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Pope defends decision to reject French cardinal’s resignation

Pope Francis addresses reporters aboard the plane bringing him back following a two-day trip to Morocco
Pope Francis addresses reporters aboard the plane bringing him back following a two-day trip to Morocco March 31, 2019. Alberto Pizzoli/Pool via REUTERS

March 31, 2019

By Philip Pullella

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Sunday defended his decision to reject the resignation of Philippe Barbarin, the French Roman Catholic cardinal convicted on charges of failing to report sexual abuse.

Speaking to reporters on the plane returning from a two-day trip to Morocco, Francis said he was obliged to give the archbishop of Lyon the benefit of the doubt until his appeal is heard.

“I can’t accept it because in juridical terms, in classic world jurisprudence, there is the presumption of innocence as long as the case is open, and he has appealed,” Francis said.

Barbarin offered his resignation when he met the pope on March 18.

A court in Lyon ruled on March 7 that between July 2014 and June 2015, Barbarin covered up allegations of sexual abuse of boy scouts in the 1980s and early 1990s by a priest who is due to go on trial later this year.

Barbarin, 68, the highest-profile cleric to be caught up in the child sex abuse scandal inside the French Church, received a six-month suspended prison sentence. He has denied the allegations and launched an appeal.

“When the second court hands down its decision, then we will see what will happen. But we must always have the presumption of innocence. This is important because it goes beyond the superficial condemnation by the media,” the pope said.

“Maybe he is not innocent, but the presumption (of innocence) must be there,” the pope said.

The Barbarin trial put one of Europe’s most senior clergymen in the spotlight at a time when the pope is grappling with criticism over the Church’s response to a decades-long sexual global abuse crisis.

Barbarin has stepped aside temporarily pending the appeal and has handed over the day-to-day running of the diocese to a vicar general.

He has said he would remain head of the dioceses in title and would continue to sign off on documents until the appeal process is over.

The Church’s credibility has been damaged in much of the world by abuse scandals in countries including Ireland, Chile, Australia, France, the United States and Poland, paying billions of dollars in damages to victims and forcing parishes to close.

The scandals have reached the upper echelons of the Vatican itself with the conviction of Cardinal George Pell, jailed this month for six years for abusing boys in his native Australia. He had served as the Vatican treasurer and a member of the pope’s innermost council of cardinals until his conviction last year.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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Coast Guard officer ordered to jail, accused of being 'domestic terrorist'

A Coast Guard lieutenant who authorities say espoused white nationalist views and compiled a hit list of Democratic lawmakers and prominent media personalities should be held without bail for at least two weeks while federal prosecutors continue to investigate his activities, a judge ruled Thursday.

Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, was arrested Friday in the parking garage of the Coast Guard's Washington headquarters on drug and gun charges. Federal agents recovered 15 guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition from Hasson's Maryland apartment.

Prosecutors alleged in court documents filed Wednesday that Hasson had compiled a spreadsheet of so-called "traitors" that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and presidential hopefuls including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris. Also mentioned were such figures as MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNN's Chris Cuomo and Van Jones.

Investigators say Hasson repeatedly studied a manifesto authored by Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting rampage. Prosecutor Jennifer Sykes claimed Thursday that Hasson would also log onto his government computer during work and spend hours searching for information on such people as the Unabomber, the Virginia Tech gunman and anti-abortion bomber Eric Rudolph. Hasson also allegedly Googled topics like "most liberal senators," "best place in dc to see congress people," and "civil war if trump impeached"

Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson appears in federal court Thursday.

Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson appears in federal court Thursday.

Prosecutors' motion for pre-trial detention included extracts from a 2017 draft email in which Hasson wrote that he was "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth."

Also, Hasson sent himself a draft letter in 2017 that he had written to a neo-Nazi leader and "identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for 'focused violence' in order to establish a white homeland," prosecutors said. Hasson's public defender, Julie Stelzig, identified that neo-Nazi leader as white separatist Harold Covington, who died this past July.

Stelzig accused prosecutors of making inflammatory accusations against her client without providing the evidence to back them up. "It is not a crime to think negative thoughts about people," she said.

She also questioned whether the government is trying to make an example out of Hasson in response to criticism that authorities have overlooked domestic terrorists.

"Perhaps now they can say, 'Look, we're not targeting only Muslims,'" she said.

Stelzig said Hasson doesn't have a criminal record and has served 28 years in the Coast Guard. She described him as a "committed public servant" and a loving husband and father.

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride confirmed to Fox News that Hasson entered the service in March 1996. He was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer in 2012 and Lieutenant in 2015. He was assigned to the Coast Guard's Washington headquarters in June 2016. Hasson was previously an aircraft mechanic in the Marines, serving from 1988 to 1994. He also served in the

It is not clear how Hasson came to the attention of investigators, but McBride said the Coast Guard Investigative Service began looking into the lieutenant this past fall after "after the Coast Guard Insider Threat Program first identified concerns about him." He did not elaborate.

Adam Stolzberg, a Coast Guard contractor who had worked for the past six months with Hasson on a Coast Guard cutter project, told Fox News that he sat 50 paces from the lieutenant at Coast Guard headquarters and saw no sign of white supremacist or terrorist sympathies.

Stolzberg described Hasson as someone who was "a little more serious, didn't smile or joke." He added that Hasson kept a clean desk, rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to work and had tattoos and a shaved head.

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Bob Davis, who rents a house from Hasson in coastal Currituck County, North Carolina, and met him a few times, said he was "absolutely shocked" by the allegations.

"He was a very stern military guy. That's how I saw him. I truly nothing but respected him. There are people in life who are not 100 percenters. He was a 100 percenter," Davis said, meaning Hasson worked hard and didn't slack off. "He portrayed in a very professional manner. He was honorable. ... He was a good man."

Fox News' Jennifer Griffin and Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Man pleads not guilty to kidnapping woman outside nightclub

A Rhode Island man charged with kidnapping a Boston woman from her birthday celebration whose body was later found in the trunk of his car has pleaded not guilty.

Louis Coleman III appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court to face a charge of kidnapping resulting in death, which carries a possible death sentence if he is convicted. He continues to be held without bail.

Authorities say the 32-year-old Coleman kidnapped Jassy Correia on Feb. 24 from outside a Boston nightclub where she had been celebrating her 23rd birthday. Police say he was later captured on surveillance video carrying her body into his Providence apartment.

Coleman was stopped in Delaware four days later with Correia's body in the trunk.

His attorney, David Hoose, said outside court he'd "rather not comment."

Source: Fox News National

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Volunteers fly in to wash the dead in New Zealand

People visit a memorial site for victims of Friday's shooting, in front of the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch
People visit a memorial site for victims of Friday's shooting, in front of the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

March 18, 2019

CHRISTCHURCH (Reuters) – Kamran Nasir was in a finance lecture in Australia when a gunman slaughtered 50 people during Friday prayers at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

Within hours he had joined a band of about 60 volunteers on their way to wash the dead victims, in the somber aftermath of New Zealand’s worst modern mass shooting spree.

“We got this text – they need volunteers,” Nasir, 35, told Reuters.

“It literally unfolded in an hour and half and we were running to the airport to catch a flight,” he said, sitting with four friends who had also dropped everything to offer help.

Experienced in Islamic funeral rites, the men from Brisbane who are connected to Brothers in Need, a charity group, are part of a contingent drawn from Australia and cities across New Zealand to help a community overwhelmed by the number of bodies which must be dealt with according to ritual.

They also epitomize a spirit of generosity that has pulsed across a grieving city this week.

“The first thing that went through my head was: They need us,” Nasir said.

He arrived in the early hours of Saturday, the same day Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder over the killings. Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5 where police said he was likely to face more charges.

Christchurch is subdued. Bunches of flowers have been piled up outside the botanical gardens and underneath oak trees opposite one of the mosques, which are guarded by armed police.

The majority of victims were migrants or refugees from countries such as Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The youngest was a three year old boy, born in New Zealand to Somali refugee parents.

The victims, after their bodies were removed from the crime scenes, had to be examined by investigators before they can be prepared for burial.

“It is a spiritual process, preparing the body to go into the next life,” said Taufan Mawardi, who is 38 and one of Nasir’s fellow volunteers.

“I’ve never personally done anything that’s got to do with violent crime, particularly bodies that have been riddled with bullet holes or knife wounds or whatever that may be. So it is a bit confronting as well, anticipating what it’s going to be like in there,” he said.

Eight teams of six people are carrying out the work of cleansing the bodies before burial.

“You start from the head, working down from the right to the left side, to the feet. The mouth and the nose have to be washed,” Nasir said.

Officials say they have released one body and that they hope to complete their examinations of the other 49 killed as soon as possible.

“As much as it is emotional, we’ve got a very good support network,” said Nasir.

“For me it is an honor. It is an honor to be washing these bodies.”

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

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European data supervisor investigates Microsoft contracts with EU bodies

FILE PHOTO: Microsoft holds device-launching event in Barcelona ahead of the 2019 Mobile World Congress
FILE PHOTO: The Microsoft logo is pictured ahead of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

April 8, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s data protection supervisor on Monday said it had launched an investigation into whether services and products provided by the software giant Microsoft to EU institutions comply with its new data protection rules.

EU bodies, like the European Commission and the Parliament, rely on Microsoft services and products to carry out their daily activities, the supervisor said.

The investigation will look into whether the contractual arrangements between the U.S. company and EU institutions to process personal data are “fully compliant with data protection rules.”

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel)

Source: OANN

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Factbox: Key facts about Japan’s imperial system

FILE PHOTO: Japan's Emperor Akihito, flanked by Imperial Household Agency officials carrying two of the so-called Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, leaves the main sanctuary as he visits the Inner shrine of the Ise Jingu shrine in Ise, Japan
FILE PHOTO: Japan's Emperor Akihito, flanked by Imperial Household Agency officials carrying two of the so-called Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, leaves the main sanctuary as he visits the Inner shrine of the Ise Jingu shrine, ahead of his April 30, 2019 abdication, in Ise, Japan, April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

April 22, 2019

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Emperor Akihito, 85, will abdicate on April 30, the first Japanese monarch to do so in about two centuries. He will be succeeded by Crown Prince Naruhito, 59.

Here are some key facts about Japan’s monarchy.

– Traditionalists believe Japan’s imperial institution is the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy. Eighth-century chronicles say the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami bequeathed her grandson a mirror, jewels and a sword, which he gave to the first emperor, Jimmu. The chronicles give Jimmu’s reign as 660 B.C.-585 B.C., but there is doubt as to whether he ever existed.

– For most of the imperial institution’s history, the emperor lacked direct political power and was primarily a symbolic and religious figure. Under the Meiji constitution, promulgated in 1889, the emperor became a constitutional monarch as well as a divine sovereign who was the focus of loyalty for his subjects.

– Japanese wartime leaders used a state Shinto religious ideology to mobilize the masses to fight World War Two in the name of a divine emperor, but Japan’s post-war constitution established the separation of church and state. State Shinto was abolished. The emperor performs about 20 Shinto rituals each year as private acts, separate from his official duties

– Emperor Akihito, born in 1933, has made efforts throughout his reign to reconcile Japan with its former colonies in Asia and to help it project an image as a peace-loving nation. He and Empress Michiko modernized the royal family, bringing it closer to ordinary people.

– Akihito’s father, Hirohito, known posthumously as the Emperor Showa, was treated as a god but renounced his divine status after Japan’s World War Two defeat in 1945. Under the constitution, drafted by U.S. occupation forces, the emperor became the “symbol of the state and the unity of the people.”

– Women may not take the throne, although historically females have acted as place-holders who could not pass the throne to their offspring. Crown Prince Naruhito has a daughter, Princess Aiko. Upon Naruhito’s death the throne will pass to his younger brother, Prince Akishino, then to Akishino’s son Prince Hisahito. Prince Hitachi, 83, Akihito’s younger brother, is next in line.

– Akihito, who has had treatment for prostate cancer and heart surgery, said in 2016 that he feared increasing age would make it hard to carry out his duties. A year later, parliament enacted a law making his abdication possible – the first since Emperor Kokaku stepped down in 1817.

(Reporting and writing by Linda Sieg; Edited by Malcolm Foster and Gerry Doyle)

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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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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Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., threatened possible jail time for White House officials refusing to comply with subpoenas to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

Connolly, a member of the House panel, made his comments during an interview on CNN on Thursday. He said that “if a subpoena is issued and you’re told you must testify, we will back that up.”

He added: “And we will use any and all power in our command to make sure it’s backed up — whether that’s a contempt citation, whether that’s going to court and getting that citation enforced, whether it’s fines, whether it’s possible incarceration.”

“We will go to the max to enforce the constitutional role of the legislative branch of government.”

His comments came after three officials have refused to comply with congressional requests to testify, CNN noted.

Trump told The Washington Post that his staff should not testify on Capitol Hill, explaining that the White House cooperated fully with special counsel Robert Mueller and “there is no reason to go any further, especially in Congress where it’s very partisan.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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“Outdated laws” need fixing to deal with the surge in illegal immigrant families crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, a top Border Patrol official said Friday.

Migrant families face no consequences if apprehended trying to cross the border illegally under present law, Border Patrol chief of Operations Brian Hastings claimed during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“We need a change in the current outdated laws that we’re dealing with for this current demographic and this crisis that we have,” he said.

Hastings said as of Thursday there have been 440,000 apprehensions along the southwest border. There were 396,000 apprehensions all of last year.

SOUTHERN BORDER AT ‘BREAKING POINT’ AFTER MORE THAN 76,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TRIED CROSSING IN FEBRUARY, OFFICIALS SAY

And those numbers continue to rise, he said.

Historically 70 to 90 percent of apprehensions at the border were quickly returned to Mexico, Hastings said.

Now, 83 percent of those apprehended have come from the Central American northern triangle which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and of those 63 percent are “family units” and children who cannot be returned, he said.

“There are no consequences that we can apply to this group currently,” Hastings said. “We’re overwhelmed. If you look at agents there doing a tremendous job trying to deal with the flow.”

The law dictates children have to be released after 20 days of detention.

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

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says that has forced immigration officials to release entire families because “you don’t want to separate families.”

Recently, he said he is drafting legislation that would allow children to be detained for more than 20 days.

Hastings said agents are frustrated with the situation but are doing the best they can with the resources they have.

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“Up to 40 percent of our agents are processing at any given time,” he said. “That should say that in and of itself is pulling from those border security resources.”

Source: Fox News National

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