpable negligence." They also charged him with attempted murder, saying no matter which of Raja's six shots killed Jones, the second volley was a conscious effort to kill the fleeing man.

The last Florida officer sentenced for an on-duty killing was Miami's William Lozano in 1989. The Hispanic officer fatally shot a black motorcyclist who he said tried to hit him. A passenger died when the motorcycle crashed. Three days of rioting followed.

Convicted of two manslaughter counts in a Miami trial and sentenced to seven years, Lozano never served time. State appellate court justices dismissed the verdict, saying the case should have been moved from Miami because of racial tensions. Lozano was acquitted at a 1993 retrial in Orlando.

Source: Fox News National

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Ukrainian president visits US destroyer on port call

Ukraine's president has gone aboard a U.S. warship making a call at a Ukrainian port, hailing its visit as a warning to Russia.

President Petro Poroshenko visited the destroyer USS Donald Cook in the port of Odessa on Tuesday. He said in a statement that the ship's visit was "an important signal to the Kremlin," underlining close U.S.-Ukrainian military cooperation.

Poroshenko also met with Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy on Ukraine, thanking the U.S. for expanding its presence in the Black Sea after the Russian seizure of three Ukrainian vessels and their crews in November. The incident further escalated the tug-of-war that followed Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

Volker described the destroyer's visit as "a strong symbol of the United States' commitment to the people of Ukraine."

Source: Fox News National

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EU, UK to Seek Further Brexit Delay

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Source: InfoWars

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Kim’s top aides on economic tour as North Korea looks to Vietnam model

The motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes bystanders on a road near the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi
The motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes bystanders on a road near the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Kyung Hoon

February 27, 2019

By Hyonhee Shin

HANOI (Reuters) – North Korean officials visited some high-tech factories and a tourist site in Vietnam on Wednesday, as their leader, Kim Jong Un, looks to shore up his sanctions-hit economy by copying the successes of another old U.S. foe.

President Donald Trump noted how Vietnam was thriving soon after he arrived late on Tuesday for his second summit with Kim, in Hanoi, a city the United States bombed during the Vietnam War.

As Trump tries to cajole Kim into taking steps towards full and verified denuclearization of North Korea, he has been highlighting its economic potential and the example Vietnam offers.

When Kim visited Singapore in June, for his first summit with Trump, he was impressed with its development and said he was eager to learn from its experiences.

Now he’s keen to learn from Vietnam.

A group of Kim’s foreign policy and economic aides, who accompanied him to Vietnam, traveled out of Hanoi on Wednesday to the industrial port town of Haiphong and the nearby UNESCO-listed Ha Long Bay.

Kim, scheduled to begin talks with Trump in the evening, did not join the trip.

In Haiphong, the delegation toured the automaker Vinfast, smartphone firm VinSmart and VinEco, an agriculture and food supplier, all of the which are units of Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, Vingroup.

But the trip was not all work. Some members of the delegation snapped selfies on a boat ride on Ha Long Bay, one of Vietnam’s top tourist sites, South Korean broadcaster KBS reported.

Communist-ruled Vietnam has boomed since it launched reforms known as “doi moi” in the late 1980s.

“Vietnam’s ‘doi moi’ is an ideal model for North Korea, which wants to retain the one-party system while pursuing bold economic reforms to engineer growth,” said Cho Bong-hyun, a specialist in the North Korean economy at IBK Bank in Seoul.

Cho said Vietnam’s size, population, the state of its agriculture and its need for foreign capital made it a better model for North Korea to copy than China.

The North Korean team was led by Ri Su Yong, a former vice foreign minister and now vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party, and included for the first time top economic policymaker O Su Yong.

The inclusion of O, a former minister of electronics and vice minister of metals and machine building, in the delegation signals Kim’s hope to take a page from Vietnam’s book.

‘BETTER FIT’

Kim shifted his focus to the economy at a party congress last April, abandoning the parallel pursuit of nuclear weapons and economic development he had expounded since taking power in 2011.

While Vietnam’s model of reform is widely touted as the economic path for North Korea, Vietnam’s transformation has required political change and levels of individual freedoms that would require major reforms for the Kim family, which is afforded godlike status by state propaganda.

The delegation’s choice of the three factories and the tourist hot spot reflected Kim’s calls for “cutting-edge technologies” and a self-reliant economy.

Vinfast is Vietnam’s first fully fledged carmaker, while VinSmart rolled out its first locally made smartphone, Vsmart, last year.

Despite Vietnam’s new focus on high-tech industry, agriculture remains a major source of exports and driver of growth. VinEco promotes sustainable farming.

Ha Long Bay, dotted with steep-sided islands, attracted more than 12 million tourists last year, numbers Kim can only dream of.

North Korea is building tourist complexes in the east coast city of Wonsan and in the alpine town of Samjiyon near its famous Mount Paektu.

Kim’s late grandfather, Kim Il Sung, visited Ha Long Bay in 1964. On Wednesday, Vietnamese officials gave the visiting delegation pictures from that trip as a gift for Kim Jong Un, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper hailed Vietnam’s “big potential” and efforts to “diversify industrial structure” from the agriculture-dependent economy.

Yang Un-chul of the Sejong Institute in South Korea said if the North is ever going to fulfil its ambition to be an advanced socialist economy, it has to learn from business like the ones the delegation visited in Vietnam.

“North Korea would want to make better use of its good labor and nurture more sophisticated industries, and those sites have something to offer,” Yang said.

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Additional reporting by Joyce Lee, Jeongmin Kim and Wonil Lee in SEOUL; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

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French far-right EU candidate says his party equals progress

The top French far-right candidate in European parliamentary elections says that his party epitomizes progress with its return to an emphasis on protectionism.

Jordan Bardella, 23, hopes to be the youngest lawmaker in the EU parliament after elections in May. Along with Marine Le Pen, leader of his anti-immigration National Rally party, formerly National Front, he has already hit the campaign trail.

Bardella said in an interview Wednesday that President Emmanuel Macron, the defender of a strong EU, is "square" not progressive.

He said that Macron "often opposed nationalists to progressives" — but progress today "is called localizing ... defending borders ... protectionism."

Most opponents haven't announced candidates in the EU parliament elections.

Source: Fox News World

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NFL notebook: Kingsbury says Cards undecided on top pick

FILE PHOTO: 2017 Kids Choice Sport Awards – Show – Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO: 2017 Kids Choice Sport Awards – Show – Los Angeles, California, U.S., 13/07/2017 - NFL football player Odell Beckham Jr. accepts the Hands of Gold Award. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

April 24, 2019

Arizona coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters Tuesday that the team has yet to finalize its plans for the top overall pick in the draft, which starts Thursday.

“We’re still working through it,” Kingsbury said after his team’s first practice of the year at a voluntary minicamp. “I wouldn’t say the hay is in the barn.”

Quarterback Josh Rosen, who is widely believed to be on the trade block as the Cardinals consider Kyler Murray with the top pick, has been a full participant during the offseason program despite rampant rumors. Kingsbury said he “couldn’t be more impressed” with Rosen, whom the Cardinals traded up to draft 10th overall last year.

–Odell Beckham Jr. is happy as with the Cleveland Browns and glad to have left behind the New York Giants, according to a Twitter rant, seemingly set off by a user who called him a “cancer” with the Giants.

“Ask any one of my teammates of who I was as a teammates and a man and a person…. yes I’m cancer to a place that’s ok wit losing because I want to win that BADDD. Ur absolutely correct !” wrote Beckham, who was traded by the Giants in March, one season into a five-year, $95 million contract extension he signed last August.

–Philadelphia defensive end Chris Long told USA Today he is uncertain about whether he will return for a 12th NFL season in 2019.

“From the looks of things they’re going to make it hard for me in my favorite city,” Long said.

After seeing media speculation that the Eagles have asked him to take a pay cut, Long responded on Twitter, indicating his decision is related to how much playing time the team can offer him.

–The Seattle Seahawks agreed to trade franchise-tagged defensive end Frank Clark to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 2019 first-round pick, a 2020 second-round pick and a swap of 2019 third-round picks, according to multiple reports.

Clark, who must pass a physical for the trade to become official, has also agreed in principle with the Chiefs on a five-year, $105.5 million contract with $63.5 million guaranteed, according to multiple reports.

–Although Josh Gordon is still suspended indefinitely by the NFL, the wide receiver signed his restricted free agent tender with New England, according to multiple media reports.

By signing the contract tender, Gordon ensures that if he becomes eligible to play at any point this coming season, it will be with the Patriots. The 28-year-old is set to earn up to $2,025,000 on the one-year deal, but only if he plays all 16 games.

–The Pittsburgh Steelers are working to finalize a contract extension with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger before the draft begins Thursday, ESPN reported.

According to the report, the sides have been in discussions since the regular season ended and are making progress.

–Veteran kicker Robbie Gould informed the San Francisco 49ers he won’t negotiate a long-term contract with the team and wants to be traded, he told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Gould’s agent, Brian Mackler, said that if Gould decides to play with the 49ers this fall, he would hold out throughout training camp and report just before the season opens on Sept. 8. San Francisco put the franchise tag on Gould in February.

–The Los Angeles Rams exercised quarterback Jared Goff’s fifth-year option, putting him under contract through 2020.

The option, which is guaranteed only for injury, will pay Goff an estimated $22.8 million. He is set to make $4.3 million in base salary in 2019, part of a rookie contract worth $27.9 million over the first four seasons.

–The Los Angeles Chargers picked up the fifth-year option on defensive end Joey Bosa, according to multiple reports.

Bosa, 23, was the Chargers’ first-round pick — No. 3 overall — in the 2016 draft.

–The Baltimore Ravens exercised left tackle Ronnie Stanley’s fifth-year option, putting him under contract through 2020.

The option, which is guaranteed for injury only, will be worth around $13 million in 2020. Stanley’s rookie contract was worth $13.1 million over the first four seasons, including a $3.2 million salary for 2019.

–Longtime Carolina Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart signed a one-day contract to retire as a member of his old team, ending an 11-year NFL career.

“Thank you @panthers for 10 amazing seasons and bringing me to this place that I now call home,” Stewart said, according to the team’s Twitter account. “Keep Pounding!!!”

–Two videos that allegedly show New England owner Robert Kraft participating in illegal acts at Florida massage parlor will not be released to the public yet.

Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser agreed with a request made by Kraft’s defense team to keep the videos sealed, at least for now. In his decision, he wrote “making these images public, at this time, seriously jeopardizes Defendant’s fundamental right to a fair and impartial jury.”

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Swedish cop arrests fugitive in the nude after recognizing him in sauna

A Swedish police officer has been praised for staying cool in a hot situation after capturing a long-time fugitive who he recognized in a hazy sauna while both were naked.

The officer happened to head to the sauna last Friday at the same time as the criminal, who had been wanted after he failed to show up for sentencing for attempted assault and drug offenses.

GERMANY REPORTS DROP IN CRIME, 96% OF HOMICIDE CASES CLEARED

Through the haze, the officer recognized the criminal and made the arrest.

“By a coincidence, and rather amusingly, they both recognized each other in the sauna,” Christoffer Bohman, deputy police chief in the Stockholm district of Rinkeby, told Swedish broadcaster SVT.

“It’s easier to take action when you have your colleagues with you, and all your tools and equipment. This was as stripped-down as it gets – in more ways than one,” he added.

BRITAIN CAN'T 'SIMPLY ARREST' WAY FROM YOUTH KNIFE VIOLENCE

The official said the officer kept “his head cool even when it was hot in a potentially dangerous situation.”

The Rinkeby police, in charge of policing in a Stockholm district, praised their colleague and titled the incident as “Naked Arrest”.

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“We are everywhere. Even if you do not see us, we are there,” the police said on Facebook.

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States over safety issues in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc cut its 2019 profit forecast on Friday, saying it expected to take a $350 million hit from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes after cancelling 1,200 flights in the first quarter.

The company said it now expects its 2019 adjusted profit to be between $4.00 per share and $6.00 per share.

Analysts on average had expected 2019 earnings of $5.63 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

The No. 1 U.S. airline by passenger traffic said net income rose to $185 million, or 41 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $159 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total operating revenue rose 2 percent to $10.58 billion.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) – Four years ago, Donald Trump campaigned in small towns like Marshalltown, Iowa, vowing to restore economic prosperity to the U.S. heartland.

In his bid to replace Trump in the White House, Pete Buttigieg is taking a similar tack. The difference, he says, is that he can point to a model of success: South Bend, Indiana, the revitalized city where he has been mayor since 2012.

The Democratic presidential contender has vaulted to the congested field’s top tier in recent weeks, drawing media and donor attention for his youth, history-making status as the first openly gay major presidential candidate and a resume that includes military service in Afghanistan.

But Buttigieg’s main argument for his candidacy is that he is a turnaround artist in the mold of Trump, although the Democrat does not expressly invoke the comparison with the Republican president.

“I’m not going around saying we’ve fixed every problem we’ve got,” Buttigieg, 37, said after a house party with voters in Marshalltown. “But I’m proud of what we have done together, and I think it’s a very powerful story.”

Critics argue improving the fortunes of a Midwestern city of 100,000 people does not qualify Buttigieg, who has never held national office, for the presidency of a country of 330 million. Others say South Bend still has pockets of despair and that minorities, in particular, have failed to benefit from its growth.

Buttigieg has told crowds in Iowa and elsewhere that his experience in reviving a struggling Rust Belt community allows him to make a case to voters that other Democratic candidates cannot. That may give him the means to win back some of the disaffected Democratic voters who turned their backs on Hillary Clinton in 2016 to vote for Trump.

Watching Buttigieg at a union hall in Des Moines last week, Rick Ryan, 45, a member of the United Steelworkers, lamented how many of his fellow union workers voted for Trump. The president turned in the best performance by a Republican among union households since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Ryan said he hoped someone like Buttigieg could return them to the Democratic fold.

“He’s aware of the decline in the labor force in America, not just in Indiana or Des Moines or anywhere else,” Ryan said. “Jobs are going overseas. We need a find to way to bring that back.”

Randy Tucker, 56, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Trump appealed to union members “desperate for somebody to reach out to them, to help them, to listen to their voice.”

Buttigieg could do the same, he said. “In my heart right now, he’s No. 1.”

PAST VS. FUTURE

Buttigieg stresses a key difference in his and Trump’s approaches.

Trump, he tells crowds, is mired in the past, promising to rebuild the 20th century industrial economy. Buttigieg argues the pledge is misleading and unrealistic.

Buttigieg says his focus is on the future, and he often talks about what the country might look like decades from now.

“The only way that we can cultivate what makes America great is to look to the future and not be afraid of it,” Buttigieg said in Marshalltown.

Buttigieg knows his sexual preference may be a barrier to winning some blue-collar voters. But he notes that after he came out as gay in 2015, he won a second term as mayor with 80 percent of the vote in conservative Indiana.

Earlier this month, he announced his presidential bid at the hulking plant in South Bend that stopped making Studebaker autos more than 50 years ago. After lying dormant for decades, the building is being transformed into a high-tech hub after Buttigieg and other city leaders realized it would never again attract a large-scale industrial company.

“That building sat as a powerful reminder. We hoped we would get back that major employer that would fix our economy,” said Jeff Rea, president of the regional Chamber of Commerce.

Buttigieg is praised locally for spurring more than $100 million in downtown investment. During his two terms, unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent from 11.8 percent.

But a study released in 2017 by the nonprofit group Prosperity Now said not all of the city’s residents had shared in its rebound. The median income for African-Americans remained half that of whites, while the unemployment rate for blacks was double.

Regina Williams-Preston, a city councilor running to replace Buttigieg as mayor, credits him for the revitalized downtown. But she said he had a “blind spot” when it came to focusing on troubled neighborhoods like the one she represents and only grew more engaged after community pressure.

“He understands it now,” she said. “The next step is figuring out how to open the doors of opportunity for everyone.”

‘ONE OF US’

Trump touts the fact that the United States added almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs last year as evidence he made good on his promise to restore the industrial sector. But that growth still left the country with fewer manufacturing jobs than in 2008.

The robust U.S. economy is likely the president’s greatest asset in his re-election bid, particularly in states he carried in 2016 such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He won Buttigieg’s home state by 19 points over Clinton in 2016.

Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, Iowa, said Buttigieg would be well positioned to compete with Trump in the Midwest.

“People love the fact that he’s a mayor,” said Bagniewski, who has not endorsed a candidate in the nominating contest. “If you can talk about a positive future, and if you actually have experience that can do it, that’s a compelling vision in Iowa.”

Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, which faces many of the same challenges as South Bend, agreed.

“He’s one of us,” Whaley said. “That helps.”

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 26, 2019

MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.

In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.

He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”

Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.

Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.

The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.

Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.

The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.

“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.

The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
FILE PHOTO: Pallbearers carry the coffin of journalist Lyra McKee at her funeral at St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

April 26, 2019

BELFAST (Reuters) – Detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland last week suspect the gunman who shot her dead is in his late teens as they made a further appeal to the local community who they believe know his identity.

McKee’s killing by an Irish nationalist militant during a riot in Londonderry has sparked outrage in the province where a 1998 peace deal mostly ended three decades of sectarian violence that cost the lives of some 3,600 people.

The New IRA, one of a small number of groups that oppose the peace accord, has said one of its members shot the 29-year-old reporter dead in the Creggan area of the city on Thursday when opening fire on police during a riot McKee was watching.

The killing, which followed a large car bomb in Londonderry in January that police also blamed on the New IRA, has raised fears that small marginalized militant groups are exploiting a political vacuum in the province and tensions caused by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

Police released footage on Friday of immediately before and after the shooting showing three men who were involved in the rioting and identified one as the gunman who they believe is in his late teens. 

“I believe that the information that can help us to bring those responsible for her murder to justice lies within the community. I need the public to tell me who he is,” Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy told reporters.

Murphy said those involved in the disorder on the night were teenagers or in their early 20s, and that about 100 people were on the ground watching the trouble as it unfolded.

He added that police believed the gun used in the attack was of a similar caliber to those used before in paramilitary type attacks in Creggan. 

“I recognize that people living in Creagan may find it’s difficult to come forward to speak to police. Today, I want to provide a personal reassurance that we are able to deal with those issues sensitively,” Murphy said, echoing similar appeals in recent days.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, editing by Padraic Halpin and Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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