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NYC jogger Karina Vetrano murder case juror says he felt pressure to convict

Moments after Chanel Lewis was found guilty of murdering New York City jogger Karina Vetrano, one of the jurors who had just voted to convict Lewis said he felt pressured to deliver the verdict and had doubts about whether the man he'd just sent to prison was really Vetrano's killer.

Lewis faces life in prison after a 12-person jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting and killing Vetrano, whose body was found in a marshland near her Queens home in August 2016. The jury deliberated for five hours Monday and convicted the 22-year-old despite defense attorneys' claim that key evidence that may have proved exculpatory was withheld during the retrial.

One juror, described by the New York Post as a man in his 30s, voiced skepticism about the prosecution's case.

“He seems like such a good kid. Did he really do this?” the juror told the Post outside the courthouse Monday night following the guilty verdict.

Chanel Lewis at the defense table at Supreme Court in the Queens Borough of New York for the retrial of Karina Vetrano's murder. (AP)

Chanel Lewis at the defense table at Supreme Court in the Queens Borough of New York for the retrial of Karina Vetrano's murder. (AP)

He added: “I kept thinking, ‘How tall is Karina? How tall is Chanel?’ She looked pretty buff me to."

DEFENSE IN NYC JOGGER KARINA VETRANO MURDER CASE SAYS ANONYMOUS LETTER SHOWS EVIDENCE WITHHELD DURING RETRIAL

The juror said he felt pressure to convict Lewis, but he didn't go into detail about why he felt that way or who he felt was applying the pressure. Despite his doubts, the juror said he believes “justice was served.”

“For both sides of the family it’s an awful, awful situation,” he told the New York Post.

Video showed Vetrano’s parents, family members and friends erupting in cheers as the Queens jury read the verdict.

"Jubilation. Justice. Justice has been served," the victim's father, Phil Vetrano, told reporters while leaving court.

The retrial risked ending in a hung jury -- just like Lewis' first trial in the case in November -- after Lewis’ attorneys, the Legal Aid Society, said they received a letter with “troubling and reliable information” over the weekend about other potential suspects. The lawyers said that evidence hadn't been turned over prior to the start of the retrial. They filed motions for a hearing Monday, but were unsuccessful in the last-ditch effort.

NORTH DAKOTA QUADRUPLE HOMICIDE SUSPECT AT LARGE; TIGHT-LIPPED COPS SAY VICTIMS 'DIDN'T DO IT THEMSELVES'

The Legal Aid Society said the verdict was a “complete miscarriage of justice.”

"Our client did not receive a fair trial," the Legal Aid Society said, adding that it would appeal.

Phillip and Catherine Vetrano, parents of Karina Vetrano, arrive to court in New York.

Phillip and Catherine Vetrano, parents of Karina Vetrano, arrive to court in New York. (AP)

Lewis was arrested in February 2017 after police said his DNA, obtained through a cheek swab, proved to be a match for DNA found on Vetrano’s neck, cellphone and under the 30-year-old’s fingernails. Lewis also admitted to the crime in a taped confession.

Lewis' defense team, however, insisted the DNA evidence hadn't been gathered properly and the confession had been coerced. The lawyers said Lewis' taped account at times didn't match up with facts in the case, including inconsistencies between what Lewis said and how Vetrano was injured.

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The New York Police Department disputed the last-minute anonymous letter touted by the defense team, saying the document was "riddled with falsehoods and inaccuracies” and "the evidence clearly shows that Chanel Lewis is responsible for her death."

Lewis is expected to be sentenced April 17.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News National

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U.S. manufacturing output falls for second straight month

FILE PHOTO: Line workers spot weld parts of the frame on the flex line at Nissan Motor Co's automobile manufacturing plant in Smyrna Tennessee
FILE PHOTO: Line workers spot weld parts of the frame on the flex line at Nissan Motor Co's automobile manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, U.S., August 23, 2018. REUTERS/William DeShazer/File Photo

March 15, 2019

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. manufacturing output fell for a second straight month in February, offering further evidence of a sharp slowdown in economic growth early in the first quarter.

The Federal Reserve said on Friday manufacturing production dropped 0.4 percent last month, held down by declines in the output of motor vehicles, machinery and furniture. Data for January was revised up to show output at factories falling 0.5 percent instead of slumping 0.9 percent as previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast manufacturing output rising 0.3 percent in February. Production at factories increased 1.0 percent in February from a year ago.

Motor vehicles and parts output slipped 0.1 percent last month after tumbling 7.6 percent in January. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing output fell 0.4 percent last month.

February’s drop in manufacturing production added to soft reports ranging from retail sales to housing in suggesting the economy lost significant momentum early in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs is forecasting gross domestic product will rise at a 0.6 percent annualized rate in the first quarter. The economy grew at a 2.6 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

Manufacturing activity, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy, is losing steam as the boost to capital spending from last year’s $1.5 trillion tax cut package fades. Activity is also being crimped by a trade war between the United States and China as well as by last year’s surge in the dollar and softening global economic growth, which are hurting exports.

The drop in manufacturing output was offset by gains in utilities and mining, leading to a 0.1 percent rise in industrial production in February. Industrial output fell 0.4 percent in January.

Utilities output rebounded 3.7 percent last month as cold temperatures boosted demand for heating. Utilities output dropped 0.9 percent in the prior month. Mining output rose 0.3 percent last month, matching January’s increase.

Oil and gas well drilling increased 2.8 percent in February after two straight monthly declines.

Capacity utilization for the manufacturing sector, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, fell to 75.4 percent last month from 75.8 percent in January.

Overall capacity use for the industrial sector dipped to 78.2 percent from 78.3 percent in January. It is 1.6 percentage points below its 1972-2017 average.

Officials at the Fed tend to look at capacity use measures for signals of how much “slack” remains in the economy — how far growth has room to run before it becomes inflationary.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: OANN

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U.S. labor market tightening; inflation pressures moderate

FILE PHOTO: A worker assembles an industrial valve at Emerson Electric Co.’s factory in Marshalltown Iowa
FILE PHOTO: A worker assembles an industrial valve at Emerson Electric Co.’s factory in Marshalltown, Iowa, U.S., July 26, 2018. REUTERS/Timothy Aeppel/File Photo

April 11, 2019

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a 49-1/2-year low last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength that could temper expectations of a sharp slowdown in economic growth.

Other data on Thursday showed producer prices increased by the most in five months in March amid a surge in the cost of gasoline. But underlying producer prices remained soft, the latest indication of tame inflation pressures that strengthen the Federal Reserve’s decision to suspend further interest rate increases this year despite tight labor market conditions.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 196,000 for the week ended April 6, the lowest level since early October 1969, the Labor Department said. Claims have now declined for four straight weeks.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would rise to 211,000 in the latest week. The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 7,000 to 207,000 last week, the lowest level since early December 1969.

The labor market is the main pillar of support for the economy, which appears to have lost momentum in the first quarter as the stimulus from a $1.5 trillion tax cut package fades and a trade war between China and the United States and softening global demand hurt exports.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 196,000 jobs in March, well above the roughly 100,000 needed per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The unemployment rate is at 3.8 percent, close to the 3.7 percent Federal Reserve officials project it will be by the end of the year.

U.S. stock index futures pared gains slightly after the data while Treasury yields rose. The U.S. dollar gained against a basket of currencies.

PRODUCER PRICES RISE

In a second report on Thursday, the Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand rose 0.6 percent in March, the largest increase since last October. The PPI edged up 0.1 percent in February.

In the 12 months through March, the PPI rose 2.2 percent after advancing 1.9 percent in the 12 months through February. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI would climb 0.3 percent in March and increase 1.9 percent on a year-on-year basis.

A key gauge of underlying producer price pressures that excludes food, energy and trade services was unchanged last month after ticking up 0.1 percent in February. The so-called core PPI increased 2.0 percent in the 12 months through March. That was the smallest annual increase since August 2017 and followed a 2.3 percent rise in February.

Data on Wednesday showed consumer prices rose by the most in 14 months in March, driven by more expensive gasoline. But core inflation remained muted amid a plunge in the cost of apparel.

Slowing domestic and global growth are keeping inflation contained. Wage inflation has also been moderate despite a tight labor market.

Minutes of the Fed’s March 19-20 policy meeting published on Wednesday described inflation as “muted,” though officials expected it to rise to or near the U.S. central bank’s 2 percent target. The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, is currently at 1.8 percent.

The minutes showed some Fed officials believed the benign price pressures could be the result of low inflation expectations and also an indication that there was still slack in the labor market despite the very low unemployment rate.

Last month, wholesale energy prices jumped 5.6 percent, with gasoline prices shooting up 16.0 percent, the most since August 2009. Energy prices rose 1.8 percent in February.

Gasoline accounted for over 60 percent of the 1.0 percent rise in goods prices last month. Goods prices increased 0.4 percent in February.

Wholesale food prices rose 0.3 percent in March, reversing a 0.3 percent drop in the prior month. Core goods prices rose 0.2 percent after edging up 0.1 percent in February.

The cost of services increased 0.3 percent in March after being unchanged in the prior month.

Prices for healthcare services fell 0.2 percent last month after rising 0.3 percent in February. The cost of hospital outpatient services fell by the most since July 2014. Those healthcare costs feed into the core PCE price index.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: OANN

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Saudi Aramco to offer $16 billion in contracts to small, medium businesses: Arabiya

FILE PHOTO: Logo of Saudi Aramco is seen at the 20th Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference (MOES 2017) in Manama
FILE PHOTO: Logo of Saudi Aramco is seen at the 20th Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference (MOES 2017) in Manama, Bahrain, March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

April 6, 2019

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco will offer 140 contracts worth 60 billion riyals ($16 billion) to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the kingdom, the Al Arabiya TV website reported on Saturday.

Aramco is working with the government to boost cooperation with SMEs as it spends 170 billion riyals on different services a year, Mohammed bin Ayed al-Shamri, deputy director of procurement and supply, was quoted as saying.

(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: OANN

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Any move by Iran to close Strait of Hormuz unacceptable – senior U.S. official

Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz
Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

April 22, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Any move by Iran to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in response to the United States ending oil waivers for purchases of Iranian oil would be unjustified and unacceptable, a senior administration official said on Monday.

The official, who briefed a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity, said President Donald Trump is confident that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will fulfill their pledges to make up the difference in oil for the eight countries that had received waivers from U.S. sanctions.

The United States sees no need to consider tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the aftermath of the waivers’ ending, the official said.

U.S. officials are now looking at ways to prevent Iran from circumventing existing oil sanctions, the official added.

(Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Source: OANN

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Remains found on Blackfeet reservation appear historical

Federal agents say human remains found on the Blackfeet Indian reservation in Montana appear to be of historical origin.

Friday's announcement by FBI spokeswoman Sandra Yi Barker ends speculation that the remains could have been those of Ashley HeavyRunner Loring.

She disappeared in 2017 at age 20. Her case has become emblematic of what authorities call a silent crisis involving the deaths and disappearance of hundreds of Native American women.

Barker says the remains found Dec. 13 are believed to be those of a Native American male who was between 45 and 60.

She says results of a laboratory analysis did not list a possible cause of death.

The FBI plans to turn over the remains to the Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Office.

Source: Fox News National

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Wynn makes $7.1 billion buyout play for Australian casino giant Crown

FILE PHOTO - The logo of Australian casino giant Crown Resorts Ltd adorns the hotel and casino complex in Melbourne
FILE PHOTO - The logo of Australian casino giant Crown Resorts Ltd adorns the hotel and casino complex in Melbourne, Australia, June 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Picture

April 9, 2019

By Byron Kaye and Tom Westbrook

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian casino giant Crown Resorts said on Tuesday it had received an indicative A$10 billion ($7.1 billion) takeover offer from Las Vegas’s Wynn Resorts, sending Crown’s shares soaring as investors bet on an even higher bid.

A sale would mark an end to Crown 47-percent owner James Packer’s 12-year foray into casinos after he re-badged his father’s media empire as a gambling concern in 2007. Packer quit the Crown board last year due to mental illness.

For Wynn, the deal would give the world’s second-largest casino company a foothold in a market popular with Chinese tourists, although a recent downturn in Chinese consumer spending has constrained Crown’s revenue and share price.

“Pricewise, you’d be looking for a little bit more than this,” said James McGlew, executive director of corporate stockbroking at Perth-based Argonaut Ltd, a Crown shareholder.

“This is what appears to be the opening salvo.”

A sale along the lines proposed by Wynn would be Australia’s biggest M&A deal so far this year.

Crown shares jumped 21 percent to A$14.19, their biggest intraday gain since the company re-listed with its current name. Even so, they were still below the indicative buyout price of A$14.75 due to uncertainty about whether a deal would eventuate.

“It’s a preliminary-style bid which doesn’t yet provide an adequate premium for control, and most would expect there to be both more debate about the strategic merit and pricing,” said Angus Gluskie, managing director of White Funds Management, which also holds Crown shares.

Crown said the talks with Wynn were at a preliminary stage and no agreement on value or structure had been reached.

Wynn was proposing to buy the company half in cash, half in shares, and the current proposal had not gone to the Crown board.

A Wynn spokesman declined to comment.

A spokesman for Consolidated Press Holdings, Packer’s company which holds his Crown shares, was also not immediately available for comment.

RETREAT

The sale at the current proposed price would fetch about A$4.7 billion for Packer, who in addition to Crown quit 22 company directorships last year in a remarkable retreat for the scion of a family which had been a fixture of corporate Australia most of the 20th century.

The deal would also provide some relief for Crown shareholders, who have seen their investment go sideways since late 2016 when 18 of the company’s staff were arrested in China for breaking laws banning casino marketing.

Crown has since pulled back from its Asia expansion plans – where it had competed with Wynn in the world’s biggest gambling destination of Macau – and instead relied on high-rolling Chinese tourists at home to grow profit.

The deal would put Wynn in charge of one of Australia’s most high profile developments, a A$2.2 billion luxury casino precinct called Barangaroo on the Sydney waterfront, which Crown has pitched as its future growth engine.

Wynn has properties in the United States and Macau, but over the past year it has ramped up promotion of a resort in Japan, a market seen as the next potential goldmine to Macau and a former expansion target for Crown.

The U.S. company has seen a series of shakeups following sexual misconduct claims against former CEO Steve Wynn. The company’s largest shareholder, Elaine Wynn, who co-founded the firm with her ex-husband, is agitating for changes on the board.

(Reporting by Byron Kaye, Tom Westbrook and Paulina Duran in SYDNEY and Devika Syamnath in BENGALURU; editing by Stephen Coates)

Source: OANN

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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President Trump on Friday said “no money” was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, after reports that the U.S. received a $2 million hospital bill from Pyongyang for the late American prisoner’s care.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else. This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist[sic] hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!” Trump tweeted Friday.

NORTH KOREA GAVE US $2M HOSPITAL BILL OVER CARE OF AMERICAN OTTO WARMBIER, SOURCES SAY

The Washington Post first reported that North Korean authorities insisted the U.S. envoy sent to retrieve Warmbier, 21, who was a student of the University of Virginia, sign a pledge to pay the bill before allowing Warmbier’s comatose body to return to the United States. Sources confirmed the bill and the amount to Fox News on Thursday.

Sources told the post that the envoy signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions from the president, but a source told Fox News that the U.S. did not ever pay money to North Korea.

The White House declined to comment when asked on the bill, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying in a statement that: “We do not comment on hostage negotiations, which is why they have been so successful during this administration.”

Meanwhile, the president added: “’President[sic] Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.’ Cheif[sic] Hostage Negotiator, USA!”

Warmbier was on tour in North Korea when he allegedly stole a propaganda sign from a hotel. He was arrested in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in March 2016. Warmbier, for unknown reasons, fell into a coma while in custody and was held in that condition for an additional 17 months.

North Korean officials did not tell American officials until June 2017 that Warmbier had been unconscious the entire time. He died less than a week after he returned to the U.S. North Korean officials, though, have repeatedly denied accusations that Warmbier was tortured, instead claiming that he had suffered from botulism and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

AMERICAN PRISONERS HELD IN NORTH KOREA ON THEIR WAY HOME AFTER POMPEO VISIT, TRUMP SAYS

Fred and Cindy Warmbier sued North Korea over their son’s death and in December were awarded $501 million in damages – money that the Hermit Kingdom will probably never pay.

While the Warmbiers blamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump has said he believes Kim’s claims that he did not know about the student’s treatment.

Trump and Kim have met in two separate summits. The most recent, held in February, ended without an agreement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Fox News: “Otto Warmbier was mistreated by North Korea in so many ways, including his wrongful conviction and harsh sentence, and the fact that for 16 months they refused to tell his family or our country about his dire condition they caused.  No, the United States owes them nothing. They owe the Warmbier family everything.”

Last year, the Trump administration was also able to save three American prisoners held by North Korea. Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, and Kim Hak Song were all detained in North Korea. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the three Americans home last May, and said they were all in “good health.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Rich Edson, Nicholas Kalman, and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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