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Myanmar lawmaker: 50 believed dead in mudslide at jade mine

A lawmaker representing a gemstone-rich area in northern Myanmar says more than 50 people are believed to have died in a mudslide at a jade mining site.

Tin Soe said Tuesday that three bodies have been recovered and 54 people remain missing. He said it would be difficult to recover the bodies from under the mud.

The accident occurred Monday in the Hpakant area of Kachin state. Such accidents are not rare, and usually occur when mountainous piles of mining scraps slide down on people scavenging pieces of jade.

Tin Soe said in this case the victims worked for two mining companies, indicating they were formally employed rather than scavengers.

Source: Fox News World

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Barr Faces Congress as he Readies Mueller Report for Release

Attorney General William Barr is facing members of Congress on Tuesday for the first time since taking office — and amid intense speculation over his review of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report.

Barr isn't coming to Congress to talk about the report, but lawmakers are expected to ask about it anyway as they anxiously wait to see it in the coming days. The topic of the House appropriations subcommittee hearing is the Justice Department's budget, and Barr's prepared remarks sent to the committee on Monday focused on funding requests for immigration enforcement and to combat violent crime and opioid addiction, not mentioning Mueller's report at all.

Mueller sent his final report to Barr on March 22, ending his almost two-year investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Barr released a four-page letter summarizing the report two days later and said he would release a redacted version of the full report by mid-April, "if not sooner."

The new attorney general's budget testimony — traditionally a dry affair, and often addressing the parochial concerns of lawmakers — comes as Democrats are enraged that Barr is redacting material from the report and frustrated that his summary framed a narrative about President Donald Trump before they were able to see the full version. The Democrats are demanding that they see the full report and all its underlying evidence as Trump and his Republican allies are pushing back.

In excerpts from her opening statement released Monday night, House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said that Barr's summary letter "raises more questions than it answers."

The chairman of the subcommittee, Democratic Rep. Jose Serrano of New York, also said there were unanswered questions, including "serious concerns about the process by which you formulated your letter; and uncertainty about when we can expect to see the full report."

Barr said in the summary released last month that Mueller didn't find a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Kremlin. He has also said that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice, instead presenting evidence on both sides of the question. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided that the evidence was insufficient to establish obstruction.

Facing the intensifying concerns from Democrats that he may have whitewashed Mueller's findings, Barr has twice moved to defend, or at least explain, his handling of the process since receiving the special counsel's report. He has said that he did not intend for his four-page summary of Mueller's main conclusions to be an "exhaustive recounting" of his work and that he could not immediately release the entire report because it included grand jury material and other sensitive information that needed to first be redacted.

He will likely be asked to further explain himself at the hearing Tuesday and at a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday that is also on the budget.

Barr is scheduled to testify on the report itself at separate hearings before the Senate and House judiciary committees on May 1 and May 2. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat and chairman of the House judiciary panel, confirmed the May 2 date on Twitter and said he would like Mueller to testify.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has said he would be satisfied hearing only from Barr and not Mueller.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Trump eyes Stephen Moore for Fed governor: Bloomberg News

FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington, U.S., March 19, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

March 22, 2019

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump is considering picking long-time supporter Stephen Moore to be a governor at the Federal Reserve Board, Bloomberg News reported.

Moore, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, helped write Trump’s signature tax plan. The position would give him a vote at the policy-setting table of an institution whose interest-rate hikes last year were a frequent target of Trump’s ire.

Trump was so incensed by the Fed’s policies he is said to have sought advice late last year on whether he could fire its chairman, Jerome Powell.

The Bloomberg News report, by a White House reporter and a colleague who covers the Treasury Department, cited people familiar with the matter whom they did not name.

A Fed spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters made outside of business hours Thursday.

There are two open positions on the Fed’s seven-seat Board of Governors.

The White House is also continuing to consider one-time presidential candidate and pizza chain magnate Herman Cain for a spot, Bloomberg News said, despite concerns that the accusations of sexual harassment that derailed Cain’s bid for president could complicate his Senate confirmation.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: OANN

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Cities across US seek new shelter locations as asylum-seekers could hit 150,000: report

Major cities across the U.S. are bracing themselves to accommodate a possible surge of more than 150,000 asylum seekers in the coming months.

The expected surge from mostly El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, comes amid an uptick in apprehensions last month that put a strain on border patrol and nonprofit shelters near the U.S.-Mexico border.

CALIFORNIA JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP'S POLICY FORCING ASYLUM-SEEKERS TO STAY IN MEXICO

To relieve these shelters, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been scouting major cities from Phoenix to Atlanta as potential locations to build these shelters, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said he had informed HHS Regional Director Fred Schuster that Dallas is “ready, willing and able to help out these kids.”

Other cities that have been scouted for “potential future use as state-licensed permanent shelter locations for unaccompanied alien children” are Fort Worth, San Antonio, the paper reported, citing an HHS spokesman. According to an analysis of official data published by the CATO Institute this week, the number of arrests made by Border Patrol in 2019 is at a twelve-year high

Some 268,044 individuals have been apprehended on the Southwest border from the beginning of the year through the end of February. Experts cited by the Dallas Morning News said the rise in apprehensions could exceed 150,000 in the months ahead.

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Acting director of Homeland Security Kevin K. McAleenan, who replaced Kirstjen Nielsen over the weekend, will make an announcement on the apprehensions on Wednesday, according to the paper.

Fox News' Hollie McKay contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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In Argentina, jitters return as volatility stokes political risk

People are pictured outside a bank in Buenos Aires' financial district
People are pictured outside a bank in Buenos Aires' financial district, Argentina October 18, 2018. Picture taken October 18, 2018. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

March 26, 2019

By Gabriel Burin, Rodrigo Campos and Karin Strohecker

BUENOS AIRES/NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Investors in Argentina are starting to get the jitters.

The gap in yield between local and U.S.-issued bonds has roughly doubled in the last month in the face of stubborn inflation and mounting peso outflows, heaping pressure on President Mauricio Macri ahead of elections later in the year.

The widening spread – a barometer of perceived risks among the holders of local debt – is a signal investors are starting to price in political and market turmoil in the country, Latin America’s third-largest economy.

“The difference in yields reflects market perceptions of differences in the treatment the bonds could receive in the event of a debt restructuring,” said Sergi Lanau, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, said in an email in response to questions.

Lanau added the spread had widened recently because stubborn inflation, weak growth and electoral uncertainty meant the market felt that risk had increased.

“There’s the risk that local courts are less creditor friendly than NY (New York) courts in the event of litigation. For these reasons, the market is pricing a lower recovery for local-law bonds.”

Graphic: Argentine risk makes a comeback – https://tmsnrt.rs/2UOENdN

POLITICAL RISK

Bankers said the main fear was political upheaval if renewed economic crises derailed Macri’s plans for reelection in October. Macri has pursued open-door, market friendly policies since his election in 2015.

“The biggest concern for investors is what happens in the second half of the year vis-à-vis the election,” said Ilya Gofshteyn, New York-based senior emerging markets strategist at Standard Chartered Bank.

Macri’s plans have been hit by market uncertainty, opening the door to other candidates including former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, seen as a riskier prospect by investors because of her past populist policies.

“If Cristina does win, that does increase the probability of some form of debt restructuring, with local-law bonds more at risk,” said John Morton, portfolio manager for taxable fixed income at New Jersey-based investment firm Lord Abbett.

Macri – who struck a $56.3 billion financing deal with the International Monetary Fund last year – is grappling with a peso that has weakened sharply after a brighter start to the year, forcing the central bank to raise already world-high rates back above 65 percent to head off a run on the currency.

Inflation, which soared last year, has also remained stubborn and is running at an annual rate above 50 percent.

This has raised concerns about a repeat of what Macri termed “endless storms” that battered Argentina’s economy last year, dragging the country into recession and knocking off half the value of the peso against the dollar.

“As the probability of a different government goes higher, the concerns related to the sustainability of debt and the possibility of a government coming in that wants to renegotiate the IMF program (also rise),” said Shamaila Khan, director of emerging market debt at AllianceBernstein in New York.

“There is still a lot of uncertainty and inflation remains sticky, which is not positive for Macri’s reelection prospects.”

Graphic: More economic storms for Argentina? https://tmsnrt.rs/2OmEkg9

‘MONEY WILL COME BACK’

Bankers say, however, a recent dovish turn by the U.S. Federal Reserve should bolster emerging markets, including Argentina, as investors feel more willing to take on more risk.

Zsolt Papp, an emerging market debt investment specialist at JP Morgan Asset Management, added that signs of strain on Argentine debt were to be expected as local investors eyed political uncertainty.

“So locals are – in a precautionary way – parking their cash elsewhere, ideally not in Argentina. But that is typical pre-election behavior,” said Papp. “If Macri wins the elections, that money will come back.”

(Reporting by Gabriel Burin in BUENOS AIRES, Rodrigo Campos in NEW YORK and Karin Strohecker in LONDON; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: OANN

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Senate GOP effort on Trump border wall seems to crash

An 11th-hour rescue mission by Republican senators to stave off an awkward defeat for President Donald Trump on his declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border, and to protect themselves from a politically dicey vote opposing him, seemed to collapse Wednesday.

The setback made it all but certain that defections from his own party will force Trump to cast what could be his first veto — on a struggle directly related to his signature issue of building barricades along the southwest border. It also left Republican senators facing a painful choice: defy a president who commands passionate loyalty from conservative voters or acquiesce to what many lawmakers from both parties consider a dubious and dangerous expansion of presidential authority.

After a closed-door lunch, GOP lawmakers predicted the Senate would approve a resolution Thursday annulling the emergency Trump has declared along the border. The Democratic-led House passed the legislation last month, meaning Senate assent would send it to Trump.

"It was called turn out the lights, the party's over," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., recalling a favorite refrain of Monday Night Football announcers when a game was out of reach. "Well, that's appropriate right now."

Republicans hoped Trump would support a separate measure curbing a president's powers to declare future emergencies. Had he done so, they thought, it would be easier for reluctant GOP senators to support the emergency Trump has proclaimed to steer $3.6 billion more than Congress has approved for barrier construction.

But during the GOP lunch, Trump called Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, chief sponsor of the bill limiting future emergency declarations, and told him he opposed that proposal. The call was described by two officials who weren't authorized to publicly discuss the matter and described it on condition of anonymity.

"There's been numerous efforts to engage with the vice president and the president, and the president's not persuaded that he should support it right now," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who advises GOP leaders. "I don't know of any president that likes to give up power."

Lee said in a statement that he will back the resolution canceling the border emergency because his own bill now lacks "an immediate path forward."

With Republicans controlling the Senate 53-47, it will take just four GOP defections to approve the measure, which the House passed last month.

Besides Lee, four have said they would vote no: Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Kentucky's Rand Paul. Tillis and Collins face potentially competitive re-election fights in 2020.

Tillis, though, said Wednesday that his vote was "still a work in progress" as talks with the White House continued.

As many as 15 Republicans might vote to block Trump's emergency, said one Republican who offered the estimate only on condition of anonymity.

An administration official said the White House is skeptical there will be enough votes to head off a Senate defeat and is reluctant to back limits on future declarations unless a victory on the resolution is assured. The official was not authorized to publicly private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Any Republican hopes of a turnabout rested largely on a familiar phenomenon of the Trump administration — an unexpected change in mind, as he's done in congressional battles over health care and immigration.

Trump told reporters that he has advised GOP senators to "vote any way you want" on the resolution blocking his emergency declaration — but he added a warning.

"Anybody going against border security, drug trafficking, human trafficking, that's a bad vote," he said. Framing Thursday's vote that way seemed to be a message all but aimed directly at undecided GOP senators facing re-election races next year, of whom there are several.

Even so, there was little doubt among GOP senators that Thursday's vote would turn out badly for the party.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tried making it even harder for uncertain Republicans to support Trump's border emergency. She said the House would never even consider the separate bill limiting future declarations by presidents, including Trump.

"Republican Senators are proposing new legislation to allow the president to violate the Constitution just this once in order to give themselves cover," Pelosi said in a statement. "The House will not take up this legislation to give President Trump a pass."

Under a four-decade old law, presidents have wide leeway in declaring a national emergency. Congress can vote to block a declaration, but the two-thirds majorities required to overcome presidential vetoes make it hard for lawmakers to prevail. Presidents have never before declared an emergency after Congress voted to deny them money for the same purpose.

Lee's proposal says a presidential emergency would last 30 days unless Congress votes to extend it. It would apply to future emergencies, but not Trump's current border emergency unless he seeks to renew it next year.

The strongest chance of blocking Trump's border emergency is likely several lawsuits filed by Democratic state attorneys general, environmental groups and others.

___

Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Porzingis accuser asked Knicks to ‘mediate’ payment: report

NBA: Dallas Mavericks at Sacramento Kings
Mar 21, 2019; Sacramento, CA, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Kristaps Porzingis (6) sits on the bench during the fourth quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports

April 2, 2019

The woman accusing former Knicks center Kristaps Porzingis of raping her in New York in February 2018 contacted the team’s legal department in October asking to “mediate in private” a $68,000 payment, ESPN reported Monday.

Citing emails between the woman and the team, ESPN reports the 29-year-old woman communicated with the Knicks from late October through early November seeking hush money she said Porzingis had promised her, with the team eventually referring her to Porzingis’ personal lawyer.

No criminal complaint against Porzingis was filed until last week, more than 13 months after the alleged incident, which came a few hours after Porzingis tore his ACL during a game at Madison Square Garden. New York Police Department sources told the New York Post that the accuser is “believable.”

ESPN’s report Monday said emails the woman sent to the team detailed her account of the alleged Feb. 7, 2018 incident: She said she went to Porzingis’ apartment — in the same building where she lived — for an autograph, was subjected to an “extremely aggressive encounter,” and the two agreed to co-sign a statement that promised a $68,000 payment from Porzingis.

Porzingis’ lawyer, Roland G Riopelle, told ESPN he believes the document is a forgery and denies that his client signed it. ESPN obtained a copy of the alleged agreement, a handwritten document that misspells Porzingis’ first name, reading:

“This agreement effective February 7, 2018, acknowledges the fact that an unexpected escalated sexual intercourse due to an inevitable physical attraction on the part of Kristap (sic) occurred subsequently, warrants compensation payable towards (the woman’s) siblings college tuition in the amount of $68,000. …

“Mr. Kristap (sic) willingly offered several compensations to (the woman) including business investments. (The woman) ultimately settled with Mr. Kristap’s (sic) offer of a $68,000 check.”

ESPN also reported Monday that text messages between the woman and Porzingis showed she continued to pursue a romantic relationship with the 23-year-old Latvian in the weeks after the incident, asking to spend intimate time together and sending explicit photos of herself. Those texts came before the woman reached out to the team.

Among other details in emails sent to the team, per ESPN, the woman included photos of text messages with Porzingis, including his invitation to his apartment the night of the alleged incident, when he said he was “drunk.” She also included a photo that she said showed hair loss and broken nose cartilage “from when (Porzingis) repeatedly hit me,” adding she had to pay “about $10,000” for corrective surgery.

Riopelle issued a statement Saturday that “unequivocally” denied the woman’s allegations, adding he and Porzingis had referred the matter to federal law enforcement in December “based on the accuser’s extortionate demands.” The statement added that the NBA was made aware of the situation “months ago.”

Porzingis was traded to the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 31. Owner Mark Cuban said Saturday he was aware of the accusation. ESPN reported the Mavericks were informed about it on a conference call to finalize the trade.

The Mavericks have since declined further comment, and coach Rick Carlisle said the accusation won’t affect whether Porzingis practices with the team later this season.

NBA Players Association executive director Michele Roberts said in a statement on Sunday, “We been aware of these allegations for some time, have evaluated the accuser’s claims and, based on what is presently before us, stand with Kristaps.”

Porzingis has not played in a game since tearing his ACL in what proved to be his final game with the Knicks. He averaged 17.8 points and 7.1 rebounds in 186 games over three seasons with New York.

–Field Level Media

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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The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Slack Technologies Inc, operator of the popular workplace instant-messaging app, reported a loss of $140.7 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2019, the company said on Friday in a regulatory filing ahead of its planned public market debut.

The company said its daily active users exceeded 10 million in the three months ended Jan. 31, 2019.

Slack expects to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SK”, it said.

The San Francisco-based company is seeking to go public via a direct listing, making it the second big technology company after Spotify Technology SA to bypass the traditional route of listing shares through an initial public offering.

A direct listing is a cheaper way of becoming a public company as the process requires fewer investment banks and therefore lower fees.

In a direct listing, however, a company does not sell any new shares to raise money. Instead, it gives existing shareholders the opportunity to cash out.

Slack is the latest in a string of high-profile technology companies looking to go public this year. Lyft Inc, Pinterest and Zoom Video Communications have completed IPOs so far in 2019.

The company is hoping for a valuation of more than $10 billion in the listing, Reuters had previously reported. Some early investors and employees have been selling the stock at around $28, valuing the company close to $17 billion, Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge, a brokerage company, told CNBC on Thursday.

Slack set a placeholder amount of $100 million to indicate the size of the IPO. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

Its competitors include Microsoft Teams, a free chat add-on for Microsoft’s Office365 users.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Joshua Franklin in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

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