Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Maga First News with Peter Boykin

8:00 am 9:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

France’s Suez says to help China improve chemical industry safety after blast

FILE PHOTO: A woman walks at the site at the pesticide plant owned by Tianjiayi Chemical following an explosion, in Xiangshui county
FILE PHOTO: A woman walks at the site at the pesticide plant owned by Tianjiayi Chemical following an explosion, in Xiangshui county, Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China March 23, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

April 17, 2019

By David Stanway

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China has asked French utility Suez SA to help the country’s efforts to tackle underlying safety issues in its massive chemical sector after a deadly explosion in the eastern coastal city of Yancheng last month, a company executive said.

A pesticide plant blast on March 21 killed 78 people, caused severe structural damage in nearby residential buildings and forced authorities to seal off a river to protect local drinking water.

Authorities were in touch with Suez in the aftermath of the blast to discuss contamination risks at the site, and also to get involved in China’s long-term efforts to improve safety management, monitoring and transparency in the hazardous chemical sector, said Steve Clark, chief executive of Suez Asia.

“They contacted us, as well as other companies I’m sure, to see if we could help on some short-term issues, and to see if we are willing to get involved on a more strategic scale to make sure that these problems don’t happen again,” Clark told reporters.

“Our answer was obviously ‘yes’,” he said. “Quite frankly, we don’t want just to be the operator of plants. We want to be involved in strategic management as well.”

The environment ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

China is still investigating the causes of the blast, but 26 people have already been detained, including employees at the plant’s owner, the Tianjiayi Chemical Company. The firm has also been accused of violating safety guidelines in the past, state media has reported.

Authorities have already launched nationwide inspection campaigns into chemical production, fire safety and transportation, and widespread closures of small and unsafe plants are expected. The Xiangshui chemical park, where the blast occurred, will be shut down.

Suez already runs five hazardous waste treatment plants in China. Another is under construction and the company hopes to build around two new plants a year in the coming years.

One of Suez’s facilities at the Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park (SCIP) incinerates dangerous materials from 92 companies, including China’s Sinopec and Germany’s BASF and Evonik.

China has sought to close small-scale chemical producers and consolidate production in massive zones like SCIP, enabling safety and emission controls to be implemented and monitored more effectively.

“I’m sure that one of the outcomes of this incident is even more awareness that proper management of hazardous waste just has to happen,” said Clark. “We see this need growing more and more.”

(Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Source: OANN

0 0

Ethiopia to send crashed Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft's black box to Europe for analysis

The black box of Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 737 Max 8 that crashed and killed all 157 people on Sunday will be sent to Europe for analysis.

The spokesperson for the airline said on Wednesday that the flight recorders will be sent to an unspecified European country.

“What we can say is we don’t have the capability to probe it here in Ethiopia,” Asrat Begashaw said.

Forensic DNA work for identifications of the remains recovered after the crash hasn’t yet started, the officials said. The dead came from 35 countries, including eight Americans.

MULTIPLE COUNTRIES GROUND BOEING 737 MAX JETS AFTER ETHIOPIAN CRASH; FAA SAYS PLANES CAN STILL BE OPERATED

A grieving relative who lost his wife in the crash is helped by a member of security forces and others at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday.

A grieving relative who lost his wife in the crash is helped by a member of security forces and others at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)

The crash involved the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft that has since taken been grounded by multiple airlines and countries’ aviation authorities.

The European Aviation Safety Agency also suspended all flight operations for the Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 9 both within or out of the European Union.

Their decision came after the UK Civil Aviation Authority said it grounded the aircraft as a precautionary measure “issued instructions to stop any commercial passenger flights from any operator arriving, departing or overflying UK airspace.”

Relatives react at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff. The black box from the Boeing jet that crashed will be sent overseas.

Relatives react at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff. The black box from the Boeing jet that crashed will be sent overseas. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)

Other major countries that grounded the plane include China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia.

On Wednesday, Lebanon and Kosovo barred the plane from their airspace, and Norwegian Air Shuttles said it would seek compensation from Boeing after grounding its fleet. Egypt also banned the operation of the aircraft, while Thailand issued an order to budget airline Thai Lion Air to suspend flying the planes for until further notice.

But the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday it will continue to trust and use the aircraft, but the U.S. aviation authority said it’s investigating Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and its crash on Sunday that killed 157 people.

A LIST OF THE 35 NATIONALITIES KILLED IN ETHIOPIA CRASH

“The FAA will issue a Continued Airworthiness Notification to the International Community (CANIC) for Boeing 737 Max operators. The FAA continuously assesses and oversees the safety performance of U.S. commercial aircraft. If we identify an issue that affects safety, the FAA will take immediate and appropriate action,” the statement said.

The statement continues to stand even as airline pilots on at least two U.S. flights have reported that an automated system seemed to cause their Boeing 737 Max planes to tilt down suddenly. The issue was discovered after engaging the autopilot on the jet, the pilots said.

Officials from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) pray next to an offering of fruit, bread rolls, and a plastic container of Ethiopian Injera, a fermented sourdough flatbread, placed next to incense sticks, at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday killing all 157 on board, near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia.

Officials from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) pray next to an offering of fruit, bread rolls, and a plastic container of Ethiopian Injera, a fermented sourdough flatbread, placed next to incense sticks, at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday killing all 157 on board, near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)

Boeing remains defiant and assures the safety of their jets, releasing a statement saying there’s no reason to pull the plane from the skies.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“We understand that regulatory agencies and customers have made decisions that they believe are most appropriate for their home markets,” Boeing said in a statement, according to Reuters. “We’ll continue to engage with all of them to ensure they have all the information they need to have the confidence they need safely continue to operate their fleets or return them to service.”

To see if your next flight is on an affected Boeing aircraft, you can visit Flightstats.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

American extradited to Australia charged with gruesome bound and gag murder

Australian police charged a man for the murder of a Thai national, whose body was found bound and gagged on the side of a road in Sydney, Australia, according to ABC News.

Alex Dion, 38, was extradited from the United States to Australia under the supervision of armed guards and charged with the 2018 murder of Wachira "Mario" Phetmang upon arrival.

ABC News says a truck driver found Phetmang's body bound, wrapped in plastic and covered in a mattress protector last June. The gruesome autopsy showed he was on the receiving end of more than 20 wounds to his head, which produced multiple skull fractures.

AT LEAST 2 WOUNDED IN SHOOTING AT AUSTRALIA NIGHTCLUB

An arrest warrant was issued for Dion in September while he was already in police custody for a separate domestic violence charge in San Diego.

Phetmang, 33, was last seen alive on May 25 at a petrol station in the Sydney suburb of South Hurstville. He was a former cafe and spa worker who had been living in Australia for over the last ten years, reported ABC News.

According to the search warrant, Dion called police after they held a news conference asking the public for help on the case and tried to blame an associate for Phetmang's killing, while admitting he had Phetmang's credit cards and cellphones with him in San Diego.

Dion, a U.S. citizen is believed to have left Australia on May 27, just over a week before the body was found and identified.

AUSTRALIA OPPOSES DEATH PENALTY AS ASSANGE SUPPORTERS MARCH

He told police that he had met Phetmang at the gas station to buy meth but that he left when their associate showed up. Police say that story doesn't match up with the surveillance footage in the area.

Dion was refused bail and will appear in court on Monday.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

Unpredictable election makes Ukraine’s friends wary

FILE PHOTO: A campaign staff is seen in a pre-election tent of Leader of opposition Batkivshchyna party and presidential candidate Tymoshenko, in central Kiev
FILE PHOTO: A campaign staffer is seen in a pre-election tent for the leader of opposition Batkivshchyna party and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko, in central Kiev, Ukraine March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo

March 26, 2019

By Matthias Williams and Gabriela Baczynska

KIEV/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Ukraine’s Western backers fear the country’s next president may prove unwilling or unable to accelerate reforms they have spent five years investing in, whoever it turns out to be.

The election due on Sunday has boiled down to a three-horse race between President Petro Poroshenko, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian who plays a fictional president in a popular TV series.

Kiev-based Western diplomats said all three left doubt over how effectively they would pass reform, tackle corruption and keep aid flowing.

“We certainly know what we get with Poroshenko,” one diplomat said. “We think we know what we’ll get with Tymoshenko. With Zelenskiy, we have no clue.”

“All of them are flawed,” said another. “There is no candidate where you will sit there and go: ‘Yes!’.”

The country is the nexus of the confrontation between the West and Russia since Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan street protests ejected Poroshenko’s Russia-friendly predecessor and Moscow annexed the Crimea peninsula, triggering Western sanctions.

With its war against Kremlin-backed fighters in the Donbass region into a fifth year, Ukraine has battled to keep its cause high on the international agenda and pushed for membership of the European Union and NATO.

Successive rounds of sanctions on Russia show the West is still willing to stick its neck out for Ukraine, although a desire to prevent Russia from interfering in other former Soviet republics is also in play.

But investors are jittery and Kiev’s patchy performance on reforms – and Europe’s own distractions like Brexit and an assertive China – have made it harder to keep so-called “Ukraine fatigue” at bay.

Ideally, the EU would like to see Ukraine – a large neighbor on its eastern border – as a stable democracy, obeying the rule of law and able to defend itself from Russia.

But the unity behind the sanctions is always fragile, with Italy, Greece, Hungary and other countries closer to Moscow keen to repair economic relations.

A Ukrainian president weak on reforms could tip the balance towards Russia while jeopardizing international funding and ties with a bloc that has given Ukrainians visa-free travel, a right some two million people have exercised in less than two years.

Diplomats also worry a closely-fought contest could be marred by allegations of cheating and protests.

“What Ukraine now risks, is squandering the goodwill and belief it got since 2014,” the second diplomat said. “The government’s calculation is that they’ll be supported no matter what.”

THREE FLAWED CANDIDATES

Poroshenko won praise for keeping Ukraine together in the chaotic aftermath of the Crimea annexation, strengthening the army and passing reforms such as in banking and energy.

But anti-corruption efforts have stuttered and an apparent culture of impunity where top officials are not jailed for alleged embezzlement or bribe-taking has disappointed voters.

For lack of a better choice, the EU has stuck to its principles of insisting on reforms and promoting Ukraine’s pro-Western aspirations rather than leaning towards any candidate.

“Poroshenko has had a very clear line, at least on paper, on resisting Russia and being pro-European. He has not been ideal but we’ve known him, we’ve dealt with him,” said a Brussels-based EU diplomat.

“It is crucial that the next president sticks to the reform agenda because we have invested so much in it. Without that and without an unequivocal line on Russia, the relationship will suffer.”

Zelenskiy by contrast is a puzzle. He tapped into the disillusionment felt since Maidan and his new face and lack of political baggage appeals to voters, especially the young.

But diplomats worry about his lack of experience and whether he is beholden to Ihor Kolomoisky, an oligarch on whose channel Zelenskiy’s show airs. The two deny being in cahoots.

A Zelenskiy victory would raise concerns about the fate of PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest lender, which the government wrested from Kolomoisky in 2016 and then shored up with billions of dollars.

The government wants to recover money it says was siphoned out while Kolomoisky owned it. Kolomoisky denies any wrongdoing and says the bank was forcibly nationalized without proper justification.

“Is he (Zelenskiy) only a puppet? I don’t think so,” said one Western diplomat. “Would he end up redoubling efforts to prosecute the PrivatBank case in every jurisdiction available? You’d have to wonder about that.”

At a meeting with European ambassadors in February, Zelenskiy acquitted himself reasonably well, according to three diplomats present, playing down his career as a comedian and talking up his effectiveness as a producer and manager.

Nevertheless, he left an impression of being light on substance, one diplomat said. The optimistic view, the diplomat added, was Zelenskiy would surround himself with reformers who treat him as a blank page to imprint their vision.

“You can’t expect much from a person with no political experience,” said another. “He looked quite sincere but we can only judge from the results.”

“Did he provide answers in the way others did? Perhaps not, but I don’t think you can dismiss him,” said a third, adding Zelenskiy was clearly intelligent but did not articulate a policy or vision.

Even if his heart is in the right place, Zelenskiy might struggle to get reforms through a hostile parliament where as of now he has no MPs, diplomats said.

In one sense, Poroshenko has become the victim of his own success in keeping the Donbass conflict contained, another diplomat said, emboldening voters to take a chance on Zelenskiy.

“Poroshenko cauterizing the Donbass wound, insulating 90 percent of the country from it, made people feel they can experiment,” the diplomat said. “You have this deceptive calm in the country.”

Tymoshenko, a two-time prime minister, is also a mixed bag for the EU. It came to her side in 2011 when she was jailed by Poroshenko’s predecessor Viktor Yanukovich, but a 2009 gas deal seen as more beneficial to Russia than Ukraine and recent anti-reform rhetoric may have weakened her appeal.

“She has lost the glow of martyrdom somewhat,” a Brussels-based EU official said.

One strength of the election in Western eyes is it is genuinely competitive, making for flattering comparisons with Russia, where the Kremlin-backed candidate dominates the field. But it has been marred by accusations of foul play.

At a March summit in Brussels between Poroshenko and EU leaders Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker, Poroshenko said in private he could still win. The EU told Poroshenko to ensure the vote was fair, an EU official said.

Opinion polls show Zelenskiy as the frontrunner, with Poroshenko and Tymoshenko fighting for a place in the April run-off. The fear is a close contest could spark accusations of vote-rigging and street protests.

In a speech on March 5, US Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch said anyone trying to falsify voting records should be prosecuted and government resources should not be used to target political opponents.

“In short, a country seeking integration with the European Union and NATO should ensure its actions meet Western standards,” she said.

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: OANN

0 0

United Continental pulls 737 MAX flights out of schedule

FILE PHOTO: A worker from United attends to some customers during their check in process at Newark International airport in New Jersey
FILE PHOTO: A worker from United attends to some customers during their check in process at Newark International airport in New Jersey , November 15, 2012. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo

April 15, 2019

(Reuters) – United Continental Holdings Inc said on Monday it had pulled Boeing Co’s 737 MAX flights out of its schedule through early July, following similar moves by rivals American Airlines Group Inc and Southwest Airlines Co.

United, with 14 MAX jets, had largely avoided cancellations by servicing MAX routes with larger 777 or 787 aircraft.

But the airline’s president, Scott Kirby, warned last week that the strategy was costing it money and could not go on forever.

Boeing’s 737 MAX planes have been grounded worldwide since March after an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed, killing all 157 aboard, just five months after a similar crash of Indonesia’s Lion Air flight.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

0 0

Unilever to pick ‘trusted publishers’ for digital advertising

FILE PHOTO: Unilever headquarters in Rotterdam
FILE PHOTO: Unilever headquarters in Rotterdam, Netherlands August 21, 2018. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

March 28, 2019

By Martinne Geller and Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) – Unilever, one of the world’s biggest advertisers, will pick a network of “trusted publishers” with which to spend most of its marketing budget, in its latest attempt to improve the effectiveness of its digital advertising.

The initiative by the consumer goods giant, to be announced on Thursday, is aimed at giving the maker of Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise more control and visibility over where its ads are placed, in the hope of reducing ad fraud and improving brand safety and quality of online traffic.

The company declined to say which digital publishers would be included.

“We’re first of all going out with our approach and then we’ll engage with publishers,” Keith Weed, Unilever’s soon-to-retire chief marketing officer told Reuters in an interview.

“I think in some ways, this will become a good market standard for expectations on what an advertiser such as Unilever has for engaging the publishers.”

Major brands have in the last 10 years shifted vast amounts of their ad spending budgets online, away from newspapers and radio, to reach consumers.

But in recent years major companies have questioned whether the spending is effective, as metrics provided by tech giants like Facebook proved unreliable and unscrupulous players used computerized bots to inflate viewing figures.

Weed has been outspoken about the need to clean up Internet advertising, last year also pledging to pull investment from digital platforms that fail to tackle issues such as toxic content and fake news, and to cut ties with digital media “influencers” that purchase followers.

Weed said that since June, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram have removed some 1.6 billion fake accounts from their platforms.

Weed plans to retire next month after some 36 years at Unilever, the last nine of which were overseeing Unilever’s marketing strategy. His replacement has not yet been named.

(Writing by Martinne Geller; editing by David Evans)

Source: OANN

0 0

Syria Reversal Is a Significant Win for Good Sense

X

Story Stream

recent articles

WASHINGTON -- President Trump, in a rare reversal of a decision, has decided to keep "hundreds" of U.S. troops in northeast Syria to provide "campaign continuity" and stability there as the fight against the Islamic State winds down, senior defense officials told me Friday.

"After studying it further, [Trump] has decided to take a different course" from the one he announced in December, which proposed a withdrawal of all the roughly 2,000 U.S. forces in northeast Syria by the end of April, the officials said. Instead, a smaller number of troops will continue their mission of training and advising the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast and countering terrorism. The United States will also maintain a small force at a base in al-Tanf, in the south.

Score this as a significant win for good sense. Trump's impulsive decision to withdraw U.S. forces from a successful, low-cost mission had been one of the most controversial of his presidency, and it had perplexed and worried key allies abroad.

Trump's December announcement was especially anguishing for senior military officials, who feared that the United States was walking away from a battle that wasn't yet finished and undermining its credibility with partners. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis submitted his resignation in protest in December, and Gen. Joseph Votel, the U.S. Central Command commander, took the rare step last week of saying publicly that Trump's decision had gone against the advice he would have given.

Syria illustrates that with Trump, decisions are never over until they're over -- and even then, they may not be over. Over the past week, Trump has evidently been more willing to listen to military advice than his critics sometimes contend. He also seems to have recognized that opposition to his Syria decision was nearly universal, not just in the Pentagon but also with key congressional supporters such as Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., who has campaigned to change Trump's mind.

Now that Trump has altered course, Pentagon officials are continuing talks with Britain, France and other key allies about keeping a small military presence in northeast Syria, as well. The rationale, said one defense official, is "in together, out together." European allies had resisted this initial request, until they were sure that Trump himself was prepared to keep a U.S. force on the ground.

The continued U.S. military presence will upset Turkey, which has bitterly criticized U.S. support for the SDF, which Turkey views as an adjunct of a Kurdish militia it regards as a terrorist group. The president had seemed willing to bow to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's demands in December that the United States pull out its forces, but Trump has since stiffened his spine.

Trump's agreement to support some residual U.S. military presence will avert what many analysts had feared would be a vacuum in northeast Syria that would be filled by Turkey, Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime, further complicating the Syria mess. Here again, Trump seems to have come around to the view pressed quietly by his top military advisers, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan.

Now that Trump has agreed to a continued U.S. role in stabilizing Syria, the challenge will be leveraging this "campaign continuity" diplomatically, in a way that advances discussions about new political framework for rebuilding governance and security in that country. Pentagon and State Department officials say they plan talks with Russia about how best to enhance stability.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Maga First News with Peter Boykin

8:00 am 9:00 am



Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

President Trump on Friday said “no money” was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, after reports that the U.S. received a $2 million hospital bill from Pyongyang for the late American prisoner’s care.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else. This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist[sic] hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!” Trump tweeted Friday.

NORTH KOREA GAVE US $2M HOSPITAL BILL OVER CARE OF AMERICAN OTTO WARMBIER, SOURCES SAY

The Washington Post first reported that North Korean authorities insisted the U.S. envoy sent to retrieve Warmbier, 21, who was a student of the University of Virginia, sign a pledge to pay the bill before allowing Warmbier’s comatose body to return to the United States. Sources confirmed the bill and the amount to Fox News on Thursday.

Sources told the post that the envoy signed an agreement to pay the medical bill on instructions from the president, but a source told Fox News that the U.S. did not ever pay money to North Korea.

The White House declined to comment when asked on the bill, with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying in a statement that: “We do not comment on hostage negotiations, which is why they have been so successful during this administration.”

Meanwhile, the president added: “’President[sic] Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.’ Cheif[sic] Hostage Negotiator, USA!”

Warmbier was on tour in North Korea when he allegedly stole a propaganda sign from a hotel. He was arrested in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor in March 2016. Warmbier, for unknown reasons, fell into a coma while in custody and was held in that condition for an additional 17 months.

North Korean officials did not tell American officials until June 2017 that Warmbier had been unconscious the entire time. He died less than a week after he returned to the U.S. North Korean officials, though, have repeatedly denied accusations that Warmbier was tortured, instead claiming that he had suffered from botulism and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

AMERICAN PRISONERS HELD IN NORTH KOREA ON THEIR WAY HOME AFTER POMPEO VISIT, TRUMP SAYS

Fred and Cindy Warmbier sued North Korea over their son’s death and in December were awarded $501 million in damages – money that the Hermit Kingdom will probably never pay.

While the Warmbiers blamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump has said he believes Kim’s claims that he did not know about the student’s treatment.

Trump and Kim have met in two separate summits. The most recent, held in February, ended without an agreement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told Fox News: “Otto Warmbier was mistreated by North Korea in so many ways, including his wrongful conviction and harsh sentence, and the fact that for 16 months they refused to tell his family or our country about his dire condition they caused.  No, the United States owes them nothing. They owe the Warmbier family everything.”

Last year, the Trump administration was also able to save three American prisoners held by North Korea. Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, and Kim Hak Song were all detained in North Korea. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the three Americans home last May, and said they were all in “good health.”

Fox News’ John Roberts, Rich Edson, Nicholas Kalman, and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon
Park Yoo-chun, a K-pop idol singer, arrives at the Suwon district court in Suwon, South Korea, April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

April 26, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – K-pop and drama star Park Yu-chun was arrested on Friday on charges of buying and using illegal drugs, a court said, the latest in a series of scandals to hit the South Korean entertainment business.

Suwon District Court approved the arrest warrant for Park, 32, due to concerns over possible destruction of evidence and flight risk, a court spokesman told Reuters.

Park is suspected of having bought about 1.5 grams of methamphetamine with his former girlfriend earlier this year and using the drug around five times, an official at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said.

Park has denied wrongdoing, saying he had never taken drugs, and he again denied the charges in court, Yonhap news agency said.

Park’s contract with his management agency had been canceled and he would leave the entertainment industry, Park’s management agency, C-JeS Entertainment, said on Wednesday.

Park was a member of boyband TVXQ between 2003 and 2009 before leaving the group with two other members, forming the group JYJ.

A scandal involving sex tapes, prostitutes and secret chat about rape led at least four other K-pop stars to quit the industry earlier this year.

The cases sparked a nationwide drugs bust and investigations into tax evasion and police collusion at night clubs and other nightlife spots.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist