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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee says he regrets wearing Confederate uniform in college yearbook

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he regrets dressing in a Confederate uniform for an "Old South" fraternity party at Auburn University, as seen in a 1980 yearbook photo.

"While I never intentionally acted in an insensitive way, with 40 years of hindsight, I have come to realize that was insensitive and have come to regret that," the Republican governor told The Tennessean.

MORE CONFEDERATE LICENSE PLATES THAN EVER ON TENNESEE ROADS

A spokeswoman for Lee confirmed on Thursday that Auburn's 1980 yearbook includes a photo of the governor and another man in Confederate uniforms.

Lee was 17 when joined the university's Kappa Alpha fraternity. The fraternity ended the tradition in 1992, a school spokesman said.

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His office declined to provide any additional comment on Thursday.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Gulf OPEC members ready to raise output if there is demand: sources

FILE PHOTO: An oil tanker is being loaded at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia
FILE PHOTO: An oil tanker is being loaded at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photo

April 23, 2019

By Rania El Gamal

DUBAI (Reuters) – Gulf OPEC producers can step in to meet any oil supply shortage following a U.S. decision to end waivers on buyers of Iranian crude, but will first wait to see whether there is actual demand, OPEC and industry sources said.

The United States has decided not to renew exemptions from sanctions against Iran granted last year to buyers of Iranian oil, taking a tougher line than expected.

Eight countries, including China and India, were granted waivers for six months, and several had expected those exemptions to be renewed.

A senior U.S. administration official said Trump was confident Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would fulfill their pledges to compensate for the shortfall in the oil market.

Gulf oil producers are committed to market stability and have the capacity to raise production, but any decision to boost output has to be a measured one depending on demand, the sources said.

“The question is how fast and by how much will OPEC raise output. This still needs to be done after consultations with other countries,” one source said.

“It needs to be discussed and studied. There is an (OPEC) agreement that must be respected, we will not (raise output) immediately for sure.”

Another OPEC source said any decision to raise output must depend on demand.

“There must be actual impact on the market and a real demand from customers,” this source said, adding that any physical additional barrels by Gulf oil producers to compensate for a supply drop from Iran are unlikely to be seen until June.

Saudi Arabia’s oil exports in May are not expected to be much higher than April, two sources said.

The sources said Saudi Arabia’s May oil output will be higher than April, but still within its production target under the OPEC+ supply-cutting deal of 10.3 million bpd. The rise in Saudi May oil output is not related to Iran sanctions, the sources said.

The kingdom’s exports in April will be below 7 million barrels per day, while production is around 9.8 million bpd, Saudi officials said.

Washington reimposed sanctions in November on Iran’s oil exports after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday that his country, the world’s top oil exporter, was monitoring oil market developments after the U.S. statement. He also said Riyadh would coordinate with other oil producers to ensure a balanced market and adequate supply.

A source familiar with Saudi thinking told Reuters on Monday that the country was willing to compensate for any potential loss of crude supply from Iran, but would assess the impact on the market before raising output.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other producers, an alliance known as OPEC+, are reducing output by 1.2 million bpd from Jan. 1 for six months. They meet on June 25-26 to decide whether to extend the pact.

On May 19, a panel of energy ministers from major oil producers, known as the JMMC, is due to discuss the oil market and make recommendations ahead of the June policy meeting, the sources said.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal. Editing by Dale Hudson and Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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$2M lottery winner from Tennessee: ‘I’m still a redneck’

A Tennessee man who won $2 million on a scratch-off lottery ticket says the money won't change him.

Dyersburg resident Timothy Seratt told WREG-TV that "I might have a lot of money, but I'm still a redneck."

Seratt says he's lived paycheck-to-paycheck his whole life, that he's never flown in a plane and never traveled farther north than Kentucky.

While he doesn't have plans for some of the $1.3 million he'll take home after taxes, he still plans to work.

Seratt said his immediate plans are to pay off his house and his mom's house and take his two kids to Disney World. He'd also like to fly to Los Angeles to watch the Dodgers play baseball, but says he'll look to invest much of the money.

Source: Fox News National

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Comedian takes center stage in Ukraine’s presidential race

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukrainian actor and candidate in the upcoming presidential election, hosts a comedy show at a concert hall in Kiev
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukrainian actor and candidate in the upcoming presidential election, hosts a comedy show at a concert hall in Kiev, Ukraine February 22, 2019. Picture taken February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

February 27, 2019

By Matthias Williams and Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – In a popular Ukrainian TV series, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy plays a president who is scrupulously honest and outwits crooked lawmakers and shadowy businessmen who try to stand in his way.

Zelenskiy’s character in the show “Servant of the People” is loved by Ukrainians fed up with how their country has been governed since independence in 1991. Now they have the chance to turn fantasy into reality in presidential elections on March 31.

The 41-year-old actor announced a presidential bid on New Year’s Eve and he has since emerged as the surprise frontrunner ahead of incumbent Petro Poroshenko and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in a crowded field of 44 candidates.

Zelenskiy’s sudden rise comes at a time voters around the world have upended the status quo, propelling anti-establishment forces such as U.S. President Donald Trump and Italy’s 5-Star Movement, which was also once led by a comedian, to power.

Critics question Zelenskiy’s political inexperience while investors worry that he’s more of an unknown quantity than Poroshenko. After all, if he becomes leader the TV star would be in charge of a country at war in need of fundamental change.

Asked in an interview with Reuters what sets him apart from other candidates, Zelenskiy pointed to his face.

“This. This is a new face. I have never been in politics,” he said after hosting a TV comedy talent show.

“I have not deceived people. They identify with me because I am open, I get hurt, I get angry, I get upset. I do not hide my emotions on camera, I do not try to look different. If I’m inexperienced in something, I’m inexperienced. If I don’t know something, I honestly admit it.”

After performing in student theater, Zelenskiy came to prominence as a team captain in the TV show KVN, where teams compete against each other with jokes and song-and-dance routines. In 2003, his team formed the basis of TV production company Kvartal 95, which makes Servant of the People.

‘SELLING THE DREAM’

In the TV series, Zelenskiy starts out as a humble high school history teacher who becomes president after an expletive-laced tirade about Ukraine’s corrupt political class, secretly filmed by one of his students, goes viral.

Disaffection with how little has changed under Poroshenko has helped fuel Zelenskiy’s popularity, according to Serhiy Leshchenko, an investigative journalist and lawmaker.

“The desire of Ukrainian citizens is to have new faces, to have new politicians ready to reshuffle the whole political class,” he said, comparing the comedian to Trump.

“Both of them are TV stars, and both of them are selling people the dream, so people are ready to accept this dream because they are fed up with the old class of politicians.”

The Maidan protests in 2014 that ousted a Kremlin-backed president brought hope of change, but Poroshenko’s critics say progress has not come fast enough in a country where corruption remains entrenched, oligarchs amass wealth and influence and poverty levels are among the worst in Europe.

Zelenskiy’s squeaky clean fictional president is a powerful image, blurring the lines of where his character stops and the presidential hopeful begins. Even his party is called Servant of the People after the TV series.

At Friday night’s recording of the comedy talent show, the audience, many in their 20s and 30s, laughed and cheered at references and winking allusions to his presidential bid.

Backstage, he posed for selfies with some fans between skits. A trailer for a new series of Servant of the People played before the show, where the fictional president talks about his hopes.

He dreams of a day when Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian film-maker languishing in a Russian jail, will release a new film. War in the east will be over and Ukraine will host the Olympic Games in Crimea, once it has been taken back from Russia.

“(I) would just like to see him as the president. Ukraine needs something new. I am sick of all this,” said Volodymyr Bren, who was in the audience at the comedy talent contest.

IMF DEALS

With less than five weeks until the election, several polls have put Zelenskiy in front of Poroshenko and Tymoshenko.

Support for Zelenskiy is particularly strong among 18-35 year-olds who think he would be the best candidate to tackle corruption in state institutions, according to a December survey on behalf of the International Republican Institute https://www.iri.org (IRI).

His campaign has been propelled by his TV appeal and social media. He has 2.7 million followers on Instagram while Poroshenko has 194,000. On Facebook, Zelenskiy invites suggestions from followers on tackling problems such as high utility bills or their choice of prime minister.

Zelenskiy told Reuters he would not allow Ukraine to default on its debt commitments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has propped up the economy with billions of dollars in loans and provides reassurance to investors.

He hopes the country will eventually stop relying on the IMF but, for now, he would not allow Ukraine “to default and spoil the image of our country”.

Tymoshenko and other opposition candidates have fiercely criticized Poroshenko after the government raised household heating tariffs as a condition for more IMF loans.

Asked for his position on heating costs, Zelenskiy was short on specifics. He said Ukraine’s tariffs were the lowest in Europe but still too high for many.

TACKLING CORRUPTION

Ironically, given the clean image of his fictional president, Zelenskiy has had to fend off suspicion that in real life he is a puppet of Ihor Kolomoisky, a prominent oligarch whose TV channel airs Zelenskiy’s shows.

Zelenskiy insists his relationship with Kolomoisky is strictly professional. He said he would not, as some fear, hand back ownership of PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest lender, to Kolomoisky if he becomes president.

As part of an IMF-backed clean-up of Ukraine’s financial system, the government nationalized PrivatBank in 2016 – and later alleged the lender was used for large-scale fraud and money laundering. Kolomoisky called the allegations nonsense and has said the bank was nationalized on spurious grounds.

“Am I that crazy? Do I want to lose my life, reputation?” said Zelenskiy, when asked whether he would hand PrivatBank back to Kolomoisky.

The businessman also denies having undue influence over Zelenskiy. “I’m more his puppet than he is mine,” he told the Ukrainian news site lb.ua.

To tackle corruption, Zelenskiy said he would introduce a bill to strip the president, lawmakers and judges of immunity from prosecution. He also called for an independent anti-corruption court that the president could not unduly influence – with judges selected with the help of Western experts.

He said that would end a political culture where the president or someone else in authority simply picks up the phone and says: “It will be like this, like this or like this.”

Back in the world of make-believe at the comedy talent show, one contestant hands Zelenskiy a giant key.

The presidential hopeful says it is too big to fit into his pocket – to cheers and applause from an audience that knows Ukrainian politicians often pocket large bribes.

The contestant shouts: “Friends, you have a unique chance to vote for a candidate with small pockets.”

(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk; editing by David Clarke)

Source: OANN

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Pence to visit Nebraska to survey flood damage, Sanders announces

After a week of historic flooding featuring record-high river levels that killed at least three people in the Midwest, Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Nebraska Tuesday at the president's request, press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Monday.

Pence will be joined by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.

NEBRASKA FARMER WHO DIED TRYING TO RESCUE A STRANGER FROM FLOODWATERS IS HAILED AS A HERO

“Thank you to First Responders and many volunteers helping those affected!” Sanders added in a tweet announcing Pence's visit.

The Sarpy County Nebraska Sheriff's office said at least 500 homes have been destroyed in the floods so far, leaving hundreds of people displaced, The Weather Channel reported Sunday.

One of the two people killed was a 50-year-old Nebraska farmer who was trying to save a stranger trapped in flood waters. James Wilke, 50, drove his tractor onto a bridge in an attempt to save a stranded driver, but the bridge collapsed.

Eighty-year-old Betty Hamernik and a 55-year-old man have also been killed in the flooding, The Weather Channel reported. Two other men remain missing.

President Trump tweeted about the flooding last week.

“Just spoke w/ @GovRicketts,” he wrote. “The people of Nebraska & across the Midwest, especially the Farmers & Ranchers, are feeling the impacts from severe weather. The first responders & emergency response teams have done a great job dealing w/ record flooding, high winds, & road closures.”

The flooding has also displaced residents in nearby Iowa and Missouri.

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To help, donations can be made to the American Red Cross of Nebraska and Southwest Iowa.

Source: Fox News National

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Sudan officials: Ousted president moved to Khartoum prison

A Sudanese official and a former minister say the military has transferred ousted President Omar al-Bashir to a prison in the capital, Khartoum.

They say al-Bashir was moved from a "safe place" — the presidential residence inside the military headquarters — where he was held since his ouster, to Kopar Prison.

The two spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because they weren't authorized to talk to reporters.

Organizers of the street protests had demanded the military move al-Bashir to an official prison.

Sudan's military last week ousted al-Bashir following months of street protests against his 30-year rule, then appointed a military council it says would rule for no more than two years while elections are organized.

The military has said it wouldn't extradite al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court.

Source: Fox News World

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Volvo to build XC40 SUV in China as demand grows

FILE PHOTO: President and Chief Executive Officer of Volvo Hakan Samuelsson poses near the new XC40 model during official presentation in Milan
FILE PHOTO: President and Chief Executive Officer of Volvo Hakan Samuelsson poses near the new XC40 model during official presentation in Milan, Italy, September 21, 2017. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini/File Photo

April 12, 2019

By Esha Vaish

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Volvo Cars has started producing its XC40 compact crossover SUV in China to bump up capacity and cater for growing demand, the Swedish carmaker said on Friday.

As the cost impact of Washington’s trade war with Beijing spreads, Volvo has been shuffling manufacturing facilities for its models. The dispute has been squeezing capacity at Volvo’s Ghent plant, the only site where the XC40 – the 2018 European Car of the Year – is currently produced.

Volvo, which is owned by China’s Geely, said that from April 8 it was also being manufactured in Luqiao, south of Shanghai.

“Demand for the XC40 has exceeded our most optimistic expectations,” Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson. “Building (it)… in Luqiao creates extra capacity, adds flexibility to our global manufacturing network and is a clear proofpoint of our strategy to ‘build where you sell’.”

The model has sold more than 100,000 units since its launch in late 2017.

The XC40 is based on a platform Volvo developed with Geely designed to share the costs of developing and manufacturing a competitive vehicle.

The platform, called Compact Modular Architecture, is shared by vehicles produced by sister brands Lynk & Co and Polestar, with Geely also planning to base a new Coupe SUV on it.

Automakers are going through one of their most uncertain periods, hit by trade wars, rising costs for developing electric cars and an industry downturn that has dented even the most profitable brands.

The Luqiao plant, owned by Geely and operated by Volvo, currently builds the 01 SUV sold by car subscription-focused brand Lynk & Co. Polestar, Volvo and Geely’s electric performance brand, said separately on Friday that starting next year it would also use Luqiao to produce Polestar 2, its first fully electric sedan that is intended to rival Tesla’s mass market Model 3.

Geely has forecast flat sales in 2019 due to uncertainty about domestic demand, while Volvo has said it expects margins to remain under pressure.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Stockholm; editing by John Stonestreet)

Source: OANN

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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.

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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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