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$750M Powerball drawing would be 4th-largest US jackpot

Lottery officials say the Powerball jackpot for Wednesday's drawing has ballooned to an estimated $750 million , which would be the fourth-largest grand lottery prize in U.S. history.

A look at the 10 largest U.S. jackpots that have been won and the states where the winning tickets were sold:

1. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)

2. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, South Carolina)

3. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)

4. $687.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 27, 2018 (two tickets, from Iowa and New York)

5. $656 million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2012 (three tickets, from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland)

6. $648 million, Mega Millions, Dec. 17, 2013 (two tickets, from California and Georgia)

7. $590.5 million, Powerball, May 18, 2013 (one ticket, from Florida)

8. $587.5 million, Powerball, Nov. 28, 2012 (two tickets, from Arizona and Missouri)

9. $564.1 million, Powerball, Feb. 11, 2015 (three tickets, from North Carolina, Puerto Rico and Texas)

10. $559.7 million, Powerball, Jan. 6, 2018 (one ticket, New Hampshire)

___

Sources: AP archives, www.megamillions.com and www.powerball.com

Source: Fox News National

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Who's running for president in 2020? Growing field of candidates join race for Democratic nod

The 2020 presidential race is starting to heat up, and the Democratic field could get crowded — fast.

Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro, Bernie Sanders and a handful of other well-known Democrats and progressives have tossed their hats into the presidential ring, and more popular politicians are likely to follow suit in the coming weeks.

BIDEN ADVISERS FLOAT BETO O'ROURKE AS POSSIBLE 2020 RUNNING MATE: REPORT

Former Vice President Joe Biden — as predicted — has stayed silent about his plans thus far.

Apparently, Biden's advisers have floated Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, as a potential running mate, given his recent rise in popularity. Despite losing the Texas Senate race to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, O'Rourke is still considered a "rising star" in his party.

In a January op-ed in The New York Times, titled "Run, Joe, Run," a columnist advised Biden to enter the race because he has "strengths that no other Democratic candidate does," citing his decades of experience and ties to the Obama administration.

“If it turns out that I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump, then I will probably run.”

— Bernie Sanders

As some political heavyweights continue to mull it over, take a look at those who have already made moves ahead of the 2020 election.

Bernie Sanders

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is hoping to make a comeback after aiming to inspire a progressive movement during his 2016 campaign.

“If there’s somebody else who appears who can, for whatever reason, do a better job than me, I’ll work my a-- off to elect him or her,” Sanders told New York Magazine in November. “If it turns out that I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump, then I will probably run.”

During an interview on Vermont Public Radio on Feb. 19, Sanders confirmed he's running again.

“We began the political revolution in the 2016 campaign, and now it's time to move that revolution forward,” he told the radio station.

Amy Klobuchar

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., announced her decision to join the 2020 presidential race on a snowy Feb. 10 in Minneapolis.

"For every American, I'm running for you," Klobuchar, who has served in the Senate since 2007, told a crowd. "And I promise you this: As your president, I will look you in the eye. I will tell you what I think. I will focus on getting things done. That's what I've done my whole life. And no matter what, I'll lead from the heart," the three-term senator said.

Klobuchar, 58, is known as a straight-shooting, pragmatist willing to work with Republicans, making her one of the Senate's most productive members at passing legislation.

Cory Booker 

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker announced his bid for the presidency on Feb. 1, 2019.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker announced his bid for the presidency on Feb. 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., jumped into the 2020 race on Feb. 1, vowing to unite what he considers a currently divided nation.

"I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind; where parents can put food on the table; where there are good-paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood; where our criminal justice system keeps us safe, instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins; where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame," Booker said in a campaign video, subtly jabbing at President Donald Trump.

"It is not a matter of can we, it's a matter of do we have the collective will, the American will?" he added. "I believe we do."

Booker, a former mayor of Newark, New Jersey's largest city, won a special Senate election in 2013 to replace Democrat Frank Lautenberg and then won a full Senate term in 2014. He will be able to run for a second full Senate term in 2020 while running for president, thanks to a law that New Jersey's governor signed in November.

Kamala Harris

California Sen. Kamala Harris, 54, joined the 2020 race on Jan. 21 with an announcement on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"I'm running for president of the United States, and I'm very excited about it," Harris, D-Calif., said on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Harris has broken many barriers in her career as she's served as California's attorney general and the San Francisco city attorney. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016.

Since she joined the Senate, Harris has worked to establish a national profile through her questioning of Trump's judicial nominees as she sits on the Judiciary Committee.

Elizabeth Warren

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., officially announced her 2020 presidential bid on Feb. 9.

"This is the fight of our lives. The fight to build an America where dreams are possible, an America that works for everyone. I am in that fight all the way," she told supporters in Lawrence, Mass. "And that is why I stand here today: to declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States of America."

In the announcement, she called President Trump "the latest -- and most extreme -- symptom of what's gone wrong in America."

"It won’t be enough to just undo the terrible acts of this administration. We can’t afford to just tinker around the edges – a tax credit here, a regulation there. Our fight is for big, structural change," she said to cheers from the crowd.

Warren took a major step in her political career by launching an exploratory committee for president in late December.

She made a splash on Dec. 31 when she released a campaign-style video that slams the "corrupt" government, making an appeal to her party's base.

5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN

"[The government] has been bought and paid for by a bunch of billionaires and giant corporations that think they get to dictate the rules that affect everyone," Warren tells supporters, adding, "that’s not how the government is supposed to work. You know it. I know it. And we know it is time to fight back."

Warren, who was reportedly a registered Republican well into her 40s, already tested out a stump speech in Sioux City, Iowa, telling a crowd in the first-in-the-nation caucus state "we need to make a structural change."

“We need to return politics to the people,” Warren said at the Jan. 4 event.

“I can’t stop Donald Trump from what he’s going to do, I can’t stop him from hurling racial insults, I don’t have any power to do that, but what I can do is I can be in this fight for all of our families,” she added.

The 69-year-old previously taught law at Harvard University. When Warren was hired at the Ivy League school in the early 1990s, there were only 60 tenured female professors, according to The Daily Beast. According to Harvard, Warren has written more than 100 educational articles and ten books. She’s also been awarded several teaching awards — at least two from Harvard.

Warren has also been a vocal critic of Wall Street — originally conceiving what became the government's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Former President Barack Obama appointed Warren to serve as assistant to the president and special advisor to the secretary of the treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in September 2010. Warren burst onto the national scene during the financial crisis with calls for greater consumer protections. She quickly became one of the party's more prominent liberals even as she sometimes fought with Obama administration officials over their response to the market turmoil.

John Delaney

Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney was the first person — by far — to announce his 2020 campaign. Delaney announced his intent to run for president in July 2017, just six months into Trump's presidency.

“I'm running for President,” Delaney, a wealthy former bank executive, tweeted on July 28, 2017.

Delaney, who is socially liberal, emphasized his pro-business views in his announcement.

PRESIDENT TRUMP GETS HIS FIRST 2020 CHALLENGER

“We need to encourage a more just and inclusive form of capitalism and reduce barriers to small-business formation, start-ups, job creation, investment and growth,” Delaney said.

He has already invested considerable time and money in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Julian Castro

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro is hoping to make history as the country's first Latino president. Castro, who served under Obama, announced his campaign for president in his hometown, San Antonio, on Jan. 12.

"I’m running for President because it’s time for new leadership and to make sure opportunities I had are available to every American," he said during his announcement speech, which focused on immigration.

Castro, the grandson of a Mexican immigrant, mocked Trump for claiming that the U.S. faces an "invasion" from its ally to the south. "He called it a national security crisis," Castro said. "Well, there is a crisis today. It's a crisis of leadership. Donald Trump has failed to uphold the values of our great nation."

Castro, 44, became San Antonio's youngest-ever city councilman in 2001 at just 26 years old, The Atlantic Journal-Constitution reports. Years later, he became the city's mayor, serving from 2009 to 2014. During that time, he was thrust into the limelight. In 2012, he delivered the Democratic National Convention keynote speech, leading political pundits to grant him the nickname "Latino Barack Obama," according to the Texas Tribune.

The Stanford University and Harvard Law School graduate was in the running to become Hillary Clinton's potential presidential running mate but ultimately lost to Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.

Kirsten Gillibrand

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, an outspoken Trump critic, announced the formation of a 2020 exploratory committee during a Jan. 15 appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." It was a surprise to some who believed Gillibrand would instead opt to finish her 6-year term in the Senate.

"I'm filing an exploratory committee for president of the United States, tonight," Gillibrand told host Stephen Colbert. "I'm going to run for president of the United States because as a young mom, I'm going to fight for other people's kids as hard as I would fight for my own -- which is why I believe health care should be a right, not a privilege."

Days after the announcement, the 52-year-old will head to Iowa for a meeting and fundraiser with local Democrats, Fox News learned.

Richard Ojeda

Richard Ojeda is running for president in 2020.

Richard Ojeda is running for president in 2020. (Ojeda for Congress)

Democrat Richard Ojeda, a retired Army paratrooper and West Virginia lawmaker, formalized his campaign for the presidency on Veterans Day 2018. He announced he was going to resign his state Senate seat on Jan. 12 to focus on campaigning for president in 2020.

The so-called "Trump Democrat," who has been branded as a "JFK with tattoos and a bench press" by Politico Magazine, is of Mexican descent and became a champion of teachers during their fight for better pay and benefits. He sponsored successful legislation to make medical marijuana legal and has stressed health care and economic issues.

Ojeda came under fire in September 2018 for allegedly threatening state delegate Rupie Phillips, writing in a Facebook message, "When I'm done with you, you will beg me to ease up. I’m going to make you famous… and it’s not going to be in a good way."

At the time, the Ojeda campaign didn't deny the message was sent but pushed back against its meaning.

“This is absurd and obviously not a threat of physical violence,” the campaign’s spokeswoman told Fox News. “Richard was speaking about exposing Del. Phillips for his corruption in the West Virginia legislature."

Tulsi Gabbard

Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is also planning to run for president in 2020.

"There are a lot of reasons for me to make this decision,” Gabbard told CNN on Jan. 12, though she plans to make a more formal announcement within the week. “There are a lot of challenges that are facing the American people that I'm concerned about and that I want to help solve.”

The 37-year-old Iraq War veteran, who served two tours of duty in the Middle East, is the first Hindu elected to Congress and the first member born in the U.S. territory of American Samoa. She has visited early primary and caucus states New Hampshire and Iowa in recent months and has written a memoir that’s due to be published in May.

The lawmaker made news during the 2016 presidential campaign when she opted to back Sanders instead of Clinton.

TULSI GABBARD, HAWAII DEMOCRAT, SAYS SHE WILL RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020

“As a veteran of two Middle East deployments, I know first hand the cost of war,” Gabbard explained in a YouTube video in February 2016, per The New York Times. “I know how important it is that our commander-in-chief has the sound judgment required to know when to use America’s military power and when not to use that power.

“As a vice chair of the D.N.C., I am required to stay neutral in Democratic primaries, but I cannot remain neutral any longer. The stakes are just too high. That’s why today I’m endorsing Senator Bernie Sanders to be our next president and commander in chief of the United States," she concluded.

Gabbard’s run would not be without controversy.

In 2016, she alarmed fellow Democrats when she met with Donald Trump during his transition to president and later when she took a secret trip to Syria and met with President Bashar Assad, who has been accused of war crimes and genocide. She questioned whether he was responsible for a chemical attack on civilians that killed dozens and led the U.S. to attack a Syrian airbase.

She said she doesn’t regret the trip and considers it important to meet with adversaries if “you are serious about pursuing peace.” She also noted that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was based on faulty intelligence and said that she wanted to understand the evidence of the Syria attack.

Fox News' Adam Shaw, Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Madeleine Rivera, Alex Pappas, Lukas Mikelionis and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Albania opposition supporters try to storm parliament

Albanian opposition protesters have made further attempts to enter the parliament by force as they demand the government's resignation and an early election.

The center-right Democratic Party-led protesters on Thursday used smoke bombs and projectiles and clashed with police trying to break the cordon protecting the parliament building where the weekly session was held.

The opposition accuses the leftist Socialist Party government of Prime Minister Edi Rama of being corrupt and linked to organized crime, which the government denies.

Since mid-February opposition supporters have repeatedly tried to enter the parliament or government buildings and police have responded with tear gas and water cannons.

The Socialists say the opposition's protests are damaging Albania's progress toward membership in the European Union.

Source: Fox News World

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BlackRock will not back Bayer management in AGM vote: sources

The company logo and trading information for BlackRock is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE
FILE PHOTO: The company logo and trading information for BlackRock is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 23, 2019

By Simon Jessop and Ludwig Burger

LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Fund manager BlackRock will not support Bayer’s management in a key vote at its annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday, two people familiar with the situation told Reuters.

About 30 billion euros ($34 billion) has been wiped off the German drugmaker’s market value since August, when a U.S. jury found Bayer liable because Monsanto, which it bought for $63 billion last year, had not warned of alleged cancer risks linked to its weedkiller Roundup.

Bayer suffered a similar courtroom defeat last month and more than 11,000 plaintiffs are claiming damages.

BlackRock, which latest filings show owns 7.2 percent of Bayer’s voting rights, plans to either abstain from or vote against ratifying the management board’s actions during the year under review, the sources said.

The largely symbolic vote of confidence “will send a message to the board” that BlackRock is not happy with the way Bayer’s management handled the Monsanto deal, one of the sources said.

A vote to ratify the board’s actions features prominently at every German AGM. It has no bearing on management’s liability, but is seen as a key gauge of shareholder sentiment.

Bayer’s next two biggest shareholders, Singapore state investor Temasek and Norway’s oil fund, both declined to comment on their AGM voting intentions when contacted by Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Weiss, Anshuman Daga and Terje Solsvik; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Source: OANN

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‘Borat’-inspired tourists wearing mankinis face arrest in Poland

Four English-speaking tourists are in hot water for wearing “Borat”-inspired mankinis in the historic Polish city of Krakow last week.

Police said they are investigating the “indecent antics” of the four men who were caught on CCTV and by a photographer Friday as they walked around the picturesque Renaissance Market Square, before getting into a horse-drawn cab.

They were wearing lime green mankinis, similar to the kind worn by comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen in his fictional Kazakh alter ego, Borat.

Krakow province police spokesman Sebastian Glen said Thursday that foreign tourists, especially British ones, often cause disturbances when they travel to the historic city for stag parties.

This is not the first time that tourists sporting mankinis have caused a stir.

In November 2017, six Czech tourists were arrested in Kazakhstan for wearing nothing by mankinis while posing for photos.

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Glen said if the tourists in Poland are convicted, they face up to 30 days in custody or fines of $1,300 each.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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Florida Mayor Arrested After Firing at SWAT Team

A Florida mayor fired upon police as they raided his home early Thursday morning before he was taken into custody.

Port Richey Mayor Dale Massad fired two shots at Pasco County deputies as they busted through his door to arrest him on charges of practicing medicine without a license. None of the officers were hit and they did not return fire.

The 68-year-old Massad gave himself up a short time later and was taken into custody.

"He's lucky he's not dead," Sheriff Chris Nocco said.

In addition to the original charge, Massad will also be slapped with attempted murder charges.

Nocco pointed to Massad's history of drug use, his past violence and threats of violence, and the multiple guns he owns as justification for conducting a raid on the home to make an arrest.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, the SWAT team first tried breaking through Massad's front door before blowing off the locks with a shotgun. Another deputy tossed in a flash bang grenade as the team prepared to enter the house, at which point police said Massad fired at them with a .40 pistol.

Port Richey has fewer than 3,000 residents and is just under 30 miles north of Clearwater. Massad has not held a physician's license since 1992, but he is accused of seeing patients at his home.

According to the Times, Massad first won election in 2015 by earning 182 votes. He was re-elected in 2017.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Trump signs legislation promoting Bob Dole to colonel for WWII service

President Trump on Monday signed legislation authorizing the honorary promotion of former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., from captain to colonel in the U.S. Army in recognition of his service in World War II.

The legislation, which was passed unanimously last month by the House of Representatives after going through the Senate, recognizes Dole’s time spent in the armed forces during World War II, where he earned two Purple Hearts and was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor.

BOB DOLE TURNS 95 - LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY FRIEND AND A GREAT AMERICAN 

"I was proud to wear our nation's uniform 77 years ago when I enlisted, and my pride in America's brave servicemen and women continues today," Dole said in a statement in March, when Congress passed the legislation authorizing his promotion.

The 95-year-old Dole, who ran for president in 1996, was last seen publicly in December when he rose from a wheelchair to salute the coffin of former President George H.W. Bush in the Capitol rotunda.

BOB DOLE GIVES GEORGE H.W. BUSH STANDING SAULTE, RISING FROM WHEELCHAIR IN DRAMATIC MOMENT

Dole, who represented Kansas in the U.S. House and Senate for a total of 35 years, was injured by German machine gun fire while serving as an infantry lieutenant in 1945 in the European theater. The injury left him with limited use of his right arm.

Trump last year praised Dole as a “great American” during a presentation awarding the former lawmaker the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress.

Source: Fox News Politics

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FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain's far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of the Spain’s far-right party VOX wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally ahead of general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By John Stonestreet and Belén Carreño

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Vox party, aligned to a broader far-right movement emerging across Europe, has become the focus of speculation about last minute shifts in voting intentions since official polling for Sunday’s national election ended four days ago.

No single party is anywhere near securing a majority, and chances of a deadlocked parliament and a second election are high.

Leaders of the five parties vying for a role in government get final chances to pitch for power at rallies on Friday evening, before a campaign characterized by appeals to voters’ hearts rather than wallets ends at midnight.

By tradition, the final day before a Spanish election is politics-free.

Two main prizes are still up for grabs in the home straight. One concerns which of the two rival left and right multi-party blocs gets more votes.

The other is whether Vox could challenge the mainstream conservative PP for leadership of the latter bloc, which media outlets with access to unofficial soundings taken since Monday suggest could be starting to happen.

The right’s loose three-party alliance is led by the PP, the traditional conservative party that has alternated in office with outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists since Spain’s return to democracy in the 1970s.

The PP stands at around 20 percent, with center-right Ciudadanos near 14 percent and Vox around 11 percent, according to a final poll of polls in daily El Pais published on Monday.

Since then, however, interest in Vox – which will become the first far-right party to sit in parliament since 1982 – has snowballed.

It was founded in 2013, part of a broader anti-establishment, far-right movement that has also spread across – among others – Italy, France and Germany.

While it is careful to distance itself from the ideology of late dictator Francisco Franco, Vox’s signature policies include repealing laws banning Franco-era symbols and on gender-based violence, and shifting power away from Spain’s regional governments.

TRENDING

According to a Google trends graphic, Vox has generated more than three times more search inquiries than any other Spanish political party in the past week.

Reasons could include a groundswell of vocal activist support at Vox rallies in Madrid and Valencia, and its exclusion from two televised debates between the main party leaders, on the grounds of it having no deputies yet in parliament.

Conservative daily La Vanguardia called its enforced absence from Monday’s and Tuesday’s debates “a gift from heaven”, while left-wing Eldiario.es suggested the PP was haemorrhaging votes to Vox in rural areas.

Ignacio Jurado, politics lecturer at the University of York, agreed the main source of additional Vox votes would be disaffected PP supporters, and called the debate ban – whose impact he said was unclear – wrong.

“This is a party polling over 10 percent and there are people interested in what it says. So we lose more than we win in not having them (in the debates),” he said

For Jose Fernandez-Albertos, political scientist at Spanish National Research Council CSIC, Vox is enjoying the novelty effect that propelled then new, left-wing arrival Podemos to 20 percent of the vote in 2015.

“While it’s unclear how to interpret the (Google) data, what we do know is that it’s better to be popular and to be a newcomer, and that Vox will benefit in some form,” he said.

For now, the chances of Vox taking a major role in government remain slim, however.

The El Pais survey put the Socialists on around 30 percent, making them the frontrunners and likely to form a leftist bloc with Podemos, back down at around 14 percent.

The unofficial soundings suggest little change in the two parties’ combined vote, or the total vote of the rightist bloc.

That makes it unlikely that either bloc will win a majority on Sunday, triggering horse-trading with smaller parties favoring Catalan independence – the single most polarizing issues during campaigning – that could easily collapse into fresh elections.

(Election graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ENugtw)

(Reporting by John Stonestreet and Belen Carreno, Editing by William Maclean)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of the OPEC is seen at OPEC's headquarters in Vienna
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo

April 26, 2019

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and told the cartel to lower oil prices.

“Gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC, I said you’ve got to bring them down. You’ve got to bring them down,” Trump told reporters.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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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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