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U.S.-Russia talks on Venezuela positive but no agreement on Maduro: Abrams

FILE PHOTO: United States diplomat Elliott Abrams listens during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council called to vote on a U.S. draft resolution calling for free and fair presidential elections in Venezuela at U.N. headquarters in New York
FILE PHOTO: United States diplomat Elliott Abrams listens during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council called to vote on a U.S. draft resolution calling for free and fair presidential elections in Venezuela at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

March 19, 2019

ROME (Reuters) – Talks between the United States and Russia over the crisis in Venezuela were positive and substantive but the two sides were still divided over the legitimacy of President Nicolas Maduro, U.S. special representative Elliott Abrams said on Tuesday.

“No, we did not come to a meeting of minds, but I think the talks were positive in the sense that both sides emerged with a better understanding of the other’s views,” Abrams said, adding that both sides had agreed on the depth of the crisis.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Crispian Balmer)

Source: OANN

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Slower manufacturing likely drag on small business optimism

The growing evidence of a slowdown in manufacturing is likely contributing to the dip in small business optimism that began early in the year.

Reports this month from the government and an industry group point to a drop in manufacturing activity. While the manufacturing sector is a relatively small part of the gross domestic product — the government has estimated it at 11.4 percent in the third quarter of last year — most manufacturers are small businesses as are service companies that do business with them.

Last week the Commerce Department said factory orders rose 0.1 percent in January, a tiny increase that matched December's reading but fell short of many economists' forecasts. Shipments of manufactured goods fell 0.4 percent, the fourth straight month of declines.

The factory orders report came several days after the Federal Reserve said production at the nation's factories fell 0.4 percent in February following a 0.5 percent drop in January. Meanwhile, wholesale inventories, the good manufacturers have produced but not yet sold, rose 1.2 percent, a sign that production may weaken in the coming months; factories won't manufacture products if it has unsold inventories in their warehouses.

The slowing activity was also reflected in the survey of manufacturers taken by the Institute for Supply Management in February and the index tied to the survey; the index fell 2.4 percentage points to 54.2 from January's 56.6.

The National Association of Manufacturers has estimated that over 98 percent of U.S. manufacturing companies are small businesses with fewer than 500 workers, so the slowdown affects them.

Meanwhile, surveys released this year, by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MetLife; by researchers at Pepperdine University's Graziadio Business School and Dun & Bradstreet Corp. and by Wells Fargo and Gallup, have all shown weakening confidence in the economy among small business owners since the start of 2019.

Owners tend to have more faith in their own companies than the economy. However, some owners say they expect their own revenue to decline in the year ahead — a common prediction when there are signs of an economic slowdown. Many private economists as well as the Congressional Budget Office are forecasting slower growth this year.

Scott Anderson, chief economist with Bank of the West, is among those predicting a weaker economy, and basing it on a slowdown in manufacturing.

"Historically, the manufacturing sector weakens ahead of the overall economy due to its cyclical nature. But eventually the weakness spreads from manufacturing to the services side of the economy, triggering a more general economic slowdown," Anderson said in a note to clients released last week.

_____

Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com

Source: Fox News National

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Boy Scout ranch focuses on wildfire recovery as season nears

Tucked away in the foothills of the southern Rockies, the Philmont Scout Ranch has become a holy grail, its stretches of untamed wilderness and challenging backcountry treks drawing more than 1 million Boy Scouts and other adventurers from across the United States over the past 80 years.

For many of those who have spent time at the mountain retreat, they can't get enough. It gets in the blood, it's infectious and it's the reason there was so much heartbreak last year when a wildfire ripped through the heart of the ranch.

Dozens of miles of trails were wiped out along with campsites, leaving behind a scar that will take years and millions of dollars to restore.

The work is necessary, ranch managers and troop leaders say, pointing to Philmont as a crown jewel of the scouting experience.

"There's just a real sense of loss, kind of a grieving process so to speak," said Roger Hoyt, a longtime Scout leader and Philmont's general manager. "But at the end of the day, nature does renew itself and I think from the tragedy and the heartache comes this sense of renewal and opportunity."

More than a half-million dollars already has been raised and the rebuilding effort is well underway with the installation of 85 new campsites and work to shore up some of the ash-covered hillsides.

Crews were sidelined in January due to snow, but work has resumed in the lower elevations as the clock ticks down for the start of the summer season.

And it will be a banner season with a record number of Scouts — possibly as many as 24,000 — expected to pass through Philmont, Hoyt said. Some of them initially planned to make the trek in 2018 but were derailed due to the fire and the subsequent closure of the backcountry.

With nearly one-fifth of Philmont blackened, the ranch is not alone in its new mission to become more resilient as western land managers face larger and hotter wildfires fueled by overgrown forests and dry conditions.

In 2018, more than 8.7 million acres (13,594 square miles) burned across the U.S., with most of that being in the West, according to the National Interagency Fire Center . Records were broken in California, which marked its deadliest and most destructive blaze in November as the town of Paradise was destroyed and 85 people were killed.

Scientists have said the 2018 season was part of a longer trend of larger and more frequent fires in the western United States.

In New Mexico, more than 382,000 acres (597 square miles) burned in 2018 and the state has seen its largest and most destructive fires on record within the last decade.

Hoyt estimates Philmont Scout Ranch will spend $1 million in the next year on conservation and fire mitigation projects. That includes addressing silt that's washing down from barren slopes to clearing fuel from the forest floor, thinning trees and creating fuel breaks to keep fires from racing across other parts of the ranch.

While the work is relatively low-cost, it's labor intensive, Hoyt said.

In March alone, 140 volunteers spent over 6,000 hours on fire mitigation and restoration projects.

Within two years, he hopes pockets of the burned area can be used as an outdoor classroom for visiting Scouts.

On the other side of the country, members of Troop 715 are preparing for this summer's journey to Philmont. The Richmond, Virginia-based group was gathering over the weekend for a 2-mile (3-kilometer) backpacking trip so they could learn about what gear to take and what to leave behind. They'll eventually work up to covering 10 miles (16 kilometers) a day.

Then there's the first aid training and other skills that will help when they're far from civilization, said Scout Master Steve Tyler, who will be accompanied by his sons, including one who is an Eagle Scout and will have just graduated the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Aside from being immersed in what Tyler calls "big sky country," he said another highlight is summiting Baldy Mountain — a 12,441-foot (3,793-meter) peak on Philmont's northern boundary not far from the Colorado border.

"Around here, the horizon is about 100 yards away and you're looking at a tall oak tree," Tyler said of his Virginia surroundings. "So it's very, very different out there. It is a special experience."

Source: Fox News National

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Philippine forces kill several militants in new offensive

Officials say Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery fire, have killed several militants aligned with the Islamic State group in a new offensive in the marshy heartland of the country's south.

Army Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana says several key militant commanders, including a long-wanted Singaporean, were among the more than 100 militants who came under attack Monday near Shariff Saydona Mustapha town in Maguindanao province. One soldier was killed and seven others were wounded in the firefight.

Sobejana said Tuesday that troops were checking if Singaporean militant Muhamad Ali Abdul Rahiman, who is also known as Muawiya, along with local commander Esmael Abdulmalik and bomb-maker Salahudin Hassan were among the wounded or slain militants.

Source: Fox News World

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Trump: Lisa Page Transcripts Prove Obama DOJ Was Corrupt

President Donald Trump sent out a tweet on Wednesday following the release a day before by House Judiciary Committee Republicans of hundreds of pages of transcripts from last year's closed-door interview with ex-FBI attorney Lisa Page.

"The just revealed FBI Agent Lisa Page transcripts make the Obama Justice Department look exactly like it was, a broken and corrupt machine," Trump wrote. "Hopefully, justice will finally be served."

The president added in a later tweet:

"Comey testified (under oath) that it was a 'unanimous' decision on Crooked Hillary. Lisa Page transcripts show he LIED."

Tuesday's release of the transcripts revealed new details about the FBI's controversial internal discussions regarding an "insurance policy" against then-candidate Trump, according to Fox News.

Page told the committee the text message about an "insurance policy" if Trump won the 2016 election – which Republicans have used to claim an anti-Trump bias among the investigators – was referring to the fact the FBI's counterintelligence probe into whether members of Trump's team were colluding with Russia would become much more important if he was elected president, according to CNN.

"If he is not elected, then, to the extent that the Russians were colluding with members of his team, we're still going to investigate that even without him being president, because any time the Russians do anything with a U.S. person . . . it's very serious to us," Page said.

"But if he becomes president, that totally changes the game," she explained. "He's going to immediately start receiving classified briefings. He's going to be exposed to the most sensitive secrets imaginable. And if there is somebody on his team who wittingly or unwittingly is working with the Russians, that is super serious."

Source: NewsMax America

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Pot Sales Expected to Double on ‘Stoners’ Fourth of July:’ 4/20

Cannabis retailers should prepare themselves for a minimum doubling of sales on April 20, the stoner’s Fourth of July, according to new data.

The origins of 4/20 are obscure, but the most common story is about a group of 1970s high-school students who’d meet outside their school at 4:20 p.m. to search for a legendary abandoned marijuana crop (which, needless to say, they never found). Whatever its source, 4/20 has become the busiest cannabis sales day of the year, according to data provider Headset Inc.

It was the industry’s single biggest day of sales in 2018, with sales up 111 percent compared with the four Fridays before and after the holiday, according to Headset, which compiled sales data from Washington state, California, Nevada and Colorado.

By comparison, beer sales during the two-week period including July 4 were up 33 percent versus an average two weeks in 2018, according to Nielsen Holdings Plc, which has partnered with Headset to analyze the U.S. legal pot market for consumer packaged-goods companies.

Sales on April 20 don’t appear to be affected by the maturity of the legal market. Each of the four states examined by Headset saw sales at least double last year, when the celebration fell on a Friday, typically the busiest sales day of the week. With April 20 falling on a Saturday this year during the Easter long weekend, retailers should prepare themselves for a rush of customers on both Saturday and “4/20 Eve,” Headset said.

This will also mark Canada’s first April 20 since the country legalized recreational pot last October. Retailers may find it difficult to achieve the same jump in sales as their U.S. counterparts due to the ongoing supply shortages that have plagued the legal market. There will undoubtedly be long lineups, especially in under-retailed cities like Toronto, which currently only has two legal stores to serve its population of nearly 3 million.

Earnings Outlook

We’ll get further insight into legal sales from two Canadian producers this week, with Aphria Inc. and Organigram Holdings Inc. scheduled to release results Monday for the quarter ended Feb. 28. Analysts expect the companies to report revenue of C$83 million ($62 million) and C$24 million respectively, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

It may be time to significantly lower expectations for the sector as a whole, according to Scotiabank analysts Oliver Rowe and Ben Isaacson, who published a note last week saying first-quarter estimates are “far too high.”

The analysts expect aggregate revenue in the calendar first quarter to come in below fourth-quarter results, while the Street as a whole is looking for a 35 percent increase. They also expect total cannabis sales volumes to fall by 25 percent quarter-over-quarter due to a dearth of new stores.

As a result, investors should brace themselves for “some companies trading sharply lower on earnings day,” they said. One outlier may be Moncton, New Brunswick-based Organigram due to its strong inventory position. “This could translate into substantial sales in the coming quarter which may come as a surprise for a sector that should generally disappoint.”

Despite flying under the radar compared to its larger, higher-profile peers, Organigram has turned into an analyst darling. The stock has 10 buys, no holds and no sells and a 12-month price target of C$11, about 20 percent above current levels, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Eight Capital’s Graeme Kreindler, who rates Organigram a buy with a C$12 price target, calls the company one of its top picks among Canadian producers due to its “industry-leading gross margins.” Kreindler expects Organigram to report gross margins of 61 percent and positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, “reflecting our belief in the company’s ability to effectively scale up operations while maintaining an attractive cost profile.”

Upcoming Events This Week

MONDAY 4/15

  • Organigram Holdings reports fiscal second-quarter results pre-market with an analyst call at 8 a.m. Toronto time
  • Aphria reports fiscal third-quarter earnings before market with an analyst call scheduled for 9 a.m. Toronto time
  • The Cannabis Society holds its Joint Venture Conference in New York

TUESDAY 4/16

  • GMP Securities LP hosts its 2019 cannabis conference in Toronto

WEDNESDAY 4/17

  • The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference will be held in Toronto through April 18

THURSDAY 4/18

  • Cannex Capital Holdings Inc. shareholders will vote on its combination with 4Front Holdings LLC
  • Greenlane Holdings Inc., a distributor of cannabis accessories, plans to list on the Nasdaq

Source: NewsMax America

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DARPA's 'AI Next' Seeks to Build in 'Common Sense'

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has unveiled some of the details of its "AI Next" artificial intelligence program to Nextgov.

"AI Next" is a $2 billion campaign to research and create new tools for artificial intelligence that exceed current capabilities in areas like common sense reasoning and human-like communication.

"The grand vision for the AI Next campaign is to take machines and move them from being tools — perhaps very valuable tools — but really to be trusted, collaborative partners," said Valerie Browning, the director of DARPA's Defense Sciences Office.

Browning identifies the biggest gap with modern AI and the advances DARPA hopes to achieve as "the fact that AI can fail in ways that humans wouldn't," such as not recognizing a picture that has a few minor changes a human would not notice.

"We need to be able to build AI systems that have that sort of common sense wired in," she added. "We need AI systems that do have some ability for introspection."

The agency's AI Exploration program helps fund a variety of different approaches to improving AI, which allows DARPA to "go after some of the more high-risk, uncertain spaces quickly to find out whether they're on the critical path toward reaching our ultimate vision."

Browning pointed to "the physics of AI," as one of the more promising areas to explore.

"I think we'll know soon whether there are some real clear applications," she said. "I would say within months, not years."

Source: NewsMax America

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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

April 26, 2019

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

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

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

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Fox News National

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

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOREX SURCHARGE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: OANN

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