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EU projects center-right group to be top party in May vote

The European Parliament has projected which parties will get seats after the European Union-wide May election and says that the center-right Christian Democrat EPP group would remain the largest party ahead of the center-left Socialist S&D.

The redesigned European Parliament is expected to have 705 seats total, which would include lawmakers from 27 EU nations after the expected departure of Britain on March 29.

In Monday's projections, the EPP would win 183 seats and the S&D 135. The pro-business ALDE group would be the third biggest in parliament with 75 seats.

The elections will be held May 23-26 in all EU nations.

The Parliament's Public Opinion Monitoring Unit based its projections on voting intention polls from each EU nation and adapted the results to the current makeup of the political groups.

Source: Fox News World

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SEC attack on Tesla’s Musk pushes shares lower

A Tesla logo is seen at a groundbreaking ceremony of Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory in Shanghai
A Tesla logo is seen at a groundbreaking ceremony of Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory in Shanghai, China January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/Files

February 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Shares in Tesla Inc could fall by a fifth in value if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s latest attack on Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sees the regulator again push for his removal, according to J.P. Morgan analysts.

Tesla shares dipped 3 percent in trading before the bell on Tuesday, after the SEC alleged Musk had violated last year’s settlement of fraud charges by tweeting material information about the company without pre-approval from its board.

In a court filing on Monday, the regulator pointed to a Musk Feb. 19 tweet: “Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019,” noting that Musk did not seek or receive pre-approval before publishing this tweet, which was inaccurate and disseminated to over 24 million people.

Under the deal that headed off the regulator’s lawsuit seeking Musk’s removal last year, the two sides agreed that material statements made by Musk on social media would be vetted in advance by the company.

J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Ryan Brinkman said that in a worst case scenario, the SEC could again seek Musk’s removal as CEO for violating the terms of the agreement.

Brinkman said that could push Tesla shares back to close to a one-year low. Tesla shares reached $244.59 last April, their lowest since early 2017 and more than $50 below Monday’s close of $298.77.

“It is difficult to judge the likelihood of the reappearance of this worst case scenario … but on the other hand the current allegations seem much less serious (than last year’s), Brinkman told clients in a note.

“If the SEC were to seek Mr. Musk’s removal (perhaps subject to yet another settlement), we believe the shares may approach the mid-$200 levels.”

Thirteen of 32 Wall Street brokerages now rate the electric car company a “buy” or higher. Eight view it as a “hold” and 11 “sell” or lower, with a median PT of $327.50

Tesla’s general counsel Dane Butswinkas, hired as an outside counsel to help settle the case with the SEC, resigned a day after Musk made the tweet to which the new SEC case refers.

Musk corrected his tweet four hours later to say that the “annualized production rate” at year-end 2019 would probably be about 500,000, with deliveries expected to be about 400,000.

“While this tweet (after market hours) and the quick correction seem innocuous, the SEC isn’t likely to cut Musk any slack,” said another analyst, Gene Munster from Loup Ventures.

“Musk’s unwillingness to follow the rules is part of what you have to be willing to accept as an investor in Tesla.”

(Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Patrick Graham and Bernard Orr)

Source: OANN

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Poll workers journey to reach India’s most remote voters

The figures involved in India's general election are staggering: 900 million voters, 83 million first-time voters, 11 million poll workers, nearly 4 million electronic voting machines, 1 million polling booths and 570 special trains for migrant laborers and security personnel.

Such numbers convey the scale of the world's biggest democratic exercise. But its smaller numbers that show India's commitment to reach every voter, no matter how remote.

In India's six-week marathon election that began this week, the Election Commission has ruled that no voter should have to travel more than 2 kilometers, or just over a mile, from their home to cast a ballot, whether they live on a Himalayan peak or an island in the Bay of Bengal.

The polling booth in Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat is set up for the sole human inhabitant, a Hindu priest who lives among the lions. Polling officials hike for a whole day to reach the remote village of Malogam in Arunachal Pradesh, where just one woman is registered to vote.

Poll workers must be in superb physical condition to cross mountains, rivers, deserts, forests and national parks. The work entails arduous journeys by train, road, helicopter and boat, accompanied by porters who carry the briefcase-sized voting machines, registers, ink and other election paraphernalia on their backs.

In Arunachal Pradesh, a state in India's northeast that borders Bhutan, China and Myanmar and where voting took place Thursday, most polling stations are located inside dense, Himalayan forest.

Poll workers set off a week before the vote. The first leg of the journey was a three-hour drive from Changlang, a district in the east, to the city of Maio, a tourist destination 100 kilometers (62 miles) away.

From Maio, the next stop was Vijoynagar, some 163 kilometers (101 miles) away, via the Namdapha National Park. No road connects the two towns, and the terrain is subject to frequent flash floods and landslides. Journeys here are measured in days rather than hours.

So, the team reached Vijoynagar by Indian Air Force helicopter. In pre-monsoon time, bad weather can force the pilot to abort several attempts. That's why a week's leeway is given to the team. If all else fails, it's six days to reach Vijoynagar by foot.

From Vijoynagar, the caravan walked the final leg of their odyssey to the polling station of Gandhigram. It is only 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from Vijoynagar but the trek takes eight hours, through eerily dark jungles where no sunlight steals through the canopy and under constant threat of an ambush by a herd of elephants.

Majestic gorges were crossed on casually strung, flimsy bamboo suspension bridges that wobble like jelly in strong winds. The team traveled with torches, water filters and emergency lights, and a local guide who knows the jungle.

"These are not Alpine tracks. These are sub-tropical forests with thick undergrowth. There is no stated rule, but we prefer people under 45 because a lot of stamina and energy are required," said Kaling Tayeng, the chief electoral officer of Arunachal Pradesh.

The marathon expedition to Gandhigram was all for 242 voters.

In the Ladakh region of Indian-controlled Kashmir in the north, a polling station at an altitude of 4,327 meters (14,196 feet) is being set up for only 12 voters.

Another Ladakh station, Anlay Pho, is so high at 4,500 meters (almost 15,000 feet) above sea level that polling teams must carry oxygen tanks.

When Winston Churchill described India as a "geographical expression" no more a united nation than the equator, he was speaking to the diversity in landscapes that makes the Election Commission's job so challenging.

At the other extreme of the country from the mountain peaks of Ladakh are the low-lying Andaman and Nicobar Islands where voting machines were transported by various seafaring vessels for Thursday's vote.

The polling station at Pilopatia, just 9.7 meters (32 feet) above sea level, is famous for the trouble it presents election officials.

Officials start off on a 24-hour by ship journey from Port Blair, then by speedboat, then by small dinghy and finally by a "hodi," or traditional boat used by the local tribe, said Dr. Monica Priyadarshini, a Nicobar district election officer.

"In places, the waters are infested with crocodiles and sea snakes," Priyadarshini said.

The voting machines were protected inside waterproof boxes and other polling material was kept dry under layers of plastic cover. The journey ended with a splash: Priyadarshini and the team clambered out and waded through waist-high water to reach the shore. All this for just nine voters.

Many polling booths in remote areas have no mobile connectivity. Here too, the team had to use wireless sets and satellite phones to send the commission's mandated twice hourly reports on the progress of polling.

"I had voted in elections, but I never had any idea of the work that goes into ensuring that every single vote is cast," Priyadarshini said.

In Chhattisgarh, central India, where some polling stations were open this week, it is both geography and ideology that present problems. The jungles are thick with vegetation and teeming with Maoist insurgents called Naxalites who attack government officials with bullets, incendiary devices and land mines.

Earlier this week, insurgents attacked a convoy of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, killing a state party lawmaker and four other people in his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

"We had 100 high security zones that are very dangerous. In some of them, over 100 security personnel accompanied just 20 polling officials to secure their path through the forest," said Chhattisgarh police chief Durgesh Kumar Awasthi. "My men haven't slept for days."

Source: Fox News World

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Bus Aide Snatches MAGA Hat Off 14-Year-Old Student’s Head – Report

A school bus aide allegedly yanked a Trump hat off a 14-year-old student’s head who was celebrating hat day and his “pride in Trump’s America.”

Immediately after boarding the bus, the aide shouted “boy, if you don’t take that hat off this bus,” according to surveillance footage that is part of the incident’s investigation.

“I was really confused, I was like ‘I can’t wear this?’” Said the student. “She, like, threatened me with a referral and threatened to turn the bus around.”

“I said ‘write me up, I didn’t do anything wrong,’ and then she yanked my hat off. It was crazy.”

Other students on the bus, who were allowed to wear their different hats, began texting the boy’s mother about what happened.

The mother went to the police after she was told she wouldn’t be able to see the footage of the incident until after the school district completed its investigation.

“We’re able to confirm that the hat was removed from the child,” said Lieutenant Ryan Grimsdale. “The crux of our investigation will be the interaction directly, physically with the child and how that panned out.”

Correspondingly, Trump supporters have been dealing with confrontations and even assault from leftists since his presidential campaign began in 2015.

A recent example involves the investigation of Zachary Greenberg, 28, who was charged with assaulting a Trump supporter on UC-Berkeley’s campus.

Despite video footage of the incident, an analyst says Greenberg could go “unpunished” because jurors may not see all of the evidence.


Katy joins David Knight to discuss the future for Europeans that increasingly don’t recognize their own “homeland.”

Source: InfoWars

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Exclusive: Kinder Morgan to expand Chicago ethanol hub to calm price manipulation concerns – sources

FILE PHOTO: A gas pump selling E15, a gasoline with 15 percent of ethanol, is seen in Mason City
FILE PHOTO: A gas pump selling E15, a gasoline with 15 percent of ethanol, is seen in Mason City, Iowa, United States, May 18, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young/File Photo

February 20, 2019

By Jarrett Renshaw

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – Kinder Morgan Inc will expand loading capacity at its ethanol terminal in Chicago to address producer concerns that trade at the terminal – a benchmark for global ethanol prices – is vulnerable to manipulation, three people briefed on the company’s plans told Reuters.

Tens of thousands of barrels change hand at the hub every day, but many more barrels across the country depend on the price. Ethanol trade in the cash market at the Kinder Morgan Argo hub is used in contracts for the biofuel across the country, and is also baked into international contracts.

Trade at the terminal has come under scrutiny after one of the world’s largest commodities merchants, Archer Daniels Midland Co, switched from its typical role as a buyer in late 2017 to a big seller, flooding the pricing hub with ethanol and helping drive the price to near record lows.

Farmers are struggling with a loss of export markets due to the U.S. trade war with China and mixed signals from the Trump administration on its support of the nation’s biofuel laws. Plants have idled or shut altogether in recent months as U.S. ethanol prices have dropped below $1.20 a gallon, the lowest in about 13 years.

Kinder Morgan told traders at an industry conference in Orlando, Florida last week that it plans to at least double the amount of ethanol barges that can load and unload at its two existing Argo docks and it is exploring allowing a third petrochemical dock to also move ethanol, three sources briefed on the meetings told Reuters.

Kinder will also build a new 50,000 barrel-per-day storage tank at its Stony Island facility near Argo, the sources said. The Stony Island location loads and unloads ethanol trains.

The additions could be ready before the end of the year, traders said.

Kinder Morgan spokeswoman Lexey Long said the company declined to comment for the story.

The increased takeaway capacity will make it more difficult to drive up inventories at the 1.3 million barrel storage hub and drive down price, traders said.

“If you can send barrels in faster than you can take out, then you can drive down the price faster and for a longer period. This will help equalize that and level the playing field,” said one ethanol trader.

Currently, Argo can unload roughly 120 to 150 tank cars of ethanol each week, or roughly 4 million gallons, and can load two barges, or roughly 1.2 million gallons, at a time. Train flows into the terminal fairly smoothly as tank cars can wait outside of Chicago before unloading, but bottlenecks at the slower-moving docks have significantly delayed trade at times, traders said.

In the past, Kinder Morgan has proposed expanding capacity but wanted producers and trading houses to help fund it through long-term contracts.

Not this time, traders said.

“I think they know people are upset and they want to make sure they retain their customer base,” said another trader.

ADM’s heavy selling prompted top U.S. ethanol producer POET LLC to ask the CME Group Inc to change the way it prices a key swap contract that is settled based on the cash market at Argo. Poet argued that the connection to Argo made the swap contracts prone to manipulation as well as the cash market.

ADM declined to comment on its commercial activity but said in a statement its “ethanol trading practices are proper and compliant with all laws and regulations.”

The rival ICE exchange is contemplating offering an alternative to CME’s product after discussions with frustrated biofuels companies, Reuters previously reported.

Argus Media met with a number of traders earlier this month in Houston to gauge interest in establishing a new cash benchmark that would rival the existing one set by S&P Global Platts, sources tell Reuters.

ADM can produce roughly 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol annually, about 10 percent of U.S. capacity. Despite its massive production, it has often been a buyer on the cash market to supplement its long-term supply deals or to support a market view, dealers said.

The Illinois-based global commodities powerhouse, a major ethanol producer, accounted for roughly 61 percent of the 9.5 million barrels sold at the Chicago hub between November and August of last year, according to the data reviewed by Reuters.

Late last year, the number went above 70 percent of the sales, Reuters reported.

Previously, ADM had been a regular buyer: In September and October of 2017, for example, ADM bought 810,000 barrels, 32 percent of the 2.495 million total trades in the Chicago hub during that stretch, according to the data.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Simon Webb and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: OANN

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California wildfires: A wicked problem with no easy answers

More than 2.7 million Californians live in areas that are at very high risk for wildfires, according to our analysis of census data and state fire maps. They live in more than 1.1 million housing units, or in about one in 12 of the state's homes.

That's right: one in 12 homes in California are at high risk of burning in a wildfire.

This is a wicked problem with no easy answers. And the more information we can share about where and how we're falling short, the quicker we can come together on potential solutions.

That was the spirit in which journalists from USA TODAY Network-California, McClatchy, Media News and the Associated Press came together in late 2018 after November's Camp Fire in Paradise that took 85 lives.

We asked this question: If California is destined to burn, how can we have a sophisticated conversation about how to lessen the impacts on people who live here?

Over five months we analyzed state hazard assessments, wind models and the age of our housing stock to identify the 15 places most likely to burn. We evaluated evacuation plans for the 187 cities and towns designated as high risk, as Paradise was. We used demographic and socioeconomic data, road patterns and other materials to determine which of these communities' residents would have the most trouble evacuating.

What we found is deeply troubling. And yet there are actionable steps we can take today that will help tomorrow and in the years to come.

We interviewed residents whose homes survived to learn about what they did and what others can do. We detail how many homes are built to fire-resistant standards and how to tell if yours is not.

Our goal with this collaboration is to put a spotlight on policy issues that can and should be raised in the halls of the state Capitol and by local communities that set defensible space standards and evacuation routes.

We hope you read and share these powerful, revelatory stories and videos as we look to bend the trajectory of wildfire's impact.

We begin with today's Sacramento Bee, Chico Enterprise-Record and Paradise Post stories. In two weeks, reporting teams from the Redding Record Searchlight, Reno Gazette-Journal, Ventura County Star, The Desert Sun and Associated Press will publish work about ineffective evacuation routes and what we can learn from those who must leave areas quickly elsewhere in the country.

The AP earlier this month shared data with all of its California member news organizations so they could better understand the conditions in their communities. It is also distributing this reporting to all AP member news organizations for publication across the state and beyond.

Thanks as always for your support of local journalism. We look forward to continuing a critical conversation with you in the weeks and months to come.

___

Lauren Gustus is Editor of The Sacramento Bee and West Region Editor for McClatchy.

Source: Fox News National

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Social Security Earned A Pitiful 2.8% On Your Money Last Year

Hot off the presses: The Board of Trustees for the Social Security and Medicare programs in the United States just released their annual report a few hours ago.

And if you want to read all of its gory detail, check it out for yourself here.

Both of these programs are massively and terminally underfunded. And not by a little bit.

The Board of Trustees itself calculates Social Security’s long-term shortfall at a mind boggling $43+ TRILLION.

Simply put, the trust funds don’t have enough money to keep the programs going, at least under the current promises.

They admit right at the beginning of their report that, starting 2020, Social Security’s cost will exceed the money it earns in from interest and taxes.

That’s not some far out date decades into the future. That’s next year. And every year after that.

By 2034, just 15 years from now, Social Security’s primary trust fund will be fully depleted. And one of Medicare’s trust funds will run out of money in 2026.

In case you’re wondering, by the way, the Board of Trustees consists of the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Health and Human Services, etc.

This isn’t a bunch of conspiracy theorists. They’re some of the top executives in government.

So I’m not exaggerating in the slightest when I say this is a complete disaster. Millions of people depend on Social Security for their livelihood… people who have been promised for their entire working lives that the program would be solvent.

When the funds run out of money, countless people’s lives will be turned upside down.

You’d think this would be considered some kind of national emergency… that politicians would be doing everything they can to fix this.

But hardly a word is uttered about it. 15 years is far enough out that most of these people don’t expect to be in office anymore… so it will be someone else’s problem to deal with.

Not to mention, their options are extremely limited.

On one hand, they could try to actually generate more investment income for the program. To me this is an obvious choice.

Right now the Social Security trust funds have $2.9 trillion in assets. Yet they only earned a pitiful $83 billion in investment income last year, a return of roughly 2.8%.

That’s barely enough to keep up with inflation.

Seriously– is this the best these people can do? 2.8%? The United States is home to some of the most brilliant investment minds in history who could easily double that investment return.

This is what other countries do– Japan, Singapore, Norway, etc. Fund mangers for public pensions have the discretion to invest in assets all over the world in an effort to derive higher returns.

But that’s not going to happen in the Land of the Free.

It’s actually ILLEGAL for Social Security to invest in anything EXCEPT for US government debt. I’m serious. Social Security’s ONLY assets are Treasury Bonds, and under current federal law, that’s all it will ever be.

Thing is- the US government really needs that money. They’re already $22 trillion in debt and going deeper into debt each year.

They can’t afford to allow Social Security to invest in anything else other than US debt. They’re already over-reliant on Social Security as a lender, and allowing the trust funds to invest in anything else would be financial suicide.

So that option is off the table… leading to option #2: Cutting benefits.

And you can absolutely count on that happening. The Trustees themselves even say this– that after the fund is fully depleted in 2034, they will have to make deep cuts to the monthly benefit.

Again– tens of millions of people are depending on that money. Tens of millions more will be depending on it when they retire in the future.

Slashing benefits is going to have a massive impact on their lives.

The last option is to raise taxes. And just like cutting benefits, you can count on this happening.

Just wait for the Bolsheviks to rise to power. They have a limitless agenda and no qualms about jacking tax rates up to 70% or more.

I really don’t want to sound alarmist. But there are obvious realities here that any rational person should take very seriously.

At some point, most of us probably expect to retire. And retirement will take very careful consideration in full view of all the facts.

These are facts… and it’s important to start planning with these basic truths in mind: the longer you have until retirement, the less likely that you’ll ever see a penny in benefits.



Alex Jones opens the phone lines to currently practicing and former members of the Muslim faith and challenges listeners to change his mind about Islam.

Source: InfoWars

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An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.

The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.

The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

Source: OANN

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo

April 26, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.

The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.

Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.

But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.

Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.

High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.

It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.

Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.

“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.

The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.

Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.

Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.

Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.

Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.

This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

April 26, 2019

By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.

The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.

Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.

“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.

Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.

“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.

U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.

Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.

Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.

Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.

Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.

Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.

Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.

Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)

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

By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan

(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.

Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.

Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.

WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?

The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.

Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.

HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?

The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.

Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.

The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.

The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.

No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.

Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.

Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.

CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?

No.

Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.

“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.

“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”

PROOF OF WRONGDOING?

In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.

Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”

PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?

Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.

In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.

The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.

WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?

A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes
FILE PHOTO: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s lawyers on Friday are set to ask a Florida judge to toss out hidden-camera videos that prosecutors say show the 77-year-old billionaire receiving sexual favors for money inside a Florida massage parlor.

The owner of the reigning Super Bowl champions plans wants the video to not be used as evidence against him as he contests two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Spa in Jupiter, Florida, along with some two dozen other men.

His legal team is fresh off a win on Tuesday, when they successfully persuaded Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser to block prosecutors from releasing the hidden-camera footage to media outlets, which had requested copies under the state’s robust open records law.

Kraft, who has owned the franchise since 1994, pleaded not guilty, but has issued a public apology for his actions.

His attorneys have argued in court papers that the surreptitious videotaping of customers, including Kraft, inside a massage parlor was governmental overreach and the result of an illegally obtained search warrant.

The warrant, Kraft’s lawyers claim, was secured under false pretenses because police officers cited human trafficking as a potential crime in their application. Prosecutors have since acknowledged that the investigation yielded no evidence of trafficking.

Palm Beach County prosecutors in a court filing on Wednesday said Kraft’s motion should be rejected because he could not have had any expectation of privacy while visiting a commercial establishment to engage in criminal activity.

That prompted an indignant response from Kraft’s attorneys, who said the prosecution’s position on privacy was “unhinged.”

“It should go without saying that Mr. Kraft and everyone else in the United States have a reasonable expectation that the government will not secretly spy on them while they undress behind closed doors,” they wrote.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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