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Male accused of Giving STD to 12 And 14 Year Old

This is officially a crisis KATC reports, Travis Jermaine Robinson, 34, is charged with three counts of second-degree rape and a sexual battery charge. The St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Juvenile detectives started their investigation on April 30, 2018, after a 12-year-old girl reported that Robinson had sexual intercourse with her. The girl told St. Landry Parish […]

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The Latest: Maduro announces 30-day rationing plan for power

The Latest on Venezuela's crisis (all times local):

9:35 p.m.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced a 30-day plan to ration electricity as nationwide power cuts continue to inflict misery on millions of people.

Maduro said Sunday on national television that the plan will help deal with the outages that have also cut off water supply and communications for days at a time.

Maduro is also warning against any unrest in reaction to the blackouts, although there were already scattered protests earlier Sunday following a call by opposition leader Juan Guaido to demonstrate against the government's failure to provide basic services.

Guaido says years of government neglect and corruption has left the electrical grid in shambles after years of mismanagement. Maduro alleges U.S.-led sabotage is the cause of the power cuts, although he has not provided clear evidence.

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8:30 p.m.

Another day, another blackout.

Power went out across Venezuela on Sunday, just as it did on Saturday, and the day before that.

But while some electricity had returned by Sunday afternoon, jittery Venezuelans weren't so much celebrating the lights coming on as wondering when the next outages would flick them off.

"No one can put up with this. We spend almost all day without electricity," said Karina Camacho, a 56-year-old housewife who was about to buy a chicken when electronic payment machines stopped working. "There's been no water since (last) Monday, you can't call by phone, we can't pay with cards or even eat."

As the latest blackout unfolded, many took to balconies and building windows to bang pots in protest and shout curses at President Nicolas Maduro, who they consider responsible for the power failures.

Others responded to a call by opposition leader Juan Guaido to demonstrate against the government, blocking roads and burning rubbish until "colectivos," or frequently armed government supporters, appeared to arrive on motorbikes. Some of the protests occurred near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, in a direct challenge to Maduro.

The ongoing blackouts now mark another point of tension in a country paralyzed by political and economic turmoil, compounding a humanitarian crisis and deepening a prolonged standoff between two political parties vying for power.

Source: Fox News World

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Fire, ice and puberty: how ‘Thrones’ characters have grown

Living in Westeros can really change a person. Those who survived the first seven seasons of "Game of Thrones" have seen their parents, children and even pets stabbed, disemboweled and beheaded. They've been burned and frozen. They've lost essential body parts. Some have been through death and back, others suffered the horrors of puberty. Occasionally, they've been allowed some triumph. Here's a look at the twisted journeys of some of the characters who've managed to make it from 2011's season one to Sunday's premiere of season eight of the HBO series.

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ARYA STARK

From little princess to ruthless assassin, few have had a more transforming trip through the seven seasons of "Game of Thrones" than Arya. Played by Maisie Williams, Arya was a girl of about 11 forced to do needlepoint and other acceptably girlish things while dreaming of swords, war and adventure. Be careful what you wish for in Westeros. She saw her father beheaded in season one, had her brother and mother slaughtered at the Red Wedding in season three and was kidnapped and led through endless, grueling wandering. All of it left her hardened and hungry for vengeance, with a kill list of names she recites like a prayer before bedtime. In season five she went through dignity-draining assassin training that required her to take beatings, go blind for months and beg in the streets for subsistence. Eventually, she began living her dream of offing her family's enemies — baking two of them in a pie — and is getting such a taste for blood that as season eight starts it's hard to know whether she'll ever stop.

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SANSA STARK

While Arya embraced death and struggle, her big sister Sansa — played by Sophie Turner, who has become a star in the "X-Men" film franchise — only wanted the life of tea and tiaras she had as a young teen when the show began. Her initial innocence and optimism and subsequent persistence through humiliations and violations have made her the show's great emotional survivor. She was delighted to be betrothed to the king's son Prince Joffrey in season one, only to learn he was a vile monster. Her beloved pet dire wolf Lady was executed. She was forced into marriages with Tyrion Lannister then Ramsay Bolton, the most sadistic soul on a show full of them. Ramsay raped her on her wedding night in a season five scene that was too much even for many devoted viewers. As season eight begins she's finally in a position of power, in charge of her reclaimed family home of Winterfell. She has matured darker but still with her moral sense intact, and unlike many of the show's characters, has actually gained wisdom through her struggle.

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JON SNOW

"You know nothing, Jon Snow," was a frequent refrain that became a social media meme early in the series. It's spoken by the Wildling woman Ygritte, who takes Jon's virginity and leaves him with some worldly wisdom. (Kit Harington, who plays Snow, and Rose Leslie, who plays Ygritte, later married in real life.) Jon Snow knows a lot more now, and is about to learn a world-shaking truth about his origins as season eight begins. A bastard brought into the noble northern Stark family and raised by a regal woman who refused to love him, he was sent to serve at the great wall that guards the north, along with delinquents and other throwaway children. He would quickly rise to become their commander, and reached out to rival clans to fight the plague of the White Walkers, a growing horde of icy undead. Killed in a mutiny at the end of season five, he was later brought back to life by a priestess. The lords of the region join to declare him the King in the North, but he leaves to seek allies in the growing White Walker war. He found such a partner, and lover, and more in Daenerys Targaryen, who brings her dragons and armies to the fight.

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DAENERYS TARGARYEN

Viewers can tell how far Daenerys has come by the sheer number of names and titles she's amassed: Daenerys Stormborn, Khaleesi, Mhysa, Mother of Dragons, The Unburnt, The Queen Across the Sea, The Princess That Was Promised, and just plain Dany to friends and fans. When the show began she was treated as a piece of currency, a princess-in-exile married off to a barbarian by her calculating brother. Now she is either worshipped, feared or revered by nearly every soul in her world. She brought dragons back from extinction, conquered kingdoms, freed thousands of slaves, and is on the verge of restoring her family's dynasty over the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, but first must fight alongside Jon Snow, and explore their possibly shared destiny. Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys, has had some real-life baptisms-by-fire since the show began, suffering two aneurysms and undergoing two brain surgeries.

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BRAN STARK

Bran began the show as a boy barely big enough to use a bow and arrow and is now a seer known as the Three-eyed Crow, who contains the wisdom of millennia, and a secret about Jon Snow that will redefine his family and possibly all of Westeros. His appearance underwent a change nearly as dramatic. Actor Isaac Hempstead Wright, now 19, was 11 when he shot the first season, and had a pubescent growth spurt that rendered him virtually unrecognizable within a few seasons.

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JAIME LANNISTER

Leave it to "Game of Thrones," to take an incestuous, amoral, love-to-loathe-him villain and try to make him genuinely sympathetic. He begins as a legendary fighter known as the "Kingslayer," royal guard of his twin sister Queen Cersei and the secret father of her three children. During a stint as a prisoner he has his right hand cut off, and becomes a warrior unable to use a sword. His humanity, and even hints of kindness, have slowly emerged in the years since, and as season eight begins he has defied his sister to join their enemy Jon Snow in the fight against the White Walkers.

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CERSEI LANNISTER

Cersei was queen when season one began, and is queen as season eight begins. She's barely left the castle in King's Landing during the show's run, but for a naked walk of shame through the streets that became one of the show's most memorable — and most memed — moments. Most of her trials have been internal. All three of her children have died. Her famous long-blond locks are now gone in favor of a cropped cut that evokes maturity. She has refused to change her view of the world however, staying steadfast in the ruthlessness that for most of the series has kept the throne in her control. As season eight starts she's refused to commit her troops to the fight in the north, hoping all her potential rivals will destroy themselves while she waits it out.

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TYRION LANNISTER

Tyrion Lannister, played by Peter Dinklage, has in many ways been the face of the show since Sean Bean's Ned Stark lost his face — along with the rest of head, in season one. At first he was a wisecracking alcoholic who spent most of his time in brothels. Now, he's a wisecracking alcoholic who advises Daenerys Targaryen, would-be queen of the realm. Through constant humiliations and rejections, Tyrion remained loyal to a family that despised him until he couldn't bear it anymore, killing his father, fleeing into exile and finding new life with Daenerys, the biggest threat to the clan he's renounced.

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THEON GREYJOY

The show's other wisecracking prostitute-frequenting rogue when the show began, he has been brutally humiliated and humbled since. After a murderous failed attempt to conquer Winterfell, where he was raised among the Starks, Theon is held prisoner by Ramsay Bolton, who cuts off his private parts, peels off his fingernails, knocks out his teeth and dubs him "Reek," turning him into a sad shadow of a human. He's slowly regained himself in recent seasons and is a survivor who has regained his will to fight.

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SAMWELL TARLY

Sam was a soft, sad, overweight reject from a family of warriors in season one, and he remains all of those things as season eight begins. Sent to the wall to be forged into a real medieval man, he instead finds his calling through his pure heart and studious mind, becoming an essential adviser who helped Jon Snow's rise and has found ancient knowledge to fend off the White Walkers.

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton .

Source: Fox News National

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Fears over U.S. ties limit Turkish lira gains after Fed decision

Turkish lira banknotes are seen in this picture illustration in Istanbul
Turkish lira banknotes are seen in this picture illustration in Istanbul, Turkey August 14, 2018. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/Illustration

March 21, 2019

ANKARA (Reuters) – Fears over renewed tensions with the United States reversed some of the Turkish lira’s overnight gains in early trade on Thursday following a dovish Fed decision that had boosted emerging market currencies late on Wednesday.

The United States could soon freeze preparations for delivering F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, officials told Reuters, in what would be the strongest signal yet by Washington that Ankara cannot have both the advanced aircraft and Russia’s S-400 air defences system.

The lira firmed to 5.4160 against the dollar in the wake of the Fed decision but eased back to 5.4415 after Reuters report, analysts said.

Amid a slowing economy the Fed now sees only one rate hike next year, and announced a plan to end its balance sheet reduction program by September.

“It’s a very positive decision for emerging market currencies including the lira, and we were able to observe its impact on the market, with lira gaining around 1 percent against the dollar,” an Istanbul-based forex trader said.

“However, the report that ties with the U.S. are seen entering a difficult period was the only factor that limited this rise.”

The United States is nearing an inflection point in a years-long standoff with Turkey, a NATO ally, after so far failing to sway President Tayyip Erdogan that buying the S-400 Russian air defense system would compromise the security of any F-35 aircraft delivered to Turkey.

While no decision has been made yet, U.S. officials confirmed that Washington was considering halting steps now underway to ready Turkey to receive the F-35, which is built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

(Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Dominic Evans)

Source: OANN

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Swedish teen climate activist joins London protest as arrests top 830

Extinction Rebellion protest in London
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg speaks during the Extinction Rebellion protest at Marble Arch in London, Britain April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

April 21, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Swedish teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Sunday urged hundreds of climate-change protesters in London to never give up their campaign to save the planet as police arrests over disruptions to the city’s landmarks rose above 830.

Climate group Extinction Rebellion has targeted sites such as Oxford Circus and Waterloo Bridge in a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience with the aim of stopping what it calls a global climate crisis.

Police said the number of arrests in connection with the protests rose to 831 on Sunday, and 40 people had been charged with offences such as obstructing a highway and obstructing the police.

Thunberg, a 16-year-old student, spoke to hundreds of activists at Marble Arch, one of a number of London landmarks that have been brought to a standstill over seven days of direct action. Police were allowing the protest to continue at the site.

“We are the ones making a difference – we the people in Extinction Rebellion and the children’s School Strike for the Climate – we are the ones making a difference,” she told cheering crowds.

“And we will never stop fighting, we will never stop fighting for this planet, for ourselves, our futures and for the futures of our children and grandchildren.”

Thunberg inspired a movement of children against global warming when she took a stand in front of Stockholm’s Parliament House last August with her “school strike for climate” sign.

Thousands of students around the world have since copied her, and the schoolgirl took her campaign to European leaders in Strasbourg on Tuesday and to the Vatican, where she met Pope Francis, on Wednesday. [nL5N21Y566] [nL5N21Z31L]

London police said they had moved protesters from roads around Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and Parliament Square, and they were working to re-open Waterloo Bridge.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said on Saturday that the protests had caused “miserable disruption”. She said there were now 1,500 police officers, up from 1,000 previously, working to clear the roads. [nL5N2220GH]

(Reporting by Hannah McKay, Writing by Paul Sandle; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Source: OANN

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Final Four: Izzo set for 8th, Texas Tech, Auburn debut

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-East Regional-Michigan State vs Duke
Mar 31, 2019; Washington, DC, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo celebrates by cutting the nets after beating the Duke Blue Devils in the championship game of the east regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

April 1, 2019

Virginia is the lone No. 1 seed remaining in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, and Auburn is the long shot, coming out of the Midwest Region as a No. 5 seed.

Tom Izzo is back for the eighth time with Michigan State, and Chris Beard guided Texas Tech into the national semifinals for the first time ever.

The teams converge on Minneapolis on Thursday, two days before games begin Saturday night at US Bank Stadium.

“I think it’s a great city,” Izzo said Monday. “The facility is off the charts. This is going to be a tremendous setting. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Beard spent plenty of time on the horn on Monday, talking to anyone he felt could help his team get an edge, from Dick Vitale to common opponents. He also decided to reach out to Izzo to make sure their first conversation wasn’t an informal intro in the hallway this week.

“Coach Izzo is one of my idols,” Beard said. “He’s someone I look up to. He’s been great to coaches. We have terminology in our program — Tom Izzo rebounding — so it’s a little bit surreal. I did have a chance to talk to him one time, at Peach Jam when recruiting started, and he was really nice to me.

“I reached out to him this morning just to congratulate him on another Final Four.”

PREP FOR LANDING

The road to the program’s first ever Final Four was unexpected for Auburn.

The Tigers ousted North Carolina in the regional semifinal, sandwiched by wins over Kansas and Kentucky. In the win over the Tar Heels, most valuable player Chuma Okeke was lost to a season-ending knee injury.

“We said this is all for Chuma,” Auburn junior Jared Harper said. “Going to the Final Four and trying to compete for a national championship is all for Chuma. He put so much on the line for us this year.”

Tigers coach Bruce Pearl knows Virginia’s Tony Bennett well. When he was head coach at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Pearl said he first bought a Dick Bennett defense video focused on not allowing ball reversals — well before he established the pack-line defense.

“He taught me a lot about how we try to guard even to this day,” Pearl said.

To that end, Tony Bennett said he has chastised his father for being “an open book,” but noted Dick Bennett has openly influenced a lot of people in the game.

Virginia is in the Final Four for the third time, the first since 1984. Tony Bennett said he will reach out to his father, plus former Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan and others to be as prepared as possible.

“It still always comes down to preparing well with the right kind of focus and enjoying it,” Bennett said. “That’s the advice I’ve always gotten from those people and I think would be common sense in these situations.”

EXPERIENCE: COMMON WINNING INGREDIENT

In the era of one-and-done, Pearl is in Minneapolis with a backcourt featuring senior Bryce Brown, who Pearl recalled was ranked in the 300s on most recruiting services. Brown agreed to wait for a scholarship to open — Pearl offered it to Jacob Evans, who went to Cincinnati — and his patience eventually paid off. Another small guard, Harper, was not offered scholarships by bigger schools.

“The biggest impact as far as our roster is concerned, before Chuma went down we were playing 10 guys double-digit minutes,” Pearl said. “When Chuma went down — he was and still is our most valuable player — we went down to nine. I’ve always played 10 guys double-digit guys. … If Bryce Brown and Jared Harper don’t step up and have two great games, we don’t have a chance to get by a really good Kentucky team. Their experience.

“Last year, when we got down to seven scholarship players, we got destroyed by Clemson in the second round. … From that moment forward, our motive was unfinished business. The reason the freshmen and a lot of these teams (don’t make) the Final Four is they don’t have the experience of having not gotten there.”

Izzo agreed Monday with that sentiment. He also said he’s rooting for Bennett because of their history together. Izzo worked at camps run by Dick Bennett, and has known Tony for decades. Izzo said he became an even bigger fan of Tony Bennett last season when the Cavaliers were the first team ever to lose to a No. 16 seed as a No. 1.

“It teaches you that it’s not just about being really good,” Izzo said. “I kind of have that feeling. We were really good in, I don’t know, ’13 or ’14 with that team and didn’t make it. We were really good in ’16 and didn’t make it. We were really good in ’18 and didn’t make it. So I kind of have that feeling, and yet when you go a four-year stretch, you thought you would in ’16. You thought you might in ’18, and you didn’t even get close. You’ve got to be good and you’ve got to be lucky. With that being said, I know one thing, I look at it now as ‘who knows if you’ll ever get back.'”

Beard and Texas Tech lost to Villanova in the Elite Eight last year and said the plan as a coach is to “stay old,” referencing the fact that his lineup led by four seniors was very much by design.

He also credited the Big 12 schedule for prepping the Red Raiders for this moment.

“The coaching is great in this league. Everybody has NBA players,” Beard said. “For sure, no doubt about it, I’ve always grown up studying this stuff and a student of the game. You always hear about the grind helping you. And it does. … As good as Michigan State is, we’ve played Kansas, Kansas State, we played Duke in the nonconference.”

NEXT STEP PREP

Izzo said he shared with Beard earlier Monday one piece of advice: Get your tickets set today.

“I’m going to hope experience helps me on the (peripheral) things,” Izzo said, noting his seven previous trips to the Final Four. “The experience helps. We’re going to have a big meeting on hotels and tickets … that’s pressure that builds on these kids as the week goes.”

The celebratory lather from advancing to the Final Four by beating Kentucky will soon rinse clean, but Pearl didn’t want to put players on the spot so soon after that overtime victory.

“We just had a little time this morning to begin to look at Virginia,” Pearl said, noting his team’s reliance on the 3-point shot (14 made per game this season). “They allow just 29 percent shooting from 3. They’ve got big guards, they’re able to extend enough defensively to challenge shots.”

Bennett said he was into film watching Monday and getting a feel for the Tigers.

“Seeing the years he’s had at Auburn, you understand their quickness, how scrappy they are,” Bennett said. “Because of their depth, they can really absorb different types of things — foul trouble — they have a different range of guys.”

WEEKEND FORECAST

Temperatures are expected to be in the 60s this weekend outdoors, but coaches are spending the early part of the week unpacking as much game film as possible of their on-court opponents.

Pearl noted Virginia is second nationally in offensive efficiency, and the Cavaliers average fewer than 10 turnovers per game.

Pearl’s team thrives on causing havoc, and turnovers, with pressure defense and had plenty of praise for Bennett’s bunch on Monday.

“They’ve got some great balance. They have a number of guys that can and will shoot the 3-ball at great percentages,” Pearl said. “They do a really good job of getting to the free throw line, they value possessions. We are a defense, or a team, that relies on being able to turn our opponents over to get some offense out of our defense.”

Pearl said the team will attempt to maintain a routine this week while admitting Auburn knows the schedule at the Final Four is a major grind, as has been the case since the team arrived in Utah for the first round. After winning in the opening round, Pearl described his team and staff as “tired.”

Pearl gave the team a day off Monday and won’t bring up Virginia until Tuesday.

“We don’t play until Saturday,” Pearl said. “If I tried to give them anything on Virginia today, it’d be lost by Saturday.”

Bennett said his team is working quickly to reset for Minneapolis.

“It is the same formula — try to balance both, get your rest and prepare well,” Bennett said. “When you have a thankful heart with things and a strong desire to do well — they’re passionately wanting to do well in this setting.”

Beard said he goes to the Final Four every year, but this year gets to coach in it. Among those he’s leaning on this week are his own assistants, including Sean Sutton, and his Big 12 peers.

“The Big 12 family. I’ve gotten a text from probably every coach in the league. I’ve had a chance to talk to coach (Bill) Self and coach (Bruce) Weber,” Beard said. “Just trying to give my guys all the information they need.”

–By Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Hedge fund Third Point praises Nestle chief in letter to investors

FILE PHOTO: Nestle Chief Executive Mark Schneider attends the opening of the 151st Annual General Meeting of Nestle in Lausanne
FILE PHOTO: Nestle Chief Executive Mark Schneider attends the opening of the 151st Annual General Meeting of Nestle in Lausanne, Switzerland April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Pierre Albouy/File Photo

February 21, 2019

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) – Pushing companies to perform better has earned Third Point a 300 percent return in the last eight years, the hedge fund told investors in a letter on Thursday, praising management at some of its targets for taking the right steps.

The $14 billion firm, run by Daniel Loeb, lost 11.3 percent in 2018 but said corporate activism, including campaigns it waged at Campbell Soup and Nestle SA last year, will remain a priority in the future.

Shorting, or betting that stocks will drop, as well as opportunistic credit investments and identifying mispriced intrinsic value securities, are other areas where Third Point can compete in a world increasingly dominated by computer driven trading and passive investments like index funds.

Loeb pressed management and boards at several companies over the last year and on Thursday he gave a shout-out to Mark Schneider, CEO of food company Nestle SA, as well as Mark Clouse, the newly appointed CEO of Campbell Soup, who was recruited to the position with Third Point’s help.

Eight months after publicly pressuring Nestle for more sales and restructuring, Loeb praised Nestle and Schneider for announcing plans to explore alternatives for its Herta charcuterie business and announcing a strategic review of its skin health business.

“We believe Nestlé can sustain this new momentum beyond 2020, as the company continues to sharpen its strategy, better align its portfolio around key categories, and improve its

organization to become more agile,” the letter, seen by Reuters, said. Loeb added “We remain confident in Mr. Schneider’s leadership.”

This is the first time Loeb has spoken extensively about Nestle since admonishing the company in July saying “This is a call for urgency — rather than incrementalism.”

The letter also said that Third Point had called on management at United Technologies, where it remains a large owner, to consider a “value-creating transaction” for Carrier, and said “management are receptive to these suggestions.”

Third Point, like many other activist investors, lost money last year, ending the year with a 11.3 percent loss. It was only the second double digit decline in its 24 year history, the letter said. The fund said it has made money this year and is well positioned to benefit when volatility picks up and markets sell off anew.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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Alex Jones – Info Wars

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FILE PHOTO: Naqvi Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the WEF in Davos
FILE PHOTO: Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Arnold

LONDON (Reuters) – A London court case to extradite Arif Naqvi, founder of collapsed private equity firm Abraaj Group, to the United States on fraud charges was adjourned until May 24, a court official said on Friday.

Naqvi was remanded in custody until that date, the official said. A former managing partner of Dubai-based Abraaj, Sev Vettivetpillai, was released on conditional bail to appear again at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 12, the official said.

Under the U.S. charges, both men are accused of defrauding U.S. investors by inflating positions held by Abraaj in order to attract greater funds from them, causing them financial loss, the official said.

Vettivetpillai could not be reached for a comment.

Naqvi, in a statement released through a PR firm, has pleaded innocent.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from U.S.-based charitable organizations and other U.S. investors.

Naqvi and Vettivetpillai were arrested in Britain earlier this month. Another executive, Mustafa Abdel-Wadood was arrested at a New York hotel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on April 11.

Abdel-Wadood appeared at the Manhattan hearing and pleaded not guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Former Vice President Joe Biden announces his 2020 candidacy
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in this still image taken from a video released April 25, 2019. BIDEN CAMPAIGN HANDOUT via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in his first interview as a Democratic presidential candidate, said on Friday that he does not believe he treated law professor Anita Hill badly during the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Biden had joined the burgeoning 2020 Democratic field a day earlier.

Biden’s conduct during those hearings, when he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, became a renewed subject of controversy after the New York Times reported that Biden had called Hill earlier this month in the run-up to his presidential bid and that Hill was dissatisfied with Biden’s expression of regret.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View,” Biden largely defended his actions as a senator almost 30 years ago, saying he believed Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment levied at Thomas and tried to derail his confirmation.

Activists have long been unhappy that Hill was questioned in graphic detail by the all-white, all-male committee chaired by Biden.

“I’m sorry she was treated the way she was treated,” Biden said, but later, he asserted, “I don’t think I treated her badly. … How do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions?”

“There were a lot of mistakes made across the board and for those I apologize,” he said.

Biden praised Hill as “remarkable” and said she is “one of the reasons we have the #MeToo movement.”

Asked why he had not reached out to Hill earlier, Biden said he had previously publicly stated he had regrets about her treatment and that he “didn’t want to quote invade her space.”

That seemed to be a reference to another controversy that looms over Biden’s presidential run: allegations by several women that he made them uncomfortable by touching them at political events.

Biden also addressed that criticism, saying he was now more “cognizant” about a woman’s “private space.” But he maintained that he had been “trying to bring solace.”

He suggested he was still trying to sort out the guidelines for his conduct going forward.

“I should be able to read better,” he said. “I have to be more careful.”

Pressed by the show’s panel for an apology to his accusers, Biden would not entirely capitulate.

“So, I invaded your space,” he replied. “I mean, I’m sorry this happened. But I’m not sorry in a sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.”

Biden, 76, served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president for two terms. He is competing with 19 others for the Democratic presidential nomination and the chance to likely face President Donald Trump next year in the general election.

His first public event as a presidential candidate is scheduled for Monday in Pittsburgh.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei, Taiwan August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s stock slumped over 4% on Friday to its lowest price in two years, rounding out a rough week that included worse-than-expected quarterly results and a pitch by Chief Executive Elon Musk on autonomous cars that failed to win over investors.

With investors betting Tesla will soon raise capital, the stock has fallen 13% for the week to its lowest level since January 2017, before the launch of the Model 3 sedan aimed at making the electric car maker profitable.

One positive development for Tesla: a U.S. District Court judge on Friday granted a request by Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission for a second extension to resolve a dispute over Musk’s use of Twitter.

On Wednesday, Tesla posted a worse-than-expected loss of $702 million for the March quarter. Musk said Tesla would return to profit in the third quarter and that there was “some merit” to raising capital.

Musk is still battling to convince investors that demand for the Model 3, the company’s first car aimed at the mass consumer market, is “insanely” high, and that it can be delivered efficiently to customers around the world.

Tesla ended its first quarter with $2.2 billion, down from $3.7 billion in the prior quarter, and the company is planning expansions including a Shanghai factory, an upcoming Model Y SUV, and other projects.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s cash – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DyJjX6)

On Monday, Musk hosted a self-driving event, where he predicted Tesla would have over a million autonomous vehicles by next year. Some analysts perceived the presentation as a way to deflect attention from questions about demand, margin pressure, increasing competition and even Musk’s ongoing battle with U.S. regulators.

Tesla’s stock has now fallen 29 percent in 2019 and the company’s market capitalization has declined to $41 billion from $63 billion in mid-December.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s declining market cap – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dwd62r)

Analysts now expect Tesla’s revenue to expand 19% in 2019, compared with 83% growth in 2018 and 68% growth in 2017, according to Refinitiv.

Following Tesla’s quarterly report, 12 analysts recommend selling the stock, while 11 recommend buying and eight are neutral. The median analyst price target is $275, up 16% from the stock’s current price of $236. Berenberg analyst Alexander Haissl has the most optimistic price target, at $500, while Cowen and Company’s Jeffrey Osborne has the lowest, at $160, according to Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s rare public criticism of the Obama administration was a “soft” way of accusing the previous administration of covering up Russia’s attempts at hacking the 2016 presidential election.

While speaking Thursday in New York at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, Rosenstein said that the Obama administration “chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls and how they relate to Russia’s broader strategy to undermine America.”

During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” Friday morning, Huckabee called the comments an “unusually candid moment for Rosenstein.”

“I thought it was a soft way of him saying there was a cover-up,” Huckabee said. “They knew the Russians were attempting to influence the election and attempting to hack the election but they didn’t fully disclose that to the American people and certainly didn’t disclose it to the Trump campaign.

SWALWELL NOT CERTAIN TRUMP ISN’T A ‘RUSSIAN ASSET’

“Instead they tried to set a trap for them. It failed. The Trump team did not take the bait. And that’s the one conclusion that we can certainly come away with from the $35 million worth of investigation,” Huckabee continued.

Next week, Attorney General William Barr will testify before Congress and is expected to answer questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump, which found that there was not adequate evidence to conclude that President Trump and his administration colluded with Russia, though the president could not be exonerated in terms of the possibility that he obstructed justice.

Barr will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee next Wednesday and to the House Judiciary Committee the following day.

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

“It is going to be a theater, an absolute show,” Huckabee said of the hearings. “Just like the Kavanaugh hearings were and like everything else is in Congress. We ought to close the curtain on them and can’t come back until after the election. They aren’t doing their job anyway. We aren’t paying them because they’re doing a wonderful service to the country and spare us the hypocrisy of thinking they’re interested in getting to the bottom of the facts,” he continued.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Ultimately, Huckabee argued, if Americans “took their partisan hats off,” they would see that President Trump was exonerated by the investigation.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Sri Lanka's former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake
Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

April 26, 2019

By Sanjeev Miglani and Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens.

Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the two led the country to a crushing defeat of separatist Tamil rebels a decade ago after a 26-year civil war.

More than 250 people were killed in bomb attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday that the government has blamed on Islamist militants and that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Gotabaya said the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.

“Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent”, firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections, which are due by December.

He was critical of the government’s response to the bombings. Since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat is from Islamic State to the country.

“Various people are blaming various people, not giving exactly the details as to what happened, even people expect the names, what organization did this, and how they came up to this level, that explanation was not given,” he said.

On Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena said the government led by premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

Wickremesinghe said earlier he was not advised about warnings that came from India’s spy service either, presenting a picture of a government still in disarray since the two leaders fell out last October.

Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States, where he is a dual citizen, over his role in the war and afterwards.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor.

In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father.

Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidature.

‘DISMANTLE THE NETWORKS’

He said that if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radical Islam and to rebuild the security set-up.

“It’s a serious problem, you have to go deep into the groups, dismantle the networks,” he said, adding he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism.

Gotabaya said that a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in eastern Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government.

“They did not give priority to national security, there was a mix-up. They were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, they were talking about individual freedoms,” he said.

President Sirisena’s government sought to forge reconciliation with minority Tamils and close the wounds of the war and launched investigations into allegations of rights abuse and torture against military officers.

Officials said many of these secret intelligence cells were disbanded because they faced allegations of abuse, including torture and extra judicial killings.

Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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