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French prosecutor opens preliminary investigations over Benalla affair

Alexandre Benalla attends a hearing by senators from France's upper house at the Senate in Paris
Alexandre Benalla, French President Emmanuel Macron's former senior security officer, leaves after a hearing by senators from France's upper house at the Senate in Paris, France, January 21, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

April 8, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – The Paris prosecutor has opened a preliminary investigation into alleged perjury related to the so-called “Benalla scandal” involving former and current officials from President Emmanuel Macron’s administration.

The prosecutor did not make clear in its statement who was targeted by the investigation.

However, it said it had opened the probe at the request of the Senate, where lawmakers had suspicions about statements made under oath there by Alexandre Benalla, Macron’s ex-security aide, Vincent Crase, a former staffer Macron’s party, Patrick Strzoda, Macron’s chief of staff.

The Senate had also flagged Alexis Kohler, the presidency’s top official, as well as Lionel Lavergne, the head of his security staff, to the prosecutor’s office for having “withheld information” from a parliamentary investigation.

(Reporting by Michel Rose and Emmanuel Jarry; Editing by Leigh Thomas)

Source: OANN

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Australia central bank holds rates at 1.5 percent

Two women walk next to the Reserve Bank of Australia headquarters in central Sydney
Two women walk next to the Reserve Bank of Australia headquarters in central Sydney, Australia February 6, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz

April 2, 2019

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank left its cash rate at 1.5 percent on Tuesday, a widely expected decision given policy makers have signalled a steady outlook for the near-term.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) made the announcement following its monthly policy meeting. A Reuters poll of 22 analysts had found all saw a steady outcome this week.

(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Sam Holmes)

Source: OANN

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Betsy DeVos to visit struggling South Carolina schools

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is visiting a South Carolina area known as the "Corridor of Shame" due to its underperforming schools, making a trip to an area that's been held out as an example of the need to make reforms to the state's schools.

DeVos plans to travel on Thursday to Florence County, one of several dozen districts along Interstate 95 once bestowed the nickname "Corridor of Shame" because of their substandard schools.

Along with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Mitchell Zais — who headed up South Carolina's schools from 2011 to 2015 — Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman, DeVos will visit Timmonsville Educational Center, as well as the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing & Technology, which focuses on matching up workforce training programs with local industry needs.

They'll also be joined by U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, whose office told The Associated Press on Wednesday he's discussed the importance of technical schools with DeVos in the past and has been working to get her to the district to get a firsthand look at improvements.

The visit comes amid ongoing debate on how to improve South Carolina's education system, with legislative leaders and the governor saying they're placing a priority on the issue this session. Gov. Henry McMaster, who has asked officials for a study of the decades-old formula that determines how districts are funded, pledged in his State of the State address last month that "the words 'Corridor of Shame' will be a distant memory."

The area was part of a decades-old lawsuit over education funding. In 2014, the state Supreme Court ruled that rural schools had violated the state Constitution by failing to provide each student with quality education. Last year, the high court dismissed the suit, voting 3-2 to close a legal case that examined whether the Legislature provides enough money and support for poor and rural schools, ruling that officials had resolved the overarching dispute.

In a 1999 ruling, justices coined the phrase "minimally adequate education," immediately bothering many people who thought South Carolina should aspire to being more than adequate at something as important as public education.

The legal case led to the 2005 "Corridor of Shame" documentary, which depicted decrepit conditions. Politicians and public officials have made pilgrimages to the area, including then-Sen. Barack Obama, who in 2007 toured a school, a portion of which was still in use and dated to the late 19th century.

Upon taking office in 2017, McMaster launched a tour of some of the schools seen in the film to push for his ideas on education reform.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

Source: Fox News National

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Southwest to keep Boeing 737 MAX off schedules through May instead of April 20: company memo

FILE PHOTO: A number of grounded Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are shown parked at Victorville Airport in Victorville, California
FILE PHOTO: A number of grounded Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are shown parked at Victorville Airport in Victorville, California, U.S., March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

March 30, 2019

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Southwest Airlines Co said on Friday it was pulling its Boeing Co 737 MAX jets from flight schedules through May, extending its earlier timeline from April 20, according to a company memorandum seen by Reuters.

“This will impact the lines in May, but, now that the decision has been made, we can construct our schedule without those flights well in advance in hopes to minimize the daily disruptions,” the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association and the company said in the joint memorandum.

Boeing’s top-selling 737 MAX jetliner has been grounded in the wake of two deadly crashes involving that model in five months, one in Indonesia last October and another on March 10 in Ethiopia.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; editing by Grant McCool)

Source: OANN

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Apple, Goldman Sachs to jointly launch credit card paired with iPhone: WSJ

FILE PHOTO: Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York
FILE PHOTO: Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York, U.S., August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

February 21, 2019

(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc has teamed up with Apple Inc to issue credit cards that will be paired with iPhones and will help users manage their money, the Wall Street Journal reported https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-goldman-sachs-team-up-on-credit-card-paired-with-iphone-11550750400 on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The card, which will be linked with Apple’s Wallet app, will allow users to set spending goals, track rewards, and manage balances, WSJ said.

The new cards will be rolled out to employees for testing in next few weeks and will be launched later this year.

The deal will benefit both the companies tap into new income sources. Apple has been sharpening its focus on its services business, including the App Store, mobile payments and music streaming after a recent dip in iPhone sales, which generate most of the company’s profit.

Goldman is also looking to increase its consumer loans to offset dips in its trading business.

Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for a comment. Goldman declined to comment.

The joint card, which will use Mastercard’s payment network, offers a cash back of about 2 percent on most purchases. Spending on Apple products and services could potentially result in more cashbacks, some of the people told WSJ.

Goldman Sachs has already started adding customer-support call centers, and building an internal system to handle payments, a project that could cost the bank $200 million, WSJ said, a time when banks are focused on reigning in expenses to boost their bottom lines.

The Wall Street bank could eventually offer other financial products, such as Marcus loans and wealth management services, to Apple customers, WSJ said.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

Source: OANN

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Maduro Closes Venezuela’s Border With Brazil

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Watch Sunday Show Live: New Giant Invader Caravan Violently Smashes Mexican Border

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Hundreds of Cuban migrants are reported to be on the run Friday in Mexico after a crowd of more than 1,000 burst out of a troubled immigration detention center on its southern border.

Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said the mass escape Thursday in Tapachula – which the Associated Press called the largest in recent memory — involved around 1,300 Cuban migrants, although 700 of them have since returned voluntarily.

The migrants reportedly streamed out of the compound without any resistance, as the institute said its agents weren’t armed and “there was no confrontation.”

Federal police with riot shields later rushed in to control the situation, as a crowd of angry Cubans whose relatives were being held at the facility gathered outside. The Cubans claimed their relatives reported overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at the facility.

A Federal Police officer stands guard outside an immigration detention center in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, late Thursday, following a breakout.

A Federal Police officer stands guard outside an immigration detention center in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, late Thursday, following a breakout. (AP)

BORDER PATROL UNION CHIEF BLASTS CONGRESS OVER MIGRANT CARAVANS: ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT’?

“My wife and child have been in there for 27 days in bad conditions,” said Usmoni Velazquez Vallejo, as he waited outside for news. “There is overcrowding, insufficient food and there isn’t even medicine for them.”

Another Cuban detainee told the AFP: “We have many there… we are very tight, we sleep on the floor.”

It’s the third time since October that migrants at the facility staged an uprising, according to the news agency.

The center’s holding capacity is officially listed at less than 1,000 people, but the escape of 1,300 meant it was probably at least at double its capacity, since not everyone being held there escaped. Residents in the area said that sometimes the facility has held as many as 3,000 people, and a Mexican newspaper cited by Reuters said Haitians and Central Americans also are among the large group who still have not been tracked down.

Migrants wait for their transfer from an immigration detention center in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, on Thursday.

Migrants wait for their transfer from an immigration detention center in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, on Thursday. (AP)

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Earlier in the day, Mexico’s top human rights official toured the facility.

Elsewhere in the country, a new caravan estimated to contain up to 10,000 migrants is making its way to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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Logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro
FILE PHOTO: A logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September 24, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday reported first-quarter profit fell sharply on lower oil and gas prices and weakness in its refining and chemicals businesses that offset modest production gains.

The largest U.S. oil producer’s first quarter earnings fell to $2.35 billion, or 55 cents a share, from $4.65 billion, or $1.09 a share, a year ago.

Analysts had expected Exxon to earn 70 cents per share, according to Refinitiv Eikon estimates.

Shares were trading down about 2.7 percent in premarket trading on Friday.

Exxon’s oil equivalent production rose 2 percent to 4 million barrels per day, up from 3.9 million bpd in the same period the year prior. The company said its output in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale basin, rose 140 percent over a year ago.

(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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The Washington Post’s media critic went into meltdown after White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders held a mock press briefing for the children of White House journalists and employees on Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

Erik Wemple, the newspaper’s chief media critic, slammed Sanders and the White House for organizing a fun day on Thursday for junior would-be journalists, while not holding an actual press conference for the record number of days.

WHITE HOUSE STAFF TO SKIP CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER AFTER LAST YEAR’S CONTROVERSY

Wemple wrote that Sanders gave to children an important lesson of “the centrality of nonaccountability mechanisms in the affairs of state” after she announced that the mock press briefing was “off the record.”

“When the children head home tonight, perhaps they can pull up archival footage to see how their questions stack up against ye olde press briefings,” he added.

“Accordingly, Sanders was doing more than just providing a fun interlude for the kids; she was headlining a reenactment, anchoring a bona fide historical site.”

— Erik Wemple

“Tuesday, after all, marked a record for number of days without a White House press briefing. Accordingly, Sanders was doing more than just providing a fun interlude for the kids; she was headlining a reenactment, anchoring a bona fide historical site.”

While some correspondents praised the White House for doing “a lot of work to welcome the children and provide “them an excellent experience,” other journalists echoed Wemple’s criticism and pointed out that Sanders hasn’t held a press briefing in over 40 days.

“Kids of WH Press Corps members are getting ready for a briefing with  @PressSec. Their parents have not had one in 45 days,” tweeted CBS News’ White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang.

REPORTER SHOUTS AT SARAH SANDERS AFTER BRIEFING: ‘DO YOUR JOB, SARAH!’

“The irony of it is that they’re pretending that the White House press briefing is a thing, and they’re pretending that this is how the White House operates, but this is not at all how the White House operates … It’s a relic of an earlier time,” another correspondent quoted by the Post said.

“The irony of it is that they’re pretending that the White House press briefing is a thing, and they’re pretending that this is how the White House operates, but this is not at all how the White House operates … It’s a relic of an earlier time.”

— a White HOuse Correspondent

The Post struck a different tune in a column earlier this year, which declared that despite the administration’s criticism of the media, President Trump was “extremely accessible.”

Wemple quoted Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project, who said that Trump held 338 “short question-and-answer” sessions over his time in office, significantly more than 75 such sessions by former President Barack Obama during his first full two years in office.

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In terms of total instances of access to the media, which include interviews, short sessions, and news conferences, Trump was accessible least 577 times in his first two years in office.

Source: Fox News Politics

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A Baha’i advocacy group has expressed concerns over the fate of minority Baha’is at the hands of Yemen’s Houthi rebels ahead of the appeals hearing for one of the community leaders sentenced to death.

The Baha’i International Community said in a statement Friday that the hearing for Hamed bin Haydara, detained in 2013 and sentenced to death last year on espionage and apostasy charges, is due on Tuesday.

The statement quotes Bani Dugal, the Baha’i community representative at the United Nations, as saying the prosecution hasn’t addressed Haydara’s appeal but is instead making “absurd, wide-ranging accusations.”

International rights groups have decried the prosecution of Yemeni Baha’is by the Iran-backed Houthis.

Iran has banned the Baha’i religion, which was founded in 1844 by a Persian nobleman considered a prophet by followers.

Source: Fox News World

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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