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Man charged with Slovak journalist’s murder confesses to shooting him: TV

FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators take part in a protest rally marking the first anniversary of the murder of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova in Bratislava
FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators take part in a protest rally marking the first anniversary of the murder of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova in Bratislava, Slovakia, February 21, 2019. REUTERS/David W. Cerny/File Photo

April 11, 2019

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) – A man charged with Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak’s murder has confessed to shooting him, Slovak public television RTVS and the aktualne.sk news website reported on Thursday, quoting police sources.

The killing last year of Kuciak, a reporter covering corruption, and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, sparked massive protests that led to the resignation of the prime minister, Robert Fico.

(Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: OANN

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Report: Nearly 100K Undocumented Students Graduate From US High Schools Annually

Nearly 100,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools every year without access to DACA protections, resulting in limited job opportunities and access to higher education, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the Migration Policy Institute.

MPI, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., pulled from census data for its report.

Congress has yet to act on bills that would offer a pathway to legal status for those graduates despite efforts by lawmakers dating back to 2001.

And under President Donald Trump, no new applications are being accepted for DACA, which allows college and work opportunities for children without fear of deportation.

Former President Barack Obama launched the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012, and as of January, almost 700,000 young immigrants had benefited from it.

“Those two combined factors really opened up opportunities for them to work in more interesting and well-paid, stable jobs and they didn’t have to be watching over their shoulders,” said Jeanne Batalova, who co-authored the Migration Policy Institute report. “It also gave confidence to employers that these are workers that they could confidently hire and invest in because their status is solid.”

In 2017, the Trump administration tried to end DACA but was stopped by federal courts. Current recipients can renew their applications every two years.

Of the 98,000 high school graduates, 44% of them reside in California and Texas. The number of graduates rose from 65,000 in 2003.

Source: NewsMax America

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The Latest: Neighbors rarely saw kids in Arizona abuse case

The Latest on an Arizona woman arrested on allegations of abusing adopted children (all times local):

2:15 p.m.

A neighbor of an Arizona woman accused of abusing her seven adopted children says the kids appeared unhappy one of the few times she saw them.

Sarisa Fragua, who lives two doors down from the Maricopa home of 48-year-old Machelle Hobson, said Wednesday that she rarely saw the woman or the children.

But last summer, Fragua says one of the woman's adult sons was filming a video with the children on a pathway behind her backyard.

According to Fragua, the children seemed withdrawn anytime they weren't being filmed. She thought it was odd but never saw anything that seemed abusive.

Authorities say Hobson used pepper spray to discipline the children and locked them inside a closet for days.

The children appear in a popular series of videos on the YouTube channel.

___

1:20 p.m.

The Arizona Department of Child Safety says it removed the children from the home of a woman with a popular YouTube channel who was arrested on suspicion of abusing her seven adopted kids.

The state agency said it took the children from 48-year-old Machelle Hobson's home Thursday, one day before her arrest. It cited confidentiality laws in declining to answer questions about Hobson, including whether it had prior contacts with her or prior complaints.

Hobson's last name was initially listed in court records as Hackney, but the Pinal County Attorney's Office says it has since been corrected.

Hobson's channel has millions of views. She also has related Instagram and Facebook accounts.

A police report released Wednesday says the children say they were disciplined with pepper spray or locked in a closet without food or water if they did not perform in the videos as directed.

It's not known if Hobson has an attorney.

___

This story corrects arrested woman's last name to Hobson.

___

11:25 a.m.

A YouTube channel of an Arizona woman arrested on suspicion of abusing her seven adopted children shows them in simple skits about a kid stealing cookies or a little boy with super powers.

The channel that authorities say 48-year-old Machelle Hobson runs has millions of views. She also has related Instagram and Facebook accounts.

A police report released Wednesday says the children say they were disciplined with pepper spray or locked in a closet without food or water if they did not perform in the videos as directed.

Two adult sons of Hobson were arrested on allegations of failing to report child abuse.

Hobson and the two grown sons remained in jail on Wednesday. It was unknown if any of the three have attorneys.

___

9:20 a.m.

Arizona authorities say two adult sons of a woman arrested on allegations of using pepper spray to discipline her seven younger adopted children are being held on suspicion of failing to report abuse of a minor.

A police statement released Wednesday says Logan and Ryan Hackney were booked into jail.

Authorities said their mother Machelle Hobson disciplined the adopted children by locking them in a closet for days without food, water or bathroom access. The kids were featured on her popular YouTube channel.

A police report says officers arriving at the house in the small city of Maricopa south of Phoenix found six of the children appeared malnourished and underweight.

It was not immediately clear if the 48-year-old mother or her two grown sons had an attorney.

___

8 a.m.

Arizona authorities say a woman has been arrested on allegations of using pepper spray to discipline her seven adopted children and locking them for days inside a closet.

A police report says Machelle Hobson's adopted children had no food, water or access to a bathroom for days while inside the closet at her home in the small city of Maricopa south of Phoenix.

The report says that officers who went to the house last week reported that six of the children appeared malnourished and underweight.

Hobson was being held at the Pinal County Jail on suspicion of two counts of molestation of a child, seven counts of child abuse and five counts of unlawful imprisonment and child neglect.

It was unclear Tuesday whether 48-year-old Hobson had a lawyer.

Source: Fox News National

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Social Security Won’t Fund Full Payouts by 2035

Last year, the Social Security and Medicare trustees warned that the programs are going broke. A year later — they’re still going broke.

Social Security will dip begin dipping into reserves in order to pay out benefits next year and those reserves will run dry in 2035, according to the annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report that was released Monday.

When reserves dry up, the system will no longer be able to pay full benefits.

Analysts project Social Security’s expenses will exceed revenues as early as next year, according to the report. That means the program will have to begin spending money held in its trust fund in order to meet its obligations. While the Social Security administration has dipped into reserves before, analysts project this is the beginning of a long-term trend with no sign of reversal.

“Social Security will pay out more than it takes in next year and every year going forward,” Peterson Foundation chief Michael Peterson told reporters. “That’s the definition of unsustainable.”

According to the Social Security Administration, it will only be able to meet about 80% of benefits payable once money in the trust fund is spent.

The Social Security program uses payroll taxes paid into the system by current workers and employers to cover retirees’ benefits. The Social Security Administration invests the surplus into the mythical the trust fund. Interest earned is reinvested in the fund. Over time, the trust fund has grown to nearly $3 trillion. But once the system starts spending the principle in the trust fund, it will rapidly deplete.

And of course, the money in the trust fund doesn’t actually exist. It is in the form of Treasurys – US government debt. In other words, the federal government owes the trust fund the money that is supposedly in the “lockbox.” This accounts for the federal government’s unfunded liabilities we often hear about. According to the recently released Financial Report of the US Government, the government estimates Social Security’s long-term funding gap to be a mind-blowing $53.8 trillion.


Jake Lloyd breaks down the conditioning and social engineering tactics perpetrated on the public with the intent to breed controllable submissive masses.

Medicare is in even worse shape. The program’s hospital insurance trust fund is expected to run out of money in just seven years — 2026.

Both Medicare and Social Security suffer from the same fundamental economic problem. The nation’s population is aging, pushing up the costs of both Social Security and Medicare. Meanwhile, a shrinking labor force and lagging economy mean less money flowing into the system.

Of course, this is what eventually happens with every Ponzi scheme. And make no mistake, both of these programs are quintessential Ponzi schemes. They depend on current contributors to pay the obligations to those who got into the scheme earlier. This works fine until the number of new people coming into the scheme starts to taper off.

(Photo by Jericho / Wiki)

At the end of 2018, Social Security about 67 million Americans were receiving Social Security payments.

In 2017, there were 2.8 workers for every Social Security recipient. That was down from 3.3 in 2007. If you go back to 1995, there were 4.9 workers for every retiree.

Politicians seem uninterested in addressing the problem. The Social Security and Medicare trustees issues these warnings year after year. Nobody seems to want to grapple with the fact that if Congress doesn’t act, Social Security and Medicare benefits will be cut. And the only way to fix the problem is to cut future benefits, or raise taxes — neither popular options.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans are depending on Social Security to fund their retirement. One-third of Americans have less than $5,000 in retirement savings. According to a Gallup poll, a majority of current retirees – 58% – say they rely on Social Security to get by.

Maybe this isn’t the best plan.


Alex Jones breaks down the true origins of ‘Earth Day’ and lays out how the Globalists are planning on fueling phony outrage about environmental conservation to usher in their technocratic control system over every nation of the world.

Source: InfoWars

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UK LibDem leader Cable to step down after local elections in May: Daily Mail

British politician Vince Cable crosses the road outside the Palace of Westminster in London
British politician Vince Cable crosses the road outside the Palace of Westminster in London, Britain, December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Phil Noble

March 14, 2019

(Reuters) – British lawmaker Vince Cable, the leader of the pro-EU Liberal Democrats, will step down as the leader of his party after local elections in May, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.

Cable, who previously intended to step down after Brexit was resolved, said in an interview with the British newspaper that “It now looks as if it (Brexit) will be a protracted process, and may never happen”.

He will continue as a member of the British parliament, the Daily Mail added.

(Reporting by Ishita Chigilli Palli in Bengaluru; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Source: OANN

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Trump says he would be disappointed if North Korea resumed testing

U.S. President Trump departs for Alabama from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump reacts while talking to reporters as he departs to visit storm-hit areas of Alabama from the White House in Washington, U.S., March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

March 9, 2019

By Roberta Rampton and David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would be disappointed if Pyongyang were to resume weapons testing and reiterated his belief in his good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un despite the collapse last week of their second summit.

“I would be surprised in a negative way if he did anything that was not per our understanding. But we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I would be very disappointed if I saw testing.”

Trump’s comments came after two U.S. think tanks and Seoul’s spy agency said this week that North Korea was rebuilding a rocket launch site at Sohae in the west of the country.

There have also been reports from South Korea’s intelligence service of new activity at a factory at Sanumdong near Pyongyang that produced North Korea’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.

On Friday, U.S. National Public Radio quoted experts from California’s Middlebury Institute of International Studies as saying that satellite images of Sanumdong taken on Feb. 22 and on Friday suggested North Korea could be preparing to launch a missile or a space rocket.

One of the experts, Jeffrey Lewis, told Reuters the activity at the two sites was “probably connected.” NPR said the Feb. 22 photos showed cars, trucks, rail cars and two cranes at Sanumdong, while in those taken on Friday, the activity had died down and one of the cranes had disappeared.

Other experts, including Joel Wit at 38 North and Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies considered the conclusion speculative.

“In the past there have been multiple reports about activity at this place that turned out to be false alarms,” Wit said, referring to Sanumdong. “It could either be preparation for an eventual launch or not.”

The White House, State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

North Korea has frozen nuclear and missile testing since 2017, and Trump has pointed to this as a positive outcome from nearly a year of high-level engagement with North Korea.

Sohae has been used in the past to test missile engines and to launch rockets that U.S. officials say have helped development of North Korea’s weapons programs. A senior U.S. State Department official said on Thursday that any launch from there would be “inconsistent” with North Korean commitments.

Kim pledged at a first summit with Trump in Singapore in June that the engine test site and launch platform at Sohae would be dismantled. He repeated the pledge in a summit with the South Korean president in September.

Trump said he thought his and the U.S. relationship with Kim and North Korea was “a very good one.”

“I think it remains good,” he said.

SUMMIT COLLAPSE

Trump has been eager for a big foreign policy win on North Korea which has eluded his predecessors for decades and has repeatedly stressed his good relationship with Kim.

He went as far late last year as saying that they “fell in love,” but the bonhomie has failed to bridge the wide gap between the two sides and a second summit between them collapsed last week in Vietnam over differences on U.S. demands for Kim to give up his nuclear weapons and North Korea’s demands for sanctions relief.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton and other U.S. officials have sought to play down the developments spotted at Sohae, although Trump on Thursday called recent North Korean activity “disappointing.”

The senior State Department official who briefed reporters in Washington on Thursday said he would “not necessarily share the conclusion” of the think tanks that the Sohae site was operational again, but said any use of the site would be seen as “backsliding” on commitments to Trump.

North Korean state media acknowledged the fruitless Hanoi summit for the first time on Friday, saying people were blaming the United States for the lack of an agreement.

“The public at home and abroad that had hoped for success and good results from the second … summit in Hanoi are feeling regretful, blaming the U.S. for the summit that ended without an agreement,” its Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary.

The paper directed fiery rhetoric against Japan, accusing it of being “desperate to interrupt” relations between Pyongyang and Washington and “applauding” the breakdown of the summit.

Washington has said it is open to more talks with North Korea but it has rejected an incremental approach to negotiations sought by Pyongyang and it remains unclear when the two sides might meet again.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday he was hopeful he would send a delegation to North Korea for more talks in the next couple of weeks, but that he had received “no commitment yet.”

The senior State Department official who briefed reporters on Thursday said the United States was keen to resume talks as soon as possible, but North Korea’s negotiators needed to be given more latitude than they were given ahead of the summit.

“There will necessarily need to be a period of reflection here. Both sides are going to have to digest the outcome to the summit,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Fundamentally, where we really need to see the progress, and we need to see it soon, is on meaningful and verifiable steps on denuclearization. That’s our goal and that’s how we see these negotiations picking up momentum.”

The official said complete denuclearization was the condition for North Korea’s integration into the global economy, a transformed relationship with the United States and a permanent peace regime on the Korean peninsula.

Bolton, a hard-liner who has argued for a tough approach to North Korea, said this week that Trump was open to more talks, but also warned of tougher sanctions if North Korea did not denuclearize.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton, David Brunnstrom, Lisa Lambert and Susan Heavey in Washington and Hyonhee Shin, Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park in Seoul; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)

Source: OANN

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Lawyer's office shot at after cop's acquittal in teen death

Gunshots were fired overnight through the window of the attorney who defended a white police officer acquitted Friday in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager.

But police around Pittsburgh said there were otherwise no reports of arrests or property damage following the verdict that left Antwon Rose II's family distraught but not surprised at the jury's decision, they said.

Patrick Thomassey told WTAE-TV he was called after midnight about the shots fired into the Monroeville building. He said he wasn't hurt and found three or four bullet holes.

Former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld was charged with homicide for shooting Antwon Rose II in the back as the 17-year-old ran away from a high-stakes traffic stop last June. But Rosfeld walked out of the courtroom a free man Friday after jurors rejected the prosecution's argument that he acted as Rose's "judge, jury and executioner," in the words of an assistant district attorney.

"I hope that man never sleeps at night," Rose's mother, Michelle Kenney, said of Rosfeld, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I hope he gets as much sleep as I do, which is none."

The verdict leaves Rose's family to pursue the federal civil rights lawsuit they filed last August against Rosfeld and East Pittsburgh, a small municipality about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from downtown Pittsburgh.

Rose's death — one of many high-profile killings of black men and teens by white police officers in recent years — spurred angry protests in the Pittsburgh area last year, including a late-night march that shut down a major highway.

The reaction was measured after Friday night's verdict, with a small group of chanting protesters briefly blocking intersections and entering hotels. Pittsburgh police tweeted the "peaceful demonstration" had resulted in rolling, temporary road closures.

So far Saturday, no protests were seen in the streets.

Rose was riding in an unlicensed taxi that had been involved in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier when Rosfeld pulled the car over and shot the 17-year-old in the back, arm and side of the face as he ran away. The former officer told jurors he thought Rose or another suspect had a gun pointed at him, insisting he fired his weapon to protect himself and the community. Neither teen was holding one when Rosfeld opened fire, though two guns were later found in the car.

Rose "posed no threat whatsoever to Rosfeld or others," said the family's lawyer, Fred Rabner. "Make no mistake, there is nothing reasonable or appropriate about the manner Officer Rosfeld took Antwon's life."

The panel of seven men and five women — including three black jurors — saw video of the fatal confrontation, which showed Rose falling to the ground after being hit. The acquittal came after fewer than four hours of deliberations on the fourth day of the trial.

Defense lawyer Patrick Thomassey told reporters that Rosfeld is "a good man. He said to me many times, 'Patrick, this has nothing to do with the kid's color. I was doing what I was trained to do.'"

Thomassey said he hoped the city remained calm, and "everybody takes a deep breath and gets on with their lives."

Michelle Kenney, Rose's mother, said she was upset but unsurprised by the verdict, given other cases in which police officers have either avoided charges or won acquittals in similar shootings.

"It isn't what I hoped for, but it's what I expected," she said, adding she feels her son ended up dead because he was black.

At trial, the prosecution and the defense sparred over whether Rosfeld — who'd worked for the East Pittsburgh Police Department for only a few weeks and was officially sworn in just hours before the fatal shooting — was justified in using lethal force.

Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Fodi declared in his closing argument that Rosfeld had acted as "judge, jury and executioner," and the video evidence showed "there was no threat" to the officer.

"We don't shoot first and ask questions later," the prosecutor added.

But a defense expert testified Rosfeld was within his rights to use deadly force to stop suspects he thought had been involved in a shooting. Prosecutors did not call their own use-of-force expert.

"The prosecution's handling of this case, particularly the decision not to call a police expert, raises many questions," said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

Rose had been riding in the front seat of the cab when another occupant, Zaijuan Hester, in the back, rolled down a window and shot at two men on the street, hitting one in the abdomen. A few minutes later, Rosfeld spotted their car, which had its rear windshield shot out, and pulled it over. Rosfeld ordered the driver to the ground, but Rose and another passenger jumped out and began running away. Rosfeld fired three times in quick succession.

The defense said the shooting was justified because Rosfeld believed he was in danger and couldn't wait for other officers to get there.

"He's a sitting duck," Thomassey told jurors in his closing argument, asking them to consider "the standard of what a reasonable police officer would do under the circumstances."

Hester, 18, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated assault and firearms violations. Hester told a judge that he, not Rose, did the shooting.

Prosecutors had charged Rosfeld with an open count of homicide, meaning the jury had the option of convicting him of murder or manslaughter. The prosecution said Rosfeld gave inconsistent statements about the shooting, including whether he thought Rose was armed.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania contributed to this story.

Source: Fox News National

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Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela April 8, 2019. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s foreign minister and a Venezuelan judge, according to a statement on the department’s website.

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and a judge, Carol Padilla, were targeted over the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Treasury Department said, the latest in a list of officials blacklisted by U.S. authorities for their role in President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Makini Brice and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.

He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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A bedridden 67-year-old woman and more than a dozen animals were rescued Thursday after a welfare check found that they were living in a home filled with trash, urine, and feces, Florida police said.

Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said when they arrived at the home in Dunedin around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, they could smell the odor of rotting trash and animal feces as they walked up to the driveway.

“Inside the residence, the odor of feces and urine was so overwhelming that deputies had to don masks,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

FLORIDA SHERIFF ON BORDER CRISIS AFTER MAJOR DRUG BUST: ‘IT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’

Walking throughout the residence, the deputies found 10 emaciated dogs and puppies living in bins filled with their own feces, five large Macaw birds flying freely, rats, bugs and overall squalor.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces.

Puppies discovered living in their own feces inside a Florida home that was filled with trash, urine, and feces. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

Deputies said due to the large amounts of trash in the home, they had to clear a path to reach the victim’s bedroom.

“None of the home’s toilets were working and all were found to be overflowing with feces,” deputies said. “The only working sink was located on the opposite end of the house from the victim’s bedroom.”

They said there was no food or water for the victim or the animals.

FLORIDA MAN IN EASTER BUNNY COSTUME CAUGHT IN VIRAL BRAWL IS WANTED IN NEW JERSEY, HAS HISTORY OF ARRESTS

The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that were non-life threatening, while the animals were transported to shelters.

The woman’s caretaker, Richard Lawrence Goodwin, 65, was arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of an elderly person, disabled person, and cruelty to animals.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions.

Richard Goodwin, 69, was arrested for abuse and neglect of an elderly and disabled person after deputies found she was living in deplorable conditions. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)

The sheriff’s department said this was Goodwin’s second arrest for abuse and neglect of the same victim. He was previously arrested in May 2018.

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Neighbor Victoria Muenzerbeer told FOX 13 that Goodwin and the victim were hoarders and the conditions inside the home were horrible years ago when she visited once.

“I went in and it was absolutely, a human being couldn’t live there,” she said. “The kitchen wasn’t usable and part of the wall was falling in.”

Source: Fox News National

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Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.

Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.

Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.

He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.

He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.

“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.

Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.

Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.

But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.

Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.

With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.

The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.

Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.

“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.

According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.

Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.

However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.

Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.

FOREX SURCHARGE

Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.

Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.

Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.

But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.

Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.

The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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