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Volkswagen’s Scania sees China rebound, braces for Brexit hit to UK orders

FILE PHOTO: Shareholders of Volkswagen pass a Scania truck at VW's annual shareholders meeting in Hanover
FILE PHOTO: Shareholders of Volkswagen pass a Scania truck at VW's annual shareholders meeting in Hanover on May 13, 2014. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

March 14, 2019

By Esha Vaish

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Volkswagen-owned truckmaker Scania said on Thursday that demand in China had bounced back since the start of this year, but it was bracing for a potentially significant drop in UK orders if Britain leaves the EU under a “hard” Brexit.

Scania is part of Volkswagen’s Traton truck unit, whose planned initial public offering in April was pulled by VW on Wednesday until market conditions improve.

In November, Scania said demand in China for trucks and buses was down 10 to 15 percent from previous quarters and customers were forecasting fewer vehicle purchases for the next six months.

However, CEO Henrik Henriksson said on Thursday that conditions had improved and Chinese demand was rebounding to the “same level” as before the fourth-quarter slowdown as growing e-commerce has led customers to resume purchasing Scania’s high-mileage trucks.

“Requests coming in from our customers especially the big ones, they tended to slow down the pace of renewing their fleet (in the fourth quarter). But it looks like now the market is coming back,” Henriksson told Reuters by phone.

In Europe, Britain’s scheduled departure from the European Union at the end of this month has added headaches for an auto industry already grappling with fallouts from trade wars and the slowdown in the Chinese market.

If Britain leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement, a so-called “hard” Brexit, it would revert to WTO rules and accompanying tariffs, increasing the cost of vehicle imports into Britain.

Henriksson said Scania had seen a spike in UK orders in the fourth quarter of last year due to buying ahead of Brexit and it had rushed to deliver those orders in January and February, anticipating delays at the UK border after the March end exit deadline.

“What we have also done is prepare ourselves if there would be a hard Brexit… but if it would be a hard Brexit, then we expect that the market will drop significantly,” Henriksson said.

Scania has lengthened the times it needs to bring UK-sourced components to production and has worked out alternative shipping routes for trucks made in Holland and Belgium to be delivered to the UK.

Within the EU, trucks drive smoothly through border checks. But firms worry that vehicles will be backed up at ports and queued up on feeder roads on both sides of the Channel if a hard Brexit delays each truck at customs by even a few minutes.

“That’s why we have the extra buffer,” Henriksson said.

Rival AB Volvo had triggered its hard Brexit contingency plans in December, building “safety stock” in Britain and considering alternative shipping routes.

“We hope that even if there are disturbances, it should be short term when it’s in everyone’s interest to try and find a solution to make sure that we can continue to trade, whatever the Brexit deal will be,” Henriksson said.

Regarding the delay to the IPO of Traton – which includes the MAN, Scania and Volkswagen trucks and buses businesses – Henriksson said Scania would deliver its strategies “regardless of the capital structure”.

“We have found a modus operandi of how… we will develop base technology between Scania and MAN, but also how we will differentiate… ourselves in the market. That strategy feels very solid and we will continue to deliver on it,” he said.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

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Palu recovery in red tape months after Indonesian tragedy

Six months after Palu was ripped apart by an earthquake, tsunami and liquefying soil that sucked neighborhoods into the earth and killed thousands, a second crisis is looming as recovery efforts stumble and a city that feels ignored begs for humanitarian assistance.

Thousands of people in this city on Indonesia's Sulawesi island are still living in sweltering tent cities, while construction of new permanent homes has yet to start and almost a third of temporary housing is unoccupied after aid groups and authorities failed to connect the units to essential utilities.

President Joko Widodo, who is seeking a second term in elections this week, and his deputy promised that financial assistance to those whose homes were destroyed or whose loved ones were killed would be rapidly distributed. But not a cent has been paid out.

"It's like we're forgotten," said Ade Zahra, a mother of eight living in a tent city who says it's a miracle her family survived when the quake turned their village to mud and engulfed their home.

"We've received no more assistance in the past two months, not only the government, but also humanitarian groups and volunteers who used to provide a lot," she said.

The city's struggle to recover highlights a broader problem of neglect often suffered by remote regions in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago home to hundreds of ethnic groups. Far from the center of economic, political and cultural power in populous Java, the region around Palu has a history of sectarian conflict and perceived indifference to its plight could embolden hard-liners.

City officials, meanwhile, are worried frustration among the displaced has reached a breaking point.

As anger among the refugees simmers, Widodo is focused on securing his reelection. Sulawesi mostly voted for Widodo in 2014, but he risks losing ground there this time. That could be crucial if the race is tighter than polls, which are predicting a strong Widodo victory.

The Sept. 28 earthquake spawned a large localized tsunami that wiped out coastal areas, while liquefaction caused by the shaking turned entire neighborhoods into rivers of sludge. The disaster killed more than 4,400 people, making it the world's deadliest seismic event in 2018.

The central government, at the time still grappling with the aftermath of deadly earthquakes on Lombok Island, appealed for international aid but didn't declare a national disaster, which would've opened the door wider to foreign assistance. It prohibited international aid organizations from operating on the ground.

Though the tragedy is fading from the national consciousness, large parts of Palu look like they were struck only yesterday, a daily reminder to residents of the horrors they lived through.

About 90% of roads have been repaired, according to Palu's mayor, but the shoreline is littered in debris and hollowed out buildings that lean precariously.

Waves wash inside Apung Palu Mosque, which once sat majestically on pillars in Palu Bay. People looking for valuables pick through a vast jumble of personal belongings and house debris, all that's left of once thriving communities.

In Sigi district bordering Palu, several dozen white tents emblazoned with the U.N. refugee agency's logo are home to hundreds of evacuees, who look with envy and anger at temporary housing across the road — some of it occupied, some empty and some still unfinished.

During the day, the tents are blazing hot and at night refugees, who include a man incapacitated by a stroke and a boy with cerebral palsy, shiver.

Frustrated residents recall that not long after the disaster Vice President Jusuf Kalla visited and promised they'd soon get money to help rebuild their lives. Instead things seem to be getting worse.

They have clean drinking water, but a mobile kitchen provided by an aid group closed due to lack of donations. Members of some families have jobs, but others have almost nothing, their former livelihoods gone. Some beg for money.

Zahra, the mother of eight, said she hopes the government finally fulfills its promise.

"Have mercy on us," she said.

Officially, about 173,000 people were displaced by the disaster and about 20,000 are still living in tents that Palu's mayor says were designed to last three months. The actual number without stable housing is much higher.

At a block of eight buildings built by a charitable foundation run by Kalla's business empire, a banner announced they were handed over to the city on Feb. 14. All sit empty and unconnected to utilities, the only sign of life a few cows grazing between them.

Temporary housing built nearby by another organization is occupied, some by residents of a neighborhood wiped out by liquefaction.

Umira, who uses a single name, wept as she recalled the ordeal her family has endured since the night they fled a sea of moving trees and houses. Eight of her relatives were killed, including her grandson.

They've gone from sheltering in a sports stadium to fashioning their own makeshift lodging in the ruins of a house to finally being assigned to a room in a temporary housing unit.

"We all cried with happiness," she said of the moment two months ago when they learned they would have housing. "Even my husband cried and hugged the wall of our new home."

The family still gets aid, Umira said, such as staple foods and cooking oil, though it's distributed without any predictable schedule.

When the aid runs out they rely on income from running an on-call motorcycle taxi service.

"If there is a call, we can eat," she said. "If not, we will only eat rice with salt."

Presley Tampubolon, the head of Palu's disaster agency who oversees temporary housing, said the need for accommodation has been greater than anticipated.

For every house destroyed or damaged, there would often be several generations of a family living in it. He said it would be "inhuman" to expect such families to fit into the 3-meter-by-4-meter (10-foot-by-13-foot) rooms that have been built.

He said the government and aid groups have built temporary buildings with 5,300 total rooms that can accommodate nearly 41,000 people. But about 1,600 of those rooms are empty because they weren't connected to water, electricity or sanitation, he said.

Hidayat, the mayor of Palu who uses a single name, said the central government has stopped building temporary homes despite the need and construction of permanent dwellings hasn't started.

Compounding the problem is that the central government's social affairs and public works ministries haven't released "mourning allowances" and funds for people to build new homes.

He said he's worried anger will soon boil over.

The social affairs ministry's director of social protection and disaster victims, Margo Wiyono, said the ministry has verified 1,906 of the 4,400 names of heirs who would be entitled to mourning allowances and has proposed the finance ministry pay them.

He said they were still investigating the rest.

"We don't want the allowances worth 15 million rupiah ($1,050) per heir to fall into the hands of irresponsible people," he said.

The budget director-general at the finance ministry, Askolani, said it's in the process of approving money to pay the allowances. He said releasing funds for new housing is contingent on several factors, including reviewing local government data and identifying areas for new settlements that are safe from liquefaction.

Hidayat isn't waiting. He said the Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation has agreed to build 3,000 new homes in the Palu area, but he is urging organizations and local governments from around the country to build more.

"Our regional capabilities are very limited," he said. "As the mayor, I'm begging for help to many humanitarian groups and institutions."

Source: Fox News World

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Brazil homebuilders slide as minister raises fears over housing scheme

Gustavo Canuto, incoming Regional Development minister of Brazil's President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, leaves the transition government building in Brasilia
FILE PHOTO: Gustavo Canuto, incoming Regional Development minister of Brazil's President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, leaves the transition government building in Brasilia, Brazil November 28, 2018. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

April 24, 2019

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Shares in Brazilian builders of low-income housing fell on Wednesday after Regional Development Minister Gustavo Canuto said the government’s housing subsidy program would likely run out of funding by June.

Canuto said there had been budget to run until October but due to government spending cuts the money was set to run out in two months.

“As of June, if there is no extension, we will not be able to carry out (the program),” said Canuto during a public hearing at the lower house of congress.

His comments hit the shares of low-income homebuilders such as MRV, the largest in Latin America, which ended 3 percent down at 14.31 reais. Rival Tenda declined 0.9 percent, and Direcional fell 2.1 percent.

MRV’s co-Chief Executive Officer Rafael Menin told Reuters that industry representatives had discussed the housing program with the minister. Menin said he was confident it would continue, as tax income from the scheme outweighed the subsidies.

“The conversation was good. There is clarity from Canuto’s part regarding the sustainability of the housing program,” said Menin.

(Reporting by Gabriela Mello, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

Source: OANN

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Britain Would Be Happier With U.S., Canada

As a member of Their Lordships' House, I have carefully canvassed a good many well-informed British friends about the astonishing sequence of political events in that country's relations with the European Union to see if anything could be predict

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Daunting salvage task awaits Japanese F-35 investigators baffled by crash

A Japan Air Self-Defense Force's F-35A stealth fighter jet is seen at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Komaki Minami factory in Toyoyama, Japan
A Japan Air Self-Defense Force's F-35A stealth fighter jet, which Kyodo says is the same plane that crashed during an exercise on April 9, 2019, is seen at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Komaki Minami factory in Toyoyama, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo June 2017. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

April 11, 2019

By Tim Kelly

TOKYO (Reuters) – Two days after one of Japan’s F-35 stealth fighters plunged into the Pacific and no closer to finding out why it happened, investigators face a daunting task to recover what remains of the highly classified jet from the ocean depths.

Air Self Defense Force (ASDF) investigators have found small sections of the F-35’s wing floating in the sea which suggests the advanced aircraft hit the water, but not why it disappeared from radar screens without warning.

“We have not recovered anything that would point to a cause,” an air force official told Reuters as the search continues for the missing pilot.

The remaining wreckage of the $126 million fighter lies at a depth of around 1,500 meters (4922 ft), including the flight data recorder which would shed light on what happened off the coast of northern Japan on Wednesday evening.

Twenty-eight minutes after taking off with three other F-35s from Misawa air base in Aomori prefecture on a night training flight, the jet vanished from military radar at about 7:27 p.m. (1027 GMT), the ASDF said.

The normally stealthy Lockheed Martin jet is fitted with a transponder that pings its position and can be configured to light up on radar scopes during training flights, the air force official said.

Radar operators tracking the jet received a training abort message from the lost aircraft before it disappeared about 135 km (84 miles) east of the base. There was no communication from the pilot indicating a problem with the aircraft.

The plane was not on a low-level practice run, suggesting the veteran pilot with 3,200 hours of flying time but only 60 hours in the F-35, should have had time to react to an emergency, the air force official said.

DEEP WATER

The military may have to hire marine salvage firms with submersible craft able to recover wreckage from deep water. The candidates include Japan’s two biggest marine salvage firms.

Fukuda Salvage and Marine Works got its start a century ago recovering damaged warships during the Russo-Japanese war, while Nippon Salvage shares its corporate roots with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the company that assembled the lost F-35.

“The time needed to complete salvage operations depends on a lot of factors and … it’s impossible to say how long it would take to recover the F-35,” a Fukuda Salvage official said, adding it would take more than a few days.

The condition of the single-engine fighter, part of a 12 plane squadron that just became operational, will probably be the biggest factor in planning a salvage operation, an engineer at Nippon Salvage told Reuters.

“Intact it could be pulled up by a crane, but if it’s broken up then submersibles would have to collect the fragments,” he said. “The question is whether you want to collect all the pieces.”

Before that can start, however, Japan’s defense force has to find the wreckage of the highly-classified piece of U.S. military equipment.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Injured LeBron to sit out rest of season

NBA: Washington Wizards at Los Angeles Lakers
Mar 26, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton and forward LeBron James (23) react in the second half against the Washington Wizards at Staples Center. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

March 30, 2019

By Rory Carroll

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James will sit out the remaining six games of the NBA season to nurse a lingering groin injury, the team said on Saturday.

“After consulting with our team doctors and medical staff, we have decided to hold LeBron out of games for the remainder of the season,” the team said in a statement.

“This decision will allow his groin to fully heal, and is best for the future success of both LeBron and the Lakers.”

LeBron’s first season with the Lakers was largely a disappointment.

The team was eliminated from playoff contention last week and the 34-year-old James missed 17 games during the season with the injured groin.

The Lakers will turn their attention this offseason to finding another player to complement James, with many expecting Lakers president Magic Johnson to target New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis.

LeBron joined in Lakers in July when he signed a four-year, $153 million deal as part of an effort to restore the storied franchise to relevance.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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American Airlines flight forced to return to New York airport after striking ‘object’

A Los Angeles-bound American Airlines flight was forced to return to New York after the aircraft struck an "object" upon its departure late Wednesday, officials said.

There were 101 passengers and eight crew members aboard Flight 300 out of John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK). No injuries were reported, American Airlines said in a statement.

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT FORCED TO RETURN TO BOSTON AIRPORT AFTER STRIKING FLOCK OF GEESE

Officials did not elaborate on what exactly the "object" was that the aircraft struck while in the air.

The flight, destined for Los Angeles International Airport, took off from JFK at 8:40 p.m. local time and landed safely back in New York at 9:09 p.m.

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The airline apologized to passengers in a statement and said they would be boarding a new aircraft to continue their travel plans.

The airline said a team was reviewing the incident and inspecting the Airbus A321 aircraft that had struck the object.

Source: Fox News National

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FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture
FILE PHOTO: Small toy figures are seen in front of a displayed Huawei and 5G network logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

April 26, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies said Britain’s decision to allow the firm a restricted role in building parts of its next-generation telecoms network was the kind of solution it was hoping for in New Zealand, where it has been blocked from 5G plans.

Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world’s top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded.

In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.

“The proposed solution in the UK to restrict Huawei from bidding for the core is exactly the type of solution we have been looking at in New Zealand,” Andrew Bowater, deputy CEO of Huawei’s New Zealand arm, said in an emailed statement.

Spark said it has noted the developments in Britain and would raise it with the GCSB.

The reports “suggest the UK is following other European jurisdictions in taking a considered and balanced approach to managing supplier-related security risks in 5G”, Andrew Pirie, Spark’s corporate relations lead, said in an email.

“Our discussions with the GCSB are ongoing and we expect that the UK developments will be a further item of discussion between us,” Pirie added.

New Zealand’s minister for intelligence services, Andrew Little, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday that he would report to parliament the conclusions of a government review of the 5G supply chain once they had been taken.

He added that the disclosure of confidential discussions on the role of Huawei was “unacceptable” and that he could not rule out a criminal investigation into the leak.

The decisions by Britain and Germany to use Huawei gear in non-core parts of 5G network makes it harder to prove Huawei should be kept out of New Zealand telecommunication networks, said Syed Faraz Hasan, an expert in communication engineering and networks at New Zealand’s Massey University

He pointed out Huawei gear was already part of the non-core 4G networks that 5G infrastructure would be built on.

“Unless there is a convincing argument against the Huawei devices … it is difficult to keep them away,” Hasan said.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo commodities trader Glencore is pictured in Baar
FILE PHOTO: The logo of commodities trader Glencore is pictured in front of the company’s headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Glencore shares plunged the most in nearly four months on Friday after news overnight that U.S. regulators were investigating whether the miner broke some rules through “corrupt practices”.

Shares of the FTSE 100 company fell as much as 4.2 percent in early deals, and were down 3.5 percent at 310.25 pence by 0728 GMT.

On Thursday, Glencore said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether the company and its units have violated some provisions of the Commodity ExchangeAct and/or CFTC Regulations.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru)

Source: OANN

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Well, Joe Biden didn’t exactly clear the field.

I don’t think it matters much that Biden waited until yesterday to become the 20th Democrat vying for the nomination, even though it exposed him to weeks of attacks while he seemed to be dithering on the sidelines.

A much greater warning sign, in my view, is the largely negative tone surrounding his debut. He is, after all, a former vice president, highly praised by Barack Obama, who has consistently led in the early primary polls, and beating President Trump in head-to-head matchups. Yet much of the press is acting like he’s an old codger and it’s just a matter of time before he keels over politically.

This is all the more remarkable in light of the fact that the vast majority of journalists and pundits know and like Joe Biden and his gregarious personality.

The reason is that Biden, after a half-century in politics, lacks excitement, and the press is magnetically attracted to novel and unorthodox types like Beto and Mayor Pete. You don’t see Biden on the cover of Vanity Fair, and a grind-it-out win by a conventional warrior doesn’t set journalistic hearts racing.

JOE BIDEN ANNOUNCES 2020 PRESIDENTIAL BID: 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE FORMER VICE PRESIDENT

For many in the media, Biden isn’t liberal enough, at least not for the post-Obama era. He doesn’t promise free college and free health care and has a history of working with Republicans, such as John McCain (whose daughter Meghan loves him, and Biden will hit “The View” today.)

What’s more, Biden’s campaign style — speak at rallies, rack up union endorsements — seems hopelessly old-fashioned when we measure popularity by Instagram followers. News outlets are predicting he’ll have trouble getting in the online fundraising game, leaving him reliant on big donors, which used to be standard practice.

And then there’s the age thing. Biden would be the oldest president to be inaugurated, at 78, and he looked a step slow in encounters with reporters yesterday and a few weeks ago.

But what if the journalists are in something of a Twitter bubble, and the actual Democratic Party is much more moderate? We saw that with the spate of allegations by women of unwanted touching, which dominated news coverage until polls showed that most Dem voters weren’t concerned. In that wider world, the Scranton guy’s connection to white, working-class voters could help him against Trump in the industrial Midwest.

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF OF THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES

Biden denounced the president’s term as an “aberrant moment” in his launch video, saying four more years would damage the country’s character and “I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”

But first, he’d have to win the nomination in the face of an unenthusiastic press corps.

A New York Times news story said Biden would be “marshaling his experience and global stature in a bid to lead a party increasingly defined by a younger generation that might be skeptical of his age and ideological moderation.”

The Washington Post quoted Democratic strategists as saying that Biden faces an “uphill battle” and “isn’t necessarily the heir apparent to Obama, despite being his No. 2 in the White House for eight years. They argue voters will judge Biden by the span of his decades-long career and are worried the veteran pol hasn’t yet found a winning formula for his own candidacy.”

The liberal Slate said the ex-veep’s rivals view him as a “paper tiger”:

“Biden is something more like a 2016 Jeb Bush: a weak establishment favorite whose time might be past … Biden’s biggest challenge in the primary will be a compromised past spanning nearly 50 years.”

“Compromised” suggests a history of scandal, yet what Slate means is political baggage, such as his backing of a Clinton-era crime bill unpopular with black voters today. Yet I think the rank and file isn’t as concerned about a vote back in 1994, or even the Anita Hill hearings, as the chattering classes.

BIDEN’S SENATE RECORD, ADVOCACY OF 1994 CRIME BILL WILL BE USED AGAINST HIM, EX-SANDERS STAFFER SAYS

One of the few left-leaning pundits to suggest the press is underestimating Biden is data guru Nate Silver at 538:

“Media coverage could nonetheless be a problem for Biden. Within the mainstream media, the story of Biden winning the nomination will be seen as boring and anticlimactic. That tends not to lead to favorable coverage. Meanwhile, some left-aligned media outlets may prefer candidates who are some combination of more leftist, more wonkish, more reflective of the party’s diversity, and more adept on social media.

“If Biden is framed as being out of touch with today’s Democratic Party and that narrative is repeated across a variety of outlets, it could begin to resonate with voters who don’t buy it initially. If he’s seen as a gaffe-prone candidate, then minor missteps on the campaign trail could be blown up into big fumbles.”

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Look, it’s entirely possible that Biden could stumble, get lapped in fundraising and just be outclassed by younger and savvier rivals. He was hardly a great candidate in 1987 and in 2008.

But if the former vice president finds his footing and the field narrows, the press will be forced to change its tune, and we’ll see a spate of stories about how Joe Biden has “grown.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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South Africa's 400m Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk looks on as he attends South African Championships in Germiston
South Africa’s 400m Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk looks on as he attends South African Championships in Germiston, South Africa, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

April 26, 2019

GERMISTON, South Africa (Reuters) – Olympic 400 meters champion Wayde van Niekerk has backed South African compatriot Caster Semenya in her battle with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which now appears to have taken a new twist.

Semenya, a double 800 meters Olympic gold medalist, is waiting for the outcome of her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to halt the introduction of new regulations by governing body IAAF that would require her to take medicine to limit her natural levels of testosterone.

The IAAF wants female athletes with differences of sexual development who run in events from 400 meters to a mile, to reduce their blood testosterone level to below five (5) nmol/L for a period of six months before they can compete, saying they have an unfair advantage.

“She’s fighting for something beyond just track and field, she’s fighting for woman in sports, in society and I respect her for that,” Van Niekerk told reporters.

“I will support her and with the hard work and talent that she’s been putting into the sport. With what she believes in and what she’s dreaming for, I’ve got a lot of respect for her.

“I really hope and pray that everything just goes from strength to strength for her.”

Semenya has sprung a surprise at the on-going South African Athletics Championships though, ditching the 800 meters and instead competing over 1,500 and 5,000-metres – the latter one would not require her to medically lower her testosterone level.

She stormed to victory in the 5,000-metres final in a modest time of 16:05.97, but looked to have lots left in the tank as she passed the finish line.

Semenya beat fellow Olympian and defending national 5,000m champion Dominique Scott in Thursday’s final but the latter admitted she is unsure whether the 800m specialist could be a serious Olympic contender over the longer distance.

“Honestly‚ I have no idea‚” Scott said. “Before today I probably would have said no. It’s hard to compare a 5,000 at altitude to a 5,000 at sea level.

“But I think she’s an amazing runner and I don’t think there’s any limit or ceiling on what she can do.”

Van Niekerk, the 400m world record holder, had to abort his comeback from a knee injury, that had sidelined him for 18 months, following a combination of cold weather and a wet track.

“We are trying to take the correct decisions now early in the year so as not to put myself in any harm,” he said.

“It was a bit chilly this entire week prepping and coming through here as well it was quite cold and it caused bit of tightness in my leg. We decided to not risk it.

“My recovery is going well and I would like to be back in competition this year, but will only do so if I can deliver a good performance.

“I am a competitor and respect my opponents, so I need to be at my best when I return.”

(Reporting by Nick Said, additional reporting by Siyabonga Sishi; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

Source: OANN

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The suspected leader of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka died in the Shangri-La hotel, one of six hotels and churches targeted in the attacks that killed at least 250 people, authorities said.

Police said Mohamed Zahran, leader of the National Towheed Jamaat militant group, had been killed in one of the bombings. The group’s second in command was also arrested, police said.

Zahran amassed an online following for his hate-filled sermons. Some were delivered before a banner depicting the Twin Towers.

Sri Lankan authorities said Friday that Islamic cleric Mohammed Zahran died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel during the Easter Sunday atatcks that killed at least 250 people. 

Sri Lankan authorities said Friday that Islamic cleric Mohammed Zahran died in the blast at the Shangri-La hotel during the Easter Sunday atatcks that killed at least 250 people.  (YouTube)

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that the attackers responsible for the bombings were supported by the Islamic State group. Around 140 people in Sri Lanka had connections to ISIS, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said.

“We will completely control this and create a free and peaceful environment for people to live,” he said.

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Investigators determined the attackers received military training from someone called “Army Mohideen.” They also received weapons training overseas and at some locations in Sri Lanka, according to authorities.

A copper factory operator arrested in connection with the bombings helped Mohideen make improvised explosive devices, police said. The bombings have led to increased security throughout the island nation as authorities warned of another attack.

Source: Fox News World

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