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Exclusive: Chinese EV car maker NIO restricts its IPO banks from working for rivals – sources

FILE PHOTO: Chinese electric vehicle start-up Nio Inc. company logo is on display on its initial public offering (IPO) day at the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: Chinese electric vehicle start-up Nio Inc. company logo is on display on its initial public offering (IPO) day at the NYSE in New York, U.S., September 12, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

March 29, 2019

By Julia Fioretti and Kane Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker NIO Inc has blocked the eight top investment banks that did its IPO from working for rivals by tying them up in rare year-long non-compete clauses, several people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The move highlights the fierce competition between China’s EV makers as they seek the capital needed to survive in a fast-growing market, also the world’s largest.

NIO, for its initial public offering in September, had hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS.

These were also the top eight banks worldwide for equity sales in 2018, according to Refinitiv data.

The non-compete clause prevents them from helping NIO’s rivals raise public or private funds for 12 months following the IPO, the sources said, declining to be named as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

NIO and the banks declined to comment.

The list of rivals covered by the restrictions included up to 10 names, although it may have varied between the individual agreements, the people said.

Xpeng Motors and WM Motor were on that list, three sources said. A separate source said the list included those two and Byton, among others.

NIO’s non-compete demands were particularly restrictive both in their breadth and duration, several sources said.

Typically such deals restrict banks from working with rivals until the transaction closes or for a shorter period such as six months, two of the sources said.

“Issuers sometimes don’t like it when you’re doing an IPO for the competitors on a concurrent timetable because they will worry that you might divulge information to the benefit of the other clients,” said Stephen Chan, partner at law firm Dechert LLP, speaking about general industry practices.

One banker involved in the NIO deal said his bank had lost mandates because of the non-compete clause.

Adding to the banks’ frustration, they had signed up to NIO’s demands when the IPO was expected to raise about double the $1 billion it actually brought in – meaning banks would initially have expected a much larger payout.

“It would have been interesting in hindsight seeing if it could have got the same agreement with people knowing what the actual valuation was going to be,” a senior banker who worked on the deal said.

EV CAPITAL-RAISING RUSH

NIO’s move comes at a time when many Chinese EV makers are considering IPOs or have launched private fundraisings as China cuts the subsidies it has historically offered as part of its efforts to curb pollution.

On Wednesday, China said it had raised its standards for NEVs that qualify for subsidies and reduced the amount it was willing to provide.

In January, Byton was seeking to raise at least $500 million to finance its growth, people familiar with the matter told Reuters at the time.

Earlier this month, WM Motor announced it closed its Series C funding round of 3 billion yuan ($446.16 million).

Reuters reported on Friday that Leap Motor, a smaller EV maker, was seeking a private fundraising of 2.5 billion yuan, advised by Deutsche Bank.

NIO itself did not stop with its IPO.

In January, it sold a $750 million convertible bond to plug the gap between the money it raised in its IPO and what it had expected to raise.

($1 = 6.7241 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Julia Fioretti and Kane Wu; Additional reporting by Julie Zhu; Editing by Jennifer Hughes and Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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7 sharks found in New York man’s home before his arrest on trafficking charges, officials say

A man has been arrested for allegedly keeping seven sandbar sharks in an aboveground pool in his New York home with intent to sell them online, officials said Wednesday.

Joshua Seguine, 38, of LaGrangeville, N.Y., was charged with the illegal commercialization of fish, shellfish, crustaceans and wildlife on Tuesday, according to a release from New York Attorney General Letitia James.

SHOCKING VIDEO SHOWS SHARK ‘KISSING’ DIVER

Police from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), along with biologists from the Long Island Aquarium and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Aquarium, searched Seguine’s house and found the 18-foot pool with the sharks, which were later identified as sandbar sharks.

They also discovered two dead leopard sharks, one dead hammerhead shark and the snout of an endangered smalltooth sawfish, officials said.

After the biologists assessed the sharks, the animals were moved to the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead. They were then transferred to the New York Aquarium in Coney Island.

Seguine was arraigned in the Town of LaGrange Justice Court on Tuesday. He was released that day under supervision of probation, and is set for his next court appearance on April 16.

SHARK SKIN STUDIED BY MILITARY TO MAKE FASTER, MORE AGILE AIRCRAFT

Sandbar sharks are a protected species under New York law, and any potential owners must have a special license. The cost to legally obtain a sandbar shark is about $11,500, according to officials.

“Harboring and selling protected species for one’s personal financial gain is not only illegal, it’s immoral,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said in the statement.

DEC officials were able to obtain a warrant to search Seguine’s home based on interactions he'd had with DEC law enforcement in 2017, according to the statement.

In July of that year, Seguine was allegedly found with five undersize sharks in the back of his truck, according to the felony complaint.

Authorities said he admitted he was taking the sharks to New York State where he planned to sell them. He also allegedly told officials he had more live sharks at his home.

Investigators with the DEC reportedly later learned that he was selling sharks under the name Aquatic Apex Life LLC on the website MonsterFishKeepers.com in June 2017.

Source: Fox News National

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Texas mother reported missing after not picking up son from babysitter

Authorities in Texas are asking for help after a 26-year-old mother was scheduled to pick up her son on Wednesday after work, but never showed up.

The Mesquite Police Department said Prisma Denisse Peralta Reyes was reported missing around 9:30 p.m. when she did not pick up her child at the usual time of 7:30 p.m.

“I think our main concern, especially with a mother, is that they would not pick their child up," Mesquite Police Lt. Stephen Biggs told FOX4. "That's our main concern."

TEXAS POLICE SEEK AUTHOR OF MYSTERY LETTER IN GIRL’S COLD CASE MURDER 45 YEARS AGO

Reyes's Jeep Wrangler was discovered Thursday morning in Dallas, police told FOX4.

Surveillance video released by police shows Reyes at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at an undisclosed location near where her vehicle was found. The 26-year-old can be seen standing in front of an elevator, talking on the phone.

Prisma Denisse Peralta Reyes, 26, was reported missing on Wednesday after she did not pick up her son from a babysitter. She was last seen on surveillance video released by police at an undisclosed location in Dallas.

Prisma Denisse Peralta Reyes, 26, was reported missing on Wednesday after she did not pick up her son from a babysitter. She was last seen on surveillance video released by police at an undisclosed location in Dallas. (Mesquite Police Department)

After talking on the phone, Reyes walked out of the camera's frame and hasn't been seen since.

Police told FOX4 that investigators have spoken to the person that Reyes was on the phone with and cleared them.

CHARGES TO REMAIN AGAINST TEXAS DRIVER WHO DODGED PAYING OVER $5G IN TOLLS WITH ‘LICENSE PLATE FLIPPER’: COPS

The babysitter who was watching Reyes' daughter told police she spoke with the mother around 3 or 4 p.m. and discussed her new job at a used car lot in Dallas.

“Her child is the most important thing in her life,” Maria, who declined to give her last name, told FOX4.

The babysitter said there was nothing strange about the phone conversation, only that the mother didn't show up to pick her son up at the usual time.

“I send a text message to her," she told FOX4. "She no response. That is so, so strange,” she recalled.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Reyes' stepfather, Dan Fuchs, told WFAA that Reyes, originally from Veracruz, Mexico, was a member of the Texas National Guard and recently became a U.S. citizen.

“I’m a bit distraught, my mind is going in different directions," he told WFAA. "I’m hoping she’s found safe. Not just for her sake, but for her son’s and her family.”

Authorities are asking that anyone who spots Reyes or has information about her whereabouts should contact the Mesquite Police Department at 972-285-6336.

Source: Fox News National

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How Xi Overplayed His Hand With America

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WASHINGTON -- In the rebalancing of Sino-American relations that's underway, the usual roles are reversed: China's normally deft President Xi Jinping appears to have badly overreached in seeking advantage. And President Trump, who often seems tone-deaf on foreign policy, is riding a bipartisan consensus that it's time to push back against Beijing.

The two nations will probably make a trade deal soon, patching together a working relationship that has been frayed by a year of tariffs and economic brinksmanship. Experts predict an agreement that will boost U.S. exports to China, improve market access for American firms and reduce the power of Chinese state-owned enterprises -- and offer some modest new legal protections for American companies whose commercial secrets have been plundered by Beijing for a half-century.

But as Xi jockeyed for position against America, many U.S. experts argue that he misplayed his hand. After decades of what was known as a "hide and bide" strategy of cautious cooperation, the Chinese leader moved to directly challenge American primacy in technology. This eventually triggered a sharp, bipartisan American response, which Trump has harvested.

"In an incredibly divided Washington, one of the only areas of agreement is that China policy needs to be less accommodating and more resolute toward Beijing," says Kurt Campbell, who oversaw Asia policy in the Obama administration. He credits Trump for recognizing Xi's weakness: "China is not yet ready to take on the U.S., and Trump recognizes this."

The Chinese-American confrontation is partly a spy story, but very different than the cloak-and-dagger escapades of the Cold War: China operates its espionage net partly through universities, research institutes and benign-sounding recruitment plans. Until recently, American companies often didn't realize that their pockets had been picked until it was too late.

China's over-aggressive strategy dates back to the 2008 financial crisis, which Beijing saw as "a strategic window of opportunity for China to become a global superpower," according to Greg Levesque, managing director of Pointe Bello consultants. Using internal Chinese documents, he recently explained to a congressional commission how China targeted "key core technologies" in the West.

An innovative early feature was the "Thousand Talents Plan," established by Beijing in 2008. The program sought to recruit "global experts," in particular those with Chinese ancestry, to join what the plan's website called "National Key Scientific and Technological Projects." By 2014, says the website, more than 4,180 overseas experts had been recruited.

The strategy was formalized in a 2017 speech by Xi. "Made in China 2025" is a roadmap for dominating key technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biopharmaceuticals. Xi mobilized China's nominally private companies through an approach known as "Military-Civil Fusion."

The system for recruiting overseas talent was explained by an article posted April 16, 2018, by a Communist Party organization at Wuhan University People's Hospital, describing how cadres there created an "Overseas Talent Recruitment Station" at a gathering in Dallas of Chinese-American medical researchers.

A Wuhan party official told the Dallas group that he "hoped that more overseas talent would return to the motherland and develop" high-tech projects. (The article was shared with me by a U.S. security-consulting firm.)

Bill Priestap, the FBI's former head of counterintelligence, described the "Thousand Talents Program" in congressional testimony last December as an example of "non-traditional espionage." He said the goal was "luring both Chinese overseas talent and foreign experts alike to bring their knowledge and experience to China, even if that means stealing proprietary information."

The problem for the Chinese is that this so-called "brain gain" effort was so aggressive that it backfired. The New York Times reported this week that the FBI has recommended denying visas to some Chinese academics suspected of having ties to Chinese intelligence. The Energy Department recently banned anyone involved in China's talent-recruiting programs from working in DOE laboratories.

There's blowback in the trade negotiations, too. Lorand Laskai of the Council on Foreign Relations noted last year that the Trump administration mentioned "Made in China 2025" more than 100 times in its Section 301 trade complaint against Beijing. A newly wary China has stopped referring to the Thousand Talents Plan or mentioning award recipients, according to recent reports by Bloomberg News and Nature, respectively.

The Trump administration still doesn't have a consistent, comprehensive strategy for dealing with China. Among other things, it lacks a coherent regional economic framework, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement that Trump scuttled. But now is the right time to confront China's bad behavior, before Beijing gets any stronger, and Trump has the political wind at his back.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group

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Dozens of asylum seekers returned to Mexico under Trump policy gain entry to U.S.

FILE PHOTO - Central American migrants, who are waiting for their court hearing for asylum seekers that returned to Mexico to await their legal proceedings under a new policy established by the U.S. government, queue for food in Ciudad Juarez
FILE PHOTO - Central American migrants, who are waiting for their court hearing for asylum seekers that returned to Mexico to await their legal proceedings under a new policy established by the U.S. government, queue for food at a fire station used as a temporary shelter, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, April 7, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

April 11, 2019

By Jose Gallego Espina and Lizbeth Diaz

SAN DIEGO/TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) – At least 60 Central American asylum seekers who were waiting in Mexico for their cases to be heard have been allowed to stay in the United States since Monday’s court ruling to halt a Trump administration policy of sending them back across the border.

The admissions occurred even though the U.S. District Court ruling does not come into effect until Friday, and despite the fact the ruling does not clearly apply to the hundreds of people returned to Mexico.

The number and outcomes of the cases were confirmed by a migrant attorney and a Reuters reporter who have attended court proceedings in San Diego this week.

The administration has indicated it will appeal the ruling, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether there has been a policy change.

But the stance of the DHS in the cases in a San Diego court shows the U.S. government is already allowing some migrants coming in from Mexico to stay in the United States as their individual cases come up.

A source at Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said on Thursday that around 1,400 people have been returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols policy (MPP) since January, most of them to the border town of Tijuana, where many said they feared dangerous conditions.

The policy was stepped up in the days before the ruling, Mexican government statistics show.

No-one appears to have been sent back under the policy since Tuesday, the day after the ruling, said the Mexican immigration source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The court ruling clearly applied to the 11 plaintiffs in the civil liberties lawsuit as well as future asylum applicants, but the status of those already in Mexico was left unclear.

Not one of 20 asylum seekers who crossed the border from Tijuana on Wednesday for court hearings in San Diego was returned to Mexico, however. At one hearing, a Guatemalan man asked specifically whether he would have to go back to Tijuana.

“Definitely, he will not be returned to Mexico,” said Pamela Ataii, the DHS lawyer.

Another migrant told Judge Scott Simpson that he was scared to go back, to which Simpson responded: “You are lucky, because I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Luis Gonzalez, supervising immigration attorney with the Jewish Family Service of San Diego, who attended court on Tuesday, said he knew of 13 people who had hearings that day who had been released and one who was detained in the United States.

“Our understanding so far is that families under the MPP program are now being released into the United States after coming to court,” Gonzalez said.

El Salvadoran Gabriela Orellana, 26, and her two children were among those allowed to pursue their cases in the United States.

“I am here, thank God, in a shelter in San Diego,” she said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

President Donald Trump’s administration has argued that asylum seekers who are released into U.S. territory often do not show up at their hearings, a contention at odds with federal statistics which show that the majority do appear.

Carmen Rivera, who said she was fleeing gangs in El Salvador, had given up hope of receiving U.S. asylum after she was sent back to Mexico. She told Reuters she decided weeks ago not to attend her court hearing in San Diego.

After the ruling this week, however, she changed her mind.

“I´m excited to know that we have this opportunity, because to return to Mexico, to Tijuana, is very dangerous,” she said from a shelter close to the border fence in Mexico, where many migrants were camped out in tents.

“Thank God, things changed.”

(Additional reporting by Andrew Hay, writing by Kristina Cooke; Editing by Julie Marquis and Sonya Hepinstall)

Source: OANN

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EU leaders to coordinate positions on Thursday ahead of China summit

An attendant walks past EU and China flags ahead of the EU-China High-level Economic Dialogue in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: An attendant walks past EU and China flags ahead of the EU-China High-level Economic Dialogue at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China June 25, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee

March 20, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders will coordinate their positions on Thursday evening on a number of issues they intend to raise with China at an April 9 summit, including tight cooperation on WTO reform and cyber-security concerns, a senior EU official said.

While there will be no written conclusions of the discussion, the leaders of the 28-nation bloc will also discuss how Europe should position itself in the trade conflict between the United States and China, the official said.

“We are ready to offer China very comprehensive cooperation in many areas,” the official, who is involved in the preparation of the EU leaders’ meeting, said.

He said EU leaders were ready to conclude in 2020 an “ambitious” EU-China investment agreement and that leaders of EU institutions would directly engage in the talks, to speed up the process which has so far been slow.

By mid-year, the EU would like to agree with China on a list of access barriers to priority markets so they can be eliminated and ensure that companies on both sides are not discriminated against.

The official said the EU was also ready to conclude as soon as possible an EU-China agreement on the protection of geographical indications and to work closely with Beijing to deeply reform the World Trade Organisation.

He said the reforms should include new rules on industrial subsidies, on eliminating forced technological transfers and getting to work the WTO appellate body, now paralyzed by the lack of appointed judges.

“We also want to work with China within the G20 framework to tackle the problem of over-capacity in the steel and aluminum sectors and also to prevent the problem of over-capacity in other sectors like in high tech,” the official said.

“We also want to work with China on new, transparent rules for export credit. We are ready to promote, together with China, connectivity between Europe and Asia, but in a way that ensures fiscal, financial and environmental sustainability,” he said.

The EU will also want to discuss with China its concerns linked to cyber security, including cyber theft of intellectual property, the official said.

“I think this discussion will also give a chance for a collective reflection on how the EU should position itself vis-a-vis China and the U.S.,” he added.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

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Islamic State group claims Kabul attack on Shiite shrine

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a string of bombings near a Shiite shrine and cemetery in the Afghan capital the day before that killed six people and wounded 20.

The Sunni militant group, which has repeatedly targeted Afghanistan's minority Shiites, said in a statement posted on an IS-affiliated website early on Friday that it was behind the attack.

The bombings in western Kabul came as people were gathering at the cemetery on Thursday to mark Nowruz, the Persian Iranian New Year. The police's initial investigation indicated that three explosive devices had been remotely detonated, setting off the explosions.

The IS statement said the attack's "aim was to spoil the ritual of the polytheists." The Sunni militant group considers Shiites as apostates deserving of death.

Source: Fox News World

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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)

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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)

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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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