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Tunisia says to coordinate Arab response to U.S. move on Israel, Golan

Tunisia's Foreign Affairs Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui speaks during a news conference with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in Tunis
Tunisia's Foreign Affairs Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui speaks during a news conference with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in Tunis, Tunisia October 22, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

March 29, 2019

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia said on Friday it will coordinate with other Arab countries in efforts to contain any fall-out from the U.S. decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Khemaies Jhinaoui was speaking as his country assumed the rotating presidency of the League of Arab States ahead of an annual Arab summit in Tunis expected to focus on the U.S. decisions on the Golan Heights and an earlier one to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria and Arab East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed both in moves not recognized internationally.

(Reporting by Maher Chamytelli, writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

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Greek airline Sky Express partners with Air France KLM

FILE PHOTO: Houses are seen at edge of the caldera at the volcanic island of Santorini
FILE PHOTO: Houses are seen at edge of the caldera at the volcanic island of Santorini. September 13, 2011. REUTERS/Michael Perry/File Photo

April 9, 2019

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek airline Sky Express said on Tuesday it had signed an agreement with Air France KLM to cooperate on flights connecting Paris and Amsterdam with the Greek islands.

Tourism accounts for about a quarter of economic output in Greece, which saw a record number of about 33 million visitors last year.

The privately owned carrier, which competes with Aegean Airlines’ subsidiary Olympic Airways on domestic routes, flies to 24 Greek destinations on ATR42 and ATR72 twin engine turboprop aircraft.

Sky Express said the deal would allow passengers to travel across its network with the convenience of a single ticket reservation.

“(This) simplifies travel arrangements for Air France- KLM and Sky Express, since all baggage transfer services are being provided at the connecting airport,” Sky Express said.

Air France offers 39 weekly flights to Athens from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, in addition to KLM’s 14 weekly flights from Amsterdam-Schiphol.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

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Lyft falls further from IPO after receiving first ‘sell’ rating

FILE PHOTO: Lyft supporters gather for the Lyft IPO as the company lists its shares on the Nasdaq in the first-ever ride-hailing initial public offering, in Los Angeles
FILE PHOTO: Lyft supporters gather for the Lyft IPO as the company lists its shares on the Nasdaq in the first-ever ride-hailing initial public offering, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 2, 2019

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Lyft Inc’s stock sank further below its IPO price on Tuesday after receiving its first negative review from an analyst who is skeptical that consumers will give up car ownership in favor of relying on ride-hailing services.

Shares of the money-losing San Francisco company fell as much as 4.2 percent to $66.10 on Tuesday, their second straight session of losses after a hotly anticipated $72 initial public offer on Friday. The stock was down 2.3 percent at $67.41 early on Tuesday afternoon on the Nasdaq.

The stock’s weak performance could make investors more cautious about a string of expected public listings from Silicon Valley unicorns, including Uber Technologies Inc and Pinterest, which are also unprofitable.

Seaport Global initiated coverage of Lyft with a “sell” rating and a $42 price target, with analyst Michael Ward calling the stock’s current valuation a “leap of faith” that consumers will forego owning cars in favor of using ride-hailing services.

“Despite the optics of vehicles being an underutilized asset, we believe people will continue to own their own vehicles as primary transportation and instead rely on the ridesharing services as a convenient supplement,” Ward wrote in a client note.

Another five analysts have initiated coverage of Lyft, with two of them recommending the stock and three assigning neutral ratings.

Those five analysts on average expect Lyft’s revenue to jump 60 percent to $3.45 billion in 2019, while Ward estimated 2019 revenue would reach $3.40 billion.

Lyft reported a loss of $911 million in 2018, wider than its $688 million loss in 2017, despite revenue doubling in 2018 to $2.16 billion. It has not said when it expects to become profitable.

The stock, which surged as high as $88.60 in the first few minutes after its listing on Friday before slipping steadily lower, is now trading at about 5.7 times expected annual revenue. By comparison, Alphabet Inc’s stock is currently at 4.8 times expected revenue, while Facebook Inc is at 6.5 times expected revenue.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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Japan’s machinery orders slump as trade friction bite

FILE PHOTO: Heavy machineries are seen next to a subway train at a construction site in Tokyo
FILE PHOTO: Heavy machineries are seen next to a subway train at a construction site in Tokyo, Japan, March 13, 2016. REUTERS/Yuya Shino

February 18, 2019

By Stanley White

TOKYO (Reuters) – Overseas orders for Japanese machinery posted their biggest decline in more than a decade in December and manufacturers expect orders to fall further this quarter as trade friction weigh on global demand.

Data released on Monday showed core machinery orders, considered a leading indicator of capital expenditure, fell 0.1 percent month-on-month in December. This was the first decline in three months but was smaller than the median estimate for a 1.1 percent decrease.

Highlighting bigger concerns about the external environment, however, was a 21.9 percent month-on-month tumble in machinery orders from overseas, the biggest fall since November 2007.

A cabinet official said the slump was partly due to the base effect of large overseas orders seen over the past two months, however, forecasts show manufacturers expect overseas orders to fall 17.1 percent in the current quarter.

“Capital expenditure won’t be that strong, and this will hamper Japan’s overall growth,” said Shuji Tonouchi, senior market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

“We see the impact of trade friction. There’s a lot of uncertainty and manufactures are becoming more cautions.”

Manufacturers surveyed by the Cabinet Office forecast core orders will fall 1.8 percent in January-March after decreasing 4.2 percent in October-December. The Cabinet Office cut its assessment of orders to say they are stalling.

Global trade has already slowed as the United States and China exchanged tit-for-tat tariffs in a heated dispute over trade. The proposed introduction of further tariffs, if a resolution between Washington and Beijing is not found, would hurt Japan’s export-focused economy.

Orders from manufacturers fell 8.5 percent month-on-month in December after a 6.4 percent decline in November, due to lower orders from makers of manufacturing equipment and electronics.

Service-sector orders rose 6.8 percent, faster than a 2.5 percent increase the previous month due to a pick-up in orders from the telecommunications sector. Despite this acceleration, economists are likely to remain more concerned about the manufacturing sector and global demand.

“Core” machinery orders exclude those for ships and from electricity utilities.

Japan’s gross domestic product returned to expansion in the fourth quarter after a series of natural disasters caused a contraction in the previous quarter, but economists have warned that they are not optimistic about the outlook this year.

The trade war between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, is a major risk for Japan’s auto, electronics, and heavy machinery sectors, which export goods to China where they are used to make finished products destined for the United States and other markets.

Another risk is the Japanese government’s plan to raise the nationwide sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent in October.

The government needs the extra tax revenue to pay for rising welfare costs, but some policymakers and economists worry the tax hike could hit consumer spending and weaken sentiment.

Japan’s policymakers have long argued that an increase in business investment will contribute to economic growth as companies replace old manufacturing equipment and invest in new technology.

However, the chance of a growth spurt this year driven by corporate investment has dimmed considerably, economists say.

(Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Sam Holmes)

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WWE’s next battle royale: Investor fans vs. shorts

FILE PHOTO: Saudi fans watch the WWE
FILE PHOTO: Saudi fans watch the WWE "Crown Jewel" World Cup 2018 tournament at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, November 2, 2018. REUTERS/Faisal al Nasser

March 28, 2019

By Sinéad Carew

(Reuters) – A brawl between World Wrestling Entertainment Inc’s bears and bulls could reach a peak this year as the company renegotiates overseas contracts.

While a large contingent of short sellers have been betting that the stock will fall, WWE’s most ardent Wall Street fans say it will continue to rise even after outperforming the stock market last year and for much of 2019.

Shares in WWE soared 144 percent in 2018 as U.S. TV license deals that blew past analyst expectations with a 3.6-times hike in average annual value from its previous agreements.

The stock has risen another 13.6 percent so far this year as investors are betting on license renewals being negotiated in countries including India and the United Kingdom, which WWE expects to announce by mid-year.

Ten out of 13 analysts have buy ratings on the stock while three recommend holding the stock which last traded at $84.87. The mean share price target is $102.70 with the highest target at $157 and the lowest at $85, according to Refinitiv.

While the stock has already risen a lot on expectations for new business, Gabelli Funds analyst Alexandra Cowie says it still has room to gain further.

“I wouldn’t be selling before the contract news. Going in and coming out of announcements, it gets a double bump,” said Cowie, whose firm owns more than 174,000 WWE shares.

WWE is in an unusual entertainment category. Unlike traditional sports, its fights are scripted, but analysts measure its popularity against sports because it still involves athleticism and suspense.

The creator of Smackdown and Raw TV shows boasted a U.S. cable television viewership second only to the National Football League in 2018, according to Nielsen data. And in India, WWE viewership was second only to cricket, according to the Broadcast Audience Research Council.

Guggenheim analyst Curry Baker expects a U.K. renewal similar to WWE’s current contract there. But he anticipates a five-fold boost to its average annual revenue in India to $124 million.

“The market is underappreciating the India opportunity,” said Baker who has a $105 price target and a buy rating on WWE.

MKM analyst Eric Handler, who raised his price target for the stock to $110 from $95 on Tuesday, says a possible U.S. deal for a third weekly hour of Smackdown could add $50 million to annual revenue. The company declined to comment on the prospect of an additional hour.

WWE shares have fallen 7.9 percent since Thursday. On Wednesday, Chief Executive Vincent McMahon sold 3.2 million of his shares, or four percent of WWE’s shares outstanding, to fund a separate entity.

It also came under pressure as the broader market has been losing ground on worries about global economic growth. But analysts say WWE contracts – which are for around three to five years – provide some insulation against economic fluctuations.

In the United States, live sports have been a key draw for cable TV subscribers, at a time when many consumers are cutting the chord to avoid high monthly fees.

“It feels like one of the lower-risk higher-return names in the media space,” said Baker.

Still, about 17 percent of WWE’s float is sold short, according to data from S3 Partners which estimates short seller mark-to-market losses of $359 million since the start of 2018.

The bets against the stock can be partly attributed to hedging by investors in its convertible bonds due in 2023, according to BTIG analyst Brandon Ross. “That’s contributed to it,” he said.

Wolfe Research analyst Marci Ryvicker, is Wall Street’s biggest fan, with a price target of $157.

Wall Street expects 2020 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $460.59 million on $1.33 billion revenue, according to Refinitiv data. Ryvicker expects EBITDA of $510 million on revenue of $1.423 billion.

With this in mind, Ryvicker says WWE looks cheap compared with other sports peers, including Nicks basketball team owner Madison Square Garden Co and a Liberty Media Corp subsidiary which owns Formula One rights and Liberty’s subsidiary that owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team.

WWE’s enterprise value is roughly 14.8 times her 2020 EBITDA estimates compared with multiples of 32 for Madison Square Garden, 33.2 for Liberty’s Atlanta Braves subsidiary and 12.6 for the Formula One subsidiary, the analyst wrote.

WWE “has no reason not to trade right in-line with its closest peers,” Ryvicker said.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Additional reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai, Lewis Krauskopf, Lance Tupper and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Editing by Alden Bentley and Lisa Shumaker)

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The city crowd: young, urbane PM awaits Spain, whoever wins election

FILE PHOTO: Spain's Socialist leader and current PM Pedro Sanchez looks on as he delivers his speech during a PSOE party meeting before he kicks off his political campaign ahead of the April 28 general election in Dos Hermanas
FILE PHOTO: Spain's Socialist leader and current Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez looks on as he delivers his speech during a PSOE party meeting before he kicks off his political campaign ahead of the April 28 general election in Dos Hermanas, near Seville, Spain April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

April 23, 2019

By Isla Binnie

MADRID (Reuters) – As they prepare to vote in the most uncertain national election in decades, Spaniards can safely predict one thing regardless of political persuasion – that their next prime minister will be young, cosmopolitan, white and male.

The main contenders in Sunday’s ballot offer a lack of diversity that has left parts of the electorate at risk of feeling unrepresented, political commentators say. Surveys show up to four in ten voters are still undecided and no single party is close to winning a majority.

Conspicuously missing from the field are women, as well as anyone who identifies directly with the rapidly aging communities of rural Spain, a constituency that is fast emptying out as working-age people abandon farms and villages for cities.

“We have ended up with something like a Corte Ingles catalogue,” said political communication consultant Luis Arroyo, referring to a famous Spanish chain of department stores.

A televised pre-election debate on Monday night did little to dispel that impression.

No clear winner emerged, and images of the top three candidates – Socialist Pedro Sanchez and rightists Pablo Casado and Albert Rivera – appearing in virtually identical dark blue suits circulated widely in domestic and international media.

Far-right Vox’s Santiago Abascal, excluded from the debate because his party holds no parliamentary seats yet, tweeted a picture shortly after it ended of a row of blue and yellow macaws with the caption: “Spot the difference”.

‘PEDRO EL GUAPO’

Sanchez, outgoing Prime Minister and poll leader with around 30 percent of votes, earned the nickname “Pedro El Guapo”, or “Handsome Pedro” earlier in his career for his rarity value as a young newcomer to the Socialist hierarchy among a crowd of older politicians.

But as it has gradually fractured over the past five years, Spain’s political landscape has been increasingly populated by young, contemporary males.

At 47, Sanchez is now the oldest candidate. The last time he stood for office, in 2016, he lost out to conservative Mariano Rajoy, then 61.

His clean-cut conservative opponent this time is 38-year-old Casado, while Rivera – leader of centre-right Ciudadanos and equally chiselled in features and in his choice of suits – is one year older.

Even far-right Vox’s Abascal, 43, is university-educated, keeps his beard neatly trimmed and often wears a tie.

Only the pony-tailed Pablo Iglesias, whose far-left Podemos party rode a wave of anti-austerity fury into parliament in 2015, dresses more casually but, as a television regular, he keeps his appearance smart. On Monday evening he did not wear a suit.

While younger, city-dwelling, professionals may see familiar characters in the shiny line-up, people in less technologically advanced, under-populated parts of the country may struggle.

“They reflect this generation of people, many of whom studied in public universities and did masters (degrees),” said Arroyos.

“The other Spain, which is more rural, and famously emptying out, does not see itself reflected in any way.”

Residents of the depopulating regions marched through Madrid last month in what they called a “peaceful revolt”, underlining the concerns of a demographic that feels it has been forgotten.

GENDER BIAS?

Despite the visible generational shift, few Spanish women have made it to the political front line.

“In terms of gender balance there is definitely still lots of room for improvement,” said Eurasia analyst Federico Santi.

Sanchez describes his government, in which a majority of ministers are female, as feminist, and Podemos changed the name of its parliamentary grouping to the feminine Unidas Podemos for this campaign, to reflect its commitment to women’s rights.

Two parties have high-profile spokeswomen: Ines Arrimadas of the center-right Ciudadanos has led her party’s crusade against Catalan regional independence, while Irene Montero is a prominent Podemos deputy.

But neither are party leader and, across the parties, women tend mostly to be assigned supporting roles, Santi said.

The lack of racial diversity among the candidates has raised few eyebrows, however, due to Spain’s relative ethnic homogeneity – only just over 10 percent of the resident population has foreign nationality.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Ingrid Melander and John Stonestreet)

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Futures rise as JPMorgan kicks off earnings season on strong note

FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 12, 2019

By Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Friday after JPMorgan kicked off first-quarter earnings season on a strong note, while signs of stabilization in China’s economy helped ease global growth concerns.

JPMorgan Chase & Co rose 2.5% after the largest U.S. bank by assets topped quarterly earnings expectations, helped by higher interest income and gains in the bank’s advisory and debt underwriting business.

Shares of Well Fargo & Co climbed 1.7%, ahead of its quarterly earnings report.

S&P 500 companies are expected to post their first profit contraction since 2016 in the first quarter, with analysts projecting a 2.5 percent drop in earnings. Also, S&P 500 banks are expected to post earnings growth of 1.8%, down from an 8.2% rise estimated six months ago, according to Refinitiv data.

The S&P banks index has risen 12.8% this year, compared with a 15.2% gain for the S&P 500.

Data from China showed exports rebounded in March but imports shrank for a fourth straight month and at a sharper pace. The data, which eased concerns about a slowdown in world’s second largest economy, and a jump in oil prices offered support to global equities.

Grabbing the spotlight in the energy sector was Chevron Corp’s $33 billion offer to buy smaller rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Shares of Anadarko jumped 30.3%, while Chevron fell 4%.

At 7:14 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 183 points, or 0.7%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 15.5 points, or 0.54% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 35.75 points, or 0.47%.

The S&P 500 index is now less than 2% away from its all-time high hit in September, helped by the Federal Reserve’s patient stance on raising interest rates and signs of progress in the U.S.-China trade talks.

Investors are hoping that a trade deal with China and a better-than-feared quarterly earnings season will help push Wall Street above its September high.

Walt Disney Co gained 3.2% after the company priced it highly anticipated streaming service in a bid to challenge the digital dominance of Netflix Inc. Netflix shares were down 0.7%.

New York-listed shares of Fiat Chrysler rose 3.1% after its chairman provided an upbeat outlook for the full year.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

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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)

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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)

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FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Los Angeles taxis after landing at Reagan National Airport shortly after an announcement was made by the FAA that the planes were being grounded by the United States over safety issues in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc cut its 2019 profit forecast on Friday, saying it expected to take a $350 million hit from the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes after cancelling 1,200 flights in the first quarter.

The company said it now expects its 2019 adjusted profit to be between $4.00 per share and $6.00 per share.

Analysts on average had expected 2019 earnings of $5.63 per share, according to Refinitiv data.

The No. 1 U.S. airline by passenger traffic said net income rose to $185 million, or 41 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $159 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Total operating revenue rose 2 percent to $10.58 billion.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru)

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (Reuters) – Four years ago, Donald Trump campaigned in small towns like Marshalltown, Iowa, vowing to restore economic prosperity to the U.S. heartland.

In his bid to replace Trump in the White House, Pete Buttigieg is taking a similar tack. The difference, he says, is that he can point to a model of success: South Bend, Indiana, the revitalized city where he has been mayor since 2012.

The Democratic presidential contender has vaulted to the congested field’s top tier in recent weeks, drawing media and donor attention for his youth, history-making status as the first openly gay major presidential candidate and a resume that includes military service in Afghanistan.

But Buttigieg’s main argument for his candidacy is that he is a turnaround artist in the mold of Trump, although the Democrat does not expressly invoke the comparison with the Republican president.

“I’m not going around saying we’ve fixed every problem we’ve got,” Buttigieg, 37, said after a house party with voters in Marshalltown. “But I’m proud of what we have done together, and I think it’s a very powerful story.”

Critics argue improving the fortunes of a Midwestern city of 100,000 people does not qualify Buttigieg, who has never held national office, for the presidency of a country of 330 million. Others say South Bend still has pockets of despair and that minorities, in particular, have failed to benefit from its growth.

Buttigieg has told crowds in Iowa and elsewhere that his experience in reviving a struggling Rust Belt community allows him to make a case to voters that other Democratic candidates cannot. That may give him the means to win back some of the disaffected Democratic voters who turned their backs on Hillary Clinton in 2016 to vote for Trump.

Watching Buttigieg at a union hall in Des Moines last week, Rick Ryan, 45, a member of the United Steelworkers, lamented how many of his fellow union workers voted for Trump. The president turned in the best performance by a Republican among union households since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Ryan said he hoped someone like Buttigieg could return them to the Democratic fold.

“He’s aware of the decline in the labor force in America, not just in Indiana or Des Moines or anywhere else,” Ryan said. “Jobs are going overseas. We need a find to way to bring that back.”

Randy Tucker, 56, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Trump appealed to union members “desperate for somebody to reach out to them, to help them, to listen to their voice.”

Buttigieg could do the same, he said. “In my heart right now, he’s No. 1.”

PAST VS. FUTURE

Buttigieg stresses a key difference in his and Trump’s approaches.

Trump, he tells crowds, is mired in the past, promising to rebuild the 20th century industrial economy. Buttigieg argues the pledge is misleading and unrealistic.

Buttigieg says his focus is on the future, and he often talks about what the country might look like decades from now.

“The only way that we can cultivate what makes America great is to look to the future and not be afraid of it,” Buttigieg said in Marshalltown.

Buttigieg knows his sexual preference may be a barrier to winning some blue-collar voters. But he notes that after he came out as gay in 2015, he won a second term as mayor with 80 percent of the vote in conservative Indiana.

Earlier this month, he announced his presidential bid at the hulking plant in South Bend that stopped making Studebaker autos more than 50 years ago. After lying dormant for decades, the building is being transformed into a high-tech hub after Buttigieg and other city leaders realized it would never again attract a large-scale industrial company.

“That building sat as a powerful reminder. We hoped we would get back that major employer that would fix our economy,” said Jeff Rea, president of the regional Chamber of Commerce.

Buttigieg is praised locally for spurring more than $100 million in downtown investment. During his two terms, unemployment has fallen to 4.1 percent from 11.8 percent.

But a study released in 2017 by the nonprofit group Prosperity Now said not all of the city’s residents had shared in its rebound. The median income for African-Americans remained half that of whites, while the unemployment rate for blacks was double.

Regina Williams-Preston, a city councilor running to replace Buttigieg as mayor, credits him for the revitalized downtown. But she said he had a “blind spot” when it came to focusing on troubled neighborhoods like the one she represents and only grew more engaged after community pressure.

“He understands it now,” she said. “The next step is figuring out how to open the doors of opportunity for everyone.”

‘ONE OF US’

Trump touts the fact that the United States added almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs last year as evidence he made good on his promise to restore the industrial sector. But that growth still left the country with fewer manufacturing jobs than in 2008.

The robust U.S. economy is likely the president’s greatest asset in his re-election bid, particularly in states he carried in 2016 such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He won Buttigieg’s home state by 19 points over Clinton in 2016.

Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Democratic Party in Polk County, Iowa, said Buttigieg would be well positioned to compete with Trump in the Midwest.

“People love the fact that he’s a mayor,” said Bagniewski, who has not endorsed a candidate in the nominating contest. “If you can talk about a positive future, and if you actually have experience that can do it, that’s a compelling vision in Iowa.”

Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, which faces many of the same challenges as South Bend, agreed.

“He’s one of us,” Whaley said. “That helps.”

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)

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A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 26, 2019

MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.

In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.

He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”

Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.

Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.

The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.

Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.

The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.

“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.

The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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