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Madoff trustee can pursue lawsuits against Koch, banks, others

SIPA Trustee Picard speaks during a news conference in New York, announcing the return of $7.2 billion from the estate of Madoff insider Picower to settle civil claims for victims of Madoff's ponzi scheme
FILE PHOTO: Irving Picard speaks as Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (L) looks on during a news conference in New York, December 17, 2010. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

February 25, 2019

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. federal appeals court said the trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff’s firm may pursue dozens of lawsuits to recoup funds from defendants including Koch Industries Inc, long controlled by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, and major banks.

Monday’s decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned November 2016 dismissals by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein in Manhattan.

It gives the trustee Irving Picard a chance to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the $13.36 billion he has recouped for former customers of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

The trustee has estimated that the customers lost $17.5 billion in Madoff’s fraud, which was uncovered in December 2008.

Picard had sued Koch, HSBC Holdings Plc, UBS AG and others in 88 lawsuits to recoup funds traceable to the imprisoned swindler, but which had been sent outside the United States.

The lawsuits targeted foreign entities that had received Madoff-linked money from other foreign transferees, including “feeder funds” that sent client money to Madoff.

Writing for a three-judge panel on Monday, Circuit Judge Richard Wesley said the later transfers qualified as domestic because the money originally came from Madoff’s firm.

He said comity, or the need to let other countries enforce their own laws, and the presumption that U.S. bankruptcy law did not reach foreign activity should not block the lawsuits.

“Congress wanted these claims resolved in the United States, rather than through piecemeal proceedings around the world,” Wesley wrote.

The defendants had accused Picard of pursuing a “radical expansion of the reach of U.S. law.” Their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

David Sheehan, a lawyer for Picard, said the decision protects victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and recognizes the “compelling” U.S. interest in letting domestic bankruptcy estates recover fraudulently transferred property.

Sheehan and Picard are partners at the law firm Baker & Hostetler.

Picard had sued Koch to recoup $21.53 million allegedly sent by Madoff to Fairfield Sentry, a British Virgin Islands-based feeder fund, and then to a Koch entity in Great Britain.

The trustee did not allege wrongdoing by Koch, a privately held industrial conglomerate based in Wichita, Kansas.

Charles and David Koch are each worth $51.9 billion, and tied as the world’s 10th-richest people, Forbes magazine said. David Koch stepped down from Koch Industries last year because of health issues.

Madoff, 80, is serving a 150-year prison term in a medium-security North Carolina prison.

The case is In re: Picard, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 17-2992.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Tom Brown and Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Mediaset to make decision on pan-European TV project by July 25 board meeting: CEO

Mediaset's Chief Executive Pier Silvio Berlusconi speaks after media conference at the headquarter in Cologno Monzese, near Milan
FILE PHOTO: Mediaset's Chief Executive Pier Silvio Berlusconi speaks after media conference at the headquarter in Cologno Monzese, near Milan, Italy, April 8, 2016. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

April 18, 2019

By Giancarlo Navach

COLOGNO MONZESE, Italy (Reuters) – Italy’s Mediaset will make a decision on a possible pan-European free-to-air television alliance by the time of a July 25 board meeting, its chief executive said on Thursday.

The board meeting had already been scheduled to review the broadcaster’s decision not to pay a dividend for 2018.

The broadcaster, owned by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s holding company Fininvest, has in recent months repeatedly raised the idea of creating a pan-European TV player to fend off competition from established rivals and new entrants.

Speaking to reporters after the group’s annual general meeting, CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi, who is the son of the former premier, said there were several options for Mediaset’s pan-European project.

“Once we have all the elements, we’ll understand how to go about this,” he said.

Most recently, speculation has intensified that Mediaset and German rival ProSiebenSat.1 Media could strike a deal, but the two companies denied last Saturday a press report that they were in merger talks.

Mediaset’s Chief Financial Officer Marco Giordani told the shareholder meeting there were currently no plans to expand in Germany with ProSiebenSat.

Like other European free-to-air broadcasters, Mediaset is suffering competition from internet giants such as Google and Facebook in the advertising market and is struggling to keep up with investments in content production by video-streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

France’s largest private TV broadcaster, TF1 has also been mentioned in the press as a possible partner for Mediaset, though the company said last September it was not discussing a major cross-border deal with its Italian rival.

Thursday’s shareholder meeting approved a loyalty share scheme that rewards longer-term investors with additional votes under an Italian law that is traditionally used by controlling shareholders to strengthen their grip on companies. Fininvest currently owns 44 percent of Mediaset.

Under the new scheme, investors will have two voting rights for each share held for at least 24 straight months.

Mediaset has been embroiled in a legal battle with hostile shareholder Vivendi, the French media conglomerate controlled by billionaire Vincent Bollore, since 2016 when Vivendi pulled out of a deal to buy Mediaset’s pay-TV unit.

After the failed pay-TV sale, Vivendi built a stake of 29 percent in Mediaset but was later forced by Italian regulators to transfer most of its voting rights into a trust because of antitrust concerns. Vivendi is also the top shareholder in Telecom Italia.

As Mediaset considers Vivendi’s stake illegitimate, its board rejected requests from both the French group and the trust in which it has transferred most of its stake to vote at Thursday’s shareholder meeting.

Vivendi said in a statement that it could challenge the validity of the decisions approved by the meeting.

(Writing by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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The Latest: Venezuela’s Guaidó recognizes risk of arrest

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

10:10 p.m.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó says he knows he runs the risk of being arrested for pushing to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

But a defiant Guaidó said Tuesday that he is undeterred. The 35-year-old opposition leader spoke publicly moments after an assembly loyal to Maduro stripped him of his immunity from prosecution.

The move by the National Constituent Assembly paves the way for his prosecution and potential arrest for supposedly violating the constitution when he declared himself interim president.

Guaidó has backing from more than 50 nations, including the United States, which reject Maduro as illegitimately elected.

Maduro blames Washington for trying to install a puppet government to seize Venezuela's vast oil reserves.

___

8 p.m.

Maduro loyalists stripped Venezuela's Juan Guaidó of immunity Tuesday, paving the way for the opposition leader's prosecution and potential arrest for supposedly violating the constitution when he declared himself interim president.

But whether the government of President Nicolas Maduro will take action against the 35-year-old lawmaker remains unclear. Guaidó has embarked on an international campaign to topple the president's socialist administration amid deepening social unrest in the country plagued by nearly a month of power outages.

He declared himself Venezuela's interim president in January, and vowed to overthrow Maduro. So far, however, Maduro has avoided jailing the man that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and roughly 50 other nations recognize as Venezuela's legitimate leader.

The Trump administration has threatened the Maduro government with a strong response if Guaido is harmed and Florida Senator Marco Rubio — who has Trump's ear on Venezuela policy — said before the vote that nations recognizing Guaidó as his country's legitimate leader should take any attempt by Maduro's government to "abduct" him as a coup.

"And anyone who cooperates with this should be treated as a coup plotter & dealt with accordingly," Rubio said on Twitter.

Source: Fox News World

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Congo suspends seating of new senators following disputed election

FILE PHOTO: Felix Tshisekedi holds up the constitution during his presidential the inauguration ceremony in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
FILE PHOTO: Felix Tshisekedi holds up the constitution during his presidential the inauguration ceremony in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, January 24, 2019. REUTERS/Olivia Acland/File Photo

March 18, 2019

By Stanis Bujakera and Giulia Paravicini

KINSHASA (Reuters) – President Felix Tshisekedi’s Congo government on Monday blocked newly-elected senators from taking office after a disputed vote that gave allies of his predecessor an overwhelming majority in the upper house of parliament.

The decision, announced after a meeting between Tshisekedi, cabinet ministers, the electoral commission chief and others, could trigger a standoff with ex-president Joseph Kabila’s camp two months after Tshisekedi succeeded him in Democratic Republic of Congo’s first ever transfer of power via the ballot box.

Kabila’s FCC coalition won 80 out of 100 seats, which are voted on by provincial assembly members, in Friday’s election, compared to just three for Tshisekedi’s UDPS party and its allies.

UDPS supporters protested over the results at the weekend. They pointed to about 20 candidates from across the political spectrum who withdrew from their races because they said provincial assembly members were demanding bribes of tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for their votes.

At least one person was killed in the protests and some offices of Kabila’s political party were ransacked.

Speaking to reporters after Monday’s meeting, Basile Olongo, the interim interior minister, said participants had decided to suspend the installation of new senators pending investigations by prosecutors into corruption allegations.

Gubernatorial elections scheduled for next week, which are also voted on by provincial assembly members, have been suspended indefinitely, Olongo added.

Kabila’s camp immediately criticized the decision.

“The constitution does not authorize an inter-institutional meeting to make these decisions,” Jean-Pierre Kambila, who served as Kabila’s deputy chief of staff, told Reuters. He did not say if the FCC planned to challenge the decision in court.

Opposition leader Tshisekedi’s victory in the Dec. 30 presidential election was also marred by allegations of graft.

Supporters of the runner-up, Martin Fayulu, accused Tshisekedi of striking a deal with Kabila to rig the outcome when it became clear Kabila’s preferred candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, could not win. Kabila was barred by term limits from standing again after 18 years in office.

Tshisekedi and Kabila’s camps deny the election was rigged. But some Tshisekedi supporters have voiced concern about his ability to govern independently, given the FCC’s parliamentary majorities and Kabila’s grip on the security services.

Despite losing the presidency, the FCC won about 70 percent of seats in the lower house of parliament and a clear majority of provincial assembly seats in elections also on Dec. 30.

(Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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Liberal arts colleges across the country face ‘existential threat’

MARLBORO, Vt. – Economists and higher education experts are warning small liberal arts colleges across the country to brace for the worst.

"Their business models are breaking," said Michael Horn, who studies trends in the higher education industry. "Their costs continue to go up the pressure to increase costs continue to go up and yet the revenue just isn't there."

At the end of the spring 2019 semester, six institutions from Vermont to Oregon are expected to shut their doors due to financial woes, adding to a growing list of private liberal arts colleges failing to stay afloat.

Credit rating agency Moody's estimates that with a quarter of private colleges in the red, there could be as many as 11 closures by the end of the year. The report found that one in five small private colleges in the nation is under "fundamental stress."

NEW JERSEY TEEN ONCE HOMELESS ACCEPTED INTO 17 COLLEGES, OVERCOMES FAMILY OBSTACLES

At Marlboro College in southern Vermont, the student body of roughly 200 is well-aware of the school's financial difficulties.

"If you say something to one person, the entire school is going to know it in a week," said Sage Kampitsis, a senior at Marlboro.

Marlboro College is a liberal arts college with roughly 200 students in southern Vermont. 

Marlboro College is a liberal arts college with roughly 200 students in southern Vermont.  (ROB DIRIENZO / Fox News)

The college has gotten innovative with new ways to raise money, throwing community fundraisers and looking at new methods of recruitment. With other rural Vermont colleges boarding up, like Green Mountain College a few miles away, Marlboro College's president Kevin Quigly is working to defy the odds.

"Underway is really an effort to kind of shift our financial model where at a place like Marlboro we have challenges," said Quigly. "We recognize those challenges and we're working to address them."

Over the years, as tuition across the country has soared, colleges have been discounting tuition to make themselves more attractive to prospective students. Larger universities do not rely as heavily on tuition as a primary source of revenue, making it difficult for smaller colleges to stay competitive — and realistic for low-income and middle-class families.

"That's really a double whammy that adversely affects the finances of these small colleges," said Quigly.

Kampitsis, like most others, said the financial aid she received from Marlboro made going there feasible for her. Marlboro, which is in better shape than most of its peers with minimal debt and a larger endowment than most, just lowered the sticker-price tuition to better reflect what students will actually be paying.

USC, YALE AMONG COLLEGES SUED BY STUDENTS AMID COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCANDAL

"The bigger colleges across the country and the elite schools don't have this problem because they are still able to attract students," said Horn, the higher ed researcher.  "These large endowments are often public sources of funding that allow them to get by this demographic cliff we're starting to hit."

That demographic cliff: the pool of 18-year-olds looking to go to small rural colleges is declining, instead favoring urban universities with better networking opportunities. Kampitsis also sees a shift in focus away from liberal arts to more marketable majors for potential employers as a contributing factor.

"Things like sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, history — they're not the majors that are like really big in the job market," Kampitsis said. "They're not the things are making a lot of money. And so those since those majors are losing their economic value, they then, in turn, lose their moral value."

“Make no mistake. This is an existential threat to entire sectors of higher education, and New England is, unfortunately, ground zero,” said UMass President Marty Meehan at a State of the University speech last month. UMass recently absorbed the doomed Mount Ida College in Newton, which it now plans to turn into a satellite campus.

Meanwhile, colleges elsewhere in the country are increasingly meeting the same fate.

Recent closures of small liberal arts colleges in the U.S.

Recent closures of small liberal arts colleges in the U.S.

"I think it's going to be really brutal in some of these rural communities where the small liberal arts school is the mainstay of the economy," said Horn.

Some small schools are hoping to remain viable by developing a niche, like offering online courses or specialized programs. In northern Vermont at Sterling College, a hundred-student campus focused on ecology and environmentalism, enrollment is up.

Horn said thinking outside of the box could mean life or death for these schools.

"These new sources of revenue could be found through innovation like using online learning to take strengths that maybe you uniquely have on your campus and start to be able to attract students across the region or even nationwide," Horn said.

Another strategy, like in the case of Mount Ida, has been turning to larger universities, asking to be acquired. Boston's Wheelock College has reopened as a Boston University campus.

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But others, like Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., are planning to fight for every penny to stay open—and independent.

"I think we can do this," said interim Hampshire College President Ken Rosenthal in a letter to an anxious student body. "We’ll need to raise $15-20 million over the next year, and then, over the next five or six years, perhaps close to $100 million. It’s not unprecedented, and we’ll have to move fast and work hard, but I’m optimistic."

Source: Fox News National

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Dershowitz: Barr Won’t Be Pressured on Mueller Report

Attorney General William Barr "very much" wants to bring the Department of Justice back to its origins as a nonpartisan law enforcement agency, and he wants to produce special counsel Robert Mueller's report according to the law, Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday.

"He's not going to be pressured by the president or the Democrats, not going to be pressured by the Republicans," Dershowitz told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "He's going to do it the right way. That's the projected image that he wants to convey. He is the right guy to do it."

It is also likely Barr had some advance knowledge about what was coming in Mueller's report before it had been turned over to him, as he had time to think about what his statement would be about it, Dershowitz said, adding it is also up to Barr, as attorney general, to decide what would be released.

"It is the attorney general who has the authority to indict, prosecute, or not prosecute," Dershowitz said. "I think he is doing exactly the right thing."

He added he does not know why Mueller declined to review the four-page document Barr released about his report, except for wanting to have deniability.

Meanwhile, Dershowitz said he expects the report will be critical when it comes to whether President Donald Trump committed obstruction.

"One key issue that nobody raised, will we know the names of the people on each side" of the obstruction issue, Dershowitz said. "Will we know the individual names of the prosecutors on the team so we the public can assess whether it's a partisan political decision or a neutral prosecutorial decision?"

Source: NewsMax America

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Exclusive: New U.S. consumer watchdog chief to continue review of complaints database, fair lending

Kathy Kraninger speaks to an audience on her first set of regulatory priorities as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Kathy Kraninger speaks to an audience on her first set of regulatory priorities as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, U.S., April 17, 2019. REUTERS/Katanga Johnson

April 18, 2019

By Pete Schroeder and Katanga Johnson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will continue with reviews, begun by her predecessor, of its public complaints database and how the agency enforces discriminatory lending laws, she told Reuters.

Speaking to Reuters in her first interview since taking office in December, Kathy Kraninger said the agency was discussing how the public complaints database, a key source of the bureau’s investigations, should operate.

“It is on the agenda this year to address what is the public kind of discussion about what the database should be,” she said on Wednesday.

The financial industry and consumer advocates have been watching closely to see whether Kraninger would continue with a number of controversial projects begun by Mick Mulvaney, formerly the agency’s interim director and now President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.

Kraninger acknowledged the database, which went public in 2012 to boost transparency of consumer issues, supported the bureau’s mission to protect borrowers, but did not rule out making it private.

Shielding the complaints from the public gaze would mark a major win for the industry, which has lobbied against being publicly named and shamed. However, it would spark opposition from consumer advocates and Democrats who say keeping it public encourages companies to address customer complaints.

Mulvaney, who worked with Kraninger in her previous role at the Office of Management and Budget, had questioned the policy of publishing the complaints.

Kraninger’s comments suggest she may continue with Mulvaney’s efforts to curtail the bureau’s powers, after the administration of President Barack Obama built it into a powerful watchdog.

Created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to crack down on predatory lenders, the CFPB sits at the heart of a battle between Democrats and Republicans over the future of consumer financial protections under the business-friendly Trump administration.

Republicans have argued since its creation that the agency was given too much power and was unaccountable. They set about overhauling the agency after taking it over in November 2017, including rolling back rules and reducing enforcement actions.

Democratic lawmakers have accused the administration of bowing to industry lobbyists and warn the changes could sow the seeds of the next financial crisis.

Mulvaney had also begun a review of whether the agency should continue to apply a legal tool known as “disparate impact” when enforcing laws that guard against discriminatory lending.

Disparate impact refers to a legal theory that allows regulators to prosecute practices that adversely affect one group of people compared with others, though the rules applied may on their face be neutral.

It had not been clear whether Kraninger would take on Mulvaney’s projects, or chart a new course.

Kraninger said the CFPB would continue to review whether it should build cases using disparate impact, which had served as the basis for discriminatory lending cases brought by the bureau under Democratic control.

“It’s controversial, but it need not be if we have a public discourse on what the lay of the land is, try to get the evidence in one conversation, and think of the next steps that are appropriate,” said Kraninger, adding the agency would discuss the application of disparate impact during public discussions over the coming months.

Kraninger told Reuters the bureau would focus enforcement efforts on “bad actors” who do not intend to follow the law, in a departure from the agency’s aggressive enforcement stance under Democratic control.

“It’s not a black and white issue,” Kraninger added. “I can tell you that at the end of the spectrum of what is a bad actor [are] clearly those who have no intent to comply with the law.”

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder and Katanga Johnson; editing by Michelle Price and Bernadette Baum)

Source: OANN

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Multiple people died Thursday when a semitrailer plowed into stationary traffic that resulted in explosions and flames on a Colorado freeway, authorities said.

The incident occurred just before 5 p.m. in the Denver suburb of Lakewood when a truck driver lost control while traveling east on Interstate 70, according to a preliminary investigation. The collision started a chain reaction and a diesel fuel spill, Lakewood police spokesman Ty Countryman told the Denver Post.

“This is looking to be one of the worst accidents we’ve had here in Lakewood,” he said.

The driver of the runaway truck survived. At least one truck was carrying lumber, another was hauling gravel and the third may have been carrying mattresses, KDVR-TV reported.

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Lakewood police tweeted there were multiple fatalities but did not give a specific number. Six people were taken to a hospital. Their conditions were not released, according to the paper.

Lanes in both directions were closed and expected to remain so into Friday morning.

Source: Fox News National

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President Trump will address members and leaders of the National Rifle Association on Friday at the group’s annual convention in Indiana.

Around 80,000 gun enthusiasts and more than 800 exhibitors are expected to pack the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis for the three-day event, the Indianapolis Star reported. It will mark the third straight year that Trump will deliver the keynote address, where he is expected to champion the rights of gun owners.

“Donald Trump is the most enthusiastic supporter of the Second Amendment to occupy the Oval Office in our lifetimes,” Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (ILA), said in a statement. “President Trump’s Supreme Court appointments ensure that the Second Amendment will be respected for generations to come. Our members are excited to hear him speak and thank him for his support for our Right to Keep and Bear Arms.”

“Donald Trump is the most enthusiastic supporter of the Second Amendment to occupy the Oval Office in our lifetimes.”

— Chris Cox, executive director, NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action

COLORADO ENACTS ‘RED FLAG’ LAW TO SEIZE GUNS FROM THOSE DEEMED DANGEROUS, PROMPTING BACKLASH

President Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association annual convention in Dallas last year. (Associated Press)

President Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association annual convention in Dallas last year. (Associated Press)

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence spoke at last year’s convention in Dallas. During his speech, Trump assured gun owners that he would protect their Second Amendment rights, according to the paper.

“Your Second Amendment rights are under siege,” Trump told the cheering audience in Dallas. “But they will never, ever be under siege as long as I am your president.”

Trump has supported some gun control measures in the past. Last year, his administration imposed a ban on bump stocks, attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire in rapid bursts. Although, he most recently threatened to veto two Democratic gun control bills.

This year’s convention comes as the NRA faces outside pressure and internal problems. The group has seen its legislative agenda stall amid a series of mass shootings — including a massacre at a Parkland, Fla., high school in February 2018 that left 17 dead and launched a youth movement against gun violence.

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It’s also grappling with infighting in its ranks, money problems and investigations into whether Russian agents courted officials and funneled money through the group.

“I’ve never seen the NRA this vulnerable,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for gun control measure.

The convention will run through the weekend and conclude Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk past the Debenhams department store on Oxford Street in London
FILE PHOTO: Shoppers walk past the Debenhams department store on Oxford Street in London, Britain December 15, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Ailing British retailer Debenhams said two proposed company voluntary arrangements (CVA) could see all its stores remaining open during 2019, with 22 closures planned for next year, putting about 1,200 jobs at risk.

Debenhams’ lenders took control of the retailer earlier this month in a process designed to keep its shops open at the expense of shareholders.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Xiaomi branding is seen on a carrier bag at a UK launch event in London
FILE PHOTO: Xiaomi branding is seen on a carrier bag at a UK launch event in London, Britain, November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

April 26, 2019

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Chinese brands controlled a record 66 percent of Indian smartphone market in the first quarter, led by Xiaomi Corp, a report showed, with volumes rising 20 percent on the back of popularity for brands like Vivo, RealMe and Oppo.

Xiaomi’s India shipments fell by 2 percent over last year, but the Beijing-based company was still the biggest smartphone brand in the country, followed by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, according to Hong-Kong based Counterpoint Research.

Shipment volumes for Vivo jumped 119 percent, while those of Oppo rose 28 percent.

“Vivo’s expanding portfolio in the mid-tier range ($100 to $180) drove its growth along with aggressive Indian Premier League cricket campaign,” Counterpoint analysts said.

India is the world’s fastest growing market for smartphones, where affordable pricing coupled with features like “selfie” cameras and big screens have popularized Chinese brands.

Video streaming services like Netflix Inc and Hotstar, as well as heavy usage of messaging apps like Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp have further spurred demand.

“Data consumption is on the rise and users are upgrading their phones faster as compared to other regions,” Counterpoint’s Tarun Pathak said.

“As a result of this, the premium specs are now diffusing faster into the mid-tier price brands. We estimate this trend to continue leading to a competitive mid-tier segment in coming quarters.”

(Reporting By Arnab Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Source: OANN

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Good morning and welcome to Fox News First. Here’s a look at what you need to know today …

EXCLUSIVE: Trump says ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden doesn’t have what it takes

President Trump, in a wide-ranging, exclusive phone interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, dismissed the launch of former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, nicknaming him “Sleepy Joe” and saying he’s “not the brightest bulb.” Biden, the president said, has name recognition but he won’t “be able to do the job.” When asked about Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Trump criticized his record, saying Sanders had “misguided energy” and asserted that Sanders “talks a lot” but hasn’t accomplished anything. The president referred to former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas as “a fluke” who had lost much momentum and outright dismissed Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg — although he said he was “rooting” for Buttigieg. (Trump could address Biden and the other Democratic presidential candidates when he speaks today before the National Rifle Association.)

The Democratic Party’s youth movement: Biden’s biggest challenge?
Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Howard Dean warned Joe Biden about the troubles he may face in his presidential campaign, especially from the “35-year-olds” who Dean says have been running the party — a clear nod to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and fellow freshmen Democrats. “This is a very different party than even the party Joe Biden ran in in 2012. Very different,” Dean continued. “A lot of people could win this race. There’s 20 people in there. I think it’s going to take $20 million to get to the starting line. If you can’t raise $20 million, you’re gone, and I think that’s going to take care of about six or eight of these folks. … But it is not the same party that it was five years ago.” A progressive political group that boosted Ocasio-Cortez’s bid for Congress last year vowed to oppose Biden and blasted him as part of the “old guard.”

More tales from the FBI texts
Text messages between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page indicate they discussed using briefings to the Trump team after the 2016 election to identify people they could “develop for potential relationships,” track lines of questioning and “assess” changes in “demeanor” – language one GOP lawmaker called “more evidence” of irregular conduct in the original Russia probe. Fox News has learned the texts, initially released in 2018 by a Senate committee, are under renewed scrutiny, with GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley and Homeland Security Committee chair Ron Johnson sending a letter Thursday night to Attorney General Bill Barr pushing for more information on the matter. President Trump, speaking on Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday night, responded to this report by accusing Strzok and Page of an attempted “coup.” “They were trying to infiltrate the administration,” he said.

Kim accuses US of acting in ‘bad faith’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, fresh off his summit with  Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the U.S. has been acting in “bad faith” since his Hanoi meeting with President Trump over the stalemated issue of North Korean denuclearization. The North Korean leader told the Korean Central News Agency that, “the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the region is now at a standstill and has reached a critical point,” the Straits Times of Singapore reported. Kim warned that the situation “may return to its original state as the U.S. took a unilateral attitude in bad faith at the recent second DPRK-US summit talks,” the Korean Central News Agency added.

NFL Draft 2019: It’s all about defense
The first round of the 2019 NFL Draft saw a run on defensive players, with eight of the top 12 picks in Nashville coming from that side of the ball. After Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was taken first overall by the Arizona Cardinals, the San Francisco 49ers started a run of four straight front-seven players by taking Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa with the second overall pick — the highest draft slot for any Buckeye since left tackle Orlando Pace went No. 1 overall to the St. Louis Rams in 1997.

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TODAY’S MUST-READS
Fox News’ Ed Henry recalls spending time with Celtics great John Havlicek.
Massachusetts judge accused of helping illegal immigrant evade ICE pleads not guilty.
Rosenstein slams Obama administration for choosing ‘not to publicize full story’ of Russia hacking.
F.H. Buckley: What Democrats have forgotten about citizenship.

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Amazon crushes earnings expectations, but revenue growth slows.
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Construction job market booming: These states are hiring.

#TheFlashback
2018: Bill Cosby is convicted of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004; it is the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
1986: An explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine causes radioactive fallout to spew into the atmosphere. (Dozens of people are killed in the immediate aftermath of the disaster while the long-term death toll from radiation poisoning is believed to number in the thousands.)
1977: Notorious nightclub Studio 54 opens in New York.

SOME PARTING WORDS

Watch the “Special Report” panel take a look at former Vice President Joe Biden’s decision to run for president a third time and the battle for the “soul” of America.

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