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South Korea’s factory output contracts sharply to two-year low on slowing car production

FILE PHOTO: Workers labour on steel frames at a construction site in central Seoul
FILE PHOTO: Workers labour on steel frames at a construction site in central Seoul, South Korea, August 29, 2016. Picture taken on August 29, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

March 29, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s February industrial production contracted sharply to a two-year low and missed forecasts by a large margin, government data showed on Friday.

Industrial production dropped 2.6 percent from a month earlier, marking the biggest on-month fall since February 2017 and coming out much worse than a 0.9 percent decline tipped in a Reuters survey.

Production of cars declined 3.2 percent from a month earlier, while that for transportation equipments and food items fell 8.0 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.

On a year-on-year basis, factory output dropped 2.7 percent last month.

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

Source: OANN

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Ex-Obama Border Patrol chief supports idea of sending migrant detainees to sanctuary cities

Mark Morgan, former Border Patrol chief under President Obama, said Monday he supports an idea floated by President Donald Trump to send immigrants from the border to sanctuary cities.

“Congress has failed to do their job. Make no mistake, they could have prevented this (border crisis) and they failed to do so and then every time this current administration tries to come up with an option, they shoot it down. Well, I haven't heard any options from them,” Morgan said on “America’s Newsroom” Monday. “I've been there. The border patrol, ICE, their facilities are overwhelmed, the faith-based organizations and other non-governmental organizations are overwhelmed. They have no choice. They’re going to have to start pushing these individuals out. Shouldn't we kind of share the burden throughout the country?”

SANDERS: PLAN TO SEND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO SANCTUARY CITIES UNDER 'THOROUGH' REVIEW

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed to "Fox News Sunday" that President Trump's prospective plan to send illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities is undergoing a "complete and thorough review," days after Democrats, who have fought to protect illegal immigrants from federal authorities, characterized the possible move as a dangerous stunt.

"Nobody thinks that this is the ideal solution," Sanders said Sunday. "But until we can fix the crisis at the border, we have to look at all options. This is one of them. Whether or not it moves forward -- that’s yet to be determined.”

The Democratic Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is a critic of this option and the White House's description of what is happening at the border.

“This is again his manufactured chaos that he’s (President Trump) created over the last two years on the border,” said Thompson.

He added, “Before Donald Trump took office, we had a situation that was manageable. We had spikes, but it also went down. But what we have now is a constant pushing of the system so that it doesn't work.”

OBAMA'S BORDER CHIEF WARNS CONGRESS: IMMIGRATION CRISIS 'AT A MAGNITUDE NEVER SEEN IN MODERN TIMES'

Morgan, who served in the last six months of the Obama administration and a seemingly unlikely source of support for President Trump, said in response, “I’m here and I've broken my silence for one reason:  because it’s fact.”

He added, “What the president is saying and what they're trying to do as far as the policy goes, it’s based on reality and fact and I know that because he’s listening to the experts. Not political pundits, not talking heads, he is listening to experts. Anyone who says this a manufactured crisis is absolutely misleading the American people.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Morgan then added there are “some questions of legality” as well as “some issues with logistics” with Trump's prospective plan.

“To be intellectually honest, to pull this off would be a challenge logistically,” Morgan said. “But again, if you look at the facts right now, almost a 400 percent increase from this time last year. We're looking at over 100,000 (illegal immigrants) coming in this month, 4,000 to 5,000 a day. The inn is full all along the southwest border. So where are we going to transport and place these individuals that our loopholes allow them in? Something’s got to change.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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NZ foreign minister headed to Turkey to ‘confront’ Erdogan’s mosque shooting comments

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits Christchurch
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern attends a news conference after meeting with first responders who were at the scene of the Christchurch mosque shooting, in Christchurch, New Zealand March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Edgar Su

March 20, 2019

(Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Turkey to “confront” comments made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on the killing of 50 people at mosques in Christchurch.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers.

Erdogan – who is seeking to drum up support for his Islamist-rooted AK Party in March 31 local elections – said on Tuesday Turkey would make the suspected attacker pay if New Zealand did not.

The comments came at a campaign rally that included video footage of the shootings that the alleged gunman had broadcast on Facebook.

Ardern said Peters would seek urgent clarification.

“Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey,” Ardern told reporters in Christchurch. “He is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face.”

Erdogan has referred to the mosque shootings several times during public gatherings in recent days.

Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said comments made by Erdogan on Monday during the commemoration of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign were taken out of context, adding he was responding to the attacker’s “manifesto”, which was posted online by the attacker and later taken down.

“Turks have always been the most welcoming & gracious hosts to their Anzac visitors,” Altun said on Twitter, using the abbreviation for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

“As he was giving the speech at the Canakkale (Gallipoli) commemoration, he framed his remarks in a historical context of attacks against Turkey, past and present.”

During his speech on Monday, Erdogan described the mass shooting as part of a wider attack on Turkey and threatened to send back “in caskets” anyone who tried to take the battle to Istanbul.

Peters had earlier condemned the airing of footage of the shooting, which he said could endanger New Zealanders abroad.

Despite Peters’ intervention, an extract from Tarrant’s alleged manifesto was flashed up on a screen at Erdogan’s rally again on Tuesday, along with footage of the gunman entering one of the mosques and shooting as he approached the door.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he summoned Turkey’s ambassador for a meeting, during which he demanded Erdogan’s comments be removed from Turkey’s state broadcaster.

“I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish government before taking further action, but I can tell you that all options are on the table,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

Australia’s ambassador to Turkey would meet with members of Erdogan’s government on Wednesday, Morrison said.

Morrison said Canberra is also reconsidering its travel advice for Australians planning trips to Turkey.

Relations between Turkey, New Zealand and Australia have generally been good. Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders travel each year to Turkey for war memorial services.

Just over a century ago, thousands of soldiers from the ANZAC struggled ashore on a narrow beach at Gallipoli during an ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives.

Visitors come to the area to honor their nations’ fallen on ANZAC Day every April 25.

(Reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul; Editing by Michael Perry and Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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‘No Recollection’: What Trump Said in His Written Answers to Mueller

President Donald Trump escaped a subpoena forcing him to testify -- despite offering only written answers that the special counsel determined to be 'inadequate' -- because Robert Mueller’s office was wary of the 'substantial delay' a legal battle would cause.

Mueller’s decision to forgo a court fight to compel the president’s testimony may be one of Trump’s biggest victories during the probe and came despite the president frustrating investigators by saying more than two dozen times in his written responses that he did not recall or remember critical events during and after his presidential campaign.

'We made that decision in view of the substantial delay that such an investigative step would likely produce at a late stage in our investigation,' according to the special counsel’s report released by the Justice Department on Thursday.

'We also assessed that based on the significant body of evidence we had already obtained of the president’s actions and his public and private statements describing or explaining those actions, we had sufficient evidence to understand relevant events and to make certain assessments without the president’s testimony.'

That includes Trump saying he didn’t recall knowing about the now-famous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower when top members of his campaign met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer to discuss possible dirt on Democrat Hillary Clinton.

‘Busy Months’

'This was one of many busy months during a fast-paced campaign,' Trump explains in his written response, which was included in the redacted version of the investigation’s report released Thursday.

Trump did say his desk calendar indicates he met with Paul Manafort the morning of the meeting with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya. Attendees at the meeting, which included Manafort as well as the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner, subsequently said nothing came of the meeting.

Trump also said he could not recall knowledge of the hacking and release of emails belonging to Democratic officials before they were publicly reported, and says he does not recall anyone associated with his campaign being in contact with Wikileaks. He also says he does not remember being told that longtime adviser Roger Stone had been in contact with Wikileaks, or that anyone associated with his campaign had discussions with any entities regarding the timing or release of hacked emails. And Trump says he doesn’t remember having any discussion during the campaign about offering a pardon to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

‘In Jest’

At some points, Trump defends his actions as motivated by campaign strategy or humor. In response to a question about a speech in which Trump called on Russia to release emails Clinton sent during her tenure at the State Department, the president wrote that he was speaking 'in jest and sarcastically.'

But more frequently, Trump says simply that he doesn’t recall involvement in events. For instance, Trump says he doesn’t remember being involved in changing language in the Republican Party platform that watered down support for arming Ukraine, and he believes he learned about it from media reporting. Critics have suggested the softening of the language in the platform adopted at the Republican convention was evidence of an attempt to help Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the president had previously denied being personally involved in the effort.

Moscow Project

Trump also downplayed his involvement in developing a Trump Organization project in Moscow. Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, said he lied to Congress about work on the Russia project so that his comments would align with Trump and other campaign officials who insisted publicly he had no business in the country.

Trump says his conversations with Cohen about the Moscow project were 'not memorable' and that he was 'not enthused about the proposal.' He says he 'vaguely' remembers press inquiries about the incident and says he likely spoke with campaign staff or Trump Organization employees about how to respond but could not remember any particular conversation.

Trump also says he can’t recall being told during the campaign of efforts by Russian officials to meet with him, and he says he cannot remember Manafort telling him about particular policy positions Russia would want the U.S. to support.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Nintendo shares jump 13 percent after Tencent gains Switch sales approval in China

The Nintendo booth is shown at the E3 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO - The Nintendo booth is shown at the E3 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 13, 2017. REUTERS/ Mike Blake

April 19, 2019

By Sam Nussey

TOKYO (Reuters) – Nintendo shares jumped 13 percent in early Tokyo trade on Friday, a day after China’s Tencent won a key approval to begin selling Nintendo’s Switch console in China, the world’s largest games market.

That is the biggest percentage gain since July 2016, when enthusiasm for hit mobile game Pokemon Go sent Nintendo shares rocketing. Friday’s jump sent the stock to its highest level since October and pushed its year-to-date gain to 32 percent.

Nintendo’s U.S.-listed shares rose 12 percent overnight after the Chinese province of Guangdong approved Tencent to distribute the Switch console with a test version of the “New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe” game.

The Kyoto-based games maker has been hampered by Japanese regulations and the search for a partner in its efforts to bring its hybrid home-portable Switch console to China, holding back the development of console gaming there.

Nintendo shares sold off toward the end of last year over concerns about weakness in its Switch games pipeline. Media reports saying Nintendo will launch a low-price Switch version have helped bolster sentiment in recent weeks.

It remains unclear when the console may go on sale in China, with games needing to clear a separate approval process.

Chinese gaming industry leader Tencent is trying to recover from a lengthy video game approval freeze in China last year. It is listed in Hong Kong, where financial markets are closed on Friday for a national holiday.

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Paul Tait and Christopher Cushing)

Source: OANN

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In placeholder meeting, ECB hopes to instil confidence

FILE PHOTO: Headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) are illuminated with a giant euro sign at the start of the
FILE PHOTO: The headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) are illuminated with a giant euro sign at the start of the "Luminale, light and building" event in Frankfurt, Germany, March 12, 2016. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo

April 9, 2019

By Balazs Koranyi and Francesco Canepa

FRANKFURT Reuters) – The European Central Bank is all but certain to keep policy on hold on Wednesday, taking its time to evaluate whether its most recent stimulus cocktail is enough to arrest a rapid decline in sentiment.

With economic powerhouse Germany skirting a recession, the ECB has already been forced to backtrack on plans to tighten policy and now faces calls to do more, even though the root cause of the downturn, weak demand from abroad, is largely beyond its policy reach.

Meeting earlier than usual so they can attend the International Monetary Fund’s spring meeting in Washington DC this week, ECB policymakers are also expected to discuss whether negative rates are still doing more good than harm.

But they are likely to stick to a long-standing line that ultra-easy policy is working as intended, and that banks remain net benefactors of record low rates so there is no acute need to compensate them for the hefty fee they pay to park their excess cash at the ECB.

The latter debate, simmering since 2016, is likely to intensify on Wednesday, however, as the growth slowdown suggests the ECB’s -0.4 percent deposit rate could stay in negative territory even longer than now expected.

ECB President Mario Draghi has already said the euro zone’s central bank must consider whether it needs to mitigate the side-effects of negative rates since banks transmit the bulk of the ECB’s policy to the real economy.

One option under study is a tiered deposit rate, which would shield lenders from part of the cost, in a similar vein to moves by central banks in Switzerland and Japan.

“Although the ECB ruled out tiering in March 2016, the situation has since changed, and it could be implemented eventually if policy rates were to remain negative for even longer into 2020,” Pictet Wealth Management economist Frederic Ducrozet said.

“In the end, tiering is all about the credibility of forward guidance and the ECB signaling its ability to cut rates again in the next downturn,” Ducrozet added.

The ECB announces its rate decision at 1145 GMT, followed by Draghi’s news conference at 1230 GMT.

CHANGES AT THE TOP

But personnel changes at the ECB risk delaying the discussion about tiering or whether to push out a rate hike even further.

With ECB Chief Economist Peter Praet leaving in May and Draghi in October, policymakers are reluctant to decide on a fundamental revamp of monetary policy before new leaders take charge of the 19-country euro zone’s most powerful institution.

Draghi’s successor will not even be named until after the European elections in late May, with confirmation likely only in late summer.

A fresh survey of lending published on Tuesday, also eased the urgency for any mitigating measures, as lenders said they expected business credit to grow and lending standards to ease this quarter.

“Negative interest rates are bad for bank profits but they are also encouraging banks to make loans, which is exactly what the ECB wants to see,” JPMorgan economist Greg Fuzesi said.

The ECB also needs to keep its remaining policy powder dry in case of market turbulence around Brexit and the continued escalation of a global trade war, with risks growing that the U.S. administration will turn its attention to Europe.

Another complication with shifting to a tiered deposit rate is that it would signal low rates for longer, which is inconsistent with the bank’s guidance for a growth rebound later this year and a rate hike in 2020.

“Should the weakness persist beyond the summer, the ECB would again need to push out the rate forward guidance, maybe until mid-2020, which could create an opportunity to introduce tiering,” Societe Generale economist Anatoli Annenkov said.

(Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: OANN

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CNN: Trump Said Nuke Football Was Answer to NKorea in '17

A new report claims President Donald Trump referred to the nuclear football while saying how he would deal with North Korea in the fall of 2017.

CNN cited three people who said they were present when Trump made the remark during a trip to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico in October 2017.

"This is what I have for Kim," Trump allegedly said, pointing to the nuclear football — a large briefcase that is always close to the president and has the ability to authorize a nuclear strike.

The alleged comment came as Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were having a war of words regarding North Korea's threats to use nuclear weapons on the United States or one of its allies. Tensions have softened since last summer when Trump and Kim met, and threats of destroying each other no longer emerge from Washington, D.C. and Pyongyang.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló told CNN he was with Trump during his 2017 trip to the island and would not confirm to CNN that Trump made the aforementioned remark.

"There were other topics that were being discussed and my view is that the sole focus of that trip should have been on Puerto Rico," he said.

"He was talking about a whole host of other issues, but I would rather leave those conversations internal."

Source: NewsMax America

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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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