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A Guide to Tomorrow’s Israeli Elections

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Tomorrow, Israelis will elect the 21st Knesset, or parliament, in Israel’s 70-year history. Politics are always tricky, and more so now. What’s real and what’s fake news? What does each candidate say and what do they actually intend to do?

In Israel’s representative parliamentary system, things can be even harder to understand. There are many parties. They rise and fall each year alongside the legacy parties, and there is a 3.25 percent threshold for admittance to the Knesset. The left-right paradigm breaks down differently in Israel than it does in the United States or Europe, and within the Israeli context, that paradigm is undergoing a fundamental realignment.

This year’s elections are vitally important. The outcome could have a major impact on Israel’s future, its role in the region, and its relationship with the United States and American Jews.

Who’s who?

Israel’s Knesset consists of 120 seats. Votes are for a pre-determined party list, meaning Israelis vote for a party and its candidate for prime minister with the same ballot. Two main parties are battling for the premiership and the right to form the governing coalition. The first is the ruling Likud party, headed by Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, who seeks his fourth term as prime minister. Former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff and political rookie Benny Gantz is Netanyahu’s main competitor. Gantz leads the Blue and White Party alongside former Finance Minister Yair Lapid and another pair of former IDF chiefs, Moshe Ya’alon and Gabi Ashkenazi. Netanyahu stands to the right of center, while Gantz and Lapid bill themselves as the new “center,” a term that changes meaning from election to election. Each side expects to win some 30 seats.

To the left, we have the heir to Israel’s founding party, the left-of-center Avodah, or Labor. Further left sits Israel’s progressive party, Meretz. Together they are expected to land around 15 seats. Israel’s Arab minority (20 percent of the country) is represented in the main by two parties: Hadash/Ta’al is more moderate and seeks to integrate into Israeli society, and Ra’am/ Balad is the more Palestinian-nationalist and Islamist party. This latter might not pass the 3.25 percent entry threshold, a ratio that translates to 4 seats out of 120.

Floating alongside the Likud in the right-of-center space are two small parties: Kulanu, headed by current Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, and Gesher, headed by Orli Levi-Abekasis. Both lean right on security matters but have preferred to focus on economic and social matters. Both teeter on the verge of the electoral threshold.

To Likud’s right are a handful of small parties, some new and some more familiar. Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked broke away from the religious-Zionist Jewish Home party a few months back in order to form New Right, an alternative party that is younger, further to the right, and not beholden to religious interests. They are expected to barely pass the electoral threshold. What remained of Jewish Home merged with two religious-Zionist parties, each more right-wing on security and religious matters, to ensure they all pass the electoral threshold. This is called the Union of the Right Wing Parties and includes the Jewish Power party, whose head was banned from office by the election committee for blatant racism. Together, they are expected to pass the threshold. Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu (“Israel is Our Home”) party offers a right-wing approach on security matters with a strong secular appeal, and it draws mainly on older Russian immigrant voters. Russians have integrated more and more into Israeli society, and Lieberman will struggle to pass the threshold.

There are two main ultra-Orthodox parties: United Torah Judaism represents the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox, and Shas represents the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox. Both parties have committed voter bases, all but ensuring them tickets into the Knesset.

The last party is the surprise of these elections: Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut (“Identity”) party has shot up the polls based on an original but not fully understood platform that combines Jewish fundamentalism, far-right nationalism, and economic and social libertarianism. A sideshow just two months ago, Feiglin, who is accompanied by a maverick ultra-Orthodox rabbi and an anti-vaxxer, could be the kingmaker in these elections.

Did I forget anyone? I hope not. 

Likely outcomes

The publishing of polling data is forbidden in the days ahead of the elections, but the last polls gave a fair sense of where most parties stand. Barring an election day surprise, the two frontrunners will each take around 30 seats. The right-wing parties, however, are expected to win more than their left-wing counterparts. Right-wing parties, most of whom would sit in a Knesset with Netanyahu as prime minister, are expected to win around 65 seats. The parties that would refuse to sit with Netanyahu are expected to win no more than 55 seats. Considering this includes the Arab parties, who are not expected to actively partake in any governing coalition, this puts Blue and White considerably behind Netanyahu.

The president chooses the party he believes has the best chance of forming at least a 61-seat coalition as the ruling party -- and its head as the putative prime minister. This is usually the largest party, but not always. Gantz’s Blue and White could win more votes than Likud but lack the backing needed to assemble a coalition. If this is the case, Netanyahu will head the next government.

However, if Gantz wins by a large enough margin -- say 5 seats -- the president would be less likely to offer Netanyahu the first crack at putting together a coalition. Moreover, if a number of the smaller parties fall short of the threshold, a likely scenario, the redistribution of their votes among the parties that did pass could change the entire equation.

Therefore, Israelis could conceivably wake up Wednesday morning to some unexpected outcomes. Best to wait and see.

One possibility to keep in mind is that if Netanyahu is forced to step down due to anticipated indictments, we could see a reshuffling of the expected right-wing coalition into a unity government headed by Likud and Blue and White in some sort of rotational, power-sharing government.

Left, right, center? Depends what Issue we are discussing

Notions like left and right usually connote a party’s position on security, social, and economic matters. In Israel, we could say the left has traditionally promoted a combination of more government regulation, socialist-leaning economic policies, secular or liberal attitudes on social-religious matters, and actively seeking to end the conflict with the Palestinians and the control over them. Traditionally, the right has stood for the exact opposite set of policies, with some exceptions among the ultra-Orthodox who never fit these labels.

The past two decades have seen a scrambling of these definitions and groupings. Although you still have a left and a right by self-definition, you have a significant group of Israelis -- one-third, if not more -- who eschew such definitions and place themselves in the less-definable center. Although taking heat from the ideological left and right as being indecisive or simply confused about themselves, the new center simply doesn’t fit into existing paradigms.

For example, we can talk about a right and left as concerns security and the matter of a potential Palestinian state. The left seeks to end the occupation of the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria (depending on your political views). It believes Israel can reach a diplomatic agreement with the Palestinian Authority and wants to dismantle outlying settlements (outside of the major blocs, which have near-consensus support in Israel). The center would support all of that in theory but doesn’t believe there is a negotiating partner capable of upholding such a deal on the other side. Centrists talk about stopping or even dismantling outlying settlements, but retaining military control, to preserve the possibility of a future, demilitarized Palestinian state. It’s important to recall that the centrist Blue and White party just happens to be led by three former IDF Chiefs, in part to neutralize the right’s claim that it is the only side that can ensure Israel’s security in a country that can literally go to war at any given time.

The right has a range of opinions on this issue. The range starts from essentially what the center believes, but with more skepticism; to allowing a sub-state entity with local autonomy; to encouraging migration (with economic incentives); to full annexation and offering either limited-rights residency or even full citizenship to those who swear loyalty to Israel (as a Jewish state of course). These positions shouldn’t be able to exist in the same coalition, but they do share one major characteristic: They believe there is absolutely nobody to trust on the other side. They also share the notion that the Palestinians missed their opportunity and will have to settle with less than what was previously offered them. As to Gaza, suffice it to say that no mainstream party really knows what to do with the intransigent Hamas and the growing humanitarian disaster in the coastal strip. So far, aside from “we’ll handle it better,” nobody is really offering an alternative.

Beyond security, “right” and “left” don’t translate to economic matters or questions of religion and state. This is partly why the “center” has come into play as a new construct. Meretz and Avodah certainly represent the classic left. But while Blue and White is centrist on security matters, it espouses free-market capitalism on economic issues alongside greater separation of religion and state. Yisrael Beiteinu is “right” on security matters but “left” on religion and state. Bennett’s New Right is “right” on security, “right” on free-market capitalism, but “center” on religion and state matters. Kulanu and Gesher are “center” or “right” on security matters but support a wider economic and social safety net, along traditionally leftist lines. Zehut totally shuffles the cards by offering hard-right security policies alongside a total separation of religion and state.

What are these elections really about?

Beyond labels, there seem to be two main issues at play in these elections -- issues that have been dividing Israeli society for at least four years. The first issue is Netanyahu himself. The prime minister faces indictment in three different corruption and breach of public trust cases in the coming year. These investigations have been ongoing throughout his entire previous term. The public is essentially split on Netanyahu. Clearly a talented and experienced politician, Netanyahu has led a campaign to sow public mistrust of the press (all biased leftists), the judicial system (activists leftists), and even the police (out to get him). That the attorney general and former police chief were his own appointments is of little consequence. By bypassing the mainstream press and making deft use of social media, Netanyahu has managed to galvanize half of the public behind him against these institutions. Public trust in the press, judiciary, and police has never been lower. Recall that elections were originally scheduled for November. Netanyahu pushed for early elections, seeking to upend the timing of potential indictments and bring public counter-pressure to the impending hearings.

Moreover, it is no longer clear where Netanyahu stops and the party and government begin. Most of the Likud campaign ads are personally focused on Netanyahu and it is no accident that he is also defense minister as well as foreign affairs and health minister. Is Netanyahu channeling his inner Louis XIV (“L'État, c'est moi”)? Does he believe that heis the state? It's not clear, to voters or to the Likud party itself, that he can tell the difference anymore. In many ways, this election is therefore a referendum on Netanyahu. Indeed, there are few practical policy differences between Likud and Blue and White. Netanyahu is the difference.

This is no small matter. Many Blue and White voters who might otherwise vote Likud feel that Netanyahu, in an attempt to shield himself from his legal woes, might trade important political favors to the more extreme religious or nationalist right that could cause deep and long-term changes to the nation's character. Netanyahu supporters, on the other hand, draw on his real foreign-policy achievements and his personal relations with many world leaders. With Israel surrounded by threats, they argue that now is not the time to put political novices at the helm. The allegations of corruption are either overstated or conspiratorial, they add, and entirely forgivable given the experience and stability Netanyahu brings to the office.

But there is a larger issue at stake, one that perhaps is drawing the new division between Israel’s left and right: What does it means to be a representative democracy? Does being a democracy mean that the government should reflect the will of the majority of voters or does being a democracy mean safeguarding freedom of press, an independent judiciary, rule of law, and respect for individual and minority rights? The current forces of the new right, including the aptly named New Right party and rising stars within the Likud, are pushing for major reforms to rein in the judicial activism of the Supreme Court and a greater democratic say in appointing its justices as well as lower-court judges. They also want to give the Knesset the ability to overturn the Court’s decisions with a special majority. Taken together with the unprecedented attacks on the press and the integrity of the police, we can see a clear and new fault-line. The more liberal old guard of the Likud, most of which has been slowly pushed out of the party by the more populist new guard, is uncomfortable with this development. Indeed, one of its most prominent members endorsed the Blue and White party last week.

Regional and international implications

If the outcome is as predicted by most political observers, the next government will look a lot like the current one, only with more confidence and a stronger hard-right contingent on security and matters of religion and state.

As for the region, many are anxiously awaiting the Trump administration’s peace plan, expected to be presented following the elections. Parties to the right of Likud have already proclaimed their rejection of any such agreement. Netanyahu, seeking to take away last-second votes from his right-wing adversaries, stated in a series of rare radio and television interviews that he would seek annexation of (parts of?) the West Bank, something he has hesitated to say before. Is this an election-week jump to the right? Or has he abandoned any pretense to supporting a two-state solution? Is he preparing skeptical right-wing voters for political compromise with the Palestinians? Or is he emboldened by recent diplomatic victories, such as on the Golan Heights, and going for broke? It's hard to know at this point. Keep in mind that it was right-winger Menachem Begin who made peace with Egypt and returned the Sinai Peninsula despite strong opposition on the right, and Ariel Sharon who withdrew from Gaza, against similar opposition.

Whatever happens on the Palestinian issue will surely affect Israel’s regional standing. Israel has taken its once-secret relations with the Sunni Arab world to new levels in recent years. It has been able to do so thanks to Arab fears of a resurgent Iran, a regional sense of abandonment by the United States, and growing apathy toward the Palestinian cause. But part of that relies at least on the illusion that Israel seeks peace with the Palestinians. Should Israel discard even this illusion, the Arabs would be hard-pressed to continue this positive regional trend without risking their own internal political stability.

The same holds true for Israel’s relationship with the United States and American Jews. Israel has become more and more of a partisan issue in American politics. There are a number of reasons for this, from domestic political and social trends in the United States, to the lack of progress on the Palestinian issue and Netanyahu's openly challenging President Obama, to Israel's domestic shift to the right in recent decades. With roughly 70 percent of American Jews being loyal Democrats, Israel risks cementing its perceived abandonment of half of America and most of American Jews in order to curry favor with the other half -- a risky strategy in the long run.

Given the likelihood that a right-wing government will continue to take hardline stances on matters of religion and state, Israel risks further alienating most American Jews, who have been able to overlook, to some extent, the diplomatic stalemate with the Palestinians. Furthermore, Israel could find itself continuing along the path of deepening relations with the Trumps, Putins, Bolsonaros, Modis, and Orbans of the world, at the expense of more moderate leaders. If the Democrats retake the White House, Israel’s standing in Washington will surely be affected, and American Jews will be more hesitant to come to its rescue as they have done in the past.

Right, left, center, whatever -- the outcome of these elections will have more significance than most realize. How this plays out, we will find out in the coming weeks. One thing is for certain: If you live in Israel, make sure to vote.

Dan Feferman is a major (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces, where he served as a foreign policy planner, assistant to the deputy chief of staff, and as an intelligence analyst. He researches, writes and speaks on Israel and the Middle East. The views expressed are the author's own.

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Kenyan who gave earnings to poor wins $1M teacher prize

A Kenyan teacher from a remote village who gave away most of his earnings to poor students has won a highly competitive $1 million global prize that honors one exceptional educator a year.

Peter Tabichi is a science teacher who gives away 80 percent of his income to help the poor in the remote village of Pwani where almost a third of children are orphans or have only one parent, and where droughts and famine are frequent.

He was selected out of some 10,000 applicants and awarded the Global Teacher Prize on Sunday during a ceremony in Dubai hosted by actor Hugh Jackman.

He's the first African and male teacher to win the prize, which is awarded by the Varkey Foundation, whose founder established the for-profit GEMS Education company.

Source: Fox News World

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German institutes slash 2019 growth forecast as industry orders tumble

FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of containers at a loading terminal in the port of Hamburg
FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of containers at a loading terminal in the port of Hamburg, Germany August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo

April 4, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s leading economic institutes slashed their forecasts for 2019 growth by more than half on Thursday and warned growth could slow much further if Britain quits the European Union without an agreement.

Separately, data from the Economy Ministry showed industrial orders fell in February, by 4.2 percent – their biggest drop in more than two years – as foreign demand slumped. That confounded expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.

The institutes cut their overall forecast for this year to 0.8 percent from a previous 1.9 percent and said risks had increased since autumn. They pointed to Britain’s expected departure from the EU and trade conflict between the United States and China.

Germany has long been the euro zone’s economic powerhouse, but it narrowly skirted a recession at the end of last year and posted its weakest growth in five years in 2018.

The forecasts were completed by March 29, the date Britain was originally due to leave the EU, when the institutes assumed it would not quit without an agreement on the terms. The deadline has since been extended to April 12.

The institutes’ estimates feed into the government’s own growth projections, which will be updated later this month. In January, the government forecast growth of 1.0 percent for this year.

“The long-term upswing of the German economy has come to an end,” Oliver Holtemoeller, one of the economists involved in the report, said.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said the economic slowdown Germany saw during the second half of 2018 would be overcome during the course of this year and replaced by an economic upswing.

The Economy Ministry revised the orders figure for January to show a decline of 2.1 percent.

“Awful new-order data suggests that German industry is still suffering from Brexit woes and global uncertainties,” said ING economist Carsten Brzeski.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin and Madeline Chambers; editing by Thomas Escritt, Larry King)

Source: OANN

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German institutes cut 2019 growth forecast to 0.8 percent: source

FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of containers at a loading terminal in the port of Hamburg
FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of containers at a loading terminal in the port of Hamburg, Germany August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo

April 3, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s leading economic institutes have revised down their growth forecast for Europe’s biggest economy to 0.8 percent from a previous estimate of 1.9 percent, a source familiar with their report to be presented on Thursday told Reuters.

The sharp revision reflects the scale of the slowdown in Germany, whose economy is facing headwinds from a slowing world economy, international trade disputes and the threat of Britain leaving the European Union without a deal.

The institutes’ estimates feed into the government’s own growth projections which will be updated later this month. The government said in January it forecast growth of 1.0 percent this year.

(Reporting by Holger Hansen; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Michael Nienaber)

Source: OANN

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Erdogan’s election setback dents hopes for big reforms in Turkey

FILE PHOTO: People walk past by AK Party billboards with pictures of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and mayoral candidate Binali Yildirim in Istanbul
FILE PHOTO: People walk past by AK Party billboards with pictures of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and mayoral candidate Binali Yildirim in Istanbul, Turkey, April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File Photo

April 8, 2019

By Ali Kucukgocmen and Jonathan Spicer

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan’s losses in local elections have dented investors’ hopes that Turkey will adopt painful reforms they say are needed to stabilize the economy as he moves to shore up his political base.

Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party (AKP), in power nationally since 2002, lost control of the capital Ankara and the business hub Istanbul in the March 31 polls, initial results showed. The AKP has demanded recounts in both cities.

Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, who is Erdogan’s son-in-law, is expected this week to announce to jittery foreign investors the structural reforms he hopes will revive an economy plagued by high inflation and a fragile currency. State-owned Anadolu news agency said the announcement would be on Wednesday.

After a currency crisis last year that saw the lira lose nearly 30 percent of its value, economists say Turkey needs to make long-term commitments to increase exports, relieve debt-laden companies and free up the central bank to do its job.

Erdogan, who campaigned hard ahead of the vote, said on election night the AKP would now refocus on the economy.

But many analysts are skeptical about the chances for a comprehensive reform plan, especially after the elections, and fear the AKP will opt instead for short-term stimulus measures that fail to tackle, and may even exacerbate, deeper weaknesses.

“The AKP base want more pro-growth measures, they want more fiscal measures, they want lower inflation. It is exactly what they (the AKP) did before the elections and it will have to continue if (Erdogan) wants to remain popular,” said Guillaume Tresca, senior emerging markets strategist at Credit Agricole.

“I would not expect concrete reforms, it will be just words.”

BOOM AND BUST

At the heart of Turkey’s economic malaise is years of cheap foreign funding that drove a construction-driven boom. Once the lira collapsed, firms could not pay off debts and that exposed their lenders and employees to default and bankruptcy.

As the economy tipped into recession last year, the lira stabilized and inflation dipped a bit from a 15-year high of 25 percent, offering some relief.

But a series of ad hoc measures have stoked investors’ concerns that Turkey is not fully committed to letting its currency float freely or to allowing the central bank to keep interest rates high – at 24 percent since September – for as long as needed to bring inflation down from 20 percent.

To help hard-pressed Turks this year, the government launched discount fruit and vegetable stands and extended tax cuts on some goods. To tackle a lira meltdown last month, it ordered banks to choke off lira funding to a London foreign-exchange market and tapped into central bank reserves.

“It looks like the Erdogan instinct is to survive,” said Nihat Bulent Gultekin, a former Turkish central bank governor and now a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

“I don’t think they have any long-term objectives. It would require a constant focus on the economy for an extended period of time.”

HARD TO SWALLOW

Albayrak has given few details of the coming reforms, saying only that they would address a wide range of issues.

The lira has settled down in recent days after its pre-election volatility and analysts say Albayrak’s reforms will help determine whether volatility returns.

“The market expects concrete measures to address economic imbalances accompanied by a specific timetable,” said Piotr Matys, emerging markets forex strategist at Rabobank.

Moody’s said “the credibility and effectiveness” of reforms will be key to Turkey’s credit profile, which the ratings agency downgraded in August. “There is a risk that the government will embark on even more expensive stimulus programs as it begins to recognize the extent of the economic downturn,” it said.

Investors and economists say Ankara needs a plan to recapitalize banks dealing with corporate restructuring and non-performing loans, which could more than double this year.

It should also boost competitive export sectors such as auto and textile manufacturing in order to lower its annual current account deficit, which leaves the economy reliant on speculative foreign inflows, they say.

“We need to provide the right training and the right subsidies to the right sectors,” Selva Demiralp, professor at Istanbul’s Koc University. The reforms would take time and “there will be a price to pay because when the production structure is changing some people will be unemployed,” she said.

That may be hard to swallow for Erdogan and Turks in general who would not welcome a recession that lasts beyond the second half of 2019, when economists currently expect a return to growth. Unemployment has already risen above 13 percent.

Although an unlikely option for Erdogan, who has repeatedly said Turkey does not need the International Monetary Fund, Matys of Rabobank said the reforms should ideally be overseen by the IMF to restore investor confidence.

“A PowerPoint presentation (by Albayrak) with slides claiming that the economy is rebalancing quickly and a few bullet points may not prove sufficient to restore confidence among investors,” he said.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Jonathan Spicer; Additional reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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Man charged with killing wife last seen 4 decades ago

A man was charged Thursday with killing his wife nearly 40 years ago and plotting to murder a suburban Philadelphia police sergeant who investigated the case in the 1980s.

William W. Korzon, of East Prospect, Pennsylvania, was charged with criminal homicide in the death of Gloria Korzon, who has not been seen or heard from since 1981.

William Korzon, 76, who is known as Bill, was jailed after being arraigned at district court in Jamison, and court workers said no attorney appeared for him at the hearing. He was also charged with solicitation to commit criminal homicide, forgery and perjury.

He denied killing Gloria Korzon after the arraignment.

As he was led from the courthouse Thursday, he told reporters "she went to Florida" and that he has no idea where her body is.

Gloria Korzon, who would be 75 years old, was declared dead in 1997.

Gloria Korzon's brother, Ralph Kidder, of Springfield, Massachusetts, said the arrest gave him hope.

"It's been a long time waiting to have justice," Kidder said Thursday. "Until we find out what happened and where she is, it's still not going to be put to rest. This is a step in the right direction, but until we absolutely know, it's still not over."

A police affidavit said Korzon repeatedly abused his wife over many years. Kidder said the couple met while working at an electronics plant in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

About a year after their 1967 marriage in Massachusetts, he was committed to a psychiatric facility following an arrest on charges he threatened to kill her.

The abuse continued after the couple moved to Pennsylvania in 1968, police said in the affidavit. The couple had no children.

"During these incidents of domestic violence, Gloria suffered multiple injuries, including a broken arm, a broken collarbone, damage to her nasal bone and a black eye. Many of these injuries required hospitalizations," police said. Gloria Korzon documented the abuse in letters to her attorney.

Gloria Korzon was last seen working at an electronics plant in the Philadelphia suburb of Horsham on March 6, 1981. A few days later, police said, Bill Korzon told her employer to terminate her because of mental and physical health problems, retrieved her belongings and directed that her last paycheck be mailed to their home.

"In the months and years following Gloria's disappearance, Bill Korzon engaged in a series of actions to lie, conceal and profit from it," police said.

He allegedly forged her signatures on two checks in 1981 and filed a joint tax return months after she disappeared, police said.

A tenant who lived in the Korzon home in 1981 told police five years later that Korzon had asked him to help ambush and kill a Warrington Township Police sergeant who was investigating Gloria Korzon's disappearance, the charging documents allege.

The Bucks County Courier Times said police dug up the Korzon home's yard in 1986, but found only the remains of a dog.

Police said that Korzon told them earlier this year he had battered his wife for years, including breaking her collar bone.

"Korzon further admitted that following the date that Gloria was last seen alive, he forged Gloria's final paycheck, credit union check and tax return so that he could illegally access Gloria's money," the affidavit said. "He further admitted to having perjured himself during a 1988 Orphan's Court hearing that he initiated, in order to determine what percentage of property he was entitled to from Gloria's estate."

During the police interview this year, investigators say, Korzon admitting signing a 1981 Mother's Day card in Gloria Korzon's name and sending it to her mother to make her think her daughter was still alive.

He's also alleged to have asked investigators this year: "Did you find the body?"

Source: Fox News National

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Report: AOC, Top Aide Quietly Removed From PAC

New York freshman lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was dropped from her role as a board member of a political action committee last week, The Daily Caller reports, days after campaign finance experts questioned whether her role with the group was legal and ethical.

Ocasio-Cortez’ top aide and former campaign chair, Saikat Chakrabarti, was also removed from his role with Justice Democrats, which raised more than $1.8 million for the Democratic congresswoman before her June 2018 primary.  

The pair joined the PAC in December 2017 but Ocasio-Cortez never disclosed to the Federal Election Commission that they "controlled the PAC while it was simultaneously supporting her primary campaign."

Chakrabarti founded the Justice Democrats PAC.

Justice Democrats officially removed them on March 15, according to a corporate document filed that day to the Washington, D.C., Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, the Caller reports.

The news outlet last week said if the FEC finds her campaign and the PAC were operating together, it could result in “massive reporting violations.”

“If the facts as alleged are true, and a candidate had control over a PAC that was working to get that candidate elected, then that candidate is potentially in very big trouble and may have engaged in multiple violations of federal campaign finance law, including receiving excessive contributions,” former Republican FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky told the outlet.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Sri Lanka's former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake
Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

April 26, 2019

By Sanjeev Miglani and Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens.

Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the two led the country to a crushing defeat of separatist Tamil rebels a decade ago after a 26-year civil war.

More than 250 people were killed in bomb attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday that the government has blamed on Islamist militants and that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Gotabaya said the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.

“Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent”, firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections, which are due by December.

He was critical of the government’s response to the bombings. Since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat is from Islamic State to the country.

“Various people are blaming various people, not giving exactly the details as to what happened, even people expect the names, what organization did this, and how they came up to this level, that explanation was not given,” he said.

On Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena said the government led by premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

Wickremesinghe said earlier he was not advised about warnings that came from India’s spy service either, presenting a picture of a government still in disarray since the two leaders fell out last October.

Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States, where he is a dual citizen, over his role in the war and afterwards.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor.

In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father.

Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidature.

‘DISMANTLE THE NETWORKS’

He said that if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radical Islam and to rebuild the security set-up.

“It’s a serious problem, you have to go deep into the groups, dismantle the networks,” he said, adding he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism.

Gotabaya said that a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in eastern Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government.

“They did not give priority to national security, there was a mix-up. They were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, they were talking about individual freedoms,” he said.

President Sirisena’s government sought to forge reconciliation with minority Tamils and close the wounds of the war and launched investigations into allegations of rights abuse and torture against military officers.

Officials said many of these secret intelligence cells were disbanded because they faced allegations of abuse, including torture and extra judicial killings.

Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington
FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 26, 2019

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve may lower the interest it pays on excess reserves banks leave with it by 5 basis points at its April 30-May 1 policy meeting in a bid to prevent the federal funds rate from drifting higher, Morgan Stanley analysts said on Friday.

This would mark the third such “technical” adjustment on the interest on excess reserves (IOER) following cuts last June and December.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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In response to the news that the U.S. economy rose 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2019, White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said that this “prosperity cycle” will continue if President Trump‘s policies stay in place.

Calling the advance in gross domestic product a “blow-out number,” Kudlow told “America’s Newsroom” Friday that it serves as concrete proof Trump’s measures to grow the economy have been successful.

“I’ll just say, Trump’s policies to rebuild the economy, lower taxes, regulations, opening energy, trade reform. Look, this stuff is working,” he said.

“It tells me, among other things, that the prosperity cycle we have entered into is continuing, it is strong. It has legs and momentum and frankly it is going to go on for quite some time,” he continued. “This is the new Trump economy. Some people don’t like that or they don’t agree with that. I respect the differences but I’ll tell you it’s working.”

STUART VARNEY: THANKS TO TRUMP, AMERICANS ARE FEELING BETTER ABOUT THEIR FINANCES

39 MILLION ADULTS CANNOT AFFORD A SUMMER VACATION

Kudlow added that Trump has “ended the war” on business and success, and is rallying for the small business owners of America.

“The president is rebuilding incentives, he is rebuilding confidence, he the rebuilding optimism,” he said. “He is basically saying you should keep more of what you earn. He is basically saying to small businesses we’ll cut the paperwork back and make it easier for you to start a business and prosper.”

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Kudlow said the Trump administration is also working with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders to implement bipartisan deals to ensure the continuation of the GDP’s success.

“If the policies and the principles remain in place — and I believe they will — then I believe this new prosperity expansion cycle is going to go on for a whole bunch of more years,” he said.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Tennis - Australian Open - Women's Singles Final
FILE PHOTO: Tennis – Australian Open – Women’s Singles Final – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, January 26, 2019. Japan’s Naomi Osaka attends a news conference after winning her match against Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – World number one Naomi Osaka came from behind in the final set to beat Croatian Donna Vekic 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) on Friday and move into the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix semi-finals.

Osaka comfortably won the opening set but was tested by the Croatian, who pushed her to the limit in the second and third. The Japanese made 45 unforced errors as she struggles to get to grips with swapping hard courts for clay.

Osaka was visibly frustrated and trailed 5-1 in the final set but she refused to give up and found her rhythm to break Vekic twice and prevent her from serving for the match.

In the tiebreaker, a confident Osaka upped her baseline game and had two early mini breaks before wrapping up the match in two hours and 18 minutes. An infuriated Vekic even smashed her racket after losing the match.

“I told myself I didn’t want to have any regrets here,” Osaka said. “I was stressed out when I went down 1-5… but this (comeback) was pretty good because I don’t play really well on clay.”

Earlier, world number three Petra Kvitova came back from a set down to beat Anastasija Sevastova 2-6 6-2 6-3 and move into the tournament’s semi-finals for the third time in her career.

Sevastova had a dream start, breaking Kvitova twice to take a 3-0 lead as the Czech struggled with her first serve. Kvitova also made a slew of unforced errors, with many of her returns going long.

Sevastova used the full width of the court to get the better of Kvitova, who played on the back foot for much of the first set as the Latvian gave her little time to catch her breath.

However, Kvitova recovered in the second set and she broke Sevastova’s serve when she was 3-2 up, winning 10 straight points to take a 5-2 lead. Sevastova looked shaken and was broken again to give Kvitova the second set.

Kvitova took command in the final set and broke a visibly upset Sevastova to take a 3-1 lead before easing into the semis.

“In the first set I missed almost everything. I was pretty slow and she just couldn’t miss,” Kvitova said. “In the second set it was very important for me to stay on my serve and the chance to break her came.”

Kiki Bertens plays Angelique Kerber later on Friday and Victoria Azarenka faces Anett Kontaveit in the last quarter-final.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

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President Donald Trump says he feels “young” and “vibrant” at age 72 and thinks he can beat 76-year-old Joe Biden “easily.”

A reporter asked Trump at the White House on Friday how old is too old to be president of the United States.

Trump said: “I just feel like a young man. I’m so young. I can’t believe it. … I’m a young vibrant man.”

Then he smiled and said he’s not sure about Democratic presidential contender Biden, the second-oldest contender in the race behind Bernie Sanders.

Trump said: “I look at Joe. I don’t know about him.”

Biden, in an interview on ABC’s “The View,” joked in response that if Trump “looks young and vibrant compared to me, I should probably go home.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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