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Authorities: Armed border group moves from private property

An armed group that has been patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border has left their campsite in southern New Mexico after authorities said they were on private property.

Sunland Park police and security officers with a railroad company told members of the United Constitutional Patriots on Tuesday they needed to move their trailers and equipment.

Union Pacific Railroad said the group crossed its land to access the site and requested that the group not trespass onto its property.

Group spokesman Jim Benvie said in a social media post that the group will relocate and that operations will continue.

This comes after the group's leader was arrested last weekend on 2017 weapons charges. It also follows widespread criticism spurred by videos of the group stopping migrants who illegally crossed the border.

Source: Fox News National

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Swedbank’s Estonian offices searched: Estonian financial watchdog

FILE PHOTO: Swedbank sign is seen on the building of the bank's Lithuanian headquarters in Vilnius
FILE PHOTO: Swedbank sign is seen on the building of the bank's Lithuanian headquarters in Vilnius, Lithuania March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo

April 2, 2019

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedbank’s Estonian offices have been searched this week as part of the joint investigation by the Baltic and Swedish financial watchdogs, Estonian authorities said on Tuesday.

“We have started on site inspections this week. This is part of the investigation initiated by Sweden,” Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority spokeswoman Livia Vosman said.

Swedbank is embroiled in a fast-growing money laundering scandal involving Danske Bank, which revealed last year that its Estonian branch was used to move 230 billion euros ($258 billion) of suspicious payments between 2007 and 2015.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Simon Johnson)

Source: OANN

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Trump and Conservatives: It’s Complicated (But It’s Working)

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Donald Trump is not a conventional conservative. Far from it. He’s a populist of the right. His strong appeal to conservatives lies in his nationalism, tax cuts, deregulation, and appointment of originalist judges.

Unlike Ronald Reagan, who had well-formed political ideas, Trump’s notions about public policy come from gut instincts, reinforced by cheering crowds. Their common thread is "Don't tread on me."

Trump’s disdain for tradition is the opposite of orthodox conservativism. It is most visible in the wrecking ball aimed at NATO and other allies. If you are rich enough and want our military protection, he says, then pay up or forget it. Prove you deserve our protection. Show us the money.

Trump’s threat to walk away is more credible than that of previous presidents because he is instinctively closer to Robert Taft’s isolationism than to Arthur Vandenberg’s internationalism. The Taft-Vandenberg debate in the late 1940s settled Republican foreign policy for the next 60 years. Vandenberg, who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led bipartisan support for President Harry Truman’s policies, including the Marshall Plan and forming NATO. The party’s stance was sealed in 1952 when Dwight Eisenhower defeated Taft for the presidential nomination.

Republicans remained internationalist on both security and trade throughout the Cold War, the “Unipolar Moment” of the 1990s, and the Global War on Terror after 9/11. That consensus shattered in the endless mess of Afghanistan and Iraq and the hollowing out of U.S. manufacturing employment. The Democratic Party backed away from those policies even sooner.

As a result, there is no consensus today on America’s proper role in the world. Our allies know it and are understandably nervous. Trump, a tough negotiator, is exploiting their anxiety to strike better deals for American defense support. That only works if allies believe he might actually pull back. They do, and so do internationalists in both parties. They are also worried about trade policy, where his strategy is similar.

Trump’s personal style adds to those worries, including those of conservatives. Many are repulsed by his crudity, thin-skinned nature, and vitriolic personal attacks. They fret as he shreds established norms. They oppose his micro-interventions in the economy (“don’t close that GM plant”), which are the opposite of free-market economics.

But—and this is crucial—conservatives and many independents recognize Trump’s biggest achievement, beyond strengthening the economy and rebuilding the military, is his persistent effort to roll back the administrative state, with its endless regulations and executive orders. The agencies that make the rules also enforce and adjudicate them. The result is fiat law—undemocratic, unaccountable, and unbearably expensive to fight. (If you think that’s also a major popular complaint about the European Union, you are correct.)

To curtail this administrative overreach, Trump needs to downsize the permanent bureaucracy, pass laws that require congressional approval for major regulations, and keep appointing judges who will rein in bureaucratic excess. Eliminating specific regulations is not enough. The next Democratic president will simply reimpose them.

Trump’s progress on judges is obvious—and consequential. That’s why Democrats are fighting so tenaciously. The latest battle, after Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court appointment, was Neomi Rao’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit. She proved her commitment to deregulation while heading the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Now she sits on the appellate court that hears those cases.

Trump’s determination to claw back Washington’s bureaucracy is beloved by conservatives, but it poses a curious dilemma. It took eight decades to ratchet up the government’s mammoth size and scope. Rolling it back swiftly and dramatically is what conservatives want substantively. But abrupt changes are what conservatives hate procedurally. They favor incremental change.

“Build on what we already have,” say these procedural conservatives. “That’s the surest foundation for improvement.” No one can anticipate the effects of large, disruptive changes. They might be disastrous. Edmund Burke first made that argument in 1790. His devastating critique of the French Revolution set the template for modern conservativism.

Unfortunately for modern conservatives, that kind of incrementalism would hardly dent America’s huge, intrusive government. It would do nothing to stop its regrowth after Trump leaves. That’s why “substantive conservatives” want to pare down the state now. The opportunity might be fleeting.

These are meaningful differences among conservatives. Yet they will fade to insignificance when Democrats nominate another big-government candidate. Faced with that alternative, conservatives of all stripes will back Trump. The only exceptions are those who despise him.

The president’s shortcomings offer Democrats a real opportunity. They seem determined to fumble it. Most candidates are sucking up to the left-wing base and arguing for huge, structural changes, everything from packing the Supreme Court to abolishing private health coverage. Their most daring ideas, such as the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All,” are recipes for fiscal apocalypse and totalizing government control. Their intolerance of dissent has made them the Party of Social Justice Church Ladies.

More centrist candidates are drifting left, too. Their reorientation may appeal to primary voters, but it will be a huge impediment in November. Ultimately, they are still selling Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, now with more programs, more funding, and more taxes to pay in support of them. The ideas are stale, but there are two bigger defects: They cost too much and advocates cannot explain why the old programs failed.

If that’s what the Democrats have on offer in 2020, they won’t just lose conservatives and right-of-center independents. They’ll lose the election, unless there’s a recession.

If Trump wins, he will continue doing what no president has even attempted since Franklin Roosevelt: fundamentally shrinking the vast, centralized power of the administrative state. It’s a monumental task. But, for conservatives, none is more important.

Charles Lipson is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he is founding director of PIPES, the Program on International Politics, Economics, and Security. He can be reached at charles.lipson@gmail.com.

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Nobody Hates Diversity More Than Rich Liberals

TUCKER CARLSON: What if someone you hated offered to pay off your mortgage? Put your kids through college? Or delivered a tractor-trailer full of Snickers bars to your house? You would be confused at first, and suspicious. Why is an enemy giving you the gift of a lifetime? In the end, if you were smart you would take the gift. It would be too good to pass up. Something like that happened in Washington last night. The "Washington Post" reported that the Trump administration has been debating moving some of the thousands of migrants amassing on our southern border into various self-proclaimed sanctuary cities across the U.S. The president confirmed that as true in a tweet. As of tonight that, that policy remains under consideration. Talk about great news for blue America. The left loves impoverished immigrants from the developing world. And why wouldn't they? They make our cities safer, they tell us, they improve our schools, provide the backbone of the economy, they do the work that we won't do, they are diverse, they are our strength, they're the best of America even though technically they're not Americans. Sanctuary cities love them best of all, why they've become sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. Every Democrat now running for president has affirmed this repeatedly...

"There is no such thing as an illegal human." Good point, Kirsten Gillibrand, we appreciate the eloquence. Oakland's mayor believes that so deeply, that last year she warned illegal immigrants in her city, including several criminals, that an I.C.E. raid was coming, she wanted to give them time to flee and they did. She later said she had no choice, all good people want more illegal immigrants in their cities...

In Oakland, they're welcoming, in fact, the whole state is welcoming. In his inaugural address this spring, Gavin Newsom, the incoming governor, echoed those words, everyone can come to California he said, absolutely everyone...

The left really couldn't be clearer on this question. All immigration is good. More immigration is better. There is no distinction between legal and illegal varieties of immigration. If you disagree with this you are a white nationalist. That's what they've said almost every day for the past two years. We've watched carefully and so have you. Now, here, completely out of the blue comes the man they despise most in the world, Donald J. Trump, offering them the one thing they want more than anything, more immigrants, immediately, delivered right to their door at federal expense. Well, it must have been like Christmas morning. You think you're getting another pair of socks and there it is, a pony, tethered to your mailbox, holy smokes, amazing, best day of your life. That's not how they responded.

The left wasn't happy about Trump's offer, they were shocked, and they were completely enraged. You know what this is, they said? It's dumping, they said. Dumping, like what you do with garbage or used truck tires in the woods. The headline of Mother Jones read "Donald Trump Wants To Dump Asylum Seekers On The Streets Of Democratic Cities." "Bussing people," wrote "The Washington Post's" Greg Miller, "to dump them in cities. Just to punish political rivals." In the view of Harry Siegel of the Daily Beast, the "White House wanted to dump refugees in sanctuary cities." He called that idea "nasty."

Almost simultaneously, as if in concert, both CNN and MSNBC ran headlines accusing the White House of dumping immigrants into cities. What's the message the left is sending us, that immigrants are trash? Something you drop off as a cruel prank like a flaming bag of dog waste? If you wanted to defile someone's city, you "dump" immigrants on it? Whoa, that sounds a little, searching for the word here, racist, a lot racist actually.

But Nancy Pelosi agrees with it, in fact. She lives in one of these cities that might be "dumped" on. So she immediately issued a statement, quote, "the extent of this administration's cynicism and cruelty cannot be overstated. Using human beings, including little children, as pawns in their warped game to perpetuate fear and demonize immigrants is despicable."

Wait for a second, this is getting really confusing, it doesn't seem to make sense. How can the presence of immigrants, quote, "perpetuate fear"? Immigrants aren't dangerous, they told us that a thousand times, they're safer than you are. They're amazing, much more amazing than you are. Pelosi says that a lot. Why is it bad that Trump wants to send more immigrants to San Francisco. San Francisco is a sanctuary city, it's subverted federal law in the hope that more illegal immigrants would come there. Now they may be coming. But San Francisco is upset.

Well, say the news anchors, Trump's plan is illegal. You can't just send migrants to American cities, they tell us. There's a process. Really? Do the people of Lewiston, Maine go through the process when an entire population of Somalis was moved from a refugee camp in Kenya to their beleaguered city? Nope, no process, nobody asked them, the government just did it. Same thing happened in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, and countless other places across this country. That's how it always works. When you try to do the same thing to the city where Nancy Pelosi lives, it's, quote, "illegal."

This is getting confusing. Let's make it easier for everyone. Here's a list of neighborhoods that could use immediate refugee resettlement. These are affluent places, they're politically liberal, as most affluent places are. As a matter of policy and conviction, they love impoverished immigrants from abroad, but they just don't really have any yet. Let's change that.

First in line would be Beacon Hill in Boston. That neighborhood has a median income of over $120,000, more than double the national average. Strikingly it is not very diverse, so it would be of course greatly strengthened by thousands of migrants. As John Kerry, who lives in Beacon Hill warned us two years ago, quote, "fear of the outsider, fear of someone who isn't you, fear of someone who doesn't look like you is an attack on America itself." Whoa, that's heavy, let's stop that attack by sending half of the most recent migrant caravans to John Kerry's zip code. He will be thrilled. He will have to be thrilled.

Next, head to the Upper East Side of New York, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg still lives there, he loves poor immigrants. Unfortunately for him, virtually none of them actually live in his neighborhood, in a city where kids speak close to 200 different languages in the New York City public schools, Michael Bloomberg's zip code is shockingly lacking in diversity. Let's change that, shall we? While we're at it, let's integrate that city's two most famous private schools, Collegiate and Spence, one for boys and one for girls. Both of those schools are famously and rigorously progressive, they know diversity is our strength. But how many newly arrived Guatemalan immigrants have they enrolled this year? Not enough. Let's see if we can get that number to over 50% by September. Eisenhower did something similar at Central High School in Little Rock in 1956, let's see if Trump can do it with Collegiate and Spence.

Finally, we'll go to the Kalorama neighborhood right here in Washington, Barack Obama's neighborhood. As he once put it, we are a nation of immigrants, it's always given America a big advantage over other nations. That may be true and yet there are virtually no poor immigrants in Kalorama where he lives. What do you say we import a few thousand from the border tomorrow and drop them in? How could Obama say no? Of course he would say no. He would be livid, he would stop it. Nobody hates diversity more than rich liberals. The very people pushing it. Let's hope immigrants are watching this on TV and drawing their own conclusions. The left can say they love you, but if they don't want you in their neighborhood, going to school with their kids, they're lying.

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Proxy firms Glass Lewis, ISS back Allergan in fight against Appaloosa

Allergan ticker info and symbol are displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE
FILE PHOTO: Allergan ticker info and symbol are displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) April 6, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 15, 2019

By Manas Mishra

(Reuters) – Two major shareholder advisory firms urged investors to vote against billionaire investor David Tepper’s hedge fund demand that Allergan Plc immediately split the roles of chief executive officer and chairman, in a boost to the Botox maker.

The recommendation from Institutional Shareholder Services LP and Glass Lewis & Co against the proposal of Tepper’s Appaloosa gives firepower to Allergan Chairman and CEO Brent Saunders ahead of the drugmaker’s shareholder meeting on May 1.

“Their recommendations affirm our position that our plan to adopt separate Chair and CEO positions with the next leadership transition is the best approach for Allergan shareholders,” Allergan said in a statement.

However, an analyst said the recommendations were contrary to the views of many investors.

“This news is likely to frustrate a sizeable group of shareholders and we continue to await the result of the vote,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Randall Stanicky said.

Appaloosa has been pressing Allergan since last year to separate the two roles, and asked for an immediate split after Allergan said an independent member of its board would be chairman, but only at its next leadership change.

Both the proxy firms said that an immediate separation of the roles was not necessary.

“There are no significant concerns regarding the board’s current leadership structure sufficient to suggest that an immediate split of the CEO and chairman roles is warranted at this time rather than at the next CEO transition,” ISS was quoted as saying in the Allergan statement.

Appaloosa said ISS’ recommendations were “baffling” as they were inconsistent with the firm’s support for a similar proposal last year, and asked shareholders to vote for its proposal.

Allergan, under pressure to rescue the company’s falling stock prices, launched a review of its strategy last year. But that review is likely to result in the sale of its relatively small infectious disease unit.

Appaloosa has voiced its discontent with the results of the review, and has called for a breakup or sale of the company, citing recent clinical failures such as that of its depression treatment rapastinel.

Allergan’s shares have fallen about 12 percent in the past 12 months. They trade nearly 60 percent below their record high of $340.33 in 2015.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Source: OANN

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Michael Cohen prison date pushed back to May 6

A judge in New York on Wednesday agreed to postpone by two months the date that President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen has to surrender to authorities to serve his prison sentence.

New York Judge William Pauley approved the delay Wednesday after Cohen's lawyers said he needed more time to recover from shoulder surgery and prepare for congressional testimony. They noted prosecutors did not object.

TRUMP, GIULIANI DENY PRESIDENT TRIED OBSTRUCTING MICHAEL COHEN INVESTIGATION

“We thank the court for granting the postponement of Mr. Cohen’s surrender date to May 6,” Cohen’s lawyers said in a statement provided to Fox News.  “As we have previously stated, Mr. Cohen underwent serious shoulder surgery and this extra time allows Mr. Cohen to continue his physical therapy.  In addition, he will be able to prepare for the expected testimony next week before Congressional Committees, which he welcomes.”

Cohen pleaded guilty in November to campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress about Trump’s past business dealings in Russia. He was sentenced to three years behind bars and ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution and a $50,000 fine, and forfeit $500,000.

Trump’s former lawyer was originally scheduled to report to prison on March 6.

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Cohen is scheduled to testify before three congressional committees this month, after numerous delays from his lawyers citing Cohen’s ongoing cooperation in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and threats allegedly brought against his family.

Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that Trump asked then-Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker whether U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, a presidential ally, could be put in charge of the investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Cohen. Trump’s current personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, denied the report.

Fox News’ Tamara Gitt and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Disney’s ‘Lion King’ remake roars to life with new trailer

FILE PHOTO: The cast of The Lion King performs the opening number at the 62nd Annual Tony Awards in New York
FILE PHOTO: The cast of "The Lion King" performs the opening number at the 62nd Annual Tony Awards in New York, June 15, 2008. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn/File Photo

April 10, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – With stunning scenery of Africa and some talking wildlife, Disney dropped its first full length trailer for its realistic-looking remake of “The Lion King” on Wednesday, offering a glimpse of the highly anticipated film.

The new movie, made with computer-generated imagery, follows the plot of the Oscar winning 1994 animation about lion cub Simba, who flees his kingdom after his villainous uncle Scar connives to take his father Mufasa’s place as king.

It boasts a voice cast that includes music star Beyonce and actors Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Seth Rogen and James Earl Jones, who voiced Mufasa in the 1994 version.

Counting down 100 days until the film’s July release, the trailer begins with Scar, surrounded by hyenas, telling Simba: “Life’s not fair, is it, my little friend? While some are born to feast, others spend their lives in the dark, begging for scraps.”

Under 2 minutes long, it shows off the Pride Rock setting, with glimpses of Simba’s childhood friend and love interest Nala as well as new pals Timon and Pumbaa. As well as Scar, Mufasa’s voice is also heard in the trailer.

“The Lion King” was an instant hit with audiences around the world when it was released, and a hugely successful musical theater version still runs on New York’s Broadway and in London.

The new trailer, which follows a first look of the film in November, garnered nearly 1.5 million views in the first two hours after it was posted on Disney’s Twitter feed.

The film is the latest Disney remake to hit screens this year. It is directed by Jon Favreau, who was behind the 2016 remake of “The Jungle Book”.

(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: OANN

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Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said Tuesday that a detailed plan for a merit-based immigration system will be presented to President Trump, giving priority to skilled immigrants rather than those with family ties to the U.S.

“I do believe that the president’s position on immigration has been maybe defined by his opponents by what he’s against as opposed to what he’s for,” Kushner said at the Time 100 Summit in New York City. “What I’ve done is I’ve tried to put together a very detailed proposal for him.”

KUSHNER: RUSSIA INVESTIGATION HAD ‘HARSHER IMPACT’ ON US THAN ELECTION MEDDLING

Kushner announced that the new immigration proposal, which Trump will receive this week or next, will resemble the point-based systems in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and will unify people by ensuring strong wages and secure borders while protecting humanitarian values.

“We want to protect our country’s humanitarian values. We want to make sure we’re reunifying families, and we want to do this in a way that allows our country to be competitive long term,” he said. “And my hope is we can really do something that unifies people around what we’re for on immigration.”

“We want to protect our country’s humanitarian values. We want to make sure we’re reunifying families, and we want to do this in a way that allows our country to be competitive long term. And my hope is we can really do something that unifies people around what we’re for on immigration.”

— Jared Kushner

JARED KUSHNER RESPONDS AFTER HASAN MINHAJ CALLS OUT HIS TIES TO SAUDI PRINCE

Kushner denied in the same talk that he has clashed with White House staffer Stephen Miller, who’s seen as tougher on immigration than others, adding that the plan was concocted with the help of Miller and Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

“And I say that If that if I can get Stephen Miller and Kevin Hassett to agree on an immigration plan, then Middle East peace will be easy by comparison,” Kushner joked, referring to the Israel-Palestine peace plan he’s working on.

“And I say that If that if I can get Stephen Miller and Kevin Hassett to agree on an immigration plan, then Middle East peace will be easy by comparison.”

— Jared Kushner

After the plan gets presented to Trump, it will likely undergo some changes and then he will decide when to proceed with it, Kushner said.

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“It’s very, very complicated, but it’s a very interesting issue, and if we can solve it, I do think it’s a critical component for America’s long-term competitive advantage,” he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday said his government must make men aware of the dangers of poor hygiene after expressing dismay over the 1,000 penis amputations that apparently occur in his country each year.

“In Brazil, we have 1,000 penis amputations a year due to a lack of water and soap,” he said while speaking to reporters in Brasilia after visiting the Education Ministry. “We have to find a way to get out of the bottom of this hole.”

The far-right leader called the figure “ridiculous and sad,” Reuters reported. A spokeswoman for the Brazilian urology society told the news agency the number is based on its official data for penis amputations.

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The amputations were conducted out of necessity over untreated infections, along with complications from HIV and various cancers, she said.

Source: Fox News World

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A top Russian diplomat says Russia is willing to negotiate a new nuclear weapons treaty with the United States and China.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Friday Moscow is closely following reports in the United States that the U.S. would like to reach a nuclear weapons deal with both Russia and China, and is “willing” to negotiate. The story was reported by CNN earlier Friday.

Ryabkov also said that Russia “would like to convince” the U.S. to adopt a joint statement that would condemn any use of nuclear weapons.

Ryabkov’s comments come just months after the U.S. withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a cornerstone of the post-Cold War security, and Russia followed suit. Each claims breaches by the other.

Source: Fox News National

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Government dysfunction and an intelligence failure that preceded the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka are traced to simmering divisions between the president and prime minister after a weekslong political crisis that crippled the country last year.

The government has admitted to a “lapse of intelligence” after officials failed to act upon near-specific information received from foreign agencies. Suicide bombers exploded themselves last Sunday in three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 253 people and wounding 400 more. Authorities said eight Muslim militants blew themselves up at their targets while the wife of one of the attackers blasted herself on being rounded up by police.

The carnage has brought forth arguments that worshippers and holidaymakers fell victim to the rivalry and a lack of communication between the country’s two leaders — President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Cabinet led by Wickremesinghe says neither he nor his ministers were informed of the intelligence received by the defense authorities. Sirisena is the head of state, defense minister, minister in charge of the police and head of the armed forces. He also chairs the National Security Council, which includes the heads of security agencies and departments. Traditionally the prime minister also plays an important role on the council.

According to Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Sirisena has not included Wickremesinghe in national security affairs since a dispute between them came into the open in October last year. This is an unusual departure from the protocol, he said.

Senaratne said that Sirisena was overseas when the attacks took place and even after that, the National Security Council refused to meet with Wickremesinghe as he tried to give them instructions.

Sirisena has also said that he was not informed of the intelligence received and vowed to overhaul the leadership of the defense forces.

The top bureaucrat at the Defense Ministry, Hemasiri Fernando, has resigned at Sirisena’s insistence.

“It is a major factor,” said Jehan Perera, the head of local activist group National Peace Council, referring to the alleged lack of coordination between the leaders contributing to the failure to prevent the attacks.

“The primary responsibility has to be taken by the president, he did not give the information and he did not act,” Perera said. “He had the Ministry of Defense, took the police from the prime minister, chaired the National Security Council meetings and did nothing,” Perera said.

Kusal Perera, a journalist and political commentator, says security and intelligence officials should have acted on the information whether or not they received orders from politicians.

“If they (Wickremesinghe and his party) were not invited to the National Security Council, why did not they say in Parliament that they were not responsible for the security of the country any longer,” said Perera, who is not related to Jehan Perera.

“Saying that now is taking political advantage, not taking responsibility,” he said.

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe belong to different political parties but came together for Sirisena’s presidential campaign in 2015. Their relationships broke down and their differences exploded last year when Sirisena suddenly sacked Wickremesinghe as prime minister and appointed in his place former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom he defeated in the presidential election. The crisis crippled the country for more than seven weeks to the point of not being able to pass this year’s national budget on time.

A court decision compelled Sirisena to reappoint Wickremesinghe, but the two leaders have been rivals within the same government.

Rajapaksa, who is the minority leader in Parliament, blames the government for weakening intelligence and dropping its guard, which he had maintained to defeat the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels 10 years ago to end the 26-year-old civil war. He also criticized the government for the detention of intelligence officers accused of extrajudicial killings and abductions during the closing days of the war, which he said crippled the security apparatus before the bombings. According to conservative U.N estimates, some 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka’s conflict.

Sirisena summoned an all-party conference Thursday to which Wickremesinghe was also invited. At the conference, Sirisena stressed “setting aside all the political beliefs and difference (so that) everybody should collectively commit towards building a peaceful environment within the country,” a statement from his office said.

“It is not a secret that the disagreements between me and the government aggravated over the past two years,” Sirisena told the country’s media executives Friday. “One of the reasons for that is weakening of military intelligence and arresting military officials unnecessarily and my speaking up against it within and outside the government.”

Jehan Perera said that the security threat could prove politically advantageous to Rajapaksa and his family, with a presidential election scheduled at the end of this year. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a younger brother of Mahinda, was the powerful defense secretary during his brother’s reign and has expressed his interest to join the contest.

“People are saying we want a stronger leader and they are talking about Gotabhaya. It (the blasts) has worked to their benefit,” Perera said.

Source: Fox News World

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Cyprus police are intensifying a search for the remains of more victims at locations where an army officer, who authorities say admitted to killing five women and two girls, allegedly had dumped their bodies.

Police said Friday’s search will concentrate on a military firing range, a reservoir and a man-made lake near an abandoned mine approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Nicosia.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old suspect told investigators that he had killed four more people than he had previously admitted to. All the suspect’s alleged victims are foreign nationals.

Police have already found the bodies of a 38-year-old Filipino woman and two as yet unidentified women.

Search crews are now looking for the daughter of the 38-year-old, a Romanian mother and daughter and another Filipino woman.

Source: Fox News World

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