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Italy's Premier Conte rules out another term in government

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says that he does not plan to serve in any future governments.

Conte oversees a coalition government of two populist parties, the 5-Star Movement and the right-wing League. He has been premier since June 2018.

He's not a member of 5 Star Movement, but sympathizes with the party and was its pick for the top job. In recent months, the party has done poorly in local elections as the anti-immigrant League gains in popularity.

Conte, who is a law professor, said Sunday during a visit to the southern city of Lecce that he doesn't plan another term in government after this. He said, "my experience in government ends with this one."

The next general election in Italy must be held no later than May 2023.

Source: Fox News World

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Microsoft workers demand it drop $450 million U.S. Army contract

A Microsoft store is pictured in New York City
A Microsoft store is pictured in New York City, New York, U.S., August 21, 2018. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

February 22, 2019

By Paresh Dave

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Several Microsoft Corp employees on Friday demanded that the company cancel a $480 million hardware contract with the U.S. Army and stop developing “any and all weapons technologies.”

The organizing effort, described to Reuters by three Microsoft workers, offers the latest example in the last year of tech employees protesting cooperation with governments on emerging technologies.

Microsoft won a contract in November to supply the Army with at least 2,500 prototypes of augmented reality headsets, which digitally displays contextual information in front of a user’s eyes. The government has said the devices would be used on the battlefield and in training to improve soldiers “lethality, mobility and situational awareness.”

In a petition to Microsoft executives, posted on Twitter, workers said they “did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used.” They called on the company to develop “a public-facing acceptable use policy” for its technology and an external review board to publicly enforce it.

Microsoft and the U.S. Army did not immediately respond to requests to comment. Company President Brad Smith said in an October blog post it remained committed to assisting the military.

“We’ll engage not only actively but proactively across the U.S. government to advocate for policies and laws that will ensure that AI and other new technologies are used responsibly and ethically,” Smith wrote.

Though many governments want to better draw upon the expertise of the biggest U.S. tech companies, fresh employee resistance has added a new challenge to already complicated relationships.

Worker pushback led Alphabet Inc last year to announce it would not renew a Pentagon contract in which its artificial intelligence technology is used to analyze drone imagery.

In other cases, employee criticism has invited greater public scrutiny to deals, such as $10 billion cloud computing contract yet to be awarded and various contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

One Microsoft worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was unclear whether any of the lead petitioners’ work touches the Army contract because the company’s services are intertwined. Another said several organizers work in the company’s cloud computing division, which is competing with rivals Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services to gain more government work.

(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Richard Chang)

Source: OANN

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Ocasio-Cortez rallies progressives against Dem leaders’ bid to shield incumbents from primary challengers

Freshman Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley have in a matter of days rallied the progressive base against a plan by House Democrats' campaign arm to isolate and discourage would-be challengers from running against incumbents in congressional primaries.

Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Pressley, D-Mass., both insurgents who ousted entrenched members of their own party, over the weekend criticized a policy by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to blacklist political firms that work against sitting members of Congress.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS' CAMPAIGN ARM WARNS CONSULTANTS AGAINST HELPING PRIMARY CHALLENGERS

Their cause has been promoted and cheered by allies on the left, exposing new tensions between the Democratic establishment and an outspoken liberal wing led by Ocasio-Cortez.

Justice Democrats, the group that boosted Ocasio-Cortez’s primary bid last year, has blanketed its Twitter feed with shout-outs to the two freshmen, while its director Alexandra Rojas is doing the same – while accusing the DCCC of being “afraid” of the Pressleys and AOCs of the world.

The same group also thanked Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., for taking a stand against the DCCC decision – citing an Intercept story in which the vice chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus condemned the move.

Saying the new policy “stifles competition and blackballs any consultant who works for a challenger,” Khanna complained in a statement to The Intercept that the DCCC policy was “heavy-handed.”

“This unprecedented grab of power is a slap in the face of Democratic voters across the nation,” he said. “Let’s be clear. If this policy remains in place, it will mean that we will not allow new Ayanna Pressleys or AOCs to emerge. It’s simply wrong.”

Khanna and other caucus leaders reportedly voiced objections directly with DCCC leader Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill. The escalating fight marks another front in the battle between the progressive wing and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lieutenants.

The tensions exploded publicly when Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Saturday: “The @DCCC’s new rule to blacklist+boycott anyone who does business w/ primary challengers is extremely divisive & harmful to the party."

MODERATE DEMS FUME OVER OCASIO-CORTEZ INCUMBENT HIT LIST

The freshman then recommended a pause in all donations to the DCCC and encouraged donors to give directly to the “swing candidates” themselves. She provided a short list of swing-seaters with links to their donation pages.

Pressley, who upset 20-year incumbent Michael Capuano, tweeted Saturday a lengthy thread offering her view that the DCCC policy risks hurting women and people of color.

"If the DCCC enacts this policy to blacklist vendors who work with challengers, we risk undermining an entire universe of potential candidates and vendors -- especially women and people of color -- whose ideas, energy, and innovation need a place in our party," Pressley wrote.

The DCCC previously stated in a letter that its core mission is keeping the party's newly won majority in the House by “electing House Democrats, which includes supporting and protecting incumbents.”

The letter then clearly states that the committee “will not conduct business with, nor recommend to any of its targeted campaigns, any consultant that works with an opponent of a sitting Member of the House Democratic Caucus."

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Pressley warned of the “chilling effect” that creating such rules could have on the future of the Democratic Party, and called for “diversity.”

“Our diversity is our strength,” she wrote. “When a candidate takes the risk to run, Democrats should not be in the practice of creating litmus tests or roadblocks that have a chilling effect on new candidates or those who would invest their sweat equity in support.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Jury deliberations resume in trial over deadly bunker fire

Jurors have resumed deliberating in the trial of a wealthy stock trader charged with murder in the fire death of a man who was helping him dig tunnels for a nuclear bunker beneath a Maryland home.

The 12 jurors deliberated for more than two hours Tuesday after hearing attorneys' closing arguments in the case against 27-year-old Daniel Beckwitt. He's charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the September 2017 death of 21-year-old Askia Khafra.

Defense attorney Robert Bonsib told jurors Khafra's death was an accident, not a crime.

Montgomery County prosecutor Marybeth Ayres said Beckwitt sacrificed safety for secrecy and created the "death trap" conditions that prevented Khafra from escaping the trash-filled house in Bethesda, a Washington suburb.

Source: Fox News National

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Baby of Islamic State teenager in UK furor dies

FILE PHOTO: Renu Begum, sister of teenage British girl Shamima Begum, holds a photo of her sister as she makes an appeal for her to return home at Scotland Yard, in London
FILE PHOTO: Renu Begum, sister of teenage British girl Shamima Begum, holds a photo of her sister as she makes an appeal for her to return home at Scotland Yard, in London, Britain February 22, 2015. REUTERS/Laura Lean/Pool

March 9, 2019

DEIR AL-ZOR, Syria (Reuters) – The infant son of Shamima Begum, a teenager who left London to join the Islamic State group in Syria, has died, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Friday.

Begum, whose first two children also died, was stripped of her British citizenship last month on security grounds after she was discovered in a detention camp in Syria.

The 19-year-old left London to join IS when she was 15. She had sought to return to Europe with her third child, who was born about three weeks ago.

SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said the child had died. Begum has said in media interviews her son was named Jarrah.

Begum married Yago Riedijk, a Dutch fighter for IS who surrendered to Syrian fighters and was being held in a Kurdish detention center in northeastern Syria.

A British government spokesman said: “The death of any child is tragic and deeply distressing for the family.

“The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has consistently advised against travel to Syria since April 2011. The government will continue to do whatever we can to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and traveling to dangerous conflict zones.”

The family’s London-based lawyer on Friday said the baby’s death had been confirmed, after saying earlier that there were strong but still unconfirmed reports of the infant’s death.

The fate of Begum has illustrated the ethical, legal and security conundrum that governments face when dealing with the families of militants who swore to destroy the West.

The U.S-backed SDF is now trying to take Islamic State’s last, small patch of ground in eastern Syria. They have slowed their offensive on the jihadist enclave at Baghouz near the Iraqi border to allow many thousands of people to pour out in an exodus that has lasted weeks.

(Reporting by Rodi Said in Deir al-Zor province, Syria; Additional reporting by Paul Sandle and William Schomberg in London; Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by William Maclean, Mark Heinrich and Leslie Adler)

Source: OANN

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AG Barr Making First Congressional Appearance Since Mueller Report

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Video shows Julian Assange skateboarding in Ecuadorian embassy, arguing with security guards

Video has been released showing some of the bizarre behavior exhibited by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he lived for the last seven years, before being ousted and subsequently arrested by British authorities last week.

Footage filmed inside Assange's 330-square-foot apartment, obtained by Spanish newspaper El Pais, shows Assange attempting to skateboard around the room to pass the time, and also shows him getting into an argument with a security guard who objected to a meeting he was trying to hold there.

Ecuadorian officials accused Assange of everything ranging from the bizarre to criminal during his time at the Embassy, where he was staying to avoid being extradited to Sweden on sexual assault charges which were eventually dropped.

In the new video, Assange can be seen in an argument with a man who appears to be a security guard who is instructing the WikiLeaks founder's guests to leave the Embassy. Assange begins recording the conversation with a camera, and the man attempts to swipe it out of his hand. Eventually, all of the guests leave.

Lenin Moreno, the president of Ecuador, said that Assange was using the Embassy in London as a "center for spying" during his time there. The president also alleged the 47-year-old's treatment of the Embassy's staff was "absolutely reprehensible and outrageous," The Guardian reports.

JOHN OLIVER RELUCTANTLY DEFENDS JULIAN ASSANGE AFTER ARREST, SLAMS CNN COVERAGE OF CASE

WHO IS JULIAN ASSANGE? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE WIKILEAKS FOUNDER

Moreno added that Assange "maintained constant improper hygienic behavior throughout his stay," which seems to corroborate claims made by Ecuadorian politician Maria Paula Romo, who said that Assange was "allowed to do things like put feces on the walls of the embassy and other behaviors of that nature."

Officials also alleged that Assange kept his bathroom in such a shocking condition that guards took photos and complained. They also reportedly complained about Assange failing to take proper care of his cat.

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Ecuador revoked Assange's asylum on Thursday and he was promptly dragged out of the Embassy by British police and arrested for violating his bail conditions, for which he could face up to a year in jail.

He also faces possible extradition to the United States after it was announced on Thursday that the government is charging Assange with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion amid claims that he worked with Chelsea Manning to hack Department of Defense computers, leading to what the DOJ has called "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States."

Source: Fox News World

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

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SAME TREATMENT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘ONE CLUB’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

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

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

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

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

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

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

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

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

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

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

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

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

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

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

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

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

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

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

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

4/EARNING TURNING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China are going very well, as the world’s two largest economies seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.

Trump said on Thursday he would soon host China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House.

Earlier this week, the White House said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more talks on a trade dispute marked by tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on North Korea this week following the Russian leader’s summit with Pyongyang’s Kim Jong Un.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also said China was helping with efforts aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
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