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Lebanon nominates challenger to Trump’s choice to lead World Bank

FILE PHOTO: A participant stands near a logo of World Bank at the International Monetary Fund - World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua
FILE PHOTO: A participant stands near a logo of World Bank at the International Monetary Fund - World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, October 12, 2018. REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo/File Photo

February 19, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lebanon has nominated investment banker Ziad Hayek as a candidate for president of the World Bank, mounting the first challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the development lender, Hayek said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.

Hayek, who has served as secretary general of Lebanon’s High Council for Privatization since 2006, also posted a nomination letter from Lebanon’s finance ministry.

He is challenging Trump’s nomination of David Malpass, U.S. Treasury undersecretary for international affairs. Malpass has met a tepid response from some World Bank board members due to his status as a Trump loyalist who has criticized the bank and multilateral institutions in the past.

Hayek’s entry into the race could draw other candidates into a contest expected to be decided before World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in April. The World Bank is accepting nominations through March 14 and will narrow the field to up to three candidates for a board vote.

The United States, which controls the most voting power on the World Bank board, has chosen every past leader of the bank, but the tradition has been challenged by emerging markets in recent years.

Hayek has previously served as chief executive of Lonbridge Associates in London, and was a board member of BIT Bank in Beirut. He also worked as a senior managing director of Bear Stearns, where Malpass had served as chief economist prior to its 2008 collapse.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Tom Brown)

Source: OANN

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MLB investigating racist messages aimed at Cubs P Edwards

FILE PHOTO: MLB: Spring Training-Boston Red Sox at Chicago Cubs
FILE PHOTO: Mar 26, 2019; Mesa, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. against the Boston Red Sox during a spring training game at Sloan Park. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

April 16, 2019

Major League Baseball is investigating racist social media posts aimed at Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Carl Edwards, a league spokesman told The Athletic.

Edwards received racist messages on Instagram, according to the report, drawing the attention of the league as well as the players’ union.

“We are aware of the situation. We have a team that works with social media companies to take appropriate actions in situations like this,” an MLB spokesperson told The Athletic.

The Cubs demoted Edwards to Triple-A Iowa earlier this month to iron out his woes to start the season. Edwards had a 32.40 ERA in four relief appearances this season, allowing six earned runs in just 1 2/3 innings.

Overall, the 27-year-old is 8-8 with a 3.36 ERA in 176 relief appearances for the Cubs (2015-19).

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Wash Post: Mueller Report to Be Lightly Redacted

Special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, set to be released Thursday morning, will be lightly redacted but still offer a thorough look at objection charges mulled over by Mueller's team against President Donald Trump, according to The Washington Post.

The report will list a "detailed blow-by-blow of the president's alleged conduct — analyzing tweets, private threats, and other episodes at the center of Mueller's inquiry," according to the Post, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Mueller, who turned in his report to Attorney General William Barr on March 23, neither charged nor exonerated Trump on obstruction of justice charges and also said neither Trump nor his campaign conspired with Russia to win the 2016 campaign.

Barr has been accused by Democratic lawmakers of trying to spin Mueller's findings, a notion fueled by his decision to hold a press conference ahead of the report's release to present his overview of it and discuss his review process.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Barr had "thrown out his credibility & the DOJ's independence with his single-minded effort to protect" Trump.

And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, "The process is poisoned before the report is even released."

"Barr shouldn't be spinning the report at all, but it's doubly outrageous he's doing it before America is given a chance to read it," Schumer said.

Source: NewsMax America

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U.S. services, private payrolls data highlight slowing economy

FILE PHOTO: A healthcare worker prepares for a patient at an onsite health clinic at the Intel corporate campus in Hillsboro
FILE PHOTO: A healthcare worker prepares for a patient at an onsite health clinic at the Intel corporate campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, U.S., April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Caroline Humer/File Photo

April 3, 2019

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. services sector activity hit a more than 19-month low in March and private payrolls grew less than expected, underscoring a loss of momentum in the economy that supports the Federal Reserve’s move to suspend interest rate hikes this year.

The reports on Wednesday came on the heels of some modestly upbeat data earlier in the week, including retail and motor vehicle sales and manufacturing. Investors are worried about a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter.

The Fed last month ended its three-year campaign to tighten monetary policy, dropping projections for any interest rate increases this year. The U.S. central bank lifted borrowing costs four times in 2018.

“The yin and yang of the numbers makes it clear that the year of tax-induced solid growth is over,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. “But growth is still decent.”

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its non-manufacturing activity index fell 3.6 percentage points to 56.1, the lowest since August 2017. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

Last month’s sharp slowdown in services industry activity reflected a 7.3 points drop in the production subindex. Activity was also weighed down by decreases in new and export orders measures. A gauge of service sector employment rose. But many industries continued to believe that their inventories were too high, a potential hurdle for increased production.

The ISM said while businesses in the services sector remained mostly optimistic about overall business conditions and the economy, “they still have underlying concerns about employment resources and capacity constraints.”

It said 16 industries, including utilities, real estate, finance and insurance, healthcare and social assistance, information, and professional, scientific and technical services reported growth last month. The two industries reporting contraction were education services and retail trade.

WORKER SCARCITY

Businesses in the accommodation and food services industry complained that “labor is tight and in short supply.” Similar complaints were also voiced by businesses in the transportation and public administration sectors.

Miners said activity “held flat,” while businesses in the professional, scientific and technical services reported that an “initial surge in business at the beginning of the year has peaked and settled to a more stable level.”

The economy is losing speed as stimulus from the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion in tax cuts diminishes. It is also facing headwinds from slowing global growth, Washington’s trade war with China and uncertainty over Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Growth estimates for the first-quarter range from as low as a 1.4 percent annualized rate to as high as a 2.1 percent pace. The economy grew at a 2.2 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

“For the most part, GDP source reports have firmed lately following some very weak readings around the turn of the year,” said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. “The timelier survey data signal that the recent firming may be temporary.”

The dollar was trading lower against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury prices fell, while stocks on Wall Street rose.

The shortage of workers could be curbing job growth. The ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday showed private employers added 129,000 jobs in March, the fewest since September 2017, after creating 197,000 positions in February.

The ADP figures came ahead of the Labor Department’s more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which includes both public- and private-sector employment.

The ADP report, which is jointly developed with Moody’s Analytics, has a poor record predicting the private payrolls component of the government’s employment report. But job growth has slowed from last year’s 223,000 monthly average pace.

Economists polled by Reuters are looking for private payroll employment to have grown by 170,000 jobs in March, up from 25,000 the month before. Total non-farm employment is expected to have increased by 180,000 jobs after a paltry 20,000 gain in February.

“There is sure to be a bounce back in the official data given how weak February was, the only question is how big it will be?” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

According to the ADP report, employment in the goods producing sector fell by 6,000 jobs in March, with manufacturing payrolls shrinking 2,000 and construction shedding 6,000 positions. The services sector added 135,000 jobs last month, concentrated in professional and education and health services.

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Additional reporting by Dan Burns in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Andrea Ricci)

Source: OANN

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Key bond market recession signal seen postponed to next year: Reuters poll

FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington
FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 3, 2019

By Hari Kishan

BENGALURU (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve’s dovish turn has probably delayed the arrival of a key bond market recession indicator to 2020, a bit later than predicted three months ago, according to the latest Reuters poll of bond strategists.

Only about one-fifth of those answering an additional question expected the gap between U.S. 2-year and 10-year note yields to invert within the next six months, compared to over one-third in the previous poll.

The curve is said to be inverted when shorter-dated maturities yield more than longer-dated bonds, an occurrence in markets which has preceded almost every economic recession since World War Two.

While the recent move in bond markets was driven by a sudden change in rate expectations from the Federal Reserve – it has signaled no more rate rises this year – a majority said a 2s-10s yield inversion will happen within a year.

Indeed, the gap between U.S. 3-month bill rates and 10-year Treasury yields, which is closely watched by the Fed and increasingly so by market participants, has already inverted.

“There is always a lag between the yield curve inverting and the U.S. going into recession, and it is unlikely to be any different this time,” said Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Merrion Capital.

Nearly 60 percent of respondents to a separate question also expected the U.S. economy to enter a recession within the next two years, not very different from the previous poll. That lines up roughly with recent Reuters surveys of economists. [ECILT/US]

But not everyone is convinced a U.S. recession is right around the corner.

“The markets are acting as if the Fed’s new patient, dovish stance is the harbinger of a recession,” noted rate strategists at Morgan Stanley, who argued the recent decline in yields would underpin the economy and spell better days ahead.

“If the yield curve inversion persists and looks like it might be generating enough concern about a recession that it does indeed become self-fulfilling, the (Fed) may need to consider whether its balance sheet plan is flattening the yield curve in a risky way.”

Treasury yields broadly in the latest poll of over 80 fixed-income strategists, taken in the past week, were forecast to be much lower in the year ahead than expected three months ago, tracking the sharp decline in yields since then.

The 2-year Treasury yield is forecast to rise to 2.55 percent in the next 12 months from about 2.30 percent now. The 10-year yield is expected to rise to 2.80 percent in a year from about 2.48 percent on Tuesday.

That 12-month ahead 10-year yield consensus is a sharp fall from 3.30 percent predicted in December’s poll.

But although 40 percent of analysts who answered the inversion question predict it in a year, the overall forecast is still of a steeper curve, not a flatter one: median forecasts show the gap between 2-year and 10-year note yields about 7 basis points wider to 25 basis points from about 18 now.

The latest data suggest U.S. economic growth is slowing, and the boost from tax cuts is fading. Inflation is tame, which along with uncertainty about how the trade standoff with China progresses, has given the Fed room to pause.

“We are forecasting a gradual slowdown of growth ultimately culminating in a recession – and there is also the broader picture for the global economy, which isn’t that great,” said Elwin De Groot, head of macro strategy at Rabobank.

“Assuming that the Fed doesn’t take any further action, you could still see further flattening, i.e., a slight inversion of the U.S. interest rate curve.”

While 10-year German bund yields were forecast to rise to 40 basis points in a year from around negative 4 basis points currently, it was the lowest 12-month ahead forecast since a September 2016 poll.

With bund yields priced in for a bleaker economic outlook, the bias was towards benchmark yields to rise rather than fall, reflecting some optimism the European Central Bank’s more dovish stance may stall a further economic slowdown.

But with the total number of negative-yielding bonds globally hitting the highest since September 2017 – touching $10 trillion – the hunt for yield is pushing investors into U.S. Treasuries, keeping yields there from rising.

(Polling by Indradip Ghosh and Manjul Paul; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: OANN

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British voters say: Give us a strong leader and reform the Brexit-fatigued system

Cars drive over Westminster Bridge as the Houses of Parliament is seen in the background, in Westminster, central London
Cars drive over Westminster Bridge as the Houses of Parliament is seen in the background, in Westminster, central London, Britain, April 4, 2019. Picture taken with long exposure. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

April 8, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – British voters want a strong leader who is willing to break the rules and force through wide scale reform after three years of Brexit crisis pushed confidence in the political system to a 15-year low.

The 2016 referendum revealed a United Kingdom divided over much more than EU membership, and has sparked impassioned debate about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism, empire and what it means to be British.

Yet more than a week since the United Kingdom was originally supposed to leave the EU on March 29, nothing is resolved: it remains uncertain how, when or if it ever will.

Research by the Hansard Society found that 54 percent of voters want a strong leader who is willing to break the rules while 72 percent said the system needs “quite a lot” or “a great deal” of improvement.

Confidence in the system at the lowest level in the 15-year history of the survey, lower even than after the 2009 expense scandal when lawmakers were shown to have charged taxpayers for everything from an ornamental duck house to cleaning out a moat.

“Opinions of the system of governing are at their lowest point in the 15-year Audit series – worse now than in the aftermath of the MPs’ expenses scandal,” according to the Hansard Society.

“People are pessimistic about the country’s problems and their possible solution, with sizeable numbers willing to entertain radical political changes.”

Just a quarter of people had confidence in lawmakers’ handling of Brexit.

The survey was conducted between Nov. 30 and Dec. 12 by Ipsos MORI.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge. Editing by Andrew MacAskill)

Source: OANN

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Trump: Dems Want Infrastructure Work, But Immigration Is Vital

Working with Democrats on the nation's infrastructure over the next two years would be the "easiest thing" because both sides want it, President Donald Trump said in an interview airing Friday, but he wants work done on the immigration laws.

"[House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi told me very strongly they want to do infrastructure, but we have other things we can do," Trump told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo.  "Immigration is a total disaster for this country...people are pouring in."

Border Patrol officials are going an "incredible job," he added, but continue construction is needed on the nation's border wall.

"We are building a lot of wall right now," Trump said. "We are building the wall and it's going up fast, big, strong, looks good, not the horrible thing they were building before I got here."

Without a wall, you don't have border security, he added, and there is going to be a "lot of wall built pretty soon."

His comments came as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Thursday that immigration arrests fell at the end of 2018, compared to the same time period last year, while authorities said there is a need to deal with "alarming rates" of migrant families hoping to cross the border.

ICE also reported that enforcement resources were stretched thin inside the country, while agents work to deal with the overflow at the U.S.-Mexico border, with record numbers of immigrants from Central America arriving to seek asylum.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: Naqvi Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the WEF in Davos
FILE PHOTO: Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Arnold

LONDON (Reuters) – A London court case to extradite Arif Naqvi, founder of collapsed private equity firm Abraaj Group, to the United States on fraud charges was adjourned until May 24, a court official said on Friday.

Naqvi was remanded in custody until that date, the official said. A former managing partner of Dubai-based Abraaj, Sev Vettivetpillai, was released on conditional bail to appear again at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 12, the official said.

Under the U.S. charges, both men are accused of defrauding U.S. investors by inflating positions held by Abraaj in order to attract greater funds from them, causing them financial loss, the official said.

Vettivetpillai could not be reached for a comment.

Naqvi, in a statement released through a PR firm, has pleaded innocent.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from U.S.-based charitable organizations and other U.S. investors.

Naqvi and Vettivetpillai were arrested in Britain earlier this month. Another executive, Mustafa Abdel-Wadood was arrested at a New York hotel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on April 11.

Abdel-Wadood appeared at the Manhattan hearing and pleaded not guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Former Vice President Joe Biden announces his 2020 candidacy
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in this still image taken from a video released April 25, 2019. BIDEN CAMPAIGN HANDOUT via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in his first interview as a Democratic presidential candidate, said on Friday that he does not believe he treated law professor Anita Hill badly during the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Biden had joined the burgeoning 2020 Democratic field a day earlier.

Biden’s conduct during those hearings, when he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, became a renewed subject of controversy after the New York Times reported that Biden had called Hill earlier this month in the run-up to his presidential bid and that Hill was dissatisfied with Biden’s expression of regret.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View,” Biden largely defended his actions as a senator almost 30 years ago, saying he believed Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment levied at Thomas and tried to derail his confirmation.

Activists have long been unhappy that Hill was questioned in graphic detail by the all-white, all-male committee chaired by Biden.

“I’m sorry she was treated the way she was treated,” Biden said, but later, he asserted, “I don’t think I treated her badly. … How do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions?”

“There were a lot of mistakes made across the board and for those I apologize,” he said.

Biden praised Hill as “remarkable” and said she is “one of the reasons we have the #MeToo movement.”

Asked why he had not reached out to Hill earlier, Biden said he had previously publicly stated he had regrets about her treatment and that he “didn’t want to quote invade her space.”

That seemed to be a reference to another controversy that looms over Biden’s presidential run: allegations by several women that he made them uncomfortable by touching them at political events.

Biden also addressed that criticism, saying he was now more “cognizant” about a woman’s “private space.” But he maintained that he had been “trying to bring solace.”

He suggested he was still trying to sort out the guidelines for his conduct going forward.

“I should be able to read better,” he said. “I have to be more careful.”

Pressed by the show’s panel for an apology to his accusers, Biden would not entirely capitulate.

“So, I invaded your space,” he replied. “I mean, I’m sorry this happened. But I’m not sorry in a sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.”

Biden, 76, served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president for two terms. He is competing with 19 others for the Democratic presidential nomination and the chance to likely face President Donald Trump next year in the general election.

His first public event as a presidential candidate is scheduled for Monday in Pittsburgh.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei, Taiwan August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s stock slumped over 4% on Friday to its lowest price in two years, rounding out a rough week that included worse-than-expected quarterly results and a pitch by Chief Executive Elon Musk on autonomous cars that failed to win over investors.

With investors betting Tesla will soon raise capital, the stock has fallen 13% for the week to its lowest level since January 2017, before the launch of the Model 3 sedan aimed at making the electric car maker profitable.

One positive development for Tesla: a U.S. District Court judge on Friday granted a request by Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission for a second extension to resolve a dispute over Musk’s use of Twitter.

On Wednesday, Tesla posted a worse-than-expected loss of $702 million for the March quarter. Musk said Tesla would return to profit in the third quarter and that there was “some merit” to raising capital.

Musk is still battling to convince investors that demand for the Model 3, the company’s first car aimed at the mass consumer market, is “insanely” high, and that it can be delivered efficiently to customers around the world.

Tesla ended its first quarter with $2.2 billion, down from $3.7 billion in the prior quarter, and the company is planning expansions including a Shanghai factory, an upcoming Model Y SUV, and other projects.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s cash – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DyJjX6)

On Monday, Musk hosted a self-driving event, where he predicted Tesla would have over a million autonomous vehicles by next year. Some analysts perceived the presentation as a way to deflect attention from questions about demand, margin pressure, increasing competition and even Musk’s ongoing battle with U.S. regulators.

Tesla’s stock has now fallen 29 percent in 2019 and the company’s market capitalization has declined to $41 billion from $63 billion in mid-December.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s declining market cap – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dwd62r)

Analysts now expect Tesla’s revenue to expand 19% in 2019, compared with 83% growth in 2018 and 68% growth in 2017, according to Refinitiv.

Following Tesla’s quarterly report, 12 analysts recommend selling the stock, while 11 recommend buying and eight are neutral. The median analyst price target is $275, up 16% from the stock’s current price of $236. Berenberg analyst Alexander Haissl has the most optimistic price target, at $500, while Cowen and Company’s Jeffrey Osborne has the lowest, at $160, according to Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s rare public criticism of the Obama administration was a “soft” way of accusing the previous administration of covering up Russia’s attempts at hacking the 2016 presidential election.

While speaking Thursday in New York at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, Rosenstein said that the Obama administration “chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls and how they relate to Russia’s broader strategy to undermine America.”

During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” Friday morning, Huckabee called the comments an “unusually candid moment for Rosenstein.”

“I thought it was a soft way of him saying there was a cover-up,” Huckabee said. “They knew the Russians were attempting to influence the election and attempting to hack the election but they didn’t fully disclose that to the American people and certainly didn’t disclose it to the Trump campaign.

SWALWELL NOT CERTAIN TRUMP ISN’T A ‘RUSSIAN ASSET’

“Instead they tried to set a trap for them. It failed. The Trump team did not take the bait. And that’s the one conclusion that we can certainly come away with from the $35 million worth of investigation,” Huckabee continued.

Next week, Attorney General William Barr will testify before Congress and is expected to answer questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump, which found that there was not adequate evidence to conclude that President Trump and his administration colluded with Russia, though the president could not be exonerated in terms of the possibility that he obstructed justice.

Barr will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee next Wednesday and to the House Judiciary Committee the following day.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG 

“It is going to be a theater, an absolute show,” Huckabee said of the hearings. “Just like the Kavanaugh hearings were and like everything else is in Congress. We ought to close the curtain on them and can’t come back until after the election. They aren’t doing their job anyway. We aren’t paying them because they’re doing a wonderful service to the country and spare us the hypocrisy of thinking they’re interested in getting to the bottom of the facts,” he continued.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Ultimately, Huckabee argued, if Americans “took their partisan hats off,” they would see that President Trump was exonerated by the investigation.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Sri Lanka's former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake
Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

April 26, 2019

By Sanjeev Miglani and Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens.

Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the two led the country to a crushing defeat of separatist Tamil rebels a decade ago after a 26-year civil war.

More than 250 people were killed in bomb attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday that the government has blamed on Islamist militants and that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Gotabaya said the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.

“Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent”, firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections, which are due by December.

He was critical of the government’s response to the bombings. Since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat is from Islamic State to the country.

“Various people are blaming various people, not giving exactly the details as to what happened, even people expect the names, what organization did this, and how they came up to this level, that explanation was not given,” he said.

On Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena said the government led by premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

Wickremesinghe said earlier he was not advised about warnings that came from India’s spy service either, presenting a picture of a government still in disarray since the two leaders fell out last October.

Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States, where he is a dual citizen, over his role in the war and afterwards.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor.

In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father.

Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidature.

‘DISMANTLE THE NETWORKS’

He said that if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radical Islam and to rebuild the security set-up.

“It’s a serious problem, you have to go deep into the groups, dismantle the networks,” he said, adding he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism.

Gotabaya said that a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in eastern Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government.

“They did not give priority to national security, there was a mix-up. They were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, they were talking about individual freedoms,” he said.

President Sirisena’s government sought to forge reconciliation with minority Tamils and close the wounds of the war and launched investigations into allegations of rights abuse and torture against military officers.

Officials said many of these secret intelligence cells were disbanded because they faced allegations of abuse, including torture and extra judicial killings.

Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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