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Samsung Electronics sees tough 2019 for component business: CEO

The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at its office building in Seoul
The logo of Samsung Electronics is seen at its office building in Seoul, South Korea January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

March 20, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co Ltd expects a tough year for its component business including memory chips due to sluggish growth in the smartphone market and reduced investment from data center companies, Chief Executive Kim Ki-nam said on Wednesday.

He was speaking at the South Korean tech giant’s annual general meeting where shareholders are expected to vote on the appointment of board directors.

Samsung is seeking new growth in areas such as network equipment manufacturing as sales of its mainstay chips and smartphones begin to drop.

The company would continue to make bold investments in semiconductor manufacturing in the face of stiffening Chinese competition, Kim said.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Source: OANN

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Police open fire as vehicle rams Ukraine embassy car in London; no injuries

Emergency responders are seen on Holland Park Road in London
Emergency responders are seen on Holland Park Road in London, Britain April 13, 2019 in this picture obtained from social media. RONI GREENFIELD/via REUTERS

April 13, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Police in London opened fire outside the Ukrainian embassy on Saturday after a man rammed his vehicle into the ambassador’s empty parked car at least twice before being arrested, officials said.

No one was hurt in the incident, which happened early on Saturday outside the embassy building in the affluent Holland Park area of west London, and it was not being treated as terrorism, police said in a statement.

The embassy said in a statement that the ambassador’s empty official vehicle had been deliberately rammed as it sat parked in front of the building.

“The police were called immediately, and the suspect’s vehicle was blocked up,” it added.

“Nevertheless, despite the police actions, the attacker hit the ambassador’s car again. In response, the police were forced to open fire on the perpetrator’s vehicle.”

TV footage later showed a silver car slewed across the cordoned-off road with its driver’s door open and window shattered.

Police said they had been called at around 9.50 am on Saturday to reports of a car having hit several vehicles in the road.

“On arrival at the scene, a vehicle was driven at police officers,” they added in a statement. “Police firearms and Taser were discharged, the vehicle was stopped and a man, aged in his 40s, was arrested.”

The man was taken to hospital as a precaution but was not injured, they added.

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Helen Popper)

Source: OANN

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World champion U.S. women’s soccer players sue federation for gender discrimination

Soccer: She Believes Cup Women's Soccer-Brazil at USA
Mar 5, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; United States forward Tobin Heath (17) and forward Alex Morgan (13) celebrate after a goal during the first half against Brazil during a She Believes Cup women's soccer match at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

March 8, 2019

By Frank Pingue

(Reuters) – The U.S. women’s national soccer team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation on Friday with allegations of gender discrimination just three months before they open their World Cup title defense in France.

All 28 members of the United States squad were named as plaintiffs in federal court in Los Angeles on International Women’s Day and the lawsuit includes complaints about wages and nearly every other aspect of their working conditions.

The players, a group that includes stars Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan, said they have been consistently paid less money than their male counterparts even though their performance has been superior to the men’s team.

“Each of us is extremely proud to wear the United States jersey, and we also take seriously the responsibility that comes with that,” U.S. co-captain Morgan said in a statement.

“We believe that fighting for gender equality in sports is a part of that responsibility. As players, we deserved to be paid equally for our work, regardless of our gender.”

According to the lawsuit, filed three years after several players made a similar complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. soccer has “utterly failed to promote gender equality.”

The U.S. Soccer Federation did not respond when asked to comment on the lawsuit.

The players said that U.S. Soccer President Carlos Cordeiro previously admitted the women’s team should be valued as much as the men’s squad but the federation “has paid only lip service to gender equality.”

The lawsuit outlines years of institutionalized gender discrimination, claiming travel conditions, medical personnel, promotion of games and training are less favorable for female players compared to their male counterparts.

The U.S. women’s team has enjoyed unparalleled success in international soccer, including three World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals.

The men’s team have never won either tournament and their best modern-day result at a World Cup was in 2002 when they reached the quarter-finals.

‘IT’S A SHAME’

When the women’s team clinched their most recent World Cup title in 2015, it was the most watched soccer game in American TV history with an audience of approximately 23 million viewers.

The team’s success has translated into substantial revenue generation and profits for the federation, the lawsuit said. The women earned more in profit and/or revenue than the men’s national team for the period covered by the lawsuit, it said.

“In light of our team’s unparalleled success on the field, it’s a shame that we still are fighting for treatment that reflects our achievements and contributions to the sport,” said U.S. co-captain Lloyd.

“We have made progress in narrowing the gender pay gap, however progress does not mean that we will stop working to realize our legal rights and make equality a reality for our sport.”

Last October FIFA said it will double the total prize money for this year’s World Cup in France to $30 million, with the winning team taking home $4 million. The total prize money for last year’s men’s World Cup in Russia was $400 million, with champions France receiving $38 million.

FIFA announced on Friday plans to host a global women’s convention this June in Paris where it said leaders from the world of sports and politics will discuss key issues around the development and empowerment of women in soccer.

The U.S. players are also seeking class-action status that would allow any women who played for the team since February 2015 to join the case.

“We feel a responsibility not only to stand up for what we know we deserve as athletes, but also for what we know is right – on behalf of our teammates, future teammates, fellow women athletes, and women all around the world,” said Rapinoe.

In 2017, the U.S. women’s national hockey team threatened to boycott that year’s world championship but returned to the ice after settling a dispute with USA Hockey over wages and better benefits in line with their male counterparts.

The U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association (USWNTPA) said in a statement it made progress during contract negotiations with U.S. Soccer in 2017 regarding compensation and working conditions but that more work needs to be done.

“This lawsuit is an effort by the plaintiffs to address those serious issues through the exercise of their individual rights,” the union said in a statement, adding that it would continue to seek improvements through the labor-management and collective bargaining processes.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Frank Pingue; editing by Susan Thomas and Grant McCool)

Source: OANN

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Best Way to Get Rid of Trump? Beat Him at the Ballot Box

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My nightmare was not that Donald Trump would be exonerated by special counsel Robert Mueller, but that instead he'd be accused of colluding with the Russians to win the 2016 presidential election. That would set the Democrats on the meandering path to impeachment and, by so doing, vindicate the Trumpian fantasy that the deep state was mounting a coup. There is a better way to get rid of Trump: Beat him soundly for re-election.

The urgent need is to repudiate Trump. The need is for the American people to reverse their decision of November 2016, which raised to the presidency a man of fetid personal and political ethics, who has not a whisper of the truth within him, and yet has taken command of the Republican Party so much so that when he sullied the name of the dead John McCain, all but a few Republicans said nothing in reprimand. This was the pornography of silence -- utterly without socially redeeming value.

And yet the Democratic Party, a mob of the unready, has set off to alienate the vast middle of the American electorate. It talks of socialism, as if the voters are clamoring for the government to take over General Motors. It suggests breaking up mega-companies such as Amazon, as if its customers feel abused by low prices and shazam-fast delivery. [Note: Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.] The Democratic Party has candidates who endorse universal Medicare without acknowledging its cost or what it would do to private insurance. It has candidates who support reparations for the descendants of slaves -- a morally correct impracticality and, I would imagine, a hard sell in the sad areas of the country that Trump carried. Try making the argument to an out-of-work coal miner.

The party has candidates such as Beto O'Rourke, a cross between James Dean and Archie Andrews, whose idea of leading is merely to listen. Does he have something to say? If not, why is he running? If the campaign is such a hardship on his kids, he ought to just stay home. O'Rourke would rewrite Marc Antony: Friends, Romans, countrymen, let me listen to you.

The party's huge potential candidate is Joe Biden. But he is the American equivalent of Brexit: always on the verge, nearly always happening ... just another couple of days. Some family matters to tend to. You understand. Give 'em a hug, Joe. But where's the fire? Not, it seems, in Biden's belly.

Where is the candidate who yearns to run right at Trump? Where is the candidate who can refuse the special pleading of some special group and appeal to all Americans? We can get to reparations or socialism or the threat of Amazon or even the dubious worth of the Electoral College some other time. Right now the issue is Trump. He needs to lose. He needs to be repudiated and so do the Republicans who support him.

Robert Dallek begins a section of his superb biography of John F. Kennedy, "An Unfinished Life," with three quotes. The first is Theodore Roosevelt's famous one about the "bully pulpit." Trump uses his to belittle his critics and spread misinformation.

The second quote is Franklin D. Roosevelt's: "The presidency ... is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership." Who can claim Trump as a moral leader? Not even the infinitely adaptable Sen. Lindsey Graham can say that.

And the third quote is Harry S. Truman's: "On my desk I have a motto which says 'The buck stops here.'" With Trump, the buck never stops. He is forever blaming others for his own shortcomings. Taken together, the three quotes encapsulate the obligations and responsibilities of the modern presidency. Trump whiffs all three.

By all means, House Democrats should continue to hold Trump accountable. But some of these investigations seem less than momentous: Does anyone really care if Jared Kushner was entitled to his security clearance? Let him have it. Correction: Let him keep it. At the same time, Attorney General William Barr needs to explain how he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided there was not sufficient evidence to "establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense." Clearly, this could have gone the other way.

But history will judge these as details. What matters is that a morally squalid man has won the White House and taken over the Republican Party. He needs to lose, to lose so clearly and affirmatively that lies about Election Day shenanigans and the corrosive evil of the deep state will be asphyxiated and America restored to decency. There's been collusion, all right -- the one between Trump and his enablers. It's the only one that matters.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group

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Northern Ireland police free 2 men held in reporter’s death

Two teenagers who were arrested in the shooting death of a 29-year-old journalist in Northern Ireland have been released from police custody without being charged.

Police let the 18- and 19-year-old men go Sunday night and appealed to anyone with information about whoever killed Lyra McKee to come forward.

McKee was fatally wounded during rioting Thursday night in the city of Londonderry.

Police say she was probably hit by a bullet someone fired at police. Video from the scene showed a gunman wearing a black face mask aiming at officers.

The two teens were arrested under an anti-terrorism law on Saturday. Their release means authorities are still seeking the person who pulled the trigger.

McKee's funeral is scheduled to be held in her native Belfast on Wednesday.

Source: Fox News World

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WhatsApp launches India tip line to curb fake news during polls

FILE PHOTO: The WhatsApp messaging application is seen on a phone screen
FILE PHOTO: The WhatsApp messaging application is seen on a phone screen August 3, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo

April 2, 2019

MUMBAI (Reuters) – WhatsApp said on Tuesday it has launched a tip line for Indians to submit rumours and uncertain information, in the latest step by the messaging service to combat false news in India during the national election.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp said in a statement it was working with an Indian startup called Proto that will help to classify messages sent by users as true, false, misleading or disputed.

(Reporting by Sai Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Euan Rocha)

Source: OANN

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ISIS nightmare prompts some Muslims in the Middle East to convert to Christianity

Almost five years after ISIS slaughtered its way onto the scene in Iraq and Syria – brandishing their own extreme and much-denounced version of Islam – some in the Middle East are coming out to announce their conversion to Christianity, seeking another Abrahamic faith to drown out the nightmares of life under the terrorist tirade.

“One day, ISIS came to the house as they were unhappy with my mother and my sister. They wanted to take them away and I begged them not too, I said I would do whatever I could to protect them,” Jamial, a 35-year-old Iraqi, who in recent months made a quiet conversion to Christianity, told Fox News. “So for two years and eight months, we were forced to live under their rule and do what they say.”

Jamial was born in the Old City of Mosul. His dad died three years before ISIS overran his beloved city, and he – as the eldest son – was left to take care of his mother and two younger siblings, working in a local supermarket to make ends meet. As the battle to reclaim Mosul gathered intensity in the first half of 2017, Jamial left behind all his belongings and fled north to a displacement camp in the Kurdish capital of Erbil.

But one saving grace, he said, has been turning to Christianity since leaving Mosul – and doing so in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan, where he feels somewhat safer.

“I know in my heart God will save me,” Jamial said.

ISIS TEEN WIFE BEMOANS UK'S 'UNJUST' DECISION TO REVOKE HER CITIZENSHIP

Many of the Christian churches in the Nineveh Plain in Northern Iraq were defaced or completely decimated by ISIS.

Many of the Christian churches in the Nineveh Plain in Northern Iraq were defaced or completely decimated by ISIS. (Courtesy Knights of Colombus)

Yet the healing process is slow, and the memories still haunt.

“I can never go back to Mosul, there is no civil reconciliation and peaceful coexistence. I have psychological problems and nightmares every night, worrying that ISIS will come back and kill me and take away my mother and my sister because every I worried about that,” Jamial stressed. “Sometimes I can’t sleep at all. I don’t know yet if I can trust anyone, ISIS were savages and killing people for simple mistakes.”

IRAQI CHRISTIANS IN BAGHDAD NEARLY GONE, BUT SOME SHELTER AT CAMP VIRGIN MARY

For Sam, formerly Saleem – a 26-year-old café worker in Baghdad – his conversion came at the height of the ISIS chaos in his country three years ago.

“I was a faithful Muslim, as was my family. But I saw all the bloodshed around me, I became sympathetic to what the Christians were experiencing,” he recalled. “This sadness touched my heart. I first learned more, then I changed.”

Iraqi Christians attend an Easter celebration at St.George Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq April 15, 2017.

Iraqi Christians attend an Easter celebration at St.George Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq April 15, 2017. (REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily)

However, since the very beginning of the rise of ISIS, Imams, Islamic leaders and scholars across the globe have denounced the extreme ideology and accused the barbaric group of twisting their religion to fit a nefarious agenda.

Yet a switch to Christianity often doesn’t come without consequences.

While the passage from another faith into Islam is mainstream and widely discussed, conversions from Islam to other faiths are often staunchly prohibited and come with dangerous repercussions and retribution – meaning most must be kept shrouded in secrecy with names and identities protected.

“Apostasy is a capital offense according to traditional interpretations of Islamic law. Those who convert are customarily threatened to death from either sharia-based states, radical mobs and/or their own families,” explained John Eibner, a human rights advocate and the CEO of Christian Solidarity International-USA. “Those who convert are sometimes secretly baptized, usually after a long, secret period of reflection and instruction in the faith. But it is dangerous, and those involved must exercise great discretion.”

ANDREW MCCARTHY: WHY IT'S SO HARD TO REVOKE THE CITIZENSHIP OF TERRORISTS

Sam said that every day he still feels paralyzed with fear.

“I was afraid; I am still afraid," he said. "My old friends do not communicate with me any longer and my parents have left me on my own. I mostly befriend other Christians but some of them do not believe I have converted completely. They think I could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“They ask why a Muslim would convert? I do not have an answer. I tell them God works in mysterious ways. But even if my friends and family have turned against me, it is like one chapter is done and the next page is turning.”

August 17, 2014: People hold crosses and signs during a rally organized by Iraqi Christians living in Germany denouncing what they say is repression by the Islamic State militant group against Christians living in Iraq, in Berlin. Some of the signs read "Stop ISIS, save the Christians" and "Stop all shipment of weapons into the Middle East.”

August 17, 2014: People hold crosses and signs during a rally organized by Iraqi Christians living in Germany denouncing what they say is repression by the Islamic State militant group against Christians living in Iraq, in Berlin. Some of the signs read "Stop ISIS, save the Christians" and "Stop all shipment of weapons into the Middle East.” (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

Even before ISIS, some in the Middle East said they made a move cloaked in both fear and anticipation.

Azad Barwari, a pastor at Magnolia Baptist Church in Anaheim, California – specializing in ministry to Muslim refugees – said he converted in the year 2000 while living in the Kurdish city of Zakho near the Turkish border.

“As a result of my conversion out of Islam, I was persecuted by my family so I fled Iraq and lived in Lebanon for several years where I was imprisoned and tortured,” Barwari claimed. “I came to the USA in 2009 as a religious refugee.”

In this photo taken Monday, June 23, 2014, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. Islamic State militants have abducted at least 70 Assyrian Christians, including women and children, after overrunning a string of villages in northeastern Syria, two activist groups said Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/File)

In this photo taken Monday, June 23, 2014, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. Islamic State militants have abducted at least 70 Assyrian Christians, including women and children, after overrunning a string of villages in northeastern Syria, two activist groups said Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/File) (The Associated Press)

WHY I LEFT ISIS: FORMER BAGHDADI 'FRIEND' AND AIDE, OTHERS SPEAK OUT

He said that as a result, he has received two death threats in the U.S, which he has reported to authorities, but otherwise refuses to shy away from sharing his thoughts and experiences.

“In the year 2000, someone gave me the New Testament when I was sitting at a store in Zakho. It was during Ramadan and I was fasting,” he recalled. “The book was in an envelope and I didn’t know it was a Bible. I liked reading and I had a spiritual hunger. This touched my heart, and Christ answered me. We Kurds were living in enmity and I was angry and I need peace.”

Christianity has for decades been dwindling in the Middle East amid a climate of persecution and insecurity, but the ISIS onslaught over four years ago prompted tens of thousands more to flee.

It’s believed that less than five percent of the Syrian and Iraqi population is Christian, a sharp decline from the roughly ten percent a decade ago.

For others in the region, the ISIS incursion has not necessarily meant a conversion into another faith, but a deeper reflection and move away from religion altogether.

A Christian militiaman stands guard during Easter Mass in Qaraqosh, Iraq, Sunday, April 16 2017. The town has been gutted by Islamic State militants. Now under government control, residents have not returned. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

A Christian militiaman stands guard during Easter Mass in Qaraqosh, Iraq, Sunday, April 16 2017. The town has been gutted by Islamic State militants. Now under government control, residents have not returned. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) (The Associated Press)

“When ISIS came and the chaos of them kidnapping Yazidi girls and making them sex slaves, and killing anyone who didn’t fit their perspective made me think twice,” one 35-year-old Iraq-based female professional, who can only be identified as Saleema, explained. “I wanted to be free and just be a good person with good manners without following any belief. Now, I don’t follow any religion. I don’t want to hear stories to satisfy or control.”

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According to Alex McFarland, a U.S-based apologist and noted church speaker, conversions to Christianity are far more prevalent in the Middle East than Westerners realize “and the unconscionable actions of ISIS have prompted (that).”

“Interestingly, some ex-Muslims merely become atheists,” he added. “They don’t really land anywhere else, such as another faith system. They just become secular.”

Source: Fox News World

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Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy near Lyon
Sonia Bompastor, director of the Olympique Lyonnais womenÕs Youth Academy, leads a training at the OL Academy in Meyzieu near Lyon, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot

April 26, 2019

By Julien Pretot

MEYZIEU, France (Reuters) – Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas was wringing out his women’s team shirts in the locker room on a rainy London day eight years ago when he decided it was time to take gender equality more seriously.

It was halftime in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal at Meadow Park with 507 fans watching and Aulas realized that his players did not have a another kit for the second half.

“Next time, there will be a second set just like for the men, that’s how it’s going to work from now on,” he said.

Lyon have since won five Champions League titles to become the most successful women’s team in Europe and recently claimed a 13th consecutive domestic crown.

They visit Chelsea on Sunday in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with a fourth straight title in their sights.

At the heart of their achievements is a pervasive ethos that promotes gender equality throughout the club, starting in the youth academy.

In 2013, Aulas appointed former Lyon and France player Sonia Bompastor as head of the Women’s Academy — the female equivalent of one of France’s top youth set-ups that has produced players such as Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Hatem Ben Arfa.

At the Youth Academy, girls and boys share the same facilities.

“Pitches, physiotherapy rooms are the same for all,” the 38-year-old Bompastor told Reuters.

As the girls train under the watch of former Lyon and France international Camille Abily, the screams of the boys practicing can be heard nearby.

The boys and girls also benefit from the same psychological support that includes hypnosis sessions and yoga.

“We have a ‘mental ability’ cell and the hypnotist acts on the girls’ subconscious, on their deeply held beliefs after observing them on and off the pitch,” Bompastor added.

SAME TREATMENT

One message the Academy staff are trying to convey is that girls are as good as boys.

“Women’s nature is such that we have low self-esteem. So self-esteem is a big topic for our girls,” said Bompastor.

This is not the case with the boys, she added.

“Some 14, 15-year-old boys still think they would beat our professional players, we tell them this would not be happening. We still need to work on those beliefs,” she said.

Female players also have to face questions that their male counterparts do not, Bompastor explained.

“In France there is a problem with the way women are considered, there are high aesthetic expectations. So we get heavy questions on femininity, intimate questions that men don’t get,” she said.

OL’s Academy has been held up as a shining example for others to follow, even in the U.S., where women’s soccer has a wider audience than in Europe.

“About one third of the (senior women’s) squad comes from the Academy, we have a good balance,” said Bompastor.

“I’m getting tons of requests from American universities and foreign clubs, who want to come and visit our facilities.”

‘ONE CLUB’

The salaries of the senior players is one area where there remains a large discrepancy between Lyon’s men’s and women’s teams.

While the three best-paid women players in the world are at Lyon with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg earning 400,000 euros ($445,520) a year, this figure is dwarfed by the around 4 million euros earned annually by men’s player Memphis Depay.

There is, however, a level of interaction between the men’s and women’s players that is not present at many other clubs.

“When you talk about OL you talk about women and men, you talk about one club and you feel it when you are here or outside in the city,” Germany defender Carolin Simon told Reuters.

“We see it when we play in the big stadium. It’s not ‘normal’ for women’s football,” the 26-year-old, who joined the club last year, added.

Lyon’s female players also enjoy respect from their male counterparts, Simon said.

“It’s very cool, it’s a big honor to feel that it doesn’t matter if you are a professional man or woman. We talk with the men, there are handshakes, it’s a good atmosphere and it’s also why we are successful,” said Simon.

“The men respect us and it’s not just for the cameras.”

Her team mate, England’s Lucy Bronze, sees the men’s respect as key to improving women’s football.

“We might not be paid the same but they are just normal with us, they see us as footballers the same as they are,” Bronze told Reuters.

“Being at Lyon has really opened my eyes. To improve women’s football, it starts with having the respect of your male counterparts. It’s the biggest thing because they can influence so many people.”

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian migrants, stranded in war-torn Yemen, sit on the ground of a detention site pending repatriation to their home country, in Aden, Yemen April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman/File Photo

April 26, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) – Yemeni authorities have rounded up about 3,000 irregular migrants, predominantly Ethiopians, in the south of the country, “creating an acute humanitarian situation,” the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the conditions in which the migrants are being held and is engaging with the authorities to ensure access to the detained migrants,” the International Organization for Migration said.

The migrants are held in open-air football stadiums and in a military camp, it said in a statement.

The detentions began on Sunday in the city of Aden and the neighboring province of Lahj, which are under the control of the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran-aligned Houthi rebels control Sanaa, the capital, and other major urban centers.

Both sides are under international diplomatic pressure to implement a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire deal agreed last year in Sweden and to prepare for a wider political dialogue that would end the four-year-old war.

Thousands of migrants arrive in Yemen every year, mostly from the Horn of Africa, driven by drought and unemployment at home and lured by the wages available in the Gulf.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytelli, Editing by William Maclean)

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U.S. dollar notes are seen in this picture illustration
U.S. dollar notes are seen in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. Picture taken November 7. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.

1/DOLLAR JUGGERNAUT

The dollar has zipped to near two-year highs, leaving many scratching their heads. To many, it’s down to signs the U.S. economy is chugging ahead while the rest of the world loses steam. After all, Wall Street is busily scaling new peaks day after day.

Never mind the cause, the effect is stark. The euro has tumbled to 22-month lows against the dollar and investors are preparing for more, buying options to shield against further downside. Emerging-market currencies are also in pain, with Turkish lira and Argentine peso both sharply weaker.

Now U.S. data need to keep surprising on the upside or even just meet expectations. The International Monetary Fund sees U.S. growth at 2.3 percent this year. For Germany, the forecast is 0.8 percent. The U.S. economy’s rude health has given rise to speculation the Fed might resume raising interest rates. Unlikely. But as other countries — Canada, Sweden and Australia are the latest — hint at more policy easing, there seems to be one way the dollar can go. Up.

(GRAPHIC: Dollar outperforms G10 FX – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dz17S5)

2/FED: UP OR DOWN?

Wall Street is near record highs and recession worries are receding, so as we mentioned above, investors might wonder if the Federal Reserve will start raising rates again.

Such a pivot is unlikely after the Fed killed off rate-rise expectations at its March meeting. And the latest Reuters poll all but puts to bed any risk of rates will go up this economic cycle, given inflation remains below the Fed’s alarm threshold and unemployment is the lowest in generations.

Before the March rate-pause announcement, a preponderance of economists penciled in one or more increases this year. But that has flipped. A majority of those surveyed April 22-24 see no further tightening through December and more are leaning toward a cut by the end of next year.

Indeed, interest rate futures imply Fed Funds will be below the current 2.25-2.50 percent target range by this December.

Recent positive consumer spending and exports data have eased market concerns of a sharp economic slowdown. But inflation probably needs to run hot for a long period to panic policymakers off their wait-and-see course.     

(GRAPHIC: Federal funds and the economy – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DzjTZz)

3/HEISEI TO REIWA

Next week ends three decades of Japan’s Heisei era. Heisei, or Achieving Peace, began in 1989 near the peak of a massive stock market bubble and closes with the country trapped in low growth, no inflation, and negative interest rates.

The new era that dawns on May 1 is called Reiwa, meaning Beautiful Harmony. It begins when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. But do investors really want harmony? What they want to see is a bit of economic growth and inflation to shake up the status quo.

The Bank of Japan’s stimulus toolkit to revive a long-suffering economy is anything but harmonious and yet it’s set to stay. The central bank confirmed recently rates will stay near zero for a long time. But the coming days may not be harmonious or peaceful for currency markets. A 10-day Golden Week holiday kicks off on April 29 and investors are fretting over the risk of a “flash crash” – a violent currency spasm that can occur in times of thin trading turnover.

The year has already seen two yen spikes and many, including Japan’s housewife-trader brigade – so-called Mrs Watanabes – appear to have bought yen as the holiday approaches. Their short dollar/long yen positions recently reached record highs, stock exchange data showed.

(GRAPHIC: Japan stocks: from Hensei to Reiwa – https://tmsnrt.rs/2W6a7Fe)

4/EARNING TURNING

Quarterly earnings were supposed to be the worst in Europe in almost three years, but with a third of results in, things are looking a little rosier.

Two-thirds of companies’ results have beat expectations, and they point to earnings growth of 4.5 percent year-on-year. Financials have delivered the biggest surprises, according to analysis by Barclays.

That might just show how low expectations were. In fact, analysts are still taking a red pen to their estimates.

The latest I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv shows analysts on average expect first-quarter earnings-per-share for STOXX 600-listed companies to fall 4.2 percent. That would be their worst quarter since 2016 and down sharply from an estimated 3.4 percent just a week earlier.

Those estimates may end up being a little too bearish as earnings season goes on, quelling worries that Europe is heading toward a corporate recession.

GSK and Reckitt Benckiser will give the market a glimpse of the health of the consumer products market and spending on everything from toothpaste, washing powder and paracetamol.

(GRAPHIC: Earnings forecasts – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DuO2ZF)

5/WAITING FOR THE OLD LADY

Sterling has gone into the doldrums amid the Brexit delay and unproductive talks between the UK government and the opposition Labour party on a EU withdrawal deal. The resurgent dollar, meanwhile, has taken 2 percent off the pound in April. It is unlikely the Bank of England will be able to rouse it at its May 2 meeting.

Despite robust retail and jobs data of late, the economic picture is gloomy – 2019 growth is likely to be around 1.2 percent, the weakest since 2009, investment is down and Governor Mark Carney says business uncertainty is “through the roof”.

Indeed, expectations for an interest rate increase have been whittled down; Reuters polls forecast rates will not move until early 2020, a calendar quarter later than was forecast a month ago. The hunt for a new governor to replace Carney in October adds more uncertainty to the mix.

The recent run of UK data has fueled hopes of economic rebound. That’s put net hedge fund positions in the pound into positive territory for the first time in nearly a year. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street might temper some of that optimism.

(GRAPHIC: Sterling positions – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XJwUXX)

(Reporting by Alden Bentley in New York, Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Karin Strohecker, Josephine Mason and Saikat Chatterjee in London; compiled by Sujata Rao; edited by Larry King)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China are going very well, as the world’s two largest economies seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.

Trump said on Thursday he would soon host China’s President Xi Jinping at the White House.

Earlier this week, the White House said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to Beijing for more talks on a trade dispute marked by tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments on North Korea this week following the Russian leader’s summit with Pyongyang’s Kim Jong Un.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also said China was helping with efforts aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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