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90K bottles of Russian vodka believed to be for Kim Jong Un seized by Dutch customs

Looks like Kim Jong Un will need to toast the success of his summit with Donald Trump with something other than vodka.

Dutch customs officers seized 3,000 cases of the Russian-made vodka Stolbovaya believed to be heading to North Korea for Kim Jong Un and his top generals on Friday, officials announced on Tuesday. The cargo of 90,000 bottles was discovered in a Chinese container ship, the Telegraph reported.

The shipment, which violates U.N. sanctions on North Korea, was reportedly hidden inside an aircraft fuselage.

Picture shows vodka bottles that were seized by the customs authorities in the port of Rotterdam, on February 26, 2019.

Picture shows vodka bottles that were seized by the customs authorities in the port of Rotterdam, on February 26, 2019. (Getty Images)

KIM JONG UN'S AIDE FRANTICALLY DASHES TO NORTH KOREAN LEADER'S SIDE AFTER ARRIVING IN VIETNAM FOR SECOND SUMMIT

Customs office spokesman Roul Velleman confirmed the seizure, but did not elaborate on why Dutch officials believe it was intended for the North Korean despot.

Dutch Overseas Trade Minister Sigrid Kaag congratulated the customs officials on the interception, saying: "The U.N. Security Council has imposed clear sanctions on North Korea and it is important to enforce them."

Timofei Urban, the head of alcohol manufacturer Niva that produces the confiscated alcohol, told the Moscow Times the company received the massive order but denied knowing it was headed for North Korea.

"I only heard about the North Korea news today from the Dutch papers," Urban said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, receives bouquets on his arrival at the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, a Vietnamese border town Tuesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, receives bouquets on his arrival at the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, a Vietnamese border town Tuesday. (AP)

NORTH KOREA AND KIM JONG UN: MEET THE KNOWN KEY PLAYERS IN THE REGIME

He added that the company produces “vodka to places all over the world, including South Korea,” but insisted “never to North Korea.”

News of the seized alcohol comes as Kim and President Trump are set to meet in Hanoi for their second summit in less than a year. The two leaders, who arrived in Vietnam just hours apart, are expected to discuss several topics, specifically North Korea’s commitment toward denuclearization.

But the Hermit Kingdom has been adamant about keeping its missiles and nuclear weapons until the U.S. lifts sanctions that have been crippling the North’s economy.

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Previous intercepted shipments that were headed to North Korea include Champagne, cheese and televisions, the Telegraph reported.

Source: Fox News World

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School suspends official for comment on Hitler's leadership

A New Jersey sports official who told student athletes Adolf Hitler was a "good leader" with "bad moral character and intentions" has been suspended.

The Nutley Board of Education took the action Monday night against high school athletic director Joe Piro, who made the remark last month while addressing Madison High School students during an assembly aimed at promoting positive leadership.

Piro has said he was trying to make a point that "a leader could have strong leadership skills that influence people in a negative way." He says he understands "Hitler was an evil man who used his skills in a horrific manner."

The Madison district's superintendent has said Piro's presentation was "unnecessarily provocative and insensitive."

Piro showed a photo of Hitler as part of a side-by-side comparison with Martin Luther King Jr.

Source: Fox News National

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Lightning star Kucherov suspended for Game 3

NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs-Columbus Blue Jackets at Tampa Bay Lightning
Apr 10, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) works out prior to game one of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Amalie Arena. Kim Klement-USA TODAY/Sports/ File Photo

April 13, 2019

Tampa Bay Lightning star forward Nikita Kucherov has been suspended for Game 3 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for boarding Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Markus Nutivaara during Game 2 Friday night.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety made the announcement Saturday afternoon.

The incident occurred at 15:34 of the third period with the Lightning down 5-1. Kucherov was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct.

The Lightning, which had the NHL’s best record (62-16-4, 128 points) in the regular season, now will have to dig themselves out of an 0-2 playoff hole without the league’s leading scorer. Kucherov tallied 128 points (41 goals, 87 assists).

Game 3 of the series will be played Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Brexit talks with Labour more constructive than people think: UK’s Hunt

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt attends a news conference on media freedom as part of the G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting in Dinard
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt attends a news conference on media freedom as part of the G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting in Dinard, France, April 5, 2019. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

April 15, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Talks between the British government and the opposition Labour Party to find consensus over a Brexit plan are more constructive than people think, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Monday.

“Talks we are having with Labour are detailed and I think more constructive than people have thought,” Hunt told BBC radio. “They are more detailed and more constructive than people had been expecting on both sides. But we don’t know if they are going to work.”

Meetings between ministers and their opposite numbers from Labour are due to continue this week, Cabinet Office minister David Lidington said on Sunday.

(Reporting by Michael Holden. Editing by Andrew MacAskill)

Source: OANN

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Canada to appeal WTO panel finding in lumber dispute with U.S.: statement

Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks during a news conference in Ottawa
FILE PHOTO: Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, December 12, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 15, 2019

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada will appeal last week’s decision by the World Trade Organization (WTO) which ruled to allow the United States to use “zeroing” to calculate anti-dumping tariffs, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement on Monday.

“We firmly believe that the U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber are unfair and unwarranted,” Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement. “That is why we are challenging these duties at the WTO and under NAFTA.”

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Trump faces new border showdown as Dems try to block order

Democrats controlling the House have teed up a vote next week to block President Donald Trump from using a national emergency declaration to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, accelerating a showdown in Congress that could divide Republicans and lead to Trump's first-ever veto.

The Democrats introduced a resolution Friday to block Trump's declaration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House would vote on the measure on Tuesday. It is sure to pass, and the GOP-run Senate may adopt it as well despite Trump's opposition.

Any Trump veto would likely be sustained, but the upcoming battle will test Republican support for Trump's move, which even some of his allies view as a stretch — and a slap at lawmakers' control over the power of the federal purse.

A staff aide introduced the measure during a short pro forma session of the House in which Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., presided over an almost empty chamber.

"What the president is attempting is an unconstitutional power grab," said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, the sponsor of the resolution, on a call with reporters. "There is no emergency at the border."

Trump's declaration of a national emergency gives him access to about $3.6 billion in funding for military construction projects to divert to border fencing. But the administration is more likely to tap funding from a federal asset forfeiture fund and Defense Department anti-drug efforts first.

Trump's edict is also being challenged in the federal courts, where a host of Democratic-led states such as California are among those that have filed suit to overturn Trump's order. The Democratic-led House may also join in.

Pelosi said that the House measure would "reassert our system of checks and balances."

For Democrats, the vote is another chance to challenge Trump over funding for a border wall, the issue that was central to the 35-day government shutdown. It also puts some Republicans from swing districts and states in a difficult spot, as many have expressed misgivings about Trump's action despite their support for his border security agenda.

Should the House and the Senate initially approve the measure, Congress seems unlikely to muster the two-thirds majorities in each chamber that would be needed later to override a certain Trump veto.

The measure to block Trump's edict will be closely watched in the Senate, where moderates such as Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., have signaled they would back it. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is only a reluctant supporter of Trump on the topic.

Trump's GOP allies promised they would uphold any veto denying Democrats the two-thirds votes required to overcome one.

"Democrats' angst over Congress' power of the purse is unwarranted, especially since the commander in chief's authority to redirect military funds for a national emergency is affirmed in a law passed by their own branch," said top House Judiciary Committee Republican Doug Collins of Georgia.

Pelosi wrote in a letter to her fellow lawmakers that the Republican president's "decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated."

"It is institutional. It is constitutional. It is not political," Pelosi said.

The battle is over an emergency declaration Trump issued to access billions of dollars beyond what Congress has authorized to start erecting border barriers. Building his proposed wall was the most visible trademark of Trump's presidential campaign.

Congress last week approved a vast spending bill providing nearly $1.4 billion to build 55 miles (89 kilometers) of border barriers in Texas' Rio Grande Valley while preventing a renewed government shutdown. That measure represented a rejection of Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to construct more than 200 miles (322 kilometers).

Besides signing the bill, Trump also declared a national emergency and used other authorities that he says give him access to an additional $6.6 billion for wall building. That money would be transferred from a federal asset forfeiture fund, Defense Department anti-drug efforts and a military construction fund. Federal officials have yet to identify which projects would be affected.

Castro, the resolution sponsor, said he has already garnered support from a majority of the Democratic-controlled House as co-sponsors and that he has at least one GOP sponsor, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan.

Castro's measure says Trump's emergency declaration "is hereby terminated." Castro chairs the 38-member Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Source: Fox News National

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Ohio fraternity pledge says he felt like he was 'going to die' after 'hazing ritual' involving spiked paddle

After a five-hour ordeal during which he was reportedly forced to drink large amounts of alcohol and was beaten with a paddle that had "spikes and grooves," a student pledging a fraternity at Miami University in Ohio says he pleaded with a member: “call 911, I feel like I’m going to die.”

Details of the alleged hazing incident at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house emerged this week as the school ordered the frat's members to move out of the building where the alleged hazing ritual was held by Monday, according to the Dayton Daily News. The fraternity was suspended last Friday and the incident is said to have happened March 16.

“I was blindfolded alongside 24 other pledges and we all waited in a room for about 1.5 hours while very scary music was playing,” the student wrote in a report filed with the university and later released through a public records request.

The student – who has not been identified -- said he was summoned to the fraternity house for a “mandatory event” that ended up turning into a “hazing ritual,” the report says.

LSU FRATERNITY MEMBERS ARRESTED FOR SHOCKING HAZING INCIDENTS

While at the house, the pledge claims he was forced to drink large amounts of alcohol and smoke marijuana before being kicked and spit on by fraternity members.

The student also said he received a “paddling leading to bruising and cuts with a paddle with spikes and grooves hitting me 15 times on the buttocks,” the Dayton Daily News reported.

At one point, the student says the pledges were taken to separate rooms to be hit “more and more with wooden paddles."

“[I] told [redacted] within 5 minutes of being there ‘call 911 I feel like I’m going to die,’” the student reportedly wrote.

He said the ordeal ended after someone did call 911 and he was removed from the home on a stretcher. The student says he then spent around 7 hours at a local hospital with a blood alcohol content level of .231 – nearly three times over the legal limit.

University President Gregory Crawford, in an email to the campus community, said “the contents of this report are brutal and deplorable, and have brought us to a tipping point on this campus,” the Miami Student newspaper reported.

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Delta Tau Delta international fraternity CEO Jack Kreeman added that “despite intentional effort to educate members through national resources and local volunteer guidance, chapter members chose to treat new members inappropriately.”

The alleged incident is still under investigation by the school.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO - A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.

The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.

Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.

But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.

Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.

In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.

Symone Sanders, a prominent Democratic strategist and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., staffer in 2016, was announced as one of the big-name members of Team Biden on Thursday.

But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.

“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.

BIDEN HIRES FORMER BERNIE SANDERS’ SPOKESPERSON AS SENIOR ADVISER

“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.

Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”

Footage of the interview was resurfaced by RealClearPolitics.

After news of her hiring broke on Thursday, Sanders backed her new boss on Twitter.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG

“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.

The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.

While Sanders himself didn’t torch Biden as he jumped into the race, it’s clear that many of his progressive supporters view the former vice president as a threat.

Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.

BIDEN VOWS THAT ‘AMERICA IS COMING BACK,’ SPARKING ‘MAGA’ COMPARISONS

Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”

Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who is facing increased calls for her immediate resignation, remains in poor health and is not “lucid” enough to decide whether to step down, her attorney told reporters late Thursday.

Steve Silverman, speaking outside one of Pugh’s residences which was raided by the FBI and IRS earlier in the day, said the embattled city leader could make a decision as early as next week.

“She is leaning toward making the best decision in the best interest in the citizens of Baltimore City,” he said, adding that Pugh has “several options” to consider.

“She just needs to be physically and mentally sound and lucid enough to make appropriate decisions.”

BALTIMORE MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH, ON LEAVE AMID BOOK PROBE, HAS HOMES AND CITY HALL OFFICE RAIDED BY FEDS

Silverman said Pugh met with a doctor at home Thursday and plans to do so again Friday, the Baltimore Sun reported.

In the latest image-tarnishing scandal for struggling Baltimore, the first-term Democratic mayor faces accusations that she used children’s book deals to cover up kickbacks for favorable treatment as a state lawmaker and city leader that earned her roughly $800,000 over several years.

BALTIMORE’S ACTING MAYOR SAYS HE ‘WOULD HATE TO SEE’ EMBATTLED MAYOR RETURN AFTER BOOK SCANDALS

As a state senator, 69-year-old Pugh sold $500,000 worth of her self-published “Healthy Holly” illustrated paperbacks to the University of Maryland Medical System, a major state employer whose board she sat on for nearly 20 years.

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

UMMS reportedly paid Pugh for 100,000 copies of her books between 2011 and 2018 with the stated intention of distributing the books to schools and day care centers. But some 50,000 copies remain unaccounted for and officials are probing if they were even printed.

Pugh also made $300,000 in bulk sales to other customers including health carriers that did business with the city of Baltimore.

BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL CALLS ON EMBATTLED MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH TO RESIGN IMMEDIATELY

The politically isolated Pugh slipped out of sight on April 1 after a hastily organized press conference where she called her no-contract book deals a “regrettable mistake.” That same day, Maryland’s governor called on the state prosecutor to investigate allegations of “self-dealing.”

Pugh took an indefinite leave of absence, citing her health deteriorating intensely after a bout with pneumonia.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide. (Loyd Fox/Baltimore Sun via AP)

On Thursday morning, agents with the FBI and IRS searched her two Baltimore homes, her City Hall offices, and a nonprofit organization she once led. The home of at least one of Pugh’s aides was also scoured.

Silverman said federal agents also served a subpoena at his law firm, retrieving Pugh’s original financial records. They did not seek any attorney-client privileged communications, he said.

Pugh’s attorney said she was “emotionally extremely distraught” following the searches by FBI and IRS agents.

“There was nothing incriminating that came out of her home,” Silverman said.

UMMS spokesman Michael Schwartzberg told reporters that the medical system received a grand jury witness subpoena seeking documents and information related to Pugh.

Other probes against Pugh include a review by the city ethics board and the Maryland Insurance Administration.

BALTIMORE MAYOR’S $500G DEAL FOR ‘HEALTHY HOLLY’ CHILDREN’S BOOKS DRAWS SCRUTINY

In recent weeks, the calls for Pugh’s resignation have intensified with the strongest voice coming from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who did not mince words after Thursday’s early morning raids.

“Now more than ever, Baltimore City needs strong and responsible leadership. Mayor Pugh has lost the public trust,” he said. “She is clearly not fit to lead. For the good of the city, Mayor Pugh must resign.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall.

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun via AP)

Many of her fellow Democrats, including those on Baltimore’s demoralized City Council and state lawmakers, are also insisting that Pugh put the citizens’ interests above any attempt to preserve her political career.

City Council member Brandon Scott called the Thursday raids “an embarrassment to the city.”

However, only a conviction can trigger a mayor’s removal from office, according to the city solicitor. Baltimore’s mayor-friendly City Charter currently provides no options for ousting its executive.

Six of Pugh’s staffers joined her on paid leave earlier this month; three of them were fired this week by the acting mayor.

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Pugh came to office in late 2016 after edging out ex-Mayor Sheila Dixon, who had spent much of her tenure fighting corruption charges before being forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal connected to the misappropriation of about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families.

She would certainly face a bruising 2020 Democratic primary if she were to return and run for reelection. Veteran City Council leader Bernard “Jack” Young, who is serving as acting mayor, said as she went on leave that he would merely be a placeholder. But this week, before the raids, he said “it could be devastating for her” if she tried to return.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.

Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.

PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.

The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.

“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.

Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.

A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.

“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”

PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.

The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.

The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.

Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)

(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.

ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”

Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.

Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.

The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.

In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.

ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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