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NHL roundup: Jackets shock Lightning again

NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs-Columbus Blue Jackets at Tampa Bay Lightning
Apr 12, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Matt Duchene (95) scores a goal on Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) during the second period of game two of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

April 13, 2019

Matt Duchene had a goal and three assists as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the host Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 Friday night, taking a stunning 2-0 lead in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Tampa Bay lost each of the first two games of the best-of-seven series at home after tying the NHL single-season record for wins (62). Nikita Kucherov, who led the NHL with 128 points this season, was held pointless and had just three shots on goal.

Kucherov’s frustration was apparent, as he was assessed a minor penalty for tripping, a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct for an incident involving Columbus’ Markus Nutivaara with 4:26 remaining.

The Lightning star will have a hearing Saturday with the NHL’s department of player safety to discuss that hit. Per the NHL, boarding is the grounds on which the league is considering additional discipline — which could include a suspension.

Islanders 3, Penguins 1

Jordan Eberle and Josh Bailey scored fewer than four minutes apart in the third period of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals for New York, which beat Pittsburgh in Uniondale, N.Y.

The Islanders, who have home-ice advantage for the first time since 1988, hold a 2-0 series lead for the first time since they swept the Edmonton Oilers in the 1983 Stanley Cup. Among NHL, NBA and MLB teams, only baseball’s Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates have gone longer without holding a 2-0 series lead.

The Penguins are down 0-2 in a series for the first time since being swept by the Boston Bruins in the 2013 Eastern Conference finals.

Blues 4, Jets 3

Ryan O’Reilly’s early-third-period goal was the game-winner as visiting St. Louis beat Winnipeg to claim both road games in the Manitoba capital and stake a 2-0 lead in their opening-round Western Conference playoff series.

With the score tied in the third period in a back-and-forth affair, O’Reilly raced up the ice and used the defenseman as a screen when he shot from the right faceoff dot and hit the mark on the stick side at the 3:46 mark of the final frame. Taking a lead for the third time was the charm for the Blues.

Oskar Sundqvist scored twice for St. Louis, which also got a goal from Patrick Maroon. Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler scored for Winnipeg.

Knights 5, Sharks 3

Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist, and William Karlsson and Colin Miller each scored short-handed goals to lead Vegas past host San Jose to even their first-round Western Conference playoff series at 1-1.

Mark Stone and Cody Eakin also scored goals, and Paul Stastny added two assists for Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 34 saves for his 76th career playoff win, one behind Mike Vernon for seventh all-time.

Logan Couture had a goal and an assist, Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl also scored goals, and Erik Karlsson had two assists for San Jose, which finished just 1-for-8 on the power play. Aaron Dell, who replaced Martin Jones at the 6:39 mark of the first period, wound up with 14 saves.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Chile to China: Let us be your business hub in Latin America

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera attends a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: Chile's President Sebastian Pinera attends a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (not pictured) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, April 24, 2019. Parker Song/Pool via REUTERS

April 25, 2019

(Reuters) – Chilean President Sebastian Pinera kicked off an investment forum in China on Thursday with an invitation for the Asian giant to use Chile as a jumping off point to do business in Latin America, even as Washington has warned Chile to proceed with caution.

Pinera told the forum that Chile’s objective was to attract more investment from Chinese companies in technology, electric vehicles, telecommunications, and e-commerce.

“We want to transform Chile into a business center for Chinese companies, so that you can, from Chile, reach out to all of Latin America,” Pinera told Chinese investors at an investment and innovation forum in Beijing, according to a Chilean government statement.

The Chilean president’s visit to China, the Andean nation’s top trading partner, comes just weeks after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Chile and slammed China’s “nefarious” actions and “predatory” lending practices, which critics say leave borrowers beholden to Beijing.

China rejected Pompeo’s criticisms, calling them “slanderous” and “irresponsible.”

Pinera has met with several Chinese electric vehicle makers during his week-long visit to Asia, including BYD and Yutong. Chile is one of the world’s largest producers of lithium, a key ingredient in electric vehicle batteries.

He also met executives from ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, which is planning to take on U.S. rival Uber in some of Latin America’s fastest-growing markets, including Chile.

It was not immediately clear whether Pinera would meet with Chinese telecommunications company Huawei during the visit. Chile has been in talks with Huawei since at least 2017 regarding a possible trans-Pacific fiber optic cable, and other projects.

Pompeo earlier this month warned Chile that Chinese technology, including equipment made by Huawei, poses a security risk that could affect information sharing by the United States.

U.S. influence in Latin America has been increasingly challenged by China, whose booming economy over the past two decades has driven up demand for South America’s raw materials.

Chile, among Latin America’s most open economies and the world’s top copper exporter, has sought to remain neutral amid the growing tensions, promoting instead the need for open markets and trade.

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood and Natalia Ramos in Santiago, writing by Dave Sherwood, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

Source: OANN

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Family hopes to prove man’s innocence, even after his death

Lee Wayne Hunt died a prisoner, officially deemed guilty of a double murder — even though a co-defendant absolved him in a conversation with a lawyer that remained secret for decades.

Attorney Staples Hughes said a client who also was convicted in the case told him not long after the 1984 slayings of a Fayetteville couple that Hunt wasn't involved. Hughes risked disbarment when he told a judge in 2007 about the confession, after the client, Jerry Cashwell, had died.

"If you believe what my client told me, and I believe my client, that Mr. Hunt didn't do this, then it just becomes so terrible and so sad," Hughes told The Associated Press.

Hunt, 59, died alone Feb. 13 at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, where he had been taken about a week earlier for treatment of heart problems, his daughter, Heather Allen, told the AP. Prison officials didn't tell Hunt's relatives that he'd been moved from Maury Correctional Institution to the hospital until the family got word he had died, Allen said. He'd spent more than half his life in state prisons.

The AP received a tip that Hunt had died and is the only news organization to interview members of the families of both Hunt and the Matthews' couple since his death.

Hunt, Cashwell and a third man were convicted in the deaths of Roland and Lisa Matthews, who were shot and stabbed in their home in Fayetteville. Their 2-year-old daughter was found in a bedroom, physically unharmed.

Prosecutors said the couple was killed because Roland Matthews stole marijuana from Hunt, who ran a drug ring.

The only physical evidence tying Hunt to the crimes was a lead-content comparison of bullets that Hunt owned to bullets found at the crime scene — a comparison technique the FBI abandoned in 2005 after the method faced scientific criticism. Other evidence included testimony from an associate who received immunity and from a prison informant.

That's not to say Hunt had no criminal history.

In November 1985, Hunt was sentenced for felony drug possession and other charges. He was released in September 1986. Less than a month later, on Oct. 17, 1986, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Hunt's supporters were certain the lack of physical evidence, along with Cashwell's posthumously released confession, would eventually free him in the murder case.

But it didn't. Judges repeatedly ruled against him. North Carolina's unique Innocence Inquiry Commission couldn't take his case because there was no new evidence, said Chris Mumma, executive director of the nonprofit N.C. Center on Actual Innocence, which handled Hunt's case at one point.

Yet Hunt believed until the end that he would be exonerated, his daughter said. "He never let go of hope," Allen said.

He told her "If they don't find out while I'm here, hopefully the truth will come out when I'm not here," she said. "... He always talked about the Lord and he always believed things would come to a light one day."

Hughes, now 67, kept Cashwell's confession secret because of attorney-client privilege until after Cashwell died by suicide in prison in 2002. Hughes signed an affidavit for Hunt's attorneys in 2004. When Hughes came forward at a hearing for Hunt in 2007, the judge admonished him and reported him to the State Bar, which declined to take action against him.

Last fall, Hughes visited Hunt for the first time in prison. They talked for more than two hours.

"He completely understood the situation I was in," Hughes said. "He bore me no ill will."

But in his last few phone calls with his daughter, Hunt shared his worries about his health and the lack of care he believed he received behind bars, Allen said. When Allen received his personal belongings from prison officials, she found complaints about his medical care.

Correction Department spokesman John Bull said laws prohibit him from discussing a prisoner's health record. He said he'd share the Hunt family's concerns with prison medical officials.

The victims' family, meanwhile, is certain of Hunt's guilt and relieved he's finally gone.

Roland Matthews' sister, Paula Holland of Hope Mills, believes Hughes lied about Cashwell's confession. When asked what trial evidence convinced her of Hunt's guilt, Holland responded: "Because of who he is. Because of who he was. Because of his reputation."

Holland said her niece, Crystal Mayfield, was 22 months old when her parents were killed. She was found sitting on her bed, with her dog.

And when an exonerated ex-prisoner commented in a public Facebook post that Hunt died an innocent man, Mayfield responded: "I am very relieved that justice has finally been served and my family can have some peace now."

Mayfield didn't reply to a Facebook message from the AP. Her relatives said she didn't want to be interviewed.

It's not uncommon for prisoners who have evidence of innocence to die in custody. Responding to an email query, lawyers nationwide listed cases in multiple states where prisoners with strong evidence, including DNA, have died awaiting a chance to prove their innocence.

At least 21 people have been exonerated posthumously, with about half dying in prison, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

Hunt, who learned to read and write in prison, was a woodworker. He enjoyed reading about log cabins and talked about the one he'd build when free, his family said. He used plastic knives and wood from pallets to carve animal figures, then dyed them with coffee grounds and decorated them with pastel crayons, Allen said.

The victims' family thinks Allen is lucky to have those memories.

"Lee Wayne Hunt was very fortunate," Holland said. "His family could go to prison and visit him. The only joy we had left was putting flowers on my brother's grave. I hate it for them, but I hate it for us, too ... We didn't take his life. ... We just had to wait and bide our time."

Hunt's supporters believe time did him no favors.

"Everything I knew about this case makes me believe he didn't do this," Hughes said. "And that's pretty terrible. I had hoped this would turn out different. And it didn't. It just turned out overwhelmingly sadly."

___

Associated Press reporter Allen G. Breed contributed to this story.

___

Follow Martha Waggoner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mjwaggonernc

Source: Fox News National

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Thai parties woo young voters, but one may hit the mark

You could call it the 7 million-voter question: Will young people like the ones who turned out on a recent Saturday night to listen to politically hip rappers also make it to the polls for Thailand's upcoming general election? And do they share the anger at the established order being sung and shouted about onstage?

The country in which this year's 7 million eligible first-time voters have grown up has experienced two army coups since 2006, violent political polarization and a nasty crackdown on freedom of expression by the military clique that has held the reins since a 2014 takeover.

Topping the recent concert bill was the group Rap Against Dictatorship, whose surprise hit, "My Country's Got That," lambasts the hypocrisy of Thai society. Some of the song's milder lyrics describe Thailand as "the country whose Parliament is a parlor."

The breakthrough song has garnered almost 59 million views since its release on YouTube last October. Judging by the crowd at the concert, most of its fans hail from the 18-to-35-year-old demographic that makes up roughly a quarter of Thailand's 51 million-strong electorate.

This generation is too young to hold many memories of a Thailand that was not politically troubled.

If it is unsympathetic to army rule, it also does not harbor any nostalgic affection for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire populist whose 2006 overthrow ushered in a political dark age in what had been one of Southeast Asia's most promising democracies.

Unlike Thaksin's hardcore "red shirt" followers and his rabid "yellow shirt" opponents — groups whose violent street protests helped derail electoral politics — their allegiances are up for grabs.

Political parties are taking notice, mostly by showcasing their younger candidates.

The Democrat Party, the country's oldest, has its "New Dem" group of 21 young politicians led by 26-year-old Parit Wacharasindhu, a nephew of party leader Abhisit Vejajjiva, a former prime minister who himself once capitalized on his youthful image. Another of its members is Surabot Leekpai, the 30-year-old son of another former Democrat prime minister, Chuan Leekpai.

Another group, Bhumjaithai, previously known as an old-fashioned patronage-driven regional party, has been rebranding with campaign posters hitting hot-button issues close to urban millennials' hearts — liberalization of marijuana laws, clear legalization of ride-sharing services and the easing of repayment terms for student loans.

Even the Palang Prachatrath Party, more or less a proxy for the military that supports returning the current army-installed prime minister to office, showed off 30 young members at a news conference, many contesting parliamentary seats in the capital, Bangkok.

But it's the Future Forward Party, founded last March, that seems to have captured the imagination of many young voters.

Party chief Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who can tap into a family fortune from the auto parts industry, projects an image similar to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Tall and trim, and favoring casual dress, the 40-year-old is tech-savvy and practices extreme sports. He also has a low-profile history of supporting progressive organizations, while most of his core team is younger and directly involved in activist groups promoting causes such as rights for the disabled, the LGBT community and the #MeToo movement.

"My idea is to make this party stand for democratic principles," Thanathorn said at the party's debut last year. "We will make democracy a part of every decision-making process from the choosing of party members, the determining of party direction and strategy, to the developing of party policies."

The party's broad-stroke policies are a response to Thailand's political impasse: radically reforming the coup-inclined military and rewriting the military-imposed constitution to restore democracy.

"I think the conflict over the last 12 years has educated the people that politics is important to their lives," Thanathorn said in an interview at a campaign event at Siam University in Bangkok. "Political awareness in this country has never been higher."

Boonyanuch Prachasingh, a 20-year-old student at the university, said she is looking for a party with strong policies on education, democratization and transparency, and capable of change. She said Future Forward sounds interesting "because they are making a point of encouraging us to pay attention to politics."

A fellow student, 21-year-old Kittiphum Pannadermitri, believes the economy is the most pressing issue.

"I think Thanathorn is from a new generation and has new ideas. I think he could help improve the economy, help Thai farmers, and tackle pollution problems," he said.

Concertgoer Sawitree Puangngern, 23, said interest in the election is high among her peers, and she has already decided to vote for Future Forward.

"I am interested in the party that says they want change," she said. "I want the military out from politics and I want people to have their rights back."

Although Future Forward is hoping it can pick up as many as 50 to 70 parliamentary seats, it faces substantial hurdles as a newly established grass-roots party facing experienced opponents.

It also has drawn scurrilous attacks online from conservative elements of Thai society, who paint Thanathorn as a stalking horse for Thaksin because he espouses progressive policies that also are supported by Thaksin's supporters. That his uncle was a top member of Thaksin's party and served in one of his Cabinets heightens their suspicions.

Still, the party's prospects for capturing the youth vote look good, said Prajak Kongkirati, a lecturer in political science at Bangkok's Thammasat University.

"They are popular and their policies are popular," he said. "They advocate change and radical reforms. So the youth who are frustrated with the stagnation of the country, they want to see a real change. And Thanathorn is kind of their hope, represents something new, speaks their own language and can connect to the youth."

___

Associated Press writers Kaweewit Kaewjinda and Grant Peck contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

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After delays, Afghan president inaugurates new parliament

President Ashraf Ghani has inaugurated the country's new parliament after almost six months since elections were held and following long delays, claims of voter fraud, unresolved disputes and political bickering.

Ghani spoke at the ceremony on Friday in Kabul, which brought together both the lower, legislative 249-seat chamber and the appointed 104-member upper house.

He expressed regret over the delays and the fact that 33 seats for lawmakers from the districts in central Kabul province were empty because the election commission still has not announced results for those districts.

Ghani blamed what he said was the "inefficiency of former election commission members" who have since been replaced.

The October election day was marred by bombings and attacks on polling stations across the country that killed 27 civilians and 11 policemen.

Source: Fox News World

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Report: Trump Tells Lawyers to Stay on After Mueller Report

President Donald Trump has indicated to his outside legal team that his lawyers should plan to stay on after special counsel Robert Mueller submits his report, The Daily Beast reports.

Trump reportedly told his lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow that his legal team should plan on sticking around after Mueller finishes his investigation, according to two unnamed sources with knowledge of conversations Trump has had with his legal advisers over the past year.

The Daily Beast notes Trump appears most focused on the investigation being conducted by the Southern District of New York into his family business and former personal attorney Michael Cohen.

Although reports emerged last week the Mueller probe is wrapping up, the Justice Department said last Friday those rumors are incorrect, and  the special counsel's report is not expected this week.

Source: NewsMax America

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Dutch suspect in tram shooting to face terrorism charge

Dutch prosecutors say they will charge the main suspect in a deadly tram shooting with offenses including multiple murder or manslaughter with a terrorist intent.

In a statement Thursday, the public prosecutor's office in Utrecht says that the suspect, identified by police as 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis, also faces charges of attempted murder or manslaughter and making threats with a terrorist intent.

Prosecutors say that investigations so far into Monday's shooting in a tram in the central city of Utrecht that left three dead and three seriously injured indicate that the shooter acted alone.

The statement adds that investigations continue into whether the suspect's actions "flowed from personal problems combined with a radicalized ideology."

Tanis is to appear before an investigating judge on Friday. Such hearings are held behind closed doors.

Source: Fox News World

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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President Trump on Friday said “no money” was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, after reports that the U.S. received a $2 million hospital bill from Pyongyang for the late American prisoner’s care.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else. This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist[sic] hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!” Trump tweeted Friday.

NORTH KOREA GAVE US $2M HOSPITAL BILL OVER CARE OF AMERICAN OTTO WARMBIER, SOURCES SAY

The Washington Post first reported that North Korean authorities insisted the U.S. envoy sent to retrieve Warmbier, 21, who was a student of the University of Virginia, sign a pledge to pay the bill before allowing Warmbier’s comatose body to return to the United States. Sources confirmed the bill and the amount to Fox News on Thursday.

Sources told the post that the envoy signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions from the president, but a source told Fox News that the U.S. did not ever pay money to North Korea.

The White House declined to comment when asked on the bill, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying in a statement that: “We do not comment on hostage negotiations, which is why they have been so successful during this administration.”

Meanwhile, the president added: “’President[sic] Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.’ Cheif[sic] Hostage Negotiator, USA!”

Warmbier was on tour in North Korea when he allegedly stole a propaganda sign from a hotel. He was arrested in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in March 2016. Warmbier, for unknown reasons, fell into a coma while in custody and was held in that condition for an additional 17 months.

North Korean officials did not tell American officials until June 2017 that Warmbier had been unconscious the entire time. He died less than a week after he returned to the U.S. North Korean officials, though, have repeatedly denied accusations that Warmbier was tortured, instead claiming that he had suffered from botulism and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

AMERICAN PRISONERS HELD IN NORTH KOREA ON THEIR WAY HOME AFTER POMPEO VISIT, TRUMP SAYS

Fred and Cindy Warmbier sued North Korea over their son’s death and in December were awarded $501 million in damages – money that the Hermit Kingdom will probably never pay.

While the Warmbiers blamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump has said he believes Kim’s claims that he did not know about the student’s treatment.

Trump and Kim have met in two separate summits. The most recent, held in February, ended without an agreement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Fox News: “Otto Warmbier was mistreated by North Korea in so many ways, including his wrongful conviction and harsh sentence, and the fact that for 16 months they refused to tell his family or our country about his dire condition they caused.  No, the United States owes them nothing. They owe the Warmbier family everything.”

Last year, the Trump administration was also able to save three American prisoners held by North Korea. Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, and Kim Hak Song were all detained in North Korea. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the three Americans home last May, and said they were all in “good health.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Rich Edson, Nicholas Kalman, and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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