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This Week: US home sales, Tesla earns, Amazon earns

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:

HOUSING MARKET BELLWETHER

Economists project that sales of previously occupied homes declined in March from a month earlier.

U.S. home sales surged 11.8% in February, aided by accelerating wages and falling mortgage rates, a combination that's helped improve affordability. The National Association of Realtors is expected to report on Monday that sales slid to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million last month.

Existing home sales, in millions, seasonally adjusted annual rate:

Oct. 5.22

Nov. 5.21

Dec. 5.00

Jan. 4.93

Feb. 5.51

March (est.) 5.35

Source: FactSet

ROUGH ROAD

Tesla's latest quarterly results should provide more details into the company's rocky start to the year.

The electric car maker disclosed earlier this month that it churned out 77,100 vehicles from January to March, well behind the pace it must sustain to fulfill CEO Elon Musk's pledge to manufacture 500,000 cars annually. Tesla serves up its first quarter results Wednesday.

ON A ROLL

Wall Street expects another strong quarterly snapshot from Amazon.

Financial analysts predict the e-commerce giant will report on Thursday that its first quarter earnings and revenue surged past its results from a year earlier. Amazon has boosted its profits in recent quarters by expanding into businesses such as cloud computing services and advertising.

Source: Fox News National

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Giants QB Manning receives $5 million roster bonus

Giants' Manning lets fly a pass during a NFL football game in Kansas City, Missouri
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning lets fly a pass during the second half of a NFL football game in Kansas City, Missouri September 29, 2013. REUTERS/Dave Kaup

March 17, 2019

Eli Manning has a lot more green in his pocket this St. Patrick’s Day.

The New York Giants paid their veteran quarterback a $5 million roster bonus that was due Saturday, virtually assuring he will remain with the Giants in 2019.

If the Giants were to change their mind and release the 38-year-old Manning, they would lose that money plus $6.2 million in dead salary cap space.

The Giants have the Nos. 6 and 17 overall picks in next month’s NFL draft, and after passing on selecting a quarterback last year in favor of running back Saquon Barkley, New York is expected to take a QB in the first round.

A rookie quarterback could learn from Manning for a year, just as Patrick Mahomes did behind Alex Smith in Kansas City. Mahomes, in his second season in 2018, was the league MVP.

Manning, the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, is entering the final year of a four-year, $84 million contract extension signed in 2015. His 55,981 career passing yards place him seventh on the all-time list.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Uganda says arrests made for kidnapping of American tourist

Ugandan police say they have arrested some people over the kidnapping last week of an American tourist who has since been freed.

Police did not specify how many people were arrested but said they are "actively investigating" the kidnapping which took place on April 2 in a national park.

The victims — Kim Endicott of Costa Mesa, California, and local driver Jean-Paul Mirenge — were freed Sunday.

Police said the hunt for the kidnappers, including "raids and extensive searches," is taking place in southwestern Uganda.

U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Ugandan authorities to find the perpetrators.

The kidnappers had demanded a $500,000 ransom after abducting the two at gunpoint.

Ugandan officials say no ransom was paid, but a tourism operator said that money was paid to secure Endicott's release.

Source: Fox News World

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Carry on: central bank signals leave ‘carry’ traders chasing more

FILE PHOTO: Euro, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, pound and Chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: Euro, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, pound and Chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in this picture illustration, January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Illustration/File Photo

March 18, 2019

By Tommy Wilkes

LONDON (Reuters) – Collapsing asset price volatility has turned ‘carry trading’ into one of investors’ top plays of 2019. Many reckon the run is far from over.

This strategy sees investors borrow in currencies where interest rates are low to invest in countries where yields are high, such as in emerging markets. Investors can pocket the difference, or ‘carry’.

For the trade to work liquidity needs to be plentiful, the global economic backdrop benign and, importantly, currency volatility next to nothing. Broadly, all those conditions seem to be in place.

Volatility, or vol, had been crushed this year by central banks’ decisions to hit the pause button on interest rate rises. Societe Generale analyst Kit Juckes says markets’ “outright boredom” so far in 2019 has been the perfect recipe for carry trade success – FX volatility is near multi-year lows.

As a result, carry trading has returned 5.5 percent in 2019, according to HSBC’s Global FX Carry Index. That follows a fall of 1.4 percent in 2018, when rising U.S. interest rates caused a stampede out of emerging markets, the favored place to earn carry.

The current environment for carry is “textbook”, says Andreas Koenig, head of foreign exchange at Amundi Asset Management.

(GRAPHIC: Speculators long on Mexican peso – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Cg2cxu)

SELL AND BUY

Koenig has been betting on the Turkish lira and Brazilian real, both of which offer yields well into the double digits.

Investors buying 10-year Russian government bonds can earn yields of 8.5 percent, or 8 percent in Mexico. Those returns have been further burnished by currency appreciation — some emerging currencies such as the rouble have firmed as much as six percent against the dollar and euro.

On the other hand, the Japanese yen, Swiss franc and euro tend to be carry traders’ funding currencies of choice, as their low yields make them attractive to sell.

Yields in Switzerland on the benchmark bond return -0.35 percent; in Germany barely 0.07 percent. But the euro has been particularly popular this year as the struggling economy has further delayed policy tightening plans in the bloc.

(GRAPHIC: Comeback for carry – https://tmsnrt.rs/2O2a6iz)

But can the good times last?

Analysts say the carry trade is here for a while, or at least as long as rates remain low and economic data is strong, but not so strong it forces a central bank rethink.

BNP Paribas predicts near-term growth in major economies will be “not too cold, but certainly not hot.

“The tepid economic outlook means we are positive on long carry and short volatility trades,” the bank’s economists wrote last week.

POOR PERFORMANCES

As history shows, the hunt for carry is not without risks.

Should U.S. growth deteriorate, international trade conflicts escalate or the end of the decade-long bull run crystallize, the resulting volatility spike can send “safe” currencies such as the yen, euro and Swiss franc shooting higher, while inflicting losses on riskier emerging markets.

But even in a good carry environment, some high-yield trades may not work. For instance, MSCI’s emerging currency index is up 1.6 percent in 2019 after last year’s 3.8 percent drop, but the gains mask individual poor performances.

Robin Brooks, economist at the Institute for International Finance, notes that since the Federal Reserve’s surprise policy U-turn in January, high-yielders such as South Africa’s rand and Turkey’s lira have actually weakened.

Asian currencies including India’s rupee and the Malaysian Ringgit have gained – a “puzzle” Brooks attributes to expectations of a U.S.-China trade deal rather than investors responding to the Fed’s dovish shift.

(GRAPHIC: Emerging markets currency performance in 2019 png – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Cg2cxu)

Investors have also loaded up their carry trade positions already: speculators are $2.3 billion net long in Mexico’s peso against the U.S. dollar, against a neutral stance in January, according to CFTC positioning data.

(GRAPHIC: Speculators long on Mexican peso – https://tmsnrt.rs/2FbJ996)

Amundi’s Koenig said that following the strong recovery in high-yielding currencies in 2019 “the risk is not only in terms of volatility but in underlying levels.

“Carry from here is not my favorite strategy,” he said. “In a late-cycle stage, it’s not very likely that it holds forever.”

(Graphics by Ritvik Carvalho; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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Kidnapped Boston woman raped, forced to drink whiskey for days, court docs allege

A Massachusetts woman who police say was kidnapped in January after a night out with friends in Boston was raped and forced to drink alcohol while she was held captive, according to prosecutors.

The 23-year-old disappeared from a bar in January and was missing for two days, Boston Police said. Authorities said they later found her locked inside an apartment in Charlestown.

SHOCKING VIDEO SHOWS WOMAN FIGHTING OFF ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING SUSPECT

Victor Pena, 38, was charged with kidnapping following her disappearance.

After the woman left the bar, she was spotted on surveillance video with a man who police identified as Pena. She doesn't remember what happened after she left the bar on Jan. 19, WFXT reported, citing court documents unveiled on Wednesday.

The woman recalled waking up "on a bare mattress in Pena's apartment," and when she tried to leave, "Pena physically stopped her, told her to be quiet and threatened several times to kill her. ... He said he rescued her on the street, he loved her and they were going to start a family."

Over the next couple of days, she said was raped several times. She said that Pena fed her canned pineapple and made her drink whiskey.

The documents allege that Pena installed an unauthorized deadbolt on his front door to prevent her from escaping.

During his first court appearance in January, Pena displayed "bizarre" behavior, reportedly sobbing and sucking his thumb during an initial mental competency evaluation.

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A court psychologist said that Pena might have been exaggerating symptoms of possible mental impairment, and said he didn't understand why he was in court.

Pena was reportedly held without bail on Wednesday and has a court appearance scheduled in April.

Source: Fox News National

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Facebook Removes Page Of Ecuador’s Former President On Same Day As Assange’s Arrest

Facebook has unpublished the page of Ecuador’s former president, Rafael Correa, the social media giant confirmed on Thursday, claiming that the popular leftist leader violated the company’s security policies.

In a statement republished by Ecuadorean newspaper El Comercio, a company spokesperson said:

“Protecting the privacy and security of people is central to Facebook [and] we have clear policies that do not allow the disclosure of personal information such as phone numbers, addresses, bank account data, cards, or any record or data that could compromise the integrity physical or financial of the people in our community.”

The move comes on the same day that Ecuador’s government allowed British security personnel to enter their embassy in London to arrest journalist and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been sought by U.S. officials for years due to his role in releasing scandalous information implicating Washington in a range of crimes, including war crimes.

Assange, 47, had been living at the Embassy of Ecuador in London since 2012, when then-President Correa granted political asylum to the Australian amid the British government’s attempts to detain him. At the time, Correa called Eduador’s actions an act of sovereign “duty.”

Ecuador’s current leader, Lenin Moreno, was openly opposed to Assange, whom he referred to on various occasions as a “miserable hacker,” an “irritant,” and a “stone in the shoe” of his government. Moreno’s distancing from the asylee came following a 2017 meeting with Trump campaign confidant and political “fixer” Paul Manafort, where the two discussed Ecuador’s handover of Assange to U.K. and U.S. authorities.

In March, WikiLeaks published a tranche of documents dubbed the INA Papers linking President Lenin Moreno to the INA Investment Corporation, an offshore shell company used by Moreno to procure furniture, property, and various luxury items.

The account number for the offshore account allegedly used by the president to launder money was shared across Ecuadorean social networks by netizens of all political stripes, including by Correa – who had about 1.5 million followers and whose Facebook page enjoyed more interactions and attention than that of President Moreno himself.

The account number was also shared alongside personal photos of President Moreno enjoying lavish breakfasts and dinners of lobster—imagery considered especially damning for the people of Ecuador given Moreno’s previous boasting of an austere poverty diet consisting of eggs and white rice.

It also came amid attempts by the neoliberal Ecuadorean government to curry favor with financiers in Europe and the United States amid the continuing debt crisis. In March, the IMF finally bailed out Moreno’s government to the tune of $4.2 billion.

Prior to the removal of the page, Correa lambasted his successor in a series of posts that still remain on Twitter at the time of this writing.

Since 2015, Correa—who lives with his family in Brussels, Belgium—had used the social platform to great effect, using strongly-worded posts, video interviews, and live-streams as a platform amid the Ecuadorean media’s de facto blackout of the former leader, who remains reviled by the center-right former opposition and sections of the country’s left.

Former President Correa minced no words in his assessment of Moreno, denouncing him in an English-language tweet as “the greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history … Moreno is a corrupt man, but what he has done is a crime that humanity will never forget.”

In a separate tweet responding to Moreno’s announcement of the handover, Correa further tore into what he called “one of the most atrocious acts [and the] fruit of servility, villainy and revenge.”

“From now on worldwide, the scoundrel and betrayal can be summarized in two words: Lenin Moreno,” the popular former president added.

The removal of Correa’s page for violating Facebook’s “community standards” is an unprecedented move, and the former statesman is the most high-profile public political figure to ever be removed from the social platform–placing the economist and icon of Latin American “socialism of the 21st century” in the same unlikely category as right-wing conspiracy theorist and broadcaster Alex Jones.



Matt Bracken gives his take on the social media unpersoning epidemic sweeping across the internet.

Source: InfoWars

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Canada’s Trudeau sticks to guns as scandal threatens re-election

Canada's PM Trudeau speaks during Question Period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, March 19, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 1, 2019

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s insistence that there is little wrong with how he is handling the worst crisis of his tenure is frustrating lawmakers and senior party figures who believe the approach could cost him re-election this October.

Angry legislators are starting to push back against Trudeau and his team, opening up public divisions of the kind the ruling Liberals have not seen for almost 20 years.

Trudeau has been under pressure over allegations that officials inappropriately leaned on then-Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould last year to try to ensure SNC-Lavalin Group Inc avoid a corruption trial by paying a fine instead.

Wilson-Raybould resigned on Feb. 12 after being demoted within the Cabinet, and a second minister, Jane Philpott, subsequently quit over the way the matter had been handled.

The mood among senior advisers inside the prime minister’s office has often been grim, according to two Liberals familiar with the matter.

“The frustration is certainly more palpable than it was a couple of weeks ago … it’s not the happiest of places to spend much time,” said one of the people, who like others cited in this story requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation. Despite a sea of unfavorable headlines as well as opinion polls showing the Liberals are on track to lose October’s federal election, Trudeau’s approach has been to wait it out.

His support for keeping the two former Cabinet ministers in caucus – while indicating both could run again for the party in October – is also inexplicable to Liberal lawmakers who say it threatens party unity.

Both Wilson-Raybould and Philpott say they are acting out of principle and that the scandal shows the Liberal Party needs to do better.

Many lawmakers are furious that Trudeau’s team did not do more to shut down the affair soon after it erupted on Feb. 7. In a sign of their anger, they look set to defy his wishes and expel at least Wilson-Raybould from caucus at its next scheduled meeting on Wednesday.

“They have bungled this from the start. They should have issued an apology, promised to do better and moved on,” said one of the party’s most senior figures.

Instead, Trudeau initially denied anyone in his office had inappropriately pressured Wilson-Raybould, only to have her publicly testify to the contrary. She released more documents on Friday, ensuring the story was kept alive.

Some legislators complain that Trudeau’s tight-knit team has kept them at a distance, that it can be hard to speak to the prime minister alone and that he has ignored people with experience. Trudeau, 47, came to power in 2015 with a small cadre of longtime intimates serving as a brain trust, including Gerald Butts, his close friend and top political adviser. Butts resigned in February amid the scandal.

Members of the Trudeau team are pushing back against the criticism, arguing they are doing the best they can. “No one is claiming the outcome was handled well, but I’m not sure it would have gone any better had we tried something else,” said a third Liberal, conceding that “perhaps there can be some recalibration” on improving relations with legislators.

A government official, pressed on Trudeau’s handling of the affair and criticism from Liberals, said the prime minister was “very proud of the team” and focusing on his agenda.

‘PUT UP OR SHUT UP’

Trudeau has made small shifts in strategy, such as reaching out more to his members of parliament and slightly broadening his circle of advisers, but otherwise insists on staying the course.

“He doesn’t throw chairs against the wall or bang on tables. That’s not his style,” said the third Liberal.

“But he can be very stubborn. Once he’s decided on something, that’s it.”

Trudeau told reporters last week that his team was “stronger and more united than ever before,” but the splits are clear for all to see. Liberal legislator Judy Sgro urged Wilson-Raybould and Philpott to “either put up or shut up” and said they were being selfish.

Ironically, Liberals say it was the Trudeau team’s desire to prevent further outbreaks of intraparty hostility that helped exacerbate the current crisis.

Unhappy Liberals complain Trudeau’s closest advisers sidelined a raft of party veterans after the 2015 election who were associated with past infighting. They say that deprived Trudeau of the chance to consult people with previous experience of dealing with problems.

“It’s almost like ‘we are not a continuation of the Liberal Party, we’re new and different.’ And by doing that, there’s no question they don’t have the same group to circle the wagons and defend them that they once had,” said a fourth Liberal. As well, Trudeau, a self-avowed feminist who appointed a gender-balanced Cabinet, recruited star candidates like Wilson-Raybould and Philpott who veteran legislators complain had no experience of federal politics and therefore were unfamiliar with conventions on party loyalty and solidarity.

While polls suggest an October election defeat, some insiders are less gloomy. That said, they concede the result could well be a minority government, which would leave the Liberals reliant on opposition parties to push through their agenda.

Senior Liberals say there are signs the public is becoming bored of the tale, giving the prime minister the chance to grab hold of the news agenda and reduce the pressure on his inner circle.

“The mood was terrible for a while, but it’s getting better,” said the third Liberal.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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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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