Now On Air

Liberty #MAGAOne Mix

Via MAGA One Mix

6:00 am 8:00 am


Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Liberty #MAGAOne Mix

Via MAGA One Mix

6:00 am 8:00 am



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Exit poll shows comedian leading Ukraine presidential election: ‘The first step toward a great victory’

A comedian with no political experience received the most votes in the first round of Ukraine's presidential election, an exit poll projected Sunday night, with incumbent President Petro Poroshenko projected to place a distant second.

"This is only the first step toward a great victory," Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, told reporters in Kiev after the polls closed.

Zelenskiy, the star of a TV sitcom about a teacher who became president after a video of him denouncing corruption went viral, led the field of 39 candidates with 30.4 percent of the vote, according to an exit poll by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology and the Razumkov public opinion organization. Poroshenko tallied with 17.8 percent support while former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko placed third 14.2 percent, it said.

Officials results will be expected Monday morning, but if the exit poll result holds, Zelenskiy and Poroshenko will square off in a runoff election April 21.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaking at his headquarters Sunday night. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaking at his headquarters Sunday night. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

In a case of life imitating art, Zelenskiy made corruption a focus of his candidacy. He proposed a lifetime ban on holding public office for anyone convicted of graft. He also called for direct negotiations with Russia on ending the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

"A new life, a normal life is starting," Zelenskiy said after he cast his ballot in Kiev. "A life without corruption, without bribes."

The vote was shadowed by allegations of widespread vote buying. Police said they had received more than 1,600 complaints of violations on voting day alone in addition to hundreds of earlier voting fraud claims, including bribery attempts and removing ballots from polling places. Ukraine's interior minister said his department was "showered" with hundreds of claims that supporters of Poroshenko and Tymoshenko had offered money in exchange for votes.

Zelenskiy's lack of experience helped his popularity with voters amid broad disillusionment with the country's political elite.

"Zelenskiy has shown us on the screen what a real president should be like," said voter Tatiana Zinchenko, 30. "He showed what the state leader should aspire for — fight corruption by deeds, not words, help the poor, control the oligarchs."

"(We have) no trust in old politicians. They were at the helm and the situation in the country has only gotten worse — corruption runs amok and the war is continuing," said businessman Valery Ostrozhsky, 66, another Zelenskiy voter.

The 53-year-old Poroshenko, a onetime confectionary tycoon, pushed successfully for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to be recognized as self-standing rather than a branch of the Russian church.

However, he saw approval of his governing sink amid Ukraine's economic woes and a sharp plunge in living standards. Poroshenko campaigned on promises to defeat the rebels in the east and to wrest back control of Crimea, which Russia took over in 2014 in a move that has drawn sanctions against Russia from the U.S. and the European Union.

A military embezzlement scheme that allegedly involved top Poroshenko associates, as well as a factory controlled by the president, dogged Poroshenko ahead of the election. Ultra-right activists shadowed him throughout the campaign, demanding the jailing of the president's associates accused in the scheme.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

On Sunday night, Poroshenko called his second-place finish sobering, telling a news conference: "I don't feel any kind of euphoria. I critically and soberly understand the signal that society gave today to the acting authorities."

Zelenskiy and Tymoshenko both used the alleged embezzlement to take hits at Poroshenko, who shot back at his rivals. He described them as puppets of a self-exiled billionaire businessman Igor Kolomoyskyi, charges that Zelenskiy and Tymoshenko denied.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

North Korea Rebuilding Missile Launch Site, Photos Show

Spread the love

WASHINGTON — North Korea is rapidly rebuilding a long-range rocket launch facility in the Tongchang-ri province, according to satellite imagery obtained by a D.C.-based think-tank.

President Trump walked away from negotiations during a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un last week in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The images were obtained by one of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ research verticals. The photos show work completed at the Sohae rocket launch center which is located along the border with China.

The Mar. 2nd photos show that the vertical engine test stand has been rebuilt.

North Korea originally appeared to dismantle the Sohae launch facility in late 2018 — an event in which reporters from the West were invited to.


President Donald Trump speaks as Sec of State Mike Pompeo looks on during a news conference after a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, in Hanoi. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

During a press conference following his Hanoi summit with Kim, President Trump told reporters that Kim agreed not to conduct missile or nuclear tests. “He told me..he told me that he would not conduct any more tests,” said Trump.

Negotiations between Trump and Kim fell apart last week in Hanoi after North Korea requested that all international sanctions against their regime be lifted in exchange for destroying one test site.

“Sometimes you have to walk,” Trump told reporters at his press conference. “We asked Kim to do more, but he wasn’t willing to do that today,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

0 0

Inspired by Migrant Caravans, New Wave of Cubans Seek US Asylum

Isel Rojas put his dream of leaving Cuba on hold when the United States ended a generous immigration policy for island residents. But watching coverage of migrant caravans heading from Central America toward the United States on Cuban television last year, he began to see a new path.

One morning in January, he woke up and told his wife he was finally ready. Fifteen days later, he was gone.

"If they can do it, why can't we?" said Rojas, a 48-year-old who worked in agriculture in the eastern city of Holguin, recalling the images of young men and families traveling en masse to the Mexico-U.S. border.

Rojas is now waiting to apply for U.S. asylum in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez, which has become a magnet for Cuban migrants.

Political repression and bleak economic prospects remain the primary reasons cited by Cubans for migrating from the Communist-ruled island, a Cold War foe of the United States. But some in Ciudad Juarez say news of the caravans also motivated them, giving them the impression the United States was accepting migrants.

Since early last year, the caravans have been a frequent target of U.S. President Donald Trump as he advocates for stricter immigration policies. Critics say the president's statements about the caravans, including a series of angry tweets, have ironically enlarged the groups and publicized asylum as a possible avenue to legal status.

"The person who created the media coverage and who drove the issue of the caravans has been President Trump," Tonatiuh Guillen, the head of Mexico's National Migration Institute, said on local radio last week.

The addition of Cubans to those flows is adding to the pressure on already overwhelmed shelters and border authorities in Mexico and the United States. More than 100,000 people were apprehended or presented themselves to authorities in March, the White House said on Friday, calling it the highest number in a decade. Trump has threatened a border shutdown or tariffs on Mexico in retaliation.

What's more, some say Trump's harder line on Cuban relations has contributed to a sense of gloom on the economically weak and tightly controlled island.

The White House and the Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mexico's migration institute declined to comment.

'TREATED LIKE EVERYONE ELSE'

Like Rojas, many Cubans who reached northern Mexico in recent months ultimately traveled with a smaller group, and caravans were not a factor for all who left. But a caravan of 2,600 migrants currently contained by authorities in southern Mexico, the largest this year, includes dozens from the island. Mexican immigration officials said they flew some 60 Cubans home on Friday.

In Ciudad Juarez, Cubans represent 75 to 80 percent of some 3,600 migrants in town, said Enrique Valenzuela, director of the state commission for population. The wait to apply for asylum is about two months, shelter directors say.

The bottleneck highlights a new reality: Cubans do not enjoy the same advantages they once did in the U.S. immigration system.

"For the first time this year, Cubans are being treated like everyone else," said Wilfredo Allen, a Miami-based lawyer who works with Cuban migrants. "The special door for the Cubans has already closed."

In 2017, U.S. President Barack Obama ended the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, which allowed Cubans who reached U.S. soil to stay but returned any intercepted at sea, triggering a decline in immigration from the island.

In the first five months of fiscal-year 2019, 6,289 Cubans turned up at ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border without papers. That number is on track to nearly double the total for the whole of fiscal-year 2018, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

While Cubans generally face slightly better chances of receiving asylum than Central Americans because their tales of political persecution are often more clear-cut, success is anything but assured, Allen said.

Allen estimates only 20 to 30 percent of his Cuban clients will win their cases.

That message has not reached those in Ciudad Juarez, many of whom sold their vehicles, businesses or homes to finance the trip. Some have literally bet the farm.

"They say that we have priority, that (the United States) will accept us in one form or another," said Rojas, who sold almost half his cattle. "They always accept us."

A NEW ROUTE

Cubans lucky enough to get a U.S. visa, to visit family for example, can fly there legally and are eligible to apply for residency after a year in the United States. For most though, reaching the United States is no easy feat.

Even before "wet foot, dry foot" ended, Cubans began forging new routes, flying into countries in Central and South America with loose visa requirements and then heading north. Only a few countries, such as Guyana, do not require visas for Cubans.

Last year, Panama made it easier for Cubans to come to the country to shop, creating another opening for some from the island to reach Central America.

Arasay Sanchez, 33, said she was browsing the internet in a park one day when she saw a story about the caravans.

After selling her house and most of her belongings, Sanchez flew into Panama on Jan. 25, she said.

She relied on a seven-page guide she inherited from Cubans who had traveled to the United States, detailing everything from where to sleep to where to buy a phone. On the trail, it was among her most valuable possessions – she carried it in her clothes.

The route ended in Ciudad Juarez, regarded by many Cubans as a safer and more orderly place to seek asylum than other more crowded Mexican border crossings, despite its reputation as one of the world's most violent cities. Ciudad Juarez, just south of El Paso, Texas, received relatively few asylum seekers until late last year.

Many are dismayed by the long wait they find, shelter directors say, and they are increasingly concerned about safety after reports of Cubans going missing in Mexico. Few leave the shelters, 10 migrants said in interviews.

Sanchez and her partner arrived in Ciudad Juarez in late February, moving from shelter to shelter and struggling with spicy Mexican food.

"Even the candy" has chile, she said, clutching the extra folds of fabric in her jeans to show she had lost weight.

Experts do not expect the flow of Cuban migrants to ebb anytime soon. Obama made it easier for Americans to travel to the island, generating new business. But that money dried up after Trump tightened the rules, said Pedro Freyre, a lawyer who studies the U.S.-Cuba relationship.

What is more, a gradual opening of the island's private sector triggered a backlash from conservatives, creating headaches for small businesses, Freyre said.

Reaching the United States would end a long quest for Reinaldo Ramirez, a 51-year-old construction contractor from the western town of Jaguey Grande. Starting in 2006, he tried and failed to reach Florida seven times by boat – including the day Obama canceled "wet foot, dry foot."

The new route has been just as arduous. After flying into Guyana in September, Ramirez and his wife had to hike across the Darien Gap, a remote stretch of jungle straddling Panama and Colombia. After they crossed the first time, Panamanian authorities deported them to Colombia, forcing them to repeat the trek.

Ramirez arrived in Ciudad Juarez about three weeks ago, and hundreds of asylum seekers are ahead of him in line. But he cannot help but feel that he is close.

"I've almost achieved my objective, my American dream," he said.

Source: NewsMax America

0 0

New Zealand university students to get drug testing at orientation: report

Students at a New Zealand university will be getting free drug testing during the first week of the upcoming semester.

The student associate at Otago University is offering services that will allow students to check whether their recreational drugs have not been mixed with potentially dangerous substances. It would be the first time a university has done free drug testing in the country.

Debbie Downs, the chief executive of the Otago University Students Association (OUSA), said it was a “bold and pre-emptive move” designed to keep students safe.

“First and foremost, OUSA is no way condones drug use of any kind, but in the day and age we live in, we are cognizant of the need for harm prevention,” she said, according to The Guardian.

AUSTRALIAN PILOT SPELLS OUT ‘I’M BORED’ DURING TEST FLIGHT

A university spokeswoman said that the drug testing will not happen on campus nor is it enforced by the university officials.

“The university does not endorse either the use of illegal drugs or the drug testing initiative led by the NZ Drug Foundation, but has no plans to interfere in the detail of OUSA’s welfare and support delivery,” the spokeswoman said.

KAROL MARKOWICZ: THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC KEEPS KILLING MY FRIENDS

According to the Guardian, drug testing has been increasingly used at music festivals across New Zealand as part of a health-based approach to illegal drug use that is supported by the government.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

According to the Drug Foundation of New Zealand, people between the ages of 18 and 25 have the highest rate of drug use of any age group in the country.

Source: Fox News World

0 0

U.S. bank CEOs face off with Congress for the first time since financial crisis

FILE PHOTO: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon speaks at the North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) 2019 legislative conference in Washington
FILE PHOTO: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon speaks at the North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) 2019 legislative conference in Washington, U.S., April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo

April 10, 2019

By Imani Moise

(Reuters) – Chief executives of some of the largest U.S. banks will testify before Congress on Wednesday, giving lawmakers their first opportunity to grill the lenders since the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

JPMorgan Chase & Co’s Jamie Dimon, Bank of America Corp’s Brian Moynihan, Citigroup Inc’s Mike Corbat, Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s David Solomon and Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman will face off against the House Financial Services Committee.

Led by Democratic Representative Maxine Waters and staffed with some high-profile progressives including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the panel will likely quiz the CEOs on the safety of the financial system, compensation and diversity, as well as their role in financing gun-makers and private prisons.

Also due to appear are Ronald O’Hanley, CEO of State Street Corp, and Charles Scharf, CEO of Bank of New York Mellon Corp, the country’s two largest custody banks.

Wells Fargo & Co will not be represented since former CEO Tim Sloan resigned abruptly last month, two weeks after being grilled by the same committee.

The executives plan to argue Wall Street has reformed the practices that fueled the crisis and to stress the contribution banks make to the broader economy, testimony released on Monday showed.

Since the crisis, the country’s largest banks have added more than $800 billion in capital to bolster the financial system. But Democratic committee staff wrote in a memo to panel members on Friday that “questions remain regarding whether America is being well-served by the largest and most systemically important banks.”

The banks spent recent weeks preparing for the hearing by meeting with lawmakers and honing their talking points, and believe they have a strong story to tell, people familiar with their thinking said.

In the months leading up to the hearing, the banks also made a string of announcements to show how they are helping customers and communities.

Bank of America said on Tuesday it would raise its minimum hourly wage to $20 from $15 by 2021.

Last month, JPMorgan said it would no longer finance the private prison industry and would invest $350 million in job training programs.

Goldman Sachs has publicly set targets for hiring women and minority groups, a move Citigroup also made late last year.

(Reporting by Imani Moise, Writing by Michelle Price; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)

Source: OANN

0 0

Ex-GOP Chairman Warns: America Moving Towards Socialism

Former California GOP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro listed nine ways in which America is moving towards socialism during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Monday.

Del Beccaro said increased government spending and inflated tax codes are just the beginning and claimed they’ll have a domino effect on the rest of the country.

“We do have massive [spending],” he said. “We are going to spend $7.6 trillion as a society in this upcoming year which is roughly four times what Reagan’s era spent when he said government was the problem.”

“We have massive tax systems,” Del Beccaro continued. “And hallmarks of socialist societies are poor incentives where there is weak economic growth. And that comes from tax systems. Trump did a good job beginning with the business tax code. He’s got to do better with personal so we have better growth.”

He then moved to reduced economic growth through government interference and cited the EU as a prime example.

“[The EU] had zero economic growth over the last 20 years and government is about 60, 70 percent of their economies,” Del Beccaro said. “In the United States we’re about 36 [percent]. With regulations closer to 50. Our growth has slipped from four to two over the last sixty years.”


The popularity of socialism has spread like wild fire especially since the Obama administration.

He also highlighted deficit spending and said it eventually leads to the printing of money, before massive inflation kicks in.

“No government can keep up with the spending, taxes can’t do enough,” he said. “So they start printing money. This is the danger zone when that sort of thing happens. We had it once in the ’70s. Venezuela has it now. They have about a million percent inflation this year. A million.”

Printing money leads to wage and price controls, which could limit commerce and availability, giving rise to underground economies.

“This all comes out of weak economic growth. That’s the key here. If you have zero or less growth, you’re going to have stagnation. And then you start having shortages,” he said.

“In the United States, we had a lot of this during the Carter era. Once the engine got going under Reagan then it changed.”

Del Beccaro said the final two stages of socialism are class warfare and societal discord.

“That all relates to economic growth. If people can get jobs, then they start to worry about what’s on their own plate and advancing,” he said. “But if they can’t get jobs, they look to the others and say well, they’re doing too well. And if you have too much income gap or wealth gap, then it gets played up. That’s where the real danger zone starts.”

(Photo by Andrew Czap, Flickr)

Del Beccaro said America has become more socialist over the last 20 years and accused Democrats of normalizing ideas like the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.

“Spending is so much more. And if they went forward with something like Medicare for All and drove spending above 50 percent, then socialism starts to sound normal and comes into view,” he said. “If we kill off economic growth with AOC’s Green New Deal, then you’re going to have this class warfare. This can be avoided.”


Alex Jones breaks down the latest from New Zealand.

Source: InfoWars

0 0

Suspect charged with ordering killing of Slovak reporter

Slovakia's police say they have charged a suspect with ordering the slaying of an investigative reporter and his fiancee, a case that brought down the Slovak government.

Police didn't immediately name the suspect, but state prosecutors are planning a news conference later Thursday.

Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova were shot to death in their home on Feb. 21, 2018. Slovak authorities believe it was a contract killing linked to Kuciak's work. He was investigating possible government corruption and ties between politicians and Italian mobsters.

Four suspects have been charged but the mastermind was believed to be still at large.

The killings triggered major street protests and a political crisis that led to the dismissal of the national police chief and the government's collapse.

Source: Fox News World

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Liberty #MAGAOne Mix

Via MAGA One Mix

6:00 am 8:00 am



Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said Tuesday that a detailed plan for a merit-based immigration system will be presented to President Trump, giving priority to skilled immigrants rather than those with family ties to the U.S.

“I do believe that the president’s position on immigration has been maybe defined by his opponents by what he’s against as opposed to what he’s for,” Kushner said at the Time 100 Summit in New York City. “What I’ve done is I’ve tried to put together a very detailed proposal for him.”

KUSHNER: RUSSIA INVESTIGATION HAD ‘HARSHER IMPACT’ ON US THAN ELECTION MEDDLING

Kushner announced that the new immigration proposal, which Trump will receive this week or next, will resemble the point-based systems in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and will unify people by ensuring strong wages and secure borders while protecting humanitarian values.

“We want to protect our country’s humanitarian values. We want to make sure we’re reunifying families, and we want to do this in a way that allows our country to be competitive long term,” he said. “And my hope is we can really do something that unifies people around what we’re for on immigration.”

“We want to protect our country’s humanitarian values. We want to make sure we’re reunifying families, and we want to do this in a way that allows our country to be competitive long term. And my hope is we can really do something that unifies people around what we’re for on immigration.”

— Jared Kushner

JARED KUSHNER RESPONDS AFTER HASAN MINHAJ CALLS OUT HIS TIES TO SAUDI PRINCE

Kushner denied in the same talk that he has clashed with White House staffer Stephen Miller, who’s seen as tougher on immigration than others, adding that the plan was concocted with the help of Miller and Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

“And I say that If that if I can get Stephen Miller and Kevin Hassett to agree on an immigration plan, then Middle East peace will be easy by comparison,” Kushner joked, referring to the Israel-Palestine peace plan he’s working on.

“And I say that If that if I can get Stephen Miller and Kevin Hassett to agree on an immigration plan, then Middle East peace will be easy by comparison.”

— Jared Kushner

After the plan gets presented to Trump, it will likely undergo some changes and then he will decide when to proceed with it, Kushner said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“It’s very, very complicated, but it’s a very interesting issue, and if we can solve it, I do think it’s a critical component for America’s long-term competitive advantage,” he added.

The Associated Press 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!

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday said his government must make men aware of the dangers of poor hygiene after expressing dismay over the 1,000 penis amputations that apparently occur in his country each year.

“In Brazil, we have 1,000 penis amputations a year due to a lack of water and soap,” he said while speaking to reporters in Brasilia after visiting the Education Ministry. “We have to find a way to get out of the bottom of this hole.”

The far-right leader called the figure “ridiculous and sad,” Reuters reported. A spokeswoman for the Brazilian urology society told the news agency the number is based on its official data for penis amputations.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The amputations were conducted out of necessity over untreated infections, along with complications from HIV and various cancers, she said.

Source: Fox News World

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

A top Russian diplomat says Russia is willing to negotiate a new nuclear weapons treaty with the United States and China.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Friday Moscow is closely following reports in the United States that the U.S. would like to reach a nuclear weapons deal with both Russia and China, and is “willing” to negotiate. The story was reported by CNN earlier Friday.

Ryabkov also said that Russia “would like to convince” the U.S. to adopt a joint statement that would condemn any use of nuclear weapons.

Ryabkov’s comments come just months after the U.S. withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a cornerstone of the post-Cold War security, and Russia followed suit. Each claims breaches by the other.

Source: Fox News National

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

Government dysfunction and an intelligence failure that preceded the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka are traced to simmering divisions between the president and prime minister after a weekslong political crisis that crippled the country last year.

The government has admitted to a “lapse of intelligence” after officials failed to act upon near-specific information received from foreign agencies. Suicide bombers exploded themselves last Sunday in three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 253 people and wounding 400 more. Authorities said eight Muslim militants blew themselves up at their targets while the wife of one of the attackers blasted herself on being rounded up by police.

The carnage has brought forth arguments that worshippers and holidaymakers fell victim to the rivalry and a lack of communication between the country’s two leaders — President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Cabinet led by Wickremesinghe says neither he nor his ministers were informed of the intelligence received by the defense authorities. Sirisena is the head of state, defense minister, minister in charge of the police and head of the armed forces. He also chairs the National Security Council, which includes the heads of security agencies and departments. Traditionally the prime minister also plays an important role on the council.

According to Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Sirisena has not included Wickremesinghe in national security affairs since a dispute between them came into the open in October last year. This is an unusual departure from the protocol, he said.

Senaratne said that Sirisena was overseas when the attacks took place and even after that, the National Security Council refused to meet with Wickremesinghe as he tried to give them instructions.

Sirisena has also said that he was not informed of the intelligence received and vowed to overhaul the leadership of the defense forces.

The top bureaucrat at the Defense Ministry, Hemasiri Fernando, has resigned at Sirisena’s insistence.

“It is a major factor,” said Jehan Perera, the head of local activist group National Peace Council, referring to the alleged lack of coordination between the leaders contributing to the failure to prevent the attacks.

“The primary responsibility has to be taken by the president, he did not give the information and he did not act,” Perera said. “He had the Ministry of Defense, took the police from the prime minister, chaired the National Security Council meetings and did nothing,” Perera said.

Kusal Perera, a journalist and political commentator, says security and intelligence officials should have acted on the information whether or not they received orders from politicians.

“If they (Wickremesinghe and his party) were not invited to the National Security Council, why did not they say in Parliament that they were not responsible for the security of the country any longer,” said Perera, who is not related to Jehan Perera.

“Saying that now is taking political advantage, not taking responsibility,” he said.

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe belong to different political parties but came together for Sirisena’s presidential campaign in 2015. Their relationships broke down and their differences exploded last year when Sirisena suddenly sacked Wickremesinghe as prime minister and appointed in his place former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom he defeated in the presidential election. The crisis crippled the country for more than seven weeks to the point of not being able to pass this year’s national budget on time.

A court decision compelled Sirisena to reappoint Wickremesinghe, but the two leaders have been rivals within the same government.

Rajapaksa, who is the minority leader in Parliament, blames the government for weakening intelligence and dropping its guard, which he had maintained to defeat the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels 10 years ago to end the 26-year-old civil war. He also criticized the government for the detention of intelligence officers accused of extrajudicial killings and abductions during the closing days of the war, which he said crippled the security apparatus before the bombings. According to conservative U.N estimates, some 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka’s conflict.

Sirisena summoned an all-party conference Thursday to which Wickremesinghe was also invited. At the conference, Sirisena stressed “setting aside all the political beliefs and difference (so that) everybody should collectively commit towards building a peaceful environment within the country,” a statement from his office said.

“It is not a secret that the disagreements between me and the government aggravated over the past two years,” Sirisena told the country’s media executives Friday. “One of the reasons for that is weakening of military intelligence and arresting military officials unnecessarily and my speaking up against it within and outside the government.”

Jehan Perera said that the security threat could prove politically advantageous to Rajapaksa and his family, with a presidential election scheduled at the end of this year. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a younger brother of Mahinda, was the powerful defense secretary during his brother’s reign and has expressed his interest to join the contest.

“People are saying we want a stronger leader and they are talking about Gotabhaya. It (the blasts) has worked to their benefit,” Perera said.

Source: Fox News World

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

Cyprus police are intensifying a search for the remains of more victims at locations where an army officer, who authorities say admitted to killing five women and two girls, allegedly had dumped their bodies.

Police said Friday’s search will concentrate on a military firing range, a reservoir and a man-made lake near an abandoned mine approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Nicosia.

On Thursday, the 35-year-old suspect told investigators that he had killed four more people than he had previously admitted to. All the suspect’s alleged victims are foreign nationals.

Police have already found the bodies of a 38-year-old Filipino woman and two as yet unidentified women.

Search crews are now looking for the daughter of the 38-year-old, a Romanian mother and daughter and another Filipino woman.

Source: Fox News World

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