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Tiger, GolfTV announce series of head-to-head matches

PGA: WGC - Dell Technologies Match Play - Fourth Round
Mar 30, 2019; Austin, TX, USA; Tiger Woods plays his shot from the sixth tee during the fourth round of the WGC - Dell Technologies Match Play golf tournament at Austin Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Spillman-USA TODAY Sports

April 4, 2019

Tiger Woods is taking his match-play prowess on the road — again — in a series of head-to-head matches set to stream on GolfTV’s over-the-top (OTT) platforms, according to Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav.

Zaslav announced the news on Wednesday while speaking at the CAA World Congress of Sports at Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, Calif., and said one match is already planned for Tokyo and most will take place outside of the United States.

No timeline was given for when the matches will begin.

“Tiger is going to decide what is the best format,” Zaslav said. “Should it be one-on-one? Two-on-two? Should we have two matches going on at the same time? But he’s all in.”

GolfTV was announced last year as part of a long-term partnership between Discovery and the PGA Tour. In November 2018, Discovery secured a multi-year deal with Woods to provide exclusive content for the international streaming service, which launched in January.

Zaslav cited Woods’ made-for-TV spectacle, “The Match,” with Phil Mickelson last Thanksgiving weekend as inspiration for the GolfTV series. The event, hosted by Turner Sports as a pay-per-view event on its B/R Live platform, logged 750,000 unique users.

“We looked at it and said, ‘(That’s) pretty interesting,'” he said. “One million people came in and wanted to watch it — could we improve on it? What could we do? So, we’re going to do a number of those type events (and) Tiger’s excited about it.”

Woods lost to Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard in the quarterfinals of last week’s WGC-Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas. His next Tour start will be next week’s Masters, where Woods will go for his fifth green jacket and first since 2005.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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DNC Chair Tom Perez calls Republican lawmakers ‘cowardly,’ says they will be ‘judged harshly’ by history

Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez launched a stunning attack on Republican lawmakers, saying history will "judge" them for supporting President Trump.

Perez made the comments during a discussion at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management on Monday night, where he spoke at length about Donald Trump "twisting the knife" in the backs of the American people by attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

"The reason why we [Democrats] are winning, and we won at scale in 2018, is because our message is clear. Our message was: we are the ones who actually have your back on the issues that really matter. Healthcare, education. He said he had your back, but actually he had a knife in your back," Perez said.

The DNC chair continued that President Trump found success in 2016 by putting "fear on the ballot," and that Republican lawmakers who have supported his policies over the last three years are "cowards" who have allowed damage to be done to their part.

PELOSI, SCHUMER, OTHER TOP DEMS QUESTION IMPARTIALITY OF BARR LETTER ABOUT MUELLER REPORT

MCCONNELL SETS DATE TO PUT DEMOCRATS' GREEN NEW DEAL TO THE TEST

"It's funny to watch all these Republicans running away from that [the Affordable Care Act], because, the thing is, they are cowardly,” Perez said.

“I mean, history will not only judge Donald Trump harshly. It will judge Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and all the other cowards who refused to stand up to this president and allowed the party of Lincoln to die. They will be judged harshly because whatever he says goes right now."

Perez continued by calling out Sen. Lindsay Graham, once a vocal critic of President Trump who now speaks supportively of the president and on his behalf. Perez called Graham's behavior "pathetic."

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Perez, who spoke proudly of his family's legal immigration, has been Chair of the DNC since February 2017, and previously worked as the Secretary of Labor under the Obama administration from 2013-2017.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Prosecutors label Avenatti a con man, he says claims ‘bogus’

Federal prosecutors painted a picture of attorney Michael Avenatti on Thursday as a scheming operator who stole millions of dollars from clients, cheated on his taxes, lied to investigators and tried to hide money from debtors in bankruptcy proceedings.

A 36-count indictment returned late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, offered the most damning and detailed account to date of Avenatti's apparent fall from grace a year after he seized the spotlight while crusading for porn actress Stormy Daniels in her legal battles against President Donald Trump.

Avenatti embezzled settlement funds and proceeds from other matters he handled from five clients and doled out small portions of what they were due to "lull" them into thinking they were getting what they were owed, prosecutors said.

"Money generated from one set of crimes was used to further other crimes," U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna told reporters. "Typically in the form of payments designed to string along victims so as to prevent Mr. Avenatti's financial house of cards from collapsing."

Avenatti denied the charges on Twitter, saying he had made powerful enemies and would plead not guilty and fight the case.

"I look forward to the entire truth being known as opposed to a one-sided version meant to sideline me," he tweeted.

The new charges do not include a New York extortion case alleging Avenatti demanded millions to stay quiet about claims he planned to reveal about Nike paying high school players.

Avenatti, 48, was arrested March 25 in New York on the Nike charge and federal prosecutors at the time announced he also faced single counts of wire and bank fraud in Southern California, where he lives and practices law.

The 61-page Southern California indictment details charges that carry a potential prison sentence of 335 years, prosecutors said. Even if convicted of all counts, such a term is highly unlikely.

Avenatti faces 10 counts of wire fraud for stealing from a paraplegic man and four other clients he allegedly deceived by taking their money and using it to fund a lifestyle that included living in multimillion-dollar homes, flying in a private jet and sponsoring an auto racing team, authorities said.

He was also charged with 19 tax counts, including lying to an Internal Revenue Service officer, not paying personal income taxes since 2010, failing to pay taxes for his businesses, including two law firms, and pocketing payroll taxes from the Tully's Coffee chain that he owned, the indictment said.

Between September 2015 and January 2018, Global Baristas US, the company that operated Tully's, failed to pay the IRS $3.2 million in payroll taxes, including nearly $2.4 million withheld from employees, the indictment said.

When the IRS later put tax levies on coffee company bank accounts to collect more than $5 million, Avenatti had Tully's employees deposit cash receipts in a little-known account for his auto racing team, authorities said.

Avenatti was also charged with submitting phony tax returns to get more than $4 million in loans from The Peoples Bank in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 2014. The tax returns he presented to the bank were never filed to the IRS, prosecutors said.

The charges are the latest blow to a career that took off when Avenatti represented Daniels in her lawsuit to break a confidentiality agreement with Trump to stay mum about an affair they allegedly had.

Avenatti became one of Trump's leading adversaries, attacking him on cable news programs and Twitter. At one point, Avenatti even considered challenging Trump in 2020.

Back home, his business practices had come under scrutiny from the IRS and a former law partner who was owed $14 million by Avenatti and the Eagan Avenatti firm, which filed for bankruptcy.

Avenatti made false statements in bankruptcy proceedings by submitting forms that under reported income such as a $1.3 million payment his firm received, the indictment said.

The most glaring example of deception and fraud was described in the indictment as scheming Avenatti allegedly did to deprive clients of money they were due from court settlements, legal negotiations or sales of stock and actions he took to cover his tracks.

Avenatti on Thursday called the allegation "bogus nonsense" on Twitter.

Prosecutors said in one case, Avenatti funneled a $2.75 million settlement into his bank accounts and spent $2.5 million on a private jet that he co-owned. The aircraft was seized Wednesday, authorities said.

Although Avenatti was due a portion of the more than $12 million he received for the five clients, the charges said he turned over only a fraction.

"It is Lawyer 101: do not steal your client's money," Hanna said.

Avenatti allegedly drained a $4 million settlement he negotiated in 2015 on behalf of Geoffrey Johnson, who was paralyzed after trying to kill himself in the Los Angeles County jail, the indictment said. Johnson was referred to as "Client 1" in the indictment, but was named at a recent court hearing involving the money Avenatti was ordered to pay his former partner.

Until last month, Avenatti had only provided $124,000 to Johnson, the indictment said.

Two years after the settlement was reached, Avenatti allegedly helped Johnson find a real estate agent to buy a house. But when Johnson was in escrow to purchase the property, Avenatti falsely said he had not received the settlement funds, the indictment said.

In November, when the Social Security Administration requested information to determine if Johnson should continue to receive disability benefits, Avenatti said he would respond, but didn't because he knew it could lead to the discovery of his embezzlement, the indictment said. The failure to respond led to Johnson's disability benefits being cut off in February.

After Avenatti was questioned about the alleged embezzlement during a judgment-debtor examination in federal court March 22, the indictment said he fabricated a defense for himself.

Avenatti had Johnson sign a document afterward saying he was satisfied with his representation, which the lawyer told him was necessary to get the settlement that had in fact been paid four years earlier, the indictment said.

Avenatti's tweet Thursday included a "client testimonial" bearing a signature purportedly from Johnson that said Avenatti is "an exceptional, honest and ethical attorney and I feel fortunate to have had him represent me."

Source: Fox News National

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‘Gangnam style’ sex crime: K-pop scandals uncover dark side of Seoul’s flashiest district

FILE PHOTO: South Korean singer Jung Joon-young arrives for questioning on accusations of illicitly taping and sharing sex videos on social media, at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul
FILE PHOTO: South Korean singer Jung Joon-young arrives for questioning on accusations of illicitly taping and sharing sex videos on social media, at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

April 14, 2019

By Joyce Lee and Joori Roh

SEOUL (Reuters) – On a recent weekend night, the dance floor at one of the hottest clubs in Seoul’s swanky Gangnam district held only a few dozen people surrounded by mostly empty tables.

A few months ago, the nightclub would have been packed with hundreds of gyrating men and women, and full tables, many costing 650,000 won ($570) or more for a night of drinking and dancing.

The world was introduced to Gangnam by the 2012 K-pop hit “Gangnam Style,” a parody of the South Korean highlife with a viral tune and amusing dancing that became the first video to reach a billion views on YouTube.

But a wave of sex crimes and other illegal activity has revealed a dark underbelly in the district, driving club-goers and celebrities away.

According to police investigators, a network of pop stars, businessmen and cops are alleged to have colluded and enabled tax evasion, bribery, and prostitution at some of Gangnam’s glitziest clubs.

Most seriously, some are being investigated over the use of date rape drugs to incapacitate women and assault them, sometimes filmed by hidden cameras.

“There aren’t many people coming to Gangnam (clubs) right now,” a worker told Reuters at a club that was relatively quiet, despite not being implicated in any of the allegations. “There’s an investigation on.”

The scandals have already led to the resignation of four K-pop stars, the closure of one of Gangnam’s most lucrative club, and investigations into at least six police officers suspected of colluding with club operators.

President Moon Jae-in called for a thorough investigation, saying the Gangnam club cases suggest possible collusion between police, tax authorities and a new privileged class including celebrities to engage in illegal operations.

More than 500 people have been investigated for drug use and sexual assault and more than 200 arrested in a nationwide roundup since Feb. 25.

Tax authorities have launched investigations into 21 clubs and host bars for possible evasion.

“If we don’t set this right, we cannot call this a just society,” Moon said.

SEX CRIME CONCERNS

The investigations, revolving around two Gangnam clubs, Burning Sun and Arena, began late last year when 29-year-old film art director Kim Sang-kyo says he tried to stop an incident of sexual harassment and was attacked by Burning Sun staff, and then abused by police who instead arrested him.

A government commission concluded that police in Gangnam violated Kim’s rights during his arrest, but Kim is still being investigated for sexual harassment and defamation. He denies any wrongdoing.

Calls to Burning Sun, which closed down after the scandal broke, were not answered, while a man who answered the number listed for Arena hung up when asked for comment. Arena has also been closed since early March for what it said were renovations. Gangnam police declined to comment.

Kim said once he shared his story he began to receive messages from other people who said they had been victimized in Gangnam clubs, and he realized the scope of the problem.

“When people saw me raising questions, they said ‘why you? Why now?'” Kim said. “‘This has been going on for 10 years, 15 years, and you can’t touch it. You can’t win.’ I’ve heard a lot of people say this, and I think it’s really scary.”

The string of scandals gained wider attention when several K-pop stars who had ties to some of the clubs were implicated in crimes unrelated to Kim’s arrest.

Singer Lee Seung-hyun, 28, better known by the stage name Seungri, is under investigation for paying for prostitutes in return for favors from foreign businessmen at Arena.

He is also accused of embezzlement at another club he was involved with until last year.

Lee has denied all wrong doing, but resigned from his position as a member of the boy band BIGBANG. Lee’s lawyer told Reuters this week his client maintains his innocence.

At least three other K-pop stars resigned after they were accused by police of sharing illicitly filmed sex tapes. It is not yet clear whether any of the shared videos and photos were taken at either nightclub.

One singer, Jung Joon-young admitted to having shared videos he took secretly while having sex with women.

“I am truly sorry. I committed a crime that cannot be forgiven,” Jung read from a handwritten statement on March 21.

WEB OF CONNECTIONS

Besides Seungri, who was an internal director at Burning Sun and previously helped run the club, police are investigating two of the club’s co-presidents and an operating director for various crimes including distributing drugs, assaulting a customer, and bribing police.

Investigators have also questioned 15 people and arrested four people with links to Burning Sun on drug charges. At least one club promoter was arrested for distributing illegal sex videos.

A man identified as the de facto owner of Arena, surnamed Kang, was arrested in late March, a Seoul Central District Court spokesman said.

Kang and other Arena executives are accused of tax evasion by avoiding paying 16.2 billion won ($14.31 million) in taxes between 2014-2017. Kang refused to answer questions on March 25 as he emerged from court. He could not be reached for comment.

Authorities are also investigating allegations that club officials provided bribes to police officers.

Six officers are now under investigation for possible collusion with the clubs, including a senior superintendent, lawmakers briefed by Police Commissioner General Min Gab-ryong said.

The superintendent, surnamed Yoon, admitted playing golf and sharing meals with a man known to be Seungri’s business partner, but denies all allegations of corruption.

He is accused of leaking confidential information and accepting bribes, including K-pop concert tickets from singer Seungri, an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said.

In Gangnam, former patrons and workers lament the impact the scandals have had on the clubs and the broader entertainment industry, a key identity and export for South Korea.

Kim Se-rim, 27, said she no longer goes to clubs.

“People are like, why would you go when you know there are so much drugs, GHB, rape going on?,” she said, referring to a known date-rape drug. “And they have a point.”

($1 = 1,134.5200 won)

(Additional reporting and writing by Josh Smith.; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: 10 dead in blast at restaurant in Somali capital

The Latest on explosion in Somalia's capital (all times local):

2:55 p.m.

Police say at least 10 people have been killed and seven others wounded in a car bomb blast outside a restaurant in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein tells The Associated Press that most of the casualties were among people who were dining at the crowded restaurant.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group often targets high-profile areas in Mogadishu with suicide bombings.

___

2 p.m.

A Somali police officer says an explosives-laden vehicle has detonated outside a restaurant in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein says the blast occurred as the restaurant in Waberi district was crowded with diners.

There is no immediate word of casualties.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group often targets high-profile areas in Mogadishu with suicide bombings.

Source: Fox News World

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U.S. business borrowing for equipment falls 24 percent in February: ELFA

FILE PHOTO: A Vulcan Materials Company facility is pictured in Convent
FILE PHOTO: A Vulcan Materials Company construction aggregate facility is pictured in Convent, Louisiana, U.S., June 11, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman

March 22, 2019

(Reuters) – U.S. companies’ borrowing to spend on capital investments fell 24 percent in February from a year earlier, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said on Friday.

Companies signed up for $5.9 billion in new loans, leases and lines of credit last month, down from $7.7 billion a year ago. The fall was 18 percent, when compared to the previous month.

“Monthly new business volume declined for the first time in almost two years… Fundamentals in the U.S. economy appear to be holding up,” ELFA Chief Executive Officer Ralph Petta said in a statement.

“With the Fed holding interest rates unchanged, these and other economic data bear monitoring in the coming months to better understand the dip in equipment financing volume for February.”

Washington-based ELFA, a trade association that reports economic activity for the $1 trillion equipment finance sector, said credit approvals totaled 76 percent in February, marginally down from 76.1 percent in the previous month.

The data on U.S. business borrowing was based on a survey among 25 members including Bank of America Corp, BB&T Corp, CIT Group Inc and the financing affiliates of Caterpillar Inc, Deere & Co, Verizon Communications Inc, Siemens AG, Canon Inc and Volvo AB.

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFA’s non-profit affiliate, said its confidence index for March is 60.4, up from 56.7 in February. Any reading above 50 indicates a positive outlook.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel)

Source: OANN

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Pete Buttigieg officiates Indiana couple’s wedding before woman delivers baby girl

Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and 2020 Democratic presidential contender, shared a recent encounter he had with a couple who asked him to officiate their wedding just moments before the bride-to-be was due to give birth.

Buttigieg, 37, in a Facebook post, described how he arrived at his office early Monday after a morning run to find a young couple who were looking for him. The mayor said he did not have much time for “unplanned meetings” and “reluctantly” took them to the front part of his office so someone else could take care of them.

However, the couple, Mary and Gabe, explained they were just moments away from going to the hospital for a planned C-section and hoped Buttigieg could marry them before the baby was delivered.

PETE BUTTIGIEG SLAMS PENCE FOR WORK WITH TRUMP, ASKS HOW HE 'BECAME A CHEERLEADER FOR THE PORN STAR PRESIDENCY'

“I corralled a few staff members as they were trickling into the office, to serve as witnesses, and filled out the paperwork,” Buttigieg wrote. “Their rings weren't ready, so one of my colleagues found a ribbon that would do the trick.”

Buttigieg said he was happy to report the just-married couple left his office and went to the hospital where they welcomed a baby girl, Jade Katherine Jones, to the world.

“Congratulations to the newlyweds and new parents, and welcome, Jade, to this unlikely and lovely world!” the South Bend mayor said on Facebook.

The mayor’s chief of staff, Laura O’Sullivan, confirmed the wedding ceremony on Twitter.

KAMALA HARRIS ANNOUNCES $12M FUNDRAISING HAUL AS BUTTIGIEG PULLS IN $7M

“Yes, this really happened today,” she wrote.

On Monday, Buttigieg also announced that he raised more than $7 million this year. In a video, he said 158,550 donors had contributed to his campaign. He said 64 percent of the total funds raised came from contributions of less than $200.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said Tuesday that a detailed plan for a merit-based immigration system will be presented to President Trump, giving priority to skilled immigrants rather than those with family ties to the U.S.

“I do believe that the president’s position on immigration has been maybe defined by his opponents by what he’s against as opposed to what he’s for,” Kushner said at the Time 100 Summit in New York City. “What I’ve done is I’ve tried to put together a very detailed proposal for him.”

KUSHNER: RUSSIA INVESTIGATION HAD ‘HARSHER IMPACT’ ON US THAN ELECTION MEDDLING

Kushner announced that the new immigration proposal, which Trump will receive this week or next, will resemble the point-based systems in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and will unify people by ensuring strong wages and secure borders while protecting humanitarian values.

“We want to protect our country’s humanitarian values. We want to make sure we’re reunifying families, and we want to do this in a way that allows our country to be competitive long term,” he said. “And my hope is we can really do something that unifies people around what we’re for on immigration.”

“We want to protect our country’s humanitarian values. We want to make sure we’re reunifying families, and we want to do this in a way that allows our country to be competitive long term. And my hope is we can really do something that unifies people around what we’re for on immigration.”

— Jared Kushner

JARED KUSHNER RESPONDS AFTER HASAN MINHAJ CALLS OUT HIS TIES TO SAUDI PRINCE

Kushner denied in the same talk that he has clashed with White House staffer Stephen Miller, who’s seen as tougher on immigration than others, adding that the plan was concocted with the help of Miller and Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

“And I say that If that if I can get Stephen Miller and Kevin Hassett to agree on an immigration plan, then Middle East peace will be easy by comparison,” Kushner joked, referring to the Israel-Palestine peace plan he’s working on.

“And I say that If that if I can get Stephen Miller and Kevin Hassett to agree on an immigration plan, then Middle East peace will be easy by comparison.”

— Jared Kushner

After the plan gets presented to Trump, it will likely undergo some changes and then he will decide when to proceed with it, Kushner said.

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“It’s very, very complicated, but it’s a very interesting issue, and if we can solve it, I do think it’s a critical component for America’s long-term competitive advantage,” he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday said his government must make men aware of the dangers of poor hygiene after expressing dismay over the 1,000 penis amputations that apparently occur in his country each year.

“In Brazil, we have 1,000 penis amputations a year due to a lack of water and soap,” he said while speaking to reporters in Brasilia after visiting the Education Ministry. “We have to find a way to get out of the bottom of this hole.”

The far-right leader called the figure “ridiculous and sad,” Reuters reported. A spokeswoman for the Brazilian urology society told the news agency the number is based on its official data for penis amputations.

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The amputations were conducted out of necessity over untreated infections, along with complications from HIV and various cancers, she said.

Source: Fox News World

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A top Russian diplomat says Russia is willing to negotiate a new nuclear weapons treaty with the United States and China.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Friday Moscow is closely following reports in the United States that the U.S. would like to reach a nuclear weapons deal with both Russia and China, and is “willing” to negotiate. The story was reported by CNN earlier Friday.

Ryabkov also said that Russia “would like to convince” the U.S. to adopt a joint statement that would condemn any use of nuclear weapons.

Ryabkov’s comments come just months after the U.S. withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a cornerstone of the post-Cold War security, and Russia followed suit. Each claims breaches by the other.

Source: Fox News National

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Government dysfunction and an intelligence failure that preceded the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka are traced to simmering divisions between the president and prime minister after a weekslong political crisis that crippled the country last year.

The government has admitted to a “lapse of intelligence” after officials failed to act upon near-specific information received from foreign agencies. Suicide bombers exploded themselves last Sunday in three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 253 people and wounding 400 more. Authorities said eight Muslim militants blew themselves up at their targets while the wife of one of the attackers blasted herself on being rounded up by police.

The carnage has brought forth arguments that worshippers and holidaymakers fell victim to the rivalry and a lack of communication between the country’s two leaders — President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Cabinet led by Wickremesinghe says neither he nor his ministers were informed of the intelligence received by the defense authorities. Sirisena is the head of state, defense minister, minister in charge of the police and head of the armed forces. He also chairs the National Security Council, which includes the heads of security agencies and departments. Traditionally the prime minister also plays an important role on the council.

According to Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Sirisena has not included Wickremesinghe in national security affairs since a dispute between them came into the open in October last year. This is an unusual departure from the protocol, he said.

Senaratne said that Sirisena was overseas when the attacks took place and even after that, the National Security Council refused to meet with Wickremesinghe as he tried to give them instructions.

Sirisena has also said that he was not informed of the intelligence received and vowed to overhaul the leadership of the defense forces.

The top bureaucrat at the Defense Ministry, Hemasiri Fernando, has resigned at Sirisena’s insistence.

“It is a major factor,” said Jehan Perera, the head of local activist group National Peace Council, referring to the alleged lack of coordination between the leaders contributing to the failure to prevent the attacks.

“The primary responsibility has to be taken by the president, he did not give the information and he did not act,” Perera said. “He had the Ministry of Defense, took the police from the prime minister, chaired the National Security Council meetings and did nothing,” Perera said.

Kusal Perera, a journalist and political commentator, says security and intelligence officials should have acted on the information whether or not they received orders from politicians.

“If they (Wickremesinghe and his party) were not invited to the National Security Council, why did not they say in Parliament that they were not responsible for the security of the country any longer,” said Perera, who is not related to Jehan Perera.

“Saying that now is taking political advantage, not taking responsibility,” he said.

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe belong to different political parties but came together for Sirisena’s presidential campaign in 2015. Their relationships broke down and their differences exploded last year when Sirisena suddenly sacked Wickremesinghe as prime minister and appointed in his place former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom he defeated in the presidential election. The crisis crippled the country for more than seven weeks to the point of not being able to pass this year’s national budget on time.

A court decision compelled Sirisena to reappoint Wickremesinghe, but the two leaders have been rivals within the same government.

Rajapaksa, who is the minority leader in Parliament, blames the government for weakening intelligence and dropping its guard, which he had maintained to defeat the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels 10 years ago to end the 26-year-old civil war. He also criticized the government for the detention of intelligence officers accused of extrajudicial killings and abductions during the closing days of the war, which he said crippled the security apparatus before the bombings. According to conservative U.N estimates, some 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka’s conflict.

Sirisena summoned an all-party conference Thursday to which Wickremesinghe was also invited. At the conference, Sirisena stressed “setting aside all the political beliefs and difference (so that) everybody should collectively commit towards building a peaceful environment within the country,” a statement from his office said.

“It is not a secret that the disagreements between me and the government aggravated over the past two years,” Sirisena told the country’s media executives Friday. “One of the reasons for that is weakening of military intelligence and arresting military officials unnecessarily and my speaking up against it within and outside the government.”

Jehan Perera said that the security threat could prove politically advantageous to Rajapaksa and his family, with a presidential election scheduled at the end of this year. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a younger brother of Mahinda, was the powerful defense secretary during his brother’s reign and has expressed his interest to join the contest.

“People are saying we want a stronger leader and they are talking about Gotabhaya. It (the blasts) has worked to their benefit,” Perera said.

Source: Fox News World

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Cyprus police are intensifying a search for the remains of more victims at locations where an army officer, who authorities say admitted to killing five women and two girls, allegedly had dumped their bodies.

Police said Friday’s search will concentrate on a military firing range, a reservoir and a man-made lake near an abandoned mine approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Nicosia.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old suspect told investigators that he had killed four more people than he had previously admitted to. All the suspect’s alleged victims are foreign nationals.

Police have already found the bodies of a 38-year-old Filipino woman and two as yet unidentified women.

Search crews are now looking for the daughter of the 38-year-old, a Romanian mother and daughter and another Filipino woman.

Source: Fox News World

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